Snow aimed a wide sweep at Kana's shoulder. He blocked it a little but his sword slid up, twisting around to point the wrong way as his hand continued forward. And then—Snow's blade connected with his arm the exact same time the hilt of Kana's sword smashed into the lieutenant's jaw with a painful thud, the force snapping his head sideways. Almost automatically, Snow's free hand formed a fist and sank into Kana's stomach. Kana gasped and staggered back, bent over—he raised his sword just in time to block a jab at his head, straightened up a little. His face was pale, teeth clenched together, but he continued the duel, making those aggressive blocks again to get closer. He dropped suddenly to a half-crouch and rammed his elbow into Snow's side, spinning quickly out of range. Not quick enough—Snow flung a leg out and kicked him squarely in the ribs—his broken rib.
Kana sprawled onto the ground with a faint cry, curling up with a hand gripping his abdomen. He scrambled away when Snow approached, unable to stand, holding his sword out threateningly even though it trembled. Snow tapped it lightly then withdrew his weapon. Kana's arm fell and his head thudded back, small gasps rising from his throat.
Leopard sighed and unfolded his arms. "Come on," he said, pulling a stunned Elstrin with him to meet them.
"Sorry," Snow said casually to the other lieutenant, wiping a small smudge of blood from his lips. "I broke his rib again. You should get him to the infirmary."
"God, Snow." Leopard shook his head and carefully helped Kana up. He hissed and doubled over again, coughing, but miraculously didn't throw up. "Next time just suspend them for a month or something."
"That won't help. Kana."
Kana glanced up, squinting, his hair sticking to his sweaty face, lips pale. "Yes sir."
"In the army, you get second chances. If you lose, you won't die. Get rid of your old habits before we move on to metal swords, otherwise you'll be fainting from blood loss by now."
Dark eyes met pale blue for a moment, until Kana nodded and hobbled away with Leopard's support. Snow turned and surveyed the field, his anger still not entirely gone. Elstrin spoke up tentatively. "Lieutenant Leopard said we should get help if we need something difficult done."
"So you should," Snow said, watching the other cadets.
"But Kana knows how—"
"Disturbing a spirit is not only highly illegal but also extremely disrespectful. A form of sacrilege, even if your intentions are good. When you interfere with a world that no living thing should ever touch, you rip apart delicate little lines, stir up a commotion that is always unstable and dangerous. I don't care if he knows how to do it; he shouldn't. If it bothers you that much, I can accompany you outside and you can let it go. Discreetly."
Elstrin's eyes grew wide. He spluttered, "Seriously?"
"The rules can be bent. This isn't a prison. You obviously can't stomach the thought of being an anchor, and annoyingly, you let it get in the way of your training. I can either force you to concentrate, wipe your memory, or allow you outside. Clearly the last option is the easiest. We can go now."
"N-now?"
"What difference does it make if you wait? You can't pay attention, and I won't let Kana perform any kind of ritual, even if it's just another conversation. So, yes, now." He set off towards the front of the field. Stag was there, scribbling on a clipboard while keeping an eye on the cadets. He raised an eyebrow when they came over. "Permission to leave headquarters, sir, with Cadet White. An hour at most, for a spirit dismissal," Snow said bluntly.
Stag waved a hand and returned to his clipboard. "I heard," he grunted. "As if I could stop you. Go and do whatever, Snow."
"Thank you, colonel. Elstrin, wait here." Without another word, Snow walked away to the main gate and disappeared through it. Elstrin stared after him, wondering if he was dreaming.
"You're letting me out of HQ," he stated, expecting at any moment now for Stag to burst out laughing and declare that it was all one last joke and he could go pack his stuff now because he was under arrest.
Stag heaved an unexpectedly heavy sigh. "All you had to do was ask, Elstrin. You're not the first. Three hundred young men come in here every few years, you think none of them have ever had someone die around them and either unknowingly or knowingly became a ghost anchor? You think none of them knew about or attempted to perform black magic? We have a lot more experience dealing with these things than you may assume. Now, I don't want any more trouble on the issue. After this you'll have no more excuses for being slack on the field. If I see your training isn't on par with what Snow's teaching you, there'll be consequences."
"Y-yes sir." Elstrin swallowed, trying to accept this startling turn of events. "Thank you for… helping, sir."
"Like I said. You're not the first."
"Sir, if—if you don't mind me asking… How did you—hear us? And—how did Lieutenant Snow know what Kana did this morning?"
"Oh, but I do mind you asking." The colonel ruffled Elstrin's hair roughly and took his practice sword away. "Stick close by Snow and don't get in trouble, you hear me?"
Elstrin nodded. "I won't wander off. This is just… business."
Stag stared at him for a second, then laughed shortly and shook his head. "Fucking Lupalians," he muttered into the air, not without affection. Snow came back, a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt, along with a pistol and knife that sat snugly in black leather holsters. He nodded to Stag and led Elstrin away from the field, towards the outer hall. A few heads turned and craned after them, but the lieutenants didn't glance over, ordering their cadets to keep training.
They went through the empty outer hall without speaking, then through the small waiting rooms that Elstrin had come in by. Beyond that was the front gate, topped with barbed wire and locked with biometric devices, but it was nowhere near as impressive as the one that led into inner HQ.
Still, the soldiers guarding it were in full uniform and armour, holding heavy assault rifles as they patrolled slowly around the area. Snow went ahead and talked to them in a low voice; they, too, seemed unsurprised at whatever he said, and waved them through. Elstrin jogged to catch up and lengthened his stride to match Snow's quicker pace.
They walked along the side of a gently sloping road, passing rows of dusty army trucks until
those disappeared as well, giving way to tall, dry grass. It was eerily empty, here in the deserted land between the main city of Mernot and the sprawling compound of HQ. It occurred to him that Snow was planning to travel to town on foot. That was slightly alarming. Elstrin had arrived here via a bus ride to the edge of the city, where he and a bunch of other boys were picked up by waiting army vehicles. He'd been too absorbed in his own thoughts then to take note of the barren landscape that he'd travelled through, but he guessed that it had been quite a long way. He could just make out a grey smudge in the distance, suggestions of skyscrapers through the heat and dust and pollution.
He gathered up his courage and broke the silence. "Will we be able to make it back in an hour?"
"No." Snow sounded perfectly unconcerned.
"But you told the colonel—"
"That's for the ghost."
"So… we're not only going there for the ghost?"
"I have some business to attend to in Mernot. Might as well do it now."
"You're just saying that to make me feel less guilty about all this. I don't." Snow rolled his eyes, and Elstrin went on, "Look, I'm sorry. Since you somehow know about my, uh, situation, I'm assuming you also know that I was the one who asked Kana to dismiss the ghost. It's my fault. Why'd you have to kick him like that?"
"I was breaking him out of his habits. I told him not to fight dirty, but apparently he can't stop himself. He punched me first, see?" Snow tapped the reddening welt on his jaw. "He'll learn sooner or later that this isn't the slums. His skills won't help him at this stage—and that includes throwing black magic everywhere, every chance he gets."
"So you couldn't just give him a lecture. You had to snap his rib in half. Do you have any idea how much th
at hurts?"
Snow looked like he wanted to be incredulous, but only managed a perplexed frown. "Are you serious? You're asking me if I've broken a rib before."
"Yes, I am, sir. And why the hell did you pin me like that?" Elstrin demanded. "Is that something I'm going to have to get used to? Weird episodes of violence in place of harmless instructions?"
"Oh, I was just angry. You don't know how easily things go wrong when messing with spirits."
"So you go around threatening people's lives because you're angry. You—you fight fire with fire."
"Very poetic." Snow paused. "Yes. I do that sometimes. I'm not a machine, Elstrin, and you don't know me. You don't know what triggers whatever emotions I show. It's not your place to object to what I do, and it's definitely not your place to judge me for who I am. Just as I've never said anything about your schoolyard fights. Wasn't that fighting fire with fire too?"
"That was different," Elstrin muttered. "That was survival."
"And survival is generally what I'm teaching you. I think it's kind of the whole point of being a soldier. To survive. Sometimes you do have to take more drastic measures to get your meaning across. I don't let it happen often, but…" He trailed off with a shrug.
Elstrin rubbed a hand down his face, suddenly feeling very tired, his thoughts taking an abrupt turn away from the argument. "Drastic measures, huh."
"Sometimes."
"What… what kind of meaning do you think he was trying to get across?" Elstrin asked quietly, speaking to the air in front of him. "The guy who shot him."
"Fear," Snow said simply. "Fear in the form of hate and uncertainty, but fear nonetheless. We all want to eradicate what we're scared of, and, well. I'm sorry for what happened."
"I just want to—to let that poor kid go." He remembered the name that Kana had whispered this morning. "Max. I didn't even know that all this was possible. Otherwise I wouldn't have run, and— however I did it. Took him with me."
"It's nothing to be ashamed about when you didn't do it on purpose. The dismissal procedure is simple. Then you won't have to worry about it anymore."
"Why does everyone seem to know about this?" Elstrin muttered.
"Some people are born with the ability to sense spirits. Others learn it, though it's very difficult. I knew since you first came here. I was curious to see what you'd do about it if you found out. It was a little disappointing when you jumped at the first chance of dismissing it, regardless of what it might result in."
"A little disappointing," Elstrin repeated dispassionately. The line on his throat still stung. He
didn't ask how the fuck Snow knew, because gut feeling told him that he wouldn't get half of it even if the lieutenant told. "So what might happen if Kana did his magic stuff?"
"If he knew about the victim and the exact circumstances of the event, then probably nothing, providing the borders are quiet. If—"
"Hang on. Borders?"
Snow nodded. "Between here and there. Life and death. I won't tell you too much about this, and you shouldn't pursue it no matter how tempting it sounds. It's a lot more than just dangerous. Anyway, seeing as Kana had no access to any sort of information and he was relying on estimation and the ghost's judgement, I'll hazard a guess that things would've turned ugly. I won't say how. You won't understand, and I don't want you to."
"Oh. Um… thanks, I guess. For stopping whatever was going to happen."
The stiff shoulder-high grass beside the road rustled suddenly, the sound loud in the bare silence. Snow looked at the swaying stalks briefly but kept walking. "It's standard procedure. No need to thank me."
"What was that?" Elstrin said, unconsciously moving closer to the middle of the road, away from the grass. Another disturbance, a patch of yellow-green tips swinging parallel to them. He thought he heard footsteps crunching softly along.
"A dragon. Few months old by the sound of it. We're still pretty close to the mountains, and there are small animals here for them to hunt. Keep your voice down. It's just curious."
"Really?" Elstrin peered into the dense grass but couldn't see a thing. "Is it one of those white ones?"
"Probably. They're called Kichik Dragons. It's Old Erdan for frost."
"There were a few books in the library about dragons. None of them ever mentioned those."
"Kichik are a rare breed, and their numbers aren't increasing healthily. Over the years they've become very aggressive towards most humans, and it's hard to conduct any sort of research on them. We're lucky that the colony in the mountains doesn't mind HQ being so close by. It's almost a miracle that they even cooperate with us from time to time." The rustling came nearer and Snow walked a little slower. "Maybe this one will come out. If it does, don't make the first move. Just a word of warning. There's an adult circling above us."
Elstrin looked up, alarmed. The sun seared into his eyes instantly, blinding him. He couldn't see a thing against the bright blue of the sky. "Holy shit. Where? Will it attack?"
"Not unless you do something stupid like try to pet it before it allows you to."
"You can pet a dragon?"
"It depends, really. Slow down a bit." Snow moved halfway in front of Elstrin and approached the edge of the grass, though he didn't step off the road. They continued on. Elstrin glanced back at HQ and was surprised at how far they'd gone already. If they got eaten now nobody would get here fast enough to save them. Not a comforting thought.
"Um, can't we just leave it alone?" he mumbled anxiously.
"Consider this a learning experience," Snow replied, stopping altogether. They stood beside the rapidly quiet grass as the creature within it paused too. Snow crouched down and beckoned. Elstrin did the same—and staring back at them in the gloom was a dim, round green eye. He almost jerked back at the sight but managed to hold still. A dark forked tongue flicked through the air. Snow must've been crazy, because he touched his fingers to the rough asphalt, displaying his empty hands, and murmured, "Hello."
"What happened to not making the first move?" Elstrin hissed.
"I'm just talking. Can't I talk?" He reached towards his belt briefly and switched his walkie-talkie off, then shuffled back a small step. "Come on out, little dragon. It's safe. If we meant you harm, your mother would've broken our necks by now."
"Ever the optimist, sir."
"Dragons understand language, or at least intention. Kichik are especially intelligent; the alphas
can communicate with almost any living thing. This one should be able to sense the emotions behind speech by now. Sometimes it's better to keep talking so it doesn't get suspicious and think you're trying to plan something."
"That's… interesting," Elstrin said. "So what if I said something offensive but didn't really mean it? What if I mentioned the illegal dragon trade in Lupalia—"
The creature had been cautiously inching closer, but it snarled suddenly and twitched back into
the grass, flash of white obscured again as it retreated. A very faint shadow swooped over them, and this time, Elstrin could just make out a tiny birdlike speck above them, disappearing whenever it flew against the sun. Snow gave him an exasperated glance and stood up. "See, that was stupid. Apologise to it and we'll go."
"Apologise?" Elstrin gave the green eye one last stare. "Erm. Sorry. I had no idea you didn't like Lu—I mean, that place." He looked at Snow, who was already pacing away. "Uh, is that good enough?"
"Yes. Come on."
Elstrin hurried after him. The dot in the sky had vanished again. "Wow. That was so strange. I don't even know if that Lupalia thing is true or not."
"It is. Lupalia is notorious for a lot of things, including dragon trafficking. Maybe the name has become integrated into their minds over time. That reaction was just reflex."
A few moments passed. "Why you know so goddamn much?" Elstrin said.
"Why do you ask so many goddamn questions? Just shut up and walk."
Chapter 10
It took almost an hour of steady walkin
g to arrive at the city. Elstrin's stomach was full of butterflies. He could recall where the incident had occurred, but reluctance weighed down upon him with every step he took. Snow had told him that all he needed to do was mimic the scenario as close as possible and it would trigger the ghost back into the correct current, whatever that meant, and it would be over. But he didn't want a repeat of what had happened. Once was bad enough. He didn't complain, though, not wishing to anger Snow again, having had a small taste of how unpredictable the lieutenant got when he was pissed off.
They took a bus and then a taxi to a place near Elstrin's old school. People stared openly at them, especially at Snow, and avoided them on the streets. The looks they received weren't hostile, but weren't exactly friendly either.
Dragon Bone Page 10
