by Martha Carr
Leander lowered his head and tilted it to study her with his yellow eyes. “A school is not freedom, Raven.”
He hit close to home with that one. “True. But it’s one step closer. I know neither one of us cares what anyone else thinks about it, but you’re officially my familiar now. I know I’d rather have you closer to me all the time instead of only when I can make it to this ranch. Don’t you think that’s an upgrade?”
“To be closer to you, yes. I have no desire to be ogled by all the other children who think they know what it takes to be a mage.”
William snorted and Raven smirked but managed to restrain her laughter. “Hey, at the very least, they’ll get to see how a mage and her dragon familiar get the job done.”
“Mage in training, little girl.” The dragon nudged her with his snout.
“Oh, come on. You too?” She sent him a playful frown, then stroked his broad muzzle affectionately. “Let’s go. We need to be there before dark and I hoped we’d have extra time to fly before we have to land.”
Without waiting for an answer, she turned and headed toward the pen’s gate. William remained where he was and stared at the red dragon, who didn’t move a muscle. She turned and gestured for Leander to follow. “Are you ready?”
“This is what you want?”
Oh, boy. He’s not ready. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “Yes. This is what I want. I want to be a dragon rider and I want to graduate from Fowler Academy as one of the best mages in the kingdom. Maybe the best. Who knows? I won’t lie to you about that. But I will say that if you really don’t want to leave this pen for the school grounds, I won’t make you.”
A hiss of air escaped the dragon’s nose when his chest rumbled again. “You couldn’t.”
“I know that too.” She grinned and brushed away a few drops of sweat with the back of her hand. “Look, Headmaster Flynn and my grandfather are the ones who gave us an ultimatum, essentially. Flynn knows I won’t go to school there if I have to move into the dorm and you can’t come with me. He told me you could come before I even had a chance to ask. So yes, I want both and I believe it’s possible to do what we’re doing, Leander. What no one else has done before. But if you don’t go, I won’t go. It’s as simple as that.”
She folded her arms and held Leander’s gaze while she waited for him to make his mind up. At least he’s considering it. The best I can do is tell the truth and hope it’s enough.
The dragon took a few slow breaths before he stretched his wings almost to their full span until their leathery tips brushed against the walls of the pen. “Get your saddle, dragon rider.”
Chapter Ten
With Connor Alby’s old saddle fastened securely on Leander’s back, Raven double-checked the straps beneath the dragon’s belly, patted his flank, and headed toward the gate. “Trust me. This’ll be a big improvement. I’ll sleep in the next building over.”
“And I doubt I’ll sleep at all,” he mused.
She turned and grinned. “You might be surprised. Thank you for at least being willing to try.”
“It’s what you want, Raven.” The dragon’s snort of warm air brushed the back of her shoulders. “It becomes more difficult every day to separate that from what I want.”
Her gaze met William’s before he jumped off the platform as she opened the gate. “I understand that completely. It works both ways, Leander. I want what’s best for you too.”
“I know.”
When she stood aside, the magnificent red dragon shouldered through the open gate. The minute Leander was free from his pen, he stretched his wings wide to their fullest extent and shot a short burst of fire into the sky. And if me being a few hours late today made him that distressed, bringing him to Fowler with me might be the best thing for both of us.
William stepped behind the dragon to close the pen gate by habit, then circled toward her. “I’m still not convinced this is the best idea.”
“I convinced Leander to at least give it a try.” Raven shrugged and looked up at her friend’s dubious frown. “Setting your mind at ease can’t be that much harder, right?”
“Still…” He rubbed a hand over his mouth and focused on the orange and pink sunset that spilled light through Leander’s translucent outstretched wings. “How will that school keep Leander there on the grounds without the same kind of containment spell we have at the ranch?”
“The same containment spell Leander burst through to come to find me at Fowler?” She smirked.
“Hey, it’s kept hundreds of dragons right here, safe and sound, since my grandfather ran Moss Ranch. Probably even since before that.”
“I don’t think we’ll need any kind of extra security. I’ll be there with him the whole time.”
William raised an eyebrow. “Except for when you’re in class.”
“Hey, if Headmaster Flynn was willing to build Leander a new pen on the school grounds so I can have him there with me every day, I don’t think it’s out of the question to change things up a little and bring my classes to him.”
“I’m not going to school, little girl,” Leander added and shook his massive head before he stretched to his full length. His tail thumped into the dirt with a puff of dust. “Your classes don’t interest me.”
“The familiar training might, though.” Raven turned to move past the stables for her packed bags.
“And what about the rest of Brighton?” William asked as he followed her before he realized what he’d done. He darted a hasty glance over his shoulder at Leander, who swayed from side to side with his eyes closed as he soaked in his newfound freedom and the last of the sun’s warmth. What am I thinking, turning my back on an uncontained dragon with no halter or lead?
“What about them?” she called in response.
He hurried toward her again. She reached her bags and hauled them over her shoulder, completely at ease with having left Leander where he stood. These two really have it down. “Fowler Academy is much closer to the center of town than Moss Ranch. People are gonna flip when they hear there’s a dragon on the grounds.”
Raven blew a few strands of loose red hair out of her eyes and returned to Leander with all the determination William had seen in her since they were young children. “Well, we’ll have to show them that Leander and I trust each other. Everyone else will have to trust that.”
“Right.” He scratched the back of his head in his nervous habit and followed the mage in training toward her dragon familiar. Anyone who can’t see how confident she is about this is an idiot. “Okay. But if anything happens—if there’s an issue and Headmaster Flynn or the other professors change their mind—”
“That won’t happen.”
“There’s so much about this we can’t predict, Raven. It’s rare because it’s a dragon trainer’s job to make sure it doesn’t happen, but if a dragon causes problems, that reflects on Moss Ranch as a—”
Leander snorted so forcefully that he had to turn away from the blast of hot breath thick with the meaty scent of dragon feed. “The only problem with dragons is your insistence on training us like animals. My decisions are my own, flyboy. No dragon trainer can take credit for any of them.”
“Yeah, I’m well aware of that.” He raised his hands in surrender and took a small, slow step back. “I didn’t call you a problem, Leander.”
“No. Merely a potential mark on your reputation.”
Pressing his lips together, the dragon trainer turned to Raven and gave her a knowing look.
“I’m not worried, William.” She set her bags in the dirt beside Leander. “You shouldn’t be either and besides, you’re not even the one who trained him.”
He uttered a wry chuckle. “I’m well aware of that too.”
“So, no problems and no potential problems. I’m glad we’re on the same page.” She turned toward her dragon and grinned. “Are you ready to fly?”
“Always.”
“I’m right there with you. Oh, I almost forgot. Headmaster Flynn’s old sad
dle is still in the stables with the other tack, right?”
William glanced at the stables. “I think so.”
With a nod, she put her hands on her hips and surveyed her bags. “Leander, this is kind of a first. Is it gonna be a problem to fly with me and two packed bags and a saddle?”
The dragon’s wings flicked out before they curled in again against his back. A jerking hiss escaped him. “If I were left on my own to roam free, little girl, I’d fly with a cow in my belly and a fat sheep in each paw.”
She snorted. “Noted. And to be clear, we won’t go after cattle or sheep tonight or any night.”
Leander’s tail curled around his hind leg. “Pity.”
After a playful frown at the dragon, Raven turned toward the stables. “We can bring Headmaster Flynn his old saddle while we’re at it. Grandpa’s sits like it was made for me anyway. Leander, I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
“I’m not even remotely tempted to tour the facilities.”
“I’ll take that as a ‘Sure, Raven. You can count on me.’”
William followed her into the stables and retrieved Teo’s riding tack from the wall as she located the worn black saddle with silver stitching.
“What are you doing?”
“Coming with you.” He smirked and threw the saddle over his shoulder. “You’re not the only one who likes long dragon flights at sunset. And someone who knows what they’re doing around a dragon needs to check that new pen at Fowler and make sure Leander has everything he needs. After that, the rest is up to you.”
“I can’t argue with that logic.”
“Excellent.”
Once Teo was fully saddled and ready to head out, William climbed on his back and slipped his boots firmly into the stirrups. He ran a hand up and down the silver dragon’s long neck and patted it. “It’s a nice evening for cloud-surfing, huh?”
“Indeed.”
With a grin, Raven waited for Leander to lower his belly to the dirt before she stepped up into the stirrup and swung her other leg over the saddle. The reins hung loosely from her hands to remind her that she’d had to use them less and less as her connection with him strengthened. She settled the straps of her satchel over both shoulders. Grandpa had the right idea. There’s a trick to traveling light. “The sun’s only up for a little while longer. Let’s fly!”
Leander stamped a front paw on the oilskin bag in front of him. She grimaced a little at the thought of Connor Alby’s journals crushed to a pulp. When the great red dragon beat his wings and rose swiftly and steadily into the air, however, the bag dangled safely from his razor-sharp claws. “Wait, we forgot the—”
Teo’s beating wings lifted him onto his hind legs before he scooped Headmaster Flynn’s old dragon saddle up and launched gracefully into the sky after Leander and his rider. Raven laughed and gave herself over to the flight. They are so much more than fire-breathing beasts. I wish more people knew that.
The wind whistled above and below Leander’s mighty wings and the looser membranes along their sides ruffled in the airstream as he soared across the sky and leveled out far above Moss Ranch and the open dragon field below. The buffeting current brought tears to her eyes, and she uttered a loud whoop and glanced at the reins on the saddle horn before she spread her arms wide.
“Hey, look! No hands!” William shouted from Teo’s back and laughed when she lowered her arms and looked at him in surprise. “I wouldn’t make that a habit, though.”
“Thanks for the advice.” She laughed at herself too and picked the reins up gently to hold them slackly in her hands. But if I did make it a habit, it wouldn’t matter. Our connection’s strong enough that I probably don’t even need the saddle.
To test that thought, she looped the reins over the saddle horn again and leaned forward to stroke Leander’s long, scaled neck. Go ahead and take the wheel. Wherever you wanna go for a little while before we head to the school. She patted the red, glistening scales once and Leander responded with a bellowed roar.
His wing dipped, and they banked to the right and slightly downward.
“What?” William tugged Teo’s reins gently toward the right, and they angled after Leander and Raven before they leveled beside them. “Did you lose your sense of direction in the sky, war mage? Fowler Academy’s the other way.”
Raven grinned at him and shrugged, her hands clearly not closed around the reins. “I’m not making him go from one pen to another without a little fun first. We still have time.”
With another laugh, William lifted Teo’s reins enough to make sure she saw the gesture while he held his dragon steady beside Leander.
She cupped one hand around her ear and turned her head. “What was that? Sorry. The wind’s too loud. I can’t hear you.”
Leander’s wings beat with a furious thump against the rushing wind and his muscles rose and fell beneath her. He took them higher toward the thin wisps of clouds against the orange and pink sky. She whooped again, and William watched the silhouette of dragon and rider climb above him and Teo.
Not bothering to rush after them, Teo bent his long neck enough to catch his rider’s gaze. “Those two are playing with fire up there.”
He chuckled. “That’s what they do, isn’t it? Mage and dragon?”
“You know I spoke metaphorically.”
“Yeah, I know, Teo.” It merely happens to be literal too. “You get philosophical, don’t you?”
“Only in the sky.” The dragon turned his head away and beat his wings to catch another current.
William nodded and looked at the wheeling black shadow of the most untrainable dragon to step foot on Moss Ranch. Only in the sky. It’s the best place to be.
Chapter Eleven
They soared over the grounds of Fowler Academy and approached from the southwest side across the open grounds moments before the last sliver of the setting sun faded behind the Mountains of Jared. William and Teo had pulled back slightly behind Raven and Leander, and her thick red braid streamed out behind her. At least she didn’t take him over the center of town. She knows what she’s doing, even if she’s not aware of it. Remember that.
Leander slowed when they reached the barn and descended gracefully. Raven patted his neck and focused on the dark shapes that moved around the side of the stables beside the huge domed barn. “Do you see that? It’s for you.”
“Do any of them know what they’re doing?”
“Actually, yes.” The shapes of Fowler Academy professors grew larger and easier to distinguish as they approached at a sedate speed. “Headmaster Flynn was a dragon rider in the Great War. Even if he’s the only one who knows about dragons, that’s good enough for me.”
“He fought with Connor Alby.”
She swallowed and glanced at the worn saddle horn in front of her. Her fingers moved instinctively to touch her mother’s pin on her jacket. “Yes. He did.” And maybe even with my mom.
“Then I have expectations of him.”
She laughed. “Many people do, I think.”
The people on the ground at the edge of the stables paused what they were doing and turned to watch the quickly descending dragons. A few of them stepped back when Leander pulled up and beat his wings to settle himself sinuously into the grass. Raven’s oilskin bag thumped down in front of them and William and Teo landed a few yards away.
“Good work.” She rubbed the dragon’s red scales again before he lowered his belly so she could dismount. His only reply was to incline his head and turn to look at her with one glowing yellow eye.
“Miss Alby.” Headmaster Flynn was the first to approach and his long gray beard fluttered against his chest with his quick pace.
To Raven’s surprise, the headmaster stopped a few yards in front of Leander and held the dragon’s gaze as he lowered his head in a small bow. She slid onto the grass, and her dragon’s head dipped ever so slightly toward Headmaster Flynn in return. Yep. Flynn knows dragons, all right. Even after fifty years without his.
&
nbsp; That thought made her set her hand gently against Leander’s muscular shoulder, which reassured them both. His head curved toward her enough to fix her with one eye, but he said nothing.
“So that’s his new home, huh?” She nodded past the headmaster toward Professors Fellows, Gilliam, and Ambrose, all of whom stared at the two dragons.
Flynn turned to look at the other professors and raised his voice a little more than necessary. “We’re almost finished but are still working on the last few details.”
Professor Fellows chuckled and turned toward the mostly built pen. He raised his hands toward their project to cast a few more pieces into place. The other professors jolted out of their fascination and returned to their task.
“Huh.” William walked toward the headmaster and stroked his chin as he watched the professor mages complete their work. “If we had mages around to do repairs, things would be much easier at the ranch. And more expensive.”
Flynn smiled knowingly at the dragon trainer. “I believe you’ve pinned that down very well.” He glanced quickly at Teo and gave the silver dragon a nod as well before he focused on Raven. “Miss Alby, I was under the impression that we would accommodate only one dragon at this school.”
“Oh, William and Teo came to see us off and make sure Leander gets settled in.”
“I don’t want to stay out long past dark, anyway.” William tried to restrain a chuckle. “Don’t worry, Headmaster. I’m definitely not trying to build a dragon ranch at Fowler Academy.”
The man’s smile widened and he leaned a little closer to them. “I might say that’s a good thing, Mr. Moss, but I would speak only for my staff and no doubt quite a few students’ parents. There’s a great deal to learn from spending time around dragons.” He straightened again and studied Leander with appreciation. “A great deal.”
“We agree on that.” William nodded toward the new pen, where the professors’ spells finished tacking the posts and latched a wide gate into place. “Do you mind if I take a look before Teo and I head back?”
