by Martha Carr
“He says he likes the grass better.”
“Yeah, they all say that until they start rolling in the dirt.” He flashed her a wide grin and slapped the top fence rail again. “Go on. Spit it out.”
“We need to let Leander out there with the others. We planned to the other day before I did all my packing and messed up the schedule. Also, I want to do something that’s completely for him.”
William released a long, slow breath through pursed lips, rubbed his jaw, and gazed at the dragons gathered in their clans on Moss Ranch. “I don’t know, Raven. I haven’t prepared for any of that today. I didn’t expect you. If the other dragons aren’t expecting him either, anything could happen.”
“Okay, forget the other dragons. Only his mother.”
He lowered both hands to his sides and stepped away from the fence. “You want to let him in there, on his own and where you might not be able to get to him, so he can see his mother.”
“Exactly. He deserves this much, at the very least. He shouldn’t have to in the first place, but Leander’s earned it. You can’t argue with me on that one, so don’t even try.”
“Oh, I know. There’s nothing to argue.” William’s hand came down on the top of his hat and he patted it a few times in a distracted way. “There’s not much we can do about it if the two of them decide to repeat his grand entrance again and break out on their own.”
“That won’t happen.” Raven folded her arms. “I know it won’t. He’d break my trust and turn away from everything we’ve done together. I trust him.”
For a few seconds, her friend simply studied her with narrowed eyes. “You really do. Okay, so why the sudden trip to Moss Ranch for a dragon family reunion?”
She swallowed, turned toward the sunbathing dragons, and willed the tears to not form in when she thought of her grandfather. “I think I understand more about what he’s going through. Right now, I think I’d give anything for a tight hug from Connor Alby and one of his old stories.”
“There it is.” She didn’t expect to see him grin at her when she turned to look at him. “And way faster than I thought.”
“What are you talking about?” The pain of missing her grandfather vanished when she laughed at the goofy way the dragon trainer tilted his head and examined her like she’d put a costume on.
“Your connection with Leander has been strong enough for him to feel what you’re feeling—distress, fear, excitement. He’s responded to your intentions for a while now. But this…” He slapped his hand down on his head and shoved the wide-brimmed hat askew. “This is you feeling your dragon, Raven Alby. You’re taking it to a whole new level.”
“Well, we were bound to get to that point anyway, weren’t we?”
“Uh-uh.” William pushed away from the fence and clapped briskly. “Most dragon trainers don’t get anywhere near that far. Maybe they don’t know it’s possible or perhaps they don’t want to feel their dragon’s emotions. I’ve reached that point a few times with Teo, but it’s only little glimpses and even those fade quickly.”
“He’s my familiar now too, you know. Not only my dragon.”
“Yeah…you know, part of me thinks that has nothing to do with it. You go distract him for a while, okay? I’m gonna take care of a few things first.”
“First?” Raven turned as her friend strode toward the barn.
He turned and his bootheels kicked dust up as he walked backward and spread his arms in an extravagant gesture. “And second, we’ll have a Moss Ranch reunion.”
She laughed as he disappeared into the barn and turned toward Leander, who still lay on his back in the dirt. “Did you hear that, Leander?”
His belly rose and fell in slow, contented breaths and he snorted. “I stopped listening when you said, ‘Daniel.’”
With a grin, she watched her dragon enjoying himself in the sun and bit her lip. He’s gonna love this.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Way down the fence on the other side of the dragon enclosure, William whistled and waved at Raven. She waved back and turned to look into Leander’s glowing yellow eyes. They seemed wider than usual and his nostrils flared with the occasional short burst of air. “Are you ready?”
“That’s a pointless question.”
“I only wanted to make sure.” Raven patted his shoulder and rubbed his flank a few times. Thin trails of dust shivered from beneath his scales. “Let’s go.”
The huge red dragon didn’t need to hear anything else. He moved quickly beside her and she grinned at the other red shape ahead of them. William said something she couldn’t hear to the other dragon, but it didn’t matter. She glanced at Leander again and maintained her pace. Any minute now, he’ll race toward her exactly like he did out of his pen.
But the closer they got, the slower he walked.
Finally, he stopped altogether with a few quick, nervous snorts and thumped a huge paw into the dirt.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Raven reached for him but he stepped away and his wings twitched out above their heads.
“I don’t…know.”
“What do you mean?” They’d made it halfway to William and the other red dragon at the far end of the enclosure. The trainer adjusted his hat and gestured as if to query the delay. “Leander, that’s your mother over there. I know you miss her and I know you shouldn’t have been kept away from her for as long as you were. I wanted to do this for you, and I…” She scratched her head in confusion. “Honestly, I thought you’d crash through the fence by now.”
“It’s been too long, Raven.” His wings flapped again to stir more dust, then settled immediately. He snorted and stepped aside, away from her and the dragon enclosure.
“No, it hasn’t. Hey. Come here.”
A puff of thick smoke burst from his nostrils, although he wasn’t nearly close enough to have the same burning, cough-inducing affect she knew all too well.
“You deserve this, Leander. You’ve always deserved it. I’ve heard you two screech to each other since the day you and I met. And look.” She pointed down the fence to where the other red dragon stood with her wings partially spread and her long neck swaying from side to side. “Your mother’s waiting for you. I think you’ve both waited long enough, don’t you?”
“Get rid of the trainer.” Leander turned away from the fence and lowered his head.
“William?”
“You can stay, but I don’t want him there.”
“Leander, he’s the one who’s making this possible right now—”
“No, he’s the son of the one who made this necessary right now. No trainers, little girl. If she and I are to meet each other again, it won’t be under a trainer’s eye. Not under command and not under judgment. I want…I want her to feel as free as I do. That won’t happen if he stands there waiting for something to go wrong.”
“Wow.” Raven shook her head quickly and rubbed her hands down her face. Never say a dragon can’t get emotional about his family. “Okay. I’ll go tell him. Do you wanna come with me, or—”
“When the trainer’s gone, Raven, I will come.”
“Right.” She took a deep breath and turned toward William and Leander’s mother.
He muttered something to the other red dragon, then hurried toward her on the opposite side of the fence. “What’s wrong?”
“I think he doesn’t believe this reunion is about to happen.” She looked over her shoulder and shook his head. “He’s nervous and a little scared. Probably embarrassed too and I didn’t know that was even possible.”
William cleared his throat. “Yeah, that happens sometimes. He knows she’s waiting for him, right?”
“He definitely knows—”
The red female dragon inside the enclosure uttered a piercing screech. Both Raven and William clamped their hands over their ears and the very same wailed call rose from Leander a second later. She lowered her hands. “That’s all they’ve been able to say to each other for how long?”
“A few yea
rs.” He frowned. “It’s not my favorite part of the job. I doubt any other trainer enjoys having to separate young dragons from their clan, but—”
“You were doing your job. And if Leander hadn’t been too stubborn to cooperate his way out of that pen, I wouldn’t have found him as easily—or maybe at all. That’s the silver lining I choose to take away from this. That and the fact that this is something he’s wanted for a long time.”
“I know, Raven.” William yanked his hat off his head, twisted it in both hands, and sighed heavily. “He wants it too much to let anything stand in the way at this point. Your dragon wants me to step aside, doesn’t he?”
“You know, for a dragon trainer who had one hell of a time with Leander, you sure do know him well.”
“Ha. You get to know anyone well enough when they throw you around a few times and are so stubborn, you start to lose sleep over it.” He rubbed the back of his neck in indecision and stared at the dirt at his boots before he looked at her. “All right. I’ll step aside.”
“Just like that?” She couldn’t quite let herself smile. I must feel Leander’s hesitation more than I realized.
“Just like that, Raven.” The dragon trainer braced himself with one hand on the top rail of the fence before he swung easily over it in one leap. He dusted his hand off and nodded toward Leander. “I know he doesn’t particularly like me. I’d say the feeling is mutual, but that’s only when I’m the one trying to make him understand what’s in both our best interests. You’re right, Raven. Leander deserves this and I don’t want to stand in his way again. If you trust him enough to handle it, so do I.”
She stared at him and her smile widened.
William glanced away, looked over his shoulder, and shrugged. “What?”
“You really do care about every single dragon that comes through here.”
“Of course I do. Jeez, I hope I never gave you a different impression.”
“No, no.” Raven shook her head and set a hand on his shoulder. “That’s not what I meant at all. I only… I always knew this was more than a job for you and I’ve seen you with Teo. But I imagine it’s a little harder to care about a dragon who’d rather burn you to a crisp than do anything a trainer says.”
A little awkward, he twisted his hat in his hands again and glanced quickly at her hand on his shoulder. “You caught me. It won’t be for a while but eventually, Moss Ranch will be completely my responsibility. I started early with dragons. Beyond you and the few other hired hands we have around here, I’d say those stubborn, regal, scaly creatures are more friend to me than anything else.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
“For what? All I did was jump over a fence—”
Raven stepped toward him and wound her arms around his neck for a quick, tight hug. His hand moved lightly to the center of her back and when she pulled away, they both laughed.
“It means a lot to Leander. And to me. And we wouldn’t have reached this point without you.” She released him and stepped away, her smile still in place. “That’s all.”
“Maybe I should up my game if common courtesy and trusting a few friends gets me a reaction like that.” He chuckled again through a confused-looking half-smile.
I think I embarrassed him, which wasn’t what I intended. “No, you don’t have to change anything. I’m gonna go get that stubborn, regal, scaly creature now if you don’t mind.”
“Go ahead.” The dragon trainer stepped away from the fence and gestured toward Leander. He watched Raven hurry toward her red dragon familiar and bunched his hat in his hands as he deliberately put a fair distance between himself and the fence along the dragon enclosure. Raven Alby, dragon rider and mage. What did I get myself into?
Leander sidestepped again as she approached him, his wings tucked closely against his back.
“Okay. You’re all good to go.”
“He agreed? William agreed?”
“Yes, he did.” She rubbed her hands together and turned to point at William Moss, who stood about a hundred yards away from the fence and nodded at them. “You see him over there, right? He trusts you. I trust you. So please, trust us for a little while longer. You’ll forget all about us as soon as you step into that enclosure.”
“I will.” He gave as close to a determined nod as a dragon could and raced down the line of the fence.
Raven had to jog to keep up with him and laughed when his mother uttered another piercing screech echoed not a second later by her son. The mage in training pushed herself hard when she realized something. The wards won’t let him in without an open gate.
She reached the gate at the far corner of the enclosure at the same time Leander did. Both red dragons moved swiftly to the fence and their heavy footsteps made the ground tremble. Her fingers fumbled with the latch when it slipped out of her hold, but she managed to open the gate. Leander stormed through it with his head held high.
“Go get her,” she whispered and latched the gate closed again. Her dragon spread his wings to their full span, turned, and strutted away from his mother. “What is he doing?”
The other red dragon—not quite three-quarters his size—stretched her neck into the air and screeched again. He reared on his hind legs with a mighty flap of his wings before his forepaws pounded together onto the ground. Snorting and huffing, he turned and faced his mother and the two great beasts circled each other in their private section of the enclosure. A few of the other dragons paused what they were doing to watch but most of them weren’t interested.
He’s not still nervous, is he?
The female dragon thumped all four huge paws into the dirt, going nowhere, and almost marched in place. She lowered herself almost to the ground—as if William approached her with a saddle—and stretched her neck toward her son.
“I see you.” Her voice was low, strong, and powerful. Massive wings extended to their full expanse to stir up thick clouds of dust, and her neck swayed from side to side again. “I see you.”
Leander snorted and stepped slowly toward her. He paused once to look at the other dragons minding their own business—not their clan, not their problem—and approached the other red far more slowly than Raven expected.
William was right. Anyone who calls a dragon a dumb beast has no idea what they’re talking about.
From his viewing position far from the fence, Raven, and the reuniting dragons, William shook his head in disbelief. “And I was surprised by how gentle he was with Raven. This is…wow.”
The closer he got to his mother, the farther he lowered himself into a crouch like she had. When he finally stopped, they’d settled themselves in the dirt with their wings outstretched and long necks raised toward each other. A few snorts and sniffs were exchanged, and Raven couldn’t tell if the low rumbling came from one dragon or both.
“You are bonded,” Leander’s mother said gently and moved her snout to the side of his face for another quick sniff.
“In a different way.” Leander’s head didn’t move now as his mother inspected him.
“Yes. A better way, perhaps.” The female nudged the side of her long snout against his, and a low rumble rose from his chest. “I feel it.” She moved her head away and rose out of her crouch a little. He backed away and did the same, still holding the older but much smaller dragon’s gaze.
Raven glanced from one to the other. “That’s it? That can’t be it. That was so—”
Leander tipped his head back to face the sky and released another piercing screech, although this one didn’t hold any of the mournful tones. His mother repeated the cry and he launched himself into the sky.
Raven didn’t have enough time to question it before the female surged after the larger red dragon. Her tail thumped against the dirt before it left the ground completely. A gust of wind blew dust and dirt and a few crushed weeds against the fence and Raven, but she could only laugh. She blinked and rubbed what was left of it out of her eyes and grinned at the two dragons as they wheeled through the air,
dipped and dove after each other, and shared one joyful screech after another. They didn’t venture too far above the others in their clans scattered across the enclosure, but they didn’t stay in one place for very long either.
“Would you look at that!” She slapped her hand on the top rail of the fence and whooped loudly. First Leander and then his mother screeched, and the mage in training found tears in her eyes again. It’s almost like they answered me this time. Even if that’s not it, this is the best thing I’ve ever seen.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Raven and William stood halfway between the enclosure fence and where the dragon trainer had stood to make Leander more comfortable. They’d watched the two red dragons soar over the enclosure, their red scales flashing in the sun against the glowing red membranes of their wings like flames through a frosted windowpane.
“This is incredible.” She laughed as they dove toward each other and their wings barely brushed as they passed close to the ground before they wheeled up in a wide, glittering circle.
“Believe it or not, it’s called dancing.” He smirked, his arms folded and his wide-brimmed hat securely on his head again.
“Oh, I believe it. It’s beautiful.”
“I’ve only seen it one other time. The dragons form bonds of their own with each other too. Obviously, there are the clans. Some clans are closer than others, exactly like some dragons.”
“They don’t all do this?” She couldn’t help but grin, even while she frowned at her friend.
“No. They don’t.” He laughed, the sound a little rough, then sniffed and rubbed under his nose.
She lowered her head to look under the brim of his hat. “Are you okay?”
“What? Of course I’m okay.” He sniffed again, turned away from her, and swallowed quickly. “Spring allergies get me every year. You’d think someone would have come up with a spell for that by now.”
“I bet an apothecary would have something.”
