Dragon Master (2 page)

I could hear Gable laughing at me from a few paces away, and looked up to see him still doing cool down exercises next to Bayrd. Forget that, the whole last lap was my cool down exercise. I just needed to lay here on the ground and rest.

“On your feet!”

Commander Hawk was standing above me, but he didn’t offer a hand to help me up. I saw that the last of the stragglers were completing their laps, and apparently the commander wasn’t going to allow slower Stone Souls like me time to rest. I was struggling to my feet when one of my fellow Stone Souls, Irvin, jogged over and offered me his hand to help me up. I tried to thank him, but could only manage a wheeze and slight nod. He smiled at me and slapped my back as he turned to give the commander his attention. I looked over to see how Boe was holding up and noticed that Kamelia was strolling down a garden lane toward us, holding a deep fried pastry to her lips. I snapped upright but didn’t take my eyes off her.

The commander said, “Before we break for breakfast, we’re going to have skirmishes. Pair up.” Boe ran over to pair up with me. He knew we’d be easy on each other after those laps, and we were both aware that I was pretty much at my worst before I’d gotten any breakfast in me. The commander looked at the two of us and frowned, then gestured to Bayrd and Gable who were several pairs down from us and said, simply, “Switch.”

I groaned and tried to find the strength to run over toward Gable. Gable was an idiot, and an ass, but I’d have to be suicidal to face Bayrd in a skirmish the state I was in. Boe ran by me though. It seemed he’d decided he didn’t want to face Bayrd either. I stopped and waited for the end to come. Bayrd practically swaggered over to me, running a gloved hand through his short cropped blonde hair before putting on his helmet. I groaned again and stole a glance at Kamelia before putting my own helmet back on. She was sitting on a bench at the edge of the garden, and was looking right at me. No, she was looking at Bayrd.

Well, this was probably it. This would be my last chance to make an impression on Kamelia before she disappeared for the ceremony, and then I might never see her again. I forced myself to take several long, deep breaths, and then I drew my sword and readied myself. Bayrd was already in a ready stance. The commander said a word and Bayrd was instantly attacking, driving his wooden practice sword forward in a lunge aimed straight at my midsection. I didn’t have the energy to dodge, so I awkwardly tried to bring my sword up for a parry. I wasn’t ready for a thrust opening attack, but then Bayrd was apparently just feinting. My meager defense met with no resistance, and my sword arm went flying into the air wildly, spinning me around. I could just die. Bayrd’s weapon came down on my helmet, and the commander called his name, signifying his victory.

He then called Boe’s name, and I looked up to see Gable staring amazed at Boe’s sword resting on his left thigh. At least one of us was doing well. The one of us that wasn’t facing Bayrd.

When all the other pairs had victors, the commander had us go again, and then again. I lost quickly two more times, and now Bayrd was berating me for my form and my reaction time. I tried to ignore him, and took another glance at Kamelia. I was thankful to see that she was looking down at her pastry, turning it over in her hands, and that she hadn’t been watching me get destroyed by Bayrd. Then, she did look back up, and right at me. Definitely right at me, and not at Bayrd who had his back to her. I looked over my shoulder to make sure and there was nobody else there. I looked back at her and she smiled. At me. For the first time in nineteen days. It had been a very long dry spell. I attempted to smile back beneath my helmet, then prepared for the next skirmish.

It began, and this time I was more determined than ever to win. Just one little win. I could do it. Bayrd tried to open with a feint again, but I dodged away from his followup attack and then got in a weak attack of my own that he parried easily. Bayrd spun his sword in a completely unnecessary showoff gesture and I impulsively leaned forward to jab my weapon at his, trying to knock it out of his control. I succeeded, sort of, since I lost control of my practice sword at the same time, and lost my balance as well. I stumbled forward into Bayrd and knocked him over, then landed on top of him, my hands landing around his neck. He sputtered something at me.

“Caedan,” called Commander Hawk. I’d done it! I’d won the skirmish! I’d defeated Bayrd, and with Kamelia watching the whole thing. “Get your sword and get back on your feet,” continued the commander. I hadn’t won; I’d just broken the rules of the skirmish. I swallowed a sigh and did as I was told.

We sparred eight more times before being released. I won exactly zero times.

It was time to eat breakfast. At last, something I’d be good at.

The Stoneflame festival arrived. In kingdoms like Rægena, the festival was a six-week long celebration that the court minstrels and jesters planned for a year or more. There would be new events every day, exotic foods and exotic animals brought in from across the Realm, old familiar songs would be played and new ones would debut. Rægena could celebrate, we had a Dragon Master; we had Walker Ebondell. When he wasn’t out on a dragon quest or some other official duty, Walker tended to stay in his keep, training tirelessly to stay in shape for the next Dragonbirth, his next dragon quest. But for the festival he and his retinue came out to the various parties, sampled the foreign delicacies, and picked out new women to join the ranks of the Master’s wives.

I knew I wouldn’t see Kamelia or any of the other wives at the festival. For them, the Stoneflame brought a very different kind of event, the Stoneflame ceremony. They were even now beginning the Watch, each guarded by a team of two veteran Stone Souls trading twelve-hour shifts. As a fourteen-year old Stone Soul, I would only have to spend a single day or evening on the Watch, learning what I’d be expected to do in five years time. Not that there was much to learn: you just sat in a room and made sure you didn’t let your assignment out of your sight. Every day. For six weeks. Well, every day save one. So I was going to enjoy my last Stoneflame festival to its fullest.

“Let’s try the Fællan Flamespirit steaks next,” Daija said. “We’d better have another glass of starberry juice on hand first. I hear those steaks live up to their namesake.”

Daija and the rest of Boe’s family had only just arrived late that morning, but I was already getting tired of being told what to do. Boe’s parents had whisked Boe away as soon as they’d arrived, requesting a tour of the grounds. As if anything had changed since they’d been here last, two years ago. That left me with Daija and her demands.

I looked around desperately for someone else that I could trap into joining us, then it would be two against one. I spotted Bayrd’s golden hair from a distance and guessed that I’d see Gable somewhere following behind him, his own personal human lap dog. Sure enough, there was Gable, and there were two younger girls giggling excitedly at whatever it was Gable was saying. He was gesturing wildly and kept glancing over at Bayrd to make sure he wasn’t missing any of it. I kept searching the crowd until I noticed Irvin at the back of the line for the Fællan foods booth. I motioned for Daija to follow me then took off at a sprint to catch up with him. Daija matched me step for step. Well, sure, I’d spent the past day being tortured mercilessly by Commander Hawk, I wasn’t in the best condition of my life right about now.

“Hey Irvin,” I said when we caught up with him. I hunched over and put my hands on my knees, taking deep breaths. Irvin greeted me, and then stuck his hand out to introduce himself to Daija.

“Daija Valora,” she said, shaking Irvin’s hand and then performing a half curtsey, pulling the long ruffles of her ceremonial Stoneflame blouse out from her body in a flourish. Everyone wore silly looking formal clothing throughout the festival, usually in deep shades of red with silver embellishments. Daija’s outfit was particularly fancy and impractical, especially when compared to the relatively drab straightforward ceremonial outfits that Stone Souls were given to wear. I felt a little restricted in my silk vest and fitted dress pants, but at least my ceremonial garb would keep me warm in the chilly breeze.

“You’re really Boe’s sister?” Irvin’s question was rhetorical, but also mock incredulous, and this caused Daija to blush and turn away shyly. I looked at Daija and could see where Irvin was coming from. Daija was taller than her twin brother by a couple of inches, and filled out her ceremonial Stoneflame blouse while Boe in his outfit had looked more like he was a street cat dressed in a blanket. Daija’s eyes were similarly hazel, but had a sparkle of green in them that had shown for a moment when she’d blushed. And her hair was flowing and brown with reddish highlights in contrast to Boe’s wild red curls. Plus, of course, she was a girl.

“I hope they have starberry juice at this booth too, I hear the Fællan Flamespirit steak is really hot,” I told Irvin. Daija laughed and rolled her eyes and I realized I was repeating what she’d just told me. Oh well.

“Right idea,” said Irvin, “but they don’t have any here, they basically only drink muddy water in Fælla. Why don’t you go get three glasses of juice and we’ll meet you back here?”

I agreed, happy to have an excuse to get away from Daija and be on my own for a few minutes. As I was walking away, I could hear Daija laughing softly at something Irvin whispered to her. Life at the academy could make a guy lonely enough that he’d flirt with anything female, I guess.

***

The evening’s entertainment was the first round of the Realm’s Tournament, an event that other boys my age had spent the past year competing to qualify for. For many, the Tournament offered up a rare chance to travel all around the Realm and see the far-off places that normally only came to your region in small doses during events like the Stoneflame festival. As for me, I knew that I could end up traveling anywhere during a dragon quest, so I wasn’t upset that I wasn’t allowed to participate in the qualifying rounds to enter the Tournament. Besides, it wasn’t as if I’d have stood a chance in them anyway.

Irvin, Daija, and I met up with Boe and his parents, Verrill and Tahlor, just as everyone was filing into the training grounds. Long rows of benches were set up, and as each filled with people it was lifted into the air by powerful wizards that Rægena brought in for the festival. I felt as though I would be sick as our bench was lifted. We wobbled unsteadily forward before leveling out and lifting to a set height that afforded us an unobstructed view of the training grounds. It was strange seeing my home of the past decade transformed so much, even though it should have been familiar to me since they did the same thing five years ago.

“This should be good,” I said, trying to start up a conversation with Boe. When he didn’t respond I looked to my right and saw that he was listening to something Daija was telling Irvin at the end of the bench. He hadn’t heard me.

“Yes, I always do enjoy the Tournament,” Boe’s father responded to me with a wink.

The fiery-haired hulk of a man was sitting to my left, which was a little unnerving since he had no arm on the right side of his body, only a stump where his arm had once been. He’d been a Stone Soul and lost his arm battling a dragon long ago. He was lucky that he’d survived at all, but another member of his dragon quest had been able to jump in to deliver a killing blow to the dragon. I thought about how terrifying and exhilarating that situation must have been when Verrill had stabbed through the dragon’s heart and the dragon hadn’t fallen. I wondered if he even bothered to continue to fight as the dragon tore off his arm, or if he just dropped to his knees and accepted his fate once he learned that he was not a Dragon Master. It was a question I would certainly never ask him, and while he could be liquored up enough to tell the story of how Master Perceval saved his life, he never got into those more personal details. I couldn’t blame him.

We watched a half dozen rounds of highly entertaining combat. The Tournament used combat rules similar to the ones we used at the academy in skirmishes, so it was easy to follow the action. There were combatants of all sorts, some relied on well developed strength, others on cunning and quick reflexes, while still others seemed to rely on gimmicks and tricks to score victories in unexpected ways. I found myself cheering for the little guys, though they seemed to have less success than the more muscular combatants.

When the Tournament reached a halfway point, the benches were lowered so that we could go get drink refills, snacks, and relieve ourselves. I felt queasy again when the bench started to move and feared that the steak kabobs I’d eaten were going to come out like so much Dragonsfire. Their hot spices hadn’t gone down very well, and I desperately wanted to avoid finding out how well they would come back up. I closed my eyes and held my breath even after I felt the clunk of the bench landing.

Daija came to ask me whether I wanted to get some spicy pretzel sticks with her and Boe, but I just kept my mouth shut and ignored her until she threw her hands in the air and left me alone. What was it with that girl and fiery foods?

I looked up and saw Commander Hawk through a break in the crowd. He was walking with Gable and Bayrd, talking with more vigor than I could remember ever seeing before. I decided to make my way through the crowd to see what was happening. When I reached them and understood what was happening, I smiled. Gable was preparing to skirmish with one of the combatants who had won his match earlier in the Tournament. I wished I had some popped corn because this promised to be a good show.

The first round went slowly, the unfamiliar opponents circling each other, sizing each other up but neither committing to an attack. Finally, the competitor sprang into action, slamming his sword forward so fiercely that he knocked Gable’s sword to the ground. He then brought the blunt wooden tip of his sword to Gable’s throat and laughed out loud as his victory was called. The next round didn’t go much better for Gable, though at least he was able to hold on to his sword throughout the match. They fought two more times, with Commander Hawk and Bayrd getting visibly more agitated each time Gable fell to the challenger. I was starting to feel bad for Gable, and for Commander Hawk, but then I began to notice certain patterns in the combatant’s attacks. He was always most slow and deliberate in his moves immediately before striking out with his winning move, and it was fooling Gable every time. I was sure that Bayrd wouldn’t fall for it if he got a chance to challenge the competitor, and the honor of the Stone Souls would be restored.