Fledgling (The Dragonrider Chronicles) (18 page)

That
something
rolled across the ground toward me and came to a stop
right in front of my feet.

It was some kind of orb, a big round
stone the size of a grapefruit. It sat there at my feet, peek out from a
charred cloth it had been wrapped in, and I could see that it was a milky,
bright green color. There were strange markings on it like splotches of gold,
but it didn’t look like anything that had been drawn onto it by hand. The marks
looked natural, like they had just formed that way somehow, but I couldn’t see
enough of the stone to tell if the marks made any patterns or designs.

The minute I saw it, I felt like I
couldn’t move. It was splattered in burning oil from the jug, and I got this
eerie feeling that the stone was
looking
back at me. My whole body got cold. My hair stood on end. I felt short of
breath, and suddenly that pressure in my chest became so intense that it hurt.
My head started burning again. But I couldn’t look away. I was caught up in
staring at the stone, feeling like I was drowning under its pale green surface.

“Don’t look at it!”
Sile
was right behind me. He smacked his only working hand
over my eyes and started pulling me away.

Immediately, I snapped out of my
trance.

He was right. This is the chance we’d
been hoping for.

Together,
Sile
and I ran for the front gate. We dodged screaming prisoners who were running
from their burning shacks, guards trying to put out the fires, and falling jugs
that exploded into new bursts of flame.
Sile
was hurt
badly. He had a hard time running, but he couldn’t exactly lean on me since I
was half his size. He staggered and stumbled, and a few times I had to use all
my strength to keep him from falling.

Finally, I saw the gate. It was
cracked open already, and Felix was standing just outside it with his eyes wide
in horror at the chaos we’d unleashed. I saw him looking through the blazing
madness, desperately searching for us. When he spotted us struggling to get
away from the chaos, he didn’t hesitate for a single second. He sprinted toward
us and put
Sile’s
good arm around his shoulder,
helping him along as we made our final dash for the open prison camp gate.

As we ran out of the prison gate, my
spirits soared with new hope. We had made it out.
Sile
was with us. We had rescued him. And I thought for an instant that it was over.
I thought we were free.

I was wrong.

When we stopped to catch our breath,
waiting for Beckah to descend with Mavrik and Nova and carry us away into the
night, I made the mistake of looking back. From back inside the prison camp, I
heard a deafening roar that shook the ground under my feet. Dragon flame burst
through the prison camp gate, melting the iron and turning it to a pile of
molten mush in a matter of seconds.

Icarus
came crawling out of the inferno like
a demon straight out of the pits of hell. His red eyes gleamed, and the flames
danced over his glossy black scales. He hissed, baring rows of dripping fangs
as he charged straight for us, ready to burn us all to ash. On his back, I
could see the Lord General sitting in the saddle with his sword still drawn. I
could have sworn I heard him laughing over the roaring of his dragon and the
rush of the flames.

Icarus
was coming for us, and there was no
way we could outrun him. Huddled together, looking into the fires of doom,
Felix,
Sile
, and I exchanged a meaningful look. This
was it. We were trapped like rats, with nothing to cling to now except each
other.

I closed my eyes again for a moment,
and then looked up to the sky. Finding that quiet place in my mind was easy for
some reason, even in the face of certain death. The sound of
Icarus
growling became distant, and my thoughts were
crystal clear.

“Don’t come down here, Mavrik.” I told
him. I knew he would hear, and he’d be furious that I was refusing his help
again. “We can’t let Beckah get hurt. If you bring her down here, she would be
killed with the rest of us. I can’t let that happen, so don’t land. It’s all
right.”

Then something strange happened,
something that had never happened before.

Mavrik answered me.

It wasn’t with words. I saw a flash of
images in my mind, like a dream only I wasn’t sleeping. Mavrik was sending me
these images, communicating with me through pictures and colors. First he
showed me a flash of our first encounter, when I’d made my deal with him. Then
he showed me the giant
paludix
turtle that I’d called
out of the marsh. Finally, I saw myself standing in front of
Icarus
, while the huge king drake lowered his head in
submission.

Suddenly, I knew what I had to do.
Mavrik had given me the answer. I stood up, pushing away from the others and
beginning to walk toward
Icarus
.

Felix shouted after me, “What are you
doing
?!
”

I didn’t look back at him. “I’m going
to have a word with the king.”

Icarus
came to a halt directly in front of
me. He towered so far above me that he blended into the night sky, and all I
could see of his head were his two glowing red eyes. He snarled, his lips
curling back to show me rows of jagged teeth that were dripping with that
burning venom.

“Crush his bones,” the Lord General
commanded. “Leave nothing but ash for his friends to bury.”

Icarus
hissed and seemed happy to oblige. He
started to lower his massive spine-covered head down toward me. I could hear
him taking in a breath, preparing to blast me with a spray of his flame.

I knew what I had to do.
Icarus
was a king drake, the most powerful of his kind.
Sile
had told me before that once dragons chose their
riders, that they shared a bond of
comradery
, but now
they were treated more like livestock. That was why my connection with Mavrik
was so special; he had chosen me and accepted me as his rider of his own free
will. But chances were, that hadn’t been the case for
Icarus
.
Now, I was about to put that to the ultimate test.

“Great king, please hear me,”
I called out to
Icarus
.
I went down onto one knee before the king drake, showing him reverence he’d
probably never been given before. “Why are you taking orders from a rider you
didn’t choose? He’s ordering you to kill me, but I come to you with respect and
ask you to show me mercy. Remember who you are. Don’t let this human rule you.
You owe him nothing!”

           
Icarus
paused. His bottomless red eyes were
staring right at me, boring into my soul. I could sense how powerful he was,
how wise and old. And now he was listening to me.

           
“What
right does he have to command you?” I continued. “A king should have the right
to choose who rides upon his back. No one should force that choice upon you, or
any of your kin! Take back your freedom!”

           
 
The king drake growled. I saw his big nostrils puff, sampling
my scent with a deep
breath
that made my hair blow
wildly around my head.

           
“What
are you doing
?!
” The Lord General screamed with rage.
“You stupid beast, do as you’re told! Burn him until his bones are nothing but
charred coals!”

           
All
of a sudden,
Icarus
turned on him. He spread his
leather black wings, reared back onto his hind legs, and let out another
booming roar. But this time, it wasn’t directed at me.

           
As
I started to run back toward
Sile
and Felix, I saw
the king drake whip his head around and strip the saddle off his back with his
teeth, taking the Lord General with it. I heard the sound of screaming,
pleading, and dragon teeth against armor. I couldn’t bear to watch
Icarus
devour his own rider, so I just ducked my head and
kept running.

           
Felix
and
Sile
were already hobbling away as fast as they
could. When I caught up to them, I tried to help Felix carry
Sile’s
weight. We made it away from the burning prison camp
safely to the rolling grassy hills of the farmland beyond. By then, the
dragonriders from the castle were circling over head, looking for what had
caused this mess, but Mavrik and Nova were already long gone. Soldiers and
people from the city were trying to put out the blaze.

I, for one, wasn’t sad at all to see
that horrible place go up in smoke.

           
We
laid
Sile
down in the grass, and sat down to catch
our breath. We didn’t speak at first. Instead, we just sat there watching the
prison camp burn against the night sky.

           
Sile
grabbed my arm and squeezed it tightly, looking up at
me with a sense of urgency. “Never do that again,” he growled.

           
“Call
to a dragon?” I wasn’t sure what he meant. I’d done a lot of things recently I
probably shouldn’t have.

           
“No,”
he said hoarsely, and his grip on my arm weakened a little. “Risk your life for
mine.”

twenty
-one

Beckah
was waiting for us at the corner of the same farmer’s field where we had stolen
the tools. She was standing between Mavrik and Nova with the night wind blowing
in her long dark hair. When she saw us coming, her eyes filled with tears, and
she ran toward us with her arms open wide.

Beckah hugged her father tightly, and
he put his good arm around her while he kissed the top of her head. “Beck!” His
voice quavered, and I saw tears in his eyes as well. “What are you doing here?”

It was a long story, and there wasn’t
time right then to go hash it all out for him. It would just have to wait. We
had to get as far away from that prison camp as possible.
Sile
saddled up with Felix, Beckah sat with me, and we took off into the twilight
and left the prison camp far behind.

As she sat in front of me, I saw
Beckah smiling again. It made my stomach swim with nervousness. She took my arm
and wrapped it around her waist so she could squeeze it tightly, and my insides
just squirmed harder.

“Thank you so much, Jae,” she said,
looking back at me over her shoulder. “You’re amazing.” She was sitting so
close to me that her nose almost touched mine when she turned back to see me. I
could count every freckle on her cheeks and nose.

I blushed so hard I could barely see
straight. “You’re welcome.” I didn’t know what else to say.

Over on Nova’s back, I caught a
glimpse of
Sile
staring at us. He didn’t look very
happy. In fact, I could have sworn he was glaring daggers at me. I quickly
leaned back away from Beckah, and took my arm out from around her waist.

It was a long trip back to Blybrig. We
flew all the way without stopping, finally landing outside the breaking dome as
the sun began to set. There was a big group of instructors and students waiting
there for us as soon as we touched down. I noticed that there were also armored
city guards from
Halfax
standing around, men the king
must have sent. I recognized the style of their armor from when I lived with my
mother in the ghetto. That made dread hit me like a kick to the gut.

The other instructors were quick to
help us get
Sile
down out of the saddle. They carried
him toward the infirmary, because he was so weak. As he disappeared through the
crowd, Beckah followed closely behind and held on to his good hand. Felix and I
were left standing there awkwardly by our dragons, wondering what would happen
to us now.

Everyone was staring right at us.
Students, instructors, even the guards were just standing there with
expressions I couldn’t interpret. No one said a word.

Felix and I looked horrible. We were
both still wearing the tunics Felix had cut out of old grain sacks, and we were
caked with smelly mud from the marsh. We were filthy, hungry, and completely
exhausted. But no one was looking at us with pity or sympathy. No one seemed
glad to see us, either. I couldn’t help but wonder if we were about to be
kicked out of Blybrig, or arrested. I didn’t even want to think about how many
rules we had broken.

Finally, the somber-faced instructor
standing nearest to me went down onto one knee, putting a fist on the ground as
he bowed to us. Like a ripple, all the others in the crowd began to do the
same—even the guards from
Halfax
. Felix and I
exchanged a wide-eyed glance. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was
pretty certain no one had ever bowed to a halfbreed like this before.

No one tried to stop us when we
finally went to put our dragons away in the Roost. I took my time removing
Mavrik’s
saddles and feeding him big hunks of raw meat. I
ran my hands over his scaly head, scratching him behind the ears until I heard
him begin to purr. He looked at me with his bright yellow eyes. I got an eerie
feeling when I remembered how he’d spoken back to me at the prison camp. He
really did understand it when I talked to him, and he now could communicate
back.

“Thank you,” I said as I rubbed his
snout. “I’m lucky to have you as a partner.”

Mavrik made a happy chirping noise,
and the image of us flying together flashed through my mind. It startled me. I
couldn’t stop grinning at him. “Get some rest. I’d say we’ve both earned it.”

He didn’t waste any time. He bedded
down in his nest of straw, putting his nose on his tail and closing his eyes. I
could still hear him purring to himself as I left his stall and went back down
the stairs.

I knew that sooner or later, Felix and
I were going to have to answer for what we’d done. It wasn’t like no one had
noticed we were missing. But thankfully, training had been suspended until we
were found. And now that we were back, Academy Commander
Rayken
gave everyone a few days to settle down before training resumed. It gave me
time to eat and sleep as much as I wanted.

Three days later, early in the
morning, Felix and I got the order that Commander
Rayken
wanted to see us immediately. Felix looked nervous, but I had already come to
terms with the fact that this was probably the end of my career as a
dragonrider. I was going to take all the blame, since it had been all my idea
in the first place, and Commander
Rayken
was going to
formally dismiss me from Blybrig. At least, that’s what I was expecting.

Dressed in clean fledgling uniforms,
we walked together to his office without saying a word. We didn’t look at each
other as we climbed the stairs and waited outside the door. Felix knocked, and
I heard Commander
Rayken’s
voice telling us to come
inside.

           
We
stood side by side at attention in front of his desk with our hands clasped
behind our backs. I didn’t dare meet his
eyes
as
Commander
Rayken
looked us over with a steely
expression. It was hard to tell what kind of mood he was in, since I had only
seen him a few times before, and he apparently never smiled. He had hard lines
on his face from his constant frown, and something about his features reminded
me of an old cranky owl.

           
“You
two have made my life very complicated, as of late,” he said at last. “First
with the saddle nonsense, and now this.”

           
“Sir,”
Felix spoke up suddenly. “Permission to speak freely?”

           
 
The Commander narrowed his eyes and
nodded.

           
“This
was my fault, sir. I take sole responsibility for what happened.” He squared
his shoulders, looking like he was having a hard time holding himself together.

           
At
first, all I could do was stare at him. I didn’t even realize my mouth was
hanging open until a few minutes had gone by. “B-but that’s not—”

           
Felix
shot me an angry look. “It was, Jae. I could have stopped you from leaving
Brinton’s estate, but I didn’t. I’m the oldest, so I’m responsible.”

           
“It’s
admirable to try and spare him from punishment,” the Commander interrupted us
suddenly. “But I’m afraid your friend came to me personally in the ballroom
asking for my help. You were nowhere in sight, Mr. Farrow.”

           
Felix’s
face flushed, and he glared down at the tops of his boots. He didn’t say
anything else.

           
Commander
Rayken’s
gaze turned on me then, and I found myself
wrenching my sweaty hands together behind my back. “Do you remember when you
first came here?” he asked me. “Lieutenant Derrick was adamant that I should
allow you to join our brotherhood. He insisted that having you here would help
restore our fading legacy of honor and discipline.”

           
I
tensed, waiting for the axe to drop. As ready as I’d thought I was before to
hear him kick me out of Blybrig, I was so nervous I was shaking. I didn’t want
my time as a dragonrider to be over.

           
Commander
Rayken
sighed as he leaned forward to rest his elbows
on his desk. “As much as it pains me to admit it—he was right.”

           
I
was stunned. For the second time, I couldn’t speak. All I could do was stand
there, staring at him with my mouth hanging open again.

           
“You
have demonstrated courage that only befits a dragonrider,” he went on.
“Apparently, in saving your sponsor, you also prevented the success of a plot
to defile a sacred artifact that would have granted the Lord General
immortality. That power hungry fool stole from the king, paid off some of the
royal elite guards to join his cause, and infiltrated my academy. He betrayed
his own brothers, whom he had sworn to protect and lead as Lord General, in the
most profound way imaginable. It’s only fitting that
his own
dragon went mad and devoured him. Good riddance.”

           
Felix
and I exchanged a meaningful glance. We both knew
Icarus
hadn’t really gone mad. I had been the one encouraging the king drake to rebel,
although eating the Lord General was entirely the dragon’s idea.

           
“You’re
talking about the god stone?” I dared to ask.

           
The
Commander just sighed again, fidgeting with papers on his desk. “Yes. The
arcenstone
, though some call it the god stone. The king
prizes it as the crown jewel of his reign. It’s all magical nonsense, really.
It’s ridiculous, thinking a rock could grant anyone immortal life.”

           
I
felt a little queasy when I thought about the stone I’d seen through the flames
in the prison camp. That milky green orb wrapped in a cloth had lain right at
my feet. It entranced me somehow, as though it had some sort of force to pull
me in. Remembering it gave me chills.

“But why did he want to kill
Sile
?” I murmured under my breath. I recalled that the Lord
General had said something about a ritual that needed to be performed. “What
did
Sile
have to do with a ritual like that?”

           
“Why
don’t you ask him yourself?” Commander
Rayken
grumbled. “He’s leaving this afternoon. The infirmary has declared him
physically unfit for duty. He’s being medically discharged as of today. From
now on, you will both be sponsored by Lieutenant
Rordin
.”

           
It
took a moment for that to sink in.
Sile
wasn’t coming
back. He wouldn’t be my sponsor anymore. The minute I got that news, it felt
like my career was doomed.
Sile
had looked out for me
and been forgiving to my small size and pathetic strength. He’d never cared
that I was a halfbreed. I didn’t know who Lieutenant
Rordin
was, but I seriously doubted he was going to approve of me.

I looked at Felix, wondering if he’d
known about this already. Judging by the total shock I saw on his face, clearly
he hadn’t.

“Training will formally resume
tomorrow, so I suggest you both prepare,” Commander
Rayken
said, wafting his hand at us as though he were shooing us away. “You are
dismissed.”

As soon as we got back outside, Felix
turned to me with a sly grin. He grabbed my shoulders with excitement, and
started shaking me like a rag doll. “Can you believe that
?!
Do you have any idea how lucky we are? I thought for sure we were both about to
get the boot!”

I smirked back at him. “So did I, but
we should probably go talk to
Sile
.”

His smile faded a little, and he let
me go. “Yeah. He’s bound to be pretty upset about getting medically
discharged.”

To be honest, the idea of seeing
Sile
again made me nervous. I didn’t know what would be
left of the man I’d looked up to like, well, like the father I’d never really
had.
Sile
had always been so dignified and proud, a
true dragonrider in my mind. Seeing him battered, broken, and now officially
dismissed from service was going to be difficult.

We made our way to the infirmary
building as the sun was beginning to dip below the mountains. When we arrived,
a medic in a white tunic told us to wait in the foyer while he asked if
Sile
was willing to have visitors. I’d never been in the
infirmary before, but it had a very pungent odor from all the medicines. When
the medic returned, he told us to follow him and showed us the way up a flight
of stairs to the second floor. There were lots of rooms for patients, but most
of them were empty with only a single clean, white bed inside.

           
Sile
was sitting on the edge of his bed with his whole left
arm wrapped layer upon layer of gauze. I could see that his forearm was
splinted, and only the tips of his fingers peeked out of the dressings. His lip
was still swollen, he had a nasty bruise on his jaw and around one of his eyes,
but he still managed to look like the proud warrior he was.