Avian (The Dragonrider Chronicles) (14 page)

I looked straight at Bren. He looked about eighteen. His black hair was pulled back into a short ponytail like before, and his features were soft and almost babyish. His dark eyes stared at me with a mixture of awe and relief. He wasn’t very tall, but he was stocky and must have been pretty strong. He was a blacksmith’s apprentice, after all.

I thought about what he had done during the fight. He’d obeyed my every order, and fought bravely at my side. It was strange, but out of the three of them, I got the feeling he was the one I could trust the most.

“It’s all right,” I said. “He’s fine.”

Bren blinked as though he were trying to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “Y-you sure about that? He’s snarling at me.”

“I wasn’t talking to you.” I glanced back at Mavrik, who was still swishing his tail angrily. He hadn’t forgotten what had happened the last time I saw Katty and Bren together. Seeing them flirting with each other had filled me with anger and confusion before. But when I looked at them now, something was different. Without speaking, I tried to tell him that.

I locked gazes with Katty again and I felt… nothing. No pain. No resentment or anger. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“The dragon understands you?” Bren still looked amazed.

I nodded and handed Bren his sword back. So much for keeping my special ability a secret. “Usually he listens to me. I’m not making any promises, though. You might want to keep your distance.”

Strolling over to one of the dead wolves, I put my boot on its neck and pulled my knife out of its head. That simple hunting knife was turning out to be awfully handy. It had saved my life more than once now. It was like a good luck charm.

I could feel Katty staring at me as I walked toward where she was sitting in the snow. She was holding her father’s head in her lap. It was hard to tell if she was happy, sad, angry, or just confused. Maybe she was trying to process the situation. Or maybe she was trying to figure out how I had grown almost two feet taller in a few weeks.

Mr. Crookin was conscious, but I could tell he was in a lot of pain. I saw right away where he had been bitten by one of the wolves. The bite was deep, and his leg was bleeding badly. I used my knife to cut away his pant leg to get a better look. Even though my medical training wasn’t very extensive, I knew I could treat something like this. At least, I could make sure he wouldn’t bleed to death before they made it to Blybrig.

“Get me a belt, or a strap. Something to stop the bleeding,” I ordered.

“Right!” Bren ran off obediently.

I tried to smile at Mr. Crookin, who was staring at me with a glazed look in his eyes. He had snowflakes in his bushy beard, and even from that distance I could smell the scent of scorched metal on his clothes. It brought back memories of being in the forge when Katty and I were younger.

“I’ll get you fixed up. You can be back on the road by morning. They’ll be able to see to it properly at the infirmary,” I told him. Then I looked at Katty. It made her flinch, as though she were afraid of me. “Try to get him into the back of the wagon. We need to move away from here. The smell of blood might bring other predators.”

She stared and didn’t say a word. It was really uncomfortable.

I left them to retrieve my bag from Mavrik’s back. He snorted at me when I came close, flashing me a look that I understood even without the visual aid in my mind; an image of the last time I’d talked to Katty. We had argued, and it hadn’t ended well. I wasn’t the sharpest person when it came to girls, but even I could tell things still weren’t okay between us.

“I know, I know,” I muttered as I slung my travel bag over my shoulder. “I’m not exactly thrilled about it either, you know. But I can be civilized. Hopefully she can, too. Besides, I’m not going to let Mr. Crookin bleed to death. So just stay close, okay? Make sure we don’t get any more surprise guests. And don’t eat Bren.”

Mavrik chirped at me and took off, stirring up the snow as he went. When it settled, I found myself staring at the huge cat’s dead body again. All my life, I’d heard of animals like this living deep in the mountains. This was the first time I had ever actually seen one, though. Even when I traveled on the same path through the mountains alone with my father last year, we hadn’t seen anything like this. Ulric always kept a fire going when we made camp. He’d told me once that fire and the smell of humans was enough to keep anything dangerous away. These kinds of animals weren’t used to the smells and sounds of people.

I stared down at the cat’s body and remembered the sense of chaos that had come off of it. Something about it wasn’t right. I just couldn’t figure out what.

When I climbed into the back of the covered wagon, Mr. Crookin was talking quietly with his daughter. I couldn’t hear exactly what he said, but I know I heard him mention my name a few times. As I approached them, they both went silent and stared up at me. It made things even more awkward.

Katty helped her father into one of the small beds, and started taking his boots off. She scooted as far away from me as she possibly could when I came over and put my bag down. I tried not to pay her any attention. In such close quarters, it was difficult. She was acting like I might decide to hit her or something, even though I had never once tried to hurt her in my life. I knew better than to ever raise a hand against a girl. I’d seen my father do it enough times to understand no good came of it.

I took out my small first aid box, and carefully laid out all the tools, gauze, and salve I would need. I didn’t have much. This kit was supposed to be for emergencies. I wondered if I should try healing him the same way I had healed Sile’s wife. But I quickly shook those thoughts from my mind; I’d already revealed one secret today. I wasn’t even sure I could trust these people anymore. And compared to talking to dragons and animals, healing someone with my touch was bound to raise a few eyebrows. It might even get me in serious trouble if someone at Blybrig found out.

“Bring hot water,” I told Katty. “I have to sterilize the needle before I can start.”

She still didn’t speak to me. She got up, and left the wagon without a single word. Even though I wanted to ignore her, I couldn’t help but watch her go. She had changed so much since last year. Sure, she was beautiful, but her personality was totally different. I wasn’t sure I liked it. She was like a stranger to me now.

“She’s a stubborn girl,” Mr. Crookin said in his gruff voice. I guess he felt bad about the cold way she was treating me.

“It’s fine.” I started inspecting his wound, trying to wipe away the blood so I could see where I needed to stitch.

Mr. Crookin made a snorting noise. “Well, it seems you haven’t changed much after all,” he said. “You know, you might do better in life if you got angry every now and then. Especially when people deserve it.”

I didn’t answer.

Bren came in suddenly, holding a leather belt out to me. “Here. This is what you wanted, right? We got a small fire going outside using some of that dragon venom. We should have hot water soon.” He sat down nearby, and I noticed that he couldn’t even look at the wound without his face getting pasty white. The sight of blood must have made him sick.

I used the belt to make a tourniquet. When Katty came in lugging a pot of steaming hot water, I sterilized the needle and used a wet washcloth to clean the wound. Then I started sewing it shut. I have to give Mr. Crookin some credit for being a tough old man. He didn’t flinch even once. When I finished, I smeared some smelly herbal salve over the wound so it wouldn’t get infected. Finally, I wrapped it in a few layers of gauze.

“That should hold you for a few days.” I smiled at Mr. Crookin as I finished bandaging his leg. “Sorry if it hurt. This was my first time treating a real wound.”

Mr. Crookin nodded in thanks. “You did fine, boy.”

“I checked the axel, Master Crookin.” Bren piped up suddenly. He was looking better now that the bloody part was over. “It’s not broken. It came out of line. If we can readjust it, then we could get back underway.”

“I’ll help you. He shouldn’t move around too much. It might pull the stitches out.” I offered as I packed up my first aid kit and put it back in my bag. “Then I’ll be out of your way.”

Bren frowned like he was disappointed. He looked toward Katty as though he hoped she would say something to stop me. She didn’t. She still refused to speak while I was there.

“At least let us feed you a meal before you go,” Bren insisted. “You saved our lives. Those wolves came out of nowhere. I’ve never seen them attack a wagon like that.”

I shook my head. “Neither have I.”

“And then the mountain cat.” Bren was starting to sound nervous. “It’s just like those guards said…”

“Guards?” I asked.

Bren’s expression was grim. He fidgeted with his hands while he started to explain. “We passed a few guardsmen as we were leaving Mithangol. They warned us to be careful. There are rumors spreading throughout the kingdom of wild animals going crazy like this. They’re attacking people for no reason. And not only predators like wolves and mountain cats. Peaceful animals like deer are doing it, too.”

His story sounded a little too unbelievable. I couldn’t visualize a herd of deer attacking anyone. Deer were supposed to be peaceful, timid animals. Still, my mind kept racing back to that feeling of chaos I’d felt from the wolves and the huge cat. If the deer were possessed by that same kind of rage, then they might actually do something like that. It was terrifying to think that it might really be some kind of sickness that was spreading through the kingdom. I dreaded to think of what would happen if people started getting infected.

“I’ll help you fix the wagon,” I decided out loud. “And stay for dinner, if you’re sure that’s what you want.”

Bren smiled and stood. “Okay!” He still had a lot of energy for someone who’d just been in a fight for his life.

I left my bag in the wagon and went out into the snow with him. While he unhitched the horses, I looked around for a good, sturdy tree branch we could use to lift the wagon long enough to reposition the wheel axel. Lucky for us, the wagon wasn’t very big. It was heavy, though, thanks to all the tools and supplies inside.

Once the horses were clear, Bren crawled under the wagon and got ready to move the axel back into place while I used the long branch to wedge under the wagon and lift it. It was incredibly heavy. My arms were shaking as I pushed down on the branch and tried to keep it steady. Thankfully, it only needed to be raised a few inches. Bren wiggled the long metal axel back and forth, trying to position it.

Then something cracked.

Bren yelled as the branch snapped in half and the weight of the wagon started to collapse down on top of him. I reacted in the blink of an eye. I grabbed the wagon right under the wheel and lifted with all my strength. My arms ached. My back creaked. The full weight of the wagon seemed to be bearing down on me, but I couldn’t let it fall or Bren would be crushed.

“Hurry and get out!” I yelled. My fingers were starting to slip. I could feel the wood scraping on my skin, setting my palms on fire. It was like trying to hold up a small house with my bare hands.

“No!” Bren shouted back. “I-I’ve almost got it!” I heard him frantically trying to wiggle the axel again.

“You idiot! Do you want to die? I can’t hold it!” I started to yell again. My fingers were definitely sliding. I knew I had maybe three more seconds left before I lost my grip.

Suddenly, the load lessened. Katty appeared right beside me out of nowhere, helping me hold the wagon up. She was a girl, but she had always been tough. Apparently now that she’d been working with her father in the forge, she was even stronger. She helped hold the weight of the wagon long enough for me to get a better grip.

“Got it!” Bren immediately scrambled out from under the wagon. I dropped the weight back onto the axel, and the wagon settled with a groan.

“You almost got crushed, you know.” I grumbled, trying to catch my breath and watching as Bren dusted the snow off his clothes. My fingers were still throbbing.

“Lucky for me you caught it, huh?” He smiled cheerfully. I was starting to wonder if he was dumb or something. “Anyway, we can hitch the horses back up now. Good work!”

I glanced sideways at Katty. She was actually smiling back at him. Seeing her in a good mood caught me off guard. Bren strolled away to fetch the horses, and she stood there beside me, shaking her head.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. I was stunned that she was actually talking to me. “No, he isn’t stupid. He’s just a happy person. Nothing ever gets him down. And I like him that way.”

I crossed my arms and shrugged. “Stupid or not, I suppose he does seem like a nice guy.” I couldn’t help but smile a little myself.

“Are your hands okay?” she asked. “You could have broken your back like that, you know.”

Her concern surprised me even more. I glanced down at my fingers. “Sore. Maybe a little bruised. But fine.”

She was quiet again. I watched as she helped Bren fasten the horses back to the wagon. We worked together again to get the heavy wagon out of the snow and back onto the side of the road. It took almost an hour because of how far into the deep drifts the wagon had gone. But eventually, we got underway.

Katty and Bren sat on the driver’s seat next to each other. From inside the wagon, I could hear them talking and laughing together. I sat on the floor beside some crates of raw metal slabs, feeling awkward and out of place again. I didn’t like Katty that way anymore, but I still didn’t like the feeling I got when I saw them together. It reminded me of how she had dismissed me because I was a halfbreed. That still hurt to think about. In fact, it hurt way worse than being rejected just because she didn’t like me that way.

“I hear that instructor of yours, Sile Derrick, has been relieved of his duties as a dragonrider.” Mr. Crookin was lying on his bed. Hearing his voice made me jump a little because I thought he was asleep.

“Yeah,” I answered. “He got hurt last year. He can’t ride anymore.”

“Convenient. But it’s a good thing.” Mr. Crookin made a thoughtful, grumbling sound like a sleepy old bear. “Rumor is that he’s a dead man walking. Any man who goes into that wicked forest and comes back alive and unharmed must have some kind of dark magic in him. That kind of thing always ends in bloodshed. It’s better if he doesn’t take anyone else down with him.”