The Bond (Book 2) (24 page)

Across the road were the buildings the guard called the Dragon Stables. Renata took a breath and made for them. Sounds of construction filled the air, and once she rounded the corner of the building, she saw many workers swarming around two buildings. One looked to be nearly complete.

She knocked on the door of the east building.

When the door opened, she stared in surprise at the boy standing inside. He was tall, but the most striking thing about him was his hair. It was red! Dark red mostly, like dried blood or rust. She’d never seen anyone with hair that color.

She came to her senses, finally, and said, “Hello. I’m looking for Aeron.” Was this him?

He, too, seemed surprised. He stared at her a moment, then stammered, “H–Hello. He does live here.”

Stop staring at his hair! “Would it be okay if I spoke with him?”

“Oh! Of–of course. Please, come in.”

“Thank you.”

He had spots on his face, like little mud spatters across his nose and upper cheeks. Were those freckles? She’d heard of them, but not seen them before. Though they looked nothing like them at all, they reminded her of the spots of a leopard or an appaloosa. The light sprinkling suited him really well.

Renata?

Yes?

Are you okay? You feel odd.

What? I’m fine. I just met a boy with red hair. It surprised me is all.

Red hair? I would like to see that.

The boy closed a door at the back of the room and motioned to a couch and chair. “Have a seat anywhere. Aeron, ah, should be back soon. Would you like something to drink while we wait for him? Water, tea, juice maybe?”

“Oh. Water would be nice, thank you.” There was another doorway to her right leading to a large space. A set of two sliding doors were open there, revealing the courtyard beyond.

Moments later, the boy handed her a glass. It was cool against her fingers. “My name’s Jessip.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, my name is Renata. I should have introduced myself earlier.”

“I probably wouldn’t have heard you anyway.” His eyes widened and he blushed. “What with all the construction outside, that is.”

She took a sip of the water. It was wonderfully refreshing. Back at camp, they had water, but it was not cool, and it tasted slightly metallic from the canteens.

Is the boy there?

I am at his rooms, but he isn’t here now. This other boy, Jessip, says he will return soon.

The red-haired boy stared at her. She stared back. Every now and then he’d seem to catch himself and look at something else in the room.

The smallish space looked something like Isandath’s room, in that there was a desk and what looked like worktables along two walls. One of the worktables had what appeared to be cooking utensils and such on it. The other had a sink, a kettle, and some canisters and assorted tools she didn’t recognize.

She was about to take a seat on the couch when the door the boy had closed earlier opened, and another boy walked in.

“Oh,” he said, spotting her. “Hi.”

“
Aeron, this is Renata. She wanted to speak with you.”

Irritation flashed across his face so fast, she wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t imagined it.

She smiled. “I have traveled from far away looking for you.”

He frowned. “Looking for me?”

“Well, for the dragon boy. And his dragon.”

The redhead, Jessip, chuckled. “Dragon boy.”

Aeron glanced at him before saying, “Why were you looking for me?” He wouldn’t meet her gaze. Walking over to a worktable, he poured himself a glass of something.

So this was Aeron. This was the dragon boy. She was a little disappointed. He seemed a lot like her. Though his skin tone wasn’t as dark as hers, he could have come from her village. She’d expected something different. Something dramatic. Something
 . . . more.

She glanced at the other boy and caught him watching her. He cleared his throat and looked at Aeron. Now
he
was what she had expected the dragon boy to be like. He was very different.

“
Were you wanting to talk to the . . . the hero?”

She’d almost forgotten Aeron’s earlier question. “Hero? No.” The story made up for the guards popped into her head. “My, ah, uncle and I talked all the time about the rumors of the dragon boy.” She smiled. “We’d argue now and again about whether or not they were true. I didn’t think they were, but he did.” She drank the last of the water and handed the glass back to Jessip.

“So, what did the rumors say about me?”

She shrugged. “Nothing much, just that you had a pet dragon that you rode upon. Of course, where I come from, that’s a ridiculous thing to hear. Who would befriend a dragon? Isandath, my uncle, was absolutely sure they were true. I finally decided to set out and discover whether or not they were.”

She heard dragon wings.
Xochi! I told you to wait at camp!

I am at camp.

Turning to the sound of dragon footfalls, she watched a completely different dragon walk into the large space. The enormous beast turned its head to her and blinked before laying on the ground.

Of course. That must be Anaya. Renata walked into the other room. “Your dragon is big.”

The boys followed her.

Aeron said, “Her name is Anaya.”

Nodding, she said, “Yes. The rumors mentioned her name. At least, they did as we got closer to Caer Baronel.”

The dragon’s coloration was completely different from Nayra or Xochi. She was kind of tan in color, though it darkened a bit at the legs, tail, and neck. “She’s beautiful.”

A happy rumble came from the dragon.

A smile brightened Aeron’s face. “She says she likes you.”

“Well, I like you too.” She walked over and scratched the dragon’s chin where Xochi liked to be scratched. Anaya let out the same rumble/purr her own bond-mate did, though deeper and more resonant. Renata grinned. “She’s a sweetheart.”

The two boys stared at her.

Panic brought the pounding of blood to her ears. Idiot!

What happened?

I’m acting the fool is all. I have to remember that I’m not supposed to know anything about dragons.

“
S–She’s just like a puppy, I guess. Likes to be scratched.”

“
Yeah, she does.” Aeron looked at her, his expression unreadable.

Jessip also stared at her. “A really, really big puppy.” He looked impressed.

Clearing her throat, she said, “So, how long have you had Anaya?”

All the answers she got to her questions left her feeling a bit disappointed. It didn’t seem like he knew that much more about dragons than her, though he did seem to be evasive about some things. Not that she could blame him. She’d just showed up here. He didn’t know one thing about her. Why would he reveal all he knew to a total stranger?

She wanted to get back to camp, to Xochi. A good amount of thinking was required, now that she’d met them.

“
Well, I’ve taken up more than enough of your time. I thank you.”

“
You’re leaving?” Jessip looked panicked. “But you just got here.”

“
Yes. I didn’t take much time after setting up camp before I left seeking Aeron, so I’d like to go get some rest. The long trip has left me exhausted.”

“
You could stay here in Caer Baronel.” He looked at Aeron. “Right?”

“
I’m sure they’d be willing to put you up at the girls’ dorm,” the other boy said.

“
Oh, no. All my things are at my camp. I’ll just head back there. But, if it’s not too much trouble, would it be okay to come visit again, say, tomorrow?”

“
Sure!” Jessip said, a large smile on his face.

Aeron glanced at him. “Yeah. That would be fine.”

+ + + + +

Sleep would not come. Aeron couldn’t stop thinking about Jessip’s words.

It’s never too late.

But wasn’t it? Liara hated him, he was sure. Fillion was so disappointed in him, he’d gone back to Cotter’s Grove. What could he possibly do to fix things? Assuming he did think of something, would anything he did or say be a lie? He wanted Willem to be the next dragonlinked. He couldn’t change how he felt.

That girl was nice.

He looked at his bond-mate through the doorway. She was trying to distract him from his gloomy thoughts, more than
like.
Renata? Yeah, she seemed nice. A little too interested in dragons for my taste, though. Lots of questions.

Anaya raised her head and stared at him.
You, of all people, are calling someone into question for being interested in dragons?

Chuckling, he said,
Good point. Still, there was something about her.

She is a good candidate.

She is?

Unusual, too.

What do you mean?

She seems familiar, yet I have never met her before. And she was not frightened of me. I am not small anymore. Most people are at least a little worried about my size when they first see me, yet I felt no fear or concern from her at all. Very unusual. She has promise as a dragonlinked.

The fleeting thought that she could be more competition for Willem made Aeron hate himself.

“
And so,” the man said, turning from the chalkboard, “much like cattle, dragons apparently digest in stages.”

His name was Gregor, Renata remembered. He had blond hair and was maybe four years older than her. She looked at the others sitting around the large table. Aeron and Jessip were here. Though she had seen blond hair before, Jessip’s red hair fascinated her. He would occasionally glance her direction. When he did, she felt strangely anxious, and her cheeks warmed as she blushed. It was annoying.

There were three other people here as well. Willem, Cheddar and Sarah. No, her name was Sharrah. Oh, and the craft master, Master Canneth. He sat to the side, making the occasional comment as Gregor talked about dragons and what they’d learned about their biology studying Anaya. Gregor had even demonstrated a few points using some kind of healing magic that allowed them to see inside the dragon. Renata vowed to learn that spell in case she needed it for Xochi.

“
Cattle have one stomach with four compartments, while dragons have three stomachs with two compartments each. Working in stages allows for more efficient digestion. In the case of dragons, much more efficient, at least based on other evidence. At some point w
e will need to follow food through the digestive tract with the viewer to get a more detailed understanding of the process.” Gregor looked back at the drawing on the board.

“We only recently learned about this aspect of dragons. There is so much about the amazing creatures we do not know.” He turned back to them, eyes alight. “But the other side of that coin is that there is so much to be learned. I, for one, cannot wait to do so.”

Honestly, neither could she.
Did you know you have three stomachs?

I have three?

Yes.

“
Now, that same lack of knowledge also means we need to be very cautious.” Gregor looked at Aeron. “Since there is so much we do not know, every new food, or new flying maneuver, or even new spell a dragon tries, must be approached with care.”

“
I know, I know.” Aeron raised his hands in submission. “We’ve been careful about everything. That’s one reason it took so long before we felt comfortable enough to let Millinith ride with me on Anaya. We were being extra careful with her flying muscles.”

“
So, that part of the rumor is true, then.” Renata was surprised, and very interested. “You do ride your dragon.”

Aeron looked at her. “Yep.”

“That’s . . . amazing.”

Thank you for convincing me to come, sweetling. I’m learning a lot today.

Of course.
Only the tiniest bit of smugness came through the link.

This morning, Renata hadn’t wanted to come back. The sense of disappointment from yesterday had only increased overnight. But Xochi was adamant she return. They’d argued for hours about it. Her bond-mate had finally yelled at her.

You must go back! Have we not traveled across the entire world to find them?
She stood on all fours facing Renata, head lowered, wings lifted, the picture of draconic anger.

Maybe.

Have we not left everything we know behind for this journey?

Renata, sitting on a large rock next to the fire pit, frowned.
I hate it when you make sense.

They seemed nice, did they not?

She sighed and looked at her not-so-little dragon.
They did.

Then go! We need to learn more.
Xochi then let out an apologetic bark, ran over, and nuzzled her chin.
And I really, really want to meet Anaya.

She hugged Xochi and left for Caer Baronel a few minutes later.

Everyone was exceptionally nice to her when she arrived, even inviting her to sit in on the Animal Craft training class for ‘dragonlinked.’ She had added dragonlinked to her list of things to learn more about.

Right now, though, she wondered why everyone was staring at her.

“I’m sorry?”

“
Did you want to go to dinner with us?” Sharrah smiled at her.

“
Lots of good food,” Jessip said. “There. At the place. T–The Dining Hall.” He looked mortified and stared at his hands on the table.

“
Oh, ah, sure, that would be nice. Thank you.”

It didn’t take very long to walk to the Dining Hall. Jessip and Willem helped her at the serving counter. There really was a lot of food and it looked pretty tasty. Much of it she didn’t recognize, however. Still, it all smelled wonderful.

They sat together at one of the many tables in the building.

After eating a bit and listening to the others, she said, “What is a dragonlinked?”

Everyone looked at Aeron.

His gaze flicked to the others and a little breath escaped
his lips. Twisting his mouth, he said, “Dragonlinked is what we’ve started calling a person who is bonded with a dragon.”

What? Renata glanced at them. “You’re all bonded with dragons?”

Jessip smiled, but some burst out laughing, as did Sharrah.

“
No,” she said. “Only Aeron has a dragon. We’re in training, though.”

Renata nodded. It made sense to learn all you could about dragons before bonding with one. “Who decides which people get a dragon?”

“Actually,” Aeron said, “dragons do.”

“
Dragons?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Anaya tells us which people would make candidates for dragonlinked. And as far as the actual bonding, it’s more the dragon who chooses their bond-mate than anything.”

“Anaya tells you which? Does that mean there are some who are not candidates?”

“
That’s correct,” Willem said. “They might be magic-blind, or unable to hear dragon-speech, or who knows what all else. Dragons can sense things about people, including those things that qualify or disqualify them as candidates. And it is the dragon as well who chooses her or his own bond-mate.”

This was incredible. Renata hadn’t thought in great length about any of this before.
You chose me as your bond-mate.

I did!

Thank you, love.
She sent a mental hug through the link.

“
I have to wonder, though,” she said, stabbing what they told her was a green bean with her fork, “why would anyone spend so much effort training people to bond with a dragon?” She ate the bean. “I mean, I understand a person’s desire to have a dragon, but why is the Caer willing to, I don’t know, pay and house and do all this just so someone can have a dragon?”

“
Nahual.”

“
What?” She hadn’t quite heard Aeron.

He looked at her, eyes shadowed. “We do this to fight nahual.”

“What are nahual?”

“
You really are from far away.” Cheddar looked at her, brows raised.

“
I’ve never heard that word before. What is a nahual?”

“
They are evil beasts that hunt people,” Aeron said. “They attack and kill.”

“
We think they do so to steal animus.” Sharrah looked somber.

“
Animus?”

“
Think of it like magic stamina,” Willem said.

“
If you stop by on Duviday,” Jessip said, “you can sit in on Magic Craft training.”

“
When you cast a spell,” Aeron said, “it uses some of your  animus.”

“
Oh,” Renata said. “They call it ko’na where I am from.”

“
Koh nah?” Jessip said.

“
Close. But cut the last part off of the o. It’s just the very first part of how you say the letter.”

“
Ko’na?”

“
That’s better.” She smiled. “It means inside fire, or inner fire.” Turning to Sharrah, she said, “Nahual steal this from people?”

“
They do,” Sharrah said. “We think they need it to reproduce, but whatever the case may be, we are sure they need it for something.”

“
I see. How do dragonlinked help fight them?”

“
Well,” Aeron said, grabbing a biscuit, “we can sense nahual from far away. Then we fly to them and kill them.” He took a bite.

Renata was stunned. “You
 . . . you sense them?”

“
Yeah, it’s kinda weird. You know how you can tell where your arms are? Your hands or legs or whatever? Anaya and I can tell where a nahual is if it is close enough.”

What is wrong?

They can sense those creatures like we can.

Really?

“These nahual, what do they look like?”

Aeron scrunched his nose. “Ugly. Think of abnormally skinny people with thin fur. And a head that’s not quite right with an enormous mouth.”

Renata stared at her plate. So. Those things are nahual. It felt good to put a name to them.

“
Are, ah, are you okay?” Jessip looked worried.

“
I’m sorry. I was just remembering something.”

“
Have you seen one before?” Aeron’s brows rose.

She stared at him. No. She wasn’t ready to tell them everything yet. “I think those creatures, the nahual, have been attacking villages where I am from for the past few years. Your description sounds like them anyway.”

“Then you understand why we want to fight them,” Sharrah said.

She nodded at the brown-haired girl.

“It’s our purpose.”

Aeron’s words immediately drew her attention. “Your purpose?”

“Yes. Dragons, dragonlinked, we have a purpose and that is to fight nahual. It’s why we train.”

They know of the purpose. They train to fulfill it.

I knew they were good people!

Finished with her dinner, she nibbled on a cookie. It was actually quite good. “What kind of cookie is this?”

“Chocolate chip.” Sharrah smiled. “It’s good, isn’t it? You were lucky to come with us tonight. Chocolate is a special treat we only get occasionally.”

“
It’s delicious!”

“
So what did you think of dragonlinked training?” Willem was taking his time with his cookie. The fool.

Licking crumbs from her lips, she said, “There was a lot I had never even imagined about dragons. It gave me much to think on.”

“You’ll come back, won’t you?” Jessip asked. “We have training every Duviday and Therday afternoon.”

“
I–I’m not sure.”

“
It’s no trouble, really,” Willem said.

“
Anaya—” Aeron stared at her. “Anaya did say you were a good candidate.”

Why did he look guilty all of a sudden?

“She did?” Jessip turned to her. “See? You’re practically a dragonlinked already.” His smile lit up his face and did alarming things to her breathing.

“
W–Well, you all have been very nice to me. I certainly have no complaint there. But I would still like to think about it.”

“
While you do, why not stay at the girls’ dorms?” Willem said. “They’re much more comfortable than camping out in the woods.”

Renata didn’t know what to do. They had good arguments, but she still wasn’t ready to—

“Boys, boys.” Cheddar looked sternly at them. “Give the girl some breathing room, will ya?” He turned to her and smiled. “Take your time. You’ve traveled a long way and these lands are probably strange to you. You’ve taken in a lot the last two days, so feel free to think everything over.”

“
He’s right,” Sharrah said, placing her hand on his arm. “Don’t let these idiots pressure you into anything. Think about what you want to do and let us know. We’ll be here for the foreseeable future.”

“
And know, too, that Master Doronal and Master Canneth have been very obliging about candidates joining us.” Aeron smiled, but he seemed troubled about something.

“
Thank you, all. Really. I appreciate it. I do have much thinking to do. And I should return to my camp before it gets full dark.”

Later, as she crammed her backpack into one of Muffin’s saddlebags, Jessip came running up to her.

“H–Here,” he said, breathing heavily. “Sorry, I ran back to the Dining Hall to get this. I’m a little out of breath.”

She took the small wrapped bundle from him. It was two cookies.

A smile parted her lips. “Thank you! But you really shouldn’t have. Sharrah said that these were—”

“
Don’t worry about it. Just . . .” He looked down at his feet. “Think seriously about being a dragonlinked, okay?”

She stared at him a moment. “Okay.”

He looked at her and cleared is throat. “G’night, then.”