Trusted: Dragons' Trust Book 1

By Krista Wayment

Trusted

By Krista Wayment

First Edition, March 2014

Copyright © 2014 Krista Wayment

Cover Art Image copyright © 2014 Krista Wayment

Illustrations copyright © 2014 Krista Wayment

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

For my husband and children.

You are my all, my everything.

A thousand years ago, our kind made a fatal mistake. We reached out to the young race of man to offer our guidance. We shared our knowledge and wisdom of the earth, healing, metal work, and many other things. At first, all was well. Man and dragon lived in peace, working side by side for the benefit of all.

This delicate balance shifted when man gave in to their greatest failing—greed. Then what we had shared with them was turned against us.

Men sought a most rare and precious treasure: the heart stones of dragons. They granted unbelievable power and unnaturally long life to the possessor. The hunting began. We dragons were hunted down—some were killed, others captured. Our numbers diminished at an alarming rate and man started to breed us like common cattle.

They thought they could harvest the stone from our young. They were wrong. In order to thwart their efforts to subvert our race, our ancestors withheld the Awakening from the next generation of dragons.

A new kind of dragon was born. These new dragons were mute and devoid of intelligence, but most importantly, their heart stones were dim and empty. Our mute brothers and sisters are now enslaved, forced to labor and serve the very kind who robbed them of their greatness.

Those who remain of the old dragons live as fugitives, hiding from the ever–growing reach of man. We are fading from the world, disappearing into the darkness of history. But we will not go quietly. We intend to fight.

The dragon's call ripped through the crisp morning air. Renick looked up to watch the dragon approach. A beautiful red winged her way toward the landing area. Her melodious trumpeting seemed to echo and fade across the treetops. According to legend, her song was composed of her name and pedigree, and embodied who she was as a dragon. Renick wondered, if the legend were true, what such a song would really sound like.

Spreading her wings wide, the dragon let her tail fall and hovered high above his head. The tow lines that were harnessed to the magnificent beast slackened. The handler, who perched on a board suspended in the tow lines, stood and wrapped his arm around one of the ropes. A passenger basket, made from woven reeds, came into view as it sank below the dragon. Renick could see the kiter in the basket working the rigging to hold the kite steady. One of the canvas sails folded under the command of the kiter and the basket dipped a little closer to the grassy ground.

Dane ruffled Renick's already disheveled brown hair. "Nervous, Rub?"

Renick shrugged, an action that brought an amused smile to his older brother's face.

"Uncle Loren won't bite, but some of the dragons he stables might." Dane winked at him and then elbowed Jon, his next older brother.

"Yeah, just come back from your apprenticeship with all your fingers, else you won't be any use to us." Jon punched Renick's shoulder.

"You two leave him alone." Renick's mother, Anngene, placed her hands on her hips and with a scolding look on her face added, "And go round up the little ones. We need to get heading back as soon as we see Renick off."

Dane and Jon took turns rubbing their fists into Renick's head before they scampered off to herd the younger children back to their mother. They chased after Mandy and Josie. Over and over again, the two girls deftly escaped their brothers' hold. Chasing them would never work. You had to coax Mandy and Josie into a trap, but Dane and Jon would never think of that. All the while, little baby Angie sat in the middle of the grass wailing, a crushed daisy clutched in her small hands.

Despite the chaos, Renick's mother turned a soft smile on him. "Don't you listen to them. Everything will be fine. Your father will come check on you in a couple of months. Four years will go by before you know it." Her eyes filled with tears, and a little catch cut off the last of her words. She hugged Renick to her large form and kissed his forehead. "Take care," his mother whispered. Lifting her head, she yelled, "Mandy! Get down from there." Releasing her hold on her youngest son, his mother marched off to rescue his failing brothers.

Standing alone watching the usual family antics, Renick felt a growing anxiety that threatened to steal his lunch as well as his ability to breathe. He would be on his own for the first time in his life. Renick closed his eyes and recited the list of reasons why getting away from his large family would be exciting. He made it halfway through when the tension in his stomach eased. Renick let out a sigh of relief. Losing his last meal in front of his brothers would unleash a maelstrom of taunts and ridicule.

There was a soft
whoosh
as the passenger basket of the flyer settled on the grass. Renick turned to watch the graceful descent of the dragon, the wind from her beating wings pushing against him. The travelers disembarked while the men from the landing area unloaded their belongings from compartments that also served as benches. The kiter busied himself with inspecting the sails, his fingers running over each seam and edge. Meanwhile, the handler saw to his dragon, ensuring that she was properly fed and watered before the next excursion.

A scream drew Renick's attention away from the scene and back to the pandemonium that was his family. Mandy had climbed up the watchtower and was skipping happily around it. The watchmen yelled for her to get down, but their words were swallowed by a shrill order to behave from Renick's mother. Renick sighed and started to walk toward them.

"All aboard!" a voice called.

Renick stopped. The other four passengers who had been waiting—a healer woman, a young girl, a boy just older than himself, and an old knight—were climbing into the flyer. Renick did not know what to do. He stood debating between boarding and assisting his mother. If he got in the passenger basket now, he would not get to say good–bye to his family. On the other hand, if he waited too long, the flyer would leave without him.

"Last call, all aboard!" The man looked pointedly at Renick.

A jumble of arms and faces surrounded Renick, squeezing him tightly.

"Bye!"

"We'll miss you—"

"Have fun—"

"Good luck—"

they all seemed to say together.

And then they released him and he was ushered into the basket. Renick watched as his mother took a firm grip on Mandy and Josie, ordered Dane to scoop up the baby, and led her family back to the wagon. Renick sat in the front, partially turned so he could lean his chin on the railing and watch the dragon during takeoff.

"Ho!" the handler, who stood between the dragon and the passenger basket, called.

"Ho hep!" came the reply from the kiter, who was already positioned in the basket just a few paces from where Renick sat.

In response to a pull on the reins from the handler, the dragon raised her wings and began to beat them backwards. The men from the landing area picked up the kite and held the giant canvas up into the path of the wind created by the dragon. The kite rose into the air until it caught a current of air and pulled taut. The dragon changed the angle of her wings and started to lift her body into the air. As the tow lines followed her, the handler's perch righted itself and he stepped up onto it. The last to leave the ground was the passenger basket. Once all the components of the flyer were airborne, the dragon began moving forward, towing the basket and the kite behind her.

Before long, the dragon was flying gracefully above the forest canopy, pulling the passenger basket and kite behind it. Renick's eyes traced the methodical beat of the dragon's almost translucent wings. A small gasp broke the stillness. Renick looked up to see the blond girl traveling with the healer woman standing near him.

"She's beautiful," the girl said with awe. "I wonder what kind she is." The girl leaned far over the basket, her head tilted to the side so she could see the dragon. She smiled and wiggled her head, which made her hair dance in the wind.

Worried that she might fall to a horrible death, Renick relinquished his silence. "She's a mountain red. They're the best fliers, and have the most brilliant colors."

To Renick's relief, the girl leaned back to a safer perch.

"What's your name?" she asked, her gray eyes boring into him.

"Renick."

"I'm Lainey." She thrust out her hand. Renick reluctantly took it, noticing that the other passengers were watching them. Understandable, since they seemed to be the only two talking.

"So …" Lainey leaned forward, bracing herself against the edge of the basket with her folded arms and pulling her knees up onto the bench. "How did you know what kind of dragon she is? And that it is a 'she,' for that matter?" Lainey smiled at him as she waited for a response.

Renick cleared his throat. "My father is a dragon breeder." He pointed to the dragon. "See how the horns curl at the ends? That's how you can tell she's a mountain breed. And she doesn't have a thagomizer at the end her tail, so it's a she. At least that's true for mountain breeds."

"Ah. You know a lot about dragons." After a quick glance over her shoulder, Lainey turned back to him. "My aunt's a healer. She works mostly with people, but she does a lot of dragon stuff, too."

Renick looked at the older woman sitting on a bench behind the kiter. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight bun, and her thin lips were drawn together. She seemed very sober in both dress and demeanor. Very unlike her niece.

"… anyway, so that's why we are traveling to Trevinni. I'm going to train with her to be a healer."

Renick blinked and looked up, unsure how he could have missed that Lainey was still talking. Lainey turned around in a circle, the skirt of her patched blue dress fanning out around her, and sat next to him.

"What do you think of that boy over there?" she asked.

He turned his attention to the two remaining passengers. The boy Lainey spoke of was obviously highborn. The pristine fabric of his clothes bore the symbols of a noble house. An ornate sword was strapped around his waist. The man sitting next to him, with a stern expression on his face, wore the garb of a soldier. The soldier's hair was graying and deep lines defined his face, but his eyes were bright and alert.

The boy tossed his black hair and looked toward Lainey, the corner of his mouth twitching just a little. Renick turned back to Lainey and saw an expectant expression on her face. He could only shrug in reply.

"Well, he didn't seem very talkative to me. I think he might be a snob. Just making polite conversation, I was. My aunt tells me that I talk too much which can be off–putting. It's not like I don't give others a chance to say things. I just don't like silence, so I fill it up. Don't you think having polite conversation with someone is better than just sitting here in silence?"

Renick realized she was waiting for him to respond again. He blinked a couple of times before he spoke. "I don't know. I think I like them both the same."