CHAPTER FIVE
Caleen watched the elderly couple closely, but all they did was touch Taveris's arms and close their eyes for minutes at a time. He had no idea what that could accomplish, but he also knew that dragons had a lot of skills and talents they didn't share with humans.
Probably for the best, he thought dryly as he remembered that, somewhere outside these walls, there were people who had spoken up loudly against the dragon community during the whole marriage debate of recent weeks. Why would someone offer all their secrets to people who could turn on them at any moment?
As understanding as he was, though, right now he really wanted to know what they were doing. Were they able to communicate with Taveris like Caleen sometimes could through their bond? Were they able to cure Taveris this way?
Finally, after what felt like hours but couldn't have taken more than twenty minutes, the couple opened their eyes and stared at each other before Pondriya inclined her head. Lanerys, her partner, turned to Caleen.
"If we may, we would like to speak with you in private."
"With all due respect," Lord Dalon spoke up before Caleen could respond. "I'm sure you can understand we can't leave Prince Heir without protection at any time, especially in current situation."
Caleen sent his advisor a look. Lord Dalon was usually more tactful than this, as opposed to Master Dorrat who spoke bluntly or didn't speak at all. The last thing they needed now was to offend the dragons of such status, especially those who might have the answers everyone was looking for.
"We can understand that, yes," Pondriya said, thankfully choosing the higher ground here. "In that case, we would ask Prince Heir to pick a dragon he wished to be present during our conversation, for his protection."
"I accept," Caleen told her before Lord Dalon, or anyone else, could protest again. He didn't see anything wrong with their proposal, but he had to decide who to pick. Usually, the choice would be Master Dorrat, but since he excluded himself from it all… "I will ask Soryan. He's a trusted friend and the bond companion of my brother."
Pondriya offered a smile at that. "Wise choice."
"If you would excuse us," Caleen addressed the rest of the group. None of them seemed happy about it, but the headmaster and the head healer hid it better than Lord Dalon. "Please, ask Soryan to come in."
As the group left the room, Lanerys returned to the other side of the bed where Pondriya stood. Caleen immediately moved closer to Taveris again, then glanced at Soryan who paused near the door.
"The councilmembers asked to talk with me in private, and you're here to ensure my protection. Which—" he turned to the pair "—I'm sure I won't need."
"I'll be here as long as you need me," Soryan said and positioned himself at the door. Caleen would bet he had done it on purpose, staying away to further show the couple that they weren't overly suspicious. That was one of the reasons why he respected Soryan so much—the man knew how to make his point with little to no words.
"Now." Caleen looked from Pondriya to Lanerys and back. "If we may. As you can imagine, I'm anxious to hear what you have to say."
"To give you a point of reference, we'll share things that we'd like to remain between us. If you must, you may talk about it with a dragon you trust," Lanerys said with a nod to Soryan, "but please do not share the intricacies of what we're about to tell you with others."
Others meaning humans. Caleen heard them loud and clear. Usually, he would hesitate—after all, he had a duty to his people—but this time, he didn't even need a second to think.
"Of course."
"As you are aware, dragons and humans can communicate within their bonded pair in different ways," Pondriya started. "Each couple develops their connection in a unique way, but all of them manage some kind of communication transfer."
Caleen nodded. Everyone in the Academy knew that. The bonded pairs practiced it right from the start, but the skills developed gradually over time. Caleen and Taveris communicated best with visual clues. Words were usually difficult to push through, but they managed it a few times.
"What is never stated out loud, although I'm sure many people have guessed it, is that this gift comes from dragon abilities, not human," Pondriya went on. "Simply put, dragons have an inherent ability to access what you would call a spiritual level. We consider it a kind of an advanced sense, one that takes all other senses outside of our bodies, regardless of our form. Some call it our third form, actually—the incorporeal one. It's very rare, though, to master it. So rare that most dragons don't even know it exist."
She looked at Soryan then and Caleen followed her gaze. His friend shook his head. He was frowning, too.
"All dragons have the basic ability—the one that allows the communication bond to develop with their chosen mate. If I may say, the bulk of work here always rests on the dragon partner. Human mate has to be willing to open up, of course, but it's the dragon who extends his senses far enough to reach his mate's call. Or to call the mate himself."
Caleen thought that would have been useful to know while they had been working on it, but it was inconsequential now. He wanted her to get to the point.
"Because the advanced development of this ability is so rare, there are many things even your healers here don't know. That's why we asked to consult on this matter," Lanerys said. "Your mate is unconscious in the physical realm, but his advanced sense is still active."
"What does it mean?"
"It means that he has a fighting chance of coming back," Pondriya told him in a gentle voice, but the words made Caleen's knees weak.
A fighting chance.
"I know it may not seem like a lot," she went on, "but it's better than the alternative. If we found his advanced sense was inactive…"
The grip around his heart tightened even more. "He would have no chance."
"That's right."
Caleen closed his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek hard to stave off the terror that flooded him at the thought.
Taveris still had a chance. He needed to focus on that.
"What can we do, then?" he asked when he was fairly sure his voice would hold.
The pair exchanged glances and Caleen wanted to snap at them, to lash out. He wanted answers and they kept…doing whatever it was they were doing. Communicating on another level, most likely. Leaving him out.
"There's no treatment that we can offer," Pondriya said. "Taveris's consciousness was muted by whatever he was given, but he was essentially put into a deep sleep. A coma, for a lack of a better word in human terms. From what we can tell, he was most likely given regular doses of whatever it was to keep him like this, but now that he no longer receives them, he can start to make his way out of it."
Caleen looked at his bonded, who was lying there, unmoving and unresponsive. What did that even mean? Would Taveris just wake up or—
"According to our knowledge, the closest description is a journey of sorts," Lanerys took over. "But it differs from person to person. Some people reported feeling trapped somewhere and they needed to get out, which would be a literal interpretation of being trapped inside their heads. Some people said they needed to shuffle through events of their past, kind of like a journey through the most significant memories. And some people had no recollection of whatever they went through after waking up and couldn't tell us anything. As far as we know, there's no rule to determine what a person is facing."
It sounded bizarre and improbable, but it was also the only explanation anyone was offering Caleen right now, so he had no choice but to accept it. Wild as it seemed, thinking that Taveris was actually conscious in there on some level made Caleen feel a little bit better.
Come back to me, he thought as he squeezed Taveris hand. Whatever you need to do, do it and come back.
As if hearing his thoughts, or maybe his unasked question, Lanerys continued.
"Many people come back from something like this and return to full health, sometimes even right away. But we have to warn you that not all of them do."
For a few seconds, Caleen couldn't breathe, and he wondered if there was a limit of hits he could take. He wished he could curl into a ball and not look at anyone, not have anyone look at him.
But Taveris was here and there was no way Caleen was leaving. No way.
"Since we can't access a dragon's thoughts when they're like this and we can't communicate with them, we are unable to help further than on a physical level," Pondriya said. "They have to go on this journey on their own. We think that those who don't come back are the people who chose not to act—they stayed hidden somewhere in their head or they refused to engage with the memories. But we cannot know for sure."
Caleen took a deep breath. It was all in Taveris's hands now, and there was no one Caleen trusted or believed in more than his bonded. If there was a way for Taveris to get back to him, he would.
But Caleen couldn't just sit back and wait for him to do so. He had to do something.
"You can't communicate with him, I get that," he said, glancing between Pondriya and Lanerys. "But what about me? Since we have the bond connection, can I reach him, wherever he is?"
"Actually, we're not sure," Pondriya said after once again exchanging looks with her partner. "We have hardly any record of a situation like this. In most of the known cases, the dragons were unbonded or their mates were nowhere close to them at the time. We know of two instances where the mate was present, but he was unable to make the connection. They had been much earlier in the bond than you two are, though," she added. "We believe that you can help him. That's one of the reasons we wanted to speak to you. The dragon's drive to get back to his mate is a powerful thing and it can only be helped by signals from the mate himself. You cannot hurt him by trying, at least."
Caleen felt his shoulders relax. He had something to do now. A way of helping Taveris.
"Thank you for sharing this with me," he told the pair with a referential nod. "I understand the gravity of sharing secrets of your kind with someone outside of it, and I vow not to break your trust."
Pondriya and Lanerys inclined their heads as well.
"We offered our help because we wished to come to your aid," Pondriya said. "That was our intention from the start, ever since our council had reached out to you for the first time. We understand you might have felt like we want to interfere with your kingdom's cultural shift, but that was not our intention."
Caleen frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"We've been trying to reach out to you ever since the news broke about Taveris's death," Lanerys told him slowly. "We received no answer at first, then a polite but firm refusal of further contact."
"I didn't—" Caleen paused, suddenly struck by the realization that someone, somewhere inside the Academy, had been working against him for two months now.
Probably longer.
"We wished to respect your decision of no contact at first," Pondriya spoke up, "but we thought our information was too important not to pass on. I have to admit, at some point we figured out our messages may not be getting to you."
Caleen turned to the window, hoping to hide his reaction. He was the heir to the throne, he couldn't show weakness, especially not to the representatives of another land.
Too late for that, though. They knew his biggest weakness was lying right there in the hospital bed, but they still offered to help him, not hurt him.
On the other hand, both his father and Master Dorrat had told him numerous times that he was too trusting.
And apparently, they were right.
All this time, he'd thought it was someone from the outside of the Academy who hurt Taveris. After all, there had been a lot of outsiders here that day, visiting for the bonding ceremony.
He'd had a few different theories, including one that broke his heart in a way he still hadn't recovered from, but an inside job? This, he hadn't considered. Academy was supposed to be safe, safer than any other place had ever been for him.
What a fool he had been.
Was Master Oriyan behind it all? Or were there more people working against him?
He was too lost in thought to hear the movement behind him until Soryan was standing right there next to him.
"Think of what Taveris would do," he whispered. "We'll deal with everything else later."
Caleen inhaled and exhaled slowly. His better half had always been the calm in the sandstorm, and it was what Caleen had to be now, too. He would get to other things eventually, but he needed to focus first.
He nodded and turned to the pair.
"I thank you for not giving up," he said, even as his voice sounded weird to his own ears. "And for trusting that I wouldn't have thrown away your advice for no reason. Your guess was correct, unfortunately. I did not receive your messages, and I will look into it. But now, I would like to listen to what you wanted to tell me back then."
Pondriya clasped her hands in front of her and nodded.
"We knew Taveris was alive."
Caleen clutched the edges of the bed to remain upright as his vision whitened at the edges. All this time, all those weeks, months, of torture, of thinking that he'd lost Taveris forever and that it was all his fault, and someone had known all along.
Someone had done this to him, to them. And for what?
"How about you all take a seat?" Caleen heard Soryan's voice, but it seemed to be coming from far away. It wasn't until the chair hit him in the back of his knees that he understood what Soryan was even talking about.
He fell onto his chair as he saw the pair on the other side of the bed do the same.
"I am sorry," Pondriya said gently. "I couldn't think of a more delicate way to say it, but I understand how painful it must be to hear it."
Caleen shook his head. It helped to get rid of the spots at the edge of his vision.
"I don't—" Focus. Think of Taveris. "Can you tell me what you mean by what you've just said? I don't think I understand."
"First, let me specify that we didn't have any tangible proof that Taveris was alive," Lanerys started. "If we had, we would have probably escalated the situation more, but given how turbulent the last two months were in your kingdom, we decided to wait a little longer. The bonding of our grandson was the perfect opportunity for the two of us to come here and try to speak to you in person, hoping the message would be better received. Frankly," he added after glancing at Taveris, "we were afraid we would be seen as trying to get your hopes up without merit."
Caleen tried to imagine what he would do if they told him any of this before Taveris had been found. A part of him had not accepted Taveris's death, but he'd taken it for one of the stages of the mourning process everyone was telling him about. Maybe he would've jumped at the idea, desperate for hope. Or maybe he would have been rational, reluctant to believe something like this could be true.
No, he decided. He would've believed it. He would have clung to that and never let go.
People around him would have told him to give up. It would have seemed too improbable, especially if he wouldn't be able to share the reason why he thought so.
Would the kidnapper have known that Caleen knew? Would he have changed something? Would he—
No. He didn't want to think about that now, since it brought back the betrayal he couldn't deal with yet.
"That won't be a problem now," he finally said, motioning for Lanerys to continue.
"As we said, we don't have the ability to reach Taveris to communicate with him. But what we can do is be aware of him. To be frank, we are aware of every dragon in the entire Academy right now."
Caleen noticed in the corner of his eye Soryan startling at that, but when he remained silent, Caleen asked the question.
"Aware how?"
"We are aware of their life energy, so to speak," Pondriya said as she looked at Soryan. "We can't read minds or even sense specific emotions, nothing like that. To put it in the simplest way, we are aware that they are alive. If we're close enough, we can sense if they're stable or if their emotions are turbulent, but the nature of these emotions are mystery to us."
"You said that you are aware of every dragon in the entire Academy right now." Caleen frowned. "But you weren't here when Taveris…disappeared, were you?"
"No, we were not."
"Does that mean—" Caleen paused, bewildered by the thought alone. "Does that mean you can sense a dragon from thousands of wing-lengths away?"
"We cannot," Lanerys said. "But there's one elder in our land who can. She can sense every dragon in existence, as far as we know."
Soryan suddenly clasped his hand on Caleen's forearm and when Caleen looked at him, he could guess what it was about. He nodded at his friend, letting him take over.
"Why is it that no one knows about this person? Not just humans, but dragons as well?"
Pondriya watched Soryan carefully for a moment before speaking.
"There are many things the dragon council doesn't share, even with our own people, but every decision is based on what we think is best for the safety of our kind. Imagine what would happen if the knowledge about this was freely given away."
Soryan frowned at her and said nothing. After a long silence, Caleen spoke up again, even as he struggled to find the right words.
"So what you're saying is that this person could feel Taveris wasn't dead."
"Essentially, yes." Pondriya met his gaze again. "She insisted that while Taveris's energy had dimmed, it hadn't disappeared, so he couldn't be dead. She also said it was stable, so the coma was the likely answer."
"So you knew he was alive this whole time," Caleen whispered as the reality of it all hit him once again.
"We knew it was most likely and we did try to contact you about this," Pondriya reminded him. Her face didn't change, and she didn't sound offended, but Caleen needed to get a grip nonetheless. These were foreign dignitaries, and he was the prince heir. He needed to act like one.
"Of course, yes. I'm not trying to—" He shook his head. "Excuse me, it's just difficult to wrap my head around it."
"We understand," Lanerys told him. "Taveris is one of our kind and we would not risk his safety for nothing. We did try to help."
"And you did," Caleen said, raising from his seat. The pair followed suit and so did Soryan by his side. "I want to apologize for the impression I gave you. I had never had, and I cannot imagine I ever will have any ill will towards your land, and I would never slight you on purpose."
"We accept your words, and we are grateful for them," Pondriya said with a small smile. "We will extend them to the rest of the council. Please, be assured, that this will have no ill effect on any relations between our lands, now or in the future. We feel strongly that this kingdom will be safe in your hands, when the time comes."
It shouldn't surprise Caleen, since he was clearly more open to the cooperation and voices from outside of his circle than his father was, not to mention more open-minded on many social issues. But it had been a taxing day in every way imaginable, so the words made the bigger impression than they normally would.
"I appreciate you saying that," he told them after swallowing down the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. "I am forever indebted to you. Thank you for coming here and sharing all this with me. I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to not only help Taveris, but to get to the bottom of what happened, so that no other dragon is put in similar danger again."
"Thank you, Prince Heir," Lanerys said. "We will leave you to it now. We have accepted the headmaster's invitation to stay overnight in the guest rooms, so if you need anything else or have any more questions, please do not hesitate to ask. We will make ourselves available."
After that, and after a round of polite but warm goodbyes, the pair headed out of the room, leaving Caleen with Taveris and Soryan.
Caleen fell down onto the chair again.
What now?