Chapter 56 The Invisible Herd #2
“Is he telling the truth that you have lots of dragons in your stables?” a young boy in the room, I guessed ten or twelve years old, with messy brown hair and bright blue eyes asked.
I looked at the boy, aware that my neck prickled because he hadn’t called me Sir.
Since when did I care if a child gave me an honorific?
“He’s telling the truth,” I said gruffly. “Have you met Kgosi? He’s our Primarch, and he’s here.”
The boy’s eyes widened. “Is that who I heard in the woods? We don’t go out unless some fly in. Does that mean you’ve got an Eeyrie, too? I’ve always wanted to attend an Eeyrie. But we aren’t allowed.”
“It’s very careful work managing an Eeyrie,” I said with a shrug. “Our boys don’t help there, either. Do you know where yours is? Is it close to—”
The boy opened his mouth, but the sound of a man clearing his throat, then quick footsteps sounded behind me and I turned to find Rayv, now in knee-high boots, trotting up the stable aisle.
“Boys, get out and clean those stables. Now. Don’t bother the General.”
“I don’t mind—”
But Rayv seemed suddenly tense, glancing at me with a warning look as he hurried the boys out to work that didn’t need doing. But I wouldn’t step on another man’s authority.
“Don’t listen to the boys, Donavyn,” Rayv said the moment the last of them had disappeared around the corner with a rake. “They’re often uninformed—you know how it is when they’ve only been here a few months. I’ll answer your questions tomorrow. I give you my word. Until then.”
He saluted casually, then started up the aisle, but I had had enough.
“Are there problems, Rayv? There’s no need for shame—we have them too. That’s why we’re here. If you’re struggling to find mating pairs or hatchlings… we are as well. If there’s no exchange to be had, perhaps we can help each other with information, instead, or—?”
The man drew up short and gestured to me, to quiet me, his face a grimace and eyes dark.
I frowned, but stopped speaking.
Ravy put his hands to his hips and sighed, then looked at me like he’d made a decision. “The summons was real. I have to go back to the castle. Walk with me?”
Curious, I glanced at Bren. “Of course. Bren is my assistant. I’d like her to hear whatever you have to say as well.”
He seemed resigned to that, shrugging and gesturing to me to follow, then marching quickly out of the stable and up the broad path towards the castle.
In Fyrehold there wasn’t a mass of buildings at the Keep as we had at home, and what did exist was purely man-made. Rayv claimed their Academy training was undertaken on one of the Estates. And the barracks were elsewhere, too. Closer to the dragons, though he hadn’t actually stated where.
Our path back to the castle was a paved road, wide enough for a supply wagon, but utterly unlined.
No fences, no hedges, no trees. The castle, protected by an entire city, was surrounded by wide, rolling lawns for almost a mile on three sides.
That gave us several minutes walk with no possibility to be overheard.
Rayv wasted no time. As soon as he looked back over his shoulder and measured that the stables were far enough away, he leaned closer to me and started muttering.
“You’re not the only ones struggling, like you said.
We are the same. But… Please, Sir. I am begging you not to abort this mission.
Please, I believe we can convince some of the unbonded to travel with you, or to at least consider going to Emberquell to seek a bond.
And if they succeed, if you could send even a handful of hatchlings in return—I know it might take years.
But I assure you, they will stay in the stables and be properly cared for, offered anything you say they need. I do know how to care for dragons.”
“If you believe you have willing dragons, why aren’t we meeting them? Why aren’t we talking with them?”
Rayv’s lips pressed thin, but he’d obviously decided to tell me whatever it was they were hiding. “Our herd grows, but it grows through feral dragons joining ours. And that causes problems. We have to let the dragons work it out between them, our men can’t safely stop the conflicts.”
Kgosi rumbled in my head, but didn’t interrupt. I wondered if this man knew my dragon could hear my thoughts.
“We need Kgosi’s bloodline, a strong Primarch of our own, or I fear we’ll lose our herd entirely within a couple generations,” Rayv said quietly. “Our dragons are big and strong, though poorly led. They will be an asset to Kgosi. Please. I know it looks bad. But, don’t give up and leave.”
I frowned. “Why do you assume I’d leave?”
“Your assessors? The moment they reviewed our stables and learned that the herd was scattered, they told me this wouldn’t work, and they’d advise you to look for a different solution. I begged them. I can’t tell you what a relief it was to hear that you were coming anyway—”
“Wait. Hold. The assessors… weren’t they here for several days? Didn’t they just leave a week ago?”
Ravy’s head snapped back. “No, Sir. They arrived, then left to return home within a day—perhaps two? I don’t believe we housed them twice.”
I looked at Bren, who was chewing her lip.
‘Kgosi?’
‘Something doesn’t add up.’
“We only got the word that the assessors had left—and that all was well—five or six days before we arrived.”
Rayv’s brows rose, then snapped to a frown. “No, that can’t be right. It was almost two weeks between their leaving and your arrival—I thought you’d reconsidered.”
The man looked stunned—and very nervous.
I didn’t know what had happened here, but I knew I needed to soothe him so he wouldn’t raise alarms.
“Ah well, a simple timing issue,” I said, waving it off as if it wasn’t important.
“What’s important is that you believe we have bloodlines that will work, and dragons you’d introduce us to.
However it’s come about, we have the same goal for my time here.
So, let’s peruse the herd that you do have, and if the Primarch doesn’t return, perhaps before we leave, Kgosi can mingle among them.
Who knows what we’ll find? We all want the same thing, and that’s more dragons, right? ”
Rayv looked relieved. “Yes, Sir. Yes. That’s right.”
“You go to your meeting—and give the king my assurance that we’re moving forward. Tomorrow, let’s start negotiations—I have a boy. Very unthreatening. He’ll speak to any dragon you believe might be willing. And he won’t press.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Rayv said with a nod. “Tomorrow after lunch? We can meet at the stable.”
“Perfect. That means we have time to take Kgosi and Akhane out for a flight today, which will be a relief for them. Thank you, Rayv. We’ll speak tomorrow and we can begin solving this.”
I clasped hands with him, then steered Bren aside before we reached the door, turning her so we headed back the way we’d come.
‘What the hell was that?’ she asked, incredulous.
‘I don’t know.’
‘We’ve got a Furymaster with no dragons, but a Lord of the Court who says he can get me one of my own?’
I took a deep breath and shook my head. ‘I can’t see my way through any of it. But it’s clear that this mission just got more complicated.’ And the only way through it was to put her right at the center.
God. Why?
‘Donavyn?’
I knew I had to say it—and mean it. If I gave myself any reason to focus on a different path, I’d avoid putting her in it and… we couldn’t do that. I couldn’t do it to her, and we couldn’t do it to the kingdom.
‘Donavyn, talk to me.’
‘Tonight, if Hanson shows, you need to pursue that dragon offer—carefully. We don’t want to raise the alarm while we figure it out.’