Chapter 58 The Claw of Fear
~ brEN ~
Hanson held my arms far too tightly, but he loved being on dragonback. He raised his head and shook his hair out—the first time I’d seen it out of its slick, waxed lines—and whooped into the late afternoon sky.
Akhane shook her head, but flew on.
‘I don’t think he’d harm me, Akhane. I think he really does want to convince me. But regardless, we’re together and we’ll find these dragons.’
Akhane shook her head again. We’d been flying for almost an hour, though not at Akhane’s top pace. Even she and Kgosi couldn’t communicate with words across this distance. But she’d spoken to Kgosi before we left, and he’d fill Donavyn in.
Kgosi didn’t know where Donavyn had gone. I hadn’t been able to reach him even when I walked through the castle. Hanson swore we’d return in time to attend the ball, and he’d have Chardin help me dress—she would find a maid who could help with my hair when we returned.
It was also clear that he hoped when we returned I’d walk into the ball on his arm. But I hadn’t agreed to do so. I needed him to believe he still had to entice me.
Finally, Hanson stopped whooping like a child and began to watch the ground, leaning over Akhane’s neck in a way that made me think he’d been on dragonback before. He didn’t have the instinctive fear of falling that most first-time riders were plagued by.
Then he sat up suddenly and turned his head, calling back to me through the wind. “Tell her to land there. That clearing. On the hillside.”
I leaned around him to see where he pointed. I knew Akhane had heard him herself, but I told her to wait a moment before responding. He clearly believed only certain people could understand or communicate with dragons. And I wasn’t about to disabuse him of the idea.
“The landing will be the most difficult part. Check your strap. If you fall, don’t panic. I’ll get you down.”
I didn’t know how I would do it, he was far too heavy for me to lift. But I might be able to unclip him and let him drop.
Hanson nodded. He jerked on his safety strap to make sure it held, then reached for my arms again which were around him to help keep him in his seat.
“No, hold the neckstrap and pull up on it the entire time, pulling yourself into your seat.”
His face had gone pale, but he nodded. I told Akhane to land.
By the time she stopped, he was hanging off her withers with one knee, but he hadn’t actually fallen, which was impressive.
While I helped him get safely to ground, Akhane stood stock still, but her nostrils flared, and her ears flicked often. Then she snorted steam, and shook her head.
‘What is it?’ I asked her.
‘I can smell them,’ she said nervously.
“What did she say?” Hanson asked.
“She can scent the other dragons.”
“Of course she can. I wasn’t lying, Brennan. Come. Will Akhane come with us?”
I looked at Akhane. ‘Do you want to come?’
She weaved on her feet, shaking her head. ‘I would like to meet them. But they aren’t my herd. I can’t reach them unless they choose to communicate with me. And they smell… different, Bren.’
I frowned. ‘Different, how?’
‘I don’t know. Only, I’m nervous.’
I looked at her seriously. ‘Do you sense danger?’
‘No, not like that. I cannot explain it. I will follow you. But I may not be able to help.’
‘That’s fine. If you sense danger, you call me and I’ll come straight back and we’ll fly, with or without him.’
The tree line was thin, and Hanson started walking straight for it, his eyes bright, looking over his shoulder and beckoning me. “They’re here. Not far. I had her land here so they wouldn’t be disturbed. But they’re all here. Come!”
I thought he’d exaggerated. Assumed he was trying to impress me—or that he was impressed by dragons, and so his idea of many was exaggerated.
But on the other side of the tree line, the land sloped away and opened again, dropping into a deep bowl in the earth, a small valley that was nearly empty of trees.
And within it, like a massive launch hollow, only shallower, there had to be fifty dragons.
Reds, blues, greens, golds, and grays. They were all there.
My mouth dropped open.
When Akhane reached us, she raised her head and bugled.
Every dragon in the bowl turned to face her, and several took to flight, covering the short hill in a few flaps, dropping to run the final paces, and rushing towards Akhane so quickly that Hanson and I were forced to dart back or risk being sliced open by a stray tail.
Akhane danced and raised her head, swinging her snout back and forth, lashing her tail and fluttering her wings. But where any dragon extended its neck and offered its snout, she met noses with it, and the two shared breath.
I watched on, stunned, as dragon after dragon stepped forward to meet her… then apparently lost interest and turned away.
I frowned as Akhane ended up standing alone on the hillside watching the dragons file back down to the bowl.
‘Akhane, what—’
‘I don’t know, Bren. They were welcoming, but didn’t reach for me in their minds—didn’t open to me. Their bodies… they are males, all of them. They hoped… but I’m mated already.’
Oh.
My brows rose.
“What is it?” Hanson asked quickly. “Is there a problem?”
“No, no. It’s only, they don’t want Akhane because she’s already mated,” I said. “Did you know they’re all males?”
“Yes, yes, I was aware. Can she talk to them?”
I shook my head. “She says they don’t open their minds to her. They won’t let her speak.”
Hanson cursed. “It’s no matter,” he said, though he was clearly frustrated. “Take your pick, Bren. I’ll have the dragon brought to the castle, and you can begin training.”
I laughed a short, sharp hack before I caught myself. “That’s not how it works with dragons.”
“That’s precisely how it works with these dragons,” he said. “They belong to me, and they will do as I tell them.”
“You said you can’t even speak with them.”
“No, but we’ll get through that. They stay here because they know they’re mine, and when I remove one—I have a helper—the others will stay and await their orders.”
“Orders? You order your dragons?”
“Don’t you?”
“No. Akhane and I work together at her choice. The dragons bond Furyknights, Choose them. It’s a relationship. It benefits both of us.”
“This will benefit you, I’m certain. Could you imagine being the first female Furyknight? A dragon of your own, Brennan. Can you imagine that? The world will fall at your feet.”
Not quite. I had to swallow the words back. “That would be amazing,” I said carefully. “But after working with Akhane, I don’t want to order a dragon. I’d like to know how these dragons came to be here and why they listen to you?”
“I bought them,” he said with a shrug. “They’re ordered to stay here, so they do. But I know they need training, and I don’t have enough skilled flyers. So I’m looking for more.”
“Enough? You have some?”
“One, right now,” he admitted. “And he’s very busy, as you can see. He has several herds, so he can’t be here all the time. I’m finding our progress very slow. I want to add more flyers, more dragons. I’m offering you the chance to be the first.”
My stomach clenched. “That is… very generous. I just—”
“What would I need to prove to you how serious I am about this?”
I looked down at the dragons, my head spinning. “Actually, I think I have what you need,” I said bluntly.
Hanson tilted his head. “Tell me more.”
“There’s only one condition.”
“Anything.”
I bit my lip and took the plunge, setting the hook, as the queen said. “You can’t let Donavyn get wind of this. It has to be our secret. Just you and me.”
Hanson’s serious expression slowly brightened and his eyes crinkled. “That I can do.”
~ DONAVYN ~
I was furious when a handful of nobles, along with the king, appeared at my door and insisted I come hunting.
The King of Fyrehold had hunting falcons, and he wanted to show them off while the women prepared for the ball.
None of us could say no. But of course, that meant leaving Bren alone in the castle.
At least I knew she was with Faye and the seamstresses. So, I didn’t worry a great deal.
Not until we returned, hours later, by a road near enough to the stable to reach for Kgosi, and he informed me that Bren and Akhane had taken Hanson flying. Twice. The second time, with Benji as well.
‘What the hell were they doing?!’
‘Exactly as Bren is tasked—finding out what this fellow knows about dragons being held in the hills.’
I hesitated. ‘Held?’
‘That’s what Bren said when they returned. That’s why she took Benji. They wouldn’t talk to Akhane because they’re all male and she’s already mated. Benji will try to speak to them.’
I made hurried excuses to the noblemen about Kgosi needing me, leaped from the carriage and started sprinting to the stable. ‘You let them go a second time? You just let them go?!’
‘Yes, Donavyn. I let our capable, strong females go find the poor dragons who have been misused here, it would seem.’
‘Misused?’
‘It’s the only explanation I can conceive—Akhane said they smelled wrong, and the males wouldn’t open their minds, only use their bodies.’
I tore across the grounds until I was pounding down the aisle towards Kgosi’s stable. The space was far too small compared to his stable at home, but he claimed it was sufficient.
Benji had been caring for him because the other stableboys clearly knew little beyond cleaning straw and staying out the way.
Kgosi said he preferred it that way anyway.
‘Bren has both Akhane and Benji with her. She is perfectly safe. Akhane would flame that fox of a man before she’d allow him to harm Bren.’
‘That’s not the point—if he’s holding dragons out there, who knows what he has—some kind of poison that he could dart her with? Some—'
‘Donavyn.’
‘—weapon we aren’t aware of. Maybe there are people! Akhane won’t kill them all.’
‘Donavyn!’
‘WHAT?!’