Chapter One #2
Fin moved to half-hide behind my leg. Shi frowned, his lips slightly parted. This was something that I was starting to see more in Fin. He loved talking to dragons, but he was shy of talking about it to humans. When Fin didn’t respond, Shi looked at me.
I took a breath. “Fin can mind-speak with my dragon.”
“Double bondings are rare, but—”
I shook my head. “Forgive me, Flight Captain Shi. This is not a double bond.” I looked down at my son and automatically ran my hand over his short-cropped hair.
“Fin has always been able to communicate with dragons, lots of them.” I swallowed.
“Quite what the extent of his ability to speak to them is I am uncertain.”
“I see.” Flight Captain Shi bent so he could look directly at Fin. “You have a rare gift, boy,” he said, his voice low and gentle, still serious and uncompromising. “And to have discovered it at such a young age suggests that as you grow, the strength of this ability will increase.”
That he was taking the information and my son seriously was welcome. Far too many adults would dismiss anything from a child.
“There are not many who can mind-speak to more than one or two dragons,” Shi went on.
“The ability to speak with many is a special talent indeed.” He looked Fin over again, considering perhaps.
“But it’s also a very dangerous talent. Most riders would be …
less than happy to know that their dragon could speak to any human other than themselves.
They may come to see your ability as a threat.
As may some dragons. You will need to be very careful, Mister Segast. Do not let the extent of your gifts be widely known. ”
Fin’s eyes were wide as he looked at Shi, then he glanced quickly at me, and back to Shi. “Ye-es, sir.”
A muscle twitched in Shi’s cheek that may have been the start of a smile, but he controlled even that. Fin was offered a small nod, and Shi stood.
“What’s your magic?” Fin blurted the question at Shi.
Heat rose in my cheeks. “I’m sorry, sir. He doesn’t mean to intrude.”
“He is enthusiastic for life,” Shi said. “Curiosity is a good sign in a child. I believe it to be an indicator of intelligence.”
“You do have magic, don’t you?” Fin asked. “I can glow.”
Shi looked at him and blinked. Then he surprised me by hitching up his trouser legs so he could hunker down to be at my son’s level. “What do you mean, Mister Segast, that you can glow?”
Fin dragged in a breath, closed his eyes, held the breath, and started to glow. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Shi, whose expression hadn’t changed.
“See,” Fin said, his grin wide. “I can glow.”
“Yes, I see,” Shi said. “That is an interesting ability. Perhaps you could glow a little less now?”
He did so. “And Dad can heal small wounds.”
“Yes,” Shi said again. “I read that in the files I was sent.”
“So what can you do?”
“Fin.” I tried to control the enthusiasm, but Fin was five.
“Magic is a special resource,” Shi said.
“It is not to be squandered on silly flashy displays.” Shi raised a hand.
Electricity arced between his thumb and forefinger.
Then he stood and I wondered if I had seen the flash or just imagined it.
Shi looked at me. “I trust you will be willing to assist with injuries should they occur in the fortress?”
“Of course, sir.”
He nodded. “And we will find ways to help Fin explore his magic safely.”
I swallowed. “Thank you, sir. That would be greatly appreciated, sir.”
He raised a hand to the door he had originally stopped at. Only now did I notice the number on the door. Twelve. “Your quarters.”
The door didn’t have a lock, which was not unusual in rider quarters for single occupancy, but usually family and couples’ rooms had locks.
“There are no locks here because there are no women here,” Shi said. I guess I must have looked for the lock for too long.
I opened the door and let Fin go in. “What if one got posted here?”
“We would provide a lock.”
I stepped inside. A nice shared area, a comfortable-looking sofa, a table with four chairs. A big fireplace for warmth and cooking. Our pack had been left on the table, and the coat Fin had worn was hanging from one of the hooks beside the door.
“I want this room,” Fin said as he appeared at one of the two doors.
“That will be your father’s room, Mister Segast,” Shi intoned, having stepped inside himself. He stood tall, spine extended, arms clasped behind his back. “That will be your room.” He indicated with a turn of his head. Fin moved over that way, opened up the door and I followed him.
“Oh,” Fin said. “Not so big.”
“No,” Shi answered. “But you are not so big as your father.”
That response made me smile, but I looked down at Fin. “It’s bigger than your room in Pasaocea.” I turned to find that Shi was watching me, his face failing to emote.
“There is a private bathroom between the two rooms, entered only via your rooms. An evening meal will be provided at nine this evening. Your duty roster officially starts as of six tomorrow morning. As tomorrow is also your son’s first day, and classes start at seven, you are permitted to start as soon after seven as you are able tomorrow.
This late start will be tolerated tomorrow only. ”
“I can get to the schoolroom on my own, Dad,” Fin said. He reeled off the directions from where we were.
“The boy is correct,” Shi said. “A fast learner.”
His gaze lingered on me. Scrutinising me. He nodded, just once, it was sharp, precise.
Then he turned on his heel and left.
* * *
“It’s different here,” Fin observed later as I moved to his bedroom door to turn out the light.
I swivelled to face him, my hand hovering over the light switch. “Yes, it is.”
“How long will we stay?” he asked.
I took a breath. “I don’t know, son. As long as the Riders want us here.” Which I firmly hoped wouldn’t be long. “Good night, Fin. Love you.”
“Love you, Dad.”
I switched the light off but left the door open to let in some of the light from the main room.
The fortress had an inner courtyard where most of the windows were, the outer walls being all but solid for defensive reasons, but that meant they did not offer a great deal of light.
Thank the Nine Gods that we had electricity from wave turbines for lighting.
The shame was that it’s use only extended to lighting really.
I do not like it here. The second I started to relax, Salvadora was in my head complaining. That stable master looks at me like I’m an abomination. I do not think he likes dragons.
“That would be most unusual in any rider, especially one who chose to become a stable master.”
Maybe he didn’t choose it, Dora said. Maybe he just didn’t bond, so got stuck with it. The others here say that he is jealous of the riders because he can’t ride himself. That no self-respecting dragon would have him on their seat bone.
“Dora,” I spoke gently in my mind. “Complaining will not help us here.”
Nothing will help us here. Perhaps we can request a transfer.
“Dora.”
Or maybe just leave.
“And where would we go that the Church wouldn’t find us and punish us?” The Church knew everything. The Church ran everything. Even the Riders service.
Well, maybe.
“Dora, think what life would be like for Fin if we ran away.”
Horrible, she admitted. Poor lamb. But you’re not having to nest next to the most arrogant, pompous white in the world.
“I’m sure he’s not, Dora. All whites are regimented in their approach to humans.”
This one’s just as bad with other dragons. The others stationed here all bow and scrape to him. I won’t.
“Lord Aurexian—” I couldn’t remember the rest of the title, “—is bonded to the Flight Captain, my superior officer. And apparently, the highest-ranking officer permanently based here. If you could find a way to get along with Lord Aurexian, I would greatly appreciate it.”
She huffed. I will try.
“Thank you.”
But give no guarantee.
I sighed. “Please, Dora.”
Well, I don’t see why we have to be punished for not doing anything wrong.
Neither did I. No, that wasn’t true. I did.
What I had said was technically blasphemy, but it was also the truth, and I couldn’t see how lying would help anything when I’d been brought up on the clear instruction that honesty was the only option.
Yet, if I had lied and denied the evidence of my own eyes, then we wouldn’t be stuck out here on the very edge of civilisation.
Once Dora settled down that first evening, I sat by the fire and contemplated the future. Dora wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy. At least Fin was making the most of it.
Unkea was grey. Like the granite blocks it was built from, it was cold, carved, and colourless.
Perhaps that was why Flight Captain Ang Shi was just as cold.
Sometimes today he had stood so still he looked like a statue, carved in stone and just as hard.
The one thing he wasn’t, though, was colourless.
He was interesting, but what about his magic?
Had electricity flashed in his hand earlier, or had I just imagined it?
If he could control such power, how much control did it take to give such a small demonstration? The man would warrant further study.