39. Confrontation
T he whole time spent at the hatchery with Nyra and Lyric had been a mixed bag of emotions.
Seeing all the newborn hatchlings was a memory that would sit with Aeden for the rest of his life.
So too would witnessing what had happened with the jet-black Aer-Kin that hadn’t made it.
He kept telling himself that it was just nature, that nothing untoward had happened.
Even Lyric had explained to him that it was just nature running its course.
Lyric said that when an Aer-Kin hatched in breech, the risk of suffocation increased, especially once the amniotic sack had burst.
It had offered little comfort to Aeden, who could not shake the image of the lifeless Aer-Kin from his mind, no matter how hard he had tried over the next few days. He attended his classes, trying his best to keep his head down and avoid confrontation, no matter how hard it was at times.
The whispers didn’t stop, nor did the judging eyes, no matter what his friends did to challenge the other students. So instead Aeden decided to focus on what he did have control of, and that was himself and Nyra.
Now that the rest of the Aer-Kin eggs had hatched, she would eventually need to transfer over to the garrison due to the age difference.
It was something Nyra welcomed with all the noise that the hatchlings were making, but something that worried Aeden. After all, there was a huge difference between being in the hatchery with hatchlings and being in the larger garrison with the mature Aer-Kin.
Every Aer-Kin in the academy was based there, including those that were bonded to the faculty, and Aeden had no clue if she would be safe from the larger Aer-Kin that were also housed there.
Aeden could see every single day how the vast majority of people at the academy had responded to him and Nyra, so he had more than a few concerns about how the Aer-Kin would react to Nyra.
Truth be told, it was something that Aeden was dreading, which was why Lyric had said he would try and keep her with him at the hatchery for as long as he could.
Nyra, however, was a risk towards the other hatchlings, as she was larger and older than them.
She could even lash out at them, especially given how much she disliked them for the noise they made through the night.
She seemed to have transitioned from infancy to adolescence at breakneck speed.
It was a sunny but chilly morning, and Aeden found himself at the training field with Nyra.
He was practicing riding her, or at least they were trying.
Lyric was unable to assist them given all of his time was taken up over at the hatchery, but Harrison had offered to come and help.
He stood on the sidelines, offering emotional support by way of hyping them up and cheering them on, but aside from that, he had no way of offering any practical advice, which was what Aeden needed.
He was sure Nyra’s harness had been fitted correctly, but it kept coming loose. At one stage, Aeden had nearly slipped off her, through no fault of Nyra’s. His frustration was rising at how difficult he was finding the whole riding process.
One thing he hadn’t gotten used to yet was how bruised and sore the inside of his legs would get from riding Nyra. The fact that he was gripping her so tightly wasn’t helping, but he was scared about falling off and hurting himself.
So far they had managed to do a couple of attempts at weaving in and out between the posts, but he had specifically asked Nyra to take it easy the first few times so they didn’t have a repeat of what happened last time, much to her own frustration.
She had even made a quip about Aeden clipping her wings, which made him question whether Harrison should spend time with them, as she had clearly learned the phrase from him.
“Okay, we’ll try and add that extra column onto the circuit,” Aeden said. Nyra nodded her head as if she could see where Aeden was pointing.
“ Please, can I run a little faster? ” she asked, her voice pleading as if she was dreadfully bored. It was a clear day; the sun beamed down on them in a refreshing way, and there was a freshness in the air.
Nyra’s claw marks had started to tear through the soil, leaving mulched-up grass and dirt, but there wasn’t really anything they could do about that. Aer-Kin had never really used this field for running practice before, something that Aeden was more than a little conscious of.
“We can, but please be careful?—”
As Nyra set off at incredible speed, Aeden’s head snapped back.
“ Nyra! ” Aeden reached out to her through their bond, but all he heard was the rush of air that pressed against him.
His legs tensed instantly, a crippling pain erupting in his hip as a cramp took hold once again.
It felt even worse than last time given that he was still a little tender from their first ride out.
Harrison stood laughing, taking everything in as Nyra weaved in and out of the columns, this time not leaning as low.
Aeden had realised that leaning into the corners rather than against them helped both of them with his weight distribution.
He was determined not to fall off this time as he continued to lean to whichever side Nyra was turning.
Realising he couldn’t get through to Nyra when she was excitable, Aeden knew he would be better off focusing on keeping himself seated.
It wasn’t particularly pretty, but this time, somehow, he managed to keep himself from falling off. A swell of pride filled his chest as Nyra slowed down to a trot and made her way back to the starting point.
“That was brilliant!” Harrison said, clapping slowly as he walked towards them both. Nyra bowed her head to him. “Not the most elegant I’ve ever seen a rider, but you’re still seated.”
“You’ve seen a rider before?” Aeden asked. Was he the only one who was so inexperienced when it came to Aer-Kin ?
“Back home, yeah, a couple came to visit one of the lords in our town. I just happened to be delivering a bread supply from my father’s bakery.”
“You never mentioned you had a bakery,” Aeden said. He was surprisingly out of breath himself from the ride.
“Never needed to, it’s pretty boring stuff.”
A screech sounded from above, causing Aeden to jump. A large shadow engulfed them as a second loud roar came from overhead.
“What the shit!” Harrison said. “Whose Aer-Kin are those?” He pointed up at the sky where two larger Aer-Kin were circling above them. Nyra instantly felt uneasy, and Aeden did his best to settle her, which wasn’t easy given he was feeling the same way.
The two Aer-Kin continued circling above. One was a large black Aer-Kin, its wingspan impressive, while the smaller red one had bigger wings in proportion to its body.
“ What’s going on? ” Nyra asked, padding the ground. Aeden pulled on the reins to steady her as best he could.
“ I don’t know ,” Aeden said. “ Come on, let’s head back to the hatchery .” It was the safest place that Aeden could think of.
Nyra pulled back against the reins, resisting Aeden.
“ Nyra, what are you doing? ”
“ They told me to stay still, they sound angry .”
“ Even more reason for us to move. Wait a minute, you can hear them? ”
“ I can ,” she said. “ They’re so much bigger than me .” There was a tremor in her voice as genuine fear gripped her .
The two Aer-Kin began their descent, lowering in large circles until eventually they landed on the training field just ahead of Nyra.
The larger black Aer-Kin had an orange crest on its chest, the contrast in colours looking more like a warning than anything else. Its face was elongated, and it lowered its head in a serpentine manner before revealing row upon row of razor-sharp teeth.
The smaller red Aer-Kin had large ears that stuck up in the air like horns.
It stretched its large, webbed wings out as far as it could, the sun shining through them from behind, revealing darkened veins that forked like lightning from top to bottom.
It let out another screech, which caused both Aeden and Harrison to wince.
Two riders were sitting on them. At least they weren’t wild Aer-Kin, although in these times, those were a rarity.
Both riders were women, and both wore the same uniform as Aeden. They must have been second- or third-year riders.
“I heard you had brought it out from the hatchery, wanted to get a look for myself,” the woman on the larger black Aer-Kin said. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and she was leaning forward on her seat. “We heard it was a cripple, so curiosity got the best of us both.”
“Don’t call her that,” Aeden said.
“Oh, look here, Ramona,” the second woman said. She had shorter blond hair that was shaved down one side, an intricate tattoo in the shape of a rune on her neck. “He’s sticking up for her, how sweet.”
“Do us all a favour and piss off,” Ramona said.
As she spoke, her black Aer-Kin leaned forward and emitted a threatening growl, which made the hairs on Aeden’s arm stand on end.
“No one wants you here. It’s a piss take that the academy even lets you stay.
Kayan here and the other Aer-Kin would love to show you what they think of you. ”
Kayan snapped its mouth at Nyra, causing her to slowly step back.
Even the smallest of the two Aer-Kin was at least four times Nyra’s size. They wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight, not in the slightest.
“I don’t want any trouble,” Aeden said. “ Listen, I’m going to keep them talking ,” he reached out to Nyra through the Weave. “ When I give the word, just run, okay? Straight back to the hatchery, and do not look back .”
“ Okay, I’ll try. I’m scared, Aeden .” Her voice was practically a whimper. “ Why are they being mean to us? We haven’t done anything .”
Aeden was used to dealing with bullies, but Nyra wasn’t, and he hated the tremble in her voice, he hated how uncomfortable the two students were making her feel.