57. Preparation
S peckles of light shimmered through the large windows of the garrison, catching the dust that filled row upon row of riding saddles.
A bucket filled with dirty water sat on the ground beside Aeden, a stiff cloth squeezed tightly in his hand.
Aeden had always had a liking for the smell of leather, but not like this; he preferred it fresh, not worn and stained.
It was quiet, something that Aeden appreciated, although he wished the circumstances were better.
Both of his hands were red raw from scrubbing the last of the harnesses, having spent last night and the early morning finishing up what was left.
This was his punishment for attacking Kael, and he had no choice other than to do exactly what had been asked of him.
He dipped his hand in the cold bucket before squeezing the cloth and rubbing it over the saddle on the ground in front of him.
It was as clean as he could get it, and he took a step back to admire his work.
That meant he was finished – for now, at least. He would need to return at the end of the day to begin the whole process all over again.
His back ached like never before, his hands cramping from the constant cleaning, but all in all, this was the least of his worries.
It had been this way for the past two weeks, ever since Director Vale had decided to drop on Aeden that he was the prophesied chosen one, a burden that he could really do without.
The second- and third-year students were more than grateful for Aeden’s punishment; him being there to clean all the saddles meant that they didn’t need to clean their own equipment as usual at the end of their training.
It surprised Aeden just how dirty the saddles got when they had only taken flight and landed, the harnesses being the hardest part to clean.
On more than one occasion, Aeden had found himself looking at the sheer size of the saddles of the third years and comparing them to Nyra’s.
It showed just how much growing she had to go.
The Aer-Kin to whom the saddles belonged were all in a different area of the garrison, but he was close enough to hear the distant growl and rumbles as they started to wake from their slumber.
Standing up straight, Aeden leaned backwards to arch his back.
Multiple satisfying crunches snapped at the resistance before he did the same with his neck.
At least this morning’s training was cartography, which meant he wouldn’t need to do anything too physically demanding.
That would be in the afternoon, when he had combat training with Master Storme.
Sunlight crept into the room, reaching Aeden. He raised his head and allowed himself to feel its warmth on his chilled cheeks .
Letting out a yawn, he stretched out his arms and readied himself to put away the last of the equipment.
That left him in a place where he didn’t want to be – alone, with nothing but his own thoughts.
“ Are you awake? ” he asked Nyra, but not to his surprise there was no response. For her this was too early, and she wouldn’t be awake yet. Every morning Aeden tried in vain to reach her through the Weave.
As Aeden lifted the saddle and placed it back on the rack with the rest, he found himself ruminating on the prophecy. In fact, that was where his mind went most of the time now.
As far as he knew, only some of the faculty, Harrison, Vivienne, Serene, and Lyric knew about it.
He hadn’t spoken with Rowan or Cassian, not for a want of trying.
He had just been too busy, but ever since the incident with Kael, things had felt off with Rowan.
On the odd occasion he tried to capture her attention with a smile or a subtle wave when passing, she would avoid eye contact.
She had seen it all unfold, she had tried to pull him away from Kael and gone to help him when he had been laid out on the ground barely conscious.
Aeden didn’t understand why she might be off with him, and if he had the opportunity, he would make time to go see her.
That was where the problem lay, though; all of his time at the moment was spent training, cleaning equipment, and helping reinforce the academy grounds in preparation for a potential attack.
Now that he was done at the garrison, Aeden headed towards the exit, making sure to pour away the dirtied water and tossing the wet cloth inside before placing it by the saddles to be ready for the evening.
He pushed open the heavy oak door to exit, the muscles in his shoulders aching and tender, reminding him just how strenuous and repetitive the cleaning was. Still, this was his punishment, and there was nothing he could do about it.
As he stepped outside, the crisp freshness of the morning felt refreshing against his skin, his sodden shirt sticking to his chest and his back. He rolled his shoulders once more as he started on his way back to the hatchery in an attempt to loosen them up a little.
As he passed the lower courtyard, Aeden observed an early training session of around thirty second years.
He recognised the two students that had attacked him and Nyra a few weeks ago.
Master Storme was putting them through their paces.
Everyone’s training had intensified since Director Vale had given the word to ready the academy for an attack, something that was unheard of for an academy.
Some students looked tired and weary, others wide awake and fully focused on their training.
Aeden found himself staring a little through pure tiredness, his mind getting lost in his ever-dizzying thoughts about the prophecy.
He still found it hard to believe that he was the one the prophecy was talking about.
For now he needed to get stronger and help the academy with their defences.
Naturally this put his focus of uncovering what happened to his parents on hold once again.
All his focus needed to be on survival, not just for him but for Nyra, too.
A passing patrol snapped Aeden from his wandering thoughts, with Aeden barley avoiding being clattered into. The patrols were one of the things that had increased, and although guards were always present at the academy, there were a section of third-year students that were now assisting them.
As Aeden looked up at the purple haze on the horizon, he spotted a faint shimmer high in the sky.
This was a protective barrier that had been wrapped around the academy.
He had no idea how strong it was, or how effective it would be, only that Master Sorrel and Mistress Jara had been leading and supporting the students to apply wards strategically around the academy grounds.
Just like the patrols, these needed tending to on a regular basis to ensure they remained in place.
Aeden could really appreciate the work that went into fortifying the academy.
Which felt strange as, despite the preparation, despite all the work everyone was doing, it just showed how unified the academy was, like the intensity of the training and preparations had galvanised everyone.
A battle was coming – or at least, they were preparing themselves for one if it did.
When he reached the main courtyard, students were already gathering in groups, making their way to the dining hall for breakfast.
He thought the judging eyes and whispers were bad when he had first bonded with Nyra. This paled in comparison to what he was experiencing since his altercation with Kael.
“Careful, that’s the one who nearly caved in that first year’s head,” said a thickset man with dark hair, leaning into one of his friends.
“Yeah, I heard that madness has taken hold because he bonded so early with an Aer-Kin,” his friend replied, not even having the decency to whisper.
Aeden could hear and was fully aware of everything the other students were saying about him.
As things stood, he didn’t care one bit.
Kael deserved what had happened to him. It had been a long time coming, and it felt so good to show him once and for all that Aeden didn’t fear him, that he wasn’t going to let him push him around anymore.
He couldn’t help but feel the roles had reversed now, and knowing that Kael now harboured a thin silver scar above his eye felt like it had evened things up a little.
Aeden smiled to himself at the thought of that constant reminder greeting him every time he looked in the mirror, just like Aeden himself had had to tolerate the coward’s mark that Kael had branded onto his chest.
Continuing his walk, Aeden ignored the staring students, who seemed to be actively avoiding being anywhere near him as if he had the plague.
As if he were going to snap at any minute and go into a relentless assault on another student.
At the very least, they should all know that as a Support class, he was not here to be pushed around, and neither were his friends.
When he finally reached the hatchery, the guards let him through, and Aeden headed into the main building. He could feel a warmth in his chest as he got closer to Nyra, who, as far as he could tell, was still resting.
“Mornin’,” Lyric said as he appeared from around the corner. He had a pile of rolled-up parchment in his hands and a spring in his step, which had been rare since Bertha’s death. Aeden wondered if he was finally getting back to himself.
“Morning, Lyric,” Aeden said. “Anything I can help you with?”
“Just more records I’m searching through. Now that all the eggs have hatched, I’ve had time to examine Nyra’s eggshell a little bit more. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“And?” Aeden asked. “Have you found anything?”
“Not yet, but it’s fascinating. You were right, it absolutely was a consecrated eggshell. It should never have been able to hatch, it should have been solid stone, but here Nyra is.”
“Have you told anyone?” Aeden asked.
“Not yet, but I feel given everything that is going on” – he leaned into Aeden and lowered his voice to barely a whisper – “ you know, with this prophecy” – he nodded towards the main door to the hatchery. “Come on, let’s go and speak inside where we’re out of earshot.”
“Did you know about the prophecy?” Aeden asked. “You know, before all this?”
Lyric stumbled for words. “I didn’t, I’m just the hatchery master. I knew as much about it as you.”
Lyric led the way, opening the large barn door to the hatchery with his boot before pushing the door open with his shoulder. Aeden followed closely behind, picking up two scrolls from the ground that Lyric had dropped.
Lyric wandered over to his desk that sat just away from the furnace on the far side of the room. The rest of the hatchery was calm and quiet. To Aeden’s right, all of the pens were full of Aer-Kin, most of which were now familiar to him. They all chirped and padded around playfully.
The hatchery was far cooler now that the furnace didn’t need to be on to help incubate the eggs, and Aeden quickly checked on Nyra, who was curled up peacefully.
“I know you’re awake, Nyra, I can sense it,” Aeden laughed.
Nyra opened one of her large eyes with a flutter of blinks to peek at him. Aeden could sense she wanted to sleep for longer.
“ It doesn’t mean I want to get up ,” she said with a level of grumpiness to her voice.
“ The younglings keeping you awake? ” Aeden asked.
“ They’re sleeping much better now. Well, most of them anyway .” She rolled her chest to reveal a dark hatchling curled up, tucked away under where Nyra was resting her head. “ This one, however, is much harder to settle . ”
Midnight appeared so peaceful as she remained in a deep sleep, a soft rattle leaving her as she breathed in and out. She had moved into Nyra’s pen after what had happened, at Nyra’s initial reluctance, despite it being her suggestion.
“ Are they still not accepting her? ” Aeden asked, looking at the Aer-Kin in the other pens. Copper Top raised his head over the top of the gate, as if he knew they were talking about him.
“ No, and there’s no sign of them doing so, either .” Nyra stretched out her neck, being delicate and considerate of Midnight.
“ I think you like her ,” Aeden teased.
“ I must admit, she is growing on me. I would like her more if she wasn’t such a fidget when she moved ,” Nyra said, letting out a yawn.
“ Come on, I can’t have you being so tired this morning ,” Aeden said. “ We have training with Mistress Jara and the second years .”
“ Great, a morning of being judged by the others ,” Nyra said with a sigh. She was deflated at the thought, something that Aeden didn’t like to see.
“I’ve been thinking about this prophecy,” Lyric called out. He spun around from his table with Nyra’s shell in his hand. “And there is definitely some weight to it. What was the first line again? Something stone . . .”
“When stone is split and silence breaks,” Aeden said. He had read over it enough times now that he could recite the whole damned thing word for word.
“Nyra hatched from an egg made of stone. It is a bit of a coincidence, don’t you think?” Lyric said as he studied the egg fragment .
“I don’t really believe in coincidences, or fate for that matter. I just believe you have to adapt and do the best you can with the hand you’re given.”
“Very philosophical,” Lyric said. “Still, it makes sense. I think we need to tell the director about Nyra’s shell, how she was hatched.”
Aeden couldn’t think of anything worse. “Do we have to?” he groaned. “They’re already bad enough with this whole blood prophecy.”
“What’s it going to take for you to believe it? If it’s true, think of what this could mean for everyone here at the academy.”
“And what if it isn’t, Lyric? All of the danger we are now in would count for nothing. We still don’t know exactly who we’re protecting ourselves from, as Director Vale won’t tell us. And as long as she’s keeping her secrets, I am all too happy to keep mine.”
Aeden stepped into Nyra’s pen. He checked over the recent bindings and could see that they were holding up well and didn’t need replacing. Now that they no longer needed to hide the situation with her wings, they had decided to rebind them so that Nyra would be more comfortable.
“Come on, Nyra,” he said with a lack of energy, “let’s get ready for training.”