Cave of Nightmares (9 page)

There
were three people dressed in brown who were tending to the different animals, and Hayden guessed that they were around Oliver’s age—maybe seventeen, though they looked much friendlier. Another wall had bookshelves full of texts on animal care, and racks of neatly-stacked, clearly-labeled phials of different colored liquids.

Hayden was looking around with interest until a man emerged through the back door and caught sight of him.

“Hello young man, are you here to pick up a familiar?”

The man had a rustic look about him, dressed identically to his apprentices
in brown cotton and leather, though he was clearly in charge. He looked to be in his forties, with a slightly weathered face, shaggy black-grey hair, and blue eyes that crinkled at the corners. He was bulky without being fat, like he was used to carrying heavy things around all day.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry. I’m new here and I was just looking around; I don’t have a familiar yet.” He extended his hand to shake without even thinking about it. “I’m Hayden Frost.”

“Ah, yes, Ash told me about you,” the man nodded, not looking remotely bothered by his lineage. “I’m Torin, the man you come to if your familiar gets injured or falls ill. I’ve got some time to take you out back if you’d like. We can see if any of the unclaimed animals here take a fancy to you.”

Hayden raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“So mages don’t get to choose their familiars?” He remembered what Zane had told him the night before but was hoping for some wiggle-room.

Torin laughed good-naturedly.

“Did Ash tell you that?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “No, it’s exactly the opposite. Not just any animal can be a familiar; they’ve got to have magic in them, the ability to sense which mage they will work best with. An animal will allow you to be its master and companion only if there is a strong magical connection there.”

He cuffed Hayden jovially on the shoulder. “Now come on, lad, and let’s see if we can find you a friend in this lot.”

Hayden felt strangely comfortable with Torin, who had a fatherly aura about him that made Hayden wish he’d had a proper father figure growing up. Torin led him out the back door, stopping just long enough to check on a hyena with its leg in a cast.

“Don’t the familiars sometimes fight or eat each other?” Hayden asked curiously, not sure how all these animals could coexist without a few accidents.

“Nah, like I said, familiars have a bit of magic to them. They know not to attack each other, though some of them hiss and kick a fit when they’re near the others, but that’s usually more a reflection of their masters’ attitudes than anything else.”

“So if I don’t like someone, my famil
iar won’t like theirs either?” he asked thoughtfully.

“
Probably not,” Torin shrugged, leading him to a penned-in menagerie of animals. Even though the fencing consisted of simple wooden posts with slats between them and was only waist-high, none of the animals appeared keen on escaping, even the birds.

“Go on, walk around in there a
nd see if anything takes to you,” Torin urged him forward, and Hayden took a deep breath and opened the swinging gate in front of him, expecting to be bombarded by magical creatures.

Some of the animals turned their heads and stared at him with interest, but most of the others continued whatever they were doing before. He passed a pair of monkeys
on a climbing structure and trained his eyes on the ground in front of him, not wanting to step on anything by accident.

A hawk was watching him imperiously from one of the fence posts, and Hayden’s heart leapt at the thought of owning such a sleek, cool familiar. But the hawk didn’t seem interested in him, and after hovering awkwardly nearby for a few moments he continued to walk around the pen.

Baby pigs had their faces buried in a slop bucket, making loud wet noises as they gorged themselves. Hayden was a little glad when they didn’t seem interested in him, and took care to creep past them without drawing their attention. There was a little pond in the middle of the pen with a few snakes peeking out from nearby rocks, and a snail the size of a small cat lazing in the water.

A Jack Russell terrier approached him s
lowly, tongue hanging out of its mouth. Hayden was fond of dogs, and smiled as he knelt down to pat it, thinking that it wouldn’t be such a bad familiar to have. Before his hand could make contact, something came flying at him from his peripheral vision and clamped its teeth over his outstretched hand, piercing the skin.

“OW!” Hayden jerked his hand back and cradled it to his chest, examining the pin-pricks of blood welling up in a
small crescent shape. He looked around for the creature that attacked him and was surprised to see a small dragon standing beside him.

It was the first dragon he h
ad ever seen up close, and for a moment his fascination overcame the pain in his hand. It was standing upright and only came to his knees, a bit smaller than the one he saw last night at dinner. It was a mottled brown color, like mud, and its pointy little ears were perked up in interest. Its wings were folded behind its back, but a thin tail swished through the dirt behind it, and Hayden could see the tint of blood on its tiny, razor-sharp teeth.

Another surge of pain pulsed through his bitten hand, and he was alarmed to see
that the skin was stretched and swollen. His hand was already twice its normal size and turning a disturbing green color.

“Bonk, you menace
!” Torin hurried towards him, staring down at Hayden’s hand. “Bless me, did he actually lay claim on you?”

Hayden grimaced through the pain in his hand.

“That little dragon bit me. I think it’s poisonous.”

Torin whistled.

“Well I’ll be. I thought old Bonk was never going to pick a master.” He helped Hayden to his feet and half-carried him back to the log cabin. The dragon called Bonk followed, walking along on its little clawed feet.

“I
t’s killed me…” Hayden muttered as the world began to blur in front of his eyes. He was seeing double and sweating profusely.

“You’ll be alright, son
. Just lie down here.” Torin lowered Hayden onto a cot and pointed down at the little dragon standing beside him like it could understand him. “You bit him, now get to work.”

Hayden didn’t want the dragon anywhere near him, but he was too weak to fight when Bonk waddled over to
him and began to lick his injured hand. It was an unpleasant sensation and he wanted to pull away, but he couldn’t lift his arm anymore for some reason.

Torin returned a moment later and
lifted Hayden’s head long enough to tip some dark green liquid that tasted like shoe polish down his throat. He sputtered and coughed, but the pain began to subside almost immediately. The world was still swimming before his eyes, and the last thing he remembered before he fell into the blackness was something warm settling down on his stomach.

When Hayden opened his eyes it was already growing dark out. He couldn’t remember where he was or why he was lying down on a cot, and he blinked several times to focus his vision. His mouth was bone-dry and tasted terrible, and something warm was rumbling against his stomach.

Looking dow
n the length of his body, he saw a mottled-brown dragon coiled up like a cat, sleeping peacefully on his belly. He stared at it for a long moment before his memory came back to him.

He sat up so abruptly that it dislodged the dragon, causing it to roll onto the floor and scramble back to its feet. He examined his bitten hand, but it looked completely healed. There wasn’t even a scar.

“Awake at last, are you?” Torin approached, squatting down beside him. “I was beginning to think you’d sleep the night away.”

“What happened? Am I okay?”

He smiled.

“You’re fine, son;
just a little dragon bite.” He patted him on the shoulder. “Of course, most dragons don’t claim their masters by poisoning them, but Bonk’s always been a bit odd.”

“What? You mean he’s my familiar now?” Ha
yden stared down at the mottled-brown thing in front of him, which was staring back at him with beady eyes.

“
Of course he is. He claimed you and now he’s yours for life.”

Hayden wasn’t at all sure
that he wanted a companion who could poison him on a whim.

“But…but he…” he knew there was no point in fighting it, but this all felt so su
dden. “Why is he called Bonk?” he asked at last.

Torin smiled fondly at the dragon.

“Well, he’s a bit unusual, as far as dragons go. He’s been here for almost fifty years now. My predecessor named him Bonk after he flew headlong into a tree while chasing a squirrel,” he explained apologetically. “We usually don’t name the familiars before they leave the pen, but Bonk’s been with us for such a long time that it didn’t seem like he’d ever be placed with a mage. Most of the others don’t spend more than a year in the pen.”

Hayden’s head was beginning to ache.

“He’s fifty years old already?” The dragon didn’t look old or wizened, but it was hard to tell. “Does that mean he’s going to kick the bucket any day now?”

“Hey now,” Torin chided him. “Fifty
ain’t exactly old, you hear? I’m fifty-three and I intend to live a good while longer.”

Hayden blushed.

“I didn’t mean to be rude, and I guessed you at forty,” he admitted, and Torin chuckled.

“Bless you for that. Anyway, dragons live for hundreds of years, so he’ll probably be around longer than you
are if you take good care of him.”

Bonk was still watching Hayden curiously.

“What if he bites me again?”

“He won’t. Now that he’s yours
he’s sworn to protect you as best he can, and to always act in your best interest. He was just a little too enthusiastic in marking you for his own.” Torin patted Bonk affectionately on the head. “I’ll miss seeing the little guy when I make my rounds though. I’ve gotten used to having him here with me.”

Hayden frowned.

“You said he was weird for a dragon. What did you mean?”

Torin shrugged.

“He’s just a little odd is all, nothing too bad. Like, most dragons wouldn’t ever fly into a tree, because their perception is too good for that. But most dragons also won’t curl up and sleep with their master, because they’re proud creatures. Bonk’s just a bit different than the others.”

Of course, a messed-up dragon for a messed-up
boy.

“So what am I supposed to do with him?”

Torin gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Just let him follow you around a bit during your free time and
be sure and talk to him so he gets to know you. There are plenty of training areas for familiars on the grounds, so you can teach him to obey commands, though he’s already learned a few from me. You’ll be plenty thankful for him during Elixirs, I wager; dragons shed their scales over time, and they’re immensely useful in draughts.”

Hayden and Bonk stared at each other for a long moment.
He still wasn’t sure what to do with the little dragon, but he was warming up to the idea of owning one.

It’s better than having a pet pig.

He stood up and took a moment to get his balance.

“What does he eat?” h
e asked Torin, who was getting a bit teary at the thought of saying farewell to Bonk.

“Dragons generally like meat, though Bonk will eat just about anything I put in front of him. Don’t worry too much about it
though; he can fend for himself if he needs to.”

“Okay, well…thanks for your help
, Master Torin.” Hayden glanced out the window to gauge the time. The sun had almost completely set.

“It’s just Torin. I’m no Master of the arcana,” the man said without dismay. “I just know enough to take care of the animals here, and that’s more than enough for me.”

“Oh, well thank you then, Torin.” It felt strange calling an adult by their first name, but the man had insisted.

“Of course.
Don’t be afraid to come back here if you’ve got more questions or need advice.” Torin brushed the dust off of the back of Hayden’s shirt before turning to the dragon. “Up, Bonk.” He patted Hayden’s shoulder as he said it, and the dragon spread its wings and took flight, alighting gracefully on the spot where Torin patted him.

Hayden had to admit that that was pretty cool, and he walked out of the cabin with Bonk perched on his shoulder, his smal
l claws squeezing gently to maintain his balance.

No one was outside right now, and Hayden sincerely hoped that they were all at dinner, because he was starving. Remembering that he was supposed to acquaint himself with his new familiar, he tried introducing himself.

“Hi Bonk…um, I’m Hayden. Hayden Frost.” He felt ridiculous, not knowing if the dragon understood a word he was saying, but he pressed on. “You probably haven’t heard about my father, but everyone else has. He’s kind of evil, you see…well, he
was
, but he disappeared two years ago and no one has seen him since. I’m pretty sure he’s dead, which is probably a good thing…but I wish I’d gotten to meet him, just once. I don’t even know what he looks like.”