Dragon Blood 4: Knight (3 page)

After a week of putting up with Cooper underfoot, Amber was almost relieved to go to the Knights for the weekend. She slung her bag over one shoulder, several changes of clothes and her phone charger packed in it. Her eyes met Kade’s. “I’m ready.”

“Call me if you have the slightest problem,” Kade said.

“You don’t have to tell me a million times.” Her gaze momentarily fell on Cooper huddled in one of the faded floral armchairs in Kade’s lounge room. Kade hadn’t been the only one who’d been repetitive. Cooper had kept asking her why she had to go. “Everything will be fine and I’ll see you Monday morning.”

Kade nodded, reaching out for her. He took her to the shadows under a large fig tree at the front of the Knights’ headquarters that Ronan had shown him the way to. Before he let her go, Kade kissed her, his arms tightening about her.

She clung to him, not wanting to let go. Monday seemed an eternity away. “I’ll be fine. Chait will keep an eye on me from the Void.” She slowly drew away from him. “You’re the one that needs to be careful. Tahmid is still looking for Cooper and he won’t care who gets in the way.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“You better.” She stepped forward to kiss him one last time before she spun and hurried to the front door of the Knights’ headquarters. The door swung open before she had a chance to raise her hand and knock.

A boy around her age grinned at her, white blond hair falling in blue eyes. “I’m Dominic. Our grandfathers were brothers.”

“Were?” Amber tried not to wrinkle her nose at the smell of dragon bone. Did every Knight take it?

“Mine died years ago.

“Oh, sorry.”

“So anyway, I guess we’re cousins of sorts.”

“Cousins.” She couldn’t help thinking about her cousin Shylah and her father. Roger was still having problems being released from his promise not to contact his human family.

“Yep.” Dominic held the door open further. “Anyway, I’ve been asked to take you to the conference room the moment you arrive.”

“Okay.” She stepped inside, her eyes darting around. The walls were white and bare, the floor tiled. The room had a counter that made it look like a reception area and behind that was another closed door. It reminded her of an office entrance. It looked far too innocent and ordinary to be the Brisbane headquarters of the Knights.

She followed Dominic to the door behind the counter. He opened it and waved her through. Before Amber had a chance to move, her phone rang. Pulling it out, she was surprised to see it was Ronan. “Yeah?”

“Chait can’t follow you into the Knights’ headquarters. Whatever they’ve done it prevents people from remaining in the Void.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Be careful.”

“That’s not very helpful.”

“You don’t have a choice, Amber. You made the deal, you can’t go back on it now. Just be careful.”

“Okay.” She stared at her phone when Ronan disconnected. Should she ring Kade? No, absolutely not. He’d probably demand she leave, and she couldn’t. As Ronan had pointed out, she’d made the deal. She returned her phone to her pocket. “Sorry.”

Dominic nodded. “That’s okay. Follow me.” He led the way along the corridor, entering a room at the end. “Wait here.” Closing the door behind him, he left her alone in the room.

Amber looked around. A large table, surrounded by chairs, dominated the room and kind of reminded her of the planning room in her castle, Temolae Keep. She remained standing, keeping an eye on the door. Her grandfather was the first to arrive, closely followed by a man he introduced as Martin. He had pale blond hair, slightly yellowed, and sharp blue eyes that reminded her of her grandfather’s. Particularly with how they eyed her up and down like some specimen under a microscope.

“Your grandfather tells me you’ve spent a lot of time with dragons lately.”

Amber nodded, shooting Charles a glare. Was this how he kept his word? She took a deep breath, her gaze returning to her grandfather. He was taking dragon bone too. It wasn’t just Martin. The scent was too strong for it to be only one of them.

“Where did they take you?”

Her gaze was drawn back to Martin. “Dragon lands.”

“No. Where did they take you in our world?”

Again she looked at Charles. He stood with his arms crossed, staring at her, a look of what might be victory on his face. Two could play this game. She hadn’t spent months with dragons without learning something. She crossed her own arms over her chest as she met Martin’s gaze. “Have you ever been through the Void?”

“Of course I haven’t,” Martin said. “Only dragons can travel through the Void.”

“You might know where you started, but unless you’ve been to the place before, you won’t know where you’ve ended up.”

“So you’re saying you don’t know where they took you.”

She shrugged, trying not to smile. One of Ronan’s predatory smiles would have been just perfect for the occasion. “I can’t help you. Sorry.” She probably should have put in a bit more effort to actually make her tone sound sorry, but she was too angry. How dare they grill her the moment she entered their building. This better not be how the rest of the weekend went. She hadn’t agreed to an interrogation.

“And you have no clue at all, of where you were taken.”

Again she shrugged. “Every house looks pretty similar from the inside. You can’t always tell a location from standing inside a room.” She gestured to the room they stood in. “Even this one. We could be anywhere. Even France.”

Charles’ gaze narrowed. “Are you sure there isn’t anything you want to tell Martin?”

She met her grandfather’s sharp blue eyes, refusing to give in to the demands she saw in them. “Not a single thing, but I do have questions of my own. Like where do I sleep this weekend?” Her gaze travelled to Martin. “I need somewhere to put my bag.”

“We don’t tolerate impertinence around here.” Martin’s eyes remained on her as he let silence fill the room. “I’ll send Dominic to take you to your room.” With one last hard look, he stalked out, letting the door close behind him.

Charles pointed a finger at her. “Don’t think you’ll be able to keep getting away with protecting them.”

“Why are you eating dragon bone?”

“Don’t interrupt. Come the first of the year, they’re all dead. We’ll hunt them down and kill them.” He spun on his heel, striding from the room, slamming the door behind him.

Great. She was now looking forward to getting to know the Knights even less. She thought over her agreement and couldn’t think of any way to get out of it. Next time she made an agreement like this she’d also add in how they were to treat her.

The door swung open and Dominic stood there, smiling. “Glad to see I’m not the only one who pisses off my old man. You coming?” He held the door open wider. When Amber joined him, he headed down the corridor. “So what did you say to him?”

Martin was his father? Charles’ nephew? It shouldn’t have surprised her at all. “Nothing.” And that had been the problem since he’d wanted her to tell him her secrets. There was no way she was going to endanger any of her people. They were going to have to do better than that if they wanted to get any information out of her. She thought of Daray, the dragon Ronan had tortured. Hopefully the Knights weren’t willing to go that far.

Dominic sent her a look of disbelief. “Really? Not a single word?”

Amber shrugged. “I just tend to have that effect on people.”

“It might be worth saying more than nothing next time. You don’t want him taking privileges off you.”

Amber shrugged, keeping pace with Dominic. He led her through numerous corridors that all looked the same, passing closed doors at regular intervals. White tiles, white walls, florescent lighting. A sterile and featureless environment. He opened a door partway along a corridor, gesturing for her to enter.

Amber continued to stand in the doorway, looking into the room. A single metal framed bed was against one wall, a narrow window with a closed blind that hung within the window frame filled part of the wall behind the bed. The entrance to the room felt like a hallway due to the built-in wardrobe that jutted into the room to the right of the door.

“I’ll be back for you in about half an hour. Give you time to put your gear away,” Dominic said.

Stepping into the room, Amber dropped her bag on the floor in front of the wardrobe. “Done.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you. They get pretty upset around here if you leave your room in a mess.”

“You’re kidding, right?” He considered that a mess? He really didn’t want to see her bedroom at home then.

Dominic shook his head. “Not at all. I’ll be back after you’ve unpacked.”

“Don’t bother leaving.” She slid open the wardrobe door, kicked her bag in and closed the door. “Done.” She met Dominic’s gaze, daring him to disagree with her. She wasn’t about to unpack. There was no way she was making herself that comfortable. As soon as Monday morning arrived she was out of here.

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Yes.”

Dominic stared at her a moment longer before he shrugged. “Come on then.” He led her through several more corridors, stopping in a room with about twenty kids. “Rec room.”

Remaining by the door, Amber glanced around. There were several couches placed in front of a television at one end. Some kids were sitting in them, but there were more sprawled on the ground, using large cushions. At the other end was a kitchenette, three kids standing around talking. “How many families live here?”

“None. During school term it’s like a boarding school.”

“But some of those kids look really young.” Amber eyed two of the kids sitting on cushions.

“Nah, they’ve been here a couple of years now. The youngest we’ve got at the moment is eight.”

“Eight.”

Dominic nodded. “Yeah.”

“What age do you start here?”

“Six.”

“Six?”

“Yes six. Do you have to repeat everything I say?”

Amber shook her head, trying to imagine what it’d be like to leave home at six. “Don’t they get homesick?”

“Knights do not succumb to weaknesses like that.”

She didn’t know what to say. Her grandmother telling her daughter not to be weak and cry came to mind. Maybe there was no difference between the Knights and dragons. Other than one had the ability to shift out of human form. “So what do you do around here for fun?”

“We learn to kill dragons.”

“No, I mean after classes or whatever you call them.”

“Killing dragons is fun.”

She felt like rolling her eyes. Was he being deliberately annoying? “What do you do when you’re taking a break from learning to be a Knight?”

“We never take a break from being Knights. We’re always Knights.”

“But surely you do other stuff.”

“We’re here to learn to be Knights. Isn’t that why you’re here? To learn how to become a Knight and fight dragons.”

‘Not exactly’ didn’t seem like the right thing to say to Dominic. Not when he had an expression that clearly said any answer other than yes wouldn’t be acceptable. Unless it was, hell yeah. “They didn’t tell me what to expect.”

Dominic grinned. “No wonder you’re so confused. You’re going to love it here. In our weekend classes we learn different styles of fighting. All the mainstream classes are during the week until two p.m. and then we have more fighting classes every afternoon until six.” He gestured towards the kids in front of the television. “We’ve not long finished for the day.”

“Why weren’t you in your fighting class when I arrived earlier?”

“I had permission to leave the class early to greet you.”

She almost felt like she should apologise. “Oh.”

“But that’s alright. It was just a practice session.”

“Okay.”

“So did you want to watch some television before we go in to dinner?”

She really didn’t feel like meeting anyone else and if she joined the group in front of the television, they’d probably expect an introduction. “What else is there to do?”

“I could show you the library and you could pick out a book to read in your room.”

“Uhm, okay.” Anything had to be better than sitting amongst a group of kids she didn’t know and had nothing in common with. Killing dragons wasn’t fun. She thought of Paili and Queran. Not in the least like fun.

“This way.” Dominic led her down more corridors, pushing open the door of a large, book lined room. Bookcases took up every wall and there were several rows down the centre of the room. He gestured inside. “Help yourself.”

When Amber entered the room and started looking through the books, she found they were all about killing dragons and fighting techniques. She flicked through one of the books that talked about dragon anatomy and where they were most vulnerable. Maybe it’d help her be a better healer.

“That’s a really good book,” Dominic said.

“Thanks.” What else could she say? I hope you never get the chance to use the information in it? Like that’d go down well.

“I’ll show you back to your room and draw you a map of how to find the rec room and dinning room from there.”

“Okay.” Walking beside Dominic she tried to remember the way, but the corridors were all so featureless. She wracked her brain, trying to think of something to say, but couldn’t come up with a single word. What did you talk about with someone who thought killing dragons was fun? There was no way she wanted to relive past kills.

When they reached her room, Dominic took a notebook and pen from his pocket and drew her two very basic maps. “Think you can follow them?”

She nodded. Hopefully.

“Make sure you’re in the dinning room by seven-thirty. If you’re late you won’t get dinner. The kitchenette in the rec room only has tea and coffee makings in it so don’t do go thinking you’ll be able to get something to eat there.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll see you at dinner then.” With a quick grin, Dominic headed back along the corridor.

Amber stared after him, wondering how she was going to get through six weeks of this. Maybe she could hole up in her room and read. Although with the way things had been going for her lately, she’d still somehow fall into some sort of disaster. Closing the door behind her, she crossed the room and dropped onto the bed, folding the pillow before lying back on it. When she next checked the time, she saw she had only eight minutes to find the dinning room.

Placing the book on the floor, open and facedown so as to not loose her page, she checked the map before she hurried down the corridor. Trying the door that should have been the dinning room, she found it was locked. She looked at the map again. Surely this was the right place. Pressing her ear against the door, she tried to hear if anything was happening inside. It wasn’t seven-thirty yet, so why was the door locked?

There was a low murmur of voices and she strained her ears to hear what was happening. Was that her grandfather in there? Who was he talking to? It took her a moment to figure it out. Martin!

“Don’t tell me that. I know. I’ve spent four decades as their prisoner, how could I not know?”

“Then make her cooperate.”

“Easier said than done. She doesn’t need us. She’s made treaties with dragons to protect herself. We have to show her she’s wrong. That all dragons must die.”

“Then you should help us.”

“I will. First of next year.”

Fear skittered through Amber at her grandfather’s words. She wasn’t about to let him kill any of her dragons.

“That’s too far away. Nearly three months. Why are you bothering to protect them? They wouldn’t keep their word to us.”

“Because we’re better than them. We’re Knights. Our word is our honour.”

“There’s nothing honourable about making deals with dragons.”

“Do not speak to me like that.” Charles’ tone was cold. “I once held your position.”

“Is that a threat?”

“No. It’s a reminder.”

“Then you should be willing to help us track down the dragons who held you.”

“The only way you’ll find them, before the start of the New Year, is by getting the information out of Amber.”

Footsteps echoed down the corridor and Amber drew herself away from the door. No one was in sight yet, but she didn’t want to be caught eavesdropping at the door no matter how badly she wanted to hear the rest of the conversation. She hurried back in the direction she’d come, glad it was away from the sound of footsteps. When she found her room, she dropped onto her bed.

It sounded like there was no way her grandfather would ever accept dragons in her life. She didn’t know for certain about her grandmother, but if she had to take a guess, then she’d say she probably wouldn’t either. It looked like one day soon she was going to have to choose sides. And she had family on both sides.

Dropping her head into her hands, she tried to think about what to do. It was impossible. There was nothing she could do. Rising to her feet, she pulled the blind open and stared out the barred window. The sound of traffic could be heard on a nearby road and she looked out onto the backyards of normal house blocks. Did all the rooms have bars, or had they been put on hers by order of her grandparents? It wasn’t like she’d wanted to keep them imprisoned. She just hadn’t known what else to do.

Her phone beeped a message and she checked it, groaning. It was from Cooper.
We haven’t heard from you. Are you okay?
She shook her head, surprised he’d managed to go so many hours without texting her. She hoped Kade hadn’t used Ronan’s method of dealing with Cooper and knocked him out.

She typed in,
I’m fine
. Staring at the words for several minutes didn’t help her think of anything else to say so she sent them.

Why didn’t you let us know?

Should she reply or would that encourage him? Although he didn’t really need any encouragement if the past week was anything to go by.
Quit messaging me. I’m busy.
When several minutes passed without another text, she returned her phone to her pocket. Her last text hadn’t been a complete lie. She was busy. Thinking could be classed as being busy, especially when you had as many problems as she did.

The sound of the door opening had her spinning to face it, fireballs automatically filling her hands. She quickly extinguished them when she saw Dominic, open mouthed, in the doorway. Obviously not the best move. “Did you want something?”

He continued to stand there, his mouth still open.

“Dominic?” She took a step forward.

He took half a step backwards. “Do they know?”

“Do who know what?”

“The High Protector. Your grandparents. Do they know you’re a Dragon Mage?”

As usual her luck was holding up just great. Bad luck that was. “My grandparents do so I guess they’ve told the High Protector.” Why did Dominic have to know about Dragon Mages?

“Would you have-” he gestured to her hands. “You know. Thrown them at me.”

She shook her head. “You surprised me.”

He looked disbelievingly at her. “Most people jump, not attack, when they’re surprised.”

“Most people haven’t had an assassin after them,” Amber said dryly.

“An assassin.” He spoke it like it was a good thing. Reverently and with a touch of awe.

“Yes.” Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned it, but she’d thought it’d bring an end to the questions, not have his eyes light up with excitement and curiosity. “Look, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Did they catch him?”

“Didn’t you understand what I said? Not talking about it. At all.” The last thing she needed was the nightmares to return. She pushed the image of plunging the blazing sword into Paili’s heart from her mind. An image of herself clinging to Queran’s back as she hurled fireballs at his wing tried to creep in to take its place.

“Yeah, but-”

“Did you want something?”

“You weren’t at dinner.” He barely paused for breath before he continued. “Why did you have an assassin after you?”

“I wasn’t hungry.” She ignored his second question.

“And the assassin?”

“What time is breakfast?”

“Six to six-thirty. After that you miss out. Now about-”

“Goodnight, Dominic.” She strode forward, grasping the edge of the door.

He placed his hand on the front of the door so she couldn’t close it. “What happened? With the assassin. Why won’t you talk about it? Did you get hurt?”

“No. I’m going to sleep now. Move your hand.”

“Was it something to do with becoming a mage?”

She started to close the door. Her eyes narrowed when he resisted. “Move your hand. Now.”

“Why won’t you answer me?”

She’d had enough. Why did they all have to question her? Feeling the panther prowling inside her, wanting to escape, she let only it’s power trickle through, slamming it back as she slammed the door shut. She leaned against the door. It had been close. For a second she’d thought the panther would completely escape.

Dominic hit the door. “That’s not the way to make friends. They said to make you feel welcome. Well screw you. Find your own way around.”

She listened to his footsteps retreat. Closing her eyes she tried not to think about what she’d just done. He’d been questioning her. What had he expected? She sighed, pushing away from the door. Maybe she’d apologise to him tomorrow. But she wasn’t about to spill her guts just to have a friendly face in this place. Too bad if they all hated her, she wasn’t about to stick around any longer than she had to. Turning off the light switch as she passed it, she crossed the room to drop onto her bed. Her stomach rumbled and she felt the panther stir. Breakfast was going to be a long time away.

Pulling out her phone, she sent a text to Kade.
I hate it here.

What do you want me to do?

Nothing. I’m going to sleep. But I still hate it here.

I’ll be there 8 a.m. Monday.

I can’t wait.

She set the alarm on her phone and put it on the floor beside her bed. Lying there, she stared at the ceiling, light splashing across it from the still open blind. It took her ages to fall asleep and she woke several times during the night, the strange sounds and scents of the area disturbing her. Twice she had to fight against the panther breaking free. Missing dinner hadn’t been a good idea.

It wasn’t even six when she gave up on sleep, her room filled with light from her open window. She turned off her alarm, which hadn’t had a chance to ring yet, and lay staring at the ceiling wishing she was anywhere but here. It was a waste of time. She didn’t want to learn how to kill dragons. She was already far too efficient at that. Reluctantly rising from bed, she grabbed her bag from the wardrobe and wondered where the bathroom was. Maybe she shouldn’t have upset Dominic last night. At least not until she’d learned where a few more things were.

Opening her bedroom door, she peered up the hallway. It was empty and quiet. Where was everyone? Going to the next door along, she knocked on it. No one answered. Her hand hovered over the doorknob and she wondered if she should open it. She knocked one more time and waited a few minutes before she opened the door. The room was identical to hers except the bed was made and the room looked like no one was using it. She was almost relieved to see there were bars at the window. Maybe her grandparents hadn’t deliberately had some installed just for her. But she bet they would have if there hadn’t been any on the window. Closing the door, she looked in each direction. The next door or the one on the other side of her door?

She finally decided to knock on the door on the other side of hers. About to give up, Amber was surprised when the door swung open and Dominic stood in front of her. “Uhm, sorry about last night. I was tired.”

He nodded, but remained silent.

“Can you tell me where the bathroom is?”

He pointed up the corridor in the opposite direction to her room. “Fifth door on the right.”

“Okay.” She started to move away. “Thanks.” She heard the door close when she’d taken only a couple of steps. Obviously he wasn’t about to forgive her. Either that or he wasn’t a morning person, but she didn’t think that was the case. As a Knight, not being alert the moment you woke would probably be seen as a weakness.

Once she’d finished in the bathroom, she returned her bag to her wardrobe and knocked on Dominic’s door again. He opened it much quicker this time, standing there silently. Amber bit back the urge to tell him to get over himself. That she didn’t have to tell him her life story. “Can you show me to the dinning room?”

“When I’m ready to go there.” He closed the door.

She stared at the white door, fuming. Fine! Let him be like that. It wasn’t like she needed to make friends here. She wasn’t sticking around any longer than she had to. Striding back to her room, she left her door open, dropping onto the bed. Pulling out her phone she was relieved to see no new messages from Cooper. Maybe she’d finally gotten through to him that he didn’t need to text her every few minutes.

I survived the night.
She sent the text to Kade.

Why are you up so early?

Breakfast is only served between 6 and 6:30. Missed dinner. Starving.

Why did you miss dinner? How is the panther handling that?

It felt like the panther was prowling back and forth, barely caged, but telling Kade that probably wasn’t a good idea.
Because they’ve got too many stupid rules here.
She looked up when Dominic appeared in the doorway.
Have to go. My tour guide has arrived to take me to the dinning room.

Be careful.

She smiled. Like he was all the time? Yeah right. She rose to her feet, tucking her phone away, trying to think of something to say to Dominic. He remained silent as they walked along the corridors. She thought of and discarded several comments. If he expected her to tell him about the assassins before he’d talk to her again he was going to be very disappointed.