Dragon's Mage (An Advent Mage Novel), The - Raconteur, Honor (7 page)

That was unfortunately true. We’d had a devil of a time getting information about magic. If not for the hidden libraries, we’d still be floundering around in the dark.

“I find it strange, Magus, that she would happen to be near this area when we haven’t so much as heard a peep from dragons in over fifty years.”

“You’re not the only one,” I admitted, looking to where Kaya crouched near the dragoo pen once again. “One of these days, when her vocabulary has expanded enough to where she can understand, I’m going to ask her what she was doing there.”

He nodded, as if he hadn’t expected anything different. “So what will you do, once you’ve trained her to be ridden?”

“Probably find a job somewhere in Sol or Hain where they need firefighters,” I answered, going back to work.

“If it’ll be in Sol, get Beck to write you a recommendation letter.” Hortin looked up long enough to give me a quick smile. “Beck’s a retired captain, y’know. He still has a lot of friends all over Sol. We all know that Kaya is a sweetheart, but
they
won’t know that. You might need a good word put in for you.”

An excellent point. “I’ll ask him.”

He nodded in satisfaction, focusing again on the saddle.

I was putting the saddle I just finished back on the rack when Beck hailed me from the open shop doorway. “Krys, got a minute?”

“Sure, Beck.”

“Friend of mine just sent word ahead.” Beck had this glint in his eye I didn’t quite trust. I’d seen a similar look from Garth when he was about to volunteer me for work. “He’s coming through here for a caravan run, but he’s having a lot of trouble getting through. There’s apparently so much bramble and undergrowth on the trail he has to hack through it to get wagons through. He asked me to send down a few men to help out, but…”

“But I’m handy and far more effective,” I finished dryly.   

“Faster besides,” Beck pointed out, unrepentant. “They’re on the east road. Why don’t you and Kaya take a jot down there and help them out?”

“Might I remind you that Kaya’s gear isn’t done yet?” I drawled sarcastically.

“She’ll carry you, won’t she?” Beck asked as if that was obvious.

“We can’t assume that,” I cautioned. “Even the harness is a bit of a gamble.”

“Is not,” Hortin said from behind me, sounding unconcerned.

“Hortin,” I admitted wryly, “thinks otherwise. All I can do is ask, Beck. If she agrees, fine. If not, I’ll go there on foot.”

He nodded in agreement, seeming unconcerned either way. I followed him out the door, calling to my preoccupied dragon. “Kaya, we need to go somewhere.”

“Go?” she repeated, finally taking her attention away from the quivering dragoos. I should probably get her out of here anyway, before she gave them all heart failure.

“Yes, go,” I explained patiently. “Beck has friends that need help. They’re on the road coming here. Will you fly me to them?”

I wasn’t sure what reaction I’d expected to this request. Whatever it was, I didn’t think she would light up, tail thumping at a happy rate. “Fly!”

All right, this obviously wasn’t an issue as I’d thought… “Your saddle isn’t ready yet, so can you hold me in your arms? I’m afraid I might slip if I try to sit on your back.”

She thought about that for a moment. “I can.”

Whenever I’d seen her land, she normally landed on all four legs. I wasn’t sure how she would manage if she were holding me, but apparently she’d thought of a way to do it. I decided to trust her judgment. After all, she was the flyer, not me.

It took a minute to get adjusted. Kaya wrapped one paw firmly around my waist. For balance, I grabbed onto her chain. When I felt pretty secure, I nodded.

“All right, let’s go.”

She settled onto her back haunches for a moment before launching herself into the air with a powerful up-thrust. I swear my stomach dropped out from the force of it. Still, even as startling as the sensation was, it was rather fun to be in the air like that. I did have one minor problem. A hair problem. Apparently a simple ponytail would not be enough to contain all of my hair while in flight like this. I kept having to drag wayward strands out of my eyes and mouth.

The wind whipped around me, strong enough to fill my ears, making it hard to hear anything. Kaya didn’t gain much altitude or seem to be flying at full speed—the leisurely pump of her wings made me think she could go much faster. But that made me wonder, if even this speed gave me trouble with my hair and hearing, what would a faster speed be like? I’d have to devise ways around these problems. The air also had more of a chill up here than it had on the ground. I hadn’t done anything more than put on a flannel shirt this morning, and the only thing keeping me warm was Kaya’s bulk pressed against me. I would definitely have to consider getting a thick jacket as well, if we were to fly any higher.

“Where?” she asked, turning her head slightly to look at me. Even then I could barely hear her.

Raising my voice, I answered, “Go away from the sun.” I pointed east, just in case she had trouble hearing me. “See that winding path? They should be there.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she peered ahead. “Humans.”

I had to drag another lock of hair out of my mouth to ask, “Do they have lots of stuff with them?” I couldn’t ask if it was a caravan, she wouldn’t know what I meant and I didn’t have anything handy I could burn a picture into.

“Lots,” she confirmed.

“That’s probably them.” I was amazed at how fast she was. Feeling the air whirling around me like this was distracting, so I probably wasn’t paying enough attention to how long it took, but it felt like I’d barely been up in the air at all when we reached the caravan.

“Down,” Kaya told me.

“All right.” I let go of the chain, not quite sure what she had planned, but certain that she wouldn’t just drop me. Her claws around me loosened a bit, which made my heart jump in my chest. Um. Why was she…

She shifted me a bit, grabbing my shoulders with both paws, and then swooped low. I eyed the ground in growing panic. Should we be approaching solid earth
quite
this fast…? My feet didn’t dangle even a foot away from it when she let go. Fortunately I didn’t stumble and do a spectacular face-plant, catching my balance at the last second.

Kaya, above my head, did a tight loop, her back nearly bending in half at the motion. She landed almost directly behind me with soft
thumps
as she touched down. The landing was so graceful that it looked deceptively easy.

I knew better. If
I
had tried that, they’d have had to hospitalize me for a month.

The caravan men in front of us all had weapons in hand, eyeing us suspiciously. I think the only reason they didn’t attack outright was because of the care Kaya had shown in putting me on the ground. I smiled at them and exchanged a greeting as if being flown around by a dragon was perfectly normal.

“Gentlemen, I’m Haikrysen, a Fire Mage. This is my familiar, Kaya. Beck sent us to you to help clear the trail.”

A wiry, sun-tough man in front lowered the boar spear in his hands when I mentioned Beck’s name. He pushed the rim of his wide-brimmed hat back a bit, revealing scraggly dark hair and a nose that had been broken at least twice.

“Beck sent you, eh? I’m Renard, boss of this caravan. We’re pleased to see you, Magus. This brush is thicker than a den of thieves.”

It certainly looked like it. The brush under my feet came up to almost my knees and was the wiry, tanglevine sort of brush that farmers hate to clear more than anything. I gave him a calm, professional smile. “Well, if you’ll stay about twenty feet back, we’ll do a cool burn. It will be a bit warm under your feet that way, instead of scorching.”

He nodded in understanding. “Will do.”

Behind me, Kaya’s tail thumped a happy rhythm and then she let out a burst of intense flame. In sheer panic, I caught it and threw it up, letting it disperse harmlessly into the air. “Whoa, Kaya, don’t burn the forest down! We need a
small
fire, just to clear the road.”

Her head twisted about and I could see the mulish expression on her face. She didn’t like this idea one bit.

I folded my arms over my chest and matched her look for look. “Oh, so doing a small fire for a long time is too hard for you?” I challenged.

Affronted, she drew her head back, chest puffing out. “Can too!”

Oh-ho, looked like I’d hit a sore point. “I bet you can’t,” I teased.

“Can too!” she insisted, eyes narrowing in anger.

I gestured grandly toward the trail. “Let’s see it, then.”

She wheeled around on her hind feet, lowering her head to just above the ground level. With a deep breath, she let out a long, steady stream of fire. I watched it carefully, but it was exactly the right intensity for our purposes. In fact, she controlled it so well that there would be practically no residual heat in the ground at all.

A good thirty feet of trail was cleared by that one stream of flame. When she let up, turning to me with a superior look, it took great restraint to not grin up at her. Instead, I nodded solemnly.

“Yes, you can do it. Can you do it all the way back to the village? Or should I do it?”

That mulish look descended again. “I do it.”

I spread my hands in a shrug. “Fine.”

When she turned her back to me and started clearing the next section of the trail, I caught Renard’s eye. He was about a second from bursting out laughing, judging from the grin on his face. I winked at him. I couldn’t let on that I was goading her. If, or when, Kaya figured it out, I was sure to get thumped for my teasing.

I followed along behind her, lifting any residual heat from the ground. It wasn’t necessary, as the ground was simply warm and not scorching, but I did it to reinforce the reputation we were building. I wasn’t blind to the opportunities that this moment had. Caravans travelled the world over. Making a good impression on just one caravan boss would open many doors down the road, as he was sure to tell this tale to anyone who’d listen.

It took roughly two hours to make it back to the town and Kaya’s control didn’t falter even once. We were within sight of the walls when the roads became clear again and she abruptly stopped right on the path, twisting her head to give me a smug, superior look.

I smiled back up at her. “All right, you did good.”

Satisfied with this acknowledgement, she gave me a regal nod.

Chapter Four: Training

We’d been sleeping at Hortin’s workshop, in a spare corner of his work area. Kaya still refused to let me out of her sight, especially if sleeping, so finding a way to accommodate her size was an interesting challenge. Fortunately, Hortin had a wide covered patio in the back of his shop, meant to keep the weather off his hides as they dried. Wrapped up in Kaya’s warm bulk, I stayed comfortable throughout the nights and slept like a dead man.

I woke up the following morning to Hortin announcing, “Your gear’s done.”

I blinked, trying to comprehend any spoken word before breakfast. When I thought I knew what he meant, I asked, “Already?”

“Actually had it finished last night. Put on a few finishing touches this morning. You’re ready to start training, kid.”

I didn’t take umbrage at his use of ‘kid’ as Hortin was almost three times my age. Beck was probably still a kid to him. Shaking my head a little, I dragged myself up and over to the kitchen table where breakfast lay.

So, the time had come to start training Kaya…well, that’d be fine if I knew how to go about it. Would training a dragon be anything like training a dragoo? A horse? A nreesce? Or would it be entirely different? How much could I talk her through this, and how much did I use simple training techniques? I had no doubt that she would pick everything up quickly if I explained it right. 

“Kaya?” Hortin asked as he joined me at the table.

“Out hunting,” I answered, cutting a thick slab of cheese for myself.

“So, how are you going to train her?” he inquired, cutting a slice of his own.

“No idea,” I admitted morosely. “Trial and error, probably.”

His eyes crinkled up at the corners in a silent laugh. “Well, this should be entertaining.”

“For you,” I groused.

~*~

Trial and error was actually a very painful process.

At first, I didn’t see any room for improvement. The saddle and harness that Hortin had made for us was good craftsmanship and seemed very steady. The main saddle had a slopping pommel like a dragoo’s saddle would, and the saddle itself had been curved to where it would fit snugly against Kaya’s shoulders. The harness went around the base of her neck, under her arms and crisscrossed underneath before connecting to the back of the saddle, insuring that the saddle couldn’t slip either direction. I thought it marvelously sturdy until I got on Kaya’s back with it. She was so excited to have me on her back she launched into the air with no warning.

She went up in a beautiful arch.

I went down in a less graceful thud.

After Hortin made certain that I hadn’t broken anything (aside from my pride) he had a good, long laugh at my expense. Kaya landed with a slump, very remorseful for dumping me and moped the rest of the morning as we re-designed the saddle.

The problem was the saddle had nothing on the back of it to keep me in the seat when she did those powerful up-thrusts. If she did any sort of roll in the sky, I’d fall out from that movement as well, so we had to devise some way to keep me in the saddle no matter what she did.

Kaya remained very patient during this whole process. After that first disastrous try, she never went more than five feet above the ground (which was good, as I fell two more times) and would stand stock still while we were measuring things and trying different harnesses on her.

It took five days of experimenting, re-designing, and additions, but we finally came up with something that wouldn’t be so bulky that it would hinder her movements but would also keep me safely on her back. The new design had a back to it that I could rest against, a leather piece shaped like a V that went from the front pommel to the back, snapping in around the waist area. I could quickly unsnap it if need be, but otherwise it would keep me pinned down whenever she twisted or rolled. I also had two side steps attached to the front that I could either rest my feet on or would allow me to stand and quickly jump off.