Taken (The Brindle Dragon Book 3) Read online

  “There’s no use fighting, girl,” the healer hissed, her words seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. “It sees you now.”

  Eist didn’t know what ‘it’ was, but that didn’t matter as the floor closed over her front, dragging her down,

  down,

  down,

  until there was nothing of her left.

  Eist woke up panting, her heart in her throat and sweat covering her whole body. It took everything in her not to vomit as she realized the darkness of her room was very different from the darkness that she had been so completely swallowed up by.

  Ugh.

  She hated having nightmares, and they had been plaguing her far too often since that fateful day in the infirmary hall. They ranged from just being about her being an outcast when she returned to the academy all the way to her grandfather never waking from his forced sleep.

  They were all dark and twisted, with fear drenching through her core. Every time she jolted awake from them, it was difficult to tell what was real and what was the awful terror her mind had conjured up. Part of her wanted to believe that they were a sign that something was terribly wrong, but the other part of her said that it was just her mind’s reaction to the trauma that she had gone through, and it would fade in time.

  It certainly hadn’t faded yet, though, and suddenly the room was far too small and stifling for her, even with the window on the far wall.

  Swinging her feet over the side of the bed, she rubbed her face vigorously. It helped a little, but perhaps some fresh air would be better.

  Yes, fresh air sounded like a good idea.

  Standing, she slowly made her way over to the door, eager not to wake Dille up. But judging by the almost completely burnt candle by the girl’s bedside, she had clearly stayed up quite late reading and wouldn’t be waking up any time soon.

  Fior, however, was much more attune to his companion’s action and sat up from the floor, where he had fallen asleep with the piece of hardtack still in his mouth—plus some additional drool.

  He blinked at her sleepily, one of the rare times he used his inner eyelids, before rising to his short, stocky legs.

  “I just want to go out,” she said as if he could understand her. “You don’t have to come.”

  But of course, he wasn’t going to listen to that. He trundled over to the door and sat beside it, looking expectantly at the door.

  Eist smiled, amused by her little guy, and opened the door for him. She didn’t have a particular destination in mind, so she just wandered as they went out into the hall.

  Eventually she found herself at that same balcony where she and her friends had watched the dragon riders and their mounts relaxing and playing. There was almost no one around now, allowing her to climb right back up on the gargoyle and look down at the peaceful-looking field.

  Except this time, she had Fior with her, and he grabbed her foot before quickly climbing up her body. She winced as his claws nicked her skin and his hind foot put pressure on her still-sore leg. The healers may have thought he wasn’t growing, but she noticed all the little differences.

  The night air did indeed feel cool against her flushed cheeks and the moon shone silver down on the few dragon riders that were camping out this late at night, their dragons either beside them or roosting in the cave a few yards away. Her dreams started to fade to the back of her mind, where hopefully they would give her a break…at least until the next night.

  “Why am I not surprised to see you here?”

  Eist stiffened as she recognized that particular voice. But unusually, instead of sounding haughty or condescending, it just sounded…uncertain. Fior also identified it quickly, and a low, ardent growl rolled out of his throat. Eist hushed him, for the moment, gently stroking his back.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be leaving me alone, Ain?” she said without looking at him.

  “Yeah,” he answered honestly, surprising her. She risked a sidelong glance to see that he was standing a few feet away from her, hands hanging by his sides and most of his bravado missing. “But I was hoping to get your permission to talk to you.”

  “You never much cared about my permission before.”

  “I know. But I do now.”

  And then he fell silent. Eist let it linger there, pushing it well past the point of uncomfortable, before sighing.

  “Alright. You have my permission.”

  He just gave a slight nod and approached her. For a moment, she tensed, but he just leaned against the wall and slid down it until he was sitting, long legs stretched out in front of him. It was weird to have him so far below her, but it put her at ease. He couldn’t get in her face or make her uncomfortable when he was right at boot-to-the-head level.

  “I really did hate you, you know.”

  “Yeah, I gathered that,” she replied, taking note of the past tense but deciding not to comment.

  “But it’s not like I didn’t have a reason. A lot of reasons.”

  Eist didn’t say anything, wondering what exactly was happening. Usually words like the ones he was uttering meant someone was trying to defend their actions, but he didn’t really seem to be doing anything of the sort. It almost seemed like…like he just wanted her to know.

  “I get by because of my charm and looks. If I’m not able to use those to influence the people around me, I’d have nothing.”

  “But your father is a lor—”

  “My father is an idiot. He gambled away most of our estates to other lords and was sent to fight at the borders in the army to repay his debts. He now keeps away wild men and bandits in the hope that one day his debt will be gone, but then he’ll just come back and do it all over again.

  “Do you have any idea what it’s like, growing up and being the poor noble boy? Disgraced from court and ridiculed? My mother, who never did anything wrong, tried to make the best of it for me, but there was only so much we could do.”

  Eist could have pointed out that she had grown up poor much of her life due to her parents’ early deaths. While they had been famous dragon riders, their fortune was what had given them a family name as well as the plot of land she and her grandfather now lived on. So, while she and her grandfather had many things others could only dream about, she definitely wasn’t nobility by any means.

  “The other kids used to mock me and try to beat me out of the noble grounds. A lot of times, I was properly trounced. But then I met Athar.”

  Eist perked up at that, curious. He had known Athar since all the way back then? It explained why the other boy seemed so much like his shadow.

  “Even then, he was a gentle sort of giant. Bigger than every other kid, but they bullied him relentlessly. Whether it was his stutter, or his size, or his unwillingness to raise a hand, they were utterly ruthless. They called him half-giant and hit him with sticks.

  “When I first saw him, I remember just seeing an ally. Someone who would understand me, both of us outsiders that were too high in title to be ragamuffins but too different to ever belong. I defended him, and once there were two of us, the others seemed less inclined to try to beat us down. They also learned a very valuable lesson.”

  “And what was that?” Eist asked cautiously. She still didn’t know why he was telling her all of this. How could he go from lying and trying to get her expelled all the way to pouring out his life story? But if she knew one thing about Ain, it was that he rarely did things without a purpose, so she continued listening carefully. Fior, for his part, was regarding the boy carefully, but didn’t seem poised to attack. He really was a good boy.

  “Although Athar generally would never raise a hand to defend himself, he doesn’t hold the same qualms when it comes to defending someone else. As soon as one boy shoved me into a mud puddle, he was like a man possessed. After that, they gave us a wide berth indeed.”

  Eist smiled to herself ever-so-faintly. “I cannot imagine him being actively aggressive for the life of me.”

  “He really doesn’t like to. It�
��s almost like he feels guilty for his size. Goodness knows if I had his kind of power…” The boy trailed off, so Eist finished for him.

  “You would be an even bigger threat than you are already.”

  She could almost hear the toothy grin below her. “You think I’m a threat?”

  “You did expose my weakness to the entire academy and tried to get me expelled.”

  “And yet you handled both of those situations like they were nothing. My inability to provoke you was more infuriating than anything else.”

  Now it was her turn to grin broadly. “You think I’m infuriating?”

  A soft laugh, and it was so strange to hear come out of his mouth. “Unequivocally.”

  “As much as I appreciate the insight, what does your story of Athar have to do with anything?”

  “It’s pretty much what started all of this.”

  “What? I don’t understand.”

  “Of course you don’t. Because you keep interrupting.” Eist shot him a look, but he was just smirking up at her, ever his confident self. Ugh, even in some sort of strange, drawn out, maybe-kinda apology, he was still irritating.

  “Fine. Continue.”

  “Anyway, as you can imagine, Athar and I became quite close friends. In fact, you could say we were each other’s only friends. And as we grew closer, his family took my mother in. We combined our estates, and it really was like we were a family.

  “And then puberty hit, and I started to look like this, while Athar grew even bigger and more intimidating. I found myself able to curry favor with noble women and he intimidated noble men. That helped us eventually wiggle our way into this academy, where I was sure we would be able to restore my family’s estate to its former glory.

  “You have to understand, even though I had gained friends and alliances, I was still Athar’s only friend. I spoke for him. I was his one true companion. I was used to being his everything, and I won’t lie, I enjoyed being that important to the person I considered my brother.

  “But then you came in.” He paused for a moment, as if he was struggling to keep his tone even, and Eist waited breathlessly to see how any of this possibly made sense. “I remember that moment like it was yesterday. We were just standing in the hall, talking—well, I was talking—to a group of hopefuls, and suddenly his head jerked to the side like someone had punched him.

  “For a moment, I thought that maybe he was possessed or something. But then I followed his line of sight and he was staring at you.

  “You! Of all people! Can you imagine it?” No, she couldn’t. “At first, I assumed that he was just gawking at your features to make fun. But I quickly realized that wasn’t it. The way he was looking at you, it was like you were the sun itself.”

  Eist didn’t know what to say, or even think, about that. She wasn’t the type of person that happened to. She was short and stout, a peculiar mix of fat and muscle. Her hair was dish-water blonde, and her blown-out pupil often put people off. In fact, she was about the opposite to the type of person that had that happen to them.

  “And I was jealous. Because I could tell, in that moment, that you could take him away from me.”

  “I wouldn’t—”

  “I know,” he cut her off. “But that didn’t matter. I was just mad that you could. Someone like you, who didn’t have the looks, charms or mannerisms that I so carefully cultivated could take my brother away without a single word.

  “And so, I wanted to destroy you. If you were gone, then Athar would never see you again and I would return to being his only confidant in the world.”

  “But you don’t want to destroy me anymore?”

  He shrugged. “The only person I care about other than Athar is my mother. We’ve always been close and I’m going to become a great dragon rider, so she can live the easy life that she deserves.

  “If someone tried to take her away from me, I would do whatever I could to make sure that they never touched her again. I would move the ends of the world if I had to.

  “So, when I heard that the healing lady was trying to kill your grandfather, who’s your only person, I realized that perhaps, maybe, we’re not as different as I had assumed.”

  “…how magnanimous of you.”

  “I try.” He let out a breath that was probably supposed to be a laugh, but it was far too bitter for that. “Look, I’m not saying we’re friends now. And I’m not saying that you have to forgive me. I’m not even saying sorry. I just think…that after all you’ve been through, you deserve to know how all of this got started.”

  “I appreciate the information,” Eist murmured, unsure how to feel. “I’m not sure this changes much of anything.”

  “Perhaps it will. Perhaps it won’t. I promise that I won’t try to sabotage you anymore, though. Maybe I could even help you from time to time…but don’t depend on that last part.”

  “I won’t.”

  “And, Eist?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Please don’t steal my brother.”

  “I don’t plan to.”

  “Yeah, you say that now.”

  The conversation stilled from there, the two of them just watching the dragons. But Eist’s mind was full, wondering if he was just imagining Athar’s supposed stare or if that had really happened.

  And if it had happened, what did that mean for her?

  She wasn’t sure. The thought that Athar had been staring at her in any way that was significant was certainly off-putting, but not…awful. Mostly it was just curious. Bizarre.

  But no matter if he did stare, or didn’t, or for whatever reason. None of that was going to help her become a dragon rider, so she tucked it away to hopefully never think about again.

  Even with her grandfather awake, she had enough to deal with.

  They sat like that until her eyes started to droop and her head loll forward, Fior gently snoring against her chest. Ain didn’t offer to walk her to her room, but his steps fell in line with her until they reached her dorm hall before wandering off.

  She knew as she slipped under her covers again that she was going to be quite tired the next day, but it seemed to be a good thing that she had wandered about.

  Pulling the still snoozing Fior to her, she nuzzled his head and slipped into sleep.

  This time, she didn’t dream.

  4

  Sharp as a Sword

  Eist licked her lips, eagerly shifting from foot to foot as she and the other students in their class all stood, waiting for Ale’a and the weapons master to arrive. She could see the racks of wooden weapons just a few yards in front of them, and her mouth was practically watering.

  Their first two days back had passed quickly, most of the time being used to explain what was coming during the year, who would be in the morning group, who would be in the evening group, and what grounds their dragons were allowed to visit. Since all of their charges were still younglings, they weren’t allowed to interact with active duty dragons and dragon riders, lest they get them sick. It seemed the young beasts, much like young human children, carried around particularly virulent germs that were prime to take down those that didn’t hang around babies that much.

  That was probably why Eist had never been too keen on little ones. That and the fact they had no problem pointing out anything that they saw as strange, and Eist certainly had plenty of strange about her.

  But none of that mattered because now she was standing at the cusp of another big milestone in a dragon rider’s journey.

  Weapons training.

  Her heart thundered in her chest as her mind echoed the words. Yes! Although her mind had been mostly preoccupied with getting her dragon and his growth, or lack thereof, weapons training had always been at the back of her mind.

  As a dragon rider, it was necessary to be proficient in short and long-range weapons, covering both melee and air battle. It was probably the third most important thing she would learn at the academy, next to riding her dragon and understanding how to control her dragon
’s abilities.

  Assuming Fior had any. So far, he hadn’t shown any copper dragon indications, but he was still very young. In fact, so far, the only dragon that had hinted at any sort of power belonged to a girl name Belldydi, who had a red dragon that had repelled all the water around it in the tub for a moment when she had been giving him a bath. Although the shield had only lasted for a breath, it certainly had enthused her, and she told the story every chance she got.

  Finally, Ale’a and the weapons master walked out of one of the far doors, taking their time as they crossed the grassy field. Eist found herself wishing that they would put at least a little pep in their step before realizing that they were probably amused with all the fidgeting of the expectant young dragon hopefuls.

  They seemed to finally get their fill of torturing the trainees, however, and soon the weapons master was standing in front of them with a serious expression.

  “Alright, younglings,” he boomed, his voice reaching even Eist loud and clear. “I’m sure many of you are excited for this part of your training. Visions of swashbuckling and grand sword fights filling your heads.

  “Get those fantasies out of your mind!” He paused and looked looked over the entire group. “This isn’t play time, where you get to live out your dreams. This is how you learn to survive.

  “Fact is, most of you will be dead before you can ever become a master of any weapon.” Oh. That was sobering. Eist certainly knew that, but she wasn’t sure about people delivering it so matter-of-factly. “And you are a lucky lot. During the war, nine out of every ten of us died before our first decade after earning our full dragon wings. Now, almost half of you will probably see ten years.

  “Some of you will die of your own stupidity, whether it’s riding during a storm, or a bad fall, or enjoying drink or drug. Some of you will get overwhelmed by bandits or brigands. Some of you will get lazy and lose your skills until even a roving band of savages can take you down. And some of you, well, some of you will be so poisoned by the need for fame, wealth, and gain that you might even turn on your fellow dragon riders.