Fate of Dragons: Dragons of Arethia, #3

By Nikki Bollman

Dragons and their riders protect Arethia's borders and keep peace within the land, along with the mages who work alongside them. Nobody knows why, but only women can bond with dragons to be their riders. But now, the dragons have been kidnapped by a mage who wants to change that, and the remaining dragon riders have to find out where he's taken them. Arethia's safety is now left to the mages, and Karume mages using the forbidden bound magic begin creeping into Arethia while the search for the missing dragons is stalled.  Can Tesa and her friends bring the dragons back to Arethia before it's too late? Will the Karume change the way magic is used in Arethia forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nikki Bollman
• Release date: Aug 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386092414

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

IT HAPPENED SLOW and fast. Gradually, then all at once. The first time Derol noticed them was when he’d gone into town to negotiate the price of some seed with Mr. Gridder. They met over a drink at the Kitchen Witch. The travelers were obvious right away. They always were, for so few came to Enval.

He remembered them because of the girl. Seeing her demure glances his way reminded him of when he’d come to this inn for a meal with Tesa. The traveler girl was nothing like her. She had that brown skin more often found in the southern parts of Arethia, and her hair was a mess of black curls, unlike Tesa’s long wavy hair. He returned a smile and a nod, then concertedly focused on Mr. Gridder’s talk of seeds for spring and breeding of cattle.Throughout their conversation he could feel her eyes on him.

So studious were his attempts to avoid her gazes that he missed the chance to observe the others as he normally would have, like any good townsman. All he noticed, besides their dark-colored riding cloaks, was the flash of a gemstone on one man’s neck. He remembered looking about the room for the source of the light that had reflected off of it.

Derol returned to his farm house that night thinking of Tesa again, wondering how she liked being a dragon rider. Her parents had shared the news from her letter with him, their faces grim and timid. Her mother had been shocked when he laughed and slapped his knee in delight at hearing that she’d been chosen by a dragon and would begin training as a rider. And a mage too, no less. He was happy for her, and tried to explain to them why, but he also saw how she’d dashed their hopes of her returning and marrying Derol, joining the two farms and securing a good life for herself. He couldn’t help but be sad about that, too, deep down.

Later, he’d asked her father if he could read the letter, and after he read it, he couldn’t stop thinking of her. Something about the letter made him feel as if there were things she was leaving out. That worried him. He had to keep reminding himself that she was training with the riders and the mages, the two main armies of Arethia. She didn’t need him or anyone else to worry over her or protect her.

As he sat down to dinner with his two farm hands, their wives, and the one little baby, he still thought about Tesa even as he told himself that maybe the next time a woman made eyes at him, he should respond. He would need a child—children—of his own to take over the farm one day. But then, look at Tesa’s ma and da. They’d had five, and all had gone away. Maybe one of her brothers would come back and run the farm if they knew that Tesa had gone. Surely they must know by now. Derol chided himself then, for his thoughts had strayed to her again.

A week later, even more travelers roamed the town streets. Derol scratched his head and wondered what it could be that brought so many travelers at once. Nothing seemed to connect them, besides the fact that they all showed up around the same time. Some had the same features as the girl who’d made eyes at Derol, and others appeared more like those from Enval. Derol remarked on the travelers to one of the innkeepers, who shrugged and said it was good business.

So it started gradually like that, with more and more strangers staying in town, for long enough that they seemed to become part of the fabric of Enval. It almost became easy not to notice them.

The rest of it happened all at once.

Derol had gone into the woods to gather firewood. It had always been one of his favorite tasks, ever since he was a child and he rode on the sleigh behind his father on the horse. As much as they could, they roamed the forest in search of already fallen trees.

We respect the forest, he remembered his father whispering. He’d point and let his eyes roam above him in a slow arc. For she watches.

It was with this memory in his mind that Derol left the well-trodden path and led his horse Daisy through the trees. The blanket of snow seemed to muffle everything, so that they went through in silence, only the sound of their feet crunching through the snow and the swish of the sleigh’s runners sliding behind them.

All day they trod through the forest under the trees, sometimes under the cool cover of the snow-flocked evergreens, others warm under the sun that passed through the leafless branches of deciduous trees.

Derol took care to climb up in his travels so that tomorrow it would be easier to come home, going down.

As the sun dipped lower in the sky, the true chill of midwinter settled over the forest, and Derol was glad he’d made it to the cove. The cove was the name he and his father had given to an old shelter built by unknown people long ago. It was a rounded wall of stacked up rocks against the base of smooth gray rock that jutted up toward the peak of this particular mountain ridge. In the distance, another mountain top rose even higher than this one.

The cove did not extend into the rock like a cave, as so many of the old dwellings up here did. But those others had become the nests of rock dragons, and the cove was too small. That was why they could always count on it for shelter. Derol thanked the forest, too, that the builders of the cove had made a sturdy hearth and chimney. He spent the rest of the daylight balancing pine boughs across the tops of the walls to make a roof, then lighting a fire in the hearth. He led Daisy into the shelter after unhitching her from the sled.

He boiled some water over the fire and made coffee in his small pot. It warmed him to drink it between bites of cold smoked venison and some apples from the root cellar. Derol wished he had some candied tree nuts. His mother used to make them and send them with him and his father.

Thinking of his father and reminiscing on being with him, in the cove, Derol found himself wishing that he had his own young boy to take with him into the forest. Or even a girl, for he remembered when Tesa was small, and how she preferred to accompany her brothers everywhere rather than stay home with her mother. He’d always admired her adventurous spirit.

The forest sighed around him under a gust of wind from over the mountain peak. A faint suggestion of voices drifted in the wind, and Derol recalled how his father had always spoken of the children of the forest, that they watched from their homes in the trees, protecting those who were friends.

He remembered asking, Are we friends?

I hope so, his father would answer.

He woke in the morning under a clattering crash of branches and wet snow in his face. His roof had fallen in on him. Daisy snorted and pranced on her side of the cove. Derol threw off the branches as quickly as he could, before Daisy panicked even more.

A light snow had begun to fall in the night, fat flakes tumbling through the air and covering the sleigh full of firewood. Derol frowned. Quite a bit had accumulated, but it didn’t look like enough to have caved in his roof. He scanned the trees, looking a silent question at them. Silence reigned.

Snow drifted down through the gray light as he chewed his breakfast—more cold meat and fruit. He breathed in the scent of coffee as he spooned the grounds into his pot of boiling water over the fire revived from the night before.

A sudden gust of wind rose up around him, then blew past and up to the peak. Derol followed it with his eyes and noticed a thin curl of smoke rising from the other side of the mountain. He shielded his eyes and squinted to be sure of what he saw.

Once his coffee had brewed, he strolled over to the more gradual sloped side of the peak and picked his way up the rocks.

The falling snow made the air hazy, but the camp was easy to see from atop the ridge. Not much attempt had been made to conceal it. A large fire in the center had been doused, and trampled ground and debris all round it showed where the people had camped. But the camp was gone now. Derol scanned the land below him for a sign of where that many people had gone. Trees and rocky terrain blocked much of the view, and he scanned open spots for movement, but saw nothing. He fought a feeling of unease.

As he turned back to his side of the mountain to descend back into the forest, a movement caught his eye. Through a mountain pass not far below him, a line of people marched in single file. Immediately, Derol ducked down behind a rock so he would not be in obvious view. He watched as the people climbed through the rocky pass and continued on down the slope on his side of the mountain. They carried packs and weapons. Derol counted and reached one hundred before the last few trickled through. They wound down the snaking path headed toward Enval, disappearing around a bend. When the last one rounded the bend, Derol finally dared to move, rushing down the slope back to Daisy and the cover of the forest.

He abandoned all thoughts of collecting firewood the rest of the day and led Daisy back into the cove, where he tied her. He hid his pack in a nearby tangle of brush, then stole through the forest as quickly as he could without making too much noise. He made it to the copse of trees on a ledge that overlooked the path before they began to pass. He lay on his belly in the brush so that he would have the least chance of being seen.

They came around the bend and he had a perfect view of them straight on. Now that they were through the pass, they no longer walked single file, but filled the path walking two or three abreast. They were dressed for winter in an array of cloaks, jackets, boots, and hats. Some carried weapons, like swords, clubs, and bows, and others carried nothing visible. They walked in silence, their expressions eager and determined, but not a smile among them.

As they came closer, Derol sunk deeper behind the dried brush around him. His rock ledge was about half a man taller than them. Light flashed off of a necklace on the chest of the man in front, and Derol searched around for the source of the light. They sky was gray and overcast with the clouds and the still peacefully dropping snow. Derol looked again at the necklace. How could it be reflecting light when there was none?

He squinted closer and then his eyes went wide. It was no necklace at all. The source of the light was a stone glowing with magic. It was embedded into the man’s skin, and Derol could see others around it. As the crowd of men and women marched by, he saw that many of them had this. Mages. Though Arethia’s mages rarely traveled to remote towns like Enval, Derol still knew enough to know that these mages were not Arethian.

The traveler in the inn had had one of these stones, too. He remembered seeing the glint of light. Then he thought of all the people who had come to Enval over the last month or so. These people with weapons were headed that way, but some of their number were already there. A chill passed through him that was unrelated to the cold air.

After the last of them had passed on the path, Derol scrambled up from his hiding spot on the rock ledge and ran through the forest to the next hill. His farm would be the first thing they came to.

A wind came up and the soft drifting flakes of snow turned to driving flecks that obscured his vision and pricked at his skin. The trees seemed to shelter Derol from the worst of it, but he could see the strangers’ cloaks flapping as they went.

At first he had hope that they would pass his farm by. Maybe their appearance wasn’t as ominous as he thought. Maybe they were just passing through. He could see them below him, farther away now, just small figures like dolls on the landscape. He could see his farm hands, too, out working on the fence. The first of the strangers did keep going on the path, but to his dismay, three figures broke away and approached his farm. The two farm hands left their work and Derol clenched his fists and clamped his teeth as he watched them be overtaken by the strangers with weapons and marched into the farm house.

He couldn’t see Tesa’s farm from here; it was below a slope, but he was sure the same would happen there. The marchers continued on down towards town. Derol had no chance of getting to town fast enough to warn them. Perhaps no warning would have been sufficient, since so many of these mages had already been in town.

Derol waited until nightfall to try to get closer to town. He stayed in the protection of the forest, for crossing through his neighbor’s farms would surely catch notice. He didn’t dare to hope that any farm had been left unoccupied. He had to skirt the edges of the town to stay hidden, winding his way down the mountain among the safety of the trees.

He came as close as he could to the town, near the clusters of small houses that surrounded the main buildings and the town square. He climbed a tree so that he would be able to see over the roofs of the houses. Night was falling, and he went slowly, pausing after every move he made so that he would escape notice.

Blue lights glowed along the main road and in the town square. The snow had stopped and the night air had a fresh chill. Dark figures with swords paced up and down the street. Derol’s heart sank. The strangers had taken over Enval. But to what purpose?

As he watched, a door opened just a crack. Three people snuck through, a woman and two children. The patroller’s back was turned, and they ran toward the road that led out of town into the lower reaches of the forest. They only made it a few steps past the last houses before a blast of light shot toward them. It flashed when it struck them and one of the children fell to the ground and lay motionless. Mages came out of the houses and dragged the woman and her remaining child back. The commotion settled, and the mages went back to patrolling.

Derol felt a slow tide of anger well up inside of him. He longed to jump down from the tree and storm into Enval to make them pay for what they’d done to the child. But he was one man against many mages. He forced himself to climb down slowly by imagining that the sticky sap oozing from the flaky skin of the pine branches held his hands there like glue.

Night had fully settled now, but Derol knew his dark shape would stand out against the snow. He eased his feet to the ground and paused again. But the mages had put themselves at a disadvantage with their lights, for beyond them the darkness would appear even more dark and deep.

The child still lay there when Derol reached the other edge of town. He waited in shadows as guards passed, turned, and continued their saunter up the street. Then he rushed out, scooped the small body up, and hurried back to the trees. He lay her down when he was safely out of reach. Kneeling over her, he put his hand to her chest and his ear near her face. A ghost of a breath tickled his ear, and he felt her chest rise and fall. He laughed in relief and fought back the tears that had come to his eyes. There was no time for that.

Derol straightened, hoisted the girl up over his shoulders, and stood. He plunged into the trees, deep into the forest, trusting her to get him safely back to Daisy and his pack.

An army of mages had taken over Enval. People were trapped, and he couldn’t save them by himself. But he knew who could, and he was going to find her.

CHAPTER TWO

DEEP GREEN STRETCHED below as far as Tesa could see. Light glinted on water that ran in the rivers, showing through the gaps between the trees. Far off, Tesa saw wider glittering expanses of water. Lakes among the evergreen trees. With a thought, she urged Orrie to dip lower, to skirt the edges of the mountainside.

Not so close, Orrie admonished.

Tesa grunted. Orrie could be such a stickler for the rules now that he was getting bigger.

If I lose my flying rights, you do too, he reminded her.

I know, Tesa said. Orrie banked to the left to skirt the border between Arethia and Yennar Lei.

Since Orrie had regained his health after the Karume attack on the dragons, they had flown over the border between Arethia and Yennar Lei almost every day. Mountains formed the border, and great forests lay beyond the mountains on the side that belonged to Yennar Lei. Tesa yearned to take off, dive into the vast stretches of forest before her, and fly until she found the lost dragons.

If only they could be found so easily, as if all she needed were willpower. She knew that she and Orrie couldn’t do it alone, but the official search party was taking so long to organize, she had begun to wonder if the search would ever happen at all. It seemed as if the king and his advisors had given up.

Tesa didn’t remember it taking so long for all of the dragon riders to go in search of one missing egg and one guard when the Karume had taken them and almost succeeded in taking Tesa, too. Of course, now most of the dragons who lived in the capital city of Areth were missing, and it seemed as if their absence slowed down their own search parties.

One of the things they were waiting for, Tesa had been told, was for all of the dragon riders from the outposts around all of Arethia to report to the city of Areth. But even that seemed to take longer than Tesa had expected it to.

Malía’s going to lead the search, Kiana had said. I’m only acting in her stead. I can’t very well lead without a dragon, can I? She said the last part with a sad shake of her head. Her dragon was one of those lost to the Karume attack and kidnapping.

Malía had yet to arrive from the outpost where she’d been stationed, to allow its normal riders to attend the ball. Tesa had thought that all of the dragon riders had come to Areth for the mage ball, the event during which the dragons had been kidnapped. It turned out, though, that several of the dragons had remained at the outposts so that the whole of Arethia wouldn’t become defenseless. They took turns attending the mage balls in different years.

But won’t the outposts be unguarded now, when the dragons leave? Tesa had asked.

Kiana’s eyebrow had arched. This is a special situation. It leaves us without many options.

So why was it taking the committee so long to discuss them? Kiana and Orema had made several vague comments about audiences with the king, but claimed they weren’t able to tell her much else.

As usual, nobody shared anything important with her. Even though she’d been there through it all and she’d had a key role in discovering the missing baby dragon and dismantling the shield that the Karume had put up around the dragon dwell. Tesa knew that she hadn’t been following the rules when she’d done all that, but she thought she should be given at least a little credit.

The king can’t know what you did, Tesa, Kiana had said. You would never fly again, and you definitely wouldn’t continue training as a mage. Don’t people in Enval know how bad it is to be caught practicing bound magic?

In Enval we don’t know much about magic at all, Tesa said. Or dragons. Not many people come our way.

The forests of Yennar Lei reminded Tesa of Enval, a little bit. The evergreens that climbed the lower mountain slopes, the rocky terrain, the lack of human habitation all around.

One thing she knew would be different, was that snow would still be covering the trees in Enval at this time of year. Only the trees highest up the mountain were still snow-flocked here. Below, spring seemed to be coming to Yennar Lei.

Orrie reached the rock cliff that jutted out, marking the farthest they could go without losing sight of the last watchtower, and spun around again in the air to head back toward Areth.

As they climbed higher back toward the top reaches of the city, squeaks and chirps alerted them to the presence of the flock of weyrdragons coming to join them in their flight. Orrie had become a favorite of the weyrdragons, and they flew up the trail behind him, dodging in and out of the currents created by his wings.

Friends fly, one of the weyrdragons said. Fly more up here.

The weyrdragons liked to fly with Orrie and Tesa, but they never went below a certain point, so they wouldn’t follow on Tesa’s forays over the border near Yennar Lei. She hadn’t been able to get them to tell her why. She wasn’t sure if they understood her question, even. Their minds worked differently than Orrie’s and the other true dragons.

It was another frustration in the search for the kidnapped dragons. The weyrdragons had seen it. Different stars they’d said. They’d seen what was on the other side of the portal that the Karume had taken the dragons through. But all that Tesa had gotten from them were flashes of what they had seen, brief pictures from that night, from different angles and colored by many emotions.

When she’d asked about the stars, she’d gotten so many different pictures at once that she’d had to push the weyrdragons’ thoughts away from her. It was impossible to talk to them one at a time, but she’d kept returning until she got the clearest picture she thought she’d ever get from them.

A black sky with sparkling stars floated in a circle above, and a wall of rock loomed above the image of the dragons being dragged through the magic door that had been opened by the Karume. There wasn’t much more that the weyrdragons had seen. Tesa held the picture in her mind fiercely.

She didn’t share any of her conversations with the weyrdragons with Kiana or the others. She was already in enough trouble as it was. Besides, they probably wouldn’t believe that the weyrdragons could tell her anything.

Sorry friends, Tesa said to them now. I’m done flying for now. I’ve got a meeting.

Speaking of being in trouble.

Orrie descended and glided into a smooth landing on the steps of the mage academy, drawing stares from the mages there. She dismounted, hugged Orrie’s neck, and waved as he lifted into the air again.

Tesa stood with her hand raised, knuckles ready, in front of Renna’s office door. She bit her lip and stared at the wood grain, tracing its lines with her eyes. She would give anything to be able to turn around and walk back out of this hallway without knocking on the door.

She glanced to the end of the hall where a young mage guard watched her with interest. The presence of mage guards in the academy had become a constant after the Karume attack on Arethia the month before. Not only in the academy, but in the palace and throughout the city, too. The dragon dwell had balked at mage guards in their space at first, but even they had finally—if grudgingly—accepted a larger than usual mage presence. They no longer had enough dragons to guard themselves.

Although the dragon dwell had been trapped by a huge lodai, or stone, full of stored magic, the mage academy had simply been closed off using spellstones arranged at every entrance, be it door or window. Because bound magic of that type was forbidden in Arethia, none of the Arethian mages had recognized that the trap had been set as they entered the ball. Now that they knew, though, guards had been posted at all the entrances to watch them, and when it came time for them to change over, each new guard made his own inspection to be sure there were no suspicious objects with potentially dangerous spells bound into them.

The guards, mostly younger mages recently recruited into the mage guard, were also meant to watch for anybody acting strange or leaving strange items about.

Tesa finally sucked in a breath and rapped hard on the door. She couldn’t just leave the box and be done with it. Clicks from within the door told her that the lock mechanism was working, and then the door swung open on silent hinges.

Tesa padded in on the soft carpet that lined the floor of Renna’s office and stopped before his desk. She waited with her eyes to the ground. After everything that had happened, Renna had seemed cool toward Tesa. Granted, they had never had more than a master and apprentice relationship, but she knew that she had broken many rules, both leading up to the attack and during it. At the time, everything had seemed completely justified, but now Tesa knew that she would have to answer to the laws governing all mages in Arethia. She had avoided him for the past week after she’d seen him in one of the planning meetings for the search, but he’d finally sent a note requesting that she return the spellstones that belonged to him.

Renna sat behind his desk hands folded and lips pursed.

You may sit, he said.

Tesa took one of the chairs and sat with her hands clasped over her knees, unsure if she should say anything.

Renna solved her problem by speaking first.

I would appreciate it if you returned that which belongs to me before we begin any other conversation.

From her leather satchel, Tesa produced the carved wooden box that she had taken from his office not so long ago. The spellstones rattled inside it as she set it on the desk and slid it toward Renna.

He took the box in both hands and lifted the lid. His eyes flitted over the contents for a moment before he shut the box and sighed.

I’m going to have to trust that the original contents are all here, he said, since I never knew what I had all this time it sat on my shelf.

I didn’t keep any, if that’s what you mean, Tesa said. It was technically true; she hadn’t kept any of Renna’s. She hadn’t told him that Amina had given her another box with spellstones just like these. Some were the same, and some were different.

She also didn’t plan to tell him that she’d copied all of the symbols from his stones, and had been trying to teach herself how to forge spellstones of her own. If she wasn’t already going to get kicked out of the mage academy, she surely would if he knew that.

Renna made a gesture and the box floated in the air to come to rest on the shelf, almost exactly where Tesa had found it in the first place.

After the dragons had been kidnapped by the Karume, Tesa had recounted everything to Kiana and Renna during one of the meetings, back when she thought that they’d be leaving within days to search for the missing dragons. She’d told them everything she could remember, hoping that anything might help find the dragons sooner. Part of her story included her misadventures with Linnie and Glenna, since they had discovered during the attack that Linnie had gone over to the side of the Karume, and so had her dragon.

It was after that meeting that Renna had requested this special audience with her, to discuss her future in the mage academy.

Now, Renna said, interlacing his fingers and folding his hands in front of him on his desk, we’ve taken care of that, we can determine what’s to become of you here.

Heat creeped up Tesa’s cheeks and she tipped her head toward her lap. She was going to get kicked out of the mage academy, and she wouldn’t be able to continue her mage courses, which they’d let her start even though she hadn’t made up her exam yet. She’d be forbidden from using the magic that she’d only just discovered was hers. Worse, she’d probably be placed under guard, since she had untrained magical abilities.

Clearly, I cannot have you in my employ as an assistant anymore, he started. You not only kept information from me that I had hired you to discover, you also broke my trust by violating my private space and abused your privileges in this office.

Of course, Tesa said. I’ll clean off my desk today.

No need. Renna pointed at a woven burlap sack on the floor. Your things are ready for you now.

Tesa pulled the sack over to her and peeked inside the top. Renna didn’t say anything else, and she began to wonder if that was it. When she looked up, he was opening a large leather volume.

You missed your mage exam at the end of last session, he said, flipping pages.

Here it was. She couldn’t make up the mage exam, and she’d be kicked out of the mage academy.

In a way, it might be a relief, she thought. Even with a short break from dragon training and mage courses, Tesa still felt just as overwhelmed as she had before everything happened. And once the search for the dragons was finally organized, Tesa was determined that she would be one of the ones on that search. Nobody could stop her from honoring the vow to herself.

As an advisor to the mage guard, I don’t usually have much to do with academy matters. He stopped flipping through the pages of the book and rested his index finger on the page. However, in light of recent events, I have spoken with your advisor, and recommended that you be exempted from the mage exam.

His finger slid down the page and he bent over the book to peer closer. Tesa tried to formulate a question, stunned at what he had said. Exempted from the exam? That made it sound like she would still be able to attend school, not be kicked out. She lifted up slightly in her chair, hoping to catch a glimpse of what he was reading.

Yes. Renna said. His finger had come to rest at the bottom of the page. He sat back. You have demonstrated competence—and more, in some areas—in all of the skills required for the classes in which you are currently enrolled. Of course, that does not cover your training when you inevitably join the search for the dragons, but that will be considered in the planning. He closed the book.

I don’t have to schedule my mage test? Tesa asked it even though she knew she’d heard correctly. It just didn’t seem true. It was so far outside what she’d been expecting from this conversation.

That is correct.

Wait. Tesa had been so surprised by the first part of what he’d said, that she’d almost missed the second. "And I’ll be part of the search party? For sure?"

However irresponsibly you came by your knowledge before, there’s no denying that you have unique experience that will be valuable in a mission to Yennar Lei. Besides, you’re one of a small number of riders left with a full-grown dragon, however inexperienced. They can’t afford not to send you.

Does that mean they’re planning the search now? Have they finished collecting information?

Renna made a face, betraying that he shared Tesa’s feelings about the pace of the meetings, hearings, and audiences with the king.

Kiana and I have met countless times with the king and his other advisors. There is an unusual amount of disagreement and hesitation. He turned in his chair and looked to the window in the direction of the dragon dwell, though it wasn’t visible through the stained glass. I hope it’s nothing more than an abundance of caution, due to the fact that we’ve lost much of our power with the loss of the dragons.

There was a silence as Renna continued to gaze toward the window. Tesa shifted in her seat, trying to decide how to ask if what he had said meant that the searches would happen soon or if there would be more meetings. She never got her chance, for he turned suddenly and slapped his hands on the open pages of the book.

So. I must have you sign off on these items declaring that you’ve passed the tests on these skills and are fit to enter the next session of mage courses.

When they’d finished, Tesa left Renna’s office on feet considerably lighter than the trudging ones she’d approached with. The burlap sack containing her belongings from her desk bounced against her back as she passed by the guard at the end of the hall. Though Renna still seemed a bit sour at her, it would not ruin her mage training, and she’d gained a tiny bit of information, however vague, about the progress of the search for the missing dragons.

CHAPTER THREE

TESA EMERGED FROM the mage academy buildings into a bright sun and fierce cold. She leaned back and stretched, her back stiff after sitting so many hours in class after her meeting with Renna. Though she was tempted to call Orrie to carry her across the valley to the dragon dwell, she knew it would feel good to walk. Still, she called out to him, just to check in.

I’m headed to the great hall. Hungry. She pictured a giant bowl of her favorite soup from the dragon dwell’s cooks.

Flying. Coming soon! Orrie sent back a picture of the weyrdragons fluttering around him, ducking in and out of the path of his wings and tumbling in the air.

Tesa smiled at the image. Orrie and the weyrdragons had become fast friends after surviving the attack by the Karume. The weyrdragons had witnessed the attack and even helped drive Linnie’s dragon off from attacking Tesa and Renna. Tesa had caught glimpses from them of the inside of the dragon dwell during the kidnapping, but each weyrdragon’s memory was so fragmented and disordered, that she hadn’t been able to piece together anything useful. Orrie hadn’t been much help either, though he seemed better able to understand them.

Tesa headed down the stairs from the mage academy and across the deep valley between the academy and the dragon dwell. Lines of cloaked figures made their way up the mountain. They were the seekers, women who hoped a dragon egg would hatch for them and make them riders. The winter hatchings had begun along with the mage classes, and as of yet, none of the eggs had hatched, eliciting a grim and worried response from the riders.

A gust of wind came up and drove into the gaps in Tesa’s winter clothing. She squinted and tucked her chin. Again she felt tempted to ask Orrie to carry her across, but it would be too conspicuous over the crowds of people at the dragon dwell. Especially since there were so few dragons left, and also because Tesa had begged off of her duties to give tours of the dragon dwell to hopeful riders and shepherd them into the hatching caves, claiming her mage studies kept her too busy.

Tesa jogged across the bridge that crossed the valley. Once across, she ducked past the line of hopeful women who pooled into a crowd near the entrance to the dragon dwell, then trekked farther up the path. Once around a bend, she ducked behind a boulder and trotted up the narrow set of stairs hidden there. The stairs seemed to dead-end among some more rocks, but Tesa wound around those until she came to the downward staircase. It ended at a little wooden door, which opened at the back of the great hall’s kitchens.

Tesa closed the door quietly and paused to breathe in the smell of bread baking and creamy soups simmering. Down one short hall came the sounds and warmth of the kitchen staff cooking. After savoring the smells and sounds for a moment, Tesa took the side hall that skirted around the edges of the kitchen so as not to disturb them.

A bell pealed just as she spilled into the great hall, and young servers laid trays of fresh food out on the serving tables. Tesa scanned the room until she found Fenn seated at a long table. He raised a hand and jumped to join her in line.

Any news about the search? Fenn asked.

I’ve been in classes all morning, Tesa said. How would I have gotten any news? She glanced around the great hall, noting the presence of the mage guards at the door. She would tell Fenn about her meeting with Renna later, where she wouldn’t be overheard.

I just heard that there were some meetings with the king. I thought you might be in on them.

No, I just get to wait around just like everybody else, Tesa said. While the Karume get farther and farther away with our dragons. She wrinkled her nose and pouted.

She spoke lightly of it to avoid expressing her true level of frustration. It had been weeks since the Karume mages had invaded and stolen most of the dragons from Areth, and Tesa and Orrie had been ready to mount a search for them as soon as she’d nursed Orrie back to health from the burns he’d gotten during the attack. Instead, she’d been invited to a few meetings, where she was interviewed about her and Eriya’s accidental trip to Yennar Lei through one of the magic doors the Karume had been using to sneak into Areth. Except for her meeting this morning, she had heard nothing.

So I was looking at the maps, Fenn began, but Tesa cut him off.

Not here, she said. She glanced around the great hall, which admitted a slow trickle of people for lunch.

Ugh, fine, Fenn said.

Well, you know what Eriya said. And I’m inclined to believe her.

That the Karume have eyes and ears hidden all over? Little magic spy things? I’m sure she’s right about some of it, but I really doubt they want to listen at the serving line in the great hall.

Well, I agree with her; we can never be too careful. Not after what just happened.

That’s what I’m saying, though, Fenn said. They came and took the dragons. They got what they wanted. Why would they still need to spy on us? Honestly, they should be more scared of us. I’m sure they’re hiding somewhere now. It’s gotta be a lot of work to hide that many dragons. Dad says we’ll find them soon enough.

Fenn was echoing a sentiment Tesa had heard all over the city lately, but especially at the mage academy. It made sense, since Fenn’s dad was a mage. She wondered what his mom, who had lost her dragon in the attack, really thought.

Tesa just shook her head, not wanting to enter into the debate again. The Karume had shown them how much of a threat they were, but many Arethians preferred to continue thinking they were just a small group of mages