I think he did. Maybe it was just a story told by my mama.
The leather-clad woman scooped me up and tossed me onto the furious dragon’s back. I bit back my shriek as agony blasted through my leg. It started bleeding again. Would it ever stop? Father had scolded me for making a mess on the floor. Mother applied salve and told me it would get better.
The dragon rider leaped up behind me and wrapped her arm around my waist. “Hold on, child. You’re safe. I’m sorry about your parents.”
Parents? I frowned but couldn’t remember much about who I was or why I could no longer feel sadness for the poor people lying dead on the ground. The ferocious beasts who’d attacked them were scary. Mama had shoved me behind her, and when the snarling creature slashed out with its claws, she’d cried out and fallen on top of me.
When I crawled out from beneath her, sobbing, this dragon rider flew toward me.
The rider nudged her heels against the dragon’s side and the mighty creature burst from the ground, flapping its wings and soaring above the small village near my home. I didn’t remember visiting it, though I must’ve.
The dragon shot higher into the sky and despite the pain in my leg, I gazed about wildly as the wind flinging my long hair out behind me. My belly dropped away, gobbled up by both fear and stunned amazement.
The mighty beast flew higher until I felt like we could touch the peaks of the nearby mountains. We soared toward them and then down to a huge building that must be a castle. I’d never seen anything this glorious before.
She landed the dragon in front of the big stone structure and carried me over to a man bristling with weapons standing beside a huge door.
“Take her,” she said. “Give her to the healers. She’s bleeding and must be wounded. I think her name is Tempest. I heard the woman call it out before . . .” Her swallow dragged down her throat.
The man nodded and gently took me from the rider.
She gave me a soft smile and stroked my cheek with the tipof her finger. “All the best, little one. They’ll keep you safe here. If I can, I’ll reach out once I’m done and make sure someone’s watching out for you.” With a final touch of her hand across the top of my head, she spun and raced toward the dragon. It took off, soaring down into the valley, aiming for the channels of smoke coiling up into the sky.
I never saw her again, and I soon forgot that she—
Yes?the voice asked.
You’re asking if I’d leave a child at the fortress?I asked in my mind.We often leave them safe with a village. Families take them in. Or at the fortress if no one wants them.
This child. Not any child. Yes?
The rider couldn’t know who I was or what I might one day be. Did the fates guide her?
Yes?
She knew if she left me there, I’d be raised to be a trainer and rider, that I’d probably die in battle.
Yes?
I would’ve been safer in a village far from the border. I would’ve been safer if they’d sent me to a completely different continent.
Yes?the voice growled in my mind.Could you do this?
I could,I said.Yes.
Very well. Remember.
My eyes opened, and I found myself standing in the big open stone room with the dome-topped spire. It throbbed, the stars trapped beneath the glass flinging themselves around, beating against the inside, desperate to escape.
The dome cracked.
Air carrying the scent of roses burst through the fissures, swirling around me. I swore I felt the stroke of a woman’s fingers across my cheek.
Mama.
Feelings so profound and gutting crushed through me, making my entire body ache. My eyes stung, and I wasn’t sure I could bear this endless pain and sorrow.
Remember.
