Benji crept towards the dragons, who milled around, most turning to face him. But they showed no fear.
“How long will it take him to speak to them?” Hanson asked, his eyes alight.
“I’m not sure. He said it can depend. If they need to spend time with him to trust him, it could take hours or days. But if they’re willing, it might be quick.”
Hanson frowned—but then Akhane lifted her head suddenly and looked off to our right, over the woods.
‘What is it?’
‘Another dragon,’she said. It was growing dark now—we’d be late for the ball, but this was important enough. And I’d left a message with Kgosi to tell Donavyn.
“Akhane says another dragon is nearby.’
“Oh, good,” Hanson said. “Let’s go meet him.”
“He won’t land here with the others?”
“No. There’s another group over there.”
“More?!” I gasped.
Hanson chuckled, a surprisingly warm sound. “I told you, Brennan: Many, many plural.”
How did this man collect dragons in a kingdom that had so few? Was he stealing the king’s dragons somehow? I couldn’t ask because Hanson had hurried off, towards the new dragon.
Urging Akhane to join us, I followed him along the hill, under the trees.
As we trotted toward a nearby clearing, Akhane lumbered ahead, her nostrils flaring, I shook my head.
“How can you instruct a herd of dragons you can’t speak to?” I asked him quietly.
Hanson smiled. “Because I collect skillful people. And smart ones. Like you.”
“I’m flattered, but—”
“I’m not being coy, Brennan.”
I looked at him and slowed my pace. He slowed to match me and held my gaze with his strangely intense eyes. When he stepped towards me, lifting a hand, I stepped back and he stopped.
“I told you,” he said softly. “You’re safe.”
I swallowed hard. “I need to know how you do this.”
“And I’ll tell you, if you join me.”
“Join you in what?”
“In building this herd. I’m certain you know by now that our Fyrehold herd has been decimated. It’s true there are dragons out on mission, and Furyknights in other kingdoms, but it is Fyrehold’s best kept secret that our dragon numbers have dwindled every year for a century.”
“And you’re trying to fix that?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “In a way, yes.” He hesitated, then sighed, and turned in the direction we’d been walking. “Come, I’ll show you.”
There were gaps in the trees ahead, and a light which surprised me.
At first, I thought someone had hung a lantern on the opposite side of a building, because something tall and broad was silhouetted by the warm glow.
But then Akhane reached the edge of the trees and drew up short, her head rising high, and ears flickering.
