The dragon was one who’d been sent on that fateful trip to Draeventhall. One of the dragons bonded to a man that had flown with Ruin, Bren’s former lover—and her betrayer.
Ciar was the dragon of Ruin’s best friend, and his comrade on that Shadowfang mission. His rider was named Davros. And he was the man in Bren’s memory who’d called Ruin“Talon,” a dragon name that I’d recognized, and the manner by which I’d learned Ruin’s identity when she had attempted to shroud it from me.
But, though Kgosi circled the dragonfury, rumbling and crooning comfort for the male who was clearly at risk of death… there was no sign of his rider.
10. Judgment
~ BREN ~
When Akhane and I flew back from patrol, the launch hollow was oddly bustling with activity. It was mid-afternoon. There were no shift changes at this time.
‘What’s going on?’I asked, as we wheeled high above. From this distance the people looked like mice, and the dragons—of whom there were far more than usual—like cats.
Akhane took a moment to answer, then crooned, deep in her chest and raised her head to shriek to the sky.
“Akhane! What—”
‘A dragon has returned to the herd near death, and without his bonded rider,’Akhane sent, her tone grieved and heavy.
“What?!” I leaned over her shoulder, worried and nervous because there was little room to land. Eventually, Akhane was able to circle and ease us down at the western end. But the agitated Furyknights and servants gathered barely looked at us. Their attention was at the edge of the wood near the lip of thelaunch hollow—an area of the forest I’d avoided since I took my place here, because it was full of memories I preferred to forget.
But then, after I’d removed Akhane’s harness and rolled it neatly, I caught sight of Donavyn near the trees, speaking to a healer, and his dragon, Kgosi behind him, crooning and rubbing head and neck with the dragon that had collapsed in the deepening shadows between the trees.
‘Donavyn?’
‘Thank God, you’re safe.’His tone was abrupt, but heavy with relief.
‘What’s going on? Akhane said a dragon is dying?’
‘His name is Ciar. We aren’t sure yet how bad it is—but he’s very unwell. Kgosi is trying to draw him out. But he’s in bad shape, and not talking. Kgosi isn’t sure why. I don’t know what’s going on, Bren. Step carefully. But, stay close if you can.’
I hurriedly returned Akhane’s harness to the stable and asked a wide-eyed stableboy to hang it in the tack room for me, then started down the hollow, bracing myself to walk up that rise on the other side and keep my mind on what happened here, and now. Not the past, when I’d huddled in those same shadows myself.
Skin crawling, I trotted up the other side of the launch hollow and drew to a halt, taking it all in.
A bedraggled dragon lay like a sick dog between the trunks of two large pines—random scales sloughing off, skin slack, eyes dull, and missing several spines and talons. He was so unwell, his skin and scales had lost their color so that he looked pale. Almost white. I’d never seen a dragon near death before. I couldn’t tell if he was a gray or goldscale who’d paled, or if this was what happened to any of them, regardless of their color.
Kgosi stood over the dragon like a guard, stance wide, his spines and wings high. But he continually rumbled and crooned,rubbing his face and neck gently along the dragon’s jaw and long neck, stretched out on the sparse grass.
Not far away, Donavyn stood in flying leathers, arms folded and his face grim, speaking to another Furyknight whose green dragon stood calmly behind him, though it kept lifting and resettling its wings.
As I approached the healer, Donavyn caught sight of me over his shoulder, and I felt the rush through the bond. This was the first time we’d reunited in front of others at the end of time apart. I fought the itch to throw myself into his arms and drag him away.
Someone shouted in the hollow below, and we both startled. But it was just another Furyknight calling for a stableboy’s help. I wrenched my eyes off of Donavyn, and watched the movement below to give myself a moment to take hold and even my breathing.
When I turned back, Donavyn’s attention was on Kgosi, who’d grown more agitated and was now nudging at the sick dragon insistently, and rumbling. The other dragons in the launch hollow raised their heads and began to call and whistle, their human riders and servants growing restless. Everyone in the hollow leaned in, those near the injured dragon inching closer, and those below clustering on the slope leading up to the wood.
“Stay back,” Donavyn barked, raising a hand towards the crowd inching up the side of the hollow, and waving those already at the top away. “Let Kgosi have space and… just stay back,” he growled.
‘Not you,’he sent tensely through the bond.‘I need you close. Just don’t approach the dragon.’
I hesitated next to the healer Furyknight, who stood with one hand clenched at his side, the other resting on his dragon’s leg.
“What’s happened?” I asked in a low whisper.
Face lined with worry, he shook his head. “I don’t know. Kgosi won’t let us get close. I’m worried.”
He trailed off, but the unspoken was clear.He was worried this dragon would die.
