Obviously, dragons couldn't do that themselves. They had talons, not fingers. They couldn't manipulate the small mechanisms of the riding gear. But they could influence the minds of humans to do their bidding.
"If the dragon's mind had been stronger than the rider's, they could have caused the rider to sabotage their own safety equipment."
I expected Onyx to interject and say that it wasn't possible for a dragon to compel a rider to do such a thing, but he remained suspiciously quiet.
Ravel didn't say anything either.
"Captain Odinah is bonded to Vyrassin," I said. "She might be in danger."
"Captain Odinah is aware of Vyrassin's past." His tone suggested that was all he would say on that subject.
Since he hadn't remarked on the unauthorized research my friends had conducted, I got emboldened. "Would it be possible for us to get official permission to access the archives again?" I asked. "They were able to go over just a few journals before Captain Odinah kicked them out. Maybe the pattern will become clearer once we plot all the accidental riders' deaths over the past couple of centuries."
Ravel was quiet for a long moment. Below us, clouds drifted past the peak, obscuring the ground far below. "First-year cadets aren't supposed to have access to the archives."
"You can say that you gave us a project that requires going over the journals of the fallen. What could be the harm in that?"
He sighed. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you, sir."
"Don't thank me yet." He gave Onyx the signal to take off. "Let's practice the spiral descent. It's useful for quick landings under fire."
The rest of the training session passed in a blur of vertigo-inducing maneuvers that challenged my ability to hold onto my lunch.
By the time we landed back on the platform, my legs were shaking, and my arms ached, but I was proud of successfully completing every exercise without freezing up, screaming at the top of my lungs, or emptying the contents of my stomach.
"Tomorrow, we'll practice the same maneuvers again," Ravel said as I dismounted.
"I wish I could say that I was looking forward to it," I said.
He smiled. "That's okay. In time, you actually will."
I sincerely doubted that.
Now that we were back on solid ground, or rather, the landing platform, and I wasn't holding on for dear life, I could use the opportunity to ask Onyx about the killer dragons."Onyx, what do you know about those four dragons I told Ravel about?"
"They are not killers of riders. Each dragon is an individual, and each one has a different story."
"That sounds to me like an evasive answer."
He chuffed."That's all you will hear from me. If you want to find out more, you'll need to talk to them directly."
I'd never tried to contact them, and I wasn't sure I knew how. So far, I'd only communicated with dragons who had addressed me first, except during the attack on Podana, when I'd communicated with any dragon who could hear me.
I didn't know how to single anyone out other than Onyx and Nyxath.
I could potentially reach Captain Odinah's dragon. Because I knew the rider, I could focus my mental call on Vyrassin.
The problem was that I wasn't skilled enough to ensure that no other dragon heard me unless I was alone with Vyrassin, and that wasn't easy to arrange.
"You are the one who warned us of Podana. You have earned the right to speak with any dragon who will listen." Onyx lowered his great head until his eye was level with mine. "But be careful. No dragon will harm you, but a human might."
With that, he and Ravel launched skyward, leaving me alone on the platform.
Onyx had avoided answering my questions, and I supposed that his loyalty to Nyxath or Ravel or both prevented him from disclosing the information I sought.
Saphir would know more, and he would be much more willing to share. The problem was getting a meeting with him. Itwasn't as if I could climb to the top floor, knock on the door, and demand to see him.
