Page 142 of Ashborne Forged

There was a pause, and the heavy whoosh of a dragon’s breath and the breeze changed, carrying the low voices away for a moment.

With a curse, praying I’d remain silent to the dragon’s senses, I darted between trees again, keeping the wide trunks between me and the men, my feet finding the soft dirt.

As their murmurs turned to hisses, I found a thicket of bushes and smaller trees, and could draw closer by crouching behind them.

But it was Kham who groaned in my head and stopped my feet before I’d even grasped what they spoke of.

‘My brother… my brother!’

‘Kham, what is it?’

Crouched behind the bushes, I hadn’t yet caught sight of anything beyond movement in the dark, but Kham provided a view from his position high in the sky, though his sight was crystal clear. And what he saw broke his heart.

A tall, healthy dragon, harnessed, though with additional straps circling his belly and looping around the base of his tail, which seemed excessive. But it wasn’t his size or the harness that made my dragon groan.

The poor creature stood in the open darkness, his tail flat and lax, trailing in the grass. His wings drooping away from his spine, falling so loose, the tips nearly dragged on the ground. And his head…

His neck was extended and his head low. A posture Kham might use with me when offering his eye-ridges for scratching, or to meet my gaze with purpose.

But this poor dragonfury stood, chin nearly on the grass, slumped, as if all life might seep out of him at any moment.

The light under his scales was barely perceptible. Somehow, despite his size and weight, his skin seemed ready to sag from his bones.

‘Is he sick?’

‘In his mind… my poor brother… my brother, so much death!’

I asked Kham what he meant, but the men were suddenly raising their voices—not loudly, not shouting, but enough for me to hear clearly.

“—she isn’t my Mistress!”

“If you’re here, she’s more than that! She orders your master!”

“I already stand in defiance of my master if I wait another day!”

“Didn’t he tell you to—”

Both men startled as the dragon groaned, and I froze as the clearing went silent, my heart thudding in my chest, thumping in my ears.

‘Kham… did he hear me?’

‘I don’t believe so. He is empty. Hollow. A shell. Voski, this dragonfury has no will. No heart. His spirit… dear Creator, have mercy. His soul echoes. What have they done? What have they done to my brothers?!’

I’d never heard Kham so agitated. Yet, it wasn’t in fear. My dragon grieved, with compassion.

‘What is going on?’

‘I don’t know, but these men stink of fear, and mistrust. And that dragon is being used as surely as a handkerchief. He has no will left.’

I remained in my hiding place while Kham watched and showed me what he saw, as the two men both eyed the dragon warily. The stranger touched its snout briefly, but only shook his head while the footman began backing away.

“I’ve told you the orders. You’re to stay and await her. They’ll come to you in the morning. You’ve waited this long, might as well continue—at least then you won’t have broken two orders.”

“But—”

‘I’m going to try to reach him. To bolster him. Hold on,’ Kham sent. My eyes widened—it was very risky for a dragon to enter another’s mind without permission. It could cause all kinds of offense. But before I could mentally warn him, the men spoke.

“Give the monster some meat. He looks exhausted. Are you even sure he can fly?”