Fledgling (The Dragonrider Chronicles) (8 page)

eight

“We’re
going to be the best,” Felix
declared
as we lay awake
in our beds. After a day like that, neither of us could sleep. My heart was
still racing, and I couldn’t stop grinning. All I could think about was flying
again, and how soon I’d be allowed back in the saddle.

           
“Trust
me, I know. I can feel it. We’re going to be the best riders this academy has
ever seen,” he went on.

           
I
laughed. “We haven’t even had our first real lesson yet, Felix,” I reminded
him.

           
He
didn’t seem to think that was a problem. He went on and on, talking about our
bright future, until he finally fell asleep. As soon as I heard him start to
snore, I got up and put my boots back on as quietly as I could.

The craftsmen were going to be leaving
tomorrow. All the saddles and armor had been finished, and so they would go
back to their homes and private workshops. Mr. Crookin would go with them, and
I had to get
Katty’s
letter into his saddlebag before
he left.

I crept out of the dormitory and into
the night. The academy was quiet, and every building was dark except for a few
rooms in the instructors’ dormitory. I slipped through the shadows, and was out
of breath by the time I reached the
smithing
armory.
All of Mr.
Crookin’s
gear was still there, packed up
and ready to move out in the morning.

I took
Katty’s
letter, folded it up the way Felix had shown me, and tucked it carefully into
one of his saddlebags. With a big sigh of relief, I stood up and started back
for my room. Thousands of stars twinkled overhead, and the moonlight made long,
ghostly shadows on the ground.

I’d just reached the edge of the
tackmasters
’ armory, keeping out of sight as much as
possible in case there were any instructors still awake, when the sound of two
voices made me freeze in place.

A cold shiver of fear ran down my
spine. The voices were coming closer. I sucked in a sharp breath, and ducked
into the nearest workstation that was still crowded with equipment. Hiding
behind a big wooden crate, I waited.

The voices kept coming closer, and I
could hear the crunch of footsteps. I recognized one of the voices right away;
it was Lyon Cromwell. But I didn’t recognize the other one. It sounded like a
much older man, maybe even an instructor.

“You’re absolutely sure about that?
Every morning?” the man’s voice asked in a snapping tone.

“Oh yeah, we’ve all seen them,” Lyon
was quick to answer. “Trust me. He’s up there before the call to arms, running
drills with both of them like clockwork. He’s giving them all the lessons a
week ahead of time, so tomorrow they should start aerial maneuvers.”

The unknown man made a thoughtful,
growling noise. “We hadn’t anticipated on the halfbreed, but I suppose it won’t
be a problem. Fledglings wouldn’t know how to respond to such an . . .
unforeseen accident.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that
little rat,” Lyon scoffed. “He won’t last a week in real training. It’s a joke
they’ve even let him stay here this long.”

The man didn’t sound so sure.
“Lieutenant Derrick is not an idiot. If you had half a brain yourself, you’d
realize that. He’s up to something. Our best chance is to act now, before any
plan he’s cooking up has had time to be fully realized.”

“Right.” Lyon didn’t sound too happy
about being called dumb, but he didn’t argue. “Well, I held up my end, so I
expect you to hold up yours.”

It was the older man’s turn to scoff.
“Watch your mouth, boy, and remember your place. You will be compensated, as
long as everything goes according to plan.”

I ducked down, and tried to make
myself into the smallest ball I possibly could when their footsteps went past.
Their voices started to get faint then, and they moved away toward the Roost.
After a few minutes, I couldn’t hear them at all anymore.

At first, I was too afraid to even
think of moving. I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. Lyon was planning something
bad, and it sounded like it was going to be aimed at
Sile
.
I was so terrified of being caught out here alone, where no one would hear me
scream for help, but I couldn’t stay in the armory all night. So I waited a few
more minutes, until I was absolutely sure they weren’t coming back, and started
for the student dormitory in a sprint.

I didn’t stop or look back until I’d
slammed the bedroom door shut behind me. There wasn’t a lock on it, so I just
stood with my back against it, gasping for breath. My heart was pumping like
mad, and I was numb from head to toe.

Felix bolted upright as soon as the
door slammed, and he glared at me sleepily with his hair ruffled up like a
messy haystack. “What’s the big idea? You scared me to death!” He growled as he
grabbed his blanket and rolled back over.

“F-Felix!” I could barely get the
words out because of how hard I was breathing. “Outside, I heard someone
talking to Lyon! Tomorrow morning, when we fly,
Sile
is—!”

“—
probably
gonna kick your butt for staying up too late,” he interrupted angrily. “Would
you go to sleep already? And quit slamming the door. You scared me to death.”

“But I heard—!” I tried to spit
the words out before I ran out of breath.

“Right now all I can hear is you
keeping me awake!” Felix growled again, grabbing his pillow and covering his
head with it. That was the end of the conversation.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and
tried to think. There had to be some logical explanation for what I’d heard;
something that wasn’t as bad as how it had sounded. But no matter what I came
up with, I was still left with a swirling sense of doom in the pit of my
stomach.

Something bad was going to happen, and
I was the only one who knew.

nine

It
was hard to get excited about my first day of training when I had a big black
cloud of worry hanging over my head. I got up before Felix did, got dressed,
and waited on him to catch up so we could meet
Sile
before the call to arms. We had patterns to learn and laps to run before our
day officially began.

           
“What’s
with you?” Felix asked me on the way to the Roost. “You look like you’ve seen a
ghost.”

           
I
shot him a glare. “I tried to tell you last night. I heard Lyon talking to
someone. He’s plotting against
Sile
.”

           
“
Pfft
!” Felix slapped my shoulder teasingly. “You’re just
paranoid.
Sile
is one of the most decorated
instructors here. Why would anyone want to plot against him?”

           
I
didn’t know. All I knew is what I’d heard, and it hadn’t sounded like they were
planning a surprise party for him.

Sile
was waiting for us. He was already
saddled up and ready to fly, standing in his full armor like he had been the
first day I saw him at
Ulric’s
house. He coached us
hurriedly through putting on our own saddles again, and then we were off.

The sun was just beginning to rise
over the eastern mountains, making the sky a deep purplish red. The air was cold,
and my teeth chattered under my helmet as I watched
Sile
and Felix surge forward into the sky on either side of me. We gained speed and
altitude, leaving the dark ground behind and charging toward the sunrise.

Mavrik seemed to be able to sense my
apprehension. He kept flicking his big yellow eyes back at me, making curious
chittering
noises as he chased Valla and Nova through the
air. I kept my eyes on
Sile
, watching as he took the
lead and began to give us signals to follow him in a V-shaped pattern.

I could see him clearly off my left
wing, and he started to guide us through a long sweeping pattern that took us
around the outermost perimeter of the valley. We did steep climbs, steeper
dives, and sharp banking turns.

I was beginning to think Felix was right.
Maybe I was just being paranoid, and I’d just misunderstood what I’d heard last
night. There really was nothing to be worried about at all.

Then
Sile
gave the signal to do a barrel roll.

I watched him veer to the right,
toward me, and begin another steep descent. Valla drew her wings in, and they
began to roll downwards into a layer of clouds. Out of the corner of my eye, I
saw Felix start to follow, mimicking
Sile’s
movements.

Suddenly, something snapped.

It made such a loud crack I could hear
it even over the rush of the wind that hummed past my helmet. I ducked just in
time as a piece of metal went flying past my head so fast it probably would
have knocked me out cold. I looked back over my shoulder, trying to figure out
what it was. I was almost sure it looked like a buckle.

Valla let out a high-pitched shriek
that sounded like pure panic. Mavrik answered her with a thrumming roar, and
before I could think, he snapped his wings in tight and started to dive after
her. All I could do was hang on, searching frantically for some sign of Valla,
or even Felix, as we dove through the clouds. We streaked downwards, and I
couldn’t see anything except the occasional blur of ground through the haze.

Then I saw her. Valla flared her white
wings right below us, catching the air and coming to a sudden halt. I yelled at
the top of my lungs. We were going to hit her!

Mavrik put on more speed, making a
sharp twist so that we just barely missed her as we blitzed down through the
air. A second later, and we would have struck her head-on. I caught a glimpse
of Valla as we blurred past; she wasn’t wearing a saddle anymore. My heart
stopped, I looked frantically through the clouds below, searching for
Sile
.

He was in freefall, lost somewhere in
the haze.

We hadn’t been trained to handle
something like this yet. I couldn’t hear anything but the rush of
wind,
couldn’t see anything but the clouds all around us,
but I could sense the ground was growing closer and closer with each passing
second. If I couldn’t find him in time, if he hit the ground from this high up
. . .

Then I saw him.

Sile
was falling through the air like a
stone. His helmet was missing, and I could see his mouth was open like he was
screaming as he flailed through the air. He saw me in that same instant. Our
eyes met, and I knew I was about to watch him die unless I did something.

I leaned down against
Mavrik’s
back, squeezing the saddle handles and giving the
signal for him to fly faster. The ground was getting closer. I could see it
rushing up to meet us. Mavrik rolled to avoid cliffs as we glanced near the
sides of the mountains.

Just a few feet away from
Sile
, I reached my hand out toward him. He was clawing at
the air, trying to grab onto me. I couldn’t reach him. My arms were just a few
inches too short. I tried to lean out further, and still keep a grip on my own
saddle. My fingertips brushed his. I saw the panic, the sheer terror in his
eyes.

Something came over me like a flood of
eerie calm. Everything got quiet in my mind. Fear melted away. I let go of the
saddle completely, anchored to it only with my feet in the sheaths, and lunged
out toward him. I grabbed
Sile
by the front of his
breastplate, and he clung to me as I drug him in toward the saddle.

Sile
just barely got his fingers hooked onto
my saddle before we were jerked violently backwards. Mavrik flared his wings to
put on the breaks, stretching out his hind legs and kicking off the ground just
in time. He leapt back into the air, and I felt my heart jump into the back of
my throat as the ground fell away again.

When we landed safely back at the
academy, I was shaking so badly I couldn’t even get out of the saddle at first.
Felix landed nearby, and he was yelling and waving his arms as he ran toward
us.
Sile
climbed down from where he’d been
piggybacking on my saddle, and he looked shaken, too. He was cradling one of
his arms against his body like he’d been hurt.

I pulled off my helmet, taking a few
deep breaths and trying to calm down. But I was still trembling all over, and
feeling lightheaded like I might pass out. When I tried climbing down from the
saddle, I got my foot stuck and I fell flat onto my back, looking up into the
early morning sky.
Mavrik’s
big head appeared over
me, sniffing and pressing his scaled nose against my chest.

“Good job,” I told him breathlessly,
patting his snout.

Felix was frantic as he rushed over to
haul me back up to my feet. “What happened
?!
”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure. I
think something happened to his saddle.”

When I looked up to find
Sile
and ask him, he was walking away. An audience of other
students and instructors was gathering around us. Someone had sounded the alarm
when Valla had landed without a saddle or rider on her back.

Sile
was staggering away from us, and his
face looked pasty. He leaned on one of the other instructors and hobbled away
through the crowd. He didn’t even look back.

Felix was looking me over like he was
searching for damage. “How is that possible? I’ve never heard of that happening
before. Someone would have to intentionally compromise it for it to just break
like
tha
—” he stopped short, and gave me a
wide-eyed look.

I glared at him darkly. “Still think
I’m just paranoid?”

Felix didn’t answer. He didn’t have
to. I could see on his face that this was bad. Someone had just tried to kill
Sile
Derrick by breaking his saddle on purpose. They’d
tried to do it and make it look like a terrible accident.

The
instructors
still standing around began shouting at us to move along, to get back to our
routine. Gradually, everyone began to disperse. Felix gave me a little shove
with his elbow, and I knew we had to get back to our own schedule.
Sile
wouldn’t want us slacking off, even if he
was
hurt.

It took us longer to run our laps
while dressed in full armor, but since our flight had been cut
short,
we still made it to the breaking dome before the call
to arms sounded. All the other students in the academy flooded in, almost a
hundred total. The older classes looked more distinguished, more like men or
proud warriors, and they glared at me like there was a diseased mouse in their
midst when we came inside.

I stayed close to Felix, following him
to stand at the front of the group with the other first-year fledglings.
Academy Commander
Rayken
was talking with a few of
the other high-ranking instructors in full battle armor, whispering to each
other in low voices before they finally turned to the crowd of waiting
students. The dome became silent, and we all watched as
Rayken
stepped forward to address us.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard about
Lieutenant Derrick’s unfortunate accident this morning,” the commander spoke
loudly. “You’ll be relieved to hear that his injuries were minor, and he will
be back in service tomorrow. Let this be a lesson to all of you. Check your
gear each and every time you ride. Never assume anything, and be prepared for
everything.”

I swallowed stiffly, and was glad he
hadn’t said anything about my involvement. I had a pretty good idea that people
would look at me more as a culprit than a hero.

The commander waved a hand then,
dismissing that topic with no more ceremony. “Back to business. Allow me to
welcome you to Blybrig Academy. For some of you, this is your first time to
stand in our midst. For others, you are already a part of our brotherhood.”

He went on, talking about the proud
history of the dragonriders and our place as the pride of the king’s forces. It
was inspiring to look around and see the other, older young men standing around
me. We all wore the same style of uniform, tunics and black pants. But we fledglings
all wore navy blue tunics with the golden eagle, while the second year students
wore black tunics with blue stripes down the arms and sides. They also wore
long navy blue cloaks pinned around their shoulders by a golden clasp shaped
like the king’s eagle. It made them
look
way more
professional and polished than we did.

The older students also had a hardened
ferocity in their eyes, and they stood stiffly at attention with their hands
clasped behind their backs. I still didn’t see how I would ever fit in with
these guys. I felt like a fox that’d been lined up with the hunting hounds.
Sooner or later, someone was going to sound the horn and I would have to run
for my life.

The Academy Commander dismissed us
with a salute, clasping a fist over his breastplate that all the older students
returned with a shout. Then we started to break up into our respective classes.
The older students left first, dispersing outside to go about their schedules,
and the rest of us in the fledgling class started to flock to the gymnasium for
our first round of combat training.

The gymnasium was just a big, open
building with a dirt floor. It was lit with bulky iron chandeliers that had
thick candles burning, making the place feel like some kind of dungeon. There
were practice dummies made out of straw lined up against the far walls, and
several large chalk circles drawn out on the floor for sparring.

The instructor in charge of teaching
us combat was another lieutenant named
Morrig
. He
wasn’t an especially large or burly man, but he had that same coldness in his
eyes that made me immediately afraid of him. He gave us all blunt practice
swords, and broke us up into groups of two. I made sure to partner with Felix.
There were thirteen of us in all, so he pulled one student aside to be his
partner while he showed us how to move through each maneuver.

We started with simple parries and
strikes, and ran through drills taking turns being offensive and defensive
until everyone was exhausted. Then we moved on to hand-to-hand sparring.

I had been dreading this from the
beginning. I was so much smaller than everyone else; I knew I didn’t stand a
chance in a wrestling match. Thankfully, today was just for instruction, for
learning the different ways to pin someone, or disable an enemy that was armed
with a sword.

Felix was really good at it. He was
one of the tallest of the boys, and he was incredibly strong. So naturally, he
pinned me every time, and I wound up with a face full of dirt. He wasn’t going
easy on me just because of my size.

Morrig
ran us through drill after drill,
move after move, and ended the first day of combat training by having us do
pushups, sit-ups, and spend nearly an hour lifting big iron weights. When we
finished, everyone was absolutely filthy and none of us even had the energy to
look one another in the eye.