The Boon of Alon

CHAPTER FOUR

"You know," Chama shouts in my ear, over the wind, "I can drop you off somewhere instead."

We're long enough out of the tourney that I've gone through a full cycle of holding too tight to Arnet's spine in front of me, realizing my arms are cramping and loosening my grip, then forgetting and holding on too tight again. I have to keep reminding myself to relax. Also, it's cold up here, and between the wind and my grip, my fingers are going numb. The sun helps, but I'm sure grateful for my too-thick tourney tunic now.

Anyway, I have nowhere to go. The tourney circuit and Boss's training ground have been my only home for years, and even if I knew if my parents were still alive, they sold me, so like hell I'm going back to them. I can't go to the King's Knights like I planned, and I didn't get to talk to any other recruiters, so I don't have a good sense of what my other options even are.

"No thanks!" I shout, and Chama squeezes my arm. Gods, her grip. I'm going to have to put on some muscle if I decide to be a rider, clearly.

I spend the hours before sunset thinking mostly of this as we fly. The saddle has straps to hold me in, but I feel like my arms and thighs and core are being slowly pounded into oblivion. Either I just need to relax more, somehow, while thousands of feet in the air, or riding takes way more strength than I thought. Even if it doesn't, can riders just be mages? I haven't seen many riders, but the ones I have seen, Chama included, have all had swords. I've toyed with the idea of actual sword training, beyond the one move I learned, but ultimately it served me better to focus in hard on magic, and if a situation ever came up where I absolutely needed to use a sword, well, I had my boon. Like today.

Periodically, Arnet's voice interrupts my thoughts to point out some landmark below. I don't love looking down from dragonback—thank the gods I'm not afraid of heights, particularly, but this would give anyone vertigo—but I always look, and from what I recognize, we're moving at an astonishing speed. He mentions the Ironheller Bridge and the temple at Aidrihara within the same hour, when walking between the two takes days. The kingdom felt very large while touring it on foot; now I try to remember the maps I've seen and wonder if my sense of scale is off.

I'd thought we'd have to stop for the night somewhere and continue in the morning. Instead, Arnet informs us we've left the kingdom just as the sky is beginning to turn pink from the sunset. We start our descent almost immediately; the rider's monastery sits perched in the mountain range that divides no less than five nations, and belongs to none of them. I can see any number of roads winding up into the mountains in the fading light as we glide downward, each starting from a village in the hills below.

Our descent makes the horizon rise up to cover the sun, so when we finally land, it's twilight on the ground, even as high in the mountains as we are. Chama unbuckles us quickly and dismounts first, sliding easily down Arnet's flank. I try to follow, but my legs won't hold me when my feet hit the ground and I just crumple. Everything hurts. Chama laughs and hauls me upright, then holds me up as Arnet nudges me with a goodbye and trots off somewhere.

We've landed outside the front gate, which means there's a couple of people minding the gate who've seen me discover my limbs are made of rubber now. There's also a pasty teenager who, the way he's panting, looks like he came running to meet us. Chama leads me stumbling towards him.

"Erno!" Chama calls. "Got a recruit!"

"What happened to her?" Erno asks as we stop in front of him. We're right in the middle of the gate—an impressive stone archway that doesn't seem to have an actual gate in it at all, anymore. The wall to either side isn't even as tall as I am. I guess if any enemies of the riders make it this far, there are probably no riders left.

Chama tries to prop me up on my own feet; I wobble but manage to stay upright, though my legs are shaking.

"This is Della. She's had a long day," says Chama.