The Boon of Alon

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Over the next three days, my life falls into a new routine. When I head down to the lake, I say hello to Iamon and get glared at in return. In the archive, I watch Gred and answer the little clarifying questions Suthi whispers to me while we look up today's problems. I lunch with some combination of Rev, Lemi, Erno, Suthi, and Jeddin—often all of them—and then after lunch Rev and I find some quiet, non-flammable spot, usually outside if weather permits, to practice magic. I teach her the nonlethal spells I used in the arena and she teaches me battle spells she learned in school but never used—and a few healing spells. At training, I whisper to Chama that there's been no change with Gred, or just shake my head if we don't have even that opportunity, and she tells me that they still haven't had word from Corren. My afternoon break is given over to magic again—this time with an audience, usually, but after so long on the circuit that doesn't bother me, and there are a couple other mage recruits who join us sometimes—and dinner later is with the same crew as lunch.

Suthi called me impatient and I guess I must be, because the longer we go without anything changing, the more I feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin. It's not like I don't like this new life I've somehow built for myself, but the rebels know I'm here and Suthi is already here and Gred is going to betray us, and any of them could change the game at any moment. I just don't know how or when.

So, tomorrow is a rest day, and I'm going to try to get in some archive time, since the breaks I used to spend there now are filled by Rev. But today, at the lake, instead of saying hello as I pass Iamon, I stop. He eyes me, a growl starting low in his throat. I need to make some progress, somewhere—if that means provoking a dragon, then so be it.

"You know," I say levelly, "you could make just about anything happen, if you said it would."

He growls and snaps at me, right in my face. I can't help but flinch from the hot air and sharp teeth, but I stand my ground.

"Are you mad because you wouldn't, or mad because you have?" I ask—half-shouting to be heard over his snarling.

He noses hard enough into my stomach to push me over, except that he snags a tooth in my belt to pull me back. "Do not speak of things you know naught about."

Ha—got him talking. I carefully unhook myself from his tooth. "That's not an answer."

"Bug." He snorts. I think he's going to continue—he hasn't broken contact yet—but then I'm yanked back.

"Fuck's sake!" It's Suthi, with Tack right on her heels.

"I'm starting to think you're trying to get eaten," says Tack.

"He wouldn't eat me." I look over at him, still only a couple feet away. "Would you?"

He growls and stretches forward to nudge me—avoiding Suthi, though she's placed herself closer to him than I am now. "Don't tempt me." Then he pulls away and, with a few galloping steps along the lakeside, launches himself skyward.

"He said no," I tell Suthi and Tack.

"Sure he did," says Tack.

"What the fuck was that?" Suthi demands. Abruptly, roughly, she pulls me against her, wrapping thick arms around me. I find myself squished against her ample chest, under her chin, one arm trapped uncomfortably between us, surrounded by the warmth of her body heat. It's unexpected and awkward, but I've definitely had worse hugs.

"Gods have mercy, I thought he was gonna bite you in half," she mutters into my hair. Before I can respond, or move at all, she shoves me away again and strides off towards the oil shed, picking up the bucket she dropped along the way. I think I'm going to get berated more later, but hopefully she'll cool off.