Dragons Rising ✔️

Ch 56: Setting Out

Once the rest of the thunderbeast riders had loaded up their things, Farot told them to fill their canteens and wait for him at the edge of town. We went to our dragons and started packing up our stuff. I put on come of my new cold weather gear and started packing the rest.

As I stuffed my new purchases into my old pack—and in the extra bags I'd bought in the market—I looked over Leera. I got the feeling that she hadn't stayed by the hitching post while we been gone. There was a scratch on her snout that hadn't been there earlier.

[I got bored, so I went hunting,] she said.

I paused halfway through tying my new sleeping bag up. [And...?]

[And a huge, white wolf thing tried to take my dufflar. I flamed on it, and it ran off. Not a big deal.]

[If you got seriously hurt, it could've put the whole mission in danger. You can't just risk everything because you're bored or hungry. The next time, leave the dufflar to the giant wolf thing.]

She snorted loudly enough to make the others glance over. [I endangered the mission? You snuck into a mining camp with no magic and almost drowned. Plus, you lost your wand in the process. What if you need fire magic to destroy the portal? Did you think of that when you decided to risk the entire country for a few dragons?]

Heat built up in my limbs, and my fingertips sparked. That wasn't something I'd had to worry about in a while. When I'd had my wand, I could practice fire magic in a controlled way and keep it from building up in my system.

Leera was right, though I couldn't bring myself to admit it. Random spurts of emotion-provoked fire magic probably wouldn't be enough to destroy the portal. I'd been so stupid to think I could make a difference at the mines. I hoped I didn't come to regret what had happened at the mines any more than I already did, but with my luck, I most definitely would.

Leera hissed and pulled away from my hand. [Cool down.]

I stared at the vague, strangely-shaped burn mark my hand had left on her side. Not only had my decision to infiltrate the mining camp almost ended my mission then, the loss of my wand might endanger it again in the future if I couldn't get my magic under control.

[I'm sorry.] I forced the heat to fade from my fingertips. It was so easy to get upset and burn something, but I couldn't let that happen again. I had to be in control of my emotions.

A feeling from my mental bond with Leera told me she was on the verge of saying something sarcastic about me controlling my emotions, but luckily she didn't.

Farot patted a pump by the hitching post. "Fill your canteens. I will be back soon. I need to get one last thing." He left his katalni chained up and went back into the shopping crowd.

"I didn't think he would ever leave us alone," Tawny said as soon as he was gone. "You never told me exactly what we were going to do on this mission. You were always so vague, but now I know we're going into the desert with a bunch of thunderbeast riders. I want to know the rest."

I opened my mouth to say something.

"She doesn't need the details," Clarisa snapped.

I fully intended to argue with her, but she looked pointedly over my shoulder, and I realized what she was worried about.

"They don't bond with kat- dragons here. Farot's dragon shouldn't be able to tell him anything he overheard."

Tawny rolled her eyes. "Dragons don't talk, even if they are bonded."

Leera growled softly, and Tawny gave me an alarmed look.

I ignored them both. "They do, but either way, his dragon can't give up our plan."

Clarisa crossed her arms. "Don't tell her."

"And if I do?"

"Then the fate of Lykela is on your head if we fail because of them."

"I trust them." At least, I trusted Tawny, and if Tawny trusted Kuertis, then I trusted him, too.

She shook her head as I explained the particulars of our mission. I left out the part about my ancestor being a fire elent and just said that he'd been one of the talmes that worked on forming the portal.

"Why can't we use the weapons instead of destroying the portal that leads to them?" Tawny asked.

I let Clarisa answer, not being entirely sure of the answer myself.

"The only way to get them is by going through Ferentisian territory, so only a small team could sneak through to get to the portal. And there are too many weapons for a small team to carry back."

"Still, it sounds like a waste." She straightened suddenly, looking at something over my shoulder.

I turned around and saw Farot coming back around the corner. He had a young elent girl with him who was wearing an Alabri as a necklace pendant. She looked to be about my age, but her expression was as hard as a rock. Farot was carrying something round in a satchel.

"This is Galantra Sveralni. She is the key to our mission."

"Did you say Galantra Sveralni?" I asked. Sveralni was my birth father's surname. I'd never thought about the fact that I might have relatives on my father's side. It didn't seem likely that Galantra was one of my relatives on his side of the family, because she seemed to be half talme, but I guessed it was possible that my father wasn't the only blood traitor in his family.

"Yes. She's the daughter of Tyor Sveralni. You know the name?"

"No, I just thought it sounded interesting." There was no way this girl could be my sister, could she? She looked too close to my age, and my father had never mentioned her in his message to me. Plus, she was a foot shorter than me, with black hair, squinty eyes, and no tail. We looked nothing alike.

"More of them," Clarisa muttered with a distasteful look on her face.

"Galantra will ride with me," Farot said, gesturing at his katalni.

The girl left his side and quickly climbed up onto the katalni's back, leaving us all staring. She was obviously an excellent climber if she could climb up on a standing katalni so quickly. Farot smiled at her and commanded his katalni to kneel before climbing on its back.

We took off and flew to the edge of the city. Before we landed, I saw a great expanse of dry, barren land in the distance that somehow looked colder than the surrounding countryside. We dove down to join the thunderbeast riders, and the dry land disappeared from view again.

"You all know what we will do now," Farot said once we landed. "Be warned of the tribes that ride frazin monsters. There are many in the desert."

"What's a frazin?" I asked Tawny. I'd heard of them before, but I wasn't entirely sure why they were so dangerous.

"They're as large as a thunderbeast, but they hate fire even more than us talmes do. If you see one, have Leera flame on it."

"I'll remember that."

Farot cleared his throat. "Now, we go." He kicked his heels, and his katalni took off into the sky. The rest of us followed, though the thunderbeasts had to get a running start before they could join us in the sky.