Nagan | Broken Time Series: Book One

Chapter 32

"Alright," Nagan prompted and sat heavily onto his bed. "Start from the beginning."

"Why are you so interested in it? I'm sure there are articles on it if you see what the Council has said so far," Az said while flopping down next to him on his back. Nagan kicked off his boots and drew one knee to his chest while the over folded under him.

"But those are government statements. They're probably leaving stuff out on purpose as to not cause a nationwide panic," he said pointedly. "And I like hearing your insight on things. Makes it more interesting."

By the way Az was staring at the ceiling, his expression blank except for the slight quirk of his brow, Nagan knew he won. "Well?"

"I guess it started a month after Summer Leave began," Az began slowly, turning himself onto his side and propping himself up on one elbow. "My mother was summoned to a rural town a few miles out from our manor from another mage asking for help. By the time she got there, the dragon had already left, chased away by another Dragonmage who was closer, leaving behind a few charred sheds but nothing more.

"Nothing happened for a few weeks after that, but then my father started getting calls from all over Tarkon by the Council requesting medical help while my mother was called as backup if the attacks were too much for the Dragonmages present. They tried to make sure at least one of them was home in case we needed to protect our territory since we're a higher mage family, but there were nights where it was just me, Florine, and the servants."

"Is this happening anywhere else?" Nagan asked.

Az nodded. "Yeah, and Tarkon wasn't even the first country to get the spikes. The first attacks actually started in Sa'aremak near Tekanlab." He paused and glanced at Nagan. "You didn't hear about it there?"

He did not, but he could guess why it started there. "I wasn't exactly there for sightseeing."

Az nodded again and dropped the subject. "Anyways, it seemed to slowly spread up from Sa'aremak to Hecatite to Tarkon. Laurow and Mahta have started reporting attacks, and Froshrinra is beginning to up their security."

"What about smaller countries like Kobar and Dijik?"

"The main five are taking care of them by sending a few reinforcements."

"That makes sense I guess," Nagan commented before switching topics. "So what's got you all concerned? You haven't even given it enough time for it to blow over."

"I kinda already said this earlier, but it's the coincidences--"

"--Which don't exist--"

"--Exactly. Not in this case anyway. Like how there was always a Dragonmage with a battle specialty nearby. It might not have been discovered by a battle specialty, but like with my mother, she was called by a mage, but another Dragonmage who was closer took care of it before she got there."

"What are battle specialties anyways? They were mentioned a lot around the time of the Dragon Choosing Ceremony, but I didn't really ask what they meant," Nagan shrugged. "Didn't exactly need to either until now."

"They're the careers that are most helpful in fights and stuff, hence the name, and always get to become Dragonmages. It's usually the casters, infiniti, combat experts, and of course dragon experts. Sometimes chanters, rune drawers, potion experts, and alchemists get a dragon, but they're typically reserved for the battle specialties."

It took a few seconds for Nagan to absorb the information. "So we get dragons for sure?"

"Oh definitely," Az grinned, "Especially you since you're a caster and a combat expert."

Nagan grinned before shaking his head. "Anyways, back to the original topic. So let me get this straight: Small villages are being attacked by wild dragons everywhere in Norvea, there's always a Dragonmage nearby, all with a battle specialty, dragon never exactly sticks around to fight anyways, no obvious patterns to be detected, and the Council is just treating it as something that happens once in a while, but you have a bad feeling about it because coincidences aren't coincidences?"

"Spot on," Az gave him a thumbs up.

"And what are you gonna do about it?"

"What do you mean?" Az frowned. "There's nothing I can do. At least, not yet anyway. And who's gonna listen to some kid who only has a bad feeling and vague theories?"

"Then don't stress about it," Nagan was half trying to convince himself. "The adults will take care of it and it'll blow over."

Nagan kicked Az lightly in the ribs earning him a swat in retaliation. "Now get off my bed. You know how I wake up at the crack of dawn, so I want some sleep."

Az rolled off the bed with a groan and trudged to his own side of the room. Nagan wouldn't say it out loud, he didn't even know if he could say it out loud, but he needed to know what the Code of Drakarmir was, and he needed to know fast. A slight prickle was felt at the base of his tongue, and he swallowed heavily. It's only a small part of me, he thought and tried not to visibly wince as the pain became sharper.

Despite what was at stake, Nagan would set off to the library first thing in the morning.