“No.” Lorik’s tone was dry. “When Soehl panicked, I knew you were off hiding, processing.”
He swallowed, hesitated, and continued as if choosing his words. “So I remembered where you went to recharge last time. I portaled myself to the meadows and looked for you. I found your books. I found your trail to the river.”
Lorik remembered what I’d told him about recharging with nature, as my father had taught me. I opened my mouth, then closed it. I didn’t know whether to be mad or grateful. He was looking after me. I was speechless.
“For someone who speaks all the time, you are definitely speechless,” he said, lifting one eyebrow.
“For someone so silent, you’ve said plenty lately.” My retort came fast, sharper than I expected.
“People who are silent are people who once got burned for talking too much,” Lorik said with almost sadness. He looked in pain, as if he wanted to say more but didn’t.
“I hear you will keep my secret,” I said, tilting my head right. It was obvious I was speaking beyond the magical trace secret.
“And I hear you will keep mine,” Lorik responded with a half-smile. And I was. Lorik had shown me his secrets without ever asking me to keep them, without worrying about being exposed. He was trained as a healer, and he could mind-bend without touch. His power was beyond anything I had seen. I wondered how much he was hiding because it was clear he was.
“I need to go, I am running late for my Sky Terrace practice,” I said.
Lorik just pushed his massive body aside to let me pass. I walked past him without saying another word. I didn't look at him again. I needed to stay away from him, for real this time.
Later that night, after practicing, doing many drills on my own, and hitting the mats with Tran and the otherfirst-years, I lay down in my bed to finish my readings. Soehl was with
Jan, so I had the whole room in peace and quiet. I took my books from the nightstand and laid them out in front of me. I needed to decide which one to finish.
Then I saw a book in my lap that I hadn’t picked myself. The cover had four dragons, one blue, one red, one green, and one violet. The title read: “The Traditional Guide to Dragons, by Violet Kru.”
I hadn’t studied ancient dragons so deeply in my life. But I certainly didn’t recognize this book as a typical or traditional, for that matter, guide for dragons. Perhaps this was the book Lorik was reading, and he gave me the wrong one by accident.
I opened it with intrigue; this seemed more interesting than reading more about the stars and the moon or more of Velvet King’s history.
As soon as I opened it, a handwritten note slipped out. It had been tucked in the mysterious book. It read:
“Princess, you don’t need to embrace the Dragontail legion in every aspect. Your mind, logic, and strategy are your biggest strengths. Study dragons for who they are to succeed in how to hold them enough to win your ruby.
PS: You are special.
L.D.”
The book swap wasn’t an accident after all. Lorik wanted to help me succeed in my trials. Perhaps his confession in the Sky Terrace wasn’t empty. For someone as silent as him, when he spoke, it might mean something.
“Stop!” I screamed. “What am I doing, Solvir? He is still a Moonveil!”
I realized I was speaking to myself, but that was enough to stop my spinning head.
Soehl never came that night. I spent hours reading the Dragon Guide. It was fascinating. It got into details I never imagined. For example, you could tell a dragon’s age based on the roughness of its scales, not the length of its horns. That surprised me. Apparently, after a century, the horn length plateaus, and growth almost stops. This makes scale roughness a more accurate way to determine age.
The eyes of the dragons were always painted as blue, their original color without taint of the green eyes when they bounded with the wildweavers. Those green eyes like those that taunt my nightmares often at night ever since I went beyond the veil.
I wasn’t sure where Lorik had found this book. It must have been ancient. Our study of dragons has been limited for centuries. Another of his secrets, but I was glad he shared it.
The knowledge would help me find weaknesses in any type of dragon Headmaster Marvek would cast. His illusions were based on true data: strengths and weaknesses to compare to those beyond the veil.
Chapter 30: Trial Practice
During the first week of trial practice, I almost reached the ruby more than once, but I always ran out of time. The practice window was brutally shortened to learn the shape of the trial, not enough to conquer it. It felt nearly impossible. Not even one person had retrieved the gem under the magma dragon.
My physical combat had improved, partly because I was excused from Emberkeep classes. With nothing to divide my attention, I focused on refining my technique, footwork, timing, and control. Even Rory Rey commented after I defeated a second-year, saying I finally didn’t look like I had two left feet. I chose to take that as a compliment.
Today, I chose to only do some drills in the Sky Terrace with Tran. Few people were here today as it was Saturday. Many from the Dragontail legion, as usual, were probably getting ready to leave too soon for Wolventon for their night out. After my last episode in