Dragon spirit hunter 3, p.10
Dragon Spirit Hunter 3, page 10
Instead, it was very cozy-centric, and the walls were papered in a faded pastel-blue color with a pattern of tiny snowflakes that ran along the middle of the walls. To my surprise, the snowflakes were flurrying, and they traveled magically around the room in a slow and relaxing sort of way.
Overstuffed armchairs were placed in front of the open grate in which a small fire smoldered merrily, and along the mantelpiece stood various figurines. A tea kettle hung from a hook nearby, and a china tea set was set on the pale wooden table.
The calming scent of lavender mingled with the soft scent of the burning logs in the hearth, and Jas and I took a seat in front of the small fireplace.
“I feel like we should be knitting or something,” the snow elf grumbled.
I snorted, but I wasn’t going to let him distract me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as we’d settled.
The snow elf put his head in his hand, and his white hair hung over his head. When he looked up, I was astonished to see the expression of mute suffering on his face.
“It’s the mission, Charlie,” Jas said in a subdued voice. He bit his lip as he considered his next words. “I can’t do it. I’m not fit.”
I stared at the elf in shock.
“What do you mean, you’re not fit?” I asked.
“I’m afraid of my own fucking rovkin,” he said bitterly. “What sort of use am I to you, or to the Legion?”
“You’ve been working on it, though,” I pointed out. “And improving. You certainly used him well in that snowball fight…”
I chuckled at the memory, but Jas’ moody red eyes weren’t amused.
“You don’t get it,” he muttered.
“Explain it, then,” I said more firmly.
“Fine.” Jas met my gaze, and again, I noted the sheer suffering I saw there. “I’m not bonding well with my rovkin. My spirit isn’t handling it.”
Ice broke through my veins as I realized what he was saying.
“Shit,” I breathed. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I just talked to my mentor about it,” he said. “I told him I didn’t want to do this mission, and he said I have to, because something needs to force me to bond properly with my rovkin before my spirit is consumed by it.”
“What!” I blurted out. “Jas, what the fuck? Why haven’t you said anything to us?”
“Erlan knows,” he admitted. “And I only just found out last week, but so much has been happening, and you have way more going on–”
“No, don’t ever think that,” I cut in. “I don’t care what is going on with me, if you’re having a problem, I want to know about it. And this sounds like a big, big problem.”
“It isn’t yet,” he said, but his eyes were uneasy. “But I feel like a shadow of myself, and I’m just… I’m not at my best. That’s why I don’t want to go on this trip. On top of that, I suck at this rovkin-wielding stuff. Scaring people with him isn’t going to save lives. I need to wield him like I’m supposed to, or I’m nothing.”
The firmness he said this with made me realize he actually believed this.
“You’re more than your rovkin, Jas,” I said immediately. “That’s what earned you a spot in this academy. They wanted you here, and you happen to come with that rovkin. Just like all of us, it’s a package deal.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not the same when you don’t have an absolutely mace rovkin, okay?” he sighed. “No one is super impressed that I have a Lesser-Spotted Arachiapod. That’s not going to get me to any high-ranking spots.”
“Dude, stop selling yourself short,” I said. “And stop selling the spider short. We can work with this, okay?”
“We?” He perked up a bit. “You’re gonna help?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “This trip is the perfect chance to do it, too. We’ll be in a new country, we’ll have plenty of monsters to kill, and I’ll be looking like an idiot trying to juggle two dragons. We’ll be idiots together.”
Jas made a slight snort of amusement.
“And I don’t really have a choice in the matter, do I?” The snow elf smirked.
I was pleased to see some of the humor had returned to his face.
“None of us do,” I said. “Orders are orders. But we’ll be okay.”
He nodded. “Erlan said much the same thing.”
“You should listen to him,” I said. “He’s crazy smart.”
“Mostly,” Jas said with a wink.
I knew that one conversation wouldn’t change Jas’ mind, but it felt like a good first step, and I resolved to keep an eye on him during this mission.
I couldn’t fault the snow elf, spiders were incredibly fucking creepy, and giant magical ones were doubly so. But I knew how scary it could be to worry about your spirit not bonding properly with your rovkin.
I was worried about the very same thing, but I’d already found out that as scary as it could be at times, having them both around and getting to know them could also be exhilarating and legitimately wonderful.
I just had to make it a private mission to prove Jas’ Arachiapod could be just as fantastically, terrifyingly fun. Then he’d be able to ease into the bond a little better.
My stomach growled again. Definitely lunchtime.
I stood up and looked at Jas.
“Lunch?” I said and chose not to mention the fact that he hadn’t eaten breakfast.
“Sure.” He shrugged.
I was glad the food hall wasn’t that far from the dorms. I was really hungry by now. We ate quickly, and both of us wolfed down our food like starving animals. We chatted in between bites, and Jas seemed to be in a much better mood as we headed to the armory.
The snow elf wanted to stock up on arrows and bowstrings before our journey south, so we climbed the winding staircase to the roof, where the smith’s forge was, along with most of our weaponsmiths’ stations.
Folen, the blacksmith, was the only man working today, and he sat behind a large anvil when we arrived. His large, callused hands worked at the glowing metal before him as he molded and shaped it with a delicacy and grace that I never would have expected from a man his size.
I’d learned that, as a full djinn, he had no need to wear the usual uniform of his trade, so he dispensed with the thick leather apron and the protective gloves I’d seen other smiths wear.
His orange eyes, which matched the sparks from his forge, were intent on his work. The hot steel on the anvil transformed before my eyes from a misshapen lump of glowing metal into a perfectly-shaped blade.
Folen held the blade up to the light and turned it this way and that as he checked for any imperfections in the cooling metal. His lined face creased into an excited smile that showed off all of his iron teeth, and only when he was truly satisfied with his work, did he turn his attention to other matters.
“Jas,” the smith greeted him enthusiastically. “Look!”
Folen reached down beside the anvil and came up holding something in one of his callused hands.
He waved a bundle of feathers at the snow elf with one soot-blackened hand. They were a beautiful shade of jade green, and they actually glittered in the daylight. They were utterly hypnotic.
“Are they…?” Jas murmured, and he was utterly entranced by the feathers before him.
“Yes!” The blacksmith’s enthusiasm was contagious, and I found myself grinning broadly at the sight of this grown man looking so excited about a bunch of feathers.
“What are they?” I asked with a chuckle.
“They’re feathers,” Jas deadpanned.
I glared at him. “I know that, smart-ass, but what animal are they from?”
“Bird,” was the snow elf’s blunt answer.
“Alright,” I said as I laughed. “What specific breed of bird has feathers like this, and why are we all excited?”
“They’re from a Tenoch Bird,” Jas said as he finally took pity on my ignorance. “It’s an incredibly rare animal to find, and it can take decades to even get enough feathers to make a full quiver of arrows.”
“That does sound like a pain in the ass, but why are we so excited?” I asked again.
Folen handed me one. I could feel a strange kind of energy to it, and as I gripped it, I felt both of my dragons begin to stir.
“It’s magic,” I said as I handed it back.
“Yep,” Jas said. “An arrow with Tenoch fletching never misses its target. Ever.”
I could see now why they were so precious, and why the smith and the elf were so pleased.
“Now, there’s a surprise for you in that cupboard…” The smith winked at Jas and pointed one large finger to the cabinet. “Got some of the others up here to help fit them all together for ye’.”
Jas’s pale face lit up with excitement as he strode to the doors. He practically pulled them off their hinges in his eagerness.
“Seriously?” he said as he turned to the smith. “You can’t.”
“I can.”
Jas pulled out a beautifully made quiver. Nestled in among the standard arrows with their basic white fletching, I could see the rich green and silver coloring of the Tenoch feathers.
“Why’d you use so many feathers on me?” Jas asked with a confused grin spreading from ear to ear.
The djinn looked embarrassed. “You guys are the only first-year cadets that treat me with any kindness.”
It was difficult to see a grown man admitting that people much younger and less experienced than him treated him badly, and I was immediately annoyed with the other cadets.
“Some of the other students respect you,” Jas pointed out softly.
He laughed. “To most, I’m just ‘the blacksmith.’ They don’t know my name, and they don’t care to learn it as long as I’m there to sharpen their weapons for them. It’s thankless work sometimes, the life of a smith. But you lot really enjoy the work of it and seeing all the odd things I get up to in here with your weapons.”
Again I was struck by how unfeeling some of the cadets were. I was lucky I had been able to surround myself with such a good group of people.
“We can’t help it,” I chuckled. “You create things I couldn’t have even imagined were possible. It’s an art form, the stuff you do.”
The blacksmith looked stunned and proud at the words. He puffed out his chest a bit, and he adjusted his trousers with a wide grin on his sooty face.
“That’s what I’ve been saying all me life!” he chortled, and then he gestured at the feathers. “Those here are just as pretty as they are lethal. That’s what I like about ‘em.”
I glanced at the admittedly beautiful arrows.
Tenoch feathers seemed to be an incredibly precious resource, but I wasn’t sure how the Legion would feel about them being wasted on a bunch of first-year cadets, no matter how much those cadets damn well deserved their respect.
“You mind where you send these,” the blacksmith said to Jas with a stern look. “These aren’t something you’re leaving out in the woods. I don’t care if you bury one of these arrows in a pile of Wooly Aardvark snot, you retrieve that arrow, clean it up, and keep looking after it.”
“Yes, sir.” Jas nodded diligently.
“Nasty,” I muttered. “Does the General know you made these for a first-year cadet, though?”
“Course he does. It was partly his idea,” he laughed. “He also told me to give you this.”
He handed me something wrapped in dark suede cloth. I unwrapped it carefully and gasped as I revealed a beautiful silver belt-knife. Its handle was studded with red and purple gems and the blade glinted in the sun.
The sheath was made of carefully tooled leather, and the clasp for hanging it on my belt was worked into a small dragon’s head. I appreciated the detail and the thought.
“Thank you,” I said with a sincere smile. “This is badass, I can’t wait to use it. You even acknowledged each of my rovkins in the design…”
“It’s not every day someone gets a dragon rovkin, let alone two,” he snickered. “You and I are gonna have some fun in the next few years. This here doesn’t have any powers of its own, but it’s ripe for use as a conduit, and I thought maybe balancing the two dragons’ colors on there would help you personally connect with the weapon more easily.”
I grinned in excitement. I’d always liked the blacksmith, but if he really wanted to have fun experimenting with my particular powers and weaponry, life was going to get very, very fucking cool.
“The others will have similar gifts soon enough, once we can get the proper materials,” the blacksmith said. “Carnelis said you may be visiting, since you’re going on an important mission, so we arranged a little something to wish you luck. The Legion appreciates your service.”
Jas especially seemed buoyed up by his gift. He slung the quiver across his back and shook the smith’s hand.
As we made our way back downstairs, I turned to him.
“Feeling a bit better?”
“I am,” he said. “I just wish I had the confidence in myself that everyone has in me when it comes to this. You all just think I’m going to suddenly be great with a giant spider friend.”
“You’ll get there,” I said. “It just takes time. Think of it this way… you know better than anyone how scary that spider of yours can be to someone.”
“Yeah.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “So?”
“So consider that as your inspiration,” I chuckled. “As the elf who will become the embodiment of all the power that Arachiapod has to offer, make it your goal to show up at a battle and be the soldier who is that fucking scary, too.”
A slow, devious grin spread on the snow elf’s face, and his moody red eyes glinted a bit.
“That does sound pretty mace,” he admitted.
“Venom as shit,” I replied.
“Yeah, that’s not how we use that word,” he snickered and continued walking. “But enough about me and my rovkin. What are you going to do about yours?”
I let out a long breath as we exited into the grounds. “No idea. Just keep trying, I guess.”
“Well, that lazy attitude won’t do,” I heard Prianna say behind us, and we whipped around.
“Good afternoon, Sergeant,” Jas and I said in unison.
“Good afternoon,” she returned. “Everyone ready for the mission?”
“I hope so,” Jas muttered, but I nudged him in the side. “I’m ready, is what I mean.”
“Good,” the woman laughed. “Charlie, if you’re all set, I’d like to have a short training session before departure tonight. Does that suit you?”
“Yeah, I’m set to leave, so whenever you’re ready,” I said.
“I’m ready now.” Prianna smiled, and then she sent the same gorgeous look toward Jas. “Care to watch?”
“Really?” he gasped, and his dark red eyes went wide. “Yeah, can we all see?”
“That’s not necessary,” I said uneasily. “I’m still starting out with them.”
“And it’s always helpful to have the support of your friends,” Prianna pointed out. “I’ll meet you and anyone else who wishes to observe at the Arena in twenty minutes.”
Chapter 6
I could feel my two rovkins inside me stirring impatiently at the thought of being released again.
The thought of having the Blood Dragon out again made me uneasy. I didn’t want to have to chase the little menace all the way across the grounds of the Academy if he decided to fly off again, especially with most of the academy out in the grounds for their days off.
“You should probably get them used to each other,” Jas pointed out as we hurried to find Erlan.
I knew if anyone was going to be mad that I didn’t invite them to this, it would be Erlan. He’d been working so hard to help me figure this all out, and a chance to observe the new rovkin in person would be perfect.
Even if I still hated the idea of how many things could go wrong.
“Gods only know what we’re going to find in Vel Trosca,” Jas continued. “Take every chance you have to practice now, you know?”
He had a point, of course. Apart from that night on the rooftop and the episode with the deer in the forest, Raddre and the Blood Dragon hadn’t really interacted with each other very much.
“You’re right,” I said as we reached the library. “I know I should just do this. So I will.”
The library air was cool and still and smelled of ancient paper and old leather bindings. Flecks of dust danced through the air, and apart from the occasional crackle of pages being turned over, there was a reverent hush.
Our footsteps echoed throughout the dim, cavernous room. The towering bookshelves reached the ceiling, and were crammed full with books in every size and color. I still couldn’t make sense of most of them.
Erlan sat at a desk and waved us over as he looked up. I noted his hand was stained with ink as though he’d been frantically writing. The moon elf was surrounded by piles of parchment and stacks of books that looked as though they could topple at any moment.
“Hey, guys,” he said quietly as we sank into the worn yet comfortable armchairs.
“Charlie’s mentor said we could watch a training session with his rovkins,” Jas said without any form of introduction to the topic. “Thought you’d like to come.”
“Really?” Erlan’s voice was loud enough and excited enough to draw glares from a group of other cadets.
“Really,” I said.
“Yeah, I’ll go!” Erlan said, and at least this time, he was able to keep his volume down, though his voice still trembled with anticipation.
“Here,” Jas said as he stood up and grabbed an armful of books. “Let me put these back for you, and you can clean up the rest.”
“Sure, thanks,” Erlan said as a grateful smile appeared on his face.
“Give me a hand, Charlie?” Jas asked.
I nodded and grabbed another stack of books. Fucking hell, some of them were heavy. I wondered how Erlan had managed to carry them all without his arms dropping off.
We’d just about finished shelving the books when Erlan came up to us.
“Ready,” he said.
We left the library and made our way back through the winding corridors and stairways of the Academy. Then we met Prianna outside the Arena doors, and she smiled as she greeted my two friends.
