In Wala, monsters roamed freely. They didn't care if you had four legs or two, if you bore fur or hide; if you had flesh, you were prey. Humans grew up with two rules: stay within your city walls; never go out at night.
Well, most humans.
I came from a small village hidden within the Randala Valley with no walls to protect us. We don't need walls to protect us. You see, while all the boys and girls grew up in the plains in the East learning to ride horses and farm their crops, I grew up learning how to ride and tame dragons.
My village, Plum, is the home to the only settlement of humans who have learned to not only survive living in the dragon territory but thrive and live with them in harmony. We have been taming dragons for so long, my last name Dricino, meant "dragon tamer" in our old language.
Our dragons protected us against harpies and manticore, in return we mined an ore from the mountains called Dragon Vain. It was a beautiful stone, blood red with speckles of gold and silver trickling through every core. It sold for a very high price in the eastern markets, since it was only found in our mountains, but dragons sought it out for purely dietary reasons. They needed Dragon Vain to breathe fire. Within minutes of ingesting the stone, their body breaks it down, melts it in their core, and when they exhale, a brilliant red flame spews free of their jowls.
Their fire was so hot, Elesor melted an alcove in the side of a mountain with her breath. We now use that alcove as a spot to sit and relax after a full day of training. Or to hide from my family. Like right now. I huddled up against her body to keep the mountain's chill off my back and to help me find the nerve to return home.
Elesor nuzzled her snout against my side, a rumble vibrating in her chest. Her golden eyes slid over to me then over the edge of the alcove, down to the bottom of the valley where Plum sat.
I brushed my fingers over her rough scales between her nostrils. The warmth of her breath alone pushed the cold away. "I guess we should head back," I agreed with her reluctantly. The sun was on its way down, and as safe as I felt with Elesor, it'd be safer for both of us if I was home and she was with her colony before dark.
I didn't want to go back, though. Not today. Not because it was raining and the streets were muddied and gross. Tallinn, my youngest older brother, had done the stupidest thing on the planet and took a dragon for a joyride through Thorn's Forest; they got tangled up in the thorns the forest was aptly named after, and my brothers had to go in and rescue them. My brothers returned unscathed, but the dragon Tallinn had taken was seriously injured, to the point we might have to put him down if our healers couldn't do anything for him.
So what was I hiding from? Dad's temper. He had been livid upon Tallinn's arrival, and even more so once we heard how serious Ruban's condition was. It was for the best to wait it out, let him simmer down on his own time.
Sighing, knowing I couldn't hide forever, I stretched my arms over my head and climbed to my feet. The great dragon beside me stretched her wings overhead, shaking her body head to tail. The rain slipped down her back and splashed me.
Giving her a drawl look, knowing she could have prevented getting me wet, I pushed into her leg. "I know I'm going to get wet anyway, but that was cruel."
Elesor raised her chin haughtily and snapped her eyes forward as sassily as a dragon could get.
"Whatever, you crazy lizard."
For my remark, she tipped a wing outside and angled it in such a way that allowed the water to trickle from the tip down onto my head.
I squealed and slapped her wing away. "Hey! Cut it! I'm sorry I called you crazy!"
She stopped immediately after my apology then lowered down onto her knees so I could hop into the saddle sitting between her wings.
I hunkered down, holding the handles tight. "Let's go."
With a simple push from her legs, she leapt off the edge and spread her wings wide to catch the current. The glide down to the village was short, but I still kept my hood pulled tightly against my head, preferring to arrive home as dry as possible.
Like that would ever happen in this valley. When it rained here, it poured. It was like the gods swallowed up an entire ocean in the clouds then dropped it on us. And even then, around this time of year, mist was always in the air, clinging and drenching my clothes.
Elesor landed just behind my two story house. Most of the houses in Plum were scattered, allowing plenty of space for our dragons to come and go as they pleased. They weren't allowed near the center of town, where the shops and businesses were huddled closer together, though sometimes they were cheeky and tried to squeeze into our streets.
Slipping off her back, I remembered to give her an appreciative pat on her neck. "Have a good night, Elesor. I'll see you tomorrow for training the dragonlings?"
She nodded then pressed her muzzle into my chest, puffing a blast of hot air, which instantly warmed me to my bones. She pulled away and took to the sky for her nest in the mountains.
I stared at the large wooden door, held up by iron hinges. When I was younger, it used to be too heavy for me to open; Casper, my oldest big brother, would always have to open it for me. Now, after riding and taming dragons for so long, I was stronger than the average woman in her early twenties.
Accepting the inevitable, I yanked the door open, the warmth from the fireplace billowing around me like a blanket. I quickly shut the door to keep the heat in and tiptoed into the kitchen, hearing voices. The stone hearth was especially pleasant to stand beside, the scent of stew wiggling its way to my nose. Kaden, the second oldest, was the best cook, apparently using a few tips and tricks Mom had passed down to him; only his cooking could smell this good and make my stomach growl louder than a dragon.
"That's not fair!" Tallinn roared from the living room.
Caught off guard by his sudden anger, I stumbled on the stone floor and nearly tripped on the wooden island standing in the middle of the kitchen.
"I'm your last son," he went on in his outrage, "it's only right I teach the last Acker prince!"
"Maybe you should have thought about that before you nearly got yourself killed! We had to put down poor Ruban for your mistake!"
Dad. Man, oh, man. He hadn't cooled off as much as I thought he would have. The only time I'd heard him this mad was when dragon scavengers had the nerve to enter our valley and hunt our dragons. He'd killed more than a handful of them before giving them the option to surrender. Fortunately for Tallinn, Dad would never raise a fist to us. Unfortunately, that meant he had to find some other form of punishment--and it sounded like he'd found one that hit low below the belt.
Prince Camden had recently celebrated his twenty-first birthday, which meant he was now old enough to begin his Rite of Passage to become a Dragon Prince. Our family was chosen to guide the Acker princes once they became of age, because we were the best dragon tamers in the valley, and we had been for generations. For Dad to take that honour away from Tallinn. . . it was cruel. He would be humiliated in front of the entire village.
Swallowing a load of courage, I inched towards the living room. All my brothers were here. Casper and Kaden were flanking Tallinn, who was sitting furiously in the pelted armchair. Harry and Giles were lounging on the couch, the former's legs swung onto the footstool while the latter hung his legs over the side. Dad stood in front of the roaring fireplace, appearing to be only a dark shadow looming over my youngest older brother with the way the lighting played behind him.
Dad's eyes flashed to mine, the rage in them quelling for the moment. "Kal, where have you been? I sent Kaden to find you hours ago." He gave said brother a cutting look for obviously failing his task. "The Gods are pissing on us today, you must be cold."
As if that was all that needed to be said, Casper left his post at Tallinn's side, swept a pelt blanket off the couch my other brothers were sitting on, and swung it over my shoulders. He gave me a warm smile before chucking my chin.
I smiled up at him. Like everyone in my family, he towered over me by easily a foot and had the same broad, bulky muscles as my father. He got the dark brown hair from Dad, but the light, blue eyes we all carried were from Mom. He'd started growing a scruffy beard, and while I thought he looked like a bear emerging from his cave after months of hibernation, a lot of the women in the village had stopped teasing him for being baby-faced and started flirting shamelessly with him in the streets.
With his arm around me, Casper guided me into the nook between Harry and Giles, who both welcomed me with sympathetic smiles at my drenched state. Harry draped his heavy arm over my shoulders, keeping me nice and warm, while Giles dropped his head in my lap, continuing to swing his feet off the arm of the couch.
"Now," Dad was saying, getting back to being angry again now that I was nice and cozy between my bulky brothers, "since the entire family is here, I can officially say Tallinn will not be guiding Prince Camden through his Rite of Passage."
"Dad, you can't do that!" Tallinn shouted, jumping to his feet. Casper and Kaden grabbed his shoulders and yanked him back into the chair. "You've already told them I'd do it. I'm picking him up next week!"
Harry bit his lip, tapping his fingers on his knee. I bumped him to encourage him to say whatever he was holding back. It was better to just spit it out in these family meetings rather than letting it fester once decisions had been made. Otherwise it ended with someone fighting someone in the backyard and I would have to drag both of their sorry asses to our healers, because I sure in hell wasn't stitching them up. I grew up with them, I fought with them, I knew zip in healing them.
"Dad," Harry piped up after letting him tell Tallinn what an idiot he was a little longer. He cleared his throat nervously once he got his attention. "I agree he has to be punished, but he does have a point. Prince Camden is arriving in a week; Tallinn, as we all have, has had years of preparation to train him, there isn't enough time to find another trainer--especially one as qualified. We Dricino are the best at what we do. The Ackers won't accept anyone else. . . . They might even take offence," he added the last part sheepishly. He'd sounded so confident up until that point, and I was proud of him. Not only was it scary as hell opposing Dad when he was like this--wild and irrational, really--but he didn't talk as much as my other brothers, always worrying about what they might think of him, even though being the middle child was the safest position to be in in this family. No one particularly looked up to him, no one looked down on him, and no one babied him.
"A Dricino will still train the prince," Dad assured us, a smile tugging at his lips. It looked more menacing than endearing, considering the rest of his face was very much still etched with rage.
"You mean one of us gets to train a second prince?" Giles asked excitedly. Guiding a Prince through his Rite of Passage was one of the most rewarding experiences there was. These Princes were the kingdom's protectors--and it was all because of us. Without our guidance, they wouldn't be able to find their dragon partner, wouldn't be able to wield the magic they needed to protect our kingdom from monsters.
Without a doubt, it would be Casper. He'd trained the Dragon King's eldest son when he came of age seven years ago; he was a little rusty teaching, but he'd learned so much more since then he'd be the best one for the job.
"No," Dad said, "you've all gone through the Rite of Passage and have done a fine job helping the princes find their Bonded partner, but now it's time for the youngest member of our family to make a name for herself. Kal will teach him."
The room was silent. Not even the wind dared to howl through the windows. The fire shrank back into the pit, a voiceless flame flickering among the kindling.
I opened my mouth to ask him what the hell he was thinking, giving me a job I was never trained for, but Tallinn was on his feet in a flash, shouting. And again, Casper and Kaden forced him back in his seat. "Back off!" he growled at them, swatting their hands aside before turning a deathly glare on Dad. "You can't be serious! It's bad enough you're taking this away from me--now you're giving it to Kali?"
Kaden snickered into his hand. "Oh, this is going to be interesting."
"Why?" I asked nervously. "You don't think I can do it?" I'd seen them train Prince Camden's brothers; they did some hard core stuff without going near befriending a dragon. There was more to learning about dragons than how to Bond with one; they had to know how to fly on one, how to fight with one, use Dragon Vain to create fire. I knew how to fight, but I didn't know how to teach someone.
Kaden shook his head at me, brown hair flying wildly over his eyes. "If he doesn't chew you up and spit you out, you can teach him anything."
"Yeah," Giles agreed, the last one to see the princes three years ago, "Prince Camden is kind of a hard ass. He's not gonna like a woman teaching him." He pulled his legs front facing and leaned his elbows on his knees, suddenly more interested in this conversation.
"Who? Little Cammy?" Casper ridiculed, who hadn't been to the Acker Castle since he trained Prince Eli seven years ago. "Kali will be fine."
Giles scowled at him. "Last time you saw him, his balls hadn't dropped and he came up to your elbow. The man's twenty-one now. He's very different."
Casper held onto his childish, reminiscent grin. "We'll see about that. Teach him real good, Kali."
"Who wants to place bets?" Kaden offered, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Kali's going to come running to Da to ask for one of us to take over within the first week."
"I give her three days," Giles bet, tossing two gold pieces to Kaden, "before he makes her cry."
The faith my brothers had in me was astonishing. . . .
Harry tsked at them, giving Kaden two coins. "Kal's gonna put him in his place day one." He winked at me, making me want to rescind my previous thought.
"Nah," Casper put in, adding to the coins, "Kali and Camden will get along swimmingly. . . perhaps more than Da likes." He gave him a wary glance before he exploded into laughter by Dad's horrified expression.
Tallinn groaned loudly, like he used to do when he was five and wanted attention. "This is my mission! It's not fair!"
Dad's expression wiped clean and the room silenced again, the air being sucked out of our lungs. Even the fire died down again. "It wasn't fair that Ruban died either. He trusted you with his life-- and you led him to his death. Next time think about your actions before you put someone else's life in danger." He nodded to me. "Kali, you will fly to the Acker Castle at the beginning of next week. Boys, you will give her what tips you can in the meantime." He came over to me and squeezed my shoulders. "Make us proud, Kali."
No pressure, then.