Page 19 of Forgotten Arcane (Broken Ashes #6)

River

“W hy don’t you go up there and help her?” I ask him.

He looks at me out of the corner of his eye as he tenses, and then carries on watching Neith.

Ransom, Van, and Doc heard my question and noticed Coen’s reaction as well, and they’re clearly thinking the same thing that I am because all of their eyebrows rise in question.

The more he avoids all of our gazes, the more certain I am that I’m right and that there’s something going on. I briefly consider letting it go, but then I remember that we don’t work like that, and he clearly has something more than the obvious on his mind.

“Coen?” I ask. “What’s up?”

He looks at me properly, and sighs, “I’m worried that I’m not going to be able to fly or hell, even shift into my dragon again.

I was disconnected from him and being able to shift properly for so long, and I know that I shifted once, but that was in reaction to Neith being shot. What if I can’t do it again?”

“I can’t even imagine how difficult that must have been, everyone knows I get twitchy if I haven’t shifted for a few days let alone years like you had to endure, but I think it’s like what Griff warned Neith not to do, you’re putting an awful lot of pressure on yourself, and your dragon is a part of who you are.

Are your wings okay? I know you can sense them without shifting. ”

Coen nods, “Yeah, everything is as it should be.”

“Then there is absolutely no reason to believe that you being able to shift was a one-time thing,” I reply, trying to get him to see the logic.

“I was the flight instructor for the dragons, the youngest one ever, and I only got to do it for a year or so before Kylen decided that I wasn’t allowed to go back to the Keep anymore.

I was good though, dude, really fucking good,” he pauses, his eyes drifting up to where Neith is still trying to fly.

“But now you’re terrified that you won’t be able to fly,” I finish for him.

He nods, “Exactly. I love flying, I love teaching, and I know that I won’t be training anyone now, but the thought of not being able to fly, or not being as good as I was, is fucking terrifying.”

I nod, “I get it. I really do, but there’s only one way to find out, and quite honestly, the guys up there look like they’re trying to help Neith as best they can, but I have a feeling that she’s gotten too into her head. You’re the best person to teach her before she falls out of the sky.”

He chuckles as he looks up at her, “Yeah, she’s definitely thinking too much. Most likely about nothing to do with flying,” he glances at me with a smirk, “she’s like you in that way.”

“We’re awesome,” I say proudly. “Stop stalling.”

His lips twitch at my demand, “It’s good to be home.”

“Just try it. I think it’s like River said, and you’re too in your head about it,” Ransom starts. “If the worst happens, and for whatever reason your wings don’t work, then we’ll figure it out.”

Doc nods, “Ransom’s right. I can do a thorough check-up on you in your human form, and dragon form, to see if there’s anything physically wrong that needs fixing, and if I can, fix it. There isn’t much that I can’t fix.”

“If it’s not physical, then I can work on a spell or potion, or something that will get you back in the air,” Ransom adds thoughtfully, and I have no doubt in my mind that he’s already thinking of potions that may be able to help in that situation.

“In other words, what they’re saying is that no matter what happens, you will fly, we’ll make sure of it,” Evander adds.

Coen swallows thickly as he looks away, and we all give him a moment. Honestly, I’m not sure which way this is going to go, it could just be too much for him right now, and that’s okay. If he says he can’t do it, then we will drop it.

We’ve encouraged and pushed him far enough for today.

“Alright,” Coen says, as he stands up. “I’ve never been a coward before, why start now?”

I grin, “You’ve got this, man. Go save our girl before she ends up face-planting from a great height.”

He chuckles, and then winces as she tilts to the side again, “She’s watched me train the other dragons enough that she should be able to tell what she’s doing wrong. Although I suppose there is a big difference between watching it and doing it.”

I nod, “Yeah, there definitely is. I bet if we videoed this for her and then got her to watch it back, she would be able to tell us exactly what she did wrong, and how to fix it.”

Doc hums in agreement, “Yeah, she helped Griff in his flight class, and they absolutely loved her.” He chuckles as he adds, “She’s got a sign-up sheet for a class, and most of Griff’s class is on there. She gave some amazing advice.”

Coen looks contemplative for a moment, “You know that might be the problem. She knows exactly what to do, and she knows the theory behind some quite difficult maneuvers because she watched me teach them so many times, but she can’t do any of that before learning the basics.

Once she’s got those down, she’ll be flying. ”

“Literally,” Ransom smirks.

Coen chuckles and then takes off running, the rest of us all lean forward in our seats as we watch him, and I pray to whoever is the God of dragons and flight, that he’s going to be able to shift, and I think more importantly to him, fly.

He launches himself high into the air with a powerful jump that sends him soaring at least twenty feet up, and gaining the attention of the ones already in the air, all of them smiling widely.

When I get a closer look at Neith’s expression, my eyes narrow slightly. She’s got an unmistakable twinkle in her eye and is holding herself remarkably steady in the air, considering she was bobbing all over the place a moment ago.

“Sneaky little thing isn’t she,” Doc comments with a wide and proud smile, confirming my suspicions.

“She’s brilliant, and caught on to the fact that Coen was having issues way before any of us did,” Ransom adds, with a similar look to Doc’s on his face.

We all get distracted from our conversation as Coen shifts, his wings spreading out and taking him higher in the air, he roars with joy as he dips and dives, proving that he’s still capable of some pretty complicated flying maneuvers.

I can’t help but chuckle as Neith immediately steadies herself even more, a huge smile on her face as she watches him, and proving that she knew what she was doing all along.

Coen is so busy enjoying the feel of the wind beneath his wings that he hasn’t realized what she’s done yet.

He increases his speed, moving faster than I’m sure I have seen another dragon fly, and as he does a weird loop thing, that I have no name for but that looks pretty fucking complicated, there’s a sudden spike of magic and he disappears mid-flight.

“What the fuck!” I exclaim as I jump to my feet along with the others, scanning the surrounding sky to try and find him.

Neith

O ne minute I’m watching Coen move through the air with as much ease, if not more, than he always has and doing some of his favorite moves, and the next he’s gone.

“What just happened?” I question the panic evident in my voice. “I didn’t know that he could teleport?”

“I don’t think he can. I’m not sure what that was,” Reed says, looking around us with concern.

“Let’s head down to the guys and see if they saw something that we didn’t,” Griff suggests.

As we get to the ground, Raiden immediately says, “I think it might have been magic that has something to do with death.”

“What!” I exclaim.

Raiden quickly shakes his head, “No, he’s not dead. At least I don’t think he is. What I mean is I can always sense when someone has an affinity with death, apart from you, I had no idea when it came to you, and I still don’t know why.”

“It’s Neith,” Van replies. He continues without further explanation, although I don’t think anyone really needs one. “So, what you’re saying is that you felt death magic before he disappeared.”

Raiden nods, “Yeah, at least I’m pretty certain that’s what I felt, but it happened really quickly and now I’m second-guessing myself.”

“Do you think it came from him or someone else, because that definitely changes how much we should be panicking right now,” Doc asks.

Raiden’s eyebrows dip down slightly, “I can’t say for sure.

But I would be very surprised if something that none of us sensed managed to get through Ransom’s wards.

I know Neith did it, but I feel like that was definitely a one-off breach that we didn’t detect, because the second breach Ransom found and was an actual hole.

Whereas Neith just walked straight through them. ”

“He makes a good point. Ever since we strengthened them as well, we’ve had no more breaches. The Elders couldn’t even find the place, and I would imagine they’ve got a lot of magic and resources on their side, so if they can’t find it I doubt anyone else can,” Griff adds.

“We just got him back and he’s already disappeared,” I exclaim, and add dramatically, “a day! We literally had him for one damn day, and we fucking lost him!”

“It would be amusing if it wasn’t so serious and we knew where the fuck he had gone,” Van mutters.

“Is there a chance that he’s on the property somewhere?” Reed asks. “Maybe he’s done what River did and he’s teleported somewhere on the grounds.”

“I can only check the wards, not everything inside them, that’s why I couldn’t find River when he did it,” Ransom says with a frown.

“Neith,” Doc says. “Use your tracking and see if you can find him.”

I nod and start to call on my magic.

“I believe this is one of yours?” Winston says as he suddenly appears in front of us with Coen in his human form and looking totally fine, if not slightly shaken.

“Coen!” I yell as I pull him into a hug and then immediately let go as I spin and grab Winston, pulling him into a hug. “Winston!”

He chuckles as his little hand pats my shoulder, “It’s nice to know that you’ve missed me.”

“Of course I have,” I reply as I put him down and grin.

“What the fuck happened?” River asks. “How did you end up with Coen?”