Page 28 of Wild Bond (Wild Bond #1)

S till feeling a little raw and embarrassed by my episode a few days ago, it was a relief to be spending the morning outside on the training grounds with my young friends and their hatchlings, rather than the prospect class. The older group was busy preparing for the trip to Three Points, so our training class had been cancelled. That was fine by me. I needed more time to build some of the walls back up that had been torn down before facing them all again.

Rake had been amazing that night when we got back to his quarters, talking about everything and nothing as he held me in his arms until I fell asleep.

Gemma had asked that I help her supervise my young classmates during their first sparring lesson. Due to the older trainees not being present, and most of the other dragon riders preparing for traveling to the trials, the training grounds around us were relatively empty for once. That being said, our little group was definitely making our fair share of noise. High-pitched yells and tiny shrieks, as well as overly enthusiastic war cries, rang out loud enough for those back in The Tower to hear. I could barely hear Gemma as she called out instructions to a few of her pupils on the other side of the group.

Dozens of tiny dragons—the largest no bigger than a small pony—sat clustered around the fighting group of children. Some watched their riders closely, those protective instincts already manifesting, while others slept, and some flew back and forth overhead, just generally making a nuisance of themselves.

Skye had chosen to be in her natural form and lay several yards away from where I stood. She was trying valiantly to ignore several of the little dragons as they kept attempting to approach her before losing their nerve and skittering away.

I was currently soaking in the sunshine, and trying not to laugh, as Declan and Stella, a little girl in the class, were hacking away at each other with small wooden sparring swords. She was beating Declan soundly.

“That’s not fair!” Declan cried after Stella knocked his sword from his hand and shoved him to the ground.

“Yield!” she exclaimed dramatically, pointing her sword at him.

“You can’t do that!” Declan protested, picking himself up from where he had fallen.

“Anything goes in a fight,” Stella replied haughtily, her tight curls bouncing.

I had to smother my laugh and conceal a grin behind my hand at Declan’s look of pure fury, masking his hurt pride.

I opened my mouth to intercede when there was a fierce roar overhead.

I looked up in surprise and saw a large bronze dragon flying straight for our group. He was approaching fast, and I could see no rider on his back. After living here for nearly four months, I knew most of the larger dragons and their riders on sight, at least the ones who lived or spent most of their time in Dessin. He wasn’t a dragon I recognized.

Skye came to full awareness in the bond as she rose to her feet behind me. I could sense from her that something wasn’t right, about the same time I realized that the dragon wasn’t stopping.

He was heading straight for us, and he wasn’t stopping.

“Everybody move!” I yelled at the same time Gemma hollered, “Everyone down!”

Stella was only a few feet from me, and I tackled her to the ground just as the bronze dragon swooped low and nearly took out several of the students with his large tail.

Screams and cries of fear reigned as my young classmates and their dragons scattered in every direction. Skye roared, standing protectively in front of several of the fearful children. When the coast was clear, Gemma began directing them away.

I stood and helped Stella to her feet as the dragon rose into the sky then banked, intent on another pass.

“Run!” I ordered Stella, and she obeyed, scooping up her little dragon as she went.

Frantically, I looked for Declan and saw him running for Izzy. The tiny dragon sat unmoving, curled in a terrified ball on the ground as the larger dragon approached.

I dashed for them but was still several yards away when the wild dragon reached us again. The beast opened his jaws wide and breathed fire. I was forced to drop to the ground to avoid being scorched.

He didn’t seem to have any particular target in mind as his scaled head whipped from side to side. In fact, all of his movements seemed erratic and uncoordinated. Something was very wrong with this dragon. It was unlike wild dragons to attack unprovoked, let alone in such a public place. Wild dragons usually avoided humans and human settlements altogether.

The field all around me was either burnt or on fire, smoke rapidly rising to fill the air.

I heard a small whimper and found Declan, who was now crouched protectively over his dragon, had been hit by the stream of flame. My stomach dropped as I saw the long burn down Declan’s arm and across his back. The red inflamed skin was already starting to bubble and warp. He also had a large gash on the side of his head that was bleeding profusely.

Gemma’s dragon—a sleek pale blue female named Nevina—roared and launched herself at the male dragon. They collided in midair. The sound of the two dragons’ shrieks and roars were deafening.

I crawled over to Declan. I hesitated a moment when I got a closer look at the burns, knowing how much pain he must be in. I tried to be gentle as I lifted him in my arms, as he clutched Izzy to his chest. “Hold on!” I cried, keeping low as I ran for Skye.

We had almost reached her when there was a thundering boom. I stumbled as the ground shook. I looked back to see that both dragons had crashed to the ground in a tangle of wings and claws.

For that split second, I got a good look at the bronze dragon, and realized he was still young, if his smaller horns were anything to go by. I couldn’t believe how massive the male already was and how big he would no doubt become when fully grown. There also appeared to be something wrong with his scales . . . Were they flaking off ?

Skye had sunk down as low as possible so I could lift my burden into the saddle. Thank the Nine she was already wearing one. We had planned to go flying after this lesson.

Declan was obviously in pain, but still coherent enough to sit astride and keep hold of Izzy as I sat behind him. There was just enough length on the straps so that I could tie both of our legs in together.

Wrapping an arm around Declan while still trying to be mindful of his burns, I urged Skye into the air. Skye was already unfurling her wings and immediately propelled us skyward.

Once airborne, I could see Gemma herding the rest of the class and their dragons back toward The Tower courtyard and away from the fields where they were too exposed. Nevina was still fighting with the wild dragon on the ground, and she looked to be wounded. It was obvious she was trying to keep from harming the other dragon; almost as if she too sensed something was not right with the male. Unfortunately, that meant she was simply on the defensive and distracting the male rather than dealing with the threat. Not that I wanted the dragon hurt if something was wrong with him, but we couldn’t allow him to cause anyone else harm.

Skye, what is wrong with him? I demanded in the bond.

Without hesitation Skye showed me a succession of images that carried the sentiment that something had been done to his mind, and that she couldn’t reach him.

As she relayed this to me, the bronze dragon broke away from Nevina and was now flying straight for the retreating children.

Skye swerved to intercept him, and he veered off-course to avoid her. He roared in fury. The hair whipped in my face as I glanced behind us and saw that the distraction had worked, and he was now following us.

“I’m gonna be sick,” Declan groaned. Poor thing wasn’t used to flying on a dragon.

“You’ll be just fine,” I promised. “Just hold on.”

We now had the wild dragon’s attention, but unfortunately, we were also now soaring over the center of The Tower compound and its many surrounding buildings.

By this time, other riders had finally realized something was going on. I could see several of them, including Dembe, mounting up and lifting into the air in pursuit. But they were still quite a way behind us.

Head toward the mountain , I told Skye in the bond. Away from the—

Skye jerked upward without warning and my stomach plunged as she just missed the roof of the trainee barracks, the tip of her tail clipping a stone chimney.

Our bronze pursuer was not so lucky, and it was mere seconds later that I twisted and watched the male crash headlong into the roof of the building, demolishing a large chunk of it on impact. I could only pray that because it was mid-morning and most trainees were in classes, that no one was inside.

The dragon roared in pain and rolled, crashing to the ground in a heap. In a matter of minutes, several riders and their dragons were on the male, holding him down as he struggled. I thought I saw someone prick him with something. Sedation of some kind?

Whatever they did, the male dragon stopped struggling, and then a few long moments later went entirely limp.

I dropped Declan off at the infirmary and left him with the healers, then Gemma and I explained to Rake and the other council leaders what had happened, or at least the best we could figure. Honestly, it seemed like no one knew how or why this had happened exactly. Nothing like this had ever happened in recent memory, if at all. It made no sense for a wild dragon to attack unprovoked.

Several hours after the attack, we were clearing up some of the debris when Rake found me, his face grim. I glanced up as he approached.

“You need to see this,” he said, motioning to where the unconscious dragon still lay.

Perplexed, I stepped over bits of stone and broken glass and followed after him. He led me to where the wild dragon’s head lay lolled to the side. His eyes were closed, his nostrils flaring with every exhale.

“Remind you of anything?” Rake inquired cryptically, gesturing to the male.

I crouched down, looking more closely at the creature. Like I had observed during the attack, the dragon’s bronze scales were of a pale, bleached color, almost sickly, if I were describing a human. The skin itself looked rough and flaking almost as if he was molting, and was that . . .

“Is that foam dripping from his mouth?”

Rake nodded, his face like granite. “Check his eyes.”

A sense of dread took up residence in my stomach. I reached out and raised a single eyelid, having an inkling of what I’d find as I saw the red inflamed eye.

My mind raced as I stared up at Rake in shock, seeing the similarities and making the connections just as he had.

Pale, sickly pallor, foaming at the mouth, red eyes.

“Borden,” I breathed in disbelief, thinking of the night we had watched him die before our eyes. “This dragon has the same symptoms as Borden and the others.”