Chapter 17
The following morning, I was a little confused. Stone walls, desk, bed … not the woods. No chirping of birds, or morning fire ash. I was in Draeos, my dream ever present, and no one to bear witness to it; except La’Kera. In combat, I was put off with Karson’s mêlée lesson. Unlike yesterday, or the other few days in training, he had me pose the attack, hold it, and turn, to pose. Each time he would adjust my position, touching my elbows, my legs; at one point, his hand pressed to my calves and another, he held to my shoulders. His hand was at my ribs; motioning the position. He didn’t stay long in my view, always pressing his lips together to move away, and call out “Next.” He showed little eye contact, but, when he did touch me, it became odd. Awkward, maybe, uncomfortable since he didn’t like that my face would redden, or my breath would pause. Towards the end of the combat, he had stopped touching me altogether and shook his head if I didn’t have the right footing. A distance was showing and I didn’t like that. Maybe he knew I liked him, and as he said to Corbin that day. He thought I was too young. Maybe I was too young for him. Remembering what Corbin said about Tora and this Sasha, whoever they were. I partly wondered if I could ask about them. No. That was crossing a line, and I didn’t want him to know that I had overheard him and Corbin talking. La’Kera offered the best hope of all.
Just keep focusing on training. Later on you can ask him … or maybe you could read a book about him like Tobias told you.
Sitting in the large History Room with several books open, I sighed heavily. Karson wanted me to make a list of the seven members’ of each house in the six signs. I was all by myself, so Dy’Monian was complete. I just had to look up the other five signs. Even as I glanced at the words, all I could see was me. Queen of Dy’Monian.
“I shouldn’t be Queen,” I whined.
Karson laughed, he had stood in front of a large board drawing a diagram, when I pouted.
“A Queen isn’t like a governor of the lands, it is a simple statement of your leadership, or I should say; La’Kera’s. She is the first, the eldest of Dy’Monian, and that makes her a moon dragon. Later on, she will be challenged, but until then, she will hold to the status, as will you. It is just another title.”
“But … I don’t get why I have to be known as Queen. Sure, La’Kera is a Moon Dragon, when she’s older and she has a bull at her side. But me … I’m …”
“A Ryder.”
“Yeah. But I don’t have others to control. If I do get other house member’s, do I have to control them? What if I don’t like them? What if they don’t like me? Will I be forced to step down; will they … force me to step down?”
“No. You are over thinking it. You know about the Committee and The Guild? They are two separate areas, and yet run by Ryders for different reasons. The Committee work with the people, though the punishment is made through them. They are the king’s voice when he is not around. Than there is the Guild, they are the voice of the dragon, for the people. You are like that. A Queen of your area. If you had seven other members, they and you, would discuss things much like a council, and when you have meetings with other member’s of opposite signs, your voice would be heard. But you don’t have to control anything. It is usually nothing more than your counsel when issues arise in the towns. When La’Kera is older and claims the Dy’Monian region, it will be as it always was. Wild. It’s about presence, patience and above all understanding of what is right and wrong. You don’t own the land, you … live and honour it.”
I nodded, taking in all he had said.
“Oh. So. I don’t have to send people to jail for their crimes?”
“Later on you will. As a Ryder, we have to stop crime for the people. With less war to keep us busy, we have become more attuned to the cities and the way people are. That is why there are so many more Royals now. Depending which station you go to, and how long you stay.”
“Station?” I frowned.
Karson placed the chalk down and pressed his fingers to the table, his eyes held with mine.
“You have an idea of where and what you wish to do as a Ryder?”
“Um … well. Kill vipers, vragons and the delgori,” I said blankly. “What else does a Ryder do?”
“There is more to life than hunting the darkness that plagues the land. Your queen status has allowed that alone. To be a spokesperson, a teacher, a protector, an aider for simple townships, a guide for the shuttles on route to the south or in to the north. There are countless possibilities.”
I tilted my head, my skin prickled with this knowledge, sitting up further.
“I don’t have to just hunt delgori, kill vipers, or vragons? There’s more?” My shock was evident. “But what about the … war?”
“The war is always there. At present it is numb, little or no attack in years and few sightings in months. The north have all complained that the vipers have packed up and left to the other side of the mountains. But they will always be there. As to the delgori, their plague is not over. When the time comes for war to take place, when the dragon numbers need to be clustered together, then many will rise up. Why do you think so many Royals are coming to the festive at Draeos?”
“Um … because Corbin told them that they’d be meeting La’Kera …” I blushed.
Karson raised a brow, not denying it. “For the better part of twenty years we, the Ryders have found a peace, a need to relax and to feel less weighed with the acts of war. Peace it seems, the most sought after of all wars. You take peace and hope as often as it comes. You accept life as it is. Moving on to the next chapter, to be ready, but not waiting and expecting. We just know. Time is always moving, we are ageless, but we are restless.” His words were fierce. He held a deep passion for the war, and the soothing peace it offered afterwards. “You will meet many Ryders tonight that will tell many tales. There are those who will stand up and those who will not. Be mindful of your manners, they are great warriors in their day and while they look and act as though they are on a holiday, it is because they are.” He turned to the board, and I started looking through the books, calling out the eldest of the Ryders.
Working through the list, the names of each one, and I was soon fuzzed on who was who, and which house they were in.
He pulled into view, several books dedicated to Ryders and their positions in life. One book was dedicated to female Ryders, and I took the opportunity to peek at the index for the names of Tora or Sasha. Why I was bothering had La’Kera snort inwards. I’m just curious. That’s all. She didn’t believe me, though, couldn’t stop me. I was in luck with both names.
Tora and Sasha were not by any chance the only two; turns out there were seventeen Tora’s and twenty four Sasha’s in the last one hundred years. I settled for the Tora’s, scanning over their life as it was summed up. Seven of the Tora’s were now dead, according to the book and the remaining ten were scattered throughout the lands. All five signs were accounted for and that was when I didn’t know if Karson was most likely to date a Roo’Bineyes Tora or an Em’Adels or maybe an A’Mystian. There were three Tora’s living in the south, four in the east and the remaining in the west. Hmm … Karson said he was in the south before coming here. Corbin mentioned he missed him in Mildura and Rila. But which one did he come from? The three in the south were varied in age, life, and marital status. I crossed off two, and was left with an A’Mystian. La’Kera was snorting inward, constantly pushing the word distraction into my mind and I rolled my eyes. Okay, I was a little obsessed with him, but he has started to act differently since yesterday evening when he saw me half naked. His eyes drinking me in, his voice would deepen into a husky tone and his hands … touching me, to not touching me. Did he like me or not? Was he still with this Tora? Was he going to see her this evening? I was going, but I had no idea if he was. My mind drifted to yesterday, the way his hand had touched my cheek, looping my hair behind my ear. That sensation was too much to say, he didn’t like me. Although, since breakfast, he has been his usual self. Controlled, amused at everything
I did, said and while I didn’t act on my impulse, I could sense he was holding back. But if I was going to live for hundreds of years, I was allowed to see what future I could have. La’Kera was quick to point out everything changes, nothing stays the same, and people don’t stay together forever.
Yes, they do. That’s what love is. Forever.
No, they don’t. If you look at all the Ryders in history, even those that lived to be three hundred years, they never stayed with the one person for more than a few decades, a century at most.
I scoffed at her.
It wasn’t true. Love had to last more than a century; it had to be the best thing of all. I tsked her and peeked at another book.
Marriage of Ryders.
Flipping through the pages with a need to prove her wrong, I was disappointed; there were no couples who stayed together for a century. One couple made it to two centuries, but it was limited in proof. It openly stated from each, they got bored with one another and at times were distant because of the circumstances and didn’t stay faithful, though they loved one another, they knew they could not love each other for eternity as one would think. I glanced at Karson; I didn’t think I could get bored looking at him. He was still making changes to the board, adding empty boxes to the dragon signs and I didn’t like that I had so much work to do.
But bored with him. No.
His smooth tanned body, thick black hair that was tied to the nape of his neck. Even now, his morning stubble was visible, making his masculine form twice as desirable. He was older, decades older. Even if it wasn’t him. If, and when I found love, it would be forever.
Trust me on this. It’s not possible. We dragons know this. Like your dangorian ways. You breed with one another as we do and we change our mates up to seven times in one life time maybe even more. But we do not love for eternity.
But that’s because you’re a dragon, dangorians are different. We love. They write plays about it all the time, the papers tell of love too. As do books. It has to be real … even your kin know of the heart dragon.
Yes. We know of it, we are aware of it as you are of love. But to have one forever, is not possible. You’re no different to us. You’re an animal like everything else in the land. You live. You eat. You love and you have your heart broken; breed if you must, and you love. It’s that simple.
Can’t be. I folded my arms in disagreement with her words, lost in the argument. I disagree with you La’Kera.
Fine. Disagree. You believe in the fantasy that love can out live anything, even if you manage to find and keep love for a time, you will know it won’t be forever. After the first few decades, it will weigh your thoughts. It’s not a few months or years, it’s forever. The same person, the same actions, the same words from one another with the same outcome. Over and over and again and again. Her voice sounded bored. You would become bored of them eventually that’s what dangorians are known for.
What’s that say about us, and our bond.
That we are one and always one.
I bit back the anger of the words I wanted to argue. It was seldom that we did fight over anything; something about my attraction towards Karson was making her angry. And even now I realised she was growing up. Her voice, her words, even her thoughts were less young and more matured. She was smarter and wiser, even if she was a dragon. I was too annoyed to think beyond her words. Love had to be real, had to be of some value. Why have so many books made, so many stories told.
“You’re reading up on marriage?” Karson startled me from my thoughts.
“Er … no. Sort of. Was doing as you asked. Seeing what Ryders were good at … and was surprised to find how long one man could be married.”
He pressed his lips together; I hoped it sounded casual as possible. He narrowed his eyes and glanced to the second book. I was not paying attention to here and there at all. His eyes read the page of Tora’s’, and the clench of his jaw was visible. He was disapproving my efforts without saying it. His eyes were questioning me.
“I was looking up female Ryders. See what they did for a living,” I said innocently. His eyes held that far off haze. He was talking with Blade’Dur, though completely aware of me. I was pleased the page wasn’t open to Sasha; he would have known I had overheard him and Corbin.
He tilted his head, snapping the book shut. “History is finished for the day. Let’s move on to dragon lore.”