Tears of War (54 page)

M
aleena sighed with relief and rubbed her hand over the slight mound of her belly as Nydara landed behind the house of Mckale’s family. Fates, she was tired. The time spent in Shadereen trying to get towers up for as many towns as possible had been exhausting and the skirmish with the Shadow Dragons at Welan had been only one of several they had to handle.

It seemed strange the Shadow Dragons showed up at every town they went to, almost as if someone was tipping them off. They had numbered more than three every time after Welan. Maleena slid off the silver and dropped to the ground as Tellnox landed. She rubbed her temples.

Latia landed right after Tellnox and a tired Anevay began unfastening her safety straps. After Sliding back and forth between Shadereen and Trilene several times, she finally decided to stay with them for a little while.

Maleena unbuckled the catcher strap then straightened and arched her back, bracing her hands on her lower back as she did. It would be good to relax for a day or two. Between creating the watchtowers in both Calladar and Shadereen, it had been over a month since she had seen Mckale’s family.

Mola’s sharp barks of joy heralded the arrival of Barden and Sonja as they rounded the barn. “Mckale, Maleena, it’s good to see you and your dragons again,” Barden called as he crossed the grass that had turned green in their absence. He paused as he took in Latia and Anevay. “And you bring another with you. Mckale, you must have a knack for finding beautiful women.”

Sonja rolled her eyes at her father and smiled at Maleena. “I see the babe finally makes its presence visible.”

Maleena ran her hand over the small mound again. “Yes, and has begun to kick.”

Mckale walked up and put an arm around her. “Sonja, Father, I would like to introduce Anevay and her dragon, Latia. Anevay is the bondmate of a good friend of ours.”

Bardeck glanced at the yellow dragon and back to Anevay before holding out his hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Anevay.”

She placed her hand in his and laughed when he kissed the back of it. “Your father is a charmer, Mckale.”

“It’s a shame you missed the Spring Dance, Maleena,” Sonja said, a wistful look in her eyes. Happiness radiated from her like a warm sun.

“You didn’t miss it though, did you?” Maleena said.

Sonja danced in a small circle, her face glowing. “No, I did not.”

Maleena peered around the yard behind the barn. The mid-day sun shone down on the goats roaming in one small pasture while the horses grazed in another larger one. “Where is your new husband? Are you still living here?”

Barden scowled slightly. “Yes, they both live here now.”

“Only until Yaden can build our house.”

Mckale’s father snorted. “He’d better get a move on, he only has a year.”

Anevay frowned. “What happens in a year?”

“The new husband has one year to build his wife a house,” Mckale answered. “If he fails to complete it in the year, the wife’s family has the right to negate the marriage on the grounds that he can’t provide for her and any future children.”

“Yaden will not fail. He and his family have already begun.”

“Barden,” Grandme came striding around the barn. “Leave Sonja alone. I approved of Yaden. Do you really think my judgment so bad that I would approve a man who would be incapable of finishing a house in a year? Do you think I would really approve a man who would not be good for Sonja?”

Barden flushed a little. “I didn’t say that, mother. I was merely—”

“Doing what you’ve been doing since Sonja came to me with who she wished to dance for.” The old woman drove her finger into Barden’s chest. “Just because you don’t care for his father is no reason for you to constantly disparage Sonja’s choice. The man I approved.”

Barden grumbled something under his breath then said. “Why don’t we go in?” He looked over at Maleena, Mckale, and Anevay. “You must be tired. Have you eaten?”

Mckale shook his head. “Not since the morning meal.”

Maleena’s mouth watered, she had missed the slices of ham they ate in the mornings in Calladar. “I can’t wait until the morning meal tomorrow.”

Barden laughed. “You’ll not have to wait. Kaden is on patrol, so there is actually still a slice of ham left from this morning.

Maleena walked toward the house, enjoying the soothing emotions of Mckale’s family. Though sometimes overwhelming, the emotions were generally happy and peaceful. Her mind wandered to the little house tucked into the woods outside of Lowden. Had anyone taken it over or did it sit abandoned and lonely? How badly did the Kojen tear it up? One day, she would have to return.

As they sat at the table, Mckale and Barden filled plates for Maleena and Anevay. Anevay raised an eyebrow and Maleena quickly explained the custom. Barden settled into a chair and cleared his throat. “I’m sure you are hoping for some time to relax, but the ball planned to celebrate the arrival of Guardian dragons was rescheduled and is now fast approaching. I am to send a message the minute you arrived back. Lord Arandrall wants you to tour the training grounds and the city so people can have a chance to see and meet you. The outlying towns have had that chance but the people of Marden not so much.

Maleena took a bite of the ham, savoring its flavor. She’d rather hoped they would miss the ball. Now they were supposed to tour the city as well and meet more people. Well, at least she was getting used to meeting people. Maleena reached out for Nydara just for the mental touch. The silver was hunting, far into the mountains.

The baby kicked as it always did when she reached for Nydara as if it too enjoyed the mental touch. Would the babe have any magic? Would it hatch a dragon one day? The thought weighed on her mind as the conversation between the others flowed around her. One of Emallya’s children had been born without a spark of magic. Emallya had outlived that child and many of that child’s descendants. Because of the War of Fire, she had outlived all three of her children. Even without the war though, she would have outlived all but one of them. Mages lived longer, but not nearly so long as a Dragon Rider. Maleena couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for Emallya to watch her children grow old while she had remained youthful.

The baby kicked again and she absently rubbed her belly and prayed the Fates saw fit to make this child a Dragon Rider.

Two days later Mckale, Maleena, Anevay and Lord Arandrall walked through the training grounds. They had toured the city the day before and met so many people it made Maleena’s head ache. Today wasn’t so bad; the Border Guards were well-trained and disciplined, mostly going about their tasks as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

Arandrall kept a running commentary for Maleena and Anevay’s sake, explaining the purpose of different areas. Maleena didn’t pay much attention to the constant descriptions until the words “captured Kojen” caught her attention.

“I’m sorry Arandrall, my mind wandered a bit. Can you repeat that?”

“Certainly.” Arandrall smiled at her. “I said our next stop is the pit. As you know, we train Border Guards to put up mental walls to protect against the mind attacks of the Kojen. The final stage of that training is to confront an actual Kojen. You can’t learn to defend against an opponent in a swordfight without having an opponent to train against. The same applies to the Kojen. A Border Guard in training can spend hours learning to build mental walls, but until he is faced with having to hold that wall against a mental attack while still using his weapons at the same time, he won’t know how solid his training is.”

They stopped in front of a gate set in a wall. “We capture and keep a couple of Kojen in order to train new Border Guards or provide a refresher course for any who have been injured and unable to patrol for a while.”

Arandrall produced a set of keys and unlocked the gate. Maleena stepped onto a small platform. Another wall, this one about waist high, greeted her. To her left and right, a walkway ran at ground level around a large pit. There were two gates in the low wall, each one with a ladder next to it.

Maleena peered over the wall into the pit. At least twenty paces deep and over a hundred paces across, it must have taken forever to dig. Arandrall stopped next to her and looked into the pit. “Here we can control the outcome of a trainee’s battle. If he is unable to defend his mind and succumbs, we can render the Kojen unconscious and rescue our man. The Kojen remains chained at all times so that his movements are restricted. This allows our trainees to learn to fight two battles at once. One battle, as you know, is the physical one, while the other is the mental one.”

He pointed at two large, iron cage doors set across from each other in the wall of the pit. “We usually keep two. Kojen are not particularly good at fighting, depending mostly on their mental attacks to bring down or at least handicap their opponent. A dual battle is good since it more closely simulates what a Border Guard will encounter on patrols. It is reserved for those on the last level of training. One of our current Kojen though gives the trainees a hard run.”

Mckale frowned slightly. “Why is that?”

Arandrall rubbed his chin and Maleena sensed he was thinking over his answer. “He is a strange one. He never uses a mental attack for one thing and for another he is extremely skilled with whatever weapon we place in his hand.”

Maleena turned that over in her mind as several young men in full battle gear filed onto the walkway around the pit. They circled the pit until they stood on the far side near one of the ladders. Arandrall stood up straight. “I arranged this tour to coincide with the training of high level students. Those young men are close to becoming full-fledged Border Guards.

Anevay frowned. “Do we have to watch this?”

Arandrall shook his head. “Of course not, but I wanted you to have the opportunity if you so wished.”

Maleena stared down into the pit. Something tickled the back of her mind. “I will stay and watch,” she said without looking up.

Anevay leaned back against the higher wall behind them. “I might as well stay then, but I probably won’t watch much of it.”

Across from them an older man unlocked the low gate and lowered down the ladder. One young man stepped through the opening and slowly climbed down the rungs to the dirt floor of the pit as his age-mates called encouragement.

Once he stepped off the ladder, it was pulled up and the gate closed. Maleena watched as the man below set himself, his blades already drawn. On the walkway, several of the young men moved to the chains that ran through a pulley and into the wall. The heavy chains rattled across the stone as they pulled.

Below, the cage doors slowly slid up revealing darkness beyond. A loud roar split the morning as one of the Kojen charged out, a thick manacle around one ankle. The mindless emptiness of its thoughts skated along the outside of the dragon shield. The Kojen reached the end of the chain and momentarily stumbled. It swung the wooden sword in its hand at the man.

Maleena watched the other door as the next Kojen came out. His movements were slow and methodical; he didn’t roar or rush to the end of his chain. She sucked in a breath as his emotions hit her. Frustration, anger, and determination. He didn’t use mental attacks because he wasn’t a Kojen.

Without thinking, she turned and ran around the walkway to where the older man stood at the gate, watching the battle unfold. “You have to stop this, now.”

He turned to her with a startled look that softened as he took her in. “It will be alright, my lady. I won’t allow the young man to be seriously injured.”