She sat up suddenly. “I can’t see anything past a dozen steps away. I assume nothing out there can see us. What a way to hide.”
“Or, to be snuck up on,” I added. Then, upon an instant if further consideration, “But you’re right. It could be a way to hide. We might have to modify things a little, but it could work.”
“What else can your new powers do?” Kendra asked. “Can you make lightning or fire? We should make a list.”
I had to laugh. She sounded like the eager Kendra of a month ago—and before. A childlike attitude to most of the world in a young woman’s body. She had always been the curious one, the girl who wanted to know more, and the girl who avoided practice with swords, spears, bows, knives, and any combat. Princess Elizabeth and I looked forward to the morning lessons, even to the point of extending them until time to dress for lunch.
Kendra had attended the same lessons half-heartedly, skipping them when possible, and never taking an active role. That didn’t mean she couldn’t defend herself with most weapons, or that she would hesitate to do so. She still wore her pair of throwing knives under her sleeves.
That thought gave my mind time to shift to a related subject. When encountering enemies, they looked to me as the threat. She was the chameleon that was possibly more dangerous because she was unknown. In me, they knew they faced a swordsman and treated me that way. I had to fight to defeat them. Kendra could act demure and innocent and then strike like a desert snake from concealment behind a rock.
That provided us with an added weapon to use when needed. My magic was similar. Only a few knew I had any abilities, and none besides Kendra knew the extent of my new ones. I turned to share my ideas only to find my sister had slumped forward in an awkward position and was sound asleep.
I eased her to her side and heard a mumble of thanks before standing. I walked out of the rain into intense midday heat and a cloudless sky. My clothing steamed and would soon be dry. A long survey in four of the six ancient directions mentioned in the Book of Warfare revealed we were alone.
But there were six. At sea, there were dangers that came from below. And there was always the sky. Because of training, I glanced up. A dark figure high above floated on waves of air, hardly using its wings to remain aloft. I smiled to myself. Kendra’s dragon checking up on us, and as always keeping us in her sight.
I turned away to reenter my little gray cloud and perhaps take a nap too when I paused. The dragon had appeared odd, even at the extreme distance. It was too thin around the middle. Almost like a Wyvern.
I stopped so quickly I almost fell forward, my eyes already searching the pale blue near the sun. My eyes squinted, then found it again. The Wyvern was much closer, diving directly at me, its wings pinned back, its eyes locked on mine.
“Kendra,” I screamed.
At the same time, my sword appeared in my hand, and a hated tinging of fear filled me. The Wyvern was as large as a house. Its talons curved and were as long as a steer’s horns. They were extended, ready to grasp me. The mouth full of jagged teeth showed as the lips pulled back in a snarl.
It wasn’t flying so much as falling at me. I saw the details of the pattern of its skin, the red pupils of the eyes, the salivating pushed away by the passage of air. I hated the thing.
It could kill me simply by falling on me. At the speed it came, there was no contest, no place to hide. I ignored the talons, the speed, and the ripping teeth.
I stood my ground, waiting with my little sword in hand. From somewhere, my mind seemed to belong to someone else. It pulled away from the coming attack and methodically considered my options, which were few. I couldn’t outrun it. There was no shelter to hide behind. Kendra’s dragon was not going to rescue me. But I had magic.
I faintly heard my sister shouting my name, but there was no time to turn. Instead, I focused on all the surface of the ground me, drawing the searing heat to me in a similar manner as I did the moisture for the rain that still fell near Kendra. I concentrated that heat, reduced it to the size of my fist, combined it with more heat from the surface of the hot sand, and then my mind pushed it at the Wyvern in an intense ball of fire.
The Wyvern screamed in fear and pain as it burst into flames.
The creature became red, blue, and orange as tongues of fire consume it, as it continued to fall from the sky. Its wings were no longer visible in the pyre, it continued the forward course it had been on, falling directly at me.
“Damon,” Kendra screamed, waking me from my trance.
I dived to my right, and rolled over and over in the sand, as the impact from the Wyvern scored a trench, right where I’d been standing. It had come so near to me I had felt the heat as it passed by on its death dive.
Kendra dived on top of me, crying and plummeting her fists on my chest in frustration. “Why didn’t you move?”
“Did you see what I did?”
She shoved me aside as a tavern server might shove a drunk. “Yes! You stood there and waited for that thing to crush you.”
My voice was soft. “No, I made it burn. I set it on fire.”
“How?” She looked at me, scared.
“With my mind. I pulled the heat from the sand and rocks and air, then made it hotter and threw it at the Wyvern.” I turned to her. She seemed less surprised and impressed than me.
I turned to the black, smoking, dead husk of what had been a magnificent animal. I’d killed it without touching it. Just the power of my mind, a power I hadn’t even known existed a few moments ago, had killed a beast.
Kendra said, “I guess we need to add another one to that list we were discussing.”
For some reason, that struck me as funny. Perhaps it was a way to release the built-up fear inside, or that my sense of humor is stunted and often out of step with the rest of the world. No matter. I laughed, and Kendra joined in. We laughed until we cried.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Late in the afternoon, we drank as much water as we could hold, refilled our water bottles, and left the riverbed where we’d slept away the heat of the afternoon. Each time I’d awoken to the afternoon desert heat, I simply drew more moisture and placed it into the air above us to form a cloud and a few drops of coolness.
The strangest thing was not that I did it, but that it came so naturally. I did it without fully waking. Before departing, we’d examined the dead Wyvern. The fire had almost consumed the flesh, leaving bones and teeth. A few insects gorged on the burned flesh. More would arrive during the night. By morning, a mountain of burned Wyvern would be under attack by thousands of tiny, hungry mouths.
We rode due east with our backs to the setting sun. The sea was somewhere ahead of us, and we dared not travel northward to Dagger where we could buy food and get directions. The Wyvern that had attacked hadn’t found us by accident. Someone had sent it.
Before sleeping, and after our fit of laughter, Kendra suggested she send her dragon to guard the others of our group at the lake. It didn’t take special instructions to warn the dragon of the Wyvern, even if she could. It knew and hated them. Any in the area would be attacked.
I reached out to Anna. She responded right away, *I’m here.*
*A Wyvern attacked us. Warn everyone.*
*Are you all right?*
*We’re fine. Kendra sent her dragon to guard over you.*
She didn’t respond right away. Then, she said, *I see it.*