Chapter Twelve

59 0 0
                                    

Tesa walked slightly behind Neela and Glenna, her thoughts gathered around her in a cloud. Once, she even tripped and almost fell because she didn't notice the floor rise by a single shallow step. To her annoyance, Mr. Mao materialized seemingly out of nowhere to take her by the elbow and steady her.

"Stupid patterns on the floor," Tesa murmured and pulled her arm from his grasp.

By now, the sun had climbed high in the sky and had begun its downward descent into the afternoon. They hadn't even begun searching for the dragons yet. They hadn't even talked about it. Well, not that she knew. She'd been locked in her room all day. She fiddled with the stone tied about her neck and pouted. All they'd done was take some stupid test that told her what she already knew. She could do magic.

Neela had said that Malía wanted to see them after their tests. Tesa hoped it was to begin planning the search for the dragons. It was more urgent now than ever, now that Arethia had been taken over by the Karume. If only she could figure out a way to tell her companions without possibly putting them in danger.

They had to know. Tesa would tell all of them as soon as they were all together. But how? Their Yennar-Lei hosts were everywhere, bound to hear. And if they were in league with the Karume...Tesa couldn't take that chance. If the mages of Yennar-Lei were working with the Karume and they found out that the dragon riders knew Arethia had been taken over, there would be no chance that the riders could plan a secret escape. Tesa began imagining the possibilities in her head.

I love the ocean. Orrie's voice cut through Tesa's jumbled thoughts like a bolt of lightning. She almost stumbled again.

Where did you come from? Where have you been? Instinctively, Tesa looked up, but the hall they were in now had a roof overhead. She looked around and recognized the hallway that she'd first seen when Neela had taken her out of the courtyard toward the testing rooms. They were almost back to their quarters. Out of the corner of her eye, she could still see Mr. Mao faithfully dogging their steps. She hoped that his duties would be done when they got back to the courtyard and back to their group.

The dragons soared in circles overhead as they entered the open courtyard near their rooms. A handful of robed Yennar-Leians huddled together under the balcony at the edge of the courtyard, pointing and staring in wonder.

"Aw, so kind to finally join us," Neela said aloud when she caught sight of the dragons. She must have sent it to Aerix, too, for he screeched happily and immediately plunged from the sky toward their little patch of garden. He landed neatly in the center of the grass, well away from the Yennar-Leian onlookers. Nevertheless, they scattered with a flurry of shouts.

Orrie followed close behind Aerix, but alighted on one of the platforms that had been constructed for them around the tree.

"Where's Gira?" Tesa asked, first scanning the sky for the dragon, then scanning the courtyard for her rider. "I thought we were meeting Malía."

One of the Yennar-Leian women who had been watching the dragons approached them. She was wearing flowing yellow robes complemented by red, orange, and yellow ribbons braided into her hair. She approached cautiously, with frequent glances toward the dragons.

"Your tests took longer than we hoped," she said. "We're to prepare you for the dinner and bring you there to meet with the rest of your party." When she finished speaking, she made a little bow, then motioned for the others to approach.

"The dinner?" Tesa said loudly, but nobody responded. The small crowd of onlookers turned out to be attendants who had been sent to prepare them for this dinner. They bore piles of neatly folded formal robes, basins of scented water, and combs and ribbons to style their hair.

Fate of DragonsWhere stories live. Discover now