Frying Night

  Frying Night

  The Dragon Born Academy

  T.L. Christianson

  Contents

  1. Sydney

  2. Ashe

  3. Ashe

  4. Sydney

  5. Ashe

  6. Sydney

  7. Corbin

  8. Ashe

  9. Sydney

  10. Ashe

  11. Sydney

  12. Ashe

  13. Sydney

  14. Ashe

  15. Sydney

  16. Ashe

  17. Sydney

  18. Ashe

  19. Sydney

  20. Ashe

  21. Sydney

  22. Ashe

  23. Sydney

  24. Ashe

  25. Sydney

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  A Court of Fire and Ashes

  Books By T.L. Christianson

  Links and Websites

  About the Author

  1

  Sydney

  I stood on a sandy red outcrop overlooking a sea of grayish-green forest below. The sun hung in a pale lavender sky—familiar but off enough to feel wrong. In the distance, the sound of crickets and birdcalls, along with the occasional screech or snap of a dragon, filled the air.

  Shielding my eyes, I rasped, “The Dragon realm. I did it.” I opened a portal into the dragon realm.

  Ashe and Corbin gazed at me with wide eyes, but I was too stunned to say anything else.

  My fingertips burned from the cuts I’d had to make to draw the runes, but adrenaline rushed through me, dulling the pain.

  Only minutes ago, we’d been in a cave outside Balaur Academy. The ringing of gunshots echoed in my mind even as the calm breeze streamed loose tendrils of my hair across my face.

  We were safe, but my body, which was hyped up and ready to fight, struggled to comprehend this. Blackness tugged at the edges of my vision, and I fell to my knees. When was the last time I ate? Yesterday? I’d been so excited to see my bio-dad, Evgeni, through the gateway that I’d forgotten.

  A shadow loomed over me, and I gazed up at Ashe. Behind him, a freaking planet hung in the sky, its blue oceans and green continents overlain with wispy white clouds. Reaching out with one hand, I pointed to it. Both soldiers, Ashe and Corbin, turned at my gesture and stared as well.

  “What the…” Corbin trailed off. He knelt next to his large backpacking pack, staring up at the planet as if it would disappear. His eyes remained on the sky even as he fumbled through the bag. Finding a sun-faded baseball cap, he slid it over his blond waves to tame them.

  Ashe clasped his hands behind his head as he took in the sphere above. Turning in a circle to scan our surroundings, his blue eyes settled on me, and his mouth softened into a thin smile. “Let me see your fingers. Are they still bleeding?”

  I shook my head.

  Sighing, he reached a hand down to help me up from the ground. His actions were unusually awkward, and I knew why. After kissing me and promising that we’d never get separated, I was shipped off to the academy by my uncle, and Ashe had done nothing. Then he shows up at the sacred cave out of the blue with strangers shooting at him.

  Was this just a mission, or had he come back for me?

  And no matter how messed up, illegal, and dangerous it was for me to make the portal into the dragon realm, I did it to save us. We were cornered in a dead-end cave with strange Dragonborn shooting at us and yelling threats. I saw an escape, and I took it.

  Ashe held my hand and examined the dried blood on my fingers. “Syd, I can’t believe you cut yourself. We need to fix you up, so you don’t get infected…” his voice trailed off as he stared around us, almost in disbelief at the cry of a dragon.

  “I’m okay—it can wait until we figure out what we’re going to do.” I bit my lower lip to keep it from trembling. This had been one hell of a day, leaving my mind foggy and my body exhausted and weak.

  “Uhhh, Syd? You know how to get us home, right?” Corbin’s usual friendly demeanor sounded serious for once.

  I shook my head. “Ummm… no, but Evgeni and Lev are out here, somewhere. We came through Aaraeth. She was the gateway… I think. Evgeni’s portal looked different than this. I think he went through his dragon Nammoth to a different place.” I turned to Ashe for support, but instead, his lips pressed in a line as his gaze darted between the planet, the dragons, and the nearby leafy trees.

  “So, you’re saying we’re screwed?” Corbin asked harshly.

  I straightened my back even as the Eton Prime stared me down. “No. We’re not. It’s just… they know how to get back. I can feel them; they’re here—not close—but they’re here, and I’m sure they can feel us too. We just need to find them.”

  Ashe eyed me, heaving out a sigh. “It looks like nightfall will be in a couple hours. We should get moving and out of the sun. We need a place to rest, take inventory and then plan our next move.”

  I nodded. “We’ll need water. Maybe Aaraeth knows where we can find it. This is her home, after all.”

  At her name, my dragon lifted her head lazily. She sprawled out across the scorching surface of the rock, her tail swishing at the occasional bug. Her scaled head lowered in the equivalent of a nod. She spoke into our minds, Of course, I know where water is—that direction, toward the rising sun.

  As Primes, all three of us could telepathically speak to dragons and wyverns. And as part of a bonded Tetrad of two people and two dragons, Ashe and I could command them as well… although that wasn’t exactly common knowledge.

  Corbin shouldered his pack in irritation, and we followed Ashe toward the edge of the rock where it plummeted into the greenery. Like a cat, Ashe crept down the steep slant before jumping onto the leaf-scattered black dirt. Corbin followed, but I hesitated.

  Ashe glanced up and held his arms out for me. “I’ve got you. Come on.”

  Instead of descending down gracefully, my foot slid out from under me, and my hip hit the rock painfully, and I cried out. But my soldier was there and caught me. His hands skimmed the length of my body as they tightened on my ribs to stop my momentum. Once my feet met the ground, our eyes locked, and his fingers lingered just a bit too long. His pupils dilated slightly, and I sucked in a breath at the intensity of his gaze.

  Then as quickly as he’d caught me, his hands were gone, and he turned away.

  Was he thinking about the bond like I was? Wondering if he could continue to fight that magnetic pull between us when there was no one to stop us?

  There was no council here, no parents, no uncles or Prime Leaders or bossy professors telling us to keep apart—forcing us to suffer in ways that they could never understand. Our bond was incomplete. At the best of times, it was uncomfortable and, at the worst—complete agony. Being separated was physically painful. A pain that never went away.

  It strained to hold us together like a rope. The threads broke and curled away, but our bond never snapped. Instead, it stretched and became flexible and stronger with each tie we made together—each time we connected through healing or touch.

  So, what now? We were free, weren’t we? Was there any kind of law here? Did it even matter if we finally and fully became bondmates?

  Bondmates.

  Mates.

  Even thinking that word—mate—was bizarre. But that’s what we were.

  But as Ashe set a grueling pace through the underbrush of the forest, it didn’t feel like we were bondmates. His emotions through our tenuous connection were the muddy grays and blacks of exhaustion and disbelief, threaded with fine red strands of anger.

  Was he mad at me? Did he regret going through the gateway I’d made?

  I didn’t know a lot about astronomy, but I was positive that we weren’t on earth anymore. Was that it?
br />   Sucking in the moist air, I soaked in my surroundings. The differences were so subtle that I could almost believe this was a jungle back home.

  We walked single file along the path, attempting to avoid the broadleaf ferns that were slapping our shins with a wet thwack. As Ashe led the way through the undergrowth, I lost sight of Aaraeth. Trees of varying heights blocked out the sky above, and on the ground, shrubs and bushes covered the hard-packed soil as we followed some kind of animal trail.

  When the vegetation thickened, Corbin took the lead. He began using a machete to slice at leaves just to keep moving at a snail’s pace. There were no trails here, only a thick wall of green as we followed the screech of my dragon.

  The guys stopped in front of me as the forest opened up into a clearing covered with wide-bladed grass. Relief swept through me from Ashe even as worry nagged at me.

  What if we couldn’t find Evgeni? Had it been a mistake to go through the portal?

  My stomach twisted as my thoughts turned dark.

  What if I couldn’t get us home?

  Ashe had been raised and trained to become the next Prime Leader, but if we couldn’t get back… would he hate me?

  I chewed my lip as I focused on the back of his head, where his dark hair was slicked with perspiration.

  Pausing, he turned and met my eye, his forehead wrinkled and his mouth curved down into a frown. “Syd, I feel your worry.”

  He reached out but hesitated, fingers curling inward as he pulled them back. Sweat dripped down the side of his face, and his hands were damp, but I didn’t care. I wanted his touch, and the loss of it sent a pang of sadness into me.

  I searched his eyes. Maybe I was right. Maybe he was mad.

  Sighing, I asked, “Was this a mistake? I thought I was helping… but now we’re here and….”

  He cut off my meandering words, “No. Don’t think like that. You did the right thing.” Glancing around, he didn’t meet my eye as he continued, “I’m not saying that we couldn’t have fought those guys off back in the cave, but….”

  “I’m saying it,” Corbin argued. “We should’ve stayed. This was a reckless and risky thing to do.”

  Ashe continued across the meadow. “We were outnumbered.” He paused and looked over my shoulder to Corbin before his eyes darted back to mine. “Besides, I know we’ll get back.”

  “You seem so sure. Why are you so sure?” The Eton Prime asked.

  Ashe’s lips curved upward. “Because Lev has six kids, and he’s a good dad.”

  My mouth dropped open. “You mean Baldy? Evgeni’s douche guard? What? Six kids? How?”

  Corbin stepped around me with a smirk. “Ohhhh… now I understand why your bond hasn’t been completed yet.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Haha… very funny.”

  Ashe’s gaze flicked between us. “Yeah. His wife’s American. They don’t live too far from your dad.” He used the back of his machete hand to wipe the sweat off his face.

  I stood there slack-jawed, imagining the hulking Russian who I met in the forest outside Balaur Academy. The man had chased me down and held me in a headlock until I passed out.

  So… fun times!

  But Lev was just one of two main goons who worked for Evgeni, my bio-dad. Both were Primes—Lev and Edgar—but I called them Baldy and Ponytail for obvious reasons.

  “Baldy has a whole flock of kids? But he’s always with Evgeni…” I trailed off.

  Corbin pulled out a water bottle and sucked down a long gulp. “Apparently, he’s not always with Evgeni.”

  “I’m glad you’re getting your sense of humor back,” I told him.

  “You wish. I’m still not….”

  “Shhh!” Ashe ordered. “Listen—do you hear that? It sounds like water.” He crossed the clearing before sliding his pack off in the shade and lowering it to the ground.

  A faint gurgling sound led us to a shallow stream that flowed in the bottom of a wider riverbed. Sliding down the steep bank, I followed Ashe across a rocky sandbar.

  He knelt down next to the stream and dunked his entire head into the water before arching back up. I dipped my handkerchief and used it to clean the sweat and dirt from my face.

  Wearily, my soldier got to his feet and stood still for a moment out of fatigue before climbing the bank to the clearing where Corbin sat drinking from his water bottle. After a moment, I followed.

  In the shade between the clearing and the creek, I loomed above the guys with my arms crossed over my chest. “What happened to you two today? This is worse than when you guys pulled George out of the prison at Briony.”

  Ashe sat back on his heels as he and Corbin began setting up poles for a tent. “We started in Montana this morning, then drove to one of the back roads on Academy property. I wanted to check up on you. I could feel you near the river, and we began hiking in your direction. On our way, we realized that we were being followed. We tried to shake them and thought we had, but... apparently, we didn’t.” He sighed. “I think we ran at least five miles.”

  Corbin snorted and gave my soldier a skeptical expression. “Uh no. It was more like fifteen. I haven’t run that far with a pack since basic.”

  “What? That’s crazy. I’m glad you guys found me first. Evgeni and Lev had just gone through the portal.”

  Ashe made a growling dragon sound in his chest. “It’s my fault, Syd. I’m the reason those guys found you. They followed us. If I’d have just kept away, you’d be safe, back at the academy right now.”

  Corbin shook out the thin fabric of the rain fly. “I don’t know, dude. I’m not sure they were following us. We were shielded and under tree cover. I think they were trying to take you out.”

  “Ashe? What does he mean, ‘trying to take you out?’ Is someone after you?”

  The guys shared a look before continuing with the tent.

  “It was the same Prime from California,” he sighed. “Don’t worry about it. Just sit down and rest.”

  I frowned. “I’m not useless, and I haven’t been running all today. The least I can do is refill our water bottles. Do either of you have a filter?”

  “It’s in my pack,” Ashe called out over his shoulder.

  Digging inside, I grabbed the hand-held purifier before gathering our bottles. Hiking down to the deepest part of the stream, where the water ran clear over dark rounded rocks, I set up my station. Sitting on a flat boulder, I peeled off my shoes and socks and plopped my feet into the downstream flow.

  My mind felt blissfully empty, too tired to think as I filled the bottles.

  When I returned, the guys had the tent staked down and a small fire burning in a scraped-out pit in the dirt.

  Tucking the filter away, I sat cross-legged on the ground. The large sun had dipped in the sky as the hanging planet rose. It seemed even closer now, giving us a view of its blue oceans and white swirling clouds. It seemed so earthlike.

  Corbin lifted his water bottle in salute to me before taking a sip. “Thanks for this, by the way.”

  I nodded, hoping my own thanks for the tent would be implied.

  “All right, now that we’re all here, we need to have some conversations,” Ashe shifted before saying, “Right. Our main objective is to locate Evgeni and Lev.”

  “Agreed,” Corbin broke a stick in half before adding it to the fire. “Also, we have some other… issues.” He looked pointedly at the tent.

  “It’s a three-man tent,” Ashe growled, making me wonder if they’d already had this conversation while I was gone.

  “Yeah, but in reality, that means it’s really meant for two.” The Eton Prime paused before sucking in a breath. “And on top of that, we only have gear and limited provisions for you and me—no offense Sydney.”

  Ashe frowned. “Don’t say things like that. No one’s making you share.”

  “Corbin, what are you implying?” I asked bluntly.

  Corbin heaved a sigh. “Look… I’m just… I’m not… This isn’t an ideal situation.”

&nb
sp; “I know,” Ashe said, meeting his friend’s eyes. “We have shelter and some food, but we can try to hunt on the way too. I know how to make snares, but I’ve never caught anything with them before. Sydney, have you?”

  I shook my head. “No. But if you give them to me, I’ll start setting them up each night while we sleep. Also, we need to be on guard. We don’t know what’s in this jungle. There could be plants like the black palm that eat your skin like acid…or….”

  “Or dangerous animals. Dragons eat a lot, so there has to be a lot of prey for them here, not to mention other predators,” Corbin added.

  Ashe breathed out a sigh. “Exactly. Do you want to make a boma around the camp…”

  The Eton cut him off, “There’s no way I’m making a fucking boma today. I’m done. I’m spent. I need to rest. Besides, the fire should keep anything dangerous away.”

  “What’s a boma?” I asked, wide-eyed. I pulled my legs to my chest and rested my cheek atop my knees, waiting for an answer.

  Corbin raised his eyebrows at me. “Holy crap. I’ve actually found something Dora the Explorer doesn’t know.”

  I rolled my eyes at the nickname, hoping it wouldn’t stick.

  Ashe answered me, “A boma is a bunch of branches piled up to make a safety perimeter.”

  I lifted my eyebrows. “And that works against like... lions and stuff?”

  Ashe shrugged, and Corbin nodded.

  “Have you guys used one before?” I asked. With the sun gone, fatigue of the day hung on me like a wet coat.

  “No,” Ashe replied.

  Corbin threw another stick into the fire. “We made them during training, but not in the field.”

  My soldier’s voice was low when he spoke next. “All right. So, we need to be on the lookout for possible food sources. Snakes are the easiest to find in jungles like this, but we don’t know how far apart everything is. For all we know, Evgeni and Lev could be thousands of kilometers away. I’ve already talked to their dragons, and they know we’re here. It’s just a matter of meeting up with them.”