Dragon Blood 4: Knight (4 page)

It was quiet in the dining hall and Amber glanced around at the kids sitting at the tables, eating. Her eyes momentarily landed on Jennifer who sent her a venomous glare. Great. Just what she needed.

Dominic pushed past her, headed for the far side of the room where a man was serving breakfast. The man was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, had his dark brown hair cut very close to his head and his brown eyes took in everything. He stood behind a counter that separated the dinning room from the kitchen.

Amber followed Dominic, collecting a tray like he did. She waited behind Dominic while the man added bacon, eggs and toast to a plate and handed it to Dominic along with a glass of water. Moving along, Dominic gathered cutlery off the counter while the man handed Amber a plate of food and a glass of orange juice. Smelling the dragon bone in the juice, she held it out to the man.

He didn’t reach for the glass. “Drink your juice.”

Dominic, who’d started to move away, turned back.

“No thanks.” Amber continued to hold out the glass.

“That wasn’t a suggestion. It was an order.”

She placed the juice on the counter. “I’m not having dragon bone.”

“You can’t be a true Knight if you don’t.”

Amber started to turn away, not interested in continuing an obviously unproductive argument.

“I didn’t give you permission to walk away. Drink the juice now. I don’t want a single drop left in that glass.”

She faced the man. “I won’t drink or eat anything with dragon bone in it.” She spoke each word slowly, aware of the silence in the dinning room behind her. Reaching out with her empty hand, she pushed the glass over. The noise of the glass striking the counter rang out in the silent room. The juice quickly spread.

The man stretched across the counter, knocking the plate from her hands. The plate and food tumbled to the floor. “No juice, no breakfast.”

Hunger and anger had the panther wanting to break free and strike out at the man. “You’re really going to want to feed me. I won’t be held responsible for what happens if I’m not fed.”

The man chuckled. “Nice try, little girl. My orders came from the High Protector himself. Now I’ll get you a glass of juice and you’ll drink it before I dish up another plate for you.”

“I don’t think so.” She tried to search the building with her mind, but whatever the building was made of, it wouldn’t allow her to reach beyond the room she was in. Striding towards the door, she stopped when four kids moved in front of her. She only recognised Jennifer. “Get out of the way.”

Jennifer smiled. “No dragons can get in here and rescue you. You’re on your own this time.”

“I don’t need dragons to rescue me. Now get out of my way.”

“Or what?” Jennifer’s smile became smug. “You’re a little outnumbered.”

Amber brought fireballs to her hands. “Then how about I deal with that by starting with you?” She heard the gasp of the kids behind her. She had felt them advancing, but now they stopped.

“Jennifer, fetch the High Protector.”

“But Stanley-”

“Now.”

Jennifer sent Amber a look that warned her there’d be payback, then left the room, shutting the door hard behind her.

Amber stepped to the side so she could keep an eye on everyone. Extinguishing the fireball from one hand, she pulled out her phone and rang Ronan.

“What did you do?”

“It wasn’t me. They’re trying to make me have dragon bone. I’m not eating it, drinking it, or consuming it in any way, shape or form.” To her, dragons were people. And you didn’t eat people. It was bad enough that she had to wear the skin of them.

“Hang that phone up now.” Stanley pointed a finger at her, coming closer. “No phone calls during class time.”

“They’re trying to weaken you,” Ronan said.

“What?”

“I’m not going to repeat myself,” Stanley warned.

Amber kept an eye on him and the kids who fanned out around him. “You better hurry up and explain yourself before all hell breaks lose, Ronan.”

“Dragons can’t eat dragon bone. That includes mages. Blood, flesh, organs, but no bone. It weakens us. They would know that. Tell them if they force something harmful on you it’s an act of war. We’ll bring two castles full of warriors against them. Their Brisbane headquarters would be rubble within hours.”

“That’s it.” Stanley started to step forward, his hand reaching for the phone.

Amber disconnected, slid her phone into her pocket and side stepped him. “You better wait for the High Protector before you begin a war he might not want to start.” Her phone rang and she ignored it. “Back away.”

The door burst open and Jennifer entered the room, followed by Martin and Charles. Amber’s phone continued to ring.

“Turn that phone off,” Martin ordered.

“Actually you might want me to answer it.” Amber kept the fireball in her hand. “Otherwise you’ll have two castles worth of dragons attacking very soon.” The phone stopped ringing and immediately started again.

“What have you done?” Charles demanded.

“Protected myself.”

“Get these children out of here,” Martin ordered Stanley before he turned to Amber. “Answer that phone.”

Amber smiled as Jennifer was sent from the room, protesting. As soon as it was only her and the three men, she extinguished the fireball and answered the phone. “Yeah?”

“What’s going on?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet.”

Martin held out his hand. “Give me the phone.”

“I’ll take it.” Charles also held out a hand.

“You’re no longer the High Protector. This is my concern. You brought her here and put everyone at risk.”

“Who do you want to speak to, Ronan? My grandfather or Martin, the High Protector? There’s some arguing going on over who’s running the show.”

“In that case put Charles on the phone.”

She almost laughed, but the situation was still too dangerous for that. She held out her phone to her grandfather. “He wants to talk to you.”

“This is outrageous,” Martin said.

Stanley stood by quietly, watching everything carefully. Amber didn’t blame him. She was warily watching everyone too. Especially Stanley. Her stomach growled and she bit back the growl the panther wanted her to make. They better sort this out quickly or she’d be finding her own meal.

After saying yes a couple of times and no once, Charles handed the phone back to Amber. “Yes?”

“You will ring me in an hour and tell me if everything has been sorted to your satisfaction.”

“Okay.”

“And whatever you do, don’t have any of the dragon bone.”

“You could have told me about that earlier.”

“You had already refused it. I didn’t expect them to force the issue. Especially since harming you means they lose your time.”

“So if I had eaten it I-”

“Would have been a willing participant. It’s only if they’d managed to force you. Now go and finish sorting them out, kitten. I’ll hear from you in an hour.”

When Ronan hung up, she returned her phone to her pocket. “I need breakfast.”

“You will eat once we sort this out,” Martin said.

“If I’m not fed soon, I’ll be hunting down my own breakfast and I don’t think the wild animal I turn into will care what gets in the way.”

“Stanley, serve her breakfast,” Charles ordered.

“Stanley, don’t move until this is sorted.” Martin kept his gaze on Amber. “A bird isn’t going to hunt down anything that can be found within this building.”

Amber grinned, trying to imitate Ronan’s predatory one. “I wasn’t planning to turn into a bird.”

“Panther,” Charles said.

Martin rounded on him. “What?”

“She turns into a damned panther.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I couldn’t volunteer any information about her or the dragons, but since she’s about to disclose it herself it doesn’t matter.” Charles’ gaze went to Stanley. “Get her food. Immediately!”

Stanley nodded, returning to his counter. Amber followed him, taking the plate he held out, breathing in the scent of the food. It was safe. No dragon bone at all. She sat at one of the tables, quickly finishing what was on her plate and returning for seconds. Skipping dinner hadn’t been a good idea. But it had meant she’d learned some valuable information. Her grandfather wouldn’t break his word and Martin wasn’t to be trusted no matter what he said.

Leaving the dirty plate on the table, Amber rejoined the three men who were arguing in hushed tones near the door. She was tempted to tell them they’d have to talk quieter than that if they didn’t want her to hear.

“Ring your dragon,” Charles ordered. “Tell him you’re safe.”

“Am I?”

Charles nodded abruptly.

She turned her gaze to Martin. “Well?”

“For now.”

She held Martin’s gaze a moment longer before she took out her phone and rang Ronan.

“All sorted?”

“I’m safe. For now.”

“I want regular calls. If anything else happens you’ll have bodyguards.”

“They won’t let dragons in here, Ronan.”

“Human ones. Ex military.”

“Isn’t that a bit overkill?”

“I love some of the words you humans come up with. Overkill. You can never kill too much. Ring me at midday.”

Ronan hung up before Amber could tell him that wasn’t what she’d meant. She didn’t want anyone killed. Holding back a sigh, she returned her phone to her pocket, her gaze travelling to each man who still stared at her. “What now?”

“Classes.” Charles said.

“Who’s going to want a mage in their class?” Martin asked. “It’s a bad idea. She’s already made up her mind which side she’s on.”

“I’m on my side. That’ll never change,” Amber said.

“I’ll take her.” Stanley smiled.

Amber was glad she’d had plenty of practice at not retreating from Ronan’s smiles. Stanley’s smile promised revenge. She met his gaze without flinching. “What do you think you can teach me?”

“How to treat your superiors with respect. Eventually. But we’ll start with hand to hand combat.”

“Hand to hand combat sounds okay.” Especially with the amount of people who tended to put her on their list of people they wanted dead. And unlike the handful of kids who’d told her to drop dead over the years, these people had the means to make her death a possibility.

“Follow me.” Stanley swung open the door.

“Amber.”

About to step through the door, she looked over her shoulder at her grandfather, waiting for him to continue speaking.

Charles held her gaze a moment before he spoke. “I’ll see you after you’ve eaten lunch. Have Dominic bring you to my quarters.”

She nodded then followed Stanley who led her through corridors to yet another closed door. What was it they had about keeping all their doors shut? There was probably no point in asking though. Not with the mood Stanley was in.

When they entered the room, six kids came to attention. She only knew Jennifer and Dominic. The middle of the room was covered in thick exercise mats. Hand to hand combat suddenly didn’t look so good.

Stanley moved to the front of the room, standing with his legs planted firmly apart, his arms crossed over his chest. “Josephine.” His gaze fell on a girl that reminded Amber of Dominic with her white blond hair, short like nearly everyone else in the room, and her blue eyes.

The girl stepped forward. “Yes?”

“I’ll partner you. Everyone else pair off. Hand to hand. No weapons.”

“But Stanley,” a boy with a shaved head and hazel eyes protested. “We’re meant to be doing sword work today.”

“Who is in charge of this class, Wheeler?”

“You are. But why aren’t we doing sword work?”

“Because we have a new student who can’t use a sword.”

“Then why isn’t she in the little kids’ class?” Josephine asked.

Stanley smiled. The same one he’d used earlier that had made Amber think revenge was coming. “Because I think we can teach her a lot more in this class.”

Amber looked at all the kids nodding, smiling in agreement. And her grandfather had told her to give them a chance. It looked like they weren’t about to give her one.

Jennifer half raised a hand. “I’ll partner Amber.” She sent her used car salesman smile in Amber’s direction.

Amber nearly groaned. Oh great. Maybe her grandfather should have given Jennifer the lecture on giving people chances because it looked like she’d gotten Stanley’s message loud and clear.

Jennifer waited until everyone else paired up before she attacked Amber. Within seconds, Amber was on the mat, trying not to wince from Jennifer’s rough treatment. She healed herself as she rose to her feet, wishing she could use fireballs. Then it’d be Jennifer losing, not her.

“You’re not even trying,” Stanley called out to Amber.

“It might help if you actually tried to teach me something.”

“You’re a mage, shouldn’t you have some skills in fighting? Or don’t dragons believe in letting mages learn how to fight?”

Stanley’s words caused her hands to curl into fists. Glaring at him, she opened one and held it out, letting a fireball form. “They let us fight with more dangerous weapons than fists.”

“Used properly, fists can be just as dangerous as your little balls of fire.”

She fought the urge to demand he prove it. The dragons’ competitiveness must be wearing off on her. “You have to get close and risk being harmed to kill with bare hands. I can stay out of your reach and kill you from a distance.”

“Only if you’re accurate.” Stanley pointed to a tall, wiry boy with light brown hair, green eyes and a sprinkling of freckles. “Oliver, bring the practice dummy.” He then turned to the boy who’d been Oliver’s partner. A dark skinned, broad shouldered boy with a shaved head and dark brown eyes. “And you can bring a fire extinguisher, Roy.”

Both boys left the room and Amber began to wonder if it was wise to show them what she could do. A stationary target was simple after fighting moving ones. But did she really want them to know what she was capable of? Ronan would tell her not to show any weakness, but he was a dragon and she was currently dealing with humans.

Roy returned first, holding out the extinguisher to Stanley who shook his head. “Put out any fires she starts.”

Oliver entered next, lugging the practice dummy that was mostly made of wood. He set it up at the front of the classroom, near Stanley, before he rejoined his classmates on the mat.

Stanley stepped well away from the dummy before he gestured towards it. “Go ahead. Take him out.” He smiled.

The mocking tone and disbelieving smile had Amber throw a fireball first at the dummy’s legs and then at its head. She smiled as Stanley’s smile disappeared. “Was that all?” She almost added a sir, but thought that might be a bit too much.

Roy stepped forward with the extinguisher, putting out the flames that leapt around the dummy. As soon as they were extinguished, he stepped well back.

“Big deal,” Jennifer said. “Any of us could do that if we were mages. We could even do that with lit arrows. Do you want me to show you?”

Stanley shook his head, his gaze returning to Amber. “Why did you hit the legs first?”

She hesitated then decided to tell him part of the truth. “To disable him. So he couldn’t run either to me or away from me.” If it had been a real battle, she would have let him live. She didn’t kill if she didn’t have to and even then she still tried to avoid it.

Stanley nodded. “Swap partners and go again. Show’s over.”

This time she was paired with Roy. She eyed his broad shoulders warily. He gestured for her to attack so she did, expecting to land on the mats. She ended up sprawled on her back, but the impact wasn’t anywhere near as hard as when Jennifer had slammed her into the mats. She didn’t even need to heal herself. Rising to her feet, she met Roy’s eyes, wondering why he was going easy on her.

Several more times Roy landed her on the mats, then he started to explain to her what she was doing wrong and show her what she should do instead. The next time she attacked, Amber nearly managed to stay on her feet.

Stanley stepped away from Dominic, who he was practicing with, and strode over to stand in front of Roy. “Who is teaching this class?”

“You are.”

“Then focus on what you’re meant to be doing. Attack.”

Roy nodded once before he faced Amber. This time she lasted on her feet a little longer. As she went down, Roy’s elbow smashed into her nose, causing a nosebleed. She reached up her hand and healed it, wiping away the blood as she rose to her feet.

“What did you do?” Stanley demanded.

“Tried to stay on my feet,” Amber said.

“No.” He pointed to her nose. “What did you do?”

“It was Roy’s elbow that caused the nosebleed, not me.”

“You can heal?”

Amber shrugged. Surely they’d already known. She remembered her grandfather’s words to Martin. Okay, maybe they hadn’t.

“That’s why they want you, isn’t it?”

Again she shrugged.

“Dragon Mages can’t heal humans. How can you?”

The words ‘I’m not human’ came to mind and she instantly discarded them. “I can only heal dragons and Dragon Mages.”

“What about Knights?”

She thought of the dragon bone they consumed. Maybe it’d work like the dragon blood did for mages. “I don’t know.”

Stanley drew a knife from his boot. “Roy, give me your arm.”

Amber stared at Stanley. Surely he wasn’t about to harm Roy just to see if she could heal him.

“Now, Roy. How many of my orders are you going to disobey in one day?”

Roy started to raise his arm and Amber realised what was different about him. She couldn’t smell any dragon bone. “No. I can’t heal him.” She stepped between Roy and Stanley.

“You just finished telling me you don’t know. So what’s changed in a matter of seconds?”

“I can’t smell dragon bone on him.”

“Of course you can. It’s probably faint because it’s been a week,” Stanley said.

Roy stepped around her, holding out his arm. “It’s okay. I’m willing to be the test subject. Stanley’s right. It’s been a week since I’ve had dragon bone so that’s probably why you can barely smell it.”

She knew he was lying. Could smell he was. Everyone else in the room smelled of dragon bone. Everyone except him. She reached out, pushing his arm down and met Stanley’s gaze. “He might be willing, but I’m not. I’m here to learn, not perform tricks like some circus animal. That wasn’t part of the deal I made.”

Stanley’s lips pressed together and he stared at her for a moment before he called Dominic over. “You practice with Roy. I’ll teach the Dragon Mage.”

Amber didn’t like the sound of that. It had sounded far too much like a threat. And after she landed on the mats several times she began to believe it had been one. He was a lot harder on her than Jennifer had been and she’d thought that had been bad.

By the time the class stopped for lunch, Amber had needed to draw power from one of her bracelets that she always wore for storing extra power. She started to cross the room to ask Dominic to show her to her grandfather’s quarters then changed her mind, aiming for Roy who was hurrying out the door. Catching up with him in the corridor, she tugged on his arm. “Roy.”

He shook her off. “I didn’t need your help back there.”

She kept her voice quiet. “You don’t have any dragon bone in your blood. None.”

Roy stopped walking and faced her. “You can’t know that.”

Grabbing his arm, she lifted it and inhaled deeply. “Yeah, I can know that.” She let him draw his arm away, trying to figure out what he did smell like.

“Then why didn’t you say something? I won’t let you blackmail me.”

“I need someone to show me to my grandfather’s quarters.”

Roy frowned. “Why?”

“He told me to see him after I’ve eaten. So I need someone to take me to the dinning room and then to his quarters when I’m finished. Oh, and probably take me to wherever we’re meant to go next.”

“You could have gotten anyone to do that. Why me?”

Her reason almost made her cringe. She was becoming too much like a dragon. “Because you owe me.”

“I don’t owe you anything.”

“Why don’t you take dragon bone?”

“What else are you going to expect? Look, I didn’t mean to hurt you. That was an accident.”

Amber shook her head. “I’m not looking for payback for a nosebleed. You weren’t as rough as Jennifer. Or Stanley.”

“Then what do you want?”

“All I need is someone to show me where I have to go. Someone who’s not going to sulk if I don’t answer their questions.”

Roy grinned momentarily, almost reluctantly. “That sounds like Dominic.”

“Yeah. So, will you?”

“I suppose.” He turned back the way they’d come.

“What’s this way?” Amber pointed to the corridor ahead of them.

“Dinning room.” He walked a little faster.

She gestured behind them. “What’s that way?”

“My room. Is this the way it’s going to be? You can ask questions, but I can’t.”

“Do you need to go to your room first? I can wait.”

Roy shook his head. “I don’t need to any more.”

“Do you have dragon bone in there?”

He shook his head again. “No.”

“Then-” she broke off, coming to a complete stop, staring at him.

Roy stopped, slowly turning to face her. “What?”

She had to be wrong. It was impossible. Crossing the several steps between them, she reached for his arm again. He tried to draw away from her, but she stepped even closer, breathing in the scent of his skin. “Dragon.” She spoke the word so quietly there was almost no sound.

Roy clamped a hand over her mouth. “No. Don’t you dare accuse me of that.”

Amber pulled away from him, seeing fear in his eyes. “Why are you here?”

“My parents have been Knights their entire lives. My grandparents and great-grandparents were Knights.”

“Roy-”

“No. You’re mistaken. Maybe it’s the dragon bone you can smell.”

She heard fear in his voice, could smell his fear. There was no way he’d admit to it, even if it was true. It shouldn’t be true, but he smelled faintly like dragon. Like the kind of dragon that Shylah was. Part human, part dragon, but the smell wasn’t as strong on him. “You’re probably right. Dragon bone. Very faint.”

Roy froze for a second then drew back from her. “Yes, dragon bone. I’ll… I’ll show you to the dinning room.”

Amber nodded, her mind spinning with questions. What was going on? And what was she meant to do about it? Ronan! She’d have to tell him. But not right now. Not where other people could hear her.

When they reached the dinning room, it was to find everyone already seated and eating. Amber collected a tray and took the plate Stanley handed her. She inhaled deeply before she added it to her tray, collecting a drink of water and cutlery before she sat at the end of a half empty table. Across the room Roy sat, sending her frequent glances. He knew. He’d have to know. And that would be why he avoided dragon bone. It weakened dragons. She couldn’t stop wondering how a dragon, even part dragon, had become a Knight. They hated dragons.

Once her meal was finished, she rose to her feet, noticing Roy do the same, leaving his half eaten meal on the table as he headed for the door. Amber crossed the room, stepping through the doorway just after him. They walked silently through the corridors and she didn’t bother finding something to talk about. She was too busy trying to figure out how he’d ended up a Knight. How the impossible had happened.

Roy stopped partway along a hallway, gesturing to the door a couple of metres away from them. “Your grandfather’s quarters.”

Amber stared at him a moment, trying to see any other indications that he was a dragon. She was unable to find any, but she also couldn’t when the dragons she knew were in human form. “Will you wait?”

Roy nodded.

She hurried forward and knocked on the door. She hoped this wouldn’t take long because she still needed to ring Ronan.

Charles opened the door, stepping back so she could enter. He closed it firmly behind him. “What did you think you were doing earlier? Why have you got to make such a scene all the time?”

“I can’t have dragon bone. You know that.”

“I didn’t know what they had planned. I didn’t agree to it. You’re of no use to us if you’re weak. All I ask is that you don’t make a scene. You could have handled things better.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t you dare blame this on me. I wasn’t the one trying to force someone to have something that was no good for them.”

Charles pointed a finger at her. “Don’t bring shame on our family.”

Amber crossed her arms over her chest. It wasn’t fair. He was acting like it was all her fault. She shouldn’t have been surprised. “Was that it? Can I go?”

Charles stared at her for nearly a minute before he nodded his head.