Dragon School: Bright Hopes by Sarah K. L. Wilson

Author:Sarah K. L. Wilson [Wilson, Sarah K. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sarah K. L. Wilson
Published: 2018-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

The next day, we were still playing cards and Savette was still drifting in and out of fitful sleep. Her coughs made my own lungs ache whenever I heard them, and black fluid was beginning to leak from the corners of her eyes. In the night, no solutions had come to me. We’d stopped by a creek and our guards camped around the cages, distributing water and biscuits to us, but nothing else. We huddled together in the cold - the blankets I’d brought were all we had to share between five people. The soldiers had fires and off to the side was Raolcan’s cage – if I was there I would be warm and safe - but we hadn’t been let out to stretch our legs or get warm.

The same was true for the other cages of people and dragons. I felt hope draining from me as the cold hours of the night stretched into an endless sea of hopelessness. I’d had so many bright hopes when we left the Feet of the River so many days ago. I’d been certain back then that we could find Hubric and deliver the messages and keep Savette safe while Rakturan went to try to garner peace in his homeland. Now, those bright hopes were gone, replaced with a sinking heart.

That’s going to be a problem. Hopelessness is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I played my card. I was getting better at cards under my friend’s instructions, but I still lost more than I won.

“I think we’ll start to teach you the language of the cards,” Hubric said with a yawn. He hadn’t slept either.

“We usually wait until someone is properly inducted into the Lightbringers,” Analia said severely.

“She’s made the oaths. What more do you want?” Hubric said, laying down his own card and then clearing them away to deal again.

Analia looked at me. “Usually, we’d test your loyalty.”

“She’s in this cage with us. Is that not loyalty?” Hubric sounded grumpy. He was probably missing his morning caf on top of everything else.

“And then we’d mark you with our sign.”

“Her eyes are glowing. Tell me that’s not a mark.”

Analia shrugged. “I don’t like giving up traditions. They bring structure to life, but Hubric has a point. I suppose sometimes the Light marks you before you can even get there on your own or through the Lightbringers.”

“So?” Hubric asked, one eyebrow raised.

Analia chuckled in defeat. “So, we’ll teach her the signs, you old crow.”

There was a commotion from behind us. With so many guards and cages, it was impossible to tell what was happening, but riders rode past us, looking like men with messages to deliver, while the chatter around us increased. Perhaps Raolcan knew what was happening.

Not yet...

“Ignore them. Anything that bothers them is good for us, but it’s too soon to tell what that might be,” Hubric said, laying the cards out for me to see. “As often as possible, we try to be literal. So, if you were to lay three dragons down, that means that whatever you have to say has to do with three dragons.

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