Burned: Dragons' Trust Book 2

  Description

  Renick, apprentice dragonhand, discovers that nothing can stand in the way of a dragon’s thirst for revenge.

  Caught between an outcast dragon and his human prey, Renick and his friends must find a way to appease the dragon’s burning anger. Together, Renick, Thane and Lainey learn new magic, rescue a kidnapped friend, and evade the dragon hunters while they try to prevent a war. What they find is that not all burns can be healed.

  Burned

  Dragons' Trust Book 2

  Krista Wayment

  Burned

  By Krista Wayment

  First Edition, October 2014

  Copyright © 2014 Krista Wayment

  Cover Art Title copyright © 2014 Krista Wayment

  Cover Art Dragon copyright © 2014 DM7 (Shutterstock)

  Cover Art Background copyright © 2014 Rui Ferreira (Shutterstock)

  Illustrations copyright © 2014 Krista Wayment

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  For my mother.

  Who always believed in me.

  Table of Contents

  Description

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: Chaos

  Chapter 2: Aftermath

  Chapter 3: Fiery Rumors

  Chapter 4: Lonely Song

  Chapter 5: Warning

  Chapter 6: Dragon Hunt

  Chapter 7: Old Faces

  Chapter 8: Hiking

  Chapter 9: A Sad History

  Chapter 10: Night Flight

  Chapter 11: On Fire

  Chapter 12: Heroes

  Chapter 13: Hunters

  Chapter 14: An Unusual Professor

  Chapter 15: Dragon Tracks

  Chapter 16: Lost Beloved

  Chapter 17: Wounded

  Chapter 18: Dragon Fight

  Chapter 19: He Must be Stopped

  Chapter 20: Healing

  Chapter 21: The Trap is Set

  Chapter 22: Kidnapped

  Chapter 23: The Eye that Watches

  Chapter 24: Finding Lainey

  Chapter 25: I Will Defend the Lady

  Chapter 26: A New Ally

  Chapter 27: Making Plans

  Chapter 28: A Daring Rescue

  Chapter 29: Flee for Your Lives

  Chapter 30: It is Over

  Chapter 31: Healed Wounds

  Chapter 32: All is Well

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue

  Pain.

  A cold chill ran down Renick's back. The touch felt familiar, but not like it was from one of the dragons in his Uncle Loren's care. It was more sinister. Laced under the word was a ripple of anguish so deep he could not even imagine its source.

  Emptiness.

  The image of a black dragon surrounded by stone surfaced from Renick's memory. "The mines," he whispered to himself. The images, distant but still fresh, of the mines beneath the hidden dragon city came back to him. He could still feel the layer of dirt and sweat that had once clung to him like a second skin, and still see the endless pile of stone and hear the ragged breathing of a trapped dragon. The experience lingered in his mind even after the passage of almost an entire year.

  Renick shook his head and the memories faded, revealing the walls of his uncle's stables once again. All around him the dragons were stirring. Their fear echoed in his mind like ripples on water. He carefully lifted the sick dragon's head from his lap and laid it on the straw lining her stall. A red light glowing through one of the windows caught his attention as he walked past it.

  I will avenge her.

  There was an explosion, and a chorus of screams pierced the night.

  Chapter 1: Chaos

  The sound of the stable doors flying open faded into the chaos they revealed. Renick stood paralyzed, watching as flames licked up the side of a nearby building. The streets, normally empty at this hour of the night, were filled with people running away from the devastating fires.

  A black dragon, long and thin, snaked through the sky above Renick's head, its dark scales gleaming with yellow light. A roar tore through Renick's head and pounded in his ears. The dragon let out a jet of flames that engulfed another building.

  In the din of screams and cracking wood, Renick heard his name.

  Uncle Loren emerged from his house and called to him, "Renick, get back inside and try to calm the dragons down!" His uncle motioned for the others that had gathered around him to start forming a water line to the nearest burning building. "Come on people, we've dealt with fires before."

  The people in the square seemed to latch on to Uncle Loren's words—he gave them a problem they knew how to handle. After all, with dragons nearby and mostly wooden buildings, the residents had gotten used to dealing with such fires. While Renick watched in fascination, the people gathered almost as one to focus their energy on putting out the fires instead of on the black dragon looming over head.

  Renick ducked back into the stable, leaving the doors open in case he and the dragons needed a quick escape. Before him two rows of stalls stretched back to the other end of the building. There were twenty-four in all, but only thirteen were occupied. Thirteen dragons thrashing and hissing in fear. Closing his eyes, Renick took a moment to calm his nerves. His charges would only feed off his own agitation.

  The closest dragon was in the stall on his left—Dron, a massive gray with white markings and claws. Renick stepped slowly up to the stall door and extended his hand. "Shh," he whispered to the dragon, sending a wave of calm in dragon speak. Dron could not talk, like Renick's Dragon Kind friends could, but he often responded to the emotions Renick projected. It was a handy talent to have as a dragonhand. Slowly, timidly, Dron inched his snout toward Renick's hand. Eventually the warm scales of Dron's nose rested under Renick's fingers. He thought of sleeping and urged Dron to do so. The black eyes watched him, blinked, and then closed. Dron's head drifted to the straw-lined floor.

  "One down," Renick said with relief and pushed the wild tangle of brown hair out of his eyes.

  Trying with all his might not to look back over his shoulder at the cluttered sights of the attack, Renick continued to the other occupied stalls.

  Three more dragons—a red named Tisha, a green called Orc, and an adolescent blue whose name Renick could never remember—went to sleep without much coaxing. Yen, however, proved a more difficult task, as always.

  Renick stood leaning over the stall door watching the ash-colored dragon, who was huddled in a corner glaring at him. "Come on, Yen." Renick held out his hand as far as he could. "You aren't still mad at me, are you?"

  His first task as a dragonhand, meted out by his uncle on the day after Renick returned from being lost in the Helath forest, had been to groom Yen. It had not gone well, and ever since the touchy dragon always shied away from him.

  "It won't hurt. I promise." Renick whispered just loud enough to be heard over the din coming from all around them.

  Tomin, Yen's neighbor, placed his head on the wall dividing the two stalls. The yellow dragon gave Yen a look that seemed to say, Give the kid a break. He's not so bad.

  It was moments like this, when dragons exchanged looks or behaved in other very human ways, that Renick could not help but believe
that somewhere inside them was the capacity to speak and the intelligence of their cousins, the Dragon Kind. Lainey's words from earlier that night echoed in his mind. "Hoping for the impossible does not make it so."

  Yen was watching him.

  Renick held the gaze as best he could while leaning farther in and trying to balance on the stall door. Yen shifted forward, sniffing at Renick's hand.

  The back doors of the stable exploded in a cloud of fire and smoke. Renick was thrown back, landing in a heap of straw in the empty stall across from Yen's. Thirteen frightened dragon calls filled the air around him.

  As Renick watched the flames devouring the back wall of the stable, one thought consumed him. Get the dragons out. He slipped on the straw in his haste to stand and landed on his right elbow. Pain lanced up and down his arm, but he pushed it aside and climbed to his feet. Undoing the latch to Yen's stall was difficult with his left hand. It did not help that Yen was thrashing about and hitting the door.

  Finally the latch slipped open. Renick was knocked to the floor again as Yen pushed through the stall door and away from the hot, angry flames. Turning, Renick saw his uncle and the other dragonhands racing toward the stable. One threw a rope around Yen's neck and started pulling him toward safety. The others entered the burning stable, unlatching doors and leading the dragons away.

  Back on his feet, Renick turned to May's stall. She still lay quietly on the straw, her mouth open and her eyes listless. Falling to his knees beside her, he cradled her head as best he could with his injured arm. The left side of his face started to burn from the heat of the approaching flames.

  "Renick," his uncle called to him. "We have to get out of here!"

  Renick pushed away his uncle's grip on his arm. "I won't leave her."

  "We can't get her out in time. Come, save yourself!"

  Tears that stung in the heat filled Renick's eyes. He buried his face in May's neck and whispered, "Never."

  Something elusive touched the edge of Renick's mind. May shifted beneath him. Pulling back, he watched as she struggled to stand with awkward, painful movements. With her head lowered almost to the ground, Renick could see into her eyes, could see the fear shining in them.

  Slowly, with the flames creeping toward them, Renick and May left the stable.

  May made it only as far as the watering well before collapsing to the ground. Renick sat beside her and tried to lift her head into his lap with one hand.

  His uncle appeared from inside the stable and assisted him. "I never," he said in disbelief. When Renick looked up at him, his uncle was watching him with a bewildered look on his face. "The touch you have with dragons, Renick, is something I have never seen before." His brow creased and he opened his mouth to say more, then must have thought better of it because he stood and went to help with the other dragons instead.

  The black dragon roared its anger and pain into the night and then turned to fly over the open plains surrounding Trevinni. Renick watched the dragon retreating, only to see it dip its wing into the wind and turn back for another pass. The building next to Renick exploded into fire, and then the dragon wheeled away again. It circled the city—watching.

  A set of gentle hands wrapped themselves around his injured arm. Renick looked down into Lainey's smiling gray eyes. "You're always hurting your arm and needing my help."

  Renick smiled. "Sorry."

  Lainey's yellow hair was full of soot and ash. Black streaks covered her face and arms. Renick watched her hands as she carefully bandaged his arm. "It'll be sore for a few days, but nothing's broken."

  "You okay?" he asked.

  She nodded. "My aunt and I were still nearby. We've been doing as much as we can." Lainey tilted her head over toward her aunt, who was treating a group of people sporting burns and other injuries. "How's May?" Her brow creased with concern as she inspected the dragon.

  "She walked. That's a good sign, right?"

  A rare frown turned the corners of Lainey's mouth. She did not look up to meet his searching eyes. Lainey did not know enough about dragons to heal them with magic, so Renick would not ask her to try.

  "I'll have Aunt Melatheen come when she's done tending the others." She stood to leave.

  Renick gripped her wrist to stop her. Then, with a cautious look around to see if anyone was listening, he asked in a hushed voice, "Did you hear him?"

  "'Him' who?"

  "The dragon, did you hear him? Right before he attacked."

  Lainey's hair reflected the dying fires as she shook her head.

  "I think it was—"

  "Lainey!"Melatheen called.

  "We'll talk later," Lainey said and then ran to help her aunt.

  Renick rubbed May's nose absently while he watched the night sky. It was the dragon from the mines, he was sure of it. The fact that he had appeared here, in Trevinni, less than a year after their first encounter could not be a coincidence. Thane and Lainey knew about the mines, and he was bound by an oath not to speak of it to any other human. He looked down into May's eyes because he could not tell anyone else at the moment. "I think I need to talk to Wrytha."

  Chapter 2: Aftermath

  Renick stood and joined one of the water lines passing buckets back and forth in an attempt to quell the flames. Above them the black dragon circled the site of his devastation. Renick resisted the urge to watch the dragon, to follow his methodical spiral, to anticipate the next jet of flame. Instead, he focused on the buckets. Full buckets to the right, empty buckets to the left.

  "Have you ever seen one so big?" the boy to Renick's left asked him in a nervous voice.

  The truth was that the dragon, though at least three times larger than most domestic dragons, was not the largest Renick had ever seen. But the Dragon Kind were a secret and so he just shrugged and handed an empty bucket to the boy.

  Another dragon cry rent the night air, but this time it was answered by a duet of calls. Renick looked up. Two dragon mounts ridden by dragon knights had appeared. They dove toward the attacking dragon, twisting and turning in a complicated pattern. The sky seemed to burn with dragon fire as the battle commenced.

  "Finally," the man in line behind Renick said.

  The sight of the dragon knights spurred hope in Renick and he started to work faster. The others around him had the same reaction. They worked tirelessly, moving from one fire to the next with the sounds of a ferocious dragon fight as their backdrop. Every once in a while he would glance up to watch. The two dragon knights and their mounts plunged toward the black dragon, which pulled up and away, scraping his claws across his enemies' scales. Renick had to look away to pass a bucket to the person standing next to him, who was also watching the sky.

  The water line managed to extinguish the fires eating away at the stable before it was completely gone and saved the majority of a neighboring house. Renick jogged to join a newly formed water line on the other side of the square.

  Renick was so focused on his work that it took a moment for him to realize that no one had placed a bucket in his outstretched hand. Then he noticed the silence. Everyone had their heads turned upward. Renick looked up, following their gaze. The dragons hung suspended in the air facing each other.

  A tormented wail broke forth from the black dragon as he threw his resentment at the dragon knights and their mounts. Then the rogue dragon turned and sped away, heading for the depths of the Helath forest. The dragon knights raised their swords in triumph. They were joined by a cheer from the people gathered in the square.

  "Right. Back to work!" the man at the front of the line called.

  The water line started moving again. Water sloshed over Renick's arms, wetting his sleeves and sending a chill up his arm. He welcomed the shivers that cooled down his overheated body. Since no new fires were being started, they were able to gain some ground on putting out the flames devouring the buildings in the square. Bucket after bucket, back and forth. The movement was only broken when the line would shift to the next fire. They worked until the o
nly light around them came from the first rays of the rising sun. Renick took a moment to survey the square.

  Only four buildings remained standing: the stable, which was half gone, the house next to it, Uncle Loren's house, and another house across the way. Everything else was a black pile of burned wood. Renick found his uncle in the mass of people that had been displaced by the attack. The other dragonhands were also gathered around him.

  "The West Gate Inn is taking refugees. Head there and get some sleep. We'll meet back here after the midday meal," Uncle Loren instructed.

  His fellow dragonhands moved off in a group, mumbling about the attack and the fight with the dragon knights. Renick stayed behind. "What about our dragons?"

  "The dragon knights are coming to help us relocate them. They have space in the stables. It will be crammed, but it's better than having them out in the open." Loren said.

  "What about May?" Renick glanced over to where she still lay near the watering well.

  His uncle bent down so he could look at Renick with a level gaze. "She'll be fine. Melatheen's taking charge of her."

  "I want to stay with her."

  Uncle Loren shook his head. "Renick, I need you well rested so you can help later today. The stable must be rebuilt as soon as possible. I can't afford the fees to house the dragons with the knights for very long."

  "But the others can help. I—"

  "Come," Lainey appeared at his elbow and wrapped her arm around his sore one. He winced. "Sorry." She drew her hands away and tucked them behind her back. "I have to deliver a message to the inn. Care to escort me?"

  Lainey was smiling, but from the look in her eyes, Renick knew she would not be swayed. He shrugged. "Okay."

  They walked in silence past the remains of buildings. As they moved farther away from the site of the attack, ash and charcoal were replaced by whole and untouched houses. The people inside were already awake, gathering food and blankets. Some were even cutting cloth into strips for bandages. Seeing the town's people preparing to assist those in need reminded him of home. And he missed his family.