Ezraan fell silent, apparently finished with his tale. Khollo shifted, stiff from sitting on the stone ledge and leaning against Kanin for so long.
“I don’t understand,” Khollo said. “Why did the eggs not hatch sooner?”
I can answer that, Kanin replied, blinking slowly. As hatchlings in the egg, we dragons wait for the right conditions to crack our shells. We can sense whether an environment is favorable or unfavorable, if there is sufficient food or not. I would guess that the four hatchlings were aware of the turmoil in the world and stayed in their shells until returning to Ethgalin. But my namesake perhaps sensed the first Keeper and knew that he would be well cared for and cracked his shell anyway.
Khollo relayed the dragon’s answer to Ezraan, who nodded thoughtfully. “And why did you hatch, Kanin?” the older man asked curiously.
Kanin growled angrily. I was tricked into hatching by the vertaga. For as long as I can remember, I lay in wait, sensing a great darkness around me. Then, suddenly, the darkness vanished. I found there was no trace of whatever looming threat had been beyond my shell. So I forced my way out, and found myself on a high mountain, alone. Within the hour, the vertaga came and captured me, for I was small and weak and the winds were too strong for me to fly away.
“I’m sorry,” Khollo murmured. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like, alone and captive.”
It is in the past. That is all that matters now.
Khollo nodded, then turned back to Ezraan. “I have a hard time believing that the rulers of thousands of years ago were threatened into making peace.”
Ezraan shrugged. “It was a mark of how bad the times were. Nearly half the world’s population was dead and many were starving or near death from injury and illness. The first Keeper offered protection, which was more than enough of an incentive for many a ruler.”
They were a mighty pair, Kanin observed. We have much to live up to.
The old man laughed when Khollo relayed Kanin’s words. “If you live up to the legacy of your namesake’s, then I don’t doubt that the vertaga will be defeated, the corruption of the capital purged, and the Order restored. You don’t have to live up to their legacy, though,” Ezraan added gently.
“We don’t?” Khollo and Kanin said together.
“No,” Ezraan said, shaking his head. “I think in the end all will be better if instead you forge your own legacy.”
Chapter 34
Do the old man’s dirt drawings make sense to you? Kanin asked, thrusting his head forward at a diagram Ezraan had drawn in the ground.
Khollo tilted his head, thinking that perhaps a different perspective would help. “No,” he said finally, sitting back on his heels. “No, it doesn’t make sense.”
Three days had passed since the first training session as bonded Keepers. They had progressed far enough as a pair that Ezraan had decided it was time to begin aerial combat practices. But, so far, neither Khollo nor Kanin had been able to discern what exactly the old man wanted them to do.
“It’s not that complicated,” Ezraan said impatiently, pointing with the sharpened end of the stick he had drawn the diagram with and leaning on his staff. “If a one-eyed old man can understand this drawing you should be able to as well.”
“But the one-eyed old man has the advantage of having read the books on these fighting techniques,” Khollo pointed out. “We don’t.”
Is it supposed to look like a bird? Kanin asked tentatively.
Ezraan sighed. “Look. You climb to a sufficient altitude, here.” He jabbed at the diagram with his stick. “Then you roll over and left to avoid the arrows, twisting into a dive and leveling out perpendicular to your original course at low altitude. Khollo shoots, you wheel backwards and twist so you are facing the same direction as your original course, flame the archers, then climb rapidly until you are above your starting altitude. Dive and turn around to get back to your original position.”
I like the ground training better, Kanin decided. Easier to imagine, more dead fake enemies, more flame.
I thought you liked flying? Khollo asked.
Flying I like, Kanin agreed. Flying is easy. But this . . . this is complicated.
Ezraan puffed out his cheeks and gave vent to an exasperated sigh. “Fine. Maybe it will be easier to explain if I were to ride Kanin and help him through the movements. With your permission, Khollo?”
“Fine by me,” Khollo agreed. “As long as Kanin is willing to give it a shot.”
I do not like this, Kanin muttered. But he extended a foreleg for Ezraan to mount anyways.
“Fighting straps first,” Ezraan said, reaching for a bundle of leather that they had brought along. “Help me out here, Khollo. You’ll need to know how to do this.”
In between training sessions for the last three days, Khollo and Ezraan had been busy building the fighting straps, a complex series of leather straps designed to secure the rider to Kanin’s back. Two loops ran around spines in front of and behind the rider’s position. The loops were attached to a saddle-like piece that folded over Kanin’s back between the spines. From the edges of the saddle-like piece extended a leather strap that passed around Kanin’s belly. A series of adjustable loops ran down the strap on both sides, to secure the
