Ezraan shrugged innocently. “There may be an emergency stash hidden somewhere.”
Kanin’s ears pricked up. More fruit? He asked hopefully. Khollo turned his glare on the dragon, but Kanin remained decidedly uncowed.
“Don’t you remember what happened the last time you ate some of those?” Khollo asked. “You were spitting fireballs into the spring all night long!”
That was not fun, Kanin agreed. But the fruit tastes good, even if it is not meat.
Khollo shook his head in dismay. “If there is an emergency stash,” he warned. “I am going to find it and destroy it. Again.” He looked meaningfully at Ezraan.
“Whatever happened to parental authority?” Ezraan muttered.
“You never had any,” Khollo said, before he could stop himself.
Ezraan flinched and looked away. “I’m sorry,” Khollo said quickly. “That was out of line.”
The older man shrugged it off. “You have a point, you know. But I’d just as soon forget that.” He shook his head to clear it. “Let’s get back to the hold.”
Khollo and Ezraan climbed back up to Kanin’s back, cinching down the fighting straps carefully. The dragon had taken to executing complex maneuvers in midair during their flights to and from the hold, just to keep the two Keepers on their toes. When Khollo complained about the treatment, Kanin invariably reminded him that he could be attacked suddenly and forced to perform just such a maneuver. Khollo was smart enough to recognize this was true, and also smart enough not to try and argue with a dragon, friendly though he may be.
On this particular day, Kanin seemed in no mood to pull aerial stunts as they flew back to the hold. Perhaps it was the lateness of the hour, or the fact that for once they had spent the afternoon doing flying practice as well. Whatever the case, they returned to the hold without incident, just as the sun was setting.
“You know,” Khollo said as he dismounted. “I’ve been thinking it might be time to try crossing back to the Sthan Kingdom.”
Ezraan frowned and turned away. “I see,” he said noncommittally. “Did you have a time frame in mind for this journey?” His words were short, almost clipped, and he did not turn back to face Khollo.
Khollo shrugged uncertainly. “Tomorrow afternoon or the next, I suppose. That’s when the air currents will be the strongest. There’s no reason to wait. We have the provisions and Kanin and I are strong enough to fight.”
Ezraan sighed with frustration. “I should have known this day was coming soon,” he muttered. “Well, good luck with your war. Come back and let me know how it turns out.”
“Wait, you’re staying?” Khollo asked.
“Kanin is not strong enough to carry two such a distance,” Ezraan replied, turning back to face Khollo. “So I must stay, alone again.”
He blames me, Khollo realized. He’s angry that I’m even thinking about going back.
“Look this isn’t my choice,” Khollo growled. “I have to go back.”
“Do you now?” Ezraan said bitterly. “Some kind of law you’d be breaking if you stayed? Some oath you took or some inexorable force dragging you back?”
“Stop it,” Khollo said. “People are suffering back in the Sthan Kingdom, fighting a war against relentless killing machines. I have the ability to help and so I must, or have you forgotten the principles this Order was founded on so long ago?”
“Do not presume to lecture me, boy!” Ezraan shouted. “I taught you the history of this place, did I not? Do you know how the Order fell? They got into an impossible fight they could not win. They tried to keep peace when the forces of war were too strong to subdue.”
“If we don’t go back there will be nothing left to maintain peace over,” Khollo growled. “The world of men will fall.”
“Is it written? Why not wait and see? Surely my brother can save them again?”
Tread carefully, Kanin warned. The old one is angry, and not given to reason. In fact, it might be best just to –
I know what I’m doing, Khollo interrupted. I’m doing the right thing, what I have to do.
Are you?
Khollo glared at Kanin. “I have to return because I care what happens back on the continent,” he said to Ezraan. “I have seen what they are up against and they have already paid a high price in this war. I will not give up now.”
“Noble words, but still you should – ”
“I don’t need your permission,” Khollo continued. “Or your approval. I am going back to fight and to drive the vertaga back into whatever hole they crawled out of.”
“Have these past weeks meant nothing to you?” Ezraan whispered.
Khollo gazed at him steadily. “I am grateful for what you have done for us, the training, the advice, the knowledge. But we have enough to go on for now. It’s time to put your teachings to use and do something.”
“And so you abandon me,” Ezraan murmured, stumbling backwards and coming up against the wall of the hold. “I knew it . . . I knew this day was coming.”
“I’m not abandoning you,” Khollo said, stricken. “I’ll be back, I promise. When the continent is sorted out there will be plenty of time to return and restore the Order.”
“Go,” Ezraan said in a hollow voice. “Leave me here. I guess I should be used to being alone by now.”
Let’s continue this discussion tomorrow, Kanin suggested quickly. We all have much to think about and decisions should not be made –
“Wallow in your self-pity if you must,” Khollo said to Ezraan, breaking in. “But I choose to do something with the talents and gifts that I have been given. I go back to fight tomorrow, and I will return. Do with that what you will.”
Khollo strode into the hold, brushing past Ezraan
