Page 19 of Wild Bond

I made my way over to her and she bent her head so I could rub her snout in greeting.

Skye gazed over my shoulder curiously at Dembe, and I turned to see the large man standing a respectful distance away. I suddenly wondered where his own dragon was. Maybe hunting like Skye had been?

“Oh, right. Dembe, this is Skye. Skye, this is Dembe Matara.”

Dembe bowed his head slightly. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Skye.”

Skye returned the gesture, and I could tell from our bond she tentatively liked the rider.

“Well, it seems like I’m just in time for introductions,” a new voice said from behind me.

I turned to see a man, only a few years my senior, standing a few paces away, staring at the three of us with a smile on his rather boyish face. He too wore the black rider leathers. His face was clean-shaven, his skin sun-kissed, and his shoulder-length blonde hair was tied in a queue at his nape. He held himself with a cocky, self-assured manner, which I wondered if he could back up. But then again, that tattoo on his bicep proved that he was a full-fledged dragon rider, so I supposed he couldn’t be too bad in a fight.

A bright green dragon came to land on his shoulder, the creature’s eyes a striking yellow.

Skye shrank down to her minor form and landed on my own shoulder as Dembe spoke. “Rin, this upstart is Zade. For some reason Rake likes to keep him around. He says he can be useful, but I have yet to see evidence of that.” Dembe flashed me a wink as he said this last.

Zade put a hand to chest in exaggerated affront. “You wound me most deeply, old man. How will I ever recover from your low opinion of me?”

Dembe snorted, but grinned.

Zade laughed good-naturedly and stroked his dragon’s back as he glanced toward me. “This here is Valla.”

For the first time, I realized that Zade’s dragon was female. I couldn’t hide my surprise. Traditionally riders usually bonded with dragons of their same sex. Every so often a rider bonded with a dragon of the opposite sex, but it was rare.

I bowed my head, trying to keep with the custom, and introduced them to Skye. Then I inquired curiously, “What exactly do you do for Commander Rakim?”

“Anything and everything our illustrious commander requires.”

“That was a very vague and uninformative answer.”

Zade’s eyes twinkled as he grinned. “Oh, I like you. We can be friends.” I rolled my eyes, but somehow, I found myself grinning back. It also hadn’t escaped my notice that he didn’t really answer my question. “It is on one such errand, however, that I have been asked to escort you to your first official class.”

“The commander asked you to take me to class?” I repeated, incredulous.

“That’s what I just said, Button. Do keep up. Now hurry and put those weapons away before you’re late. Skye is meant to accompany you to this class as well.”

I felt Skye’s intrigue at this statement, so I decided not to remark on the fact that he just called me Button.

Striding to the weapons rack, I peeked up to make sure the men were busy, seeing that Zade was ribbing Dembe about something.

Good.

While placing the two daggers back, I slipped one of the other daggers on the rack into the back of my waistband. It was a practice weapon, so not the best quality and blunt as a hammer, but that was okay. I’d sharpen it later.

A mixture of humor and pride came from my dragon at my little act of thievery. There wasn’t a hint of judgment or censure, which I appreciated. I think she understood that it went against the grain for me to not have something to protect myself with.

The two riders had finished whatever they were saying, and Dembe now looked to me. “Meet me here at the same time tomorrow.” I nodded, and with a final look at Zade, he was gone, making his way from the field.

“A man of few words, that one,” Zade observed with a shake of his head as we watched him go. “Well, Button,” he said after a moment of silence, “we better get going.” He too began to stride from the training grounds toward Rider Tower.

“Why are you calling me that?” I demanded as I followed him. As we walked across the grass, I noticed the younger class of trainees had left as well.

“Don’t know,” he said, not looking back. “Just feels right.”

“Well, stop.” He didn’t reply, just smirked, and after a moment, I couldn’t help but ask, “Is it normal for new trainees to be escorted everywhere?” I finally caught up, so I was walking beside him.

“Not usually. Unless you’re a child.”

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