Page 87 of Wild Bond

I had never seen one before, but I thought this creature had to be a shadow hound. One of the creatures said to be charged with guarding the Dark Realms, where the three Dark Gods resided. Some of the traders that came into the city had reported seeing them in the wild from time to time, though I had never been convinced those stories were true.

I was convinced now.

Two more of the creatures emerged from the night behind the first. Ever so slowly, I lowered my hand and had just grasped the hilt of the sword when the beast lunged.

I swung my weapon upward, clipping the beast’s muzzle and jarring it to the side so that I wasn’t impaled by its claws and teeth. The animal still landed partially on top of me, taking me to the ground. I cried out as its thick fur filled my mouth, and its back paws scraped along my side, leaving streaks of fiery pain in their wake. Forcing myself not to gag on its foul odor and to ignore the pain, I pushed with all my strength and rolled out from under the hound.

Managing to hold onto my sword, I came up on my knees just as the creature lunged again. As I braced myself for the hit, raising my sword, an arrow pierced the shadow hound right through the eye, and it collapsed dead in front of me.

Before I could react one of the other hounds was there. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and struck out blindly with my sword, managing to catch it in the side. The hound whimpered as it landed a few feet away. I was finally able to get to my feet and backed up, slipping partially into the stream as I tried to put some space between us.

The beast leaped for me again, snarling in rage. I was prepared this time. I jerked to the side out of the way of its snapping jaws and swung my arm, feeling my blade sink into flesh. The hound’s momentum yanked the sword from my hand. It gave another cry as it landed partially in the stream. The hound struggled to stand, my weapon still sticking from its side, and then its body went limp.

“Rin, look out!” a familiar voice shouted. I glanced up just in time to see the third shadow hound barreling towards me. I bent, intending to pull my sword from the dead hound’s side, but before I could, a second arrow flew past me, and the final hound died before it could reach me.

I yanked my sword free and spun to see who I had to thank for saving my life.

And there stood Con.

He was dressed much as I was and approached slowly with his bow still out, scanning our surroundings for more of the shadow hounds. I could make out his grim features easily thanks to the glowing feather that he too possessed and had tucked into his belt.

Con. Con was here. But how . . .? “What are you doing here?” I asked incredulously, though I probably should have been thanking him for saving my life.

“I could ask the same of you,” he replied. I watched in confused fascination as he crossed the stream, eyeing the dead hounds as he went, scanning the ground all the while as if looking for something. He must have spotted what he was looking for on the far bank, because he crouched down and carefully plucked a small patch of white flowers from the ground.

Perplexed, I waited until he made his way back over to me before asking, “What do you mean? I have no idea what’s going on. I think I was kidnapped or drugged or something, and I woke up not far from here. What’s happening? Where are we, Con?”

His brow furrowed in concern when I mentioned being kidnapped, but then smoothed out as he asked, “You haven’t worked that out?”

I opened my mouth to tell him I had no idea, when suddenly things started aligning in my mind. Con was here . . . but he had left with Rake and all the other riders for Three Points. And if that were the case, then I must be . . . My eyes were drawn upward and sure enough, I could just make out the outline of a mountain peak backlit by the stars.

Three Points.I was on Three Points. And that could only mean . . .

Before my mind could even form the words, Con confirmed it. “We’re on Three Points, Rin. And you’re in the trials.”

The trials. Somehow, someone or something had placed me right in the middle of The Dragon Rider Trials.

“How are you here?” Con questioned again, his face a mask of confusion. “And what do you mean you were drugged and kidnapped?”

I didn’t respond right away, my mind still reeling from the realization that I was on a mountain in some clandestine location, and that I was currently in the middle of the rider trials. All after having been captured and placed here without knowledge or explanation.

I raised my arms, noticing the blood on the sword. I grimaced and began wiping it on the dead shadow hound at my feet as I replied, “I don’t know. The last thing I remember was being in my room in the barracks. Then I think I was drugged. I passed out and then I woke up here. The rest is a total blank.”

His brow pinched. “That makes no sense. Why capture you, only to bring you to the trials? Especially considering the likelihood of death or serious harm.”

I shrugged. “I’ve been asking myself that same question.” Then something occurred to me. “This can’t be legitimate though, right? It won’t count. Someone placed me here, but I can’t actually be expected to compete?”

I looked to him and watched his face go through a myriad of emotions, much like how I was feeling, and then finally he shrugged too. “I doubt anything like this has happened before, so I’m not sure.”

I grasped the back of my neck, trying to massage away the tension there as I tried to wrap my mind around all that had happened. I gestured lamely to the flowers he was clutching in his hand, like his life depended on them. “What’s with the flowers?”

“They’re part of the First Trial. I know you haven’t studied at The Tower long enough to know, but these,” he held up the tuft of tiny white flowers, “are called Lethara’s Tears. It’s a flower that only grows where phoenix tears have fallen. They can be found all over this mountain. That is why the phoenix feathers react to their presence. But the high level of magic the flowers give off draw magical creatures to them and make them difficult to obtain.”

I thought of our confrontation with the shadow hounds and had to agree.

“But why?” I asked. “What’s so great about them? What do they do?”

“They have a number of uses, but the most significant is that they can free any being from or dissolve any enchantment.” He looked at me pointedly. “Most importantly, our dragons.”

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