Page 27 of Black Wing and Shadows
While July thirty-first concluded basic training, we weren’t released until the first day August. Marking the first day as first-year cadets. All the trainees stood in neat rows in the expansive courtyard, with stern drill instructors positioned confidently at the front. Instructor de Grignon stepped forward and expressed pride in our determination and the progress we had made.
"Out of eight hundred and seventy-five cadets who started, only seven hundred and eight remain. Seventy-two of those losses occurred during the pass."
Holy shit. We lost one hundred and sixty-seven of us in eight weeks. The pass took out seven of us in just our platoon.
"If you are a Drusearon, you will report to the Pass of Bête Noire. Healers will report to the infirmary. Historians to the first-floor library. Shapeshifters will meet in the outdoor arena. Riders will meet in the flight field. Infantry will meet in sparring gym one. Sorcerers will report to the river’s field. You are dismissed."
CHAPTER 11
Rider’s Judgment had been a dream of mine ever since I decided to become a Rider. My dad’s majestic dragon, Kim, was a striking grey with black dapples along her powerful wings. She was a decent-sized dragon, standing nearly sixteen feet tall. She was my first experience with a dragon, and she always watched over me intently. Without her, I believed every dragon would frighten me.
“I am Major Bhatta, and I will be your instructor, teaching you about all the fliers. We have three majestically beautiful creatures that you can ride: dragons, griffins, and phoenixes. Today, you will face the Rider’s Judgment. If you’re not familiar with that term, let me explain. You will be given a serum that lasts during the walk among the fliers. They will pass judgment on you. If you have bad intentions or they feel you are not worthy, they will incinerate you or take your head. You also get to see your options. You will walk a single line among the fliers. When you reach the end, you will return to the outdoor arena. There are thirty dragons, twenty griffins, and eighteen phoenixes ready to bond with Riders.”
I looked ahead and saw all the fliers lined up about two hundred feet in front of me. They were so beautiful that I thought all the color options were there. They stood facing each other, leaving an aisle for us to walk through. My dad always told me never to look them directly in the eyes, but to observe all the fliers during judgment. He said to appreciate their beauty, stand tall, and not show any fear.
We all moved into a tight single-file line. I wasn't sure how many Riders there were, but I believed we outnumbered the fliers, which made sense because the judgment usually took several of us. My stomach clenchedas I remembered that not all of us would make it out alive, and I braced myself for another encounter with death. Thora, who was in my platoon, moved behind me, and I caught sight of Torvi up ahead. We had exchanged greetings here and there, but she belonged to a different platoon than mine. About fifty feet before the aisle where the fliers awaited, a stern Historian sat at a sturdy desk. She meticulously took names and handed us a vial of glowing serum. We advanced slowly, each step heavier than the last. Up ahead, the growling and stomping of the fliers echoed loudly, stirring my stomach into a painful churn. My breakfast threatened to resurface, but I clenched my jaw and refused to let it.
“I am so nervous…” Thora whispered behind me as we took another step forward.
“You have to get it in check. They will sense it,” I said.
We moved forward. I was now at the desk with the female recording our names.
“Auriella Blackcreek.” She lifted her eyes at me and raised her eyebrows.
“Gen—”
“Yes,” I cut her off. I didn’t want people to hear. She nodded her head, like she understood. She handed me the serum. I poured it down my throat and moved forward. I was now between two dragons, five feet behind the male cadet in front of me. It felt like we were moving slowly. I was observing him, and gods, he was nervous. I saw the shake in his legs. With that, I fell back another foot, because I wasn’t sure this was going to go his way.
The first two dragons facing each other were stunning. The one to the right of me was a solid black dragon, standing about fifteen feet tall, which was about average in size. The one on the left was a beautiful red that had various shades of red throughout her scales. I made a point not to stare them in the eyes, nor to show fear or avoid them.
Next to the black and red dragon were two griffins, followed by another group of dragons. One of them was also red, but more vibrant. I watched her twist her head at the cadet in front of me and quickly pull it back. Ohfuck. I knew that look, and before I could even yell at the kid in front of me—
Whooooosh.
She threw a perfect flame at him. Before I could react, the ground turned to ash beneath my feet. The air reeked fiercely of sulfur and not solely from her. I kept walking at the same steady pace, observing the beautiful creatures we could be bonded with. About a quarter of the way through, I spotted a group of stunning phoenixes, which slightly intimidated me—strange because dragons surpassed them in size. They shimmered in shades of vivid red and fiery orange. The one to my right tilted her elegant head toward me, causing my entire body to freeze in place.
“You’re a small one, are you sure you don’t want to ride a phoenix?”said a voice that made my head spin around to see where it came from.
“It’s me…”and the phoenix on my right bobbed her head, but her mouth didn’t move. Wait, that was in my fucking head.
“How did you do that?” I said. I knew fliers could communicate with their bonded Rider, but I was not bonded. My mind spun.
“What?” Thora said, her brows knitting as her head tilted.
“The serum you took let us read every cadet’s intention, and mind speak without a bond.”
“Nothing,” I said to Thora.
That was crazy. I didn’t even know how to respond. She was gorgeous, but I had always seen myself as a dragon Rider.
“That’s a shame, you will make a fantastic Rider when the time comes.”
Shit, she was in my head. They were all in my head. I smiled in her direction and kept moving, trying not to think about anything, but my mind had never not thought about anything. It always went down so many rabbit holes. After the phoenixes, there was another set of griffins. They made a chortling sound at me, but I pressed on.
“You’re the young Blackcreek,”a young female voice said inside my mind, but I wasn’t sure who it belonged to. I stood between the two smaller dragons I met during the courses, the silver and the grey one. The silver huffed a steamy breath at me, and I turned my head toward her.
“Yes, that was me. You’re a brave one, I like you,”The voice said.
