Page 102 of The Scars Within
Shayde’s voice snapped me back to the present. “Alright, everyone, gather around.”
We huddled around the map as Shayde pointed to a spot on it. The breeze kept blowing up the corners, so we all sat with our knees on the edges of the map to keep it secure. “Drithan said he saw the other team heading northeast.” He traced a finger across the map’s more level terrain. “Their camp should be easy to infiltrate, given the open space for landing. Davis and I will fly over before they wake up first thing in the morning. We’ll do a moving dismount, sneak around, and locate the egg. I’m guessing they’re camping out here,” he circled a mark on the map, “probably in a cavern, like us.”
I couldn’t help myself. “I thought we weren’t supposed to utilize our dragons during the campaign?”
Shayde cut his eyes at me, then looked down at the map.
I frowned, thinking it over. “Wait. We have three dragons. Why only you and Davis? What about me?”
Shayde looked up then but avoided eye contact, his expression tight like it pained him to speak. “Because you aren’t permitted to fly without a professor’s supervision.”
My stomach twisted at the disdain in his voice. “I was given permission to fly for the campaign before we left the valley.”
Nobody said a word.
Laney, ever the strategist, chimed in. “Why leave the egg here at all? Yes, we’re supposed to capture theirs, but we must also protect ours. No one said we had to leave it at our camp. Why don’t we wait and see if they attack first, then go in with the element of surprise at dusk?”
Shayde stayed quiet, staring at the map, but Davis nodded. “She’s got a point. Two of us could fly out before sunrise, land close enough to scout their camp, and check which elementals are on their team. Leave one dragon here just in case. Then, we report back and come up with a plan. If they’re heavy on dragons, we should go in together. Stronger defense, stronger offense.”
“Two elements, one stone,” Shayde murmured, still focused on the map.
“If we aren’t counting our dragons as part of our team, are you sure we are allowed to fly?” I asked.
That got Shayde’s attention. He looked up with a blank expression. “We were not permitted to fly only on the trek to find a campsite, Thorne. Were you not paying attention to the rules?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks as I turned away, pretending to dig through my bag.
“That was rude,” I heard Laney say.
“But it was the truth,” Pehper added, her voice smug.
There was a loud sigh, and then Shayde spoke up. “Let’s build the fire, eat, and then we’ll plan. We’re exhausted. We need to refuel.”
We gathered around the stone circle that Laney and I had put together. Davis and Shayde exchanged a few murmured words before Shayde crouched over the fire pit. His brows furrowed in concentration as he held his palms out toward the pit, closing his eyes. A tiny flicker of flame appeared briefly, but it quickly died out.
Davis tried next, mimicking Shayde’s motion, but the result was the same—another flicker of fire that extinguished almost immediately.
“That’s weird,” Laney said, looking concerned. “Scar, give it a shot.”
“She isn’t supposed to–” Shayde snapped, but Davis shushed him.
I stepped forward and reached for my fire element, but it felt faint like something was blocking me from fully connecting with it. I checked my bond with Lakota, which was still intact, to my relief, though I could sense the same unease.
Pehper stood up and grabbed her canteen. She twirled her fingers in frustration, peered inside it, and cursed under her breath. “Only a quarter full. What the fuck?”
Lakota’s voice came through the bond, his tone laced with confusion. “Drithan, Spear, and I are feeling the same. It’s like something’s off, but not in a harmful way.”
Pehper broke the silence. “Alright, the sun’s down, it’s freezing—why don’t one of your dragons just light the damn fire?”
Before Shayde could explain why that was a bad idea—how a dragon’s flame could alert the other team to our location—I dug through my bag. I pulled out the flint kit we’d been given in class, thankful I hadn’t left it behind.
“Hand me your War Campaign letters,” I said, rummaging for more flammable material.
Shayde sighed and gave a nod of approval as everyone but Pehper reached into their bags for the parchment. Pehper, arms crossed and looking stubborn, sat on a nearby rock, refusing to budge. Shayde, clearly not in the mood for her attitude, walked over and grabbed her bag. He handed me her letters along with his own, and I crumpled them up, setting them aside for kindling.
“What exactly are you doing?” Davis asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Surviving without my element,” I said, striking the flint. “Lamport went over this in class, and thankfully, I kept the flint kit. We’ll have a fire soon enough.”
