Page 65 of Upon Buried Embers
I don’t want to go back to Master. He sent me away, and if I go back he’ll kill me in a very painful way.
But then he just said he will kill me anyway, and I want to die, don’t I?
But Effy…
“Do we have a deal?” he asks, palm out and waiting.
I look at his much larger hand, and after hesitating, I slowly place my smaller one in it, sealing my fate.
“Yes, we have a deal,” I whisper, and he nods.
“What’s your name?” He throws the stone up in the air, catching it again.
“I don’t have one.”
His head whips to me. “What?”
I look away. “I don’t have one. Just… Elf.”
Exactly what they have all been calling me.
He stares at me, then shakes his head, muttering under his breath.
“And family?”
I look down at my feet, shaking my head.
His sigh is full of irritation.
“Most of the dragons are in here, but a few are out.” He points to a red dragon, the one I saw in The Pit. “Blaise.” He points to two blue ones. “Agnar and Solia.” Solia is the one with her wings curled around herself. “Hakon and Hedoric.” Those are green ones. “Alter, Vex, Doren and Escor are out at the moment.”
I nod, looking at them. They raise their heads at their names, watching Rohan for some sort of instruction, but when none comes, they go back to sleep.
“You can practice learning on Drogonah first while you gather heat stones, placing them in buckets around the den. Bring a bucket to my cabin,” he says, handing me the large stone. “You will spend a lot of time here while you learn.”
I blink at him and he gestures to the pile of stones next to Drogonah. In fact, as I look around, all of them have stones next to them.
“I don’t understand.”
Rohan walks in front of Drogonah, and places a stone in front of him then backs up a little. Drogonah opens his mouth and a small flame emerges, making me take my own step back.
He aims it at the stone for around seven seconds, stopping when it glows slightly, showing orange veins.
“The stones have ore in them that sustains heat.”
Rohan rubs Drogonah’s nose and picks up the stone, holding it out to me. Warily, I hold both my hands out, and he drops it into my awaiting palms.
I scream.
Dropping the stone, I blow on my hands. “That’s hot!”
Rohan smiles. “You will get used to it, Elf. There are buckets everywhere in here, fill one and then bring it to my cabin, I’ll show you where to put them. You’ll need to make a few trips here I suspect.”
He begins to walk off.
“Wait, you’re leaving me here? With… them?” I look at the sleeping dragons, some now watching curiously.
“With my dragons?” He asks, I nod. “They won’t eat you, I told them not to this morning.”
