The White Fire Dragon lowered its head to our trench and everything went still.
It's heat rolled over us and my mouth went dry and my eyes watered. The glow in the dragon's throat brightened and dimmed like a slow breath. Rhea raised her sword but did not swing. Vesper slid two charms between her fingers and kept her eyes on the dragon's pupils.
"It's targeting you," Vesper said without moving her lips. "Do not twitch."
The charm on my chest began to hum,the sound was low and steady. I felt it in my ribs and spine. Alma stirred,her voice reached me like a whisper through a wall.
"Do not run,stand your ground."
"I can't move," I said.
"You can,stand Eiji."
I put my hands on the dirt and pushed myself up,my legs shook. The dragon's eyes tracked me and Rhea grabbed my sleeve.
"Don't," she said. "Stay down."
The dragon exhaled and white fire spread across the trench lip and burned the grass to powder. It did not push forward,it did not snap,it waited.
Alma's hum strengthened. "[Anchor] ready," she said. "I will hold what I can."
"What is anchor?" I said.
"Your will,your breath,press the charm to the ground if you lose control."
Rhea glanced down, saw my chest rise, and scowled. "Eiji."
"It wants me," I said. "Not you."
"Dragons want meat and heat," Rhea said. "You are both."
The dragon dipped another hand-span. We could smell frost and smoke and Vesper's throat clicked.
"It's testing bond," Vesper said. "This is not a hunt,it's a choice."
Alma said "Step up,do not lift your hands fast,slow movements only."
I climbed out of the trench and Rhea hissed at me but did not yank me back. The dragon's gaze did not leave my face. Its foreclaws pressed deeper into soil and the ground creaked.
I stopped three steps away and the heat was worse up close. My cheeks stung and the charm against my chest felt hot.
Alma whispered "Raise your right hand,palm open and do not show your teeth."
I lifted my right hand until it shook at shoulder height. The dragon's eyes narrowed and its head slid forward. Its snout was the size of a cart,old scars crossed the scales near the nostrils and one horn was chipped at the tip.
Rhea's boot scraped behind me. "If it flares, drop down."
Vesper called behind me "On my call."
Alma instructed "Touch it slowly…Now."
I set my palm on the first scale I could reach. The surface was hard with shallow pits and fine cracks and cold leaked from it through the heat. The charm's hum climbed in pitch and shock ran up my arm, locking my shoulder.
The dragon's pupils tightened and its throat lit up, White fire rushed into its mouth. Heat washed over my face and my hair curled and crisped but i kept my palm on the scale.
"Anchor," Alma said. "Breathe in,hold and slow out."
I obeyed,in….hold..out. The charm matched the rhythm. The dragon held its fire in its mouth and then lowered again,the throat glow dimming.
Rhea let out a breath and Vesper slid one charm back into her sleeve.
The dragon pressed into my hand and the pressure forced my elbow to bend. My knees sagged but planted my feet down hard. Alma pushed a steadying line through my chest and ribs and it felt like someone set a bar across my spine and told it not to bow.
"Stand," Alma said.
I stood and he dragon raised its head and then brought it down just enough to tap my palm again,Harder. My shoulder jolted and I grunted. It tapped again and I held on. On the fourth tap I dropped to a knee and set my other hand on the dirt to catch myself.
Rhea moved a half step and Vesper hissed. "Stay."
The dragon shifted its weight and one foreclaw lifted. It came down to my right, close enough to crush my leg if it turned a finger but It did not. It carved grooves in the dirt and then the other foreclaw lifted and came down to my left. The dragon settled its chest closer to the ground and I was inside the reach of both foreclaws, boxed.
Alma: "This is the posture,do not break the posture and eep the palm contact."
"I can't lift my arm much longer," I said.
"Count," Alma said. "Eight heartbeats and then swap hands slow."
I counted..One, two and three. The hum in the charm stayed steady….four,five,six,seven and then eight.
"Swap," Alma said.
I lifted my right hand off the scale and set my left palm down in the same place. The dragon did not flare,it rolled one eye to watch the change,then exhaled a thin stream through the nostrils. The heat touched my sleeves but I kept the palm down.
"Rhea," I said. "If this goes bad…"
"Shut up and breathe," Rhea said. Her voice shook. "Finish it."
The dragon leaned in and its eye lined up with my face,a vertical slit of gold and ice. I did not blink,I did not smile,i did not show teeth,I just breathed.
Alma instructed "make an offer."
"How?"
"Lower your head and touch your forehead to the scale,make sure to keep the palm there."
"That is insane," I said.
"It is a lower spine display," Alma said. "Do it... Now."
I leaned forward slow and pressed my forehead to the cool scale above my palm and the heat fell off in a little fraction. The dragon went still and all sound dropped out of my head,he charm's hum thinned to a fine tone.
The dragon's throat lit bright without fire but the light stayed in it's throat. The air was cold and my teeth clattered from the cold but I kept my head on the scale.
Alma whispered "Hold,o not move…three breaths in and out"
I counted three breaths and on the third, the dragon lowered its head the last distance and pressed its snout to the top of my skull. The weight drove me to both knees and my neck protested but I held still in same position.
The dragon stayed there for a count of five and rhen it lifted. It pulled its foreclaws back and stood tall again,tt turned its head toward the north and roared. The sound drove birds out of the trees in every direction and I dropped my hands to my thighs and sucked in a breath of air.
Rhea rushed forward and grabbed my collar, dragging me back two steps. Vesper slapped a flat charm to my chest,it cooled the skin over the charm and he pain faded to a dull throb.
"What did it do?" Rhea said. "What did you do?"
"Marked, they marked each other," Vesper said. "That was a seal without ink."
The dragon leaned one more time and blew a short breath over me,it smelled like ice and iron and then it threw itself into the air. The first wingbeat flattened the pines on the ridge,the second pushed a rain of needles down around us,the third took it above the treetops and it did not look back as it ascended into the sky.
I sat down hard and my weak legs did not want to stand again. My palms were scraped and my sleeves were burned through at the forearms. The charm settled against my chest with a steady low pulse.
[Alma — HIBERNATE 34% → 35%]
Alma spoke once. "You did not die…good job Master." Then she went quiet again.
Rhea crouched in front of me and took my face in both hands. She searched my eyes like she expected me to burst into tears. "Any ringing,any blur?"
"I feel both but," I said. "they are manageable."
She nodded and let go of my face. Her hands shook and she clenched them and stood up. "We move now,noise will draw people."
Vesper tore a strip from her sleeve and wrapped my right forearm. "You should not be able to do that," she said. "You should have burned."
"I know," I said.
Selendra stepped out from behind a trunk with her tail swaying low and watched the sky where the dragon had gone. "You are different now," she said to me. "They will smell it."
Rhea drew up between us. "We are leaving."
"South ridge," Vesper said. "Stream bed below it runs west…the water will hide our trail."
We moved and my legs steadied after twenty steps. The hum in the charm kept time with my feet as we crossed the ridge under bent pines and slid down the far side through needles and loose dirt. The forest muffled our steps and the air cooled with each stride.
We found the stream bed where Vesper said it would be. It was shallow and noisy, running over flat stones. We stepped into it and let the water take our scent. Rhea set pace and Vesper checked the banks for any trail. Selendra followed without asking, silent on bare feet.
"Why are you coming?" Rhea asked over her shoulder.
"Debt," Selendra said. "Some of my sisters think doors are enough. Hunters do not use doors,they use feet."
Rhea did not answer,she kept moving.
We stayed in the stream for half an hour. The water numbed my ankles and my burned sleeves stuck to my skin. Alma's hum did not change,the percentage did not change and move either but she was holding.
We left the stream at a bend where the bank was muddy and covered in large fern. Vesper brushed out our tracks with a branch. Rhea cut a diagonal through scrub to a low depression choked with young trees and we crawled under a fallen trunk and lay still.
The first horn sounded from a distance. It was low and then asnwered by a second,more closer horn.
Rhea cursed under her breath. "I knew freaking it."