My aim was true, but he was more experienced. Again, such a shame.
Neyil laughed when he saw my disappointed expression.
“This is more of what we were working on. Instead, what you did was reflect it. That requires a strength that none have currently. Well except for you. You are definitely powerful, Rayna. Nature has truly gifted you as a Divine, not just to act as a rider but to serve her to save this world. She has decided that you are the one this world needs and has given you all the tools to succeed. It is just a matter of learning what you can do and pushing those limits. You really want to leave, to ignore this opportunity?”
“I will admit what you have to offer I can’t find elsewhere,” I said, the words tasting a bit like sawdust in my mouth. “But there is too much you ask me to ignore. I can’t forget about my mates. They are mine, and I can’t forget the day you killed my father.”
“It’s unfortunate about your father.” He truly did manage to look sorry. I didn’t believe it at all. “War is dirty business; one I hope to end soon. How about you hear me out on my next proposal? That way you may still benefit, and I don’t have to worry about you going back into the world without knowing how to properly defend yourself from those too greedy, like the dragon king. Stay here for a week. That is all I’m asking. Stay here and learn more. There is so much you can learn from us, not just the Fae but from the other Divines too.Your own kind. You give them hope, and they are eager to train alongside you. Give them a week.”
“Why a week?”
“We have a solstice celebration coming up. While this little pocket I carved out for the Fae is sunny daily, it is still winter around us, and the shortest day is coming up next week. We will be celebrating its arrival. One thing you have not learned yet is that we Fae will take every chance to throw a party, especially when it honors Nature. After it is over, if you still wish to leave us, then I will take you back myself. Just give us a week and give the other Divines that week to work with you.”
“Just a week?”
“Only a week.”
He sounded so sincere about it, and frankly, I did want to know more about the other riders. Learn why they were here, how they got here, and what they learned since arriving. Any opportunity to become stronger, I wanted to take, even if it meant working with the enemy. Besides, if he let me go, then it could save me so much trouble later on. Him letting me go would make everything easier rather than me trying to escape.
“Fine. A week.”
Neyil’s smile stretched wider. “Thank you for this opportunity.”
Already, I regretted my decision.
10
Surprisingly, the next couple of days flew by. More classes than I knew what to do with kept me busy, and I was learning so much that my brain kept trying to shut down. Yet everyone was patient with me as I tried to catch up, and Neyil was right—the other riders were excited I was there. They were always more than happy to help me or to teach me.
I learned a lot, almost too much. There was no end to what they needed to teach me, some of the older teachers sometimes breaking out into arguments as to who was teaching what first and when. Apparently twenty-four hours in a day wasn’t enough for them. I was lucky I was even getting any sleep.
I also threw myself into the lessons and training. It helped to keep me from thinking about how much I missed my mates. Every day passing only increased how much I ached for them. Not even the soreness of my body could distract me from thoughts of them. I needed them.
Desperately.
Yet, all the lessons the Fae and other Divines gave me said otherwise. All the new ways to use my magic told a different story. I didn’t need dragons to be powerful. I did believe that I could stand on my own two feet now without them, that I could walk into a battle and at least stay alive long enough to escape. Fighting was something else, something that would take time to learn, but my life didn’t feel like such a death sentence without dragons.
Still, I missed my mates.
I went back and forth like that over the next couple of days. Absorbing as much information as I could, I inwardly cried for my mates. I learned more about what to do with my barrier, how to block all kinds of attacks, how to repel, and even how to make the barrier smaller and bigger.
They taught me more about telekinesis, about the exercises I needed to practice each day, ones that would essentially stretch and strengthen my mental focus.
I was in a small class with Aylia and others my age. The teacher gave his lecture before we put his theories into practice. It was basically about shooting arrows.
“Tanja could do this,” I whispered to Aylia. Since everyone was a rider, we had to speak super softly, and even then, sometimes we’d get caught and reprimanded for gossiping or having side conversations during class.
She leaned into me and whispered back, “To a degree, but what he’s teaching us is more powerful than shooting an arrow with lightning infused in the tip. This will pack a bigger punch.”
I hummed, remembering that we were going to learn to shoot arrows at the academy but never got around to it. Here, we talked theory, and in the very same class, we put it into practice. At the academy, we only talked about theories or so it felt like that to me.
The education level seemed so different. It was beginning to feel like the dragon academy only cared about history and theories, only wanted to go on about how we should be proud to be riders. The academy in Fyre only emphasized that it was an honor to be able to mate with a dragon and fly off into battle, to support our dragons.
But that wasn’t the case here. They talked about how strong we were on our own, that we could stand in a battle on our own feet. We didn’t need to rely on anyone else to fight back. They were empowering us here.
“Enough about what we can do in this case,” our teacher said. She was an older rider with crow’s feet around her eyes and an air of contentment about her. All the teachers I’d met so far seemed overly happy. “Now grab your bow and arrows. Today, we’ll work on getting you guys shooting first. Then as you learn to shoot, I’ll instruct you further in ways to make your arrows more powerful and dangerous. Remember, class is what you make it, and you advance at your own pace. As you master one element, I will teach you to master the next one. Push yourselves. There is no one here to hold you back.”
We all shuffled over to the racks and grabbed our bows and a bundle of arrows.