Orlind by Charlotte E. English Page B

mastered
draykon-shape, we’ll be going to Waeverleyne to do... whatever it
is we can.’
    ‘ Let’s
get on with it, then,’ said Ori, springing to his feet.
    ‘ Will
Limbane allow it?’ Avane said, rising somewhat more
decorously.
    ‘ Probably not,’ Llandry admitted. He was adamant that all of
them must stay in the Library, where he could protect them from
Krays. But they had their own homes to protect. ‘Eva will be coming
for us. She’ll talk him around.’
    Pensould was
moving away from the group. When he’d covered a reasonable
distance, he Changed. His human shape - tall, strongly-built and
handsome - disappeared and in his place stood an enormous draykon,
scaled in blue and green.
    Ori stared. So
did Avane. Neither of them had actually seen a draykon yet,
she realised; they’d only heard tales. What must it be like to be
told you had it in you to become such a magnificent - and
terrifying - beast? Her own Change had come upon her without
warning; she’d had to get used to it after the fact.
    ‘ Okay,’ Ori said slowly. ‘I think I see how it’s
done.’
    That seemed
doubtful, but she didn’t object as he jogged off into an open space
and stopped, his eyes shut. Llan watched him absently, thinking.
The fact that the two of them needed training was obvious enough,
but the question of how exactly was a difficult one. She’d
taught Pensould to take human shape, but he’d started out with a
draykon’s instincts for the state of flux that reigned in the
Off-Worlds. How to explain all this to a pair of humans?
    Her train of
thought was interrupted when something like a soundless explosion
erupted in front of her, energy streaming through the chart room
like a cyclone, taking her breath. Ori was on the ground, contorted
with pain. A scream tore from his throat.
    Then he was gone.
The draykon that took his place was shimmering white and gold,
smaller than Pensould but bigger than Llan in her draykon form. She
watched, flabbergasted, as the new draykon stretched out his wings
and roared.
    Wow, said
Ori’s silent voice in her mind. This is fun.
    Llandry blinked.
He’d mastered the Change and the silent speech in a matter
of minutes?
    How inadequate
did she feel.
    Good work, she replied, keeping her faint feelings of resentment hidden. He’d
had a lot of summoner training, while she hadn’t; perhaps that was
what made the difference.
    Or maybe he was
just that much more brilliant than she was.
    Ah
well.
    ‘ Avane?’
    The older woman
was staring at Ori-the-draykon too, her face a mixture of awe and
trepidation.
    ‘ I
don’t think I can do that,’ she whispered.
    That bloody
hurt, Ori said in her head. Does it always
hurt?
    Only the first
time, she replied.
    Okay,
great! Pensould, man, teach me to fly!
    She shook her
head, torn between amusement and exasperation. Turning her back on
Ori and Pensould, she took Avane away to the other end of the room.
‘You can do it,’ she said. ‘Most of it is instinctive, and those
instincts are born in all of us, even if they’re buried at the
moment. You’ll get it.’
    Avane looked
paler than ever. ‘It hurt him.’
    ‘ Yes,’
Llan said bluntly. ‘It does hurt at first, a lot. But that
fades.’
    Avane took a
breath. She’d had a child, of course. Pain wasn’t wholly unfamiliar
to her.
    ‘ Don’t
worry,’ Llan said, trying to be reassuring. ‘We have time. The
Library gives us that, at least. We’ll keep at it until you’re
comfortable with it.’
    Avane bit her
lip. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘Let’s give it a try.’
     
     
     

Chapter Nine
     
    Ana brought
Rikbeek’s tiny body up close to her face and stared at him.
‘Disgusting,’ she spat. ‘Why do you keep this thing
around?’
    Eva didn’t reply.
The sight of her poor Rikbeek shrieking and struggling in that
woman’s unsympathetic grip enraged her. Without pausing to think,
she grabbed the hand that held Rikbeek and yanked, twisting it
around behind Ana’s back. She shoved it