Dragonbound: Blue Dragon (13 page)

Parmver picked up the book he'd brought over from the shelf. "I had intended to let you read this while I went to speak with your father. I guess I'll have to give you a brief overview instead. I am over a thousand years old because my dragon is that old. After you bond with a dragon, you will age at the same rate as him. But my dragon and I are very old. Few live this long. I count it up to the fresh jungle air along with a few medicines and tinctures I administer to myself as needed." He winked at Kanvar. "But how long I have lived is not the issue here. It is seeing that you live a good long life." He pointed to the picture of the boy and the dragon in the book.

"Their Majesties, your father and Rajahansa, have gone too look for gold dragons that they think will be compatible with you. They will bring those young ones here to meet you during the Choosing Ceremony. You will touch each of their stones, which will allow you to look deep into their minds and hearts. At the same time they will see into yours. You will be drawn to the one that fits you best. After which, we will perform the Bonding Ceremony." Parmver turned the page.

The picture on the next page showed the Naga King with a golden sword in one hand and giant chalice in the other. The young dragon and Naga stood before him ready to bond.

Kanvar rubbed a finger across the sword on the page. "Is this—"

"Yes, that's the king's sword. The one you were carrying, and unfortunately cut both yourself and Dharanidhar with."

"But how did my father get it?" Kanvar asked. "You didn't bring it from Stonefountain with the baby."

Parmver chuckled. "No. Khalid would never have let me take the sword. I had to hunt it down after the revolt. That took a bit of doing since it had been cast off in a junk heap as useless. The magic will only let those of the royal bloodline use it. But back to the point. The sword is necessary for the Bonding Ceremony."

Parmver rubbed his wrinkled face and looked back down at the book. "The bond is forged with blood, as you've already found out. A small cut is made on the wrist of the dragon and the Naga. Their blood collected in the chalice. Then the Naga drinks the mixture of both bloods, followed by the dragon doing the same. It is a simple and beautiful ceremony. When you consume the dragon's blood and he yours, the two of you become mentally and physically bound to each other, your very souls intertwined. And when that happens, you, my young friend, will become very powerful. Even more than you are now."

Kanvar's stomach twisted at the thought of drinking dragon blood. No wonder Dharanidhar had called him a blood-sucking monster.

Parmver continued his lecture, ignoring Kanvar's discomfort. "A fully bonded Naga is capable of many things. Not just hearing the dragons speak. The most obvious power is to be able to read the minds of everyone around you—dragons, lesser and greater, as well as other animals and humans. This is a wondrous thing." Parmver paused and stared out the window at the setting sun as if listening with his mind to the thoughts of the frogs calling out to their fellows.

Kanvar tried to let his mind follow Parmver's down into the jungle, but his father's wall still held him prisoner. He wasn't sure how he'd gone into Parmver's mind at all, except that the old man was so close and his memories so clear and poignant.

Parmver cleared his throat. "Yes, a wondrous ability, but also very uncomfortable if you don't know how to block out all those minds from crowding into your own. The first thing a Naga must learn is how to shield his mind, to protect himself from stray thoughts and impulses, to shield himself from others who may try to use their powers to sway him in one way or another. And of course for privacy. Though you and your dragon could share every thought, emotion, and physical sensation, of course you will not want to do that all the time. You need to keep your own personality intact. And there will be things you don't need to share with each other. Some negative emotions, some frivolous thoughts, some intimate moments with loved ones."

Kanvar shivered. He hadn't thought about mind reading like that.

"You see, Kanvar, there are layers of thoughts. And so layers of shields. You will want to create a shield around the most center of you while leaving the language layer open to speak freely with the dragons. The concept of a shield is simple. The practical application takes time to perfect. Don't worry if you aren't perfect at it from the start."

"So you'll teach me to shield my own mind. Then I can be free of this wall my father created." Kanvar rubbed his head as if that would free him from his father's prison.

"You are very tired and weak. Normally I would suggest we wait until morning, but we don't have that luxury. You must bond and soon."

Kanvar nodded. His chest started to itch again, and the shivers, which had subsided for a short time, came back.

"Good," Parmver said. "Now, I need you to let my mind into yours. Don't fight me. Yes, I know it will be uncomfortable. But let me in. Then I can guide your thoughts and show you how to build your shields."

Kanvar shuddered, remembering the oily feel of his father pushing into his mind. But he lay still as Parmver reached out and put a wrinkled hand on his forehead. Though his father's mind had been dark and forceful, Parmver's mind was not. Kanvar barely felt the feather touch of the old man's consciousness blend into his own.

Chapter Nine

By the time Parmver
left, Kanvar's mind felt as exhausted as if he'd just dug a latrine big enough for the whole Maran army with only a hand trowel. The mental exercise of shielding different areas of his mind was strenuous work. But he knew he could do it now and had convinced Parmver to speak with his father about dropping the wall that kept Kanvar's mind locked away.

Alone in the room, Kanvar stretched and crawled out of the bed. He forced himself to limp to the window and back a few times, just to be sure his wounded leg had healed right. It seemed as strong as it had ever been.

Kanvar flipped through the pages of the ancient book, which Parmver had left on the bedside table. The pictures showed the boy and the dragon bonding and flying. A bit further back there was an illustration of the boy holding a small golden ball in the air with his mind, and another of him guiding a herd of lesser dragons out to pasture. More pictures showed the boy taming a wild camdor to be ridden, sending messages with his mind over long distances, using his mind to rearrange paint on a canvas to create a mountain scene, and similarly mold clay and produce other fine arts.

So many possibilities
, Kanvar thought. And all the ones shown in the book so civilized and noble. Though Kanvar looked, he could find no record of the atrocities he'd seen the Nagas perpetrate on the other humans and dragons in Parmver's mind.

Two things disturbed Kanvar the most about his exchange with Parmver. First, the realization that to bond he would have to drink blood, his own and the dragon's. To live, Kanvar would have to do exactly that. Though Parmver had said it was a beautiful ceremony, Kanvar had his doubts.

The other, and far more troubling, thought had been skimmed over so quickly in Parmver's memory of the fall of Stonefountain that Kanvar had almost missed it.

King Khalid's callous words.
There are hundreds of children born a day out there. And so very few born here even in a decade, and half of those have deformities and must be discarded.

Kanvar stared down at his stumpy arm. He wasn't the first cripple then. Not the only one. Half of the children born to the pure Naga lines ended up this way. Half. Devaj had come out perfect. Kanvar the cripple. He shuddered. How many babies had been born like him? How many discarded? That word gave him the shivers.

Discarded how?

Killed outright? Left to die?

He'd wanted to ask Parmver what was done to those others like Kanvar, but he hadn't been able to get the courage to do it. He feared the answer. And here he was alive. Not discarded. His father had kept him.

Kanvar slammed the book closed. No. His father had taken Devaj and abandoned him. Though his father claimed it was because Kanvar was stronger than his brother, what Kanvar had seen in Parmver's mind spoke otherwise. He'd been right all along. The king could not risk having a crippled son in line for the throne.

I need to get out of here
, he thought. But, if he left, he would die because he couldn't bond. If he wanted to survive, he would have to trust that they would let him choose a dragon to bond with like they claimed they would.

Aadi appeared in the entryway. "May I come in, your highness?"

"Don't call me that." He'd spent too long as Chandran's servant to accept such a title.

Aadi winced and drew away at his outburst.

"Of course you can come in," Kanvar said a little more pleasantly when he saw Aadi reaction. He hadn't meant to scare the boy.

Aadi inched into the room. "I'm supposed to help you wash and dress for the Choosing Ceremony."

"I don't need help. Do I look like an infant to you?" There he was, still snapping at Aadi. "Sorry," he said. "I don't mean to be rude. I just . . . I'm fine. Thank you."

Aadi shrugged, but looked even more nervous. "There's a bath just in here." He pulled aside a curtain in the corner of the room, and Kanvar saw another smaller room just beyond. A great round tub sat in the center of it. "Of course we don't have anything like this back in the village. At first I thought it was magic." He turned a knob and a stream of steaming water poured out of a faucet. "Then Parmver showed me a great big cauldron heating over a fire downstairs, and a device he created to pump the water up to the rooms."

Kanvar stepped into the room and watched the hot water spill into the tub. Aadi turned another knob, and a flow of cold water fell down to join it.

"Of course you always want to test the temperature first," Aadi said, sticking his hand into the filling tub. "You could scald your skin right off if you hopped in when the water is boiling hot. Gotta get it just right."

Kanvar stared at the flowing water in wonder. His father was right; so much had been lost when Stonefountain fell. But . . . the starving people in the streets. Those enslaved to dig and grow and build for the benefit of only a few. Even the Great Blue dragons in service to the Great Golds, subjugated by their powers. So many marvels lost and only freedom to show for it. Kanvar decided he'd choose freedom any day.

Aadi turned off the water. "All ready for you. I'll go lay out some clothes while you wash. Here is some soap, a cloth to wash with, and another cloth to dry off." He retreated to the main room, and Kanvar slid into the water. It felt chilly against his fevered skin, though he knew it had been heated.

He scrubbed down with the soap, noting the scaly white rash had started to spread down his legs. As the soap washed off the ointment, Kanvar felt pressure settle into his chest again along with the sensation of drowning. Gasping for breath, he pulled himself out of the water, dried off, and hurried back to the table where Parmver had left the ointment.

Aadi had a shimmering golden robe laid out on the bed for him. It reminded him of the robe Khalid had worn in Parmver's memories. Aadi lifted it as if to help Kanvar put it on.

"I can dress myself. And I'm not wearing that pompous garment." Kanvar grabbed his armor and underclothes.

Color rose into Aadi's cheeks. "But you can't wear those, they're filthy, and torn, and . . . ugly."

"I'll wear whatever I want, and if you don't like it, you can get out," Kanvar wheezed. He'd meant to shout, but couldn't draw in enough air for that.

Aadi glanced at the fancy robe in his hands and back at Kanvar. "Please."

"Out!" Kanvar managed better volume that time, but it left him coughing.

Aadi set the robe on the bed. "I'm going to tell Parmver you're being unreasonable." He lifted his chin and marched out of the room.

Kanvar snatched up the tin of ointment and spread what was left across his chest. The sudden stab of hot and cold set him shaking again. He threw himself on the bed, and waited for the convulsions to stop. It took longer than before and left him gasping and shivering. At least he could breathe. He was glad Aadi had left. He didn't want the other boy to have seen him so helpless.

After the ointment had done its job, Kanvar dressed. He put on the clean undergarments Aadi had set out with the robe. In the chest at the foot of the bed, he found his father's dragon hunter armor. Beautiful shades of glittering green. Smooth scales. Without all the jagged seams Kanvar had put in his to hold all the scraps together.

His father's armor was perfect, and far too big for Kanvar in height and width across the shoulders. As well as the problem with the left sleeve that Kanvar faced with all clothing.

Kanvar set it aside, but kept the soft linen shirt and underbreeches. They were thinner than cotton and softer, and had been woven loose enough to breathe in the hot jungles. Of course he had to cut the left sleeve in half and shorten the legs. He didn't do too clean a job of it since all he could find to cut with was the knife his father had used to cut the bandage off his leg.