For Owl

[Thornfrost]

The small classroom boomed with the echoed noise of students shouting, tables shaking and cheap plastic chairs sliding over hard floors as the children all rose. The deafening noises ceased suddenly as a man walked into the room. This was not a big man, but he wore power like a cloak, making him seem larger, and much more dangerous. His shoes clumped along the floor, echoing in the silent room until he reached the center and stood behind the desk at the head of the class. His blonde hair, pulled back into a ponytail shone when the sun pooled through the rectangular window behind him. Lighting up his whole figure and bathing him in radiance. When he spoke his voice was quiet but filled with power, the kind of voice you would lean forward in your seats just to hear.

"Good morning class."

The students replied in practiced unison, “Good Morning Mr. Spiranti."

The teacher sat and folded his hands together, a common trait of his that the students in Spiranti’s class were used to. They took this as their cue to sit and noisily plonked down on their seats, their silence lost now that their instructor had been greeted.

“Alright then, please open up your text books and turn to page 86,” he instructed them while he himself turned to said page. Rapid rustling of pages was followed by hushed, excited whispering as the children saw what chapter they were starting.

The small blonde boy, alone in the back row stared at the sketched image in his book and traced a finger over it in awe. 
“Dragons.” He whispered reverently to himself.

Spiranti examined the class with an amused smile as they gazed at their books.
“That’s right class. It’s now officially time for you all to befriend a dragon. I know you’ve all studied dragons but,” he added, “let’s just go over it one more time,” and watched the class celebrate.

Every pupil looked forward to graduating from the ‘Mythical Creature Survival Course’, run by Professor Spiranti. It was a compulsory course, not only because it equipped the student with knowledge that they would need to survive in the magical world, but because at the end of which they would be given their own young dragon to tame and befriend. Only students that went to the Burnium School for Gifted Children received a dragon as the dragons weren’t for normal, everyday humans.

The children always looked forward to earning their dragons. Students from all five of the lands, The Land of Fire, The Land of Waves, The Land of Earth, The Land of Shadows and The Land of Air, had the chance to tame a dragon. Each land tested and taught their students in a different way, and every land had a different breed of dragon. The different schools in each land were designed to cater for the student’s specific needs and lifestyle. If you met a traveling warrior on the road, you could tell where he was from just from the type of dragon he had with him.

Spiranti held up a hand for silence and the class immediately fell still.
“Zane could you please read aloud the first passage.” He said to the young blonde boy in the back. Zane raised his head and blinked slowly, as if processing the request then nodded. He began reading the passage, but his small voice carried only to the people in front of him. Spiranti smiled encouragingly to the small boy and called to him.

“A little louder if you please, my ears aren’t working very well today.” Zane’s cheeks colored as he raised his voice and spoke louder to the class.

“Although at first thought to be huge and terrifying beasts, in the past few decades man had come to accept dragons and in turn the dragons have come to learn to work with humans. There are five main types of dragons and each is then separated into different species. Each species of dragons has its own skills and build. Dragons do not have the ability to speak the language of men, although they can communicate telepathically with their chosen riders. Different species of water and ice dragons are found in the Land of Waves. Darkness dragons are found in the Land of Shadows. Spirit dragons belong to the Land of Air. Earth dragons live in the Land of Earth and fire dragons live in the Land of Fire”

Zane paused, at the end of the first section and Spiranti nodded to him. “Ok, Reagan you can read next please.” Reagan, a pretty red haired girl nodded and followed the writing with her finger as she read.

“The different dragon species each have their own powers. When they find their human partners, some of these powers are transferred to the human. Darkness dragons control the shadows, as do their riders. Extremely strong humans can use the darkness within their opponents own heart to fight against them. Water and ice dragons control all of the oceans and seas, as well as clouds. The humans can use water particles in the air to create different objects. They can shape it to their will. Fire dragons control not only fire, but heat itself; the same for their riders. Spirit dragons can call a person’s spirit, they can read it and judge whether it is good or bad. They feel and control the spiritual energy in the world. Their riders have the same abilities, except it is not as strong. Earth dragons are the largest of all dragons. Although they have wings they spend a majority of their time on the ground, as they like to stay connected to the earth. Earth dragons are the masters of disguise, usually being colored in browns and greens which allow them to hide in the forest. When a dragon becomes one with his human partner, whether they are warriors or wizards, their powers join together and magnify each other. The complete joining of powers takes immense strength and skill, only those who have a close bond with their dragons are able to achieve it.”

She stopped, and the boy next to her showed some initiative and started reading on his own accord, much to Spiranti’s surprise, and that of the entire class, as he was usually one of the more rebellious boys in the class. Reagan muttered to the girl in front of her.

“He’s probably trying to get in Spiranti’s good books so that he will get a good dragon.” The girl, Shanae, nodded her head rapidly in silent agreement, sending her curly brown hair flying as the boy glared pointedly at them then resumed reading.

“When a human and dragon bond, they bond for life. The bond between a dragon and human is very precious and very strong, only death can break it. If a dragon dies, its human partner will never find another, and if the dragon’s partner dies then they will become solitary, never having any contact with humans again.”

When he reached the end of the page he stopped and glanced at the teacher, Spiranti smiled. “Thanks for that Xavier. Ok guys, all those many lessons coming back to you now? Good, because it’s time to head outside and meet your dragons.” He said cheerfully as he stood up, the noise of hurried scraping of chairs against floors was muffled out by the cheers of twelve, sixteen year old students shouting and cheering in excitement.

Assorted snorts, growls and roars could be heard as the children rushed to the wide double doors that marked the front of the school. Once outside they jostled around for a place, trying to get as close to the magnificent beasts as possible. Professor Spiranti stood in front of them beside the dragon transporter Peter Marrony.

“Alright class, you’ve had enough lessons to know how to proceed now. Simply step forward and make your way to the dragon that you hear calling you. You can’t just hear it here.” He said, pointing to his ears, he then placed a hand over his heart. “You have to feel it here as well. Ok, now who wants to go first?” An array of hands shot into the air, all except shy Zane who stood at the back; and loner Xavier who leant against the wall with a bored expression. Spiranti examined the hands then pointed to the curly brunette. “Ok Shanae, you’re up.”

Shanae squealed with excitement and bounded forward, wriggling with joy like a little puppy. She approached the creatures and looked at them in wonder, searching for the one that called for her. A dark dragon, the colour of maroon velvet lifted her elegant head and snorted at the girl before raising herself onto her haunches and releasing a plume of fire into the sky.

“Hey little girl,” Shanae crooned as she slowly walked towards it, holding her hand out to her. The dragon sniffed her curiously before placing her scaly muzzle into Shanae’s hand. Spiranti laughed and applauded her, a sentiment that was soon taken up by the rest of the class. “Oh well done Shanae, well done! Alright everyone, now you’ve seen how it’s done. Spread out and find your partners.”

After fifteen minutes of frantic searching and nerves, all twelve students found their dragons except one, there wasn’t a dragon left for Xavier. Even nervous little Zane had found his dragon, a little blood red female that he named Yuri. Zane had first felt attached to her when he realized that they were similar. They were both small so people thought them weak. While it was true that Zane was not a warrior like most of the other kids in his class, he was trained in the art of magic. Zane was a Pyromancer, a fire magician and this was the only reason he had been let into the school at all. So after fifteen minutes every child stood with their new partners, all but Xavier, who for once looked lost as he stared at the sea of student and dragon faces alike, all alone again.

Professor Spiranti turned to Peter and asked him, “Are you sure that these are all the dragons you have right now?”
Peter hesitated, and shrugged uncertainty then glanced back at the string of large cabins he had used to transport the dragons in. As if on cue, the last one, the biggest rocked on its wheels as something large inside vented its fury out on the walls of the home on wheels.

“I do have one more, but he has a nasty temper. Besides, the fella is a darkness dragon. He ain’t gunna pick a little kid to be his partner. He was supposed to be a dragon for one of em’ students from the Land of Shadows.” Spiranti folded his arms, thinking hard. Then he glanced at the forlorn Xavier.

“It’s worth a try, and besides, Xavier is a Necromancer. A wizard of darkness and death, if anyone here can ride that dragon, it’ll be him.” Peter frowned doubtfully but nodded his agreement, albeit reluctantly.

Peter turned and made a shooing motion to the students and their dragons, to get them to move away from the rattling cabin as he neared it. Humans and dragons alike shuffled back from the caravan, but always stayed close to their new partners. Some of the larger dragons even moved their thick tails in front of all the students to form a ring to keep them in. Reagan’s dragon went as far as to pick her up with his tail and dump the girl on his head to keep her a safe distance away, to which she immediately rewarded him with a scratch between his horns. Spiranti himself stepped back, leaving Xavier alone in the middle of the courtyard as Peter Marrony flicked the latch and a giant bundle of darkness exploded out of the shadowed door.

The great black dragon made the fire dragons look like children, he loomed above them as he raised his head and roared at the sky. The thick shadows that followed him from the cabin did not aid to his ghostly appearance. The monstrous dragon was black as night with scales that pointed down to his tail sharply, each scale had a serrated edge that looked like it could sever a hand from a body easily. The beast looked down at the boy, standing alone in front of him as the other pitiful humans cowered before him. Only this human showed no fear, only he had the courage to stand before the dragon’s awesome might. No human had dared do this before, not even the bravest knights who rode out to slay him to win the heart of a beloved princess. The black dragon lowered his head so that his great golden eye looked directly into the boy’s, and they connected.

Xavier smiled his typical bad boy smile, the two made quite a match. A fearless dragon and a fearless rider to match. Spiranti was the first to recover, smiling and coming up to congratulate Xavier, but always staying a wary distance from his dragon’s razor teeth.
“Good job there Xavier, I knew that you would get a dragon today. Now tell me, what is his name?” Xavier turned back to his dragon and locked eyes with him again, the world fell away as they communicated through thoughts. After a moment with a smile Xavier turned back to his teacher.
“Last Shadow, that’s his name. Or just Shar for short.”

From her dragon’s head Reagan snorted. “Well that figures.”

Spiranti turned to Reagan and her dragon, the colour of dried blood. “And what, is your dragon’s name Reagan?” The question was polite, but there was an undercurrent of annoyance that everyone could detect.

“His name is Raigon.” Reagan stated proudly, but fell silent afterwards, not speaking out about the others dragon’s again.

Zane was the next to speak, shyly and with a hand placed on Yuri as if to support him. “We have our dragons’ sir, so what now?” Spiranti turned and beamed at him then let his gaze travel over all of the students, before looking at Peter and nodding once. The man promptly turned and headed towards the front caravan, where the scent of oil and leather were drifting out of an open window to be wafted away by the breeze.
“Now that is an excellent question young wizard.” Spiranti said as he turned back to Zane, the young boy instantly ducked his head at the honorable title.

“What next indeed, you’ll have to learn how to fly of course.”
Excited whispering buzzed around the students again as Peter stumbled back to them from the caravan, he was carrying seven dragon saddles, and was apparently having great difficulty handling them, not that anyone offered to help, every single one of them, even Spiranti, was laughing their heads off at the spectacle. The dragon seller had one saddle placed on his head, one on each shoulder and another two on each arm. Since the saddles were custom made to fit each specific dragon each was a different size, shape and weight, causing the poor man to stumble and stagger all the way over to the students and their instructor. Upon reaching the others he promptly lowered his arms, letting the saddles fall into the dust.

“I ain’t cleaning those.” He growled to the students, which was answered by assorted moans and complaints. “Too bad, I carried the bloody things all the way to you ungrateful brats.” He said with a glare, he then tipped his head forward to drop the last saddle, a large grey with metal fin shaped blades carved out of the edge, which was undoubtedly Shar’s, onto the ground. He had however, miscalculated the exact size of his foot and the sharpness of the blades. So as the saddle fell, it hit not the ground like all the others, but instead landed on the poor instructor’s oversized foot.

Xavier watched with a delighted grin as first Peter’s face turned red, then purple. That was before the yelling kicked in, then the swearing as he hopped around the courtyard on one foot, his one giant shoe clumping heavily onto the ground and sending dust clouds into the air, adding coughing to the loud and explicit mixture. Spiranti smiled and sidestepped in front of his students to block Peter from their view. All of the children were laughing and craning their necks around to look at the poor man, even shy little Zane was covering his mouth to keep quiet.

“Alright, you heard Peter, these saddles are your responsibility now. Take care of them and your dragons, anyone that needs help feel free to ask.” Spiranti said with a smile, he then motioned with a hand. “Ok everyone, line up neatly,” he emphasized the word, “and collect your saddles from me.”
With much scuffling and murmuring the students shuffled into a neat line, their dragons tried to mimic their riders and created their own ragged line beside them. A warning growl was heard by all of the students as Raigon tried to scoot back closer to Reagan and ended up sticking the barbed point of his tail up Shar’s nose. The black dragon immediately lunged forward and snapped his gaping jaws shut an inch from Raigon’s snout. Reagan’s dragon backpedalled hurriedly to avoid the razor teeth, almost stepping on Yuri who was crouched behind him. The clumsy dragon sent the children into another round of laughter, this time Spiranti didn’t join in. He pointed to the school wall with a scowl and the dragons, led by Raigon, dejectedly padded over to nestle in the shade.

Zane stepped up first. He examined the pile and picked up the smallest saddle among them. It was a deep brown with little rubies the size of his fingernails embedded along the edge. The rubies shone as the boy hefted the saddle onto his shoulder and carried it towards Yuri, who was almost hidden by the dark shadows of the wall and the other dragons. He whistled softly and she bounded towards him, resembling a dog with her large bounds. Her scales caught the light of the sun and reflected the colour of the red gems in her saddle. As Yuri skidded to a halt in front of her rider she sprayed dust everywhere, coating not only Zane but Peter as well, who had recovered from his foot injury and had come to offer his help to the small boy.

The grains of dirt landed everywhere, in their clothes, boots and hair. Unfortunately for Peter a spray of dirt also managed to land in his eye.
“Holy Mother have mercy!” Peter crowed as he slapped his hands over his eyes and stumbled around the courtyard like a blind man. This set the children off again, the dragons too were snorting with laughter, and even Shar managed a short chuckle before wickedly smiling and laying his long tail in front of Peter’s path. With his hands still over his eyes, the instructor tripped and banged onto the ground. He made no attempt to get up, just started rolling around the floor swearing and shouting at the children.

“What did I do to you damn trouble makers! Satan’s spawn you are, curse you all!” His cries only added to their laughter, soon even Spiranti was at it as the poor man rolled around the courtyard. Yuri was the only one not laughing, looking apologetic and guilty with sad brown eyes.
Zane, noticing her sullen behavior smiled up at his dragon. “Don’t worry, it was an accident I’m sure he won’t blame you.”

Yuri snorted and lowered her head down to his and spoke in his mind. Her voice was that of a child who had stolen a cookie before dinner. “You don’t think he’ll take me away from you do you?” She whimpered in her sad tone, Zane smiled and scratched under her chin, a habit that Yuri seemed to enjoy.

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t” he promised and proceeded to turn his back on the chortling students to fix Yuri’s saddle onto her scaled back.
Once Zane had tightened the last strap, he stepped back to admire his work. The saddle settled comfortably where Yuri’s neck met her shoulders. The straps went under her stomach, through her front legs and around her neck.

“Ready Yuri?” He murmed softly, so that he wouldn’t attract the attention of Spiranti and his classmates. They had all received their saddles now and were listening attentively to Spiranti’s instructions. Peter had crawled off to some corner to wallow in his sorrows for a while, so there was no one to stop Zane and his dragon from having a little fly before the others. They hadn’t noticed he was missing, not that they noticed him much anyway. Yuri snorted and dipped her head in a yes to answer his question. With a smile Zane placed his small foot in the left holder and grabbed hold of the saddle to pull himself up. Zane slowly climbed onto Yuri’s back and twisted his head around one more time to make sure no one was watching. They were quite a distance away from the group, but still within hearing range so he was being careful.

Zane clucked his tongue softly and shifted his weight as he felt Yuri’s muscles tense and move beneath him. She sank down onto her haunches and leaned back, taking most of the weight off her front legs. With a huge effort she leapt up into the air and snapped out her gossamer wings. The golden sunlight slanting through the clouds shone through the thin membrane of Yuri’s red wings and made the small rubies in the saddle, as well as the dragon’s bright red scales shine like fresh blood. At first Yuri had short, frenzied wing-beats as she struggled to find her balance in the sky. She had to adjust her flight style to be able to cope with the added weight of her new rider. After a few more frantic wing-beats, Yuri settled into longer and more controlled flaps which propelled them smoothly upwards and forwards, making a beeline for the fluffy white clouds above. Zane whooped in delight as the cool breeze whipped his clothes and rustled his blonde hair, sending it flying around his head. He leaned forward in the saddle and gripped the edge tightly as he shifted his weight and leaned to the left. Yuri followed the movement of his body and dipped her left wing down, sending the pair into a gentle turn downwards.

Back on the ground the students were all lined up neatly in front of Spiranti, the professor had been forced to take over the rest of the lesson as Peter was currently stumbling out of the school building with gauze wrapped over his eyes and a crutch to aid his foot. A tired and aggravated looking nurse was helping him hobble over to his line of caravans where he could rest for the remainder of the day. She had obviously struggled to deal with the dragon trainer as her face was grim and many strands of hair had escaped the neat bun at the base of her neck. Even as they continued on slowly to the caravan Peter continued to mutter profanities and muted comments. They were not heard by Spiranti or the students as the nurse and her charge stumbled past, but the darkening of the nurse’s face made it clear to them that whatever the trainer was saying, it wasn’t nice, and it was most likely directed at the young students who were trying their very best to stifle their laughter once more.
All of the assembled dragons were now equipped with their own saddles and were shifting their paws along the dusty ground, eager to engage in their first flight with their riders. The students looked equally excited, fidgeting around beside their partners and watching their professor eagerly. Spiranti smiled and with a low chuckle he surveyed his class, amusement sparkling in his deep eyes.

“The first flight,” He muttered to himself, “always gets them so excited.” He shook his head and looked out at the glowing faces of his students, Spiranti noticed with satisfaction that even Xavier was looking impatient

Far above the rest of their class, Zane and Yuri were gliding across the blue sky. Zane had been afraid of getting themselves lost in the unfamiliar terrain, he had been sure to caution Yuri about staying in a ten meter radius of the school. When he looked down, Zane could see his classmates below, they were as tiny as ants to his human eyes. To Yuri, the children below were still clear and easy to distinguish with her enhanced sight. Yuri watched with confusion as the human professor, the man with the wise eyes, looked up, as if searching the sky got something. Or perhaps, she thought warily, the humans below had finally noticed their disappearance. With a snort of disappointment she relayed the information to Zane who, with a sad sigh, instructed her to start descending. “I hope we aren’t in too much trouble,” he muttered. Although this comment was mostly for himself, he heard Yuri grumble worriedly in agreement beneath him. He grinned and ran a hand over her scaly neck as she turned into a slow downward spiral. “Don’t worry,” he spoke with more confidence than he felt. “I’ll make sure you don’t get blamed.”

Spiranti’s grey eyes searched the sky as his students milled around uncomfortably. He finally pin-pointed a shining red spark quite a good height above him. He watched the pairs flight technique as they began to descend. He grudgingly had to admit that for their first flight together, the two were doing well. They seemed to be communicating wonderfully with each other. He was shaken out of his inspection of the young partners by a whiny voice. “Why does the midget get to fly before us?” With a resigned sigh Spiranti turned towards Reagan to speak, unfortunately someone else beat him to it.

“Maybe because he had the guts to do it Reagan?” Xavier replied sharply, injecting as much sarcasm as he could into the comment. Spiranti couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw a faint glimmer of respect in his eyes for the young boy. As if on cue Zane and Yuri landed just behind the professor, his blonde hair was wind tossed and his eyes shone brightly with joy. The other students surged forward with cries of excitement, the usually invisible Zane was now being bombarded with questions. The only two who didn’t move forward were Reagan and Xavier. Reagan because she with still fuming after the midget had stolen her spotlight. As a rule the student with the highest grades got to ride their dragons first. That student was of course her and now the tiny little runt had taken the privilege from her. Xavier watched the fuming girl with a low chuckle, he imagined that if he looked hard enough he would see smoke coming out of her ears. Xavier hung back from the crowd for two main reasons. One, he had never been one for joining a crowd, he didn’t like the loud shouts or jostling about. The second reason was simply because he didn’t want anyone to know that the class bad boy had a soft spot for the little runt.

Zane felt like he was drowning in a sea of excited questions. The voices of his classmates swarmed around him as he slowly clambered of Yuri’s back. Unused to the amount of attention, he could do nothing but stutter incoherently at the rush of questions.

“What was it like?” one student asked

“How high did you go?”

Shanae called out in a bubbly voice, “Did you touch a cloud?” When Zane mutely nodded to this question she began to babble a long string of questions in an excited frenzy. “Did you touch one? Was it white? How fluffy was it?!” She was in a mad frenzy now, bouncing on the ground, waiting for his answers.

Thankfully the embarrassed boy was saved from the volley of questions by the approach of Spiranti. “Save your questions for later class,” he told them firmly. When his request was met by many moans of impatience and sorrow he turned to them and snapped, “alright all of you back to your dragons now. I need to talk to Zane, alone” He emphasized the word ‘alone’ as he turned back to glare at Zane and Yuri. Zane’s hand tightened around Yuri’s neck as she shivered lightly, moving slightly closer to Zane defensively. Defiantly she raised her head and fixed the professor with an icy stare, for once trying to be brave and protect her new friend.

Spiranti caught the dragon’s eye and his forehead crinkled as he frowned. He held her stare for a few seconds before looking away and down to Zane. ”Well, young Pyromancer? Would you care to explain to me what it was that you did?” He asked stonily, his steady grey eyes never leaving the boy’s face. Zane looked up meekly, his bright blue eyes meeting Spiranti’s stormy ones.

“I wanted to go for a fly, sir,” he stated quietly. He winced inwardly as he realized just how crappy that excuse was. Spiranti frowned deeper, if that was at all possible and opened his mouth to speak again

“So does every other student at this school Zane, you should have waited. It is not safe to fly alone, especially on your first try.”
His eyes had hardened further and his voice was stern and angry. Yuri snorted and watched the professor with dark eyes, she didn’t like the angry look in his eyes, though she also sensed that worry was there also. When her rider only stared at the ground, the professor took a step towards him.

This proved to be the final straw for Yuri, as she snapped and raised herself up onto her hind legs. Even though she was small, her head easily cleared Spiranti’s. She lowered her snout slightly and opened her jaws wide to allow red hot flames to shoot from her mouth towards the professor; her only conscious thought was to protect Zane. Spiranti gave a shout of surprise, only his trained warrior instincts saved him from getting toasted as he ducked to avoid the flames. However, he hadn’t ducked down enough and as the fire vanished a small tendril of the flame landed on his blonde hair. The flames licked at his hair greedily, easily growing in size and spreading up his head. With a louder shout of alarm Spiranti began to run back towards the left edge of the field where the schools frog pond lay. He was cursing quietly and acting decidedly calmer than Peter had when he had injured himself. When he finally reached the water he leapt in without hesitation, his hair completely ablaze. The students had watched their professor in stunned silence, when he finally walked out of the water he had green algae and pond gunk all over his drenched clothes. There was also a lopsided lily pad with a pale pink flower resting crookedly atop his now decidedly bald, head.

The field was silent; all eyes were on the dripping professor as he walked back towards his students. The only thing that kept the students quiet was the murderous glint in their teacher’s eyes. The only one not stunned into silence was Yuri who looked quite smug as she blew a small smoke ring from her nostrils.

As he walked, the wet squelching of his shoes could be heard, and a wet trail followed him as water dripped from his hair and clothes. When he finally halted in front of his students, they had recovered from their initial shock and yet they were all silent. Xavier smirked at his professor’s appearance then glanced over Spiranti’s shoulder to watch Zane.

The young boy had his mouth hanging open in horror and astonishment. His cheeks were hurriedly reddening into a full blush as he realized what exactly had happened. With a muted gasp he swung around to look at Yuri, who was still looking rather proud of herself. “Yuri,” he hissed in a hush whisper, “what did you do that for?” With a slightly uncomfortable growl Yuri gave the dragon equivalent of a shrug then, looking slightly more sheepish now she looked over at Spiranti. 'Maybe I overdid it?' She offered quietly with another glance at the bald professor. Zane ducked his head to hide a smile and reached out his hand to rub Yuri’s shoulder.

“I think you did more than overdo it Yuri.” He muttered, looking over at Spiranti.

Spiranti still hadn’t moved, and the students still hadn’t spoken. They were at an impasse. Finally, he lifted his head, trying to preserve his last remnants of dignity, Spiranti turned on his heal and walked over to the school entrance, disappearing inside quickly. Sadly his dignified exit was ruined by the squeaking of his shoes every time he stepped forward. As the doors swung shut behind him the silence of the field left with surprising swiftness. As one the students of Spiranti’s class began laughing. Some laughed so hard they fell over, although none made the effort to get back up. They simply sat in the dust clutching their stomachs. Zane hesitated for a moment before he too began laughing, though he made no move to go and join his classmates. Xavier still stood slightly distanced from the other students as well, he alone was not laughing. However, the same infuriating smirk remained on his lips and he watched his classmates silently.

When at last the laughter died, it died slowly. The noise lowered until only a few people were left quietly giggling together in groups. Those that had fallen picked themselves up off the ground and dusted down their clothes. Now that the brief moment of hysteria had passed, uncertainty hung in the air like a heavy cloud. None of the students were sure of what they should be doing. “Well?” Reagan demanded in the sudden awkwardness, “What are we supposed to do now?” She was answered with nothing by silence as the rest of her class glanced at each other.
No one had an answer, not one of the students was brave enough to venture into the school in search of their teacher. Except perhaps Xavier, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that he would do anything of the sort, the others knew this and so didn’t even bother to ask. Although they did not dare to enter the school, it seemed rude to just waltz out the front gates, so the class stood there and stared at each other, waiting to see who would make the first move.

The silence was deafening, no one spoke as the minutes ticked by, there was no movement, no speaking or sneaking glances at each other, as slowly, one student stepped forward. Xavier walked steadily and silently up the stairs of the school and shoved the front doors open without a backward glance. The other students watched in stunned awe, then, as soon as the doors swung closed and Xavier had disappeared inside the frantic whispering started up again. “Is he going to get the professor?” A tall lanky boy whispered the question to the rest of the class. “No way,” Reagan replied irritably. “Did you see Spiranti before? No way Xavier would dare go to him now. The professor looked like he was ready to kill someone.” She shot a reproachful glance at Zane and Yuri, blaming them for this recent turn of events. A few students turned and glanced warily at the door after Reagan spoke, half expecting Spiranti to burst out the front door with a crazed look and a serrated knife he had stolen from the kitchens.

A minute past and the tension grew, a hush fell as the door swung open and a dark figure appeared in the doorway. Xavier stepped slowly back into the sunlight and the class breathed a quick sigh of relief, he was alone, there was no angry, psychotic teacher behind him. They were safe.
Xavier walked down the steps, and without a glance at his classmates strode towards the open gates that marked the boundaries of the school. As he walked by the students backed up to give him space, noticing with surprise that his tattered black backpack that held all of his work and supplies was slung casually over his shoulder. He was going home. With only a pause to nod a farewell to Shar, who returned the honorable greeting silently, Xavier continued and in a matter of seconds, had cleared the gate and was marching along the side path without a backwards glance at the stunned expressions on his classmate’s faces.

Xavier’s casual dismissal for school rules turned out to be the breaking point for the remainder of the students. They flowed like water out of a dam as they rushed back into school to grab their bags and belongings. Not one caught a glance of Spiranti, whom they believed was lying low after his humiliating ordeal. Excited and gleeful shouts filled the air as the front doors were swung wide open and the students flowed out, running towards the gate in a mad rush. Some stopped to pet or farewell their dragons, who would be staying at the school under the care of Spiranti, if he ever showed up again. Some like Reagan pelted straight past and out the gate without a backward glance, leaving their dragons to watch them leave with forlorn expressions.

Zane was the last to leave, walking slowly out instead of a full pelt run like the others. He made sure to stop and say goodbye to Yuri, scratching her under the chin. Then, after a moment’s thought he went around to all the others, sometimes stroking their noses or just saying goodbye. He attempted to go up to Shar, who warned him away with a low growl but other than him all of the other dragons lapped up the attention gladly. With a last slow smile Zane waved to the great beasts and jogged out of the school, swinging the tall metal gate shut behind him.

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Chapter Two

The sun was still high in the sky as Zane walked home. He shielded his eyes and glanced up briefly, trying to gauge the time from its height. After estimating it was around 12:00pm, three hours earlier than he was normally let out, Zane took a left turn down a narrow street and kept walking.

After another few minutes the scent of fresh bread reached his nose. He took a deep breath, savoring the familiar smell and unconsciously quickened his pace eager to reach the building the tantalizing smell wafted from. After turning a sharp corner he paused and looked at the cozy structure in front of him. It was a small building that looked more like a home than a shop. The two front windows, one of either side of the pale wooden door were open, letting the delicious smell of cooked bread waft out. Zane smiled and stepped up to the door, turning the smooth knob and pushing it open, without hesitation he stepped inside.

The inside of the shop was just as peaceful as the outside, small wooden tables dotted the front area of the shop, paired with two chairs that were adorned with hand crafted cushions. At the front of the shop there were long trays and tables, displaying the chosen wares that were sold. Different types of bread lined one tray, some fresh and some mixed with different fruit or spices. On another were a collection of small cakes, decorated with colorful icing and flowers. The food tables stretched from one side of the room to the other, each holding a variety of different and delicious food.

A middle aged woman stood behind the food beside another table that held nothing but a small tin that contained the money she had earned. Her hair was white-blonde and curled up into a bun; a few strands had fought free and were floating around her pale face. She wore simple work clothes covered in an apron and her hands were dusted with flour. Her smile was bright and kind, that of the little child’s as she spoke to the customers that entered. Some would take a scone or loaf and leave, whilst others would sit in groups or pairs to have lunch in the homely shop.
Zane walked through the shop, weaving his way between the tables, sometimes calling out a greeting or waving as customers recognized him and welcomed him home. He stopped in front of the owner of the store and hugged her tightly, she returned the embrace enthusiastically. “Welcome home.”

Zane smiled and looked up into his mother’s kind face. “Hi mum, how was your day?”

She laughed and pulled away, turning to pull a still steaming pie from one of the shelves. “Same as usual, Wilson told me to say hello to you.” She handed him the pie as she spoke. Zane smiled again, Wilson was the homeless man that lived on their street. He earned a few coins a day by playing his hand-crafted pipe out the front of their store. His beautiful music attracted more customers. The only place Wilson ever spent the money he made was inside the bakery to buy meals. He was a kind old man and to Zane it seemed like he had always been there. For a child growing up without a father, having Wilson around helped a lot.

Happily munching his pie, Zane walked away from his mother and towards the back door of the shop. Turning the handle, he pushed the door open and walked inside the other half of the shop. The back of The Stone Hearth served as Zane’s home, his and his family. He placed his bag onto on the wooden chairs that were lined up neatly around a small wooden bench. Sitting down on the chair beside his bag her placed his pie on the table and turned to fish around in his bag to get his books. He pulled out his thick dragon textbook and dropped it on the table in front of him with a sigh. Because of Spiranti’s early departure no homework had officially been issued but Zane saw no harm in extra study, he needed it anyway.

Opening his book to a random page, Zane looked down at the text and sighed in resignation. Of course, he had to pick his worst subject, pyromancy the study of fire. Zane, like his father was a Pyromancer, a person able to control fire. Unfortunately he had never been very skilled at it. The village all knew Zane, and all expected great things from him. After all, he was the son of the famous Pyromancer Atticus Albern, the village hero and one of the most powerful Pyromancers of the age. However, it seemed that Zane did not inherit his father’s amazing skills, as his alchemy was only level to that of a kindergarten child. No matter how much he practiced he could never seem to get things right, after one to many failures Zane had given up all hope on his fire magic.

With a grim but determined face Zane let his eyes trail down the page, stopping when he reached the first spell. It was a simple one that even a child could accomplish. All he had to do was light a candle, with his magic of course. With a determined nod Zane pushed his chair out and stood up, then pointed one finger at the round candle that inhabited the center of their dinner table. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the candle. In his mind’s eye he pictured the candle, seeing it as clearly as if his eyes were open. Next, he saw the wick of the candle sparking a little. He then gentle touched the sparks with his mind, urging them to grow and become a full flame. Slowly the sparks became a steady flame, wavering slightly but there nonetheless. With a last hesitant push the candle burst into an all-out flame, it was a cheerful, bright glow that lit up the room. Hesitantly Zane opened his eyes, expecting to see a lifeless candle just like every other time he had tried this exercise. However once he saw the candle he whooped aloud in surprised delight, as the candle was burning merrily, the cheery flame lighting up the whole room, just like it had in his mind. He had done it.

With a laugh Zane blew out the candle then closed his eyes to try again. After a moment of concentration he opened his eyes and saw to his delight that the candle was once again burning. He whooped with delight, jumping around the table in his excitement. However on one especially big leap sent him tumbling over one of the chairs and onto the wooden floor, hitting his hip on the table as he fell.

He landed with a thud, and lay still for a moment, the wind knocked out of him. After a moment, once he had caught his second wind, Zane stretched an arm out and grasped the edge of the table to pull himself up. However, with a cry of pain he snatched his hand away. Horrified to see that his hand was blistered and more than a little bloody. Cradling his injured hand to his chest, Zane staggered to his feet and stared at the table with growing dismay. The small table candle that he had lit himself must have toppled over when he hit the table, as it was now hungrily devouring his thick school book. The book was undoubtedly made of paper. Paper burns. Fast.

With a wild cry Zane turned and ran into the small, offside room that housed the family kitchen. He snatched a dry cloth from the table top and proceeded to toss it in the sink and run cold water over it. Soon the thin cloth was soaked through and grabbing it, Zane raced back into the eating area. The fire was still burning steadily, having devoured more than half his school book a few tongues were beginning to lick at the table top, as if testing to see if the table tasted as good as old paper. Without a thought Zane stepped up to the fire and tossed the cloth onto it, making sure that it wasn’t folded. He wanted to cover as much of the fire as he could. In that blind moment of panic Zane had forgotten one dangerous detail concerning candles and water.

As soon as the wet cloth hit the candle time seemed to slow. The fabric hit the candle and was immediately devoured in the large fireball that erupted from the candle. The water from the cloth, when combined with the melting wax of the candle has burst up, creating a wax fire and doubling its original size and intensity.

The fire was roaring now, Zane’s book had long since perished and now the table was succumbing to the fires awesome might. Smoke filled the air, burning his lungs and making him hack and wheeze as he stumbled away from the blaze. Across the other side of the room, through the door he heard customers cry out as they saw smoke seeping under the door. He listened through the noise of the fire as his mother calmly directed them out of the building.

Zane stumbled to the right, intending to circle the table and get out through the door and follow the customers out of the building. There was no way he could douse the fire now, it was out of control. He didn’t have a hope of controlling it with magic either. He mentally hit himself as he realized that putting out the fire with his mind when it was smaller may have been an option.

‘Too late now’ he though sarcastically. Covering his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt he staggered forward toward the door. He could feel sweat running down his back and his burnt hand throbbed rhythmically with his pounding heart as he got closer and closer. Zane reached the door just as it set fire; the fire had crossed the wide table and was now munching happily on two of the walls as well as the counter. It hadn’t had a chance to reach the far side of the house yet, the door on the other side of the room was still intact; but it was a dead end, he couldn’t go that way. They only way out was the smoldering door.

He reached out his hand and turned the handle, wincing at the heat in the wood. With a good shove the door flung open, Zane stumbled through into the bakery, coughing smoke out of his lungs and barely missing a tongue of fire that shot out after him. He slammed the door shut after him and sunk to the floor, pressing his face against the cool tiles. His breathing was still ragged as he gently placed his right hand, the burnt one on the cool floor as well, sighing as the burning pain subsided slightly. After a moment he regained his breath for the second time that afternoon, standing up he began slowly walking towards the front door of the shop, he was in no danger now. Their house had been built onto the back of the bakery, the original building was made of carved stone blocks, hence its name ‘The Stone Hearth’. Only their house had been made of wood.

Outside Zane could see a few customers that had lingered to watch the fire though most had already set off for home. At the head of the small group he saw his mother, wringing her hands in her apron nervously with a desperate look on her face. He couldn’t be sure but Zane though he saw tear tracks running down her flour stained face. Beside Evelyn stood Wilson whose face was lined with worry as he squinted his eye to see into the store. Unexpectedly Zane was overcome with feelings of shame and guilt, the fire was his fault. He had just singlehandedly burned down his entire house. He was such an idiot.

The walk from the back of the store to the front door couldn’t last forever; eventually Zane reached the door and pushed it open, preparing himself for the worst. Accusations, yelling and probably being grounded for life. He’d never get to spend extra time with Yuri now. As he pulled open the door the little bell hanging above tinkled merrily, completely contrary to the current situation. When Zane stepped outside, still cradling his right arm his eyes went straight to his mother who was staring at him in open amazement. The onlookers pressed closer, eager to see the person who had just stepped out of the store. Wilson’s lined face broke into a smile, reaching all the way to his eyes which sparkled with happiness. All of these things were soon forgotten as his mother ran to him and crushed him to her in a tight hug, whispering in his ear how much she loved him and how scared she’d been. The guilt that boiled in Zane’s stomach continued to grow.

After what seemed like years she pulled away and searched his ash streaked face. She opened her mouth to speak but Zane beat her to it, stumbling over his words in a rush to expel the guilty feeling inside of him. “I’m so sorry Mamma.” He whispered, using his childhood name for mother.

“It was an accident, I bumped into the table and the candle fell over, then I tried to put it out with water but it only got bigger.” He hung his head shamefully. “It’s all my fault, will you please forgive me?” He was close to tears now as the words spilled out of him. His mother looked at him throughout his confession silently. When he was finished she considered his words then hugged him to her again in another tight hug.

“My little boy,” She whispered fiercely. “There is nothing to forgive.”

After another moment of their embrace Zane felt his mother pull away. He looked up at his mother to see her watching the front door of the bakery once again, her face adorning the same hopeful, expectant expression that she had worn when Zane had first stepped out of the shop. Moments past, the flames rose higher up the wooden walls of their house, there was no movement.

Finally, Evelyn turned back to her son, a desperate look slowly settling on her face. "Zane?" She asked quietly, gripping his shoulders and digging her fingers in until it almost hurt. "Zane, where is your brother?"

Zane looked at his frantic mother, confused. "Ethan is at school. I came home early today, remember?" He told her gently.

His mother started shaking her head, tears running down her face. "No." She choked out through her tears. "He came home sick early this morning. Ethan was in the house with you." She pierced his clear blue eyes with her own warm brown, pain swimming in their depths. "I thought he came out with you," her grip on his shoulders tightened again. "I though you knew."

Zane felt numb, he could hear every one of his heartbeats, thudding loudly in his chest. Everywhere around him, sound was suddenly muted. Nothing reached his ears except for his stuttering heartbeat and laboured breathing.

"He's here?" Zane whispered in growing horror. Then his world shattered as a scream filled the air, Zane swung around in panic, the scream had come from within the burning house.