Free Dragon Bonds (Return of the Darkening Series Book 3) by Ava Richardson

Kalax. It was too dark to see much more, and I didn’t know how Kalax was going to carry three riders in two saddles.
    I felt Kalax balk a little at the extra weight, but she launched into the air. Below us, Beris and Syl on Gaxtal distracted the Wildmen with attacks that kept them crouched low. I briefly considered trying to use my Dragon Affinity against the oncoming wild dragons, but I hated how the Darkening had already killed one dragon that refused to obey. I also worried that the effort to use the affinity again so soon might drain me of what little energy I had left today. I would have to rely on good old fighting skills.
    We swooped low a few times, Feradima and Gaxtal coming at the Wildmen from different directions, drawing their arrow fire away from Kalax so she could escape. She flew up into the sky, disappearing into the stars.
    The wild dragons were getting close. I could feel them drawing close and see them as they blotted out the stars. I judged three were near, and two more followed.
    “We have to go!” I shouted.
    Merik nodded, thumping the side of Feradima’s neck once in a particular spot just over her collarbone. Feradima knew the command, puffed out her chest and roared a rain of fire out onto the Wildmen.
    It took a lot out of Feradima—or any dragon—to spit fire. Only many days of eating and bulking up on the right foods could replenish a dragon’s natural fire. A substance like molten rock fell on the Wildmen, sticking to wood, cloth and flesh, melting metal and everything else it touched in an instant. Feradima’s scales changed color slightly but she roared a victory cry.
    Beneath us, screams could be heard. In the chaos and smoke, we flew up, not following Kalax, but flying over the ridge to ride in different directions before looping back to head into the mountains. From there, we could make our way to our hidden camp, but we had to be certain we weren’t being followed.
    Exhausted, Feradima still kept flying fast.
    As the night cleared to reveal stars some hours later, we finally admitted that we had done it. No enemy dragon was following. They had been distracted by the dragon fire, by the smoke that had obscured their scene of smell and sight. Merik and Feradima visibly relaxed, turning in a wide, gliding arc to coast back to our hidden camp and relative safety.
    I just hoped Kalax and Gaxtal had made it back, too.

    * * *
    V arla pointed to a mark on one of the old scrolls she had managed to find. “Here—that’s the place to begin. In the north. And I think…well, that may mean monastery—or it may actually mean tomb. Or even statue.”
    I let out a long breath.
    It was a few days after we had escaped the city, but it felt as though we had only just managed to recover from the flight. We had to keep moving the camp every other day, hiding from the occasional wild dragons that were searching for us, and we had started to train the new recruits and the soldiers who’d never worked with dragons. We barely had time to eat and sleep.
    But it was well past time to start the search for the one Dragon Stone that controlled all. However, the king was still talking about attacks and the need to secure his palace.
    The one bit of good news was that Varla had managed to get a few scrolls from the Academy—the only ones not lost to fire. She and Merik had been studying them to try and read the old writing, which wasn’t always clear.
    Thea, however, still seemed torn about the search.
    “It’s not that I don’t believe in it,” she said. She stood at my side, leaning against the wooden sapling-pole that held up the small tent we shared. It was morning and she was nursing a bowl of porridge with a few wrinkled berries we’d managed to find. She grimaced at the sour taste of the berries, and I could have almost laughed, had it not been for our predicament.
    Varla and Merik had already eaten and sat on the ground, pouring over the old scrolls. I liked maps, and even I had trouble