***
He landed on one of the stone circles surrounding town, and in a flash of frosty air and ice underfoot resumed his human form. The sun was beating down, and it quickly melted the residue from his arrival, but not before the next dragon descended, landing on the platform.
Asher jogged out of the way, wondering why the hell someone would be following him so closely. There was a flash of yellow-green gas and the green dragon disappeared, replaced by a tall human male sporting a neatly trimmed goatee and shortly cropped hair. Piercing green eyes looked straight at him as the other man walked by.
“Couldn’t wait the ten seconds for me to walk out of the way?” Asher said with a glare. “There are plenty of other landing circles around, you know.”
The other man, a dragon shifter whom Asher did not know, walked right up to him.
“Are you Asher Owens?”
“Who wants to know?” he said, standing up just a little straighter. He did not want to fight this man. The stance of his legs and the ease with which he had descended and shifted spoke of someone with more advanced training.
Asher idly wondered who this man was.
“The same Asher Owens who tried to leave Cadia last night without permission, until Rhynne Nova, Guardian of Cadia stopped you?”
Asher felt distinctly uncomfortable as several passersby slowed at that accusation. He knew in a matter of minutes everyone would know about his aborted attempt to see the land beyond his home.
“Red dragon? Bit of a sharp tongue?” he asked, not immediately knowing who Rhynne was.
“That would be the one.”
“Yea, I’m that Asher. Who wants to know?” he said, repeating his original statement.
“I do,” the man said, as if that should be obvious.
Asher rolled his eyes. “Great, a real intellect. Look, did you just come to make a scene? Or do you have a purpose here?”
The other man stared at him for a moment. When he didn’t say anything, Asher shook his head, and spinning on the spot, headed back into town.
A hand landed on his right shoulder.
Without thinking Asher spun, his right arm coming up and around to dislodge the grip, while his left flashed across his face, blocking the punch that usually followed such a move.
Except there was no punch. The other man simply lifted his hand out of the way and stepped back.
“My name is Blaine Wingstar,” he said at last.
Asher’s mouth fell open. He might not know the man, but he knew who Blaine Wingstar was. Everyone knew who he was.
“The same Blaine Wingstar who went through Top Scale? Who served with the Guardians for five decades and eventually became their commander? That Blaine Wingstar?” he asked in disbelief.
“That is I,” he said.
“What in the hell do you want with me? I’m nothing special. Just a dragon shifter trying to find his way, like everyone else.”
Blaine’s lips twitched, in what might have been his approximation of a smile.
“Tell me, Asher Owens, Frost Dragon. Is it true you attempted a mid-plummet aerial sideswipe, and then tried to drop below the Vallenwoods to lose your pursuer?”
He snorted. “Tried, yes. And failed miserably. Thanks for the reminder.” Asher turned to go, but Blaine stopped him once more.
“From the way Rhynne described it, you came within feet of success.”
“She said that?” Asher had a hard time believing the gruff Guardian would have extended him any sort of respect. It had been a combination of maneuvers that, if he had Blaine’s skills, would have worked impeccably. Unfortunately, he had not trained at Top Scale, and he could not fly with the grace of either Rhynne or Blaine.
“She did. Which is why I am here,” Blaine told him.
Asher was getting suspicious now. “This doesn’t sound good.”
Now Blaine did smile.
This was definitely not good.
“You know where Top Scale Academy is, Asher Owens?”
“Of course I know. Out by Forlorn Peak.” The truth was that was about all he know. No one was allowed near Top Scale without permission, and the rules were enforced ruthlessly.
And for good reason.
Forlorn Peak was a mountain that was actually inside the borders of Cadia. While most of the Quicksilver mountain range to the west ran almost completely north-south, Forlorn Peak was on its own, perhaps several miles inside Cadia, and was officially part of the shifter territory.
“Excellent.”
“Why?”
Blaine shook his head slowly, as if disappointed the younger man wasn’t getting it. “Asher, I am the senior instructor at Top Scale. There is a new class forming. Tomorrow morning. Eight sharp.”
“So?”
The fierce-looking man reached out and flicked him on the forehead. “Use this and figure it out.”
He turned and moved back into the circle.
There was a swirl of yellow-green gas that abruptly expanded, and then it dissipated just as quickly to reveal the massive green dragon. Wings swept wide, over fifty feet in either direction, and with a powerful flap of his wings and a spring from his legs, Blaine leapt into the air with a grace and agility that Asher would never match.
Asher watched him go, his mind in a daze.
Had he just been recruited into Top Scale?
The world spun around him and he dropped to one knee to balance himself, taking a moment to collect his thoughts.
“Hey Asher, heard you tried to flew the coop, but that you chickened out at the end?”
Uproarious laughter followed as Sterling Muggrin went by. Asher rolled his eyes at the gryphon shifters. He wasn’t interested in fighting. Not now. Normally he would have words for the gryphon, but today everything else was secondary.
He managed to make his confused way to the nearest café, Morrte’s Delicatessen. Morrte was a good friend of his. The wolf shifter nodded in his direction as he entered. Asher threw himself into one of the carefully constructed and reinforced seats, knowing it could take it. He remained there, hunched over the table, his mind far away, until someone shoved a cup of delicious-smelling coffee in front of him.
One of the finest human inventions, that.
He took a big sip of it, feeling his mind almost instantly kick into overdrive.
“Thanks Morrte,” he muttered, then looked up in surprise when the owner sat in the chair across from him.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Ash. Something wrong?”
The dragon shifter shook his head. “No. Actually, somehow, I think it’s the exact opposite.”
“What do you mean? I thought you got busted trying to leave last night.”
“I did,” he said in amazement. “And then someone sought me out this morning.”
“Who?” The owner leaned in close, curious to know what was going on with one of his good friends, Asher figured.
“Blaine Wingstar.”
Morrte sat back in his chair, jaw wide open. “You’re joking.”
Asher shook his head. “He told me there’s a new class being formed at Top Scale. He told me the time to be there.” He looked up at last, meeting the beady brown eyes of his friend. “I think I was recruited.”
“Holy shit,” Morrte exclaimed. “That’s amazing, Ash!”
“Shhh,” he said. “Keep your voice down. I don’t actually know what he meant.” He proceeded to tell his friend about the encounter.
“Yeah, that means you get your ass there at eight, Ash. Oh, and a helpful tip?”
“What?”
“Don’t be frigging late to this, like you are for everything else.”
Asher glared at his friend, downing the rest of his coffee. “Thanks for that, Morrte. Appreciate it.”
Top Scale Academy. Him. The place where bumbling dragon shifters were transformed into the elite. Every few years, the Wing Commander took in several students, though there was no set schedule. Only when he felt it appropriate.
His attempt to leave Cadia had somehow resulted in him being recruited into the most prestigious shifter school there was. Each race had one, but Top Scale was above the rest, and it wasn’t even close. There he would learn how to fly properly. To become adept at aerial combat.
Asher would learn how to be a true dragon, and unleash his breath weapon—like Rhynne had done so the night before—for the first time with effortless ease.
Graduation from Top Scale would allow him to be free. To travel to other shifter territories, and to visit the human cities. No restrictions would apply to him.
There was even the possibility that he might be chosen to become a Guardian like Rhynne. Tasked with patrolling the borders of Cadia, to ensure untrained shifters—like his current self!—did not leave Cadia.
But more importantly, to keep the nosy humans out.
Asher snorted, and decided that at the end of the day he was going to head up to the mountains again. This time though, he was going to stop at the hot springs. A massage would be just the thing to ease his suddenly elevated stress levels.