AutumnQuest Read Free Page A

suddenly awakened my appetite. I ate ravenously, much as the dragon had the night before.
    Soon Marileesa sat next to me with her breakfast tray. Today she wore her dark, curly hair loose, and her deep blue eyes danced in pleased excitement. She still couldn’t seem to stop smiling, and her mood—combined with my relief over Breyard getting rid of the dragon—made me grin, even if I couldn’t follow her chatter about rehearsal schedules and special music sessions.
    Before long, Loreen and Sira joined us. Sira was darker than the rest of us, with brown eyes that snapped and sparkled as she watched everything going on around her. She was the quiet one in our little group, never saying much but often pulling a small quill pen and bottle of ink from her bag to jot things down in a special calfskin-covered book. Lore was her best subject, and I knew that some day in the future, other novices like us would be poring over her words and trying to understand them.
    Loreen was the only one of us interested in boys, and it was my bad luck that it was Breyard on whom she was keenest. She could’ve been the prettiest one of us, if only she’d put in a bit of effort, and it seemed ironic to me that she didn’t. When she kept her mind on what the spells master was teaching and not on the male members of the class, she could cast any spell set before her. Sometimes I wondered why she didn’t just cast a love spell to get what she wanted.
    Now Loreen was mooning, as usual. Over Breyard. What could she possibly see in my brother? Couldn’t she tell that he was more of a bother than anything else? Trying to act nonchalant, she asked me, as she often did, what he was doing these days.
    With a pause that must have seemed melodramatic, I looked at each of my friends in turn. Really, I knew I shouldn’t—but, “Can you keep a secret?” I whispered. Surely I could trust them. They exchanged curious glances, nodded their heads, and leaned forward conspiratorially.
    I plunged in and told them all about the dragon egg and last night’s events. We sat huddled together, and I spoke quietly to make sure that not even a syllable could be heard beyond us. Marileesa even seemed to forget about Summer Solstice.
    When I finished my tale, the others sat in stunned silence for a moment. Then Loreen let out a shaky sigh and said, “But what’s Breyard going to do with a baby dragon?”
    Far too loudly.
    It seemed as if her words echoed and re-echoed off the refectory walls. Everyone must have heard. While the others shushed her, I looked around to see if anyone was watching us. Not a single eye caught mine. But the words seemed even now to fill the air.
    Loreen had her hands clamped over her mouth while tears welled in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked between her fingers.
    Sira shook her head, but Marileesa put a hand on Loreen’s arm. “I think it’s all right,” she said. I stared at my three friends, unable to say anything. It felt as if my stomach had turned to stone and dropped to the floor. My heart either had stopped beating or was racing, I couldn’t tell which, while my ears pounded and my face burned.
    If anything happened to Breyard, I wasn’t sure who I’d have to kill first: myself or Loreen.
    After an interminable time that was probably actually less than five minutes, the bell rang for the end of breakfast. We gathered up our things to go to our classes. I tried not to scowl at Loreen, who was still wiping her eyes.

    My first class after breakfast was Ancient Lore. I set my translation of Galina’s Travels on the table and reread it whilst waiting for Master Tenna to arrive. If I concentrated hard enough, perhaps I’d forget about that stupid dragon.
    “Donavah, what did you get for line 1,782?” Balon plopped down in the chair next to me.
    “Oh,” I grimaced when I found the line he referred to. “That was the hardest one. I’m still not sure I got it right.”
    “Same here. So what did you get?”
    I