House of Winter

Chapter 32, Part 2

Warrah charged back, hitting at the wolf with force, and sending a spray of water.

"Stop, Warrah, stop!" Ari screamed out.

The black wolf attacked, and Ari was knocked from the back of the dragon. If this was a charging match, with Ari knocked down both of the kinnlings would have stopped fighting. But even with Ari on the ground, Warrah was still trying to attack the black wolf and its rider.

Sanna's stomach jolted as she realised just who the rider was. She hadn't realised in the darkness, but now it was painfully obvious.

It was Tom.

He was on the black wolf, head bent down, ready to charge again at the dragon. This was his sport, his magic, his passion, and he knew how to fight, but the dragon was playing dirty. The dragon was fighting like a wild animal.

"STOP!" Ari screamed out, pulling herself off the ground and trying to get in the way of the dragon.

"No, Ari!" Sanna cried out, knowing that Ari would just be hurt. She watched as Warrah knocked Ari to the ground.

Warrah loved Ari. Warrah had followed Ari from Lombardia to Vastier to the Fire Lands. How could he hurt her like this?

"Ari!" Sanna cried. She jumped from Sigrún's back and ran to her.

As she did, she recognised another girl running towards her.

Sanna almost stumbled as she saw Katja landing on her knees beside Ari.

"Kat," Sanna said, landing in the snow beside Ari.

"Ari, Sanna," Katja said, bewildered. "Ari, can you hear me?"

Ari blinked and looked up. "Katja?" she murmured. "I must have hit my head really hard."

"Sanna, bucking brumby, now," Katja said.

Sanna nodded, and the two of them stood up and faced the dragon.

Sanna had never performed this magic with Katja, but she'd seen it done and she'd studied it. It was designed to reign in wild kinnlings just like this, and required two people with winter magic. The two of them stood evenly apart and held their hands high to create a magical force of ice magic. They let the magic play between them, and eventually it created a strong current of ice magic that covered the dragon and pinned his wings down. Snow and ice flew around the dragon's head and he snapped at them, but they pulled tighter so the dragon's wings were pinned. He tried to fight, but then Ari stood before him.

"Warrah, hush now, peace, boy," Ari said. "What is this all about?"

"This is... the dragon that killed Raphael," Katja said, and suddenly she was glaring at Ari. "What are you doing here? Why do you have this dragon?"

They were interrupted by a shout.

"JINNI!"

Sanna turned to see that Lumi had just run into the clearing. She must have been further afield collecting dry branches. The branches fell from her arms and she stared up at the tiger, who was staring back at her. The moment seemed to last for too long - with no one moving except Warrah, who fought against his icy bonds.

Then Lumi, with tears in her eyes, fell forward towards her tiger, and Jinni sprang towards her, and Lumi wrapped her arms around his huge neck and buried her face into his fur.

Sanna felt her own tears in her eyes at the scene, and she turned away, and reached out towards Sigrún, wanting the feel of her own wolf. She felt Sigrún and held her wolf close, appreciating just how strong the love was between her and wolf. She could only imagine just how painful Lumi's separation from Jinni had been, and just how relieved she was to have Jinni in her arms again.

Tom was staring, bewildered, at all of them. "Ari and Sanna," Tom said. "What in the name of stars are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, of course," Sanna said lightly. "Sorry about the surprise attack."

"What is this dragon doing here?" Katja said sharply.

"He's... well, he's been following me," Ari said. "I know it's the dragon... it's..."

Sanna saw the panic in Ari's expression as she looked into Katja's angry face.

"That dragon has saved our lives," Sanna said. "I don't believe a dragon can be at fault for the death of Raphael."

Katja spun to him. "How can you say that? We watched it happen!"

"I'll tell you what I saw," Sanna said. "I saw a dragon chained underneath the stadium. When he was released, he attacked, because he has been abused and mistreated. It's possible he was even abused by Tai. Should we blame a dragon for that?"

Katja glared at Sanna. "So now you're against Tai, are you? Last I heard, you were planning to marry him."

"And yet here I am," Sanna snapped.

"Ari, this dragon's not bonded to you, is it?" Tom asked.

"Of course not," Ari retorted. "I'm not a water starrling."

"Will you all be quiet!"

Sanna shut her mouth and turned to Lumi, surprised. It was so rare to hear Lumi raise her voice, that it was enough for the rest of them to shut up.

"Thank you for bringing Jinni to me," Lumi said. "I can never repay you. My heart is so full, to have him with me again. And I don't want this moment spoiled by you all shouting at each other. Please, can we build up the fire and sit down and talk sensibly?"

"What should we do about him?" Katja asked, glaring over at the dragon, who was still pinned beneath ice magic.

"Warrah, will you behave yourself? Tom is not an enemy."

Warrah glared at Tom, and Tom frowned. "He seems to really hate me," he said, staring at the dragon. "What's your problem, boy? I've never done anything to hurt you."

The dragon huffed.

"Perhaps he's afraid of men," Tom said, glancing at the others. "If he attacked Raphael and me, maybe he's just scared of all men."

"He spent days on a boat with Pythos Savvas," Ari said. "He's definitely not afraid of men."

"So he's never tried to attack anyone else?" Tom asked.

"Not that we've seen," Sanna said.

"Curious," Tom said. He approached Warrah slowly, and held out a hand. The dragon sniffed it, and snorted.

"Unbonded and untrained, but look at his legs," Tom said, pointing to the scars along Warrah's legs. "He's been abused, alright. But if he's been following and protecting Ari, then I trust him. I just need to earn his trust."

Sanna remembered that Tom had grown up with his mother, who was a wolf breeder, and so he must know a lot about raising and training kinnlings. On his instruction, both Katja and Sanna eased the ice magic around Warrah's body, and the dragon was able to sit up.

"Careful, Tom," Katja warned.

Tom held out his hand again, and allowed snow to fall from his palm and onto the dragon, in a calming gesture. The dragon sniffed at the snow and seemed to relax.

Sanna helped Lumi pick up the wood she'd dropped, and they returned to the little campsite. They boiled water over a fire and made tea, and sat around the fire and stared at each other, waiting to see who would speak first.

// author's note

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