I woke up in time for supper, feeling a little more connected to my body. It was amusing to consider that it wasn’t even my body, after the summoning. I wasn’t the only one out of sorts. The whole academy was off-kilter, and it showed even in the little things. Supper was only a single course, and they hadn’t bothered with seating. That suited me fine. I collected a plate of food that looked and smelt nothing like roasted meat. Perhaps there was a good reason roasts were never on the menu.

Branneth followed me like a border collie with only one sheep. Lilianna trailed us both, looking more amused than I thought was fair. After a few moments, we also attracted Assistant Altengart. He seemed hesitant to speak, but eventually decided in favour.

“Can I ask,” he said. “Why did you call me to testify? I didn’t provide any additional information you needed.”

“I thought you deserved to have your name explicitly cleared,” I replied. “Minister Greenfield and Academy Leader Darkwater thought you didn’t have an alibi. They were determined to convince me that you were the murderer. I don’t know who else they might have also said that to. If I reached the end of the trial, and people weren’t convinced of the real culprits, I didn’t think you should be suspected.”

That hit him hard, but he wasn’t entirely surprised. I would not have wanted to have lived his life.

“They didn’t make you suspect me?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I already knew you that you had an alibi. You told me about it the first time we met. Also, they failed to get their stories straight and picked completely different motives, which didn’t help.”

“They did?” he prompted.

I said, “Academy Leader Darkwater told me your sister was the real winner of the position, and you killed to reveal the scandal. Minister Greenfield told me that your family was linked to the criminal underworld, and you killed to conceal the scandal.”

“They were both lying,” said Lilianna.

“Or both telling the truth,” I said, “and Assistant Altengart’s sister won the position in order to sell it.”

Assistant Altengart gave me a sharp look and I rather thought I might be right.

“But it’s all quite irrelevant,” I continued, “Minister Greenfield probably just targeted the last person to walk up the stairs. It might have amused him that it happened to be House Holder Fairbank’s daughter, but I suspect he didn’t really care who it was. After all, the rest of us were condemned to die in the bonding ceremony only a few days later anyway.”

“That might explain not investigating him,” said Branneth rudely, “But you didn’t bring up anything about Father Fairbanks. What’s your excuse for spending so much time investigating him?”

Seeing if I could use the route he used to import food.

“There was something there,” I said. “It just turned out to have nothing to do with the murder.”

I looked briefly at Assistant Altengart, and decided he deserved some compensation for what he’d been through. I didn’t much like House Holder Fairbanks anyway.

I continued, “House Holder Fairbanks has been embezzling from the food supplies for the dragons to fund his gambling habit. He’s been telling both sections that the other section has been taking all the fresh produce.”

“I … No, just no,” said Branneth. “How could you possibly know he has a gambling habit?”

“He practically told me himself,” I said mildly. “He was sharing details about the annual race at the club on Saturday night. Only an addict would pay that much to receive details about a dragon race on the very day he found out that his daughter had been murdered.”

“What a …” Lilianna trailed off, and I mentally added a few appropriate insults.

> For details about how the Altengart family used this leverage to substantially change the landscape of Enduring Lands politics, see the Behind the Fire: The untold truth of the Ride and Fall of the Dragon Empire.

Academy Leader Silver approached with Assistant Oxenden, interrupting any further reactions.

“Hero Percy,” said Academy Leader Silver. “We owe you more than we can possibly say. But it worries me that you went out on the bonding grounds all alone under the circumstances. Did you have cause to distrust the rest of us as well?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Branneth was almost on tiptoes, waiting to expose me in a lie. I realised that my time had run out. I would need to provide an explanation. I just hoped the trial had achieved everything I needed it to in establishing my credibility.

“No, not at all,” I said. “That was a miscalculation on my part. If I had realised the dragon lure was already in place, I would have informed Assistant Oxenden immediately. I had no idea that Minister Greenfield had moved that quickly. I left on a different matter.”

Time for the big lie. I took a deep breath and said, “I went out to find dragon eggs.”

After all, I had such excellent witnesses that I had risked my life to keep them safe. Why else would I have been so concerned?

“You what?” asked Branneth.

I summoned all my earnestness. “I was contemplating the concern that the dragonets had been blooded. That led me to consider the theory that the best way to achieve the purest bond with a dragon is to take care of it from an egg. But I didn’t mean to step on the toes of the experts here, so I sought out divine guidance. That quest led me to the three dragon eggs. I think, all things considered, that it is a sign that they are intended for us heroes.”

I didn’t want to make Minister Greenfield’s mistake of saying too much. I had answers prepared. Why had I swapped into a harness robe? I didn’t know how far the quest would take me. Why did I have so much food? I had just left it there from when I’d picked up lunch. Why didn’t I immediately raise the alarm about the door? I’d initially assumed it was divine intervention. But if they didn’t ask, I wasn’t going to tell them. Let them come up with the most convincing answer themselves.

A minor flaw in my story was I hadn’t said a word about the eggs when I’d been rescued. For all I knew, they’d been scrambled up and added to the meal. A major irony was that, if this worked, it would honestly be an answer to my prayer.

“You want us to bond to random eggs?” asked Branneth in disbelief. “They could be from feral or wild dragons. We have no guarantee that they’ll even grow large enough to support even one human rider, let alone the weights required to be of service.”

Yes. Yes, that was the point. I was mildly surprised that Branneth had learnt at least that much about dragons.

“You are welcome to claim the largest of the three eggs,” I said.

In fact, please, do take it. We could leave the smallest to Lilianna. It only seemed fair.

> And in no way a hope that he bonds to a dragon too small for military service, but still big enough to carry His Devotion, Saint Percival the Investigator, alone.

“You can’t expect me to believe this,” said Branneth. “If it was for all of us, why didn’t you take me with you?”

“Believe me,” I said with complete sincerity. “When I was faced with the dragon, I wished you had been there.”

Before he could work out if that was a compliment or insult, I continued, “Look, this is not something you need to worry about immediately. Both the bonding grounds are now contaminated, and I rather think the Academy has more to concern itself with in the short term.”

I nodded to Academy Leader Silver, who was more than grateful to have an excuse to escape the squabble. They made their apologies and left the three of us alone. I’d have to make it up to Branneth later. He had done me a valuable service in discouraging them from any follow up questions of their own. Perhaps find out if there was any remaining jerky for him.

“Hero Branneth,” said Lilianna, “Please restrain yourself. Hero Percy has done nothing to deserve such disrespect.”

Now that we were alone, Branneth lost all sense of restraint. “He hasn’t done…! He’s a coward! I don’t care what he claims. He wasn’t just investigating the death. He was investigating reasons not to fight at all.”

“Of course he was,” said Lillianna. “As we all should have been. Were you really planning to just act without considering the rights and the wrongs of the situation?”

“My god asked me to come,” he said stiffly. “That’s all I needed to know.”

“Perhaps your god asked you to come so that you could stand up and say no,” replied Lilianna. “Or is the only type of courage you understand the type that involves acts of violence?”

Branneth didn’t have any immediate reply, and Lilianna wasn’t going to let him think of one.

“Hero Percy,” said Lilianna. “Do you mind escorting me back to our rooms? I think I’m done here.”

“I’d be glad to,” I said.

Once we were clear of anyone overhearing, I said, “I appreciate you standing up for me, Hero Lilianna, but it really doesn’t bother me what Hero Branneth thinks of me.”

“I said that for me,” she said. “Hero Branneth is an idiot. And exactly the kind of hero they were hoping to get when they decided to summon three rookies, instead of one hero that had real power but might not be so easy to manipulate.”

I could hardly argue with her about any of that. We walked the rest of the way in silence. I was somehow still exhausted. I went straight back to bed and slept all the way through to the next morning. Breakfast was eaten in icy silence, both in terms of attitudes of Lilianna and Branneth, and because I’d been forced to open the window. But as soon as the plates cleared, Assistant Oxenden walked in. Before I had time to tense up, he was followed by helpers, holding magical sand-filled heating boxes. I had done it. They had believed me. And they were doing what I asked. I directed out the boxes by size and could see the moment Lilianna realised what it might mean for her. I ran a hand over the warm egg, the texture pleasant against my skin.

We’d be okay. We had all the time in the world, now.

Memo to Self

- Survive [success!]

- Bluff my way out of my escape attempt [Success!]

- - Distract by presenting a theory for Bethany's death [Success!]

- - Delay by abusing goodwill provided by trial [Success!]

- Make best use of my additional time

- - Order a dragon incense holder of my very own