Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

'How come you didn't go too?' I asked.

Dillon stopped, drawing me near with a tug on my sleeve. 'He wants me to watch you. He wants me to tell him what you're doing in our lessons.'

Did Lord Ido suspect something?

'Why?'

Dillon shrugged. 'He just tells me what to do. Not why I'm doing it.' He looked out across the square, his narrow shoulders twisting in a tiny shiver. 'He has this way of making me do what he says.' He paused; the strange, quick anger shadowed his eyes again. 'But I am not his slave.

He may think I don't have the courage or strength to stand against him, but he's wrong.'

I saw my chance in his rebellion. 'Tell me, Dillon, have you seen him with a red leather folio bound with black pearls?'

I le shook his head. 'He doesn't let me go into the library. He keeps it locked and no one goes near it. Why do you ask?'

'I just thought he might have it.' I looked away from Dillon's curiosity We started walking again. If Lord Ido kept the library locked then it must hold something important. And now he was gone for a few days. The beginning of a bold plan was taking shape.

'Dragon piss,' Dillon cursed, quickening his pace. 'Master Tellon has come out to look for us.'

Up ahead, a tall man in a baggy exercise tunic stood at the doorway of the training hall, watching us approach. I tried to hurry but my battered ribs and hip would not let me move any faster. I climbed the few steps onto the low veranda, Master Tellon's scrutiny making me feel even more awkward than usual.

'You have too much Moon energy' he said, moving aside to allow me passage to the open doorway

I stiffened, aghast at such quick insight.

'But of course, you are Moon Shadow,' he said, nodding to himself.

Dillon's face narrowed with anger. 'How dare you speak of Lord Eon's sacrifice.'

Tellon stared down at him. And you have too much Sun,' he said calmly 1)illon stepped back, the shock of his own rudeness draining the heat from him. I swallowed the hard pit of panic in my throat. My master had warned me that Tellon had keen eyes. I would need to press home my Shadow status at every chance and hope it answered his sharp observations.

Tellon bowed to me, the movement loose and fluid. 'Forgive me, Lord Eon. I meant no disrespect. Nor to you, Apprentice. I am an old man and tend to speak my mind.'

'No offence taken, Master Tellon,' I said quickly. 'I am indeed Moon Shadow; there is no fault in stating the truth. And it is I who must apologise for my lateness.'

I stepped out of my slippers and crossed the raised threshold to stop any further discussion.

Inside, the hall was a large expanse

of polished parquetry floor marked with old scuffs and indentations. A series of small windows let in the bright sunlight, but were set so high that no one could look in or out of them. Perhaps to guard the secrets of the Staminata.

Master Tellon shut the heavy door and waved us over to the middle of the room. 'Come, sit,'

he said. 'We will talk first then start learning the form.'

Dillon quickly seated himself on the hard floor, his legs crossed loosely. As I settled next to him, I studied his sprawling posture and quickly copied it. I had thought four years of careful self-study had stopped me from moving in the neat, closed way of a girl. Now I was not so sure, and I could not afford to raise any questions in Tellon's mind.

He kneeled opposite us, his movements smooth and supple. Tellon had been the Dog Dragoneye in the cycle before my master's, yet he moved with more ease than Dillon. He had lost his hair across the crown of his head, but what was left still had as much black as it did silver, and was tied back into a thick braid that hung to his waist.

'I do not hold with those teachers who think a student should sit like a lump of rock and just listen,' he said. 'You may ask questions. In fact, I expect them.'

Dillon's gaze slid to mine. None of our other masters had ever welcomed questions.

'You have both been chosen to commune with an energy dragon,' he said, smiling his congratulations. 'But it will be a long and arduous journey to learn how to control the power you have at your call. And you, Lord Eon…'

I tensed. Had he already guessed I could not call my dragon?

'Your journey will be even more difficult because you must travel its paths without an incumbent Dragoneye to accompany you.'

I bowed my head to hide my relief. 'Yes, Master.'

He patted my arm. 'Don't worry, you are not alone.' He straightened. 'You are both here to learn the Staminata, the

ancient way to regulate the flow of Hua. It will help you withstand the energy drain of working with a dragon.' He brought his hands together in a loud clap and rubbed them vigorously. 'Now, I know that a lot of rumours fly around about the dragons and their power.

So, let's get the donkey's wallop out of the way' He pointed at Dillon. 'What do you want to know?'

Dillon blinked at the sudden demand.

'Is it true that a Dragoneye gives up his Hua to his dragon?' he finally asked.

Tellon nodded. 'It's true. A Dragoneye uses his life force to control the elemental energy of his dragon, and in doing so gives up some of it to the dragon. But the Staminata slows down the loss of Hua and promotes its flow' He pointed at me. 'Lord Eon?'

I thought of the moment in the bath when the Rat Dragon reared above me and threw me against the wall. And the fireball of energy that had rushed through me.

'Does a dragon always deplete Hua?' I asked hesitantly. 'Can he not give back energy too?'

He shook his head. 'No. Except at communion, of course.'

The answer resonated through me like the toll of a death bell. Did that mean the Rat Dragon had communed with me? Surely that was not possible.

Tellon's finger jabbed the air. 'Next question.'

Dillon leaned forwards. 'Master, is it true that you can kill someone just by disrupting their Hua?'

'I can,' Tellon said calmly

Dillon's eyes widened. 'Do we get to learn how to do it too?'

'No.'

Dillon sat back, disappointed. I looked down at the tiny wood tiles on the floor set in the shape of a plump chrysanthemum, considering my next question. It was risky and needed to be phrased with care.

'I've heard that it's possible for a Dragoneye to take another dragon's power,' I said.

Tellon laughed. 'That rumour does the rounds every year. It's not true — one dragon, one Dragoneye.' Fie beckoned us closer, lowering his voice. 'But there is a legend about harnessing the power of all the dragons. It says that if a Dragoneye kills all of the other Dragoneyes and their apprentices, then the energy of the twelve dragons will funnel though him, giving him the power of a god…just before it rips him apart.'

Dillon gasped. 'Really?'

Tellon laughed and tapped Dillon on the head. 'I wouldn't start plotting the murders of all your colleagues just yet. It is only a story to frighten young apprentices.'

Dillon grinned. I could see him lighten under the master's playfulness.

Tellon clapped once again, marshalling our attention. 'I will now show you the Staminata,' he said. 'It is meditation within movement; very slow, very controlled. The twenty-four postures you will learn, together with the control of your breath, will carry the Hua around your body along the twelve meridians and through the seven power centres.' He ran his hand up from belly to crown, touching each centre lightly 'You will eventually learn how to activate each of the centres to carry Hua to the physical, emotional and spiritual levels where you most need it.'

He stood up. 'Watch.'

His body loosened, weight settling into the ground, his long arms held out in front of him. His eyes seemed to lose their focus yet were still looking at something ahead. Nothing seemed to be happening, and then I realised his hands were gradually rising, the left leading the right.