A hawk screamed in the sky high overhead. Rab felt a pang of fear and the squirrel on his shoulder tried to hide under his wide-brimmed straw hat. Her claws pricked his skin, making him wince.
"What's the matter?" Darek asked, glancing back at him. "You look like you're ready to climb the nearest tree."
fear fear fear hide hide run hide
Rab shook his head, then gently reached up and took the squirrel from his shoulder. She was a depressingly ordinary red squirrel with bright black eyes and a bushy tail. At the moment she was badly frightened.
"It's all right, girl," he whispered soothingly, stroking her soft coat. She was surprisingly light. "Everything's going to be fine." He looked up at Darek. "It's the familiar bond. She's scared of the hawk."
Darek looked up at the clear blue sky and the hawk circling above them. "You watch. With my luck, I'll get one of those for a Familiar now that you have a squirrel and we won't even be able to stay in the same room together. If I don't bond with the dragon, that is."
Rab glanced uneasily at Darek, who was still staring up at the sky. The hawk circled once more, then glided out of sight. A bright sun continued beating down on the scrubby foothills, and uncertain puffs of hot air carried the smell of slowly cooking grass as they walked. Sweat trickled down Rab's face. He was glad he had remembered to wear a hat.
Both he and Darek were just over sixteen, but that was all they had in common physically. Rab was short and stocky with dust-brown hair, muddy hazel eyes, and two front teeth that stuck out much too far for his taste. Rab had also been pudgy as a child, something adolescence had helped with but hadn't cured entirely.
Darek, on the other hand, had skimmed through puberty with hardly a snag. His hair was so black it was almost blue, and it contrasted pleasingly with large, pale gray eyes. He was almost a head taller than Rab and his body was filling out very well after a brief bout with adolescent skinniness. His ready grin and easy laugh combined with his looks to make him popular with almost everyone in the village. Rab, however, comforted himself with the fact that catching a girl's eye invariably made Darek blush and stammer. It was, as far as Rab was concerned, a saving grace in their relationship.
"Are you still sure you want to do this, Dare?" Rab asked, still hugging the quivering squirrel. "Trying to bond a dragon--"
"My dad hung around a wolf's den until he bonded Bloodtooth," Darek said stubbornly. "The king raises griffins so his children always bond one of them. I don't see why this is any different."
"Yeah, but my dad says the bond is better if you just wait and let it happen. Bloodtooth is mean to almost everyone. Dad thinks it's because the bond was forced."
"So he should have waited for a mouse?" Darek snorted and continued up the game trail. "Waiting around is an innkeeper's solution. It's not mine."
Rab opened his mouth for a sharp reply, then decided it wasn't worth an argument and bit his tongue. The words, however, left a sour taste in his mouth as he followed Darek up the trail.
"What's it like, Rab?" Darek asked suddenly without turning around. "Bonding, I mean."
Rab looked down at the squirrel in his arms. She stared back at him for a moment, then squirmed away and scampered up to his shoulder, where she chattered at him and poked her warm nose into his ear. It tickled, and Rab tried not to laugh, his sour mood forgotten.
tree safe safe nice comfort tree
"She likes me," Rab said. "I can't describe it better than that."
"Have you picked a name for her yet?"
"No."
"At least you've got one now." Darek picked a burr off his shoe and threw it away. "A familiar, I mean. Everyone else seems to find theirs by the time they're fifteen. It wasn't so bad being late because you were late, too. Now I'm the only one left except for the little kids."
"I only got my familiar two days ago," Rab reminded him. "You'll bond."
"Damn right I will." Darek flashed a grin over his shoulder. "I'm going to bond me a dragon."
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