The Sixth Dragon Rider

Part 19

"You will not believe what just happened!" Aura sang as she twirled into the library.

The light from the hallway cast a bright beam across the floor, lighting up the dusty bookcases and the faded old tomes that covered their shelf.  Two girls sat, their heads hunched over, in the far back corner of the room, just beyond the reach of the light.  Both heads perked up at the sound of Aura's voice ringing out through the room.  The muffled closing of the door was accompanied by the sudden disappearance of the light, draping the room in darkness once again.  Only the unsteady flickering of a torch was left to light the room as Aura worked her way through the darkness over to the large round table where Kasha and Salarah sat.  The smooth wooden surface was covered with what seemed to be an entire shelve's worth of books, some of which Aura had to push to the floor to make room for herself as she seated herself with her friends.

"What won't we believe?" Salarah asked as she reached over to gently stroke Nirvana, who contently leaned into her touch.

"I think that maybe, just maybe, I may have started to break through the barrier," Aura stated.

"What barrier?" Salarah asked, confusion etched across her face.

"Oh, the one keeping me from actually being able to make any progress with the boys.  Proving myself and all," Aura explained.

"Really? How?" Salarah said.

"Well, we were practicing shooting off our dragons at a moving target, and I was able to do it when no one else was.  Granted I've been practicing shooting since before I could even walk practically, but they don't know that!  That isn't what makes me think I may be gaining some tolerance at least though, what really makes me think that is that no one, no one  glared at me afterward, or shot me a mean look.  They weren't nice per say, but they also weren't mean for once, they just took their dragons back to the...to their living area and that was that," Aura detailed.

"How great!  Well, we haven't been here long, and with all the work we have we can't stay long either, but we, well Kasha really, have been reading some, trying to figure stuff out and that," Salarah responded.

"Looks like a little more than some," Aura said with a laugh, "Let's see what you've found."

"Alright," Salarah said cheerily, then nudged her sister, "Kasha, can you explain to Aura what we, you really, found?"

"Hmm, oh, yeah sure," Kasha mumbled, pulling her head out of the book she'd been reading, "So far it's been a lot of the same stuff you told us, well less actually.  I don't know where you got that information last time, but it certainly wasn't from here. These books are next to useless, and they only mention summoning as a concept, or a theory, not a finite thing like you did.  So I'm going to ask you, and I get if you don't want to tell but we may not be able to help you if you don't, so I just have to ask, where did you get that information?"

"Umm, well, I..... Look if I tell you, you have to promise not to tell, because I could probably get in serious trouble for this, they're already looking for anything to kick me out as it is and i haven't even done anything they know about," Aura said.

"Alright, promis-" Kasha said.

"I swear on the Mother Goddess herself that I will never in life or death tell this to another living soul," Salarah excitedly interrupted, her voice an exaggerated time of solemn with her hand over her heart.

"Okay well, I haven't exactly been getting books from here," Aura said

"But no one leaves the castle, you can't have been getting them anywhere else," Salarah said, earning a sharp look from her sister for interrupting.