Chapter 27.5- The Seadragon's Roar

Not just that, he was happy that he had been able to help me in my time of weakness. Happy that I was still here, and now happy that I was up and standing. He wanted us to go flying. We hadn’t flown for leisure in so long. He missed it.

I took a deep breath as I stumbled backwards. What had that been? Igneel was watching me with his head tilted to one side. Had those been Igneel’s thoughts? They were clear. Very clear. That wasn’t normal, was it? Not for us. I usually hd to concentrate to tell what he was feeling. Just touching him and being thrust into his mind was jarring. I took a breath, and then stepped closer before rubbing his snout again.

He was confused. Wondering why I was behaving so strangely. Was I still recovering from yesterday? I took another breath before I removed my hand. This time, it was more deliberate and less panicked so Igneel didn’t react as strongly to the loss of contact. Okay, that was intense. That was… It had to be him saving me. His magic was in my body now, for better or worse. I’d need some way to control it ahead of combat though. I could already imagine being sucked into Igneel’s battlelust even deeper than ever. Would I be able to maintain control in that situation? Restraint? I doubted it. But we had to figure it out, and ideally before we got shipped off to burn the ships our enemies were using to ferry men intent n taking all that we had fought for from us.

“Maester Bernard” I called to him. There was no need to do so, he was watching Igneel with wary eyes. I placed my hand on my dragon’s neck as I stepped to the side so I could face the Maester better. The torrent of emotions and thoughts threatened to pull me under again but ZI stood my ground, sending my own thought in return.

Igneel executed perfectly, head snapping to the side where he bathed the beach with his fire. The roar of the flames covered the sound of the sea waves crashing into each other for a second or so. And when Igneel was done with his display, there was a clean line of glassed sand to the side.

“Ser Ben, I’d advise that you step away from the Maester. And Maester, I wouldn’t mov if I were you. Igneel isn’t really the most patient of creatures.” Ben wasted no time stepping away, walking off to the side.

“What is the meaning of this, Laenor?” He blustered. It might have been more effective if Igneel could not smell his fear even from here.

“The meaning of this is that I must ensure the loyalty of all who would serve my family. I have suspicions about your order, and now you will either clear them, or you will prove them to be valid. If the former, I hope we will be able to continue working together regardless of this unpleasantness. If the latter, then I am sure you can tell what would happen.