Dragons Awakening
CHAPTER THREE: Never a Horse Like This

Come closer. The booming voice inside Zi’s head implored.

“Stop!” Zi straightened, rubbing her shoulder where it had banged against the door. The explosion in her head throbbed even more, but she could do nothing to soothe it.

The horse thrust his head, nostrils flaring, out of the stall. A liquid brown eye contemplated her like a specimen in a petri dish.

“If you’re the one yelling in my head, you don’t have to.” She rubbed her temple, shaking her head.

“Sensitive, are you?”

Zi cringed. The voice still sounded like an amplification but infinitesimally softer than before.

“I’m standing right here. No need to shout.” Zi scowled at the horse. It shook its head and snorted. Was it laughing at her?

“How are you doing that anyway?” Since when could she talk to a horse?

A stall door at the end of the row clicked open. A groom slipped out, glancing in her direction.

“Should we continue the conversation outside?” The voice sounded amused. “Since you lack the ability to mindspeak.”

“I’ve never tried it,” Zi snapped, slapping her hands onto her narrow hips.

The groom stopped and stared at her. The horse was right. If she carried on a one-sided conversation with the beast, everyone would think she was loony. And maybe she was. Who ever heard of a horse with extra sensory perception?

She jerked a halter from a hook on the wall between the stalls. The attached lead rope swung down and snapped against her thigh. Judging by the size of the green strands, it would fit over the giant head.

She stepped toward the horse, holding the halter up. He stepped back, turning his head out of reach.

“Hey!”

The eye facing her seemed to glare. Nostrils flared wider and a snort of irritation showered her with misty horse breath.

“Who taught you manners, seer?”

When the voice resounded in her mind, Zi clenched her teeth and squinted her eyes. What sort of manners was this beast talking about? Her mother did a fine job teaching her proper etiquette. Nothing about her behavior was incorrect. On the other hand, projecting your voice into someone’s head was a major social faux pas.

“Introductions.” The black head bobbed. “After which you beg my permission before touching me.”

Zi snorted, an unladylike guffaw and shook her head. Was this beast serious?

The brown eye studied her. The black head nodded three times.

She threw her hands up. The metal ring on the halter clattered against the clasp of the rope connected to it. A horse across the aisle backed into the side of its stall.

“You keep calling me seer, so how about you tell me your name?”

“You are not your gift, seer.”

Zi wished her father saw it that way. She shook her head slightly, dislodging thoughts that lead nowhere but down.

“I am Zi Yan Oohara, The Visionary.”

The horse snorted with his lips this time, a deep raspberry.

“Ezerhaydn, Chieftain of Clan Metallica, formerly of the Dragonrealm, imprisoned by these weak bones until the seer divines my presence.” Another snort from the horse gave Zi’s head a break.

“I saw you in a vision but you had the eye of a lizard.” Zi stepped close to the stall, lowering her voice to a mere whisper.

“I called you,” Ezerhaydn said. “The vision came from the source of such things.”

Zi held up the halter, but the horse shook his head sending his curly forelock into a riotous dance.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. Whoever this guy was, he suffered from a serious case of self-importance. She could recognize one from miles away.

“May I put the halter on you, Ezerhaydn?”

The horse stepped toward her, and she stumbled back. His giant head lowered to her chest. She slipped the halter over his nose, securing the buckle behind his ears. They flicked toward her when she brushed their downy softness with the back of her hand.

She opened the stall and lead the horse toward the front of the barn. The back door led directly into an arena. Not exactly a quiet place for a drawn-out discussion. Neither of the grooms appeared but several horses nickered as they passed. Ezerhaydn ignored them.

Enormous black hooves stepped in tandem with her much smaller feet as she led the horse down the roadway and outside the main walls of the school. A trail circled the outer wall, meaning they could either view the river valley or the Himalayas. The horse nudged her toward the southwestern mountain view.

Given his size, the horse moved with grace, keeping close to her shoulder but not near enough to risk stepping on her feet. The rope was meaningless. The horse was six feet tall at his back and close to nine feet at the top of his head. His thick neck and broad chest exuded strength. It wouldn’t take much for him to pull away.

A low wall of boulders marked the end of the path. On the other side, the rocky ground fell away and an updraft brought the scent of freshly turned soil and decay. Zi dropped the lead rope and sat on one of the flat-topped boulders. She scooted away from the animal and wrapped her knees with her arms.

“Why did you call me, Ezerhaydn, Chieftain of some clan?”

“Your destiny aligns with mine, seer.”

Zi raised her eyebrow. “Why does everyone want to tell me my destiny?”

The horse sighed. He looked beyond her, as if studying the distant mountains. Finally, his single-eyed gaze rested on her.

“I am from Dragonrealm, exiled here more than two millennia ago by Omne.”

Zi cringed at the voice echoing in her head. “Your mastery of the common tongue seems true.” She shook her head. “But I didn’t understand anything you said. Where is Dragonrealm? What is Omne? You expect me to believe a horse lived for over two thousand years?”

One soccer-ball-sized hoof stomped the ground. Zi squeezed her knees closer. Those things could crush something into powder.

“First of all, I am no horse.”

Zi blinked at the beast. “Look like a horse to me.”

“I was confined to this flesh when your world no longer tolerated my true form.”

“Which was?”

Black neck arched gracefully, Ezerhaydn said, “I am a dragon chieftain.”

Zi laughed. She covered her mouth when the horse glared at her, but her shoulders shook so hard she thought she might fall off her perch. An unhealthy event. She sniffled to squelch the laughter.

“Show me your dragon form and I’ll believe you.”

The horse snorted and stomped. “Omne has not yet granted me access to my true form.”

Zi shook her head. What sort of mess had she stumbled into? A horse that could talk with his mind but insisted he was a dragon. This talk of other realms and Omne.

Stifling another sigh, she tucked her chin against her knees. “What is Omne? I still think you should start at the beginning.”

“The beginning?” The horse shuffled his weight between all four feet, exhaled loudly and dropped his head until his eye was level with hers. “In the beginning, Omne created many worlds. One such world of mountains is called Dragonrealm, my home.”

“And dragons?”

The wavy mane brushed against her knees.

“Omne created three chieftains at first. Qwystanak, a mighty beast, larger than the rest of our kind was Chieftain of Clan Inferno.” The horse turned an eye to glare at her. “We are all equal in the eyes of Omne.”

“So Omne is like God?”

After a pregnant pause, Ezerhaydn said, “Yes, that which humans consider God could conceivably be Omne.”

“You know, most people believe in many gods. Especially in the Eastern Coalition.”

“Beliefs have no effect on the truth.”

Zi opened her mouth to protest, but closed it, pursing her lips together and tapping her chin with an index finger. If she believed the sun was black, would that change it from its yellow-orange form? She would have to consider the beast’s words before she could successfully oppose his claim.

“Okay, so a bunch of dragons lived in a different realm. Why are you on Earth?”

Warm, moist air from his nostrils tickled against her clasped hands. Shivers raced up her arms.

“There was a war.”

Silence stretched between them. The enormous black body twitched, and the eye stared at the mountains again. Was he going to tell the story or not? It wasn’t like she had all day. The sun sank in the west already. Soon the air would be freezing. Zi opened her mouth to ask another question.

“Omne created us in harmony and was furious when we turned to in-fighting. He exiled all three chieftains and the remainder of Clan Inferno to Earth as punishment. In exile, we were to learn how to coexist.” Large black hooves crunched against rocks. “Qwystanak refused. His son had been killed, and he wanted revenge. Omne chained Inferno’s chieftain at the center of this planet. He commanded the rest of us to make peace, learn to work together, so we could subdue Qwystanak once he was freed from his prison.”

Zi shook her head, eyes widening. “You expect me to believe there’s a dragon in the earth’s core?”

“Truth is truth.”

Zi pinched her chin. “I don’t understand what this has to do with me.”

“On Earth, dragons continued to fight each other until only a few remained. These were hunted into extinction, except for me and Jokul, Ice Lord, Chieftain of Clan Crystalline. We survived by adapting to this world, hiding and choosing our alliances wisely.”

“Still nothing to do with me,” Zi huffed, crossing her arms over her chest to chase away a chill.

The horse nuzzled her knee. “In your eighteenth century, I was betrayed. I flew into space and cried out to my creator for the ability to disguise myself.” Ezerhaydn paused, bobbing his head and snorting. “He honored my request and told me I would remain in this form until ‘the seer divines your presence.’ And so I have been trapped for 300 years, waiting for your arrival.”

“Never aging or dying? A horse can’t live that long!”

“The normal process of time holds no sway on dragon anatomy. Even in this inferior shell, I am immortal.”

“So, I’m the seer who’s supposed to break your curse.” Zi shook her head. “I don’t know how. I have visions. It’s not like I have any special abilities.”

“Your visions are a special ability.”

Zi stretched her shoulders and slid off the rock. She stepped closer to Ezerhaydn, to avoid looking over the edge.

“In times past, I aided men in inconceivable ways.” The black head nudged her shoulder. “You will help me because it is why you are here.”

The haughty voice clanging inside her head could have belonged to her father. He was always owning her abilities because they were related. Zi stiffened her spine. She wrapped her hand around the rope, tugging the horse back toward the barn.

He stood fast.

“I don’t know how to help you change,” she said. “Maybe I’ll have a vision. Until then, I guess you can hang out in the stable. With the other horses.”

“Enjoy my discomfort now, seer. When I don the scales I am meant to wear--”

“You’ll chomp me in two.” She shrugged. “Whatever you say, Ezerhaydn.”

She took a step toward the barn and snapped to a halt. The gigantic beast refused to move.

“You want me to leave you out here?”

Zi glared at the horse. Not that he could see her scathing look since she faced off with his nose. So much for the power of her angry aura. She clenched her teeth and exhaled through her nostrils. It wasn’t half as intimidating when she did it.

“I would return to the stall,” Ezer said, his voice faint.

Zi forced her lips into a smile, waiting for the rush of triumph. Nope. Whether she believed his tale or not, this beast could enter her mind without permission. Now he required something from her that she couldn’t deliver.

A memory tugged at the back of her mind. She’d read something about this. Hadn’t she?

Back in the barn, she unhooked the halter and let it fall onto her forearm.

“Seismic activity increases. A sure sign that Inferno’s Chieftain emerges.” Ezer stared at her. “I cannot help you in this form.”

“You act like I’m keeping something from you.” Zi slung the halter onto its hook.

“I have waited lifetimes for you to see me.”

“All I see is a gigantic horse.” Zi stared at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Visions come to you. You’ll see.”

Visions of dragons? No thank you.

“Still doesn’t tell me how to help you.” Her jaw ached. Speaking through gritted teeth wasn’t easy.

“Your visions will lead us.” Hot breath sent chills down her spine.

Zi stomped toward the exit, ignoring the clunk of the hoof against the stall door. Not that she could escape someone who could get inside her head. He could keep the full-blown migraine pounding the inside of her skull company.

Had she read that prophecy somewhere? With her mother perhaps? There was something in her closet that might give her a hint.

Anything to get that horse-dragon out of her head.