The Chronicles of Tenroha

Chapter 11

ChapterEleven

Jäkob awoke early, as he always did since arriving at the Sanctum of the Magi. He was feeling refreshed after his slumber and he was not as weary as he had been before he slept. He quietly went to the basin and washed the sleep from his eyes and then dressed himself for the day. He picked an apple from the table of food in their room and began to eat it as he left the room, allowing everyone else to continue sleeping. Since his first day at the sanctum, the table has always had fresh food on it, no matter what room they were in. The table in their current room wasn't overflowing with food as was the one from their first day, but it still had an assortment of fruits, nuts, bread and cheeses.

Jäkob walked quickly this morning because he wanted to see Wiɳdwyrɱ. He had missed his nightly visit with him the night before and was anxious to see him. He exited the corridor in which his room was in and entered the main hall. From there, he walked to the far end of the hall, past the training arenas, past the dining hall, and past the council chambers and then he came to a halt. Seated on a bench at the end of the Hall of Dragons was Chloé. She had an old parchment in her hand and was reading it.

"Good morning Chloé," said Jäkob. "What are you doing out here this early?" he asked. "I couldn't sleep," she said, sounding tired. "Jeremiah was exhausted from training with your brother and Petra yesterday and shortly after we left the dining hall, he began to snore, very loudly. He has never done that before," she replied with a little laugh, and then asked him, "What about you?" "Matáo snores too, after his training, but I'm used to it," he replied laughing with her, and then he said, "I'm going to see Wiɳdwyrɱ."

"Wiɳdwyrɱ?" she asked. Jäkob explained to her a little about the bond that he shared with the young dragon and some of what it meant to be one of The Bonded. Chloé became increasingly more interested as he told her, and then she said, "The scroll that I was just reading was about The Bonded Ones. Is it true that you can draw magic from your dragon and use it for yourself?"

"I don't know," he said shyly. "I am really new to this, and haven't learned very much. The elders are to begin training me more with it once I can master the basics of the ancient language. Wilhelm said that it should be around three more weeks before I can start training with them."

Chloé began asking him question after question about the bond. Jäkob answered what he could and when he didn't know the answer, he would shy away from it. When Chloé would asked him a question about what was in the scroll, she would point to a part in the scroll and show it to him. Jäkob looked at the scroll, but it was written in the ancient language and Jäkob could read very little of it. He could make out a few words here and there, but the majority of it meant nothing to him yet.

"How can you read this already?" asked Jäkob. "You just started learning it a few days ago and you can read more of it than me and I have been studying it for almost three weeks now and only know a little," he said with a little irritation and jealousy. "I don't really know," she said. "When I was very little, and before I could read, I used to speak this language, some, with my mother before she got sick and left."

"I can still remember parts of it, and learning it from Mrs. Clary and Wilhelm have helped me to remember a little of what she had taught me," she said reminiscently and then she continued, "Once I learned the symbols for the sounds, it was easy for me to begin reading it."

"Oh," replied Jäkob sheepishly and feeling bad about how he had treated her, he asked her, "Since you have all these questions about dragons and The Bonded Ones, would you like to meet him?" She replied excitedly by saying, "Yes!" and then he said, "Let me ask him before we go." He reached into his mind and tried to sense Wiɳdwyrɱ. He felt his presence and asked him if it would be alright for him to bring a friend who really wanted to meet him. Still groggy from his sleep, he agreed, and Jäkob could sense his hunger through the bond.