rest waited patiently to be called. The dragon knew that the first attempt at saddling a mount was no easy task, and the number of instructions one could expect was greater than a beginner could have imagined. Fitting the entire harness onto a mount could be complicated, especially for someone who’d never had any experience with it before.
Just as the dragon had thought, the cadets emerged from the stables after nearly twenty minutes. They all looked rather exhausted, whilst the stablehands merely shook their heads. The wargs, wolf-like creatures the size of a small pony, were the only ones who seemed indifferent to the whole affair. The mounts, now fully harnessed and ready to ride, seemed accustomed to the new riders’ clumsiness, though they followed the cadets calmly once they’d left the building.
‘Draco Ignis!’ The dragon gave a little jump, as he hadn’t expected his turn to come so soon. Not wanting to attract the instructor’s negative attention, he hurried and almost ran up to the stable boy who’d called him out. ‘It might take us a while with yours,’ said the man, pointing to the door behind him and inviting the boy inside.
‘It shouldn’t be that bad,’ Draco said only once they were inside. He even wondered whether he should wait until they’d moved a little further away to make sure Mrs Taumaturge wouldn’t hear him. ‘I groom Fen myself, so I’ve got a bit of practice.’ He hesitated for a moment. ‘Well, perhaps it’s better to say I’ve had a bit of a go at it.’ He laughed nervously.
‘Good to hear.’ The stablehand leading the dragon gestured towards the back of the stable.
Only now did the reptile look around. The building, which hadn’t seemed all that big from the height of Solvein’s base, was impressive on the inside. A long, single room was divided by wooden partitions, and the three aisles thus created were sectioned off into stalls. Glancing left and right, he quickly assessed that most were occupied by wargs, although something larger was moving about in the more distant stalls. In
