SWNOVELS Chapter 7: A road to understanding
They had ridden for a couple of weeks when they heard the rumors about dragons, at first Ivran was rather sure that it was just a lie but after a while he started to understand that it was true indeed, there were dragons up north once more and they were heading in that direction. It was enough to make him nervous but for many days they didn’t see anything which indicated danger. Josphu just snorted when someone talked about dragons, he openly claimed that it was a whole lot of bullshit and Ivran would have agreed if he hadn’t had this little nagging feeling at the back of his head telling him to watch out. The trading city Josphu came from was not very large, it was more of a small gathering of buildings placed at the foot of a hill and Ivran was so relieved when he saw it. He was sure it was over now. He could deliver the boy to his parents and return to the academy, hopefully right away. The boy’s parents lived in a rather nice house in the middle of the city and they were greeted by the head of the servants who informed that Josphu’s parents had gone north to visit their summer mansion and that Josphu was to join them. Ivran was close to exploding, he would have to spend at least yet another week with this brat?!
But there was no doubt about the fact that there were dragons around yet again, people did flee and many spoke of burned farms and villages and Ivran was scared, he had to admit that. But he was no coward, he had promised to deliver the lad to his parents so he tried to keep his word. They rode on the next morning and for once Josphu didn’t complain, he was clearly eager to see his mother again and Ivran did think that this little thing at least made the boy a wee bit more likeable. They didn’t see any dragons while heading northwest, Ivran just saw smoke upon the horizon a few times but that could be caused by many things really. They reached the mansion late in the evening and they had met a few local farmers who were heading south now, claiming that there were dragons spreading southwards and that they were unstoppable. Ivran didn’t listen, he was just eager to fulfill the mission. The mansion wasn’t large but it had a good masonry wall and it was a luxurious place. To his surprise the parents of this brat were nice people and did welcome him. He would stay there for a couple of days so the horses could rest and then he would be heading back to the academy. Josphu didn’t have any siblings and perhaps he had gotten spoiled but it was very clear that the lad was a very different boy when he was with his parents, much more polite and sweet and Ivran started to realize that the boy didn’t like the academy at all. He was probably homesick and miserable and reacted in a very immature manner but who could really blame him?
Ivran was ready to go the next day when he was invited for a family dinner, he felt a bit out of his comfort zone for these people did eat rather well and they had very nice manners but he did make it through the whole evening without making any blunders, and he even flirted a little with one of the servants. When he went to bed that night he felt very pleased with himself and he wanted to thank the family the next morning before he left. He was grateful for the warm welcome and the nice dinner too. He hadn’t even thought about the dream and this gift he supposedly had for weeks now and he felt just like an ordinary young man, alright, he hadn’t made it to magician but there were other paths in life to pursue and after all, he had a good job now.
He woke up with a start, hearing screams and crashing sounds and he immediately knew that something was terribly wrong. He got up from the bed and threw his clothes on and stormed out of the bedroom. The hall was filled with panic stricken people, Josphu and his parents were standing there with wide eyes and Ivran smelled smoke. “What is happening?”
Josphu’s father answered. “There is a dragon out there, my men are trying to lure it away. We have to flee, it will burn this house”
Ivran felt his heart drop, a dragon? Oh gods, what was he to do?
The servants came running. “The carriage is ready, hurry”
Ivran ran after the people, got a horse and threw himself onto it. The animal was rolling its eyes in fear and the carriage shot out of the gate the moment the driver let go of the brakes. There was a crash behind them and then flames did burst out of the building and a huge monstrous creature appeared. It had run straight through the wall. The driver was whipping the horses which ran as fast as they possibly could and before long they were way ahead of the dragon but Ivran turned around and saw that the huge beast in fact did fly! It took a few swift steps and was airborne and he heard that the people in the carriage screamed in panic. The dragon was catching up on them fast and Ivran had never seen anything that grotesque and terrifying. Then the beast opened its mouth and spewed flames and the horses pulling the carriage were engulfed by them and fell screaming. The carriage tipped over and Ivran saw that Josphu got thrown out, it was probably his father who tried to save his son. The dragon let loose yet another burst of flames and it engulfed the carriage completely.
Ivran gasped, he could ride away or he could try to help Josphu who tried to crawl away from the burning wagon. The horse made the choice for him, the animal did buck and Ivran didn’t manage to stay on at all, he was bound for a rather unpleasant rendezvous with mother earth and he landed with a thud and a groan. He got up onto his knees just as the dragon landed on the remains of the carriage and it collapsed completely, at least there were no more screams. Ivran saw that Josphu tried to lay still, to play dead but the dragon seemed to know that he was alive for it licked its jaws and cocked its monstrous head. Ivran got back on his feet, leaned against a rock and tried to come up with an idea, any idea. He yelled, it was a mistake but he had no other option. “Hey, you bastard, I am here!”
The dragon saw him and if it was possible for such a beast to smirk it did, Ivran knew what evil truly was in that moment. The dragon did pounce like a cat, and it did deliberately place one massive foot on the boy, Ivran heard a crushing sound and something inside of him just snapped. He leaned back against the rock, shouting something he didn’t even understand. The effect was shocking, he was thrown backwards as if he was hit by something heavy and then an immense ball of blue fire formed in front of him and it crashed into the dragon with a sizzling sound. He felt the heat from it but it wasn’t the heat you feel from ordinary flames, no, this was a heat which felt almost cold since it was of a different nature than fire and the dragon shrieked. It was a most horrible sound and Ivran felt his head bang against the rock as he went down. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he fell. The dragon clawed at its own chest, blue flames seemed to burst out of it, as if it was being filled with them and then it fell. I have killed a dragon…That was the last thought he had as darkness overcame him, he just hoped that he would live.
Phraan and Dhokay did rush into the small city at dusk, by then their horses were close to exhaustion and even the mighty Drake was heaving for air and barely able to keep his pace. Phraan stopped the horse in front of the tents they were using and some of the carriage drivers came running to take care of the horses. Phraan jumped down and dragged the unconscious boy with him. “The horses have been ridden very hard, walk them for a while and rub them with cold water and don’t let them drink anything cold, I don’t want them to get sick”
The drivers did know how to handle horses and nodded and Phraan carried the young man to the tent where Vitile and the forest elves stayed. Rhuk and Dabin came running having heard the hooves and they stared at the man Phraan was carrying. “Who is that?”
Phraan didn’t stop. “A survivor from a dragon attack, he saw something I think, or did something”
Vitile and the two others were busy playing cards and just gaped as Phraan stormed inn, Vitile got to her feet and Phraan laid the young man down onto one of the simple beds. “He survived a dragon attack, the dragon laid dead in front of him, and we do need to talk. Something has changed since the last time”
Vitile bent down and put a finger onto the human’s neck. “He is most certainly alive but drained, I cannot explain it otherwise”
Phraan frowned. “Drained? What do you mean?”
Vitile turned her gaze towards him, her eyes were large. “His light, it is almost extinguished, it is as if…he has used all of it, in one go”
Phraan was still confused. “I don’t understand?”
Vitile sighed. “Look, the soul is energy, and that energy is stronger than you can possibly imagine. It is the power which magicians use to empower their spells, the energy that drives the very life itself in us all. It seems as if he has sort of used that energy for something, without being able to control it at all.”
Phraan stared at the young man. “The dead dragon, he killed it, he fucking killed it!”
Vitile frowned. “He isn’t a mage?”
Phraan shook his head. “No, look at his ring, he is an employee at the academy, no magician. Nobody should be able to kill a dragon like that, with magic. It is…unheard of”
Vitile nodded. “Yes, they are magical beasts in nature, immune to magical attacks for some reason, but you said things had changed?”
Phraan shrugged, his face contorted by doubt. “Yes, from what I and Dhokay saw we are in trouble. Is the man going to be okay?”
Vitile looked a bit uncertain. “Yes, but he has a bad concussion, I will make him sleep through it, a deep sleep without dreams. He will heal but his head will hurt for a while”
Phraan sighed. “Good, gather the others, we need to discuss this!”
Half an hour later the whole group was gathered in the large tent at the center of their camp. There was room for everybody there and it was silent, so silent you could have heard a flea fart. Kapha stared at Phraan with disbelief. “Are you feckin’ telling me that the dragons have evolved? Over just a few decades?”
Phraan looked down, he nodded slowly. “No, I don’t think they have evolved but they have been changed. The first dragons we saw fifty years ago were an experiment I think, a test. They tried to check what sort of dragon would be most efficient and now, now they have put that knowledge to use”
Shaluun was leaning against one of the tent poles, his eyes were narrow. “That means that someone indeed is behind all of this, someone with very ill intent. It cannot be coincidental? That the weak dragons were forced to leave back then and that the strong ones are coming forth now? Fifty years to a dragon is like fifty years to us elves, just a blink of an eye after all”
Phraan bit his lower lip. “Oh I hope you are right, but my guts tell me that I am right.”
Kapha frowned and the two dwarves did look worried. “Then what do we do? What can be done to fight these new horrors?”
Vitile looked a bit nervous. “Look, they are dragons right? And they must have some weaknesses, we just have to discover them, like we did back then”
Phraan looked down, he swallowed hard. “I didn’t see any Vitile, it is as if…I cannot put it into words but whoever has created them, they have learned from their mistakes and corrected them. Those dragons were like several species merged into one from what we were told, every weakness removed. And the dead one? It was…a true monster”
Vitile swallowed visibly. “So have we come in vain? Is there nothing we can do?”
Dhokay shook his head, the horns almost touched the canvas. “Of course there are things we can do, and we have not come in vain, we have to try. But we do need more information, and I fear that the job will be so much harder now”
The wood elves did stare at each other and they did look worried and the dwarves too didn’t look as if they liked this piece of news particularly much. Fastonar had been quiet the whole time, now he did step forth and he did look rather grim. “Let us for a moment say that Phraan is right, that someone indeed has changed the dragons somehow and that they now have become much harder to fight. Then let us consider what we do know about dragons, can it at all be done? I mean, dragons breed slowly and grow slowly, fifty years is nothing, as Shaluun said”
Phraan sighed. “I know, it does sound incredible doesn’t it? You cannot change that many dragons that fast, unless those we encountered back then were failures?”
Fastonar did look less than convinced still “I cannot say that I buy that explanation at all, there was nothing about them which was faulty the way I see it. Yes, we did kill a heck of a lot of them but nobody is going to tell me it was easy, for it bloody wasn’t!”
Dhokay tilted his head. “No, it wasn’t! Could this be some new species perhaps? One we simply haven’t seen before?”
Phraan felt a surge of relief rushing through him. “Yes, yes, that is in fact logical. It could be that these dragons did chase the others out of the territories and now they have become too many and has to expand their realm”
Vitile sent him a small smile. “That has to be it yes, I have seen that before, the stronger species does push the weaker one away!”
Shaluun looked thoughtful, he was playing with his knife and his eyes were dark. “Then we are indeed facing something new, something terrible. And our old methods may be worth nothing at all”
The two dwarves did look even more worried now and Taurin and Thiana did exchange some hidden glances. Neither of these four had hunted dragons before and that meant that their chances were slim if they were to actively go up against the beasts. Vitile made a gesture towards the exit of the tent. “The young man Phraan and Dhokay brought in, he may have killed one of those beasts, but the goddess alone knows how!”
Shaluun tilted his head, the beautiful face was showing a great deal of disbelief. “A human? And he is not a powerful wizard? Then I say that dragon died of some other cause, perhaps it had a weak heart? After all, they are flesh and blood”
Phraan had to snort. “A dragon with a weak heart? Are you nuts? It would have been dead decades ago, no, I am pretty sure the young man has something to do with it and I intend to find out what! Everybody else there were dead, he was alive. That means something!”
Kapha frowned. “I agree, it has to mean something.”
Fastonar just sighed and raised his arms. “Great, fine, do ask the lad when he wakes up. In the meantime I am going to interview people and ask them whether or not they have seen something, something useful”
He threw his cape on and rushed out and Phraan frowned. It wasn’t like Fastonar to be that brusque. Vitile touched his arm gently. “He is under a great deal of stress dear, don’t forget that. He is probably afraid he will disappoint the king, and his calling”
Phraan tried to smile. “Of course. But I still don’t like this situation, we thought this was gonna be like the good old days right? Now it seems as if everything has changed, who has ever heard of a herd of dragons containing a female?”
Vitile nodded slowly. “I have to admit that it sounds very odd, back in the days the dragon males would kill each other if there was a female nearby, simply to prove they were the stronger one. Could this new species be different somehow?”
Phraan snapped his fingers. “That could be it, we need that dead dragon, before the scavengers do their job!”
He rushed out of the tent too and Vitile stood there and looked confused and a wee bit angry too. Kapha patted her back. “Don’t worry dear. He has gotten an idea, and when Phraan has an idea you might as well try to make the great river flow backwards, he won’t rest until he has satisfied his curiosity.”
Dhokay grinned widely. “Oh I do know him you know, the only thing I wonder about is how he plans on transporting that beast back here, are there wagons strong enough to take that weight?”
Vitile just rolled her eyes. “No, he will go back there, and I am gonna follow him, for I want to see this beast with my own eyes”
Dhokay sighed. “Put the brakes on him please, our horses are exhausted and I want a meal, sleep and a hot bath before I go anywhere”
Vitile nodded and ran outside, Phraan was talking to one of the minor officers there and was visibly upset by the lack of wagons. She walked over and he saw her, frowned. “There are no wagons here we can use”
She had to grin, his face showed an almost childlike disappointment. “Listen, we’ll all go there tomorrow, we all want to see that beast and believe me, if it is as large as you say no wagon or anything can move it. But now you need food and rest and to be absolutely honest you do also need a bath, you reek!”
Phraan sniffed himself, blinked. “Ah, yes, you are right, I do stink.”
She grabbed him by the hand. “Let’s go then, bath, food, and rest. And no trip anywhere until tomorrow, got it?”
He nodded and followed her obediently. He saw it now, he was too impulsive, too eager. He failed to take himself and his own wellbeing into consideration. Vitile went to check up on the young man and Phraan found the tent where the soldiers got their food. Dhokay was already there, and he grinned and raised a jug of ale. Since they were sent there by the king it meant that they could use everything the army had of resources, including the food. “This is good stuff, better than the ale they serve at many inns”
Phraan sat down and nodded. “The soldiers who serve at these posts do get some extra treatment, to compensate for the fact that they are placed in the middle of nowhere”
A servant came with two trays and there was food on both of them, huge bowls of stew, bread, cheese and a sort of porridge Phraan never had seen before. Dhokay sniffed his bowl with suspicion and the servant smiled. “It is made from a new sort of grain they imported from the Far East, when it started to get so dry and cold. It can handle that way better than the wheat”
Phraan took a tentative spoonful and was positively surprised, it did taste rather good. Dhokay didn’t look so impressed. The servant continued. “The farmers have had to change their produce these last years, the cattle farmers have started to farm sheep instead and the tribes who made their living following the herds of lump backs have travelled south, the herds cannot find enough of the lichens they feed upon anymore.”
Phraan shrugged, the lump backs were huge short legged animals with a huge lump in the middle of their backs, very long coats and short stumpy horns. The meat was dry and not very good but the hairs they shed twice a year could be transformed into some extremely nice cloth. Dhokay went for the stew instead and the two ate in silence. The ale was strong, in fact the strongest ale Phraan had tasted in an army camp and he was a bit shocked by that. A human being would be royally drunk just from drinking a few cups of this and a soldier should after all at least try to be sober in case of an emergency. The place was probably so peaceful nobody gave a damn about that fact anymore, it told Phraan that the soldiers there probably were unprepared for battle, and unable to react the way they ought to in case of an attack. He finished the food and felt completely stuffed, afterwards he and Dhokay went to the bath, it was a tent placed on its own and it was rather special for it had a stone wall built around the base and the canvas was very thick. A huge boiler was built on the outside of it and pipes did lead the hot water into the tent where several tubs were placed in a row, separated by sheets. Buckets of cold water stood by each tub and you regulated the temperature by using that cold water, simple and efficient. Phraan liked his bathwater hot, and he didn’t use much cold water but Dhokay preferred a cooler temperature and did scrub himself a little before entering the tub. His race was famous for their cleanliness and some were almost hysterical when it came to dirt and stains. They did see cleanliness as a proof of goodliness and someone who didn’t bother washing was someone they wouldn’t trust. Back in the days even Dhokay had been filthy at times but he was the first to take a bath when the fighting was over, even if it meant plunging into a frigid river.
Phraan did enjoy the bath, it made him relax and made his thoughts clearer and he saw now that Vitile was right, they all ought to go to learn more about that beast. The skin was tough, the scavengers wouldn’t be able to do any real damage until it had started to rot and that would take weeks in this cold weather. He was pleasantly tired when he found his tent and went to bed. An elf doesn’t need to sleep as much as a human but the hard ride and all the things which had happened had taken their toll of him. He was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
Ivran woke up with a splitting headache and a feeling of utter confusion, then he remembered and yelped. He was in a tent, a very ordinary one with dark canvas and a narrow cot of a bed. He was wrapped in army blankets and there as a smell of horse and people there, and a lot of sounds. He tried to get up but got dizzy right away and he blinked. The dragon, he had killed a dragon! And he could remember sitting in front of someone on a ridiculously tall horse, what had happened? He closed his eyes, oh gods his head hurt! He heard a sound and opened his eyes again, a very tall women had entered the tent and he gaped. She was an elf, and she was very pretty and seemed to be friendly. She wore a hunter’s garbs and had several knives placed in her belt and across her back and she wore her long hair in a tight braid. She sat down on a chair next to the cot with elegant movements. Ivran had hardly met any elves before, he had no idea of what to say. “How do you feel young human? Phraan said your name is Ivran?”
Ivran nodded. “Yes my lady, that is correct”
She reached out and placed a cool hand on his forehead. “You survived a dragon attack, do you remember anything? Phraan and another one of us found you and brought you back here, you are in the city of Mudwall, in the army camp”
Ivran felt a shudder go through him, what could he really say. “Uh, I remember…the dragon, it killed everyone”
She frowned, her eyes were so incredibly clear and shiny and Ivran felt as if she could stare straight into his very soul and see his every though “And yet you are alive, with a concussion but nothing worse than that”
Ivran swallowed hard. “Uh, I bet I am in luck”
She sighed. “In luck indeed, you ought to be roasted but you were spared, that is very unusual. Rest now, you have a head injury and shouldn’t move for a few days, we will talk later”
Ivran felt his head spin. “Who are you people really?”
The she elf bowed her head. “I am Vitile, we are dragon slayers, or rather, we were dragon slayers. Now we don’t know anymore, the dragons have changed apparently, gotten bigger and more vicious, more dangerous.”
Ivran felt his palms go sweaty. “They have? “
She nodded. “A servant will bring you food and drink, do not leave the bed until I get back”
He blinked, oh it was blasted how his head hurt. “Back? From where?”
She smiled. “We are gonna take a look at the dragon which attacked you and your friends, maybe we can find out more about it, it has to be some new species we haven’t seen before”
He swallowed hard, could they discover anything then? Like what had killed it? He hoped not! “O…okay, I will stay in bed”
She leaned forth, laid her hand on his head and most of the pain did disappear.” Here, this ought to do it right? Rest, we will talk later”
Ivran laid back, grateful and a bit shocked. He knew that elves could heal others but this was in fact rather astonishing. But talk? Could he just slip out of the tent and run off before they returned? He didn’t want them to know what he had done, what he had been given. Some instinct told him not to trust anyone. The she elf left the tent and Ivran knew that he needed at least a day of rest, perhaps even more. He groaned and tried to find a comfortable position, this would be some very long hours indeed.
Phraan did wake up to the smell of tea, Vitile always brewed this special type which smelled and tasted just wonderful and he blinked and sat up. She was by his bed and handed over a hot cup which he accepted with gratitude. “I checked on the human, he is recovering rather well, but something fishy is going on. He didn’t explain why he survived, appeared to prefer not to.”
Phraan took a sip of tea, oh gods, it did taste divine. “You think he is hiding something?”
Vitile nodded. “I am sure he is hiding something, the question is what. The ring says he is an employee right? He is not a magician then, but what if he has somehow learned something back there, something he shouldn’t?”
Phraan cocked his head, the tea did wonders, he felt almost reborn. “Are you suggesting that he has picked up some spell and tried it on that dragon? With such results?”
Vitile nodded “Got a better explanation?”
He groaned. “Vitile, he is a human being, his magic cannot be that strong, even if he was a magician. If he was say an Oolishan elf it would be possible for even an untrained person to use a simple spell but by the Goddess Vitile, an untrained human being uttering a spell able to kill a dragon? The lad would be just as fried as the dragon was, or worse, completely obliterated!”
She looked down. “I am not that familiar with humans Phraan, I am sorry”
He smiled. Tried to look as if he did understand her way of thinking. “Listen, nobody, not even the greatest of mages are capable of doing that, yes, we do need a mage to ward off fire but magic cannot kill dragons, we have seen that before haven’t we?”
She nodded. “Arakhar yes, he tried, and failed! “
Phraan sat up and yawned. “Exactly, and we all know that he was among the strongest magicians of all time, a man with a strength which comes only once a thousand years, and he was blessed in every manner.”
She handed him his boots and he pulled them on with a groan. “Yes, he was blessed, but what if it wasn’t the lad himself but something he carried? Some magical object perhaps?”
Phraan finished the tea, it left a pleasant warmth in his belly. “Vitile, he didn’t have anything on him, just his clothes. There was no trace of anything of a magical nature there”
She sighed, looked disappointed. “Then what did kill that dragon?”
Phraan got up and patted her back. “That is what we are supposed to find out now, are the others ready?”
She nodded slowly, looking uncertain. “Yes, they are just waiting for you. Get some food, and some warm clothes, it is a very cold day.”
Phraan found an extra thick tunic and an extra cloak and then he grabbed some bread and cheese from the cantina and ran to the area where the horses were kept. His stallion and Dhokay’s gelding were sore after the hard ride so they had to rest, instead Phraan was given a very tall black mare with a fierce temper and Dhokay got a stocky brown gelding who looked as if it was contemplating taking a bite out of anyone who dared to get near its head. Phraan was in an odd mood, the young man did know something, he had to, maybe the carcass would reveal the secret after all. It would take them this day and most of the next to reach the mansion again and that left them all with plenty of time to think. The weather was rather good but a cold wind did howl around them and everybody did pack their cloaks tight around themselves. The horses became skittish from the wind and so there wasn’t much conversation going on, most had enough with their steeds and the cold.
The faces gathered around the table did speak of a great deal of disbelief, and also a huge dose of anger, none of them had ever heard of anything like that. “It is impossible! There has never been anyone capable of such a deed, it has to be some sort of misunderstanding?”
The man speaking was rather short and his elegant robes did tighten more than a little around his middle. The rounded face was red and he was sweating profusely, walking up the stairs to the chamber was something he preferred not to do but this time there hadn’t been a choice at all. “I assure you my brothers, it is no misunderstanding and no mistake. It is dead!”
The tall man with the elegant goatee and thick black hair was looking at the crowd the way a father looks at a bunch of belligerent children, with some concern but also with understanding. “I know it is hard to comprehend here and now but it is a fact, and it wasn’t killed by any slayer”
Another man did speak up. “Then what? They were supposed to be invincible!”
The tall man shook a finger. “There there, nothing is invincible, we all know that, but the concern is that the high mage felt a huge magical discharge when that dragon’s energy disappeared. It was killed by magic and we do need to know how that is possible and even more pressing is it to know who the killer was”
Everybody stared at each other, they were seven men there not including the leader and they all looked shocked. “Not possible, dragons are immune to magical weapons, and spells. It is in their nature, our foregoers did take every precaution when they were created”
An elderly man with thin white beard and beady eyes was waving his hands, he did look upset. The tall leader smiled. “Yes they did, so if this indeed was a magical weapon it is something our forefathers didn’t know anything about, and that means that it can be a threat to us all.”
The first man who spoke frowned. “Then what are we to do?”
The leader cocked his head. “Don’t worry, we do have a servant in that area, an associate of mine, and this person will find the reason why the dragon died and if the reason is a person either bring him here to us or kill him. We cannot have anyone running around who is capable of ruining our plans now can we?”
They all mumbled in agreement and the fat man sort of grimaced. “Let us hope that this servant is capable then, we cannot afford any mistakes “
The leader smirked. “Worry not my brothers, the servant is very skilled. Soon we will reclaim what was ours, and the world will bend to our will”
There was some cheers heard but then a thin voice could be heard through the racket, a tiny man came forth carrying a thick book and he was so old he seemed to be almost transparent. “But the omen brother, the omen!”
The leader shrugged. “Badrian, I have said this before and yes, I am saying it again. Those old scriptures are worthless, mumbo jumbo, they were written by ignorant fools who knew naught! Let it rest brother, it means nothing”
The old man bowed his head. “But the signs are all clear, a comet was seen, a white raven crossed the dark moon. The very source will awaken to the truth and then the forgotten one will come for us and with it…”
The leader raised a hand. “Silence!! I will not hear this again, to believe that there truly is something out there powerful enough to threaten our rule is ridiculous. The new dragons will not be stopped, no puny slayer can destroy the hordes which are to be released”
The old man put on a sour face. “I believe the texts brother, I believe in the words. The one who escaped will come and bring with her the one death loves and the one who is cursed. And the blood raining from the skies will be ours”
The leader nodded to a burly man standing by the entrance. “Sir Echard, escort brother Badrian back to his chambers, old age has smothered his wisdom and made him see phantoms”
Echard did grasp the old man rather brutally and he was dragging the man with him down the stairs. Badrian did curse loudly, swinging a fist. “You will bring doom upon us with you denial, her coming will mean that fate will unleash the beast!”
The leader just smirked and turned to the crowd again. “Forget about his ramblings, they are old wives tales, nothing more. The work of our forefathers have been fruitful and we will harvest what they did sow. Victory and glory will be ours.”
The last words did echo through the great hall and then there was silence, a pleased and loaded silence. All they had to do was wait, and now the hour was getting closer by the day. Yes, the day of triumph was drawing near.
The leader didn’t notice that the somewhat fat man stared at him with obvious contempt, he almost snarled. If Simaon was planning on investigating the strange incident he would make sure that nothing went wrong. Simaon was no mage, and he had little understanding of magic. But Arabur knew the old ways and he knew the risks and now he planned on visiting the high mage. If the so called leader indeed wanted to find the person responsible for the death of that dragon Arabur wanted to be sure that their lovely and oh so deadly new toys found that person first. They could take no chances now.
Phraan and the others did spend the night at an abandoned farm, they left by the first light of day and by noon they approached the mansion where they had found Ivran. Some ravens had found the bodies but as they rode closer to the dead dragon it was very apparent that the scavengers did stay clear of the dead monster. Phraan stopped his horse and the others just stared, with wide eyes. Vitile let out a gasp, “I see what you meant now, that is…not an ordinary long tail”
Phraan tried to smile, the beast did already stink but not as bad as one might expect, it was cold after all. Dhokay grasped his long knives. “Well. We’d better get at it then, Rhuk, Dabin, you both know how to use an axe I presume.”
The beast lay there on its side and Shaluun started to walk around it, with slow steps. He did look very confused. “Oh my…look at those wings? And the claws?”
Rhuk was spitting. “Look at the size I say, are you saying we are gonna cut that beast open?”
Phraan grinned. “Yes, we have to see how much this animal has been changed, we have to find its weak spots”
Dhokay had already attacked its belly and he was trying to slice through the hide but couldn’t, it was like trying to cut steel. “Look at this, it is too tough”
Kapha frowned. “Do as we used to, go inn through its asshole”
The animal’s rear passage was right underneath its tail and Dhokay sighed deeply. “Alright, be aware, there could be some gas escaping”
He pried the knife into the tight muscle and with all of his might he just managed to nick it. He swore. “This thing is made from something incredibly tough, I can tell you that. My knives are razor sharp!”
Vitile nodded. “And yet it did die, look at its chest, it looks burned, or I don’t know, transformed somehow?”
Phraan smiled. “You can check that end, I’ll help Dhokay at this end and the rest of you, try to find a weak spot in the armor, use whatever you have”
He and Dhokay ended up using a spear and as soon as they started cutting from the inside out it went a little faster but it was still a terrible job. The dwarves went at it like mad and the axes proved to be very efficient, at least to some degree. Shaluun was fascinated by the head and kept examining it and Vitile was all over the odd burn. She couldn’t quite understand what sort of flames this had to have been. Three stinking grueling hours later they had made enough of a cut to examine its inside and Phraan didn’t quite believe what he saw. The animal was very different from the dragons of old, in many ways. Dhokay sighed and dropped some pieces of intestine on the ground. “Now we know why the males didn’t fight over that female”
Vitile frowned and the two dwarves stared with narrow eyes, Taurin and Thiana hadn’t seen a dragon before neither so they were obviously shocked. “Is that it’s…”
Dhokay nodded. “Its balls yes, they are almost non existing. These males are in reality eunuchs!”
Phraan felt cold. “That isn’t natural, that means that they have been manipulated”
Dhokay spat and Fastonar looked fascinated. “Sure looks like it, come to this end and take a look!”
He had been examining the long and spiky tail and they gathered, he pointed at the long curved spikes. “See? Those spikes are typical for a spike back, not a long tail”
Phraan nodded, his face grim. “Yes, Shaluun?”
The tall elf made a grimace. “It has the mouth armor of a rock jaw, and teeth like a storm fire. It truly is as if they have mixed several races together to create a superior one”
Vitile did pull her braid, it was something she only did when she was really upset for some reason. “Right, it looks almost as if the dragon burned from the inside out?! But that is impossible?”
Dhokay looked at her, his eyes did reveal that he was a bit puzzled by this. “From the inside? That is odd, but truly, we don’t know how their fire is produced, it could perhaps be that we have seen the first case of self-combustion in a dragon?”
Phraan shook his finger at the tall luptay. “No, I don’t buy that, Ivran has something to do with it, I am bloody sure!”
The dwarves looked eager. “But otherwise from the tiny balls it is like other dragons right? I mean, on the inside?”
Dhokay stared at Rhuk who was testing his axe on one of the dragon’s toes, trying to cut it off. It was like trying to cut timber with a blunt axe, it just bounced off. “It looks normal yes, from the little we can see, it appears to have all the right organs and everything”
Vitile had attacked the burn now with her blades and the burned area was in fact crisp, it was easy to break through it and enter the chest cavity. She did cut her way and then she slowed down. “Guys? Look at this, have you seen anything like this before?”
The group gathered around her and stared and Phraan swallowed hard, in absolute shock. The heart of the beast was protected by a hard outer shell of bone, it looked like a huge bone ball!
Fastonar was gaping. “That is…fucking amazing!”
Shaluun shook his head. “More like fucking terrifying if you ask me, but it is dead so what killed it?”
Vitile grasped an axe and managed to shatter the bone after a few solid strikes. She cocked her head and wasn’t afraid to put her hands into the huge organ. “It has exploded, from the inside out. The fire or whatever it was caused its heart to just go…boom!”
Phraan just stared. “Boom?”
She nodded. “Boom, it is scorched, see?”
Fastonar was frowning. “It couldn’t be like ball lightening or something like that? I have seen that once and it was weird, they say ball lightening can be very dangerous”
Thiana shook her head. “We once found a huge elk which had been killed by a ball lightening, it too had a scorch mark but it had burned from the outside inn, not the other way around.”
Fastonar sighed. “Magic then. I hope that young man will tell us more, I don’t like this at all”
He turned around and walked back to his horse and the others too left, just Vitile stayed by the carcass, she was fascinated by the oddities she saw and took an extra peek at the chest area. Suddenly she saw something strange, there was a faint glow coming from a spot just in front of the chest, a little above the area where the chest muscles met and she did cut her way towards it with a sense of confusion. Dragons don’t glow? She hit something hard and felt the cut, her fingers touched something hard and she grasped onto it and yanked at it. At first it was stuck, then it gradually came loose with a sickening wet sound and she pulled it out. It was a gem, not very large, in fact she had seen ladies wearing way larger stones on their rings but it had a very deep dark red color and it was glowing slightly. A dim glow which looked almost sick somehow. She shuddered, this gem was evil, she just knew it. It was unholy dark magic and she hissed and grasped her belt pouch, dropped it into it. It felt heavy, dangerous, like a shadow looming in a darkened forest and she just knew that this tiny thing had something to do with why the dragons suddenly were so much more dangerous than before. She hurried over to her horse, she would tell Phraan of this soon, but for some reason she didn’t think the rest of them ought to know, the gem could be something special for only this specimen. If she found more then she would tell them, then it had to mean something important. As they started the ride back towards the city she felt as if she was carrying the very answer to this riddle, and it was an answer she was rather sure she wouldn’t like.
Back in the city Ivran was able to sit up in bed now and he was getting better. Someone brought him food and drink at regular intervals and he had gotten his clothes washed and his boots had been polished. Being an emissary of the academy did have its benefits and he was treated with respect by the soldiers and even the officers did act as if he was one of them. He had left the bed by now and was sitting in a chair outside of the tent, just to have something to do. There was always something going on in an army camp and he found it invigorating. It was so different from the academy, not that the academy in any way had been quiet or a haven of tranquility but this environment was so much more lively. There were soldiers laughing and talking and using a language the teachers would have found absolutely revolting and even the everyday routines were interesting for someone unfamiliar with them. A farrier was working with the army horses, changing shoes and trimming hooves and some soldiers were repairing some tents. There were always things to be done, even in a time of peace.
Ivran heard the men train too, and some officers were roaring orders and using a cussword in every sentence they said. It was a rougher and more masculine environment than the one Ivran had lived in for the last years. There weren’t any female magicians, not because women didn’t have the magical powers but because the academy simply didn’t allow it. It was tradition, it had been questioned so many times but each time the answer was no, females would be a distraction. The academy was a place of discipline and control. Of mastering the powers within the mind and soul, of unwritten rules and courtesy. Here there were no such things, the manners were rough to say the least, the language coarse and everybody cared more about your ability to fight than you manners. Ivran liked it, it was a breath of fresh air.
It was getting late when the gates were opened and he got curious, the group shouldn’t return until the day after but he heard hooves and he got curious. A huge group of men entered, all riding rather nice horses and they wore uniforms and were armed. Some carriages and pack mules did follow them and he did see several knights among the men, all in armor and he felt his heart beat a wee bit faster. He had always been fascinated by knights, most boys were. They were like the very personification of everything noble and right and he stared at the impressive display of power and understood little. The huge group was shown to another part of the camp and Ivran felt eager. These had to be dragon slayers too and he wondered who they were.
He was still too dizzy to walk far but he managed to get to the corrals where the horses were kept and saw that the strangers put up camp in record time. An officer walked by and Ivran bowed his head. “Excuse me, who are these men?”
The officer smiled, for some reason people still seemed to like Ivran the moment they met and he was a bit confused by that. After all, he was a complete stranger. “They are a team of knights coming from the southwest, sent north by his majesty’s order. He believed that just one group would be too few, and these men are tough and ready for anything”
Ivran still had that eager look upon his face which was pretty normal for young men like him. “I can see that, they are so many?”
The officer nodded. “Two hundred to be precise”
Ivran was about to ask if any of the knights had fought dragons before when there was a racket coming from the main entrance. He walked towards the noise rather slowly and saw a very old mule which was hitched up to an even older wagon, the thing looked as if the only thing which kept it together was hope and good will. It was filled with stuff though, bottles, jars, things Ivran couldn’t even describe and the owner of the vehicle was even more indescribable. Ivran had to gape, he had never seen anyone like that before. The man was first of all so skinny he looked like a scare crow and he had the dirtiest clothes the young man had ever seen. He was sure that if the odd person took them off they would stand on their own. Furthermore the man had a very long beard which had been spun into a sort of braid and he had a long braid as well but the sides of his head had been shaved and he was just as filthy as his clothes. It was hard to tell his skin color through all the shit. Ivran cringed, the stench of unwashed human was so strong he felt it from a distance and the man appeared to have lice and the face was seemingly pox marked but then Ivran realized that it was scars from sparks. The man looked insane, and he was acting insane too. Waving his hands and shouting at the guards and one of the leaders of the group which had arrived came running, he did look angry. “Don’t let this man enter, he is a danger to us all. Bloody bastard almost killed several of my men”
The man shook his hand at the soldier. “I did not, absolutely not! I saved them, you wanted a cure for constipation and I gave them a cure for constipation!”
The soldier appeared to be high ranking, probably an officer and he was not impressed. “It is not a cure when it is worse than the disease, five men did almost shit themselves to death. They are still too weak to ride. “
The guards looked confused. “Is he a healer?”
The officer shook his head. “No, an alchemist, or rather, a charlatan. He knows nothing, but he decided to follow us and “offer us his services out of his good will” if you catch my drift, fucking vulture is what he is.”
The so called vulture scoffed. “I am no charlatan, it wasn’t my fault that those guys were of such a delicate nature? I didn’t know man! I can help, by the power of alchemy I can help you fight the scourge, defeat the monsters!”
The officer was almost roaring. “And by the power of his majesty I do say this; you are not welcome in this camp, you are not a part of the army and if I was the mayor of this fine city I would kick your skinny ass as far away as possible. Now, get lost before I order my knights to chase you”
The man swore, and the words he used were so bad the guards stood there with their jaws almost touching their chins. Ivran had to gasp, he had never heard anyone compare an officer with those anatomical parts of a female and absolutely not with such an inventive use of descriptive words. The man turned his mule around and the old animal let out a shriek of annoyance and anger and trotted off, with the pace of a snail stuck in glue. The officer rolled his eyes and the guards were still staring, eyes huge as tin plates. Ivran did walk a little closer, he was still having a hard time believing what he had just heard. “My lord, who…who was that?!”
The officer saw that young man with the academy uniform and straightened himself up, tried to look like a soldier in his majesty’s army once more. “A most bothersome and disgusting individual, he stayed in a village we happened to pass by, selling all sorts of “Miraculous medicine” but most of it was probably just turpentine and horse sweat. He has been following us since and we have tried to get rid of him but he keeps coming back, he is like a freakin’ burr!”
Ivran listened to the wailing sounds coming from the wagon. “He is a criminal?”
The officer scoffed. “No, it isn’t illegal selling self-made medicine, even if it is a hoax. But it ought to be! He tried to fix some of my soldiers after they ate some food their stomachs didn’t respond too well to and the result was that they all got a terrible diarrhea, they almost kicked the bucket.”
Ivran blinked. “Why was he so filthy? I have never seen a man that dirty!”
The officer smiled, the young man was very handsome and the innocent expression within his eyes was making the officer feel a bit protective. “He believes that water will wash away his luck you see, he hates baths. Some of my guys tried to toss him into the river once and it was like bathing a cat, he went ballistic so they had to give up that project. After all, we are not savages and nobody wanted to cause the man physical harm.”
Ivran could still smell the man, his nose was twitching. “Oh gods, that is disgusting, and you have been travelling with him? My deepest respect, I would have gone mad!”
The officer made a grimace. “And we almost did so I forbid him from travelling with us, but he has followed us in spite of that”
Ivran cocked his head. “What is his name?”
The officer grinned. “Believe it or not but his first name is Tersus, nobody have heard him speak of a surname so I bet he is just a commoner.”
Ivran had to snort, if he had been drinking anything he would have sprayed it all over the place for Tersus meant clean in the words of the magician’s language. He gasped for air. “That has to be the least appropriate name for a person like him, it has to be a joke?!”
The officer shrugged. “No, it is his name. Talk about irony hu?”
Ivran nodded. “Yes, the gods do have a sense of humor I guess.”
The officer looked curious. “You are of the academy? What are you doing here?”
Ivran smiled. “I was sent to escort one of the younger students to his home and we were attacked by a dragon and some slayers did save me, I have been here for almost two days now”
The man stared at him. “A dragon? You have seen one? What was it like?”
Ivran looked at the ground. “Ah, terrifying? I fell and hit my head and the slayers got me back here, I am supposed to rest”
The officer was eager, that was easy to see, his eyes were shining. “You have got to tell me more, but I have to go now. My name is Crassian by the way, I am a captain and knight in his majesty’s army and I am to lead this team while we are here. Is it true that this other group was around when the dragons caused problems fifty years ago?”
Ivran nodded. “Some of them yes, an elf named Phraan I think, and a huge guy named Dhokay, and I spoke to this elf girl named Vitile.”
Crassian almost gaping. “Phraan? Oh gods almighty, he is like a legend, a true hero. Nobody has been responsible for more dead dragons than him, that elf can kill just about anything!”
Ivran frowned, “He can?”
Crassian nodded. “Yes, they say the orcs almost shat themselves when he entered a battlefield, I have got to meet him, are they here now?”
Ivran shook his head. “Ah, no, I think they will be back tomorrow though”
Crassian was starry eyed. “Wonderful, I cannot wait to meet him, we have to co-operate you know, learn from each other. This is gonna be wonderful”
The officer patted Ivran on his arm. “I have to go, but bring my regards to Phraan if you meet him before I do. I have grown up hearing the tales of his great deeds. He is the best slayer ever!”
Ivran looked down as the man almost ran off, the dragon had been a horrible things, an abomination and he doubted, no, he knew that not even a legendary slayer would have been able to save Josphu and his family. The dragons had to have changed. He was tired when he got back to the tent and his head was pounding once more. He had to lay down and he still couldn’t get over that odd man. Alchemy was seen as a sort of short cut to power by the magicians, as a less respectable and rather doubtful manner of which to uncover the mysteries of nature and creation. Alchemy was the ugly step sister of magic and nobody wanted to even discuss alchemy, it was just a no-no. Any magician admitting to find an interest in the subject would find himself tossed out of the academy faster than a monk leaves an alehouse in the morning. Alchemy was in short seen as mumbo jumbo, as something which was good for nothing and fake and Ivran had to shake his head. Cure for constipation, the man had to be completely mad indeed.
He did go to bed, the group would return the next morning and he was still wondering what to do, if he could continue to lie. He didn’t want to reveal his secrets to anyone, it was just too much at risk here. But he couldn’t leave just yet, he was still rather ill and didn’t want to risk his health and also, he was curious. Could these groups really manage to kill dragons? He could stay for a while, just to watch and learn something new, he needed a new horse too and he wasn’t expected to return to the academy for yet another month. Yes, he would stay, he just had to keep his pie hole shut and make sure that nobody discovered the magic he was harboring. It should be easy enough, he just had to avoid doing anything magical. Yes, it would be no trouble at all, and he would get to watch true dragon slayers in action.
The group did return the next day, after a rather unpleasant ride in pouring ice-cold rain and wind and Ivran felt oddly relieved that they were back and okay. He had been afraid that they had perished for who then could help this region? The slayers did go to the baths to get some heat into their bodies and then they did have a huge meal. The new group surprised them, they hadn’t known that the king would send more men north but they could do nothing about it. Vitile came to check upon Ivran when they were done eating, he still had a slight headache but he wasn’t dizzy anymore and felt rather fine so she did allow him to join them for some debriefing. Ivran listened as they discussed the dragon and he kept claiming that he didn’t know what had caused the dragon’s death and that he hadn’t seen anything really. Phraan didn’t believe him, he did see that but what could he do?
Crassian and the other officers of the new group did arrive after a while and they were all in awe of and so full of respect they acted a wee bit silly. Phraan seemed to be embarrassed by it all and looked as if he would prefer to be somewhere else so Fastonar sort of lead the negotiations. They did explain that the dragons had changed, and that they no longer knew if their methods were valid. This new group would be responsible for doing reconnaissance since they had fast horses and were many and they would also help evacuate the population. The officers did agree, the original group was the only ones with real experience and so Fastonar became the head of the whole operation. Ivran found it hard to believe that Phraan was the one who had caused the death of most dragons. He would have guessed that perhaps Dhokay was the most lethal of them, or perhaps even Shaluun. Phraan was of course tall and strong and just gorgeous too but he was…Ivran didn’t know how to phrase it, gentle? He didn’t look like someone with a talent for violence, his behavior was so calm, so balanced. Perhaps all elves were thus? Ivran didn’t know.
The first troops were to leave during the afternoon, to look for dragon packs and to order people to leave the area and head south. Phraan and the others were discussing the findings, trying to come up with a solution. Ivran did notice the two convicts, now that the group was in a camp the two didn’t have that much to do but Peter was eager to help. Ivran saw that the man probably had a lot of good traits, he was perhaps just someone who had taken some wrong choices in a state of desperation. Aiolo on the other hand sent cold shivers down Ivran’s back, there was something wrong with that man. Ivran had seen someone with eyes like that once before, during his first year as a student. It was a man who had served as a guard at the academy and there had been some odd disappearances that year, young lads had vanished from their homes and some street boys too had gone missing. At first people had believed it to be just coincidence but later on things started to look suspicious. And when a terrified lad was found hiding in the moat outside of the walls the truth came forth. The guard kidnapped and raped young boys before he simply tortured them to death. Ivran had seen the execution and the eyes of the condemned criminal had been just like the eyes of this man, cold and without human emotions. He hoped that they all were aware of the fact that this man could be a true monster within.