Dragon Tears (21 page)

“Help me repack Redwing, and we can get going.”

Although the dragons could see fairly well in the darkness, they didn’t trust their eyesight enough to risk flying through the tunnel. “If we knew all the twists and turns it would be different,” Redwing explained as they began walking in the darkness.

Redwing led the way, followed by Allard, then Patrik. Larkin brought up the rear since his splint slowed him down. Rat, of course, came and went as she pleased, but whatever she had found at the end of the tunnel had scared her enough that she stuck pretty close to the travelers.

Conversation as they walked was minimal, each one trying to figure out the meaning of the sky dragons’ words.

“We forgot to thank them,” Patrik said at one point.

“They didn’t exactly give us a chance,” the wizard replied. “All I have left are a few diamonds, anyway.”

“That would have been perfect for them,” Larkin said.

“You could just leave them here,” Redwing suggested.

“I suppose I could. Can you find me a niche in the rock to place them?”

They found a perfect alcove a short time later, and the wizard placed the last of the gemstones in the crack. “That’s all of them. Now I am as poor as when we started this journey.”

“Not really,” Patrik said, “you have two new friends, and that’s something.”

“There is that,” the wizard said with a smile, “and that’s an awful lot by my way of thinking.”

They knew they had reached the end of the tunnel when their footsteps began echoing back at them. The wizard found a torch and held it out for Redwing to flame into life. They stared around the huge cavern, disappointment on all their faces.

“There’s nothing here,” Patrik said at last. “It’s another large, empty cave like the one we just left.”

Rat, however, seemed to have a different opinion. Her fur stood up straight, and she hissed and snarled at every shadow caused by the torchlight.

“What is the matter with that flaming animal?” the wizard asked. “You’d think she sees something we can’t.”

“Maybe she does,” Patrik said. “Maybe there’s something or someone here and we just can’t see it. Larkin, do your legends mention anything about what the dragon king looks like?”

“No,” Larkin and Redwing answered together.

“Then how do we know that he’s not here, and we just can’t see him? I mean we’ve seen stranger things on this journey, haven’t we? Maybe we should say hello or something?”

“Go ahead, boy,” the wizard said.

“Hello, my name is Patrik and we’ve come a long ways to find you.” He felt very foolish talking to nothing but the air.

Hello, little children. I have waited for you to come to me for hundreds of seasons.

Patrik’s head jerked around trying to find the owner of the voice he’d just heard. “Did you hear that?” he asked his friends.

They all nodded.

“Where are you?” he said, peering up at the ceiling and down the tunnel. “I can’t find you.”

I am here.

“This is very strange,” Larkin said. “I hear the voice but not with my ears.”

Patrik stared at the dragon. “You’re right. It’s like the voice is inside my heart or something.”

“Yes, that is how it feels to me too,” the wizard said. He turned to Redwing who nodded.

The boy shook his head still not understanding. “Who are you?”

I am the one you call the dragon king, Skyhawk — the Creator.

Both dragons knelt, Larkin kneeling on only one knee and holding his injured leg out in front of him.

You are hurt, my son. I will heal you.

A red, warm ray of light appeared in the darkness and moved slowly over Larkin’s leg. The dragon watched as it wrapped itself around his splint. He jumped as the splint fell aside, crashing to the floor. He flexed his knee and then bent it beside the other one. “It doesn’t hurt anymore,” he said.

The light moved on to Redwing’s side where her missing scales were just starting to reappear. She turned her head to watch, her yellow eyes spinning orange with astonishment as the scales quickly grew to full size.

“Thank you,” she said.

You are most welcome, daughter. You’re coming has been prophesized. The pure in heart and the pure in action will come seeking the help of the dragon king. You are here. Tell me what you wish of me.

“The war. Please help us stop the war,” Patrik blurted out, too stunned to think before he spoke.

Ah, the pure in action. The only one of my human children to have no magic. You are worried about this war? It is your coming I have been waiting for.

Patrik’s knees wobbled and his legs felt as feeble as those of an infant. “You have been waiting for me?”

Yes, since the beginning of time when Blackheart gave the humans magic it has been prophesized that one would be born without it. One who would therefore be pure in action. This one would bring about the end of Blackheart’s interference with the race of man.

“What about the pure in heart?” the wizard ventured to ask, unable to control his curiosity any longer.

My little dragon that eats no meat because he cannot bring himself to kill is the pure in heart whose coming was also foretold. Together, the pure in heart and the pure in action, will right what has gone wrong.

They all looked at each other, no one knowing exactly what to say. Larkin’s green scales and skin had turned brown with embarrassment, and Patrik toed the dusty floor in a nervous flush of awkwardness.

Magic user, your pockets are empty. How is it that you have not gathered precious stones for yourself?

The wizard began to fidget, imagining invisible eyes peering into his pockets and belongings. “I gave them away,” he said at last, feeling the heat of humiliation creep up his neck.

You are not greedy like others of your kind. Neither are your thoughts and actions spoiled by unkind thoughts about your dragon brothers. You are worthy.

Redwing knew her turn was coming and hung her head, trying to make herself as small as possible.

My little daughter, you have not let your mind be clouded with things of no consequence. You have looked beneath the surface and discovered what is truly important. You are a good friend. You are also worthy.

Patrik couldn’t stand it any longer. He knew he was just an average boy, one without magic it was true, but average in every other way. “Just because I have no magic doesn’t make me pure in action,” he blurted out. “I make all kinds of mistakes and sometimes, I get into trouble just because I want to. Just ask the wizard.”

“And I’m not perfect, either,” Larkin said. “I can’t flame, I can’t roar, and I still don’t have my take-offs and landings right. I always bump the ground with my behind when I land.”

In their hearts, the travelers all heard what could have only been a chuckle.

These are not the things that matter. These are things of no consequence. What matters is that the human boy has never learned to depend on magic as have all the others of his kind. And what matters is the heart of the dragon that loves all living things more than himself. You and your friends have proven yourselves worthy.

“Sir, Dragon King, Creator,” Patrik said, “does this mean you will help us stop the war?”

Yes, little ones, I will help you. Return the way you came to the entrance beyond the cave of the sky dragons, and I will meet you there.

“But how will we know you?” Redwing asked.

Again, the sound of a chuckle filled their minds.

You will know.

Chapter Twenty

A million questions ran through their minds as they waited for the dragon king. Patrik couldn’t seem to ask them fast enough.

“What is this prophecy, and how do I fit in? What does he mean that Redwing and Wizard Allard are worthy? How are we going to get back there in time to stop the war?”

But no one had any answers. All Larkin and Redwing could tell him was what he already knew, and he didn’t know nearly enough.

A huge cloud blocked the sun, and the ledge on which they stood was suddenly blanketed in darkness. From out of the gloom, an enormous dragon wing appeared, its scales made of the same crystal as the Singing Mountains. The wing extended so far into the shadow that they couldn’t see the body attached to it.

I am here. Climb onto my wing and seat yourselves behind my neck. I will take you where you need to go.

They stepped out onto the wing, testing each step to find that it was stronger than the crystal ledge they had waited on. They looked down and discovered it was wider than the chasm beneath them. They looked ahead and could see nothing but the shadowy outline of an immense body.

After walking for about a quarter sunmark, Patrik realized that Rat was not with them. He turned and ran back to the ledge, where the gigantic cat sat hissing and snarling into the gloom. Patrik tugged on the nape of the animal’s neck but couldn’t budge her.

“Wizard Allard, I need help. Rat won’t budge,” he hollered into the gloom.

He heard the sound of running footsteps before he saw the wizard’s head appear out of the darkness. “Flaming cat! We ought to just leave her here,” Allard said, grabbing hold of the cat’s neck and pulling with all his might. But the cat didn’t budge.

You need help, little children
? sounded the voice.

Patrik and the wizard, still not used to communicating this way, only nodded.

A huge eyeball, taller than the tallest peak in the Singing Mountains, appeared out of the gloom. It focused its multi-faceted, whirling gaze on Rat. The cat sat mesmerized by the intensity of its stare. When it withdrew, Rat began to trot off down the wing.

“Was that what I think it was?” Patrik whispered as he followed the cat.

“A dragon’s eye? Yes, I believe so,” the wizard whispered back, too daunted to speak any louder.

“Just how big is this dragon king?”

“I think we’re all better off not knowing the answer to that,” Allard answered back in a low voice.

It took them almost half a sunmark of steady walking to reach the dragon king’s body, where the scales were so large that even Redwing could fit her entire self beneath one of them.

Little children, please hold on tight to my scales. The trip is not long, but it will be different.

They sat huddled together and used the dragon king’s scale as a wind shield. Redwing and Larkin curled their claws around one of its edges while Patrik and Allard gripped the other side with their hands. A mighty gust of wind tore through the canyon as Skyhawk lifted away from the ledge. Free from his own shadow, his scales shimmered in the sunlight with a rainbow of colors, like crystals hung in a window.

No one could speak as the dragon king’s beauty overwhelmed their senses. Even his breath, as it blew toward them, overcame them. It smelled of flowers, spices, and sweet-smelling herbs. But overshadowing everything was a feeling of well-being that none of them had ever experienced. They felt safe, contented, cared-for, and above all else, loved.

Patrik felt the tears well up, and when he looked at the wizard, he saw that Allard’s eyes were also glistening with moisture. Redwing and Larkin’s great yellow eyes were spinning brightly. To Patrik it seemed as if they were also blinking back tears. In those few heartbeats, all of them knew, without doubt, that Skyhawk really was the Creator, Dragon King, Lord, and Master of everything.

We will travel now. Hold on tight.

In less than a heartbeat, their senses shattered, stretched beyond the realms of reality. They saw what they heard, felt what they saw, and tasted what they felt. They felt empty and full at the same time, and time had no meaning. Patrik opened his mouth to scream but couldn’t tell if he was actually making any sounds. He was at the edge of his sanity, certain he would be lost forever in this void of overfilled, nonexistence when the sun reappeared. Within one heartbeat to the next, they had left behind the Singing Mountains and appeared above the Flowering Plains. Only the Flowering Plains flowered no more.

They stared in stunned disbelief at the once fertile plains. Corpses lay stacked like firewood, and the rotting carcasses of dragons drew flies and carrion birds. But more staggering than the devastation to human and dragon, was the destruction of the land itself caused by the drain of the magic the humans wielded.

Where once had bloomed every type of flower and plant only brittle stalks remained. Drained of their life energy, they crumbled and withered to dust beneath the feet of the charging armies. Even the rocks that dotted the plains were no more than melted slabs of stone.

“How can they do this?” Patrik said in a shocked whisper.

“Hatred has robbed them of their senses,” Allard replied. “This is even worse than I imagined.”

Skyhawk’s immense shadow covered the land beneath them, but the battle continued. Bolts of wizards’ lightning were followed by gusts of dragon flame. Screams of pain and terror rent the air as the wounded fell and lay where they dropped. No one appeared to be making headway, each side looked equal in numbers, and neither side seemed to care about the damage they were doing to their world.

STOP!

The dragon king’s roar filled each heart and mind on the battlefield. Weapons dropped, wizards’ hands halted in mid-air, and dragon flame extinguished itself as surely as if it had been doused with water. Dragons and humans turned their gazes from each other to the sky. Dragons fell to their knees and humans trembled before the apparition over their heads.

Only one man appeared unaffected by Skyhawk’s appearance. Blackwell. He strode through the crowded battlefield, his shoulders back, his head held high. He stepped over and around the wounded and the dying. Reaching the middle of the two armies, he screamed up to the sky. “Come down here and fight me if you dare.”

Blackheart! I knew I’d find you here.

Every living thing on the Flowering Plains heard the dragon king’s words, and for the first time since the battle began, the dragons backed away from the battle line. Their eyes whirled red with fear and they knelt even closer to the ground.