Dragons Descended Upon the Wicked (8 page)

“Your dragons are out there,” said Jeffrey. “Good luck, boys. Silner!”

The black dragon took flight and disappeared into the dark night sky.

Ron and Andrew looked at each other and nodded as they took steps forward. Ron bumped into a stone wall and rose his torch at it. Above the five foot wall he saw the menacing claws of a green dragon. It lowered its head at the two men and let out a hellish roar. The two men were startled and backed off from the dragon.

They collected themselves once again and continued to walk down the road of the giant dragons’ lair. It was one thing to walk into the heart of the dragons’ lair during the day, but at night it was a terribly horrifying experience. Every sense the two men had was elevated in order to compensate for not seeing the danger all around them. Everything that could be heard was heard. Every moving shadow was seen. They could feel the gust of wind as dragons took flight from where they stood, unsatisfied with the dragon born who had shown up that night.

Ron suddenly stopped his steps forward as he heard the stomping of feet in front of him. A growl followed by a roar. The steps made the ground tremble and grew in both size and sound. A dragon inched its way to be in front of Ron. He held up his torch to reveal the sneering face of a red dragon. Ron was not as afraid as he was a few seconds before hand. Just as Jeffrey had discovered before, Ron had found his dragon born. He placed his hand along the red scales on the dragon’s face and hopped onto its back.

“Good luck, my friend, ” said Ron as he looked down at Andrew from atop the dragon’s neck. Andrew nodded back at Ron.

Andrew slowly made his way through the dragons’ lair. One by one he could hear the dragons roaring, then taking flight into the night sky. He walked until there was nowhere further to walk. He stood at a wall and turned around. He walked the entire circumference of the dragons’ lair without finding his dragon. He raised his right hand and produced a large fire ball. He sent the fire straight in front of him; it illuminated the road he walked on. He was an old man; his dragon had most likely lost its life at some point. So now he stood vulnerable in front of the hundreds or thousands of dragons that still remained. At least three dragons stood in front of him from what his fire attack revealed, blocking his path. They were probably the three that were the most hungry.

“Excitement keeps an old man young,” said Andrew under his breath.

He dropped his torch to the ground. He slowly crouched to the ground and placed both of his palms onto the stone floor. He closed his eyes and started to focus. He needed to pull off something extraordinary. He needed to conjure up one of the most powerful attacks that he had ever produced. Within a few moments the ground began to tremble. Fire shot out of the floor and extended into the sky a hundred feet tall to his right, then to his left. The attack was ten feet in every direction for each hole that was made. It continued and worked its way up the path he had walked from. Fire rose to the heavens on either side of the path, scaring off the dragons that stood before him. He still had his hands on the floor. The floor became increasingly hot; it was almost unbearable. Andrew grimaced in pain, but he did not let up. The attack continued to sprout up from the floor. Fire was raised from the depths in precise five foot increments along the path. One wall of fire would protrude from the right while another would protrude from the left. Soon the entire path was illuminated with a solid wall of fire on both sides. Andrew began to run.

The fire on either side of him burned him slightly. Sweat dripped from his head. The heat made it overwhelmingly hard for the old man to continue to run at a fast pace. The fire that rose behind him had ceased to exist. There were only open holes where the fire had come from. With each step he took forward, the fires that raged behind him lowered in might and magnitude. The dragons that wanted him were angry; they would soon have a chance to get to Andrew if the fire continued to die down.

Andrew had just a quarter way left to run until he reached the hallway that lead to the door. Then he heard it. His heart fell as the roar of a dragon followed by the familiar sound of wings catching air as they descended to the ground. The walls of fire had fallen by his side and the fire was falling in front of him now, too. He turned around to meet his fate.

A white dragon towered above Andrew. To his surprise Nick was on the dragon. “Get on and hurry!” yelled Nick.

The white dragon lowered its body and Andrew hastily jumped on the back of the dragon. Andrew held on for dear life as Esork took flight into the night sky. Nick directed the dragon to fly away from the dragons’ lair and land near the mountains. A few dragons followed them as they flew away. However, after a few minutes of flight, the dragons that trailed them gave up and flew back towards dragons keep.

Andrew was safe.

They landed and stepped off of Esork and sat on the cold rocky ground at the base of the mountain.

“Too much excitement for me tonight, boy,” said Andrew. “How did you know I was in trouble?”

“The sky was lighting up orange,” said Nick. “Smoke and fire rose to the heavens. I knew you had not found your dragon at that moment. I’m...I’m terribly sorry, Andrew. I never meant to put you in danger. I thought the chances of not finding your dragon would be slim to none.”

“No apologies are necessary, friend,” said Andrew. “I’m thankful you took the initiative to come and get me.”

“You’re welcome,” said Nick.

“Apparently, my dragon was too tired to fly over here or it died some years ago,” said Andrew. “But it is okay; Ron and Jeffrey are riding their dragons as we speak. We have three dragons in our army now. They will surely be beneficial to the war in the near future.”

Nick nodded at Andrew and the two men sat back to catch their breath. Nick looked up into the night sky. He could see the dark shadowy figures of thousands of dragons flying overhead of dragons keep. The blood moon still glistened in the night sky. Nick stared at the moon and thought to himself, What’s next?

***

Ron and Jeffrey had their fun in the sky while learning to command their dragons. The hour was getting late and the two men descended onto the cold sandy ground. All of the thousands of dragons that had gathered at the dragons’ lair had left for their homes. Nick and Andrew greeted them. Ron and Jeffrey expressed their joy and passion towards the dragons they were now a part of. They offered their condolences to Andrew for not finding his dragon before they climbed back on their dragons to head back to camp. Although, Andrew was not upset, he was always a calm older man; even in that situation.

The bloody orange moon ceased to exist as all four men took flight into the night sky. In its place the moon was in a crescent shape and illuminating rather brightly. It only took them a few hours of flight and scouring the mountain side before finding the north bend. Three dragons landed in camp and alarmed all who were sleeping.

Jeffrey was able to calm everyone down quite quickly. His authoritarian presence was duly noted as he talked to the people, his people. It had been a long day and all four men wanted nothing more than a few hours of sleep before the journey to Terrel would begin on the following day. Nick made his way to a secluded area. He couldn’t find Penny in the pile of a thousand resting bodies. He opened his bag and removed the leather bound book. It had a small latch that kept the book bound. He removed it, then read the title: “A History Of Genold City.”

His name was written on the inside flap, followed by the writing; “I hope this will help you now, and in your future endeavors. The world is a wicked place. Make sure you know who the wicked are and who the wicked aren’t. Follow your heart, always. - Dricos.”

How did she know I would come back to the dragons’ lair? How did she know I would be the one to find this book and not someone else?

Nick quickly flipped through the thick stack of pages within the book and skimmed the writings.

It is only a book on the history of Genold City. It is all perplexing. How could this help?

Nick pinched his tired eyes. His mind was aggravated at the puzzle presented before him. He could do nothing but simply let his mind rest. The thought of what the book could mean should be left for another day, for his strength would be needed for the days ahead.

CHAPTER SEVEN

It was a terribly cold morning. Thousands of bodies were scrambling, trying to get everything they needed in order for the quest ahead. It would be a few weeks of walking in the cold weather to reach the safety of Terrel. Nick had proposed that they use the dragons to transport the camp; it would only take about a hundred trips. Jeffrey quickly squashed the idea with the point that many people were not too fond of dragons to begin with. Throwing them on the back of a dragon and wishing them good luck was certainly not a good way to build trust.

The king’s men and the Tarrax brothers stood at the front of the camp and watched as the thousands that followed them gathered their belongings.

“This is quite the bunch we have here,” said Tyler.

“We all do our part,” said Jeffrey.

“About fourteen days of walking is quite the trek,” said Ron. “Are you sure we can all make it?”

“I’m counting on it,” said Jeffrey.

“Is there enough food?” asked Dani.

“No,” said Jeffrey. “But keep your eyes peeled as we walk and the food will come to us. It’s cold but it’s not completely winter yet. Animals are still scavenging the hillsides for their last meals. We will find our food, I am sure of it.”

More and more people looked up at the king’s men as they became ready for the trek.

“Let’s move out!” yelled Jeffrey.

His voice was pure, confident, and consistently strong. Jeffrey was the leader amongst leaders. Fear and weakness could never be shown.

Thousands moved on his command with no hesitation. They grabbed their bags and began to walk behind the leading king’s men. Their cause was never more evident. They stood a few thousand strong with the same goal in mind. There was a powerful force moving from Hentrio into Terrel on that day.

The first few days were full of grueling and demanding work. It was part of Jeffrey’s plan. He wanted to push everyone to their limits to prove to everyone what they were capable of. If they could walk with a fast pace and handle obstacles in the road with ease in the beginning, then the rest of the trek would become easier. There was not much time for talking as there was not much resting going on. It was a few thousand hard working individuals. Whether they were young or old, it did not matter.

Nick, Ron, and Jeffrey’s dragons were nowhere to be found. The men were confident that the dragons would know where to find them when the time was right. They had minds of their own. They needed the freedom to fly and capture their food. The three men were not worried about their dragons in the slightest.

On the fourth day, breaks and rests became more common. Nick had a staggering amount of burning questions he wanted to ask his comrades. He had done so much with them in such of a short amount of time, yet he still did not know too much of who they were as people. Nick always had a longing for learning who and what a person he associated himself with was. As the camp took their third rest of the day Nick took the opportunity of approaching Ron, Tyler, and Dani as they sat under a busday tree. Busday trees resembled palm trees, only the branches looked like shrub bushes.

“Fine day,” said Nick as he approached his comrades under the tree. “It’s not too cold and it’s just right for the amount of work we’re putting in.”

“Oh, no...here comes the small talk. He wants something,” said Tyler.

The four of them laughed at the comment.

“No, I’m not looking for anything...well, I kind of am,” said Nick. “I just want to know who you all are. Tell me about your families. Tell me how you grew up, or where you grew up. Tell me anything. I only want to understand you all.”

“Here, Nick, I’ll tell you what we can do,” said Tyler. “We will all take turns telling you about ourselves in under one minute. It’s the way of the king’s men. If you can’t keep up, then you get out.”

“That’s fine,” said Nick. “Who will go first?”

“My name is Ronald Belcraft The Third; you can call me Ron. I am the product of a cheating husband and a whore of a mother. I was left on the side of the road in the Kelton Market in Genold City when I was a year old. I was brought up by a lovely couple. I was with them until I was ten when they met their untimely death at the hands of a bunch of thugs. Two years later I learned I was good with magic and sword play when I ran into those same thugs. I became a Refect and protected my city from people who wanted to make it rot. I was good at what I did. I got noticed and the king’s men interviewed me. Jeffrey saw something in me and here I stand now. No wife, no kids.”

Nick nodded his head at Ron and was pleased at his story.

“My name is Dani Mastroguiseppe. But you can call me Dani. I was born to a loving family in Bounch Hill. They did everything they could to raise me with loving hands. They wanted one thing from me and I wanted another. I was obsessed with the bow and arrow. I looked at it like an art form and I had always enjoyed art. They wanted me to put down my instrument and I refused. The result was me making my way to Genold City and becoming a Refect. From there I was recruited by the king’s men because, as they said, I never miss a shot. I have had lovers in my life but I never married; it wasn’t for me. I never had kids either; it just wasn’t for me. But at the end of the day, I’m happy with where life took me.”

Nick nodded his head at Dani as well.

“Fine. Here we go. My name is Tyler Descont and I hail from lovely Vincot. You can call me Tyler. I was raised in a family of five. I was the youngest and had two older brothers. I lived my life in their shadows but that was okay with me. I moved to Genold City in search of work after the trade market plummeted in Vincot twenty or so years ago. I found a job working for a loan officer. All I had to do was have a dagger in my hand to open notes and dispose of the ones I didn’t deem necessary. I enjoyed splitting open the cards with that dagger. Found a love for that dagger...made love to that dagger...I mean, I made a relationship with the dagger. I began throwing daggers as a side gig on the streets. One day I receive a peculiar message and next thing I know I’m dressed in gold. I have a wife and two beautiful kids.”