Dragons Shining (19 page)

Atlin, one of the more seasoned Nomads, rode up to and past the dangerous looking dragon. As he passed he saw a whirlwind of grass changing into a tightly woven fiber covering that stitched itself around the dragon’s torso. “Hey Sony, did you guys see that?”

“How could we miss it, Atlin? That must be the Dragon Lord everyone has been talking about. Oh look, he has taken off now. GO GET EM, OWEN!”

Owen heard chants of
“Owen, Owen, Owen ..”,
and it brought back the memory of that last game in the arena.
“I wish I were there instead of here.”

“And I was worried that fall might hurt you”,
thought Baird.

“At least we have the jewels. I will try to pass you energy as ... well you know.”

Owen flew higher and higher, wanting an advantage when he met the Wyrm. He was larger than Justin had been, but still smaller than an adult dragon. He wondered how Justin could have attacked with such a huge disadvantage. But he knew it was because there were friends at risk. Five of whom rode below him now.  His dragon eyes picked out Gander below.  He ran rider less, next to Zaron. The savannah transitioned into moors. That is what triggered Garth’s signal. As he rose higher, he could see movement to the north. Two more columns of Nomads rode to meet Garth. They began to form a zigzag line west to east, behind concealing hillcrests. Owen flew south to a point past the hillcrests where he could no longer see the Nomads. He was higher than the Wyrm, which he saw through an eagle’s eye several miles to the south. He rose higher as the Wyrm approached. He placed a shimmer ward, a fire ward, an energy ward and a frost ward, using the Rubies to conserve his strength. They did not shine as brightly as before. The Wyrm was not expecting a dragon attack, as Owen flew westward. He would attack from out of the sun. “
Light into darkness.
” Owen sealed his mind except for two channels, Baird and Zaron. The shimmer ward on the outside of his shields had only one purpose. Hide him until he would cause it to flash brightly, blinding. A flash from the ground to the south killed the eagle, which had wandered over the coming horde. He felt a jolt as the eagle died.

“Zaron, there is an enemy mage on the ground. I want him alive and unharmed.”

“That’s a tall order, Owen. You take care of that Wyrm and its Rider and we will see what we can do.
Baird can wait if he must.”

Finally, it was time. He folded his wings and dove out of the sun.
“The shimmer is working perfectly.”
  The wind whistled past, it’s pitch increasing with his speed. The air became a buffeting force trying to tear him apart. His flash spell was as bright as the sun behind him, and three times larger.

The Rider detected Owen at the last instant before being blinded, and instinctively cast a freeze spell. But when he turned to look up, the flash blinded him totally. He didn’t see the frost spell glance off of the oncoming dragon, causing it to wobble only slightly. He didn’t see the claws reaching to tear him apart. The last thing he ever saw was a blinding flash, and then succumbed to instant death.

Owen dismembered the mage in a splash of blood, guts and released life energy. He captured the life energy into the Rubies and captured the blood as he shot past, pumping his wings hard in an effort to stop and then climb. The Wyrm dived toward him. A shaft of lightning caught Owen in the back. It rippled along his wards and burned him.

“Owch!. That hurt.”

He had forgotten the lightning ward and only his armor saved him, so he funneled massive energy through Baird from his sword's blood stones into the emerald stones along his sword sheaths. Baird used the emerald energy to place a lighting ward on Owen. The rubies dimmed. Owen periodically altered course as he rose, and two more lightning bolts sizzled past, the second not nearly so strong.

“Good, he is weakening”,
said Baird
.

Owen
poisoned
the blood and formed it into a whirling, sharp bladed disk he could control at will. This skill came from instinct, his inheritance. Twisting in flight, he dodged the Wyrm and spun and so they flew directly at one another. The Wyrm opened it’s maw to blast Owen, and Owen hummed the spinning blood blade directly into it’s mouth as he pumped his wings into a diving spin and avoided the blast of flame.

The Wyrm spun and dropped, extending it’s claws in an effort to grab Owen. Owen flipped to meet claw with claw, but then the Wyrm convulsed, screamed and gurgled molten vomit. It spiraled downward and exploded in the midst of the horde below killing several. The Wyrm's captured life energy set the Blood Stones shining once more.

“Remind me not to piss you off, Owen”, Zaron projected.

Owen took the time to heal his back and repair his damaged armor, dodging another lightning bolt. He kept his eyes on the Malaga below, and was able to dodge the blasts until the soulless tired. The Nomads boiled over the hilltops and hit the Orcs, who were all looking up at the dragon that had killed their General. He felt drawn but not tired yet. Gazing at the jewels, their luster had paled once more.

Owen dove on the magi. This one was young and strong, a tall and handsome man all in black. He saw Owen coming, and managed one last bolt of lightning that obliterated Owen’s lightning ward, but nothing more. He grabbed the Malaga and carried him off. Arrows and pikes glanced off of his belly armor, knocking him around. An arrow would have taken out his magi, except he dodged and it lodged into Owen’s shoulder instead. It was poisoned, but Owen’s blood dealt with that. Sticky ichors dripped out of the wound.  Owen reached around with his jaws and yanked the arrow free.

“Now Owen, before he wakes.”

He had never done this before. He forced his way past the magi’s defenses and
sucked
it’s slippery demonic spirit free. Immediately and with alacrity, the green spirit flowed from the Emerald ring still on Owen’s front claw finger into the body in Owen’s claws. Owen tossed the Demon Spirit into the air, where it was attacked by what looked like balls of black light that covered it entirely. Then the whole wad vanished with a resounding POP.

“Thank you Owen, but don’t squeeze so tightly, ugh.”

Owen relaxed his grip.
“What were those?”

“I call them collectors, although I cannot see them directly as you did. Spirits are more visible. Free spirits are collected either by light or dark spirit collectors if not able to find a host or sanctuary. You have my magic, but sifting through it could take you years. I will teach you how to create a sanctuary. Set me down over by Zaron and do what you can to minimize losses here. I can take care of myself now, give me the ring.”
Baird slipped the ring from Owen's talon and placed in on his finger, where it shrank to fit nicely.

The fighting was intense below. The Nomads were fearsome warriors on horseback, darting past their enemies, weaving and striking from advantageous angles. The Orcs, Trolls, and Soulless fought viciously though, and Nomads were dying. Every death released energy, and Owen was learning how to collect and store this into his Blood Stones almost without thinking, before it was lost into nothing.

Owen spotted Zaron and his friends. Gander was toe to toe with a Troll, slowly ripping it to shreds while absorbing it’s blows with his shield. His friends and Zaron strove to keep the Orcs back and away from Gander, killing them in numbers. Owen opened his jaws and slagged a group of soulless that had moved in to break the deadlock. They died screaming, and the powerful blast of life energies almost escaped him as he shunted it into the Rubies. He set Baird down behind the lines and took off quickly. His friends managed to keep the Orcs off of him. The Orcs who tried exploded in a blast of emerald lightning. More life energy and
blood
freed itself for Owen’s collection, but not all.
Baird was back, and he knew how to absorb this energy too!

This time as he rose, he lifted and molded the blood into a shower of acid, and dropped it on a huge troll that was heading over to help it’s brother. The result was almost pitiful. The Troll melted into slag, hardly able to even gurgle in pain. Owen added it’s life energy to his Rubies.

After creating a physical pulse shield that emanated from him in waves, Owen dove on the horde below. The shield took lots of energy, but he had recently stored as much or more. He spread fire, killing as he passed, and collecting more life energy. He could feel the spirits slipping by, and was tempted to try and collect them. “I am not ready for that”, he said to no one in particular. Arrows and spears glanced off of his shield. He rose before making another pass. He noticed Garth battling a Troll. They fought with axes, and Garth was getting the worst of it. Garth’s men surrounded them, and were surrounded in turn by attacking Orcs. Owen dove in.
“Duck, Garth, Duck!” 

Garth recognized Owen and ducked down on his horse’s side. Owen swooped in and took the Troll’s head off with the edge of his wing. The impact spun Owen, and he hit the ground in the middle of a group of Orcs, bowling them over and ripping them apart with his talons.

”Help the Dragon Lord!” screamed Garth, and the Nomads fought to reach him. The impact had stunned Owen and the Orcs that had not been killed by his fall moved in. He
changed,
and released his grass armor. It piled around him and covered the Orcs. That gave him time to draw his Elven swords and re-arrange his wards. He spun, removing the fire wards on the grass as he set it on fire. Then he jumped over the ring of fire with his strong Elven legs. As the Orcs died in flames, their energy flowed into the rubies. He moved toward the oncoming Nomads and met two Orcs intent on killing him. He blocked two large swords, one with each of his, and broke one Orc’s knee with a kick. The Orc tried to grab him, and recoiled screaming. Owen’s contact ward had eaten his hands. Blood streamed from the severed stumps past Owen. He worked the blood into a streaking javelin that struck into the second Orcs eye. They both died, feeding the rubies. His arms ached from the sword blows. It seemed the Blood Stones were giving as much as receiving.

Strong, friendly hands reached down to grab Owen. He quickly disabled the contact ward, and Garth grabbed him and lifted him into the saddle behind him.  “Get me into an open area where I can take off again, if you can.”

Garth led his men through the break in Orc lines, and back toward Gander and Baird, who was riding him. “All the Trolls are dead”, called Baird.

Garth set Owen down. He did not hesitate, ran into an open area and
changed.
As he climbed, Baird sent him a scathing
“Be more careful, Owen! The day is won, so don’t get yourself killed like a foolish boy.”

Owen did not reply, and wheeled back toward the stubborn Orc circle that the Nomads could not penetrate. He blasted them with fire, again and again, filling the rubies all the while. Finally they broke, and the Nomads flooded in. Owen could do no more without hitting them, so he flew back to his friends. Tamaris was down, bleeding profusely and near death. The others backed away, as Owen approached, still in dragon form. He reached down and touched Tamaris with his snout. The blood reversed it’s course, streaming back into Tamaris. The wounds closed and he passed out, unconscious and whole again.

“I am a much stronger healer as a Dragon, Baird.”

“Then do this as a Dragon”,
thought Baird
.

Owen moved about the field of battle, healing wounded men with the energy he had collected by killing others. The surrounding Nomads bowed to him and called him Dragon Lord, even the two surviving Generals.

He met the leaders of the two other tribes in this way. “Well met Lord Owen”, said one. “I am Gelid Wesson, chief of the Wesson Clan. This is Doric Plaudit, Chief of the Wind Clan. We saw you take out that Wyrm. What a quick and magnificent fight that was.“

“I am in deeply your dept, Lord Owen, for healing my men like this”, said Doric.

“There is no debt for saving a life. Thank you both for risking your men in the Maker’s cause.”
Vocalizing Common tongues as a Dragon was difficult. Dragon language was utterly different, and the dragon larynx could do Common no better than a human could speak Dragon. Luckily, a dragon was strong enough mentally to project it’s thought into almost any mind.

“The Maker’s cause is our cause, Dragon Lord, although King Paul should show his gratitude after this”, said Doric.