Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (4 page)

“Nay, dragons run from no being,”
Isahn replied easily.  “But I believe they will grow into a great race one day,
and shared knowledge on both sides would be beneficial.  Indeed I have heard
rumour that Rama himself has recently created four new humans with his own
hands.  It is said that each of these four males has magic to change existing
humans into a new breed, a more powerful race.”

“Then we should hunt down these
new humans, and dispose of them.  Not all of us fear four puny humans Isahn,”
snorted a thin sour looking dragon.  Several dragons including Ramaeka’s father
growled in agreement.

Ramaeka was surprised to see
Isahn look amused rather than angry. 

“And Rama?  Do you fear the
creator?  Because he is fond of his new creations.”

Many of the dragons shifted
uncomfortably.  Ramaeka wasn’t surprised; he shivered just thinking of having
to face the creator in battle.

“Bah,” his father snorted.  “From
all accounts Rama was tricked into a binding covenant to never interfere
directly with humans unless there is dire need; I fear no being that can be
tricked by a human.”

Isahn smiled, “Rama made the
covenant in respect of the humans wishes, and while he may not interfere with
humanity there is no such covenant protecting us from his wrath.  I have no
doubt that he could soon persuade you to fear him again Ramanae.  Surely you
must have some respect for him, after all you named every single one of your
children after him, and yourself too.”

His father glared down at the
calm dragon facing him.  The older dragon to his left coughed subtly. 

“If you would be so kind as to
draft a proposal for the law Isahn, we will vote over the issue at the next Conclave.”

“Of course,” Isahn murmured.

The discussion turned to other
more dull issues, leaving Ramaeka to muse on the debate.  Humans had been eaten
by his kind for years, since they were created pretty much.  Their very name
meant small food in ancient Amarian, but Ramaeka had never seen one face to
face, or even seen one uncooked.  He had not realised they were intelligent. 
He rather wished he could meet one to see if it was true. 

Ramanae called for a refreshments
break.  Ramaeka glanced down at the dragons who were now milling around
gossiping with each other.  His father was talking to the thin, sour dragon,
who Ramaeka recognised now as Valek, he was a magic element dragon like
Ramanae.  While all dragons were magically powerful those of the magic element
were usually gifted in a particular area of specialised magic such as healing,
locating and creating complex spells.  Other dragons like Ramaeka as an earth
type, had magical ability mainly only over their own element.  Valek was
supposedly talented in healing magic; however he had heard rumours that the
dragon was more interested in poisons and toxins than in helping his fellow
Amarians.

Glancing over at Isahn, the light
element dragon was chatting away easily to a fire dragon and an ice dragon.  As
he watched Isahn casually glanced up, looking almost directly at him.  Ramaeka
tensed in fear as he scanned the wall, his gaze settling on the vent.  Ramaeka
met his clear grey eyes, his own widening in shock at his discovery.  Isahn’s
mouth curved up slightly and he winked slightly before turning his gaze back to
the two dragons who were debating some point.

His heart beating rapidly Ramaeka
slipped back further into the shaft.  How had he known Ramaeka was there?  He
waited in terror for Isahn to announce his presence, for one of dragons to come
and yank him out of the vent.  After twenty minutes, he heard his father call
the start of the meeting again, after another ten minutes with no announcement
from Isahn, Ramaeka’s curiosity overcame his fear and, despite his
apprehension, he slipped back up to entrance to watch the meeting.

By the end of the day Ramaeka was
wet, smelly and well educated on laws around grain and hunting rights.  He also
knew the situation at the border better than most of the dragons guarding it. 
He desperately wished to get out of the vent and wash the smell off his skin
and find something to eat and drink.  So it was in relief that he watched his
father call time on the meeting and the dragons rise.  They would walk through
the rock gardens in order to stretch their legs before the banquet dinner his
father announced as he led the group out of the hall.  As soon as the hall was
clear, Ramaeka slipped out of the vent, taking care to replace the cover.  He
winced as he saw the marks his hands left on the drapery, however there was
precious time to fix that and he slipped quickly across to the servers’
entrance.  Putting his ear against the door, he was unable to hear any sound. 
He quietly opened it and peered out, no one was there.  Slipping out he began
to make his way down the passage.

“Hey,” called a voice behind
him.  Ramaeka froze, unable to turn around.  Footsteps approached from behind
him; hopefully the person wouldn’t recognise him.  “Ramaeka?” 

Rocks he thought and turned
around plastering his most innocent look upon his face.  Bakara was standing
behind a curious look on his face. 

“What on Amaria have you been
doing?”

Grinning sheepishly Ramaeka wiped
his hands on his short pants.  Bakara glanced over his guilty face then rolled
his eyes.

“Never mind I don’t want to know,
go get cleaned up.” 

Ramaeka nodded quickly and took
off at a run.  Ramanae’s entire family was to be present at the feast tonight,
even him, so he needed to get cleaned up fast.

One hour later Ramaeka stood
dressed in his finest, stiffest breeches and tunic, waiting impatiently to sit
down.  It had been a long day without food or water and he was starving.  The
guests were led into the hall by his father, who sat at the head of the main
table.  Each guest was led to a seat, which were interspersed amongst Ramanae’s
family.  Ramaeka was seated at the bottom table, where the more unfavourable
were seated.  Only the weakest members were ever seated at the bottom table. 
Ramanae stood watching as the guests were led to their seats, a malicious
expression on his face as Isahn was led to the seat next to Ramaeka.  Ramaeka
was barely aware of the frowns and mutterings of the Empara dragons around the
room, he was concentrating more on not fainting with embarrassment.  And
possibly hunger too.  Why Isahn?  What if he brought up the ventilation shaft?

He glanced up anxiously, Isahn
smiled at him. 

“I hope you don’t mind if I sit
here?” he asked warmly. 

“N-no Lord,” Ramaeka managed to
stammer. 

“Excellent,” Isahn looked up and
gave Ramanae a wide cheerful grin.

Ramaeka watched in awe as his
father glared at Isahn.  He turned away without saying anything however and
gave the signal to sit down and begin.  Ramaeka sat down in relief and waited
impatiently for Isahn to begin serving himself.  Guests always went first.  The
white dragon picked up the first dish, serving himself, then passing it to
Ramaeka with a smile.  Relieved he dished himself up a huge quantity of the
first course, mountain eel in a sweet garlic sauce, and began to eat with
relish.  Soft laughter caught his attention and he looked up to find Isahn
watching him. 

“Slow down,” the dragon told him
not unkindly.  “I believe we still have several courses to go.” 

Sheepishly Ramaeka slowed down
enough to chew three times before swallowing.

“Of course you must be
half-starved, after such a long day,” Isahn grinned wickedly at him.

Ramaeka looked up at the dragon
shyly, if he had wanted to the dragon could have had him in terrible trouble by
now.  Spying on the Conclave was illegal and severely punished with
imprisonment or banishment to the wavaki borders.

“Thanks,” he said softly. 

“Don’t worry about it youngling.”

The two of them applied
themselves to their meals, sharing only polite conversation until the last
course when the subject of humans came up at the next table over.  Ramaeka
watched as Isahn listened to the debate quietly.

“What does the word sentient mean
sir?”

Isahn glanced down at him.

“It means that they are like us,
they think things through and create new things.  It also means that like us
they can be destructive too.”

“I think I’d like to meet one,”
Ramaeka said absently, then he flinched looking up at the dragon nervously.

“You’re very curious aren’t
you?”  Luckily Isahn seemed amused rather than angry.

“My father says too much,” he admitted,
there was something sympathetic about Isahn that made you trust him
completely.  “But I like learning, there’s not really much to do up here except
fight, patrol and do what you’re told.  I think I would go crazy if I had
nothing left to learn, and it’s a good idea to stay ahead of the rest if you’re
small like me.  I wish I could learn more magic and more about the worlds
outside Amaria.”

Isahn watched him intently now,
holding his eyes with his own, Ramaeka felt as if he was looking into his very
mind. 

“What magic have you learnt?”

“The basic stuff, the magic we
need to survive like making fire and tracking and fighting magic.  And some
stuff I’m not supposed to know like how to change the colour of something and
how open locks and how to turn a difficult baby at birth.”

Isahn blinked at that.  Ramaeka
felt himself blushing

“It was in one of the books I
read.”

Isahn grinned.  “Your name is
Ramaeka isn’t it?  Earth god in High Amarian.  Well little earth god, you are
rather intelligent for one of Ramanae’s brood.”

He leaned closer to Ramaeka.

“You may be interested to know
that I have recently started a school for talented children.  At the moment we
have thirty students, most your age or a little older.  If you ever need a
place to stay, you will be most welcome there and you will be under my
protection.”

“Thank you sir,” Ramaeka mumbled
shyly.

“You are absolutely welcome
Ramaeka,” Isahn nodded at him then stood as the other guests began to make
their way out of the hall.  Ramaeka watched him stride way in confusion, his
mind racing with everything the dragon had said.

A hand fell onto his shoulder,
glancing up he looked into the cold eyes of his father.  “Did he say anything
of importance to you boy?”

“No sir, we just talked about the
weather and he asked me about what I had learned in magic and stuff,” Ramaeka
tried to swallow the lump in his throat as his father tightened his hold on his
shoulder. 

“That better be all,” he growled
ominously before turning and stalking away.

Ramaeka watched him leave,
rubbing his shoulder, Isahn’s offer running through his mind.

Chapter Two

Ramaeka
fidgeted as he stood in line with eleven of his brothers and sisters.  It had
been two weeks since the Conclave and his conversation with Isahn.  His father
had been in a foul mood since the meeting; on the few times that he had seen
him he had merely shoved Ramaeka out of the way roughly.  Today however he was
personally teaching Ramaeka’s class’ flight combat lesson.  The lessons were
held on a wide clearing at the edge of a massive drop down into the swift river
which flowed wild through the mountains.  The clearing was large enough to hold
thirty large dragons, an open space of dirty ice and slippery rock.  His father
crouched beside the regular training teacher, a huge stocky grey dragon by the
name of Tannis.  His name, which meant boulder, was extremely appropriate for
the dragon, he was as solid as a rock and being hit by his claw was like having
a mountain descend upon you.

 Ramaeka
tucked his wings closer to his body, trying to warm himself in the cold
mountain air.  Surely there must be somewhere in Amaria warmer than this he
thought wistfully.  His mind wandered to Isahn’s offer again as it often did,
he wondered if it was warmer where the school was.  His father prowled back and
forth before twelve of the youngest dragons in the mountain hold.  He stopped
in front of one of the biggest. 

“What are our
most powerful weapons?”

“Our claws,
our tails, our fangs and our magic, sir!” the dragonet responded rapidly.

Ramaeka winced
and mentally shouted at his brother, you forgot wings you rockhead!

His father
narrowed his eyes at the unfortunate dragonet in front of him.

“Is that it?”

The dragonet’s
eyes widened as he mentally went over what he had said. 

“Um.”

Ramaeka sighed
internally; his siblings were rarely ever very bright though many had the same
sly cunning as their father.

With a growl
his father yanked his brother forward and grabbed his tail.  He dragged him over
to the edge of the cliff and dangled his son over the side by his tail.

“Does this
bring anything to mind?” he asked coldly.

The dragonet
squealed and squirmed in his father’s grip.  Ramaeka idly wondered if his tail
would stretch.  Having a longer tail wouldn’t really be such a bad thing.

“Wings, wings!”
the dragonet cried.

“Wings what?”

“Wings, Sir!”
he yelled.

With a grunt
the black dragon tossed him onto the ground by the other dragonets.  Ramaeka
snuck a quick look at his brothers tail, it didn’t look stretched he thought a
little disappointed.

He pulled his
attention back to his father who had begun speaking again.

“Those five
weapons are the most important in a dragons arsenal, never forget that,” he
paused.  “Today I want to see you use all five of these skills, pair up for a
free fight.”

With a sinking
feeling in his stomach Ramaeka glanced around.  Free fights were bad news,
there were no rules and serious injuries, even death were common results,
though usually that was with the older dragons.  He was the smallest in the
group so he was always paired with the dragonet who wasn’t fast enough to grab
a better partner.  None of his siblings wanted to look weak in front of their
parent by willingly pairing up with the smallest in the group.  Unfortunately
today the slowest dragonet was the one with the sore tail.  He scowled at
Ramaeka baring his long white fangs as he squared up in front of him, wings
half spread.