Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (6 page)

“Alekra,” he
called softly. 

She jumped
looking up wildly.  She relaxed slightly when she saw it was him and moved to
the front of her cell. 

“Someone’s
cleaned you up,” he said frowning, she looked even more draconic without all
the dirt and filth.  In fact she was rather pretty he thought, with light brown
hair and blue eyes.  It was clear though that she had been crying, and as she
reached out for the food he was offering he noticed that her hands were
shaking.

He waited
until she had finished eating and drinking before saying each of the three
words she had taught him yesterday, pointing at each thing in turn.  She smiled
slightly and pronounced the draconic words he had taught her, finishing with
Ramaeka.  They spent the next few hours trading words back and forth until once
again his sharp ears picked up someone’s approach. 

“Goodbye,” he
said waving at her.

“Goodbye,
Ramaeka,” she replied in clear draconian.  Grinning he hurried away, perhaps he
should be a teacher when he grew up he thought, since he was so great at it.

The next few
weeks took on a repetitive nature, as soon as he finished lessons and chores in
the evening, Ramaeka would sneak away to see Alekra, taking food and drink with
him and coming away with more human words.  They usually had about two to three
hours together depending on when Ramaeka got there, before a dragon would come
to check on the prisoner.  They were possibly the happiest hours of Ramaeka’s
life.  He had never had a friend to talk to before, all his siblings either
ignored him or beat him because he was smaller than they were, plus he was the
only earth element dragon in the fortress.  His family and the servers were all
rock, ice or magic.  Despite being completely separated from the earth by great
rock mountains, he had somehow been born an earth dragon.  Though the servers
were kinder to him they still never had time to talk to him properly or wanted
to start a friendship with a son that Ramanae disliked so much.

Alekra didn’t
know anything about that stuff, and though their conversations bordered around
exchanging words, they were the most fun Ramaeka had ever had.

Despite his
best efforts however Ramaeka still could not find out why she was being kept
there.  Nobody seemed to know except Ramanae and a few of his oldest and
smarter siblings like Ramapaiete who were refusing to say anything about it. 
Alekra herself didn’t seem to know either.  In a stilted conversation which
after several weeks they were now able to achieve he asked her about the
matter.

“Alekra, why
are you here?” he asked gesturing to try and get the question across.  She
frowned and shrugged.

“Dragons catch
me,” she replied in draconic gesturing as well.

“Why?” Ramaeka
asked in frustration.

“Eat?” she
suggested looking at him.

He shook his
head.

“There must be
another reason you’ve been here too long.”

Alekra looked
at him unsure of what he was saying.  He sighed, if he knew what his father’s
plan was he could try and do something, maybe help her escape.  Something warm
touched his hand; Alekra had placed her hand over his.  He looked up at her,
returning her smile, then he pointed at the blanket and told her the human word
for it.  She laughed and started to point at other objects, testing him though
he never made a mistake.  As they played Ramaeka vowed to himself that he would
figure something out.

Five days
later and his lucky break came.  He was relaying a message from one of the
watch points to his father’s personal cave.  However his father was already
with another dragon, the door had also been kindly left slightly open so that
he could hear everything said.

“We need to
keep this completely secret, do you understand that?”  Came his father’s harsh
growl.

It’s not
really easy to keep something secret when you’re having a secret meeting with
the door slightly open, Ramaeka thought to himself.

“Yes I
understand that sir, but we needed the spell if we want to overcome the
language barrier.”

“But from
Isahn of all dragons, he’ll definitely become suspicious,” his father growled
in frustration.

His unseen
companion sighed.

“Unfortunately
he is the only one with the book containing the spell.  He has the largest
library in Amaria.  It was a chance we needed to take.”

Ramaeka
listened even more intently, a spell to help them talk to humans! From Isahn’s
personal library too, he needed to get his claws on that spell.

“Alright,” his
father replied.  “There are courses we can take if he wishes to investigate the
matter further.”

“Absolutely,”
was his companions calm reply.  “My source will deliver the spell to us in two
days.  Once we talk to the human we can figure out the best way to set up the
breeding process.”

Ramaeka
wrinkled his nose in disgust.  Ew, breeding he thought.

“Aye, and once
we have everything we can begin capturing more, no dragon will ever be able to
put my mountain under siege,” his father growled.  “Not when we have a reliable
source of meat safe inside the fortress.  And humans are so much easier to keep
than other animals.” 

He laughed
sinisterly.  Ramaeka backed away in horror.  He vaguely heard his father and
his companion continue talking but his mind was working in horror.  That was
why they wanted Alekra alive; they were going to farm humans.  The sound of the
two dragons saying their goodbyes brought his attention back to the moment.  He
quickly knocked on the door.

“Enter.”

Walking in he
tried desperately not to let any of his thoughts show on his face.

“Message from
watch point five, Sir,” he intoned.

“What is it?”
his father asked impatiently, waving the other dragon, a tall lean male, out of
the room.

“A campfire
was spotted several leagues away, Sir.  A patrol has been sent to investigate
then report back to you, Sir.”

“Alright,” his
father nodded to the door.

Relieved
Ramaeka rushed out, heading to Alekra’s cave.

He flopped
against the wall in front of the cell, half heartedly returning Alekra’s
smile.  His mind and stomach churned, he couldn’t eat another human again, not
after meeting Alekra.  They won’t be killing her for a long time though, he
pointed out to himself reasonably, not if they want to breed them.

“Ramaeka
okay?” came her soft voice.  He looked up at her worried face and smiled, she
was safe for now at least.

“Okay, Alekra.”

As she grinned
at him, he remembered the other important part of the conversation he had
heard.  The spell.  With that, he and Alekra could have proper conversations
and figure out what to do.  He would find a way to get it, no matter what.

Ramaeka kept
an eye and an ear out the next day for any information on when the dragon would
be arriving.  However no one seemed aware of what was happening.  When he tried
to follow his father, Ramanae had immediately spotted him and given him a
severe clip around the head that left his ears ringing.

I guess I’m not
as good as I thought at sneaking around, he thought sadly cradling his aching
head.  Which was unfortunate really since sneaking was the only thing he seemed
to be really good at.  He spent the evening with Alekra as usual playing word
games and attempting to have conversations.  As he stood to leave, she grabbed
hold of his wrist.

“Ramaeka
friend?” she asked gravely, her blue eyes serious.

“Yes,” he
replied solemnly and impulsively grasping her hands around the bars.  She squeezed
his hands, smiling back at him.

The stranger
arrived during the morning meal the next day.  His luck was definitely holding
up, he thought happily as he watched his father leave the hall with the rather
small and skinny female.  Impatiently he scoffed down his porridge and a loaf
of fresh bread, before grabbing a piece of fruit and leaving the hall.  He had
a history lesson in fifteen minutes, which gave him a little time to make his
first attempt.  Sadly his luck decided to fail him and his history teacher
caught sight of him and asked him to carry several objects to class for him. 
Unable to disobey the order of an older dragon he grumpily took the objects and
headed to class.  He was so annoyed at his bad luck that he did not notice his
father and the strange female dragon until they were almost right next to him. 
He glanced up quickly as he heard their voices.  They didn’t notice him as they
walked through the other dragonets heading to class.

“So I will be
able to understand it now?” his father asked.

“Yes sir, but
I must warn you Isahn is already investigating the matter,” the strange dragon
replied in a hoarse voice.  “There is already an investigator on the way now.”

“I don’t
understand why, it’s a human not a dragon”

“Be that as it
may sir, it is still illegal to bring a live human into Amaria.”

His father
looked thoughtful. 

“Very well we
will have to change our plans slightly and let his suspicions die down.  Let us
go talk to this animal.”

They swept
away further down the corridor leaving Ramaeka to hurry on to class wondering
what they were going to ask Alekra.

As soon as
class was over he slipped away again, this time with more luck.  The way to his
father’s cave was completely clear.  Even better the cave itself was empty. 
Looking around nervously to double check that no one was coming, he crept
inside.  The room looked almost enormous without his father in it, the shadows
flickering eerily in the light of the torches.  Ramaeka walked over to his
father’s desk.  If they had just used the spell it was bound to be somewhere on
top.  Sure enough one of the parchments on the very top of the messy desk was
entitled Zer Humane Apoki, or The Human Voice.  He grabbed it quickly, scanning
its contents.  It was a fairly simple spell done in three sentences and
requiring one drop of blood on the tongue and a swish of blood on each ear. 
Eagerly he drew upon his core of magic, smiling as he found it glowing deep
within him.  He intoned the spell and with a quick prick of a fang he cut his
finger and ran it gently over each ear making them burn.   He then squeezed a
drop of his own blood onto his tongue.  A shudder immediately ran through him
and his tongue seemed to swell, almost choking him.  He clutched at his
throat.  And then it stopped.  He opened his mouth experimentally, everything
seemed normal.  With a sigh of relief he scanned the parchment one last time,
memorising it in case it hadn’t worked properly.  He carefully replaced it on
top of the desk and ran to the door.  Just as his father walked in.

Ramaeka wasn’t
sure who was more surprised, him or his father.  His father recovered faster
however and grabbed him in one huge claw. 

“What are you
doing in here,” he snarled, holding Ramaeka up to his face.  Mind racing
Ramaeka grabbed at the first story that came to mind. 

“Message from
watch point two, Sir,” he squeaked.  His father frowned, and then tossed him to
the ground.

“What is it?”

“Sign of
either a dragon or a wavaki in the far distance Sir, a small group sent to
investigate.”

“Alright,” his
father growled looking at him suspiciously.

Ramaeka edged
towards the door, where two dragons were standing.  One was the skinny female
who had arrived earlier; the other was a newcomer.  She was tall and stocky
with a fierce, determined face.  She looked at Ramanae with disapproval but
didn’t say anything as Ramaeka slipped by.

As he left he
heard his father talking to the newcomer. 

“As you can
see, Yamari, I have absolutely nothing of interest for your investigation.”

But he does,
Ramaeka thought fiercely rubbing a bruised shoulder.  This dragon must be the
investigator he realised suddenly; this might be the only chance he had to get
Alekra out of here.  If only he could get a message to the investigator, surely
she would take Alekra to safety.  He turned and ran back the way he had come. 
Soon he heard footsteps in the distance, if his luck was still good then his
father would craftily instruct one of his younger, weaker children to escort
the investigator out.  By doing so he was saying, look where you want I have
nothing to hide, you do not worry me enough to give you a decent escort.  At
least Ramaeka hoped that’s what he would do.

Looking down
the corridor he grinned as he realised he was right, Ramanor was escorting the
Investigator out.

Ramaeka
strolled towards them casually.

“Hey firepants,”
he called to his brother.  Ramanor’s face tightened with fury while the
Investigator looked on with interest.

“What do you
want lizard,” he snarled.

“Mother wants
you,” Ramaeka said with a bored look.  “But you can take your guest out first
if you want.”

His brother
hesitated.

“Where is
she?” he asked suspiciously.

“Third tower,”
Ramaeka told him with a yawn knowing his brother would be too lazy to want to
take the dragon all the way to the front and then have to go to the furthest
part of the fortress.

“Here lizard,”
he growled, insolently gesturing at the Investigator.  “You take her to the entrance.”

“No way,”
Ramaeka whined.  His brother immediately hit him on his sore shoulder, causing
Ramaeka’s eyes to fill with tears.

“You’ll do
what I say little lizard,” his brother said cruelly before turning and walking
away.

Relieved
Ramaeka looked the Investigator over.

“If we could
go now?” she asked impatiently.

“Yes Lady,
this way please,” Ramaeka told her, leading her down a side tunnel.

After a few
minutes of travelling, she stopped and scowled at Ramaeka.