The Dragon Savior of Tone: World of Tone: Book 2 (6 page)

Terra flew on and after what seemed to be an endless flight, he finally came to the other shore. He initially only saw trees, so he followed the lake's shore toward the coast and soon came to another large village. Here again, men were building a large number of wooden platforms. He could not imagine what these platforms would be used for. He could see three paths coming out of this village and he followed the one closest to the coast. It led to planting areas and small villages similar to the ones he had seen north of the lake. The land also sloped down as he flew south. The lake was obviously a high point of the coastal lands.

The sun was beginning to set so Terra flew to the coast and over a cliff that dropped to a sandy strip of land at the edge of the Great Water. He landed and returned to human form. He set up a sleeping area against a cliff and stayed the sunset.

Chapter 7 - Justice

(Justice is not always kind, but must always be fair.)

- The Time of the Draman -

The woman rode the youth back down the path toward the village that had been attacked. They arrived near sunset and she saw the burnt out buildings, but no bodies.

“How many survived this attack?” she asked the youth, after pulling him from the pack runner.

“None,” he said, cringing.

“Did you kill anyone?”

“I- I was forced to kill one, one child,” he said as he fell to the ground crying.

The woman's visage turned even darker than it had been previously. She looked at him as if he were the dung of a runner beast. As she looked around, she saw a long mound at the back of the village. As she approached, it was obvious where someone had buried the villagers. She saw a number of large dragon tracks. Several were the largest she had ever seen. She had seen a number of dragon tracks in her travels through both the northern and southern areas of the coastal lands, but usually around a kill of an animal. It was odd that a dragon would be by a burial mound. Dragons normally ate humans, they did not bury them.

As she walked toward the mound, she saw how the sun sparkled off a stone. When she picked it up, she realized it was not a stone; it was the tip of a dragon's talon, made of crystal. No dragons had crystal talons. She had to get back to her father. He may understand what was happening. Before she left, she walked to the mound. Its surface was melted soil and as hard as anything she had ever come across. The heat to melt the soil to this state must have been incredible.

She tied the coward to the pack runner and mounted.

“Where are we going?” he asked in a trembling voice.

“My father needs to talk to you. Now shut-up and hold on,” she said as they galloped down the path.

After three sun-risings of solid riding with only three or four hours of sleep each sunset, they were close to the Lake of Solan. Then they turned toward the coast and rode another sun-rising and finally the Great Water came into sight. She took a bag and put it over the young one’s head before continuing. She made her way to a rocky shallow valley. At the end of the valley, there was a hidden cave entrance. She dismounted and led the runner beasts into the cave. Three men were stationed just inside the cave’s entrance. They greeted the woman by her name, Rammy, and took her beast to the back of the cave where there was a small pen. She pulled the youth off the pack runner and tied his hands. She then led him away as one of the men took the beast.

She pushed the young fool into a dimly lit set of stairs that led down toward the gorge. To the cowering youth it seemed to take a lifetime, until she pulled the bag from his head. He saw they were in a large cave with elaborate wood furnishings lit with candles.

“Father, father,” she called out. From an opening near the back of the cave came a man of fifty or so set of seasons old. He held out his arms as he walked toward the woman with a decided limp in one leg. When they met, he hugged her tight.

“You've been gone longer than we planned,” he said as he continued his hug.

“Who is this?” he asked as they separated.

“I found him in a hole among a hundred or so dead men. Well, parts of dead men. He has a story to tell you.”

“Bring him to the viewing room, we will talk there.” The woman pushed him through the doorway the man had come from in the rear of the cave. The room was lit by sunlight that shined through a large opening in the far wall. You could see the great waterfall from the Lake of Solan. Outside the opening was a rock ledge you could stand on to see the waterfall in its entire glory.

“Sit down you, and tell me your story,” the man said in a calm and reasonable voice. The woman pushed the youth into the chair.

“Not so rough, Rammy. He's our guest,” the man said.

“Who - who are you?” the youth asked in a timid voice.

“Oh, excuse me. I should have introduced myself. I am Naron. My group and I live in the great gorge. Now please tell me your story,” the man said in a gentle voice.

The youth told the story of the huge man and what he had done to the hundred or so soldiers of the sisters. Naron sat quietly, listening.

“Tell him why this man did this. Tell him of the village,” Rammy said in an angry voice.

“We came across a small village. The men had been drinking brew. When we went into the village, the population offered food, but the men wanted the women and they started grabbing them. The village men started defending the women and it turned into a fight. The soldiers began killing the men and then everyone.”

“I see, did you kill anyone?” Naron asked quietly.

“I was forced to kill a young one. The soldiers forced me,” he said with tears in his eyes.

“Tell him how old the one you killed was,” Rammy grumbled with anger. Her father held up his hand to his daughter and smiled.

“Maybe six set of seasons,” he said, trying to squeeze back into the chair.

“Do you have anything else to tell me?”

“No, sir.”

“Have you ever seen the great falls?” Naron asked.

“No, no sir.”

“Come with me,” Naron said with a smile.

The youth followed Naron to the opening in the wall. “Step out; you will get a much better view.” He stepped out on the small ledge. Naron reached out and pushed him off. He fell hundreds of man lengths to his death.

“Father, I thought you were going to let him live. The way you were acting it seemed.”

“It seemed I was his friend. It's much easier to get information from someone when they trust you. You know I would never allow a child killer to live. You went to the village, I assume?”

“It was a strange thing. The bodies had all been buried in a long mound. It looked to me as if a dragon buried the bodies.”

“Dragons do not bury human bodies,” Naron said.

“There's more. The dragon tracks were the largest I have ever seen. Plus, I found this,” she handed her father the crystal talon.

He examined it. “No dragon has crystal talons. Something is happening. Come with me.” Naron walked back into the main cave and then through a second opening that led into a room full of books. Rammy followed her father. She knew the room well; it was where she learned to read the ancient languages. She also remembered playing on the floor while her father read and studied.

Naron walked to a bookcase, pressed on a knot in the wood and the case swung in. She had never seen this; he waved her into the small room. On a wooden pedestal sat a text with no title. It was made of a strange material. It looked as if it was made of scales. On its cover was a series of simple drawings. The first looked like a dragon and human standing next to each other. The next drawing showed two humans standing next to each other, and the dragon was gone. The last two drawings showed two dragons next to each other, and the humans were gone. Finally, it showed a dragon and a human.

“What is that? What is it made of?” she asked her father.

“It is the most ancient text, perhaps in the world. I don't know who wrote it, but it tells of a time when the world is failing. The planters couldn’t feed everyone, humans fought with each other, and much of the land was controlled by a dark power. It tells that the Draman will rise to fight for life. As to what it is made of, I believe it's made of dragon skin. The skin is thinner than the beast skin we use and much stronger,” he said as he opened the cover. She looked at the first page and read,

“He who will come will be a man, a dragon, a Draman.

He will possess the power, the power of nine.

The eight will show his greatness, the ninth will save all.

She will be a dragon, a woman, a Wogan.

She will possess the power, the power of love.

The power of love will control, control the Draman.”

He turned the page and she continued to read,

“The Draman's power of eight are shown upon the amulet, the amulet of Tycarr

Power one, the power of healing, the Draman will heal all whom he touches.

Power two, the power of sound, the Draman can destroy upon a word.

Power three, the power of movement, the Draman can move with the speed of silence.”

“The next page is mostly missing. It looks as if it was bitten off, by what, I can't imagine,” Naron said as he turned to the next page and she continued reading,

“The ninth power is known to one and only one.

Only one can possess the power, the power of the ninth.

The dark cannot possess the power, the power of the ninth.

For you cannot possess what you are not and cannot be.”

“What does this mean?” Rammy asked.

“A being is coming and he will have eight powers of magic. The rest of the book describes the conditions that will exist when he comes. The planters will start having problems with their planting. Humans will fight with each other and a number of other things will start happening,” Naron said as he closed the book.

“What other things?”

“Well, the ground will begin to shake from time to time; storms will become more frequent, last longer, and be more powerful. The plantings are already beginning to fail. You know what is happening between the sisters and that idiot who calls himself a king, he’s more like a thug. They will soon start their fight. You know the storms have become worse over the last ten set of seasons. Finally, I have heard that the ground has started to shaking in the far south valleys. You see, this all corresponds to the text.”

“Yes, I see.”

“Did you look into what's happening in Solana?”

“Yes. They are building at least fifty war floaters and they have a group of at least one thousand men. Just like Southlake is doing. They are both preparing for a water fight.”

“How many men do we have?” Rammy asked.

“Approximately a hundred thousand spread between the caves and both the northern and southern lands. They are well trained and ready. We will have to act soon to deal with the sisters and that thug of Southlake. I don’t really want to run the entire coastal lands, but I may have no choice. We need to find this man the young fool talked of. We need to find out who he is and what he is capable of.”

“What if he's this Draman?”

“If he is, let's hope he is here to help us and not oppose us,” Naron said as they left the small room.

“We need to alert all of our people to watch for him,” Rammy said as she sat down obviously dead on her feet.

“I'll do that. You need to rest for a few sun-risings. You look like you're about to collapse.”

“I wanted to get the information about this man back to you as soon as possible, so I pushed hard to get back here. It seemed incredibly important. Whoever this man is, he could change everything.”

“When you're rested, I want you to go back to both Solana and Southlake. I need you to map out where the men and floaters are. If we need to deal with them I will have the information I need,” Naron said as he helped his daughter to her feet and her bedroom.

Map of the Lakes of Tone