The Dragon Savior of Tone: World of Tone: Book 2 (8 page)

“They were defenders of the village of Solana,” The old one said, standing protectively in front of his family.

“Solana? Where is this Solana?”

“Straight down this path on the lake shore,” the old one pointed.

Terra took out the stick he had found and pushed it into the hole next to the wheel. He then picked up his bag.

“You need to leave. I have business in Solana,” Terra said as he turned toward the path.

“Who are you?” the young female asked.

“I am Terra,” he said as he walked away.

They watched in silence as the huge man walk down the path. He then disappeared into a wooded area that the path wound through.

“Father, he just killed four Defenders with no more effort than breathing. I have never seen anyone or, for that matter, anything move like he did,” the young woman said.

“I don't know who or what he is, but we need to leave here. We cannot be found with these bodies. Jenki, do you think you can get to Nolla by sun-fall?” he asked his daughter.

“Yes, father. I can get there.”

“Go then, and take your weapons. Tell her what we have seen. Naron needs to know what happened. We are going home, come there after you have reported.”

“Yes, father.” Jenki left running, after gathering her things.

Chapter 11 - Lonely

(One can be lonely in a world full of others.)

- The Time of the Draman -

Fienna sat outside the cave and watched the sun drop below the crest of the crevice. Her daughter was sleeping next to her and Suti was curled about her legs purring. She could see Terra's thoughts. Normally she would not constantly be touching his mind, but she had never been so lonely. Dragons, sea nymphs, and Terra's family were constantly around her, but Terra was not here. He was the one she wanted, not these others. She would never let him go off alone again.

Cardana, her daughter, was the most protected thing in this world. She was loved by all. She only cried when she needed to be washed. The rest of the time she smiled and laughed. Whoever touched or even got close to her seemed to fall in love instantly. The sea nymphs, those without young ones, loved to help take care of Cardana. Terra's mother and sister were teaching Fienna how to take care of her human child. They, of course, loved her beyond anything. The most surprising were the dragons that protected them. When not patrolling, they came to the cave entrance, wanting to see Cardana. They seemed to be mesmerized by her.

Fienna broke out of her desire for Terra. She had to get her mother and father to start organizing the dragons. The world was changing. The dragons needed to realize they had to help deal with whatever was on the other side of the mountains. Fienna could hear her mother stirring in the cave. She was a great green dragon and guarded Fienna and her child as they slept, so she slept during sunlight. Her father, Hectise, was perched at the top of the far end of the crevice watching over them.

Fienna had never discussed with her parents what was happening on Tone. They were part of the attack at the dragon gather and all dragons had noticed the decrease in prey beasts. They had also seen the lush forest slowly retreat away from the coast. Fienna knew it was time to gather the dragons for what would have to be done. She did not know if the dragons would follow Terra. Dragons were, at heart, lone creatures. Fienna waved her father down. He landed and hopped to her.

“Come into the cave, we need to talk,” Fienna said as she picked up Cardana.

Fienna walked into the cave and Hectise followed. Dawra was stretching her wings and Terra's mother, Reicka, and his sister, Faray, were sitting by the stream that ran through the cave.

“I need to talk to you all,” Fienna said as she sat down holding her daughter close.

“About Terra? Did something happen?” Reicka asked with concern.

“No, nothing has happened. It is about the future. You see the world has been talking to Terra. This world is a living thing.”

“The world has talked to Terra? When? How? Have you heard Tone talk?” her father asked with an unbelieving tone in his voice.

“The first time he was sitting by a stream and Tone used the water noise to create a voice. The next time was here. She formed an image of a woman through the light of the crystals. She told Terra that the darkness on the other side of the mountains is killing her slowly. Tone believes that Terra is here to deal with the darkness.”

“What does Tone want Terra to do?” Dawra asked.

“She wants him to destroy the darkness. Terra believes her, he plans to cross the mountains and do what he can.”

“He can't do this alone,” Terra's mother said.

“No, he can't. He needs the dragons and humans, as well as the sea nymphs. He wants Dawra and Hectise to contact the dragons and tell them what is happening, then ask them to follow him across the mountains and fight with him. Terra is going to deal with the humans.”

“We can spread the word for the dragons to come to the cave of the old ones. Many will come,” Hectise said.

“Yes, and you can point out the set of figures on the wall.”

“Figures, what figures?” Hectise said in confusion.

“The one where a human is mounted on a flying dragon and the other pictures,” Fienna said.

Hectise's mind went to the pictures on the cave walls and suddenly remembered the carvings. Then, he realized that they were of Fienna and Terra. There were other carvings that were hidden in an enclave that only a few knew of. An old dragon showed him them. The old one had told Hectise that before he went to the volcano, he had to pick one dragon to replace him as a knower. He had picked Hectise. The old one did not know what the carvings meant, but he did know that only four others knew of them. The carvings showed a huge dragon leading thousands of dragons over mountains. There were also pictures of great battles between dragons and creatures of the land. There was one final drawing of a dragon entering a cave in the side of a great black mountain. Hectise always thought the carvings were just imaginings. Now he knew they were not simply dreams of an ancient dragon, but predictions.

“Dawra, we need to do this. I believe Fienna is correct,” Hectise said as he looked at Dawra.

Dawra had always denied the carvings, since the time Fienna and Terra had discovered them. She always knew in her heart that the carvings were of her daughter and Terra. She knew the time had come for her to accept the truth. The old ones that made the carvings somehow knew of the two and were telling the dragons that they were the most important two creatures in the world.

“I will go up the coast, you go down,” Dawra told Hectise.

“That is fine. Let me make sure that the guard dragons know their schedule to protect the crevice. We can leave at high sun.”

Hectise and Dawra left and Fienna hoped they could convince the dragons to join Terra. There were nearly fifteen thousand dragons along the northern coast. She hoped they could convince at least half to help. It was time to talk to the sea nymphs. She had asked Setilan to bring her father, the ruler of the sea nymphs, and the Old Sinut, the magic thrower among the nymphs, to meet her at sunset.

The three arrived in the pool and changed from fins to legs before walking out of the water. Fienna sat at the lake's edge with her daughter. The three greeted her and asked what she wanted to discuss.

“You know Terra has gone to see the humans. He has asked me to talk to you about the future. This world is dying,” she said in a serious tone.

The three looked at each other. “How do you know this?” the Old Sinut asked.

“Tone has been talking to Terra. She has told him the darkness on the other side of the mountains is slowly killing her.”

“The world talks to Terra and it is female?” the king asked in amazement.

“This world is the mother of us all, of course she is female. Terra will go to the other side and try to deal with this darkness. My mother and father are now asking the dragons to go with him. He would like to know what, if anything, you would be willing to do to help.”

“We will do as much as possible, but we cannot be away from the water for more than one sun-rising. That is our limit,” the king said.

“What if Terra cannot get anyone to help?” Setilan asked.

“He and I will go alone,” Fienna said.

“I may be able to help,” the Old Sinut stated.

“How?”

“On the other side of the mountains, one group has survived the onslaught of the dark one and his dwarfs.”

“Who?” asked Fienna.

“The land nymphs. Through my magic, I can talk to my old friend who is their magic thrower. He is weakening and soon will no longer be able to defend them from their enemy, the dark dwarfs. He has no replacement with magic and the land nymph numbers are slipping as their food supplies shrink.”

“I thought they had all died,” the king said.

“No, not yet, but soon they will if they don't get help,” the Old Sinut said.

“Where are these nymphs located?” Fienna asked.

“They are in a large box valley in the northern part of the Barrier Mountains. This was their traditional home. They had walled it off and only allowed entrance through a small gate in the rear of the valley leading into the Barrier Mountains. They caused an avalanche that crushed the gate preventing anyone from entering their valley. They now defend the wall from the dwarfs, who constantly attack them.”

“How many of them are left?” asked Setilan.

“About forty-five to fifty-five thousand,” the Old Sinut said sadly.

“Can you contact them?” Fienna asked.

“Yes, but I must go back to my cave. What should I tell them?”

“It will be at least one or two full moon cycles before Terra will breach the mountains. Tell them that,” Fienna said as she seemed to look off into the distance.

“You are talking to Terra,” Setilan asked. No one understood how they could communicate, even over great distances.

“Yes, he knows what we say here. He wants to know if there are any others on the other side of the mountains.”

“There are two races, but I don’t know if they still exist,” the Old Sinut said.

“The fairies are small, the size of my hand. They are scaly little human like creatures with small crystalline wings. They flit around like insects. They disappeared in the confusion of the last great fight that drove the humans to this side of the mountains. The others are the elves. They are tall, thin creatures that have blue skin with thin blue and white hair all over their bodies. Quite beautiful creatures, but they have no honor.”

“What happened?” Fienna asked.

“They pulled out the sunset before the last fight, leaving the confederation of Tone at two-thirds strength. We would not have won with them, but leaving as they did caused thousands more to die. There were not enough of us to cover the withdrawal. I have no idea what happened to the elves after they left,” the Old Sinut said in anger.

“The sea nymphs were there fighting?”

“Yes, at that time there were many streams that flowed through the mountains. There were uncountable rivers and streams flowing through the far lands. Numerous lakes also lay throughout the lands beyond the mountains. That was before the Solans caused the great avalanches.”

“Please contact these land nymphs and see if they will fight with us,” Fienna said.

“Anything else we can do?” the king asked.

“Terra says we will need food. We will need nearly a million swimmers to feed the dragons and hopefully the humans. The swimmers will have to be dried. We will also need harnesses for the dragons to carry the swimmers. As well as water bags that can be carried,” Fienna told them.

“There are over one hundred thousand sea nymphs. Gathering the swimmers should not be a problem. They can be driven to the shore where there are large caves. We can fill the caves with swimmers. Then, if the dragons will help, we can put waterweed in the front of the caves and the dragons can fire it, filling the caves with hot smoke. It should take only a few sun-risings for the drying,” the Old Sinut said.

“What about the harnesses?”

“There is a creature we kill on sight. It is as long as a sea nymph and as big around as Terra's human leg. If you touch it, your muscles lock up. We kill them with spears. Their meat is good to eat and their skin is tough and water tight. We can make the harnesses and water bags from their skin,” Setilan said.

“Can the nymphs start on this?”

“Yes, we will begin immediately,” said the king.

“Thank you,” Fienna said with feeling.

“Sinut, can you stay for a moment? Setilan, can you ask Seana to come and see me?”

“Yes, I will tell her,” Setilan said as her and the king got up to leave.

“Sinut, when Terra returns, he will need to know where these land nymphs are located and if they will help.”

“Of course, I will have their response and I can draw Terra a map of where the valley lies.”