Dragon Stones (Book One in the Dragon Stone Saga) (12 page)

“Yes, but Parvel could still hear me
breathing. The spell doesn’t mask noise—only my appearance. I can’t
hold my breath the whole time,” said Elias.

“Don’t fret. The guards are human. We just
have to get past them. How long do you think you can hold the
spell?”

“Thirty minutes, maybe more if I
concentrate. It’s pretty tiring,” said Elias.

“That’s plenty of time to get us out of the
city and into the forest. Now let’s just pray that we don’t
encounter the necromancer, or our goose is cooked,” said
Thorin.

Floki nodded grimly. Everyone knew that
necromancers could easily detect such a simple spell. If the
necromancer appeared at the gate, they would be taken into custody,
and Elias would be delivered to the emperor as a prisoner. The
necromancer would probably just kill him and Thorin, after
torturing them for information. Then the soldiers would return to
Floki’s home and kill his entire family.

Floki sighed. “Thorin, I hate to admit it,
but I’ve gotten comfortable here in Jutland, and I’ve ignored the
warnings for too long. People in Jutland have been skittish and
afraid for months. It’s been getting worse, and I’ve just turned a
blind eye to the danger. Even if we all made it out of Jutland
alive, dark days are ahead.”

“Yes. Like it or not, war is coming,” said
Thorin.

***

Chapter 10:
The Useless Mage

Duskeye and Tallin had been travelling for
days. The sun had set many hours ago, and Duskeye was yawning.

“
Tallin, we should stop
and rest, my friend,”
said Duskeye,
communicating silently with his rider.
“I
see a place where I can land.”

Tallin’s face was white with strain. He was
exhausted from maintaining his powerful cloaking spell. He had been
holding it steady for two days.

“Then we shall stop, my friend. Give me a
moment.” Tallin closed his eyes and raised both of his arms.
Instantly, mist converged around them and they were shielded by a
thick fog. The fog got thicker as they touched down. They were in a
heavily forested area with no caves. “We are near the city of
Rignus. I recognize the area. There are old growth trees that will
conceal us.”

Duskeye pointed to a great
oak tree with a hollowed trunk. Both of them could just squeeze
inside.
“It’s not ideal, but I will gather
some branches to cover the opening. We will be safe here,”
said Duskeye. The dragon collected some downed
branches and placed them around the tree and on the opening. Then
they both crawled inside, Tallin lying down on top of Duskeye’s
soft belly.

“I will take the first
watch. Sleep, my friend,”
said Duskeye.
Tallin nodded gratefully; his eyes closed and he was asleep
immediately.

***

Tallin, now on watch,
could hear men’s voices in the distance.
“
Duskeye! Wake up! Soldiers!” said
Tallin, communicating telepathically. The dragon awoke with a
snort. It was not yet dawn.

“Where are they?”
asked the dragon.

“I cannot see them with my eyes, but I can
sense them. They are at the very edge of my cloaking spell. There
is a mage with them, but I sense that he is inexperienced. He knows
that there is magic here, but he cannot identify its origin.”

“What shall we do? Do you
want to attack? I shall make short work of them,”
snorted Duskeye, licking his lips.

“No, it’s too risky,” said Tallin. “We could
kill them all, but if the emperor is awaiting a message from these
fools, then killing them could be dangerous. I will scale back the
cloaking spell and create a circle of protection around us.
Hopefully they will come our way and we can hear what they say.”
Tallin withdrew his spell. As he did so, Tallin’s dragon stone
glowed on his chest with a ruddy red light. Tallin’s dragon stone
was implanted in his chest, visible just above his sternum.

A few minutes later, about ten soldiers came
into view. They were all on horseback, except for a blundering
mage, who travelled on a fat black pony. Both the mage and his
horse were obese. The mage trailed behind the soldiers, mumbling to
himself.

“I told you, I don’t feel good about this,”
said the mage. “We should leave this area. It’s not safe here.
We’re being watched.”

“By Golka! What a skillful magician! How did
we ever get so lucky? Now someone is spying on us?” snickered one
of the soldiers. “You couldn’t even lead our horses to water
yesterday!”

“I’m serious!” sputtered the mage, who was
sweating profusely. He wiped his greasy brow with his sleeve.
“There is something here, I’m sure of it.”

“You’re sure?” asked the
captain, but he wasn’t laughing. He was angry. “Pangran, tell me
honestly—is there a more
useless
mage in the entire kingdom? Can you do anything
worthwhile? Anything at all?”

“Hey Captain—I can think of one thing—he
sure knows how to eat! Him and his bloody fat pony!” All the
soldiers laughed and Pangran, the mage, bowed his head with shame.
He was obviously a frequent target for the soldier’s mockeries, and
he suffered this indignity in silence.

Pangran didn’t protest any more, but his
eyes kept darting back and forth. The mage grew more nervous with
each passing moment.

“That mage is ridiculous,
but he still knows something is wrong,”
said Duskeye.
“He can feel magic
here, but he’s too embarrassed to say anything else. What a
fool.”

“It’s nice to know that the emperor’s mages
have grown fat and lazy,” whispered Tallin. “We are lucky that they
don’t have a necromancer with them.” Tallin was grateful that there
wasn’t a necromancer in the group because they would have been
forced to run or fight. They wouldn’t have had a choice.

“Agreed… although I wouldn’t mind testing my
skills against one of those filthy deadrats.”

Tallin didn’t respond. Duskeye was always
itching for a fight while Tallin was the cautious one. More than
anything, Duskeye enjoyed the hunt. For all their intelligence,
dragons were still wild animals. Tallin had kept them safe all
these years, and most of their close scrapes occurred because
Duskeye let his guard down.

One of the soldiers kicked his foot against
a tree. “Captain, why are we traipsing all over the countryside? To
find a teenage boy? The emperor has hundreds of men looking for
him, and none of us even knows what he looks like.”

“Just do as you’re told. We don’t get paid
to question the emperor’s orders. Our job is to find any boy that
fits the description, and test him for mageborn skills. It’s why
we’re stuck with Pangran,” said the captain, jerking his thumb in
the direction of the mage. “Although I don’t know if he can even do
that.”

The mage found this particular comment
offensive, and he raised his chin and sniffed loudly, “I resent
that statement! I am perfectly capable of testing a mageborn
child!”

Some of the men laughed, but Pangran wasn’t
letting the subject go. “I’ve had enough of your harassment! You
would do well to show me some respect!” the mage yelled, and his
hands started to glow.

“Aye, look at ‘im! What are you going to do,
‘eh? Throw a firecracker at us? Shut up, you slobbering fool,
before I punch your face in!” said one of the men, and now all the
other soldiers joined in, laughing and snickering.

“Do you think that you could cast a spell
and make yourself disappear? That would make everyone happy,” said
another. This caused an eruption of laughter that lasted several
minutes.

Pangran’s face turned red.
His anxiety and the soldiers’ constant ribbing had finally taken
its toll. His right hand glowed, and a small ball of flame formed
in his palm. “This is the last time you will disrespect me!
Hringr-Incêndio!
” he
yelled.

The captain’s eyes widened, and he jumped up
to stop the mage, but it was too late. Pangran’s flabby arm reached
back, and he threw the fireball at the men. His aim was poor, and
the men scattered. The fireball flew towards the oak tree where
Tallin and Duskeye were hiding. Rather than striking the tree, the
fireball dissipated in a shimmer. Tallin’s heart skipped a
beat.

“What the—look out! It’s a protection
spell!” the captain barked.

Tallin’s spell stopped the fireball easily,
but now they were exposed. “Here we go,” he said. Duskeye smiled
widely, his forked tongue moving under his teeth. There was going
to be a fight after all!

The fat mage turned white, raising his hands
to create a bubble around them, but it was too late. Duskeye and
Tallin tore aside the branches, and Duskeye roared. It was so loud
that the ground shook. Tallin drew his sword—a short falchion with
a leather-wrapped hilt.

“Aieeeeeee! It’s a dragon rider! Run—run for
your lives!” screamed the panicked mage as he jumped on his pony
and turned tail into the forest.

The horses scattered, and the men shouted in
alarm. Most of them were young, and they had never seen a dragon.
Duskeye’s massive jaw opened and white fire came out, burning two
of the men where they stood.

“Feel our wrath, dragonkillers!” yelled
Tallin. He struck one man with a paralyzing spell, and he collapsed
onto the ground in convulsions. Another soldier surprised him from
behind, swinging a broadsword. Tallin didn’t have time to deflect,
and the sword grazed his right shoulder. Tallin winced, grabbing
his injured arm. Duskeye felt Tallin’s pain through the dragon
stone, and swung his tail, striking the soldier’s torso. The man
flew high into the air and struck a tree. He crumpled to the
ground, unconscious.

Two more soldiers attacked Tallin from the
front, driving him back into the tree. Both soldiers aimed for his
injured arm. Tallin blocked the blows with his sword, ducked his
head, and swung to the left, while grabbing a dagger from his
wristband. Tallin spun on the ball of his foot, throwing the dagger
deep into the eye of the first soldier. The man fell backwards,
screaming.

“Duskeye! Your right side!” said Tallin.
Duskeye’s right eye was blind, and the soldiers struck his leg.
Duskeye breathed fire again, but the soldiers stepped back. None of
them were hit by the flames the second time.

Tallin jumped high into the air and swung
downward with his blade, hitting another soldier in the neck. A
fountain of blood erupted from the wound, and the man fell. Another
soldier engaged him from the right, and Tallin deflected the blow,
but lost his balance. He fell and rolled back, jumping up to defend
himself against more assailants. Tallin held his own, but these men
were well-trained. Eventually, he would be overpowered. Tallin
reached out and communicated with his dragon, “Duskeye—there are
too many of them, and these are experienced fighters. I can’t
concentrate well enough to overpower them all! I need you to fly us
out of here!”

Duskeye swung his tail furiously, but he had
already sustained several cuts. He couldn’t see well enough to
safeguard his right side. Duskeye nodded, and Tallin scrambled up
on his dragon’s back. The soldiers continued to attack, and they
hit Duskeye’s injured leg again and again. Even though the dragon’s
scales offered some protection, blood flowed from the wounds.
Duskeye kicked off, and flew up into the air about twenty feet.
“Stop,” ordered Tallin. “That’s far enough.”

“Nagl-meizi!”
cried Tallin. At first, nothing happened. Then,
tiny pebbles swirled up from the ground, glowing white. The
soldiers looked on, bewildered. Tallin began to rotate his wrists
furiously, and the pebbles also began to spin. They looked like
miniature hurricanes, glowing and spinning up with dust.

“Ow!” cried one of the soldiers as a pebble
hit him. Then he screamed, “The rocks are burning hot! They’re
burrowing into my skin!”

Tallin kept spinning his wrists, faster and
faster, and the little hurricanes spun hotter and faster as well.
The men didn’t even have a chance to run. The heated rocks shredded
their armor and clothing—and sizzled through their skin. “Augggh!
Augggh! They’re burning my chest!” The screams of the soldiers
echoed through the forest. The men jerked and scratched at their
clothing, but it was no use. Within seconds, all of them had
collapsed.

“Is that all of them?” asked Tallin,
breathing heavily.

“I believe so. The only one missing is that
fat mage.”

Duskeye settled back down onto the ground,
and Tallin exhaled deeply. The spell had drained him, and he still
had to heal Duskeye’s wounds. Tallin paused for a moment to gather
his strength, and he touched Duskeye’s wounded leg, healing the
cuts.

“Thank you, my friend.
Now… let’s go find that mage,”
said
Duskeye.
“I will find him.”

“Yes.” Tallin replied. He mounted Duskeye
and they took flight, flying low, just above the trees. All dragons
can perceive magical energy, and Duskeye concentrated, using his
senses to find the escaped mage.

“I’ll bet he’s trying to generate a cloaking
spell right now,” said Tallin.

“A lot of good that will do him! I could
find this human just based on his awful smell. He’s a sweaty,
pungent one.”

Tallin chuckled. They kept searching, and
eventually they found the mage and his pony, cowered underneath
some thick brambles. Tallin dismounted and pulled Pangran out of
the brambles by his collar. Duskeye grabbed the pony in his jaws
and cracked its neck with a loud snap. Then he tore it apart and
ate it in a few gulps.

The mage screamed while
Duskeye devoured the pony.
“Delicious!
Horses aren’t usually my preference, but this one was fantastic;
marbled with fat.”
The dragon burped,
satisfied. Then he sat back on his haunches to watch his rider
interrogate the terrified mage.