Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (11 page)

He led them up
to the crest of one of the surrounding hills.  As they approached the top he
dropped to the ground and wriggled forward on his stomach.  It had to be
something serious thought Ramaeka, Stripe was obviously scared by whatever they
were about to see.  His face was pale and he was sweating.  Glancing over at
Shady, Ramaeka noticed that he looked extremely grim, his jaw set like stone.

Stripe reached
the top of the hill and peered over, quickly ducking down then looking over
again.  He gestured Ramaeka and Shady forward.  Ramaeka carefully wiggled to
the top and peeked over.  His breath caught in his throat at the sight below
him.  An immense army marched across the flatland at the bottom of the hill. 
Sun gleamed on weapons, every man that marched seemed to be armed with a sword
or axe.  And that was just the men Ramaeka thought fearfully.  He had seen many
horrific sights in his short life including death duels between full grown
dragons, but the hundreds of different creatures that marched along with the
humans made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.  There were gigantic
trolls and immense spiders; there were mixtures of human and animal as well as
many huge beasts that Ramaeka had never heard of before.  Strange hairy
creatures were being pulled along in cages as they snarled and slathered at the
bars.  Ramaeka felt the draconian instincts of his people rising up inside of
him, he desperately wanted to transform and be ready to defend himself and his
friends.  As he fought the growl in his chest down Stripe tapped his arm.  He
glanced over at his friend who blinked in surprise and looked at him more closely. 
Ramaeka immediately got himself under control and raised an eyebrow
questioningly.  Stripe stared at him unsurely for a moment before gesturing
back down the hill.  Ramaeka nodded and silently slid back down the way that he
had come.

He followed
the other two into the woods where they crept away from the direction of the
army.  Cries unlike any Ramaeka had ever heard caught his attention.  Looking
up he saw large birdlike shapes, looking closely he noticed that some of them
were human and bird hybrids, while others resembled, very distantly to his
mind, dragons.  He shivered and hurried after the others into denser bush where
hopefully the flying creatures would not be able to spot them.

They travelled
away from the army all day until the flying creatures were small dots on the
horizon.  It was not until they were undercover of a small dry cave that Stripe
allowed them to speak.  It was strange Ramaeka mused, Shady was usually in
charge but whenever things got really dangerous it was Stripe who led them.  He
winced as he flopped down, all the running they had been doing lately was
making his feet hurt.  Though, really that might be because he was still unused
to wearing the horrible boots.  Ramaeka preferred to go barefoot so that he
could feel the earth beneath him. 

Stripe dropped
down beside him and passed him a flask of water.  Shady huddled at the front of
the cave, nervously scanning the skies and trees every now and again.

“What was that?”
he asked quietly looking at the two older boys.

Stripe frowned
seriously.  “That was Gasha’s army if I’m not mistaken.  It’s even bigger than
I imagined though.”

Shady nodded
in agreement.

“I’ve never
even seen some of those beasts before,” he replied genuinely anxious.

“Me either, it
even looked like he had dragons with him,” Stripe absently tapped his fingers
against the flask in his hands.

“They weren’t
dragons,” Ramaeka interrupted firmly.  “I don’t know what they were, but they
weren’t dragons.”

“How do you
know?” Shady asked raising an eyebrow though he didn’t sound as challenging as
he usually did.

“Because I’ve
seen a dragon up close before, and that’s not what they look like,” he replied
as calmly as he could.  He looked up to see Stripe watching him closely and
smiled weakly.  Please don’t guess he thought desperately to himself. 

Stripe turned
away and said to Shady, “It looks like they were headed west of Porkae, but
they could swing east.”

“Let’s hope
not,” Shady replied.  “We’ll head west as well then swing east across the
Dragon Mountains and down into Porkae.   That way we should miss them, no
sensible leader would take a full army across the Dragon range.”  He didn’t
look a hundred percent sure as he said this, Ramaeka noticed.

“No sensible
person would want to cross that range,” Stripe retorted.  He sighed and leant
back.  “It will have to do though.”

As he sat on
first watch that night and stared into the dark forest ahead of them, Ramaeka
desperately hoped that there were not actual dragons on the mountain range. 
Explaining to his friends why giant flying monsters recognised him was a
dilemma he didn’t particularly want to face.  Telling them he was a monster,
according to their beliefs, was something he especially did not want to do he
thought morosely.  Enough he told himself firmly, all he could do was enjoy his
journey while it lasted. 

He spent the
rest of his watch determinedly not thinking about anything.

Chapter Five

They travelled
fast over the next week, following game trails away from the main path. 
Several times Ramaeka found himself mentally thanking his former teacher Tannis
for forcing his students to build up their endurance.  There had been no
sightings of any creatures or men from the army, though they continued to keep
an eye out.  Everyday Ramaeka watched the mountains change from purple
splotches on the distant horizon, to forbidding dark peaks.  Stripe worried
him; occasionally he would look up and see the blond watching him.  However
when he did catch him looking, Stripe just smiled and looked away.  All of this
running and hiding was much too nerve-wracking for a poor growing dragon like
himself he thought grumpily as he trotted along behind Shady.

Shady called a
stop near a small lake.  While cover was minimal he told them that they would
need to stay and stock up their supplies before hitting the mountain range.

“It’s going to
take us around a week and a half to get across,” he explained.  “That’s if we
don’t get hit by bad weather.  From here there won’t be as much game or edible
plants so we gotta get everything we can.”

Stripe and
Ramaeka nodded in agreement.  Ramaeka watched over the camp for the rest of the
day while Shady and Stripe hunted.  He wasn’t quite as good as them with a
sling yet though he was the best at finding prey.  It was fairly easy when you
could smell it a mile away he thought to himself yawning as he lazily checked
the fishing lines he had set.  By the time the other two returned to camp he
had managed to catch three decent sized fish.

“Good work,”
Shady said approvingly.  Ramaeka blinked in surprise, it was the first time
that Shady had ever said anything nice to him.

“Th- thanks,”
he stuttered as Shady walked away carrying several rabbits.  Stripe grinned and
winked at him.

They ate one
of Ramaeka’s fish for dinner with tubers Stripe called potatoes before spending
the evening skinning and gutting their catch away from camp.

The next four
days were spent in the same fashion, cutting the meat into thin strips, salting
and then smoking the slices over green twigs to dry them out.  With his superior
nose and eyes Ramaeka found as many fruit trees and bushes as he could along
with edible plants and tubers.  Being at the base of the mountains it was
rather cold though the days were sunny.  Ramaeka wished that they could stay
longer by the small lake; it was the most fun he had ever had.  It was also
extremely relaxing after all of their running, they all quickly regained their
energy.

In fact, he
thought with slight annoyance, Stripe’s energy seemed to have doubled.  The
older boy was practically bouncing around getting in both Ramaeka and Shady’s
way.

“That’s it,”
Shady growled as Stripe accidentally upset the basket of pods that he was
stripping for the third time.  He jumped up and chased a laughing Stripe around
the camp.  Ramaeka bound to his feet, for once eager to assist Shady.  He
tripped Stripe as he ran past and sat on him.  Stripe looked up at him with a
wounded expression.

“Traitor,” he
said pouting.  Ramaeka just smirked at him.  Shady joined him and grabbed
Stripe’s legs.

“Grab his arms,”
he told Ramaeka.  “I think he needs to cool down a bit.”

Stripe
squealed and struggled as his two shorter friends carried him over to the ice
cold lake.  He landed with a huge splash and immediately came up spluttering. 
He glared at the two of them, laughing hysterically, and swam for shore.

“You’re so in
for it now,” he announced as he bound up the shore.  “That water is absolutely
freezing.”

He grabbed
Shady and dragged him down into the water before turning back to Ramaeka.  Who,
being a brave and intelligent dragon immediately let out an embarrassing squeak
and turned to run.  He had barely gotten five paces away when Stripe caught him
and chucked him over his shoulder.  He struggled helplessly as his friend
turned and loped back to the water carrying him with ease, and plunged them
both into the freezing water.

Instantly
mirth turned to a clutching fear.  Ramaeka struggled wildly as images of wild
churning water and bruising rocks flashed through his mind.  The scars on his
side burnt as the icy water pulled him down.  Strong hands grabbed his arms and
pulled him up to the surface and close to the shore.  He breathed a sigh of
relief as his feet hit solid earth and he half crawled up onto shore, coughing
out water.

“You ok?”
Stripe asked pushing his black fringe back from his eyes.

Ramaeka
nodded, not meeting his eyes.

“I didn’t mean
to scare you,” his friend said anxiously.

“It wasn’t you,”
Ramaeka quickly reassured him, looking up.

“Well if your
both fine I’m going to get dry and start some cooking,” Shady said gruffly,
before walking back to camp.

“So what
happened then?” Stripe asked casually leaning back.

“I don’t
really know,” Ramaeka admitted weakly.  “I’ve never had a problem with water
before.”

“Until you
went over a waterfall after being attacked by a dragon,” Stripe said gently. 
“That’s enough to make anyone scared of something.”

Ramaeka hung
his head.  “I feel so stupid,” he grumbled.

“It’s ok,
everyone’s afraid of something,” Stripe reassured him.

“Even you?”
Ramaeka asked peering up at his friend.

“Even me, even
Shady,” Stripe replied.

“Can I ask
what you’re scared of?” Ramaeka asked unsurely, it was a very personal question
really.  No dragon would ever admit to being afraid of anything.

“S’ok,” Stripe
replied.  He looked down at his hands.  “Um, actually mine’s kind of
embarrassing.”

“I won’t laugh,”
Ramaeka promised earnestly.

“Alright,”
Stripe took a deep breath.  “I’m scared of the dark,” he admitted.

Ramaeka patted
his friends hand sympathetically.  “Do you know why?” he asked.

“It doesn’t
matter,” Stripe said glancing away.  “It’s a pathetic fear anyway.”

“I don’t think
so,” Ramaeka replied firmly.  He was used to the dark having lived inside
mountains his entire life, but he could sympathise. 

“I won’t tell
anyone what you’re scared of, I promise.”

Stripe smiled
at him.  “Thanks, now let’s get dry before I freeze to death.”  He stood up and
started back towards camp, pulling off his shirt.  Ramaeka stared at his back. 

“Stripe,
what’s that on your back?”  

On the centre
of his friend’s back was an intricate image.  It was shaped like a wedge from a
circle; the broadest part at the top covered his shoulder blades while the
point finished halfway down his back.  The wedge filled with both runes and
images, shimmered as if it glowed from beneath his skin.  Stripe turned back in
surprise and started to reply when suddenly there was a cry from behind them.

They both
jumped and turned as one.  Two mountain trolls had emerged from the trees,
attracted by the meat.  Shady was attempting to distract them from their
supplies by throwing rocks.  Stripe rushed forward with Ramaeka close behind.

What do we
do?  Ramaeka thought desperately.  Trolls had little magic but physically they
were nearly impossible to kill though they were sensitive to heat.  You could
throw them off a cliff and they would just bounce.  One of the squat, brown
monsters had turned its great hairy snout towards Shady, growling viciously as
it moved towards him. 

Ramaeka
watched in horror as Stripe grabbed his sword and in four strides, leapt onto
the creatures back.  Rock brain thought Ramaeka exasperated, how are you
supposed to stab it when you’re bouncing around on its back.  Now you can
barely hold on because you’ve got a great whacking knife taking up one of your hands.

He was right
of course.  Stripe clung helplessly to its back as it bucked up and down trying
to dislodge him.  He whacked at it futilely with the sword at his hand, but was
unable to get a decent angle on the aggravated beast.  Shady threw rocks at its
head to distract it, narrowly dodging the giant swiping claws several times.

Which left the
second beast.

Ramaeka
swallowed as he looked it over, if he were in his greater form the thing would
be running from him.  Though it would be about the same size as him in that
form he supposed.  The thing wasn’t that intelligent he thought as it put its
great paw into the fire to grab the rabbit cooking on a spit.  It grunted with
pain, ignoring its companion’s wild dancing about, then reached in for another
try.

Ramaeka
grabbed the end of a stick from the fire and waved it in the trolls face. 
Maybe if he could get it away from the camp, he could lose it somewhere.  He
dodged as it rushed at him with teeth bared, and swung away from the camp
towards the mountains.  It growled and chased him for several paces before
being distracted by several fish strung up on a nearby tree.  Running back
Ramaeka swung the still burning stick down on to its tail area.  No beast can
ignore that he thought smugly.  He was right.  With a roar of rage the troll
turned and raced at his attacker with surprising speed.  Ramaeka turned and
fled up towards the mountainside.