Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (5 page)

“You may use
any part of the terrain you wish, there are no rules.  Except you will cease
the moment I give the command.  Understood?”

“Yes, Sir!”
they all chanted.

As his father
scanned the group shrewdly, Ramaeka hunched in on himself knowing what was
about to happen.

“You two first,”
his father commanded pointing a single claw at Ramaeka and his partner.

The other
dragonets moved back creating a half circle around him and his opponent.  He
crouched low to the rock, spreading his wings and curling his tail slightly for
balance.  Through the rock he could faintly feel the shiver of power from the
earth deep beneath him.  Drawing strength from it he took a deep breath,
clearing his mind and focusing on his opponent.  His adversary was more than
twice as large as he was; he was also a rock element which meant that he would
be able to draw strength from the fortress behind them and the mountain below
them.  He was also furious from being humiliated earlier which would make him
more vicious.  On the plus side being a rock dragon, along with his bigger
build, meant that he was less speedy.  That and he was rather stupid and dull.

His father
brought his tail down with a bang. 

“Begin.”

Ramaeka leapt
to the side as his brother bound at him, swinging his tail as he leapt.  He
narrowly missed his opponents shoulder and swiftly turned to face his brother
again.  With a roar the dragonet jumped forward sweeping out with his claws;
Ramaeka feinted to the left then dodged to the right, biting deep into his
brother’s ear.  Bleh!  That tastes absolutely terrible, he thought as his
brother squealed in pain.  His opponent whipped his tail around, luckily
missing him with the sharp serrated tip, but whacked him hard enough across the
head to stun him, seizing the opportunity his brother hit him hard with a head
butt.

As he
staggered back, his adversary pounced on him pushing him back against the rock
with his superior weight and size.  Between him and the rock it felt like he
was stuck in a vice.

“You’re so
dead,” he snarled into Ramaeka’s face, his breath unfortunately foul.  I need
to get into the air away from the rock, he thought desperately.  Wriggling his
tail free he raked it across the other dragonets side.  As his opponent recoiled
slightly in surprise, Ramaeka brought his head up to use the fire spell, flames
leaping from his mouth into the face of his brother who cried out in pain and
leaped back.

Ramaeka
scrambled to his feet and bound across the clearing, his brother snarling
inches from his tail.  He soared off the edge of the cliff, instantly feeling
more confident with the air under his wings; he could hopefully out fly his
heavier brother until Ramanae called time.  Sensing his opponent behind and to
the left he banked and dropped slightly, twisting around to claw across the
exposed stomach then dipping to miss the tail.  With a cry his brother turned
and shot flames at him which were swept to the side by the wind.  Ramaeka
plunged away flying as nimbly as he knew how, his enemy close on his tail.  He
dropped suddenly, his wings firmly pressed against his back, shooting down
towards the ledge, his opponent right behind him.  At the last minute he spread
his wings, inches above the ground, shooting to the right then to the left. 
His larger brother managed to pull out his wings in time to slow his drop
slightly though he still hit the ground fairly hard, and bound to the right
with all his strength.  Unfortunately, he forgot to twist to the left and
slammed hard into a wall of rock.  Rock element though he was, the dragonet was
stunned and staggered backwards.  Ramaeka landed in a crouching position watching
his opponent warily as he shook his head in a daze.

“Enough,” his
father called scowling at them.  “Very average.  You two next.” 

He pointed at
the next pair and turned away to mutter something to Tannis.  Ramaeka sighed in
relief moving quickly over to the side of the ledge, average it may have been
but he was still alive and that was what mattered.  In fact he thought
mischievously, he rather thought that he may have won.  He grinned at his
battered brother, who glared back baring his fangs.

Trying to keep
awake after hours of physical training could be quite difficult Ramaeka thought
several hours later as he fought to keep his eyes open.  It didn’t help when
the class was Amarian history and politics.  He choked back a yawn as his
teacher nattered on about the rise of the wavaki in the Era of Bones.  Most of
his teachers were weaker dragons who came to his father’s keep because they
liked his conservative view about draconian politics.  Ramaeka had long decided
that conservatives were the most dried up bunch of yammerers in existence.  In
return they called him insolent and stupid; they told him he asked far too many
questions that were not relevant.

“Ramaeka.”

A voice
knocked him out of his boredom, blinking he looked at the scowling teacher.

“Sir,” he
inquired politely.

“If you cannot
be bothered listening to my lessons, you may stand outside,” the dragon told
him sourly.

Sighing
Ramaeka stood and dragged himself out the entry of the small chamber.  He was
still leaning outside when the other classes were dismissed.  He winced as he
saw the brother he had beaten in combat class advancing on him, Ramanor looked
furious.

“You got some
lucky shots today lizard,” his brother snarled at him.

Ramaeka grit
his teeth together, it was best not to provoke his brother here where there
were few escape routes, but no dragon liked to be called a lizard.

“You hear me
lizard?” Ramanor taunted, smirking at his friends as they gathered around
grinning cruelly like a pack of wavaki.

Ramaeka
scowled, biting his tongue firmly to stop it spitting out the insults he wanted
to say.

Ramanor
smacked him around the head. 

“Not so tough
now that father’s not here to protect you little lizard.”

Now that was
too much, first off his father had never protected him in the entire fourteen
years that Ramaeka had been alive, and secondly he was not that little!

“Really?” he
said to his brother coldly.  “I thought he was protecting you.”

Ramanor
snarled and swung his fist at Ramaeka.  He ducked around his fist and shoved a
fist full of fire down his brother’s pants.  As Ramanor squealed and danced in
pain, he ducked through the crowd of young dragons and ran for it.

He paused for
a moment as Garain emerged from another classroom.

“How’s that
for a fire charm?”

Several hours
later found him wandering through the massive network of corridors back from
the kitchens.  He had finally had a chance to get that snack after escaping his
brother and his friends by circling back around the long way.  He was
definitely going to be in trouble with his magic teacher tomorrow, but it had
been almost worth it to see the expression of shock on Ramanor’s face. 

Ramaeka
shivered as a slight breeze caressed his face; it was always so cold despite
warming spells in every room of the fortress.  He tensed suddenly, there
faintly on the breeze, he was sure it was the same scent he had smelt the day
that the hunting party had brought in that prisoner.  It faded as quickly as he
had picked it; he walked in the direction of the breeze scenting the air.  Before
he got far he caught it again.  Sniffing he followed it down a smaller side
passage; the scent was getting much stronger, frustratingly familiar but
completely different as well.

At the end of
the passage a light glowed from an opening on the side.  As he halted in front
of it, Ramaeka was surprised to find the opening was blocked by solid bars of
stone.  Peering through one of the gaps he saw a forlorn figure sitting curled
up in the corner of the small room.  The only other thing in the room was a single
blanket which the figure had pulled around them self.  Suddenly they looked up
startling him backwards.  The prisoner hurried to the bars and called out to
him in a strange language.  He pressed himself against the wall, as far from
the cell as he could get.  The prisoner continued to talk in the strange
language, reaching out to him.

What is that
language?  He thought curiously, his fear beginning to fade since the prisoner
obviously couldn’t get out.  It didn’t sound draconic he thought, but then it didn’t
smell draconic either.  Everything clicked together in one blinding flash of
clarity.  This was a human!  The smell was familiar and different because the
only human he had ever met had been cooked.  He peered eagerly at the human,
his first chance to meet one face to face.  As the human continued to talk at
him he realised that it, no she, was in fact female.  Incredibly filthy, but
definitely female.

“Er, I don’t
understand what you are saying,” he said rubbing the back of his neck
unsurely.  The human stopped talking for a moment and looked at him closely.

“Ah, no
understand,” he tried again shrugging his shoulders in pantomime.  She nodded,
then she began to gesture, Ramaeka quickly caught on.  She was hungry and
thirsty.  He gestured to her to wait and hurried away.

It was no
problem for him to slip in to one of the smaller kitchens without being noticed
and snitch a few vegetable and meat pastries, stopping only to make sure they
weren’t made from humans.  He grabbed a few pieces of fruit as well and a jug
of water, tying the food together into a cloth bundle.  He quickly hurried back
to the cell.  When he got there the human was once again sitting in the corner,
blanket tucked around her, but she immediately jumped up as he approached. 
Nervously he placed the jug on to the ground and carefully pushed it between
two of the bars.  The human slowly reached out took hold of it, smelling the
contents before drinking.  As she did do he pushed the bundle through the
bars.  The human carefully laid the jug down and took up the bundle.  She was
pretty smart, Ramaeka decided admiringly as she carefully examined each object
of food, obviously checking for poison or whether it was consumable for
humans.  She took a bite from a pastry then looked up and smiled at him.  It
was strange really, Ramaeka thought, that they ate a creature that looked so
much like them.  The human looked almost exactly like a female dragon in lesser
form, save perhaps that her eyes were slightly smaller and the tips of her ears
less pointed.  He felt decidedly squeamish at the thought of consuming someone
like her.

The human
pointed at the food and said something, Ramaeka blinked at her in confusion. 
She pointed again and said the same word, then pointed at the jug of water and
said a different word. 

“Oh,” said
Ramaeka.  “That’s what you call them.” 

He carefully
repeated the words pointing at each object in turn; he then said the Draconian
word for each which she quickly repeated.  She then pointed at herself.  

“Alekra” she
pronounced carefully.  Ramaeka pointed at himself and solemnly pronounced his
own name.  She listened intently and then repeated him.

“Ramaeka.” 

He grinned
absurdly pleased, however before he could say anything else, echoing footsteps
marked the approach of another dragon.  The human, Alekra, quickly shuffled
back into the corner, hiding the food and water behind her under the blanket. 
Ramaeka jumped up and ran up the passage, he slipped around the corner and
dashed in the opposite direction of the footsteps, not stopping until he got to
his sleeping chamber.  Pulling the curtain across the entrance, he flopped onto
his sleeper completely out of breath.  Isahn was right, humans were intelligent
he thought happily, she had said his name, and told him hers!  But what on
Amaria was his father keeping her for?  He transformed into his greater form
and curled into a ball tiredly.  Surely his father wasn’t keeping her to eat? 
He could have fresh meat anytime he wanted, including human, so why keep one
alive in the fortress.  He yawned widely, he was too tired to think properly,
it had been a long day, and his entire body was still aching from almost being
crushed by a dim rock dragon.  He needed to rest and allow his body to heal,
tomorrow however he would try to see the human, no Alekra, and find out why she
was there.

It wasn’t
until after evening meal the next day that Ramaeka had the chance to sneak away
to see Alekra again, he had been given several days worth of punishment duty
for yesterday’s antics.

He collected
some more food and drink on the way past the kitchens, luckily Bakara wasn’t
there and he was able to sneak in and out without being seen.  He trotted back
to the passage, carefully looking around the corner in case any dragon was
about.  Rocks! he thought as he saw his father and his oldest sister Ramapaiete
standing outside the cell, he pressed himself back against the rock.  He
hesitated, tempted to stay and listen to their conversation, however they were
already moving up the passage so he slipped away, turning up the next opening,
a short corridor with small cells like the one Alekra was in.  Ramaeka slipped
into the closest wondering how he hadn’t noticed this area before.  His father
and sisters voices moved closer and Ramaeka listened intently.

“I want to
know,” his father was demanding.

“Of course Sir,”
replied his sister soothingly.  “But until we can figure out how to understand
her language, I don’t believe we can go any further.”

“Then find a
solution.”

His father
growled as they swept away down the hall.

He crept out
of the unlit passage and stared after them.  That was strange he thought, his
father actually wanting to talk to a human.  He walked down to the opening of
Alekra’s cave frowning.

Alekra was
sitting in her corner again with her head in her arms.