Scourge of the Dragons (7 page)

“Wait, nobody deserves to be injured on my
account. Please, just listen to me,” Kade said as he dropped to his
knees.

“This not just any nobody, my young friend,
I believe you call her Amber.”

Kade shook uncontrollably as he fell to the
ground. Every fiber of his being attempted to cry for help, but he
could not even get any words out. He began to drift out of
consciousness only to be snapped back. Everything was in a haze,
but his vision was beginning to return. The tent was gone, replaced
by a strange room of stone. There were several strangers looking at
him in confusion. Nothing felt quite right as he tried to get up
off the floor. He froze in terror as he spotted a massive winged
beast staring down at him. The creature brought its head in close
to examine him. It pulled back with a loud snort. His heart pounded
as they helped him to his feet and walked him toward the great
beast. Everything was foreign to him. Even those that were helping
him walk forward looked strange to him.

“What have you done with me?” He cried out
in terror.

“This is not Wrotan,” the great creature
said.

*

The hunter groaned as he came awake. He
immediately noticed that something was wrong. His face was
throbbing and his vision was blurry at best. Everything seemed to
be blocked out by some sort of fog. Isaack’s teachings kicked in
instantly and he closed his eyes and listened. There were two
others in the room that he could hear. They were laughing
hysterically about something. He could also make out the voice of a
woman. By the sound of it, she was pleading with them about
somebody named Kade. The fog seemed to lift, but his vision
remained impaired.

“Please, we don’t know anything about the
scourge,” the woman said.

“How do you explain the spot on the back of
his hand?” One of the men asked.

“This is the first that I’ve heard of
it.”

“She seems to be telling the truth,” the
other man said.

“That matters little, her presence here is
to make that one talk.”

“You’ll get no information out of me,”
Wrotan said as he stood up.

He heard one of the two men move toward him.
His muscles tensed as he waited for them to make contact. The man
grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him closer. Wrotan slipped out
of the man’s grip and brought his palm up into the man’s chest. His
opponent staggered back a few steps, but it didn’t have the effect
the hunter was expecting. He took a few steps back and listened for
his opponent’s next move. The man laughed as he strode toward his
handicapped target. Wrotan pivoted forward and slapped the man in
the face. He gambled on the fact that most people would flinch from
a light slap and brought his elbow into his opponent’s chest with
all the force he could muster. The man groaned as he dropped to one
knee and Wrotan brought his elbow down into the man’s face.

*

Julian yelled at the top of his lungs as he
ran toward the camp. He threw his knife at the closest of the
guards and crashed into the next. The three remaining Knights
surrounded him and drew their swords. He dropped to his knees and
pleaded for them to spare him. One of the guards shook his head as
he pulled the young man to his feet. Julian flinched when he saw
the sword heading for the man’s neck. He looked away and covered
his eyes, but the sounds of slaughter were distinct. He waited for
several moments before lowering his hands from his eyes. All five
of the Knights had been killed and there was a man backing out of
the largest of the tents. Mariah grabbed him from behind and placed
her sword at his neck. He stiffened, but made no move to break
free. The guardswoman dragged him toward the fire before throwing
him to the ground.

“Where is the young man?” She asked.

“You can have that cursed thing. He is not
human, that is for certain,” Ansom replied.

“Explain yourself.”

“I will not deny that I treated him
violently, but he is a spawn of the scourge. We injured him to the
point where he could not see. It is a technique I learned long ago.
Take a man’s sight and he will feel powerless. Your friend would
not reveal the information about the scourge, so we pressed harder.
We threatened to hurt the girl and he broke down. He fell to the
floor in tears. Something changed inside of him and he began to
fight back. We didn’t think much of it at first. His first attack
on Goraine was too weak to do any serious damage, but he was
determined. He moved quicker than either of us expected and before
I knew it, the Knight was on the floor.”

“Julian?” Amber called out as she exited the
tent.

“Yes, we’ve rescued you,” he called
back.

“Mark my words, that boy is trouble!” Ansom
yelled.

Everyone went silent as Kade exited the
tent. He staggered forward as he held his hands over his eyes.
Julian clenched his fist as he stared down at the man responsible.
He pushed past Mariah and punched Ansom in the face. His opponent
quickly retaliated with a punch of his own. The guardswoman
motioned for Amber to assist Kade before she broke up the
fistfight. She pushed Julian back before smashing her hilt against
the torturer’s forehead. Kade stumbled up to the others with the
help of Amber. Julian placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

“We’ll get you both to safety. Mariah will
know what to do,” He said.

“You best let me go, the last thing you want
is for the Knights of Ardevale to arrive and see that you’ve taken
one of their allies captive,” Ansom said.

“Not likely.”

“No, he’s right. We don’t need to draw any
unnecessary attention,” Mariah said.

“We can’t just leave him here,” Amber
said.

“I never planned to.”

*

Wrotan grabbed his head as the fog came
back. He sat up and looked around. There were several figures
moving just past the mist. His vision cleared as he stood up.
Hadrin and the others were all staring at him. Ungaroth brought his
head in close to examine the hunter. They all had strange looks on
their faces. He rubbed his eyes as what little was left of the fog
dissipated. The dragon snorted as it pulled back. Wrotan shook his
head before turning to the others.

“What happened to me?” He asked.

“We were hoping you would know. You freaked
out and then Ungaroth told us that it wasn’t you,” Alandra
replied.

“Very strange,” Wrotan said as he turned to
Erlkan.

“What?” The elf asked.

“You said that it was strange.”

“But I didn’t say that.”

“Who said it?”

“Nobody said it,” Hadrin said.

“This is most interesting. Isaack never told
us that this was a possibility,” Ungaroth said.

“What is a possibility?” The hunter
asked.

“The ritual is complete. You are now the
champion of the night dragons, but something more has occurred. Our
connection to the scourge has changed you. You are now attuned to
anything that has been scourged. I, too, heard Erlkan’s
thought.”

“What about before? That was more than just
hearing a thought. How did I change locations?”

“You did not change locations, you changed
bodies. Explain what happened from your point of view.”

“Everything went foggy and then I was on the
ground. There were two men talking and one woman pleading with
them. The mist left, but my vision was still blurred. I fought off
the one man and then I returned here.”

“Isaack and I were able to voluntarily
invite others into our minds, but never did we swap bodies.
Whomever you assisted must have let out quite the cry for
assistance. We must look into this further. “

“Of course, how do we do that?” Obrin
asked.

“You will stay with us and go through the
archives. The others will head for the spirit monk monastery. They
believe that the scourge originated in the spirit word. Whether
they are correct or not doesn’t matter. Their knowledge may be able
to help us combat the scourge.”

Hadrin examined his pack one last time.
Leaving his father didn’t feel right, but he lacked the courage to
stand up to the dragons. Knowing that his father had dealt with the
creatures for so long added an incredible amount of respect for
him. There had been a time when Obrin was considered among the
greatest of the elven Kings throughout the history of all the elven
realms, but the deterioration caused by the scourge had changed the
opinion of many elves. The dragons treated him like a friend and
that was no small feat. Erlkan paced back and forth with his pack
slung over his shoulder. The elf King had traveled to the human
lands before and was not looking forward to doing so again.

“We’ll be fine, Erlkan,” Alandra said as she
approached.

“Easy for you to say, humans, present
company excluded, are an erratic sort. Hadrin and I are scourged,
who is to say that won’t set off some of the humans?” Erlkan
asked.

“He is right. Not all humans are corrupt,
but many in positions of power are. We need to have a story in the
event that they find out about the scourge,” Wrotan said.

“I have an idea, but I’m not certain where
we’ll get the supplies,” Hadrin said.

“Let’s hear it.”

“We can give the two of them tribal style
tattoos and claim that it is an elven tradition. The process isn’t
painless, but the tattoos will only last for a month or two. Would
that give us enough time?”

“An excellent idea, son. I’m not certain
that we have the supplies though,” Obrin said.

“Finding the supplies should be easy
enough.”

“He isn’t a child anymore, you don’t need to
treat him as such,” the newly christened champion said.

“It is hardy your place to tell me what to
do about my son,” Obrin said.

“On the contrary, he has every right to
bring up this point. Part of our failing as dragons was to allow
you and Isaack a certain measure of distance from each other.
Hadrin and Wrotan must balance each other out. Just as we will do
our best to balance both of them. Your son will need to take over
for you sooner or later,” Ungaroth said.

“Perhaps it would be wise to add another to
the mix. Three heads are better than two,” Hadrin said.

“We’ve already accounted for that. You will
understand soon enough. For now, the four of you need to leave.
There must be no more delaying.”

Wrotan nodded as he slung his pack over his
shoulder. Obrin pulled his son in for an embrace. Erlkan held out
his hand and Obrin took hold of his forearm and the two locked
their hands on each other’s forearms before pulling each other in
for a one handed hug. Alandra watched as one of the smaller dragons
pulled in a cart. Ungaroth motioned toward the cart and the four
travelers approached. Hadrin, Wrotan, and Alandra were all given a
backpack with armor and a cloak. The Prince and Alandra were also
given notes that they were supposed to read once on the road.
Erlkan received a new bow and a new sword. Each of the four
gathered their new gifts and said their farewells before
leaving.

*

Mariah bent down and dipped the cloth in the
water before wrapping it around Kade’s head, covering his still
injured eye. She wrapped another bandage on top of it to secure it
in position before motioning to the others. Julian finished filling
the waterskins and nodded to the guardswoman. Amber let out a sigh
as she stood up from the rock overlooking the river. Though their
pace was slow, their path was far from easy. They had run out of
food the night after rescuing Kade, but Mariah had managed to catch
two meals a day the two following days. They all gathered around
her and waited for her to set off in any direction. Whatever skills
they may have had in the city were no good to them in the wilds.
Mariah felt as though she were leading three children toward the
vague promise of safety.

“Who are you?” Kade asked as he quickened
his pace to keep up with her.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“The others said you were a guardswoman from
Reddington, but someone like you would never work for the Regent. I
also doubt that a simple guard would have the skills that you have
displayed.”

“You are far more perceptive than your
friends. I am more than just a simple guardswoman. As you may have
surmised, the Regent of Reddington will one day be replaced by a
King or Queen. Prince Rotherham, Princess Eloise, and Princess
Ilsanth are all eligible for the throne. They each have their own
royal guards. We, the Guardians of the Throne, must ensure that
none of the three or their supports commit treachery. Luckily for
the three of you, none of them are even past nine. I was trained
since childhood to fight, survive, and ensure the survival of my
wards. My job doesn’t rightfully start for another five to ten
years. All the Guardians know that, so we do what we can to stay
sharp in the meantime. You are doing me as much of a favor as I am
doing one for you.”

“That is fascinating, how does one get
selected for such a thing?” The young man asked.

“It isn’t something that I enjoy talking
about.”

“My apologies, I did not mean to
offend.”

“Where are we headed?” Julian asked as he
and Amber joined them at the front.

“The elven lands. We should be safer there.
The Knights of Ardevale are not to be trifled with,” Mariah
replied.

“Are not the elven lands dangerous?” Amber
asked.

“They can be, but we have given them no
reason to fight with us. With luck, they should welcome us with
open arms.”

Kade looked down at the dirt path, not
wanting the others to see his face. He tried to push aside the
faces that came rushing at the mention of elves. They didn’t look a
great deal different than humans, but they had with them a massive
beast unlike anything Kade had seen before. If he didn’t know any
better, he would have thought it a dragon. The thought gave him
shivers. There were hundreds of legends that told of heroes going
out to fight dragons and similar creatures, but everyone knew them
to be fictitious. He took a deep breath as he looked up at
Mariah.