The Chronicles of Dragon Collection (Series 1 Omnibus, Books 1-10) (90 page)

CHAPTER 12

Rerry frowned at his brother, and his brother frowned back.

“Please,” Sasha said, taking each by the arm, “can’t the pair of you get along? For your mother? You’ll ruin the mood of such a pretty day.”

They walked through Quintuklen. The streets were busy, the faces and voices filled with tension and worry. Sasha tried to ignore the dire comments, but it wasn’t easy. It was part of the reason she stayed inside so much.

“It’s not me, Mother. It’s Toad Face over there,” Rerry said. “He makes sunny days seem like rainy ones.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Sasha said. “He’s just quiet is all, and there is nothing wrong with that.” She squeezed Rerry’s brother’s arm. “Nothing at all, Samaz.”

The part-elven boy beside her had his head downcast. He was meaty and round faced like a butcher’s boy. He wore heavy, olive-green robes that dragged on the ground, and his thick fingers were locked together. His eyes were deep and spacy, but he still looked a little elven. Sweat dripped on his brow.

“It’s hot,” Samaz said.

“You need fresh air,” Sasha said. She reached up and stroked the thin brown hair on his head and gave it a tousle. “You work too much.”

Samaz didn’t reply, staying intent on putting one foot in front of the other. Samaz was a quiet and peaceful boy, while Rerry was as spry as a pixlyn.

“Mother,” Rerry said, “just let him go home and study his scrolls. He’ll be exhausted before we make the wall to Quintuklen.

“No I won’t,” Samaz said, coming to a stop. “I just don’t want to go.”

“Why is that?” Rerry said with a flare of drama. “Are you afraid a dragon might get you?”

“Enough of that, Rerry,” Sasha said. Rerry, the younger, always wanted to pick a fight with his older brother, but Samaz never took the bait. Over the years, Rerry had always resented him for it, not so much because he was mad but because he never had a brother to play with. “Your brother is your brother, and you are what you are. He can’t change what he is.”

“He could show some courtesy. I do the same for him.”

“Yes,” Samaz said.

“Yes what, you talking toadstool,” Rerry said.

“Rerry!” Sasha exclaimed. “Stop with the insults.”

“It’s just a little one.”

Sasha pinched his arm.

“Ouch!” Rerry said, wincing. “Mother?”

“I warned you,” she said, eyeing him.

“See what you made Mother do, Samaz?”

“Rerry, don’t be incorrigible,” she said, trying to pinch him again.

Rerry slipped away and said, “All right. I’m sorry, Mother.”

“Good,” she said, turning her attention back to Samaz. “Yes to what, Samaz?”

“Yes,” Samaz said, looking up into her eyes. “I am afraid that a dragon might get you.”

Goosebumps raised on her arms.

“No dragon is going to get you, Mother. Not when I’m around,” Rerry said, scanning the skies. “Samaz, you should know better than to say that.”

“Why do you say that, Samaz?” Sasha said, barely able to contain her breath. “Did you have a dream? A vision?”

“No,” Samaz said, staring up into the sky. “Just a really bad feeling.”

CHAPTER 13

Nath cut through the forest like a black stag. He’d spent the last several days scouting ahead for his friends. He could feel every creature. Small critters. Bears. The birds nested on high. He could sense their fear. They were as troubled as he was.

He padded through a clearing, pushed through a thicket, and nearly slipped down the side of a cliff. The valley below him was deep, green treetops mile after mile with rippling rivers flowing right through them like blue-green snakes, weaving around the bends. He traced the river to where it disappeared. Something else caught his eye.

“I’ll be,” he said, putting his clawed hands on his hips. “Didn’t think I’d ever notice natural beauty again. It’s something.” He took a moment to take it all in. The bright sun and wispy clouds made for quite a setting over the lush valley. It was so big and peaceful that it was hard to believe that war had taken over the land at all.

Ben burst through the brush and barreled toward the ledge.

“Whoa!” he said, arms flailing like windmills.

Nath snatched him by the arm and gently pulled him back.

“Careful,” he said.

Ben huffed and dashed the sweat from his eyes.

“You sure are something to keep up with,” Ben said with his hands on his knees. “You move like a ghost. But I kept up with you. Whew!”

“I let you keep up with me,” Nath said, “but you did well, considering.”

“Considering what?” Ben said, rolling his big shoulders and stretching his back.

“Do I really need to answer that?” Nath said.

“Well, I still did better than most men ever could … have …” Ben’s eyes fixed on the enormous object that hung in the sky. “Is that …?”

“A city? Yes. Yes Ben, that’s a city.”

“But, it floats?”

“Why do you think they call it the Floating City?”

“I just figured it was some sort of expression. I didn’t really think it’d be floating.” He squinted and shuffled back a little. “But it does. How’s that possible?”

“Magic. Lots of magic.”

The city floated in the air like a cloud atop a rocky moon. Below the rock, bright-blue shards of crystal glowed with brilliant life. Nath could count hundreds of rocks suspended in the air, some small and some huge, but only one hosted a city.

“And we are to go there?” Ben asked, shaking his head in disbelief. “And how do we get up there?”

Even miles away, Nath’s keen sight could make out catwalks and bridges that went from rock to rock once you got to the city, but there was no answer how to get up. He shrugged.

“We’ll let Bayzog think of something.”

“Do people live there?” Ben said, rubbing the whiskers on his rugged chin.

“They did once, but that was long ago. Long before my time.”

“What happened?”

“It’s cursed,” Nath said, “Abandoned.”

“Haunted?”

“I don’t know about that, but it’s foul, they say.”

“There looks to be some life. Look at those birds flying from the spires,” Ben said.

“Those aren’t birds,” Nath said, gazing their way, “those are dragons.”

“Dragons? So many? Are you sure?”

Nath eyed him.

“I don’t think we should venture where so many dragons are about. They’ll find us for certain.”

“I’m not worried about those dragons,” Nath said. “Those are small ones. They roost. They sleep. There are ways around the dragons. It won’t be a problem.”

“If you say so.”

A dragon roar echoed down the valley.

Ben looked at Nath. “That didn’t sound so small.” He peered over the edge, into the valley.

Nath did the same.

A red-orange dragon glided over the river. With a beat of its great wings, it soared upward into the sky.

Ben gulped and hunkered down. His eyes enlarged when another dragon burst through the clouds and crashed into the first. The titans roared and clashed, filling the valley with thunder. The great monsters spit fire and clawed at one another.

“Are they fighting?”

“No, they’re sparring. Dragons do that, too. Hone their battle skills. Test one another.”

Shards of fire scattered in the sky and drizzled toward the ground.

“What kind are they?” Ben asked.

“Bull dragons.”

“They seem awfully big. Are they a problem?”

Nath looked down at him and nodded.

“They’re a problem times ten.”

CHAPTER 14

Bayzog got off his horse and let it drink from the river. All the others in the company did the same. Hours earlier, Nath and Ben had come back to share what they had discovered. When he’d found out the Floating City hosted dragons, his stomach had sunk into his toes.

“Do you really think it’s that bad?” Nath said ironically, wading into the waters. He scooped up a drink. “What’s a few dozen dragons? … Including a couple of bulls.”

Bayzog slumped on the Elderwood Staff.

I feel old. I should not, but I do
. He rubbed the pendant under his robes.

“You miss her, don’t you?” Nath said. “I would too. Well, I do. After all, I’ve not seen her in twenty-some years.”

Brenwar stormed over.

“So, do we have a plan? Or do we wait to become dragon toast?” He eyed the sky. “I don’t think it’s the best idea to be in the wide open.”

“I don’t hear anything,” Nath said. “Take a moment and relax, Brenwar.”

“Do you see a barrel of ale around here?”

Nath shook his head.

Ben walked over with his thumbs hitched in his belt and said, “Do we have a plan?”

Bayzog liked to plan. He lived for it, but at the moment he was at a loss.

Giving it a shot, he said, “We’re here to find out who mines the crystal shards. And I’m not so sure angling for the Floating City is the best route.” He pulled the shard out of a pocket in his robes. “But I think a visit to the citizens of the River Cities might garner some answers.”

“An excellent idea,” Brenwar said with a snort. “We just waltz in there and ask them. A dragon, an elf, and a dwarf. Ha!”

“We have our advantages,” Bayzog said, eyeing Brenwar’s chest.

“No, no, no,” Brenwar said, “I’ll not be drinking any more potions again. No.”

Bayzog missed Gorlee. The chameleon was priceless at times like this.

“We can send Ben,” Nath suggested. “He’d fit in, and I bet he could discover a few things.”

Ben shrugged.

“I can do it.”

“No sense splitting up now,” Brenwar said. “We lose one and we all might be lost. I’m not for it.” He turned his nose up at the sky. “Let’s just climb up there and see what we find.”

“I thought you’d show a little more patience, Brenwar,” Nath said. “We won’t end this war in a day.”

“Maybe not, but I want to. And you should too. Time is our enemy. The deeper evil burrows, the more difficult to extract it.”

“Another day won’t hurt anything,” Nath said.

“Lives are over in a second, Dragon,” Brenwar said.

Bayzog had never seen Brenwar so impatient before. It bothered him.

“I know,” Nath said, “but we’ve made it this far being patient. That saves lives just as well.”

Brenwar harrumphed.

“Ben,” Bayzog said with a nod, “I think it’s time you got a closer look at the River Cities.”

“Agreed.”

***

A mile upriver, farmlands and rolling terrain stretched as far as the eye could see on their side of the river. They released the horses there and waited long enough to watch them gallop out of sight. Brenwar hefted the dwarven chest on his shoulder, and Nath led the way. Bayzog had gotten used to Nath’s senses. It was as if he could see and hear everything. He tripped on his robes catching up to him.

“Nath, something disturbs me,” Bayzog said.

“Oh, and what is that?”

“Are the senses of other dragons as keen as yours?”

“Good question,” Nath said, stepping over a fallen tree. “And I’d like to think not, but I can’t say for sure. Their eyes are better than those of eagles, but I don’t think them so motivated to find us.”

“Why not?”

“Dragons don’t worry about things as much as the races do. They are aloof. Not stupid, not by any means. But other than a love for people’s treasure, they have little care for people. Don’t bother them, they don’t bother you, unless you’re a gold or ruby statue.” He sliced some branches down with his claws. “It’s the soldiers we need to worry about.”

“And those bull dragons,” Bayzog said, “are they of no concern?”

“Well, they’re guarding the Floating City for a reason. I assume your hunch about the crystals is right.”

“And after what happened at Jordak’s Pass, they’ll figure we’re coming this way.” He checked the sky. The Floating City’s tower tops hung behind the mountains, but he could see other chunks of rock that floated in the air. “And they probably have eyes everywhere?”

Ben gazed upward at his side and said, “If the crystals float like that, then why don’t people use them to fly like birds?”

“It’s not a property they have,” Bayzog said, sipping from his flask. “Though they are the rarest and most precious stones in Nalzambor. It’s called jaxite. And what you see in the sky is where it comes from.”

“It looks alive,” Ben said.

Bayzog nodded. “Jaxite means ‘living rock’ in the old tongue. The histories say that whoever controls the jaxite controls the world. So the Wizards of Renown built a city on top of it and guarded it closely. But not all agreed on how the rock should be used. The races from all Nalzambor came to claim it. They warred for years, and the peaceful River Cities ran red with blood. The Wizards of Renown were wise. War prompted them to place a curse on the jaxite.”

“What kind of curse?” Ben asked, fingering the hilt on his sword.

Bayzog cracked a smile.

“A powerful one that is as plain as you see. Unifying their powers, they cast a great and mighty spell that lifted the jaxite from the earth to the sky. That is what you see now. And they added another spell as well. One that made the jaxite even harder to mine than moorite. It took a few years, but the races finally gave up after that. The jaxite had become useless.”

“But it seems useful now,” Nath said, climbing up a rock and lending a hand one by one to the others.

“Hence the reason for this quest,” Bayzog said, taking Nath’s hand. “And every bit of information we can acquire from the River Cities will be of great use before we venture above.”

He found himself overlooking the river that flowed through the majestic River Cities. Buildings of stone and wood lined the sandy edges of the riverbank clear off into the distance. The wharfs were busy with people who looked as small as insects they were so far away, loading and unloading cargo, mostly from small craft and barges. But a few big suppliers dipped great oars in the water.

“Seems like a nice place to live,” Ben said, starting down the other side of the rock. “I’m ready to go.”

“Wait, Ben,” Bayzog said.

Ben clamored back up the rock with a groan.

“Time’s wasting.”

Bayzog gestured to the dwarven chest on Brenwar’s shoulder.

“May I?

Brenwar set it down with a grunt and opened it up. The vials of potions popped up in rows. In the bottom of the chest was an assortment of other things: clothing, pendants, rings, scrolls, and many other baubles and trinkets.

“How can so many things be inside a chest that is so small?” Ben asked.

“Magic,” Nath said, patting his shoulder.

Inside, Bayzog found a small jar of dark-green ointment. He pulled the lid off and dipped his fingers inside it. “Come, Ben,” he said, holding his fingers out.

“What are you doing with that?” Ben said, frowning.

Bayzog rubbed it on Ben’s cheeks and muttered some mystic words.

Ben’s face shone brightly, then dulled.

“Is that it?” the warrior said.

Bayzog capped the jar and set in back in the chest.

“That’s it.”

“What does it do?”

“It’s Adderack’s Aversion Balm. It will keep the soldiers from pressing you.”

“Does it make me ugly?”

“You’re already ugly,” Brenwar said.

Nath laughed.

“You’re fine, Ben,” Nath said, staring at him. “Just different. The balm works well.”

Bayzog nodded. Ben’s visage had gone from something strong to something forgettable.

“You should go,” the part-elven wizard said.

“Agreed,” Nath and Brenwar said.

“But,” Ben said, but Nath was already shoving him along.

“Find the Water Dog Inn,” Bayzog said, “and don’t ask too many questions.”

“Be back by dawn,” Nath said, waving him onward, “Now hurry on.”

Ben looked back over his shoulder a couple times then disappeared into the woods.

“That was strange,” Nath said, “but really effective. And he’s going to need it.”

“Why do you say that?” Bayzog said.

“Because those little people in the cities you can’t see,” Nath said, pointing down the river, “most of them aren’t citizens. Those are Barnabus soldiers.”

“Are there many orcs?” Bayzog said.

“Some. Why?”

“Oh, well, let’s just hope he doesn’t cross too many of them. They aren’t often disturbed by uncomely anything.” He shrugged and glanced down the path Ben had taken.

“Should I go after him?” Nath said.

“I’m sure it will be all right. Ben is a cautious man.”