by LeRoy Clary
Flier watched it, too. He said, “How long are we going to stay here?”
The guard had walked off several steps and sat on a log, his sword held across his knees in a silent threat as he watched us. The gentle noises of insects, the rustling of leaves in the breeze, and the distance gave us a measure of privacy. We were out of sight of the others, which meant they couldn’t see us, either. We were sitting beside each other and speaking softly hoping it would keep the words from the guard’s ears.
I shifted to both turn and move a little closer to Flier without being obvious. “There is no hurry. The girls are fine, and Kendra will care for them. If necessary, she will go to Vin or even Dagger because we have a friend named Avery who will be in one or the other, and the princess we serve, along with her delegation will make their way to Dagger. Then they will rescue us.”
“The story about the princess is real? I hate to repeat the questions, but this is all so unbelievable. And I’m scared. A little girl faced down a dragon today, one your sister commands. You talk with your minds. It’s so hard to believe it all.”
“All of it is true. Her father, the king, gave me my sword. We have told no lies.”
“She was sent to Kondor to do the king’s bidding?”
After looking at the guard and seeing his eyes almost closed in weariness, I continued, “In some manner. We don’t know the details but listen to this tale for a moment. Our king became ill and the mages, along with a few appointees, ‘helped’ him rule Dire until he returned to health. A new mage arrived, and I think two sorceresses.”
“The same pattern as other kingdoms,” Flier said.
“Dire, Trager, Vin, and Dagger. The mages must be involved, and until we arrived here, we believed the dragon was, too. It’s the last true dragon to exist, and we believe the mages and sorceress derive their power from it—or maybe from Wyverns.”
Flier chewed on his lower lip before speaking. “You are too trusting to tell me all you have. What if I’m not your friend?”
“I have not asked for your pledge of silence. If we die, I’d like to believe you will carry on in some manner, even if it is just to tell our tale so others might succeed where we didn’t.”
“I was just questioning your judgment, not our friendship. But since we and your magic have the means for escaping, why are we staying? Won’t the girls be worried?”
“That crossed my mind several times until the obvious answer dawned on my witless mind. I have sent several messages via Anna. If she heard them, understood, and passed them on to Kendra, I asked her to have Kendra order the dragon to fly over us and fly in circles as a signal.”
“Good. Now, why are we staying? Have the dragon attack.”
“Two reasons. The first is because they will chase us down and kill us if we escape, and maybe catch the girls at the same time. The second is because we need to find out about them. Where they are from and where it is. Why are they here?”
“Why?”
“We may have the same enemies.”
Flier gave me one of his frowns that said he had no idea of what I was talking about. I added, “They speak the Dire Common language, have a king, and don’t like mages or dragons. They sound a lot like us.”
He considered what I’d said and finally responded, “Some of that I either knew or from their conversations could have arrived at the same conclusions. While all the other kingdoms near here are being taken over by mages or a group the mages support, they are the exception. The only one I’ve heard about, and I haven’t even heard of them before. We don’t even know which kingdom they come from.”
I smiled. “You just gave me another worry. The four kingdoms we know of are all being usurped at the same time—the same way. How many others we don’t know of are going through the same thing?”
Flier’s eyes danced around, coming to a rest on the guard in the long robe who didn’t look like either of us or those from Dire. “I thought the same thing happening in the two major cities of Kondor were a coincidence. Now you bring up a possible conspiracy that crosses the ocean.”
“Yes. I think we should remain with these people until we learn more of them. Kendra and her dragon will follow.”
Flier said, “Do you really believe that you can ‘speak’ with Anna at any time and either her or your sister can send the dragon to attack? I’m just asking because things can go wrong if we remain.”
I gave him my most positive nod and a hint of a sly grin of confidence as I heard the clanking of chains. Two guards arrived along with a line of nine or ten men and boys in leg irons connected to each other. Their hands were chained in pairs. They were dressed in rags, and most were filthy and emaciated.
They came to a halt in front of us. A man wearing a heavy tool belt wore more chains carried over his shoulder. He tossed them to the ground in front of us with a loud clatter. The nearest guard drew his sword and placed the tip against my chest as the other placed a pair of cuffs around my left ankle and drove home a copper pin to lock them.
He said, “Nice and loose, but give us any trouble, and I’ll clamp them down tighter.”
The other leg and my wrists came next, then Flier’s. We were the last two in the line of captured slaves, connected by chains, one short one from foot to foot that prevented running, and another connected to the next man in line, one ahead and one behind.
The situation had suddenly worsened. I glanced up and considered asking the dragon to attack, but even if it did, I couldn’t run with ten or eleven men chained to me.
“What now?” Flier asked me as we stood when ordered and shuffled along with the others.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
W e had no choice but follow the others. The chains clanked, and the metal cut into my ankles. A single guard carried a whip and didn’t hesitate to use it when I tripped from the unfamiliar chains restricting my stride. My small magic diverted the power of the whip an instant before it struck me, but nobody noticed anything unusual. I wailed because they expected it.
Flier was behind me. He asked, “Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
The pins locking our restraints could be forced out with my magic, I believed—but didn’t know for sure and wouldn’t try until needed because I didn’t know if I could replace them. It would be at the extreme end of what I could do in either case. However, I did manage to clear my mind and formulate a message to Anna describing the chains and that we needed a plan for after we got free.
Since I couldn’t seem to understand her, I asked that she place the feeling of an attacking mosquito on my body somewhere. The sensation came right away. I swatted the back of my left hand and sent that image to her, so she would know and share with Kendra that we had some form of two-way communication.
Then we slaves were halted and ordered to the ground to sleep. After the day of climbing the other side of the Vin Pass, that was an easy order to comply with. We were provided no blankets and the night turned cold. I heard the rattle of chains as others shivered.
However, the dragon was close, my magic stronger than ever, and I drew warm air from the pair of guards that huddled nearby under blankets and spread it as a light film over Flier and myself. When the guards complained of how cold it was, my mind eased.
Instead of sleeping, I allowed my thinking to roam free as I watched the brilliant points of light in the sky. For the moment, Flier and I were in no immediate danger, Kendra and the girls were nearby protected by the dragon, and Princess Elizabeth was making her way to Dagger, one way or another. Avery had attempted, and hopefully succeeded, to rescue his friend, the king of Trager. Our king was now healthy and again ruled Dire for the benefit of the people.
While we didn’t know the goals of those disrupting the royal rule with their magic, we were learning to fight against them and had some early successes. The future of Dire was brighter than two weeks ago.
Emma and Anna had brought new questions and magical powers, and we knew nothing of their abilities or futures,
let alone their potential, but it seemed clear the world was in a state of transition. They were bringing a new dish to the table.
Our captors were another new dish brought to the table. They were inside Kondor capturing slaves, and they hated even the language of Kondor. There was an old tale about two enemies hating the same person. It placed the two in a position of working together to defeat a common enemy. While I didn’t even know the kingdom or origin of our captors, there seemed an opportunity might exist with them. Dire was a small kingdom but joined with another it might defeat the common enemy.
As much as those problems needed solving, there was another one that drew me. A dragon provided the source of my magic, but there were ancient Waystones I wanted to know about. Where and how did mages use them? Did Wyverns exist everywhere and provide a limited amount of essence? How did they do it, and why?
With all that to consider, every question, every guess, and every conjecture revolved around one thing. The last dragon. If we solved the mysteries of her, we’d know the answers to all the rest. She still circled high above. I could hear her wings beating, and she must be growing tired.
*Anna, tell Kendra to recall her dragon and let it get some rest. Also, tell her that Flier and I are going to remain captives for a while and try to gather some information about these enemies of Kondor. Stay close, but not too close.*
Having sent the message, I watched the dragon veer off a short while later and disappear. Then I opened my mind again and said, *Anna, I’m going to sleep now. There is a lot to do tomorrow and the day after. Tell that to my sister. This adventure is far from finished.*
The End
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LeRoy Clary
LeRoy currently lives in Washington State with his wife, youngest son, and a dog named Molly. He spends his time doing what he loves the most: writing about an action-packed fantasy world of dragons, and magic. LeRoy spends his leisure time traveling and exploring the beautiful countryside in the Pacific Northwest from high desert to forests to coastal terrain.
Writing has always been one of LeRoy’s favorite past times and passion; mostly fantasy and science fiction. He’s been the member of several author critique groups both in Texas and in Washington State. He collaborated on a project in Texas that produced the book Quills and Crossroads which includes two of his short stories.
In recent years, LeRoy has published over a dozen fantasy books including a book called DRAGON! Stealing the Egg which began the idea of how to live and survive in a world where dragons are part of the landscape. The Dragon Clan Series is unique in that it introduces a new main character in each of the eight books of the series. The book entitled Blade of Lies: Mica Silverthorne Story was a finalist in an Amazon national novel writer’s contest in 2013.
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Email: [email protected]
