Devarius left a few coins on the counter and exited the bar with Paedyn at his heels. They wandered down the street until they saw a sign with a monkey holding dice and a deck of cards.
Paedyn beamed.
“Delicately,” Devarius reminded him.
Paedyn nodded.
They entered. The pub was crowded. Every table but one was taken, and each table held one game or another. Paedyn rubbed his hands together. Devarius patted Paedyn’s back. They made their way over to the empty table to sit.
A young woman served them two flagons of ale. Paedyn removed a pair octagonal dice from his sash. He shook them in his hand, then tossed them on the table. Both dice landed on seven. Paedyn grinned.
“Lucky roll,” Devarius said.
Devarius picked up the dice and rolled them. Two threes. Devarius grinned. It couldn’t beat two sevens, but it was close.
Paedyn pressed his lips together and nodded his head. They continued throwing dice for half an hour, listening to the conversations around them. Devarius’s shoulders tensed as he heard a conversation at the table to his right. He glanced at Paedyn, then tilted his head to the right to direct his attention. Paedyn nodded before rolling the dice.
“From what I hear, the empire is seeking the Resistance.”
“They’ve always been trying to find the Resistance, old man.”
“Yes, but now they’re really desperate for them ... killing anyone who gets in their way. I’ve heard an entire village to the north was destroyed. It was full of the Resistance ... right under their nose!”
“Good riddance. They should know by now that no one can fight the empire. No one should. We are safer now with them in control. There aren’t wars between men anymore.”
“Yes ... I suppose that is true. However, their rule is tyrannical.”
“Sometimes, you have to rule by force. Men are like cattle—if you let them do what they want, they’ll wander all over the place. You’re not a Resistance sympathizer, are you?”
“Oh, no ... I’m too old to get involved. I just want to live out my years in peace.”
Devarius rolled the dice. Their conversation came to a dead end. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to learn whom to talk to. Perhaps the old man did know a few more things than he let on, but they had to be careful about whom they approached. He glanced to his left and froze. A guard stood in the corner of the room, watching them. Devarius recognized the guard from the last pub. He looked away and back to the table, trying not to let the guard know he had seen him.
Paedyn rolled the dice. Seven and nine.
Devarius reached for the dice and whispered, “Don’t look. There’s a guard standing by the wall watching us.”
Paedyn nodded. “There’s another on the wall behind you. He seems to be watching us as well.”
Devarius tightened his face. He knew they couldn’t talk much about it. Just like they sat and listened to the table next to them, others would pay attention to their conversation.
“The Resistance is growing stronger. I wonder if they really can fight against the empire.”
Devarius stiffened. The voice came from the same old man at the table next to them.
“And how would you know that?”
“By the fact that the empire is getting antsy trying to destroy them. We’ve heard about the Resistance for a few years now, but only recently have we heard about the Dragonia Empire going after them. The skies have been busier than ever with dragonriders. It seems they’re searching for something ... or someone.”
Devarius turned to his right and noticed the old man staring directly at him. He shivered. Devarius snatched the dice and looked at Paedyn. They stood. The two guards stepped by their side. They grabbed Paedyn and Devarius.
“Come with us, please.”
Devarius raised a brow. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”
“We just have a few questions.”
The guards led them out of the bar. Devarius wasn’t sure what to do. He hoped there wasn’t a dragonrider in the village. The guards led them through a dark alley. After a few more steps, shadows appeared out of the darkness. The guards tensed, unsheathing their weapons. Shadows pounced on them, using blunt weapons to knock out the guards.
Devarius shivered. He stood still. Three shadows stood in front of them. Devarius couldn’t make out their faces.
“The guards seem to think you are part of the Resistance. Is this true?”
Devarius tensed. “No. It’s not.”
“Do you seek them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I travel with a company of twenty-nine. Their village has been destroyed by the Dragonia Empire for no better reason than they suspected a few of them to be part of the Resistance,” Devarius said.
“You say they ... what about you?”
“My family was killed by them for not paying taxes a few years ago when we had a drought and couldn’t afford to pay. I was staying at the village when it was attacked. I helped several escape. They wanted no survivors.”
“Do they know you escaped?”
“Yes. They saw.”
“So ... they’re after you?”
“Yes,” Devarius said.
The man stepped out of the shadows so Devarius could see his face. It was the same old man from the pub who had sat at the table next to him. His voice sounded stronger than it had inside, more solid, and younger. The other two stepped out of the shadows as well. One of the others was the younger man from the same table.
“You best find a place to hide then.”
“Wait ... are you with the Resistance?”
“You know we cannot answer that.”
“We need to know which way to go. We want to join ... but we don’t know how.”
The old man stepped close and leaned to Devarius’s ear. “Vaereal. The Galloping Horse.”
Devarius nodded.
“Now ... you must hide for the night before you leave in the morning. After tonight, I assure you that a dragonrider will come soon.”
“Thank you,” Devarius whispered.
He turned to go, but the old man blocked him. “You need to hide. Don’t go back there.”
“I will not abandon the others in my party. They are at the Shaved Sheep.”
The old man nodded. “Follow me ... I know a back way.”
They followed the old man through winding alleys. The other two men with him disappeared. After several long minutes, the old man stopped at a back door in a dark alley. He unsheathed a dagger and pried open the door.
“Bring your party out this way. I have a barn you can stay in for tonight. Hurry, before someone sees.”
Devarius nodded as he pushed the door open, then he found his way up the stairs. He hoped the stairs were a back way to the rooms. When he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed three guards standing in the hall in front of their rooms. The guards were forcing his companions out of the room under threat of injury. They had been discovered.
Paedyn touched Devarius’s shoulder and nodded at him. Devarius nodded back. Both men ran straight ahead. The guards turned abruptly to see Devarius and Paedyn charging them. They tossed their prisoners aside as they reached for their swords. Devarius and Paedyn were quicker, crashing into the three guards before they could unsheathe their weapons. Without weapons, Devarius and Paedyn relied on their fists. Once everyone saw what they were doing, many joined. After the three guards lay unconscious, Devarius finally took a breath. They moved the men inside one of the rooms and tied them up with the bedsheets.
“What are we going to do now?” Aquila asked.
“We have a place to stay ... but we must hurry before more guards are sent after us,” Devarius replied.
“Is it safe?” she asked.
Devarius raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “I hope.”
Chapter 4
Keiran ambled through the room. All eyes followed him as he came to rest at the head of the table. Everyone but the emperor was in
attendance. He dared not concern the emperor with the small matter of the Resistance. Keiran planned to squash the threat before it grew. He called the meeting. Ideas were needed.
“Thank you for coming, everyone,” Keiran began. “As all of you know, we have a problem brewing in the land of Kaeldroga.”
“The Resistance?” the earl of Dragonia, Ceydyn, asked.
“Yes ... the Resistance. They are a burr in our butt. We need to exterminate them.”
“They can do little to the likes of us. I do not see why you worry. It is not like they have dragons of their own,” Duke Edonous said.
“Because ...” Keiran growled through clenched teeth. “One thorn in our side may barely hurt, but when it grows .... It doesn’t matter that they cannot fight us now. I’m looking toward the future. This Resistance is like a bunch of gnats. One or two can be swatted away, but thousands become a swarm. You can’t swat away a thousand gnats. We’ve kept them from swarming into an overwhelming cloud of gnats for now ... but for how long?” He paused. “We have people joining them in staggering numbers. People are leaving the empire to be with them ... and that is what should concern us.”
“What would you have us do? We’ve been searching from the skies for them for decades,” Ceydyn said.
“If we’ve been searching for them for decades, why are we all of a sudden concerned about them now?” Edonous asked.
Keiran sighed. “In the past two years, we believe their number has increased tenfold. For the last few decades, they’ve only been a few hundred strong. We’ve searched for them, but what would a mere few hundred do against our thousand dragonriders? Now ... we believe they have numbers in the thousands. While I can foresee no weapon that can harm our dragons, they’ve done nothing for decades but try to find a way to defeat us. That’s a lot of planning. We need to tread carefully.”
“What do you suggest?” Ceydyn asked.
“A small party of refugees survived a village we razed. We need to find them before they find the Resistance.”
“You plan to capture them?” Edonous asked.
“We have failed to find the Resistance with our spies. However, people who actually despise the empire, who want to join the Resistance, may have an easier time.”
“You plan to follow them?”
Keiran grinned. “Yes, I plan to have them followed.”
“How exactly will you have them followed without their knowledge?” Ceydyn asked.
“That will be the hard part. We will use our best dragonriders to herd them toward an ambush.”
“It seems risky.”
“Do you have any better ideas?” Keiran asked.
“I do. We need a single dragonrider who is good at tracking. It will be easy for that man to maneuver and follow from a distance,” Edonous said.
“We have soldiers as dragonriders. I do not know if we have anyone with all the necessary skills except me, and I can’t be spending my time tracking a small party. I have to coordinate our men.”
“There is one,” Edonous said.
“Who?”
“Derkas.”
“The mercenary?”
Edonous nodded.
“He is not loyal to the empire.”
“He is loyal to coin. Offer him enough to pique his interest. In my opinion, it is well worth the resources, and cheaper than sending as many men as you’re suggesting. Besides, he has a dragon—he’ll be able to keep up.”
“Don’t remind me ...” Keiran said through clenched teeth.
Derkas had conned the general out of a dragon egg over a decade ago as payment instead of gold. The quest had been impossible, and Keiran had been sure at the time that they’d find the traitor without the help of mercenaries ... especially since the mercenaries were slow and without dragons. However, Derkas had proved resourceful, and since then, he’d secured many jobs, including more for the empire, with his fully grown dragon, earning him the reputation of the best mercenary in Kaeldroga. Keiran despised him, but he had to admit, Derkas was good.
“You know I’m right,” Edonous said. “If anyone can find the Resistance, he can.”
“Yes. These are desperate times. Perhaps it is time to bring in the mercenary.”
“It is settled then. We’ll continue to fill the skies with scouts, and we’ll relay all findings back to you. You can then decide whether to send it to your mercenary.”
“I have tasked the captain with finding the party of refugees, but I have little faith he will succeed. I’ll send the mercenary to him to learn what he knows.”
“I doubt Captain Vesryn will appreciate that. He hates mercenaries more than you do, General,” Ceydyn said.
Keiran dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand. “I am not worried about the captain. He will not be around much longer. The emperor wishes to see him, if he should fail to bring in these traitors.”
Edonous’s eyes widened. “Who will replace him?”
“I have a little time before I have to decide that.”
“Have you told the emperor of your plans to follow the traitors rather than capture them?”
“You let me worry about the emperor,” Keiran said with a glint in his eye.
“Yes, General.”
“Dismissed.”
Chapter 5
Devarius opened his eyes. Sunlight streamed through the slats of the barn. His muscles ached. He had hoped to stay in a bed for at least one night, not a pallet of hay. A few others stirred, waking up for the day. He knew they couldn’t stay long. They would have to leave before more village guards found them. So much for purchasing boats. Too bad, since boats would have taken them south along the river all the way to Laeraed. Their journey could be much easier if Devarius didn’t have to lead everyone on foot.
The door to the barn opened as roosters crowed. Devarius felt for his dagger, a weapon he wasn’t used to carrying, but after recent events, he’d decided to equip it. Devarius relaxed when he recognized the old man from the night previous entering. The man held a large bowl of scrambled eggs and bacon. The scent made Devarius shiver with delight as he inhaled. The pleasant aroma brought the tired villagers awake.
The old man smiled. “I thought you might be hungry for a bite to eat before you begin your journey.”
“Bless you,” Devarius said.
When the bowl was scraped clean, the old man headed for the door.
“You best be off soon,” he called. “With all the guards after you, it will not be safe.”
“We’ll leave at once,” Devarius assured him.
Wings flapping outside startled the group. A bird wouldn’t be loud enough to hear. The old man waved his hand at them in a sign of warning. Devarius hushed everyone in the barn and ushered them into the large piles of hay. He made sure everyone hid deep inside the straw before dashing to a pile of hay on the other side, where he could keep an eye on the other hidden refugees. A chill overcame him as he felt the straw surround him.
The old man tossed the empty bowl to the side as he went to open the door. As his hands reached the handle, the door burst open. A man strode inside. He stood tall, his black hair curled in long wisps, a thin beard covering his lower lip and chin. His body was covered with steel platemail, and a leather scabbard hung at his side. The platemail bore an emblem of a dragon on its chest, defining him as a dragonrider.
“Where are the traitors?”
“Traitors? I am but a farmer. All I know is my chickens and cows.”
“Do not play coy with me, old man. I will strike you down here and now. Give me the location of the traitors, and I’ll give you your life.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh you don’t, do you?” The dragonrider glared around the barn. He tilted his head back and sniffed the air. “Tell me, farmer, why does it smell like bacon and eggs in here? Do you feed your chickens and cows bacon and eggs for breakfast?”
The old man tensed. “No, but I eat them.”
Th
e dragonrider unsheathed his sword, took two steps toward the old man, and cleaved his head from his shoulders with two hard blows. Devarius watched from behind a bale of hay as the man’s head crashed to the ground and rolled toward the other hidden refugees. He saw the wide eyes of the two children. Devarius prayed the children wouldn’t make a sound. Their mother pulled them closer, putting her hands over their mouths. The hay rustled against her touch. Devarius winced, hoping the dragonrider hadn’t heard the sound.
After impaling the ground with his sword to clean it of blood, the dragonrider stormed out of the barn. Devarius waited for several minutes before crawling out of the hay. He didn’t know what he could do. If he distracted the dragonrider, perhaps the others could escape, but he wasn’t trained like the dragonrider, nor did he have a sword. Besides, where would everyone go without him?
Something burned his nostrils.
He turned his attention to the door. Smoke entered from underneath. Dragonsbreath sounded from outside, crackling against the walls of the barn. The dragon was going to burn them alive.
Devarius moved quickly, ushering his companions out of the hay. He turned to the barn door. It was aflame. Most likely, the dragonrider stood right outside. He sprang for the rear. Smoke filled the barn, strangling his breath and clouding his vision.
Finding the exit, he called, “Everyone, to me!”
Paedyn helped him usher everyone to the rear door. While Paedyn rounded up everyone, Devarius tried to open the door, but it was jammed. He crashed against it several times, trying to force the door open. Fire blazed through the pallets of hay his company had slept on. He gritted his teeth and tried harder to break down the door. Paedyn soon joined him. Nausea overcame Devarius, and he had a hard time swallowing. He felt that he’d condemned his party to die because of his foolishness.
“One, two, three,” Paedyn whispered.
Devarius and Paedyn threw their shoulders against the door. It shattered. They stumbled out of the barn as smoke poured out all around them. They coughed in fits. Their party crawled out behind them, hacking and coughing, gasping for fresh air. Devarius counted to make sure no one was left behind, and exhaled in relief. Spent, he collapsed to the ground.
Dragonia: Rise of the Wyverns (Dragonia Empire Book 1) Page 3
