Dragons of Summer Tide (The Dragons of Hwandor)

by Robert Barton

  Jolss looked at the mage and asked. “What did you mean when you said rumours?”

  With a sigh the old man explained. “Today we will walk around this city; every street of it actually. People have lost their respect for the mages and so they will say unkind things. We will use some small magics here and there to teach them some respect. Nothing to cause serious harm but certainly it will be enough to get tongues wagging. Then we will stop for a nice long lunch and let the rumours precede us to the magistrate. Because when those rumours come to the magistrate’s court, many people will also come and the place will be crowded in expectation and then there will be many witnesses to see our response to this order. By tomorrow the whole city will be buzzing with the news. The mages are doing magic again.”

  “Oh,” answered the boy. “And I guess that by walking all of the streets we will be restoring magic across the city.”

  “Yes, there is that also,” responded the old man. “You are quite a smart young fellow. Ah, that green eyed crow is such a noisy bird following us about. Is the bird always this unpleasant?”

  “Yes, always,” responded the boy. “Green Eyes is always following and always nasty and noisy. Are your plans always like this, with the part that you tell and the part that you do not tell?”

  “Always at least twofold my boy; always.”

  *****

  Garisa watched from the shadows of the porch in front of the inn across from the tower. Last evening she had moved to this inn so that she could keep an eye on the tower where the impostor is staying. Taking care of the two strangers had been an easy enough task. Slip into the alley behind one man as he ducks in to relieve himself. Then simply get herself invited into the room of the other man and he will happily disarm himself. Done and done. She watched as the younger child left with an old man. But the child was not her concern since he was a nearly worthless orphan. She cannot sell the little orphan for much but the impostor is a different story; she knows that there is a nice reward for him.

  Now to come up with a plan to take the impostor and get the reward. Outside of a city it is easy enough to take a prisoner and bring him in for a reward but not in a city. In a city there are laws against taking someone prisoner, even when there is a reward. Bothersome magistrate’s hearings are required for a warrant to secure a fugitive. There are always people to pay off and officials to bribe. Magistrates and officials; a guild of thieves. Even the guards sent by a Duke cannot take anyone prisoner inside the city without the authority of the city magistrate. The types of question that magistrates ask are not the types of questions that Garisa likes to answer. Perhaps the orphan can be of some use in getting the impostor outside of the city. Well for now, the woman knows that there is nothing for it but to watch and seize the first chance to get the impostor out of the city alone.

  *****

  Cyerant, Shira and Veer passed the day in the tower. After feeding the dragons and tending to the horses there was nothing to do but read and hang about the tower. After such a long and difficult journey it was nice to get a chance to rest. Around midday the boy from the inn across the way delivered lunch for five. An afternoon sword practice in the back courtyard of the tower was really all that Cyerant and Veer had planned for the day. As always Shira would spend that time practicing with her knife and bow which were the weapons of the Hillfolk.

  *****

  By lunch time the city was buzzing with the news that the crazy old mage from the tower was walking around actually doing magic. Little things really, the stall of a nasty merchant was blown over and all of the belts and buckles on a group of rude people unfastened themselves at once. The old man put on quite a show in the tavern at lunchtime demonstrating spells and conjurations while he and his apprentice ate their lunch. All the while the crazy old wizard was loudly talking about needing to get to the magistrates’ office. By the time the wizard and his young companion arrived at the office and court of the city magistrate there was a crowd of people waiting with the building full of onlookers and more of them spilling out into the street. The crowd parted to let the old man through.

  “Where is this silly man; this magistrate?” Called the old man as he entered the room where the hearings were being conducted.

  The magistrate looked in the direction of the sound of someone daring to call him silly and he saw an old man enter his court accompanied by a boy with a bird. “No children allowed in this court,” the magistrate said pointing at the boy.

  The old man responded, “he is my apprentice so the boy stays.”

  “And there are no animals allowed, especially birds,” continued the magistrate.

  “The boy is rather fond of the beast so the bird stays,” the old man answered as he walked to stand just in front of the desk of the magistrate and pulled himself up to his full height so that he towered over the sitting official.

  “Guards, remove the child and the bird immediately,” instructed the magistrate to the two guards in the room.

  As the guards approached Jolss and Prin, the dragon flew into the air and began to screech but all of the people present just saw an agitated bird. The wizard waved his hand while whispering an incantation and the two guards collapsed. “Ah, an afternoon nap will do them some good,” the old man said.

  The people filling the gallery and around the walls of the court immediately began to whisper so that the room suddenly sounded like it was filled with the hissing of snakes. The magistrate pushed his chair back and jumped to his feet shouting, “silence or I will have this room cleared.”

  With a wave of his hand the wizard directed the chair behind the magistrate to fly forward striking the magistrate behind his knees and sitting the man back down in his chair. “Sit down! This is a public court and they are the public so they will stay. Besides, your guards are asleep right now.” With a wave of his hand the old man caused a chair to gently float over to rest in front of the desk of the magistrate and then the wizard slowly seated himself. The chair with the wizard sitting in it then floated a few inches up into the air so that the wizard was still looking down at the magistrate. “I am called Partonius and I am the Grand Mage of the Tower of the Brotherhood of Mages of Deelt. I am told that you wish to speak to me.”

  The magistrate tried to compose himself and then waved his hand toward a man standing near his desk and said. “Bailiff, read the order.”

  The man near the desk shuffled through some papers and found the one that he was looking for and began to read but shouted in surprise and dropped the papers as they began to burn in his hands. “Yes” the old man said. “One of the constables was kind enough to read this too us yesterday.”

  The magistrate was now fully composed and clearly intended to assert his authority. “Then you have heard my order, I want you out of the tower and I declare it and all of its accounts and property forfeited.”

  “Oh, you do? Well, that is interesting.” The mage smiled at the magistrate. “And you demand this because magic isn’t real. And you want to see magic to prove that true mages live in the tower. Well, we are not circus conjurers here to do tricks to entertain you. The tower houses mages with serious studies and research to do. If you have not seen enough, then come to the tower and I’m sure that we can demonstrate magic to your satisfaction. Will anything else be required of us?”

  The magistrate looked a bit dazed for a moment and then recomposed himself and looked at his sleeping guards and the ashes of the paper and then responded with. “No that will be all, thank you for coming in to settle this matter. The forfeiture is rescinded.”

  “Very good,” said Partonius. “I’m so pleased that we could clear up all of this confusion.” As the wizard spoke, the chair in which he was sitting gently settled to the floor and he rose to stand. He turned to walk away and after a coupe of steps he stopped and spoke without turning to look back. “Magistrate, my time is of great value; I have my research and will be teaching some new apprentices. In the future if you wish to speak with me you will come to the t
ower yourself; no constables bringing notes. Yourself, and you will make an appointment and I will see you in my own time. Good day.” With that said, the mage walked from the building and back into the street accompanied by a boy with a bird on his shoulder.

  After walking a few paces out of earshot of the crowd still standing dumbfounded in and around the building the mage quietly spoke to the boy. “That was fun, I have studied these spells all of my life and now I can use them. I have always wondered what that would feel like.”

  “I think that the magistrate is angry now,” said Jolss.

  “Yes, very angry,” Partonius responded. “He is angry, very confused and afraid. His idea of the world was just changed. This will serve our purposes. He will not try to interfere with the tower any time soon.”

  “So do we walk around the city like we did this morning?” The boy asked.

  “Nope, we walk directly to the tower like we have business there,” answered the mage. “It is all about image and appearance.” After a pause the old mage continued. “Actually I have one stop to make, I want to hire a crier to walk the town tomorrow announcing that we will be testing potential new apprentices starting in a sevenday. You go on ahead and return to the tower. Take a left onto the next cross street and walk down a few blocks and you will see the tower. I will be along shortly.”

  As the mage angled his path toward one of the nearby shops the boy continued along the route described to him. As he turned the corner he did not notice that there was a stranger walking along looking at him.

  Thirteen

  Dinmael had returned quickly with a search party. He had actually found them not far from the city. He now had nine men out searching for the youths with the dragons. He had returned in a single day and yet the two men who had been left to keep an eye on the dragons had both been killed so Dinmael had no idea where the dragons were but he was certain that they were somewhere in this barbarian city. He just needed to keep sipping this sickening tea and walking about until he saw them or one of the search team reported a sighting. Soon enough he would be a hero of the empire and certainly made a noble and promoted to a high rank in the army. He would be the man who captured a dragon for the Emperor.

  As Dinmael walked along watching the people around him he suddenly saw a boy step right into the street in front of him, and turn toward him coming from a cross street. There on the boy’s shoulder sat a little tiny baby dragon about the size of a bird. The boy was walking right at him Dinmael struggled to maintain his composure and let the boy pass by him. Dinmael turned to look at the pots in a market stall as if he were interested in buying something and he watched from the corner of his eye as the boy walked quickly away. The foreigner then turned to start back up the street following his quarry. He glanced across the street to see that his new partner had not noticed that Dinmael had turned around and started back the way they had come. The partner had been walking the other side of the street as they searched in a pair. Dinmael had no intention of sharing any credit with a partner and potential competitor so he quietly kept moving away from the partner. Luckily the afternoon was reaching the mid point and the traffic on the streets was getting thinner. Dinmael would get close to the boy and the dragon. Then when they passed an alleyway he would push the boy in and throw a little net over the dragon and make quick work of the boy with a dagger and sneak out of this city and head for home.

  *****

  Jolss saw the tower ahead but just to be safe he would walk in the shadows across the street just long enough to make sure that it was safe to cross to the tower. Soon he would be back with his friends and tell them all about the day. Just slow down a bit in the shadows of the inn across the way from the tower and watch for a little while.

  Garisa noticed the orphan walking in the shadows all alone and right toward her. With a silly bird on his shoulder. Years of hard living had taught Garissa that sometimes opportunity just has to be grabbed and taken as soon as you see it. Keeping back in the shadows with her face turned slightly away she watched the boy from the corner of her eye as he neared the opening of the narrow alleyway beside the inn. The child was so intent on watching the tower across the street that he did not notice the woman watching him. The boy stepped into the deeper shadows of the alley and stopped for a moment looking at the tower building across the street. In a single motion she drew her dagger and stepped off of the porch nearly on top of the boy striking him with the pommel of her dagger as she swept his now limp body into the alley ahead of her. The warrior woman quickly returned her dagger to her belt and lifted the boy up over her shoulder. The little bird that had been riding on the shoulder of the boy came right at her face screeching and clawing at her. With her now free hand she swatted at the odd little bird and felt her hand connect. The bird tumbled from the air onto the ground near the street at the front of the alley where it lay without moving. Garisa quickly carried the orphan toward the back of the alley. She could easily enough move through the alleyways of the city to get to the docks where she knew an old warehouse and a few unseemly characters.

  *****

  Dinmael walked along keeping himself just a short distance behind the boy and dragon. Far enough that the boy would not notice that he was being followed but close enough that the man could strike when a good opportunity presented itself. The man smiled as he noticed that the boy was heading to one side of the street and starting to slow down and walk in the shadows and would soon be right in front of a narrow alleyway. Dinmael quickened his own pace so that he could get close to the boy. As the boy passed in front of the alleyway and came to a stop looking at something across the street the man knew that this was his chance and he prepared to strike. Suddenly a person stepped down off of the porch in front of the inn and struck the boy while pushing him into the alley. Dinmael quickened his own pace and drew his dagger. He had searched hard for this dragon and nobody was going to take it from him, especially one of these local barbarians. The man saw something bounce and roll on the ground at the opening of the alley, but in the shadows he could not be sure what it was. Besides that he had someone to kill. As Dinmael turned the corner to look into the alley he saw that the boy was being carried over the shoulder of and oddly familiar looking person. They were headed deeper into the alley and moving away quickly. The man glanced down to see what had landed on the ground at the front of the alley and there he saw the baby dragon. He looked back down the alley as the person carrying the boy turned a corner and was gone. Dinmael chuckled to himself when he realized that the person had wanted the boy and had not had any idea that the pet bird was actually a baby dragon.

  Quietly, the man looked around making sure that nobody had noticed anything. As he looked around he also produced a small net from his pocket, he opened the net and gently dropped over the baby dragon. Casually the man bent and picked up the net and the dragon and slipped the bundle under his cloak which he then pulled a little forward over his left shoulder. He stood for a moment checking to see if the dragonet was still alive and when he could feel it breathing under his arm he smiled. Dinmael heard a hissing sound above him and he looked up to see the shape of another small dragon high above him sitting on the edge of the roof of the inn; a small dragon with green eyes aglow with anger. Now, he needed to get to a dry gods store to buy a nice strong cloth grain sack and then to get to the stables where the horses are being kept and to get out of this city without being noticed by any of the others. If what he had been told when he was sent to hunt for these dragons is true; a simple string of this special plant which the ropes and nets were made from was all that was needed to make a dragon weak and manageable. The string just had to be tied around the neck or leg of the beast.

  By late afternoon Dinmael was out of the city and on the road heading west with two good riding horses and a sturdy pack mule. The dry goods store had provided a strong cloth sack and plenty of supplies for the journey back to the Empire. The baby dragon was safely secured in the sack with a twine from the special fibre tied ar
ound its neck and another piece of the twine tied around its leg just to be sure. The journey should take well over two months to get through the mountains in good weather but with winter coming on it could take several months with the snow that was coming. Dinmael knew that he would have to occasionally avoid other soldiers of the empire and that meant moving along the lesser used trails and through the wilds. As long as he continued west he would eventually find the lands of the Empire. He had made sure to get plenty of hunting arrows and blankets and his pack horse was loaded with supplies. But becoming a hero of the empire will make all of the hardship well worth it. The soldier did not notice that high above him in the air flew a tiny speck keeping pace with him and watching.

  *****

  Garrisa easily passed through the city with no person really giving noticing that anything was amiss. When she needed to move across a street or any place where eyes would notice her she simply carried the boy in her arms and appeared to be a woman carrying her sleeping child. A child that was, perhaps, too big to be carried in that fashion but people simply thought that maybe the child was ill or afflicted in some way. The woman was armed and looked tough but even warrior women can have children so there was nothing to cause any concern to anyone as she passed with her child. As a sometime thief the woman had become an expert at moving around without being noticed; it was easy enough if you just appeared to be going about your business and to know what your business was. Within an hour she had deposited the still deeply sleeping boy in a storage warehouse among sacks of grain and she had paid a small amount of coin to a man who would keep the boy there for three days. She had told them man to then deal with the child however he wanted, keep him, sell him or throw him in the river.