Dragons of Summer Tide (The Dragons of Hwandor)

by Robert Barton

  Talyat could see that the boy had a mortal wound to his tiny neck. There was nothing that the elf could do but try to slow the loss of blood. The elf was surprised that the boy was still breathing. But somehow the boy just seemed to be struggling for life and one tiny dragon had curled itself around the boy’s head and would not let go. He heard someone enter the cabin behind him and he heard Shira’s voice. “How bad is it in here?’

  “The mage is unconscious but this child has been cut and will not live. I can’t see why he is still alive now. This should have killed him in moments.”

  The girl looked at the dragon clinging to the boy and she could see its eyes and that they had already started to change. “I know why he is still alive, and he might even survive. Look at the dragon – at its eyes.”

  Talyat looked and realised what he was seeing. He pulled his hands away from the wound and though it was deep and nasty the flood of bleeding had stopped. The boy was lying there cold and pale as if he were dead but his chest still rose and fell slowly and he refused to let go of life. The dragon refused to let go of the boy. It was as if the dragonet was willing the child to live.

  Jolss first came aware of a tugging sensation in the darkness. It was as if something was in his own mind pulling at him. Then he remembered his dragon, it was her that he felt pulling him back. Back from what? He wondered. Then he felt the pain in his head and started to remember what was happening. He began to frantically force himself toward wakefulness.

  Talyat and Shira saw the mage stir and thrash as he started to come awake. They heard his voice as he tried to form words. Prin began to flutter excitedly. The eyes of the young mage opened and struggled to focus as he unsteadily sat up. Finally Jolss focused his eyes and saw the child next to him and the blood of the child – the blood in which he had himself just been laying. Jolss thought that the boy next to him was dead and anger swept over him. He crawled to the steps and pulled himself up into the doorway on the deck then he used the doorjamb to pull himself upright onto his feet. He looked around the deck at the bodies strewn around. He could not see his brother and some of the dragons were not there. Prin began to shriek the rage which she was feeling coming through the bond.

  Veer saw the young mage come up onto the deck holding the doorway of the cabin. He saw the blood covering Jolss and he wondered if Jolss was badly hurt. Veer saw the child look around at the deck and then he could see a look of panic and then anger sweeping across the face of the young mage. Veer could hear Prin starting to scream as Jolss staggered forward onto the deck and was chanting and raising a finger to point at one of the smaller boats swirling in the current of the river. The warrior ran forward to try and stop his friend but he got there only moments after a fireball blossomed in the air in front of the mage. Veer was in time to catch his friend as the boy collapse once again into unconsciousness.

  Barroon saw the child stagger out onto deck and saw the flash and watched as a ball of fire rushed across the surface of the water toward its target. He saw as one of the boats exploded when the fireball struck it. Two of his men had just climbed out of the water into that boat thinking that they had reached safety. It was as if every part of the boat began to burn instantly. Though the sun was high and the day had the brightness of noon, the brilliance of the magical fire hurt his eyes. So the rumours were true he thought to himself. The city had been abuzz with the news that mages were returning. Barroon had thought it to be superstition but now he could see it. The barbarians have mages – real mages.

  Veer was checking Jolss for injuries as Shira stepped back up on deck. “It isn’t his blood.” Shira said as she walked toward Veer and Jolss.

  “Devron,” Captain Tarian called as he let go of the handle of the oar handing it over to Myalnar. The captain started toward the cabin and in moments was standing looking down into the small space. He could see the body of the boy with a puppy curled up next to it and an elf kneeling over the pale lifeless form.

  Talyat held up his hand and said. “He is badly hurt but he may still live. This dragonet is keeping him alive I think.”

  “How?’ The Captain asked.

  “Your nephew is a dragon friend now.” Answered the elf.

  Tears filled the eyes of the man as he sat down on the steps leading into the cabin. His hands began to shake.

  Shira knelt down beside Veer. “I feel Cyool out there through the bond and I know that she is bruised and sore but she is swimming. I know that Drace is with her; I can see that much. But I’m worried about Cyerant and Corth.”

  “I know,” said Veer. “I’m worried too. If that rope stayed around his neck there’s just no way that Corth could swim for long in these waters. And Cyerant, he wouldn’t give up trying to save his dragon until he had himself drowned.”

  “None of us would,” Shira said. “I think that Cyool and Drace will be back soon. I feel her getting closer.”

  Drace and Cyool were swimming together using the last of their strength to follow their sense of their bonded back to the boat. They fought the current to slow their progress though the river still dragged them along and soon they could feel their bondmates near.

  Shira walked to the bow of the boat where Dalnt stood watching. “Two of the dragons are in front of us and we’re getting closer so we should see them soon. They are exhausted so we have to get them back on the boat before they can’t swim anymore.”

  Dalnt asked. “How can a dragon get exhausted?”

  “These dragons are still babies really.” Shira answered. “They are only a few months old.”

  “Is Devron dead?” Asked the young sailor.

  “No, not yet anyway, but he was hurt really badly. One of the little dragons, the ones that look like puppies, bonded with your cousin.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that the little boy might still live.” Shira answered.

  “Why do they look like other things?” The young man asked.

  “It’s some kind of magic that they have which hides them from people. When most people look at them they see a bird or a puppy or a pony or something like that.”

  “What is that bird doing?” Dalnt asked as he pointed ahead and to the left where he could see a raven fluttering about in circles and occasionally diving down toward the surface.”

  “That isn’t a bird, lend me your shoulder,” She said as she put her hand on his shoulder and stepped up to balance on the top of the railing so she could get a better view. Dalnt quickly reached up and grabbed the back of he girl’s belt to steady her. “I see them; two dragons in the water.”

  Cralnar was standing at the rudder oar steering the Gardenia as she rushed forward in the current. His job was to watch the river ahead of the boat and to watch Dalnt who was standing in the bow. He knew that there were three beasts and one human in the water so he knew what his brother and the girl were watching for. As soon as he saw his brother point Cralnar started to cull hard with the oar to turn the boat and push it across the current to line up with the spot where that raven was flying in circles. He saw the girl climb up on the railing and he knew that she was looking right at something in the water. Soon he could see something bobbing on the surface and Cralnar had the boat lined up to allow the current to push the boat right beside the thing.

  As Drace and Cyool saw the boat coming along beside them they stopped fighting the current and began to flow along at the same speed as the boat. They saw one of the new humans remove a section of the railing and soon Veer, Shira and two elves were helping to pull the exhausted dragons out of the water while the two new humans watched. One was standing near the back of the boat and the other just keeping his distance. Cyool could taste their fear of her in the air. The two dragons just wanted to lie on the deck in the sun and rest – rest near their bondmates.

  “In the water,” called an elven accented voice followed by the sound of things dropping onto the deck. Everyone turned to see that Pelinar had already loosed his weapons belt and dropped his bow, qu
iver and cloak. The elf seemed to step right out of his boots and to peel his clothing from himself in one movement. In a moment the elf was across the deck and wearing only a loin cloth as he stepped lightly onto the railing of the deck and sprang into a long dive. The elf seemed to hang in the air. His skin was so pale that it was almost translucent but every muscle was corded and rippled like the water below. Elves are thin and wiry but this one looked as if he could have been carved from some type of white crystal like some statue of a physically perfect dancer. As the elf slid into the water, like a blade, at the end of his dive there was nearly no splash left hanging behind him in the air.

  Pelinar felt the shock of the cold water as it embraced him. He had completed one arc through the air to take him into the water and he allowed his momentum to push him downward and then curved back up into another arc to bring him back to the surface right next to the person who he had seen floating in the water. As he reached the surface he grabbed the floating body and pulled it against him and he could feel that there was still life in the man. The elf held the man up so that his face was out of the water and he could get air and then Pelinar slowly swam toward the boat as the current pulled them along matching pace with the boat. As the elf neared the boat with his burden he saw Dalnt remove another section of railing and reach down to pull the man into the boat. As the sailor pulled the nearly drowned man into the boat Veer held out a hand and helped the elf out of the water. Everyone could see that the man was one of the foreigners who must have been thrown into the water when his boat was destroyed.

  Cyerant and Corth struggled to keep one another afloat as the current pushed them downstream. Corth was slowly regaining some of his strength so more and more of he task of keeping himself and his bonded afloat became his. The dragon could sense that the shore on either side of the river in this section was too steep the water was still running too fast for the young man to safely try to get out of the river. All that Corth could do was keep his bonded from slipping below the surface and ride the current until the river began to slow. He could feel his siblings on the boat in the distance but he didn’t have the strength to swim there. Corth knew that the river would slow and that he could then get Cyerant to the shore.

  Veer looked at Pelinar and asked. “Why did you go in after him?”

  Pelinar simply answered. “Because he is alive.”

  “But you killed so many of them already.” Veer said.

  “Yes,” said Pelinar. “But they were fighting. This one was drowning.”

  “So you saved this one.” Said Veer.

  “Yes,” answered Pelinar.

  “So what do we do with him?” Asked Veer.

  “When he wakes we ask him questions,” answered Myalnar as Pelinar started to pick up the clothing that he had dropped and put it back on. “And after we have our answers we put him ashore.”

  Captain Tarian stepped out onto the deck of the boat and looked around at the mess. The deck was covered with bloody sand and bodies. He also noticed that Cyerant was not back on board. As he began to speak he pointed at the new prisoner. “That one can be tied to the railings; I won’t have him wandering around my boat when he wakes up. Nothing to do for the mess right now, but soon the river widens back out and slows. There is a bend where the slower water drops all of the sand and mud that it scours out of this fast section. Everything that drifts through on the current ends up passing close to or on that sand bar coming out of the bend. We’ll stop there in the shallows and burn these bodies and clean the Gardenia. We won’t make the next town before nightfall so we will just stay there through the night and get a fresh start in the morning. There aren’t enough of those bandits left to try us again.

  Corth felt the river around him relax and slow as it spread back out to its normal width. The current of the river was starting to push him across a bend toward the shore. The dragon could feel the young man shivering from the cold of the water and he knew that he had to get his bonded out of the water soon. The dragon pushed toward the shore. Soon he felt his tail drag across the sand in the shallows and then his feet found the sandy bottom and he dragged himself and his bond mate out of the water onto the shore. It was now early afternoon and the sun had been beating down on the sand all day and the warmth spread through dragon and man alike and warmed them both. Though Corth had grown rapidly and was the largest of the dragons he still was far less than a year old and he was exhausted and after the last effort of dragging Cyerant onto shore the dragon collapsed next to the young man and slept.

  The crew and passengers of the Gardenia rested for a short while as they waited for the river to slow and then the Captain allowed the current to push the boat across the river and right into the shallows near a great sandbar. As the boat neared the shore, Green Eyes let out a call as she leaped from the mast into flight and headed for something in the distance on the sand further down the shore. Pelinar looked and said. “It is a dragon and a man. They are lying on the sand together.”

  “I hope that they are both alive,” Said Shira.

  “They still breathe, answered Pelinar.”

  “You can see that from here, can you? Cralnar asked.

  “Yes,” answered Pelinar.

  The Captain allowed the boat to continue to drift along the shore until they neared the spot where the dragon and young man slept on the sand. Then he nudged the boat to the shore where an anchor was dropped over the side securing the Gardenia in the shallows. Veer jumped into the shallows and waded ashore to check on his friend and found that man and dragon alike were sleeping.

  Soon the Captain put everyone to work and before long a canopy had been erected on shore to shade Cyerant, Jolss, Devron and their dragons. Cyerant had regained his warmth and was sleeping from his exhaustion with Corth next to him. Jolss was in that deep sleep that comes when a mage has pushed himself too far. Devron was still very pale from blood loss and he slept very deeply with a little dragonet keep watch over him and occasionally licking at his face. Talyat had brewed some herbs in water and used it to clean the boy and his wounds then he had dressed the child in clean clothes. Pelinar had stood and watched for a short while as the only remaining boat that was following them drifted out of the narrows and pulled to the other side of the river keeping a safe distance and still yet able to see if the Gardenia returned to the river.

  The afternoon was spent with large scrub brushes, brooms, buckets and bars of harsh lye soap, cleaning the deck and cabin until all traces of blood had been removed. The bodies of the foreigners who had fallen on the deck were removed and piled up on the shore, by late afternoon the Gardenia was spotlessly clean as if nothing had happened. The prisoner was questioned and provided little information which was new or useful. Everyone took a break in the shade of the canopy since though the season was now autumn the sun still beat hard on the open river and shore.

  While they were resting Captain Tarian spoke. “Most of the way along the river there is a great roadway called the Greatway. But it has to go around this big rocky outcropping which forces the river to become smaller. So the roadway is a few miles inland. And the towns and villages start up about half a day below here. People usually come up from the next town in late autumn. They collect wood and send it downstream to their town in a big flotilla. It’s something to see. A couple weeks and they’ll be here clearing all of the wood from this sandbar.”

  Looking around everyone could see that there were great pieces of wood scattered along the shore even some whole trees were just laying there. Shira asked. “Where do all of these trees come form?”

  “Floods.” Dalnt answered. “Every spring when the snows melt the rivers swell and in some places they flood. The water rips these trees out of the ground and brings them down the rivers into this one and then when the water slows down from the narrows the current pushes them here and as the high water goes down they are left in the sand and the sun dries them out all summer.”

  Cralnar added. “The people in the next town say that they ne
ver have to cut a tree because all of their lumber and firewood comes from right here. They just cut it up and load it on their boats and barges and some of the logs they just drag into the water and let the current take ‘em down.”

  Captain Tarian said. “Well, we have caught our breath so let’s gather some of that wood into a pyre to burn all of these bodies. I won’t leave the beach polluted with carcasses. And every one of them had a mother who loved ‘im so we shouldn’t just leave ‘em. Logs, we’ll need big logs for a hot fire that burns a long time. And we’ll build it down right next to the water.”

  Soon everyone was gathering firewood and dragging in great logs to build the funeral pyre for the foreigners. Green Eyes was sitting on the mast watching and occasionally flying about with her normal scolding. It was now very late afternoon and Corth woke up and wandered of into the forest hunting and soon the other dragons followed him. Prin stayed behind because she too was in the deep magical sleep like Jolss. The dragonet that was guarding Devron refused to leave his side. Green Eyes flew near the injured boy and the newly bonded dragonet hissed and challenged Green Eyes. Everyone turned as they heard the two diminutive dragons hissing and shrieking at one another near the sleeping boy under the canopy. Suddenly Cyool appeared flying fast and low out of the forest right at Green Eyes. Cyool slammed into the and a few feet from Green Eyes sending a spray of sand into the face of the smaller dragon Cyool hissed just inches from the green eyed menace. Green Eyes immediately took to the air shrieking and climbed very high where she vented her anger on a few flying water birds which she ripped from the air and just let fall. The newly bonded dragonet arched his neck and let out a small roar toward his sister now flying about decimating a flock of birds.