“Who do they think they are? We all work hard and pay our taxes, and they think they can just come hide in the mountains without paying?”
“If they were paying taxes, I bet we’d get more from the emperor each paycheck.”
Naveen’s lips pressed tightly together as she slipped around the two talking men and toward a few of the others. She stopped when she saw a few shadows moving in the darkness. Air surrounded her, casting a light purple glow as her body faded into the darkness. She held the air around her as she continued to a tree.
More than four shadowmen stood fifty paces from her. They each had swords, and practiced against each other. Her eyes widened. The shadowman in the city had attacked during daylight. It was overcast, but at least the light of day made his shadow viewable. However, these four men, or shadows, could barely be seen in the darkness of night. They fought each other, clanging swords against one another. Their attacks were fast, faster than a normal man’s should be.
Her eyes took in the rest of the scene. Besides the four shadowmen practicing, she noticed less than ten other men talking. One of them held a glass vial in his hand.
Naveen let the air surround her again as she crept closer. The air surrounding her kept her invisible in the darkness, but she still had to be careful with each step she took.
One of the men approached the man holding the vial. He grabbed the vial, moved it up to his face to look at it, then drank the whole thing in one gulp. Naveen froze, then carefully sat on the ground to watch. The vial of liquid was thick red, bubbles traveling up it constantly. The man who drank the liquid dropped to the ground, his body convulsing. Naveen wanted to go to him, to help him, but she dared not move.
The man’s body transformed. It was no longer humanoid, but it pulsed from human to shadow for several long minutes until the transformation was complete. He lay on the ground for another few minutes before he rose to his feet.
Naveen turned around and began to crawl away. She noticed the other shadowmen, who were just practicing with swords a few minutes prior, began throwing magic at each other. Black fire flew from their fingertips. Some of it was aimed at the different shadowmen as they practiced, but some of it hit the grass around them, and it burned in a shadowy fire. It was the strangest thing Naveen had ever seen.
She made sure her cloak of air was secure around her as she crept closer to one of the fires. Naveen reached her hand out toward the fire and recoiled. It was hotter than a campfire.
One of the shadowmen collapsed onto the ground and began to spasm. His body flickered from shadow back to its natural form several times before the shadow completely went away. He lay on the ground, eyes closed. Naveen began to wonder if he was dead. A few of the humans dragged his body away to the man who offered the vials to them. He reached down, pressed his fingers against the man’s neck, nodded, then continued to give another vial to someone else.
“Is he dead?” the man who received the vial asked.
The man shook his head.
Naveen crept closer to hear the conversation better.
“No, he’s entered a coma.”
“A coma?” The man looked sideways at the vial in his hand. “For how long?”
“Only a day this time.”
“This time?”
The man grunted. “It depends how much of the dragon blood you drink. If you only do it once, you will gain powers for a full day, but then your body will crash, and you’ll need a day to recover.”
“It gets worse the second time you do it?” the quivering man asked.
“No, it gets progressively longer if you drink more dragon blood before your body crashes. If say, you drink the vial in your hand, and before the full day is over, you drink another vial, it will give you two days of power, but your body will crash for two days. Does that make sense?”
“Yes. I’m still not sure about this.”
“You signed up to the shadowman project. Do you want the power?”
The man inhaled. “Yes.”
“With power comes side effects. Be lucky it’s as easy as this. Drink up, we have a lot of practice to do.”
With one last look at the vial, the man drank its entire contents. His face twisted in disgust, then he dropped to the ground, convulsing.
One of the shadowmen stalked toward the man, his hands shaking. “I need more. I feel the effects wearing off. I need more. I must have more. Give me more.”
The man smiled as he handed another vial to the addict.
Naveen turned around and began to run. She escaped the shadowmen’s camp, but before she could reach the wall of Saefron, someone blocked her path. She crashed into him, then fell to the ground. His invisibility disappeared, and her strength was failing. Her energy was depleted and exhaustion began to overwhelm her.
A warrior in full chain mail looked down at her. His arms were crossed, and a large grin split across his cheeks.
“Well, hello there, what do we have here?”
He reached down, grabbing her by her hair.
Naveen screamed as she was dragged toward the camp.
Chapter 30
Zaviana paced the courtyard. Something felt wrong. She wasn’t excited about the whole mission, but something was different now. Zaviana knew Naveen was more than capable, but still, to send someone out there alone to try and find a deadly secret .... She wished she’d gone rather than Naveen.
“Are you all right?” Devarius asked.
She shook her head. “No, I’m worried about Naveen.”
Devarius nodded. “So I am. I don’t think we should have let her go out alone.”
“If we had more than one, we would have never gotten close enough to see or hear anything.”
“I know ... but we have little choice now, don’t we?”
Zaviana nodded.
“Perhaps we should give her a few more minutes ...”
Zaviana shook her head. “No. I’m leaving now. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, but I’m going to search for her.”
She turned away and stormed off. Only a few seconds passed, then Devarius was by her side. Ayla flew in the air above him, landed by his side, and walked next to him.
“Stay back, Ayla.”
The wyvern tilted her head down.
“If I need you, I will call.”
Devarius and Zaviana slipped outside the gate through a secret side entrance. Zaviana was impressed by how many ways into and out of the city there were. If she ever got the chance, she wanted to take a look at a map.
Zaviana noticed there were several camp fires around one larger camp. They were a ways off, but she stepped carefully to not arise suspicion. She scanned the area, searching for where Naveen would have gone.
“Do you see her?” Devarius whispered.
“No. And why are you asking me? My eyesight is the same as yours.”
“There are several different camps. Which way should we go?” he asked.
Zaviana didn’t answer. She brushed past him and around the stone gate. Naveen would have stayed close to the gate at first, and then if she saw anything, she would have tried to return the same way. Zaviana wasn’t looking for Naveen, but for any traces of activity on the ground surrounding the gate. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for a long time, but then she stopped. Her hand flung up, blocking Devarius from taking another step by her side.
“What is it?” he asked.
She pointed to the ground.
Snow made it easier to spot anything out of the ordinary. It also made it harder to hide. She saw Naveen’s footprints heading toward one of the smaller camps, and she saw the footprints returning. She wondered how Naveen kept herself from being noticed for so long. Zaviana hadn’t considered the footprints. They’d have to check the way back inside to make sure it was covered up.
“What?” Devarius asked.
Zaviana knelt, looking closer at the ground. There was a dip in the snow. It was hard to see in the moonslight, but it looked like someone had fallen.
>
“Drag marks, look,” Zaviana whispered.
Devarius’ eyes grew wide. Something, or someone, was dragged from the spot in front of them, toward one of the smaller camps.
“Do you think that’s—”
“Naveen? We need to find out.”
Zaviana jogged into the night. Devarius looked around once before following close at her heels. The drag marks continued on for a long ways. It wasn’t leading to the closest camp, but to another small one. Zaviana was glad it wasn’t the main camp. There were too many dragons and warriors inside the main section.
Devarius bumped into Zaviana as she stopped to inspect the small camp.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
Zaviana rolled her eyes as she hid behind a tree to watch the camp.
“Why do you think there are so many camps separate from the main one?” Devarius asked.
“There are many different specialties in the empire,” Zaviana said. “And not all of them get along well with each other.”
“What do you mean?” Devarius asked.
“Not everyone is a dragonrider. There aren’t enough dragons. A few people are rather sore about that.”
“So they’d rather not have the protection of the dragons at the main camp?”
Zaviana shook her head. “They’d rather do something to help the empire and stand out. Some of them do experiments, or research. If they can’t ride a dragon, they want to impress the emperor in other ways. Being around the dragons distracts them from doing that.”
Devarius nodded. “Makes sense.”
“I found her.”
“Where?”
Zaviana pointed to a makeshift cage in the back of camp. A woman sat on the ground with her back toward them.
“Are you sure that’s her?”
Zaviana turned to glare at her brother. “Who else would they have as a prisoner?”
Devarius shrugged. “If Paedyn were with us, he’d have some kind of joke response. However, I’ll just shut my mouth.”
Zaviana smiled. “That sounds like a good response.”
“So, how do we get to her? There’s at least a hundred warriors in that small camp.”
Zaviana closed her eyes. The wind around them picked up from a soft breeze to a raging storm. Snow began falling even harder, turning into a blizzard. Zaviana’s eyes opened. They were white. Her pupils were gone.
“Are you doing that?” Devarius asked, his voice shaking with nervousness.
Zaviana smiled. She tried to look back at the camp, but the blizzard was too strong to see. “Let’s go.”
She rushed forward. Before she could make it a few steps, Devarius grabbed her hand. She paused, looking back at him.
“I can’t see a foot in front of me. I don’t know where I’m going. You have to lead me.”
“Good,” Zaviana said.
Zaviana held his hand tight as the two of them weaved through the storm. The wind blew hard, and the snow fell in large flakes, but Zaviana ran through the storm with little effort. She knew where each flake was, and where the wind blew. Her footsteps crunched into the ground, but their sound was flooded out by the raging wind.
They reached the camp easily. Zaviana bumped into a few of the guards on her way. They jerked in surprise, but before they could utter a word, Devarius unsheathed his blade and stabbed them through the heart.
“We’re here,” she whispered.
“Where?” Devarius asked.
The wind blew around them, creating an opening through the storm in front of Devarius. A cage with metal bars rested in front of them. Naveen sat, huddled into her legs with teeth clattering. Devarius stepped up to the bars and shook them. He searched the exterior, but couldn’t find a way to open the gate.
“Devarius?” Naveen asked.
“Shh,” Devarius whispered.
“One of the guards has the keys,” Naveen whispered.
Devarius tried to pick the lock with one of his daggers. It was no use. He turned to search for his sister. She faced away from the prison, both of her hands in the air, surrounded by a white glow.
“Zaviana?” he whispered.
She turned to look at him, her hands still in front of her controlling the weather. Her eyes were still colorless. “What?”
“I can’t open the cage. There’s no key.”
Zaviana clenched her teeth. Her energy was fading fast. She reached one of her hands behind her, separating it from stabilizing the weather. The storm above them flickered. Her right hand glowed in a blue hue as mist traveled from it to the bars of the cage. The storm raged harder, the wind grew worse, and the area around them became harder to see as her control of the storm faltered. Ice crept up the metal and wood bars, and Naveen stepped away from them.
“Now!” Zaviana yelled.
“What?” Devarius asked.
“Strike the bars!”
She fought to hold her hands steady, separating her power between the storm and the prison bars.
Devarius didn’t have to be told twice. He stepped forward, unsheathed his sword, and slammed it against the frozen bars. The bars shattered.
Naveen ran out of the broken prison as Zaviana’s hand dropped to her side. She ran into Devarius, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her briefly, then pushed her aside.
“We have to go,” he said.
“Now!” Zaviana said.
Her body trembled; her other hand dropped. She fell backward. Devarius rushed forward to catch her in his arms.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I can’t ...”
“What?”
“I’m drained. I can’t walk.”
Devarius clenched his teeth. “I’ll carry you.”
“The storm won’t last,” she whispered.
“Then I better hurry.” He lifted her over his shoulder. “Come on, Naveen. Follow me, hurry!”
He ran out of the camp with Zaviana in his arms and Naveen at his heels as the storm around him disappeared into a light snowfall.
A battle horn echoed in the camp behind him.
Chapter 31
Devarius leaned back in his chair, his hands running over his short hair. He looked at everyone sitting around the table. These were the leaders of the resistance. Without each and every one of them, they would fail. Everyone had their own ideas, but this is where all their ideas could come together. They needed a plan.
Naveen sat next to him, shivering a little bit. They’d just returned to Saefron and she was still a bit shaken up. Devarius had demanded an immediate council meeting. Now he looked at the faces of the others: Zaviana, Ellisar, Tynaer, Paedyn, Lilianya, and Orrick. Each person had something special to add to the plan.
“Well, why have you called us all here?” Tynaer said.
“As some of you know, we were attacked this afternoon in the city. The attacker was hard to see. It was as if he were a shadow.”
“A shadow?” Lilianya asked.
“Yes. You could see his shadow, but not him, or rather, the shadow looked like it was a man, but it was a bit distorted, like looking into a river and when you put your hand in the water, it’s disjointed.”
“The bending of light,” Ellisar said.
“Yes.” Devarius nodded. “This was something like that. Well, we decided to investigate. We sent Naveen outside the gate to try and learn something.”
“Alone?” Lilianya said.
“Yes,” Devarius admitted. “After a time, when she hadn’t come back, Zaviana and I grew worried, and we went to find her.”
“What did you find?” Ellisar asked Naveen.
Silence filled the room as everyone stared at Naveen. A cold sweat ran along her forehead. She was still cold from being in the blizzard, and a blanket was wrapped around her.
“They have shadowmen. I saw at least five of them. If they were hard to see during the daylight, they were nearly impossible to see at night.”
“What are these shadowmen?” Tynaer asked.
Navee
n gulped. “As you either saw or heard today, these men can literally transform into a shadow. It is frightening. What is even more frightening is how they do this. From what I’ve seen and heard, they have hundreds of vials of dragon blood. It’s thick, bubbling, and red. They keep it in vials, and the men drink it. When they do, their body disappears, replaced with a shadow.”
Ellisar’s eyebrows rose. “Dragon blood?”
Naveen nodded. “That’s what they called it. I don’t know if they mixed anything with it, but they called it dragon blood.”
Ellisar shook his head. “Leave it to Galedar to torture the dragons another way to give him more power.”
“There is a drawback,” Naveen said.
“What?” Tynaer asked.
“The effects only last for a full day. After that, the man passes out from exhaustion. His body sleeps for an entire day before he regains consciousness.”
Paedyn raised his brows. “So, all we have to do is survive for a day. No problem. We attack when it’s nap time!”
Naveen shook her head. “However, if they have another vial to drink as they’re getting weak, before they pass out, it will last another full day.”
Ellisar raised an eyebrow. “How does that affect their exhaustion?”
“They will be in a coma for two days to recover,” Naveen responded.
“I wonder how long they can do this, or, how far some of these men are willing to take their bodies for recognition from the emperor,” Ellisar said.
“Is there anything else?” Devarius asked.
Naveen shook her head. “They can use magic. I saw them cast a black fire at each other for practice.”
Devarius gulped. “Please tell me that’s all.”
She nodded.
“Then it is time to talk about plans. What can we do to stop them? We need ideas on how to stop these shadowmen and the dragonriders. There are also thousands of warriors outside who don’t have sick magic or dragons. If they break our defenses at the gate and enter our city, what can we do to defend?”
“What about wyvern blood?” Tynaer asked.
“What?” Devarius asked.
“If dragon blood can give such powers, can wyvern blood do the same? I know they’re not as powerful as dragons, but even if we can make shadowmen last half as long, perhaps we could—”
Dragonia: Revenge of the Dragons (Dragonia Empire Book 2) Page 13
