by John W Fort
CHAPTER 23
As the moon cycles past Raef found it fairly easy to adapt to the life of a greenling. The Dormer and Dormess were never angry as long as Raef obeyed the rules. Unlike the other Intercessor apprentices, Raef tried to obey the rules even when he was not being watched. Raef was good at following rules. The other Intercessor greenlings did not take long to stop teasing Raef. He imagined they knew he would be their master in a few seasons, even if he was the youngest of them now. He was glad they treated him as an equal, but he imagined it was mostly due to them wanting him to remember them fondly once he became a Keeper.
Domik became a greenling mid summer and moved into the dormery. Domik had requested to apprentice as a scribe, which was a respectable position among the Intercessors. Raef was happy that his friend was accepted by the scribes as an apprentice. Raef no longer asked Domik to come with him on his visits to the dragon, but he suspected that Domik was going to see Rail alone for Raef had seen the greenling emerging from the forest at odd times with a look of guilt on his face.
As fall came and winter approached, Raef’s life developed a comfortable routine. Each sunrise he woke early and ate with the other apprentices. He left first to have time to do his ceremonial New Leaf washing in the Keep. Then he retrieved the key and opened the Ceremonial Lodge. He could now do his part of the sunrise homage without thought or concentration. Afterward he would assist the Keepers, usually Keeper Dimmel, though he assisted all of them at one time or another. Raef was a bit surprised at how seldom he was asked to assist his father, however. In fact, Raef did not speak much with his father as a greenling, something that he had not expected. Then there were the New Moon and Full Moon ceremonies to assist with, but they had become routine as well. The Keepers were quick to allow him time alone to meditate when he requested it, which was quite often. From time to time he did try to meditate, but he found that he was rarely able to see the Great Spirit during meditation and he never heard Zul’s voice any longer. Most often, Raef used these times to steal away to see Rail, alone or with Nilo or Rocecé.
When winter arrived Raef was asked to begin meeting with Prime Keeper Bremen for advanced training as a Keeper. Raef did not know what that meant, but he was excited and pleased to have the Prime Keeper’s attention. The sunrise his advanced training was to begin Raef made his way to the village square after homage on a mission to purchase more wax for the candles. He was to make candles before mid sun then meet with Prime Bremen after mid sun meal. Raef patted the pouch tied to his belt and heard the coins jingle. He smiled to himself, pleased that he was now entrusted with handling purchases for the Keepers. He entered the square and smiled at people as he passed them.
“Oh, my!” he heard a woman nearby say.
Raef glanced in the direction of the voice and saw a woman walking quickly away from him. That was odd, Raef thought. He wondered what he had done to cause the woman to act in such a way. He stopped and looked self-consciously around him. He noticed several people glancing nervously in his direction and some that began walking away from him. Raef inspected his robe, to be sure there was no dragon hair hanging off him he had somehow forgotten to remove. There was nothing. In fact, his robe had been newly washed and looked cleaner than normal.
He looked up and noticed people were pointing in his direction. A tingle of fear went up his spine. What was he doing, he wondered, to be drawing such attention? The entire square seemed to have stopped all activity and were looking in his direction, even the women, who were not to look directly at men or greenlings in public. Someone behind him screamed and Raef turned swiftly. Then he noticed that the villagers were not looking at him, they were looking above him. Raef looked up to see the dragon diving from the sky at a steep angle, straight at him.
“Rail!” Raef shouted above the other screams, “What are you doing?”
As fast as lightning the dragon extended a claw and swept Raef off his feet. The blow to his chest knocked the wind out of him. Raef gasped repeatedly but was unable to draw a breath. His head spun as the ground below him shrunk. With great effort he was finally able to suck in a breath of air and his head stopped spinning. He heard screams below, and he looked down. A group of Warriors were gathering. Raef saw Chaz among them, now wearing an apprentice Warrior headband.
“Raef!” yelled Chaz.
Raef turned away. He closed his eyes and focused on breathing, which was still difficult. By the time he could breathe regularly his village was barely visible behind him. Raef strained to look over Rail’s claw. They were high in the air, so far above the trees he could scarcely make out any details below. Raef looked forward and saw the dark form of Black Rock Mountain straight ahead.
“Rail,” said Raef, “Why did you do that? You took me in front of the whole village, everyone saw!”
The dragon did not answer. Raef suddenly became very worried that he had misjudged the dragon.
“Are you … are you going to eat me?”
“I told you dragons do not eat younglings.”
“I am not a youngling any longer.”
“I am not going to eat you.”
“Then, why did you take me?”
“Because it is time for you to join the rest.”
“The rest of what?”
The dragon bent its head down and peered at Raef.
“You have done well,” the dragon rumbled, “I am taking you home with me.”
“Home? You mean, Black Rock? Rail, I cannot go to Black Rock. I am a Keeper!”
“You are a Dragon Child,” Rail said smoothly, “it is what you were born to be. And now you are finally ready to join me and learn the secrets of Black Rock.”
A Dragon Child? There are others? Something he was born to be? Learn the dragon’s secrets? For a moment, Raef was intrigued. Then he remembered.
“Rail, I cannot do this. My mother, my family, my friends; I cannot leave them!”
“Your family and the Keepers do not know you as I do. And your friends, those we know together, they will join us in time.”
“Rail, please!”
“Master Raef, remember who I am. I know you. Are you not curious what lies on the other side?”
Raef grew silent. Far below his dangling feet, the tops of trees flew by. There was a stream, or a river perhaps. From here it looked like a thin blue ribbon. To his left, a light green patch among the trees. A meadow. Everything looked so tiny from up here. Raef faced forward, feeling the wind in his face. His hair pulled back behind him, whipping in the strong breeze. The dark mountain loomed ahead, its craggy peaks jutting far above the trees. The mountain was dark, nearly black, without a single tree sprouting from it. He was afraid, but Rail was right, he did want to see what lay beyond.
Raef wrapped his arms over the top black talon that gripped him, watching the dark mountain loom closer. He could not imagine what lay ahead. He wondered if he would be afraid. Raef felt his insides twist up in knots. He looked down as they passed over the jagged peaks of Black Rock.
HOW TO HELP THE AUTHOR
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Thank you!
John W Fort
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John W Fort earned an MST in Science Education at Portland State University and taught biology, chemistry and physics for nine years. Afterward he has entertained a number of careers to pursue numerous creative interests.
Diagnosed as hyperactive and attention deficit as a child, rather than seek a cure he embraces the oddity and mental frenzy it provides. John loves conversation and debate, but it is recommended that others only join him when under the influence of high doses of coffee—preferably espresso.
He lives with his wife and two children in Oregon.
Find out more at www.johnwfort.com
ACKNOLWEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Chris Swayzee and Keith Naber for
encouraging me through this project. Your ongoing encouragement and support made this book possible. You are true friends who keep me going when I want to give up.
The dragons in my life are little threat with friends like the two of you.
ABOUT THE FORBIDDEN SCROLL SERIES
I realized I liked creative writing in sixth grade, and imagined then that I might one day write an entire book. The idea of The Forbidden Scrolls came to me during a time in my life when I was separated from my family, much like Erif finds himself in this series. I reflected on how life can go wrong without us realizing it until too late and wanted to write about that, but it just seemed so heavy as a non-fiction topic. That’s when the idea of creating a fictional story set in medieval times to express my thoughts occured to me.
The original manuscript for what became books 1 and 2 of The Forbidden Scrolls was actually written by hand over the span of two or three years. It took nearly 10 years before I published it and began working on the rest of the series.
The books I’ve written so far in the series include:
Book 1: The Shadow of Black Rock
Book 2: The Other Side of Black Rock
Book 3: Under the Burning Sun
The series will continue...
