“I don’t know.”
It didn’t take long for Marcus to realize that he wasn’t being carried home. What was the dragon up to? Maybe she was just pretending to be nice? What if she was going to eat him? One thing was for certain, escape was impossible. He should have listened to Stone because he was right about most things. “This is not the way home!” the boy shouted. “You’re not gonna eat me?”
Ryxa turned her head so she could look at him as she flew. “Of course not. I would have already eaten you by now if I wanted to. Dragons don’t eat people. I just want to show you something.”
Marcus believed her so he was again able to enjoy his situation. He was starting to feel comfortable on the dragons back; in fact, he thought he could get used to this. What if his father could see him now on the back of a mighty dragon? He couldn’t wait until he saw their faces as he flew in on her back. When they went through a cloud everything was white and he couldn’t see a thing, when he emerged there was a huge mountain in the distance. “Is that what I think it is?”
Ryxa again turned her head toward the boy. “That’s the dark lands of Jahor and the home of the Yurrosy. See all those caves in the side of the mountain?”
Marcus tried hard but they were just too far away for him to see; they looked more like specks to him. “I don’t see any caves.”
“Well anyway, those caves are full of red dragons. It is said that the Yurrosy can control some of them but I wouldn’t let them control me. My father says that red dragons are more susceptible to magic.”
The kingdom and towns were starting to come into view. Marcus was now able to see how they were spread out from the base of the mountain, too many to count. The Yurrosy’s castle seemed scary to him, looked like it had ugly upside down teeth. Was there two castles stuck together? He could also see more than a dozen warriors fighting one another to hone their skills and they were vicious for what he thought was practice. One had run another one through with his sword. “So those are the people that want to kill us? But why?”
“My father says that it’s their nature to kill and conquer, and every kingdom they kill makes them stronger. That’s why they’re so big. He also said that because you people were too stupid to band together to stop them that you deserve your fate, that you should have killed them all when you had the chance. But you guys are lucky because you have a wizard.”
If Ryxa could only see his face now, she would know that the wizard was beyond protecting anyone. Marcus wasn’t supposed to talk about Adorok but couldn’t resist. “Our wizard is sick and old. His magic is not what it used to be. We have a crystal in the village that powers our shield but now it’s weakening and Adorok doesn’t have the strength to power it up. I see all the worried faces. If they get inside the kingdom we’re all gonna be dead.”
That was dreadful news. The dragon considered that Leeander might not survive for much longer and her father was probably right, what a terrible fate for Marcus and his people. Ryxa didn’t want to imagine what would happen to the boy on her back but it wouldn’t be good if only her dragons would help but they had a rule not to interfere with humans. People lived in their own flightless world and needed to be left to it. She considered Marcus different than a lot of the other humans she had met. He was the first one that was brave enough to get on her back. “How does your shield work?”
“It knocks out anyone that walks through it with evil in their hearts, and they stay knocked out for four days. When they wake up they are too weak to fight from lack of food and so they just wander off and don’t come back. Ryxa, I can see the caves now! How far do they go in?”
The black dragon didn’t like what she was seeing in the distance. “I don’t know. Two dragons are coming at us fast. Hold on tight!”
The acceleration made Marcus scream. The two red dragons were on her quickly, with a huge fireball just missing the both of them; the heat from it catching the boy’s shirt sleeve on fire but he quickly extinguished it. She flew as fast as she could and still felt the flames touch her tail. Ryxa climbed and climbed, leaving one behind but the other managed to follow her. At the angle she was flying Marcus was barely holding on but Ryxa knew she had no choice because he would not survive a direct blast of fire. She turned and they hovered face to face as both her and the red dragon had to rest.
“You invade our space black dragon and now you die!” The red dragon took in a mighty breath and concentrated hard on the kill; it would release super charged fire that could indeed kill Ryxa. But it would only have one chance as it would take days to recharge to be able to repeat the feat, and only some dragons could manage it.
Ryxa grabbed and held the red dragon’s mouth shut, forcing him to swallow his own fire and choking on it, although she didn’t want to kill him she felt that she had no choice. Not being able to expel the fire the red dragon exploded from the inside as pieces of him tumbled down toward the ground below, smoking and smoldering. The other dragon had come up behind her and produced a fiery blast of its own, the boy had no choice but to jump off or be burned alive. His only hope was that Ryxa would once again be fast enough to save his life; he screamed his loudest all the way down.
The red dragon turned and gave her a face full of fire, then rushing him Ryxa kicked him back, and dove for the boy. But he was already too close to the ground and out of reach. Ryxa knew she couldn’t make it to him in time but she flew her fastest anyway.
Five Minutes After Midnight Page 19
