Xan looked at Drakor, who shook his head.
“Would it change your mind if I said I wanted to try too?” said Xan.
Drakor sighed. After a weighty pause, he said, “I know I’ll regret my decision, but all right, I’ll try as well.”
A devious smile lit Baldazar’s face. “Excellent. We can start the process right away.” He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small dagger and a metal bowl. “I’ll need some blood from each of you.”
Xan looked alarmed. “Blood? You didn’t say anything about taking blood.”
“I really don’t need much. I’ll enchant the dagger so you won’t feel any pain.”
He walked to Drakor and whispered a few words under his breath. The crystal on his staff flashed and the blade glowed light-blue. He stabbed the side of Drakor’s front leg and let blood trickle into the bowl. With a few more whispered words the crystal on the staff flashed again and the wound stopped bleeding and healed.
“See? Painless.”
Once Baldazar had collected blood from the other dragons, he levitated the bowl in front of him. He created a small fire under it, and waited for the blood to boil.
“Gather in front of me,” Baldazar said. He tapped the end of his staff twice on the ground and the crystal atop the staff glowed. “Do you, dragons of the cave, give your word to complete three quests within three full moons in exchange for being transformed into men and a woman?”
“We do,” the dragons said in unison.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Baldazar said with a nervous laugh. “And do you, dragons of the cave, give your word not to kill me?”
“We do.”
“Failure to uphold your end of our arrangement will result in your immediate death. The spell is now binding.” He tapped the end of his staff on the ground and the crystal stopped glowing.
Once the blood was boiling, he removed the crystal atop the staff. It was the shape and size of a chicken egg, but cut in half along its length. He took it in his right hand and looked up at the dragons.
“Good luck, my friends. Now close your eyes.”
He closed his eyes and whispered a few words. The crystal glowed a bright white. He lowered his hand into the boiling blood, and his body emitted a white light. The dragons’ bodies glowed with their respective colors, steadily increasing in brightness. Once the light completely enveloped the darkness of the cave, they all disappeared.
CHAPTER 5
When Drakor awoke, he was lying on his back in a small clearing of short grass surrounded by trees. He raised his body to sit, but it made him dizzy, so he lay back down. When he looked to the west, he saw a setting moon, one day past full, just above the tree tops. To the east, he saw the early light of the sunrise. He saw other bodies nearby, but they weren’t moving. He cleared his throat.
“Is anyone else awake?”
“I am,” a voice said, “but my head seems to be spinning.”
“Mine too. I’m Drakor. Who are you?”
“Toshen.”
“Where we are?”
“I don’t know. This place doesn’t look familiar.”
Drakor was able to sit after a while, and stand after a few minutes.
In his new form his head was shaven and his eyes deep set. He was dressed in a long, black, hooded cloak, its edges decorated with an elaborate gold pattern of small runic letters. When he opened it, he saw he wore a steel chest plate over a long-sleeved leather tunic, and leather pants, boots, and gloves—all black. The leather’s texture looked like dragon hide, but felt supple and more flexible, and the chest plate bore a raised image of a dragon. From his belt hung a short sword and a dagger, and a satchel was slung across his chest.
He tensed his muscular build and stretched his arms up in the air. He checked on Xan and Aesus, who were still in a deep sleep. Then he crouched next to Toshen.
“How do you feel?”
“I’m adjusting to this new body.”
Toshen had black shoulder-length hair, a mustache, and goatee. He wore a cloak similar to Drakor’s, with the same gold pattern around the edges, and a full set of leathers, his in dark-blue. Like Drakor he had a satchel and a dagger, but an ornamental bow lay on the ground next to him.
He sprang up, picked up the bow, and admired its craftsmanship. “This must be mine.” He checked his back and the ground for a quiver, but didn’t see one. “How am I supposed to shoot without any arrows?”
“You don’t need arrows,” Drakor said as he stood. “It’s an enchanted elf bow.”
“An enchanted bow doesn’t need arrows? I don’t understand.”
Drakor extended his hand. “Let me show you.”
Toshen handed Drakor the bow.
Drakor stood with his feet shoulder length apart, arms stretched out at his sides, and bow in his left hand. He bent his knees slightly and turned his head.
“Just look in the direction the bow is pointing, and pull back on the string as if you had an arrow,” he instructed. As he pulled back on the bowstring, a transparent glowing arrow appeared and turned into a solid arrow.
“Aim. Fire.” He released the bowstring, and the arrow whizzed past a tree trunk at chest level.
He handed the bow back to Toshen.
“Amazing,” Toshen said as he admired the bow. “How do you know how to use an elf bow?”
“The Darvish elves used it against me many times. The arrows are practically useless against dragon armor, but if one gets between the plates, it’s painful. Most enchanted bows can shoot different types of arrows. I just don’t know how to do that.”
“Different types of arrows?”
“Some bows can shoot flaming arrows. I’ve seen others shoot arrows that freeze things. There’s another arrow that does magical damage – and those can really hurt us.”
Toshen pointed his bow at the tree Drakor had missed, pulled back on the bowstring, and released the arrow. His arrow missed too. He lowered the bow and gave Drakor a puzzled look.
“What am I doing wrong?”
“You can’t just point the bow at something. You have to aim. It’s like seeing a straight path between the arrow and the tree.”
Toshen sighed, raised the bow, pulled back on the bowstring, and sighted the arrow in parallel with its shaft at the tree. After a long pause, he released the arrow. It hit the tree trunk dead center. He took his time firing four more arrows, and each struck the tree next to the others. He sighted arrows at specific points on other trees, fired rapidly and successfully hit his mark each time.
Drakor grunted. “It seems you’ve been given natural ability.”
“So it seems,” Xan said.
Drakor and Toshen turned to find her standing behind them. She was dressed identically to the others, only in white. She removed the hood of her cloak to reveal straight, shoulder-length white hair and bangs down to her eyebrows. As she parted her cloak to look at herself, the others admired her hourglass figure. Her face shined with the beauty normally reserved for a princess.
She took in her companion’s black cloak and leathers. “Drakor?”
“Yes,” he said.
“And you must be Toshen.”
Toshen nodded. “What weapons do you have?”
“I have a dagger.” She opened her satchel and found a book with a cross embossed on the front. “And this.”
Drakor frowned. “A book?”
Xan opened the book to the first page as the other two looked over her shoulder.
“It’s blank,” Drakor said.
“That’s odd. Why would Baldazar give you a blank book?” Toshen asked.
Xan gave the two a strange look. “What are you talking about? This page is covered with text.”
Drakor and Toshen looked at the page again and didn’t see anything.
“Don’t you see the words?”
Drakor and Toshen looked at each other, then at the page.
“I don’t see anything,” Drakor said.
“Neither do I,” Toshen said.<
br />
Xan read aloud: “Spellcasting Book of Heals. Spellcasting is a unique calling. Not everyone can cast spells, and nor can all spellcasters cast more than one type of spell. This book will teach you new healing spells as your spellcasting powers increase.”
Drakor grunted. “Interesting. You can read the words of men. I never would have thought Bal—” He looked around for the wizard. “Where’s Baldazar?”
The three of them scanned the area, but didn’t see him. They did, however, see Aesus, struggling to stand. He had short brown hair, and a thin build, and his robe and leathers were crimson. As they watched he staggered and fell face first onto the ground.
Xan ran to Aesus and knelt beside him, the others behind her. “Are you all right?”
“I will be,” Aesus said, “as soon as everything stops spinning.”
“Can you use your healing to stop the spinning, Xan?” Drakor asked.
“I can try,” Xan said. She opened her spellbook, read the first two pages, flipped a few pages until she found what she was looking for, and whispered the words of a healing spell.
“Whoa,” Aesus said. “That’s better. Hey, I feel like I still have a tail and wings.” He stood, flapped his arms, and circled the others.
Toshen laughed. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Aesus said. He jumped in the air several times, trying to get airborne. But he tripped over his own feet and tumbled over, head over heels. Laughing, he stood and looked at himself. “This body feels odd, but I think I like it.”
Swinging his satchel out of the way, he grabbed the dagger from his waist, and stabbed at the air around him in short bursts. He stopped and moved his other hand to the base of his neck. “Something’s poking me here.” He frowned and looked at Xan. “What is this?”
Xan examined Aesus’s neck and saw a circular gemstone attached to a tan leather cord. She reached up to her own neck and felt a similar object. “It’s a crimson gemstone. I have one too.”
“But yours is white.”
Toshen looked at Xan and Aesus. “Is something wrong?”
Xan examined Toshen’s neck. “You have one around your neck too, but yours is dark-blue.”
Toshen reached up and touched the object around his neck. He attempted to remove the leather cord by pulling it over his head, but it wouldn’t go past his jaw. “This isn’t coming off.”
Drakor noticed the others playing with something at the base of their necks and joined them.
“Yours is black,” Xan said.
“What’s black?” Drakor asked.
“The gemstone around your neck. We all have one. It matches our dragon colors. What do you think it’s for?”
Drakor shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s part of the transformation.”
“I’ve seen emos wearing all kinds of things around their necks,” Toshen said. “I don’t think they actually do anything.”
“Why would you wear something that doesn’t serve a purpose?” Xan asked.
“Whatever it’s for, it’s poking me, and I can’t take it off,” Aesus said. “It’s just as bad as having an itch you can’t scratch.”
Aesus pulled hard on the gemstone, and the leather cord gave off a red glow for a fraction of a second.
“The cord is enchanted,” Drakor said. “It’s not meant to be removed. We must have these for a reason. Just leave it be. Maybe you won’t notice it after a while.”
Drakor removed his sword from its sheath. When he swung it in the air, he almost lost his balance. “Toshen, grab that tree branch over there and let me practice with you.”
Xan looked at Aesus and held up her spellbook to show him the cover. “Do you have a spellbook in your satchel?”
“A what?” Aesus asked.
“In your satchel. A book.”
“Oh.” Aesus looked down, opened his satchel, and pulled out a book with an image of flames embossed on the cover. He looked in Drakor’s and Toshen’s direction, and admired Drakor’s sword. “Why don’t I have a sword?”
Xan ran her fingers over the cover of Aesus’s book. “Fire,” she whispered. The cover caught fire.
“What are you doing?” Aesus yelled. He dropped the book and it landed faced down on the ground, which extinguished the flames. He picked it up and inspected it; he didn’t find any damage.
“It’s a spellbook. You must have the power of fire,” Xan said.
Aesus opened the book at its center and flipped through the pages. “It’s empty.”
“No, it’s not,” Xan said. She turned to the first page of text. “Start here.” She watched Aesus as he scanned the page. “Can I try reading from your book?”
“Wait,” Aesus said. He scanned two more pages, closed the book, and handed it Xan. Stretching out his hand, he shouted a spell.
“You’re supposed to whisper your spells, not shout them out,” Xan said. “Didn’t you read that section?”
“No,” Aesus said. “Otherwise, I would have known I have to whisper the spells.”
His hand still raised, he whispered the words. A small fireball flew out of hand and dissipated after sixty feet. He raised his other hand and whispered some different words. A large fireball flew out of that hand and dissipated after forty feet.
Xan carefully read the small fireball spell, and then stretched out a hand and whispered the words. Nothing happened. “That’s what I thought,” she said.
“What’s that?” Aesus asked.
“I can read the spell, but I can’t cast a fireball. But I can start a small fire.”
“I guess that means I can’t cast any healing spells.”
“Let’s find out.”
Xan removed her glove, pulled out her dagger, and made a small incision across her palm that released some blood. She winced at the sting, and her fingers slightly closed. She opened the book to the basic healing spell, and showed it to Aesus. “Try healing my hand.”
Aesus read the book and whispered the healing spell, but nothing happened. “How long is it supposed to take?”
Xan whispered the healing spell, and her wound closed and disappeared. She showed her palm to Aesus. “Right away.”
“What do we do now?”
Xan put on her glove and turned her attention to Drakor and Toshen, who were trading blows. She looked at the trees around her and at the sky, and smiled. “I don’t know. I don’t know where we are or what we’re supposed to do next. It’s an odd feeling.”
Aesus nodded. “What have we gotten ourselves into?”
“Let’s ask Drakor.”
Xan and Aesus put their spellbooks into their satchels and made their way over to the others where as Toshen attacked, Drakor easily blocked or dodged every swing.
Xan put her hands on her hips. “Are we ready to start those quests now?”
Drakor sheathed his sword. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat first.”
“We don’t have any food,” Aesus said. “All we have in our satchels are spellbooks. What’s in your satchel?”
Drakor looked in his satchel and found three rolled scrolls, each with a gold band. “I have three scrolls.”
“Do any of the scrolls explain the first quest?”
Drakor removed the gold bands and unrolled each scroll. “They’re blank, just as Baldazar said they would be.”
Toshen checked his satchel and pulled out an extra bowstring. “I don’t have any food.”
“How are we supposed to survive without food?” Aesus asked.
“That’s a good question,” said Drakor. “Does anyone know how to prepare food?”
“They put food over a flame,” Xan said, “and they don’t eat the hide or the organs.”
“They also eat plants and things that grow in the ground,” Toshen added.
Aesus reached down and picked up a handful of grass. “I don’t think they eat this.”
“Then we’ll have to hunt before we can eat,” Drakor said.
He’d barely finished this
sentence when, suddenly, a masked bandit dressed in black emerged from the woods. “No one is going anywhere, or eating anything, until we get our gold,” he growled, his short sword thrust before him.
A young blond woman came out of the forest a few yards behind the first bandit. She had a slim build, wore the same black attire, and also carried a short sword.
Three more male bandits emerged from the opposite side of the clearing, two with short swords and one with a drawn bow. The bowman kept his distance and aimed his arrow at Drakor’s back.
Toshen scanned the ground for his bow. It lay ten feet away.
Drakor drew his sword. “We have no quarrel with you. Be on your way.”
The first bandit laughed. “You are outnumbered, nobleman. Drop your sword or my bowman will put an arrow through you. Give us your gold, and we’ll be on our way.”
That was all Aesus needed to hear. He cast two large fireballs at the bowman that engulfed him in flames. The bowman released his arrow, but it missed Drakor and almost hit the woman. Two small fireballs caught the other two bandits as they turned to flee. All three dropped to the ground within seconds.
Drakor ran toward the lead bandit and swung at him. The bandit blocked the blow, parried, and caught his blade on Drakor’s upper arm. The blade ripped through the leather and tore into Drakor’s flesh. Drakor cringed and struck back while Xan cast a spell to heal his wound.
Toshen ran to his bow, picked it up, aimed at the woman, and drew back on the bowstring. When she saw him point the bow in her direction, she fled into the forest. Toshen fired and just missed her as she dodged behind a tree. He turned his attention to the bandit fighting Drakor, and fired an arrow that struck him in the side.
As the bandit reeled in pain, Drakor took advantage of the situation and thrust his blade into his attacker’s chest. All expression drained from the bandit’s face as he collapsed to the ground.
“The woman is getting away,” Toshen said. He slung his bow across his back and chased after her.
“Wait!” Drakor shouted.
Toshen blazed on into the forest.
Drakor shook his head, and motioned for Xan and Aesus to follow him as he pursued Toshen.
Three Quest Deal (Tales of Former Dragons Book 1) Page 3
