Fractured Families (The Pearl of Wisdom Saga Book 2)

by Jason Paul Rice

  “How will we find them?” Sunny wanted to know. “Thou only need stay where thou art. The others shalt find thou. We know thou hath been learning about this inevitable war, but thou shalt be front and center when the battle booms. If Damian Doome is successful this time, the demons shalt inherit the earth and kill those who cannot protect themselves. We must defend everyone,” Dolpho said. “Why us?” Muriel posed.

  “From all thou hath seen in such a short time, I shan’t dignify with response. Few, if any, in this world hath seen a dragon. On the next visit, thou shalt meet all the dragons. We cannot create the complete plan until we art united with the Sky Dragons once again. Thou art crucial to unification of sky and water. The other person who commands the Sky Dragons shalt be as unlikely as thou. As I hath already said, we expected the attack to come ten or twenty years from now. Above all else, thou cannot tell anyone what happened today. There hangs a rotten fruit in your School, so discretion is of utmost importance.”

  The dragon laid out her tongue and the two kids got back inside the mouth. The bright blue dragon dove into the water and took them back to the beach. They ran to get back to the School, although Sunny knew they were already late. The two promised to tell Kazu they lost track of time on the beach. They were drenched in sweat by the time the School appeared. Sunny made the secret knock and the children were let back in without repercussion. They went to a late night session of combat training and Sunny thought their tardiness had gone unnoticed. After ten minutes of training, Kazu entered the classroom with two of the biggest instructors. None of the instructors were differentiated by name and all were required to shave their heads, causing some to look alike.

  Kazu called for Sunny and Muriel, and led them into a dimly lit room with speckled blood stains on the floor. There wasn’t any furniture in the room and the two instructors carried long wooden staffs in their hands. Sunny had a strong idea of where this meeting was headed. Kazu sternly asked, “Why were you late?” “We lost track of time on the beach,” Sunny answered. “Is this the story you are going to tell too, girl?” Kazu faced Muriel. “Yes, it’s true,” Muriel said.

  Kazu nodded to the instructors. Both men wound up and cracked the kids across the back. Muriel screamed, but Sunny only bit his lower lip. He felt searing pain from his lower left shoulder blade to the top of his other, following the path where the staff had connected. “I ask you again, where were you?” Kazu pressed. “We were on the beach and lost track of time,” Sunny responded. “Does the girl wish to lie like her brother again?” the old man asked Muriel. “I swear, it is true,” she replied. Kazu nodded to the men again and they smacked the kids thrice this time. Sunny kept his mouth shut and felt for Muriel, although she hadn’t cracked. He could feel the blood running down his back and the stinging sweat falling into the openings. The red liquid joined the rest of the previous sufferers’ blood on the floor.

  The kids were beaten almost one hundred more times, but neither told the truth of their visit with the Sea Dragons. Sunny didn’t think they would believe him even if he did tell the truth. The two children had been beaten from the tops of their shoulders to right above the knees. Kazu put out the torch and locked the children in this dark room for two days. He supplied them with just enough water to survive.

  Two days later, expecting the children to be broken, Kazu asked once more, “Why were you two late?” Both children stuck to the original story. They were beaten and locked away for two more days until they finally admitted they were searching for Ollor. Kazu screamed, “I knew it. You are no longer permitted to see that scoundrel. If you desire to stay at this School and fight against evil, you will forget about that man. He is now dead for all intents and purposes.”

  Sunny wondered why Kazu would want them to keep away from Ollor, but this seemed to be the answer the old man was looking for. The kids were properly fed and went through a normal day at the School. After over a week of torture, Sunny’s cut and bruised body struggled to get through the first period of strength and conditioning. Sunny carried a boy of similar size on his back. The instructor led them up and down the underground road. Sunny’s weary thoughts shifted to Ollor. He was confused by the sudden change in Kazu. Sunny couldn’t give up on his father figure yet.

  The second period of lessons in history delved into the First Battle of Fire Island. The instructor explained the strategic geographic sensibility Rockarius had used to defeat the coldomores in the first real battle of the war against Damian Doome. The next period of class consisted of hand-to-hand combat. Sunny lost tests of skill against opponents he had always defeated in the past. His pain from the beatings and overall drained energy combined to cripple his chances of defeating anyone.

  A dejected Sunny went to reading and writing next. He almost fell asleep until a slap across his face refocused the boy. After barely making it through the tedium, he dragged his aching body to weapons training. He lost to inferior opponents in this class too. Sixth period for the day dealt with spirit conjuring. Sunny and Muriel seemed to be favored by the angels. The conjuring of the spirits’ powers came easy to the pair. The final period involved group combat training. The instructors taught different skills every day to work as a large unit. Without any outside light to judge, the underground day of classes came to an end.

  Sunny slept for a few hours before being awakened by a lash of the wooden staff. The kids were beaten shortly after waking up for the next five days and Sunny struggled through the daily activities. He finally re-gathered his strength when the whippings stopped. Sunny didn’t think Kazu would ever let them leave again, but two weeks later, they were allowed to roam outside. Muriel and Sunny headed directly for the beach. He planned to ask the dragons about Ollor and his whereabouts.

  DAMIAN DOOME

  Damian stretched out his weary old bones. Most humans didn’t think demons had bones because of the rigid movements. The demon’s bones were thinner and frailer and at his advanced age, Damian remained in constant pain. He felt ready to die and hoped he would be worthy of the Golden Chamber, the demon equivalent of heaven to the humans. At seven hundred and seventy seven, Damian knew this would be his final chance. He had built a unique force. The demon race would never have a better chance than the present time to take over the earth. His life would culminate in this final war for better or death.

  Damian had gathered the coldomores, who were the demon soldiers, to deliver a speech. He called the men outside their usual underground dwelling. He stood up on a hill to orate over the throngs of men. He looked over his loyal fighters and began in the underground tongue, “We, the demons, held this earth first. We lived in total peace until the humans arrived. We welcomed and shared the earth’s bounty with them. Yet that wasn’t good enough for those filthy, greedy mongrels. The humans waited until they outnumbered us and then came the day Esogenus told those dirty little lies about the demons. We all know this, but still need to be reminded from time to time. Esogenus was caught in the act of cannibalism and blamed the demons when he faced his Gods. The most popular faith of the humans celebrates an act of cannibalism with their precious Josevius. Esogenus vilified us and before our Plades could defend us, we were chased into caves and the underground to hide in fear. We were judged as evil for the actions of one man and swept from the surface of the earth. Their Gods turned a blind eye to all the atrocities the humans committed, and deemed us evil. We banded together five hundred years ago to take back what is rightfully ours.”

  The demons started to get stirred up and agitated. “We fell short in our effort, but we dedicated ourselves to take back our earth someday. That day has finally arrived. We will not leave today, but Travibero has sent the message to move. Be ready to leave at any time. We will start with small strategic attacks and the war will build from there. Travibero wants every man to know, your sacrifices of living in squalor all these years will not be wasted. We must fight for our freedom, once and for all. After we conquer the human soldiers and enslave the rest to till the land, our pla
n will be realized. Our day will come again, but this freedom will come at a heavy price. Look around and understand most of us may die, but for those who survive, we will rebuild the demon race. We will finally receive our just do.” The coldomores worked themselves into a frenzy, pushing and shoving each other. They were much like humans with their emotions and Damian knew how to draw on them. A common misconception among the humans was that demons were thoughtless flesh eaters whose sole focus centered on devouring humans. In reality, demons and humans were more similar than different concerning mental processes. There were smart and stupid demons as well as athletic and uncoordinated ones, just like any random group of people.

  Damian walked away with Ephesi and felt satisfied his soldiers were ready for battle. He liked to reassure himself by going to see his assembled forces and weapons. The defeat in battle five hundred years ago had a profound and lasting effect on Damian’s confidence. He could appear the most self-confident demon on the outside to encourage the coldomores, but he still hurt on the inside. At seven hundred and seventy seven he wasn’t going to run away again.

  “Ephesi, we have to meet our friend and go up to the north end of the island,” Damian said. Ephesi’s body was a drab yellow and dull green. The standard trait of red pupils and black irises was accented by four purple ears, two on either side of the top of his head. Hearing must have been easy for the tall demon. Damian had noticed Ephesi acting strange since returning from his last skin-changing expedition. Ephesi had told Damian he was forced to kill Captain Wallace because the man was telling people about the true plan to attack.

  Damian had strategically placed the Captain in the area he planned to attack first. He wanted him to spread the rumors of the demons being unready to fight any kind of war. He was disappointed, but Ephesi seemed to be taking it harder than normal and Damian wondered why. The men met their friend and went to the dragon stable. The three men hopped on small, red dragons about twice the size of a horse. The crimson-scaled fire breathers allowed the demons and human to climb on, and Damian ordered them to the northern facility. Ephesi looked uncomfortable on the back of Careene while Damian easily rode Bencliffe to the area reserved for building siege weapons and ships. Unlike the humans, the demons’ weapons and boats were made of a metal alloy instead of wood. They had manufactured every catapult device in use around the world and possessed an overwhelming number of ships with enough room to carry one thousand coldomores on each vessel.

  The men got down from their dragons, and Ephesi asked, “When do you think we will leave for battle?” “Thirty days, more or less, but not by many. Travibero will not go back on his word. The humans have enjoyed the earth far too long,” Damian answered.

  The always dark and cloudy atmosphere of Venom Island loomed menacingly over the sultry land. Eight feet tall demons walked awkwardly, pounding long metal spikes into the base of a trebuchet. The purple demon giants used their oversized hands to pound the three-foot spikes into the metal base.

  “One thousand ships should be able to transport everything we need,” Damian said. “I should hope so,” Ephesi agreed. The human remained silent during the tour.

  The men moved over to a ravine with an open field of headless destriers. There were skinned elk with the tips of their racks reaching over eight feet high. The flayed animals rammed horns with each other after a short charge. The ornery animals fought with thunderous crashes echoing through the air. The men went back to the dragons and flew to the next stop on the island. A quick ride east showed an enormous metal pen housing nearly a thousand Cyclopes. The giants must have been over ten feet tall and thick as a forest tree.

  “I will be going underground tomorrow to see Travibero. Would you like to finally meet him?” Damian offered. “Yes, of course, it would be an honor,” Ephesi responded. Damian taunted the locked-up Cyclops and said, “Stupid people, they are, only took two dragons to scare them onto our ships. We will turn them against the humans before we leave, and they will fight for us.”

  The men moved to another destination. This time they landed on the bottom of a mountainside to see some dangerous-looking beasts on the plains below. Damian instructed everyone to remain on the dragons. Enormous breeds of wolves, badgers, mountain lions, snakes, stag and scorpions dominated the ashy landscape below. The animals were about three times the size of a normal breed. There were some cross-breeds and they were the wildest of the bunch. Damian told the man about how he had to unleash the dragons on the wild animals and fly away to safety on several occasions.

  The next area he visited showed the dragon crossbreeds. A purple elephant pushed fire from its trunk and into the sky. The animal had the shingled scales of a dragon instead of the normal, thick skin of the pachyderm. A group of flying stags with huge racks landed next to the elephants. They used the red dragon wings to easily navigate the balmy air.

  Damian laughed internally as he thought about the ignorance of the humans. Most of their systems originated from the demons. The one issue the two races differed on was families. The demons and Travibero believed families only caused internal fighting within the race. The demons also rejected the idea of social classes. Every man was born to fight as a coldomore while the women were born to produce strong warriors. The demons who were not suited to fight were used for other purposes. The entire existence of the demons centered around defeating the humans. They didn’t have a king or social aspirations even though Damian was the leader, and they did have their deities, the Plades that were referred to as “Gods of the demons” by the humans. The Plades had one thousand members and helped Travibero oversee the demon race above ground. Damian’s old bones creaked as he hopped off the dragon and pointed out past the stags. There stood enormous bull-dragons and the biggest lizards on earth. The reptiles stood as tall as the seven-foot bulls. Damian marveled at the fact that the cross-bred animals didn’t need any food to survive and grow.

  The dragons hunted the uninhabited lands of the earth to bring back food for the other animals and demons. Damian Doome had the builders construct huge carrying crates for the dragons to bring back a large haul of animals. The small serpents of the island suffered when the winter hunts didn’t produce a large bounty. The demons ate once a day and only needed a bit of food to survive. The dragons and wild animals ate most of the food.

  The dragons were trusted to only hunt outside the island, which created a tense situation for Damian to face later.

  The three sat down right outside the cave on a large rock. Damian had used the demon Eliace to infest the old man many years ago and control the human’s thoughts and actions. Damian spoke, “Now you’ve seen our total resources for the war effort. What do you think of our chances?” The short, old human with tattoos on his neck answered, “Most of the students of the School are only children. They are gifted but they are not ready for the forces you’ve assembled. I strongly suspect the Dragons of the Sea have found their leader, but I can’t figure out exactly who. I also rid us of that distraction we talked about.” “What distraction?” Ephesi immediately asked. “That pest named Ollor who kept sniffing around the School. I think he abducted those children; neither look a thing like him. I had my men beat him and dump him out in the sand,” the old man said.

  “Ephesi, you’ve been mighty forgetful lately,” Damian said, calling him out. “Changing back and forth can take a toll on the memory. Every change takes a little piece away, I do apologize,” Ephesi explained. “No need, you have served the cause with more loyalty than anyone. You take chances others have refused. No one knew changing could carry side effects,” Damian reminded him and turned to the old man. “Now what do you think of our line of attack?”

  “Come straight down the northwest coast, and I will open the tunnel town. The men will rush right out to their deaths. I brought detailed maps to show you the secret entrances of the School of the Learned Warrior. Once the demons cover all the openings to the School, the rest of the humans will be easy pickings. The School is here to defend the defen
seless. If we can take them out, the dragons will not be capable of swaying the battle this time,” the old man reported.

  “Excellent. Do you have any news of the Pearl?” Damian asked, expecting nothing. “Just before I left, a letter arrived from an old friend who insists he has the Pearl in his possession,” the excited old man told him. “Is this a man to be trusted?” Damian pressed. “I’ve known him hundreds of years and the Pearl is his passion. I have never heard him this sure. He is on the way to the School as we speak and I will soon find out if this is true,” the friend of the demons said. “If you could bring the Pearl to us, you will surely rest one day as a Plade,” Damian assured the man.

  Damian knew if the demons could capture the Pearl and render the humans’ dragons useless, victory would be all but assured. His enemy needed the Pearl and the dragons to have a chance to survive. The man he had known for over three hundred years finally gave him the information he always wanted to hear. Damian could feel everything falling into place for the coldomores to take back the earth.

  The old man left and Damian went to his personal room. The small cutout area, covered with books and battle records, served as his private space. Demons didn’t really sleep but did need to rest during the day. Damian usually lay on the floor and thought about how sweet it would be to lead the defeat of the humans. He laughed at all the myths humans had constantly spread about the demons.

  Damian, a sensitive demon, needed to be strong to lead the coldomores. He played their emotions by constantly reminding them of the humans’ deceitfulness toward the demons. Damian shared their anger. He wasn’t around for the first banishment of the demons, but came close to reclaiming the earth. Damian Doome had Rockarius and his human forces on the run. He thought victory had been all but secured until he chased the humans up Greenrock Mountain. In his haste to taste the win, he confidently paraded his troops up the hill. The humans came rushing down with backup forces, utilizing the highland. This slowed the battle enough and forced it back down to the Field of the First Battle. Rockarius’ dragons showed up and turned the tide of the battle and eventually the war. The coldomores only had five young dragons who had defected from the other side. He didn’t want to risk them in battle and lose the dragons before he could breed them. They had built a solid army of dragons over the past five hundred years. A young Brute was the first to come to the demons’ side and convince more dragons to cross over.