He relaxed his mind and allowed some of the powerful magic contained in his teardrop to seep into his blood. The pain he’d been suffering dissipated and a slight rush carried his mind farther from his body.
He’d spent several years studying human anatomy and healing. Using Dour magic and the proper herbs, he could cure almost anything now. The problem was that Rikky had spent enough time with Jenka to understand he didn’t want to scorch his brain. Jenka made good decisions but seemed to be somewhere else or some such. And speaking with him was maddening, for he answered minutes after you asked, not seconds, and his luminous blue-green eyes were unsettling.
Rikky swore off using the dragon tear unless it was necessary. Of course, he used it when healing others. But it had been so long since he needed it at all that the idea of using Dour magic to circumvent stairs or ease his arse in the saddle hadn’t even come to mind until now.
“You know,” Zahrellion’s voice broke into his tranquil state, “if you took Linux, I’d feel even better. I know what he did, and so does he. Before I moved us all back to Three Forks from here, he helped raise Jericho and I know he will watch over the boy.”
“He soul-stepped an innocent, Zah.” Rikky sighed as he realized the depth of his anger and frustration over the terrible things that happened in the past had dissipated overtime. There were times, especially when hunting with March, that he’d considered talking with King Richard. There was a place deep inside him that kept telling him that he might forgive the man if he could understand why he’d killed Herald, for no other thing that Jenka’s brother had done bothered Rikky all that much.
Oddly, the prospect of traveling into an adventure with Linux was exciting.
“Zah,” Rikky spoke evenly as the Dour rush was subsiding. “Remember when me, you, Solmon, Jenka, and all the others first rode out of Crag?”
“I do.” Her smile was suddenly wide and genuine. “I was so excited. And I didn’t know it at the time, but Jenka thought I was an elf and hundreds of years old or something.”
Rikky shrugged for he had no idea of what she was talking about. “I didn’t even have Silva then.”
“And you had two legs.” Zah’s expression showed the she was suddenly worried to have offended him.
“And you were the farthest thing from a queen I could imagine. I was afraid of you and those lines and shapes on your face.” Rikky shivered. “I can’t believe the druids used sarax blood to mark themselves. I can’t believe you did that.”
“I did it, too,” Linux entered the room carrying a tray of bread and cheese. Rikky had just been remembering the old Linux. Not Linux in Rolph’s body, and his previous revulsion for the man swelled slightly, but only until his memory of that old Linux shifted to the peg-legs they’d constructed and the rolling chair Linux devised in the months after Rikky lost his leg.
“Want to go on a little adventure, Linux?” Rikky asked as he speared a cut of cheese with his dagger.
“I don’t know?” He looked at Zahrellion for permission maybe, or approval.
She nodded.
“I suppose I do.” He grinned. “But I’m not sure our last adventure is over yet.”
Later, after the camp around Clover’s Castle was settled, and Rikky was alone, he reflected on when he was Jericho and Pascal’s age. He and a boy named Solmon, who was a few years older than he, were best friends. Jenka and Grondy were also best friends. They’d competed endlessly, at everything, under the tutelage of Master Kember, and all of them were the better for it.
They’d all wanted to be foresters and then King’s Rangers. Jericho and Pascal had no great plans as of yet, and they were not best friends. They were here to gain experience and hopefully some sense. Both of them were castle born, and soft, but they’d already started trying harder to outdo the other, and that was good.
Rikky knew finding a nice respectable elk to kill was as easy as asking Silva to find the herd and cull some their way. These boys needed more than that.
Rikky decided he would take them to the ancient dwarven tunnel where they’d first found Crimzon. It was a three day ride by horse and, if they got that far without incident, Rikky knew he could spook the softness right off of those two down in that scary molten hole. There was a lake there, too, and Linux had mentioned setting fish lines nearer to the castle so maybe they could borrow some hooks and line.
Rikky figured they would stay out about ten days, and then make the long journey back south along the Strom River to the coast and sail to Kings Island to attend the Solstice Festival.
Rikky decided he was thinking too far ahead. He hadn’t been on a ship in as long as he could remember. He would probably be tired of the rascals by then and take the journey on Silva’s back.
He missed the days of hunting with Jenka, Solmon, and Grondy, and the rest, and he missed Master Kember and Lemmy, too. Not only did he have two legs back then, in those days the hope he held for an exciting future was enough to keep him eager. Now, all he seemed to ever hope for was a way to end the boredom.
Chapter Five
Seven men and two boys rode out of the area protected by Clover’s enchanted castle and started deeper into the Orich Mountains. The procession was led by a ranger named Willian. Captain Will was older and almost as grouchy as Herald had been. Rikky had worked with him over the years and liked him the second he saw the pronounced knife scar on his ear. When Rikky started training the foresters and putting the King’s Rangers back together for Jenka, he’d spotted the nick and gave the man rank on the spot.
A forester named Olly rode behind the captain with a loaded crossbow in his lap. Then came Prince Jericho and Pascal. The two of them rode side by side when they could, and they did a good job of staying out of Rikky’s earshot.
Rikky rode right behind the boys so he could keep an eye on them. Behind him was Linux, then another forester, a green young man whose name Rikky never got. Bringing up the rear was a veteran ranger named Braag Brauntly, who everyone always called Brawn.
The sun was high, and though the morning was as perfect as any summer morning could be, the air grew thick and still, and the heat became oppressive. The lush forested slopes were green and rich with animal life, but even the rabbits and squirrels moved in a slow, efficient manner. The few short stretches the group had to travel through the woods, they could feel the steamy moisture the trees hoarded. Then the procession moved onto a wide rocky road with nothing between them and the cloudless, pale-blue sky.
“It feels like we are climbing into the sun,” Prince Jericho said at one point.
“It’s like riding through a forge furnace,” Pascal added.
“It’s the rocks beneath us that make it so warm, boys,” Brawn called up from the rear. “That sun be trying to melt `em.”
Rikky cautioned them all to drink plenty of water so they didn’t cramp later, but eventually the heat disappeared completely. Toward the end of the day, the wind broke the stillness around them and they found themselves struggling to stay warm in the shadow of the steep face they were zigzagging up.
The day’s travel was rewarded, though, when they camped on top of an elevated flat that overlooked the dark valley neighboring the castle. Once out of the shadow it was no longer chilly. The idea that there might be wild creatures still roaming the area was only strengthened when a loud howling roar erupted in the distance and a few hundred birds leapt into flight. The cloud of avian life swirled and churned and then resettled a short distance away from where they’d been rousted, but even the men kept their eyes glued to the area for a long time after.
The sky was wide open and full of twinkling stars and the air barely chill enough to warrant a blanket. The breeze was slight and only added to the comfort the group seemed to be feeling as they laughed around the fire Olly built.
“Where is Silva?” Prince Jericho asked Rikky after a particularly long silence that was only interrupted by Linux’s healthy snore.
“She is out there hunting somewhere.” Rikky made
a broad sweeping gesture out over the darkened valley. “She is not too far, I hope.”
“Can you speak with her? I mean in your mind, like mother does with Crystal?”
“Can you?” Pascal added his query. “My mam can speak with Golden in such a way.”
“I can if I want, but I do not want to interrupt her slumber—”
“By the gods, man,” Brawn roared out, his fearful tone startling them all. “Did you see that?” He slapped the green forester on the shoulder and pointed skyward. When Rikky saw the younger man’s eyes, he knew the lad was really seeing something.
“What?”
“What is it?”
“Something big just passed over us, Dragoneer.” Brawn was still searching the sky. “I seen it myself.”
“Aww, Brawn, don’t be scaring turds out of these youngsters.” Captain Will growled. “There’ll be enough time for that lat—”
“I ain’t foolin’ with ya.” Brawn’s tone was bold and conveyed that he was, indeed, being serious.
Rikky believed him, too, for he and Silva had both momentarily sensed dragon Dour of the most potent sort. He only knew of two people alive that resonated in such a way, which was a comfort, but the impression this brief surge left on him wasn’t all that familiar.
He didn’t let the others know what he’d sensed, for whatever it was, it was gone.
“He’s pulling your leg, boys,” Captain Will said. “Ain’t nothing but a low flying cattle hawk or a rogue Sarax.”
Rikky didn’t think that was funny, but again he didn’t give voice to his thoughts. He was busy speaking to his dragon through the ethereal.
What was it? Rikky asked his bond-mate.
Maybe Jenka, maybe Clover, she replied. Maybe something else?
Will you move closer to us?
I could swat you with my tail from where I am.
Learning this made Rikky chuckle. “The captain is right.” Rikky gave Brawn a stern look through his mirth. “It was probably a low flying cattle hawk.” His gaze shifted to Captain Willian then, and his eyebrows narrowed. “It weren’t no Sarax.”
The sound of the older man swallowing was loud. Rikky could sense his regret at mentioning the terrible alien creatures that violently destroyed so many lives across the kingdom. Instead of scolding the man, Rikky came up with another idea.
“Linux told me the ogres were finding more snakes this year than ever before.” Rikky changed the subject. “Not just the mousers and farm snakes, but rattle fangs and strikers, too. We should all check our blankets good before we crawl in `em.”
“Yes, sir,” Captain Will replied. The rest of the group responded similarly and soon they were all hunkering down, save for the Captain and Olly, who had drawn first watch.
Rikky could have let them sleep, for Silva was a better guardian than all the party combined, but he didn’t want anyone to know she was as close as she was. And the younger men needed to learn to keep watch. Men might have tamed the Frontier and the foothills, but the mountains were still as formidable as they’d always been.
When he laid down and shut his eyes, Rikky spent a while wondering what the sensation had been. Then he began to wonder if Linux knew Silva was there or not. He knew the druid was as powerful as they come, and that he could communicate in the ethereal when necessary, but he wasn’t sure if he’d been tuned in.
He decided to speak with him about things. They had the last watch. Jericho and Pascal were watching with them, which was a good thing, because Rikky needed them for his prank.
After a while, he began to wonder where Marcherion was and if he and Blaze were still flying over the sea. Then he found sleep, where black-skinned, shark-mawed sarax devoured families in the streets, and child-sized, grey skinned goblins feasted on his limbs.
“Shhh,” Rikky hissed at the boys. He was having a hard time controlling his mirth, too, but was too determined to let it loose.
“We’re ready,” Linux whispered. He was standing out of swords reach of Brawn, holding a long stick near the sleeping ranger’s neck.
“You?” Rikky asked the boys who both stifled giggles while nodding that they were. Pascal was poised just like Linux, only he was over the green forester. Prince Jericho was sitting on a rock over Olly with what looked like a fishing pole. The line was a spider’s web the boy had tried to sling off the limb. It was perfect for tapping and sliding across Olly’s wide open mouth.
The sun was starting to lighten the sky so Rikky counted down, “Three, two, one, now!”
“SNAAAAAKE!” Rikky yelled as loud as he could.
Linux and both boys screamed and hollered, too, all while trying to simulate snake movements against their sleeping victims. Linux’s distance probably saved him a good bruising for Brawn came out of his bedroll like a lion. Olly was now screaming and coughing out the bit of web the Prince had dipped in his face. Pascal was laughing shrilly and rolling around, his victim having come up batting at his blanket like he was on fire.
It was a comical sight, but Rikky’s victim’s reaction was the best, for Rikky wasn’t simulating a snake at all. Silva’s tail quickly wrapped around the Captain’s leg and started pulling him across the ground toward her. She looked more like a pewter colored boulder than anything else. And no one but Rikky, Linux, and the boys knew she was among them.
“ENOUGH!” Rikky yelled.
When Silva let go of Captain Willian, the man did a fifty yard face up crab crawl backwards. He managed this in such a speedy fashion that the boys and Rikky were howling. Even Olly and Brawn were laughing now.
The captain looked at them with confusion and fear showing plainly on his bright-red, vein-lined face, then he grabbed at his chest and began convulsing in the dirt.
Rikky’s mirth evaporated and he charged over him. His guts felt hollow. Fear that they sent the man into a stupor or popped his heart washed over him.
Rikky rolled Captain Willian over and saw that he’d gone still. His heart sank into his bowels. Had they really frightened him that badly? He began sifting through his mind, searching for a healing spell to save him.
“Baaaah!” The captain suddenly jolted and lurched up, causing Rikky’s heart to skip a beat and his feet to fail him as he stumbled backwards.
Everyone was laughing then, at least until Silva leapt into flight, but even the dragon was chuckling as she went.
It turned out Captain Willian was a prankster, too.
Chapter Six
They saw the lake later that second day, but wouldn’t reach its shore until the afternoon of the next. Linux explained that most of his fishing gear was designed for river krill and pan-sized lake fish, not mudsuckers or big whiskerfish, but he did have one rig to catch something sizable. But to use the rig they had catch some sunfish or minnows to bait the hooks.
Once they started down into the next valley, they lost sight of the water, but saw it again when they topped the next ridge. Like a shimmering mirror reflecting the world and the rose-colored evening sky, the surface lay across a lush green valley surrounded by snow topped mountains. Even on the top of the ridge though the air was warm and only slightly crisp.
“Can we make it down before dark?” Brawn asked from the rear.
Rikky started to say yes, but the captain spoke before him. “There is a shelf the men used as a camp last year. It’s about two thirds of the way down. We’ll camp there and not risk unpacking our gear in poor light while everything in the area is trying to get a sip.”
“Aye,” Rikky added, deciding that he was glad to have picked Captain Willian. Rikky’s arse was as sore as it ever had been anyway. He would rather be off the horse sooner than later, and since the cat was out of the sack about his dragon being near, he decided he might just ride Silva in the morning to scout the area.
“How far is Crimzon’s cave?” Prince Jericho asked.
“On the far western side of the lake,” Rikky replied, pointing ahead of them and to the left.
“It looks like we will have t
o take the eastern shore and go all the way around to the north,” the Prince’s voice was a thin squeak, but the boy possessed a certain quality of confidence that Rikky knew had been passed down from Jenka. He was impressed by the lads and the way they were coming along.
The truth be told, he’d expected a lot more whining and hadn’t expected the boys to keep as much company with Linux as they did. It wasn’t surprising, though. Zahrellion had moved the royal family to Clover’s castle for the first few years of Jericho’s life. Linux had assumed the role of castilian after he escaped Richard and had helped with him since he was born.
“Just so.” The captain nodded back at the prince, and Rikky was starkly reminded of Herald.
The sun was almost gone from the sky, but there would be dusky light for a while yet. They were winding down a fairly steep switchback grade and the captain seemed as if he was trying to hurry and beat full dark. This put the experienced men slightly on edge, leaving the boys talking quietly about what they might find in the caves and what sort of lake creatures might eat the baits they put out on Linux’s lines.
The boys were laughing shrilly at something Linux had just said when the captain suddenly stopped his horse and hushed them.
“What is it?” Brawn called. Apparently, the man wasn’t close enough to hear the urgency in Captain Will’s voice, for had he been, he might have held his tongue.
Rikky was reaching for Silva with his mind, but his eyes were on the two boys. They were right in front of him. Pascal’s normally brown skin was pale, and Prince Jericho was as white as snow. Both had seen the captain’s expression when he turned back, and now they were seeing what Rikky was seeing.
Brawn’s bow thrummed as he loosed an arrow that went right past Rikky’s ear. The shaft went over the first of the two silhouetted forms lumbering toward them. A howl that sounded more angry sounded as it struck.
They were trolls Rikky saw, and there was more than just the two. Worse, they were coming out of the cave the group was supposed to camp in. The sunlight was gone, and Silva had gone scouting the lake. The silver dragon was so far away that this could get real messy before she could get there to help them.
Rise of the Dragon King (Book two of the Royalty Trilogy): 2017 Modernized Format (Dragoneers Saga 5) Page 3
