by Platt, S. P.
DRAGON RIDER
Book one of the
DRAGONMAGE SAGA
By STEPHEN PLATT
Copyright 2012 Stephen Platt
All rights reserved
Contents
Dragon Play
Old Life Gone
A New Beginning
NightAura
Nirvana
A Gift For His Friends
The Spell Weakens
Pain Of A Dragon
Renegade
Coming Together
First Attack
Magical Shock
Dark Realm
Next Attack
The Secret Room
A Lesson Learned
First Battle With The Creatures
A Revealing Glow
The New Crystal
The Crystal Chamber
Creature Attack
A Night With Family
The Shield Weakness
Beginnings
The First Real Hint
The Scorched Room
Biggest Attack Yet
Tears For Dragons Lost
The Battle Begins
Battling The Large Ones
Aura Reveals Herself
The Old Spell Ripples
The Final Battle Begins
What Is A DragonMage
Power Of The Crystal
The Fight Is Only Just Beginning
Dedications and Things to Come
Dragon Play
(Poised in readiness, their backs to each other,) Angel and his two friends stood very still, eyes locked onto the young, but dangerous dragons surrounding them. They had been like this now for about fifteen minutes, eyeing the dragons, just waiting for the move that would set them in motion.
Pol-oram was keeping his eye on the red dragon, the biggest of the six. Voice low, ‘He’s the one to watch, I can see him tensing; it won’t be long now.’
Angel shook his head, and spoke louder than he intended. ‘No, it’s the little white one, see how his eyes are looking straight at us and the muscle movement in the back legs. See the others are watching him. When he moves, they’ll follow, won’t be long now.’
The three boys where surrounded by six young dragons that were just about as tall as they were. There were two reds, one being bigger than the other, along with a white, smallest off them and if Angel was right, leader, there were two greens and a yellow as well.
The dragons were as tall as the three boys, heads the size of young horses, eyes fiery, small, horn-like spikes protruding. Saliva dripped from their needle teeth. Bony, interlocking plates covered their bodies. Their legs were short but powerful, with four razor-sharp nails. Their tails were effective weapons, long as their bodies and with a 360 degrees swing.
Their spread wings were four feet on each side, filling the cavern, so there was no way out for the boys. They were going to have to fight and the boys knew this. With that in mind, they would start the fight. This would give them the advantage of surprise. Each had worked out which of the dragons, they would take on. Angel would take on the white and the smaller red, with the bigger of his friends Pol-oram taking the big red along with a green. That left the other two to his other friend, Tas-shy.
Angel, seeing they were close to moving yelled, ‘Now.’ Screaming, they ran at the dragons. With both arms out stretched he ploughed into the dragons, grabbing them by the necks and twisting down and pulling their heads together, so the dragons could not try and use their wings. If able to, they would have been knocked off their feet and it would all be over.
Angel pushed down with all his strength, screaming his lungs out, the young dragons, hit the ground hard, Angel still holding the dragons, he was not willing to give them a chance.
Rolling around and not being careful Angel tightened his grip while all the time the dragons snarled and growled with their faces close to Angel’s. But he was determined he would not let them have a chance to get free. They snarled and screamed, nipping at Angel but not quite able to get him.
His friends had done the same, having planned, what they were going to do, they were not going to get beaten again. They had been doing this each morning for the last week and now they were more determined than ever, they would win this round.
The red was almost out from under his arm as rolling over the floor had allowed the red to almost wriggle free. He was not about to let it get that last little bit. He yelled to the others. ‘Roll them together, we’ll bunch them up, that way they’re not going to be able to break free.’
The boys were young but strong, as they worked hard at the jobs they did around the hatchery. They could handle young dragons being the same size as them. The young dragons were ungainly, for they were just getting use to their wings.
Pol and Tas, started moving and wriggling and working their dragons over to Angel and this was not easy, as the dragons weighted a good 200 lb. They were only twelve years old, but strong for their age. Having played with young dragons since they were five, it was the first thing they did when coming to the hatchery every day, just play with them for an hour before starting on their jobs.
They finally got them all into a group pressing them tight together so they could not move, then all of a sudden, they just relaxed. Angel, Pol and Tas knew, they had won and bellowed it out loud. ‘Wha hooooo.’ Their joy at finally beating the little dragons was being heard all over the hatchery.
The little dragons were now up and dancing around with the boys who were jumping up and down. Suddenly Angel just stood there looking around, a blank expression on his face. Pol-oram saw this and came over to him, ‘Angel, what’s wrong you look lost?’ Waving his hand in Angels face and trying to get him to respond.
Then finely, Angel looked at him. ‘Ah no fine, I’m alright just felt a little funny, but I’m fine now must have been all the rough play.’ There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Angel was just like any other normal boy who loved to play with his friends. He was born into a Dragon Rider family with two older brothers who had a different father. He knew nothing about his father his mother has never told him or anybody else who he was.
This never bothered him as his mother and brothers loved him and he was happy with that. He has looked forward to the day he would have his own dragon. His mother is the greatest Dragon Rider around, as she has the only Black Dragon and they being the most powerful of all dragons.
His hair was different to the rest of the family being just black, where his mothers and brothers all have white streaks down the middle. He had a slim but solid build and this showed in the play fighting with the young dragons. He had blue eyes, where his mother and brothers had green, this did not worry him, they were his family and he loved them.
Shaking off the feelings, he carried on celebrating with his friends. The young dragons had moved off, away from the boys. Still the boys were dancing around yelling, when one of the hatchery attendants yelled, it was time for them to get about their jobs. As they headed away they gave the little dragons a tickle and hug.
Angel found the young dragons were a bit stand offish with him, for as he went to give a hug the dragon pulled away from him but not his friends. His friends didn’t see this. As Angel was passing one of the dragons, it tried to nip him and he just looked at it. They had never done this before, he carried on out of the cave, leaving the young dragons to play and rest, heading to the egg chamber where their jobs awaited them.
The egg chamber was a large cavern with volcanic vents all over the floor. These vents had been built up over the years with mud into the shape of a cone. Then placed on top of the cone is some firecrystal. Firecrystal is a rock fibre about as long as a finger, these are collected
by the boys from the caves close by and placed on the cones for the eggs to rest on.
The Fire crystal is found in caves in thermal areas, this holds the heat at an even temperature, keeping the eggs safe. The eggs are placed on there side on top of the fire cones as they are called. The boys had to go around and turn the eggs so they do not sit on the one side all the time. The boys come in every morning turning them, then again in the afternoon.
There were fifteen eggs in the egg chamber at the moment. After they turned the eggs in the morning and replaced some of the Firecrystal, as the eggs do tend to flatten it. Angels mind was not fully on doing this as he was still thinking of the young dragon trying to nip him.
Pol-Orm was nearby and could see he was looking distracted and came over. ‘What’s wrong you look as if you’re a long way away?’
Angel turned around and looked at the cave where they had just come from and then looked at his friend. ‘I was just thinking about the young dragon that took a nip at me on the way out, they’ve never done that before, it’s strange.’
‘They just got carried away, after all we beat them for the first time and they will have been just as excited as we were about it. Come on, we’re nearly finished here and can go play till its time for lessons.’
Angel gave one final look at the cave and turned to his friend, ‘Ok, what’s on today in lessons, are we with the adult dragons today or not. I got the feeling it might be cleaning day?’
Pol-Orm looked at him and his eyes just turned up ‘I hope not but then when was the last time we had to clean the Dragon Riders harnesses.’
Their friend Tas-Shy came up behind them. ‘We haven’t done that in days and today I think is going to be the day, come on or we’ll be late and get the extra dirty harnesses.’
They headed off out of the egg chamber to their classes yelling and playing around. Arriving at the class they see they had come last and it’s cleaning day. The young Dragon Riders take classes at the hatchery and in their lessons must learn how to look after the harnesses that go on the dragons. These are for the riders to hold onto and to keep their dragon lances safe while flying.
Their day is broken into four parts, first was working in the egg chamber. Then they have two sessions of lessons one before the midday meal and one after and the last part of the day is back to the egg chamber turning the eggs again. When they arrive in the mornings they always play with the young dragons. This is necessary so the young dragons get use to humans and the interaction with them.
They were glad to get that first session over with, for cleaning the harnesses is a hard job. They get to the lunch hall where they eat with the Dragon Riders. Angel and his friends look around for a place when his friend saw Angel’s mum sitting at a table, so head off in that direction.
Angels mum has a black dragon, the only black dragon, which is unusual as blacks have always gone to a male rider, for they are the strongest and the black dragons are the most powerful. Then there were the whites, when there are no black dragons the whites tended to be the dominant of the colour. Leaving the reds, greens and gold’s as well as the blues. The latter four colours always bowed to the whites, unless there was a black.
When it came for the choosing of the dragons, when she was a child, that black and her had formed a bond. She had been doing what Angel and his friends do play with the young dragons and help look after them. There was another young man who wanted the black and every one thought it would be him, for he was very good in his class along with Angels mother Tish. When all were in the great hall for the choosing, Tish and the black went to each other.
This had never been heard off; even the whites had male riders, leaving the other colours to women riders. So for Tish to take the black, this had everyone in the hall that day in shock even Tish's parents. When everyone had settled down to watch the rest get their dragons, they could see the black and Tish were meant to be together for she had the blacks head down on the floor and was scratching behind its ear.
Tish is the leader of the dragon riders, controlling the black gave her that power and it was the most powerful dragon riders who carry the Wizards when necessary. To carry a wizard on a dragon they needed the strongest rider to be able to control the dragon, as dragons do not like wizards.
No one knew why dragons hated wizards but they do. Wizards will not go near dragons, for to do so would upset the dragons and also upset the wizards. Mind you for a wizard to stay around a dragon would also be dangerous as the dragon would try to hurt the wizard. Wizards would never think of hurting a dragon in any way and that meant staying anywhere near one.
Tish was sitting with another rider when Angel and his friends came to sit with them. She stopped talking to the rider and looked at her son. ‘What have you lot been up to, you’re, looking a mess, I think before you three start eating anything, you had better go clean up’
As angel just pulled the seat out ready to sit ‘Mum we’re hungry and we’re not that dirty, we’ve just come from cleaning the harnesses.’
She gave him a hard look, he could see she wasn’t going to take no for an answer so headed off to get cleaned up. As they left the hall it was starting to fill up so they hurried off.
Getting back to the table he could see his mother had waited for them but was by herself now. Angel sat beside his mother. ‘Mum we beat the dragons this morning we finally beat them.’ Their faces were beaming.
‘So you beat them did you and I suppose you got them really worked up and excited for their lessons?’ She was trying to sound stern but they could see the smile building up.
‘Mum it was great we had them in head locks and they couldn’t move, they just gave in.’ Angel had been busting to tell her about it.
‘Well come on eat up you must be starving after all that exercise and with the day only part gone, you’re going to need all the energy you can get for the rest of the day.’ She was pushing the food over to them as she finished.
She sat with them until it was time for the next lesson. ‘Ok, time to go will see you later when I take you home as your brothers will be away for the day and wont be back till late.’
They up and left, running to the next class, they weren’t going to be late again. The afternoon class was inside learning about dragons. After class it was back to the egg chamber turning them and placing more firecrystal around the eggs. Now they had completed that job they still had a little time left and ran up to the dragon hall to watch the Dragon Riders fly in after their patrols.
Angel’s brothers would not be back till late so they sat up in the little caves that over looked the dragon hall. His friend had grabbed some bread for them to eat while they watched the dragons fly into the hall. The hall was massive and allowed upward of fifty dragons in at one time. Now a dragon’s wing span when spread would be up to 60 feet, so it gives you an idea of how big the dragon hall was.
When they got to the dragon hall, they find a lot of their class mates there having the same idea, so they found a place high up where they got a good look at the dragons flying in. The cavern was massive, having a large flat level floor. Off to the sides there were dragons of all colours standing around with their riders checking them and making a fuss over them. This the dragons loved.
Along the walls there were caves with steam coming from volcanic vents. This gave the area where the dragons slept their warmth as the dragons loved the heat. The vents had been made long ago so each cave had a vent for heating. Each cave would sleep four dragons and there were people running around and pushing carts with firecrystal in.
Angel’s friend pointed out where his mothers’ dragon was resting. It did not have a cave as his mother and himself and half brothers lived in a house up in the cliffs above the dragon hall, with caves up there for their dragons. There were a lot of riders that did this as they had families and so they left the caves for the single riders. The riders had sleeping quarters just off the hall.
Angel’s friend gave him a nudge and pointed to his mothe
r walking into the hall. ‘She must be going somewhere, I hope she’s coming back for me later or it's going to be a nice walk.’ To get home he has to walk up a steep path that led to the houses up above. He had done it plenty of times but it was the thrill of riding on the back of a dragon that was better.
He stood up yelled and waved to her. In the noise coming from all the dragons there was no way she could hear him, but it was as if she could feel him there as she turned her head up and gave a wave to him. They watched her walk over to her dragon and see her checking the harness on him. She climbed up on to his body just at the base of his neck where there was a little saddle seat for the rider to sit.
She looked up at where Angel was sitting and all of a sudden the black lifted into the air, slowly rising up to where he was sitting. He could hear his mother yell. ‘I will be back for you later don’t go far’
She gave him a wave, turned the dragon and flew out of the dragon hall. He and his friends gave her a wave and settled back down to watch more dragons coming in. They never tired of this and would sit there for ages.
Much later they could see it was starting to darken with the attendants lighting torches around the wall. His friends got up talking about time to go. ‘We have to go before it gets too dark. The path home is lit but we still got to be careful, see you in the morning.’ As Pol nudged Tas into movement.
Angel getting up. ‘I had better get down to the hall before mum gets back. What are we going to do with the dragons in the morning now that we beat them? We’ll have to find something else to do with them, something different.’
‘Lets think on it over night and we’ll meet you at the dining hall.’ Tas waving as he left them.
Angel and Pol waved to each other as they went different ways. Angel walked down to the great hall but his mind was still on what happened as he had left the young dragons earlier.
Why did it nip at me, strange they’ve never done anything like that before? I didn’t hurt it, we’ve played harder and rougher why would it nip at me. My friends were in front of me and they walked closer but it didn’t nip them, just me.
