Dragon Rider (DragonMage Saga)

by Platt, S. P.

  He looked at Angel and his group and gave them a nod before carrying on. ‘Double those numbers of Renegades and you have them opening a larger portal and from what we know of the creatures from the Dark Realm, they can sense a portal opening and will gather there waiting.’ He posed again needing to let it sink in for they needed to come to the same conclusion he and Angel had.

  Angel looked around at the faces and could see a few thinking hard working on the sums that would show them how many creatures they were about to face. Angel looked back up at Gavrie and could see him taken in the look on the faces to see who was coming to the same thinking that they had.

  ‘The amount of creatures on the other side of the portal must be in the thousands and if a very large portal is opened and held for a short time as that is all the time they will be able to hold for. How many will get through with the creatures pushing from behind to get through. They can smell the blood from great distances and when that portal opens they will poor through.’ Again he paused to look around at the faces and what he seen told him they were coming to the same thoughts as he has.

  Angel’s group all looked around and could see the look in the eyes of the wizards close to them, and it was fear for they had worked out the amount that would be coming not could be but would be coming.

  Gavrie began again and this time he spoke the amount for those who were still trying to work it out, mainly the students and few of the older wizards who were slowing down in their age. The look coming from those who had worked it out but they still wanted to hear it from Gavrie.

  ‘There will be about two thousand creatures coming and some of them will be large for the other portal only allowed the smaller ones through. But this portal will be large and so there will be some very large and powerful ones that are going to take a lot of killing. Now we have to get ready for them as we will not have a lot of time. I will send a call to the Dragon Riders and hope they will be able to send some Dragon Riders to help but we must remember they have been under heavy attacks as well. So lets prepare I want all senior wizards to come up to me now and all other wizards get into groups of ten at lest. Now go get ready, oh the students will go to the cave and get as many lances ready.’ He finished and began talking to the other wizards around him.

  Angel looked at his friends and they started to move to the door and head to the cave. They were out the door and crossing the deck when Aura comes into his head. ‘The portal is forming and it is massive, about the size of the Dragon Deck that you walk over. They will not be able to hold it open that long but it will allow a great many through.’

  ‘Aura you must get away from there for if the creatures see you when they emerge they will come for you?’ There was fear again in Angels mind and it was for Aura not for himself.

  'We are being very careful and will leave if it looks unsafe, we will stay here till we can tell you how many are through. The Renegades are spaced evenly around the portal weaving the spell and it is nearly complete. You will need to tell your Headmaster how big it is?’ She left his mind to concentrate on watching the Renegades.

  Angel looked at the others and he left to speak to Gavrie leaving the others to go to the cave. Angel looked into the hall and could see Gavrie still talking to the other senior wizards. He moved into the hall so that Gavrie would see him, which Gavrie did. Gavrie indicated to him to go over to the door at the side of the hall.

  Angel got there as Gavrie left his group talking of what they plan to do. Gavrie come to the door and through where Angel was waiting. ‘Headmaster the portal is nearly complete with the size being as big as the Dragon Deck outside. There are twenty Renegades spread around the portal weaving the spell that is almost complete.’

  There was shock on his face as Angel told him the size. He looked around and Angel could see the fear that was in his face. ‘Headmaster it will be alright we will win I’m sure something will happen, help could come from the Dragon Riders.’ Angel tried to sound hopeful for the look on Gavrie’s face had shocked Angel.

  Gavrie looked at Angel knowing he had seen the look he had given when Angel told him. He had to reassure Angel it would be alright and he had to sound it. ‘I know something will come to us we are very strong and they are only mindless creatures so we will win as you say.’

  Angel gave a half hearted smile and was about to turn and leave when Aura comes into his mind. ‘The portal opens and they come, they are pouring out in their hundreds no there are thousands of them, small ones mostly as they are the ones in the front. There are big ones coming out now but the Renegades are starting to waver in holding the portal open.’

  There was nothing for a few minutes as Angel waited for Aura to say more, and then there was pain in her voice as she spoke again. ‘The dragons they die, they would not leave when they could have. They just stayed there with the Renegades trying to get them to move away. The Renegades magic was so weak they had no control over the dragons and they just let the creatures kill them. It was their way of getting final release.’

  Angel could feel her pain and let it envelope him for he grieved for the dragons as well. Gavrie looked at Angel as the tears streamed down his face knowing that something was wrong. He placed his arm around Angel trying to comfort him but the tears still streamed down his face.

  Angel looked up at the headmaster. ‘They died all twenty dragons the Renegades controlled. They would rather have died than lived with the control the Renegades have over them. They knew what they were doing for the Renegade wizards were very weak from holding open the portal for so long. The dragons would not move and the creatures just swarmed over them. They did not last long but the loss of just one dragon is bad but to lose twenty is a great loss.’

  Gavrie looked at him and could see the great pain in his eye and tears come to him for as Angel had said losing twenty dragons is something they have never come across. He knew Angel was in communication with someone who was close to where it happened.

  ‘Headmaster they come and there are over two thousand of them, but there are more small than large we must prepare for the battle to come.’ Angel wriggled out of Gavrie’s arms and headed for the deck to prepare for what is coming. His thoughts turned to what all the other wizards would think if they could see the thousands of creatures that are now heading up over the mountain the quickest way to where they waited for them.

  Contents

  The Battle Begins

  Angel came out and joined his friends; he could see the red checks where the tears had run. They felt the loss just as hard as he even though he had been brought up around dragons. They looked around and found the groups of wizards were almost ready, they where scattered all over the Dragon Deck and there were groups up on top of the school.

  The sun was now on the horizon as it was looking like a great day weather wise. The sky will soon be dark with the creatures as they attack, then the day will have lost all that beauty. They were ready and now it was just wait and see, hoping it was not going to be bad.

  Aura came into his mind as he looked up into the sky. ‘They are almost at the top and will be over soon. Be careful Angel we will be close and if you need our magic it is here for you.’

  ‘Thank you Aura but you are going to have to stay away from your cave for the creatures will check along the Dragon Decks making sure there is nothing for it to eat there. We need you to be safe so stay away from the Dragon Decks you are worth more than us. We will be ok, take care.’ Angel almost had more tears in his eyes as he spoke to Aura.

  All of a sudden there were yells of, look up there. They all came out of the cave and looked up to the top of the mountain. There they could see hundreds of small dots flying over the top of the mountain. The creatures are coming and soon the hundreds turned to thousands. The time was here and Gavrie took control.

  ‘Everybody to your places now and prepare, for today will mark us as victors or just a memory. Don’t fire spells till they are close, as you will need to conserve your magic, as today is going to
be long?’ He headed to the group he would be with, and from there he will be able to monitor the battle.

  Most of the time the spells they use to battle creatures are the fire balls or the lighting bolts. The bolts are very powerful and are good at long distance as the lighting is more forked at the ends over distance. This way it gets more of the creatures.

  Now any bigger spells and the wizards need a little more time and when battling creatures this is not quick enough. So most of the time it is lighting bolts or fire balls, and then when the wizards’ magic starts to flag it they use the Dragon Lances. These they charge with magic and they fire balls of fire.

  For the bigger creatures that will come this time they might have a bit more of a problem and may need to use a more powerful spell. They will have to see when they get here. The bigger creatures may take a little longer in getting to the top of the mountain so they will probably be the last to get here.

  Angel looked at Shylyn, Medwin and Maive; he could see the fear in their eyes as the creatures slowly descended. They could see it in his face as well even as he tried to hide it. They looked around and with a bit of relief found other wizards had the same look on their faces.

  The students had the worst look on their faces for they had never been meant to face this so soon in their magic training. All the students were in the cave and were to stop any creatures getting in to the wizards working on lances in the back. They were all lined up just inside the entrance to the cave.

  They all looked at each other and the fear was very evident so Angel tried to relax them as he walked out in the front. ‘Come on we can do this, we have the easy job not like the teachers and wizards who have to stand out there and fight them. Our job is easy so let’s not let them down.’

  Shylyn looked at Angel and then yelled. ‘Yes we can do it, no creature is going beat us now are they.’ She looked at them and was not getting the response she wanted so yelled again. ‘Well are we, NO we are not.’

  As she finished the second yell, there were yells with her as they slowly started to join in. There were now smiles on faces of the students with Shylyns yell. They were now ready for the fight and it was now very close. The creatures were almost on them and the groups of wizards on the roof of the school had started firing their spells at the creatures.

  They braced themselves as the air above the school and deck were a live with creatures and their cries. The sounds were just as unnerving as the look of them, for the scream went right through you. It almost turned your blood to ice as the noise grew in volume as more and more of the creatures got closer.

  Some of the creatures could breathe fire and use fire balls, where as others were very tough with poison oozing out of pores on there hides. There were some who could create poison gas within their bodies and blow it out through their mouths, where as some were just plan hard armoured.

  The creatures if they could get under the wizards shields could do a lot of damage so the wizards when fighting would group so one groups shields will just about touch with another’s. With this happening there were hardly any gaps for creatures to get through.

  ‘It’s getting dark and it’s in the morning, there are that many creatures they are blocking the suns light from getting through. Here they come I’m going to start firing soon what do you think Angel?’ Shylyn was keen to get going and stop this awful waiting.

  Angel looked along the line of students and could see they were getting ready to start throwing spells at the creatures. But Angel thought it to early yet. ‘No hold your spells till they are needed for you don’t want to use up your magic when it is not needed yet. Wait till they come at us or if they get through a group we will be needed then so just hold on. You will get your chance for with this many coming down; some are going to get through.’

  Shylyn looked at him and she knew he was right but I so want to use my magic and help the teachers. This waiting is just about too much; I’m going to need to do something soon. I’m just so tense and I can see there are a lot of others the same way.

  Shylyn looking at the line of students all just itching to fight and she felt the same. As she tensed Angel placed his hand on her shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. ‘Come on hold, for it won't be long and I think we will be helping, now relax and do your magic clearing exercise.’

  Shylyn relaxed and looked at Angel as he turned his face to their friends. She could see they were doing theirs. Looking back at Angel she nodded for to try and talk with the noise the creatures were making would have been impossible. She relaxed more and was soon into her clearing exercise and was soon visibly relaxed.

  Now the creatures were here, the battle was engaged, soon there were that many above the wizards out on the deck that it looked as if they would falter. No in the next minute they had been repelled up into the sky. The wizards had fired off a volley of spells together in one go which they do not normally do.

  But it was not long and they were back again and this time they were thicker still. Angel could see they were going to have trouble repealing them again so Angel had a little idea. ‘Shylyn, Medwin, Maive, I’m going to get everyone to fire off across the top of the wizards spell and into the mass of creatures. When I give the word that’s what we will do, so can you run along the line and tell everyone what is going to happen.’

  Shylyn looked around at their friends who had stuck their heads close to try and listen. They nodded and moved along the line telling everyone what they were going to try and do. They might only be able to do this once but they should get a lot of them.

  Angel waited till there were a lot of the creatures above the wizards, who were still firing their spells. But for everyone they hit there are more of them to replace that one. The air above was getting thicker with the creatures when Angel decided it was time.

  Angel waving his hand yelled. ‘Now.’ Angel fired as many fire balls as he could get going and all along the line the others followed his shots.

  They fired about five fire balls each and with there being more than thirty students that was a lot of fire balls. They took only one layer of the creatures and so just as many more took their place. They all looked and the smiles on their faces, as the fire balls speed to the creatures was wiped off as the new creatures filled those that had died.

  Angel could see this was going to be a long day if they survived it. He turned and looked at the wizards who were charging the lances and could see there were not a lot of lances. He walked over to the head wizard of the group and asked. ‘Where are the rest of the lances? We are going to need more than what’s here?’

  The wizard looked at Angel as he spoke. ‘Most of them we gave to the Dragon Riders as they needed them more than we did at the time. Who was to know what sort of attack we were going to get. No one would have thought of this one. So we are going to have to make do.’

  Angel turned and headed back as the Wizard went back to making lances which would take about three days to make one lance. Angel’s stomach was starting to churn as he started to get nervous. As he got back to the line he could see there was no difference from when he left it.

  They were just going to have to keep at it but how long were they going to be able to last. With thousands of creatures coming at them, it was going to be a matter of when would they break through. He could see the groups up on the school roof were just about swamped with them. Then there was a great whoosh and the air above them would clear for a short time.

  Angel looked at his friends and they all looked the same as he probably did. What were they going to do, there must be something. Again he looked around at the wizards as they fire spell after spell at the creatures. There are some that are looking tired and the dead creatures were starting to pile up.

  We are going to have to do something about them. He looked at the spell shields that the wizards where using and they where just short of touching. Students could run underneath the wizards shields and push the creatures of the Dragon Deck. I will have to check with Medwin and s
ee what he thinks.

  ‘Medwin,’ He had to yell to make himself heard above the noise of the creatures. ‘I think we need to do the cleaning bit again like yesterday. I think the four of us can do that with the others keeping the line up?’ He turned and checked the battle again as he pulled the girls in to let them know what they were going to do.

  The girls indicated they will help so Angel went back to the head wizard in the cave and told him they were going to clear the deck of the dead creatures. The wizard looked at him and out to the deck before he spoke. ‘That’s a good idea and we will come and take your places in the line as there is not much we can do. Are you sure you can do it?’

  ‘We did it yesterday and if we don’t do it soon they will have no room to move. We must do it now.’ Angel turned and headed back to the line and his friends.

  Angel got back and his friends looked at him as he nodded yes. They waited till the head wizard of the cave got to the line before they moved out. Angel gave one final talk before they went.

  ‘Just be careful and look round making sure a creature is not still alive or if a live one gets through. Are you ready, if so lets go?’ He moved out of the cave and started into the area where there were dead creatures.

  They walked around the wizards as they kept firing spells. There would be a different spell every now and again as a wizard would try something to push a lot of them away. They were using their shields which came up when they got close to the dead creatures. Their magic could still detect the dead creatures were still dangerous.

  It took them a little bit of time to clear most of the creatures away giving the wizards more room. It was tiring work what they did and they realized the wizards must be getting tried for they had been at it now for the whole morning.

  As they got back to the cave, the four of them went and sat down at the back of the cave as they were a little tired. As they sat there one of the kitchen staff come and gave them a drink of Fire Bean Tea. As they drank it they talked about their fears.