by A. D. Adams
“Approximately a hundred thousand spread between the caves and both the northern and southern lands. They are well trained and ready. We will have to act soon to deal with the sisters and that thug of Southlake. I don’t really want to run the entire coastal lands, but I may have no choice. We need to find this man the young fool talked of. We need to find out who he is and what he is capable of.”
“What if he's this Draman?”
“If he is, let's hope he is here to help us and not oppose us,” Naron said as they left the small room.
“We need to alert all of our people to watch for him,” Rammy said as she sat down obviously dead on her feet.
“I'll do that. You need to rest for a few sun-risings. You look like you're about to collapse.”
“I wanted to get the information about this man back to you as soon as possible, so I pushed hard to get back here. It seemed incredibly important. Whoever this man is, he could change everything.”
“When you're rested, I want you to go back to both Solana and Southlake. I need you to map out where the men and floaters are. If we need to deal with them I will have the information I need,” Naron said as he helped his daughter to her feet and her bedroom.
Map of the Lakes of Tone
Chapter 8 - Knowledge
(The value of knowledge is beyond imagining.)
- The Time of the Draman -
Terra awoke on the sand and stretched. He thought to Fienna, “Are you there, love?”
“Yes, how was your sunset?” Fienna asked. She had thoughts with him the sunset before, but she hated being away from him.
“Not good without you. I don't like being separated.”
“Are you flying up the coast?” Fienna asked.
“I'll be leaving after I take a swim. I'm going up the coast to find the gorge and waterfall. Then I am going to a clearing I saw on the north path where the trail splits.”
“Is that where you're going to change to human?”
“Yes. I hope I find some good humans.”
“You will, I know you will,” Fienna said this with conviction in her voice. She knew based on Terra and his mother and sister that most humans were good. They were just trying to raise their families and live in peace.
After his swim, he changed back to a dragon, picked up his bag, and took off. He flew up the coast. As he flew toward the Lake of Solan, the cliffs grew in height. Where he had stayed, the cliff wall was two dragon lengths high, but it had already grown three fold. He flew on, seeing only a few human caves. The humans built their caves on flat ground. He never understood this; they simply could have used real caves.
He finally came to the gorge. He could see the wide, fast moving waterway split into two by an island of crumbled rock. The cliffs along the gorge's edges must have been fifty dragon lengths high. It looked as if the island was formed by the water splitting into two flows and eating through the rock. It appeared as if the island had at one time been as high as the cliffs, but had fallen into the coastal waters.
As Terra flew above the gorge and followed it to the lake, he could see caves in the side of the cliffs, and every so often, he saw humans in the caves. He came to the great waterfall and landed on a rock ledge just above where the water flowed over the cliff. He looked over the deep gorge and the mist that rose nearly halfway up the cliffs from the waterfall's base. The vision he had as a dragon was significantly better than his human sight. As he looked around, he saw a woman standing on a ledge outside of a large cave opening. Then a man stepped out and the woman pointed at him. They were both looking at him. He could not quite make out their facial expressions. Other humans started to appear on small cave ledges and also stared up at him. He almost laughed as a thought crossed his mind. If they only knew what he actually was and what he was capable of, they might just fall off their little ledges.
Terra decided to fly across the lake to the mountains. He wanted to see the area, for he knew that soon he would have to cross over the mountains to find the one that was killing Tone. He leaped off the rock and dropped slightly into the gorge before his wings caught the updraft. He circled away from the waterfall and then up and over the crest of the water and disappeared from the sight of the humans.
Terra flew across the lake and came to the great mountain range that created a protective wall for the coastal lands. He saw a pass between two mountains that had been closed by a great landslide. Terra saw storm clouds forming near the top of the great mountains. Many streams flowed down the side of the mountains. Some formed larger streams that then flowed down to the Great Lake. Other water flows came to cliffs and cascaded over the rocks forming numerous small waterfalls that eventually made their way to the lake. He could also see the fog that intertwined with the water and the mountains. The Solans' magic within the fog was still stopping the darkness that existed on the other side of the mountains. Even the fog's power could not stop this world's death.
Terra knew he could easily fly over the mountains and he would do it soon. He turned and flew to the clearing that he had seen the sun-rising before. It was almost sunset as he landed, so he decided to stay the sunset and start out at the rising of the sun.
“My love, are you there?” he thought to Fienna.
“I'm always here, just a thought away.”
“I have been looking at the lands, they are dying. The long green stems that the prey beasts eat are drying out. The great groups of beasts are much smaller. The dragon's food will soon be gone. We will all have to fly over the Barrier Mountains and deal with whatever is killing our world.”
“You will need the dragons.”
“Yes, as many as we can get. Ask Dawra and Hectise if they would go out and talk to the other dragons. See how many they can get to help. Make sure they tell them this will be dangerous and some may not return,” Terra thought in a serious tone.
“I will tell them, but I think we have little choice,” Fienna thought back.
“How is our little one?”
“She’s beautiful. She is always smiling and giggling. The dragons love her and at least two or three female sea nymphs are always here. I think Setilan would give her life to protect her,” Fienna said with love and pride in her thoughts.
“I am going to need you at my side when we go over the mountains. Would you be willing to leave Cardana with Setilan to come with me?” Terra thought with concern in his tone of thought.
“I don’t want to leave our daughter, but you are my world and I could do nothing else but come with you.”
“Ask Setilan if she would take care of Cardana when we go.”
“I will ask her, but I know she will do it.”
Terra had a sleepless sunset thinking of the future and what he had to do. His mind also thought back to those he had already killed. It seemed that as Terra grew older, his dislike for killing increased. He regretted the deaths he had already caused, but he knew there would be a great many more by the end of all this.
Chapter 9 - Change
(Change may be good or bad, but it is always difficult.)
- The Time of the Draman -
Rammy was standing on the ledge looking at the waterfall. She found this to be calming. She had slept poorly after the sun-rising before. The youth's death meant little to Rammy. The book her father had showed Rammy, the predictions it had within its’ pages, disturbed her. She felt the world was about to change and change now. Too many odd things were happening. Then as she looked up, she saw a white- a white what? It landed on a rock ledge at the edge of the waterfall. It was a white dragon; it was huge, at least a third bigger than any dragon she had ever seen. The sun glistened off its back ridge, which looked like crystal.
“The crystal talon--could that be the dragon it came from?” she thought to herself.
She had never seen a dragon this far south. Rammy could not understand why it was here. She called to her father to come out and see the sight. Naron stepped out on the ledge and looked to where Rammy was pointing. His eyes o
pened wide and he became pale. For an instant, he lost his balance, and reached up and grabbed the top edge of the cave opening.
“Father, are you alright?” Rammy asked as she reached for him.
“Yes. Yes, I'm fine,” he said in a commanding voice, which he did not actually feel.
As they watched, the dragon seemed to look at them, then examine the gorge. It then jumped off the rocky ledge that it had been perched on and dropped until its great wings caught the air. It then pivoted away from the waterfall and swept up and over the crest of the water disappearing from sight.
Naron walked back into the cave and Rammy followed. “What do you think, father?” she asked with concern in her voice.
“I did not show you the last page of the book. Come with me,” Naron said as he opened the bookcase and walked into the small room. He opened the dragon skin book to the last page and Rammy read the inscription.
“A white will come and the world will change.
The white will lead and the world will follow.
The mountains breached and the dark will fear.
The dark will meet the white and see the light.”
“Violence is coming on a worldwide scale. We have to find this man that killed those thugs. Maybe, just maybe, he knows what is happening,” Rammy said with fear in her voice.
“The man and the white dragon are part of whatever is happening. I'll send out word to search for him and watch for the white,” Naron said.
“Do you still want me to go to Solana and Southlake?”
“Yes. Contact Nolla and Rubbo. Tell them what is happening. Tell them that the time is coming to call the guard together.”
“Are you sure, Father?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I believe the time is close.”
Chapter 10 – Exploration
(Finding new friends is at best hard, at worst impossible.)
- The Time of the Draman -
At sun-rising, Terra walked to the now empty path. He turned toward the large village at the lake's edge. As he came to the point where the path split, he saw four humans next to what he named a puller. He had seen humans attach pulling beasts to the front and load the flat wooden platforms with various things. The beast would then pull the platform. Some had two wooden discs while others had four. He never really understood the platforms; dragons carried what they needed in their taloned hands. This one had two discs, and one disc was lying on the ground.
Terra walked up to the group. There was an older male, an older female, a younger female and a very young female. They were looking at the disc as he walked up.
“Are you having problems?” Terra asked as they turned to see him. They seemed surprised and a bit fearful.
Before them stood a huge and powerful looking man. He was the largest man any of them had ever seen. He wore clothes of the northern growers. The old one slid his hand under his clothes and grasped a hidden blade.
“Yes, the wheel has come off our cart and we can't lift it to put it back on,” the old one said.
“Wheel?” Terra said, confused.
“Yes, this,” the old one said as he kicked the disc.
“I think I can help.” Terra walked over to the platform, lifted it with one hand, and grabbed the wheel with the other. He lifted it and slid it onto the smooth, thick tree branch where it had obviously been. There was a hole in the end of the thick branch for a little branch to keep the wheel on. Terra could not see any branches around to push into the hole.
“I will be back. I need to get a small branch for the hole,” Terra said as he dropped his bag and trotted to a small group of trees. He disappeared into the area looking for something that would fit into the small hole.
It took Terra a while to find the right size stick; he tucked it into the cloth covering his middle. When he came back to the edge of the wooded area, he could see two runner beasts and their riders at the cart, as the humans called it. Two more were on the other side of the path near a small stream about three dragon lengths away from the cart. All four were dressed just like the ones that had killed all in the village near his mother's cave. They wore black tops and the bottoms were black with red stripes down each leg. He saw the riders near the cart dismount and one pushed the older male to the ground. The other rider grabbed the younger female and ripped her top down. Terra's anger flared as he remembered the faces of the dead young ones he had buried. He ran to the cart, covering the distance in a blink of an eye. The riders heard nothing as he came up behind them. He grabbed the rider that was attacking the woman and threw him a dragon length away. The other rider pulled a long shinny stick. Terra's hand moved so fast that the rider never saw the fist that crushed his jaw and broke his neck.
The other two riders began to drive their beasts full speed toward Terra. They drew what Terra assumed were weapons. He picked up two rocks and threw both at the riders. The first hit one of the riders in the upper body and crushed his chest. The other rock hit the second rider in the head, killing him instantly. All four riders were now dead. Terra looked at the one in front of him with a mixture of sadness and disgust. “Who are these dragon droppings?” Terra asked as he looked at the bodies.
“They were defenders of the village of Solana,” The old one said, standing protectively in front of his family.
“Solana? Where is this Solana?”
“Straight down this path on the lake shore,” the old one pointed.
Terra took out the stick he had found and pushed it into the hole next to the wheel. He then picked up his bag.
“You need to leave. I have business in Solana,” Terra said as he turned toward the path.
“Who are you?” the young female asked.
“I am Terra,” he said as he walked away.
They watched in silence as the huge man walk down the path. He then disappeared into a wooded area that the path wound through.
“Father, he just killed four Defenders with no more effort than breathing. I have never seen anyone or, for that matter, anything move like he did,” the young woman said.
“I don't know who or what he is, but we need to leave here. We cannot be found with these bodies. Jenki, do you think you can get to Nolla by sun-fall?” he asked his daughter.
“Yes, father. I can get there.”
“Go then, and take your weapons. Tell her what we have seen. Naron needs to know what happened. We are going home, come there after you have reported.”
“Yes, father.” Jenki left running, after gathering her things.
Chapter 11 - Lonely
(One can be lonely in a world full of others.)
- The Time of the Draman -
Fienna sat outside the cave and watched the sun drop below the crest of the crevice. Her daughter was sleeping next to her and Suti was curled about her legs purring. She could see Terra's thoughts. Normally she would not constantly be touching his mind, but she had never been so lonely. Dragons, sea nymphs, and Terra's family were constantly around her, but Terra was not here. He was the one she wanted, not these others. She would never let him go off alone again.
Cardana, her daughter, was the most protected thing in this world. She was loved by all. She only cried when she needed to be washed. The rest of the time she smiled and laughed. Whoever touched or even got close to her seemed to fall in love instantly. The sea nymphs, those without young ones, loved to help take care of Cardana. Terra's mother and sister were teaching Fienna how to take care of her human child. They, of course, loved her beyond anything. The most surprising were the dragons that protected them. When not patrolling, they came to the cave entrance, wanting to see Cardana. They seemed to be mesmerized by her.
Fienna broke out of her desire for Terra. She had to get her mother and father to start organizing the dragons. The world was changing. The dragons needed to realize they had to help deal with whatever was on the other side of the mountains. Fienna could hear her mother stirring in the cave. She was a great green dragon and guarded Fienna and her child as they sl
ept, so she slept during sunlight. Her father, Hectise, was perched at the top of the far end of the crevice watching over them.
Fienna had never discussed with her parents what was happening on Tone. They were part of the attack at the dragon gather and all dragons had noticed the decrease in prey beasts. They had also seen the lush forest slowly retreat away from the coast. Fienna knew it was time to gather the dragons for what would have to be done. She did not know if the dragons would follow Terra. Dragons were, at heart, lone creatures. Fienna waved her father down. He landed and hopped to her.
“Come into the cave, we need to talk,” Fienna said as she picked up Cardana.
Fienna walked into the cave and Hectise followed. Dawra was stretching her wings and Terra's mother, Reicka, and his sister, Faray, were sitting by the stream that ran through the cave.
“I need to talk to you all,” Fienna said as she sat down holding her daughter close.
“About Terra? Did something happen?” Reicka asked with concern.
“No, nothing has happened. It is about the future. You see the world has been talking to Terra. This world is a living thing.”
“The world has talked to Terra? When? How? Have you heard Tone talk?” her father asked with an unbelieving tone in his voice.
“The first time he was sitting by a stream and Tone used the water noise to create a voice. The next time was here. She formed an image of a woman through the light of the crystals. She told Terra that the darkness on the other side of the mountains is killing her slowly. Tone believes that Terra is here to deal with the darkness.”
“What does Tone want Terra to do?” Dawra asked.
“She wants him to destroy the darkness. Terra believes her, he plans to cross the mountains and do what he can.”
“He can't do this alone,” Terra's mother said.
