(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider

by C. E. Swain

  "Do not worry about it." Menimeth said. "At least he did not follow me to Argnon."

  That is because I would not let him." Brylen said. "Though it was not for lack of trying."

  "He wont let me do anything." Chanry protested. "Without guards following me everywhere I go."

  "You are important to the empire." Menimeth said to the boy. "And therefore, you must be protected."

  All of the men turned their heads, as the noise grew louder from the trees in the south. Seconds later, the two guards burst from the trees, and stood in shock at the many warriors on the road in front of them. The two guards looked at Chanry sitting on his horse beside Brylen, and then they looked at Menimeth, who sat looking back at them. They looked at each other, and then back at Menimeth, and started to walk in his direction with their heads down.

  "We are very sorry sir." One of the guards said. "The boy is like an elf, and he can disappear within seconds if you do not keep your eyes on him at all times."

  "It is true." Brylen said. "He can cast a spell faster than I can talk, and he is a very good mage for his age, or anyone else's."

  "How long have you been guarding him?" Menimeth asked the two guards.

  "Since before you left for Argnon." Brylen said. "I assigned them the task as soon as you made him the heir to the throne."

  "It does not appear that either of you are very good at your job." Menimeth said, as he looked at the two men. "You will have to be punished for your failure to guard the heir to the throne properly."

  "It is not their fault, Meni." Chanry said. "I fooled them on purpose, to see if they would keep looking for me, or if they would just come and wait for me here."

  "But they allowed you to fool them, and that cannot be tolerated." Menimeth said to the boy. "We will have to see that it does not happen again."

  "What did you wish to do as punishment?" Brylen asked, wishing he had assigned more men to the boy so this would not have happened.

  "First, they will be assigned as the boys guards, from now, until he has reached his twentieth year." Menimeth said. "They are to be given no other duties by anyone, except me, and when we return to the dragon tower, they will be sent to study under Darik."

  "Study, Magic?" The first guard asked. "Us?"

  "Yes, I can see that both of you have the ability to learn magic." Menimeth said. "And with a few counter spells at your disposal, the boy may have to improve his abilities, if he wishes to escape you in the future."

  "Ah, that's not fair." Chanry said. "I'm just a little kid, if you teach them magic, I will never get to go exploring."

  "Take them with you." Menimeth said to the boy. "It has to be better than being in the castle all day."

  "You heard them when they came from the trees." Chanry said. "They are too noisy."

  "Then teach them how to be quieter." Menimeth said, as he looked at Chanry with a smile. "Then you can do as you wish."

  "It would be easier to teach strider to fly." Chanry replied, with a sigh. "But I will try."

  "How long has it been since you left Glansford?" Menimeth asked Brylen, still smiling at Chanry's remark.

  "I do not remember." Brylen said. "However, I have been kept busy these last few weeks."

  "Then the time has come that you did." Menimeth said, and turned to the two guards. "Chanry and Brylen will be riding with us, return to Glansford and wait for us there."

  "What do we do while we wait?" The guard asked.

  "What ever you wish." Menimeth replied. "You will not be needed until we return, so use the time as you wish."

  "Yes Sir." The men said at almost the same time, and went to retrieve their horses.

  "We had better get going if we wish to reach Magdrin anytime soon." Litlorn said, as he rode up to the dragon rider.

  "I agree." Menimeth replied. "We can talk later, when we are closer to the southern regent's castle."

  Riding south once again, they began to see fewer and fewer people who cheered them as they passed, and by the time they reached the smaller road to Magdrin three days later, the people only watched them pass in silence.

  "News of the victory has not reached this far south." Danorathin said to his master. "But it will be known across the empire by the time you reach Grimmen."

  "Yes, but we will only have one realm yet to reach, when we leave Valiny and Grimmen behind." Menimeth replied.

  The next few days were uneventful, as the warriors made their way southeast, and closer to the castle at Magdrin. The countryside was peaceful and quiet, but that began to change as the walled city appeared in the distance. People began to line the road and watch them as they passed, but they did not cheer. It was the dead that captured their attention, and they showed their respect for the fallen as the wagons passed them by. By the time Menimeth and the army of the realms reached the gates of the city, and began to enter Magdrin, it seemed as though all of its residents lined the streets.

  Riding slowly, the precession made their way to the castle, and Thadric, the regent of the southern realm. Captain Quinly, who rode at the head of the warriors from the south, approached Menimeth when they reached the gates of the castle.

  "Captain Quinly, you and your men may return to the garrison." Menimeth said, as the captain reached them. "You have done all that we asked of you, and more."

  "Thank you sir." The captain said, and started to turn his horse in the direction of the garrison gates but stopped, and turned back to the dragon rider. "Fighting with you has been an honor, and the men all agree that if you need us again, those that are not already in the dragon guard, will gladly come to your call."

  "Thank you captain." Menimeth replied. "Oh, and you and the men who fought in the battle will be expected to accompany Thadric to the banquet. The men who have wives will be expected to bring them to the banquet as well."

  "As you command." Captain Quinly said smiling, as he turned and signaled to his men before riding to the gates of the garrison, and disappearing inside.

  Those wagons that carried the fallen warriors from the south were taken to the garrison, to await the short ride to the ancient tombs of Magdrin's warriors. Tomorrow they would hold the ceremony, and place the warriors in the tomb in the hall of the fallen. Their names would be inscribed on the wall of heroes at the entrance to the hall, like all of the warriors who had come before them, and the people of the empire would remember them forever.

  The rest of the day went quickly, and the remaining warriors that traveled with the king, placed their camp beside the garrison while Menimeth and Thadric talked inside the castle. Litlorn and Donderan searched out the closest tavern, followed by Darik and Brylen, and found a large table in the corner across from the door. Feran, Kyler, and Javen, waited until the camp was set up, before joining their friends in the tavern, but it was not until much later that the dragon rider joined them. Chanry was never more than a few feet away from Menimeth, since their reunion at the great crossroads, and would not be separated from him for any reason.

  It was in the tavern that the people of the southern realm got their first glimpse of Chanry's abilities, as he followed Menimeth inside. The owner of the tavern informed the boy that he was not allowed inside, but Chanry did not listen to the man, and kept walking instead. One of the patrons that sat closer to the door blocked the boy's way to keep him from entering the tavern any farther.

  "You heard the innkeeper." The man said. "Just because you dress up like a warrior, don't mean you are, one."

  "Please allow me to pass." Chanry said. "I wish to join my master."

  "You talk fancy, for a boy who plays dress up." The man said in a mocking tone, and the men who sat nearby began to laugh. "Now run along boy, before I am forced to teach you some manners."

  "I would not do that, if I were you." Menimeth said, as he stood by the table where his friends sat, which was across the room from where the man confronted the boy. "You may not like the results of your threats."

  "Mind your own business." The man said to Meni
meth. "This does not concern you."

  "It does concern me." Menimeth said. "But I will do as you say, and stay out of it, although I will say this. You have my permission to teach him a lessen if you wish."

  The patron believed that Menimeth was speaking to him, and stood to carry out his threat, but the boy did not attempt to escape. He reached out to grab the boys arm, but Chanry pulled his belt knife from its sheath, and left a cut on the mans hand for his trouble.

  "You little brat." The man said, as he jerked his arm back, and looked at the bleeding cut on his hand. "I'm gonna give you a beating for that."

  "You had better quit while you can." Chanry said. "I will not allow you to harm me."

  "We will see about that." The man said, and lunged at Chanry in attempt to take the knife away from him, but received a cut along his arm instead.

  Looking down at the cut on his arm, the man became enraged, and looked at Chanry with hatred in his eyes. The tavern had become quiet, as all of the patrons watched the scene that was unfolding before them. Chanry placed his knife back in its sheath, and looked at the man who still blocked his way. The man could not believe that a boy of no more than nine or ten years of age, could have cut him not once, but twice, and he became even angrier the more he thought about it.

  "Will you allow me to pass now?" Chanry asked the man.

  "No, but if you want to act like a warrior, then I will treat you like one." The man said, and drew his sword from its scabbard, thinking he would teach the boy a lesson, and redeem himself in front of his friends. "You will have to use that big sword you carry on your back, if you wish to escape a few cuts of you own, if you can even hold it."

  Rushing the boy, the man swung his sword in an attempt cut, and frighten him, but Chanry was too quick, and avoided the sword easily. Pulling his belt knife again, as the man passed him, Chanry cut deep into the man's side, and the man screamed in pain. Whirling around, the man attacked Chanry as he would a grown man, but the boy pulled Da'Thintahar from the scabbard on his back, and blocked the man's attacks. The sword glowed with a white light, as it flashed around the boy's head, and inflicted several shallow wounds on his attacker. With a speed talked about for many years to come, Chanry disarmed the man, and placed the glowing sword to the man's throat.

  "Will you allow me to pass now?" Chanry asked. "Or will I have to kill you to be left alone?"

  Without waiting for an answer, Chanry placed Da'Thintahar back in its scabbard, and turned to walk to the table where his master sat smiling.

  "Who are you?" One of the man's friends asked. "You are not like any boy that I have ever seen."

  Chanry stopped and looked at the men who were helping their wounded friend, before speaking.

  "I am Chanry, warrior of the four realms, and heir to the throne of the Great Dragon Empire." He said at last. "You should see to your foolish friends wounds. I am sorry, but he left me no choice."

  Chanry turned and walked to his master's table, while the patrons of the tavern watched in silence. The wounded man's friends helped him from the tavern, but the patrons paid them very little attention as they did. It was not a tavern where conflicts often took place, but in the lands of men, conflicts happened. By the time the wounded man was taken from the tavern, the patrons who had watched the confrontation in silence had returned to their drinking.

  The next day, the ceremony was held for those killed in the battle, and the fallen warriors were placed inside the tomb. Their names were placed on the wall of heroes, and their deeds were written in the book of the realm. Thadric conducted the ceremony, with a way of speaking that produced, tears, in the eyes of even the dwarf. When the ceremony was complete, and the people began the short walk back to Magdrin, it was Chanry they talked about. The man he had disarmed in the tavern was not badly wounded, and received only a few stitches in his side. The men who had witnessed the boy in action, had spread the tale throughout the city, and it seemed that everyone knew the story.

  Later that day, Menimeth and the remaining warriors of the realms departed Magdrin, and began the journey to Grimmen. The realms were very different here than they had been in the west. Mostly gone were the vast forests, which had taken over the land in the west over the last five hundred years, and the large herds of antelope and deer that roamed the empty lands, there. Here, the farms and ranches that supplied the empire with most of their food seemed never ending, stretching on for mile after mile as the men rode northeast. Though people were everywhere in this part of the empire, they did not line the roads, but did stop what they were doing to watch the warriors as they passed.

  When Menimeth reached the old east road, and turned north in the direction of the castle at Grimmen, they had been traveling for more than two months. Even though they moved twice as fast as the regents when they traveled, they still only traveled half as fast as they would have, without the wagons. Once they reached Venteno though, the journey would be all but over.

  The road grew busier as they traveled north, and once they reached the crossroads of the east, they were only days from the castle of the eastern regent. The realm had changed greatly since Valiny had become the regent of the east, and the fear that once gripped the land here, was gone. The land itself seemed greener, and the people were no longer afraid to go about their business.

  Valiny met them as they reached the gates of the city, and escorted them to the castle in the center, talking to the dragon rider as they made their way along the streets. It was then that Menimeth told him about Captain Sangrivol, and of the dark magic used against him, but it was not until later that they talked about the banquet.

  That evening, Menimeth talked to the regent in the castle, while his friends waited in the nearest tavern for him to return, and this time, Chanry was with them. Even though he did not like being away from the dragon rider, he did not want a repeat of the tavern at Magdrin. He did not believe that fighting in a tavern was something that the heir to the throne should do, but he had been given no other recourse, other than to leave the tavern as the man had demanded. He could have used magic to end the confrontation, but it would not have solved his problem, and in the end, he would have had to face the man again. Because he was just a boy, it was his skills as a warrior that the men would respect, not his skill as a mage.

  The next day, Menimeth and the last of the warriors to fight in the battle, rode north to the tomb of the realm's fallen men. It was several miles from the city, and north of the road to Venteno, so Menimeth decided not to return to Grimmen when the ceremony was completed. He would see all of the regents soon after he returned to the Dragon Tower, so he could speak with Valiny then. It was the east that would be in the most danger when the mage king turned his fill attention to the empire, but all of the realms would be called on to help drive the enemy from their lands.

  The fallen heroes of the east were placed in the tomb, with all of the ceremony due to heroes of the empire. It was the second time in the last year that the tomb had been opened to place warriors of the realm that had fallen in battle, inside. In the short time that Valiny had been the regent of the east, more men had died than in all of the years that his father had ruled before him. Even with the loss of so many of its men, the people of the eastern realm, praised their new regent. The east had become richer, and far more prosperous since he became the regent, and the people loved him more than all of the regents who came before him.

  It was just passed midday when Menimeth and the last of the warriors turned west, and parted company with Valiny and those returning to Grimmen. Very few of the warriors remained with the dragon rider now, because the north had the fewest men to send to the army of the realms. They had suffered the fewest losses in the battle, but they had suffered the hardest loss of all the realms combined. Losing Hobie when the battle was nearing its end, and to treachery, made the loss even that much harder for the men to accept.

  As the regent of the east faded into the distance, Menimeth was already looking to the city of Venteno, and
Borlund, the man who had been a regent longer than all of the others. He was the one regent who thought out all of his options before he acted, and for that reason, the other regents believed him to be slow witted. He was not of course, but he cared very little about what the other regents thought of him.

  The days went by quickly as they made their way through the farmlands of the north, and it was not long before the walled city of Venteno came into view. Four months had passed since the battle had taken place, and the men were ready to return to their homes. News of Hobie's death had reached the regent long before they arrived, and the loss of his son, was hard for the regent to accept. Borlund rode from the castle the day they arrived, and escorted the wagon with his son, back to his home. It was a somber ride through the city, as people lined the streets and watched in silence while they passed.