by Corin, G.
He quickly described the way the tall man had been acting and why he had kept walking. Just as he finished someone knocked three times on the door. He quickly jumped up and let Makkie in. She smiled at them.
“You wouldn’t believe what’s going on out there,” she said.
“What happened?” Stripe asked quickly.
“Turns out that man you hit was Lord Apella,” she grinned. “He’s the richest and most miserly noble in the area, he’s absolutely furious.”
“The purple man?” Shady asked in surprise.
“No he was just a decoy, Apella is a tall man.”
“Does he look like he’s eating something sour all the time?” Ramaeka interrupted.
“That’s the one,” she said amused. “He’s looking everywhere for you. I can’t believe you managed to hit him despite the decoy and all the guards.” She looked at them with respect.
“But we…,” Stripe trailed off and looked at Ramaeka’s grinning face.
“I can’t believe it,” Shady looked at him in shock.
Beaming triumphantly Ramaeka pulled out the bulging purse and chucked it to the dark haired boy. With a whoop, Stripe grabbed Ramaeka into a bear hug, spinning him around, while Shady stared open mouthed at the coins in his hand.
They slipped out of the city by the cover of night. Ramaeka and Stripe had made a trip back to Ma Dresden’s to collect their things, making sure to tip her generously from their new riches. From the resigned expression on her face Ramaeka guessed she knew where the money had come from though she didn’t say anything. The kitchen staff had tearfully piled large amounts of food into a pack for Ramaeka, ruffling his hair and pushing cakes into his hands as he sadly waved good bye. Ma had laughed at his sad face and given him a hug.
“I have no doubt we’ll be seeing you again one day you little rogue.” She looked at Stripe. “Take care of him and yourself lad, there’s some nasty people and beasts roaming the hills at the moment, especially with Gasha about again.”
She waved goodbye to them both as they headed out to meet Makkie and Shady at the wall. Makkie hugged Ramaeka and also told Stripe to look after him before disappearing into the shadows. As if he couldn’t look after himself, Ramaeka thought amused as he watched her leave.
“I left her some coins,” Shady told Ramaeka gruffly.
Ramaeka looked up at him in surprise, then gave him a quick smile.
“Thanks,” he said softly.
“We owed her,” Shady replied looking away as if bored.
Ramaeka smiled to himself.
“So let’s see you climb then monkey,” Stripe said cheerfully.
“What’s a monkey?” he asked confused. Stripe just gave him a shove and pointed up.
Ramaeka bound easily up the wall and dropped down the other side. Shady and Stripe quickly followed him and they jogged away from the city.
They stopped for a break after five hours of running. Ramaeka pulled out some of the fresh bread and cheese that the kitchen staff had packed for the three of them to share.
“So where are we heading now?” he asked as they quietly ate their food.
“We’re heading home,” Stripe replied. “Our home city, Porkae, is about three weeks travelling.”
“Depending if we get attacked or eaten by dragons, or worse,” Shady said moodily.
“We’ve made the trip before,” Stripe rolled his eyes then yawned. “Why don’t we keep running for a few more hours then stop for the rest of the day?” he asked tiredly. “I could use some sleep.”
The other two agreed and they picked up their packs and headed out again.
They stopped again after four hours in a small well hidden glade that Shady spotted. The weather was cold but fine and they caught up with some rest. Ramaeka was the first to wake up. Yawning he headed into the trees to relieve himself and find some water to wash his face with. He found a small brook only a few minutes’ walk away; the water was ice cold and refreshing. As he splashed it on his face he noticed several decent sized fish. Dinner he thought happily, he would get Stripe and the two of them could set up some lines. Cheerfully he headed back to camp. Both Stripe and Shady were awake when he got back in. Stripe was cleaning his sword, something Ramaeka privately thought he was overly obsessed with.
“There’s some decent sized fish swimming in the stream,” he told Stripe flopping down beside him.
“Excellent,” Stripe replied happily, sliding his sword into its sheath and placing it carefully beside his pack.
“I’ll grab the lines if you want to find some bait.”
Ramaeka nodded in agreement and jumped up to search for insects in the soil outside of camp. If there were no insects he would use bits of meat from their supplies, however it was better to save that as much as possible. He quickly found some useful looking grubs and worms and placed them into a bundle of cloth.
As he walked back through their small camping site, Shady passed him. As he passed Ramaeka he shoved him out of the way. Ramaeka winced as he hit his back against a tree; he managed to keep a hold on this bundle of bugs however. Stripe walked over and hauled him to his feet. Ramaeka scowled to himself as they headed to the stream, he had thought that he had left that sort of thing behind when he had escaped from his family. He and Stripe cast their lines silently then sat back to enjoy the peace.
“He’s jealous you know.”
Ramaeka looked up in surprise as Stripe spoke. Stripe looked at him sheepishly.
“It’s just always been the two of us you see, since I was six and he was eight, and he’s always been really bad at sharing.”
“It’s ok,” Ramaeka told him. “I’ve dealt with worse.”
“Still you shouldn’t have to,” Stripe told him firmly. “I’ll have a word to him later.”
“How did the two of you meet?” he asked curiously.
“I ran away from home when I was six,” Stripe paused for a moment thoughtfully. “I was sick of being locked up in the cellar or beaten by my family, so I just ditched one day and headed on to the streets. Shady found me running away after I tried to steal an apple from this huge vendor. He took me under his wing and taught me how to survive pretty much; he’s like a brother to me.”
Ramaeka nodded. “I wish I had someone like that when I was growing up,” he told Stripe wistfully. Stripe laughed.
“What do you mean when you were growing up? You’re still only a kid. Anyway you have me; you’re like my little brother.” He grinned at Ramaeka who could only beam back; his throat seemed to have swollen for some reason. Stripe clapped him on the back and lay back to enjoy the sunshine.
It was five days after their conversation when Stripe came racing into camp just as Shady and Ramaeka were finishing the breakfast clean up. Ramaeka watched in surprise as his friend shoved dirt on the embers of their cooking fire.
“Quick, pack up,” he hissed at them. They did so as fast and silently as they could. Within minutes they were ready to go and Stripe beckoned them to follow him.
He led them up to the crest of one of the surrounding hills. As they approached the top he dropped to the ground and wriggled forward on his stomach. It had to be something serious thought Ramaeka, Stripe was obviously scared by whatever they were about to see. His face was pale and he was sweating. Glancing over at Shady, Ramaeka noticed that he looked extremely grim, his jaw set like stone.
Stripe reached the top of the hill and peered over, quickly ducking down then looking over again. He gestured Ramaeka and Shady forward. Ramaeka carefully wiggled to the top and peeked over. His breath caught in his throat at the sight below him. An immense army marched across the flatland at the bottom of the hill. Sun gleamed on weapons, every man that marched seemed to be armed with a sword or axe. And that was just the men Ramaeka thought fearfully. He had seen many horrific sights in his short life including death duels between full grown dragons, but the hundreds of different creatures that marched along with the humans made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. There
were gigantic trolls and immense spiders; there were mixtures of human and animal as well as many huge beasts that Ramaeka had never heard of before. Strange hairy creatures were being pulled along in cages as they snarled and slathered at the bars. Ramaeka felt the draconian instincts of his people rising up inside of him, he desperately wanted to transform and be ready to defend himself and his friends. As he fought the growl in his chest down Stripe tapped his arm. He glanced over at his friend who blinked in surprise and looked at him more closely. Ramaeka immediately got himself under control and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Stripe stared at him unsurely for a moment before gesturing back down the hill. Ramaeka nodded and silently slid back down the way that he had come.
He followed the other two into the woods where they crept away from the direction of the army. Cries unlike any Ramaeka had ever heard caught his attention. Looking up he saw large birdlike shapes, looking closely he noticed that some of them were human and bird hybrids, while others resembled, very distantly to his mind, dragons. He shivered and hurried after the others into denser bush where hopefully the flying creatures would not be able to spot them.
They travelled away from the army all day until the flying creatures were small dots on the horizon. It was not until they were undercover of a small dry cave that Stripe allowed them to speak. It was strange Ramaeka mused, Shady was usually in charge but whenever things got really dangerous it was Stripe who led them. He winced as he flopped down, all the running they had been doing lately was making his feet hurt. Though, really that might be because he was still unused to wearing the horrible boots. Ramaeka preferred to go barefoot so that he could feel the earth beneath him.
Stripe dropped down beside him and passed him a flask of water. Shady huddled at the front of the cave, nervously scanning the skies and trees every now and again.
“What was that?” he asked quietly looking at the two older boys.
Stripe frowned seriously. “That was Gasha’s army if I’m not mistaken. It’s even bigger than I imagined though.”
Shady nodded in agreement.
“I’ve never even seen some of those beasts before,” he replied genuinely anxious.
“Me either, it even looked like he had dragons with him,” Stripe absently tapped his fingers against the flask in his hands.
“They weren’t dragons,” Ramaeka interrupted firmly. “I don’t know what they were, but they weren’t dragons.”
“How do you know?” Shady asked raising an eyebrow though he didn’t sound as challenging as he usually did.
“Because I’ve seen a dragon up close before, and that’s not what they look like,” he replied as calmly as he could. He looked up to see Stripe watching him closely and smiled weakly. Please don’t guess he thought desperately to himself.
Stripe turned away and said to Shady, “It looks like they were headed west of Porkae, but they could swing east.”
“Let’s hope not,” Shady replied. “We’ll head west as well then swing east across the Dragon Mountains and down into Porkae. That way we should miss them, no sensible leader would take a full army across the Dragon range.” He didn’t look a hundred percent sure as he said this, Ramaeka noticed.
“No sensible person would want to cross that range,” Stripe retorted. He sighed and leant back. “It will have to do though.”
As he sat on first watch that night and stared into the dark forest ahead of them, Ramaeka desperately hoped that there were not actual dragons on the mountain range. Explaining to his friends why giant flying monsters recognised him was a dilemma he didn’t particularly want to face. Telling them he was a monster, according to their beliefs, was something he especially did not want to do he thought morosely. Enough he told himself firmly, all he could do was enjoy his journey while it lasted.
He spent the rest of his watch determinedly not thinking about anything.
Chapter Five
They travelled fast over the next week, following game trails away from the main path. Several times Ramaeka found himself mentally thanking his former teacher Tannis for forcing his students to build up their endurance. There had been no sightings of any creatures or men from the army, though they continued to keep an eye out. Everyday Ramaeka watched the mountains change from purple splotches on the distant horizon, to forbidding dark peaks. Stripe worried him; occasionally he would look up and see the blond watching him. However when he did catch him looking, Stripe just smiled and looked away. All of this running and hiding was much too nerve-wracking for a poor growing dragon like himself he thought grumpily as he trotted along behind Shady.
Shady called a stop near a small lake. While cover was minimal he told them that they would need to stay and stock up their supplies before hitting the mountain range.
“It’s going to take us around a week and a half to get across,” he explained. “That’s if we don’t get hit by bad weather. From here there won’t be as much game or edible plants so we gotta get everything we can.”
Stripe and Ramaeka nodded in agreement. Ramaeka watched over the camp for the rest of the day while Shady and Stripe hunted. He wasn’t quite as good as them with a sling yet though he was the best at finding prey. It was fairly easy when you could smell it a mile away he thought to himself yawning as he lazily checked the fishing lines he had set. By the time the other two returned to camp he had managed to catch three decent sized fish.
“Good work,” Shady said approvingly. Ramaeka blinked in surprise, it was the first time that Shady had ever said anything nice to him.
“Th- thanks,” he stuttered as Shady walked away carrying several rabbits. Stripe grinned and winked at him.
They ate one of Ramaeka’s fish for dinner with tubers Stripe called potatoes before spending the evening skinning and gutting their catch away from camp.
The next four days were spent in the same fashion, cutting the meat into thin strips, salting and then smoking the slices over green twigs to dry them out. With his superior nose and eyes Ramaeka found as many fruit trees and bushes as he could along with edible plants and tubers. Being at the base of the mountains it was rather cold though the days were sunny. Ramaeka wished that they could stay longer by the small lake; it was the most fun he had ever had. It was also extremely relaxing after all of their running, they all quickly regained their energy.
In fact, he thought with slight annoyance, Stripe’s energy seemed to have doubled. The older boy was practically bouncing around getting in both Ramaeka and Shady’s way.
“That’s it,” Shady growled as Stripe accidentally upset the basket of pods that he was stripping for the third time. He jumped up and chased a laughing Stripe around the camp. Ramaeka bound to his feet, for once eager to assist Shady. He tripped Stripe as he ran past and sat on him. Stripe looked up at him with a wounded expression.
“Traitor,” he said pouting. Ramaeka just smirked at him. Shady joined him and grabbed Stripe’s legs.
“Grab his arms,” he told Ramaeka. “I think he needs to cool down a bit.”
Stripe squealed and struggled as his two shorter friends carried him over to the ice cold lake. He landed with a huge splash and immediately came up spluttering. He glared at the two of them, laughing hysterically, and swam for shore.
“You’re so in for it now,” he announced as he bound up the shore. “That water is absolutely freezing.”
He grabbed Shady and dragged him down into the water before turning back to Ramaeka. Who, being a brave and intelligent dragon immediately let out an embarrassing squeak and turned to run. He had barely gotten five paces away when Stripe caught him and chucked him over his shoulder. He struggled helplessly as his friend turned and loped back to the water carrying him with ease, and plunged them both into the freezing water.
Instantly mirth turned to a clutching fear. Ramaeka struggled wildly as images of wild churning water and bruising rocks flashed through his mind. The scars on his side burnt as the icy water pulled him down. Strong hands grabbed his arms and pulled him up to th
e surface and close to the shore. He breathed a sigh of relief as his feet hit solid earth and he half crawled up onto shore, coughing out water.
“You ok?” Stripe asked pushing his black fringe back from his eyes.
Ramaeka nodded, not meeting his eyes.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” his friend said anxiously.
“It wasn’t you,” Ramaeka quickly reassured him, looking up.
“Well if your both fine I’m going to get dry and start some cooking,” Shady said gruffly, before walking back to camp.
“So what happened then?” Stripe asked casually leaning back.
“I don’t really know,” Ramaeka admitted weakly. “I’ve never had a problem with water before.”
“Until you went over a waterfall after being attacked by a dragon,” Stripe said gently. “That’s enough to make anyone scared of something.”
Ramaeka hung his head. “I feel so stupid,” he grumbled.
“It’s ok, everyone’s afraid of something,” Stripe reassured him.
“Even you?” Ramaeka asked peering up at his friend.
“Even me, even Shady,” Stripe replied.
“Can I ask what you’re scared of?” Ramaeka asked unsurely, it was a very personal question really. No dragon would ever admit to being afraid of anything.
“S’ok,” Stripe replied. He looked down at his hands. “Um, actually mine’s kind of embarrassing.”
“I won’t laugh,” Ramaeka promised earnestly.
“Alright,” Stripe took a deep breath. “I’m scared of the dark,” he admitted.
Ramaeka patted his friends hand sympathetically. “Do you know why?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Stripe said glancing away. “It’s a pathetic fear anyway.”
“I don’t think so,” Ramaeka replied firmly. He was used to the dark having lived inside mountains his entire life, but he could sympathise.
“I won’t tell anyone what you’re scared of, I promise.”
