by Corin, G.
“Get away from the rocks,” he yelled out to Gelber and Parrit, his calm demeanour broken for the first time. He dodged back as the smallest dragon bound towards him.
Parrit grabbed her friend by the wrist, spurred on by the boy’s tone of voice. The female dragon croaked another command which made the earth shiver. Before Gelber and Parrit had taken more than two steps, the rock liquefied and wrapped itself around their feet. It seeped up their legs, stopping at their waists and firming completely. Both women struggled wildly to no avail. Gelber pulled her axe up away from the clinging rock.
“You just try it,” she yelled furiously at the grinning dragon.
“I suggest you drop that,” the female dragon replied sinisterly lowering her long muzzle to Parrit whose weapons were caught in the stone.
“Or I may just decide to eat your friend instead of taking you both back alive.”
Gelber hesitated, her face red with fury.
“Put it down Gelb,” Parrit said. “It will be easier to think of a way to escape if we’re both alive.”
Frustrated her friend threw her weapon down in defeat.
Both Stripe and Shady hung on to their immense opponent as he writhed and clawed at them. Ramaeka crouched back in shame, he desperately wanted to go to their rescue but he was terrified. There was very little chance that his siblings wouldn’t know him once he attacked. It was sad really that he was more afraid of his friends’ reactions to the truth than fighting three immense dragons who could easily eat him for a snack.
Unable to move he watched the struggle helplessly.
The dragon had finally thought things through; he dropped to the ground and rolled. With a yell both of the boys threw themselves clear, Shady landed lightly on his feet and scrambled backwards, new knives already in his hands. Stripe bounced and rolled as he hit the ground, he clambered slowly to his feet as Shady backed up beside him. Ramaeka watched on in horror as the largest dragon was joined by the female. Together they began to advance on his exhausted friends.
The smaller dragon lowered his head menacingly as he slowly advanced on Amar, keeping his eyes on the magic that flowed around the boy’s hands. Amar backed up slowly until his back hit someone else’s. Flicking a quick glance around he found himself back to back with Stripe and Shady.
“You put up a decent fight,” the female dragon told them condescendingly. “Now why don’t you give up your weapons and we’ll make this quick and painless.”
The other two dragons sniggered their eyes gleaming as they leant in.
Suddenly the smallest screamed in pain and reared back. An immense column of stone and earth protruded from his chest. He grappled with it for a moment before slowly toppling over sideways. The remaining dragons pulled back in time to avoid similar spikes.
Ramaeka gulped and forced himself to look away from the confused expression on the dead dragon’s face. Remembering Amar’s lesson on controlling magic, he had drawn upon his own earth magic, copying his sister’s actions with the rock. Rather than using a spell though he had simply shaped and forced a spiral of earth and stone up with spectacular results. Though that was a little lost on him at the moment as he struggled not to be sick. He just couldn’t allow his friends to be eaten or worse.
The female dragon howled in fury and launched herself at him.
He frantically gathered his magic up. It’s not enough he thought desperately, as she swiped an immense claw at him.
“Stop,” the largest dragon suddenly commanded. The female pulled back in midstrike, looking at her remaining companion in surprise as he stepped forward. Ramaeka saw his friends looking at him in wonder. He edged towards them.
“What on Amaria is this?”
The larger dragon growled flexing his wings and leaning towards Ramaeka. He scented the air thoughtfully and looked at him intently. Recognition flickered in his immense green eyes and he roared with laughter.
“What is it?” the female demanded looking between the two in furious puzzlement.
“Don’t you recognise our little brother?” the largest dragon queried lazily flicking his tail in amusement.
Ramaeka heard his friends gasp, but kept his eyes on his siblings. He would have to deal with that later.
The female leant down and peered closely at him, he scowled at her, his fists clenching involuntarily.
“I don’t believe it,” she said in surprise. “It’s the little traitor. But I thought he was dead.”
“I believe we all did,” her brother replied in amusement. He looked down at Ramaeka.
“I’m very impressed little brother” he said. “You survived our father, that fall into the river and you managed to kill a higher ranked draconian. You even managed to blend in with the natives. Perhaps I could persuade our father to take you back?”
“I never want to go back there again,” Ramaeka growled at his brother.
“Wait a moment,” Stripe interrupted suddenly. Ramaeka turned to his friends slowly, dreading what he would find. Stripe and Shady were staring at him in horror and disbelief as were the two women from where they were trapped. Amar met Ramaeka’s gaze steadily and nodded at him slightly. Surprised Ramaeka dropped his eyes. Perhaps he would have one friend who would stand by him after all.
“Are you telling me that you’re one of them?” Stripe demanded.
Ramaeka hesitated a moment, but it was time to come clean, he couldn’t avoid this forever.
“Yes,” he replied quietly. Stripe stared at him for a moment longer with growing hate and anger before turning away in disgust. Ramaeka flinched; it was almost like a physical blow.
“But you look like us,” Shady stated glaring at him.
“Dragons have two forms,” Amar murmured softly. Stripe looked at him sharply but didn’t say anything.
“You’re a monster,” Shady said in horror. “I can’t believe we let you stay with us. You slept next to us!”
“Being a dragon isn’t catching,” Amar told him calmly as Ramaeka flushed and hung his head.
“As touching as this is,” the largest dragon drawled. “I think it’s time to bring this comedy to an end.”
He and his sister stretched gracefully and moved forward.
Finally thought Ramaeka, finally I can take my greater form without worrying.
With a growl he stretched out loving the feel of his body smoothly transforming. His green eyes glowed as they changed to slit pupils, becoming flecked with gold. His powerful brown wings spread out wide as his long tail slid out to balance him.
For the first time in his rather short life, and he meant no pun by that he thought humorously, he felt really connected to the world around him. There were no more cold desolate mountains between him and his earth, no more of the limitations of his lesser form or his father’s orders. He was free and he felt powerful.
With this new rush of feeling, it didn’t surprise Ramaeka in the least when his siblings stepped back slightly in surprise. They lowered their heads and growled softly, tails twitching as he stepped in front of his human friends.
“He’s really small, I mean compared to them,” he heard Shady whisper behind him. That brought him back to his senses instantly.
‘I’m not that small’ he thought to himself grumpily.
He eyed his siblings warily; if he wanted to get out of this alive he would have to keep out of reach of their superior strength and weight. If he could do that he might have a chance of distracting them while his friends escaped. Keeping one eye on the two dragons he turned slightly towards the group of humans.
“I’ll hold them off while you get out of here,” he told them out of the side of his mouth.
His brother snorted in amusement, recovering from his momentary surprise at Ramaeka’s transformation.
“I’d like to see a little lizard like you try,” he told his little brother scornfully. Ramaeka glared at him, his claws dug into the warm earth. He could feel a strong sleepy power below him. It was as if Rama himself was offering his
strength and courage to him.
His eyes narrowed as he caught the quick signal between his brother and sister. It was only a flicker of the eyes but in his tensed state Ramaeka missed nothing. He could hear the breathing of his friends behind him as they slowly backed away.
His brother flicked out a massive tail from the right as his sister bound in from the left. They were incredibly quick, Ramaeka felt the breeze from his brother’s tail spikes as he ducked and rolled. As he rolled he flicked his tail back to the left, grinning savagely as his sister let out a squeal of pain and fell back. He twisted in the same instance and latched onto his brother’s tail with his jaws. A moment later he was sailing through the air and slamming back to earth with a thud, jaws still locked tight. His brother spun and writhed, twisting around to grab at Ramaeka. Luckily he still had enough sense to twist away from his brother’s grasping claws though his head spun. He had no idea where his sister was or his friends, he could only hope that they had managed to flee while she was distracted.
His jaw was beginning to ache from holding on as his brother continued to try and dislodge him. Despite the danger and pain he was in he still couldn’t help but grin to himself. His brother must look hilarious chasing his tail like a dragonet.
He winced as he was slammed into the ground again. Enough was enough he thought firmly and he dug his hind claws deep into the earth below him. Again he became aware of the slow, steady strength below him. This time he called out to it pulling on it mentally as an anchor.
His brother grunted as he tried to pull Ramaeka up again and found himself unable to raise his tail. He turned in pained surprise and glared at Ramaeka ferociously.
Uh oh, Ramaeka thought, actually that had been a bad idea. Sure enough his brother pounced lightning fast and slammed his massive head into Ramaeka. The tail ripped out of his mouth as he went skidding backwards leaving a trench in the ground behind him.
He was fairly sure that if he hadn’t been connected to the earth he would be dead from that one blow, however his natural element seemed to offer him some protection and he merely felt like he should be dead.
He shook his aching head trying to clear his vision. There seemed to be two of everything all tinged in black and yellow. He only hoped that the blow to his head hadn’t destroyed too many of his brains, they were all he really had. He clambered unsteadily to his four limbs, using his tail to keep his balance. Tentatively he slid his claws into the earth and touched that strange magic again. Instantly his vision cleared and the bells ringing in his ears disappeared.
His world seemed to be covered in shadow despite the shining sun. He looked up quickly. His brother was rearing over him, long neck snaked out as he lunged at Ramaeka with jaws wide open.
Ramaeka turned to scrabble away but he was too slow and he knew it. He flinched, waiting for the painful descent of those gaping jaws and long sharp teeth.
There was a booming sound that made every other sound seem hollow and distant. Shaking Ramaeka looked around in shock. His brother was feebly getting to his claws. The right side of his hindquarters was a mess, as he staggered up he was only able to stand on three legs.
Peering around him Ramaeka saw Stripe standing with his legs spread apart, arm still out straight in front of him as he stared at the damage he had caused.
It took Ramaeka a few moments to realise what had happened. Stripe had finally managed to make a decent energy ball.
He saved my life, he thought numbly, in spite of everything he still saved me. Stripe looked up as if he had heard Ramaeka’s thoughts, then he flushed and turned away. Maybe there was some hope there, Ramaeka couldn’t help but feel slightly optimistic. He turned his attention back to his injured brother who spread his immense wings, glaring at them.
“I won’t forget this,” he snarled eyes trained on Ramaeka. He met them evenly without flinching.
His brother snarled a curse in Amarian under his breath before launching into the sky. He quickly ascended and disappeared into the clouds.
A hand touched his shoulder. He twisted around and looked down at Amar who smiled gently at him. His friend had a bruise over one of his cheeks which was rapidly fading. Ramaeka remembered the third dragon, and quickly looked around.
“What happened to…?”
“Amar got her. Burnt her to a crisp,” Parrit interrupted him looking him over warily.
“Strongest fire spell I ever saw,” Gelber said striding over with her axe over one shoulder.
“Her stone spell disappeared when she died,” she added stopping beside her friend and looking him over as well.
Ramaeka shifted uncomfortably under their scrutiny and turned back to Amar who shrugged.
“She was about to attack you again, so I made sure that she could not.”
What about my brother? Ramaeka wondered silently. Why not kill him too? It was as if Amar wanted to test him. He hoped he hadn’t failed. He silently shifted back to his lesser form, regretfully folding away his wings.
“Will it be back?” Shady asked staring in the direction the dragon had flown.
“It will take a couple of days for him to heal,” Ramaeka said meekly flinching as Shady gave him a cold look.
“But others may come,” Amar said calmly. “We should continue.”
“Not with that,” Shady said fiercely pointing at Ramaeka. “I won’t travel with a monster.”
“It could be useful,” Parrit said thoughtfully.
“No,” Stripe said firmly. He looked at Ramaeka his face expressionless. “I never want to see you again.”
Ramaeka watched him sadly as he turned away.
“Let’s go,” Stripe ordered the others, ignoring his former friend.
As the others turned and began to walk away, Ramaeka thought that he had never felt so bad in his entire, often miserable, life. As he watched, Gelber and Parrit turned back for a moment.
“Come Amar, we have much land to travel,” Gelber called.
“I thank you but I will remain with Ramaeka,” Amar called back politely walking over to stand beside Ramaeka.
Shady looked back in surprise before glaring at Ramaeka one last time. He and the women turned and followed Stripe who never looked back.
“Well I suppose you and I are on our own now,” Amar said calmly.
“Yeah I suppose,” Ramaeka replied glumly. He glanced up at his remaining friend.
“Why did you stay? I don’t understand why you need me, I’m fairly sure I know who you are now. I mean after using the power of the earth, it’s almost the same as yours.”
“Do you?” Amar asked sadly. “I do not think anybody truly knows who or what I am. Most people fear me or wish to use me as a tool.”
“I don’t,” Ramaeka replied honestly. “And right now I know exactly what you mean.”
“We should head towards some cover,” Amar said quietly walking away.
Feeling slightly guilty, though he wasn’t entirely sure why, Ramaeka hurried after him. He fell into step beside him and lightly punched his arm as he would have with Stripe. Looking up at his astonished face he grinned.
“Thanks for staying with me.”
Amar smiled at him. “I should thank you. I have never had a friend like you before.” His smile faltered.
“I am afraid I do need you for a purpose as well as for your friendship, but I will not force you in to anything unless you are willing to help me.”
“Of course I am,” Ramaeka rolled his eyes. “All you had to do was ask.”
Amar smiled, his multicoloured eyes becoming flecked with blue as they did when he seemed to be happy.
“You obviously need me anyway,” Ramaeka told him firmly. “I mean ‘Amar’? What kind of name is that? It’s too obvious.”
Amar laughed at him. “No one else has figured it out as of yet smart dragon. I am sure you only started to realise when I taught you how to see magic, yet the other two did not.”
“I can’t help being smarter than the rest,” Ramaeka told him im
pishly, relieved that he had cheered his friend up.
“Come,” Amar said speeding up slightly. “Let us find somewhere to shelter before dark and I will tell you everything I can.”
Chapter Nine
They found a place to shelter for the night and set about making up camp in silence. Amar waved Ramaeka aside when he offered to cook. He’d learnt the hard way that Ramaeka was terrible at cooking, he told him to rest instead. Amar cooked a decent meal of rabbit stew which Ramaeka bolted down, suddenly aware that he was exhausted and starving. The sudden cramping pain returned briefly to burn through his legs as he ate; however he was too impatient to hear Amar’s explanation to pay much attention and simply pushed it to the back of his mind.
When they had finished Ramaeka sat back and looked at Amar expectantly. His friend stared into their campfire, turning an apple around in his hand.
“You are not exactly what I expected,” he said softly after a while. “I have watched your father for some time, and when I saw it was one of his sons that I needed, I expected someone a little more...” he hesitated, looking over at Ramaeka who grinned.
“I know what my family are like, don’t worry you won’t insult me”
“Very well,” Amar said with a small smile, “I was expecting a much rougher and more arrogant draconian and perhaps someone a little larger.”
Ramaeka scowled at that. “I am growing,” he grumbled.
“To be honest I am relieved, I prefer you very much over your brothers and sisters. For one thing you seem far more intelligent, I was led to believe that Ramanae preferred his children barely educated.”
“Yeah, well,” Ramaeka looked momentarily sheepish. “I used to sneak into the library and Father’s office and read the books and scrolls. Plus you have to be smart to stay a few steps ahead of Father.”
“Yes, well. I caught the end of your clash with your father.” He raised an eyebrow “You are rather lucky that I turned my gaze that way just as you fell. I opened a vent between the two worlds and made sure that you drifted up beside help.”
Ramaeka leaned forward in surprise. “You took me through to this world? Why? And why to Stripe and Shady? Don’t tell me that was a coincidence.”
