The Dragon Rider (The Alaris Chronicles Book 2)

by Mike Shelton

  “Kolo is going in search of a dragon egg,” Nagasi finally said.

  Nia let out a long breath. “That boy has never been satisfied. He’s always been thirsty for more power and influence.”

  “I’ve tried to train him well, to be a regent. But, if the dragon rider truly is to be our new king, Kolo won’t even have that.”

  “It will be his downfall, Nagasi,” Nia said. Nagasi felt her fingers rubbing his neck, trying to lessen the tension there.

  “I know,” Nagasi’s eyes grew wet, and he blinked a few times to get control. “I love him and have given him so much, but he wants more. Always more.”

  Nia nodded in agreement.

  Then Nagasi leaned back against the cushion and took his wife’s hands in his left hand, closing his eyes for a moment. “I fear what Kolo might do if he doesn’t find an egg,” Nagasi said. “But I fear more what he will do if he does find one.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  Bakari and Kharlia flew northwest on Abylar, from Corwan over the warm and sandy desert. There wasn’t much to look at besides the Corwan River, running through the edge of the desert. Both Bakari and his dragon were exhausted. Their flight to Corwan, the subsequent fight, finding Kharlia, and then the loss of Erryl and the other guardians had drained them both physically and emotionally.

  Abylar was flying high so as not to alarm anyone below. But his strength had waned, and he would need to rest soon. Events had happened so fast that Bakari still didn’t know how Kharlia had survived. As soon as they landed he needed to find out. Her small hands encircled his waist, and he patted her hands with one of his.

  Bakari. Abylar woke Bakari from his thoughts with this gentle thought. I need to rest.

  Bakari felt torn now between rushing to Roland and letting Abylar rest. Roland had sounded frantic for help. But, if they arrived too exhausted to help, what good would they be?

  Just south of Cassian, between the Corwan and Dunn Rivers, at the edge of the Elvyn Forest, they found a place to land that seemed free of any onlookers. Dragging his wings across the ground, Abylar landed roughly, and then Bakari and Kharlia climbed off. As Abylar settled in for a spell before he would go hunting, Bakari took a small fishing line and decided to catch and cook a few fish for himself and Kharlia before sleeping.

  A small stream ran by the edge of the trees, hopefully deep enough for a few fish. Bakari and Kharlia walked the few dozen steps to the stream and settled down on a group of rocks next to the bank. Kharlia sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. The sun would soon be setting, and its orange rays shone in Kharlia’s eyes and reflected off the small stream.

  As the thick trees of the Elvyn Forest rustled behind them in a slight breeze, Bakari breathed in deeply, relishing the peace. He couldn’t remember when he had last felt this relaxed. The last few months had been more of an adventure than he had ever thought a minor scholar like himself would have.

  It was now approaching the end of autumn, but Bakari realized that it was only this past summer when he had sat in the library, reading, before Roland ran in with news that the Chief Judge had collapsed. From that moment on, the whirlwind surrounding his life had started: making preparations for the trip to the Citadel, discovering that the Chief Judge had been poisoned again, meeting Kharlia, escaping River Bend in the middle of the night, losing Kharlia, traveling to Celestar, finding the Dragon Orb, becoming a dragon rider, traveling to Mahli and then to Elvyn, and fighting in the battle in Corwan that very day. Bakari admitted to himself that this was definitely not the life he had thought he would live.

  ”Bak, what’s wrong?”

  Bakari turned to the side. “Absolutely nothing now, Kharlia. What happened? You know, I searched for you.”

  Kharlia leaned away from Bakari and punched him softly on the shoulder. “Don’t feel guilty. I made the decision, Bak. The choice was all mine.”

  Bakari laughed. “It really is good to have you back. How did you survive?”

  Kharlia smiled and Bakari’s heart melted once again. “After dropping off the cliff I landed in the water and blacked out for a few moments,” she explained. “When I came to, I was on my back, spinning down the river. I heard you yelling, but there wasn’t anything I could do.”

  Bakari pulled a fish off the line and Kharlia paused for a moment while he set the line to catch another one. “Where did you go?”

  “I grabbed a log and floated for hours as the water carried me farther south. I had passed River Bend before I could climb out. In a small village, an elderly couple had compassion on me and fed me and let me rest. They were taking some hand-carved furniture down to Corwan, on a riverboat, and offered me a job if I would go with them.”

  Bakari nodded.

  Kharlia laid her head on Bakari’s shoulder, “Oh Bak, I wanted to go back and find you, I truly did.” Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. “But I had no way of getting back there alone or of knowing where to even go. I asked people about Celestar, but no one knew about any city in the northeast of Alaris.”

  “I understand, Kharlia. I really do. I barely knew where I was going. I’m just glad you are safe. I wondered so many times if…if…” He stopped, tears gathering in the corner of his eyes.

  Kharlia put a hand on Bakari’s arm. “I never stopped thinking about you either, Bak. I just didn’t know how to ever find you again. Once I arrived in Corwan, I found the city healer. And, after showing him my knowledge of herbs and healing, he let me stay in a small loft above his home and work for him. Shortly after I arrived, I learned that the barrier had come down.”

  Bakari laughed and felt embarrassed. “That was because of me. A Dragon Orb—or egg—powered the barrier. When I touched it, it shattered, and Abylar came out.”

  Kharlia glanced to her side and laughed, her voice carrying through the forest. “Oh, Bak, that must have been exciting.”

  Bak pursed his lips for a moment. “Well, it was unexpected, to say the least.”

  When his fishing line tugged, Bakari turned his attention back to the small stream. He could have coaxed the fish to him, with his powers, but that seemed like cheating. His powers were there to be used to help others, not himself. As he pulled the string back, he realized how clear the scales of the fish were to him now. It was a reminder of the heightened senses he had received since bonding with Abylar. The glasses he had fashioned for himself were now becoming only a distant memory.

  Kharlia sighed in contentment next to him.

  Soon they finished catching enough fish and headed back to the camp. Working together to prepare and cook the fish seemed natural for the pair. Bakari and her had been on the run for a week before they had been split apart.

  The smells of the cooking fish roused Abylar from his sleep.

  He stretched his neck close to Bakari. Smells good, Rider.

  Not much here for you. Bakari laughed. But you can have one if you’d like.

  The dragon snorted, and a drop of blue flame sizzled the leaves on the ground. One of those fish aren’t even a small bite. How do you survive on such little food?

  Bakari glanced down at his still thin frame. His muscles had developed in the last few weeks, with all the walking, riding, and practicing the disc weapons, but he was still just a skinny young man with not much meat on his bones. His robes were getting a little shorter on his arms and legs, signifying a recent growth spurt, but his size would never get him noticed.

  I need real food, not boy food. Abylar snorted again, and Bakari thought his dragon was actually laughing at him.

  “Hey!” Bakari said out loud. “That’s not nice!”

  A deep rumble ensued from the dragon, and he flapped his wings a few times as he lifted off the ground. Hunger makes me cranky, he said to Bakari. With that, Abylar flew off to find something more filling than the few bites of fish they were eating.

  After cleaning up a bit from cooking, Bakari pulled a small blanket out of his bag, and then he sat with Kharlia again and told her his own ta
le, from the time she had fallen into the Dunn River to the present. She lovingly ran her fingers through his hair.

  “Your hair is getting longer, Bak,” Kharlia said and then smiled mischievously. “Why don’t we put it in braids, like you saw in Mahli?”

  Bakari’s eyes went wide. How would he look in braids?

  “Do you think it’s long enough?”

  Kharlia walked over to a tree and pulled off some thin vines. Stretching them out and pulling them as straight as she could, she tore them into pieces a few inches long. Then, pouring a little water on her hands, she ran them through his hair, trying to straighten out the curls. Over the next few hours, as Bakari talked about visiting Mahli, she made dozens of braids throughout his hair, tying them off with the vines. They were short but would hold for now.

  Then, moving back a few feet, she admired her handiwork. “Oh,” she said, clapping her hands in delight. “You look so exotic, Dragon Rider.”

  Bakari rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure I want to be exotic.” He would have to wait until daylight to see his reflection in the river.

  Kharlia leaned in and gave Bakari a soft kiss on the lips.

  His body quaked, and his heart fluttered. He remembered their first kiss and had wondered so many times if he would ever feel her lips again. He kissed her back now, running his hands through her soft brown hair.

  Feeling both surprise and delight through the bond with Abylar, Bakari pushed his dragon away before pulling back from Kharlia. He couldn’t stop smiling.

  “What?” Kharlia asked, and her cheeks flushed.

  “I’m just so happy, Kharlia. This is nice.”

  They talked for a few more minutes, but the activities of the day and the food in his stomach started to make Bakari sleepy. He felt Abylar giving chase to a small animal. The dragon warned Bakari that he himself might get sleepy after he ate. Bakari forgot sometimes how young Abylar was. Only a few weeks old. He still needed his sleep, just like any baby.

  I’m not a baby! A low growl through their bond.

  Bakari laughed out loud and then said back to his dragon, I just meant you are young and still growing.

  Settling down on a blanket, next to the dying fire, Bakari grasped Kharlia’s hand. He still couldn’t believe she was back in his life. With Kharlia being a few years younger than himself, Bakari was still amazed at how much she had survived in her young life.

  After a few hours of sleep for all of them, they would need to be on their way once again. So they should arrive at the Citadel early in the morning. The last time Bakari had seen Roland was when he had flown there on Abylar, to warn Roland of the barrier falling.

  Kanzar had taken most of his loyal followers to Cassian, to battle the Chief Judge, and Roland had nicely taken control of the Citadel. An accomplishment that was indeed quite rare for a sixteen-year-old. Roland always had set his sights high in life, not like Bakari.

  Bakari’s reflections then moved back to Kharlia, and he settled down to sleep. The night was quiet and calm, darkness settling in nicely. His last thoughts were of her, snuggling up next to him, and of him feeling her warmth and comfort.

  A few hours later, in the still of the night, Bakari was woken up by the snap of a twig, and he carefully opened one of his eyes. He flinched as the point of a sword appeared, only inches away from his opened eye.

  “Well, what have we here?” said a thin man with a cruel face under his dirty brown hair.

  Kharlia sat up and screamed. Bakari tried to rise, but the sword’s blade moved closer to his throat.

  Then the man continued, “Are you a runaway from the king’s army, finding a few nights warmth with a girl?”

  Bakari felt confused and was still trying to wake up. “What king?”

  The man kicked Bakari in the side. “Kanzar, stupid boy!”

  “Kanzar is king?” Bakari asked.

  “He really is stupid,” someone else said. Another man must have stood off to the side. But Bakari couldn’t see him.

  “He might as well be king, boy,” the first man said. “It’s only a matter of time. You must have run away from his army. All boys your age have been called into the service in Cassian.”

  Bakari didn’t know what to say. Nothing that he might say would placate these men. They were probably looking for a reward by turning him in.

  As if in answer to Bakari’s thoughts, the second man spoke again. “He’s nice and healthy. Should fetch us a nice price for bringing him back.”

  “I’m a wizard, if you didn’t know,” Bakari said. He knew it had sounded as lame to them as it had to himself. So he reached out his mind to Abylar, but the young beast must have been in a heavy slumber as Bakari couldn’t rouse him. Bakari was on his own for now. He needed to establish himself quickly in order to protect Kharlia.

  The two men laughed, clearly in doubt of his wizard abilities. Then they grabbed Kharlia roughly, and she tried to swat their hands away, but they held her arms still.

  Bakari was just about to use his powers against them, when one of the men spoke. “If he’s a wizard, maybe we should take him to Wizard Onius instead,” the first man said.

  “Onius?” Bakari said out loud.

  The men turned back toward him, loosening their grip on Kharlia. She pulled her arms away and ran to Bakari’s side.

  The second man grinned. “I like that idea better than going to Kanzar.”

  Bakari got a good look at the second man now. He was heavier than the first and was shaved bald. Both men looked to be in their late twenties, and they nodded their heads to each other.

  Bakari wouldn’t mind seeing Onius again. The Chief Judge had wondered where Onius’s loyalties lay, but Bakari trusted the old wizard. If going with these men now would get Bakari and Kharlia to Onius, then Abylar could pick them up later, and they would get to Roland soon. Also, information from Cassian would be important to have.

  Drawing on a simple spell, from the back of his mind, Bakari brought out a globe of magic in front of them, to light their way in the dark night. The second man jumped at this show of power, and the first man moved behind Bakari and stuck the cold point of his blade against the back of Bakari’s neck.

  “Nothing funny, boy. Trying to show off isn’t going to scare us,” the first man said. “One wrong move by you and your sweetie’s pretty neck gets sliced before you can summon any of your power. Understand?”

  Bakari did understand. The man’s words made him realize their safety depended on himself. He needed to be careful if he was going to get them to Roland in time.

  * * *

  A few hours into their walk, they came to the Corwan River. The two men had others waiting for them on a medium-sized barge. Cowering next to those men sat three other young men, all younger than Bakari.

  “We got us a wizard,” his captors said to one man, who was obviously in charge. This man was larger and wore nicer clothes than the rest of the crew.

  “Nothing more than an apprentice, by his looks,” said the apparent leader. “We got us three other youngster’s who be escaping our master’s army. We will fetch us some good gold tonight, men.”

  The men cheered and tied down the young men to a railing in the barge. But they kept Kharlia closer to their sides.

  “What can we fetch for this one, men?” another man said.

  Kharlia snarled and kicked her feet out at them.

  “Ooh, a feisty one.” One of the men laughed and moved over next to her. Then he ran his grimy hands down her shoulders. Kharlia jerked her head forward and butted him in the head.

  “Stop that!” Bakari shouted, a golden glow beginning to surround him. He wouldn’t stand for them hurting her, but he still couldn’t contact Abylar—so this group of mercenaries was their best bet to get back to civilization. “She will sit by me.”

  The man brought back his hand to hit Kharlia, but then the man in charged stopped him.

  “Leave the girl alone,” their leader said, giving a hard, but respectful look at Bakari. H
e motioned his head for the men to move Kharlia next to Bakari.

  She scooted up as close to him as he could.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you.” Bakari whispered.

  “I would rather see you show these men a lesson, Bak.”

  Bakari smiled. He really did miss having Kharlia’s feistiness around. The leader of the group told them to be quiet so they just sat still and looked around.

  Bakari wiggled his fingers to keep the circulation flowing and thought about what he should do.

  He could easily slide out of his bonds, but then what? They would need to swim across the river. Bakari had swum in the Corwan River many times during the summer to cool off at the end of the day, but it wouldn’t gain him anything at the moment. Finding Onius was his best chance. What would he say to the former counselor to the Chief Judge?

  Getting across the river took longer than Bakari thought it would. With the walking and the time spent on the river, the eastern sky now approached the earliest signs of dawn. The captives were taken onto the river docks and into the port gate into the city. Early morning bakers were up baking their breads for the day. The sweet smells in the air made Bakari’s stomach grumble.

  Soon they came to the castle itself. A lump formed in Bakari’s throat. He was not expecting to feel this sentimental. But the castle had been his home for two years before leaving with the Chief Judge to follow Kanzar’s summons to the Citadel. Now Kanzar ruled here instead.

  After disembarking, the entire group of young men and Kharlia were handed off to a steward, who seemed to hold heavy disdain for their captors but paid them the gold nevertheless.

  “Smelly boys!” the man said with his nose held. “And a pretty girl.” When one of the young men’s stomachs growled, the steward laughed. “Hungry too, are we?” He sneered at the five of them, his vicious face in contrast to his nice, crisp, and clean uniform.