The Dragon Rider (The Alaris Chronicles Book 2)

by Mike Shelton

  “The power is so strong,” Bakari said and then had to clench his jaw to keep from fainting. Stretching forth his hands, he shot a blue flame across the air with all the power he held. It streamed toward Kolo and enveloped both him and his dragon.

  “As your master, I command you to turn away from us and pursue us no more,” Bakari said, his voice booming unnaturally, echoing off the walls of the valley.

  The black dragon roared and put his claws up in the air, Kolo holding on for dear life. Turning around in the air, the two were forced away, the blue flame’s power still surrounding them. Bakari heard Kolo screaming as Kolo and his dragon became just a black speck in the sky over the distant mountain peaks. Then Bakari sat back down and directed Abylar to return to the top of the waterfall.

  Kolo’s three companions stood there, glaring at the blue dragon and its riders.

  From the air, Bakari called to them. “What Kolo did is an abomination to the dragons! He took control of a dragon that was not meant for him,” Bakari shouted. “You must warn the regent that Kolo is dangerous.”

  Kolo’s men didn’t say anything back. Bakari felt bad about leaving them here, but they had gotten themselves to the cave somehow and should be able to get back to Mahli that same way.

  “I will return to Mahli after Alaris is at peace,” Bakari said.

  Two of the three men did bow their heads slightly to Bakari before they turned and left.

  * * *

  Carrying five people soon became taxing for Abylar. So he flew a few miles west from the mountains into Turg and then settled back down onto the ground. The group stayed there the rest of the night, resting and letting Abylar eat.

  The next morning, Kharlia and Bakari climbed back up onto the growing dragon, his blue scales sparkling in the early morning light.

  “What will happen now?” Delia said, her voice almost pleading.

  Bakari tried to imagine how she must feel. She had just begun to feel the bond only to have it snatched from her grasp by Kolo.

  “I don’t know, Delia,” Bakari said. “I am so sorry. I need to return to Alaris. There is danger there that might spill over into all the neighboring kingdoms. After taking care of that, I will go to Mahli to try to rein in Kolo. If I can free the dragon from his bond, I will return him to you.”

  Delia nodded, but her eyes seemed to reveal that Delia knew the odds were very slim now that she would actually become a dragon rider.

  “We must return to the Oracle,” Delia said, “and let him know what has happened.”

  “Good luck,” Bakari said. “Hopefully we will meet again.” Bakari’s heart broke for Delia. He knew what bonding with a dragon was like. And she had been so close. He hoped she would be all right.

  Abylar lifted off with Bakari and Kharlia on his back.

  I’m hungry again, Abylar said to Bakari.

  Bakari grinned. Of course you are, my friend. Of course you are.

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  Onius rode up next to Kanzar, who was flanked by wizards dressed for a war. They were heading south, from Cassian, to attack the Chief Judge in Orr.

  “You don’t need to march with us, Kanzar,” Onius said.

  Kanzar sneered at him with a dangerous spark in his eyes. “I want to see Daymian Khouri get crushed with my own eyes.”

  “But you put yourself in needless danger.” Onius would rather have had Kanzar stay in Cassian. It would be easier to take him down if he was separated from his cronies. But, maybe in battle, an accident could occur.

  “I am not in danger.” Kanzar spread his arms around him. “I am protected by the greatest wizards in Alaris, including you, my friend.”

  Onius just grunted.

  “Anyway,” Kanzar continued, “this will be easy. My spies said there were few men with the Chief Judge.”

  Onius almost smiled but bit his cheek instead. A messenger pigeon had arrived the night before with news from the spies. These had reached the outskirts of Orr and had seen very little evidence of any sizable army. Marco, Onius’s messenger to the Chief Judge had indeed done what he was supposed to do.

  Turning around on his horse, Onius surveyed the group of at least a thousand men and women marching behind them, with Alana, Kanzar’s wife, in the lead. Alana did not look very happy. Seeing that she had caught Onius’s eye, she rode forward to meet him. So he hung back from Kanzar.

  “It’s a trap,” Alana said. “There is no way there are as few men as the message said.”

  Onius just nodded, not wanting to give away anything about the plan that he already knew of.

  “He won’t listen to me anymore,” Alana said and then let out a deep sigh. She had returned from Corwan and had reported their losses, including the death of the Battlemaster, and Kanzar had gone wild with anger once again. He had killed two of her captains, and the bruises on the side of her face now stood as apparent evidence of Kanzar’s displeasure with her.

  “He won’t listen to anyone,” Onius added.

  She directed her horse even closer to Onius. “He is obsessed and unstable, Onius,” she said, lowering her voice. “He will kill us all in his ambition to be king.”

  As if he could hear their conversation, Kanzar turned around then, from atop his horse, and glared at Onius and Alana. Crooking his finger, he motioned for them to join him up front.

  “What are you two discussing?” Kanzar asked, his eyes darting back and forth between them. “Are you plotting behind my back?”

  Onius saw the nervous twitch of Kanzar’s mouth and knew that their leader had almost hit his tipping point.

  “If we march to Orr, we will die,” Alana said, holding her head high and proud. “This mission is suicide. We need more men.”

  “We would have more men if you hadn’t failed in Corwan!” Kanzar bellowed, his spittle hitting Alana’s leather armor.

  “We were surprised there,” Alana said, “just like we will be in Orr.” A strong battle wizard in her own right, Alana wouldn’t back down.

  Kanzar stopped his horse—mere inches now from Alana—and grabbed her horse’s reins in his gloved hand, jerking Alana’s horse to a stop.

  “I am in charge here.” Kanzar’s face had turned red. “You will follow my orders.”

  Alana appeared cowed for a moment, then lifted her chin high to meet Kanzar’s gaze with her steely eyes and said, “I am in charge of this battalion. As the lead battle wizard, I will not direct my soldiers to march to their deaths.”

  Kanzar’s eyes bulged, and his jaw tightened. With blinding speed, he hit Alana in the jaw, the force almost knocking her off her horse. In an instant, power flared around her, and she threw a ball of fire at her crazed husband.

  Onius directed his horse back a few steps and only observed. Two of Kanzar’s guards moved their horses between the two and absorbed the blow from Alana’s fireball.

  Kanzar drew his sword and pointed it at Alana as he said, “Traitor.”

  She stood up in her stirrups and yelled back to the soldiers, “I give you a choice. You may choose to follow Kanzar and most likely meet your deaths or choose to return to Cassian while we make more informed plans.”

  The soldiers were confused. Conversations, then arguments broke out among them. Onius moved back further, not wanting to get caught in Kanzar’s rage.

  Kanzar turned to his other wizards and said, “Bind her.” Then, turning to one of his other advisers, he said, “Baylor, you are now my general and are in charge of this army.”

  “No. You can’t do that,” Alana howled. “I’m more powerful than he is.”

  She drew her sword and began to fight off the other wizards, who were now approaching. They seemed to be conserving their wizard strength for the upcoming battle, but they did as Kanzar commanded and tried to take Alana down to bind her.

  But subduing Alana wasn’t easy. She sheathed her sword and did a flip off her horse, landing on the ground as she pulled out a pair of knives and then threw them at the guards and wizards approaching he
r. One knife hit its mark and took the man down. The other bounced off of a guard’s armor.

  Sending bolts of lightning from each hand, Alana tried to take down the wizards. They went on the defensive, as if letting her tire herself out.

  Then Onius saw that some of the soldiers began to turn around. Baylor, a dark-haired, stocky man, stood up higher in his stirrups and, with power bellowing from his mouth, yelled, “Anyone leaving this army will be court-martialed and either killed or sent to the dungeons.”

  Onius knew that this was not a normal army. Many of these men were mercenaries, here for the pay only. So they were not sure how to handle these threats.

  Turning back, Onius saw one of Kanzar’s wizards get his sword inside Alana’s defenses, slicing her thigh open. Blood spurted forth immediately, and she fell to the ground. Then, by forcing a bitter liquid down Alana’s throat, Kanzar’s men took her remaining wizard powers away.

  “What do we do with her, sir?” Baylor asked Kanzar. “It is too far to go back.”

  “Bring her with us,” Kanzar said. “She will witness the destruction of the Chief Judge and my rise to power. Then we will kill her for her treachery.”

  As they began moving forward again, Baylor, a level three battle wizard, now led the soldiers, and he pushed them hard.

  Onius noticed that not all the wizards or soldiers in attendance seemed happy at Kanzar’s capture of Alana, his own wife. Onius took a deep breath. Soon this would all be over. One way or the other.

  * * *

  Two days later, Onius paused with the rest of the army. They glimpsed Orr in the distance, its rounded roofs rising up over the flat, sandy ground. Dust blew in the air, making their eyes water. Kanzar drew in Onius and the rest of his council into his command tent. But there was still no sign of an approaching army.

  It was late in the afternoon when Kanzar gave the order to attack the city. First, the cavalry; next, the foot soldiers; and then, the wizards—they marched down the road and to the city’s gates.

  All was quiet. The city looked deserted.

  “Where are they?” Kanzar bellowed.

  “Maybe your wife is correct,” Onius said.

  Kanzar turned to him, murder in his eyes. “Are you in league with that traitor?”

  Onius stood his ground. He realized he might die—probably would die—in this battle, but, in doing so, he would bring Kanzar down with him. So Onius pushed Kanzar harder.

  “I am not in league with her, no,” Onius said. “But, Kanzar, you continue to ignore the experience of those around you.” Onius stood in his wizard robes, his thin arms waving in the air as he added, “Look around you. What does common sense tell you?”

  “Bind him, too,” Kanzar bellowed to some nearby guards.

  But they hesitated. Onius was known as Kanzar’s right-hand man, a very powerful wizard in his own right, counselor to chief judges.

  Onius shook his head. “No more binding, Kanzar. This is a trap.”

  As if to give truth to Onius’s words, hundreds of soldiers rose up out of the desert sand right then and began to strike down Kanzar’s army. This attack had caught them so much by surprise that hundreds were killed before Kanzar or Baylor could issue any orders.

  When they finally did, chaos ensued. More and more enemy soldiers rose up from under the sand all along the road, as far back as anyone could see, the wind blowing the upturned sand into the air, creating a storm of sand, blinding Kanzar’s troops.

  But the attackers from Orr had thin cloths around their eyes and had swords in their hands as they swept through the ranks, taking down horses and soldiers alike. Then, over the city walls burning sand and pitch were catapulted far into Kanzar’s ranks. This was followed by screams and soldiers catching fire and grabbing their faces.

  In the midst of this chaos, Onius saw a lone man stand up on the city walls. Daymian Khouri, Chief Judge of Alaris.

  “Surrender Kanzar,” the Chief Judge called out. “Or all your men will be killed.”

  Kanzar glared up at his enemy. “We will not surrender,” Kanzar called back. “We have a hundred soldiers to your one. We will battle to the death and will destroy your pathetic city.”

  Then Baylor motioned for the cavalry to ride hard into the city.

  Crashing through the city gates, the cavalry began to cut down anyone they found. New hope seemed to surge through Kanzar’s army, and they began to take down the Chief Judge’s soldiers.

  In the rear, soldiers screamed, and fireballs from wizards were being hurtled through the air. But these were not aimed toward Orr—they were from behind them. Onius turned back and then pointed.

  Kanzar followed Onius’s finger and roared, “A dragon!” Then Kanzar bellowed, “I will kill that boy and his dragon, once and for all!”

  “I don’t think that’s Bakari, sir,” Onius said, wonder filling his voice. “That dragon is yellow.”

  As the dragon flew closer, its orange and yellow scales reflecting the bright, late-afternoon sunlight, Onius saw that the rider was a woman. Her long, unbound, blond hair flowed back behind her head, revealing her pointed ears.

  “An elf,” remarked one of Kanzar’s soldiers, fighting beside Onius and Kanzar.

  Kanzar shot fire out of his hands, and the dragon swerved, its tail knocking down dozens of soldiers on the ground. So Kanzar kicked his horse hard, motioning Onius and others to follow him toward the back, to fend off this new attack. As Kanzar neared the back of his army, fire and lightning filled the sky.

  His wizards threw fire at the dragon and at the attackers, but their opponents continued to push forward. At their head, Onius saw a blur of a wizard spinning, jumping, and twirling through the air, taking down dozens of soldiers.

  “Alli?” Onius said softly, feeling awe as he watched her fighting skills. They were mesmerizing.

  “Onius,” Kanzar said, bringing him out of his stupor. “Did you know about this? Are you the traitor in our midst?” Dark veins stood out on his bald head, ready to burst. Turning sideways, Kanzar clobbered a man with one fist and sent out a bolt of lightning with the other, taking out a half dozen opponents.

  Onius decided it was time to tell him. “Kanzar, you have lost sight of what we wanted. We talked for years of a king. A glorious king with the power to make Alaris bright again. A king that would be a beacon for the southern lands. But you took too much power to yourself.”

  Kanzar shook his head back and forth with rage, his breath quickening and his muscles tightening. An aura of power gathered around Kanzar. Onius braced himself for death.

  But, as Kanzar brought his hands out, another voice pierced the battlefield. “Surrender, Kanzar, and we will discuss terms.”

  Onius realized that it was Mericus that had roared this over the fray. He was riding on an enormous black horse. With black armor on and a black wizard cloak billowing behind him, Mericus looked like Death itself, on a rampage.

  Kanzar moved toward Mericus, but Onius was still in the way. Leaning over on his horse, Kanzar put his hand on Onius’s chest and, using the full force of his power, threw Onius twenty feet into the air. Onius fell hard and crumpled to the ground, his arm twisting dangerously behind his back.

  Mericus continued to barrel through the melee, power crackling around him.

  Kanzar had jumped off his horse now and ran with increasing speed toward Mericus, gathering power to himself.

  “Mericus!” Kanzar yelled, his frustrated voice traveling with power over the entire battlefield.

  Mericus threw a bolt of blue fire toward his former leader, catching Kanzar in the shoulder. Kanzar stumbled back but stayed upright, blood gushing down his arm.

  Onius, breathing deeply and trying not to pass out, scooted further away from the battle. The yellow dragon flew overhead once again, orange and yellow flames pouring out of its massive jaws. Its magnificent and elegant rider flashed her own brand of magic down in quick bolts of lightning, taking out Kanzar’s guards.

  “I am Breelyn, protector o
f Elvyn and a dragon rider of all lands,” she called down. “By the voice of my master, I command you to surrender now.” Then Breelyn and her dragon swooped down lower, stopping in the air just over Kanzar’s head.

  Onius stood slowly, holding his right arm in his left hand. He stumbled forward, closer to Kanzar. Then Mericus stopped his horse beside Onius, and the two watched the exchange between Kanzar and the dragon rider with interest.

  Kanzar turned his attention to the sky. “And where is your master?” he asked. “Is the boy hiding? Afraid to meet me?”

  Breelyn flew up into the air and took another pass over the army and then came back around, hovering above Kanzar once again. “Bakari has other matters to attend to, but his command is still the same. Surrender now, and, as Mericus said, we can discuss terms.”

  The fighting slowed, and soldiers, mercenaries, and wizards alike were looking at Kanzar for his answer. The field became eerily quiet, with only the sounds of the wind-blown sand and the flap of the dragon’s wings filling the air.

  Onius studied Kanzar’s body language and his stomach fell. The High Wizard would never surrender.

  Flicking his wrist, Kanzar drew forth an enormous amount of power and, with a flash of light, sent fire hurtling toward Breelyn and her dragon.

  Out of nowhere, Onius heard a loud roar and felt a gust of wind blow between the ground and the sky, pushing Kanzar’s attacking fire away from the dragon and out into the empty air. The crowd looked up in the sky, gasping and pointing.

  “Another dragon?” Onius mumbled, wondering where Bakari was finding them all.

  Flying over them and joining Breelyn was a green dragon, smaller than the first. On its back was a young man, his long, black hair wrapped in a ponytail, flying out behind him.

  “I am Jaimon Schafer from Quentis,” he said to Breelyn.

  “Welcome, Dragon Rider.” The elf woman laughed, her voice melodically filling the air around them.

  Kanzar, however, wasn’t done. “Attack!” he ordered, gathering more power and then flinging it at the new dragon. It swerved, the fire catching only the tip of its tail.