The Last Dragon 4

by LeRoy Clary

  *The father fisherman? The boys want to know where he is.*

  *Tell his sons he went into the water to hide. He’s swimming where they won’t see him. They will need to row there to get him when it is safe.*

  I looked over my shoulder again. The old man was already so far from shore I barely saw his splashes. If he were to stop and tread water, I might not see him at all, but what I did see was Kendra’s dragon flying low and fast. It flew on an angle, heading directly for the dust cloud growing closer to him. She had detected it, of course. It seemed that when there was fighting, the dragon protected us.

  That idea was not new, but the implication was almost negative. Was that all a dragon was good for? It seemed a waste of a magnificent creature. I searched the sky for Wyvern and saw none.

  Anna’s mind touched mine, another feat that was becoming routine. *We are all safe but abandoned our horses on the shore. More soldiers arrived as the princess was boarding the barge. She made her horse get off and ordered all of us on so we could escape. The two boys rowing are taking us way out into deep water where arrows can’t reach.*

  *Then what?*

  *I’m a little girl. Nobody tells me anything or asks for my opinion.*

  Kendra’s lead had extended, and I couldn’t shout the new information to her, but it would wait. The slope of the land rose slightly, and I could still see the lake behind, but there was no sign of the old man, the barge filled with our people, or the army that had been riding to intercept us. Even the dust plume was gone, and I assumed the dragon had attacked or scared them into hiding or dispersing.

  There seemed nothing to do but follow my sister and try to keep up with her. I pooled a fist-full of magic and reached ahead. It shook a low branch on a scrubby juniper to make sure my increased magic was working. The branch was farther away than I’d ever attempted, so lacking anything else to occupy my mind, I spotted a low, rocky ridge running parallel a hundred steps away and decided to attempt another use of magic.

  I swirled dirt up there on the ridge into a twisting funnel and made it keep pace with us for a while. Then I levitated a rock and made it float alongside me. My small-magic at Crestfallen had been limited to slightly directing an arrow in flight perhaps the space of a hand or deflecting it by the same. I condensed water to wet material, shifted a foot enough to trip, tipped tankards of wine enough to spill, and little more. The limits were such that I was an infant in my skills when around true mages.

  We had called it small-magic since children, an accurate name in practice. I’d once managed to raise a single sheet of paper above a tabletop and hold it there for a few moments but to lift a stone the size of my fist was impossible. To make it float alongside a running horse impossible. A few grains of sand to cast into the eyes of an enemy, or puff of breeze to put out a candle in a corridor I wished to travel without being seen, were the maximum uses of my powers. The stone I held in the air still rode beside us, keeping up. It seemed to take very little effort and I felt I could do the same with one much larger.

  In frustration, elation, or perhaps terror, I gave the stone a mental shove away from me as if offended. It streaked away, flying twice the distance I could have thrown it by hand. That stunned me.

  The pounding of the horse’s hooves, the beating my butt was enduring, and the fact that my sister was still outpacing me, caused me more physical and mental pain. Behind us, the lake was no longer in view. Not that we’d traveled so far, but the upward rise had ceased long ago, and we now rode on level ground. The lake was below the dip of the horizon.

  Any soldiers back there couldn’t see us any more than we could see them. My horse was laboring now, breathing in gasps, and its gait was uneven with exhaustion. I pulled back on the reins and came to a stop before dismounting. I walked ahead as the horse recovered and easily kept pace with me as it rested. If needed, it could run twice as fast and far as a few minutes ago.

  *Did you escape?* Anna asked.

  *We did. We are heading south before turning east to the sea because any searching for us will follow the shore. How about you?*

  *Will says three more groups of soldiers have arrived. He said that they probably sent messages to their headquarters that we’ve gone out onto the lake in a boat and they will capture boats and come after us.*

  *Listen to Will. He was a soldier and knows how to fight like one.*

  *He says we need to get to shore before the other boats come. They will be loaded with archers.*

  *Did you bring your bows?*

  *Of course.*

  I thought about that. Going ashore before dark wouldn’t happen or be productive. The men waiting there would capture or kill them. They would be spotted immediately. Right after dark gave them all night to reach a lonely part of the shore and escape. That was what Will would have them do. I just didn’t know where that would be. He’d talk to the boys, rescue the father, and then make his decision.

  My thinking sounded good until I reversed it, like taking the other side in a game of blocks. I suspected what Will would order. What would the enemy anticipate? The same thing? Certainly, my plan was also what the soldiers would expect, and as a result, they would spread out and guard the shoreline all night long. I was about to mention that when I realized what an insult it would be to mention it to Will. He knew that better than me and had another plan. I swallowed hard and kept my thoughts to myself.

  I sort of enjoyed being in Will’s mind, at least figuratively. He would probably put them ashore on the south side of the lake not too far from where Kendra and I landed because most of the troops chasing them were on the other side and expect him there. He could pick up Coffin along the way. They were maintaining their position in sight of the enemy for now, and he wouldn’t tip his hand by departing for our side of the lake until after dark—and then they would do it silently. He might even have the barge and rowboat returned to the north shore before dawn to confuse the army.

  “Couldn’t keep up with me?” Kendra asked. She was also walking her horse but now allowed it to graze on a few stunted clumps of grass while she waited for me.

  “Thinking,” I responded shortly.

  I moved to her side and shared the little I knew and what I suspected. She flashed the first smile I’d seen in a while. I said, “What?”

  “It seems that despite the traps set by the Young Mage, we’ve all managed to escape, for now. I was thinking of how frustrated he must be. Maybe, at this very moment, he is throwing a childish tantrum.”

  She was right. He had set several perfect traps that we’d avoided. According to him, we should have entered his city and been easily captured. Once fleeing in the desert, there had been no place to hide when we departed, but again we had been lucky and fast. I said, “My magic has grown stronger.”

  She said, “How so?”

  Kendra had tested me at the Waystone but knew little of the changes occurring within me. We hadn’t had time to discuss them privately, and besides, I was still learning. “Your dragon is not in sight, and neither are any Wyvern or Waystones to draw essence from. A while ago, I levitated a rock the size of my fist while riding at full gallop, so I couldn’t fully concentrate, then threw it twice as far as I could with my arm.”

  We walked slowly, side by side, allowing the horses to pause for the few choice clumps of grass we passed. She said, “Show me.”

  I pointed. A skinny tree stood alone at least three hundred paces away. First, I shook it, and we watched the leaves rattle, a feat impossible for me only a few days earlier. I might have managed to move a single leaf. Then I swirled enough sand and dust around it to almost hide it.

  “More,” she hissed.

  I bore down and pushed with my mind, like pushing water with my palms and expecting it to clear a path behind them. The tree trunk slowly bent away from us. I mentally pushed harder. The trunk objected and seemed to spring back at me, but I directed more concentrated mental power at it, focusing that power into a sharp point.

  Sweat broke out
on my forehead. My veins bulged with flowing blood. The tree bent away from us a little more, then the sand gave way and the tree uprooted and flew a dozen steps into the air before falling almost gracefully to the ground.

  “Damn,” Kendra said.

  That was the most I’d ever heard her say in the way of swearing. Somehow the word fit. She walked on with her horse following without additional comment.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything else?” I asked.

  “Never make an emerging mage angry, or he will uproot all the plants in your garden?”

  “I’m not a mage, and you are not funny.”

  She didn’t argue. We walked on. Later, she said, “Training. I don’t know about having more magical powers, but it might be related to proper training or the need to defend us. You simply learned to use your magic better. You probably always had the same abilities.”

  “You’re not making sense.”

  “This might not be an increase in your powers, but a lack of training until now.”

  “No. Before this, I could barely levitate a few grains of sand.”

  “I know, but what if you’re wrong. What if it is not the power within you, but training? Wherever or whatever is the reason, you have become more of a mage, and that is what’s important.”

  “Why is it so important?” I asked, not understanding why she felt that way.

  “Okay. Suppose a man wielding a sword comes at you, a big man. A blacksmith, by trade. He’s twice your size. By his movements, you know he never had training in using a weapon, probably never been in a sword fight, and he is clumsy but very powerful. You pull your sword out. Are you scared?”

  “A little. People do get lucky in a fight, and he’s bigger. But, to answer your question directly, I’d win all but one in a thousand of those fights with him. The fear comes in the idea that today might be that one in a thousand. I might trip, misread his thrust, or his large size allows him to push through my block.”

  “That is the exception. Now for training. You threw that rock after levitating it. Then you knocked down that tree. If there were ten soldiers on that ridge, could you remove their blades from their hands and fling them away as you did with the rock?”

  “All at once? I doubt it. Only a true mage could do such a thing and maybe not even then.”

  “But with training, maybe you could? How about selecting one of the men and snatching his sword with your magic and hurling it away? Could you do that?”

  We continued walking as I considered and made my decision. “I think so. It would be like grabbing a stone and throwing it, I suppose. But the other nine others are more than enough to fight me and win.”

  “Couldn’t you do it again? I mean, throw away another single sword? And again?”

  My mind fought an imaginary battle. Ten men stood on the ridge beside us. One lost his sword to my powers. Then another. Eight charged. Another sword spins through the air, followed by three more, one at a time. They are getting closer, four of them still with swords. Two more swords fly away. The remaining two run me through and kill me.

  No, I could stand my own and defend us against the remaining two, but if such an encounter ever happened, when one or two swords were ripped from their hands, the others would probably stop their advance. Soldiers do not fight mages.

  “I can do it with eight attackers,” I muttered as I kept my eyes closed in concentration.

  “Eight? What the hell does that mean?” she demanded. “Who put limits on how many? Maybe there were only eight, to begin with. Are you telling me you can defeat eight soldiers charging at us?”

  I explained. Or tried too. She laughed at my reasoning and calmed down. Finally, she said, “If we move away from the ridge a little more, you can remove the swords from number nine and defend us against the remaining one. The real questions remain. Can you remove the swords from them two at a time? Three? Can you train yourself to do it with all nine at once? Can you make the swords so hot they let go of them because their hands are getting burned?”

  She was right. Not in what she suggested, but in another way. I didn’t have to flip the swords out of the hands of all ten. I could also make a few of them trip over their feet, cause sand to fly into the eyes of three more, force more to drop their swords while I used my skills to fight them as a last resort. I didn’t have to fight the last one. Or any. With all those things happening, most men would retreat and think things over before facing me again.

  But her idea was sound. Instead of simply using my fighting skills, I could supplement them with a little trickery. A slip of the foot here, the sting of an imaginary bee there, a splash of water thrown in the face somewhere else provided me with ample superiority to face ten men.

  It was not about the magic, at least, not directly. It was about how to use it. Forcing ten swords from the hands of ten warriors one at a time with my increased powers was silly. Uprooting an entire tree and throwing it at them was far more effective. There were probably a hundred better solutions if I took the time to think of them. It was all about training.

  My problem was that like most people I didn’t know much about magic. My experience with magic was performing a few parlor tricks. I never had a teacher because we had chosen to keep my magic abilities secret. I didn’t know a vast ocean of information and had only recently discovered a small puddle. With each discovery came more ideas, more opportunities. All untested. I needed to learn.

  Worse, I had no idea of how or who could teach me, let alone if I had the latent abilities to learn.

  As if reading my mind, Kendra said, “As we travel, with your permission and cooperation, we can devise tests to find the limits of your skills and teach you new ones. We can maybe teach you to improve your abilities, to use them more effectively.”

  I liked the concept, but there were things about it that bothered me. The first was that magic was not free. It always has a cost. That cost was supplied by Dragons, Wyverns, and Waystones, in the form of Essence. Yet, none of those three providers were near me. That made me question how I was able to use my magic.

  No, the dragon was on our side of the lake. I’d forgotten about it and our pursuers. It might be nearer than I thought. “Did your dragon attack the men coming after us?”

  She nodded.

  “And?” I prompted.

  “I can’t tell you. I asked it to attack them. I gave it a mental image that they were trying to harm us. We can’t talk. Not like you and Anna. So, I gave her the feelings of anger directed at them.”

  “I think I understand. Hopefully, that was not a caravan of trade goods or innocents.”

  “Don’t do that, Damon. It was the army, and you know it, so don’t even suggest I may have killed innocent people.”

  Instead of responding, my mind went back to the basics of my magic. I had to draw my power from one of the three. How far away was the dragon right now? Again, my knowledge failed me. I stood in utter confusion, knowing there were things to do, to learn, and knowing I was failing in nearly all of them.

  “There is a lot we don’t know or understand,” I said with barely a tremble in my voice.

  Kenda drew an exasperated breath and said, “I know. We, meaning you and me, have to do better.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  During our discussion, while walking our horses, I’d almost forgotten about the others of our group, those we’d left floating on the other side of the lake. Kendra and I were resting our weary butts from the pounding of the saddles while our friends were under attack. Well, they were floating within sight of our enemies, but out of range, which was much the same.

  I abruptly said, “What about Elizabeth and the others?”

  She mounted and waited until I did the same. “For now, you and I travel alone. Touch minds with Anna and find out what is happening.”

  “Your dragon?”

  She cast me one of those foul sisterly looks that petrify brothers. Without a doubt, she had her dragon ready to protect our friends, or us, as needed. I
reached out. *Anna, how are things there?*

  *We are just floating around on the barge. It’s mostly boring. The boys rowed us to the east, and the soldiers kept pace with us on the shore, yelling and ordering us to surrender. One small boat approached, with two rowers and two army archers. Will used one of the bows the boys brought with them, and his first arrow went too far, then he landed four in a row inside their boat. He hit at least two of them before they fled. They rowed better going away.*

  I chuckled. *Has Will told you his plans?*

  *A little. We will go across the lake after dark to your side, but not where you landed. He wants to land more to the west where there are small hills to hide us, and the ground is too rocky for army horses. He said we could walk carefully, and escape by going south before turning east to meet up with you. But he said the plan may change.*

  *I think he’s right. The army is not equipped for travel away from water over rugged land.*

  *Princess Elizabeth is furious and refuses to speak to any of us.*

  *Why?*

  *I’m not sure, but I think she believes this is all her fault, her failings. Her anger scares me. I miss you.*

  *If it were possible, we’d be on the shore to greet you, but a small detachment of soldiers tried to capture us there while we waited for you to cross.*

  There was a pause. Anna said, *The Young Mage has mobilized all he has to stop us. He’s scared, too.*

  Kendra interrupted, “Talking to Anna?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ask her to check with the fishermen and find out if there are any Waystones south of Dagger or near the village we are heading for.”

  I relayed the message. A few minutes later Anna answered, *Yes. They said there are two, one in Dagger and another down the coast near the village. They said the second one is “dead.” I asked what that means, and they said it is not warm. Does that make sense to you?*

  It was a tremendous relief. The second Waystone, the one where we were headed was unused for some reason. The dragon egg inside either missing or had aged and died. The important thing was that no mages were going to appear using their magic from within the Waystone and prevent us from sailing. I passed that on to Anna as good news and told her I needed to talk to Kendra.