Dragonia- Dragonia Empire series Box Set

by Craig A Price Jr

  “Are you getting impatient?”

  Devarius gulped. “No … I’m just wondering if I should bother bringing my sword for a while.”

  Orrick smiled. “There will be no need for a blade until I tell you to bring one.”

  Devarius nodded, brushing his fingers through his hair. He wondered how long that would be. Devarius really hoped the old man was the best. Whenever he completed his training, he wanted to be able to do more than swat bees and catch butterflies.

  27

  Devarius stood in his room, alone, his mind wandering. More than a month had gone by since he’d begun his training with Orrick, and his skill with a blade had significantly improved. He’d only learned three of the sixteen forms, but he’d mastered each one. Catching the Butterfly, Swatting the Bee, and Pouncing the Wild Cat had become second nature to him. However, he still had much to learn.

  A knock at the door disrupted his thoughts. It was night and he was ready for bed. He had no idea who would visit him so late. When he opened the door, his brow furrowed when he saw Tynaer standing on the other side.

  “Captain?” Devarius asked.

  “May I come in?”

  Devarius nodded and stepped aside. Tynaer ambled inside, and Devarius closed the door.

  “How goes your training with Orrick?”

  “It is interesting.”

  Tynaer grinned. “I imagine so. His teachings are rather unconventional, but he is the best.”

  “I can see. I’ve definitely noticed an improvement.”

  “Good.”

  “Why are you here?” Devarius asked.

  “I wanted to tell you that you’re doing a fine job here. You and your party have been most welcome. Many have found invaluable jobs in this city. I know when you first came, I acted like your help wasn’t appreciated. We—we just have to be careful these days.”

  “I understand.”

  “Your determination is astounding. Many people with dreams to become the best blademaster have given up by now. I just wanted to reassure you that if you continue with your determination, you will succeed. Orrick, while strange, is the best, and if you allow him to, he can make you the best blademaster in the army.”

  “I certainly hope so.” Devarius smiled.

  Tynaer nodded. He began to leave, but froze mid turn, his eyes lingering on Devarius’s desk. “What’s that?”

  Devarius turned and saw the large sapphire on his desk.

  “Oh … I’d almost forgotten about that. I found it on an island when we were running from the dragonriders. I hoped it may be worth something. Perhaps if we sell it, it would help fund the Resistance.”

  “Island?” Tynaer asked.

  Devarius scratched his chin. “I suppose we haven’t talked much about our journey over here … have we?”

  “No … you haven’t.” Tynaer sat on Devarius’s chair.

  “I suppose now is a good time.”

  “I suppose it is.”

  “All right. Well …” Devarius paused before deciding to sit on his bed. “We started in the north, near Caspar. We fled south, but the dragonriders were on our tail. One of the dragonriders caught us outside of Kaed, and one of my party confessed our plans to them.”

  Tynaer’s eyes widened. “Who?”

  “She is no longer with us. That’s when we decided she would be a liability. We snuck into Trevium, me and Paedyn, and brought her with us. We knew she’d betray us at the first chance she had, if for no other reason than self-preservation. We saw two dragonriders in the city, and sure enough, she disappeared from behind us. We hadn’t planned on it happening so swiftly, and hoped for a little more time, but we had to spring into action. We took a wagon out of the city and west to the river, where we met with the rest of our party. We hadn’t let the woman know we planned to travel south. We had told her we planned to go east next. The plan worked for a time, long enough for us to reach Vaereal.” Devarius brushed his fingers through his hair. “Anyway, once we reached Vaereal and found who we were supposed to talk to to find the Resistance, the dragonriders were approaching the village. We had nowhere to go. We rushed to the west coast and commandeered a ship. Our plan was to travel west through the storm and then south to move around the village, but the storm caught us and dragged us straight west.”

  “And this is where you found this island?” Tynaer asked.

  “Yes, sir.” Devarius shivered. “The island was surrounded by mountains rising out of the water. When we crashed on the island, I searched the area.”

  Tynaer tilted his head. “What did you find?”

  “Dragons.”

  Tynaer’s eyebrows rose. “Dragons? You found Dragonia? You found where the Dragonia Empire trains all their dragons?”

  Devarius shook his head. “No. There were no riders. All we found were dragons, though all the ones I saw looked a lot smaller than the dragons that were chasing us.”

  Tynaer’s eyebrow twitched. “How small?”

  “Umm …”

  “Tell me exactly what they looked like.”

  “They were … about a third of the size or less than the dragon with the dragonrider who captured us. Oh, and I did notice a few things about the one that landed in front of me.”

  “One landed in front of you?” Tynaer asked.

  “I guess I forgot to mention that part.”

  “Yes … you did.”

  “It was large … much larger than me, but it was more like the size of a large horse, a little larger actually, rather than the size of a barn like the dragons in the empire. Also …” Devarius’s brow furrowed. “It only had two legs. The dragonrider’s dragon had four legs.”

  “Two legs and wings?”

  “Yes,” Devarius replied.

  “Interesting.”

  “Oh … and one more thing. I saw it fly backward … like a hummingbird. I’ve never seen any other creature do that.”

  “I don’t believe you saw a dragon,” Tynaer whispered.

  Devarius raised an eyebrow. “It looked just like a dragon. If it wasn’t a dragon … what was it?”

  “I’ll have to look at the books in the library, but I believe what you described is a wyvern.”

  “A wyvern?” Devarius asked.

  Tynaer stood. “Yes. We need to speak to Ellisar soon. He needs to know about this.”

  Devarius slid off the bed and sat in his desk chair. “Know about what?”

  “This land of wyverns.” Tynaer grinned.

  It was the first time Devarius had seen the captain grin. He was disturbed by the sight.

  “Wh—”

  “Don’t you see?” Tynaer said. “We’ve been searching for years to find a way to defeat the Dragonia Empire. There is just no way we can defeat an army of dragonriders. We’ve made weapons, sure: catapults, ballistae, arrows, but what can they truly do to a dragon? Our best chance has always been to aim for the rider, and hope the dragon won’t know what to do without its companion. But now—”

  “Wait,” Devarius interrupted. “If dragons and wyverns are different … am I clear that their difference is their size and amount of legs?”

  “Yes,” Tynaer said.

  “If the creatures I saw were full grown … which I don’t know if they were. But if they were … they’re a lot smaller than dragons. There’s no way they can battle against dragons. That’s like asking a horse to take on an elephant.”

  Tynaer’s lips pressed together tightly. “It’s not a perfect plan, but we need to research this.” Tynaer sighed. “You’re right, a horse against an elephant is no match. But …” He shook a finger in the air. “What if it were three horse riders against one elephant rider? Just how many wyverns are there? And can we train them? Like your comparison of horses versus elephants … yes, elephants are stronger, but horses are faster, and can maneuver much easier than an elephant. Is this true with wyverns and dragons as well?”

  “I don’t know,” Devarius admitted.

  Devarius grabbed the blue stone from h
is desk. It was as large as his hand. He rubbed the top of it.

  “You told me you saw one of the creatures fly backward.”

  “Yes,” Devarius admitted.

  “Can a dragon fly backward?”

  Devarius tilted his head. “I don’t know.”

  Tynaer scratched his chin. “If they can’t, we’d have a large advantage.”

  “We don’t have any advantage right now. We don’t even have a wyvern,” Devarius said.

  “You’re right. We need to speak to Ellisar.”

  Devarius nodded. “All right. When?”

  “First thing in the morning.”

  Devarius ceased petting the stone and reached to set it back on the desk. It vibrated in his hand. He froze. The stone began to glow a dark blue.

  “Wha—” Tynaer started.

  Devarius tried to drop the stone, but it refused to leave his hand. His eyes were transfixed on the blue glow as it filled the room. Tynaer backed away until he leaned against the door. Devarius’s eyes widened as far as they could as he watched the stone. The light faded. Chills ran down Devarius’s spine as he released the breath he’d been holding. Before he could set the stone down, it began to vibrate again. A low cracking echoed through the small room. Lines appeared all the way around the stone.

  Devarius opened his mouth like he was about to speak, but he choked on his words when a piece of the stone broke off the top and fell to the floor, and a small reptilian head popped out. It was covered in slime, but it was clearly blue to match the stone … or rather, the shell. At first Devarius thought it was a lizard, but as its claws joined its head on the outside of the shell and broke through the top, Devarius noticed small, slimy wings.

  “A dragon …” Devarius gasped.

  “No,” Tynaer whispered. “A wyvern.”

  The small creature tilted its head as it studied Devarius. It sat in his cupped hands, its shell scattered on the ground below it. Devarius shivered as he watched the creature. It crawled up his arm to perch atop his shoulder. Devarius froze, doing his best to not move, but he could feel his entire body trembling. The wyvern tilted its head from side to side, then it nuzzled against Devarius’s neck. Its scales were coarse against Devarius’s skin, but it didn’t hurt, it tickled. The wyvern paused. Devarius gaped at the small reptile.

  The wyvern grumbled, a noise that sounded like a mix between a growl and a purr. Devarius bit his lip, too scared to move. The wyvern stretched its neck toward Devarius’s face, then licked him on the nose.

  Devarius’s jaw dropped.

  “Yes … I believe first thing in the morning is a good time to talk to Ellisar.”

  “Wh-what should I do until then?”

  Tynaer shrugged, raising his eyebrows. “Bond.”

  Tynaer opened the door and backed out, all the while staring at Devarius and the baby wyvern.

  “Hello,” Devarius squeaked as he looked at the small creature.

  The wyvern tilted its head, then licked Devarius’s face again.

  28

  Devarius sat at a round table between Ellisar and Tynaer. Everyone stared at him, or rather, at the small wyvern perched on his shoulder. Most of the people at the table Devarius didn’t recognize, but he did notice Paedyn and Aquila had been invited. Devarius assumed the others were important leaders in the Resistance.

  “Thank you all for coming. As you may notice, we have very important things to discuss,” Ellisar said.

  “Is that a dragon?” a young man across the table asked.

  “No, actually. But it is one of the reasons we have gathered this afternoon.” Ellisar looked to each person in turn. “All of you have joined the Resistance for a reason. Many of you have lost loved ones: friends or family. We all know the empire rules by force, by tyranny. This is what we want to stop. We want peace in Kaeldroga, not fear.”

  Murmurs of agreement echoed through the small room.

  “For generations, we have searched for a way to combat the empire … but it has not been easy. How do we defeat an army of dragonriders? We have hidden and remained silent for so long because we’ve had no clear answer to that question. Instead, we’ve been building our numbers, training, and using every great mind to find ways to defeat the Dragonia Empire.” Ellisar gestured to Devarius with his hand. “Imagine my surprise this morning when Captain Tynaer and Devarius demanded a meeting, with a promise they had an idea that could turn the tide. When Devarius first entered my chambers with that miniature dragon perched atop his shoulder … I was left speechless.”

  More murmurs filled the room.

  “It is not a dragon, but …” Ellisar trailed off, glancing from one person to the next at the table. “It is a wyvern. Some of you know your history, or rather fables of the past about dragons and wyverns. None were really believed … until dragons appeared around a hundred years ago. The word wyvern seemed to have been lost when that happened; however, I did find a few books with references to them. I can only imagine a long time ago, long before the Dragonia Empire, someone else had seen both dragons and wyverns, but they were wild beasts at the time … no human dared try to tame them. Well, the Dragonia Empire has tamed dragons. We do not have access to the massive creatures. However …” He looked at Devarius. “Devarius has found an island full of wyverns. While wyverns are not as large as dragons, they are in the same family. They may be our key to defeating the Dragonia Empire.”

  “How much smaller are they?” an old man with a thick white beard asked.

  “Perhaps a third of the size … perhaps a little less,” Ellisar said.

  “How many are there?” the same man asked.

  “We don’t know. Devarius was the one who chanced by them, but he didn’t stay on the island long enough to count their numbers. I plan to start an expedition to see how many there are, and if they can be trained. This is a dangerous mission. We do not know if these wild creatures are hostile or not. However”—he pointed to Devarius—“they seem friendly, or at least, indifferent. Devarius also confirmed a large one landed on the ground near him, sniffed him, and took off back into the sky. It did not harm him, which is promising.”

  Chatter filled the room as several men tried to ask various questions.

  Ellisar held his hand high. “Silence.”

  Everyone closed their mouths.

  “This is not a debate. This is an expedition. Tynaer will go, as will Devarius. However, I need volunteers and recommendations. We need enough to stay behind to protect Saefron, but we need more than a few on this expedition: trained warriors, in case we run into trouble or the wyverns aren’t friendly.”

  The room fell silent.

  “No volunteers?” Ellisar asked.

  “I am happy to go,” Devarius said.

  Ellisar smiled. “I already knew you were going. Besides being one of the few who knows where this island is, I do hope that baby wyvern of yours helps convince the other wyverns we’re not enemies.”

  “Unless the mother knows it to be her missing egg and instead wants to kill us all to get her child back,” spat Vikron, a warrior across the table from Devarius.

  Ellisar furrowed his brow. “That is possible, I suppose. I did mention that the mission is dangerous.”

  The room remained silent.

  Ellisar sighed. “The Resistance needs help. We cannot face the dragons man versus beast. We need help, and I believe these wyverns may be that help. We need a full company to travel with Devarius and Tynaer to the island. Warriors are needed, archers, chefs, leatherworkers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, seamstresses, and many more.” Ellisar brushed his hands through his hair. “I don’t imagine this task will be swift. It may take years of training with the wyverns, or it may take less. If we’re successful and begin training with wyverns, I’ll need word back here. But, I’m begging all of you, consider this, consider who you know who would join this mission. We need everyone to help. Tomorrow, they will leave.” Ellisar met every person’s eye. “They will leave at dawn.”

  No on
e spoke as Ellisar rose. “Dismissed.”

  Everyone exited except for Devarius and Tynaer.

  Devarius stood next to Ellisar. “I don’t plan to let you down.” He bowed.

  “Good,” Ellisar said. “But make sure you stay safe.”

  “Of course.” Devarius smiled.

  29

  Devarius shifted, uncomfortable on the large ship. During the long journey to Saefron, he’d grown accustomed to being in charge. Now, he had to sit back and take orders. He didn’t like it. It wasn’t the leader—Tynaer was a good captain—but he felt useless.

  Devarius had been surprised when the Resistance led a small army to a large ship south of the mountains in the bay. Hundreds of men and women joined them on the ship, but Devarius felt so alone. Aquila and Paedyn were with him, as was Jaonos from his original party, but he still felt uneasy. Even though he no longer led them, he was expected to unite the wyverns and humans into some sort of alliance. He didn’t know how he was supposed to do that. The empire seemed to control the dragons like pet dogs as far as he could tell. He didn’t know if he liked that idea either. Sighing, he propped his feet up on the desk in front of him. The wyvern sat next to his feet, licking its scales. Its head twisted around to look at him. The creature leapt onto his shoes and sat, studying him curiously.

  “What do you want?” he asked the creature.

  He had tried to leave his private cabin earlier, but Captain Tynaer ordered him back to his room, to “socialize” with the wyvern. He was supposed to learn about the creature, anything that would be helpful for contacting and forming an alliance with the other wyverns.

  The wyvern climbed across his leg until it rested in his lap. Even though the creature was cute, like a small lizard, he knew it would grow up to be a terrifying beast. Devarius wondered why the creature was growing attached to him. Could it be as simple as it hatched while in his hands and he was the first person it saw? Devarius knew animals bonded with their parents because they were nearby when they were born, but he thought reptiles were different. Since they were in eggs and didn’t experience a live birth, and the creature didn’t seem to require milk, Devarius imagined it would be self-sufficient. However, it seemed to bond with him. It wasn’t cruel or mean to anyone, but it followed Devarius wherever he went, most of the time perched on his shoulder like a parrot. The creature had hatched a few weeks prior and had grown a few inches in size, but it wasn’t growing at an incredible speed. Devarius wondered how long the creature’s maturation would be. More than that, he wondered why it had hatched when he held the egg. Did he just have bad timing—or good, as far as the Resistance was concerned? Or had it been more than that? He felt a connection with the creature, a bond that he couldn’t explain. It was like a tingling sensation that began the moment the creature was born. A spark of connection, if that even made sense. Somehow, Devarius knew what the creature was feeling: the fear, the hunger, and the curiosity.