Quarterstars Awakening

by David L. McDaniel

  “I don’t know yet. I suppose I will send you back.”

  “What do I tell her? Actually, all she wants me to do is find you and then bring her to you so that you can take her to the king.”

  “Well then I guess that is what you should do, she is after all, our supreme leader, but tell her I will take her only on my terms.” Daegon smiled. “Maybe I’ll take her as I march this army to battle and she will witness me killing this elven king.”

  Traegon nodded his head, but did not like the direction this was headed. “Then I will leave right now.”

  “No. There is no great hurry. We will be camped here for at least a few more days, maybe a week. So relax, spend some time with me tonight. Tomorrow at dawn you can leave.”

  Traegon smiled and exhaled a sigh of relief. “Fine, I’ll leave tomorrow and then I will bring the Great Mother back with me.”

  “That’ll work. When she returns, I’m sure I’ll have a big surprise for her beloved elves.”

  Chapter 12

  Voll awoke an hour before sunrise. The night sky was still dark, but the horizon had a slightly brighter tint as the sun neared the horizon. The night insects creaked and chattered as Voll rolled up his blanket into a tight ball and packed it away in the saddlebags. The morning chill had a calm, yet damp feel to it. It felt to him that today the sun was not going to bring anything more with it than the daily light. He then put the saddle pad on the horse, and placed the saddle on top. After he cinched it down, he pulled out a bag with corn and sugared oatmeal, and took a handful for himself. His horse eyeballed him as he chewed. Smiling, he filled his hand again and put it under the horses nose. The horse lipped it up and nodded his head back and forth, as he chewed his snack.

  Voll looked to the south and wondered how the elves had fared against the dragon. He took the reins off the tree where he placed them for the night, removed the horse’s halter, and put in its bit and reins. Mounting his horse, he continued southward, staying just off of the trail where the elves had traveled just in case there were any scouts to the rear.

  The trail was still very easy to follow since the elves were traveling in such a hurried pace, but now it was getting harder for him to stay hidden since they were leaving the mountains and traveling the flat plain lands that lacked dense vegetation. Therefore, Voll decided to pick up the pace and use the last bit of mountain trees while he could.

  The sun had risen and dark rain clouds were slowly beginning to roll in bringing with it a light breeze. Occasionally the sun would peak in and out of the scattered dark clouds. Voll’s horse began to sweat from running all morning. He knew the elves would be moving even faster now that they were in safe territory, so he felt that speed was of the essence, and his attention was so focused on moving ahead that he almost ran over the dragon lying in the ravine at the neck of a draw in between two hills.

  The dragon was nestled in between a clump of low bushes. Voll was hustling down the draw and did not see the dragon, but his horse did and stopped so fast that all four hooves slid nearly three feet down the soft slope. The horse then pulled his head back and tried to turn around. Voll yelled at the horse and pulled back on his reins to regain control still not knowing what had spooked him.

  It was not until the dragon lifted his head that Voll had realized the extent of the danger he was in. He yanked his reins to the left and charged away from the dragon. Expecting to be chased and hunted down he did not even look back until he crested the top of the hill. When he did look back, he noticed that the dragon had not even moved.

  Voll stopped his horse and turned her around so he could get a look at the dragon. It just lay there in the bushes. It had laid its head back down and all Voll saw was the top of the dragon’s spine just cresting above the foliage. He stayed motionless for many minutes in fear and curiosity, but soon the curiosity took over since the dragon did not stir during the time he watched it. “Well Rox, should we check it out?” Voll asked his horse, leaning forward to whisper into her ears. As he did so, her left ear swiveled around while keeping her right ear attuned to the dragon.

  “Then let’s go,” Voll said as he crept his horse down the hill and when he got within fifty feet of the motionless dragon, he dismounted and laid the reins on the ground so that they hung freely in front of the horse. “Wait here,” he said as he stroked the horse’s neck. Just feeling the soft fur of his long-time friend seemed to calm him briefly.

  The dragon lay still like it was near death, and its breathing was slow and labored. Still being cautious, he approached from the backside of the dragon. Once he got close, he could see the blood was oozing down the side of the dragon from between many of its scales. Curious and enticed to learn more, he crept forward. He thought about drawing his sword, but decided not to, out of fear he might alert the dragon of his presence.

  He continued on, step by cautious step, until he reached the tip of the dragon’s tail. Something within him, his curious urge to touch caused him to reach out and stroke the end of the tail. He immediately stopped himself just as his fingertip was just about to touch the end of the tail. The dragon must know of his presence by now. He stood silent, debating whether to touch the dragon, until the urge overcame his fear of retribution.

  First, he bent down to his knees, feeling the soft ground beneath him, pausing slightly to take a deep breath, he reached out and stroked one of the small scales on its tail. Expecting the dragon to lash out, he removed his hand, but to his surprise, the dragon did not respond. Feeling a little more confident, he reached out for the tail again. As he touched the dragon’s tail, he noticed that the scales were rough and hard as rock, yet jagged like tree bark. This time, the dragon responded to his touch, not by moving or attacking, but by giving a loud snort that shook the bushes in front of him from the sudden burst of air.

  Voll jumped back, but soon realized that the dragon was still not about to attack. He stood motionless, frozen in fear for many minutes before he realized that the dragon had as many as two-dozen arrows pelted underneath its scales.

  “Just do it. If you’re going to kill me, then do it now, and be done with it,” Voll heard a raspy female voice say inside of his head.

  “What?” he said aloud and feeling a little confused by voice.

  “Aren’t you here to kill me?”

  “Are you talking to me?”

  “Whom do you think I’m talking to, if not you?”

  Voll’s eyes opened wide with shock and wonder. “No, I won’t kill you,” he said as he walked around to the front of the dragon. The dragon’s head was as big as the barrel of his horse. The nose of the dragon lay in the dirt and its upper teeth protruded over the bottom of its mouth and almost touched the dirt. Slimy brown saliva dripped into the dirt from the corners of her mouth as the dragon watched Voll with her dark yellow eyes. Bumpy ridges ran up the top of its nose leading to two dirt-brown horns above its eyes. The dragon closed its eyes after watching him for a few minutes.

  “Did the elves do this to you?” Voll asked.

  The dragon’s eyes snapped open, and she lifted her head, letting out a gurgled, almost terrifying growl, and then dropped her head back down to the ground, making a slight thud in the soft soil.

  “Yes. I just wanted a tasty snack. The first elf I ate didn’t even satisfy that urge. I so much wanted that second little elf by the creek,” The dragon went on, but then stopped and let out another puff of air that almost knocked Voll over. He felt the heat mist as it came from deep inside the dragon’s inner body.

  “Are you going to eat me?” Voll asked.

  “If I wasn’t so tired, I might. My back stings so bad and I am beyond being angry or hungry.”

  “Can I help you then?” Voll asked, and was surprised as he said it, for it came with
out any thought, or planning.

  “How?”

  “I will pull out the arrows and stuff your scales to stop the bleeding.”

  “I don’t need help from a puny human.”

  “Fine, then lay there in your own pity and bleed to death. I don’t care. You will only be one less dragon to raid my crop and home. I really don’t know what I was thinking.”

  The dragon was silent, and did not stir for many moments before it responded. “I hope mother doesn’t find out.”

  Voll froze. “Mother?”

  “Yes, mother hates humans. She doesn’t even find them tasty, but she does like killing them, but she might like elves, they have a nice earthy taste. They are softer, juicier and not so crunchy as humans.”

  “Then I suggest we had better hurry. I can get you well, and then you can show her where the elves are, get your meal and some revenge.” Voll said smiling.

  “Good idea, though I know she won’t like you at all.”

  Voll walked around again to the back of the dragon and climbed onto the dragon. Starting at a few scales on the lower side of the dragon’s neck, he pulled out the first arrow. The dragon lifted her head and jerked back and forth while bellowing out a loud roaring screech. A noise very unlike any sound Voll had ever heard, especially from a dragon. The dragon thrashed about wildly, sending Voll flying about fifteen feet sideways into the bushes.

  “That hurt!” The dragon belted, and then realized that her help was missing. “Human, where are you?”

  Voll sat up, made a mental check to see if he was injured. “I’m over here, you stupid beast.”

  ‘Stupid? Don’t get so brave little man. Even in this condition, it will be very easy to toast your bones.”

  “Fine, be that way. I’m going now,” Voll said as he dusted off his arms and legs, and walked back towards his horse.

  “Wait. Come back. I’ll be more careful not to throw you again.”

  The dragon still wanted his help, unbelievable though it seemed. He was very much regretting his decision to help this dragon, but something still compelled him to do just that. Shaking his head, he walked back to finish what he started.

  “Good, but now I realize this is going to be a little more difficult than I expected. I need to know what is in this for me. I am no longer in the mood for good deeds for the sake of doing a good deed. I have an urgent need to catch up to those elves that peppered your back.”

  The dragon lifted its head and smiled. “I have an idea. How is this for incentive, you can leave me here to die and mother will hunt down and scorch you? She will find you because you left your scent all over my back. Finding you will be so very easy for her.”

  Voll shook his head, a little annoyed and frustrated, but managed to smile a little, realizing the fact that he was actually talking to a living, fire-breathing dragon. “Extortion will get you nowhere. I am a trained scout and can hide from you and your clumsy mother. I can blend in with my surroundings better than an elf, I can be under your nose, and if the wind is blowing away from you, and I would make sure it was, you would never find me. But, regardless, and for the life of me I do not know why, I want to help you. So, maybe you can come up for some real reward for me helping you. I will start working, and you start thinking.”

  Climbing back onto the dragon, hoping that his ridiculous bluff would stick, he looked at all the arrows he now had to pull, and all the scales he had to stuff to stop the bleeding. Some of the scales were slick with the black blood oozing from underneath the scales.

  “So, uh, what is your name, dragon?” Voll said, breaking the silence and hoping to distract the dragon as he pulled out the next arrow.

  “You probably can’t pronounce it.

  “Then make one up.”

  “Fine. Then call me Aegyn.”

  “Aegyn, nice to meet you,” he said as he pulled another arrow out from her flesh. She squirmed some in a great effort not to toss Voll off of her back again.

  Voll continued to work at pulling the arrows out from underneath her scales. After he had half of them pulled, the bleeding began to increase, so he went back to his horse and grabbed his sleeping roll and with his sword ripped it into as many pieces as he could. He ran back to Aegyn and stuffed the rags tightly underneath the scales to stop the bleeding. By this time, Aegyn was either asleep or unconscious. Either way he was able to speed up his work and not worry about being thrown off of the dragon’s back again.

  About an hour later, Voll pulled out the last arrow and stuffed the last scale. Jumping off of Aegyn’s back, he noticed that the day was almost gone. I have got to get out of here he thought to himself, but curiosity got the best of him again. He walked in front of Aegyn to see if she was still alive. He looked at her, and her eyes were closed. He was about to lift her eyelid, or find a way to wake her up, when his horse, who had been so patient during this time whinnied and bolted at a full sprint passed him and off deep into the woods.

  Aegyn’s eyes popped open, and her talon claw reached out and pinned Voll to the ground. “What the . . .?” Voll squelched as his face pounded the soft dirt.

  “Stay still. Play dead,” Aegyn warned.

  As Voll lay motionless in the dirt, and feeling the weight of her talon on his back, he saw out of the corner of his eye the shadow of another dragon. This dragon flew directly overhead, very low, and followed the path of his horse. The bushes rustled form the wind of the flying dragon.

  “No!” Voll shouted. Realizing Rox was in grave danger.

  “Shut-up, or you’re next!”

  “No, no, no, no,” Voll whispered as he heard his horse whinny for the last time. Then he heard a loud popping sound of bone breaking then being crushed, followed by some thrashing of vegetation, then silence.

  Within seconds, the dragon was circling overhead again. He could hear the wings beating in the air, and as it circled, it descended closer and closer to the ground. The air and bushes vibrated and shook with every beat of her wings. Then it landed on her hind legs in front of them and slowly snaked her long neck to the ground stopping only inches from Voll’s face. The dragon sniffed Voll’s body a number of times before it stopped. The two dragons stood very still facing each other.

  Voll guessed that this was Aegyn’s mother as she was larger and her head was twice the size of Aegyn’s. He could tell that they were talking to each other, but he could not hear their voices. They were silent for many minutes while he lay pinned under the huge talon. His back ached and he felt a small stream of blood trickle down his ribs caused from the talon wearing into his side. He thought it ironic that the tickle from the blood irritated him more than the pain of the wound.

  “Let him go,” he finally heard a voice command inside of his head. The talon lifted off of his back, and Voll worked his way to his hands and knees and then arched his back from all fours before working his way to his feet.

  The dragon that stood in front of him was enormous, at least twice the size of Aegyn, and was twice as frightening. Her eyes were solid black, and inset deep into the skull, like they had a black bone protruding above her eyes. The scales on her head were sleek and velvety that led to the horns on her head. Her horns circled around backwards from the head and then pointed back to the front almost even with the nose. Her teeth were jagged, sharp, and uneven. Some were missing, while others were brown and rotting. Her breath stunk as a dead carcass smells after being in the sun for many hours. She stood erect on her hind legs and tucked her wings in tight to her back. “Aegyn tells me that you saved her life.”

  Voll brushed the wet dirt off of his arms. “I helped ease her pain.”

  “You pulled the slivers that the elves wounded her with out of her back.”

 
“Yes, I did.”

  “This is the first time that the elves have harmed any one of us.”

  Voll turned red with anger and walked a few steps toward the dragon, shaking his fist. “Well if you would spread around more of your hatred by attacking the elves like you attack us, they might have harmed you long ago.”

  The dragon went back to all fours and stretched her neck out so that it was only inches away from Voll’s face. “We are of the same nature. The elves have not threatened us until now. Elves and dragons should do no harm to each other.”

  “But they have, and now you should retaliate.”

  “No. We will not. We are peaceful unless threatened.”

  “Oh, and how have we humans threatened you? All we did was reside in the land below your mountains, then you attack us, kill our livestock, ruin our homes, and murder our people.”

  “No! You occupy our land, you cut our trees, and dirty our rivers, diminish our prey, and shoot your slivers at us when we fly near. Your numbers grow so fast. Soon you will outnumber us so greatly that you will hunt us down for sport. We will not allow this.”

  Voll turned around and walked away. “There is no sense in this.” Voll had only taken a few steps before grabbing his head, pulling his hair, and then spinning back around. “My horse! You ate my horse! Now what am I supposed to do?”

  “Why? Are you hungry?” the dragon said smiling.

  “No. I am not hungry! I need to get somewhere, and fast!”

  Voll and the dragons stood in silence for a few seconds before the mother dragon answered.

  “Well, you helped my daughter. So, I may help you.”

  “Oh, no, I don’t want any tricks out of you. I know how this works. I jump on your back, you fly to your lair and then I am a tasty little snack for your little ones like Aegyn.”

  The dragons laughed. “Tempting as that may be I would not do that. I am a mother of many young dragons that have not yet feasted on human flesh, and they would much enjoy you.”