Dragon Rider (DragonMage Saga) (38 page)

Angel and his friends not letting
on about them riding dragons don’t have these tools or ointments. They try to
make do with what they can find, and tools for cleaning between the dragons’
feet, are hard to find. They are happy as their dragons are in good condition
and don’t seam to have any of the lice or ticks that dragons sometimes get.

Angel did happen to notice at
times, they were very quiet but the dragons never said anything to them. Angel
did have a suspicion at what it was but waited, for they needed to tell them
when they felt ready. In the mean time they tried to make the dragons happy
when they could feel those times coming on.

Getting back just in time for the
evening meal they went right in when they come up from their secret room.
Finding a seat they dug right into their meal and had big heaped platefuls, for
they found them selves hungry.

Having finished their meal they
took dinks up to their room where they sat and talked about what they were
going to do. Angel looking a little worried. ‘When we see Gavrie in class
tomorrow we need to talk to him about the shield and what has happened when we
tried it. There must be something we are doing wrong.’

‘We’ll also have to look at the
book of Legends before the library misses it. Also I think we are going to need
to keep looking in the library up in those top shelves for books that might
help us. As that seams to be the place where they hide books they do not want
students to look at.’ Shylyn moved around trying to get comfortable.

Medwin spoke before any others
could. ‘We should look in the library also for anything on the shield and not
being able to cast magic from within it.’

‘Maive, do you want to get the
book of Legends so we can see what it says about the Renegades. I think it time
we saw what is in that book.’ Angel poured himself another drink while they
waited.

Maive returned very quickly and
they once more settled themselves down for a reading session. ‘Ok let’s see
what the index in the book says. 1, Renegades a few facts. 2, Renegades where
they come from, 3 one possible reason for why they went that way, 4 what are
their motives, 5 the main legend of the Renegades, 6 what is a Dragon Mage.
That’s what the index says is in the book, so I will give you the main facts to
save reading every word.’ Moving to get herself into a nice and comfortable
position, before she starts reading.

Ok Renegades a few facts, they
restrain their dragons by magic so they can ride them.’ ‘Heartless bustards,
they should all be hung for what they do to dragons.’ Shylyn had a look on her
face that would kill.

‘Now as I was saying, by
restraining their dragons by magic this allows their wizards to ride the dragons
and not have to worry about getting somebody to do the controlling for you. No
one knows where they get their dragons from but they have a lot.’ Maive stopped
as Angel wanted to say something.

‘I wander if we asked the
Renegades dragon about the Renegade if it would tell us anything about them. It
might be worth trying the next time it comes. Ok Maive thanks for stopping.

‘That’s ok, it says the spell
they use bonds the dragon to it’s rider for life and only death will break the
spell bond. If other Renegades are around when that happens, they immediately
cast a spell on the dragon to keep it for another wizard.’ She stops as a tear
runs down her face.

‘It’s ok Maive we will help at
lest one when we free him from the Renegade.’ Angel gave her a reassuring pat
on her shoulder.

‘Ok number two Renegades where do
they come from. Now this is interesting, you listen; where the Renegades come
from is in hot debate as no one really knows. No one has ever tried to follow
them back. The council is very sure they are not based on this world. Dragon
Riders have scoured the country side trying to find any hint of where they come
from. That’s all it got on that one.’ Taking a sip of water before she carried
on.

‘One possible reason for why they
went the way they did. It is thought that a very long time ago a very power
full wizard had followers and something happened to him so his followers went a
way from the other wizards. They shunned any contact as they held the other
wizards responsible for what happened to him. Then they started attacking any
Dragon Rider who came close to where they hid out.’

Finding it late they decided it
would be time to pack up and go to sleep for it was hard work with the shield
spell. Maive took the book up with her and placed it in the hiding place she
had found. They would carry on tomorrow.

Just as they were about to go to
bed, there came a knock on the door, stopping what they were doing except Maive
who took the book up to her room.

Angel went to the door to find
Gavrie standing there looking at him. ‘I’m just making sure you are ready for
bed and I see that you are packing up so I will leave you to it, in the morning
you will be up in the crystal chamber with me, good night.’

In the morning knowing they are
to have Gavrie up in the Crystal Chamber, they have breakfast and head off up
there and decide to cast the spell and have the ball of fire enveloping Angels
shield, for when Gavrie comes in. They get themselves set and are about to do
it when in walks Gavrie wanting to know what they are about to do.

Angel looks at the others and
then back at Gavrie. ‘Yesterday we practiced with our shields. One of us would
fire a small ball of fire at each other and see how the shields hold. We were
getting carried away and so fired more and more balls of fire at each other,
well our shield enveloped us with fire and we could not use our magic to get
out.’

Gavrie was listening to every
word Angel had said and slowly a smile comes to his face. ‘Well I see what I
was going to show you today you have already found out, but I will show you now
and then explain. Now I want you Angel and Medwin to throw fire balls at me and
as many as you can, now?’

Angel and Medwin looked at him
and then looked at each other and started firing balls of fire. ‘How many do
you want us to fire, we don’t want to hurt you?’ Medwin asked as he still sent
fire balls of fire at him.

For a start Gavrie held his
shield just like a shield, deflecting the balls of fire away. Then he let the
shield envelope him and he soon was standing inside a ball of fire. As the fire
surrounded him he explained what was happening. The sound of his voice was
muffed but they could still hear him.

‘Once your shield envelopes you
and that would be because what ever spell was hitting you was getting too much
to be deflected. The shield will envelope you to protect you better but the
shield use’s your magic and once your shield is a complete circle your magic is
used solely for that. You can not cast spells for your magic is trying to
defend you. I did mention this the other day and thought I had better show you’
Gavrie could see slow comprehension on their faces showing.

‘Then what good is your shield if
you can’t use your magic?’ Angel had stopped firing fire balls. The look on his
face told Gavrie the way he felt.

‘It was to show you how to use
your shield to deflect the spell rather than let them engulf you. If you use it
as a straight shield then you can still cast spells and use your magic. Your shield
will only take a little bit of your magic, where as the full enclosed shield
takes all your magic to keep you protected.’ Looking at them as he told them.
They would have to learn like them all, they must use their shield very
carefully.

‘From what we have tried not even
our most powerful wizard can use magic from inside a closed shield.’ Speaking
as he closed his shield down forming into a normal shield that deflected the
last of the fire. This happening as he finished telling them.

‘How did you make your shield go
like that without using magic?’ Medwin still had an astonished look on his face
as he asked.

‘That was another thing I was
going to show you today, now come on over and sit down while I explain.’ Gavrie
had moved into the middle as he spoke.

They all come and sat down in
front of him and waited for him to explain. Looking from one to the other he
starts. ‘This is why this lesion is very important, so you can get yourself out
of the shield if needs be without pouring water all over your shield to put the
fire out.’

‘Has no one ever been able to use
magic within one of the enclosed shields?’ Shylyn moved into a better position.

‘We have tried and tired to be
able to use magic from in one but we have never been able to. So that’s why we
will teach you to work your shield into that of a normal shield. Also we will
show you how to close your shield down with out the fire getting you or what
ever is keeping your shield up.’ Looking at them as he finished.

‘Can you show us how to open the
shied once it has enclosed us? We don’t want to get wet again?’ Medwin had a
plaintive look on his face as he asked.

‘I think it would be a good Idea
to show you how to do that first and then we will concentrate on making normal
shields. You feel the shield envelopes you and then you feel it and grab the
shield and split it open spreading it to form a shield. As you do this any
lingering fire or whatever spell made the shield encase you will be dispersed.
Thus freeing you to use your magic again unless whoever is casting spells at
you keep on doing this till your shield collapses.’ He showed them as he
explained how it was done.

‘What about the other day when
you fired those two balls of fire at me the shield stopped them in mid air?’ He
looked at Gavrie waiting to find out how that happened.

‘They were small fire balls and I
did not throw them that hard, so your shield just opened enough for you to be
able to grab the fire balls and use them yourself. Now if I had sent them
harder it would have been a different story. Your magic shield will not stop
every thing and the more powerful spells thrown at you, will get through the
shield so what we try to do is show you how you can deflect them away so that
it only just knocks you about.’ He looked to see there was a little bit of fear
in their eyes before he carried on. ‘But it still hurts when it hits and can do
damage, so what we try to do is show you how you can try to limit the damage it
does.’

They looked at him and he could
see the fear there which they needed for that would make them more aware of any
magic cast at them. They spent the rest of the morning practicing how to
deflect spells and how to open a full enveloped shield. By lunch time they were
very hungry and Gavrie could see they had a good work out with their magic.

The afternoon finds them with
spare time so head for their room and the dragons. Their dragons were waiting
for them and they took off and flew where they usually go under the decks so as
they don’t get seen. They arrive and go and sit with their dragons in the sun
just out from the cave. They talk about what they had been learning and Angel
thinking looked at the others.

‘I want to try something and want
you to hit me with a lot of fire balls as I want the shield up to try this. I
will move out onto the middle of the deck and you can start.’ Angel moved over
to the middle of the deck and readied himself for the attack.

Medwin was first up followed by
Shylyn and Maive as they spread them selves out. They all started throwing fire
balls at Angel and his shield came up immediately as he was engulfed in flame.
Angel tried to use his magic but it would not work so he then called Aura and
drew her magic to him.

‘Ok Aura I will use your magic to
fire a spell at them and we will see if that works. I will throw a fire ball at
them all so lets see if it works.’ Angel looked at Medwin, Shylyn and Maive and
drew Auras magic to him and cast the three balls of fire at them.

Suddenly just outside the shield
with the flames around there appeared three balls of fire which went right at
the three. The balls hit their shields and were deflected away, but the look on
their faces brought a smile to Angels face. He had just done what they were
told could never be done.

Medwin, Shylyn and Maive ran to
him as he peeled back his shield killing the flames. They all spoke at once as
they got to him. ‘How did you do that?’

Angel had a big smile on his face
as he looked at the expressions on their faces. ‘You have a guess and tell me,
come you must work it out?’

They looked at him but still no
one knew what he had done. ‘Who here is not shielded or using their magic.
Think about it, as it hit me when it came to me. There are four here who are
not using magic.’

Maive was the one to pick it up
and a smile lit up her face as she spoke. ‘Our dragons magic, you used Auras
magic while yours was fighting the fire balls.’

The others suddenly brightened up
when she said it, and they all suddenly wanted to try it out and make sure they
could do it. They spent the afternoon just doing that and not worrying about
the Renegade as they were having fun and didn’t want anything to spoil it.

It was late afternoon when they
had enough for they felt themselves tiring and so called it off. They mounted
their dragons and were flown back to the deck close to the school. They are
very careful for if the wizard seen them coming up and over onto the deck it
would be it for them.

The dragons come up close to the
deck Angel could just about touch it. They landed and gave their dragons a hug
and told them they would be back tomorrow. They walked through and had to wait
for the wizard who was on duty up in the tower was looking this way so they
waited.

The wizard finely went allowing
them to get to the wall between the decks and go down to their tunnel and back
to their secret room. They didn’t stay long and soon found themselves in the
meal hall with a plate full of goodies. Finding a seat close to a corner where
they could talk. ‘Now that we can use magic from within the shield we should
try it with the combined shield and see what it would be like. We never did try
our magic out when we tried it so we will need to do it and soon.’ Having just
finished her meal Shylyn stood up.