Dragon Talker (36 page)

“Your task will be to keep everyone in the village. When they try to leave, make sure they are turned back.”

Winderall barely heard the words. His head was still spinning at the thought of anyone subduing a dragon. Could it really be done?

Perante stared at him, waiting for acknowledgment.

“Ah, yes. I will turn them back.” He was still numb at the realization he was about to get a front row seat in Perante’s attempt to do just such a thing.

Chapter 51

Perante walked across the field to the village. No one knew who he was, but it was clear he was trouble. Several men of the village gathered together and went out to meet him. The three men, two with axes and one with a pitch fork, met Perante a hundred yards from the first hut of the village.

“You’re not welcome here,” the leader of the three men said.

Perante ignored the statement, asking, “Where is your dragon talker?”

“I said, ‘you’re not welcome here.’” The man held an ax across his chest and took one step closer to Perante.

Perante raised his right hand and flicked his fingers. The man, caught in the spell, was hurled through the air, back all the way to the first hut. He crashed through the hut’s roof, dead.

Perante pointed his raised hand at one of the two men still standing in front of him. “Where is he?”

The taller of the two stood still, frozen in fear. The other said, “We don’t know. Will you leave this village if we tell you?”

Perante extended his fingers, hand palm down and flat. He swung it over to the taller man and quickly moved it down towards the ground. The tall man collapsed to the ground. Even the man’s pitchfork snapped in half, as if a giant stone had landed on the man as he held it. The remaining villager tried to block out the other sounds as the man was crushed under the force of Perante’s magic.

He realized he was not going to live and there was nothing he could do about it. He stood a little taller. If he was to die, he decided, it would be standing tall. All he could think to say was, “Please don’t.”

Perante’s answer, “Let it be consolation that you make way for a better world,” did not console that man. His death was quick and Perante moved on towards the village.

***

Across the village, people were starting to panic. They didn’t know what, exactly, was happening, but they knew something was, and with news of a nearby village destroyed, it was an easy leap to assume they were in danger. People were running and shouting, trying to find their loved ones. Those who had were looking for places to run or hide.

Yuri couldn’t help but think he led the mage following them right to the village. He couldn’t leave the village to the mage without trying to protect them, and he had no intention of the boys living through another attack.

He shouted above the noise of the villagers at Samantha, who was putting the harness back on the horse, “Take the boys to Mandan. I’ll meet you there.”

She nodded her head and kept working. Yuri could tell she was almost done, so he went to the wagon to talk to the boys. “Samantha will take you out of here to my village.”

“You should come, too,” Stone said.

“I want to, believe me, but I have to try and help.”

Stone started climbing out of the wagon. “Then I’m helping, too.”

Yuri saw Bernard start to get up to follow his brother, even though he was obviously scared. “No, Stone.” He put out his hand, stopping him with one leg outside of the wagon. “You stay with Bernard and Samantha. That’s your job. Make sure the three of you get to my parents.” Yuri pulled open his shirt, and poked his fingers against the scales on his chest. “I’m protected. I’ll be okay.” He touched Stone’s chest. “Not so hard. Keep ‘em safe and I will catch up with you, promise.”

Bernard swung his leg back into the wagon. Samantha had finished harnessing the horse and was climbing up to the driver’s seat. She called to the boys as she sat down, “I want you up front lying down behind this board.” She thumped the board by her seat. She smiled at the boys, “I want you near me so I can keep an eye on you. We’re going to be okay, but we have to move fast and keep our heads down. Yuri will join us later, right Yuri?”

“You boys can count on it. Now git!”

He slapped the horse on the rear and Samantha snapped the reins. The horse started pulling the cart. Yuri took one last look at the boys, touching two fingers to his forehead in a salute. The boys waved back.

“Time to get to work,” he told himself and he turned away from the boys and started surveying the village around him. People were running everywhere. It looked like chaos except for a cluster of men and a few women surrounding the merchant. It looked like the merchant was rallying a group of adults to defend the village. Yuri ran to join them.

“Cory, Wendal, and Sarah, I want you staying back and keep those arrows flying. Don’t stop, but save the silver tips for when he’s close enough that you can’t miss.” He pointed at two young men that looked to be about fifteen, “Willy and Tom, you two are fast, so I need you feeding them arrows. That means finding them.”

The boys nodded their heads. The merchant nodded his head back and told them, “Times wasting. Get going and meet these three on the east side of the village once you have some arrows for them. Go!”

“What about me?” A thin, quiet boy named Cormack asked.

“Cormack, I saved the most important run for you. Get those rabbit legs of yours and get to the dragon talker. Tell him we are under attack by a mage and we need that dragon. If that fool gives you any trouble, tell him there won’t be a village for him to talk for.”

The boys took off, two to find arrows and one to get the talker, and the merchant saw Yuri fast approaching through the gap the boys left in the circle. “You picked a fine time to visit, but I’m glad you are standing with us. What can you do?”

Yuri wasn’t ready to tell them everything, but he needed to tell them enough so they would use him wisely. “I’m strong, real strong, and I’m wearing armor.”

“Then you’re up front with me.” The merchant was holding a staff in his right hand. It was perpendicular to the ground and the top end rested behind and against his shoulder. Yuri had seen the men in his own village who were good with a staff hold it in just the same way. He wondered what good a staff would be against a mage, until he saw the silver tips.

“Do you think you can get close enough to use that?” he asked.

“That will depend on you men,” he pointed at Yuri and two men with swords next to him, “and the archers. We’ll head to the edge of the village, but I want to get a look at this mage before we move. If we get the chance.”

Everyone nodded or voiced agreement, and then they were running towards the edge of their village. Smoke was already rising from the huts on that side. Either panicked people turned over fires inside the huts or the mage was already starting to burn the village. Ashes were starting to fall on them like dark snow.

As they ran, the merchant asked, “How strong is that armor you have?”

Yuri knew he couldn’t hold back now, “Good enough to protect against a mage.”

“You’re not blowing smoke, are you Yuri? I appreciate the backing, but I have to know the truth.”

“Dragon given.”

“Good enough.” The merchant didn’t say anything else as they approached one of the burning huts. They gathered around the merchant, who quickly started giving orders. “If you got a bow, half to the right a couple huts and half to the left. Willy and Tom will be around with arrows, but spread them out. Make them last. We are going to lead him in to the center of the village. Don’t waste the silver. Once we have him past you, I want you to fill his back with silver. Once he’s passed you by and is facing us, let fly and don’t stop when we move in, even if that means hitting a few of us.”

The archers, three men and two women, ran off. Two men and a woman went to the right and the remaining man and woman, husband and wife, actually, went to the left. The merchant stood with the two men with swords and Yuri. “Our job is to get and keep his attention. If we can do that, they just might get an arrow past him. If they do, don’t hesitate. Get in there and cut him to one thousand pieces.”

One of the archers asked, “What’s to stop him from killing us the moment he sees us?”

“Nothing,” the merchant answered, “so we better use the smoke and fire he’s started as our cover. That means we’re going to be hugging these flames.”

The archers nodded. The merchant looked at Yuri and said, “I’ll trust you to know when to try out that armor of yours.”

The hut they were standing behind exploded right in front of them. The blast killed one of the archers outright. The other was writhing on the ground, badly burned. Yuri had been between the merchant and the explosion, so while both men had been knocked down, neither suffered anything more serious than singed clothes.

The merchant looked at his fallen villagers and then his own body and Yuri. “That is some remarkable armor you have there.”

“Yeah, but I wish I knew what its limits were,” he answered.

Yuri was about to get up. The merchant grabbed him and pulled them both down, whispering, “I think you’re going to get the chance to find out. Stay still and let’s see if he walks anywhere near us.”

Yuri had been so focused on the merchant that he hadn’t really noticed the noise and the heat. He did now. He could hear villagers of all ages running, shouting, and screaming as they tried to get out of the village. He also felt the heat of the burning huts washing over him. He remained cool, though, even as parts of his clothes smoldered from the explosion.

He knew he was supposed to stay still, but he couldn’t help but look around for the mage. Through the smoke to his right, he saw a tall man calmly walking into the center of the village. He was twenty feet from Yuri. Yuri knew it was time to test his new strength and speed, steeling himself for the attack. He thought of his own family in Mandan, Samantha and the boys, and all the people in this village who were only trying to go about their lives. Anger built inside of him, lifting him to his feet without even realizing it. It took him a moment to realize he was standing, but when he did, he started running.

***

Even using magic to calm the horse, Samantha was having a hard time getting the horse to listen to her. There was so much noise and confusion, the horse didn’t want to move. Swearing, Samantha jumped to the ground and ran up in front of the horse, putting one hand on each side of the horses head. She could feel the panic race through the horse and run up her arms.

Her own heart began racing even faster than it had been. She willed herself to calm down. She took deep, deliberate breaths while mentally pushing calming energy through her arms and into the horse. It only took a few moments for the horse to come back to its senses. She looked it in the eyes and said, “Good boy, now let’s get the tail out of here.”

Samantha climbed back on to the wagon and snapped the reins. Calmed, the horse started forward. It didn’t take a lot of encouragement to get the horse to speed up. She headed the wagon out of town in the opposite direction of the approaching mage. They were through the square and moving past huts closest to the center.

She called back to the boys, “We’ll be out of here soon.”

Stone asked, “What about Yuri?”

“He’ll be okay,” she reassured him, “remember, he has that dragon armor. That’s pretty strong stuff.”

Looking back at Stone, she could tell he was thinking of getting off the wagon and trying to help Yuri. “Climb up front, Stone, and get ready to help me. This horse is so spooked I may not be able to control him by myself.” It wasn’t true, but she wanted to give Stone a reason to stay in the wagon.

Stone thought about it for a moment and then climbed over the back and joined her. “Okay, I’ll help.”

“Thank you. Once we get to a safe spot, we’ll stop and wait for Yuri.”

Stone nodded his head. Bernard asked, “I thought you were going to take us to his village?”

“I am, but not until we make sure he’s all right. Deal?”

Bernard looked confused, “Are we going or staying?”

“Going,” now Samantha was confused, not sure why he was asking such a question.

“Then why did we turn around?”

“Hey,” Stone added, “we did.”

Samantha yelled, “Whoa,” and stopped the horse. While they were talking, they had turned around. They were now turned around on the path, facing back to the center square.

“How in the world?” Samantha couldn’t believe she had turned the horse around, but here they were. “Let’s try that again. Keep your eyes open, boys. Something strange is going on.”

Both boys looked out and around, looking for something or someone that caused them to turn around. Samantha turned them around and moved them forward again, though a little more slowly. She could see where the village huts became more sparse and opened to a field that was cut down the middle by the trail.

Before they reached the final huts, the horse turned around again, but it still felt like they were moving forward. It wasn’t until they were halfway back to the village square that they realized they had retraced their steps.

Samantha looked at the boys, “Well, this isn’t working to well. I think we’ve been magicked, boys.”

Stone started to climb off the wagon.

“Stone,” Samantha yelled, “what are you doing?”

Mid-climb, Stone answered, “As long as we aren’t leaving, I might as well go help Yuri.”

“Get back here. We need you with us, and I’ve got some tricks to outfox this little magic trick.” Samantha wished she felt as confident as she made herself sound.

Stone wasn’t buying it and finished climbing down. Once on the ground, he started looking for some good sized rocks to add to the collection he kept in his pouch. He wanted bigger stones then the ones he had.

Bernard began climbing down.

“Stone,” Samantha was getting angry, “you are not leaving and you are not bringing your little brother into that.” She emphasized her point by pointing at the section of village engulfed in smoke and flames.