(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider (44 page)

   "I have fought for Arnoran all of my life, and have defeated many kingdoms over the years." Mareston said. "But attacking the dragon empire when you have not secured the lands you now possess, is beyond foolish. My men and I fought to regain the lands that the mage king once owned, but to attack the empire when it was the dragon riders who defeated him the last time that he tried to take their lands from them, is beyond what I will do for Arnoran."

   "You chose wisely." Menimeth said. "But what will you do now, that you have lost the battle?"

   "We will submit to your authority." Mareston replied. "But many of the men under Chidren's command were conscripted into the army under penalty of death. They do not deserve to be executed, and I will gladly give up my life, if you will spare them."

   Menimeth looked at the man who stood before him, and at the men he tried to save, but knew there were those among them that could not be set free. It was a problem he would have to think about, if another solution did not present itself.

   "You will not be executed." Menimeth said. "But we cannot allow you to return to the mage king, to attack us again later."

   "Most of the men will never return to the east and be conscripted into the army again." Mareston said. "We would rather be imprisoned than sent back to him."

   "Then we should discuss the terms of your surrender." Menimeth said to the old solder. "But not in front of the men. Your men will not be harmed while we do, but they will be guarded well."

   "We have already surrendered." Mareston replied. "But I will do as you ask none the less. I would like Commander Gaston to join us if you will agree, for he may have the answers that I may not be able to give you."

   "Then have him join us while we walk." Menimeth said. "And perhaps we can come to some agreement.

   Menimeth wanted to get the men away from the enemy solders who listened to the conversation with extreme interest, so Mareston could speak openly without the fear of being overheard. Leaders could not speak openly in front of their men if they wished to retain the level of respect necessary to lead an army, and Menimeth needed the man to speak unhindered.

   "What do you wish me to do now?" Danorathin asked Menimeth as he began to walk away. "I am hungry."

   "Then you should go hunting my friend." Menimeth told his dragon. "I will call you if I need you."

   The great dragon leapt into the air, and with a stroke of his massive wings, sent men scrambling to get out of the way again. Litlorn, Darik, and the three Commanders from Alenvale, joined the dragon rider as he talked with the enemy Commander, and Commander Rayden and Dorben joined them soon after, as they walked far enough away that the enemy solders could no longer hear them.

   "What are we to do with you?' Menimeth asked the Commander of the enemy solders, when they were far enough from Mareston's men that they could not be heard. "You have created a problem for me that I can see no way to resolve."

   "If you will allow it, there is a land unused by other people that will put us far away from Arnoran, and the wars to the east." Mareston said. "I would like to take the men there, and start a kingdom of our own, where we can live in peace."

   "Where is this unused land that you speak of?" Menimeth asked. "That you would be safe from the mage kings retribution."

   "To the west." Mareston replied. "In a place Gaston has called, 'the Wilderlands'. It is a place that we can forget about the wars, and live a life we would never have been allowed to live under the rule of the mage king."

   "It is a wild and overgrown land you speak of." Menimeth said to the Commander. "And it is hard to reach from here."

   "That is why it serves our purpose better than any other place we could go." Mareston said. "It has all we will need to survive, and it will allow us to trade for the goods we cannot produce, when the need arises. However, there are some of the mage kings solders that will never accept a land of their own, but will try to reach Arnoran with the intention of passing on the information about this battle, and our location. The difficulty in returning from that land will keep most of those men from attempting it, but there are those that will try none the less."

   "That is what I suspected." Menimeth said. "And that is the problem I can see no way to resolve."

   "It is a bigger problem for me and the men who wish to escape the mage kings army." Mareston said. "But it is not a problem for us to resolve the issue."

   "And how would you solve the problem?" Menimeth asked. "That would serve both our interests."

   "Most of the men that we suspect will attempt to return to the mage king, will not survive the trip west." Mareston said. "We will do what we must, to keep Arnoran from finding us."

   "The chance to escape the endless wars that have ended the life of all but twenty of my men." Gaston said. "Comes at a cost that we are willing to pay."

   "But there will be some men that we are unaware of." Mareston added. "If the broken land between the empire and the Wilderlands does not deter them from attempting to return to Arnoran, we will kill anyone we catch trying to cross it on the spot in which we find them. I will have regular patrols that guard the east, so no one will be able to return without authorization."

   "What about the men you send to trade with the empire?" Alazen asked, as he and Donderan joined the conversation. "How does the empire know it is a trading party, and not a group who is trying to reach the mage king?"

   "Commander Gaston will lead any trading party that we send until another of our men can be agreed on by both sides to lead the trading parties in the future." Mareston replied. "No other men will be allowed to cross the broken land without the empire's approval."

   "And if they do cross into the empire without you knowing and we catch them, what are we to do?" Javen asked.

   "Then you should kill them as soon as you find them." Gaston said. "For that is what we will do if we catch them trying to cross the broken lands and return to the empire without the empire's approval."

   "It appears we have come to an agreement." Menimeth said. "But you cannot kill anyone as long as you are in the empire. Once you have passed the golden trees, you will be in what we will call, 'The Dead Lands' from now on, as a deterrent to those that would cross it."

   "It is agreed." Mareston said. "And we will call our new home in the Wilderlands, Drathinvar, the city of peace.

   "The Dragon's Retreat. That is a good name." Litlorn said. "The Elvin Kingdoms will treat you as a friend if you are true to your word, and you build a city that will welcome any who wish to live there in peace."

   "To build a city, and then a kingdom, where all of its people will have the chance to live a better life, is what we wish to do." Mareston replied. "But it will take more than the men that I have now to accomplish that."

   "It will require families to build the kingdom we want." Gaston said. "So we will welcome all who wish to live there, now, and in the future."

   "Then we have completed the negotiations for the terms of your surrender." Menimeth said. "Unless there is anything else you wish to discuss?"

   "There is a matter that will require attention, after we have decided where we will build our city, and a town is built to serve us while it is constructed." Mareston said. "But I am unsure of how to address the problem when it arises."

   "The part where your men will want to find a wife, and start a family of their own." Menimeth said, before the Commander could continue.

   "Yes, that is the one thing that a man will risk his life for." Mareston said. "I have considered building a road through the Dead Lands when we have built our town, to give me more time to deal with the problem."

   "It may serve two purposes." Menimeth said. "If a road is built, than more people will be able to reach you, and I will allow your men to come to the empire to look for a wife in small groups."

   "Then I can only think of one more matter to discuss." Mareston said, as he looked at Gaston. "There are a few men among the ranks of our solders that were not sent by the mage king. They were the outlaws from the empire that Chidren recruited to attack anyone who traveled on the roads of the west, and fled to the camp in the northeast to avoid capture when we were driven out of the south."

   "We will want those men handed over to the dragon guard." Menimeth said as he pointed to the warriors of the empire. "To stand trial for their crimes against the people of the realms."

   "They are the ones that do not wear the armor of the mage king." Gaston said. "Chidren did not care if they were killed, and would not allow us to give them armor. They have no honor, and we would have not allowed them to reach the Wilderlands anyway, so I will have my scouts arrest them and hand them over to your men as soon as we return to them."

   "Then it is settled." Menimeth said. "You and your men will need your weapons if you are too tame the wilderlands, and you may keep all of the horses you came with. You will need to recover the bows from your dead as well, so you will be able feed all of you men until you reach your destination."

   "You are not the man we expected to find when we arrived in the empire." Mareston said, as they turned to walk back to his men. "And you have done something that no other king would have done, in allowing us to live after being defeated in an attack on your lands. Much less allow us to go to a land that is on the opposite side of your empire from the very enemy that sent us here, to build a kingdom of our own."

   "He is not like any other king in the lands of magic." Litlorn said to the two Commanders of the defeated army. "And not because he is a dragon rider, but because he cares more for his people than he does himself."

   "And do not call him sire or your majesty, and do not bow to him, lads." Donderan added. "Or he will threaten to have his dragon eat you."

   Mareston and Gaston looked at each other, and then back at the dwarf, with an expression of bewilderment on their faces. It was apparent to the men around them that the two commanders were confused, and did not understand what the dwarf was saying. It did not stop the dragon rider's friends from laughing at the dwarf's remark, which confused the commanders even more. Menimeth looked at Donderan, and the dwarf only smiled and shrugged his shoulders, which caused the laughter to continue.

   "Do not fear." Kyler said. "The dragon rider is not all that pleased at being our king, but would prefer to be a lowly warrior instead. He has never sat on the throne in his castle, and he conducts his business in a tavern. He does not believe that the empire should serve him, but that he serves the empire and all of its inhabitance instead."

   "I have never heard of a king like that before." Gaston replied. "But I would follow such a man as the one you describe, without question."

   "But a king like that would not want that kind of blind loyalty." Mareston said to Gaston. "He would never believe that you understood what he wished to accomplish, if you did not question his orders."

   "You are the first man to show an understanding of the dragon riders ways, that I have met." Litlorn said. "Even the council of elders in the Elvin kingdoms, are baffled by him."

   "It is in the best interest of the empire to open a road between the White Kingdoms and ourselves." Menimeth said. "And to have a place to rest along the way, and re supply before moving on, is invaluable."

   "That is true." Alazen said. "Since it is the ancestors of the people of the empire, who built the White kingdoms."

   "Then we can serve more than one purpose." Mareston said. "For there are men who were forced to fight for Arnoran that will fight for you freely, when the mage king attacks the empire in the east."

   "Then you know he will attack us, but do you know when?" Feran asked.

   "That I do not know." Mareston replied. "But he cannot yet leave the castle of Kath, and it will be at least two or three years before he can. Even then, he will not be able to leave the island for another three years. The affects of the spell are not yet lifted, but he regains more of his power with the passing of every day."

   He will attack, before he is able to leave the island, but not before he can leave the castle." Gaston said. "I overheard Chidren and Arnoran as they discussed it one day, but did not remain where I was long enough to over hear the whole conversion."

   "That will be enough time for us to prepare for his armies." Menimeth said. "Now we must see to the wounded on both sides, and put this battle behind us. Commander Rayden, would you help with the wounded among Commander Mareston's men?"

   "I will have Dorben began right away." The commander said, as Dorben turned and walked in the direction of the warriors of the lost Cavalry.

   Javen, Feran, and Kyler, began to see to the wounded of their armies, as the outlaws of the empire among the solders of Commander Mareston's men were handed over to the Dwarf and Elvin warriors. Litlorn and Donderan walked to where their kinsmen held the prisoners, and talked to one another of the events of the day, excitedly. Darik located the mages sent from Kath and began relieving them of their possessions, along with the staff each one carried. These he would keep until he could train enough people in the dragon arts, to weld them properly.

   Menimeth looked at the dead warriors and solders scattered around the battlefield, and mourned their loss. There were those that needed to die, and their evil stamped from the land, but there were far more that did not. The first battle for the empire was over, and it was the warriors of the empire that had won. There would be a larger army next time, but he knew they had the time to prepare for the attack that was sure to come. It was an overwhelming victory, but this was only the beginning of the second Great War for the Great Dragon Empire.

   Menimeth knew the empire was still in peril, but for now he would let the men celebrate their victory. They had earned it with their bravery and skill, and they had done all that he had asked, so the war could wait for a few days more Menimeth thought. They would bury their dead with honor, and honor their heroes with pride, and celebrate the victory across the empire, but one day soon they would have to turn their attention back to the east.