Dragons of Summer Tide (The Dragons of Hwandor) (18 page)

Stammering just a bit, a confused looking Jolss began to answer. “It was an orphanage farm where they take care of orphans and we do all of the work around the farm until we are old enough to sell off as apprentices.”

“I know how orphan farms work, I want to know where the orphan farm is,” said Cyerant.

“Just inside the lands of
Calyen,” answered Jolss.

“Calyen, isn’t that a large duchy in the east?” Asked Veer.

“Yes,” answered Cyerant. “It’s the largest duchy in the kingdom. It’s so large that the Duke there wants to become a king himself. He has been quietly claiming more and more lands for himself. Those guards that are following me are from Calyen.”

Shira looked at Jolss and asked. “How did you get this far west to the little village that we found you in?”

“A trader,” Jolss answered. “I was sold to a trader as an apprentice. But he kept stopping at places and buying other apprentices until he had a dozen of us. No trader needs that many apprentices. And he said that we were going over the mountains and that we would be worth a lot to him. We just kept heading west toward the mountains until one night I sneaked away and then just ran as far as I could. I knew that there were larger cities to the south so I just followed the trail south until in got bigger and bigger and I moved through little villages begging for food or helping some people do some work for food and a place to sleep. But I never stole anything like that shopkeeper said. I just wanted to get to the cities so that maybe I could find a job or something.”

“What did the orphan farmer tell you about how you got there?” Asked Cyerant.

“He said I looked to be about a year old when I came,” responded Jolss. “His wife told me that I was found with the body of a man who had been attacked by robbers on the road and killed. And they just left me there with him. An old farmer found me and he didn’t need anymore children so he took me to the orphan farm and they named me Jolss.”

Cyerant finally stood and said, “I have to walk.” But there was a dangerous edge of anger in his voice as he glared at the dragon that had been blocking his way earlier.  Corth, finally stepped aside and let the young man pass.

Jolss looked panicked trying to figure out what he had done wrong to make is brother walk away and his eyes began to tear up as he asked. “Why is he angry with me.? I can’t help what happened to me.”

Shira was still kneeling on the ground just behind Jolss where she had lifted his tunic and she just reached forward and put her arms around the shoulders of the boy and pulled him into a hug leaning back against her. “He isn’t angry at you. He loves you. But this is a lot of news to take in at once. He thought that his whole family was gone, and now he has you back.” As Shira said this she looked over the shoulder of the boy and made eye contact with Veer and then glanced toward the spot where Cyerant had gone into the brush. With a tiny nod Veer quietly rose and followed in the direction that Cyerant had gone. Shira continued. “Veer will talk to him and it is going to be ok. So tell me about the orphan farm I’ve heard that they are terrible places and they work the kids really hard and beat them.”

“No not our farm. The farmer and his wife were nice people who had a big farm but didn’t have kids of their own. So they started taking in orphans to help on the farm. We all had lots of chores to do because it was a farm but we had really good fresh food and clean clothes and a warm dry place to sleep. We worked every day but not like slaves.”

“Did they beat you?”

“No, they didn’t beat us, well sometimes if you did something really bad you might get a hiding but just like a normal kid gets.”

“Who taught you to read?”

“The farmer and his wife did. Every night after supper we would have lesson time before bed and we learned to read and to do calculations. I’m really good with calculations.”

“Were there a lot of kids there?”

“There were always about ten of us. Occasionally a new little one would arrive and there was always one or two who were going off to become apprentices or sometimes the girls would decide to get married. Because we could read and do math it was easier to find something for us.

Veer soon caught up to Cyerant who had only walked far enough way to be out of sight but was close enough to still hear the conversation between Shira and Jolss. Veer said nothing and just stood there next to his friend the both of them listening to the conversation back at the camp.

After about 20 min of silent listening Cyerant turned and looked at Veer and with a nod slowly led the way back to camp.

The next week of travel passed uneventfully with Shira and Cyool doing the scouting so that there would be no surprise encounters though they did pass parties of trappers headed north nearly every day now. Each evening Shira, with the help of Cyool, would quickly have something to roast over the fire. Cyerant and Jolss had a lot to talk about as they got to know one another and Cyerant insisted on calling the younger boy Daralce now.

Finally an evening came when as Cyool scouted up and down the trail a final time Shira saw the end of the Furway through the eyes of the dragon. Shira said, “the Furway ends soon. We should be there by midday tomorrow. There is a river and a ferry to cross it. It will be nice to be out of the hills for a while since the nights are starting to feel like winter is coming and the leaves are really starting to turn now”

“Well, then that’s that” said Cyerant. “We get up early and by noon we are across the river and out of the hills, then we can head down to Verat City and I can speak to the new king about what Duke Vrayah has been doing and what he did to my family.”

Just like every night for weeks now Cyerant and Veer picked up their practice swords and walked a little ways away from the camp to train. Veer had become so strong now that his attacks were like a tidal wave but somehow Cyerant had become faster and more graceful and so he was able to meet the force of the powerful attacks like a whirlwind. Shira would sit and watch them from the fireside for a while and then she would practice with her fighting knife.

Meanwhile Jolss got out his books and studied just like every night. The young mage had learned a few more small cantrips and had been quietly practicing them in order to learn to control the amount of magical force available for the spell through Prin. He could now easily start the campfires at night with out blowing the camp apart. He had also learned to turn small amounts of water to ice and could make little puffs of air blow out of nowhere and there was one that made sparks of static that could shock something. The most entertaining of cantrips was one which caused every knot to untie and buckle to unfasten on the target. He had also learned that when you keep them small and only use a little bit of magical force it isn’t exhausting and is only slightly draining.

The dragons were already curling up for the night with the exception of one of the non-bonded dragons which had been acting strangely lately. It would ride on the backs of the larger dragons curled up and sleeping through the day. Each time they would stop to rest it would find the darkest shade in the area and hide there until they started moving again. At night it would be wide awake and roam around the area near camp.  

During the last watch of the night, still about an hour before dawn Veer was quietly watching and listening to the night. Then suddenly Green Eyes started to screech from up in the tree tops and the little dragon who liked the night came flying into camp from the north and woke all of the other dragons up. As soon as the dragons awoke so did their bonded humans and as everyone came awake they could feel the fear coming from the dragons. Shira got the image of the ropes that the foreigners used to capture dragons. “It must be the bandits, Cyool is afraid of the ropes. We didn’t see any last night so they must have ridden through the night to get close to us. They must have recognized dragon tracks on the Furway behind us.” As Shira thought about wanting to know how far up-trail the foreigners were Cyool launched herself into the air and started gaining altitude while heading back toward the north. After only a few moments Shira saw a glimpse of riders on the ground with torches. And she said. “They’re close very close. And there are dozens of them.”

Everyone started rolling up bedrolls and saddling horses. Cyerant had always insisted that all of the packs be re-packed before going to sleep each night just in case they had to move quickly. Even so by the time that the horses were saddled and loaded, the sound of hoof beats could be heard in the distance. As everyone got mounted and started out onto the trail they could see torchlight in the distance. Jolss began to chant under his breath and he pointed toward the torches and suddenly a strong momentary wind struck the foreign riders and blew their torches out. Jolss swayed in his saddle after the spell but managed to hold on as they started to ride into the dark.

The sky was just starting to lighten and the party was riding hard and could hear the horses following them. They had the advantage that their horses were fresh and the foreigners had ridden their horses all night. Even so they couldn’t seem to lose the pursuers who managed to keep the party in sight in the new dawn.  The dragons were variously running and flying to keep pace.

After a half an hour Jolss had recovered his strength and he noticed that the trail was going to soon make a sharp turn and he would be able to see back up-trail for a moment and catch sight of the horsemen following them. As they approached the turn Jolss began to quiet his mind and chant. A few moments later as the trail turned sharply the young mage raised his hand and once again pointed at the riders. He felt the flood of energy through him from the dragon and then he felt this deep tiredness which almost took him from his saddle. As he swayed Shira reached over and helped to steady him until he could get a good grip on his horse. And he just lay forward onto the neck of the running animal as he fought the exhaustion. Prin wavered also and the little dragon seemed to be struggling to keep pace with the others.

As the party turned the sharp corner in the trail Veer nocked an arrow looked back and saw the first half dozen riders fall as their saddles and equipment all seemed to just let go and unfaesten at once. The riderless horses kept moving but the riders went down under the hooves of their compatriots either injured or killed by the trampling of the rest of the capture party. Veer managed to send one arrow into the riders and another man fell. As Veer released his arrow Drace scooped up a stone the size of a man’s head and started gaining altitude as he flew toward the pursuers and as he got over the lead riders he dropped the stone which fell into the foreigners and cost them one more horse and rider.

Corth, seeing what his brother had done immediately turned toward the approaching riders and flew right at them just higher than their heads. He was now the size of a young riding horse and his wing span stretched all the way across the trail which was wider here in the south and was more like a roadway. As the dragon neared the foreigners he roared at the men and horses and let all magics that hide him slip away and the horses then could see and hear a dragon, a dragon as big as they were. The panic was instant and some riders were thrown from their horses while a few managed to fight to keep their seats on the back of their panicked and exhausted animals. As Corth passed over the men they could feel the wind from his wings and the dragon managed to take one man off of his horse with a blow from his tail. Some of the foreigners grabbed for their cursed ropes and nets but by that time the dragon was already higher and turned flying back to his friends.

Cyerant slowed his horse and the others slowed with him and he said. “Their horses are exhausted so they are going to have to rest them for a while so we will walk the horses to cool them down and then rest them ahead for a short while and we should be able to gain ground and get a bit farther ahead of them soon. Shira, can you have Cyool stay very high up but keep an eye on them?”

“Yes,” Shira responded and her dragon immediately turned back and started gaining altitude.

After a few minuets of walking, the horses had returned to normal breathing and Cyerant called a short rest and everyone got down and collapsed on the ground drinking water from the skins and letting the horses rest. Jolss looked drained and sick.

Veer looked at Jolss and asked. “How did you do that?  I saw all of those men fall.”

“It’s a cantrip, a small spell which unfastens things. If I do it with the help of the dragon it doesn’t work like a little cantrip anymore and becomes a big spell but it makes me very tired.”

Shira asked. “Is that why you almost fell off of your horse?”

“Yes,” Jolss answered. “And why I slept for so long after the fire thing too.”

Veer asked. “Can’t that hurt your dragon?”

“I found out later that it can if you use too much force at once,” responded Jolss. “There have been cases where dragon mages have burned themselves out magically and made their dragon very sick. It is one of the few things that can break a dragon bond.”

Cyerant stood up and looked around at everyone and said. “I hear a stream running back in the trees a little ways so let’s take the horses back there and let them drink and fill our water skins.” The young noble then walked into the trees leading his horse and a pack horse along with Corth and the two non-bonded dragons.

The others stood up and grabbed their horses’ leads and followed Cyerant into the trees with Drace and Prin following along. As they got to the stream the horses and dragons bent to drink and Jolss opened his water skin and headed to stream.