Dragons of Summer Tide (The Dragons of Hwandor) (19 page)

“Not there,” called Veer to the younger boy. “That’s downstream from the horses. Do you really want to drink water that they have put their mouths and feet into? Try the upstream side.” Veer motion toward the upstream side of the animals.

Jolss, suddenly looking a little queasy, changed direction and walked toward the stream above where the horses were standing in the water drinking. “I’ve never travelled with horses, I didn’t know.”

Cyerant smiled at his little brother and said, “it’s alright; just do what we do since there is usually a good reason.”

“They’re going to ride them into the ground” said Shira. “Cyool just showed me. They are already getting back on their horses and starting this way.”

Cyerant said, “not enough rest for their tired horses but our horses are still relatively fresh. They slept all night, so let’s mount up and go.” Cyerant led the small company back up to the trail, mounted and turned south. Soon everyone was mounted and moving. “Shira, how fast are they coming?”

“I don’t know,” said Shira but as she thought of it Cyool showed her a glimpse of their pursuers. “They seem to be moving at a fast walk right now. So we can stay ahead of them.”

Veer said, “I should wait here on one of these ridges with my bow and slow them down so you guys can get away.

“No,” said Cyerant. “For now we stay together. Shira?” Cyerant asked turning toward the girl. “Can you get Cyool to fly ahead and see how much farther away the river and ferry are from here?”

“Hold on,” responded Shira. “There are a group of trappers coming out of a cross trail right ahead of the foreigners and it looks like the foreigners are attacking them.”

“That will be to steal their fresher horses,” Veer said. “How many are there?”

“Five trappers,” answered Shira. “A horse and pack horse each.”

Cyerant said, “so we know how many will be able to try to catch up to us. We will have to keep moving quickly and stay ahead of them. Shira get Cyool to look at the ferry.”

“Ok she is headed south now as fast as she can go,” answered Shira. “Oh she is flying over us right now.” Shira said.

Everyone in the party looked up and could see the dragon flying high above looking like a large bird of prey because she was so high. Cyool was moving to the south very quickly and should soon be able to see the river and ferry.

“Oh no,” Shira said with a sound of dread in her voice.

“What is it?” Asked Veer. “What do you see?” As Veer became excited Drace began to growl very low which started to upset the other dragons and Green Eyes the ever present black shadow in the trees above began to screech and hiss.

“No, no, no,” continued Shira.

“Veer, you have to calm down, we don’t need upset dragons,” said Cyerant. “Shira tell us what Cyool sees.”

“The ferry is gone,” said Shira. “It was cut loose so it is floating down the river and they set it on fire too. There is another group of those foreign bandits at the end of the Furway starting to come north toward us. There are about a dozen of them on horses and coming this way. There were a few buildings near the ferry and they are all on fire too. It was only two hours away, just two more hours.”

“So now we have to fight,” said an ever angrier Veer accompanied by louder growls from Drace and more noise from Green Eyes while Prin, Corth and the two non-bonded dragons became more agitated.

“Not yet, not here, and not this way, where they will get to squeeze us between them,” said Cyerant. “First thing is for you to calm down Veer, the dragons are getting upset. Next thing is for Cyool to circle around to the west across the wilds and see what the forest and the last of the hills look like so that we can see if it is safe to go through.”

“Ok, Cyool is circling around to the west and heading back this way and will show me anything or anybody that she sees,” said Shira.

“Good, now we move faster,” Cyerant said as he set off along the Furway to the south.

“So how long do you think that we can hide in the woods?” Asked Veer in a mocking tone of voice.

“We’re not going to hide, well not for long,” said Cyerant. The group chasing us knows that we are ahead of them but the group coming from the other ways doesn’t so we will keep going south until Cyool and Shira can see what the wilds are like and then we go into the wilds and make our way west and little south. There is a city a day and a half down stream from that ferry. It is called Dealt and it is a trading city with a river port because this river joins another even larger river and they make a third one which is the main north south passageway for goods through the k
ingdom. Two, maybe three days through the forests will bring us there and a few dozen foreign bandits can burn some villages but they can’t take a small city.”

“What do we do when we get there?” Asked Veer.

“We rest,” said Cyerant. “Now enough of this, ride faster. Shira tell me when Cyool has seen everything to our west.” Cyerant coaxed his horse into a trot, and the others kept pace.

“Cyool is back over us.” Said Shira. “The wilds are just that wild so she didn’t see anyone in them. But she did see a cross trail maybe ten min ahead of us on our left, and there is a group of a half dozen of those guards on it headed this way. They are about half an hour from where the trails cross. I just sent her back north so now she can see the group of foreigners behind us. A smaller group took the horses from the trappers and about ten of them are riding really fast to catch us while the rest are coming along behind. The first group should catch us in less than half an hour.”

“They’re everywhere Cyerant,” Jolss said in a panic that also sent his little dragon fluttering about in the air around the party.

“Yes, but I have a plan” said Cyerant. “We ride to where the trails cross and then we take to the wilds right where the trails meet. The guards know that a group of bandits killed some guards and the foreigners know that some guards killed some foreigners. The smaller group of foreigners will meet the guards right there and then they will fight and may not notice our tracks going into the forest. Then the other two groups of foreigners  find the battle scene. The guards will win against the first smaller group of foreigners but not against both of the next groups. They fight and we get away deep into the forests. Now ride!”

Cyerant picked up the pace just a bit more so that the group arrived at the trail meeting in a little under ten minutes.  Immediately the party dismounted and headed into the forest leading their horses; rushing in order to get as much distance between themselves and the coming fight. Once the company was safely into the trees Cyerant turned toward Shira and asked. “Shira is Cyool getting tired of flying up there?”

“No, she mostly glides on the wind currents like an eagle,” responded Shira. “She could stay up there all day.”

“Well, that might be a good idea,” said Veer. “Then she can keep an eye on them and see if we are being followed.”

After fifteen more minutes of moving through the trees Shira could see glimpses of what was happening back at the trail crossing and she said. “The guards and the foreigners just saw one another. It looks like they are going to fight just like you said Cyerant.”

Veer said, “this forest is so thick; much thicker than back up north, this is going to take days to get through.”

Jolss asked. “Can we just go back around behind them and keep using the trail like before?”

“No Daralce,” said Cyerant, glancing over at his younger brother. “If they burned the ferry then they know that we are somewhere in the south so the foreigners will have every trail being watched. Not to mention the guards that are looking for me. We have to go through the wilds or we are going to be caught.”

“I’d rather fight,” said Veer.  Drace growled a deep rumbling sound beside the young man. “So would he – I think all of the dragons would.”

“But that isn’t our goal here,” said Cyerant. “We have to keep going and not get distracted. That would be a mistake.”

“So we just keep running away?” Asked Veer.

“No, we’re not running away, we are refusing to get distracted from our goal which is to get to this small city,” said Cyerant. “Then maybe we can get a boat down river to the capitol or maybe we continue on land, but first we get to Deelt and then we decide how to get to the capitol.”

Jolss asked “But can’t the guards still take you prisoner if they catch you in the city?”

“No,” answered Cyerant. “Nobles only have that authority on their lands. Cities in the kingdom are run by magistrates so those guards from the Duke cannot arrest me in a city they have to ask a magistrate to do it and that leads to a magistrate’s hearing and then a public trial.  The Duke does not want a public trial of any kind.”

Shira said, “Cyool has scouted ahead and just a little bit farther we will hit a game trail which is running in our direction and we can follow it for a while. About a half hour up the trail it crosses a stream and Cyool is going to land there and wait for us for a while.”

Just as predicted the company pushed through the trees onto a game trail which made things a bit more passable. After a half an hour Cyerant, who was in the lead, saw Cyool sitting near a stream waiting. The group halted at the stream for a few minutes to let the horses rest.

Veer was sitting watching Drace as the young dragon drank from the stream and then went in to roll around in the water.  Veer noticed how muscled and armoured Drace was becoming and how the dragon had grown to be the size of a really large dog.

Jolss noticed Veer watching Drace clean himself in the stream and said, “Drace is a battle dragon; definitely a battle dragon.”

Veer turned to the younger boy and asked. “How do you know?”

“The book,” Jolss responded. “Battle dragons are the only ones that get heavy armour plates around their head and their scales get very hard and thick. And the horns growing around his head, no other dragon gets those. His tail too, the tip of it is getting really hard like a spear. The dragon book tells about them.”

“What else does it say about battle dragons? Asked Veer. “How big do they get?”

“Only about as tall as a large pony,” answered Jolss. “But they get very muscled and strong. They are able to fly for short distances but their wings are only big enough for them so they can’t carry anyone on their back when they fly. Sometimes they might let a person ride on their back as they walk or run.”

“So they are called battle dragons, which must mean that they are good in battle,” said Veer.

“Yes they get really good in battle,” Said Jolss. “And their bonded people too. The person gets very strong and muscular and is really good in battle and recovers from injuries quickly. In all of the stories the warrior and the battle dragon fight side by side and are as good as having twenty regular soldiers.”

“Corth will get big enough to ride in the air for short times,” said Jolss.

Cyerant turned to look at his younger brother and asked. “How do you know?”

“It’s in the book,” answered Jolss. “He is a mount dragon which always bonds with a noble and becomes as tall as a war horse and with really large wings. When he is full grown you can ride him to look over a battle field as long as you don’t have on heavy armour. And nobles who bond with mount dragons become very fast graceful fighters especially with swords and very good generals who know how to plan a battle really well.”

Shira asked. “Is that the largest dragon; the mount dragon?” 

“No,” answered Jolss. “There is one that is called a sage dragon, and they are very rare and grow to be bigger than a house. They are very intelligent and are the only dragons that can speak. They only bond with scholars and they live the longest and the scholars live a lot longer than normal people and become very wise.”

Shira motioned toward Prin and asked. “What about the little magic dragon? How big does she get?”

Jolss shrugged. “She won’t get any bigger. Magic dragons never get any larger after bonding and they will stay that size. So Prin will always be the size of a big raven. Green eyes will stay that same size always too. Poison dragons are the only ones who look different from a normal wild dragon even if they don’t bond.”

Cyerant asked. “So wild dragons don’t become different types of dragons?”

Jolss answered, “No, wild dragons just grow to be about the size of a pony and stay kind of greyish. Except the poison dragons, they become poison dragons whether they bond or not.  See those two dragons that have not bonded,” Jolss said while pointing. “They will just keep slowly growing until they become adults and live as wild dragons unless they bond and then they will become a specific type of dragon and have a special ability that they will share with a person.”

“We have to get moving again,” said Cyerant. “We’ve been resting at this stream long enough. Shira, can Cyool keep scouting ahead and finding game trails and hunters trails to help us get through this thick brush and then check around behind us to make sure that we are not being followed?”

Shira nodded and thought about what she wanted the young dragon to do and Cyool was soon back in the air scouting ahead for a pathway through the forest and checking behind in case of pursuit.

The brush and undergrowth in this new forest was much thicker than the forest back up north where Veer and Shira had grown up. The going was not easy but after three gruelling days of pushing through thick brush, game trails and the occasional hunter’s trails the company was finally near the city of Deelt and would soon be leaving the forest behind.