The Dragon Savior of Tone: World of Tone: Book 2 (26 page)

Terra hugged his mate even tighter, knowing her pain of not being with their daughter. If she asked, he would send her home to Cardana. He would not tell her now, but he truly needed and wanted her next to him.

Terra diverted his mind's eye to the mountains and followed down their edge. He wanted to see where the trees' dead trunks came close to their path. He needed to help the trees retake the land. He thought that perhaps he could heal enough trees that they could pass their strength to their neighbors. He did not know how well his healing power would work on plants. He hoped he could at least heal several thousand of the great trees.

He found that they would come close to the trees in three sun-risings. He then continued to the next dwarf village. He saw that they had built some odd upside-down, bowl-shaped structures. He watched as they got under them and practiced lifting the bowls, and then walked about under them. He recognized that it was some kind of defense against the dragon's fire. They had constructed thirty to forty of the structures.

He drove his mind forward to the third village. He saw similar bowls. They were preparing the village for a great fight. He could see the dwarfs building up the village walls, making them thicker and higher. They also were adding more soil to the top of their living caves. He also saw them digging trenches around the outside of the walls. The soil they dug from the ground they heaped up creating small hills in front of the trenches.

Fienna saw all Terra viewed. As the images faded from his mind, she settled against his side.

“
What were those bowls?
” she thought to him.

“
I think they're something to shield them from dragon fire.
”

“
Will they work?
”

“
I don't know, but they will not stop me.
”

“
Why were you looking at the dead trees?
”

“
It's time to enlist their help to take back Tone.
”

“
You're going to heal them.
”

“
If I can. We will be close enough in three sun-risings for me to try.
”

“
What kind of help do you think they can provide? Trees do nothing but sit.
”

“
They do more than that. They give a place for life; the beasts eat their leaves. Trees enrich the soil with their falling leaves. They shelter small beasts and provide them food like nuts and fruits. They keep the soil in-place and hold the water in their roots. The trees shade the smaller plants and help them survive storms. Trees do much to give life to Tone. They are life,
” Terra thought to his love.

“
I never thought of it that way,
” Fienna thought back.

“
We'll see in a few sun-risings what I can do to help them. Perhaps it can make up a little for all those I just killed,
” Terra thought to his love, with a profound sadness.

“
You can't blame yourself for doing what is needed.
”

“
I don't blame myself, but that does not make it any less painful to me.
”

“
I know, my love,
” she thought back, as she hugged him tight.

As the fighters traveled down the edge of the mountains upon the next sun-rising, Terra stopped suddenly. The leaders rushed to see what had happened. Terra stood before an enclave in the mountains. There they saw hundreds if not several thousand bones of various sizes. These beasts all died here in some kind of mass killing.

Terra bent down and picked up a long bone, the length and thickness of his arm. The leaders saw in his eye a tear form and fall upon the bone. They saw the sadness in his face, but then something else flared in his eyes. His eyes nearly glowed red with anger, and his face became a chiseled stone of death. They all stepped back, fearing the power behind those eyes. Then, as suddenly as the anger appeared, it was gone and his normally gentle expression returned.

“What happened here?” he asked the fairy flitting near his face.

“As the lightning destroyed the great trees, the beasts that lived within them were driven to the mountains. There was nothing for them to eat. They grew weaker and collected in these last areas of shelter from the great storms. They died in their millions, we could do nothing for them, other than mourn their deaths. Their bones are scattered throughout all of the dark lands,” the fairy told Terra and the others present.

Terra stood for a few more moments before placing the bone back where he had found it. He then signaled the walked to begin once more. That sunset Terra’s thoughts dwelled on the millions of deaths that had happened since the humans were driven into the coastal valleys. These thoughts caused him to sleep poorly, even though Fienna's head was lying next to his heart helping to calm his restless spirit.

Chapter 46 - The Trees

(Trees, a wondrous form of life.)

- The Time of the Draman -

At first light, Rammy left with the dragons. Terra knew she would have everything ready when they arrived. After her departure, Terra led the unusual group of fighters down the mountain's edge once more. The line of dead trees slowly crept closer to the mountains as they moved toward the dwarf village. The dark clouds and the lightning also were coming closer to them all.

They stopped for the sunset and the dragons stayed in the mountains. They were not fond of lightning. Dragons could withstand a lightning bolt, but it was very painful and often left scars on their hides. Many older dragons had several such scars.

During the next sun-rising, the tree line finally came close enough to walk to. They stopped just before sunset. Fienna had Terra eat a large meal before he tried to heal the trees. The land nymph wizard felt the magic change. He had only felt this when Terra was using his power. He sat in front of his small fire and contacted the Old Sinut. As he came into view, he saw Terra walking out to the tree line.

“Something is happening,” the old wizard told his friend.

“What?”

“The magic is swirling around this area. Terra is walking out to the tree line.” The Old Sinut's image turned toward Terra and they both watched as he reached the trees and stood between two large dead trunks.

Terra reached out his hands and touched one trunk with each hand. He reached inside himself to call upon his healing power. He felt his power flow from his core to his arms, but he knew he needed more magic than he had ever used before. He did not know if his body could provide the amount of healing the trees required. He began pushing his power out to his hands when he felt the magic flowing all around him. He knew there was other magic in the world, but he never paid much attention to it. He felt the surrounding magic, but he never needed it so he ignored its existence. In his mind's eye, an image formed of a multicolored fog surrounding him.

All the fighters watched Terra and saw his central body begin to glow orange. The orange color flowed into his arms and then to his hands. The color spread to both tree trunks and then moved down to the roots. Then the color moved up into the dead branches. As the entire upper portion of both trees began to glow, the ground at the base of the two trees seemed to begin to light up.

Terra began to push his healing power out to the trees. It felt much different from when he healed beasts. He could normally feel the bones and the muscles' knit together. The trees were different they were hard like a rock. As he applied his magic, he felt the wood soften as water was drawn into the thin hollow areas within the wood. The wood then began to swell and life slowly seeped into the trunks.

As this was happening, he forced his healing into the upper branches. The water was pulled into the branches, and they slowly became a bit less stiff. He felt the intertwined roots leading to other trees. His magic traveled from root to root until nearly a hundred trees were glowing.

Terra felt his magic reaching its limits. He delved into himself deeper until he touched the core of his being. He had not touched that part of himself since Fienna had been taken from him. He suddenly realized that was when he first tapped his true magic, the power that made him what he was. He reached into that power and his true strength opened to him. He forced it out into the trees. He felt his magic flow out in all directions. He could feel not hundreds of trees, but thousands, filling with life. Finally, he was reaching even his new limits. He slowly lifted his hands from the tree trunks, dropped to his knees, and sat back, resting to regain his strength.

The old wizard watched as tree roots glowed so bright they shone through the soil. It reminded him of the veins on the back of his hands. After a hundred or so trees were glowing orange, the color stopped spreading. He looked to Terra and suddenly the glow from his body became so intense that it was nearly impossible to look at him. The entire area was now lit as bright as high sun. Then the glow spread out through the trees in all directions at once. In what seemed an instant in time thousands of trees lit orange as far as the eye could see.

Fienna saw Terra drop to his knees and sit back. She ran to Terra, placing her arms about him. His clothes were gone, vaporized by the power of the magic. The trees remained lit and the dragons could see the magic still spreading. It looked like a fast moving fire as the blazing orange color spread from tree to tree. The underground web of intertwined roots blazed their light through the soil like a great web of an eight-legged spinner.

“Does he have the power to heal a world?” Xillan asked the two wizards as he approached them. The old wizard looked up at the land nymph commander.

“We don't know,” the old wizard replied.

“He is far more powerful than I ever expected,” the glowing image of the Old Sinut said.

The elves and their king watched in utter amazement at what this Draman had just done. Only one of the elven wizards had come with the king. The other had remained behind to help protect the mothers, children, and old ones. The elf wizard could not even imagine the power needed to do what this being had just done. He told the king that no one had ever possessed such magic. This Draman was perhaps the most powerful and dangerous creature on Tone. He made it clear to the king that betraying this human, or whatever he was, would quite likely mean the death of all the elves. He had no magic that could stop such power.

Fienna helped Terra stand as ten guard dragons landed before them. Several hundred-land nymphs rushed to surround the dragons. Fienna helped Terra walk to their sleeping area. The dragons had heated several large rocks red hot as Terra sat down. He was tired, but not completely exhausted. In the past when he used large amounts of magic, he could barely move. He was becoming more powerful and recovered much faster than in the past.

Fienna gave him food, and then he fell asleep in her arms. Few, if any of those whom had come on this fight, slept that sunset. They had seen something that was beyond reason or possibility. No one would ever forget the sunset the trees came back to life. They all watched the trees slowly losing the orange glow. In the distance, the lightning increased in intensity, but each time the thunder rolled across the treetops the orange color brightened throughout the trees.

At first light, the trees were showing small leaves and buds. The orange glow had mostly faded, but a greenish glow was replacing it. It may have been the sun reflecting off the new leaves, but it was the first life appearing in this land for many a season.

Terra woke with Fienna's dragon eyes staring at him. He was still tired, but he felt much better and he was very hungry. Fienna sensed his hunger and bellowed one word, “FOOD.” Everyone and everything stopped and food became the only priority. Soon, Terra had enough to eat for three sun-risings. He ate what he could and drank as much as possible. He got up, looked at the trees, and saw they had started to come back to life. He hoped he had done enough to keep them going for a few sun-risings. He needs time to recover, before he could do such magic again.

Terra rode upon Fienna that sun-risings' walk; she would not allow him to walk with the fighters.

Chapter 47 - Rammy Returns Home

(Returning home is sometimes wonderful and sometimes hard)

- The Time of the Draman -

Rammy arrived at the caves with her escort of dragons. They would stay, as ordered by Terra, to protect her. She walked into the entrance and made her way to her father's cave. There she found her father with Nolla and Rubbo. They were planning how to move the fighters through the tunnels.

When he saw Rammy, he opened his arms as she approached and hugged her.

“I have missed you,” he whispered into her ear.

“I have missed you too, father,” she replied.