Vegenrage: Dragon Reclaim (18 page)

“So you are Cormygle. You are a dragon and not at all the inferior deformed dragon that stories say you are. Why would you seek to fight your own kind? There is a real threat to the dragons, an evolutionary jump in our species, the one named Vemenomous, who hunts all dragons. We need to unite against this new dragon, or it will destroy us all.”

“You, young dragons, know nothing. You have been used by Blethstole and the like to help them, not yourselves.”

“We are all dragons. We do as we please. We live, hunt, and breed as we see fit. Why do you see yourself as so different? Why do you align yourself with demons who use your power to further their agenda? And you say we help others. You are a hypocrite.”

“I help myself, and if the demons help me gain vengeance on all dragons, then I welcome their support and gladly help them reach their desired goals. The dragons are a dying breed, and their rein over the Maglical System is coming to an end. The five of you shall not see another day. This arena shall be your resting place.”

“Enough of this talk. It is time for the worlds of the Maglical System to take a new form. A new leadership is coming.” The earth near the dragons starts to shake and rise. The dragons step back as Zabkef rises from the earth. Zabkef is bloodred and an awesome contrast to the dark but subtle blue-tinted light in the dome. His horns are massive. The top left portion of his skull forms the left horn that rises from his head. The right portion of his skull is the right horn, and they rise, forming large S, growing four feet above his head. He has a human face with pitch-black eyes and his body a solid hulk of muscle well defined and superb in its definition. He grows twelve feet tall and is chiseled right down to his bearskin pant line around his waist. He has human legs with thick black hoofs for feet, making a loud thump as he steps toward the dragons. He has a deep laugh and a smile on his face, and long claws tip each of his fingers and thumbs.

“The days of the dragon rule are coming to an end, and you five are the first to see your ending and the beginning of a new ruling species the demons.” Zabkef extends his right arm out, and Xanorax walks up from his right side. He extends his left arm out, and Cormygle walks up from his left.

“What is this? Demons do not have the power to explore out of the inner realms. Where are we, and how did you transport us into the underworld?”

“Ahahahahaha. We are not in the inner realms, Grapore. We are on the surface of Kronton, and yes, we now can rise to the surface. The demons are coming, and all you dragons and races of man who think you are fighting for the dominance of the Maglical System are all in for a big surprise. You have been killing of one another and fighting to maintain control, and the whole time, we demons have been waiting in the underworld for our time to rise and take you all over.”

“Do not try to scare us, demon. Try your little tricks on the lesser species afraid of your illusion and your weak attempt at power.” Grapore finds his courage, and his dragon instinct takes over. He lunges at the very large demon who is still much smaller than Grapore, and he unleashes his Breath of Graileye. He attacks with a huge spray of grape-colored liquid and continues covering the demon and trying to engulf Xanorax in the attack as well. Zabkef is completely covered, and Xanorax casts a Barrier of Force around him, preventing the liquid from coming in contact with him. The Breath of Graileye is not one that is deadly or lethal in itself. It is a highly concentrated magical liquid that instills hysteria in the covered victims, making them think the liquid is shards of glass, stabbing, cutting, and piercing them. The liquid imitates blood, and they believe they are bleeding and being torn apart, causing great fear and panic in the victim. This in turn gives Grapore the freedom to attack the victim anyway he pleases. Demons are not immune to dragons’ breath attacks, and Zabkef is covered in the magically powerful sticky liquid. Demons are very powerful, and in the case of Zabkef, he has all the strength of the underworld at his disposal, but this attack gives him pause, and Grapore attacks fearlessly. In no time, Grapore is on Zabkef, biting at the massive horns on his head. Grapore came in with his head sideways and bites both horns with his powerful jaw. Grapore raises his head, biting as hard as he can, trying to break the horns that adorn Zabkef’s head. Zabkef is now sideways in the air, being held up by Grapore, and Sawbelk jumps in, biting Zabkef at his knees with great force, digging his teeth deep into the muscular legs of Zabkef.

Cormygle leaps into the air, ready to come down on the two dragons, when Banoro, Moredown, and Jarclause all rise to meet him. Banoro hits Cormygle in left side, biting into his neck and digging his claws into the much larger dragon, and Moredown lands on Cormygle’s right wing, biting and tearing through it with his teeth. Jarclause lands on Cormygle’s left wing and bites through the wing with his teeth. Cormygle falls to the ground under the weight of the three dragons and thrashes his body side to side, trying to get them off him.

Sawbelk is thrashing his head back and forth violently like a ravenous dog that has caught a rabbit. Grapore is biting with all he has in his bite, trying to break the lethal horns on Zabkef’s head. Grapore and Sawbelk are thrashing, working together, and ripping the flesh from Zabkef’s legs away from his bones, and finally, the right horn on his head breaks. The horn is a part of his skull, and a rounded portion of his skull breaks from just above his ear to the top of his forehead and to the base of his neck. Xanorax has finished casting a spell and shoots a magical harpoon that makes its mark right above the right shoulder of Sawbelk, and it drives deep into his body. Xanorax then says, “Igleem dem dom dicolyde,” and throws his empty hands toward the wall behind him. A magical rope from the harpoon shoots into the wall and pulls Sawbelk with incredible force, slamming him into the wall and holding him to the wall with the magical arrow deep in his body and the other end of the rope stuck in the wall. The unintended repercussion of this attack is that the right leg of Zabkef broke off at the hip and stayed in Sawbelk’s mouth. His left leg is sliced by Sawbelk’s teeth and is now flapping flesh, so damaged that he has no functionality in his remaining leg. Zabkef severely underestimated the dragons. Dragons are no joke, and to provoke them is deadly even to demons. That was not the only miscalculation Zabkef made as the roof of the arena starts to crumble and break.

Cormygle stands on his hind legs with a powerful roar. “Igondin diglo migan Nor deemeed Driglula.” And the three dragons attached to him are thrown far away from his expulsion spell. Banoro is thrown all the way to the wall far to Cormygle’s left, and Moredown is thrown into the wall all the way to the right. Jarclause is thrown to the wall not too far from Banoro. Xanorax has raised his Life Stealer and approaches Sawbelk, who is stuck to the wall and is painfully trying to pull free from the arrow that has impaled him. He puts all his feet on the wall and, with a massive push, pulls free from the wall, losing a lot of blood and flesh in the process. He yells out in pain, and Xanorax is there with the Life Stealer, and he slices twice at the neck of Sawbelk, leaving deep cuts in his neck. He then sticks the Life Stealer blades into the wound, and it works its magic, draining Sawbelk’s strength. Xanorax chants, “Igretchin bongin Glimglombin yourin dryin dyin gonglindian.” This is a powerful hypnotic spell that Xanorax has cast, and even though the dragons are very resistant to magic, he has been severely wounded, plus the Life Stealer is weakening him, and he is not put to sleep, but he has been slowed greatly, and the Life Stealer is draining his life force.

The ceiling of the dome crumbles and falls to the ground in large chunks of cement followed by Dribrillianth, making a shining entrance, lighting up the scene with his diamond skin. He is followed by Gairdennow, Blethstole, Pryenthious, and a dozen more dragons. They fan out to help protect those that have been hurt. Grapore drops the limp body of Zabkef to the ground and bites him in the abdomen, raising his nearly dead body high and crunching the bones for all the dragons to hear with the blood of the dying demon dripping from his lower jaw. Gairdennow walks over and bites off the head of Zabkef and crunches it in his mouth, swallowing its horn and all. Pryenthious bites off the remaining leg and crunches it down. Grapore gets to feast on the fleshy body of Zabkef and triumphantly does. The dragons are not soon enough to save Sawbelk from the Life Stealer, and Xanorax runs over to mount Cormygle in the saddle that forms as he jumps on the back of Cormygle. Blethstole walks toward Cormygle. The dragons are an incredible sight always. They walk with their scales and skin rippling over their massive muscles. When they shake their heads, the muscles and skin in their necks ripple and sway like they are loose, but they are just so massive, so strong, and all muscles. They are mesmerizing just to watch. Blethstole snorts out of his nostrils in disgust and breathes loudly, naturally intimidating all but the largest and most powerful among them. Walking toward Cormygle, he bobs his head, giving nasty looks and snarls.

“You have sided with demons, you witless serpent. You trade magnificence for power from the underworld. You are a disgrace to all dragons.”

“Awaygegwern fromvenvelan triamsonkur vamisone,” Xanorax says the words to teleport him and his steed away as all the dragons have inched closer and closer to the first-ever human-dragon duo.

“Blethstole, we are living in very dangerous times. Times like none of the dragons have ever known. I think we dragons are going to have to stick together because, unless my eyes deceive me, I just saw a man riding a dragon in harmony.”

“I don’t know what is becoming of the Maglical System, Dribrillianth, but I don’t like it.” The wall around them starts to vanish like dust in the wind. It sands away like chalk and blows in the light breeze that carries the stench of death with it. The dragons look to see Vendel, Obronge, Indigeion, and Sawbelk killed by a human, a dragon, and four demons. For the first time ever, the dragons are together, and together, they mourn lost kin. They are starting to realize that they need to rely on one another and no longer are they invincible. They used to be atop the food chain with no challenge to their dominance. The thought of losing their life in battle was laughed at, but now they face the real threat that they are not dominant anymore, and they can be killed in a lot of ways by a lot of different species. Internally, they are becoming united, and Blethstole rallies them. They will start to eradicate all threats, starting with Ugoria in the morning. The dragons follow Blethstole’s lead as he flies away, and one by one, the dragons follow him. Meanwhile, very quietly and unseen, a dozen ants make their way to the forest. As they reach closer and closer to the forest, they join together, becoming larger and larger as some of Maulplice replicas have survived. He makes his way to the forest, joining to make larger forms of himself, and vanishes into the woods.

CHAPTER 14
Ugoria Fortifies

Tornsclin has made his way south through Ugoria and through the narrow Ugorian Forest to reach the Creshian Ponds. The Creshian Ponds are a long line of ponds that run about a mile outside of the Ugorian Forest from the Mogle Lands all the way to the Westfall Heights. The ponds are almost a two-hundred-mile-long line of ponds, and this is where the Blood Reeds make their home. The Ugorian Forest is to the north of the ponds, and the Creshian Forest is to the south of the ponds. These ponds provide water year-round, and a lot of land animals make their way to the ponds to drink. The Blood Reeds line all the ponds, and you would think they are tall grass, growing from the edge of the ponds. The Blood Reeds are actually living magical beings. They are stalks of grass that grow in the soft earth under the waterline and about four feet above the waterline. The round grass becomes living flesh. It still looks like grass, a deep green color, and sways in the wind like any grass, but they are alive. In fact, they are magical and can speak. They continue to grow about nine feet tall and have tufts of hair that grow from the top of them, looking like little brown hats. When an animal goes to the water to drink, the Blood Reeds have five very small eyes that open, and they see just fine with them. They have very thin wings made of a very light skin-like membrane, and when the two wings are raised from the body, they are nearly invisible like a dragonfly wing. Unlike the dragonfly wing, the wings of the Blood Reeds are very soft and pliable. They flap the two wings, and the top living part of the Blood Reed rises from the plant stalk. The wings flap just strong enough for the Blood Reed to take to the air, and they look kind of like a jellyfish flapping through the water, but the Blood Reed is in the air. The Blood Reed looks like a four-foot stalk floating in the air, but don’t let the soft, pliable wings fool you. They can flap very strong, rising high or flying straight through the air. They are very light, weighing only about a pound or two. When the Blood Reed separates its living body from the plant stalk, it looks like a piece of bamboo that has been cut with a machete from a downward stroke at a forty-five-degree angle. It has a sharp point at the end, and it uses this point to pierce its prey and consume a very small but nutritious blood meal. The Blood Reed is a remarkable living being. It is hollow but has four valves in its body that it can force upward and downward. It has holes on the sides of its body that it can open and close, and it can use these valves to move up or down and open and close holes on the sides of its body to give it bursts of speed as it flies and changes its direction in flight. When a Blood Reed has spotted a living being and has taken to the air, it is very inconspicuous, looking like just a floating reed in the air, but it flies above its prey and then just drops on them, causing a little prick just enough to produce a drop of blood. The Blood Reeds are very good at determining how much force is needed to pierce the hide or skin of its prey, and it just falls on them with the desired force needed to produce this blood food. They usually fall on a four-legged animal right on its back, and there is not much the animal can do to hurt the Blood Reed. Once the tip of the Blood Reed has pierced the animal and a drop of blood has been produced, it has eight proboscises lining the bottom ring of its body. The forty-five-degree angle of the tip causes the Blood Reed to fall in the direction of the angle. The first proboscis has already sunk deep enough to drink a few drops of blood, but as the Blood Reed falls along the angle of its body, touching the animal, seven more proboscises shoot out into the animal, drinking a few more drops of blood. This whole action takes only a few seconds, and the Blood Reed flies away with a nutritious meal and doing no real harm to any animals it drinks from.

Blood Reeds spend most of their time looking like tall grasses, just blowing in the wind, but they are very happy and playful. There are times when hundreds of them gather in the air and fly around, just playing, bouncing into one another, and showing off their interesting flying abilities. Blood Reeds long ago were Pixies, small magical beings that roamed the forest in great numbers. They looked like four-inch-tall humans with wings. They were always magical but in the weakest sense. They can cast magic but it is so weak that it has no effect on any of the larger species on Strabalster. The Pixies were captured and treated as pets, but they do not survive in captivity, and all that were caught soon died. They found it hard to survive in the forests because as the land animals grew in numbers, more and more animals feed on them, even herbivores. Some of the Pixies adapted and became Blood Reeds, and they have thrived in this form. There are still Pixies that live on Strabalster, but they stay hidden and out of sight. It is one of the rarest of events to see a live Pixie, but they do exist. Ugorian elves are good hearted and did catch many Pixies long ago that died. The elves never meant to hurt or kill the Pixies, but it was too late by the time they realized that the Pixies could not survive in captivity. They had died, and the Pixies did all they could to avoid the elves. The magic-using elves of Ugoria did find the unique species of Pixies that are now the Blood Reeds, and they have communicated with the Blood Reeds and promised to leave them be and never hurt them.

There is something that the Blood Reeds cannot resist, and this is why King Trialani has sent Tornsclin to recruit the Blood Reeds if he can. Tornsclin is a warrior and a real good one, but he loves to play the flute, and the Blood Reeds love this form of music. Tornsclin makes his way to the ponds and starts to play his flute. The Blood Reeds come alive. They can move the plant half of their bodies in the water, and they sway to the music Tornsclin is playing on his flute. Their eyes open up, and all the reeds sway back and forth. They do not have mouths, but you can tell they are happy and enjoying the music. Tornsclin dances as he plays, and the Blood Reeds take to the air, and this is such a beautiful sight. They are flapping up and down together in greater and greater numbers as more and more of the Blood Reeds are drawn to Tornsclin’s music. Tornsclin has done this before, and he loves to watch the Blood Reeds dance in the air as he plays. It is cool with a slight breeze on this night, and soon there are more Blood Reeds than can be counted, happily dancing and swaying in the air. The Blood Reeds can communicate by telepathy, and they understand what Tornsclin is communicating to them. He plays and speaks words in his mind that the Blood Reeds hear and understand. He tells them that the dragons mean to destroy all of Ugoria in the morning, and the elves need any help the Blood Reeds can provide. There will be lesser dragons attacking as well, and the Blood Reeds should help the elves defend Ugoria because if they are destroyed, then the Creshian Ponds may follow. The Blood Reeds tell Tornsclin they will do what they can and dance to the music of Tornsclin for over an hour before he returns to Ugoria.

Verlyle has made his way to Pinitrill, which is the northernmost gate in Ugoria. The Ugorian Kingdom is very large. It is the largest kingdom on all three of the worlds in the Maglical System, with Erkensharie almost as large in size. The inner Ugorian Kingdom is still mostly forest that is cleared out with the homes of the elves and places for livestock and gathering halls and structures built by the elves. There are four main gates: one to the northeast, which is Pinitrill; one to the southeast, which is Casur; one to the northwest, which is Riobe; and one to the southwest, which is Dunsk. There is a place around the inner kingdom where there is a wall, but it is shoddy at best. It really is all forest, and the four gates around the kingdom are places for the elves to have somewhat of a stronghold and watch for possible danger. Surprisingly, the gates are well built with large fifteen-foot doors that have nice roadways leading in and out, but they are really for show since you can enter Ugoria through the forest. The nice thing about the gates is that there are roads that lead to the gates through the forest, and travel is not so difficult here as trying to travel through the forest. The elves always keep the gates guarded with twenty elves at all times, and there are a few guardhouses at each gate. Verlyle has made his way to Pinitrill and talks with the elves at the gate and lets his good friend, Wendell, know that the dragons will most likely attack in the morning. Wendell is the leader of the bowelf regiment currently watching over in Pinitrill, and Verlyle lets them know that they have to break from the gate and summon as many Landgangers as they can to help fight against the dragons in the morning. Wendell extends his sadness over the loss of Zilndor, who was his good friend and Verlyle’s brother. He then gathers all the bowelves, and they head out with Verlyle to gather the Landgangers.

It is nighttime, and this is good because the Landgangers are a predatory species, and they hunt during the night. The elves have always had great ability in being able to communicate with animals and, more so, with the predatory species. It is not like they can talk verbally with the animals, but they seem to have always had telepathy that almost all the animals in the Ugorian lands can recognize and respond to. This does not mean the animals respond in kind but some do, and fortunately for the elves, the Landgangers have always maintained good relations with the elves of Ugoria. The Ugorian Kingdom is very large, over two hundred miles wide in somewhat of a circle, and outside of the kingdom, the forest continues thicker and wilder. The eastern side of the kingdom has the least amount of untouched forest, about fifty to one hundred miles due east to Hunoria. From the Gwipps River in the north all the way south to the Mogle Lands is a long stretch of forest, about six hundred miles long. To the north of the Ugorian Forest is the Ugorian Highlands, full of ravines, rolling hills, and tall trees with vast open areas where you can see the beautiful landscape for miles and miles. The Northern Ugorian Forest and the Ugorian Highlands are where the Landgangers make their homes.

Wendell and the bowelves ready themselves as Verlyle blows a deep horn from the top of the gate. The deep bellow of the horn rings through the forest toward the Ugorian Highlands, and this is very exciting for the elves because Landgangers are a beautiful animal, and they can’t wait to see them. Verlyle blows three times on the large horn with as long a breath as he can, and at the end of the third breath, he gathers the elves, and they head to the woods toward the highlands. The elves move through the trees, blowing on handheld horns, signaling their presence and their intent to communicate. After about twenty minutes, they see the first Landganger come into view on the forest floor. Landgangers are awesome-looking. They look like tigers but bigger, about 1,200 to 1,600 pounds land cats. They have long brown fur that is light and airy, flowing in the air as they move. This long fur protects them from all the burs and thorns that are present on the forest floor as they move through it. Also, this fur is very difficult for the bloodsucking insects to penetrate and reach the body of the Landgangers. They have powerful legs with a long tail and a sturdy solid head with powerful jaws and sharp canine teeth. They have large golden eyes and a pink nose in the shape of a diamond. Verlyle jumps from tree branch to tree branch, lowering to the ground until he makes his way to the beautiful animal and walks up and starts petting its head and scratching its beautiful coat of long fur. Verlyle talks using telepathy.

“Antis, it is good to see you, old friend. I have missed you.”

“It is good to see you too, Verlyle. You don’t come this way much anymore. Something big must be happening?”

“Yes, Antis, we need the help of the Landgangers. We have a strong belief that the dragons will attack Ugoria in the morning, and we are going to need all the animals of Ugoria to help us in this third Dragon Feast.”

“The dragons did not learn their lesson the last time. They were beaten down badly, and now they come again in force. The elves can count on the Landgangers. The dragons have feed on us and all the other animals of the forest long enough. It is time to show them we all will fight back.”

“We believe they will attack in the morning. Will your kind be the steeds we need to battle against the dragons?” Verlyle turns to see more Landgangers coming into view on this quiet night. The elves and Landgangers make contact, and the elves pet and scratch the coats of the Landgangers, and the Landgangers love it. The Landgangers eat up the attention and bond with the elves. The elves communicate telepathically and spend a couple of hours here as more and more Landgangers arrive. The Landgangers join with the elves, ready to take on the challenge of the dragons. These animals have no sense of fear, and the thought of fighting dragons with the elves is very attractive to them. Alone, they are no match for any dragon, but with an elf on their back, they are surprisingly confident and eager to join the fight. Some of the Landgangers head back to the highlands and forest to gather more for the fight in the morning, but twenty-one of them happily encourage the elves to ride them back to Ugoria. The elves jump on the Landgangers, and they are easily strong enough to carry them, and they run through the forest. Landganger and elf fighting together again. The elves hang on by the long hair at the base of the Landgangers’ necks, and the girth of the Landgangers’ midsection is perfect for the elves to clamp their legs around and ride with no hands, allowing them the use of their bows and other weapons. The Landgangers run, weaving in and out of all the trees and jumping over fallen trees and large rocks. They act as one, very well suited as a fighting team, and move together in natural synchronicity. It is a pleasure to watch as these two races have been united once again after such a long time. They fought together during the last Dragon Feast. Of course, none of the Landgangers here were alive then, but they have high intelligence and culture. They can communicate with one another, and they have memory, making the Landgangers the most highly evolved and most intelligent land predator on Strabalster outside of the dragons. They run back to Ugoria to ready themselves for the morning.