by A. J. Walker
Holding the young girl in his arms, Max let out a chuckle as she said in a squeaky voice, “Oh, I’ve missed you! Where’s Bo?” she asked, looking past the others, but not finding Max’s younger brother.
Max’s face turned pale at the question. Fumbling for a moment, he found the appropriate words, “He decided to stay a little while longer.”
“Max!” the older of the two men barked coldly as they approached, looking warily at the strangers. “Who are these men? And where’s Bo?”
Max put the little girl down and told her calmly, “Go inside and tell your mom I’m here.” He waited until she was out of earshot to say anything more.
“What have you done this time, Max?” the older man asked.
“Tony, it’s not my fault. The Grandwood Games were attacked by invaders,” he said.
The older man scoffed, cutting him off, “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go to that stupid race.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” Max protested.
“Sure, nothing bad ever happened to you or anyone you loved because it wasn’t your fault,” Tony said angrily. “Don’t even bother telling me your lies. I want you and your thieving friends off my land,” he said pointing his finger at Max and the others. He stormed back to the house.
The younger man stayed behind and asked, “What happened?” He looked over his shoulder making sure Tony wasn’t listening to them.
“Grandwood was attacked during the last event of the games; Bo and I got separated. I’m almost positive he was captured. These men saved my life. We’re trying track down those who attacked us so we can free those they took hostage,” Max said, quickly summing up the events that had transpired since the last time he’d seen his family. “We need six horses. Can you help us out?” he asked.
The young man looked back at the house to be sure Tony wasn’t watching and said, “Make it look like you’re leaving and I’ll meet you down at the swimming hole in a half hour. I’ll bring you the horses.”
Max nodded and the younger man waved as though he was saying goodbye to Max, then he walked back to the house.
“What the hell was that all about?” Red asked Max as he led them back the way they came.
“I’m not exactly on the best terms with them right now,” Max said.
“That was obvious,” Red said.
“Come on, follow me. We’ll get our horses and then we can be on our way,” Max said, walking faster to get away from Red’s pestering.
They walked to a small spring, bubbling fresh water from the ground, and waited for the young man to bring them the horses they’d need to cross the plains.
Anders sat down in the tall grass next to Max and asked, “So that was your family?”
“Kind of,” Max said. “They adopted me and Bo when we were young. The older man’s name is Tony. He was against taking us in and has never liked us very much. Evans, Tony’s son, is bringing us the horses. He’s much nicer than Tony.”
“I see,” Anders said.
They weren’t waiting long before Evans emerged through the grass leading six horses, saddled and ready to ride. Ivan handed him a sack of coins in payment for the horses and thanked him for his help. Before they left, Ivan had to give the Rollo Islanders a quick riding lesson. Anders laughed as he watched one of them mount a horse and try to ride it onward. The horse wandered over to a clump of lush grass along the edge of the spring and put its head down to graze. The warrior cursed in Rolloan and shook his hands in the air, frustrated that the animal wouldn’t obey him.
Ivan yelled after him, “Pull his head up with the reins as I showed you and press your heels into his sides!”
“This is going to be a long couple of days,” Ivan said to Anders and Max as he rode by them.
Ivan took the warriors ahead with him while Max said his goodbyes to Evans. Anders waited for Max and then they were off to catch up with Ivan and the others. Red and his two partners trailed behind Ivan, shouting ‘yeehaw’ and ‘yahoo’! Max and Anders shook their heads simultaneously. The two were glad to know nobody was around to see how embarrassing these big men were.
The three Rollo Islanders rode haphazardly, following Ivan, Max and Anders into the Bareback Plains.
Anders had something on his mind and finally mustered the courage to ask Ivan, “So where is your dragon?”
Ivan didn’t answer him. Maybe he didn’t hear me? Anders thought. Asking him again, this time louder, “Ivan, where is your dragon?”
Ivan looked at him with a lack of expression on his face. “Dead,” he said bluntly.
“I’m sorry,” Anders said.
“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault,” Ivan replied.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Anders continued. “How did your dragon die?”
Ivan paused for a while not saying anything. Anders waited patiently. Eventually Ivan responded, “It was after Theodor left the war. I was trying to find a way to eliminate Merglan once and for all. I rushed into a situation blindly, taking her with me. She warned me not to do it, but I could only see my desires. It was a trap. The spell was too strong for me to break. The only way to escape was by sacrificing a life. Before I knew what had happened, she gave her life in exchange for mine.” He brought his cuff up to his face and wiped away a single tear.
Anders didn’t know how to respond to Ivan’s confession.
“The death of your dragon is one of the hardest things to overcome,” Ivan continued. “Most often those who are left behind end up losing their sanity trying to bring back their other half. I considered attempting it, but knew my duty to both her and myself would not end until Merglan’s threat to Kartania no longer existed.
“After she was gone, my powers diminished significantly. It took me many years to be able to tap into what little magic is left in me. I understand you have suffered the loss of loved ones Anders, but the death of your dragon is a pain I cannot describe.”
They didn’t talk for several hours after that revelation. By midday the sun’s overwhelming heat caught up with them.
“The horses need a break. We’ll get off there,” Ivan called to them, pointing to a stand of trees, a lull in the topography of the plains. Upon a closer look, they could see water pooling near the base of the trees. “The horses can get water and rest for an hour or two. Once it’s cooled off a bit we can continue.”
Red groaned as he hoisted his legs and slid down out of the saddle, hitting the ground hard. “No one told me how badly horses makes your loins hurt. I won’t be able to walk straight for a week!” He and his two companions waddled over to a shady spot, griping to one another about their sore crotches. Anders and Max laughed as they slid down off their horses.
“I told you it wasn’t as easy as it looks!” Max shouted after them. “You’re lucky these horses were already broken. Try learning to ride a horse that has never been around a person, much less letting someone sitting on its back pulling and poking it around.”
Anders and Ivan sat down in the shade, watching the horses drink from the pool. “It seems like what happened in Grandwood was ages ago.”
Ivan lay back on the grass under the trees and said, “A lot has happened to you in this last week.”
“I think about what my life was like before the attack, simple and happy. Now it’s so complicated, I don’t know what to think. For all I know my cousins could be dead. All this stuff about magic, dragons, and creatures I thought only existed in stories is hard to believe,” Anders said looking up at the leafy branches above them.
“Your cousins aren’t dead. Thargon will know we’ve got what he failed to retrieve and will keep them alive to draw us near. I know this is all overwhelming at first,” Ivan said. “When I first learned about magic and dragons I didn’t think it was real either. Just remember why you’re making this journey - to get your family back. Try not to get too caught up in all of the details. You need to keep your focus on the big picture.”
“Tha
t’s sound advice,” Anders said.
For the next couple of hours the six of them rested in the shade. When Anders and Max saw Ivan get up they helped him gather the horses. The three Rollo Islanders snored loudly in the grass.
“Get up you lazy sailors,” Ivan said kicking water at them. “Time to go.” Red and the other two looked angered by the rude awakening, but knew better than to challenge Ivan.
As they rode, Anders tried to tune out Red and the others talking about battle tactics and war. He was sick of the stress of it all weighing him down, so he let his mind wander. He found himself continually coming back to Maija’s kiss, before the race. He was glad to have met her the day before at the registration tent. He wondered what would have happened to the two of them if the attack had never happened, what his life would be like now.
Every once in a while Anders would be pulled out of his thoughts when Max broke through the talk of war and battle with some obscure joke or sarcastic remark. Anders was quickly realizing how much he appreciated having Max in their group. Max was usually in a positive mood and more often than not offered them comic relief with his jokes and smartass remarks.
Before the sun set they made camp and went about their usual routine of building a fire, eating dinner and falling into their temporary beds. Ivan had been giving Max and Anders sparring lessons nearly every night ever since their ship had wrecked. Instead of using their swords, they used freshly cut tree branches so they wouldn’t hurt each other too badly. Back on the trail to Brookside, Anders and Max used dead branches they’d found along the trail, breaking them almost instantly when they began their spur of the moment sparring match. Max wasn’t as good a fighter as Anders, but the two had made good progress since they’d left Grandwood.
The second day of riding across the plains was more arduous than the first. Often, in the heat of the day, they got off and walked alongside their horses to make sure they weren’t overworked. After midday, for the first time since they left Brookside nearly two days prior, they saw the forested coastline in the distance. Ivan suggested they ride along the tree line as long as they could before they had to cross more of the shade-less plains.
That night, sitting around their campfire and eating a dinner of dried meat and bread, Anders realized he didn’t know how the Bareback Plains got its name. He asked if Ivan knew how it came to be.
Ivan began to speak, but Max cut him off before he could say anything. “I think I can answer this question best. I did grow up on the edge of the Barebacks after all. The plains are home to the largest group of wild horses in the world. The first nomads to tame and ride the wild horses in this area did so without saddles. Over time, saddles were developed to make controlled riding easier, but the tradition of riding without saddles was already deeply imbedded in their culture. As more and more traveled across the plains, the name ‘bareback’ stuck.”
“Huh, ” Anders said, through a mouthful of bread. “Where are the nomads now?”
“Not many nomadic tribes exist anymore. With the development of agriculture, the nomads congregated in a city they built in the center of the plains. It is now known as the City of Equine. That’s where most people in this area live now,” Max said.
“Do you think we’ll see any wild horses?” Anders asked Max before they lay down in their temporary beds.
“It’s possible,” Max said. “The Barebacks have the largest population of wild horses in the world. Back at the ranch outside Brookside they’d sometimes come by and our horses would take off to join the herd.”
“Really?” Anders said.
“Yeah, once they join the wild horses, it’s really difficult to get them back. Even if you can find the right herd and manage to wrangle your horses in again, they’re more difficult to break. Once they’ve had a taste of what it’s like to be with the wild herd, they always want to go back,” Max explained.
“That’s crazy,” Anders said.
“If we do see a group of wild horses, I hope it’s at a distance. Otherwise ours might want to bolt and run with them,” Max added.
Anders went to bed imagining what it would’ve been like to live on the plains as a nomad. He lay awake unable to fall asleep, tossing and turning. The harder he tried to find a comfortable position, the more uncomfortable he became. He tried looking up at the stars and clearing his mind for a while, but the light of the rising moon washed out many of the constellations. Thinking he might be able to clear his mind if he went for a walk, Anders quietly peeled off his blankets, trying not to wake anyone. He slipped on his boots, rose to his feet, and slowly began to tiptoe away from camp following the tree line.
Once in the cover of the trees and far enough away from his sleeping companions, he didn’t worry about making noise as he walked. He stayed close enough to the edge of the forest to see the grassy edge of the plains.
I wonder how far these trees go? Anders thought. There’s only one way to find out.
He walked by the light of the moon taking his time to observe many of the smallest details in the natural landscape that he usually passed by without noticing. Anders felt liberated to be by himself in such a peaceful place.
This is just what I needed, he thought.
After the chaos he’d endured over the last week, he longed to forget it all and be stress-free. He looked down at some bushes nearby and was focused on their bowed branches, heavy with bright purple berries, when he heard a loud ‘CRACK’ behind him.
He froze, his mind flooding with fear. He thought back to the many times when he was hunting in the forest behind his house at Highborn Bay. He would often spook deer or elk that made loud crashing noises when they ran away from him. Whenever that happened, the fleeing animal usually made more noise than one loud crack. Anders stood still looking into the dark shadows among the trees, hoping it wasn’t anything dangerous.
Once he’d seen a cougar stalking a fawn in the Grandwood Forest. It moved slowly making sure its prey wouldn’t see it. But cougars are such stealthy hunters that they wouldn’t make a loud noise like the crack he’d heard. Suddenly, another loud ‘CRACK’: this time closer. All at once it hit him, he knew what kind of animal could make that noise.
“Bear,” he said out loud.
He began to slowly back up, knowing that if the bear could see him he didn’t want to startle it, provoking its instinct to chase. He kept his eyes fixed on where the noise came from, but did not see a bear. Then he saw something shift in the shadows.
Anders lost sight of it for a moment, but pinpointing the movements once more, he could see whatever it was as it drew closer. Through the darkness, he still couldn’t tell for sure whether it was a bear. He thought he noticed something different about the way it stayed in the shadows, unlike a bear’s thoughtless wandering.
If it were a bear, wouldn’t it just come stumbling through instead of hiding in the shadows? he wondered.
Anders stopped dead in his tracks when he saw it begin to emerge from the shadows. Shimmering dark green and purple light reflected off its body in the moonlight as the creature showed itself to him.
Anders’ gulp was audible. He whispered aloud to himself, “That’s no bear.”
***
Emerging from the shadows and into the silver light of the moon, Anders saw something he’d never before hoped to see. A dragon stepped cautiously from behind the trees. It moved carefully, holding its head low to the ground, while keeping its dark-purple eyes fixed on Anders. He didn’t move. He had no idea what to do. His heart raced, and he thought, This is it, this is how I die.
Exposing the entirety of its body, Anders could see the dragon was a truly beautiful creature. The silver moonlight reflected off its iridescent scales. The scales transformed from green to blue to purple as its muscular limbs effortlessly moved its body without a sound.
The dragon’s large nostrils sniffed the air as it slowly approached Anders, who remained completely still. The creature exhaled so forcefully it shook t
he ground around it, sending a chill up Anders’ spine. He imagined how powerful its attack could be. Its sharp teeth and razor claws could slice into his flesh with ease if it decided to attack him. For now, it seemed only to be curious about what he was.
The dragon came closer, letting out a low growl, or was it a purr, from deep within its throat. Anders took a step backward and stopped when the dragon hopped sideways, startled by his sudden movement. It rose up on its two hind legs, standing tall above him. Anders tilted his head back to look at the entire length of the dragon’s body. With its neck outstretched and head tilting from side to side, looking at him with one eye at a time, Anders guessed it stood over fifteen feet in height, and had a tail extending another seven or eight feet behind its back legs.
He remembered from his childhood that the dragons that attacked the Royals at Highborn Bay were said to be sixty feet in length and stood fifteen to twenty feet off the ground when they were on all fours.
This must not be a full-grown dragon, he thought. Still, the creature was pure muscle and could easily devour him if it wanted to eat him for dinner.
Anders remained still, kicking himself for not bringing anything he could use to defend himself. The dragon dropped back down to all fours. It came closer, more hesitant this time, pulling itself back whenever Anders failed to remain perfectly still.
When the dragon was right in front of his body, Anders closed his eyes, fearing the worst was about to happen. He felt the warmth of the dragon’s breath was over his skin, raising the hairs on his neck. He heard the sound of lips parting and opened his eyes to see the dragon’s mouth cracked open inches away from his face. From within its deadly cage of teeth, Anders watched the creature’s forked tongue extend out beyond its jaw and lick the side of his face. His skin pulled along, sticking to the dragon’s barbed tongue. Anders wouldn’t have imagined what the dragon did next, not in a million years.
To his surprise, the dragon began to nuzzle him with its snout. It purred softly as it brushed its head up and down against his body. Its tail flicked back and forth like his uncle’s barn cats did when they rubbed against his legs back at the family farm. Anders nearly fell over backward from the pressure of the dragon’s head against his body. The dragon seemed to be snuggling with him. He extended his arm out over the massive head and stroked its scaled neck from the ears down. The moment Anders laid his hand on the dragon; he felt something happen inside him. His body flooded with a warmth and strength he had never experienced before. In that moment, Anders felt truly happy.