Vegenrage: The Magic User

by Robert Spina

  Vegenrage is watching this battle unfold from the dwarve that carried this battle ax. He sees him walking behind a line of dwarven archers, keeping his unit organized and focused on targeted attacks, making painful volleys of arrows into any dragon that fly too close. “Gilderblek, why do I keep missing?”

  “Biyardus, you have to lead the dragon a good ten yards with your arrow.” Gilderblek continues down the line of men, instructing and keeping morale up.

  The dragons that have swooped in, taking dwarves in their mouths and hands, have done so with painful results. Their scales have not matured yet, and the arrows from above and straight on do penetrate their scaly hides, leaving painful reminders that the dwarves can inflict a lot of damage to them. The dwarves have Foarsbleem arrows of their own, and they have many well-camouflaged dugouts throughout the Glabor mountain face. They are armed by four to six dwarves, and they are just waiting for the right moment to launch lethal arrow strikes.

  The dwarves are starting to lure the dragons into a deadly trap. The arrows are large, about fifteen pounds per arrow, and they sit on catapults that look like a crossbow on wheels. The arrow is much larger than you might think for only being fifteen pounds. Foarsbleem is very light among the strongest metals anywhere. The arrow sits on the catapult with a single blade forming a very wide V, very sharp and will inflict a wound easily capable to kill a dragon. The catapults are well hidden behind a blanket, so they are unseen from outside.

  The bravest of the dwarven unit stands out on the ledge, looking at the battle, not purposefully drawing attention to himself, but hoping a dragon will notice him and make an attack. This finally works, and the youngest dragon swoops in on a dwarve standing on a ledge. The dwarve is signaling to his companions that a dragon is coming and to get ready. The dragon swoops in and lands clutching to the mountainside. The dwarve runs behind the blanket, and it drops, exposing the arrow launcher, and the dragon notices too late as the arrow launches, slicing right through the left side of the dragon’s mouth, nearly cutting the entire head of this dragon right off. The dragon falls back and down, crashing to the level Vegenrage is on right now, and his head breaks off as the dragon impacts with the ground. The dwarves cheer and rally, and the dragons take no more chances and begin to demolish Glabor from the air with the largest boulders they can carry and drop them on the defenseless city.

  Vegenrage can see as the boulder that took Gilderblek’s life falls from the sky, ending his vision. It is obvious that the dragons demolished Glabor from the air, and then when all the dwarves were gone or dead, they moved in and sniffed out all the dead and dying, satisfying their hunger.

  Vegenrage breaks free from his vision and looks up. “I have seen what has happened here.” He gets ready to join his companions, when the ground starts to shake a little. He looks down to see the ground violently rock like a massive earthquake is happening.

  Logantrance yells down, “Vegenrage, get out of there!”

  One of the Mountain Creek Dragons rises up from the boulders in front of Vegenrage and one rises to the left of him and one to the back right of him. Farrah instinctively pulls Vergraughtu from Parnapp. A beautiful dragon gracefully flies from over the mountain and swoops down toward Vegenrage. “Les lie lu umbry bryer zomzim dar lonavich leann.” Vegenrage and the three dragons disappear while the dragon who spoke the magic flaps gently and glides through the air away from the mountain. This dragon was copper in color and unrecognizable to Logantrance.

  “What dragon was that, and what happened to Vegenrage?”

  “That was a female dragon, and she has no name that we know of because this is the first time I have seen her. It was believed all the female dragons except for Gwithen had been destroyed.”

  “How do you know that was a female dragon?”

  “A male dragon would have made some kind of spectacle. She flew in, cast her magic, and gracefully flew away. A female for sure.”

  “What did they do with Vegenrage?”

  “I don’t know. He is going to have to take care of himself now. We have to get the dwarves. What was that? Did you hear that, Farrah?”

  “Hear what? I didn’t hear anything.”

  An enormous head rises from below the ledge they are standing on. This head is so large that it is the size of the entrance leading into the mountain.

  “I summon Vergraughtu, consume all breath.” Farrah has not had time to think about and understand all the information she absorbed from the book about Vergraughtu and is not fully aware yet, but she has been growing in magical ability. Every time she uses Vergraughtu and consumes a dragon breath attack, she grows in magical power and magical wisdom, granting her more magical abilities. Even though this dragon did not breathe an attack, Farrah, unknown to her at this point, is now immune to dragon attack while holding Vergraughtu, which she will soon learn.

  Vegenrage spending all his magical energy imbuing and instilling the magical ability of absorption into Farrah was like a professional athlete giving his or her talent to another. Vegenrage did not lose any of his ability, but the magical ability to grow very fast and learn magic that he granted to Farrah was unheard of. Farrah is not aware of how significant and special what Vegenrage did for her was, but Logantrance was very aware of this, and this is what he was very concerned about previously in Vegenrage’s home. Farrah will now start to pick up on magic like never before. She will feel magical presence, and if desired, she will start to craft and create magic. Her magical prowess will begin to show in her mind, and she will become very powerful, and this had Logantrance downright worried because he has seen so many heartbreaking stories similar to this in his lifetime.

  “So you are the bearer of Vergraughtu. No need to worry, little girl, I am not going to harm a hair on your pretty little head with my breath attack.” The dragon sticks his nose toward them as they move back bending at the knees because of the low ceiling. He sniffs the air deeply, raising his head in the air. “Ahhh. The smell of young human flesh, so good.” He darts his head toward Farrah, extending his unrealistically large tongue to grab her with it, and just before his tongue gets to her, it stops, as if slamming into a solid wall.

  Farrah does not know why but is compelled to swing Vergraughtu like a sword at the tongue of Gannream, and it slices his tongue nearly off. “Take that, Gannream.” He takes to flight in a lot of pain and unable to speak. “Logantrance, did you see that? Did you see the way his attack was halted before his tongue reached me? Vergraughtu spoke to me and directed me to strike the dragon, and I did. I know the name of that dragon. I know where that dragon lives and a lot more. How do I know this, Logantrance?”

  “Farrah, we can talk about this later. We have to find the dwarves.”

  “What about Vegenrage? We have to find Vegenrage first, and I think I know where he is.”

  “Vegenrage can take care of himself. He may very well find his way back to us.”

  “He may be in great danger and unable to fend for himself right now. I can see where Gannream lives, and I know this is where they have taken him. Vergraughtu is telling me to go find Vegenrage now because he is in great danger but still alive.”

  “Farrah, you are by no means ready to take on a dragon, let alone a whole family of them. This is a trap. They are setting to draw us to their home, where we will be at a great disadvantage. Vegenrage is going to have to get out of this on his own, and there is no one more capable than him.”

  “We must go to him. He needs our help. I can feel it.”

  “Let us get the help of the dwarven Dagi, and we will be much better equipped to handle the Mountain Creek Dragons.”

  “Flying, flying, I can take to the air and fly with the eagles.” Farrah starts to levitate and floats out into the air, hovering at the entrance to the passageway. “Logantrance, I am going after Vegenrage. I owe him that. Are you coming with me?”

  “Farrah, no, please, you will be a sitting duck in the air. The dragons will pick you off with ease in the open. You have to be
fearful of all the dragons in the air. You have no chance in the skies.”

  “I am going after Vegenrage. You find the dwarves, and we will meet up. Believe in me, Logantrance, I know I can do this. Vegenrage saved me from a lifelong curse, and I am going to save him from the Mountain Creek Dragons. It is the dragons who should be fearful of me.” Farrah takes to the air and is gone before Logantrance can get in another word.

  Logantrance watches as Farrah heads southeast, away from Glabor. He heads down the passageway, ducking and bending forward to fit through the five-foot-tall tunnel. Damn kids, they learn a little magic and they think they can take on the world. He bumps his head on the ceiling. Oh, damn dwarves. He moves on through the tunnel, extracting his Staff of Light from his Bag of Holding to light the way. As he moves, his can see a lot of footprints in the soft dirt covering the rock floor, knowing a mass of dwarves have traveled this way not too long ago. He rubs his hands along the walls and can see dwarves moving hurriedly through the tunnel. His hunch was right; the dwarves have retreated to Symbollia to take refuge from the dragons. This is a long walk through the mountain passageways, made more difficult for Logantrance since he is so much taller than the dwarves, but he has some pretty impressive magic of his own and now is a good time to use some of it. He chants a magical spell as he walks, transforming into a Niegeganther. This is a very large catlike creature with long brown hair it looks a lot like a tiger, only its coat is very long and solid brown. In this form, Logantrance can move very quickly through the tunnel and makes very good time.

  The Glaborian dwarves have a remarkable labyrinth of tunnels and rooms and entrances and exits all throughout the Glaborian Mountains. They can move for miles and miles, never even coming close to the surface. They have a network of tunnels that span dozens of mountains. They know where all the great mineral deposits are. They know where all the weak points and strong points of the mountains are. They have spent nearly thirty generations tunneling, mining, and excavating the mountains. This love of earth and rock and spending so much time underground surely have been a big part of the natural evolution of the dwarves, leading to their short stature.

  The dwarves were much taller in ancient writings and stories, and once they took to the mountains and started spending all their time underground, they became shorter, evolving to the most efficient size suitable to their needs. They now are the Glaborian dwarves, sole rulers of the Glaborian Mountains named after them and even after a four-dragon onslaught to their most elegant outer home, the destruction of almost half a mountain.

  Logantrance is about to see just how resilient the dwarves truly are. He is traveling very fast through the tunnel in this form, and he is beautiful, his long brown hair flowing as he runs, his tail swiveling back and forth as his body tilts, moving through the turns of the tunnel. There are lit torches lighting the way as he runs nearly twenty miles an hour. Logantrance decides this is not fast enough for him and chants in the language of Niegeganther, transforming into a bat that zips through the tunnels even faster.

  This tunnel is amazingly long, so long that it is hard to believe anyone would ever have the patience to dig such a long tunnel, but the dwarves are tenacious, spending their whole lives working inside the mountains to create the vast underground world known only to them. After hours of running and flight, he finally comes to an underground opening. There is a large room with tables, chairs, and a burning fire cooking food, and there are dwarves here, eating and drinking. These are not the dwarves that he is looking for. He flies around the room, deciphering which tunnel to take. One leads out to the mountain face, and one leads deeper toward Symbollia. He can tell by the rush of fresh air which tunnel leads out, and he flies down the other tunnel. The dwarves swat at him, trying to knock him out of the air, shouting, “Damn bat!”

  Logantrance flies on unharmed, and very quickly he comes to another opening. This time he flies into a hole dug right out of the mountain by the dwarves. This is thirty yards across and a half mile down. There are stairs carved right into the wall, winding down with many passageways leading from the stairway into darkness. There are lit torches here and there, so it is not completely dark, but he cannot remember which passageway to take. He has to land on the top of the stairway leading down and transform back into himself. He walks down the stairs, feeling the wall with his hand and concentrating, seeing and watching the dwarves as they moved on. He can watch the empty descent and see the line of dwarves as they traveled down and into a passageway a day ago. That’s what I am looking for.

  He transforms back into the bat and heads for the passageway. He soars down and into the tunnel. Another long tunnel and it is an hour before he reaches another large opening in the mountain. This is more like a cave, a natural part of the mountain that has been dug out, but not by dwarves, and Logantrance quickly realizes this is the home of a family of Stone Giants. They are humanoid, but they look very pudgy, almost fat. In reality, they are very lazy, but they stand ten feet tall. Their skin is very thick and durable. Only the strongest and sharpest of blades have any chance of penetrating their skin. They are lazy, but if angered, they attack with great power. Dragons would find a party of Stone Giants very challenging adversaries and, for the most part, avoid them. Stone Giants can throw very large, very heavy boulders large enough to crush the bones of dragons, and this makes dragons not afraid of Stone Giants but very cautious of them.

  Logantrance knows he is close to Symbollia now. The dwarves have used their magic to communicate with the giants and provide them with fine metals and good food that the Giants greatly appreciate, and in times like this, the giants provide the much-needed protection. The mountains are home to both the giants and the dwarves, and they live mostly apart from each other, but times like this, both races benefit from the protection and provisions from each race. Logantrance remembers the last time he was in Symbollia. There were at least four different families of Stone Giants around the sanctuary of Symbollia.

  He knows he is close and flies on. It is taking him much longer to get to his destination than he had hoped, and he starts to worry. Is this the wrong way? Did I go the wrong way? he contemplates in his head, but no need to turn back now, and eventually he reaches Symbollia to see a sight he never imagined. Symbollia has become a city within the mountain. It is a mile across with many exits and entrances like the one he just flew in from. There must be two thousand dwarves sitting at tables eating and drinking. They are playing musical instruments and socializing. They are basically having a good time. Logantrance is astonished to see the sight of happiness and joy, when he was expecting to see sadness, doom, and gloom. He searches for Glimtron, and surprisingly, there he is at a table with his best friends and many of the Dagi. Logantrance darts down and transforms at the head of the table.

  “Logantrance. Everyone, my dear old friend Logantrance is here.” Glimtron gets up to greet him. “Come, sit by me, tell me what is happening outside of Glaboria.” Glimtron ushers Logantrance to a seat at the table by him, and not many of the dwarves seem to pay much attention to Logantrance outside of the dwarves sitting at the table with Glimtron. “Logantrance, sit here.” Glimtron waves a waitress, pointing to Logantrance, and she knows to bring some food and drink for him. Glimtron sits by Logantrance, patting him on the shoulder. “It is so good to see you, Logantrance.”

  “Glimtron, I must say I am very surprised to see you and all your people in such good spirits. I was at Glabor and saw it had been destroyed.”

  “Yes, the Mountain Creek Dragons attacked Glabor three days ago. By the second day, they had realized we were much too much for them like always, but this time, there was a father dragon. And are you ready for this, Logantrance? There is a female dragon as well. The most surprising thing of all is that they worked together like a family unit. They did not just come to Glabor to feed. They came to destroy. They found out the hard way by losing their youngest offspring that they were not strong enough to penetrate Glabor, so they destroyed our home by dropping b
oulders from the sky over and over until Glabor had been demolished. We suffered casualties, but not as many as you might think. We retreated here to Symbollia, and we wait for the Dragon Feast to end, and then we hunt those serpent beasts. We will destroy them in their sleep like our ancestors did a thousand years ago. We will have our revenge.”

  Logantrance looks to Blythgrin, Trybill, and Grenlew sitting across from him. “Glimtron, the dragons are not going back to sleep. They mean to hunt down and kill all humanoid life, and they are starting with the magic users. They found a way to my realm and almost destroyed me there. The ally I had told you about in Erkensharie, he saved me from certain death, and then the dragons hunted him down on his realm, and no one knows the location of his realm. The dragons have attacked in numbers, almost destroying the Erkensharie homeland. I have come to ask for your help and unite the humanoid races like our ancestors did a millennium ago. We need to fight against the dragons because they mean to kill us all. If you want to hunt them down and destroy them, then your allies in Erkensharie need your help, and Ulegwahn wanted me to let you know the battle ax he promised you is waiting for you there. Blythgrin, what of your elementals and the Sapphirewell? Were they of no use against the dragons?”

  “The Mountain Creek Dragons proved to be more magically powerful than we had anticipated. They were on us with no warning and we did use our elementals, but their magic is surprisingly strong and they devoured our elementals. The Sapphirewell, we used with great effect, but the dragons took to the sky far out of our reach, dropping boulders from very far and high up. They were well organized and hit us from many vantage points. They were relentless, and we used our magic to protect our people and get them out of harm’s way. I would say it was a victory for us. We lost our home, but very little life was lost, and we take great pride in that. Our day will come, and this way they do not know our strength.”