Dragons of Summer Tide (The Dragons of Hwandor)

by Robert Barton

  She went back to the inn and collected her belongings and slipped out without settling her account. She stopped a street urchin and handed the girl a small coin and a note to deliver to the tower. The little girl would deliver the note after the child had slowly counted to one hundred as instructed. Garisa quickly ducked around a corner and headed for a busy stable where she knew that she had a good chance of getting two horses for a decent price; perhaps if things go very well she might get the horses for free. Soon the woman had her two horses and she was headed out of the north gate of Dealt.

  *****

  Only a few minutes after the scene at the alleyway beside the inn Partonius turned the corner onto the street and could see the tower ahead of him and he smiled because the day had been perfect and in a moment he would be home and he could rest. As the old wizard walked up to the door he remembered the feeling of the watcher from the morning and realized that he could not feel anyone watching. Partonius thought to himself that whoever had been watching was gone, at least for a while and perhaps that meant that whoever he was he had gone away or maybe he was working alone and could not keep a constant watch. Time would tell as it usually does; patience and observation often reveal the truth.

  As Partonius entered the door of the tower he noticed that nobody was in the main hall though he could hear voices coming from a distance. Making his way to the back of the building he found Veer, Shira and Cyerant sitting in the large kitchen talking. As the old man approached he could hear that the conversation was about leaving Deelt and heading south to the capitol of the kingdom, Verat City. Then the old man entered the kitchen and he had a big smile across his face as he spoke. “Hello my young friends, today has been a perfect day and everything has gone famously. Our city is afire with news that magic is restored and soon we will have apprentices at the tower once again. And that troublesome new magistrate as been put in his place and shan’t soon try to bully the mages of the tower again. But I’m sure that young Jolss has already told you about our day.”

  “Where is Daralce?” Cyerant asked while peering around the old mage into the hallway behind the man.

  “He should be here already. I sent him along ahead of me a short time ago as I needed to stop and take care of a small matter.” The mage began to look concerned. “Stupid, stupid, stupid….. How very stupid of me. I should never have let the child out of my sight.”

  Veer shouted. “What – where – how long ago?” Without waiting for an answer to any of his questions the young man headed for the door. “I’m going to go find him.” As Veer made for the door there came the sound of an angry dragon from the back garden. And then a thud as something large hit the closed back door leading from the back garden to the kitchen of the tower. Drace could be heard sounding a rumbling growl deep in his chest as he pushed against the door.

  “Veer, stop,” said Cyerant. “At least wait for me. We’ll go together.”

  “Veer, you have to calm down.” Shira said stepping in front of the large young man putting her hand on his chest. The diminutive girl was so small and bird like compared to the broad shouldered young man – but there was firmness in her voice.

  “Calm down – calm down!” Veer yelled as he turned away from the girl and slammed his fist down on the table which collapsed under the blow as if a large stone had fallen upon it. At this same moment there came a heavy strike against the garden door which gave way to a roaring and angry dragon the size of the largest of dogs. Drace sprang into the room looking around and roaring as though searching for the creature that had made him so angry.

  Everyone in the room seemed stunned for a moment by the force of the angry dragon. Shira stepped up to Veer again and put her hand on his shoulder. The young man tuned his eyes to the girl who could see the anger burning there. Shira just held her gaze on the eyes of the angry young man and ignored the angry dragon growling behind her. After a moment she began to speak softly. “Veer, take a deep breath. You need to calm yourself or Drace is going to bring the whole city down on us. The poor dragon doesn’t even know what he is angry about. Jolss told you that the tales in the book say that the hardest part of being bonded with a war dragon is controlling anger. We have to calm down and we have to think, so that we can come up with a plan.”

  “She is right my boy,” Partonius said. “We must think this thing through first. Besides you do not know the city and so searching it properly is impossible for you. By now whoever has taken the boy will not be found on the streets with him. He was taken for a reason and we must figure out that reason to know with whom we are dealing.” As the old man spoke both Corth and Cyool came in through the broken door and were followed by the non-bonded little dragons.

  “Your meals sir,” sounded the voice of a child from the doorway. Everyone turned to see a very confused looking boy standing in the doorway holding a tray with a covered platter on it. The poor boy was obviously disturbed by the site of the broken table in the middle of the kitchen. The presence of a yearling colt and four dogs seemed a bit odd to him also.

  “Yes, through here” the old man said as he stepped out of the hallway door and pointed through it. “We will take our supper in the dining hall this evening. Our kitchen table has... er… collapsed.” The child carried the tray through the kitchen passing by all of the animals and headed beyond the mage toward the dinning hall. “You may leave through the front door of the tower boy.” Partonius said to the child as he passed.

  “We should all go and sit and talk,” said Shira. “And come up with a plan.”

  “Come on Cyerant,” said Veer. “Let’s go find your brother.”

  “We should talk first,” said Cyerant.

  “He’s you brother, we don’t have time for talk,” said Veer.

  “They’re right Veer. We have to think this through and come up with a plan.” Cyerant responded. The young noble then led the way through the hallway door into the dining hall and the others followed him. Everyone sat in chairs gathered around one end of the long dining hall table. The dragons also followed into the dining hall. The company sat leaving the food untouched for now. “So what do we know?”

  “Well, just under an hour ago I told the boy to run ahead to the tower while I took care of a bit of business,” said the Mage.

  “And he never made it here, which means that somebody took him,” Veer said as he started to rise. Drace immediately stood and started to growl.

  Shira motioned toward the chair Veer had been using and said, “Veer please.” She glanced toward the now rumbling war dragon. Veer followed her glance and reluctantly sat down.

  Cyerant took a deep breath and began. “It has to be either someone wanting me or someone wanting the dragon. If it is someone wanting me then we will know soon.”

  “The boy had to have been taken quickly,” said the old mage. “By surprise, as it were. Though the boy is a new apprentice his few cantrips can be quite formidable given the amount of magical power on which he can call with that dragon.”

  “We remember, “Veer said.

  Cyerant spoke again. “If someone wanted the dragon then they have taken both of them and if someone wanted to use him to get to me then she would have taken him and ignored his pet bird. And that bird will become a problem.”

  “She?” Asked Veer.

  “Yes she,” Cyerant answered. “There are none outside of this room who can know that he is my brother. So who is the only person who would want me for the reward and who would recognize that boy and think that I would rescue him?”

  Drace stood and gave a rumbling growl deep in his throat looking toward the front of the tower. The old mage looked at the dragon and said, “I think that we are about to get a visitor.” He then led the way as the whole group moved into the entry hall of the tower. As the group entered the room the two young men and Shira all pulled their knives out and the three bonded dragons seemed to be on edge. “There will be no need of that since this will be a message only.” There was a light and weak knock low on the
door. “Sounds like a child.”

  Partonius went to the door and opened it and he reached through and took a scrolled piece of paper from a small hand. “Child, who gave this to you?” The others could hear a tiny voice answer. “A woman? Thank you.” Closing the door the mage turned toward Cyerant and nodded admiringly.

  “What does it say?” Veer asked impatiently.

  The old man waved his hand an every candle in the hall sprang at once to life and filled the hall with light by which he could read. As he inhaled to speak Cyerant cut him off. “Just me, alone with no weapons and on foot – out through the north gate. What then?”

  “Yes, quite so, that is exactly what it says” answered the old man. “You will walk north for an hour and take a small trail into the woods toward your left. And her partners will be watching to make sure that you are alone. And once you are there the boy will be released. And you are to go now if you want the boy to live.”

  “Then I will go,” said Cyerant as he headed for the door.

  Shira stepped in front of the young noble and said. “You can’t just go, you know that she is lying and won’t release him after she has you.”

  “I know, but I can’t help him unless I am where he is,” responded Cyerant. “Besides I may be unarmed but she doesn’t know that a dragon the size of a yearling could show up as soon as he is needed. She also doesn’t know that you can keep a watch on me from very, very high up in the air.” Cyerant stepped around the girl and he sent a mental instruction to Corth directing the dragon to stay behind. The dragon seemed to be a bit agitated but did not move to follow the young man as he opened the door and stepped out into the twilight hour. Shira stepped out and waited just beyond the door in the shadows and watched the young noble walk north alone. She also scanned the buildings around the tower to see if she could see anything or anyone out of the ordinary.

  After a few minutes Shira came back to the door for a moment and looked at Cyool and then she held the door open for the young dragon to walk out into the front courtyard. A moment later the dragon leaped into flight and was rapidly climbing into the night sky and heading north. The young woman came back into the tower and closed the door behind her. “I want to be ready to go after him if he needs us.”

  *****

  Jolss came awake with his head hurting and he could tell that his arms were tied behind his back and his feet were tied together. He remained very still and listened to his surroundings and pretended that he was still unconscious. He could feel that he was laying face down on rough cloth like gain sacks. His skin felt as if he had been scalded all over and he felt extremely weak. He also could feel a rag that had been bundled into a ball and shoved into his mouth and tied into place. He could hear a female voice in the distance speaking to someone. The voice sounded a bit familiar but Jolss couldn’t remember exactly where he had heard the voice before. Occasionally he could hear a man respond to the woman but she sounded as though she were the one in charge. There was an odd echo to the voices as if they were in a very large room.

  Jolss opened his eyes a tiny bit in order to see if he could recognize anything around him. He could see that the room was very dim but he confirmed that he was lying on a pile of cloth grain sacks in a very large room. Then he heard the female voice again. “Three days and if you do not hear form me the boy is yours to do with as you wish. Keep him, sell him or throw him in the river, I do not care. Just keep him in this warehouse and alive for three days.” Then he saw the room lighten for a moment and then heard the sound of a door being slammed into place.

  The feeling of being scalded all over his body suddenly lifted but he still felt a burning sensation around his neck and his ankle. He rolled onto his side to get a better look around. He managed to get a look at his feet which were tied together. If he could just recite a simple cantrip he could untie his feet so easily – but with the rag tied in his mouth that was impossible. He could hear footsteps echoing through the room and they sounded as if they were coming closer. He closed his eyes and pretended that he was still completely unaware. The footsteps neared him and stopped right next to the pile on which he had been tossed. There was sour smell that began to fill the air; the sour smell of an unwashed body. Then he felt himself grabbed by the ankles and roughly dragged and turned over onto his back. The he felt a slap on his face.

  “Wake up boy,” a man said. Jolss opened his eyes. “Ah good you’re awake. I have some bread here for you to eat and a bit of water. Don’t want you starving to death before three days is passed. I was paid to keep you alive three days and that’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna take that knot outta yer mouth so’s you can eat. I wasn’t told nuthin’ about not breaking your jaw so if you yell you can ‘spect to get hit. Do you understand boy?” Jolss nodded at the man who had pulled him into a sitting position. “Good, then we understand one another.” The man pulled the boy over to the edge so that his feet were on the ground and the man then stepped on the rope holding the boys’ ankles together.

  ”That’s so as you don’t try to run. When I untie yer hands fer to eat with.” The man then pulled the boy forward to untie his mouth and hands and he held the boy there under his arm. Jolss gagged on the sour smell of the man. The man let go of the boy but continued to stand on the rope which held his ankles tied together. Then the man reached to the side and picked up a piece of bread and a cup of water and handed them to Jolss. “Here, eat and drink up, ‘cause that’s all yer getting’ for the night.”

  Jolss took the bread and the cup and he bowed his head as though he were going to say a prayer of grace over his meal. As the boy whispered over the cup he actually said a cantrip which would bring the water to an instant boil. The young mage felt as though pulling the magic for the spell was difficult as if something were slowing down the flow of magic force and so he had to concentrate very hard. He focused his mind into the recitation of the charm and then as the water began to bubble the boy threw it into the face of the man. As the man yelled and grabbed at his own face the boy pointed down at his feet and said the short line of the cantrip of unfastening and felt his ankles freed of the rope. Jolss immediately kicked forward with both feet knocking the man backwards as the man still pawed at his scalded eyes. Jolss then realized that the man had partners as he heard them call from across the grain warehouse and could hear their footsteps echo as they ran toward the sound of the man in pain. Jolss quickly dropped down close to the ground and began to move as quietly s he could between the rows of stacked grain sacks.

  “What happened Gargis?” A rough male voice asked.

  “Find that brat!” Responded the voice of the sour smelling man.

  Jolss heard the men searching the rows between the stacks of grain sacks and he could tell that they were getting nearer and nearer to him. The last two cantrips had felt unusual to Jolss and had made him a little more tired than they usually did. But magic was the only weapon that he had right now. He saw one man turn the corner ahead of him down the row of grain sacks and the man yelled to his partners. “I got him here!” Jolss pointed at the man and whispered the words of incantation for a cantrip and the man tumbled forward as all of his clothing, belt and buckles untied and unfastened themselves. Jolss turned to run in the other direction but as he turned he saw another man step in front of him and the boy responded with the first incantation that came to his mind and a small fireball hit the man and ignited his clothes.

  As the man tried to put out the flames he stumbled into the grain sacks stacked next to him and the dry cloth sacks immediately began to also catch fire. Jolss squeezed by the man and began to run across the warehouse. When he glanced back he was horrified to see how quickly the flames were spreading. Jolss began to run around searching for a door to get out of the ever increasing inferno that the warehouse was becoming. The boy saw a door open in the distance as a man fled from the warehouse and he took off running toward where he had seen the door. The smell of smoke was starting to fill the air and his eyes were starting to burn
and the flames were starting to singe him as he passed. Suddenly just ahead of him he saw the door open as a nearly naked man pushed his way out of it and Jolss made right for the opening as quickly as he could.

  Jolss burst through the door out into the twilight of the docks and the confusion of people starting to pass buckets of water to fight the fire. Everywhere there was panic as people fought to keep the fire from spreading to nearby warehouses and to the docks and boats. Sailors were unfastening ropes in order to send their boats and barges out to drift in the river away from the fire. In the confusion Jolss was able to slip into the crowd and move away from the docks and warehouses and he slipped into the shadows of an alley between two buildings where he could hide and wait for a chance to sneak away.

  *****

  Veer said. “So I wonder if she really has Jolss with her.”

  “Most likely she does not,” Partonius answered. “She will want to take young Cyerant there prisoner and be away with him as soon as she can. She simply wants that reward and she will work as efficiently as she can to get it. That means not dealing with two prisoners if she can only deal with one. She would not have killed the boy because she knows that until she has Cyerant she may need to use the child as bait.”

  “How can you figure out these things about how others are thinking and acting?” Asked Shira?

  “Is it some kind of special magic?” Added Veer.

  “No not magic at all.” Said the mage. “You were both taught to hunt. So think about it. When you see tracks going in a direction you often can tell where the animal is going and what it is doing. And if you know the lay of the land you can tell a lot about the habits of any given animal. The trick is to think about what the animal wants and to ask yourself what the animal will do next.” Both teenagers nodded in agreement. “People are no different – we are creatures playing a great game. You ask yourself what is the next most likely move for another player to make in order to get what he wants; or in this case, what she wants. In this instance we know what this player wants and a bit about how she thinks and a lot about the conditions of the game.”