by Vic Broquard
“Eleven weeks until the High Council meets? Sure, Baron Zoran,” Chan replied, “we give you our word that we will not sneak back to Jing and kill more greens just now. My brothers want us dead — you know that, don’t you?” Zoran had just briefed them on their brother’s visit and what he had agreed to do.
Wen added, “Dad made us next in line for any of the three Circles and thrones, should anything happen to our brothers — at least until their kids come of age. Gang’s son is the eldest, so we have at least nine years. I guess our brothers are really worried that something might happen to themselves.”
“Wow! Surely they don’t think that we will be hiring assassins to kill them so that we can take over their thrones?” Chan suddenly realized what her brothers must be thinking.
“I got that feeling, Chan,” Zoran admitted.
“Well, our brothers are paranoid! We don’t want their thrones, do we Chan?” Wen declared.
“No, then we would have to really deal with the greens!” Chan agreed. “Thanks for helping us become better fighters, Zoran. I think our lives will be in danger from now on. I would not put it past our brothers to try to have us assassinated even here on Adapazan. They have long arms.”
“You are both welcome. We’ll do our best to keep any assassins at bay,” Zoran promised.
That night in their bedroom, he brought Zdenka up to date. She said cautiously, “Zoran, things are heating up again. I’ve given Jarka’s observations a lot of thought today. Surely our enemies are somehow behind these raids. Perhaps, they are also raiding our allies as well. I think that you should alert them to what Jarka’s found out. Will there be political ramifications to our having given sanctuary to the Meerong women? Will they really send assassins here to kill their own sisters?”
“I am holding off until we see what comes of our attempts to capture some of the raiders. No sense alarming our allies needlessly, if this turns out to be just some rogue dragons looking for an easy way to get gems. Politically? There is always politics in every action these barons take, though I hope that I defused it sufficiently that Gang will let it go. We’ll just have to remain vigilant on the assassin’s angle, love, like we always do. Come here, my love,” he whispered in her ear.
Around the same time, Archmage Karel waited patiently in his workroom for Baroness Archmage Verushka to answer his summons. Though the hour was late and she was hundreds of miles away in Sholov Province, he hoped that she would come anyway. For the millionth time, Karel rued the fact that he could not Shadow Walk between planets. He, like Jarka and Bernard, could not; they were not Duska. Oh how he wanted to be able to follow the raiding dragons back to their planet of origin! He had no means. He, Archmage no less, was totally dependent upon the Duskas to make such a journey. He cursed his futile attempts to learn such a power spell in his youth, but back then, as now, that spell remained beyond his abilities to cast, though he didn’t know why.
He sensed magical energies forming and relaxed as Baroness Archmage Verushka teleported into his workroom. She’d come after all, he relaxed. “Welcome, Baroness Archmage, thank you for coming so late and on such short notice,” he began politely.
Her hair was down and she’d obviously been getting ready for bed. Still that she had come filled him with hope. “Yes, Archmage Karel?” She didn’t add, “Well, this had better be important.” She knew that he’d not have summoned her this late if it wasn’t.
“Tomorrow the plan to capture the raiding dragons begins. If I know anything about dragons, surely some will be able to escape, returning to their place of origin,” Karel began.
“That likely depends on how well the golden dragons take them by surprise, but I agree. If there are several, one or more may well escape our dragnet. Why?” she replied.
He didn’t directly answer her question. Instead he asked, “I take it that you will be going along with the golds?”
“Well, yes, that is the plan. Few know that though. Please keep it to yourself. It could be dangerous for me,” she added, wondering how Karel found out. Perhaps from Chika or Jarka.
“I have made an interesting magical device on the off chance that one of the dragon raiders will flee the trap. Here, this is it,” he handed her a small, gooey ball, barely a half inch across. “If you see a raiding dragon about to flee, just give this ball a toss towards that dragon. My enchantments will do the rest.”
“What will it do? I am not the world’s best marksman with projectiles, Karel,” she protested slightly.
“No need to be. Just toss it in the general direction. The ball will home in on the dragon and rapidly fly over to it and stick itself benignly onto its hide. I doubt the dragon will even feel it or sense its presence. However, I will be able to view everything around the dragon from here. I should be able to see where it goes, what planet, others that are around it, and maybe the men who are behind the raiding dragons, giving them their orders. If not, maybe they will be some of the infiltrating spies. Its enchantments will last for one day after it is activated by your toss. We ought to get some really good information from it.”
“Karel! This is ingenious! I have been worrying about dragons escaping our trap and us learning nothing at all. I don’t trust these golds like Zoran does,” she replied enthusiastically. Verushka took after her mother in the trust department.
“Thank you. Well, I trust Emil and Renata, but then they are dragons. I would not be surprised if when push comes to shove that they will side with their own kind. We must be prepared, I always say. This ought to give us more information, if the golds botch their plan. If you are invisible, as I surely hope that you will be, tossing this will not give your position away. It is not an attacking action, just a tossing one. I will remain here and focus on the receipt of what images my gooey ball sends back.”
“Good plan, Karel. Jarka has an eidetic memory. We can all review what you have seen via our spells, and she can likely pinpoint where the raiders are located, maybe even identify some of the persons responsible, if there are some,” Verushka added, becoming more and more impressed with Karel’s foresight. They chatted a bit longer and she teleported home. Karel smiled and opened a Mystical Door to his bedroom where Chika was already waiting for him. He had only told Verushka about his gooey ball enchantment, no one else. If it failed, only she would know about it. If it worked, then he could share his achievement with the others in good time.
Chapter 5 The Raiders
It went like clockwork. The ten men had stopped the supposed gemstone-loaded wagon in the narrow gorge and bailed out, taking cover. Zoran and Tomas appeared beside them and Shadow Walked them to the safety of Tomas’ fortress. Now the two waited impatiently. Emil, Renata, Aldrick, and seven other golds appeared beside the wagon, having teleported there in human form. Baroness Archmage Verushka appeared as well, but had already cast her Invisibility spell on herself, along with many other protective spells. She climbed into the wagon and sat back quite out of sight. She held Karel’s gooey ball in her right hand. Patience, she told herself silently.
Emil and Renata climbed onto the wagon and picked up the reins. Of the many dragons, these two alone had some experience with human’s horses, having been with Zoran’s party so frequently in the past. Hence, they became the teamsters and soon had the nervous horses moving along the new road once more. The others carrying pole arms walked along side, providing protection for this apparently highly valuable shipment of gems from the mines to Tomas’ fortress.
Renata said, “Do you think that they will really attempt to hijack this shipment?”
“I do. Everyone knows that the miners here have dug up a small fortune in gems since the snows melted in April. Common knowledge, though we were fortunate to acquire those two really big gems that they found,” he added, thinking of the two whopper sized emeralds that they had acquired, trading a number of smaller ones to the miners.
“Well, I still haven’t figured out just how to enchant mine, brother. It is so cool that we have such high
quality gems to enchant. Why, we can put such power into them!” Renata exclaimed quite cheerfully. Emil smiled, she was right about that!
Nothing happened for most of the day. Near dark, they finally approached Hell’s Switchback, a steeply descending zig-zag stretch of the road that dropped almost a thousand feet down to the lower plains below. Here was where everyone suspected the raiders would strike. The wagon simply could not move fast to flee. It was forced to follow the twisted road ahead, giving the raiders a golden opportunity to attack them with impunity. “Heads up!” Aldrick called out. Emil and Renata looked up. Sure enough, they spotted two dragons high in the sky moving their way. From this distance, their color could not be discerned. Thus, the humans would not be alarmed to see the dragons in the sky, presuming them to be the golds that were out on an antelope hunt. No, the humans would not know anything was amiss until the raiders were nearly upon them!
Verushka wondered what their attack pattern would be? How would the golds intercept them? Slowly the winged beasts drew closer. She double checked all of her protective spells, worrying most about being caught in a blast of their fiery breath. The Archmage began softly chanting her spell. Coming straight at them, the raiding dragons were able to keep their color from becoming visible until they were only hundreds of yards away. At last, the two dragons split apart. One continued swooping straight towards the wagon, but the other circled around to come in across their left side at a ninety degree angle from the first one. She realized that the one ahead of them would likely be attacking them first. Now their color became visible: red.
As the front one drew closer, Verushka saw it opens its mouth. In a flash she realized what it intended to do: destroy the horses and as many men as it could with one blast of its super-flaming breath! From the corner of her eyes, she saw the other one lowering its huge claws and realized that it would attempt to pick up the wagon once the horses and men had been flamed. Her spell detonated, an invisible wall of force appeared in front of her to deflect the fiery blast which now spewed forth from the red’s gaping mouth!
A swirling, dense mass of flames enveloped the horses, Emil, and Renata, obscuring all from view. The flames pushed up and around Verushka’s invisible wall, protecting her from the searing, scorching heat. She could see nothing but red flames all around her. Then, out of the flames rose the ten dragons, the low sunlight reflecting off of their golden hides, the flames adding to their shine. As suddenly as it had come, the flames dispersed and Verushka could see once more. Emil, Renata, and Aldrick swooped into the red in front of the wagon and a nasty biting and clawing battle began. She glanced to her left to see the second red swooping down, but now trying to dodge the other golden dragons, who were attempting to intercept it, mid-flight.
Verushka got a quick education in dragon fighting. The golds were heavier and larger and thus less maneuverable than the smaller reds. The one to her left successfully dodged and flew through the mass of golds who were trying in vain to catch it. The red swooped over her wagon, heading off to her right. The golds were in pursuit, but she realized that the red had gotten away. She threw Karel’s gooey ball after the fleeing red and watched as the ball suddenly had a mind of its own. It flew instantly towards the red’s large body and she lost sight of it. Well, that was all that she could do for that one. Either Karel’s enchantments would work or not. Her attention was now focused on the remaining red that was now in dire trouble.
Emil had his claws firmly latched on to the red’s body from above. Renata swooped down and latched hard onto its rear. Aldrick still clung to its underbelly, pulling all four of them down towards the ground. Bellowing like some stricken beast, the red twisted and turned, unable to free its body from the vice-like claws that dug into its hide and flesh. Down they came. At the last instant, Aldrick let go and managed to get out of the way as the red’s body slammed hard onto the stone roadway ahead of the wagon. Though shaken, Emil and Renata clung to the downed red. Aldrick swooped and landed before the red’s head, somewhat smaller than his own.
Verushka got out of the way as Aldrick retrieved a piece of chain from the wagon bed and proceeded to tie the red’s mouth shut. Then he wrapped the chain around its chest, making the red unable to unfurl its wings and take flight again. “Got you now, red!” Aldrick finally said, as his kids let go and stepped back from their downed red.
They were speaking in their own language. Verushka smiled, thankful that she had had the good sense to cast her Understand Languages spell on herself before she joined the wagon. She listened carefully, noting the other seven golds were now landing nearby, ensuring that the red could not escape them. The other red was nowhere in sight, having fled the planet making good its escape.
“Who are you? Why are you attacking this wagon?” Aldrick asked.
“Adalberto. What’s it to you?” the red replied angrily. “Let me go. You can’t keep me.”
“Who sent you? How did you know about this wagon?” Aldrick asked.
“None of your damned business, gold. Let me go,” Adalberto said defiantly.
“You are not going anywhere until we get answers out of you. Now who sent you?”
“None of your business. Why are you siding with these pathetic humans, gold?”
Emil wisely picked up on that. “You know that this gem stone shipment is ours, don’t you? So you were going to rob us!” He lied effectively.
“But Adonis didn’t tell us. . .” Adalberto suddenly realized that he’d said too much. He’d reacted and not thought!
“So Adonis told you these were human’s gems, eh?” Emil went along with him, hoping the red would reveal more.
“Damned humans. Can’t trust them with a thing,” Adalberto answered. Emil concluded that Adonis was a human.
“Where can we find this Adonis? We want a word with him?” Aldrick asked.
“Hell if I know. Somewhere on this world. Now let me go,” Adalberto repeated defiantly.
“On what planet do you live? Where do you come from? Who sent you?” Aldrick asked.
“Sure as hell ain’t going to tell you that! How stupid do you think that I am?”
“Dumb enough to try to steal Gold Dragons’ gems,” Emil continued to play his hunch.
Verushka saw that Adalberto was not about to reveal much more, and she cast her spell on him. Never before had she tried to cast a spell upon a dragon. None had, except Zoran and his group with Emil and Renata when they were getting their magic training well over twenty years ago. However, then the two dragons were quite willing to have their friends practicing their spells on themselves and each other. It was part of the learning process. Here, Verushka was attempting to cast one on an unwilling dragon, a Red Dragon to boot, one which despised humans.
Later on, she described what happened next to her fellow mages. “It was as if it and I were suddenly moved to some grey, nondescript plain. There it stood facing me and I, it. It became a matter of will power, its versus mine. It seemed to last a long time, but the instant I thought ‘I am an Archmage,’ the dragon lost. My magical spell finally detonated. Yet it could only have been a second or two at most for the whole thing to have happened!”
Verushka was into Adalberto’s mind now. She saw at once what he was fighting to withhold! She recognized the man giving Adalberto orders! It was Baron Strom Clav of Rehor, one of their archenemies! She was now visible to the eleven dragons, and Emil moved over to her to help protect her, though the red could scarcely do much at the moment.
“Okay, I have it now. Baron Strom Clav of Rehor sent him here to rob us,” Verushka finally spoke up, ending her spell.
“Then, we shall let him go now,” Aldrick pronounced. She knew that Aldrick could not be convinced to keep Adalberto captive and turn him over to Zoran and didn’t press the issue.
As soon as the chains were released, Adalberto rose and stretched his wings. His sides still ached from the pincher claws; a bit of blood trickled from several locations where their claws had pierced his tough hide. �
��You bitch of a human! How dare you!” Adalberto gushed. Before anyone could react, he belched forth a huge blast of flames towards Verushka. Her Duska senses kicked into high gear. She dove beneath Emil, using his body as a shield, narrowly escaping the searing flames.
Poor Aldrick. He had always intended to let any captured dragons go free once they had revealed the information that Zoran had wanted to know. But now, this was too much. Adalberto had breached all dragon protocols, attempting to slay Verushka just as he was set free. Eight lightning bolts arced into Adalberto’s body, mere seconds apart as eight golds reacted defensively. Utterly electrocuted, the red died at once.
“That was close! Thanks, Emil,” Verushka said, stepping out beneath Emil onto the soot covered and charred stone roadway.
“Damn, I didn’t want to do that,” Aldrick complained.
“I know dad, but he left us no choice,” Renata replied.
With a heavy heart, Aldrick said, “Okay, go get Zoran. He and his companions will want to see this red’s body before we bury it. The rest of you can go. I’ll stick around and see to Adalberto’s last rites.”
“We’ll lend you a hand,” Emil added. Renata nodded. The others took flight and Verushka sent Messages flying.
Archmage Karel arrived seconds before the others, hoping and praying that he’d get to see a dead Red Dragon. He came prepared with numerous vials and sacks. Soon Zoran’s whole group arrived to see the dead dragon and hear the reports. Secretly, Karel Messaged Zoran: Keep Aldrick’s attention for a while.
Zoran took Aldrick aside and sympathized with him about having no choice but to kill the red. Aldrick related what they had learned. Meantime, Karel filled vials with the blood seeping out of the dead dragon’s puncture wounds, took hide samples from around the wounds, stowing them in his sacks. Finally, he rose, satisfied that he had all the samples that he dared to take. Verushka added what she had learned and such now made sense to Zoran. His archenemy was still trying to foment troubles on Adapazan. Well, he could perhaps put a stop to this at the next High Council meeting.