by Vic Broquard
After the nearly identical presentation, Zoran learned that here on Cosma, they had been having raids by reds, blacks, browns, and even a few whites. The whites came mostly during the snowy winter season. All three barons also promised to gather their data and share it at the next High Council meeting.
Zoran took Jarka to Terra next, meeting with Baron John Witherspoon and Baroness Dusana Matous. As he had done previously, he asked that the other two barons of the other two Circles on Terra join them. Baron Hank and Baroness Vana Pavel Witherspoon joined them, along with Baron William and Baroness Arianne Mondo Weatherspoon. The brother’s younger sister was married to Gonda’s Baron Henri. Once more, Jarka noted that all three women wore the accepted fancy ball gowns and heels, while the barons wore suits. It was all business on these planets, quite unlike the laid-back attitude Zoran fostered on Adapazan. Well, these planets could afford it, she justified; after all, they were the “have” planets, full of vast wealth and crops.
After Jarka’s presentation, the two learned that here they had many raids from the same four colors of dragons. All six were shocked to discover Jarka’s correlations and the results from the trap. None could believe that Baron Strom was behind them and they promised to fully investigate the many raids here on Terra as well.
Finally, Zoran took Jarka to Gonda of the rolling plains and abundant herds of horses. Etienne Gervaise had passed away, leaving his son Baron Gaspard his chief heir, along with Baroness Andrea Pavel Gervaise. As before, Zoran requested that Baron Henri and Baroness Elizabeth Witherspoon Gerviase join them along with Baron Flavio and Baroness Adelphe Gervaise Mondo.
After Jarka’s identical expose, neither was surprised to hear that Gonda had been suffering raids from the four colors of dragons that the other planets had been having. Gaspard promised to have the data ready by the time of the fall meeting, but added, “This is so hard to believe, Zoran. That Strom Clav would have the audacity to send his dragons to our worlds to plunder us is unthinkable! If this holds up, we will have his hide at the Fall High Council!”
Zoran smiled, but encouraged him to make certain before making such accusations. Finally, the two headed home, just in time for supper. Over dinner, Jarka speculated, “You know, Rehor might not be the only planet whose barons are sending their dragons to us and our allies, Zoran. There are no browns on Rehor. They like deserts. Anwyn, Dietmar, and Gerde could also be sending raiding dragons to Adapazan and our allies.”
“I was hoping that you wouldn’t suggest that,” Zoran teased her. “If that is so, we have a far, far worse problem on our hands than Storm Clav.”
Zdenka commented, “Well, dear, they are our enemies. Why wouldn’t they use whatever means they have to harm us and our allies? With our golds protecting us, they can no longer send in invading armies, now can they? I would expect that many of the enemy planets are sending their dragons out on raids as well as Rehor.”
“A dragon is almost an ultimate weapon, after all,” Archmage Nadia pointed out. Zoran groaned. He’d brought the golds here for that very reason. Now what had begun as a move of self-preservation was rapidly becoming his worst nightmare.
That night in their bedroom, Zoran revealed his fears to Zdenka. “I had a most interesting day, dear. Jarka and I visited our allied planets. It’s so strange. Here we are about to face a huge crisis of magnitude and all of we allied leaders are our age. Honestly, they are all between thirty and forty now.”
“I remember how you used to depend so heavily on your uncles, Baron Viktor Pavel and Milan Matous. So the older generation has given way to the younger ones. Isn’t that the way of things, dear, the natural order? Another twenty years and our children will take up our mantles,” Zdenka replied.
“Yes, but I used to so rely on their great wisdom. I am no politician, never have been. Those two could even quote the rule book of the Federation! Now each planet has three barons, three Circles, but we’re all around the same ages. Even the neutral planets are in the same position.”
She countered, “Well, for that matter, our enemies are in the same situation. None of the older barons were at the last several High Council meetings, as I recall. They’ve left everything to their heirs, though many are now dead I’m sure. However, it sure makes for a complicated High Council meeting. I mean forty-eight barons and forty-eight baronesses all in one room, along with double that in advisors. The rooms really get packed nowadays. Still, you are not facing those older men, who were so set in their ways. That’s something at least.”
“I can face them as long as I have you at my side, my love,” he whispered and gave her a long, passionate kiss. She extinguished her magical lighting in response.
Chapter 6 Escalation
During the early weeks of July, all shipments on Adapazan of anything that a dragon might consider valuable enough to intercept were handled by the barons, baronesses, and their mage staff. Zoran left nothing to chance. He was determined that raiding dragons would have no targets to attack. No gems, no gold shipments equaled no dragon raids — well, that was his intention, his plan and hope. For two weeks, his program appeared to be working.
By the middle of July, the five allied barons reported finding the same raiding patterns on their worlds that Jarka had found on Adapazan. They too began to implement secure transfers of anything that a dragon would covet by secure Duska or mage transport. All six barons hoped that this would be the end of the months of dragon raids on their worlds.
In the rugged mountains of Rehor, far beyond the last human outpost, the Red Dragon Ambrogino assumed the leadership role of the now deceased Adalberto. Yes, he continued to receive reports from Baron Strom, but those reports were worthless. His supposed spies on Adapazan had nothing to report: no gem shipments, no gold shipments. Ambrogino was not stupid. Humans were industrious and mining was always in full swing during the summer months. By October, the snows would be too deep to continue the mining operations. They would not reopen until late April or early May. July was prime time. Ambrogino knew this for a fact, and yet Baron Strom’s spies reported no shipments. This could not be. He himself returned to Adapazan, took human form, and observed for many days in early July.
Food and produce continued to travel along the shiny new roads. Everywhere the economy seemed in working order, from what little he knew about humans. So where were the gold and gems that were used to pay for these goods? Mid-July, he finally got his answer, while pretending to hangout in a Brn pub, right under Baron Zoran’s nose. Here he learned that the barons and their mages were using magic to transport the valuables from their point of origin safely into the treasury rooms! Ambrogino was furious, but held his temper.
While pretending to be relaxing outside the pub, he surveyed the Brn Fortress and mage towers. The one thing he ascertained was that it was indeed formidable; it would take an army of dragons to smash their way inside. Perhaps the gems could be stolen at their mines. He took a trip to one of the mines that he knew about in Sholov Province. Again, he was stymied. Their mine entrances were designed for humans, not dragons. He’d have to assume human form to get inside, giving up his power weapon, his fiery breath. He’d have to rely upon his more limited magical spells. “That will work only once,” he said to himself as he later paced his cavern, thinking this through. “After that, they will place mages or Duskas there to guard the mines. I need another plan.”
Mid-July, he came up with one. He called for a Red Dragon Coven. On the appointed morning, he watched as one by one the Red Dragon leaders from the other planets arrived, circling above his cavern before descending.
“Greetings Ambrogino,” said Azzolino, who led the reds on Gerde.
“Thank you for honoring my call for a coven,” Ambrogino said politely.
“Hail Ambrogino, fine day for a meeting,” declared Benigno of Isi.
“Indeed, thanks for coming, Benigno. Fine day.”
“What’s this all about?” grumbled Dante of Maeve, as he set foot in the cavern.
�
�One minute, we await Dario of Alta yet,” Ambrogino insisted. Soon the last of the reds landed.
“So why are we here, Ambrogino?” asked Dario, tucking in his wings, following Ambrogino inside, where the others had already taken positions in a partial circle, their heads pointing like spokes towards the center and each other. Ambrogino and Howard joined them, closing the circle. Five heads were close together, the dragon coven position.
“Look, the humans set a trap for us,” Ambrogino began, outlining the treachery of Baron Strom and his spies, ending with the untimely death of Adalberto. “I have always said that you cannot trust a human. The only good human is a dead human.” None disagreed with him.
“You mean they killed Adalberto? The golds did?” asked Benigno. “We should haul them to task over that at the United Council.”
“True, but we are seeing pretty much the same thing,” Dario interjected. “The humans have gotten wise to the spies and are now using magic to transport their gems and gold. We’ve not had any successful raid since late June.”
Dante fumed, “Are we to start doing our own digging for gems now?” He found that distasteful. “We’d be no better than the golds if we did that!”
“The golds always try to dominate the rest of us,” put in Azzolino. “I sure as heck am not going to dig for gems and gold! Those humans have tons of the stuff. Huge gems, I’ve heard. They have to keep them somewhere.”
“He’s right! I say, we should locate where they are hiding them and take them by force!” Dante added his support for Azzolino.
“Probably within those stone fortresses,” Ambrogino pointed out. “I’ve looked one over closely and they will be darn hard to penetrate. We can fly over their puny walls, but they will likely have their valuables stored deep beneath the fortress, very hard for us to get. Plus, they have powerful mages and the Duska too for that matter.”
“I have a better idea,” Dario broke in on their discussion. “We mass a bunch of us and burn down one of their villages, flame all of the inhabitants, save one. Give that survivor a message to take to their leaders. The message will tell them to leave a hundred thousand in gems at this village within two days or another village will be destroyed. This way, we will get to destroy some of these worthless humans and get them to hand over their gems. We kill two birds with one flame!” The other four chuckled and quickly adopted Dario’s grand plan.
The 18th of July, twenty Red Dragons appeared in the skies over the village of Curl’s Crossing in Dorum Province, Adapazan, where the original Circle of Ascension lay in the city of Dorum. Home to a thousand men, women, and children, Curl’s Crossing was a typical rural village, specializing in agricultural products, particularly chickens and eggs. Baron Jan Vavrin had twenty soldiers stationed there to help maintain law and order. One of these men first spotted the multitude of flying reds and sounded the village alarm gongs.
As the dragons swooped down, people fled in all directions in chaotic panic, screaming wildly. Those who were a bit on the slow side or who had a longer distance to run to their homes or who delayed for whatever reason died in the first blasts of their searing cones of flames. After a second pass, no one was alive outside their homes. Half of the homes were of wood construction. Soon these were in flames. Ten surviving soldiers braced themselves against a door in their garrison stone house.
Now more screaming voices rose above the noise of the fires, as helpless men, women, and children were forced to flee their burning homes. The dragons were waiting for them and exhaled flaming death upon them. After five more minutes, they then began knocking down the flimsy stone homes, flimsy from the dragon’s point of view. The remaining soldiers attempted to fight back but were subdued with one dragon’s breath shot into their garrison through a smashed window. A half hour later, the village was destroyed. In their excitement, they had forgotten to keep one alive. Ambrogino hunted around and finally found one woman who still lived and gave her the carefully written scroll to pass on to her Baron Jan. Satisfied they had done their best, the twenty dragons returned to their home planets to await the two day time allowance, convinced that their plan would work.
It was almost lunchtime. Zdenka was watching three of her more advanced magic students practice their spells. Suddenly, she felt ill and worried. One of her power spells had just activated! Somewhere on Adapazan something awful was happening, she just knew it. Zdenka slumped into the nearest chair to keep from falling down. Her three students were startled and stopped their casting. As they moved over to her to assist her, Zdenka’s eyes seemed to mist over. She saw in her spell’s vision the destruction that the Red Dragons were wreaking on a defenseless village.
“Archmage! Are you all right?” one student bravely asked her. All three crowded around her chair. Her face was white as a sheet. “Go get Zoran quick,” he ordered his companion. Two minutes later, Zoran and Nadia stepped through a Mystical Door mere feet from Zdenka’s chair. Not long after that, Jarka, Bernard, and Karel also appeared.
“Zdenka! Zdenka, what’s happening?” asked a terribly worried Zoran. He’d rarely seen her looking so awful.
“Mom’s spell is working,” Nadia broke in. “Here, I’ll cancel it.” She chanted and Dispelled the Magic of Zdenka’s spell, leaving her mother gasping for air.
At last Zdenka found her voice. “Zoran! Red Dragons! They’ve burned a whole village down! Burned every last person there! Oh my god! It’s sickening!”
“Where? What village?” Zoran asked. Karel cursed. Jarka began listing what she would need to retrieve from her room in order to go after them, fully prepared.
“I don’t know that. I’ve never seen it before. God, even the little babies and children. Oh Zoran, this is utterly awful!”
“Okay, let’s get you something to drink and calm your nerves a bit. Karel, Jarka, Nadia, contact all the other barons, baronesses, and mages on Adapazan. Get them ready for a massive Mind Link. I will connect to Zdenka and via me, everyone can have a look at her premonition. Maybe one of us will recognize that village and we can get there in time to prevent this catastrophe!”
None needed to be told twice. All three began chanting, while Zoran opened a Mystical Door and fairly carried Zdenka to her second floor kitchen area, where her staff was getting ready to serve the students their lunch. A few minutes later, Zdenka was finally back to battery, though she still looked somewhat pale. “It took me by surprise, Zoran. I wasn’t expecting such a horrible premonition. Haven’t had one for a long time. I even forgot I had it cast on me. I must have looked so foolish to everyone.”
“No dear. Seeing something that terrible will cause any of us to react badly. Okay, here come the others. Relax and replay what you saw for me, and I’ll relay it to the others. I hope someone can recognize this village before it is too late!”
Soon many minds joined with Zoran’s and he then gently touched Zdenka’s. She loved the gentle touch of his mind in hers, so intimate, but not today. It was horrors beyond all horrors that the two now shared. Although she could not sense the many others watching, she knew that all of her extended family and friends were seeing what she was showing to Zoran. She hoped and prayed that they would not be too late!
A bit later Karel cursed, “Damn those reds. Sorry, I’ve never seen that village. Looks like Adapazan though.”
Zoran looked to Jarka. Secretly he was counting on her eidetic memory and his face fell when she said, “Sorry, Zoran. I have never seen that village. There are thousands of small villages scattered about Adapazan.”
Precious time passed. Finally, his half-brother contacted him. Hi, Jan here. We’ve discussed it here at Dorum and we think that it is one of our villages, but we cannot be sure. Damek believes it might be the village of Curl’s Crossing. I’m sending folks to check it out now. If they report back that this is the village in Zdenka’s premonition, we will let you know. We should be prepared for a massive battle with the dragons in that case, right? Jan sounded very scared, Zoran noted.
Yes, goo
d work. Keep me posted. “Gang, Jan thinks General Damek knows this place, Curl’s Crossing. Jan’s sending some mages out to see if this is the right village. It shouldn’t take too long, I hope!”
Just then, Dana, Chan, and Wen came dashing in, armed to the teeth with magical blades. Chan gushed, “We’re coming too, Zoran. If there is a dragon battle, you can count on us, even if Dana says that we are not ready.”
“Your help is most appreciated. I hope that we are in time, but already we’ve wasted so much! I fear the worst,” he replied.
Oh my god! Zoran, it’s happened! Quick, here’s the location! Jan sent to Zoran. Jan was scared stiff, but still managing to function, Zoran noted.
“They’ve found it. Yes, Curl’s Crossing. Everyone, let’s go, but I think that we are too late,” Zoran cried out. Everyone joined hands and Zoran stepped everyone briefly through the Shadows to Curl’s Crossing. He didn’t realize it at the time, but he’d just transported more people at one time than he ever had in his life.
“Oh my god!” Jarka exclaimed. Many others issued similar exclamations as they arrived to see the whole village in flames, dead or burning bodies lying in the streets. Dead lay everywhere. It was beyond shocking.
Jarka’s eagle eyes darted across the whole village. Then, she spotted the lone survivor and dashed over to her, summoning her case of healing potions as she ran. “Over here, a survivor!” she yelled, reaching the woman swiftly. The woman’s hair was burned, her face and scalp was a mass of blackened flesh. Her dress had burned her upper legs and torso; she was barely alive, totally disfigured. A scroll lay beside her, her fingers were no longer functioning and likely never would again. Jarka tried to force a healing potion down the woman’s mouth, but the flames had so seared her throat and lungs that none could enter her system, forcing her to cough it up feebly. Zoran knelt beside the dying woman, tears in his eyes. He and Jarka watched the precious flame of life leave her body. “She had this beside her. It is untouched by the flames.” Jarka handed him the scroll.