Dragons, Power, Courts, And War (Book 2)

by Vic Broquard

  “I’ll keep you posted.” Jakob then left, leaving Zoran with a new puzzle to solve. He shook his head, what could have happened to the missing men and women? He hoped that the two mages had somehow teleported them to safety.

  Late the next morning, Zoran and Zdenka visited the infirmary to check on how Lilia and Neda were faring. They found Neda was dressed in a new white cotton dress with a new pair of shoes. She was sitting on a chair while Jarka was trimming the burned hair out of her long brown hair. “Hi. Chan came to see me! She really is a dragon fighter! She promised to teach me how to fight dragons if I want to, but they scare me. I am not so sure that I want to fight them,” Neda explained as they sat down beside her. “Mage Jarka gave me this new dress. It is the finest dress that I ever had and new shoes too.”

  “Well, if I so say so myself, you look very pretty, Neda,” Zdenka complimented her.

  “Thanks. She had to help me dress. I can’t dress myself any more or even tie my shoes.”

  “Well, neither can Chan. Her sister, Wen, always helps her get dressed,” Zdenka pointed out. Zoran examined her left shoulder. Jarka had removed the bandages and pink healing flesh remained. Neda still had about two inches of her left upper arm remaining, not much at all. Still she was lucky to be alive.

  Neda saw him examining it and wiggled her arm. “Hardly anything is left. I can’t do much at all with it except wiggle it, I’m afraid.”

  “True, but you are one very lucky young girl. You are still alive. I think that is a miracle.” Zoran tried to put a different slant on it.

  “Am I really going to get to live here with all of you?” Neda asked.

  “You bet you are, unless you want to go live somewhere else,” Zoran answered.

  She grinned. “I like it here. Jarka says that she’ll be my new mom. Is that all right?”

  “Of course, Neda. Jarka’s children are all grown up now, and I think that she misses having a bright young girl around,” he replied and both Jarka and Neda grinned. “If you will excuse me, Neda, I should go check on Lilia now.” He got a warning stare from Jarka and headed into the next room.

  As he left, he heard Zdenka saying, “Neda, suppose that you walk into a room and see a dead man lying on the floor, a young woman sitting at a table. She is bleeding badly. Also on the table is a large bag of gold. No one else is in the room as you enter it. What would you do?”

  Zoran grinned. He paused just outside the door to hear Neda’s answer. “Oh, I should see if I can stop the bleeding like mom taught me. Only I don’t know if I can do it now, not with only one hand. Maybe I can. If not, I can run for help.” Zoran smiled, he knew that Zdenka just took on a new magic student. Neda was now in very good hands and likely had a bright future ahead of her.

  It was quite different in the next room, where Verushka had separated Lilia from Neda. She had Lilia dressed in a new cotton dress, and the young woman was sitting on the bed as Verushka just finished feeding her some breakfast. “Good morning, Lilia. You are looking so much better today. Your arms are definitely healing up just fine.” He noticed that her lower arms were quite pink where the new skin was forming up. She’d lost both hands just above her wrists.

  “You two can chat while I brush out her hair. Lilia has such golden locks. Quite pretty,” Verushka commented and began dealing with the woman’s hair. Obviously, Lilia could do very little for herself anymore.

  “Why are you bothering with me? Why didn’t you just let me die with my children? I can’t live like this?” Lilia raised her empty arms and dropped them in her lap.

  “You are alive. That is a miracle, Lilia. Life is in you still. You are pretty and young. I am sure that soon you will be able to have more children. I am so sorry that your little boy and girl were killed by the vile dragons,” Zoran tried to think of something comforting to say to her, but felt terribly awkward.

  “How am I to do that? I can’t do anything anymore. I have no hands at all! All I ever wanted to be was a wife, to take care of my man, keep a fine house, raise my beautiful children, and be a good mother to them, that’s all I ever wanted to be. Now, all that has been taken from me. I’ve lost my children, my husband, my home, everything. I have no hands and am facing a life as a total invalid, a cripple who cannot do anything at all for herself, totally and utterly dependent on others for everything. I can’t even feed myself. Why didn’t you just let me die with my family?” She broke down and sobbed uncontrollably once more.

  “You are young. You can learn new ways to do things, I think,” Zoran tried his best to console her and give her some hope for the future. “Perhaps in time you will meet a new man and fall in love again. You have a long life ahead of you. Do not dwell on the past. We cannot change it, as much as I want to do just that, I cannot.”

  “You don’t get it do you?” she wailed. “I can’t change my baby’s diapers. I can’t cook his meals or start a fire in our stove. I can’t clean our house. I can’t hold my babies or fix their cuts and bruises. I can’t even dress my children. I can’t do a damn thing anymore! I can’t even open a door! I am a prisoner now.” She was off in another fit of sobbing.

  “There, there, in time it won’t seem so bad. I have your hair brushed out nicely. You need to rest up. I’ll be back in a while with our morning tea, Lilia,” Verushka said softly. She motioned for Zoran to leave and follow her.

  Once out of the room, Verushka explained, “She has been like this since she recovered consciousness. She’s suffered a horrible loss. Emotionally, she is a wreck; her whole family has been stripped from her as well.”

  “Will she recover?” he asked.

  “Probably in time. Time heals all things, it is said, though I really don’t believe it. Honestly, her precious children have been taken from her. How can you ever get over the loss of your own children? Plus, she is now totally handicapped. She’s right. How can she do much of anything for herself now? I really don’t know, but I will stay with her and see what I can do.”

  “Thanks Verushka. I felt so awkward around her. What can you say to her? There aren’t even words. It’s catastrophic for her. Still, she is young. Maybe she can make it.”

  “I’m keeping my fingers crossed. We’ll do all that we can. Any word about the missing villagers?” He nodded no. “Well, I’ve been thinking about that. I have some ideas and will speak with Jakob later today. They have to be somewhere. I hope that they are safe and sound. The two mages must have somehow gotten them to safety,” she explained.

  Zoran saw that she was just as bothered about this disappearance as Jakob. So many things were strange about this latest attack. No gems were taken. What was the point of destroying a large village? He’d expected to find another ransom note, but none was found. He too felt worried. How could he protect the people on Adapazan for whom he swore an oath to protect?

  Three days later, Baroness Archmage Verushka had a split second choice to make. Daily, she had been caring for Lilia, trying her best to help the young woman adjust to her drastically altered life. This day, Lilia seemed to be doing better and wanted to go for a walk, since that was about all that she said that she could now do. Verushka agreed and they took a tour of the fortress. Later, Verushka admonished herself for not realizing what was on Lilia’s mind when she asked to go onto the roof to get a good view of the town of Brn, which she’d never seen before. Once on the roof, Lilia seemed to be in awe of the sprawling town of some twenty thousand plus, but at the last instant, she jumped off of the roof!

  Verushka had but a split second to react. “I could have saved her, Zoran. I just froze. I know that she just did not want to live any longer. I can’t blame her. I just didn’t have the desire to rescue her from the five story fall only to have her try it again later on. We ought to be allowed to control our own lives. I know that it is very sad, but this was her choice to make. It is or was her body. God, I hope that I never have to make such a choice ever again! I feel awful.”

  Zoran held her close for a time. After a bit of sile
nce, he whispered, “I’d of probably done the same as you. It was her life, though I wish she had made a different choice. Still, the barriers that she had to face are almost insurmountable.”

  After a brief burial ceremony, Zoran visited Jakob, partly to let him know that Lilia had died, but also to chat about the still missing fifty-some men and women. “Surely by now if they had been teleported to a place of safety, one or more would have made some kind of contact. The warlord now has guards stationed at Petr Falls night and day, buy no one has returned. Frankly, it is really bothering me, baron. What has become of them? I have tripled checked with anyone I can find who knew folks who lived there. I’ve confirmed the numbers; they cannot be off by more than one or two men. Somehow they have completely vanished.”

  “Have you considered that their bodies might have been burned in the fires or eaten up by the acid?” he asked.

  “Yes, we did a ruins by ruins search. I’ve even made some acid tests in my lab. Given the amount of time that passed, there is absolutely no way that the dragon’s acid could completely dissolve all clothing and traces of a human body. There was just not enough time, not even if the person was in the acid’s direct path and took it full on. No way. I swear, baron, we have a real mystery on our hands. I’m now exploring the possibility that somewhere in the village they had a secret chamber where these people went to hide from the carnage. Perhaps its entrance was blocked by the collapsing buildings. I’ve sent all of my magic students out there to search for such places. I haven’t heard back yet.”

  “Excellent reasoning,” he complimented Jakob.

  “If that fails, which I believe it will, since I have heard of no such hiding places from those I’ve contacted here who either once lived there or knew those who did, I have one other outside possibility to try.”

  “What’s that?” Zoran asked, curious. What else could be done?

  “As you know, many folks have elementary magic skills. I am going to chat with everyone who knew any of these missing folks and see if any of the missing had such skills. Perhaps one of them had a little skill, you know, even less than the adepts. If so, I will try to Message them. Of course, that may be a futile one-way action, a long shot at best.”

  “Say, that is a good idea. Keep me posted. I am as baffled as you are. Actually, we all are.”

  “I will. Here is the list of missing folks. Have your people take a look at them. Of course, it is highly improbable that your people would actually know anyone from Petr Falls. Still, I am trying everything humanly possible. I hate mysteries like this, baron. There has to be a logical answer somewhere, only we are just not seeing it.”

  “Agreed. Logic says fifty-plus adults just do not disappear without a trace. Say, is it possible that one of the attacking dragons knew the Vanish spell?” Zoran suddenly had a horrible thought that the people had been picked up and dropped into the sun.

  “Even if one did, baron, they could not cast it fifty plus times. None of us can cast it that many times in such a short space of time. I already considered that possibility along with Disintegrate spells. Just not enough time.”

  Later that day, Zoran passed the list of names around to his people. It passed from hands to hands, accompanied by sad shaking of heads, as anticipated. Near suppertime the next day, the list, now well handled, had made it to the small group of very beginning magic students of Archmage Zdenka. She explained what the list was about and passed it around to this year’s four new students, five counting Neda who had just been added. Already she could cast a Clean spell and was very proud of that fact.

  Suddenly, Neda spoke up. “Archmage, I know most of these people. They were our friends. Danika Stanis, she used to babysit me when I was little. Mom chose her because she could somehow send mom a message if I got sick or hurt. I think it must have been magic.”

  “How incredibly stupid of us all!” Zdenka slapped herself. “Duh. We should have checked with you first, Neda.” She told Neda about the spell and how it worked. At last, she decided that perhaps this young woman had the ability to cast a Message spell. Hastily, she dashed off a Message to Zoran, who came via a Mystical Door. He thanked Neda and Shadow Walked to visit Jakob with the news.

  “Fantastic! Now we are getting somewhere. My students found no traces of hidden or secret hiding places, baron. We’ve got to try to get through to this Danika woman,” Jakob exclaimed, greatly relieved as Zoran relayed the news.

  “She could be a long distance away. I’ll let you try first, after all, you have been instrumental in working on this mystery,” Zoran allowed the Archmage his victory. Jakob sat down and cast his Message spell. He sent: Archmage Jakob here. Danika, we are looking for you. Can you respond? Nothing happened, in fact, the spell did not properly activate. “Well, it did not activate, so she must be dead.” He looked crestfallen.

  Zoran’s hopes died too. Suddenly, he had another thought. “Say, what if she is off-world? The usual Message spell only works if the person is on Adapazan. Let me use my Duska Message ability. That sends the message anywhere. He focused his attention and sent off his message: Danika Stanis. Baron Zoran Vladislov here. We are looking for you and many others. Are you there?

  He waited patiently, his fingers crossed. He sensed another’s mind. Panic and fear swept into his mind, along with a twinge of renewed hope. Yes? It’s me. Help us! Help us! The dragons have us! Zoran joined Jakob’s mind with his and saw the flashing smile from the Archmage. It was working; they’d made contact with one of the missing people!

  Danika. We believe that thirty women from Petr Falls are missing along with twenty-five men. Are you safe? Are the others with you?

  Help! Yes, we’re here. Dragons took us. Help.

  Where are you being kept? Do you know what planet you are on?

  No. It’s cold though. We’re in a cavern in some mountains. Help us please.

  What do the dragons want with you?

  They’ve raped us and made us all pregnant somehow. We are supposed to be giving birth to baby dragons. Radmilla couldn’t take it and she ran out and jumped off the mountain and died. They tied us up after that, but Nadia got untied and was caught trying to untie the rest of us. They burned off her hands! Now they have put a metal collar around our necks and chained us to the walls so we can’t escape. Our arms don’t move anymore either. Help us please, help us.

  Jakob cursed and swore angrily, but Zoran tried to keep from reacting. Okay. Are the men in the cavern with you?

  No. We’ve not seen them since they brought us here.

  Did they say what they were doing with the men?

  I think that they are making them mine for gems.

  Okay, you are doing really well, Danika. Now let’s see if we can work out where you are being held. What color of dragons took you?

  Red and black. Both are around every so often. Both kinds raped us.

  Okay, Danika. Everything will be all right. I am coming to rescue you. Be patient. Help is coming.

  Zoran asked a number of other questions in an attempt to get some idea of what planet they were on, but that proved futile. All that he had to go on was that they were in the mountains and it was cold. Well, that ruled out quite a few planets at least. He promised to get back to her soon. “Now how the devil do we find them?” asked Archmage Jakob.

  “We’ve ruled out Adapazan. Mountains make it most likely to be Rehor, Dietmar, or Gerde. True, there are some lower mountains on some of the other planets, but the way it sounded, the woman fell a long ways to her death, implying tall mountains. Somehow we have to narrow it down.”

  “Even if we know they are on say Rehor, how are we ever going to find them? We’re looking for a needle in a haystack.” Jakob’s enthusiasm melted away at the sheer impossibility of finding them.

  “Okay, I’m going back home and research this further. I’ll keep you posted. At least we’ve made contact with them and know that they are still alive. Somehow, we have to save them,” Zoran replied.

  Once home, he
Messaged everyone about his success and then summoned everyone for a mass conference. “I believe that I will be able to follow the tiny energy line of communication with Danika while I have a link with her. Once I have her located, the problem becomes how do we rescue them from the dragons? The women are apparently chained to the wall to prevent them from killing themselves to avoid giving birth to a dragon baby. This sounds utterly wild to me, but let’s leave that for later. Right now, we need to focus on how to get them back. Worse, she had no idea where the men are being held.”

  “Dad,” Tomas suggested, “since they are being held in a cavern and are not being watched constantly, we could Shadow Walk arriving inside the cavern. Once there, we throw up Force Walls, blocking the entrance in case the dragons get wise to what we are doing. Not sure how we get the chains off of them though.”

  Jarka giggled, “You leave that to me, son.” Several laughed. She was, after all, a thief.

  Several weeks before, Amorette, Dario the red’s mate, made a suggestion. “You know, Dario, the loss of several of red children has gotten me thinking about my great-great-grandmother, Alaina.”

  “Whatever are you thinking about, you clever wench?” he teased her. Honestly, he had no idea what she was talking about or even why. Besides, who recalled such distant ancestors anyway?

  “I remember hearing stories that way back then, honestly Dario — say, that has to be nearly two and a half millennia ago, doesn’t it?”

  “I suppose so dear. What are you trying to say?” he said impatiently.

  Amorette donned her peeved look. “This is important, Dario. As I was saying, I remember hearing stories that in Alaina’s time, some of you virile men bedded human wenches and begat young dragons that way.”

  “What? Is that even possible? Human females? Bear dragon children?” Suddenly Dario was all ears.

  “Yes, dear. According to what I heard about Alaina, back then, when there was a shortage of young dragons, you men impregnated your virile seed in human women, who then bore young dragon children. Of course, the women died giving birth or rather when the young dragons were born, they chewed and clawed their way out of the human women’s wombs and took their first nourishment from their mother’s blood and flesh. According to Alaina, that was done by the reds in order to rebuild our numbers shortly after the Gold-Red War in which nearly half of the reds were slain. After all, you know that we only breed about every ten years or so. Honestly, if we bred as frequently as these humans, why, you and I would have something like three hundred children by now!”