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

by Vic Broquard

  Several hours later, the red returned, carrying the carcass of an antelope. It walked into the long entrance way where it had laid all its traps. Although it sniffed the air noting something was amiss, by then it was too late. Their trap sprang. Several cast Bolts of Lightning at its head. The casters were standing far back from the dragon, but became visible the moment that they attacked it. While Evsen didn’t think that they would be able to have their spells succeed, only the Archmages stood much of a chance, the casters’ job was to draw the dragon’s attention to them, most likely getting it to breath a blast of fire at them. What the dragon didn’t know was that all of the others were standing Invisible against the sides of the entrance. The moment that the dragon responded to the two spell casters in front of him, they were to close and attack it with their swords. Evsen made sure that the two casters were Duska, giving them a good chance in this situation to get out of the way of the dragon’s fire. He was one of them, Viktor, the other.

  The dragon reacted as expected, though Viktor’s spell somehow detonated, harming the red a little. It shot a fierce blast of fire at the two Duska, who dove out of the way, landing and rolling as fast as they could, narrowly avoiding the flames by mere inches. When they got to their feet, the sword hacking was already in progress. Bodies were thrown right and left, but the eleven continued to land deadly blows. Dragon blood covered the floor, making footing slippery. At last with a hideous groan, the dragon succumbed to the dozens upon dozens of sword wounds to its chest, sides, legs, and neck.

  Six of the eleven close quarters fighters had broken bones. Several had very nasty bite wounds and some had claw puncture wounds as well. Only Anwen was unwounded of that group. Quickly, healing potions were doled out and the wounded stabilize. Kaya then joined them and she and Evsen made a search of the lair.

  “We’ve hit the jackpot. Loot, plenty of dragon treasure,” Evsen called out. An hour later, the few unwounded got the wounded back to base along with bags of gold and gems. By suppertime, the wounded were on the road to recovery, though it took most of their healing potions to make that happen.

  The next day, they sorted out their treasure and divided it up equally. Evsen now had the equivalent of close to thirty thousand gold! He was pleased but now it was time to review what they had done.

  “Okay, we’ve gotten our first dragon and you all know just how challenging and dangerous this is going to be. We’ve used up our entire supply of healing potions on just this one dragon. Nearly all of us got wounded slaying a solitary one, even when we took it by complete surprise and on our own terms. Think how it is going to be when we have to take it on its terms,” Evsen pointed out. All were quite sober now and listened to their proven leader.

  “One thing is clear to me now. We are each going to need dozens of healing potions per dragon attack. We’ll need to get that worked out with our sponsors before we try this again.” They agreed fully and sent word of their action and needs. Over a week passed before another batch of potions arrived. Evsen saw that although they might be successful, at the very best, they might tackle one dragon every couple of weeks, hardly the offensive that the barons had in mind when they setup this Strike Force One. Zoran, on the other hand, was quite pleased with the initial results.

  Chapter 23 Detection and Action

  Word of the dragon raids spread like wildfire across many worlds, including Adapazan. By late June, even the smallest of villages had heard about the destruction of Petr Falls. Zoran had the various warlords relay the facts but wild rumors still carried weight in the smaller villages. Some said that the dragons were breeding with young women. Some said that the dragons were stealing away little children, though many thought that was just a way to get the children to obey their parents. Some said that their baron rescued some of the women, but they were horribly disfigured, even blinded or worse. So the rumors went.

  Zoran had a few reports coming in from his Archmages of the north and knew how wild these rumors were becoming. “Aren’t you going to try to set them straight?” asked Jarka. “Most are half-truths or outright lies.”

  “No, Jarka. I’ve come to realize that there is no way at all that I can have mage watchers in every town and village on Adapazan, not even remotely. We need an early warning system. If the villagers believe that dragons are raiding and stealing women and children, so much the better, because they will report on missing women, I hope. In that way, we may become alerted to kidnap victims, if the dragons wise up and snatch one here and there. Instead of wiping out a whole village which brings instant attention, a snatch here and there could well go unnoticed. I am hoping these wild rumors will aid us. If not, well I can always issue a document outlining the true facts and get it to all towns and villages.”

  “Sneaky, baron, sneaky,” she teased him. Jarka liked his motives now.

  What Zoran had not yet realized is that from these distant provinces, there is a long delay in communications in reaching him in Brn or one of the other two barons. Around the end of July, he began receiving messages stating that a woman was abducted or at least gone missing from this village or that one. Many of these had follow up messages stating that it was all a mix-up or mistake. The woman had gone to care for a sick relative or such. However, at the end of July, he had five messages that remained mysterious. Specifically, he stared at the five messages he’d received. Acedia of Dobro, Tehov Province was missing since late May. Anezka of Sobin Creek, Kin Provence, Kamila of Kusor, Radim Province, Katerine of Velen, Zavou Province, and Reina of Dratsy, Orlova Province were missing. As he reread the documents, he noted a disturbing similarity. The women had apparently disappeared in the middle of the night, right from their own homes. The reporting mage, Archmage, or baron verified the story before sending it along to him. It fit the pattern of pervious dragon abductions and he decided to take some action.

  Sitting in his study, he focused his mind and reached out through the Shadows in search of Honani. At long last, he made contact. Honani? Zoran here. Say, I believe that we have had five women from various locations on Adapazan abducted by dragons during the last ten weeks. Can you see if you can locate them for us?

  Yes, of course. We thought that all was going to be quiet now. Oh well, they are dragons. I’ll get back to you if we can locate them. Zoran relaxed. There was nothing much more that he could do. Adapazan was huge, no matter how hard that he wanted to protect everyone, there was just no way to do that. He toyed with the idea of installing night watchmen in every village and town, but that could easily be overcome. Dragons possessed spells, a simple beginning level Sleep spell and there go the night watchmen. No sense in getting the populace frightened any more than they already were.

  Out on the rolling grasslands of Isi, three hide domes marked the current homes of Honani and his friends and family members. “Well, Zoran thinks more women have been abducted,” he announced.

  “Does he want us to find them again?” asked Kachina.

  He smiled, “Right as always. Think you can do it?”

  She shrugged and agreed to see what she could do that evening. After the children were tucked in, she sat before their campfire and relaxed. She focused her mind and began to work her divination magic. She flowed out into the Shadows, searching for traces of terror or panic and found numerous traces, though some were quite faded. Kachina could not date them, but knew that the faded ones were older.

  It was different this time, she observed, much more difficult and confusing. Before, she picked up the combined terror from a whole group of women who were being transported from their homes by the abducting dragons. Easy. This time, it was only a single woman here and there. Just as she was about to give up, she realized that if she took them all together, they would become a group, just as before! One by one, she began to follow them and was rewarded with the discovery that they all joined together in one group somewhere over Isi, of all places!

  Her joy in that discovery quickly faded. Again the group had moved, now as a group off into the S
hadows. Undaunted, she attempted to follow them as she had done before, expecting them to arrive on one of the other worlds. Suddenly, she stopped! Now she was frightened. She’d reached the very edge of the known Shadows. There were no more known worlds beyond this point! Hastily, she returned to her body beside the late evening fires, which had now died down to undulating red coals.

  “Any luck?” Honani asked. Askook and Cheveyo watched her closely as well. Her face had shown a variety of expressions during the last few hours.

  “Most strange. Most. Scary too, I’m afraid that I am at a loss. Yes, I found isolated traces of frightened, terror filled women in the Shadows, but each one was coming from a different world. I followed them and they all joined up right here on Isi!”

  “Where?”

  “On the High Plains before the foothills, the boulder field area. What is strange, Honani, is that after that, they all then traveled together as a group, I think.”

  “Well, that’s good. Probably picked up a woman from various worlds and brought them together and then took them to their secret cavern,” Honani speculated.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “So which planet do we search?”

  “That’s just it. They left all known Shadows. I have no idea where they went, but it is not any of our sixteen planets!”

  “Incredible. That’s a setback. Well, let’s sleep on it. Maybe an idea will come.”

  The next day, Honani decided that the best thing to do was to go check out the boulder field. Perhaps there they would find some traces of the women or some clues. The five took off, leaving Kachina watching over the three family’s children.

  Within a few minutes, they hovered over the High Plains and the boulder field, famous for its gigantic sized boulders that covered ten square miles. They set down and began looking for clues on the ground. After some time, they spotted dragon dung in quantity. “Hey, over here. I found a woman’s shoe!” Askook called out. Several other items were located in the same general area.

  “This must be their staging area,” Honani concluded. “We might not have found the women, but this is likely where they all met up and then took off together as a group. It’s something to go on anyway.”

  “Think we’ll get a reward for this discovery?” asked Cheveyo.

  Suddenly, their Duska senses tingled. “Danger!” Honani called out, though he need not have. The other four already felt the same warning. “Up there! A huge Red Dragon — circling us!”

  Awinita exclaimed, “Let’s get out of here fast! Shadow walk back to the huts!” The five stepped into the Shadows, safely out of the reach of the enormous red. They stepped back onto the plains of Isi near their hide homes. Their children ran up to them, welcoming them back, as Kachina walked slowly to greet them.

  “Found the spot. It was definitely the rendezvous location. We found discarded women’s apparel, shoes and the like,” Honani reported.

  “Yes, and the largest red that we’ve ever seen also spotted us. We got out fast,” Awinita exclaimed rather excitedly.

  Old Sniffer doggedly kept at it, making detailed search patterns over the plains of Isi, just as Dario had asked of him. It had been weeks now, well days actually, he needed to sleep most of a week after flying about all day. This day, he flew over the boulder field area and spotted five small humans below. Just as he was about to move on, he caught a faint whiff of their odor and his nose did not fail him. “Hum, that’s them! Ah ha.” He fired off a Message spell to Dario and was surprised at his response.

  They are over the boulder field! My god, they’ve found our meeting place! Don’t lose them! Am sending a flock of reds to intercept them! Surprised at the request, he began spiraling down after them. One by one, they Shadow Walked away, but now Old Sniffer had really acquired their scent, quite strongly. As twenty reds appeared in the sky, he flew up to meet them.

  “Where are they?” asked Dario.

  “Shadow Walked as soon as they saw me circling, but now I have their scent. Follow me.” He slipped into the Shadows after them, his nose guiding him unerringly through the nothingness of the Shadows. Dario and the reds followed right behind him. For once, Old Sniffer really felt alive again. He was on the hunt. Oh how he used to love the hunt! Old memories came back to him, fun times, those days of the hunts. At last, he followed the trail out of the Shadows and back onto the rolling grasslands of the plains of Isi. Below him, he saw three domed huts and a number of people. The scents he was following led straight down to them. One by one Dario and the reds appeared from the shadows and he pointed out the group.

  “My god! The red has somehow followed us here! Quick! Children, run to your parents. We have to — my god! Look at all those reds!” Honani screamed. He grabbed his children and Awinita, while Askook and Donoma rounded up theirs and Cheveyo and Kachina grabbed a hold of their three children. Just as the horde of reds swooped down to fry them all, Honani stepped them all into the Shadows and then out again, five hundred miles further north. They relaxed and tried to make sense of what had just happened. Honani only had time to ask a question when that huge dragon also stepped out of the Shadows a thousand feet from them. He didn’t wait to see if the horde followed the enormous red. He stepped them into the Shadows once more, this time arriving a thousand miles to the south.

  “This is unbelievable!” Awinita exclaimed as they landed on the empty grasslands with a large patch of pines not far away. “God! Here it comes again! How can it follow us?” Honani reacted and stepped them all back into the Shadows again. This time, he kept them all there for a time, before appearing five hundred miles further east.

  No one said a word. All eyes stared at the skies around them. “Mommy, there it is again. Make it go away,” Kachina’s littlest daughter exclaimed, frightened by the dragons coming after them.

  “This is ridiculous!” Honani yelled and stepped them all into the Shadows once more. This time, he took them off-world, arriving out in the middle of the deserts of Chana. “Let’s see them find us on Chana. Kids, this is the desert planet of Chana.” He was about to tell them a bit more about this strange land devoid of grasses when Awinita pointed out the huge red had again appeared above them!

  “This cannot be happening!” Honani protested, but again quickly stepped them all back into the Shadows. This time he took them to the outskirts of Puerto on the hilly planet of Alta, close to the baron’s fortress and Circle of Ascension. Within a minute the giant red appeared, followed shortly by the horde of smaller reds!

  “What are we going to do?” his wife, Awinita cried out, becoming terrified. No matter where they went, these dragons were relentless in their pursuit! Honani stepped them again into the safety of the Shadows. He paused and tried to think. Where could they possibly go and yet be safe?

  Zoran! Help! We have a large band of reds after us! They are following us everywhere we go through the Shadows even! This cannot be, but I swear it’s true! Can you help us, please?

  Zoran was more than a little startled by the sudden Mind Link and message from Honani. I am lowering my protections. Land on my Circle of Ascension — the sky blue circle. We’ll take it from there. He sent frantic Messages to his crew and then headed for the roof of his fortress, using a Mystical Door. Verushka appeared beside him, and then one by one all of the others in his usual fighter group joined him. Karel rushed about handing out his precious rods, hoping they still had time. Suddenly, the largest red that they had ever seen appeared in the skies over Brn. Townsfolk began screaming and dashing into any available building. Chaos hit the streets. Then twenty more reds suddenly appeared close to the ancient red dragon. All circled, but stayed well out of spell range.

  “Come on. I’m ready to kill you!” Archmage Karel screamed angrily up at them, as if that would somehow provoke them to attack.

  “Well, well, well. Old Sniffer, you have certainly earned your pay this time!” Dario exclaimed as he observe Zoran and the many Archmages just waiting for the reds to get too close.
r />   “Pay? What pay?” he asked.

  “I’ll bring it by this evening. You can head home now. We have learned what we needed to know. Thank you, Old Sniffer! Thank you. Okay, home everyone.”

  “Hey, come back here and fight!” Karel yelled as the dragons vanished as suddenly as they had appeared.

  “What was that all about?” asked Verushka, greatly relieved that the certain battle had been avoided.

  “I am not sure but they were chasing Honani. Karel, keep watch for a while up here. Everyone, thanks for the fast response. I’ll see if I can figure out what the devil is going on here.” He opened his Mystical Door and stepped out far below ground near his Circle of Ascension. Honani was explaining all about the Circles and what a great honor it was for them to be standing on Baron Zoran Vladislov’s Circle.

  Zoran noticed that the children and women looked half scared out of their wits. Something had been going on. “Okay, we’ve chased the reds off. Wow, that one was huge. Positively the largest red that I’ve ever seen, almost the size of a gold. Welcome one and all to Brn and the Circle of the Free Peoples of Adapazan. If you will follow me, let’s get some refreshments. Cookies kids?”

  A few minutes later, the nine children were merrily eating cookies and milk, their fright now forgotten. Honani and the others explained in great detail they had discovered on the boulder field and then the huge red. After his detailed explanation, he asked, “Zoran, I swear that red was after us like a blood hound dog tracks a fox!” The others concurred with his observation.

  “Well, this is certainly a new and startling discovery about the reds. I don’t think anyone knew that they have such a fantastic sense of smell that they can even follow you through the Shadows. That is most disturbing and distressing,” Zoran stated, thinking hard.