Dragon Blade

by J. D. Hallowell

“What about Nat?” Will asked. “He is a new Rider, but he is as well versed in dragon lore as our uncle.”

  “Now that the immediate danger of the plague here has been dealt with, Nat will need to leave for Horne as soon as possible.” Delno looked at the half-elf and said sternly, “You are not to engage the enemy down there; you are much too valuable as a healer to risk your life fighting with some damn fool Rider who is working for our enemies.”

  “I thought that Riders had no clear leaders and were able to do as they saw fit,” Nat quipped.

  “They are,” Delno replied, “so long as they are not our best healer, who I consider to be irreplaceable. I don’t feel that one dragon, more or less, even one as brave as Marlo, will make that much difference, but your skills as a physician may be the difference between life and death for those who are injured in the war that is coming.”

  “I’m not exactly helpless, my friend, but I will do my best to avoid any direct fighting,” the physician replied.

  “That still leaves me,” Dorian spoke up. “I have read much dragon lore over the years. It is required reading for the nobility of Corice, and I became especially interested after my sister left with Corolan. I know much about care and training of young dragons. With Saadia’s help, we could begin the training of the two hatchlings here in Corice.”

  “That is all well and good, uncle, except that I don’t want to burden Corice with that duty, especially since the Riders’ loyalties must be to the dragons and not any one country in particular.”

  The pointed comment wasn’t lost on Dorian. “I have no intention of trying to usurp the young Riders’ loyalty, Nephew,” he said softly, “but I do admit that my offer is not completely altruistic. Our enemies to the north have now seen two examples of what dragons can do in a battle. Our enemies to the south, and I fully believe that Warrick is the main enemy of Corice, will have their hands full trying to deal with the Riders you take to Horne. I believe that Warrick did not expect you to have so many willing Riders follow you, and he has overextended himself. Therefore, he will not be able to send Riders to Bourne, and the Bournese will be slow to attack if we have dragons watching from our walls. After all, they have no way of knowing that the dragons they see aren’t fully trained and ready to breathe destruction down upon them.”

  “Also,” Will added, “Saadia is not exactly immature, if you will recall. She is quite capable of carrying messages and scouting our borders. It will take me some time, but I am sure that I can learn to be a good Rider and assist her as needed.”

  “Very well,” Delno answered them, “I concede the point. However,” he turned to Will, “there is much you need to learn about magic that no one here can teach you. Magic is an integral part of the equation when fighting from the back of a dragon. You will at least need to understand how to erect and maintain a shield to keep both of your hides free of arrows.”

  “Actually,” Dorian interjected, “there are books about those types of things here in the palace. I think it is high time that such books again be made public knowledge, even if they are kept under royal scrutiny. I will see to it the Riders who remain here while you are in Horne have access to them.”

  “Books on magic being made public, Uncle?” Delno quipped. “Won’t that enrage the citizenry of a country that tends to disdain magic?”

  “Oh, many of them do fear magic, but since your use of it to break the siege, most of those citizens have had a change of heart,” Dorian replied. “I don’t keep myself totally secluded here in the palace, Nephew; I go out and about quite regularly to see what my people think of how their country is being run. That is why I’ve been a popular king for so long. From what I have gathered, the old prejudices against magic are not nearly as strong as they used to be. There are a few holdouts who still think anyone who is associated with magic should be banished, if not killed, which is one of the reasons I am so glad that your mother and father have moved into the palace, since their connection with you would put them at risk. However, most people are willing to at least be open-minded on the subject.”

  “Especially when it directly benefits them,” Will said sarcastically.

  Delno shrugged and said, “We are a pragmatic people. I suppose that now they have seen magic work to their benefit they are more open-minded than I would have given them credit for being.” Then, switching subjects, he added, “It would seem that our training problems, here at least, are handled. I hope we can do as well in Orlean.”

  “Why don’t we leave the trainees under the care of Connor there?” Rita asked. “He is already familiar with the boys you have picked to bond, and they trust him.”

  “I had thought about that, and it is the most likely solution. However, he isn’t going to like it. He is fourteen and anxious to prove himself; he will want to accompany his father to Horne. If Brock agrees with that request, I have no real right to order him to stay in Orlean.”

  “I doubt Brock will agree to it,” she replied. “Brock has buried several of his children over the years because they weren’t bonded, and he simply outlived them. He was extremely pleased when Jenka chose Connor, but he has also been worried that the two of them would be called to fight the Roracks in Horne as he has done over the years. That is the real reason he agreed to let Simcha train the boy, although he claims it was Connor’s foster parents who talked him into it. He wanted to keep him as far from trouble as possible. No parent should have to bury a child; it’s supposed to be the other way around.”

  Everyone in the room nodded in agreement with Rita’s last statement. Will was suddenly stricken with the enormity of what had been said. Until that moment, he had not given any thought to any of the negatives to being bonded to a dragon. In fact, until that moment, he hadn’t even stopped to realize that he would now outlive every member of his family other than Delno by hundreds, possibly thousands of years.

  Delno saw the realization dawn on him, and he put his hand on his half-brother’s shoulder and said, “Now you know the curse of the Riders. We have to watch our kin and our friends grow old and die as we stay young and fit, and once we have buried them all, we still must live on for many years.” Then a thought occurred to him. “Brother,” he said, “Do you have someone whom you had hoped to marry?”

  Will looked at Delno and saw the great concern in his eyes and felt a sense of kinship they had never before shared. It was, perhaps, the most overt act of brotherly protection that Delno had ever shown him. He smiled and responded, “No, I have been so busy with my studies in both carpentry and art that I have not had the chance to form such an attachment. I have been known to attend social events with a couple of young women I know, but no one I would want to introduce to our parents.” Then he looked around him and said with a smile, “Perhaps I can find a Dragon Rider who is as beautiful and charming as Rita.”

  Rita giggled and said, “You will certainly meet other women Riders, but everyone says that I am one of a kind.”

  They all laughed and continued talking about dragons and hatchlings and finding candidates for over an hour until Dorian insisted that everyone have dinner with him. The rest of Delno’s family joined them. Delno’s mother had finally come to terms with the fact that both of her boys were grown men. She was just beginning to acknowledge to herself that Delno was a Dragon Rider. The news of Will bonding was a bit much at first, but she accepted it with the same good grace and poise that Delno had seen of her since he was old enough to notice such things.

  His father, however, was not quite as sure. He had wanted to pass his business on to one of his sons, and he was a bit disappointed at this new development. It took the rest of the evening for him to finally admit that he had already given up hope of Will taking the carpentry business anyway, since his youngest son obviously wanted to be an artist. After about a half a bottle of wine, he even began to like the idea of being able to brag that both his sons were Riders. He finally said he could give the business to his nephew who he had just recently taken on as an apprentice
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  Chapter 17

  Delno woke with a start and reached for his Dragon Blade, which was hanging on the head of the bed. He was on his feet with the sword in his hand within a second. Rita woke, and seeing him armed and ready, jumped from the bed and drew her own blade. They both faced the door.

  “What is it?” she whispered.

  “I’m not sure. I was startled awake by something,” he replied.

  They both listened intently for any sound in the corridor. There was only one door to the bed chamber they shared. Suddenly Geneva screamed audibly, and inside his mind she shouted frantically, “Delno, the window.”

  He turned to the unlikely portal and saw a dark figure climbing through into the bedchamber. Rita had apparently gotten the message from Fahwn because she was already turning before he could warn her. The creature gave a low guttural growl and launched itself at him. He barely had time to register that it was a Felanx as he swung his blade up and sliced through the creature’s sword arm. The arm fell to the floor and the Felanx howled in pain as it landed and rolled.

  Rita was already moving to attack a second cat-man who was just climbing through the window. She neatly decapitated it before it could get into the room. It slumped on the sill, blocking the opening with its body. Just as the body began to be shifted by something from the outside, there was a bright flare, and even Delno, who was ten feet from the portico, could feel the heat. There were terrible screams from outside as one of the dragons flamed two more Felanxes who were attempting to move the body of the one Rita had killed so they could get in.

  Delno had little time to wonder about it all; the first Felanx was on its feet and moving at him again. Even with one arm severed and bleeding profusely from the stump just below the elbow, it was moving with surprising speed and agility. It lunged, and Delno sidestepped and swung his blade again. This time the cat-man’s head split in two down to the neck, and it fell dead on the floor.

  Delno could hear the clamor of armored footsteps outside in the corridor. Someone pounded on the door and a muffled voice yelled, “What’s going on in there? Delno Okonan, are you all right?”

  There was a sound of something, probably an armored shoulder banging against the heavy oak. Delno yelled, “Give me a moment, and I’ll open it. We’re all right.”

  He and Rita quickly donned robes, and he opened the door to find six guards outside with weapons drawn. “What is happening here?” the guard who had spoken before said.

  “Well, isn’t it obvious? We’re having a party.” Rita answered sarcastically, standing next to the body of the Felanx that Delno had just killed.

  “We have been attacked by these cat-men,” Delno added. Then he looked at the rest of the guards and said, “Quickly, go and see that the healer and my brother are all right.”

  When the guards hesitated, their leader, who was examining the dead Felanx with a disgusted expression quickly reinforced the order, and the men trotted off to check on Nat and Will.

  “That window is twenty feet off the ground, and the wall is nearly sheer,” the guard said, “How did they get up here?”

  “The wall isn’t as sheer as it would seem, then;” Delno responded, “they climbed it. One of the dragons flamed two of them who were trying to get past the body of the one Rita killed while it was still climbing through the window.”

  “Delno, are you injured at all?” Geneva asked, full of concern.

  “I am all right,” he replied.

  “Did you sustain any injury?” she asked insistently.

  “No, I am unscathed. Why so concerned?”

  “Because I smell poison on the blades from the two Marlo flamed on the wall.”

  “Marlo flamed them?” he asked.

  “That is what I just said. Saadia is the one who alerted me to their presence. She reacted quickly and alerted us all. Then Marlo flamed the two who were still on the wall before they could get inside. I don’t know why, but Fahwn and I were unaware of them.”

  “I will have the bodies searched for magical implements.” To Rita, who was examining the body of the cat-man, he said, “Careful, Geneva smells poison on the blades that fell from the two who died outside. They may have poisoned their claws as well.” To the guard, he said, “Have the bodies and any weapons they dropped collected and examined by the half-elf Nathaniel, and tell him and your men to be careful: the weapons and possibly the claws have been coated with a toxic substance.”

  The guard started to protest being sent away, but then looked at the dead bodies and changed his mind. Apparently, he felt the Dragon Riders could take care of themselves. He saluted and strode from the room.

  An hour later, the Riders and the king were sitting in the private dining hall. The king was having some stern words with his guards about being more vigilant. The guard outside had now been tripled.

  “Well, I don’t know how those things got into the city unnoticed, but they won’t find it easy to do so again,” Dorian said.

  “What worries me,” Will said, “is that they knew exactly where Delno and Rita were staying. How did they get such accurate information that they were able to go directly to those quarters from the outside?”

  “You said that you and Warrick had contact, Delno,” Dorian said, “is it possible that he somehow marked you magically so that he could find you when he wished to do something like this?”

  “That is a possibility, though I believe it is a small one at best. Those cat-men, Felanxes he calls them, have extraordinary senses; it is most likely that they have somehow scented me before, and then just followed their noses tonight.”

  “That wouldn’t be so hard,” Rita answered. “It is fairly common knowledge that Delno and I share sleeping quarters: all they would have to do is find the room in the palace where a man and a woman who both also smell of dragon are sleeping. I’ve seen hunting hounds who are less intelligent that can perform similarly spectacular feats of tracking.”

  Delno was only half listening. He had just finished checking himself and the others for magical “tracers.” “That is the most likely explanation, since I can find no magical means of tracking any of us about our persons.”

  “The big question is,” Dorian responded, “How did they get past the dragons?”

  “Not past all the dragons,” Will said proudly. “Oh, yes, Delno, that was Saadia who woke you. She knew your mind well enough from her encounters with you that she took a chance and tried to warn you. It was only partially effective because you didn’t actually get her full thoughts, but you did wake in time to fend off the first attack. Then she told Geneva and then Marlo flamed the two still on the wall.”

  “She was able to rouse me from sleep herself? Without relaying through Geneva? I didn’t know that was possible.”

  “There is no mention of such a thing in any of the books I have read,” Dorian said, “but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen. After all, the dragons can speak to each other using telepathy, and they can speak to their own Rider the same way. I see no reason why they can’t bypass the middle step and speak to another Rider if they choose; especially if it is an emergency like tonight.”

  “Well, any way you look at it, Saadia and Marlo are to be commended for their actions. They have saved both my life and Rita’s.”

  “Speaking of which,” Nat said, “the poison that the Felanxes were using is an interesting one. It is extremely deadly. It also is quite hard to find in such a pure form. The Roracks use a crude form when they bother with such things, but they haven’t the knowledge or the intelligence to refine it. This fine an extraction must be obtained from elves, or at least their methods have to be used to make it.”

  “Are you saying that Warrick has Elven allies?” Rita asked.

  “Well, that is possible, though highly unlikely,” Nat replied. “However, many Riders spend at least some time studying in Elven libraries. It is possible that someone is in league with him who has learned the method of refining this poison. As far as that goes, it is poss
ible that he has learned the method himself. After all, he is over two thousand years old: it is quite probable that he has studied in the Elven lands.”

  “Why would the elves make such a thing as this poison?” Will asked. “I thought that elves were peaceful and didn’t approve of such methods.”

  “That brings us to the last possibility of how Warrick may have obtained this substance and in this quantity. In its pure form, such as on these blades, it is perhaps the deadliest substance I know of. However, take the pure form and mix extremely small quantities with certain other herbs and chemicals, and it is used for several medicines. The poison itself may be a healing ingredient in one formula, but can also be used in several others to direct the healing properties to certain organs of the body, such as using it to direct tonifying herbal medicines to the heart, or brain. It has many non-lethal, benign uses. It is also shipped out to certain healers in sufficient quantity for them to make medicines with it. Perhaps Warrick has intercepted a shipment.”

  “All of this is speculation,” Delno said, “and distracts us from the important issue here.”

  Everyone stopped talking and looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

  “Warrick is getting more desperate. He has used magic in some way to allow his cat-men to slip past our dragons and try to assassinate me directly. Due to my actions here, his plans for the north are being thwarted. We upset his timetable when we defeated Simcha in Palamore, and he is desperate enough to get back on schedule that he has tipped his hand to us. He is not, however, so powerful that he knows everything about us. He expected us to have the dragons he already knows about on hand, and aimed whatever magic he used directly at them, making them blind to the Felanxes he sent. He was totally unprepared for Saadia and Marlo and they have foiled his plan, which tells me that he sent those assassins before we reached Corice. It also proves my point that the wild dragons are a good choice for allies in this fight because they are the unknown quantity.”