Five Minutes After Midnight

by A. J. Gallant

  “Kill them all!”

  Some women fled with their children as best they could, a few managed to escape but most didn’t. Screams of pain and shouts of bravery filled the air, the sounds of sword on sword and halberds cutting into bodies were harsh, many soldiers were now covered in blood. In less than two hours it was all over; the kingdom of Joshuar had been taken. Any captured soldiers that refused to pledge their allegiance were immediately killed, and all but one had refused. The only one that had agreed to join them was an old man named Lester that could barely walk; they all had a good laugh as he pledged his allegiance. The old fellow managed to wipe the smiles from their faces before his head was taken; he died laughing. He had managed to seriously injure one of their captains and he was happy to be sent off with that knowledge, having observed the look on the captain’s face as he realized his wound was fatal.

  All the best weapons were gathered in a pile for inspection; they would be taken with any other valuables that they could find, to be traded when the time was right to kingdoms that were more than a thousand miles to the west. The Yurrosy were all about getting bigger and tougher so that no one would be able to stand up to their might. The Yurrosy king wanted to rule the world before his time was up; he wanted their ways and customs to be the only ways. He saw their victory in dreams and believed that it would be so. They had managed almost a thousand slaves from Joshuar.

  For over a week they celebrated their victory even though it had been an unjust battle with the odds overwhelmingly in their favor. On a misty morning with dark heavy clouds overhead, Brock went to the wizard Cynric as the sorcerer was feeding several corpses to the red dragon; dragons would never normally eat people but under an enchantment, they had no choice. Brock was a merciless leader; he was bald with a scar that went from his left ear to his temple; the long-ago wound had gone all the way down to the bone. An infection had set into the gash and he almost died from it; it would have been preferable had he perished, not everyone deserved the life they were given. Brock lost his only son in that battle and even though he now had three they could not make up for the one he had lost; his child Aldore had been a smaller version of his father in many respects.

  The Yurrosy were from the dark lands of Jahor; their Kotacdon mountain so high that it limited the amount of daylight with their massive kingdom in its shadow. Winter was always early and spring always late, but the harsh climate had made them tougher than most, and where others would freeze to death they found it invigorating.

  “Cynric, we are finished here. Have the dragon burn everything. Nothing is to remain that can be of use to anyone.”

  “Yes, Lord Brock.”

  As the Yurrosy marched off with heavy feet, Cynric took to the back of the dragon and after removing the leather hood they flew off, climbing over the village as his wings cut noisily through the air. The village that had endured for almost a century erupted in flames as the red dragon repeatedly breathed its fire down upon it, wave after wave scorching the earth. The stone castle would be the only thing that remained; the wooden structures burnt rapidly.

  There was a saying that the Yurrosy were like locusts with no mercy or honor. They came as bandits in the night, over the years increasing their numbers as they attacked kingdom after kingdom. When the kingdoms finally banded together they initially beat them back to their own borders but losing so many men that it weakened everyone. Unable to finish them off they left them to lick their wounds but they had become even more powerful over time, setting their sights on small villages until they had fully recovered, but the other kingdoms had also remained damaged and they had not recovered nearly as quickly.

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE REALM OF LEEANDER was one kingdom in a land of a hundred and one and they knew their time was running out. Word had reached them that the Yurrosy had destroyed Joshuar, which was only about sixty miles to the east. In a way Joshuar had been a sister; they had exchanged food, trade, and friendship over the years, and Leeander would have fought alongside them had they known, but the attack came without warning under the cover of magic. Leeander’s first inclination was when they saw the dark smoke rising in the far distance, believing it to be a grass fire caused by lightning but instead it was Joshuar burning. Scouts had reported the attack to Leeander’s King Darius and the destruction of Joshuar, even their castle had been destroyed, most likely by a dark enchantment.

  The army of the Yurrosy was huge and growing; they wielded sinister magic and once they set their sights on a kingdom nothing could stop them. They were spreading their seed and getting stronger in the process, proud to kill and conquer. They would now crush any kingdom that showed any signs of uniting, reining fire down upon them from their dragons. King Darius had tried to get the kingdom to unite with several others but his words had fallen on deaf ears, not believing the danger that they posed to everyone. Their wizard was a notorious dragon master. The Yurrosy should have been destroyed when they had the opportunity but one cannot see the future as clear as they can see the past.

  Leeander knew that there was only a couple of other realms between them and the Yurrosy, and they would perhaps take some time with them before moving on, consuming everything in Joshuar and taking every single thing of value. Just about everyone knew that the kingdom of Leeander had an invisible shield and a powerful wizard, but were they also aware that his power was fading? They had tried their best to keep the wizard’s failing health a secret but there was no way to know for sure if they had succeeded. It was the way of the world that secrets didn’t remain secret for too long.

  The next conquest was uncertain as they had several other choices including Leeander and for king Dorian it was an awful feeling knowing that the end of their world was almost certainly approaching; it weighed heavily on him as if he was pinned under his horse with no escape, now a frequent nightmare. The burden of a king was heavier than most.

  The dragon was perched high up on the edge of the cliff and stared down at the four young males that marched on the beach below. They were not quite men yet no longer considered children either; out to test their courage but it was more like a suicide march should they provoke the wrong dragon. And a boy followed them from a distance with his spear. Their bravado might see their skin turned to ashes if they weren’t careful. A lot of dragons considered humans beneath them, not worth their time but they could be moody creatures, especially if one was having a particularly bad day. Each of the four carried a halberd and a shield; three of the shields were round, the other rectangular. They all stopped when they realized that they were being watched, slowly turning and looking way up at the black dragon. “We’re coming for you!” the tallest male shouted, shaking his halberd in the dragon’s direction.

  “No, you’re not!” Ryxa shouted back down to them. The dragon blew fire into the air to see if it would frighten them off.

  “Yes we are!”

  “No, you’re not!”

  “Why does the dragon keep saying that?”

  The dragon took in a deep breath before exhaling a huge fireball in their direction, not with enough force to burn them but just enough for the heat to singe their hair. The odor of burnt hair was most unpleasant. They were fortunate that she hadn’t given it everything she had, which would have burnt them all to a crisp. It was just a warning to get their attention. She liked humans, finding them peculiar beasts. Some days she enjoyed flying over and perusing them from the sky; it was entertaining to watch their antics, a bit like ants running around in circles. She didn’t like to see them fight but there was usually a skirmish going on somewhere with humans; they didn’t appear to benefit from past mistakes.

  The four turned and ran off screaming.

  Ten-year-old Marcus had wandered away from the group and was now climbing up the rock face; he had always been a climber it was his talent, there wasn’t much that he couldn’t climb. How many times had he been told to stay off people’s roofs? If someone told him that something was impossible to climb he had to prov
e them wrong, and just that morning he had been enlightened by Stone that the cliffs where the dragons resided were unachievable, beside the fact that the dragons would eat him. The boy had dropped his spear as he had pursued a foot-long purple dragonfly to the base of the cliff where he had paused and then decided to climb. He was determined to scale the three-hundred-foot cliff and his cute face showed the stress of it as he climbed. Jagged rock after jagged rock he ascended, making sure not to look down. His small feet and his light weight made it climbable though just barely. His scalp itched under his shoulder length hair but he didn’t dare scratch; he had achieved the halfway point and a fall would now be fatal. Marcus thought that it might not have been such a great idea after all because he had never been frightened before, but now at ten, his common sense was rearing its ugly head.

  Kai exited the family cave with a mouthful of gold and rock that he had excavated and spat it out on the ground. Her father shook the dust off his head and several pebbles dropped near Ryxa. He wondered what had caught his daughter’s interest as she looked down over the cliff. “Ryxa, what do you see down there?”

  “I chased away some humans.”

  Kai turned and waddled back into the den to continue his work.

  It was then that Marcus pulled himself up onto the top of the cliff and walked straight up to Ryxa and spoke as if he was talking to a friendly dog instead of a dragon. He had never seen a dragon this close, except for a dead one. “Hello.”

  When she turned her head she accidentally hit the boy and sent him flying; he had climbed beside her and she hadn’t noticed. The dragon’s eyes widened with disbelief as the boy got up and dusted himself off. He was uninjured, and that was a good thing. “A human child? How did you get up here?”

  “I climbed.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “No, I climbed up.”

  Again, Kai exited the cave with another mouthful of gold and rubble. “What are you doing with that human? Put it back! You don’t know where it’s been.”

  Ryxa wasn’t sure what to say, so she opted for the truth. “Father, I didn’t bring him up here. He climbed.”

  Kai fixed his eyes on the boy. “Ryxa, don’t be foolish. No human can climb up that cliff. The only way up here is to fly or come up the back road, and that road is always full of dragons. You flew down there and picked him up. I want you to put him back now.” The dragon turned and went back into the dark cave with his fiery eyes lighting the way, all he could think of was what next.

  Marcus walked to the edge of the cliff and stared down at the waves that were hitting the beach below. “Un oh.” It looked a lot more difficult going down than going up. In fact, it looked impossible. “I don’t think I can get down.”

  Ryxa sniffed the boy with such force that he had temporarily stuck to her nose and when she released him he fell on his bottom. She smiled as he got up. “You smell funny. It’s a bloody miracle that you didn’t break your neck getting up here. I guess you’ll just have to live up here and be my pet.”

  Prince Marcus was not impressed. “That is not goanna happen!” The boy stared at the dragonfly that had come up the side of the cliff and hovered there, listening intently to the hum of its wings. He wanted to tie a rope to it and watch it fly around like his grandfather had showed him; he turned his attention back to the dragon as it flew out of his reach. “You are so big. I could fit my head in one of your nose holes. My name is Marcus.”

  “I’m Ryxa and that’s my father Kai inside the cave. Marcus, how are you going to get back down?” She shook her big dragon head at the thought of the boy falling.

  Kai spit out another load of gold and snorted at the sight of the boy. “Ryxa, what did I tell you? Get him out of here! I can smell him from here.”

  “We’re just talking.”

  Kai snorted and fire shot out of his nose. “Don’t get attached to that thing because they’re all going to be dead soon.”

  Ryxa didn’t like the sound of that. What was her father talking about? He wasn’t usually one to exaggerate. “What do you mean?”

  “The Yurrosy are coming.”

  Ryxa stared at her father and blinked several times. “They have a wizard to protect them. They have a shield. Everyone knows that.”

  Kai laughed as he waddled back into his cave. “Some wizard.”

  The boy stared at the pile of rocks and gold that was accumulating outside of the cave. “What’s your father doing?”

  “He’s making our cave bigger even though you could fit ten dragons in there and we’re only four with my mother and my brother Sulphur. I guess he’s bored.”

  Marcus turned and tried to catch the dragonfly that flew up the cliff when a rock gave way under his foot and suddenly he was falling to his death, screaming all the way down until his nose gently touched the rocks; Ryxa caught him and set him down on the beach. The boy was shaking from the fright and feeling sick to his stomach. Death had not come for him this time. “I’m not dead. Not dead.”

  The dragon shook her head at his foolhardiness. “Next time you will be. Don’t ever try to climb up there again.”

  “You saved me!” Marcus gave the dragon’s leg a big hug, as best he could. He continued to shake as his heart pounded faster than he thought possible. The dragon’s strange hide was almost as hard as rock. “That was so close, so close.”

  “I didn’t save you I was coming down here anyway.”

  Marcus looked up at her red eyes and he, of course, didn’t believe her. “No, you weren’t.”

  “Yes, I was.”

  “No, you weren’t.”

  “Yes, I was and dragons can’t tell lies.”

  Marcus stared at her as his heart finally started to calm down. He imagined the birds scraping his remains off that rock. “Really?”

  “No, not really. I just told a lie by telling you that I can’t tell a lie.”

  He looked up at the dragon and smiled; she was so big that he was getting a sore neck staring up. He liked her, even before she saved him he liked her. “My father says that people and dragons don’t mix. Why don’t they mix?”

  The dragon turned her head and sent a fiery blast against the base of the cliff making the rocks bright red. “I guess we’re big, and you’re too little. Besides we don’t have much in common. You don’t even have fire. And you can’t fly. It must be terrible to not be able to fly.”

  “I’m not too little!”

  “You fit in my nose hole. Remember?” Ryxa commenced to walk with the boy.

  “Oh yeah. Well, I might be small for a dragon but I’m not a dragon. I’m big for my age and strong too. Why don’t you come home with me and my father will give you a reward for saving me. My father is king Darius.”

  Ryxa liked the sound of that. A reward would be the very best kind of present. “A reward you say? What kinda reward?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Something good.”

  Dragons were very curious creatures. What sort of a gift would a human give a dragon? The fact of not knowing what she would get excited her and she could imagine lots of things. Perhaps it would be something to eat? Something sweet? The dragon thought about it and couldn’t resist she simply had to know what her reward would be. That way she could see more humans up close. “Climb on my back and I’ll fly you home.”

  She was so big it took Marcus a couple of attempts to climb up, and as he did so he wondered if it was such a good idea. He was both elated and frightened of taking to the air on the back of a dragon. It certainly would be scary up there but when would he ever get another chance. One had to seize upon opportunity when it presented itself. “Dragon, fly straight or I might fall off. And not too fast.”

  “Marcus, are you scared of heights?”

  “I climbed up that cliff didn’t IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!”

  Ryxa climbed higher and higher and the prince didn’t like being so high. He thought he would love it but all he could think about was falling. He was so scared that he found it difficult t
o breathe. Marcus closed his eyes tight as the ground moved further and further away but then slowly opened them; first one blue eye and then the other. He thought it wasn’t so bad as long as she didn’t drop him, in fact, in was kind of exciting. He doubted that anyone else in the whole world was flying on the back of a dragon. He felt a little like the king of the world way up there.

  “I might not catch you next time so hold on tight.”

  “It won’t be much of a reward if you bring me home flat like a squashed bug.” Marcus held on tight with both hands grasping under the corner of one of her scales, like holding onto a sharp rock.

  The dragon pumped her mighty wings and soon they were so high that he thought that even the dragon would die if it fell from this height. The sound of the dragon’s wings was too loud and was actually hurting Marcus’s ears. They flew so high that everything below looked tiny; he considered that it would take a long time to hit the ground and that there would be a hell of a lot of screaming before he hit. But what a magnificent view; he was going to be dreaming about this adventure. It must be so wonderful to be a dragon, to be able to fly every single day of their lives. The things they could see and all the places they could visit.

  “Ryxa, could you fly to the moon if you wanted?”

  “Nope. Once you get so high there’s no air to breathe.”

  Marcus wasn’t sure if he believed that. “Where does the air go?”