Atrimalous pointed to a large, roughly circular hole in the ground, where flames rose up. The fire pit burned brightly, lighting up the area around the pit and the makeshift tent.
“That's where we'll find him.”
Before they could make their way to the fire pit, there was a roaring noise above them. They looked up. A large shape was making its way towards them. Kaydee cried out but Atrimalous kept her from running. As the object moved closer, she realized that it was a creature – large and scaled, with talons the size of her whole arm. Great leathery wings beat down, stirring up snow and dirt as it approached the ground. Kaydee could only stare at what she saw. With everything she had encountered in the Second Realm, surely a dragon wouldn't be the thing that shocked her the most, right?
But no, that was a dragon in front of her.
This was a massive dragon that stood at more than twice her height, with heavy muscle and sharp, deadly golden scales. Great, spiked wings matched the horns on the creature's head and on the tip of its tail. The creature stared down at them with golden slitted eyes, intelligence beyond their understanding flickering through its gaze. It opened its long-snouted mouth and let out a plaintive roar to the human on its back.
Kaydee had almost missed the man who rode on the dragon's back. Along the spikes that graced the ridge of the dragon's back was a man dressed in leather from head to toe, from the brown huntsman pants he wore to the hood over his head. The hood was attached to the jacket he wore, much like the hoodies Kaydee encountered in the First Realm. Around his waist was a leather bag with a long shoulder strap. It looked filled, but with what, Kaydee didn't know. The hood blew back as the majestic creature flapped its wings and made its final descent, touching down on the ground on the opposite end of the circular area. The area had seemed vast and empty without the dragon there, but as the dragon landed, half of the empty space had been eaten up by its body.
The man leaped down from the creature's back, straightening his wind-tousled and untidy black hair. His golden eyes seemed identical to the dragon's, minus the vertically slit pupils. Familiarity shone in his eyes, although Kaydee didn't know why.
“Atrimalous, you rat bastard! What are you doing on my lonely mountain top?”
Was that a smile flickering across her stoic savior's lips? Kaydee stared. The smile seemed so out of place for Atrimalous, not having cracked more than a sneer in the time she had been with him. Just as fast as it had appeared, it also vanished, replaced by a more customary smirk.
“Your lonely mountain top is far too difficult to travel at night!”
“It's not any easier in the day time either, my friend!”
“They know each other?” Kaydee whispered to Leta.
“Apparently,” was the equally quiet answer she received.
The two men greeted each other somewhere between where the women stood and where the dragon rested. The dragon riding man pulled Atrimalous into a tight hug, giving him a nice slap on the back to follow.
“Haven't seen you in the longest time,” he said, sobering. “Not since, well, you know.”
“Yeah.” The expression Atrimalous wore darkened, remembering. “I know.”
The dragon rider slapped him on the back again. “Now's not the time, friend. Who are the lovely ladies you travel with?”
It took a moment for Atrimalous to gather his thoughts. He hurriedly introduced Leta and Kaydee, saying that Kaydee needed an escort to Aurialis.
“And you sought me of all people?” the rider asked, incredulously. “I should shed a tear, I'm so honored.”
“Always that sarcasm,” his friend spat back. “Are you not glad to see me, then?”
“It's not that, friend, but you know they do say I'm in exile for a reason.”
“I thought it was self-imposed?”
The rider laughed. “Bah, details, details! Come, let us get out of the cold!”
He escorted them into his makeshift cave, or tent as it were, introducing himself as James the Exiled, as the seer had mentioned.
“Of course, I didn't add that title on myself,” he added as he used a burning torch mounted on the wall to light the others in the tent. “Other people seemed to think it was catchy, though!”
Kaydee couldn't help but smile at this well-spirited man. How could he be so cheerful when he was supposedly in exile to a lonely, windy, bitterly cold mountain top?
James offered to make them a stew – the best damned wild rabbit stew this side of the Ice Dragon Mountains, he bragged. He had a small store of vegetables and a rabbit carcass from the leather bag at his waist. Kaydee tried not to watch as he skinned the poor lump of flesh and prepared it for the stew, but at the same time, she was starving, hungry enough to eat it.
As James prepared their meal, he and Atrimalous drew into hushed conversation some distance away from the women. Leta paid them no mind and instead turned to Kaydee, drawing her fellow female into some conversation as well.
The stew was prepared in the cave, but cooked over the fire pit outside. As they moved locations, James brought up their journey to Aurialis.
“I want to head out towards Aurialis while it's still dead of night. Don't want no one to see my Night Spark there.” he nodded towards the great golden dragon, who was sleeping, for the moment. “Hard to miss a beast that big! I don't need word going out to the Aeriad nation that I'm on the same continent as them, you hear?”
Kaydee nodded, then asked, “His name is Night Spark?”
He nodded. “Well, Nyyargareth in his native tongue, see, but Night Spark is easier on me. Dragon's tongue, that's a hard one to understand.”
Kaydee didn't understand at all, except that maybe dragons had an entire language to themselves that people could understand. Despite the potion she had drunk back in the First Realm, she couldn't understand that strange word he had said was Night Spark's native name. All she heard was that strange, delightfully foreign rolling of syllables.
In no time, their stew was cooked and they settled around the fire pit with wooden bowls and spoons, eating. The stew had smelled delicious as it was cooking but it tasted even better. Kaydee was starving, not having eaten much throughout the day. She finished the stew fast.
As the others finished up, James reached into the leather bag at his hip and drew out a large glass bottle filled with liquid and stopped with a cork. He popped the cork and gave a small laugh as he drew everyone's attention.
Pungent odor filled the air, taking over that of the delicious food.
“What is that?” Leta asked, eying the bottle warily.
“Smells like rank piss,” Atrimalous added.
James laughed. “Well, there's piss in it. Dragon's Warning, right here. It's a potent mix of territory marking and spell herbs to keep strange men out. You can never trust the men out here, you know! This protects my camp while I'm gone and I thought it was more polite than having Night Spark do it fresh in front of our lovely ladies.”
With that, he winked at Leta and Kaydee.
“Couldn't you wait until we left?” Atrimalous asked his friend.
“It needs to seep into the ground before we leave. And we're leaving after you're done anyway!”
That said, James stood up and went to the farthest end of the camp ground. He poured the liquid in a small, thin stream, working his way around the perimeter of the territory. Night Spark woke up at the scent and moved out of his human's way, his nostrils flaring as he recognized his own scent. A low, approving growl escaped him.
With that finished, he went back into his cave and lugged out an enormous wooden carriage without wheels. Atrimalous ran to help him move the carriage.
“Now, normally I wouldn't put this on Night Spark; he hates being saddled down. But I won't have no green horns try to ride him like they was me!” he panted, then whistled to the dragon. “C'mon, you great oaf! You know the drill!”
The dragon whined, in a rolling rumble of sound like thunder, but obeyed. His long, golden neck laid down flat on the
ground and the rest of his body followed. The men lifted the carriage onto the dragon's back, where it nestled between two of the spikes on his back. From inside the carriage came thick leather straps that held the carriage to the dragon's neck and body. The contraption looked ridiculous but James insisted it was better than trying to have two ladies try get comfortable while they rode hundreds of feet up in the air.
James pulled one more item from the carriage, a rolled up ladder made of rope. He dangled it from two hooks on the floor inside the carriage and helped the ladies in. Leta made quick work of the rope ladder and tumbled into the carriage. Kaydee followed with less grace, hesitating as the ladder swayed. When she made it into the carriage, she fell into a plush seat of faded maroon fabric. There was only enough room for her and Leta in the wooden box. She looked out the windows on the front and sides and saw the men climb up to the spiked neck, resting against the spikes themselves as if it was the most comfortable motion in the world.
“Like old times, huh?” James said to his friend. When Atrimalous nodded, he smiled and called out louder, “Hang on to your hats, ladies! Night Spark, we fly!”
The dragon stretched his wings once before he took off into the night. The carriage on his back made no difference to him; he flew as if it wasn't even there.
“Away we go, into the night!” James cried over the roaring, vicious air.
Kaydee watched as the mountain they had been standing on grew smaller and smaller as they rose up into the night sky.
Evie, Marco, Kaleb, wait for me. I'll be with you soon.
Chapter Twenty Two
The survivors of Moonriver Academy milled about the ruined school lot, not sure of what to do. Some abandoned the group, heading off to hopefully find their families. Chaos brewed and without any real leaders, order was going to break down fast if no one stepped in.
That was what worried Dante. With friends and family dead, the survivors of Moonriver Academy were on edge. Even the surviving teachers were in no position to lead their students; they looked just as broken as the others.
She tried to help people, tried to organize them together, or at least stay in one main group. People snarled at her in their grief, they cursed her hybrid nature.
“Why should we listen to you?” a familiar voice asked.
Dante looked over. A seventeen year old girl with long blond hair challenged her, expression haughty and angry despite the devastation around her. Dante felt that all too familiar anger rise up. This was the mage she had argued with and would have fought with if someone hadn't have pulled her away and sent her to Dirk.
The challenge, combined with the memory of Dirk, caused a wave of anguish and rage to rise up.
“We need to organize,” she said, as calmly as possible. “No good will come of us just milling about and who knows if more knights will come!”
A boy beside her piped up, his voice high with panic. “If more come, we're as good as dead!”
Others around him murmured their agreement.
Encouraged by their replies, she nodded. “Right. Which is why we need to organize! If we stay here as we are, we might as well go and throw ourselves into the funeral pyres with our friends!”
Her statement did what she intended – shocked everyone around her into silence. She felt the stares of her peers upon her as they took in what she said.
Then the blond girl spoke up. “If we follow you, surely we will end up in a pyre faster – or dead with no one to care for us! We were kind enough to burn the dead knights, but do you think they'll be so kind to us? They dig mass graves for the opponents in battle!”
There was a low rumble of agreement and disgust. As the students followed the traditions of Moonriver Academy, many did not understand the foreign burial rituals of the Emeralde Kingdom. To be buried in the ground after death was a thought that was disturbing to them. How would the spirit reach the heavens if the body was buried under the dirt?
The survivors around them started gathering together into two groups, one beside Dante and one beside the blond girl, called Kara by the people around her. Dante looked around. She wanted to organize, not divide into two clear parties!
She glared at Kara, then at the people beside her. “Don't you remember what just happened? Who died here? The Emeralde army slaughtered our fallen brothers and sisters! Are you really going to let them get away with that?”
“Alright, so what do you propose we do?” Kara sneered at her.
Dante glanced around her again, at everyone gathered. Her answer was dangerous and there was a chance that she would lose all support, but she had to say it.
“We go to King Emeralde himself.”
Her answer caused an uproar. An explosion of protests followed, along with a minor explosion of support.
“Are you insane?” a tall, dark-skinned earth mage cried. “You'll be killed before you even cross over into the Emeralde Kingdom!”
“No, she's right!” called a half demon girl with one blue eye and one black eye. “The king must die!”
Dante hadn't specifically said that the king was who she was after, but the half demon made for a good point. As arguments erupted around her, Dante tried to rein control back in. When calling for them calmly didn't work, she let loose with a shout that cracked the air like thunder.
The people around her hesitated.
“I'm not suggesting we kill the king,” she said, carefully, ignoring the sounds of disgust and protest that began to rise up. “But the king surely is responsible. His knights destroyed the school, his knights killed our friends, all under his orders. Is he not responsible?”
More mixed shouts followed, with cries of support drowning the protests.
Kara shouted over the noise to be heard. “There is a more peaceful way to do this! If we all show up at his door looking for battle, we'll be killed on the spot. But if we march into his kingdom peacefully, with no intent to harm–”
“You will still be killed!” the same half demon girl shouted. “King Emeralde kills those who use magic and you suggest knocking on his door?”
“What else is there to do? You propose we storm into the kingdom for...for regicide? Do you even know what killing the king would mean?”
“A stop to the knights!”
Dante felt that the situation was going to spin out of control unless she stepped back in. Without any sort of organization, what this half demon girl was suggesting was a mob, an out of control mob bent on wild, uncontrolled killing. Not what she had in mind. Unfortunately, she couldn't get their attention with the frenzy they were in.
She glanced around, then found a useful raised platform made out of destroyed castle rubble. She climbed the somewhat shaky rock stand and again shouted for attention.
“Listen to me!”
The chaotic arguments around her came to a sudden halt.
When she was sure that she had their attention, she spoke again. “Listen. We are the survivors of Moonriver Academy. We are lucky to have survived! But this is also all that our school has left. We can either petition for peace in a kingdom where they will surely kill us on sight or take more drastic measures. I'm not saying we kill everyone in the kingdom. There are innocent people there, just as innocent as our fallen brothers and sisters. They don't deserve to die any more than our friends did! But if we are to march into the Emeralde Kingdom, they may try to kill us.”
“What do you think we should do?” a particularly ordinary-looking boy asked.
“Let us go into the kingdom and kill those who get in our way – no more than that.” Dante hesitated over what she said next. She could feel her heart pounding wildly in her chest. “Then...we take the king. Make him stop his army and call them back. Force him to stop these meaningless attacks!”
“What if he won't cooperate?” the half demon girl asked, her lust for the king's spilled blood clear as day.
Dante hesitated again before looking the girl right in the eye. “Then we kill him.”
Sound exploded a
ll around them, this time as the mob of people gathered together and cheered. A massive war cry started up, gathering speed as it spread to other groups of people who gathered to them.
“Death to the king! Death to the king!”
Dante stared down at the gathering rally, unable to believe what she had really just proposed. Killing King Emeralde meant destroying the Emeralde Kingdom in the process, politically speaking and possibly literally as well. It meant turning these kids before her, some of which who really were children, they were so young, and making them fight. It was something to unify what was left of the school, though, something to keep them together and from attempting to attack themselves.
There was just the problem of what to do with those who would protest their operation.
She shouted to the people below her for attention once again. “Those of you who do not wish for violence are welcome to join us. Come with us for the journey to the kingdom, and if you do not want to fight, go to El Flora. It's on the way and it's always neutral territory.”
El Flora was a metropolis near the Emeralde Kingdom. With its careful position of neutrality, it was never under the threat of the Emeralde Kingdom, even with Emeralde's army on the loose. As long as it remained neutral and didn't fight the kingdom, it was considered a sort of safe haven for those with nowhere else to go.
At least the protestors liked that idea. There was a general consensus spreading through the school: that they travel to the west and split up into two different parties, with the peaceful party seeking refuge in El Flora and the war party heading for the Emeralde Kingdom.
“Fine,” Kara spoke up. “If you lead the war party, I lead the peace party.”
Dante glanced at the blond girl, who, previously, she would have enjoyed beating into bloody submission. Now she nodded.
“Agreed.”
Evangeline watched from a distance as her sister had rallied the school into a wild frenzy. Dante had to be crazy. Going to war? Half of these kids wouldn't even be old enough to join the military in the First Realm and they were offering to put their lives on the line now.
Shadow Assassins (The Second Realm Trilogy) Page 19