Rise of the Dragon King (Book two of the Royalty Trilogy): 2017 Modernized Format (Dragoneers Saga 5)

by M. R. Mathias

  “DO NOT KILL IT!” she yelled. “DRIVE IT TO THE SEA!”

  Can you use the ethereal? Zahrellion asked.

  I can, Clover replied and felt a little silly for trying to scream over the sound of four dragons and a riled beast.

  Drive it to the sea, she repeated her thought.

  Yesss, the huge red wyrm replied before sweeping across the colossal’s path and blasting a jet of flame, forcing it eastward instead of south. Clover felt her dragon sizing this one up. He might have been able to take the pit monster, but this one was even bigger than he was, and she had no idea where he would start.

  The eyesss, he answered with a hiss, and she knew he was right.

  It was hard to say if it was even aware of them as it went, but one thing was sure, such a creature would devastate a city by just walking through, and it was trying to go south, where most of the cities were. With its forty yard long tail and powerful neck, it could probably level Three Forks. In fact, it could probably charge right through the wall. Clearly though, it had no intention of doing so. It was moving with a purpose now, and every now and then stopping to sniff the southern breeze. To it, they and their dragons were but insects to be tolerated.

  Jade used his noxious breath the keep the massive thing from going north, and Crystal kept it hurrying along, over the hills, and leaping across valleys with short blasts of icy spew.

  Clover decided that this was larger than the colossal she had seen destroying wyrms, giants, and gorills in the pit. Far larger. That beast had been captured by the wizard and brought to Harthgar by sea. This one might be able to eat a ship.

  Clover had Crimzon dive low and glide back down the length of the thing. There were a pair of huge testicles dangling, and a sheathed member, not unlike a stock animal’s. This made Clover reach back into her mind to recall everything she could about the creature she’d seen in Harthgar.

  Now she was starting get a bad feeling. She had always been lucky, and when she knew she could bet on something, it was probably a sure thing. When they reached the sea, north of Cut, the creature leapt right into the ocean and began swimming south under the waves. Crimzon could see it with his heat sensing vision and Clover could see through her wyrm. Her gut told her that this beast was swimming toward something.

  Go back and tend Rikky and the boys, Clover called. I will follow it and meet you all back in Three Forks.

  Jenka followed the large red dragon a few moments longer than Zahrellion did, but eventually he banked away. Clover was worried that her instinct was right and, by the determined way the creature was moving, she knew that it knew exactly where it was going.

  It was swimming directly toward the Karian Flotilla.

  Chapter Nine

  Clover learned a lot watching the events that unfolded beneath her. One thing was that the male colossal had a hard time trying to figure out why the ships smelled the way they did. Clover knew exactly why, and now she understood why the scheming members of the so-called trade delegation thought they could fight the New World kingdom with such a modest force.

  “Are you certain?”

  “I’m telling you, Rikky,” Clover narrowed her brows at the one legged Dragoneers questioning of her. They were back at Three Forks Palace now, in the new Dragoneers Den, a large open room boasting a glossy topped hardwood table shaped like a crescent moon. Jenka reclined in his central throne-like chair and stared at the ceiling as if nothing was wrong. Clover spoke to him anyway. “It was after those ships because there are female colossals on them. I think they meant to let them loose on the mainland. They had to turn due north, though, and make for the eastern side of the peninsula because the male we accidentally rousted was harassing them in the sea. At one point, it nearly mounted the deck and started humping the forecastle.”

  “We should fire and freeze them before they make land.” Zahrellion stared hard at Jenka.

  “Hey!” Clover kicked the back of Jenka’s chair. “Are you the king or not?”

  Jenka jumped up, his body moving a hundred times faster than those around him. Clover lost him when she blinked. Then he was right there in her face, his finger a hair’s breadth from poking her in the eye.

  From somewhere beyond the castle walls, Crimzon roared out angrily. Jade roared right back at him.

  “I— am— not—” Jenka growled, his voice starting slow and deep, then speeding up to a normal tone as his body began moving at normal speed again. “I never wanted to be king.”

  “Well you are now,” Zahrellion snapped at him. “Stop doing that. We must sink the ships and keep these beasts from ravaging the land.”

  “Sink the ships, Jenk,” Rikky chimed in. “There is no sense risking it.”

  “I think we should send them all back to where they came from and let the beast the rascals woke up follow them away,” this came from Aikira, who came striding into the room.

  Though she wasn’t wearing her sleek golden armor, the outfit that Clover had first seen her in, the tight leather riding pants, and a loose fitting, deeply V’d blouse under her yellow-brown cloak, fit her body well. Clover, as always, found the exotic Outland girl captivating.

  “What will sinking the ships and killing them all do for us?” Jenka spoke evenly. “The next time they will come for vengeance. Just go scare them away. Follow them out to the deep, if you must.”

  It turned out that it didn’t matter what the Dragoneers, or King Jenka, wanted. Rikky, Zahrellion, Aikira, and Clover found nothing but broken bits of wood and a few floating corpses when they returned to where the trade delegation ships should have been. There were two men still alive and Zahrelliona and Aikira had their dragons pluck them from the sea before turning back to Three Forks to tell Jenka what had transpired, for no matter how hard they tried to reach him through the ethereal, he wouldn’t respond, nor would Jade.

  Crimzon sensed that the colossals may have fled back toward Cut, Clover told them all.

  We will see what we can get out of these two, Aikira said. Watch Clover’s back, Rikky. I’ll find you two when we are done.

  Clover let Crimzon fly and the big fire wyrm took his time, analyzing the path he presumed the thing had taken. All the while, Rikky and his smaller, faster wyrm were flying slow circles around them, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

  “Look, there at the trees,” Rikky called out, pointing at a place where everything was laid over as if something huge had slunk up out of the water.

  Clover nodded. Crimzon was already banking them that way. She doubted the men on those ships were just drowned and she was curious at what the two men they saved would have to say, but she was also curious about King Richard, and if Vikaria really had a hand in all of this. She was starting to doubt it.

  They followed the trail of knocked over trees, stomped shrubs, and tail-whacked limbs for a good portion of a day. There was a little blood smeared here or there, too, making the trail impossible to lose. Finally, Clover broke the silence.

  You know, Rikky, I am amazed when I hear the stories of how you overcame your loss and impaled that demonized horn head. It is impressive to be so strong willed. Clover chanced opening a door into her soul she’d long kept locked tight. Did you know Vax Noffa, my son? How did he die?

  Vax Noffa died fighting Sarax in the cavern where you first glazed the vessel. Rikky never really thought about Clover as Vax Noffa’s mother until that moment, and he suddenly felt very sad for her, knowing she spent almost all of her son’s life in some crazed priest’s trap.

  What was he like?

  Rikky wasn’t sure he was the one who should be answering the questions, as Aikira had actually studied under Vax Noffa before she and Golden found them.

  He was secretive. I remember the first time I ever met him was the night we were first announced as the Royal Dragoneers, just when Jenka learned that he was kettle born, or whatever. Jenka hated the title Royal Dragoneers because he somehow knew we were not there to fight for the kingdom but for what was right.

&
nbsp; Jenka wasn’t kettle born, Clover said. Her incredulous tone was clear, even across the ethereal.

  Mysterian told him he was. Rikky laughed. You should speak with Aikira about your son. She knew him far better than any of us. He trained her and Prince Richard both.

  It is just so strange. I feel as if I have cheated death. I have always had luck on my side. I am not sure why, but I have. Clover’s voice seemed sad. Looking back and remembering Denner and Vax, and the love we shared, hurts. To feel so much regret as I feel is no lucky thing.

  Well maybe something will happen to get your mind off it, Rikky jested back.

  Below them, the trail led into a lake that was far larger than the one the male creature had emerged from. They spent a good deal of time flying around the shore looking for places the thing might have exited, but found none.

  Go see what Zahrellion and Aikira have learned, Clover told him. I would like some time to ponder.

  Of course, Lady Clover, Rikky agreed.

  And Rikky, could you have Aikira return with you when you come. I would like to ask her about my son.

  Chapter Ten

  “So we have a few wizards, three with a female colossals, running across our Frontier trying to get away from a crazed male?” Zahrellion asked Linux the rhetorical question. “They were going to attack us with these things?”

  “According to the captives, they still are. They helped their beasts break out of the ships to avoid the male. Apparently, they are capable mages, for they supposedly teleported their animals, and themselves, away from the wreckage, leaving the seamen to struggle and die.”

  “Well, three wizards are not in the bottom of the lake Clover is watching over,” Rikky said. “I don’t think all of the colossals are even in there, maybe one.”

  “The sailors said the females were crazed, not natural like the one that was attacking them, save for when the wizards were in the hold with them.” Linux shrugged. “If these magi are even half-clever, they probably led you there as a trap. We need—”

  “I’m going,” Rikky said as he ran out.

  Aikira was right behind him, and then Zahrellion. Linux started to follow them but Jenka stopped him.

  “Bring both of those seamen here and have food and fresh water brought as well.” Jenka’s curiosity had been piqued. “Have a couple of girls clean them up in the royal bathhouse. Make sure they are fully serviced.”

  Linux’s look showed his utter confusion.

  “For what I intend to do to them, I need them wholly relaxed.” Jenka used the Dour to imprint his command in Linux’s mind and the druid nodded and went about it.

  Jenka wasn’t surprised about the attack. In fact, he’d expected something to happen much sooner. The bits of alien intelligence he had assumed when he was saturated told him it was inevitable. He had pondered the idea of war for a long time and decided that, even though it was a messy business, it was one of the most effective ways to bring about change.

  A short while later, two scrubbed and seemingly content men were brought before Jenka. They both stood tall, and the larger of the two managed to avoid Jenka’s eyes, but the other one met them and was instantly lost in their coral green depths.

  Jenka saw, in the man’s mind, a harbor, as if being approached from the sea. A woman, round and brown haired, waved as her dress flapped in the breeze. A strange flag, one that he now knew was one of the many Karian flags, was flapping over a trio of lesser pennants He felt the sensations of missing his mother, excitement, and fear, all mingled in confusion.

  The man’s mind skipped forward as Jenka dragged it away from his home. He found the present and began peeling away backwards until he saw the beasts. They were there, each with a robed figure riding them. And they looked nothing like the colossal they had battled in the mountains, save for in form.

  These creatures were smaller, but still as large as a dragon. They had gills and webbed, clawed paws. Their bodies were muscled and sleek. They were a mottled mixture of gray and brown, being darker everywhere there was webbing. The skin looked like that of a whisker-fish or a shark, all smooth and thick. They had arm-long teeth and their bottom fangs, when their mouths were closed, stuck up around their noses, giving the creatures the look of having three horns, when, in fact, they only had one. The tails were long and the tip looked to be covered in thick plated hide that allowed them to batter and bash without hurting themselves.

  Jenka saw the webbing that stretched from the heel of its hind legs out and back and down the length of its tail. The same skin created a wing, or fin-like plane from its forelegs to its abdomen as well. He imagined these things could swim reasonably fast and maneuver well in the water. Then he saw one of them start trying to throw its rider because it didn’t want to ease into the hold of the ship.

  Jenka felt the sailor’s fear as the memory played through his head as if it were happening again. He searched the man’s memories for the wizards themselves but found that they were not on the vessel this man was on.

  Jenka turned his attention to the other man. Linux pressed him down and he knelt while looking at his companion. His eyes met Jenka’s then, and suddenly he was slipping backwards through his memories to the same point in time as the other man had first seen the colossal creatures.

  Jenka was pleased that this one was easily twice as smart as the other. This man had paid better attention to detail, and when Jenka started querying the man’s brain about the wizards, he found out enough to alarm him. He also found that the agitated colossal threw its ropes and carried the wizard riding it out into the bay.

  Jenka wasn’t that surprised when it swam, sort of like a dog, with its head out of the water, as if it were trying to keep its rider dry. Jenka wondered if the wizard saddled on its shoulders was the only reason it wasn’t swimming underwater because, with those bright red gills, it surely could.

  The somewhat nervous looking wizard kept the creature under his control and slowly got it swimming back toward the dock. Jenka was reminded of a story Clover once told him of a harbormaster that used a spelled octerror in his bay to manage the pirates. This wasn’t a Harthgarian harbor, he decided, and Clover had been telling him of a time long forgotten to these people. Either way, the wizard looked to have heard the tale, too, for he was looking this way and that, into the water around his beast as he eased it to shore. It broke off a sizable portion of the wooden dock’s structure when it finally climbed back up and moved toward the cargo hold.

  Jenka started probing the sailor for information about the wizards and finally found something of interest.

  A cabin in one of the ships, with the door cracked open, was before the man. He put his eye to the sliver and peeked in. Inside, there were at least a dozen robed men, all of them speaking to what appeared to be their leader. When Jenka’s eyes found him through the captive’s memory, the man saw him looking. Jenka felt his black, white-less eyes, even through the memory, and was suddenly aware that at least one of these wizards was very, very powerful.

  They were speaking words of arcanery that Jenka could make out, but that his subject didn’t understand, so he didn’t remember them correctly. After the few words he heard, Jenka pushed the man’s brain a little too far trying to make them out.

  There was a commotion and an explosion of wood and broken rigging. Then there was one of the wizards mounted on his colossal and it was… What? Swimming like a dog again, keeping the four robed men riding farther down its back, above the water.

  Suddenly the man Jenka was violating began to tremble and convulse. Jenka had to peel himself away from his mind. He did so just before a flash of sparks, and a cloud of churning smoke filled the chamber he, Linux, and the two men were in.

  Before he could shake the sailor’s memory completely free of him, Jenka saw the wizard he had just seen in the man’s head, only he was standing there, or actually hovering there, with one of his hands on the back of each of the survivors’ necks. The next thing he knew, both men were crumpling to the tiled
floor and the wizard began to laugh, but only until Jenka’s coral eyes met his.

  In that moment, Jenka saw the surprise the mage felt, but he couldn’t tell if the fear he was sensing was the wizard’s or his own.

  Chapter Eleven

  “We do not wish to harm the people of this land,” the tall, black-eyed mage said, in a powerful voice. “Do not fight us. Lay down your blades and allow us to assume command and we will not destroy a single home or person.” The wizard narrowed his brow. “Resist us and we will trample your good folk into pulp.”

  Jenka knew the thing before him was not the wizard. The wizard could be anywhere. Still, he had heard of apparitions like this being able to throw spells if the original caster was powerful enough. After all, the two men he was just questioning had been affected by the mage somehow. The longer Jenka sat there looking, the less intimidating the wizard seemed, though he could see why men might follow him.

  He was tall and had dark hair that was corn-rowed back over his head where it dangled in thick, rope-like clumps past his shoulders. His beard was thin and hung like a black stalactite from his narrow face. His cheeks were sunken and his thick brows owlish, and maybe too big for his head.

  He was intimidating, Jenka was sure, to most. A glance at Linux told him the druid wasn’t so afraid. The men on the floor were too dead to show fear, and Jenka wondered what they knew that might make the wizard just end them.

  The fact that he had ended them from his illusionary spell, made Jenka a little more aware, but he was saturated with Dour magic and the essence of the alien, so he decided it was time to let these fools know that they were barking up the wrong tree.

  Jenka leaned forward slowly, but then went into his hyper movement. He walked to, and then around, the apparition and ended standing directly before it. Jenka walked casually for the entire series of steps, but the act took less than a heartbeat of actual time.