Dragon Talker

by Anderson, Steve

  Yuri knew he was being taunted, but he didn’t take the bait. To himself, he thought, I’d plan on two dragons coming, mage, and I will still be here to see what happens when they do.

  Chapter 53

  Cormack was out of breath as he reached the edge of the village. As much as he wanted to get back to report as quickly as possible, he also didn’t want to run into the mage by himself. He knew he didn’t have a chance if that happened. Moving from hut to hut, he edged his way towards where he left the group that stayed to fight.

  He dropped to the ground and crawled up to the corner of the last hut between him and the others. Looking around, he saw the merchant, standing as if he was frozen and the newcomer squaring off with the mage. He looked behind him, hoping to see the dragon talker appear, but all he saw were a few villagers walking and running around as if they were lost.

  “This isn’t good,” he said to himself.

  ***

  Roger’s pace became slower and slower as he approached the village. It wasn’t fear that slowed him down. Because of his invisibility, he had little fear of people, even mages. No, what slowed him down was ambivalence. On one hand, he liked the idea of saving the village and having the villagers owe him for it. On the other, he really didn’t feel attached to them at all. They resented him for his gift and yet they were the ones who asked him to do the job. Part of him would feel grim satisfaction if the village was wiped off the map. And then, there was the deal he had made.

  What kept him moving forward was Thrinbin. As little as he knew of this dragon, he was sure it would not be happy with him doing nothing for the village. He decided to do just enough to satisfy it. The village, he noted, was definitely on fire, but it seemed to be localized on the eastern side. Maybe a fool had started his hut on fire? He thought. That would be typical, he continued, some fool starts a fire, they think they are under attack, and all the sudden I’m good enough to talk to. Next, the fool who started it will try to blame me for the fire.

  He felt the slightest temperature change in his amulet, as if it had been laying out in the sun for few minutes. It let him know that Thrinbin was on the way. He learned that when he was an apprentice, along with the fact that it would also heat up when Thrinbin was angry. Once, when he was late for a meeting, Thrinbin was so angry the amulet actually burned his skin. That only had to happen once before he made sure to never keep it waiting again.

  The villagers, though, didn’t get the same treatment. If it was an attack, he wondered, why were so many of the villagers running around, and women and children at that? Women and children were the first to leave in danger, and there wasn’t a village around that didn’t have both designated hiding places in and around the village, and men and women who were given the task of making sure those who couldn’t help out in a crisis were safely out of the way of any danger.

  He kept walking towards the fire. He would see soon enough what was going on. Even though he was invisible, he still peeked around huts before moving. When he finally reached a vantage point to see what was going on, he was struck dumbfounded. It wasn’t the mage that did it, but the person standing in front of the mage. He recognized the dragon talker he had attacked only a month ago, the dragon talker that spoke for a very large and angry blue dragon.

  He wasn’t surprised that the merchant was in the middle of the melee. Roger always believed he had delusions of grandeur. He deserves what he gets, he thought to himself. Now, with the dragon talker, Roger had mixed feelings. He definitely would like to see the mage take him apart, but he was also more afraid of the talker’s dragon than his own. I don’t need to get blamed for that, too, he whined to himself.

  Everything, for Roger, came down to one thing: his own survival. He had no idea who this mage was, but it didn’t matter. That blue dragon protected its talker, and there was no question to him that letting the talker do this fight alone would not be acceptable to the blue. Great, he thought to himself, now I have to go help a guy I hate. The deal with the mage wasn’t supposed to involve the blue.

  ***

  Samantha was riding slower this time. Speed, obviously, didn’t help with whatever magic was keeping people in the village. She was impressed by the scope of the magic. A misdirection spell was not a difficult spell to cast, but to cast it over such a large area showed considerable skill. There should be gaps - no magic is all encompassing. Finding the gap, though, was difficult.

  Samantha watched the smoke. While the spell cast wasn’t physical, spells often did have an effect on the physical environment. If anyone looked, they would see the smoke moving to the center of the village, as if there were a large dome over it. That was no help. Flying was not an option on the table, so she looked to the ground.

  She stopped the wagon and dismounted. Kneeling down, she put her head down, ear to the ground. She watched the air in front of her, looking for any smoke going in a different direction. It didn’t take long to spot it, wisps of smoke moving to the east. That figures, she thought, the exit would be through the mage coming into the village. Brilliant, really, channeling anyone with the smarts to outsmart magic towards the mage. Whoever these people are, they know what they’re doing.

  She looked back at the wagon once before she decided to reconnoiter a possible way out. Maybe, she hoped, if the mage moved in enough, she could swing around him with the boys. After adjusting her sword in her belt, she started looking away around the burning huts and the area of fighting. She tried to move close enough to where the mage was that she wouldn’t hit the outer ring of magic and get confused while staying far enough away so she wouldn’t be seen.

  The air in the village was getting thicker with smoke. The magic spell was holding much of it inside the village. It made it harder to keep track of the smoke in the lower current, but Samantha was patient. There wasn’t a lot of choice. If she hit the spell, she would just end up back in the center again. She cast her own small spell to keep the smoke from entering her lungs. She immediately felt better.

  She stood still and took a few deep breaths of clean air. It helped her think, and she chastised herself for not thinking of a color spell sooner. Kneeling down to stay out of sight, she pulled the pedal of a yellow flower out of her pouch and used it to cast a spell. The lower smoke, the smoke that was heading towards the gap in the confusion spell, was now tinted yellow. It made following it much easier. With the path clearer, she decided to get the boys right away instead of waiting until she was sure of her way out.

  Back at the wagon, she looked at the two sleeping boys. Bernard really was a wisp of a boy. He would be easy enough to carry, but Stone wasn’t so small. She wouldn’t be able to carry both of them without some magical help, and she did not want to risk having Stone awake. She knew he wouldn’t back down from a fight, a fight that he had no way of winning and would most likely end with him being used as a pawn against Yuri.

  For strength, she walked up to the horse. Patting the horse on the neck, she talked soothingly, letting the horse know she meant no harm. “I’ll only borrow your strength for a little while. Long enough to get out of here.”

  The horse flicked its ears. Placing both hands on its neck, she cast the spell, “Tu vires, vires mi.”

  The horse shuddered once before settling back down. Samantha felt a jolt as if she had just jumped into an icy lake. She felt lighter, too. She felt more like she floated to the back of the wagon than walked. Once in back, she picked up Bernard and placed him over her shoulder. With her new strength, it felt like she had just thrown a thick coat over her shoulder.

  Stone was too big to do the same thing on her left side. Instead, she grabbed him by the back of the collar and started dragging him. Seeing a young woman carrying one boy while dragging the other was more than enough to get a few frightened villagers to stop and notice her in their own chaotic attempt to escape, before going on their own search for a way out.

  All her attention went to following the yellow tinted smoke. She didn’t notice when one of Stone’
s shoes was pulled off from his heel rubbing on the ground. Stone was still under the sleep spell and didn’t notice. As focused as she was at getting herself and the boys to safety, her mentor’s voice was also running through her head: “Don’t get involved in other people’s fights.”

  I broke the eggs on that one, she said to herself. Still, she didn’t see how she could do anything else. They were just boys. Soon, she was back where she turned the smoke yellow. Everything ahead was unknown to her. She shifted Bernard on her shoulder to a more comfortable position.

  They couldn’t hear her, but she talked anyway. “Boys, time to get out of here.” Seeing the way to the next hut clear, she ran, following the smoke and dragging Stone to the next closest hut all the while Bernard kept bouncing on her shoulder. Beside the hut, she looked down and saw Stone’s now bloody heel.

  “Men’s bones,” she cursed. It looked painful, but not serious. “Sorry Stone. I’ll heal that up later.”

  She moved to the edge of the hut and peered around the corner. She cursed again. There, less than thirty feet away, was Yuri, the merchant, and a person that could only be the mage attacking the village. The merchant wasn’t moving at all. She assumed correctly that he was under some type of freezing spell. Yuri looked okay for the moment, and she could only see the back of the mage, so she had no idea how he was. Considering the sophistication and power required for the attack, though, she doubted anything the village had to use against him would have had much affect.

  By the looks of things, it appeared to be a standoff. Watching the smoke swirl around the village, she corrected herself, thinking, he’s playing with them.

  To the boys, she said, “We’re close, boys, but this isn’t where we want to be. I think we’ll go around.”

  The briefest smile crossed her mouth before she mocked her need to speak, saying, “She told the unconscious boys.”

  They were already on the outskirts of the village. It looked like she had one more hut she could hide behind before everything turned to open field. Get there and figure out the next step, she thought.

  She wondered what her mother would think as she ran to the next hut, carrying one boy and dragging another. Focus, she scolded herself, you’re not out of here yet.

  Watching the smoke, she noted that it was moving faster and channeling out into the field. She knew she was going to have to run out in the open if she wanted to get out in the gap in the spell. But what was out in the field? Mages, by nature, preferred to work alone. Little was bigger than most mage’s egos, but more than one powerful mage had a stable of lesser mages who worked for them. Regular folks, too, she thought. Some worked by magical coercion and some did it for the status it imbued.

  So who, she asked herself, is out in that field? Another mage? That would be trouble, as would a group of magically enchanted men. If it was a group of normal men working for a mage destroying a village, she would have no problem with her strength and own skills tearing through them. She might even enjoy it. Nothing was worse in her mind that a flat who helped a mage attack other flats. As for mages, she was taught they were meant to help people, not control them.

  Whoever was out in the field, she realized, would probably be stronger than her, if they were responsible for the confusion spell. For her to survive, she knew she would have to be smarter. “Boys,” she said to the still unconscious Stone and Bernard, “I’m going to run as fast as I can with you two and find the exit. Once we’re through, I’ll set you in the safest place I can see and then I need to find the source.”

  The boys, of course, didn’t say a word.

  “Good, we’re in agreement.” Samantha took a deep breath, exhaled, and started running.

  Chapter 54

  Roger looked around for a weapon. The shattered arrows on the ground made it clear that wasn’t the way to go. He wasn’t good with a bow anyway. He ran into the nearest hut and went to the fireplace. Inside, he got lucky. This was one of the villagers who had an iron tripod set up for holding a cooking pot. He took it apart and walked outside with one of the legs.

  Outside, he swung the iron rod a few times to get used to his weight. He also watched where it became visible. He and his clothes were invisible. Things he held were only invisible for so far. By holding the rod by his leg, it too was totally invisible. It wouldn’t do much for his invisibility if an iron rod was floating a foot in front of him.

  Roger took a step out into the open. Yuri looked right at him as he did. Roger started to panic as the mage turned and looked in his direction but quickly turned back, seeing nothing. Roger let out his breath and cursed Yuri. He wondered, How many gifts has your dragon given you? and added one more reason to hate Yuri to his growing list.

  The iron in his hand gave him confidence. Walk up, he told himself, bash him on the back of the head, and save the day. Let the villagers deal with that, me saving them. I can’t wait to see them choke on it. Before moving forward, he felt for Thrinbin. The dragon was close, that much he could tell. He decided to wait just a little longer before helping Yuri. Maybe, he hoped, Yuri might even get injured while he watched.

  ***

  Yuri thought how crowded it was getting. Only moments after seeing Samantha run towards the field carrying Bernard and dragging Stone, he saw the town’s talker appear from behind a hut. He could barely see him, as if he was more shadow than real, but he knew it was him. He was aware enough to not look directly at Samantha as she ran past, but he was kicking himself for staring at the talker. He knew he almost gave him away. That damn invisibility, he thought, must still be working, though, because this mage is sure focused on me right now.

  He could feel Samora getting closer, but he didn’t know how long it would be before she got there. He also felt a different presence. It made him think of dragons, but it didn’t carry the same powerful feeling being linked to Samora did. What he could tell was that it was getting closer, much closer than Samora.

  Everyone in the village turned their heads to the sound when they heard the screech of an approaching dragon. Villagers momentarily stopped running. Perante smiled. Yuri wished it were Samora. Thrinbin soared into view and high into the air, its green scales reflecting sunlight as it climbed above the village. At the apex of its climb, it seemed to hover, wings extended, for a moment before it tucked its wings in and began diving down towards the village.

  Yuri pulled his eyes away long enough to see the mage smiling and looking up at the dragon. He was not going to miss this chance. He started to run towards the mage, bringing his knife out as the dragon dived towards them both. Still two hundred feet above them, the dragon extended its wings, slowing its descent, and let out a torrent of fire.

  The fire reached the mage first, but instead of incinerating him, it was deflected by a protective sphere. Yuri didn’t have that kind of protection. Instead, he brought up his arms to protect his face as the fireball slammed into him. The force picked him up and sent him flying through the air. He instinctively let go of the melting knife in his hand. He crashed into a hut and the flames clinging to his body started the hut on fire.

  A ring of fire burned around Perante as Thrinbin continued its dive, claws reaching out to snatch him off the ground. It pulled away at the last moment, clawed feet bending but not penetrating Perante’s protective spell. Perante looked to Yuri trying to extricate himself from the now burning hut, decided he wasn’t an immediate threat, and turned his attention back to the dragon.

  Before he could move forward with his plan, though, he felt an immediate threat bearing down on him from his right. He couldn’t see Roger, but he could feel his intent to harm him. Perante had spent enough time exploring invisibility spells to know what was going on. With a flick of his wrist, he changed a gust of wind coming from the burning huts into a heated gale force burst of wind, fire, and debris sent in the general direction of his attacker. The pressure he had felt moments before was gone. He couldn’t tell if the person was dead or simply dissuaded, but he didn’t care. He was here
for the dragon.

  Thrinbin flew in a tight circle around the village. Spotting Winderall and his spell, he dived in to attack. Not as strong as Perante, Winderall lost control of his confusion spell but managed to stay alive, even if in smoldering clothes. Patting down his clothes, he decided observation and invisibility would be his new task and tactic.

  Perante looked up and saw the green dragon spread its wings as it turned around in the air; then he looked back in the direction of his invisible attacker. In the excitement of seeing the dragon, Perante hadn’t been thinking straight. Who would be invisible but the dragon’s talker? Perante raised his hands. As he did so, a cloud of dust raised from the ground in front of him. He sent the cloud ahead of him.

  Soon, he saw the outline of his invisible attacker in the swirling sand. Taking a regular dagger from inside his jacket, he used magic to aim the blade at his attacker’s heart. The knife stabbed Roger in the back as he tried to run away. His invisibility left him as he fell to the ground. He wasn’t dead, but the odds of him surviving a blade so deep into his back was not good.

  Thrinbin roared as Roger went down and another blast of fire raced out to engulf Perante. Again, his spells protected him from the fire. Thrinbin was making more and louder noises and Perante quickly closed the distance between him and the talker. He pulled out the knife before rolling him over. Roger was frothing at the lips, a good sign one of his lungs had been punctured.

  “What about our deal?” Roger asked weakly.

  Perante didn’t bother to respond. He just wanted the amulet around his neck. He yanked it off of Roger’s neck, taking time to inspect the green scale embedded in it as Thrinbin made another circle. Perante wrapped the leather strap around his hand, making sure the scale didn’t touch his skin. Kneeling down, he brought his hands together, arms straight, as he clapped the amulet between his palms. The spell he traveled across the country to use had finally been cast.