by Corin, G.
“What are you talking about?” Stripe narrowed his eyes at the other boy while Ramaeka watched anxiously.
“Dragons are not so different from humans,” Amar said calmly.
“Except that they eat people,” Shady angrily interrupted.
“Not all of them, only a small minority actually enjoy the taste of humans,” Amar explained. “In fact there are some dragons that are fighting to pass a law that bans hunting and killing humans.”
Stripe sniggered. “Dragons have laws? You’re insane, they’re just beasts. Where did you even hear something like that?”
“I am well travelled,” Amar replied unaffected by Stripes amusement. “You learn many things when you travel.”
“Yeah like don’t get eaten by dragons,” Shady rolled his eyes. “If we could stop gossiping and start moving? It’s headed off any way.”
As they started walking again Ramaeka pondered on Amar’s comments. It’s possible he wouldn’t hate me he thought positively, though Stripe’s reaction was not a good sign. Determinedly he pushed the thoughts to back of his head, first he had to survive the mountains then he would deal with other problems.
It was at evening on the third day that they finally saw the bottom of the mountains and in the far distance, signs of their destination.
Stripe gave a whoop and jumped onto a rock pointing at the distant glow.
“Look,” he called. “Home is on the horizon!”
Shady leapt up on to the rock as well with a yell.
“Porkae! Finally were almost home.” He grabbed Stripe around the neck and scuffed up his hair. Ramaeka laughed and climbed up beside them. The glow was about a day’s solid walking, he decided.
“So are we going to make it there tomorrow?” he asked his grinning friends.
“Absolutely!” Stripe replied. “Even if we have to run. By tomorrow night we’ll be eating the most delicious food you ever tasted. And you can eat as much as you want,” he promised Ramaeka with a grin.
He grinned back sheepishly, so they had noticed how hungry he was. Turning his gaze back to the distant city he decided that he would run the entire way if it meant getting food as good as Ma Dresden’s had been. Sometimes he still dreamt of her apples backed with cinnamon and sweet pastry.
“You’re drooling,” Shady interrupted his thoughts in amusement.
“I’m hungry and you’re talking about food,” Ramaeka protested wiping his mouth. As he did so a pain shot up left leg. Wincing he reached down and rubbed it. Strange he thought, must be so hungry my whole body is cramping up. He jumped off the rock and went to investigate the dinner that Amar was cooking.
Stripe kept his word and made them run at least part of the distance to his home city. Ramaeka admired the scenery as they ran through open fields full of animals and crops. It was still cold being so close to the mountains but it was also much clearer than Talok had been. The animals were all shaggy coated to protect against the cold and roamed freely through the pastures. How anyone knew which animal belonged to who was beyond Ramaeka. The city itself was bigger than Talok and more open, there were no walls around the outside and the city sprawled out around half an immense lake.
“Doesn’t need walls,” Shady explained to Ramaeka as he ran beside him. “Not many people can bring an army through the mountains and if they come up the other way they can be seen for miles. Plenty of time for Porkae’s defences to get it together. Strange though, all the animals roaming around without a herder.”
As they neared the city it became obvious that there was something unusual in the air. Black smoke rose in patches throughout the city and there were no people at all moving on the farms or near the start of the city proper.
“Something’s wrong,” Stripe said stopping abruptly. They all stopped beside him, staring at the still city. It was Amar who broke the silence.
“There is no noise. Even at this distance there should be the noises of the city.”
Amar was right, Ramaeka couldn’t hear anything from the city and with his hearing he definitely should be able to. He scanned what he could see of the city, the black smoke was definitely not good, and he could make out several buildings on fire. Birds hovered over the city, scavengers he thought grimly. Other than the birds there was no movement at all, turning northward he narrowed his eyes against the glare of the sun. There in the distance he could make out shapes flying away from the city which were definitely not birds. That army he thought dismally, what’s his name, Gasha, has been here and gone.
“Come on,” he told his friends who were still watching the city hesitantly.
“Wait Ramaeka,” Stripe stopped him. “We don’t know if there are enemies waiting in there, or what’s happened.”
“I can tell you what’s happened,” he replied grimly. He pointed in the direction of the distant army.
“That army we saw has already been here and gone.”
Stripe paled and ran towards the city, Shady right behind him calling out his name. Ramaeka and Amar followed the pair closely. The stench hit Ramaeka’s sensitive nose as they neared the city. The smell of blood and fire were the strongest and he tried to prepare himself as they walked past the first of the houses.
Doors swung eerily in the breeze, almost every window had been smashed and many of the houses were in flames. Those were the first things that Ramaeka noticed. Then he saw the bodies.
They were strewn about in the blood soaked street, some lay half in the houses as if they had been shot down as they tried to get to safety. Children lay beside their parents; the army had done their work mercilessly.
“This is insanity,” he gasped unable to catch his breath for a moment.
“This is war,” replied a soft voice. He turned to see Amar crouching beside the body of a child. His friend sadly closed the child’s eyes, bowing his head.
“Can’t you do something?” Ramaeka pleaded. “Magic them or something.”
“I can’t do anything for the dead,” Amar looked at him steadily. “I can help the living if we can find any. Will you help me? I need you to stay calm.”
Taking a deep breath Ramaeka pulled his emotions under control, if he could help anyone here he would do anything. He nodded at Amar, Shady and Stripe had disappeared without him noticing. But if this was hard for him it must be so much worse for his friends who had lived here, had friends and family here.
“I do not believe that there are any of the enemy left within the city, but we must be careful. We will work our way down each street and check every house.”
Ramaeka nodded again his heart sinking at the thought of the huge city. With only two of them checking this would be an arduously difficult task.
“We can only do what we can,” Amar said softly guiding Ramaeka towards a house by his arm.
They searched house after house. Every time that he opened a new door Ramaeka seemed to find a new tragedy, some fresh horror to haunt him. He didn’t understand this. He had seen full grown dragons battle to the death in sometimes senseless duels, and he knew that his father had killed some of his own children as infants. But this was wholesale slaughter, not even the human’s pets had been spared. If this was war then he never wanted to see a part of it again.
Covered in grime and mud, ashes burning his eyes, he continued to search without hope, unsure of how long he had been working. He had even lost sight of Amar at some point during the afternoon and now the sun had disappeared and still he continued to search through the darkness. Walking into a new house he called out hoarsely, not expecting a reply as he tiredly searched each room. In one of the back rooms he found the bodies of a man and a woman. From the look of the room and the bodies, the pair had fought hard to protect themselves. Picking up a colourful rug he spread it over their bodies.
A whimper caught his sharp ears. Turning he scanned the room intently; everything had been knocked over and destroyed. However his sharp eyes caught sight of an irregularity in the floor where the rug had been. He ran his fingers over
the area, his nails catching slightly on the edge of a very well hidden trap door. Who ever had built this had known what they were doing.
“It’s alright,” he called out soothingly, his heart lifting at the possibility of finding somebody who had survived. “I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to help.”
He lifted the trapdoor up and peered down. Five children squatted in the damp hole beneath, staring suspiciously up at him.
“It’s ok,” he said quietly. “The army has moved on. Let’s get you out of there and see if we can find some food and water ok?”
The children still didn’t move. Reaching down he pulled one by the arm. The little girl immediately started to cry.
“Hush,” he soothed her gently. “Look at me I’m only a kid as well, I’m definitely not part of any army.”
After some persuasion he finally managed to cajole the rest out of the hole. The oldest was around his age and she quickly rounded up the children and took them into the kitchen. Ramaeka followed wondering how to get hold of Amar.
“Do you know what happened?” he asked the oldest girl.
She shook her head. “No, everything was normal, Ma and Pa was getting us ready for schooling then these giant bird things attacked the city. Ma and Pa made us get into the hole.” She stopped there obviously unable to go on, tears flooding her cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” Ramaeka said helplessly, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“Ramaeka,” called a voice from outside.
“I’m in here,” he called back. “I found some survivors.”
Shady walked in. Ramaeka did a double take as he took in the appearance of his friend. He was covered in so much ash, blood and muck that Ramaeka almost didn’t recognise him. Tear tracks marked his face though he appeared calm.
“Good work kid,” he croaked. “Amar’s got a place set up for survivors, he sent me here to find you.”
Ramaeka didn’t question how Amar knew he was here; he just nodded tiredly and turned to the children. Between the two of them he and Shady managed to herd them to the large building where Amar was looking after those who had managed to survive. He was bandaging a man’s arm as Ramaeka entered and only looked up to wave quickly. Several haggard appearing women appeared seemingly from nowhere and took the children under their wings. Relieved Ramaeka followed Shady over to a man serving water from a huge barrel of water. He gave each of them a cupful before waving them on. There was little chatter in the room; it seemed as if everybody was still too shocked to talk about what had happened.
He sipped at his water as he followed Shady.
“Where did all these people come from?” he asked voice cracking tiredly.
“Who knows,” Shady replied shrugging tiredly. “Found some hiding in a well, some of them ran into the woods and hid, most just found themselves alive when they thought they were dead.”
He drank the last of his water and stood with a sigh. “Still gotta check out the rest of the eastern part of the city. You coming?”
Ramaeka nodded and, ignoring the ache in his feet and legs, followed him out. As they walked eastwards, Ramaeka noticed more people searching and helping others.
“There’s more alive than I thought,” he said to himself.
“Not many though, not from a city of thousands.”
Shady pointed down one street. “You check that one and I’ll check the next one. Meet you at the end.”
Ramaeka nodded and got to work.
It was seven streets later when he found Stripe. It was the second to last dwelling on a street which was full of small rundown houses. Ramaeka noticed a light flickering through one of the smashed windows. Entering cautiously he called out as he checked the rooms. In the room with the light he found his friend.
Covered in blood and dirt Stripe was kneeling beside the bodies of three men and two women. The tears that rolled down his face were the only part of him that looked alive. Ramaeka put a hand on his shoulder hesitantly, jumping slightly as Stripe looked up at him.
“I hated them but I didn’t want this to happen,” he told Ramaeka in a tone of bewilderment.
“I’m sorry,” Ramaeka pulled his friend into an awkward hug as he began to sob. He noticed an open trapdoor made from stone. They must have tried to hide down there he thought and been dragged out.
“That’s where they used to put me,” Stripe said pulling back and indicating the stone trapdoor. “When I did something wrong they would chuck me down there with all the monsters. Kind of a twist that the monsters pulled them out of there huh?” He hung his head. “I used to wish they were dead, does that make me a bad person?”
“Come on,” he pulled Stripe to his feet. “I feel the same way about my family. It doesn’t mean that you really wanted them dead no matter what you say. And you saved me so I know you’re a good person.”
Stripe nodded jerkily wiping at his face.
“I’m gonna get something to cover them ok?”
Ramaeka helped him to cover his family with several blankets that Stripe had found. They walked out together.
“Thanks Ra,” Stripe said softly glancing over at him. “Didn’t mean to go all mushy on you.”
“You’re always mushy to me,” Ramaeka smiled at him, shoving him gently. Stripe ducked his head in embarrassment and started to walk up the street as Ramaeka followed.
“Hey,” Shady called out to them walking down the street. They stopped and waited for him.
“Part of the King’s army just arrived; they’re finishing the search through the city. Amar said to bring you both back to get some food and some rest.”
Ramaeka sighed in relief, help had arrived, and though he still wasn’t sure what a king was, he guessed it must be a very good thing.
When he arrived back at Amar’s base the area seemed to be dominated by men and women dressed alike in green and gold. Ramaeka stumbled over to Amar feeling completely exhausted. His friend was talking quietly to a stout, grizzled man dressed in the same green and gold uniform. However, even through his exhaustion Ramaeka recognised a natural air of command about the man. As he sat down, Amar introduced the man as General Grady. The General nodded at him politely.
“Amar was just telling me how hard you and your friends worked to help the survivors.”
Ramaeka shrugged tiredly. “We did our best; I never knew war was like this.”
The General nodded grimly. “This wasn’t war lad, this was a massacre. But there will be war as soon as we catch up to the miserable animals that did this.”
Ramaeka’s stomach churned at the thought of more death, he bowed his head to hide his reaction not wanting this commanding man to think him weak.
“Gasha’s army will not be defeated by one battalion,” Amar murmured as Stripe and Shady joined them carrying food and drink. Shady silently handed Ramaeka a plate of food and a jug of water.
“You mean you’ve only got one battalion?” Stripe asked incredulously. “Where’s the rest of the King’s army? We should be throwing all of our forces at them.”
“King Phaenin feels that the rest of the army will be needed to defend himself,” the General replied calmly. “As that is where Gasha is ultimately headed, up to the capital. We were further south helping fight against raiders when we were recalled. Our instructions are to stop or at least slow his army down.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Stripe exclaimed furiously his voice rising. “The capital is at the top of the peninsula! What about all the cities in between? All the innocent people?”
The General frowned sternly at him.
“He is our King and when I became a knight in his army I took sacred vows to obey him without fail. I promise you this I personally will stop at nothing to destroy this madman, I will gladly give my own life if necessary. This is the third city he’s wiped out in the last two weeks.”
He stopped and looked at Stripe thoughtfully.
“We’re always accepting new soldiers if you’re interested.”
“We’
re not,” Shady interrupted firmly ignoring Stripe as he scowled at him.
“Where are you headed next General? If I may ask?” Amar asked quietly.
“The next city they will hit is Jangor,” the General informed him. “He’ll find that one a lot harder to take than this.”
“Why?” Ramaeka asked absently chewing on a piece of bread.
“Jangor is a natural fortress,” Amar explained. “The city is set into the side of a cliff and walled off completely at the front. It is a trading city which is often targeted by sea and land raiders, therefore its defences are impressive.”
“But not enough without reinforcement,” the General interjected. “Especially with the flyers Gasha’s wrangled up, but perhaps if we can get there first they might have a chance.”
“Can you get there faster?” Stripe asked intently leaning forward.
“I hope so. Gasha is taking the long way around along the great northern road. There’s a shorter way that only a few people know about,” he grinned. “And I am one of those people.”
“What about the flyers?” Amar asked. “Have you conceived a plan for fighting them?”
“I’ve been talking to a few Dragons who might be willing to help out”
Ramaeka’s head snapped up so fast his neck cricked, the others were staring at General Grady in shock.
“Dragons?” Stripe gasped. “But we can’t trust them.”
“There’s only a small group that still hunt humans and soon hopefully that will be made completely illegal. I’m not saying that I have their help yet, but I have spoken to one dragon in particular with a lot of power. He told me he would try his best to bring some fighters.”
“And you trust him to keep his word?” Stripe raised an eyebrow.
“I do,” the General countered firmly. “A dragon never breaks his word; they hold honour even higher than us people. Plus I know this dragon very well, as does the King.”
“Sir?”
A soldier saluted the General.
“Alright, I’m coming.” He stood up and nodded to the group. “Lads, it was a pleasure meeting you. Perhaps we’ll see you on the battlefield.”