Dragon Mage- Uprising

by Brian Ference

  “Maybe we’re not a good match,” Bree said coldly.

  “What?” Darek was astounded.

  She stared at him, daring any contradiction. “I’m going back to Cape Spear. Meira needs someone’s support.”

  What did that mean? “By Kraton, I can’t help everyone at once!”

  Bree turned away. “No one is asking you to.”

  Just like that, she wanted to end it? Darek’s mouth hung open. Why couldn’t she understand he had more pressing duties? He didn’t like her leaving on her own, but she was already furious. He thrust the thought out of his mind. Negative energy only manifested a negative outcome.

  Meshoar was a dependable dragon and would see the task through. Storm would protect her. Her dragon was strong and loyal. He summoned Meshoar. After an hour or so they had dragged all of the devices up to the surface in stony silence. Darek helped lash the last solaricus devices to the dragon’s back and gave it a pat on the rump. “Go!... You too Seavenger. Watch over Bree.”

  The dragons took a hopping run and launched themselves up in a cloud of dust. Seavenger screeched a definitive note in the stiff wind. He watched Bree vault off while a terrible feeling grew in the pit of his stomach.

  Chapter 10.

  The Cove

  Darek sat in Agrippa’s secret study, contemplating, holding his head in his hands, the frustration mounting in his heart. It had been four days since Bree had left Valkyrie. After several more fire-streak burns, nearly a dozen scrapes, and countless hours spent in study—he decided he had learned enough for now.

  He packed up his runestones, spell books and dragon amulets and climbed on the back of his dragon. The sun sank low in the sky as he made his journey back to the Rookery. He swung first north over the island to check on Agrippa’s dragons, well, his dragons now. All of them seemed content, basking in the sun like lizards. Let them enjoy their rest, he would call on them soon enough.

  Leaving the island far behind, he was struck with the sense of awe and freedom flying above the open seas. It never ceased to exhilarate him. Aquamarine waves stretched for leagues in every direction. For a time, the seas were his.

  Banking east, he surged down on a sudden whim. Silver Eye spread her wings and picked up speed. Dropping between clouds, Darek spotted movement below. Seven black specks grew in size, five schooners and two clippers. All flew the skull and crossbones and ploughed through the waves in heavy pursuit of a lone ship displaying no banner. The streamlined schooner had a light brown hull and picked up speed as it caught a gust of wind; a fast runner, one that had managed to outpace her pursuers. Curious, he swooped lower, staying well out of range.

  The schooner made for the cover of a nearby horseshoe-shaped island, part of the Black Claw outer archipelago that loomed to the east. It ducked out of sight in a small cove, hiding herself behind a hook of land, evading the hunters. A Red Claw ship? No. He bid Silver Eye to drop closer.

  Another pirate vessel! So that explained it. He had no love for pirates or their legacy of blood and slaughter. The suffering he endured while enslaved on Pirate Cove still stung like a scorpion’s tail. Escaping only to become indentured to Raithan and the Black Claws had turned into a bittersweet pill. Perhaps he should try out some of his new spells on this lone craft? He dropped down with a wild gleam in his eye. Time for some payback on the rogues.

  The schooner was unremarkable: a two-masted jury-rigged whaling craft with no dragon riders that he could see aboard. Though one or more dragon riders could be out scouting. He’d have to be careful. The crew, all eight of them, roamed the gumwood deck. Hardened buccaneers wearing bandannas or eye patches and cutlasses belted at their waists.

  A sandy shoal loomed close between ship and shore. It gave him an idea. He summoned his inner energy and invoked the Spell of Mobilization. Closing his eyes, he visualized a strong undertow beneath the ship’s hull. Faster and faster he whirled it in his mind until the sea churned in a white froth to the port and starboard of the unsuspecting ship. The mysterious tow drew the ship closer to the sandbar. The crew’s curses fell on empty ears as the vessel ground ashore, stern first on the soft sand.

  Darek nodded in satisfaction. Probing the vicinity with his mind, he searched for a suitable sea creature. There must be one about. Ah, that would do nicely—a hulking grey whale swimming a few furlongs out. Time to test his skill. Could he summon something besides a sea dragon? Why not? Come into the bay, big boy. Much krill to eat here. He reached out with his mental feelers and sent the massive mammal finning in.

  Darek gave a hoarse chuckle. The great gray beast drew its blubbery bulk toward the pirate vessel and its tail whipped up and plunged down again while a chute of white water spouted up from its blowhole. Good work, boy. Let them think you’re responsible for their grounding.

  He swung in to get a quick peek at his handiwork. The exasperation on the crew’s faces grew. His heart missed a beat when he saw who stood on deck barking orders at the crew.

  Livis? Could it be?

  The same who had freed him from Pirate Cove?

  But a girl no more. She had grown taller, and more alluring. Her auburn curls shimmered in the sunshine and russet ringlets trailed down the middle of her back like strange jewels. Tousled by a sea breeze, her hair was a demiurge’s mane. The proud face seemed chiseled from pure, white marble. She had become a rare beauty. But how had she become a pirate captain?

  The lookout raised a fist. “Ahoy, enemy rider to starboard! Man the harpoons!”

  In a trance, Darek eased Silver Eye down closer to the knot of sailors, ignoring the danger.

  “State your business, dragon rider! Or we’ll shoot you down.” A rough-bearded buccaneer with black beady eyes bawled a curse.

  “Ask your captain,” shouted down Darek. “Long time ago she loaned me her knife—about time I returned it, eh, Captain?”

  For a moment Livis’s lips parted in astonishment. Then her cheeks burned with a lighter shade of dark auburn. She recovered and called out a sharp word. “Darek!”

  “So, you do remember me?” he said with a shark’s grin. He hovered a dozen feet above the goggling crew before settling his dragon on the foredeck. “You’ve come far, Livis—I see you have your own ship now.”

  “Things have changed for us both it seems. Got yourself a dragon?”

  “I have.” He vaulted off Silver Eye and strode over to her with ease, his heart hammering, but feeling no fear. He grinned away the flush threatening his cheeks.

  “Mistress, surely you’d rather have one less dragon rider in the air?”

  “Hush, Maquia,” Livis said with a subdued laugh. “You’re far too mistrusting. Darek here is a friend of mine. A guest on my ship, for now.”

  Maquia didn’t appear terribly pleased by the remark. “Seems odd that we should run aground just as this dragon rider appears.” He peered over the rail at the sand and mud gripping the boat’s hull.

  Darek nodded his head. “The currents are strong in this part of the sea.”

  “What would you know of it, dragon boy?” he snapped. His mates grumbled their agreement.

  Barely hearing the words, Darek remained mesmerized by the sight of his long-lost love. Those eyes of hers. They could stare right through a man. Swallowing hard, he found his feelings for her growing only more intense after these years. Did she still think of him in the same way?

  A wave of guilt washed over him at the thought of Bree. He still had feelings for her, didn’t he?

  “I know enough not to run my ship aground,” he said. “Looks as if your men will be busy for a few hours.”

  Livis cracked a smile. “If only there was something to help pass the time.” Her voice assumed a husky quality.

  Darek’s eyes widened. “You wanna go for a ride?”

  Maquia bristled. “Mistress, you shouldn’t go—”

  “Why don’t we kill him and take his dragon instead?” barked Skarlee.

  Livis scowled at the idea. “Don’t be impolite, Skarlee. I
know this rider. I’ll be safe with him.” Livis removed her doublet, revealing a tight, boiled leather bodice below as she tied her hair in a knot.

  Darek’s jaw dropped as he took in an eyeful of this hot-blooded pirate beauty.

  Maquia cleared his throat while Darek turned back to his dragon, regaining his senses. “Come, meet Silver Eye. You can pet her. She doesn’t bite, much.”

  Livis clicked her tongue and Silver Eye raised her head at the sound. Sashaying over with confidence, she raised her hand for the dragon to smell. “I’ve learned a thing or two about dragons.”

  Silver Eye didn’t seem to mind as Livis stroked the dragon’s neck. With a shrug, Darek tightened the harness and helped her up on Silver Eye. His skin tingled as it touched hers. She flashed him a suggestive smile and his heart pounded like a mad drum.

  He hopped up beside her and Silver Eye sprang from the deck before Maquia or any others could further object. Up into the sky the trio soared over the shoreline. Livis’s lips parted in exhilaration and she voiced a breathless laugh. “Faster, Darek! This is so much more fun than sailing a ship.”

  “It’s a lot more fun,” he agreed, “but also more dangerous.” He launched into a few deep rolls and dives to impress her. Silver Eye plummeted to the breaking waves and their hair whipped back. Darek felt his stomach move in sync with the motion as his powerful dragon swooped up and buzzed low over the trees on the shoreline.

  Livis clung to him ever the tighter with a short gasp. “Where’d you learn to fly like that?”

  “Been practicing. I’m in training at the Rookery. Where to next?” he called back at her.

  “Fly north,” she cried over the wind. “I think I remember seeing a teal lagoon over there.”

  Darek banked Silver Eye to where a green wooded hill rose high above an inland river. Livis’s schooner became a small brown dot in the curved cove behind.

  Her warm body clasped to his back like a mat of ivy. A shiver ran up his spine as her sun-browned arms snaked around his waist, a thrill that he couldn’t ignore. He looked back at her, his blood quickening, as her bright-green hazel eyes stared back at him with an insistent challenge mixed with admiration. Try to seduce me if you can, screamed every pore of her being. She winked and he laughed and leaned back into her.

  Darek swooped Silver Eye over the sea-firs blanketing the nameless island. How he wished to land in those meadows of flowering lilacs and take her in his arms. But a pang of guilt assaulted his conscience. Just a few days ago he’d held Bree in his arms. Harsh words had passed between them and she’d flown back to the Rookery by her own choice, but he still didn’t feel right.

  She seemed to sense his hesitation. “Take us down to that field below. Let’s stretch our legs.”

  He gave a nod; Silver Eye landed on the grass with a thud near a patch of water. The place was silent but for the quiet birdsong and the rustle of a faint breeze through the green leaves.

  She shook out her hair, reddish in the late afternoon sun, and stretched her slender legs. She examined Darek’s dragon with keen eyes. “I’ve never seen a dragon with four wings before.”

  “She’s special. Found her in a cave—actually a volcano.”

  She snorted at the plausibility of that and turned to watch a yellow-winged butterfly fluttering nearby. They walked a short way up a flowery hill.

  “There’s the lagoon!” she called and ran to get there first.

  Darek struggled to catch up with her. Her long legs were as fast as they were shapely. As he chased after her, an image flashed in his mind: how she had set fire to the corral and created the diversion that allowed him to escape her village. Without her, he’d be in shackles, rolling stones in some mine.

  Livis reached the water’s edge and stopped short, allowing him to catch up.

  “I owe you a big favor, Livis,” he murmured, “for what you did back at Pirate Cove—”

  “That was a lifetime ago,” she said. “Back when I was a silly girl who would have married the first boy who looked my way.”

  She grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to the edge of the lagoon.

  Darek looked up at the sky while the sun banked low in the horizon. “Won’t your friends be missing you?”

  She gave a bawdy laugh. “They’re a bit protective.”

  “Should we head back?”

  “No,” she chided, clicking her tongue. “Not until we’ve had a swim, and I learn what has been happening to you.”

  Flashing him a mischievous grin, she turned her back and pulled her bodice over her shoulder.

  Darek couldn’t quite look away as she slipped her breeches off and splashed into the water. “Aren’t you coming?” she called over her head.

  Darek peeled off his shirt and threw his trousers aside, not wishing to look the prude. He caught her quick glance as she turned to give him an appraising look. Taking two steps into the water, he dove into the lagoon and swam out to her.

  She smiled and swam a few strokes away. Darek followed, but she was as fast in the water as she was on land. She slowed, either growing tired or allowing him to catch her.

  Darek grabbed her shoulders with a laugh. She gave a playful scream and shrugged off his hold on her, only to swim in closer and run her hands across his chest and behind his neck.

  She leaned in close. Darek’s lips were drawn to hers in a slow, deep kiss that seemed to last for eternity.

  “I’ve been wanting to do that for years now,” she murmured. A dreamy look entered her eyes.

  Darek struggled to catch his breath. “I never thought I’d feel your lips on mine again.”

  He smoothed back a lock of hair that had dropped over her cheek. “You’re even more beautiful than I remember, Livis.”

  She gave his muscled bicep a gentle squeeze. “And the boy I remember kissing through the bars has become a man.”

  “I would have come back for you,” Darek said, “but things went from bad to worse. I traded one prison for another, then was swept up in a war.”

  “You don’t have to make excuses,” she teased. “I understand.”

  “What did your father do after I escaped?” Darek asked.

  Her face twisted into a scowl. “It took nearly a year till the bastard let me out of his sight. That’s the real reason he agreed to take me with him to sea—so he could keep an eye on me.”

  “So you’re a pirate now too?” Darek asked.

  “Not like my father,” Livis grunted. “He worked me hard as nails, said if I was to sail with him, I’d have to become as hardened and ruthless as he was.”

  Darek put his hand around her waist. “You don’t seem hard.”

  She splashed water in his face. “He tried to make a man of me. I’ve spent the last year slogging it out, but I came to see him for the cruel man he was. I’ve struck out on my own.”

  “Captain Serle let you go?”

  She sniffed. “I stole the ship and the crew. We’re on our own now, hunted by my own clan with my father leading the chase.”

  “I’m sorry, Livis.”

  She punched him in the shoulder. “Don’t be.”

  “Can I help you in some way?”

  “Don’t need it,” she replied. “I’m allied with four other captains. We got separated in the last raid when Black Claw schooners came out of nowhere after us.”

  “I saw those ships from the air. That’s how I found you.”

  “Enough about ships.” She drew near him and her hot breath tickled his neck. Darek’s blood kindled and his eyes traveled over her lean curves, but he pulled back.

  “What are you waiting for, Darek? You’re getting cold feet now?”

  “It’s just that—” A pang of guilt assailed him.

  “Is there someone else?”

  “Yes—I mean no. There was. I mean, it’s over now—” He tripped over his words and she gave a throaty laugh, studying his rugged good looks.

  Darek looked away.

  “I see.” Her smile faded. “You still c
are for her. I should have known a man like you would already have someone in his life. Why were you leading me on like that then?”

  “I wasn’t—” Darek frowned. He was hardly leading her on. He felt so mixed up now, and it only seemed to be getting worse. “It’s getting dark, we should probably go.”

  “Just like that?”

  “I just need time to figure a few things out, but I’d like to see you again.”

  She shrugged. “Sure, but only if you’re serious about it.”

  He felt suddenly stupid. “Let’s meet at the south end of Valkyrie Island in five days.”

  “For you, dragon boy, I might wait five days. But no more.”

  “Fair enough.” He brightened. They swam back to shore.

  As Livis was tying her bodice, she called over her shoulder. “Whatever happened to your young friend who was with you in the pen? The timid one, always scared of something?”

  Darek frowned. “You mean Briad. He’s part of the dragon riders at Cape Spear under the care of my father who runs the Rookery.”

  “That’s the first time you’ve ever talked about your family.”

  “I’ve a mother, but she left with a Black Claw captain when I was young,” said Darek with some heat. “My sister, Meira, she is—well, also at the Rookery with Briad. He escaped from a mad wizard with the help of an old friend.”

  She blinked, absorbing the information. “Briad got lucky. Mad wizard? Funny, there was a warlock flew in several days ago on a mean-looking dragon wanting to form an alliance. Gave me a couple bags of gold.”

  Darek’s breath caught in his throat. “Warlock? Describe him.”

  “His face was all pockmarked as if he’d been scalded, maybe burned.” She frowned and seemed to shiver. “Caught a glimpse of his face, as his cowl slipped. The rest of him, rake thin, all pale-skinned was covered from neck to toe in a black robe. A strange sight. Spoke elegant words, but I sensed a deep cruelty underneath all that veneer.”

  Darek’s shoulders sagged. “Cyrus!” No, this couldn’t be…the wizard, still alive?

  “You know him?” she asked.