Dragon Mage- Uprising

by Brian Ference

  Jace came hurrying over to soothe the panting beast. “What is it, longrider? You have come far.”

  “Aye, Master Jace!” the woman croaked, breathless. “Terrible news! Serpents and dragons have overrun the Visilee coast and are laying waste to the Port Town. With them are half-a-hundred ships flying the banner of the free band pirates.”

  Jace cursed. “What? Kraton’s devils! This news comes at the worst possible time. We’re undermanned and the trainees are not all ready for battle.” He turned to those gathered, of which more were arriving. “Darek. Round up the riders, we fly at once to Visilee. Vass! Sound the alarm! Kraton take us. This is Cyrus’s work.”

  “We knew it was coming,” muttered Darek.

  Jaced ignored the remark. “Meira, fly down to alert the Cape Spear guard.” He grunted. “Have the sea guard launch every ship they have. We can reach Visilee within the hour. The schooners will take longer, at least a few hours more, even the fastest runners of our fleet. We will have to hold until they do. Devil strike all serpents!”

  Men and women hastened to obey.

  “Bree, Briad—you’ll fly in my Wing with Meira. Darek, stay with me as well. Make sure you outfit two competent riders with Agrippa’s devices.”

  “Not to worry, Jace. I’ve already instructed Vesinex and Hasilnor on the use of the solaricus.”

  Jace nodded. The yard exploded in a flurry of activity. Riders donned padded leathers and outfitted their dragons with protective mail plate from the armory. This would be the first real engagement for many. Tensions were riding high as flushed faces looked on with excitement and fear.

  The first veteran riders took to the air with the sounding of a gong, while many geared up in their boiled leather and iron helms. Any skilled marksmen grabbed arrows and darts, strapping quivers, filled with hundreds of projectiles, to their harnesses.

  The five starfish talismans from Agrippa’s lab Darek distributed amongst the youngest riders. They drew straws and Briad was one of the lucky fighters to gain a protective amulet. Darek placed the amulet in his palm and closed the young man’s fingers around it. “Take it, Briad, and may Kraton protect you.”

  Briad’s lip quivered. “I owe you everything, Darek. I won’t let you down.”

  “Good lad,” said Darek, slapping him hard on the back. “Now let’s get going.” A cheer went up amongst the riders.

  The army flew south over the moody, grey-waved seas. The attack had come later than he had anticipated, giving them a flood of new recruits. At seventy strong, would it be enough?

  Silver Eye, fiercest of all dragons, could out distance any in the pack, so Darek pulled ahead to scout out the terrain. His father’s protests died in the wind.

  The seas opened up to an endless plain of cresting waves. Aster Island grew in size on the horizon. Skirting the bouldery coast, the wing of riders banked east and on toward Visilee Island. Kraton, the sacred volcano, loomed like an open wound across the sea to the east, its black, stark peak smoldering with flames, and now gray smoke, as if it might erupt any moment. None could guess the will of that mountain. It might belch ash into the air at any time.

  Darek did not like what he saw. Visilee island came into view, the most distant of the Three Sister’s Islands: a dark green blur of sea firs with wide sandy shores overlooking the Serpents’ Deeps to the east. On its beach an unholy legion gathered. Squinting in disbelief, Darek sat up in his harness and his breath drew short.

  Cyrus’s mutant dragon hovered at the forefront, a bluish-green behemoth, grown fat and huge as from a glut of magic. Cyrus rode behind, leering from the back of his red dragon, runestones glittering in a palm. Three other dragons ranged along the coast, including the old grey dragon Windbiter—but the real threat was on the beach. Nearly thirty serpents slithered on the sand and in the shallows, while a fleet of pirate ships guarded the bay.

  Jace and his seventy riders soared in, breaking from formation to meet Cyrus and his army.

  In moments, Albatross Cove was awash with foam and bloody water. The wreckage of boats and floating bodies sickened Darek’s heart. The serpents had retreated to the water after smashing the town and destroying all the piers. The smaller fishing settlements up the coast lay in shambles. Cyrus had conjured a massive tidal wave that had leveled buildings, boat and human alike.

  Yet Cyrus stayed out of the fight. Darek wondered why, then saw a massive squid, some yellow goblin of a monster, crawl from the water. The thing’s giant tentacles could strike dragons from the sky as easily as a flying fish snatched insects.

  Darek saw it all at once. Serle and his growing band would raid on their slow march to Rivenclaw Island. First Manatee, then Sprawlee Island, and finally Swordish Isle—a crushing loss for the Black Claws.

  A dozen of Livis’s ships broke away from Serle’s fleet in a surprise attack on their northern flanks. Darek’s heart leapt.

  Jace led the charge upon the first serpents on his orange dragon Waxmoon, and Meira and Bree rode their dragons at his side. Briad guarded their rear, no less brave in his battle yell. Darek wheeled in battle to join them. He threw flaming harpoons, engulfing several of Serle’s pirate ships in flames.

  Jace roared over the wind, “Darek, take Vesinex and Hasilnor with those sun devices and blast the serpents in the first wave. We’ll cover you!” His claw hand lashed out to make mincemeat of an enemy pirate rider’s arm, shredding leather and biting to the bone. The enemy rider gave a shriek of agony and careened off, clutching at the crimson ruin of his limb.

  Darek’s two wing warriors, wielding the solaricuses strapped to their dragons’ backs, moved forward.

  Darek reined in beside Vesinex. “Aim for those serpents below! I’ll go after Cyrus’s monster myself.”

  The two riders spurred their mounts down toward the coast where the serpents smashed their tails and ravaged the shore.

  Silver Eye roared in, charging Dendrok and ducking a long, whistling orange flare that spewed from the drago-serpent’s jaws. Her depth perception was not perfect with her missing eye, but she compensated with her acute hearing. The drago-serpent had become more deadlier than ever. A few feet closer and the thing would have roasted him alive.

  By Kraton, when had Cyrus added fire breath to his flying serpent’s arsenal? The serpentish creature was much larger than before. Darek chewed his lips in grim thought and circled back to charge from behind, aiming the solaricus at the monster’s face. As it turned, a red glare lit up from between its teeth. Far away a similar glare flared at Kraton’s tip. Was the creature drawing power from the volcano?

  Darek slammed a fist into the weapon’s firing mechanism as he banked in to engage the flying demon. The solaricus’s ray shot out, scorching the area behind Dendrok’s neck. The beast writhed in agony. Smoke rose from the bluish-green scales on its back now turned black, but the blast did not penetrate the flesh, not deeply enough.

  Darek looked up as the sun dipped behind a bank of dark clouds. Kraton, curse his luck! The devices drew alchemic power from the sun, but the clouds now robbed it of its power. He could see the other dragon riders struggling to flank Dendrok, wary of getting charred by its red-hot breath. Others sought to contain the serpents below in a perimeter. Solaricus blasts had leveled some serpents and they lay in broken bits on the water, but many still slithered through the waves like worms, hunting the few surviving Visilee ships.

  Cyrus joined the battle and unleashed a surge of mage fire at riders and Visilee ships alike in a terrifying display of might. Darek’s heart sank. Could his magic prevail against such violent darkness? Agrippa’s words came back to him in a rush.

  “…Keep longtime foes within arm’s reach, Darek. Even dead ones have a knack of turning up at the worst of times.”

  Darek flew in for another strike, though it may cost him everything. Serpents snatched Vesinex and Hasilnor out of the air, cutting short the fury of their weapons.

  Dendrok’s jaws peeled wide. It spat a tongue of flame which scorched three of Ja
ce’s riders. Dragons and riders fell in charred lumps to the waiting serpents below. The demon swooped low and one of Livis’s pirate ships went up in flames as it spat fire. Masts crackled like tinder. Livis’s band fell back under the onslaught.

  A cloud of arrows blotted out the sky from the Cape Spear marksmen, pincushioning several of the serpents, but only seemed to anger Dendrok.

  While Meira and Bree struggled to keep the serpents at bay, Briad got separated and caught in the crossfire. He recovered from a swipe by a pirate rider and jabbed his ten foot spear at the grinning’s man’s chest. Briad ducked and feinted, just as Jace had taught him, his spear tip sinking into the man’s ribs as his dragon kicked out, slashing the eyes out of the enemy dragon.

  Cyrus rode in on Valoré to finish off Briad.

  “Look out!” Darek called.

  Briad saw the attack coming and spurred his dragon in a steep dive toward the water. Not fast enough. Cyrus’s violent green ray caught him broadside, and the young man glowed in green fire for an instant, the starfish amulet of protection shielding him. Then he simply was gone. A deafening blast turned the air to liquid fire as the protection failed and Braid was incinerated.

  Darek gave a wordless scream and dove in to attack. Cyrus raised his staff in time to block, but he and his dragon went spinning in a dizzy loop.

  Darek pressed forward, but was pushed back by a stream of Dendrok’s fire. He threw up his shield, but dozens of other dragon riders were caught in the blaze and fell charred in its wake.

  In an instant their numbers were cut in half.

  Jace rallied the survivors to him and launched a concerted assault against Dendrok. The pirate riders recognized him as their leader and pounced, swarming him like bees.

  Jace banked his orange dragon low, pursued by three relentless pirate riders who forced him low toward the serpents’ maws. A green-eyed monster thrust up its snout and smacked one of the pursuing riders and his mount howling into the chop below. Another fanged horror snapped out, shearing off the hind legs of Waxmoon. Jace went spinning down to the water with his maimed dragon, an echoing shriek dying in his throat.

  Darek’s heart plummeted in dismay. “Jace!” he cried. He turned Silver Eye in his direction, but he was too far away. He couldn’t help him. Dragon riders and serpents harried Silver Eye from all sides. Fercifor, the green-and-black bellied beast rose out of the water to face him, as if remembering the power of his mage fire from the battle of Cape Spear.

  Jace struggled in the water as three serpents surged his way. The pirate dragon rider struggled nearby and clawed his way toward Jace. Jace kicked him the chest and sunk claw hand into his sea dragon’s back, clambering up on its hide as the dragon turned to nip at him. But Jace, ever the dragon whisperer, gained control of the beast and clung to its slippery hide as the serpents lunged in for the kill. On a sharp command, up winged the dragon over the waves before the serpents could tear at him. In a single formation, they lunged in to devour the unfortunate pirate dragon rider and Jace’s dying orange dragon, Waxmoon.

  “Kraton!” Darek shook his head in dream daze. What else could go wrong?

  He turned as Meira’s shriek drew his attention. Breaking free from the Cape Spear formation, she had lured a pair of pirate dragon riders to chase her. Bree gave a wild shout and coursed to her aid.

  Two harpoons arched from the pirate ships below, but Bree dodged them in expert fashion. Typhoon swung about with a snarl and Meira leaned over to rake the first pirate’s crown with her long-barbed spear. The man fell limp in the saddle, feet dangling from the stirrups. The other shot up to hack at her with his longsword, but Bree smashed Storm’s snout into his dragon’s flanks and jabbed her spear between the joint of the dragon’s armor. Bewildered, the man flew off his saddle and into the waves, his dragon screeching roars of confusion.

  Jace, on his new mount, ordered the others spread out into a rotating formation. They swung up and down, repeatedly attacking and retreating, stabbing spear and swords and ploughing arrows at serpent flesh. The Cape Spear riders tried to unseat Cyrus, but he picked them off one by one with his green fire of death.

  Darek readied Silver Eye for a dive straight toward the murderous fiend.

  Chapter 20.

  Nameless Isle

  Darek’s reigned Silver Eye up short as he saw Livis’s boat below bombarded by pirate cannon fire. He faltered, then swung Silver Eye low over her ship. Her forces were in desperate need. Harpoons ripped into her ship’s hull from every side. Her dozen ships were beaten back, suffering terrible losses.

  Gritting his teeth, Darek crossed his arms in a V and loosed a streak of mage fire against the first of Serle’s attacking vessels. He positioned Silver Eye between them. Suddenly, a harpoon flew from the deck of Livis’s ship and sank deep into Silver Eye’s flank. A gasp died in Darek’s throat.

  Had that shot come from Livis’ s ship? No! He looked back and saw Livis herself behind the harpoon gun. She had fired at him? Betrayed! He saw a strange green glow in Livis’s eyes. Cyrus must have bewitched her.

  It was too late now. His dragon lurched and fell with a screech, twisting in the air and clawing at the harpoon sticking out of her. Livis snapped out of her dark trance and put hands to her mouth in horror as Darek and his dragon fell crashing into the water.

  He coughed up brine as his head bobbed to the surface. Silver Eye struggled twenty arms’ lengths away. He dogpaddled toward her as she thrashed and writhed in pain. He dove down, trying to remove the harpoon wedged in her side. It had bit deep. He drew himself toward her, bellowing in anguish as she spun in helpless circles, leaking dark blood into the water.

  Darek sent his mind out; healing magic poured out upon his dragon as he struggled to save her. The metal had pierced a sensitive organ and Darek now knew in his heart there was nothing to be done. His dragon was dying before his eyes. She met his eyes for a last time before wheezing a gust of seawater…then her once powerful limbs fell still and she sank beneath the waves.

  Darek loosed a howl of rage. Disbelief and sorrow warred in his heart as if he must be in some mad dream. “Cyrus!”

  As the tears rushed to Darek’s eyes, he willed himself airborne from the water. His first meeting with Silver Eye flashed before his eyes. She had trusted him, been a part of him.

  The black-robed figure drew near, hovering on his red dragon over the grieving Dragon Mage. “Ah, the loss of a dragon. A terrible blow to bear. Now, Mage boy, you will also die.” Cyrus raised his hands. “Dendrok comes.”

  Sharks began to circle in the water below as Darek continued to hover. His skin glowed with the power of unspeakable rage.

  A shark fin poked nearby. Darek quailed as it dragged down a dead body. Others looped around, circling for prey, dead or alive and serpents were on the prowl. He could see their ugly, mottled heads and spiked tails plunging them closer as the sharks finned about the water. He swam for some wreckage bobbing in the waves while Cyrus hovered over him like a black ghoul.

  As Darek angled toward the bale of cargo, Cyrus raised hands for a crippling strike, giving time for his serpent to finish the job, but Bree came shrieking in on Storm and landed beside him. He clawed onto the dragon’s back.

  Cyrus loosed a cry of rage. “Away, you wench! I’ll kill you for that.”

  “Darek, hold on! Are you alright?” She whisked him off into the air as Cyrus’s twisted ray flew aside.

  Darek shivered. “I’m not so good, Bree.” He clung to her back, quivering.

  “I told you not to trust that pirate girl. Now look, your dragon is dead! And you almost with it.”

  “It wasn’t her, Bree. Cyrus’s spells. I saw it—”

  “How do you know?”

  “I know!” Kraton but he wished the Red Claw fleet would get here and cannon and harpoon all these fiends. But they were half an hour away at best. It was him and the riders. No one else.

  With red rage, Darek turned about and reached out with his dragon power to summon the neares
t Black Claw dragon, riderless, swooping over its mother ship. It turned and dove toward him like a gale. He jumped off Storm’s back when it was directly underneath them, ignoring Bree’s choked cry. The green-scaled beast flew off as he landed and pulled himself up toward its neck. His face a mask of pure fury, he bid the dragon circle back to Cyrus. He would avenge Silver Eye’s death and all the Red Claw citizens perished today. His thoughts, angry ones but clear, brimmed with power, and the power of anger tolled like a rain of fire in his blood with a hail of vengeance.

  Dendrok came storming in like a plague of death.

  “Slay the mage boy!” cried Cyrus, fending off the dragons that attacked him.

  The drago-serpent started forward, but hesitated, unsure of the power emanating from Darek. He began to murmur the harshest spells to combat the dragon-serpent’s flaming rush, the most destructive emanations committed to memory from Agrippa’s spellbooks.

  Yet something stayed his tongue, for another power grew inside him to replace the rage in his mind. The power to commune with dragons blotted everything else out. He reached out to Dendrok and spoke to the creature’s tortured mind:

  It’s time for the pain to stop. You’re a dragon, aren’t you? Not some nasty serpent. Take your freedom. End your slavery to your dark master!

  The creature turned toward Cyrus and roared. The mage raised his arms with a snort of disgust and called upon the power of his runestones. The green flare arched out and singed the drago-serpent’s snout—but instead of shrinking back, it lost all reason. Dendrok, a rippling mass of muscle, charged his master, sinking its fangs in Valoré’s hide and sending Cyrus reeling to the water below.

  The runestones fell out of Cyrus’s grasp and he plunged into the dark water. He gripped his mage staff, but it was not enough. His serpents turned with a hiss.