“I—” She gulped. “I gave over the small pouch I had to show you over to Naveen. She wanted to get started on analyzing the scales right away. I … I am sorry.”
Devarius’ eyes bulged. “But, you did find some?”
She grinned. “Not just some. We found hundreds. Perhaps thousands.”
Devarius’ jaw dropped. “Thousands?”
“Yes, well, we have to test them to make sure—I can only assume they’re wyvern or dragon scales. But I can’t know for sure. I am unable to use magic.”
Devarius nodded. “Understood. I do wonder if …”
“What?” Paedyn asked.
“The scales help a spell caster focus magic, like they can sense the element in the atmosphere—at least, that’s the way I believe Zavi explained it to me. Does that sound right?”
“Yes,” Lilianya said. “That’s how it was explained to me as well.”
“What colors did you find?” Devarius asked.
“All colors. Reds, blues, purples, greens, gold, silver, and a few black.”
Devarius’ face went rigid. “Black?”
“Yes.”
“Are you certain?” he asked.
“Yes. Why?”
“We’ve only ever seen one black wyvern, and we only barely saw it in the sky before it disappeared back into the northern mountains,” Devarius admitted.
“What does a black wyvern do?” Paedyn asked.
“We have no idea,” Devarius said.
“There were only a couple of black scales. No more than five,” Lilianya said.
“What were you wondering a moment ago? If you were wondering if you’ve gotten me a toy boat yet, the answer is still no. If you were wondering who the best looking person on Adeth Peak Isle is, the answer is yes, it is still me,” Paedyn said.
Devarius tilted his head and furrowed his brows as he looked at Paedyn. “Are you ever going to give up on that toy boat?”
“Are you ever going to get me a toy boat? You did say you would find one when you traveled to Melonia.”
“Well, things got a little complicated up there. We kind of had to flee before we were killed.”
“Excuses, excuses,” Paedyn said.
Devarius rolled his eyes. “What I was about to say was, I wonder if a spell caster can have several different scales with them, and be able to sense and use the various elements from the scales in their possession.”
Paedyn’s eyes widened. “You mean, if a spell caster wore both a blue and red wyvern scale, perhaps they could use ice and fire magic?”
“Exactly,” Devarius said.
“Intriguing.”
“Excellent work, Lilianya. We’ll discuss this more in the morning.”
Lilianya remained where she was.
“Was there more?” Devarius asked.
“One more thing,” she said.
“What?”
“We found wingless dragons in the wilderness up there.”
“Wingless dragons?” Paedyn asked.
“Yes. They weren’t as large as dragons, but they were the size of wyverns, or horses. They didn’t have wings, but they were fast, and strong. And I noticed a few different colors. Red and blue in particular.”
“And could they…” Devarius trailed off.
She nodded. “Yes, they could. We had to fight two of them to get back to the cave with the scales. They used fire and ice.”
“Ayla?” Devarius said aloud.
“What does she say about them?” Paedyn asked.
“She calls them drakes. And she says they’re not intelligent like the wyverns. But … I do wonder if, like horses, they can be tamed.”
“Tamed?” Lilianya asked skeptically.
“Certainly. Can you imagine if the resistance rode not only wyverns into battle against the empire, but drakes as well? We’d have our own dragons in the sky and on the ground,” Devarius said.
“That certainly would be a sight to see,” admitted Paedyn.
“Excellent work, Lilianya. We’ll discuss this more in the morning. For now, we should all get some rest.
Lilianya beamed at him as she nodded.
35
Devarius opened his eyes as the red gleam of sunlight entered his window. He had wanted to sleep in—after all, it’d been days since he’d had a full night’s sleep. But he knew he had too much to do. When his eyes opened, he was awake. Though still a little drowsy, he decided to make himself some tea over a fire. After setting the logs in his fireplace and igniting the twigs, he enjoyed the crackles of the fire before placing the kettle on the grate above the flames.
A knock at the door broke Devarius from his thoughts. He made sure the kettle was secure before he went to the door. When he opened it, he saw the most beautiful sight, more beautiful than anything he could have imagined in his wildest dreams.
“Aquila.” He smiled.
She slapped him.
His eyes widened, his mouth parted, and he shivered. “What—”
“You dare come back to the island, and you didn’t come to visit me?” she asked.
“Well … I …”
“There are no excuses for it, Devarius. You’ve been gone for weeks. I spent every day thinking about you. Every day worrying about you. And yet, you didn’t have the decency to stop by to tell me you returned?”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Did you even think about me while you were gone?”
“Of course I did. I missed you terribly.”
“You don’t act like it.”
Devarius stepped forward, until he was almost touching her. He moved his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her toward him. Her knees caved as she sank into him. He pressed his lips hard against hers, summoning forward all his love and desire for her. Their lips danced as they both showed their eagerness. Aquila stepped fully inside of his room, closing the door as she leapt into his arms. He hugged her tight before placing her back on the ground.
“That’s better,” she said.
“Would you like some tea?” Devarius asked.
“I would love some.”
Devarius poured the hot water over tea leaves in two ceramic mugs. They enjoyed a conversation over tea for a while, and Devarius told Aquila of his adventure into Dragonia and through Melonia. She was amazed by all the dragon eggs they seemed to have, especially the hundreds of non-red eggs that they couldn’t get to hatch.
“And you said Derkas’ baby dragon egg changed from red to green? How is that possible? I thought the dragon eggs came from the mother dragon and were the same color as the mother.”
Devarius scratched his chin. “I’m not sure, though, I will say, compared to the other red eggs, Derkas’ was a little different. It was—I don’t know, dirtier? But it still looked red. Just not the bright red of the others.”
“Perhaps it was just dirty, and the dragon stone showed its true color,” Aquila said.
“Perhaps, or … I wonder.”
“What?” Aquila asked.
“Well, it takes two dragons, or wyverns, to produce eggs. Are you certain it’s only the females who decide what the egg or next wyvern or dragon will be?” Devarius asked.
“Certain? No, not certain. But from what I’ve seen so far, it is what I have observed.”
“What if … when they’re inside the egg, the type of dragon hasn’t yet been determined. What if it could be either what the mother or what the father was?”
“Or the egg Derkas picked could have just been dirty.”
“Could have been. Just keep an eye out in the nursery to see if you notice anything, any eggs that change colors or anything.”
She laughed. “I will.”
“I heard the dragomen hurt you.”
Aquila nodded. “They hurt Tynaesha more, but yes, they did.”
“I don’t know what to do about them. It’s clear the wyvern oil causes some kind of addiction when digested. I wonder if the empire has the same problem with the shadowmen, and how they deal with
it.”
“They probably don’t care. Remember, they don’t treat their dragons with respect,” Aquila said. “They probably just feed their addiction. If someone gets to be too much, they probably just throw them in a cell to rot, because they don’t care about their people either. We just don’t have the resources for that. We don’t even have cells.”
Devarius nodded. “It’s a shame because the dragomen have been so useful in battle, and I worry, if we don’t find more ways to defeat the empire, that we’ll have to use them again before this is over.”
“That is my worry as well. I know we had them continuing to train like the spell casters who can use wyvern or dragon scales to control elements, but perhaps that was the mistake we made.”
“I agree,” Devarius said. “Now that we know how addictive the wyvern oil is, we need to keep it away from them. For now, we’ll leave them in the wyvern camp and hope they can detox. Then we can give it back to them if we need to, but only in battle. There will be no practice for dragomen.”
Aquila nodded. “Where are you keeping the wyvern oil?”
“We don’t have any cells, but Paedyn is currently having a cell built. It isn’t exactly a cell to hold people, but a steel room with bars and a key. Once it’s complete, we’re going to store the wyvern oil inside of there. And for the time being, we will not siphon any more oil.”
“That sounds safer than leaving it with me.”
Devarius brushed Aquila’s hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. “I heard you did well fighting off the dragomen.”
She looked into his eyes. “I want to join the next fight.”
Devarius frowned.
“Did Paedyn tell you about my idea for wyvern archers?”
“He did, briefly. But he told me I wouldn’t truly understand until I saw?”
Aquila beamed. “Would you like to see?”
“I would love to.”
“But,” Aquila started, “you must promise to let me join the next fight against the empire.”
“I will consider it.” He pointed his index finger at her. “After I see what you can do.”
Aquila bit her lip, grabbed Devarius’ hand, and dragged him to the door. “Come on.”
36
Zaviana stood in the meadow, watching the men and women practice their magic. There was talent there, but most of the men and women were amateurs. Zaviana had been practicing her magic for years, and it’d been years since she had touched the dragon stone. She wasn’t limited in her ability like most of the spell casters in the resistance. Zaviana thought stealing the dragon stone from the empire would prove useful for all the practicing spell casters in the resistance. She assumed it would be as simple as it had been for her. They would touch the stone, and then they would all be as powerful as her, though not as well trained. Theoretically, they should be able to access any magic. But only a handful of other people were able to touch the stone and receive power. Eight women and one man. Like her, when the power surged into them, they saw several memories of dragons, and felt a shock that put them on the ground.
Everyone else was stuck with wyvern scales. Zaviana’s brother had given her an excellent idea, though. Now that they had an excess of wyvern scales, she gave everyone a red scale, and another scale of their choosing. Instead of only having one power, they each had two powers they could focus on. It was better than nothing. And while they couldn’t access every power like Zaviana could, they could at least access two powers.
It’d taken everyone a little while to be able to focus on two powers, or rather, change their focus from one power to the other. But Zaviana was patient, and it helped that Naveen and Fraeyn had picked up on it swiftly. They were able to help her train the others.
Zaviana had been impressed when she returned to see the progress of the spell casters. Naveen and Fraeyn had done an excellent job training everyone. And as she watched them teach the others how to use two scales to access two different types of magic, she could see how well they did as teachers. It allowed Zaviana to provide the few who were able to gain magic from the dragon stone with more detailed training.
Lilianya had come to check on the use of the scales, and she stayed for a while, watching everyone use them. Zaviana saw the longing on the young woman’s face. It was clear that she was envious of the men and women who could use magic. Zaviana wished she could find a way to allow common men and women to use magic, but sadly, there was nothing she could do. It seemed every person was either born with an extra sense or they weren’t.
The few who’d received magic from the dragon stone stood in front of Zaviana. She had a few small vials of wyvern oil she gave to each of them. The vials were special glass containers with different compartments. It had taken the glassmaker several attempts to create the type of vial Zaviana requested, but she was excited to see it finished. Each compartment held a different oil inside of it, not much, only a few drops, but now with one special vial, which glittered like a rainbow in the sunlight, each spell caster, could use the different elements and draw the power from the glass vial instead of the atmosphere.
Zaviana held a vial out for everyone to see. The nine of them watched closely with interest, all of them excited they were able to access more magic after touching the dragon stone.
“I suppose several of you are wondering what is with these vials I’ve given you.”
They nodded.
“As I showed you yesterday, after you were successful in gaining powers from the dragon stone, you can access all the elements in the atmosphere now. However, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now with the day of practice we had, that it is quite draining.”
Again, they nodded.
“That does get easier with more practice, but the reason it is so draining is you’re having to find the particular element you want to use in the atmosphere around us. To make fire, you need heat, and now that winter is here, heat is hard to find. So, the way it’s worked for me in the past is, fire is easy to conjure in the summer, but in the winter it’s difficult, while ice is easy in the winter and hard in the summer. However …”
Zaviana dangled the vial in front of her again.
“With this, you don’t have to search far for what elements you need. This is wyvern oil.”
A few of them looked afraid of the glass vial in their hands when she explained what it was.
Zaviana frowned. “Don’t worry, as long as you don’t ingest it, it’s perfectly safe … well, almost.”
“Almost?” the man said.
“By itself, it can be deadly. Say, a few drops of fire oil dropped on the ground can create a massive flame that can burn your eyebrows off. Just ask Devarius.” She smiled. “However, if you drop this, and it shatters, the oils are in such a way that they’ll neutralize each other. Also, it is shatterproof diamond glass. So, it would take a lot to shatter it.”
“So,” one of the women spoke up, “instead of using the elements in the atmosphere, we can just pull the energy from the wyvern oil?”
“Precisely.” Zaviana grinned. “Inside your complex glass vials, you have fire , ice, electrical, acid, wind, and metal oil.”
“Metal?” The man asked.
“Metal is a little more complicated to use,” Zaviana explained. “But, imagine creating a sword out of thin air, then using wind to push it forward, embedding it in an enemy.”
“Impressive,” he said.
“Indeed,” Zaviana said. “And, pulling the energy from the oil rather than the atmosphere takes a lot less energy. Granted, it will take a lot more practice at first, but that’s why we’re here. Practice. Who’s ready?”
“Ready,” everyone said in unison.
Zaviana smiled.
37
Devarius secured his sash and backpack before taking one last look toward the city. He felt like he’d just returned home, and really, he had. A week of rest was hardly enough, but he knew he couldn’t rest for too long. The empire didn’t rest, and neither could the resistance. If th
ey rested, they would be dead.
Paedyn and Lilianya stood at his side, as well as few other chosen companions. They planned to go back into the wilderness to search for the drakes.
“Do you have to go?” Aquila asked. “I’ve barely seen you since you’ve returned.”
Devarius nodded. “We have to see if these drakes can be used as an ally. We need as many allies as we can get against the empire.”
“But didn’t they attack some of us?” Aquila asked.
“Yes, but likely they found us a threat to their territory. Until recently, we haven’t traveled north of the city we’ve settled, and the drakes could have seen us as a threat. We need to reason with them.”
“Reason with them? I thought they weren’t intelligent.”
“Perhaps not, but neither are horses, and we can reason with them to help us. Just because they don’t have intelligence, or a language, doesn’t mean they’re not smart creatures. I have to try.”
“Please, be careful.”
“Aren’t I always?” Devarius asked.
Aquila didn’t look convinced.
“What could possibly go wrong? I’m with him,” Paedyn chipped in.
Aquila looked even more worried after his statement.
“Perhaps I can find a fire drake to play with.” Paedyn grinned.
“Paedyn, now would be a very good time to shut that mouth of yours,” Devarius said.
Devarius hugged Aquila before turning north and heading out. He did miss her, and wanted to spend more time with her, but the resistance had to come first. If they could find a way to defeat the empire, or ways to have a better edge, they had to go for it. And what seemed to be a hopeless cause became more and more achievable every day. Wyvern scale magic, dragon stone magic, dragomen magic—though for now, that would have to be on hold. But if they could add drakes to the mix as well …
Not to mention the four extra dragon eggs they’d brought back from Dragonia to give to Aquila to care for. And the baby dragon, who had taken a liking to Derkas, despite Chalce’s annoyance with the creature. She claimed she was the mercenary’s dragon and that he didn’t need another.
Dragonia- Dragonia Empire series Box Set Page 52