The Last Dragon: Book One

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

The sword was unnecessary. Kendra sat up, and her eyes were wide in the firelight. Elizabeth rushed from a chair to join us, and Tater barged inside ready to fight. My sister sat on the sleeping mat in confusion. Tater tossed wood on the fire, and we all huddled closer to hear what she had to say. Her eyes fell on me.

She said, “I’m hungry.”

We laughed as Elizabeth scooped stew into a bowl. I helped her to her feet and to the chair. We watched her eat. As the last of the eggs and ham were devoured, Elizabeth said, “Tell us.”

She didn’t have to ask for more or explain what she wished to hear. Kendra knew what she wanted. She said, “The mages kept the dragon imprisoned. It’s not the first.”

The subject seemed so disgusting, Kendra hesitated. She swallowed and drew herself up.

Tater said, “If they don’t like dragons, why not just kill them? It’s not like it was going anywhere until you came along and freed it.”

“It’s not like that. They wanted it alive.”

“Why?” Elizabeth asked after another pause.

Kendra’s eyes found mine. I nodded and whispered, “Tell it all. The four of us should have no more secrets.”

Her eyes held mine as she said, “Use your magic. Push that bowl on the table to the edge.”

She never wanted me to use my magic. This was different. I reached out and pushed. The bowl didn’t move. I concentrated harder and pushed again. The bowl remained.

She said, “It’s the dragon essence—or lack of it. The mages captured the dragon and used it, as they’ve done for thousands of years. They even use the dragon’s magic powers on itself to keep it restrained. They learned how to concentrate essence and use it for themselves.”

“Where is my magic?” I demanded, more upset than I’d known.

“The mages kept their dragons isolated where only they could access essence. Oh, there were a few people like Damon who would reach out for a small portion, and they allowed it to leak to soothsayers and fortunetellers when it suited them. Even to a few gamblers and other people who are of little consequence. Their words, not mine.”

“What about mages?” Elizabeth asked, keying in on the central point and keeping her tone neutral.

“Mages have no more power with the dragon released. Neither do sorceresses and all those others who shared a fraction of the magic. There is essence lingering near here and will be for some time, but it will fade as if it never existed.” Kendra didn’t sound tired or sleepy but almost energized. “The mages will not exist without a dragon.”

“They’ll die?” Tater asked, sounding hopeful.

“No, their powers will shrink and be gone by morning. Each time one of them accesses the little remaining essence, the supply grows less.”

“Me?” I asked.

“You never really accessed the core of the essence. You were like a little boy pinching off a piece of crust from a large pie. Your pie is gone.”

The discussion was not making me feel better. My only distinction in life had departed. I’d turned ordinary. My abilities to manipulate small magic had given me a leg up on everything from spying on royals to making bakers like me enough to slip me meat pies. Now it was gone, and I already felt empty.

The feelings of others who accessed essence must be worse. Mages and sorceresses lived in a world where they were revered, and now that was absent. Fortunetellers, gamblers, soldiers, and a hundred other occupations where some survive because of better luck or fortune would find their lives changed. A warrior who gained an advantage by unknowingly changing the direction of a spear would now die. Old ladies who predicted the fortunes some would gain would find themselves guessing wrong half the time. Because it would now be a guess instead of creating circumstances where their predictions came true.

Kendra’s face went taught. Her eyes widened as she said, “We have to leave. Now.”

Tater was already reaching for the door. Elizabeth and I were too stunned to move. Kendra leaped to her feet and followed Tater. We grabbed our few things and ran into the yard where Henry helped Tater saddle the horses.

Elizabeth slipped a pair of silver coins into his hand. Kendra said, “Give him two more. Gold. And the packhorse.”

Henry started to object the pay was far too much.

Kendra said as she pointed to where Mercia had been, and tiny twinkles of light flickered from torches carried down the road in our direction, “They are coming here and will burn your house and barn. They will kill your stock and try to hunt you down. Take the gold, ride our spare horse as far as it will take you and buy a good piece of land in a fertile valley to farm.”

“Sorry,” Elizabeth said as she fumbled for another gold coin. “We didn’t know. Take the horse and go across country. They will probably follow us but know this, they will return here. Do not be in this place, Henry. If you need anything, send word to Crestfallen, and I’ll provide help.”

With each word, the farmer had become more scared. He stripped the packs from the horse. Then he went to the barn and called his two dogs, both of which went to him, with wary looks in Springer’s way. Without another word, the farmer was trotting off across the landscape into the darkness.

Kendra said, “We need to keep ahead of them until dawn.”

“What then?” I asked as I followed the others onto the road.

“They will face the vengeance of the dragon they abused all those years.” She sat straight in her saddle and refused to look at me.

The other two were already a few hundred paces ahead, moving as if their lives depended on it. I looked over my shoulder and found the torches appeared larger, or closer if you will. I touched my heels to Alexis, and she picked up the pace.

The torches gained on us. No matter how hard we pushed our horses, the torches grew closer until we could hear faint shouts and threats. There were probably twenty torches and four of us. Not all of them might carry torches so there might be more of them, far too many to fight.

Later I could hear the clomping of their hooves. How could all of their horses be faster than ours? Alexis was one of the fastest in the kingdom, and the horses Elisabeth and Kendra rode belonged to the king. They were the best stock in the land. I’d long ago conceded that Tater’s matched ours in all but looks. Yet we steadily lost ground.

Magic! It had to be. They were squandering the last of the essence on increasing the speed of their horses. I called, “Kendra, how do you know the dragon will come at dawn?”

“It hates flying at night.”

Well, that made sense, if I didn’t follow up with a hundred reasonable and logical questions, such as how did she know? Was it coming to help or hurt us? The other ninety-eight could wait.

I longed to use my magic to make a horse behind us trip, or a rider drop his torch and panic the horses behind. My mind tried and failed. And again, my bow was not in my hand. There hadn’t been time to grab it. Well, yes there had been, but I was not used to depending on one and hadn’t brought it.

When we returned to the palace, I was going to work on a leather sheath similar to the one for my sword, but it would hold an unstrung bow, extra strings in a pocket, and at least five arrows. It should be attached to the sheath for my sword because carrying a long weapon on both sides would not only look silly but get in the way.

Designing and refining the pattern, choosing the right bow, and wishing I’d made it weeks ago kept my mind off the catcalls and threats coming from behind. They were getting close enough to use their bows, and if a little magic was still available to them, we were in trouble.

The eastern sky tinged pink. How long before the dragon would wake, and how long before it came? Alexis and the other horses were winded and couldn’t maintain their pace.

Kendra called, “Just a little longer.”

Whatever that meant. Didn’t she hear how close they were? Of course, they were closer to me than her since I rode behind the others. All she had to do was remain ahead of me. Springer had been incessantly barking but quit because of being winded. I caught a glimpse of him speeding off into the rocky land to the side of the road and didn’t blame him.

Someone behind screamed amid the threats and taunts. It sounded out of place, not at all like a war cry, but I was bent over Alexis’ neck urging her to run faster. A second scream made me turn and look. A black shadow was descending over the thirty or forty men chasing us. The dragon. It swooped in from behind, before most of them were aware of it, and spread its wings wide. The body of the dragon flew knee-high as it swept at the men on horses with its rear talons.

Both horses and men fell from that first pass. Torches skittered along the road, although they were no longer needed in the dawning light. Then, the dragon flapped its wings harder, and it raised high enough in the air to fly well above the four of us. It continued flying higher until making a wide, lazy turn and aiming directly at our pursuers again, gaining speed as it lost altitude.

It approached from the front of them this time. Both the riders and horses saw what was about to happen, and men dived from their mounts, as horses broke away in panic. Riders were trampled. Horses ran into each other. Before the dragon roared, the mad scramble to get out of its way caused more confusion. After the roar, there was total panic in men and horses.

Tater fought to control the bucking of his horse, and Elizabeth short-reined hers to pull to a stop behind him, twisting the horses head until it faced the rear and she had control. Kendra had anticipated the problem and had crawled up the horse’s neck far enough to wrap her arms around its head and placed both palms over the horse’s eyes as she talked soothingly to it. Alexis trembled and bucked a few times but remained calm enough for me to remain seated.

An arrow whizzed past me.

“Ride,” I shouted, spurring my horse ahead. I took the lead, not because of wanting to, but the dragon had made another circle and now swooped down from our rear again. Alexis spotted it, and despite being tired, she sprinted. I heard at least two of the other horses behind me, and a quick look confirmed all were there.

Alexis made it to the top of the nearest rise, which was too far away to make out details of those chasing us. Her sides heaved, her coat was soaked, and foam dripped from her muzzle. I leaped off her, giving her less weight to carry while she recovered, and while I kept hold of her reins, my attention remained focused on those who had tried to catch us.

The other three of our party were also dismounting, and Tater held a bow because he was smarter than me. He also had a broken arm. He said while waving the bow in the air at the confusion behind us, “Wouldn’t want to do that again.”

I was about to ask if they were going to chase us again, when the dragon made a quick turn, spread its wings until fully extended, and slowed. It dropped to the ground beside the road as easily as a leaf in a breeze in fall. The dragon sat equidistant between our pursuers and us.

“That should slow them down,” Kendra said in a way that made me think she was responsible for the positioning of the beast.

“I thought the dragon didn’t fly in the dark,” I reminded her as I accepted the proffered bow from Tater.

“No, it doesn’t like to, but this was an emergency, so it did,” Kendra briefly explained, telling me little of what I really wanted to know.

“What happens now?” Elizabeth asked.

We all looked to Kendra.