Dragon School_Ancient Allies Read online

  I strained to catch another glimpse of Leng, but now my vision was knocked away and I came up gasping as I watched Savette lift a hand while an Ifrit before her crumbled to dust. A Red Dragon Rider lunged between her and a human foe, throwing the man to the side just before a wave of armed man crashed into their ranks. Grunts and the din of weapons crashing on one another filled the air along with gusts of smoke as dragons spewed fire. I was surprised by the silence of it. I expected it to be louder, but the sweat and blood-soaked battlefield was more filled with heavy breathing, grunts and the occasional clang of metal on metal or the horrifying thump of meat being smacked with a cleaver than anything else. Savette’s light seared one enemy after another, the brightness dimming the appearance of the full moon with its intensity.

  I woke with a gasp. What was that?

  Your new gift. The one the Troglodytes gave you. Visions of what is.

  Was it better or worse to know what they were up against? Better or worse to see them in situations I couldn’t affect?

  At least you know they live. You know they continue to fight.

  It was still dark when I shook out my blanket and gathered the water and supplies that Rakturan’s people had given me the night before. I stowed it carefully in Raolcan’s saddle.

  Just a few more hours...

  He closed his eyes again, sinking into sleep, but I was in no mood to rest. Moodily, I wandered towards the edge of the tear in the ground. The Troglodytes had disappeared into that rift, walking like their feet were sticking to the wall. I wish I knew more about them. They fascinated me.

  I wasn’t the only one struggling to find rest tonight. I found Rakturan standing along the side of the tear, his shoulder-length hair had grown, and it swirled in the wind behind him. He’d tied the blindfold around his whole head so that it held his hair back as well as covering his eyes. His expression was firm in the moonlight. He spoke without turning to look at me.

  “Dreams?”

  “I saw Savette fighting Ifrits.”

  “As did I.”

  “How will you unite Baojang under your leadership?” If he didn’t have a plan, we would never be able to accomplish something so big in time to bring real help to my – to our – friends.

  He chuckled. “Look how much you’ve grown up since I met you, Amel Leafbrought. You don’t shy away from questioning princes when just a few months ago speaking to one would make you nervous.” His expression sobered. “I hope my uncle will have an idea. I’ve already written a note to him asking for his wisdom. It’s the message you’ll be delivering tomorrow. Trust no one else along the way and avoid towns or cities. Anyone you find might try to kill you.”

  “I’m still not sure I’m the best person to do this job,” I said.

  “You’re the only one I have to send.” He turned to look at me. “I must take the others to meet our army south of here. If any of them remain alive.”

  I swallowed. Was he nervous about that? His side hadn’t appeared to be winning when we flew over.

  “Where will I find you when your uncle is ready with a reply?”

  “A’cauib. He will know how to contact me.”

  He looked back to the horizon. What other visions had he seen? What friends did he worry about?

  “The Crescent Prince is a prince, and you are the Dark Prince. Are you brothers, then?”

  He barked a laugh. “Hardly. Each Prince of Baojang is a war chief. We lead our people in our own districts. We negotiate trade and rights to water or pasture. We are not the Dominion. It is rare here for us to be led by a single war leader – though sometimes it happens. More often, we make decisions together as we try to determine what is best for our people. The rules of who we must follow and why are as complicated as water treaties.”

  “Are those complicated?”

  “More than you could imagine. Our lives and prosperity depend on them.”

  I knew nothing about this place.

  “I need this message delivered, Amel – no matter what you must do to get it to its destination.” He handed me a soft cloth roll. “There’s a map inside as well. Follow it with care.”

  “I will.”

  He nodded. “Much depends on this. Do not fail. And think about staying with me here. We need people willing to do whatever it takes for the good of this world. Don’t think I missed everything that happened in that basket. I know what you are capable of accomplishing.”

  I nodded. It was starting to dawn on me that as a Purple I’d always be helping someone else with their goals. If I was honest, it was the perfect role for me. Things were looking more hopeful.

  “You guys can’t sleep either, eh? I guess even Princes can have insomnia from time to time.” Renn had crept up on us unexpectedly. “When do we leave?”

  “At first light.”

  Chapter Four

  In the heat of the day, the landscape below us was so full of mirages that it was impossible to tell what was real and what was not. We’d been flying for hours, leaving the tower behind at first light and heading straight for a sprawling range of mountains in the distance. We were over them now, their rolling forms like ripples in a pond as the heat rose up and wavered in the sun.

  “I’m sending you over the mountains,” Rakturan had said. “It’s not a normal path anyone would take unless they were on Sentry-back. It’s my hope that our enemies did not flee in that direction. There are no paths, towns, or havens.”

  True to his word, it was a very lonely place. It looked almost as if two huge hands had taken the earth and jammed it together so that it was all scrunched up in successive ripples. Nothing about the land below looked inviting. Not that anything in Baojang was particularly inviting.

  I think this is the Fa’loro range. There are sacred places on the edges of the range where the war leaders meet. Or so the lore says.

  They had a lore about this place?

  The mountains are sacred. Long ago, the ancestors of Baojang wandered this wilderness and by some mercy, they survived this waterless desert. They were people of great power and many kinds of magic and as the days trickled into years they faced disaster after disaster. Food was scarce, snakes came into their camps killing strong and weak alike, raiders attacked their camps stealing what little they had and leaving carnage in their wake.

  Over time, their numbers grew smaller and smaller, and they had to leave some of their powerful artifacts behind – they were too heavy to haul through the barren countryside. They set wards and protections for these objects to keep them safe from any but their own descendants, but in time, even their own children forgot how to regain their heritage and now these objects remain under lock and ward awaiting the day that someone may free them and gain the power for themselves.

  Wouldn’t that draw a lot of people trying to get these things? If it was the Dominion, there would be towns set up nearby so that people could sell food and lodging to the hundreds of people who would try to get a hold of these objects.

  The wards are powerful. Many Baojang leaders try to acquire them. Some die in the process. Others are driven mad. It would take desperation to try at all – a gamble in the hope that you could pull something off that thousands of others failed to achieve.

  Then why was I so curious to try?

  I swear, you’ll be the death of me. You always think you’re the exception to every rule.

  But if they put them there, then they had to have left a way to get them back. They had to have set some kind of way to unlock them...

  And you think no one from Baojang has thought the same thing? You think none of them have researched and interviewed the elderly and studied these wards – some of them for most of their lives? You think you would be the first fool to swoop in and think you knew better?

  Well, obviously he was right, but a part of me still longed to seek these artifacts out and see if I could access one.

  Let’s stick with our current quest, hmmm? I think you’ll find it challenging enough.

  We pa
used for a break in late morning, in the shadow of a great rock. It towered so high that even the dragons were able to hunker low in the shade behind it, their claws digging into the loose dirt that was still cool from morning. I closed my eyes in relief at the shade, but we couldn’t wait here long. It would be gone by noon, despite the height of the towering rock.

  “See how it is worn around the base?” Renn asked me as we sipped our ration of water slowly. “The winds blow fast and furious through this mountain range, twisting and channeling through the narrow spots and kicking up sand in their powerful blast. It wears rocks smooth and carves channels through the softer rock like it is no more than sand on a shore.

  I shivered. Even solid rock wasn’t immune to the pressure of this place. I pulled out my book of Ibrenicus prophecies. Was this book for Baojang, too? It had just as much effect here as in the Dominion, despite our distance from Savette.

  “Still reading that?” Renn asked casually.

  “You should be glad that I am,” I answered. “Didn’t you see how it helped us in the basket?”

  “I saw that the Troglodytes helped us. They were something to see!”

  “But you’re a Lightbringer! I’ve never met a Lightbringer who didn’t believe in the book! Or was that a lie?”

  “Oh, I’m a Lightbringer. But you heard me – I do it to bring equality for everyone. I like the themes of the Ibrenicus prophecies. Hope and Light – these are good things! They’re what we need to really see that everyone deserves a place in society – that no one should be excluded or looked down upon. That matters to me. But have you really paid attention to the words? They’re a bit ridiculous. They were written hundreds of years ago. They weren’t meant for a time like today. It’s the themes you should focus on not the words.”

  If Hubric heard that, he’d be spitting iron filings. To him – to me – the actual words mattered.

  “So, how do you get along with other Lightbringers?”

  Renn slid down from Ahummal’s back, stretching his back and kicking out his legs to release tension. He leaned against Raolcan’s saddle and offered me a pleasant smile.

  “I think maybe you’ve been around the more ... intense ... factions in the Lightbringers. We aren’t like the Dusk Covenant. We aren’t all fanatically devoted to a cause. Some of us are a bit ... much ... but the rest are practical people. We love our neighbors. We want things to be fair and just and prosperous in our land. We don’t sweat the small stuff. Maybe the best thing for someone like you is to meet someone like me before you get way too serious about this Lightbringer life. And by the way, did you know there’s supposed to be an Artifact somewhere near this rock? We’re in a hurry, but I bet we could take a single loop around it just to see before we move on. What do you say?”

  How could I say no to that winning grin? He was like a little boy pleading for a raisin cake. I chucked.

  “I suppose one circle won’t hurt anything.”

  Chapter Five

  I think you indulge him too much. A friendly smile isn’t everything. Do you forget what he did when the cards were down? He let our enemies haul us away.

  That was true, and I was still a bit worried about trusting him, but he did have good motives. He was trying to negotiate with people for peace. And he seemed to really care about including people and finding a fairer world for everyone.

  Was it fairer to you when he let our enemies capture us?

  Well, it wasn’t like he could stop that. We were surrounded and outnumbered. He just didn’t want to blow his chance to speak to them. After all, I’d let other people take big risks to accomplish things that really needed to happen.

  Just don’t let your guard down too far. His pretty face affects you too much. I don’t trust him.

  Why not?

  I don’t like people who are too grey – who waffle – who obfuscate – who always have an easy smile and a ready answer for everything.

  That was a pretty long list of people he didn’t like. Oh, there! There was something unusual up ahead. Maybe Renn was right about an artifact being here!

  The landscape ahead of us formed a bowl with a wide ledge on one side – like a platform. I could almost imagine it being filled with hundreds of people, while someone on that ledge spoke to them all. Something manmade stood at the center of the ledge. Renn pulled ahead of me, landing Ahummal on the wide ledge. Raolcan fit easily on the other side.

  This place could easily be made for dragons. It’s just the right size and shape for an assembly of us.

  Was the whole valley man-made?

  Only this strange thing we’re looking at, I think.

  And it was indeed, very strange.

  A pillar of stone rose from the shelf as if it was one with the land. Sticking half-out of the pillar, buried in the stone, as if the stone had been formed around it like clay and then left to dry – was something that looked like a silver pipe. It was as long as my forearm with a reed at the top and holes along the side of it. A scrolled arm that looked adjustable flourished to one side of the instrument – possibly part of what made the sound of the pipe. The pipe was slender – delicate, even – about the width of my finger and all along the length of it a line of script wove and swirled like music. Could Raolcan read that?

  No.

  The instrument glowed a faint, pulsing green and as I looked at the glow – unbidden, I had a creeping sensation wash over me, as if a thousand fleas skittering over my skin. I shuddered and looked away. It would be interesting to know if the instrument could be tugged from that rock, but we couldn’t reach it if we tried.

  The pillar was enclosed in a cage – an angry, barbed, black metal contraption. It did something strange to the eyes so that every time I tried to look at it, my gaze slipped past the cage. I fought the impulse, trying to study it, but only wound up with a headache. I had the impression that there were many layers of braided, interlocking wires with jagged edges, flourishes, and barbs and some sort of knot-like decorations, but I couldn’t have drawn or described the pattern since my eyes refused to settle on any part of it. At the pinnacle of the cage, there was the image of an insect – intricate in design and inlaid with silver. That – at least – I could look at without tearing up.

  There were also ten handles surrounding the cage – though they were not handles I would want to grip. They were covered in metal spikes – like rose thorns – and if the spattered stains on the ground beneath them were any indication, they were no illusion. Others had held those handles and bled for the privilege.

  “I think you should avoid touching it,” I said. My headache made me see stars for a moment, struggling to stay upright as my vision retreated into a world of fizzing and popping white sparks on a field of black. I took deep breaths, leaning against Raolcan as it slowly returned.

  I think you should stop looking at it. Take a sip of water.

  I obeyed, blinking to clear my vision and leaning my forehead against the cool waterskin. I pulled out the map, studying it carefully. We could leave the mountains tonight if we pressed on. We should leave now so we could set up camp before the sun set.

  “Let’s go, Renn. We got to see it, but we have a long way to fly today.”

  “Just a moment.” His voice was absent as he concentrated on the cage. “These artifacts contain the power of the ancients. Can you imagine what that is like? There were peoples and civilizations here long before Baojang. Cultures that flourished and died – some that would put ours to shame! The customs, the laws, the technology that they would have had! I dream of knowing all of it, of studying it and writing down every part of it ...”

  “Well, here’s your first chapter. But I don’t think we should hang around. This thing gives me a strange feeling. It wasn’t meant for us. Let’s go deliver our message.”

  “... of taking it as my own...”

  He reached out a hand.

  “No!”

  My shout was too late. The second his hand touched the cage his arms and legs shot out to
the side – spread-eagled – and he froze in place, his mouth a rictus of pain. Raolcan flapped a single wing, knocking Renn off his feet and whatever strange power had held him loosened its grip as he fell bonelessly to the ground.

  Chapter Six

  It took me the better part of an hour to sling Renn’s unconscious form over Raolcan’s saddle in front of me. Raolcan helped by lying low on the ground and tilting to help me maneuver Renn into place. He was heavy, and it was hard to find leverage with only one good leg. He wasn’t dead – thank the skies and stars! I’d thought for sure he would be. Why had I let him bring us here?

  Curiosity.

  Why had he touched the cage? It was pretty clear that whoever put it here didn’t want people to touch it, or they wouldn’t have made it so that you couldn’t quite look at it.

  I’m not sure that common sense is Renn’s strong point.

  And what was his strong point?

  Let me know when you find out.

  I didn’t know what to do to help him. When I’d been snake bitten he’d found an antidote, but what antidote was there to magic wards?

  There will be someone at Rakturan’s uncle’s fortress who can help.

  He was right, of course – or at least it was our best chance. I cinched the last strap tight on Renn’s restraints and mounted up. There wouldn’t be time for rest breaks after this, we needed to get Renn to help as quickly as possible. Not that it would be easy – he’d been our translator. I frowned with worry as we leapt into the air, Ahummal trailing behind us. At least he had the good sense to follow.

  What else will he do? This land is not hospitable to dragons.

  Good point.

  The sun beat down relentlessly as we flew north and the reflected heat from the ground grew more intense as if every hour in the sky made the land hotter.