Chapter 25
Fithian kept it secret he was back. Yet he went where he willed, within the palace. He was very good with spells himself. No one even knew they had spoken to, or were in the presence of, the old king of Lankur.
One of the perks of having Fithian around was he showed my sister and me a couple secret passages, and a couple rooms that were not on any of the palace maps. One was a sort of armory. It contained twenty-five saddles for dragons, and twenty-five of what Mirwanna excitedly told me were light lances.
Apparently, there used to be a group called the 'Dragon Riders'. This was a group of twenty-five men who trained with and rode dragons on patrol, and into combat if there were battles or wars to be fought.
Between the dragons fire, and the lances of of light (which seemed to shoot a ball of light which exploded and took out a large area, if I understood it rightly) they were a force that could take on and defeat forces much much larger than their own. They had been disbanded in a treaty with Salvadi Minturi's father.
Another thing that had happened when my sister and I had entered the castle, was that another spell fell that we hadn't known about. Apparently, Vostich Landkur had placed most of the dragons into some sort of sleep. When we broke the outer spell that let us enter the castle, the spell holding the dragons in their magical sleep broke, also.
We now had dragons flying from the top of the closest mountain, diving at the sea, and hauling large fish up to their homes, wherever they were. They left the city alone, and left the ships alone. But the fishermen were already complaining that the dragons were scaring the fish away.
I pointed out that the fish the dragons were catching were the larger species that the fisherman hardly caught anyway. The fisherman in the past had complained about those fish were ripping their nets. They went home dissatisfied with their Duke.
The ambassador from Minturi lodged a complaint when he saw the dragons flying. He asked if we were breaking the treaty. It was pointed out that the treaty had actually ended when the two demigods had fought. The fight was over the breaking of a portion of the treaty that Minturi had violated.
I listened to the ambassador and Mirwanna going at it for some time. Each countered the other with violations.
"Excuse me Princess, Ambassador. I want to interject a little something. The dragons are awake, whether we want them to be or not. However, they pose no threat to the Minturi. Your land is far enough from us that they pose no concern.
"Since they are awake, and I am a 'Dragon Lord', I think I can safely say as long as Minturi honors the treaties that are already in place, there should be no problems. I don't know how to put them back to sleep, and neither does my sister," I finished in as convincing a voice as I could muster.
"I see. Well, I have already sent a missive to Lord Minturi. I would not be surprised if he did not resume mining for the Cortlor Crystals. Your dragons are very dangerous, and those crystals are the only known weapons able to penetrate dragon hide. Good day
Princess Mirwanna, Lord Paul," he said bowing to us and left.
"Well, that went about as well as I expected. I don't think Salvadi will have much luck with his mines. Those mines were pretty much exhausted, years ago. Unless he has a new source, he only has a few Cortlor crystals left," Mirwanna said to me.
"One crystal is more than I like him having. Do we know for a fact how many he has?" I asked her.
"Well, last report was he had between 15 and 30 crystals left. The problem with those crystals is, once fired, they explode on impact. That is why they are so deadly to dragons. They enter the dragon's body, and then explode. If the archer misses, the crystals explode when they hit any other object.
"They were used to take down walls, originally. Then someone discovered that they worked very well against dragons. Those crystals were very good against fortified positions, as well. We even have a few of them in our armory.
"Another problem with these crystals, is that they are very rare. Our mines were exhausted years ago. The Minturi's had a better supply of them, but luckily they wasted a lot. As a result, during the last war, while some dragons had been killed with them, they were mostly kept in cities that were deemed important enough to warrant protection from dragons," Mirwanna said musingly.
It was always nice to hear a little history, but I had a hole in my knowledge of this world. I wish I had known about this, before. I put this on my list of things to learn, and made my way back to my office.
I entered, and saw that Vivian was talking with a young man.
"Paul, good, you're back. This is Baron Lester Vulnur. He would like to volunteer to be one of the new dragon riders. He says his grandfather had been one, and the lore has been passed down through the years to each child in his family," she said.
I eyed the young man in question. He had jumped to his feet when I had entered, and bowed slightly. I nodded in return. I got myself a cup of coffee, and went into my office, gesturing for the young man to follow me.
I sat at the ridiculously huge desk I had, and told him to sit. I looked him over. He was like all other young men I had ever known, idealistic, committed. Easily led, and easily screwed.
In other words, a perfect soldier.
"So, your grandfather was a dragon rider? Tell me about it," I said.
He launched into his family's story. His grandfather had become a dragon rider for Vostich Landkur, and had made a career of it. His grandfather's dragon, Firestar, was almost a family icon.
Every battle that this dragon and his grandfather had been in was told in a litany of pride. I listened and thought, if we needed dragon riders, then why not this boy? He knew the lore, apparently.
"Why do you want to be a dragon rider?" I asked curiously to know his answer.
"My Lord, my grandfather was a dragon rider, and his father before him. The dragons were sent to sleep so my father was not able to become one. He would have, and happily, if he had lived.
"It now falls to me, and I would be honored. Our family crest has a dragon on it. This crest was given by his holiness Vostich Landkur himself to my family," Lester finished proudly.
I stood and said, "Leave your name and how to contact you with my secretary. If the Dragon Riders are reformed, I think you can be assured that you will have a position with them," I told him.
He beamed with pride and happiness as he left my office. Shortly, Vivian was knocking on my door.
"Your schedule is finished for the day. If I were you, I would leave before someone tracks you down. I have never seen such a bunch of namby pamby's in all my life. How did they get anything done before you showed up?" Vivian said with a sniff.
"They just don't want to cross my wishes. To make it even worse, I am a powerful magic user, and a Dragon Lord. Also, my word is law, here. They are just being cautious, but I think I will take your advice," I said.
Vivian followed me, and we walked out into the corridor.
"All clear. But I heard boots down the corridor. You might want to, you know, disappear," Vivian said. I nodded.
I teleported myself to the outer field of the castle. I had never understood why there was a large field outside this castle's walls which an opposing army could have used to attack it. Now I did.
It was a landing area for dragons. It was a large flat area which ended at a steep hill. A good launching ramp for dragons. I nodded to myself. I loved it when I figured out what was going on, or what something was used for.
I felt a presence. I turned and Fithian was standing there.
I bowed. He smiled at me, and I got that feeling of warmth all over again.
"So you are investigating bringing the dragons down?" Fithian asked me.
Damn! He was good! I nodded and looked at the field next to one side of the castle.
"When did you want to summon the dragons?" he asked me.
"I don't know how to summon them. I was thinking of starting a patrol with them. Smuggling is rampant. With a patrol of dragons, I am sure we can cut that down. Also, I have my first volunteer for being a dragon rider," I said.
Fithian chuckled. "Allow me to demonstrate summoning. Observe," he commanded.
I extended my senses, and saw/heard his summons. I felt a response from far away. I knew that I could do the same thing. I watched as three dragons broke off from those circling the mountain so far away and started towards us.
"I think it will take them a while to get here," I said watching the dragons soaring our way.
"Watch and learn," Fithian said with another chuckle.
It was the damnedest thing I ever saw. As I watched, at first they were far away. Then in a blink, they were closer, just like that. Shortly it happened again, and then we were watching three huge dragons descending and landing before us.
A huge silver dragon lumbered forward, bowed its head, and knelt.
"Greetings Lords," the dragon hissed at us.
"Greetings Firestar. It is good to see you soaring again," Fithian told it.
The dragon hissed its pleasure, then looked at me. It reached out its huge head and sniffed at me.
"Yes, you are a dragon, and a Dragon Lord, too. You have the smell as well as the aura. I greet you, Lord," it said, bowing its great head to me.
How it could tell I could turn into a dragon was beyond me. Yet more I had to study and learn.
"I believe that young Paul here is going to start the Dragon Riders again. You will need to see to his instruction as a rider. I will leave you two to get things started. Nice to see you again, Firestar," Fithian said, and then he was gone.
I heard a chuckling and looked back at Firestar. God, but he was huge! A person would sit easily on his back. Saddle and rider would be as a flea upon this giant's back.
"If you would start the riders again, you must first learn to be a dragon. While most riders do not have to learn this, you are going to be our Lord, and you must learn your dragon abilities. I have summoned one to train you," it hissed loudly.
The two other dragons who were here, came forward.
"I am Emerald Star, mate to Firestar," a green dragon said. She was a beauty.
"This is our child, Sunfire. He is the only remaining child of our brood, living," she said as a reddish dragon came forward and bowed.
As we talked, another dragon appeared above, and started to circle in for a landing. This one looked familiar. Then I had it. It was Bel! Now how had this dragon gotten here so quickly? I watched as Bel landed and lumbered up to us. He was almost as large as Firestar.
"Greetings Dragon Lord," Bel said bowing first to me, and then to Firestar.
"It is time for your training to begin. The first thing you must learn is the correct way to transform into a dragon. For some reason you choose a small body. This is not acceptable for a Lord of Dragons. You must pull in more energy for your transformation.
"We will teach you to transform into a more acceptable size," Bel said in his familiar hiss.
The other three dragons turned and lumbered towards the incline of the hill, gathered speed, and were airborne shortly. We watched them fly back towards the far mountaintop. I concentrated and saw as they blurred briefly, and were miles away as I located them again. So they teleported themselves in flight. Interesting.
I looked at Bel, and he chuckled.
"You will learn that once we start to train. You should change now to your dragon form. I will tell you how to adjust the power you use so you can assume the correct size," Bel said.
"Yes, well, I need to let people know I am going to be away for a while. You might be able to pick up on the spur of the moment, but I have obligations," I said sourly. Why did I feel I was being railroaded?
Edited By TeNderLoin