Roland of the High Crags - Books 1-3

Chapter 2-3

But not the First Clan. They desire to rule the world. They were the first to wage war on humans and dragonkind both. They are ruthless, unrelenting, and without any form of honor. And Baron Hartooth is the ultimate example of his clan. He will stop at nothing in his attempts to eradicate human kingdoms and dominate all of dragonkind.

“In my lord’s clan, Baron Hartooth saw a potential ally to the mountain kingdoms of the High Kanris. A dragon ally who might persuade other dragon clans to join in our fight against him. He could not let that happen. Eradication of the Anktooth is his solution to the problem. Unbelievably, even though I have fought you and your kind all my life, I have taken my master’s words to heart and find myself wishing to forge a bond of friendship with humans. Humans and dragons, together, might create the weapon that could thwart the First Clan’s lust for destruction. Only time will tell.”

“Why me, Ankor? Why did your master pick me to save the child?”

Just the barest hint of a smile cracked Ankor Mauk’s green and yellow pebble-skinned face. But there was this glint in the old three-horned warrior’s eyes which was unmistakable.

“Let us just say my master listens to all voices, human. He knows you by reputation and by experience. More importantly, he knows what you truly are. That is why you were picked.”

“I am to protect her for how long nobody knows,” I echoed, half turning to peer into the aviary’s darkness and the approaching din of battle which now seemed almost upon us. “And what then? How shall we contact each other?”

Two angry crossbow bolts flew across the room some yards away from us and glanced noisily off the stone walls. The scream of a dying man cut through the darkness of the room. The dying creature from out of the dim gloom, staggered back, clutching his throat with both hands as hot blood poured from his grasp and spilled down his chest. Sagging to his knees, he fell forward and was dead before he hit the floor.

Hurriedly, I bent down and threw the child up into the old guard’s arms and lifted a finger to my lips.

“Shhhh! Say nothing and stand close to me!” I hissed as I reached around to the small leather pouch on my waist and opened it quickly.

Ankor Mauk, holding little Ursala, moved very close to me as I whirled a thin, semi-transparent cloth around us and enveloped all of us from head to foot. Just as the last fold of the cloak covered us, the aviary was over ran by hundreds of dragon warriors of the Clan Hartooth, bloody swords drawn and crossbows at the ready. The maroon and gray skinned Hartooth filled the vast expanse of the empty aviary and began feverishly searching for us everywhere.

Half-glancing to my right, I saw the wide eyes of an amazed young Pearl Princess staring at me. I had to grin and wink. Even the hardened soul of Ankor Mauk seemed startled as we stood in the middle of hundreds of Clan Hartooth, utterly unseen.

“Cloak of Invisibility,” I softly whispered, touching my lips with a finger to ask for their silence. “Move with me slowly and make no sound.”

“They are not here, my lord!” a clansman shouted loudly, stepping into torchlight and glaring into the darkness directly in front of us at someone unseen.

“Keep searching,” a voice from out of the darkness growled back. A voice so deep and menacing, it made me stop in my tracks and turn to see the owner of such a sound.

Seconds later, the figure of a young, but incredibly tall dragon warrior stepped into the light of the many burning torches, hands on his waist and looking left and right as he walked toward us. He was a head taller than his clansman, with wider shoulders, and dressed in chain mail which covered his entire body. Strapped over his back was the standard lozenge-shield of a Hartooth clansman, while around his waist was a finely crafted curved dragon scimitar so favored by dragons. Covering his chain mail was dark maroon-and- gray silk livery with the Clan Hartooth coat of arms, that of a flying Winged Beastie with flames roaring from its mouth and with its front claws raised toward an unseen foe, stitched in silver wire adorning his right shoulder.

“They cannot have escaped. My spies tell me they have not left the castle yet. Find them! I want the body of this human warrior lying at my feet before nightfall. I want my father’s daughter brought to me alive before I leave tonight.”

The warrior was huge and impressive as he stood right beside us as he bellowed out his commands. I stood only inches away from his back and marveled at the creature’s size. Never before had I seen such a dragon specimen. I started to say something but caught myself just in time. But Ankor Mauk’s grunt of disgust almost killed us.

It was more like a snort, a quirky passage of air through the flat nose that of a dragon only a dragon can make, uttered barely loud enough for me to hear. But it was enough to make the tall prince turn suddenly directly toward me, eyes darting back and forth rapidly to find the source of the noise.

“Did anyone hear that?!” the creature shouted, his head darting back and forth as one of his hands dropped to the pommel of his scimitar. “Did we not hear this human creature was a magician? A wizard? Search this room again and be more attentive! They are here, I tell you! They are here!”

One step closer to me, and I would have had to drive the dagger in my hand straight into the creature’s heart. He was so close to me, I could feel his hot breath caressing my face. The aroma of a King Dragon is that like of a musty house. It makes one’s nose twitch. Those who have had little or no contact with King Dragons have this desire to sneeze repeatedly and violently in their presence. But I controlled my urges and held my breath while gripping the cold steel firmly in hand.

In hindsight, I should have thrust the blade into the creature’s heart then and there. Much death and hardship would have been alleviated if I had. But I am of the Bretan. We are not assassins. Much as I deeply felt I should harm him, I could not.

The clansmen almost tore the aviary walls to pieces as they again searched for the three of us. But we dodged and side-stepped around those who came too close and somehow remained undetected. Eventually, after a half hour of intense scrutiny, the warrior angrily ordered his clansmen to tear apart the castle stone by stone if they had to in order to find us. We waited until all the warriors left the stones of the aviary, plunging the place into total darkness in the process, before I removed the cloak and turned to face the warrior and child.

“That was Baron Hartooth’s bastard son,” Ankor Mauk said. “His name is Aukmar, and by all accounts, he is a fiend. The baron intends to make him his heir and successor. But in order to do that, he must find little Ursala and dispose of her.”

“Then we shall make sure he does not find her,” I answered, grinning wickedly as I lifted the surprisingly light dragon child into my arms. “Come to the aviary’s entrances. We must call our mounts and be away from here. And before we leave, you must tell me where we shall join forces one year hence.”

“Aye, in one year I hope to have raised an army to join you, human. But I fear my efforts will be thwarted. And what kind of force will you have to join us? Will humans in the High Kanris unite to fight the First Clan?”

I shrugged and conceded his point. It would be difficult to take into the High Kanris, a dragon child, much less a Pearl Princess, and keep out of harm’s way. No dragon—neither King Dragon nor Winged Beastie—, had been allowed among the snow-capped peaks of the High Kanris in over a thousand years. To be seen with me might place the child in as much jeopardy as if she would have faced staying among her kind.

“I make no promises, Ankor Mauk. Armies I may not muster in your aid, but there will be a few, like me, who see the dangers of allowing the Hartooth uniting the dragon baronies under his clan’s colors. There is a saying we humans have, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ Once we might have been enemies. But now we face a common foe. A foe who will destroy us all if we do not find a way to forget old hatreds and suspicions and take a united stand.”

“Hmm, well said,” nodded the Clan Mauk warrior, stepping out into the growing twilight of a descending night and looking up and off to his left. “One year from now, Roland of the High Crags, you will meet me at the top of Skullcap. Keep the princess safe and away from harm, warrior. We will unite our forces there, and we will ride together to face the baron and his bastard siring.”

I looked to the left and saw the breathtaking image of an emerald-green Winged Beastie, with incredibly bright yellow bat-like wings, falling out of the growing darkness straight for our stone perch. Like a hurtling meteor, it flashed past two circling Hartooth Winged Beasties and their masters, who were circling like vultures around the burning castle. A third Hartooth Winged Beastie and his rider turned steeply to their right in an effort to intercept Ankor’s Upasha, but the ancient monster let loose such a fiery tongue of searing flame, the First Clansman’s beast and rider flailed its wings and tail mightily in an effort to save themselves.

Upasha“Fare thee well, human. Remember, in one year!”

The Clan Mauk warrior stepped out onto the long pencil of stone, which jutted out from the side of the aviary like a stone lance embedded into the castle’s turret and ran for all his worth before leaping out into the vast expanse of empty air. I shouted out in alarm, realizing that he was leaping to his death, but just as I shouted, a massive green body with yellow wings swept across my vision and I saw Ankor Mauk leap onto Upasha’s saddle—all in the blinking of an eye. My shout of alarm turned into a shout of amazement and glee at beholding such audacity. I found it hard to believe an old King Dragon like Ankor Mauk was capable of such agility. Never before had I heard of such a feat, and my opinion of the Clan Mauk rose considerably.

Upasha’sBelow, shouts from the Hartooth filled the air, soon followed by a barrage of crossbow bolts. We had been discovered. I grinned and lifted the wooden whistle to my lips and blew the long and silent musical notes only my Cedric would hear before again wrapping the Cloak of Invisibility around Ursala and me.

“Come child, we must leave quietly. Lay your head on my shoulder and sleep. We have a long ride ahead of us.”