Dawn Of Prophecy

Chapter 1-2

They flew for nearly three hours. The sun just began to break the horizon, giving a golden glow to all that surrounded the dragon escort. They traveled low and he watched as forest turned into plain and plain turned into valley. Currently they flew over a river which the blue dragon, who slowed down considerably for the others, skimmed the surface.

Her wings created mist with every pump as she zig-zagged the surface. This, the boy thought, must be the natural behavior of a blue dragon. The blue dragon was unconcerned with the others, knowing that she could catch up to the silver, red and green at any time. The brown dragon was still some distance behind, higher in the air.

Even though Galdaro flew high, the land below felt the effects of his flight. Each powerful flap the dragon took caused the wind to kick up in the valley below. He flew further back out of respect for the others, and to the safety precautions placed on his people.

The rules that the King of all dragons implemented regarding dragon flight only restricted the places brown dragons could fly over and land. They were not allowed to fly over a town, they had to either divert their course, or transform and walk through the town and several miles beyond. Regarding landing, the dragons had to be at least a mile and a half from villages, towns and cities before they could do so. As a result, the brown dragon populace in human form were often thin.

The brown dragons could not fly over the King’s castle either unless it was in defense of the castle. Galdaro knew and followed these rules and the boy watched as, some miles back, Galdaro changed course and flew toward a forest that would take the punishment of his flight, without dispersing it to the castle, which was less than a mile away, but considered a designated landing area for the massive dragon.

Bora flew low over the land, giving the boy a better, unobstructed view. Leaving the river behind, he could see the slave town only a short distance away. As they approached the boy could see a wall of farms a mile thick surrounding the town.

In the fields stood slaves, wearily making their way to check their crops. He did not understand why the slaves were forced to grow these crops when the green dragons could simply use their magic. The magic would grow the fruit, or vegetable in minutes, saving everyone time.

Yet here they were, slaving over the field’s day in and day out. The boy had yet to see other towns within the kingdom in his fourteen winters, but he heard that many of them had no farms and used their slaves in varying ways. He watched as the slaves in the fields looked up to the dragon’s approaching, not in fear and not in awe, but in quiet acceptance of these people that came from the sky only fourteen falls ago.

The stare lasted for only a few seconds before they returned to their laborious work. Beyond the many fields that surrounded it lay the town itself. Brown stone domiciles stood no more than twenty feet tall, in a round line that stretched from one side of the rock wall to the other.

The rock wall acted as the castle’s protection from the people, and sight of the people from the slave town. As they flew over the slave town the boy looked at the miles of buildings, square, housing two to three slaves, each the same with a road between each row of buildings. The roads were wide enough to fit two red dragons, side by side while transformed as dragons.

He watched as guards in colorful tunics walked the streets in their human form. Most wore red tunics, but some blue and green were peppered in for unique situations. Unlike the Hunters, who wore black cloaks while hunting their prey, each dragon was color coordinated to the color of their dragon scales while transformed.

To pass the time he counted each row of buildings that arched toward the castle’s protection from the morality of the slave town. By the time they approached the stone archway the boy had counted forty rows of buildings consisting of several dozen buildings in each row. He estimated that each building was only big enough to house a few slaves. Still, there had to be over five hundred slaves living in the town.

The boy had no idea where the guards slept or enjoyed their days off. None of the buildings in the slave town looked like they housed the guards. There were two, slightly tall enough for a human to pass through, doorways on either side of the stone arch. The wall was too thick for the doorways to be tunnels to the other side, especially when the only opening in the wall was mere feet from the doors.

This, he thought, was where the guards slept, ate, and enjoyed most of their off time. Dragons had to inhabit the insides of the wall. He watched the slave town disappear as they passed the archway.

The arch was the only way for a human, or dragon, to walk to the castle from this side of the mountain. The rock wall stood hundreds of feet above the town, but as they flew past it, he realized it was only a quarter mile wide. The road was made of smoothed dirt and moved from the slave town, toward the castle bridge and through another, smaller archway that marked the entrance to the forest Galdaro had flown to. It spanned a total of five miles from the slave town to the forest entrance.

Passing the archway, he looked at the castle in the growing morning light. The golden rays that touched the castle seemed to be absorbed by the black stone of the castle walls. He admired the castle’s construction from this height, it looked peaceful and as though it weren’t the architect of so much misery.

The golden light that wasn’t absorbed into the dark stone showcased its crisp edges and lines clearly. A bridge connected the castle to the land, stretching nearly a mile into vast open water before reaching the square structure, a single tower jutting above its walls. The pillar that held the massive castle up stood nearly a hundred feet above the dragon-made lake, though the sheer size of the lake made it appear to be an ocean.

The pillar was the exact dimensions of the castle, giving it the appearance of walls that sprouted from the lake floor. The castle itself was not very tall, it stood only three stories from the entrance floor. The entrance was a gate that met the bridge. It was always attended by one guard, at times two. The gate area was the only section of the pillar that extended past the castle walls.

The castle was a perfect square with only one massive opening near the entrance, where any dragon could land, assuming the castle was being attacked. This was known as the courtyard and several transformed red dragons could stand side by side. In the event that the castle was being attacked brown dragons would have to take turns, transforming and lifting off.

The tower was his home. He could see just over the rock wall, but the fields the slaves worked, and the slave town were not visible. His tower was situated in the center back wall of the keep, where it rose a few extra stories above the roof. He would have to return to that room, thoroughly undisturbed.

Bora descended into the courtyard. Dragons sparred in the courtyard below as they landed, training for the inevitable war they may fight someday. His mind clouded with anger that he would once again need to face his father. His mind closed around this sole thought as Bora’s first paw landed on the hard stone floor.

His mind raced at the thought of the new insults his father would throw at him. He only wished that the angry ruler of this planet, where humans roamed free of the burden of being a dragon, would simply forget that he existed. For that matter he wished that Claskan would also forget he existed.