(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider (27 page)

   "All of us?" Gareon asked.

   "Yes." Menimeth replied. "And your prince's will be there when you arrive."

   "We will leave as soon as we can." Gareon assured Menimeth.

   "I must go now, but will be looking forward to your arrival." Menimeth said, as he climbed onto his dragon and prepared to depart. "You can travel at a pace that is easier on the women and children, and the wounded as well, for you will be safe from harm while you are in the empire."

   "Thank you for your invitation." Gareon said, and turned to walk back into the camp.

   Danorathin leapt into the air, and was out of sight of the camp minutes later. Menimeth hoped events would find the solders helping them in the coming battle in the west, but they had to arrive in Glansford first. He would wait and see when they did, but there were other problems to take care of first. The battle in the west was only the beginning, and the war of the empire would come later. If the west could be secured quickly, they would have a chance to rebuild the four realms before the full forces of Arnoran turned their attention to the empire. Only time would tell, but first there was the battle in the west.

Chapter Twenty

   Chanry walked through the castle, and explored as much as he could during the days his master was gone. He practiced his spells as often as he could, and was getting very good at them, though he could only understand the easier ones. He was learning the harder spells as well, but it would take time for him to learn to pronounce the words correctly.

   Darik was no longer here to teach him the spells, and he had learned as much as he could from the solders for his size, so he explored the castle. There were not many parts to the castle he had not been to, but when he discovered the secret door in his master's room, he had to explore it. The stairs he found behind the door descended into a part of the lower levels of the castle that was completely unknown until now. He found two doors with the dragon symbol on them, and the same runes as the box. He noticed that they were locked with the same lock as the vault, and wondered what treasures may lay inside. He would have to tell his master about this place when he returned he thought. Chanry did not know what was behind the doors, but it had to be something important to put the dragon symbol and the magic lock on them.

   Chanry walked along the hallway with a sphere of light to guide his way, and inspected the rooms as he made his way through the unexplored halls. He learned the spell when Darik was still in the city, to help him find his way to his rooms at night, and practiced it all the time.

   There were many halls in this part of the castle that were underground, but none of them led to the level that had already been explored by the workers. Instead, they seemed to go deeper and deeper into the earth. Chanry chose to explore the halls that branched off of the main hallway, instead of taking the stairs he had found at a door at the hallways end. The door to the lower levels would have to wait until another day he thought.

   It was the last hall to the left, and the door the hallway ended at, that captured his attention. It was different from the other doors he passed, and it was not wooden. He could not open it at first, though he tried many times. It was not until he stopped and thought about the door, that he realized it was not brute force, but magic, which opened the door.

   "Grav-fohr-Drathin Estarea-vorind-Sesterthin." Chanry spoke the words slowly, getting louder as he did, and the door began to glow with a dull white light. He did not know how he knew the words he spoke, but he did. Words began to appear on the door in the glowing white light that said, "Open in the name of the Dragon, A Dragon Rider Commands it." Seconds later, the light and words disappeared, and the door began to open. Chanry held up his hand, and the sphere of light he summoned, entered the chamber ahead of him and illuminated it. Walking inside, and looked around at the items it held, Chanry could not believe what he saw. In the center of the chamber was a shield of an ancient design, sitting on a golden stand. It was shaped like a dragon that chased its tail, and golden runes were inlayed in several places on the dragon. A shirt of chain mail hung on a golden rack beside the shield on one side, with a dragon of gold interwoven into the links. On the other side of the shield, were the boots, leg and calf guards, and gauntlets, to match the chain mail, and a helm shaped like the head of a dragon on a similar stand. A belt hung around the chain mail shirt, but there was no sword attached to it.

   Chanry was mesmerized by the armor and shield, and he reached out to touch them, and make sure they were real. And even though he felt the magic of the armor before he touched it, he could not stop himself. The armor on both stands began to glow when he touched them, and he felt the power of them all around him. He looked closely at them, and noticed they had the same runes as the sword in his master's room. He could only see them when they glowed, but he could see them just the same. On the wall behind the armor and shield, was a stone tablet in a language that he could not read. Darik would know what it said Chanry thought, and he would ask him when he returned from the northeast.

   The room was one he would tell his master about, along with the ones with the dragon symbol on them, but there were more items that his master would want to know about than just those. He walked from the chamber, and the door closed slowly behind him as he did. Everything was there, except the sword from his master's room, and he knew somehow it belonged in that chamber.

   Chanry continued to explore the first level until late that evening, and when he reached the top of the stairs and his master's room, he was surprised to find Menimeth already there.

   "Meni, you're here." He said, as he emerged from the panel in the wall, and ran to his master's side.

   "Where did you come from," Menimeth said, surprised to see the boy come from the wall. "You look excited, so you will have to sit down and tell me all about it."

   "That door leads to a part of the castle we have never been to." Chanry said, as he pointed to the panel he had just emerged from. "It goes farther underground than the other parts of the castle, and has at least two doors with the dragon symbol and the magic lock."

   "I will have to see what is in them." Menimeth said. "Show me the way."

   Chanry walked to the hidden door, and pressed the latch he found by accident that morning. It was one of the many dragons carved in the stonework of the rooms, but it opened the door when pushed up.

   Menimeth followed Chanry through the door, and down the stairs it led to. Chanry summoned the sphere of light to guide their way, and Menimeth was impressed. That was one of the spells he thought he would never use, so he did not think to use it now. Chanry was learning quickly, and Menimeth was very proud of him. They looked in several of the rooms along the way, that Chanry had not investigated earlier. These doors were locked, but Menimeth spoke the spell that would open locks, and it worked on each of the doors they tried. Chanry was good at it, as he was with all the spells he attempted, but still had some trouble pronouncing some of the harder words.

   When they reached the doors with the dragon on them, Menimeth removed the key from around his neck, and opened them one at a time. The first room was small, but it was full of chests with gold and jewels inside them, and there was a tablet that identified the room as reserves for the empire. The empire was far richer than anyone had suspected, but Menimeth would not mention this room to the others for now. The second room was different all together and inside, books, scrolls, and other parchments of various kinds, were stacked on shelves and tables around the room.

   Chanry saw the Elvin bow sitting on a stand to one side, and was drawn to it. It looked just like the one his master carried, only it was shorter, and the shaft was thinner as well. Menimeth removed it from the stand in which it sat, and looked at it closely before handing it to the boy. Chanry held the bow in his hands, and felt the power it possessed, flow through him. The feeling was almost unnerving, but he grew used to it quickly and drew the string back several times to feel its pull.

   "This bow looks like it is one you can use for several years." Menimeth said to the boy. "Keep it until you grow a little taller, and we will find you a bigger one."

   "This bow is for me?" Chanry asked with wide eyes. "To keep?"

   "Yes, you are the only one in the Dragon Guard that does not have a bow." Menimeth said. "And this will solve that problem"

   "But it is a magic bow." Chanry replied. "Are you sure you want me to have it?"

   "You can control magic as well as I can, so yes, I want you to have it." Menimeth told the boy. "I think you were the one for which it was made, by the runes it has inlayed in it."

   "But I am just a boy, how could it be made for me?" Chanry asked his master, puzzled by the idea.

   "The Elves of the old world could see events that were to come, and they made things like bows, swords, and other items for people of their future." Menimeth said. "Ancient races could see these things also, but could not know when what they saw, would happen. Some of the ancients made stone tablets with these events to come carved on them, and we call them prophecies now, but few of them exist today."

   Chanry listened intently to his master as he spoke, and wondered why a bow would be made for him. What could he do that he would be thought of by the Elves of a long past age? He would think about it later, but for now he wanted to show his master the armor he had found behind the metal door.

   "There is another room you must see." Chanry said to Menimeth. "It has a metal door, and you have to use magic to open it."

   "Then let us see it." Menimeth said, and looked at Chanry smiling.

   "It is this way." Chanry said, as he walked from the room, holding the bow in his hands.

   "What are in these rooms, we are passing?" Menimeth asked, curious about this part of the castle.

   "Many different things." Chanry replied. "From cloth to weapons, and tool of all kinds. I have not been in all of the rooms, but they are almost all full."

   "Is there a way into the other parts of the castles underground storerooms?" Menimeth asked the boy.

   "I have not found one on this level." Chanry replied. "But this is the only level that I have been on so far."

   Menimeth was impressed by the boy's memory, but when the door glowed and the words appeared, he was more than impressed. He knew the boy was very special, but did not know how special until then. The armor that was inside the room, was more than special, it was a treasure. It was made of Alezium, which was the strongest of the metals in the lands of magic, and it was very rare, as well.

   When they returned to the king's room at the top of the stairs, and had secured the door, Menimeth removed the key from around his neck, and held it to his side.

   "You have been very busy while I have been away." Menimeth said, as he looked at the boy. "We should keep this section of the castle to ourselves for now."

   "If that is what you wish." Chanry said with a smile, and looked at the bow he held.

   "Since you are to keep exploring the lower levels, you may need this." Menimeth said, and he handed the key to Chanry. "You should make lists of all you find, and bring them to my room when you are done. Let no one see them, or you, entering or leaving the door to those levels."

   Wide eyed, Chanry took the key from his master, and put it around his neck. He would make sure no one knew he had it, and he would not be seen by anyone, he assured his master.

   The next morning Chanry went to his master's suite, but Menimeth was already gone. He walked to the chest that held the things his master had collected, and opened it. The sword he wished to see was on top, but the stone he had found along with it, was there as well. Picking it up, he looked into it, and it began to glow. Chanry set it down quickly and backed away from it, but it only seemed to glow brighter.

   A hazy cloud formed inside the smooth round stone, and in it Chanry could see a door. It was a bright red, but a vast darkness surrounded it that seemed to consume all light. The door faded away, and was replaced by a Garden in a place unfamiliar to him. He watched as a young girl walked through the garden, and sang to the flowers as she did. She had sad eyes, and a soft voice, and the flowers slowly bloomed as she passed them. The garden disappeared and Chanry was looking at a dragon by a lake. He watched as the Young dragon lifted his head and looked back at him, but he was not afraid. The scene began to fade. And Chanry could hear the words "It is not yet time" in his mind as it faded. He did not know what it meant, but he would worry about it another time. He did remember the dragon from the last time that he had looked into the stone, and it had grown larger. It was not the dragon that he thought about though, but the girl in the garden that had captured his attention. He did not know why she had appeared in the stone, but he would find out one day, he was sure of that.

   Chanry replaced the stone in the chest and removed the sword. He pulled it from the scabbard, and looked at the runes inlayed in it. The sword was very light he thought, even though it was bigger than the ones his master used. The runes looked the same as the ones on the armor behind the metal door, and he was sure it belonged on the belt. He replaced it in the chest before closing the lid, and entered the stairs behind the secret door.

   He spent the next several days exploring the dungeons of the Dragon Tower, and recorded all that he found within it. Many things he could not identify, but he described them as best he could, and some of the rooms on the levels below the first were empty, but there were many levels to explore.

*****

   Menimeth looked at the trees as they passed below him, and wondered what secrets were hidden beneath their canopy. They were just north of the city and the Dragon Tower it held, but the land was overgrown here, and had been for many years. There must have been people who lived near the dragon rider capital in the days of its former glory, but no signs of them could be seen from above.

   In the distance to the west, was a bridge across the Imlador River that looked out of place. There was no stone road that led to it, but still it was there. Donderan told him about it when they were on the road to Corlindum, but he did not expect it to be so grand. Danorathin turned to the northeast and picked up speed as he did. Menimeth took one last look at the bridge before it was lost in the distance, and turned his attention to the direction in which they were traveling.

   This was the first time that he had ridden to the north, in all of the time that he was in the city of the dragon riders, because it was from the southeast that the solders he would need would come. However, today he decided to go northeast, and see what the empire looked like in that more populated area. The towns were closer together in the northern realm, but still far enough apart to be easily attacked. The threat they faced now came from the west, but when the war came, it would be from the east.

   Crops were being harvested in the fields as he passed, and the people watched as the dragon flew by overhead. News of the dragon had spread all across the empire by this time, but the people were still shocked when they saw it. They did not run away, but stood as if in a trance when the dragon appeared. For many, it was a sign that the empire was once again on the rise, however, for others it was a sign that changes were coming to their realm. Several times as they flew over the farms of the north, Danorathin and Menimeth felt the evil that came from the west. At first they believed it to be coming from the camp that the solders of the enemy used in the northeast, but as they traveled farther north, the direction in which it emanated, changed with them.