Dragons Descended Upon the Wicked (15 page)

Phillip smiled. The woman grunted and released her arrow. Phillip Denize died an honorable and valiant warrior, fighting until his last breath.

Thomas exited the weapon shop and was back out on the streets of Genold City. He turned left, right, and left again at the three consecutive street crossings. He was unsure where he was heading. To his left there were horse stables. He walked in and tried to find a suitable place to hide. He found a few stables towards the end of the area that had no horses in them. Thomas took to the very last one and sat between two boxes about five feet in diameter that were filled with hay. He curled his feet towards his chest and began to rest. He took off his white cloth shirt and began to rip it into long pieces. He then wrapped the pieces around his open wounds. Thomas had been through hell and he escaped. Phillip made the ultimate sacrifice so that Thomas could be in the situation he found himself in. Now he just had to make good on Phillip’s dying wish.

***

Nick got up from his hands and knees. He rubbed his eyes and looked out unto the vast horizon as the snow fell on him. His hands were still feeling warm against the cold air that blew on them.

I just saved their lives. Esork was in the exact place he needed to be for me to tap into his vision and save my friends. The arena deserved to crumble to the ground. Those disgusting beasts that filled the arena crowd deserved that. They all deserve that. Now I can only hope that Phillip and Thomas can find safety within the city. More and more powers seem to unveil themselves at the appropriate time. I wonder what else a dragon born is capable of...

CHAPTER TWELVE

Nick had found a new power. Using the eyes of Esork he was able to tap into what he could see, thus extending the reach of his fire attack. His attack against Vicon had not been effective. Vicon was able to escape moments before the fire raged upon his balcony. Thomas hid for days. He would move from spot to spot according to how his situation would change. Genold City was on lockdown and all of the guard that Vicon had instituted at every exit had Thomas’ description. He was stuck in Genold City and he knew it.

Nick was able to share the news with the king’s men that he had helped Phillip and Thomas escape from their execution in the arena, although he was unaware of Phillip’s demise. Nick knew that a rescue mission with dragons was out of the question at that point. Flying dragons into the city to save his friends would spark a deadly battle.

The camp was still mourning the loss of their loved ones and friends. The camp was uneasy; the mood had shifted significantly. Depression ached and spread throughout the camp like wildfire. Jeffrey tried his best to lead and keep everyone’s minds right. It was easier for him to say than for others to do. Jeffrey had not lost anyone significantly close to his heart; others around him had. Some people from camp started to doubt Jeffrey’s leadership because they felt he was taking the events too lightly. He would eventually clear the air after days passed of whispers being spread around camp of electing a new leader.

Jeffrey simply reiterated the fact that he wanted nothing more than to end the rule of the six. He clarified that he was not taking the situation lightly but it fueled him to make sure a similar event would never take place again. In order to do this the camp had to follow his plan. He told them that it was full proof and would hit those that were directly involved in the taking of Hentrio. Jeffrey never told anyone of his plan.

For days and weeks nobody knew of his plan. No one seemed to mind too much because everyone trusted his judgment; he had been King Dedan Hudson’s right hand man, after all. All everyone knew was that they were practicing archery every day, sometimes twice a day. He would cover the basics of close combat with swords but training would always find its way back to archery. He also had the children and women gather a mysterious yet abundant plant that was found in Terrel. They gathered thousands of these plants and brought them back to his cabin. It was all a part of his mysterious plan. Archery and gathering plants; it was all the camp had to go on.

Nick’s dragon, Esork, made his way back to Terrel just one day after the events of the arena. It was as if Esork knew that he was needed by Nick’s side after Nick tapped into his vision. Jeffrey’s dragon and Ron’s dragon arrived later that same day. The dragons flew into camp and caused a massive panic but the two men quickly rode the dragons out of the city and positioned them a few hundred feet away from the city’s walls. Nick assumed that one dragon attracted others the same way the dragons descended into the dragons’ lair at the same time. Everyone believed that Nick had the correct reasoning while also having the greatest intuition when it came to dragons.

The humans who were provided from Lord Senvot were all fine archers like Jeffrey had wanted. They were all doing well in the eyes of Dani. She was training hundreds in the art of archery.

Nick was doing well with his archery training. He never quite got the hang of archery as a child growing up. His strong suit was always sword combat. The swiftness and strength he had with his sword set him apart from his competition. He learned a lot in the weeks training with Dani, the master marksman. Although he took his training with archery very seriously, he also took time to train himself to become a better supreme Reza. He would make his way out of the city’s gates and train in the open lands away from everyone and everything. He would be out in the cold snow by himself, determined to become stronger. However, when storms hit there was no archery practice and Nick certainly couldn’t make his way out of the city.

The storms would rage for days and nights. The temperature would drop to bone shaking temperatures. If someone was not near a fire inside of a tent or cabin they ran the risk of freezing to death. Everyone in camp had experienced time holding onto someone next to them for warmth while fifty other people tried to get close to a diminishing fire. If they were still out on the road with no guarantees of wood for fire, many if not all of them would have died.

On one of those cold winter nights, weeks after the events of the arena, Nick was curled up next to Penny. He reached into his bag and pulled out the book that Dricos left for him outside of the dragons’ lair. The leather bound book was information of the history of Genold City. It began from the first documents of the construction of the city. Nick flipped through the book late into the night while everyone around him was asleep. He got about halfway through before calling it a night. However, before he put the book away he flipped to the back of the book. Within the last two pages of the book he found a tiny sleeve with a small letter inside of it. On the envelope it read, “Dear Nick, Your enemy resides in this city. The information in this book is marvelous, but this map should help you significantly when the time is right. You know where to find me. I’m sorry. Desen Momera.”

The final words of the letter struck Nick like a lightning bolt from the sky.
How could it be, thought Nick. All of these years. But how...

Nick opened the envelope and discovered that the paper inside was a map of Genold City. However, it was not a normal map; it was a map highlighting the weak points of security along the city’s defensive wall, such as grates that were buried behind a wall of dirt and wells that extended into ancient tunnels. It was the sort of thing that was kept only for the king himself and passed down to future kings. This sort of information was not even given to the king’s men, yet Dricos had it. Now it was in Nick’s hands and he was dumbfounded. Things were falling into place accordingly. Nick gave the map to Jeffrey the next day because Nick knew Jeffrey was planning something that most likely involved Genold City. Jeffrey was just as shocked as Nick was and immediately put the map and the note to use in his plan.

A few days later the weather was a bit clearer. The storm had passed and only a light shower of snow fell to the ground. Snow rose above the ground a few feet, which made archery training a bit more difficult than it should’ve been. People had a hard time standing still in the freezing snow that made its way up to their knees, let alone fire accurate shots as their hands shivered.

In the early hours of the morning Nick and Jeffrey took flight on Esork without telling anyone where they were going. The two men were gone for hours and returned to camp as if nothing had happened.

In the late hours of the day, after Nick had returned, he made his way outside the city to check on the dragons and continue to train. The dragons were acclimated to the snow and they even seemed to enjoy it. All three dragons were complacent about staying put on the outskirts of the city. This made Lord Senvot extremely happy. The dragons never left for food. Nick began to think that the reason the dragons were missing for all of those days was that they were filling up their stomachs for the winter storms, which makes food scarce. The dragons were meant to be near their dragon born; this was something Nick believed to be true.

After Nick checked on the dragons he made his way far from the city and began to practice his use of magic. He released fire and ice from his palms. Then he practiced the dark wave attack. Finally, he summoned the great fire wall attack out in the distant snow covered ground. Nick was startled when he heard someone speak behind him.

“Glad to see you’re practicing hard,” said Andrew.

Nick jumped and quickly turned around. The old man was hunched over and using a walking stick.

“What are you doing all the way out here?” asked Nick.

“I’m simply keeping you company. Please continue,” said Andrew.

Nick turned back around and continued to train. He again spewed fire, then ice from his hands. He summoned black wave attacks followed by the towering walls of fire.

“Which one is your greatest ability?” asked Andrew.

Nick thought for a moment before answering, then he said, “The wall of fire, I suppose. I mean, they are all important but the fire has proven be the most powerful, in my opinion. I helped Phillip and Thomas using that attack.”

“You are incorrect,” said Andrew. “The greatest ability a supreme Reza possesses is the ability to control objects and levitate them. Or, for better use of the power, defend yourself from oncoming attacks. If you were to summon a wall of fire directly where I stand, which I believe you can easily do now, then I could deflect the attack to my right and completely avoid any harm. Your greatest power is a strong defense. Why is it that you do not practice this power?”

“I kind of felt like it was an easy power to master while the others took more practice,” said Nick. “Also, as I stated, I believe it to be not as significant as other powers. But what you’ve said makes complete sense.”

“Do you remember when we met, Nick?” asked Andrew.

“Yes,” replied Nick.

“You were told by our king to launch fire at me,” said Andrew.

“Yes, I remember that,” said Nick.

“And do you remember what power was the first I taught you?” asked Andrew.

“Yes, it was levitation,” said Nick.

“There was a reason why I taught it to you first,” said Andrew. “Although it is the easiest to get a hang of compared to the other two, it was also the most significant power.”

“I understand,” said Nick.

“Good,” said Andrew. “Now we need to be even. You launched fire at me when we first met. Now I will launch fire at you and you will use your magical abilities to redirect that attack.”

Nick laughed, then humbly agreed to his offer by nodding his head.

Nick stepped back about ten feet and faced Andrew. Andrew tossed his walking stick to the ground. He put both his hands down towards his right hip and pushed his hands forward. A massive and fast ball of fire came hurling at Nick. Nick raised his hands outwards. It was as if he had tapped into another sense as he grabbed hold of the ball of fire with his mind. Once he had hold of it Nick flung his arms upwards. The fire just narrowly escaped Nick’s face as it rose into the sky and diminished after a few seconds.

“Good,” said Andrew. “But not fast enough. See, you must practice more, my friend. The war will meet its final day soon enough and we all need to be prepared.”

“I will train everyday,” said Nick.

“Continue to train as you were,” said Andrew. “I’m going to sit back here and make some snow balls. We’re going to have fun with this.”

Nick continued his training as usual. Thirty minutes went by before Andrew had prepared enough snow balls. Andrew sat in the snow and began to hurl snow balls at Nick. Andrew started off slowly, then he consistently increased his speed as Nick struggled to redirect the snow balls. He could get the majority of them but some snow balls landed on his face. Sure, it was not as bad as fire but it still didn’t feel nice. After the snow balls ran out training was done for the day.

Nick and Andrew made their way back into the city. They stopped by a tavern to pick up some dried meats and vegetables for camp. The people of Terrel were either somewhat nice or terribly inconsiderate towards the people from Hentrio. After their stop Nick and Andrew made it back to the heart of camp where the king’s men were gathered, anxiously awaiting the two men’s arrival.

“Where have you been?” asked Tyler.

“I was just training with Andrew outside,” said Nick. “What’s going on?”

“While you were gone we received a raven bearing a note,” said Jeffrey. “Nick, the note is from Thomas.”

Nick’s eyes widened and glowed at the words he was hearing. A smile pierced across his face as he looked at his comrades.

“We didn’t open it yet; we thought you should do the honors,” said Dani.

Jeffrey handed the note to Nick. It was still sealed with a red wax and rolled up. Nick took the note and slowly opened it.

“Please read it out loud,” said Andrew.

Nick nodded his head and looked down at the note. He said aloud, “Dear friends, I am alive and well. Someone summoned walls of fire just before Phillip and I were to be executed. We escaped the clutches of the arena. When we were running though the streets of Genold City we were tracked by a member of the six and a marksman working with him. They cornered us in an alley. Phillip lifted me into an open window, then decided to buy me some time. He sacrificed himself so that I could be alive. I am terribly sorry...”