Legon Awakening: Book One in the Legon Series (31 page)

Arkin smiled widely at him and looked much better.
“Passive surveillance. Very good, Legon. With the waking sleep you
will never lose contact with them, but with a weak connection other
magic users won’t be able to stumble on to it.”

“They can do that?” Kovos said, worried.

“To an extent. They will be feeling the emotions of
the creatures around them, and if something seems off they will
investigate. But with a weak connection Legon will not be
influencing anything, so they won’t look.”

After that, no one looked like they wanted to ask
anymore, but contented themselves with resting. Legon and Sasha
began the waking sleep.

“
Our enemies always beat us in the way we least
expect it, and therein lies the problem. We toil our days away
trying to find that weak spot in our armor when we shouldn’t have
been fighting to begin with.”

Keither opened his eyes, blinking at the ever-present
lavender glow. He wasn’t too sure just how long they’d been in
their hiding spot. It appeared the dragon had found something.
Maybe it was them, maybe not. But there were people in the area.
Legon was having a harder time sensing their surroundings as the
group of soldiers searching the area had scared off all the larger
animals. He was now forced to tap into the minds of rodents and
squirrels. The thing that was odd was that Arkin’s spells hadn’t
been tested at all. Kovos suggested that they try and check the
minds of the men, but the idea was snubbed when Sasha pointed out
that they may have a Venefica with them. It would be unwise to take
on a large group and a magic user. Keither laid his head back down.
It would almost be worth getting caught just to see light and a
color other than purple. Legon breathed out a long breath.

“What is it?” Sara asked. It was good to hear a voice
again. They’d been quiet for several days.

“They are leaving. They weren’t looking for us.”

“They weren’t?” she said.

“No. I was in the head of a rat when a scout
approached and said that they caught the deserter.”

“This was about a deserter?” Sasha asked
incredulously.

“They are close to the border. He could have been a
spy. We should have known when they didn’t use magic to find
anything,” Arkin said with relief. He was looking better now; all
of them felt better. Maybe the few days of downtime had been good
for them.

“We will wait for them to leave the area. Legon, let
us know.”

Legon nodded at Arkin and closed his eyes. After a
few hours passed, Arkin brought the horses out of the deep sleep he
had placed them in so they would not make noise. They packed their
belongings and began to make their way out through the thick brush.
The light from Legon’s magic was just bright enough to dim any
light that could have made its way into their hideout, so Keither
wasn’t sure what time of day it was. As they moved out of the
thicker parts of the trees and back on the road, he was blinded by
dazzling light. He held his arm up, blocking the sun from eyes that
did not seem to want to adjust.

* * * * *

Legon leaned back in Phantom’s saddle feeling the
warmth of the sun. He had seen the sun through the eyes of the
animals but hadn’t opened the connection enough to feel it. The
only feeling that he had allowed himself once was that of a bird
flying in the trees, popping in and out of the canopy. The animal
seemed to like his presence and enjoyed showing its abilities to
the world. The feeling of freedom was amazing. The wind in his,
well, feathers, and the exhilaration of a dive. Before, the thought
of flying had been frightening; he was terrified of heights. But he
thought he was over that now. It was all about perspective when it
came down to it.

The road was growing narrower as they went and they
were using a number of switchbacks. At one point in time the road
became only a game trail, so it wasn’t straight but it was long.
They would be continuing on the road for about one and half weeks,
at which time they would need to go off the main road and across
wild country to avoid towns and the army. There were just a few
towns on this road, and that was a problem. They were unavoidable,
but they didn’t have to stop at them. The hope was that the towns
were still being guarded by their own appointed people and that the
military would be expecting them to handle security.

Over the next few days he felt the group’s
apprehension building. They kept mental connections nearly all the
time and had forgone the usual nightly training to cover more
ground. They didn’t see many people, thankfully, and those they did
chose not to talk to them. His connection with birds of prey
primarily helped them avoid road blocks and check points, but these
detours took time and that normally meant not sleeping much at
night. Kovos rode up next to him.

“How are you doing, buddy?” Legon asked.

“Been better. I won’t lie to you on that. How do you
think I’m going to make it back up to Salmont without being
discovered?”

“I honestly don’t know.” Legon paused. “You don’t
have to go with us if you don’t want. You said that you would come
with us to the southern towns and you have. I don’t want you and
Keither to -”

“Don’t be dense. I’m not turning back.” Kovos
said

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am.”

* * * * *

Kovos looked at his friend; he didn’t need a mental
network to figure it out. Legon thought that they were going to run
into trouble, and he agreed. But that didn’t mean that he was
turning back.

It seemed that even nature knew something bad was
coming. The closer they got to the border there were less of the
normal signs of life everywhere.

The trees parted suddenly up ahead, giving way to
fields and stone walls. They were about three days from the next
town, so this must be a co-op. They decided to stop at a farm and
see if they could buy fresh food. They made their way down a thin
path that led to a small cottage with a thatched roof. They
dismounted and walked to the door. Nothing was there to greet them.
No dogs, no kids… nothing.

“Maybe they’re in the fields,” Keither said.

“No, they’re not,” Legon said slowly.

“What do-”

“Shhh, Keither,” Arkin said drawing his sword. Kovos
followed. Sasha attempted to string her bow. There was no magic to
help her.

“Legon, can I get some help here?” she asked.

His eyes were closed. “There’s nothing in my range.
Just rats, birds, and other small animals.”

“Can you tell what is going on? I don’t like the
feeling here,” Sasha said

“No, I can’t.”

“Let’s move on to the next house,” Arkin
suggested.

They mounted the horses and rode slowly to the next
house. Empty again, and then another, and another. Finally, they
reached what must have been the co-op’s center. There were signs of
violence here. There were five buildings. Most looked like they
were once storage, but not anymore. Their roofs were gone and blood
was in the street and on the walls. A chill crept up Kovos’ spine.
Where were the people?

“Do you think that the army…” he began.

A woman crawled out from under some rubble. She was
covered in gore, from head to toe. Her clothes were ripped and
there was a large cut down the right side of her face. She stood
and walked to them slowly. Sasha swung off Murray and started to
her, but was stopped by Arkin.

“Get on your horse!” he barked.

“But Arkin….” She stopped, and even Kovos felt fear
course from Arkin’s mind to hers. She leaped back on the horse,
which also sensed that all was not well here.

“What happened here?” Arkin asked.

The woman responded. “I’ll tell you what happened
here: they happened.”

“Who are ‘they’?” Arkin asked

“Dragons.” She looked around. There were no tears.
Kovos figured she was in shock.

“Were there others?” Sasha asked

“Yes. If we tried to leave town then their archers
got to practice on us. But mostly it was the dragons.”

“What did they do?” Sasha asked, terror in her
voice.

Sara spoke coldly. “Iumenta dragons prefer fresh
meat.”

“So they…” Kovos started.

The woman broke in, tripping on her words. “The army
needed the livestock for their human and Iumenta soldiers, now
didn’t they? But what of the dragons? They needed meat too. And
that meat was….”At this she seemed to snap. “They ate them. They
ate them! They’ll get you too!” she screamed. She ran away as Kovos
heard in the far distance a soft but distinctive THUD. He was
moving even before Arkin began yelling for them to run.

* * * * *

Keither clung on to Pixy for dear life. Up until this
point, he thought that she had been doing rather well. Presently
that belief was being challenged. Pixy was young and smaller than
all the other horses, not to mention that she was carrying the
greatest weight, but her will to live was apparently far greater
than the others as she was pulling ahead of all of them. He wasn’t
sure if he was still holding the reins or not, but even if he was
it didn’t matter. He chanced a glance to his side. They were
passing Sara, who was riding the mare they bought her in Salez. She
was white, so Sara had named her Ghost, and she was fast—really
fast. Sara yelled at him.

“Keither, are you ok? You looked like you were going
to fall.”

“
That’s because I am going to fall, Sara,”
he
thought. The question wasn’t
if
gravity was going to win,
but rather
when
. If they made it to the forest and he fell,
that might not be that bad. If he went before, there was no way the
others would be able to stop their terrified animals before he got
eaten.

He looked down desperately, trying not to get thrown
off. They were coming up on the forest. Thank goodness the co-ops
were small. He couldn’t hear the dragon over the sound of hooves
and his own heart, but he knew it was there. He must have been
holding the reins because they suddenly slipped out of his hands.
Then he heard it—a roar from behind him. It was a sound like
nothing he’d ever heard before, piercing him to his core. They were
just about to enter the forest when he looked back, morbid fear
getting the best of him. Was it on them? No, it was hovering over
the former center of town, presumably angry that there wasn’t more
than one lowly person to eat. It brought large gray bat-like wings
down, raising itself further from the ground. He knew it was too
far away but he swore he saw blood on its mouth. Had the woman from
town met her end? The dragon reared its head back and opened a
giant mouth to show black teeth.
“Look away,”
a voice in his
head said. But he didn’t.

Fire erupted from its mouth like a wild river of
flame and destruction. The fire covered the ground in an instant,
swallowing two of the buildings. Then as the dragon drove its wings
down the force of the wind carried the flames over the rest of the
center, curling up to meet the sky. Never in all his life had
Keither even dreamed of anything like this. The dragon busied
itself burning the center with a continuous stream of fire that
must have lasted thirty seconds. Then it looked in their direction,
following the cloud of dust from their frantic retreat. Two grey
eyes with yellow where the whites should have been met his. As the
first tree of the forest passed by him, Keither knew a new kind of
terror, one that he knew would haunt his dreams for the rest of his
life. Of course the rest of his life was a relative term right now.
Chances were there weren’t going to be any dreams now that he had
locked eyes with an Iumenta dragon.

He looked forward, panicking. Now they were in the
forest, but it was like a dream to him. Nothing was real. Just
terror; that’s all that existed. Maybe he could use a script from
the Jezeer. He thought, but he couldn’t remember them. Sound was
gone, but then he heard that roar again and jerked in his saddle.
Pixy was delirious with fear, not unlike her rider, but still
running. She was trying to throw him off. It worked. The last thing
he saw was the trunk of a tree.

* * * * *

Arkin reached out with his mind, trying to make
contact with the resistance. The dragon didn’t pursue them, which
had its pros and cons. The pro was that they were alive. The con
was that it had surely sent people to come find them. He stretched
again, hoping to feel someone, but nothing was there. They were
holed up in yet another clearing that Legon found with animals, but
this one wasn’t as ideal and they needed to move as soon as Keither
woke up.

The boy had hit that tree hard and Arkin was sure
that he was going to have a concussion. But that was better than
death. For the first time in many years, Arkin felt a very real
fear. So much work had gone into this whole thing and the people he
was guarding were innocents. Any of them dying would forever stain
his hands with blood. He repeated the fear script in his mind.

Fear is the blinder; I am the light and master of
sight, I will master my fear and never again see night.

He repeated it again, controlling his breathing,
changing his heart rate.

“Wh… what happened?” Keither asked as he started to
wake up. Maybe he wouldn’t remember the dragon at all. Wouldn’t
that be a wonderful thing?

“You fell and hit a tree,” Kovos said, hovering over
him. He hadn’t gone more than a foot away ever since they had
arrived at their hiding spot. Seeing his brother awake, a look of
relief washed over his face.

“Do you remember anything?” Sasha said as she checked
his pulse and looked at his eyes.

“I don’t think so. The last thing I remember was a
tree and that I was scared… because we were running from…”