Invading Will Chapter 6
#16 of Invading Will
Invading Will
Chapter 6
By: D. C. Henry ("Ahndeleck")
Raogothcar awoke the next morning earlier than he wanted to. After Deanna told him that he would go with her to the library he had been excited about the trip. He tossed and turned most of the night wondering what Palitos would be like on the ground. He flew over it several days ago while he was looking for a den to live in. His father would not explain much of the city to him, so it felt like a big adventure to discover what could be there. The library was most important of all though.
He had decided the night before that he would bring his journal. There would certainly be some time on the way to rest and write in his journal. He would need to write down everything for others to remember. He felt embarrassed with himself that he hadn't been writing as much as he did before arriving in Freeraven. If he kept neglecting his journal it wouldn't get an honored shelf in the Volumes of Memory.
As he walked down the stairs to the entrance hall, he wondered what he would learn when he went for his first pilgrimage of memory. The only things he could think of that would be worthy of such a trip would be to learn more about humans. His father had never told him of his visits to the Volumes of Memory, and Raogothcar wondered what he had done when he went for his first time.
Deanna and three other guards were waiting for him when he got into the large hall. Deanna wore nothing but brown. Light brown shirt, and darker brown pants. Raogothcar wondered why when she had the chance to change the colors she could wear that she wore things like brown. He could never change his colors, but humans had the amazing gift of clothes. It was always interesting to see what all the humans wore.
Raogothcar recognized two of the others with Deanna. Jacob wore a light white shirt with a green vest with brown pants. Helen decided to wear light blue shirt and pants. Then the man he didn't recognize was dressed similar to Jacob, but instead of a vest he had a long flowing shirt. Each of them had a small patch on their shoulders, which had the emblem of Freeraven, the winged sword.
Deanna turned as Raogothcar got closer to them. She turned back to her three other charges and waved her hand at each as she introduced them, "These are our escourt, Jacob, Helen, and Travis. We're not expecting any trouble on the way so this should be a quick trip. We should be back in a week's time."
Raogothcar nodded to each as Deanna introduced them. Then he watched Deanna who stared back at him for a few moments. Then Raogothcar noticed they were all standing staring at each other. Deanna spread her arms and Raogothcar thought she looked impatient.
"Are you ready or waiting for something else?"
"No, I was just waiting for you to say what we were going to do next. Although I am a little curious if I can have one of those little blue things you are all wearing."
"Maybe when we get back. Are you ready?"
"Um... Yes, but none of you have very much. We're not taking anything with us?"
"We've got it all packed on the horses right now," Jacob said, "Its easier that way."
With a quick turn Deanna pointed towards the tower's great doors. "Let's get on our way. Get to your horses; we'll be over the mountain by nightfall."
The sun had not yet risen over the mountains and the world outside was still gloomy as the five stepped outside the tower. There were stable hands checking packs and saddles on four horses in the yard, most still rubbing the sleep from their eyes or yawning. Raogothcar waited as the other four gave one final check of everything and mounted their horses. Not even an hour passed as the five left the outer gates to the tower and began their journey over the mountains.
They stopped for camp after they had reached the foothills on the other side of the mountains. Raogothcar had tried a few attempts at conversation as they traveled but never managed to get much from any of the soldiers. After the camp had been set up for the evening, Raogothcar excused himself to go hunting. He managed to find a lone deer north of the camp in a clearing, and satisfied his hunger, then quenched his thirst at a nearby stream. When he returned to the camp near nightfall, only Deanna and Travis were still awake. He quietly walked into the camp and lay down on the far end of the camp and watched the two.
Deanna paid the dragon no attention and continued sharpening her sword. He had never seen her work on the blade before; she seemed to treat the dark blue steel as if it was a living thing. He looked back at Travis who was looking after the horses. Raogothcar wondered if he might become more friendly with time. Each time he tried talking with the man, he seemed unsure of anything to say. With a shrug, he curled himself up and tucked his head under a wing and fell asleep.
* * *
Deanna woke just as the first light of dawn broke into the morning world. She looked around the campsite. Whenever she was traveling she always made sure to sleep light and check her surroundings when she woke. After she satisfied herself, she pushed the cured hide cover off her and stretched the stiffness out of her joints. She heard Travis stirring behind her as she began collecting her portion of the camp. Travis sat up and scratched his head for a few moments, then he too started packing. Deanna watched him out of the corner of her eye, the man had joined the scouts and she wasn't sure what to think of the man yet. He was one of the few that knew more magic than weapons, and if he could handle himself well then he would be a good addition to the scouts.
The dragon still got on her nerves. She would have been content in silence the entire trip, but he had interrupted her thoughts nearly every step of the way. The chatter among the other scouts didn't bother her, since they knew to leave her alone when she wanted to think. This dragon never seemed to pick up on the fact. Despite how annoying he could be, she could tell he was trying to help. That small piece of him she appreciated.
When Deanna finished putting the packs together, she woke the other two. Their shuffling about woke the dragon who had taken his head from under his wing. The dragon lay there watching everything silently with glazed eyes. Deanna took care of cleaning up the rest of the camp while the other three packed up. She noted that Travis started before the other two and was the last to finish. The sun had moved just above the horizon as they were mounting their horses. Deanna looked through the sparse trees, up at the top of the mountains they had traveled through the day before. She frowned up at the clouds that threatened rain for later in the day. She hoped hat they would reach Nicksville before the rain came upon them.
Their luck wasn't meant to hold out against the weather. As they saw the first few buildings the rain saw its first few victims. Deanna saw movement in nearly all the windows as people came to watch the newcomers, especially the dragon. Ravenstone had Heraseth visit once a month and this kept them used to a dragon's presence. Deanna knew the people of Nicksville never got dragons as visitors, so their dragon was a surprise few expected.
The Inn keeper was nice enough to let them all have a warm breakfast, at a discount for being on official business. The soldiers had to help the inn keeper with a few tables and chairs to help let the dragon in, and the dragon sat at the bar with the rest of the travelers and ate a small helping himself. He sniffed at it for several moments until he apparently saw the keeper starting to get offended, then the dragon made a show of eating the food like it was a delicacy.
After Deanna finished her plate, the man walked up to the table where she sat alone, and took a seat. He sighed as he sat down, then looked across at her and spoke in a hushed voice, "You know, ma'am, your dragon troop here is not the only strange thing to happen around here lately. Just a couple days ago a large group of men came through, most of them dressed really funny for these parts. They just camped a little north of here and kept to themselves. We even offered them a place to stay here, but they wouldn't even talk with us."
Deanna leaned forward taking in everything the man said. When he stopped, Deanna narrowed her eyes at the man, "How many of them were there?" She hoped for sixteen, but dreaded a much higher number.
"There were quite a few actually, ma'am. Much more than your group today. But I don't know how many there were, too many to count all at once. They almost seemed like a small army to us here in town. In the morning they just all got up and left. Some to the west and some to the east."
"Were they all dressed in dark green?"
The man nodded, "Yes ma'am I think they were. Did you run into them somewhere?"
"Yes we did. Killed several in the tower a couple days back. We're hunting for information on these men. What else can you tell me about them?"
"We hadn't gotten such news! If we had known that they were out to cause mischief we would have sent word right away." Then he leaned forward again and began wish his hushed voice, "There are more out there though. I heard from Nathan out past the edge of town that his son saw several of those men headed east. Is that the way you're headed ma'am?"
Deana nodded slowly without a hint of surprise or emotion about anything the man had said.
"Oh you best be careful then ma'am. They are bound to be out for more mischief that's for certain. They won't be welcome in this town, no ma'am. I'll see to that myself." The man shook his fist with emphasis as he talked.
"Yes, do see to that. It sounds like my men," She paused or a moment, as she looked over to the dragon still sitting before the bar with the rest of her soldiers, " my men, dragon, and I need to be moving on then. I thank you for your hospitality."
"Won't you wait till the rain is past? I am sure those fugitives won't be traveling far in the weather."
"No," Deanna stood and raised her voice, "Travis, Jacob, Helen, and you there dragon. Come on we've got a lot more of the road to travel on."
The rain had let up after their breakfast at the bar, it turned to only a constant drizzle. The horses didn't mind, the soldiers didn't mind, and the dragon seemed only slightly annoyed by it. They had left the small town a while back, and it was getting close to noon. The entire time they all remained silent, including the dragon. Deanna considered this to be a nice reprieve from usual, she guessed he was lost in his own thought, or self pity.
Then she noted he had come up from the back of the line up abreast of her. She figured if maybe she remained silent that he might leave her in peace, but she didn't have much hope for it. The dragon just walked beside her for several minutes, a deep thoughtful look on his face. He only strode forward, looking out ahead, the rain dripping off his wings and his head the whole time.
"Deanna?" the dragon asked.
"Yes what is it dragon?"
"Do you think we'll see any more of the Cickrack while we're traveling?"
"I doubt it."
"I don't travel on foot very often, so I don't know if this'll be dangerous or if we'll run into more of the Cickrack or something. There are always things behind the trees and now there are people that want to kill us all. Everything seems so dangerous."
"I don't think we'll have much to worry about today dragon."
"But my father never told me about Cickrack crossing the Crater Mountains. He didn't tell me about assassins like that either. It all just seems terrible." He glanced back at the others before continuing in a whisper, "I have nightmares of them now. I'm scared that those bugs or the other humans could have killed me."
"Dragon, that happens to everyone. We all have the thought that maybe if you hadn't have done what you did, you might be dead. Look at us now though, we did what we had to do and we're still here. That Cick isn't, I had this sword buried pretty deep in it. I don't think its going to be eating you any time soon." She saw the dragon turn his head and open his mouth for some reply but she cut him off, "And if we do see another one, I am pretty sure we can bury my sword pretty deep in that one too. The scouts and I can take care of any assassins."
The dragon closed his mouth as the spines on his head and back seemed to fall flat on him. He hung his head and slowed his pace and took back the spot in the line he had left several minutes ago.
The dragon was like a new recruit, scared of his own shadow and worried about everything. She wondered why the dragon came to her at all for anything. What made things even worse the dragon came to her with problems and insecurities. The last thing she wanted was to look like a caring mother that held children's hands. The rest of the scouts would see that as weakness, and that would lead others to see her actions as weakness. Weakness bread trouble, and she'd had enough of that.
Of course the dragon so far had acted when trouble appeared. Perhaps there was some hope for the recruit yet. Although, without any way to watch and test him, he could crack under the wrong sort of pressure. If he did, she'd try hard not to hurt him too much if she had to get him out of the way in a fight, maybe knock him out or stun him. Still she hoped that if anything happened on their trip that the dragon would at least act rather than panic.
There were assassins in the woods. The road was well traveled she knew, and the path in front of her was of good solid stone. It made for wonderful traveling, and excellent footing in a fight. The woods grew right up to the edge of the road, which made for easy ambushes. She had her scouts check the road often to make sure no bandits decided to harass travelers. It was impossible to stop them all, but her scouts kept the kingdom safe, so far.
She gazed through the trunks and branches that spread out around her. They made an endless web of places to hide and places to make ambushes. She never liked the woods much, but knew enough to keep from making anything easier for whoever might be out there. She couldn't be sure that there was anyone out there at all, but she felt the need to act as if there was. More than once when she acted as if there was trouble ahead, she could avoid it. Deanna hoped it would work this time as well.
* * *
The dragon kept his head down, his spines obviously drooping. He hadn't bothered her anymore, but something was obviously bothering him. She hoped he would find his own answer than bothering her with trivial matters. Maybe if he approached her, she could have him talk to Jacob, he had his head on straight.
Late in the day the rain finally stopped, but the clouds never let up. When the sun finally dipped below the mountains to the west, and then the clouds devoured the dwindling light making for very gloomy travel. The group made camp much like the day before, and just like the day before, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Deanna had them all take short watches during the night since there was trouble lurking somewhere in the woods. When morning broke they all packed and moved further on. The clouds let up mid-way through the day. For the evening, the dragon offered to hunt for the soldiers and Deanna agreed. When he returned the soldiers were pleased with the deer he brought back with him. That evening the dragon and the other soldiers seemed to have a pleasant evening. They told each other stories and joked with each other.
Deanna sat to herself, pondering what their enemy out in the woods might be doing. She had expected them to attack or capture them during the day or the night before. Since nothing happened she was becoming more suspicious of the enemy. There were doubts beginning to form in her mind as well, that maybe this other group either waited in ambush somewhere else, or possibly had abandoned them completely. Deanna supposed it was even possible that they didn't even know that she and her soldiers were even there. Her instinct told her however that they knew, she just couldn't explain why.
The next day passed much like the one before it, very little happened to the small group as they traveled. Deanna saw no sign of the enemy traveling their route, or of any camps or ambushes planed anywhere. They passed several places on the way the past couple days she expected to be an ambush, but she was glad she had been wrong. On their fourth day close to the evening, she asked the dragon to head up into the sky and see if he could find any hint of what might be lurking out in the woods. She and the others set up their camp again and waited for the dragon to return. When he did, Deanna was disappointed when he told her that he had found nothing.
Deanna woke up first on their fifth day of travel. While she was packing up her things, she heard the dragon sit up.
She heard the dragon behind her, "Good morning Deanna." He sounded like his sleep was restless the night before again.
Deanna continued her packing but decided to respond for the first time on this trip to his morning greeting, "Morning dragon." She couldn't see why he had to greet her every time he saw her. But she never felt annoyed by his morning greetings, he was only trying to be friendly.
"We could get to a large river today I think. Its not too far from here, over in the east." The dragon scratched some itch on his neck with a hind leg.
"That river is the border between Freeraven and Nyland." Deanna had stopped for a moment and looked at the dragon, then she went back to packing the camp. The other three were stirring awake. They would be on the road again soon.
Through the day, they kept a constant pace. Deanna was the only one looking for any signs of trouble, the rest of them seemed certain that the enemy had never known their presence and had moved on. Deanna was inclined to think that was the case as well. In the afternoon however, Deanna noticed several footprints join the dust in the road from some small path out of the woods. She immediately became suspicious, but the others seemed to shrug it off.
That evening they came to the river the dragon had been talking about. The banks were steep muddy drop offs roughly the height of a man. Small trees hung out over the river in places, while larger trees grew on either side of the river. The dirt road they were on led up to the stone bridge. Deanna and her three soldiers could easily ride side by side across the bridge. The river slowly meandered through its course, hardly making a noise except for splashing around the bridge in places.
Deanna had the group stop before the bridge for a moment. Her eyes scanned the banks and the bridge itself for any signs of hostile life, but she found nothing. The others just indulged her but didn't help any. The dragon sat patiently looking around, but only to take in the surroundings. When Deanna was satisfied she waved to the group for them to start once again.
* * *
Peter Forter knelt in the bushes as baron Kyle Landol had told them. Their entire group had been laying in wait here for most of the day. The baron was completely certain the only real obstacles to their plans would be walking across this bridge in the future. This time however, the baron wanted to get directly involved with the problem. Peter checked his bow once again, knowing he would be using it sometime soon, though he wish he knew when. He was also anxious about the dragon, the arrows he had didn't seem like much of a weapon against a dragon. He only took comfort in the confidence of his baron.
As he waxed the string to his bow, he heard someone slowly walking up to his hiding spot in the bushes. He peered through the leaves and saw Kyle coming to him. He sat patiently and waited for the master to come and tell him what he needed to know. Peter looked up to the man when he arrived, even if Peter had been standing he would have to look up to the man.
Kyle whispered down to him, "Go tell the others that they're here now."
Peter silently nodded and scrambled off to obey. He looked back over his shoulder and saw Kyle face the bridge and point his finger toward the river underneath it. The magical force the man suddenly began to use crept around him, invisible. He was no mage, but the power being used now could easily be felt by anyone. Noiselessly, Peter arrived at his position and waited for Kyle's barrier to be in place before he started his men's attack.
* * *
Deanna had Travis and Helen riding in the front. She and the dragon came next, while in the back was Jacob. The only thing she heard was the soft movement of the water somewhere below them and the clomping of the horses. She looked out at the banks and wondered decided that she must have been wrong about the outlaws out in the woods. It could have been they were simply deserters from the main group. She might never know.
She brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked back ahead of her. Then she saw the dragon stop out of the corner of her eye. She reigned in the horse to stop and looked back at the dragon. He stood completely still, his eyes fixed in a hard surprised stare ahead of them.
"Dragon, what is it?" She hadn't seen the dragon do this before, and it bothered her.
For a moment the dragon just continued to stare, then he slowly looked down at the bridge and murmured, "Magic, someone is drawing a circle. A big one. Right here."
"How big is it dragon?"
"It's the whole bridge," The dragon said as he turned his head slowly, as if watching something move around them. "They're still drawing it. Something to do with the water below us, but I don't think its going to be good Deanna."
"By the two gods," she drew her sword and pointed the way they had come, "Move! Get off the bridge!"
She heard the other three and the dragon turning to follow her, but she saw it was too late for any of them. She saw the river on either side of the bridge lift up and quickly flow through the air towards her. The hair on the back of her neck prickled as whole sheets of water sailed quickly through the air and stop directly in front of her, sealing her path with a shimmering, rippling wall. The horse skipped to a stop and reared back, neighing wildly. The others behind her came to a stop, and she heard someone curse behind her loudly.
The water slowly started moving toward them, and Deanna could see the rest of the river rise in a giant circle around them. In moments the water had built a large dome around the entire bridge. She stared up at the watery prison as a grim realization dawned on her, they had walked right into a trap.
She looked back at the dragon, "Dragon, what do we do?"
The dragon had been staring up at the dome with the rest of the soldiers. Deanna's question brought him out of his trance, his voice was high with fear. "I don't know," He looked around them slowly, his eyes wide betraying his fear as he repeated slowly, "I don't know."
"We're not leaving the bridge," Deanna swung herself off her horse, "Get on the ground and ready yourselves, over there by the rails. We're about to see what this mage wants with us."
Deanna jogged to the stone railway hoping it would be enough cover. A moment later the other three guards knelt with their backs to the stones as well. Kneeling, Deanna let her magical grip on her sword tighter as she felt the magical force around them. She needed to know more about what they faced, but the water distorted the world outside their watery cage.
"Dragon," Deanna turned to face the dragon crouched near her, "what can you tell me about this? Where is it coming from? Is there anything else this is going to do?"
The dragon had been staring down again, but looked up at her and whispered back, "I don't know. This spell is huge, bigger than most I've ever seen. Let me study it though, maybe I can learn something from it if I have enough time."
"Dragon, I don't want to wait. This isn't right and every second you spend without an answer is another second whoever did this can make our lives miserable. Travis, you know magic right?"
"Um, some I think." He said as Deanna's hopes fell.
"What can you tell me?"
"I don't know circle magic, I'm sorry."
"Why did I bring you anyway?" Deanna shook her head and looked at the further end of the bridge, "Dragon find us a way out, before anything worse-"
An arrow clacked off a stone near her head, and Deanna flinched in mid words. She looked at the wall of water across from them just as more arrows began raining out of the water.
Travis swung his sword wildly up towards the arrows, most veered wildly as if they struck invisible stonework. The remaining arrows clattered harmlessly around them.
"Now I know why I brought you Travis." Deanna said, "Jacob, see if you can shoot back at them."
"Just me? One arrow against twenty?"
"Do it Jacob, or-"
Travis grunted as he swung his sword again. The sound of arrows flying through water, echoed and sung inside their prison.
"Now Jacob."
"Alright." Jacob said as he pulled an arrow out of his quiver.
"Helen, be ready for anyone coming at us on foot, we can't rule that out."
Travis began swinging faster as the arrows began coming through the walls irregularly. Deanna could feel the mental tingle of the magic he was using and guessed he wouldn't be able to keep up for much longer.
"Deanna," Jacob called, "My arrows are just getting stuck in the water. I can't get anything out."
"Dragon," Deanna turned to face him, "how can they get arrows through and we can't?"
"Its got to be part of this spell." The dragon said as he turned his head back and forth. He looked as if he was frantically reading the stonework of the bridge, but Deanna guessed he was seeing the lines of magic below them.
The clatter and splashes of the arrows around them began to speed up. Deanna noticed more were coming from behind them. Archers had surrounded them completely.
"This spell looks like it works to stop anything coming out of it to hold it in place," She heard the dragon say beside her. "but will let anything from the other side pass easily. I don't know anything that might stop this either."
Deanna shook her head and cursed again. Then she looked over the stone hand rails at the other bank. "I guess there is about ten on this side, maybe more. Travis how many do we have over there?"
"Some? Maybe say um." Travis waved his sword wildly at the arrows coming in at them.
Helen managed to knock an arrow to the ground as it sped towards the dragon. "Another ten on this side."
Deanna heard one of the horses give a cry of pain, and looked back. The horse bolted and hit the edge of the water. In the animal's blind panic, it pushed through the wall and then seemed to become trapped half way through. The animal struggled in place while the other horses panicked at far side of the bridge.
The dragon shook her with the palm of his wing, "Deanna! When you throw that sword-" The dragon let out a short yelp and jumped slightly, as an arrow punched through the softer membrane of his wing and stabbed into his side. After looking back at what hit him, he turned to Deanna with gritted teeth, "You throw the sword with magic right?"
Deanna held up her sword and nodded. "Will it go through?"
The dragon gave a short nod, "It should. This circle protects against..." But the dragon never finished his thought.
Deanna stood up and threw her sword hard towards the wall of water. She let her mind guide the blade. When the blade neared the wall, she could feel the circle magic trying to hold her back. With added determination she felt her sword break free and fly home.
She could feel her sword tear through one of the archers outside the sphere, but couldn't hear any cry. The arrows from that side for a moment seemed to stop, and Deanna felt a glimmer of hope as she pulled the sword back to her.
Before she caught it, an arrow passed right beside her and she heard it strike someone behind her. As she caught her sword she turned to see the arrow protruding from Jacob's thigh. He collapsed on the stonework of the bridge and let out a breath of agony, his bow clattering on the stones.
Deanna let her sword fly once again this time she felt it pass through the barrier easier this time, as if it wasn't sure how to stop this blade. Within another moment, a second archer lay on the ground as Deanna's blade returned to her hand. She caught the blade and knelt behind the railing once again and looked at her soldiers on the other side of the bridge. Helen had crawled over to Jacob and was pulling out a few strips of cloth from a small pouch on his leg.
Jacob pulled the arrow out of his leg with a grunt and looked over at Deanna, "Its not bad. I'll be fine. Just make these bastards stop."
"Dragon tell me you can bring this circle down!" Deanna stood and threw her sword out towards the bank.
"I can't, its too big."
"Then what can you do about it dragon?" Deanna felt her sword land in dirt and pulled it back to her hand.
Deanna saw the arrow, but couldn't move quick enough to stop it. Its path led it to land on the dragon's side, the second arrow to hit him. The dragon yelped and shrunk to the railing of the bridge.
"Dragon, what do we do? How do we stop it?"
The dragon looked away from his side, his wing held out as a shield over his body. "I think its coming from over that way. I can feel the energy flowing into the circle." He pointed with one paw, "If you can distract him long enough-"
"I intend to kill him dragon!"
She roared as she let the blade loose. The wall of water made seeing her target impossible, but she decided to land near the large tree she could discern. The blade dove into the side of the tree, and she felt the sword slip once it hit. It felt like she had splintered the side of the tree.
Bringing her outstretched hand back behind her, she called the blade back to her. A moment later she had caught it and flung it forward once again. She vaguely heard Travis strike down more arrows, and wondered how many other strikes she hadn't even heard. She let her blade strike the ground near the tree and called it back.
When she caught the blade she ducked below the railing. "Travis, how are you holding up?"
"Getting tired!" He said as he swung wildly again sending arrows scattering in mid air.
She noted he was panting, the strain of flash magic slowly eating away his strength. Deanna stood and threw her sword again. This time at a different angle and aimed at a large bush near the tree the dragon pointed out.
Se felt the blade catch and snag on roots. She ducked down as she moved her grip on the sword and tried to pull it out. If she had to, she would destroy that part of the river one throw at a time. But she hoped Travis could hold out that long.
"Dragon are you completely sure that's where it's coming from?"
"Yes! Right over there, not far at all."
"Deanna," Travis said, "The arrows, they've stopped."
She looked around their watery prison and found Travis was right. The wall rippled and waved, but without the splashes of arrows flying through. She stood and looked around the river sides. At different places she could see a dark wavy shape retreating quickly into the woods behind them.
"Yes, they've stopped." She said, watching the shapes as the last of them slipped into the woods.
"Thank he gods." Travis dropped his sword which clattered on the stones, and slumped against the stone railing. "I'm so tired, I've not worked like that ever."
"Glad you did though Travis," Helen said as she tied the last bandage on Jacob's leg, then sat against the railing as well. "Otherwise we'd all be dead I'm sure."
"No we'd all be dead if Raogothcar didn't figure out where this mess was coming from." Travis said.
"I didn't do very much." The dragon said as he winced, "I just read the magic. I should have done more. I'm sorry I didn't do anything."
"You did well enough dragon." Deanna said, "Let's get those arrows out."
Deanna turned back to the wounded dragon. He had been the most trapped of them all with nearly no cover, but he told her right about her sword. Without his reading the circle, and finding where the mage was, she would have never known where to throw her sword. She walked to where the dragon lay. He turned his head and raised his left wing to let Deanna to the arrows protruding from his side. She pulled them out and the dragon winced. She stared at the bloody arrow tip for a few moments then tossed it over the side of the bridge.
"They weren't poisoned, you'll be alright."
"It still hurts though." the dragon complained softly. Then he let out a deep breath.
Deanna looked up at the dome around them, "How long till we can get out of this?"
"It shouldn't take too long." then dragon said absently, as he sat looking down at his side with a frown. "Magic like this needs a lot of energy, and since the mage is gone it will wear out eventually. At least I think it will."
Helen looked over at her captain as she waved a sword at the end of the bridge, "Now that they are gone can't we just cut our way out or something?"
"I don't think so. Just look at your horse over there." The dragon pointed where the horse was still struggling to break free of the water. It was growing tired of its struggle, and was mostly hanging in place its head hanging low on the outside of the wall. "Good thing it got its head through. I'd hate to drown on top of a bridge."
Jacob laughed then said, "Drown on top of a bridge, I'd never believe it if anyone ever told me."
Deana walked back around the dragon to the edge of the railing and stretched out her mind to her sword once again. In a few moments she sent it sailing slowly back through the dome and to her hands. She wiped it dry from her pack on the ground then sheathed it.
"Let's just wait this out. The dragon said this needs power, it will out sometime. Hopefully soon."
The dragon closed his eyes, and mumbled softly, "It will."
"Helen see if you can't calm those horses, we'll need them again in a bit."
Helen jogged towards the horses milling on the other side of the bridge to take care of them. Meanwhile, Deanna gathered up the packs the horses had shed in their panic. It didn't take long, most of their things had been tied up well the morning before.
As she was walking towards Helen as she worked with the horses, she heard a deep pop above her. She looked up with everyone else to see a small opening at the top of the dome. The water seemed to tremble for a moment longer, then fell as a single sheet. Everyone was drenched at once as a roar of water swirled around them for a moment. A second later the water had found ways to drain back into the river below with a constant trickle. Deanna looked at Helen who just stood there for a moment.
Behind her, Deanna heard the dragon mumbled, "Well, that felt good at least."
Jacob looked at the dragon for a moment, then laughed. "Only you would say that."
The dragon tilted his head as he raised it to look at him, "Why would you say that?"
Deanna turned to the group behind her as she shook water from her sleeves, "Alright, come on. Let's get on the other side of this river and camp. Travis go get that other horse. Dragon, Jacob, see if you two can find a camp somewhere over there." She pointed to the eastern side of the bridge. Then she turned and helped Helen with the horses and packing them back up.
* * *
That evening they dried off and rested. The dragon and Jacob both assured her that they were alright. Both of their wounds were shallow. Deanna was glad they had managed to sneak away from the ambush with so few scratches. They could have easily been killed in such a well planned ambush. They managed to make a small camp off the road. Deanna felt certain they were safe for the night. She insisted on watches through the night, and no one disagreed now.
Deanna sat staring at the small fire they had. The ambush they managed to escape from troubled her. She was scared what the ambushers would try next. The ambush had left her with no further clues than what she already knew. What worried her more was now she also knew this enemy had some powerful mage working with hem as well. None of the criminal groups that she knew kept this sort of talent, it was usually too expensive or too hard to find.
There were fugitive hunts she had been on when her team had to handle a dangerous mage. Each time the scouts fought hard, and usually some died. She wasn't looking forward with dealing with a determined mage that was ready to kill others. This one could have easily been the most powerful she had ever dealt with personally as well. Captain Tillson though was known for fighting with mages. She hoped she would do as well.
Jacob, Travis, and Helen all lay around the camp sleeping already. The dragon sat a few steps further from the campfire writing in his oversized book. Deanna decided to take the first watch, the rest of them seemed to tired to stay up while she felt as if nothing had happened. She could tell that the dragon was tired, but something about having to write down every little detail kept him awake for some reason. She could not imagine why it would be important enough to write down.
Despite how she felt, Deanna sat back against the trunk of a large tree. She let the chirping of insects and the few last birds unable to sleep sing in odd melody around her. Everything sounded normal to her, and soon she began to ignore the sounds completely, and stared into the fire once again.
Looking into the waving flames of the fire, she recalled the events at the bridge. Everyone had done a good job she had concluded before, and she was glad now that she brought each of them on the trip, even the dragon. She hadn't thought what would have happened if the dragon hadn't come with them, or if the dragon decided to fly rather than walk with them.
Without the dragon's direction they would have all be fighting blind. Deanna wasn't sure she would have ever been able to discern where the magic was coming from and they would have all died. She looked up at the dragon nearby, he certainly wasn't brave nor very powerful, but he had helped them greatly again today.
She wondered why he tried so hard when the other dragons in Freeraven held only apathy for humans. Was there something wrong with this dragon in the right sort of way? The other scouts had opened up to the dragon through the trip she had noticed. Perhaps this dragon was good enough to even trust to some level.
The dragon closed the book he was writing in and Deanna turned her gaze back to the fire. He carefully placed the book back in his leather bag he had brought. After a short yawn, the dragon stood and slowly walked in her direction. She didn't avert her gaze from the fire, but watched him from the corner of her eye. Then after she lost track of his movements, she heard him flop to the ground near her. She guessed that he would need to ask her something and she waited for whatever the dragon wanted to ask.
"Deanna, what is the city of Palitos like? All my father ever told me about was the library, which doesn't sound like it would be much for the rest of the city."
"I don't know dragon," she said as she turned to look at him, "it's a lot like Ravenstone."
"I didn't get to spend much time in Ravenstone really, so what are they both like?"
"What do you want to know about them?"
"Interesting things, and things about them."
"The city is both an industry city as well as a trade city." She turned back to gazing into the fire as she recalled facts from different reports she was given from scouts. "They are the major grain producer for the entire Southerlands. But being built on the major east-west trade route and a major north-south road brought trade in the city to a good level. Freeraven gets most of its flour from Palitos, several times a year a small wagon train purchases flour. The Freeraven army has been guarding the train for several years now. Due to the city's size they have a small standing guard troop at all times. General-"
"No," the dragon interrupted, "I mean like how they got the library? What are the people like? Do they like dragons there? My mother told me that where she came from there weren't as many dragons that visited the cities."
"How would I know things like that dragon?"
"Isn't that things you would know? You've been in cities before, you're a human."
She stared at the fire as the dragon's last comment rolled in her mind. She had never cared about what other people thought about, normally that only lead to more work. For most of her life she had been more concerned with where the immoral and illegal parts of town were, how to eliminate them, and who would get in the way when she did try to eliminate them. The things the dragon wanted to know could get in the way. Histories made you feel sorry for criminals when you learned they couldn't feed their families. Knowing backgrounds gave one compassion for the murderer whose family only beat him and all he knew was hatred and malice.
"Dragon," she turned to look him in the eyes, "sometimes you can't know those things. I don't know the histories of Palitos because its not my job to know them. I know what I know about Palitos because that's what I need to know."
"Are humans all like that?"
"No, I don't think so dragon." She said as she turned back to the fire.
"Then why're you like that?"
"Because not everyone can be the way you want them to be."
The dragon furrowed his brow and turned his head to watch the flames as well. She didn't mean to sound as angry as she was. She wasn't used to being questioned, usually she was the one that did the questioning. What she had said was true though, and the dragon would have to learn to deal with it. Deanna didn't want to seem angry with him though.
"When we get there," she said quieter, "we might be able to find someone that knows a little more about Palitos than I do."
"That would be nice I think."
"It could be."
"Well," the dragon said as he stood, "goodnight Deanna. I'll see you in the morning."
He didn't wait for her to say anything in return and walked back to where he had left his bag. She didn't know what to say back to him anyway. She hadn't met anyone in the tower or in the city that was quite like this dragon. She couldn't understand why he would bother with any of them after all the attacks.
The dragon laid on his side and closed his eyes, his spines and wings drooping. Deanna remembered when she was left to train new recruits into the scouts, how they would ask questions and look for ways to fit in. Many tried to get on her "good side" only to find she never favored anyone. Favoritism lead to bad decisions, and lead to people getting killed. There were others that did better than she did in training new recruits, and it seemed she would need to get the dragon with one of them. With as much as he had been helping the scouts, he might as well be one of them now.