Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
Home Friend's sites Construction Help

Chapter 6

     A few hours later it began to get dark. The sun passed behind a wall of black clouds and the winds picked up. The horses speed up with fright. As we ran, I felt a wave of energy pass by. This was no natural storm.
     “Whoa!” I yelled and pulled back on the reins. I looked back at Danny. He had stopped and was looking at the clouds. His horse was shifting uneasily and tossing its head.
     “Bad storm coming up,” yelled Danny, “we should find shelter.”
     “This isn’t a normal storm! And there is no shelter around here!” I yelled back.
     Lightning flashed. My horse reared and nearly flung me off. Then it began to run crazily forward. I bent down over the reins and held on for dear life. I couldn’t see where I was headed.
     “Andr-" I heard, it sounded far away. I wondered what was happening with Danny.
     As it turned out Danny was in full pursuit of my horse, barley keeping his seat. He didn’t have to try to hard to encourage the horse; it was running of its own accord.
     Then the rains began. I had often enjoyed the splatter of rain against the roof, but this was totally different. For one thing I was outside. I could feel the drops pounded my back like stones falling from the sky. I looked sideways to be sure that’s not what was happening. The pain was almost overwhelming and I was drenched right through.
     I felt myself instinctively begin to cast a shield around myself. But I stopped myself. If I cast this spell, Danny would not be protected. If this storm kept up though, we won’t get out alive. I knew what I had to do.
     Desperately, I pulled myself up and tried to slow my crazed beast. Finally I managed to straighten its path and slow the pace a little. We were still running at a great speed but now Danny’s horse was able to catch up.
     “Danny! Stay close!” I yelled but was unsure if my words had reached him. Sure enough his horse came up beside mine.
     The spell I was about to cast was a simple one but the pain was breaking my concentration. Slowly, I began to create a calm spot around us, to shield us from the rain. The drops lightened more and more until we were surrounded by a wall of water, none of which fell on us.
     “Much better” I said into the calm. Danny looked about him in amazement; He had never seen my magic in use. Then he gave me a worried look.
     “Is this a good idea? What if your follower finds you?”
     “The storm would have killed us, I had to do something. Besides,” I said looking at the black sky, “this storm was made by magic. Stronger magic then the one I’m using right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if it took all four of those mages to cast it. My aura should be hidden well enough under it all.” Still I worried about the man following.
     Our horses had calmed down and were going at a steady pace forward. I didn’t urge them on; their energy must be just about spent. I looked instead to see if our supplies were in good order. Everything was soaked through, but it all seemed to be there. I asked Danny about his and he said likewise.
    We rode along in silence. Hours later the rains stopped.
     That night we slept in the mud, which wasn’t all that pleasant. Our backs were covered in burses from the rain. The map we were following was an unreadable mess. I wasn’t all that upset as I had studied it enough that I felt I knew our course well.
    
    
     The next day the ground was still wet. We rode through the mud. The horses didn’t seem to mind that much and it only slowed us down a little.
     The only problem is that the water all gathered in a once narrow stream that lay in our path. The stream, which Mike had assured us was clam and shallow was now a turbulent mud colored river. We could see it was about 20 feet across. The depth was unknown to us. Ours horses refused to enter. We were afraid that it might be too deep in the middle, which would cause our horse to be swept off by the current. There was no solution.
     We stopped at the riverside for a meal as which tried to solve the problem. After our meal we noticed that the water had gone down somewhat. Still our horses would not enter. We were sure that if we waited long enough the water level would lower enough for us to cross. So we waited. It was frustrating, just waiting there.
     I could feel my follower, his attention drawn to this area searching for me. I could sense something about him I hadn’t noticed before but I couldn’t figure out what it was. It was almost as if I knew who it was, something familiar about him. It was probably just because I was used to him following, I told myself.
     Another few hours passed before the horses would enter the water. The stream was now only 11 feet across. In the middle the water rose to our knees, but the horses did not lose their footing and we crossed the river with nothing more then wet feet.
    
    
     Within the day we should have reached the dragon’s cave. We began to look for landmarks from the now water stained map, that would show us how to get there. I could now see the mountains rising above the horizon and not far off the land began to get hilly. Seeing the shear size of the mountains made me glad we would be flying over them instead of going on foot.
     The dragon cave stood in a valley at the base of a mountain called Heband. The mountain looked like a hand crushing the earth. The valley was located between the first and second ‘fingers’ from the north. Danny was the one who saw it first.
     “We’ve gone too far east,” he told me. “The valley we want is over there” He pointed to where it was. He was right. We had gone too far. That frantic run in the rain must have set us off course. So we changed direction.
     We did not make it there before sunset, so we continued ridding through the night. When we finally did make camp, it was early the next morning. We woke a few hours later and rode all the next day. Then, finally, we made it to the valley. We would make it to the cave the next day for sure.
    
    
     As we made camp and I went over what was to happen the next day. The dragon cave was protected by a dragon Keeper. That dragon master would try to kill us. By casting this one simple spell that Michel taught me, I would not get killed by the Keeper, and I would prove that I was worthy of ridding a dragon. There were no second chances for the spell, if I said it wrong I would die. I could have no distractions while I was casting it.
     Then there was the matter of paying for the dragon flight. We still had many gold pieces left from Mike and we had our horses. That should be enough to pay for the flight. I felt sad at parting with our horses only because I knew what would become of them, the dragons would eat them. I sighed; such is the way of life I told myself. I didn’t mention the horses’ fate to Danny though I think he already knew we couldn’t take them with us.