Dragon Kin - Chapter 3 (untitled)

By early afternoon the road was within site. Crossing a small bridge Skye suddenly held up her hand and halted abruptly. A faint ringing noise was coming from somewhere. Reaching inside her coat she pulled out a small, yellow sphere. It was laced with white veins that radiated outward from the centre. The small object glowed brightly in unison with every dull ring that sounded from it. Zander was fascinated and was slightly startled when she held it at arms length and let it go. Expecting it to go crashing to the ground he launched himself forward ready to catch it but stopped almost immediately as it simply hung in the air.
Skye ignored him and waved her hand over the top of it as if brushing away an invisible veil. Immediately it stopped glowing and a small image of a man flickered into existence. He had wavy, dark brown hair that was tied behind him in a small ponytail. His eyes were a deep chestnut and he wore a dark hooded top.
“Please hurry, the day grows old. You were lucky once but I fear for your safety should you spend another night out in the open. They have already been spotted heading your way. He is aware of what you have done. Please hurry Skye.” Finished the ghostly apparition before his face blurred and he was gone.
She snatched the sphere from the air and roughly shoved it back inside her coat.
“It’s a com-sphere,” she said, sensing Zander’s interest and curiosity about what had just happened, “two people can use it to send messages to each other over long distances. Not usually ones as bad as this though” she added, attempting to laugh a little.
“What did he mean? Who are they? Why can’t we be out in the open? Why were we lucky?” he blurted out, taking advantage of what he hoped was a drop in her defences. Yet again he was disappointed however.
“There’s no time for that now,” she persisted and aware of his growing annoyance she turned to him and added quickly, “Soon, I promise, when we reach the safety of the forest everything will be explained.”
This is getting old, he though to himself quietly as they set off at an increased pace along the dusty and well traversed road. Argument was driven out of his head yet again however in an effort to keep up with Skye who, it seemed, had gained a new source of strength and was now striding along in front of him at such a pace, he was having difficulty keeping up – even with four legs and a pair of wings to aid him.
As they neared the forest towards the evening Zander finally began noticing signs of life. Birds were twittering in the nearby trees and an abandoned wagon lay on the side of the road. The fields surrounding them were filled with various crops and one in particular interested him more than any other. In the centre stood a lone tree with delicate, ghost white branches. It was bare of foliage and instead had tiny crystals all varying in size growing on it. However something still didn’t feel right. Where are all the people? He wondered to himself.
It wasn’t just the absence of beings like Skye or himself that disturbed him though. The atmosphere was oddly tense like someone was watching them. As the trees from the forest loomed into view he felt a tingling sensation ripple through his body. Something was coming. He reached out with his feelings and he was sure of it, something was coming from the forest and it didn’t feel friendly.
“Skye! I’m not sure about this, something doesn’t feel right!” he called to her
“I know, I’m sorry”
“Wha-” he started to ask but there was no time to finish as suddenly a spear flew out of the trees toward him.
He narrowly avoided it as it whistled past his face. Bewilderment and anger took him as another flew from the darkness of the trees. He jumped backwards just in time to have it land at his feet. He desperately turned to Skye but she wasn’t even looking at him and the barriers were closed fast around her mind again. A trap! How could he have been so stupid?! How could he have trusted her!
Angry at himself for his serious lack of judgement he tore the spear from the ground and took flight as a shadowy figure swept from the forest. The fire inside him was raging, he wanted to explode. Instinct took him as he let out a huge roar that echoed across the forest and the fields. He felt a huge power surge within him. A hot liquid rushed up his throat and past his tongue as he let out a giant burst of flame. Whether he burnt himself he didn’t care. If this was a trap then he would do everything to avoid it.
He aimed another heated blast towards the ground as the shadowy figure launched itself into the air with unnatural agility. Take that he thought triumphantly but the stranger was still coming. He passed straight through the flames with ease, they didn’t even seem to hurt him. Angry Zander climbed in the air, looped backwards and threw the spear with all his might. The stranger suddenly burst into a bright white light that hurtled towards him at tremendous speed. The spear was snatched from the air by an invisible hand and the light suddenly reformed, coming to halt right in front of him.
A long and slender, deep green dragon hovered before him. Its yellow eyes fixed on his. His anger subsided slightly at this sight as the realisation he wasn’t alone hit him. It still didn’t account for why he was attacking him for no reason.
His foe clenched the spear tightly in his hand, snapping it in half like a tooth pick. He let the splintered pieces fall to the ground, jolted his head and let a stream of emerald green flames spew from his mouth. There was no time to dodge but something else suddenly awoke within Zander. It was an even more powerful feeling than before and it came from somewhere other than the fire still heaving within him. He moved an arm swiftly and surely through the air in front of him without knowing why and the green flame was deflected away, back to its owner who was certainly not fast enough to put up an equal defence in time.
The dragon let out a mighty roar as his own weapon scorched him and he fell backwards out of the sky, shattering into bright white light again to return back into human form before he hit the ground hard. He was on his feet in no time however and just as Zander readied another attack he burst into his mind.
“Enough!” bellowed a deep, rough voice, the same one that spoke over the com-sphere earlier. “You have proven yourself.”
If he had been lost before, it was nothing to how he was feeling now. Sensing his opponent had no more fight left in him, and feeling somewhat drained himself, Zander let himself fall back to the road below. He landed forcefully, making the ground shake. Even if his opponent was beat he wanted to reinforce his dominant position. He was tired of secrets. He wanted answers!
“I’m sorry!” came Skye’s pleading voice through his open consciousness.
Right now he didn’t want to talk to her so he forcefully blocked her from his thoughts. She started running towards but he let out a warning snap and she stopped. Tears began to fill her eyes.
“Don’t be angry at her!” the man shouted “She only did as I asked and please stop making so much noise. We have drawn far too much attention to ourselves as it is.”
Why! He yelled into nothing, at no one. It was maddening that he couldn’t communicate with them verbally. He just wanted to shout himself hoarse.
“I doubt you’re likelihood in trusting me after that display,” said the man, his voice returning to normal, “but I can promise you that the answers you seek will be given soon. I have come here at great personal risk to test you myself. It is obvious that you have forgotten much about yourself as was expected, but it is also apparent that you have lost none of your former power.”
He spoke with an air of authority. Whoever he was, he was used to giving orders and instilling a sense of glory in others. He was well versed and chose his words carefully but above all else he could apparently transform into a dragon at will. This intrigued Zander greatly and he concluded that if he couldn’t trust one of his own kind, he could trust no one. Besides he needed answers, whether they were to his liking or not he feared he would go mad if his mind didn’t get a respite soon.
The evening was slowly fading into dusk and the first stars were already visible next to a pale moon.
“My name is Thade,” he said as Zander’s muscles relaxed and his anger slowly ebbed away “and if you except my offer then please, let us hurry into the forest. Our time is about to run out.”
With that he turned swiftly on his feet and was engulfed in the darkness of the trees. Skye quickly followed him. He hesitated momentarily and pricked his ears as a new sound entered them. It was a low rumbling sound that quaked through his very existence. It held a strange and dreadful familiarity, a darkness to which he didn’t want to return.
It was growing steadily louder and taking a last look around himself, he hurried after the others until the trees had swallowed him too. Thade and Skye were waiting for him just inside. He glanced back over his shoulder to see a thin veil closing behind him where he had just passed through. Everything on the other side was now tinted an eerie green, even the strange tree in the field that had entranced him with its ethereal beauty, was now just as boring as the rest of the landscape.
Looking at the sky he saw several large black shapes circle over head before disappearing over the mountains far in the distance. The mountains from which, only a day before, he had seeming awoken to the world around him and this crazy existence had started. Somehow he knew he couldn’t go back now, even if he wanted to.
“It seems that an aura of luck surrounds you these days Zander,” voiced Thade, “let us pray that it holds, for the future of all the Dragon Kin.”