Boldheart: Spirit of the Dragon by meratocat |  |
His wings were spread wide, catching the night air like
a tarp. He almost completely made himself unknown to all below him as he carried
away the staff that had belonged to the Aisha. That staff could not get into
enemy hands, but he was glad that he did not have to destroy any of the pets
in order to save it from evil. Evil was against his mistress's policies. As
was interfering with the common creatures business, so he had had to let the
Aisha become captured by those thieves. It was only his job to protect the staff.
That was of course without anyone seeing him. He was good at concealing his
identity.
He flew northwards in a course headed right
for a waterfall of the purest water, and the freshest sand. It was his mistress's
lair. As he neared the cliffs that marked where she lived he slowed in his flight,
and spread his wings wide to let them take him to where he wanted to go.
Just when his scaly muzzle could have touched
the cliff, he swung his tail making himself bank to the left, and go through
the water into an immense cavern. Many large red scales, and a few smaller white
ones belonging to him, littered the floor in front of his feet. Also the scent
of sulphur was growing, as was the smell of his mistress, the great red dragon.
He folded his bat-like wings up against his
side, and started on the walk through the dark cave. Any other creature would
not have been able to get around the overhangs, and the slight drop offs, and
through the different passageways without a light to guide them, but to he,
it was as clear as day.
The sound of breathing became heavier as he
walked down the passageways, and then he could see her, his mistress the red
dragon of healing. "Mythouny, The Aisha Boldheart has been captured. I, though,
rescued his staff before the creatures of Lancoth could got it." He bowed his
white head, and handed Mythouny the staff.
The great red sighed as she took up the staff,
looking it over from each end. "I fear deeply, Kioup," she said looking over
the white dragon in front of her.
"What do you fear of?"
"Many things my young friend. Many things indeed."
She sighed again. "Much evil has come to these deserts that we call our home.
First it started off a few rogue thieves, but now they have organised themselves
into organised bands of terror, which they used to attack helpless bands of
others. There are a few who do stand up to these bands like the Aishas Boldheart
and Lajonah, but they are few, and most are now gone. I had rested my hopes
of Boldheart, but now you say he too is captured." She sighed once more, looking
at the ceiling, "Lets go outside. I would like to view the stars."
As they walked to the entrance of the cavern
Mythouny looked over the white dragon, Dreamoth. He was small for a dragon,
that was true at only being about one third of her size, but he still had a
pure heart which many of their kind did not possess. She had found him as a
young dragonling wandering the deserts after his mother had died. Of course
she had taken him, but she could tell that he was different from most dragons.
That was also in more then just his colour, for he was pure white with light
blue eyes, an albino. Rare among most creatures, but especially rare among dragons.
An albino dragon was only born about once every million years.
She had taught him how to survive, how to fly,
how to do many things, and even though Dreamoth considered her as a mother,
he still called her his mistress. Soon though she had realised that he had a
gift with magic. All dragons possessed at least some magic, but Dreamoth had
much. He was especially gifted at shape shifting. He could make himself appear
as any pet, and none of the others would be suspicious as to whether or not
he was one of them. She used Dreamoth to help her scout across her vast deserts.
"We are here now," Dreamoth said, and Mythouny
looked up. She had walked out, and flown down from her cave without thinking
about it. Her mind was upon other things right then, and Dreamoth noticed as
she looked back up into the sky at the stars and sighed once more. "The evil
that is arising is not your only worry Mythouny. I can see it in your eyes,
and hear it in your breath."
Mythouny looked at the albino dragon with sadness
filling her eyes. "I guess that you deserve to be told Dreamoth." And then she
looked down at the ground.
"Told what?"
"Told that I fear something is wrong. Wrong
with I." She sighed once more. "Long have I felt weaker then normal, but I have
pushed aside the thought out of fear. Now, though I must accept that something
really is wrong. Especially now, after that black Lupe and his gang managed
to get into my lair undetected by me. I managed to catch most of them, and erase
their memories as to where I live, but the Lupe, and three others escaped, and
I fear of what they will do with the information that they hold. I fear that
I would be too weak to defend myself if they were to assault me now with a full-fledged
attack soon, and I fear that they might."
Dreamoth let out a growl, "You should have told
me earlier. I will do all that I can to protect you Mythouny." Slowly he was
starting to shrink, and transform, "I will penetrate Lancoth, who the Lupe works
for I'm sure, and find out what they plan to do with this information!" by then
Dreamoth had completely transformed into a white Draik. He could become colours
other then white, but it took more energy, so usually he stuck with white. "I
will let no harm come to you Mythouny!" he said in a much smaller voice, and
then he jumped into the air, and took off for Lancoth and his troops.
The disguised dragon landed upon Lancoth's troops,
and they all put out their weapons at him for fear that he would attack. Dreamoth
jumped back from the weapons avoiding their sharp edges (Though as a dragon
he had no fear of such things, but he had to play his part) "Hold your weapons!
I come to join the great Lancoth's band!"
"I say that we's just poke him fer trespassern,"
a Gelert said with very bad grammar usage.
"Yeah!" a Pteri picked up, but before any of
the other pets could say anything, Droak the black Lupe stepped up, and all
the pets went into an instant salute.
"YOU DON'T JUST DESTROY EVERY PET WHO WALKS
UP YOU MORONS!!!" He yelled eyeing Dreamoth from the corner of his eye. "Any
extra hand we get can be useful, and besides he looks like quite a prize, so
get back to work!" and then he turned to face Dreamoth, "Not too many pets land
among a gang of thieves intestinally, and without fear asking to join up with
them. So I would guess that either you are insane, or are a very determined
creature."
"I have heard of your greatness, and wanted
to join."
"Wanting to join is not enough to get in with
us, it requires much work and skill, and once you start, to go back is death."
"I am willing," Dreamoth said in what sounded
like a very determined voice.
"You look like a strong creature. Not even flinching
at what lies in front of you. Are you good with the sword?" Droak said eyeing
the long scabbard that stuck to Dreamoth's side, and showing off his teeth.
"My weapon is my life."
***
"I have not seen skill with the sword this good in over ten years! You truly
deserve a spot in our ranks young Yuciau," Droak said, using the name that
Dreamoth had said was his own as he barely avoided yet another one of Dreamoth's
swift strokes. Because of the fact that he could be harmed while in a different
body, Dreamoth had learned to use the sword as to protect himself, and thence
was a master at it. With a single quick turn, Dreamoth dodged a few thrusts
from the pike that Droak was using.
"I shall take you up under my command Yuciau,"
Droak said, leaning in the shade of a palm. "You don't even need the extra tests,
for you have already proven yourself worthy to join us."
Dreamoth smiled. "I shall serve you well."
Dreamoth woke up in the morning to the call
that it was ready to begin training. He got out of the horridly uncomfortable
spreadsheet that he had to sleep in, and dressed into the rags that all of Lancoth's
men were forced to wear. Then he tied that annoying gold piece of cloth around
his head, for that too was required if he wanted to fit in with the rest of
the horrid creatures.
Dreamoth walked out into the morning sun, and
was instantly grabbed upon the shoulder by Droak, "It is time to test your skill
among the others of this group," he said with an evil grin, "Show them how well
you use the blade."
"I shall do my best," he said envisioning a
training session with dulled blades and sticks to teach you how to fight, but
what was really before him was much worse.
He was led out onto a flat sandy circle marked
with a long stretch of fabric. "Here is the best sword hand I have seen in many
years!" Droak called out loudly to all the other pets. "Whoever can challenge,
and beat him will be rewarded with a bag of Neopoints!" and he held up the bag.
The other thieves had begun to whisper among themselves, and many stepped up
to the circles edges. "Who dares to challenge Yuciau?"
In the end, a single pet, a Shoyru, stepped
up, "I, Thiu, take up this challenge!" and he pulled out a sharpened blade.
"Then let the match begin!"
Thiu ran towards Dreamoth, who hardly had time
to pull out his sword, and block the imminent attack. As the Shoyru attempted
to cut Dreamoth to ribbons, he had to wonder what kind of training coarse that
was supposed to be, when he realised with horror that all the spectators were
screaming out things like "Destroy the newcomer!" and "Kill! Kill! Kill!" He
realised that he had been thrown into a death match.
He recoiled in pain as the Shoyru's blade was
thrust into his shoulder and stained the cloth that he wore red, and he let
out a scream as the Shoyru pulled out the blade, and even more pain rushed in
upon Dreamoth. Thiu brought his sword back, and prepared to end it there, but
the dragon was not giving in to pain that easily, and with a hefty kick, sent
Thiu sprawling in the sand, his sword to far away to reach. Dreamoth brought
up his sword ready to end it all, but he couldn't. He looked at Thiu's face,
and the fear that he showed. The fear of destruction. Slowly, his sword sank
down to his side, for destroying was against all that he believed in, but then
if he didn't, he might never get the chance to go among Lancoth's troops, and
find out if his friend was in danger. If he flew away at that second, nothing
might happen to Mythouny, but yet again, that same move could ensure her death.
In the end though, duty to his mistress prevailed
over their own beliefs, and Dreamoth brought down the sword into the Shoyru's
belly, ending it all. "I knew that you were strong." Droak said patting him
on the back as he still stood over the Shoyru, clutching his blade.
He stood there rooted in that spot until after
all the other pets had left the premises. Only then did he remove the sword,
and wipe it off upon the sand. He closed the Shoyru's eyes, for they were still
open with fright, and then uttered a few ancient words that were the dragons
words of prayer. Those words were used in ancient times by dragons to give pets
a clear passageway into the afterlife. The words had long been forgotten to
most, but not to the dragons.
As he turned from the sight in front of him,
and started the walk back down towards the rest of the thieves, an anger mustered
up inside of him. An anger at himself for what he did, an anger at the creatures
of the world, and the evils that they did, and most of all, an anger at Droak
for allowing those evils to go unchecked, to even invite those evils. He growled
silently as he thought about all of that, and then he was quiet. Even through
all of the horror that he would face, he was still dedicated to making sure
that his mistress was safe, and that he would do.
The End |
