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- Herausgeber: Dragonfire Press
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Serie: Dragon Riders of Osnen
- Sprache: Englisch
Sometimes there’s a fine line between truth and a lie.
Eldwin’s quest to become a dragon rider seems hopeless, but he won’t let his dream to bond with a dragon die. A sell-sword job with a caravan promises a decent payment, and offers him a chance to continue his quest.
The caravan he guards has a secret, and when he uncovers it, he can hardly believe his change of luck. However, despite the turn of events, his life only gets harder and a chance meeting with an enemy brings Eldwin to a moral dilemma.
He must now face the truth, which will shatter everything he’s believed.
Fans of Sarah K.L. Wilson’s Dragon School, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Riders of Pern will feel right at home.
A Bond of Flame is the second episode of the series Dragon Riders of Osnen.
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Seitenzahl: 111
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
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A Bond of Flame
Dragon Riders of Osnen Book 2
Richard Fierce
Copyright © 2020 by Richard Fierce
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. All events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form without the express permission of the publisher.
Cover design by germancreative
Cover art by Rosauro Ugang
Contents
The Necra Desert stretched like an affliction as far as I could see, nothing but rolling hills of dark sand and heat. Every so often, a gust of wind would blow over the caravan, but it did little to bring any reprieve from the high temperature. And when the breeze left as quickly as it appeared, it always made things worse by leaving me with a mouth full of gritty sand.
I trudged alongside a massive wooden cart that contained something valuable, though I didn’t know what it was. The man who had hired me as a guard didn’t provide any information other than where they were going and how much he was paying. I suspected it was some sort of animal. There were odd noises that often came from within the cart, and I’d seen the caravan leader toss a pig inside.
At this point, I was forced to take any job that kept me moving. I didn’t know if Master Pevus had dragoons searching for me, but I wasn’t going to take any chances by staying in any one place too long.
Besides, I was tracking down every rumor I heard about unbonded dragons. In the month since my escape from the Citadel, I’d traveled hundreds of miles. Every time I thought I was getting close to finding something, it turned out to be unsubstantiated claims or simple farmers who didn’t know the difference between a dragon and a large bird. My suspicions that Master Pevus had lied about where the school got their dragons grew with every failure.
I lifted my canteen and drank sparingly of the warm water that remained. Our trip across the desert had taken several days longer than planned and our supplies were running low. I licked my parched lips and heaved a sigh as I felt sand grinding between my toes. After this job was done, I didn’t want to see another desert for a very long time.
A droplet of sweat dripped down my forehead and into my eye before I could wipe it away, temporarily blinding me. I muttered to myself as I used the hem of my shirt to wipe my eye, vainly trying to use a portion that had the least amount of sand on it. Moments like this provided the only excitement on this trip. The master of the caravan had made guarding his cart seem like it was going to be highly dangerous. The only danger I’d seen so far was a rattlesnake, and it had steered clear of our small group.
“Sand Devil!”
The alarmed cry broke the monotony like shattered glass. I quickly drew my blade and looked for the scout who cried the warning. It was Geoff. He was roughly a hundred yards from the main caravan, standing atop a hill. He waved his arms frantically. I had never seen a Sand Devil before, but the other guards had tried to describe one a few days ago. When the creature topped the hill, my eyes widened in disbelief.
It was a lizard-like creature, roughly ten feet in length. Along its back were spines that rose two feet in height, though they were covered with a large flap of skin that made the spines appear to be a fin. It moved quickly, gaining on Geoff faster than I would have expected. Another guard, Vance, sprinted ahead.
Adrenaline started to course through me and I followed after Vance. Running was made difficult as the sand shifted beneath my boots, but we arrived just as the Sand Devil was snapping at Geoff’s heels. Vance weaved to the right and jabbed his spear into the creature’s side, but it was covered in thick scales and the strike didn’t pierce through.
“Take the other side!” Vance yelled at me.
I moved to the creature’s left side and kept my sword up and ready. Now that it was outnumbered, the Sand Devil backstepped defensively but kept its gaze on Geoff.
“What did you do to make him so angry?” Vance asked jokingly.
“I think it smells the—” Geoff abruptly stopped talking at a glare from Vance.
“Yeah, I know what it’s after,” Vance said lowly. His grip on the spear tightened. “And it’ll have to kill us all before it gets anywhere near it.”
I assumed they were talking about whatever was in the cart. My palms were sweating, and the hilt of my sword was starting to slip from my grasp. I cursed my mangled hand and quickly brushed my palm along my pant leg.
That was all the Sand Devil needed. It whipped around in a circle, slamming its tail forcefully into Vance. The blow sent the man tumbling into the sand. The Sand Devil opened its maw wide and charged me. My feet faltered in the sand as I tried to move out of the creature’s reach, and I fell onto my knees.
The Sand Devil screeched madly as its heavy body crashed into me, throwing me face-first into the sand. I gasped, the air forced from my lungs, and tried to get out from under the beast. It felt as if a large stone was on top of me, and it was impossible to get free. Panic started to set in. I struggled to breathe, not only from the weight atop me but also from my head being buried in the sand.
Just as my vision started to become fuzzy, the weight of the beast was removed. I rolled onto my back and inhaled precious air, then looked around to see what was happening. Vance had drawn the Sand Devil’s attention and was keeping it at bay by thrusting at it with his spear. Geoff was lying in the sand, unmoving. I struggled to my feet and retrieved my sword from the sand, then hurried over to Geoff.
He was breathing, and he wasn’t wounded from what I could see, but he still needed to be looked over by the old wizard who doubled as a healer. I turned back toward Vance.
“How do we kill this thing?” I asked.
“Its scales are too strong,” Vance replied. “We can only pierce the flesh of its belly. We’ll have to find a way to flip it onto its back.”
“That seems impossible,” I said, shaking my head.
“Very few things are impossible.”
The Sand Devil charged him suddenly. Vance threw himself to the side, narrowly escaping the mouthful of sharp teeth that tried to bite him. As I watched the beast move, I noticed that the spiny fin on its back swayed back and forth in opposition to the rest of its body. An idea formed in my mind, but I hoped it wouldn’t get me killed.
“Get ready!” I shouted, then I tossed my sword down and sprinted straight toward the Sand Devil’s right side. When only a few strides remained between us, I leaped into the air and balled myself up, then crashed into its fin. The creature roared in surprise. I was briefly satisfied to feel the Sand Devil tip over beneath me until it continued in a roll and crushed me beneath it again.
Thankfully, this time I was face up, but I was unable to move. I didn’t bother to struggle knowing it was futile, and I was relieved when I heard the Sand Devil cry out in agony instead of anger. I felt the vibration of a few thumps as Vance struck the creature over and over. When the Sand Devil stopped moving, I felt someone grab ahold of my hand and pull me out from under the beast. It was Vance. He pulled me up onto my feet and I rubbed my lower back.
“You’re crazier than you look,” he said with a grin. “How’d you know that would work?”
“I didn’t,” I admitted. “It was a gamble.”
Vance chuckled and we walked around the dead Sand Devil. There were multiple puncture wounds in its underbelly and Vance’s spear protruded out of it.
“We should get Geoff back to the healer,” I said.
“Agreed.”
We each grabbed an end of the prone man and carried him back to the caravan. The leader instructed us to put him into the wizard’s cart, and we left Geoff in the care of the withered old man. Vance shared a private conversation with the leader, Rory, and I headed back to where the Sand Devil was. I inspected the odd creature, looking over its armored scales and running my fingers over them. They were smooth but hard as steel. I heard someone approaching and looked over my shoulder to see Vance.
“Is it possible to make a shield or something with its scales?” I asked, nodding toward the Sand Devil.
“Possibly,” Vance replied. “Though I’ve never seen it done before.”
I stared at the creature thoughtfully.
“Rory said the camels need a break from pulling the carts, so we’re going to make camp here for the night.”
“Who’s taking the first watch?” I asked.
“I will. You can take the next one, and if Geoff isn’t seriously injured, he can go last.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said.
“While the others set up camp, I need your help.”
“With what?”
“With preparing dinner,” Vance said with a knowing look at the Sand Devil.
After Vance and I had cut the Sand Devil open and separated the edible meat from the scales and skin, we put the meat in a large pan and left it cooking over an open flame. I would never have guessed that a Sand Devil could be eaten, but the scent that wafted throughout the camp as the meat cooked left little doubt in my mind that it would be delicious.
“You never want to eat this,” Vance said. He held up a roundish organ that he’d pulled from the Sand Devil’s insides.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I don’t know the real name of it, but I call it a poison ball. It’s full of some kind of toxic liquid. If you eat it, you’ll be sick as a dog for at least a week.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
Vance held it away from his body and used his other hand to slice through the top of the organ with a dagger. A foul odor immediately assaulted my nostrils. I coughed and covered my mouth and nose.
“With a smell like that, who in their right mind would eat it?” I asked.
“You’d be surprised what you’ll do when you’re starving. Anyway, the liquid inside wards off other Sand Devils. I guess that stench it gives off serves as a warning that there is a larger predator in the area. If there are any other Sand Devil’s around, it’ll keep them away.”
I followed Vance as he walked around the perimeter of the camp and poured some of the liquid out at various points. The liquid was a deep purple, almost black, and reminded me of the disgusting potion I’d drank for my test at the Citadel. I tried not to think about the place, but sometimes a memory would come to mind and I couldn’t help but entertain it. There were many things I missed about the school, but there was only one person that I hoped to see again.
“What did you do before coming out here?” Vance asked, breaking my reverie. He tossed the empty organ down and knelt long enough to grab a handful of sand, then rubbed his hands together.
“I did a few small jobs, similar to this,” I replied.
“What about before that? Before you started hiring your sword out?”
I remained silent for a moment. I doubted Vance was a servant of Master Pevus, but I also didn’t want people to know that I had failed out of the school.
“I lived at my father’s estate,” I replied, trying to be vague.
“What brought you out on the road?”
I shrugged. “I wanted to get out and see what was to be seen, I suppose. My father’s been dead for years, and my mother passed away a couple of months ago. That’s what really pushed me out of the door. It was difficult being around everything that reminded me of her.”
Vance nodded. “I’m sorry to hear about your loss,” he replied. “I can understand why that would bring you out into the world.”
We walked back to the cooking fire and Vance stirred the meat. He plucked a piece out of the pan and blew on it several times, then put it into his mouth.
