Dragons of Kings (Upon Dragon's Breath Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  Pushing himself to his feet, Bower shouted at Ryland, “The flags—what do they mean? Who is attacking?”

  Ryland waved us to keep up with him. Bower broke into a limping run and I followed after, with a quick thought to Jaydra to take to the air and see what she could see.

  Talking as he ran, Ryland said, “The Salamanders taught us to use flags. With it we can pass message for many, many leagues. What that shows is that someone has attacked our scouts to the south and west.” He ran into the settlement. Everyone seemed to be hurrying past, but a man stopped to hand Ryland a sword belt. Ryland whistled for his steed, and turned to Bower. “You are certainly lucky. I don’t know what happened back there, but I know you were about to be dragon-food. Bravely done…but dragon-food nonetheless.”

  I opened my mouth to confess, but Bower interrupted. “Where are your other dragons? We’ll need them.”

  We? Bower really did think of these people as his responsibility, even if no one had declared him king.

  Someone brought Ryland his saddled pony. He took the reins and told Bower, “It’s the metal men coming. Their king and his vile magic tricks have caused us to lose two of our dragons. They were the only rideable ones we had, for the others are all far too wild. Without those two dragons we haven’t got a hope of countering the metal men.”

  I did not like to think of more dragons caught in catches, but even less did I like thinking of the Iron Guard. I’d seen those metal soldiers in Torvald and had even managed to destroy one during my magical battle with Enric, but that hadn’t been anything I’d planned. I’d sent my magic out and it had torn one of the Iron Guard almost in two. I still had no idea how I had done it.

  Must I always lose control to be able to use my magic to defeat Enric?

  I shuddered. The Iron Guard was an army created by magic—horrible magic. I wanted nothing to do with it.

  Magic isn’t something Saffron does. Magic is Saffron and Saffron is magic. Jaydra thought to me from far above.

  I knew Jaydra’s thought magic was as natural as breathing, for that was how dragon magic could be.

  And look what Saffron did—Saffron saved Bower and freed two dragons.

  That was one way of looking at it. But I still did not have great faith I could use my magic exactly as I wanted. After all, I hadn’t intended to knock everyone flat just a few moments ago.

  My cheeks burned, but I was still not sorry I had freed those two dragons. I didn’t think Bower would be sorry, either, for he had been trying to free one of them. Glancing at Bower, I said, “If the best anyone could do was sit on a dragon, how would those wild dragons be any use against King Enric?” I looked at Ryland. “What was your plan? Just to goad the dragons into a fury and point them toward the enemy line, hoping they decided to attack the enemy rather than you?”

  Ryland shot me a hard look, but Bower said, his tone grim, “The Iron Guard. That’s what they’re called in Torvald. They are unstoppable. Unbeatable.”

  “They’re Maddox magic,” I muttered.

  Ryland shook his head, threw his pony’s reins over the animal’s head and swung up onto the pony’s back. He nodded to where his riders were approaching with their tough mountain ponies. “We have to try.”

  “We can help,” Bower said.

  I didn’t want to hear that. If Enric was coming, it might be best if we left. But Bower looked determined, so I looked up to where Jaydra circled overhead and asked, Jaydra, will you fight with us?

  Jaydra’s voice sounded joyful and fierce in my head. Jaydra will always fly with Saffron.

  “We have a dragon. One who will fight with us and who can scout,” I said.

  Ryland’s mouth flattened, but Bower nodded at my words, and then said, “But we don’t have any weapons other than a knife or two.”

  “Three-Rivers clan can provide.” Ryland called out to a youth who was running past. “Bring them swords, bows and signal flags and quick!”

  The boy nodded and hurried away. Around us it seemed as if the entire settlement was taking up arms, including women, children and the old. People came out of their huts strapping on leather armor or sword belts or carrying long spears.

  Wheeling his pony, Ryland called out to the other mounted riders to follow him. They rode off in a cloud of dust. A few moments later, the boy Ryland had sent to get us weapons came back with one short sword, three scraps of what seemed to be red cloth and a bow and a quiver of arrows. Bower took the sword and the red cloth. I grabbed the bow and arrows.

  “All I could find,” the boy said and sprinted away.

  Bower strapped on the belt and tucked the red cloth into the belt, telling me. “We can signal Ryland with these flags.” Bending down, he picked up one of the fist-sized rocks from around an extinguished fire pit. “I’ll fill a pack with these. We can throw these from above if nothing else and keep the king’s forces distracted.”

  We were going to fly out on our first direct battle with Enric and somehow rocks did not seem to me to be a powerful weapon. But I had arrows and perhaps all Ryland needed were eyes in the sky.

  Calling to Jaydra, I asked her to land in the settlement so we might mount. We had no time to secure our blanket saddles to her back, so we simply swung up on and secured ourselves as best we could between the ridges of her spine. Jaydra launched herself into the air, and I leaned forward as we sailed up into the clouds.

  At first, I could see nothing of any army, but Jaydra’s dragon senses picked up on smoke in the air, and she thought to me, Look to the mountain slope.

  Smoke curled up from what seemed to be a small village with what was now no more than smoldering ruins. I glimpsed blackened walls and figures moving through the wreckage, smashing anything still standing.

  “The Iron Guard,” Bower shouted from behind me.

  Pulling out one of the scraps of red cloth, he held it out so it flapped in his hands. Below us, red fluttered on the ground and I knew it must be Ryland or someone from the Three-Rivers clan signaling back to Bower—or that was what I hoped. I did not want to think we had alerted the Iron Guard that we flew overhead.

  Ryland and his mounted warriors seemed to have found a path across the river bridge and over the mountain. I could see now why they used small, sure-footed ponies. No horse could have crossed that bridge.

  Shouting to me, Bower said, “By what I’ve read, Dragon Riders of old used to harry their opponents. They always had two riders, and one carried a bow or a spear and would fire down on their enemies.”

  I glanced back at Bower. “Did you fall too hard on your head? What are arrows and rocks going to do against soldiers made of metal and powered by magic?”

  Bower shrugged. “We want them looking at us—not at Ryland’s force.”

  I shook my head, but thought to Jaydra, Take us closer. Bower seems to want more excitement than is good for any of us.

  Jaydra dipped one wing and we circled downward. The air stank of smoke—and of burning flesh. I could now see this wasn’t so much a battle as it had been a slaughter.

  Below us, sunlight glinted off the Iron Guard as if these were huge men in armored suits, but I had seen these Iron Guards up close. I knew these were not men, but mechanical things powered by Enric’s dark magic. Each guard seemed almost as tall as a good-sized tree, with iron plates sculpted to represent an almost human figure and a faceless war helmet.

  Each guard seemed to carry a longsword made of the same dull iron. Around them, scattered like dolls, lay the Three-Rivers clan scouts who had obviously lived in these now burning huts. I counted ten bodies, but I wondered if any had been able to flee, or had the attack come too suddenly.

  I had no idea how many Iron Guards we faced, but I could see at least a dozen moving in and out of the trees and forest.

  “Hey!” Bower shouted and hurled a rock. The stone struck the blackened wall beside one of the guards. But Bower’s next stone struck Iron Guard’s helmet and the guard seemed to stagger a step.

  “You might jus
t be making it angry,” I told Bower.

  From below a human voice rose up, shouting, “Dragon!”

  Soldiers in armor and the king’s colors of deep purple stepped from the woods, some raising bows and knocking arrows to fire up at us.

  Jaydra roared and turned, using her scales to shield us and herself from the arrows. It would take far worse to harm her, but I could feel her annoyance as the arrows poked her side. We could beat any humans, but more and more soldiers seemed to be pouring from the forest. Had Enric sent his entire army here?

  Jaydra roared again, turned and plummeted down. I could only cling to her spines and hope Bower knew enough to lean close to Jaydra and hang on.

  She tore over the arm, making men duck away, pulling bows from hands with her claws, tearing and grabbing at anything that moved. Screams and shouts rose up. Jaydra wheeled around and came at the archers once more, scattering the soldiers before she rose up into the air.

  Concentrating on showing Jaydra where she should fly, how low and how fast, I tried to be an extra set of eyes for her.

  Behind me, Bower shouted, “I know this is working, but we have more trouble coming.”

  I spared him a glance and saw Bower was pointing out beyond the woods to another clearing.

  More of the Iron Guard marched up the mountainside along with more human soldiers. We did seem to be facing an army.

  “How many?” I asked Bower.

  He shook his head. “Too many for the Three-Rivers clan. More arrows flew up at us.

  Jaydra roared, turned to block the arrows with her scales and then tensed, ready to swoop down on her attackers.

  No, sister! There are too many, I thought, willing her to be cautious.

  Never too many for a dragon! Jaydra sent to me an image of scattering the army again. I feared she was going to try to attack an army on her own, so I sent to her an image of needing to warn the Three-Rivers clan of what they faced.

  Reluctantly, she ascended into the air, out of range of the archers below.

  Suddenly Jaydra croaked and started to fall out of the air, plummeting toward the ground, and at the same instant Bower gasped in pain. I had just enough time to register that no part of any of our bodies had blood on them. Neither Jaydra nor Bower had been hit by the arrows below.

  And that was when it hit.

  I gasped. Pain washed over me, spreading through me as if I’d been struck by lightning. But I knew what it was.

  I’d felt this before when Enric’s magic had gripped me.

  Is the king here?

  Suddenly, Jaydra croaked. Her wings folded. Bower cried out as well, and I knew he must be feeling the grip of the king’s magic, like some horrible hand wrapped around us.

  We tumbled through the sky, and I knew I had to block this cursed magic.

  Reaching out with my mind, I tried to sense Enric. I could find no trace of him, but still his magic seemed to be wrapped around us. Jaydra could not control her wings—they seemed to be torn off his by magic.

  We were racing toward the ground.

  Clasping Jaydra’s neck with my hands, I closed my eyes and let the power surge from me. The feeling of my dragon-magic was entirely different from Enric’s. It was different, too, from when I tried to use magic on my own. With Jaydra, the magic felt right and natural. It was as if this was who we were always meant to be.

  My hands warmed and Jaydra spread her wings wide, but it was almost too late.

  Opening my eyes, I saw the dark green canopy of trees, and then we hit.

  For a moment, I could do nothing. My entire body seemed to ache. I knew I had fallen from Jaydra, but I didn’t know where. Forcing myself, I opened my eyes and blinked back the pain.

  We had fallen into a wide tree, and I lay sprawled over the branches that had caught me. With a moan, I managed to sit up. I almost fell from the tree, but I reached out to Jaydra, searching for her.

  Jaydra well. Bad magic, but well. Glancing down, I saw she had crashed through the branches entirely and now sprawled on the ground. She stood and shook her wings as if to right them again.

  “Bower?” I called out.

  A groan from the tree branches above me told me he was alive. The limbs shook and Bower managed to pull himself from the leaves. Face pale, he stared down at me. “What was that?”

  I started to climb down the tree, my arms and legs hurting and my chest still sore as if I really had been held too tight by a giant hand. “I think…I think it was Maddox magic. A curse of some kind thrown at us—but I don’t know how. I don’t think Enric is here.”

  Bower started to climb down. His foot slipped and he started to fall, but Jaydra caught him with a claw and set him on the ground. I slid down the tree and leaned against the trunk, patting it to thank it for saving our lives.

  Bower looked from me to Jaydra. “Iron Guard, archers and magic being thrown around. Ryland and the Three-Rivers clan will be slaughtered. We have to warn them.”

  I nodded. I had thought the same.

  Brushing the leaves from his jerkin, Bower started to walk and then stopped. “Which way should we head?” he asked.

  I pointed to Jaydra. “Back up on our dragon. We’ll never reach Ryland in time on foot.”

  Bower nodded and turned, but his head came up and his hand fell to the swords at his side.

  For a moment I didn’t know why, but then I saw what he must have seen.

  Three Iron Guards stepped from the woods, swords drawn and all three facing us. They made no move toward us, but an eerie sound like that of a rising wind seemed to echo from their helmets and then became a voice.

  “Saffron.”

  The single word pulled a shiver from me for it seemed filled with malevolence.

  It was Enric’s voice, horribly distorted by however he was using these Iron Guards to speak to me.

  “Saffron Maddox…return to me.”.

  How could this be Enric’s voice?

  Trembling, I stared at the Iron Guards that were speaking with Enric’s voice. More magic at work, I knew.

  Balling my hands into fists, I stepped forward to face them.

  “Why would I want to do that?” I shouted at the Iron Guards, wondering if the king, wherever he was, could even hear me.

  He could.

  ‘“You belong with me….”

  Each of the Iron Guards raised their swords. I didn’t know if the gesture was meant to beckon me or appear threatening.

  “I am my own person” I shouted. Jaydra gave a rumble that seemed to me that she agreed. “I belong with my dragon-kin.”

  “Dragons? What need do we have for dragons?”

  Each of the Iron Guards took a step forward. I could not mistake the threat this time.

  Bower stepped closer to me and took my hand. “We should be ready to run,” he whispered.

  I shook my head. How could we outrun these Iron Guards? I was not even certain we could mount Jaydra in time to fly away.

  Magic tingled in my fingers. I had torn apart one Iron Guard, but could I fight three at once?

  Suddenly, a shout echoed, along with the clang of swords and the neighing of horses.

  “Ryland,” Bower muttered. “They must have met up with the king’s army.”

  The sound of thundering hooves and the clash of battle drifted to us on the wind.

  The three Iron Guards facing us seemed to take no notice of the nearby battle. But why should they? What weapon, other than magic, could harm them?

  “Saffron…return to me…”

  This time the words carried a prickling that started in my chest and spread to my skin. Enric was trying to use his magic to pull power from me. He was going to do something terrible, I knew, and I had no idea how to counter it.

  “Bower?” The word came out choked and I had no idea what I was even asking him to do. My hands were shaking, and I knew Bower had to feel that.

  He let go of my hand and I glanced at him. Eyes narrowed, he pulled back his arm and threw something—a rock
.

  It hit with a resounding crack and ricocheted off the helmet of the center Iron Guard, leaving a small dent.

  Enric’s magic faded from around me. I felt it fall away like a dark, heavy cloak.

  Turning to me, Bower said, “I think the Iron Guards are acting like some kind of watchtower beacon, letting Enric reach out to us here through them.”

  Of course. The king couldn’t cast his magic this far. No one was that powerful! He was using these Iron Guards, but this must be costing him a great deal.

  I knew what it cost me to pull on my power. Could I make Enric use all his power? Deplete him for short time?

  “Jaydra, help me!” I shouted, and sent her an image of what I needed her to do. She sprang into action. With a swipe of her tail she lashed out, knocking over the Iron Guards. I didn’t think this would stop any of them, but I knew that now Enric would have to struggle to reach them again with his magic.

  We had a chance.

  I yelled at Bower to leap onto Jaydra. From our right, I could hear the battle coming closer to us. I didn’t know if Ryland and his warriors were winning or losing, but I had to do something. Power surged into my hands. I had to unleash it if we were to survive. I started forward.

  The odd echoing voice of the king sounded again, booming through the forest. “Saffron…return to me…”

  This time, however, the words came from fifty Iron Guards who stepped from the forest around us.

  “I’ll return you something right enough,” I muttered. Lifting my hands with power glowing a bright green and gold on my fingertips, I stretched out my arms.

  14

  Bower and the Dragons

  The voices of the Iron Guard filled the air like an unnatural thunder, rolling toward the village and echoing over it. It made my knees shake, but Saffron was walking toward the Iron Guards.

  What was Saffron doing?

  A line of Iron Guards had stepped from the tall trees and filled the air with an unnatural, echoing voice that seemed to be calling to her. That voice left my insides shaking, but Saffron was walking toward the Iron Guards, her hands raised and magic sparking from her fingers. However, I didn’t know if she could really handle so many guards.