The Call of Dragons

12

Raiya

For Raiya, another year had come and gone quickly. A year filled with exciting, new events that the child had never dreamed of would happen to her or that she would witness. A new Queen egg had been laid and she had watched it hatch firsthand up close during the Hatching Ceremony. She had met a boy who had transformed her world, and a man who had taught her many things. She had participated in a test under the eyes of many important figures, passing and becoming an acolyte. She had leaped over boundaries and broken barriers, surprising not just the upper-class but even those in the lower who wondered how a child had possibly risen so high. She reflected on all of it quietly as she sat in the library, not even reading the book she had picked out. As she gazed off into the distance, she caught sight of Julian moving towards her from the corner of her eye. Startled, she turned her head, not entirely surprised to see him here at the library but wondering why he was approaching her with an anxious expression. Had he forgotten to assign her something to do when he had left in a hurry?

“Speaker Julian,” she greeted, standing up quickly. “Did you forget something? Or is the meeting already done?”

“No, no child, I didn’t forget anything. Yes, I just came back from the meeting. Raiya, you haven’t left the fortress, have you? Not since your arrival?”

“No, I haven’t, why?” she asked, confused.

“Well, as part of your training, I’m going to take you around Valeria and show you the workings of the keeps, villages, and neighboring fortress, Bellasea. In fact, we are to do a week-long trip traveling around. It’s important for you to know how everything operates.”

Her eyes lit up at the information, excited at the idea of seeing unfamiliar places. Just as quickly her excitement faded away as she thought of the villages, specifically her village.

“Will we be stopping by all the villages?” she hesitantly asked.

“Only some. I’ll be planning out our route and highlighting the places that we can visit on our way to Bellasea,” Julian replied distractedly, glancing at the title of the book the girl had been reading. “It’s not a pleasure trip. We need to investigate the villages on behalf of the keeps request.”

“Investigating what? What are we looking for?”

“We’ll find out when we get there. We’ll be leaving in a few days so prepare yourself. One of the squads will be assigned to us as escorts.” He looked at her, a small smile forming on his face as he waved the book around. The bold, gold embossed lettering of the cover flashed under the light. “’Star-Crossed Lovers?’ I never thought you were into romance novels Raiya. Aren’t you a bit too young to be reading them? Especially this particular story.”

“I was just looking for more information on them after reading their names in the book you gave me,” she pouted, trying to grab the book from his hands. “Though everyone already knows the story of Veramyr and Mira either from the books or that endless ballad sung about them.”

“Even so, I can safely tell you that this one in particular isn’t an age-appropriate book. I can’t imagine the long-standing intrigue regarding the tale of these two tragic figures who died more than five hundred years ago.”

Raiya cocked her head, “Wait, did something bad happen to them? I thought they were deeply in love and lived happily ever after. That’s how most of the books apparently end with.”

Julian set the book down and tapped its cover. “You see, this book I’m sure romanticizes their lives, much like everything else, but the truth is the two suffered much. They led unhappy lives filled with strife and guilt.”

“Guilt over what?”

“Their love was the catalyst for the Age of Calamity. At least that is what several scholars theorize. Naturally, we don’t have any written texts confirming this theory, but it is considered true amongst most scholars that the war was started because of Mira Khan.”

“And you? What do you think Speaker Julian? Is it possible for two people to be the cause of something so devastating over something so innocent such as love?”

“I think there is much to the story. While we don’t know the motives of the two, what I can say is that yes, it is entirely possible for a war to start even over or by one person. Our ancestors have always said we are a war-mongering species, needing only the slightest push to fight and I daresay they might be correct. Now then, I should begin to prepare for our journey. I’ll need to speak with Hyun and Godrick together first since the boy will be accompanying us.”

Raiya perked up at the mention of his name. “Why? Protection? Transportation? Training?”

“He’ll accompany us to Bellasea where he’ll remain for a few months.”

“He’s to be left there for a few months? But why?! He won't be able to make the Enthronement then. Is he in trouble?” Raiya protested immediately.

“Just…a training opportunity for him. Now I must go, and no more reading that story young lady!”

He left the girl standing by herself in the library without a second glance back, all the while muttering to himself.

*~*

A few days later, Raiya found herself seated on the back of a wagon amongst luggage, waiting for Julian to finish his conversation with Godrick off to the side. Sentinel Levi’s squad was set up to accompany them on their journey with Hyun as an additional plus one. She felt reassured that it was Levi’s squad for they were the most experienced flyers in the fortress. No doubt Godrick had insisted it be their squad when finding out she would be traveling too.

Sighing in impatience, she pulled out the map Julian had drawn up of their route. Using her finger, she traced the line, pausing briefly at each place they’d be visiting. Their first stop would be the village Yarswell, then Dragonspire Keep, then the village Dolomas, the village Raghun, and finally Bellasea Fortress. Then, on the way back, they’d go through Bellasea Keep, the villages Kearby and Valeria, and Tissea Keep. Though they’d be short a person on the return journey. She glanced at the boy who was getting ready to mount his dragon. Despite trying to figure out the reason Hyun had been kicked out to Bellasea, she had found nothing. Even the servants who had information readily enough on everything happening with the fortress had also been quiet.

The wagon rocked as Julian climbed in and she hastily put the map away.

“Well, let’s get a move on then while it’s still light outside!” he called and with a lurch the wagon started moving. He gripped the sides of the wagon to avoid toppling over as he slowly made his way to where the girl sat.

Raiya in turn had half risen to wave farewell to Godrick, watching as his figure slowly receded before settling back down again. She glanced up at the sky, seeing seven dragons flying in a loose V-formation. In the distance ahead of the squad, she could see Nymerik gliding lazily. He was bigger than when she had last seen him, easily at least one-hundred-and-twenty feet now if not bigger.

“Speaker Julian,” she began, her eyes never leaving the huge dragon.

“Hm?” he responded absentmindedly as he pulled out the map she had stuffed away a second earlier.

“Nymerik’s reached his full size now, right? Hasn’t it been a year since his hatching?”

He glanced up, following the direction of her gaze to the dark dragon casting a large shadow over the passing scenery. “It has been a year since his hatching, but Nymerik appears to still be growing despite reaching full maturity. You can see in comparison to, for example, Sentinel Levi’s Lkyrth. He still eats voraciously, like he is still growing. He sheds scales as frequently as Priyana does. The fact of the matter is that we don’t know much about Princes and whether they might continue to grow long past that year cap. Perhaps it is simply a matter of being genetically different from the engineered dragons.”

“But even so, isn’t he a bit too big?” she asked, glancing between the two dragons. “How is it possible to maintain and feed creatures of that size? It’s better if they are smaller, right?”

“The coastal fortresses often rely on the sea and land for sustenance. Naturally, it also allows their dragons to hunt through the waters. There are native creatures to the planet, some that are extremely huge. Have you seen one of the leviaphants? One of those would fill up a large dragon rather easily. We believe that is how the originals dragons on this planet existed. When we had tithes coming in from the keeps, food wasn’t a concern. Cattle was predominantly the foremost thing sent abundantly for the dragons and this system has continued to work up till this day. Though, with the lack of tithes lately, we’ve begun to see the starting struggles of trying to keep the larger fortresses fed and maintained.”

Raiya kept quiet, letting the man return to examining the map in peace. She wondered if Nymerik would reach the huge sizes of the dragons of old, or perhaps even the sizes of the native dragons. She continued to watch them fly ahead, wondering how big he’d be when she saw him next.

*~*

As they made their journey down south, Raiya saw what Julian had meant about investigating. Of the two villages and keep they had visited, they could see that the large farms responsible for the majority of food production weren’t doing very well. The animals were sick and listless, the crops were wilted and brown, and even a few of the villagers were lying about, coughing and groaning. Some unknown disease had appeared and begun to slowly spread, first affecting the farms, and then spreading to the villagers. Her heart went out to the villagers who were lying around, their bodies covered in rashes and bumps, their skin red and blotched and their listless moans the only sounds to be heard. She wondered if this disease had spread to all the villages. Was her village okay?

As they traveled down the worn, dirt road, farms and houses began to appear, leading them to their final stop before Bellasea Fortress.

“Ah, Raghun,” Julian said, breaking the silence as he stared at the passing farms. “One of our largest agricultural cities. I hope the disease hasn’t spread here. It’ll be a huge loss if it has.”

Raiya stared at the large fields filled with rows upon rows of crops. From her passing glance, the crops seemed healthy compared to the ones she had seen in the other villages.

As the wagon drew into the center of the city, people came out slowly, surrounding the newcomers with wary expressions.

“Pardon our sudden arrival,” Julian called out as the wagon came to a slow stop. “I’m here on official business from Dragonspire Fortress. Lady Ramsey has brought to our attention an outbreak of an unknown disease spreading throughout the villages. I just have some questions…”

As Julian questioned the folks, Raiya climbed out of the wagon herself, looking around. The sparse stone houses surrounded a large stone well with a stone pathway trailing off in different directions. As Raiya continued to look around, she saw that the majority of the city was composed of the same, grey stone. It appeared bleak and lifeless, matching the expressions of the villagers inhabiting it.

Her attention returned to the crowd in the center, hearing Julian asking if any of the cattle had fallen sick and if so, how quickly and how long they’d been sick. Many said that they had heard rumors of a sickness in the other villages and cities, but they hadn’t experienced anything until recently. It had come suddenly, with a single cow falling sick two days ago and a few crops wilting away. At first, the villagers were unconcerned because it wasn’t unnatural for a few crops or cattle to die. But then, by the next day, a lot of the cattle had fallen ill, and some villagers had also fallen sick, dying within three days. It didn’t matter what living thing it was, once it fell sick, there was no saving them no matter what the villagers did. whatever living thing had fallen sick had died within three days. Upon hearing this, Julian’s face paled, and he confirmed once more if this was the case. The villagers were adamant that it was so. Nothing that fell sick with this disease lived longer than three days.

“That’s not true,” one villager, an elderly woman, spoke up, all gazes turning towards him. “Emery’s daughter got better after being sick.”

“Lauralye only had a cold,” another said. “Not what poor Hatchins had. I’m sure it was him who brought the disease. He came from Yarsfell two days ago bringing news of the illness spreading in other villages. The news wasn’t the only thing he brought it seems.”

“Did Hatchins also pass away after just being sick for three days?” Julian asked the elderly woman.

“Oh aye, he passed away this morning. ‘Twas not a pretty sight to witness, not at all. Covered in red rashes and bumps leaking pus. Red, blotched skin and wide eyes that stared lifelessly through you. He coughed as if he was struggling to get rid of his lungs, but the only thing that came up was blood. No other sound came from him except gasping wheezes and that dreadful, wet cough.”

Julian thanked the villagers for their help, telling them he had brought provisions and medicine from Dragonspire Fortress for them to disperse amongst their sick and those in need before he left them to themselves, walking away from the large gathering with a frown on his face. Raiya approached him, joined shortly by Hyun and the squad.

“So, have you figured out what it might be?” Levi asked, noticing the troubled look on the Speaker’s face. “At least if it’s old or new world?”

Julian didn’t say anything, simply pulling out his book and writing tool, writing down a few things. He had done this at every place they stopped, jotting down things before tucking it away carefully. They watched him work in silence, some sharing glances.

“Do you know what it might be?” Raiya asked Hyun, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

The youth shook his head, but his sharp eyes and the firm set of his mouth indicated otherwise. Whatever he thought it was, he was not going to share it with her. She sighed, realizing she was once again out of the loop.

“To Bellasea Fortress now,” Julian finally announced, snapping his book shut. “Oh, Levi, can you please have your squad unload the crates for the villagers? Also, take a moment to circle around the city with your squad. Report anything unusual you might find, on land or sky. Quickly though, we must reach Bellasea by tonight.”

Levi sighed, wondering if the Speaker had even heard his questions but dutifully following the order. His squad worked quickly, unloading the crates into the center of the village, and opening them up. How they would disperse it amongst themselves was up to them, Levi did not want to get involved in any sort of altercation should things go awry. Once that was done, he took his squad on a quick circle around the city, a frown slowly marring his features as Lkyrth informed him of strange, spore-like substances in the air. To his naked eye, he could see nothing but the clear sky. However, he trusted Lkyrth, even more so when he was also told that his squad's dragons also reported seeing it as well. When he landed, he immediately informed Julian who promptly made his way up onto the wagon, the little girl following him. Levi had seen her around a few times, knew she was connected to his General Commander, but hadn’t really interacted with her. Though he was curious as to why such a young child was traveling around with them, he didn’t voice his concerns or questions. He had learned at a very young age to not question anything, just silently observe, and perform his duties to the best of his ability. If there was a young person he was interested in…

Raiya had settled down, watching Hyun climb onto the back of Nymerik in the distance. She wasn’t the only one. The villagers, Julian, and even Levi watched. Nymerik was so huge, he had to stop further out from the village to avoid crushing anything. But you could still see him, his large figure ever looming.

They waited for the flyers to get situated before Julian issued the command for the wagon to begin moving. She realized again how useful their gift was. There was no need to signal or shout, a simple communication through their minds and they were off. As the wagon continued down the stone path that exited through the other side of the village, Raiya turned her attention to Julian. He was currently examining their surroundings, his book filled with his written notes on his lap.

“Do you think all the villages are suffering from this same illness then?” she asked him.

“It’s hard to say, but from what I’ve seen so far, it’s most likely. We’ll see when we reach Bellasea. If the two keeps on the eastern side have also brought forward concerns to Warren, then…”

“Then it’d be bad,” she finished for him.

“Very bad indeed Raiya. The symptoms match with a few illnesses, but the fast mortality rate only belongs to one. And if Levi is right in what he saw...”

“Is it the disease that the Gerians spread to try to win the war?” she asked.

“And what do you know of this disease, child,” he said, tilting his head and eyeing her.

“I only know what I heard Godrick say out loud to Sibilla. It’s a deadly disease. People who get it fall extremely sick and die within three days. They say if you cut them open, you’ll see green things stuck to their lungs, like fungus or moss. Or spores.”

“You are not entirely wrong. There isn’t much information out there, even before the Calamity. The few texts that have survived that war date back to the third century with no detailed mention of the disease. All we know is what has been passed word of mouth and that can easily change throughout the years. Truthfully, it is the Codex that gives a bit more context for us to make our assumptions off of. The Codex briefly mentions it as a disease created by the native alien race to exterminate their greatest enemy, the invading humans. Their last attempt before losing the war. It is a dragon-flyer's duty to conduct patrols routinely to watch out for this disease, should it resurface, and destroy it with dragon fire. I’ve been trying to find out more though. What exactly was the disease made from? Why did the Gerians decide that biological warfare would be there final card to play? Why are our dragons the only ones capable of seeing the disease floating in the sky? The only ones capable of destroying it? How did the Gerians avoid dying to their own disease? Is there a cure or perhaps immunization then? How many times has this illness reared its ugly head throughout our history and how did we manage to defeat it each time? Now, since these cases have started showing, I have the excuse to do more research. I’ve already spoken to other Speakers about this, reached out to scholars, even the Guild Master of the Scholar’s Guild, but I’ve discovered nothing so far. They all say the same thing about there being no known records remaining.”

“Wait, how is it spread exactly? What if we get sick?” Raiya suddenly found herself alarmed at the idea of contracting this deadly disease. She hadn’t really thought much about it when they had set off traveling, but now witnessing the dead or dying crops, animals, and even people on top of the grim musings of Julian and the villagers filled the child with fear.

“It’s a very contagious disease, spreads easily between living things and, once one dies, Sibilla and I believe it expels more of itself into the air, increasing infection rate. Very much like spores release into the air. How do we stop it? Well, there is a reason we are traveling with a squad,” Julian said, glancing up at the dragons. “They are the only beings who can stop it and protect us. If there is any spores around us, the dragons will relay this to their flyers who will relay it to me. Then they will take care of it as we move from the infected area as fast as we can. Generally, it is harder for those Bonded with dragons to fall sick, so we don’t have to worry about the flyers. We, on the other hand, have no such immunity and must move quickly once we receive the warning. Which is why I want to learn more on why the dragons can see the spores in the air and why only their fire can kill it. If we can figure it out, maybe we can figure out how to protect ourselves without the dragons.”

Raiya relaxed slightly, feeling a bit relieved after hearing this. “You said that they saw something in the village though?"

"Do not be concerned, my child. We were not exposed to it despite it being in the air. Most of it was sighted far above the fields, barely reaching the village."

She didn't quite feel at ease despite his assurances, but she couldn't do anything about it at this point either. Instead, she asked, "Well, didn’t you say that the Gerians worshipped the native dragons as gods? What if they made sure their gods could protect themselves?”

“Yes, we also believe that might be the case,” Julian agreed, smiling down at the girl. “Regardless, let us cling to the hope that it isn’t what we think it is. I’d rather it be some unknown new disease than something like that for it would mean many things and none of it good. Now, let me rest child, I’m tired.” He leaned back, closing his eyes, ending the conversation before the child could say anything else.

She watched him for a bit before turning her gaze to the passing landscape. She wondered what he had meant by that last sentence after he had basically assured her that as long as the dragons existed, they would be fine. Did that mean that he was afraid of something else, something far deadlier than the disease? If that was the case, she couldn’t possibly guess what would have her beloved mentor on edge.