Once again, lightning flashed towards Skelek and his dragon. Skelek braced himself and turned his trio of dragons for the attack, but he was too late.
Skelek felt the power drain form the Charm until he lost control of the dragons. He released his hold on his spare mounts and clung tight, seeking a place to land.
He spied a safe spot and directed his mount towards it. The great beast flared its wings, snapped the air, and settled to the ground. Skelek felt the beast slipping from his control. In moments, he would be out of magic once again, stranded, impotent. What could he do now? Without the dragon, Endra would be upon him and that would be the end for Skelek.
Skelek felt the Charm vibrate gently. If only he had a source of magic to power the Charm again. He had come so close.
The dragon snorted, straining at Skelek's command as the power diminished and his hold loosened. Skelek slid from the beast's neck to the dry ground. He stood beside the dragon, commanding it to be still, knowing it was just a matter of time before his magic was completely gone, and the beast would be free once more.
He grasped a scale to steady the dragon and his hand touched the soft skin beneath the hard plates.
Soft skin!
That was it. Skelek took his dagger and pried lose one of the thick armor plates that protected the dragon. He touched the soft skin beneath and felt the dragon's pulse.
He drove the dagger home.
Blood gushed forth.
As the dragon bled out its life, Skelek grasped its magic and directed it towards the Charm of the Joiner. If he could capture the magic of the dragon, he could use it to command the whole clan. He would be undefeatable.
Skelek felt Endra approach. He raised his shields as best he could and absorbed some of the dragon's magic for himself. Skelek felt elated as the dragon gave up its power to him. Magic circled like a swarm of golden fireflies spinning in tighter and tighter spirals, then swept into the Charm, disappearing. The dragon turned to a cloud of dust and vanished.
Skelek gave a cry of victory. The dragons were his. He could command them all. He would be victorious. He reached out for another dragon to replace his mount, but something was wrong.
The dragons were gone.
He used the power of the Charm to scour the land, but there was not another dragon to be found. Above him, a curtain of diaphanous blue green light wavered in the ethereal wind. The dragons were gone; they had escaped across the void, safe from his magic.
Skelek screamed at the sky.
Lightning shot from Endra's staff, engulfing Skelek in a crackling blaze. Skelek tried to use the Charm to power a counter spell, but he was too late. The life force drained from Skelek just as it had from the dragon.
A millennium later
Uskin came awake to a sharp pain in her chest. She was covered in sweat and cold as ice. "Dragons," she cried. The Wizard's Keep was always cold, no matter the season, but she was sweating as if she'd been running for her life.
"Dragons?" Alwroth mumbled, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"They're in danger." Uskin got out of bed and pulled on her robe; the warmth of the fur helped chase some of the cold away. She raised her hands and blew on her open palms.
A golden glow appeared, tenuous at first, but building in intensity until it lit the room, chasing the night away. It swirled into a tight spiral rising up from her palms, taking on a shape. The shape of a dragon.
Its wings were made of fire and its horns of golden light. It solidified and became clear. The dragon snorted fire.
Uskin peered closely at the vision. The dragon was curled around something ... No, someone. A girl. A young girl. Five summers in age. She was pudgy, with long curly hair and a pleasant smile.
The dragon gazed at the girl soundly sleeping safe within its massive coil of muscle. It gently sniffed her, inhaled deeply, and breathed fire that washed over her.
The little girl snoozed on, taking no notice. Her skin took on a bright hue under the ministration of the dragon's fire, glowing first red, then gold, then finally yellow as dazzling as the noonday sun.
The dragon's fire ceased, but the girl continued to shine brightly. She woke and peered up at Uskin with a sad smile.
Uskin knew she would never have a daughter of her own, yet somehow, when she looked at the child, she felt protective, as if the child were the daughter she could never have.
"What is it, little one?" Uskin asked.
The little girl remained silent, but slowly a new shape emerged beside her. It grew taller, taking on the shape of a man. Uskin felt that they belonged together somehow.
The man gazed up at Uskin. "We couldn't save them. Not even one."
The vision turned to a swirl of golden sparks and faded away, but Uskin stared on in wonder. What did this mean? The dragons had gone away long ago. They were off in their own realm, safe from the interference of mankind.
About the Author
James Eggebeen is a serial masochist repeatedly taking high tech companies through the growing pains of converting from a garage shop into a sustainable and profitable mature business.
He learned the value of hard work after being raised on a farm in Wisconsin where he learned auto mechanics from his saintly grandfather who patiently tolerated him and his siblings always under foot. His most frequent comment growing up was “Why did you people settle here when there are much warmer places to live?”
He confounded his teachers and most grown-ups at a young age writing incredibly powerful algorithms for phenomenally underpowered computers at the dawn of the computer age. This is a skill he has employed throughout his professional career and still takes great pride in (the confounding part mostly).
At 17years of age he made a deal with the US Navy to “Teach me about airplanes and computers. Take me anywhere it does not snow and I’m all yours.” They kept the bargain and started him on a world traveling adventure that has continued far beyond his six-year enlistment.
He has continued his world traveling adventures as a businessman, frequently logging one fourth of his time out of the country. He feels as comfortable abroad as he does at home and has developed an appreciation for a wide range of cultures and cuisines.
He settled in Southern California after his service was complete and studied Engineering, Business and Finance at night while working at a series of start-up firms by day. He claims that growing up on the farm and the Navy have ruined his ability to sleep late and habitually gets up well before the sane portion of population starts their day.
He wrote many technical articles with such titles as ‘Gamma Ferric Oxide is it really safe for the long haul?’ He was cited in the Time Life Books on Computers as an expert in magnetic storage. He has a portfolio of patents for esoteric technology that only a handful of people really understand and hardly anyone really cares about.
He started writing fiction as an assignment for his last required course in his undergraduate degree. He wrote short stories for several years as part of an internet based writing and critique group before the internet was cool and email spam had been invented.
He still lives in Southern California with his wife of twenty-five years who puts up with all his bizarre habits and unusual hours, where he has a better computer infrastructure at home than most small
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