The Dragon Savior of Tone: World of Tone: Book 2 (23 page)

Rammy had been on a rock outcropping that overlooked the Dwarf's village. She had hidden in a small crevice. Terra had asked her to watch the nymphs and determine their fighting skills. As she watched Terra destroy the Solan, she could hardly believe the amount of pure power he used. She was close enough to feel the magic pulsating from Terra's body. She had rarely been frightened in her life, but Terra's magic made her flinch with fear and amazement. When the explosion occurred, she had pulled back into the crevice, but she was able to watch Terra. His body healed as fast as it was injured. Other than being blown back, he was hardly fazed by the explosion. When his body began to shine and his magic reached out to the falling dragons, she felt it touch her. It actually caused her tiredness and muscle pains to disappear. It left her feeling refreshed and even joyful.

She then pulled herself away from watching Terra to looking at the nymphs. They were quite well trained. The lead nymph Xillan used color cloth on long sticks to give orders to his fighters. The nymphs initially broke up into small, well-defined groups led by a single leader. The groups merged into four larger groups and flowed toward the dwarfs. Two of the groups went to those that had been beyond the walls while the other two groups surround and began killing those left in the far corner of the village. It did not take them long to eliminate the remaining dwarfs. A few of the dwarfs had been captured. One of the small groups of nymphs had them cornered and were tormenting them when Terra landed. He killed them instantly and she knew he was unhappy about what they were doing to the dwarfs. She knew he would never allow torture; after all, he only barely tolerated killing these creatures. Dawra came just after the fighting ended to pick her up.

Chapter 40 - The First Sun-Rising of the Great Journey

(A first step always begins a dangerous journey.)

- The Time of the Draman -

Twenty-one thousand nymphs formed in front of the wall. They were in groups of a thousand each. Terra watched as the groups formed in four rows that were two hundred and fifty nymphs long. It took a bit of time to get the entire line moving, but once on the move, it was a sight not seen on Tone for an untold number of seasons. Fienna flew above them with the two Flights. The Flights flew in a large circle above the nymphs. There were at least a hundred dragons over the walkers at any time. Fienna was in constant mental contact with Terra. The great battle had frightened her. The amount of magical power released was greater than anything she had ever experienced. She feared for her love for she knew the worst was ahead of them.

Terra walked with Suti in the lead of the formation. The nymphs called it marching, Terra called it walking. As they proceeded down the edge of the mountains, Terra could see in the distance the dark clouds and the grayish lightning repeatedly striking at Tone's surface. He knew from his mind flight the lightning would come closer to the mountains and in turn to them. He would have to keep the dragons and nymphs close to the mountains.

Dawra and Hectise flew ahead with the other Flights. Terra had told them to stay as close to the mountains as possible. Rammy was with Dawra. She helped to set up the sunset stopping point. The dragons would land and drop their burdens before perching in the local mountains.

When the nymphs came to the stopping point, they found several hundred dragons circling above. The dragons had dropped their food in orderly lines along the edge of a large mountain. Rammy waited with twenty or so dragons positioned in a group by the food.

The nymphs stayed in their groups and put down bedding near the dragon's food. As the sun passed behind the horizon, the nymphs lit numerous small fires with wrapped dried plants they brought with them. Terra stood with Fienna looking at the distant lightning.

“
When we stop at the next sunset, the lightning will be much closer,
” Fienna thought to her love.

“
Yes. At high sun, we should start seeing the dead trees,
” Terra thought back.

“
What do you plan to do when we arrive at the elves' ice?
”

“
I'm not sure. I'll have to see what type of magic is involved. Perhaps I can break through it.
”

“
Have you looked in on Cardana?
” she thought to her mate. In her mind appeared an image of the sleeping baby with her grandmother next to her. “
Thank you, my love. It's time to sleep, we have much to do on the next sun-rising,
” they walked back to a small enclave in the rocks and the dragon guard circled around them.

Just before next sun-rising Terra awoke holding Fienna in his arms. She stirred and woke to his kiss. They walked out past the edge of the sleeping nymphs. The nymphs guarding their sleeping companions watched as the two stood watching the sun peak over the horizon. Fienna began her change and soon stood in her dragon form. She looked down at her mate and smiled. She jumped into the air and flew to the perching dragons.

Terra watched his mate perch on the mountain peak near where they had slept. The nymph leaders awoke their fighters. After a small meal, they reformed into the groups of the previous sun-rising. The march started anew. Terra now knew how far they walked in a single sun-rising and sent seven Flights of the dragons ahead the distance he thought they would cover before sunset. Dragons were very good at determining distances they flew. Terra had no problem sending the dragons to exactly where he wanted them.

At high sun, the nymphs stopped to eat and rest. Terra sat with Suti by a small cave at the base of a mountain. Fienna perched above him. He closed his eyes and heard some low level sounds. It sounded like a few insects. Terra concentrated on the sounds and could hear small squeaky voices.

“I think it's him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, I'm sure, nut head.”

“You’re the nut head. You thought that wiggler was a spy.”

“Anyone could have made that mistake.”

“Yeah, right.”

“What do we do?”

“I don't know. He's incredibly big. We should tell Boto.”

“Boto! He's worse than you are. He can barely count his wings.”

“Why don't you tell me what you want, then perhaps I can help,” Terra said to the voices.

“Did he? Was that him?” One of the voices asked.

“Yes, it was me.”

“You can hear us?”

“Yes, of course I can. Who are you?”

“We are fairies. I am Shif, and my friend is Nib.”

“Nice to meet you. Now what can I do for you?”

“Are you the one?”

“Well, some call me the Draman. Does that help?”

“The Draman, the real Draman?”

“Yes, the real Draman.”

“Our king has sent us to look for you. He would like to talk to you.”

“Tell him I would be pleased to talk to him. Can I see you?”

“I, uhm, I suppose that would be alright.” He could feel two light touches on his arm. He opened his eyes and looked down. They were as described to him, small about the size of a human hand. They were very light with greenish-scaled bodies. The wings were almost clear, as if looking through thin crystals. Their heads were human-like with long pointed ears. Their bodies were hairless and shined as a dragon. They were quite pretty, little creatures.

“We are moving down the edge of the mountains. Where would he like to meet with me?” Terra asked.

“We will talk to our king. He will come to you during your travels. We have been watching your progress.”

“I await his visit,” Terra replied and the two small creatures flew off into a small hand sized cave.

Fienna listened to the conversation through their mind connection. She could not see what help these small creatures could be, but, perhaps, there was something they could do. They continued down the edge of the mountains, finally coming to where the dragons had dropped their food burdens. As the sun sunk beyond sight, Fienna returned to her human form. They sat by the nearest mountain with a small fired burning before them.

“Draman?” a small voice said from the darkness.

“Yes?” Terra responded back.

“It is Shif.”

“Yes, Shif. What do you wish?”

“My king is on his way. He will be here shortly. We were sent to tell you there will be two hundred with him.”

“His protection?” Terra said in a questioning tone.

“Uhm, yes, he hopes you are not offended.”

“No, not at all. If I were him, I would do the same.”

It did not take long before a swarm of the little creatures was around them. They settled around the pair, and then thirty or so of the creatures flew in front of them. They watched the fairies bring a small platform made of leaves. They sat it down before Terra and Fienna and two more flew over with a small chair. Finally, ten fairies flew out in a circular form with a single fairy in the center. They landed, and the fairy in the center of the group walked over to the chair.

“That is not your chair, little one. It's his,” Terra said as he pointed to one of the fairies in the group of ten.

The one Terra pointed at walked to the chair and sat. The others surrounded him, leaving a gap in front of the king. Terra had never met a king and had little understanding of how a king came to power.

“How did you know?” the small king asked.

“All the other fairies looked to you for orders not to the one walking to the chair.” The king smiled.

“I am King Silrack. We have been waiting for you a long time. I know to you we are small and perhaps insignificant, but I assure you we are strong.”

“I respect anyone who could survive in this,” Terra said as he waved his hand toward the desolation of the land.

“Few would understand our struggle. I am impressed you do,” The king responded.

“How do you propose to help me?”

“For generations, we have learned these mountains and all the safe paths through them. We can lead you down the edge of the mountains and show you the safest paths to travel. There are mud swamps that even a dragon can sink into. We will even help you fight. We know Tone is dying. It shows in every niche and cranny of the world. It has to be stopped,” the king said sadly.

“I welcome your help. How many of you are there?” Terra asked.

“We are two hundred thousand strong. I have posted my fairies all along your path. We assume you are heading to the great landslide area to face the dwarfs.”

“You are correct. I do have a question that you may be able to help me with now,” Terra said

“Please ask. And if I can, I will answer,” the king responded.

Chapter 41 - The Story of the Elves

(Why become cowards after you have proven your bravery.)

- The Time of the Draman -

“Why did the elves run from the final fight all those seasons ago?” Terra inquired.

“Ah, a question we can help you with. You see other creatures rarely notice us and we hear and see much. I can tell you the story of the elves, their final betrayal, and where they hid.”

“I'm listening,” Terra said as he leaned back against the rock with his arm about his mate.

“It all started with King Hannon. He was a wise and brave elf with great insight. He was the first to see the danger from the combination of the dwarfs and the human wizard. When the dwarfs began to expand into other lands, he was the first to say all should gather and fight the expansion. It took two set of seasons before everyone realized they had to fight.”

“The first three fights were led by the elf king. In the third, the human wizard killed him. The elves have magic and the king was very powerful, but the human wizard was able to deflect his attack. He then caused a spike of rock to rise from the ground killing the king. His death marked a change in the fighting. The dwarfs began to slowly gain the upper hand.”

“You say he led the combined fighters?” Terra asked.

“Yes, he was the leader, and all respected him,” the king responded.

“Thank you. Please continue.”

“The elf king had an eight set of seasons, old son. His age prevented him from becoming king. Since there were no other children, the king's brother took over the throne. He fought, but only grudgingly. He avoided fights whenever possible. Over the next ten sets of seasons, the elves helped less and less. This left the fighting to the humans, the land and sea nymphs, and, of course, my kingdom. All fought until it became obvious that the last fight would decide the victor. The elf king had been convinced by the previous king's son and his advisers to join the fight. The elf king became fearful as he saw the fighters arrayed against them and word arrived of all the northern fighters deaths. He ordered his fighters to secretly leave in the darkness before the final fight.”

“I assume you know some of the rest. We escaped into our caves that lay beneath the mountains. I sent a few of my subjects to find the elves. They found them gathered in a valley, not too distant from here. The elf king had his best wizards prepare this valley in secret. At his order, a magic ice formed throughout the valley freezing the elves in time and space. A few of those fairies that were sent to talk to the elves were also trapped in this magic. We have tried to break the magic ice, but to no avail.”