Red Dragon's Keep (The Dragon's Children Book 1) Read online

  “It seems that the Dark only attacks at dawn and dusk, very rarely during the night, never during the day. As soon as the sun rose, the Dark fell back and broke off the chase. Why this is so is still a mystery. These are not the same Demons that you fought twenty-five years ago.”

  Captain Mathin broke the ensuing silence by clearing his throat. “Did the family try to cross any streams or rivers as they ran?”

  “No”, Aeden answered shortly. “They stayed on the west side of the Caladen.”

  “How many did they lose?” whispered Thomas.

  “All told, they lost fifteen of their Steading,” reported Aeden.

  Thomas shook his head and closed his eyes. What if that had been Owen and Breanna, or Cameron and Evan? I don't know that I could survive that.

  “Were any of the Dark killed?” asked Thomas. “We have got to figure out how to kill them,” he exclaimed in frustrated confusion.

  “I didn't think to ask,” admitted Aeden. “Shall I have the scouts report to you?”

  “Yes,” said Thomas. She turned to leave. “Come back with them please, Lady Aeden. You know the questions to ask them.”

  He turned to the men as Aeden left the room.

  “Gregory, Captain Mathin, do any of the very oldest records say how to kill these minions of the Dark? Are these like the ones that tried to take over the world in the founding times?”

  Gregory and Captain Mathin looked at each other then turned toward the wall across from the fireplace where all the Keep records were shelved. Gregory walked down the wall to where the oldest records stood in ordered ranks.

  “That would be around Record 113 I believe,” said Captain Mathin. Gregory ran his fingers along the spines of the books of records. “Ah, here we are.” He pulled the book marked 100 - 200 from the shelf. He blew dust from the top of the book. “A long time since this has been read. Let's see what it says.”

  Gregory walked over to the front of his desk and opened the record to its beginning. He turned the brittle pages, careful not to tear them. Captain Mathin and Thomas stood on either side of him and skimmed the pages as each was displayed.

  “There,” Thomas pointed at the page. “It mentions Demons.”

  The three bent closer to the record. “Nothing,” Mathin breathed with a sigh. “I think this is after the first Demon war.” The corners of Thomas’s mouth turned down in disappointment and he frowned.

  They straightened and looked at each other. Gregory shook his head in frustration. “I knew it couldn’t be that easy.” He closed the book and walked back to the shelf, replacing it carefully.

  “Well, we’re going to have to do it the hard way.” He turned toward the two. “Thomas, you and the other younglings are going to have to help with this search. You can do it in the Library instead of the Solar, probably an hour before mid-meal. Mathin, will that leave enough time for them to get in weapons practice?”

  “I’ll make sure it does,” Mathin replied.

  Chapter 17

  Marta mechanically put one foot in front of the other. Her arms and back ached fiercely from the heavy pack she shouldered, and the pack she carried for her granda. She stepped on another rock in the path and winced. The soles of her boots were never meant for this kind of travel and were wearing very thin.

  The path rose before her, seeming a never ending ribbon of exhaustion, pain and hunger. This was the last pass the group had to climb before descending to the plateau that held Red Dragon’s Keep.

  Twenty of their number had died along the track. Their little band had been attacked almost nightly by Demons that she knew were trailing them. She tried to keep her granda in the center of the group, for safety’s sake. It was becoming harder and harder to do as he lost what little strength he possessed and walked slower and slower. The rest of the group was restricted to her granda’s slower pace. Two of the other elderlies had died and been buried along the way.

  Word filtered down the line to stop for the night. “Your brothers found a clearing in the forest big enough to hold everyone,” the young girls ahead of Marta told her.

  In the late afternoon light, Marta looked back at the stragglers trudging up the path. They’d better hurry. It’s getting dark enough for the Demons to attack.

  She took her granda’s arm and drew it over her shoulder. “Here, Granda. The ground is bad. Let me help you.” She guided his faltering steps over the side of the track and into the little clearing. She walked with him over to a soaring giant of a tree and helped him slide down to sit at its base. She dropped to the ground next to him.

  “Marta,” her mother called across the clearing. “Can you come and help the others find places?”

  Raina knelt over a pile of tinder that she was trying to light with the flint and steel Faolan had brought. The sparks fell on the wood-wool she’d gathered and a puff of smoke rose into the air. She bent down and gently blew on the smoldering nest. Tiny flames licked up the curls of wood. Carefully she moved the tinder to the kindling fire-bed that she’d prepared. The flames caught. She pushed herself up from her knees with a groan, wiping her hands on the legs of her trousers. She was as thin as her daughter, but not as tall.

  Marta pushed herself wearily to her feet. Why do I have to do it? I just want to curl up and not move. She looked down at her sleeping granda. He was safe enough. She limped over to her mother. “Who needs help? Why do I have to do it?”

  Raina looked at Marta with tired, drooping eyes. The dark red-brown hair she usually wore in a neat twist at the base of her neck had come loose and hair straggled over her shoulder. She swiped at it with a tired sigh and then reached back and pulled the pins out of her hair and let it tumble down her back. She looked at Marta and saw a young woman worn almost to the bone.

  “I’m sorry, Marta. Because I don’t have anyone else,” she said quietly, rewinding her hair into its usual twist.

  “I’m sorry too, Mama. I’m just so tired. I’m not even that afraid anymore,” she said with a shake of her head. “Who should I help first?”

  Raina looked around the clearing. There was very little conversation. Almost everyone had dropped their gear and simply sat where they’d stopped.

  “Check with each family and ask if they have any food they can share. I’ve sent Kevin to get a bucket of water for the stew. I’m hoping that someone has some flour left for biscuits.”

  “Yes, Mama.” Marta turned and trudged tiredly to each group. She asked the same question of each, “Do you have any flour? Mother wants to make biscuits. The stew should be ready for everyone soon.” She moved from group to group, until she’d talked with all fifteen families that remained, gathering dried fruit and vegetables, some nuts and, the last family she talked to had flour. “Thank you,” she murmured to everyone who contributed.

  She made her way back to her mother at the center of the clearing. The fire was burning brightly now. The pots of water suspended over the fire were beginning to boil. “Here, Mama. I’ve got some dried vegetables and some fruit. I’ve also got a bag of flour.”

  “Thanks, Marta. Every little bit helps. Check on Granda, please,” Raina said distractedly. She took the supplies that Marta had gathered and started adding them to pots. She set the bag of flour at the side of the fire-ring next to a bowl she would use to make the biscuits.

  A creeping feeling of dread followed Marta back to her granda’s resting place. The sun had set and dusk was swiftly giving way to the dark of night.

  She took note of the eight men her father had assigned to stand guard. Most leaned on spears and watched the woods surrounding them with little attention. A few sat on boulders piled in a jumble to the left of the clearing from a rock slide in some distant past.

  She scanned the trees that surrounded the clearing. The breeze that had been blowing in their faces all day had fallen still at dusk. She shut her eyes and listened intently. Faintly, she heard the snap of twigs as bodies moved through the forest.

  “’Ware!” she shouted. “Something�
��s coming!” She bent down and grabbed her granda’s arm. “Hurry,” she urged him out of his exhausted slumber, tugging on his arm. “To the fire,” she shouted to the others. The guards jerked to alertness and lowered their spears.

  Marta pulled her granda toward the fire as others clustered close around it. A guttural growl rumbled behind them as a Demon slipped between the guards and charged. Marta pulled her belt-knife from its sheath and whirled with a sob of fear and rage. The Demon leapt at her granda and landed on his back, taking him to the ground. He fell with a shout of fear.

  With a scream of hatred, Marta jumped on the Demon’s back and drove her knife between its ribs into its heart. The monster stiffened and went still. She rolled off of its back and pushed desperately against its bulk, trying to uncover her granda.

  Demons attacked the outer ring of guards, slashing through spear shafts and ducking under swinging swords. Several slipped through and leaped toward the center of the camp where everyone clustered. Men and women stepped in front of the group, thrusting with swords and punching with the butts of quarterstaffs.

  With a bellow of rage, Faolan attacked the Demons closest to his daughter and father. He struck with his broadsword, separating a head from a body and ending with a cut through the spine of the next. He dropped his sword and fell down on his knees next to Marta, shoving the body of the Demon off of his father. Grief clenched his heart and twisted his face as he saw what lay under the Demon.

  Marta screamed and clutched at Faolan. Her granda was dead. The Demon’s claws had gone entirely through his body, killing him instantly. Faolan turned to Marta and folded her into his arms. He looked around the clearing as tears rolled down his face.

  The Demons were dead. Their bodies were scattered around the clearing. Six holders lay dead, including his father and two children. Faolan stood and pulled Marta up with him, looking for Raina and his sons. He saw them across the clearing, pulling their swords free from a Demon’s mutilated body.

  Marta was panting for breath. Tears drenched her eyes, making it difficult to see. She dashed them from her eyes with trembling hands and looked toward the forest.

  A large black body stood on a branch half way up the tall leafless tree where her granda had been resting. The firelight reflected from its large blood-red eyes. Tall appendages framed its head, ending in hooks curving over its skull. As she watched, something stretched out from the sides of its body and the appendages became wings.

  Whatever it was fell from the branch and flew away through the trees, twisting and turning to avoid collision with the trunks that stood in its way.

  The survivors pulled the eleven Demon bodies out of the clearing and down the track back toward the Steading. They piled them in the center of the road. Arrows wrapped with cloth and lit at the camp’s main fire flew into the pile. The bodies ignited and sent a choking grey-black cloud of smoke rising into the night air, drifting slowly away from the campsite.

  Families buried their dead. Faolan stood at the head of his father’s grave, Raina, Marta, Jaiman and Kevin standing at its side, arms wrapped around each other. “He was a good man and loving father. You’ll be missed, Da.”

  He looked beyond the grave to the people he was responsible for, grieving for their sorrow. Raising his voice so everyone could hear, he told them what needed to be done. “I’d like to stay here tomorrow, but I don’t think we can. We’ll leave at mid-morning and stop early to rest. The sooner we reach Red Dragon’s Keep, the safer we’ll be. Get what sleep you can.”

  He and his family walked away from his father’s final resting place.

  Chapter 18

  Thomas turned another page in the record book that he was searching. Somewhere in here there had to be a report or evidence or something to tell them how to fight the Dark. He and the boys and Breanna had been searching every record that Gregory sent them.

  Cameron sat next to him, his head in his hand supported by his elbow on the table. He flipped page after page, not really paying attention. Evan and Owen sat on the opposite side of the table, each reading a book. A pile of ten more records sat stacked at the end of the table.

  Breanna had gone to get a skully to bring them some food and drinks to share before mid-meal. The warmth from the fire burning in the fireplace across the room didn’t reach the table. The Library was cold.

  Cameron suddenly sat up straight. “Thomas, look at this! I think it’s important!”

  Thomas, Evan, and Owen crowded around Cameron as he pointed toward a drawing in the record.

  The drawing showed what looked like a broken piece of a talisman. It was a triangle with four gems placed from the center to the rim on a raised bar set on the right side. Runes and words were inscribed on either side of the triangle, some of them missing because of the broken edges. Cumhacht ar Draigoini labeled the picture. Thomas shivered as the boys gasped. Power of Dragons.

  Thomas put his hand on Evans shoulder. “Go get Gregory and Captain Mathin as quick as you can.” He pushed Evan toward the door.

  He nudged Cameron out of his chair and began to read the description in the record.

  “The Cumhacht ar Draigoini gives the bearer power to call the Dragons. Through it, the Dragons are required to do whatever the bearer desires. It has the power to kill the Dragons.”

  Instructions on how to use the talisman followed its description.

  The record continued after the instructions. “Following the last war with the Ciardha Demon, the Cumhacht ar Draigoini was broken by the Rune of Getal into five pieces and hidden in five strongholds throughout the kingdom of Ard Ri. This was done to protect humans as well as Dragons, removing the temptation of complete power. Should the Dragons be needed in the future, all five pieces must be reunited with the incantation of Xarroon. The Talisman cannot be destroyed. It is protected with runes inscribed on its rim by the first mage council when Dragons were created.”

  Thomas sat back in astonishment.

  Quick footsteps sounded in the hallway and Gregory and Captain Mathin hurried into the room followed by Evan.

  “What have you found?” barked Captain Mathin.

  “Cameron may have found the reason that the Demons keep attacking,” Thomas whispered. “Here. Read this.” He slid the book across the table to the two men, careless of its age.

  The men bent over the book to read the passage. As they finished reading, Gregory reached out to brace himself on the back of the chair closest to him and slowly sat. Captain Mathin sank onto the bench that Evan had been using.

  Both men looked at Thomas, as stunned as he was. Slowly the disbelief wore off.

  “Do you think that one of the pieces is hidden here?” Thomas asked quietly.

  Both Gregory and Mathin shook their heads.

  “There’s no way to tell,” Gregory croaked. He cleared his throat. “The only thing to be done is a search, a quiet search, done by those who are completely trustworthy.”

  Captain Mathin frowned sternly at all of them. “Not one word about this is to be spoken outside of this room. We don’t know whom we can trust. Boys, do you understand?”

  All of them nodded in agreement.

  “You can’t even talk about it when you think you’re alone. We should meet again tomorrow, just us, to talk about this,” Thomas ordered. “Maybe we can figure out where it is, if it’s even in the Keep.”

  “Aye. No one speaks of this. Swear on it.” Captain Mathin held out his right hand. One by one, the boys and Gregory put their right hands on top of his, Thomas last of all.

  As their hands fell away, Breanna returned with a pitcher and cups. A skully followed her with a basket of rolls. Thomas reached across the table and closed the record book. Gregory picked it up. “I’ll just return this to my office,” he said and strode out of the room. Captain Mathin nodded his head at Thomas and followed Gregory out.

  “Here’s some hot chocolate and rolls,” Breanna said. “Let’s eat!”

  § § §

  Thomas worried at the pr
oblem of what he began to call the talisman search into the night. He checked every single room and passage in the Keep, mentally running the locations through his mind. He fell into exhausted sleep just as dawn light faintly brightened behind the shutters at his window.

  He woke three hours later when his chamberlain entered the room with a pitcher of hot water. Simon carried it across the room and set it next to the bowl sitting on the commode. He turned to the fireplace and added logs to the embers. The wood smoked briefly and then burst into flames.

  “My Lord, Gregory was asking for you. He requested that you meet him in his office when you are ready,” he said as he gathered Thomas’s clothes from the day before.

  Thomas sat up in bed and yawned hugely as he stretched himself awake. He swung his legs from under the blankets to the side of his bed and rested his elbows on his knees. He was still tired. His heart sped up as he remembered the talisman. He clenched his hands into fists.

  “Thanks, Simon. I’ll find him as soon as I can.”

  “I’ll let him know.” Simon pulled the door closed as he left the room.

  Thomas stood stretched with weariness, and yawned again. He quickly pulled on clothes and shoved his feet into boots. He rubbed his hand over his chin, prickly with the beginnings of a beard. Finally. I’ll have to start shaving soon.

  He walked to his weapons rack and buckled on his sword. He’d decided to wear it all the time after the squires’ treachery. A sudden thought blazed in his mind and he froze. What about the secret passage? He hadn’t been in there since he’d listened to the scouts report to Gregory. He stood motionless in thought for what felt like ages. He decided that he’d need to check every passage when he had time.

  Thomas made his way to the great hall and served himself breakfast. He wolfed it down, then went to find Gregory.

  Gregory was in his office, reading the Dragon talisman record that he’d set on the bookstand next to the windows behind his desk. He turned as Thomas entered the room.