Dragons, Power, Courts, And War (Book 2) Read online

  “They did take the offered bait, Baron. I heard that they are planning to go after the green tomorrow sometime,” Mage Hui continued, satisfied that it was safe for him to relay this bit of news. “Perhaps this will be the end of this annoying problem for you.”

  Baron Gang grinned, “Aye, perhaps it may well be so. Still, they are Duska trained. Eighteen? Incredible. Well, let’s hope that their murdering spree comes to an end soon, Mage Hui.” For the tiniest moment, Gang felt a twinge of regret for what was about to befall his two sisters. That feeling didn’t last long, though. Ever since his father had banished the two, they had been nothing but constant trouble, both for his father and now for himself. “Lord knows that it is hard enough making ends meet for Jing without those two constantly messing everything up. With luck, tomorrow may bring us a new day, eh Hui?” He grinned at his mage.

  “Aye, sir, that it may. On the off-chance that it fails, do you want me to get the Archmage involved in the search for their hideout?” Mage Hui asked. For weeks, the two had worked on an alternative scheme, one that depended upon knowing where the Swamp Raiders made their home. Once that was known, it would be a simple matter to send in shock troops and mages to capture them and put them out of business. The flaw in that plan, as Baron Gang often pointed out, was that the women were Duskas and would likely be able to escape by Shadow Walking.

  “Let’s see how this one works out first. I hate to get the Archmage involved if we don’t have to — he’s under orders to make as many mages as he can turn out.” The two chatted a bit longer, and it was clear to Mage Hui that it was time for him to leave. He bowed and cast a Mystical Door to his own quarters, where his disguise clothes were now heaped on the floor, deposited there by his previous spell. He kicked them into a corner and plopped down on his bed. He had much to ponder. Tomorrow promised to be eventful.

  Alone at last, Baron Gang made his Mink Link to his brothers. Li, Jie! They took the bait. Tomorrow they will be going after the green. Are you prepared?

  Jie replied, We certainly are. Our sisters are such an embarrassment to us all. They have to be stopped. Count on us, big brother. We will be totally focused on Shadow Walks tomorrow. You know that we can sense when anyone Shadow Walks now. It is a marvelous side-effect of our new Circles. Rather amazing. Gang grimaced. He hated the fact that his two younger brothers now actually had more physical powers than he, who his father had chosen to be his heir! Still, he knew that he could do nothing about that, only continue to keep them aligned with himself.

  Li added, Gang, if our sisters attempt any Shadow Walking tomorrow, we will know about it and attempt to follow them or at least know where they went, if it is off-planet. One way or another, this constant interference of our sisters must be ended. Most likely, they will head back to their safe house, wherever that is. If they do, rest assured big brother, we will know their precise location. If so, are we still planning to raid them and capture them?

  Gang replied, Yes, it would be ideal to make them pay for their crimes against Jing. Such would do wonders for our authority. They’ve been flaunting dad’s and our rule around here for far too many years. It has to stop now.

  I still think that we ought to give them a choice between execution and marrying one of Baron Clav’s men on Rehor, Jie added. Getting them off-world permanently is better than execution. They are still Duska after all.

  Gang laughed, envisioning his sisters bedding one of the ugly Clav men on Rehor. Well, first we have to capture them. Then we’ll see. Time for bed. Tomorrow promises to be most interesting, brothers.

  Once that connection ended, Baron Gang made one more Mind Link. Ah, Noble Ashford, Baron Gang here. The Swamp Raiders have taken the bait. They will be looking for the green tomorrow. I wish you the very best of luck with your trap. Keep me informed of the outcome, please.

  The Green Dragon smiled; his own spy had already reported in on the Swamp Raider’s conversations around their table at Wu’s Inn. He certainly didn’t need this puny human’s message. Still, the human was most useful for the time being. Of course, Baron Gang. I will notify you of the outcome at soon as I hear it. However, he didn’t add that he would do so only when it suited him.

  “Come Leeds, let’s prepare this trap. I aim to personally devour these infernal death stalkers myself! Eighteen! Damn them to hell. No one kills eighteen of us without paying the ultimate penalty!” Ashford growled. He was the oldest of the greens here on Jing and their leader. Leeds was his second, though he longed to take Ashford’s place. He thought that Ashford was being way, way too kind to these infernal humans on Jing. One sweep and the combined greens could put an end to this human infestation on their new beautiful homeland. Ashford continually refused to do any such thing. Quite why, Leeds had no idea. Ashford seldom relayed such information to the other Green Dragons, only his orders which they had to follow.

  Of course, with Green Dragons, following orders was antipathetic to their very natures. Each thought of himself or herself as all important and capable of making their own orders. However, due to the near starvation of their species back on Voss, those that had come here via Ashford owed him a great debt. With a Green Dragon, a debt was taken almost as seriously as gems and magic. Hence, most all of the greens on Jing pretended at least to follow Ashford’s orders, at least until the gems stopped coming from the barons.

  Morning came to a remote portion of the swamp, some twenty miles from Ningho. Here on a small clump of ground above the water was the Swamp Raider’s base camp. Long ago, they had discovered an abandoned bear cave here. With a bit of enlarging into the bedrock via magic spells, Chan had turned it into a small home. Actually, most of their cave was below the water level, but the solid bedrock kept the swamp waters out. The main chamber served as their all-purpose living room. Two small side chambers had been fixed up as bedrooms — one for the women, one for the three men. Outside, two small boats were hidden in the brush.

  This area of the swamp was heavily infested with both gators and vipers, which acted as a natural protection force while they were away. When they were here, the women erected a Force Screen to prevent unwanted creatures from entering, though they added more spells to completely block and hide the entrance whenever they left their safe house.

  Wen went about the task of fixing them breakfast, while Chan sharpened their many blades, along with the three men. “Well, Yan sent me a message last night after we all left Wu’s. She said that three different suspicious men left after we did. She doesn’t think that any of the three were aware of each other, but only us.”

  “Sounds like someone is on to us,” Peng pointed out.

  “Could be a trap that we are heading into today,” Kang said, highly suspicious of this interesting tidbit of news. “Three of them? Do you suppose each of the Barons sent out spies looking for us?”

  “That’s what has been bothering me all night, guys. Gang has always run rough-shod over Li and Jie, who have always done pretty much whatever Gang says. I can’t imagine all three of them sending out spies and not having their spies aware of each other and working together. It is not Gang’s way. No, Gang is devious. I wouldn’t put it past him to send out a spy to spy on the spy, but not three of them. His big thing is redundancy. If one thing doesn’t work, always have a secondary backup plan. I would bet that one of the spies was spying on one of his spies, but the third? Honestly, that has me baffled. Who else wants our hides?”

  Wen called out as the tea water boiled over, “The greens!”

  “She’s got a point, Chan,” Peng put in. “Dragons can take human forms. Perhaps one of the spies was a dragon looking for us. If so, maybe this whole thing is a setup — a trap to ensnare us all.”

  “I agree with Peng,” Tao added, nursing a slight hangover. “Maybe we should let this one slide.”

  “Ordinarily, I’d agree,” Chan said, diving into the breakfast that Wen dished out, “but that was a family of three, helpless, defenseless, innocent people who were murdered by the green.
We saw their bodies. We know it was a green’s doing. I just cannot let that go, fellows. That family needs justice served.”

  “If we know or suspect that it is a trap, we can be extra cautious and not take any chances,” Wen suggested.

  “Fellows, this one might be way too dangerous for you to come on, so if you want to stay here and guard the fort, we will understand. We cannot keep on asking you to risk your lives fighting these vile greens,” Chan explained, giving them a way to back out honorably.

  “Nah, what else is there to do now on Jing except go after the vermin?” Peng replied. “I’m with you. If I have to die, let it be for something of value.” The other two agreed with him.

  Kang added, “Look, Chan, if we don’t survive this one, at least we five can say that we alone took eighteen of them down with us! No one else on Jing has even gotten one of them, so I say we are heroes. Let’s die like heroes. At least the folks in Ningho know that we are heroes.” They all grinned at that.

  After arming themselves with all of their weapons, the five left their safe house. Chan sealed it up and was the last to climb aboard their poled boat. The three men were in one, while the two women took the other boat. With Wen poling and Chan far forward as lookout, they led the way through the fog-filled swamp morning. Chan too held a pole which she used to encourage vipers hanging from branches to move out of their way. A dozen gators slipped into the waters from the nearby patches of semisolid ground. Great trees grew overhead; their roots often looked like giant tendrils dropping down into the water, as if even the trees hated to be in these semi-stagnant waters and were trying to pull themselves upwards.

  The going was slow in the fog, but they all knew that it would soon burn off. Then, they could double their pace. Bird calls echoed through the trees, while flies and mosquitoes abounded. Occasionally, a deer darted off following the patches of semi-solid ground. Wildlife teamed in these swamps, just not humans. Oh, there were hardy pioneers who lived out here in the swamps, catching wildlife and trading furs and skins for other necessities of life in Ningho or other towns and cities, but they were in the minority. They were also the ones that the Green Dragons were preying upon the most — isolated swamp families. Well, eighteen of them would not be doing that any longer, Chan mused, as she deftly encouraged another viper to slither out of their way from an overhanging branch.

  Around ten, the fog lifted and their pace doubled, though it was still slow by poled boat. In these bayous, about the only real means of transportation was by poled boat. These were very shallow bottomed boats, capable of floating in mere inches of water, which often occurred as one traveled around the swamps of Jing. Occasionally, beams of sunlight slanted down through gaps in the dense foliage above their heads.

  They drifted along at lunchtime, snacking on the scraps that Wen had packed. Finished, they resumed their poling. One o’clock found the two boats near the deceased family’s home. “Here’s where we start out search,” Chan announced. “Start looking for dragon signs.”

  The one thing that these dragon hunters had going for them is that Green Dragons seldom flew. They preferred to slither along the water like the snakes that they were. Oh, they were fast swimmers! The gators were one of their favorite delicacies here on Jing, though they also often ate the deer as well. Before long, Chan picked up the trail left by the vile creature who a few days before had slaughtered the family of three. No mistaking the path: crushed plants and grasses, even small saplings bore witness to the seventy foot long passage of these enormous beasts. The question was: was this the trail the green left leaving the murdered family or was it the path that it took when it came here? Chan could not be sure which it was just yet.

  “Okay, circle around the area. Let’s see if we can find a second trail,” she ordered. The two boats split up and began making a huge sweep around the small hillock on which the wooden cabin stood. Before long, Peng called out that they found another path and Wen poled their boat over to the men’s location.

  After a bit of study, Chan announced, “Ah, this is the exit trail. See how the grasses are pushed that way, away from the cabin and hillock? Follow me. Stay sharp, this well could be a trap!” On they poled for another hour.

  At last, Chan hastily flashed hand signals to the men behind her. Both her and Wen’s inner Duska senses began warning them of danger. The swamp was deadly quiet as their two boats drifted along among the trees. They made little noise with their passage. Still to their ears, it sounded as though they were shouting their way along the waters. The five felt confident, primarily because Chan had already cast her most powerful protection spell upon them all, Skin of Stone. This had frequently saved their lives when attacked, as no weapon could pierce their skin until the spell wore off. Perhaps that was their downfall, depending too heavily upon this single protection spell. Chan later believed that this was so.

  In the lead boat, Chan drew her weapons making as little noise as possible. Wen already had hers out and laying at her feet where she could grab them when she dropped her pole. Slowly, ever so slowly, the two boats slipped along the shallow waters. Still no birds, no gators, no deer could be seen or heard. Utter quiet, deathly quiet. Chan knew that they must be close now. Somewhere just ahead of them must lay the vile Green Dragon who wantonly murdered the helpless pioneer family. She was determined to get revenge for them. Wen gave their boat another silent push and they continued their gentle, forward glide. Chan’s eyes were pealed, looking for any sign of the green. It would be hard to miss, likely being seventy feet long and ten feet in diameter along its mid-section. But where the devil was it?

  Curled around tree, Ashford watched the wary humans in their two puny boats slowly drifting towards him. Just a bit closer, he thought to himself. Five other greens were wrapped around neighboring trees, all Invisible. He’d cast that spell on the other five, who did not know the spell. If they followed his orders, the lives of these infernal Swamp Raiders would be over in just another minute. Get a bit closer, he thought.

  The problem with Green Dragons is simple: they hate to have to work together. One of the five began his spell cast chanting before Ashford gave the signal. Ashford saw this and hastened his signal to the others, who began their chanting as well. That was all that Chan and Wen needed. Their Duska senses triggered, warning them of an imminent attack!

  “Trap! We’re being attacked!” Chan screamed her warning to the others. Spells detonated. Wen and Chan both felt their Skin of Stone spells being nullified and knew that some of their attackers had cast Dispel Magic spells on them. Further, the six Green Dragons became visible at the very moment their spells fired. Chan saw them curled around the thick trees just ahead of them. She realized that it would have been far worse had the dragons waited a bit longer until they had moved further along. Then they would have been entirely surrounded! A volley of Magical Missiles struck Peng. A Lightning Bolt arced towards Wen, but with her lightning fast reaction times, it missed her entirely, striking the pole that she had been holding. Five seconds had thus far elapsed; the Swamp Raiders had yet to counterattack.

  Ashford saw his spell missing Wen and chose to resort to his tried and true methods of dealing with these humans. Forgetting even his own orders to his companions, he belched forth a flood of slime from his mouth, aiming it towards the first boat. These pesky humans would now have no chance at all, he thought.

  In a nearby tree, Leeds, who, following Ashford’s orders, had shot a Dispel Magic, now regretted having done so, for he could see no reason to have used that spell at all. Thus, he also belched forth his flood of slime onto the second boat. Enough of this playing around with these humans, he thought. Besides he had no intention of eating their bodies. They tasted awful. After all, they had killed eighteen fellow dragons and harmed another ten. In his mind, they should pay with their fragile lives. He ignored Ashford’s orders not to dissolve their bodies, though he knew that the puny Baron Gang had wanted visible proof that these Swamp Raiders were dead and that Chan and Wen we
re among them. Well, he could give them their bones at least.

  Still in the middle of her flying dive out of the way of the lightning bolt, Wen saw Ashford’s mouth opening and knew he was about to unleash his awful slime breath weapon on her boat. She saw the vile looking, greenish slime exploding out of his mouth in an expanding cone of devastation coming her way. Her hands reached the side of the boat and she used her falling motion to flip her body over the side into the foul-smelling swamp waters beneath the boat, hoping that the waters were deep enough to cover her body and protecting her from the highly corrosive slime. Wen felt the warm waters flowing over her face and she headed downwards, striking hard into the soft, muddy bottom some three feet below the surface. Instinctively, she knew that it was just enough to cover her from the slime. However, she had a brief glimpse of the others as she was falling into the waters. Her sister was facing the wrong direction! Had she even seen it coming? Worse, the three men had not reacted as fast as she. Damn, they were not Duska. By the time that she hit the waters, Wen knew that the three men would take a direct hit from the slime.

  As she sank below the waters, she heard the pitiful, horror-pain filled screams from the three men and knew that she’d lost them forever. Damn! Chan and she should never have allowed these men to join them, she thought as she landed face down in the mucky bottom, three feet from the surface. Wen’s thoughts now went to her sister, had she gotten out of the way?

  Chan was facing sideways and from her left she saw Ashford’s mouth opening and knew slime was sure to follow. Worse, from her right, she saw another green’s mouth opening and knew that the three men were in a direct line of sight of this one. She delayed her own reaction long enough to scream to the three, “Dive! Dive! Dive!” Almost in slow motion, she saw how futile her warning was. The three men barely had time to look up at the dragon before the cone of foul, caustic, green slime shot out of its mouth directly towards them in an ever expanding cone! She was utterly helpless to prevent them from taking a direct hit and a horrible, painful, but quick death! Her delay in reacting to the slime coming her way in this last ditch attempt to save her three companions almost cost Chan her life. At the very last instant, she dove into the water, having seen that Wen was a spit second ahead of her.