Moon by Matthew R. Davis (fantasy novels to read .TXT) 📕

Chapter 9:
Teiram’s Guardian

A cold winter breeze rushed through Pens blonde hair. He shivered and wished he had clothes suited for winter whether. Small specs of snow fell from the light gray sky, and collected on the ground. The land around them was almost completely flat, aside from the tiny hills that popped up every once in a while. For the most part, Pen and Apophis walked in complete silence. There wasn’t much to be said. They stopped at night, and Apophis would allow Pen to curl up under his wing, so he would stay warm. Then in the morning, Pen would contact Elva to see how much progress the had made.
It was clear that it was going to take her a while to repair the damage. Since she was unable to move, Pen filtered energy into her nonstop from the insects, animals, himself, and Apophis. That kept her body from using up all of its energy. Then after checking on Elva, Pen would cover up their camp, and they would continue to walk in silence. They continued the process for more than a week. They met very few people on the road. Most people tended to stay in towns. The wilderness in Patheris was unsafe. Pen found that having Apophis with them kept most animals from attacking. The ones that would try, Apophis had for lunch.
“How far do you think we have walked?” Pen asked Apophis was intent on maintaining silence and did not answer. It angered Pen that the dragon would not allow himself to make friends out of another human. “This trip is going to be all the more miserable if you do not allow me to associate with you Apophis.” A growl emanated from his throat. The sound of it sent chills down Pen’s spine. He knew that challenging a dragon was foolish. “It is not that i do not want to associate with you human. I merely am enjoying the peace of the land. Can you hear the sounds of the world speaking to you?” For a while Pen strained his ears, trying to pick up on some kind of sound. But all he could hear was the gentle breeze in his ear, and the sound of his and Apophis’s steps. “Listen to the sky boy. How it’s gentle nature softens the feel of the air. And to the ground. Its hard and stubborn demeanor holding you up right in your boots. Without the two of them, there would be no world. Together they live in perfect harmony, yet they are exact opposites. It is this train of thought that the humans must adapt if they want to ever be free of the torments of war.” Pen was shocked at how wise Apophis truly was. It was impressive. And he understood what he meant. The humans had always been fighting. If they were not fighting each other, they were fighting the dragons, or the elves and dwarves. They had even had war with the hobbits of the Great Hills.
It was this behavior that made the humans a secluded race. “We are a violent race i know.” Pen said. Apophis growled in agreement. Pen felt himself lurch forward. He saw the ground rushing towards him. Then he tasted blood. He rolled onto his back and grabbed his face. He had tripped over a rock sticking out of the road. “Heilia.” he said. His bottom lip sealed and blood returned to it. A thundering roar filled the sky. He looked around for signs of danger. “Apophis! Whats going on! Whats wrong?!” He didn’t get an answer. Instead the roar continued. Then Pen realized what was going on. Apophis was laughing.
Pen’s cheeks turned hot. “I’m glad you enjoyed that dragon.” He said grimly.
“You...really hit the ground Pen.” Said the girl on Apophis’s back. Pen’s eyes widened. “Elva! Your conscious! Does that mean your done?” He said with a smile. A slight smirk curved her lips. “Not...quite. I still need more time...to constitute...myself again.” Pen grabbed her hand and nodded.
“I am a little...hungry though.” she said. He brushed the hair out of her face and smiled. He was so grateful that she was going to be okay. “We will stop for the rest of the night Apophis. She needs to rest properly.” Apophis bowed his head in agreement. “There is a town not far ahead. We could stop there and you two could rent a room for the night. It would be much better for her to be indoors tonight. It’s going to get cold.” Apophis said.
Just as Pen was about to say something, something above them roared, deafening them. All three of them looked up in search of the roar’s search. What thy saw was completely unexpected. It was a light blue dragon. The dragon circled above them and let an icy blue ball of smoke explode from its mouth. Pen felt a conscious push through him and fill his head with words. “What business have you in Teiram?” The question sounded more of a demand than anything. “State your business or Urie and myself shall attack.” Pen realized that it was not the dragon talking, but rather a person on its back.
They were in the presents of a rider. Riders were the most respected people in the world. They held powers far beyond that of any normal magician. They were mostly leaders of a city or town. Teiram was a small town, but housed great treasure beneath it and thus was a constant target for attack. It did not surprise Pen that the rider was on such high alert. Becoming a rider was a pain staking process and require much sacrifice. As a boy, Pen had always wanted to be a rider, but the chances of that happening for him, were very slim.
“We only wish to stay a night in one of your hotels.” The dragon above them collapsed its wings and hurled itself towards the ground. Unlike Apophis’s flight pattern, the blue dragon landed on the ground without opening its wings. A cloud of dust enveloped the area around them as the dragon collided with the ground.The dragon was slightly smaller than Apophis and much slimmer. Pen noticed Apophis’s face light up when her saw it.
“You must allow me and Urie to enter your mind and search it for any past evil or current plans of evil. Only then will we escort you through the walls of our town.” Said the man on the dragon’s back.
He grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled it free of its holster. “Now you must allow my dragon to hold you in place. Lower you defenses.” Pen wasn’t sure if he could trust the rider. Not all of them were good. The king was evil and he had once been a rider. “You will do us one at a time. So as we can make sure that this is not some sort of trick.” Pen said to the man, who agreed. “I blame you not for your concern. These are dark times, and it will pay to be cautious, make no mistake about that. So i will do you first.” He said pointing at Pen.
Pen lowered all the defenses he had readied around his mind and felt the cool touch of the riders mind enter his own. “Your name is Pen. You have a history of hard ship throughout your life. You mother was murdered in a brutal manor. You are on your way to the resistance hide out with crucial information on a way the king may be defeated. You are indeed in need of a room to help the woman you are falling in love with survive, after she was wounded in a battle with a soul eater. Hmm. That is most impressive that you took down a soul eater. I have found no evidence that you will cause harm to Teiram.”
The rider left Pen’s mind and said “Now the girl. Are you ready?” Elva weakly nodded. The rider pushed forward until he found her ravaged conscious. “Your name is Elva. You have suffered a great deal in your life time. You have helped your town by capturing thieves many times. You are considered a bounty hunter and use your skills for the good of the resistance. You are not a rider like a had originally thought. The holes i am seeing in you are the wounds from the soul eater. It had surrounded your mind and was devouring it, but Pen managed to slow it long enough for the black dragon you travel with to kill it. I am also seeing an overwhelming happiness flow through you from an unimaginable source of power. I’m not sure what it may be, but it is not evil.”
After leaving Elva’s mind he walked over to Apophis. “Dragon, may i have your permission to enter your mind.” The rider bowed and said “Ne grand teri laon.” Apophis bowed and touched the rider on the crown of his head with his snout. “Thank you great beast.” Then the rider entered Apophis’s mind. “Your name is Apophis. Though you have great pride in your race, you consider them foolish for creating a treaty with the humans. You against all odds befriended a human who’s death you were wrongly accused of. You have been pursued by them until you were drove to extinguish them. You again have found humans with whom you maybe able to befriend and you wish to help them complete their cause to rid the world of the wicked king. You also have eyes for my dragon Urie. Be warned Apophis. She can be quite feisty and will not accept your rouse easily.”
“I have deemed you all worthy to enter Teiram. Be warned, if i even sense that you are about to strike our town, I’ll will lay you down on the spot. My name is Rien and this is my dragon Urie. We hope you enjoy your stay in Teiram. You will find it to be a peaceful sanctuary from the evils of the world.”

******

Chapter 10
The Belaroughe

Rien and Urie lead them through the massive walls that surrounded Teiram. Inside, the three of them were shocked to find that the city was much larger than they had been told. Buildings were stacked in long rows to long to count. The city was shaped in the shape of a circle. All the buildings faced the central building. The central building towered above the rest of the buildings around it. Sentry towers were placed all around it and on giant tower stuck straight out of the middle. The sight of the building awed Pen. The street bustled with activity.
Pen imagined that it was hard to walk through the streets without bumping into people. They however did not have that problem. The people were clearing a path for Urie and Rien. “This is the cities busiest hour!” Rien shouted above the sound of the crowd. People were bowing to Rein, as if he were a king. They were saying things like “Hail the mighty ice dragon!” or “Bless Rien the Great.” It made Pen wonder what kind of greatness Rien had achieved.
“You seem very busy little one.” Said a voice he did not recognize. It took him a few seconds to realize that Urie was speaking to him. “Your mind is racing with many thoughts.” Her voice was nothing like Apophis’s. It was soft and inviting. It made Pen feel warm. “I have a lot to think about great dragon.” Pen replied as respectfully as possible. The sky blue dragon chuckled. Rien was talking to Elva. Pen felt jealousy welling up inside