Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (21 page)

Zanir leaned
back coughing.  Amar quickly filled a cup with water and offered it to her. 
She took it with a grateful smile and drained it in one smooth motion. 
Ramaeka’s eyes began to water and he realised he had forgotten to blink.

“What was
that?” he asked blinking rapidly.

“It is what
you must achieve if you wish to win this battle and give your friends a chance
to win the brewing war,” Zanir told him.  “You must take the sword that Gasha
holds and return it to its rightful master.”

“And that is?”
Amar asked with a frown.

“Stripe,”
Ramaeka interrupted abruptly realising what his instincts were trying to tell
him.  “The figure of light had a streak of darkness; it reminded me of Stripe’s
hair.”  He paused.  “Also I remember he once said that the sword called to him
when he was young.”

Zanir
acquiesced to this with a nod.

“Impossible,”
Amar growled.  “This is not why I created him.”

Zanir looked
at him passively.  “You gave free will to all your creations,” she told him. 
“Now you must suffer the consequences of that choice because you cannot take it
back without unravelling all of your work.  His fate is beyond your control now.” 
She looked at the ground.

“Taking the
sword is only one of the many possible courses you could take, however the
consequences of most of the others would be...,” she shuddered.  “Horrific.”

Amar bowed his
head as Ramaeka watched him anxiously.  Finally he stood up.
“Thank you,” he said smoothly.  “For both the advice and the meal.”
“You are most welcome my lord,” she said warmly.  “Good luck to both of
you.”
“Thanks Zanir,” Ramaeka said coming to his feet and bowing politely.

 “You are
quite welcome Ramaeka,” she replied with a smile.  “Farewell until we meet
again.”

 He waved as
he followed Amar out of the clearing.  As they walked away Ramaeka looked back
once more, but the clearing was empty.  The only proof of their encounter he
had was the weight of the food in his belly and the image of the sword burned
into his mind.
 They walked in silence for a while as Ramaeka turned everything over in his
mind.  He decided that he liked both of the elements, strange though they
were.  Perhaps if they survived the battle he would meet them again, he
might even get them to teach him about being an Elementai.

He was shaken
abruptly from his thoughts by Amar who had abruptly stopped.

 “This is
impossible,” Amar said furiously.  “Steal the sword from one of the most
powerful humans in existence, against whom I cannot even lift a finger, armed
only with a single dragon who is a mere child.  A child!”

By this point
he was pacing back and forth in front of Ramaeka crackling with power, his eyes
blazing fiery red with anger.  Shocked and a little hurt, hadn’t he proven
himself in battle?  Ramaeka stepped back from him.

 “If it
weren’t for these shackles this would not be able to happen,” he ranted,
holding up his wrists so that his sleeves fell back to reveal silver cuffs
carved elegantly with runes which Ramaeka had never noticed before.  “Through
my own stupidity and arrogance I have led us to this, listening to those
fumble-brained, silver tongued parasites.  I have allowed evil into my worlds. 
I should break these bonds and wipe everything clean, start over again
completely.”

“No,” suddenly
Ramaeka was furious as well.  How dare Amar threaten everything he had come to
love in a temper tantrum worthy of the most flutter-winged dragon child?  How
could he fall apart now?

“You gave us
choices because it was the right thing to do, otherwise we would be just as
shackled as you are.  Yes agreeing to some of the things you agreed to was
rock-brained but you’re talking about wiping away Stripe and Shady and the
warrior women.  The General and Makkie.  Me.”

Amar dropped
to his knees, head in his hands, his eyes turning grey with despair like ashes
after the flames.

“But what can
we do Ramaeka?  This is impossible.”

“I thought
escaping my father was impossible,” he told his friend sternly.  “But it
happened.  Sometimes the impossible stuff is actually not that hard.”

He held out a
hand.  Amar stared at it for a moment before nodding and taking it.

“Forgive me
Ramaeka,” he smiled tiredly.  “You are probably correct.”

“Of course I
am,” Ramaeka grinned.  “You know that’s the first time you’ve acted like you’re
a child, I know you said you were really young for your people but I only
really understood that now.”

Amar blushed. 
“Well now you know,” he muttered.  “Let’s find somewhere safe and come up with
a plan.”

Ramaeka nodded
falling into step beside him.  After a few moments Amar looked sideways at him.

“Thank you,”
he said.  Ramaeka just smiled.

They stopped
around midmorning to plan, hidden not far from the road on which the army
marched north though the main army had passed through already. 

“Amazing
really, to get such a horde here at such a rapid pace.”  Ramaeka nodded in
reluctant admiration. 

Between the
two of them they finally agreed that disguises would be the best way to
approach their problem.

“I already
look like a monster to humans anyway,” Ramaeka explained cheerfully.  Despite
the risk he really did love sneaking around and tricking people like this.

“It’ll be
easier than your invisibility spell.  That camp will be teeming, getting
through without bumping into something will be way too hard.”

Amar
acquiesced to that with a shrug.

“You are
correct.  So what disguise shall I don?”

Ramaeka
thought for a moment.

“I could use
my magic on you and turn you into a dragon,” he grinned.  “Or an apple.”

His friend
glared at him.  “Since your control over that aspect of your magic is
rudimentary at best we shall have to come up with something better.”

“Then we
should go closer and see what we can find because I don’t know much about the
things he has in his army,” Ramaeka admitted.

“If I remember
correctly,” Amar said thoughtfully.  “He has Sasayin mage-warriors, Barakian
soldiers and Killarian knights among his people.”

Seeing
Ramaeka’s confused expression he explained.

“All of whom
wear full body robes or armour.  The less of me they see the better.”

He nodded in
agreement.

“So how do we
get the armour or robes off them?”

“Well since
you mentioned the orange to apple trick,” Amar looked at him thoughtfully. 
“Healers use similar techniques; if you think you are able I will teach you how
they send a patient into a deep sleep.  It can be done at a slight distance if
need be, which would be ideal for us.”

“You mean make
them sleepy while still hiding,” Ramaeka grinned bouncing as Amar nodded. 

“Let’s do it.”

Amar
strengthened the wards around them before sitting across from him.

“Let us
meditate,” he murmured.

Taking control
of his breathing, Ramaeka let himself sink into the peace of meditation.  As he
relaxed he felt Amar’s presence bloom into his mind.

“Your power
has grown substantially,” the Amar voice murmured in his mind.  Surprised
Ramaeka realised that he was right; his core of power had grown.

“Magic is like
any other muscle,” Amar told him.  “It will grow stronger every time you
exercise it.”

“Now gather a
bit of your magic and draw it up.”

Ramaeka did so
with ease, drawing his magic up through his body. 

“Open your
eyes,” Amar commanded softly.  “Now look at me and imagine how tired I am, how
much I need to sleep.”

Ramaeka tried,
telling his magic of weariness, of the many miles they had travelled, sleepless
nights they had endured.  A bone deep weariness spread over him, sleep would be
wonderful he thought with a yawn.

He yelped as a
shock zapped through his body.  He opened his eyes to glare at Amar who was
trying not to laugh.

“You were
supposed to send me to sleep, not yourself.”  He sat back.  “Now try again.”

Grumbling to
himself, Ramaeka sank back into his magic.  Right he thought I have to send it
to Amar somehow.  He stared at his friend through his magic, how to send it was
the problem.  Perhaps he could just sink it in through his skin.  With that in
mind he reached out a hand and sent his power out.  However as he pressed it
against Amar his friend winced and pulled away.  Ramaeka frowned pulling his
power back.  That wasn’t going to work, if only they had a sleep potion or a
doze lily.  He stopped.  A doze lily he thought, maybe if I send the sleepiness
out like a scent or pollen.  He gathered his magic again pouring thoughts of
exhaustion into it and then gently wafted it towards Amar, imagining the scent
pouring through his airways sending him into slumber.

Amar fidgeted
then yawned.  His eyes began to droop and his head nodded.  He waved a hand as
if to ward off Ramaeka’s magic.

“Good,” he
yawned.  “Very good.”

With a grin
Ramaeka pulled his power back.

“Not exactly
what I expected but effective enough,” Amar told him before dumping a flask of
water over his own head.

He made
Ramaeka try it twice more before he was satisfied, then urged him to get some
rest.

“We will both
need our strength,” he urged when Ramaeka would have argued.  He rolled over
and fell asleep immediately; Ramaeka sighed in agreement and curled up to
sleep.

Several hours
later, wide awake and rested, they hid beside the road watching the stragglers
of Gasha’s army walk past and hoped luck would be on their side.  They had
chosen an ideal spot which allowed them to see the road for some distance
either way.  None of these few stragglers showed any wariness, testament to the
fear and awe that Gasha’s nearness afforded them.  They simply didn’t think
that anyone would dare attack them.

To fill in the
time Amar taught him about the different kinds of humans and creatures which
passed them by.  It was late afternoon before the right target appeared, a
Killarian knight in traditional black armour astride a huge war horse.

Right thought
Ramaeka nervously scrubbing his hands on his pants, I can do this.  Amar
squeezed his shoulder reassuringly while keeping his eyes on the road.  Taking
a deep breath he slid his power out towards the knight as the horse walked
steadily towards them.  After a few worrying moments the knight began to sway
in his saddle while the horse slowed to a stumble as it also succumbed to the
spell.

Its working he
thought gleefully as the knight slumped forward.

“Let’s get him
out of sight,” Amar said quickly moving forward.

And of course
that was the moment when everything went wrong.  The horse dropped to its knees
with a snort as it succumbed to the deep sleep, pitching the knight forward
over its head.  Jarred by the fall, the knight clambered to his knees, fumbling
with his sword as he saw Amar.

Ramaeka leapt
forward spell forgotten, changing shape so fast he thought he may have pulled a
muscle somewhere.  Sliding to the side of the knight, he whipped his tail
around slamming it into the man’s helm with a ringing clang before pivoting to
catch him before he could crash to the ground.  He winced as he saw the dent in
the man’s armour; he hoped Amar would be able to do something about that.

He looked at
Amar who blinked at him.  “That will do I suppose.”

They left the
man bound just off the road after seeing to his head wound as best they could,
the horse, still asleep, was left next to him.  Amar explained to Ramaeka, as
they slid the armour off, that the Killarian knights trained their steeds to
accept only their one master on their backs.  They would fight anyone else that
tried to the death.  As they donned the armour Ramaeka noticed that though it
was initially too large for Amar, by the time they had put it on it
mysteriously fit quite snugly.  Things would be easier if his friend could just
do whatever he wanted he thought wistfully as they started out for the camp. 
He shook that thought off; nothing ever really came easy in his humble
experience.

It was late
afternoon when they reached the edge of the camp from which they could finally
see Jangor.   The besieged city was wrapped in stone walls which gleamed
red in the late afternoon light.  All around the walls were men armed with
bows sending continuous showers of arrows down at those of the enemy who were
harrying them.  The great walls had not been breached at this point, they
saw to their relief.  The invading army was immense; Ramaeka could not
even begin to estimate their number.  For every man or creature shot down
by the arrows there were several more resting in their camp to fill their
place.  And they were not just standing there idly Ramaeka saw, they were
bringing up great ladders to the walls.  Great winged creatures were
dropping rocks onto the defenders below.  A huge creature was batting at
the main doors with a tree; it looked much like a troll but was violently blue.
 The arrows simply seemed to annoy the creature, barely making a mark on
its skin. 

“Great Mother,”
Amar breathed. 

Ramaeka simply
nodded in agreement.  The city was going to fall before long that much was
obvious.  His friend turned to him. 

“If you would
like to back out now I will not blame you,” he said. 

“Not a chance,”
Ramaeka replied grimly, “Not while Stripe and the others are down there.”   “All
right,” Amar sighed.  “I guess neither of us wants to take the sensible
path.” 

The camp
itself was immeasurable, monsters and men crammed together, bickering and
fighting as they awaited their chance to march to battle.  They wandered as
inconspicuously as possible through the sprawling camp, making sure to rudely
shoulder past anyone in their way.  Most stayed out of their way, even a
small dragon like Ramaeka was bigger than a horse and its cart. It took almost
an hour of wandering towards the centre of the camp before they finally came
upon what they were searching for.