At first light, Anders and the others followed Max as he led them toward his family’s place just east of Brookside. Before leaving town, they stopped at the market to gather the supplies they thought they’d need while crossing the plains. Anders carried with him the small sack of coins he’d found among the ship wreckage along the beach. Though the money from the pouch wasn’t a fortune, it was enough to purchase several items from the eclectic Brookside Market. The first of his purchases was a lightly worn saddlebag he picked out from a stand selling leather and leather-made products. After searching through many vendors, he came across a man selling hunting arrows and bought enough arrows to easily restock his quiver. Before walking away from the man’s booth, Anders noticed a sword roughly the length of his arm. Taking advantage of Anders’ curiosity, the man offered him a decent price on it, so Anders once again emptied more coins from his small pouch.
Walking among the many people wandering through market, Anders noticed how clean their clothes looked compared to his. It didn’t take a keen eye to see his clothes had become ragged and were beginning to smell of filth. With the remaining sum of his coin, he decided to buy several new clothes and pants for his travels.
Wool was best for spring traveling because if wool got wet, which often happened during spring rain showers, it stayed warm. He had his eye on some silk shirts, but the rich material was too costly, so he turned his attention elsewhere in the market. He purchased several clean shirts and a pair of wool pants. To his surprise, he’d negotiated quite well and had just enough money left over to buy some extra food. He placed his food and new cloths in his saddlebag and scanned the crowd for his companions.
Anders and the others waited impatiently while Max searched the market for a particular style of shirt. Taking notice of their aggravated scowls, Max gave up the effort and resumed leading them toward his family’s house at the opposite side of town.
The small ranch was centered in a large grassy field that bordered the edge of the Bareback Plains. Anders took in the endless expanse of gently rolling hills. The plains consisted of golden waist-high grass extending beyond the horizon. Upon their arrival at the sod-roofed log house, several members of Max’s family came out to greet them.
“Max!” a young girl exclaimed, running and jumping into his arms.
Two others, a young man and an older gentleman followed her at a short distance. Anders assumed Max’s entire family would be excited to see him. To his surprise, however, the older man Anders assumed to be Max’s father, didn’t show the same level of enthusiasm as the young girl.
Holding the young girl in his arms, Max let out a chuckle as she said in a squeaky voice, “Oh, I’ve missed you! Where’s Bo?” she asked, looking past the others, but not finding Max’s younger brother.
Max’s face turned pale at the question. Fumbling for a moment, he found the appropriate words, “He decided to stay a little while longer.”
“Max!” the older of the two men barked coldly as they approached, looking warily at the strangers. “Who are these men? And where’s Bo?”
Max put the little girl down and told her calmly, “Go inside and tell your mom I’m here.” He waited until she was out of earshot to say anything more.
“What have you done this time, Max?” the older man asked.
“Tony, it’s not my fault. The Grandwood Games were attacked by invaders,” he said.
The older man scoffed, cutting him off, “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go to that stupid race.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” Max protested.
“Sure, nothing bad ever happened to you or anyone you loved because it wasn’t your fault,” Tony said angrily. “Don’t even bother telling me your lies. I want you and your thieving friends off my land,” he said pointing his finger at Max and the others. He stormed back to the house.
The younger man stayed behind and asked, “What happened?” He looked over his shoulder making sure Tony wasn’t listening to them.
“Grandwood was attacked during the last event of the games; Bo and I got separated. I’m almost positive he was captured. These men saved my life. We’re trying track down those who attacked us so we can free those they took hostage,” Max said, quickly summing up the events that had transpired since the last time he’d seen his family. “We need six horses. Can you help us out?” he asked.
The young man looked back at the house to be sure Tony wasn’t watching and said, “Make it look like you’re leaving and I’ll meet you down at the swimming hole in a half hour. I’ll bring you the horses.”
Max nodded and the younger man waved as though he was saying goodbye to Max, then he walked back to the house.
“What the hell was that all about?” Red asked Max as he led them back the way they came.
“I’m not exactly on the best terms with them right now,” Max said.
“That was obvious,” Red said.
“Come on, follow me. We’ll get our horses and then we can be on our way,” Max said, walking faster to get away from Red’s pestering.
They walked to a small spring, bubbling fresh water from the ground, and waited for the young man to bring them the horses they’d need to cross the plains.
Anders sat down in the tall grass next to Max and asked, “So that was your family?”
“Kind of,” Max said. “They adopted me and Bo when we were young. The older man’s name is Tony. He was against taking us in and has never liked us very much. Evans, Tony’s son, is bringing us the horses. He’s much nicer than Tony.”
“I see,” Anders said.
They weren’t waiting long before Evans emerged through the grass leading six horses, saddled and ready to ride. Ivan handed him a sack of coins in payment for the horses and thanked him for his help. Before they left, Ivan had to give the Rollo Islanders a quick riding lesson. Anders laughed as he watched one of them mount a horse and try to ride it onward. The horse wandered over to a clump of lush grass along the edge of the spring and put its head down to graze. The warrior cursed in Rolloan and shook his hands in the air, frustrated that the animal wouldn’t obey him.
Ivan yelled after him, “Pull his head up with the reins as I showed you and press your heels into his sides!”
“This is going to be a long couple of days,” Ivan said to Anders and Max as he rode by them.
Ivan took the warriors ahead with him while Max said his goodbyes to Evans. Anders waited for Max and then they were off to catch up with Ivan and the others. Red and his two partners trailed behind Ivan, shouting ‘yeehaw’ and ‘yahoo’! Max and Anders shook their heads simultaneously. The two were glad to know nobody was around to see how embarrassing these big men were.
The three Rollo Islanders rode haphazardly, following Ivan, Max and Anders into the Bareback Plains.
Anders had something on his mind and finally mustered the courage to ask Ivan, “So where is your dragon?”
Ivan didn’t answer him. Maybe he didn’t hear me? Anders thought. Asking him again, this time louder, “Ivan, where is your dragon?”
Ivan looked at him with a lack of expression on his face. “Dead,” he said bluntly.
“I’m sorry,” Anders said.
“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault,” Ivan replied.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Anders continued. “How did your dragon die?”
Ivan paused for a while not saying anything. Anders waited patiently. Eventually Ivan responded, “It was after Theodor left the war. I was trying to find a way to eliminate Merglan once and for all. I rushed into a situation blindly, taking her with me. She warned me not to do it, but I could only see my desires. It was a trap. The spell was too strong for me to break. The only way to escape was by sacrificing a life. Before I knew what had happened, she gave her life in exchange for mine.” He brought his cuff up to his face and wiped away a single tear.
Anders didn’t know how to respond to Ivan’s confession.
“The death of your dragon is one of the hardest things to overcome,” Ivan continued. “Most often those who are left behind end up losing their sanity trying to bring back their other half. I considered attempting it, but knew my duty to both her and myself would not end until Merglan’s threat to Kartania no longer existed.
“After she was gone, my powers diminished significantly. It took me many years to be able to tap into what little magic is left in me. I understand you have suffered the loss of loved ones Anders, but the death of your dragon is a pain I cannot describe.”
They didn’t talk for several hours after that revelation. By midday the sun’s overwhelming heat caught up with them.
“The horses need a break. We’ll get off there,” Ivan called to them, pointing to a stand of trees, a lull in the topography of the plains. Upon a closer look, they could see water pooling near the base of the trees. “The horses can get water and rest for an hour or two. Once it’s cooled off a bit we can continue.”
Red groaned as he hoisted his legs and slid down out of the saddle, hitting the ground hard. “No one told me how badly horses makes your loins hurt. I won’t be able to walk straight for a week!” He and his two companions waddled over to a shady spot, griping to one another about their sore crotches. Anders and Max laughed as they slid down off their horses.
“I told you it wasn’t as easy as it looks!” Max shouted after them. “You’re lucky these horses were already broken. Try learning to ride a horse that has never been around a person, much less letting someone sitting on its back pulling and poking it around.”
Anders and Ivan sat down in the shade, watching the horses drink from the pool. “It seems like what happened in Grandwood was ages ago.”
Ivan lay back on the grass under the trees and said, “A lot has happened to you in this last week.”
“I think about what my life was like before the attack, simple and happy. Now it’s so complicated, I don’t know what to think. For all I know my cousins could be dead. All this stuff about magic, dragons, and creatures I thought only existed in stories is hard to believe,” Anders said looking up at the leafy branches above them.
“Your cousins aren’t dead. Thargon will know we’ve got what he failed to retrieve and will keep them alive to draw us near. I know this is all overwhelming at first,” Ivan said. “When I first learned about magic and dragons I didn’t think it was real either. Just remember why you’re making this journey - to get your family back. Try not to get too caught up in all of the details. You need to keep your focus on the big picture.”
“That’s sound advice,” Anders said.
For the next couple of hours the six of them rested in the shade. When Anders and Max saw Ivan get up they helped him gather the horses. The three Rollo Islanders snored loudly in the grass.
“Get up you lazy sailors,” Ivan said kicking water at them. “Time to go.” Red and the other two looked angered by the rude awakening, but knew better than to challenge Ivan.
As they rode, Anders tried to tune out Red and the others talking about battle tactics and war. He was sick of the stress of it all weighing him down, so he let his mind wander. He found himself continually coming back to Maija’s kiss, before the race. He was glad to have met her the day before at the registration tent. He wondered what would have happened to the two of them if the attack had never happened, what his life would be like now.
Every once in a while Anders would be pulled out of his thoughts when Max broke through the talk of war and battle with some obscure joke or sarcastic remark. Anders was quickly realizing how much he appreciated having Max in their group. Max was usually in a positive mood and more often than not offered them comic relief with his jokes and smartass remarks.
Before the sun set they made camp and went about their usual routine of building a fire, eating dinner and falling into their temporary beds. Ivan had been giving Max and Anders sparring lessons nearly every night ever since their ship had wrecked. Instead of using their swords, they used freshly cut tree branches so they wouldn’t hurt each other too badly. Back on the trail to Brookside, Anders and Max used dead branches they’d found along the trail, breaking them almost instantly when they began their spur of the moment sparring match. Max wasn’t as good a fighter as Anders, but the two had made good progress since they’d left Grandwood.
The second day of riding across the plains was more arduous than the first. Often, in the heat of the day, they got off and walked alongside their horses to make sure they weren’t overworked. After midday, for the first time since they left Brookside nearly two days prior, they saw the forested coastline in the distance. Ivan suggested they ride along the tree line as long as they could before they had to cross more of the shade-less plains.
That night, sitting around their campfire and eating a dinner of dried meat and bread, Anders realized he didn’t know how the Bareback Plains got its name. He asked if Ivan knew how it came to be.
Ivan began to speak, but Max cut him off before he could say anything. “I think I can answer this question best. I did grow up on the edge of the Barebacks after all. The plains are home to the largest group of wild horses in the world. The first nomads to tame and ride the wild horses in this area did so without saddles. Over time, saddles were developed to make controlled riding easier, but the tradition of riding without saddles was already deeply imbedded in their culture. As more and more traveled across the plains, the name ‘bareback’ stuck.”
“Huh,” Anders said, through a mouthful of bread. “Where are the nomads now?”
“Not many nomadic tribes exist anymore. With the development of agriculture, the nomads congregated in a city they built in the center of the plains. It is now known as the City of Equine. That’s where most people in this area live now,” Max said.
“Do you think we’ll see any wild horses?” Anders asked Max before they lay down in their temporary beds.
“It’s possible,” Max said. “The Barebacks have the largest population of wild horses in the world. Back at the ranch outside Brookside they’d sometimes come by and our horses would take off to join the herd.”
“Really?” Anders said.
“Yeah, once they join the wild horses, it’s really difficult to get them back. Even if you can find the right herd and manage to wrangle your horses in again, they’re more difficult to break. Once they’ve had a taste of what it’s like to be with the wild herd, they always want to go back,” Max explained.
“That’s crazy,” Anders said.
“If we do see a group of wild horses, I hope it’s at a distance. Otherwise ours might want to bolt and run with them,” Max added.
Anders went to bed imagining what it would’ve been like to live on the plains as a nomad. He lay awake unable to fall asleep, tossing and turning. The harder he tried to find a comfortable position, the more uncomfortable he became. He tried looking up at the stars and clearing his mind for a while, but the light of the rising moon washed out many of the constellations. Thinking he might be able to clear his mind if he went for a walk, Anders quietly peeled off his blankets, trying not to wake anyone. He slipped on his boots, rose to his feet, and slowly began to tiptoe away from camp following the tree line.
Once in the cover of the trees and far enough away from his sleeping companions, he didn’t worry about making noise as he walked. He stayed close enough to the edge of the forest to see the grassy edge of the plains.
I wonder how far these trees go? Anders thought. There’s only one way to find out.
He walked by the light of the moon taking his time to observe many of the smallest details in the natural landscape that he usually passed by without noticing. Anders felt liberated to be by himself in such a peaceful place.
This is just what I needed, he thought.
After the chaos he’d endured over the last week, he longed to forget it all and be stress-free. He looked down at some bushes nearby and was focused on their bowed branches, heavy with bright purple berries, when he heard a loud ‘CRACK’ behind him.
He froze, his mind flooding with fear. He thought back to the many times when he was hunting in the forest behind his house at Highborn Bay. He would often spook deer or elk that made loud crashing noises when they ran away from him. Whenever that happened, the fleeing animal usually made more noise than one loud crack. Anders stood still looking into the dark shadows among the trees, hoping it wasn’t anything dangerous.
Once he’d seen a cougar stalking a fawn in the Grandwood Forest. It moved slowly making sure its prey wouldn’t see it. But cougars are such stealthy hunters that they wouldn’t make a loud noise like the crack he’d heard. Suddenly, another loud ‘CRACK’: this time closer. All at once it hit him, he knew what kind of animal could make that noise.
“Bear,” he said out loud.
He began to slowly back up, knowing that if the bear could see him he didn’t want to startle it, provoking its instinct to chase. He kept his eyes fixed on where the noise came from, but did not see a bear. Then he saw something shift in the shadows.
Anders lost sight of it for a moment, but pinpointing the movements once more, he could see whatever it was as it drew closer. Through the darkness, he still couldn’t tell for sure whether it was a bear. He thought he noticed something different about the way it stayed in the shadows, unlike a bear’s thoughtless wandering.
If it were a bear, wouldn’t it just come stumbling through instead of hiding in the shadows? he wondered.
Anders stopped dead in his tracks when he saw it begin to emerge from the shadows. Shimmering dark green and purple light reflected off its body in the moonlight as the creature showed itself to him.
Anders’ gulp was audible. He whispered aloud to himself, “That’s no bear.”
Emerging from the shadows and into the silver light of the moon, Anders saw something he’d never before hoped to see. A dragon stepped cautiously from behind the trees. It moved carefully, holding its head low to the ground, while keeping its dark-purple eyes fixed on Anders. He didn’t move. He had no idea what to do. His heart raced, and he thought, This is it, this is how I die.
Exposing the entirety of its body, Anders could see the dragon was a truly beautiful creature. The silver moonlight reflected off its iridescent scales. The scales transformed from green to blue to purple as its muscular limbs effortlessly moved its body without a sound.
The dragon’s large nostrils sniffed the air as it slowly approached Anders, who remained completely still. The creature exhaled so forcefully it shook the ground around it, sending a chill up Anders’ spine. He imagined how powerful its attack could be. Its sharp teeth and razor claws could slice into his flesh with ease if it decided to attack him. For now, it seemed only to be curious about what he was.
The dragon came closer, letting out a low growl, or was it a purr, from deep within its throat. Anders took a step backward and stopped when the dragon hopped sideways, startled by his sudden movement. It rose up on its two hind legs, standing tall above him. Anders tilted his head back to look at the entire length of the dragon’s body. With its neck outstretched and head tilting from side to side, looking at him with one eye at a time, Anders guessed it stood over fifteen feet in height, and had a tail extending another seven or eight feet behind its back legs.
He remembered from his childhood that the dragons that attacked the Royals at Highborn Bay were said to be sixty feet in length and stood fifteen to twenty feet off the ground when they were on all fours.
This must not be a full-grown dragon, he thought. Still, the creature was pure muscle and could easily devour him if it wanted to eat him for dinner.
Anders remained still, kicking himself for not bringing anything he could use to defend himself. The dragon dropped back down to all fours. It came closer, more hesitant this time, pulling itself back whenever Anders failed to remain perfectly still.
When the dragon was right in front of his body, Anders closed his eyes, fearing the worst was about to happen. He felt the warmth of the dragon’s breath was over his skin, raising the hairs on his neck. He heard the sound of lips parting and opened his eyes to see the dragon’s mouth cracked open inches away from his face. From within its deadly cage of teeth, Anders watched the creature’s forked tongue extend out beyond its jaw and lick the side of his face. His skin pulled along, sticking to the dragon’s barbed tongue. Anders wouldn’t have imagined what the dragon did next, not in a million years.
To his surprise, the dragon began to nuzzle him with its snout. It purred softly as it brushed its head up and down against his body. Its tail flicked back and forth like his uncle’s barn cats did when they rubbed against his legs back at the family farm. Anders nearly fell over backward from the pressure of the dragon’s head against his body. The dragon seemed to be snuggling with him. He extended his arm out over the massive head and stroked its scaled neck from the ears down. The moment Anders laid his hand on the dragon; he felt something happen inside him. His body flooded with a warmth and strength he had never experienced before. In that moment, Anders felt truly happy.
He let out a laugh as he stroked the dragon’s neck and it playfully nuzzled him back. All of a sudden the moment ended as fast as it started. The dragon pulled away from him. It raised its head; ears pointed upward on alert in the direction of Anders’ group’s camp. Anders heard his companions’ shouts as they called his name. He turned his head to see where they were. He looked back expecting to see the dragon still at his side, but it was no longer there. Only the slow movement of a low-hanging tree branch was proof of it having been there.
Was that real? he asked himself, looking at the branch swaying among the otherwise motionless vegetation. He raised his hand to his cheek feeling a wet streak on his face. It was.
Anders looked back toward the shouting as it grew louder. He turned his head once more to where the dragon had been and smiled. He rushed back to the others who searched for him along the tree line.
“Over here!” he yelled when he saw them in the light of the moon.
They came rushing to his side, blades drawn. Upon seeing he was okay, they began to question him.
“What are you doing out here?” Ivan asked.
“I couldn’t sleep and thought a walk would be nice,” he replied not lying but not telling them the whole story.
“Why didn’t you let anyone know where you were going?” Max asked.
“I didn’t want to wake anyone, and figured I wouldn’t go far and would be back before anyone woke up,” Anders said.
“How is it that I couldn’t sense where you were?” Ivan asked.
“I don’t know?” Anders replied. “I was walking along the edge of the trees.”
“I have always been able to sense you, even when you were much farther away from us after the shipwreck,” Ivan said. “Just now when I awoke and noticed you were not in your bed, I reached out to sense your presence, but felt nothing. How could that be if you were just walking along this close to camp?”
Anders shrugged and thought, The dragon must’ve blocked Ivan from sensing me. “I don’t know. I was just trying to clear my head is all, honest,” he said.
Ivan looked at him strangely, “All right. I’m glad you weren’t devoured by goblins or something,” he said. “Let’s go back to sleep. We have a long way to go if we are going to make it to the statue tomorrow.”
As they walked back to camp, Anders wondered if he should tell Ivan or Max about the encounter. He was finally beginning to feel that he could really trust them, but his heart was telling him to keep it a secret. Remembering the message Solomon had given him before he left Brookside, he decided to follow his instincts and keep it a secret for now. If he’d just seen the dragon off in the distance, the situation would be different, but this wasn’t your average run-of-the-mill dragon sighting.
Back at camp, Anders lay on the blanket he’d laid out for his bed, though now he was even more wide awake than before. He couldn’t go to sleep, not after what had just happened. He rolled his head to the side and stared toward the tree line, peering through the moonlight for a glimpse of the magnificent creature with which he’d just had such an intimate encounter. As he watched, his eyes grew heavy and the next thing he knew he was lost in a dream.
Anders cracked open his eyes when he felt the morning sun shining through his eyelids. He smelled fresh meat cooking and looked to see Ivan and Max preparing a rabbit leg breakfast. The sun was rising and he could feel the heat of the day beginning to warm the ground around him. Looking out at the plains, the grassland glowed in the golden morning light.
“Not a bad way to wake up,” he said.
“I prefer to wake up on an island beach, looking out at the ocean,” Red said sitting up from his bed.
Anders didn’t really care for the Rollo Island warriors; they were stubborn and close-minded, at least Red and his two comrades were. Luckily, he didn’t have to spend much time alone with them.
After they ate, the crew set off across the plains. They rode in their usual formation, Ivan up at the front leading the expedition, Red and his men following behind, and Anders and Max bringing up the rear. This way they had an experienced guide in the lead and some experienced riders behind the Islanders making sure nothing happened to them if they fell off or fell too far behind.
“Come on. What were you really doing out there in the woods last night?” Max asked Anders once they’d ridden far enough to let some distance get between them and the Islanders.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d take a walk along the edge of the trees.” Anders said sticking to his story.
Max brought his eyebrows together with a look of suspicion, “Okay… You could’ve been attacked or captured by goblins; you know they’re in the area. We barely escaped them coming into Brookside the other day. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were roaming around out here as well.”
“I know. Next time I’ll let you know,” Anders said. “What do you think made Ivan wake up?” He was curious why Ivan would notice that he was out of his bed. Up until now, Ivan had slept soundly through the night. Anders knew this because he often woke up in the middle of the night to relieve himself, usually making enough noise that anyone having trouble sleeping would wake up. Ivan, however, never even moved, remaining sound asleep.
“I don’t know? He probably just had to pee or something,” Max said, still giving him a suspicious look.
“I was just trying to relax,” Anders said, “honestly.”
“Okay, well, you know you can trust me if there’s something you want to get off your mind,” said Max.
“Thanks,” Anders said. While they were talking, they’d let their horses lag behind the others. Ivan had stopped his horse and the others to wait for them to catch up.
“Everything all right?” he asked, concerned.
“Yeah, Max was just telling me a funny joke,” Anders said.
Ivan shook his head and sighed, “You always have something to joke about, don’t you Max.” Then he turned his horse back around and continued on his way.
The crew rode hard and only got off to walk their horses twice that day. By the time the sun began to set behind them, they could see the Statue of Old Kings protruding from the coastline. At its base a large, sandy beach swept down the crescent-shaped coast. Lining the beach were the Rollo Island Navy warships.
“Look,” Red said, pointing to the statue.
“The warriors, they got the message!” Max exclaimed.
“I knew they would,” Red said proudly. “You can always rely on the Rollo Islanders.” He straightened his posture and puffed out his chest.
As they made their way across to the statue, Anders noticed something out of the corner of his eye moving swiftly across the plains.
“Wild horses,” he said pointing toward the herd galloping through the grass in the distance.
“Hey, we did see some,” Max said, happy to see them at a distance. Anders watched as the herd ran freely across the open land.
“It is truly a beautiful sight,” Ivan said, acknowledging their excitement at seeing the herd.
The night’s darkness had descended by the time their small group reached the beach beneath the statue. Red and his two comrades hopped off their horses and rushed to greet the Rollo war party’s leaders.
The Islanders embraced one another and one of the leaders said to them in a thick Rolloan accent, “I never thought I would see the day when my son would become a master horseman.”
“He most definitely isn’t a master,” Max said leaning over his saddle and looking around for a laugh. Instead the warriors gave him cold looks that told him they were not pleased with his comment.
“Tough crowd,” Max whispered to Anders, as he sat back into his saddle. Anders chuckled and shook his head, then dismounted to join the others.
“Chief Jorgen,” Ivan said, bowing his head slightly, showing Red’s father more respect than Max had.
“Welcome to our camp. We’ve been eagerly awaiting your arrival. Come, we have much to discuss,” Red’s father said, taking Red under his arm and walking back toward their camp.