Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (22 page)

“There,”
Ramaeka hissed softly at Amar, flicking his nose in the direction of the
largest tent. 

It was guarded
by two tall creatures.  They had glowing white skin and dull black eyes,
their long spiked tails twitching behind them the only sign of movement. 

“You sure
about this?” Amar murmured. 

Ramaeka nodded
and arrogantly stalked forward.  The element of luck was definitely on his
side he thought happily as one of the huge bright blue troll like creatures
ambled towards him.  Deliberately he swept his tail out as he passed the
creature almost directly in front of the tent.  It tripped over his tail
with a surprised yelp.  With a roar it leapt back up, turning towards
Ramaeka with its claws out.  Turning Ramaeka roared back at it, baring his
teeth in a vicious grimace.  Despite the fact that the creature was larger
than him, Ramaeka rushed it.  Gripping its arm in his teeth he swung it
forcefully towards the dead eyed guards who jumped back hissing in anger.
 The blue troll leaped back at Ramaeka and the two rolled around in a vicious
whirl of dust and stones. 

Out of the
corner of his eye, Ramaeka saw a slim figure emerge from the tent; fury was in
every line of its body. 

“Stop this at
once,” it roared at them.  The man slid a sword from his belt and cut of
the troll’s head off in a movement Ramaeka couldn’t even follow.  The head
clumped down in front of his face as he crouched down in a position of
obeisance.  This man was the evil one he thought, the smell of it clung to
him, a truly horrific stench like decaying flesh.  And to cut off a
troll’s head in one strike! The man glared at him, sneaking a quick look
Ramaeka noticed that he had dark hair and yellow brown eyes much like Shady’s. 
He rested the very tip of the sword on Ramaeka’s nose, a drop of foul blue blood
dripping on to his snout. 

“There will be
no more of this,” he growled at Ramaeka and the crowd that had gathered around
the fight. 

They all bowed
deeply, slipping away as fast as possible.  The man narrowed his eyes at
Ramaeka keeping the sword pressed to his nose. 

“Who and what
are you?” he demanded.  His nasal voice had a sullen whine to it Ramaeka noticed. 

“Wavaki,” he
growled in response, keeping his voice as low as possible.  “Just joined.” 

“Well wavaki,
consider this your first and only warning, there will be no fighting amongst my
army,” he narrowed his eyes.  “Is that understood?” 

“Yes Greatness,”
Ramaeka growled, bowing his head. 

Rather than
wasting anymore words, the man turned and stalked back to the tent; stopping
briefly he shoved the sword into a terrified human man’s arms. 

“Clean this at
once,” he demanded wrinkling at the smell of troll blood.  The man bowed and
stammered backing away as Gasha entered his tent.  Ramaeka also backed away
before turning and fleeing towards the edge of the camp where Amar would
hopefully meet him. 

Suddenly a
figure appeared at his side yanking at one of his spikes.  Rearing around
Ramaeka started to swipe at the knight who had grabbed him before realising who
it was. 

“Go, go, go,”
Amar whispered fiercely.  “I’ve got it.  Don’t ask questions just start walking.” 

Trying not to
be conspicuous they walked as quickly as possible towards the edge of the
camp.  They had almost reached it when they heard a rising storm of noise
behind them.  Creatures roared and howled while the human’s yelled and cursed. 
And beyond all that came a rising sense of power and that nasal voice at a
shriek. 

“Find them!” 

Sweat broke
out along the ridges of Ramaeka’s spine as the noise swamped them.  Men and
monsters alerted by the furore unsheathed weapons and claws, looking around
suspiciously.  There were still far too many of them between them and the edge
of the camp, far too many to fight in all the clutter. 

“Ramaeka,”
Amar whispered fearfully.  Who would have known Ramaeka thought, even gods get
scared. 

“Strip off the
armour.” 

Amar looked at
him like he was insane.  “We will lose our cover.” 

“We already
have,” Ramaeka said as yelling reached his sensitive ears.  That the people
yelling were pointing at the two of them had not escaped his notice. 

“Strip and get
on.”  

Amar ripped
off the armour rapidly, probably with magic Ramaeka thought with approval at
the speed.  Then, wincing he pulled himself onto Ramaeka’s back clutching the
precious sword, disguised in the Killarian knights sheath, to his chest. 

“Hold on,”
Ramaeka called, swiping viciously at an approaching giant spider creature.  In
the near distance he saw Gasha wrapped in pulsing power point a finger at them.
 He launched himself up with a roar, wings flapping furiously.
 Flying with so much weight was harder than he had assumed it would be.
 Suddenly a blast hit him from below, sending him flying upwards.
 Amar yelled and clutched at one of his spikes.  Heart in his mouth,
Ramaeka looked down expecting horrific injuries from the evil man’s blast;
instead he found a friendly open face grinning at him. 

“Thowra,” he
whooped exultantly. 

The element
laughed, waved and dissolved back into the air.  Ramaeka swooped along in
joy with the second sudden blast of wind.  The enemy camp was far below,
not even the evil one could reach them here.

“Ramaeka, we
need to go down,” Amar yelled in his ear.  “The walls are breached; we
need to get the sword to Stripe.”

Looking down
Ramaeka saw that he was correct.  The enemy were swarming over the walls
like ants.   Angling his wings he sped downwards, gathering his magic as
he went.

Chapter Eleven

“Ramaeka,”
Amar yelled.  “Behind you.”

Ramaeka turned
around mid-flight in a manoeuvre so fast he almost flicked Amar off.  What
looked like a giant flying shell lizard was hurtling towards him.  Ramaeka
was used to quick thinking in battle though thanks to his father, and he
quickly threw the fire spell and dodged.  The monster withdrew its legs,
head and tail into its shell, the fire of Ramaeka's spell sweeping over it
harmlessly.  Thinking quickly Ramaeka hooked his claws around the edge of
the shell, holding on as they spun wildly.  The creature growled and
snapped at his claws with a dangerous looking beak.  He pulled back
quickly then jammed his tail spike into one of the creature’s leg holes.
 As the creature screamed in pain he flipped neatly off forgetting that he
still carried Amar who yelled, grabbing at his neck ridges.

"Sorry,”
he yelled grinning wildly.

Continuing to
fly as fast as he could, Ramaeka noticed two more flying creatures
approaching out of the corner of his eye, one was a flying lizard, the other
was covered in spiky feathers.  He felt a shiver of magic on his back and
grinned, it felt like Amar had just glued himself on.

“Close your
eyes,” Ramaeka called. Closing his eyes he used a light spell he remembered
from battle training.  He banked abruptly as the brilliant light flashed
in his opponent’s eyes, blinding them momentarily.  With a squawk and a
growl they collided mid-air and spun away to the hard earth.  As he opened
his eyes again a clap of thunder boomed out and another flying lizard monster
went sailing past, its wings burnt to a crisp.

“Rocks,” he
said in surprise, swerving away.  Amar laughed behind him.

“I will
protect your back,” he called.

Ramaeka
laughed.  “Well what are we waiting for then.”

They were now
close enough to the city that Ramaeka could make out the soldiers and archers
on the wall.  It was now almost completely night, the last dim shreds of
day falling away before the darkness.  Torches began to blaze throughout
the fortress.  As Ramaeka observed the humans below loaded items into a
strange looking contraption, like a giant spoon.  Standing back one of
them hit a lever releasing the spoon which leaped up hurling its contents
towards the enemy.  Cocking his head around he tracked the object as it
hit the horde below, exploding on contact in an immense fiery explosion which
consumed those unlucky enough to be close to it.

"Ramaeka,”
Amar yelled bringing his attention back around.  Another flying lizard had
caught up to him and was grabbing at Amar who turned it into charcoal.
 Looking back beyond that Ramaeka's heart clenched in fear as a wave of
darkness seemed to rise into the air.  Gasha had mobilized his entire
flying contingent to capture them and the sword.

"We need
to get to the city,” Amar shouted over the wind.

"Really?
I didn't realize,” he yelled back sarcastically grunting with effort.  He
could feel the weight of Amar's glare on the back of his head and rolled his
eyes.

"Hold on.”
 He pushed himself harder than he had ever flown before.

"Dragon
boy,” a voice murmured right by his ear.  Thowra was easily keeping pace
with him.

"The gate
will fall soon,” he swirled away for a moment before reappearing on his other
side.

"The
creatures have almost broken through.  If it falls, so does the city.”

"I've got
my own problems at the moment,” he managed to gasp, his lungs burning.
 How could he be expected to do more than he was already?

"Leave
that to me and my brethren,” Thowra grinned fiercely.

"But what
can I do?” he desperately tried not to whine, he would not whine.  Thowra
gave him a friendly buffet.

"Look to
your element,” he said.  "If they can’t get to the gates they can't
break through.”
 With that the element whipped around and headed back towards Gasha's flyers.

"You
heard?” he called back to Amar.

"Yes and
it is even more insanity than raiding Gasha's camp"

"Just
more of the same then,” he panted.  With a growl he angled his wings,
curving down towards the gates, he had to trust Thowra to take care of the enemy
at his back.  In front of the immense iron gates four huge trolls were
ramming diligently with a black battering ram, its end shaped like the head of
a dromon, a terrifying monster of the sea.

"Brace
yourself,” he called to Amar as they hurtled downwards.  He felt Amar
change his hold, bracing himself for impact and took a deep breath calling up
his faithful fire spell.  They took the trolls completely by surprise
slamming into them in a fiery collision.  As the trolls and those unfortunate
enough to be near them screamed in pain, Ramaeka slid across the ground in
front of the gates. Before the pain from the impact could set in he reached
down and wrenched the earth power he could feel beneath him.  He had never
done anything like this before in the barren rock of his home and only the once
since leaving, the day his siblings had attacked.  Never had he felt such
overwhelming power, the immensity of it scared him.  Dimly he felt Amar's
presence on his back, his energy so similar to the flood drowning Ramaeka.
 Fiercely he fought to control it, pressing at it with his will, forcing
it to channel through him.  The earth drew up the rock for him, crushing
it against the door; he used the heat of the deep parts of the earth to
smooth his barrier down.  Impenetrable, he burned into it, unmovable.

And then Amar
grabbed his mind yanking him back to the surface.

"You fool,”
his friend yelled pulling at one of his wings.  Ramaeka turned to look at
him, the movement taking more effort than it should have.  He was glaring
at him, his eyes sparking red and yellow.  He's afraid Ramaeka realised in
surprise.

"You were
not ready for such a thing,” Amar said hands shaking as he clutched at
Ramaeka's wing.  "You should not have been able to do such a thing.”

Ramaeka looked
at the gate, or rather where it had been.  Now it was a thick solid wall
of black rock so smooth not even a cave bug could find a foothold to climb it.
 I did that? He thought dizzily.

"We need
to get over the wall,” Amar said his voice still tight.  Ramaeka nodded in
agreement, the soldiers and creatures around them were beginning to recover and
advance on them.  One of the trolls groaned and rolled over.  Ramaeka
winced as he pulled back on his haunches, both of his wings felt like they had
caught fire.  His left side where he had slid along the ground was a mess from
numerous cuts and bruises.

"I don't
know if I can fly,” he admitted softly to Amar, it was hard to breathe; he
thought he may have broken a few ribs.  Even if he had wanted to he
couldn't reach the earth’s power, it felt miles away.

"Yes you
can,” Amar placed his hands palm down on Ramaeka's head.  For the second
time in minutes strange energy flooded through him though Amar pulled away
before he could become overwhelmed again.  His ribs popped painfully then
eased, the pain from his side dulled to a light throb.  He felt rested and
wide awake though his magic was still a shadow of itself.  He bound into
the air with a whoop from under the very snouts of the trolls, flicking one with
the sharp end of his tail.  He beat his wings to gain height before
hitting a beautiful thermal and circling upwards.  Drifting on the wind
for a moment he peered through the rain to see where Thowra and his brothers
were.  The wind Element appeared to be enjoying himself; he had called up
cones of wind and had sent them spinning through the enemy.  The flying
creatures were sucked in and thrown about before being tossed out to crash into
each other or to tumble awkwardly to the ground.

Those who
escaped Thowra met his brothers who were apparently storm Elements.  They
paced the sky pitching shards of lightening and chunks of hail while rain
roared down on those below, pounding them to the ground.  Thunder shook
the air.  Ramaeka turned tail and fled towards the city, while he trusted
Thowra, he did not want the Element’s brothers to mistake him for the enemy.
As they glided down he saw the archers on the wall point up at him, raising
their bows.