Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (30 page)

“Disappointed?”
Shady taunted. 

“Vaguely,”
Ramaeka replied.  “You would probably smell better the other way, but I
would miss you all the same.” 

Stripe laughed
and shoved Shady who grumbled under his breath looking away from Ramaeka
unhappily.  Ramaeka sighed to himself, Shady was always going to be
difficult, looking around he suddenly realising their number was slightly
depleted. 

“Where’s
Gelber?” he asked still a little anxious despite the horde being destroyed and
scattered. 

Parrit rolled
her eyes. 

“Do not worry
about that one my friend,” she told him.  “She is merely disciplining the
men on the walls, teaching them how to defend us properly.” 

“To their
horror,” Tam added his eyes dancing in delight.  Ramaeka laughed at the
thought.  “My poor men,” the General said dryly.

“It’s good for
them,” Isahn told him calmly though he looked amused.  He turned to
Ramaeka.

“So little
earth god, they finally got the gates cleared you will be happy to know.  That
spell was an impressive effort on your part.”

Ramaeka
fluttered his eyelashes and tried his best to look earnest.  “I try my
best sir.”

The Empara dragon
laughed at him while Stripe gave him the usual light slap to the back of his
head. 

“What about
Gasha?" Stripe asked frowning.  Everyone stopped eating and looked at
him. 

“What?” he
asked shifting self-consciously under their gazes.  “He’s not dead is he?” 

“No,” the
General said firmly.  “And that is something that we need to remedy.” 

Stripe nodded
in agreement. 

“If you’re
following him then I’m coming too,” he stated.  He glanced over at Shady
who sighed. 

“Yeah me too,”
he said reluctantly.  “Can’t let this idiot go off without me.” 

Stripe grinned
at his friend. 

“My sister and
I will both join your hunt,” Parrit told them.  “We took a vow to find and
destroy the Warlord, so we must continue on.” 

“Aye, ye know
I’m wit ye already,” Tam added.  “What abou’ ye Ra?’ 

“As to that,”
Isahn began. 

Ramaeka yelped
and grabbed at his shoulder as the pain hit again with a fury. 

“What’s wrong?”
Stripe asked jumping up anxiously and hovering over him.  Ramaeka couldn’t
reply as he writhed with agony. 

“It will be
alright,” Isahn said quickly stepping over to Ramaeka and putting a hand on his
shoulder.  The pain receded and he was able to breathe again.  He
looked up at Isahn with grateful, watery eyes. 

“What was that?”
Stripe demanded still hovering. 

“Ramaeka is
about to go through his first change,” Isahn said sitting back down. 

“What?” Stripe
looked at him blankly. 

“Dragon’s grow
older differently from humans,” Isahn explained.  “While you simply grow
over time, we stay the same until we are strong enough or powerful enough to
evolve.  Then over a month or so we begin to feel the changes and we go
into a deep sleep.  During that sleep our bodies stretch and change into a
more adult or powerful form.” 

He looked over
at Ramaeka sympathetically.  “It’s a very painful process.” 

“Most dragons’
don’t change for the first time until they are at least sixteen,” Isahn said to
Stripe.  “And Ramaeka’s only just turned fifteen I believe.” 

“So I am,”
Ramaeka said in surprise.  The last few months had gone so fast he hadn’t
realised. 

“Have you made
your decision yet Ramaeka?” Isahn asked. 

“What decision?”
Parrit asked suspiciously. 

“Isahn wants
me to go back to Amaria to go through my first change and then to train at his
school.  He thinks I could learn enough to help destroy Gasha but,” he
hesitated.  “It means going for longer than I want to be away.” 

“I do not
understand,” Parrit said slowly.  “A mere handful of dragons were able to
destroy Gasha’s horde.  Why don’t the dragons join the hunt as our allies and
rid the worlds of the rest of these vile beasts?  Surely it would be only a
matter of months to make sure Gasha and his followers never trouble us again.” 

Isahn shook
his head ruefully. 

“At this point
it would be impossible for me or my people to work openly with humans.  While
our law now provides protection for humans, it still does not recognise them as
our equals let alone our allies.  Even speaking to a human breaks several
archaic laws let alone willingly collaborating with them.” 

“Yet ye came
to our aid,” Tam pointed out.  “Seems a bit unfair that we hav’ ta’ lose
hundreds iffen a few dragons can get the job done.” 

“I know, and I
sincerely wish that I could help more,” he smiled wryly.  “I fully intend to
present my ‘rescuing’ of Ramaeka as the reason for my interference.” 

He leant
forward earnestly. 

“Give me time
and I will get these laws changed.  My people have never been challenged by
another strong dominant people before, we must learn to adapt and change.” 

“And Ramaeka
will be part of those changes,” Parrit stated. 

“The youth of
today will shape our future in ways few of us could comprehend,” Isahn inclined
his head. 

She nodded
thoughtfully and turned to Ramaeka. 

“Then you must
go,” she said quietly.  “Learn everything you need to know and then come
back and help us.” 

Stripe grinned
at Ramaeka shrugging off the serious atmosphere at the table.  “Maybe by
then you’ll be as tall as Shady.” 

Ramaeka smiled
reluctantly back, ignoring Shady’s angry reply in the background.  “That
wouldn’t be hard I guess.” 

“Alright,” he
agreed looking up at Isahn.  “I’ll go.” 

Isahn smiled
at him as Stripe punched him affectionately on the shoulder and Tam ruffled his
hair.  And despite the fact that he was about to separate from his
friends, just for a while, he couldn’t help but grin at how good the future
seemed.