Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (8 page)

Though Shady
pointedly ignored him, he spent a happy evening listening to Stripe’s tales of
fights and adventures that they had come across in their journey.  Stripe had
run away from home at the age of six, Shady, two years older, had taken him
under his wing and taught him the rules of the street.  Four years later, after
a run in with the sadistic leader of their gang, they had left their home city
and had been exploring the world ever since.

Ramaeka shook
his head in amazement at the two.

“You’ve had so
many adventures, more than anyone else I’ve ever met.”

Stripe grinned
as he settled back into his blanket. 

“Yep, it’s not
always easy on the road, but it’s worth it as long as you’ve got someone to go
with.”

Ramaeka leant
back and looked at the sky, thinking longingly of travelling the road with the
two and leaving his family behind.  They would probably believe him dead anyway
and Alekra would be safe with Isahn, so why not go travelling.  He closed his
eyes and fell asleep thinking about a new life.

Ramaeka woke
early the next morning and after relieving himself washed quickly in the ice
cold river.  As he returned to the campsite he saw Shady kick Stripe lightly in
the side, the other boy merely grunted and pulled the blanket over his side. 
Frowning Shady ripped off the blanket and dumped a cup of water over Stripe’s
face.  Ramaeka laughed as Stripe leapt up squealing.

“S’not funny,”
grumbled Stripe sleepily taking a plate of food from him.  Ramaeka grinned
cheekily and sat down to eat his own portion.

After the meal
a now wide awake Stripe checked Ramaeka’s wound.

“Wow,” he
said.  “This has almost healed up.  You’re going to have some massive scars
though my friend.”

“So he’s well
enough to hit the road then,” interrupted Shady before Ramaeka could say
anything.

“Well yes,
he’s definitely okay to travel.”

“Good, then he
can get going.”

Ramaeka’s
heart sank at that.  They were going to leave him here.  Stripe frowned at
Shady.

“We can’t just
leave him.”

“Yes we can”
retorted Shady.  “It’s actually very easy, we just walk away.” 

As Stripe continued
to frown at him, Shady sighed.  He walked over to Ramaeka and pulled a small
golden disc from his pocket. 

“Here kid,
this will keep you going for a while until you figure out what you’re doing.” 

He tossed
Ramaeka the disc and walked back over to Stripe. 

“There see?
He’ll be fine.”

“Come on
Shady, can’t we please keep him?” Stripe pleaded.

Ramaeka looked
at the disc; it was made of the metal gold, a rather weak metal.  He wondered
what it signified.  Sighing he stood up, he didn’t want to upset anybody and he
was sure he would be fine by himself as much as he would enjoy the company.  He
could always hunt for animals in his greater form if he needed to, though he
would have to be careful not to be spotted.

Crossing to
where Stripe and Shady were still arguing, he tugged on Stripe’s sleeve.

“It’s okay
Stripe, I don’t want to cause any trouble,” he said once he had the boy’s
attention.  He saw Shady smirk in satisfaction. 

“But, um,
maybe you could point me towards the nearest city and tell me what to do with
this token?”  He held up the disc unsurely.

Stripe glared
at Shady.

“That’s it
he’s coming with us.  He doesn’t even know what a coin is!”

Shady was
staring at Ramaeka in shock.

“You honestly
don’t know what it is?”

Ramaeka
frowned, he wasn’t stupid after all. 

“I know its
gold, but gold is a weak metal I don’t know what I would use it for.”

Shady stared
at him for another moment then looked over at Stripe who was glaring at him
arms folded.  Ramaeka watched in fascination as they seemed to have an argument
in complete silence.  He sighed. 

“Fine, you can
come with us.  For now.” 

He stalked
away and began gathering things together.  Stripe grinned and ruffled Ramaeka’s
hair affectionately. 

“Don’t worry,
he’ll come around, he has a heart as soft as gold.”

Ramaeka beamed
at him and went to help Shady pack up the camp.

They spent the
next two weeks on the road.  Luckily the weather stayed fairly fine and shelter
was easy to find.  Everything quickly fell into a routine.  They each took turns
on watch at night, Strip and Shady rotated the cooking while Ramaeka, after one
spectacular failure at creating something edible, washed up.  Stripe often
claimed that he could still smell the well cooked aroma of the muck that
Ramaeka had claimed to be fish stew.  Ramaeka often tripped him up after
hearing such a complaint.

Shady ignored
Ramaeka for the most part, often engaging Stripe in conversation about people
or events that Ramaeka knew nothing about.  It didn’t worry him though, Ramaeka
was used to being ignored and he stored away all the conversations in his
memory in case they ever met one of those people.  Stripe never left him out
for long anyway.  Occasionally though Shady was persuaded to teach Ramaeka
about high finance.  Apparently the gold disc was a token of sorts used to
trade for goods.  He also demonstrated several techniques in the art of pick
pocketing, which, he informed Ramaeka, was essential to any self sufficient
child of the streets.  At the end of two weeks Ramaeka had become an expert in
at least two of these techniques.

Stripe’s
questions about Ramaeka’s early life sometimes made the young dragon nervous,
however he was easily diverted and they quickly became close friends.  Shady
hated hunting and fishing, preferring to scout out the land ahead, this left
Ramaeka and Stripe to take care of the food supplies.  Stripe taught him how to
knot and cast a fishing line, and how to hunt using both spear and traps.

The wounds
that his father had given him had faded to scars already.  There were three
scratches running parallel to each other.  They started under his right
shoulder blade down and around ending half way over his ribs.  Stripe told him
that they made him look interesting, like he had been wrestling a big cat or a
dragon.

“But I did
wrestle a dragon,” he’d said confused.

“Exactly,”
said Stripe with a barking laugh.

At the end of
two weeks of travel, Ramaeka looked up from setting up camp to see Stripe
jogging towards him a wide grin on his face.

“Ramaeka,” he
called.  “Come up and see the city.”

Curious he
jumped to his feet and ran up to meet him.  Stripe led him back the way he had
come to the crest of a hill.  As he pointed down, Ramaeka immediately spotted
the city.  It was shaped like a pentagon, immense stone walls surrounding the
houses and shops while farm land bordered the outside.

Ramaeka rather
thought it was beautiful, Stripe snorted when he told him that. 

“Nah kid,
Talok’s alright but it’s nothing compared to Porkae, that’s mine n Shady’s home
city.”

“We’re a bit
dry on supplies and such so we thought we’d stop here for a week or so.”

“That sounds
good,” Ramaeka grinned.  “I can practice what Shady has taught me about
stealing.”

Stripe looked
at him sternly.  “You make sure you check with me or Shade first.  We know who
to target, can’t have you robbing a nobbler.”

“What’s a
nobbler?” he asked confused.

“A nobbler’s
someone who’s barely got enough to nobble together, you know someone that looks
like they might have some money but ain’t really got that much at all.”

Ramaeka
nodded.

“Right then
let’s get back to camp and see what the plan is.” 

As Stripe
pulled him away, Ramaeka flicked one last look back at the city.  This would
definitely be an adventure for him.

Shady was
waiting for them when they got back and had begun to cook evening meal.

“Yeah I know
it’s your turn to cook,” he told Stripe impatiently as his friend protested. 
“But we’re going over the wall tonight so we need to get things rolling.”

“You’ve been
in then?” Stripe asked eagerly.

“Yep, went over
at the same place as last time, met up with some of the old crew.  Old Ma
Dresden’s gonna put us up.”

“Great,”
Stripe grinned widely nudging Ramaeka.  “Her food is the best; a man could
thrive on edibles like hers.”

“What about
boys like us?” Ramaeka asked innocently.  Stripe sputtered as Shady smirked at
him.

“We need to
head out as soon as it gets dark though,” he informed them.  “They’ve got
serious guard on at the moment, apparently Gasha is moving up northwards.” 

He and Stripe
exchanged a significant look, before he continued.

“The best hole
in their guard is swap over at evening.”

Ramaeka
interrupted him.

“Who’s Gasha? 
Why are they guarding against him”? 

Secretly he
almost feared that it was another dragon, maybe one who would recognise him,
though he’d never heard the name before.  Stripe hesitated before replying. 

“You remember
the stories I told you about the Thief Lord who ran our gang in Porkae?”

Ramaeka
nodded, wide eyed.

“The one who
whipped your feet for making too much noise?”

“That’s the
one.  Well for about a year before we left he started to expand his interests. 
Killed off all the leaders of the opposing gangs, brought off or threatened a
heap of Jinglers and Jabberers in the higher city.”

“Jinglers and
Jabberers?”

“Rich lords
and council men,” Shady explained coolly.  “They tried to fight back at first
but then he got hold of the Lord Governor’s wife.”

“What
happened?” Ramaeka asked.

“Skinned her
alive with a salted knife,” Stripe said shaking his head sadly.  “She was a
good un’ too.  After that they folded and Gasha, the Thief Lord, pretty much
ruled the city.  Until the General hit back.”

“We were
already gone by then,” Shady continued.  “But we heard Gasha had gathered an
army of bad men and he started attacking some of the other cities.  So the King
sent the General down with his army and they drove Gasha out.”

“Wait who are
the King and the General?” Ramaeka demanded.

Shady raised
an eyebrow at Stripe who frowned.

“The King is
the ruler of Quandin, the biggest kingdom in Skyde.  King Phaenin the third to
be exact.  General Graidy is the greatest soldier in the King’s armies.  He’s
amazing.”

 “He’s okay
for a soldier,” Shady rolled his eyes at Stripe’s enthusiasm.  “Anyway the
General caught him between cities and flattened his army.  They drove the
survivors including Gasha back into the Great Forest and he just disappeared.”

“This was
three years ago, about a year after we left.  Then a year ago rumours started
drifting around that Gasha had returned.  Whole villages were wiped out over
night but nobody could trace the people who did it,” Stripe shook his head in
disgust.

“Until about
three months ago.  Gasha came out of nowhere with a massive horde, not just
made up of men but also creatures out of people’s nightmares.  He wiped out a
full third of the King’s army and has been working his way up the land since.”

“He’s
unstoppable,” Shady scowled.  “Which is why we’re staying as far away as
possible.”

He glared
meaningfully at Stripe who looked wistful.

 “Mind you if
I had a magical sword I’d be unstoppable too,” Stripe grumbled.

“A magical
sword?’ Ramaeka breathed.

“Yeah,” Stripe
told him enthusiastically.  “It’s incredibly powerful, what I wouldn’t give to
have something like that.”

“If we could
get back to business kids,” Shady interrupted impatiently.  They turned back to
him sheepishly.

“So is it
dangerous then?” Stripe asked with a frown.  “If he’s close maybe we should
keep moving.”

“Na, we’re ok,”
replied Shady.  “They’re just taking precautions, the army’s actually heading
up the coast so they’re weeks away if they actually bother coming over here.”

Stripe nodded
looking relieved.  With that settled the three of them quickly ate dinner. 
While Ramaeka washed up, Stripe and Shady cleared up the camp so that within
the hour they were ready to go.

Ramaeka
followed the two of them as they made their way down the hill at a light run. 
Shady skirted the open areas, staying in the tree line as they approached the
city.  It took two hours to finally make it around the side of the wall to the
point that he had picked out.

“Right we
climb up here using the rope and it’s an easy jump to the tree on the other
side,” he whispered to them.  “When you get over, get into some cover and wait
for me.  Stripe you first when I give the signal, the boy goes next, then I’ll
bring the rope over with me.”

They nodded
with agreement and settled back to wait.  Shady watched the wall intently as
the guards walked past, barely looking over the side as they went.

As soon as
they had left he crept out and as Ramaeka watched in fascination, flicked a
long black length of rope over the top of one of the turrets.  He pulled it
tight and gave it an experimental tug.  Turning he signalled to Stripe who
bound up the rope with ease and disappeared over the top.  Shady pointed at
Ramaeka.  As he moved forward Ramaeka tried to suppress the wild excitement
fluttering in his stomach.  Before he got to the wall however a soft whistle
rang out and Shady wrenched him back into cover, running up flicking the rope
away from the wall.

He coiled it
rapidly then hid beside Ramaeka motioning him to be silent.  Ramaeka waited,
watching the wall as he nervously crouched beside the other boy.  A man walked
up to the edge of the wall and peered down frowning.  He stayed a few moments
before slowly moving on, though he constantly looked back over his shoulder. 
Shady swore.