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Invading Will

Chapter 1

Part 3

By: D. C. Henry ("Ahndeleck")

Raogothcar wandered out into the morning sun, and fresh morning scent of pine. The pine trees around him were aglow with the bright fresh light and his pool below him shimmering with the sun's rays. Sparrows and other birds were chirping in the woods surrounding him. The air still felt cooler, but Raogothcar knew the day would be a hot summer's day. The kind that felt good to fly in and then write in the cool of his den.

The humans from the day before would want to see him soon, so he would have to wait on writing until later. He liked Jacob, he seemed friendly and open. He was nothing like Deanna, all she did was ask questions. He wondered why she didn't want to talk, but the only thing that came to him as an answer was that she wasn't friendly. Raogothcar decided that he would have to find a way that people could feel like they could talk to him and be his friend.

He couldn't remember how his father had become friends with so many other humans. None of the stories his father had told him seemed to have any clues to making so many friends, at least the ones he could remember. Later he would check his journal and see if he had written anything down about his father's friends.

Raogothcar walked down to the first small grove of pine trees nearby and picked up a small pinecone. He popped it in his mouth and started chewing it absently. The small flakes felt good on his teeth. He wandered back to his den, glad he chose a place in the mountains as his den. His parents always had a hard time getting pinecones for their teeth back in the hills. Food was a little easier for them to get he thought though, not as much good food here in the mountains.

On top of the only bookshelf he owned was his leather bag. He pulled it down and slipped the first loop around his neck and put a foreleg through the second loop. It still didn't fit very good and he would have to change the straps when he had time. He wasn't sure what the humans wanted to see him for, but he guessed he should bring the bag in case they gave him anything.

Now that he felt he was ready, he went back outside and leaped from the ledge at the end of his den. Within moments he was gliding over the tops of the pine trees. For a minute he flew slowly over the rocky pine forest that covered the top of the mountains. Then the mountain suddenly dropped below him, and the large city of Ravenstone lay before him. Raogothcar wasn't sure if it was how the humans made their cities or a trick on his eyes, but every day the city looked different.

The most impressive feature, he thought, was the tall tower in the center of town. The light grey tower was broad and thick at the base, but then abruptly shifted inward, almost as if a second smaller tower had been built upon the first. Raogothcar longed to perch atop the spire, but guessed the humans would yell at him for it. He would have to ask for permission to do that later, if he could remember.

Raogothcar could remember a time when his parents had gone through much of their belongings when he was much younger. He had watched them pile small chests around a central spire in the cave, his parents perched around the spire to look at each thing. The city reminded him of that time, with the small chest shaped buildings scattered about the central spire. He wondered what treasures each building held for him to discover.

With a slight twist of his wings he turned towards the circle of large old trees he had seen on several flights. The trees were several times larger than any of the other trees he had seen nearby. At the center, he could make out a very small gathering of people around a wagon. As he approached the gathering turned slowly towards him, Raogothcar able to just barely make out Deanna standing at the frond of the crowd. He searched for any signs of Jacob, but was disappointed as he came nearer to the group.

Trying to be considerate of the humans, Raogothcar turned and landed at an angle away from them. His father told him it was always good to be considerate of humans. Once he was back on the ground he turned and trotted towards the humans with a smile on his face. Most of the humans didn't seem to be smiling back, and his smile faltered slightly as Deanna stepped forward.

"Raogothcar, the council won't be able to come. However, I have a special visitor for you today." Deanna stepped aside slowly, "King Roland would like to speak with you."

Raogothcar tilted his head slowly, not knowing which of the people Deanna was referring. There were many humans, men and women, that looked very similar in chainmail and spears, Raogothcar guessed none of them would be the king. One of the men nearest the wooden coach turned and opened the latch to the door and slowly pulled it open. Inside was the oldest human Raogothcar had ever seen. His head looked very strange missing so much hair, especially on the top of his head. When the old man saw him he smiled and Raogothcar knew he would be a good person to know. The man stepped out of the coach and walked towards Raogothcar, his eyes looking directly at him. His gaze was kind, but with certainty as well, Raogothcar guessed this presence was why the man was the humans' leader.

"Raogothcar, its good to meet you." Said the old man as he stopped several steps away, "I am Dean Roland, King of Freeraven. Thank you very much for coming to meet us. Its been a long time since we've had a dragon that would cooperate."

"How come?" Raogothcar said, "Humans are nice creatures, why wouldn't they want to help?"

"I've asked myself the same question for a long time Raogothcar, but I've never found a good answer. I just hope you never turn out to be one of those dragons. Has anyone told you why we've been eager to meet you?"

"No, I just know that someone wanted to meet me. No one's told me why though. It is nice to meet you though."

"Ahh, well, we need you to help us with a little problem we're having. My son has fallen ill and we're not sure why or how to help him. Normally one of the priests or our court circle mage would be able to take care of the problem. This time however, the sickness is resisting everything we've tried. We were hoping that you might be able to do better than we've been able to."

"I would love to help. Do you know what he's sick with? Maybe something my mother taught me could help him."

"We were hoping just that." King Roland walked slowly towards the coach, "You probably know more about magic than most of my kingdom does at this point. Freeraven is a very small country, so there are not very many practiced mages here. Its good to have a dragon around. You are planning on staying here aren't you?"

"Oh yes, I would really like to stay here. I've found a nice den up in the mountains. I really like the valley its in and with the mountain I can glide a very long way. Your city looks very nice when I am gliding, especially the tower. Is that where you live?"

"Most of the people here live in that tower." The king motioned to the door, "Open the doors, let's let Raogothcar take a look."

Two of the guards on either side of the coach opened the two doors that made most of the side of the coach. The smell of old meat mingled with something like rotting leaves made Raogothcar turn his head away for a moment. He took a deep breath and turned back to the coach. Most of the inside appeared to be covered in blue cloths and cushions. On one side a much younger man lay on his back. Raogothcar stepped up to the edge of the coach and looked down at the man's face. He had thick brown hair, much of it matted to his face with sweat. The young man turned his head and opened his green eyes gazing up at the dragon. Raogothcar leaned his head slightly closer, trying to get the sun out of the man's eyes.

"Is this the dragon that you were telling me about?"

"Yes Alan, his name is Raogothcar. He's here to help, but don't worry, just get your rest. We'll take care of everything."

Alan closed his eyes and turned his head to one side. Raogothcar could guess he was a strong human, even now when he was obviously weak and sick, he still looked like he was powerful. He felt sorry for the man, it was obvious he had been suffering for most of the day. Raogothcar couldn't guess how long he had been suffering this way either, and hoped he wouldn't suffer much longer. His mother had never told him much about human diseases, he couldn't think of what to do. His father had always told him to do what he could when a problem appeared to have no solution.

"Could you remove his shirt? I'm going to have to draw a few circles on him to find what's wrong. It shouldn't take long I think. Then I'll draw a circle to try and keep him well."

The king nodded as he waved for a guard to come forward. The man stepped between the king and Raogothcar, then crouched beside the prince. Alan laid silently as the guard undid the buttons on the prince's shirt. Raogothcar leaned inside the coach after the guard stepped back out. For a time Raogothcar listened to the prince's slow breathing. While he could tell the prince was sick, his breathing didn't sound too labored, which he guessed was a good sign.

Raogothcar pulled himself back out of the coach and sat back slowly, careful not to startle any humans. He reached up to his leather pack and opened the smaller pouch that held a small vial of circle paint. It still helped to see the circles on whatever he was working on. Once he had the vial open he placed it on the floor of the coach and leaned back in, one talon coated in the blue. The circle he decided to start with was one of the first ones he learned. His mother had told him it was always good to know for sure if magic was around him. She had told him that before he started drawing magic on anyone, he should know if there was anything else there that might interfere with his magic.

His father had taught him how to feel magic around him, but Raogothcar found that sometimes a circle could sense magic better than he could. He finished the circle near the man's shoulder and tapped the center of the circle to start the spell. For a moment Raogothcar thought the illness was completely natural, but then a faint glow appeared over the circle.

"Does he use any magic or have any anything else drawn on him?"

"No, we've taken everything we've been using off of him." The king said, "We didn't know what you might do, so we tried to make everything as clear and easy as we could. Our court mage cleaned everything he had done for him off just before we left."

"Then his illness is magical I think. There is still magic in him. It is pretty faint though. I don't think something so weak could do this to him."

"Magical?" Deanna said, "The last thing we need is a mage wanting to kill the prince. What sort of magic was used dragon?"

"I don't know. The circle I drew tells me if there is magic very near it. Since he isn't using any, or have any magic drawn on him, then it's got to be the cause of the illness. I don't know very much about magical illnesses though. My mother didn't want me to hurt others, especially like this. My father always told me it wasn't very dragon-like either.

"Let me try something else though." Raogothcar said as he leaned back inside the coach, "There is another circle that my mother made me practice. It might tell me what sort of disease he might have. Then maybe I can use another circle to help ease the pain for a while."

Raogothcar dipped one of his talons into the blue paint on the floor of the coach, then began to draw on the other man's shoulder. After Raogothcar tapped the center of the circle, one rings inside began to glow. Since it had been several years since Raogothcar last made the circle, he had to think hard about what each ring meant in the circle. When it dawned on him, he turned back to face the king.

"It looks like some sort of spore that's growing inside of him. There isn't much of it right now, so he's not in any mortal danger. But I think it is still growing, which wouldn't be good for him."

King Roland nodded slowly and turned to his son inside the coach. Raogothcar could see the man was worried about his son, and Raogothcar felt bad for both of them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the woman Deanna crossing her arms and glaring angrily inside the coach. When he turned his head around to look back at her, turned her gaze away quickly.

"When we find who did this, I'll have their heads on pikes. I swear."

"Not yet Deanna," King Roland said, "Alan is first. Raogothcar, what do we need to do to save him? Is there anymore you can do?"

"I think so. There is a healing circle that might work, but I'd need some of the fungus to finish it. It's a sort of antidote for poisons and uses some of the poison itself to act as the counter. Do you have any of the mushroom that might have been the cause?"

"No, where would we keep magic mushrooms dragon?" Deanna said, "Prince Alan hasn't been around anything like that for months. Every time the prince went outside of the tower there were guards and at least one of my scouts with him the whole time. Anytime anyone gives him something we check it out to make sure its alright, and we would have known if there was a mage nearby that wanted to harm him."

"Could he had been near mushrooms sometime then maybe?" Raogothcar said, "He wouldn't have to be given to him, he would just have to be around it. I got sick once from breathing too much spores, so maybe that's how he got sick."

Deanna turned to the king, just as the king looked back to her. Raogothcar thought that something he had said had given them both an idea. He couldn't think of where the young man could have gotten sick from. His father had always been amazed how often humans got sick, but was also impressed how most of the time the sicknesses weren't as bad as any illnesses dragons seemed to get.

"There was a cave Alan went to," King Roland said, turning back to Raogothcar, "he mentioned it was filled with fungus of various kinds. Maybe he caught this from there."

"It would have to have been there." Deanna said, "We were all focused on the attack that we didn't pay any attention to the all the mushrooms down there. Most of what we found wasn't anything special."

"If there is any chance that anything in that cave could save my son, I want you to go back there and find it. I can count on that can't I Deanna?"

"Yes, your majesty. I'll leave immediately."

"Wait," King Roland looked up to Raogothcar, "Raogothcar, If its not too much trouble for you, would you please go with Deanna and help her find whatever it is you need to save my son? I'll pay you whatever you want if you can save my son."

"Could I come visit the city? I've been wanting to see it for a while now."

"Raogothcar, if you save my son you will be more than welcome there. You'll be a hero if you save my son. Just hurry, I'm tired of seeing him suffer."

"Dragon," Deanna said as she mounted her horse, "just follow me. The cave is near the main road that leads up through the mountains. The cave's entrance is small and very well hidden, you might not see it from above."

"Alright, I'll follow-"

When Raogothcar started speaking, Deanna turned her horse and left at a gallop towards the road. It seemed incredibly rude to leave without giving him a chance to respond first. Raogothcar turned back to King Roland, determined to make a better example than Deanna had.

"I'll do my best, but I don't know how long this will take. Maybe not very long though I hope."

The king nodded to him, then turned and stepped into the coach. The guards closed the doors, and then went to their respective horses. Raogothcar watched as the entire procession turned slowly and started back towards the city. He knew that this was a very big opportunity to make friends with the humans, and he hoped he wouldn't make a mess out of the entire thing.

After the humans had left the field, Raogothcar turned in the direction Deanna had galloped. He trotted forward, and then opened his wings. With a pair of strong jumps, Raogothcar began flapping his wings. He would need a small amount of height to follow Deanna, so he didn't bother using any magic to help push him higher. When he was well above the few trees that dotted the human's land, he turned and followed the road below him. Not far ahead of him, Deanna was still galloping towards his mountains.