Dragon Dodgers (Wounds in the Sky Prequels Book 1) by V. R. Cardoso

sobbed.
“I…”
    “ It’s ok, kid…” He tried
swallowing and felt a sickening taste of iron. “You did
good.”
    “ I can find some patches, some stitches, I…”
    “ No.” Targon said. “It’s
ok, you did ok.”
    Enrig wiped the tears from his
eyes.
    “ Reach into my pocket.”
Targon said. “My inner pocket.”
    Enrig fiddled with Targon’s jacket and
removed three pieces of parchment.
    “ One of those is a map. It should help you get back.” He
swallowed slowly. “The other one is a letter, Balcazar’s letter.
Burn it.” He coughed and the pain made him cringe. “The last one is
the proclamation of the king of Saggad. Keep it, collect the
reward. All you need is to carve some evidence from the Dragon
corpse.” Targon smiled. “You’ll be a rich man.”
    Enrig couldn’t say
anything.
    “ But I need to ask you one thing, though.” Targon went on,
his voice rougher.
    “ Anything.” Enrig
replied.
    “ It’s not a simple thing
to ask, but you should be able to hire some professional Runners to
help you.”
    “ Anything.” Enrig
repeated.
    “ Find my home town, Awam. It’s on the other side of
Arkhemia, on the western sea. You’ll like it.” His eyes became
distant, dreamy. “It’s on the cliffs by the ocean. There are dozens
of terraces where you can watch the sea. Feel the water sprinkle
your face every time a wave crashes into the rocks. Feel the breeze
ruffling your hair and hear the seagulls cry.” He stopped and for a
moment, Enrig thought he was gone. “You’ll like it there… Find my
wife, Shalim, and my son, Sargon… Give them some of the gold. Tell
them I couldn’t deliver it myself.”
    Enrig sniffed.
    “ I will. I
promise.”
    “ Good, thank you.” Targon
said. “Could you do one last thing?”
    Enrig nodded.
    “ Sure.”
    “ Drag me to Anweh. I don’t
want to die here.”
    The boy wiped his face with the back
of his shirt and then dragged Targon as gently as he could across
the cave. He arranged Anweh’s body so that they were lying next to
each other.
    “ Thanks…” Targon said,
turning his head to face Anweh. A tear rolled down his cheek. “I’m
here, little blossom. I’m right beside you.”
    Targon reached for Anweh , entwining both their fingers; his hand clutched hers in a
final embrace. She looked so peaceful.
    Enrig saw something flicker in the Captain’s eyes, like a wind draft that had suddenly
vanished, leaving them blank.
    T he boy forced
himself to stop sobbing and wiped his face, sniffing heavily. He
found Serak’s backpack and the torch fuel within it. Carefully, as
if tending precious artifacts, he dropped some of it over every
corpse, except Balcazar’s, then used the torch to light them
all.
    With several pyres burning around him, he collected as many Glowstone arrows and
daggers as he could pack, and used one of them to remove a fang, a
claw and a patch of scaly hide, from the fallen Dragon.
    He took one last glance at the
chamber, where the Dragon Dodgers burned around their mighty prey
and headed towards the exit.
    Morning had already come. The sun
peered between two mountain peaks, shedding light upon the whole
valley; the tiny silhouette of a Dragon glided over the horizon,
searching for prey; and a thick mist streamed bellow, covering the
forest.
    Enrig took a deep breath. The Surface
was a vast, sprawling place and he had a long way to
Run.
     
    The story of the world of Arkhemia continues
soon.
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