The Blade of Tiak; Chapter One
The Beast charged forward and smashed through the outer gate of the city. The creature was gargantuan in size and strength. It was so tall that its back rose above the high outer wall of the city. It slowly backed up, crunching the flattened gate under its hind legs.
The Beast swung its massive horned head and destroyed another fifty feet or so of the outer Wall. This creature was a Bhari Jeyint. One of the last of its kind; some distant, cousin to the Common Dragon.
The city that the Bhari was attacking was the capital of the local land. The only place in the small country that had Dragon Riders and the only place with the ability to call for help from the surrounding countries. If this city fell the country would crumble in a matter of days.
The Mages and Wizards in their Magic Towers on either side of the main square watched in horror through their scrying bowls and crystal balls. Some of them had theorized this might happen, but the city was completely defenseless to such an attack. None of these men, powerful in their own right, had any magic strong enough to effect something like a Bhari. They scrambled around in shock and panic trying to evacuate the city as fast as possible. Most of the citizens had already been warned and had moved to the far side of the city. A few had even started filtering out into the plains. However, many people would be, and had been, killed in the destruction of the city. The Mages knew their dragons would do little to slow the Bhari, so they primarily used them now to help with evacuation.
The Bhari moved forward again, completely disregarding the twelve battalions of city guards moving around its feet. A fire bolt streaked through the air and hit the creatures head. It reared up, not in pain, but in annoyance. This counter attack had come from a Dragon Rider who had been sent as a decoy. His mission was suicidal and he knew it. He was just here to keep the Beast busy a little longer. The Bhari swung its head and snapped its powerful jaws once and the Rider and Dragon disappeared in an instant. The Beast landed back on all fours completely destroying two blocks of the outlying city along with half a battalion.
It moved quickly up the eighteen tiers of the lower city until it reached the inner wall. Constructed to dizzying heights, this wall was built to protect the heart of the city from sieges. Made from massive hewn blocks of granite and marble, the inner wall could withstand powerful hits from great siege catapults. The gates set within the wall were made from a fire hardened VeraWood and could withstand all but the heaviest battering rams. This wall and gate had stayed strong against the past eight sieges of the city's history.
The Bhari’s goal was to lay waste to the city, to leave it in ruins. The only way to effectively achieve this was the destruction of the Magic Towers. These buildings held a special charm over the city which helped it stand strong in the face of attack.
The Beast ignored the gate in the inner wall. With its goal in site, the Bhari charged full speed and shattered the thick inner wall as though it were kindling, cascading massive stones to the ground. The Bhari paused, shook its head as though slightly dazed, and now almost leisurely moved towards the two towers. It put its horned head against the Mage tower and pushed. The tower groaned and cracked. Mages fled from the building, swarming away from the base like ants. A shimmer of magic ran across the tower's walls as spells broke and the tower gave one last ominous groan. It crumbled into a pile of rubble kicking up a cloud of dust and destruction. The Bhari turned towards the Wizard tower.
~~~
Arvin Cob sat bolt upright, his mind racing. He sat staring into the room, shaking slightly with the memory of the ruination fresh in his mind. The Bhari’s destruction made him feel sick. He didn’t know the name of the city but he felt sure that it had existed and was not a mere figment of his imagination. Arvin stared around at the room simply to remind himself that he was truly here and not in the ruined city.
He was sitting on a big comfortable suede chair in a corner of his uncle’s cheerily lit study. The room had three beautiful floor to ceiling windows, that let in a jocund amount of sunlight, although they did little to lighten his perturbed thoughts. Against the wall directly opposite the windows presided a massive bookshelf that held many well read books; these comprising only a small percentage of the complete collection. To Arvin’s left sat a sturdy oak desk upon which a plethora of papers sat awaiting the return of their author. A small bowl, situated cozily among the owners writings on The Telepathic Link Between Dragon and Rider: A Study of the Thinkable, sat a bowl of slightly dusty chocolates. The entire desk looked as though it had been cleaned once, a very long time ago, and had been thoroughly loved since.
Arvin, having decided that some history searching might help him find the destroyed city, slid off his chair and moved over to the bookshelf. He did not know what book specifically he wanted, but he knew it most probably would be there. Although his uncle, Professor Troup, didn’t technically have every book ever written in Unauri, he definitely had most of them, and Arvin had yet to request a book that Professor Troup could not find somewhere in his collection. Arvin ignored the books on the shelf and went directly to the end where a small lever was hidden. He pulled it and stepped aside as part of the bookshelf swung out revealing a doorway. He slipped into the opening and pulled the lever on the other side to close the door. Arvin now stood in the biggest room in the house; the library.
This room, his uncle’s pride and joy, took up most of the left side of the house leaving just enough room in the front of the house for the study, a coat room, and the newly added indoor bathroom. The library also extended up into the air a full three stories high, a feat of architectural ingenuity considering the house itself stood only two stories high. Several balconies encompassed the room from floor to ceiling at regular intervals with three spiral staircases tying them vertically together. A number of tables and chairs were placed in the center of the room allowing for more book placement and reading comfort.
Arvin walked over to the historical section that held city records from around Nydria. He stared at the extensive shelves wondering where to start. Should he look at such books as The Wonderfully Ancient History of Nydria, or maybe a book about a specific cities’ history. He eventually decided to look in a book titled Record of Recently Vanished Cities.
After two and a half hours revealed nothing but bookworms and dust, he decided to put the book down. There was nothing for it, he would have to wait for his uncle to get home. Arvin left the library through the main door and walked down the hall towards the front sitting room. He met the butler, Giles Rampston, half way down the hall.
“Say Rampston, when will Uncle be home?” the boy queried.
“Ah, master Arvin, I do believe he said he would be home at three sharpish; just ten minutes from now. As a matter of fact I was just coming to find you. He said he wanted you seated in the tea room because he wants to discuss something with you.”
“Oh?” Arvin replied. “Any idea what that’s about?”
Rampston gave an elegant shrug of his shoulders, “Haven’t the foggiest. Best I can figure, he wants to know who took the last of those delicious buttermilk pancakes that Mrs. Flaugherty made for breakfast.” He looked pointedly at Arvin.
“Well they were pretty good weren’t they?” Arvin smiled sheepishly. Rampston winked down his long nose and continued on with the varied tasks of a butler.
Arvin did an about face and headed back up the hallway, past the library, into the tea room. He chose one of the chairs that looked out through the bay windows into the garden. The garden was very beautiful this time of year what with the cherry tree displaying a hundred shades of pink and the leaves of the Dragon Tree shining a rich orange; something about the pink and orange blended perfectly in their intertwining branches. These trees had been planted in memory of Arvin’s mother and father, both of whom had died long ago in the Northern Ice epidemic. Arvin had read about the breakout in various history books but he could never make much sense of what had happened exactly and nobody willing talked to him about it. Too many people lost someone during those three terrible days. Based on all he could gather, the Northern Ice was some illness that looked like frostbite, was highly contagious, and it killed its victims quickly. It was something that had flared up in Tiak and just as quickly had choked itself out.
Just as Arvin settled in to reminisce about his long dead parents, his uncle came home. The door to the front of the house banged open and Arvin could hear the sound of a man's greatly exasperated voice drift in from the street. "You shouldn't be so foolish, Curtis. The boy is only twelve, how do you think this will affect him?"
Arvin could hear his uncle reply, "I know what I'm doing, Edmund. And I think the trip will do us both some good." With that the door slammed shut and Professor Troup called down the hallway. "Rampston! Say Rampston, where is Arvin?"
"In the tea room like you requested, sir." Replied the ever calm voice of the butler.
"Ah yes. Can you take this to my study? There's a good fellow." With that, Professor Troup tripped his way down the hallway towards the tea room. In came a wind blown fellow with wavy white hair and a rotund pot belly. "Arvin," said the boy's uncle, "We are going to be going to Homalith for a few months. I've planned everything out and we will be staying with a good friend of mine."
Arvin sat in stunned silence for a moment. "We'll be going to Homalith? You mean half way around Nydria?"
"Yes indeed." His uncle smiled, "I need to do more research and you need to get some adventure into you. You look so sad and bedraggled just sitting there. Besides, we'll be going by boat and you've always liked boats haven't you?"
"Well yes, but I'm not much for the sea. It feels to big and wide."
"Eh, details. I think we will be doing a fair amount of coastal sailing anyways. You had better start packing. We are leaving tomorrow morning."
"What, already?" Arvin's mouth hung open. "But what about school and Vertilline?"
Arvin's uncle thought for a moment, "You can say your goodbyes today I guess. Although do you really want to hang out in that musty little cellar of a school for the next few months?"
"No not really." Arvin replied. "Oh, and I have a question about a city."
"You'll have to ask me in an hour or so, Arvin. Actually... make that two hours I need to do some thinking before we leave."
"But-"
"No but's about it." Professor Troup interjected. "This is going to be some serious thinking. Can you hang onto your question till supper? I can never think about writing while eating. Ask me then."