THE FOUR SECTORS WARS - Sample Chapters

SEVEN

Warnak's dragon proved unwieldy on the flight to Muritana. It was under the influence of Warnak's magic, so it was an extension of him in many ways. Its natural tendency was to reject its new rider, or simply ignore him. Raikin sighed as it bolted after food under wing in direct contradistinction to the direction Raikin had intended for it to go. So much for reading my mind and responding accordingly. Raikin could feel so much energy funneling through his crown chakra now he naturally assumed that, with his augmented power of mind and the natural extension of his magnetic field and aura, he could psychically transmit his thoughts to the dragon. Apparently he had a lot to learn about both chakra magic and dragon riding.  

To make matters worse, the creature seemed a little scatter brained. No sooner had it devoured a large vulture in midair, than it went after a mongrel dog running along the forest floor, already being pursued by a mountain lion. Raikin thought he'd swallowed his stomach three times over by the time the dragon had the dog in its mouth and was rising into the air again, to the consternation of the mountain lion that had invested so much time chasing the dog.  

Why couldn't Almadra have included some dragon riding lessons in my early tutelage? Then again, dragons were common only to Dragonia, as a rule-a region, like all others, known by its chief feature. They were seldom found outside of Dragonia because the magnetic field fluctuations at the edges of the region repelled them, in effect caging them behind invisible shields. It was the other lifeforms inside that cage who had to worry. Warnak, having evidently mastered the magic of this region, as well, had managed to break the rules a little, perhaps using a spell to override the madness the dragons were driven to at the periphery of their own domain.  

Raikin rapidly regretted having no natural symbiosis with the flying lizard, no immediate control of her via a psychic link. What's more, this steed came with no reins. He would have to use binding spells to keep it from flying wherever it wanted in search of food. But he'd have to choose them wisely. Repeated use of magic while in Bolotaire would age him beyond reckoning. 

Raikin settled on a space tunnel woven from a spider web of energy lines that would repel the dragon with an energy bolt if she got too close. He had to calculate the contours of the tunnel just so the dragon would have room to flap its wings and counter ever-shifting wind currents that Raikin couldn't anticipate. 

The now twenty-year-old Raikin - aged two more years courtesy of wielding his latest spell in Bolotaire - knew in an instant when he was out of the province, as his energy webbing protruded no further than the county line. No doubt affected in some way by the shifting magnetic fields of the various provinces of Hitara, each keyed to a different topographical region.  

Raikin had to think fast. He could see the sparkle of light in the darkness below under pressure from the vastness of the dark expanse around it. If he lost his bead on it, he could spend months looking for Linara's people. The tropical jungles of Muritana were the densest on Hitara. It took the locals years just to carve out a small survivable niche for themselves, learning every tree, every leaf, every form of life as a way of getting their bearings in an otherwise maddening picture puzzle of shapes and forms that bedeviled the mind. 

And he knew this how? Had he read it in a book when apprenticing with the old crone? He couldn't remember. Or had he pulled the knowledge out of thin air? That mystery for later. No time to think extraneous thoughts. Just time to do rightly or die wrongly.  

Raikin used a binding spell he'd never tried before. It allowed him to remove much of the air below the dragon so there was nothing for his wings to beat against. He sculpted the air pressure gradient precisely enough to create a kind of waterslide, as if sucking the beast over a waterfall. With less air to cushion the dragon's fall, Raikin wondered if it would be enough to slow the beast in the final stretch. The concern was proving less farfetched by the second as the dragon's scales heated up on his underbelly from the speed of the descent, transferring some of the heat toward him.