Chapter 17
Blackscales was perhaps the happiest he ever could have imagined when he dreamed that day. He assumed he was in Mrana Akano Furista, the Hidden Mountain Pass again, and Argos’s rider was sitting on a rock in front of him. The elder rider seemed weak and withdrawn, but also determined to tell the younger rider what he wanted to. That’s why Inferno’s rider was surprised when he didn’t say anything at first.
Then, Argos’s rider said, “I know that I said I wouldn’t speak to you again for a long while, but our foe grows stronger every day and I fear that you will run into trouble and be unable to defend yourself, so I will begin the basics of your training immediately through your dreams.”
“That’s unfair; I have Aval and Autumn to defend me if we run into trouble. And why does the training begin now when it’s supposed to start at the Hidden Mountain Pass?” Blackscales asked, crossing his arms.
The elder rider chuckled slightly before replying, “Those two guards you chose will not protect you from Dongoithu the Rat. And, if I’m not mistaken, Icksazro told you how to get to this haven and you were utterly confused by his advice. The elves may be annoying and full of pesky riddles in the simplest sentences, but I shamefully admit that they are wiser than dwarves, so you’d be wise as well to not frustrate yourself with his riddles. While you take the time to figure out his riddles, I will appear to you every moment I can to answer what questions I can. Do you have any for me now?”
In fact, Blackscales’s head was swimming with questions, and he didn’t hesitate to ask them all one at a time, “Geragror told me a little bit about Dongoithu, but not much, so why must I be so cautious of him if my identity is secret?”
“That is a long story, but to make it short I’ll tell you briefly that he betrayed the dwarves long ago, but tried to gain acceptance. Since I’m a rider, I see from the eyes of all races and realize that what my kin did was wrong. They brutally murdered his family and refused to accept him back after he begged and pleaded with the king, who pushed him away like a lowly peasant. Dongoithu’s heart blackened and he joined our biggest foe.
“Then, about twenty years ago, the leader of the enemy saw the signs that a new rider would exist soon, and he sent out his three greatest servants to find that rider, and Dongoithu was sent to hunt you down, and he is a mighty dwarf so he will find you if you aren’t absolutely careful.”
Blackscales quickly asked another question, “Will you teach me magic?”
The elder rider rolled his eyes before uttering a response, “If you are in dire need, but not a moment sooner. For now, your only training will be physical.”
“This has been on my mind for a while: Is my name permanently changed to Blackscales?”
Argos’s rider chuckled again, apparently since they were on a lighter subject now, before he replied, “It depends. After a time you will no longer need to have a hidden identity, so you can go back to Cody if you wanted. However, to many people already, you will forever be referred to casually as Blackscales, and Cody will forever be forgotten. Others will call you the Twilight Rider, or when I start training you magic in your dreams, you could be Magic Dreamer. Who knows what other titles you will receive, but it all depends on what people call you. Your true name now is unknown until you save or lose the world for all eternity.”
So much for being on a light subject, Blackscales thought to himself after hearing “save or lose the world”. He saw some riddle in the dwarf’s tone, and decided to just accept it and hope he would get answers later. The younger rider paced the cave floor in an annoyed mood as he thought about everything. It was just so unfair to him, not knowing anything at all except a few riddles that seemed to mean absolutely nothing.
Seeing his confusion, the elder rider said, “I’m sorry to keep you in the dark like this, but I’m sure you’ve heard the history of riders that had their power grow faster than their wisdom, and they were destroyed. But, remember that as long you are in the dark, the less responsibility you have. I don’t want you to get reckless or anything knowing that you have practically nothing you have to do for now, so I’ll also tell you that the more eager you are to strengthen yourself, the quicker you’ll be thrown into responsibilities you can’t handle. Make sure that you only increase your strength when you increase your wisdom, and also remember that I will be here to help you whenever you need.”
Again with the tricky language, but it was much easier for Blackscales to understand at that point. He looked at the older rider, and silently accepted that he had much to learn that would be revealed to him when he was ready. He felt oddly small and insignificant, before he realized that it was the almost exact thing he told Autumn and Aval. He silently vowed to himself to end his ruthless hunt for power and just accept what came to him.
“I suppose I should tell you,” The older rider began, standing up, “that the most experienced riders can read other minds at will. I believe your wisdom is increasingly greatly already.”
Blackscales couldn’t tell whether he should be incredibly proud, or embarrassed about what he had said.
Argos’s rider laughed a bit louder than usual, almost as if he was suddenly growing stronger, before walking up to Blackscales and saying, “Because of your wisdom and your approaching need for some kind of protection, I’ll tell you what you need to know right now. Hint: A rider’s strength, eyesight, and more skills are much greater than the average person’s, if you haven’t noticed. There are some important increases in skills involved with swords, bow and arrows, and axes…you can go ahead and find your fit, and you’ll know when you do. Each rider is destined to hold one specific kind of weapon, and it’s as obvious as your bond with your dragon which one is yours once you use it.”
Before Blackscales could ask further, the dream faded back into the shelter that inferno had made him. He jerked his head up abruptly when he felt the dragon’s snout on his leg. He also suddenly noticed that the temperature had increased outrageously since he’d fallen asleep. It was probably 50 degrees hotter, and in the very least 80 degrees hotter than the outside world.
“What’s going on?” Blackscales asked, ignoring the heat and sitting up slowly.
Inferno pulled his head out and replied, “Your friends are fast approaching. After they fall asleep tonight we’re going to have to discuss your dream.”
“You know about my dream?” Blackscales asked in surprise.
“Lately I’ve found that when one of us is awake and the other is asleep, we can use our mind link to see each other’s dreams. So I know exactly what Argos’s rider told you and I have some comments, but not until we are the only conscious ones around.”
Blackscales silently agreed and was about to say something more, but heard the sound of horses walking steadily through the forest to the clearing. There was a loud neighing from one of the horses when it saw Inferno move slightly. While they were sort of used to walking near the dragon, they were still very cautious and spooked easily when he suddenly appeared.
“Where’s Blackscales?” Aval shouted to Inferno.
Blackscales put on his new thicker gear before Inferno lifted his wing into the air and the cold enveloped him once more. He waited a minute until he was warm enough again before leaping up onto one of the rocks and reaching the others.
“What was that? You were in a shelter made by his wing?” Omen asked as he pulled Inheritance to a stop next to the rock he was on.
Blackscales nodded before Autumn asked slightly impatiently, “Are we going to go or not? We should probably get a good start on the rest of our journey.”
The rider sighed, realizing that they had said that several times before and would probably be saying more throughout the trip. He simply turned around and jumped onto Inferno’s back like he had done that morning, but this time he settled into the saddle. He saw that he had left ‘Valor of the Dragon’ on the ground, so he quickly jumped off, grabbed it, and climbed back into the saddle before stashing it in one of the saddlebags.
“Let’s go,” he said in a more cheerful tone as he strapped his legs to the saddle, the others not hesitating to lead on.
They noiselessly continued on their journey, Autumn leading for once. As usual, Blackscales and Inferno wanted to fly but they were waiting to get out of eyesight of the town, and it was growing boring. Since Autumn apparently hadn’t gotten any more sleep, she never initiating conversation and just kept quiet. It made the others very aware of how much she liked to talk usually, since everyone was deathly silent.
Suddenly, Omen spoke up, “I’ve been wondering for a while; exactly what will the three of us do once we reach the Hidden Mountain Pass? Blackscales will be busy training, but we have no reason for coming along in the first place except to be with him, which we won’t be once we arrive.”
His words made everyone incredibly surprised, and they all began thinking deeply before Aval replied, “I’m sure there are other humans in the…place. We could just live with them until we come home. If there aren’t any, then maybe we’ll just join the elves or whoever our other ally is.”
“I didn’t tell you?” Blackscales said with a wide and unbelieving grin on his face. “Our last allies are the dwarves. Seriously, did I not tell you that?”
That was when Autumn shot him a glare and replied, “Guess not. I thought we could trust you to tell us everything important…for such an important topic, you sure kept us in the dark for a while.”
The rider knew she wouldn’t have such a rude tone if she wasn’t so tired, but he saw her point nonetheless. He realized that there was a lot of information that they might need, just in case. He figured that they might be especially interested in the fact that they were being hunted by a traitorous dwarf with amazing tracking and spying abilities. He quickly explained that and that alone with them, and as he expected they were a little startled.
“We are being hunted!?” Aval said with great fear in his voice.
“You didn’t even bother to tell us!?” Autumn yelped in fury.
Blackscales gulped and replied, “I just found out in a dream I had late this morning, I swear!”
“A dream?” Omen said, twisting around in his saddle and looking up to face him. “You had a dream that we were being hunted by someone, and you felt that it was worth mentioning when other things weren’t? You’re serious right now?”
“It was a dream sent by Argos’s rider himself,” Blackscales argued.
Autumn bowed her head in her weariness before saying, “I think I speak for all of us when I say that I’m sorry. Dreams aren’t much to go off of, and if I hadn’t seen Icksazro himself in Starling, I would have probably gone right back home just as soon as we arrived. This whole trip has me on edge, especially now, when we don’t even know how to reach our journey’s end.”
Blackscales respected her honesty and was amazed by how clear her mind seemed when she was so tired. He was instantly glad that he had asked her to come along; no doubt her wary attitude could prove useful when they ran into trouble. And although he didn’t know much about war, battle, or anything involved with fighting, he could tell that he had more of a warrior spirit than them all. He suddenly lost interest in flying, and convinced Inferno to stay grounded so they could be near such an inspiration.
“The riders are supposed to be fighters; we could definitely learn a thing or two from her,” Blackscales said.
Inferno’s only reply was a snort induced by humor and disbelief. Once again they rode along in silence, but everyone was perfectly happy in their own thoughts. Blackscales felt especially warm thinking about him and his friends in the Hidden Mountain Pass, feeling the success of their fantastic journey swirl through his head. A sudden growling sound interrupted their thoughts.
“Mind if we stop for a minute? I am hungry!” Omen said, suddenly getting Avalsmokes’s attention.
“You got something to eat? I ate everything last night and forgot to pack something in town,” Aval asked as he slowed his horse, Misty, to a stop.
Omen smiled before replying, “Why don’t we all stop to take a lunch break. I only have enough for myself, but do any of you have something?”
Autumn nodded and pulled her own horse to a stop. Everyone got off of their mounts and found a small clearing to settle down in temporarily. Inferno sat at one end of the clearing, taking up about one third of the space, and suddenly flopped down onto his scaly stomach, making Blackscales feel how tired he was through their mind link.
“You tired?” Blackscales asked as he settled against a fallen tree.
“Is it that obvious? I guess I’m still a bit too young for long adventures. I’ll shamefully admit that I was relieved when you didn’t want to fly.”
Blackscales empathized with him as the others began pulling food out of their saddlebags. Out of the dragon’s saddlebags, he pulled out a small loaf of bread and some cheese, just enough to sustain his barely hungry belly. Autumn and Aval apparently stashed enough food to last them what would seem to be the whole winter, but knowing them it would be gone in a few days. He was about to make a comment about how they reminded him of squirrels, but he sensed something weird from omen.
He looked over at the blacksmithing, just feeling that something was wrong and was surprising the eldest man in their group. He just sat there, silently staring into one of Inheritance’s saddlebags with the widest eyes imaginable. They contained a mixture of surprise, fear, disapproval, disappointment, and wonder.
“What’s wrong?” Blackscales asked with a grin on his face, thinking he was just messing with them.
Omen seemed to be jerked out of his thoughts and glanced at Blackscales briefly. He quickly resumed his staring into the bag, before very carefully reaching his hand inside. All eyes focused on him as he pulled a tiny bundle of ashy-grey fur from his saddlebags, pulling it close to his chest quickly.
“What is that?” Aval asked, craning his neck to try to see.
Blackscales suddenly realized what it was and who it belonged to, and quickly replied, “Benevolent Mist and Fog Rot didn’t lose their Wargal pup; they put it in Omen’s pack! No wonder the she-wolf was acting so strangely.”
Everyone suddenly gazed at him with surprise before Omen lifted the pup up into the air and said, “I did notice her hanging around Inheritance a lot right before we left, and nearly the entire time we were travelling with the wolves. She must have been trying to make sure that it got out safely.”
“But why would they want to get rid of him, and feel bad about it afterwards?” Autumn asked.
Aval laughed, “That’s a ridiculous question; obviously there was something threatening their existence there.”
“But then why wouldn’t anyone send any other pups?” Blackscales asked, pointing out the illogic. “Besides, in that case they would have left themselves. Such amazing creatures could have easily survived long travel, even with newborn pups, and it wasn’t like they were supposed to meet us there; Icksazro said that we were only expected in towns.”
“Whatever the reason,” Omen began as he pulled the pup close to his chest again, “it’s too late to return this little guy to his family since we’re too far away now. I guess we should just keep him with us.”
Everyone else, even Inferno, was a little worried about it. They knew absolutely nothing about wolves, let alone Wargals, and they didn’t know what the pup would need to survive. Surely he’d need more than four clueless humans and a dragon to care for him, not to mention the fact that they were travelling.
Addressing all of their concerns, Blackscales argued, “We can’t leave him out in the wilderness to starve to death or be devoured by bears or eagles or something, and we can’t take him back to the Wargals. We don’t even know if they would take him back if they openly gave him away like this. We just have to take him with us and hope we run into someone who can take him off our hands or tell us more about him.”
“So we know it’s a him?” Autumn asked with a smile, getting nothing but a glare from Omen.
“It is indeed ‘a him’,” came Omen’s reply. “And I’m still hungry, but it appears wolfie here ate all of my food, mind if I take from someone else?”
Blackscales tossed him his piece of cheese, and a chunk of ham and a piece of bread came flying towards him from the other direction. The blacksmith rolled his eyes and suddenly started to show a new side of himself; a creepy sort of affectionate side that seemed to be more characteristic of Autumn simply by the fact that she was a girl. The strange love for cuteness in Omen greatly disturbed them all, but they all guessed that it was just one of those many secrets no one knows about you. You could be a rock-hard, super-tough weapons expert like Omen, and also have an unusual love for puppies and kittens, mostly puppies. Blackscales just chuckled to himself as he thought about it.
They all ate quietly, just watching the pup as it circled Omen like it thought he was its mother. It yipped and bounced and spun as it raced around him, expecting a bite to eat from the bits of food he’d gotten from his friends. The cute little ball of fuzz was only about eight inches long, but apparently Wargals started out small and grew to be bigger or something like that. It seemed that, like most things so far on their journey, the mystery would be revealed when someone decided to reveal it.
Somehow everyone managed to get over the fact that there was a creature among them and they were the only humans that knew of its existence. Blackscales made a pretty accurate assumption that they were just used to so many unusual and unexpected things. In fact, they were so casual about his existence that they only gave him any attention when he raced up to them, yipping in excitement and begging for food since Omen’s was completely gone already.
“He ate my cheese and ham, hungry little guy,” Omen said with a laugh.
Feeling sympathetic, Blackscales gave the little pup every scrap of meat and cheese he had, though it refused to eat anything unless it came from an animal. It wasn’t like the rider was going to need to eat for a while anyway, and the Wargal soon bounced away to beg from Autumn and Aval who were sitting close together. He ate every bit of meat and cheese that they had as well.
Blackscales watched him run back over to Omen for whatever reason before saying, “I think we’re going to have to get a lot of food for the wolf if we want to keep him alive until we find someone who can help.”
“Me and Aval can go hunt every once in a while, maybe if we see a squirrel or rabbit near the path or something,” Autumn suggested, appearing more uninterested in the pup than Blackscales would have thought.
“That’s as good of an idea as any, and no doubt he will have to eat a lot. Besides, who knows how long it will be until we come across someone who can get us something to eat, we probably need to hunt at least a little bit,” Omen pointed out.
Blackscales nodded and said, “I suppose since we’re out of food now we might as well head out.”
Aval sighed before asking, “Won’t it take a lot of time to pause to skin and cook what we catch?”
That was when the responsible, adventure-seeking man in Blackscales spoke out, “It will definitely take a while to do so, and that’s why we’ll stop once every night only, and you can prepare what you’ve caught before we sleep.”
Avalsmokes immediately let out a large protest, but was quickly silenced by Autumn, “You can still eat all you want, and if there are leftovers after one night you can eat them on the road again in the morning.”
Her brother crossed his arms, evidently disappointed about the only compromise they could come up with, but he didn’t argue. Without another word, they began packing everything up (even though they had practically nothing to pack up anyway) and got ready to go. Everyone except Omen climbed onto their mounts, when they were suddenly stopped by an unpleasant yipping sound.
Everyone looked down to see Omen staring at his horse’s saddlebags in contemplation before asking, “Where should I put the wolf? I don’t think I can stand just putting him in the saddlebags, I wouldn’t be able to withstand the feeling of…abandonment.”
“He was there before and he was fine,” Autumn said.
“Yeah but,” Omen paused to look at her before continuing, “it just seems inhuman to put him there on purpose. I have no clue how his parents managed to do it, no matter what the circumstances.”
“I’ll take him with us,” Blackscales said from Inferno’s back. “Inferno and I won’t let him fall, and there’s plenty of room up here. Also, Benevolent Mist and even Fog Rot seemed very sad about it; no doubt they were really torn in making the decision.”
Omen picked up the pup and looked at him closely and carefully before handing him up to Blackscales. The rider noticed the surprise on his face when he reached up, but it was evident that it was because the dragon had grown a lot again. He was lying down, but the blacksmith still struggled to hand the Wargal up to them. During this period of growth, however, they had been around Inferno far more frequently, so it seemed pretty surprising when something like this came along.
Blackscales accepted the bundle of fur and carefully pulled him up into the saddle, and noticed how much extra space there actually was, and there was much more than he needed. He was apparently oblivious to what was going on and his eyes constantly jumped around in excitement. Wargal pups, at least that one, were the cutest things that the rider guessed he would ever see in his life.
“Should we head off then?” Blackscales asked as he gripped the reigns in one hand and the little pup in the other.
Omen hopped onto Inheritance’s back before replying, “After you. We’re far enough from the city if you want to fly now.”
Blackscales nodded and declared, “I think I will, but I guess we’ll walk for a short distance so I can get used to having company up here.”
All of the people that were on horses laughed, and they quickly departed the clearing, being very careful not to leave evidence of their travels there. They were trying to be extra careful in case Dongoithu or someone like that managed to track them down to that point. With excruciating silence, they continued to walk and the wolf pup never stopped gazing around with an excited look on his face.
In an incredible and surprisingly casual way, Inferno spread his wings on Blackscales’s command and launched into the air with immense strength and a great current of air swirling about them. And that was when the protests began.
The Wargal began screeching in disapproval, if that was a strong enough word. His wails and yowls made Blackscales temporarily def, and his squirming made the rider have to let go of the reigns to get a better grip on the poor pup. But what surprised the rider the most, was that his reluctance didn’t seem to be because of fear, in fact, Blackscales failed to recognize the source of…outrage.
“Inferno, set us down immediately! The Wargal isn’t handling this well for some reason,” Blackscales yelled through their mind link as he continued to struggle with the pup.
Inferno slowly floated down towards the trail again before his response came through, “It seems that he is eager to get back to Omen.”
“How do you know that?”
“I spoke to him in my mind, like I did with the blacksmith,” Inferno said just before the landed a few hundred feet in front of the other humans on the path, since they had flown a bit faster than the others had ridden. “Try it, briefly.”
Blackscales rolled his eyes and was about to make a sardonic remark, but thought against it. While he felt weird even thinking about speaking to a wolf telepathically, it wasn’t like it was the weirdest thing to happen to him in the last month, so he tried to reach his mind out towards the Wargal. It was quite a struggle, since he was used to just being able to simply think something and Inferno would already be inside his head to retrieve it, and he began to think that he would never be able to reach the pup. But, sure enough, he felt a small glimmer of thought cross his mind that definitely wasn’t his own, or Inferno’s.
“Hello?” Blackscales called out tentatively.
“Hi.”
The rider tried not to show his surprise when he heard the tiny voice, and he pressed further, “Are you the Wargal pup?”
“Yes I am, Dragon Rider,” The tiny voice resounded through his consciousness. “Why are you talking to me?”
“I mostly just wanted to see if I could; I’ve never spoken to anyone mentally except Inferno before. But I have many questions I want answered, like: How can you talk so well? Why did your parents give you away to us? Why were you so terrified during our ride?”
The pup seemed to laugh as it replied, “All in good time. But I will tell you that I can talk easily in my mind because thoughts are instantly translated from any language when talking to someone. I am only thinking about a bunch of yipping sounds, but you here it in your human language. Eventually my jaw will develop the skill of the rest of my race and I can actually utter more intricate sounds like your language or others, but for now this is the best I can do.”
Inferno suddenly broke into their conversation and explained to Blackscales, “Dragons don’t ever get the ability to actually speak, but we still can learn the human language from listening. Unfortunately, I only know a word or two, so all I hear in my head is a series of growls and roars whenever I talk to someone. Although, we are lucky enough that when someone talks they also send out thought transmissions that we can catch, and that’s how I’ve received many of the conversations with your friends.”
Those facts made Blackscales laugh, and as he began to see his companions in the distance, the Wargal quickly said, “I suppose I will also tell you that my parents trust me in Omen’s care alone, as do I. I’m afraid that for the time being, whatever my reasoning may be, I must be as near to him as I can be.”
Blackscales nodded, and let the pup go. With a quick word of thanks, the wolf jumped from the saddle and raced over to Omen as quick as he could. The rider explained everything to the blacksmith and the others when they came a bit closer, including the fact that he and the dragon could communicate with the pup, and everything he had said in exact detail.
“So he’s actually a pretty smart pup, knowing everything like this,” Omen said. “I suppose he wants a name?”
“I don’t know, I’ll ask…I would think that his parents would have given him a name, but just let me check,” Blackscales said, reaching his mind out to the pup again.
Having heard everything, the pup replied, “That is also a strange area to explain, but I’ll just say that I am nameless, and I should receive one sometime soon.”
Blackscales relayed the information to Omen just as he caught up. Both Avalsmokes and Autumn remained deathly silent while all of the conversing took place, likely because Autumn was still so tired and Aval was good at respecting another person’s space. Evidently, while they seemed pretty fascinated by the pup upon realizing that they had a way to talk to it, they still tried to leave it between the main people, and dragons, involved.
Omen debated what the rider had said, looking at the pup with a new interest. He picked him up by his torso and twisted him around carefully with a sort of interest that no one would have thought possible. His eyes lit up with excitement when he finally figured it out and prepared to announce it to the others.
“I think that this little guy is obviously meant for me for some amazing reason, and I wouldn’t have met him without Blackscales. That is why I decide to name him after him.”
Then everyone was confused, and Aval spoke up in a very hushed voice, “Cody?”
“Blackscales?” Autumn asked.
That was when Blackscales realized that no name of his would fit the little pup, except one. The one that he had completely forgotten since his adventure began. In fact, it was a name that pretty much everyone ignored about themselves for some reason since they only referred to each other by their original name or nickname. Blackscales was actually surprised about how it sent incredible chills down his spine, but there was no denying how well it fit with the pup.
“Actually,” Omen began as he put the pup down and began stroking his ashy fur, “I was thinking about his last name. Ashheart, or Ash for short.”