Dragon Mage 3 Chapter 1: Back Again (Patreon)

369 days until the Arkon Shield falls

You have exited Wyrm Isle.

“Jamie, Mage Jamie!”  

I blinked, squinting in the bright sunlight streaming down on me as I exited the temple.

“Jamie!”

The voice was high. A child’s, and it was coming from the bottom of the temple steps. Looking down, I spotted William, Thursten’s grandson. He was waving urgently as he tried to get my attention. Alarmed by the boy’s expression, I fed mana into my legs, and dragon leaped.

Empowered by the spell’s energy, I reached the bottom of the staircase in a single bound. “What is it?” I asked tersely as I thumped down next to the youth.

“Wow!” William exclaimed, his mouth rounding in awe. “How did you do that?”

“Magic,” I replied in a clipped tone. “Now, tell me what’s happened? Is something wrong?”

William frowned. “Wrong? Why would anything be wrong?”

“Your expression, it—” I broke off, realizing I’d misread the situation. “Never mind. Do you need me for something?”

The boy nodded. “Grandfather is looking for you. The convoy is about to leave.”

Oh right. I’d almost forgotten about that.

It was the day after the big battle. The day after we’d defeated Captain Fagan and his one hundred orcs. The day after we’d captured Shamen Jhaven and constrained him to serve humanity for a year. The day after we’d freed Sanctuary from the thugs that had seized it.

And last, but not least of all, the day after we’d rescued William from the gang leader, Gorkin.

My gaze flitted across the boy’s face. While William’s eyes were still shadowed, his face bore none of the deadness it had last night when we had pulled him out of that awful room. Children are resilient, I thought. He is recovering.

“Jamie?” William asked, tugging on my sleeve. “The convoy? What should I tell grandfather?”

I shook myself free of my musings. Today was also the day Petrov and the greater part of the Sierra expeditionary force were returning home. I would have to say my goodbyes. “Lead the way,” I said, gesturing William onward.

The boy skipped forward, making straight for Sanctuary’s western gate. I followed more slowly on his heels, attending to the first set of waiting Trials messages while I did.

Your spellpower and channeling have increased to level 75.

Your skills in air, death, earth, life, water, sorcery, anatomy, light armor, staffs, and lore have advanced to level 75.

Your skill in dragon magic has advanced to level 115 (trait boosted).

I’d gained three levels from yesterday’s battle, and before beginning my day today, I’d made sure to spend my accumulated Marks and Tokens. My Disciplines were advancing nicely, and soon ten of the eleven skills I had decided to focus on would reach Seasoned rank.

My dragon magic, of course, was already there—courtesy of the Arena Champion trait I’d earned from the unique dungeon run with Jain and his fellows. Still, I was impatient for the rest of my Disciplines to catch up and for myself to truly join the ranks of Overworld’s Seasoned players.

That can’t come soon enough, I thought, thinking of all the things I still needed to accomplish. Nearly everything I needed to do would be easier if I had more power at my beck.

It’ll come, Jamie. Be patient.

Being patient, however, was easier said than done. But it was not like I had any choice in the matter. I was already leveling faster than nearly everyone in the Dominion.

Sighing, I called up the last Trials alert waiting for review.

Your familiar has learned the spell: guarding flames. Etched spells: 4 of 4.

I’d used my time in Wyrm Isle to etch my familiar’s spiritform with one more spell: guarding flames. I would have preferred to have given Ash the seeking flame spell instead, but unfortunately, the little fire elemental was not evolved enough to cast rank three spells just yet. She would have to wait a little longer before she could start throwing fireballs around.

The Trials messages attended to, I turned my attention outward to study the village anew. Even though the morning was well advanced, few of Sanctuary’s residents were about, and those that were, seemed wary and half-afraid.

I sighed again. This was only my second day in the settlement, and I couldn’t claim to know its people well, but already I’d grown to recognize the wounded look in their gazes. It was going to take time for the residents to recover from the tribulations they’d suffered at the hand of Gorkin and his thugs. Most of them were still in shock and many still didn’t believe we didn’t mean to supplant the gang.

They needed time to heal. Time, we didn’t have.

The orcs would be mobilizing soon, if not to retaliate against Sanctuary, then to move against Sierra. There was no way events in this settlement, nor those at the new fort, Woodspire, near the red dungeon, would go unnoticed. Jhaven and Fagan’s company would be missed eventually and before the orcs acted, the village needed to be ready to face them.

I blew out a troubled breath. It was not just the villagers’ apathy that worried me though. It was that I would not be here myself to aid them or Tara, who the old lady had posted here. In a few days, I would be leaving, heading south to join the Forerunner delegation making for the gnomish Sponsored city of Jabbermuck.

And while I had been so sure last night that the decision to leave was the right one, this morning I was less certain. Would Sanctuary survive in my absence? Would Sierra?

What if I take too long to return? Or worse yet, what if—

Feeling my turbulent emotions, Ash stirred in my pocket. The familiar had awoken this morning, none the worse from her ordeal during yesterday’s battle. It had taken her spirit a full day to recover, but today she was alert, energetic, and full of life.

And in no mood to tolerate her bondmate’s depressing thoughts.

Reaching out to me through the familiar link, Ash sent tendrils of herself racing into me to ignite the dragonfire that lay at my heart. It awoke immediately, setting my blood afire. Singing stridently, it demanded to be set free, and burn whatever it was that troubled me.

“Alright, alright,” I murmured both to the fire elemental and my own magic, “I won’t wallow anymore, I promise.”

The fire inside me quietened, and Ash’s own thoughts grew smug. She’d accomplished what she’d set out to do.

I shook my head ruefully. I suspected that this was not the first time the fire elemental and my dragonfire would band against me, and I couldn’t help but wonder what this boded for the future.

“Who you talking to?” William inquired.

“No one. Just myself.”

“You do that often?” the boy asked, concern touching his face. “Talk to yourself, I mean. You should try not to. Kara says it ain’t a good sign.”

I chuckled. “Well, if you must know, I wasn’t actually talking to myself but to my familiar. And to be honest, Ash feels so much a part of me these days, I sometimes forget she is her own person.”

“Oh, your familiar!” William exclaimed, concern forgotten. “I heard about her.” He leaned forward eagerly. “Can I see her?”

I hesitated. Ordinarily, I would have refused. Even though Ash’s existence was no longer a secret, I was leery of revealing her presence too often, especially considering the physical form she had chosen—but William was fairly dancing with excitement, and the boy had been through a lot already.

Children were resilient, but even so, if you peered behind William’s cheerful mask, the lines of darkness etched into him by his treatment at Gorkin’s hands were easy to spot.

“I suppose,” I said, feigning disinterest as I willed Ash out.

“Yes!” the boy exclaimed, bouncing on his heels.

I smiled as Ash spirit ballooned out of the elemental fragment in my pocket and filled the space between me and the boy. “It’s going to get hot,” I warned. “You best step back.”

Hastily, William did as I bid, making room for the invisible spirit he could not yet see.

Warming the air around her, Ash took on physical form. Tongues of golden flames appeared and, whipping about in response to the familiar’s will, they wove together in the form of a fiery avian—complete with foot-long wings, a whipping tail, and a cruelly hooked beak.

But Ash was no simple fire elemental. Dragonfire was as much part of her being as ordinary fire was, and to my mind, Ash’s flaming form was clearly dragon-shaped, but others had mistaken her for a phoenix—a misconception I was content to let lie.

“She’s beautiful,” William said with undisguised awe.

“She is,” I agreed, scrutinizing my familiar carefully myself.

Ash’s form today was bigger than the one she’d taken yesterday, but then again, she had gained twenty levels since, and I could only assume her increased size was the result of that.

Will she keep growing? I wondered. And if so, how large would Ash eventually become?

Dragon-sized.

I shivered. That was both an appealing and disturbing thought. When Ash got that big, I doubted I would be able to hide her true nature any longer.

“Jamie?”

The note of concern in William’s tone pulled me away from my fascinated study of the fire elemental. Ash was attracting attention, I saw. The few villagers on the street were backing away, muttering unhappily as they shot the fire elemental fearful glances.

“It’s alright,” I said, raising my voice and smiling reassuringly. “She’s friendly.”

But none of the villagers were comforted by my words. Some even turned around to flee.

Sighing, I willed Ash aloft. As the familiar spiraled upward and out of sight range, I pulled William along. “Come on, let’s get going.”