“Master, why are you giving me a battle cloak?” he asked.
Bartemus sighed. “Aidan, come outside. I have a lot to tell you.”
The boy followed his master out of the hut, where they sat down on the ground. “What do you know about dragons?” the old warlock asked.
“I know they live in the Dragonback Range,” Aidan said, “and that they are related to wyverns. That’s all.”
“Then it’s time you learned,” Bartemus said. “Before the inhabitants of Sortiledge first invaded the Nefarious Lands, dragons and their close relatives, wyverns, ruled the skies. Wyverns, unlike dragons, are not intelligent creatures and have no ability to speak or use magic. For a very long time, dragons and wyverns terrorized all of the races in the Nefarious Lands, until one day, when a young boy befriended and bonded with a dragon, creating a heartsoul link not unlike the one you and the amogh girl now share. But that is another story.
“After humans learned how to bond with a dragon, they began to ride them. Soon, dragons and their riders were the guardians of the Nefarious Lands, slaying any that threatened their people. This was considered the golden age of dragons. But then, in one moment, we destroyed their peace.
“When the three races of Sortiledge began to invade the Nefarious Lands, naturally the dragons and their riders were the first defenders. At first, they won. Their scales, flame, and magic made them nearly invincible. But soon, all three races began to find ways to slay them. Elven archers, dwarven engineers, and our own human knights began to earn the title Dragonslayer.
“It wasn’t until a young knight fell in love with a dragon rider that he had captured that either side could envision a peaceful resolution. It was the birth of their son that truly began to open the eyes of the council and the Dragon King. By this point it had become clear that Sortiledge would conquer the Nefarious Lands, and many of the dragons and their riders had grown weary of war. Slowly, they began to migrate north or join us.
“When Malcommer took over in the Nefarious Lands, all but the most extreme dragons were horrified at the bloodshed he caused. It was not long before every dragon and his rider joined Sortiledge. Unfortunately, the dragons never seemed to pick the winning side. Almost as soon as the first proclamation of peace was made between their kind and ours, they had to be immediately relocated to Sortiledge, as Malcommer slew any that would not join him.
“You know how the Great Wars ended. When they did, the dragons were so few, and they could never feel at home amongst the people who had tried so desperately to kill them. So, when the council was rebuilt after the wars, their first order was to make the Dragonback Range hospitable to the dragons. I was the warlock heading the effort.
“Before we left, one thing we tried to change was the way the dragons appointed their leaders, or as the dragons called them, alphas. Traditionally, alphas were chosen by combat. The potential dragons and their riders would fight, often to the death, and the strongest would become an unrivaled ruler. As harsh as these methods were, they were effective in times of war. But by the time we had rebuilt their home, we hoped to find a more peaceful way to find a governing body for the dragons. We tried to establish a council, but as the dragons correctly predicted, a government with several leaders will soon become a power struggle. In the end, we elected a young man with huge potential and named him alpha, and didn’t leave until his foothold was firmly established. We were hoping that he would be able to find a better system by the time the next alpha had to be chosen.
“A few months before the attack on the Fort, we lost contact with him. After some investigation, I found that he had died of completely natural causes, and the dragons had gone back to their old methods of choosing an alpha. The rider who triumphed in combat was a man named Rickentoh. He rides a Black Thunder who shares his name, as is not uncommon in the dragon world.
“Rickentoh is more than a great fighter, he is also a great leader. He has furthered the dragon kingdom to stretch across all of the Dragonback range, and even began to fight his way into the Nefarious Lands. Unfortunately, he is very young and too ambitious to hold so much power. Somehow, Malcommer has convinced him that-“
“Wait,” Aidan said, his head spinning from all of this new information. “Malcommer is alive? I was taught that he was killed in the Great Wars”
Bartemus nodded. “We all were. But sometimes what we hope for replaces what we truly see. Malcommer is far from dead. The Rangers on the border have continued to write letters, but when I searched for their outposts I found nothing but skeletons. Somehow Malcommer has fooled us all into believing the Nefarious Lands are dormant, when in truth they are more active than they have ever been. There is only one obstacle between him and us. The Dragonback range.