Gateways: COE THE ALMIGHTY, page 19
“And our King has his eye on you,” Marsha retorted.
“Which is why I need a good present to give him,” Cheri replied.
“I can hand over an exquisite present,” Coe said. “Of course I am sure you all know how business works. What do I get out of it?”
“I heard you say that you wanted to meet a dragon,” Cheri replied. “How about this as a deal. If you give me something one of a kind, I will let you have a dragon if it wants to bond with you.”
“I think you have yourself a deal,” Coe replied. “Maybe I should leave this place and get on it. I am a very good painter, sculptor and I am sure I can find something that you would approve of. I am sure His Majesty would cherish the gift.”
~
Coe smiled as he looked over his dragon. It was called a striped dragon and was known as the fastest of the dragons. It wouldn't keep up with his father Bruce but it was still a large animal that could breathe fire. Coe didn't even have to trade much for the beast, the gifts he gave cost him a little bit of nothing.
The first thing he gave was just a nice picture of Cheri. Tempy just printed one out complete with a frame that was far more lifelike than anything the Downians had ever seen. The next thing he gave was a sculpture. It was made out of cheap scrap metal but was designed and created by a computer. It was true to size and looked flawless. Derrick figured someone as conceited as Cheri would absolutely love the statue. The last thing he gave her was a set of mirrors with Derrick’s blessing. They were communicators and allowed two people to see and speak to each other. What they weren't aware of was that there was a secret third mirror that recorded everything that was said. That mirror was given to Derrick who was amazed that Coe was able to get something like that working. The mirrors wouldn't last more than ten years since they were battery and not solar powered and had a hard distance of 25 kilometers. The third also had a hard cap of 25 kilometers but Coe had given Derrick two antennae that could as an additional 50 kilometers when stretched out. Coe hadn't even left the party, he found a quiet area and summoned a portal. Tempy did all of the work in Gaia and Terra and got everything back to him in under an hour. It helped that most of the things were just laying around, Coe was planning to give Cynthia the mirrors so she could give them to the Queen in her area. Cynthia could then spy on whatever the Queen said to whoever the Queen deemed important enough to give the other one to. Coe knew despite the gifts, Cheri still didn't have a plan to give him a dragon and wanted to just buy the gifts off of him. Her Uncle Claude was ready to cause a scene and was just going to take the items. Coe wondered if he should just portal in a bomb and end the entire thing. It would be horrible to do and only Derrick talked him out of it.
Eventually the deal was reworded, if a dragon would bond with him then he was in. The people who called themselves the Tides had plenty of dragons, 33 in all that were unbonded. A striped one took to him instantly which made the others angry. Now Coe was involved in some war to put down the people of Kirby. Coe didn't mind, he had a magical beast and wondered if he could take it into Gaia or anywhere else. Something like a dragon would garner a lot of attention and Coe was certain that stories of it would make him feared. Especially in his role as Amun. Coe figured this war was something he needed if he was to learn how to handle his dragon and gain the experience needed.
Coe at first thought it would be easy. He figured riding a dragon was similar to riding a horse but he was wrong. He and the Dragon which he named Stripes were mentally bonded. They knew what each other was thinking and what the other wanted done. Stripes wanted to head out and see places that he had only dreamed about. Stripes hated most humans and relished his chance at killing a lot of them without getting into any trouble. Coe was surprised to learn that dragons could communicate with each other. Some had already told him fantastic tales of burning humans alive. Coe thought his dragon was a bit insane but that he would make an excellent deterrent to Arian if his brother ever went at him again.
“The others cannot keep up with us, despite your heavy size,” Stripes said inside of his head. “They are big but are too slow to keep up. We are supposed to be killing humans and they move too slow.”
“They are trying the best they can,” Coe replied. Sometimes it was difficult to think with his dragon inside of his head. His dragon felt the same way with everything Coe had going on. Often they would just push each other to the side in their respective heads. Coe was thinking about things that were foreign to Stripes. The technological advances he hoped to make, the things he needed to do while in Gaia, and what plans he had in the other lands he would eventually go to. Stripes only cared about mates, food and fighting. Stripes was on the bottom end of dragons, he wasn't big enough to fight some of the other dragons, like the spiky red dragon or the large purple one. Those two were guaranteed most of the mates. Stripes ate well enough but he wanted to rip something apart and eat it. He was rarely given this opportunity which hampered his last love of killing.
“They need to try harder. I have heard from others of my kind that humans are easy to fight. I want to see how many I can kill.”
“If you are the first there then you could kill many.”
“You are a smart human. Then they can be slow. At least I will have a good place picked out when we have to land. I am becoming cold.”
Coe didn't respond and figured that it was about time for them to land. The area the dragons were from was hot and humid. The dragons loved that kind of temperature and thrived in it like most reptiles. At least Coe thought his dragon was a reptile. Coe flew with a group led by Claude Tide over a mountain range. As soon as they crossed over the mountain range, Coe noticed a drop in temperature. The dragons only could handle the cold for so long and would eventually die if left in the temperature. Coe figured 16 degrees on the celsius scale was the absolute coldest temperature a dragon could survive at if left for more than a few hours. The Downians workaround to keep the dragons at a good temperature involved large wooden buildings with multiple heat sources. The buildings were a good place for the dragons to sleep. Coe knew his 16℃ theory had holes in it. There were some silvery looking dragons that never came inside of the heated buildings. Stripes needed those buildings though, this was the last day they would spend traveling to the war. Coe found the area everyone was supposed to stop and started bringing Stripes down.
Coe found his dragon a good spot to sleep in. It was on the far side of the building and away from where the larger, nastier dragons would lay. This place they were now in had multiple heated buildings. Coe wondered who the Kirbians were and how he would feel if he were them facing down a horde of dragons. Coe got himself settled, he wasn't wearing Mage robes and instead was wearing a version of what the locals wore with a few enhancements. Coe’s clothing was made out of the same base materials as the Downians but was constructed differently. The weave Coe’s own clothing had was over a hundred times tighter and blocked a lot of the colder weather from seeping through. The helmet he wore was all around better and Coe had vision enhancement running throughout his glass goggles. Coe found himself a decent place to sleep near where the other dragon riders would be down.
“You must be new,” said a young man who looked Coe’s age. “I saw you ride in on that striped.”
“I am new. I am a bit nervous about what is to come.”
“You don't have any need to be,” the young man smiled as he ran his fingers through his hair. “We went right through their Mages for the last two days. It has only been five dragons here but we are Dragon Knights. I have killed at least four mages by myself and probably over a hundred Kirbian soldiers. I know you aren't a Dragon Knight but I don't think you need to be one to take down trash like this. I’m Hanson by the way, John Hanson.”
“Nice to meet you,” Coe replied and stuck out his hand for a shake. “My name is Coe.”
“Well met Coe. I am excited to have you boys around to tell you the truth. That means me and the others can just sit back and enjoy ourselves. You all can have all the killing you want. Only one or two mages there are worth anything. They hide during the time we come to fight and then come out in late evening and take everyone down. I hear you all are supposed to be traveling with cold weather dragons.”
“We have some,” Coe replied.
“That ought to really stop those cowards. Meet your enemy head on. Either win, lose or submit. All of this business with attacking when everyone is going down for the night leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
“This is going to be my first time in a war like this.”
“I figured as much. You Saracens are used to beings more up close and personal. I can tell by you physique that you are probably a guard or something. Never knew there were any Saracens with the gift of dragon riding in their blood.”
Coe gave the man a smile. Coe had no idea what a Saracen was and decided to play along. Coe should have figured that he would need a good excuse as to why he was built up like a skull bashing guard when most of the dragon riders were lean. Coe figured Saracen was either a family or the name given to a group that were guards. What Coe was sure of was that the Kirbians had been getting slaughtered and must have offered very little resistance. Just in case, Coe thought he would sleep far away from the others in a collapsible shelter from his world. He didn't want to be a target from some vengeful Mage who attacked in the dead of night while he was sleeping. Coe chatted with Hanson until the sounds of an argument could be heard. Coe was about to stand up but was tugged back down on his cot by Hanson.
“That is just Lord Dragonknight. None of the Tides like the man. We get paid extra coin to make his life harder as well. Lord Owen was the youngest to ever hold the title of Lord Dragonknight and a lot of people hate that. The Tides really hate it more than anyone else. They are just going to argue for a bit and then Lord Dragonknight will let the Tides take the lead. I am sure you already know this being a Saracen and all.”
“I thought you already said we were taking the lead?”
Yeah, but that is because Lord Dragonknight had already gotten us together and told everyone that the Tides would want to take over and that he would let them. The plan is to let you all have it for two days, after that, we are all going home.”
“But Lord Claude doesn't know that.”
“It is all so Lord Dragonknight can save face. He doesn't want to be here either.”
Coe listened to the argument get louder and louder. Eventually Lord Dragonknight said that he and his Dragonknights would be leaving in two days and that Lord Claude could have it all. Lord Claude yelled at Lord Dragonknight to, “go home so the real men could fight.” Coe thought Lord Claude would at least have a meeting or something with all of his dragon riders before the fight but that did not happen. Instead Coe was just given a time to get ready by some Soldier he had never met before.
Coe slept decently that night. When it was dark, Coe slipped away and opened a portal and had Tempy get him the items he needed. There were plenty hanging around in other places, Coe and Sarpan had used it when they were first making Ogygia habitable. Coe had bedded down and stayed relatively warm. He had motion sensor outside of his small shelter that would detect if anyone came within a hundred yards of his sleeping area. Coe awoke before the sun and went to get himself ready. Stripes was bursting with excitement of finally killing his first human. Coe thought that was morbid but did want to know if he could stack up to the magic users they had in this world.
Coe wondered how the magic was performed and thought about either taking or befriending one of them. Their magic wasn't good enough to face down a dragon but it might have been good enough to face down Arian. Well maybe at least help him face down Arian. Coe grabbed Stripes who was ecstatic. The dragon bounced around and wanted everything to start.
“Mage,” Lord Zelric said as he walked over. “It is obvious that me and my red or my brother and his purple are the best here. Your little striped better not get in my way of roasting these pretenders or you just might get burned yourself.”
“Why the attitude?”
“I know what you did, protecting Derrick’s whores,” Lord Zelric said. “Those whores were going to be taught some respect for daring to raise crossbows at me. Instead you stopped everything. Traveling with you here was horrible. You should thank my father, he is the only reason I haven't roasted you already.”
“I’ll give him my thanks,” Coe said as he thought about snapping Zelric in two. “And I will stay out of your way.”
“You had better,” Zelric said as he started fixing his riding gear on his red dragon.
Coe got Stripes ready and was soon in the air. He was supposed to make three passes and then fly to the rear so the bigger dragons could have the honor of the most kills. It was just as well to Coe but the plan angered Stripes. Coe was doing all he could to rein Stripes in, the dragon was fast and was soon outpacing the others. It was around a solid hour of flying when Coe could see the enemy was below.
There were thousands of them, regardless Coe thought the Downians had a force at least three times the size and didn't see any way the other nation would survive. Coe let Stripes dive, the dragon was excited and Coe could feel when he opened his mouth to take a deep breath. What followed next would be flame, Coe felt when his dragon released its flame and then saw a bright flash of light.
The light reminded Coe of lightning, it was fast and the loud thunderclap that followed made Coe sure of what he saw. Coe couldn't feel Stripes any more and the dragon was falling. Coe sat up and then looked back and could see something had blown a hole through the dragon. The ground was coming up quickly. Coe leapt off the dead dragon’s back and into one of his portals just as the dragon crashed into the mass of enemy troops.
Coe used his ability to fly to avoid crashing into anything as he looked around at his home and then felt himself all over. Coe had no idea what caused the lightning, he only knew that it was not a cloud in the sky when he went to attack. That was real lighting, something like the Evolved Guardian Ramzes could create. In fact, Coe thought it could have possibly been thicker. Getting hit with that would have killed him instantly, before he could have created a portal or even knew he was dead. Coe thought that if he ever went back to that world, that he would definitely need something to block electricity. Getting hit by something like that was beyond him.
Whiskey Flowers, Gateways: COE THE ALMIGHTY
