The Dragons of Sara Sara Read Online Free

could sense other humans even at great distance. The older women long retired from the warrior bands didn’t even need to concentrate. Their abilities grew with their age. Antonin had heard that these women were able to bring down lightning and cause objects – even enemy – to burst into flame! He doubted it himself though. The Story Tellers were very good at embellishing their tales to impress country folk and children alike. Antonin trotted his horse back to the Trader. “You will follow us to the village, Trader?” He said. “It is but a hand spans ride east of here.” Antonin held his hand up, palm outward toward the setting sun. Three hand spans – the width of his hand three times – would see the sun below the horizon. It would be dusk when they arrived at the village in any case.
    “There you can rest and feed your horses. Yourself as well at The Dog and Girl.” Said Antonin.
    Catharina rode in close. “You have nothing to fear from us Trader.” She said. “But perhaps we had all best be gone from here.” She looked about her, taking in the smoking road, the dusty haze hanging in the normally crystal air of the plain. Suddenly her eyes took in a vast billowing cloud on the far horizon. The cloud was very distinct, even though partially obscured by the dust haze and the setting sun. The cloud was as black as night and rose billowing straight into the sky. It must have been very high to be seen from here. There could be only one source. Sara Sara. Catharina stared into the distance. Her eyes were as big as saucers, straining her senses to find any trace of what the disturbance was. Just as Antonin rode up alongside to see what Catharina was doing, her gaze seemed to be transfixed on the far horizon. Suddenly she reeled back in the saddle with a shriek that made his hair stand on end.
    Catharina flung her horse about and gave a wild yell. “The Dark Lord stirs.” In an instant she was racing toward the village. Antonin heeled his horse around with a last glance at the horizon where the smoke cloud was clearly visible now, towering into the sky.
    “Move your team Trader.” He yelled as he sped by the wagon. “Move them for your life man.”
    The Trader needed no urging. His horses were already restless and anything that would make a Maiden shriek and flee for her life was enough for him. He didn't even look back. He raised his long whip and the air crackled above the horses heads. The land was flat if slightly undulating and good ground for a wagon, even a damaged one. Within moments the trio were streaming across the wide plain toward the village and outlying farms. Antonin tried his best to catch Catharina. She was almost flat along her horse, her head low by the horses neck as she urged Khrif on. She was the picture of speed and Antonin knew he had no chance of catching her.
    “What had she seen?” Antonin wondered. He too had seen the vast black cloud billowing up from Sara Sara, but Catharina’s reaction was that of someone who had faced the Dark Lord eye to eye. There were strange things happening this day. Thunder rolling through the earth. The great North Road cracking and smoking. Sara Sara billowing more smoke than had ever been seen from it. It was many days ride to the distant Dragon Spine Mountains that formed a barrier before the lands that held Sara Sara. The mountain itself lay deep in the Blasted Lands. “The creatures that inhabited that landscape would be in some turmoil now.” Thought Antonin. He sped across the plain in pursuit of Catharina.
    The Trader and his wagon had fallen some way behind by now but he stayed true to the direction of the village by following the dust cloud raised by the horses of Catharina and Antonin. Whatever was happening he wanted no part of being out on the open plain alone in the gathering night. The Trader was a big man and as tough as any of his kind. The nomadic life the Traders led was not an easy one. They had passage rights in all lands. The