Rone woke up again for what seemed to be the 100th time to the flapping of the dragon's wings. He thought it odd that the dragon never seemed to stop or sleep. At some time it would have to rest, and when it did he would escape. However if it didn't things could get messy for him.
He was actually thinking of trying his magic on the beast, while it was unstable it may get the dragon to release him... the only problem was the drop that awaited him below. He continued to ponder what he could do as the days passed.
Trebin halted his small party. They had reached a bend in the river and he could just make out another group of people not to far off. The sun however was in his eyes and he couldn't make out what type of people they were. Instead he decided to stay where he was and wait for them to come to him if they did.
They did come as Trebin had thought. The Liwab moved back in case a conflict may ensue.The Geru move forward for the same reason. Trebin himself set himself a distance in front of everyone with another Geru who had decided to accompany him.
The group split some sidestepping The Ruleen party by a large distance while the other came directly towards them waving their hands in the air in a non-threatening manner. Trebin relaxed a bit but still looked on skeptically not really knowing what to expect. One of the people stepped ahead with the rest with two others who seemed armed with alot more than any situation may call for. As the one stepped forward he seemed heavily clothed, with many gems and such weighing down his hands, neck and other body parts.
He said something that Trebin could only think as gibberish, he blinked as he looked on in confusion. The human mumbled before waving his hands in the air a bit and speaking again.
"Can you understand me now?"
Trebin nodded emphatically, "Yes, Yes, Much better now."
The human smiled broadly before saying,"Aaahhh, greatings noble being. My name is Mehmed! We spotted your group from afar, and we're mightily interested, who are you?"
Trebin glad that he could understand replied, "Greetings yourself as well. My name Trebin. I am of the Ruleen, and in search of place to settle. Who may you be as well?
"The Ruleen? Interesting! Please, tell me more?"
"I can not really tell much to someone who I do not know about myself. Who do you come from?
"Ah, we? We, come from the great city of Akkad! City of magic, trade, untold riches, innumerable pleasures! Strange and beautiful arts! You should visit sometime!"
Trebin grinned as best he could with his canine mouth, "Sounds like a fun fun place. The Ruleen village a wondrous place as well. Lying in forest itself it is a great beauty."
"Very interesting! Living in a forest! So, care to tell me more about yourself? Where do you live?"
"I myself am one of warrior leaders of Ruleen. As for where I lie? I lie far to the south in wet forest."
"Down the river? Ahh, that is very good, and very interesting news. No doubt you have many a variety of interesting and exotic woods and plants down in that rainforest?
"Yes Yes, many woods many kinds. We have some of the plant from the woods if you wish to see."
"Ahh, I definitely wish to see! Of course this heralds the request that you must see too..,"Mehmed claps his hands which seemed to signal for the merchants to set up. Because this is exactly what they did, surging forward with their camels, spawning small stands in an astonishingly fast pace that Trebin could barely believe possible.
Trebin signaled to the others that it was safe to come forward. The Geru came right up to the stands looking over weapons and glancing at some of the lighter armor. The Liwab who came up more slowly, looked at the food stuffs and trinkets that the Akkad seemed to offer. After little bartering on the Ruleen side, since they were not to familiar with what a merchant was they traded away much for small things.
Those that did get something in exchange for the herbs and seeds they offered nibbled tentatively on food or gandered wide eyed at shiny trinkets.
Triben who had not participated in the trading returned to talk to Mehmed,"You have interesting things here, I think you for sharing with us."
Mehmed wearing a very large smile and spreading his hands wide says,"It is absolutely no inconvenience! Say, you live downriver, yes? We are on the purpose of founding a city on a supposed river fork farther to the west. What would you say about trade rights?"
Trebin pondered the concept of trade rights for a moment before giving up and saying, "I can not say any about trade. Speak to Shikra, she is who you must speak to."
"Ah. Who is Shikra?"
"She be Liwab leader of Ruleen. She back in village to south."
"Ah. We must send an envoy then!" Mehmed said before bowing deeply and thanking Trebin for the trade before departing to catch up with the rest of his group.
Trebin pondered the strange beings he had just met before signaling for his group to continue. He was most interested in meeting more like the Akkad.
Shikra pondered as she set about the small tasks that needed to be done to send out more parties to colonize more areas, however unlike the last group she had sent out. These groups would colonize areas near to home.
She looked around and sighed, she was tired. For some reason Rone wouldn't get out of her head, it was true she had given him the talisman but it shouldn't connect there minds nearly as much as it seemed to be. At some points she thought she could feel wind passing through her face and large plains flying quickly below her.
She shook her head as another of these moments passed by her and continued the preparations for the parties to start moving out. For the most part it was Liwab moving around and collecting things with only smaller amounts of Geru joining them.
A flash of a river coming up below her made her shake her head before continuing back to the task at hand.
Rone looked at the large river as it came into view. He couldn't tell how deep or fast it was, but it would be his only chance to escape from the dragon. If he didn't live through it, well it was better than being eaten by a dragon.
The river was not to far from being below them so Rone gathered himself so as to protect himself from his own magics. Then he let loose all the restraints on himself and let the magic fly. It was a horrifying feeling, yet wonderous one at the same time. The air around him seemed to crackle and hiss and turn colors around him without seeming to do much. Then as Rone had almost given up on the magic doing much, he noticed that the ground was getting closer.... at a very fast rate. Looking forward he noticed the dragon's head seemed to be flapping in the wind, almost as if it had been knocked out in mid-air.
The dragon then pitched forward and Rone couldn't keep track of up from down. His magic still flowed from him freely and he could feel rips being torn in the dragon's flesh as the magic perfeated the beast. Rone himself could barely stand his own magic, it felt as if a large weight had been placed on his head.
The dragon pitched even faster and the visions of the earth that Rone glimpsed showed that the river was a far-cry away and instead of water land would be struck. Rone closed his eyes and prayed as the latest glimpse revealed impact being mire seconds away. Then he slammed into the dragons stomach as he and the dragon slammed into the ground. He bounced off the stomach and into the air as the dragon continued to slide below him.
As Rone came back down he noticed he wouldn't be lucky enough to land on the dragon again, and he landed, and slid across the ground for several meters. He blacked out.
Rano had noticed the odd going's on before the monsters had appeared and pressed the caravan harder to try to avoid the strange occurrences. Everything seemed to follow them however, and then monsters had appeared then attacking them. The caravan had fought bravely but they had still suffered some major injuries. To top things off the few mothers who had come along had given off strange off-spring that he could only imagine in his darkest of dreams. All but one though was that one mother seemed to be immune to the same effects as the other mothers. A women by the name of Janja. He would have to keep a close eye on her over the next leg of the trip and the setting up of the mining camp. It wasn't to long now, he could feel the end coming along.