Inferno flew for a few hours with the three people on his back. Twice Cody took some deer meat from the saddlebags and passed it around for all to share, and even he had a ravenous appetite. He had thought that he needed less energy to function, but after a brief discussion with Inferno he decided that he could just last longer without it. According to the dragon, every few weeks he would have a massive hunger almost constantly. The strange power was annoying, especially after he had eaten almost every piece of the deer meat, but it would prove useful the rest of the time.

            After Cody reached in to grab the last of the meat, all he had was enough for a full meal for one person. Moodily, he passed a little more than half of it to his companions and wolfed down his own chunk of venison. Behind him he could hear the others finishing their evening snack happily, not noticing his displeasure. After a few minutes they were done, and hungry for more.

            “Is there any meat left? I’m still pretty hungry,” Larson said, making Cody turn around just in time to see Mora nod in agreement. Pippi, being an elf, had the same appetite as Cody only she was apparently in the stage where she wasn’t hungry much at all, so she slowly nibbled on her last piece of meat contentedly.

            Cody sighed as he looked at the nearly empty saddlebags hungrily before saying, “I’m afraid we’re out.”

            “No worries; I am growing very tired. We can land shortly and you can go hunting. Perhaps when I have rested for a while I can join you,” Inferno said.

            Cody relayed the information to the others, making them grin. “I think me and Larson should do the hunting while Mora and Pippi start a fire. Does that sound good to you?”

            “Why will it take two people to start a fire?” Mora asked curiously.

            Cody quickly answered, “Just in case you can’t get it going or there are dangerous animals around. Plus, it wouldn’t be helpful to have too many people hunting.”

            They all nodded in silent agreement. Only minutes later Cody noticed Inferno beginning to struggle against gravity. His wings, once smooth and rhythmic as they flapped, were now unsteady and fighting to keep them all aloft. Just when the dragon seemed to be pushing his limits and Cody thought he was going to plummet out of the sky, they both spotted a large clearing. Inferno carefully angled himself downward towards the ground and landed awkwardly in the long grass on top of a small hill. He hopped a few times to make sure he didn’t fall onto his back and crush his passengers.

            “Come on,” Cody said to Larson as he slid out of the saddle.

            “Actually,” Lars began carefully, “I was thinking we could separate, so as to catch more.”

            Cody thought for a few moments before replying, “I guess it couldn’t hurt. If, for some weird reason we have too much, Inferno can always eat the leftovers.”

            Larson nodded, “It’s settled. I will return in an hour or two, hopefully with a large string of game.”

            “I will do the same. Take care, Pippi, Mora. Inferno, just rest up and go hunting when you feel fit,” Cody said as he walked into the forest a few hundred feet away. As he began following some fresh rabbit tracks, he thought he felt something prying at the back of his mind, but he ignored it.

~

            About an hour later, Cody returned to the camp with two rabbits tucked in a small bag tied to his waist and he half carried half dragged a young doe through the forest. He was incredibly lucky to have come across the herd she had come from, as well as the two rabbits, but he was thankful. By now the sun was just dangling over the horizon, slowly being lowered so that the night could take place. He finished dragging the deer as he came within a few yards of a large fire Mora and Pippi had made. As he expected, Inferno was gone, and so was Lars.

            Unexpectedly, however, Pippi and Mora had put together a bunch of sticks to make a criss-crossing square, presumably to put the meat on. Cody asked if that was so, and they nodded, Mora with a broad smile on her face. With a smile coating his own face, Cody began skinning the rabbits and lying strips of rabbit flesh on the makeshift gridiron. After that he skinned the doe and laid a few chunks of meat on the remaining space. Within an hour Lars returned with a small wild boar over his shoulders. Only a few minutes after that, Inferno returned with two deer gripped in his sharp talons.

            “Welcome back,” Mora said cheerfully as she grabbed a tiny chunk of rabbit meat off the gridiron.

            Lars smiled and walked over to grab some of the rabbit for himself. Within moments, every last piece of the rabbits was gone and Cody put more of his deer in its place before turning the pieces he had placed earlier, though Pippi occupied her stomach with a piece of meat no bigger than an inch or two long. Larson got to work skinning the boar he caught, and Inferno got to work eating the largest of the deer he caught. After another hour and a half, all of Cody’s deer had been cooked and half of it had been eaten. The rest was stored in Inferno’s saddlebags after being carefully wrapped in some cloth. Inferno had eaten the first deer and half of the other. The half-deer that was left was skinned with his skilled claws.

Mora filled a pot with some water while Cody chopped up bits of the remaining meat into little pieces. Pippi gathered some edible plants, chopped them to pieces, and put them in the water. Then Cody added half the meat to the pot and rolled the rest up in some cloth to store in the saddlebags with the other meat.

            “We’ll let the stew cook until morning, and we’ll have a nice, hot breakfast,” Mora said.

            Cody yawned and asked, “What if it burns or all of the water evaporates?”

            “I doubt that will happen,” Mora replied. “I suppose the water could evaporate, since that would happen before it all burns, but if it does happen we can survive on thick stew.”

            Cody nodded and yawned again. “Off to bed then? I think I could use a good night’s sleep after everything I ate.”

            “No kidding: you ate three week’s worth of food in one sitting,” Larson laughed.

            Inferno stretched his wing out so that everyone could seek his warmth and shelter from the cold autumn wind. Cody curled right up against Inferno’s stomach, while the others put a little more distance between themselves and the dragon and rider. But still, they were awfully trusting.

            “Why do you trust us so easily?” Cody asked as he fought sleep.

            “I guess it’s just what I’m willing to risk to be in the presence of a rider,” Larson said, just before he fell asleep.

            Mora remained still as she replied, “You helped me and Pippi, as much as you could.”

~

            That night, Cody kept feeling the presence in the back of his mind, and when he fell asleep he found out why. It was Heyrick, trying to talk to him in a dream. He had probably thought that Cody would be asleep sooner. After a while though, Cody found himself in the mountain cave he remembered from one of his first dreams, with Heyrick sitting on the same rock before him.

            “Took you long enough,” Heyrick growled moodily.

            “I didn’t know that was you trying to talk to me or else I would have hurried back and gotten to sleep sooner. I didn’t know you could even touch my mind like that. Couldn’t you just talk to me through our minds then?” Cody said.

            The dwarf growled in anger before answering, “I’m feeling stronger than normal!”

            “Why are you so mad?” Cody asked. He knew he’d regret it, but he had to know.

            The elder rider sighed as he calmed down and explained, “I made a stupid mistake. I am weakened, and as such, I make mistakes. Just a few hours ago I got my mind a little more collected for some reason and realized that you never should have revealed Inferno.”

            “Why not?” Cody asked, suddenly startled.

            “Flamidar and Faltanar,” Heyrick hissed, his anger returning. “I had thought all about Dongoithu and his leader, but not about the other two followers. They are cunning, calculated, and more driven. Worst of all, you know Faltanar from your hometown, so he could recognize you.”

            Cody was shocked that the storyteller, even though he was often a little creepy, served the enemy. Worst of all, he was one of the strongest of the enemy’s forces based on what Heyrick was telling him. The dwarf gave him a little time to think it over before continuing.

            “If you go into Torik with Inferno, or even let your full name slip, word will get to your hometown, and then to Faltanar. While he appears to be an old man, he has many powerful friends that could be nearby. I don’t know who or what, but they do exist.”

            “Well surely my presence in Morgran will have already sent many a story throughout Semiones telling of my existence!” Cody shouted in fear.

            Heyrick looked at him thoughtfully before explaining calmly, “Morgran is a somewhat excluded and very unwelcoming town to outsiders, as you may have observed by the guard’s behavior. As such it gets few traders, none of which should be visiting anytime soon, and most other people stay away. It could take a while before Faltanar hears of you and I have no doubt the stories will be exaggerated, with a wise young man seven feet tall with muscles as thick as tree trunks, and pale grey eyes for peering into souls.

            “I’m sure you have spoken your full name, but I can’t imagine anyone would cling to that bit of information, let alone remember it clearly. Also, Morgran has a bad reputation to many other cities and towns, so the people that do spread word of your existence likely won’t be believed. I advise you to hide everything when you get to Torik, including Inferno. Don’t mention anything of yourselves except that you were recently in Morgran and are travelling. If someone asks you if the rumors of a rider from Morgran are true, tell them they aren’t and be on your way. No one can know about you, and I can’t stretch that enough.”

            Cody nodded, though questions swirled around his head as if a tornado was trying to form inside of him. He tried to hide them, and watched Heyrick for anything that might reveal more about it. The dwarf, however, remained solemnly silent. The image began to fade, seemingly to the surprise of Heyrick even.

            “Keep yourself secret!” Heyrick shouted just before the image faded from Cody’s mind.

~

            Cody awoke with his head throbbing painfully, though he had no clue why. Shaking it off he looked around to find every one of his companions fast asleep, including Inferno. Let them sleep, he thought to himself. He felt hunger gnawing at his belly, so tentatively reached into the saddlebags for a piece of deer meat. He tore at it ravenously, but as quietly as he could manage so as not to wake the others.

            After finishing, the rider sat silently for several long minutes, pondering what Heyrick had said to him. “Keep yourself secret!” he kept thinking, the last words making him wonder whether everything would be safe. The more he thought about it, the more he relaxed. If he managed to save his friends and get to Mrana Akano Furista soon, he had no doubt he would be safe. Heyrick made it seem like the pass would be perfectly hidden from the enemy. Even if that was untrue, he was willing to bet that the older rider could protect him well enough there.

            Once he was far more relaxed, he looked around at the thin membrane of Inferno’s wing that surrounded him. It made the inside so dark that, had he not known otherwise already, he would have thought it was still the dead of night. Wanting to see the open skies, he carefully slid out of the tent of skin, slipping right under Inferno’s wing and exposing himself to the frosty air.

            Frost covered the brown, dying grass around him, and the previous night’s fire was nothing but burning coals. The pot which held what was supposed to be stew sat partially in, partially out of the spot where the fire had been at first. Cody grumbled to himself when he realized that he had just eaten when there was breakfast that had been cooking throughout the night. Luckily, he was still a little hungry.

            Only a few feet from the “fire” was the bag that Mora had had the previous day. Digging through it, Cody found that there was another pot, five bowls, and an assortment of seemingly random items from paper and quills to spare clothing for everyone except himself. That was when he realized that he had slept in his full set of armor, minus the helmet. It must have been comfortable.

            Cody Shrugged and grabbed a bowl and spoon from the pack. He walked over to the pot and began scooping some of the stew into the bowl. He sat against a tree and took a bite of the soup. Upon realizing how good it tasted, he wolfed down the rest with gusto. A small noise caught his attention, and he looked over just in time to see Inferno yawn, exposing the daggers that substituted his teeth. When he snapped his jaws shut again, his eyes slid open. His slit pupils focused on his rider for a moment before he pulled his large head up off the ground.

            “Morning,” The dragon said with yet another yawn.

            “Glad you decided to join me,” Cody replied with a smile.

            Inferno glared at him playfully before grinning, baring his fangs again. “What sort of entrance should we make in Torik?” He asked excitedly.

            “Not us, me.”

            “What?” Inferno asked confusedly.

            Cody sighed and replayed Heyrick’s message in his mind so that the dragon could hear. All the while he could feel his disappointment pouring out in waves. After the image was finished in Cody’s mind, they both remained silent for a long while. Inferno looked down at the ground, and Cody realized for the first time that they were very similar. Cody could feel his very own emotions mirrored perfectly In Inferno’s mind.

            “It makes sense,” Inferno agreed finally. “We probably should have guessed something like this would happen though. It’s possible, however unlikely, that it may be too late. Either way, the damage is done”

            “What are you talking about? It’s Heyrick’s fault and we were just doing what he said. The better we listen to him now, the better dragon and rider we can become,” Cody said confusedly.

            Inferno snorted, “That may be so, but all the same we should be careful. Anyone can follow orders blindly, but a Dragon Warrior has the wisdom to think for himself.”

            “Are you the rider now?” Cody asked jokingly. But, he had to admit that Inferno had a valid point.

            Inferno softly growled with laughter as he said, “All I’m saying is that we should be a little more careful. Like Heyrick said, he wasn’t completely clear-headed when he gave us the original orders. And who knows, maybe thinking more independently will get us one step closer to becoming full-fledged Dragon Warriors.”

            “I guess,” Cody said. “I didn’t know a skilled dragon was also called a Dragon Warrior.”

            “Where did you think they got that exact name from? At first it was just the dragon that was called the Dragon Warrior,” Inferno laughed.

            Cody joined him in his laughter as he set his empty bowl down beside him. For the next hour they waited impatiently for the others to waken, until they finally did. Cody made everyone eat hastily and in no time they were up in the air. Unfortunately, the sun was well past its sunrise position. That day they flew in near silence, just enjoying the view. By sunset they were on the ground again.

            They ate and got to bed early, and so they awoke early. For the next six days they repeated the process. That is, until they reached the edge of the terrain that had been circled on the map. Now they knew they were getting close so everyone was itching with excitement. Odds are, it would still be another day or two before they found and reached the town, but it was still thrilling to know that they were close.

            Conversation erupted among them when they saw a path, slowly but surely growing into a large road, winding its way through the barren prairie land. The trees long behind them, Cody and Inferno felt very exposed. But they dared not show it to the others. Hard as it was to keep their uneasiness at bay, Cody doubted the others would notice. Everyone was talking wildly now.

            “I can’t believe we left Lefalon!” Mora breathed.

            “What?” Cody asked curiously, suddenly paying attention.

            “Lefalon,” Larson said, as if it were answer enough.

            Cody just stared at them all blankly before he asked, “What’s a Lefalon?”

            Mora shook her head before replying, “Not a Lefalon, the Lefalon.”

            “Then what’s the Lefalon?”

            Lars glared at him before answering, “I don’t know how you could not be aware of this, but there are five realms we know about. Six, actually, if you include the Hidden Mountains, or whatever you call them.”

            Cody shrugged, “I never heard of that. I guess I always just figured Semiones was made up of a bunch of smaller cities like Morgran, not really having entire kingdoms all across it.”

            “You really did grow up in a nameless town if you didn’t know about the different realms. Even I know each one well,” Pippi said. Considering she was an elf, Cody decided that she had a valid point.

            “So what are the five realms?” Cody asked.

            Lars sighed and replied, “Lefalon, Durabock, Carac, Araman, and Monitish. I’m guessing, if you were so close to Morgran as you say you were when your journey began, that you were probably in Lefalon your entire life. The Lefalon kingdom starts at a city about a month’s journey away on horseback from Morgran, fast horseback, actually. It would take three or four months to walk there. From that point, the Lefalon territory stretches for leagues upon leagues upon leagues in either direction, along most of the forest. That realm shares the very edges of the forests with the Araman and Carac, while Monitish takes a few leagues of forest towards the far south.

            “You can see that this area is almost like a desert, which means we’re getting close to the Durabock Empire. At the edge of the sands is where their territory begins, but we won’t find any humans for quite a ways. They tend to spend most of their time near a large oasis or somewhere sustaining like that. The main castle is positioned at the biggest known oasis. I’m guessing Torik would be right at the edge of their territory, though dwarves would probably like to be in the mountains or near the sea.”

            Cody was satisfied for the time being with the answers he received. But, he wanted to know what the other three realms did and what they were about. In the end he decided to drop the whole talk of realms until later so he wouldn’t annoy his companions. He kept silent for about three hours, thinking of nothing to talk about. Instead he just watched the ground below them turn from hard earth to thick, golden sand. He was beginning to sweat, despite the usual chilliness of the ride.

            All of a sudden, Cody found himself struggling to grip the handle of the saddle before him as Inferno tilted his flight almost straight towards the sand directly below them. Their speed increased tenfold and everyone struggled to stay on the dragon’s back as the ground came hurtling towards them.

            “Inferno, stop!” Cody shouted aloud above the roaring wind in his ears.

            At the last possible second, Inferno tilted back up and spread his wings wide to catch the air. Still, it only slowed them down slightly and they crashed hard into the ground nevertheless. Inferno sent up a large spray of sand with the force he hit the ground, spraying everyone forcefully with the pieces of earth.

            “What was that about? You could have had us killed!” Cody screamed mentally as he rubbed the sand out of his eyes, mouth, and nose painfully. His black hair was seemingly blond with the thick coat of sand that covered it and the substance filled his armor, making him highly uncomfortable.

            “Better than to have us killed by a horde of skeletars. The city was looming ahead a long time before I noticed it, and we came pretty close to it. If they have guards, they definitely saw me. We can only hope they have mistaken me for some sort of desert-dwelling bird,” Inferno hissed as he panted heavily.

            Cody felt guilty for yelling at Inferno, but he forced himself to shake it off as he slid out of the saddle. He told the others what happened while they slid off the saddle and he loosened the straps to it slightly.

            “Can you ask him how long it will take us to get there?” Mora asked politely.

            Inferno, having already heard her message through Cody looked at her and told Cody to reply, “It’s difficult to say, since I’ve never been to the desert, but probably under a day.”

            Mora nodded as she said, “I suppose that sounds about right. We should try to make a little progress before the night falls upon us.”

            Inferno shook his head, “I can’t go any further or else I risk being seen. That is, if I wasn’t already spotted and recognized as a dragon.”

            Cody relayed the information, adding, “It would probably be best to make early camp tonight and just get a good head-start in the morning.”

            Mora sighed and nodded. “Someone should make a fire, so we can heat up some food.”

            They got to work making the fire, but since they were in the desert it was a bit harder to find flammable sticks. They gathered dead shrubbery, dry grass, and what little else they could find. Later that day, as they ate, Cody only had a little chunk of deer meat, since he had started to only need a little to sustain himself again. They all got to bed soon enough and prepared for the long day that would follow. If they were lucky, Dongoithu would be in the small town that Cody couldn’t even see from the ground, and he could say where Avalsmokes and Omen were being held.

Although, it may not be so lucky after all.