Book One -- A Gathering of Dreams

Chapter Five:  Making Waves

            They set sail on the wolverine with the dawn. Nero had moved his quarters to the main hold, and strung up a little sheet type curtain to demarcate his room/privacy.  They are headed out for the nearest shadow out in the golden circle, that being Begma, a more Babylon-ish shadow.  They will make port there and determine our next step.
            They are about 4 1/2 hrs out of Amber and have about 1 1/2 days to port in Begma.  Saphir decides to do some practicing and invites every and anyone to participate.  Toeval accepts.  It's Saphir and his steely sword Dathos, a killer of a blade, against Toeval and his corrupted pink mace.
            The dueling is fun.  Toeval is good with his weapon and in dueling, pretty strong and good natured in the session.  Saphir is really good.  And so is his weapon.  They trade weapons at some point.  Toeval getting a real lift out of Dathos' acumen.
            Saphir fights well -- using everything in the surroundings and everything he notices to create a flurry of distraction and a barrage of methods to assault in the combat.  They share tactics and pointers along the way and have fun with it.  Later they discuss plans and destination.
            Then Toeval jumps into the water and is suddenly riding a silver blue huge beautiful Dragon.  He calls out to the awestruck and admiringly excited Singh to join him.  She jumps in and is suddenly atop the dragon Trum.  They swim and then fly around to everyone's transfixed and beholden amazement.
            Everyone is at the side of the boat gawking.  Nero walks up to a young
boy and asks, "You want to try?"
            The boy is freaked but says, "Yes m'lord."  Nero throws him in the water.
There is a yell of man overboard and they fish him out.  This goes very noticed by the crew and others who give Nero a wide berth in a not-so-friendly way. Nero tells his men to be watchful of this.
            Toeval invites Saphir and everyone else.  Saphir jumps in and is atop Shrek in no time.  Riding Shrek is like dancing with shadow.  Saphir sense a different type of thinking.  It intrigues him but he respectfully doesn't intrude.  Shrek seems to acknowledge this as one would a harmless child.  One who's actions are neither begrudged or significant.
            They all spend some time getting used to their new companions.  And then break into some serious maneuvers, to do some battle training.  The dragons are amazing -- as is Toeval with them.  As is Singh when she is riding anything.
            The Dragons -- in descending order of age --
            Droman, the matriarch.  About 35 by 15 feet. She is the largest female.
she is slow moving, but sudden to strike.
            Shrek, an attenuated dragon.  He is more like a rattler or cobra in his
serpentine motion and style.
            Then there are a gold and silver pair who fight as one.
            Then there is a bronze female, she fights at average level, but there is a sense that she could go beserker.  She is edgy and unleashed and could be potentially very dangerous.
            Next a red male.  He's banzai and wouldn't notice the 14 spears in him in
his relentless attack.  Stubborn.
            A female, white blue manganese on fire.  Sly, a pouncer, she will ambush.
            An auburn colored male.  Very strong, slower than others but steady and
consistent.
            Trum, a brass male.  With an attitude.  He wants to make the precise blow.  If he does it, he does it correctly.  He will crack open a mountain.  But don't rush him.  He doesn't really care what else is going on.  If events don't let him deliver his blow, too bad.  That won't make him deviate from trying.  He wants to deliver Karnack's blow.  He answers to orders quickly but it's all about precision and order.
            A chocolate dragon, sulky, bratty, and put upon.  If you piss her off, she is
in your face -- all Extreme Cindy!
            A silver and black female.  Not best fighter in the group, but so lovely and
beautiful scintillating.  You just stare into and at her loveliness and then the tail gets ya.  But she is no out and out attacker.
            Krieg, silvery blue and happy.  (Toeval rides him.)  He loves the air. Playful, the acrobat, and does the dragon bitchslap, the agile dodging one.
            They played and studied for 2-3 hours.  Toeval thrilling and amazing.  Singh
mastering and Saphir delighting and studying.
              Then they ate, inviting Ekin to join them.  Which he did.  They all drank alot, had fun and caroused together. Halfway through dinner, Ekin and Saphir left.  They talked and agreed to meet at 1 am-ish to do some fencing practice duels.
            Singh and Toeval proceeded to a drinking contest all the way until the am
-- yiikes!!
            Ekin and Saphir arise a few hours later and have an excellent joust.  They have fun, trading swords mid-way. Ekin is really really good -- amazingly good -- Saphir notices.  But for the second time today, Ekin meets someone better than him, a rare occurrence.  Ekin notes that Dathos is an asset, a killer, but also notes that Saphir would still be a top opponent without Dathos.  But his foe would be less dead.
              Next morning, they get into Begma harbor.  There is a  strong curry smell in the air.  They see two slavers in harbor.  Not lots of heavy traffic but a wide range of craft type from our great ship to rafts with slats.  Lots of Arabic and Mediterranean types, lots of various peoples.  A low craft to the water -- a Xx' it'lac craft.  They are an insect race.   The port is huge.
            Nero takes off with his pals.  Ekin sets off to check on his storage holdings and we discuss waiting for him to return before we all go look around.went up top.
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