Dragon Rider Academy Book 1

Chapter 8: To the Rescue

As Soren raced through the sky on Crosell's back, he could see that one of the bandits was doing something to one of the girls. He didn't know what, but he knew it wasn't something good. Just before he landed, Soren heard one of the bandits scream "DRAGONNNNNN!!!"

Crosell landed right on top of one of the bandits. He then opened his mouth and clamped his jaws over the mans torso. Crosell swung the bandits body in his mouth like a rag doll and through him so hard that everyone heard the breaking of his spine from the impact of slamming into a tree. Crosell then let out a huge roar and the other bandits, who all staggered backwards in fear. Soren then, jumped from Crosells back and walked forwards. "Leave those girls alone!"

The largest of the men, kneeling over one of the girls, who Soren assumed was the leader, stood up and stepped away from the girls. "Well, well. Look at what we got here, boys. This little kid thinks he's some kind of hero saving the damsels in distress. Haha".

The rest of the bandits joined him in laughing at Soren. "Get lost, brat. This has nothing to do with you, so scram!", the boss bandit shouted.

Soren  stood his ground. "I'm not leaving here without the girls", he responded.

The leader walked away from the girls to his men. "You made a big mistake, boy. We're gonna teach you not to stick your nose where it doesn't belong".

"Hold it chief. Look what the kid is wearing", said one bandit as he pointed at Sorens cloak. "He's wearing a cloak made from Star Spider silk. That thing will sell for a fortune".

"Is that right?"

"Yeah and look at what he's carrying".

The bandit pointed at Sorens waist. Soren could only guess he was pointing at his sword and magic bag. "That kid has a Elven sword and a magic bag. Those three things will bring just as much money as the girl will, maybe more!"

"Interesting".

"But the best part is his dragon, see what color it is?"

The bandit boss looked at Crosell and couldn't believe his eyes. "Soil my britches! Is that what I think it is?"

"It's a gold dragon, boss. That's the rarest color a dragon can have. They haven't been seen in 200 years. That beast is worth more than the girls, the kids cloak, sword and bag combine!! We could by a whole nobles land with that thing. We could even become nobles ourselves with the coin we could get for it".

The bandit chief smiled with a very malicious grin. "Boys! Today is our lucky day! Alright kid, Here's the deal. You give us your cloak, sword, magic bag and your beast and we'll let you walk away unharmed. Don't and we'll take them by force".

"What about the girls?", Soren asked.

"The ladies are coming with us. Whether they want to or not", the leader answered.

Soren began to conjure a flame in his hand. "Oh, one more thing. Since you're just a kid and your dragon seems very young, I can guess you're on your way to the Dragon Rider Academy to try and become one yourself. I admire that, but you should know that before you try and be a hero, we have this".

One of the bandits held up a round black stone, clutched in his hand. "We've got a Null Magic Stone. It nullifies any magic from being used around it. Even Dragon Riders can't use magic around one. And your dragon maybe big, but I can tell it's still young and not a much of a threat".

Soren resisted the urge to burst out laughing. This guy clearly didn't know that even dragons as young as Crosell were still extremely dangerous. Just one of them could kill a small platoon of soldiers with ease. Crosell could easy kill all these men in a minute, but he didn't want them to know that.