Armies of the Dragon (Book 2 after Warriors of the Dragon)

The Djinni

Their food had gone bad by the third day and the humans, light elves, and naiads were all feeling sick from eating it. Dawn was surprised when the Duvendis showed no sign of illness and knew the orcs had a stronger tolerance against spoiled food naturally.

"We should go get water and bring it back to them." Sorin insisted in elvish to Sephira.

"It's daytime. We might not be able to find them. What if we ourselves get lost in the desert? We have very little water left and the dragons will need more soon." Sephira argued as Craven joined them with Rauka.

"We can use the dragons to find the other dragons and just look for a village that might have a well." Sorin argued. Sephira guessed Isis could give Caius and Oryx their position but wondered if it made more sense to not waste their energy flying during the day and just wait for the night for all of them to fly to a water source.

"It could take all day to fly to water and back. We shouldn't waste their energy. They'll just have to make it through the day and we'll start early in the evening all together." Sephira said in the common tongue. Sorin sighed, knowing she was right.

"There could be water deep below the sand." Rauka pointed out in hope.

"It would be a big waste of energy if the dragons were to dig to it and there wasn't water there." Craven murmured.

"We have a better chance of making it to the end of the desert in time than finding water." Sephira argued.

Craven sat up at the sound of voices far away. Sephira heard them too and Sorin and Rauka looked wide-eyed as they both sat up. Sephira drew her swords and summoned Caius as Craven told the others to lay low and stay quiet.

"Do you think it's Nimbi?" Sephira asked Craven as she crawled to the crest of the dune that laid between them and the voices beyond.

"More likely it's goblins." Craven answered wishing the bright sunlight wasn't messing with his vision. They struggled to see the small black shapes on the horizon as the waves of heat distorted the view.

"They're coming this way, I think." Rauka warned with her hand shielding her eyes from the early afternoon sun.

"Let's fly out over them and see if there are few enough to attack. If they are Nimbi, we could take their uniforms and maybe have one to question." Sephira suggested.

"If there are too many, we could get ourselves injured trying to fight them." Sorin argued.

"They're walking in the desert. How smart could they be?" Craven reasoned.

"True, they aren't flying..." Sephira muttered thoughtfully. "Let's go!" she hissed, standing up and then leaping from the dune as Caius took flight and caught her in the air. Sorin did the same as Oryx swooped down and they both climbed in altitude together. Craven and Rauka exchanged a look of exasperation before they clamored to get to their dragons.

Sorin peered down at the caravan of desert travelers and frowned at the number of golden-masked Nimbi that rode on a caravan of horses with a large group of camels carrying packs at the back. He started to turn back before they noticed the black dragons' shadows, when to his horror Sephira and Caius dove suddenly with a screeching howl that caused the horses and camels to scatter in panic. Caius was able to rake a line of four horse riders before the leader roared that they were under attack. Sorin jumped into action, notching an arrow and directing Oryx into range. Sephira and Caius circled back and a few riders had begun to notch their bows, but not quick enough before Sephira's ring daggers found their throats and Caius raked others off their horses. The panicking horses trampled over the fallen riders and the camels had made their way about a dragon length away the direction they had come. Crow's clicking added to the chaos as Craven and Rauka joined the one-sided battle. Sephira leaped down from Caius with a battle cry that made the foe freeze with fear and she had Caius pluck the leader from his horse while she swiped her sword through the bravest Nimbi that all attacked her at the same time. Sorin counted eight that surrounded his sister, but they were dropping like flies as she danced between them and cut them down. He aimed his bow at the Nimbi that were aiming at Craven and Rauka as they circled the remaining ranks and Sorin could hear the leader screaming as Caius clutched him with his claws while still diving at the cavalry dispersing horses and raking the riders off their horses.