Free The Magic Wakes by Charity Bradford Page A

the drawings show much smaller eggs. They were only the size of your fist.”
    Jaron was confused but filed his questions away for later. “Please continue.”
    “He bound those eggs to Quilla, using her blood and who knows what else. Somehow, that spell made it possible for Quilla to carry the eggs in her womb just like a human child. The pregnancy was short but taxing, and Quilla died during childbirth. Elvin Thule and a dragon arrived shortly after the birthing and carried away the hybrid creatures before anyone else could see them. Before leaving, the dragon burned down the house with Quilla and Danik inside.”
    Werner showed no signs of the spell weakening, so Jaron ventured another question.
    “What happened to the babies?”
    “The mage took them to be raised by the dragons, but that was not the end of his work. He began building an army of these creatures. Women all over the country found themselves pregnant without any memory of the mage visiting them. They died in childbirth, making it clear that the mages and the dragons had declared war on us. The king decided to stop the mages before they killed all the women of childbearing age. People no longer trusted each other, and those with magical tendencies went into hiding.”
    “Why would they declare war on the people who depended on their services? That doesn’t make sense.” Jaron couldn’t help but think of his own world where magic and science worked well together.
    “They denied it, of course. Elvin Thule said he was trying to bridge the gap between humans and dragons so all could live in peace, but no one believed that.”
    “How long did this go on?”
    “For twenty years. After the first five or six years, women stopped dying in childbirth, so we believe that is when the last clutches were born. The next fifteen years was time enough for them to grow and be trained in the way of the dragons.”
    Werner blinked and shook his head. The spell was weakening.
    Jaron refocused his mind, moved closer to Werner, and once again tightened the net. The demon within him moved to the surface to lend extra strength.
    “Why did the Dragumon leave Sendek?”
    “One day Thule and the dragon lord Jenska flew to the royal city of Johar with a hundred dragons and their demonic spawn. The Dragumon stood on two legs, taller than any man, covered with scales and with faces like the dragons. The men of Johar rallied against them, killing the mage and the dragon Jenska. The other dragons and their spawn flew away. The sight of them terrorized the countryside, and the king’s scholars used that to their advantage, waging war against all things magical. It turned the kingdom toward scientific advancement instead. The king raised a great military to fight the dragons and the Signum were formed to help get rid of the mages.”
    “How does one dispose of mages without magic?” Jaron’s mind reeled. He tried to imagine the wizards of his world fighting the men of science. Orek would have been ruined in the process.
    “The first Signum counsel pitted the mages against each other by promising land and power to any mage that would work for them. It attracted those who were willing to hunt down and kill other mages. When only the greedy remained, the king threw a banquet to honor them, but it was a trap. In the end all the mages were wiped out.”
    “How did the king kill the mages? They had magic on their side,” Jaron asked.
    “The cooks mixed herbs in with the food that dulled their magical talents and slowed their reflexes. It was a simple matter for the Royalists, the king’s new military arm, to come in and slaughter them. But no one ever found a single Dragumon. We later learned that the Dragons opened a portal and sent them to another planet.”
    “How do you know these things?”
    “I have the ancient texts. I have everything that was ever written, before the world forgot all about the Dragumon.” Werner’s glazed eyes cleared as he blinked more