Free Dream of Legends by Stephen Zimmer

after lightly stroking her upper back. Walking over to Ryan, he put his right arm around the young man’s shoulders and gave the youth a firm hug. After holding the embrace for a second, he patted the young man firmly on the right shoulder, no words needing to be said.
    He then made his way over to where Erin was still sitting with her back facing him. She twitched as his hands touched her shoulders, as if about to recoil, though she did not resist as he went on to reach around her, and hug her from behind.
    “Hang in there,” he whispered into her ear. “Way too early to lose hope, Erin. Let’s keep fighting.”
    As if he had broken down some sort of barricade, she abruptly turned in his arms. A glimpse at her face showed that her hardened demeanor had melted.
    She wrapped her own arms around Lee and buried her face intently into the middle of his chest. He could feel her body shake as she quietly sobbed, grasping him tightly as if she was afraid that if she were to let go, he might well disappear from her life as well.
    In that moment, he came to a momentous realization that required its own considerable degree of resolve. In his heart, he made a silent and sincere commitment to his three suffering companions.
    He shared their fears, and shared their growing sadness, but he knew that he now had to be stronger than he had ever been in his whole life.
    Lee had never been married, nor ever been a father before, but he sensed that he had, in a way, just gained three new family members within the last few moments.
    *
    Dragol
    *
    The huge form of Tragan loomed like a mountainous shadow within the dark confines of the central command tent. Sparse glints of light reflected off of his eyes from the couple of small torches set within the enclosed space. Though smoke escaped through the hole in the upper center of the tent, a haze now encompassed the relatively small space.
    Dragol and Goras stood silently before him, their eyes lowered and heads tilted in respect before the high commander of the Unifier’s sky warriors. Only Framorg himself, the legendary figure from the Mountain Bear Clan who had been chosen to be the overall War Chieftain of the Trogens, outranked the large Trogen standing before them.
    They sensed that the monotony of the sky patrols was about to break, for they had been summoned firmly, urged to return with great haste. It was evident that Tragan was still boiling over the debacle in the skies over the Five Realms, and the loss of so many fine Trogen warriors.
    Tragan had been venting about the matter ever since Dragol had been conducted into the tent. Tragan was still filled with resentment that the Darroks were being crewed entirely by Trogens in the first instance.
    As Tragan explained it, the Avanorans wished to avail themselves of the far greater strength and stamina of the race of Trogens in comparison to men. The undeniable physical advantages of the Trogens had been a major part of the reason that had compelled the Unifier to use them in the task of manning the Darrok carriages.
    Trogens were far more adept at jettisoning the great stores of large stones within the carriages affixed to the creatures’ backs, both in terms of endurance as well as the girth of individual missiles. Enabling larger stones to be selected increased the destruction that could be levied upon the enemy. The average Trogen was able to lift up rocks of such size that two humans cooperating could barely carry.
    Avanorans were also relative newcomers to the use of Harraks and the environment of the upper skies, having only adopted them at the Unifier’s insistence, once He had come to power. It was true that Harraks had been imported to Avalos, and that a new population was being bred. It was also true that a new force ridden by Avanorans had been established, and that large numbers of human warriors were even now being trained.
    Even so, as a whole, Trogens were still far more prepared and comfortable when undergoing the