Excerpt – Dragons in the Clouds by David Blair #fantasy #shortstory @daveblr77
Synopsis
’Dragons in the Clouds’’ is an epic adventure that takes place in the land of Albian during a time when Dragons were alive and freely roamed the land. The people during this time were being devoured by a particularly vicious species of dragon. To protect his people, the ruling King finally orders the total annihilation of all living dragons. A powerful wizard, named Merlinus, who is a friend to the king, does not agree with the King’s order. Merlinius knows all Dragons are not what they seem. So he does what he must to protect a family of dragons that he has befriended. To protect his dragon friends, Melinus performs the spell of weightlessness and tells the dragons to fly up and to hide in the cover of the clouds. An unforeseen ability of the dragon’s weightlessness spell is that a Dragon’s fire now looks like lightning to the people below, and their roar is like that of thunder. Melinus tells the dragons to live within the clouds and to only come down at night to eat. Merlinius’ apprentice wants his master’s power and has grand ideas of his own. He has a plan for evil dragons that he has hidden deep within a mountain cavern. Now enters a young boy, who has befriended a very young dragon. The two suddenly find themselves caught between the King’s order and a battle that has begun between two species of dragons. A battle ensues that will determine control of the skies above the Kingdom of Albian. As a result, Merlinius’ apprentice’s plan has consequences that may bring the Kingdom of Albion and perhaps the very world we live in today, to a devastating end.
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Excerpt
Inside the laboratory, the two wizards were still battling. David was startled by a loud crashing sound made by a large cabinet that Merlinius magically sent flying toward Odious. Odious ducked and scrambled behind some knocked over tables, causing Merlinius to momentarily lose track of him.
“Where are you? You coward!!” shouted Merlinius.
Odious jumped up and threw a crystal rock at Merlinius, hitting him in the head. Merlinius screamed in pain as he fell hard to the floor. David, seeing that Merlinius had taken a severe hit, immediately went to him to help him get back on his feet. Odious ran to retrieve the mallet he had lost earlier. Seeing David helping Merlinius, Odious went after him to try to scare him off. But brave David didn’t run. Instead, he started throwing bottles at Odious. While many of the bottles hit the wall behind Odious, some hit their mark, slowing Odious down considerably.
Outside, in the sky, Zindetha was in hot pursuit of Rago and was gaining ground, getting closer and closer. Zindetha thrust his large wings harder and harder as he zeroed in on Rago. His eyes grew bigger with excitement as he was almost upon his target. 74 David Blair Rago, seemingly running out of gas, began to slow down. Zindetha could almost taste his breakfast, his mouth watering with anticipation. Suddenly, Rago veered downward toward Merlinius’ castle, tucking his wings for maximum speed. Zindetha was angered by this unexpected burst of Rago’s pure will to survive, helping him to streak downward at incredible speed.
“You can’t get away!!” Zindetha roared, as he also tucked his wings for maximum speed downward.
Once again, he started to close in on Rago, this time at a much faster rate. Rago swiftly changed direction in hopes of eluding his capture. Rago is now heading straight for the castle, while Zindetha, oblivious to his direction of flight, is focused entirely on Rago. Zindetha failed to realize that he was headed straight for the castle wall. Rago spied a small porthole, difficult to see, but possibly big enough for Rago to fit through. The smaller dragon soared in the direction of the small porthole. Zindetha, still oblivious that he was headed for the wall, followed in full pursuit of Rago. At the last minute, Rago tucked his wings as tight as he could and shot right through the castle porthole. But foolish Zindetha, like a runaway train, collided horribly into the castle wall. The crash brought boulder-sized bricks down on top of Zindetha, practically covering the large dragon. Zindetha lay immobile on the ground. Seeing Zindetha hit the wall and collapsing, the other meat-eating dragons took flight and started circling above Merlinius’ castle.
About the Author
David Blair – Growing up, I was captivated by the show ‘’The Twilight Zone”. The supernatural was/is so interesting to me. I started my storytelling at the young age of 14. I wrote, directed, and starred in a student film called ‘’Destination Destiny’’. What a great experience that was for me. My most favorite and influential writers would be Rod Sterling and Charles Dickens, The story, “A Christmas Carol” lives within me all year round. All my work has a paranormal feel to it. In my thirties worked as a production supervisor for EnterAktion Studios.
