(Dragonkin) Dragon Rider by C.E. Swain Page A

knew the land of his master was where he belonged. They were born to bring a balance back to the flow of magic, and to return the land to its people. Both man and dragon were created by magic, and were not like the rest of their kind.
       Danorathin was larger than any other dragon ever born in their ancient lands, and carried the traits of all of the other dragons that came before him. All of the magical abilities that each one possessed were concentrated in him and his master, and they were unlike any of their kind. His master was of the race of man, and was the first one ever to be born with magic abilities. Unlike mage's who must study the ancient knowledge to learn magic, and are limited in what they can learn by its availability, his master was born with the magic inside of him, and only needed Danorathin to have it at his command.
       The sky had a deep blue hue, and the sun was warm on his back as he flew. The valleys below were filled with trees, and offered a place for the dragon to rest when he needed it. Outside of the hatching grounds, more game was available to him, and he took advantage of the opportunity to gain the extra weight. There would be a few times when only farmlands would be below him, and game would be scarce there. The domestic stock of men was not very good to a dragon, and they would not eat them for any reason. It was not the way of a dragon to harm people, or their homes, and avoided their lands whenever they could.
       Danorathin chose to fly through the mountain valleys, only as long as they allowed him to travel southwest. He knew Arnoran was awake again, and using magic to try to regain his former power. He also knew the mage king was aware he existed, and was on his way to find his rider. The mage king himself had warned Danorathin of the danger to come, when he used magic to communicate with his Servants and his armies. Soldiers of Arnoran were in the old empire, and he needed to get to his master before anything could happen to him.
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       Litlorn traveled the road south out of the Elvin Kingdoms, through the pass of Dem'loran, and into the Great Empire. When he was a boy this had been known as 'The Great Dragon Empire', but that was a long time ago, and now he was a man and the dragon riders of old were gone. He traveled to Argnon to find Menimeth as his father had told him, but he went willingly. He now understood what was happening, and would have gone even if he had not been sent. He carried gifts from his father to be given to the warrior and his companions before they departed Argnon, and one gift he supplied himself.
       His father Loran, had collaborated with a curious dwarf named Donderan during the time he grew up, and they worked in secret in the forges for many years. The results of that effort, and all those years, were in the bags loaded on the packhorse behind him. The Great North Road began at the end of the pass of Dem'loran, and traversed the empire to the Purple Mountains in the south. In the days of his youth it was still safe to travel the roads of the empire, but now it was not. Litlorn traveled among the trees far enough off the road to avoid highwaymen, but not so far that he missed the towns along the way. He knew from his father that the man he sought, would be in Argnon when he arrived, and would need his help.
       During the night of the first full moon, and two weeks and four days into the Western Empire, he saw the men moving west through the wilds. Sleeping in the treetops as he usually did when in the wilds, he woke to see them in the distance. They were not from this land, and it was obvious, by the way they traveled. Men who used the wilds, avoided the places that were consistently difficult to cross, but these did not. In fact, they seemed to choose the hardest way through the thickest part of the wilds in which to travel. There were too many small groups going the same way to be natural for men, but they were spaced far enough