Embers of Peace

prologue

There was the pungent odor of sulfur hanging in the air as the to black dragons glided over the pass. It was obvious that the 2 men atop the dragons were brothers face solely on their looks.
Suddenly the larger of the brothers went rigid as his head snapped in the direction they had come from and he launched himself off of his dragon. His brother yelped as he was knocked from his saddle by the other man and both riders plummeted to the ground, landing with a thud on the snow.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Akazan? Are you trying to get us both..." the smaller prince was silenced as his brother glared at him ans pointed to the arrows hissing throught the air above their dragons' back.
"ooh... where did those damn orcs come from?" the younger prince whispered as he crawled to his knees beside his brother.
"Sevran, just shut your damn mouth before it gets us both killed" Akazan growled quietly as he glowered at his younger brother and Sevran scowled, but obeyed.
"Xagen, take Talengar and fly back to the camp. We will need reinforcements to take care of these orcs, but in the mean time we will scout them out" the older prince called out to his dragon through their mind link and he felt the dragon's annoyance wash across their bond.
"this is reckless, Akazan" the dragon growled back, but the princes watched their dragons veer off toward the camp.

The sun was beginning to fall low in the sky, casting eerie shadows among the trees as the two men silently slipped through the forest, tracking the orcs.
"they don't usually come this far into the mountains. They usually stay in the wastes. what could have possibly tempted them to stray so far inland?" Sevran grumbled to himself as he glared at the snow in disgust. Unlike his brother he was not fire magic and was not protected from the cold. He was a wind magic like his mother and suffered the merciless cold in misery. With a scowl he glanced over at his older brother and noticed that the man seemed to completely unfazed by the frigid temperatures and snow.
"that is quite an interesting question that I intend to find the answer. There has been too much activity in the wastes as of late for my liking" Akazan muttered in quiet agreement as he studied the tracks before him frowning.
"is something wrong, brother?" Sevran asked curiously as he looked at his older brother and Akazan scowled at him.
"This whole situation just isn't sitting well with me we need to be on our guard" he answered and the younger prince nodded.

It did not take the princes long to realize they were walking into an ambush as they came into the clearing and both brothers reached for their blades. Within a matter of seconds 15 lumbering orcs about 7 and a 1/2 feet tall charged out of the undergrowth and trees. Most of them were waving large clubs studded with metal and a few had rusty bladed swords that looked like they had seen better days. Both brothers had foot far more dangerous opponents in the past so neither was worried as the orcs surrounded them. It only took a matter of minutes before both brothers had slain all of the orcs. The older of the 2 princes scowled as he looked at the black blood dripping off of his blade and wiped it on his trousers before turning to his brother just in time to see a massive wyvern dropping from a tree.
Time seemed to slow down as Akazan watched the wyvern flying towards his younger brother, talons stretched out to strike and he did the only thing he could. He leaped in front of his younger brother as he unleashed a torrent of black flames from his left hand. Unfortunately, the wyvern still had enough life in it as it burned to rake its talons across the Prince's chest ripping up cry of pain from his lips. The wyvern landed in a burning heap as it screeched its last breath a few meters away. Akazan choked as the blade slipped from his grasp and he curmpled into the snow, blood flowing freely from his wounds, staining the trampled snow crimson. His younger brother tripped over dead orcs as he dropped his blade and charged towards his older brother just has a group of twenty riders flew over head. Xagen roared furiously as he landed beside his rider and watched Akazan slip into unconsciousness.

"I need a healer!" the Younger Prince screamed out desperately as he knelt beside his brother and tried to staunch the bleeding with his hands, but there was too much blood. There were 3 nasty deep slashes from his brother's left shoulder to his right hip. Varix, the healer, dropped from his mount with a satchel full of medicines and jogged over to his princes with a look of worry on his face.

"Save him" Sevran yelled angrily as he glared at the healer and the smaller man's face fell. Even with all of his training there was nothing he could do for the Prince except for ease his suffering. He could stop some of the bleeding comment but wyvern claws were coated with deadly poison and only kaldari healers could cure it.

"My Lord, the only thing I can do for him is stop the bleeding, but without a Kaldari healer he will die" Verix whispered as he began opening a jar of pungent powder and the younger prince cursed.

" How far is the Silver City from here? Will he live long enough for me to bring one back?" Sevran growled as He watched the healer pouring the strange powder over his brother's wounds and the healer looked up at him.

"it is a few hours ride from here, but..." the prince cut him off as he turned towards Talengar, his dragon.

"I must go to Sarvalon and seek the Kaldari. Only their healers have the power to save my brother now" Sevran announced and the soldiers gaped at him in disbelief. It had been for centuries since a member of the Royal house of Tarakon had set foot in the Sarvalon , The Silver City. it was the home of the Kaldari, women gifted with powerful magic, and it was just on the other side of the mountains.