The Divide

Alright, new (Stand alone) Story to keep you guys busy while I finish the two series I have going now. I was kind of bored

and was jumping around impatiently, trying to pick something to write. I started this one over a year ago and figured I would finish it since it was more than halfway done. I hope you like it, don't bite my head off if you don't. I promise to make it up to you with the next chapter of Luck of the Irish if you don't like it. Thanks to my editor Gbc5452. Oh and I promise, I'm doing a Christmas story so there's that... :)

quick note from gbc5452; It is entirely my fault that this took so long to be sent in. My laptop crashed twice and prolonged my editing. It is not Gweall's fault there's been a gap between stories, it's mine, an she's amazing and as editor god I order you to lay her offerings of yummy goodies and such in an apology for poking her for new stories. DO IT NOW SUCKAHS! so says editing god

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Stormbringer's hooves ate away at the land as she raced forward. Prince Terrin could feel her heavy breathing under him. She galloped faster then the soldier's horses could keep up with and soon they were far ahead of the others.

Some just stopped and watched as the lightning fast gray blur passed them and kept moving.

"They move like lightning and rain, as if they were one." One soldier said to the other.

"The Prince named her Stormbringer for a reason." The other said back. They watched as the horse and her rider reached the top of the hill. Her rider looked over the hill and saw the steep cliff that marked the end of the humans land.

Stormbringer's breathing had settled as the last of the soldiers finally caught up to them.

"Sir, not to interrupt you but we should be getting back soon. Your father will worry." One of the guards said.

"Alright." Prince Terrin said and pulled the reins until Stormbringer turned, and clicked at her to begin a fast trot back to the castle.

"Your father wants you to attend the meeting with Lord Feric." said one of the guards.

"You can just say my Uncle you know. Just because he's head of the guard doesn't mean he gets special treatment." Terrin smiled and clicked once more and Stormbringer galloped away from the guard.

When they had finally reached the castle after their morning's ride, Terrin left his beloved Stormbringer in the hands of the stable keepers and walked into the castle while removing his riding gloves. He took off his thin leather riding helmet letting his hair fall down to just above his shoulders.

The maids and other

females who he passed stared at his forest green eyes and smooth golden hair. They all wondered who

he would pick to be his lucky queen. But most knew that would most likely never happen. It was well known around the castle and the surrounding grounds that Prince Terrin didn't take to the presence of women, he preferred men much more. But that didn't keep the maids from thinking about his broad shoulders and chest.

The guards at the doors to the war room opened the large wooden double doors

as Terrin approached. He

stepped inside to see the meeting had already started. His father sat at one end of the table and

his uncle sat to his left. The other seats of the long table were filled with generals, lords, and captains of different sorts. One seat lay empty to his fathers immediate right where Terrin was to sit.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Prince Terrin." His uncle said sarcasticly.

"It is rather nice of me isn't it, uncle." Terrin grinned when his uncle frowned.

"We are in a war meeting, you will address me as Lord Feric." His uncle said.

Terrin rolled his eyes and took a seat next to his father.

"And you should know better than any, Uncle Feric, that as the prince heir to the throne I can refer to anyone except for my father the king in any way I please."

Lord Feric glared at him from across the table.

"If I may continue, my king?" said a general down the table.

"Of course." His father gestured for the general to continue.

"The Kin are getting restless. We don't know what's disturbing them but they have been seen growing closer to the borders, and in large broods." Said the general. He used the long wooden pointer to point to a spot on the map that covered the table. Terrin recognized it as a map of Human and Kin lands.

"They even show up more in the waters. Several of our ships have had damage done to their hulls from the spines of one of the retched creatures." The general said. Mumbles and murmurs could be heard around the room.

"What do you suppose we do about this?" said Terrin's father.

"Sire, I think it's obvious what we need to do. This can't go on if we give them room to

breathe they will only spit fire in

our direction." replied the general.

"You suggest we attack them?" Said the king, surprised.

"What other choice do we have? If we don't they will." Lord Feric spoke up.

"We could talk to them. This war has gone on for many centuries. Perhaps it's time to put all

of this behind us." Said another general, who Terrin recognized as General Mickaz.

"We could give them more land."

"We must slay them."

"Leave them be, they will settle."

"They will settle after they destroy us all."

"You know how they are, evil creatures."

Many thoughts went around the room and finally the spotlight landed on Terrin.

"My son, you have as much say in this as anyone else here. If not more so. What are your thoughts?" The king asked Terrin.

"I think...We don't know enough yet. We need to find out at least why they are restless. It could be something as trivial as 'verns in the the area. Something we can solve peacefully." Terrin said, referring to the dragons cousins Wyverns, they looked much like dragons but were cruel and barbaric, they also could not speak.

"You can't talk peace with a dragon. The Kin wish for only our extinction, it's in a dragon's blood." His uncle said. They starred silently at each other from across the table.

"Thank you for your thoughts, I will be returning to my throne room to talk with the advisers and come to a decision about what will be done about the Kin." The king rose and everyone else followed and bowed before the king walked out with Terrin and Lord Feric close behind at his sides.

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"My king, with all due respect, your son is not ready to handle the burden of the throne. He is still naïve and young."

Lord Feric said.

"Good thing he doesn't need to take the throne now then isn't it." The king smiled at his brother.

"And even if I did, I could handle it perfectly well. I have watched

you my entire life Father, I know how to be a good king. And how to lead my people." Terrin said, and glared at his uncle.

"You can be trusted with nothing! I should be the one to take the throne, not some child!" His uncle growled. "I am the eldest brother, it should have been mine."

"But it wasn't. You have no children nor can you produce any. Therefore, I take the throne and my son follows." The king said.

Terrin snickered at the embarrassment that came over his uncles face.

"I would be a better ruler." His uncle argued. Anger washed over his face and he tried to hide it.

"Maybe, but I guess we won't know until we see what my son can do." The

king smiled and finally reached the doors to the throne room. The guards opened the large brass doors and all three men stepped inside.

"He is young and stupid." His uncle growled.

"I've reached my twenty fifth summer. I'm no longer young, nor am I stupid. Do not insult me again." said Terrin.

"I have heard your arguments brother, several times in fact. And I do not wish to hear them again." The king grew serious and Lord Feric knew it was time to keep his mouth

shut.

'In due time you and your boy will fall, and it will be MY turn to rule.' Feric thought to himself.

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"So it's agreed then. My son and Lord Feric will at least go to the border to see if they can figure out what has gotten the dragons so restless." The king said.

"Father, why must uncle come along? I'm perfectly capable of doing this on my own, and you know it!" Terrin asked, trying to

stay calm and not get

angry.

"Of course I know it, but he doesn't. Perhaps this will show him what a capable leader you can be. But be careful. You know what dragons are like, my son. Though you have had the pleasure of NOT seeing them. They are dangerous and they will not hesitate a second to kill you." His father told him.

"I know father. You speak as If I don't remember how mother died." Terrin said.

"I should have never let her on that boat." The king blamed himself for the thousandth time.

"You didn't know one of them would attack. It was not your fault." Terrin said for the thousandth time back.

"Yes, well, either way it doesn't fix or change anything. But maybe you can. Go with your uncle and make me proud." Terrin nodded his head and walked through the long halls to his room.

He quickly suited up in his finest armor and attached his favorite sword to his side and headed down to

the stables to get

Stormbringer.

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They trotted at a quick but

steady pace. Stormbringer could easily outrun even the fastest of the kingdoms horses. Terrin could practically feel the horses legs itching to run. But she obeyed what Terrin told her to do and cantered lazily along so the others could keep up. Though it was obvious the other horses considered this a fast pace.

"I can't believe we are doing this. What does he want us to do, talk to the great beasts?" his uncle growled. He trotted next to Terrin on his own horse. Terrin couldn't remember the name but the horse was black as night and had a cruel glare to its face. His own armor was more impressive then the soldiers that followed him, but far less impressive then Terrin's.

All of the soldiers that accompanied them were his best. Terrin noticed they all wore a very serious, stoic expression on their faces. He shrugged it off as them being nervous about facing the Kin.

'If we see them at all.' Terrin thought to himself. 'We most likely won't even get a glimpse of one of the dragons. Oh, how I would love to slay one. Make its tough scales into a fantastic piece of armor.' Terrin lost himself in thoughts of slaying the dragons.

Before he knew it Stormbringer stopped beneath him an he came out of his reverie to see they were at the giant steep cliff that separated the Dragons land from the Humans. The legend was that when the Draco-human war began, the Great Earth Dragon Egtunell separated the lands with this cliff so that no human could get down easy and that no dragon would fly up.

To the east was the Atren Sea. The same ocean his mother had died in. The waters were filled with the water dragons. They often attacked the humans ships and the humans often destroyed their homes. They dwell deep in the underwater caves and the ones that lived more to the north, towards the icy caps of the world, lived under the large slabs of Ice.

Terrin had never seen one but had seen pictures of them in books. They were long snake-like creatures. Sometimes with a head at each end of their long serpentine body. Their backs held large crests, much like a fish. And they sometimes had large fins to help propel them through the water. They were usually blue or green. Terrin remembered seeing a boat that had barely managed to return to port after being attacked by one of the dragons. The bottom of the boat had been scraped by teeth and scales and there were several holes in the boat where the

beast had sprayed water out of its mouth. They could produce enough water pressure to eat away at solid stone. that's how they made their homes. Their most dangerous weapon was their own bodies, capable of crushing a whale to death in seconds.

To the west was the desert where the earth dragons lived. They were large worm like creatures that would burrow underground and surprise their prey by

bursting from beneath them and swallowing them whole before they knew what had happened. They were exceptionally hard to kill and you were considered an amazing hunter if you could kill one. Their black plated bodies could be hundreds of feet in length.

At the top of the cliffs past the desert lived the air dragons. They looked like water dragons in that they had the long serpentine bodies. But

their bodies were more like a garden snake and were thinner and lighter. They had large wings that sprouted from their

body with feathers, though they could have leathery bat-like wings as well. Of the species they were the only dragons found to be feathered. They had no arms but did have back legs with wickedly sharp talons. They would swoop down on their pray and catch it in their claws much like a hawk would. They were usually white or gray and were the only dragons who didn't have a specific home. They preferred to soar over the land and only landed to sleep or eat. Considered the weaker of all dragons since they are neither poisonous nor can they breathe anything deadly.

To the north the fire dragons lived. They were smaller then the earth dragons but larger than the others. They breathed fire, obviously, and preferred to burn their prey. They were the most dangerous of all of the dragons since they held traits from each of the other broods. They were large and strong like the Earth dragons, but spectacular fliers like the wind dragons, and they were poisonous like the water dragons. They lived in the volcanoes and lava pits to the north. They were usually different shades of red and orange.

A fifth species of dragons used to inhabit the swamps to the south, close to the cliffs that now separated the lands, the green dragons could breathe toxic gasses and liked to live in the marshes of their lands. But the humans completely wiped out the last of their kind hundreds of years ago.

Terrin looked over the lands and could barely make out the lava pits far to the north.

"Well, what do we do now, Fearless leader." Feric sneered the last part at Terrin.

"I don't know, Father said to find out what was going on." Terrin thought frantically, he didn't want to seem like a pitiful child who couldn't do a single thing without his fathers direct

orders.

"You're useless." His uncle rolled his eyes and turned his horse. Terrin turn Stormbringer to follow and clicked at her so she ran ahead and blocked her uncles horses path.

"You can't leave now, we've only just gotten here. We must investigate." Terrin said.

"What would you like to do? Climb down the Divide?" Feric laughed.

" Well, no but we must do something." Terrin said and trotted Stormbringer back over to the cliff. He dismounted and looked over the edge to see exactly how far down it was. He grew dizzy when he saw the sheer drop down the Divide.

He heard his uncle dismount behind him. And turned to say something when he heard the sound of a sword being drawn. He quickly drew his own and met his uncle with the weapon. His left foot was hanging half the way off the cliff and his right was trying to keep him from falling backwards.

"What are you doing!?" He shouted at his uncle.

"Trying to stop you from falling." He replied casually. He pushed against Terrins weapon harder an he felt his left foot slipping off the little ground it had. Terrin looked to the guards for help but most of them just sneered their

approval. Some looked down at the ground,

ashamed of the crime they were watching, but doing nothing.

"Don't just stand there, help your prince heir!" Terrin shouted at them. None of them moved. Terrin's vision went red with anger.

"When I'm king, they will all have higher ranking positions then lowly soldiers. Why would they help you?" His uncle laughed. Terrin was shocked at the treason being committed and was caught off guard when his uncle gave one final shove of their matched swords.

Terrin felt the ground under his left foot crumble away and he fell backwards. His right foot caught the edge of the cliff and it caused him to turn. He was falling face first towards the earth below. He closed his eyes and prayed one last time that his uncle would be caught.

He hit something that was smooth an sturdy. It hurt but not as much as he thought dying would hurt. He opened his eyes and saw red again. But this time it wasn't with anger. He looked to see he was grasping to the right wing of a very large, very pissed off, dragon. The dragon gave a shriek, that sounded like a mix of a lizard and a bird, and banked heavily to the right. Terrins sword sliced through the delicate flesh of the dragons wing and the dragon screeched again, this time louder.

The dragon turned as hard as it could to the left so it was facing the cliff side. It tried to save them from their fall by grasping the side of the divide. Its wings resembled a bats and served as its arms an as its wings. The clawed finger type appendage tried to grip the cliff side but the loose earth just crumbled beneath it. It tried several more times but eventually gave up and used its large back legs to kick off the side of the cliff.

It tried to spread its wings again but it began tumbling to the right due to the tear in its wing and the weight of Terrin holding it. Terrin heard a loud screeching sound and wished the dragon would just shut up. Then he realized he was screaming along with the dragons shrieks and roars.

They fell faster and faster towards the ground and the dragon tried to shake Terrin off its wing.

'If I'm going down your going down with me.' Terrin thought to himself.

The dragon hissed and tried to balance itself but all it succeeded in doing was turning and twisting them in mid air. Terrin saw the ground getting closer and closer. He looked into the dragons eyes and saw the fear in them. The dragon quickly stopped shrieking and turned itself so its back was facing the ground. It folded its wings into its stomach, an brought Terrin along with them. Terrin was pressed against the smooth scaly belly of the dragon an could feel its wings on his back. He felt the impact of them hitting the ground and heard the

dragon

groan.

They slid for a large distance until finally they came to a stop. The dragons wings loosened and Terrin was able to climb free. He got a few steps away and saw he was still holding his sword. He sat, or more like fell, to the ground an stared at the large beast while he caught his breath. His hands shook and he couldn't seem to get enough air.

The dragon was a large red one. It had two horns that curved towards its back, an in between them were pointed spines that went all the way from its head to halfway down its tail, where they stopped, and a club like chunk of bone ended the tail.

The dragon was still alive, Terrin could hear its

heavy breathing. Terrin looked up the

cliff and saw no sign of his uncle. He tried to stand but his still shaky legs wouldn't allow it. The dragons breathing suddenly became quieter an it opened its large eyes that were easily the size of Terrin's hand. It tried to roll over an folded its wings in an odd way so they were more like arms instead of wings now. He used his tail to help push up his lower half and stood on his own shaky legs.

He looked at Terrin and his

yellow unblinking eyes showed only minor annoyance and curiosity. Terrin slowly moved his hand to his sword that layed next to him. The dragon hissed and moved so it was facing Terrin head on. He glanced at the sword an back at Terrin. His eyes narrowed and Terrin could see his muscles clenched for battle.

"Don't come near me violent beast." said Terrin through clenched teeth. The dragon

raised it's head and it looked, if a

dragon could, like it raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not the one reaching for the sword." It said. Its voice was nothing like Terrin imagined it to be. It sounded younger then the beast looked. And it was obviously male. His lips didn't move but Terrin could hear the voice clearly. He remembered reading somewhere that dragons communicated through telepathy.