Arrows pelted his scales and ripped past his head and wings.
"I'm coming, are you both all right?" Daimon asked the twins.
"Just grand. Now will you please come get us?" Caro snapped.
"I think they're taking us to their city,” Elan said. "They have some kind of containment spell around us, preventing us from using our magic on them.”
Daimon groaned. "They used the same thing on me."
"How did you get loose?" Caro asked.
They didn't know about the entity living inside of him, and he still wasn't sure how they'd react. Plus, now really wasn't the time to explain. "I don't know, I just drew on my power and busted loose."
“Well, good for you, Mr. tough guy, but we don’t have dragon power. So hurry your scaly hide up!” Caro said.
Daimon flew hard and fast, and in a few minutes spotted them up ahead. The wagon was going fast, and he still hadn't figured out how to counter the spell on them.
"I see you," Elan said.
"I'm going to get in front of you and stop the wagon," Daimon told them. He circled until he was facing the rushing wagon, and then laid down a steady stream of dragon-fire.
When the Irod driving the wagon attempted to go around, Daimon cut him off. "You need to figure out something now," he told the twins as the wagon came to a complete stop.
"Let them go," Daimon shouted at the soldiers.
They shot arrows at him.
A few of the demons tried to creep up on his sides, but Daimon blasted them.
Then one of their pointy sticks pierced his leg. Daimon snatched it free with his teeth and spit it back at them.
"I've got a plan," Caro said, sounding a little hesitant.
"Well, whatever it is, you need to hurry. I'm tired of being shot at."
"Elan and I did this once before, but it was an accident, and we were forbidden from doing it again, so I'm not sure if it'll work," she said.
"Just do it, and hurry." Daimon continued to blast the Irod with fire, getting closer and closer. He had expected, or at least hoped that the demons would see fighting him was futile and give up, but they didn't. They were determined to keep the twins.
The ground all around them, the grass and small shrubs, all turned brown and dried up.
Then a sudden shock wave knocked the soldiers off their feet.
Daimon's dragon-fire blew back at him. He dug his feet into the ground to remain upright, as his fire slid over his scales in a wave of warmth, then quickly fizzled out.
"We did it," Caro said as she and her brother jumped down from the back of the wagon and ran over to him.
"Good thing I'm in dragon form.”
Caro raised an eyebrow in question.
“With whatever you did, you'd have singed my eyebrows off if I'd been in my two-legged human one," Daimon said.
Caro snorted, then shot a blast of magic at a soldier who tried to grab her.
"Hurry, get on," Daimon said as he swung his tail around and knocked the Irod back down.
"That was a close call," Elan said once they were in the air and flying away.
"Yeah," Daimon agreed. It was too close, and he was getting really tired of their close calls. "How did you bust out of the spell?"
There was a moment of silence.
"We ... combined our magic and drew from the element directly below us," Caro finally said.
“So that’s why the ground died then.”
“Yes,” Elan said, sounding subdued.
"Well, it worked, right? So, what's the problem?" Daimon asked.
"The first and last time we joined our magic, we ... ended up hurting someone," Elan said.
"Oh. Hurt them how?" Daimon asked.
"We were only eight, and didn't know what would happen," Elan said, sounding upset, and making Daimon even more curious.
"One of the older trainees liked to bully Elan," Caro added, clearly still angry over the past ordeal.
"I really hate bullies," Daimon said. "So, what happened?"
"Well, we joined our magic and syphoned his away," Caro said, and Daimon could picture her chin raised with attitude.
"We got in a lot of trouble. We were warned with dire reprisals to never join our magic again," Elan added.
"Well, sometimes in dire situations, you have to do things you're not supposed too. Besides, maybe it’s good to learn how to use and control it, rather than need it and not know what might happen."
"Sometimes you surprise me Daimon. When did you get so smart?" Caro asked.
"You forget, I have thirty-two siblings, I had no choice but to learn fast."
Chapter 14
Handy Spells
Daimon woke the next morning and found Caro's bedroll empty. He looked over to see Elan sitting up rubbing his eyes.
"Caro?" Daimon asked, getting worried.
He and Elan hurried into the outer cave and stopped.
Caro sat on the ground in the middle of the cave, muttering under her breath and waving her hands around.
"What are you doing?" Daimon asked.
"Casting a spell."
"What kind?" Elan and Daimon both asked simultaneously, then laughed.
"We keep ending up in the middle of DVMB battles, so I thought a radar spell to avoid them might come in handy." She held up a small white twig that had a blue leaf growing off the end. "We'll use this stick and strap it to the saddle."
"DVMB?" Daimon asked.
"Yes."
"Demon verses mutant butterfly," Elan explained.
"How will it work?" Daimon asked.
"The leaf will flutter when we're close to any battles, then we—you—can proceed with caution so we don't end up in the thick of it again," Caro said.
Daimon ignored her snarky suggestion that it was all his fault they kept getting into trouble, though he had to admit she might be right.
Their radar wasn't perfect, but it did signal when they were close to a battle, and Daimon was then able to skirt around the devastation and chaos.
Although, he still found himself unable to keep from searching out the dark-haired female who'd caught his attention so thoroughly.
On their way back to their cave that evening, Daimon itched with the intuition that someone, or something, was seeking them.
"Can either of you do a spell to hide the location of our home?" he asked the twins.
"Home." Caro glanced around and sighed. "I suppose that's what this is, isn't it?" Then she narrowed her eyes on him. "Tell me, what is it you sense?"
"I don't know, but there's something seeking us, or watching us, I can't tell which."
The twins discussed what to use, and then together cast another spell.
Daimon looked around. Nothing felt different. "Did it work?"
"The spell worked. The question is, do they already know where we stay. If they do, it'll be useless. If they don't, then it should keep them, whoever they are, from finding this place."
Daimon raked a hand through his hair. "Let's hope they don't already know then."
They thought it worked, but five days later, when they returned to their cave home, Daimon knew someone had been there.
His sense of being watched grew even stronger, making it hard to sleep that night.
He'd finally dozed off, when the skin under his scales twitched. He felt like insects were crawling all over him. He tried to wipe them off, but they kept coming, more and move, until he was buried underneath a heavy carpet of furry black ... spiders.
No! He snapped awake and gazed around the cave, hardly comprehending what it was he was seeing.
Eyes. Hundreds of eyes. Small, black and beady, they shone with evil.
Except, they weren't all small and they completely surrounded them.
This wasn't a dream.
Daimon jumped to his feet. "Caro, Elan, get up!"
Intuition had him ducking and swiping with his talons. A large, dark shape flew through the air, just as another one came at him.
Daimon move
d between the twins and the creatures attacking them, and then released a blast of dragon-fire. Squeals and screeches ricocheted off the walls in piercing agony. But still they kept coming.
Large and small eyes shone all throughout the cave. Beady and black, they were filled with evil malevolence.
Spiders. The smaller ones waited perched on the rock walls, while the larger ones, the same as the ones from the forest attacked without let up.
Each time he managed to knock one back, another creepy eight-legged beast launched itself at him. Behind him the twins were battling the smaller ones.
As one larger than any others came at him, Daimon roared, his voice thundering in the cave. Then he removed the fur-covered, winged critter's head from its body.
"Daimon, above you!" Caro shouted, but he was too busy fighting off the hated multi-legged mutants.
How the spiders had gotten in past his wards, he had no clue. But somehow, he knew that his recent altercation with the energy inside of him had led them here.
Caro and Elan shot blasts of magic at the creepy critters, while Daimon fought them off with talons and fire.
"Brace yourself and take a breath," Daimon said each time he blasted their attackers with his dragon-fire. The cave had become a furnace as fire licked the walls.
Everywhere they stepped, the bodies of spiders crunched under their feet, making everything about this whole situation that much creepier.
Soon the beasts gave up and backed off, then they turned and fled down the tunnel.
"That's how they got in," Elan said, watching them go.
Daimon had set a ward at the entrance to the cave on the cliff wall, but nowhere else.
"I've got this," Caro said and quickly constructed another ward. "Later I'll extend it to secure our water and the hot spring."
"Do you suppose the spiders are what you've been sensing was watching us?" Elan asked, as they tossed the dead arachnid bodies out the cave where Daimon then scorched them with more fire.
"I don't know," Daimon said, still uneasy as he watched the ash drift away on the breeze.
"Well, if I don't ever see one of these things again, I'd be a very happy witch," Caro said as she swept up the floor.
Chapter 15
Rhapaskiru—MB's—whatever
The next morning, a group of five Irod stood just outside the entrance to the outer cave—just beyond the ward. Daimon had to give them credit, they had to be fearless to scale the sheer wall to get up here.
Daimon was about to shift into his dragon, to be better able to fight them, when one held up a hand.
"We mean no harm and come here with peace in our hearts and minds."
"Really? And what do you want?" Daimon pulled the twins behind him, even though he suspected if the demons could have entered, they'd have done so. At least his wards were keeping them out.
"My Name is Irum, and we'd like to talk. Our queen seeks a meeting." It was the demon who had kidnapped Caro and Elan and brought them through the portal.
"Now you want to talk?" Daimon asked. The Ilyium soldiers and Daimon's father had tried to talk to the Irod on Tartaria, but the demons wouldn't cooperate.
"Our queen would like to speak with you," Irum said.
"We aren't going anywhere until you tell us what you want," Daimon said.
"We seek help with the Rhapaskiru."
"Rapa-what?" Daimon asked.
"You've seen us battling them, you've even helped our people when the red breath of death came early," Irum said.
"We call them MB's, you know for mutant butterflies, but red breath of death huh?" Daimon said.
"He's talking about the fog," Caro moved out from behind him.
"I know," Daimon said, annoyed that she never stayed where he wanted—where he could protect her.
"So, you want our help with the big bad flappy flappie's that spew slimy green nastiness all over the place."
The Irod spoke quietly between themselves, then Irum nodded. "Yes."
"Why should we care about your problems?" Caro asked.
"The Rhapaskiru destroyed our city, and then they moved on to destroying our crops. Soon there will be no food to feed our people, which they are also abducting when they can."
"Again, why should we care? You kidnapped my people, and I've seen them out there fighting. I assume they have no choice in the matter, and they too are dying in this war of yours," Caro said.
"We take the utmost care of the witches fighting with us and protect them with our lives," one of the other demons said.
Caro's eyes flashed. "Is that right? Because I've seen a few of my people lying dead after one of your battles. They are young children; they have no business fighting your war for you."
"That does not often happen, and we are heartbroken that it has. The children have come to mean a great deal to us, they are our future. But the Rhapaskiru are destroying our world, and we find ourselves powerless to fight them. Only witch magic works against them, we had no choice but to let them fight, they—you, are our only hope of survival, and now—" Irum raked Daimon with his gaze. "With a dragon here as well, we stand even more of a chance."
"You know," Daimon said. "You could have sought assistance from the Ilyium, maybe got them to send some of their more skilled witches over to help, instead of stealing their children to help you fight the Rhapaskiru—MB's—whatever mutant freaks you have here."
"We tried that course of action first, their queen refused."
"You lie," Caro snapped.
"I do not lie. We tried to converse with the Ilyium queen. I believe she is your grandmother. Herasa. We told her about our situation. She refused to help us. Our whole race is dying here, we didn't see any other choice but to take what we need. We have many young, and if the Rhapaskiru don't snatch them away first, then they'll starve. The Rhapaskiru have got to be stopped."
That was why the children ran when Daimon passed by overhead. "So again, what are you wanting with us?"
"Our queen would like to speak with you, possibly make a deal. We can offer you food, clothing, lodgings that are better than this."
"What if we don't want any of that?" Caro asked.
"What do you want then?"
"Can your queen offer us a way home?" Daimon folded his arms across his chest, sure he knew the answer.
"You destroyed our portal."
"So that's a no then." Daimon glanced at the twins, and then thought about what they'd done to escape capture the other day—about their syphoning ability. "I've heard that it'll take a thousand years before your queen has enough energy to open another portal, but what if we could help her gain the energy needed to open one sooner?"
Irum frowned and seemed about to speak, when the demon beside him leaned in and whispered something into his ear. Irum looked at Daimon. "What you suggest, I do not know if it will work, you'd have to talk to the queen."
"You still haven't said what exactly you want us to do," Caro said.
"Help us win this war of course," Irum replied.
"How do we know if we can trust you?" Daimon didn't like the idea of going anywhere with the demons.
"You don't, but we brought you a good-faith offering." Irum took a covered basket from the demon beside him and offered it to them.
Daimon didn't take it. "What’s in it?"
Irum placed the basket on the floor at his feet. "Food. We thought you might be getting tired of eating raw crop-stolen items."
"Who says we eat everything raw?" Daimon asked, though neither he, nor the twins made a move to take the offering.
Irum didn't take the bait. "We will come back here tomorrow morning to bring you to our queen."
Then they left.
Daimon and the twins crossed through the ward and watched as the demons scrambled efficiently back down to the ground. They were met with a handful of others, along with someone wearing a long blue cape with a hood.
"That's how they found us," Caro said, eyes narrowed in anger.
Irum gl
anced up at them for a moment, then they all mounted their six-legged, humped-backed beasts and rode away.
"Apparently the Irod are efficient climbers," Daimon said as he picked up the basket and the three of them went back inside. Elan and Caro began to pull out food items.
"What do you think, do we go see this queen?" Daimon asked.
"This looks a lot better than what we've been eating," Elan added, inspecting the contents of the basket. He handed a container to Daimon with a smile. "Here, take this, I think you might like this one."
Daimon took the container and inhaled the scent of some kind of cooked meat. His mouth started watering. He sat down and was about to try some, when he stopped. "Wait."
Caro and Elan, who'd also just settled down with bowls of their own, looked up at him. "What?"
"What if it’s poisonous?"
"Why would they poison it, they're trying to bribe us to help them," Caro said, and scooped some food out with her fingers.
Daimon conjured up some utensils. "Here, this might help."
"It does, thanks," Elan said, and handed a fork over to his sister.
"They could be waiting for us to eat it, pass out, then come back and take us, giving us no choice," Daimon said.
Caro bit into the bread-like roll, chewed, and then swallowed. "They could, but they'd have to get in, and I added my wards on top of yours, so I wish them luck. Plus, something tells me they might have learned their lesson about taking us by force."
"I hope so." Daimon tasted his food and sighed with delight.
They all fell silent as they ate.
When he was done, Daimon sat back. "Well?"
"They kidnapped my kin, some adults, but mostly witch children of our age, and some a lot younger than us. I don't really want to work with them," Caro said.
"I don't either, but this realm is not going to be easy to survive in, and like we discussed before, if we do help them, we might be able to keep watch over your kin," Daimon said. "And if we help them win this war, and we can get the queen to agree, then we might be able to get back home."
"How exactly are you thinking we can help open the portal sooner?" Caro asked.
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