by T D Raufson
She took another breath and spun the wheel that sealed the door and pushed. Daylight poured into the entrance. As soon as she could slip through, she was laying on the stone of the overlook, letting the door close behind her. She didn’t move immediately. She could still hear the rotors and the whine of the jet turbine, but she couldn’t see the helicopter. So far her plan was working. She giggled to herself that she even considered this a plan and then remembered it came from her ancient memories where this must have been much more common.
Yes, you have but to listen.
Melissa laughed at the timing of her arguments with herself.
She stood up and walked toward the house. She was not used to the cover of invisibility so she hunched her shoulders a little and ran up the long yard. She grabbed the handle to the French doors and was in the library before she stopped. She stood there, invisible and breathing hard.
Charles came through the entrance to the library with his rifle at his shoulder looking through the sight. His shoulder was pressed into the stock and he was crouched with his legs bent moving with cautious steps. His eyes darted from place to place, evaluating potential threats.
“Who’s in here? Show yourself, now, before I open fire. Nothing in this room will protect you.”
“Charles, it’s me.” She couldn’t keep the fear out of her voice. She needed his help, and there he was with his gun again. Everybody was at war, and he was suddenly, truly terrifying. She couldn’t control the instinctive transition to her armored form.
“Mel, where are you?” His body and rifle turned toward her voice. He crouched lower dropping to one knee behind the desk. His hands clutched tighter on the forward stock.
“I’m here.” With a thought, she appeared in front of him. Fear ran through her like ice. As soon as she appeared, his fingers tightened for an instant on the trigger before he relaxed and brought the rifle down to his knee and across his chest in broad movements.
He did take a moment to glance at her up-armored form.
“What’s going on out there? Who’s in the chopper?”
“I don’t know. They chased me here. I didn’t know what else to do. I don’t want to fight them but—they’re—it’s—I don’t want to fight them. I don’t want him to win.”
He crossed the room quickly and drew her into his chest ignoring the spines and scales. He held her for a moment and then stepped back to look into her eyes. “Go up and sit down. What were you doing out there anyway?” He asked less harshly than she expected. “You need to rest, and I have to change. They’ll come in before they leave. Did they see you exit the cave?”
“No, at least I didn’t see them when I came out. I tried to make sure. Oh, Charles, they’re not giving us a choice. I can’t keep them from killing us, or worse, us killing them.”
“You can, but it means you have to beat Nick... I mean, you know. You have to beat him to the punch. You have to give him up. You have to expose yourself.” He walked her up the stairs together as he was talking to her.
“What? They came after me. If I show them where I am, and that they’re right, they’ll never let me alone.”
“That’s not what Helena says. She went to them, exposed herself to them. She was honest about what she was.”
“Charles, she had a king who was ready to accept dragons. He was open minded.”
“Was he? Or did she manipulate him a little?”
Melissa closed her mouth. Why did everyone else so easily consider using magic to solve problems, and why did she have such a hard time with it? She was still acting like the twenty-year-old human.
Who refuses to listen. Melissa smiled at her own deprecation as Charles guided her into the seat.
“Charles, Can you contact the pilot? We need to get them to go away.”
“Maybe, but I expect he’ll contact us. He needs to get into that cave and hovering out there is expensive. He’ll want to go down the wall. He won’t ask, but we can push back a little. It depends on how hard-assed he is. I’ll see what I can do. I need to change though.” He turned and left the library.
Melissa turned to the stack of books that they had collected. She looked at the time line they had started. She needed time to finish it. She needed to stop Nethliast. She needed to make sure he didn’t live up to that name. It all took time, and he wasn’t going to wait. She needed Elaine’s help.
“Mother, I need you to tell father what’s happening. I need for you to get through to him. Nethliast is going to get us all killed, and I can’t handle him and the soldiers on my lawn.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“I don’t want to fight with them, but they know where I am.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“I’m sure you’ll make the right decision when the time comes.”
Melissa swallowed the different ball of fear that welled up from the thought of everything that could go wrong.
“I’ll have to. Otherwise we’ll be hunted to extinction. We can’t stand against them, mother. Never mind their weapons. We didn’t in the past. There had to be a reason we didn’t destroy them when they were easy to destroy. That’s what Nethliast is forgetting.”
“I will speak to Valdiest if I can.”
Melissa was feeling a little better and a lot worse. The physical fear of what had happened was going away, but the emotional doubt about what she was about to do was taking over. The helicopter had climbed to the top of the overlook and was hovering over the open space. They were going to land. Melissa turned away from the window to look for Charles when her eyes crossed Elaine’s. The young girl was quietly standing at the doorway across the library staring at Melissa.
Charles was back and walking toward her in his best suit. He quickly took in the scene and handled it the best he could.
“They can’t see you like that,” he said as he walked past and she realized she was still armored. She transformed and grinned at him and looked at Elaine with a sheepish admission of what could not be denied.
Charles nodded and walked smartly down the stairs and out the back door. He had to deal with that. He was probably the best to deal with it. Kaliastrid had told her the truth, it was about using your resources. She needed to talk to Elaine.
“Elaine, listen.” The girl backed up a step but didn’t run. “I have to tell you something. Things are going to get strange… okay, things are already strange. I need your help. I trust Helena to send me what I need.” She paused and took a breath to settle herself while Elaine did the same. “Helena, was a dragon. I’m a dragon. We have been trapped in our human form for generations until the spell broke on the solstice because I didn’t recast it. I don’t know why I’m supposed to recast it. In fact, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I have my grandmother’s journal that she left me. I’ve read it. She says I have to recast it, and I’ll know what to do if I failed and we emerge. I don’t. Our memories are scrambled and don’t make sense all the time. We often find our human emotions and memories driving us more than our history. If we try to figure this out ourselves, we get violent headaches, so we’re not making good progress. I need you to help me understand what I’m supposed to do and how I’m supposed to do it. My mother says there is a talisman missing and that we need to find it, but we have no idea where it is and I’m not even sure what it looks like. I know this is a lot but I need your help with this. Helena was right. I need your help.”
Elaine swallowed and then smiled. Her eyes were huge and filled with questions. Melissa paused to let her get it all under control.
“There is more. Helena’s judgment of you is based on the fact that you have a magical aura about you.”
“Wait.” Fear welled up in her eyes. “You’re saying I’m magical somehow?”
“Not exactly, I’m saying there’s something magical about you and I don’t know what it is, but I expect Helena had an idea. My mother and I can see it in you and expect you have seen signs of it your
self. Either way, we think this is why Helena asked you here.”
She pushed her bangs out of her eyes and swallowed again. “That’s why I came... well not exactly. I came because I thought Helena wanted me to help her—you—finish her manuscript. I never expected this. But, I’ll do what I can.”
“Good. I’ll make sure you have anything you need. I have nothing else to hide, I don’t think. Is there anything you can tell me right away that might help me keep the world from going to war with dragons?”
Her eyes widened behind her glasses as she took in the question and chewed on it. “You need to focus on men. Your charms will work better on men. Women never trust female dragons, so they’ll be harder to overcome.”
Melissa smiled. Women didn’t trust other women, so that wasn’t all that different.
“Oh, and you should be fine anyway.” Elaine brushed away any concern as if some information made it all unimportant.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because, you’re the dragon ambassador?” the girl said after a pause.
“I’m the what?”
“You’re metallic colored.”
“Yeah. So?”
“You’re the only one.”
It was a statement not a question, but Melissa answered it anyway. “As far as I know I am, yes. There could be others. We haven’t actually had a class reunion.”
“No,” Elaine shifted some in her place and giggled at the confusion. “There can’t be another. There’s only ever one. Helena wrote about it. Her heroine is the ambassador. She is a metallic dragon. You say Helena was a dragon. It seems these books may be autobiographical, so she was the old one. She was a metallic dragon, right? You took her place. She picked you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I could be wrong, I never saw her in dragon form, but it makes sense. It fits the story.”
The girl is right, Heliantra was metallic.
“What story?”
“It’s something very old I found last year at the library at Georgia Tech.” A frown crossed her face as she remembered something, “It was a neat little dragon drama. It was a lot like Helena’s stuff; that was why I liked it. But, see, it talked about the Great Wyrm, which was a council of ancient dragons that never left a cave somewhere. It never said where, but the ambassador knew because she had to go before them. She was the voice of the Great Wyrm and helped to tell the other dragon kings what the council wanted.”
Melissa looked over her shoulder at the meeting happening on her back lawn and then impatiently back at Elaine.
“I’m sorry, it’s just a story I read. It may not mean anything. Sometimes I forget the difference and get lost in the stories. You have more important things to deal with.” Elaine dropped her head and started to leave the room.
“Wait.” Melissa suddenly realized what Heliantra had seen in the girl. “Don’t apologize. That’s what I want you to do. I need for you to think like that. I need for you and Charles to find how the fiction and fact come together. That’s an interesting idea.” Melissa thought about what Elaine had said. Her mother said she had been raised to respect the color. She said she just reacted instinctively to it. Maybe this was why. “Tell Charles about it when he gets back. I’m not sure what’s about to happen.”
“Where are you going?”
Melissa jumped at Charles’ question. Elaine blushed a little at his voice and when she looked up at him. He was standing half way up the spiral staircase. A sweet aroma filled the air around them. Melissa would have sworn Elaine had sprayed the air with perfume, but she hadn’t moved.
Elaine looked over at Melissa. “Is Charles—a—you know?”
“Dragon? No, he’s not a dragon.”
The relief flushed over her young face. Melissa wanted to smile, but this was the oddest time she could think of for romance to blossom.
“Are they coming in?”
“Not yet, they’re looking around. I wouldn’t let them repel into the cave. They’re not happy, but they aren’t willing to push it yet.”
“Please bring them inside. I need to speak to their commander.”
“What’s the plan?”
“Right now, I’m making them go away. After that, I’m not sure. It depends on what you and this young woman find. Remember what you said about going to them when I came in. Talk to her. She has an interesting tale I want you to hear. Maybe you can go find the book she’s talking about if it’s not here.”
Elaine blushed and nearly hopped in place at the idea of going somewhere with Charles. Their ages where not that far apart, but Melissa was going to have to talk to her about being discreet.
There was a knock at the back door. Apparently, they had decided to come to her. Melissa nodded to Charles, and then smiled at Elaine. Some things were coming together, now all she had to do was get through this moment.
“The library’s yours. See if you can find that story here. I’ll check back in after this is—well, whenever I can.” Melissa turned away from her and headed down stairs to greet the man at the door. She felt confident that Helena had made a good choice, and that confidence suddenly strengthened her decision.
Just before she reached the door, she thought about what she was wearing and checked her appearance. Whatever it was she would have to deal with it. There was no way she could change the way she looked in front of the soldier standing at the glass door. She was wearing a day length white skirt with a red short-sleeved sweater top and a scarf. It would have to do.
She swept the door open. The soldier smelled of stress. His flight suit was dark in places from the effort of searching. His tactical vest bristled with antenna, knives and all manner of gear which, combined with his direct manner, made him look like a porcupine. He glanced from Charles to her, and he visibly relaxed his spines a little.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, ma’am, we’re looking for...”
“A dragon? Yes, I expected that.”
Her answer threw him off balance. “Uh, yes, well. It seems it flew into the cave beneath this property, and we intend to repel down there.”
“You intend to repel...” She paused for him to provide the name.
“Hollis ma’am. Captain Hollis.”
“So you, intend to repel down there, Captain Hollis?”
“Ah, yes, we need to and...”
“And, when you get down there, what do you intend to do?”
“We intend to capture it, ma’am.”
“If it’s really a dragon that you followed into my cave—don’t you think that might be dangerous?”
He paused as if she questioned his manhood, stood up taller and continued. “Really, I think we can capture it. I’m...”
“You’ve not really thought about what might happen? What if it breathes fire?”
“What? Oh, that’s just nonsense.”
“That it might breathe fire or that it might be a dragon?”
He slumped a little; he clenched his jaw and closed his eyes. “Ma’am I just need to search that cave.” He opened his eyes and looked at her again.
“If you do search it, what happens if you find nothing down there at all?”
“Well, they’ll call me back, I’ll take a few eye tests, spend all night figuring out what I saw with several close psychiatrist friends, and then I’ll fill out my weight in paper work.”
“Very well, Captain, you can repel down and search my cave.”
The Captain exhaled like she had removed a stone from his chest. He nodded to her and then Charles before turning and walking toward the door. Charles twisted around and looked at her. He had not expected her to give in. She waited until the captain was down the stairs and calling his men back to the helicopter.
“Work with Elaine. I’ve got this.”
“What happens when he gets down there and sees the chests and that pentagram?”
“Nothing. He’s looking for a dragon. Neither of those are what he’s looking for. But, I need to get down there to make s
ure he sees what I want him to see.”
Charles looked at her.
“I need for you to work with Elaine.” She smiled over her shoulder as she walked after the captain. For just an instant she felt that this might be fun.
It will be.
—
Melissa stepped into the open chamber beyond the staircase just as the men were reaching the ledge beyond. She had run most of the way because their ropes would allow them to move faster even if they were cautious. Before they entered the chamber, she made a quick motion and disappeared. When she was invisible, she touched the magic around her and transformed the chamber. Each of the chests on the floor became stalagmites and what had been the polished mosaic floor was now gray, mottled and dark. The fireplace transformed into an alcove in the cave wall. Sleeping bats covered the ceiling and guano covered the now uneven floor. The staircase entrance disappeared into the wall. The illusion was complex, and she would have to maintain her concentration to keep it up and be responsive to their actions.
With all of her preparation done, she backed against the wall to avoid bumping into anyone who came that far into the room. Noise from the entrance, lost to human hearing but enhanced by her semi-dragon form, told her that they were coming. She settled against the wall to watch.
Although she could hear them moving across the floor in the outer landing and knew they were coming, she was unprepared for what happened next. Two flashes and amazingly loud explosions on the left and right side of the cave stunned her for a moment. Her eyes reacted instantly, and protective lenses fell into place saving her from being blinded; but her hearing was stunned. She struggled to keep the illusion up and barely remembered to drive the bats out of the cave past the approaching men. She could barely see the shapes of two men slipping in and moving around the wall toward her intent on killing anything that threatened them. They had been slowed some by the bats but continued into the cave. As her eyes cleared a little, she could see the way their weapons led them into the room, covering every position in which an enemy could be standing.