by Katie Cherry
“No! Chet, he’s going to kill Hunter once he’s no longer of use to him!” She continues, but he doesn’t hear her. A chill runs down his spine. What if she’s right? What if he really does mean to kill me- or have me killed- once I can’t help him anymore? …No. No, surely not… This is just Patrick playing to Crystal’s assumption that he’s a bad guy, he decides. He’s not thoroughly convinced, though.
“Crystal!” he says, cutting her off. With a shock, he realizes that tears are pouring down her face and she’s clutching his hand tightly. He softens his voice and tries to sound comforting and reassuring. “…I’m sure he didn’t mean that… he probably just thought that he might be killed in their war against the dragons and such. I mean, there are a lot of casualties in a war. I’m sure Patrick hopes that he doesn’t get killed- but hoping isn’t everything,” he adds. He’s almost convinced himself of this, so the surety in his voice helps calm Crystal down.
She nods. “Yes… yes, I’m sure that’s it…” She sniffles and wipes her nose. “I’m sorry… please, continue,” she says with a deep breath.
He nods slowly. “…Yes. Okay. Well, here goes…
“Today, I marked the dragons as our first targets to dispose of. We shall utterly destroy their entire race, and then the Sohos will be vulnerable once more, and we shall march upon their hidden village. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find. Once the dragons are gone, their source of power will be depleted, and they’ll be vulnerable as babes. Once they are terminated, the entire Village will quake and tremble and fear me and my might… but I shall not put them out of their misery yet. I shall first destroy the annoying fish that still think they can best me. If my men were in their territory, if they were to venture into the water, then the foul creatures would stand a chance. However, with my technology coming straight from both First Earth and Quagon, those large chunks of seafood don’t stand a chance. It won’t take long to finish them off. And then, when the Kingdom is cowering at my feet, I will descend upon them, leaving only Alexander and Pearl. Then, when I kill Alexander, I shall give the lovely Pearl a choice. Join me, or die. Painfully.”
Hunter looks over at Crystal and can see that her face is pale. “…Well, it did have his plans in it,” she finally chokes out.
He nods. “That’s the end of the first entry… are you okay?”
She tightens her lips and nods determinedly, although he can see it looks like she’s about to throw up. “Yes…” She takes a deep breath and calms her shaking body. “…I guess we should go to the dragons first to see if they’re still okay,” she determines, “since Patrick was going to kill them first… I need to make sure Eric, Gale, Tatiana, and Victor are still okay…”
“Yes, yes of course,” he reassures.
Crystal glances at him. “Are you sure you want to come? Dragons can be kind of hard to handle…” He can’t help but grin at this, remembering how he conquered the strong heart of Vincent the Proud. “…Why are you smiling at that?” she asks in confusion.
“I… um…” He didn’t expect her to catch that smile- or for it to even slip out. “I’m sure I’ll be fine with you there to protect me,” he finally says.
She blushes. “W-well… I-I guess I’ll do my b-best…” she stammers. He laughs and stands, holding out a hand to help her up.
“Well then, let’s go. We can continue reading the journal later… we have enough to think about for the moment anyway,” he finishes. She nods, her face still pale from the things unfolded in Patrick’s journal.
“Right,” she whispers, leading Hunter towards the dragons’ hideout.
CHAPTER NINE
The Search Begins
Nathan’s waiting, lying on his bed until Zarafa comes back for him, his eyes closed. He isn’t sleeping, but daydreaming as he waits. Zarafa had retrieved him for breakfast, then locked him back in his room for a few hours. He was starting to get quite bored, so he had lain down and quietly rested until the time that she returned to let him out of the room, everything prepared for his search for the lost Dragon child.
His thoughts wander to Crystal, as they always seemed to do. He remembers her determination and the way she hid her fears from everyone… he even had to pry her feelings out of her at first. But later, she opened up to him and seemed to trust him. He smiles. It warmed his heart that she would do so since she hid her inner thoughts and feelings from everyone she could, it seemed. She had always made him feel special… and now he owed it to her to let her have a rest while he took over finding her brother for a while. She deserved to have a break, so he would do what he could to help her have one. As long as she’s on Second Earth, she’ll be safe.
The sound of the vampire’s footsteps coming down the stairs pulls him out of his thoughts. He sits up and turns toward the door, suddenly feeling anxious. It was time. Zarafa had left him in the room while she had gone to find the first place they should look for Rex Dragon.
The door opens, and the perfect, almost glowing face of the vampire lady appears, smiling. “I believe we have a working plan,” she announces, her light accent pleasant in his ears. “Come with me, I’ll show you,” she continues, turning and leading the way up the stairs. Nathan follows her, excitement mingling with anxiety. How were they supposed to search all of First Earth before the end of the weekend? He only had today and tomorrow before he had to go home.
When he voices his concern, she just laughs. “Who says we have to find him this weekend? Just come back next weekend and we can continue.”
He laughs a little at himself. “Of course… sorry, I guess I’m just not thinking,” he explains sheepishly.
She smiles kindly at him. “It’s not a problem. It happens to the best of us.”
“…Yeah.”
He then follows her silently down the hallway until she stops at the last door to the left. She opens the door, then steps back so Nathan can enter. He steps through the doorway and finds the room filled with technology, most of them showing maps on screens or holograms. There’s a main one in the center of the room, taking up most of the space. Above it is suspended a huge globe hologram with different colored dots in certain places around it. Nathan immediately recognizes it as First Earth.
“What are all the different colored dots for?” he asks.
Zarafa steps up beside him, also peering at the globe floating before them. The top of it reaches a few feet above her head. “Each one represents a different search team. The ‘dot’ automatically expands to include where they have each searched. Once all of First Earth is covered, we will move on to a different realm.” She swipes at the hologram with her hand and it spins away, replaced with a much different one. This one is almost all water.
Quagon,” Nathan states.
She nods. “This is where we are likely going to search next if Rex is not here.” She changes the hologram back to First Earth by swiping at it in the opposite direction she had before.
“I see. Which search team am I a part of?” he asks curiously.
“We are the crimson one. Notice how tiny it is? Once I give you something with a tracking device in it, the dot will expand while you explore.”
“…So I’m a one-man team?” Nathan asks in surprise.
“Well, I’ll do what I can to help you, but for now, yes. You are alone in your group. We can, however, find you…”
“If I were to work with another person, I would want it to be Crystal,” he interrupts thoughtfully.
“I know,” Zarafa murmurs, her voice soft with sympathy. “But it could also be dangerous, with the Dragon Hunters searching as well. We think it would be best if you were to work with someone. It’s up to you, of course. However you want to find the lost Dragon boy.”
“Okay,” he says. “So where’s this tracking device?”
She smiles at his eagerness to begin. “Come with me.” She turns and exits the room, Nathan following close behind. She goes a few doors down and uses a silver key to unlock the matching silver door, leading the way inside
. The room is plain with a simple table in the center of the room. There are shelves with a few books on the walls.
Reaching behind one of the empty shelves, Zarafa pulls a bag out of a hidden compartment that Nathan hadn’t been able to see from the doorway. Setting the bag on the table, she pulls out a variety of items. A couple of rings, a few different bracelets, a watch, a hat, a necklace, a pair of gloves, a cloak that resembled that of a Dragon Hunter’s, a few coins that were unfamiliar to him, a quarter, and a pen.
“Go ahead,” she invites. “Pick one. You must carry this with you at all times while keeping a sharp eye out for anyone who looks like they could be part of the Dragon family and are around sixteen or seventeen years old. Should you lapse, we’ll have to backtrack and redo parts that weren’t recorded. The item you choose will stop recording the instant it is no longer touching the intended part of your body- for instance, if the hat is not on your head or the ring on your finger. So make sure to pick one you won’t take off and lose… although you will want one that is inconspicuous- like that cloak there,” she adds, pointing to the Dragon Hunter’s cloak. “While it may be handy blending in with the Dragon Hunters, that is not your purpose.”
“Right,” he says, examining the items. He finally picks up a ring, figuring that it will be easy to keep track of since it will be on his hand where he can see it, unlike a lot of the other things on the table. The gold band of the ring seemed to have miniscule words etched into it with bronze. It gleamed in the light streaming from the windows. “I’ll take this one,” he says, fingering the cool metal.
She nods appreciatively. “Lovely choice.” Packing the rest of the items back into the pack, she stuffs it into the secret compartment, then ushers him out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind him. “Feel free to get a snack from the kitchen while you wait. I’ll try to locate the best place for you to begin your search, then find a way to get you there as well.”
“Sounds good,” Nathan agrees, walking to the kitchen as she heads into yet another room.
In the kitchen, a servant greets him with a bow. “Master Nathan! My name is Todd, and I will be aiding you with anything you need during your stay here in my Mistress’s house.”
Nathan nods politely to him, feeling uncomfortable being waited on by this man around his age, possibly a little older than him. “Um… well, before I go, I was just thinking that I should get a backpack and fill it with supplies,” he suggests.
Todd nods hastily, immediately backing out of the kitchen. “Yes! Oh, yes, of course! I shall go fetch one now for you, sir!” Before Nathan could ask him to just call him by his name, the servant is gone. He then sits at the counter on a barstool, tapping his fingers with nervous energy.
This was really happening.
<<
“He doesn’t want a partner.”
Patrick sighs. “I thought as much.” His face shows that he’s not worried about this.
Zarafa frowns at him, concerned at his lack of concern. Her hands still on her hips, she says, “Well, what are we going to do about it? We need him to get close to Bryce, don’t we?”
“Yes,” Patrick replies, his voice soft and sarcastically patient, as if he was dealing with an incompetent child. Zarafa’s lips harden into a thin line and her eyebrows furrow slightly with anger. He doesn’t notice, however, and continues. “I know that. Don’t worry. I have it all under control.” With a curt nod, Zarafa turns off the hologram square and storms out of the room, trying to let her anger simmer down. However, the embers of rage had already been lit in her heart.
And she had to admit, it felt good.
<<
“Master Nathan!”
Nathan turns to see Todd, who has already returned with a loaded backpack. “That was fast!” he comments, a little surprised.
Todd beams at the praise. “Yes, well, most of the supplies were already set out. I simply organized them into this pack! There isn’t much anyway since all you really need is a teleporter to take you back here, where you can grab anything you need.”
Nathan nods. That explained the small, light backpack. “So what’s in here, then? Besides the teleporter.”
“Mostly just food and a stack of pictures of what Rex might look like based on his family traits,” he explains, placing the backpack onto the counter beside Nathan.
“Good,” Nathan nods. “I was wondering how I was supposed to know what to look for. He could look just like Crystal- or he could be completely different, and I wouldn’t recognize him for who he really is.”
Todd nods. “Mistress Zarafa seems to think of everything.”
Nathan frowns a little, contemplating this. “Yes… yes she does.”
<<
Bryce walks purposefully down the sidewalk, his piercing blue eyes looking neither to the left or to the right, just straight ahead. He knows his destination. His dark cloak billows behind him in the breeze. He is powerful, and the people he passes by shrink away from him in fear, subconsciously able to feel this. Finally, he reaches the end of his walk. He raises his gloved hand to knock, but the door opens before he can.
Zarafa sighs with relief. “Good, you’re here.”
“Where’s the boy?” Bryce asks, glancing around.
She frowns. “He is cautious and wary. I was unable to convince him that he should have a partner in the search. He already left.”
“Then I will come up with a plan,” he declares.
“Do you need my help?” Zarafa asks.
“No,” he growls, pulling his gloves on tighter. “I’ve got it covered.” And with that, he strolls back out the door. Zarafa stands there watching him go, confused, but also assured that he will be able to do what he says he will. Nathan will accept him as his partner willingly, and the plan will begin to fall into place. She smiles and closes the door behind him.
<<
Nathan wanders through the streets, passing by a few dark alleys that he feels a little uneasy about entering, but then he remembers that he needs to be looking everywhere for Rex- even and especially in the most unlikely of places. Fingering the straps on his backpack, he steps cautiously into one of these dark alleys. He stops and lets his eyes adjust before stepping forward. Through the gloom, he sees that there’s nothing but a dumpster at the end. He turns to leave the alley and finds a dirty gloved fist in his face.
He falls to the ground, blood dripping from his nose. He snarls and shifts into a tiger. He’s shocked when the man calmly pulls something out of his sleeve and holds it to his mouth. He shoots a dart into Nathan’s shoulder, causing him to revert back to human form and making it so he’s unable to move. He watches, wide-eyed, as the man kneels by his head, sneering. His thin lips pull back to reveal yellow teeth. “Greetings, Zilferian. I don’t know who you are, but you obviously have some Gifts. And that makes you valuable to Patrick.” Nathan is unable to respond to this with anything but his breathing, which becomes more rapid. The man grins and scoops Nathan up, helpless, in his scrawny yet strong arms and turns to go.
He is also met with a fist to the face. He drops Nathan, who lands on the ground with a groan. He’s in a position that he can’t see his rescuer, but he can see the black boots that step over him to the thin man, who is hastily scrambling away, fear on his face. The boots calmly follow the man until he’s backed up against the wall beside the dumpster. Nathan can see that the rescuer has a black cloak, not unlike those that the Dragon Hunters were always wearing. Fear rushes through his veins once more. He isn’t his rescuer- he just wants to take Nathan to Patrick himself!
Nathan struggles to sit up but only manages to prop himself up on his elbow. At least the paralyzing effects from the dart were already wearing off. He watches the cloaked man carefully as he beats the other man, who eventually scrambles past the cloaked newcomer and races out of the alley as fast as his long legs can carry him, completely ignoring Nathan, who now pulls himself to his feet. The cloaked man turns and surveys Nat
han, who stands there panting and watching him wearily. “What do you want?” Nathan finally asks.
“Nothing,” the man replies. “I just saw that you needed help, so I helped you.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“…Yes. You are Nathan Anderson, friend to the Dragon family, and a searcher for Rex Dragon.”
“So you know Zarafa?” Nathan asks, slightly less wary.
“Yes. We are… close friends. She wanted me to be your partner in the search, but she informs me that you do not wish to have a partner.”
“Why do you have a Dragon Hunter’s cloak?”
“I just came from one of their meetings. I pretended to be a Dragon Hunter and blend in. I learn their secrets. It’s how I knew that one was lying here in wait for you.”
“Oh.” Nathan relaxes, assured that this man doesn’t mean him any harm. He just saved him, and he knows Zarafa, and he spies on the Dragon Hunters. This man is a friend. “What’s your name?”
“Bryce.”
“…No last name?”
“No. It makes it harder for the Dragon Hunters to find me if I’ve been discovered, you see. One can never be too careful.”
“True,” Nathan admits. “Well, thank you for helping me. I think I’ll just be going now.”
Bryce raises an eyebrow skeptically. “And do you know where the next Dragon Hunter lies in wait? No, of course you don’t. You also don’t know what other tricks they have up their sleeve that they’d use to capture you.”
Nathan sighs. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that you need me. I know the Dragon Hunters’ next moves, and I know how to protect you.”
“I don’t want a partner,” Nathan replies, Crystal’s image flashing behind his eyes once more. He had only one partner. No one would be replacing her.
Bryce sighs. “Listen. I know I’m no Crystal Dragon, but I can help you. In fact, if you really don’t like me that much, then I could just follow you at a distance and keep the Dragon Hunters off your tail. Or I could travel with you and protect you that way, as well as advise you and otherwise help you where I can.”