by Katie Cherry
John is shaking and sweaty. “Yes,” he confirms, panting.
“Alright then, let’s go,” Bryce requests, nodding to John to lead the way.
John takes a deep, calming breath and shakes off the magic-induced fatigue before turning towards the park. Bryce risks one more glance at Angela before he follows his fellow Dragon Hunter. They race across the rooftops before sliding to the ground from a smaller house, landing at a run. Bryce isn’t sure why, but he feels that time is of the essence. After entering the park, John slows and looks around.
“The signal wasn’t very strong,” he explains. “So I wasn’t able to pinpoint the phone’s exact location.”
“Nathan!” Bryce calls, his voice echoing through the moisture-filled air. “Nathan, it’s Bryce! Where are you?” He waits for a reply, but although the air is still and calm, no response is heard. Bryce feels sick as he sinks to his knees in the mud. “I’ve failed in my mission,” he mourns quietly. “I’ve lost the boy…”
Above him, the clouds are thinning and beginning to blow away, revealing the solemn blue sky. A beam of sunlight falls on the two Dragon Hunters and reflects off of something half-buried in the grass near the roots of a tree. Bryce quickly stands and rushes over to grab it.
It’s Nathan’s phone.
<<
Nathan’s vision fades in and out as he is taken with the Dragon Hunters as his body struggles to not completely shut down. He’s numb and unfeeling and doesn’t even react when they strap him into the saddle of a beast the size and bulkiness of a small rhino. He hardly cares that its legs are bulging with muscle and narrow towards the foot, from which long, strong claws erupt. He can hardly feel its long, dinosaur-like tail swishing anxiously, nor feel the pounding of its massive heart. The heat radiating from its thick, leather-like skin doesn’t bother him, nor do the large, green eyes with a second set of transparent eyelids covering them.
He doesn’t feel a rush of excitement or fear as the beast, alongside a few others that the Dragon Hunters ride, suddenly lunges forward and tears deep gashes into the ground as it rapidly accelerates. He doesn’t care when he feels a blindfold slip over his eyes and tie behind his head. He isn’t wary about where he’s going.
He doesn’t feel anything until his brain finally processes what happened. They took his Gifts away with magic. That wasn’t how they took Crystal’s away from her… Crystal. The name sparks some feeling back into him, and his fingers twitch and tingle. A warm feeling then floods his body and heat pulses through him, filling him with energy.
Jabbing his elbow back, he hits the man behind him in the gut. He tumbles off the side of the beast with a surprised yelp. Nathan scrambles to remove the blindfold, then inspects the creature to find a way to control it. He can’t find anything resembling reigns to direct it. Ahead of him, the other Dragon Hunters begin to slow.
“Come on, come on!” he gasps, pulling at the beast’s head. It doesn’t turn. Ahead of him, the Dragon Hunters are climbing off of their rides, even as Nathan’s begins slowing even further. Finally, Nathan bails out and rolls off the side of the beast. He hits the ground hard, breaking a couple of ribs and spraining his wrist.
The Dragon Hunters shout in surprise as Nathan’s beast arrives riderless. Nathan hauls himself to his feet once finished rolling and coughs up blood. I need to find a medi-bot… he thinks as he takes a shaky step away from his captors.
Taking a deep, raspy breath, Nathan plunges into the treeline.
<<
Bryce kneels by some deep gouges in the ground. “Beasts from Ponorama,” he murmurs, standing and turning to John. “The fast ones.”
John frowns. “Then how are we supposed to keep up?”
Bryce turns to face the direction the tracks lead. “We’ll just have to travel fast and hope they only went a short distance,” he sighs, gesturing for John to join him as he begins running. After a while, they slow to a stop, panting lightly. “Do you hear that?” Bryce asks, turning to John, who nods slowly.
“Someone’s coming back this way.”
“Into the trees,” Bryce orders, dashing into the tree line and crouching beside a large tree in the undergrowth with John to his right. Their breathing slows and steadies, and soon the only sound was that of someone stumbling toward them. The person’s breathing is harsh and ragged, and their footsteps sound weak, and they stumble often. Bryce makes a signal to John, who nods. Bryce then tenses in preparation as the person comes closer.
His intended target stops near him, their breathing so shallow and raspy that they pass out, their body falling hard onto the ground. Bryce turns to John and raises a quizzical eyebrow before standing and walking over to the person. He freezes when he identifies them.
“…Who is it?” John asks, sliding up next to him. “Is it anyone we know?”
Bryce moves some bushes aside so his companion can have a better view of the body. “I do believe so.”
John’s eyes widen in disbelief. “By the Great Eye! What happened to him?!”
The boy then moves, groaning and blinking his eyes open as Bryce kneels down beside him. “Bryce…” he sighs wearily.
“It’s alright, Nathan. I’m here. You’ll be fine. Just don’t move. Now tell me what happened,” Bryce urges, keeping his voice calm although he can hear the other Dragon Hunters coming closer.
Nathan’s eyes are beginning to roll back in his head. “Ribs,” he gasps. “Wrist… fell off… ran… tired…” and then he’s out again.
Bryce carefully picks him up and turns to John. “We need to get him to Zarafa- immediately.”
<<
“Auna, it will just have to wait until Monday,” Angela sighs as she tugs a shirt over her damp hair. “Mom told me to take a shower and stay inside. You know as well as I that if I push too hard, it only gets worse.”
Auna follows as Angela sits on her bed, easing a brush through her hair. “I know,” she sighs. “I’m just worried that it might be too late to reverse the Forgetfulness by then.”
“Well, it’s probably a better option to risk that than to push mom to never let me leave the house for anything but school. How am I supposed to help Nathan- and fulfill my duty to the Queen- then?” Angela retorts, setting down the brush and picking up her phone, checking it to see if Nathan responded to her call. He hadn’t.
The fairiye balances on the doorknob. “What if whatever the Dragon Hunter made you forget was extremely important to helping keep Nathan safe? What if you accidentally heard their plans or something?”
Angela sighs and turns back to Auna, hands on her hips. “We’ll just have to trust that we can get by without the information until tomorrow.”
“What about finding his Familiar?”
“I can’t go anywhere. If you feel up to it, you’re welcome to search for him. I would recommend looking for those two Dorff first. They’re bound to know where he is.”
“Fine,” Auna concedes. “It’s getting dark anyway. You go eat dinner. I’ll be back in the morning to report.”
“Thank you,” Angela sighs. “Good luck.” With a polite nod of her head, the fairiye flits out the window.
That girl may not listen to me, but perhaps T will. Surely he will understand the dire situation we are in, Auna decides, winging her way over to his hideout. When she arrives, she knocks on the door of the bus. There’s no movement from within, so she pushes it open and slides through. Leaping to the top of the stairs, she looks around. No one seems to be home. She lifts back into the air and turns to go.
“Leaving so soon?” A voice behind her asks.
She spins around. “T? What… where did you come from?”
The old man grins. “Surprise ya, did I? I thought you knew about my secret?”
Auna sighs. “I know a few of your secrets, but I doubt I will ever reach the end of them. You seem to have more than most.”
He chuckles. “True enough,” he concedes. “So what can I do for you, my dear fairiye?”
/> “…It’s Angela.”
He instantly looks concerned. “What? What is it? What happened? Is she okay?”
“I think so… well, yes, but she’s had her memories erased, and I have no idea how… I was hoping you could help her.”
“And this couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” He questions.
Auna groans. “Not you too! You know as well as I that the effects may become permanent if a solution is not found quickly.”
The old bus driver turns and begins heading toward the back of the bus. “What is it that you believe she forgot?”
“Well, I don’t know for sure,” the fairiye pouts, folding her arms. “I just know that it had to be important for a Dragon Hunter to wipe her memories. Perhaps plans involving Nathan? The whereabouts of his Familiar?”
“What makes you so sure it was a Dragon Hunter that did it?”
“There were lots of them in the town today, plus who else would ever need to- or know how to- erase her memories? …What are you doing?” she questions, hovering over his shoulder as he stands facing the back wall of the bus.
“What am I doing?” He chuckles. “Well, I’m going to see if I have a cure for Angela’s little problem. …This will take a while. You may want to go and do something else in the meantime. Come Monday morning, I may have the answer to your dilemma.”
“Alright,” she sighs. “Just be careful. Your cover can’t be blown no matter what, remember?”
He laughs at this. “How long do you think I could be a double spy without knowing that? Don’t worry, the Dragon Hunters have no idea who I am. All they know is that I supply them with their potions, and that’s all they really care about. Now go, be on your way.”
“Farewell, T,” Auna calls as she squeezes out the door once more. Now then. To find the Lost Familiar.
<<
Greg wakes in the dark. For a moment he’s disoriented- at least, until he catches the sour scent of the Dorff. He wriggles around and gets to his feet. He’s still in that cursed bag that he was first captured in, with no idea where he is now. All he knows is that the pink monster, Rosulkip, comes in to feed him now and then. She only slips small bits of rotten Zilferian food through the opening, then closes it again before he could even think about jumping out of the bag.
Today he had a plan, however. He was going to get out of his stinking prison and get back to Nathan if it was the last thing he did. He had to warn the boy… he was in more trouble than he realized. And if he was too late to get to him…
He stops and shudders, his tail wrapping into a nervous knot. Now was not the time to think about such things. He just needed to get out of there- as soon as possible.
“Mousy! I bring foods to eat!” the annoying voice of the pink Dorff announces as she stomps over toward him. “Be good mousy and get more foods!” The top of the bag opens and she dumps the food in. Greg doesn’t move, figuring that playing dead might help his plight. “…Mousy? Mousy no hungry?” A yellow eye appears in the opening of the bag. Greg lies still, eyes mostly closed, waiting. “…Is mousy… dead?” The bag opens wider. Wait for it, Greg urges himself. Wait for it…
A rough pink hand closes around him and pulls him out of the bag. The instant his body clears the dirty cloth, he swivels and bites the Dorff’s hand. She squeals and releases him. He falls to the ground. Rolling back onto his feet, he takes off running, dodging the large, boil covered feet of the now stomping Rosulkip. He’s in an old farmhouse. Surely there was a rat hole in the wall somewhere… He begins skirting the walls of the room. There!
He shoots into the hole just as a foot crashes down behind him, missing his tail by the width of a whisker. “Whew,” he breathes in relief. “That was close.”
“Who are you?” A high voice inquires. Turning, Greg sees a young mouse.
“Why, hello there,” he greets. “I’m Greg. …Do you know of a way I can escape this house?”
“Sure, mister!” The little black mouse happily chimes. “Follow me!” At that, the brown mouse turns tail and skitters away. Greg cautiously follows him. After a while, the walk turns into a climb.
“…Where are we going?”
“To the top. You can slide down the rain gutter once we emerge onto the roof,” he says. Sure enough, after a few more minutes the two emerge onto the roof, which is slick from recent rainfall.
“Thank you,” he says, turning to the mouse.
“No problem. I don’t get many visitors. Come again soon?”
“…Maybe,” Greg says. With a nod, the mouse disappears back into the house. I can’t believe it. I’m free at last!
After a few minutes, he hears something in his head, faint at first. “Greg? Greg the Familiar to Nathan Anderson… oh, this is useless. I’m never going to find him.”
“…Hello?” he calls back curiously. “Who are you? How do you know Nathan?”
“Greg??” the voice chimes back excitedly. “Is that really you?” The voice grows clearer, and he realizes that whoever it was is getting closer to him.
“Yes, I’m Greg. …How do you know who I am?”
“Just a moment… I have almost reached you.” At that, a beautiful fairiye comes flying toward him from the sky. “I am companion to Angela Dove… she and Nathan know each other.”
“Ah, that explains it. Except… how is that possible? I thought Angela was a normal girl…”
“A ‘normal girl’ originally from Zilferia,” the fairiye explains.
“…From Zilferia? But…”
“No time,” the fairiye sighs. “I need to get you back to her, so she can get you back to Nathan. He needs you.”
“You have no idea,” he sighs. “Alright, lead the way.”
<<
Zarafa opens the door, exasperated. “Bryce, I was…” her voice trails away when she catches sight of the boy lying limp in Bryce’s arms. “What happened…” He brushes past her into the house, a sense of urgency about him. John steps in behind him. “Who is…”
“Nathan was attacked,” Bryce interrupts, lying him on one of Zarafa’s couches. “By the group of Dragon Hunters whose mission was to capture or kill Angela Dove- as she goes by in this realm. Apparently, Nathan got in the way of that mission, so they decided to…” he pauses and looks him over. “Do… whatever they did to him… in revenge.”
“What did they do?” she asks, coming over to him. The strong smell of blood caused her teeth to ache and begin to sharpen. With a surge of strength, she forces them back. The boy is not a meal.
“We’re not sure,” John says, stepping up beside her, hands in his pockets. “We kinda just… found him like this.”
“All we really know is he was captured and he escaped,” Bryce explains. “He is hurt and needs healing so he can tell us what happened.”
“So you came to me,” Zarafa smugly determines.
Bryce sighs exasperatedly. “Yes. So please, help him… without biting him,” he says, eyeing her teeth as they begin to sharpen again.
“Yes, yes, I know,” she replies tiredly. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” She then goes to a dark blue door and unlocks it. She heads straight to a certain drawer and opens it with a wave of her hand, withdrawing a vial of rich, dark orange liquid. After retrieving a needle, she speeds back down the stairs and uses the needle to deposit a single drop of the liquid into the boy’s veins. A light glow spreads from the area and eventually envelops his entire body, shimmering and dancing over his pale skin. It fades within a matter of seconds.
“His breathing has returned to normal,” Bryce reports, relieved.
“Of course it has,” Zarafa scoffs. “Did you ever doubt me?”
“…No, of course not,” he replies after a second. “So how soon until he…”
Nathan groans and opens his eyes. It takes a few seconds for them to focus on Bryce’s face. “Bryce…”
“Yes, I’m here,” he assures him, kneeling by his side. “…Do you think you can tell me what happened?” he cautiousl
y ventures.
“Yes… but I won’t,” Nathan tartly says, sitting up on the couch.
“…Why not?” he inquires, concerned.
“Because I don’t trust you,” he simply says, standing.
“Why don’t you trust me anymore?”
“Because… well, because of everything. The Dragon Hunter’s cloak that you always wear… what those Dragon Hunters said about you…”
Bryce curses under his breath. Of course he heard the other Dragon Hunters ranting about him. Just his luck. “Nathan…”
“No. Don’t talk to me. I don’t want to see you or hear from you until I can decide who you really are.”
“Nathan, I told you… I’m a spy…”
“Yes, but for which side?” He shakes his head and walks toward the door, taking his phone from Bryce’s hand as he goes. “I’m going home. Don’t bother me. I may or may not come back next weekend… it depends on what I find out about you.”
“Um… okay…”
“Goodbye,” he says, removing the tracker ring from his finger and tossing it to Zarafa before shutting the door behind him.
Zarafa turns to Bryce. “That went well.”
“Shut up,” he groans, holding his face in his hands.
<<
Nathan remains where he is for a few seconds, breathing hard. Bryce may or may not be a Dragon Hunter. He may or may not have made another enemy today, and he may or may not have ruined everything for him finding Rex before Patrick did. Either way, what’s done is done. Now the only thing left to do is return home and rest, then head out and find Greg. He clenches his fist. If they took him… those two Dorff will regret it for sure…
He walks home in a haze, not really knowing what to do, but wanting to go home. When he emerges onto his street, he gets another call from Angela. He doesn’t answer it, too tired to deal with anyone right now. When he gets into his house, he just climbs up to his room and quietly slips inside. He then slips into bed and falls asleep, exhausted and drained from the day’s events. Tomorrow… tomorrow I will find Greg, and I will find out the truth. I will wring it out of that fairiye, Angela, the bus driver, the Dorff, and everyone else who’s been lying to me. Tomorrow, there will be no more secrets.