by Bryan Davis
Now jogging with Acacia on one side and Listener on the other, Billy searched through the mist, watching for Vacants as well as for any sign of the Second Eden dragons. Did they fly away, perhaps trying to escape from the enemy? Might they be circling somewhere overhead?
Listener stopped and pointed at the ground. “Here is where we left them.”
Billy joined her and studied the rippled rock. “How do you know?”
“White-spotted scat.” She nudged a pile with the toe of her boot. “Normally Albatross goes in the woods. He must have been scared.”
Billy nodded. “I get the picture.”
While Listener again peered through her spyglass, Billy turned in place, scanning the skies again. “We’re sitting ducks out here. If we don’t see a friendly dragon soon, we should head for the woods ourselves.”
“They likely fear you and your sword,” Acacia said. “The Vacant who escaped surely told them of your skill.”
“Maybe. But I’ll bet they’re afraid of an Oracle of Fire. They see a powerful warrior at my side.”
“I will do what I can.” A ball of flames appeared in each of her palms, sizzling in the mix of snow and drizzling rain. “At least we can try to keep them hiding in their holes.”
“A dragon just dove out of the clouds!” Listener called.
Billy swung toward her. “Where?”
She pointed at the ridge to the north. “Behind that hill.”
A loud growl erupted from that direction. Orange firelight painted the clouds, like flashes of lightning within the mist.
Billy spread out his arms, his sword in one hand. “Get ready. Thigocia’s attack might flush them out.”
“Should we flee to the woods?” Acacia asked.
“They might already be there by now. We could get ambushed.” Billy grasped the hilt with both hands. “I’d rather see what I’m fighting.”
Listener put her spyglass back in its holster and withdrew a six-inch dagger from her belt. “Candle taught me how to fight, too.”
Suppressing a laugh, Billy gave her a wink. “We’ll need all the help we can get.”
Listener pointed at a pass in the hillside. “Here they come!”
A line of soldiers poured through the gap, running with swords drawn and spears raised. Fog obscured the landscape. Billy couldn’t tell who they were, but his danger sensors sounded a loud alarm.
At least twenty soldiers ran straight toward them. Soon their identity became clear. With small fish-like mouths and big dark eyes, there was no doubt about it.
“Vacants,” Billy said. “A bunch of them.”
As another dozen Vacants stormed through the pass, Thigocia followed, two riders on her back and her wings beating as she flooded their rear flank with a streaming firestorm. Two Vacants at the back erupted in flames, and a third fell on his face in the lava field. A purple dragon trailed Thigocia, spewing ice on the field, and a white dragon followed, adding another coat of frost.
Acacia stepped out in front of Billy and Listener. She wrapped her arms around herself, then thrust them out to her side and shouted, “Ignite!” White flames shot from her hair and hands, and waves of bright blue sparks coated her body from head to toe. As her fire blazed, her entire body shook, and her face twisted into a pain-streaked grimace.
The leading line of soldiers slowed, their black eyes wide. One charged ahead, screaming a strange word as he raised a curved sword.
Billy jumped in front of Acacia. Excalibur met the monster’s sword with a loud clank and broke it in two. He ducked under the Vacant’s arm and, with a deft spin, swung his sword into its waist, cutting deeply.
As the Vacant collapsed, Thigocia flew over. “One more pass ought to do it!” she called.
While she made a tight turn, somewhat slowed because of her riders, Billy looked back at the army. More than half were either in flames or blackened and lying on the ground. At least ten retreated toward the hills, but while they slipped on the now frozen ground, the other two dragons coated them with sprays of ice.
Five remaining Vacants charged. Acacia threw flaming balls at two and set their clothes on fire. Billy leaped ahead and cut through the leader’s spear at its grip, then with a backswing lopped off his hand. Lowering his shoulder, he rammed into the Vacant and sent him flying backwards.
Thigocia flew over and scorched the fourth with twin jets, but the fifth ducked underneath her fire and dashed by Billy.
With a quick leg thrust, Billy tripped him. The Vacant staggered a few steps before falling to all fours in front of Acacia. Grunting, he raised up, thrust his spear into her leg, and yanked it back out.
Acacia fell backwards. Her flames vanished. Listener dropped to her knees at Acacia’s side, while Billy ran toward them.
Still on his knees, the Vacant thrust his spear again, this time through Listener’s arm and into her ribcage.
“No!” Billy screamed. Fire spewed from his mouth and splashed over the Vacant’s body. Then, he swung Excalibur with all his might and sliced off the Vacant’s flaming head.
As Listener toppled backwards, Billy caught her in his arms. “Oh, dear God!” he cried. “Not Listener!”
Her chest heaving, Listener looked up at Billy with glazed eyes. “I … I’m hurt.”
He kissed her forehead. Tears dripped from his cheek to hers as he gasped, “Yes … but you’ll be okay. You’ll be …” He couldn’t finish. As blood leaked from her arm, cruelly pinned against her side, he wept.
“Do not remove the spear!” Thigocia shouted as she landed. “Her only hope is to leave it intact until we get her to a surgeon.”
Rebekah leaped to the ground and helped Acacia to a sitting position. Dallas followed and dragged the Vacant’s burning body away.
Blinking away tears, Acacia reached for Listener’s hand and caressed it. “Fear not, precious one,” she said, her voice quaking. “We’ll get you to Ashley.”
“I …” Listener swallowed. “I’m not afraid. I thought I was going to die by Timothy’s hand, and I wasn’t afraid then.”
Billy looked up at the weeping sky. “God! Please help us! Don’t let this little girl die!”
Albatross landed next to Thigocia. Ice crystals dripped from his eyes as he looked at Listener, whimpering.
“Albatross,” Thigocia said in a commanding voice. “Take Rebekah to the village and find Ashley. We will need something to cut the spear’s handle.”
“And we will bring a stretcher.” Rebekah grabbed Albatross’s strap and vaulted to the pilot’s chair. “Let’s fly!”
Letting out a loud trumpet call, Albatross leaped into the air and flew toward the village.
Thigocia looked up at the purple dragon circling low overhead, apparently watching for more Vacants. “Grackle!” she called. “Follow Albatross. We might need another transport. I will stay here and keep everyone warm.”
Grackle beat his wings hard and charged after the white dragon. Soon, both disappeared in the fog.
Thigocia covered Listener with a wing and breathed a warm wind over her shivering body. “Try to calm yourself, little one. The more you shake, the more damage you might do.”
Acacia scooted under the wing and pushed her fingers through Listener’s hair. “Do you remember what you told me this morning?” Acacia asked. “The story about finding the spyglass?”
Listener nodded.
“And the song you and Candle made up about it?”
She nodded again, this time wincing.
“May I sing it for you?”
As her eyelids fluttered, she offered another weak nod. “I would like that,” she whispered.
Acacia looked at Billy, then at Dallas. “When you figure it out, please join in.”
After clearing her throat, Acacia gazed into Listener’s eyes and sang.
My prayers go up;
Your love comes down;
You make me smile
On days I frown.
Our Father above
Sends us baskets
of love,
The blessings from his heart.
As Acacia repeated the song, Billy joined in, barely able to whisper the words. But when he saw Listener’s lips bend into a weak smile, he reached for more strength and gave it all he had. Soon, Dallas and even Thigocia joined them, the pattering of rain acting as a rhythmic beat.
More snow mixed in. A bitter wind blew. Billy shivered. He looked at Excalibur’s blade, still wet with the Vacant’s dark blood. It wasn’t enough—the sword, his skills, his wisdom in planning for battle. Nothing in his power could have kept this sweet little girl from such an awful fate. And nothing he could do would restore her ravaged body. Saving her now would take a miracle.
When the song ended, he looked up at the cascading flakes of white and whispered, “My prayers are going up, Father. Please make this precious one smile again.”
Marilyn sat on the tunnel’s cold stone floor and leaned against the rocky wall. It wasn’t the most comfortable seat in the world, but with her arms and legs aching, it was a lot better than nothing.
Gabriel stooped beside her and set a box searchlight on the ground, pointing it down the long tunnel. The high-powered beam illuminated Yereq and two former dragons as they rested nearby.
“Any other ideas?” Gabriel asked. “Think they found a portal or another way out?”
She shook her head. “No ideas. Let’s wait for the diver to come back. If he comes up empty-handed, I’ll try to think again. My brain’s just too tired right now.”
“Well, you already know what I think about his chances.”
Marilyn bit her lip. Gabriel was probably right. If they had drowned, their bodies would probably be under several layers of hardened magma by now. And with water rising to within a few feet of the top level, every access would be cut off soon.
“I have some great news, though.” He unwound a scroll a few inches and showed her the parchment. The leading edge was charred, but the hand printed text, written in dark pencil, was bold and easy to read. “Check this out.”
Marilyn leaned closer and read the carefully printed words.
This is Billy Bannister. Acacia and I took Rebekah and Dallas to Second Eden. We couldn’t find anyone else. We’ll try to come back tomorrow.
Underneath the text, Billy had drawn a sketch of himself and a dragon, both spewing fire.
She took the scroll and hugged it to her chest. Billy was alive! And so were Acacia and two of the former dragons. As tears welled in her eyes, she whispered, “Thank God.”
“I heard water running while I was in the museum chamber,” Gabriel said. “It’s dry in there, at least for now, and a tree’s on fire, but it’s off by itself so it’s not hurting anything. A ladder had been pulled down from the shelves. I guess they used it to climb through the portal.”
She clenched her fingers around the scroll. “And we missed them!”
“Yeah, I guess they were here while we were buzzing around in the helicopter.”
Marilyn nodded. She was about to ask why Yereq hadn’t seen them, but then remembered the huge new hole in the escape tunnel’s rubble. Obviously, Yereq had spent most of the time working on the opposite side of the rubble heap. If Billy and Acacia had ventured that way, they wouldn’t have seen him from inside the mines.
She read the scroll again. It seemed so wondrous and filled with life, and it communicated so much more than what the simple words said. The drawing meant that Jared was alive, too, or else Billy would have mentioned losing him.
“So,” Gabriel said, “assuming the diver doesn’t find them, what’s the next step?”
“Keep working on Apollo, I guess. We don’t have another portal opener.”
“Right. That should work great for getting into Second Eden.” The muscles in Gabriel’s forearms tensed. “But we have three missing in action. What about them?”
Marilyn looked into his fiery eyes. He wasn’t ready to give up any of the girls for lost. But how could anyone guess where they were now? Shiloh was in the hands of dragon slayers, who apparently sent their goons back to get the former dragons, and it seemed that Bonnie and Sapphira had simply vanished.
She reached out and took Gabriel’s hand. “I don’t know what to do. Do you have a suggestion?”
“We have their chopper and some partial names. I’ll bet we can find enough clues to get a good start.”
“We’ll need Larry for that,” Marilyn said, “so we should get home and feed him the information.”
“Only after we scour the helicopter for data, and maybe by then Mr. Foley will be well enough to travel. But we can’t wait around too long. Whoever sent the chopper might come looking for it.”
“I’ll call Edmund and see what he can do about keeping Carly at my house for a while. If they can make progress on Apollo without us there, staying here for a couple more days should be fine. No matter what happens, if Billy’s coming back tomorrow, we have to wait for him.”
Gabriel pointed at the floor. “And Yereq will stay longer and keep searching. He can’t fit in the airplane anyway.”
“And I’ll camp out in the museum room. I don’t want to miss Billy.”
“If it’s not flooded.”
“Right. That could be a problem.” Marilyn touched Gabriel’s cheek and changed her tone, hoping to communicate confidence. “We’ll find them. You know that, don’t you?”
He firmed his lips and nodded. “I know.”
“But something else is bothering you.”
“Well … nothing important. At least nothing that anyone can do anything about.”
“Tell me anyway,” she said, pulling on his sleeve. “Just getting it off your chest will help.”
He rocked from his crouch to a fully seated position. “I’m working like crazy trying to save everyone and get the world back to normal.”
“Yes, I know. You’ve been wonderful.”
“But do you know what will happen if we succeed?”
“I’m not sure what you mean. Some kind of trouble?”
Gabriel set his fingers together and let them spring apart. “Poof! If we separate Earth and Hades, Gabriel loses his physical body and becomes nothing but light energy.”
Marilyn covered her mouth. “I forgot about that!”
“I can’t say I blame you. This world merging thing is pretty crazy. And the only place I can have a real body will be in Hades. I don’t know about you, but that’s not even a nice place to visit, and no one would want to live there.”
“We’ll find an answer. Between Sapphira and Acacia and Enoch, someone has to know how to make you permanently whole.”
“Maybe.” He stayed quiet for a moment. Then, his voice spiking in anguish, he said, “And what if they do solve it? Will I have to live life as a freak? How could anyone ever love a teenaged senior citizen with dragon wings?”
Marilyn took his hand. Intertwining his fingers with hers, she kissed his thumb. “Oh, Gabriel. I know who brightens your eyes. I know who makes your heart flutter. Everyone does. And she’s also a teenaged senior citizen.”
Redness colored his cheeks. “I guess I haven’t hidden it very well.”
“There’s no need to hide it. Who would ever say you’re too young for romance? Shiloh has to know that you’d make a wonderful husband.”
“I’m glad you think so.” He pulled a wing tip in front of his eyes and rubbed the leathery canopy. “But would she want to marry a freak?”
“If you insist on using that term, then I’ll oblige.” She pointed at herself. “I’m a freak, too. I married a former dragon. And of course, my husband’s a freak, and so is my son.” She began counting on her fingers. “Bonnie’s a freak for obvious reasons, as is Sapphira, Acacia, and even Shiloh. Who ever heard of a girl surviving for forty years eating only a poisonous plant? And she didn’t age a day!”
Gabriel let a thin smile break through. “Okay. You got me. But there’s still the light energy issue to deal with.”
Marilyn climbed to her feet and reached d
own a hand for Gabriel. When they locked wrists, she hauled him up with a strong pull. “You feel solid to me, and if we have to move Heaven and Earth to keep you that way, we’ll do it.”
Chapter 14
Is There No Balm in Gilead?
Billy pushed a finger through Listener’s hair, no longer braided in her usual pigtails. Someone had brushed it out and splayed it on the soft pillow beneath her head. Lying on an elevated cot, her face pale, her skin soft and smooth, she looked like a sleeping angel. Yet, every few seconds, her lips puckered, and lines dug into her forehead, signs that pain tortured her unconscious brain. This angel was being tormented.
Standing next to Billy, Sir Patrick read the pressure meter. “Eighty over forty, William. The rate of decrease is slow, but it is dangerously steady. Her internal bleeding must be significant.”
Billy looked down at Elam as he sat on a nearby cot. “Did you hear that?” Billy asked.
Elam nodded, his face as pale as Listener’s. “How much longer does she have?”
“At this rate of blood loss?” Patrick looked up at the ceiling for a moment as if calculating. “Perhaps two hours. It is difficult to be certain.”
As tears welled in his eyes, Billy moved his hand to Listener’s arm, now bandaged and resting under a three-inch wooden stub, the new end of the spear. Earlier, Rebekah sawed it off and Steadfast withdrew the severed end from Listener’s arm. Steadfast was able to patch up the wound in the fleshy part of her bicep, but the more dangerous puncture through her ribcage still lay untouched.
Covering Listener’s bare chest up to her collarbone, a white sheet was turned up at the side to expose the wound. Listener’s companion floated just above her hand as it rested on her stomach. Emanating a pale blue light, the companion blinked at a tube that protruded from her skin, leading to a bag of blood hanging from a hook attached to an upright wooden pole. Valiant, after learning that his blood matched Listener’s, had donated as much as Ashley would allow. And since five other villagers also matched, they still had donors eager to help, yet, at the rate Listener was fading, it seemed hopeless.
As blood oozed from her side down to the lower sheet, Billy glared at the sawed butt of the spear. He had been too slow, too confident, too stupid. Why had he allowed her to go with them? Why hadn’t he taken her to the forest when the Vacants came into view? Sure, an ambush was possible, but he could have hidden her somewhere and fought those beasts alongside Acacia. Risking a child was stupid. It was criminal.