Chapter Eight
Stan woke early, and slipped out of the tent as quietly as he could. After years of practice, he could move as silently as a shadow in almost any situation, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he made it out of the tent without waking Abby. She needed her rest, and, besides, he wanted to have this conversation with the High Council without her around to butt in.
The less she contributed to his explanation of last night, the better. She was liable to get overly defensive and tick the Council off enough that they’d cancel the mission. And the last thing Stan wanted right now was for this mission to be canceled. Not only did he want to get back at the Dark Warriors for the attack by finding out where they’d taken the kidnapped college students, but he also wanted to spend more time with Abby.
He knew he was being a fool. Last night hadn’t changed anything between them, other than the fact that she could no longer claim that he was useless. He wasn’t so sure that was going to be a good development in their relationship, though. She’d been in shock last night, which had kept her relatively subdued. But he had a feeling that when she woke up today, she was going to be embarrassed by last night and overcompensate for that embarrassment by treating him more contemptuously than ever. Stan sighed. He really should have more faith in her, he knew. But in the short time she’d known him, she hadn’t given him much evidence that she was capable of being grateful or reasonable.
So why am I helping her? he asked himself. He didn’t want to answer himself honestly. The truth was, he was helping her because he cared deeply about her and couldn’t get her out of his head. And he had a feeling that the root of that concern and care was the fact that he’d never wanted a woman as badly as he wanted Abby Fullmer.
There, he’d admitted it to himself. He was lusting after Abby. He was probably never going to have a chance to even kiss her, but he couldn’t stop himself from daydreaming about her anyway. And those daydreams were making him do crazy things, like sneak off to talk to the High Council on her behalf.
Stan dug his radio out of his hiking pack, then started creeping toward the river. He would talk to the High Council there, far out of earshot of Abby. He had a feeling that if she woke up and realized that he was “helping” her, she’d only be angry. That feeling should have been enough for him to leave her alone. After all, he was a dragon shifter, and he could have almost any woman he wanted. But something about Abby’s defiance turned him on. She might be a little overzealous in her belief that she didn’t need help, but at least she didn’t let anyone walk all over her. She had spirit, and he liked that.
Stan looked around the campsite as he made his way toward the thick trees of the forest. Abby had done a remarkably good job of cleaning things up. Stan had helped as much as he could, but Abby had used her magic to do the bulk of the work. She’d buried the bodies, burned any belongings the Dark Warriors had left behind, and cleaned up the ashes from the fires. The only thing that had been saved from last night’s attackers were a few flash drives that had been found on the bodies of the dead enemy soldiers. Those would be taken back to Torch Lake for analysis, in case there was any useful information on them. Stan doubted there would be, since the Dark Warriors seemed to have become more careful lately about not toting around important information. But you never knew when one of them might slip up and have some valuable data on hand. It was worth a shot.
Stan glanced back at the tent one last time. The repair Abby had done had left it with a bunch of strange-looking seams, but despite its weird appearance, it seemed to be almost as good as new. Stan was glad the other tent had been beyond repair. For one thing, it had kept Abby from having any reasonable argument as to why she couldn’t stay in the same tent with him. One tent was much safer. But for another thing, Stan had to admit he’d enjoyed lying next to her all night. He had enjoyed sleeping so close to such a beautiful woman. Now, no sounds came from within, and he knew Abby was sound asleep. He wasn’t too nervous about leaving her alone now, since he knew she’d cast protective spells before they went to sleep again after the attack. The shield spells would keep her safe long enough for Stan to get back here from the river if necessary. Besides, the Dark Warriors were unlikely to attack again right away. They’d suffered a pretty resounding loss last night, and would need time to regroup before thinking about another attack.
Stan turned and began the walk down to the river. He rehearsed in his head what he was going to say to the High Council, but he knew that no matter how many times he went over the story in his head, the most important words he could say would be “Abigail Fullmer deserves to continue with this mission.”
The High Council trusted dragons completely. Perhaps they trusted dragons even more than they should at times. But Stan wasn’t complaining: that was going to work in his favor today. And despite Abby’s flaws, he did believe in her. He believed she deserved another chance, even though she’d messed up a bit last night. And he was going to make sure the High Council gave her that chance.
* * *
“Stan, you realize that Abby’s failure to put up protective spells was a serious breach of protocol. Protective spells while on a mission are the most basic precautions. We teach this stuff in the very first classes of first year magical defense students. Abby is a magical defense graduate, and she is halfway finished with a degree in Ancient Magic. She should know better.”
“Yes, she should. But everyone makes mistakes. And as far as I can tell, this is the first mistake she’s made in a long, long time. She’s usually very reliable. And you know how much of a perfectionist she is. She can’t stand knowing that she messed up, and she feels horrible about last night. She’s going to be a thousand times more careful in the future, which makes her pretty much the safest option.”
There was a long pause as Councilor Morgan considered his words. Finally, the old wizard let out a long sigh.
“I’m surprised you’re so willing to vouch for her, Stan. She hasn’t exactly been thrilled to have you along as a partner.”
“She has been…difficult at times, yes. But she’s talented. I can’t let my own feelings or wounded pride get in the way of what’s best for Torch Lake. And she’s one of the best wizards Torch Lake has at the moment.”
“She’s also the one who could most use a dose of humility.”
“I think she got a good dose last night. Now let her show you what she’s capable of.”
Another long pause. Stan held his breath. He had done everything he could to convince Councilor Morgan. Abby’s fate was in the old wizard’s hands now. Finally, the Head Councilor exhaled.
“Alright, fine. She can have one more chance. But tell her she needs to be careful. We can’t have any more sloppy mistakes like this.”
“I understand. And I’ll make sure she knows. She already knows.”
“Humph. You realize you’re staking your own reputation on her?”
“I do. And I’m comfortable doing that.”
“Alright. Then you two can continue on as planned. Update us when you get to the campsite. That should be sometime today, correct?
“Yes, sometime today. Probably before noon. Hopefully Abby can figure out the ancient magic quickly and we’ll have a meaningful report to give.”
“Looking forward to it. And be careful out there, Stan. It sounds like the Dark Warriors are even more active than we’d thought.”
Stan sighed. “Agreed. I’m not sure what they’re up to, but it’s definitely no good. We’ll keep you posted on our day.”
“Alright. Talk to you then.”
Stan turned off the radio and sat staring at the river for a few moments, thinking. Everything the Dark Warriors was doing seemed too obvious. Why would they kidnap students, and blatantly attack Abby in the middle of the night? Usually they tried to stay under the radar, acting almost like their organization didn’t exist. Why were they growing so much bolder?
Stan chewed his lower lip for a few minutes, thinking. Then he stood and turned back toward c
amp. He should get back to Abby and get breakfast going. The sooner they started out today the better. He was anxious to be able to call the High Council with some sort of news that didn’t involve Abby failing to perform basic security spells.
But when he turned back toward the campsite, he nearly jumped out of his skin. Abby was standing there, watching him. Her eyes were tired, but wide.
“Abby,” Stan said uncertainly. How much of his conversation with Councilor Morgan had she overheard?
“You fought for me,” she said.
Stan rubbed at his forehead. She must have heard most of the conversation, then. “I did. I think you’re the best wizard for the job, despite what happened last night.”
“I don’t know what to say. Thank you. Again. It seems like I owe you a lot of thanks right now.”
Stan smiled at her. “Don’t mention it. Like I said, I think you’re the best wizard for the job. I’m not fighting for you to do you any favors. I’m fighting for you because I think you’ll help Torch Lake more than anyone else. Although, if you want to thank me by not biting my head off every two seconds, I wouldn’t complain about that, either.”
She smiled sheepishly at him. “Sorry. I guess I owe you a few apologies, as well as thanks.”
Stan shrugged. “Don’t mention it. Let’s get breakfast and head out toward the campsite where those students went missing.”
Abby nodded, and the two of them headed back toward their tent together. They ate quickly, cold cereal with a bit of milk, and then packed up for the hike out. Abby was silent, but Stan noticed that she was smiling more. Maybe the fact that he’d stood up for her had gotten through to her.
He hoped so, because with every passing minute he found he was attracted to her more. Perhaps, if this trend continued, they might actually become friends. Maybe they’d even become more than friends. A guy could hope, right?
Stan knew he had to put his hopes on hold for the moment, though. Right now, the most important thing was finishing this mission. And so, he and Abby set out in the direction of the campsite where the students had gone missing. It didn’t take them long to reach it. The place looked abandoned now, since the first crew that had come through here looking for the missing students had cleaned up the place. None of the belongings they’d left behind were still here. All that remained was a windswept dirt clearing, and two charcoal barbecue grills that were full of ashes.
Abby immediately started turning around in slow circles, raising her magic ring and whispering spells. She didn’t say anything to Stan, and she appeared to be concentrating deeply, so he left her to her work and started wandering around, looking for any non-magical clues. There wasn’t much to see, though. There were a few trees with broken branches, but that could have been from a storm just as easily as it could have been from a Dark Warrior attack.
Stan soon grew bored, and sat on a log as he waited for Abby to finish. She wandered back and forth across the campsite, frowning and speaking spells under her breath. For a while, she didn’t seem to be finding anything, but then, she suddenly got excited.
“Yes, yes, there it is,” she said, more to herself than to him, it seemed. She ran over to her hiking pack and pulled out a notebook and pen, then started making notes as she continued to speak magic revealing spells. Stan grew antsier with every passing minute. Abby was obviously excited about whatever she’d found, but she didn’t pause to explain anything to him. She scribbled furiously in her notebook, nodding and speaking out spells, for the better part of half an hour. The sun was high in the noonday sky before she stopped and came over to talk to him.
“They definitely left a trail,” she said, her eyes shining with excitement. Stan loved how working with magic always seemed to make her face glow. Despite her little goof-up the night before, it was clear that she’d been born to do this kind of thing. She thrived off of the challenge.
“And I’m assuming you found that trail?” Stan asked, leaning over to try to look at her notes. He couldn’t read her chicken scratch scrawl, though. She’d made notes and drawn arrows over the entire page, and he wondered how even she herself could keep that mess straight.
“I found it,” she said, then paused, as if unsure whether to continue speaking.
“What is it?” Stan prompted.
“Well, it’s silly. I’m probably wrong about this, because it doesn’t make sense that this would be the case, but…”
“What? Just spit it out!”
Abby shifted uncomfortably and looked down at her notes.
“The trail that’s been left behind isn’t just of wizards. There were also shifters here.”
Stan frowned. “That doesn’t seem that strange. The Dark Warriors have both wizards and shifters on their side. There were shifters during the attack last night.”
Abby nodded. “Right. It’s not the fact that there were shifters here that’s weird. It’s the type of shifter.”
“What do you mean?”
“The trail left behind indicates a very large shifter, with magical residue on him.”
Stan was getting impatient. “Stop talking in circles, Abby. What type of shifter was it, and why are you so surprised by it?”
Abby looked at Stan, then looked down at her notes, then looked up at Stan again.
“Stan, it looks like there was a dragon here.”
Abby was right: the fact that a dragon had been here did shock him.
“Are you sure?” he demanded, his heart pounding.
Abby shrugged. “I can’t be one hundred percent sure unless I actually see a dragon. But the trail is strongly indicative of a dragon. There was definitely magical shifter residue left behind, and the only types of modern shifters that leave a trail of magical residue are dragon shifters or unicorn shifters. But the magical shifter that was here was much too large to have been a unicorn. So unless I’m performing all of my magic detecting spells completely wrong, there was definitely a dragon here.”
Stan frowned, and went to sit down on a log again. He needed to process everything Abby had just told him. If a dragon shifter had been here, that meant that a dragon shifter had joined the forces of the Dark Warriors. And that was bad news for everyone fighting on the side of good. During the last war, a dragon shifter named Saul had embraced evil, and learned how to perform magic. Dragons, due to their magical history, could learn to do magic in modern times—it’s just that the magic they could learn was all dark magic. A dragon could undergo a dark magic spell to regain magical abilities, but that damaged his soul. All the magic he performed would be dark magic. A dragon like that would be a great asset to the Dark Warriors, and a fearsome enemy to Torch Lake.
“How can you tell all of that just from magic spells?” Stan asked. He didn’t want to believe that what Abby was telling him was true. Surely there was some mistake. He felt sick to his stomach just thinking about the possibility of another evil dragon trying to wreak havoc in the wizard and shifter world.
“Ancient magic spells can detect a lot,” Abby said gently. For once, she wasn’t making fun of him, or acting impatient with his lack of magical knowledge. She seemed to sense that he was reeling from the news that the Dark Warriors had acquired a dragon. Stan rubbed his forehead, trying to think, and trying to make sense of how evil had managed to seduce yet another dragon. Dragons were known as moral, upright creatures, and they were very hard to corrupt with evil. But once corrupted, they became almost unthinkably dangerous.
“We have to tell the High Council,” Stan finally said, rising to his feet. “They’ll want to know about this right away, and I imagine they’ll want to send out a team to follow the trail you found. If it’s true that there’s an evil dragon out there, then those students are in a lot of trouble. I don’t know what an evil dragon would want with a bunch of first year college students, but it can’t be good.”
“The High Council should let me follow the trail,” Abby said, crossing her arms defiantly, as though daring Stan to disagree with her. But Stan only shrug
ged. He didn’t necessarily disagree with her. He worried that if another team came out that wasn’t skilled in ancient magic, they would only lose the trail. And time was of the essence here. The longer it took them to find the kidnapped students, the more time the Dark Warriors had to torment them with whatever dark magic they were using on them.
“Let me talk to the High Council,” Stan said. “They’re more likely to listen to me, because I’m a dragon. I know it’s not fair, but that’s the way it is right now. If you really want to be the one to chase down these Dark Warriors, I can probably convince the Council to let you.”
Abby made a face, but nodded. “Fine. But please try your best to convince them. I have a bad feeling about all of this. Those Dark Warriors need to be found, and soon. The lives of the missing students are hanging in the balance.”
Stan nodded soberly. “I’ll do my best.”
He just hoped that his best would be good enough. Like Abby, he had the distinct feeling that the clock was ticking.
Chapter Nine
Abby stared at Stan in disbelief. She opened her mouth to try to speak, but she was having trouble formulating words. “Th-thank you,” she finally managed to say.
Stan grinned at her. “You’re welcome. Now you really have to be nice to me. I saved your life last night, and now I’ve convinced the High Council to let you follow the Dark Warriors’ trail.”
Abby noted, with some relief, that he didn’t state out loud the obvious implications of all this: she did need help, after all. If she’d been doing all of this on her own, she might very well be dead right now, killed off by angry dark wizards. She also would not have been allowed to continue on this mission, tracking down the Dark Warriors. That much was obvious from how hard Stan had just fought with the High Council.
Abby had stood there and listened to the whole thing. Stan’s radio had squawked as the High Councilors made emphatic arguments against Abby continuing on. She had winced as they talked of her naïveté, pride, and general lack of real-life experience. She disagreed with them on many points, but her opinion didn’t matter. They hadn’t known she was listening in, and it had been a humbling experience to hear what they really thought of her. The one thing she hadn’t learned during all of her time in school was that degrees and education weren’t what impressed the leadership in Torch Lake. Actions and real world accomplishments were what they looked at, and Abby didn’t have a lot of real world experience.
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