Smoke and Flame (Rise of the Dragons Trilogy Book 2)

by N. R. Hairston

  I nodded as my sister came into the dining room carrying a tray of coffee. She had on brown sweats, and a white T-shirt and her black hair was done up in a messy ponytail. I figured she’d probably spent the night here. I watched her place the tray of coffee on the dining room table, and felt a sadness pull at my heart.

  She probably hadn’t wanted to go home to an empty house. Here she felt useful and helpful, and I wished I could tell her that I’d always wanted her in my life like this.

  I mean, we got together sometimes, did lunch, maybe a little shopping, but those times were far and few in between. We’d always been close, it’s just that we all, Todd included, sometimes folded in on ourselves and that made it harder to hold bonds.

  I snapped out of my reverie when Trout and Iago came through the door causing a ruckus. They were talking loudly, and I even saw Trout squeeze Iago’s butt once or twice. I shot a glance at Reid, glad that we weren’t the only ones late this morning.

  They walked past us so wrapped up in their own conversation, I wasn’t even sure they saw us.

  Tired of hiding in the entryway, I decided to walk fully into the room, Reid right behind me.

  Todd looked up when we entered and motioned for us to take a seat. The buffet he and Coen had laid out looked like something out of a magazine spread.

  I inhaled the delicious smells, not knowing when I’d last eaten so well. I couldn’t even recall. I took a seat at the middle of the table, Reid beside me, and Iago and Trout across from us.

  Todd sat at the head of the table, with Coen to his right and Vonda to his left. To eat we had a large bowl filled with boiled eggs, a platter of bacon, another one with sausage links and patties, a plate of croissants, and beside that, bowls of cream cheese, strawberry jelly, and grape jam.

  Hmm. It all looked wonderful, and I licked my lips when I saw that Todd had also made a pan of his famous homemade biscuits. They sat in front of me, hot, buttery, and waiting for me to take a bite. Beside that was a platter of fresh fruit and a plate of sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions.

  To drink we had coffee, water, and orange juice. “Todd,” I said, looking at my brother. “Was all of this necessary?”

  He dropped his fork and narrowed his eyes at me. “You can be uninvited, you know.”

  My sister put down her glass of juice and hit me with a death glare. “You don’t have to be an asshole, you know.”

  Todd huffed and sat back in his chair, arms folded in front of him. “Why does she always have to complain about everything?”

  Vonda shrugged. “It’s just who she is. We know this.”

  I blinked at her, feeling insulted. “When do I ever complain? About anything?”

  They both hit me with incredulous stares. Undaunted, I was about to speak again when Reid cleared his throat, Coen huffed out a laugh, and Iago and Trout both stared at us, as one would misbehaving five-year-olds.

  That’s the age we were acting I realized. We sometimes regressed when we three got together, and I had no idea why. “Anyway,” I said, changing the subject. “What’s the plan for this new world.”

  Iago poured salt onto a boiled egg and took a big bite. He had three eggs on his plate, along with some grapes, and a few slices of tomatoes. “We know nothing of this world. We could be walking into a Yango stronghold,” he said after he’d swallowed.

  Trout put a finger to his chin. He had three plates in front of him, and I was sure there was nothing on the table that he hadn’t sampled. “We do as we did before. If we’re faced with a bunch of Yango, we fight.” He looked to Reid and me. “And you release the dragon.”

  I nodded, sounded like a solid plan to me.

  Reid popped a piece of bacon in his mouth. His plate consisted of two eggs, a hot buttered biscuit, the tomato cucumber and onion salad, along with the bacon and two sausage patties. “That’s not much of a plan.”

  “Thank Litvan someone else noticed,” Coen said. He sat, housecoat still on, with a plate of fruit and a can of grape soda.

  I bit into a strawberry. It tasted more bitter than sweet, but I liked them that way, so it was okay. “We need to creep into a deserted area and observe what type of people these are before we do anything. We can’t just pop up in the middle of town and hope for the best.”

  “Can you do that?” Todd asked. I noticed the only thing he had on his plate was a croissant with cream cheese and jelly along with a cluster of grapes.

  Trout nodded, as did I. “Sure, we can do that,” Trout answered.

  Reid put a hand on my thigh under the table, and I looked at him while he smiled and popped more bacon into his mouth. His hand was warm and comforting, and it took everything in me not to lean over and give him a quick kiss on the lips.

  “You should do a practice run,” Vonda said. She had boiled eggs on her plate, which she’d sliced into small pieces, along with two biscuits and a few sausage links. “Just to make sure.”

  Coen waved a hand. “Nah. Trout knows what he’s doing.”

  Trout scoffed, as if he didn’t appreciate the compliment and I shook my head wondering if these two had ever gotten along.

  WE TALKED ABOUT IT a little more then decided to leave right after breakfast as having a fresh meal in our stomach seemed important, especially when we didn’t know when we’d be able to eat again.

  Vonda had done her customary check of our bags, making sure we had all the stuff we needed, sticking items not just in my pack, but in odd places like my hair and socks as well. This time she hadn’t called our parents, so we were free to leave without their interference. For now, anyway.

  With my parents, you could never tell, and I halfway expected them to come flying through the door at the last minute. Thankfully that hadn’t happened, so far.

  Once we were lined up and ready to go, Todd and Vonda stood side by side both wearing grim expressions. “I’ll be okay,” I said, taking Reid’s hand in mine. “No need to worry.”

  They didn’t look convinced, and the truth was neither was I.

  We were walking into the unknown, and that scared me more than anything else I’d done so far.

  Chapter 9

  We entered into the world Emor at the height of the day. My wings were out because we’d decided on hovering in the air first, just to get a feel for things.

  My heart stopped when I took in the landscape before me, and I wondered for a minute if we hadn’t gone back in time. The air was clean and fresh with no smog or pollution clogging it. Rows of fig trees surrounded us. Sweet fruit hung off the side of branches. Some were plump and juicy, while others looked strangled and green.

  Olive trees also stretched before us as well, some ripe, others not so much. The street was cobblestone with footpaths on either side for walking. Below us, people went about their day. Some using the stone sidewalks on the side of the streets and others walking along the dirt paths that connected one building to the next.

  The buildings were mostly made of stone and brick, and while some were six stories high, others were single floored. The windows on all the structures were open with no glass or plastic to keep intruders or pests out.

  In fact, on the bottom floors, the only way to tell the doors from the windows was because of the stone steps leading up to the door entrance. I found this strange because the windows were placed only two inches apart, which led to a lot of unprotected openings.

  While most people wore either silk or cotton tunics and togas, some wore rags that seemed to be hanging off them. The ones with the togas and tunics mostly had on sandals, the ones with rags wore no shoes at all.

  They seemed like an interesting group of people so far, but I felt a little apprehension, not knowing exactly where we were or what the people of this world were like.

  Reid floated beside me. He scanned the scene below, a look of wonderment in his eyes. “Looks like we jumped a little too far,” he muttered.

  Coen floated a little in front of us. “Not every world is the same.” He turned to face us. �
�We’ve been to enough of them that you should know that.”

  Iago searched the crowd with an inquisitive eye, probably looking for any sign that his sister had been here. He didn’t say anything.

  Trout hovered beside him and put a hand on the other man’s back. “They don’t seem hostile,” he said softly.

  Iago nodded. “Let’s go see what we can find out.”

  “Oh, guys,” I said as they started to descend to the ground. “We’re not exactly dressed for the occasion.”

  Trout gave me a deadpan look. “Well come down anyway. No one cares how we’re dressed.”

  “And you know that, how?” I scoffed. We knew nothing of this world, so his statement was bold and could lead us to harm.

  Coen gave me a tired look, answering before Trout even had the chance. “If they travel between the universes, then they’re used to all types of people, Alisa. This is not a problem.”

  I looked to Reid, who was still beside me and he inclined his head to the side in a way that said, “why the hell not.”

  I thought about it for a second and realized they were right. Just because this was all foreign to me, didn’t mean it was for anyone else. I was new to this and there was so much I still needed to learn. I ran a hand down my face, knowing I couldn’t do that from up in the air. I gave a small nod, and Reid and I cautiously floated to the ground with the others.

  A man strolled by, dressed in a white tunic with a blue toga. He had on brown sandals and was whistling a quiet tune under his breath. Behind him a cart floated in the air, filled with crates of chicken and geese.

  Reid raised a brow, while Iago looked around, searching faces. We stood on the stone footpath beside the street as people shoved and brushed past, paying us no attention at all.

  “So, there is some magic here,” I observed, thinking of the man and his floating chicken cart.

  Drums beat off in the distance, a fast-paced melody accompanied by a loud, robust voice. Iago whipped around to listen.

  “Well we might as well go there,” Coen said, straining his neck that way. “Not going to learn anything just standing here.”

  Reid tapped a fast-walking Iago on the shoulder as we started in that direction. “What’s your sister look like again?”

  “She has purple hair cut into a mohawk,” I answered for him.

  Iago looked at me and frowned, while Coen laughed, and Trout kept walking. “What’s a mohawk?” Iago asked, and then walked on.

  Reid nodded at me that he understood, and I caught up with Iago. “The way you describe your sister’s hair. I think she wears one.”

  “Oh.” He didn’t say anything more.

  We walked until we came to the area the music came from.

  About ten feet away from the road a large pit had food cooking over top it. The smell of chicken and pork filled my nostrils, those scents floating through the air.

  In front of the cooking area were a dozen or so wooden tables, all low to the ground. Around each table were low wooden couches and settees, three to a table. Red and purple cushions lined the chairs, and people lounged about in them, eating chicken and pork with their hands, laughing and talking.

  Three drummers were set up a little away from the eating area, and a man stood in front of them singing, his whole body vibrating with each note.

  People danced off to the side, men and women. Some clapped their hands, while others danced with cups held tightly in their grip.

  Reid stood in between two of the tables, looking around, not saying much.

  I checked out the unfamiliar landscape, a feeling of fear mixed with excitement shooting through me. “I think we should split up. We’ll cover more ground that way.”

  Iago went to talk to the people dancing, while Trout chatted with the diners. Coen went over to the drummers, and Reid approached the men cooking the food.

  I walked down the street a bit, hoping to find someone to talk to. Even though I was on the footpath, large branches filled with figs still hung low enough for me to touch.

  I’d probably walked about five minutes when I came upon two people being dragged along by a rolling cart. At first, I stopped, not wanting to be seen, then I surged forward, trying to get a better look at what was going on.

  It was a guy and a girl. Neither looked to be over nineteen, and both had black hair that looked matted and dry. Thick yellow ropes tied them to the cart, and every couple of seconds it would lurch in such a way that one, or both of them, would hit the ground.

  The clothing they wore was nothing but filthy, disgusting rags. The girl’s tunic reached to her ankles and was so dingy I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be yellow or brown.

  The boy’s tunic reached just below his knees, and it was torn, dirty, and full of holes. They both seemed to be around average height, five feet six, or five feet seven, though it was hard to tell from a distance.

  Two men walked on either side of them and seemed to take great joy in smacking and knocking the pair to the ground every chance they got. Something I was sure hurt, considering how hard the road looked.

  My fists curled at my sides, and anger boiled through me like a kettle ready to pop. I closed my eyes and told myself this wasn’t our mission and that’s what we needed to focus on. I opened them just in time to see a man on the left, punch the girl in her face, dropping her to the ground, while a man on the other side kicked the boy in his stomach.

  Knowing that I couldn’t take them on alone, I flew back to the dining area where the rest of my team were. They were still engaged in conversation with those around them, but turned when they saw me run up.

  I didn’t say anything, just raised my hand and motioned for them to follow me. I took off back down the walkway, not wanting the cart to get too far away. This was not what we’d come here for, but I just couldn’t stand by and watch these kids get treated like this and do nothing. It would probably haunt my dreams every night until the end of time if I did.

  The others ran behind me, Iago in the lead, and I kicked myself because I realized he probably thought I had news of his sister.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, stopping for a few minutes to look at him. “But we have to help them.” I pointed to where the boy was being pushed onto the hard street again, while the girl’s feet were being knocked out from under her, causing her to fall to her knees.

  The men who did it laughed, and my hands shook with the urge to rip their faces off.

  Iago bristled when he saw the girl slowly make her way back to her feet only to be knocked down again. His fists clenched. “Okay,” he said, looking at me first, and then at Trout and the others. “Okay. We’ll follow at a distance.”

  I wanted to attack now but figured Iago had a reason for waiting. His advice had been okay so far, so I’d give him the benefit of the doubt.

  The farther we walked, the more the landscape began to change, becoming more expensive and elaborate.

  Large estates set in black, blue, and white marble were every few hundred feet, most had huge gardens on the side, with stone and concrete for the front yard.

  Here there was no glass or plastic on the windows either. There seemed to be several entrances to each place with no doors or guards to keep intruders out.

  The streets where paved stone, as were the walkways beside them. Most houses sported huge grape vineyards along with olive and fig trees. The smell of roses and lilacs floated around us, giving a false sense of serenity and peace.

  The wheels on the cart rumbled along, making a clacking sound as they went. I thought back to the cart I’d seen floating and wondered why this one was different. Then I saw how the boy and girl stumbled and tripped every few feet and I knew why.

  My eyes turned to slits. Sadistic. That’s the first word that came to mind because the crew transporting them seemed to derive way too much pleasure from torturing them.

  The cart pulled up to a large black marble house. The columns leading up the walkway rose high into the sky, and the house itself stretc
hed for at least ten thousand square feet wide. It looked beautiful, majestic even, like someone had reached back to ancient Rome and brought one of its greatest homes forward.

  No doors adorned the place as all the entrances were open. Large windows big enough for anyone to step through seemed to be spaced every few feet.

  A spacious garden filled with lilacs, roses and a few other flowers I couldn’t name sat to the right of the house. In the middle of them, were stone benches with satin cushions on them. Looking at it, I realized it seemed like a good place for one to sit and read, or just enjoy the fresh air and the sweet smell of the flowers.

  A large pool filled with crystal-blue water took up most of the right side of the yard. A concrete platform wrapped around it, along with a few settees.

  Large olive and fig trees surrounded the house, their branches hanging and full of fruit. Off to the side, toward the back, I could see large grapevines ripe and full.

  “Well, this is different,” Coen said, looking around.

  Reid stood beside me, a frown on his face. “Hard not to think we’ve stepped through time.” He cocked his head to the side. “But it is interesting.”

  Iago stood, eyes intent on the wagon as it pulled around to the back of the house. “If this is where prisoners are brought, she might be here.”

  I watched the cart until it disappeared. So that’s why he hadn’t wanted to cause a ruckus. He hoped these people could lead him to his sister. I wiped a hand across my face, with luck, maybe they could.

  Trout tangled fingers into Iago’s shirt, pulling the other man close until their foreheads rested against one another. Trout gave him a soft kiss on the lips, closing his eyes as he did so. “We’re going to find her, okay? She could be here, could be not, but we’re going to keep looking, okay?”

  Iago cleared his throat and then put his hands on either side of Trout’s face, staring at him as if he was a thing of wonderment. He leaned in and they shared a slow, deep kiss before both men pulled away.