Rage of the Dragon King

by J. Keller Ford

  Charlotte’s cheeks turned red. “I’m sorry. It’s been happening every now and then. I don’t know why. I hope you’re okay.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m rock solid. It’d take a bit more than a few lightning bolts like those to knock me on my feet.”

  “You’re so full of it,” David said.

  “Hey, dude, it’s my story. I’ll tell it like I want.” Jackson smiled at Charlotte. “Keep my team captain safe, and if you ever need a place … ”

  “Thanks for everything,” Charlotte said, pecking him on his cheek. No sparks from her lips. “We owe you one.”

  “Eeh. Your hand in marriage would be payment enough. We’ll discuss the terms of your surrender when I’m the last man alive.”

  Laughter. A joke. Eric breathed a sigh of relief.

  ***

  They scurried back toward David’s home the way they came. The cool air bit at Eric’s face as he pondered different distractions Jackson could pull off by himself. There weren’t many he could think of. In fact, there were none. David, however, appeared quite confident that his very odd friend with the incredible joe could pull off such feat with no problem. Time would tell, and Eric reveled in the possibilities.

  The hike back also provided a brief education in track and field, and football, the latter of which seemed almost as barbaric and entertaining as jousting. But why anyone would want to run for a sport seemed peculiar; however, the archery part appealed to him immensely, especially since it is where David seemed to excel. He challenged his newfound friend to a tournament, upon which, David laughed and said, “You’re on, but be prepared to lose.” Eric smiled. What a cocky fellow David could be.

  They topped a small incline and David motioned for silence. In the distance, a majestic white manor, rich with massive columns and gargantuan windows, appeared like an apparition, sprawling tall and wide across a rolling landscape. A thick wall of hedges, at least fifteen-feet high, guarded the left side of the home, the line ending at the forest’s edge. A huge fountain of a goddess, her arms outstretched to three jumping fish, graced an elaborate courtyard still sleeping from winter’s chill. To the right was a sprawling brick cottage veiled in thick ivy. Beyond it—a spatial greenhouse with arched windows and an ornate glass dome.

  And walking the grounds were three men dressed in uniforms.

  They kept to the shadows amidst a thick cluster of oaks and hickory trees.

  Charlotte pressed her back to a tree. “David, don’t you find this strange? I mean, if we’ve been gone eight weeks, why are there still cops here? Why haven’t they moved on to something else? Surely, we’re not the only Havendale crime they have to solve.”

  “I don’t know,” David answered. “It is kind of weird now that you mention it.”

  “Not really.” Eric said. “Where is the first place you’d probe if you wanted to ensnare someone?” He glanced at the men walking the grounds. “I doubt they are who you think they are.”

  “Great,” Charlotte said, throwing up her hands. “You had to point that out, didn’t you?”

  David patted him on the back. “Thanks, buddy. I feel so much better now.”

  “Happy to be of service.” Eric smiled. He looked over his shoulder at the house. “You know, I have to say, I never imagined you living in such opulence. You seem so … provincial.” He kicked at the ground, a grin stretched wide on his face. David laughed and shook his head. “Better watch tossing out those insults, buckaroo. This hillbilly hick throws them right back.”

  Eric had no idea what a hillbilly hick was and he wasn’t about to ask, but he liked that David could make fun of himself. There was hope for the chap yet.

  But now it was time to get serious.

  “I don’t remember. Why do we need to get inside your home again?” Eric asked.

  David scratched his nose. “Clothes, food, stuff we’re going to need if we’re going to hunt crystals. I also need to talk to Lily. I’ve got a gazillion questions.”

  Charlotte snorted. “Don’t we all.” She bit her bottom lip while she thought. “How are we planning to get inside?”

  “When Jackson does his distraction thing, we’re going to haul butt across the yard to the back door and pray to God the spare key is still inside the turtle’s butt.”

  “Excuse me?” Eric asked, his brow tweaked. A horrible image fixed in his mind. He couldn’t be serious, could he?

  “It’s a statue, dude, not a real turtle,” David said.

  “What about the alarm?” Charlotte asked.

  “I’ll take care of that. Once inside, you and Eric take the servant’s stairs and go to my room. No lights.”

  “You have servant stairs?” Eric asked. The surprises never ended.

  “Among a few other things.”

  “Hey, guys, we’ve got company,” Charlotte said.

  Three cops were heading their way.

  They dropped to the ground behind a small slope

  Beams of light cut across the forest.

  Behind them, more footsteps.

  Eric’s heart skipped, flipped and flopped. He closed his eyes and listened. The gait. It was light, measured, an animal of some sort. Large, but gentle. No threat. He exhaled and opened his eyes. One of the cops unhinged a black object from his hip and aimed it into the dark.

  “You in there! Come out with your hands up!”

  The forest grew quiet. Still. The beam sliced over Eric’s head and came to rest upon the face of a young buck standing a few feet away. The animal twitched its ears and bolted into the forest.

  Eric gulped, his pulse racing.

  The cop returned the object to his hip and the three headed back toward the house, their discussion on deer season, or rather the lack thereof, the topic of reflection and laughter.

  Eric exhaled, his heart ready to take off after the deer.

  “Wow, that was close,” David whispered, rolling onto his back. “I can’t believe he pulled a gun.”

  “What is a gun? What does it do?” Eric asked, his eyes still on the men, now halfway to the house.

  “What’s a … ” David retorted. “Oh, that’s right, you wouldn’t know. They’re weapons. They shoot these things called bullets that can kill you. Those cops, if they really are cops, they’re experts, trained very well on how to use them, and they won’t hesitate to do so.”

  “Then I won’t give them reason to.”

  A loud boom vibrated the air and a blue flash streaked across the sky. It exploded into a crackling waterfall and fizzled out. More booms and cracks followed lighting the sky in an array of colors. “Oh, no,” Charlotte said. “Please tell me he didn’t.”

  David chuckled. “Oh yes he did. Oh, Jackson, you’re a genius.”

  “What did he do?” Eric asked. “What are those things?”

  “Fireworks,” David said. “Are you ready to run?”

  Boom!

  Boom!

  Boom!

  The cops ran to the front of the house.

  “Go! Now!” David grabbed Eric by the sleeve. “Run! You can watch them from my room!”

  Eric ran, David and Charlotte puffing at his side. Around the fountain. Up the walkway. Onto the porch.

  Boom!

  Boom!

  David grabbed a turtle statue from a table and fished a key from its butt. He unlocked and opened the door.

  A loud, repetitive Honk! Honk! Honk! split the air.

  Eric covered his ears.

  “It’s the alarm!” David shouted. “Char, get him upstairs!”

  A tall woman with auburn hair and turquoise eyes ran at them through a doorway to the left, her eyes and mouth open wide.

  “David! Charlotte! What are you doing here?” She embraced David for a moment before she pushed him back. “Never mind. You’ve got to go. Upstairs. Now. Through the music room. You know where. Go! Before they see you!”

  A knock hammered at the front door. “Ms. Perish, open the d
oor!”

  Footsteps pounded the front porch. Shadows appeared in the windows.

  David drew in a breath. He tugged at Charlotte and Eric. “Follow me.”

  They crouched and hurried down the hall into a spacious room. A strange looking harpsichord stood in one corner, a floor harp in another. Violins and a cello graced another corner. David lifted a wand from a music stand and inserted the thick end in a round hole obscured behind a gilded picture on a wall. A door opened inward revealing steps leading up.

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” Charlotte asked. “I’ve known you how long and you’ve never told me about this!” She stepped inside.

  “Never needed to.” David pulled a cord, a mechanism on the wall turned, and the door closed.

  More pounding on the front door.

  “I’m coming!” Lily shouted. The alarm shut off.

  “Bless the pixies of Halair that sound is done.” Eric said.

  They ran to the top of the stairs and exited through a wall into an elongated room that smelled of cedar. Eric paused for a moment, taking in the racks of clothes and shelves of shoes that surrounded them. In the center of the room were two small plush seats, and on the floor, a plush blue carpet littered with clothing.

  Downstairs, Lily shouted, “You cannot barge into my home without a warrant! I demand you get out.”

  David thrust aside some clothes in what looked to be a dressing room, twisted an overhead light fixture, and pushed on the wall. Overhead, the ceiling moved, and a set of steps descended, leading upward to an attic.

  “Well, this house is just full of all kinds of surprises you never told me about,” Charlotte said, climbing up first.

  Lily’s stern voice could be heard again, this time a bit closer than before. “I did not give you permission to go upstairs or traipse through my house. I beg you to leave.”

  A man’s voice answered. “Your alarm went off, ma’am. We have to—”

  “I already told you, the alarm went off by accident, probably due to the fireworks still rattling my home and everyone else’s in the vicinity. Why don’t you find the culprit responsible for the ruckus instead of violating my privacy and intruding in my home?”

  David urged Eric not to stick around to hear more of the conversation.

  Like ants, they retreated into the darkness. David turned a knob in the floor and the steps retracted.

  “David Arwen Highland,” Charlotte said, standing in the middle of the dark room, her hands on her hips. “You and I need to have a serious conversation. What’s with the secret rooms and those NASA sized telescopes by the window, huh? Whose antique bed is this?”

  “Shh,” he said.

  Muffled voices entered his bedroom.

  “Ms. Perish, please get out of the way.”

  “But there is no one here, Officer, and I don’t appreciate the intrusion. I know my rights. You can’t just barge in here on whatever whim you think is valid.”

  Doors opened and closed. Someone banged on a wall.

  “There were others in the house,” a man said. “Where are they? We saw shadows moving in the hallway through the window.”

  “There is no one else here. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. Now get out!”

  Another man spoke from what sounded to be a room away. “We checked everywhere. There’s no one else here.”

  “Just like I told you, Officer,” Lily said. “Now get out of my house and off my property before I call the chief of police!”

  The first man harrumphed. “Pardon our intrusion, Miss.”

  “I will not pardon it, and the next time you want to search my home, get a warrant.”

  “Oh, I’ll do that, Ms. Perish. Have no worries about that.”

  Footsteps retreated. David dashed to a window and cracked opened the shutters. Four policemen and two plain-clothes cops got in their cars at the end of the cul-de-sac.

  “More cops?” Eric asked, standing over David.

  “Yes. And maybe an FBI agent or two.”

  “Explain.”

  Charlotte sat on the foot of the antique bed and ran her hands over the yellowed eyelet bedspread. “The FBI investigates missing person’s cases.”

  Another boom, followed by a shower of gold and red sparks lit up the sky, this one further away.

  The cars pulled out down the street, their lights flashing.

  “Why do they think you’re missing?” Eric asked. “Didn’t you leave on your own accord?”

  “No, they did not,” Lily said.

  David and Charlotte spun around.

  Eric jumped at her presence.

  “They were taken,” she continued. She pulled David into her arms.

  “Hi, honey.” She kissed his temple. “How are you? How are you feeling?”

  David stepped back. “I’m fine. Slavandria said I’m almost as good as new. When did you come back here?”

  “The night you fell ill. I wanted to stay with you, but I had to return here to not raise suspicion. Forgive me?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive. I get it.” David turned back to the window. “Who were they, those men?”

  Lily swept the back of her hand across her brow and finger-combed the hair from her face. “There are two men that work undercover for Charlotte’s father whom I know and trust, neither of which were here tonight. I’ve never seen those men before. They’ve been hovering around like vultures all day.”

  “Seyekrad’s spies,” David said.

  “I didn’t sense any magic about them, but that means nothing. I actually thought the same thing. Seyekrad could mask himself from me for months. Either my powers are getting weaker, or he has some black magic the devil himself wouldn’t want to use.”

  Eric ignored the sudden sickness in his stomach. He hated being right. Sometimes.

  Lily turned to Charlotte, her arms outstretched. “Hi, honey.”

  Charlotte hurried into her open arms. “Hi, Lily. How are you? How are Mom and Daddy?”

  “Good.” Lily brushed the hair from Charlotte’s eyes. “We’re all fine, but I’m a bit confused.” Her eyes shifted from Charlotte, to Eric, to David. “What are you doing here? Slavandria didn’t inform me you would be arriving.”

  “That’s because she didn’t know,” David said. “We’re here because Finn ferried us. Well, not exactly, but I’ll get to that in a second. First, you’ve got to help Jackson. If they catch him, he’ll be in so much trouble, and I don’t want him to get in trouble for helping us.”

  “So that’s who is responsible for all the racket.” Lily smiled as if she should have known. “I’ll be right back.”

  She vanished with a swish of her hand.

  Eric’s mouth quirked to the side. “She seems pleasant. How did you come into her care?”

  David walked to the window and stared out. “She’s my godmother, and Slavandria’s sister.”

  Eric dropped his gaze. Of all the answers he expected, that wasn’t one of them. It made sense, however, as he thought of it. Who better to hold the position of paladin than someone in the care of the most powerful mage family to ever exist? But how had the alliance been made? Who were David’s parents? Why did David live in Havendale, in a world away, rather than in Fallhollow? What was the connection?

  His thoughts scattered as Lily materialized in almost the same spot from which she disappeared. She wore a satisfied smile.

  “Jackson is safe and sound and the café has been tidied. He wanted me to tell you it was the most fun he’s had in months.” She glanced between Eric and David and grinned. “Don’t worry. He won’t remember speaking to me. In fact, he won’t remember anything from this evening. It’s best that way.”

  Eric nodded even though his stomach turned. To think she could erase someone’s memory at the snap of a finger didn’t seem right. It was an invasion of the most personal kind, and yet, he knew deep down Lily was right. No one could risk the exposure, especially Ja
ckson.

  Lily sat on the edge of the bed. “So, tell me, David, why are you here? Did you meet your parents?”

  David shook his head. “There was an incident. The queen was attacked, the crystals were stolen, and my parents are missing.”

  Lily frowned. “I’m sorry—what?”

  David, Charlotte, and Eric sat on the bed and rehashed the day’s events, from Trog’s almost arrest to Seyekrad and their narrow escape from Mr. Loudermilk’s house. Lily paced the floor, flicking her fingers around the room, setting magical boundaries as she listened. When they finished, she stood still, her back to them. With the flick of her wrist, an antique table lamp flicked on, casting a golden glow about the attic.

  “Well?” David asked. “What are we going to do? How do we get the crystals back from Seyekrad without him killing us?”

  “We have to find them first, David.” She fingered the pendant around David’s neck. “Rutseers, such as this one, are mere homing devices. They place the seeker within a certain radius of a missing item, not on top of it. They could be anywhere in Havendale, though it would make sense for Seyekrad to keep them close. From the sounds of it, he’s set up an elaborate maze beneath that house. Without seeing the atelier, without testing its magical limitations, I couldn’t and wouldn’t give you a definitive answer to any of your questions. But I can tell you this, we’re going to need some help and lots of it, and I know just the person.”

  “Who?” David, Charlotte, and Eric hooted together.

  Lily smiled. “My sister, of course. Who else?”

  Eric

  Eric sat on a plush couch almost twice his length and ran his hands over the sage green suede material. It was soft, but not overly so, comfortable yet troubling to the mind, like everything else in the house. Lights that came on with a flip of a switch. Rectangular black boxes on the walls that, when turned on, played sounds and moving pictures. Television, Charlotte called it. A form of entertainment. But it was too much noise, too much to take in, so he asked her to turn it off.

  He wandered into the adjoining kitchen where David was busy smearing a light brown spread on multiple slices of bread he pulled from a clear bag. Eric looked around. “I am quite confused. Where is the bread from the oven? Come to think of it, where is your oven?” All that loomed around him were cabinets and steel boxes, some short, some tall, wedged in between them.