Dragon's Eye
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arrange a meeting at this time, and in this place,”
the dragoness intoned. She waved her arms in a
broad circle, ending by pointing up at the sky.
“You were meant to be here on this, the five
thousandth anniversary of my departure from
your world.”
“Has it truly been so long?” Felicity
asked sympathetically.
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“Yes, it has,” she said with a sage nod.
“But for me, time has been standing still till this
very moment. To me, it has not seemed so long.”
“So much has changed in this world
since then,” Felicity said. “It would hardly seem
like the same place to you now.”
Amaranth nodded, grateful for the
human’s concern. She motioned for them to
each stand to one side or the other of the altar
upon which the Grimoire sat, and then the two
noticed that the two halves of the eye were
placed on either side of the book as well.
“The words in this book are dragon
words,” she explained. “However, anyone
reading them will be able to understand them if
they are truly meant to see. I do not know which
of you is meant to read them, however.”
“What do you mean?” Lance inquired
with surprise. “I had thought, since you believe
Felicity to be dragon-born, that the choice was
already made.”
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“As did I,” she conceded. “But I sense a
most unusual energy about you as well, Lancelot
Jones. The book does not call out just to the girl,
but to the both of you, together.”
“I don’t understand,” he said.
Trance-like, Amaranth continued, “The
two of you present a great puzzle to me. So very
different, and yet so much a part of each other.
You are yin and yang, personified. You, man,
you are darkness within yet golden without. You
have seen hell and managed to return, though not
unscathed from your ordeal. Your heart is pure
in a way I have never seen before, such an odd
mixture of chivalry and naughtiness as cannot be
explained.”
Lancelot blushed and smirked at this.
“You, girl, have lightness within and yet
hide it behind a shield of sorts, so that it cannot
shine too brightly. You also have known much
pain, yet it does not seem to touch you within.
You have a power that is unmatched by anyone
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I have ever known. I cannot say which of you
are the true champion. The choice must be your
own.”
Lance and Felicity were both easily
within reach of the book. The moon was nearing
the center of the opening above. They stared at
Amaranth, and then at each other. Both of them
felt the urge to move, yet neither one took a step.
“I know the answer, Lance,” said
Felicity finally as she looked up into his eyes.
“Neither one of us is the true champion. We are
yin and yang, just as Amaranth has said. We are
meant do the thing together.”
Amaranth glanced up in surprise but held
her
tongue.
She
looked
at
Lancelot
questioningly. His eyes widened in surprise, and
then lit up with understanding.
“Yes, I believe you are right, my dear,”
he agreed as he held out his hand for Felicity to
take.
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Each of them took one half of the eye in
their other hands, and held the pieces aloft above
the Grimoire. Then they looked into the book,
and neither one faltered as they easily read the
words.
“Tol loft norta, garr nag ortha! Nek!”
A golden light encircled them. It was
arcing around from one half of the orb to the
other. Brighter and brighter it shone until the
very walls of the cavern began to shake from its
power.
“Get out of here, all of you!” Amaranth
shouted to the throng of dragons who began to
panic at the sound.
Large boulders began to fall as they
flapped their wings to fly away, or simply ran in
all directions. With a quickness they headed for
the exit, but those who went that way quickly
realized their mistake as the cave collapsed
around them.
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“You must leave the mountain!” shouted
Amaranth to those dragons who remained. “Find
any way out that you can. Hurry!”
Only the two humans and the dragoness
stood their ground. Even when the floor beneath
their feet split in twain, Lance and Felicity held
tight to each other’s hands and held onto the
shards.
When the ceiling cracked and even
larger rocks began to fall, Amaranth surged
forward and grabbed the Grimoire and the
humans in her arms and carried them with her as
she flapped her wings hard, making for the hole
through which the moon itself had shone.
The opening was not nearly as large as
she would like, so with a sharp intake of air, she
belched forth a stream of flames. She kicked at
the superheated rock with her feet, shattering the
stone and bursting free, carrying them all to
safety in the grotto beyond.
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Lance and Felicity fell together as the
princess tripped over an outcropping rock and
tumbled to the ground. They rolled down to the
bottom along with her, and as they landed they
realized they were clinging to one healed orb
instead of the two broken pieces.
They both released it at the same time,
and the eye floated into the air for a moment,
hovering. Amaranth reached a claw upwards,
and the orb shrank as it plunged down and
alighted in the middle of her forehead, searing
its way into the flesh.
Her lovely golden scales began to glow,
and then they turned bronze in color as she
shape-shifted into a beautiful woman with long,
golden hair.
Lance smirked and winked at Felicity as
they looked at her, and she elbowed him right in
his ribs.
“Ouch!” he grumbled. “I didn’t do
anything.”
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“Silly woman,” said the princess with a
laugh as she got to her feet and dusted herself
off. “Don’t you know that the two of you could
never have performed that spell together if he
didn’t love you with all his heart?”
“Of course I do,” Felicity chuckled. “I
just like picking on him. I guess it’s a human
thing.”
“I see,” she said with a furrowed brow.
“I fear I have never understood such nonsensical
/> things. However, as the two of you have won the
book, and as I am its protector, there are now
some decisions that must be made. But first, we
must gather together the remnants of my people
before we proceed.”
Returning to dragon form, Amaranth
surged up into the sky and called out. One by
one, and then several at a time, many dragons
came to her call. Though not nearly the number
of creatures as those who had occupied the cave.
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THIRTY-SEVEN
The top of the mountain continued to
spew forth radiant energy as Lancelot and
Felicity watched. At first, both of them had felt
a tiredness bordering on sleep, but they were too
filled with energy themselves to succumb to it.
Looking out over the remains of her
people, Amaranth gave a dejected sigh. “Once
upon a time, I had a great house. Our number
was two thousand strong,” she said to the
humans at her side. “Now, it looks more like two
hundred, give or take a few souls one way or the
other. And now, none of us has a place to call
home.”
“I am so sorry for your loss,” Felicity
told her gently as she came to stand by her side.
She laid a hand upon her side, much as one
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might comfort their mount in a time of stress. “Is
there any way that we can help?”
“As I have said before, I am the protector
of the Grimoire Draconis,” she said as she
stepped backwards and morphed back to her
human form. “I must go wherever the Grimoire
goes, for our two fates are tied together
irrevocably.”
“You are welcome, of course,” said
Felicity with a warm smile.
“However, I must also care for my
people, just as they have always been there to
care for me. Every one of them once came here
hoping to free me from my imprisonment. I owe
them a debt of gratitude for all that they have
suffered because of me. Besides, I cannot undo
what they have become, and so they must remain
as they are.”
“Perhaps once we return to London we
can think of something to do with them all,”
Lancelot suggested uneasily as he, too, walked
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over to where she stood. “Surely, your dragons
cannot be completely useless. They must
possess skills that would help them make their
way in the world.”
“Are you crazy, Lance?” Felicity
gasped. “We can’t bring two hundred dragons to
live in London. Where do you think we’d put
them all?”
“Maybe we should simply let them loose
beyond the Veil,” he teased her. “That would
certainly give the Prime Minister a reason for all
his concern.”
“Don’t be silly, Lance,” she grumbled,
unwilling to rise to the bait of discussing politics
that he’d dangled before her. “You know they
must stay inside the Veil, at least while they are
in dragon form. And that is going to mean two
hundred more mouths to feed into the bargain.
Archibald Flanders surely will not be pleased by
that prospect.”
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“You know there is no one place within
Magehold’s walls where such a group could
live,” said Lance with a heavy sigh.
“Wait a moment,” Felicity said as she
slapped herself on the forehead. “Princess, are
all of your dragons able to transform, as you
do?”
“Yes, of course,” she answered. “All
dragons have that ability, whether they were
born to it or not. Why do you ask?”
“Only because all of the answers are
staring me right in the face. Not just yours, but
our own as well. The Magi who live behind the
Veil have been seeking an alternative means to
bring food into the Magehold for a very long
time,” she explained. “If these dragons can
appear to be humans, perhaps we could obtain
some lands for them to farm.”
“You’re brilliant, Felicity!” Lance
agreed as he hugged her to him. “They could be
the answer to that problem. But I fear that does
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not help us to house them right now, nor solve
the issue of transporting them to England to
begin with.”
“Yes, since there is no Veil over the
Channel, I do not see how it can be done,” she
agreed.
“We also have the ability to become
invisible to humans,” Amaranth told them. “It is
how the dragons survived for so long when we
lived among humans in the past. Also, while I
am in my human form you must call me by my
human name. Among the humans, I was once
known as Princess Amara, though I fear the
name passed from existence along with my
book. The identities must remain separate, so
that none should guess my true nature without
my leave.”
“It is a lovely name,” Lance reassured
her. “And, if you are agreeable, I think I know
precisely where we might take your people until
we can find them homes.”
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“Where might that be?” she inquired.
“I own a huge country estate with plenty
of land,” he explained. “I would be farming it
right now if I could, but since it is inside the Veil
I fear the magic prevents me planting any viable
crops there. However, it might as well serve as a
proper base of operations for your people until
the matter is settled.”
“What a brilliant idea,” Felicity
exclaimed. “Lance, that is so wonderful of you
to offer.”
“And now, to the matter of travel,” he
said. “There’s nothing for it but to fly over
Mundania, Princess. Perhaps it would be wise to
gather your people together and explain the need
for secrecy on that journey.”
“Indeed, yes, I need to gather them
together in any case,” she agreed.
“And if you wish to obtain any supplies
before we go, that also should be done in short
order. It would be quite difficult to explain our
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presence in such great numbers should we be
discovered here by the Mundanes.”
While Amaranth returned to her dragon
form and set about getting her people in order,
Felicity and Lance returned to their campsite to
gather their belongings. As they worked side by
side on shrinking everything down again, they
couldn’t help but smile.
“It seems like this mission has wrought
much more for our people than we’d bargained
for, does it not?” said Felicity with a satisfied
/>
sigh.
“There’s still a great deal to be done,”
Lance reminded her. “The lands will need to be
bought, and the seeds supplied, but I’m feeling
very optimistic about the future now.”
“Did I not tell you so?” she said. “These
dragons will be a perfect bridge between the two
worlds. Everything will be better because of
them.”
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“Of course, London will soon be filled
with dragon-borns,” Lance pointed out slyly. “I
hope the competition will not overtax you, my
dear.”
“Lancelot Jones, you’d better be off to
the store yourself,” she told him.
“Whatever for, my dear?”
“Because you still haven’t bought that
vellum yet, and I do believe we’re not in the
caves any longer.”
“So, what you’re saying is...”
“The dragons might be busy for quite
some time,” she said as she wrapped her arms
about his neck.
“But Felicity, my sweet, the tent is
already taken down,” he pointed out as he
feathered kisses along her cheeks and neck.
“So, it’s not as if that has stopped us
before,” she pointed out with a chuckle.
“Indeed, it hasn’t,” he agreed.
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Lancelot lifted Felicity into his arms and
carried her over to the tent. There, he laid her
down with tender care and proceeded to kiss her
madly.
She groaned with ecstatic desire as she
opened her mouth for him. Once again, she saw
rainbows.
Lance’s hands slid inside of the robe she
still wore, gliding over her nipples until he had
her sobbing with need. “Oh Lance, please!”
Lance kissed his way down her body to
suckle, and then down her belly and towards a
much tastier treat. Felicity groaned with
anticipation.
As Lance was about to delve into all the
adventure he could possibly handle, they heard