by Jerod Lollar
I didn’t like the sound of this. He sounded crazy and I was scared he had hurt Michelle in some way. I knew that Michelle's Facebook page was a clue as to what was going on.
“It's not too late to save her, Jack. All you have to do is join me and you can save her. With your ability to control Fetch, and the changes you have gone through, I could make you the controller of all the dragons, Jack. Hundreds of them, all yours to command.”
At these words, Fetch and I turned to each other and did something that shocked everyone present. We laughed, long and hard. Here we were in the presence of a power that, for all we knew, could wipe us completely out of existence, and we laughed. The dragon looked down at us with an obvious look of surprise on its face. This just sent us into more fits of laughter. Fetch took his tail, and, like so many times before, smacked me in the back of the head. I turned to him and punched him in the snout, just like I had done the first time we met in that tunnel under the street. We stood there laughing as I rubbed the back of my head and Fetch grabbed the front of his snout, tears streaming out of his eyes.
Shaking my head, I looked toward the shadow. I was scared for Michelle, but I felt that giving this thing the upper hand was a bad idea. Putting a hand on Fetch's shoulder, I spoke.
“Man, you just don’t get it, dude. I don’t control Fetch. Never did. He can leave anytime he wants. He is free to do whatever he wants. He hangs around because we are friends. No one understands that I have never controlled him. He makes his own choices. Sure, his hatching on me, and his choice not to eat me, has changed me and made Fetch different from other dragons, but it was his choice to do so. Even his name was his choice, not mine."
This little rant was greeted with silence. All the pieces were coming together, and if I could keep talking, I might distract the shadow long enough for Smith or someone to find a way out of this. If I could get to Johnathen then he could help me get Michelle, but giving into this thing was wrong. I could feel it in my bones. Giving into its demands would mean terror. I could hear Smith chanting behind me and Molly whispered so no one would hear, ”Stall”. This thing seemed focused on me, so I had to come up with some way to keep it occupied.
“How did you do it? How did you get into my dream that day?"
The shadow laughed. There was a shimmer, and, for a second, I saw someone behind the shadow. The smoke was just a shield, a disguise hiding the person behind.
“Get into your dream, Jack? I didn’t get into your dream. I caused it. It was all part of a spell. The dragon eggs, the nightmare visions you had were all part of a spell designed to gain control over the dragons, to gain part of their power. I was on my way to becoming what this world needed, a master, someone to take control and set this world right. Your nightmare was part of a spell designed to give me part of your essence and life force, as well as the essence of the dragon consuming you. I pull the host into my mind at the time the dragon consumes them. When they do a part of me is consumed as well. This part gives me power and control over the dragon. But Fetch decided to go against nature and keep you alive. It broke the spell, causing me to lose my impetus of changing this world into my design. It doesn’t matter though, I have another path to power and control. This botched spell will only set things back a little bit. That's what you really are Jack, a botched spell."
This guy was a maniac. Whatever else he was, he was crazy. You could hear it in his voice. That scared me the most, power with no conscience. I thought about what he said. It seemed to make sense in some strange way. I wondered what this new power he was talking about was. I wanted to believe he was bluffing, but I wasn’t sure.
“Sorry we spoiled your plans, dude." I said. “I guess I was better equipped for getting some dragon power than you were. Of course, the way you were forcing it, may have given Fetch the ability to choose.”
It was a risk talking to him this way but I needed to keep him on his toes. All the talking was directed at me and Fetch, and no one else seemed to want to say anything. The dragon looked down at us at my words. For a second it looked confused.
“So what’s this new thing you are talking about? You're taking snot from trolls now to make a power drink?”
I knew it was corny and taunting to say what I was saying. I was relying on my years of comic book reading for guidance. I was trying to get the villain monologue-ing. Trying to get him to give away his plans. Behind me Smith continued to chant.
The shadow laughed. ”Oh no, Jack. My new powers come from ordinary people. I need no help from dragons. I found a way to take the life force of people and add it to my power. I will soon be too powerful to stop. People’s emotions fuel their essence. Fear, doubt, regret, anger, happiness, love, all of the emotions, and the memories attached to them, are powerful things, Jack. I have found a way to take them from certain people. I have been working on this for a while, Jack, not ever having much success, until tonight. Not until I captured your friend, Michelle. She was the first true success. Oh, how she screamed for you and Fetch. How she begged for me to stop. But in the end, I had to take it all. She will never be the same, but you can still save her, Jack, by joining me."
During this little speech my anger and frustration were building up inside of me. I couldn’t keep it all in check much longer. I was ready to attack this shadow and tear it apart. Something in its voice made me believe he wasn’t bluffing. He had hurt Michelle and for that I was ready to tear him apart. But, before I could do anything, Fetch attacked. With a roar and a flash of red fire he charged. This shadow guy made a fatal mistake. He had pushed Fetch's buttons. He hurt Michelle, and there was no more listening to him.
The red dragon roared in return and blocked Fetch's fire with a red blast of his own. Smith seemed to finish his spell and a blast, of what looked like silver, shot out of his hands straight for the chest of the shadow man. As it got close, the shadow man clapped his hands together in front of him. As the silver hit his hands, he pulled them apart, splitting the silver spell in two. It went in two different directions into the desert and disappeared. The spell seemed to have an effect on him though. He staggered back making a grunting sound.
The goblins that had come out of the ball began to move on us. With one shout from the shadow man they stopped and crouched down, waiting for another chance to advance. Fetch had been knocked back by the blast from the red dragon but had recovered quickly. He stood at my side, growling, ready for another chance to attack.
“You picked the wrong friends, Jack. My, my, what will Johnathen say about you spending time with fairies?"
“What will Johnathen say when he finds out you hurt Michelle?" I retorted.
I was getting angrier by the minute. I could feel the forced magic beginning to build in me. It swirled around in my chest, gaining strength from my anger. The shadow man pointed at Smith.
“You have interfered for the last time, Smith,” he said, “you and Samantha. I have decided that one of you must die.”
Chapter 35
He pointed at Samantha, and, before I could react, a bolt of lightning shot from his hand. I knew it would kill her. The air around the lightning smelled like sulfur and as it flew toward Samantha it changed color from red to black. This was meant to kill on contact. Strangely it wasn’t moving very quickly. It was reaching out toward Samantha like a snake moving across the ground. I shouted at her to move as it went past me, picking up speed as it went. To my horror, no one was moving to stop it as it zipped past me. Everyone just stood there frozen. I moved toward Samantha hoping that I could stop it. I knew it was too late for me to push her out of the way, but I kept on running anyway, cursing myself for not acting sooner. It seemed like time had slowed down. I could see the connection from the end of the bolt to the shadow's hand. It looked like a rope of energy. Not knowing what else to do I reached up and grabbed it.
A current of power shot through me. My whole body shook as the energy that was meant for Samantha worked its way inside me. It was growing in intensity and I knew it woul
d kill me. I felt the forced magic fighting the bolt. It pushed out of me forcing the bolt out of my body and shot it into the air. I could almost see it as it continued to grow. As it stretched outward, it knocked everyone to the ground. I heard the shadow's scream of rage and turned just in time to see his red dragon blow a jet of red fire at Fetch. Fetch was ready this time and blew his own flame of blue fire. Both jets collided and as they did an explosion of sparks shot into the air. It was amazing for me to see Fetch, so small compared to the other dragon, fending off the attack so easily. I started to run toward him to see if somehow I could help. This was a mistake. My movement toward Fetch distracted him, and a jet of red fire broke through the flame barrier. It headed right for me. Working on complete instinct, I did what I had done with Fetch so many times before. I reached out and caught it. It wrapped itself around my hand and stayed there. It was heavy. For a second I felt the strange and alien emotions from the red dragon. It was not happy at how it was being controlled and manipulated. In a flash his thoughts were gone but the fire stayed.
Fetch's fire always seemed so light, but this flame weighed down on my hand like a fifty-pound bag of sand. It kept pulsing as if it was trying to get hotter and burn me. The longer it stayed there, the heavier it got. I swung my hand around and shot the flame back at the red dragon. It hit him in the face and caused him to stumble backward. He roared in pain and unfolded his wings. There was a whooshing sound as he beat them up and down and continued to roar.
The shadow yelled in rage. Not even wanting to know what was next, I pushed the magic out of me once again. This time the pulse went directly toward him. His spell looked like the black inky smoke from my dream. It poured from his hands, and, as my pulse hit him, this smoke wrapped itself around his head. Fetch had come to my side by this point and was standing in front of me in a protective stance. The others were still picking themselves up after my first pulse. I could hear more screams of rage from the shadow as he clawed at the black smoke around his head. The red dragon looked at him in confusion. He seemed to not know what to do. He looked over at Fetch with a pleading look, and then with another roar picked up the shadow in his front claws and took flight. They got up about fifty feet in the air and in a flash of red light disappeared. The goblins, with a chorus of squeals, jumped into blue balls and disappeared.
I rushed over to the others, Fetch at my side. I was worried that my pulse had hurt them. As I got to Samantha, she was pushing herself to her feet. I grabbed her arm and helped her to stand. When she wasn’t hovering, she stood just about even with me. Her blue eyes were staring into mine with a look of wonder. She realized that I had hold of her arm and quickly pushed me away.
“Don’t touch me, idiot,” she said.
She looked over at Pete, who had helped Pek and Molly to their feet. He met her gaze with a blank look and made no attempt to reach for his charred sword to protect her honor. I think I had made a new friend.
“You’re welcome, Princess,” I said, "next time I’ll let him cook you like a hot dog.”
Pete smiled at this and quickly turned his attention to Molly. Samantha moved away from me. Looking around I spotted Smith sitting on an overturned trash can. He was staring at me with a look of deep thought on his face. I walked over to him.
“Are you ok?" I asked.
He looked at me for a minute. Studying my face, he began to laugh. He sat there laughing for a good while and it began to worry me. Everyone gathered around him wondering if he had lost it.
”I am ecstatic, Jack!” he finally said, "If I live another four hundred years I will never forget this day. You stopped a spell from a wizard. One who has found the ability to control dragons. You stopped him in his tracks, Jack. You have done what no human has ever done before. And you, dear Fetch, you deflected fire from a dragon three times your size! Truly the two of you are a force that the world has never seen before. You are truly a living legend."
“I wouldn’t go that far,” said the shadow's voice.
We all readied ourselves for another attack. The voice was coming from a small coyote sitting about twenty feet from us. It had its mouth open and the shadow's voice was speaking through him.
“Don’t get me wrong, Jack, you are truly amazing, but not a legend. You took me by surprise, I’ll give you that much. You will never do so again. Remember, I still have your friend Michelle. I am gaining strength. There is magic, Jack, magic that the world has never seen before. You are a small part of it yes, a very small part though. Come see me, Jack, midnight tonight. My friend here will show you the way. You might even save Michelle. Though I doubt she will ever trust you again."
He was trying to get to me. There was a chance she was still alive. If she was, I had to play his little game if there was any chance to save her. I wanted to hold on to the hope that Michelle might be alive. I had to believe she was.
Pek spoke up, “You can’t fool us. You are just trying to control Jack. He is smarter than you think and very powerful. Whatever spell you cast to control the dragons has backfired. Nature finds a way. That way is Jack and Fetch. They will stop you."
The shadow laughed, “Do you really think Jack is on your side? He is nothing like any of you. He will eventually join me. If he does so tonight he might save his friend. If he waits too long, she may die."
“Johnathen won’t allow this,” I shouted, "He will find you and we will stop you together."
The shadow laughed, “By all means, if you can find him bring him along. It would be a most interesting meeting. I will send my messenger back for you, Jack. Until then, try to consider what you are doing. Without my help you are truly alone. Your new friends will never fully trust you. Look at them, Jack, even now they fear you. You will never fit in the world of magic the way it is now. Your only hope is to join me. “
The coyote turned and disappeared. I was standing there staring at the spot where it had been. I looked at the little crew of people I was with now. Any thought that these fairies were trying to kill me left. They had every chance to destroy me tonight, and instead they stood their ground with me. But still, I could see something in their eyes. They were afraid. They had no idea who or even what I was. They didn’t fully trust me. An old familiar feeling came creeping into my heart, the same feeling I have had my entire life. I simply didn’t fit in. I was different. Every day I seemed to change and those changes took me away from the world I grew up in and kept me distant from the world of which I was now a part. I was truly alone now, a complete misfit.
I felt a gentle push on my hand. Fetch had come up to join me on the small hill. I looked down at his bowed head as he nudged my hand. He had grown since that first day. He was about the size of a pony. His snout had grown hard ridges of silver all around it and the two small bumps on his forehead had gotten bigger. I wondered if they would become horns one day. He moved his head up toward my face and looked me in the eye. His eyes were changing colors from red to blue to green to purple. He had a look of confusion on his face. He had finally seen another of his kind. One that commanded power, even if it was being controlled by a wizard. But, just like me, he was left with more questions than answers. To my surprise a big white tear rolled out of Fetch's eye. Some kind of silent communication had gone on between that dragon and Fetch. Even if it was controlled by the shadow, there was still a nobility to it. I remembered feeling what it felt and I wondered if I could use that to our advantage.
I looked at Fetch and thumped him on the forehead. Fetch had refused to destroy me. He had refused to take my life essence, and, because of that, he would never be fully accepted by other dragons. He was a misfit too. I wasn’t alone.
I put my hand on the side of his face and looked him in the eye. I said the one thing I should have said in the tunnel when I first realized he was not going to kill me.
“Thank you.”
He looked surprised at first, then simply nodded. I smiled at him. Leaning in and talking quietly, so the others wouldn’t hear, I whispered to him.
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“Who cares, Fetch? Who cares what they all think? We will find Michelle and get her out of this mess. We will live our lives the way we want. I have always been a misfit, so why not keep on being one? The way they treat us, we can be a mystery to them. All we have to do is look wise and act like we know more than we are telling. I’m done trying to fit into any kind of mold that people think I should fit into. You should feel the same pal. You just beat that big dragon like it was nothing, and I just had a standoff with a wizard, so let’s keep playing the part. They want to be afraid of us, let them. Who gives a flap?”
Me, using the word 'flap', made Fetch laugh a little. He looked at me with defiance in his eyes. I knew a lot of what I was feeling was bitterness from the life I had always lived. I wasn’t mad at everyone. I was hurt. But, I was going to do things my way. If I had to play the role of a powerful enigma, then I would. I looked behind me and saw all of them staring at me and Fetch with the same look of wonder and apprehension I had seen on their faces before. What was I supposed to be to them?
I started walking toward them, not looking at any of them. I needed them to believe I knew what I was doing. They needed to tell me everything that they knew. If they didn’t, then I was ready to strike out on my own. I really had no desire to go before this council they kept on talking about. Not if I was going to be judged by them as a threat. As far as I knew this council was not in the right. From what I had heard, they might not have mine or Fetch's best interest at heart. I kept from looking at Samantha. She affected me in a way that made it hard for me to think straight. I really had to focus around her to keep her from affecting me too much. I walked up to them.
”Is everyone ok?”
They all acknowledged that they were fine.