The Emerald Dragon (The Lost Ancients Book 3)

by Marie Andreas

  I had been watching the faeries loop around in the air over the plains. I had to believe their claimed innocence on this—even they couldn’t do this much destruction.

  Covey had been silent, but her eyes narrowed at the sight of Alric’s pack. “My place will be fine.” She held up one hand as Harlan started to speak. “No. My place. Now.” Without waiting, she turned and stalked away from the collapsed cliff.

  Alric started to follow her, and then froze when he saw a rock her foot had flipped over. He grabbed it fast, almost too fast for me to see. However, not fast enough.

  Etched in the stone was a tiny green dragon.

  Chapter Nine

  Covey was a fast walker. Alric gave her a run for her money, with Harlan and me almost running to catch up.

  Alric had dropped the stone in his pocket, but quickly pulled his hand free. He did, however, keep his hand right next to the pocket.

  I sped up so that I could keep my voice low. “So were they after you? Or just an unfortunate coincidence?”

  He shot me a glare that repeated his earlier words about not here, but must have realized no one was near us, nor was anyone paying attention to us. “I would say coincidence. But I know you’d never believe me.”

  I looked around for the girls, but we were rapidly moving away from the forest and they were air dancing over the plains below. Nothing like now to test my new skill. Rather, the faeries’ new skill. I thought about them joining us.

  Nothing. They were still whooping and flying around, playing on air drafts coming up the new sharper cliff face.

  I envisioned a big bottle of ale and all three of them with it.

  Yup, that did it. The whooping came our way and Alric had to dodge as Bunky, following the faeries, made a detour for his head.

  I waved the others on ahead; I knew where they were going. Covey didn’t slow down. Harlan looked at me, shrugged, and kept following her. Alric stopped.

  “Girls, I need you to look over the boom area.”

  Garbage immediately stuck her lip back out. “Not our fault!”

  “I know, I know. But we need you to look around for any more markings like this.” I turned to Alric and pointed to his pocket. He looked around quickly, and then pulled out the rock.

  Garbage flew over first, and shook her head as if she’d smelled something nasty. “No good, we no want.”

  Crusty came by and tilted her head. “We saw.”

  This launched Garbage into another round of pissed-off faery arguing.

  “Look, girls? I don’t want you to touch them, but I need you to fly around and see if you find any more marks like this. And make a note of where they are.” I’d noticed they could recall things they saw; you just had to make sure they knew they were supposed to recall them.

  Garbage looked ready to continue her argument, but then Bunky flew next to her and nudged her. The change in my little perpetually cranky faery was amazing. She smiled and petted him. Then scowled and started to pull away. Her face softened as I’d never seen before as he flew closer to her.

  “Fine.” She petted Bunky a few more times. “We go see. Want us look for sneaky little men too?”

  Alric had been mostly watching the crowd behind us but started at her comment. “Sneaky little men?”

  I was curious too, but he didn’t look curious, he looked freaked out.

  Garbage focused on Bunky, but pulled herself away. “Yes. Little. Sneaky. Smell bad.” Then she went back to petting Bunky.

  I waited to see if Alric would ask more questions, but he had retreated into his own sneaky head. He looked like he’d found something deadly in his shoe and wasn’t sure it hadn’t already bit him.

  “I think you should look for the men too, but,” I held up a hand as all four started to buzz around, “do not leave the area. Just look around here where the collapse happened.”

  “Where cave, yes.” Garbage had one of her own trying-to-be-sneaky looks.

  It took me a minute to get what she was talking about. “Where it was up here, not on the plains.”

  All three faeries looked disappointed but nodded. Bunky buzzed around waiting for instructions. Which might be a good idea.

  “Bunky? Keep the girls from going down to the plains, okay?”

  His buzz increased a bit and moved into his purr sound. He bobbed up and down. When you didn’t have much of a neck, nodding was a full body endeavor.

  Not sure why I never thought of this sooner. Bunky loved the girls, they loved him, and he was good at following orders.

  The girls must have realized what had happened as all three tiny faces went from disappointed to downright petulant. Without another word, all four of my flyers took off.

  Alric had started slowly walking away while I dealt with my delinquent faeries. He was so lost in some dark thought, I doubted he knew I wasn’t next to him.

  I ran to catch up. “Let me guess, the folks you think rescued our friend are supposed to be little, stinky, and sneaky?”

  Alric still looked like he was frightened and angry. Even on his disgustingly handsome face that look wasn’t a good option. “I don’t know. We had different myths about them. The more recent made them like giants, huge creatures who could devour entire towns. I liked that myth. It meant they couldn’t have gotten him out because they never would have fit in that tunnel.” He went back into his head again.

  “I take it there were other myths?” He was starting to freak me out. This distracted and worried Alric wasn’t one I’d had the pleasure of meeting yet. And I can’t say I was enjoying the experience.

  He shook his head. “Yes. Tiny, evil beings, no more than chest high to you or me with mouths full of teeth and three-inch-long claws for hands. And they follow dark magic.”

  I thought about how high that green dragon emblem had been in the mine. A person about that height would have to reach up a bit, but no more than someone my height would when hanging a picture. A shiver went down my back. Next time that look on his face showed up, I wasn’t asking about anything. These little monsters might have only been after elves in the past, however, most of the other races were still living in caves to the far south back then. Who knew what else they’d like now that there were more races to hunt from?

  Harlan came huffing down the path toward us. “What are you two doing? Covey’s about to come drag you both in by your hair.” He didn’t even pause to wait for us to respond, just turned back and trudged toward Covey’s side of town.

  “Not to change the subject,” which of course was what I was doing, “but I think Harlan and Covey are going to rip you a new one.”

  That shook him out of whatever was crawling around in his head. “What? I didn’t do anything.”

  I managed to fold my arms, tilt him an eyebrow raise, and keep walking. Not as easy as it sounds. “They know.”

  “Know what?” Whatever was going on in his head about those rakasa still had him off his game. He wasn’t even trying.

  “That you spelled Harlan, stole one of Covey’s scrolls, and broke into Qianru’s house and most likely stole something from there too.”

  Silence stalked us for a good five minutes before he finally responded. “Oh.”

  Wow, even when his magic had been stolen from him I hadn’t seen him this out of sorts.

  We’d slowed down enough that Harlan was nowhere in sight as we walked down the twilight darkened street to Covey’s house. Unlike me, Covey lived in a decent part of town. Not fancy and overblown like the folks on The Hill, but a nice, quiet, respectable neighborhood. Her house being thrashed a few times in the last few months was about the only criminal element probably ever seen here.

  So I could not be blamed for screaming out in shock when two masked thugs, holding mini-crossbows jumped in front of us.

  Chapter Ten

  Alric froze, and let his hands drift down by his sides, but still kept the bag he carried pinned behind him. I’d not seen his sword, but he most likely had a few other weapons on him. He did
n’t favor billowy black shirts just for a fashion statement.

  “You don’t want to be doing this.” His voice was low and dangerous, one I hadn’t heard for a while.

  If our robbers were impressed, they weren’t showing it. I’d never seen either one before, as far as I could tell. They both had ridiculous cloths tied around the lower part of their faces. Of course, that made their eyes more memorable. Neither had particularly bright-looking orbs.

  “Listen, old man. We’ll be the ones saying what we’ll be doing. Now hand over that bag and any valuables you have, and we’ll let you go without hurting ya none.” The lead goon was a bit taller than I was, but not as tall as Alric. He was quite a bit wider though.

  Alric looked to me and sighed. “Do you want to do the honors or me?”

  The goons shared a look; this wasn’t how victims were supposed to behave.

  I had no idea what Alric’s plan was, but he could easily take these two. Along with my struggling magic, Covey and he were back to trying to teach me to fight. My skill set in either group wasn’t what anyone would call trustworthy.

  “Oh, why don’t you? I took the last ones.” It was easy to be cocky when I was standing with a serious fighter at my back.

  “I’ll give them one more chance.” Alric looked ready to play along until Garbage flew into view. Even I could see the scowl on her face. Alric could too. “Okay, change in plans—no more chances.” He pushed back his hood and hair on one side to show his elven ear, then flipped back his cloak to show a familiar large sword that I knew hadn’t been there moments ago. One of these days, I would find out how he did that.

  “Now do you know why you shouldn’t mess with us?” He wasn’t paying attention; his eyes were on Garbage who frantically motioned us toward Covey’s house.

  The goon’s eyes didn’t change at Alric’s elven ear, they did get bigger at the sword. But the one in front was smarter than I’d given him credit for and also clearly noticed Alric’s distraction.

  “Don’t know why you think them ears will be scaring us, but we will take what you have.” The goon lunged forward to grab Alric’s bag.

  I was in between and reacted without thinking and pushed the would-be thief away.

  I’d been startled by both Alric’s inattention and the thief’s gall, so my reaction wasn’t controlled. My head filled with fire ants and I dropped to the ground. After I’d sent the thief ass over head into the next block.

  The remaining thief shook and ran off. In the opposite direction. They may have been working together, but there was no camaraderie between them. Especially since I’d just displayed an unreasonable amount of magic.

  Alric spun around, looking for any other attackers, and it wasn’t lost that his left hand was down near the hilt of his sword. His eyes were better than mine and night was falling quickly, once he was certain no other attackers were around, he helped me to my feet.

  “Please tell me this was one of your testing situations, and that I didn’t just save your ass?” I dusted myself off, but it was more to hide my shaking hands than any real fear of dirt.

  Alric was still distracted, even though Garbage had flown to Covey’s house. “What? Yeah, sure. And we need to talk. But not here.”

  I was getting sick and tired of his ‘not here’ comments. But I followed him down the street in silence.

  The fire ants in my head dissipated faster than ever, which was a good thing. I hoped. With my luck it meant something worse was coming down the line.

  “Here. Now. Hurry.” Garbage was agitated and she kept flying up to us, then back to Covey’s door. The fact that clearly Bunky and the other girls weren’t with her finally settled in my agitated brain.

  “Where are the others?” We walked up to the door and I heard Covey and Harlan arguing, but I didn’t hear or see the faeries.

  “Not here.” This time Garbage said it, but the tone was almost exactly like Alric. Great, now I’d be hearing that annoying phrase from two sources.

  I knocked on the door, but Covey had left it partially open and it swung further at my knock. Garbage flew in over my head, and Alric, with one final look behind us, followed. He pointedly shut and locked the door behind us.

  “Come here. Now.” Garbage was more upset than I’d ever seen her, and she didn’t wait for our response before flying into Covey’s kitchen.

  Alric looked almost as upset as she was but his looks kept drifting toward me.

  “Thank the gods you’re both here.” Harlan said from an adversarial position at one end of the kitchen table. “Covey has gone completely beyond the bend.”

  Covey spun toward us. “I am completely justified. Someone spelled me, and that shall not be—”

  Garbage cut her off by flying in front of her and sternly placing her hand over Covey’s mouth. Surprise alone kept Covey from launching her tirade again.

  “No, you all listen. This serious.” Once Garbage was certain we’d all been cowed by her fierce glare, she continued. “They have been stolen. You need fix.”

  A chill went down my spine and I hoped she was talking about some rocks in her collection. “What has been stolen, sweetie?”

  Then Garbage did something I’d never seen—she started crying. “My friends. They stole my friends! Bring them back!”

  I almost started crying as well. Someone stole the girls and Bunky? I always counted on them being able to protect themselves, and Bunky as well.

  Alric looked almost as upset as I felt. “Come here, sweetling, and tell me what happened.” Now that was a voice I’d never heard from him. Confident and secure, and far older than he looked. This voice could belong to an elven high lord.

  Garbage wiped her tears and flew over to land on his outstretched hand. I’d never seen her so distraught.

  “We go over boom. Crusty see something. Then Leaf go too. I see something over plains. I come back, they gone.” She sat down on his hand. “No feel them!” She pounded both sides of her head.

  Covey and Harlan both moved closer. “You can feel them in your head?” Covey may have been yelling at Harlan moments before but Garbage’s fear and sadness was contagious.

  “Not anymore. They gone.” Garbage ignored the sugar Harlan put down in front of her. I’d have to re-think my opinion of the faeries. Garbage always seemed like she tolerated the other two but now it was clear she was having a major breakdown at their loss.

  I tried thinking of both Leaf and Crusty specifically. I wasn’t sure how to tell if the image went out since I avoided adding Garbage to the image. I thought harder, adding a feeling of come here now and images of as many treats as I could think of.

  A huge wall of black engulfed me, and I found myself lying on the floor of Covey’s kitchen. Surrounded by the others looking concerned, freaked out, and trying to help me back into my chair.

  Garbage watched me from the table and shook her head. “You tried calling. Not work.”

  “Calling?” Harlan was the one who finally got me into my chair. “Calling who?”

  “Today I found out that if I think of them specifically, I can call the girls to me. And yes, Garbage is right, I tried calling Leaf and Crusty and it slammed back and smacked me down.” I shook.

  “We need to try to find them. Whoever has them is blocking both of you from feeling them.” Alric had shaken off his worried look. “And no, I don’t think they are dead.”

  I wasn’t sure how he knew it, but I didn’t want to ask about it. Right now I needed to believe my little friends were still alive.

  “No.” Garbage sat down and shook her head. “They no go.” She pointed to Covey, Harlan, and me. “Me no go.” Her scowl overwhelmed her tears at that point. “Only you.” She pointed to Alric.

  “Agreed, it’s too risky for the others to go.” Alric dug through the bag he carried, pulled out a few small items, most likely weapons, then handed it to me. “Guard this.” It felt remarkably smooth for the weight of it. Most likely a magic bag, a larger version of the tiny ones the girl
s carried. I was sure there’d be no way I’d open it without him.

  “They’re my faeries; I should be the one to go.” I sounded tough. But whatever had happened in my head when I flung that thief had now combined with whatever had smacked me down when I tried to reach the girls. I doubted I could even get out of this chair right now.

  As usual, Alric knew me too well. “Can you even move?” When I finally shook my head, he gave a quick nod and turned to Harlan and Covey. “She did some unexpected magic earlier and I have a feeling the reaction is now getting to her. You all need to stay here. Sorry, Harlan, maybe Covey can put you up on the sofa. Something odd is happening tonight, and I need you all here. I’ll get the girls back.”

  He was at the door before anyone could argue.

  “Oh and someone should grab her.” He looked at me, but before I could point out I was fine, a wall of black rose up, and the last thing I heard was Covey yelling my name.

  Chapter Eleven

  I found myself in a destroyed building. It wasn’t Covey’s house, but filled with broken things from the people I knew and loved, like someone had dug them out of a dig site as mementos. As if someone had been hoarding these items. I wandered through endless tunnels, filled with broken items. A tiny part of my mind told me I wasn’t awake, but had fallen into a nightmare. Even as part of me knew this wasn’t real, another part equally knew it was. That I had lost everyone and everything, and this was my life.

  I screamed myself awake.

  To find Garbage sitting on my chest peering down at me, her arm back for what was probably another strike at my face. “You go bad place. No go again.” She started the slap, but I blocked her tiny hand.

  “Stop it. I’m awake.” It took my brain a few minutes to shake completely free of the images and feelings. Those were worse than the images—the bone-deep feeling that what I’d dreamed was real. If this was a new side effect of my using magic, or in last night’s case, over using magic, I think I wanted to go back to throwing up.