The Dark Shadow of Spring

by G. L. Breedon

  That thought held everyone in silence for a long moment.

  “You are such a ray of sunshine, Rafa,” Daphne said, shaking her head.

  “I do what I can,” Rafael said.

  “Well, I still want to hear my destiny,” Alex said, trying to recapture the spirit of the moment just past. “Are you all with me?”

  Ben shouted his assent, followed closely by Clark, Daphne, and Nina.

  “It’s probably my destiny to ask about my destiny,” Rafael said.

  “So how do we get in, big brother?” Nina asked, squinting up at him.

  “Well, Clark was the first part of the plan,” Alex said. “It’d be nearly impossible to find the entrance to the dragon’s lair without his nose.”

  “Mmm, it was easy,” Clark said, taking a big bite out of a slice of beef jerky he had slipped from his jacket pocket. Not for the first time, Alex marveled that Clark always seemed to have a snack handy, regardless of where he was.

  “The next part of the plan is more difficult,” Alex said. “I’m betting dragons gain entrance to their lairs with fire.”

  “Fire!” Ben said, bouncing on his toes. “I think I’m liking this adventure more already.”

  “Oh, you’re going to like it a lot,” Alex said, his grin as wide as Ben’s. “We just have to make sure we don’t burn down the forest.”

  Chapter 3: Waking the Dragon

  “Burn the flaming forest down?” Daphne yelped in surprise. “You will do no such thing. I have relatives in these trees!”

  Alex knew for a fact that most of Daphne’s tree spirit relatives lived in the White Forest, east of the Black Bone Mountain where they stood, but he also knew that her kinship with trees in general was very strong and he was more than familiar with the strident tone of her voice.

  “You’re in charge of making sure that doesn’t happen,” Alex said.

  “How so?” Daphne asked, squinting her eyes in cautious curiosity.

  “Like I said,” Alex explained, “I’m guessing this slab of granite we’re standing on isn’t really a rock at all, but an enchanted door to the dragon’s lair. And like a key for a lock, fire will open the door.”

  “That’s a lot of fire to use in the middle of a forest,” Daphne said, her tone skeptical.

  “That’s right,” Ben added, shuffling his feet a little. “I can draw a lot of magical energy and create a huge flame, but everyone knows I can’t control it so well.”

  “Yeah, I remember what happened at the Pashar farm,” Clark said with a chuckle as Ben blushed.

  “And everyone knows that Daphne has more control over magic than the rest of us put together,” Alex replied, ignoring Clark and seeing both Daphne and Ben’s eyes sparkle with possibility.

  “So I create the fire,” Ben said, rubbing his hands together excitedly, “and Daphne controls it.”

  “Steaming Satyr Snot,” Daphne said, looking at Ben. “We’ve never practiced working magic together. What if something goes wrong?”

  “That’s where the rest of us come in,” Alex said. “If the fire starts to get out of control, we’ll be ready to use magic to put out any flames that go astray.”

  “Just like…What do the Outsiders call them?” Nina asked. “Blaze blotters? Flame squishers? Something like that.”

  “Firemen,” Rafael said. “We’ll be the firemen.” As the newest citizen of Runewood, Rafael was more familiar than most with the world outside the valley and the customs of the Outsiders, as non-magical folk were called.

  “What do I do?” Ben asked. “Just make a ball of fire?”

  “I think you probably need to make the fire take the form of a rune,” Alex said, stepping off the granite outcropping beneath their feet and onto the hard packed earth surrounding it.

  “Like a password,” Daphne said. She and the others all moved back until they stood in a wide circle around what they hoped was a stone door in the ground.

  “I know the rune for open,” Daphne said, picking up a stick from the ground and drawing the rune in the dirt. Alex looked down at the symbol Daphne had drawn. It looked familiar to the one he knew. Runes were the written equivalent of the ancient first magical language known as rune-tongue. In writing, it was similar to languages like Chinese and Egyptian in that there were thousands of characters, each having the meaning of a word, thing, place, or object. Unlike Outsider languages, it was much, much older. Most mages believed it to be a form of the original, primeval language and mastery of it was necessary for performing magic.

  The runes and rune-words held no magic power in and of themselves, but when spoken by someone who could sense the magical energy of the land and use their mind to focus that energy, the words of rune-tongue transformed that energy into magical action. It was like a request between the earth and the mage, the rune-words making the appeal clear.

  What complicated things for mages was the fact that rune-words and written runes could not be learned like English, they had to be soul-remembered, brought back to the conscious mind from the ether of the collective magical mind of the universe itself. What this meant for mages was that they did not necessarily remember rune-words or symbols the same way. Since the same rune-word spoken by two mages could sound different or be written differently, it took years to master any of the four primary magics. It also meant that mages did not often work magic together.

  “It seems close to the one I remember,” Ben said.

  “Let’s hope that dragons remember runes the same way humans do,” Rafael said.

  “All written runes have a similar look,” Alex said. “Even if they are unique. And most of the magical creatures I’ve met write runes the way we do.”

  “My father and I can sort of read my mother’s dryad runes,” Daphne said.

  “Why don’t we just try and find out instead of talking about it all day?” Rafael said.

  “Right,” Alex said, looking at Ben and Daphne. “Open the dragon’s lair.”

  Ben shook his arms a bit and took a deep breath. He raised his hands out before his chest, holding them with the palms facing the slab of rock the Guild encircled. “Ogni!” he said and a small ball of flame appeared before his hands. He repeated the word, chanting it softly, as the ball of fire moved to the center of the rock face and began to grow. Ben continued to chant, the words getting louder, the fireball sinking down to the rock and engulfing it in flames. Ben began to add words to the chant and the flames twisted and grew in size until the blaze reached up twenty feet into the sky. Ben began to shake as he chanted.

  Alex raised his hand to shield his face from the heat of the flames and watched his friend with concern. He could sense the enormous amount of magical energy that was coursing through Ben. It was far more magical energy than Alex himself could manage to gather and more than twice as much as he’d ever seen Ben conjure before. Ben’s eyes were ablaze with the power of the magic as he shouted the fire into being. Alex began to worry that maybe this was too much to ask of Ben.

  “I can’t hold it for long!” Ben yelled in between the shouted words of his fire-chant.

  “Now, Daphne!” Alex said, but Daphne was already chanting a rune-word of her own, her hands weaving through the air as she struggled to control the colossal conflagration confronting them. As she chanted, the fire began to bend and twist in synchronization with the movements of her hands. The flames curved and coiled, shifting like living creatures across the face of the granite slab, until they finally took the form of the rune for open that Daphne had drawn in the dirt minutes before. A rumble like thunder filled the air as the ground began to quake and the giant outcropping of rock began to move.

  “It worked!” Alex shouted, running to Ben and Daphne. Ben shook himself and released the magical energy of the fire, the flames winking out as he did. The gigantic wedge of granite still slid forward, moving all as one piece up the side of the mountain. Clark and Rafael skipped quickly out of its way, running to join Alex and the others near the bottom. When the stone door to the d
ragon’s lair stopped moving, Alex found himself standing at the entrance to a thirty foot wide tunnel that angled downward deep into the mountainside, shadows quickly engulfing it in darkness.

  “That was amazing!” Alex said as he threw his arms around Daphne and Ben.

  “Typhon’s toenails, that was so much fire!” Daphne panted. “I wasn’t sure I could control it.”

  “Neither,” Ben said, gasping, “was I.” His eyes were still alight with the memory of the flames. “I’ll do that anytime you want.”

  “Humph, that’s a really big tunnel,” Clark said, stepping up to the edge where the rock walls of the tunnel sank into the mountain.

  “Probably because it’s a really big dragon,” Rafael said, cocking his head. “Did you hear something?” Everyone except Rafael instinctively stepped back a pace from the entrance of the tunnel. “No, behind us,” Rafael continued, facing the forest on the downward slope of the mountain.

  “What do you hear?” Alex whispered as he followed Rafael’s gaze. As a changeling, Rafael had not only the power to take the shape of different animals, but he was also gifted with the heightened senses of the animal world.

  “It sounded like voices,” Rafael said. “Whispers.”

  “Might be tree nymphs,” Daphne said in a hushed voice.

  “Or fairies or pixies or gnomes,” Nina added quietly.

  “I don’t think so,” Rafael said, sniffing the air. “Downwind. Can’t smell a thing.”

  “Hmm, do you want me to go take a look?” Clark asked Rafael. Paradoxically, while he was far larger than the others, Clark’s habit of moving gently also meant he walked the most quietly in the woods. And since his parents were farmers who often hunted their own game, Clark was an excellent tracker.

  “I don’t think so,” Rafael said, facing the others. “Whatever it was, I think it’s gone. Probably some woodland creature curious about the fire.”

  “I just hope nobody in town noticed that blaze,” Daphne said.

  “Me too,” Ben said. “I tried to make sure it didn’t get higher than the trees.”

  “You both did a great job,” Alex said, staring into the tunnel that led the dragon’s den.

  “What now?” Nina asked, looking into the pitch-black shadows.

  “Now we follow the tunnel to the heart of the dragon’s lair,” Alex said, shrugging off his knapsack. “And try to avoid any booby traps.”

  “Booby traps!” Nina squeaked. “You didn’t say anything about booby traps.”

  “I didn’t?” Alex asked as the others groaned. “It’s okay. I’ll go first.”

  “Oh yes, that makes everything better,” Rafael said with a frown.

  “Any idea what the gorping booby traps might be?” Daphne asked.

  “Nope,” Alex said. “But I have complete faith we will find them.”

  “Right,” Ben said. “But before or after they kill us?”

  “There’s nothing to worry about,” Alex said. “I’ll lead and Clark will follow to sniff out any magic.” Alex pulled a small crystal cylinder from his backpack and the other members of the Guild did the same. “Kesha-Tomm,” Alex said, speaking the rune-word for light and focusing a small amount of magical energy from the land into the crystal. The glow-wand responded by emitting bright, blue-white light.

  The dark maw of the tunnel swallowed the light of their glow-wands. Alex paused for a second, taking a deep breath. This was where the real adventure began — when it became dangerous. He could feel his heart beating quickly in his chest and he grinned into the darkness. He hated to admit it, but he loved this — the feeling of not knowing what might happen next and knowing that whatever did happen might endanger his life. That was the real reason he was going first instead of Clark. His giant friend could sniff out a magical booby trap better, but Alex wanted to be the first one into the dragon’s lair. Not to lead the others, but to lead himself. He swallowed, recognizing how dangerous this impulse of his was. One day it would get him into real trouble. But how much trouble could it be to find a dragon and wake it up just a little bit?

  “Let’s go,” Alex said, his voice much louder than he expected, echoing down along the sloping, shadow-drenched tunnel. The sunlight from the outside world faded and was quickly lost as they walked into the tunnel, the pale blue radiance of the glow-wands creating an eerie wall of darkness to the fore and aft of Alex and the Guild. Clark followed just a step behind Alex and the other four clumped together as a group two steps behind them.

  The tunnel curved tightly back and forth as it wound its way downward, deeper and deeper into the heart of the Black Bone Mountains. Alex looked up at the walls, seeing that they were smooth and flat, just like the floor of the tunnel. The channel through the stone looked have been bored out of the rock by some giant worm-like monster. He wondered if the dragon had done that or if some other creature had. Some creature that might still be down there in the dark of the tunnel. He came to a stop when he saw that the tunnel widened out into a larger chamber and split in two directions. The others stopped behind him, the beams from their glow-wands shining down into the two passageways.

  “Any idea which way?” Daphne asked, standing quite close to Alex.

  “Can you smell anything, Clark?” Alex asked, looking up at his large friend in the pale blue light of the wands.

  “Hmmm, nothing,” Clark said. “No magic here.”

  “I smell something,” Rafael said, stepping in front of the others, leaning forward with his nose. He sniffed twice and then raised his hand to point down the left tunnel. “This way.”

  “Are you sure?” Alex said, looking between the two tunnels as he sniffed the air, trying to locate the scent that Rafael had found.

  “Positive,” Rafael said. “I smell very old and very rotting flesh.”

  “Yuck,” Nina said, taking her brother’s hand for the first time.

  “Rotting meat?” Ben said, the glow-wand in his hand quavering a little. “Why would a dragon smell like rotting meat?”

  “I don’t think he does,” Rafael said in a sad tone. “But his dinner might.”

  No one said anything for a moment and Alex considered whose crazy idea this adventure was.

  “Who knew dragons had leftovers,” Alex said as he stepped to the left and walked into the tunnel that Rafael had indicated, nearly pulling Nina off her feet as she clung to his hand.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Nina whispered up at Alex.

  “Don’t I always?” Alex said, sounding more cocky than he actually felt.

  “You always think you do,” Nina said, gripping his hand even tighter.

  “What the difference?” Alex replied.

  “Being baked Nina pie or getting home in time for Mom’s blueberry pie,” Nina said.

  “We’ll be home in time for dinner, I promise,” Alex said. Despite his intent to appear calm and in control, Alex couldn’t help glancing over his shoulder to make sure the others were still following. They were, each looking at him intently. He loved being on an adventure, but sometimes being the leader was more difficult than he expected. If he had been alone, he would have been exhilarated by the terror of the possible things that could go wrong. With the Guild behind him, and his sister’s hand in his, he found himself more worried about their welfare than about how much fun he was having. He reassured himself that it would all be worth it when the dragon told them their destinies.

  The tunnel broke onto multiple paths twice more, Rafael sniffing out the correct passage each time. The tunnel wound down into the mountain much deeper than Alex had ever anticipated. Then again, as he considered it, a dragon probably covered ground much quicker than humans. Alex was so engrossed in this thought that he barely noticed when his foot seemed to slide through the stone floor of the tunnel. The next thing he knew, he was sinking through the stone floor, falling, Nina screaming as she fell beside him. Then Clark’s huge arms were around them both, raising them up through the air and planting them again on sol
id rock.

  “Yikes!” was the only thing Alex could think to say.

  “Ah, sorry,” Clark said, his face contorted with concern. “I didn’t smell it until I was right on top of it.”

  “Smell what?” Daphne asked, her voice breathless with apprehension. “They just disappeared into the gorping ground!”

  “Illusion,” Ben offered. “The floor must be an illusion.”

  “Probably a pit filled with spiked stones beneath it,” Rafael added, bending down to peer at the illusory tunnel floor.

  “Thanks for saving us, Clark,” Alex said.

  “Yes,” Nina said, finally recovering her voice. “Thanks, Clark.” She gave the giant boy a hug, which only reached up to his waist.

  “Aw, no problem, Nina,” Clark said.

  “Remind me not to hold your hand again,” Nina said to Alex.

  “Sorry,” Alex said, not knowing what else to say.

  “How in the name of Hades’ handbag do we get past it?” Daphne asked, bending down near Rafael to examine the magic of the illusion.

  “I don’t think we can break the illusion,” Rafael said. “It’s very powerful magic.”

  “I have another idea,” Alex said. “Everyone gather up as many pebbles and stones as you can find.” The others looked at him blankly until he tossed two small stones down the tunnel. The first slid through the illusionary floor and disappeared while the second, landing twenty feet beyond where he stood, bounced and rolled. “We just need to figure out how much of the ground the illusion covers,” Alex said. “Then we can get past it.”

  After gathering and tossing small stones for a few minutes, they determined that the false floor was fifteen feet long and covered nearly the entire width of the tunnel. A small ledge two feet wide ran along the right side of the wall, just big enough for them to pass down.

  “We should mark the ground of the tunnel,” Daphne said, taking a stone and scratching a long mark near the pit. “So we know where this is on the way back.”

  “Good idea,” Alex said. “And we can toss a stone every few feet to make sure it’s safe.”