by Vic Broquard
He continued, “I don’t think that it will be safe for you to return to Isi. They are on to you and could come after you at any time, even when you are sleeping. That is, if this is some kind of blood hound dragon.”
“What are we going to do?” asked Awinita.
“That’s the easiest question I’ve had all day. Simple, we’ll go back and get your things and you can stay here in my fortress for the time being until it is safe to return to Isi. After all, I got you into this mess by asking you to help find our missing women. It is the very least that I can do for you.”
After accepting their profuse thank you’s, he, Honani, Askook, and Cheveyo headed off to retrieve their possessions. “I guessed that this is what we’d find,” Honani said sadly as they arrived to find their huts smoldering ruins. After casting a few Extinguish and Chill spells, the men salvaged what they could, including all their gems.
“Don’t worry. I’ll see that everything gets replaced. The kids will need new toys — all on me. I can’t thank you enough for what you have done and the sacrifices made by you and your families. We’d best get back in case the reds show up again,” Zoran volunteered.
Once safe inside the fortress, he had Bernard take over for him. Bernard then got the three families settled, gave them a tour of Brn, and set them up an open account so that they could purchase what they now needed, especially things for their children.
Meantime, Zoran summoned his whole group together, filling up his private study. Quickly, he outlined the basic new fact. Yes, their women were being abducted but were being taken to some other world beyond the Federation. Further, he related the fact that apparently the reds could follow the scent of someone through the Shadows. This they all found most disturbing. After the short meeting, Zoran then Mind Linked to his key allied barons, joining Stefan, Leo, John, Arcangelo, and Gaspard of Gonda with him. Once more he outlined the new discoveries: that the dragons were still abducting women, but following a different pattern. All were highly disturbed to learn that the women were all brought to a staging area on Isi and then taken to some unknown world beyond the Federation. They were also extremely worried about the latest development that the reds could follow someone’s scent through the Shadows.
I urge you all to do what you can to find out if women are or have gone missing on your planets. Keep me posted. Somehow, someway, we must find a way to rescue them, though it may be too late for some. All promised to do so.
That evening, Zdenka invited Honani and his group to dine with them all in the Great Hall. Each evening all of her students joined Zoran and his group in the Great Hall. With so many needing assistance, everyone found this far more practical. Thus, Honani and his group finally met some of the women that they helped save. They were appalled at the sheer number of armless women and the six who were blind. Kachina’s heart went out to these women, some of whom she now recognized as the ones whose terror she had followed to locate the caverns in which they were being held.
After the meal, the students returned to their respective towers and rooms. Zoran felt this was as good a time as any to make key inquires and he began chatting with Honani and his people. “You know, I have wanted to ask you for some time now how it is that you folks have been able to locate our captive women? It is all right if you do not wish to divulge that information. It’s just that I am curious.”
“It is my doing,” Kachina volunteered. Cheveyo tried to stop her as did Honani. “It’s okay guys. We have no need to keep it a secret from him. He’s saved us from the dragons.” They frowned, but she looked at Zoran. “It is my doing. I can sense the women’s terror while they were in the Shadows and can follow those energy lines which lead to where they are at on some planet in the Federation.” She went on to explain it in greater detail and Zoran listened quite fascinated. He was getting some key information that he needed.
When she finished, Honani spoke up, “You can see why we keep this a secret. She is the only person in the Federation that can do such divinations. If word got out about her abilities, not only would everyone come begging her for help, but ruthless barons would try to force her to do their bidding as well. We have to protect her.”
“I give you my word that I will keep this to my most trusted staff and not tell the other barons. Your secret is safe with us. You have my word on that. I hope that you will not find life too offensive here in such a large town.” They thanked him and chatted about how to adjust to life in a big city, for to them Brn was just that. The children, however, loved it.
A week passed before he heard more unwelcome news. Here on Adapazan, a young woman named Zusa had just gone missing from Vole in neighboring Ves Province. The warlord’s mage notified him two days after her mysterious nighttime disappearance. Not long after that, the barons began reporting that they too had uncovered women missing from seemingly random locations throughout their planets. He then asked them to relay all this news to the Neutral Barons for him. He figured that it might be taken more seriously by those barons if the news didn’t come from him. In a way, he was right.
That night, he had Kachina make another of her divination scans for these new women. She quickly discovered that again there were sixteen taken and the rendezvous was at the same boulder field on Isi. “They probably laid a trap there, just in case we went there to intercept them,” Zoran concluded. He had no idea just how right he was. Sixty dragons had lain in wait all that night, hoping that Zoran would show up and try to retake the women.
Chapter 24 The Strange Case of Adrianna Whitehall
Adrianna Whitehall just turned twenty. She had long raven hair, just like her mother, and charming blue eyes. She was extremely pretty and highly sought after by the young men of Westfarthington, Terra. Her unmarried mother owned the only inn in Westfarthington, a small farming village some hundred miles from the capital of Terra and its primary Circle of Ascension. She had never known who her father was, though she begged and pleaded with her mother on many occasions. All her mother would ever say about this mysterious man was that he had given her this inn and livelihood and that Adrianna should be thankful for even that much.
Well, she wasn’t. True, she helped her mother run the inn ever since she could walk or so she claimed to the boys who would listen to her. Still, she often wondered just who her father had been. Why had he not married her mom? Why had he abandoned them? Perhaps he didn’t abandon us, she thought, since mom says that he gave her this inn. We do all right with it. Still. . .
Adrianna felt different somehow. During her childhood, she believed this was because, unlike the other children of Westfarthington, she had no father, no dad. When she turned thirteen and entered womanhood officially, all that changed. Things changed. At night, she began to see strange things, things that were not there, unreal things, shadowy images. At times, she felt as if she could somehow reach out and touch these illusory images, if images they were. She had no other name for them and dare not talk about such things, not in conservative Westfarthington! She’d be labeled a crazy teen. Besides, such would surely ruin her mother’s business.
Adrianna tried to not see these things, but that never worked. Then, she buried herself in work and rather forgot about the strange visions. Last year, even that ceased to work. Now she was seeing things again — this time more clearly. She imagined there was another universe calling out to her, for that might explain it. She asked her mother if there was such a thing and that idea was promptly dispelled. Still as she grew older, it seemed more and more real to her, like she ought to be able to reach out and touch it or feel it or go to it, somehow. It was because of this that she rejected all of the many suitors that begged for her hand or a date at least. How could she deal with boys when this so demanded her attention all the time? Maybe she was insane or crazy after all, she concluded. That thought was of no comfort to her either.
On the 2nd of August, she closed up the pub portion of the inn for her mother as she always had done since turning eighteen. She counted out the da
y’s receipts and put them into the safe. She wiped down all the tables, checked the front doors: locked as they ought to be. Finally, she retired for the night, letting her hair down from its usual attractive bun. She brushed out her long raven locks and admired her beauty in her hand mirror. “If only I could stop seeing these things,” she muttered to herself. She blew out her lantern and crawled into bed. Tomorrow she’d have to scrub the pub’s floor. Able had puked on it again tonight. If only he’d learn not to drink so much, she thought as she drifted into sleep.
Six reds came out of the Shadows over Westfarthington, hovering in the air above the small village. Seeing no one about, they flew over to the large inn, the largest building that wasn’t a granary. They had sent in a spy last week and he’d located a perfect host. The six morphed into human forms and walked up to the inn. One chanted briefly and the door unlocked. The six slipped quietly inside, shutting the door behind them. Based on the spy’s data, one headed to the back room and chanted, ensuring the older woman would not awaken.
Three others headed up the stairs, while two stood guard, just in case. Werner was most insistent that no one knew that they were here. Secrecy, secrecy, secrecy, he’d drilled into their heads. One of the three cast another spell and a zone of complete silence followed the three as they climbed the stairs and opened the bedroom door. Another cast his spell and the young woman fell into a deep sleep and was not aware of the man picking up her body out of her bed. She had on only her summer nightgown. The early August days were hot, reaching ninety at least.
Again, the zone of silence followed the three as they descended the stairs, rejoining the other three. After a quick check, one opened the door. All stepped outside, while one cast another spell and the door locked itself. Satisfied, the six morphed back into their true black forms. One gently picked up the young woman in its claws, flapped its huge wings, and became airborne.
Adrianna began to have a most pleasant dream. She was somehow floating high in the sky above Westfarthington. She could see the homes getting smaller and smaller, as if she was rising up somehow. She felt the cool late night breeze flapping against her gown. However, she felt a gripping pressure around her and tried to move to reduce it. Suddenly she was fully awake! She was flying! She saw that she was in the claws of a dark dragon that was flying higher and higher into the nighttime sky. Five other dark forms were flying close at hand. Adrianna screamed as loudly as she could! Over and over she shrieked, but the dragons totally ignored her. Stark, utter terror filled her and she screamed even harder.
Then it happened. She began to see the strange things again. Suddenly, she felt herself moving straight into what she had always thought were mere images! Although she didn’t know it, she’d just entered the Shadows. Adrianna became disoriented. Which way was up? Everything was grey-black shadows and yet she felt like she was still somehow moving. Her terror crescendoed and she sent out mental screams in all directions.
Zoran awoke in a cold sweat! “What’s the matter dear?” Zdenka’s sleepy alto voice broke the midnight stillness of their bedroom.
“Bad dream or something. It felt like a woman screaming from somewhere in the Shadows or something. I kind of woke up and it all drifted into mush. Sorry to wake you. Best get some sleep.” He rolled over and she did too. Soon, he was asleep once more.
Adrianna’s terror only grew, but just as suddenly land appeared, real land, though filled with enormous boulders, light grey in the silver moon light. Adrianna screamed once more! More dragons, lots of them. She heard other women screaming and twisted about to peek in their direction. She saw other women being clutched in the great claws of dark dragons, all circling around this strange land of monster-sized boulders. She screamed even louder, adding her voice to the many others about her.
It did no good, of course. After a time, the whole group of dragons once more stepped into the Shadows. Again, Adrianna’s terror grew far worse. She was moving into those awful images that she’d seen all her life. She screamed and screamed.
It was around two in the morning. Zoran again awoke, terrified and flying uncontrollably through the Shadows! Sweat poured down his chest. “Bad dream again?” Zdenka’s voice sounded a bit annoyed, this being the second time that she was awakened.
“Yes, bad dream. I haven’t had such nightmares since I was initiated into Shadow Walking when I was a teen. Ah well. Back to sleep. Sorry dear.”
The dreams didn’t go away, but he managed to ignore them and fall asleep once more.
Daylight! The dragon stepped out of the crazy, insane images into daylight! Adrianna felt slightly better. At least she could see a little. Where was this place? What did these dragons want with her? Hers was a black one, she saw, but there were red ones flying alongside too. A dark hole appeared in the side of a russet colored cliff. Soon the dragons flew inside, landing carefully, avoiding harming their captives. By now, Adrianna had stopped screaming. Her throat hurt and her mouth was parched.
Her dragon finally let her go but pushed her back against the wall. She looked around and saw a lot more young women like herself, all were shivering and scared. Adrianna looked out at the huge dragons staring at them. She assumed that her life had ended. They were probably going to eat her soon, she guessed, and her fear left her as she accepted her certain death. She stared back at these enormous beasts.
One began chanting and then touched the woman next to her. The woman screamed and her hands went up to her eyes. “I can’t see!” she screamed over and over. Adrianna was still trying to understand what had just happened to that woman when the same dragon touched her. Suddenly, everything went black, blacker than the nighttime, where starlight turned things into ghastly shapes. No, this was a total, complete blackness. She screamed as well, rubbing her eyes with her hands. Vaguely, she heard the other women screaming.
Then came a sort of sharp, stabbing pains in her left shoulder. She instinctively tried to rub it with her right hand. Stabbing pains came into her right shoulder too. Then another wave of panic flooded over her. Adrianna could not move either arm. A voice said, “Can you feel this?” Was that her own voice saying no? She couldn’t feel either arm or her hands. She tried and tried to move them to rub her blind eyes, but nothing happened, nothing, as if she no longer even had her pretty arms and hands. Terror filled her and she screamed once more. Worse, the blackness and the shadow images now seemed to blur. What is real? What is not? She could no longer tell. She heard other chanting and voices talking. What are they saying? She tried to listen and was even more horrified. She could not feel the dragon touching her as it cast its Charm Person spell on her. Thus she didn’t know that it had happened nor did she know that it had failed to work on her.
“There now, my pretty. You will do as we say and you will be fine. Soon we will breed with you and then you will become pregnant with a baby black dragon. You will grow ravenously hungry, but if you do as we say, we will feed you all that you desire. Of course, we will release you when you give birth to our baby dragon. Do you understand? Nod your head if you do?”
Adrianna didn’t know if she was being talked to or not, so nodded anyway. Anything. Why can’t I see? Why can’t I move my arms or hands? Pregnant? Baby dragons? How can this be? Wild ideas flashed through her mind. Then, she recalled two men chatting over ales in the pub. They were talking about all these women who were abducted by the dragons. “When they give birth, the baby dragon eats its way out of her womb and then dines on the dying mother’s blood and internal organs. Leastwise, that’s what I’ve heard,” the man said.
“Am I going to die?” her voice said. Did I say that? She wondered. Reality and unreality merged.
“Of course, but you will have a beautiful baby black to carry on your legacy for hundreds of years,” a sympathetic voice said. “Now drink this.” Something was touching her lips. Liquid. Tasted funny, but Adrianna drank, doing as she was told, though she continued to try to move her arms and hands. If only she could get them to work, maybe she could
feel her way out of this chamber and somehow escape. Unconsciousness overcame her.
When she awoke, she felt violated and knew that she had been raped while she was unconscious. Yesterday? Was it only yesterday that she would have been totally crushed if she had been raped? She was reeling, dizzy, unable to tell which way was up. She heard only silence and she dared not move or scream for fear of falling — or was she falling and couldn’t see that she was? Instead, she continued to try to get her arms to move — all her life she depended upon them. If they would just move, maybe she could grab on to something. Nothing, nothing at all, as if her arms and hands were never there. Just like her eyes. Total darkness. No, there were those strange grey shapes or images or whatevers there. Again, she freaked out in utter panic, screaming for help. She had no idea that she was halfway into the Shadows when she was screaming and thus her sounds were not heard inside the cavern. All the women appeared relatively calm to the dragon woman who was in charge of them at the moment.
Zoran was eating breakfast when he felt the utter panic of the Shadows swelling over himself. He nearly upchucked his breakfast. However, no one noticed him and he quickly took a drink of tea and calmed down. Maybe he was coming down with something and he decided to pay a visit to one of his physicians later on this morning.
A voice said, “Here, eat, drink. Bowls are on the table.” Another voice, a young woman’s said, “But where? I can’t see! Help me.” The original voice answered, “Use your feet. Find your chair. Sit down. Use your nose. Eat. Water is to the right of the food bowl.” Adrianna heard sobbing noises — no, shuffling feet, that was it. Food. Water! She wanted water in the worst way. She rose unsteadily, flailing her arms to steady her in her total blackness. Nothing. Was she spinning, falling? Adrianna could not tell which, if either.
Ouch! Pain! Her toes touched a chair perhaps. What had the voice said? Sit down, yes. Adrianna’s mind reeled flickering from one bit of confusion to another, wholly out of control. Insane! That’s it. Has to be. I’ve gone mad. This is all some madness that has swallowed me. No, I am feeling a chair. Yes, it feels like a chair. Sit, maybe that will be better. How? I can’t see where I am sitting! Another wave a panic swept over her and her legs gave out. Adrianna found her body sitting down. Now the odor of food, stew perhaps, reached her senses from somewhere in the blackness or was it coming from the grey cloudy images? She lowered her head to see if she could smell it better and landed her face in something warm. She licked and tasted stew and strange spices. No, I want water. Go right, her memories said or were they even her memories? Did she even have memories anymore? Water entered her nose and she tried to use her hands once more but nothing happened and she blew hard. Water! Her parched throat demanded it. Her face was in the water, yes. Drink, she told herself.