by Vic Broquard
Zoran signed, it was going to be a long night. Tomas was probably right. They could well spook entirely and move the women elsewhere. He dare not risk that happening. A red entered with a steaming pot of what appeared to be a stew. After filling the sixteen bowls, the red roused each sleeping women and made sure she got to the table and ate. Those with Zoran who had not seen how these women were forced to eat were shocked and appalled, but could only bide their time. Once fed, the women struggled to find their beds and whereon they laid back down. A black entered and cast a Sleep spell on each in turn, while the red cleaned up the table. Presently, both left the cavern room.
Now! Zoran gave the signal. Each Duska instantly stepped into the cavern beside their sleeping woman, lifted her up, and stepped back into the Shadows. Zoran double checked that they had not been seen. So far so good. He cast the needed Morph spell, roused his woman, briefly explained she was to tell him if she felt the baby moving or was hurting her, and then flew as fast as he could through the Shadows, stepping her out in the infirmary. Although he left last, he arrived first. Zdenka took the confused woman from him and began working with her, recasting the Morph spell and then dispelling the woman’s blindness. That alone helped the woman immensely. She could see again.
One by one during the next ten minutes the others arrived. Tomas was last, he had to stop and recast Morph. “We did it. We didn’t lose one this time!” Zoran cheered the group as Jarka took the woman from Tomas. Then, they all headed back, led by Tomas, who took them to the next most critical batch of women. These were not likely due for a couple of weeks, Zoran thought, based on the many women he’d seen these past months.
Indeed, the caverns were in an uproar. The red and black caretakers were being grilled. “Of course we fed them. Yes, we cast Sleep on each one and they were out like a light. I swear it,” the poor red said defiantly. “No I don’t know where they went. They just vanished utterly. No, no one but we two have been in here all day. You know that’s not allowed. You need a woman here to handle the delivery of our babies.”
They slipped over to the next cavern room where the next batch of women was held. Two dragons were lying on the floor, their heads watching the sleeping women. They were extremely bored. Now they waited, these two would have to leave before they dared rescue the women. An hour later, another dragon came by to check on them. “Yes, sleeping like babies. Nothing going on at all. I tell you this is a complete waste of time.”
“Okay, okay. Go get something to snack on,” the new arrival ordered. The two didn’t waste time and beat a hasty retreat from the cavern room. The remaining one checked on the women. Satisfied that all sixteen were sound asleep, he too left. At once, Zoran acted. A minute later, these sixteen were in the Shadows. A minute later, Morph spells cast, they were on their way back to Adapazan and the infirmary.
Zoran had the rescuers cast Dispel Magic to undo the women’s blindness. He briefly explained where they were and that they were safe. Soon they would get the necessary attention they needed. Zdenka entered and took over and they headed back for more. This time, they found that the missing women had not yet been discovered. Further, none of the remaining two groups were being watched, the women were sound asleep. Zoran had reservations and Verushka cast her Premonition spell. We should take both groups with us this time, she advised via Mind Link.
He decided the best way was to divide into halves. Each half would take one set of sixteen women. Each Duska would have to snatch two women from adjacent beds. He allowed them time to get into position and to work out in their minds how they would get both women and then gave the signal. Essentially, the Duska grabbed each woman’s hand and physically pulled them into the Shadows. However, this turned out to not be such a good idea. More than half of the women suffered broken arms, though no one knew this until Jarka examined them later on in the infirmary. Their arms had atrophied significantly. With the last of the women safely now in the way over crowded infirmary, he sent Tomas back to keep an eye on the dragons. He wanted to know what the dragon’s reactions and responses might be. All eighty of their abducted women had simply vanished into thin air. How would the dragons react and deal with this?
Although it was midnight, he arranged for other Duska to relieve Tomas, setting up a two hour shift among those Duska who could be spared from handling the women who were close to giving birth. Meantime, Zdenka put all of her magic students to work assisting the new arrivals. Dispel spells flew right and left, returning sight to the women. Next, a brief explanation was given to them, followed by a bath and physical inspection. Jarka discovered the broken limbs and doled out healing potions to sixteen women. It was four in the morning before the last woman was clothed and helped into a clean bed.
Two women were assigned to closely monitor the sixteen and were to rouse everyone if they went into labor. The rest headed to bed themselves. The next day became a nightmare for the caretakers. All sixteen went into labor around eight in the morning. Morph spells had to be recast every half hour or so and the sixteen constantly watched. Zdenka’s students were of great assistance. They took over the feeding of the many other women, caring for their needs as well. When a dragon finally was born, Zoran cast his Vanish spell on it. In the meantime, he helped out as needed with the women, usually casting Morph spells. Finally around six that night, the last dragon was Vanished and the exhausted care givers finally got a well-deserved rest.
Meanwhile, Stefan, Leo, and the other men took turns monitoring the dragon’s reactions to the disappearance of all their breeding stock, as they called these women. As expected, speculations ran the gambit. However, one dragon’s idea began to take hold. According to him, he suspected that there was some kind of physical incompatibility with Voss and these women from the Federation. Yes, they finally learned that this was indeed the planet Voss. The dragon suggested that this magical incompatibility caused the women’s bodies to disintegrate rather rapidly. Of course, he couldn’t explain the time factor. Already, sixteen women had given birth to eight reds and eight blacks and they had not disappeared. Plus, the new arrivals had only been there two days before they vanished. Still, his idea met with increasing support.
Dario and Werner arrived and grilled everyone yet again. Many continued to suggest that there was some kind of physical incompatibility between Voss and these women. At last Werner reached a decision. “Okay, let’s test out that theory. We’ll move up the next abductions to tomorrow night. We’ll bring in another sixteen. Then, we’ll monitor them closely. Either they too will disappear or they will not. We’ll see. Incompatibility? How can that be?” he muttered to himself. His grand plan was crumbling.
Baron Leo was watching from the Shadows around one in the following morning. He had slept in and volunteered for the late shift, which pleased Lida. She’d said, “I am really pleased that you are taking such an active role in all this.” As he watched from the Shadows, he still felt pleased by her validation of him. He was the first to see the new arrivals, when suddenly sixteen reds and blacks swooped in carrying their latest batch of kidnaped women. He fired off his Mind Link messages as ordered and prepared to carefully observe just what these dragons did to the women. He correctly determined that they were currently under the influence of a Sleep spell.
Not long after that, Zoran arrived beside him and quickly made a Mind Link to a sleepy Jarka. Okay, I need to see very closely just what they do to the women’s arms. What is the purpose of those small punctures that they make in their shoulders, she sent back.
Under Sleep spells at the moment, Leo sent to Zoran. Now they watched, just a little frustrated that, though they were here, there was really nothing that they could do to prevent what was about to happen to these innocent women. They simply could not take on over two dozen dragons at one time.
Werner arrived to personally supervise the operation this time. Four dragons went methodically down the line of women casting Blind spells on them. Most of the women woke up at this point and the cavern was filled
with their screams of shock and horror. Their hands rubbed their eyes mechanically. Zoran could feel their terror and wild emotions. He felt rather sick at this point, Leo too.
A red dragon Morphed into her human form and a large medical bag suddenly appeared in her hand. Summons spell, Zoran mechanically noted. The woman opened the bag and took out several items. Pay close attention now! Jarka sent. She watched the woman pull out a long hollow needle, an eye dropper, a large bottle of what appeared to be that bluish gooey substance similar to what she had been analyzing for months. She pit a contraption over his head. The device had a sort of magnifying lense that she pulled down over her left eye for close work. Jarka thought that this was a clever invention. She walked up to the first terrified and struggling woman.
All three recognized the spell at once. Immobilize. The woman froze, unable to move a voluntarily muscle. True, all her involuntary muscles worked, she breathed and her heart pumped. She was just unable to move or talk on her own. Another dragon helper at once removed all the woman’s clothing, generally just a nightgown. The morphed dragon in human form moved up to her left side and Zoran focused his full attention on the woman’s shoulder, knowing that Jarka desperately needed to see just what the dragon did to the woman.
Using the magnifying apparatus, the dragon inserted the hollow needle in her shoulder at very precise locations. The dragon stopped pushing it into her shoulder when the woman’s arm jerked slightly. Zoran estimated that the needle was maybe a quarter to a half inch beneath the woman’s skin. A small funnel was then attached to the hollow needle. How strange, Zoran thought. What was he doing? Then, the dragon measured out two drops of the bluish liquid and dropped it into the funnel, watching it slowly seep down the hollow needle and into the woman’s shoulder. After doing four more spots on that shoulder area, she pulled the needle out and moved over to the right side and repeated the entire process. Once done, she then cancelled the Immobilize spell and took the needle and poked the woman in her lower arm with it. The woman had no reaction at all. The dragon then tested the other arm with similar results. Apparently done, she moved on down to the next woman, leaving the one she’d just finished screaming about her arms no longer working.
Zoran adjusted his position in the shadows to try to get a better look as the dragon performed the same action on the next woman. The procedure was precisely the same, only this time the woman had a reaction to the needle puncture test, and the dragon redid that shoulder a second time. Well, that explains it. My potions only heal a body’s wounds. It does not remove that bluish stuff that it is inserting in them. Now we know what to look for! Jarka felt somewhat vindicated, in that there was no failing on her part in concocting her potions. I will get to work on it!
After he finished this second woman, she moved down the line to the next woman. Another dragon came up to the one she’d just finished. The woman reacted as expected, when she suddenly could no longer feel or move or even sense the presence of her arms and hands. She screamed and shrieked even louder. This ended abruptly after the dragon then cast a Charm spell on her. He suggested that she felt fine and that she should lie down on the bed behind her. Unable to see, unable to use her arms and hands, the poor woman made a valiant effort to find the bed and lay down, though as Zoran already knew, their dangling arms sometimes got in their way and bones cracked as they sat or lay upon them. Worse, the women could not even tell it had happened.
Zoran almost could not stand what happened next. It took all of his will power to prevent himself from doing something foolish. Werner said, “Okay, Dario. We want to create only the best and smartest offspring, so let’s do it now.” He Morphed into human form and proceeded to rape the first woman. Dario did the same to the next one. The virile pair of dragons continued on down the line of women, impregnating them with their seed. After the last was finished, the two Morphed back into their dragon forms, just as the red finished putting his tools back into her bag.
“Thank you doctor. Now we shall see if these vanish like the others. I just do not see how anything that we are doing could possibly create this so called incompatibility and dissolve their bodies, leaving not a single trace of them,” Werner stated dryly.
“Well, it took a couple of days for the last ones to vanish, but I don’t get why the first batch was not affected at all and why four batches disappeared at nearly the same time. It doesn’t make any sense at all,” Dario complained. “Maybe it is the food that we are feeding them. Perhaps something about Voss food that is dissolving the humans’ bodies.”
“We are not going to take any chances with these,” Werner added. “Guards, I want every trap double checked and a guard it to stand watch every fifty feet from the entrance to the hall out there — twenty-four-seven. Now then, Dario, are your dragons ready with the collars?”
The red sent for his workers. In came four reds, who were in their human forms. They carried locking neck collars and proceeded to lock one around each woman’s neck. Next, they brought in long chains, fastening them to hooks bolted securely to the cavern’s stone wall behind the beds and then snapped them onto a loop on the neck collars. The chains would allow the women to reach the long line of tables but not much beyond that.
Satisfied with this new arrangement, Werner said, “Now that’s better. The women cannot get up and walk out of here, and no one can slip in and carry them out either, not without dealing with those locks. Leave nothing to chance, Dario, remember that. These women are not going to vanish on us, not this time!” He walked out of the cavern room, followed by Dario, leaving the red female caretaker alone with the women. She went down the line casting a Sleep spell on each woman. Then, she headed to the kitchen to begin fixing the women’s breakfast. Another dragon quickly entered, sat down, and watched the sleeping women. Soon, he was quite bored.
Leo sent encouragingly, Won’t be a problem. We cast Silence, then Unlock, and then snatch. When do we do it?
Best wait and see when the women are left alone for a couple of minutes. See what the pattern of observation is, Zoran sent back. By dawn, they finally realized one fact: the women were never going to be left wholly alone. Every two hours, another dragon came in to relieve the one watching the women. Periodically, the red dragon that was caring for the women’s needs came back, sometimes with a huge pot of what appeared to be stew. Zoran let Stefan take over for them. He and Leo returned to Brn.
“It’s hopeless! How can we possibly sneak them out of there now? They are watched every minute,” Leo complained. It was ten the next morning and Zoran had assembled his staff to work out how the women could be rescued. He’d explained the situation and Stefan continued to report no change. One dragon was on duty at all times, the women were never out of sight of at least one dragon. There seemed no way that they could continue their charade. They’d have to charge in there with all their attacking spells and hope for the best.
While many ideas were tossed about, one way or another, all involved blowing their cover and attacking the dragons. Finally, Archmage Nadia spoke up, “You know, I have been mulling all this over in my mind. It seems that the dragons are thinking along the lines of some kind of incompatibility, one in which their victims’ bodies dissolve into nothingness. I have an idea that will take advantage of that and perhaps solidly re-enforce that mistaken belief. Of all of us, I have more skill with illusions. What about this idea?” She outlined her plan.
“That’s down right devious and incredibly ingenious! Leave it to my daughter to come up with such a plan!” Zoran effused praise on her. “I think it might well work! If no one has any better ideas, we go with it. How long do you need to prepare, Nadia?”
An hour later, the rescue group of Duskas was again in the Shadows, hovering just over the cavern room where the captives were being held. We wait until they are fed and put back to sleep, Zoran ordered. That way, they would have the longest period of time available for their magic. Yes, all sixteen were thoroughly upset watching the miserable way that the women were fo
rced to eat. Disgusting and revolting and downright inhumane, Nadia thought, but she continued to restrain herself from breaking their cover and murdering one or two dragons. Oh, how she wanted to ring their necks!
An hour later, the red recast a Sleep spell on each woman, then cleared off the dirty bowls and left. A replacement guard dragon entered and the very bored one left. Zoran waited until the new arrival became bored, which was not long. Watching nothing but sixteen sleeping women quickly bored the dragon, his eye lids began drooping. Zoran gave Nadia the go ahead, and then gave the others their signal.
The dragon suddenly opened its eyes, blinking several times. He saw thin, ghostly images of small dragons rising up out of the wombs of the sleeping women! They moved around the sleeping bodies as a thin fog appeared in the room, partially lowering the visibility of the women. Now the little ghostly dragons began flapping their wings and flying upwards towards the ceiling. The guard’s eyes followed their flight. Many Silence spells detonated, followed by Unlock spells. With Invisibility cast upon themselves, the rescuers stepped out of the Shadows, arriving beside the beds. Each quickly snatched up their woman, cast Lock spells, and stepped back into the Shadows.
As the ghostly dragons seemed to float on through the stone roof of the cavern room, the guard’s eyes returned to the women’s bodies on their beds. He saw their bodies begin to dissolve into thin wisps of grey smoke. Bit by bit their bodies seemed to thin until there was nothing left at all, save the locked collars lying on the beds. Like the ghostly dragons, the wisps floated up and out through the ceiling. By now, the women were actually well on their way back to Brn traveling rapidly through the Shadows. A while later, Stefan returned to continue monitoring the dragons and their reactions. He was in time to see the tail end of Werner and Dario’s extensive questioning of the guard, complete with many detection spells cast on the poor guard. Fortunately, nothing could shake the guard’s story. Both Werner and Dario looked rather pale, if dragons can be said to pale, Stefan thought. He returned to Brn after he heard Werner issue the orders to abandon this entire complex. They had to rethink their entire strategy, he’d complained bitterly.