by E. J. Krause
Ben gave it a quick scan. Its plan of attack was to drop in, petrify its prey with its looks and evil, and strike. Ben and Andi, thanks to the magic coursing through them both, wouldn't have been sitting ducks anyway, but since they were so intent on their argument, it had no effect. Andi coated it with a stream of acid, while Ben pummeled it with his most powerful bolt of dark energy. The thing disintegrated before it even realized it was in trouble. Ben threw up a repellent spell to keep all the others at bay, and his emotions were jacked up high enough to where he knew it would work.
Without missing a beat, Andi said, "If you can't sense it in me, then you wouldn't be able to sense it in yourself."
"Why did you even want to do this, then? If you're so certain they're the good ones, you shouldn't want anyone getting their hands on these devices."
She scoffed, not in his mind, but physically with her dragon mouth. "That's why I want to get them. Then everyone will see they're innocent."
There was a lie in there, but not a total one. He decided not to call her on it. Yet, anyway. They flew the rest of the way in silence, assaulting each other in their feelings of anger and disappointment. The nice thing was that his demon repellent spell seemed to work wonders, though maybe the other demons were smarter than they looked after they saw what happened to the first guy.
As they approached the front of the fortress, Ben felt some sort of invisible force field protecting it from anything flying in. Probably those bat demons, but it would work equally as well on dragons. "Careful," he said.
"You don't say," she said, so thick in sarcasm that he pictured their favorite bottle of real Canadian maple syrup Cassie used to buy online. That brought out a snicker from him.
"Nothing's funny right now," she snapped.
That made him laugh all the harder, while saying, "Love you, baby."
She gave him a mental eye roll, but she proved her own love by making sure she landed softly to keep him safe. He quieted his laughing out of respect for her. She noticed but wasn't impressed.
They stood in front of the main gate, a huge drawbridge already lowered, and the iron portcullis raised. That wasn't a good sign. Surely they weren't welcoming visitors, especially those looking to commit a major heist. Not that he needed to, as it was always on, but he reached out to find any immediate danger.
"Well?" she asked, her attitude buried for the moment.
"I'm mostly getting those demons behind us, but I don't think they want any part of the fortress."
"Speaks volumes about the fortress if demons don't want to be near it."
"Yeah. Wait, something's coming. I don't know what. Be ready."
As soon as it was out of his mouth, the ground shook. Thousands upon thousands of shiny black beetles swarmed out of a gap in the ground to the left of the fortress gate. An equal amount poured out of another hole on the other side. Andi spit out a stream of acid and burned a small cluster up, but now she needed to recharge. Of course, he had more firepower, especially with being able to pull energy from her. Bolts, bursts, and rays of dark energy exploded from him, but for every group of bugs he disintegrated, more streamed out from under the ground. He was about to launch himself onto her back so they could be above them, but they produced wings and buzzed above and around them, forming a shifting black dome, leaving nowhere to run. Something told him they had mere seconds before the bugs converged, leaving nothing of he and Andi, not even beautiful corpses.
"We wouldn't be in this situation if you'd listened to me," she said.
"You wanted to do this anyway," he pointed out.
She groaned. "Fine, but I hate that you're leading us down a path of evil, and I love you too much not to follow."
"Come here," he said. She transformed back to human, and he took her in his arms. "I don't think you need to concentrate anymore, but why not for old time's sake?"
"Die, bugs, die?" she said, a slight smile on her face.
He nodded, and a wave of energy blew off them. Every one of the beetles fell lifeless to the earth, blackening the ground, and covering them.
"Gross," she said, brushing them off. They stepped over to the side to get out of the mound of thousands of bugs.
"Come here," he said again.
Her eyes went wide. "More?"
"No. Just come here."
She crashed into his arms, and they stood holding each other. He'd never voiced it, even to himself, but he knew what she meant. She was walking the line, even if she couldn't see it, that would lead to the evil side of the prophecy. He didn't want to go, was obviously fighting her on it, but when it all came down to it, he'd follow her.
"In my view, you're the one leading us to the dark side," he said.
"That's not true…"
He kissed her. He wanted to, of course, but it also shut her up. "My turn to talk." She rolled her eyes at him, and he gave her a smirk. "As I said, I think you're leading us to the side of evil. And, like you said, I'll follow. What I'm getting from this is that neither of us wants to be bad, so, when this is all over, we'll find out which one of us is truly corrupted. And we'll do it together. Deal?"
She nodded, gave him a tender kiss, and said, "I'm technically a lot older than you. I'm supposed to be the wise one."
"Let me have my moments. I don't get them often."
She kissed his neck and said, "No, but this was a good one. Now how are we suppose to find the enchantment on you if you don't even know it's there?" Her eyes went wide. "You don't think Felix…"
"First, no, I don't, but it's something we'll need to consider. Felix and I have been inside each other's consciousnesses too often for me to suspect him. Second, do you think we could discuss this later? You know, when we're not in the middle of a place that wants to kill us?"
"Again with the wisdom. Okay, let's go."
Chapter 19
The doorbell rang while Trent was making dinner. Heidi was home from work and watching TV in the living room, so he let her answer. Probably a neighbor or solicitor, but he decided to go in and check in case it was someone from the Dragon Council. He made sure nothing would burn on the stove, and left the kitchen.
When he got out there, it wasn't anyone he recognized. The guy was a bit on the mousy side, but his pleasant smile, mixed with Heidi's smile, proved he must be okay. When he approached, Heidi turned and said, "Trent, this is Fillmore. He's a friend of Sasha's. Remember, the Dragon Guard we met at the yogurt shop?"
"Ah," Trent said. "Nice to meet you." They shook hands, and he and Heidi invited the guy in.
"I hope I'm not interrupting," Fillmore said as they got into the entry hall and moved to the living room.
"No, of course not," Heidi said. "What can we do for you?"
"Actually, I'm here on behalf of Timothy and Sasha. They want to find out how Alexandria is doing since she got back. Those three months were a strain on her. And Benjamin, of course."
"She's doing great," Trent said. "She's sad about losing her parents, but as far as we can tell, she's handling it like a champ."
"We're proud of her," Heidi added. "She said she couldn't deal with their loss at the Stronghold because she missed Ben so much. It hit her hard when she returned, but she's getting through it."
Fillmore nodded, a sage nod of understanding. "Yes. My mate and I…" He got a catch in his throat, swallowed, and continued. "Sorry. My mate and I both lost our parents to violence. When it happened, I was older than Alexandria, and Mila was older than Benjamin, but it was still a traumatic day."
Heidi put a hand on his shoulder, and they both offered him their condolences.
"I've long since made peace with the loss of our parents, but I can tell you how much I empathize with Alexandria and Benjamin on their forced absence from each other. You see, in that same horrible day, Mila suffered a catastrophic injury. She was on the verge of dying, which, of course, would have killed me, too, but by the grace of all that is good, Timothy and Sasha happened to be there. They had enough power to put her in a coma of
sorts, though they couldn't heal her completely. Her soul remains tethered to her body, keeping her alive but asleep."
"That's horrible," Heidi said, a hand shoved over her mouth.
The dragon's eyes glassed over, and Trent wondered if he was going to lose it, but after a deep breath, Fillmore smiled. "Horrible indeed, but it beats the alternative. Now we stay with Timothy and Sasha, waiting for the day they find the power to restore Mila to life."
"Have you considered asking Ben and Andi for help?" Trent asked. "They've proven they can do amazing things, things we can't hope to comprehend."
Fillmore sadly smiled and shook his head. "If only it were that easy. In dragon society, I'd basically be slapping Timothy and Sasha in the face. Silly, I know, but it's how things work."
"But if it's for the greater good," Heidi started, but Fillmore shook his head again.
"Even for the greater good. Anyway, I'm sorry to have burdened you with this. It wasn't my intention. Can you do me a favor and not mention my story or Timothy and Sasha's involvement? To anyone? Even Alexandria and Benjamin."
"Of course we won't," Heidi said. "Your secret's safe with us."
"Thank you," he said, and went back to the front door. Heidi hurried and opened it for him. "I appreciate your time, and I'm grateful Alexandria and Benjamin are doing so well. It was nice to meet you both, and I'm sure we'll see each other again."
"We'll look forward to it," Trent said.
With that, Fillmore waved and was gone.
Chapter 20
Andi transformed back into her dragon self and led the way through the front gate of the evil fortress. Not that the structure was in itself evil. There were plenty of dangers inside, but most of those were there to protect, not to initiate the infliction of pain. Ben sort of wished the place was pure evil. He sensed danger fine, but evil was easier to deal with overall. Both his necromantic and Dragon Guard powers saw to that.
Once in the courtyard, they were faced with two choices. They could continue across to the fortress proper, or they could head over to a small opening leading to stairs in the ground to their right. The outside wall and fortress met to the left, offering nowhere to go that way.
"I don't know about you," Andi said, "but something's pulling me to the stairs down. Is that right, or is it trying to trick me?"
"Let me check." Ben felt the same pull, so he concentrated on it. There was more danger that way, but it also led to their goal. Which made sense, even if he'd have preferred to go the easier route. But when was easy ever an option? "Down we go."
"Figures." She sighed and changed back to human to fit through the opening, though she did keep her scales as added protection.
Once they went down what he guessed was the equivalent of two stories, they found themselves in a long rocky hallway. It had been carved out by magic eons ago, as he could feel scant traces lingering. He always found it interesting how magic, no matter the type, would stick around seemingly forever. He noticed before in places of epic magical battles and events, but it struck him as odd that even something relatively mundane, like burrowing through rock, could leave such traces. It wasn't as if the rock couldn't have been carved through with manual labor.
"Eerie in here," Andi muttered, breaking him out of his thoughts. At least it was lit with torches in sconces every ten feet. Not that they needed the light since he could have cast a spell, but it spoke to the fact that this was the right way. Stupid, sure, since this could be nothing more than a well-used passage by whoever or whatever lived here, but he didn't think so.
"Look," he said, pointing ahead. The passage forked. Again, like with the choice between the stairs and the fortress, one direction pulled at him. To be sure, he asked Andi, "Which way?"
"Left," she said, with no hesitation. He thought the same, so it had to be correct.
This went on and on. They came to dozens of forks in the tunnel, but each time they both agreed on the way. It got to the point where they didn't even voice it and simply walked to the appropriate passage. The deeper they went, the more the rocky walls changed. And deeper was a good way to put it. They were getting further into the maze, but the path angled down the entire way. Not by much, but enough that by now it put them deep underground. He voiced this, and Andi readily agreed.
When they'd started, the walls had a brown, brittle quality to them. Not brittle in any sense that they might crumble and collapse, but in that pick-axes and other such tools would have been able to carve them out. Down here, however, these rocks had a solid, almost iron feel. Maybe magic was the only way to burrow a tunnel through. Another thing he noticed was magical plants that looked like lichen that grew in many of the crevices. Every instinct told him not to touch them, and when he relayed this message to Andi, she gave him a look that said, "Duh."
He winked and gave her a quick kiss. "I sense danger all around, but nothing immanent. I'm guessing the real danger here is getting lost and not being able to get out again."
"Yeah, me, too."
That had happened a lot since she'd gotten back. Or at least often enough for him to notice. "You seem to be more intuitive when it comes to magic lately."
"Am I?" Her emotions spelled out that she had no idea.
"You remind me of me before Felix. It doesn't always happen, but in a time of necessity, like right now, the power speaks to you."
She considered this and shrugged. "I guess. Remember when you were put in that anti-magic bubble when we fought the Nightmare Syndicate?"
It was his turn to give her a look that said, "Duh."
"When I charged through the warriors, I felt the power swirling around me. I couldn't control it, but it was there, keeping me safe. The warriors couldn't touch me, and I couldn't miss. It didn't help when they flung me across the room, but it didn't help you, either."
"Did it go away?"
She thought about it for a few seconds, and then shook her head. "I don't think so, but I can't tell unless I bear down and look for it. I think it was even with me the entire time at the Stronghold. I never gave it any thought since I didn't need it. Now here it is, front and center, and I hardly notice."
"Yeah, that's sort of how it was for me before. I wonder if you're going to be able to cast spells, or if you'll stay a magic-enabler?"
"I'm guessing it's all pointing towards the latter. Isn't that what Felix basically said? If we can trust him." She said it in a joking tone, but, of course, he could sense the true concern. At least with Felix she only asked the question, unlike the out-and-out anger she spewed when any of the Dragon Council besides Timothy and Sasha were mentioned. Anyway, he let it slide so they didn't get into another argument.
"Yeah. I'm glad you get magic too, and that we truly are in this together."
She hugged him. "Me, too." A mischievous streak flashed off her. "I mean, it's kind of a gyp I can't cast many, if any, spells, but I guess I'll make do."
He nudged her. "You turn into an acid-spewing, armored, flying war machine. Let's see if I spill a few tears for you."
She nudged him back. "I don't get to be an expert with a sword and shield, either."
"Again, killer dragon. And plenty of dragon in between." He motioned to the blue scales all over her human body.
To her credit, she tried to hide her smile for longer than a few seconds, but failed. She burst out laughing, and said, "Yeah, when you put it like that, I am pretty awesome."
Ben rolled his eyes at her, but couldn't hold back a laugh of his own. "Yeah, you are pretty awesome."
A few more twists and turns led to a large cavern, about the size of a hockey arena. Now the lingering danger of getting hopelessly lost gave way to a more immediate threat. Andi tensed, proving she felt it, too. He was about to suggest full-dragon, but she transformed before he could get the words out. He should have known better than to tell her how to dragon.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Not sure yet." He reached out with his mystical feelers. He had a sense, going on their prior c
onversation, that she could have done this, too. At least he knew where Felix should focus their next few training sessions. He often felt unstoppable with her by his side, but soon, when they learned what she was capable of, to go along with the new resurrection powers, it would probably be true.
"Well?"
He found something. Something big, and it was coming to the cavern from somewhere below. "Watch the ground. Maybe we should hover for a minute."
"That bad, huh?"
"I think so. It's not evil, but it can put the hurt on."
"Sounds fun." And the tone of her voice in his mind said she meant it. She dipped down to give him easy access to her back. Once he was on, she lifted off the ground. In the nick of time, it turned out, as the entire floor of the cavern buckled, opening a chasm in the middle.
"Wait for it," he said.
"For what?"
"I'm not sure. That was meant as much for me as you."
She gave him the ol' internal eye roll, which turned into a gasp. Out of the chasm crawled a huge lobster-like monster, easily twice as big as Andi. Every bit of it was armored, even the joints on the legs, including where the legs and body met. Its plates were all a dull black, carrying plenty of old battle scars, except for the one over its head, which was clear, like its own personal windshield. The part of the monster that stood out the most, however, were the two huge claws, each the size of Andi's Volkswagen Bug back home, and no doubt strong enough to crush the car. Or them.
"Do you think it can fly?" she asked.
"I hope not."
"Can't we fly out of here? Running isn't always a bad option."
"I agree, but can you feel which way we need to go?"
She was silent for a second, and then said, "Ah, yeah, so I guess we fight." The powers had pointed out what he already knew; their exit was down that chasm, and they'd never make it past that thing.
She nodded her head towards it. "May I have the honors?"
"Please."