by Darren Lewis
“Bring all the teams back home as soon as possible.” He instructed. The last half an hour could be viewed as quite a mess by anyone's account, but not by Sloan. Their main target, the warren, had been taken down and the animals would be en route to a holding facility soon. The village though, that might take some time. Video would need to be studied again and again. Identifications would have to be made of the people involved and then handled accordingly once the police were out of the way. But one thing refused to leave his mind. When the dragon had first appeared and protected that girl, the cameras had briefly caught her face. The team would be working on who she was, of course, but it bothered him as she seemed so familiar. He shook his head while he watched the video feeds come back up one by one. He was not a man to ignore such a feeling; he would find her, and that dragon would be his.
Sloan glanced over at the now empty desk previously occupied by Cassandra. She'd clearly been in contact with whatever was in the village. Was it the girl, or did something else exist in that village? Obviously she would have to be questioned. The twins would be of no use. Their mental skills wouldn't penetrate a mind like Cassandra's, or anyone with magical ability. It was another reason the twins were invaluable: if an agent or renegade tried to penetrate their security and had a magical talent, the twins would know immediately. Anthony came in extremely useful in situations like this. Sloan strode to the exit and beckoned both his bodyguards to follow him out. It was time to have a little chat with Cassandra.
Epilogue
The amount of traffic on the roads was enough to make Fern take to the fields. There was no telling which human vehicles belonged to the ones who tried to catch him, so he decided to take a cautious approach to the village. It would take longer but he would get there, he had promised Rox.
*
Night had fallen and the woods sang with the summer song of insects, bats and owls. A groan from underneath a bush caused an inattentive owl to jump into the air and seek another branch to rest before its hunt began. The bush crackled and leaves rustled as something noisily and aggressively pushed its way out silencing the song. After a few moments of quiet, the song of chirps and hoots began again. A fox padding close by caught the scent of a nice meal. It slowly stalked over to where the smell emanated from and crouched, ready to leap.
“Don't even think about it, furface!” Plume pointed his staff right under the fox's nose. The fox's eyes rolled quickly right and left, seeking escape. It gave a small whine and bounded off into the dark woods.
“Bloody foxes.” Plume sighed loudly and moved slowly towards the warren, his head still feeling light and woozy. He didn't know why he was still here. He remembered two humans staring at him before he slipped into blackness, but that was it. Plume reached the treeline and dropped his staff in shock. The hill; at least half of it was gone. There was no sign of any activity. The warren was gone and there was no sign of his partner or son. Plume reached down and clutched his staff tight enough to hurt his paws and draw blood.
“No!” He said angrily.
Book III:
Sacrifice of Angels
Foreword
The dates and facts listed next are to the best of my knowledge correct. Any mistakes or alterations in the timeline or history of Europe as used in this book are my doing.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a documentary film by Werner Herzog detailing cave paintings discovered in 1994 in Chauvet cave (named for Jean-Marie Chauvet). It was this documentary that inspired a chapter in this book. The paintings are truly amazing in form and quality and I recommend viewing to see what fantastic artists existed 32,000 years ago.
Though the name changes, witch-hunts are still commonplace in any society. The mob mentality overwhelms and seems to be a black hole which devours reason, logic and common sense in its passage. Whether motivated by gender, law, politics, religion or simply being different to the norm. When it does pass critics, historians and people like you and me will look from a distance and wonder and scoff in derision at the lack of understanding, the lack of empathy these people had with their victims, confident in our morality and self-awareness that such a tragedy could never involve ourselves. And their poor victims, we pity them for what they had to endure.
So we simply sit and wait for it all to happen again in another guise, religion, law, public outcry and so on.
I make no pretence to have the answers.
But it led me here to this book and ask the question; what if we had the power to change it?
For Jack (at 9½ months)
For listening to all my ideas and not saying a disapproving word.
Thanks to Miika and the team at Creativia for bringing it to life.
Important Dates
785 A.D: The Council of Paderborn ordered the death penalty for self-appointed witch-hunters who had caused the death of persons accused of witchcraft.
794 A.D: The Council of Frankfurt. Emperor Charlemagne condemned the persecution of alleged wizards and witches and confirmed this law.
814 A.D: Death of Charlemagne.
1080 A.D: Pope Gregory VII wrote to King Harald III of Denmark forbidding witches to be put to death upon presumption of their having caused storms or failure of crops or pestilence.
1484 A.D: Pope Innocent VIII authorises the correcting, imprisoning, punishing and chastising of “Devil Worshippers.” Leading to the printing of Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer against the Witches) by two members of the Inquisition.
Over a period of three hundred years 1450 – 1750 A.D an estimated 85,000 men and women stood trial accused of witchcraft. Approximately 85% of the cases were against women and resulted in 35,000 executions.
1994: Cave paintings discovered in southern France dated to 32,000 B.C.E. Caves and surrounding area placed off limits.
2000 A.D: Pope John Paul II apologises for the use of violence in the name of truth and for the diffidence and hostility against followers of other religions.
20th Century: The Baiulus Institute establishes itself as a global entity and becomes the number one supplier of military equipment and defence research to governments around the world.
Prologue
Ellie couldn't reach the base of the hill. Every time she came close to the bottom a noise would cause her to look away and when she looked back the base of the hill was as far away as ever. She tried calling to Rox to run, to get away, but no sound came from her mouth. As Ellie started her descent once more a black mist drifted sinuously from the ground. It writhed and then entwined Ellie's legs and the harder she pulled against the crawling mist the tighter its grip became. She tried to scream and felt the black mist rush up her body like a million scuttling beetles. The black surge reached her mouth and flooded in. She gagged and retched but the flow would not stop. Ellie fell to the ground and was completely enveloped in darkness. Cold tendrils from the earth quested in the darkness for Ellie's warmth and on finding it, latched on and grew quickly until her clothes and skin were covered. The ground became soft and Ellie felt herself dragged down into the soil. The earth closed above her, entombing her in the darkness. Ellie screamed into the black soil.
Shush now.
Help me please!
You're dreaming. Try and relax.
Who are you?
That's a good question. Do you know who you are?
I'm Ellie.
Good. At least one of us knows who we are.
What?
I don't know. It's very confusing. It will have to wait until you wake up.
How long will that be?
Another good question.
Aftershocks
Dad ran back into the house carrying Jack and was quickly followed by Lily and Cerys. Mum was peeling tape from the living room door when they came crashing through the front door. Jack was shouting.
“Dragon! Ellie was tooken by a dragon!” He yelled.
Mum instinctively tutted and corrected her son.
“Taken, darling. It's taken.” Then she frowned at what Jack had
said. “What?”
“It's true!” Lily and Cerys chimed in together. “I've got it here on my phone!” Lily finished. Mum shook her head at Dad.
“What's going on?”
Dad simply nodded and put Jack down before crossing over to Mum and gently gripping her arms.
“It happened right in front of us. Ellie was picked up by a green dragon!”
Mum scoffed, but the look in her husband's eyes was so sincere she ended up being more puzzled than disbelieving. Dad turned and spoke to Lily.
“Get that video on the internet, email, whatever. Just get it out there!” Lily nodded and started tapping her phone with Cerys watching keenly.
“Honey, I know it's hot but are you all okay?” Mum asked.
Dad nodded and pulled Mum over to Lily so she could watch the video.
“Just trying to upload now.” Lily said quietly and then she frowned. “I can't. It won't let me connect.” Dad looked at a shelf nearby that housed the router. When it was switched on, the phone line was working and the connection to the internet established it showed three steady blue lights. One blue light was shining indicating that it was working but the two for the phone and internet flashed red. Dad left the room and checked the phone in the hall. There was no dial tone, no static, just nothing. In the meantime Lily had shown the video of Ellie's dragon encounter with Mum. Dad re-entered the room and found his wife sat on the sofa shaking. He moved quickly and knelt in front of her.
“She's going to be okay.” He comforted her.
“How do you know that?” Mum asked in a high pitched voice.
“On the video, if you watch carefully you'll see someone try to shoot Ellie with a dart or something. The dragon grabs it and smashes it before whisking her off. I think it was protecting her!”
Mum blinked rapidly and looked at Lily and Cerys who were watching the clip for the tenth time. They both looked up and nodded. Mum took a deep breath and gave Dad a penetrating look. They'd known each other for a long time and she could tell when he was keeping something back from her, his lips would move but no sound would come out during a conversation.
“What? What is it? What do you know?”
Dad wrung his hands together.
“Okay, I'll tell you.”
Plume
Plume sifted through the remains of the warren. Whatever had been responsible for such destruction must have been massive and come from the inside, Plume concluded. The majority of the outer tunnels had been blown outwards while the inner ones seemed to have collapsed under immense pressure exerted from above. Plume couldn't even begin to contemplate what had occurred here. After unsuccessfully exploring dead ends or collapsed tunnels Plume headed for the massive crater that covered most of one side of the hill. He sniffed and explored the area. Human footprints and rabbit tracks combined together with unfamiliar smells. Two scents revealed themselves immediately as Ellie and Flare. As he explored the rim of the crater and further inside Plume's keen eyes detected massive gashes on the rough walls of the jagged tunnel. His progress was halted as the tunnel was blocked by a mass of earth plugging any further exploration. Plume followed these gouges back out of the tunnel to a single, and he thought, ridiculous set of prints. They were huge and from Plume's position he could only see what he guessed to be the back paws of some gross creature. Plume's thoughts wandered as he struggled to come to terms with events. Ellie had once told them all a tale of dragons. A tale of something that never happened but did. Flare and Rox took the story at face value whereas Plume believed Ellie had a very strange sense of humour. Still though the way Ellie told the story was compelling. Plume stared at the massive tracks and a shiver passed through his body. He shook his head and concentrated on his son and Ellie. Ellie's tracks went over the rim of the crater and back down the hill. Flare's set of prints were laid out quite plainly next to a set that Plume had never seen before. Plume followed his son's and this stranger's tracks up the hill to a point where Flare's disappeared. Plume stopped and examined the single set left now and saw the deep indentations now being left behind and he determined that his son was carried away. Plume said a few words for the safety of his son but was stopped short when all the tracks vanished. Not panicking, he used the point of disappearance as a reference and started searching in an ever expanding circle for clues as to what had happened. But there was nothing. Plume sat down heavily, his thoughts turning dark.
“What do I do?” Plume whispered into the dark.
A faint breeze ruffled against his back and Plume turned his eyes finding the temple at the top of the hill. That it remained standing surprised him and he suddenly became angry. He bounded up the hill and the steps of the temple, throwing his staff into its centre for it to land on the embossed star decorating the middle of the floor. Rox had explained to her partner many times the importance of this place. It was a one of the few focus points of energy for the world. The life the world possessed was accessible here and even though humans could not grasp such an intimate relationship with their world they'd unconsciously understood enough to warrant building a temple here. Plume though had always nodded when Rox told him, his sceptical mind not allowing him to believe such a thing could exist. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat.
“I don't believe in you, not really. But Rox does and I believe in her.” He stated quietly. “I've never asked you for anything. But the warren is gone, and so have Rox and Flare.” Plume's voice cracked and wavered when he spoke his son's name. “I don't know how to get my family back. Help me!” Plume pleaded into the night air. The breeze whistled around the pillars of the temple but there was no other reaction. Plume retrieved his staff and took a shuddering breath before heading for the steps. Before heading down he turned to look at the blackness within the temple.
“You might want to consider what Rox has done for you.” Plume stated in a matter of fact tone, referring to when Rox had nearly lost her life trying to save the world by visiting its beginning. When there was no reaction Plume snorted contemptuously and pondered what his next move was to be. Ever so faintly at first but with rapid increasing brightness the star began to shine. Plume turned, his eyes wide and disbelieving. As he watched the light detached itself from the star and hovered for a brief moment. It then began spinning, faster and faster until Plume was forced to close his eyes against the dizzying effect. Now unseen the spinning star changed form into a bright white ball of energy. It hovered in its new form for a second longer before launching itself at great speed towards Plume. The impact of the ball of energy threw Plume down the steps to land painfully on the grass. The night was dark again and Plume groaned his way to a sitting position. He dusted himself down while grumbling.
“Don't like criticism huh?” Plume looked down and picked his staff up. It felt warm to the touch and he brought it close to his face. The white light from the temple now flashed at him from his staff. He jumped backwards holding the staff away as far as possible from his body. The staff went dark and Plume heard a whisper, the source seemingly from nowhere.
“Follow.”
Plume frowned and though not usually quick on the uptake, swung his staff towards the woods and the light immediately shone again. He moved it to face the temple and it went dark.
“Are you showing me the way?” He asked very quietly in the dark, not wanting to look foolish to anything, even the grass, at this particular moment. Once again Plume moved the staff towards the woods and the bright light shone guiding him. Plume nodded and gave a wry grin.
“Okay.” He said, more confident now. “I'll play it your way.” And Plume set off into the night, his new compass showing him the way.
Rox
The room if it could be called that was vast. Rox's experience with human buildings was non-existent but it was easily twice, if not three times the size of the meeting cavern in the warren. This naturally meant a safer landing for Malachite when he exited the dragons' thread they'd been travelling. The room was lit harshly from the ceiling by hundreds
of bright lights and the loud of hum of whirring machines behind the walls made Rox's ears throb painfully. One half of the room was given over to large glass tubes filled with a blue liquid. Rox had never seen or heard of such an odd place before.
After Malachite had lowered Rox, Ellie, her son Flare and the strange rabbit to the ground Flare bounded into his mother's embrace and cried softly. Rox stroked his ears and comforted him, her eyes flicking back and forth from the slow rise and fall of Ellie's chest to this black and white rabbit who gazed at her with sad eyes.
“Flare. I need to check on Ellie, okay?” Rox whispered into her son's ears. Flare sniffed loudly and Rox felt him nod against her chest. She released him slowly and gave him a warm smile before checking on her sleeping friend. In her attempt to rescue Rox, Ellie had been shot with a black dart. Rox had flicked it away but Ellie had collapsed at the foot of the hill only for both of them to be dragged away by the green dragon now cleaning himself of mud a short distance away. She was still breathing, but when Rox smoothed Ellie's cheek there was no response.
“She was hit with a tranquilliser dart. She'll be asleep for a little while.” The black and white rabbit informed Rox. Rox took her eyes from her friend and studied the strange rabbit who had held Flare on her back while they waited to be rescued from the hillside.