by Sariah Skye
"Leorah, just—" for the first time since I encountered him, Finnian did not appear composed and confident. I caught a glimpse of trepidation in his eyes which has changed from bright blue to a muddy yellow.
I couldn’t get the image of his smug face out of my mind as he announced that he had caused the raging storm that nearly killed Maxxus, that scared the entire town. All I could think of was wiping that smug grin off of his face. I panted rapidly, clenching my teeth, my hands squeezing his shoulders I imagined choking the wind out of him as I exhaled, sparkles escaping my nose and falling over Finnian’s now extremely fearful face.
"You…you…" words were escaping me now, and I began lapsing into dragon curses which sounded feral and intimidating with their growls and roars.
Finnian’s eyes grew large as he gasped for breath, I saw the color escape his cheeks as he struggled to speak, my resolve choking out any words out of him he could have possibly uttered. As his face turned white as a sheet and then a telltale shade of blue, he struggled to bring his hands up to my forearms, attempting to pull them away from his neck. I felt a sense of triumph watching his air leave his lungs, his face turn color as he began to lose consciousness. I grinned, as I spoke in dragon something along the lines of "You’re dead, asshole."
I felt various hands around my body, arms attempting to pull me off. Voices around me, pleading. I heard none of them as I wickedly watched the life drain from Finnian’s face, the eyes roll back into his head.
"Leo! Leorah!" I think it was Gabriel’s voice I heard, and both he and Maxxus’ strong grips on my arms and shoulders that it took to pull me off of Finnian.
Maxxus—who since he was a dragon was just physically stronger—had my arms pinned behind me, holding me close to himself, was speaking dragon into my ear.
"You are no murderer, Leorah. Your grandfather wouldn’t want this for you. Aleron would be disappointed."
It was the mention of my grandfather’s human name that eventually pulled me out of my bloodlust. To nearly everyone, he was just "Elder" or "grandfather" even if you weren’t technically his grandchild.
I winced, and relaxed in Maxxus’ grip as Gabriel was kneeling next to Finnian, helping him to sit up as he choked and gasped for air, the color slowly returning to his momentarily-not-so-beautiful face right now. "Oh, balls…."
"Are you okay?" Gabriel was asking Finnian, helping brush off the dirt and hay from his clothing. Finnian rubbed his throat with both hands, still coughing.
Maxxus’ grip on my arms loosened a bit but he didn’t let go.
"I am…fine." Finnian replied, between coughs and gasps.
"Oh my…." Feeling suddenly weak in the knees, I felt my legs turn to rubber and give out underneath me. Maxxus had to tighten his grip on me again, this time wrapping his arms around my body to keep me from tumbling to the ground.
Gabriel left Finnian to catch his breath and darted over to me. "Leo?" He placed hands on either side of my face, staring into my eyes intently. He stroked my hair out of my eyes, as I struggled to stand, Maxxus still needing to keep me propped up.
I struggled to glance around him at Finnian who was regaining composure on the ground. He was sitting up now, running his hands through his disheveled hair and brushing the wrinkles out of his black button up shirt.
I struggled to speak, but Finnian held up a hand, shushing me. "I will be fine. You had every right to do what you did," he spoke hoarsely.
"But, I—" I protested. The raging fire was completely doused by guilt and remorse at what I had nearly done.
"Clearly, you’re even more powerful than I had thought," Finnian said, his voice raspy, between small coughs. He managed to get to his feet now, and stand.
"You’re okay?" Gabriel asked him tonelessly, and Finnian nodded.
"Good." Gabriel glowered at him through narrow brown eyes and pulled his fist back and let it go, connecting with Finnian’s cheek. Maxxus and I collectively winced as we heard a telltale smack of knuckle against skin, and Finnian’s cheek was instantly changing color. "It may not be a good idea to kill you, but you definitely deserve an ass-whupping for that bullshit!"
Maxxus, ever calm and collected piped up then finally. I struggled to be released from his grasp and he finally relinquished his grasp, but his hands remained hovering on either side of my arms in case I tried to give murder another go again. "Perhaps you should explain to us what you were thinking, causing that storm," he said, through clenched teeth.
"Yeah!" I said, setting my mouth in a thin line, crossing my arms over my chest.
"And…how did you do that, anyways? Do Loremasters have sorcerer powers or anything? Or—" Gabriel began, as Finnian held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"I am sorry, friends. I know it’s hard to explain or to understand, but I needed to coax the magic out of Leo, to see what she was clearly capable of. Upon learning of this new threat by the shadow realm, it sets the realms—all of the realms—off balance. Sooner, rather than later we are going to need her assistance in helping restore the balance between our realms. I know her magic has been squelched since she was a young dragon, and I needed to know if she was truly capable of great feats of magic; if it was possible even. That perhaps she may be strong enough to ward them off indeed." Finnian wiggled his jaw from side to side and with a grasp he pulled his jaw back into alignment with a sickening crack. I fought the urge to gag. "Ah. That’s better." Finnian gave one of his stellar, bright smiles. His eye color shifted from the muddy brown to a pleasing shade of blue.
"But…" I began to protest. "Does that mean you caused the storm back home as well? Was that you?"
Finnian shook his head. "No, that was not me. Nor do I know who it was, either. Someone very powerful, or with some very powerful friends indeed, I had to pool together many resources to cast the magic to summon this storm. This particular storm was concocted with potions and some assistance from another sorcerer such as yourself. I do not have elemental powers like you have, Gabriel."
"But…why? Why not just train her, like you were going to have Kiarra do?" Maxxus asked.
"Wait—was Kiarra behind this? Did she help?" Gabriel demanded, his eyes narrowing.
"She was consult, only," Finnian explained. "I asked her about what sort of powers her grandfather had and she had told me about the storm back in the Pineville area and how you quelled it, Leorah. I had to see it for myself that you were indeed powerful enough with the right threat to summon magic you didn’t know you had." Finnian rubbed his throat with his fingertips and chuckled. "Apparently, even I underestimated you. I didn’t count on your friend getting hurt." He looked at Maxxus and with a slight bow of the head, said, "I am sorry about your injury. But I’m not sorry we now know more about the extent of Leorah’s magic….as destructive as they are constructive, given the proper motivation."
I threw up my hands in the air. "This is ridiculous. You could have killed someone. I could have killed you!" I started to storm off out of the barn, but Finnian reached out for my arm, stopping me. I pulled away with such force that I nearly knocked him off balance. "Do not touch me."
"I apologize for my methods. It seems I have bitten off more than I could chew. But, I knew you would have the ability to stop the storm, especially with Gabriel’s assistance here," he said. "I really am sorry. But we may not have the luxury of a lot of time. The Shadows could strike at any time, and we need to bolster our forces if we do not want to get taken over."
"They can do that?" Gabriel questioned, with a nervous swallow.
Finnian nodded solemnly. "I’m afraid they can. But, knowing what I know now, it’s going to be a lot more difficult for them with Leo on our side. I’m sure they know how powerful she is already and that’s why they are going after her…either to sway her on the side of the Shadows or to kill her entirely, I do not know." I swallowed nervously as Finnian continued.
"But it is imperative that we keep the balance between our realms. If the Shadows are allowed to come over in d
roves, that will mean the end of life as we know it…well, maybe everywhere," Finnian explained.
I shook my head, still frustrated. "Surely, there had to be another way."
Finnian ignored my statement. "Well. Kiarra will meet with you this afternoon. I suggest you three go get a decent meal and some rest. There is a tavern and eatery nearby that serves a side of ribs that most of the dragons here really enjoy, with some great ale. I highly recommend you keeping up your energy. Afterwards, catch a nap before Kiarra is to work with you. We may have to work fast." Finnian nodded at each of us in turn. "Again, I apologize for my methods. I will see you later." Finnian turned on his heels and sauntered out of the barn, leaving the three of us behind to look at each other, bewildered as to what just went on.
"Fuck…" was all I could utter. No one disagreed with me.
Chapter 17
Since the Shadows tended to seek me out and have access to our realm—somehow—in the in-between times, I avoided sleeping during anything I could think of that might be construed as in-between: day and night, morning and afternoon.
Daniel made good on my request for pizza and Mountain Dew—apparently there were quite a few other mythological creatures that were addicted to it as well. He arrived at Gabriel’s and my quarters triumphantly with a large, homemade, super cheesy pizza and a couple two-liters of Mountain Dew. I was extremely psyched and greeted him with a large—and rather surprising hug for both of us (seeing as how I wasn't much of a hugger). He didn’t complain, yet hugged me back and lifted me into the air and spun me around.
Maxxus had insisted on following us back to our room, and I invited him to stay for pizza but he declined, insisting that Finnian’s suggestion of ribs and beer sounded more enticing. Daniel decided to join him (even though Gabriel insisted he was a vegetarian) and with an eyebrow wiggle he followed him out the room and to—wherever the tavern was.
I chuckled. "Daniel has a thing for Maxxus?"
Gabriel scoffed. "Daniel has things for anything with legs. Even four legs, apparently."
I raised my eyebrow. "Apparently, it’s a family trait."
He chuckled. "Touché."
I rummaged through the cabinets in the small kitchen, looking for plates or napkins or anything and produced two clay plates and hand-blown, blue glass glasses and brought them to the log coffee table in the center of the room and dug into the pizza promptly. Gabriel began pouring himself a glass of pop and began pouring one for me but I stopped him, reaching for the other two-liter, spinning the top off and drinking directly from the bottle.
"Okay, then," Gabriel said with a laugh as I struggled to keep a loud belch down.
As the fizzy drink burned down my throat I sighed with pleasure. "Oh my god…I needed that."
"Want me to leave you two alone?" he kidded, grabbing a slice of pizza for himself.
"No, I’m good," I said, wiping off my mouth with the sleeve of the robes I was still wearing.
Gabriel took a bite of his pizza and sighed. "So…another eventful night for you, huh?"
I groaned. "Yeah…really. I don’t think it bodes well for me that my first night here in the safe-town was less than safe. And I was totally unconscious most of the time."
Gabriel shook his head. "I can’t believe Finnian did that," he said.
I let out a low growl, folding up the slice of pizza and fitting half of it in my mouth as Gabriel laughed at me. "What? I’m hungry." I said with my mouth full.
"Still…I can’t necessarily argue with his methods. Unorthodox but…at least we have a better idea of what you are capable of," Gabriel said, sounding grudged.
I wrinkled my nose. "Yeah, well…it’s nice that someone has more confidence in my abilities than I do."
"Rightly so. Look at what you did, Leo," Gabriel said with a tone of awe, setting his pizza down. "You healed someone! That is…" he let out a low-whistle, "…that is pretty fucking amazing."
I shrugged. "I did what I had to."
"And, you’re not totally worn out?" He questioned.
I was fighting the urge to yawn, but I choked it down. I was tired but not anywhere near as tired as I was after that storm last night. "Whatever Esmè gave me, it was effective."
"I see that," he said. "We will need to get more." I nodded in agreement, and we ate the rest of our pizza slices in quiet contemplation. At least, Gabriel was contemplative. My mind was totally blank as I devoured three slices of pizza, interrupted only by the sound of my phone buzzing. I noticed that after I shifted yesterday I had no recollection of it, and wondered who had thought to grab it and bring it to my room. I was beginning to inquire to Gabriel out loud when I noticed who was texting me: my brother. My brother for my grandfather and a text from Melanie Thompson—Kit’s sister. The police must have managed to get a hold of her and given her my number. I didn’t know much about her; Kit said they were estranged. They spoke a couple of times a year during holidays. The text basically said that she hadn’t heard from Kit yet but she’d contact me ASAP if she did hear anything; and I was to do likewise.
I tossed my phone down onto the sofa and rubbed my palms over my face. I still couldn’t believe no one had heard from Kit, yet. I wanted to be more concerned about her, but in my position there wasn’t much I could do. Gabriel pointed out that if I sought her out, whatever magic force that had touched her, looking for me (the Shadows, probably) might attack me next or possibly endanger her more.
Suddenly not feeling hungry, but tired, I decided that 12:30 in the afternoon was safe enough to lay down and take a quick nap, after a long shower where I scrubbed myself and my hair down to get the barn smell out. I pulled on a pair of sweats I had brought and a blue t-shirt and towel dried my hair some before laying down in the bed.
The night had apparently taken its toll on Gabriel as well, who was already curled up, breathing calmly under the covers. I glanced at the sunlight streaming in through the drapes and decided I would be safe, pulled the covers back and curled up next to him, resting my cheek on his chest and within minutes of listening to his steady heartbeat, I was asleep myself.
A rapping on the door awoke me from my slumber. I started, sitting upright immediately and smacked the back of my head against something.
"Ouch!" Gabriel cried out, covering his nose with his hand.
"Shit! I’m sorry!" I yelped, as he pulled his hand away momentarily, showing the blood that was collecting in his palm, dripping from his nose.
"It’s okay," he said, with a groan, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand and laying back.
The loud knocking at the door wouldn’t stop, and I swore out loud. "Just a fucking minute, already? Shit!" I cursed, clamoring out of bed into the bathroom for a towel. I found one hanging next to the sink and quickly dashed back into the bedroom and pulled Gabriel’s hand aside and gently wiped at the blood under his nose.
"Thanks," he said, flinching at the pain.
"I’m so sorry, that knocking scared the shit out of me. I guess I was really out," I said, apologetically.
"It’s okay. I heard it just before you and was sitting up to go get it when you, well…" he flinched again as I tried to apply more pressure to his nose to stop the bleeding.
I swore. "This is ridiculous." I closed my eyes, picturing the blood ceasing and the pain leaving his face, and concentrated my magic.
A moment later, Gabriel wiped away the last of the blood and looked more relaxed when I opened my eyes. "That’s amazing," was all he said, with a grin. I didn't even have to blow my sparklies on it, somehow I had just conjured them like a sorcerer would have. Gabriel assured me that it was normal and it would get easier the stronger I got.
Pound pound pound.
"Shit, insistent, aren’t they?" I grumbled, rolling my eyes.
He grumbled, with a flick of his hand I heard a click. "Come in, already!"
I heard the door open and shut again and light footsteps. "Leo?"
"Kiarra," I said under my breath, feeling a hint of resentm
ent (she did, after all know about the storm) as I jumped deftly out of bed onto the floor. I grabbed for a ponytail holder I had apparently left on the nightstand and was twisting my hair into a messy bun on top of my head as I stormed into the next room to see her standing there, looking innocent.
"Leo...." Gabriel was after me, clearly sensing my frustration. "Don’t…"
"I’m sorry, I guess you were sleeping, huh? I was just worried—" she began, as I stalked right up to her and got in her face.
"What is the big idea with that storm, huh? You know Maxxus—" I growled angrily.
Kiarra took two hesitant steps back, holding up her hands. "I know. I know Leo, I’m so sorry. It got out of control, the witch who made the storm potion made it a little too strong, I’m sorry."
I stepped back myself, resting my hands on my hips. I glared at her a few minutes longer. "Well…fine. Whatever. But…why?"
"Finnian is right, that we needed a true test of your powers. We knew you wouldn’t be able to sit idly by as the town was threatened, which proved to us that you do have the blood of a hero in you, you haven’t been Shadowtouched yet, although they certainly have tried. We didn’t know any other good way to properly test you but things just got out of hand. I had no idea Maxxus would be foolish enough to jump in front of a flying branch to protect you; it wasn’t even going to hit you or anyone else, he just reacted. Everything you did…" she smiled, "It was truly, truly amazing. Like the things my grandfather described in his journals. The powers of pink dragons truly are unrivaled by anyone in the dragon realm. Really."
I softened my gaze. "Did…could your grandfather do this stuff, too?"
She nodded. "Well…mostly. You do appear to be much stronger than he was, although we haven’t quite figured out why, yet. We suspect it has something to do with your wings. Or at least the magic in them."
"My wings?" I asked reaching back and patting my imaginary dragon wings on my human body. "Why would that make a difference?"
"We are not sure yet, but it’s the only difference between you and him that we can tell so far," Kiarra explained. "Other than your upbringing, things weren’t much different. Well…" she paused.