by Sariah Skye
Finnian assumed that somehow, there was a portal from the Shadow realm to Anarach somewhere in the kingdom. The immediate goal was to deal with the invasion of Shadows in the court; find the portal second. It was all a guess. Hopefully, my grandfather and brother had managed to minimize the Shadow threat to the Court and the king and Queen were safe. That was the best case scenario.
The worst case was that the Shadows had completely taken over. Even in that short time since we’d been gone. Another three to four days could have passed there as opposed to here. Had the Shadows progressed that much, we’d evacuate the survivors back to Castle Danger for healing and go back and find the portal after.
“We ready?” Kiarra asked, with conviction.
I just swallowed. “No?”
“One more thing,” Finnian said. He looked at Maxxus expectantly, who opened his pack and pulled out another sheath and handed it to him. Finnian nodded in approval and strapped the leather at his waist. He patted at something in his pocket and grinned. “Let’s go, then.”
This was met with protests. Kiarra was the first to speak.
“What are you doing?” even though in her human form she was considerably shorter, she was a giant as she glared him down.
“I’m the only one here who has extensive knowledge of the Shadows. You may need me if they’ve infiltrated more than we think,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes. “It’s too dangerous.”
He rolled his eyes, scoffing. “It’s very difficult to kill a Loremaster. Especially one that is a former demon. Besides, I trained in sword handling in the Middle Ages and have slain hundreds of beasts. Aside from Daniel and Maxxus, I am the only one trained in combat. You may need my experience.” He winked at me. “Besides, I love a good fight.” His secret out, there was a low murmur against the group. Daniel actually gasped and whispered, “Demon?” Finnian ignored it but smirked.
I threw up my hands in exasperation. The rest of us glanced over at each other and just shrugged.
“I will care for Castle Danger in your absence.” Ceceline stood sternly with her arms over her chest. Her white hair in a high bun on top of her head; not a hair out of place. She said nothing else but stood back and watched.
Esmè stood back behind the group and Connor was front and center. He seemed wholly out of place amongst our group. Gabriel wore his trademark boot cut jeans and skater sneakers with a leather jacket over a black tee. Daniel was wearing his motorcycle garb—complete with leather gloves and chaps over his own blue jeans. Maxxus wore all black again; Kiarra and I chose flexible fleece leggings and layered shirts in inconspicuous grays and blacks. I wore a pair of ankle-high clunky Doc Marten combat books; Kiarra wore simple sneakers. Connor, however, was dressed up fully in a button-down shirt, khakis and a tie. His long hair was loose over his shoulders and it blew backwards as Connor started summoning the portal. We looked ready for battle; Connor looked ready for a dinner party.
The energy in the air crackled and felt heavy as Connor chanted loudly—what sounded like Latin—and he motioned his hands in a wide circle. One hand carried a black wand, with a blue stone on top. As he came closer to summoning the portal, the stone changed from blue to purple to white, indicating that the magic had succeeded.
I had to shut my eyes momentarily, the glow from the portal was bright as it opened, then dimmed and settled into its dark purple form; like a black hole had been torn right into the forest before us.
“Shit…” Gabriel said in awe.
“Link arms!” Kiarra called out. The portal made a roaring sound like a rumbling thunderstorm as it opened.
I looked between Gabriel and Maxxus standing on either side of me. I smiled wryly and slipped my arms underneath theirs, and reached for their hands, grasping firmly. Gabriel gazed at me, swallowing nervously. He’d never been in a portal this powerful. Neither had I for that matter. Somehow it differed from the ones we used before; I had little time to question it. Perhaps it was because it was a fresh portal to a new area. It wasn't exactly a comforting thought.
“It’ll be fine,” I said to him, but I wasn’t sure he could hear.
“It’s ready!” Connor called out, barely audible over the rumbling.
In unison, everyone turned to me expectantly.
“Why is it so much more powerful-feeling than the other one?” Gabriel shouted his inquiry over the roar of the portal.
“Because it needs to be that much bigger to make sure all of you get through safely!” Connor yelled. “Porting five people is a lot harder than two!”
“Really?” I said, sighing under my breath. Great.
Apparently, I was supposed to take the first step. “Here goes nothing.” I pulled the boys gently towards the portal and they yanked the rest of the group with them.
“Try to step in at the same time!” I hollered. I wasn’t sure if anyone heard me as I stepped in and immediately felt like I was being sucked into a vacuum.
I saw nothing but bright light and heard a deafening roar. I had enough time to barely glance at the boys on the other side of me when suddenly we were tossed into the middle of a green field.
I landed with a thud and skidded a short distance across the grass. I lost my grasp on Maxxus but heard him grunt nearby, but I still had Gabriel’s hand in mine; his fingers twisted around my knuckles so hard they were turning white.
“Ow! Shit!” I heard Kiarra call out from a few feet away. Daniel commented, but I couldn’t discern it. I caught a glimpse out of Finnian out the corner of my eye, shaking out his arms at his side, still standing upright and barely rattled. Damn him.
Gabriel just sat by me, motionless… his eyes widened in shock. Horror? The expression was hard to tell. I scooted my sore backside closer to him and waved my hand in front of his face.
“Gabriel? Gabe?” I asked uncertainly. “Are you okay?”
He blinked once and squeezed my hand before I watched his eyes roll into the back of his head; his upper body went slack and he fell into me.
I let out a yelp, but in a flash Finnian was right there.
“Portal Displacement shock,” he said, matter of fact, like I should know exactly what he was talking about. He snapped his fingers in front of Gabriel’s face. I watched as Gabriel’s lips twitched slightly.
“Good… good,” Finnian muttered. He pulled his pack off his back and shoved his hand in, pulling out what looked like a perfume bottle with a push button squirter. He sprayed about three squirts in Gabriel’s face and waited expectantly.
Gabriel’s head rested in my lap. One hand stroked his brown hair and the other rested on his chest… his heart was beating rapidly. I lifted my hand and shut my eyes.
Finnian reached and pushed my hand down. “No. No magic just yet… give the concoction time to work,” he said.
I sighed, and nervously, I ran both of my hands through his hair. My leg bounced up and down, nervously.
Kiarra and Daniel had recovered and inched closer; Daniel sat next to us and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “He’ll be all right,” he murmured in my ear, sensing my anxiety.
I forced a nod and a smile. I dared to look over at Maxxus. He sat with his human legs tucked into his chest, long arms wrapped around them, looking rather stoic. He gave a small grin when I caught his eye. “He will be fine; he’s strong.”
I gave him a grateful look.
Finnian squirted the vapor concoction in Gabriel’s face again and Gabriel let out an unintelligible noise.
“Gabe?” I asked in a small voice, stroking his ruffled black hair out of his forehead. He stirred slightly.
Gabriel let out a light groan. His eyes fluttered and after a few moments they finally opened up.
“Hey,” I said, with a warm and concerned smile.
A small smile spread across his lips. “Hi,” he croaked. Surprised by the hoarseness of his voice, he let out a string of strong coughs.
“You all right, bro?” Daniel reached over and punched his brother lightly in the bice
p.
He gave a slight nod. “Yeah,” he answered in a small, croaking voice. “What happened?”
“Portal Displacement Shock,” Finnian replied. “Happens quite often to people who aren’t used to portal jumping; the shock of being in two places at once, essentially is quite disconcerting to some people. Though, I am surprised someone with your magical prowess was affected so hard.” Finnian shrugged, and shoved the spray tincture back into his small over the shoulder bag.
Gabriel slowly sat up. “Wow… everything’s moving,” he said with a laugh.
I nudged my way underneath his shoulder and forced his arm to drape over my shoulders. “Easy there… it’ll go away in a little bit.”
“Nice call, there,” Kiarra praised Finnian. “How’d you know?”
“Common for humans their first time through a portal of this nature. Though I figured it would hit Daniel more than the sorcerer,” Finnian said, with a wink at Daniel.
Gabriel shoved out his lower lip. “Why not him, then?” he grumbled.
Daniel adjusted his leather jacket and put a smug look on his face. “I’m a tough bitch. And you had way more to drink last night than me, dude. I’m surprised you could even walk today!”
Gabriel scowled and tried to lift his hand and slowly flipped him the bird. His brother just chuckled mischievously.
Gabriel blinked, and scanned our surroundings. Now that he had recovered, I finally got a good look at where we were and all we saw was green, rolling fields for miles to the horizon. Towards the east the sun was just making its morning appearance, though it’d be awhile before it completely rose.
“Do you know where we are?” Gabriel asked me.
I forced a smile and exchanged a look with Maxxus and Gabriel.
“Not really,” Kiarra replied, with a chuckle.
Maxxus stood up and stared out over the horizon. “There’s a stream off to the west… it runs through a dense forest. My guess is that’s the Royal River… which is both good and bad.”
“Why is that good and bad?” Daniel piped up, as he was helping me bring Gabriel to his feet, and stand steadily.
“Because the Royal River runs right through to the Court. We follow it, we eventually end up near the palace,” Kiarra remarked. “Which is good. The worst part is… we’re very far away,” she said, with a hint of doom in her voice.
“How far?” Daniel dared ask.
I snorted. “About two full days on foot. A half day if we fly, but—” and I waited for Finnian to finish my statement.
“—but that might not be such a good idea. Hard to keep disguised if you’re worried about flying,” he quipped.
Maxxus grumbled. “It won’t be that hard. I just can’t wait to find that—” his grumble turned into an angry growl.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Daniel mused under his breath.
“It’s not,” I assured him. “He’s anxious, basically, to kick Nicodemus’ ass.”
“Not just his ass, Leorah,” Maxxus hissed through his teeth, shoving his tight fists in his pants pockets.
“Well, so, what’s the plan?” Gabriel asked, adjusting his backpack.
I glanced at the openness around me, suddenly feeling exposed. I pulled my robes closed tighter over my chest. “I would prefer getting to those woods, actually. I don’t like being out here in the open.”
Kiarra nodded in agreement. “Yes. A good plan. Then we can hide out there for a couple hours and maybe eat, take a nap. We should reach the Morenden Village by late afternoon.”
“What’s Moron Village?” Gabriel asked, and I chortled.
Kiarra smirked at him. “Ha-ha. Morenden Village is one of the outlying villages of the Court—”
“—kind of like a city suburb,” I added in terms the humans would understand better.
“Sure. It’s a quiet little village, pretty orthodox in all things dragon. But we may be able to snoop around a bit and try to gather some intel on what is being said about us,” Kiarra said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
I chuckled. “Because they have nothing better to do than to spread gossip like wildfire.”
She snorted and we laughed as if we were sharing some secret joke.
“Come on!” Maxxus urged, biting his laughter. “Let’s get going, shall we?” Maxxus trudged with his long legs towards the forest. Over the horizon I could see it was a good two or three rolling hills and about two hours away. I cursed under my breath. My wings were suddenly dying to emerge and I had to fight them back as we trudged through the green grass and wildflowers, underneath a cloudless blue sky. When we’d left Castle Danger, it was nearly evening. Here in Anarach, I guessed it was mid-morning. Damn that time difference…
“You know,” Gabriel said, looking around us. I had trouble keeping up with Maxxus’ long strides. Daniel and Kiarra were chatting about something in front of us and we hung back behind them, walking a few paces slower. Finnian brought up the rear, casually taking everything in stride.
Gabriel seemed rather jumpy and nervous about something, always looking over his shoulder. “I don’t know what I expected, but I didn’t expect a realm full of dragons to look… so…”
“Normal?” I offered.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
I snickered. “Just what were you expecting?”
Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t know, really. Dungeons. Streams of lava. The sound of wings flapping as they dive bomb for my brains.”
Finnian spoke bluntly, “You’re thinking of Hell, actually.”
“Yes, maybe,” Gabriel chuckled hesitantly.
“You're not too far off; that does sound a lot like Hell,” Finnian quipped from behind us.
Gabriel and I looked at each other incredulously. “Good… to know?”
Finnian laughed shortly. “Don't find out for sure, trust me.”
The humans—and sort of humans—jumped just then; hearing was a low rumble overhead and a wide shadow blocked the sunlight. We peered upwards and saw two dragons with their wide wing spans flap over us and Gabriel let out a little fearful squeak. “Think they can see us?” he whispered. He jumped as one of them swooped down slightly and let out a menacing growl, and the other growled back.
“No, they’re arguing with each other,” I said. “It’s a mated pair; he won’t ask for directions.”
Gabriel shot me a look of disbelief. “Seriously?”
I let out a laugh. “No. I don’t know really. I couldn’t make it out, but it did sound like she was pissed off!”
He chuckled, shaking his head. He took one more look behind him at the dragons flying away; their growls sounding like rolling thunder from a storm far away. “Okay, now that wasn’t normal. More like what I was expecting.”
“Just wait,” I said. I caught his eye and we both smiled at each other uncomfortably.
After I looked away, awkwardly, watching my feet, Gabriel cleared his throat. “He seems to be in a big hurry,” Gabriel observed, motioning towards Maxxus heading up our group as he plodded along with determination.
“Nicodemus was an ally. They worked together; betrayal of an ally is unforgivable in dragon culture. Human too, but… Maxxus put his trust in Nicodemus. He didn’t love the guy, but he trusted him to have his back when needed. Knowing that he could have betrayed him at any time… and eventually did. He attacked us. He murdered. Even with all our fiery tempers, murder rarely ever occurs. So, we're none too thrilled with the guy.” I let out a low whistle. “It wouldn’t be unusual in this situation for maiming to occur.”
“Yeesh,” Gabriel said, wide-eyed, tracing his finger across his throat and making a choking sound.
“Pretty much,” I said.
“You know,” Daniel began, sounding tauntingly thoughtful. “You claim all the time that dragons like to bite heads off, rip off arms and eat you. Yet, I have yet to see any proof of that.”
Maxxus stopped in his tracks to toss a flat look over his shoulder with a playful glint in his eye. “That’s because no one
lives to tell the tale, Seer. Don’t find out.”
Daniel choked down a nervous gulp. “Whatever,” he kidded with a laugh. Gabriel and I rolled our eyes at each other.
We walked the next hour or so in relative silence; the only noises made was the heavy breathing of the humans and Maxxus grumbling under his breath. Every now and then I heard “Fucking Nicodemus… going to get his ass whupped” in Dragon come out of his mouth. Guess he was doubly pissed we had to check out before we could take him down before.
The sun was high in the sky and although it was generally about twenty degrees cooler in our realm than Earth, with the vigorous tramping up and down the gorgeous green rolling hills, the heat of the sun was bothering me. That, and the constant sensation of my wings wanting to burst out my back and take off into the sky.
It figured; I could fly now and nothing would have pleased me more than to take flight and swoop circles in the sky over Anarach but obviously, that couldn’t happen.
Between the sun pounding on the back of my neck and my itchy wings, I couldn’t take it anymore. I slapped at my back and cursed. “I have to fucking shift!” I called out in frustration. Normally it never bothered me, but with this surge of magic inside my dragon was reacting differently than normal.
Finnian grabbed my shoulder. “You can’t, Leo.”
I let out a stressed whimper. “But! I have to. I feel like I’m—” I let out an incoherent shriek, flapping my hands up and down in a panic. Words escaped me.
“This really is taking a long time,” Kiarra said, sounding bedraggled. “Even if we don’t fly, it’d be a lot faster if we were in dragon form.”
“What about us?” Daniel protested.
“Ride on our backs,” I said with a shrug. This was met by an unhappy grunt by Maxxus.
“Will you be able to camouflage yourselves? Just in case?” Gabriel asked, with worry.
“I have potions that will help that. It will confuse anyone that sees you into thinking that they just didn’t see anything,” Finnian said. We stopped walking and Finnian produced a large quart sized bottle—which looked like it used to be a pop bottle—from his pack. “I only have a couple of these, so they will have to last. Thankfully, you only need a sip. Once we actually arrive into town, though… Leo, you’ll be on. We’ll need something stronger than confusion if you actually want to sit in one place for awhile.”