CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The world shook. King Ase motioned for Lord Sweyn to hold the men steady. Ase, Sweyn, and every man behind him stood at attention. Before them, a great fiery chasm opened up in the earth.
“My men do not fear your pet,” King Daegen called across the thunderous rumbling of the quaking ground, and over the sound of his men’s cries betraying his arrogant resolve.
Ase ran his hand over the crystal snake heads adorning Grwinha’s hilt. Both sets of eyes glowed, one yellow and one green.
“Stop this now and your men shall be spared,” King Ase replied. Cold sweat ran down his back and soaked into his leather armor. This fool was about to make him squander the scarce magic he swore to protect.
Daegen laughed. With an almost imperceptible nod, he signaled his dragon. The beast wrapped its wings around its master and his horse.
King Ase sighed and tightened his grip on the carved snake heads. With no choice, he pushed the sword’s blade deeper into the earth. Raising his voice for all to hear, King Ase bellowed, “Upon all that is holy, I, Righ Ase, command you, great spiorad of Fafnir to vanquish the false king who threatens your land and your men! Exact your punishment upon this wicked thief.”
Ase stumbled back as the ground gave way. A great writhing yellow snake with two heads slithered up from the chasm and towered over the battlefield.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Isaac’s yard was as grand as the rest of his mansion. He led them out through a side door that opened onto a massive field, lined by more horse stables. Just as Jimmy was about to say, “whoa,” Isaac did it for him.
Jimmy turned to see Isaac staring at Ridire-solas. The pale yellow glow had intensified. “You see it?” Jimmy asked.
“Yes, yes it’s glowing!” Isaac took the sword from Rowan and and turned it toward the sun. He ran his fingers along the blade, barely touching it as if it were hot.
The wood turned to steel before their eyes. Both boys cried out.
“What’s happening?” Rowan pushed in between them.
“It’s getting stronger,” Isaac whispered. “I can see it.”
“Oh no,” Rowan said. “Something’s coming.”
They all stared out toward the road, but saw nothing. A tall metal fence blocked their view all the way around to where it met the stables. Behind that was a forest. Then Jimmy realized what he’d missed all along.
Aunt Sarah lived under the mountain. How could he be so oblivious to his surroundings?
Jimmy tugged at Isaac’s arm and pointed straight up. “Can you see that?”
“No, is it bad?”
“I’ll say.” Rowan unzipped the bag and let Ash roll out onto the grass. “We need to hurry.”
Ash stretched and wobbled a few steps before tipping over. Rowan and Jimmy laughed.
Isaac did not. “So not fair.”
Rowan knelt down and gathered a handful of leaves. She piled them in front of Ash. “Burn,” she said.
Ash tried and tried, puffing and roaring, but nothing happened. Wafts of gray smoke rose up toward the mountaintop.
“What’s that?” Jimmy squinted. High atop the mountain was… “Of course.”
“What?” Isaac strained to see.
“Focus,” Rowan snapped. “Run through your paces,” she ordered Jimmy.
“What?” Isaac said, more nervous.
Jimmy took Ridire-solas from him and began flailing the sword at his imaginary foes. Only now, they seemed much more real and dangerous. He feared nothing he could come up with would be worse than what waited for him up that mountain.
“What?” Isaac’s voice cracked.
“A creepy castle,” Jimmy answered, not breaking concentration from his fighting routine.
Rowan left Ash to his task and started throwing punches at Jimmy. Before long they were both struggling for air.
“Easy,” Isaac said, trying to pull Rowan off Jimmy. “Let him catch his breath.”
“No,” Jimmy and Rowan said together.
Ash had left his fire practice and now hovered over Jimmy and Rowan, his wings flapping wildly to keep him in the air. The more they sparred, the more anxious Ash got. He moved behind Jimmy and roared.
Hot smoke blew past Jimmy’s face, right at Rowan’s. She screamed and ducked. Her brother’s hat flew off her head and she scrambled on the ground for it. “Not bad,” she said.
Isaac helped her up and sniffed the air. “Did you…”
She slapped him. “That was Ash. Dragon fire smells like sulfur, Mr. Smarty Pants.”
“Well, actually,” Isaac started, but closed his mouth when he saw the look of terror on Jimmy’s face.
“He’s here,” Jimmy whispered. He waved Ash down and Ash obeyed, reluctantly.
A shadow moved across the tree line and disappeared behind the stables. Aunt Sarah’s horses stomped and neighed as the darkness passed them. Jimmy followed the sound and ran diagonally across the field, to where the shadow should emerge.
Ash flew ahead of him, growling and working up to a roar. Rowan yelled for Ash to come back, but he ignored her.
The last horse banged against its stall. Jimmy caught up to Ash in time to see the black shadow dissolve at the edge of the barn. In its place stood the lurking man.
“Come, my little Foundling.” The man beckoned to Ash. He stood nearly as tall as the trees, an optical illusion, Jimmy hoped. His long black cloak flitted in a wind that seemed to only reach him. Dark magic swirled at his fingertips, lashing out toward them.
Ash struggled rose into the air against his will and floated closer.
“Leave him alone!” Rowan ran to them. “You don’t belong here!”
Emboldened by Rowan’s courage, Jimmy grabbed one of Ash’s legs and held tight. The pull of the dark magic overpowered him and Ash’s leg slid free.
Isaac reached over Jimmy and caught it. “A dragon!”
The shadow man planted his feet and called to Ash again. “You belong with me. Come, child.” His hands glowed black.
Behind Jimmy, Rowan begged for Ash to stay, to break free of the spell, but it was no use. Ash could not stop himself from being pulled toward the trees.
From this close, Jimmy saw that the shadow man’s magic wasn’t all black. Deep at its core, green electricity crackled. With a flick of his wrist, a tendril of night reached for Ash.
Jimmy swung Ridire-solas and sliced the dark arms around Ash. They puffed out, leaving fresh sulfur in their place. The smell choked Jimmy. Rowan and Isaac coughed with him.
Ash kept flying. It didn’t work.
Ridire-solas grew warm in Jimmy’s hands and a bolt of yellow light leapt forward. It enveloped Ash like a forcefield and pulled him back to Jimmy.
“He is mine!” Jimmy yelled.
“You children are no match for me. I don’t care who you are. Stand down.” A shadow cloud rippled the air and engulfed the yellow forcefield. It tugged at Ash, pulling him toward the stables. Hundreds of pinpricks of darkness stabbed away at the light. They found a weak spot, then two, then in an instant the shield extinguished.
Ash cried out in pain and dipped low to the ground.
Jimmy charged at the shadow man, Ridire-solas high in the air. Another, larger burst of light shot out from the sword. This time, it went straight for the man’s chest.
He threw up his hands at the last moment. Dark green and black smoke crashed into the yellow light in mid air.
The two forces of energy slammed each other over and over, neither making headway. Then, the shadow man made a guttural noise and shoved hard against the light. His black smoke whipped around the sword’s magic. The blow knocked Ridire-solas from Jimmy’s hands and all that remained was darkness.
Whimpering, Ash futilely struggled as the smoke pulled him away.
Seconds later, they both vanished.
CHAPTER THIRTY
James paced the small kitchen, straightening the dishes on the drying towel. He laughed at himself for the small twinge of anxie
ty at seeing them there. Margaret, Odin watch her, would raise cane at him for not putting them away. As much as he missed her, and Lord it was bad, leaving a couple plates and coffee cups on the counter was his small taste of independence after all these years.
The last rays of dim sunlight blinked out behind the trees. The boy should have long been home by now.
He tried to tell himself that boys will be boys. Hadn’t Jim run around ‘til well past dark most days?
And look what happened to him.
The thought caught James right in the gut. But that was different, he argued with himself.
The next thing James knew, he was standing at the door to his room. Hadn’t he just been in the kitchen? He hated when that happened. All these years and he still hadn’t gotten used to it.
A pale yellow glow radiated from the corner table where he kept his most precious things. Before going to it, James glanced over at the jewelry box that hid his rune. It looked dormant.
To be sure, he walked over to the dresser and placed his hand on the wooden box. It felt cold. A shiver of fear went through him. His last message remained unanswered and now…
James took a deep breath and rearranged the books on top of the dresser, stalling. The Eddas, Margaret’s collection of handwritten Scottish legends and poems, were in the wrong order. He always left the one with the most beautiful cover on top, Margaret’s favorite. Had the boy been in here? Or…?
Flipping through the stack, James found the Poetry Edda. On its cover, two hand-drawn Norse kings battled it out, one stabbing the other with a broken sword. The likeness to Ase was remarkable, especially in this crude faded ink form.
James ignored the growing intensity of the yellow light. He dreaded what the Council had to say, what was to come. Instead, he pressed the hidden lever on the fake jewelry box and held the heavy rune in his palms. With one last prayer to Odin, he sent a plea to his Queen. “Please guide me. I am lost.”
He waited, and begged, and waited again until he had no words left. The exhausted old man’s throat closed with emotion. James placed the rune, now warm from his own life force, back into its cradle. He kissed his two fingers and laid them gently onto the etched lines that still read, “Men of Dragons called to arms.”
As he closed the lid, he remembered - not very fondly - his last mission for the Men of Dragons. A futile and deadly trek through the barren desert of Duinne in search of the fossilized remains of Eoldra, which left seven of his men dead. Seven lives lost for one man’s greed. Seven mothers and wives he had to hold as they wept, all for a few crumbling dragon bones and no Pearl of Valonde.
If he had half a mind left, he’d think the thing never existed in the first place.
At that, a metallic rattle shook the corner table. It wobbled onto two legs, threatening to fall over and spill its contents onto his floor.
“Hold yer horses. I’ll come when I’m good and ready,” James snapped at the thing.
A violent quake nearly knocked him to the floor. As he tumbled forward, the drawer opened. Blinding yellow light flooded the room.
Against his will, James reached for the oblong object making all the ruckus. While his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw the carved glowing lines rearranging themselves into an ominous message. “What was foretold is begun.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“I need a bike!” Jimmy pulled at his hair, angry with himself for failing Ash. A patch of blonde webbed through his aching fingers. His skin rubbed raw from holding Ridire-solas so tight.
Jimmy ran to a back door of Aunt Sarah’s house, not knowing where he was going. He had to do something.
“Over here,” Isaac waved. His eyes bugged out of his head. He’d seen some things, finally. And it was too much for his near adult brain to comprehend.
Rowan stayed on Jimmy’s heels as they turned the corner of the house and Isaac disappeared into a darkened garage. “You can’t do this. It’s too dangerous.” She touched his arm as a parent would and Jimmy jerked away from her.
His bond with Ash was getting weaker. He felt it receding, ready to blink out at any second. He didn’t have time for sentiment. “He’s my responsibility.” Then, he brushed back the hair from his face and for the first time in his life, drew attention to his birthmark. “And my destiny.”
“You’ll get yourself killed. You saw the kind of magic that man had. You can’t compete with that.” Tears shined in Rowan’s eyes.
“I don’t have a choice.”
Isaac rolled a decrepit old bike out onto the grass. The front wheel had a slight bend in it and barely any air. “Sorry, I guess Aunt Sarah isn’t much of a bike person.”
“It will do,” Jimmy said. The bicycle squeaked as he took hold of one side of the rounded handlebars and Isaac released the other. Then, with more formality than intended, Jimmy shook Isaac’s hand. “Thank you.”
“Don’t do this,” Rowan tried again.
Jimmy placed his hand on her cheek. Her skin was hot as fire. Even in this final moment, she scrunched her face up at him in disgust at the show of true emotion. He loved that about her. “It will be alright,” he lied.
“We need an adult,” Isaac agreed with Rowan. He turned toward the house.
“No!” Jimmy whipped the bike around as if to flee right then. “You can tell nobody. This is my fight. They won’t believe you anyway. Trust me, I know.” All the times he’d been lectured about tall tales by his mom, and his teachers, and Dr. Pembroke came flooding back.
For the first time, he wondered if he hadn’t imagined the night his dad disappeared in a puff of smoke.
He threw a leg over the bike and squeaked away.
Back in the middle of the yard, Jimmy stopped at his backpack. His first thought was to take it with him, but changed his mind. If he somehow managed to get Ash back from that evil man, he would never hide him away in that thing again.
Instead, he pulled the broken slingshot out of the bag and slid it into his pocket with the secret coin from the Fortune Teller. He’d meant to ask Isaac for help fixing the slingshot’s rubber band. He wasn’t sure why he wanted it with him. It was useless. But something inside him needed it, and he didn’t have time to figure out what or why.
“If I make it back,” Jimmy called over his shoulder, “I’ll come here first. Wait for me!”
On the road, Jimmy’s mind raced. He needed the distraction anyway. The rusted old bicycle was nearly impossible to pedal. How he’d make it up a mountain on this thing was beyond him.
The one overriding thought screaming through is mind was that he never said goodbye to his mom. He’d started - and stopped - two letters to her in the days since she’d left. Days. It struck him how much had happened in such a short time.
He’d given up on both letters because what could he say? She had been right to abandon him? He now knew that he was meant to come here, meant to save Ash… and whatever else awaited him on this mountain. But that didn’t make it okay. As much as he acted like it, he was not a man yet. Fourteen year old boys still needed their mothers. And he needed his right now.
Intense fear and guilt rose in Jimmy’s chest and burned his eyes. He wiped it away and looked back to see how far he’d come.
A bike, worse than the one he had, trailed behind him. Isaac struggled to pedal the thing standing up, with Rowan on the seat behind him. Her wild orange curls looked like flames dancing in the wind. He recognized his jeans with the bare patch on one knee, and realized they’d never traded back after the race. He was about to go to his doom wearing girl’s clothes.
“Go away!” he yelled. “It’s too dangerous!”
“It’s too dangerous for you, too!” Isaac puffed between labored breaths.
Jimmy pedaled faster to lose them, but was no match for Isaac’s long legs. Even with Rowan tagging along, he caught up quickly.
“I can’t let you do this,” Jimmy pleaded. “Please go back.”
“You can’t stop us,” Rowan slapped Isaac on the back as a cowb
oy would a horse. Isaac obeyed and they pulled ahead of Jimmy.
“You don’t know where you’re going,” Jimmy panted. He sped up, although his legs had nothing left.
“That giant mountain right there?” Isaac laughed.
The mountain stood tall and still over them. All this time it had been chasing Jimmy. Now it waited patiently for him to come to it.
“You can see it?” Jimmy asked. He pulled alongside their bike.
Out of breath, Isaac only nodded.
They pedaled in silence for a long time, winding up the base of the mountain. Again, to distract himself from the pain in his legs and lungs, he studied the scenery. That was when he noticed the colors. Everywhere he looked, strange colors blossomed. Not only were the regular green leaves, yellow flowers, and white rocks more vivid, but every shade in between jumped out at him. Colors he’d never seen before.
And the smells. Electricity and sweat and animal all mingled together. And something he finally realized was the smell of magic. He’d thought it was only lavender in Leonora’s tent. But now, the closer he got, the more he recognized, somewhere deep within himself. Some part of him that had lain dormant for fourteen years, and however many generations before, knew they were in the presence of dark magic.
Not that he needed any more proof, a great roar shook the mountain. High above them, rocks tumbled down. Another anguished beastly cry pierced the evening sky. More rocks, which Jimmy now saw were faded green concrete sections of the castle, rolled down the side of the mountain.
His first thought was Ash, but his roar was nowhere near that intensity. No, this had to come from the dragon he’d been searching for. Ash’s mother.
Just then, something clamped down hard on Jimmy’s feet, wrapping itself around them like vines. His pedals no longer moved. Yet he continued up the mountain.
He heard Isaac gasp in shock and looked up to see that his feet were being held in place, too. By stirrups.
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