The Changlings (The New Earth Chronicles Book 2)

by J. J. Thompson

  He grabbed a torch from a shelf and lit it in the fire pit.

  “Sorry guys,” Sarah said quickly into the stone as she jumped to her feet. “The damned thing is through. We have to go. Good luck, everybody. I'll call you all back when I get the chance.”

  “Be careful, Sarah,” Rachel said urgently. “We'll watch over our people. You just make sure to take care of Bobby, and get yourselves to some place that's safe.”

  There was a chorus of well wishes and Sarah thanked everyone even as she and Bobby ran out of the room, following Magnus. She slipped the stone into her pocket and watched the moving torch ahead of her.

  The shaman led them down the hallway and to the right, a direction that Sarah had never gone before.

  “There's an emergency exit down by the river,” the man said over his shoulder. “We can get out that way. And there are several thick doors that I can seal along the way. We should have enough time to escape.”

  “But Magnus,” Bobby objected. “Even if the dragon smashed the door down, what can it do? A dragon is too big to get into the tunnels.”

  As if in answer to his question, a high-pitched squeal reverberated through the air.

  “Oh damn,” he said, his voice shaking. “Drakes.”

  “Yes, drakes. Just as I feared,” Magnus said as he stopped to listen for a moment. “The dragons' servants. What they are even doing here is baffling to me. Why attack Ottawa? For what reason? Surely the handful of Changlings who live here cannot be the largest concentration of humans left on the planet, can they? I just don't understand it.”

  “Um, Magnus? Can we talk about this later?” Sarah asked nervously. “There are drakes coming, remember?”

  “Yes, of course. Follow me.”

  Chapter 12

  Magnus trotted ahead, the torch in his hand streaming light and sparks behind him, and Sarah and Bobby stumbled along in his wake. The tunnel twisted and turned, closed doors passing by on either side of the trio as they ran. Sarah wondered briefly what secrets might be hidden behind those sealed portals, but she was distracted by another distant bestial howl and quickly put that thought away.

  They finally reached the end of a hallway and hurried through an open doorway. There was a steep iron staircase here and Magnus began to descend, his footsteps ringing on the metal steps as he went.

  “Go ahead,” Bobby told Sarah breathlessly. “I'll bring up the rear.”

  “Okay.”

  They followed the shaman down the stairs. The staircase went down twenty steps or so, switched directions and descended again. It did this several times and Sarah wondered when they would reach the bottom. They couldn't have been that high above the level of the river when they started, could they?

  Magnus led them downwards, slowing his pace so that the two young people behind him could see the iron steps beneath their feet.

  “How are you two doing?” he asked loudly, his voice echoing around them.

  “We're okay, Magnus,” Sarah assured him. “Are we almost at the exit?”

  “Almost. There's a short passageway at the bottom of the stairs and a locked door opening on to river. Not far now.”

  Encouraged, she focused on her footing, determined not to trip or fall and slow them down. There had been no further sound of pursuit from the drakes, but Sarah wasn't fooled. Those monsters were sly hunters and could be stealthy when they wanted to be. She was sure that the beasts were still stalking them.

  They reached the bottom of the stairs. The bare concrete walls here were damp and patches of moss and lichen could be seen in the light of Magnus' torch. The air smelled of stagnant water and the floor was slippery, puddles splashing beneath them as they walked quickly down the hallway.

  The passageway ended at another heavy steel door, little streaks of rust marring its surface. A wheel was embedded into the center of the door and Magnus handed his torch to Sarah before he grabbed it and began to turn it slowly.

  The wheel squealed loudly as it turned. Obviously the door hadn't been used in a long time and the shaman grunted as he forced it open.

  There was a final loud bang as the locks gave way and the door opened inward.

  “Whew. I should have oiled this mechanism a few times over the years,” Magnus said ruefully as he wiped sweat off of his forehead.

  He took the torch back from Sarah and led them through the doorway and outside. The trio found themselves at the base of the cliff. Sand, driftwood and a small mound of detritus were heaped across the bottom of the door and they had to climb over it awkwardly before they could move forward.

  A stiff breeze slapped their faces as they approached the river. The cool air was refreshing after their precipitous run through the tunnels.

  The sound of water lapping against the shoreline was soothing and Sarah could almost forget that they were being hunted by monsters. Almost

  They stood at the edge of the river and looked up at the bright moon over their heads. The pale light looked bright as the shaman tossed his torch into the water and it was snuffed out with a resentful hiss.

  “Now what, Magnus?” Bobby asked nervously while the shaman looked up and down the shore. “What do we do? Where do we go?”

  “West, my friends,” the man said with a nod to their left. “Follow the river, quietly. Stay low and slow. Watch and listen every step of the way. We know that the dragons prefer to hunt by night, as do their drakes, but they are not like the goblins; they can hunt in the light of the sun if they so choose. So do not stop until you find a place where you are out of sight. Sleep in shifts once you make camp and stay in touch with your friends with Sarah's magical stone.”

  He looked at them both and smiled affectionately in the soft light of the moon.

  “I do not know how the dragons have returned or why they hunt in our city. But until we are sure that they have moved on, we will have to be extra cautious. The silver lining in all of this, such as it is, is that the goblins are considered prey to the drakes as much as human beings are. So there's that. And the dragons despise goblins. But we'll talk about this further once you get away. For now, you mustn't tarry. You have to go, immediately.”

  “Wait a second,” Sarah said, frowning. “Aren't you coming with us?”

  The man shook his head.

  “No, I am not. Drakes have invaded my home. I do not know how many, but I will not tolerate such a thing. They will learn to fear the dark spaces beneath the earth that I have claimed as my own. I shall teach them.”

  Magnus sounded grim and stern and both Sarah and Bobby stared at him in awe. They had never seen this side of the shaman.

  “You're going to fight them?” Bobby asked faintly. “All by yourself?”

  “I have allies, my young friends. Spirits of nature who will aid me in battle. I won't be alone. But you two must get out of danger so that I can focus all of my energy on the fight and not worry about your safety. Now go, please. Contact me tomorrow from some safe place and we will discuss what to do next.”

  He embraced them both in turn, wished them well and disappeared back into the gaping hole in the cliff. The metal door squeaked loudly as it slammed shut and Sarah and Bobby found themselves alone again.

  “Well then,” she said as silence descended upon them.

  “Yeah. Guess we should follow his advice and get the heck out of here?” Bobby asked as he looked up at the top of the cliff.

  “Definitely. Let's try not to make too much noise.”

  They turned to face the west and Sarah led the way as they set off. The shoreline was covered with a lot of driftwood, rocks and loose sand and the footing was uncertain. The duo couldn't have hurried if they wanted to, especially in the uncertain light of the moon, and they were forced to proceed carefully if they wanted to avoid twisting an ankle.

  The wall of the cliff to their left slowly descended as they hiked along until the land was level again and they were passing ruined houses and collapsed apartment buildings. After about half an hour of slow progress, b
oth of them stopped to look around.

  “We could take shelter in one of those places,” Bobby suggested as he pointed at some of the old homes.

  All of them had once been low bungalows and a few still had intact roofs and looked inviting enough.

  Sarah looked at them speculatively and then froze as she heard the distant sound of enormous wings approaching across the night sky.

  “Hide!” she exclaimed fearfully.

  They looked around in a panic. The only shelter available were some low bushes growing along the edge of the river. Sarah pointed at them and grabbed Bobby's arm.

  “There!”

  Both of them dove into the brush, yelping as jagged thorns tore at their hair and skin. Then they huddled together as the heavy flapping grew closer.

  “Do you think that it can see us in here?” Bobby whispered in Sarah's ear.

  “They can see in the dark, definitely,” she muttered. “But they can't see through stuff, so as long as we're hidden and we don't make any sudden movements, we'll be fine. Now shush and stay still.”

  The thorns dug into them, poking into various tender spots on their bodies and they forced themselves to endure the discomfort. Better to have a few scratches than to be burned alive, or electrocuted.

  “I actually miss my wrappings now,” Bobby said under his breath. “At least they protected me from thorns and stuff.”

  Sarah smiled at his feeble attempt at humor, but remained silent. The sound of the hunting dragon was drawing near.

  “Where is it?” she whispered, scanning the sky through the branches and leaves over her head. “I can't see it against the stars. Frigging black dragons!”

  “Wait. Look! There, look at the moon.”

  Just for an instant, the winged shape of a horned dragon crossed the face of the moon, and Sarah was reminded of what she had seen earlier that evening.

  “Damn. I saw that thing just before we went into Magnus' place, but I thought that it was just a big bird or a cloud or something. I should have spoken up.”

  “Why would you?” Bobby asked. “Who would have believed that the dragons were back? We were all sure that they were dead, even Magnus. And for it to be a black dragon too. Ugh. I remember when that primal, the big bastard, used to fly over the city every so often, hunting for us. God, it was like a never-ending nightmare. How many years did that last?”

  “Three, at least. Until Simon killed it,” Sarah told him with savage glee. “He drowned the monster in the river, or that's what we heard. Who knew that black dragons could drown?”

  The flapping sounds had begun to recede again and both of them relaxed slightly.

  “It didn't drown,” Bobby disagreed as he pulled himself carefully out of the thorny bush. “Apparently the thing fell into the river, or was pushed or something, and its electrical power shorted out and it blew up. At least that's what I was told by someone who heard it from Magnus.”

  Sarah muttered several curses as she emerged from the bushes with a few scratches on her arms.

  “Damned thorns. We need to check before we dive into the next bunch of bushes.”

  “Better scratched than fried, I say,” Bobby told her practically as he stretched slowly and then winced. “Ouch, I got cut up too. Stupid thorns.”

  “Told you so,” Sarah said with a giggle. “Okay, the dragon's moved on and we should too. Let's go.”

  “Lead on, chief.”

  She snorted and smiled at his face, pale beneath the full moon.

  “That's boss to you, mister, not chief,” she said, trying to sound stern.

  “Oh right, right. Boss. Got it. Well then, lead on, boss. And hurry it up, would you? There might be drakes around.”

  Her mood immediately darkened and Sarah turned away to hurry along the edge of the water once more. Bobby was right to remind her that they weren't out of danger yet and had to keep moving.

  “What do you think Magnus will do?” Bobby asked a few minutes later as they stepped carefully over some large, mossy rocks.

  “About what? The drakes?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Dunno. We know that he has power, but what those spirits are that he was talking about is a mystery to me. Whatever they are, I hope that they can help him fight off the drakes.”

  She looked back past Bobby at the now distant cliffs of Magnus' home.

  “I just wish that he had come with us.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  Sarah and Bobby slogged along the river for several more hours. They were forced to find cover a half dozen more times as they heard the sound of dragon wings in the night. They never actually saw the dragon again, but the sound alone was enough to send chills down their spines. They had learned to fear it as children.

  Finally in the pre-dawn chill of early morning, they came across a small boathouse that was more or less intact. The cottage that had presumably once held the owners of the building had been burned to the ground and was now a weathered shell, with just two walls still standing, leaning drunkenly against each other.

  The boathouse itself had been built over the water on thick pylons. A decade of the river rising and falling, not to mention harsh winters and hot summers, had leached all of the color out of the structure and it was now almost white. The two windows on each side of the building were long gone and their blank openings looked like gouged-out eyes in the face of a corpse. But when Sarah and Bobby forced the narrow door open and walked inside, they were surprised to find it intact.

  There was a walkway around the interior wall above the water and an old wooden boat covered in rotting canvas, hanging from the ceiling on nylon ropes.

  Bobby closed the door behind them and then looked up at the boat.

  “Wow, it looks like it might still float,” Bobby said as he examined it more closely.

  He gave it a push and it swung freely, the ceiling creaking as it moved.

  Sarah held up her stone and stared at it dubiously.

  “Uh-huh. Well, you'd never catch me in that thing. Even if it didn't sink, there are too many hostile creatures living out in the deep part of the river that would attack it, I'm sure. Plus the dragons now. You would be a sitting duck on the open water if they spotted you in a boat.”

  Bobby shook his head.

  “Black dragons are afraid of open water, remember? They might attack from a distance, but I'm not sure how effective lightning attacks would be in the middle of that much water. It might just be the perfect place to retreat to in an emergency.”

  Sarah walked around the boat, examining the walkway to make sure that it was still solid. It was.

  “Are you trying to convince me?” she asked as she sat down with her back against the wall.

  “No, of course not. I was just thinking out loud, that's all.”

  “I hope so, because it's a crazy idea, Bobby. Our best chance of survival for now is to stay out of sight and hope that the dragons and drakes are just passing through. If they're here to stay, along with the goblins? To quote Eric, 'we are screwed'.”

  He sat down next to her and stared up at the boat that was still swinging slightly.

  “Yeah, that sounds like him. Don't worry though; I doubt that the dragon or dragons will hang around. Why would they bother, anyway? Like Magnus said, there are only a handful of us Changlings living here. If they are here to hunt us, well, good luck with that. We could avoid them forever, practically. We know the city like the back of our hands. They don't. Plus, even ordinary dragons are too big to reach any of our camps. So are drakes, probably.”

  Bobby took off his sneakers and rubbed his sore feet, sighing wearily as he did so.

  “No, I think that it was just bad luck tonight,” he continued. “Somehow the dragon that attacked Magnus' place must have seen us going inside and decided to attack. And it summoned some of its drakes to finish the job once it smashed through the door.”

  Sarah nodded as she slipped her stone into a pocket, leaving them in darkness.

  “I h
ope you're right,” she said through a yawn. “I know that we were planning on leaving the city eventually, but I was hoping that we'd be a little more prepared than we are. What if we can't go back? What if those damned dragons won't leave, at least not right away?”

  “Then we keep going,” Bobby told her. “There are a few small towns west of the city that we can scavenge for clothes and supplies, and I remember reading that there are berries in season right now, as well as a few edible plants. I saw the pictures and I think that I could recognize them. We won't starve.”

  “Well, aren't you clever,” Sarah said with a surprised laugh.

  “Not clever, just practical. We had books about local flora at our place, so I read them. Anyway, I'm more worried about our friends than I am about us at the moment. We're probably out of immediate danger, but what about them?”

  “I know. Let's get some sleep and then I'll call them and see how everyone's doing. Right now, I'm so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open.”

  Sarah yawned again and she heard Bobby do the same in the darkness.

  “Okay. We should be safe enough in here, over the water. I doubt that a dragon or a drake would think to look for us in here.”

  “Let's hope you're right.”

  They woke up to full daylight, or as full as it was going to get. It was actually pouring rain and the sound of the water drops hitting the rusty tin roof over their heads reminded Sarah of someone playing the drums. Loudly.

  She groaned as she pushed herself to her feet. Her back was stiff from sitting on the hard wooden floor and her head felt like it was stuffed with sawdust.

  “Bobby, wake up,” Sarah tried to say.

  Unfortunately her throat was so dry that all she could manage was a croak of sound and she was forced to bend down and shake his shoulder instead.

  Bobby had probably fallen asleep sitting upright with his back against the wall, but now he was lying on his side with his hair covering his face. He snorted at her touch and pulled away.

  “What? What's the matter?” he mumbled vaguely.