by S. E. Smith
Morah looked at the kids with an expression of uncertainty on her face and nodded. “They liked Dada’s story and…,” she paused and looked over at Zohar.
“And what?” Zohar encouraged.
Morah smoothed her red princess dress with her hands and bit her lip. She frowned and looked down at the ground. Zohar could tell that she was trying to remember something from the way she was mumbling to herself. She suddenly looked up at him with a troubled expression.
“The Goddesses was going to give me my wishes. I’s suppose to looks for the… for the… I can’t remembers what its called,” she said in an uncertain tone. “My dada would know.” Her little voice quavered.
Zohar took a step closer to Morah and looked down at her. “What did you wish for?” he asked.
Morah looked up at Zohar. “I wish to goes to Glitter to sees the Leprechauns,” she said.
“Do you think…?” Alice started to say, her lips parting in wonder.
“What if…?” Phoenix said at the same time.
A soft growl drew their attention. Zohar bit back a laugh when he saw Roam looking at his cousin. Leo was tugging on the stem of a large-leafed plant before it snapped off.
Roam grabbed one of the leafy parts of the plant and yanked on it. “Leo, spit it out! Your mommy said you aren’t supposed to eat stuff without asking permission first,” Roam growled, tugging on a large, oddly shaped leaf.
Leo suddenly opened his mouth and spit out the stem. Roam fell backwards onto the ground, the bright green leaf between his hands. The small, black tiger cub made a face and wiped at his tongue with his front paw. It was obvious that he didn’t care for the taste of the plant.
“Wait, look at that! It has four leaves, just like the plant Grandpa told us about,” Spring exclaimed, hurrying over to where he was now sitting on the soft grass.
The kids gathered around her and Roam. Zohar watched Spring take the leaf from Roam and turn it over. Brilliant lights of glittering green danced along the veins of each of the four curved leaves.
“Oh, it is so pretty,” Alice said, studying the dancing lights with delight.
Spring dropped the stem when a shape suddenly appeared in the center of it. They all stared in awe at the image of a beautiful woman with four small transparent wings. The woman’s long hair was the colors of the flames from last night’s fire. Around her head, she wore a crown of green with tiny white flowers and dark red berries growing on it.
“Oh, she’s gots a princess dress on,” Morah breathed, stepping forward to run her fingers through the image.
The woman’s long, many layered gown was a mixture of colors varying from a dark golden-yellow to red, orange, and green. The woman floated above the center of the plant and turned in a circle. On her face was a soft, compassionate smile.
“Who is she?” Amber asked, reaching out to touch the woman as well.
Morah’s lips parted in a small gasp, and her eyes widened. “I knows who she is! She is the Queen of the Wood Fairies!” she breathed in awe.
“But… I thoughts she was makeups,” Hope whispered.
Morah shook her head. “The Goddesses tolds me last night that my wishes will come trues when I wakes up. I am supposes to finds a four-leaf clover. It’s gots magic.”
Alice reached out and touched the edge of the leaf. She drew in a startled breath and pulled back her hand against her chest. Her eyes were wide with uncertainty.
“Did it hurt you?” Bálint demanded, reaching for her hand.
Alice shook her head. “No, but it has lots of energy in it,” she said. “I wish my daddy was here. He’d know what to do.”
Zohar glanced around the unusual forest again. He wished his dad was there, too. His lips tightened in determination. Looking at the translucent image hovering above the center of the plant, he bent over and picked up the clover.
“If the Queen of the Wood Fairies is here, then maybe the King of the Leprechauns is too. Grandpa said that the King needed warriors to help him. Our dads are the best warriors ever!” Zohar stated, holding the clover’s stem tightly in his fist.
“But… How are we going to find them?” Jade asked.
“It’s alls my fault,” Morah whispered, her voice quivering with tears. “I makes a wish to meets a real-live leprechaun and nows he tooks all our daddies.”
“It’s okay, Morah. We’ll save our dads, won’t we?” Zohar asked, looking at the other kids.
“Yes!” all the other kids said.
Zohar watched the girls gather around Morah. Amber wrapped her arms around Morah and hugged her. The little girl sniffed before she wiped the tears from her face and lifted her chin.
“I promises my mommy that I wouldn’t let nothings happen to Dada. I’s going to finds the King of the Leprechauns and tells him to give him back,” Morah announced, stepping forward and taking the clover from Zohar’s hand.
“I’s going to go gets both of my daddies back, too,” Hope said, her eyes brimming with tears and determination.
“What are we going to do, Zohar?” Spring asked, looking at him.
“The four-leaf clover,” Alice suddenly said. “Can’t we make a wish on it?”
Phoenix eagerly nodded. “We should get four wishes,” she said with wide eyes.
“But, I thoughts only the King of the Leprechauns could makes wishes,” Hope said.
Amber touched the smallest leaf. “Well, I think it’s worth a try,” she said before turning to look at her sister. “Jade, do you have our secret weapons?”
Jade smiled, turned to show the backpack on her back, and nodded. “Yep! I’m ready,” she announced.
“What about the symbiots? Mommy said I was to have my symbiot and Precious with me at all times—just in case Daddy loses me,” Jabir said with a sheepish expression.
Zohar thought for a moment. “We’ll make a circle. As long as we’re touching each other, we should all be able to make the wish,” he said, waving to everyone to gather around. “Everyone, hold hands and don’t forgets your symbiots! Morah, since you were the one that made the first wish, I think you should make this one, too.”
Morah swallowed. “I wishes to find the Leprechauns,” she said in a loud, clear voice.
They all waited, but nothing happened. Frowning, Zohar looked around. He softly counted each of the dragonlings, Alice, Roam, and….
His eyes widened in alarm. “Where’s Leo?” Zohar asked in exasperation.
Chapter Six
Paul knew the moment he woke that something was wrong—very, very wrong. He looked up at the glittering rock surface and blinked. He should have been looking up at the ceiling of a symbiot created tent, or at the very least, the canopy of the massive branches and leaves of the surrounding forest. Sitting up, he cautiously looked around before rising to his feet.
He rotated in a tight circle, examining his surroundings. Brightly colored mushrooms in many hues greeted his stunned eyes. If waking to find himself in a cave surrounded by a mushroom forest wasn’t shocking enough, the fact that the mushrooms were ten times as tall as he was made him reach down to pinch his arm to make sure he wasn’t still dreaming.
A flash of pain confirmed what he dreaded—this was real. He looked around, spying the other men still asleep. What concerned him the most was what was missing.
“Morah,” Paul called softly, searching the area for his tiny daughter.
He spied something shimmering on the ground where he had awakened. Retracing his steps, he bent down and picked up the half-buried gold coin. Turning it over in the palm of his hand, he noticed that on one side was the picture of a man and on the other side that of a beautiful wood fairy. Disbelief warred with reality.
He looked up and turned when he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. Zoran was staring at him with a confused frown. Paul pocketed the coin and motioned Zoran to wake the others. He silently walked over to Vox and Viper where they lay sleeping. Kneeling on one knee between them, he shook each man.
“Wak
e up. We’ve got trouble,” Paul quietly instructed.
Vox and Viper immediately came awake and rolled until they were crouching next to him. Their expressions were alert and wary at the same time. Viper shifted into his black tiger form.
“Where the hell are we?” Vox hissed, studying the surrounding terrain.
Paul shook his head. “I don’t know, but the kids and our symbiots aren’t here,” he said in a grim voice.
“Spread out and search the immediate area,” Zoran ordered.
Paul rose to his feet and silently moved out among the mushrooms. He noticed that Vox had shifted into his leopard form, also. Reaching inside himself, he touched his dragon. Shock ran through him when he discovered his dragon was still sleeping.
Wake up. I could use a little assistance, Paul ordered.
A vision of his dragon raising his head, sniffing, and lying back down came to him. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think the damn thing was about to go back to sleep. He issued another silent order to help.
It the Goddesses. All your fault, his dragon replied with a yawn.
All my fault? How in the hell is this my fault?! Paul growled, pausing under a large mushroom.
“Paul!” Zoran suddenly hissed.
“Dragon’s balls! Not again,” Creon groaned.
“Ariel is going to kill me,” Mandra muttered.
Cree turned and glared over at Paul. “Ariel?! Melina is going to castrate Calo and me. We swore that we wouldn’t lose Hope again!” he snapped.
The sound of his dragon snickering told Paul that the other dragons had come to the same conclusion—the Goddesses were up to their usual mischief, and they were all on another adventure. However, that still didn’t tell him if the kids were safe or where in the hell they were! A little forewarning would have come in handy.
Dragonlings have symbiots and each other. They fine, his dragon replied with glee.
“Well, do you know where in the hell we are?” he demanded out loud to his dragon, putting his hands on his hips in frustration.
Vox shifted into his two-legged form and turned to glare at him. “How in the hell are we supposed to know if you don’t?” Vox snapped, walking toward him.
Viper shifted as well. Paul warily watched as all the men gathered around him. Kelan and Trelon didn’t say anything—they didn’t have to. They were the only two who didn’t look as if they wanted to string him up.
“What do you two think is so amusing?” Ha’ven asked, crossing his arms and looking at the two men with a glare and a raised eyebrow.
Kelan shook his head. “I’m just glad the women aren’t here. We’d never live this down if they were,” he chuckled.
A reluctant smile of amusement pulled at the corner of Ha’ven’s lips. Paul lifted his hand and ran it over the back of his neck. An image of Morian’s beautiful face flashed through his mind, and he shook his head.
Yes, I can see her laughing as well, he thought in resignation to his dragon, who happened to be enjoying this far too much for his liking.
Paul looked up when he saw Cree and Calo reappear from out of the mushroom forest. They had left an hour before to do a short reconnaissance of the area. Both men had streaks of red, blue, yellow, and orange on their hair and clothing.
“We don’t recognize any of this,” Cree said with a shake of his head.
“We did find a trail through the mushrooms leading that way. I’ve never seen anything like this on Valdier,” Calo replied.
Paul’s eyes paused on Mandra. The man looked like he wanted to say something but wasn’t quite sure how to phrase it. At this point, Paul decided that spitting out any possible scenarios was the optimal choice. It wouldn’t be that difficult to eliminate them from the list.
“What is it, Mandra?” Paul prodded.
Mandra looked over at the mushroom forest behind Cree and Calo before he turned his uneasy glance on Paul.
“This place looks a lot like the one Ariel told us about. The one you mentioned in your story, but that is impossible,” he said with a shake of his head.
Zoran frowned. “Well, it is obvious we are not on Valdier. Where else could we be?” he asked.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m of the opinion that not being on Valdier is the least of our worries. Am I the only one who has noticed that we are surrounded by giant mushrooms?” Ha’ven queried.
“So, what? We’ve seen lots of unusual plant life on other planets before,” Vox said, running his hand down the stem of the mushroom he was standing beside.
Ha’ven turned and looked at Vox with a raised eyebrow. “Have you seen anything like this before? Personally, I’ve never seen a mushroom that was larger than my fist on any planet that I’ve been on. Have you?” he inquired.
Vox warily looked around the forest of mushrooms and shook his head. “No, not a mushroom,” he agreed.
“So, what are we supposed to do, oh, mighty teller of tales?” Viper sarcastically asked Paul. “If Vox and I don’t find our sons, Riley and Tina are going to be the least of our concerns,” he added, glancing at his brother with a pained expression before turning back to look at Paul.
“Oh, Goddess. If Riley doesn’t kill me, Pearl will. And, I promise you, she’ll enjoy prolonging it,” Vox groaned, lifting his hands and running them over his face.
Viper nodded. “Pearl and Tina both will have my head. Plus, I have to find Leo. I swear that boy isn’t safe to leave on his own. If he isn’t trying to eat everything, he is disappearing,” he warned with a shake of his head.
“Have any of you tried to connect with them through your symbiots?” Ha’ven asked.
Paul briefly closed his eyes at the stunned silence. Of course they hadn’t. That would have been the logical thing to do. Shaking his head, he ignored Ha’ven, Vox, and Viper’s loud sighs of exasperation when he and the rest of the dragon warriors touched the thin links of gold around their wrists.
He immediately got a brief flash of Morah, her eyes blazing with determination, her little chin lifted in the air, and she was sitting on Crash who was in the shape of a unicorn. He’d seen that look one too many times when he’d tried to convince her to do something she didn’t want to do—like wearing pants instead of a princess dress to go camping. A rueful smile curved his lips. He looked around at the other men and saw the same expression. It looked as if the kids were preparing for another adventure.
“Ha’ven, can you do your teleport thing to the kids?” Creon asked, turning to look at his friend.
Ha’ven shook his head. “I already tried. I don’t know if it is the cave, something the Goddesses did, or my uncomfortable feeling that things seem much larger than they should, but I appear to have limited abilities at the moment,” he reluctantly shared.
“Wow!” Kelan muttered with a soft whistle.
Vox and Viper suddenly hissed and turned. Paul watched the two Sarafin warriors shift into their cat forms in the blink of an eye. He connected with his dragon, but all it was doing was purring with delight.
“What is it?” Paul asked, searching the mushroom forest for anything that could have caused the brothers to go on alert.
Zoran, Kelan, and Trelon were standing next to each other with their heads tilted back and their eyes closed. Each was emitting a soft rumbling that sounded suspiciously like his dragon did. Rubbing his chest, Paul couldn’t figure out what was going on.
He looked over at Creon who had shifted to his dragon form. The difference between Creon’s dragon with his tail up in the air and an almost devilish gleam in his eyes compared to the uneasy hissing of Vox and Viper added to his confusion. Only Mandra looked wary.
“Mandra, what is it?” Paul asked again.
Ha’ven took a step closer to Mandra and nodded. Paul could feel the Curizan’s unease building as well. The man’s hands flexed as if he was testing the energy around them.
“I’d like to know as well, if you don’t mind sharing,” Ha’ven said, hearing movement through the mushr
ooms.
Mandra’s wary eyes remained locked on the direction of the sound that was growing closer. Paul saw the huge warrior swallow.
Suddenly a monstrous brown and white furry creature with beady black eyes, a matching nose, and two very long, sharp teeth rose above the mushrooms in front of them, and they all stumbled back several steps.
“Tasiers!” Mandra muttered, stumbling back and grabbing for Zoran and Kelan.
Paul’s eyes widened, and he stared in horror at the massive creature eyeing them. Tasiers! This was the tiny fur-ball that the dragons thought tasted like chocolate? He realized that Ha’ven was right, that something else was very, very wrong at the same time as Ha’ven, Vox, and Viper did.
“Run!” Mandra yelled, turning with his brothers when a half dozen more Tasiers appeared behind the first one.
Chapter Seven
Are you sure this is the right way, Morah?” Zohar asked, guiding Goldie closer to the little girl riding in the front.
Morah nodded. “Yes, I’s sure,” she stated with confidence.
Zohar and the others had quickly learned that the magic clover only responded to Morah. It sparkled and turned in the direction they were supposed to go only when she held it. He originally started to lead the group after taking the clover from Morah, but the clover wilted and didn’t sparkle as brightly. When he handed it back to Morah, it had perked up and began directing her.
Zohar watched as Bálint, Amber, and Jade rode up on their parents’ symbiots while their own small symbiots flew next to them. The three were scouting the area. They reined in their symbiots, each in a different form, and came to a stop when they were close to where he and Morah had halted. The other children gathered around them to hear what they had discovered.
“The forest grows thinner and changes into a sea of sand. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Bálint said with a worried frown.
“Did you see any tracks?” Zohar asked.
Bálint nodded and leaned forward to run his hand along Bio’s neck. The symbiot shimmered at the young boy’s caress. Zohar motioned for Bálint to tell him what they had seen.