Gale just stared at the stranger. He was ugly, and his whole being frightened her . . . though she could not say why.
Addressing the villagers, Howl said, “These two travelers came in a spaceship that was knocked off course by the meteor shower. They crashed into the Endless Sea not far from here. Mobius is a scientist while his friend is just an . . . um . . . assistant. His kind are called dragons. Now, I have invited Mobius to join Gale and me for dinner so that I can learn more about him and his kind. In the morning, I’ll share everything that I learn. In the meantime, I need some volunteers to bring Bl’udd some food.” Turning to face the dragon, he asked, “Um . . . what kind of food does your kind eat?”
“Do you have any fat Nauti you want to get rid of?” He was kidding, of course, but he was in a foul mood and wanted to irritate Mobius.
There was an audible gasp from the crowd and everyone took a step or two backwards. Gale ducked behind her husband whose eyes had flown wide open.
“My thoughtless friend is just teasing. Dragons are well known for their perverse sense of humor.” Mobius turned to Bl’udd and whispered, “Play nice or I’ll have your wings removed.” Turning back to Howl, he said, “Dragons can consume virtually anything. Whatever you might have in large quantities will suffice.”
So after a few minutes, volunteers came forward and attended to the dragon. Meanwhile Howl and his wife escorted Mobius to the top of the Sun-Seeker Tree they called home.
*****
Present Day
Egg, closely followed by Aeri’elle and Sylvia, reached their other sisters in less than a minute. “What happened? Are you alright?” she asked the Princess breathlessly.
“I am fine.”
“Me, too. Thanks for asking,” said Bl’azzz sarcastically.
“Then why the heck did you scream?”
Instead of answering, the Princess just pointed with her light stick to something behind her.
“What is it?” It was too dark to make out clearly.
“I believe we met our first Wind’dancer.”
“Oh my gosh. Is she . . . he . . . it . . . okay?”
“I’m guessing that she never saw a dragon before,” said Bl’azzz.
“You didn’t burp and burn. Did you?” asked Sylvia.
“She scared me,” whined the F’yre Dragon.
“That is when she screamed and fainted,” explained M’egg.
“Is she hurt?”
“Not from the fireball. But, I do believe she was injured before we arrived.”
“Let’s get her back to camp. Maybe a little food will help.”
Just then, the winged girl began to stir. A moment later, she was sitting up and staring at not one, but two, monsters and three wingless girls. It was too much to assimilate and she fainted again.
Chapter 3 – BreeZee
Present Day
They carried the unconscious girl back to camp, made a fire and began to cook some food. Meanwhile K’ssss and Soo returned with no fish.
“Sorry, we only found a few and . . . um . . . well, we ate them.”
“But there were no eels.”
“That’s okay. I wasn’t in the mood for fish anyway,” answered Aeri’elle.
“Or eels,” added Sylvia while making a face.
“We have a visitor,” and Egg pointed to one of the tents.
The two serpents slithered up to get a closer look just as BreeZee awoke. M’egg saw the girls eyes open . . . then open even wider. Before she could scream and faint again, the Princess rushed forward – putting herself between the serpents and the winged girl.
“Do not be frightened. We mean you no harm.”
BreeZee kept staring at the serpents with just a quick sideways glance at M’egg. “Who are you? What are you?” Then she added an “Ow.”
“You are injured?”
“I banged my head” and she reached up to touch the bump on her forehead.
“Please, let me see” said the Princess.
BreeZee hesitated for an instant then nodded. M’egg brought her light stick closer and examined the small bruise. “It does not appear to be serious. Are you in much pain?”
“Not really. Just a bit of a headache.”
Sylvia went over to her supplies and came back with a little bottle filled with aspirin. She knelt before the Wind’dancer and said “Hi. My name is Sylvia. If you take two of these, your headache will be gone in no time.” She offered the girl the bottle.
BreeZee took it, examined the contents, shrugged and put two in her mouth.
“Better take a swallow of some water. They’ll go down easier.”
“Thank you,” and she did as she was told.
“Are you hungry?”
“Now that you ask, I’m starving.”
Egg stepped closer and knelt next to Sylvia. “Hi. My name is Egg. What kind of food do you eat?”
“Egg?”
At first, the sisters thought she meant that she ate eggs. Then it dawned on them that she was confused by Egg’s nickname and they started to giggle.
“Why are you laughing?” asked BreeZee. But she had a smile on her face because, as we all know, laughter is contagious.
“E G G are my initials and my nickname. My real name is Eloise Grace Graystone. What’s yours?”
“BreeZee.”
“That’s really cute. So, let me introduce the rest of my friends. You met Sylvia and M’egg. The red one with the hot breath is Bl’azzz.”
“Sorry about that fireball thing. You kind of scared me.”
It was BreeZee’s turn to giggle. “I scared you? A little Wind’dancer scared a great big . . . um . . . what exactly are you?”
“A dragon.”
“Let me finish the introductions then we’ll answer all your questions. The other dragon is Aeri’elle.”
The proud dragon bowed her head slightly and said, “It’s a pleasure.”
“Thank you.”
“And these two are sea serpents. That one’s Soo and the other is K’ssss. Together we’re called the Hameggattic Sisterhood. We came from a different planet to rescue some friends.”
“A different world?”
“We’re not from Zynn-Zaz’zia. Syl and I are from a planet called Earth. The others are from Aerianna. We came here through a space portal.”
BreeZee fell silent trying to understand what she had just heard. The girls waited patiently as she digested this information.
“Not to sound immodest, but I’m considered a pretty smart Wind’dancer. But I have to tell you that I have no idea what you’re talking about. Different planets? Space portal? Dragons, talking serpents and people without wings?” She touched the bump on her head again. “Either I’m still unconscious or the world just went topsy-turvy.”
“You are definitely awake and maybe things are a bit topsy-turvy. So let’s eat and we’ll continue talking.”
BreeZee looked at each of the seven girls, one after the other. Then she stood and smiled. “Oh, I really, really hope this isn’t a dream.”
“It’s not, but why?”
“Because if it’s not, I’m about to have the greatest adventure of my life.”
*****
So they ate and they talked and then talked some more. About three hours later BreeZee thought she understood what was going on, and the Sisters felt they had a better understanding of Zynn-Zaz’zia.
All talked out, they sat there in friendly silence, each lost in her own thoughts. BreeZee was the first to speak. “I want to help. Based on everything you told me, I have to believe my two friends were taken captive. And, if this Mobius is as mean as you say, I probably won’t be able to rescue them on my own.”
Egg looked at the others and they all nodded yes. “Well, Zazzi has already volunteered to help. There’s no reason that you can’t.”
“Great . . . but who’s Zazzi?”
“He’s the guy . . . the serpent . . . in the lava pool.”
“What lava pool?”
“I think y
ou call it the Caldera of Zaz’zia,” said Sylvia.
“Oh.”
“What’s wrong?”
“That’s where Wind’dancers go if they fail the Rite.”
“Oh, yeah. He told us about that.”
“If it wasn’t for Zynnia, my father would have had to take me to him.”
“Zynnia?”
“Yes. She’s the one who made this world.”
“We know. We met her . . . well, sort of.”
“You met Zynnia?”
“Yes and no. Let me tell you what happened . . .,” and another hour slipped by as they discussed fuzzy blue balls of light, computer images, dream chambers and the rest.
By this time, K’ssss had already fallen asleep. The others weren’t far behind.
“It’s late and I can’t think straight,” said Egg. “So let’s turn in.”
“Turn in to what?” asked BreeZee.
“Ha,” chirped Soo. “It isn’t just me. Nobody likes your dumb earth sayings.”
Ignoring the comment, Egg told the Wind’dancer, “It means to go to sleep.”
“Oh. Well, I’ll just head back to my village . . . “
“Don’t do that. You can stay here with us.”
“That’s very sweet but I’ve been away for too long. My parents will be worried. But thank you.”
“How far is your village from here?” asked the Princess.
“Well, there isn’t much of a breeze, so it’s about three hours away.”
M’egg turned to Egg. “Perhaps Flying Girl could get her home quicker?”
“Who is flying girl?” asked the Wind’dancer.
“That would be me. How would you like to be home in about five minutes?” she asked with a smile.
“That’s not possible. Even with a strong wind it would take an hour.”
“Yeah . . . not so much. Grab my hand,” and she extended it to her new friend.
BreeZee took it and asked, “What now?”
“Now . . . we fly,” and Egg leapt skyward with the Wind’dancer in tow. The girl was too shocked to say anything so Egg volunteered the story of the flying suit.
“Wow. This is better than sailing.”
“Yeah, it’s the best.”
“Egg . . . can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Can anybody become a Hameggattic Sister?”
*****
About a Month Ago
The good news for Mobius was that he had complete control of Howl and by extension the entire Nauti village.
The bad news was (yawn, yawn) ‘so what’. To be king of this world would be a hollow victory. It was boring. Their civilization wasn’t nearly as advanced as that on Aerianna or even his home world of Kallous. There was nothing to accomplish, no great challenge to meet, no glory to be had. In a word . . . boring.
Granted it was better than being cooped up in a spaceship with Bl’udd and with that infernal music blaring day and night. But, not much better.
So . . . what to do, what to do?
And as if his thoughts were heard and answered by a cosmic power, the solution literally fell in his lap.
It was too good to be true.
It was more than he could have hoped for.
It was perfect.
As he stood there contemplating the situation, the village leader flew down and landed next to him. “Mobius, excuse my intrusion.”
“Yes, Howl?”
“Apparently the universe is a lot more crowded than I ever knew.”
Mobius frowned. “What?”
“We have another visitor from space.”
“WHAT?”
“We have . . . “
“Yes, yes. I heard you. Show me.”
They walked over to the Sun-Seeker Tree that housed the infirmary. Howl led Mobius to a private room. And there on the bed was an humanoid dressed in some kind of camouflage outfit. He had a bandage around his head but otherwise looked uninjured. His eyes were closed and he was apparently sleeping.
“Tell me everything,” commanded Mobius.
But the sound of his deep, gruff voice caused the patient to wake. He seemed disoriented and it took him a few seconds to focus on his guests.
Then his eyes flew open and he screamed, “NO . . . IT CAN’T BE.”
“It can’t be what?” demanded the evil one.
“It can’t be you. You’re supposed to be locked in a spaceship for the next hundred years. What are you doing here?”
“What does he mean ‘locked in a spaceship’?”
“QUIET.” Mobius turned his attention back to the bed. “I assume you are from Aerianna. Could it be that you’ve come via your space portal?”
“Space portal?” repeated Howl.
“I said QUIET. Better yet, get out. Don’t allow anyone to enter. Go.” Howl really had no choice. Under the mental commands from Mobius, he was powerless to resist.
Once again, he turned back to the man on the bed. “Now, you and I are going to have a nice little chat. Won’t that be pleasant?” He smiled as his left eye twinkled an unnatural red.
*****
Present Day
Egg managed to get up with the sunrise . . . though it wasn’t easy. They had all been up so late the night before that it took a monumental effort to get out of bed. One thing human girls had in common regardless of their home planet . . . when they didn’t get enough sleep, they could be a teensy bit grumpy.
“Morning,” she muttered to the other two human girls.
“Wha-times-it?” mumbled Sylvia in a gibberish form of English common to the sleep deprived.
“Sunrise.”
Syl just growled and turned over. The Princess snarled, “Are you completely and utterly insane?” She was still half asleep and didn’t even realize that she said it.
“No, I’m not insane. My mother had me tested. Now get up.”
“Can’t make me,” came a muffled response from Sylvia whose head was under a pillow.
Egg wasn’t in the mood. She reached out and pulled the blankets off of each girl, picked up a water bottle and flicked a few drops at each one.
“HEY,” cried Syl.
“I will have you beheaded. GUARDS . . . OFF WITH HER HEAD,” commanded the Princess to some imaginary beings.
Egg shook her head in disgust, walked out of the tent and ‘accidently’ kicked the pole holding it up. The whole thing collapsed on top of the two sleeping beauties. “My bad,” she said softly as she made her way down to the bay to wash up. The screams of outrage from her two friends finally made her smile.
“What’s with those two?” asked Soo when Egg reached the water. “They need help?”
“They need to get up.”
“Hard to do when there’s a tent collapsed on you,” but the serpent grinned since she was purposely misunderstanding.
“Don’t start with me.”
“Somebody grumpy this morning?”
“You would be too. They (and Egg pointed back to the writhing tent) snore.”
“Yeah, I could hear them under the water.”
“Morning.”
“Hey, K’ssss. Sleep well?”
“She was tossing and turning all night,” answered her friend. “Me thinks she was dreaming of a certain someone.” Both girls looked at the silly serpent to see her reaction.
“I wasn’t thinking of a certain someone. I was thinking of Zazzi.”
Soo opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it.
Egg finished brushing her teeth then said “Come on, let’s make breakfast. We still have a lot to talk about.”
*****
“Okay, first let me tell you what makes me really nervous. Last time when we fought the Big Ugly, we defeated him with gluesticks. Other than M’egg, we don’t carry weapons, which is good since we have no idea how to use them. So somehow we have to win this war with our wits.”
“Second problem is he has our people. And like we talked about, if he figures out who
they are, I don’t know what we’re going to do. Megg’s idea of trying to rescue them while we still have the element of surprise on our side is probably our best chance to take away his biggest advantage.”
She waited for comments or suggestions, but got none.
“So, let’s talk about what we think his plan is. What’s he trying to accomplish?”
“If I may,” asked the Princess. When Egg nodded, she continued. “He took our people hostage but as of yet he has not demanded anything for their return. That is curious. Why take them if you do not wish to ransom them?”
“Maybe he’s trying to get more information out of them first,” suggested Aeri’elle.
“I think I know why,” said Egg’s Feminion. Everyone looked at the girl. “He wants to see what the Queen will do. The bigger her response, the more valuable the hostages must be.”
“Excellent reasoning, Sylvia. That leads us to two other conclusions.”
Soo looked at Bl’azzz who shook her head. Neither one had any idea where this conversation was going.
“Finish your thought, Meggy.”
“First, he must have guards posted at the site where the portal first appeared. They will tell him what response my mother has made.”
“Well-reasoned, your highness” said Aeri’elle momentarily forgetting herself.
The Princess smiled back at her winged sister. “Second, he has been unable to get any information from his hostages.”
“That part I don’t get,” said Egg. “He has the ability to do things to your mind. That’s how he beat your grandfather in the first place.”
“True. That is why our scientists have developed a way for our human diplomats to guard their thoughts. Apparently, Mobius has no power over dragons and serpents. My mother never wanted Aerianna to be at the mercy of any creature such as this man. Unfortunately, we never thought to use the same technique on the explorers we send through the space portal. That was an oversight.”
“Again, all of this is well-reasoned. Unfortunately, it presents another problem,” said Aeri’elle. “What’s he going to think if no one comes through the portal looking for the hostages?”
There was silence as everyone considered the issue. Finally, Egg stood up and addressed her friends. “I’ve got an idea.”
Box Set #2: Zynn-Zaz'Zia: [The 4 book 2nd Adventure of Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood] Page 21