He looked at Claire, smiled, and took her hand. They slowly crept forward, perfectly playing the part of an old couple in love. He loved the feel of her hand in his. Even if they were just putting on a show right now, he still loved the way her fingers laced with his. Her palm fit perfectly in his. With a happy sigh, he looked forward again. And then the smile froze on his face.
Walking toward them at a brisk pace, Seth saw two men wearing all black. He knew without question that these were Dark Warriors. One of the men was exceptionally tall, and had to be a shifter. Seth breathed in deeply, trying to catch his scent. Yup, a bear shifter. The other man was normal height, but Seth caught the glint of a red stone on his hand. A magic ring. The second man was a wizard. Seth felt Claire tensing up beside him, and he knew she’d spotted them.
“Easy,” he said in a low voice. “Just relax and keep up our little game. Worst case scenario, we’ll make a run for the coins now. We’re close enough that we could pull it off, I think. Just follow my lead.”
In his peripheral vision, Seth saw Claire nod. He could feel her hand starting to tremble, though. She wasn’t used to the stress of battle, and he could only imagine how fast her heart must be racing right now. But she did her best to stay calm, and continued walking along beside him as though she were nothing more than an old woman out for a stroll in the forest.
“Hey, old man,” the bear shifter said as he got closer. “What are you doing out here? I don’t usually see people on this trail.”
“Well, howdy, son,” Seth rasped out. “Is that so? The gal in the diner told us this was a good path for a walk.”
The men had nearly reached them now. Seth had a feeling this was as close to the coins as they were going to be able to get before making a run for it. The two men did not have friendly expressions on their faces, and Seth would have bet money on the fact that they didn’t intend to let Claire and him continue walking.
“The gal in the diner told you wrong,” the bear shifter said. “These woods are dangerous, especially for old folk like yourselves. You’d best be heading back to town.”
Seth looked up at the treetops, squinting as he did. “You think? I haven’t seen anything that looked particularly dangerous. Just a couple of squirrels here and there. Although, knowing how feisty squirrels can get, some might consider them dangerous.”
Seth laughed, choking a bit as he got out the raspy chuckles. Beside him, he could feel Claire tensing up even more. He hoped she wasn’t going to panic. The wizard was whispering some spells under his breath, but Claire didn’t seem too concerned by them, so Seth acted like he didn’t notice. A moment later, the wizard looked at the bear shifter. “They’re clean. No active spells. I checked. These aren’t enemy wizards.”
Seth pretended not to hear. He pointed up at a treetop instead. “See there? Look! I think I just saw another one of those rascal squirrels.” He laughed, and, to his relief, Claire joined in with him. The shifter and wizard did not seem amused.
“It doesn’t matter,” the shifter said to the wizard. “We shouldn’t let anyone through. It’s too, uh, dangerous.” The shifter glanced nervously at Seth as he said this. Seth squinted at him.
“You boys park rangers or something?”
The wizard shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another. “No, sir. We’re just concerned citizens. I know that the forest might seem pretty tame, but, uh, it gets more dangerous the further in you go. I think it’s best if you turn around. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
Seth laughed. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I may look old and feeble, but I can take care of myself. Trust me.”
“I think it’s best if you turn around,” the shifter said, in a voice that brooked no argument.
Seth sighed. “Well, then, I guess you leave me no choice. I reckon I’ve been walking long enough, anyway.” He shrugged and turned slowly. He saw Claire give him a surprised look, but she turned around, too. Seth grabbed her hand and squeezed it, then started walking at an even slower pace than they had been.
“Good choice, old man,” the bear shifter yelled after him.
“What are you doing?” Claire whispered.
“Just keep walking for a few more seconds,” Seth whispered back. He wanted to make sure that the Dark Warriors had let down their guard, and truly thought he was turning around before he made a run for it. He would have one chance and one chance only to get past them and to the coins. He could not mess this up. After a few more shuffled steps, he took a deep breath and squeezed Claire’s hand again.
“On three,” he whispered. “One, two, three.”
Fast as lightning, Seth turned around and began running. “I told you I could take care of myself,” he yelled as he raced past the startled wizard and bear shifter. He was already shifting into dragon form as he ran, his human flesh thickening and hardening into the protective hide of a dragon. His head morphed into a mighty dragon head, with sharp horns and fierce teeth. His legs and arms lengthened, and his whole body grew larger and larger, all of it covered with iridescent scales. Finally, wings sprouted from his back, and a long, spiked tail appeared behind him. He pumped his wings a few times and rose into the air, quickly flying high above the trees.
He looked back only once, to check on Claire and make sure she was okay. She was standing in the middle of the path, no longer bent over like an old woman, but rather standing tall with her arm outstretched. Her magic ring was on her hand, and she was casting some sort of spell on the bear shifter and wizard, but they seemed to have forgotten all about her. They were chasing after him, yelling and cursing. The wizard was trying to cast some sort of attack spell in Seth’s direction, but whatever it was just bounced off of Seth’s dragon hide. He felt a rush of hope, and beat his wings even harder.
He resisted the urge to roar. He would have loved nothing more than to raise his dragon voice and fill the air with his pent-up anger. He hated the Dark Warriors, and he hated how they had worked so hard to bring so much destruction to Torch Lake. But Seth would not roar. Not now. To do so would alert the other Dark Warriors to his presence, and that would be like throwing away everything he and Claire had worked so hard for. So he flew, fast and silent, his sharp dragon eyes scanning the trees for the river.
The wizard and shifter behind him were not silent. He could hear them shouting at the top of their lungs, doing their best to alert their fellow Dark Warriors to the dragon’s presence. In some ways, their shouts gave Seth even more hope. He knew without a doubt now that he and Claire were on the right path. All of their guesses had been correct: the Dark Warriors had come here, to the beginning of Torch River, to try to work their evil.
Not today, Seth thought. Not on my watch.
And then, he swooped down into the trees. The river was barely a trickle here. If he’d had normal human eyes, there was no way he could have spotted it from above. But his dragon eyes had picked it out with no problem. As he got closer to the bottom, though, his dragon lips turned down into a frown. Something was wrong. There were no Dark Warriors here. He had been sure he smelled shifters and wizards. He could still smell them, in fact. So where were they? Had they somehow managed to flee before he got here? That seemed impossible. It had been less than a minute since he had first turned around and started to shift, which meant it had been even less time than that since any Dark Warriors at the riverhead had realized they needed to make a run for it.
Just as Seth’s heart started to drop, though, his hope was restored. Loud pops started sounding all around him as he dove toward the river, followed by shouts of “Dragon! Dragon! Get the coins.” Seth smiled. Of course. They’d all been hiding under invisibility spells, but he had startled them out of hiding. And now, it was time to play.
Now that they knew he was here, he felt free to roar. And roar he did. He drew his head back, took a deep breath, and then let out a long, loud bellow that even the people in Spring Landing probably heard. Then he dove toward the riverhead, straight toward the enemy shifter who was now scrambling
into the water, lifting up a mesh bag that Seth instantly saw was full of coins. The tight mesh weave had kept the coins all together in the water, but had allowed their poison to flow freely into the river. A fresh wave of hot anger filled Seth. How dare these bastards try to poison his city? They had made a big mistake when they attacked his town. He was a dragon, and he would bring to justice anyone who harmed those who were close to him.
Seth took in a deep breath again, but this time, when he breathed out, he let out a stream of fire instead of just a roar. The Dark Warriors screamed, and the wizards among them tried to throw a shield up against the dragon fire. They managed to be somewhat successful in this attempt, and with that first blast, Seth only managed to burn the arm of one wizard. The wizard yelled out a water spell, quickly dousing the fire on his arm. Seth took a deep breath and roared again. Again, the wizards’ shields held pretty well.
Seth roared and circled back again. The Dark Warriors had been working on their shield spells, but it didn’t matter. They couldn’t hold up against him forever. He could breathe fire too fast and furious for them to keep up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bear shifter and wizard that he had encountered in the woods. They ran on the scene in a frenzy, screaming and pointing up at Seth, as if the others somehow hadn’t already noticed that Seth was there.
Seth roared again, feeling confident as he let out another blast of flames. He didn’t see Claire anywhere, which probably meant she was hiding in the woods, away from the battle. Good. If the bear shifter and wizard had forced her to fight, he knew she would have risen to the occasion. But Seth was just as happy for her to hide out away from all of the chaos. He could take care of this group on his own with no problem. There were only about a dozen of them. Most of them were wizards, but there were a handful of big burly shifters, too. Right now, they were all screaming, and one of the shifters was scrambling out of the river with the bag of coins tightly in his grasp.
You’re not getting away from me! Seth turned directly toward the fleeing shifter, and let out a long stream of fire as he flew directly toward him. Just as he was beginning his fire attack, though, a wizard held up a magic ring and yelled out “Magicae murus.”
In the next instant, everything went wrong. Seth ran smack into what felt like a brick wall, even though he couldn’t see anything in front of him except clear air. Startled, he landed on the soft forest dirt and shook out his head and wings. The fire he’d been breathing had worked well enough, shooting forward and catching one of the wizards. He’d missed the shifter with the coins, but at least he’d hit someone.
Now, though, he couldn’t move forward. He tried to run straight toward the group of Dark Warriors, but he once again ran into an invisible wall. He tried again and again, and each time he found himself unable to move. One of the wizards must have cast some sort of wall spell. Seth pumped his wings and flew upward, trying to find a spot where he could get over the wall. But it seemed to go quite high, and after a few moments of flying his head butted against an invisible ceiling. Rage filled him as he realized he was trapped in some sort of invisible cage. He breathed out fire, and it shot forward through the “wall,” but it didn’t matter. The Dark Warriors had backed away from him, and were too far for him to reach unless he moved forward. Which he could not.
The Dark Warriors, realizing that he was trapped, started cheering and laughing. The shifter holding the bag of coins held it up tauntingly and shook it around.
“Looking for this? Too bad, I guess you were too slow. Now you’re stuck here, and we’re going to take these and leave. Don’t worry, we’ll find another way to use them against Torch Lake. You haven’t saved your city—just delayed its destruction slightly.”
The Dark Warriors all laughed, and then turned to run away. Seth could not believe this was happening. He had not come this far to fail! And yet, at the moment, failure looked inevitable. He had no doubt that the Dark Warrior wizards had broomsticks hidden nearby. They would fly away, taking the shifters and the coins with them. If they got more than a minute’s head start, it was going to be impossible for Seth to catch them.
But what could he do? He was completely stuck. No amount of banging, scratching, or ramming seemed to have any effect on the walls that held him. He roared, the sound full of anger and despair. He grew more frantic with every passing second, and he told himself to calm down. There had to be a way out of this, if only he calmed down and thought about it rationally. What could he do that might break him through this horrible spell?
“Magicae rescindo!”
The words rang out in the forest at the exact moment that Seth was trying another shove against the invisible wall. This time, instead of hitting a wall, Seth went tumbling forward into free, open space. He hadn’t been expected this, and nearly lost his balance as his giant dragon form shot forward. Startled, he looked behind him and saw Claire standing there, her magic ring raised in the air, and a shocked look on her face.
“It worked!” she shouted. “It actually worked. I didn’t know if I could do it!”
Seth had never been so glad to see anyone in his life—and not just because he was falling head over heels for Claire. Her counterspell had just saved the day. With another roar, he started running forward through the forest, his dragon nose already picking up the scent of the fleeing Dark Warriors. They were not getting away today.
He caught them easily, and one of the most gratifying moments of his life occurred when the shifter holding the bag of coins turned around and saw Seth right behind him.
“What the…” the shifter said.
Before he could say anything else, Seth had tackled him. The man had started to try to shift—he was a wolf—but it was too late. Seth’s dragon claws had easily pried the bag of coins away from him. Besides, a wolf would not have been any match for a dragon. The wizards were yelling now, and trying to get another shield spell up. But in their panicked state, they seemed unable to properly perform any spells.
“He has the coins!” one of the wizards wailed.
That’s right, fools. And you’re not getting them back. Seth started breathing out fire and slashing with his dragon claws. These Dark Warriors were not going to live out the day. They had tried to poison a whole city, and they must pay for their crimes. Not only that, but he would not allow them to escape and begin planning their next attack. Their days of evil stopped here.
The wizards in the group tried to launch attack spells at him, and the shifters all shifted and tried to attack him with their animal forms. But none of it affected him. His dragon hide was too thick to be affected by wizard spells or ordinary animal teeth. One after another, he took down the enemy wizards and shifters.
He had nearly finished the battle when a sharp scream startled him. He whirled around, his heart pounding. He knew that voice. It was Claire screaming, and she sounded terrified. When he saw her, he understood why. One of the wizards had somehow broken away from the main battle and gone after Claire. Seth hadn’t seen it happen. He hadn’t even known that Claire had followed behind him. But there she was, trapped by an angry wizard who was holding his magic ring up to her throat. Her eyes were wide and frightened, and a small trickle of blood was flowing down her face from the left side of her forehead. The blood was washing away some of her makeup disguise. On other parts of her face, the makeup had been severely smudged as well, making the old woman disguise look more like a Halloween horror disguise than a normal old lady face.
“Hand over the coins, or she dies!” the wizard said. Seth felt anger burning in his chest. That wizard was a fool if he thought he was going to kill Claire. Hadn’t anyone ever told him not to mess with a dragon?
The wizard shook his magic ring menacingly in Claire’s face. “I said hand over the coins!”
Gladly. Seth took the bag of coins he’d been holding in his dragon claws and hurled it at the wizard as hard as he could. He hit the man square in the face, and a sickening crack of bone sounded out in the forest. As the bag of coins f
ell to the ground, the man stood, swaying, for just a moment with a shocked look on his face. And then, with a grunt, he fell to the ground. Seth wasn’t sure whether the wizard was dead or unconscious, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He ran forward and breathed fire on the man to make sure that the wizard would never try to harm Claire again.
Then he turned to finish off the rest of the Dark Warriors, but no one else was left. The other wizards and shifters had all left in a cowardly rush while Seth was rescuing Claire. So be it. Only a few had gotten away, and they could report back to the rest of the group about how they had lost the coins.
After sniffing the air one more time to make sure that there were no more enemies around, Seth began to shift back into human form. His dragon hide gave way to human flesh once more, and his wings and tail disappeared as his arms and legs morphed back into those of a man. His dragon horns disappeared from his head, and his face became a human face again. The old man disguise was gone. All of the makeup had been lost when he shifted. He looked over at Claire, and she smiled weakly.
“I like you better like this, even though that was a pretty kickass disguise.”
Seth smiled, too. “Your makeup looks quite, uh, interesting now.”
He took a step forward to rub at the blood on her face.
“It’s just a scratch,” she said. “The wizard’s ring scratched me when he grabbed at me. Sorry I let myself get caught. I was trying to stay out of the way, since I don’t really know how to fight.”
“Hey, don’t apologize.” Seth gently ran a finger down her cheek. “You did great. And you saved the day, you know that? If it hadn’t been for your taking down that invisible wall, those guys would have gotten away. You’re the hero today, Claire, not me. You did a damn good job, especially considering it was your first time in a situation like this. I’m proud of you.”
Claire blushed and looked down at her feet. “Thanks. So, uh, what now?”
“Now I’m going to find some clothes from one of these supply bags the Dark Warriors left behind, and you’re going to wash your face in the river so you don’t have this ridiculous half old person half young person look going on anymore. Then, we’re going to take these coins and head home, so we can tell the High Council that they should have listened to you.”
Dragon Discovering Page 10