Wings of Fire (The Legend of Hooper's Dragons Book 7)

by GARY DARBY

  “We’re both fine.”

  I scabbard Galondraig and shuffle through the dead bodies to find most of the company in one spot. A furball comes bounding through their ranks, jumps, and almost knocks me off my feet when he hits my chest.

  Kkkkaaayy? Scamper asks.

  “Winded but all right,” I reply. I turn, count noses and ask, “Anyone hurt?”

  “A scratch or two,” Amil grunts and then points at the bodies, their faces frozen in a death mask. “They seemed to be the ones hurt.”

  “Caught’em totally by surprise,” Alonya exults with a grim smile. “They had their backs turned, didn’t even hear us until it was too late.”

  “We got lucky,” Tavin asserts.

  “Maybe,” Alonya, “but I’ll take this kind of luck every time.”

  “Aye,” Amil acknowledges, “if I only had this kind of luck with the dice.”

  “I’m just glad it’s over,” Pim adds, “I hate fighting in dark shadows.”

  “Over?” Alonya spits out and shakes her head while bringing up her great sword to point down the dark way. “This was but a skirmish to what we face beyond. Over? Nay, it’s just beginning, and it will only get worse from here.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  The drogs’ and Wilders’ sputtering campfires don’t provide enough light to see by so I disperse the sprites throughout the company with the order for them to glow low and to stay close to the ground. The last thing we need is for someone to wonder why they’re seeing several blobs of fire bobbing up and down in the tunnel.

  The path stays wide enough, barely, for the dragons as we creep along, though I’m afraid someone will hear their talons scrape on the hard rock, echoing down the tunnel. The company quietly treads, arrows notched, blades at the ready down the underground pathway expecting at any moment to be met by a fierce attack by drogs, Wilders, or both.

  But the way stays clear and no enemy comes rushing out of the dark. As we near the end of the pathway and can see the ragged arch that marks the way into the inner valley, I have the sprites quit glowing as I want our eyes to become accustomed to the darkness.

  Once at the high archway, we halt to gaze out upon the inner valley. What little light there is comes from numerous domelike hills that spew fiery embers into the air. Off to the side one high hill shoots red-hot rocks skyward that arc through the air before they land with a thump and tumble down the gravelly hillside.

  Stretched out in front of us is the slow-moving river, which is so murky that it seems to melt into the ground just a short distance away. “Why is it so dark?” Tavin asks. “There should be more light than this from moon- and starlight.”

  I take a few cautious steps out, the grit crunching under my feet, and look up. No moons, no stars, just blackness. “It’s those clouds,” I reply. “They stretch over the entire bowl.”

  Tavin and Cara join me and stare skyward. “Those are the strangest clouds,” Cara murmurs, “I’ve ever seen.”

  Shaking his head, Tavin says, “I don’ think we’re looking at clouds at all.”

  “Then what?” Amil questions from behind.

  “I don’t know,” Tavin replies, “it’s like someone pulled a lid over this place and shut out all the light.”

  “More like being in a tomb,” Amil grumbles. “Just the sort of place that Vay loves.”

  “A tomb?!” Pip squeaks and he and the other two pixies scurry behind Alonya’s legs to timidly peer out.

  “You would have to say something like that,” Cara chides.

  “Sorry,” Amil replies, “first thing that came to mind.”

  “I hate to say it, but he’s right,” Snag replies.

  “I thought Desolation’s Land was bad,” Alonya mutters. “This is twice that and then some.”

  “That was a lush garden compared to this,” Amil retorts.

  “It’s so dark and forbidding,” Pim frowns.

  “It may be dark,” I reply and sweep my hand outward, “but not enough that we can’t see where we’re going. And that’s where we’re going.”

  With that, the company turns to stare with me. Rising high in the distance is a towering, cone-shaped mountain. “That’s it?” Cara asks. “The mountain that the Whisperer showed you?”

  “Yes,” I acknowledge, “that’s it. And if we’re right, that’s where Phigby and the dwarves are being held.”

  We all stare for a moment, as what little light seeps through the land, highlights the mountain’s white coat, which is like a silent beacon that calls to the eye. At its very top curls a smoke column that rises until it blends in with the black clouds that hang over everything in sight.

  “All right,” Amil nods, “we see it. Now the question is how do get there without being seen?”

  “What?” I ask. “You didn’t bring your invisibility cloak? You know, the one that Phigby handed out to everyone?”

  “He did!?” Amil sputters. “I didn’t get—” He stops when he sees one corner of my mouth turn up in a small smile. “Oh. Very funny, Hooper, very funny indeed. So what do we do, pretend to be icicles again and use the river?”

  Just as I was about to answer him, Cara grips my arm hard. “Hooper,” she hisses, “look!”

  I swing around to where she’s pointing, take one look and order, “Everyone, back inside!”

  We hustle into the tunnel and press against the cold rock. I peek around the corner and what I see causes me to hold my breath. Blackguards! A whole phalanx of the bull-heads, along with their Fire Hounds, trots nearby. “Please,” I whisper to myself, “don’t turn this way.”

  The creatures slog along, their hounds casting about but they don’t head toward the tunnel. After a few moments, they pass out of view and I warily step out to survey the landscape. “Hooper?” Cara calls from the tunnel.

  “You can come out,” I whisper, “they’re gone.”

  “Well,” Amil wheezes, “I guess walking is out. This place is probably crawling with those things.”

  “Undoubtedly,” Tavin answers and scans the sky. “But in this darkness, it’s hard to tell if there are Wilders up there like there are Blackguards down here.”

  “I wouldn’t give you even odds on that,” Amil retorts. “Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there.”

  “And I would agree with that,” Snag returns. “To patrol only the ground and not the air doesn’t make sense. Vay may be arrogant but she’s not stupid.”

  “Maybe,” I reply, “but they didn’t do a very good job of guarding the outer valley.”

  Tavin motions toward the forbidding peak. “If they sail in front of the mountain’s coat of snow, we should be able to see them; however, if they’re up high against those black clouds, we wouldn’t know they were there until they were upon us.”

  “So, where does that leave us?” Marce wonders.

  Marce is not the only one with such a question so I take a few steps farther out to survey the bleak landscape. Behind me, I can hear the company discussing the situation among themselves but I blot out their voices, concentrate. There comes a soft voice in my head. Sometimes the most obvious path is the last seen.

  Nodding, I say to myself, “It worked with the river, so what’s here that’s so obvious that we’re overlooking?” Slowly, beginning to my right, I scan the barren land until I get to the left. I blow out a breath as nothing seems to jump out as a possible hidden way to the mountain.

  Look again.

  Even more slowly this time, I move my head from right to left, talking to myself. “If that’s where Vay took Phigby and the dwarves, there has to be a way into that mountain. All we need to do is find a way to do the same.”

  My eyes pass over the towering peak where the smoke curls into the air. I keep going until my eyes reach the ring peaks to my left. I shake my head to myself. Still nothing!

  I blink several times as I suddenly realize that there’s a dark ribbon from the valley base that goes a little ways up the side of the mountains.
I nod to myself. The valley’s heat melts the snow up to a point.

  At an abrupt thought, I stare hard for several heartbeats, take a few hurried footsteps out into the open, turn, and glance to the left and right. The dark ribbon extends around the entire, huge valley bowl. My lips turn up in a small smile. “Last seen is right,” I whisper to myself.

  I spin back and hurry over to the group. “I have it,” I exclaim, “but it’s going to take a couple of expert riders on fast dragons.”

  Cara instantly steps forward but when Helmar stands his ground, she turns back, grabs him by his tunic and pulls him forward. “What do you need, Hooper?” Cara questions.

  “Come with me and I’ll explain,” I reply and together we three pace out. “See that dark ring?” I point out. “It goes all the way around. Give you any ideas?”

  “Sure does,” Cara smiles. “If we stay close enough to the mountains, we’ll blend right in.”

  “Doubtful if anyone will see you,” I reply. “You sky as fast as your sapphire will take you. One of you should spot the entrance, but keep going until you meet in the middle and then hightail it back here. I’d do it myself on Golden Wind but there’s just enough light to make her scales shine against the rock.”

  Through all of this, Helmar’s eyes are on the dark ribbon. When I finish, he says, “The sound of our wingbeats may bounce off those rock walls. The Blackguards may hear us, you know.”

  “It’s possible,” I admit, “but you’ll be going too fast for it to matter. Besides, they may think it’s Wilder wings”

  “You hope,” he growls.

  “Maybe I should ask Pim,” I reply slowly, “Sparkle is almost as fast as Wind Glory.”

  “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it,” Helmar retorts.

  “You were just thinking out loud,” Cara offers.

  “That’s right,” Helmar grunts.

  “All right,” I reply, “are you done thinking or do you need a bit more time?”

  “I’m done,” he grunts and tugs at Cara’s tunic. “Let’s go unless you need to do some out loud thinking too.”

  “Nope,” she replies. “I’m good.”

  Helmar turns back toward the opening to get his dragon, but I stop Cara for a moment with a soft touch to her arm. “You be careful. Just get the job done and get back here.”

  “Of course,” she smiles at me. “Be back before you know it.”

  She squeezes my hand then spins away. A few moments later, they’re up on their sapphires and walk them out of the tunnel. After a wave to me, Cara has Wind Song up first and darts to the left while Wind Glory spurts to the right. It doesn’t take long for both to blend into the darkness and disappear.

  “How long do you think it’ll take?” a gruff voice asks at my shoulder.

  “Not long and too long,” I reply to Snag.

  “An apt answer,” Tavin nods as he steps next to me, “when you care about someone.”

  “Yes,” I murmur to myself and then direct, “we just need two to stay out here and keep watch. The rest of you should get back into the tunnel.”

  “I’ll stay with you,” Snag offers.

  “Thanks,” I reply and then gesture toward the passageway, “Alonya, take Marce with you and watch our backs in the tunnel. We don’t want someone sneaking up on us from the rear.”

  Alonya gives me a quick nod and pulls Marce with her as the others step into the passageway’s blackness to wait for Cara’s and Helmar’s return.

  Snag and I find a craggy protuberance and settle in. The jutting rock finger gives us just enough height to overlook the surrounding bleak land and be protected from spying eyes. As I look out on the forbidding terrain, from what I can tell, there are a few rills and arroyos here and there but mostly the land is flat and barren.

  “It will be hard for anyone to cross that,” I muse, “and sneak up on us.”

  “Likewise,” Snag replies, “it would be hard for us to cross without being seen. I have never seen such a desolate place. And I thought being cast into the Lost Forest was bad. I didn’t know I had it so good.”

  “In this case,” I answer, “I would definitely say the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence.”

  “What grass?” Snag snorts.

  “Good point,” I reply.

  We grow silent, each of us slowly scanning the ground in front of us and the air above, alert to the possibility that we’re vulnerable to both the ground-pounding Blackguards and their Fire Hounds and our old nemesis, the Wilders, from up above.

  After a bit, Snag shifts positions, bringing his scaly legs in a bit closer. “Hooper,” he says, “you realize that even if we find the entrance into that mountain, it most likely is going to be heavily guarded.”

  “I know,” I sigh.

  “Have you given any thought to how we’re going to get in?”

  “Other than fighting our way in? No, unless you really do have an invisibility cloak hidden about your person.”

  He shakes his head. “‘Fraid not, but at times like this I admit, one would come in very handy.”

  We’re silent for several long moments before Snag murmurs, “Funny, isn’t it?”

  “I’m sorry, what’s funny?”

  “I was just thinking of how illogical it is that the whole company is willing to risk their lives just to rescue one person, especially in a place like this and against the odds that we face.”

  “We’d do the same for you.”

  “I know you would, even if I didn’t want you to, for just that reason. Do you think that Phigby feels the same?”

  “Most likely, but that’s not going to sway me from going after him.”

  “Why?”

  I open my mouth to speak and then slowly close it as I gather my thoughts. “I guess I can’t really explain it. It’s more than that Phigby is a friend, a really good friend, and yes, I know Phigby, or you, or any of us, if in the same situation would probably say, ‘Leave me behind and get away.’ But for me, if I did, I’m not sure I could ever live with myself after that. I know it doesn’t make sense but I have to do this anyway.”

  Snag slowly scans the barren land, his eyes narrowed and I have the feeling that his eyesight is such that he doesn’t miss a single detail, not that there’s much to miss. “Sometimes, Hooper,” he rumbles when he’s finished, “that which doesn’t make sense to anyone else makes the most sense to you.”

  He lays a thick, ruddy hand on my shoulder, the talons pressing a bit into my tunic. “I know exactly how you feel, and I am glad that we both see this which makes no sense in the same sense.”

  I can’t help it and have to laugh just a little. “I’m sorry but that doesn’t make any sense either.”

  He grins at me, his thin lips curling back over his sharp fangs. “See? What did I tell you?”

  We grow quiet again with Snag watching the ground in front of us, and me keeping a lookout for Cara and Helmar. Time seems to drag on and I start to fidget. “They should be back by now,” I grunt.

  “We don’t know how far they had to go,” Snag returns.

  I shake my head. “True, but I’m beginning to think something’s wrong.”

  “Give it a bit more time,” Snag urges, “there could be any number of good reasons why they’re not back.”

  “And one really bad reason,” I retort but I remain in my place though inwardly my anxiety is rising in my throat as if I’ve eaten rotten meat, leaving a vile taste.

  I try to be patient but the longer time passes without the two showing up, the more anxious and fidgety I become. Finally, I spring upright, “That’s it, I’m getting Golden Wind and go looking for them.”

  Whirling around, I start to stride away but Snag reaches out, grabs an arm and gruffly says, “Before you do, you might want to look there.”

  I spin back and stare at where he’s pointing. At first, I can’t see anything, but then I make out two small, winged, dark-blue dots moving rapidly toward us and close to the mountains. A grin splits my
face as I slap Snag on the shoulder. “It’s them!”

  It’s not long before Cara and Helmar bring their sapphires into a hurried landing and both are off before the two dragons settle to all fours.

  As we hurry together, we’re joined by the rest of the company, bolting from inside the tunnel at the sight of the sapphires’ landing.

  “Did you find it?” I eagerly ask.

  “Oh, we found it, all right,” Helmar spits out and shakes his head. “A high arched entryway that clearly leads inside the mountain, but you can forget about trying to get in that way.”

  I turn to Cara with a questioning look. “He’s right, Hooper,” Cara softly answers. “It won’t work.”

  “Why?” I press.

  “Would you consider,” Helmar begins, “at least a thousand Blackguards and Fire Hounds parked in front of the opening, plus a couple hundred Wilders perched on the mountain’s flanks as reason enough or do you need more?”

  “There’s more?” I ask in a weak voice.

  “The Fire Elementis,” Cara replies. “He’s standing in the middle of the archway as if just waiting for someone to try and get inside.”

  “You mean someone like us?” Amil asks from behind.

  Cara and Helmar exchange a long glance before Helmar nods, “Exactly like us.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “You two are just full of cheery news,” Amil growls and turns to me. “What now, Hooper? It’s not like we’re those mountain ghosts and can just waltz through solid rock to get inside.”

  “And,” Helmar adds, “Cara and I had a good look at the mountain coming and going. There is no other way in but through that guarded opening. Everything else is solid rock, ice, and snow.”

  My eyes meet Cara’s and she gives me a little shrug along with a frown. “I assumed the entrance would have guards but nothing like what Helmar and I saw. It’s like Vay thinks some huge conquering army with ranks upon ranks of archers, dragon knights, and a slew of battering rams is going to try and take her fortress.”

  “A conquering army we are not,” Pim states and holds up her lance to stare wistfully at it. “If my lance worked we might be able to blast our way in, but without it—”