by D K Drake
He watched with a clear conscience as Mertzer charged toward Taliya and Javan. Only the dragon wasn’t running at top speed. Why not? If he didn’t hurry, Taliya would have time to shoot him with her dart, or Javan would gut him with one of those swords.
“Mertzer, hurry and--” The sudden appearance of a white dragon in the middle of the field stunned Micah and made him forget the rest of his sentence. Mertzer smacked right into the slightly larger dragon and rolled backwards.
“That a girl, Kisa!” Taliya cheered and winked at Micah. “Your dragon is no match for mine.”
“My dragon is the superior one.” Javan stepped between Micah and Taliya. “Varjiek, uncloak yourself and show these dragons who’s boss. Enter the fight and burn whatever you want.”
Mertzer barely had time to get back on his feet when Varjiek swooped in and knocked him down again. Mertzer retaliated by snapping up at Varjiek and catching his tail in his mouth.
“Go ahead and eat him for dinner, Mertzer,” Micah yelled. “You won’t need to eat again for weeks!”
Varjiek apparently didn’t like that idea. He shrieked, spun his long neck around, and blew a ball of fire straight at Mertzer’s face. Mertzer released Varjiek’s tail in time to avoid being burned, but then Kisa turned against him.
She rammed into his side and pinned him to the ground by smothering him with her body. Varjiek landed beside them and used his front feet to keep Mertzer’s head and neck immobile.
“No!” Micah began running toward the trio of dragons. “Let him go! We’ll leave you alone. All of you. I promise. Just don’t hurt him. Let him go. Please let him go!”
The Noon and Dawn Stalker looked at each other. Then at Mertzer. Then at Micah.
A second later, all the dragons disappeared.
Chapter 20
Blown Away
Javan winced when he saw Mertzer bite the scales off Varjiek’s tail, cheered when Varjiek broke free, relaxed when Mertzer dodged Varjiek’s flames, cringed when Kisa pinned Mertzer, and almost yelled when Varjiek teamed up with her. Micah, however, beat him to it.
Micah’s desperate pleas for the dragons to spare Mertzer sounded sincere, but Javan wasn’t about to trust that promise for Micah to leave them all alone. The heat of the moment had passed, and Micah would be back to his usual, selfish, scheming self. Nevertheless, he did seem genuinely concerned when he stopped in his tracks, turned and asked, “Where did they go?”
“Probably nowhere,” Taliya said. “The Noon Stalker just likes to make himself invisible.” She turned her attention to Javan. “Tell your dragon to uncloak himself.”
“My dragon isn’t the problem.” The thoughts of the dragons during the fight were too jumbled to understand, but he did catch Varjiek telling Kisa to teleport them away seconds before they vanished. He said something about saving Mertzer for Javan to collect, so at least Javan knew all the dragons were safe. He just didn’t know where they were. “Your dragon is the one that teleported them out of here.”
“You don’t know that. Kisa wouldn’t leave me here alone with the two of you.”
“Really? Ten bucks says those dragons are gone, not invisible.”
“What is a ‘buck’?”
“Nevermind.” Javan rolled his eyes at his own stupidity for using an Earthly phrase in the middle of another dimension. “It doesn’t matter. Just tell us where Kisa would have teleported to.”
“Those dragons are still there,” Taliya said, pointing to the seemingly empty field. “Either tell your dragon to make everyone visible again or walk through the field and prove there are no fighting dragons blocking your path.”
“Fine.” Javan kept his swords handy and walked straight past the still stunned Micah. He couldn’t hear anything Varjiek was thinking and was certain the dragons were gone.
Well, almost certain. Varjiek knew how to block his thoughts from Javan. Maybe that’s what he and the other dragons were doing while they tried to kill each other. He better try talking to Varjiek just in case. “V, if you’re there, uncloak yourself and let Mertzer go.”
Nothing happened, so Javan inched forward with his left-handed sword leading the way. As he approached the singed and trampled grass damaged by the dragons, his sword remained unimpeded by scaly creatures. “See,” Javan said, swishing his sword through the air in the middle of the fighting zone, “no dragons. Kisa teleported somewhere and took our dragons with her.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
Javan turned to find Taliya standing right beside him. How did he not hear her run across the field? He felt taller than usual when he looked down at her and said, “Oh…but she did.”
“Are you sure Varjiek didn’t fly them out of here?”
“He’s strong, but he wouldn’t get very far carrying two dragons that I am sure would not have been willing passengers.”
“Perhaps Kisa did teleport them. She has that right. She is free to do as she pleases and has no obligation to me. The other dragons are probably thanking her for providing your dragons that same chance at freedom.”
“You’re wrong.” Javan put his swords away and picked up a grey triangular scale that could only have come from Varjiek. The half-inch thick scale filled the palm of his hand and sparkled in the sun. He curled his fingers around the cool scale and scanned the world around him. “Varjiek and I share a bond. He would want me to find him, so you are going to take me to Kisa’s home at the canyon where we first met.”
“I am going to do no such thing.”
The sound of a cracking whip jerked Javan’s attention away from the rain forest in time to see Micah wrap his whip around Taliya’s waist and pull her to him.
“You will if you want to keep your head.” Micah snagged her waist with his left hand, dropped the whip, drew his sword and held it to her throat. “Take us to the canyon.”
◊◊◊
“Micah,” Javan said, putting the scale he had picked up in his pocket, “hurting her isn’t going to help anything. Let her go.”
“No. I don’t take orders from anyone, especially you.”
It had taken Micah a few minutes to process everything that happened. Why had he responded with that fear-based outburst when he saw Mertzer go down? Why had he promised to leave the other dragons alone if they spared Mertzer? Why had he stood there like a statue when Javan and Taliya investigated the disappearance? His words and actions made no sense.
He was Micah, the Dragon Hunter. He took charge of every situation and wasn’t ruled by such trivial things as emotions. He shouldn’t care about Mertzer. Mertzer was a mere dragon.
But Mertzer was his dragon and the closest thing Micah had ever had to a friend. Now his friend might be dead. A strange pain shot through Micah’s heart at the thought of losing Mertzer, and it was that pain that finally motivated him to snap back into action by grabbing Taliya.
“Kill me if you must,” Taliya said. “If that’s what it takes to protect my dragon, so be it.”
“That is a bit drastic,” Javan said. “Nobody needs to die. We’ll leave your dragon alone and take our dragons back to where we came from. Just please help us find them.”
“Or we can get Kisa to return here,” Micah said, “and battle over who gets to collect her or enslave her. Javan, blow that trinket she’s wearing around her neck.”
“What? No!” Taliya fought to free herself, but all her fighting did was make Micah hold her tighter. “How do you know about the trinket anyway?”
“I followed you here from the village, so I know that trinket summons Kisa.”
“You have a dragon-summoning whistle?” Javan reached over and fingered what looked like a baby dragon tooth hanging from a rope on Kisa’s neck. “This is cool. All I have to do is blow it, and Kisa will show up?”
“Yes,” Micah said. “Now stop playing and just blow it.”
“Okay, okay,” Taliya said. “I’ll lead you to the canyon.”
“Too late,” Micah said. “I like my plan better. Javan, blow
that thing now, or I will do it for you.”
“Ummm…what is that?” Javan’s face went pale as he pointed to something behind them.
“Really? You think I’m foolish enough to look?” Micah put his sword back in its sheath so he could take the trinket out of Javan’s hands when a cold, unnatural breeze hit the back of his neck. It made him tighten his grip on Taliya and slowly turn his head. “This isn’t good.”
A ten foot wide wall of white wind spinning end over end hurled toward them, causing the temperature to drop and the wind to gust around them.
He had heard tales of this kind of thing before but had never experienced this weather phenomenon for himself. He did know that if they got caught in its path, it could whisk them hundreds of miles away from where they currently stood. Or rip them to shreds.
“What is it?” Taliya poked her head around Micah, and he felt her gulp. “Oh. White winds. We should probably run.”
“Agreed.” Micah released his captive and she sprinted to the left. He and Javan ran after her, staying right on her heels. They had to get past the edge of the wall if they had any hope of escape.
But they didn’t get very far before a piece of debris from the windstorm hit Taliya’s head and sent her sprawling to the ground.
Javan stopped to pick her up, but Micah kept running.
“Micah, help! She’s unconscious.”
“So what? Leave her there and run!”
Javan didn’t listen to Micah’s advice. Instead, the do-gooder draped her right arm over his left shoulder, picked her up, and tried running. He wasn’t very successful.
Micah wanted to save himself, but he realized he couldn’t leave them, not when she knew where the dragons could be. Irritated, he backtracked and flung her left arm over his right shoulder.
But they were out of time.
“Get down!” Micah tackled both Taliya and Javan, drawing them to the ground with him. Unfortunately, that didn’t help them avoid getting walloped by the wall, sucked into it, and becoming part of its spinning destruction as they sailed over the land of Keckrick.
Chapter 21
Crash Landing
The wall hadn’t made any noise as it approached, but now that he was stuck inside the flat tornado between two sheets of freezing wind, all Javan could hear was the blaring of what sounded like a hundred fire engines racing to a fire. The sound made his head hurt, and his eardrums want to explode while the constant flipping and spinning made him dizzy, sick, and delirious.
Nevertheless, he kept his left arm securely locked on the lifeless Taliya. She was the only thing he had to hold onto in the narrow space filled with white, swirling wind. He wasn’t about to let her slip away, especially since Micah also retained his grip on her with his right arm.
If given the opportunity, Javan wasn’t sure what Micah would do to her in order to get his dragon back. Taliya wasn’t exactly Javan’s best friend, but he wasn’t going to allow Micah the chance to get her alone and torture her.
That seemed liked less and less of a problem the longer they got bashed around inside the wall of wind. Simply surviving took precedence, and Javan began to wonder if getting out of this predicament was even a possibility, so he began praying for deliverance.
God’s answer didn’t come right away. The wind actually seemed to get stronger and spin faster and lift them higher off the ground the more Javan prayed. But the faster the wall spun, the closer Javan, Taliya, and Micah got to the top end of the wall. If they could reach the top, they might be able to jump out.
Getting to the top was a big if and would require help from Micah. That made it a terrible plan, but at least it was a plan.
Javan reached up with his left hand, tapped Micah on the cheek, and pointed up. Javan couldn’t see the expression on Micah’s face thanks to the gusts of white wind blowing between them, but he could see that Micah nodded his understanding and started pushing upward with his left arm.
So while pulling Taliya up with them, they worked together to swim through the wind. Javan tried not to let the blue blur of the sky followed by the green blur of the trees distract him from his mission. He instead kept his focus on one white spot at the top edge of the wall and powered through the wind with his right arm to get there.
He made it his goal to reach it before Micah.
As the blue blur appeared again, he found himself inches away from his goal when Micah put his hand on the edge of the wall in the exact spot Javan was aiming for.
Javan didn’t have time to be irritated by his loss, so he latched onto the top seconds later and pulled his head into the air above the wall along with Micah. The wind that formed the wall vibrated beneath his fingers. It felt so cold and volatile that he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold on long.
“When we see the trees again,” Micah yelled through the wailing of the wind, “push down and jump.”
“That was my plan,” Javan yelled back. As they watched themselves tumble back toward the trees, Javan began counting. “Three…two…ONE!”
They pushed against the wind and jumped. Javan’s chest and waist cleared the top of the wall, but as his head hit the trees, he felt his body being sucked back into the wind trap.
Fortunately, he was attached to Taliya, who was attached to Micah, who grabbed a branch and hung on with an amazing display of strength and pulled both Javan and Taliya free from the confines of the wall.
As the wall spun away into the distance, the momentum from the fall forced Javan let go of Taliya and land belly-flop style on top of the rain forest canopy. He grunted on impact, spit out a leaf he accidentally bit into, and tested his limbs to make sure nothing was broken.
Every limb from his fingers to his toes passed the test. He breathed a sigh of relief, thanked God for keeping him alive, and quietly laid there with branches poking his chest until the siren sounds that had penetrated his mind faded away.
“How did we get this far south?”
Javan lifted his head to find Taliya sitting on a branch about five feet to his left. He followed her gaze to see a vast, deep, rugged canyon stretching out ahead of them. Had they exited that wall a second or two later, they would have tumbled to their death on those rocks rather than crashed on the tree tops at the southernmost edge of Keckrick.
“We had a fun trip inside a wall of white wind,” Javan said. He didn’t bother trying to move yet. He liked the feeling of being still. “It’s too bad you slept right through it. You missed all the excitement.”
“You two are welcome,” Micah said from behind them. “I saved your lives. You can repay me by surrendering your dragons to my custody.”
“Not a chance, pal.” Taliya stood and turned around. Javan heard her branch start to snap, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Kisa is a free dragon, and I’m not about to let you anywhere near her.”
“Um…Taliya, is it? You might want to start climbing down. That branch isn’t safe.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do, either. I am my own—uh-oh.”
The branch snapped completely off the tree, and Taliya went down with it. Javan scurried over to where she dropped and saw she managed to catch another thin branch ten feet below him.
“Little help? Please?” She smiled up at him in an attempt to look all adorable and innocent. If that was her ploy, it worked.
“I’m coming. Just hold on.”
“Hurry. I think this branch is about to break, too.”
Javan made his way down the tree she was hanging on to, perched himself on a sturdy branch, and reached out his hand. “Give me your hand.”
“No need.” Micah interrupted Javan’s rescue by swooping through the air on a vine like Tarzan, grabbing Taliya by the waist and lowering them safely to the ground. Looking up at Javan, he said, “That’s how you save a woman in distress.”
Javan had never hated anyone more than he hated Micah in that moment.
◊◊◊
What a rush! Micah loved the feeling of flying through the air on a
vine, catching the tiny little frame of Taliya in the process, and landing them both safely on the soft, fern-covered ground beneath the towering trees. He kind of wanted to climb another tree just so he could swing down on another vine, but he didn’t have time to play. He never had time to play.
“Now that I have saved your life twice today,” Micah said, “you are forever indebted to me. You can begin to repay your debt by taking me back to the dragons.”
“Wow. You sure are cocky.” Taliya pushed away from him and crossed her arms. “Who are you, anyway?”
“You don’t know who I am?” Micah still wasn’t used to people not knowing who he was. His reputation always preceded him in Zandador. Here no one feared him. He didn’t like it.
“Obviously not,” she said. “I don’t ask questions I already know the answer to.”
Micah cleared his throat, pulled his shoulders back, stuck his chest out, and spoke with a loud, deep voice. “I am Micah the Dragon Hunter, thirteenth son of the great Omri, King of Zandador.”
“That explains your superiority complex, but you might want to keep your voice down.” Taliya stood on a rock so she whisper in Micah’s ear. “King Omri is the reason we are at war here in Keckrick. If anyone finds out you are his son, you probably won’t be alive very much longer.”
“That is nonsense. People revere me.”
Taliya laughed and jumped off the rock. “In Zandador, perhaps. In Keckrick, lots of ‘accidents’ could happen to the great King Omri’s son.”
His status as Omri’s son made him a target? He found that concept difficult to grasp and decided the tiny little woman was simply trying to unnerve him. She probably just wanted to feel important. He would give her that chance. “If I am in danger, I will allow you the privilege of protecting me as you lead me from here to wherever your dragon teleported my dragon to.”