Chace Ogden and the Quest for Raven

by Trevor Darby

  “Dragon,” I whispered furiously, voice catching in my throat. "We need to get to shelter now. Run!"

  The three of us broke into a sprint as we headed wordlessly toward one of the smaller houses. We’d gotten halfway to the nearest one when a blast of strange, dark energy hit me so hard it threatened to bring me to my knees. I knew without a shred of doubt the dragon had spotted us and was closing in.

  “Faster!” I shouted, grabbing Taz and Maps by their wrists and yanking them along. The night sky lit up as a stream of flames shot just overhead. A roar filled the air. Terror nearly paralyzed me. Legs still in motion, I looked up to see the creature pulling its massive wings in close to its barge-sized body and dropping into a dive straight for us.

  So this is how it ends.

  Pushing past the fear, I gripped my friends more tightly. All the while, trying to keep my focus away from the monster that was attacking us and on the shelter just twenty yards ahead.

  I felt a whoosh and squeezed my eyes closed, lips moving in silent prayer.

  Magic, don’t fail me now.

  “Ouch!” Taz yelped.

  I forced my eyes open again to find the three of us safely inside a small stone dwelling. Taz was face down close to one of the roughly cut walls. I quickly helped him to his feet.

  “Sorry about that,” I said, holding back what would’ve been a giddy and inappropriate laugh as I caught sight of a pale-faced and shaken Maps. “I couldn’t really judge where to put us without seeing the inside.”

  It hadn't been perfect. Still, I'd actually managed to teleport us inside the building. All while the biggest concentration breaker imaginable had been dive-bombing us. A second later, the earth shook, and a furious roar erupted as the dragon slammed into the ground where we had been just an instant before.

  I released my hold on Maps and Taz and hurried toward a small window. The creature rolled blearily to its feet and took a quick look around as it shook its massive head in confusion. For a second, I wondered if he would keep up the hunt. A moment later, though, I let out a sigh of relief as it flapped its mighty wings and took to the sky again, maybe in pursuit of less slippery prey.

  “Holy cow, Chace,” Maps managed finally, once the sound of flapping wings faded into the distance. She let out a nervous chuckle and punched me in the arm, “Way to cut it close, bro.”

  “Yeah, next time we’re on the dinner menu, I’ll try to do it a little quicker,” I said, circling the small shelter. I made my way to the rotting door and quietly pushed it open. It was facing in the opposite direction of where we had been when the dragon dived at us. It gave me a good view of the other buildings in the area. "It looks like there's a field with some trees in it over there. I see a glow just like Raven's amulet markings. Looks like we're in the right place,” I said excitedly.

  It had been a scary journey ending in a super close call, but we’d done it. We’d managed to catch Raven’s trail again. And something told me she was closer than she’d ever been.

  “We should wait a bit before going back out, just to make sure it’s not lying in wait,” Taz said, shivering noticeably in the dim light. I looked down, surprised to see that I was shaking like a leaf myself. Even ignoring its massive frame, flaming breath, and lethal jaws, the magical pressure of the dragon had been enough to nearly overwhelm me. How could anyone even dream of standing up to something like that?

  I swallowed hard and reached into my pack to pull out a handful of chocolate bars, leaving what couldn’t have been much more than a dozen remaining in my bag. I tossed one to each of my friends. We needed to keep our strength up if we hoped to take on a creature that matched the footprints we’d been seeing.

  We munched them in silence for a few minutes. When we finished, I rose to my feet and dusted myself off.

  Taz and Maps stood, following suit. "So, what's the plan, Captain?" Maps asked.

  “I think Raven is in that big, castle-like structure,” I said, feeling more sure with every passing moment. “It’s the only place close by that a troll could fit into.”

  And more than that, I just knew it, deep in my bones. I’d explain it to Taz and Maps if I could, but it wasn’t something I could describe. Raven and I were connected in a way that even I didn’t truly understand. Hunter and Protector, like two halves of a whole. We were so close to getting her back, no matter the risk, I wasn’t waiting any longer.

  “We need to be sneaky because the place is huge and we don’t know if they’re awake or sleeping, or even where they’ll be. Stealth is key. I'll lead the way, but we should all stay close. If the Troll wakes up and notices us before we get to Raven, we'll have to stay and fight, or else we put Raven at risk if it takes out its anger on her. So please be careful and don’t make any loud sounds,” I said, looking nervously at Taz when I said the last part.

  Taz was a lot of things, but he definitely wasn't made for sneaking.

  I opened the door slowly and poked my head out, scanning the area thoroughly for dragons before stepping outside. We crept silently toward what we assumed was the Troll’s huge dwelling and circled around the edge of it, looking for a way in. Just after turning the corner to the back wall, a small hole just large enough for us to fit through came into view. We approached. A loud, snuffling snore echoed through the hole, followed by the stench of old meat.

  If that wasn’t a troll snore, I didn’t know what was.

  I gestured to my companions. I crawled through, entering a massive hall with enough light shining through the poorly made roof to see a gigantic form lying on a raised stone slab in the corner of the room.

  Troll.

  I covered my nose and continued creeping through the hall, waving for my friends to follow. I kept tiptoeing through the room and then to the end of a large hallway, Taz and Maps following close behind.

  A sound and a blaze of light in the distance surprised me and I pulled up to a sharp stop. Was there a second Troll still awake in the central part of the house? I motioned for Taz and Maps to stay back and stepped gingerly forward, peeking my head around the corner.

  There, in a cage tucked in the corner, I saw her, hand extended as a tiny flame flickered in her palm, illuminating her small figure. My heart stuttered to a stop.

  “Raven?” I whispered.

  Chapter 14

  Raven

  At first, I thought I was seeing things. But I blinked, then I blinked again, and he was still there.

  "Chace!" I whispered, joy flowing through me like a sugar rush. He'd come for me. I knew he would. Hot on the heels of my initial excitement came fear, though.

  I extinguished the ball of magic in my hand. I held a finger to my lips, resisting the urge to go running toward him as I gestured toward a snoring Klugg as if Chace could've missed the foul-smelling behemoth.

  Chace nodded his understanding and pointed toward a partially open door across the room, urging him to follow.

  I crept in that direction, making sure not to trip over the shoes and trash littering the floor. It was only when I slipped through the door and looked back that I saw two other figures creeping behind Chace.

  "Taz?" I asked, perching my hands on my hips as I glanced from him to a girl with long, dark curls and brown eyes who was staring back at me. "And who's this?" I hissed, glaring at Chace in disbelief.

  "I can explain," he said, still beaming. "But first..." He broke off and threw his arms around me, squeezing the very breath out of me. "I'm so glad you're all right."

  My eyes stung as I allowed myself to hug him back for a quick second before releasing him. "Chace, what's going on?"

  "I tried to come back alone and failed. I was too weak and had to go back. It made no sense to come and try again without some reinforcements. So...here they are. You know Taz, of course. And this is our friend Maps."

  He waved a hand at the girl.

  She flapped both hands as if to say, "Ta-da! Here I am." I liked her spunk, but I hated surprises. And this was certainly a surprise.

 
"We're calling ourselves the Myth Squad now, FYI," Taz added with a grin.

  I wasn't sure we needed a cutesy nickname, and I was even less sure that Chace and I had suddenly needed to become part of a "Squad," but there was little to do about it now. They'd all risked life and limb to come and save me. I wasn't always a bowl full of charm, but even I couldn't justify being snarky with them right now. So I just wrinkled my nose a little and shrugged. "Um, is that an earring?" I asked, leaning into Taz to see more closely.

  "It is, yes. A magical one. It's supposed to help enhance my natural abilities," Taz replied proudly.

  Definitely a plus for a human in the sometimes perilous Magical Realm. "I like it. And what about you?" I asked Maps softly.

  "Maps got us here," Chace cut in with a grin. "She's an expert at orienteering."

  "Perfect," I said, refusing to give a name to the icky feeling in my stomach at Chace's quick and hearty praise of his pretty new friend. "Then how about we all put our heads together and get working on a plan to get us out of here?"

  The three of them nodded. Chace pointed down the long hallway.

  "Not to sound dense, but...can't we just, like, walk out? He's sound asleep."

  "We could," I replied. "Except Klugg has my amulet in his front pocket. To be an effective Protector, I need to get it back.”

  I didn't have to say more. Chace knew what that meant.

  I wasn't leaving Klugg's crappy castle without it. To Chace's credit, he didn't bother arguing.

  "Okay," he said, pursing his lips. "Well, let's see what we can do, shall we?"

  He craned his neck to peer back into the room, studying Klugg.

  "Think I could use magic to somehow float it out of his pocket?"

  I shook my head. "If you got all three of you here, you're getting stronger fast, but without being able to actually see the item and grab onto it with your magic, I doubt you'd be able to move it."

  "I can try, at least."

  "If you fail, the ping of your magic against his chest will likely wake him."

  We exchanged a long look and then we both grimaced, resigned to a difficult and dangerous plan to retrieve my amulet. The alternative was for one of us to scale the mighty beast like a mountain and try to grab it from him without waking him, which was about the riskiest move ever, so I nodded.

  "At least if we do it with magic, we can be far enough away to make a run for it and try again as opposed to him squashing one of us like a bug if we're on top of him."

  Taz and Maps moved in, following behind Chace and I as we skulked toward Klugg.

  "It's moving. I think it's working! I almost—"

  It happened so fast, it was almost a blur. One second Klugg was out cold and snoring and the next second he shot upright, eyes flying open as he scratched at his chest with a dirty fingernail.

  "What happen to Klugg?" he demanded, glancing around the room furiously, trying to see in the dim light. "Girl, you try to get stone?" he demanded furiously, his thundering voice practically shaking the stone walls.

  "Crap," Taz muttered as we all backed stealthily toward the door. But it was too late. Klugg's gaze locked on me. He let out a furious bellow.

  "Girl dead meat now!"

  We didn't stay to watch, but I could hear Klugg lumbering out of bed as we tumbled out the door in a rush of churning legs.

  "Let's lead him outside. He's easily confused. Hopefully, we'll get another try at it," I shouted, grabbing Chace by the arm and pulling him along behind me.

  "There is a dragon outside," Taz hissed as he stopped short, clearly torn between the two evils.

  "We scared him off. We have no choice, Taz."

  “Dragon’s like the dark anyway. I’ll create an aura of light around us,” I urged, starting to panic. We didn’t have a lot of time here. “Come on, Taz.”

  "When Klugg get you, Klugg eat you!" the Troll thundered as he pounded toward the door in a full-on fury.

  The threatening words were enough to knock Taz off the proverbial fence. He started to run and we all joined him in a headlong dash for the door.

  Adrenaline pounded through me as I realized something with a start. There, deep down, mixed in with all the fear and terror, was a tiny kernel of something warm. Something joyful.

  No matter what happened, Chace had come for me, sealing our bond forever.

  Come what may, at least we were together. And together? We could do anything.

  We rushed through the door and out into the night, heading straight for the tree-line in the distance as I illuminated the space around us with magic.

  Come and get us, Klugg.

  Chapter 15

  Chace

  We’d just gotten past the clearing and to the treeline when I skidded to a stop, turning around to face the raging Troll, who was still a few hundred feet away.

  “He's not only massive, but he's also furious. If we're going to get your amulet back, we'll have to knock him out or something to take it. I could barely feel the amulet with my magic when he was sleeping. I doubt I can focus well enough to grab it without seeing it while he's moving. We're all in danger.” I turned to Taz and Maps, “You two, keep moving while Raven and I try to take him down so we can get the amulet the old-fashioned way.”

  This was a bit too much for either of them right now, even if Taz did have the magical earring. They were still human, and that made them scarily fragile in so many ways. One blow from a creature that big and strong and either one of them would be dead meat.

  “Aye, aye,” Maps said, and I nodded a silent thanks when she grabbed Taz, who looked like he was about to protest, and pulled him over to a nearby cluster of trees. Clearly, she’d realized that it would be easier for Raven and me if we didn't have to worry about looking out for them as well.

  “What’s our plan?” I asked, turning to shoot as big of a blast of energy at the Troll’s feet as I could manage. It fizzled on contact and turned into a harmless wash of blue smoke.

  Crap.

  I shot a quick glance at Raven. She nodded grimly, motioning for me to run with her a bit further. “Yeah, about that...Trolls are apparently somewhat magic resistant. He won't take damage from any kind of magic blast. Still, we can use our powers to manipulate other objects. We can use those to restrain him or make him fall so we can get the amulet. That should be our goal,” she said calmly, “I think he’ll be more interested in me than you, so we should split up. I’ll keep him occupied and focused on me. Just watch closely for an opening to trip him or wrap him up."

  “Got it,” I said, springing to the left as she went right. She turned toward the Troll, magic gathering in her feet as she used it to amplify her speed, a thin magic blade forming in her hand. The Troll turned toward her as expected. I watched helplessly as he swung a large hand down at Raven, leaving a giant gash in the ground where she had been a moment earlier as she leaped at his legs. She slashed at his leg, but he seemed to barely notice it as he lifted his tree-trunk sized leg and viciously kicked at her.

  I lifted my hand and sent a blast of air at her, sending her tumbling back onto the ground just a second before the Troll’s kick could connect.

  She rolled swiftly to her feet, uninjured, and circled around him again, her face a mask of concentration.

  “Girl stop. Klugg getting mad!”

  If Klugg were just starting to get mad now, I'd hate to see him when he really blew his top.

  I crouched, focusing again and waited for my next chance as the Troll turned in a circle, trying to get a bead on Raven again.

  He finally caught sight of her and let out a primal roar as he put his hands together and slammed them into the ground. It created a miniature crater and sent a shockwave of force toward us, making the earth shudder like an earthquake had hit. My breath caught. I lost sight of Raven in the rising cloud of dust. She appeared moments later, on the run again, forcing the Troll into a lumbering jog behind her. When she’d managed to lead him toward a cluster of trees and put some space between them,
she motioned at me with her hand and then stopped in her tracks.

  I could almost hear her thoughts across the short distance between us.

  It’s up to you now, Chief.

  I squeezed my eyes closed, thinking about the vines winding through the branches of the trees around us, focusing in on them. Lifting both hands, I opened my eyes and used my magic to grab hold of the vines and tug. To my surprise and nearly giddy relief, they peeled away from the trees and snaked toward me as if they were alive.

  “Hurry, Chase!” Raven shouted as the Troll quickly narrowed the gap, closing in on her.

  You can do this, I counseled myself, tightening my focus and trying not to let images of Raven being squashed like a bug distract me.

  The Troll was only two strides away when I finally managed to shoot the vines toward him, wrapping them around his massive legs.

  Ready, annnd...

  I yanked my arms back hard and nearly crowed with glee as the vines tightened around him, pulling him to a dead stop. A second later, he let out a bellow as one leg buckled, and he came thundering to the ground and landed on his knees.

  Raven saw her chance and leaped toward him, dropping her sword as she lunged toward his front pocket. Klugg shot an arm out to grab her but found only the air where she’d been just a moment earlier. He looked around, almost as confused as Raven was.

  “Did you just teleport me from there to here without touching me?” she gasped, eyes wide.

  "Yeah...I guess I did," I replied, trying to maintain my mental hold on the vines even as Klugg struggled to stand. "I saw him swing at you, and it was like instinct or something."

  “Thanks,” Raven managed, clearly impressed, “you’ve really come so far in the past few days. Think you can do it again?” she asked, holding up her empty hands with a wince. “I felt the chain. I didn’t have a good grip on it when you transported me, though. If you can do that again, you can teleport me out with it?”

  “Too risky,” I said with a shake of my head, watching with dismay as Klugg managed to get back on his feet, the golden chain of Raven’s amulet hanging from his pocket. Now that I could see it, maybe I could grab with my magic. But could I keep my hold on the vines at the same time? Only time would tell. “I’m going to-” The words died on my lips as Raven narrowed her eyes and went sprinting toward the Troll again.