Fire Bound Dragon

by Elizabeth Rain

  Marcus Tannon spoke up, his voice booming loud and meant to carry. “Enough dawdling. Are all the wounded and any dead gathered up? We remain vulnerable as long as we stay here.”

  I winced at the word dead. More Guards to replace. I hoped they had a large graduating class.

  Together we moved towards the original pile of boulders dead center of the small valley. Scattered across the field were the wolves and vampires that hadn’t been as lucky. But it would be up to their own kind to see to the remains. Our duty here was done. We’d won the battle. But I knew we were in the middle of a war that was just getting started.

  The portal shimmered at the base of the largest rock, which was no bigger than a small shed. We would have to go through one at a time. It wasn’t large enough to accommodate more than that. With a nod to the rest of us, Marcus Tannon led and we followed in no particular order. On the other side, fast asleep under the shade of a large leaf maple, was Jerry Waverly.

  He woke just as his daughter stepped through the portal and back into Bane forest. With a cry, she threw herself into her father’s waiting arms. I came through behind her to watch that tall man tremble with emotion as he held her in a crushing grip. I looked away and waited for everyone else to join.

  “Hey, Cross—” I looked his way as he pulled the small innocuous looking bomb free from its pouch. “—catch!” I pulled it from the air as he winged it my way and hefted it in my hand, turning towards the portal as Lucas Seul came through last.

  “That’s everyone,” he confirmed, eying what I held in my hand.

  “Do you want to do the honors, sir? It was your arrival that saved us all.”

  He gave me a wry smile, looking at our small group. “It was your courage and that of your friends, refusing to back down, that saved the day Sadie. Your leadership got them through. I think you should do the honors.” I nodded and turned towards the glimmering doorway of light, a faint shimmer in the pale shadows of early evening. The other side remained a blurred, opaque window.

  I moved closer and hefted the bomb. All eyes were on me. I pulled my arm back and then it was flying straight towards the middle of that translucent circle of light. Beyond the wall, an enormous shadow shifted and I realized in the last second before it hit that something large was coming fast. The bomb hit dead center as that object plowed into the portal door. The shock of both hitting at the same time sent a blast of energy tunneling our way, knocking us back a good ten feet.

  Nicholas recovered enough to help me up, his jaw slack with shock. “What was that Cross? What just happened?” I stared at that fractured mirror of crisscrossed cracks that held the portal closed. “Nothing,” I said. But I didn’t believe it. None of us did.

  IT FELT GOOD TO BE back at school and sitting down with all my friends and doing something boring and normal for a change. I’d had more than enough adventure to last me.

  I sat back; feet folded in front of me as I took it all in.

  Sirris tore into a hefty chunk of tuna, using her fingers to pluck at the flaky filet, done rare, with a moan of pleasure. She was thinner than she had been, and I knew my mermaid friend was making up for lost time. Next to her, Thomas sat back and eyed his brother, who sat next to him, with something akin to wonder. That would wear off, I knew. Todd might have been to hell and back, but outwardly at least, he was still the same annoying sibling that Terry and Thomas remembered.

  I frowned as I watched him though. Evan as his mouth spread wide in a grin and Thomas elbowed him in the side for whatever he’d said or done. It was the eyes that told the tale. Those yellowish werewolf eyes were haunted and wary. He’d left his childhood behind in Wyndoor, along with his best friend that hadn’t lived to join him.

  My eyes moved farther along the table and paused on Fern. Sensing she was being observed, she turned in my direction and our eyes met in understanding. She was still as anti-social as always, somehow sitting alone at a table filled with people. I watched as she looked down at Kit, who had emerged from her collar to snatch a tidbit of meat from her fingers and sat chewing noisily on her shoulder. She no longer resembled the little foreigner she was. Now she looked like a rather long black cat with bright yellow eyes. Somewhere along the way she’d learned to take the form of an acceptable creature that wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows. Leave it to Fern to adopt a demon for a familiar.

  Speaking of which, I considered the information that Jerry had passed on to us just the night before. The data had all been processed from the explosion of Will Bennett’s lab, finally. Between Feather Hodges, Lara Bing, and Jerry himself they had found just enough DNA present from the small creature that had given its life to set off the bomb to figure out it was one more example of ‘what the hell is that,’ from the dimension of Wyndoor. Though its DNA was like that of the common Weis, it was yet something else. Everyone had concluded that Will Bennett had destroyed his lab to keep his secrets safe. All of us worried that we still didn’t know all of what those might be. His parting words continued to give me nightmares.

  He’d said there were others like him and that he was just an insignificant part of a much bigger picture and a coming war we couldn’t prevent. I knew we hadn’t seen the last of him.

  There had been just enough mention of the Dark Faction for me to wonder about his ties to the secret organization. What we knew pointed to that band of misfits being responsible for the lack of harmony between the Magical and Human World. And yet, something about the entire thing didn’t ring true for me, though I couldn’t have said what it was.

  A hard arm on my right brushed against mine and goosebumps rose before I could beat them down. Nicholas took a large bite of the pear he’d snagged from his tray. Like me, he sat with his back against the wall next to me, watching the day unfold.

  “What do you really think that was? Back at the portal. Something was trying to come through.”

  I glanced up at him, a lock of straight black hair falling forward and concealing his expression. He needed a haircut.

  “I don’t know. I know there wasn’t anything back there with us when we came through, so whatever it was must have come over the rise as we left. It nearly caught us. If I hadn’t thrown that bomb at exactly that moment it would have made it too. I suppose we’ll never know what it was for sure.”

  Nick considered. “A Juggat maybe? They could have tired of feasting on the wolves and come looking for something different.” But I didn’t believe it, and from the look of him, neither did Nick.

  “What do you suppose will happen now? To us I mean. The council met last night, but I haven’t heard a thing. I’m only glad they didn’t throw us back in jail while we waited to find out,” he finished.

  I nodded and added. “And school. We’ve missed like three entire weeks all total. There’s no way we can make that up before school lets out next week.”

  We fell silent. None of us were looking forward to the prospect of flunking out and repeating a year.

  A flash of purple near the main doors caught my attention. Mayor Seul entered, eyes landing on us almost immediately. He ignored the curious stares of the rest of the cafeteria and the way the volume reduced by half as he crossed the room in our direction.

  He reached us both and sat down like it was something he did every day. His eyes moved the length of the table, lingering on Thomas and Todd, Sirris and Fern further down and watchful, her fingers stroking Kit’s fuzzy head as the little Weis draped over her shoulders, long whiskers unfurled and tickling her chin.

  He turned back to Nick and I. “Drae Council wants to meet with you tonight; all of you. They came to some decisions last night and they want to inform you in person.”

  “What did they say?” Nick asked.

  “I can’t tell you that. You’ll find out at seven when we meet.”

  But his grim expression and bleak eyes worried us. Had we survived only to languish in jail, unable to finish out our Semester at Rule 9?

  With a nod, he pushed to his feet, giving Nick a
last look as he did. “Mom’s fixing Spaghetti tonight, so make sure you're there by five.”

  Nick nodded and we watched him walk away.

  “Something is up,” he murmured.

  I stared after that retreating back. The Mayor moved around the room and stopped to talk to the students, smiling and laughing occasionally. But his eyes remained unamused and worried.

  “Agreed. I don’t like it. I hoped that saving the Tuttles and helping to prevent the destruction of all of Drae Hallow might catch us a break. Maybe we should be thankful we aren’t vampires. We’d be minus our heads.”

  Nick winced. “Thanks, I’m sure I can’t unsee that ever again. I keep having these nightmares...” he started.

  “Don’t be weird on me, Seul. I’m working hard to forget Juggat jaws and teeth, lots of poisonous teeth.” But I knew what he meant. Nightmares chased my dreams more often than not and I knew there were black circles under my eyes. It was getting better, but some things you just couldn’t forget.

  WE GATHERED ON THE steps of The Commons at half-past six. The Tuttles laughed and joked to hide their nervousness. Sirris stood solemnly at my side along with Nick, who said nothing. Fern was late and I figured she planned it that way to avoid having to talk to anyone. She showed as we were walking up the steps to the front door and brought up the rear. A rumple of movement beneath her shirt front and I knew she’d brought Kit along.

  We funneled into the room in the basement and took up one side of the table and took a seat with the rest of the council, fanned out across from us.

  Carol Shamon sat opposite me and I cringed inside. Her eyes were cool on mine, but I could sense none of what she was thinking other than that. Feather sat beside her and gave me a slight smile, her eyes wandering to her niece and frowning in exasperation when she saw her shirt collar move and two yellow round eyes peek out before they darted back.

  Mayor Seul stood and waited for everyone to take their seats before clearing his throat to speak. “I have called this meeting at the request of Drae Council. I’m going to step aside and let Ms. Hodges address you on the decisions regarding your recent behavior and the resulting consequences. Please hold questions until she is finished, please.” He nodded, and Feather inclined her head politely before she stood.

  She turned to look at us all, pausing for effect on each as her eyes moved the length of the table and back. “There’s a lot to cover and if I leave anything out, I’ll ask that the Mayor remind me.”

  “Of course,” he agreed.

  “Let’s address the rules and laws you broke first, shall we? The charges you have all, at one point or another, been brought up on are too many for me to go into at this point. If you want a list, it’s in the write up that accompanies this speech and you can read it later. Considering the return of the Tuttles and the sealing of the portal which prevented Professor Bennett’s return with his army intended to wipe out Drae Hallow we have had to adjust the punishment to fit the crime, which may have been necessary.

  In case you’re wondering, we informed the Vampire judge and his clan that the vampires escaped and made their way to the portal and disappeared back into their own dimension unassisted by us. That way you all get to live. I’d highly suggest you go with that story for all our sakes. Any problems with that one?” Every one of us shook our heads. We wanted to keep them.

  “As to the result of your indiscretions and any consequences? We will consider them served at the end of this school year. Until its conclusion, you are all on house arrest in your dorms. Under the circumstances, I think that will suffice.”

  A harrumph from Carol pulled a cold frown from Feather. Carol firmed her lips and held her peace.

  “There’s more. An enormous concern is the time you have missed in your studies while you were running around Shephard’s Mountain apparently averting a war.”

  I wanted to correct her. I didn’t think we’d averted anything. Maybe we’d put it off a bit.

  “You have all missed several weeks. Todd, you’ve missed more but you are a good student, even if you don’t always follow directions and I trust, given the opportunity, you will catch up.” She sent a frown his way and he grinned at her. She rolled her eyes, lips quirking before she could prevent it.

  “So, a chance to complete your studies and catch up to your classmates was what we needed. I’m happy to report that just such an opportunity has arisen.”

  I realized she looked anything but pleased. Instead, I was sure fear lurked in those brilliant green eyes.

  “A colleague of mine has offered a solution we can’t ignore if you are all willing to take him up on it.” She paused and I realized I was holding my breath for what was coming. I was suddenly sure I wasn’t going to like it.

  “Franz Hobert runs a summer camp in Basilisk Valley.”

  There were several gasps, but I had no idea why or what Basilisk Valley was so I held still as she continued.

  “For those of you who don’t know, the valley is located in the Weminuche Wilderness near Greylock Mountain in Colorado.”

  A niggling dread was creeping along my spine as she finished.

  “The invitation from Mr. Hobert couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. The council has agreed that in lieu of the specialized training you will receive there, it will be sufficient to make up for the lost class time for the last few weeks. The course runs from the middle of June through the middle of August.” Her voice grew harder. “If you decide it is more than you want to take on, then you will be required to repeat the current year, instead.”

  I swallowed, the idea of spending almost the entire summer away from Shephard’s mountain and my mother leaving me hollow with dread. I missed her so much now, and if I went to this class with everyone else, I’d have only a week or two on both ends of the summer. It was too much, but what choice did I have?

  I looked at my friends on either side of me. Mingled expressions of dread and confusion chased their features. Only Fern looked delighted, a broad grin spreading across her face. Her eyes darted to mine, heavy with speculation and amusement.

  I blinked. What was that all about?

  I leaned close to Sirris and murmured. “What does that mean. Basilisk Valley...”

  Sirris started and bent close and whispered back. “Dragons Sadie. We’re going to the Valley of the Dragons for the summer.”

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