Dragon Spirit- Bond of Vengeance

by Cory Reynolds

  “You could threaten them with your dragon,” said Max. Loric seemed to laugh in the back of Morgan’s head.

  “I’ve got a better idea. We break in right now and find it.” Morgan grabbed Jordan by the arm and pulled him with her to the entrance of Landborne. The keycard in his pocket opened the double doors.

  “Where are we gonna look?” asked Jordan.

  “Yeah, if we get caught, we don’t have any real proof that they took it,” said Max. Morgan was trying door knobs as she went down the walkway. All of them were locked.

  “That’s weird. We don’t even have locks on our dorm rooms,” said Jordan. “There’s something’s going on.”

  “That doesn’t prove anything,” said Max.

  “We don’t need proof, we have a dragon. Even if Tabby doesn’t have it, I bet she knows who does,” said Morgan. She had been the new girl enough times to know that she had to deal with this right away, and she was sure that Landborne was behind it. After trying the eighth door without success, she turned around and stormed back past Jordan and Max toward the elevator.

  “So what’s your plan?” asked Max.

  “We need to get Tabby outside.”

  “That won’t be hard. Landborne has the run of the grounds during next hour.”

  "Great," said Morgan as she stepped into the elevator and punched the button for the Farmhouse Level. The elevator door had already been open like it was waiting for them. Morgan didn't believe in destiny, but right now it felt like she was supposed to make things right.

  I’m not opposed to the good cop, bad cop thing but I'm not sure this is any kind of real plan.

  Well, what do you think I should do?

  Call me ole fashioned, but I think you should wait it out.

  Why? What would I gain?

  They’re expecting you to do something rash. They may even be waiting for it. Do the opposite. They won’t know whether you don’t realize that it’s gone, or just don’t care. It will confuse them.

  He had a good point. It was counter to what she would usually do.

  “So what are we doing when these doors open up?” asked Max.

  “Loric thinks that we should wait a little bit. Make them wonder why we don’t respond.”

  “Who’s Loric?”

  “That’s the name of the dragon.”

  "That's not a bad idea. Let them get paranoid like they need to watch their backs. I like it," said Jordan.

  “Alright, we’ll head back down and get you some food,” said Max just as the elevator doors opened to Norcross and her black jaguar. They had forgotten all about her.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “JUST THE THREE airbornes I was looking for,” said Miss Norcross as she stepped into the elevator and waited for the door to close.

  “Can I select a level for you?” asked Jordan.

  “Whichever you prefer. Are we going down to Landborne to discuss why you were skipping out of your lesson? Or should we stay here and talk about it with the Principal?”

  “The Principal!” said Jordan with too much enthusiasm. Everyone including Billy looked at him.

  “Okay, your choice.” She opened the elevator door again and they all stepped out. Morgan wondered why Norcross was inviting the Principal to hear their story. Maybe she hadn’t done anything wrong?

  Don’t give her the benefit of the doubt yet.

  As they approached the Principal's office, Morgan couldn't resist looking over toward her parent's rooms. Hopefully, that witch knew what she was doing.

  “Come in,” said a voice when Miss Norcross knocked on the door.

  “Sir, we have a few Airborne students who decided to take an unapproved stroll in the moonlight during their class.”

  “Send them right in, I’ll talk with them in a minute.” Miss Norcross watched like an executioner as they entered the Principals office, but she left, closing the door behind them after they were in.

  They sat down while the Principal sat facing away from them, across the desk on his phone.

  The office was just like any other Morgan had been in. Several pictures of people hung on the wall, but something was very different about them. She looked a little closer at one of the pictures and saw what should have been a very normal family photograph. Everyone was smiling for the camera, but everyone had very bright and vibrant colors of skin. One was blue, one was yellow, and two people had red skin in the picture. The Principal finished his call and turned to face them in the chair.

  “Maxine and friends, hello. I’m Mr. D. So who would like to tell me what happened?” He was a very handsome man, but he didn’t have brightly colored skin like in the photo. She couldn’t resist another glance at it on the wall.

  “Sir, we were simply worried about one of the teachers,” said Max, but the Principal put a hand up to interrupt her.

  “Before we get started, let’s get something out of the way,” said Mr. D. Morgan tore her attention away from the wall just fast enough to see the Principal change from a Caucasian skin tone to bright red with leathery skin, and then just as quickly back to Caucasian. The three of them sat astounded, but Billy just looked indifferent.

  “Good, I have your attention now. So why were you worried about a teacher?”

  “Um, Miss Norcross was walking around outside,” said Max. She paused, still in shock like the rest of them.

  “And we didn’t want anything to happen to her,” said Jordan, finishing her sentence for her. Mr. D grinned.

  “Do you believe that she was in danger? Miss Norcross is a very capable woman. That's why she was on the watch.”

  “We weren’t sure, but we found her talking to a witch,” said Morgan. No need to skirt around the issue.

  “She was talking to a witch. Where at?”

  “In some trees on the other side of the property. My hawk saw it happen. The witch flew away when they were done talking,” said Jordan.

  “That’s very interesting. Do you believe that she was doing anything wrong?” That was the question on everyone’s mind. Nobody wanted to answer him, and he didn’t wait for an answer. “I can’t decide that myself without talking to Miss Norcross. Perhaps she was receiving the occasional private message from the witches.”

  “I thought the treaty with the witches was dissolved,” said Max.

  “And why would she be hiding in some trees?” asked Morgan.

  “That is the big question, isn’t it? What was she doing? Hmmm.” Mr. D stared at the wall for a moment while everyone waited for whatever he said next.

  "Being a demon, I'm very accustomed to misunderstandings. My trick for grabbing people's attention that you saw earlier is something that I began to do many years ago. It works fairly well for answering the awkward questions. I'm faced with the decision to just let people wonder what I look like in my natural state, or shock them. Generally, if you don't mind my coarse language, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't." Morgan wasn't ever surprised by teachers, but now had just seen and heard it all. None of them responded.

  “What I’m trying to say is that we train you here to make tough decisions and hopefully help others in the process. You were faced with two lousy choices, to investigate or not, and you decided to act when some people would have waited for someone else to take the initiative. For that, I commend you.” Mr. D finished with a short applause, leaving them speechless.

  “So, we’re not in trouble?” asked Jordan.

  “No, I can’t punish you for doing exactly what we’ve taught you to do, though I recommend that you mention something to the teacher before you go off on heroics next time.” He had a grin that Morgan couldn’t read. She felt for a response from Loric but he seemed to be speechless also.

  “I won't keep you, I'm sure there's a class somewhere that you should get to.” The three of them got up, Max holding Billy, and started for the door.

  “Oh, and Miss Rossi, I heard that you just discovered your protezione spirituale." Morgan turned to answer him.

  “Y
es, it's a dragon.”

  “Congratulations. It's a big moment for any Benandanti, but I think it's especially big for you.” He maintained the same grin that gave nothing away.

  “Thank you.” They awkwardly closed the door with the Principal still smiling at Morgan.

  “Let's get out of here,” said Max as she and Billy headed for the elevator. There was a loud yell from one of the doctor's rooms and everyone paused to listen. Max started for the elevator again, but Morgan crept in the other direction. Jordan just stood in place.

  “Let's go!” whispered Max, but Morgan ignored her. She got close and put her ear up to one of the doors so that she could just barely hear the conversation on the other side.

  “I've said no, and I mean it. I don't want to get involved.” It was the voice of Miss Koopersmith, the witch. She could tell that Loric was listening through her ears even more intently than she was.

  “But I'm telling you that you're already involved. If something isn't done, everything is going to change around here for the worse. But if we work together, we can deal with both of them." Morgan knew that it was Norcross.

  “I'm not going to abandon 16 years of work in one night of haste. I won't be a part of it.”

  “We're not asking for direct involvement. We just need you to make a couple of calls. We would do it ourselves, but the lockdown has made it impossible.” She didn't recognize that voice. She might have heard it before, but she wasn't sure. Then she heard Miss Norcross say something that made her blood turn icy cold.

  “Just a couple of calls, and then the girl and her dragon will be out of the way for good.”

  “That's enough! Get out of my office.”

  Get out of there!

  Morgan ran and nearly passed Jordan on the way to the elevator being held open by Max and Billy. Just as the doors were closing, Morgan identified the third voice from the room. Mr. Wickstrom, the Geography teacher was the first to walk out of the doctor’s office.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  AFTER TWO more classes that dragged on forever, Morgan finally got something to eat at Midnight Meal. They spoke quietly at an isolated table.

  “You just had to see the Principal,” said Max.

  “You know how impossible it is to see Mr. D. I didn't want to miss my chance.”

  “I never have a problem getting an audience with him. You just need to break some rules.”

  “I do plenty of that.”

  “And you need to get caught.”

  “He did that thing that everyone talks about. Wasn't it awesome?” Morgan was eating down enough food for two meals when it hit her that she still didn't have her sword.

  “Maybe I'll have to get caught for something else just so I can ask him to find my sword,” said Morgan.

  “I'm sorry Morgan, we'll find out who did it. Until then, couldn’t we find you another one?” He had a point, but it was funny how even though she hadn’t cared a bit about her mother 24 hours ago, now she refused to settle for anything less than her mother’s sword.

  “I don’t see any other swords sitting around, do you?” asked Morgan.

  “Good point.”

  “Yeah, you're going to need it. Did you think of any reason why Wickstrom and Norcross would want you out of the school?” asked Max.

  “Well, I have a dragon. One of the last things that my tutor said to me was to watch my back.”

  “He was right about that,” said Jordan.

  “At least the Witch Doctor isn't playing along. It should make it harder for them to coordinate with the witches if that's their plan,” said Max.

  “That just means that we have no idea what they’re going to do instead," said Morgan.

  “So we have to watch our backs,” said Max.

  “Not you guys.”

  “Oh yes. We're all Airborne. If one of us is in trouble, then we all deal with it.”

  “Yeah. You can bet that Landborne is behind Tabby,” said Jordan. The table of students where Tabby was sitting had been leering at them during the entire meal. “You don't think that Norcross would have put other students up to stealing the sword, do you?”

  “Why not her headhunters? Or the whole floor? I wouldn't put anything past her,” said Max. Morgan knew she was right and looked to Loric for ideas.

  I have a couple, but I'm curious what you think.

  To Morgan, it seemed like Norcross was going out of her way to deal with her and Loric, and running into problems. If she wasn't mistaken, it seemed like Norcross was trying to get rid of the girl and her dragon as quickly as possible. But why? It was like they were sparring, and right now all Morgan could do is figure out how to stay a move ahead of her. She could tell that Loric was enjoying her journey for answers.

  “If Norcross is behind my sword being stolen, then I bet she has it.”

  “You could be right but it doesn't matter. Her office would be tough to break into,” said Jordan.

  “And there could be a jaguar waiting on the other side,” said Max.

  “I'm not worried about getting in, it's getting out that I'll need help with.”

  “What's your plan?” asked Jordan as he and Max ducked their heads.

  “The same as it was with Tabby.”

  “You're just going to do nothing?”

  “No, I'm going to do what Norcross least expects. I'm going to take the fight to her.” If a dragon could smile, Loric was smiling in her mind right now.

  I like your way of thinking. It's better than my idea.

  What's your idea?

  I could just fly into the cavern and start blowing flames everywhere.

  That would get people moving, I guess.

  Yes, but your way is the more diplomatic approach. Less carnage.

  She didn't feel like she was being diplomatic. She was just trying to stay alive.

  We’ll need to do a little prep. Are you any good at leather work?

  I've sewn up a leather purse before. Why?

  Because for your idea to work, I'm going to need a saddle.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  LORIC had been right.

  My nose is always right.

  Morgan had asked Mr. Jensen about a leatherworking shop somewhere in the cave, and she had been surprised when he said there was.

  “Many of the spirit animals are fitted with special leather gear. Backpacks, armor, the occasional weapon. I'll show you.”

  Two levels below the Airborne level was the armory. When they stepped into the leather room, she was surprised that she hasn't noticed the smell before. The distinct smell of fresh leather filled her nostrils as Mr. Jensen talked to the man at the counter.

  “Yes, we can saddle anything. What is it? Another bear? A rhino?” asked the man at the desk.

  “A dragon,” said Mr. Jensen with a huge smile.

  “You're kidding, right?”

  “No. This young lady needs a saddle for her dragon. How fast can you do it?”

  “How fast do you need it? I'll have to put all the boys on it. They wouldn't put up with it if I didn't let them all have a chance to work with a dragon.”

  “As fast as possible.”

  “Alright. We can begin as soon as we have a dragon to outfit.” Mr. Jensen looked at Morgan.

  “You're sure it's okay for him to come in?” she asked.

  “It's not just okay, it's essential. I've been waiting for a chance to meet your dragon. It's my job to make sure that you're taking care of him or her,” said Mr. Jensen.

  “His name is Loric.”

  “That's a good, strong name. I bet it would sound good screaming it in battle.”

  There was a loud splash from above as Loric emerged from the underground lake entrance into the cavern and flew down to the armory level. Mr. Jensen and everyone from the leather shop jumped back as he landed. Morgan worried that he was going to bang his head on the ceiling of the outcropping.

  I hope they can work fast, I'm going to get a cramp hunched over like this.

  �
��I know this dragon. I'd know him anywhere,” said one of the guys from the leather shop.

  “You see a lot of dragons?” asked Mr. Jenson.

  “No, just this one. I helped to saddle him over 20 years ago. He looks a little worse for wear, but he's definitely the same dragon.”

  16 years in captivity will do that.

  “So you're Hunt's daughter?”

  “Yes.”

  “I can remember the old saddle's pattern like it was yesterday. We'll have him outfitted in no time, Miss Hunt." Twice on the same day now she had been called by her mother's last name. A small part of her still found it hard to accept the comparison, but it mostly made her curious. Was she really like her mom? Loric smiled and she knew his answer.

  “Great. So do you already know enough about how to take care of him?” asked Mr. Jensen.

  I don't need much besides a healthy balance of beef and pork. Horse is fine also.

  “I think he can tell me if I need to know something.”

  “Good, because I don't think we have any books on dragon care.” Already the team of leather workers were grabbing their tallest ladders and beginning to measure up Loric. They must have been accustomed to working through the night, but she wasn't.

  “I'm going to head back to get some sleep,” said Morgan.

  “Sounds good,” said Mr. Jensen. “I'm going to get some shut-eye myself. Tomorrow evening we can do some exercises, maybe a race or two.” He turned to look at Loric again. “Finally we have a chance at winning more than just the speed round in the Hunt games.” Loric laughed in Morgan's head.

  They’ll probably ban me from participating.

  Morgan had a game of her own to worry about. She felt in her pocket for Jordan's key card for Landborne, and then she laughed out loud herself.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  MORGAN'S CELL PHONE alarm went off at 5am, just as planned. Normal for her, but it was the middle of the night for the rest of the school. If Landborne had been upset about getting pranked at 10am, then they would be furious this time.