Evacuation

by Sherry Foster

  All they could do was wait and pray that Darian did not continue to antagonize the strange dragon. Kane worked his shoulders for a moment and taking a few deep breaths volunteered to approach to duo in front of them and drag Darian away from the dragon, by force if necessary. Mutters of agreement reached his ears as he began the slow walk back to the ceremony stones where Darian was still standing, glaring at the dragon.

  Chapter 7

  Darian watched the unusual dragon approach. Giving voice to his thoughts he told the others, “It came through the portal.”

  Busy staring at the colorful dragon in front of him he never noticed the others beginning to back away. Thoughts began to race through his mind, memories from his childhood of tales his mother would tell him at bedtime. Stiffening in outrage he realized just who, or what, the dragon landing in front of him was. Furious he approached the dragon. He might not know her name but he knew her from his bedtime stories. If the portal was not a myth or legend but was indeed a real part of their history it stood to reason, in Darian’s mind, that the bedtime stories of this dragon must also be real. His fury, his impulsive nature, once again caused Darian to leap to a conclusion without gathering the facts. In true Darian fashion, without giving thought to being wrong Darian barely waited for the dragon to land before he denounced her and all that she had, in Darian’s mind, done.

  Unfortunately bedtime stories aren’t always true.

  “You!! I know you! You are the one called Planet Killer! This,” gesturing to the greatly changed meadow around the tower, “is all your fault. You did this to our people. Not happy to kill our planet you came back for what? To kill us?”

  Tresimiaset drew back a bit in surprise as she settled on the ground in near the ceremony stones. It appeared she was not going to have to go looking for the goddess touched fire walker after all. It also appeared that the goddess Ariannia had given him more than his fair share of impulsiveness.

  She really hated when Ariannia gifted the Chosen with that extra bit of impulsiveness. It did make life more interesting but all the wars she had ever witnessed were started by Chosen such as this one. Tresimiaset was sure more wars were fought than just the ones she had witnessed but then again she slept most of the time. And of course, according to the other dragons this one had, just recently, started a war with, of all people, the Lyriant race.

  With a small mental sigh Tresimiaset hoped this one did not prove to be stupid as well as impulsive. She did not get the idea he was stupid from the other dragons. It appeared the things the other dragons had told her abut Darian were going to be correct. There was absolutely no way this Chosen one put any thought to approaching her in this manner. The others in the three Lyra seemed to be trying to put as much distance as possible between them and her.

  She turned her attention back to the wee fire walker in front of her, he was furious. This should be interesting she thought. Planet killer was not a title she had ever before been given. Planet Walker was her correct title, and more than a few people had called her Planet Savior, Planet Maker, she was sure there were other titles she had been given, but never, in her memory, and her memory was faultless, had anyone ever called her a Planet Killer before. She wondered where he had gotten such a name for her.

  As she lowered her head to rest on her front legs she began to speak to him through the mental connection she had hijacked from his dragon. She already knew that once Darian made up his mind it was very hard to change it. She knew also from what the other dragons had told her while she had them bound in the cave for the last two weeks with her catching up on events since last she was awake that to change Darian’s mind once he made it up was going to be take awhile. According to the others his logic worked differently than anyone else and his moral compass appeared to be slightly flawed. She did not get the idea that the flaw was always bad, just different.

  “You may address me as Tresimiaset, I do not care for this Planet Killer name you have created. Where did you get the idea I am a Planet Killer? I am not a Planet Killer, I do not kill planets, I walk them. I am the Planet Walker.”

  “Do not try that with me. My mother told me all about you when I was a child. I thought you were just a story told to me at bedtime but I can see you. If the portals are real then you are too.”

  Tresimiaset thought about what he said, try as she might though she could not see how stories his mother had told him had anything to do with the events the other dragons had told her had occurred on the planet in the last three years. Nor could she find any reason for his mother to have told Darian stories in which she was labeled a planet killer. Watching Darian she thought she might have a bit more difficulty than she originally thought. When she was flying over here it never occurred to her there was any way Darian could possibly blame her for the events occurring on the planet. It was not logical. With a mental sigh again she realized just what the other dragons meant when they claimed Darian had a logic all his own.

  “I will kill you before I let you hurt my people anymore. I will destroy you where you stand. No one is going to come to my planet and hurt my people. Not you, not anyone. I will destroy you. It is my job to protect my people and I will protect them with my very last breath.”

  Since Tresimiaset had access to every memory the other dragons had after performing her own memory ceremony with them two weeks ago she recognized the body language Darian was displaying from the memories of his dragon. She knew before the fireball even left his hands that he was preparing to throw one at her. Before it could hit her she puffed out a small amount of air and destroyed the fireball. Why he thought attacking her was somehow protecting his people was going to take some more investigating.

  Having thrown the fireball and watched the dragon, Tresimiaset, destroy it with no effort at all Darian was stumped as to what to do next. He had tried to shield before throwing the fireball and found his shield did not work. He had tried to call to the others to get them to attack with him only to find he could not hear them or communicate with them in any way. He had tried to call aloud to them without taking his eyes from the threat in front of him but he had received no reply. He dared not take his eyes from the threat in front of him but he dearly wanted to check on his Lyra and the others in the meadow.

  While he stood glaring, arms crossed, at the danger in front of him she appeared to be glaring at something behind him. He did not notice, not really, his mind was busy trying to recall any information he could about the stories his mother had told him as a child. He hoped if he could remember enough he would know how to beat her, or if she could be beaten. There must be a way or his people would have perished long ago. The fact they were still here told him that when a planet killer came there must be a way to destroy it. And maybe if he destroyed the planet killer the planet would go back to the way it was before the incident three years ago.

  While these thoughts were going through Darian’s mind, Tresimiaset was busy listening to the others. It appeared that rather than come to the aid of their fire walker the others were intent on beating him. Glaring at the others she wondered how she was going to fix this situation and what Ariannia could have been thinking to let a bond be so fractured within a Lyra. There was no greater bond than a Lyra bond but it appeared from what she was hearing that Darian’s Lyra had no great love for him. He was a Chosen one, how could they not love him? If they could see Ariannia’s touch on him like she could they would love him for that alone. She did not even know if she could fix this situation with Darian.

  With a fractured bond it was no wonder Darian had flawed morals and unusual logic. The Lyra bond help stabilize a fire walker. The soul threads from each person flowed strongest to the fire walker of that generation. Good or bad the soul threads all flowed through the fire walker. It was up to the bond to balance a fire walker, and Darian was not well balanced.

  Tresimiaset watched the one ice walker approaching. She recognized him, she knew all of them, from the memories she had gotten from their dragons. The one approach
ing was Kane, and he was the one who most often went after Darian. Before she went much further she was really going to have to require all the Lyra share their memories with her. She could not fix this mess they had created without knowing their thoughts, their memories. Still watching Kane she noticed the closer he got to her and Darian the slower his footsteps became. If he got much slower he would be backing up again. Tresimiaset snorted in amusement.

  Kane was also, Tresimiaset remembered, the one hiding Malory from Darian. So many things wrong in this time she was not even sure where to start. As another fireball flew toward her she sighed, puffed it away, and made her decision. She would get Darian straightened out first. He could not go around lobbing fire balls at her. It was not done.

  Decision made Tresimiaset looped her tail around Darian and pulled him close to her mouth. With her powers she only needed one drop of blood to have every memory Darian had ever had. Using the tip of her tail she allowed the small needle in the end of her tail, created just for extracting memories from others, to stab Darian. The needle was small and barely drew a drop of blood but a drop was all she needed. She gently licked the small wound, her saliva closing the wound while her tongue drew the droplet of blood from Darian’s skin. She gently lowered Darian to the ground and using her tail she held him steady while she studied his memories.

  Sighing she looked down at Kane who, seeing what she had done with Darian was actually trying to rescue Darian from her tail. Unsuccessfully, but he was trying, which completely surprised Tresimiaset. She wondered for a moment if Kane was trying in a effort to save his own life, knowing it would end if Darian’s ended, or did he actually have some bonded feelings for Darian. According to the memories she was studying from Darian, he would not and did not know the answer to the question either. Their dragons did not even understand the emotions and the bond the Lyra shared. Seems it had only been this morning Darian had himself wondered if Kane would have his back if the need arose.

  Tresimiaset eyed the approaching group of Lyra. She had no way of knowing whether they were thinking of coming to Darian’s aid or Kane’s, she really, really needed all their memories. First things first, she froze all of the Lyra, including Darian and began again to review Darian’s memories. The memories of the stories his mother had told him as a child were faint but for her they were whole. The same memories would be faint and fragmented when Darian had tried to pull them from the recesses of his mind. Tresimiaset wanted to beat her head against the ground. With the abilities available to the Lyra by way of their watchers and the memory, or watch tower there was absolutely no way they should not be renewing their memories often. No memories from any Lyra should have ever been lost. They should have been adding their memories to the tower every year and sometimes more often than that.

  After reviewing the memories Tresimiaset began to tell the stories to Darian and the other eleven Lyra members almost as Darian’s mother had told the stories. Since Darian had obviously not been making use of the tower like a good little fire walker his review of his memories were less complete than her review. As she told the twelve Lyra members the stories she felt Darian stiffen. He had forgotten some very important details about Tresimiaset. Some details his mother had not known, such as the dragon’s name. But the important details, such as the fact Tresimiaset returned when destruction of the race was at hand was one detail the children stories had gotten right. Darian had remembered, incorrectly, the dragon and destruction of the race and grouped the two as one. The children stories had also apparently told the tale that as one planet died, or trouble arose, a portal dragon always arrived to lead the race to a new planet. Darian’s memories had the dragon killing the planet.

  As she finished the tale she could feel through the blood connection she now had with Darian his acceptance of her story. She could feel his remembrance of the tales his mother told, now complete with her help. She gently let him go when she felt his acceptance and returned to him his ability to speak and move. She waited to see what he would say. She was amused at the memories she had gotten from Kirrilla about Darian’s version of an apology. She really hoped he gave her an apology. She needed something to amuse her after all the disappointment she had faced and had yet to face when it came to the direction the race had taken in her long sleep. Oh please let him apologize Tresimiaset thought. As Darian began to speak amusement bubbled through Tresimiaset, it appeared she was going to get her wish.

  In true Darian fashion he began his apology by assigning blame, “This is all your fault you know. I would not have thrown a fireball at you if you were not the colors of a portal. My daughter had a white dog and now she doesn’t. I am guessing that is your fault also. You should fix the dog.” Darian began to wave his hands around and his voice rose with each word. “This fancy color thing you have going on does not help your stance you know. You look just like a portal. If you had announced yourself before coming here we would have been prepared but no, you had to just show up. You have only yourself to blame for me throwing a fireball at you, I hope you understand that. Maybe next time you should put some thought into how you approach people.”

  Thinking back to the memories she had grabbed from the other dragons she had released Darian’s Lyra with a thought about halfway through his blame game apology. It seemed these apologies were much funny if Sarian, Kane and Patro became involved. Immediately the three men began trying to speak over Darian. But Darian appeared to be on a roll and since he was still in the circle of her tail the three men could not get to him.

  Sarian began screaming at Darian “Shut up man, for the love of all the gods and goddesses will you shut up. And apologize to the nice, huge, can puff your fireballs away with ease dragon.”

  Kane and Patro were likewise attempting to get Darian to be quiet and apologize.

  Tresimiaset watched and listened as the four men continued to argue. Darian was not only refusing to give what Sarian considered a proper apology but was now insisting he was owed an apology while assuring the other three men his apology was right, proper and above all entirely unnecessary.

  Darian looked at the three in disgust, “I did apologize. It was her own fault. If she had not shown up looking like a, well you see her, she obviously came through the portal. She owes us an apology. She had to have come through Central and probably scared our people half to death. Did you see how big she is? We don’t even know if Central is still standing. Not only that, she owes me an apology for Bowser too. That is most certainly her fault. In fact, she owes me an apology for letting me think I owed her an apology.”

  The three men gaped at Darian.

  Oh yes, thought Tresimiaset, that logic was pure Ariannia logic. It was not enough to give Darian an extra dose of impulsiveness she had also shared her unusual ability to skewer logic beyond all recognition. Tresimiaset gave an involuntary mental shudder, that kind of logic was the very reason Ariannia and her uncle were feuding. That logic was what started wars and destroyed planets. That logic could not be fixed. This was going to be an interesting time to be awake.

  Chapter 8

  Still enclosed within the confines of the tail of the most unusual dragon Darian was coming to terms with how much his life, all of their lives were changing. He still did not know where his dragon was, he did not understand where this new dragon had come from, and he still was without a plan to save his people. But the story she had just finished telling them gave him hope.

  So he had not remembered the bedtime stories just like his mother had told him. Maybe he had gotten a few minor details wrong but this new dragon did not help matters flying in like she had, looking like she did. She really did owe him an apology for him throwing fire balls at her. No matter what his Lyra said, it was her fault. What Darian could not understand was why his Lyra could not see it the same way he saw it. Anytime something happened his Lyra always blamed him, even when it was clearly not his fault.

  She did not seem upset, if anything he had heard her snort the same kind of sound the other
dragons made when they were amused. He wished he knew why she had stabbed him with some little needle she had in the end of her tail. Struggling to move the tail he realized he was not going anywhere until she moved it. If the story she had just told them was correct she was here to save them, all of them. Not just the Deyarian race but also the Lyriant race. The sounds of his Lyra faded away causing Darian to look up at the dragon in front of him. He flinched when he saw the glare she was wearing while looking at… what was she looking at? Glancing behind him he saw the dragon was glaring at his Lyra, maybe at all the Lyra?

  Since she was not glaring at him it seemed he was right about her being the one to owe him an apology. Before he could say anything though she began again to speak into his mind. He did not like what she had to say, not one little bit.

  I need the one called Malory. Darian heard the words clearly in his mind but he did not believe them. No way was this dragon expecting him to produce that, that evil, vile youngling. Perhaps she did not realize how deceitful sorcerers could be but he would be happy to tell her.

  “Not only can I not produce Malory, I would not if I could.” Darian smugly assured Tresimiaset.

  And now it appeared he was the one who she was going to glare at. Well let her, she obviously did not know what sorcerers were like if she was wanting one. Unless, maybe, Darian thought, she did know and she was going to rid him of the sorcerer who started this whole portal mess.