by Lee Magnus
“It’s time for you to leave this place. It’s time to get back to Clara and Donald.”
Don continued to gaze distantly. “Little Don. He must be so big now.”
“Yeah. Tell me about it,” said Trey.
“He is. He and Trey are friends. Trey is the reason we’re here. Little Don needs you,” said Lyza.
Don cast his attention to Trey. “You’re his friend? Does he talk about me?”
“Well, not exactly. Donald and I know each other but we aren’t really friends. We don’t talk much.”
Don rose and walked to the window. He peeked through a crack to look over the pasture at dog-sized black-wooled sheep-like animals huddled around a trough. “What if they don’t want me back? What if they reject me?”
Trey stood and replied confidently to Don’s back, “Those are if’s that haven’t happened. Don’t be afraid of things that don’t exist. You’re here. You’re alive. They’re at home wishing for you to return. Come with us. Go home to them.”
Don braced himself against the windowsill and looked down. “I don’t know. I’ve made such a mess.”
“That’s ridiculous. There’s nothing you can do to make you unwanted at home,” replied Trey.
Don turned and in a quiet scream directed at Trey he replied, “What do you know? You don’t know what it feels like to leave your wife and child alone to fend for themselves without the smallest goodbye.”
Trey leaned back at the blast from Don then walked several paces closer looking him square in the eyes. He handed him the picture of him and his son from the office. Don took it then held his hand over his mouth as his eyes widened.
Trey’s voice was calm with a hint of disdain. “You’re right. I don’t know how that feels.” He regarded Lyza who shared an approving nod. “But I do know that if my father, who left my mom and I in a similar situation were to decide to come home, I would welcome him. I would hug him. I would be thankful he was there. I’d be plenty mad and demand explanations and apologies, but I would want him home – I want him home.” He lowered his head and attempted to wipe away the sadness. Don stepped in and held him. “I want him home,” Trey said in a whisper into Don’s chest. Lyza and Nick joined in the embrace. “I want him home,” Trey whimpered.
Don looked at the image of Donald again and said, “Ok. I’ll go home.”
“If we’re leaving, we should go now,” Lyza said pulling away from the cluster.
“Agreed,” replied Don. “But first, we have to figure out how to avoid Tanny.”
“Tanny?” Trey questioned.
“The dragon,” Nick replied dryly.
Tanarkin The Green
“Tell us about Tanarkin,” Lyza said to Don.
“Tanny? She’s green like a forest with a grey underbelly. Considering she’s the only dragon I know, she seems really reasonable – almost friendly at times. I often get the sense she’s reluctant about her purpose, like she resents Ragnistant for forcing her to be here.”
“That’s good. Maybe we can use it somehow,” Lyza added.
“No. There’s no talking to her. I think communicating with us is beneath her. She’s never spoken to me, just threats and a lot of molten fire warnings when I do something wrong.”
“Plus,” Lyza added, “if by some reason we can get a few words out, those words would have to be projected powerfully and have a specific purpose that is meaningful to her.”
“So, talking her into letting us go is out,” Nick commented drawing an eye from Lyza. “Does she have any patterns? You know, anything predictable?” he continued.
“She comes down sporadically. As long as I keep up the herds, we hardly ever see each other. I sometimes hear her outside when she feeds but other than that she stays in the mountain.”
Trey peeked through the window and said, “How do you know she knows we’re here? Maybe she just trained you to think that way. Maybe we can just walk up the hill and port out of here without her knowing,”
“No way!” Don replied quickly. “I wouldn’t try that. Once, several months ago, I casually walked to the portal. I had no intention to use it, heck I don’t have the means to use it. However, once I neared the stone, she swooped down and blasted an awful ring of fire around me separating me from the portal. She hovered a few seconds overhead to ensure her warning was received before flying back to the mountain. That was just a random day.”
“That’s how you know she’s watching,” Nick stated.
Don returned a confirming glance.
“But Ragnistant’s dead. I killed him. Won’t she let us go if I tell her? She doesn’t have to talk back,” Trey refuted.
“No, Trey,” Lyza replied. “Once dragons agree to something, nothing can keep them from seeing it through. If she agreed to watch over Don until the end of his days, that is what she’ll do – regardless of Ragnistant’s fate.”
Trey’s eyes twitched, his mind whirred. He looked distantly then said, “Would she yield to a more powerful entity?”
“What are you getting at, Trey?” Lyza asked.
“What if we could convince her that there’s a more powerful entity that demanded her to release her duty to Ragnistant?”
“You mean scare her into submission?” Don replied. “Don’t be silly. She’s a dragon,” he said putting great emphasis on the word dragon as if Trey was misinformed as to what they were discussing. “Nothing will scare her.”
“Yeah, I’m with Don,” Lyza replied. “I don’t think it’s possible to intimidate a dragon. Even if it were possible, we don’t have one of those entities handy.”
“I guess you’re right,” Trey said as if he didn’t hear her full explanation. “I need to lay down. Can I use your bed?”
“Sure, Trey. It’s on the other side of that curtain,” Don replied.
Trey walked into the room which held a long skinny bed and a single window. He sat on the edge of the bed, waived to the group then closed the curtain. The group continued to discuss ways to escape.
Trey removed the sword from his back and laid it upon the bed. He then removed the disk with completed stone and set it on the bed apart from the sword. He caressed the pouch he received from Lyza outside Jessie’s front gate as he stared at the disassembled weapon.
He spoke softly to himself, “Had I not brought us here, we wouldn’t be in this mess. They didn’t have to come. I could have ported on my own. Then they would be safe. I’m so stupid. This whole week has been a big stupid mess – and all for nothing. I failed to get the eye, I failed to rescue Don, I couldn’t even hold Sarah’s hand and now we’re stuck in this tiny house with a crazy dragon threatening to incinerate us. There’s really only one option that has a chance to work. I have to be brave. I have to be bold. I have to kill the dragon.”
~~
“I don’t think we can outrun her,” Don replied to Lyza. “It’s just too far. I should have built the house closer.”
“Could we create some sort of diversion? We could set something on fire, like this house, that would distract her and possibly block her vision of our escape,” Nick suggested.
“That could work,” Lyza said. “If we created enough of a smoke screen, she might be delayed enough for us to reach the portal.”
“We’d only have the one chance. After that we’d be sitting ducks,” Don added.
“Maybe we can just wait her out until she makes a mistake or an opportunity presents itself.” Nick suggested.
“I’ve been here four years. I think she has more patience than all of us put together.”
“What was that!” Nick exclaimed as he reflexively crouched to avoid a loud screech above his head. The farm hut shuddered violently.
“Tanny!” Don said alarmed. “She never comes this close to the house. What drew her from her roost?”
“Trey!” Lyza screamed. She jumped from the couch, darted through the curtain to find an empty bed, two empty glass bottles and an open window. She grasped the bottles and said, “Trey! No!” She hurled
herself through the window in time to see a massive green dragon descend upon the helpless child.
~~
Trey hurdled stones and avoided piles of manure as he ran through the pasture – he periodically looked over his shoulder for trouble. He lost his breath twice while scurrying up the hill causing him to slow his pace.
He nearly made it to the top when the dragon’s call detonated across the farm. It was loud and thunderous – like the roar of a mutant lizard in a movie he watched with Marcus a year or so ago. He winced at the pain in his ears as his knees buckled from dread. He almost fell but found solid footing and continued. After a few more steps while panting rapidly, he prepared himself for the uncertainty to befall him.
He held the sword in his right hand, the disk in the left at his side. He knelt as he said to himself as if in prayer, “You can do this Trey. Strong and bold. Show no fear. You can do hard things.” He studied the ground around his front foot and said, “I hope this works.” He courageously rose to face the rapidly approaching nightmare.
Lyza said as the others joined her next to the house, “Oh my, Trey. What are you doing?”
“You have to stop him!” Nick screamed at Lyza.
“We’re too far away!” she panicked. “She’s already on top of him.”
The dragon swooped low over Trey – nearly bashing him with a thick foot covered in greyish brown roots that jutted out into long sharp claws. As she turned in the sky, sunlight reflected off green leaf shaped scales. She screeched loudly through massive jaws housing a row of straight jagged teeth. Trey held his ground without taking a stabilizing step. He gripped the sword straight and strong. His front foot quivered but he remained steady.
“We have to do something!” Nick yelled.
They watched in horror as the graceful dragon swooped in again, lower this time, then hovered above. She attacked with a solid stream of molten fire.
“No!” Nick screamed as the deathly breath engulfed the child.
Lyza saw Trey briefly raise the sword. She pushed away the thought of how weak the defense looked against such a powerful creature. She stared wide eyed at the wall of fire on the hill – speechless at the loss of the teenage hero.
As the blaze quickly died down, Trey remained standing in a circle of charred earth.
“That’s the same thing she did to me!” Don exclaimed with a big smile and a chuckle.
Lyza hit him stiffly in the chest as an indication to stop making light of the situation.
“He’s still alive!” Nick yelled. “He’s still alive! Hey! Over here! Come fight us! Hey!” He flailed his arms and jumped around in a poor attempt at a distraction.
Tanarkin remained undeterred.
She screeched much louder than any time before. Trey sensed she was finished with idle threats.
Still hovering above, she dipped her head as if to strike. He leaned forward and yelled with his mightiest voice, “Tanarkin! I command you to stop!” Trey hoped the sound of a tiny bottle crushing beneath his foot didn’t give away his secret.
She pulled back from the attack, as if agreeing to Trey’s command.
He spoke directly to her mind. “I am Wallace Patrick Roberts the third. I slayed Ragnistant. Your purpose here is no longer required. You are free to go.”
She beat massive wings the color of autumn leaves before diving toward Trey. She pulled back to land gently outside the burned circle. She towered over Trey’s miniscule frame.
He sensed curiosity and purpose. “I wield Andressen’s Sword. You cannot stand against it. Yield!”
She replied to his mind in an elegant British voice, “How do you not fear me? You are just a boy. How could I possibly be commanded by a boy?”
“You can do as I say or you can die,” he replied firmly. With a great amount of effort, he hoped she wouldn’t detect his wavering confidence.
She pulled her head back, astonished at how Trey spoke to her. “You speak strongly for a mortal child and telepathic at that. Andressen’s sword, indeed. However you, a simple human boy, cannot wield its power.”
Trey wondered how much longer he could keep her talking but he couldn’t think about that. His biggest concern at the moment was not becoming a dragon BBQ.
“You aren’t listening!” he projected forcefully, hoping to buy more time.
“Our conversation is finished.” She spread magnificent wings; a rumble gurgled up from deep within her throat. Heat emanated from her gullet. She arched her neck then blasted a violent beam of fire laced plasma directly at Trey.
Lyza screamed as the others stared in shock.
The dragon’s torrent engulfed the small, heroic boy.
She took a breath revealing a burning mass twice as large where Trey once stood. She then pelted him again with another blazing barrage leaving a flaming shadow of Trey. She rose directly above and vomited a volcanic eruption onto the child below. Molten lava flowed all around and over the area where he once stood.
“Noooo!” Lyza screamed into the shoulder of Nick in a flurry of tears and anger. “He was just a boy! He was just a boy!” she continued crying violently. Nick held her tightly and shielded her from the dragon’s destruction.
Tanarkin screeched then shot from the ground soared in a tight spiral then landed before her victim to inspect the results of her barrage. She then cowered as an imperceptible fiery image of Trey slowly rose into the air.
“Impossible!” she exclaimed wildly.
“Look!” Don shouted. He’s still alive! I think.”
Lyza gasped at the hill as the tiny flaming boy rose above the colossal beast.
She looked at the empty bottles in her hand and said with proud mama eyes, “You smart boy. You brave smart boy.”
“How’s he doing that?” Nick asked. Is he still alive? How can this be?”
“I don’t know. He should be dead,” Lyza replied.
“But he’s not. At least not yet and that’s good for all of us,” Don added.
Lyza hit him again and gave him a sour face.
Trey’s eyes burned diamond white. Flaming fire licked the sword as he angled it into an attack position. He settled the rise just above her lowered head.
“Denounce your duty to Ragnistant!” Trey commanded amid fire and flame. “Tanarkin the Green. You must yield or die!”
“What’s he doing?” Don asked. “What did he say?”
“I don’t know,” Lyza replied. “But it doesn’t look like she’s happy about it nor does he have much longer on the potions.
Nick looked at her. “Did you say something about potions?”
“He took fireproof potions hoping he wouldn’t burn.” She shoved the empty bottles into his hand.
“The potions will keep him from dying?” Nick continued.
“He will die If the potions wear off before he separates the sword from the disk.”
“I’m so confused. Sword?”
“We don’t have time for this Nick,” she said impatiently. “I’ll try to explain it later.”
“Look! He’s coming down!” Don exclaimed.
They watched Trey slowly sink as the levitation potion wore off. The flame extinguished about halfway down. Trey collapsed then fell lifelessly the remaining distance onto the charred ground.
All three of the spectators gasped as they stood helplessly watching Tanarkin snatch Trey’s body into her mouth then fly away.
“Noooooo!” screamed Lyza like a wailing banshee.
A Long Drive Home
“How could I let this happen? All I had to do was keep him safe!” Lyza cried into the thin damp air.
“He should never have been here,” Nick said angrily. “Why’d you bring him!”
Don steadied Nick and said, “It’s not her fault. We’re all part of this. She did what she had to do to protect him.”
“It wasn’t enough,” Nick said coldly.
She glanced at him with puffy eyes. Her red face streaked with tears.
“This is all bad,” Don said
urgently. “But we’re still here. There’s nothing we can do for Trey now. We should take this opportunity to escape.”
“No! We can’t leave him,” Nick screamed.
“Nick. There’s nothing we can do. The dragon.” Don replied calmly.
“He’s right,” Lyza said distantly. “This is our only chance. I’ll get you two home and then I’ll come back for him on my own.”
Nick looked at her for a long minute. “You think it’s stupid – looking for Trey.”
“No. I –“
“He was – “ Nick teared up and continued, “like a son to me. His mom – ” he made a stiff fist, held it to his chest and closed his eyes. ”What do I say to her?” He opened his red streaked eyes and faced Lyza, “Don’t tell me there’s nothing we can do. I have to bring – “ he said in a strained whisper. “I have to bring him home.”
She embraced him then said into his broken eyes, “I’ll bring him home. I promise.”
He pulled away and looked deep into her blue eyes, “But you’re no match for a dragon.”
“He’s right, Lyza.” Don added. “Even you can’t come back alone.”
“I’ll bring Seth. He’ll help.”
“You better get some of his cousins too,” Nick said.
She looked at him curiously.
“He has plenty to spare,” he added.
She couldn’t hold back a single laugh. Then she cried again.
“We have to go if we’re going,” Don urged as he began walking toward the portal.
“You aren’t taking anything?” Nick asked.
“I came here with nothing, so I’ll leave the same.”
“Ok. Let’s go,” she commanded.
They climbed the hill, each looking back periodically expecting Tanarkin to appear at any moment. They arrived undisturbed at the stone. Lyza formed the key and seconds later they stood in the forest next to the old well.
