by Simon Archer
As I flew over Blenwise, once again seeing its beauty, it reminded me of the look in the Healing Dragon’s eyes when I had a vision of her. Resolve. She had the steely look of resolve that I felt in my gut. Victoria could feel it too, and it powered her to fly faster. We made it back to the Academy in record time since she was flying so quickly.
We landed, I got off, and she sat back on her haunches. She was at the ready in case I needed her again. There would be no lazy napping or playing for her this time. I truly felt like I’d found the beast-version of myself with her.
I made my way to the Academy door, and when I entered, I heard other dragons making their descent and landing as well. I headed straight for the Reflection room, pushing the doors open and rushing in. The need for quiet had left the room. Now it seemed more like a battle strategy room. I walked directly to the podium and stared at it.
I glanced up at the door, then back to the podium. I knew Gale would arrive soon, but I was wildly impatient. I closed my eyes, held my palm above the podium, and visualized the book appearing in a glowing purple light as it had done before.
When my palm began to heat up, I opened my eyes. The purple light was just turning into the swirling smoke, and the book rose up out of it, opening itself to the middle pages before gently touching down on the podium top. Then the smoke disappeared between the pages again.
That I had conjured the book shocked a large part of me. I honestly hadn’t thought my attempt would work. Apparently, Gale felt the same way because just then, she, Deyla, Heather, and Aron burst through the door, and her mouth fell open in shock.
“How did you get the book?” she called out, rushing to me. She almost seemed scared.
“The same way I seem to do most things. I think about it, and it happens,” I told her. “Now, turn to the page with the last drowning.”
Gale stared at me for a moment, but the impatience in my eyes spurred her on. She flipped through the book back and forth, looking for the entry she wanted. When she located it, she smoothed the pages open and took a step back.
“That is the last one. It involved two girls. There are many more that are nearly the same,” Gale informed me.
I ignored her and looked at the book. The pages were worn, and the writing, which it relieved me to see I could read, had a sadness to it. The words were written with some sort of quill pen, or at least that’s what it looked like. The letters were drawn out and portrayed sadness in their mere appearance.
I began reading, scouring the entry for details that may stand out as strange. I was halfway through the account of the two women who the town searched the river for when I put a finger under one of the words as I read along. I was instantly standing on the riverbank once more.
The book had pulled me into a reflection, instead of me having to read. Twice the number of women were there, swimming back and forth across the river, looking for their lost sisters. They were tireless in their efforts. Suddenly things around me started moving very quickly. It was like I was fast-forwarding through time. Then it stopped, and I watched the women slowly exit the river.
The search was deemed a failure, and we needed to make preparations for a burial service without the bodies. The women looked forlorn, some of them crying as they gathered to leave.
I turned my attention to the riverbanks, scanning them intently. The water in the river was running higher than when I’d seen it in person, so I figured I must be witnessing something that took place in a different season. Some of the grasses were taller, indicating that perhaps they were further into their growing season. That fact turned out to be advantageous as it was how I spotted what was out of place.
On the other side of the river, once again, there was a place that looked disheveled. I could understand how nobody would notice after so many people had been in and out of the river. They probably just figured that the disturbance in the dirt was from their own activities. Seeing what I had personally, I didn’t think that. I ran to the riverbank and was about to dive in when I was suddenly standing on the opposite riverbank, next to the spot I headed for. I glanced up to see the women of the search party begin to board their dragons to leave. I somehow knew I didn’t have much time left to see what I came to see.
I turned my attention to the ground around me. It had been trampled by the search party, but it was disturbed more than they would’ve done just by climbing in and out of the river.
I turned, examining the area leading off towards a field beside the river, when I saw a small sparkle in the grass. Reaching down, I grabbed at the tiny, red light shining up at me, and came up with a small ring. It was brass-colored with a single red center stone set amongst beautiful carvings. The ring was about ten feet away from the river, too far for anyone to have lost as they fell into the water. I searched the area around when the ring had been to see if any other clue may be hiding in the grass. I found nothing but the pressed-down grass itself. When I pulled the roots to one side, it looked as though someone had tried to stand it back up again.
Just then, there was a high-pitched call from the last Warrior which was the result of her launching her dragon into the air. As she raised up in the air and turned to follow the other retreating dragons, I felt my hold on the reflection fade. The further the dragons went, the more they faded, and their images were replaced with books until, at last, I was standing in the Reflection room once again. Gale was by my side at the podium, and Deyla, Heather, and Aron were on the other side of it, staring at me.
“I found something,” I said to them. “There was a spot like the one we found today. Laying yards away from the edge of the river, I saw a shine from the grass, and…” I stopped speaking when I realized that the ring I was about to describe for them was still in my hand.
“What is that?” Gale inquired, seeing me stare at it.
“It’s what I found on the riverbank. It was too far away to have been lost falling in, so either it’s a coincidence, and someone is simply missing a piece of jewelry, or the spot I saw was a place of struggle, like today’s appears to be.”
I held the ring out, and Deyla took it from me. She examined it thoroughly before passing it to Aron. The two of them exchanged a meaningful glance. Heather looked over Aron’s shoulder at the ring and then clapped her hand to her mouth.
“That belonged to one of the girls who drowned,” Aron said quietly. I couldn’t tell if she was about to cry or not, but it wouldn’t have surprised me with as much emotion as I heard in her short statement. “How can you have that?”
“I honestly don’t know how it came out of the reflection with me,” I told her. “How do you know it belonged to one of the missing?” I hoped she wouldn’t take offense, but right then, we needed information, not emotions.
“The carvings on it show that it is a family heirloom. Each Warrior and Witness family passes rings from mother to daughter. The mothers make them for their children throughout their lives, until they pass, or their daughter grows up, and no longer needs a larger size. They have their own unique carving pattern distinct to their family. This ring has the pattern belonging to the family of one of the missing.” Heather spoke strongly, and I couldn’t tell if she was upset that I asked or getting worked up about the fact that I’d found it.
I looked at each of the girls slowly. I wasn’t looking forward to saying it out loud, but I had to make them aware that there was a very good chance their women were taken, not drowned. Just before I opened my mouth to say something about it to them, I changed my mind. I decided to go into one more reflection first. If a third showed similar results, then I would tell them. I turned to Gale and nodded towards the book.
“Can you get me to the instance before that last one?” I asked her. She stepped up to the book and began turning pages again. The pages she landed on the second time looked exactly like the first ones. They were yellowed and distraught somehow. Instead of reading what was in front of me, I simply closed my eyes and laid my hand on the page. My technique worked immediate
ly, and I was at the riverbank once more.
The reflection played out just as the first one had, minus finding a ring. There was yet another roughed-up area along the riverbank that someone had obviously tidied up, just not well. When my state of consciousness returned to the Reflection room, I knew I had to convince the girls that there was a much worse problem than their women weakening without the blessings of the Healing Dragon.
“That one showed more of the same,” I reported to avoid the obvious questions. “Which means there is something so much more serious than accidental drownings going on here.” All four of them stared at me. I was certain they knew what I was about to say, but I could tell they didn’t want to hear it.
“How could we have missed all those places that were messed up?” Heather muttered.
“Very easily, especially if you went to the river focusing on looking for a body in the river. Your attention was elsewhere. I think I only saw it because I was looking through an outsider’s perspective. The sites in the reflections would’ve been just as easy to miss.” I told her. I didn’t want anyone to blame themselves. “With that said, I must tell you that I think your missing women are being taken, not drowning.” All four of them stared at me, eyes wide, and I began to question whether I’d read them wrong or not.
“I get that there were disturbances on the riverbanks,” Deyla started. “However, the one I saw today stopped. It didn’t lead anywhere. The grass and bushes were messed up in a spot, and then they were fine, clear out into the field. How could someone have not left any further sign?”
“Especially if they were dealing with a struggling woman?” Aron added.
“I don’t have an answer for you about that yet,” I replied. “I do know one thing, though. I’d prefer they be kidnapped instead of drowned.”
“Why? Some have been gone for years! If someone took them, that means they could’ve been being held prisoner this whole time, and we weren’t even looking for them!” Deyla’s voice grew higher in pitch with every word.
“I’d prefer it because it means one key thing… they could all still be alive!” I stared into her eyes, wishing I could somehow make her, and the other three women, feel better about the horror of the situation.
I could see guilt and shame in all of them for not having continued to look for their missing. It wasn’t their fault, though. Aron took a deep breath and straightened herself until she was standing as tall as she could. Her strength radiated from her suddenly.
“How do we find out if they are missing, or dead?” she asked, a fierceness in her voice. “What is our next step, Dragonmancer?” Her eyes locked with mine, and I felt her loyalty to me radiate.
“We need to prepare ourselves for a battle. Operating off the assumption that someone took the girls, we will have a fight on our hands when we find them. There’s no telling what sort of training or resources our enemies may have. We will have to be ready for anything. That means training. I’ll have to train the hardest out of everybody.” I turned to Gale, who had also set her grief aside and was standing tall. “I realize you have amazing teachers here at the Academy, but I think it best to train with the leaders of our people.” I looked to Aron, Heather, and Deyla. Each nodded their agreement before I turned back to Gale.
“Heather will tutor you on the ways of casting spells, and magic. Aron will prepare you to be a Warrior. Deyla will teach you combat flying with Victoria,” Gale responded.
“And you will be my council, along with the journal,” I told her. I got the impression that she undervalued herself at that moment.
“We need to present you to the rest of the town and Academy,” she replied after nodding her agreement. “I’ll arrange for it right away.” A sort of relief washed over us. We had a plan. Now it was time to execute. Our biggest obstacle was figuring out where the missing women were, and I silently prayed, as hard as I could, that they were still alive.
18
Gadlina
I folded up my hand-held telescope and replaced it into a slot on my waist strap. Behind me, I could hear the shouts and screams coming from the three women I’d added to my collection earlier in the day. The area had been spelled, though, so I knew nobody else could hear them. I’d spent the last couple hours watching the idiot saps down at the river, looking for the ‘drowned victims,’ laughing my ass off at them.
I had begun to worry that with the new guy in the realm, my soldiers wouldn’t be able to accomplish their task because of all the flying back and forth he and that bitch Dragon whisperer were doing. When I saw them pass, both riding one dragon and heading towards Dragon rock, I knew I’d have an opening. I immediately sent my guys to nab the girls as they bathed and braided each other’s hair.
They told me it had been the easiest kidnapping yet, which put a massive smile on my face. That meant that health in the realm was still decreasing without their precious Healing dragon.
I turned and walked to a large fire burning in the middle of the temporary camp I had set up. The fire was also enchanted so that nobody could see the smoke from it. My one advantage was that nobody knew I was anywhere near Ponatha, or even in the Blenwise realm, for that matter. I’d faked my own death, using drowning as a way out, a long time ago. That’s how I knew it would work to trick the town into thinking their missing had drowned. I would’ve been a bit happier if I hadn’t seen the man at the river transform the water the way he did, though. That was magic that no normal Ponathian should be able to possess, and that could only mean one thing. He must be a Dragonmancer. He’d only been in the realm a couple of days, so he was progressing in his powers very quickly, which could mean bad news for me. I wasn’t super worried about him, but to be on the safe side, I was going to need to step up the timeline for my plan.
The girls’ screams made me turn my head. My soldiers had them chained together and were marching them off to introduce them to their new home, and teach them their new roles. It was a process that sometimes took years, but eventually, when the girls realized that nobody was coming to rescue them, they accepted their fate and faded into the background to avoid further pain being inflicted for their defiance. One of the most satisfying things to see was the light fade out of a Ponatha Warrior’s eyes. It showed how much more powerful I was than they were, a fact that no Warrior in my life seemed to grasp when I was one of them.
Plus, over the past decades, and with the help of my second-in-command, who was better at magic than any other woman I knew, our hostages were producing children to up our army’s numbers. It would take hundreds of years to build up enough of an army to take over the realm, but I didn’t need just sheer manpower. I had a secret weapon that nobody, not even my own soldiers knew about, that would make taking over Blenwise easily possible. I simply needed a little more time.
Since the kidnapping had met the day’s objective, it was time to relax and enjoy being served and pampered by my slaves. I snapped my fingers, and the two women nearest me rushed to my side.
“Get me a pint of ale and work the knots out of my shoulders,” I told the first one. Turning to the other, I smacked her on her near-bare ass. “Lap dance, now.”
The women obeyed immediately, careful not to look me in the eye while they did so. I knew they were still not used to serving a woman like me, or anybody for that matter. I took a moment to look around my camp. Some of my soldiers were drunk, playing dice games and getting rowdy, while others were lounging and getting foot massages. It was a well-deserved lazy day now that the work was done. Just as I was getting relaxed enough to doze off, an idea came to me.
I needed to keep the new guy in town busy so that he didn’t have time to learn more about his powers. I had just the thing that would bring any sap with a conscious running. I sat up in my chair and looked around for my most sober soldier. Spotting a group that was eating by a cooking fire, I got up and went to them, making certain they pepped up by rattling the chains in my long, braided hair.
“You have another job to do, but yo
u’ll have to do it at night,” I told them. Their action-hungry eyes looked up at me with excitement.
“What is it?” the largest of the group asked.
“I have a few details to work out, so I’ll let you know just before sundown. Don’t worry. You’ll have fun with this one.” I laughed as I returned to my chair, thinking of the panic I was about to cause some people.
I thought back to when I lived in Ponatha, many years ago. I didn’t matter to any of them. None of them could see that I was destined for greatness, even if I didn’t have some of the natural, magical abilities they did.
They were all so focused on ‘the good of the realm’ that they missed their opportunity to make something of themselves, something for themselves. I finally got so sick of listening to everyone praising their roles as the supporting cast that I had to leave. I managed to take my best friend with me, who was particularly good at magic, and easily manipulated, and the two of us built our first army with a few men we’d nabbed along the way.
We’d attacked Ponatha long ago and were so close to overtaking the realm that I could taste it. Unfortunately, the damn leaders were having some sort of meeting, or gathering and we ended up going against the strongest Warriors, and they were too much for us. They were too strong. I retreated, knowing I needed a different angle, one that would make them weak so that when we attacked again, they wouldn’t be able to fight us.
I smiled at the knowledge that what I was planning for that evening would throw the town into a panic but my mini-plan for that night wasn’t even about the whole town. It was about getting the Dragonmancer and his side-kick Dragon Whisperer out of my way. I hated Deyla with everything in me. She had denied me a dragon based on a ‘feeling’ she’d had when we were young. I settled back into my chair, and my slaves began rubbing me down as I’d instructed them. I could finally relax, knowing that all the pieces I’d manipulated and waited for to fall into place were beginning to tumble to their spots in my scheme. I would rule Ponatha, and all of Blenwise before anyone knew what hit them.
