by E. G. Foley
It was time to hunt for dragons.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Tower
The trail wound down the mountainside, back and forth among the gnarled trees and wind-whipped pines. They walked single file, carrying their shields and equipment. Jake scanned the woods constantly for the dracosaurs, his nerves jangling with a mix of dread and eagerness.
Dr. Plantagenet had said the colony spent most of their daylight hours sunning themselves and dozing on the rocks around the river that ran down the middle of the valley.
Lazy in the daytime, the dracosaurs preferred to hunt at night and fed mostly on the forest animals, deer and such, although they were also known to eat fish and even turtles. But they must have picked off lost peasants once upon a time because the villagers for miles around had stopped coming into this valley centuries ago, according to Dr. Plantagenet. Local lore warned that death lurked in that valley between the two mountains.
Pondering all this as he walked deeper into the valley in question, Jake felt a surge of terror quickening his heartbeat. What am I doing? This is insane.
Thankfully, Maddox spoke up before his imagination ran away with him. “Guardian Stone? Question on procedure.”
“Aye?”
“Is it correct to say that, in the event of an emergency—say, if the dragons charged us—we’re to make Mr. Munroe our top priority?”
Derek glanced back at him with a curious smile. “You tell me.”
“I believe that’s the case. After all, if Mr. Munroe gets eaten, the rest of the party is stuck here.”
“You are correct,” Derek said in approval, while Tex let out a short bark of laughter.
The Green Man instantly scolded him. “Shh! We’re trying to sneak up on these animals, remember?”
“So? I like the way this kid thinks,” Tex drawled, grinning at Maddox. “Yep, save the Lightrider first. That’d be my vote.”
Derek snorted, then glanced back wryly at Maddox. “Since some Lightriders are more prone to trouble than others, you’ll want to stick close to the one you’re assigned to, whatever the mission. The fact that your Lightrider happens to be your ride home is merely added incentive to keep him or her alive.”
The veterinarian huffed. “And I thought you were here to protect me.”
“Aw, don’t ya fret, thar, leafy boy.” Tex was clearly enjoying all this, even though the tall, slightly crazy gunslinger looked well able to take care of himself. “If things get hot, at least you can make like a tree and leave. Get it? Heh, heh.”
“Whoa! What is that?” Jake stopped and pointed at a knee-high, brown, stinking mass on the side of the trail ahead.
Maddox looked at him. “You’re joking, right?”
Jake held his nose as his nausea from the Grid jump threatened to return. He started gagging.
“Figure it out yet?” Derek asked. Even he winced at the stench.
“Dragon poop,” Jake said in a nasally voice, still holding his nose. “Ugh, get me out of here.”
Eyes watering, he hurried past the huge mound of scat and only breathed normally again once they had emerged from the woods a hundred yards or so away.
The path now led them out along a precarious stretch, with a steep rock face on their right and a sharp drop-off into the valley on their left. Jake gratefully inhaled the fresh wind that blew through his hair and paused to marvel at the dramatic mountain view. The others did the same, scanning the landscape for dragons.
Everybody shouted in surprise when they suddenly saw one jump from hilltop to hilltop in the distance and disappear again into the trees.
“Not one of the dracosaurs,” the Green Man said. “That looked like one of the larger, winged species around here.”
“Maybe a Leaping Blue?” Derek asked.
The veterinarian nodded his leafy head and set his equipment on the ground to rest for a moment. “Could be.”
Then Maddox pointed at the sky, where another dragon with a slim body and a very wide wingspan was soaring high above the ground like an eagle riding the currents of air.
“Look at that!”
“Ah, beautiful, isn’t he?” Derek said with a smile. “The Feathered Falcondrake is one of my favorites. I always wished I could’ve had one for a pet when I was a boy.”
Jake grinned at him. He had long since noticed that the Guardian was quite the dragon enthusiast.
“I didn’t realize there were so many kinds of dragons around here,” Maddox said.
“Hope they all hate these god-awful stinkberries,” Tex muttered.
“They do,” Dr. Plantagenet assured him. “They’ve learned over time that the whole plant is very toxic to them. But don’t worry. We’re in the dracosaurs’ territory. The other breeds should keep their distance.”
“Are they scared of them?” Jake asked. “I thought you said the dracosaurs were relatively peaceful.”
“Yes, but all dragons are highly territorial,” Derek answered. “Most know to stay off each other’s land unless they want a fight. They usually save the fire-breathing routine for other dragons who challenge them.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” Jake murmured. Then, searching the vista before him for more dragons, he spotted a formidable stone tower whose hulking silhouette poked above the trees on the mountain across from them. “Hey, there’s a castle or something over there!” He pointed it out to the others. “I wonder if they’ve noticed they’re, er, living in a dragon-infested forest.”
“You’d think,” Maddox agreed. “Why would anybody choose to live there? It seems awfully dangerous.”
“Oh ho, my boy, the people in there aren’t going anywhere soon,” said the Green Man. “That’s no ordinary castle, but one of the Order’s most formidable dungeons.”
“Really?” Jake said in surprise, looking at it again. “A jail?”
“Housing only the Order’s most dangerous prisoners. The warden keeps an eye on the dragon population for me,” Dr. Plantagenet added. “After all, the beasts are a calculated part of the tower defenses—a great deterrent to those who might otherwise try to escape. Prisoners don’t even bother trying to get out, considering it means crossing dragon country, on foot and alone, after dark.”
“I should think so,” Jake murmured.
“The warden of that dungeon is actually the one who sent me the Inkbug this morning about one of the dracosaur females showing signs of the dragon pox,” the doctor said. “You can imagine the disaster we’d have on our hands if it spread to other breeds.”
“On that note, we should go,” Derek said grimly. “The sooner you treat your scaly patient, the safer they’ll all be. Let’s press on.”
Something in his voice made Jake glance over at him. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Let’s keep moving.”
Guardians weren’t very good liars. Jake looked again at the tower, and, suddenly, understanding dawned. “Wait a second… Is that the jail where Uncle Waldrick’s locked up?”
“Come on, Jake,” Derek said in a low tone, turning away.
Instead of following him, Jake stared out across the valley with an icy sensation creeping down his limbs. He did not like thinking about his murderous uncle, but he belatedly recalled hearing about a year ago that the villain had been locked up in dragon country somewhere after his crimes had been exposed. There had been a trial in the Yew Court and everything, but Great-Great Aunt Ramona had shielded Jake from all the unpleasantness at the time.
At least now Jake had seen the great, green maze and met the Old Yew, who had been Uncle Waldrick’s judge at his trial before the Elders. They must have used the open space of the Field of Challenge as the courtroom, he thought, recalling Sir Peter Quince’s instant magical renovations. The Elders could probably change the setting of the field to serve as any sort of space they needed.
“You might as well admit it!” Jake prompted, catching up to Derek. “I know that’s the place.”
Derek paused and sent him a dark glance that
showed the master Guardian did not like recalling those days any more than he did. “Aye. That’s the place.”
“I knew it!” Jake murmured, then he stared at the bleak, distant tower with cold memories of hatred rumbling through his soul like thunderclouds.
Jake had managed not to think about how his uncle had ruined his life in quite a while, getting used to his new existence, reunited with his relatives.
It had been a drastic change, to be sure, going from a penniless, orphaned pickpocket to a boy-earl. But his distraction during this period of adjustment did not mean he had forgotten any of the wrongs done to him. Any of the pain. Any of the loss. Like the fact that he never even would have been an orphan if it hadn’t been for Uncle Waldrick and his greed.
And now, there the man was once more, just across the valley. Jake couldn’t believe he was looking at the very jail where his horrible excuse for a kinsman was incarcerated. How he used to strut around London like a master of the Earth. Oh, how the mighty had fallen!
He gritted his teeth with rage at the memory of Uncle Waldrick’s haughty face, with its constant expression of sneering superiority. The man had loved being the Earl of Griffon for those eleven years when Jake, the rightful heir, was missing—before Derek had tracked him down on the streets of London.
It had been a very narrow rescue, too. Waldrick’s plans for Jake had been pretty straightforward, considering he had ordered his henchmen to cut his throat.
Jake turned to the Guardian who had saved his life that awful day. “I want to see him,” he said coldly. “Take me over there when we’re done with the dragons.”
“No.”
“Why not?” he demanded.
Derek looked at him, visibly striving for patience. “It’s probably bad enough that I’ve brought you into dragon country, Jake. I’m not taking a kid into a prison.”
He scoffed. “I’ve been to jail before, remember? Or did you forget the time we both got thrown into Newgate?”
Maddox glanced from him to Derek in surprise.
“Forget? Hardly,” the big man muttered.
Thankfully, Jake’s telekinesis had proved pretty handy at getting them both out of a jail cell.
“Why in the world would you even want to see him?” Derek asked, nodding toward the tower.
“Just to spit in his face. And see him behind bars. And tell him how much I despise him. And how much I’m enjoying the life he tried to steal from me!”
Derek shook his head. “Not going to happen. Come on. Let it go for now. We’ve got work to do.”
“Derek!”
“Jake. You wanted to know what it’s like to be a Lightrider. That’s your birthday present. Coming on this mission with us. Not seeing your uncle. So, no, we’re not going over to see him. Come on. We’ve got to carry out our mission and get out of here before it starts getting dark. You want us all to get eaten?”
He heaved a disgruntled sigh, but gave up the argument and followed. “Fine.”
Dr. Plantagenet lifted the medicine sprayer back up onto his shoulder. Tex, bringing up the rear, scowled at the tower in the distance, mumbling under his moustache about lowdown, no-account rattlesnakes.
The path ahead led into another section of the forest.
As they continued down the sloping trail, Maddox fell back to walk beside Jake. “So what’s all this about? What did your uncle do to land in a godforsaken Order prison?”
“He killed my parents and tried to murder me,” Jake muttered, still upset. “He would’ve succeeded, too, if it weren’t for Derek arriving just in time.”
“He killed your parents?” he echoed in shock.
“Aye, fratricide. My father was Uncle Waldrick’s elder brother.”
“Why on earth did he kill his own brother? To get the title?”
“In part.” Jake heaved a sigh. There was nothing else to do on their hike through the woods, so he told Maddox the story in the briefest possible terms. “My father had telekinesis. That’s where I get it from. But Waldrick inherited a related talent called pyrokinesis—the fire gift.”
“Whew,” said Maddox. Everyone knew that pyrokinesis was one of the most formidable abilities anyone could have.
“I know,” Jake agreed. “Only, Waldrick was too immature to handle it. The Kinderveil had barely lifted when he fried a local village with it by accident.”
Maddox winced.
“He was only my age and was terrified by what he had done, even though it wasn’t on purpose. To protect him, his big brother—my father—agreed to help Waldrick cover up his involvement in the fire on one condition: Waldrick had to agree to let my father perform the Extraction Spell on him. My father promised him he could have his power back when he was older and better able to control it.
“Waldrick agreed to this. He felt bad about the peasants he had burnt. Maybe at age twelve, he wasn’t so far gone. When my dad performed the Extraction Spell on him, his ability was distilled into a magical vial and stored in a great vault beneath our family castle. I’ve tried to find the vault,” Jake added, “but it’s too well-hidden by enchantments. Not even the castle ghosts can show me where it is.
“Anyway, the two boys stored it there until such time as Waldrick would be old enough to handle that huge responsibility. Thing is, he never got mature, at least, not in my father’s eyes. Waldrick grew up to be rotten and selfish and corrupt, and my father knew that if his brother ever got his power back, he would hurt more people and certainly use it for evil.
“So he destroyed the vial to stop Waldrick from ever reclaiming his pyrokinesis. That’s why Waldrick killed him, and my mother, as well, and even tried to kill me, though I was just a baby. For revenge.”
“How did you survive?” Maddox asked, marveling.
“My father was already shot, but somehow kept fighting, at least long enough to buy my mother enough time to run. Waldrick shot her in the back like the coward that he is, but at the last minute before she died, she was able to hand me off to the water nymphs in the brook nearby.”
“Water nymphs!” he murmured.
Jake nodded. “They were supposed to keep me safe, but they lost me. I ended up floating off down the Thames, and nobody knew where to find me because of the Kinderveil masking my location. You know, how it’s there to keep the Dark Druids from hunting us down when we’re small? Well, apparently, it also stops the Elders from being able to locate us, too. So that’s how I grew up in an orphanage. At least until I ran away,” he added.
Maddox pondered all this for a long moment. “I can’t believe they didn’t hang him.”
Jake shrugged. “They couldn’t convict him on the murders. Everything I just told you? Nobody could prove it. I found out most of this from the ghost of the man he used as his scapegoat. The poor fool who got blamed for my parents’ murders.”
“And you believe this ghost was telling the truth?”
“Oh, yes. He got to cross over after he helped me figure it all out, so there’s proof that he was clean, right? Waldrick was the one behind it, along with his helper, Fionnula Coralbroom.”
“Sea-witch, right? I think I’ve heard of her. Pretty nefarious reputation. You do know how to make enemies, don’t you? Isn’t she the one who tried to overthrow King Oceanus of the mermaids?”
Jake nodded. “That’s her. When she got banished to the land for that, my uncle found her and they joined forces. Fionnula’s in jail now, too, somewhere at the bottom of the ocean. They both got put away on charges of kidnapping, which I guess is better than nothing.”
“Kidnapping you?”
“Me, Gladwin the royal garden fairy, and my Gryphon, and some other magical creatures they were using for experiments, trying to steal their different powers. Gladwin almost escaped, too,” he added, “but Waldrick caught her and cut her wings off! We used one of my Gryphon’s magical healing feathers afterward to help her sprout new ones, though, so it all worked out.”
Maddox furrowed his brow. “What about the other magical cr
eatures?”
“I rescued them,” Jake informed him rather proudly. “I just hope I don’t run into that grumpy cherub any time soon.”
“What?” Maddox looked askance at him.
“Oh, never mind,” he said wryly.
Charlie the sarcastic, cigar-smoking cherub had promised (or threatened?) to help Jake win any girl he wanted for his sweetheart in the future—a token of his thanks for freeing him from Uncle Waldrick’s cage.
Of course, Jake’s reaction to the thought of a girlfriend had been about the same as his reaction to the dragon poop.
But Charlie the Cherub, laughing at him, had promised he was setting aside one of his silver love arrows anyway to help Jake win his chosen lady when the time came.
The time most definitely had not come yet, but the thought of all that disgusting love stuff made him send Maddox a shrewd, sideways glance. “So you have no interest in my cousin, Isabelle, eh? Could’ve fooled me.”
Maddox colored, but he was saved from having to answer by a sudden outburst from the back of the line.
“Whoa, Nelly! Would ya look at that!”
Everyone stopped and turned to find Tex marching off the path toward a large tree. On the branches, some twelve feet above the ground, hung a torn length of shed reptilian skin with orange-colored scales. A few more pieces with discolored scales littered the ground around the bottom of the trunk.
“Don’t touch those!” Dr. Plantagenet called. “That orange color signifies the dragon pox! Obviously, we’re getting close. The infected dracosaur must have rubbed against the tree trunk to try to get some relief. The pox can make them itchy—like the chicken pox for your kind.”
“This sickness turns them orange?” Jake asked as Tex returned to the path.
“In places, yes. The dragon pox presents as blistering spots, and rusty orange patches of discoloration, as you can see in those shed scales. It’s quite painful for them.”
“No wonder they get grumpy,” Jake mumbled. He’d had the chicken pox himself when he was little.
“Fortunately, the disease doesn’t usually kill them,” the doctor said. “But when aggressive predators like dragons are uncomfortable, they’re more likely to get into fights with others in their colony, and that can lead to needless dragon deaths. We’re almost at the lookout point with a view of their main basking area,” he added. “Once we reach it, I’ll tell you all how we shall proceed.”
