by Riley Storm
“It’s active,” one of the dragons said nervously, taking a step back. “What do we do? This hasn’t happened before.”
“We should go,” another dragon said, looking over his shoulder toward Trent and thus the exit.
“Absolutely not,” a third dragon said, his voice brooking no argument.
Trent eyed Caladin, a captain in the Gate Guard, and likely the one in charge of this watch. The man was not one to back down. If something was to come through, the dragons would be ready for it. They would fight and—
Trent paused as he took another step closer to the flickering Gate, his blue eyes widening in surprise.
“Can’t you feel that?” he asked, taking another step forward, the sensation increasing, confirming his suspicion.
Four heads turned to face him.
“Feel what?” Caladin asked suspiciously.
Trent frowned at them. “Fire?” he asked with sudden insight.
“Lothek here is ice,” Caladin said, hooking a thumb at the dragon who had suggested they leave. “The others are fire, yes.”
“There’s an energy,” Trent said, his eyes fixated on the Gate. “Something…in the Gate itself. I can feel the power. It must be similar to that of a storm, hence why I can feel it.”
Caladin looked at him, then at the Gate. “Can you do anything about it?”
Trent frowned. It was a good question, but he didn’t know the answer to it. “Maybe?” he said, shrugging. “To my knowledge this has never happened before.”
“Well, we don’t have any other options. Try it,” Caladin ordered, taking responsibility for whatever the result would be.
Trent took a deep breath, raising a hand to the Gate. Around him, the wind swirled faster, the noise increasing in volume, quickly headed toward a gale force shriek. Bits of dust and tiny stones whipped by, peppering the dragons, though it was more of a distraction than anything.
Narrowing his eyes, Trent poured power into his palm, and a blast of lightning shot toward the Gate. All five dragons watched as the bolt was absorbed by the tear in reality and the entire thing shivered and then seemed to grow again. Not by much, maybe six inches, but enough that it was noticeable.
“Uh,” Trent said, taking a step backward. “Maybe I shouldn’t do that again.”
“Probably a smart idea,” Caladin said hastily. “Very smart.”
“Yeahhhh.” Trent’s voice trailed off as he looked around. “Is it just me or is the light in here growing dimmer?”
Although the dragons did not need the light to see, they kept a number of torches burning around the chamber at regular intervals. Some of the things that could come through the Gate could hide in the slightest of darkness. It was best not to give them anywhere to do so.
However, as the wind swirled faster, the room was beginning to darken. The torches were flickering wildly, casting shadow and light in ever-changing patterns.
Trent blinked rapidly as some debris made its way into his eye. He snarled and rubbed at it gently until it came out, the relief palpable. Nothing like getting rid of something that didn’t belong.
He looked up sharply at that thought, his gaze focusing on the Gate itself.
“That’s it,” he said thoughtfully.
“What? What’s it?” Caladin demanded to know, his voice tinged with concern over the situation.
“Have to get rid of what doesn’t belong,” Trent said.
“Um, in English?” Caladin asked.
“The energy!” Trent cried. “Don’t you get it? There’s too much! It’s overpowered. I need to drain it. To remove the excess energy if I want to stabilize it. But I don’t think there’s much time.”
Caladin nodded. “Do it!”
Trent snarled. It wasn’t that easy! “You!” he barked, stabbing a finger at Lothek. “Get to the surface and fetch Damien. Send him down here immediately.”
Lothek was gone in an instant, accelerating from standstill to a human sprint in two paces and then faster still as he rounded the corner and raced up the incline toward the surface where the second half of the guard, another four dragons, awaited. Trent knew that in thirty feet, Lothek would be moving at a clip no human could ever reach.
He just didn’t know if it would be enough. Trent needed Damien and needed him now, if he was going to succeed. The dragon shifter was going to be their only hope.
“No time,” he growled as the Gate flickered and energy surged through it again. “There’s no time!”
Stepping forward, he offered up a prayer to any entity watching.
“Trent, what are you doing?” Caladin demanded to know, reaching out a hand to grab his shoulder and stop him from going any closer.
“Have to siphon some of that energy off,” he said helplessly. “It’s not going to last the few minutes before Damien gets here.”
“How can you know that?”
Trent smiled weakly. “I can feel it, boss. Whatever is going to happen, it’ll happen. Now, let me do this. You all take cover.”
“Cover?”
But Trent was already walking forward toward the portal. There was no time to hesitate, no time to second guess.
An image of Lilly flashed before his eyes. Short, thick, lovely Lilly. Trent latched on to that thought, filling his mind with images of her, of something he found himself unexpectedly enjoying.
Armored with the thought of her, Trent took one last breath and plunged his hand out toward the edge of the Gate.
Energy immediately surged through his fingers and down his forearm. It burned its way up through his biceps and spread throughout his core. After less than five seconds, Trent was sure he couldn’t take anymore. It was too much.
He tilted his head back and screamed as the pain ripped through his nerve endings, turning his body into one giant mass of agony.
But still he sucked down more. His body was so taut with energy that his skin started to split, scales ripping their way through it instead of the way they normally shifted.
Too much. It’s too much.
His throat torn ragged from screaming, Trent reached out with his left hand and let go, unleashing some of the power he held within.
Sheet lightning filled the chamber with blinding blue-white light, blasting into solid rock in a dozen different locations. It also slammed home into the stomach of one of the fire dragons, hurling the unsuspecting shifter back into the wall where he dropped limply to the ground with a groan.
Trent stared in horror, even as his body continued to refill with energy. There was so much. He couldn’t possibly hold it all within him. His scales were starting to tear in places along the arm that touched the portal. The hard blue dragon armor was cracking rapidly as white lightning appeared below the surface.
“I can’t hold it!” he shouted, and another blast shot from his left hand. He tried his best to direct it away from the others, but even so, they were still showered with rocks that fell from the ceiling. One large piece of stone nearly crushed Caladin as he hauled the other dragon on his feet toward the exit.
“I’m here!” a voice bellowed as a new dragon burst into the chamber. “What do you need?”
Trent let out a scream, and a third barrage of sheet lightning washed across the chamber. One bolt shot toward the newcomer, Damien, but the dragon gestured contemptuously and a curtain of earth arose in front of him, absorbing the energy.
“I have to ground it!” Trent shouted. “The energy. I need to ground it!”
Damien stared at him wide-eyed. “Here?”
“Now!” Trent shrieked, feeling the power shoot from his eyes into the rock.
Damien looked around and then dove closer to Trent, slamming both hands on the ground.
“Hurry,” Trent groaned, his scales breaking and healing repeatedly as the energy tried to win free. He’d only let a fraction of it go, just enough to keep himself alive.
“I’m working,” Damien snarled. “There’s not much to go on here. And moving it through this is… Shut up and le
t me work.”
Trent howled with renewed agony. Lightning played across his teeth, and he felt it dive toward his brain. The dragon inside him was bellowing its anger and hurt in time with him, but there was nothing they could do but hang on. Just a bit longer.
Beneath Damien’s hands, a copper pole began to emerge from the earth.
“Not yet!” the earth dragon howled, his forehead strained, veins popping out from the sides of his temples, sweat pouring down his bright red cheeks as he used all his energy. “Almost!”
“It has to be now!” Trent screamed as his scales split apart and refused to heal, lightning spraying wildly around the chamber.
“There!” Damien gasped, falling backward. “Best I could do.”
The earth dragon’s eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed limply against the pole. Cursing, Trent hauled back with a foot and kicked Damien away. Nothing living could touch the pole.
Lightning transferred through his boot into Damien, tossing him clear across the chamber and into the rock wall. There was no time for worrying about that, though. If Trent didn’t disperse the energy in him, he was going to explode, quite literally, and not long after that, the Gate would succeed in whatever it was trying to do.
Howling against the wind that shrieked through the cavern, Trent extended his left hand to the pole. As he got closer, the first bolts of lightning found the metal conductor and raced from his body into it. That slight reprieve was all Trent needed, and he slammed his palm home.
Energy surged through his body, suddenly freed, finding a way out into the metal pole. It shot down into the earth and dissipated through the ground. Trent howled as his body was used as a conductor, but the pain was only temporary. The energy battered his body, but it only lasted for a dozen seconds or so.
Then, all at once, everything was calm. The portal returned to its normal size and state, and Trent collapsed to the ground with a wheezing groan.
Seconds later, footsteps pounded into the chamber as all the remaining guards appeared. Caladin barked orders, and several of them went to help the coughing Damien to his feet.
Others approached Trent, albeit warily. None of them wanted to get a blast of lightning to the face.
“It’s okay,” he groaned. “It’s okay. It’s done. It’s over.”
Caladin approached and crouched at his side. “What about you, how are you?”
Trent gave him a look and then raised a thumb. “Never better.”
Caladin snorted. “That was really something, Trent. You were good. You saved us.”
“Oh, please,” Trent said, dismissing the praise. “I did not. I had a stupid idea, and I went ahead without thinking it over. It just happened to work. Let’s not praise stupidity, okay?”
The captain frowned at him. “Don’t dismiss what you did here, Trent. It was courageous and some might even say heroic.”
Trent’s eyes clouded over with icy anger. “It was stupid and dangerous. I’m the only one here dumb enough to try it. Nothing more.”
Caladin looked unhappy, but he didn’t fight Trent a second time.
“Right. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go do my first half of my shift up top,” he said. “After four hours, I’ll come down to stand guard here.”
Caladin nodded. “Of course. I have to send word. The Clan leaders need to know what happened here.”
“Just tell them about the portal,” Trent growled. “Leave me out of it as best you can.”
“You deserve praise,” Caladin pointed out.
Trent snarled at him and got to his feet, ignoring the pain of his body. He would heal, given time, but he didn’t want to do so while listening to the undeserved praise. “I don’t deserve shit.”
Then, he marched unsteadily out of the chamber, leaving the others to their duties.
Praise, hell. If they only knew the truth, they’d be telling me it wasn’t enough. I’ve got a lot to make up for.
Chapter Eight
Lilly
The following morning, she approached her shop with more than a little trepidation. A nagging voice in the back of her head kept asking ‘what’s going to go wrong today?’ because inevitably something would. Whether it was the graffiti from the anti-dragon folks or the casual destruction by a dragon, it seemed that neither side liked the idea of her store.
Which was totally unfair because Lilly knew that she was far from the only person with the idea to open a shop based around the creatures formerly of myth and legend. She just happened to be the first one to get the ball rolling in Five Peaks, having worked at a frenetic pace for the past two weeks to get everything into place. Her store was still far from fully stocked, but every day she was getting closer.
Assuming someone doesn’t decide to simply knock the place down next time.
However, as she parked in the spot out back, she set her mind to eradicating such negative thoughts. This was going to succeed. She was not going to fail. Regardless of how alone she felt now, once she actually opened, things would get better. She believed that with all her heart.
Silence greeted her when she unlocked the rear door, but that was to be expected. She’d had no luck in getting an electrician out to inspect all the damage Trent had done to her store, and it would be another day or three at least before she could. There weren’t many qualified electricians in Five Peaks, and demand was shooting up all across town due to the influx of people everywhere thanks to the dragons.
“Well, I’ll be darned,” she said after a quick perusal of the store. “Everything seems to be the way I left it.”
The tarp that she’d hastily taped over the broken window billowed and snapped as a wind picked up on the street out front, but it was still in place. Unlocking the front door, she stepped out to regard the front of the store.
“No graffiti,” she said, satisfied that other than the blue tarp, everything was as it should be. “Today is going to be a good day.”
It would be even better if Trent came back.
“Stop it,” she hissed sternly at herself. “No more dwelling on that jerk.”
“What jerk?”
Lilly stiffened, turning swiftly to see Trent striding down the street toward her, two paper cups in hand.
“How the hell did you hear that?” she asked, astonished. She’d not been speaking very loud at all.
“No cars. Dragon hearing. Picks up lots of things,” he said with a shrug. “Like the sudden increase in your heartbeat when you saw me.”
Lilly rolled her eyes. Like he could actually hear her heart beating! He was just trying to get a rise out of her.
Wasn’t he?
She suddenly wondered if he was joking or telling the truth. After all, her heart was beating faster now. Lilly swallowed nervously.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, changing the topic.
“I told you,” Trent explained. “I’m here to help.”
Lilly shook her head. “Well, you cleaned up your mess. Ta-da. Thank you, but I’m good.”
He tilted his head at her, and she could all but hear him say ‘really?’ in a dry sarcastic manner. “Of course. You got all those bulbs replaced then, did you? What about all the repairs? Those done too?”
Lilly opened her mouth so she wouldn’t grind her teeth together at his tone. It wasn’t patronizing, except insofar as he knew she hadn’t done any of that.
“No,” she said. “I haven’t gotten that done. I’m not sure I have the money for that, as I told you yesterday. Bulbs are one thing, but any replacement wiring? Something else entirely.”
“Coffee?” Trent asked, pushing one of the cups toward her. “I have a bag of all the stuff you can put in it in my back pocket. I didn’t know what you liked.”
Lilly stared at the proffered cup. “What are you doing?” she asked, shaking her head.
“Are you okay?” Trent said, peering down at her. “Hit your head this morning? Get dropped on it as a kid? Are you drunk? Come on, Lilly, why is it so
hard to believe that I’m here to help? I caused this damage. I’m going to fix it.”
“I don’t want your money, Trent,” she said, shaking her head.
“Coffee?” he repeated, waggling the cup at her slightly. “I feel like you’re one of those who is really irritated until you get your caffeine dose in the morning.”
Lilly glared at him, but she sighed helplessly and took the coffee. “Thank you.”
Far be it from her to forget her manners. She wasn’t going to let him have that one on her, nosireee. Not this man.
“I’m serious though, Trent. I don’t want your charity,” she said, though that wasn’t her real reason.
Lilly didn’t want anything that came with a catch. She was tired of owing anyone anything. That was why she was determined to be her own boss. To be the one in charge. Not dependent on anyone. Not her parents, not Trent, nobody. Just her.
“Fine, fine, whatever. I’ll go see what you need, go buy it, and then leave it all in a heap out back. Then, to satisfy your hard-on for rejecting assistance from those who just want to help, you can walk out back and pretend that it magically showed up.”
Her mouth opened to fire back, but Trent wasn’t done.
“You need this stuff. I’m offering because I broke it. So stop being prissy about it and let me help. I’m not showing up out of nowhere like a fairy godmother and offering to grant you favors. I’m just undoing the damage I caused. Get over yourself.”
Teeth clicked together as her jaw snapped shut. She glared up at him, but the look just washed over him.
“Do you have any sugar?” she ground out. “At least this can be sweet.”
Trent’s eyes crinkled as he grinned at her, the lopsided look turning his normally handsome face into something almost boyish and charming instead. It was devastating, and Lilly had to look away.
Who is he? This isn’t fair.
“You know, one thing you can do that I’ll accept without an argument, is explain to me just how the hell you did what you did?” she asked. “Blowing all the wiring? That’s not easy. Did you bring a portable generator by or something? I don’t get it.”
Trent shrugged. “I’m a storm dragon. It was easy. I just discharged some energy into the lines.”
