Dragon Bonded: A Bumblespells Novel

by Kath Boyd Marsh

  “That can’t be right. There’s all that stuff about it being meant for the Dr’gon and wizard bound by a Heart Oath,” Hazel said. “That’s Cl’rnce and Great and Mighty.”

  Gaelyn said, “What if together they can harness the power of the Fang, but separately no. Although why would it be poisonous to a Primus? I mean it came from a Primus. It doesn’t make sense. Are you sure you’re reading that right?”

  Great and Mighty ignored the question, her eyes boring into the book. “Do you want to know why Monad is seeking Gaelyn?” Great and Mighty asked, stabbing the page with one finger.

  “Oh, let me tell her,” a voice that slid along notes of poison and death, came from across the chamber.

  Everyone turned or looked up.

  The unicorn, its eyes scorching red, stood in the window-slit casing above the kitchen gardens. She jumped to the floor and bowed, her horn almost touching the floor. “Monad to you. I’m here for what is mine.”

  Despite all the talk about Monad, Gaelyn gasped at the sight of the unicorn so close to her once again. She looked exactly like the one from the forest long ago, down to the peculiar double twist at the base of the horn.

  No one moved, except the unicorn and Gaelyn. Looking around, Gaelyn decided Monad had paralyzed the rest with a spell. Slowly the unicorn moved, floating along the stone floor. “You know me,” Monad said. It was a statement, not a question.

  Gaelyn nodded, unwilling to say her name. There was power in names. Using the unicorn’s name would give Gaelyn power, but would the power diminish with usage of the name? She had heard of such a thing in the Fae Courts. She would not be tricked into using up the name’s power simply by addressing the evil creature.

  The unicorn float-strolled the length of the room, her tail swishing and her hooves lifting high like she was in a one unicorn parade. She didn’t bother to keep her eyes on anyone. It was as if she was perfectly sure she had all the power. Gaelyn was afraid she was right. The unicorn stopped by the tables and looked at the scrolls and books on top. She snorted and paced over to Cl’rnce. “Foolish Primus. How can someone with that kind of responsibility be so ignorant?” She made an ugly sound that might have been a laugh.

  She stopped in front of Gaelyn. “I’m not really here anymore, you know. What you think you see is wrong. In your Dr’gon plane those others are trying to revive you as you lie immobile. You are the one frozen in time. With me.”

  “Why me?” Gaelyn asked. “I know you’re here for the Fang. Why even spend a minute with me?”

  “Oh, for a very good reason. Like I said. We are not here. Well, you are, but I’m in your head. You just think you see me. I am very good at projections. You know, making people see what I want. I can do that across planes. But …”

  Gaelyn finished for her. “But you cannot travel to the Dr’gon Realm without help? That was what happened to you after the Fae and Dr’gon war? You need me to bring you here to collect the Fang. No, that’s not right. I saw you in the garden, and I didn’t help you cross.” She envisioned herself pacing, and only went two steps before she knew. “You were forbidden the Dr’gon Realms along with the Fae, but when a Fae managed to get here, so could you. I opened the way all those years ago.”

  The unicorn’s eyes sparked for a moment.

  “I’m right. But why didn’t you take the Fang before now?” Gaelyn felt like the sun had exploded light over all the mysteries. “Because you can’t move it without me, can you? That’s why you need me. But I won’t do that.”

  Monad paced around Gaelyn. “Oh, I think in the end you will. I’m rather impressed you figured out so much. A moment ago you were clueless, and now you’ve almost got it all.”

  “I think I do have it all,” Gaelyn said. “You had to wait until there was a Fae in the Dr’gon Realms. You had to wait a long time for a Fae, and then … I was there years before you started all this. I wonder why?”

  Lilias snorted.

  “Ah. Because my uncle kept my whereabouts secret. You didn’t realize I was here. But why do you need me to collect the Fang? Did you somehow poison Cl’rnce after all?”

  Monad bowed. “You are so close. Why would I not poison the Primus? It only took a whisper in his ear while he slept, which he does so often, that he should explore a certain tower. Did I need to apply poison when it’s said the Fang makes its own poison? And why would I not stir up things in Elm? I have brought you to me as well as the Fang. If you and your Dr’gon could read Ancient Dr’gon, you’d know why I need you and how everything is falling in place for me to get the power of the Fang and finally take the Dr’gon Realms as mine.”

  Her years of lessons from Dr’gons and wizards gave Gaelyn what she needed now. The first thing a Dr’gon did when faced with a problem was to be logical. Look at their own power and look at the enemy. Monad was the same unicorn as long ago. Gaelyn’s uncle had known the unicorn was a danger to Gaelyn. Monad needed Gaelyn; had Uncle Firth known that too? He’d hidden her at Wiz-Tech. He’d used Silkkie as Gaelyn’s familiar to help her get to the Dr’gon Realms. Gaelyn became the first Fae to cross to that plane since that Fae and Dr’gon war where the First Primus had been killed. The inability to cross to Albion for Fae and for the unicorn was a curse left by the First Primus.

  Gaelyn might be in the clutches of Monad now, but she shouldn’t be. She had spent years learning the powerful Dr’gon Magick. She was not the usual wizard or Fae. She was special. She was what Uncle Firth had promised, one of the most powerful Fae Queens ever. She just needed to act like it.

  To start she had to break out of this spell Monad had managed, and more importantly she had to banish the unicorn once and for all. Monad intended to destroy the Dr’gon Realms. Even if Gaelyn returned to rule Elm Court, and Hazel and she were never Partners again, Gaelyn would not allow Monad to accomplish her goal.

  She had an idea, and it was risky, but the way Monad acted like she was too special to be argued with … this might just work. “You’re so wrong,” Gaelyn imitated Monad in a high pitched whiny voice. “You can’t make me do anything. You’re not even here. Why should anyone fear a creature who isn’t even here? Really, don’t make me laugh.” She forced a deep belly laugh.

  She hoped irritating the prideful unicorn would divert her attention and allow Gaelyn to use her own powers. It worked. The unicorn’s eyes flared red and orange. While her hate was directed at Gaelyn’s insolence, Gaelyn felt the unicorn’s power around her lessen. As soon as she did, Gaelyn used her Fae and Dr’gon Magick and broke the spell. While freeing herself, Gaelyn felt the truth. The unicorn had projected nothing but a paralyzing spell. She was not a projection working from a far plane. She was here, in Albion. It was only Gaelyn who was in a dream state. Gaelyn reached out to snatch an edge of the unicorn’s power to use against Monad. She’d have to work fast. Gaelyn doubted this small stolen power would last long.

  Faster even than Gaelyn had hoped, she was awake in a room full of concerned friends.

  Hazel reacted. “What the river rats and dead fish are you doing?” Hazel roared. “You, unicorn! You paralyzed my Partner! You trespassed in my kingdom!” She stomped toward Monad, flame leaking out of her muzzle.

  While Monad was trying to defend herself from the angry Dr’gon, Gaelyn hoped the unicorn’s attention would be diverted long enough for Gaelyn to cast a strong binding spell that would incapacitate the unicorn. Silkkie leaned against her. Gratefully, Gaelyn felt the power of the little Jinn melding with hers. She would be able to use it without instructing Silkkie first.

  “You cannot touch me. I will kill you.” Monad’s horn changed. It was no longer crooked and pearly like the rest of the unicorn. The straightened bulge had a dark green color and a moldy smell. It was as if Monad was arming her poisonous horn.

  Monad lowered her head, the green glowing horn aimed at Hazel.

  There was no time to cast a binding spell or anything else that might not work. Gaelyn cast a spell that scooped up Cl’rnce, Great and Mighty, Silkkie, J
eschen, herself, and Hazel. In a panicked wink she used her magick and Silkkie’s to move them all out of the Dr’gon Realms into the In Between.

  If Gaelyn was right, Monad would follow. Clearly, she had more power than Gaelyn had expected. Gaelyn hoped that the In-Between planes she would lead Monad through would drain some of the beast’s powers.

  She didn’t know enough about this unicorn, and she needed to figure out Monad’s weaknesses. Gaelyn remembered from the Magick in the Living Creatures class that if a creature was pearly in coloring, it needed to be in the presence of a crescent moon or the full sun. Normal unicorns fed primarily on moonlight with the occasional rare sunbeam. Surely Monad was the same. In the In Between planes, a creature’s power could not grow, or even maintain, without a strong power source. Gaelyn’s plan should work because the unicorn’s power should drain away without moonlight for Monad to use to power her magick.

  Moving out of the Dr’gon Realms’ plane felt like being pushed by thundering water down a water fall. Gaelyn was a bit dizzy when they stopped between planes in a vast space filled with mostly nothing and little light.

  Using the In Between places and planes was new to Gaelyn. It wasn’t like the border forest between Summer and Elm Courts. Crossing the planes was difficult for Fae, but she still had Silkkie to help. Her bigger problem, like Monad, would be conserving her strength and energy. As an Elm Fae, Gaelyn would grow weak being away from plant life for too long. Her group had to cross the planes quickly, staying on each only long enough to lure Monad to a place where Gaelyn could finally fight the hopefully weakened unicorn.

  Hazel was the first to speak once they had stopped. “Where are we?”

  Before Gaelyn answered, Great and Mighty spoke at the same time as Jeschen. “An In Between place.”

  Cl’rnce burped. “I need food. I’m very hungry. Is there food?” He sat up looking very like his old self. Except Gaelyn could sense that he was so weak that he was on the verge of collapsing again. She sensed Death near him. It shouldn’t be, but it was. Whatever she did, she had to take care of Monad super fast and then rescue Cl’rnce for once and for all. The others didn’t seem to sense what she did. Even Great and Mighty seemed not to feel the precarious edge between life and death where Cl’rnce hovered. Hazel smiled and rolled her eyes, and Great and Mighty laughed and grabbed his arm, causing the two of them to float away through the emptiness.

  “Better draw them back in,” Silkkie said. “You’re going to need them any moment.” Her voice was ragged, as if she’d used a lot of energy to help Gaelyn bring them here.

  Gaelyn asked, “Can you sense her coming?”

  Silkkie looked up and around. “No. But she will follow. Unless you warded your magick, it will be easy for her to follow.”

  “We must leave,” Gaelyn said, worrying she’d made a mistake. She had to believe she hadn’t; she couldn’t go back and start all over.

  “I think she’s coming, so we must leave a trap to tie up Monad,” Great and Mighty said. “I have an idea for one. Why don’t we run, but leave behind vision-creatures?”

  “Huh?” Cl’rnce said. He pulled at the pouch Great and Mighty wore on a rope around her waist. He peered in. “No food?”

  She gently swatted him away. “No food.” She went on explaining, her eyes pinned to Gaelyn. “We make creatures that look like us. They don’t have to exist for long. Just long enough for us to escape.”

  “She’ll trail you anyway,” Silkkie said.

  “She will, but we’ll go all kinds of places. Lose her,” Great and Mighty said.

  Gaelyn was proud of Great and Mighty and her ideas, but now she wasn’t sure she had the strength to do this. And then there was this life and death threat she sensed on Cl’rnce. Was there time?

  “Good idea,” Cl’rnce said. “Let’s start with a place with all kinds of cakes and breads. Do unicorns like cake and bread?”

  “Yes,” Hazel said. “Don’t you remember anything from school? They are fools for desserts. I’m just surprised you thought of something useful.” She cupped a paw as if to smack him on the back of the head, but instead pulled him close and gave him a hug. “This may be a good idea, but you are still one stupid brother.” She pushed him away.

  “I love you too,” Cl’rnce said, not looking at her.

  Jeschen cleared her throat. “I know it sounds kind of suspicious coming from me, since you thought I poisoned Cl’rnce, but what if we do go to that dessert place and not run? Instead we poison Monad?” She looked down at her bare feet. “Maybe not poison, just make her go to sleep or something.”

  “I don’t trust you,” Hazel said in her no-argument voice.

  “Why? And who are you?” Cl’rnce said, peering at Jeschen. “Wait! I know who you are! You’re that mean chef’s mean substitute. You told me I couldn’t have raspnuts.” He looked around, suddenly looking guilty. “I’m not saying nothing.”

  “Good for her,” Hazel said. She pushed her muzzle close to her bother’s and growled.

  He snorted.

  Gaelyn shook her head. They wanted to act like it was any normal day, but she could feel Death creeping closer to Cl’rnce. Why was Great and Mighty, who was so connected to Cl’rnce, acting like everything was fine?

  Gaelyn watched the little wizard. For a second Great and Mighty’s eyes squeezed shut, and she rubbed them quickly with her fists. Gaelyn saw tears on the little wizard’s hands as she pulled them down to her side, flicking a look at Gaelyn. Great and Mighty shook her head quickly. She knew how perilous this was for Cl’rnce, but she was trying to make him feel better.

  “Get going!” Silkkie said. “Get us out of here. Now!”

  Gaelyn felt the cold of an approaching hostile creature, but her energy had waned again. “Help me, Silkkie, Great and Mighty. I’ll direct where we go, but I need you to transport us. I’ve been too long away from greenery. My powers have faded.”

  “No worries. Just tell me where, and I’ll take care of everything!” Great and Mighty said.

  Silkkie shuddered.

  Hazel grabbed her Wizard Partner just as Gaelyn’s legs folded. Holding her up, Hazel ordered, “Great and Mighty get us all out of here. Can you do it?” She studied her exhausted Wizard Partner’s face. “Can you do this, Gaelyn? Great and Mighty will try hard, but we need you and Silkkie.” As soon as she said that, Hazel caught herself. She’d been so angry with Gaelyn for lying, for not trusting her enough to share her secret, for being the Fae Queen the scroll said would hurt Cl’rnce, but when it got down to it, they were friends. She couldn’t let the lies between them, some of them her own, drive them apart. And right now, she couldn’t even be sure she’d translated the scroll correctly. She hoped it was all wrong about her friend who had done nothing but try to help.

  “What can I do to help?” Hazel asked.

  Holding onto Hazel’s arm, Gaelyn wobbled to her feet. She began to speak, but Great and Mighty interrupted, “I’ve got this. Where next?” Great and Mighty’s hands made complicated designs in the air. She pointed at each of them and then whirled her finger in the air like she was stirring a pot.

  “To Greater Haven,” Gaelyn said. “I need the plant life, the greenery.”

  Hazel nodded at Great and Mighty encouraging her to transport them all to the mythical plane known for its gardens. It was said every kind of plant had a place there in one of the one hundred gardens. If Gaelyn believed it existed, then Hazel decided it did.

  “Grater Haven?” Great and Mighty looked puzzled, but she shrugged and snapped her fingers.

  In an instant they were all in a place with plenty of light, and a lot of rocks and sand. All of it stirred in a strong wind that pushed the debris around polishing the rocks.

  “Where is this?” Hazel asked covering her snout to keep the dust out. Gaelyn didn’t say a word, but her eyes were huge with what Hazel hoped was not fear.

  “Grater Haven,” Great and Mighty said. “But I don’t get why we’re here. It’s a nasty place that sa
nds off everything. And keeps on going until everything looks like it’s been through a ... grater.”

  “Oh, no!” Gaelyn said in a weak voice.

  “Grater? Cheese grater?” Cl’rnce asked, smacking his lips. “I don’t see any cheese.”

  “We’ll be the cheese in a few minutes if we don’t get out of here,” Gaelyn said. “I meant the kind of great like wonderful or big. We need to get to the plane with all the gardens.”

  “Oh,” Great and Mighty said. This time her hands moved twice as fast. “Got it. Greater. Like Bigger. Bigger Haven.”

  “No!” the others all yelled.

  But it was too late. They were in a land with some plants this time, but everything was huge. It was as if they had landed in a giant’s backyard.

  “Bumbled again,” Cl’rnce mumbled. He patted his Wizard Partner’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ll get it right.”

  “Greater Haven, greater haven, greater haven!” Great and Mighty chanted quickly.

  This time they snapped into the right place.

  But Cl’rnce started sneezing. He sneezed and sneezed, each one sounding a little weaker to Hazel. He swiped at his nose and said in a stuffy sort of voice, “I’mb allergibc. What are those flowers?”

  Gaelyn stood straighter and took a step away from Hazel. “Allergic? To plants?” She bent over one with red, pink, white, and orange buds. They resembled roses but did not smell like them. In fact, they smelled rotten.

  Hazel had never heard of different colored roses on one bush. She pinched off a branch and held it out to Cl’rnce.

  He sneezed over and over.

  “Ooops,” Jeschen said.

  Hazel looked at the substitute chef. “Let me guess. Was that one of the ingredients you put in the cure?”

  Jeschen nodded. “Now that I look closer, they’re very like roses, but I think they are false roses.”