The Witch of the Western Gate: Dragon's Gift

by P. K. Brent

"You, Stella, are a glowing purple ball that sometimes has the shadow of your form inside. Blue is, well, blue. A glowing blue ball with a figure inside that has wings."

  "I need the wings. Astral travel is much harder for a mage or witch than it is for a necromancer."

  "This is excellent," said Brando. "Now you can keep up with us, can communicate psychically and silently, and I don't have to worry that you'll get hurt."

  "We'll be right back," said Rafe.

  The three wolven entered the brush and returned a minute later in wolven form. They loped silently toward the factory, and crawled on their bellies toward it as they got closer to the entrance.

  "No sign of anyone around here," said Stella.

  "The front entrance floor is rotten," said Rafe. "It probably will not hold our weight. But this back entrance seems OK, and there is a stairs down to the basement level."

  "All the floors are rotten to some extent," said Brando.

  As they approached a large room, Blue turned.

  "Stop here guys, I can feel their presence and I don't want you to get toasted."

  Blue entered the large room alone. An enormous green dragon turned toward her. Blue bowed. The dragon took one look and let out a roar along with a blast of hot steam.

  "Apparently she can see me!" called out Blue.

  "And she loves what she sees, NOT!" jibed Rafe.

  "How can she see you in astral form?" asked Stella.

  "Dragons are magical beasts, I guess astral sight is one of their powers," replied Blue.

  Blue touched the mother dragon's mind with her own, and pushed her thought across.

  "I'm here to help you, dragon!"

  "You stole one of my pups," accused the mother dragon.

  "I did not steal him. He was injured, by someone else. I nursed him back to health." Blue sent to the mother dragon images of Took, alive and well, resting on a cushion in front of the fire, eating a bowl full of fish, and paddling in the fountain.

  "I wish to return him to you, now that he is healed."

  "When?"

  "Friday, I mean after the next three sunsets. I will bring him to you then."

  "When he is returned, I will believe you," replied the Dragon.

  "He will be returned," said Blue. "I will be in full physical form then, so please don't kill me or my friends. We want to help you and your pups. You must leave this place as soon as I return Took to you. There are people who wish to harm you, the same ones who hurt Took. They are looking for you and will find you eventually."

  "Bring back my pup unharmed and I will not harm you," replied the dragon. "And we will leave."

  Blue bowed and withdrew from the room.

  "That went well."

  "Are you kidding?," said Brando. "If you'd been in physical form, you'd be a mere grease spot on the floor, after that blast of steam."

  "That's why I wanted to come in astral form first," said Blue. "Momma dragon may not like me, but at least we have an agreement. So when we come back tomorrow, she won't toast me like a marshmellow, provided I bring Took."

  "What's in here," asked Stella, pointing to a large set of double doors, chained shut.

  "We'll find out," replied Talon, communicating psychically while in wolven form. He grasped the rusty lock in his teeth and after a few bone jarring crunches the lock fell off. Stella swung open the door.

  "Oh my god! Oh! I can't believe it!" Stella jumped and danced around an old carriage. Blue was puzzled. Who would care about a rusty old carriage with a metal hump on top?

  "What's the big deal, Stella?"

  "The big deal? This is a Sybil! A beautiful Sybil antique fire engine carriage! Look! There's still some original paint!"

  "Under the rust," pointed out Rafe.

  "Uh, and what is a Sybil?"

  "It's one of the first fire engine carriages ever made, and it was made from plans drawn up by Birdsill Holly! It must have been stored here all these years. It would be a wonderful asset for my Birdsill Holly Museum, when I have enough money to start one."

  "To bad it doesn't run," said Brando. "We have a long walk home. We didn't want to bring a car, too noticeable, so we ran all the way here in wolven form."

  "I maybe can make it run," replied Blue. "I'll use the same spell on it that Grandma uses on the mechanical cockroaches. I'll do an illusion spell too, so it looks like a small SUV."

  Blue quickly did the spells. "Jump on!" With a floating incantation Blue made the rusty Sybil fire engine carriage rise up from the floor, through the rotted ceiling and then hover to a stop outside."

  "Nice work!" replied Rafe.

  "You should be able to ride it home now," replied Blue. "Just envision what you want it to do. You can even hover and take it across fields. If anyone sees you, it will look to them like an ordinary SUV. They'll wonder how it can get through the snow off-road, but it won't look alarmingly odd."

  "Very good," replied Talon. "We will hide it in the barn, and Stella, I will work with you to restore it. We will return it to pristine condition."

  "Thank you, Talon," Stella said, smiling up at him. Then her expression darkened, "But since you're about to be a father, you better straighten out that situation with your girlfriend, before you spend time with me!"

  "My what?" asked Talon.

  "Raveen is in town, Talon," said Blue. "She is enormously pregnant and about to give birth any minute to your child. She talked to Grandma Lily and now is staying with Aunt Violet."

  Even in their wolven form, both Brando and Rafe looked astonished, staring at Talon.

  "Is there something you forgot to tell us, bro?" asked Rafe.

  "No, I mean, yes I know Raveen. But I'm not the father! We never were serious. I never courted her. I don't know why she followed me here."

  "Looks like you need to talk to her," replied Brando, solemnly.

  "Honestly, I am not the father and I never led her on. I mean, I knew she liked me, but we were never serious and stopped seeing each other a year ago. Vraiment!"

  "OK, don't worry about it. We'll talk more tomorrow," said Rafe, and the wolven took off toward home in the hovering Sybil fire engine carriage.

  Blue opened her eyes and looked around. It always felt like falling when she returned from astral travel, so it took a few seconds to feel comfortable again in her body. Stella was already sitting up on her bed.

  "That was productive!"

  "Yes," replied Blue. "I'm glad we went. I'm so glad you found the fire engine carriage too! But it's getting late, so I better go home."

  Stella looked at her friend. "That was so nice of Talon, to say he'll help me restore the Sybil fire engine carriage. But I am really concerned about Raveen."

  "Why would she tell everyone he is the father when he isn't?," said Blue. "Though come to think of it, she never actually said that. I jumped to that conclusion and she didn't correct me. That's not quite the same thing as naming Talon as the father."

  "If she knowingly lets people think the father is Talon, that's pretty bad," replied Stella. "Well, we will find out soon enough, I'm sure!"

  "I'll ask Grandma Lily about it. She might know something. Remember, skating party tomorrow, that will be fun!"

  Stella nodded. "I'll come directly from gymnastics practice. Might be a little late so save some pizza for me."

  "Will do, sweetie."

  Blue returned home, made some hot chocolate then curled up in an armchair in the ladies parlor to do homework. LeRoy and Took were nestled on their cushions in front of the fire, looking at her expectantly. She threw them both a few biscuits, extra ones for Took who was much bigger. Took had taken up a pet-like existence and had also gained a mutual tolerance, if not friendship, with LeRoy. Took's daily routine was to lounge in the sunroom, splashing around in the fountain then to open the door handle with his mouth and move to his cushion in front of the fireplace, especially if the gas fireplace was left on, and Blue left it on for him quite a bit when she was home, because she knew he liked it. Now Took had his
own large cushion in front of the fireplace and he lay there with LeRoy on a perch nearby, or beside him, for hours at a time.

  Took enjoyed his meals also. In the morning he was given a large bowl full of fish, sometimes fresh, sometimes frozen and thawed out. Along with that he had a bowl of greens and a few carrots or some fruit. Then he followed LeRoy out the dog door into the large fenced yard, which was much larger than many suburban backyards. No one could see him through the fence and no other houses were close enough to have a view of the backyard. LeRoy and Took would make their rounds, exploring the yard and doing their business in a back corner. Blue saw Took test his wing. At first he flapped it gingerly, testing for pain. Then the movement increased. In the past few days the flapping had grown serious. The flapping was accompanied by running hops then by short, low flights. Blue had put a spell on the fence so that Took could not fly over it. It looked as though he was bumping into a piece of invisible plastic wrap, but he could not fly over the fence. Blue knew that the spell would not last for long. The little dragon was growing stronger and soon he would break through. He was becoming more actively and clearly his wing was healing fast. Took had to be taken back to his kind and released soon, and then they had to be banished and sent to a safe location. If Blue didn't accomplish this soon then the Council would eventually find all the dragons and kill them. Plus Zerelda would do that awful frogstuck spell, cursing Blue, and trying to force her into marriage with Quantrill Reynard.

  Blue snapped a photo of Took and LeRoy. They were both on their backs, on Took's cushion, with their feet up. LeRoy's head lay on Took's open wing. She emailed it to her VIP list, Corwin, Grandma and Grandpa Lily, Aunt Violet, Stella, Rafe, Talon, and Brando. Who would have thought that she would have a dragon sleeping at her feet.

  Now it was time for her to sleep. Blue went upstairs to her room and pulled on a nightgown, then she lay in bed facing her full-length swivel mirror. As was her habit every night, Blue worked with her higher self through the mirror. She gazed until images swirled across the surface of the mirror, the octopus, which symbolized the struggle involved in integrating conscious with unconscious awareness. Also clock gears appeared, showing the need for all levels of one self to work together, and that all creatures had a limit to their days in the physical realm, then finally her higher self was there, looking back. Blue invoked her higher self by her fullname, chanting it softly. Tonight she had wings, beautiful pale blue wings. Then came the hard part, transferring her consciousness to her higher self, in order to integrate both parts. Next Blue found the light and letting it stream down through all her levels. Blue had just finished when the mirror clouded over. She could see smoke and fire. Then there was Cormac, her father, in a black robe and trapped on a cliff while shooting bolts of brimstone toward his adversary. Blue could not make out all of the symbols on his chest, but the white hand of the McChesney clan was there, an oak tree embroidered in the middle. Cormac's robe was torn and the hem burning. He was hunched over and his attacks of brimstone were becoming smaller and less frequent. Whatever he was battling, Cormac was losing. Blue jumped out of bed and opened a box on her dresser. From a silk pouch she removed a deck of Tarot cards. Swiftly shuffling through the deck she found what she needed. First the King of wands. "Air of Fire," she whispered. This card was the significator. It represented her father. Blue tossed it in the middle of her bed. Around it, mumbling to herself, she placed eight cards around it in a circle, starting with the Magician at twelve o'clock and going clockwise around. "Magician, mercury, bring power to the king." The Magician, standing with one hand toward the sky and one toward earth, clearly could channel and transmit power. "Emperor, Aries, I have the authority to do this!" The emperor was laid down. "Lovers, gemini, I work in partnership with my father, as I look after him." Blue shuffled through the deck some more. "Strength, Leo, with courage, strength, and perserverance we can overcome all obstacles." The woman in the Strength card had tamed the lion. "Justice, Libra, may justice and fairness win out." Blue knew that her father fought on the side of justice. "The star, tzaddi, aquarius, intuition glowing like starlight. Is Tzaddi not the star?" Blue smiled at this mystery. "The Sun, happiness and joy in attainment. The World, saturn, success is ours!"

  Blue then quickly sat crosslegged on her bed and drew a circle around her, then began chanting as she gazed at the cards and all they embodied, willing their archetypal energies to be transmitted to her father. In the mirror she saw him straighten and begin leveling powerful blasts at his foe. Lilies and violets sprung up around his feet. Grandma Lily and Aunt Violet were helping him too. Now Cormac was holding his own, with their help. Then as Blue watched a strange plant erupted from Cormac's wand, first pale green leaves, then purple flowers, and finally dark berries. She knew what it was, her plant, the belladonna -- poisonous nightshade. The poisonous berries flew one-by-one toward Cormac's foe, each one splatting silently. Blue could feel their energy waver. Her father's foes were failing, then fleeing. Cormac was too exhausted to pursue. He sunk to the ground and rested in the lilies and violets. Then he turned to the mirror, met Blue's eyes, and smiled.

  Chapter 13

  Blue jumped when her phone rang and jingled with Invader Zim’s insane laugh. She checked it immediately. Sure enough, a text from Rafe to their little group, about the skating party, "pick bm&* up 5pm bo wrkng prty." Blue giggled. Rafe always called Brando “bo” in texts and he hated it. Brando had not yet found a good teasing text name for Rafe. The best he could do was “rfty,” to remind everyone that “Rafe” was short for “Rafferty”. Blue was eager to help Brando in this quest, since the text name Rafe had given her was even worse. Her text name was “bm”. Stella on the other hand, had made out well with her text name of *.

  “Stella means star,” Rafe had explained. “Plus it’s so fast and easy to type, and I can’t think of anything funny to do with her name anyway.”

  Brando worked part-time at the Roll-A-Rama as a roller hockey referee. He also worked security for various Roll-A-Rama events. Tonight was a special skating party for all teens in the county. Blue quickly texted Rafe back. “kk cya.”

  Blue cheered at Took, who had waddled out of the greenhouse to plop on his cushion in front of the fire.

  "I'm going out guyz so you be good til I get back."

  Le Roy spread his wings and shook his tail. He’d been dozing on his perch in front of the fire. Took had started to copy this mannerism and stretched in perfect imitation of the crow. LeRoy, looking on, sputtered in disgust,

  "Now I've seen everything!"

  The Roll-A-Rama had once been a deserted storefront. Before that it had been a hardware store, then a grocery store. Finally Corwin McChesney became tired of looking at the deserted store front and bought it, in one of his not particularly profitable real estate development deals, so he thought. It had in fact become a reasonably profitable investment.

  "What will I ever do with this?" he said, driving past it one day. "It's a cursed site for a business. Everything that goes in there fails."

  "We need a place to rollerskate, especially since the winters are so long. Make it into a roller rink, Dad," Blue had suggested.

  "That's a good idea," Corwin had mused. "It's next to the bowling alley too."

  So Corwin had a designer come in, laid a wood skating floor, snack area, counter and cubbies for skate rental. Then he took on Joe and Pat Schultz, owners of the bowling alley, as partners. The Schultz’s ran the place on a day-to-day basis. The Roll-A-Rama was busy nearly every evening during the winter and inclement weather. There were adult skate nights, teen skate nights, toddler skates, 4-H skates, boy scouts and girlscout skate parties, school grade skates, holiday skates, church skates and more.

  "Do we pick up Ivy too?" asked Brando.

  "No, I've had enough rejection from Ivy this week," replied Blue.

  "She blew us off when we tried to walk her to school her first day," added Stella. "She'd already left with some other girls. Cheerleaders."

&nbs
p; "Not very considerate," commented .Brando

  "No, but that's Ivy," chimed in Rafe.

  "She knows about the skate party though," said Blue. "I texted her and invited her to stop by, but I doubt she'll show."

  "Not unless they make Gucci rollerblades," giggled Stella. She and Blue convulsed into giggles.

  "I have to hand it to Ivy though," said Stella. "She sure knows how to maneuver. She's been in school for three days and she now is on the cheerleading squad."

  Blue stared in amazement. "How did she manage that?"

  "Well, she made the right connections even before moving here. You know, during her visits most of her time was spent at Pinewoods Country Club. There she became Friends with Amy and Andrea Barnswell."

  “Oh no, not the Barnsmells!” groaned Blue.

  "Who are they?," asked Rafe. “Backwoods Starpoint High kids like me can’t keep track of all your Lockportian High School royalty.”

  “Starfarm jeered Blue,” grinning.

  Stella leaned forward giggling. “Amy is the head cheerleader at Lockport High School. She graduates this year. Her sister, Andrea, is in 10th grade, and likely will be the new head cheerleader. Their mother teaches "business skills" and is also the teacher supervisor, whatever that is, for the cheerleading squad.”

  Blue explained. "As teacher supervisor, Mrs. Barnswell basically runs the cheerleading squad. Also, “Business Skills” is a fancy name for typing. Years ago they did shorthand too, but no one uses that anymore so they just type and learn basic database, spreadsheet, and internet skills. I think it's for girls who want to work in offices right away after high school."

  “Nothing wrong with that,” commented Brando.

  "Anyway," Stella interjected. "A couple of cheerleaders have been ill with the flue and are far behind on schoolwork. They were given the choice of being suspended from the team or resigning. Harsh deal I think, since it's not their fault they got sick. Then the alternate cheeleaders were called up. They were one short so Ivy was selected by special appointment of Mrs. Barnswell, Andrea and Amy's mom. So Voila! Third day in a new school and Ivy is a cheerleader."