Dragon Dilemma

by Mell Eight

  "I know," Dane repeated. "Mother, Mercury and I didn't find our kits in the wild and decide to keep them. We rescued them from horrible labs where human scientists had been experimenting on them in order to steal their powers. The older kits—Nickel, Copper, and Zinc—were taken first and something happened to them that made all three far more powerful than they ought to be. Nickel, unlike the other two, has chosen to hone his power to the highest possible level. He has surpassed every expectation and continues to grow. Alloy and Lumie were experimented on while still in the egg. Alloy is certainly more normal than Lumie in that he only hatched with fire and water powers. We have no idea what they did to Lumie, but yes, he is different.

  "But, Mother, different or not, they're still my kits." Dane had never been able to glare as intensely or scornfully as his mother could, but he was certainly trying.

  Mother was unaffected, of course. She looked thoughtful instead of intimidated. "That is why you declared that any dragons in need could approach you and asked for information from the other three territory leaders. You are trying to help the dragons those scientists are still trying to experiment on."

  Dane nodded. "We're pretty sure they don't have any more organized labs now. They're underground with only a few dragons kept captive. We want to keep them from getting their hands on any more dragons and stop them once and for all."

  "Is it safe to assume that the incident on the Chesapeake Bay that Henri was so concerned about was one such battle?" she asked, but she didn't wait for him to respond. "I find it curious that they would focus on that to attempt to unseat you and that Henri and William are under attack simultaneously. You must realize that someone is behind these problems."

  "I know, Mother," Dane sighed.

  She nodded. Mother hadn't raised Dane to be blind. He had noticed what she was just figuring out, as had Mercury and Nickel.

  "Henri isn't going to return. I'm hoping William will." The kits started drifting into the room to take their seats as Dane finished speaking, which meant breakfast was imminent.

  Dane let the conversation with his mother end. They hadn't spoken about anything he didn't already know and Mother was smart enough to figure out the rest on her own. He got to his feet and headed to his chair at the end of the table as Mercury emerged with a large bowl of scrambled eggs. Zinc followed holding a basket of sliced bagels and Copper came in after her with containers of cream cheese and orange juice. The table was set quickly and Jessica was called from the sitting room she had settled in. Breakfast was passed around.

  Dane looked at his kits, wondering what Mother saw that had her so worried. Yes, Copper, Zinc, 'Ron, and Chrome were normal enough kits. They were wild and rambunctious, but that was typical kit behavior. Nickel had always been far too stoic and more concerned with becoming strong enough to fight the enemy than in playing. It was something Dane regretted that Nickel felt was necessary, but he trusted Nickel to have his back in a fight in a way he wouldn't the other kits. Alloy and Lumie were just as odd as Mother had said, but it was what made them unique and interesting. Maybe Mother was seeing something more than Dane was able to discern. He would have to ask his mother about it, but waiting until after Jessica was gone would be best.

  Instead of dwelling on the kits, Dane turned his thoughts to Mercury. He knew Mercury hadn't lied about his age or his powers; he was open about everything. He didn't know how long he had lived in the wild after being abandoned by his parents, nor had he kept track of how many years he had lived in Chicago. Dane hadn't actually looked at any of the paperwork about Mercury entering the foster system to see what the corresponding dates were, but that was probably the only way to know for certain. Mercury acted like a mature adult. He didn't make messes like the kits or cause destruction simply because he didn't know any better, but Dane had to remind himself that Mercury was still a dragon and sometimes dragons didn't think as linearly as humans. Telling Dane how old Mercury was probably hadn't even crossed his mind and Dane needed to stop worrying about it.

  Dane forced himself to think only thoughts about breakfast. His bagel was warm, the cream cheese soft, and the eggs cooked perfectly. Good, yummy eggs.

  He brought his fork filled with eggs to his mouth and ate, hoping that by the time breakfast was over his mind would be clear again and he could focus on the more immediate problems.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Mercury let Dane supervise the cleanup. Dane looked like he needed a break from being the territory leader for a half hour. The way Dane had been staring at his plate like the bagel there had all the answers to his problems told Mercury that his head was too full of thoughts and worries. Dane needed a moment to get his head screwed back on straight and watching to make sure the kits didn't decide to flood the kitchen or chuck dishes at each other like Frisbees might give him that opportunity.

  Jessica wandered off again and Kendra didn't seem to be interested in conversation, so Mercury left the dining room and headed into the kitchen. He settled out of the way on one of the kitchen stools.

  Dane was elbow-deep in bubbles as he washed dishes at the sink. 'Ron was giggling loudly as Dane playfully glared at her, so Mercury felt it safe to assume the excess of bubbles was her fault. She was standing on the stool next to the sink taking the dishes as Dane finished cleaning them and stacking them on the drying rack.

  "How dare you!" William's voice boomed through the kitchen as the man in question slowly appeared next to the island where Mercury was sitting.

  Dane stilled at the sink and his eyes went sharp as he focused on William's form shimmering into view. 'Ron stopped giggling immediately, hopped off her stool, and ran out of the kitchen. Nickel and Zinc rushed in a moment later and just as William's form finally solidified Copper joined them.

  The sharp smell of magic filled the kitchen. Mercury's own magic was sparking lightly against his fingertips. He also sensed Dane's magic flaring dangerously. The three kits were no doubt ready as well, but the strange magic William was using was so unbelievably strong that Mercury couldn't even sense Nickel's water magic. The way Dane was staring almost searchingly at William told Mercury that William had somehow managed to get through Dane's wards. The only person Dane had ever met who could do that as far as Mercury knew was Lumie.

  "How dare you!" William repeated.

  "How dare I what?" Dane asked. He reached out to take the dishtowel hanging over the oven to dry his hands with an apparent nonchalance that Mercury knew Dane didn't actually feel.

  "My kits! Where have you taken my kits?" William sounded incensed, but he also sounded scared.

  "Someone took your kits?" Mercury interjected, his words jumping in between the glaring match William was having with Dane.

  William let out a growl that lifted the hairs on the back of Mercury's neck. It was a bestial sound, yet it felt almost more primordial than fanged. There was death there, Mercury's shaken nerves insisted.

  "Walked right through my compound to their room, packed them up, and escaped over the border into your territory without any hiccups," William snarled. "But you already knew that, didn't you, since I told you about them just yesterday."

  "Where?" Dane snarled, and his voice suddenly held the same note of danger that William's still spouted. Zinc zipped away, a quick gust of wind rushing out of the kitchen. She didn't go far, just to the junk closet where one of the kits had stashed the map left behind in the dining room last night before dinner. Zinc returned in another rush of air and spread the map out on the kitchen island.

  William was still glaring incredulously, but he jabbed a finger at the border where Canada met with Vermont.

  "Nickel?" Dane said. Nickel immediately stepped to his side and placed a hand on Dane's shoulder. Mercury didn't even have to be told to join them. With William ready to attack at any moment, Dane needed Mercury at his side in the fight instead of Copper and Zinc. He hurried around the island to Dane and gripped Dane on the elbow.

  "Be good," Mercury warned Zinc and Copper, who would be th
e most responsible people left in Dane's house. Mercury had a feeling Kendra would keep the kits from destroying too much. "Coming?" he added to William.

  William hesitated for a long moment, no doubt shocked at their reaction. Dane's magic flared as his transportation spell took hold. William reached out quickly to grip Dane's other shoulder, unwilling to be left behind. The kitchen vanished around them, quickly replaced by trees.

  Much of New England was forested, but this land was primal and untouched. The trees overhead towered above them, giants in a land of giants. Mercury felt tiny in comparison. Even the sun struggled to penetrate the bare branches overhead to reach the snowy ground below. Mercury shivered, wondering if there was time to jump back home, grab coats, and return. One look at William's incensed glare as he backed away from Dane told Mercury that suggesting that wouldn't go over well.

  "I can sense where you used your magic in my territory," Dane said as he turned and started walking, his feet leaving behind deep holes in the snow. Mercury couldn't tell why Dane chose that direction instead of any other, but he followed along with Nickel. "This is where you cast a searching spell." Dane stopped walking abruptly, as if there were a wall in front of him. The thick snow on the ground made it impossible to make out any trail markers, but Mercury knew that Dane was absolutely aware of where his territory ended and he wasn't going to take a single step over the line without permission.

  "Any trace of the kidnapper vanished the second they stepped into your territory, as you well know," William snarled. "Stop fucking with me and give me back my kits!" His voice boomed with power, violently echoing through the trees around them. Winter birds screeched overhead as they erupted into the air and flew away in fright.

  Mercury was focused on something else, though. There was a smell in the air that he recognized. It almost felt like dragon magic, but it was grossly tainted and sick feeling. Only the enemy scientists trying to capture dragons for their experiments used that type of stolen magic.

  "You smell it?" Mercury asked softly. Nickel nodded, his shoulders tense as his eyes scanned around them. "How long ago were your kits brought through here?" he asked William.

  "I tracked them to the border not even an hour ago, ascertained that some sort of dragon magic had been used, and came for you," William replied. As each second passed, he was losing a bit of the ire that had been sustaining him. Worry was starting to crease lines on William's forehead. Whether his kits were a means to more power or if they were simply wards in his home, William clearly did care for them.

  Mercury sniffed the air again and the stench made his stomach twist in disgust. The tainted magic wasn't strong enough to have been used for a transportation spell. It felt like a concealment spell instead. Besides, if the kitnappers had been able to use a transportation spell, why would they be walking through untamed forest? They could have instantly taken their prize to their destination without worrying about being chased.

  Which brought up another question. Why had the kitnappers chosen to come into Dane's territory? He doubted William's compound was any nearer the border with Vermont than to Minnesota. In fact, the chances that his compound was actually in Quebec, the province closest to Dane's territory, were probably pretty slim. Territory leaders tended to choose headquarters in the center of their territories. That was why Dane had built his house in Massachusetts and Jessica was located in Ohio. There were exceptions to the rule, of course. Henri had chosen New Orleans as his headquarters because he loved the city rather than for its strategic importance. If the new leader of that territory were smart, he would move his headquarters to somewhere in Georgia, much further away from the crazy leader of Texas Mercury hoped to never meet. William seemed like a smart man rather than a sentimental one; he would have built his home compound in northern Manitoba or Saskatchewan, a cold, but defensible location, which meant it was unbelievably out of the way for the kitnappers to come all the way to Vermont.

  The easiest explanation, and the one William had apparently come to, was that the kitnappers were delivering their cargo to Dane. It was a little too easy an explanation, Mercury knew. They were being set up.

  Mercury didn't need to say his suspicions aloud. Dane and Nickel were both smart enough to have already figured it out and William would come to the same conclusion too once rationality overcame his fear.

  Had the kitnappers assumed William would attack first and ask questions second? Were they planning to pit William and Dane against each other and then take out the severely weakened and possibly injured winner? If that were the case they had underestimated William and Dane.

  "Any sign of them?" Mercury asked.

  Dane was the one who answered, although Nickel must have magic running through the snow around them searching for the kits. "They're traveling east along the border." He pointed and then started walking in the direction his finger indicated. Mercury followed behind with William tight on his heels. Nickel drifted off to the side, deeper into Dane's territory.

  The snow crunched underfoot, soaking Mercury's socks and sending shivers up his spine. He couldn't sense what Dane and Nickel could, but he was ready for whatever was at the end of the trail they were following.

  He didn't expect to find two water dragon kits carefully propped up against a fallen tree branch, gently wrapped in a blanket and left alone in the snow. Their blue hair was long and unkempt, falling over their closed eyes and thin faces. Asleep they looked angelic, but they were just a little older than Lumie and Alloy, so Mercury knew better.

  William gasped at the sight of them, quickly dashing forward to move to their side. He ran into the arm Dane held up, stopping his forward momentum abruptly.

  "Careful," Dane insisted when William turned on him with a snarl. Dane wasn't looking at the kits. Mercury followed the direction Dane was eyeing and saw a faint line carved in the deep snow just in front of William's toes. The line continued in a circle around the fallen branch, completely encircling the sleeping kits.

  "Trapped," William spat in disgust. He was looking at the line too, but his gaze was more calculating than Dane's. With a grunt, William sent a blast of magic at the line just in front of his toes. It was a ball of unformed power of such intensity that it should have incinerated the forest around them. The line merely flared brightly as the spell hit it. There was silence for a brief moment during which Mercury fervently hoped William had overwhelmed the tripwire spell with his own immense powers, but then he heard a strange creaking noise. Snow fell from the branches around them, landing with wet plops, and Mercury looked up just in time to see one of the tree branches bend like it had an elbow and reach for him.

  Mercury yelled and dove out of the way, only to be forced to jump when a root popped out of the ground from a second tree to trip him. Flashes of light from William's magic and the sound of Dane swearing under his breath were only distractions as Mercury called on his own power to try to combat the suddenly live trees.

  The stench of tainted magic in the air was almost unbearable. That line must have only been a tripwire, waiting for someone to step over it or to send magic over it for the trap around them to spring. All of the trees that circled the clearing were moving in their direction. Mercury dodged a reaching tree limb and stumbled as another thick root thrust up from beneath the snow to catch his feet. He shot a spell at the root, freezing it in place and ensuring the tree couldn't move from that spot. Every root that appeared Mercury hit with that same spell. Dane and William caught on quickly and the moving trees slowly came to a halt. That didn't stop their branches from attacking from overhead, though. Mercury continued to dodge and weave, but it was easier when he didn't have to watch what was attacking his feet as well as his head.

  "Got it," William yelled suddenly from across the clearing. A swell of magic erupted through the forest and the trees suddenly froze in place as if Mercury's spell had been large enough to encompass all of their gigantic forms. They shivered as if they were fighting against William's power and the stench of tainted m
agic increased.

  "No, I got it," Nickel snarled. Mercury couldn't see Nickel through the churned snow and trees, but he recognized the hard and deadly tone in Nickel's voice. There was a cracking thud of two hard objects hitting each other from the direction Nickel's voice had come from. Nickel walked into the cleared space where the two kits were still sleeping peacefully and dropped the body he was dragging into an empty swath of snow.

  "Anyone recognize her?" he asked.

  The woman's head was tilted at an awkward angle, attesting to how Nickel had killed her. Her hair was bleached blond and her skin the unnatural shade of orange too much time spent in a tanning bed provided. Mercury didn't recognize her and one look at Dane's blank face told Mercury that Dane didn't know her either.

  William walked around the body to get a closer look and swore when he saw her face. "That's Jessica's lieutenant. She's the one who came to my compound to tell me about Jessica and Henri's concerns. She must have converted one of the humans that work for me and convinced them to take my kits while some other magic-using humans attacked my compound as a distraction."

  "And we left Jessica unwatched inside our house!" Mercury gasped, spinning towards Dane as he realized what could be happening at home. "We need to catch her before she attacks."

  Dane grunted. "We're too late for that. Someone just tried to breach my wards from both the inside and the outside. Jessica's making her move."

  She had probably started the moment William's spell had activated the trap in the trees. Mercury didn't doubt that she had already managed to accomplish whatever she had wanted to inside the house and was only now realizing that she needed Dane's permission to leave his wards.

  "I'll take the force outside the wards if you'll go to the house and rally the kits," Dane said to Mercury. "Nickel, I don't want to leave William alone with his kits without someone to watch their backs until we're certain we've stopped the attack." Nickel didn't look happy, but he nodded sharply anyway. "William, I'll contact you the second my house is secured again. If you have Nickel with you when you transport in, my wards will let you through." William also nodded, but he turned towards his sleeping kits.