Snapdragon Book II: In the Land of the Dragon

by Brandon Berntson

  “Come on!” Malcolm screamed, looking back at Seth in the torchlight. “Hurry!”

  The black palace awoke to a newer, alien pain. Shrill cries pierced Seth’s ears as he ran. Looking upward, a massive head—the shape of which was indiscernible—reared back and howled at the dark sky. Eyes clenched in pain, huge, pointed ears, a massive, dog-like snout spread wide, bearing huge white tusks the size of trees. To each side, massive arms spread outward of such colossal scale, Seth’s brain could barely comprehend it. Claws clenched together above its mid-section, its heart bleeding freely, as if trying to embrace the pain.

  The stairs trembled, shaking under his feet as he ran. The palace was falling apart from the inside out, some strange configuration of beast and structure.

  Seth hurried up the stairs, holding onto the rail, his boots slipping in the gore.

  “Hurry!” Malcolm screamed.

  The shrieks grew louder. Trembling ensued.

  Seth and his friends finally made it to the top. They did not need a doorway. The palace was dissolving, falling apart around them, and the sky above shone through. It grew steadily brighter, though still gray, and the air was wet with a sudden downpour. Mountains and trees were visible.

  The boys continued to run, putting distance between themselves and the black palace. It continued to fall, caving in on itself in a shadowy ruin. The ground was no longer stained with atrocity, beasts and blood, but grass, rocks, and pine needles. The rain continued to pour, a heavy deluge, as though washing away a black stain upon the land.

  The palace thundered to the mountain floor, a monstrous structure collapsing inward on itself. Smoke billowed to the sky. The last of the boards teetered and fell. Soon, it was quiet and still, but the boys continued to flee.

  The rain turned to mist. Clouds rolled back, revealing a blue sky.

  Seth looked behind him. Smoke continued to billow upward. He saw the last movement of what seemed a dying behemoth. Huge legs descended to the ground, making the earth tremble. A massive head fell backwards and shattered, disappearing into the earth. The ground swallowed, disposing of what remained of the palace and its black influence.

  Around them, the snow was gone. One season had been exchanged for another. Seth and his friends stood on a hillside in the middle of a warm, spring day.

  Standing beside his friends, Seth labored for breath. He put his hands on his knees, looking to where the black palace had stood only seconds before.

  “Are you all right?” Gavin asked.

  He nodded, then stood up, looking around him. They were all accounted for. All his friends were here.

  “Look,” Eddie said. “Over there.” The boy pointed.

  Seth turned. Once again, the life went out of him, but for a different reason. His eyes were betraying him, another trick of the light, the demon they’d tried so desperately to destroy. What he saw could not be real.

  On the horizon, under a vast stretch of mountains, was the palace of their dreams.

  From one panorama to another, tugged between seasons of light and seasons of dark, they’d traveled from one world to another.

  Gavin voiced his thoughts aloud. “Hope,” he said.

  The others smiled, nodding.

  The land below was rich with tall green grass spreading across a wide valley floor. Aspens in full bloom covered the hillsides. Steep rocks and pointed crags took up the horizon to the northwest. The sun shone brightly in a cloudless blue sky, adding richness to the colors below.

  Not half a mile away, a resplendent structure made of white and purple marble, sat at the base of the crags, like a gleaming kingdom in the noonday sun. Arrays of light and color shot across the valley floor, reflecting off the clouds. His dreams had failed to depict this particular glory, but this was no dream.

  Seth shook his head and cried, unable to merit the sight below.

  Some piece of a celestial kingdom had but cut out and placed before the mountains, mountains which made the ones beyond his backyard pale by comparison. Purple and white spires rose in scintillating rainbows of light. It seemed to be made of glass, the way it sparkled and shimmered. The colors and reflections extinguished any possibility of darkness and dread. This was a pure land, a land of glory, the closest thing to Heaven Seth would probably ever see.

  His friends stood in silence beside him.

  “I can’t believe it,” Malcolm said. “I simply can’t believe it.”

  Streamers waved magnanimously from a dozen turrets. Empyrean, majestic, it was a sight of wonder, looming like a lighted guardian, a warrior at the base of the crags.

  Seth closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to still the image in his mind. This was, unlike the black palace, a sight he never wanted to forget.

  Thank you. Oh, God. Oh, Ben. Thank you.

  Seth opened his eyes.

  You have made these marble walls with your own wonder, walls made with hearts like yours. Welcome home.

  The Dragon had created the nightmare world they’d traveled through, just as Ben had, undoubtedly, been born from the one they were looking at now. No other majesty defined it. No other magic, to Seth, seemed quite so real.

  He wiped his eyes, looking at his friends, and started to laugh.

  Two worlds—completely, vastly opposite—had collided. Somehow, battling across the centuries, they had found their way to Ellishome.

  You have enough...

  Maybe, Seth thought. Maybe Ben had found what he needed to destroy his enemy after all.

  “I can’t believe it,” Malcolm said again, exhaustion, relief in his voice.

  Albert looked at Seth and smiled. “The real battle hasn’t even begun.”

  “So, now we know,” Malcolm said. “The smell of flowers.”

  It had been obvious, but now the smell was powerful, evident in the grasslands below, thick, rich colors.

  “It’s like a huge bowl of Trix,” Albert said.

  “You mean, Froot Loops,” Eddie said.

  “Hey, I’ll eat what I like,” Albert said. “And you eat what you like, writer boy.”

  Eddie chuckled along with the others.

  The region in front of the palace—covering the land for as far as Seth could see—teemed with tall, rosy stalks of color, bright, velvety shades of green, yellow, red, purple, orange, and blue. Colors like these did not exist back home. Colors back home failed to glow with such radiance.

  “What kind of flowers are they?” Gavin asked.

  “Those,” Malcolm said, “are the reason why we’re here, I think.”

  “That still doesn’t answer my question,” Gavin said.

  Malcolm smiled.

  “They’re snapdragons,” Eddie said. “But I think Malcolm’s right. They’re the reason we’re here.”

  In a reverent whisper, Gavin said, “They’re beautiful.”

  “That they are,” Seth said, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “That they are.”

  CHAPTER X

  As Seth looked, he thought, No, nothing will even be the same again. Nothing will ever be the same from here on out.

  Darkness could not touch the sight before him. The nightmare had been extinguished, and when he’d thought about darkness earlier—unaltered by light—he thought just the opposite now. Light could destroy darkness. This breadth of immortal glory he was witnessing, vanquished evil utterly. If Heaven were visible, it was before him now, here in Ben’s homeland.

  Don’t let me forget this, Seth thought. If I remember anything at all, please let it be this.

  The sight pierced his heart. He wondered if he was a warrior after all, because he felt like one now. The Dragon had won several battles along the way, but victory was in Seth and his friends’ grasp.

  Human hands had not chiseled the structure before them. These walls and spires were too inconceivable for the minds of men. He wished Masie were here to see it.

  They took off their gloves and hats, unbuttoned their coats, and enjoyed the warmth of this newer spring day.r />
  “Look at the colors,” Albert said. “I’ve never seen anything radiate colors like that before.”

  With the various pigments of snapdragons, combined with the palace exterior and the setting sun, the view was difficult to absorb. Behind the palace, tall, jagged mountains sat darkly purple, further edifying the sight below.

  They made their way through the aspen trees and into the valley floor. Seth reached out and touched a bundle of flowers to his right, lightly caressing them with the tips of his fingers.

  Velvet soft, he thought.

  They were not mature snapdragons, he noticed, the taller, skinnier stalks he was familiar with back home. These—though the petals looked the same—were bundles, clusters, some even single flowers. As Seth studied them, the upper petals resembled a dragon’s head, while the petals underneath looked like a lower jaw.

  Seth hadn’t recognized them either until Eddie told Gavin what they were. Not a single color, in the surrounding area, failed to represent itself. If anything, it looked like a giant layout of colored candy. Even his mouth began to water.

  Seth reached out and touched one of them again, but quickly withdrew his hand. How did he know that by plucking the flower, he wouldn’t kill some semblance of its magic?

  As if in answer, laughter echoed in his head, more light and musical, not the maddening chuckle he’d come to recognize from the Dragon. To his right, in the field of flowers, Ben was walking roughly twenty yards away, matching Seth step for step. The tiger looked in his direction.

  I could not bring them to you. You had to find them on your own. Go on. They don’t bite, not the way they look. Some dragons are beautiful and magical in ways. Take any one you like. But keep it safe, whatever you do. Keeping it safe is the most important part of your journey. You’re battle is far from over, Seth Auburn, but what you’re looking at now is more essential to your victory. I can’t tell you why. You’ll just have to trust me. But in time, I promise you, you’ll understand. You’ll understand everything.

  Faith? Seth asked, and reached out to grab one of the flowers.

  Something like that.

  Just as quickly, Ben was gone.

  He was about to pluck a red snapdragon from its stalk because red was his favorite color, but then he remembered the time he’d walked with Kinsey and—for reasons he didn’t understand until now—had asked her what her favorite color was.

  Seth had never seen a blue snapdragon before, not in his world back home. The one he was looking at now was a rich, sky-blue color. He reached out and pinched it halfway down the stalk.

  He paused. Up ahead, the others stopped and turned around, watching him. He didn’t know if they understood the reason for the flowers either, but hadn’t Malcolm said something earlier? The reason they were here? How much did Malcolm understand? Maybe their dreams revealed more than they’d been willing to confide.

  Seth smiled, nodding a single time. He bent the stalk with his thumb and index finger. The flower snapped in half. He held the small bundle to his face and took a deep breath of its soft, lulling fragrance.

  They’re not like snapdragons back home. Snapdragons back home do not come in colors this rich and beautiful. Snapdragons do not smell this exquisite.

  Snapdragons back home do not hold power, Ben said.

  Seth closed his eyes and inhaled deeply again. A tingling sensation moved through his brain, weakening him for a moment, then just as quickly, revitalized him. For a second, his eyes turned magically white. He saw things in a way he never had before. His mind traveled over distant space, stretching outward in every direction. He knew how to find Kinsey suddenly. He knew how to defeat the Dragon.

  Seth looked at Gavin and smiled.

  His friends looked different. They were not the simple boys they’d been, or the Viking warriors he’d seen earlier. The previous excursions had changed them, but the land, the magical wilderness, was doing the same now. They were like colored prisms of light.

  A smile touched Eddie’s face. Albert looked at Seth and sighed, as if he should’ve known all along. Gavin’s expression belied something the others couldn’t comprehend, as if he, too, had discovered a deep, personal secret within himself. Malcolm’s visage was radiant, an inner sun beneath his flesh.

  “Got what we came here for?” Malcolm asked.

  Seth nodded. He took off his backpack, finding a place in which to keep it. When the flower was inside, he shouldered his pack, and rejoined the others. He felt different. He felt…light.

  The flowers and high grass spread out and stopped at the steps leading toward the palace doors. No one met them; no guard or sentry blocked their way. The palace was strangely quiet.

  One by one, they climbed the steps.

  “I never thought this day would come,” Albert said.

  Eddie nodded.

  “Me, too,” Malcolm said.

  “Do you think Kinsey’s in there?” Seth asked.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Malcolm said.

  The doors tapered to a point thirty feet above their heads. Two large, golden rings were bolted to each door.

  Malcolm reached up and grabbed one, trying to pull it wide. Seth and his friends clasped a section of the golden handle and helped. Grunting, the boys stepped backwards as the huge door slid slowly open, making a gap wide enough for them to enter.

  “After you, My Liege,” Albert said, motioning for Seth, but the boy shook his head.

  “I don’t think so,” he said. “Not this time.”

  Seth turned to Gavin. “My kinsman,” Seth said, and bowed, sweeping his hand dramatically toward the palace entrance. For a second, Seth thought the boy was going to burst into tears. Instead, Gavin smiled, bowing in return (as was the courteous thing to do between kinsman) and said, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

  Gavin stepped into the palace, and the others followed.

  Seth was not surprised to see the same stately wonder and magnificence bearing further semblances to Heaven within. Wide white columns woven with purple marble lined a vast hallway, traveling directly down the center of the palace interior. Not a rug, a chandelier, a single suit of armor, a table, chair, ottoman, or any furnishings of any kind were visible. A sentry, guard, serf, prince, duke, or king, did not greet them. The palace was built for its stately grandeur and color, and there, it was left alone. No one was to live here, to occupy these rooms or halls. All was quiet and still.

  “Wow,” Eddie said, looking all around him.

  From high arched windows on each side of the entranceway, beams of light reflected off the floor, walls, ceiling, and columns, making the interior shine with colored luminescence. Across the entranceway, roughly twenty yards in front of them, a wide, white staircase arced up and away toward another level of the palace.

  When Seth’s eyes adjusted, he noticed streams of light coalescing, making rainbows across the floor, stairs, walls, and ceiling. The purple and white were beautiful enough, he thought, but as the rays came through the windows, they reflected off the marble, sending the interior on fire with kaleidoscopic glory.

  Swirling hues of bright, warm yellow, deep pink, soft blue, came together, separated, and joined again.

  “This is the most beautiful thing I’ve even seen,” Gavin said, looking above and around him.

  “Yeah,” Eddie said, but could say no more.

  “There’s no one around at all,” Albert said. “There’s nobody here.”

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Malcolm asked. It seemed the first question he’d asked since the start of their journey. Light reflected off his glasses, as it was doing with Eddie’s. In the lenses, Seth saw the same swirling brilliance.

  “We have to find Kinsey,” Seth told them.

  The others nodded and stepped deeper into the palace, mesmerized, looking about and all around them. The colors had them hypnotized.

  “Where do we start?” Albert asked.

  “We could split up,” Malcolm said. “Seth and I can take t
he main floor. You guys take the upstairs. We can meet back here when we’re done. If you see anything, holler.”

  “What if we run into trouble?” Eddie asked. “I mean, what if—I hate to say it—but what if this place is part of the same deception? What if something is waiting for us in one of the rooms?”

  “Seth and I can go together,” Malcolm said. “He has the sword. Albert has the rifle, so you can go with him. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” everyone said at one.

  They discarded their packs at the foot of the stairs and separated: Gavin, Eddie, and Albert starting up the wide staircase, Malcolm and Seth on the first floor.

  But along the corridors, the same emptiness met Seth and Malcolm at every turn. Countless rooms revealed nothing but silence and more emptiness. They called Kinsey’s name, but there was no answer, just their voices echoing back toward them.

  Seth and Malcolm searched for an hour before returning to the foot of the stairs. Malcolm called out to the others but received no answer. He and Seth looked at each other and walked up the staircase. They caught up with Eddie, Albert, and Gavin in one of the many empty rooms.

  “Did you guys find anything?” Malcolm asked, stepping inside.

  No one replied. In front of the three boys was a dark, wooden door. They stared transfixed, as if under a spell. A yellow light emanated from around the edges.

  “Hey,” Malcolm said. “Anybody home? Hello?”

  The boys were deeper into their trance than Seth or Malcolm realized.

  “Open it,” Seth said.

  “Hey, Seth,” Gavin said, turning toward him. “Where have you guys been?”

  Malcolm and Seth exchanged a puzzled glance.

  “I think…” Eddie began. “I think…something’s waiting for us in there.”

  “Open it,” Malcolm said.

  Albert reached out and pressed his thumb on the wrought-iron latch. It clicked, and the boy pushed it open.

  For a second, Seth thought he saw stars, as if they’d walked from a strange portal into utter space. Mountains appeared, the same steep crags behind his home, his home itself…