The Koda Files Boxed Set - Books 1 & 2

by Ivan Bridgewater

  "This is the nesting area," I noted to nobody in particular.

  "Yes," Masana agreed. "It is quiet today, but tomorrow, another cycle will begin."

  "He means another batch of eggs will hatch," Madias informed us absent mindedly.

  I could sense amusement coming from the dragon in the link, "Yes Madias! More eggs will release their precious contents. It is a great day in our world, as well you know."

  Madias smiled up at Masana, and said, "Yes. I am aware of the great excitement the birthing will bring."

  The dragon was big enough to swallow a cow in one bite, but it seemed so gentle, I couldn't imagine it being mean or vicious. It spoke in a calm, deliberate manor. I was struck with how intelligent the creature was. Its behavior reminded me more of an aged man, as opposed to a rampaging monster.

  We had been walking for some time, when suddenly a young dragon, about the size of a small car, darted out of another cave, and pinned Tim to the ground. It happened so fast, we had no warning, and Heather instantly grabbed my arm again. Tim was sputtering as the miniature dragon licked his face clean, and then just kept nuzzling him.

  "Get off! You're killing me!" Tim screamed. The thing was rather sweet as it backed off him, looking sheepish.

  Masana smiled slightly, and said, "It would appear Tikit is pleased to see you."

  Just getting back in his feet, Tim growled, "I'm just glad I survived the experience."

  "So far," Madias added with a smile.

  About fifty feet away, I saw two small heads appear around an opening in the tunnel, and two more young dragons stepped out, obviously curious. As they stood there, looking at us. A third, smaller dragon came blundering out, and ran into the first two, almost knocking them down. There was some confusion, and I got the feeling the last dragon to enter was in some sort of trouble with the first two.

  Then it appeared they remembered we were here, and they started toward us. They each walked straight over to us, so that each one of us now were paired with a dragon. My dragon was the last one out, and I had the feeling of impending doom.

  Madias looked at me and said, "That is Seesha. She is a little undersized, but growing quickly." Pointing at the dragon at Kathy's feet, he said, "That is Harr. He is very smart. I would keep an eye on him." The beast actually barked at Madias like a dog. Despite that, I noticed it smile, and wag its tail, so I decided there was no threat.

  Finally, he looked at Koda and said, "The little lady at your feet they call Tally. She is even smarter than Harr, but she is just the sweetest thing." The small creature actually looked embarrassed, and hid behind Koda slightly. Seesha had begun rubbing against me like a huge cat, and I almost fell when she hit the backs of my legs. I took time to pet her behind the ears as I might have a dog. That elicited a positive response, as she began to purr like a cat.

  I looked around to find everyone, even Tim, petting a dragon in much the same fashion. Heather stood silently watching, and I could tell she was more than a little frightened. Just as I was ready to go over to her, Masana looked into the tunnel the young dragons had issued from, and called, "Tess! Come out here!"

  A dragon half the size of the others came running out, and slid to a stop in front of Madias. It looked up at Madias, and the old Wizard pointed toward Heather, and said, "Quit playing around, and go see Heather." The smallest dragon in the group appeared to be overflowing with energy, as it ran over to Heather, and started running in circles at her feet, barking like a dog.

  Heather cringed at first, but as soon as she got over her fear, she reached down, and touched Tess's head. The animal flipped over on her back, to get her belly rubbed. A huge smile spread over Heather's face, and I took it as a good sign.

  Tim and Tikit were probably the most interesting pair. For the first few minutes, Tim was a nervous wreck. Tikit squawked, barked, and generally acted cute. Eventually, even Tim couldn't resist, and started playing with the miniature dragon. I had never seen Tim play with an animal. It was kind of interesting watching them.

  Speaking for myself, Seesha was a delight to be with. The small bundle of energy romped and played like a puppy. I’d have loved to take her home, but I suspected the neighbors in Florida would object to having a dragon next door.

  For almost an hour we played with the small dragons. I was delighted to see all of us actually having fun. It had been a while since I took time off for fun, and I suspect it was the same for the rest of the people present.

  In the end, it was Madias who brought the party to an end. Masana was almost sleeping as he laid there, and Madias said, "It's time for them to return to the nursery."

  Masana raised a sleepy eye, and said, "They are having fun. Must they leave so soon?"

  "Yes," Madias said. "We have things to attend to on the surface."

  Masana stood up, and growled loudly for a moment. The younger dragons all looked up, and started to move toward Masana. The exception was Tess. She seemed to be latched onto Heather, and squawked loudly as Masana insisted she leave. I watched them closely, and got the idea Heather didn't want Tess to leave.

  It took several minutes to get the babies back into the nursery. We finally started back for the surface, and everyone was talking at once. I made an effort to follow everyone’s remarks, and the entire group was overwhelmed.

  The only quiet one was Heather. I could tell she was deep in thought. As we reached the surface, I glanced at Heather, and asked, "Are you alright?"

  Without skipping a beat, Heather said, "I want to stay here, with Tess!"

  Koda heard her, and asked, "What are you talking about?"

  "I want to be with Tess," Heather responded. "I don't want to leave here!"

  "Tess is still too young to leave the nursery," Masana interjected. "She will be of age in two months. You may return then, and ask her to join you. It will be her choice." The huge beast leaned its head close to Heather, and said, "Drevins Spraug is not a safe place for humans. Conditions here are designed and created for dragons, not Earthers. You must return to your home world for now."

  Heather seemed slightly depressed by the comment, but at that moment, we all stepped out into the open. Standing in the ledge, was a full sized dragon. It was deep red in color, with black markings. Madias looked at me, and said, "This is Bauckus. Climb on."

  For the first time, I noticed the saddle strapped to the dragon's neck, just above the front shoulders. Behind me, I heard Tim say, "You're kidding! No way!"

  I knew better than to think about it. I stepped over, and stepped up into the saddle. Bauckus had almost laid down, so it was easy to climb on. As the dragon stood up, I instinctively dug my heels in to grip his sides, and he sprung straight into the air. We were instantly out over a huge lava bed, and I could feel the heat rising in waves from below. We swung wide around for a few seconds, and then the gigantic male dragon started to really fly.

  The wind was rushing past, and the sensation was exhilarating. Bauckus's head was blocking most of it, as well as my forward vision. Despite that, being in the open as we thundered along, was literally a rush. My heart was beating like a hammer, and as we soared farther into the sky, I realized we were looking way down on the ledge where we started. I could see that another dragon had launched from the cliff, and was working to gain altitude.

  As I watched, a third dragon slipped from the ledge, and opened its wings. Unlike the first two, this dragon seemed to be in a hurry. Its wings worked to quickly make it pass the second dragon, and suddenly climb sharply. It almost looked as if it was flying straight up. The dragon, and its rider, climbed above us. Then it suddenly went into a steep dive, roaring past in front of us.

  As they shot past like an arrow, I got a good look at Tim's terrified face, and he screamed, "I'm gonna die!"

  Out of instinct, after years of riding horses, I turned Bauckus to go after him. As soon as we fell in behind Tim, I heard Bauckus distinctly say, "The man will not be harmed."

  I'm still not used to telepathy, and linking. I al
most yelled an answer, and then realized the wind would carry it away. I mentally asked, "What do you mean?"

  Bauckus instantly responded mentally, saying. "Quan is helping the man overcome his fear of flying. It is for his own good."

  I took for granted he was talking about the other dragon when he said Quan, and replied, "He's scaring Tim so bad, he'll never get on again."

  "No!" I was quickly corrected. "He is helping him."

  To my right, Kathy appeared on a large brown dragon, paralleling my course, and obviously having a blast. A huge smile was plastered on her face. She glanced over at me, and I could see the pure joy of the experience had made her a little giddy. Her eyes were wide with exhilaration, and I could sense that she was a natural at what she was doing. She appeared form fitted to the neck of the dragon she was riding.

  Looking behind us, I saw two more dragons working to catch up. I could tell at once it was Heather and Koda. They were almost side by side, and seemed to be adapting well. A few seconds later, I got a look at Tim's face. The terror had been replaced by excitement.

  Now began a really extraordinary series of maneuvers. The dragons were weaving in and out. At one point, I was in the lead on Bauckus. He suddenly banked hard right, and went into an extremely steep dive, straight at the ground. I could see that each of the other dragons were mimicking the move, and it sounded as if each rider was screaming at the same time.

  At the last minute, each dragon pulled up, and shot off along the lava flows. For almost two hours, we rode the dragons, and had a great time. Then we reversed the process, and one by one, we landed on the ledge. In my opinion, landing was the easy part. Bauckus seemed to simply fold his wings, and we were abruptly stopped on the ledge. I stepped off as simply as I stepped on. The huge creature flashed a smile at me, and was gone.

  My legs hurt so bad, it was incredible. I staggered around, and almost fell down. I felt numb from the waist down, but I still had a big smile on my face.

  Masana looked at me for a moment from the cave entrance, as Kathy and Tim stepped out onto the ledge. Tim said, "Madias took Koda and Heather back to Kathy's. We were just waiting for you."

  Abruptly, Masana said, "The girl, Heather, has been abused by the beast. It angers me that she was used in such a vile way. She trusts you Deathdealer. Save her if you can. She has a good heart."

  "What do you mean, save her?" I asked.

  The damn dragon gave me the look. I had never seen an animal do such a thing. Kathy spoke up, and said, "You know what he means! Heather views you as a father figure. Koda looks up to you, and you helped bring her out of her coma. She'll follow your lead."

  "As if I don't have enough problems, you want me to babysit Heather." I growled. "She's a sweet girl. What should I teach her? How to plan the perfect assassination?"

  Kathy looked up at Masana, and said, "He's just being a jerk! He knows what to do!"

  Masana glanced at her, and then back at me. Then he quietly said, "I can see your heart. You’ll keep the girl safe."

  "Yes," I acknowledged. "I will try to keep her safe."

  "Till we meet again, then," Masana remarked.

  I got the feeling we were done, nodded, and folded space for home, dragging Tim and Kathy with me.

  Chapter 12

  Saving Heather

  We arrived, and Tim instantly said, "That was a blast!" We were standing outside, next to the front door. Before I could respond to the remark, Madias opened the front door to the house, and stepped out.

  "I need to speak to you," Madias announced. He stepped over to me, glanced at Tim, and then looked back at me as he said, "I take it you enjoyed your time with the dragons."

  Without hesitation, Tim said, "I've never had so much fun!"

  "I thought you hated both horses, and dragons!" I remarked loudly.

  "Bullshit," Tim responded, "I love animals."

  Kathy burst out laughing, and started into the house without saying a word. Madias just smiled at me as Tim walked away following Kathy. Then he quietly reached out, stopping me before I could walk away behind them. The door snapped shut a second later, and it was just Madias and I left standing there.

  The old man seemed to sober slightly, and he hesitated before saying, "There is an odd current in the timeline. Heather is causing a disturbance. It is dramatic, and I can't see why." He looked down at the ground, and then back at me. Then he pointedly asked, "Do you know why?"

  I had no idea what he was talking about. I tried to think of what the one small girl would do, that she could disrupt the entire fate of the Universe. Then I abruptly realized Madias had just implied I was supposed to have a clue. I looked at him and said, "Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it Madias!"

  "It's not that simple!" he admonished. "Time normally flows by like a river. I can see a disturbance far down river, and it is causing the river to rise, jumping its banks. When I look for the disturbance, I see you, your people, and Heather. Yours, are the only faces I see." Madias hesitated, then he said, "Then the river seems to end."

  "What do you mean by that?" I demanded.

  He gave me a very weird look, and then almost whispered, "I mean, it appears, everything ends."

  "That's not funny!" I snapped. "If you're pulling some sort of weird space alien joke on me, it's not funny at all!"

  Madias cringed, and quickly said, "It's not a joke. I can only conclude, that somehow Heather causes your death. It was a faint possibility yesterday. Today it's looming up quickly. Something is getting ready to happen. And I don't think we're going to enjoy it."

  "Do you have any concept what is going to happen?" I asked.

  "No," Madias replied. "I just feel something major will happen before the next day is up." I stood there, debating what to do, and Madias said, "I've got to leave for a while. Try to keep an eye on Heather. Don't take any chances. Defend yourself if you are attacked. I know she looks like a sweet girl, but that can change very quickly."

  I thought of the feral look Heather had given me when she was controlled by the Darkness. There could be little doubt she could be dangerous. Madias and I spoke for a few minutes more, and he folded space.

  I went in the house, and found everyone excitedly talking nonstop. Everyone, except Heather. She sat down at the kitchen table, and just listened quietly to everyone talk. I did a simple scan on her, but saw no hint of trouble, or violence. She seemed deep in thought, and I decided to just let her stay there for now.

  Needless to say, I was feeling pretty paranoid at this point. I half expected for Heather's head to spin around at any minute. Tim and Kathy were busy talking about the dragons they had seen and ridden. I was pleased to see that it appeared that Tim had lost his fear of riding horses, and dragons. He was overjoyed, and you could hear it in his voice.

  Standing next to me listening to Tim, Koda quietly leaned over and said, "What's the matter, Mike?"

  "Nothing," I replied. Of course, she knew better, and simply scanned me. Her eyes went wide, but she didn't say a word. Heather was focused on Tim and Kathy, and seemed oblivious to Koda and I. Koda let the subject drop, but we were both aware trouble was on the way.

  For almost two hours we all stood around, talking about our time with the dragons. Our time spent at Drevins Spraug had left a really strong impression on all of us. It would be difficult to say which one of us was overwhelmed the most by the experience. Eventually, we all wandered off to get some rest.

  I got a shower, watched a movie, and fell asleep. It was about two in the morning, when I heard a fairly loud knocking at my door. I felt Kathy move around, and the light next to the bed snapped on. I loudly yelled, "Come on in!" and Koda burst in the door.

  "Heather is gone!" she practically yelped. "She can't have been gone more than an hour. I'm going after her."

  "You're waiting for us!" I instructed. "You sounded the alarm. That's step one. Now we need an organized search." I glanced at Kathy, and said, "Go get Tim!" She disappeared out the door, still dressed in pajamas. I l
ooked up at Koda as I pulled on my socks, and said, "Tell me what you know! Where do you think she went?"

  "I don't know!" Koda said in a heavily stressed voice. "We were talking, and I dozed off. I woke up forty minutes later, and she was gone."

  "Did you check the security system?" I asked. "Did she key a door open?"

  "I checked," Koda replied. "The doors are all still locked. She folded space, and left." Up until now, Heather had never folded space alone, as far as we knew. This added a new layer of problems to an already confused mess. Tim and Kathy came running down the hall, and I yelled out, "Get dressed! We leave to find Heather in five minutes!"

  Four minutes later, we all met in the kitchen. As a group, we focused on Heather, and went after her. For some reason, I appeared better linked to Heather, and seemed to pull the others along behind me. We arrived at Heather's location, and for a second, I thought an Earthquake was occurring. It was pretty dark, but the feeling of spray moisture in the air told me a large waterfall was nearby. I moved up a large, well-kept sidewalk, till I broke into the light.

  Heather was standing there in the moonlight. There were flood lights in the distance, but this area was pretty dark at almost three in the morning. Heather was on the outside of the rail, and ready to jump. Without thinking, I folded space to the rail she was holding, and grabbed her around the waist. She seemed frozen for a moment, and then she asked, "Is that you, Mike?"

  "It sure is," I said. "I want to have a little talk with you!"

  "I just want to die, Mike," she stated, ignoring my comment. "Please just let me go, before I hurt somebody else." Her voice was badly stressed. She was hard to hear over the roar of the falls.

  "If you jump, you take me with you!" I yelled into her ear. "I won't let go, and you'll kill me too!"

  I could sense her indecision in the link. I fought the temptation to seize control of her mind, and said, "I won't let you die! I can't stand to lose another friend this way. Even if you don't drag me down, I just can't stand to lose you. Please, don't hurt yourself!"