The Unborn Hero of Dragon Village

by Ronesa Aveela

  “Mine! I want shiny.” The Vodnik pointed at Diva’s head.

  “You want my hair?” she shouted.

  “Oh, no no no. Shiny in hair. Mine!” The creature grabbed at the emerald edelweiss barrette.

  Diva removed the jewelry with her free hand and waved it in front of the Vodnik. “Is this what you want?”

  “Mine!” The old man swung his arms around, trying to tear it from her. “Gimme!”

  Diva looked at the Vodnik. “Give us back the arrow.”

  “No have arrow. Exchange for soul!” The creature howled. “Let me go, lovely Samodiva. Give me shiny.”

  Twitters grew from inside the hollow again.

  Diva squeezed the Vodnik tighter. “No! Return my friend’s arrow.”

  “I no have arrow. Cheated. No have nothing. Sly stole it. He plays pranks on strangers.”

  “Sly, you say?” Diva squeezed tighter.

  Theo held his hand out. “Let me see if I can entice Sly out.”

  With a firm grasp on the barrette, Theo went closer to the hollow and waved the jewelry in front of the creatures. “Sly come out. See this lovely ‘shiny.’ ”

  Green eyes blinked from the opening. A head popped out, and Sly crept from the hollow, the silver arrow clutched in his fist.

  “Give it back, Sly.” Theo reached out his hand.

  “Me, me, me.” The creature lunged at Theo, grabbing for the barrette.

  They tumbled onto the path. Theo rolled over and pinned Sly to the wobbling moss and bent the creature’s fingers back. Breathing hard, he grabbed the arrow and hurried back to Diva. “Now who do we give the barrette to? This one or Sly?”

  “Me! You promised me!” The old man Diva held wiggled and reached for the jewelry.

  “No, me,” Sly yelled from the tree.

  “We never promised either of you anything,” Diva said. “Sly stole the arrow from Theo.”

  “Sly stole it from me! I want!”

  “No, mine!” Sly screeched.

  Diva tossed her wild, white-blond curls, twirling to look at the cowering creatures. “If you make me angry, I’ll turn all of you slimy things into worms.”

  All glowing green eyes disappeared into the depths of the tree. Water swirled and gurgled as the creatures zipped through the marsh until only the captured Vodnik remained.

  “We can give him the ‘shiny’ since I got my arrow back.” Theo held the barrette near the Vodnik.

  “No. He gets nothing for stealing.” Diva pushed Theo’s hand aside and stared at the creature with cold, hard eyes. “You stole the arrow and tried to kill my friend. If you want the ‘shiny,’ you owe us something. Tell us where we can find Jabalaka.”

  The Vodnik blinked several times. “Why you look for Master?”

  “We want his help to fight Lamia,” Diva said.

  Shaking, the creature turned purple. “No can help. Master kill me. Lamia burn me crisp.” He clawed at the air in a frenzy to get away. “Lemme go.”

  “Not until you say you’ll help.” Diva shook him with every word.

  “You hurt.” The Vodnik scratched Diva’s arm. “I help! I help.”

  She squeezed tighter. “No tricks.”

  “No, no, no. Me want shiny.”

  She released him, and like a frog, he hopped into the hollow.

  Whispers and scuttling came from inside the tree. Moments later, the old man returned, his head hung low.

  “We agree. Follow me. I take you to Master. No blame me if he eats you. He not like company.”

  Chapter 7

  Frightful Frog-Man

  The Vodnik jumped from one branch to another with the agility of a monkey as he led them into the depths of the marsh. Bare tree branches stretched downward like skeleton hands. The odor of decaying vegetation grew more potent. In between the incessant buzzing of insects and birds squawking, water dripped and gurgled in the monster-infested wetland. Only the glow of the Vodnik’s eyes guided them through the darkness.

  With Boo on his shoulder, Theo grasped Diva’s hand to keep from falling over roots jutting through the mossy path. Just when Theo wondered how much farther they’d have to walk, the Vodnik jumped onto a branch of a tree shaped like a crouching bear.

  “Master live here,” the creature said. “Gimme my prize.”

  “Not yet.” Diva walked around the moss-covered tree. “I don’t see a door.”

  “It Master’s house. Door there.”

  Theo moved closer, scratching an area on the trunk until he revealed a wooden frame.

  “See. Door.” The creature leapt from the branch, landing at Theo’s feet. He thrust out his hand. “My prize.”

  Diva nodded. “We’ll keep our promise. Take your reward.”

  The old man dug a sharp claw through the barrette’s clasp like a shish kabob, leaving a thin trail of blood on Theo’s palm.

  “Ow!” Theo kept his gaze on the Vodnik until he disappeared into the shadows, then he knocked on the door. “I don’t hear anyone.”

  “Let me try.” Diva pounded on the door.

  An owl on a dead branch hooted and flew off.

  Theo shook his head. “You’re going to scare him.”

  “Jabalaka, let us in,” Diva shouted. “I know you’re in there.”

  “You’ve not come to take me to ... her, have you?” a high-pitched voice shrieked from inside.

  “Who’s her?” Theo asked Diva.

  “Must be Lamia.” Diva hit the door with her fists again. “Let us in!”

  Silence, then Jabalaka spoke in a tiny voice, “How’d you get past the Vodni?”

  “Enough talk.” Diva’s next thump created a small crack in the wood.

  “Don’t break down my house.”

  The hinges creaked, and the door opened a crack, letting a shard of light escape into the darkness.

  “Who are you? Are you sure she didn’t send you?” Jabalaka’s voice squeaked.

  “She didn’t.” Theo shook his head. “I’m Theo, and this is Diva. We need your help. Please let us in.”

  “Come back tomorrow. It’s late, and I’m tired.”

  Thunder boomed, and a reddish-orange light illuminated the marsh. A whistling gale bent trees, cracking dead branches and hurtling them through the air. With shouts and screams, creatures scuttled into the safety of hollows. The flashing disappeared, burying the area with an impenetrable darkness.

  Theo crouched close to the door in the eerie silence. A low rumble started again, growing stronger.

  “Lamia!” Jabalaka gasped. “Somebody angered her. Quick, come inside before she finds me!”

  The moment the door to Jabalaka’s house opened a fraction more, Theo ducked under the low frame and squeezed through, followed by Diva. Jabalaka slammed and bolted the door behind them.

  Across the tiny room, ash-streaked bricks lined a fireplace, surrounded by shelves built into the wall. Books littered the floor and lay in disarray on a table, where light spilling from an oil lamp illuminated them. A darkened hallway veered off to one side. Only a single chair by the table graced the room. Not much else would have fit in the cramped space.

  Theo turned to thank his “scary” host. Despite his fear, he almost laughed. No more than a foot tall and almost perfectly round, Jabalaka looked like a well-dressed tallow ball. He waddled on frog flippers sticking from the bottom of his body. Yellow eyes bulged out of his wrinkled green face, and a tuft of reddish-blond bristle stuck up from the top of his head.

  Jabalaka hopped onto the chair and waved his distorted arms that extended from where a neck normally would be. His voice shook while he spoke. “If you’re not Lamia’s messengers, why are you here?”

  “Kosara sent us,” Diva said.

  “We’re hoping you have answers,” Theo added.

  “Answers to what?” The frog-man tugged at his bow tie with three stumpy fingers and adjusted the suspenders attached to his red velvet pants.

  Theo shrugged. “I assumed she meant you’d tell me why I’m suppos
ed to defeat Lamia.”

  Jabalaka bounded off the chair and hid beneath the table, curling his body as tightly as possible. He waved his fingers in front of his face. “Oh oh oh! I’ve already lost everything, and Lamia changed me into ... this monstrosity. If she learns I helped anyone, she’ll torture me the way she did my father.”

  Theo kneeled by Jabalaka. “I need to know what you know so I can defeat her. Please help.”

  “Why is it so important to you?” The toad-man scooched farther under the chair. “I can understand why the Samodiva wants to get rid of Lamia because of what the dragon did to her sisters. But you? Do you even live in Dragon Village?”

  Theo choked on his words as he talked about his sister’s abduction, the stories Old Lady Witch had told him, and how he had ended up in Dragon Village. “Don’t turn us away. I beg you.”

  “Where did you say you were from?” Jabalaka whispered.

  “Selo.”

  “Oh oh oh.” Jabalaka crossed and uncrossed his arms, then tapped his fingers together. “I only want to live in peace and read my books. No more trouble from the dragon.”

  Diva cleared her throat. “If we defeat Lamia, you can return to your old life, and you won’t have to stay looking the way you do.”

  Jabalaka shook his head. “As much as I hate looking like this, at least I’m alive. I won’t have any life to go back to if I help you.”

  “Please.” Theo pressed his face close to Jabalaka’s. “Think of everyone else suffering because of Lamia. My sister. All the people from Dragon Village. Children Lamia stole from my world. You could help so many others.”

  “Besides,” Diva said, “do you want to disobey Kosara? She expects you to help us.”

  “Our beloved priestess?” Jabalaka shook his head. “No, no, no, not even for her.”

  “Can you at least tell me what ‘unborn hero’ means?” Theo asked.

  “What?” the frog-man whispered. “Why do you want to know that?”

  “It’s ... my medallion burned it onto my chest when Kosara touched me.” He lifted his shirt and displayed the tattoo.

  “You?” Jabalaka stared, his mouth open. “Oh oh oh. Not the girl? What has the dragon done?” he muttered.

  Theo peered closer. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh oh oh, what a conundrum.” Jabalaka crawled from his hiding place. “All is lost, I fear, but I’ll do what I can. Lamia’s Bible contains the information you need.”

  “Lamia’s Bible?” Diva’s voice rose. “I thought it was lost two hundred years ago.”

  “Various keepers have hidden it.” Jabalaka waddled to the bookshelf and removed a black, scale-covered book with ease although the thick tome dwarfed the frog-man.

  Theo moved closer. It was the book he had seen in his vision in the pool by the Znahar Tree. “The cover’s creepy.”

  “So it is.” Jabalaka hopped back onto his chair, opened the book, and grasped a piece of broken magnifying glass from the table. “Lamia killed her mother and used her skin on the cover—as a magical protection.”

  Theo shuddered, but Diva stretched her hand to touch the book.

  “Careful.” Jabalaka swung the tome away from her. “It’s believed to cause catastrophe or illness to anyone who comes into contact with it.”

  Theo drew his brows together. “Then why can you touch it?”

  “I’m the Keeper of Secrets, so I’m immune.” Jabalaka set the open book on his stumpy legs.

  Diva’s eyes moved back and forth with each page Jabalaka turned.

  “How’d you get to become a keeper?” Theo asked.

  “It goes back to medieval times. An ancestor of mine made a pact with Lamia to gain power.” Jabalaka scanned a few pages. “She wanted all the knowledge of Dragon Village from the beginning of time. My kin killed or tortured magical creatures in Dragon Village and stole their secrets, writing them in this book and promising to pass the book—and power—down to each generation. In trade, Lamia gave him the ability to become a sorcerer.”

  “She must have had secrets, too.” Theo hoped Kosara had sent him here because the book contained something to help him defeat Lamia. “Surely she didn’t trust him with that information.”

  “No, she never trusted anyone. Fortunately, he knew she’d have to hold the physical book to use its power, so he hid it with magic.” Jabalaka paused. “She hunted him down and threw him into her prison, eventually killing him by pressing him between two beds of nails, but she never found the book.”

  “Then how’d you end up with it?” Theo asked.

  Jabalaka sighed. “When one keeper dies, his power and knowledge pass to his eldest son. That’s why ... I have to live, to protect my son, who’s in hiding.”

  “Your son?” Theo covered his mouth to stifle a laugh. All he could picture was a tadpole writing secrets in Lamia’s Bible.

  Jabalaka cleared his throat and gave Theo a stern look. “It’s a living book, so each keeper writes more of the history and secrets of Dragon Village.”

  Diva peered over Jabalaka’s shoulder. “Have you written in the book?”

  “Yes, I wrote about Lamia.” He shuddered. “My father never told me that she could see what each keeper wrote. Her anger was immediate. She turned me into this hideous creature and said she’d do worse if I told anyone.”

  “Wouldn’t she have killed you so you wouldn’t reveal any more of her secrets?” Theo asked.

  “She was waiting ...” Jabalaka glanced at Theo with yellow, bulging eyes, then averted his gaze.

  “Can’t she find you if you have the book?” Theo asked.

  “Only if I write in it.” Jabalaka flipped through several pages showing intricate drawings of creatures who lived in Dragon Village, including a full-page color illustration of Lamia.

  “What’d you write that got her so angry?” Diva leaned closer.

  Silence filled the room. Jabalaka wiped his brow and whispered, “Where to find one of her souls.”

  Theo blinked rapidly. “She has a soul? Or more than one?”

  “Three, in fact.” Jabalaka pushed farther into his chair as he stared at the door. “She’s hidden them from everyone. Even her mate doesn’t know where to find them.”

  “And you do?” Theo stretched to touch the page, but burning heat seared his fingers.

  Jabalaka slapped his hand. “I warned you. This isn’t a game. The book is dangerous. It contains the power of light and darkness, like the battle between Lamia and Zmey.”

  “Sorry.” Theo clasped his hands. “Where is Lamia’s soul?”

  “Patience. I’ll get to it. You need to know other things first.” He read the content on a page to himself, turned a few more, then stopped.

  “Hmm, here’s something. ‘Lamia lives in a castle on top of Cherna Mountain. She has three souls. Killing the first soul will blind one of her dragon heads. When—’ ”

  “Dragon heads?” Theo rubbed his forehead. “What other kind would she have?”

  Before Jabalaka could answer, Diva said, “Dragons are shape-shifters and can appear as humans.”

  “Oh.” Theo had forgotten that Old Lady Witch had told him that. He wasn’t sure if that news was good or bad, but it might be easier to defeat a person rather than a dragon.

  “May I continue reading?” Jabalaka tapped the magnifying glass against the page.

  “Sorry,” Theo said.

  “As I was saying, ‘When the second soul dies, another dragon head becomes blind. After the third soul is destroyed, two eyes on her final and most powerful dragon head are blinded. Only one can slay her—the unborn hero.’ ”

  “Unborn hero?” Theo fingered his shirt where the tattoo with those words had branded him. “Like my tattoo? What does it mean?”

  Jabalaka’s voice softened. “It’s a child yet to be born whose fate is to achieve great things.”

  Theo sat on the floor and rested his forehead on his palms while Jabalaka droned on, reading the book. Great things? Him? These prophesies were wri
tten about him before he was even born. He was no hero.

  Jabalaka nudged him with his foot. “Are you listening?”

  “I’m sorry. Will you repeat what you said?” Theo asked.

  “Pay attention.” Jabalaka turned back a page and read,

  “ ‘One of Lamia’s souls lies inside an egg guarded by the ancient female vulture Lesh, who lives near the Forest of Souls. Destroy the egg to discover a clue about where to find her next soul.’ ”

  Theo scratched his head. “Why would Lamia provide a clue about how to find her souls?”

  Jabalaka scowled. “Didn’t you listen to anything I read? Let me find the earlier passage.”

  The frog-man flipped back several pages. A fly buzzed in the room, and he shot out his long tongue, capturing the insect.

  Theo covered his mouth, gagging.

  Jabalaka continued, “Here it is. ‘The very rocks and soil of Dragon Village are magical, imbued with a power older and stronger than Lamia herself. Nature attempts to restore herself to a pure state. When Lamia’s power cracks, a portion of the dragon’s magic seeps into the soil. Nature gathers it into her womb and returns it as a clue.’ ”

  Jabalaka sighed. “Dragon Village used to be a land bursting with green trees. Bird songs filled the air, and water was crystal clear and sweet. Everyone lived in peace. After Lamia scorched our land, Nature covered her wounds with moss. Now she’s waiting for the one who will restore her.”

  Theo peered at the book. “Is that all? Doesn’t it say any more about how to defeat the vulture or Lamia?”

  “Hold on.” Jabalaka turned a few pages. “Here’s a little more. ‘After Lamia is blinded, the unborn hero will defeat her with a silver arrow and free Dragon Village.’ That’s all I have. If you’re that hero, now it’s up to you.”

  Diva smiled and whispered, “You had the unborn hero’s medallion and the silver arrow.”

  “How...?” Theo spluttered. Why him? He was only an ordinary boy, who lived a simple life. How could he save everyone?

  The medallion had belonged to his father, and Samodivi had given the arrow to Old Lady Witch. The words must have been written originally about his father. Was he supposed to take over what his father never could? Theo walked to the hearth and leaned against the wall.