Wings of Fire (The Legend of Hooper's Dragons Book 7)

by GARY DARBY

  “The same with my Wave Master,” Talia interjects and motions toward the towering mountain. “I have no idea if it will work on snow or ice.”

  “Just have Wave Rider,” Snag offers, “or better yet, Regal Wind, blast the mountainside with dragon fire and you’ll have all the water you need to work with.”

  “Say,” Amil smiles and turns to Pim, “why don’t you have Sparkle give your lance a good dose of dragon breath, maybe that’ll do the trick to get it to working again.”

  “Somehow,” Pim replies a bit dryly, “I don’t think that’s what’s needed.”

  “Just a thought,” Amil returns. “Couldn’t hurt.”

  “We also saw more Wilders,” Helmar adds, turning back to our discussion, “circling near what looks like several low mountain passes.”

  “Just where you would think,” Cara adds, “that we’d try and enter this bowl by skying through the outer mountains.”

  “Looks like you had a great, albeit freezing idea,” Amil nods to me. “Those Wilders would’ve jumped us for sure.”

  “Thanks,” I reply, “but none of this puts us any closer to getting inside the mountain.”

  “No, it’s not,” Tavin agrees. “What if we tried the diversion tactic again?”

  “You mean try to lure ol’ Fire Mouth and his playmates off?” Amil grunts. “Get’em to chase one of us?”

  “One of us?” Alonya replies shaking her head. “I suspect that he wouldn’t go after just one.”

  “Not enough bait?” Amil questions.

  “He might,” I muse slowly, “if that one was someone Vay wanted to capture very badly.”

  Cara’s gasp is sharp. “Hooper, you’re not thinking of risking the golden, are you?”

  I glance over at Snag. “Just thinking out loud. Not saying that’s what I would do, but if we don’t come up with a better idea, we—”

  “Have to consider all options,” Snag grunts.

  “Well, think out loud on another plan,” Cara stresses, “I don’t like the sound of that one even a little.”

  “What if,” Tavin begins but I hold up a hand and say, “Go on and talk among yourselves. I need to clear my head, take a little walk.”

  I turn away and pace towards the tunnel but Cara quickly catches up and asks, “Hey, are you all right?”

  “Of course,” I answer, “other than being stuck on how to get into that mountain, knowing that Phigby is inside, being tortured by Vay, not to mention that I feel as if we’re in a nest of cribbers about to drop down on us. Other than that, I’m doing great. You?”

  Her full, rich lips drop a bit at the corners. “Does sort of feel that way, doesn’t it?”

  Motioning toward the dark entryway leading to the tunnel she leans close and asks in a low voice, “Going for a little chat?”

  “That,” I nod, “and I want to see how Bold Wind is doing. Want to come along?”

  “Sure. I need to get Wind Song inside anyway.”

  With her dragon following, Cara and I trudge up to the dark opening and slip inside. It takes a moment for our eyes to adjust to the even darker passage and after Wind Song takes a deep, if a bit noisy, drink from the river and curls up against the rock facing, Cara and I hurry to where Bold Wind lies near the end of the dragon line.

  Even before we reach him, I can tell he’s on edge by the way his scales rustle as he shifts around and his talons scrape against the rough, hard rock. He blinks several times as we walk up and when I let my eyes meet his, I can see anger, hurt, perhaps even embarrassment.

  “Restless?” I ask.

  “Yes,” he answers, his voice deep and raspy. “I can’t help thinking of what Master Phigby might be experiencing because of me.”

  “Hey,” I reply, “we’ve settled this already. You’re not to blame. The only one who is guilty is Bazyl, not you.”

  “Still, I should have been more aware, more alert. If I had—”

  “Bold Wind,” Cara soothingly replies, putting a hand on his muzzle, “I know Phigby well enough to be able to say that he would never blame you—”

  “And I know him well enough,” I interject, “to know that his expectation of you is that you will give your very best when we rescue him. What happened in the past is over, it’s done with and we can never go back and change it, but what we can do is our very best now and in the future.”

  Cara gives me a little smile and a nod. “Well said, Hooper.”

  “Well said, indeed, Hooper Menvoran,” Bold Wind adds, “and I appreciate it very much.”

  “Good,” I return, “now get some rest, we’ll need your strength and your courage soon enough.”

  “I’ll be ready, on that you can depend.”

  We start to turn but Bold Wind rumbles, “Hooper Menvoran, Mistress Cara, I am most grateful for the words of encouragement.”

  “You’re welcome,” we murmur together and both of us stroke his muzzle for a moment before we hurry off toward Golden Wind who’s curled up with her eyes closed.

  As I stride up, I stop and look around. “He and Silky are trying their luck fishing,” the golden yawns and blinks open her eyes.

  “Sorry,” I respond, “didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “Oh?” she answers. “Did you expect for me to converse with you in my sleep? I wish I could, I would get more sleep that way.”

  “You should try it sometime, I might get some of my questions answered that you’ve been ignoring.”

  “I never ignore your questions, Hooper. I’m just waiting for the right time to answer them.”

  “Uh huh. Well, hopefully you won’t wait for the right time to answer this. We need help. We can’t seem to find a way into the mountain. Any ideas?”

  “The one entrance,” Cara explains, “is blocked by a host of Blackguards, Wilders and—”

  “The Fire Elementis,” the golden finishes.

  I look at her sharply. “Did you know he was there?”

  “No. But it makes sense that Vay would have him guard the entrance to her portal, don’t you think?”

  “Oh. Right. Anyway, we can’t get inside.”

  “You mean,” Golden Wind rumbles, lowering her muzzle so that we’re eye to eye, “you can’t get inside by that way.”

  “Right. We can’t get inside by that way. Know of another way in?”

  “No, but there has to be one.”

  “Why do you say that?” Cara questions.

  “Because, dear Cara,” the golden answers, “the ode book would not have sent us here if there was no way for us to accomplish our task.”

  “Yeah,” I growl, “like they say, coming from a book it’s definitely easier written than done.”

  “You made that up, didn’t you?” Cara asks.

  “Yes, but it seems right, considering.”

  I scratch at my head. “I admit it, I’m stumped. Helmar said that you and he only saw that one opening. How else are we going to get in?”

  “Golden Wind?” Cara asks in a little girl voice. “Hooper’s right, we need some help.”

  “I can only share what I know,” the golden replies. “The ode book has been true each time. There has always been a way, we simply have to ensure that we explore every possibility from top to bottom.”

  She lays her head down on her forelegs and closes her eyes. “Or, sometimes from bottom to top.”

  A moment later, she’s quietly snoring. “And that, dear Cara and Hooper,” I mutter to myself, “is the end of the conversation while she waits for the right time to answer the question.”

  Cara and I stare at each other for a moment before we start back to rejoin the company. “What are we going to do, Hoop?” she asks.

  “I don’t know. But what I do know is that Golden Wind is convinced that there’s another way into that mountain. We just have to find it.”

  “And soon.”

  “Yes,” I sigh. “Very soon.”

  As we near the outer opening, we can hear voices, some raised just enough that they drown ou
t the river’s gurgles and soft lapping against the bank. “Something tells me,” Cara whispers, “that no one’s come up with a workable solution.”

  “Or one crazy enough like some of my stunts.”

  She smiles at me. “You do sort of have a knack for that.”

  As we walk up, the voices subside a little and there’s an uncomfortable shifting of stances. “Don’t mind us,” I encourage, “argue away. We haven’t come up with anything either.”

  “Aye,” Amil returns, “we’ve argued this thing out until we’re all turning purple in the face.”

  “You mean blue in the face, Amil,” Cara retorts.

  “No, I mean purple. We’re way past blue at this point.”

  “I think what he’s trying to say,” Tavin explains, “is that we’ve looked at this from all sides, front, backward, upside down—”

  “Bottom to top,” Amil interjects.

  “You mean top to bottom,” Cara rejoins.

  “Bottom—top,” Amil grunts, “at this point, it’s all the same.”

  I start to smile at Amil’s jest but my eyes suddenly widen and my lips freeze in a half smile. “Bottom to top,” I whisper, “and top to bottom.”

  Thinking to myself, I move my lips but no words come out, Bottom to top—top to bottom.

  After a moment, it hits me and I snap my fingers. “That’s it!” I spit out and push through the company who stare at me as if I’ve lost my mind. Well, maybe I have, considering the idea that’s just popped into my head.

  In a stumbling run, I hurry past the others and slide to a stop, staring at the looming mountain in the distance. From its cone-shaped top twists a pillar of smoke and I mumble to myself. “Is it even possible?”

  “Is what even possible?” Cara demands right behind.

  “To go from the bottom to the top and then from the top to the bottom.”

  “Hooper, you’re making absolutely no sense whatsoever,” she returns.

  I turn to find everyone’s faces staring at me as if I’ve just taken a bite of looney-fruit and was under its influence. “Listen, I know this is going to sound crazy—”

  “Uh oh,” Amil spits out, “here we go again.”

  I point toward the snow-covered giant. “At the top, there has to be a hole—an opening or there wouldn’t be any smoke rising. What if—” I hesitate just for a moment before questioning, “What if it’s large enough for a dragon to sky down and it leads us into Vay’s fortress?”

  Dead silence. No one speaks, everyone just stares at me. Then, Amil starts chuckling, his laughter growing louder until he blurts out, “You can’t be serious.”

  “He is absolutely serious,” Tavin replies in a flat tone.

  “He is?” Amil sputters.

  “Yes, I am,” I answer, “and I’m going to take Golden Wind straight up from here and shoot across until we’re over the hole and down we go. Bottom to top and then top to bottom.”

  “And down we go,” Cara states and folds her arms to gaze at me, her apple-green eyes unblinking and stony. “Hooper, even if the opening is wide enough for Golden Wind to flap her wings, you have no idea what’s down there.”

  “No,” I answer, “but we’ll go slow, keep a close lookout.”

  “Smoke means fire,” Alonya declares. “In this case, considering the size of that peak, maybe a big one.”

  “Right,” Amil rumbles. “Big mountain, big fire. Makes sense.”

  Alonya ignores Amil and goes on. “Golden Wind might be able to take the heat, but most likely, you could roast yourself on the way down.”

  “Good point,” I reply, “and if I see anything bigger than a campfire, we’ll turn around.”

  “The hole could rapidly narrow,” Snag points out, “close about you until Golden Wind runs out of room and can’t sky back out.”

  “Perhaps, but I’ll take one of the sprites. Twinkle. She’ll give us enough light to see by and if the golden’s wingtips start scraping the walls, that’s as far as we go.”

  “Mountains are notorious for landslides,” Tavin argues. “You could have a cave-in come crashing down on you, full of giant rocks that not even Golden Wind could deal with.”

  “I admit there’s a chance of that happening and I’ll keep a close watch. If I see loose rocks, we’ll stop and come back.”

  In a loud whisper meant to be heard, Amil asks Cara, “He’s not listening to any of this, is he?”

  “Oh, he’s listening,” Cara retorts, “he’s just ignoring everything we say.”

  “Not true,” I answer. “I’m carefully weighing each of your arguments.”

  “Carefully weighing,” Amil snorts. “You’re right, Cara, he is ignoring us.”

  “Yes, well,” Cara retorts, adding a frown to her glare, “watch how he deals with my ignoring him.”

  With that, she stomps off, heading toward the tunnel and Wind Song. “Wait,” I call, “I’m ignoring you? Since when and in what?”

  “Since right now as I’m going with you!” she calls over her shoulder.

  “What?! Hold on, Cara, this is going to be—”

  She ignores me, keeps walking toward her dragon.

  “Cara, I don’t think you—”

  “Amil,” Cara calls over her shoulder, “how’s he taking my ignoring him?”

  “Not well,” Amil calls back. “Sounds pretty flustered. I think he’s stopped that carefully weighing business.”

  “I thought he might.”

  “I can hear you two,” I grumble, “and I’m not flustered.”

  I stop, take in a deep breath, let it out. “All right, Cara, you win. You can go.”

  She turns, comes back, smiles, and gives me a little pat on the cheek. “I knew you’d come around to the inevitable.”

  “The inevitable,” I snort. “Meaning, you’d get your way?”

  “Not just her,” Amil grunts as he rambles past me, “we’re all going with you.”

  “You’re all going?” I sputter. “Wait. You just tried to talk me out of it with all those arguments you had me carefully weigh. Remember?”

  “We were just making sure you considered all the risks,” Alonya growls as she strides past with the others close behind. I stare at the lot of them, confused at how just moments ago they were trying to talk me out of my little venture and now they’re acting as if it were their idea.

  Without missing a step, Alonya turns and calls, “You coming or have you changed your mind?”

  “I’m coming, I’m coming,” I answer, shaking my head. Under my breath, I mutter, “Even if this company had a leader, no one would pay any attention to him. Or her.”

  “Bosh and bunkum, Hooper,” Cara smiles. “We’d pay attention—up to a point.”

  “And then,” I return, “you’d go off and do whatever you had in mind in the first place.”

  She gives me a wide grin, turns on her heel and heads for Wind Song. I snug Galondraig down, and hurry over to Golden Wind. Scamper and Silky come bounding out of the dark, both chewing on something stringy that wiggles about between their clamped jaws. Scamp zips up the golden’s leg while Silky darts over to Wind Sparkle.

  As Scamper settles in on the golden’s carapace, I try to see what he’s eating but he swallows whatever it is before I get a good look. “I know you’ll eat most anything, Scamp,” I say, “but I’d be a little careful in what you pick up to chew on in here.”

  Naturally, like everyone else, he ignores me, sets his front paws on the golden’s carapace and wiggles his little rump. “I take it you’re ready to go,” I grunt and add, “All right, Golden Wind, let’s find some open space to stretch your wings.”

  The golden plods through the opening, leading the other dragons. Once past them, I lean over and whisper, “Straight up, Golden Wind, as high as you can go and then over to the mountain. We’re going to see if we can sky down the hole from the top.”

  “I see,” she whispers, “then you’ve thought of another way into the mountain?”

  “I hop
e so.”

  “Then I share your hope.”

  She spreads her wings and I can feel her neck muscles tense as she gathers herself. Then, she springs upward and we sky straight up toward the ebony curtain that seems to stretch from horizon to horizon.

  Up and up she goes, with me hanging onto her horns while Scamper has his paws locked tight on the golden’s skull ridgeline. I only glance back once to make sure the company is following. From my vantage point, the golden is like a mother goose leading her goslings all in a line.

  Then, she straightens out and we glide along, just underneath it seems, the clouds that throw deep shadows across the bowl. To me, the darkness is velvety looking with a perfect smoothness to its surface. A faint gleam seems to spread outward from where I stare, and I can almost see myself staring back. The sheen is so close that I feel as if I could reach out and touch it. My hand rises as if it’s being pulled upward against my will.

  “Don’t!” the golden growls. “You’ve come too far, given up too much to lose it all in a moment of foolish weakness and thought. The Sheath of Shadows is forged out of evil and would freeze your heart, mind, might, and soul with a single touch. It lends its evilness to those below, hardens their hearts against the light.”

  I swallow and pull my hand back. “Sheath of Shadows?”

  “Yes.”

  “Of Vay’s making?”

  “Who else?’

  “Uh, then let’s go a bit lower so no one else gets tempted.”

  In answer, the golden drops us a bit and we swiftly sky across the bowl. I sweep my head in all directions, fearing that I’ll see the sky full of Wilder wings but none appear. Glancing down, I can barely make out the moundlike mountains that dot the landscape and if there are Blackguards and Fire Hounds down there that patrol the bleak landscape they’re too small for me to see.

  The giant of a mountain looms closer and it’s becoming easier to see that the opening at the top is cavernous. I lean forward to peer at the craggy hole that looks more and more like it could swallow several Regal Winds. “I think Regal will be able to drop through that, at least at the start.”

  “Indeed,” the golden replies, “but the question remains what we will find as we go lower.”