by D K Drake
“Need you to hang on just a little longer, girl,” Taliya said, stroking the dragon’s snout as Micah held her. “You’re going to ride with Kenton and Skylark through the portal to Zandador, and I’ll meet up with you shortly thereafter. By then you’ll be ready to challenge Azurrior to a foot race.”
Azurrior popped his head out of the pack on her back and put his snout on her shoulder at the mention of his name. “You’re not allowed to race anyone anywhere yet, little guy,” she said, patting his head. “But when you do, I’m sure you’ll win.”
He swiveled his head toward Javan, who stood beside them. “He wants to know what a race is,” Javan said. “I’ll explain it to him while we get ourselves into position.”
“Thanks.” Taliya kept her pouch that held the activation scales and handed Javan the backpack with Azurrior in it. “Take good care of him.”
“I will. See you at the rendezvous point.” He strapped the pack to his back and climbed on Silverspike, the first big dragon in line, while Micah lifted Starshade up to Kenton on a half-golden Skylark behind Silverspike. Varjiek, also half-covered in golden scales with noon an hour away, stood in the back of the line.
“My axe.” The whispered command of the Destroyer made Taliya jump.
“Right,” Taliya said, trying to disguise her nervousness. She led the Destroyer over to Micah, who met them at the activation wheel by the portal. “All right, Micah. Jane here needs her weapon.”
“I think I’ll hold on to it until we get to Zandador.” He tapped the axe that hung over his back atop his own sword.
“She needs it now. Otherwise we can’t sell our story.”
“To be clear,” Micah said, taking the axe off and giving it to Jane, “I don’t like this plan one little bit.”
“Noted.” She didn’t dare mention he would like it even less once he found out what they were going to have to do in return for the Destroyer’s help. “Please just play along. Our lives depend on it.”
“Fine.” He gripped the Destroyer’s left arm. “But I’m not letting go of her until this whole thing is over.”
“Sounds fair.” Taliya stepped forward and checked with Javan before she placed the scales in the wall. “You all set?”
Javan took out his invisibility sword, and both he and Silverspike disappeared. “Did it work? Can you see us?”
“It worked. Now to get the portal to open.” She rubbed her hands together before placing the scales in the activation wheel. A whoosh of colors flashed with blinding brightness. She relaxed when she recognized the pattern immediately. “Ha. Got it. This should only take a minute.”
She began pressing the scales with confidence. Until an image of the Destroyer killing Starshade flashed in her mind. That startling trick of her imagination caused her to press the wrong scale, and the portal shut down.
Strike one.
◊◊◊
At the abrupt end to the activation process, Javan bit his free fist to keep his frustrated yelp to himself. He waited until he could trust himself to speak in a calm, reassuring voice, then said, “No worries, Taliya. You’ll get it on the next try.”
“Uncloak yourself,” she said, turning to look in his direction. “I want to ask you something, and I need to see your face when you answer.”
“You sure we have time for a Q and A?”
“Javan.”
“Okay, okay.” He took the invisibility scale out of his sword. “What’s your question?”
“How badly do you want to win the throne?”
“That’s a strange question.”
“Answer it anyway. How badly do you want to win the throne? It’s not a desire that’s been ingrained in you since birth, and I don’t know how much you are willing to fight for it.”
A serious urgency undergirded her words, and he had a hunch his answer would make or break their mission. “I’m no quitter, if that’s what you’re asking. The fact I’m here proves that. If I wasn’t willing to fight, I would have teleported myself back to my Earth home in Montana and forgotten all about Zandador. Besides, the prospect of collecting dragons and becoming king is a lot more interesting than the prospect of finishing high school here.”
“What if you had to face the Destroyer head on? Could you win?”
“Why would I have to fight her?” Her question worried Javan. Had Taliya agreed to let the Destroyer go if she got them through the portal? If that was true, she would probably head straight to Midnight Territory and try to kill all the Midnight Stalkers to prevent him from finishing his collection. “She’s our prisoner.”
“Just answer the question. Could you win?”
He glared at the Destroyer. She raised her eyebrows and glared back, daring him to answer. “Absolutely. I will do whatever it takes to keep her from killing any dragons on my watch.”
“That’s all I wanted to know.” Taliya smiled. “Let’s go home.”
“Yes.” Although still worried, he made himself and Silverspike invisible again. “Let’s go home.”
Taliya restarted the portal activation process. Once she inserted the scales, brilliant colors that flashed too fast for him to process flooded the cave. Taliya seemed to be able to pick out the pattern, however, and she started pushing the scales on the wheel in a systematic fashion. “Get ready, boy,” he said to Silverspike. “That portal will be opening any second.”
“Oh, no!” Taliya screamed and yanked on the top scale. “No, no, no, no!”
“What’s going on? What’s the problem?”
She pulled the scale out of the wall, effectively stopping the portal. “I almost made a big mistake. I almost sent us back through the South Zandadorian portal.”
“Good catch,” Micah said. “Our plan doesn’t stand a chance of working unless we go through the portal in North Zandador. Those soldiers didn’t see us leave.”
“At least you deciphered the code,” Javan said. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out next time, too.” He tried to sound encouraging, but the words sounded hollow, even to him. And he was sure everyone in the cave had the same thought at that same moment.
Strike two.
Chapter 51
Regretful Taliya
“C
lear the cave.” Taliya waved everyone away before attempting to activate the portal for the third and final time. “If I miss the code, I’ll be the only one eaten by the acid. The rest of you shouldn’t have to die if I make a mistake.”
Javan suddenly appeared beside her. “We’re not going anywhere,” he said, clasping his arm around her shoulder.
“He’s right.” Micah squeezed her other shoulder. “We’re with you no matter what.”
She looked from Javan’s wild green eyes to Micah’s serious brown ones. In that moment, she felt something she hadn’t felt since the death of her grandparents: a sense of belonging. Not daring to let herself get too emotional about it, she said, “I really hope I don’t kill you guys.”
“Me, too.” Javan pecked her on the cheek. “I’m kinda attached to living.”
Before she had a chance to process the fact that his lips touched her cheek, he teleported himself back to Silverspike. Micah also stepped away, leaving her alone again with the scales and the activation wheel. She took a deep breath and inserted the scales. “Let’s go to Zandador.”
A smug little grunt from the Destroyer caused Taliya to look in her direction. Her cocky expression indicated that she wanted Taliya to be nervous. She wanted the dragons to die, even if she perished in the process. Taliya wasn’t going to give the Destroyer what she wanted.
With a wave of confident determination, she pressed the scales. The wheel whirled, and a colorful dash of lights once again filled the cave. Blue. Green. Black. Gold. Gold. Pink. Green. Pink. Blue. Black. Was that it, or did she miss a flash of purple?
She stepped back and watched again. No. No purple. Her original assessment was right. “This is it.” She took another deep breath and returned to the wall. She pushed all doubts from her mind
and began pressing one scale after another.
◊◊◊
Javan winced as he watched Taliya press the activation scales. He half expected to be doused in an acid bath and was pleasantly surprised when the swirling colors merged into the familiar glow of an activated portal. “You did it, Taliya! We can go home!”
“We need to hurry,” Kenton said. “Starshade is fading fast.”
“Let’s do this, then.” Javan cleared his throat and gave the orders. “Taliya and Micah, head on through with Jane. We’ll be sixty seconds behind you. We’ll all rendezvous at the Zandadorian portal near Gri.”
“See you there.” Micah nodded, adjusted his grip on the Destroyer’s elbow, took a hold of Taliya’s elbow with his other hand, and led them all into the watery wall.
Javan began counting, being sure to give them enough time to order the airborne soldiers out of the way. As he reached second number twenty-three in his head, Kenton interrupted.
“By the way,” Kenton said, “you better zip up that bag with Azurrior in it and hang on tight. Silverspike doesn’t like the portal.”
“You’re just now telling me this?” Javan secured Azurrior in the bag and looked back at Kenton. “What does he do?”
“He may spin in crazy circles, and there’s a good chance he could tip off the soldiers to his presence by blasting the ground with his lightning breaths.”
I’ll try not to, Silverspike said, but portal travel upsets me.
“Great.” Javan sighed. “On top of trying to keep us invisible, I’ll have to worry about falling off and being shot at by the soldiers. Some fool-proof plan this is turning out to be.” Despite the sense of dread constricting his heart, he leaned forward, gripped the dragon’s neck a bit tighter with his legs, and urged Silverspike into the portal.
◊◊◊
As the cold clung to her skin in the gooey, sticky portal, Taliya changed her mind. She didn’t want to do this! She wanted to turn back and keep the Destroyer locked away on Earth forever. But she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t stop. She couldn’t do anything except move with the current toward the light up ahead.
Would the soldiers who waited for them there submit to the unique authority of the Destroyer? Or would the Destroyer use her authority to betray them as soon as she regained control of her own life?
Betrayal might be the better option. With the power of three dragons on their side, they at least had a fighting chance of survival and escape. If the plan worked, however, the price they had to pay would more than likely cost her Javan’s friendship and respect.
Tears welled in her eyes as the light grew closer. What had she done?
What on Earth had she done?
Chapter 52
When Lightning Strikes Water
Stay strong. Do not cry. Fight the tears. Micah coached himself all the way through the portal. He couldn’t be seen sobbing the way he had when exiting the portal the first time. He would lose all respect of the soldiers, and none of them would take him seriously.
The coaching didn’t work. The second he stepped through, his body betrayed him. Tears streamed down his face, making the river to his right, the woods to the left, and the forms of the soldiers charging at them blurry. More blurry soldiers on okties were moving into position above him, Taliya, and the Destroyer as they marched away from the portal toward the charging soldiers. He let go of the shivering Taliya and used his free arm to cover his face. No way would he let anyone see him cry.
“On your knees!” A female soldier leading the charge screamed the order and halted their march. Her brown hair was pulled back into such a tight bun that her pale skin seemed to stretch beyond its natural limits. He wasn’t sure how she could even move her thin lips without an excessive amount of pain.
He glanced back. Good. They had cleared enough space between them and the portal to give the dragons room to step through and get airborne.
“On your knees,” the leader repeated, “or my people will blast you.”
“You blast me, and I’ll make sure everyone in this unit is properly punished by King Omri himself.” The Destroyer jerked free from Micah’s grip. Surprised at the sound of her voice, he peeked at her over his elbow. Her eyes were doing their rapid blinking thing, but she didn’t seem to notice or care. “Micah and I are on a special assignment from the king and must report to him immediately along with this lawbreaker in our custody. I thus need your best three okties. Get them out of the sky now. I want to inspect them, choose the ones I want, and be on my way before the portal even shuts down.”
The soldier charged her Jolt Blast. “I have an assignment as well. I am under strict orders to arrest anyone who comes through this portal. Besides, that cannot be Micah. He is dead.”
Micah dropped his arm. Surprised gasps rumbled through the lines of soldiers. “I am very much alive.” He managed to spit the words out through sobs. They had to get this situation under control fast. Javan would be coming through on Silverspike any second. “Put your weapons down.”
“And the okties,” the Destroyer said. “Get them out of the sky. Now.”
“Micah I will listen to,” said the soldier, signaling the men to lower their weapons while staring at the Destroyer, “but you have no right to order my okty unit to do anything.”
“I have more right than anyone here.” The Destroyer forced the top of her shirt over the edge of her right shoulder, revealing a tattoo in the shape of an O formed by sliced tails of the four Dragon Stalkers. “I have been branded with the Seal of the King. I take it you know what that means?”
Micah knew what that tattoo meant. It gave her the authority to act with the power of the king anywhere in Zandador at any time. Only two of the king’s advisors had been branded with that Seal during the five centuries of Omri’s reign, and it had been promised to him on his 100th birthday. How had this woman from another Bloodline earned that sacred mark? What secrets was she hiding? Why was she so loyal to his father?
“Yes, ma’am. Yes, of course.” The leader snapped, whistled, and ordered her okty unit out of the sky. One by one, the okties began to land on the path along the river.
“Look at that,” the Destroyer said, speaking low enough for only Micah and Taliya to hear as they walked toward the okties, “I got us through. I’m eager to collect my payment.”
Micah matched her low tone. “What exactly is your payment?”
“We might want to discuss that later.” Taliya took the reins of a green okty and pointed to the sky above the river. “Looks like Silverspike is about to reveal himself.”
Bolts of lightning shot straight into the sky. Then parallel to the water. Then BOOM! A bolt struck the water near the opposite shore. High bursts of water shot into the air, dissipated into bursts of steam, and finished with unhappy waves rustling the surface of the water and crashing onto the shoreline.
More booms. More water explosions. More steam bursts. More waves. All headed closer and closer to the portal shore.
“Lighting storm!” Micah screamed over the yelps of the okties, hoping the soldiers would believe his explanation. He climbed on a yellow and black speckled okty and began herding the soldiers to the trees. “Clear the area! Take cover in the woods!”
◊◊◊
The need to laugh bubbled up inside Javan as he broke free from the cold, sticky portal into the fresh Zandadorian air. He held his breath to keep the laughter inside. If he let it out, the soldiers he could see landing their okties in front of him would hear. He thus held it in long enough for Silverspike to clear the portal, spread his wings, and soar to the right over the river.
Skylark would bank left when she came through, and Varjiek would fly straight ahead to avoid any collisions of invisible dragons.
Once they were far enough away, Javan exhaled and let himself laugh. He could feel Azurrior turning flips inside the backpack, but Silverspike coasted calmly through the air. “We did it!” Javan laughed some more and stretched out his arms. They rose higher and higher,
and the figures of the people on the land grew smaller and smaller.
Seeing the portal from above triggered the memory of the last time he was here. He had been ready to give up on his Collector’s quest before it begun, and his mother willingly opened the portal for him to let him return to his old life on Earth.
Micah had been on portal patrol that day and captured his mother. Had Micah not shown up and been the jerk that he used to be, Javan would have gone back to Earth without ever meeting Varjiek, Micah would still be an enemy of the Collector Bloodline, and Taliya would be waiting in vain for Javan to arrive in Keckrick to collect Kisa.
Javan stared at the little people standing by the swiftly flowing river. His life had changed a lot since he last stood down there. He had changed. Had he been braver and wiser from the beginning, he would have committed to the quest at the outset, and his mother never would have had to endure that awful imprisonment.
But would he have been as motivated to collect Varjiek if his mother’s life wasn’t on the line?
Now wasn’t the time to consider such questions. He had a job to finish. “Nice flying, Silverspike. Let’s circle around and head north.”
Silverspike turned north, stalled, and sputtered. You might want to hold on a bit tighter. I feel an eruption coming on.
“No.” Javan patted the dragon’s neck. “Stay steady. Stay calm. You’re okay.”
I can’t hold it in anymore. A bolt of lightning shot toward the clouds. Whatever happens, keep me invisible!
He leaned forward and latched onto the dragon’s neck just as he began spinning like a pinwheel in the middle of a hurricane. Silverspike shot lightning in every direction as he spun around and around while flying closer to the portal area.
