by Paul Edwards
Chapter Eight
We traveled as quickly as possible until the sun started to set and the light of the large moon caused the trees to have two shadows, we left the road and entered the forest topping when we were about a hundred yards from it.
We climbed off of our mounts and I dispelled them, Shelley conjured up the small building we had slept in the night before and we hurriedly entered it and barred the door behind us.
"I'm exhausted," I said.
"We all are, and my ass is really sore," Shelley replied.
"I'm too tired to eat."
I walked over to a bed flipped my shoes off and collapsed onto it, I was fast asleep in a few seconds.
I woke up in the darkness, my stomach was audibly grumbling, I remembered I had gone to bed before eating anything. I heard the other three breathing rhythmically in a deep sleep, I carefully and quietly got up and felt for my shoes.
I could just make out the furniture in the room, I put on my shoes and walked over to the refrigerator, I conjured up a small light and was able to quickly make a sandwich of sliced meat and cheese. I grabbed a bottle of stout black beer as I closed the fridge door, I tiptoed out the front door as quietly as I could.
The forest was quite dark as I stood outside eating my sandwich and drinking the beer, I looked up at the moon and saw that it had just a slight crescent showing. I saw small pin pricks of orange light flickering on the moon's darkened surface.
I heard another person quietly leave the building, I turned and looked, it was Shelley.
"Tidally locked geosynchronous orbit," she whispered.
"What?"
"Sorry... the moon, it orbits with one side always facing us at the same speed the planet turns, I took an astronomy course once."
"Is that possible without magic? It is so close."
"I don't know... it makes a perfect clock though, it's after midnight judging by the crescent."
"I see lights on the surface, they look like small fires," I said.
"So there are people on it."
"What must they look like? Is the gravity the same as here I wonder."
I finished my sandwich and the beer, Shelley and I went back inside and went back to sleep.
We spent the next two days traveling through the forest, we avoided others on the road as best we could for we did not want any more confrontations. The forest appeared to be alive with people and industry, we even had to detour around another smaller walled city on our journey, thankfully the forest floor was not too thickly covered in vegetation.
We finally reached the other side of the forest at the end of our second day, we stood on the edge of a wide flat grassland, beyond the grassland about ten miles away I could see the beginning of a series of small foothills. I hoped they were the precursor of the mountain range we were searching for.
"Look!" Gwen said excitedly as she pointed to the sky.
I looked up and saw two dragons lazily gliding high in the sky, they reminded me of vultures searching for carrion.
"What now?" Harry asked.
"We will stop here and set up camp for the night, we will start the crossing tomorrow morning," I said.
"What do you think the dragons will do when they see us?" asked Shelley.
"I don't know, but I expect the worst."
I dispelled the horses and Shelley conjured up our now familiar room.
We entered the small building and I walked over to the small kitchen and started cooking a meal for us all. I noticed as I was cooking that Shelley was not chatting with Gwen and Harry as she usually did but had her nose stuck deeply in her spell book.
Shelley's face had an expression of deep concentration and she would occasionally grab a pencil which she had cocked in one ear and scribble something down in her book. A feeling of trepidation and curiosity simultaneously came over me, she was obviously working on a spell of great power.
Powerful spells always had unexpected consequences.
I turned back to my cooking and tried to think of a plan to avoid the dragons, I thought about using one of my flying craft but they were never designed to go much faster than a strong wind. I did not want to be caught in the sky puttering along while being chased by supersonic dragons.
I decided it would be best to proceed on foot, I would use the many defensive spells I had created over the years, specifically a shield spell that worked by creating a layer of slowed time a few inches thick.
The sharp boundary of time would cause most things to just bounce off, only steady pressure would enable anything to enter it, thankfully light moved so fast and was so ethereal that it would easily pass through, and even slowed it would still enable us to see what was happening past the shield.
I finished cooking the meal, I had not made anything complicated as I was getting slightly perturbed at the lack of any assistance.
I put a large pot of noodles on the small table Shelley and the others were sitting around, I came back with the sauce for the noodles and some plates and cutlery.
"What are you working on Shelley?" I asked as I scooped some noodles on a plate.
"Oh nothing special, just a back up spell in case we need it," she replied.
"What's it do?"
"It's not quite done... I'll tell you when I'm finished."
We sat and chatted while we ate our dinner, thankfully the others picked up and washed the dirty dishes when we were done. They must have somehow detected my annoyance at their laziness.
We all went to bed early, I wanted to start our journey at the break of dawn.
The sun had painted the horizon in a bright orange hue, I could see the top of it just peeking over the far hills. I looked up into the sky trying to spot the two dragons we had seen the day before. The light was still too dim, do they sleep? I wondered to myself.
"let's go," I said as I started walking out into the grassy plain.
We had traveled for about two hundred yards before I saw them, the sun was over the horizon now and the sky was brighter. They were circling high in the sky towards the north, their flight did not look so lackadaisical as it had the day before.
One of the dragons suddenly dropped towards the earth going faster and faster, the other followed right behind. They turned sharply at what seemed like inches above the grass and flew straight towards us, they where only about a mile away.
"Everybody stand together," I yelled as I used my bracelet to activate my shield spell.
They were over us in an instant, I had only put shield over our heads so we all heard the enormous roar and felt the powerful wind caused by their large bodies as they flew over. They pulled straight up in what looked like a ninety degree turn.
I watched them as they reached an apogee about three miles up then they moved and turned like a sea otter in the ocean and started towards the ground again.
I saw thick black smoke trailing from their mouths now.
"They're beautiful," Gwen gasped.
They certainly were, their bodies were covered in iridescent scales of blood red, orange and green.
I brought my shield right to the ground instantly enveloping us in silence, the dragons leveled off just above the ground as they did before and sped towards us again. I saw a dark inky trail of smoke that traced their flight path.
I saw the grass flatten as a violent wind blew over it, then we were engulfed in an explosion of orange fire, the flames were so high I could not see the sky. A wave of searing heat then enveloped us, I was instantly covered in sweat, it felt like I was standing in front of a blast furnace.
The flames subdued after about thirty seconds revealing charred and blackened ground all around us. I dropped the shield, worried I would pass out from the intense heat.
"We can't survive another pass," I said.
I saw the two dragons in the distance, circling, then they started a dive again, they must have seen that we were still alive.
"Run!!" I yelled.
It probably took us thirty seconds to reach t
he forest, but it felt like an hour, we were maybe fifty yards into the trees when I saw a wall of flame explode next to the tree line.
"Well... so much for that idea," I said as I collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.
Shelley handed me a large paper cup full of coffee, she had conjured up one for everyone. The coffee was from a coffee shop in Seattle we had both liked.
I took a small sip, a feeling of calm came over me.
"What are we going to do?" I asked Shelley.
"Maybe we could hit them with artillery," she replied.
"Artillery...unfortunately they fly at supersonic speeds... we'd need some kinda missile."
"What about a large bomb," Harry said.
"Ya... like a tactical nuke," Shelley had a crazy look in her eyes.
"What about the fallout... we would need to wait for a few days, "Harry said.
I looked at Harry, he had the same crazy look as Shelley.
"We are not using a nuclear bomb," I said sternly.
"What's a nuclear bomb?" Gwen asked.
"It is a horrific weapon that should never be used."
"They are so beautiful... it would be a tragedy to kill them, I have heard they are over a thousand years old," Gwen said.
I saw the crazy look fade from Harry's and Shelley's eyes to be replaced with guilt.
Shelley's face suddenly brightened, "We can use the spell I was working on," she said.
"What is it?"
"I have to work on it still, I'll have it ready at sundown, we will leave then."
With that Shelley pulled out her spell book, opened it up, grabbed the pencil she had been using to mark a page and started writing.
Shelley spent the rest of the day hiding behind a large rectangular canvas curtain she had conjured up at the edge of the forest next to the grassy plain. Every time any of us tried to look behind the curtain she would shoo us away.
I noticed that when she would stop working and join us for a meal or a snack she had grease stains on her cheeks and a crescent wrench in her back pocket.
Shelley asked me to clear a path from the front of the curtain onto the plain but to leave the forest canopy intact in order to hide the path and the mysterious device she was creating.
I used a spell which displaced the trees lower trunks without killing the trees, they would return once we had departed.
The sun was starting its decent below the horizon when Shelley was finally ready to show us her handiwork. We all gathered in a group beside the curtain, Shelley uttered a command word and the canvas curtain disappeared.
I heard Gwen gasp in wonder, I was looking at a one of the large transport vehicles common on the roads of the modern era. I noticed that instead of a trailer behind the vehicles cabin there was an enormous bell that stretched for many feet.
"What's that," I asked pointing to the bell.
"Rocket engine... a Rocketdyne F1," Shelley said nonchalantly.
"It's kinda big... isn't it."
"Oh that's just the bell... the engine is just the front part."
Shelley knew a lot about rocket cars and such, so I had no reason to doubt her, she would spend many weekends at a racing strip watching odd insect like vehicles race. She had dragged me along once but I found it unnerving and frightening watching these roaring monsters belching smoke and fire.
I did find it odd that I had heard of this particular type of rocket engine though, I reasoned that it was a common one and was used on many different types of vehicles. I must have overheard the name in general conversation.
"It should be fast enough to outrun the dragons breath, and I've reinforced the cabin and put on large military vehicle tires," Shelley said.
"When do we leave?" Gwen asked.
"Right now, by the time we strap in it should be dark."
Harry and Gwen climbed into the vehicles back seats, Shelley showed them how to put on the complicated safety straps, she also gave them helmets to put on.
I climbed onto the comfortable seat next to Shelley and put my own safety straps and helmet on, I looked over at the control panel in front of the steering wheel.
I had never gotten around to learning how to drive but I was familiar with the many levers and gauges common in most vehicles, I noticed one I did not recognize it was similar to the speed gauge but it was numbered from one to ten and was labeled with a big G.
I looked out the window and saw the moon in the sky, a crescent shadow moving over its surface.
I heard Shelley start flipping switches and I then noticed a shower of white sparks start up directly behind the rockets bell, there was a the large mirror next to my window.
The moon... a distant memory started floating to the surface of my mind... THE MOON!!
I suddenly realized why I had heard of a Rocketdyne F1.
I Jerked my head to look at Shelley, I saw her left foot release one of the floor levers while her right foot simultaneously pushed another, I started to open my mouth to say something only to be interrupted by deafening roar.
I was slammed back into my seat, it felt as if a tremendous weight was sitting on my chest. I tilted my head slightly and looked at the large mirror attached to the vehicles side, I saw a blindingly bright white flame with an orange tint coming from the rockets bell, it looked to be forty feet long.
Shelley threw another switch on the dashboard and large spotlights on the cabins roof turned on illuminating the ground in front of us. We were moving at a tremendous speed.
I looked at the mirror again, I saw a massive fireball explode about twenty feet behind us, it lit up the grassy plain for many hundreds of feet.
I tilted my head and looked at Shelley, she jammed her foot on one of the levers on the floor and moved a large hand lever, I felt the weight on my chest disappear.
"Why do you need a gear lever for a rocket?" I yelled, able to talk again.
Shelley looked at me and smiled, "you don't... it's just more fun."
She released her foot and I felt the weight slam back into my chest, it was even heavier now, the roar of the rocket was also louder.
The dragons attacked from the front, a huge fireball exploded in foreground, Shelley jerked the large steering wheel and we veered to the left avoiding the flames, she then jerked the wheel to the right and returned us to our original course.
She geared up once more, when we accelerated this time the weight on my chest was so heavy I found it difficult to breathe.
With a tremendous effort I managed to tilt my head just enough to look at Shelley, her face had an expression of pure joy on it, a perfect counterpoint to our expressions of sheer terror, I thought to myself.
The dragons attacked again but we were moving so fast we just flew through the flames, I saw the fireball disappear quickly in the rear view mirror.
I noticed wisps of mist and fog start to appear in the bright lights of the vehicle, then without warning the fog suddenly became so thick we could not see.
Shelley slammed a large red knob on the dashboard and the roaring noise of the rocket disappeared, she then quickly shut off all the vehicles lights and jammed her foot against the break lever on the floor.
I felt my body fly forward straining the safety straps that had held me in place, we screeched to a halt.
"We have to get out," Shelley yelled.
I slammed the release button for the straps on my chest, they slackened and fell away. I opened the door beside me and half fell out of the cabin and onto the ground. I took my helmet off while on my hands and knees, I tried to stand but my legs were too wobbly.
Harry and Gwen were soon sitting on the ground next to me, Shelley found us and then yelled a command word, the rocket vehicle disappeared.
We sat in silence surrounded by the dense fog, occasionally we would see large fireballs in the distance, the dragons were still try to find us. Shelley conjured up our little room, we entered it leaving the darkness behind.
