“Don’t... Do... That Again!” He ground out on a low, menacing growl.
Nick opened his mouth to shoot back a rejoinder when a shadow fell on them both. Both boys looked up at Fern Mason. She hadn’t bothered with the cover of a book bag filled with texts she had no intention of studying. Instead, she pulled out a chair and sat down next to Nick and stared at them both, their mouths open, each in mid-slam on the other.
“Shut up. Both of you. If you really want to help them, this isn’t doing it.”
“What makes you think I care at all. They broke the law!” Nick ground out.
Fern looked at his moody face and snickered. “Yeah, whatever. You got it bad, you just haven’t got the memo yet.”
She leaned forward in her seat, and despite themselves, Thomas and Nick found themselves curious enough to listen. Seeing Fern Mason out and about and talking was enough of a shock to get their attention.
“I just came from talking with Sadie and Sirris.” Both guys jumped. Thomas’ eyes grew shuttered. Fern stared at him with what might have been sympathy.
“They didn’t have time to tell you. But the boy that was killed? It wasn’t the vampires that got him.” She held up a hand when Thomas opened his mouth to argue. “No, just shut up and listen. Those vamps are starving. But that body wasn’t missing any blood. There were no puncture wounds. And it had been dead several days. There was a knife wound, though. He was stabbed.”
Thomas sat back and scratched his head, running his hand down over his rough face. Stiff stubble under his hand reminded him he hadn’t shaved or showered in close to a week. He was starting to smell.
“She told me something else. The Vamps talked about someone controlling the wolves from the other side of the dimension. They come from the same place; Wyndoor. The vamps don’t want to be here, they are desperate to go back. So are the three wolves on the mountain that nobody has caught yet. Seems someone is controlling things behind the scene still. And No two guesses as to who.
“Doesn’t mean they aren’t still killers. We can’t let them run around unconfined, no matter how sorry you feel for them.” Nick muttered, struggling to keep up with all the information. Thomas stormy expression was harder to read.
Fern laughed, a bitter rasp of sound that was too loud. “I don’t care about their feelings. But what I do care about is why Will Bennett is maybe building an army of wolves. Why did he bother to send something back through to blow up his own lab, come to that? We all know he was behind it. The only reason I can come up with is that he isn’t planning on staying gone. I think maybe he has a way to come back. And maybe not alone.”
Thomas nodded, grim. “So what are you saying? That the girls were right to break the law. They could have come to us. We’d have helped at least or come up with a plan that didn’t involve them landing themselves in jail and looking at expulsion... or worse.”
“But would you have? Either of you? You weren’t ready to listen to what they had to say. You Nick? You didn’t want to go against Daddy, did you? And Thomas, I’m sorry, but grief has clouded your judgment. You’re on your own little personal witch hunt, trying to place the blame on the vamps and the Demon wolves instead of where it really belongs. The girls knew you wouldn’t agree with them. Besides, if you’d gone with them, there’d be four of you in jail. And I need your help.”
Both of them blinked at her in surprise, Thomas’ eyes had narrowed on her shoulder, where her shirt sleeve seemed to move up and down in the weirdest manner.
Fern sighed and reached a hand up and placed it there, stilling the movement. “Hey. Focus Tuttle, focus! I said I need you to come with me. I want to go up the mountain again. I want to talk to those wolves face to face and I need help. It improves the odds.”
Thomas met her eyes, speculating. “What, are you crazy? They aren’t going to listen to you. They aren’t that bright.” He snorted.
“Brighter than the two of you, maybe. They aren’t sitting around feeling sorry for themselves. Why do you think they are still on the East side of Shephard’s Mountain? It would be easy for them to move farther into the Tobacco Root Mountains. No one would ever find them. So why stay? Because they are looking for that Portal back. And here’s the kicker. I think those missing people, including your brother? I think they are alive and in that dimension—in Wyndoor, too.”
Thomas sat up straight. “That’s crazy. We talked about it, but it makes little sense. We found nothing other than that little scrap of cloth...”
“You didn’t,” she interrupted. Fern reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of items and plopped them in the middle of the table.
“What’s that?” Nick asked, reaching forward to pick them up. Thomas reached out and slapped his hand aside, his face devastated with grief. He picked up the knife, rubbing at the crust of dirt next to the engraved crest Fern had revealed earlier. Two more letters revealed themselves. TT emerged under the filth. Thomas spoke into the silence. “It was my brothers. It was Todd’s. Where did you find this?” He asked, shaking it in her direction, eyes gleaming gold.
“Same briar patch, but on the other side. I might have found more if something hadn’t chased me down off that mountain. Whatever it was, I don’t want to meet it alone in the dark again. That’s part of why I want you to come with me. I could stand a wolf’s nose and a sorcerer’s staff as back-up. I want to talk to the wolves and pay another visit to the briar patch.”
Thomas stood up, jaw tight. “Well, then what are we waiting for, let’s go.” He never looked at Nick.
“Aren’t you just assuming something? What makes you think I’m going to have any part in this?” Nick asked, anger darkening his eyes. “The girls are already in jail. What, you want to add us to the mix too?”
Both Thomas and Fern spoke at the same time. “Yes.”
“Nick Seul, you're just as deep in the middle of this as the rest of this. You want to know what’s going on, I know you do. But whatever you decide, we’re going. We could use your help. But we’ll settle for your silence if that’s all you’re willing to offer.” Fern added.
Thomas interjected. “I won’t,” he growled, shooting a disgusted look Nick’s way.
Nick rolled his eyes. “I never said I wouldn’t go. Just that it was a stupid idea and we were probably all going to die when we did it. You know, simple stuff like that?” His voice bled sarcasm.
Fern and Thomas shared a smile.
MOTHER NATURE WASN’T fond of their plans. They left first thing in the morning on Sunday and the low-hanging clouds didn’t hold much promise of them making it out without getting wet. Within an hour it started to rain and they donned protective rain gear. But it wasn’t near sufficient to keep the seeping rain from sneaking beneath their hoods or dribbling off their chins whenever they chanced to look up. And the mud, thick and viscous beneath their feet, squelched with every sucking step they took. The going was slow. Thomas led the way and Nick brought up the rear with Fern in between.
Nick had been staring at the back of Fern’s rain coat for a while, not really paying attention, when he realized that parts of it were moving that shouldn’t have been. It was as if there was a softball under her slicker and it was rolling over her back and neck, directed by an unseen hand. At first, he’d thought it was Fern’s hands scratching at an itch, maybe rain drops that had dribbled in through a hole and were bugging her. But both her hands were low and at her side. Once or twice he thought he heard her laugh and whisper something. But she was a witch. They did strange things like that, didn’t they?
After a while, his own misery made him forget about it as he concentrated on putting one foot in front of another as they tried to slide out from under him.
The rain and cold slowed them down. It was well into the afternoon before they entered the Demon wolves' territory. The difference was, they weren’t trying to hide their approach. After a brief stop for lunch and a drink, they continued; Fern leading this time because she knew where she was going.
As they neared the overhang where Fern had discovered the wolves from before, they moved slower. Nobody wanted any surprises. As they neared, they could make out two large mounds, curled up around a smoking fire, but out of the direct onslaught of the rain.
At least they were dry, Nick realized, jealous. Fern never paused, she moved into the into their campsite and straight for the largest mound. She stopped several feet shy of the sleeping demon and held her icy fingers over the crackling fire to warm them up.
“Hey! Wake up. We need to talk.” There was a flurry of startled movement as they both jumped to their feet with a snarl, looking around and blinking. The largest glared at Fern.
“You again. What do you want! Whatever it is, unless it includes the way back, we’re not interested.”
“Giat, right? I have some questions for you.” Fern admitted.
“Unless you have the location of the portal, we don’t have any answers.” He growled back.
Not happy to be startled awake, Nick noted, looking around. Both wolves stood across from them, on the other side of the dwindling fire. As if noticing the state of the fire for the first time, the smaller wolf bent down and tossed two logs on it, sparks flying into the air and sputtering out against the low roof of the overhand.
Nick frowned. Where was the third wolf?
As if his own thoughts had conjured it up, he gasped as a rough, furred hand reached around from behind and hauled him backwards with powerful arms. One arm held him, the other clawed hand rested at his throat, the threat obvious. One wrong move. Nick didn’t move a whisker.
Fern looked on as if nothing had happened. Thomas stood ready to move, self-disgust clear in his gaze. Why hadn’t he seen that coming?
“We don’t have the location.” Fern admitted.
The wolf’s grip tightened on his throat. Wrong answer!
“But, I think I know where to find it. First, I need to know more about what you were talking about the other day. I don’t believe you lose anything by telling us what we want to know. I think we may be after the same thing. You want to go back. We want to go in with you and get our friends.”
“What are you talking about?” Giat asked. His expression was cagey and Fern sighed.
“Stop it. I know you know. We sent Will Bennett through the portal before it closed. I think he’s been busy on the other side. None of us can know what’s going on over there now, I know that. But what was going on before you came through. He’d already been there, hadn’t he? He was going back and forth?”
Thomas gasped. He hadn’t realized that Will had gone through into the other dimension. Dumb, but he’d always assumed it was a one-way ticket and he’d called the Macu and Demon wolves through.
Giat stared at Fern, looking indecisive.
“He came through about six months ago. Way before any of the Macu or before he sent any of us through.” His voice was bitter and reluctant, as if the words were being pulled from him. Nick glanced at Fern’s gleaming eyes. Maybe they were.
“Somehow, he could control us, bend us to whatever he wanted us to do. A lot of us tried to fight it, but in the end, he gathered us together and we moved on the vampire stronghold. They live in this enormous stone structure that they built, Will Bennett called them castles? We took it over, sent the vamps running. We weren’t sure what he was trying to do, and we had no will to resist him. And then he captured the humans from the mountain and brought them through into Wyndoor. Anyone that got too close to the caves and that portal he brought through and tossed into the keep.
“Thing is though, he didn’t bring them through the portal in the cave. I saw nothing but Macu and us come through there. We always figured there must have been another way in we didn’t know about. As for the captives? Far as I know, they are still there. We were never sure why he didn’t just kill them.”
“He did.” Thomas ground out. “He killed one and sent him back through on the inside of the mountain.”
Utter confusion moved in Giat’s eyes.
Fern went on. “It happened just the other day. Any idea why he might have done that? Do you know what he’s trying to do?”
Giat looked worried. “No. I just want to go back to Wyndoor and try to break the rest of my people free of his control.”
Thomas glared at him. “What makes you think the three of you won’t just fall right back under his control again?”
It was a reasonable question. Nick would have asked it, if he hadn’t been trying so hard not to take a deep breath and risk having his throat torn out.
A hard smile graced the wolf’s mouth. It didn’t reach his eyes. “Because once we’ve been in this place long enough? The enchantment he controls us with wears off. What you didn’t know was that he was struggling to keep control. The Macu are stupid. They were easy. But we, some of us fought back. When we return, we’ll be able to free the others.”
Fern didn’t respond to his hopeful boast. Nick wondered how he thought he was going to be able to do that without becoming a victim to his own people, under the control of a madman.
“So, let’s go together and find that portal. The way into Wyndoor, so you can do what you need to, and so we can get our people out.”
Giat studied Fern, all of five foot nothing, to his seven and a half feet. “What makes you think we want to let them go. Just because I want to set my own free, doesn’t mean I give a whit about helping you.” He looked at the wolf holding Nick and nodded.
“Liad there? He has a mean streak. If you value his head, this is what I need you to do.”
THE ROPES WERE TIGHT and we were at their mercy. Not exactly where Nick had imagined they’d be on their way up that slick mountain. At least they were out of the rain. They’d tied them up and left them by the fire. They’d even been considerate and thrown several more pieces on so they were toasty warm. Nick wondered if that was because they anticipated having them for dinner when they returned.
“What happens when they get up the mountain and can’t find that portal. Do you even know where it’s at?” Thomas asked Fern, who looked like she was having a conversation with herself and losing if the odd disjointed whispering was any sign.
She glanced at Thomas. “They’ll be back and probably kill us.” She told him, like he was dumb for not figuring it out on his own.
Nick blinked at her. “Um, well see, I kind of have a problem with that?”
Thomas continued to struggle with the ropes, snarling as he abraded the skin at his wrists and they bled.
Nick stared hard at Fern. He couldn’t maneuver his hands enough to conjure even the most basic of spells, dammit. He kept staring in her direction as he tried to wriggle his fingers, which had gone numb from loss of circulation. He frowned, what was in her shirt? It was moving again.
The hem of her neckline slipped and his jaw dropped. Two furry little ears popped up, and then a quivering dark snout. Two round eyes landed on him and widened and suddenly there was a mouth full of wicked teeth, grinning in his direction and followed by a squealing snarl.
Fern bent her chin and rubbed it over the top of that fuzzy head. “There now, he isn’t that scary. I need your help Kit, now there’s a girl. Thomas by now was still as well, staring on in astonishment as the insignificant creature emerged fully from under her shirt and clung to her shoulders. The most alarming part was watching the little alien enter in and out of focus; visible and then gone, just as quick. As Nick continued to observe its movements, he realized it wasn’t disappearing, really. Instead, it was blending in with its surroundings so perfectly, it seemed to fade to nothing. A master chameleon. Well almost, he allowed, as it shivered into focus, blinked and faded once more.
Whispering nonsense to the critter, Nick watched it skitter along Fern’s chest and arms and disappear around her back. The sound of chewing and a mad chittering ensued. Fern jerked. “Hey, watch it. Not the thumb you blood thirsty little... ah. There’s a girl.” She wiggled her hands and suddenly she was free. Without a pause, she
removed the knife she’d had concealed in her boot and finished the rest of the ropes off. Kit climbed back up her torso as she moved towards us. The creature paused for a piece on her shoulder, eyes on several mayflies that fluttered next to her head. With stunning swiftness and a jerk of her sharp paws, she had an insect in her jaws, crunching away. She drug the carcass with her as she disappeared beneath the neckline of Fern’s shirt. More crunching, a chitter of happiness. Nick cringed. Gross.
But then Fern had them all free and he forgot about her strange pet. Thomas looked up the mountain towards the briar patch with longing.
“We’ll come back, Thomas. But not today. We need more reinforcements than we have. Even if we knew exactly where that portal is, it would be foolish to think we’d be doing more than just joining them. I think we need Sadie and Sirris.”
THEY’D MOVED A SECOND cot inside the cell so we didn’t have to sleep together. I’d slept with Sirris before and it was no fun. She sprawled when she slept. But then, that assumed sleeping was going to be done. I lay awake listening to Sirris snore, my hands propped behind my head, staring at the ceiling and wondering how I’d landed myself in my current predicament. Not that it surprised me; I’d always had a nose for trouble.
When I heard a click and snap of something beyond the main door, I assumed the heater was settling or a breaker was kicking on. I was still laying on my back daydreaming when the airlock on the main door broke and it inched open.
I sat up, blinking and alarmed. Anyone prowling around the courthouse that didn’t belong here this late at night had to be up to no good.
The door opened wider and Thomas, followed by Nick stepped into view, their faces in the shadows of the darkened room, but limned in the sliver of moonlight angling in through the small cell window.
Fire Bound Dragon Page 12
