by James Riley
“Destruction magic!” Rachel shouted. “I can do that! I can get us out of here!”
“DESTRUCTION? HER POWER IS THAT OF THE ELEMENTS, HUMAN! YOU WARP ITS MEANING TO YOUR SIMPLE ENDS.”
“Yes, I warp its meaning, sure, but I can crack us through these walls, if that’s what it takes!” Rachel said. “Just let us go, and I’ll get us right out of here! And then you’ll be free to go looking for this dragon yourself, maybe.”
“I’ll take you there,” Gabriel said. “Just as soon as I have my brother back safe and sound.”
“And my father,” Fort added.
The dragon pondered this for a moment. Out of nowhere, control of his body returned to Fort, and he gently floated down to the floor, near one of the walls. “SHOW ME YOUR POWER, LITTLE HUMAN,” the dragon said to Rachel, climbing over the nearby mound of gold. “TEAR DOWN THE WALL THAT D’VALE CREATED, AND I SHALL CONSIDER YOUR BARGAIN.”
“Okay, give me a second,” Rachel shouted up at him, then turned to Fort and moved in close. “Is Gabriel telling the truth?” she whispered. “I don’t care what this thing looks like, it’s still an Old One. If we bring it back to Earth, there’ll be no stopping it. You saw what it did to Gabriel.”
“We’ll figure something out,” he whispered back.
“Oh, perfect,” she said, looking sick. “Improvising has gone so well for us in the past.”
She walked over to the wall and began to concentrate, as Gabriel took her place. “We’re going to make this work, no matter what it takes,” he said to Fort. “I need to know you’re with me.”
Fort looked at his roommate, now someone completely different than he’d thought. “I want my father back, and you know what I’m willing to do.” He leaned in close. “Do you really know where the last dragon is?”
Gabriel nodded. “I’m not going to say where, in case the Old One is listening. But my father has it trapped. He captured it a few days ago and won’t shut up about it.”
“He captured a dragon?” Fort said incredulously.
“Like I told you before, it’s the last dragon: What makes you think it isn’t hiding as something else?”
“So it’s human?”
“Dr. Opps is the one who told my father what it really is,” Gabriel said. “Dad doesn’t believe him, because he’s a fool. But once we get my brother and your dad back, we’ll bring the Old One over to the good colonel, and let those two discuss what it is. And then they can work it out between themselves who gets to keep it.”
- THIRTY-THREE -
WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG, human?” the dragon asked Rachel. She had both of her hands pushing against the cavern wall, the red glow emanating from her fingers lighting up the nearby gold. “ARE YOU UNABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THIS SIMPLE TASK?”
“I’ve… got it,” she groaned, then flashed Fort a look. He quickly ran over to her and leaned in close.
“So listen,” she whispered, sweat running down her face. “This might… be harder than… I thought. There’s… something in the rock… that eats any magic… that you send at it.”
Fort nodded, even though he had no idea what she was talking about. “But you just said you can handle it.”
She glared at him. “That was… so that thing didn’t… eat us. But I might… have an idea.”
She let go of the wall and turned back to the dragon. “Don’t worry!” she yelled, wiping the sweat from her forehead. “Should only be another minute at most!”
“IF IT IS MUCH LONGER, MY BRETHREN SHALL ARRIVE, AND I WILL BE FORCED TO TURN YOU ALL INTO DRACSI,” the dragon said, not sounding particularly bothered by that.
“She’s got it!” Fort shouted up, then leaned back in. “So, um, what’s the idea?”
She made a face. “Dr. Opps and Dr. Ambrose have had us… experimenting. You know, like you did against that Ketas Old One thing, made up that Cause Great Harm spell or whatever it was using the spell words you knew, and trying to say something else with them?”
“Yeah, Sebastian mentioned that,” Fort said.
In spite of the situation, she smiled. “He’s so bitter, he’s not working with us now. But forget him. One of the spells I found, it uses my magic missile spell… in a different way. It fills something with magic, instead of shooting it.”
“I get it!” Fort said, a bit too loudly. She shushed him, and he leaned back in. “So you’re going to feed whatever’s in the wall so much magic it can’t handle it all!”
“That’s what I’m going to try,” she said. “Unfortunately, last time I did this, I exploded the whole lab.” She took in another deep breath. “If Jia hadn’t been nearby, Dr. Opps and I wouldn’t be around anymore.”
Fort shook his head. “Then we come up with another way. I have a little tiny hammer that might break the rock, and—”
This made Rachel snort and begin to laugh. “Okay, thank you for that,” she said. “But seriously, you know how Cyrus… he said one of us would be lost?” She winced. “I think this is what I’m here to do.”
“What?!” Fort said. “No way. We’ll think of something else. I can’t let you—”
“I just wanted to tell you that I know why you did all of this,” she said, ignoring him. “And while you’re completely wrong and made terrible choices, I forgive you. Because I get it. If it’d been my mom or dad… well. I’d be right here too.”
“You’re not doing this!” Fort said, and grabbed for her arm to pull her away from the wall, but she just raised a hand and a gust of wind knocked him off his feet, sending him careening across the cavern floor. “No!” he shouted as he hit a pile of gold and came to a stop.
“Everyone stay back!” Rachel shouted, and turned back to the wall, her hands glowing much brighter now. “Jia, be ready!”
The red glow began flowing into the wall, only to disappear as fast as it arrived. Rachel groaned in pain, and the flow intensified, becoming too bright to look at.
“Rachel, stop this!” Fort shouted, pushing to his feet, but Gabriel grabbed him before he could go to her.
“She’s going to be okay!” Gabriel told him. “Just let her do it.”
“You don’t know that!” Fort shouted, trying to get free, but Gabriel just tightened his hold.
“I do know that,” his roommate said quietly. “I told you, I have a plan, and Cyrus confirmed it. She’s not going to be hurt!”
Rachel started to scream, and her whole body glowed with the same red light of Destruction magic. But now the light was slowly filling the wall as well, which bulged and pulsated grotesquely, like it might explode at any minute.
“Everyone get down!” she yelled, and Gabriel pushed Fort to the ground, covering them both with his shield. A blue glow lit up the side of the cavern suddenly, but it was quickly overwhelmed by another burst of red, and then the wall exploded.
Rock went flying everywhere, and Fort shouted Rachel’s name over and over, but no one responded. A stone larger than Gabriel struck his shield, only to bounce off, its protective magic saving them from being crushed. Dust cascaded into the cavern, dropping a cloud over everything that made it even harder to see.
“Rachel?!” Fort yelled, pushing out from under Gabriel as soon as things settled down. “Rachel!”
Through the dust, a blue light flickered, then solidified, and Jia walked Rachel out of the cloud in a bubble of Healing magic. Fort quickly ran to them, only to bounce right off the bubble, falling back to the ground.
Inside, he saw Rachel soundlessly laugh at this, even as she wiped tears from her eyes. Her mouth moved like she was saying something, but her words didn’t make it through the protective bubble. Jia waved a hand and the bubble popped, and Rachel’s laughter filled the cavern.
“Thank you for that,” she said to Fort. “Totally worth almost dying.”
“Um, you’re welcome,” Jia told her. “You’re lucky we didn’t all experiment with blowing things up.”
“A CORPOREAL SPHERE,” the dragon said, peering down through the cloud of du
st at them. “I WOULD NOT HAVE THOUGHT A HUMAN COULD CAST SUCH A POWERFUL SPELL. NOTHING CAN PENETRATE SUCH A THING AS LONG AS THE SPELLCASTER LIVES.”
Jia’s eyes widened. “Seriously? I kinda just cast it randomly and thought it was a fun protective bubble.”
The dragon narrowed his eyes, and fire began to escape his mouth.
“I’m kidding!” Jia said quickly, putting her hands up to ward off any fire. “I mean, of course I take Corporeal magic too seriously to ever just experiment with it.” She flashed Fort a terrified look.
“THERE IS NO TIME TO WAIT,” the dragon said. “WHICHEVER OF YOU HUMANS HAVE STUDIED SPACE MAGIC, REMOVE US FROM THIS PLACE NOW, BEFORE MY BRETHREN ARRIVE.”
Fort nodded and stepped forward, peering into the cloud of dust. Beyond it, a hole as large as the dragon now opened in the middle of the cavern wall, and he stepped around some enormous rocks to better see what was on the other side.
They were on the shores of what looked like a lake, only it looked more like liquid silver than water. And the heat was so intense, he could feel it all the way from inside the cavern.
Tubes ran from the lake of molten metal in various directions, most likely as food for the Dracsi. Well, he could look when they arrived back in the den he’d first landed in.
“Everyone ready?” he asked, and opened a teleportation circle.
“Um, no, I almost just died,” Rachel said from behind him. “And great, you’re not even going to give me a minute. Ugh. Fine!” She strode past him and leaped through the portal, with Fort just a few steps behind.
- THIRTY-FOUR -
THEY DROPPED INTO THE CAVERN of the Dracsi, the same one where Fort originally landed, the only light coming from two fireballs that Rachel created, holding one in each hand. Now that Fort could actually see the nest of Dracsi properly, he wondered how he had ever lived through his first trip here, as the entire cavern was full of the creatures.
“MY CHILDREN!” the dragon said as he passed through Fort’s circle, sounding stricken at the sight of the Dracsi.
The sight of the Old One sent the Dracsi into a frenzy, each struggling to get closer to the much smaller dragon. The abrupt movement quickly became dangerous, with the huge creatures threatening to stomp them at every turn.
Fortunately, Jia was able to get her Corporeal Sphere up to protect them before anyone was hurt.
“I SHALL FREE YOU FROM THIS HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE,” they heard the dragon shout, though he was now lost in a sea of Dracsi, each one growling its love for their creator. “YOU SHALL BECOME DRAGONS AGAIN, EVEN IF IT MEANS…”
Whatever else he said was lost when blue light as bright as the sun exploded in the cavern.
All around them the Dracsi began to roar in surprise, twisting and turning—though they didn’t necessarily seem to be in pain. Their bodies glowed with the same blue light, and as Fort watched, entranced, Gabriel grabbed his arm, a huge smile on his face.
“We’re actually going to do this, Fort,” he whispered, tears in his eyes. “We’re going to bring them back.”
The nearest Dracsi to them began to shrink abruptly, wings emerging from its back as its arms extended down in front of it, matching the length of its legs. The shrinking grew more rapid now, and as Fort watched in awe, the black-scaled Dracsi morphed into a bright blue dragon, which collapsed to the ground with a heavy sigh.
“MY CHILDREN!” the Old One shouted, and his voice rang out clearly in spite of the roaring Dracsi. “RETURN TO YOUR TRUE FORMS!”
All around them, the giants collapsed in on themselves, most growing wings and becoming dragons once more. But off in the distance, Fort saw something strange. One Dracsi had continued to shrink, and this one had no wings. In fact, it lost its scales too, becoming more and more… human.
“There!” Gabriel shouted, but Fort was already banging his fists on Jia’s bubble until she shut it down. The moment it disappeared, he was off, not caring about the Dracsi still changing shape in front of him. His eyes were locked on where the person had fallen, and nothing was going to stop him now…
“Fort!” Jia shouted. “Above you!”
He looked up just in time to find a Dracsi collapsing right over him. Without a second thought, Fort created a teleportation circle in front of him, sliding through it a moment before the newly formed dragon slammed into the spot where he’d been standing. He emerged right next to the human, who had landed on his stomach. Fort dropped to his knees, his momentum sending him skidding to a halt at the person’s side.
“Dad?” he shouted, turning the human over. “Dad!”
But it wasn’t his father. This creature had longer ears, light blue hair, and looked like he’d been sculpted from marble.
“Is it him?” Gabriel shouted, making his way over as Fort slowly turned the creature over.
“No,” Fort said, looking up at his roommate. “It’s… I think it’s an elf.”
“Watch out!” Jia shouted, and Fort turned in her direction, only to be yanked to the ground as the elf’s eyes flew open, and it wrapped its hands around Fort’s throat, an animalistic rage filling his eyes.
“Let him go!” Gabriel shouted, bashing the elf in the face with his shield. The creature immediately released Fort, snarling at this new threat, but Gabriel just slammed it again, and it fell unconscious.
“What’s wrong with that thing?” Rachel shouted.
The Old One let out an ear-splitting shriek. “MY CHILDREN!” he yelled, his voice filled with desperate grief as, one by one, the dragons’ bodies slowly began to fade away, leaving behind the same blue glow that had filled the room a moment ago. It was almost like they were returning to the magic from which they’d come. “I WILL MAKE MY BRETHREN PAY FOR WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO YOU!”
“He killed them,” Rachel said as now even the blue glow disappeared, leaving no sign of the Dracsi.
“No, he released them,” Jia said. “Turning them into those monsters did something to their minds, like with the elf. I’m not sure they were ever going to come back from that, not after living as Dracsi for that long.”
“RETURN TO THE MAGIC,” the Old One shouted. “BUT REMEMBER WHAT THEY DID TO YOU. REMEMBER, AND AWAIT YOUR REVENGE, AS IT WILL COME SURELY AND SWIFTLY TO MY FAMILY!”
Fort stared down at the elf on the ground before him, a new fear gripping his chest. If this elf had lost his mind… what had happened to his father?
“Fort!” Gabriel shouted from behind a particularly large dragon that had just started to dissolve. “I think I found him!”
Fort felt all the heat drain out of his body as he raced over to where Gabriel was standing. As he rounded the dragon, he saw the body on the ground, and he almost collapsed, tears streaming down his face.
It was his father. And he was alive!
“Dad?” he whispered, touching his father’s face. “It’s me. It’s Fort!”
His father’s eyelids fluttered, and he opened them to look up into his son’s face. For a moment, madness filled his eyes, and his face twisted into something unrecognizable, but then he seemed to focus, and his expression turned instead to wonder.
“Fort?” he said.
Then his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell unconscious.
“Jia!” Fort shouted as Gabriel ran off in a new direction. “JIA! It’s my dad! He needs healing!”
She and Rachel both ran over as Gabriel continued searching the floor for his brother. “I’ve got him,” Jia told Fort, but he wouldn’t move, he wouldn’t let his father go, not now, not after he’d just found him. “Please, Fort, you have to give me room.”
Rachel gently pulled Fort away, and somehow he resisted fighting her, instead watching intently as Jia concentrated, then put her glowing blue hands down onto his father’s chest.
“Fort, as soon as Gabriel finds his brother, we need to get out of here,” Rachel hissed at him. “If we can get to the portal, we can close it and leave the Old One trapped here. We can’t let him get back to Earth, no matter how
much he hates the others.”
“Jia, is he okay?” Fort asked, barely hearing Rachel’s words.
“Shh,” Jia said, crinkling her forehead. “Give me a minute. I’m trying to see what’s wrong.”
“Fort,” Rachel said. “Did you hear me? We have to get out of here before the Old One, or—”
“Hey!” Gabriel shouted from the far side of the room. “Where is he?” He ran over to the Old One, who was ignoring him, tears turning to steam as they rolled down his scaled face. “I don’t see him. Where is my brother?!”
“Uh-oh,” Rachel said.
“LEAVE ME TO MOURN,” the Old One said.
Gabriel angrily slammed his shield against the dragon’s leg, more to get its attention than from any possibility of hurting it. “We had a deal. Tell me where my brother is now!”
“IF HE IS NOT HERE, THEN MY FAMILY MUST HAVE TAKEN HIM,” the Old One said, snaking his dragon head down to within inches of Gabriel. “BUT THAT IS NOT MY CONCERN. AS OF NOW, OUR BARGAIN IS COMPLETE. I HAVE RETURNED TO YOU THE ELDER HUMAN.” He lifted his head and sniffed toward the tunnel leading to the portal. “AND I CAN SENSE SOMETHING OF MY CHILDREN IN YOUR REALM! PERHAPS YOU WERE NOT LYING ABOUT THE LAST DRAGON AFTER ALL.”
- THIRTY-FIVE -
GABRIEL SCREAMED IN RAGE AND pulled back his shield to strike again, only to freeze in place.
A moment later, so did the rest of them.
“ATTEMPT TO INTERFERE, AND I WILL DESTROY YOU,” the Old One said, slowly beating its wings. Dust kicked up all over the room as the remaining dragons disappeared, and the Old One rose into the air.
“No!” Rachel shouted, struggling against her paralysis. “We can’t let him get away, Fort! Use your magic!”
Fort concentrated, and his hands glowed green at his side as a massive teleportation circle opened right above the dragon, covering the tunnel to the portal and leading right back to Dragon’s Teeth. There was nowhere for the Old One to go, as Fort extended the circle to just inches away from the walls on each side. At his size, there was just no way the dragon could get past it.
