by Gabby Fawkes
I chortled, and bathed the whole batch of the snow humans in fire.
My tail whipped again as I spread my wings.
Let them come forth from the snow. I shall burn all the snow. I shall burn this place to a cinder, if need be. Burn them – burn them all.
Burn the liars and their frozen palace of lies.
I flew up to get a better view of the scene. Pain stabbed into my back. I wheeled around.
Ice. Falling from the sky.
Yes, there was dark magic afoot here. Cursed dark magic.
Below, the specks that were my comrades were not much use, flinging their hands about and setting off little spurts of movement or force.
Whoosh!
Something huge slammed into me, taking the air out of me. I wheeled around.
First snow humans, then ice sky, now this? Giant sky-falling snow boulders?
This palace was enchanted and cursed. The only thing to do was to burn it to ash.
As another boulder barreled toward me, I breathed my fire on it. But it kept tumbling straight for me. I swooped to the side, dodging it at the last second.
“Wands!” the hairy gypsy man was yelling, for some reason.
Was that what was causing this madness?
As I swept away, I skimmed over whole boxes of puny, living humans. Hardly imprisoned yet merely sitting there like sacks of potatoes.
This snow land was inside of a mountain, I remembered that much. Now if I could just locate the entrance…
“Tala!” my two pinprick human comrades were yelling.
Dum spiro spero had something to do with this, I was sure of it…
No matter. Perhaps the pitiful humans could be of some use. As I wheeled down, all four of them clambered upon my back. I snorted. Normally, a good flinging-off would teach them a much-needed lesson on manners, but now wasn’t the time.
“Toward the wind,” the gypsy woman said.
I flew toward it – straight into the snow that plunged unceasingly. Blasted puffs of blindingness… of what use were they… of what purpose…
And then I was arcing out of a cavernous entrance, inhaling blessed, sweetly fresh air.
“The wands!” the hairy gypsy man was yelling again. “Top of the mountain!”
I wheeled around. I’d show him the top of the mountain. To think that he’d dare presume to order me, the most formidable dragon in all the land.
The ‘mountain’ he spoke of now poured with lava. I hissed.
Witches and their magical trickery. They ought to be put down, burned to a tame crisp. Every last meddling one of them.
I saw the ‘wands’ he spoke of, all right. The pair of silver sticks were at the top of the volcano, in the midst of a lava spurt.
“Tala, no!” one of the cowardly girls cried.
Yes. If removing the cursed sticks obliterated the enchantments cast upon this place, it would be my pleasure.
Hot air from the lava scalded me as I swept closer. Lava spit and bubbled.
I only laughed. Didn’t the great rocky pimple know that I was made of fire, born of it? That I could give birth to my own fire in my breast this very second?
Everyone was screaming, the volcano was spewing. Black smoke choked my eyes, my nostrils.
As I dove in, the wands were swallowed by the lava. No – I would not let the witches win this one. I reached into the lava, feeling the burning rip through my claws – and…
Got them.
Everyone was still screaming, the volcano was still spewing. Black smoke was choking and me? I was falling, falling, fallllling….
18
I awoke with a killer hangover. Or whatever you called it when your whole body hurt to move and all you wanted was a hot chocolate (even though the last time you had one was when you were ten).
“You okay, Tal?” Kian demanded, leaning over me.
“Great,” I croaked. “Remind me what happened?”
“It was horribly risky,” Demi said.
“Fantastic, really,” Kian crowed. “You turned into a dragon and burned everything, all those stupid snowy enchantments, and it looked like you were going to just fly away on a rampage, you were so mad.” Her smile drooped, then came back quickly. “Then you swooped down and let us climb on you, then you burst out of Vologda onto the top, and…”
“It turned into a volcano!” Demi said, looking downright angry. “And instead of turning back, like a reasonable human being, you flew straight for it!”
“Demi,” Kian said gently, “Tala wasn’t a reasonable human being, she was a dragon.”
“Still!” Demi said, turning to me with a superior glare. “You flew to the top and reached into the lava for the wands!”
“Did I get them?” I asked, inspecting both hands. They had all fingers, although the right ones did look a bit redder than usual.
“We’re just lucky Milsindra and Jules were on the ball,” Kian said. “As soon as we got the wands, you started falling. Some part of the wands’ enchantment – anyway, they cast some crazy spell and you kind of – I guess, floated – to the ground. After that, Demi went in psycho friend mode with about ten different plants and flowers snaring out of her palms around the two and demanded they heal you. Which they did.”
I waited for the rest, for the… ‘and now we get to go home!’, but Kian said nothing more. Neither did Demi.
I craned my head around – was that… yep the same squares of the magical cage enclosing as before. It couldn’t be, and yet… had literally nothing changed?
“So what now?” I asked. “What did they say?”
“Nothing - yet,” Kian said, pretending she didn’t know just how bad this was. “I mean, they never outright promised they’d let us go back to Speranţă or anything. Or even free us.”
“They haven’t come by yet,” Demi admitted. “I think they’re avoiding us.”
“Pissed is more like,” Kian said. “Their whole plan was bullshit. The other Romms ran away when things started getting dicey near the end. Shit, if it hadn’t been for you, Tal…” She shook her head darkly. “Jules and Milsindra would be in prison right now, and we’d be with the DSA most likely, in their freaky lab or something.”
She eyed me carefully. “What made you finally turn back into your human form anyway?”
“Dum spiro spero,” I muttered.
“Huh,” Kian said, pursing her lips, “Who knew Latin would be the gift that keeps on giving?”
Speaking of Latin… Somewhere, sometime recently, I’d seen Latin numerals somewhere. But where, and why?
I shook the thought out of my head and addressed the more pressing issue. “Did they give us food at least?”
“Yep,” Kian said, sliding a plate my way on the pavement. “Bleh-tasting mush.”
I groaned. So much for the Romms being grateful.
Suddenly, the blue and yellow starry afghan was flung back over our cage.
“I’m reallllly starting to hate that goddamn blanket,” Kian said.
The next second we were lifted up.
“Hey!” I called. “That’s it? We’re just getting moved? No thank you or anything?”
Jules’ voice was unmistakable. “The thank you will be when we get to your precious Speranţă. If we get there, that is. If you refuse to help us pass the booby traps then I cannot be responsible for what horrors befall us and, by extension, you…”
“Hold up,” I said, sitting up, “Since when are we going to Speranţă?”
“Since, oh, about five seconds ago,” Jules answered. “The Romamagi are hungry for a morsel of adventure. There are none left who have seen the Great Stronghold of the Phoenix Dragon Clan.”
I sat there for a minute, not sure what to say. So that was it, then? They were actually taking us home after everything?
“What Jules means to say,” Milsindra’s voice chimed in, “is that if it weren’t for you, we’d be locked up and rotting away. And we recognize that. Anyway, it was either this or turn you over to the DSA
, as Sybil kept demanding.”
“Is Sybil the little homicidal girl?” Kian asked.
“That’s the one,” Milsindra said.
“Remind me to steer clear of her,” Kian said.
“That might be difficult,” Milsindra said.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jules said gaily. “Now buckle up, we have a big journey to embark upon.”
“What happened to them wanting our help for the booby traps?” I asked my friends.
They shrugged.
“Maybe they’ll just ask us when we’re closer?” Demi asked.
I sunk my back into the unyielding cage, unable to even think of a reply. In the past twenty-four hours so much had happened that my brain hurt. We’d been to a purple paint, chicken leg and dancing-filled bonfire, we’d been sent on a mission in dank tunnels and freezing snow, been seemingly betrayed, then freed – at which point I’d turned into my vicious dragon form and saved the day. And now, after all that, we were on the road again, really going back to Speranţă? Seemed too good to be true.
The next few hours, I drifted in and out of sleep. Judging by the jostling of our cage from side to side and the occasional squawk of a displeased bird or bray of a baleful donkey, we seemed to be flying. How, I hadn’t the dimmest idea.
“So about these booby traps…” Jules said, his head poking under the blanket.
“You can fly?” I asked.
“Of course the Romamagi can fly!” he said crossly, as if I’d just suggested that they didn’t know their ABCs. “Just divulge to me how to get past the booby traps. Our magic doesn’t work properly in the Dragon Badlands.”
“I was going to say just fly over them,” I said, “But I guess your next best shot is me. I can fly in and get my friends to put down the drawbridge.”
He scowled. “And our next best shot after that?”
“Why?” I inquired sweetly. “Don’t trust me, even after I saved your life?”
“Not a bit,” he declared, eyeing the three of us carefully with a resigned glare. “But I do trust your love for your friends. Which is why they will be staying with us until you allow us into Speranţă.”
“Fine with me,” I said. “We’re not going to hurt you, even if you did almost chuck us into the Farewell Well.”
Although I couldn’t say for sure just what Axel or Persephone would do once we were actually back. Another thing the Romms didn’t need to know.
“We’ll see, we’ll see,” Jules said, perhaps guessing the truth anyway.
Minutes later, we had thunked a landing, and the blanket had been yanked up and off, showing that we were on a rocky formation shaped like a Q.
“This is it, guys,” I said to my friends, as I mentally prepared myself for what I was about to do. “Anything I should keep in mind?”
“Don’t let Axel get all killerly vengeful,” Kian cautioned. “If he’s even around.”
“Got it,” I said.
I looked to Demi, whose shrug didn’t downplay the nervousness in her blue-green eyes. “Don’t let Jenna do anything stupid?”
I grinned. “That’s a given.”
We stood there awkwardly for a moment before I flung my arms around them both. We held each other tightly as our cage door was opened.
“There you are,” Jules said companionably. “I’m a man of my word, I’ve always said.”
As I walked out of the cage and carefully examined my surroundings, he said, “Well, don’t rush yourself on account of me. I just thought you would’ve been happy to be home.”
Can we just burn, say, his eyebrows, or the tip of his nose, pretty please? PV asked.
-No, I responded in my head. You’re already getting to assume your beloved brutal form twice in two days, you should be happy.
My PV sniffed.
Meanwhile, I gave free rein to the heat overtaking me. My arms, then legs, then torso, then head, burned, and everything burst. My fangs jutted out and my legs lengthened and everything grew murky and black until… I was anew.
Yes.
I flung myself into the air and breathed in the deliciousness, tinged with salt. This was my home. Where I was meant to be.
I soared over the swathes and swathes of Badland rock toward my home, the greatest rock of them all. The greatest stronghold of them all.
I perched in a window and paused.
Where was I supposed to land? This window, if you could call it that, was a mere speck. Of course, some burning could make it bigger…
Dum spiro spero, some memory suggested to me.
As if that would solve anything. I shook my head to dislodge it – but there was no getting rid of it.
Dum spiro spero.
I slumped into the window, my stomach reeling as my gaze fell a thousand feet.
19
My eyes closed, then snapped open. I was back. Just barely, seeing I was slumped in a freaking window hundreds of feet up off the floor.
My dragon form really couldn’t have deposited me anywhere more convenient, like by a door? Ugh, it really was sassy sometimes, especially when I didn’t allow it to burn them, burn them all. Which was most of the time…
Right now, I was in the massive entrance hall, which went all the way up, hundreds of feet to the ceiling, probably on the thirtieth or forty-something’th floor. There was no way out of here unless I turned into a dragon again, which was not how I wanted to make my grand entrance. The other kids were borderline freaked of me enough, not to mention that I’d rather not give Jenna any more ammo than absolutely necessary.
“Hellooo!” I called out into the emptiness.
Nothing. I craned my neck around, but the closest balcony I could make out was a fifty-foot-drop from here. Yeah– no.
“Hellooooo!” I yelled out again, louder this time.
“Tala?” Timmy yelled, flying up and in front of me. “What are you doing up there?”
“You can fly?” I said.
He grinned. “Yep, but shh, it’s a secret. Jenna keeps wondering who keeps dropping moldy carrots on her head.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” I said, smirking. Guess I had missed a bunch. “Can you help me down from here?”
“Sure,” he said, flying over and pausing awkwardly for a minute.
“What?” I said.
“Just,” he squeaked, “your boyfriend is kind of insane and homicidal and I don’t want him to get the wrong idea when he sees me holding you.”
I had to laugh. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll explain it to him. As long as you don’t drop me, we’re good.”
“Okay,” Timmy said with less certainty than I’d have liked, wrapping his arms around me. “Here goes…”
I said a silent prayer to the dragon gods (if there were any – that was another thing I’d never gotten around to asking anyone), and stepped off.
“Cowabunga!” Timmy yelled as we plummeted down.
“Uhhh,” I said, feeling my stomach plop in the bottom of my chest. Flying down as a dragon didn’t feel like this. Anything like this. “Are we supposed to be going down this fast?”
Already, the floor was swimming into my vision, way too fast for comfort.
“Eh,” Timmy said.
Then, “Oh shit!”
“Ow…” I groaned, two blocks of stone digging into my back. What the hell had I landed on?
“You’re okay,” Axel breathed, his face looking like it was trying to decide between being furious and delighted.
Whirling around, he fixed Timmy with a murderous glare. “If I hadn’t been here to catch her-”
“Whoops, gotta go, my bad, really sorry, see you later!” Timmy cried, shooting out of the room.
Axel took a step to follow him.
“You’re still holding me,” I reminded him.
“Right,” he said, peering into my face. “You’re okay? Where were you? Where are the others? What happened?” The words fell out, one after another, and I could sense Axel’s anxiety
– and his relief.
I tried to smile. “Long story. Important part is that right now I have to let down the drawbridge.”
Axel’s eyes flashed. “Are they threatening you?”
“No,” I said, then sighed. “They were the ones who brought Demi, Kian and me here. Just – please, can you let me go?”
Maybe Axel hadn’t noticed, but he had been holding me so tightly it had started actually hurting.
“Sorry,” he said, carefully depositing me on the ground like I was a china doll that could break at any minute.
I heard the unmistakable pattering of dozens of feet.
Apollo was first in. “So you are back,” he said, coming to shake my hand warmly. “Excellent. Axel was about ready to go into Mathusalem on a killing spree until someone turned you over.”
“It was just an idea,” Axel grumbled.
“How’d you know I arrived?” I asked Apollo.
“Timmy,” he explained, “Yelled it out in the dining hall, then flew away.”
“Thank God,” Jeremy breathed, rushing me into a hug.
Our reunion was short-lived, though.
“Where is she?” Persephone yelled, shoving by everyone, to demand it is my face, her blue eyes red-veined and wild. “Is she okay? What did they do to her?”
“She’s fine,” I said, telling a white lie to reassure her. “Even made a tire-sized succulent yesterday.”
“And Kian?” Dion demanded, next in.
“Fine too,” I said, pulling away, “other than just finding out that she’s a Romamagi. Now can I go let down the drawbridge, guys?”
I doubted the Romamagi would start turning my friends into flamingo statues if they got impatient, but I didn’t really want to find out either.
“Damn,” Artemis said, hurrying over to give me a hug, not having really heard. “And you’re saying we have to let these guys in? Is that really a good idea? What’s to say they won’t tell the DSA where we are?”
I shrugged. “No guarantees. But according to the Romms, they already knew we were here anyway. So they could have told the DSA already.”
“I don’t like this,” Axel growled.
