Tala Phoenix and the Dragon's Lair

by Gabby Fawkes

  Once we reached the top floor, Hera barely glanced our way.

  “I require no aid!” she said, as her diamond blade blocked several btsan swords at once, “Be gone with you!”

  Talk about killer pride.

  “Sorry,” Kian said. “Can’t do that.”

  Kian turned to me and paused. “Oh, right. Do you want, like, a weapon?”

  I shrugged, feeling even more useless. I hadn’t really focused on or used my non-dragon abilities, but I had done sparring drills. Maybe I could still be of some use?

  As Kian tossed me a sword, I got to work dueling with one of the btsan off to the side.

  “You have to be joking,” a familiar voice snarled. It was Axel.

  “I’ve been looking for you, and-” He scowled, stabbing an oncoming btsan through the throat. “You’re fighting in your human form?”

  As a btsan raced toward me, I ducked, my sword slicing through its side before I jabbed the hilt into its shoulder.

  “Why can’t you just trust me?” I asked, evading the next btsan’s oncoming blow. “I’m not completely hopeless as a human, you know.”

  “Still,” Axel said, expertly stabbing three btsan in one fluid motion, “why can’t you just be more careful?”

  “Sorry, Dad,” I said.

  “Oh!” I cried.

  Pain stabbed into my shoulder. Fuck – no. I stabbed my sword from where the pain came from, which happened to be… the btsan’s heart.

  That’s what you get, I thought. But then I saw his face. His almost-human dying face.

  Ugh. I staggered back, leaving my sword where it was.

  When I was a dragon… things just happened. Things I didn’t really remember. Death, destruction, yeah, but this… was different.

  “Tala!” Axel said.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “I’m totally…” I slumped onto him, feeling faint.

  Drooped onto his sturdy chest, I could see through the balcony doors to outside. Jenna and Timmy were in the air fighting off gargoyles. But all I could hear was…

  Ring, ring, ring. Ring, ring, ring.

  The btsan around us were, finally, all dead. But Hera still looked as pissed as ever.

  “Go into the other room,” she commanded quickly.

  “Is that her couch ringing?” Kian asked.

  “There you are!” Dion said, appearing in the doorway.

  “I said go!” Hera roared, a gust tossing us all into the other room.

  “So much for ‘thank you’,” I groaned.

  “Oh shit, Tal, are you okay?” Kian asked, touching my arm gingerly.

  “Don’t know,” I said.

  “We just need to get her to Apollo,” Axel said. “I’ll go find-”

  “Shut up everyone,” Dion snapped. “Listen.”

  Huh, that was pretty out of character.

  We froze. Then, hearing voices, we peered around the doorway to see that Hera’s couch was… actually a couch-phone. As in, she was now sitting on the couch speaking to an image that floated in front of her. Was this Olympus or Star Trek?

  The figure was unmistakable and a shiver crawled up my spine. Stewie.

  “We’ve received word that Olympus has been attacked,” he said, the perfect imitation of utter concern.

  My nails dug into my palm. Oh, I bet he’d ‘received word’ all right – I bet he’d given the word.

  “We are fine,” Hera said stiffly.

  Stewie’s smile was pious. “Of that, I have no doubt. Still, as the DSA is the protector of the people, it is our magic-bound duty to support you in this fight. Never have gargoyles or btsan been seen in these numbers, anywhere, for any reason.”

  “I’m aware,” Hera retorted. “But as I said: I do not require your help. Nor do I want it.”

  She slammed her fist down, ending the call just as Hermes came blundering in through the window. He fell onto the marble floor, face first, one of his sandals’ wings mangled and unflapping.

  “They tried to stop me,” he said weakly. “You’ll have to let them in, Hera. There’s too many of them. There have to be tens of thousands of DSA out there. The gates won’t hold. And…”

  He hesitated at the next part.

  “And?” Hera said, tension edging into her voice.

  “They have Poseidon’s scepter,” Hermes said before falling to the ground, unconscious.

  “What?” she gasped.

  Oh yeah, this was def capital B bad.

  “What’s Poseidon’s scepter?” I asked.

  “The only thing, other than Zeus’ thunderbolts, that has the power to open the golden gates by force,” Axel said darkly. “It was an old agreement between the two brothers. A compromise.”

  As we began to enter the room, heading for Hermes, Hera stopped us.

  “He’ll be fine, you have to leave,” she said.

  “What are you talking about?” I said. “We aren’t done here. We can fight the DSA! I can change into a dragon and-”

  Hera shook her head. “No. There were thousands of btsan and gargoyles here today, hundreds still left, I’m sure, but the DSA – there are tens of thousands of them.” She paused for a moment, then shook her head again. “No. It’s a suicide mission. They will only come here claiming they want to ‘keep the peace’, then use this as an excuse to blame you if they find you here. And if they catch you…” Her head wilted, shook. “No. You have to go. I command it.”

  “It’s not up to you,” I said, heaving a breath. The pain in my shoulder had swelled to full-on painful pulsing. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. “We came here to save Olympus, and we’re not giving up because the odds may have changed a bit.”

  “You don’t get it, Tala,” Axel said, his face white and strained as he ripped a blood-stained hand through his dark hair. “Hera’s right. I’ve seen the DSA in action. They have the tools to take down even dragon shifters if they want to. You really think that you’re the first dragon they’ve faced? We don’t stand a chance if we stay here.”

  His words were garbled, didn’t make sense. This was our chance… we had to… I shook my head, trying to clear it.

  “No,” I said weakly. “The others can leave, but me… I’ll…”

  It was then I noticed the pulsing in my shoulder was taking over. Had spread – to my arms, my birthmarks, me. Out and in and out…

  23

  I came to as a cool sensation spread through my shoulder.

  “Tala?” Demi said, her blue-green eyes sheened with tears.

  “Thank God,” Axel breathed, craning his face into mine then away.

  “Uh?” I said.

  “Yay!” Demi cried, a sprig of a sunflower sprouting up between her delighted clapped-together palms.

  “When we saw you like that…” Axel said in a low, grave voice.

  Kian patted my uninjured shoulder. “It would take more than that to take down our dragon princess.”

  “Mm,” I said, looking around.

  That was Apollo’s hand on my shoulder. Must be healing it. And it was working too, since all I felt there now was a light, pleasant coolness.

  Beyond that… we were moving. I was being moved… carried by… I craned my head up. Axel. In… I craned my head around… Yeah, I unfortunately knew that craterous ash-colored ground too well.

  “What are we doing in the Underworld?” I croaked. “Why aren’t we fighting?”

  Everyone exchanged a knowing look.

  “We couldn’t stay,” Sammy said. “Hera commanded us to leave. The DSA were coming.”

  “Ah, here we are!” Hades said. “You wait here. Dion tells me that it won’t take him more than a few minutes to fetch his jet.”

  “Maybe ten,” Dion said.

  “Seriously?” Persephone demanded.

  “What?” Hades asked.

  “You want us to wait right next to Pandora’s box?” She stabbed her thumb angrily in the box’s direction.

  “Oh, that,” Hades said. “Slipped my mind, honestly. You have
nothing to worry about. All unfounded rumors. I haven’t even heard so much as a peep-”

  A snort sounded from the box, interrupting him. We all whirled around, staring at it.

  “Okay, occasionally it will make the odd sound,” Hades admitted in a still supremely-unconcerned voice.

  I wasn’t listening to him anymore. My attention was focused solely on the giant black box in front of us. It was crackling with electric energy and looked almost like anti-matter, its black surface so opaque, yet still holding a solid, square shape.

  “I hope you’re right,” Artemis said uneasily, fingering her bow and arrow.

  Just then, Timmy raced over, his wings fluttering maniacally.

  “Hey guys, what did I miss? Sorry, I was flying so fast that my shoe fell off and-”

  He tripped, sprawling onto the ground.

  Another snort. The box… twitched.

  Hades rolled his black eyes at our nervous expressions. “Come on, my heroic warriors. It does this all the time!”

  He walked over to the box and gave its side a slap. “See? Perfectly stable, perfectly shut.”

  Out of the black, a horned bull head emerged, butting into him.

  Hades sprawled onto the ground. “What the-”

  “Get away, H,” Axel said, grabbing me and lunging away.

  As we watched, horrified, from the top of the box, a massive puce-green snake head lashed out before disappearing back into the opaque blackness.

  “Hydra,” Persephone breathed.

  Scrambling to his feet, Hades screamed, “Run!”

  Crsssssplrrrrrr… crackled the box.

  As Axel raced ahead, my hand in his – pulling me forward – I craned my head back to look.

  All I could see was a snorting gray-black bull-beast with red eyes looking our way. And then, the ground thundering with foreboding, it got to its feet.

  “Not the minotaur,” Demi groaned, luckily being pulled along by fast-Persephone.

  As it charged, the Olympians grabbed us and took off. But the minotaur’s hoofs pounded mere footsteps behind us. Clearly it had Olympian speed too.

  And that hissing… did that mean the hydra had got out too?

  “I’m sorry, okay?” Hades was yelling. “I just never thought… what the hell… Pandora’s box- open?”

  “There’s nothing we can do?” I yelled as we raced away.

  No one bothered to answer me, only Hades yelled, “So we can’t use the shortcut,” as we ran straight into the river of souls.

  The urge to throw up overtook me. Clammy hands, almost like a foul wind, snatched at my ankles.

  Axel yanked me along and out.

  “Oh no, no,” Hades said, skidding to a stop ahead of us. “My mistake. It’s been a while. I forgot. Let’s turn back now, all.”

  Seconds later, the reason walked out from behind a hulking rock to growl at us.

  Her three black heads growling, her six eyes gleaming dangerously, Cerebus padded toward us slowly.

  “Trained her to be vicious, bloodthirsty,” Hades said casually, slowly inching backwards, as if we needed any confirmation that the beast in front of us was a stone-cold killer. “She got a bit out of hand, so I had to trap her on this side of the river. If we could just go back…”

  “H,” Axel warned, freezing.

  On the other side of the river of souls was the minotaur, its red eyes glinting as it pawed the ground. Yeah, that way wouldn’t work either.

  I weakly tried summoning the heat in my forearms, but my PV just grumbled, Don’t even think about it.

  Guess I was still wiped out from my earlier battle rampage and shoulder injury.

  “Maybe she’s just hungry?” Kian suggested timidly.

  With a flicker of her fingers, a steak magically appeared before Cerebus. She devoured it in a single gulp, then turned her hungry eyes on us, jaws chomping for more.

  Maybe she’s just missing Cerebee, her pup, I thought desperately.

  I hadn’t forgotten what Hades had told me about Cerebus, back when I’d been down here ‘training’ and been about to leave. How he’d tried comparing me to her, suggesting that the darkness had overtaken her – and would do the same to me. But he’d been wrong on my account. I’d learned to control my powers just fine, mostly. Could he have been wrong about the big murderous-looking dog in front of me?

  “What do we do?” Jenna asked in a small, shaking voice.

  “Tala-” Axel said sharply, as I slipped out of his grasp.

  “Just give me a minute,” I said. “Just a minute.”

  When Axel tried taking a step forward, Cerebus barked. He froze, cursing. If he kept moving, he could inadvertently cause Cerebus to attack me. I kept creeping forward with no reaction.

  “Don’t be stupid,” he snapped. “Tala.”

  “I’m not,” I said.

  Yes you are, imbecile, PV hissed.

  -No, I responded, I have to try this.

  I didn’t know if it would work. I didn’t know if I was going out on a stupid limb, thinking I had any clue what was going on in Cerebus’ bloodthirsty head. Maybe this was a one-way ticket to losing an arm, but I had to try it. It was our only chance.

  “Hey,” I said.

  Cerebus growled, her three sets of jaws gnashing. Trembling broke out through me.

  God, how easy would it be for those fangs to tear into my flesh?

  I took another shaky step forward, started murmuring, “I know you’re angry. Angry and lonely – you probably miss your daughter.” Cerebus gave no reaction, so I plunged on. “But we aren’t here to hurt you. If you let us pass, we can let you see your daughter again.”

  This is your plan, fool? PV shrilled.

  But it actually seemed to be working. One of her massive dark heads bowed and started to whine, while the others continued their guttural, menacing growling.

  “I know you don’t think you can do this,” I said, feeling ridiculous.

  After all, this was a freaking dog. Could it really understand me? And would it, even if it could? “But you can. You can let us pass, and then you can see her again.”

  For one, beautiful moment, I thought I’d done it. The second head lowered, whimpering, then the third.

  But then I stepped forward again. Her three heads shot up, narrowed eyes glued on me, and she lunged forward straight at me.

  I ducked, tucking myself into a ball, bracing myself for the worst.

  24

  But nothing happened. I snuck a peek open with one eye, just in time to see Cerebus racing past me and into the lake, clamping her jaws around the minotaur, who had made it half-way across.

  “No time!” Hades said, rushing past me into the dark tunnel Cerebus had been blocking. “Let’s go!”

  “Don’t have to tell me twice,” Kian said, grabbing me and tugging me along.

  Axel grabbed my other hand with a grip that indicated it was not letting me go again. His gaze looked ready to kill.

  Before I could figure out where we were going, we emerged, once again running along a familiar wooden plank walkway. Out in the distance… Was that Dion’s jet?

  “You parked your jet at the Flying Narwhale?” I asked him.

  “Yeah,” he said as we approached it. “I paid a pretty penny for it too.”

  “And there’s a passage to the Flying Narwhale from the Underworld?” Kian said.

  “Of course,” Hades said huffily. “I like a horny toad as much as any man. I’m the King of the Underworld, not some kind of neckbeard creep.”

  I didn’t have the time to ask any more questions; we were at the jet.

  We clambered in, Dion set us off, and we stayed silent.

  Judging by the muscle working overtime in Axel’s jaw, he had a whole lot of things to say, but was saving it for when we weren’t surrounded by our ‘Unlucky Thirteen’. Though we weren’t just thirteen anymore, with Sammy, Tania and Jenna, the latter two glaring at me as if it was my fault that fighting in a battle wasn’t everything they dream
ed of.

  As we flew, I almost thought we’d made it until, entering the Badlands, we met a horrible sight: storm clouds. Only they weren’t regular storm clouds. Of course they weren’t. In this new magical world I lived in, nothing was as easy as that.

  Guess Ulrulu or the DSA – whoever was in charge– did know we were here, even if they didn’t know exactly where.

  “These stony bastards won’t quit!” Persephone cried as our jet careened downwards, the weight of hundreds of stony bodies forcing it down.

  “This cost millions!” Dion sobbed from the cockpit. “Millions! Gone!”

  “Shut up!” Kian snapped. “You’re rich anyway, and we’re about to die!”

  Somehow, Dion managed to land the jet without it bursting into flames. Although, of course, there were still the countless gargoyles outside to deal with. A fact we were immediately reminded of when the walls of the plane contorted and warped as the gargoyles threw their rocky forms against it.

  “I got this,” Sammy said, kicking open a door.

  “Hey, wait!” I said, rushing after her and stopping in my tracks, my eyes bulging a little with surprise.

  Yeah – that was a full-on ice storm going on outside. The safest place was in here, where I retreated with Sammy, although she insisted at standing right in the doorway. Her fingertips jabbed out in rhythmic motions, sending actual spears of ice stabbing into the gargoyles.

  As gargoyle after gargoyle fell to the ground, the color in Sammy’s face ebbed away.

  “Phew,” she said, turning to me. “That was…” She wobbled once, then passed out.

  “Sammy!” I cried, pulling her back further into the jet.

  “I’ll help,” Marley said, crouching on her knees.

  A roar. Jeremy charged out the door and turned into a bear just outside. Swiping his paws, he bashed at the gargoyles that hadn’t been slain by the ice. Emerging behind him and focusing on the earth-bound gargoyles who were righting themselves, Apollo and Axel were blurs of blade work, with Artemis by their side. Her arrows went tsh tsh tsh as they connected with the gargoyles.

  Until one got a good bite into her leg, having her stagger to the ground.