The Witch's Dragon

by Melania Tolan

  “Have you had any more visions from the past?” Padrick asked.

  I shook my head. “They stopped after we left Romania.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “If they start up again, you let me know, alright?”

  “Sure.”

  I didn’t think they would. We had bigger fish to fry at the moment.

  I turned my focus to my screen, and Padrick shifted back to his. I doubted I would see any pictures of this ram. If he was magic, he would not have allowed himself to be photographed. But with drones and different photography available, who knew? Maybe there was a picture of him somewhere.

  I continued my search. The screen couldn’t scroll down fast enough, as the internet here was slower. Since I had become a strigoi, my brain worked faster than normal. I loved that I could read books so much quicker than before. Still wished I’d had this perk three months ago when I was in college and studying for exams.

  I continued to scan photo after photo until one popped up of a ram standing on a rock high on the mountain. The photo had been taken from far away, so I couldn’t quite tell the color of the rings on his horns. But his eyes were golden.

  I expanded the image, focusing on the eyes. My hands tingled, and I quickly removed them from the keyboard to avoid short-circuiting the computer.

  This is it. This has to be him.

  To the random passerby, he would have looked to be an ordinary sheep. But I could see the spark of magic hidden.

  I closed the screen after I saved the photo. Then I went into my room and, from under my pillow, pulled out the little pouch that contained the gemstones and crystals that Padrick gave me, and the four glass vials of the potions I had made with Satra. I pulled out the green bottle labeled ‘connection’.

  The stopper came out easily, and I let one drop of the green concoction fall onto my tongue. I closed the bottle and returned it to the pouch and then laid down on the cot. The magic instantly worked. I focused on the image of the sheep, concentrating on the golden eyes.

  “Take me to him.” I spoke softly as the magic intensified.

  The surrounding air quickly shifted, whirling around like a tornado. I could feel my body moving. The surrounding smells changed from the dank underground cave to fresh mountain air. When I opened my eyes, I stood hovering over a cliff, high above the alpine valleys below.

  Before me, past the cliff, stood a small opening into the mountain. The entrance was shaped like an ‘S’. From the gap emerged the ram I had been dreaming about. He looked me in the eye.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  I didn’t know how to answer, so I returned to my body. I sat up, letting my eyes adjust to the dark cave before jumping off the cot and running down the hall to the control room where Padrick sat.

  “I know where we need to go.” I grabbed a piece of paper from the printer and sketched the mountain and the shape of the opening. “Do you know where this is?”

  Padrick looked at my mediocre drawing and studied it for a moment before responding. “That is in the French Alps. Although it could be in Switzerland or in Italy. Those sheep live in that area. I will research and narrow down the location.”

  Chapter 3

  Padrick and I had been traveling through the underground tunnels across Europe for two days. We had started just outside of Venice where we docked the submarine we’d used to get to our Atlantean outpost on the Black Sea. Padrick had hidden the submarine on the northern side of the city, and from there, we took tunnels across Italy toward the mountains.

  I hadn’t known about the thousands of miles of tunnels beneath Europe crisscrossing from the Mediterranean to the northern seas and then from the Atlantic all the way deep into the Continental divide between Europe and Asia. Magic folk had used these ancient passageways for thousands of years—although, the ones we were traveling through hadn’t been used in several centuries.

  Every now and then, humans would come across some tunnels. There were all kinds of conspiracy theories and documentaries about them, but what they had uncovered was only a small fraction of the network hidden below, some of which had been built by the Atlanteans nearly fifteen millennia ago… That was one thing I still had to wrap my mind around.

  Atlantis.

  It wasn’t a myth. Most of the legends I’d heard during my human years had been so wrong. Padrick had lived long before the Atlanteans had landed on Earth. Yes, they were aliens. Some conspiracy theories had gotten it right, on that account. The ancient city also had been destroyed by a cataclysm. But it wasn’t a natural disaster or the rising seas of the end of the Ice Age, like most speculative historians suggested. No, there had been a war. One that had destroyed most of the planet and its inhabitants.

  For biblical folks, it was explained with the Flood, Noah’s flood, but that was only a partial truth. According to Padrick, there had been a man named Noah. He’d been given the task to species preservation during the war. And yes, there had been a boat. The war had come about because the gods were angry—humans at the time considered the Atlanteans to be gods. The Atlanteans were not angry with the humans, though, but with another race called the Lemurians.

  But all of this was a story for another time.

  We were on a mission to find the secret cave that contained a dragon egg. This dragon was part of the “plan,” Eva’s plan to destroy Octavian. It all seemed ridiculous, but I went along with it because I had to. I had no other choice. Eva had orchestrated most of my life, and this was the next part. And, so far, most of her predictions had fallen into place.

  Padrick and I stopped our progress through the tunnels when I got tired. It was daylight hundreds of feet above us, which meant I needed to rest. I placed the small sachet filled with my burial earth under my head. The more time went by, the less earth I needed when I slept. Just another thing to add to my long list of oddities.

  When I had rested and drunk a cup of warmed blood, we hoisted our packs and continued our journey.

  Padrick knew his way through here as if he’d done this thousands of times. Which he likely had. He’d lived on this planet in both the Otherworld and this world for over twenty millennia. He knew the whole human history backwards, forwards, sideways and upside down, however his constant need to correct the misinformation that people spread drove me nuts.

  The tunnels went up, and we reached a set of stairs. We raced up them as fast as we could until we came to a crack in the wall. On the other side, we could see swirling snow and feel the wind whistling in. We’d reached the mountains. But are they the right ones?

  When we stepped out in the open, Padrick handed me a white cloak to cover myself and protect my sensitive skin from the sun. It had been several weeks since I’d taken Traian’s blood. I couldn’t be sure his blood would still shield me from the UV rays that could easily incinerate my body.

  I pulled the woolen coat over me and slid a pair of sunglasses over my eyes. From my pocket, I grabbed a pair of gloves that matched the cloak and then I drew my scarf up to my nose for extra protection.

  Clouds still filled the evening sky. Even though it was summer, a vicious snowstorm brewed north of the mountains.

  “We need to wait until darkness falls before we continue our search in the open.” Padrick turned to go back into the mountain.

  “I didn’t just gear up for the sun only to go back into the dark.”

  “Someone could see us,” he protested.

  “What about your elf magic? Don’t you have some kind of disguise you used in front of humans?” I asked.

  He stood there for a moment considering my question before opening his backpack and pulling out two medallions. He hung one over my coat and then put on the other one.

  “What are these?” I asked.

  “They’re like Traian’s time veil that Eva gave him. They’ll help us blend into the surroundings.”

  “What? You mean to tell me you had these all along, yet you wanted to go back into the mountain and hide?”

  I held the med
allion in my gloved hand. They were made of silver, but had none of the markings on them that Traian’s piece had.

  “I wonder whatever happened to the time veil?” I mused aloud. “I had put it in my purse, but I lost the bag in the fight in the graveyard.”

  “I try not to use magic unless it’s necessary. Octavian has magic trackers everywhere. Any change in vibration of the force fields around the Earth they pick up and track.” Padrick zipped his pack and secured it on his back again. “From what Traian and I could tell, your purse was most likely destroyed in the energy blast you unleashed.”

  I hoped he was right because it would really suck if the medallion had fallen into the wrong hands.

  I looked up the mountain from where we were standing, halfway between the valley below and the peaks above. “Where to?” I asked.

  “Have you tried to see if you have a connection with these creatures?”

  Padrick’s question took me aback. Why didn’t I think of that?

  Surely, I should have sensed a connection. The silver cords that formed the web connecting me and all the key players in my destiny were always there. I could feel them no matter what I was doing.

  “Give me a second.”

  I closed my eyes. There. The cords stretched across the mountains like a net, but I couldn’t see where any of them led.

  I opened my eyes. “They go everywhere.”

  “Then we must use our extra senses and figure out where we need to go.”

  Padrick started up the mountain on a precarious path. I followed behind him, and we went higher and higher, scaling the surface of the mountains. The wind picked up the farther up we advanced.

  I was used to this weather, from living in the Carpatia Mountains for the first couple of months of my new existence. It almost felt like home now.

  I welcomed the cold mountain air. It was a nice change from the damp underwater outpost in the Black Sea. I took in a deep breath and let my brain analyze all the different tastes and scents in the area.

  Minerals, water, earth, musk, new plants, and plastic. Plastic?

  I glanced around to find the source of this unnatural element. There, at the bottom of the valley, lay a discarded water bottle, wedged between two rocks near the edge of the small alpine lake. Then I spotted a partially buried bag on a snowdrift across the ridge from us. When I focused on the spot, I could see the plastic particles that had already leached out into the surrounding environment.

  Damn humans and their plastic. I suddenly felt guilty for ever using any single-use plastic item in the nineteen years of my human life. I wanted to go pick it up, but there wasn’t time. We needed to keep going.

  As evening settled in, the light changed, and the brewing storm shifted to the east. Storm. My cat. I’d been away from her too long. Padrick had told me she was safe, that Satra had taken the kitten into her care until we could be reunited. I hoped that was soon because being away from her hurt.

  Away from both of my loves.

  With focused determination, I pushed forward through the snow. We would find this damn cave and get the dragon egg if it was the last thing I did. I still had no idea what we’d do with the egg once we got it. But get it we would.

  As soon as darkness fell, I stopped. The pang of hunger gripped my stomach and a fiery burn ignited in my throat. I needed to hunt. The bagged blood helped, but I needed fresh sustenance.

  I paused, taking in my surroundings. I closed my eyes, letting my primal strigoi instincts take over.

  “What are you doing?” Padrick spoke. “We still have a way to go.”

  I didn’t respond to him as I again took in the surrounding scents. My brain processed all the smells until I reached something new. On the other side of the valley, there was a herd of sheep—not the longhorn ones we were looking for. Further up, behind a big boulder, crouched a mountain lion.

  This would be a first. I’d taken down several bears, sheep, wolves, a couple boars, and a mountain goat. But this prey would be different. Cats were very perceptive creatures, and I had a special love for them. I felt conflicted about taking down a feline predator, especially after my recent thoughts of Storm.

  I should just take a sheep and call it a night.

  But I needed something strong and dominant. I needed its strength for my body.

  Padrick sighed and sat down on a boulder. “Go do your thing. I’ll just wait for you here.”

  I opened my eyes and stopped to give Padrick a quick peck on the cheek. “Thanks.”

  When I’d gotten halfway down the mountain, I realized this was not a good strategy. I needed to approach the cougar from above. He’ll see me coming from down here.

  I changed my course and went up to the top of the ridge and trailed it from behind, around the valley to the other side. When I reached the location I was aiming for, I crept over the rocks and the peak, scanning for the predator about to become my breakfast.

  I found him crouched behind a rock, keeping an eye on the sheep below. His ears perked back as he sensed my approach, but he didn’t dare turn his head to check.

  I sat still for a moment, waiting for the right timing. And then it came when snow drift rolled down the mountain two hundred feet to the right of us.

  I closed the five hundred yards between us in less than one second. Before he even knew what hit him, he was dead with one swift snap of his neck. This had to be my record for speed in a kill.

  Although I didn’t enjoy the act of taking a life, there was something deeply satisfying in ending something’s time on Earth so quickly and efficiently. At least it felt none of the pain, I thought. Hunting was necessary for me to stay alive. And I needed to keep practicing because I suspected I would be hunted one day… if I wasn’t already.

  The fresh blood filled my body with nutrients, revitalizing my cells, giving me energy and strength to face the next step in my journey. When I had consumed the last drop of the incredible beast’s essence, I laid his body behind a rock and let my fire do the rest, sending flames from my hands until the last of his remains turned to ash and blew off the mountain.

  Expending that much energy should’ve taken a toll on me, but it didn’t. Are my powers getting stronger? I wondered.

  If that was the case, I needed to work harder to keep them in check.

  Chapter 4

  Padrick was waiting for me on the same rock where I had left him. He gave me a wry smile as I approached.

  “That was impressive, darling,” he said. “Your first hunt in almost a month, and you’re even better than you were before.”

  “Were you watching me back in Romania?” I picked up my backpack from the base of his feet and clicked the straps over my chest and hips, securing it to my body.

  “Sorry, old habits die hard.” He bowed his head in my direction. “I wasn’t trying to spy on you. It’s just that, even though you are an immortal, I still feel your fragility and want to protect you.”

  “I am not a fragile glass ornament anymore, Padrick.” Just then, I sent sparks like a Roman candle to the snow at my feet.

  “Really?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Oh, stop.” I shook my head. “I need to learn to control these things better. Now, we’ve got places to be. Let’s go meet this special sheep.”

  We continued along the ridge. We crossed over several valleys and ridges. And then the fog settled in.

  “We’re getting closer. I can feel the elemental magic barrier protecting these beasts.” Padrick stopped.

  “They’re not beasts, they’re intelligent creatures with magic in their blood. They’ve been guarding the dragon egg for thousands of years.”

  “Obviously you haven’t been around long enough.” Padrick scoffed.

  I was about to say something when I heard a voice coming through the wind.

  “Only the Chosen One may enter.”

  “What does that mean?” I turned to Padrick.

  Padrick shook his head. “Unbelievable. After all this time, they stil
l don’t trust me.”

  I knew there was more to that statement, but as much as I wanted to know the history between him and the longhorn sheep, we were running out of time. Traian was running out of time.

  “He has to come with me,” I said out loud to the mist and then lowered my voice, leaning toward Padrick. “Maybe you shouldn’t have called them beasts.”

  The silence that followed was nearly maddening, but then I felt the herd approaching, one hoof at a time on the snow and rock. Through the mist, I could see the shapes form of three rams with long horns towering above their heads. One stepped out of the fog and stood right before me.

  “Only you may enter.” He stood still, his golden eyes focused on me. “The elf is not welcome on our land.”

  I had to think quickly. I didn’t want to go in there by myself because I didn’t know what I would encounter with the dragon egg. I needed Padrick. The energy coming off this ram’s body reminded me of Leo and his distrust, but it wasn’t directed at me.

  What did Padrick do to make these people dislike him so? Probably the same thing he did with the gypsies.

  Thinking of the gypsies, I realized what I needed to do.

  I slowly lowered myself down to the snow, kneeling before the ram. I placed my head to the ground. He could easily smash my skull with one stamp of his foot if he so chose.

  “I am Everly Greene. I am here because the dragon calls. Padrick is my protector and also the person I need to help me keep my powers under control. It would be much safer for everyone if he came with me.”

  The ram stomped his foot on the rock, shaking the ground under me. “Do you think I would trust this lying, conniving, ruthless creature, who only cares about himself and his gains?”