The True Enemy

by Katrina Kahler

  I turned my attention to Mitch. “I gotta admit you guys are pretty clever!” I said to him.

  “Thanks!” he said with a big smile.

  Gabi and Craig moved closer to Mitch looking over his shoulder. “We helped too!” the said.

  Bradley cleared his throat. “Yes, they helped come up with a comprehensive strategy to put us ahead of the others by recruiting people who love pets from all over the country.”

  I smiled and nodded. “Yes, and all those people signed up over a one-hour time period. So effective,” I gushed with as much energy as I could fake.

  “Just a coincidence,” Bradley said. “I had just sent out a tweet to all my many followers about what me and my boys here were doing. So people responded. I don’t think it’s cheating to bring in my many followers.”

  I looked at the three other boys. “That means if we compare the list of the donors with your tweeter fans...they will all match,” I said.

  “Sure, of course,” Bradley said.

  Mitch cleared his throat. Bradley turned his head subtly towards him. Mitch blinked his eyes like he was trying to tell Bradley something. He was telling me that Mitch was panicking a little.

  “What is it, Mitch?” I asked with a friendly grin.

  “You don’t have to answer her Mitch, she pretty, but she’s not a cop or anything,” Bradley told him.

  Bart and Brett pulled out their phones and started scrolling. “We’re comparing the lists now,” Bart said.

  “And my, my, Bradley, none of your donors match your followers,” Brett said. “How strange!”

  “Ah, that doesn’t mean anything at all!” Gabi said quickly.

  “It certainly doesn’t mean we didn’t have to the time to compare the list of his twitter followers and put them on our list, like we were just making names up so we could play League of Legends,” Craig said quickly. Beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

  I looked Craig in the eyes. “Really, it doesn’t mean that? I think you will have a hard time convincing Principal King of that. No less the police, and maybe even the FBI.”

  “The FBI!” Craig gasped.

  I pointed at him. “Yes, you are cheating to win a contest that will get you up close and personal with Kristi Quick! How can the FBI be sure you aren’t planning to kidnap her?”

  “We just wanted to win so we can meet her,” Craig said.

  “Yeah, we would never kidnap her. Maybe ask her out on a date,” Mitch said.

  “So you want to punish her,” Nina said with a grin.

  “No, of course not, we love her!” Gabi said. “We just wanted to meet her up close and personal. Who knows what could happen?”

  Bradley sighed. “It’s so hard to get good help these days,” he mumbled.

  I walked up to Bradley. “Tell you what if you guys drop out of the contest now and you donate all that money your daddy was going to give you for the contest to charity we won’t turn you in for cheating.”

  Bradley stayed cool. “You have no proof. My guys can do the work they were supposed to do and make the lists match.”

  “I’ve recorded this entire conversation,” Brett said. “I can post it on Reddit under DUMB CHEATS if you wish.”

  Bradley looked away. “We will withdraw now,” he said.

  “Smart man,” Brett told him patting on the shoulder.

  “I’d still enjoy fighting you?” Bradley told Brett.

  “No, no you wouldn’t!” Brett said.

  I stepped between the boys. “We accept your deal, Bradley,” I said.

  Bradley sighed and walked away.

  Nina put her hand on my shoulder. “Nice work Gwen. You did that without magic or might. I’m impressed.”

  Nina offered a hand. “May the best team win now.”

  I shook her hand.

  My Notes:

  Phew, that was close. I had to admit Bradley was one smooth dude. I’m not sure he would have cracked, lucky his hired help wasn’t as tough. I knew those three guys weren’t bad guys, they just wanted to meet a big star. It felt good to solve that problem without violence or magic. But I gotta admit, I kind of wanted to see Brett pop Bradley once. Okay not very queen-like of me, but hey, I’m not a queen anymore.

  Chapter 9 - Old Ties

  My knights and I continued to run neck and neck with the cheerleaders in the contest. During the weekend, Bart, Brett, and Art went camping. I thought they could use the break so I didn’t mind. Besides, when it came to going door to door Bart and Brett weren’t the best...they had shocking people skills. They were better behind the scenes. And I knew Art needed the kinship.

  Sebastian, Gail, Mika and I walked the streets of the Camelot hoping to find a house or two or more, that had been overlooked. Of course, between us and the cheerleaders and the other teams, we had pretty much-covered everything.

  “We probably should have made a checklist of the houses we’ve visited,” Mika said.

  Before I could respond my phone vibrated. I looked down it was a text from Art: SOS SOS SOS SOS!

  Another vibration and a text from Brett: Arrrgh!

  Another vibration and a text from Bart: Get here fast!

  “What’s going on?” Mika asked.

  “No idea, but it’s not good,” I sighed. “They are worried and scared but they didn’t tell me where they are! They just need help.”

  “You guys have weapons right?” I asked.

  “Slight shots and stun rods,” Sebastian said. “The standard stuff.”

  “It’s not a good sign they have gone silent,” I said.

  “So how do we get there?” Gail asked.

  “Magic of course,” Mika said.

  They were right. It was tricky but the only way. Magic would be fast and to the point. “Hold hands, everybody!” I said.

  We all joined hands. “Teka ys ti Ert!” I ordered.

  A ball of energy appeared in front of us. The ball grew and engulfed us.

  “Is this how it’s supposed to work?” Mika yelled.

  “I hope so…” I called back.

  We stood still but the world around us seemed to blur like we were moving fast, very fast. We stopped. The ball of energy dropped to our feet. We stepped out. We found ourselves in the middle of the woods. We saw Bart, Brett, and Art standing face to face with the biggest, angriest red dragon I had ever seen. (Not that I have seen a lot.)

  The dragon hovered above them, wings flapping, nostrils flaring.

  I raced forward with my staff drawn.

  The dragon exhaled at Art, Bart, and Brett. I blocked the flames with my staff. I felt the world heat up around me but I held my ground. The flames stopped. The heat dissipated.

  “Well,” the dragon roared. “It is nice of you to make an appearance once and future queen.” A pause. “I have no argument with you! You did not hunt my kind in the past.”

  Art stood up. It looked like his past had come forward to confront him. And it was angry. “In my defense, it was my knights who did most of the hunting…” Art told the dragon.

  “Not helping, Art!” I said.

  Bart stood up. “I myself never battled a dragon.”

  Brett stood up. “I have also never fought a dragon. In fact, the one dragon I know is quite nice.”

  The dragon pointed her scaled tail at Art. “My beef is only with the king.”

  “I am not king in this land,” Art said. “I am just a kid, a normal kid. Okay, maybe not totally normal, but pretty much. I’m above average I have to say, but I am no king.”

  “I don’t think that matters, Art,” I told him.

  The dragon lifted itself higher. “The young queen is correct, that does not matter to me.” The dragon moved her head to the side. “Now move young queen so I may fry the king alone.”

  I shook my head. “Not going to happen!”

  “Justify your actions now!” the dragon ordered.

  “Justify yours!” I responded.

  The giant dragon grinned, showing me its many teeth. Ea
ch tooth was as big as I was. “You have spunk young queen,” she said. “I do respect that. You do not back down from me like these three ‘so-called’ knights.”

  I bowed. “Thank you.”

  The dragon moved its face in front of mine. “I claim revenge for all who died at the hands of the once king’s knights and swords…” She paused. “They hunted my kind to near extinction. The least I can do is to eat him. I will dissolve him and poop out his remains as fertilizer. I feel it is quite fitting.”

  “Oh gross,” Mika said.

  “Dragons can be quite blunt,” Gail said.

  Sebastian raced to my side. He drew his slingshot. “I stand by Gwen!” he said.

  The dragon snickered. “I applaud your bravery but laugh at your foolishness. That toy cannot hurt me,” she taunted.

  “My slingshot is not loaded with a simple rock,” Sebastian warned. “My friends and I have invented something much more dangerous to use in special cases!”

  I put my hand up to block Sebastian. “No we want to settle this peacefully,” I ordered. Looking up at the dragon. “What is your name?” I asked.

  “My name is Carana, Queen of the Dragons,” she roared.

  “Yeah kind of figured out that last part,” I said. “Carana, how can we settle this without violence?” I asked.

  “I do not wish for violence only revenge, revenge as I am the last of my kind!” she said. “I have been searching the world for Arthur!”

  “Actually you are not,” I told her.

  She shook her large head. “Yes, I have!”

  “I mean you are not the last of your kind there is another,” I said.

  “Dare I ask, is the other male?” she asked.

  “Actually yes,” I said.

  The dragon’s eyes opened wide. “Could a meeting be arranged?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “If you promise not to kill me!” Art said.

  “Yeah you really can’t kill Arthur,” I said.

  “He did give the orders to kill many of my dragon brothers and sisters,” she insisted.

  “It was a different time, a different Arthur,” I said.

  Gail stepped forward. “Plus many of your fellow dragons killed hundreds of humans we had no choice but to defend ourselves.”

  “Humans attacked first!” Carana insisted fire blaring from her nostrils.

  Gail did not back down. She nodded. “At times perhaps, but I remember both sides did much damage!” she said sincerely.

  Carana inhaled. She started glowing red with rage. We felt the heat generating off of her body.

  I drew my staff. I thought of glue. I pointed my staff. A wad of brown goo fired from the tip of my staff. The brown goo splattered Carana in the face, dripping down her mouth, fastening it shut. Carana landed on the ground. She tilted her head upwards. She exhaled flames of red-hot amber. The flames burned the glue off her mouth.

  I raised my staff. “I just want to talk!” I said. “But if you wish to fight I can generate much more than glue!”

  Carana roared. The vibrations from the roar shook us to the bone. “I too can generate much power!” she said, stomping towards us.

  “Look you versus us is lose-lose for you. If we win you die. You win you never find the last male dragon. That means your race dies. As one queen to another I don’t think you want that for your species,” I said boldly.

  Carana looked at me with anger in her eyes. She took a deep breath. This seemed to be more of a calming breath than an attacking one. Her eyes opened wide. “Sorry, I have fire in my blood, literally, I can be a bit hot-headed. When you are queen, you grow used to getting your way, especially when you can kill most creatures with a breath.”

  “So we will take you to greet our dragon friend his name is Fern,” I said.

  Carana gave us a toothy grin. She looked up to the sky, “That would be pleasant.”

  “Can you change your form?” I asked.

  “Of course, I am a dragon queen. I have other magic I can use. I can take the human form, that is how I hid in this world for so long.”

  “Then change please,” I asked.

  Carana roared, only this time it was more of a roar of happiness. As she roared she shrank in size. She stood on two giant legs. Her front legs turned to arms and hands. He rear legs turned into human legs with feet. Her tail merged into her body. Her head became a human female head. She looked like a pleasant looking young woman, a very strong looking young woman. Her thighs seemed to be especially powerful.

  “Wow she cleans up nice,” Bart said.

  “Agreed,” Brett said.

  Carana walked up to Arthur. “I am not going to kill you,” she said.

  “Thanks,” Art said.

  Carana made a fist and punched Art in the stomach. Art doubled over and fell to the ground. “Not so tough without your fancy sword are you!”

  “Carana!” I shouted.

  “I’m in love!” Brett said.

  “Dude she’s a dragon!” Bart said.

  Carana turned to me. She showed me a scar on her arm. “We had met before,” she sighed. “He attacked me in my sleep. I barely escaped. I remembered the second I saw the scar.”

  “Art is that true?” I demanded.

  Art laid there on the ground. “I believed she was a threat to Camelot…I only wanted to drive her off, hence the blow to the arm.” Art rolled to his knees. He looked at Carana. “I made a lot of decisions back then that I am not proud of today. Truthfully, I was not so proud of them back then either. I was thrust into a position I did not want but I still wanted to succeed and protect my land and my loves. I might have gone too far, I admit.” He held out a hand.

  Carana took his hand and helped him to his feet. “I am sure some of my actions were not the wisest either. These are new times I suggest we try to start over.” She paused, “I am sorry for the blow to your stomach. I am more beast than human.”

  “Aren’t you all beast?” Gail asked.

  Carana grinned. “I have been in human form for so long some of me has started to think like one…” She looked at me, “I do long to meet another of my kind.”

  “Then come, let me take you to my home!”

  I held my arms open wide and simply said, “Duur Huma!” A glowing rectangle appeared in my arms. Placing the rectangle on the ground it grew to the size of a door. Through the door, we could see my room. Merlin sat on my bed sleeping and farting. Fern sat on his post, also sleeping.

  “I hope the bird is the dragon,” Carana said.

  “He is,” I answered.

  “Why does the cat look so familiar?” she asked.

  “He is Merlin,” Gail said.

  Carana laughed. “Ha, serves the old fool right!”

  We stepped through the door and into my room. I lead the way followed by Carana. Merlin and Fern both popped awake when we arrived. Merlin sniffed the air. “Carana!” he said. “I’m not surprised you survived all these years, you old hag.”

  Fern flew from his perch to Carana’s feet. He bowed. “My queen,” he said.

  “Rise,” Carana told him.

  “It is an honor to meet you, my queen,” Fern said. “While I may be trapped in this bird form my heart and my fire is still pure dragon!”

  Carana touched him gently on the forehead. “I can tell!” she said. “I would like to get to know you better as you and I are the last of our kind…”

  “Yes, I would enjoy that, once we deal with Gwen’s problem.”

  Carana shook her head. “The problems of the humans do not concern me.”

  “But Morgan is here in this world and so is her mother,” Fern said. “Neither of them is a friend to dragonkind.”

  “But neither of them is an enemy either,” Carana said. “Merlin and Arthur and their knights hunted us!”

  “Man can she ever hold a grudge,” Bart whispered to Bert.

  “We did treat the dragons harshly,” Gail said.

  “Please be quiet,” I said to them bot
h.

  “Look Carana, I understand you have different priorities but Fern is a part of my team,” I said sincerely.

  “Perhaps, but he is part of my species and that supersedes team. He and I can rebuild the dragon race!”

  “Wait? How?” Fern asked. “I’m kind of trapped in this freaking bird body! I have some power for sure...but not full dragon power.”

  Carana put a hand on his head. “Come with me and I can turn you back to your original true beautiful form!” she said dramatically.

  “But what about Gwen’s quest?” Fern asked.

  “I have told you, it is not important to me!” She crossed her arms. “The matters of humans should be left to the humans.”

  “But she is my friend,” Fern protested. “I believe in her cause. I don’t trust Morgan and I surely do not trust her mother. She wants to rule this world.”

  “She wants to rule the humans of this world, not the dragons. We will find a place to live and thrive,” Carana contended.

  Merlin stood up. “Not sure I like the ideas of dragons populating the world again. Many of your kind are not as noble as you and Fern.”

  Carana laughed. “I do not care what you like, cat!”

  I stepped between Merlin and Carana. “Carana, I brought you here to my home to meet one of your kind, the only other of your kind in good faith.”

  “I have not eaten and or killed any of you,” Carana contended. “Therefore, I have honored your good faith.”

  “But if the dragons go to war with man they can cause great damage,” I told her. “Also humans are much stronger than they were in the past.”