Dragon Conjurer 8, page 22
There was a long, strained pause in the conversation where the only sounds I could hear through Goldie’s ears were the steady beating of my dragons’ hearts and the increasingly worried breaths of my teammates.
“This is insanity!” Steffi cried. “We can’t just stand around here waiting, we have to go look for him!”
“Buddy,” Nick said softly, and I could only assume he was talking to Beyblade. “We need you and the others to fly up and help us find Dylan.”
“I’m here,” I tried to call out, but my voice was ragged, and my throat felt raw.
I mentally asked Griff to pick up the pace, and I resigned myself to waiting until they could spot us coming.
“Come on, buddy,” Nick pleaded again.
I could hear that none of my other dragons had moved away from the group of my teammates, and the impact of the panic this was spreading through them made my heart clench again.
“What are you doing?” Steffi cried. “We need to find Dylan!”
“What if they know it’s already too late?” Nick said without inflection.
“No, I refuse to consider that,” Nala growled.
Griff started moving a bit faster, and before long, we were close enough to my team that I started waving my hands around to draw their attention. Steffi stared right at me, and I smiled at her to let her know I was okay.
But my fairy-girl continued to chew anxiously at her lip and look around, so I waved my arms around like a wacky waving inflatable tube man and tried desperately to get her attention. Steffi’s shoulders hunched, and she turned to Nala as a choking sound escaped her throat.
“Why can’t they see me?” I muttered to myself, and my throat continued to ache from the Nuckelavee’s toxic breath. I was desperate for a cold glass of water to rinse out the last remaining particles of the noxious fumes from my esophagus.
Then I finally looked down at Griff and my legs, and I realized all I could see was the ground as it darted out beneath us.
I gasped with shock and clung to Griff’s back with my legs. My heart leapt into my throat, and I almost lost my seat from the surprise. The feel of my stealth dragon was solid and warm beneath me, but he was nowhere to be seen, and neither was my own body.
“Holy goddamn shit,” I breathed.
Griff was camouflaged, and so was I.
Chapter 15
My mouth hung open, and my heart pounded the rest of the way over to my team. I tried crying out once more to let them know I was safe, but my voice was barely audible to my own ears over the rush of the wind as it picked up through the trees.
My teammates were huddled close together as Griff finally stepped up between Ky and Thor.
I could sense that all of my other dragons heard Griff’s near-silent approach, and their big eyes all turned to the general area where we stood in full stealth mode.
If my ladies and best friend hadn’t looked so completely distraught and on the edge of heartbreak, I might have had some fun with this new development. Instead, I silently instructed Griff to stay camouflaged, and I swung my leg over Griff’s back and gently lowered myself onto the ground. Then I watched their faces carefully as I stepped forward, and I waited to see when the camouflage would retreat back to my fox-eared dragon’s body. I leaned one hand on Griff’s muted-orange scales for support as I continued to struggle against the exhaustion from my initial lightning attack against the Dogman. When I reached the end of Griff’s long neck I pulled my fingertips away from his warm body, and my body instantly became visible to my eyes.
“Holy shit!” Steffi gasped loudly when I popped back into view.
“Dylan! What the ever-loving fuck?” Nick practically jumped out of his skin.
Ronin simply started sobbing with relief, and she rushed straight into my arms.
Before I could move to return her embrace, the rest of our team clamped around us like a pack of circus clowns in their tiny car. The air was squeezed out of my lungs, and I struggled to make a noise. All I could do was nuzzle my head in each direction against my ladies’ tear-streaked faces. After several long seconds, the lack of oxygen was getting to me.
“Need,” I gasped. “Air!”
“Oh!” Elisabeth panted, and she pulled away slightly.
The rest of my team loosened their vise-like grips around me, and I sucked in a refreshing lungful of air.
“I’m sorry,” I croaked, and I could hear my throat was getting worse. I swallowed hard and tried to clear the raspiness out of my voice. “I didn’t mean to make you all worry.”
“What the hell, Dyl?” Steffi muttered, and fresh tears flowed freely down her face as she smiled with relief at me. “Where were you? Why didn’t you answer us? How the hell did you pop out of nowhere like that?”
“We are desperate for answers,” Ronin said softly.
“I got into a bit of a scuffle with the Dogman,” I said sheepishly.
“What!” Nala cried. “Ooooh, you chivalrous idiot! You went off alone to confront that thing?”
“Not exactly.” I shrugged.
“Settle down, everyone,” Elisabeth sighed. “Let Dylan explain. I am sure he had his reasons for everything.”
“Thank you,” I whispered to my sweet copper-haired girlfriend. “I needed to hear what it was saying, and so I snuck up behind it through the tree line.”
“I hope you got some good stuff,” Nick chuckled, and it looked like at least my best friend was over the heart attacks I’d inadvertently given them.
“I got a lot of information.” I nodded, and I swallowed hard again. “I’ll tell you all about that stuff later.”
“So why didn’t you answer us when we were calling for you?” Steffi asked, and though her golden eyes were still sad, it seemed that she was willing to forgive what she saw as careless actions on my part.
“I lost my earpiece,” I croaked. “I tried to call to you when Griff and I were coming back, but as you can hear, my voice is all kinds of fucked up at the moment.”
“Indeed,” Elisabeth said. “What has happened to your voice?”
“It sounds like you tried to swallow glass,” Nala mused.
“Nuckelavee breath,” I forced the words out. The more I spoke, the worse my throat was feeling, and I knew I needed some water.
Ky stared down at me with compassion in his eyes, and then he breathed out a thick flurry of snowflakes that danced down to the ground. He seemed to frown in consternation at the fact that I couldn’t exactly drink snow, and I knew what we needed.
“Nal,” I croaked, and I shaped my hands into a bowl. “Bowl?”
“Oh, yeah!” Nala declared. “I can totally do that.”
My earth-bending girl raised a softball-sized hunk of earth from between her feet and swiftly formed it like a master potter into a deep and wide bowl. Then all the muscles in Nala’s hands tightened, and the earth compressed into a poreless and smooth surface. Nala knelt down and placed the bowl on the ground in front of Ky.
My ice dragon sent another dense flurry of fluffy snowflakes that were heavy with ice crystals into the bowl. Then my ice dragon glanced up and gazed intently at Beyblade, and he nodded at the bowl.
My fire dragon understood, and he breathed an incredibly mild wave of hot air down at the improvised bowl of snow. The fluffy snow melted instantly into an ice-cold puddle of water.
I stared up at my ice and fire dragons with pride for a second before Nala nudged me gently.
“Have a drink,” my earth-bending girl teased.
I cupped my hands and lowered them into the ice-cold water, and I brought the soothing liquid up to my mouth and drank. The water was so crisp and soothing that I went weak at the knees. It was like the instant relief of aloe vera over a bad full-body sunburn.
“Woah,” I sighed, and I opened my eyes. My voice was much stronger than before, and the majority of the pain was gone. “That’s fucking incredible.”
“It really is,” Nick agreed, and he nodded at my dragons like a proud uncle.
“I had no idea you guys could do something like that,” Ronin mused, and she patted Ky affectionately on the shoulder.
“They are always surprising us with new tricks.” Elisabeth smiled.
“Speaking of.” Nick smirked at me. “What the hell happened with your sudden reappearance?”
“Oh, my god, yes!” Steffi laughed. “What the fuck was that?”
“Oh, yeah,” I chuckled. “It seems that when I’m on Griff’s back, his camouflage spreads out to envelop me, too.”
“That is so fucking cool,” Nick murmured with wide green eyes.
“That will come in quite handy, I believe,” Ronin mused.
“Yeah,” I cleared my throat and took another sip of Ky’s refreshing water. “Come on, let’s get back down this mountain, and once we’re on the jet I can tell you about what the Dogman said.”
I started to walk toward the highway, but I stumbled and nearly went tumbling down the slope. Nick gripped a hand under my arm just in time to keep me from hitting the ground.
“Geez, dude,” Nick muttered. “What happened to you out there?”
“I’m just really worn out.” I shrugged. I let Nick loop my arm over his shoulder, and I leaned on him for support. “Between the Nuckelavee’s breath and the power I exerted to take out the Canadian Dogman, I feel pretty weak.”
“Are you hurt?” Ronin asked, and her dark eyes filled with fresh concern.
“No, no,” I reassured her. “I fell on my back so my tailbone is a little sore, but it’s nothing serious. All I need is some good rest, and I’ll be as good as new.”
“And a big ass meal.” Nick smirked.
“Okay, yeah, definitely a big ass meal, too,” I laughed.
I was thankful for Nick’s support on the journey back down the mountainside, and my ladies and my dragons spread out around us like the President’s secret service detail. By the time we stepped back onto the stretch of empty highway, I was breathing heavily, but I didn’t feel all that bad considering everything that had happened.
“Let me call these guys back in,” I said, and I looked up lovingly at my dragons. I had a feeling having the strength of my dragons back under my skin would help me feel even better.
“Epistrophi, Fanhui,” I said softly.
Ky and Beyblade disappeared in a burst of blue and orange light, and then they curled up comfortably under my skin. I felt a subtle surge of strength through my muscles, and I stood up from Nick’s support.
“Thanks, dude,” I said to my best friend.
“Anytime,” Nick murmured, and he continued to look at me with wary eyes like I might fall over at any second.
“Moduro, Komme Tilbake,” I said with a little more strength in my voice.
Goldie and Thor disappeared in bright flashes of gold and indigo light, and the strength in my body kicked up another notch as they curled into their tattoos.
I sighed comfortably, and I looked up at Zofia and Griff. My mind-control dragon blinked sagely at me, and my stealth dragon cocked his head playfully to the side as if to ask, “Did I do a good job?”
I chuckled at my fox-eared dragon and gave him a loving pat on his chest.
“Búcsú, Dychwelyd,” I finished, and my two remaining dragons disappeared in a colorless fwoomp of sound.
Relaxed calmness coursed pleasantly through my veins as Zofia curled up on my thigh, and I felt almost as good as new. My stomach growled hungrily, and I knew Nick was right about a really good meal.
“You look so much better,” Nala said sweetly.
“Your color is back to normal,” Steffi agreed.
“I feel better,” I said. “I’m really hungry, but I definitely feel a lot stronger than I did before.”
“Come on,” Nick chuckled, and he waved a hand at us. “I’ll dig out the good snacks for you.”
“Have you been holding out on us?” Nala demanded teasingly.
“Um…” Nick chuckled guiltily. “No?”
“Yeah, I believe that about as far as I could throw Griff.” Steffi rolled her eyes.
“Welcome back, kids,” Silva said as he strolled down the jet’s ramp to greet us. “How did it go?”
“Mission accomplished,” I said succinctly.
“We’re all pretty exhausted, though,” Nick said.
“Well, get your asses on board,” Silva chuckled. “And we’ll blow this popsicle stand.”
“That sounds like an excellent plan to me,” Ronin sighed happily.
We marched tiredly up the ramp, and we stripped our ski jackets and pants off before we lowered ourselves into our seats. Nick rustled around in some compartments at the back for several long seconds, and then the blond nymph appeared with his arms overflowing with snacks and goodies.
“Here you go, man,” Nick said triumphantly, and he dropped the huge piles of food into the seat across the aisle from me.
“My goodness,” Ronin mused as she stared down at the treasure trove of tasty treats. “That is a lot of food.”
“Do you always have a stash like this?” Steffi asked as she leaned over my lap and stretched across the aisle to rifle through the goodies.
“I didn’t use to do it,” Nick admitted. “But after that mission with the Slide-Rock Bolter and Nala’s little blood sugar crash, I started asking the techs to make sure we had plenty of good stuff. We expend so much damn energy on these missions, we need more than some granola bars and dried fruit.
Steffi selected a bag of jerky, a peanut butter protein bar, and a short sleeve of crackers, and then she struggled to crawl back over my lap and into her seat.
I gripped a hand around her upper arm to help stabilize my fairy-girl, and once she was settled, I leaned over and picked through the pile.
There were a lot more options to pick from than I’d ever noticed before, and I got the feeling that Nick tended to leave the good stuff hidden if we didn’t really need it. I would bet twenty bucks that he had a nice little stash of cheese and protein packs, cashews, and peanut butter goodies in his room back in the suite. I selected a P3 Portable Protein pack with ham, cashews, and Monterey cheese, a bag of peanut butter balls, and a small pouch of dried pineapple, and then I settled into my seat.
The rest of my team selected their snacks, and the sounds of ripping plastic, crunching food, and satisfied sighs filled the jet’s cabin as we raced down the highway. I stopped chewing for a second as the usual stomach-dropping lurch of the jet taking off hit me, and then once we were steadily climbing into the air, I popped another chunk of ham into my mouth.
“Here,” Nick said, and his arm appeared over the back of the seat in front of me with a bottle of orange Gatorade. “It’s got what plants crave.”
“Thanks, dude,” I chuckled at his Idiocracy reference and unscrewed the cap.
I found it interesting that the cool orange Gatorade wasn’t nearly as refreshing or delicious as Ky’s crystal clear snow-water, but I had to admit that it was more flavorful.
“I am going a bit crazy with curiosity,” Ronin said once the pile of snacks beside her was noticeably diminished. “Please, Dylan, will you tell us now what the Canadian Dogman said?”
“Yes, please!” Nala turned around in her seat to stare at me. “What did it say?”
“Maybe even something useful?” Elisabeth asked with a touch of hope in her voice.
“I don’t know if it was useful,” I said. “It was definitely… confident.”
“Confident?” Nick repeated, and he lounged back in his seat to look at me between the cushions. “What does that mean?”
“The Dogman was very sure of itself,” I explained. “And very sure of The Great Scaled One’s powers and plan. It was talking to one of the Nuckelavee, and there was a lot of ‘He will wipe humans from the face of the planet’ and ‘the tiny humans cannot stop us’ and other junk like that.”
“So nothing new or helpful, then?” Ronin frowned.
“I didn’t say that,” I said dryly. “The Dogman said they would destroy the nearby human fortress.”
“Human fortress,” Steffi murmured. “Do you think they meant AIMM?”
“Yeah, I do.” I nodded. “I think that’s exactly what they meant. The Dogman also said something about ‘The Great Cleansing’ and mentioned a plan. Then the Nuckelavee said he remembered, and that Seattle and London would be first.”
“They said that?” Nala gasped, and her hands flew up to her mouth. “They identified them by name?”
“I have family in London,” Elisabeth whispered, and fear dripped heavily into her tone.
Ronin reached over the back of the seat in front of her and gently laid her hand on Elisabeth’s shoulder.
“Do not worry,” Ronin said softly. “We will not allow the cities to be destroyed. We will stop The Great Scaled One, and all of our families will be safe.”
“She’s right, El,” I muttered, and I longed to wrap my arms around my copper-haired girl and comfort her. Instead, I settled on explaining the rest of what I’d overheard from the Dogman, but I wasn’t sure that would bring anyone any comfort. “There’s more.”
“Oh, goodie.” Nick rolled his eyes. “Well, don’t leave us hanging. What’s the ‘more?’”
I glanced at Elisabeth before I continued, and she sniffled and nodded at me to go on.
“Well,” I sighed. “The Dogman said we would not be able to stop the operations of the ‘Veiled One.’”
“The Veiled One?” Steffi grumbled.
“That’s just great,” Nick grunted. “Just what we needed… another elusive ‘One’ to look out for.”
“Who is the Veiled One?” Elisabeth wondered with a frown.
“I don’t know exactly,” I said. “The Dogman didn’t say more about him, just that his mission would be successful.”
“That is ominous as fuck,” Nick remarked.
“Yeah.” I nodded at my best friend. “I really don’t like it, and I couldn’t help but wonder…”
