Autumn Calling (13 page)

Aunt Myrtle looked very distraught and
refused to take her hand from her mouth the whole time Morti spoke.
She too indulged, for the first time that Summer had ever seen, in
a glass of whiskey. Summer was surprised how easily she downed the
golden-brown liquid, without even a squint of displeasure when it
trickled down her throat.

“Now, Myrtle, I know it’s not the perfect
solution, but then again, you haven’t been a cat for near on fifty
years either. I must confess it’s strange for me too. I’ve been in
a cat’s body longer than I’ve been in my true form. Now let me
explain. I’ve done a bit of digging and spying, and as Hunter’s
letters had suggested and he informed us when he returned, I have
found that the rumors of another dragon are true.

“Much to our misfortune, the dragon is in
the hands of the Macabres. It had been my suspicion when Hunter
first noted there might indeed be a chance there was another. It
was only recently that I spied it with my own two eyes. It’s in
dragon form and it is very much a prisoner. “Due to its nasty
nature, I’m assuming it’s been tortured and held there for some
time.”

“This is terrible news,” Hunter said, pacing
and combing his hair back loosely through his fingers.

“It is indeed,” Morti agreed.

“Where could they be holding something so
big?” Aunt Myrtle asked, pouring herself another whiskey, her hand
shaking as the lip of the decanter sang against the edge of the
crystal lowball.

“Do you remember where the old part of the
Macabre mansion once had a turret tower?”

“Yes.”

“Part of that tower went several stories
underground. They’ve built it up a bit and put a roof on it, and
that is where they are keeping it chained and bound, in the
darkness of the pit.”

“How horrible! Why would they torture it?
Wouldn’t they be better off befriending or bribing it to do their
bidding?” Summer asked.

“Dragons are hell-bent against bribing and
would never do another’s bidding. The only way to get a dragon to
do what you want is to drive it crazy. In a deranged state, it will
do whatever it is told just to get some relief from its
torture.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Myrtle
said.

“None so far as I can see,” Morti answered.
“You have any thoughts, Hunter?”

Hunter said nothing as he scowled in thought
and shook his head no.

“Do you think you can get me in to see the
dragon?” Hunter asked.

“I don’t know. It’s very risky.”

“I’ll be discreet. I just want to see for
myself how badly they’ve taken things.”

“ I don’t think it’s a good idea, but having
your take on things could be a benefit. Yes, but not tonight. We
need to prepare.”

“Of course. Whatever you say,” Hunter
agreed.

“Before we get ahead of ourselves, shouldn’t
we discuss what the repercussions of your turning back into human
form will be and what the BROOM will do when they find out?”

“If we can avoid their knowing until we
solve this Macabre thing once and for all, I think I can push the
point that it was for the greater good. The BROOM will be so happy
to find the danger has been avoided that they’ll let bygones be
bygones.”

“I wish I had your confidence, Mortimer. I
fear they’ll be less than lenient given your past.”

“ A past started with the Macabres. I know
they had a hand in the severity of the punishment. When I can show
them just how much the Macabres had to do with the problems in the
past, they’ll see the good we’ve done the witch community and the
brotherhood.”

“Okay, but when this blows up in your face,
I will be the one to say ‘I told you so,’ as all sisters with idiot
brothers have the God given right to do,” Myrtle said, wagging a
finger at him.

“Fine. Whatever.”

“Is there anything I can do?” Summer
asked.

“Keep your mouth shut, is what you can do,”
Morti said in his familiarly irritable manner.

Summer shrugged her shoulders, and Aunt
Myrtle patted them to try to make her feel better.

* * *

Two nights later, dressed all in black and
looking more like cat burglars than spies, Hunter and Morti headed
to the Macabre mansion to scope out the dragon. As Morti had
warned, there were magical booby-traps everywhere to ward off
intruders. For a magical whiz like Morti and a dragon, they were
trivial and somewhat adolescent.

They made their way through the minefield of
traps that surrounded the property, into the back section of the
mansion under reconstruction from a fire some say was the doing of
Morti himself when he found out Yvonne Macabre had betrayed him and
played him for a fool all those years ago.

Though most of this area had been rebuilt
and re-landscaped, the surroundings of the turret tower were
barren. Dead shrubs that looked burnt to a crisp were littered here
and there around the door-less building taking the place of the
skyscraping predecessor. What windows did exist were blacked
out.

A broken window on the opposite side of the
building, far from wandering eyes, was the target of the two men
scurrying under the mask of darkness that was falling fast. In the
massive room below, illuminated by one electric lamp on a tattered
table, they could see a large shadowy figure of a red so deep, it
almost looked black. It was bound with fetters around its ankles
and one of the wings moved constantly as if to get comfortable. In
this dimness, it was impossible to tell how bad the injury was.
When the light hit its scales they shone iridescences of purple,
making the red scales look even darker. Glowing golden eyes darted
around the room from the gloom of inky blackness.

Morti had peered in first, and then invited
Hunter for a look without saying a word. Hunter took in every
detail he could then whispered to Morti, “Is there any possibility
we can get in there to see her up close?”

“Her?”

“Yes, most definitely.”

“Not that I’m aware of. The door is below
ground, only accessible from inside the mansion.”

“Damn,” Hunter whispered in disappointment,
and then peeked in the window once more.

“We should go, before we’re spied.”

Hunter nodded and as quietly as they had
approached the dragon dungeon, they retreated to the Midnight
mansion. The walk back was quiet but once they entered the house,
Hunter talked nonstop.

“She’s pretty messed up. I’m not sure
they’re even feeding her.”

“How do you know it’s a she?” Morti
asked.

“ The shape of wings is slightly different
than a male’s, but probably so minutely that only another dragon
can tell. But she also seems to be in nesting mode, though I did
not see an egg.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You noticed all the burnt shrubs above
ground and the barrenness of the area?”

“Yes. I just figured they weren’t watering,
or had some kind of disease troubling them.”

“No. A female dragon when nesting will send
out a blast of flames, encircling her nesting ground.”

“Why?” Summer asked.

“It’s a way to disinfect, for lack of a
better word. Think of the ground as a massive sponge. It absorbs
all kinds of things from ground water and age, so it’s tainted,
with herbicides, poisons, carbon monoxide, even magic. You name it,
it’s in there. The fire she breathes into the soil renews it like a
volcano spewing new rock to the surface. She disinfects the
pollutants within the soil of her nest by renewing it with fire as
it was once born. That way, while the egg lies incubating with the
mother, it doesn’t absorb any bad magic or other lethal things into
the baby. Like when babies are born and humans are rushing around
boiling water to disinfect to protect their child, so is the female
dragon with her own fire.”

“How amazing,” Summer said.

“I guess, but mostly it’s a mother’s
instinct.”

“But I didn’t see an egg,” Morti
interjected. “Nor have I seen one in my other visits.”

“That may be what they’re holding hostage
over her. Certainly those shackles would not hold her if she wanted
to leave. No, she allows them to treat her that way for a
completely other reason: her child.”

“But didn’t you say there are no other
dragons? How can she have conceived if not for you?” Aunt Myrtle
asked.

“An egg can be laid at conception, but it
can stay dormant for ages until the mother gives off some hormone,
taking it out of its quiescent state. This allows for the mother to
make sure things are safe before starting the incubation process.
Since dragons lay so few eggs in a lifetime, it’s the only way the
mother can ensure the safety of the child.”

“Are the fathers involved in the incubation
and rearing?”

“Oh yes, if they are alive, they are, very
much so. With both parents to look after an egg, the child is
insured a safe birth from just about anything.”

“Why would she be nesting when she’s in
danger?”

“She may have started the process before she
was captured. Once it’s started, it can’t be stopped until the
infant is born.”

“The Macabres wouldn’t harm the baby, would
they?” Aunt Myrtle asked.

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Morti
said.

“Morti’s right, but they have more to gain
in keeping the infant safe, thankfully. Though likely they’ll sell
it or try and train it to do their deeds.”

“Then why keep the mother if they can train
the baby?”

“They probably will kill the mother when the
baby is born, but right now they need a dragon to battle with us.
And if the baby isn’t even out of its shell, which I doubt given
her still nesting, they have no choice but to use the mother.”

“How awful,” Summer said, contemplating the
dragon mother’s sorrowful plight.

“Damn nasty Macabres. Makes me so mad,” Aunt
Myrtle grumbled.

“Control yourself, Myrtie,” Morti
reprimanded.

“Last thing I need is a grumpy old
ragamuffin cat telling me what to do,” she said, rambling on as she
left the room and climbed the stairs to her bedroom.

“Is there anything we can do?” Summer asked
Hunter.

“I don’t know. As far as I could tell, the
mother’s injured her wing and they’ve magically got her stuck in
her dragon form. Without knowing where the egg is, there’s no way
she’ll leave.”

“But if we could get our hands on the egg,
we could lure her away from the Macabres?”

“Possibly, but I couldn’t talk with her to
see how far gone she is.”

“We have to figure something out one way or
the other.”

“Definitely. There’s no way I can go up
against a crazed dragon, let alone a mother as old as she is, and
hope to survive. If we could obtain the egg somehow and pull her
over to our side, we’d have a pretty good chance of defeating them
once and for all.”

“Then we do what we can to find that egg?”
Summer said.

“Easier said than done,” Hunter
admitted.

“It always is,” Summer answered with a
sigh.

Summer woke to the ringing phone and a very
distressed caller. “Summer? It’s Autumn. Vixen has hurt herself.
She got out of the house by accident, and I think she must have
reinjured her leg. I’m scared to move her. She howling and she
looks in pain.”

“Don’t panic, just sit with her and try to
comfort her. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“You’ll come here?”

“Sure. Why not? Let me grab some things,
call into the office to tell them I’ll be late, and I’ll come
over.”

“Thank you so much. I wasn’t sure you’d be
willing to do a house call.”

“It’s not a problem. Give me your address.
It might take a little longer. I’m presently without a car, but
I’ll be there as quickly as I can.”

“The address is 2547 Shadowbrook Lane. I’m
in the front yard.”

“Okay. Just relax. Try and make her
comfortable, and I’ll be there soon.”

Like a whirlwind Summer dressed and grabbed
her medical bag. She strapped it to the bike and plugged in the
address to her phone. Within twenty minutes Summer found herself in
front of a most formidable mansion. An eerie feeling came over her
as she entered the yard, but she pushed it aside as she saw her
patient and Autumn planted on the grass. Autumn waved at her as she
rushed over to them.

“Hey. How’s she doing?” Summer said setting
her stuff down and kneeling near the cat.

“She’s not howling anymore, but she isn’t
moving much either.”

“Hey, little Vixen. You’re certainly using
up your nine lives these days,” she said, petting the cat and
letting her smell her.

“Autumn, I need you to hold her still while
I check her leg. She’s not going to like it.”

“Okay,” Autumn said apprehensively.

“Here we go,” Summer said as she very softly
ran her hand down the cat’s leg. “Hmmm,” she said as her hand
stopped and the cat howled.

“Yes. The fracture has re-broken slightly
out of alignment. I’ll have to set it, and I need your help.”

“What do I have to do?”

“If Vixen will cooperate, I’ll need you to
hold her hip. I’m going to tug slightly on her leg, align it, and
wrap it up again. We’ll keep her more sedated this time now that
we’re not worried about complication of a concussion, and that will
keep her off her feet. Do you think you can do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“If you’re not sure I’ll need you to take
her into the clinic, where they will sedate her and do what I just
explained, but the difference is she’ll have to stay there for a
few hours under observation to make sure there is no complication
with the anesthesia.”

“No. I don’t want to do that. She’ll be less
stressed if she’s here.”

“I agree, but I just wanted you to have the
option.”

“Thank you. No, I’ll do whatever it takes to
keep her home and comfortable.”

“Good.” Summer guided Autumn’s hand where
she needed her to hold the leg and got the tape ready for a quick
wrap.