Bonnie gritted her teeth. She should never have tried to fly in the storm! That’s probably what gave her position away. It was stupid!
As if he could read her mind, the Watcher continued whispering. “You are alone, ssssweet princesssss, yessss. No one can ssssave you now. I will teach you my artssss, and you will learn to enjoy my caressesssss.”
Bonnie felt the demon’s hand sliding along her leg. She shook her body violently and tried to flap her wings, wriggling with all her might. She would rather die than let that black-tongued monster touch her for another second, but the wrappings kept tightening, now clamping down on her throat. She could barely breathe at all.
Chapter 5
Bonnie heaved her body upward. Suddenly, her stomach lurched toward her throat, and her backside slammed against the ground. Had he dropped her? Loud roars mixed in with the howling wind, then someone lifted her to her feet. A sense of new warmth coated her body. The goo sizzled in her ears. The tight band over her eyes popped, clearing her vision. A dragon stood next to her, shooting a precision stream of fire that melted the remainder of the black coat. Sir Newman sat at the base of the dragon’s neck, his shoulders squared and his head erect.
Bonnie recognized the dragon immediately, the great Hartanna. She bounced on her toes in calf-deep water and cried out, “Mama!”
Hartanna’s brow turned downward. She didn’t answer.
Sir Newman waved his hand at Bonnie. “Keep still, Miss, and let her finish the job.”
Bonnie froze in place. Vapor rose from the pool of water at her feet, making a cylindrical curtain of rising fog. The melting black stuff reeked of rotted flesh and body odor. As soon as her arms were free, she rubbed her hands and face with the falling rain to wash away the stinking residue.
Newman’s voice penetrated the cloud. “The legends tell us the darkness spells are poisoned with doubt and despair. They drain your will and make you easy prey.” The cloud thinned out. Newman slid off the dragon’s side, dripping wet as he approached Bonnie. He grimaced at the gooey mess. “Hartanna has to destroy every drop, or it’ll spread out again. Doubt is a cancer, and only fire can destroy it.”
Bonnie squeezed water from her hair. “What happened to the Watcher?”
Newman laughed derisively. “When he saw us, he took to the skies in a hurry, I’ll tell you. The darkness spell is a Watcher’s only defense against dragons, and when dragons work together, they can easily melt away any direct hits.”
Hartanna’s stream of fire died away, and twin plumes of smoke curled up from her nostrils. “I think it is all gone now. Thank the Maker.”
Bonnie leaped forward and hugged Hartanna’s scaly neck. “It’s so good to see you again!”
Hartanna’s wing covered Bonnie’s head, providing a welcome umbrella. “And you, too, dearest one. I am proud of you for risking your life to carry Sir Edmund to Thigocia’s back.”
Sir Newman bowed to Hartanna. “And I was pleased with your fine catch, High Dragoness. When I jumped from the airplane, I prayed for a miracle.”
Hartanna dipped her head, apparently a return bow. “I just hope my teeth didn’t scratch you, Sir Newman.”
Newman rubbed the back of his neck. “Only a little. Much better than crushed bones on the ground, I assure you.”
“Had I known you were an experienced dragon rider,” Hartanna said, “I would have caught you according to custom, but few humans know how to use a dragon’s tail to mount a flying steed.”
“True. Although I am experienced, it has been well over a thousand years since I have attempted it.” Newman pulled up his blood-stained collar. “All’s well that ends well.”
Bonnie ran her hands along her sleeves and shivered, a good shiver this time. Hartanna’s fire spa had expelled more than demonic doubt; it had reminded Bonnie of her mother’s love. Now much drier, her sweatshirt was a warm blanket instead of a cold burden. “So what now?” she asked. “To the airstrip?”
“Yes. It’s very close.” Hartanna lowered her neck. “You should ride with Sir Newman. The weather makes flying quite hazardous.”
Bonnie laughed. “I found that out.”
Sir Newman gave Bonnie a boost, then climbed aboard in front of her. “Hang on tightly to me, Miss. Hartanna is an expert flyer, but even she cannot make our ride a smooth one.”
Bonnie grasped Sir Newman around the waist, her clothes getting soaked again. Seconds later, Hartanna launched into the air, fighting through needle-like rain and shifting blasts of cold. Sir Newman, upright and rigid, served as a steady anchor, seemingly unaffected by the storm.
From takeoff to descent, the flight lasted just a few minutes. Bonnie tried to peer through the rain, blinking constantly to see anything at all.
Merlin II
came into sight at the end of the airstrip, a single dragon on each side. A human also stood next to the plane’s tail, but he or she was too far away to recognize.
When Hartanna landed, Bonnie slid off, her wings parachuting her to the ground. Through sheets of rain, she saw Billy running toward her. He skidded to a stop, panting. “We have . . . a new meeting place . . . a secret place.” He took her hand in his. “We need to hurry. These two dragons will guard the plane.”
The knight marched behind Billy and Bonnie, while Hartanna flew just above the trees. As they splashed through the woods and down a muddy path, Bonnie peppered Billy with questions. “Did you find the book?”
Billy patted the front of his coat. “Got it right here.”
“Did you hear that Professor Hamilton thinks the Watchers are causing all this rain?”
“He’s right. One of them told me.”
“You talked to a Watcher!?”
“Yeah. It’s a long story. I’ll tell it when we’re all together. Walter’s hurt, so we have to figure out a way to get him to a hospital.”
Bonnie wanted to shout, “Walter’s hurt?! How?” But the concern on Billy’s face told her she was holding him back. She didn’t want to be any more of an anchor than she already was.
The forest darkened, tree trunks conglomerating like wooden soldiers gathering for bivouac. With their nearly naked branches hovering in a tight network up above, the trees created a leaky umbrella of sorts, giving Billy and Bonnie a bit of a respite from the rain as the bark channeled streams of water earthward. Just when the undergrowth became so thick Bonnie thought they must have taken a wrong turn, they broke through into a small clearing. Six dragons sat in the grass, two with their wings spread to shelter the humans. Sir Patrick, Sir Edmund, Ashley, Shiloh, and Karen knelt under one dragon’s wings, while Walter lay in Marilyn’s arms under another, his deathly still head resting on her shoulder. Hartanna glided downward to join them.
Bonnie dashed ahead and leaned over to join Marilyn under the leathery roof. She laid a hand on Walter’s forehead. “How bad is it?”
Billy caught up and drew Excalibur from its scabbard. “Pretty bad. Just before he passed out, he said his arms and legs tingled and his heart was jumping.” Still standing out in the rain, he summoned the sword’s laser beam.
Bonnie pressed her hand on Walter’s chest. She could feel a spasmodic thump and labored breathing.
“Arlo and I couldn’t carry him to the road because of the flood,” Billy went on, waving the sword back and forth. “So we got him as far as the airstrip, and Arlo said he could swim to a high outpost on another mountain to meet some rescue workers he contacted while I waited for Mom to land.”
Excalibur’s beam expanded into a huge photo-umbrella. The rain pelted the outer energy field and bounced off noiselessly. “Arlo might take hours to find help, so Mom and I carried Walter here. With the Watchers around, flying out again is too dangerous.”
“What about Thigocia?” Bonnie asked. “Isn’t she a healing dragon?”
Thigocia shook rainwater from her wings and folded them on her back. “I am a healer, but I have never had much success with humans, and I have failed with Walter so far.” She touched one of Bonnie’s wings with her own. “Since you are part dragon, I considered trying to heal you when you were dead, but there was no time. My methods might not have worked anyway.”
Ashley stood, and with her hands behind her she walked slowly up to Thigocia. She tilted her head upward and reached a trembling hand toward the dragon’s neck, then pulled it back. She seemed ready to cry.
Thigocia lowered her head. “You may touch me, young lady. I don’t mind.”
Ashley caressed the dragon’s neck, petting her scales as she might a horse’s withers.
“What are your methods?” Bonnie asked.
“One dragon breathes fire directly on me until my scales glow. Then I wrap my wings around the victim, and energy flows into his body. The energy enhances the ailing dragon’s photoreceptors, enabling him to heal rapidly. Humans don’t have photoreceptors, so, in theory, it can’t work at all, though I have seen improvement in some cases.”
“Really?” Bonnie said. “It worked in a human?”
She nodded toward Sir Edmund. “None other than this fine, brave soldier. During a storm much like this one, Sir Edmund and I were battling side by side with King Arthur to put down an attack from a group of barbarians. The king used Excalibur to great advantage, and the barbarians began to flee, but a spear pierced Edmund’s armor and threw him off my back. I caught him before he struck the ground, but he was gravely wounded. I tried to break the shaft of the spear, but it came out, and he bled terribly. I thought to carry him home so he could die in peace, so I wrapped my wings around him to shelter his body until the battle subsided. I felt a sudden jolt, as if struck by lightning, and my rider began jerking around inside my wings. When I opened them, Sir Edmund burst out ready to charge the barbarian who speared him.”
Ashley pulled back her hand, rubbing her thumb against her fingers. “A catalyst,” she said.
“A what?” Bonnie asked.
Ashley waved her arms at the photo-umbrella over their heads. “Energy. It feeds our bodies. Every cell uses it to build and restore. All we need is a delivery system that transforms it into something the body can use. My guess is that the jolt of energy came from Excalibur while King Arthur was in battle. It passed through you and into Edmund, but to work on a human, it must have carried something more than dragon fire. Since you’re a healer, your body must have transformed it from a destructive laser to a healing stream.” She reached for Bonnie and lifted her multicolored bead necklace. “The regeneracy dome wasn’t enough for you, but when Excalibur’s beam ran along the ground, it shot through you and me while I was embracing you, and you revived.”
Ashley stooped next to Walter and pulled him away from Marilyn. She wrapped her arms around him and nodded at Billy. “Point Excalibur toward me and strike the ground with it.”
“What!” Billy cried. “Are you nuts? It’ll fry both you and Walter.”
Ashley pressed Walter’s lolling head against her chest, her face contorting. “I analyzed that sword’s beam and created my own translumination ray, so I know what it can do. I can’t explain it all. Too much information can—” Walter’s body began convulsing, his arms and torso twitching wildly. Ashley tightened her arms around him. “Trust me, Billy! Do it now!”
Billy brought Excalibur down, extinguishing the beam and evaporating the umbrella. As the rain poured, he pointed his body toward Walter and Ashley and angled the sword toward the ground. “Stand back everyone!” Both humans and dragons scattered, leaving Ashley and Walter alone.
Ashley positioned her body between Walter and the sword. “Go for it!” she yelled.
Tensing his face, Billy summoned the beam again. It shot into the waterlogged ground and ripped toward the huddled pair, boiling the water and sending up a line of steam. The laser streaked into Ashley. Her whole body stiffened. The beam forked and shot out her eyes, two spotlights illuminating the misty evening as she shook violently, her voice rattling. “Keep . . . it . . . going!”
Slowly turning her head, she guided her laser eyes toward Walter. They drilled into his pallid face. Light zoomed across his body, painting his skin and clothes, decolorizing him into a photo negative. Both bodies quaked. Ashley’s head rocked, her voice shuddering as she screamed, “St-st-st-stop!”
Billy instantly doused the beam. A final streak sizzled across the ground and echoed through Ashley’s eyes, popping through her sockets like blown out light bulbs. Her arms fell limp, and both she and Walter toppled over, splashing like used dishrags into the mud.
Billy rushed over. He grabbed Walter’s arm and pulled him to a sitting position, bracing his shoulders to keep him upright. Bonnie lifted Ashley, joined seconds later by Marilyn, Karen, Shiloh, and Sir Newman. Ashley seemed conscious but groggy.
Walter’s eyes flickered open, and he let out a moan. Sir Edmund helped Billy raise Walter to his feet. Walter shook his head, slinging water and mud from his hair. He wrapped his arms around himself and shivered, his teeth chattering like wild castanets.
“Hartanna!” Billy called. “Can you warm him up?”
“Dragons circle around!” Hartanna ordered. “Humans in the center!” Her glowing eyes locked onto Billy’s. “Give us cover, son of Clefspeare.”
As the company gathered, Billy lit up his sword, once again creating an umbrella. Six dragons surrounded the humans, their long necks reaching toward them. Hartanna bellowed, “It’s time for the Sahara treatment. Hot air on, flames off.” The dragons inhaled, then shot out jets of hot dry air, bathing the humans in luxurious warmth. In seconds, the arid blast slurped the moisture from their drenched skin, clothes, and hair.
Walter stopped shaking, a wry smile slowly spreading across his face. Billy punched him on the arm. “What’s creeping through your mind, a new joke?”
“Sort of. I was just thinking about a new appliance combination. Instead of a washer and a dryer, you could have a Watcher and a dragon.”
Karen grinned. “Walter’s back!”
Walter brushed dried mud from the seat of his pants. “It’s sure good to have dragons around.” He turned toward Ashley and smiled. “But it’s even better to have good friends.”
Ashley took two tremulous steps and hugged Walter, her voice thin and rasping. “Glad I could help.”
Walter cocked his head toward the pod of dragons. “Don’t wear yourself out, girl. We still have to go dragon riding together.”
Ashley smiled weakly. “I’m there.”
Three of the dragons continued the drying treatment, slowing the jet streams to gentle, warm breezes. Thigocia stretched her neck until she came eye to eye with Ashley. “I sense a presence . . . a long lost love.” The dragon took a long sniff, staring at her with flashing red pupils. “Is it really you?” she said softly. A great tear welled in the dragon’s eye and splashed to the ground. “Are you my beloved Ashley?”
Ashley lifted hesitating arms and caressed the dragon’s noble face. “Yes . . .” Her chin quivered. “Mother.”