Authors: A McKay
She was hoisted up like an elevator. A simple jerk on the rope signaled her to be lifted. Holy shit, no wonder the dragons could climb rope so fast they were very strong.
The rope came slithering back down moments later with the same swinging technique and Gargan grabbed the rope. "Okay whose next," Zach asked, as Slade heard a bubbling a little closer than before. Slade looked over the edge and noticed the lava was bubbling and reaching the hole where they just came from.
"I think we all should go on this one." They looked at Slade who stared over the ledge. Zach and Gargan followed him and shook their heads as the volcano started to become violent. Zach grabbed the rope first and started his climb, Slade grabbed the rope where Gargan was, “Go lizard," Slade bellowed at Gargan, he was about to argue and now saw the lava reaching the edge of the cave. The heat started to overwhelm the air around them. Slade grabbed the bottom of the rope and started to climb just in time, before the lava took the ledge that they were on.
The dragon being slowed by Zach growled, "Move your arse, human." Slade looked up and saw Zach moving as fast as he could, the lava gaining on them still.
"Move, guys, move, it is getting hot here," the lava a couple of feet below Slade’s feet. Smoke starting to come from the rope.
"Pull," Gargan yelled to where Phoenix could hear.
The rope started to slide up on a slower speed and a female voice yelling "pull, come on Gabrielle, pull.” They still climbed the rope as the lava grew. Zach just reached the hole, a second later Gargan escaped, and Slade was hoisted out of hole. Slade looked back down and the lava that was sinking again in a fast pace, steam billowing around them. "That was close Gargan."
Gargan looked down at the sinking lava. "That steam needs to blow somewhere!" he said back to Slade and Zach who were resting on the side of the active volcano.
"O crap," Zach said. They jumped to their feet to an instant run trying not to tumble down the hill. Wagon’s laid in the middle of a man made trench.
Gargan looked at Phoenix as they both nodded. Clothes started to be thrown on the run, "Pick them up," Phoenix yelled to the brothers, as her clothes flew at Slade’s face. Slade now didn’t care about the volcano; she was stripping in front of him. He realized he was becoming as bad as Zach was now.
They passed another wagon with more barrels. "This is not the time to be naked."
"We are on an island, and somebody is trying to sink it.” Phoenix huffed as Gargan’s wardrobe hit them as well. It took a while for it to sink in but as they hit another trailer loaded Slade feeling now sick to his stomach with nerves.
They stopped as the two siblings stood nude in front of them. "Are these gun powder barrels or something?” Slade asked.
"See you can figure things out.” They heard the volcano burst and lava shot straight up. Soon it poured down the hill, hitting the first trailer around the hill exploding on impact and the hill disappearing as the lava came out even faster. Zach looked back to the explosion.
"Why," he was cut off by a heat flash in front of them, no human forms were there. Two massive dragons took the human’s place, one that tried to kill them before and the other with a tail that looked to be fins. “That’s why Gargan could swim so well,” Slade thought aloud to himself as Slade climbed the dragon that tried to kill him. Zach and Gabrielle climbed up on Gargan. With a quick wing stroke, the beast lifted and they were in air. The dragon Slade was on felt and looked like gold scales as the rising sun flashed off her. Gargan looked like rubies as they sailed away from the island that was evaporating into a cloud of smoke and dust.
Slade tried to figure out in his head why someone was trying to blow the island up. The only thing that came to mind was someone wanted something from underneath the island. Did they know where the portal was? Slade knew he would soon find out, one thing was for sure they weren’t leaving until they discovered it.
"Where are we going?” Slade asked his ride. She said something back and Gargan flew next to her and noises came out, but Slade could not understand their language.
"Yes, that is a good idea," Gabrielle said, both dragons looking back, if Slade didn't know, better they had a stunned look. Slade looked down at the claws of Gargan, his back claws were black, and Phoenix's were clear.
"Are those, what I think they are," Slade yelled to Zach.
Zach now looked at started to scratch his head with a hand free and the other one holding the clothes of Gargan’s.
Phoenix said something in her language again on the flight. "She says yes they are." Gabrielle answered again. The dragons’ claws were made of diamonds.
They glided through the air, and soon land flew by beneath them and a mountain appeared ahead of them. A cave appeared on the side of the mountain, which was their destination as the dragons turned more precise to the opening on the side of the mountain. "Not another cave," Zach cried out.
Slade couldn't help but laugh as they approached the cliff in front of the cave. They were heading to a cave, the world was starting to make sense again, dragons in stories all stayed in caves, not queens of castles.
***
The two dragons got dressed and they planned our move. They chose the trail that led to the village just below the cave that they found out was their parents’ home. The dragons had a natural instinct to go there. They moved as quickly as they could the trail was muddy from the nights rain that still drizzled from the sky, which only made travel more difficult and annoying.
They slopped through the trail, not moving out of the way for other people or their wagons as they traveled the same path. Forced to dodge them, some people shot dirty looks but if anyone tried to go through them they would end up wishing they had evaded. Zach, Gabrielle, and Slade tried to avoid others but the stubborn dragons just tossed people out of their way. Slade didn’t know if the dragons were competing with each other on how many they could throw because bodies started to be tossed more frequently.
The trail was full of twist and turns, which only made the dragons get more enraged. “Why can’t humans just make straight trails?” Phoenix asked the three non-dragons cursing softly as they ventured around yet another corner. The rain finally started to let up and the fresh air was nice and warm from the sun that still hung high in the afternoon sky. The sweet scent of lilacs from a nearby meadow invaded Slade’s nose causing images of how it used to be before the Sanctum, before he knew all the secrets.
The trail was getting crowded and men started to crowd them. An old man tripped in front of Gargan begging for assistance from the massive beast to help him to his feet. They sighed as Gargan stepped on the man’s head, the head dug deep in the soft mud until the screaming stopped and the man stopped fighting. Slade didn’t know if they could stop him, but Gargan and Phoenix were pissed about something.
“What happened to this land?” Phoenix asked Gargan. I don’t know but did you smell that man, he had some kind of poison on him. When the humans started to approach the disguised dragon, Phoenix shot fire out, sending all those that were near running. Some unlucky souls were even engulfed in flames. Slade saw a smile starting to form on the dragons’ face as she finally released some anger.
“What is happening,” Slade asked Phoenix, as Gargan found someone else that didn’t escape.
They had a bad cold feeling about this ancient land. Phoenix looked around and took a sniff, one equal to the one she took when she learned of Slade’s new power, “Something changed, our home is not our home anymore” Phoenix sighed as Gargan finished off another man, this one spitting on Gargan’s face just before his death.
“Look at this,” Gargan ripped the man’s sleeve and showed a symbol, a symbol that looked familiar. “Slade do you know what that is,” the male dragon asked.
“I’ve seen it, but wait a minute,” Slade re-maneuvered his cloth to show an identical mark. “I never looked really at the mark, but are they the same.” Slade asked hoping the answer was no.
“They are indeed the same.” Phoenix said eyeing them both.
“Slade, you didn’t have that before, no, it can’t be.” Zach said running his hands through his hair.
“It is the Secret Sanctum’s symbol.” The symbol was branded in all agents. It looked like two wings with a rounded triangle in the middle, and below it were two bigger wings. They looked almost like elongated eyes, and a circle with three shapes inside it came down from it. He never really thought about it until now, it looked like a demons face. Slade took a deep breath, “that means they found a way in and if they are already integrated into society it has been awhile, maybe even before I joined.”
“Maybe they found the weapon, or are still looking.”
Slade eyed Zach along with Phoenix, “I don’t think so Zach.” Phoenix then looked at Slade as if she knew he knew she was the weapon.
“Well if we stay in one spot, your agency will surely catch us.” Phoenix answered.
“If that agency is here, are they looking for the portal to enter the kingdom also?” Gabrielle asked.
“They will die, before that happens.” Gargan growled back and looked to the sun.
As they continued picking their way down the mud-ridden trail, they noticed that the ground was soaking up the water fairly quickly for it was already starting to dry in some spots. They could feel the water being sucked back up into the skies and Slade knew that soon they would be donating some water back to the skies with temperatures rising hotter than Phoenix’s fire.
The trail was starting to become even more congested as people started to meander more on the path now that it stopped raining. A variety of different voices rented the air, ranging from the gruffest of men to petite women as the humans spoke with each other. They purposely avoided eye contact with the two siblings leading the way but staring at Zach and Slade. The citizens’ fear of the two were palpable as they stepped around them, making sure they kept their heads down and their gazes averted, only looking at the humans. As they moved along with the crowd, a conversation caught Slade’s attention. He could hear several travelers saying something of villages appearing in the forest nearby.
They were talking about the possibility of elves. Earlier, the dragons said that the elves stayed hidden unless the call came for them, but why would they show themselves now? They approached two younger males that were chatting about these other villages that were appearing elsewhere. Someone needed to stop the word before it spread everywhere. If these people haven’t seen the other creatures before, and now the Sanctum showing itself, only meant that they were warring against the other non-humans.
Slade had a gut feeling that the Sanctum was trying to convert the land into a human only paradise. They were trying to eliminate the others, something Slade at one time would have loved to help with. He still thought that humans and the others should live separate but why not on earth. Why would the Sanctum bring it to another land? Did they really think they could eliminate entire species?
“Did you say there were villages appearing in places that were only known to be forest before?” Slade asked the group making the group stop waiting for him to finish.
“Aye, already an elfish village and believe it or not someone said a fairy village,” one said
“You lie,” muttered the other man. “No other races exist but us and the gods” Clearly these people weren’t acquainted with the Sanctum yet.
“I do not tell you a lie, it is a fact,” The first man stated defensively. He gave his friend a disappointed frown before turning his gaze to us, “What do you think, sir?”
The man soon fell silent, however, when he caught a good look at Gargan’s eyes as they peered out at him from under the large hood. A fine sheen of sweat began to gather on the youth’s brow and his mouth opened and closed a few times but no sound escaped his lips. He looked over and saw that Gargan’s eyes were a dark shade of orange with pupils clearly not human. Curious about the changes in his companion’s countenance, his friend’s gaze also drifted to Gargan’s eyes. Just like his friend standing beside him, the other man started to shake. “De-de-de” they started to say but before they could finish the word, Gargan and Slade grabbed both of them by the neck and held their throats closed, cutting off their air supply. Slade couldn’t believe he was doing this with a dragon, he was supposed to be protecting the humans, but he guessed to protect many a few must die. If they ran and saw they were demons, surely the Sanctum would investigate them, and that was last thing they needed right now. The humans valiantly tried to free themselves but they were held off the ground. Their attempts caused them to flail helplessly in the air. The other travelers stared at the chaos with unease and weariness, Zach, and Phoenix getting ready to back Gargan and Slade up in a brawl.
The dragon stared at the crowed and tossed the man away. Slade found himself copying Gargan’s actions. Slade was sure they were dead, and knew that no one would question them for now, the land looked barbaric enough that it would look like it was two thieves being caught and punished.
They moved on along the trail, hoping to find out more information on these appearing villages with the expectations that the humans of the next village would be able to provide more assistance in the matter. Zach stared at Slade seeing the confusion in his face, “I know, but we need to protect everything, and you can’t save every idiot.” Zach patted him on the back.