"Run!," Brando ordered.
Brando picked up Took and leaped down the stairs. Blue and Stella were close behind, carrying the sled. Once on the towpath they settled Took back on the sled again. Blue took hold of the rope handle and they all ran as fast as possible.
"After them!," shouted Quantrill. Then Blue could hear the sound of energy bolts blasting toward them and landing at their heels.
"Blue and Ivy, you get down the hill and into the factory fast!," hollered Brando. "We'll hold them off. Blue saw Stella slip off her protective ring and become invisible. She had slipped into the shadow world, so the casters would be unable to see her or harm her. The weres should be OK, Blue reassured herself, since she and Stella had woven amulets into their hair making spells reflect back. Only Ivy didn't have an amulet. Blue had forgotten all about giving Ivy and amulet to protect her from spells. That's probably why Brando had sent Ivy to help Blue. It would be more work keeping her safe in the fight. Ivy grabbed the rope Blue was holding.
"Come on!" she urged. They ran, both holding the rope and pulling Took on the sled. Ivy being stronger and faster was doing most of the pulling. It was all Blue could do to keep up. They arrived at the top of the hill, Blue panting. By now Took had struggled out of his snowsuit but was behaving himself and remained in the sled.
"This way!," shouted Ivy.
The fastest way down the hill, Blue could see, would be sliding down the old drainpipe. She'd seen skateboaders ride on drainpipes before. It was something Ivy could easily do. Blue was not at all athletic and was hoping Ivy wouldn't try it. Blue was afraid she would fall off. Yet, the sled was enchanted so that would help. Also, the faster they reached the factory the easier it would be on the weres, who now were being hit with destructive spells. Blue was not sure how long their tattoos would hold up. The faster she, Ivy, and Took were safe the faster the weres could move out of danger. Ivy did an olly with the sled and hopped it up and onto the drainpipe.
"Get on!" she cried.
Blue hopped on the sled. Took sat in the front of the purple sled his wings spread wide, his strong toes grasping either side of it. Blue knelt just behind him holding the side and muttering the hovering spell to make sure it stayed a few inches above the pipe. Ivy hopped on the back and stood, holding the rope to steer. Ivy did a grind all down the pipe. The sled gained speed until it was going scary fast. At the end of the pipe it rose up then ended, shooting the sled high into the air.
"Oh no!," cried Ivy. "We're going to fall."
"We'll be OK," Blue replied calmy. Just hold on tight."
Blue switched to a floating spell. She concentrated hard and felt power flow through her. The sled slowly floated to the ground then landed softly at the back door to the Birdsill Holly Factory.
"Wow, perfect aim Ivy."
"And perfect floating Blue."
The weres made good time down the hill. Stella beat them to the door. In addition to being invisible she was able to pop ahead twenty to thirty feet at a time, every few seconds, while in the spirit world. All of them, with Brando carrying Took, scampered into the Birdsill Holly factory and stopped at the top of the stairs.
"Where's Quantrill?" asked Blue worriedly.
"We were winning," replied Rafe. "He ran and his followers with him. He didn't want to fight anymore so he took off running up the side of the credit union building."
"Like an insect," added Talon.
"I've heard that every vampire has a special gift or two," replied Rafe. "They don't all have the same powers. Must be that one of Quantrill's is the ability to run up the side of buildings."
"They could be leaving, but I doubt it," said Brando. "I think they are cutting around to the front of the Birdsill Holly factory. They plan to enter from the front and ambush us."
"Let's get this over with then," replied Blue. "Then we can get out of here."
"Yes," nodded Brando. "We have a headstart. If we're lucky we can still get in there, release Took, banish the dragons, and get out before anyone finds us."
They had reached the stairs, approximately 40 stairs down to the basement of the Birdsill Holly plant. Brando had turned back to human form.
"I forgot to mention that I brought Grandpa Lou's mechanical cockroaches," said Blue, pointing to the dozens of small, mechanical insects scurrying out from under Took's blanket on the sled. She envisioned what they should do and they scurried down the stairs into the factory, looking for adversaries to exterminate.
"Talon, you go down first," said Brando. "Let us know if you notice anything unusual." Talon had the best tracking abilities. I'll go next with Took, then the two girls. Rafe you bring up the rear and watch for anyone trying to follow us.
Talon motioned with his paw that he understood. Then he leaped down into the black stairwell. Everyone followed, Brando in front and Rafe bringing up the rear. In a few short minutes they had all reached the bottom of the stairs and followed Talon into the unkempt basement of the Birdsill Holly plant. Ivy looked back with dismay at the snow tracks they had made on the stairs.
"Looks like a herd of elephants came through here," she whispered.
"Can't be helped," Brando whispered back. In wolven form he, Rafe, and Ivy would have stepped in Talon's tracks, and it would have looked only like one large dog had passed through there. "At least there are no rooftops for that sneak Quantrill to be spying from."
The Birdsill Holly plant was made up of a large tumbledown brick complex. Half of it still held up a roof but the roof had tumbled down in the other half, taking the floors with it so that the basement in that area was open to the sky. Rotted floors in abandoned buildings can give way at any moment. Blue was glad the dragons were in the basement. At least there they would not fall to their deaths. When they did their reconnaissance mission the other night, they used a different door, so Blue was already confused about where they were headed.
Talon entered the first deteriorating room of the factory.
"They likely are in that same large room we found them in the other night, when we did reconnaissance," said Brando. "It's warmer below the frostline so the dragons are holed up down in the lowest level. Also, we then don't have to worry about the floor falling in on us." Talon nodded that he had heard. In the third adjoining room he found a door and pulled it ajar. It fell off its rusted hinges. Though small for a Wolven, Talon had considerably more strength than an average human male so pulling a door off rusted hinges was not a problem. Blue berated herself, how could she have forgotten to bring a flashlight? The wolven could see in the dark, and so could Ivy when her ring was off. Blue was the only one who needed a light. Talon tied a strong knotted rope to a nearby railing. That way, if they got lost or separated, the rope would help them quickly find the way out.
"Can't you control that dragon," Rafe asked. Took was beating his wings, making it clear that he wanted down from Blue's arms.
"I suppose I can just let him loose," replied Blue. "He seems to know where he's going." As soon as Blue let Took loose, he took off flying down the hallway with no hesitation.
"Here," said Rafe. He handed Blue a flashlight. "I figured you would one of these."
"Thanks," replied Blue gratefully. "This is a big help."
"Good thing you have me to think of these things," grinned Rafe, squeezing Blue's hand. Blue mused silently, leave it to Brando to come prepared, but not Rafe. Nice he was thinking of me. Not what I expected, but nice.
"I can't believe you forgot a flashlight," giggled Stella. "Especially since I can't see in the dark at all," replied Blue. Everyone else could see fine.
"I'll put a trip wire across here," said Brando, as he arranged some junk on either side of the stairs and tightened a wire across at knee level.
"Then if someone has followed us we have a good chance of hearing them fall."
"Good idea," said Rafe.
"Are you sure Took will be OK?" asked Rafe.
"Yes," replied Blue. "His wing is healed and with his large eyes I'm pretty sure he's nocturnal, so I bet he can see in the dark just fine. He knows what he's doing."
Took fluttered on ahead and the small party followed him. They wound their way quickly through the basement complex. By the third room they still had not seen anything.
"It's getting stronger," said Rafe.
"Oui," replied Talon, putting a hand to his nose.
"Any stronger and my eyes will start watering," added Brando.
“You’re not kidding,” moaned Ivy, holding her nose.
"What's getting stronger?" asked Blue and Stella, in unison.
"You can't smell that?," asked Rafe.
"Lizard" replied Brando.
"Big lizard," added Ivy..
That's a good sign then," replied Blue. "We must be getting closer."
By the fourth room the snow and ice had melted, so the party slogged through mud. They continued down the hallway.
"Wait," whispered Brando. There's a door here on the side and Took just went through it. Looks like another hallway veers off sideways. He bent and examined the ground. "This way," we want to follow the melted snow, and I'm sure Took knows where he's going."
That makes sense, Blue thought to herself. Water dragons will turn the snow into water with their heat and their steam. A crash sounded behind them.
"We must hurry," whispered Brando. "That would be Quantrill falling over the trip wire, close behind us." They followed the side passage a short way, then around a corner into a large room filled with old machinery, cogs and wheels as large as Brando's car. Blue looked around and saw, perched on pipes high up the wall, dozens of baby water dragons. Although she'd visited the room in astral form the other night, rooms always had greater detail in real life, so it was like seeing it for the first time. Most of the dragons perched above on pipes were about Took's size. There must have been seventy of them, all staring down at her. Above them half of the ceiling was gone and stars shown down. In the middle of the room sat the large, gold, momma dragon, Savita. Savita lifted her head in greeting to Took as he fluttered over to her and they rubbed noses fondly, each making low grunting noises. Blue stepped toward the momma dragon, while the wolven walked stealthily along the edge of the room toward a door, Talon holding Stella's hand firmly in his. Savita turned toward Blue growling. Blue held out her hand and projected reassuring thoughts toward the momma dragon. It helped that Took had flown back to her and landed right next to her. Momma dragon seemed to be listening to Took’s soft grunts and gurgles. Blue kept projecting warm, reassuring thoughts as she walked forward and finally placed one hand on the momma dragon's forehead and one on her cheek.
"Thesauri!" invoked Blue, starting her spell to communicate with animals.
"I've returned with your missing baby, like I promised," Blue said. "We won't hurt you. We are here to warn you of danger. You will now be able to understand my spoken language as I will understand yours."
"Yes, I understand you, little one called Blue," the Momma dragon replied. "You came as you promised.”
"I came," replied Blue. "Also, I brought Took with me."
“I thank you for returning my whelp. You are audacious, little one" commented Savita. "To confront me and my brood takes great bravery. You also nursed one of my whelps back to health. He tells me that one of the evil folk burned his wing while he was on a hunting expedition, and you helped him."
"Yes," replied Blue. "We've grown very fond of each other. I call him Took. But he must live with his own kind, now that he has healed."
"Thank you for returning him to me unharmed," said Savita. "For there is yet a great deal I must teach him."
"We must hurry," said Blue. "People are coming to harm you and your pups, to kill you all."
"Your people?" asked the huge dragon.
"Not really my people, though I know them. That's how I know their plan to kill you and your pups. They are the ones who hurt Took. Your hunting, especially the hunting of your whelps, has drawn attention. So you must leave now, before you're attacked and harmed."
"This happened once before," replied the dragon. "A magus came and ordered us to leave, for our own safety. I was a whelp then. It was a long time ago, about one hundred and fifty years ago in your time. That is why I returned here. I must return to my birthplace when I reach maturity, to whelp my one and only litter."
Blue started in alarm, “Does that mean all your sisters will be coming here too? In order to lay their eggs?”
Savita laughed, growling low in her throat. “Do not be alarmed little one. My siblings have either died or moved on to the astral plane. They will not be laying eggs in this earthly realm. That job fell to me and I have completed my task.”
“So it is true that dragons can move between the dimensions?”
“Yes. We move between the dimensions, as you call them, between the different layers of reality. We each are assigned a dimension and a job to do in it.”
“How do you know who does what?” asked Blue.
“We are born knowing where to go and what our job is,” Replied Savita. “Sometimes our assignment changes as circumstances change, but usually it’s straightforward. I’m the only silver dragon born in my litter. Each litter has either a silver female or a golden male, and these stay behind to procreate.”
“I see,” replied Blue. “That magus you saw was my great, great grandfather. I read about you in his log. He protected you and I will protect you also.”
Blue stroked Savita's head and telepathically passed on to the dragon a visual map of the northern border and a path to Algonquin. "Go there. You will be safe in the wilds of Algonquin. There are many lakes there, full of fish."
"I know that place," replied the dragon.
"I'm going to do a banishing now," said Blue. "It will ensure that your whelps all leave here with you and that none stay behind or return here."