Dragon Magic: Book 3: Prophecy of the Dragons (19 page)

Ben, Andi, Angus, Ingrid, and Victor zipped through the oversized corridors of the Stronghold, looking for any sign of Timothy and Sasha, and, of course, his parents. Victor was there to act as their communication with the rest of the council in the main meeting hall. If Sarah's emotions went too far one way or another, Victor would tell the group to return.

When they first started out, Ben asked, "Why don't we use cell phones?"

"That'd be ideal," Victor said. "But there are no cell towers in this realm. Doesn't matter who your provider is."

Ben pulled out his phone and saw he had no service at all. "Okay, so how about walkie-talkies?"

"Also ideal," Angus said. "But there's never call for them, so we don't keep any in stock."

"I'm beginning to think you don't want me around, young Benjamin."

"No, it's not that. Actually, I was thinking of you. I know I wouldn't want to be split up from Andi in a potentially dangerous situation."

Victor gave him a hearty smile and slap on the back. "There's a reason Sarah and I have aligned ourselves with you two. From everything we've witnessed, there's no possible way the prophecy can turn out any way other than to the side of good. Alexandria was under a possession so powerful that no one knew what was wrong, and yet you still broke it rather than turn evil. So, yes, Sarah and I would very much like to stand side by side during this potential crisis, but we feel much better about ourselves in lending whatever support we can. Besides, we don't know what Timothy and Sasha have planned, so there may be no danger involved. Anyway, you two will make excellent leaders of the world of dragons when that day finally arrives."

"Aye," Angus and Ingrid said.

Andi reached over and grabbed his hand. He could feel the intense gratitude rolling off her, and he guessed she felt the same from him. "Thank you," they said simultaneously, and Ben hoped they could live up to that compliment.

As they ran through the Stronghold, Victor proved more useful than either a cell phone or walkie-talkie. He read Sarah's emotions as though she were talking directly to him, keeping them up to date on what transpired in the council session. Ben could read Andi quite well, and they had occasional silent conversations, but nothing like this. Would centuries together give him such insight into her, and vice versa? Probably. Actually, he had no doubt. He was already better at it after only a year and a half.

The group checked both Timothy and Sasha's private and public chambers, but came up empty. "What do you think they want with my parents?" he asked, meaning it for everyone and no one.

"Nothing good, that's for sure," Angus said.

"They can get away with anything now that they have their own recording disc," Ingrid said.

"Which is why we need to get to them soon," Victor said. "Though I'm beginning to think they may no longer be here."

"Does anyone know where they might go?" Andi asked.

"I'm sure there's a spell," Ben said. "Felix has mentioned it's possible to track people anywhere in the multiverse, but he hasn't taught it to me yet."

"I won't pretend to say I know much about magic," Angus said, "but I'm guessing a spell like that is in the upper-echelon of difficulty. I'm sure he'll teach you when he knows you're ready."

"Sometimes spells of such power require more than a simple reserve of energy," Victor said. "Especially necromantic magic. I also won't pretend to have an immense knowledge on the subject, but I do know that sometimes the most powerful necromantic spells require a piece of one's soul."

"A piece of soul?" Andi shouted. "I guess you won't be casting any of those."

Ben shrugged. It wasn't something Felix had brought up so he filed it away in the back of his mind to ask. His master would give it to him straight.

"If Felix hasn't shared it with you yet, then…" Ingrid started, but Victor broke in.

"The council chamber. Something's happening."

Andi and Angus transformed to dragons. Ben jumped on her back, while Ingrid and Victor vaulted onto Angus's. In a blur of acceleration, they were at the council chamber door. The two dragons changed back to their human shapes, and the five entered the room to discover Timothy in the middle of a speech.

"…obvious evil the two are bringing upon the multiverse. We need to stop them right now. The Stronghold may not even be equipped to handle them, but if you'll hand them over to us, we have ways to bring them back into the fold."

Jonas stood up. "I think you can stop right there, Timothy. The servants informed us of what happened."

"They attacked and killed the servants," Sasha said with her familiar sneer firmly in place.

"Actually, none were even injured. Each suffered a minor cut on their upper arm, but those have already healed. They also had quite an interesting tale of brainwashing when Benjamin and Alexandria broke the curse."

"Who's to say they didn't brainwash the servants and make them believe we'd done it?" Sasha said.

"Sasha," Timothy barked.

"I never accused you two of conducting the brainwashing," Jonas said. "But I'm beginning to see a guilty conscience."

"It's not a guilty conscience," Sasha spit out. "The accusation was clear."

"Sasha," Timothy again said, and then they clutched their heads in the headache of a private conversation.

After a few seconds, their pain stopped, and Sasha muttered, "Fine. They can listen to the whelp's parents. They deserve the message."

Mom and Dad moved out of the corner of the room, where he hadn't even noticed them, and walked towards the stage. "Mom, Dad," he called. "Are you all right?" He took a step towards them, but Angus put a hand on his shoulder.

"Look at them, Benjamin. Something's wrong."

Ben did, and Angus was right. They weren't walking, but shambling. This wasn't them, but their possessed shells, and danger, almost more than he'd ever felt, pulsed off them. Felix stepped forward, a spell flickering on his fingertips. He looked Ben dead in the eyes, his message clear: "Do something so I don't have to."

He scanned them, but couldn't get much. Sasha had put them in some sort of trance, and she was using them for…something. Something dangerous, that was all he could tell.

"Ben?" Andi asked.

He nodded and shot a spell to break the curse, but it did nothing. Next he tried a stun spell, hoping that would stop them, but it didn't even slow them down. What else could he do? Why wouldn't Felix tell him?

"Nice try," Sasha said. "Nothing you can do will stop them."

Timothy bowed to the council. "And on that note, we bid you a final farewell." He took Sasha's hand, and they waltzed to the door.

His parents neared the front of the stage, and Felix called out, "Time's running out, Benjamin."

That clicked it in his mind. They had a destructive mystical force inside them, ready to decimate everyone in the room. "Andi, concentrate on a power boost." She didn't ask why, didn't argue, just did it. Their minds clicked, and with the extra power, he put Mom and Dad under an almost impenetrable shield.

"No!" yelled Sasha, and she and Timothy rushed at Ben and Andi. Before they could make it, though, the bomb inside his parents ignited, exploding inside the reinforced barrier. Everyone stopped and stared. Once he saw it was over, he let the spell drop. His parents no longer stood there.

"Maybe it teleported them somewhere," Andi said, her voice small, almost indistinguishable.

He shook his head and watched their souls float out of the room, out of the multiverse, and into the afterlife. His thoughts turned to resurrection, but even he couldn't pull that off when their bodies no longer existed. They'd been disintegrated into dust.

Ben fell to his knees, and Andi felt the shock overwhelm him. She heard commotion all around and saw Timothy, in his dragon form, and Sasha rushing at them. She transformed and moved to protect Ben in case he couldn't pull himself together, but she needn't have worried. He stood, a blank look on his face, and the gray glow of anger around him like an aura. He stuck out his right hand, and both Timothy and Sasha stopped cold, their eyes bugging out as their life force drained. She thought about stopping him, but this was his decision to make. She'd back him no matter what he ultimately decided to do with them.

Jonas, however, had other ideas. "Benjamin, stop this now. They need to be put on trial, not executed on the spot."

He did, and only Andi could tell how much willpower it took for him not to kill them. Sasha fell to her knees and Timothy to his scaled belly, and the council members moved off the stage to surround them. Andi grabbed Ben's shoulders and pulled him back to give them room to apprehend the two former council members, though, technically, she didn't know if that was official yet.

"Fools," Sasha hissed. "You should have let him kill us."

She raised her hand, and everyone except Andi and Ben flew back to the edges of the room. Ben did something – she couldn't tell what – to keep everyone safe. They all popped to their feet, and the dragons transformed, but before anyone could charge, Sasha erected a wall of force, capturing Andi and Ben in there with her and Timothy. With the anger bleeding off Ben in the visible form of the gray aura, though, maybe Sasha hadn't thought that through well enough; maybe she and Timothy were, in reality, trapped in there with Andi and Ben.

Sasha drew two long daggers, practically short swords, out of hidden scabbards on her back, while Ben hefted his sword and shield. They looked at each other for a few seconds, sizing the other up, and then Ben began the battle by firing a dark bolt of energy at Sasha, which she knocked aside with one of her blades. The brawl erupted.

Sasha shot a missile of energy at Ben, who knocked it away with his shield, while Timothy launched himself at Andi. He was bigger, about the size of Dad, but that didn't intimidate her. She sidestepped his rush and attempted to chomp down on his neck, but he anticipated it and kicked her away. She skidded off the ground, used the magical barrier as leverage, and fired herself back at him.

"Let me know if you need help," Ben said. She could still feel the anger and sorrow seething in him, but she was proud at how well he handled it.

"Same goes for you," she said.

"Don't worry about me." There was the anger. "She's lucky the council wants them alive, or this chick would already be toast."

She didn't know whether to laugh at that or roll her eyes. "Don't get cocky." Yeah, wrong movie franchise, but it worked well enough, as he managed to muster up a snort.

Her attention then went back to Timothy, and she expelled a stream of acid. Timothy had the same thought, and their blasts met in the middle, spraying everywhere. A few drops landed on her, but Ben's built-in Dragon Guard healing factor patched her up before she had much of a chance to even wince at the pain. Timothy fluttered away for a moment, as Sasha's healing powers weren't as strong as Ben's. Ben and Sasha threw up hasty shield spells to keep the drops that rained down from burning them. While this all happened, Andi took a quick peek out to see Felix and the council trying to get through the invisible barrier with no luck.

Once Timothy recovered from his burns, he charged her at a controlled and calculating pace. At the same time, Ben and Sasha's fight moved from a magical duel to one of arms. She wanted to watch, to see how skilled Sasha was with those long daggers, so reminiscent of Mom's weapons of choice, but Timothy required her full attention. He faked plowing into her, but drew up short and raked his claws down her chest when she anchored herself. She let out a howl of pain – and, to be honest, anger at being tricked so easily – and flung her own set of claws at him. He dodged, circled around her, and clamped down on the back of her neck. Before she could register what had happened, a bolt of dark energy singed Timothy, causing him to let go. She backed up and let her wounds heal.

"Careful," Ben said, "but don't worry. This won't take much longer. I'll knock her out, and then it'll be two against one."

She chanced a glance down and watched Ben, hopped up on anger, power through Sasha's attacks, which, though expertly executed, looked clumsy next to his. He smashed into her with his shield, but she conjured up some sort of force field to save herself the full impact. As it was, she tumbled unceremoniously back. Ben methodically pursued.

Andi turned her attention back to Timothy. Her acid sack was almost full, which meant his was, too. Maybe she could keep her distance, let him fire his off, and then close in and spit hers at close range. It was an ideal plan as she knew she could dodge at this distance, but what if he had the same idea? Before she had to worry about it, Sasha screamed. Ben had run his sword through her shoulder. Timothy stopped, but didn't make a move to help his mate.

"It's over, Sasha," Ben said. "One quick jerk to the left, despite my promise to keep you alive, and this goes through your heart. Tell Timothy to land and transform back to human."

She smiled at him, one, for a change, not of pure malice. "I knew you'd best me in the end, but, I have to admit, I didn't think it would be this easy. Your young mate, however, never would have come out on top against Timothy." Now the smile did turn into her trademark sneer. "Case in point…"

Timothy lunged at Andi, and she moved to protect her throat. That wasn't his aim, however. He snatched the ring finger of her left claw in his mouth and ripped, tearing the entire digit from her hand. She screamed out in both pain and shock, which diverted Ben's concentration to her. Before he could do anything, Sasha used a spell to draw his engagement ring off his finger and into her open palm. Ben turned back to her and moved to shove the sword into her heart, but before he could, both she and Timothy disappeared.

Andi zipped down to him and transformed. The blood flow on her hand had already stopped, and the pain dissipated. She watched as new skin began to grow over the scab. As Sasha had stolen Ben's ring, so did Timothy take hers when he bit off her finger. At the moment, though, the rings were such a tiny worry. They collapsed into each other's arms, overwhelmed by tears.