Dragon Dreams: Book 2: Prophecy of the Dragons (10 page)

He sighed and muttered something she couldn't quite hear. Then, louder, he said, "We should find the key."

They found it on the third guard they searched, which had been the first Lee had killed by ripping its throat out. He pulled out the decoy pouch, made the switch, and spoke the incantation. Before she could tell him it was now okay to admire the gem-encrusted gate, they popped back into Rico's realm.

"Excellent," the demon said as he took the pouch and key. "I knew you two wouldn't have a problem. If this proves to be the real deal, we'll have the Demon of Dreams back in his own realm sooner rather than later."

Ben stood at the edge of a steep canyon, the floor thousands of feet below. A bridge spanned the gap in front of him, and on the other side, maybe a hundred yards away, was Andi. He waved, and she waved back. He didn't question why she was over there, but knew he needed to get to her. He turned his attention to the bridge, which was a wooden plank with no handholds. Hadn't it been a rickety rope bridge not seconds before? He shook his head and looked back to Andi, who again waved. He put his foot on the first plank and now found it to be a full-scale version of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Andi did the same on her side, and they moved to meet in the middle. Now the bridge was back to the plank bottom with no handrail. It was about six feet wide, but since there was nothing on either side but a sheer drop, it felt a mere few inches across. Why didn't Andi fly over and save him the nervous walk? He shook his head and refocused on getting to her.

He tried calling out, but no sound came. She opened her own mouth, and didn't make any noise, either. Headache be damned, he attempted a mind-to-mind communication, but met with similar success. This wasn't good. What was going on?

They both made it out a quarter of the way. It had transformed back into the rope bridge, making the going slow. Though they waved at each other a number of times, they still couldn't converse. A strong sense of anxiety flew off of her, but since they couldn't talk, he might have imagined it.

Time and space progressed at a normal pace until they were a few steps from each other, and then it slowed to a standstill. His mind continued at a rapid pace, but though they were almost close enough to grip the other's hands, they still couldn't talk. Even opening his mouth proved impossible. The struggles on her face showed that she was going through the same thing.

Without warning, time snapped back into place. A number of different things happened at once. First, the bridge changed from rope back to the life-sized replica of the Golden Gate Bridge, except it was made of wood instead of metal. It still wore the iconic red paint, but the wires stringing it up were natural fiber instead of high-tension steel cables. Second, he and Andi shot past each other and couldn't grip the other's outstretched hand. Third, hundreds of phantom figures, the dangerous Shadow Warriors, descended on the bridge, both surrounding and cutting them off.

Ben attempted to generate a sword and shield out of nothing like he'd done in Rico's realm, but no such luck. He concentrated on blowing a hole through the line of Shadow Warriors blocking him from Andi, but met with similar results. With so many around, he needed to keep an eye on each of them so he could be ready to jump out of the way. He'd have to hope he could subconsciously control his powers like he normally did because he had nothing else that he could think of off-hand. Plus, now in addition to not being able to hear or sense Andi, he couldn't see her, which ruined his concentration to no end.

One of the warriors leaped at him, and his lone defense was willing it from hurting him. He remembered that's how it worked with the Shadow Spies, so if it was different with the warriors, he was in trouble. It slammed into him, and burrowed its way through his skin, muscles, and bones. He became heavy, weak, but still fought back with everything he had. After a second or two, his mood lifted, making him lighter, more in control of himself, and the presence of the Shadow Warrior dissipated. He took a deep breath and readied for another attack, not sure if he'd be able to fight off more than one at a time.

Before another jumped at him, the wall of Shadow Warriors shifted to allow a view of Andi. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. This was his chance. If he could get to her, he could use her energy to disperse the shadows. She'd know to concentrate since they'd done it before.

He started towards her, but before he moved even two steps, the Shadow Warriors closest took out his legs, knocking him to the floor of the bridge, still the wooden Golden Gate. Before he could climb to his feet, a dozen piled on top of him and pinned him down. They didn't bleed through like before, but were as solid as anyone else. And strong. He couldn't push his way up. The bridge reverted to the simple plank with no guardrails.

They'd done the same to Andi, but in addition to holding her down, another large group pushed into her flesh. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, and Ben knew she couldn't fight off that many. He shouted at her to stay strong, but no sounds emerged. He pushed against those holding him, but they might as well have been stone statues for as far as he got. He willed magic to strike them all down, but not even a spark escaped, and he watched as Andi's life force drained. He awaited his own death, but as she passed from this world to the next, he didn't join her. Knowing she was gone and he hadn't followed was the worst part of it all.

He wanted to curl up in a ball and die. He wanted to tear each Shadow Warrior limb from limb. He wanted the world to burn. But he couldn't even cry out to ease his pain. He struggled against the Shadow Warriors holding him down, but still couldn't move. The air grew thicker, darker, as they massed around him. They moved closer to make their final assault, and then jumped as one.

Ben let out a gasp and sat up in bed. Andi stirred next to him, and then snapped awake.

"Ben, honey, are you okay?" She was alive. Alive. He buried his face into her shoulder and tried to breathe. She didn't ask him any more questions, just lay there, stroking his hair while he pulled himself together. After a few minutes, he got himself under control, but instead of talking, he reached his head up and hungrily kissed her lips. She returned it with gusto, and soon they were intertwined and not thinking that a nightmare had startled him awake in the early morning hours.

After a few more minutes, Ben found his voice as Andi gently ran her tongue up his neck and nibbled his earlobe. "Were you dreaming when I woke you?"

"No. Or if I was, I don't remember. Yours was a doozy?"

"You could say that," he said as he hugged her tight. He went light-headed for a second as he felt her love for him explode out of her. He basked in that before giving her a detailed report.

When he finished, she kissed his cheek. "As flattered as I am that you wanted to die with me, I'd hope that if it ever happened like that, you'd avenge me before wallowing in sorrow."

"This is serious."

"No, it's not. It's just a dream. I hope I don't sound too narcissistic when I say I guess your worst nightmare is losing me. Because mine is losing you."

"No, it's not narcissistic."

She was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "I think it's a good thing we're going to rescue the Demon of Dreams. I have no idea how he creates and fits into them all, but I've had some strange ones recently. I can count the number of real bad ones I've ever had on one hand in my entire life before this past month. I've had half-a-dozen this week alone."

"Me, too. But none this bad. Do you think other people have been having them?"

"We can ask our parents tomorrow. They've had some, but I don't know how many."

"Call Melissa, too. See if non-magical people have been affected."

Andi giggled. "She'll spill all her dreams. She'll think she's helping us against zombies."

"Actually, I don't think I want to know the contents of her dreams," Ben said. "Her nightmares are probably missing sales at the mall."

"Be nice." She smacked his shoulder, though her huge smile betrayed her. She kissed him one more time before they snuggled down together. Though he didn't think sleep would come again that night, he was out almost instantly. No more dreams plagued his slumber.

*****

They'd just started breakfast — a bowl of Chocolate-Covered Crispy Flakes (his and Andi's favorite) and a store-bought blueberry muffin — when Andi brought up the dreams to her parents. She didn't go into much detail about Ben's dream last night or any of her own, but her parents both nodded as if they knew what she was talking about. Before either of them could respond, the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" Cassie said, getting up from breakfast. "Heidi knows to come in." The moms had plans to hit an upscale spa in Huntington Beach to spend the gift certificates that came under the Christmas tree from Dad and Lee.

A few seconds after she left to check the door, Lee rose and headed out with Cassie. Ben and Andi exchanged looks, and then followed him out. Who could be at the door to cause such a reaction?

When they reached the entry hall, they found Cassie and Lee talking to a man in his early to mid-40's. The aura of magic around him proved he was a dragon. He had no clue if it was his Dragon Guard powers that showed him this or his other magic abilities. The man stood no taller than Cassie and Andi, and didn't look like he could lift the backpack Ben usually carried to school. Despite that, he held his head high, and an air of importance cascaded from him. He had a look of contempt directed at Lee and Cassie and pushed passed them into the house without being invited.

"Come on in and make yourself at home, Fillmore," Cassie said, an edge of distaste tinged in her voice, something Ben rarely heard from her. A low, rumbling growl gurgled up from Lee's chest, causing the dragon, this Fillmore, to give him a wide berth.

"There you are," Fillmore said when he laid eyes on Ben and Andi. Ben disliked him immediately, not caring one bit for the scrawny dragon's beady eyes greedily taking them in.

"Can we help you?" Ben asked, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. For once, Andi didn't try to correct him; full-blown hate seeped out of her. Had she met this Fillmore character before, or was her reaction because of her parents' dislike of him? Ben figured that was a big part of his own negative reaction.

"I'm here on official council business," Fillmore said. "Because you two are so powerful at such a young age, and with the prophecy looming so large, the Council has decided to put you under constant surveillance."

"Are you sure it's official Dragon Council business?" Lee said. "From what I know about the Council, they're able to keep an eye on things without having to rely on someone so…clumsy."

Fillmore bristled at this, and Ben expected Cassie to reprimand Lee, but she stood there staring at the scrawny dragon with a look like she bit into a bitter piece of fruit. "Of course it's official business. Do you think I go around to the houses of dragons with fake news just for the fun of it?"

"We wouldn't put it past you," Cassie said, and Lee grunted in agreement.

Fillmore ignored that and turned his attention to Andi. With as hard as he was staring at her, Ben wanted to rip his eyes out of his skull so he could shove them in backwards. Instead, he concentrated on clenching and unclenching his fists in order to keep from lashing out at the scrawny dragon.

"Hard to believe you two are the cause of all this trouble. Neither of you look imposing nor intelligent enough to be the biggest threat anyone has ever seen against our kind."

Ben did his best to stare him down, to show him he was indeed imposing, but Fillmore had eyes only for Andi.

"Maybe not physically intimidating," Fillmore continued, "but you have blossomed into a lovely young woman. If you'd ever like to see what a real dragon is like, ditch the zero for a few hours of a real good time."

What in the…?
Ben knew he should have laughed at that, but the pulse of revulsion coming from Andi pushed him over the edge. Without thinking, he had a sword and shield made of pure energy in his hands and ready to strike. Fillmore's eyes went wide, and he attempted to retreat, but ran smack-dab into Lee, who didn't give any ground. Ben brought his sword down hard at Fillmore's neck, but pulled back less than an inch before the sharp blade bit into his neck. He let out a squeak and scooted around Lee, skated away from Cassie, and zipped out the front door.

"You've made a terrible mistake, young one," Fillmore sputtered. "Physical threats against a council member are never tolerated."

"We'll keep that in mind the next time we see one," Cassie said as she flung the door closed in his face. She made a show of dusting off her hands, and then said, "Let's get back in there and finish breakfast."

Ben's weapons dissipated into nothing, and he slumped his shoulders. "Sorry. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that. I can't believe how hard it was to not follow through and lop his head off his shoulders."

Andi hugged him. "I kind of wish you hadn't stopped." She shuddered. "Eww. I can't believe he said those things about me. I feel like I need to go up and take a shower."

"It's good you did what you did," Lee said. "I was about to pummel him back to the Stone Age. At least you didn't hurt him."

"I wonder if he peed his pants," Cassie said, and they all started laughing. As they wandered back to the kitchen, Cassie regaled Andi and Ben with the tale of the time Lee did punch Fillmore in the face.

"He made the same advance on Cassandra as he did on Alexandria," Lee told Ben. "Besides, if I'd have hit any other dragon the same way, they'd have been bruised, but come right back at me. That slimy little worm had to be taken to a village healer."

Cassie was laughing so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes. "And the only reprimand he ever got was to pull his punch a little next time if he wasn't going for the kill."

That set them all off laughing again, and Ben almost fell out of his chair. The fact that other dragons hated this Fillmore guy made him believe his act wasn't a result of him turning evil. Besides, if that were the case, wouldn't he have sliced his head right off and felt no remorse?