The Emerald Dragon (The Lost Ancients Book 3) (7 page)

Chapter Ten

Alric froze, and let his hands drift down by his sides, but still kept the bag he carried pinned behind him. I’d not seen his sword, but he most likely had a few other weapons on him. He didn’t favor billowy black shirts just for a fashion statement.

“You don’t want to be doing this.” His voice was low and dangerous, one I hadn’t heard for a while.

If our robbers were impressed, they weren’t showing it. I’d never seen either one before, as far as I could tell. They both had ridiculous cloths tied around the lower part of their faces. Of course, that made their eyes more memorable. Neither had particularly bright-looking orbs.

“Listen, old man. We’ll be the ones saying what we’ll be doing. Now hand over that bag and any valuables you have, and we’ll let you go without hurting ya none.” The lead goon was a bit taller than I was, but not as tall as Alric. He was quite a bit wider though.

Alric looked to me and sighed. “Do you want to do the honors or me?”

The goons shared a look; this wasn’t how victims were supposed to behave.

I had no idea what Alric’s plan was, but he could easily take these two. Along with my struggling magic, Covey and he were back to trying to teach me to fight. My skill set in either group wasn’t what anyone would call trustworthy.

“Oh, why don’t you? I took the last ones.” It was easy to be cocky when I was standing with a serious fighter at my back.

“I’ll give them one more chance.” Alric looked ready to play along until Garbage flew into view. Even I could see the scowl on her face. Alric could too. “Okay, change in plans—no more chances.” He pushed back his hood and hair on one side to show his elven ear, then flipped back his cloak to show a familiar large sword that I knew hadn’t been there moments ago. One of these days, I would find out how he did that.

“Now do you know why you shouldn’t mess with us?” He wasn’t paying attention; his eyes were on Garbage who frantically motioned us toward Covey’s house.

The goon’s eyes didn’t change at Alric’s elven ear, they did get bigger at the sword. But the one in front was smarter than I’d given him credit for and also clearly noticed Alric’s distraction.

“Don’t know why you think them ears will be scaring us, but we will take what you have.” The goon lunged forward to grab Alric’s bag.

I was in between and reacted without thinking and pushed the would-be thief away.

I’d been startled by both Alric’s inattention and the thief’s gall, so my reaction wasn’t controlled. My head filled with fire ants and I dropped to the ground. After I’d sent the thief ass over head into the next block.

The remaining thief shook and ran off. In the opposite direction. They may have been working together, but there was no camaraderie between them. Especially since I’d just displayed an unreasonable amount of magic.

Alric spun around, looking for any other attackers, and it wasn’t lost that his left hand was down near the hilt of his sword. His eyes were better than mine and night was falling quickly, once he was certain no other attackers were around, he helped me to my feet.

“Please tell me this was one of your testing situations, and that I didn’t just save your ass?” I dusted myself off, but it was more to hide my shaking hands than any real fear of dirt.

Alric was still distracted, even though Garbage had flown to Covey’s house. “What? Yeah, sure. And we need to talk. But not here.”

I was getting sick and tired of his ‘not here’ comments. But I followed him down the street in silence.

The fire ants in my head dissipated faster than ever, which was a good thing. I hoped. With my luck it meant something worse was coming down the line.

“Here. Now. Hurry.” Garbage was agitated and she kept flying up to us, then back to Covey’s door. The fact that clearly Bunky and the other girls weren’t with her finally settled in my agitated brain.

“Where are the others?” We walked up to the door and I heard Covey and Harlan arguing, but I didn’t hear or see the faeries.

“Not here.” This time Garbage said it, but the tone was almost exactly like Alric. Great, now I’d be hearing that annoying phrase from two sources.

I knocked on the door, but Covey had left it partially open and it swung further at my knock. Garbage flew in over my head, and Alric, with one final look behind us, followed. He pointedly shut and locked the door behind us.

“Come here. Now.” Garbage was more upset than I’d ever seen her, and she didn’t wait for our response before flying into Covey’s kitchen.

Alric looked almost as upset as she was but his looks kept drifting toward me.

“Thank the gods you’re both here.” Harlan said from an adversarial position at one end of the kitchen table. “Covey has gone completely beyond the bend.”

Covey spun toward us. “I am completely justified. Someone spelled me, and that shall not be—”

Garbage cut her off by flying in front of her and sternly placing her hand over Covey’s mouth. Surprise alone kept Covey from launching her tirade again.

“No, you all listen. This serious.” Once Garbage was certain we’d all been cowed by her fierce glare, she continued. “They have been stolen. You need fix.”

A chill went down my spine and I hoped she was talking about some rocks in her collection. “What has been stolen, sweetie?”

Then Garbage did something I’d never seen—she started crying. “My friends. They stole my friends! Bring them back!”

I almost started crying as well. Someone stole the girls and Bunky? I always counted on them being able to protect themselves, and Bunky as well.

Alric looked almost as upset as I felt. “Come here, sweetling, and tell me what happened.” Now that was a voice I’d never heard from him. Confident and secure, and far older than he looked. This voice could belong to an elven high lord.

Garbage wiped her tears and flew over to land on his outstretched hand. I’d never seen her so distraught.

“We go over boom. Crusty see something. Then Leaf go too. I see something over plains. I come back, they gone.” She sat down on his hand. “No feel them!” She pounded both sides of her head.

Covey and Harlan both moved closer. “You can feel them in your head?” Covey may have been yelling at Harlan moments before but Garbage’s fear and sadness was contagious.

“Not anymore. They gone.” Garbage ignored the sugar Harlan put down in front of her. I’d have to re-think my opinion of the faeries. Garbage always seemed like she tolerated the other two but now it was clear she was having a major breakdown at their loss.

I tried thinking of both Leaf and Crusty specifically. I wasn’t sure how to tell if the image went out since I avoided adding Garbage to the image. I thought harder, adding a feeling of come here now and images of as many treats as I could think of.

A huge wall of black engulfed me, and I found myself lying on the floor of Covey’s kitchen. Surrounded by the others looking concerned, freaked out, and trying to help me back into my chair.

Garbage watched me from the table and shook her head. “You tried calling. Not work.”

“Calling?” Harlan was the one who finally got me into my chair. “Calling who?”

“Today I found out that if I think of them specifically, I can call the girls to me. And yes, Garbage is right, I tried calling Leaf and Crusty and it slammed back and smacked me down.” I shook.

“We need to try to find them. Whoever has them is blocking both of you from feeling them.” Alric had shaken off his worried look. “And no, I don’t think they are dead.”

I wasn’t sure how he knew it, but I didn’t want to ask about it. Right now I needed to believe my little friends were still alive.

“No.” Garbage sat down and shook her head. “They no go.” She pointed to Covey, Harlan, and me. “Me no go.” Her scowl overwhelmed her tears at that point. “Only you.” She pointed to Alric.

“Agreed, it’s too risky for the others to go.” Alric dug through the bag he carried, pulled out a few small items, most likely weapons, then handed it to me. “Guard this.” It felt remarkably smooth for the weight of it. Most likely a magic bag, a larger version of the tiny ones the girls carried. I was sure there’d be no way I’d open it without him.

“They’re my faeries; I should be the one to go.” I sounded tough. But whatever had happened in my head when I flung that thief had now combined with whatever had smacked me down when I tried to reach the girls. I doubted I could even get out of this chair right now.

As usual, Alric knew me too well. “Can you even move?” When I finally shook my head, he gave a quick nod and turned to Harlan and Covey. “She did some unexpected magic earlier and I have a feeling the reaction is now getting to her. You all need to stay here. Sorry, Harlan, maybe Covey can put you up on the sofa. Something odd is happening tonight, and I need you all here. I’ll get the girls back.”

He was at the door before anyone could argue.

“Oh and someone should grab her.” He looked at me, but before I could point out I was fine, a wall of black rose up, and the last thing I heard was Covey yelling my name.

Chapter Eleven

I found myself in a destroyed building. It wasn’t Covey’s house, but filled with broken things from the people I knew and loved, like someone had dug them out of a dig site as mementos. As if someone had been hoarding these items. I wandered through endless tunnels, filled with broken items. A tiny part of my mind told me I wasn’t awake, but had fallen into a nightmare. Even as part of me knew this wasn’t real, another part equally knew it was. That I had lost everyone and everything, and this was my life.

I screamed myself awake.

To find Garbage sitting on my chest peering down at me, her arm back for what was probably another strike at my face. “You go bad place. No go again.” She started the slap, but I blocked her tiny hand.

“Stop it. I’m awake.” It took my brain a few minutes to shake completely free of the images and feelings. Those were worse than the images—the bone-deep feeling that what I’d dreamed was real. If this was a new side effect of my using magic, or in last night’s case, over using magic, I think I wanted to go back to throwing up.

“How did you know where I was?”

Garbage scowled and stomped around on my chest some more. “You tell me in head. Bad place. Not good.”

Light trickled in through a gap in the curtains, but it wasn’t a full bright sunlight. It had felt like I had been asleep for days, but clearly it was earlier than I usually woke up on a weekend.

It took me three tries to fall out of bed, and every part of my body felt like it had been beaten by a gang of thugs with sticks. I looked down where Garbage was now stomping around my pillow. “Did you beat me up?”

“No, I try to wake you up. Face only.”

I lifted my shirt, but where it felt like I should have massive black and purple bruises, my skin was surprisingly unmarked.

“Is Alric back?” It had taken a few minutes to mentally catch up with the final events of last night, but Garbage looked more mad than sad, so I figured that must be a good thing.

The door popped open before Garbage could respond. “Ah, you’re awake?” Harlan peered in further and noticed Garbage. “I told her to leave you alone.”

I shivered as I thought of the scary place I’d found myself in. “Actually, I’m glad she woke me up.” At Harlan’s raised eyebrow, I added, “Nightmares.”

“I see. By the way, your nose is bleeding.”

I put my hand up and sure enough it came back with blood. Harlan gave me a concerned look, but then handed me a handkerchief without question.

Covey was hunched over a mug of coffee in the kitchen, and two more half-empty mugs of tea told me someone else had been with her. Most likely, Alric. Who was gone again.

“You’re bleeding.” Covey was far more of a morning person than I was, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her right now. Her eyes were haggard and half-open and she clutched her cup of coffee as if it was a lifeline.

I held the cloth back up to my nose and took a seat. “Where’s Alric?” Might as well cut to the chase.

“He’s gone back out. He found where the girls were grabbed, but hasn’t found them. She seems better though.” She nodded to Garbage who had followed us out of the bedroom and was sticking her head in Alric’s abandoned teacup. I’d never seen any of them drink anything with caffeine, and wasn’t sure it was a good idea to start. However, it was good not to see her as heartbroken as she had been.

“Garbage? Sweetie? How are you doing?” I removed the cloth from my nose; whatever caused the bleeding seemed to have finally stopped. Probably one of Garbage’s slaps hit with a bit too much force. The faeries were far stronger than they looked.

Garbage looked up at me, happily licking dribbles of tea off her lips. “Is better. They okay. Tell me.”

Harlan and Covey looked surprised at that so I gathered she hadn’t made this known earlier.

“How did they tell you? Can you find out where they are?” I felt better that she wasn’t so upset, but I still was worried they could be in danger. The faeries were
almost
indestructible and sometimes they forgot they weren’t.

“In head. High thing rustled the peoples. They dropped things. I hear them.” Her scowl came back. “They still be hidden.” She seemed satisfied and dipped herself back into the teacup.

I looked to the other two, but they both looked as lost as me. High thing was most likely Alric; the girls had an ongoing refusal to call people by their names. “What did Alric do last night? And where is he now?”

Harlan got up and poured me some tea. “He came back briefly about an hour ago. He said that more was going on at the cliffs than we thought, grabbed the bag he had left, and took off again.”

“Damn it. I should have known. Whatever he took from Qianru was most likely in that bag. Plus whatever scrolls he borrowed from you.” Last night I figured I couldn’t get into the bag; this morning I was more optimistic. I wanted a crack at it. Whatever he stole he needed to return to Qianru, but not before I saw what it was and why he took it. I wouldn’t have stolen anything from her, but since the deed was already done, might as well get some answers.

Covey finished off her coffee, then poured herself another before speaking. “I can’t say what he took from your patroness, he had a lot of things in there. It’s magically enhanced, by the way.” She waved her hand at me and I noticed two of her fingers had bandages. Obviously not only was it enhanced, that bag was armed.

She reached under the table and pulled out a scroll. “But it wasn’t fast enough to stop me. I spent a few hours making a dummy that should fool him for a bit.” She looked down at the original scroll with a smile.

Good to know we were back to her not trusting Alric.

I wandered over to the larder and pulled out some nuts and seeds. I’d found in my time at Covey’s place they were the safest breakfast option. “So do we know why he was looking at that one? Oh, did he tell you some jerks tried to rob us last night? Just a few houses down the street from here.”

“Alric mentioned it. He said it had to do with your collapse?” Harlan’s words indicated he knew what caused the collapse, but as usual he hoped for more details from me.

“Guess so, he’d be the one who knew.”

Covey finished her coffee, and then nodded. “I’ve heard talk around the university about more robberies. Word of the recent high-end magical artifacts have reached the criminal element.”

That made me feel a bit better. Run-of-the-mill thieves were one thing; magical beasties after us was something I wanted to be done with. “That explains a bit. They didn’t recognize Alric, even when he showed his ears.” Another thought struck me. “Did either of you see his sword on him? Either when we came in or when he came back?”

They both shook their heads.

“I haven’t seen that blade in months. I was afraid to ask since I thought maybe it was taken when he lost his magic.” Harlan shook his head in regret at not asking. He always regretted not asking things, which was why it rarely happened.

I simply nodded, but didn’t elaborate. There was something about our fair-haired elven lad and his sword. Something he wasn’t telling us.

We had enough other problems going around. We didn’t need one about a disappearing and reappearing sword. I shook my head, sipped some more tea, and tried to focus.

“Did you guys find out anything from the sceanra anam’s body?” I tried to sound innocent, but I had wanted the girls to bug Harlan as well. However, we did need to know why they were back.

Harlan scowled; he knew what I’d done with sending the girls to him and Alric. “Not really. There weren’t enough parts. We left it in her office.”

That perked Covey right up. Unfortunately, she perked right up into Harlan’s face. Unfortunate for him anyway. I was safely on the other side of the table.

“You left a sceanra anam in my office? Are you daft?” She darted to the hook where she kept her coat.

Harlan cleaned up his tea where he’d spilled it when she jumped at him. “It was a few piles of what looks like ash. And, I assure you, it was locked up in one of your specimen jars.” He switched his glare to me, as Covey replaced her coat on the hook and resumed her seat. “What we did get was a long, detailed, and useless explanation of where out-out-out was.”

I hid my smirk behind my tea and briefly told Covey about the sceanra anam and the girls’ dispatching of it. She was more annoyed about Harlan and Alric leaving the thing in her office than she was about the fact there had been a live one flying around the city after months of no sign.

“So where was out-out-out?”

Still scowling, Harlan mollified himself with a piece of bread and jam. He took his time responding. “Near as Alric gathered, over the plains somewhere. There’s no life down there, but maybe in the air above it?”

No one knew what caused Forgotten Plains, or why there was no life to be found anywhere within them. And only idiots tried to cross them.

Idiots and flying nightmares.

Ones that I couldn’t deal with right now, but we’d have to look into once we got the faeries back.

Yesterday had been a long, weird, not-good day and it was taking a while for my brain to sort things. “Do we think everything is connected?”

Both of them looked up at that.

“How can we not? I’m afraid the glass gargoyle started a chain of actions that we’re only seeing a small part of so far.” Covey unrolled the scroll she’d recovered from Alric. “I know Alric is an asset, and in some regards a friend.” The look she shot me told me she knew more than that. “But we can’t completely trust him. He’s still focused on the good of his people at any cost. If what we want dovetails with that, great. If not?”

I nodded. There had been a time recently where I thought that was changing, but yesterday slammed that back into my face.

Harlan hovered over the scroll. At first his expression had been curious, then pensive, then annoyed. “This is covering the Spheres. Where did you get it?” The tone of his voice made me realize his annoyance was at Covey, not Alric.

I glanced down, but I still couldn’t read much elven. I seemed to be better with Ancient, but still not as good as Alric. The Spheres were some gigantic ruins to the far south, a trip that required a long detour to go around the Forbidden Plains. Six huge spheres in a circle, each one easily a hundred-feet tall, made of six-foot-high rounded blocks. No exact age given to them as far as I knew—but they were rumored to be thousands of years old.

Before Covey could answer, the slightly rocking teacup on the table exploded.

Garbage Blossom had flown out of it with such force, that the entire cup split into a dozen pieces on its way up in the air, then rained down like some twisted porcelain storm on the table.

Garbage was nowhere to be seen.

Then an orange streak flew back into the kitchen, never mind that none of us had seen her go out. She slowed down long enough to drop an enormous amount of berries on the table, chitter something so fast that all I heard was a whine, and then shot back outside again.

Leaving the three of us to look at the berries, the shattered teacup, and the new hole in Covey’s window in shock.

Harlan recovered first. “She said, ‘Here’s breakfast. Let me get meat for the cat.’” The wrinkle of his nose told me his opinion of being called a cat.

“What did she do?” Covey didn’t seem upset about the teacup at all—knowing her, she wasn’t letting any of us use her good stuff—but the hole in the kitchen window was impressive. Covey’s window had a perfect faery-sized circle in it. No shattering, breaking, or cracks. Just a circle. One that would have fit Garbage well enough but not the pound or so of wild berries she brought in with her.

Before I could move, the orange blur raced back in with a live crow and flung it at the table.

Covey yelled. Harlan stumbled back out of his chair as the stunned, and very much alive, bird fluttered about trying to figure out what happened. Garbage vanished again.

I ran to the front room and opened the door. Hopefully the poor bird could figure out which way to go.

Actually, the way it was trying to stay clear of both Covey and Harlan, who clearly looked far too predatory for its liking, I think it was willing to try and get out.

With a flutter of black feathers and a loud, indignant caw, the crow fled past me.

I shut the door and ran back to the kitchen. Either Garbage had been spelled, or it was the tea. I’d never seen her like this, but to be honest, I was more shocked at her trying to feed us and be helpful than her speed.

Garbage never helped anyone.

“Harlan, do you have any more chocolate?” A new substance to Beccia, the girls and I both loved it. I’ve found it helped to get them to sleep when they were too wired. Maybe it could get Garbage off her caffeine high before she destroyed Covey’s house.

Harlan nodded and went down the hall where his coat was.

“Do you know what she said this time?” I yelled down at him. I’d heard her buzz again, but again it was too fast and too high for my hearing.

Covey locked up all of her breakables by the time Harlan came back to the kitchen. She’d also tried to block the hole in her window with a pot. “Aye, she said ‘this time would be a prize’. I’m assuming she meant surprise, but she spoke very fast.” He broke off a large piece of chocolate and carefully sat it in the middle of the table. That much could knock out a dozen faeries. Which, considering what Garbage was doing now was probably the right amount.