The Last Stand of Daronwy (15 page)

Daniel refused to help pick up cans after that. He was always busy, or his mom wanted him to clean his room. Mira had left town with Kelly to visit their other dad. It was up to Jeremy, and Jeremy alone. He took his two trash bags, shouldered the spear, and set off to battle the heat and the rubbish.

Part 3: summer

Chapter Sixteen

It took another week of sweating up and down the highway and saving every soda can his family drank for Jeremy to fill the bag. When it was full, Jeremy's mom put it in the back of the truck and they drove to the recycling center in Orange. It was little more than a potholed dirt lot surrounded by rusting tractor trailers and tall weeds. A metal awning stood over part of the lot with a small shack tucked underneath.

A hunched man stepped out of the shack as they climbed out of the truck. He took his baseball cap off, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and squinted at them. “Come on in under here.” He waved them under the awning. Jeremy's mom pushed him forward with his bag of cans. “What do you have there, little man?”

“Cans.”

“Well, let's see how much they weigh.”

The man took the black bag, hung it from a hook suspended from the ceiling, and read the number off the dial.

“About five-and-a-half pounds; we'll call it that anyway, won't we? At fifty-five cents a pound that comes to… three dollars and a quarter.” He nodded to himself. “Yep. Three twenty-five. I'll get yer money. Thanks for the cans.” The man took down the bag and switched on a roaring machine. He dumped the contents of the bag into the machine and it crushed the cans, spitting them into the back of one of the rusted trailers, adding to an already massive pile inside it.

Clutching his three crumpled dollars and dingy quarter, Jeremy returned to the truck. Three dollars and twenty-five cents. A dollar sixty-two if you divided it in half; virtually nothing. He had thought that if Daniel got five dollars from picking up the cans then he might be interested in joining the Pollution Club again. Jeremy mused that he might have two dollars saved from doing chores. He could give Daniel five and keep the quarter. Maybe that would work. Then they could split the money next time.

“Jeremy?”

He blinked. “Yes, ma'am?”

“What are you going to do with your money?”

He thought about telling her that he was going to give it to Daniel, but then thought better of it in case she disapproved. “I don't know.”

“Well, think about it. I'm proud that you've been picking up these cans, so you deserve to do something good with that money.”

“Can I go play at Daniel's when we get home?”

“No, we're going to Mommit's for supper.”

Jeremy turned his attention to the open pastures and dense forests along the highway, and the trash that lay in the ditches on either side of it. He would never be able to pick up the trash here—it was too far from home. But if he didn't, who would? And what about the highways on the way to Grandma's? Highways 87 and 73 were covered in trash too. Who would pick that up? Maybe Paul was right; picking up trash on one highway wouldn't make any difference.

Jeremy stood amid the tackle boxes, a basket of laundry, and a clutch of fishing poles in the McClain garage as he raised his fist to knock on the door. Should he give Daniel all the money? He hadn't helped earn it. But, if he didn't, then Daniel would never join the Pollution Club again. Mom and Dad would be angry, but only if they found out. Mrs. McClain saw him through the glass and opened the door.

“Hello, Jeremy. Come on in.”

“Hi, Mrs. McClain.”

“It's hot isn't it? Do you need anything to drink? Daniel's in his room.”

“No, ma'am.”

Jeremy went to the door and before he knocked, Daniel flung it open. Jeremy walked into the small room. Most of the room was taken up by a heavy wooden entertainment center that Mr. McClain had built to house Daniel's VCR, TV, and movies. Lions and tigers peaked out from pictures and in small figurines on high shelves.

“Hey, I have the money from the recycling.”

“Rad! How much did we get?”

“Five dollars.” He pulled five crumpled one-dollar bills out of his pocket and handed them to Daniel.

“Wow, thanks!”

Jeremy watched as Daniel snatched the money from his hand and stuffed it into a bank in the shape of Optimus Prime's head.

“Do you want to play that we're going to find the Dragon King's Stone? It is the last one that we know of, and if we can find it, it will give us an edge over Kronshar.”

Jeremy shrugged, still staring at the bank, wondering if he had done the right thing.

Daniel continued. “The legends say that the Dragon King ate an Edenkiri, so Niritan might know where the Stone is.”

Jeremy took a deep breath. He let his vision blur, making the clutter of Daniel's room fall away and reassemble itself as the northern crags and towering spires of snow capped mountains. They sat on two dragons, bundled against the cold, wind whistling in their ears with each beat of the leathery wings. “Let's say that we're flying dragons into the northern crags. You and I are on one, Rathian and Niritan are on the other. We've been traveling for days to find the home of the Dragon Lord.”

Daniel nodded. “Are you sure it's up here, Niritan?”

Jeremy used a deeper voice for Niritan. “Reginurl took the Red Stone into these mountains. Dragons roamed these parts.”

“Our grandfather was a ranger on these lands, no one has seen a dragon here since his time,” said Eaglewing.

“If a Dragon Lord were here, he would never be seen. They can sleep for centuries,” said Rathian, scanning the horizon.

Eaglewing looked out over the unvarying sameness of the peaks and valleys that rolled beneath them as though they continued to the end of the world.

Daniel and Jeremy tied pillowcases around their necks for cloaks and ran through the house with arms outstretched, flying on their dragons. Jeremy brandished a wooden sword. They swooped outside, running toward the canal's embankment that began at the edge of Daniel's backyard.

The gray scales of his dragon shuddered as though a chill had taken it. Eaglewing squinted into the distance.

“What is that?”

“DIVE!” shouted Rathian. They plummeted toward the tree-lined valley below, leveling out just above the pines. A beam of red light cut through the valley, transforming entire trees into firebrands, popping and exploding with sparks. The dragons howled, banking left and right. Lightningbolt pulled his staff from its holster, his other hand gripping the straps that bound him to the saddle.

Something stood on a summit above the valley. In the Shadow World, it looked like a piece of the sky had been punched out, leaving a darkness blacker than night in its place. Rathian and Eaglewing spurred the dragons. Niritan shouted to Lightningbolt, “It's a demon! Ice and shadow spells!”

Lightningbolt threw a shadow spinner, an unstable spell uniquely suited to destroying Shadow beings. Niritan threw his black spells, but the demon deflected them. Another laser beam of red light cut through the valley.

“Hold on!” Eaglewing rolled the dragon through the air, then dove toward the base of the peak, gaining speed.

Niritan and Rathian were lost in the valley's raging inferno and smoke. “Where is Rathian?”

“I don't know. Get us to that summit!”

Eaglewing pulled the dragon into a vertical climb. The boulder-strewn slopes of the mountain sped past, close enough for them to see patches of snow tucked into its crevices. They broke free from the cloud of rising smoke and saw the demon on a plateau near the summit. It held the Red Stone above its horned head with thick black arms. It followed Niritan and Rathian, turning its back to Eaglewing and Lightningbolt.

Jump on three,
Eaglewing told his brother.

Eaglewing sped the dragon toward the demon, banking at the last moment. Lightningbolt launched into the air, sending four shadow spinners before him. Bone-crushing explosions dropped Eaglewing's dragon from the sky. The dragon screeched as it bounced against the cliff face, falling into the smoky updrafts from the burning valley. Eaglewing wrestled the reins, managing to soar on the hot, choking updrafts. Once above the summit, he dove for the cloud of dust where the demon had been, and pulled the fire rein. On Eaglewing's cue, the dragon coated everything before them in a raging inferno. As they passed over the demon, the warrior untied himself from the saddle and leapt, sword pointed down and gripped in both hands.

“Let's play that you nearly landed on Rathian.”

Jeremy swung his wooden sword at the thick wisteria vines. “Okay, but then I swung and almost took off the demon's foot.”

“Niritan and I are firing tons of magic at it,” said Daniel, pointing his staff at the vines and making noises for his magic. “But it's countering everything we're doing.”

“Clouds of ash and flame and rock dust are everywhere. And out of nowhere, one of the dragons swoops up behind the demon and bites its leg.”

The demon's shield faltered. Eaglewing's sword rammed to the hilt through the demon's arm. A shadow spinner flashed past. Rathian tackled Eaglewing as the spell ripped through the rock, the dragon, and the demon. The Red Stone fell to the mountain, cracking the granite where it landed.

“Is everyone all right?” Lightningbolt shouted over the ringing in their ears and the roar of the fire below.

Rathian and Eaglewing stood, coughing. “We're fine.”

Niritan limped to their side, leaning on a rock.

They stared at the Red Stone.

“Is that it?”

Niritan nodded, too tired to speak. He limped forward, reaching for the Stone.

“Where did that demon come—”

An orange and black scaled claw the size of a horse slammed down over the Red Stone. Their eyes followed the powerful leg to the rest of the beast emerging from the smoky haze. The Dragon Lord's wings were the size of towers, its head as large as the dragons they had just ridden. It curled its neck to peer at them and roared through teeth as tall as castle gates. Loose rocks rattled atop the mountain.

No one moved.

Niritan raised his arms. “Ancient One, I am the last Edenkiri master. I have come to reclaim the Stone.”

The dragon's eyes narrowed. A glittering halo surrounded them as the dragon lowered its head toward Niritan, meeting his eyes with an ancient depth.

“Where?” Niritan said to the dragon.

It snarled and tossed its head.

“Then we must have it now. Hurry.”

The dragon flexed its claw, snarling.

“What is it?” said Lightningbolt.

“Kronshar. He's here.”

Rathian spun, axe ready. “Where?”

“Kronshar used the demon to steal the Stone, but the demon locked him and the Dragon Lord in the Shadow World. The dragon says Kronshar is coming.”

“Why won't he let us have the Stone? We need to go!”

Niritan grimaced, locked in a mental argument with the dragon. Niritan limped forward, laid a hand against the paw, and reached beneath it. Rathian's grip tightened on the axes. Eaglewing shifted to a guard stance. Blue light exploded against the beast, knocking it backward off the summit. The claw hit Niritan, throwing him backwards. Lightningbolt caught him. The Red Stone remained on the ground, untouched.

“Shields,” Niritan coughed.

A hundred beams thundered down against their shields, chiseling apart the summit. Smoke and dust clouded the mountain. The beams came from everywhere and nowhere. Somewhere to their back, the Dragon Lord roared again, shaking the mountain. As the rain of spells ended, Rathian dove for the Red Stone. Kronshar's Stones peppered them with magic. Rathian rolled to his feet, emerging from the flying debris with the Red Stone.

Braided torrents of flame shot skyward from the Stone in Rathian's hands. Kronshar's attack ceased. The adepts ran through the smoke toward him, but the Dragon Lord's massive foot slammed into the mountain, cutting them off from Rathian. As orange flames covered the sky, blue serpent-like streaks of energy converged where Rathian had been. White light shattered the rock, and a thunderous explosion scattered the adepts over the summit.

“Wait!”

They vaulted off the canal and landed face down on the embankment. Jeremy looked up the hill at Daniel. “What?”

“You mean that Kronshar gets the Red Stone?”

“Yeah. When the dragon came down, it crushed Rathian's leg, and he dropped the Stone. Kronshar used his Stone to eliminate the fire and converge against the Dragon Lord, but when the beams didn't hit any resistance he knew the Red Stone was released. After the explosion, he swept in, grabbed the Stone, and disappeared ‘cause he thought we were all dead.”

“What about Rathian?”

“He's actually dead.”

“No, he can't—” Daniel gestured in the air.

Jeremy crossed his arms. If Daniel got the money, then they were going to play this out his way. “There is no way he could withstand the dragon landing on him and then be at the center of that explosion. We would be really wounded even if we had shields.”

“Let's say we did.”

“Then we're still going to be burned and scattered around the top of the mountain.”