Worshiped By The Bear Kings - Complete (24 page)

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Dreaming dreams. Thinking thoughts.

As Jasmine
lay awake underneath the covers in the house of the monster, all she could live
and breathe were nightmares. Images of her baby flashed before her eyes. Her
brief glimpse of him had become morphed with horrific depictions. She saw
Quraal, not her baby but Quraal the dragon who raped her, standing over the
bed. Laughing from whatever hell he was surely burning in.

Was this to
be the end of her story? Was there no chance for escape now?

He had left
Brad in here, frozen and unable to move. From behind the ice, she could still
see Brad’s eyes were open. The pupils weren’t dead. He could see what she was
seeing and this was their life forever. Even as she touched his statuesque
form, the ice was so chilling it almost gave her fingers frost bite. So she
could not hug him. She could not kiss him. All she could do was whisper that
everything was going to be alright.

And as frozen
as he might be, it wouldn’t stop him from knowing…

That she had
told him a lie.

Jasmine sat
up in bed. She couldn’t take it anymore. What was she preserving after all? Who
was she protecting?

She had to do
something
as long as she wasn’t a frozen statue too.

Looking out
the window, she could see Stacey’s blinds were drawn. Her friend had been
recaptured and subdued. Probably doped up on the purple liquid they forced her
to drink as well.

She turned
back to Brad and walked towards his frozen self.

“Please…” she
whispered. “Please … break out…”

It was
useless. Even Zane and the dragon shifters hadn’t been able to escape the
panther’s curse.

“What are we
going to do?” she cried to herself. “He has my baby…”

Jasmine sunk
to the foot of the bed. She’d cried too much already and didn’t want to start
again, but here she was. Doing it again.

She could
never let it go. Never let go the hope of rescuing her baby.

But her body
was still weak from giving birth and there was little she could do by herself.
She felt so broken, so lost as to what had occurred. It wasn’t supposed to be
like this. Never. Something had to happen. Something … Anything … To break the
evil spell…

Crack.

Jasmine
looked up.

Crack, crack,
crack…

The ice was
breaking away at the seams.

“Oh Gosh,”
she exclaimed, backing away across the floor.

Piece after
piece, chunk after chunk, the ice began to shatter and break away from Brad’s
body. Jasmine could hardly believe it. How was this possible?

Was it…?

A miracle?

The rest of
it blew apart in a sharp blast, sending shards in all directions. Brad stepped
out of his prison and fell to the ground beside her, completely exhausted.

“How?”
Jasmine asked him. “How were you able to get out?”

“I just
stayed awake,” Brad said breathlessly. “I fought the poison. I fought the ice.
I never gave in.”

The pair
embraced, and Jasmine let him warm himself with her body.

“But still…”
she whispered.

“I just
couldn’t stop thinking about you,” Brad said.

BANG

The pair
jumped back as the door burst open.

Gaspar was
standing there, holding the baby with Lynette standing behind him.

He handed the
baby to her.

Brad stood up
to face the Arch Baron.

His face was
positively furious.

“Stop,” Brad
said. “No more magic. No more dark spells. It’s just you and me and we both
want her.”

Gaspar glared
at Jasmine.

Lynette
backed away out of sight, the baby over her shoulder.

“It’s you and
me,” Brad said to Gaspar. “Bear versus panther. Let’s take it outside and fight
for her, the baby, the palace.”

“A fight to
the death?” Gaspar shot back.

“Yes,” Brad
said. “To the death.”

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Every single dragon in the building
had been called to the roof on Jet’s announcement. At first it didn’t appear
there was going to be that many, as there was only ten or twelve there when Jet
shifted into his dragon and took off. But the further they journeyed into the
sky together, the more and more dragons appeared behind them. By the time they
were crossing the ocean’s waters, Spike guessed there must have been at least a
hundred.

He was riding
on Jet’s back, as the ride had been offered, but he couldn’t help but feel a
little put off by it. More than that – he’d just signed over his entire tribe
over to this dragon master – and he didn’t know much about him, other than that
he ran a council of shifters that Spike hadn’t even heard of.

Of course, it
didn’t matter.

All that
mattered was that they were going to find Jasmine and the Uthuro and rescue
them. During their journey towards Firebound Island, Spike found himself thinking
about Brad and his adventures tonight. Had he managed to find Lynette? Was she
of any help to him? Spike hoped Brad was okay wherever he was.

He was not
expecting though, as they sailed over the palace, to see Brad’s bear in deep
battle with the Arch Baron panther.

“There she
is!” Spike cried. “I can see her! Jasmine!”

Jet soon
sailed them out of sight. They landed on the other side of the palace, in the
depths of the snow. As soon as Spike dismounted, Jet took off again to meet his
dragon men in the sky, sending rivers of fire out into the palace structure.

“Don’t do
that!” Spike yelled up at them. “There’s people in there!”

The dragons
ignored him.

Spike ran
several meters around the side of the palace until he came to a set of stairs
leading up into one of the towers. He climbed it quickly and opened the door at
the top.

Once there he
hid himself in the shadows as the panther guards flowed from every corner and
doorway towards the entrance. The snow at the top of the roof was beginning to
melt as the dragons breathed their flames upon it.

Spike snuck
forward a few paces and then spotted a room where green light was coming from
underneath the door.

He then
remembered something the Lion Guardian had said.

Something
about the frozen statue of a warrior…

He pressed
his ear against the door and heard crying. He opened it immediately to discover
a young woman lying on the floor, sobbing. And low and behold, just above her
was the statue of the frozen green warrior.

“Who are
you?” she asked Spike tearfully. “Have you come to save us?”

“Yes,” Spike
said defiantly. “I have.”

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

Even with the dragons emerging from
out of the dark reaches of the sky and attacking the palace, the fight between
Thunder Brad and Gaspar Travis was still to commence. Jasmine was on her knees
at the edge of it, guards standing behind her. Brad was on her side.

On the
opposite side of the courtyard where Gaspar’s panther was, stood Lynette.
Holding Jasmine’s baby. She saw the baby’s face turn, looking confused for some
reason. Perhaps he knew she wasn’t his mother. Perhaps he knew his real one was
close by.

“I’m here,”
Jasmine whispered. “I’m right here…”

Brad’s bear
bounded into the centre of the courtyard, as Gaspar’s speedy panther raced
towards him. Jasmine watched as Brad made his dive towards Gaspar, only for the
panther to spread his wings and fly over his head.

Brad swiped
his claws at him, but Gaspar was too quick. He shot a burst of flames from his
mouth, igniting Brad, forcing him to fall into the snow.

Then the
panther was on top of him. Biting, slashing, tearing, doing everything he could
to rip Brad apart. But Brad wasn’t going to go quietly.

He forced his
hands over the panther’s back and began to squeeze him, as hard as he could,
into his own body. Gaspar was immediately hurt by this and let fly a
strangulated scream as the crushing continued. Brad’s bear then rolled over,
the snow having put out the fire on his back, and continued to crush Gaspar.

For a moment
it appeared, he’d almost won…

Suddenly another
burst of fire shot up, causing Brad to howl in pain. He slumped off the panther
while Gaspar flew into the sky again, circling him.

Brad got to
his feet. Took two or three swipes in the air.

The panther
began to swoop at him, scratching his back each time he came past. Brad
couldn’t get close to him. He was just too fast.

Gaspar tried
shooting some fire at him, right out of his eyes, but Brad was thankfully able
to dodge the next blast. His body had been caught in a jostled state however,
and the next time Gaspar swooped he was upon him.

Jasmine stood
up as Brad fell to the snow. She could see the panther was drawing blood this
time. He was winning.

He was
beating Brad to death.

“No!” Jasmine
cried.

The guard’s
reached out to her but she was able to evade them. She ran as hard and fast as
she could to the bloody contest.

“Get the fuck
off him!” Jasmine cried, jumping on the panther’s back.

Gaspar
growled with anger, and shook her off till she was hurled several feet.

Brad wasn’t
moving.

The snow was
covered with his blood.

Gaspar slowly
stood up off him, and morphed into his human form.

“It is time
to end this!” Gaspar shouted. “The battle has been fought and I have won it!
Thunder Brad will be no more beyond today!”

He looked
back to his men. There was scarcely anyone out there.

They’d
retreated inside to fight the dragons.

Gaspar turned
his back to them. “Someone toss me their sword!” he shouted. “So that I may
sever his ugly head!”

“You can have
my sword,” a figure declared descending the palace steps.

“Excellent!”
Gaspar shouted. “Give it to me!”

“But you have
to catch it first.”

“What?”

Gaspar’s
train of thought was interrupted as the swooshing sound of the sword cut
through the air and over his head.

It happened
so fast, Jasmine barely saw it.

But when the
sword landed, it was right in front of her.

“Give that to
me, petal,” Gaspar growled. “Or you’ll be sorry.”

Jasmine stood
up and removed the sword from the ground. It was sparkling emerald green. She
recognized it.

It was Zane’s
sword.

“GIVE IT TO
ME NOW!” Gaspar screeched.

Jasmine
instantly threw the sword towards him and Gaspar leaned over Brad’s bear in
order to catch it.

As it hit the
Arch Baron’s fingers however, it slipped, and the bear rose up from the snow to
take the sword midair.

And then he
was a bear no more.

Just a good
man standing over an evil one.

Gaspar cried
out in agony, even before the sword came down on him. A coward’s, sniveling,
high pitched cry.

“You can’t,
you won’t,” he wailed. “I’m far more powerful than you –”

And then Brad
sliced through him.

And they were
the last words the panther ever spoke.

CHAPTER
TWENTY

The sky dark blue and no longer
black, invited the beginnings of a golden sun rising over Firebound Island. As
the Arch Baron was defeated, his palace of ice and snow melted and the Uthuro
Bear tribe along with Zane’s dragon guards were freed from their icy prisons
and began to venture out into the courtyard with the others.

Lynette was
soon captured by the attacking dragons, and Jasmine’s baby was returned to her.
The moment he was in her arms, she felt complete. Thunder Brad stood to one
side of her, and Spike the other. The four of them united together at last. If
only it would last forever…

A large man
calling himself Jet and the leader of the city dragons, beckoned they come
forth to him.

As they
approached, Jasmine could see he had already been consumed in conversation with
Zane, who now had Stacey at his side.

“Our people
have much to work out together,” Jet said. “Dragons and non-dragons alike.”

“It is true,”
Zane said loudly, “we are indebted to Jet Strongarm and his men. Three cheers
for Jet!”

The chorus
loudly cried Jet’s name in applause.

“Thank you,
thank you,” Jet called out over them. “I’m afraid though we must be going now.
We have our own affairs at home to sort through.”

“Thank you
again,” Zane said shaking his hand.

Jet nodded
and turned to Jasmine and the bear kings.

“One my men
will take you back by the chopper I see stationed there.”

“It belongs
to Lynette,” Brad said. “That’s how I got here.”

“What will
happen to her?” Spike asked. “And the other panthers?”

“That’s for
Zane to decide,” Jet said turning to the dragon king.

“A full
investigation will be launched,” Zane declared. “She won’t be set free until we
can be sure there won’t be any more attacks like this again.” He paused a
moment. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

“Thank you,”
Brad said. “But we must get back to our forest. It’s where we belong.”

“I will have
my men take your people back with them then,” Jet said. “And no, it won’t be
the last you see of us.”

Behind them,
one of Jet’s guards was opening the chopper door for them. “This way, please.”

Still
clutching her baby, Jasmine stepped forward and hugged Stacey goodbye.

“We have to
catch up properly soon,” she said. “Promise me you’ll come visit.”

“Absolutely,”
Stacey said. “Next week. I promise. Once we’ve cleaned up here.”

The friends
parted, both beaming.

And then
Jasmine was taken way with both Spike and Brad towards the chopper.

“Have you
figured out a name for him yet?” Spike asked.

“No,” Jasmine
gushed. “Gaspar wanted to name him Quraal, after his father.”

Both bears
fell silent.

After they
were seated, Jasmine had some more time to reflect on the name. “I think I know
the perfect name for him though.”

“What’s that?”
Brad asked.

“No, I don’t
know,” Jasmine mumbled, smiling. “It’s stupid.”

“Tell us,”
Spike urged her. “We won’t laugh.”

“Okay,”
Jasmine said, going a little red. “How about Grizzly? So he always knows he’s
one of the bears.”

Thunder and
Spike looked at each other.

“That’s
really silly isn’t it,” Jasmine said. “Because he’s not even a bear really, is
he.”

“Yes he is,”
Brad said firmly.

“I think it’s
a perfect name,” Spike said.

“Okay then,”
Jasmine said. “Grizzly it is.”

She looked
down at baby Grizzly and he looked up at her. He was the most beautiful thing
she’d ever seen. He wasn’t evil at all.

Before long
the chopper was started and they were in the air again, as the morning sun
melted across the ocean waters.

Jasmine
looked out the window, watching them flow by her.

She couldn’t
believe it. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was.

Everything
was perfect now. This was just the beginning for them.

The beginning
of everything.

Except…

EXCEPT

Brad suddenly
sat up alert and looked to his cousin.

“What’s
wrong?” Spike murmured.

A man in a
dark robe emerged over the chair behind them, his hand reaching for both their
heads.

As soon as
they were touched they slumped into paralysis.

“No!” Jasmine
screeched.

The Mage
stood up and moved quietly towards her.

“Get away
from me! Get the fuck out of here!”

She tried to
hold Grizzly away from the Mage’s outstretched arms, but as soon as his finger
touched her, she was paralyzed too.

Paralyzed,
but wide awake.

“Finally,”
the Mage whispered stealing Grizzly from her grasp. “Finally the Dark Dragon
shall rule again.”

With the baby
in his arms, he then vanished into midair as if neither of them existed at all.

And a moment
later, the three of them were unfrozen again.

“Noooo!”
Jasmine squealed, unbuckling her seatbelt and standing in the area he had just
been in. “Come back! Please come back! NOOOOOO!”