A Measure of Disorder (15 page)

Mr. Kain pursed his lips and fumed behind the bars of the window.

Alisha knew Mogritas was probably not telling the whole truth, but who ever did? She was never completely honest with her friends — telling them their hair or clothes looked good when, really, they were terrible. It was only common courtesy to keep them from embarrassment.

“Of course,” she said, not looking at Mr. Kain. “I understand.”

“Excellent.” Mogritas’s expression brightened. “Now, let’s go back and I can explain about your friends, Lori and Zoe.”

He led her back down the hall and they climbed the stairs after closing and barring the door behind them. Alisha thought she heard a sob from the hallway as the door shut, but she wasn’t sure.

Alisha and Mogritas stepped into the bright sunshine and she shielded her eyes in pain. As she blinked the last of her tears away, a guard rushed up and saluted Mogritas.

“Yes, what is it?”

“My Lord, the dragon has returned with more
Gobinstratstorai
.”

“Very good, I will see him straight away.”

The guard saluted again and hurried off the other direction.

“Come along, my dear. This could be interesting,” Mogritas said with a grin.

Brandon flew in and landed on the same large tower as before, only smoother this time. His passengers climbed down stretching and groaning. A guard appeared shortly thereafter and Brandon asked to see Mogritas. The guard scurried off, leaving them to catch their breath and rest.

Maybe fifteen minutes later, Mogritas came through the doorway, with Alisha in tow. Brandon hadn’t seen her for at least a couple of weeks, and had to admit she looked as beautiful as ever.

“Welcome back my boy!” Mogritas greeted him. “You found your friends?”

Brandon nodded. “Yes, and some others too. This is Mike, and Scott,” he said, indicating each in turn. “And this is Mrs. Minch.”

Carrie’s mother stepped forward and offered her hand. Mogritas took it in his and bowed his head slightly. “I am honored, Mrs. Minch.” Alisha stood at his side, speechless in surprise.

Mrs. Minch blushed at the attention. “Thank you,” she said.

The
Gobinstratstorai
chief, whose name Brandon had learned was Kordrikim — at least that was the short version — stepped forward protectively.

Brandon introduced him to Mogritas and explained what had happened before his arrival at the
Nomenstrastenai
village. After Brandon finished, Mogritas turned back to Carrie’s mother and said, “Well, Mrs. Minch, you appear to be a rare flower indeed!”

She blushed again. “Please, call me Kathy.”

Mogritas smiled. “Very well, Kathy, I’m sure you all must be tired and hungry from your ordeals. Please allow my servants to find you some place to rest and eat. We can get to know each other after you’ve had a chance to freshen up.”

Mrs. Minch sighed. “A hot bath would be wonderful.”

“Consider it done.” Mogritas turned and waved at one of the guards who stood by the door. He left and moments later a host of servants piled through the door to take the newcomers away.

Alisha stepped up to Brandon during the commotion. “I’m glad you were able to find Mike and Scott,” she said. “I can’t believe what happened with Carrie’s mom!”

“It was kind of a surprise,” Brandon admitted.

Once everyone had been tended to and ushered away, Mogritas came back to the two of them.

“Well, that is certainly exciting,” he said. “I have not heard of a
Strodin’i
in the world for many years.”

Brandon chuckled. “The chief definitely didn’t want to give her up. The rest of his clan are on their way here too.” He hesitated, then said, “I have something else I’d like to show you, if you have the time that is.”

Mogritas’s gray eyes stared through Brandon and seemed to understand his desire for privacy. “Of course my boy! Alisha, would you be available to dine with me this evening? Then we can continue our discussion at length.”

Alisha looked at him uncertainly. “Um, sure. I guess so.”

“Splendid! Can you find your way back to your quarters? I’ll have someone fetch you for dinner.”

Alisha nodded and said quietly, “Of course.” Then she turned and exited through the door to the stairs.

Mogritas smiled. “Lovely girl. Now, what did you want to show me?”

Brandon saw that something odd was going on with Alisha, but he was too excited to show Mogritas his discovery to give it much thought. “It’s in my cave.”

“Very well,” Mogritas said and shifted form. “Lead the way.”

Brandon jumped from the roof and they made the short flight to his cave. It was just as he’d left it, and the illusory wall looked the same as before.

Brandon led him back to the spot and explained his odd feelings and subsequent discovery. Mogritas gasped as they stepped through into the dark corridor.

“Amazing!” Mogritas said. “I knew the dragons were capable of different magics than others, but I had no idea of the complexity of illusion!”

Brandon laughed. “That’s only part of it.” He led Mogritas down the tunnel to the library cavern.

Mogritas stopped short when they entered the huge room. He bent down and scooped up one of the smaller stone tablets that lay strewn about.

“So,” Brandon said, beaming with pride, “what do you think? Can you read them?”

Mogritas fondled the tablet lovingly, apparently he could see in the dark as well as Brandon. “Oh, yes,” he replied. “I can read them.” He set the tablet down carefully and walked to one of the stacks of books. “These will hold the key I’ve been looking for, I’m sure of it. You’ve done very well, Brandon, very well indeed.”

Brandon smiled broadly at the praise. “Do you think I’ll be able to learn to do magic like the dragons did?”

“Most assuredly,” Mogritas said, scanning the titles inscribed on the book spines. “All that and more, I have no doubt. First we’ll need to record and catalog as much of this as possible. The dragons must have had servants to take care of this.” He held up a book. “Pen and ink are not very useful to claws and talons.”

Brandon hadn’t thought of that before. “Maybe the stone tablets were written by the dragons, and the books were made by others.”

“Very possible. Do I have your permission to come and go with some of these?” Mogritas asked him.

Brandon was surprised and pleased he would even ask. “Of course! I’m excited to know what might be in them. I want to know how the dragons lived and what they could do. I feel so lost sometimes.”

“I understand my boy, truly. You and I are kindred spirits, of a sort. I, too, am the only one of my kind.”

Brandon’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re the only one who can change forms like that?”

Mogritas nodded. “So maybe I can do us both a favor by learning what is hidden in these texts. Find some history and a sense of family for each of us.”

Brandon grinned. “Awesome!”

Mogritas smiled back. “Indeed.”

Days passed and Mogritas came and went with frequency, carrying books and tablets back and forth. Occasionally, Mogritas would stop and share some tidbit of dragon lore with him, and Brandon grew more excited the library would hold many answers for him. He also grew more sure he had made the right decision, not only in allowing Mogritas access to the library, but also in coming to the fortress instead of following Crank and the others to
Seren’naie
. How could he have a better teacher about being a dragon than the dragons themselves? And he would never have found the library if it hadn’t been for Mogritas and his generosity.

Brandon returned to the fortress a few times to spend time with Mike and Scott, but soon found they had all gone through too many changes — himself especially — to be as close as they were. They couldn’t do the same things they had before, like play football or other sports.

Brandon became restless and bored. Mogritas’s people had created a large water basin for him which he carried to his cave. It had a smaller bucket he could hold with his back feet and drag through the river to fill up, then fly back and dump into the basin. It took about six trips to fill the first time, but then he always had some water to drink and it was easy to fly down for a bucketful to replenish it. Once that project was completed, however, he found he had very little to occupy his time.

Mogritas came one day, ferrying books, and stopped to talk to Brandon about something he’d found.

“I think I understand how the dragons created their illusions, Brandon,” he told him. “It seems very similar to the
Nomenstrastenai
ability to camouflage themselves when frightened, but on a more conscious level.”

Mogritas outlined some mental exercises for Brandon to practice and he was eager to give them a try.

“I will caution you, however,” Mogritas said, “not all dragons were able to do this from what I can determine, so it may take a great deal of time to master, or you may not be able to perform the magic at all.”

“I understand, but I’ve been looking for something to do and this will work perfectly,” Brandon replied enthusiastically.

Mogritas smiled and said, “Excellent. I will keep you apprised of any more findings, and you keep me informed of your progress.” He then went down the tunnel to exchange the books he brought with him for new ones.

Brandon sat in a corner to begin his exercises. Most of them were designed to enhance his concentration, and he also needed to develop the ability to put himself in a trancelike state. He focused himself so completely, he didn’t even notice when Mogritas left the cave later in the day.

Jenni was all alone in the guest house.

Over the past several days, one or two at a time, all her friends had been taken away by different officials.

Sara had been the first to go. Captain Herina herself had come and taken Sara to meet more of the
Saromstrastenai
and start her “training,” whatever that was to be. Sara had sent a short note a couple of days ago, telling Jenni she was doing well, but they were working her so hard that she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, and there hadn’t been any time to come visit. Hopefully she could soon.

The day after Sara left the guest house, some
Elvorstrastenai
came in the morning to collect Marco and Carrie. Then in the afternoon, a
Faerstrastenai
,
riding a wolf, came for Tori and Faith, and gave instructions to Rachael and the twins, who flew off as well.

Two days later, a
Nomenstrastenai
arrived to talk to Crank and Denny. They visited in the sitting room for most of the morning before coming up to get their things and leave the house. The next day, Denny came back to get Matt, Charles, and Bonnie. He said the
Nomenstrastenai
were very curious about their ability to communicate with the spirits.

That had left Jenni alone with Matron Zalandra, and she wasn’t very good company.

After a couple of days being cooped up in the guest house with nothing to do, waiting for a summons that didn’t appear to be coming, Jenni decided to explore the city on her own.

She discovered
Seren’naie
was indeed circular in shape. Basically, it was like a doughnut, with the hole being filled by the amazing stone and crystal spires. The outer ring was divided neatly by canals into four equal sections. The northern area, where the guest house was located, was occupied by the
Elvorstrastenai
. The east and west sections were used by the
Faerstrastenai
and
Nomenstrastenai
,
respectively.
Gobinstratstorai
inhabited the southern portion. Only rarely did she see someone of a different race in another section of the city.

Wide, arched bridges made of stone, like most everything else, crossed the midpoints of the canals dividing each section. The center hub was also surrounded by a canal, spanned by a bridge at each cardinal point. Water from the river flowed into the canals from the northwest, where they had entered on their boat. An exiting canal ran to the southwest, back to the river, making sure the water in the city didn’t stagnate and stayed at a constant level.

Each quarter of the city had its own markets and industry, but the real activity took place in the middle, where everyone mixed. She learned that a council, composed of members from all the races, governed
Seren’naie
.
They met and did business in one of the central towers. Other buildings were places of learning — many citizens devoted their time and energy to creating music and other works of art.

Jenni was unable to read any of the signs or placards on the buildings, so she didn’t go into many. She just wandered the streets, marveling at the architecture and engineering needed to create such structures in a world without machinery as she knew it.

She got hungry on the first day of her explorations and found a street vendor with some delicious-looking glazed fruit. She realized, however, she had no way to pay for anything, and tried to explain it to the vendor. He seemed unable to grasp the concept of money, and simply gave her the meal. She thanked him and wondered how a world could exist without some sort of currency. It was something she would have to ask — if she ever got the chance to meet and talk with anyone at length anyway.

After dinner on the second day of her jaunts about the city, she sat in her room at the guest house, organizing all the extra supplies that the others had left in her care, when there was a knock at her door.

She opened it to find Crank looking up at her. Jenni squealed with delight and dropped to her knees, hugging him fiercely. Crank laughed and hugged her back.

“Oh my gosh it’s so good to see you!” Jenni said after they broke their embrace.

“And you Jenni, I have missed you,” Crank said, but Jenni sensed something was wrong.

“You seem sad, what happened?”

Crank sighed and sat on the floor with her. “The
Nomenstrastenai
don’t have a place for me here any more than they did at home.”

Jenni was upset and disappointed for him. “What about the
Elvorstrastenai
? Can’t they help you learn about animals and plants?”

Crank shook his head. “I asked, but everywhere I went, the answer was ‘That’s just not done’ or something to that effect.” He sighed and said, “I thought things would be different here.”

Jenni wrapped her arms around him again and they sat together for a while.

All the marvels she had witnessed in her travels in this world seemed tainted by this rigid system of duties and jobs. Surely, Crank couldn’t be the only person who didn’t fit neatly into the role he was given.

He parted from her and said, “I don’t know where else to go, or what to do.”

“Well, you’re not leaving me again, that’s for sure!” Jenni was determined to help her friend somehow. “We’ll figure out something, together.”

He smiled and blushed. “I’ve missed you, Jenni.”

She hugged him again. “I’ve missed you, too.” Jenni gave him a final squeeze and said, “Now, help me sort through all this junk we have.” She waved her arms around the room filled with clothing and electronics and giggled.

Crank laughed. “Okay, I can do that.”