Dragon Sleeping (The Dragon Circle Trilogy Book 1) (12 page)

Two points of light flared on the creature’s face, two red orbs where eyes should be. They stared at Mary Lou. “It’s amazing how hungry you get when you’re not allowed to feed.”

“No complaints,” Nunn reprimanded the thing, as if he was, indeed, talking to a five-year-old. “You always get what you want.”

“I do, don’t I?” The creature almost purred as its form, never that substantial, seemed to fade from where it hovered. After a moment, only the two glowing eyes remained. Then those blinked out as well.

“Now we wait,” Nunn said. “It won’t be very long. Zachs can be quite efficient when he is properly motivated.”

Nunn turned away to examine a collection of vials crowded on one of many shelves.

Mary Lou felt like she had been dismissed. She was used to that; her parents were very good at dismissing her, getting her out of sight and mind. Except she was afraid that this time, Nunn didn’t want her to leave.

But this time she wanted, more than anything, to be out of here. Nunn laughed softly as he picked up a jar filled with dark liquid.

The Captain started to kick his feet out as if he was marching through the air. He still hadn’t opened his eyes.

“I would like to see my parents,” Mary Lou said.

Nunn turned to look at her. “You would?” Her remark seemed to have greatly amused the magician.

“I heard you say all the neighbors were important, at least for now,” she continued quickly, knowing that if she stopped talking now, she might not have the nerve to start again. “Wouldn’t it be better if my parents weren’t worried about me?”

“A very persuasive argument,” Nunn continued in that maddeningly agreeable tone. “I imagine you are very important.” His smile turned down slightly at the edges; “I will speak frankly with you, Mary Lou. As you can see from our friend the Captain, I generally am able to get what I need from anyone, at any time.” He nodded thoughtfully, and the Captain, still marching, nodded along. “However, I will admit that things go more smoothly when people are willing. Tell me, if you were to see your parents, would you be able to keep our little secret?”

“Secret?” Mary Lou asked.

Nunn swept his right hand in a great arc before him. “All of this. People are so much easier to deal with when they’re not aware of complications.”

She did not know if she could agree. She never wanted to say yes to anything this man might suggest.

“You are probably wise to be careful,” Nunn said. “Not, of course, that it matters. Once you, or anyone, enters my castle, there is no leaving. Well, perhaps for someone very special. But you would have to prove yourself extremely worthy.”

Special? She thought of the creature that had seeped out of the Captain’s insides. Maybe there was something worse than being trapped here, after all.

“What?” Nunn asked sharply. Mary Lou hadn’t said anything.

Light filled the room, followed by a high scream that slammed into her with a solid force, lifting her from her feet and tossing her backward.

She landed flat on her back, stunned, the air knocked from her lungs. “Hurt!” the child voice screamed.

She pushed herself up on her elbows. The magician’s creature had returned. It sat huddled on the floor, its skin glowing a dull orange. The area around it was a mess of fallen shelves. The Captain’s chair had tipped over on its side, so that his continuous stiff-legged marching pulled him around in a circle every time his left leg dragged along the floor. Nunn picked himself up and stared down at the thing.

“Where are the boys?” he demanded.

The thing looked up at the magician. “Hurt!” it screamed again, a great tongue of orange flame flew from its mouth.

Nunn staggered away from the fire. He lifted both his hands. Mary Lou thought he would cover his face. Instead, he clapped them together, and a spout of green flame lanced forward to strike the creature’s skull.

The thing’s screams redoubled as it shrank close to the floor.

“There is more than one kind of hurt, my dear Zachs,” Nunn said softly.

“Hurt!” the thing screamed sullenly.

“You haven’t answered my question,” Nunn continued in the same quiet tone.

“Slipped away,” the creature replied quickly. “Zachs had them, the first two. But the magician– Hurt! Hurt!”

“You let them get away?” Emotion was returning to the magician’s voice.

“No one hurts Zachs like that!” the creature continued its tirade. “I’ll hurt them! Eat them slowly. Keep them awake so they know, so they see. Eat the head last!”

“Zachs!” Nunn’s voice rose to meet the other. “You will answer my question!”

“Hurt!” The thing shot out another spit of flame. This one hit the pile of fallen shelves, setting them ablaze.

Mary Lou was afraid these two would destroy the whole place. She looked around for somewhere to hide, and saw that she had been thrown only a few feet short of the doorway. Carefully, she rose to her hands and knees.

Nunn clapped his hands again. This time his green fire was met by the creature’s orange.

The second explosion caught Mary Lou as she rose to her feet, propelling her from the room, until the stone wall opposite the doorway stopped her abruptly. She managed to take a breath, swallowed, willed herself not to fall.

She stumbled to the side, trying desperately to get away from anything else that might erupt from the battle. She looked back the way she had come, but she knew that corridor ended in a solid wall. The hallway stretched off the other way as well. Mary Lou walked as best she could, fright making her forget her hurts. She would find some way out of here.

The way was quiet. As the cacophony behind her faded with distance, she could once again hear the slap of her heels against stone. She found it reassuring. Since that sound came from her, she felt once again in some control of what would happen to her.

The floor beneath her shook, as if Nunn’s battle might destroy the castle.

She saw something flickering ahead, a light of some sort with a greenish tinge. She thought of the wizard’s fire and almost stopped, propelled forward only when she heard another muffled explosion at her back. Maybe, she thought, there was window up ahead, obscured by a drape of some sort, blowing in the wind.

The light made her want to ignore her bruises even more, and she managed to break into a slow run toward the illumination. The fight behind her would not go on forever. If she was to get out of this place, it would have to be now.

The light flickered before her again, and she saw that it wasn’t a window, after all. It was a door, and beyond that door were the trees and shrubs of the open woodland. But the door wasn’t always there. When the light vanished, she saw a stone wall ahead of her instead.

She realized that these must be the only ways in and out of Nunn’s castle: doorways controlled by the magician’s sorcery. Nunn must have wanted her to join him inside his retreat; otherwise, she doubted if she could have gotten into the hut. For all she knew, he could also twist the corridors of this place around so that he could lead you to any place he wanted.

But, for a moment at least, Nunn had lost control. His spells flickered as he used his energy in a personal battle.

Mary Lou had no doubt it was a battle that Nunn would win.

The door flashed into existence before her again, looking bright and real and inviting. She broke into a full run toward it as the seconds fled by.

It vanished before she could reach it. Before her was the never-ending wall, stretching out into a new corridor both left and right.

From somewhere behind her, she heard a great, booming laugh, the sound, perhaps, of the magician’s victory.

Then the doorway was back. Nunn hadn’t had time to regain control of all his spells. If she was going to run, it had to be now. She had no desire to pass through that space as the magic stone wall solidified around her.

Mary Lou jumped forward, diving into a somersault as she had been taught in gymnastics. She hit the ground and rolled onto her back.

She looked back to where she had come from and saw nothing but a sheer cliff face. But she heard no sounds of battle, nor the magician’s laughter.

She did hear a great rustling in the trees overhead. She looked up and saw the branches bouncing about in an agitated fashion, far more than could be explained by a passing wind.

She screamed as something jumped from the tree, falling straight toward her.

N
ow Todd was pissed.

Hey, he thought, maybe this whole thing was a way out, the kind of thing he’d always wanted to do, a way to get away from his bastard old man and his crying mother and all the things he couldn’t stand in that house on Chestnut Circle.

But man, not like this. Now Todd didn’t even want to open his eyes.

What had hit him? He had taken a swing at that light-thing. But his fist had been sucked right into it. The thing had fucking swallowed him up. God, did it hurt. His fist, his arm, then everything. He never wanted to feel that kind of pain again, like he was burning from the inside out.

Then there was nothing. Todd heard a groan.

He swore, and opened his eyes. It surprised him when he saw sunlight overhead. After that pain, he guessed he was surprised he could do anything.

He turned his head and saw he was lying in a field full of long yellow grass. Bobby was lying beside him, breathing like he was asleep. There was no sign of the light-monster, or of any of the others from the tower room.

Bobby groaned again. He shifted on the ground, but he still didn’t open his eyes.

There were trees in the distance. For some reason, Todd was sure this had to be the same forest they had just come out of— maybe because that forest was all he’d seen since coming to this place.

It was much quieter than any place Todd could remember. Oh, there was some noise: the wind in the trees, the call of birds back and forth, and the odd chirruping sound of some sort of insect. If this place was not the world they’d come from—and one look at the sky was enough to convince Todd that it wasn’t—there were still a lot of things about it that were awfully familiar.

But not familiar enough. This quiet didn’t mean peace any more than one of his father’s smiles meant you were safe from his fists. Todd was waiting for something to jump on him.

Unless he could find a way to jump first.

He tried to remember what had happened after he’d taken a swing at that thing. There was nothing there. He must have passed out. What, then? Why was he here, in some fucking field in the middle of nowhere, with Bobby? And where was that thing that had grabbed him?

Todd sat up, the anger making him move. Who cared what had happened? He just wouldn’t let it happen again! Whatever that creep made of light had wanted, it wouldn’t get it without one hell of a fight.

He looked around, suddenly aware of how exposed they were here, out in the open. He had to wake Bobby up. They had to get out of here. One thing you learned when you had an old man like Todd’s—whenever things got weird, you made yourself scarce.

But how could you make yourself scarce when you didn’t even know where you were in the first place?

Todd stood and flexed his muscles; surprised again that he wasn’t sore from his recent battle. It felt as if, once he had left the light- creature, he had left all the pain as well. If anything, he felt rested, and ready for a fight.

He looked around carefully; ready to throw himself back into the tall grass if he saw anyone else. But they really did seem to be alone.

He stood up in the clearing. There was no way to tell if this was the same place they’d been attacked by the lightning storm, or if they were someplace else, miles away. There were probably a hundred fields like this in the forest, all surrounded by great trees.

Standing made Todd feel even more exposed. He wanted to get into those trees as quickly as he could, so they could hide from whatever was coming next. Maybe they could even climb the trees, get some idea of where they were. Maybe they could even see that big stone house the light-creature had snatched them from.

Or maybe they’d have to admit that they were lost. But Todd didn’t want to just sit here. He had to move.

He knelt down next to the other boy. “Bobby! Wake up!”

“What?” Bobby’s fist came up swinging. “Get away. I saw what—”

Todd blocked his friend’s half-asleep swing with a well-placed arm. “Cool it, Bobby,” he said softly. “It’s me. Todd.”

Bobby finally opened his eyes. “Todd? Oh, wow.” Bobby started to smile but stopped himself. “That thing—what happened to—” He paused again, afraid to describe the creature that had captured them.

“It’s gone. At least I don’t see it anywhere around here. And I think we should get out of here before it has a chance to come back.”

Bobby shook his head, maybe to disagree, maybe to try to clear his own thoughts. “You want to run away? Aw, Todd, c’mon! It couldn’t surprise us this time.” He reached into the pocket of his jeans. “I’ve still got the knife.”

Todd thought about the light, and the pain. “I think your knife would do as much good as my fists did. Better we make ourselves scarce.” Todd didn’t mention that, the way the creature had shown up in the wizard’s room, they might not be safe anywhere.

Bobby started to say something else but ended up grunting instead. Maybe, Todd thought, he remembered that pain, too. Bobby pushed himself to his knees. Todd grabbed one of Bobby’s hands and helped him to his feet.

“This way,” Todd said as he turned to his left for no particular reason and started to march toward the forest. Maybe the trees looked a bit lower to the ground over here, a bit more climbable. More likely, though, it was just a hunch. He had to stop himself from looking around again. In a place like this, a hunch could mean a lot.

“So what do we do, Todd?” Bobby asked. “Go back with that bird and the Obar character?”

Todd didn’t answer, concentrating instead on placing his feet on the uneven ground hidden by the grass. Bobby kept on talking, anyway.

“You don’t think the knife’s enough protection, huh? Maybe we could sharpen some sticks into spears or something.” Bobby whistled softly. “I don’t think spears would have stopped that glowing thing either, though.”