Dragons Awakening
CHAPTER THIRTY: To Save her Father

Zi raised her shoulders, shifting the weighty parachute an infinitesimal amount. The pilot had secured it tightly to her waist and cinched the shoulder straps so much it felt like her shoulder blades pressed together. The pressure had nearly numbed her back.

Akolo’s sun-bronzed skin resembled a waxy corpse. His raised hand and stiff head bob confirmed their shared fate. Beneath him, the dragon shimmered out of sight, and the boy faded a second later. Creepy. Completely unnatural.

She wrapped the bungee cord tightly around herself and the middle scale on Ezer’s back. It almost felt like second nature. She was seriously comfortable riding a dragon? Talk about completely unnatural.

“It will be difficult to fly beside the airplane,” Ezer said. “Air displaced at such high speed creates drag.”

“You can keep up with it, right?” Zi asked, double-checking the zipper on her jacket. It was all the way up to her throat.

“I managed to keep pace with your plane.” Was he getting indignant?

“That’s the reassurance I get? I had my pilot drop his air speed to a minimum.”

Ezer eyed her over his shoulder. “Dragons speak only truth.”

Zi squeezed her eyes closed, shaking her head slightly. “I’m about to commit suicide here. Words of comfort would be appreciated.”

She felt motion beneath her and tightened her legs around the spike, the dragon launched skyward. Air screamed past her ears. His massive wings thrummed, the beat of a bass drum. She squinted against the onslaught of frigid air, but tears welled in her eyes anyway. Closing them wasn’t an option. She needed to search for her father’s Cessna Citation. With so much ash swirling in the air, she hoped most planes were grounded. No one could force her father out of the sky.

Well, a ball of dragon fire might do the trick.

“The vision is a single possibility,” Ezer said. The suddenness of his voice, tender almost, made her flinch.

My visions always come true, Zi thought. Strangely, the dragon’s intrusion into her mind didn’t irritate her. Now if only the migraine stays away.

“Your earlier vision of the volcano’s destruction wasn’t completely accurate,” Ezer said.

Zi tried not to think the retort that sprang to mind. Suppressing thoughts might be a lost cause, especially for someone who rarely kept them off her tongue. As far as we know. It’s not like we’ve witnessed every eruption in the world.

“Your abilities have expanded,” Ezer said. “It is right that you entrust your life to them.”

Zi didn’t want to debate the rightness of her rashness. There’s no other choice. She squinted toward her right. Light shimmered across the surface of the sea. Ezer tilted that direction, altering his course to something more direct from the Middle East.

Why was she attempting this insanity if she didn’t think it would change anything? Not because she had a death wish. Not even because she adored her father. But he was family. She refused to do nothing when she knew another family member was in the cross-hairs of death. Mother and Uncle were beyond reach, but her father might still be saved. And if she couldn’t save him, she wouldn’t have to live with the guilt. Maybe it’s a death wish after all.

She pressed her fingertips into her temples until the pain chased her melancholy away. She only had room in her head for her plan. If the jump onto the wing didn’t kill her, the dragon fire might. If Ezer could even fly close enough to the plane. It traveled at well over 250 miles per hour. What was a dragon’s top speed?

“I can catch the plane,” Ezer said.

“No untruths,” Zi chided, her lips quirking into a smirk.

“Not untrue,” the dragon said. “I believe it is possible.”

I share your faith. The whipping wind dried her teeth and it felt like her lips might get stuck into a smile. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.

She would have found another way. Most likely endangering her pilot when he flew her to intercept her father. This was better. Mr. Oohara, stubborn and pig-headed, was no fool. When he saw the black dragon, he would have no choice but to realize there were forces beyond his understanding - and control - at work. Won’t that be a shock to his senses?

Light flashed. Zi craned her neck to see past the dragon’s horns. Another flicker of light, miniscule, distant. She squinted. Should have brought those high-powered binoculars.

“A small jet,” Ezer said.

Describe it. No sense being angry about the dragon’s eagle eyes. Better to just use it.

“Silver and blue.”

Her heart leapt into her throat. The pounding nearly drowned the rush of the wind. A stripe separating the colors?

Zi leaned forward until her right shoulder jammed against the spike in front of her. As if those few inches would allow her to see the silver speck. She wanted to roll her eyes. Idiot.

“An orangish-pink strip divides the silver top from the blue belly.”

That’s it. Her heart dropped into her stomach. A foreign fluttering as her innards cavorted had her swallowing hard. Never give up hope, her mother’s voice whispered in her ear.

Ezer pumped his wings, fanning the air, propelling them forward. Wind surged over her, whistling past her ears. Zi held her breath, staring at the jet. A million Monarchs fluttered inside her chest. When spots dotted the edges of her vision, she gasped, filling her lungs. Her saliva evaporated in an instant. She snapped her jaws together and rubbed her sandpapery tongue over her teeth.

“I will fly above it,” Ezer said.

Zi nodded. She pictured the tail of the plane. We’ll need to clear that before I’ll have access to the wing.

The speck became a dot, which morphed into a model-sized plane. They were still a half-mile away when the dragon banked sharply to the left. Zi’s arms and legs tightened around the spike. Icy wind buffeted her face even when she ducked lower, burying her face up to her nose in the collar of her jacket. She gritted her teeth against the stinging slap on her cheeks and forehead. Moisture blurred her vision. Blinking didn’t clear it away.

Rumbling began in her chest. Was the dragon growling? She squinted over his head and saw the flash of silver beneath them. They were close to the plane. Were the vibrations from the twin engines propelling the jet?

“I will drop as close to the wing as I dare,” Ezer said.

On the left. In her vision, her father had been staring out that side of the plane. She wanted him to see her. If he didn’t, her airborne stunt was futile. It’s never wrong to try. Another whisper from her mother.

She clutched her perch with her thighs. Numb fingers fumbled with the bungee. The pulse in her throat sounded louder than the jet engines. When the hook came free, the rope snapped toward the spike. Zi reared her head back as the cord flew over Ezer’s right flank. Good thing she didn’t need it anymore.

“Dropping in five,” Ezer said.

Being invisible wasn’t nearly as fun and exciting as Akolo expected. From his perspective, the ground- thousands of feet beneath him- loomed large and terrifying. Jokul’s neck and head should have provided a natural barrier against the fearsome view. The shimmery outline of the ice dragon’s invisible form did nothing to hinder the gulp-worthy site of the earth far below. Akolo blinked, studying his hands and legs. They looked normal, even though he had been assured he wasn’t visible to anyone else. How is that possible?

Compared to his climb up Everest, Akolo wasn’t high in the air. The crater on Vesuvius was slightly more than four thousand feet above sea level. Of course, it might not be much in the world of mountains, but it still towered two hundred feet above Kilauea, the volcanic mountain Akolo knew best. In any case, a fall from this altitude would result in death as certainly as plummeting off the Top of the World. Sobering.

His teeth chattered as wind stung his face. Akolo dug his fingers beneath the scales on the dragon’s neck, thankful for the gloves Zi brought him. The medical mask protected his mouth and nose from the increasing particles circling around him as they neared the volcano. Ahead, the geyser of steam spouting from the crater contained only a smattering of ash. Soon enough, the particles would dissipate completely. If the red dragon was camped on top of the volcano when that happened, a different sort of chaos would result.

“I can sense him,” Jokul said.

Akolo concentrated his thoughts forward. No animals, or even birds, were within range of his telepathy. He kept reaching toward the crater. Like he’d waded into the lava, his mind encountered miry resistance. A surge of rage swelled inside him. Akolo gasped when the knife-like emotion gouged his chest and skull.

“That’s Qwystanak,” Jokul said, his voice grim inside Akolo’s thoughts.

How can I penetrate such a shield of pure emotion? And he had to get through it. Somehow. Otherwise, he was worse than useless. Is there even a mind beneath all that hostility?

“You will see, “ Jokul said. “Ride with my thoughts, whisperer.”

A current of air buoyed them, bringing them over the molten lake which had been the crater of Mt. Vesuvius earlier in the day. The lava should have cooled, forming new rocks, since it no longer spilled out of the volcano. Instead, it filled the mountain’s crater, heat from beneath keeping it a bubbling cauldron. A dark red form slithered through the orange liquid. On the red dragon’s back, the stiff skeleton that used to be wings shimmered like a mirage.

Akolo cleared his mind and relaxed his thoughts into Jokul’s. He coughed. Heat from the steam prickled his forehead with sweat. The stench of rotten eggs gagged him. The overheated air made breathing more like inhaling water. Fog formed around Jokul’s body shielding the view of the swimming dragon.

The ice dragon’s thoughts shot like an arrow into the boulder of fury surrounding the other dragon’s mind. Delving into it seemed foreign. So different from other animals or the other dragons. Ezer and Jokul had something akin to an electric fence around their thoughts. A quick sting announced when his brain waves penetrated it. To enter the red dragon’s mind, Akolo’s thoughts slogged through sludge. The miry wall sucked at him, a vacuum into an endless abyss.

“Careful,” Jokul warned.

The Crystalline chieftain’s warning pricked against him. Akolo drew his thoughts back, gulping a mouthful of sweltering air. I didn’t get all the way through. It was trying to suck me in.

The dragon banked, sending a rush of steam against Akolo’s face. He buried his flushed features against the dragon’s invisible neck, grateful for the chill.

“Most of his sentient mind has been warped,” Jokul said. “The control center is difficult to locate.”

Can you take me there? If not, Akolo had no clue how he would manage to break through the quicksand keeping him out.

“He is likely to sense my presence if I go all in.”

Is he reaching out to you? Akolo still hadn’t quite reasoned out the way the dragons linked their minds together. But a link was the best explanation, as if they threaded their thoughts inside the communication center of the mind.

“No. He seethes.” Jokul banked again, but Akolo resisted the compulsion to look into the roiling crater.

How do you sense his presence without him sensing yours? Shouldn’t the mind probing be noticeable? He felt the dragon’s consciousness inside his head when they spoke to him.

“My awareness is awakened. He focuses solely on hatred.”

Akolo considered what he knew about telepathy, which wouldn’t fill a byte of memory on his smart watch. Thought waves were emitted from a source like sound waves. Most organisms didn’t send waves very far into their environment. Something in Akolo brain detected other waves when they were sent out by an animal. He could tap into them and visualize the animal. It happened so subtly, almost like breathing. It had taken him many years before he could reach out and sense the waves on purpose. The dragons had showed him how to extend that reach, sharpen his focus, making his thoughts more like a needle than a wave.

The gentle flutter of the dragon’s wings behind him faded. He centered his thoughts on the creature below them, until even the sultry sulfur air he breathed slipped into shadow. Sticky heat sucked at his mind. Pushing through it took more effort than pulling against the ocean’s tide. Rage and hatred suffused him. His heartbeat echoed inside his mind.

Akolo pushed ahead. A voice in the back of his mind chided him, concentrate. Visions of fire played on the movie screen inside his head. Dragons swarmed. They dove at each other, raking their claws against wings and underbellies. Ire filled his throat. He opened his mouth and spewed fire, turning the silver scales of another dragon into molten liquid. A roar shook his chest. A black mace flew toward his head, sending him rolling, spinning toward the jagged cliffs beneath him. Another roar deafened him.

A dove-like coo penetrated the violent scene. Come back, whisperer. The voice could have been a puff of wind.

Fury suffused him. His family was destroyed. More than anything, he wanted to decimate his enemies. Make them feel pain. A golden dragon spewed a stream of ice at him. He didn’t feel the chill. He opened his mouth and spat. A river of flame reduced the ice to water.

The dripping mingled with the frr-off voice. Akolo, hear me.

Quicksand siphoned at his will, but Akolo withdrew. He wasn’t a dragon. He didn’t breathe fire.

Akolo blinked. His numb cheek rested against the eerie silhouette of the ice dragon’s neck. Akolo lifted his head. It weighed so much. Pain sliced into his temples. He moaned. The tips of his fingers ached, lodged between the diamond-like scales. Hatred simmered inside his chest.

Hatred? I don’t hate anyone. He exhaled, mentally expelling the negative emotions.

“I thought you were lost.”

I thought so, too. Akolo leaned his cheek against his arm. Deep breaths felt surprisingly clean and cool. He wants to destroy every dragon.

“He has nearly succeeded,” Jokul said. “Only a few from Clan Metallica, and even fewer from Crystalline, remain in Dragonrealm.”

I was him. Akolo squeezed his eyes shut then opened them wide, dispelling the horrifying images of fire and death. If only his heart could shed the anger and contempt as easily. Like when you shared my memory and became me, right?

“Much like that,” Jokul said. “ You must focus.”

Akolo closed his eyes. Did Jokul think he wasn’t trying? Akolo had never encountered anything like the bog of torpid emotions inside the red dragon.

“I know it’s difficult.” Jokul banked. Another gust of cool air relieved the flush on Akolo’s cheeks. “Focus on your goal. Make him see himself floating toward the sea.”

Like it’s so easy.

“I know it’s difficult for you, human.”

Human? This is about my race now? Maybe it was. The dragons roamed through other people’s thought with sickening ease.

“Ignore his thoughts by sharpening your own.”

Akolo nodded. It sounded so simple when Jokul’s explained it. The reality terrified him. What would happen if he became lost in the dragon’s mind? Maybe his body would stop breathing. Would he die? Being trapped forever in the vengeful fury that was Qwystanak would be worse than death.

He shivered, lifting himself away from the seat for a moment. Jokul floated. The plume from the volcano was a mile behind them. Why so far? Something clicked. Jokul rescued him from Qwystanak’s hold. Taking him out of range might have saved his life.

I’m ready. Akolo gritted his teeth and envisioned the beautiful coastline of Italy.

Jokul’s invisible form swerved toward the volcano.Wind buffeted Akolo’s face. He ignored the slicing cold. His thoughts became a javelin, sharp, impervious to emotion. The sea of red lava surrounding the red dragon’s mind became water. Akolo was a shark, cutting through the waves, circling his prey, deterred by nothing.

As Jokul said, not much of the dragon’s mind remained, making Akolo’s target a jagged strip of cloth. Akolo concentrated, ignoring the rush of emotion pulling at him. A pinprick of light opened at the end of the lava-filled tunnel. Fly to the sea. Defeat this world. Move off the mountain, nothing living remains here. Ride the air to the sparkling water.

Lava parted, the sea before a porpoise fin. Cruel black fangs smiled as the red head rose above the thick pool. Crunching, like gears grinding, preceded the gnarled wings to their fixed position. From the side of the crater, barrel-like legs heaved the massive body skyward. A sulfurous push from beneath lifted the bulk even more.

“It’s working,” Akolo whispered.

Then he dove back into the murky depths of the dragon’s thoughts.