Dragon Tamer

This takes place just after Book 3 in the Fablehaven series. This is primarily a story about Gavin. Yes, Kendra will be involved in this story, but I hesitated to list her as one of the main characters, since this is primarily Gavin's story. We will see some of the other main characters, and have a little interaction with them seeing as I might have this thing for Warren Burgess, I mean come on, he's amazing, good looking, and is fighting for the good side with extreme loyalty and ability, and he's single... but I digress. This is a twist that has been sitting in my head for a while. Enjoy!

Warning: May disregard, or entirely alter Books 4 and 5

Disclaimer: Anything recognizable is Brandon Mull's. Unrecognizable: Mine. Or maybe you're just not familiar with the books enough. I suggest you reread them.

Chapter 1: Tacos

Gavin was sitting in the nondescript SUV next to Arlin Santos. Arlin had received a call from the Knights of the Dawn requesting their presence for a briefing on the next mission. At first Gavin had wondered if he and Arlin would be going on the mission together, he had had mixed feelings about it. Although Gavin did enjoy spending time with the old family friend, Arlin could be particularly grating at times, particularly since Charlie Rose's death. Arlin seemed to feel responsible in some way for it, or at least responsible for Gavin's wellbeing. He was protective to a fault and didn't seem to recognize Gavin's position as a near adult. Fortunately, it turned out that Arlin had another mission he had to be going on. He was just there to transport Gavin to the rendezvous point. Not that he was actually needed, just Arlin's obsessive protective disorder kicking in. "We almost there?"

"Eh… I'm not sure. Do you want to stop by a fast-food joint and grab a burger before we get there? No guarantees about whether or not they'll have food. And they may send you out on this mission just after they brief you…" Arlin seemed concerned, fidgeting more than usual.

"Arlin, really, I'll be fine. My Dad has trained me for every foreseeable situation. I'm probably the best trained and equipped dragon tamer out there. Whatever this mission is, it probably involves dragons. Why else would they call me up? And b-b-b-besides, I'm a knight of the dawn! They'll need me, with the Society of the Evening Star on the rise it's critical that we get everyone fighting that we can. I highly doubt whatever they're planning that they'll send me on my own. Relax." Gavin looked over at Arlin, trying to reassure the older man, Arlin still didn't look convinced, but one had to give the guy credit, he appeared to be trying very hard to mask his apprehension about this upcoming mission, "Hey, come on, lighten up. Do you know something about this mission that I don't? If you do, don't make this long drive anymore boring! Send a few details m-m-m-my way." Gavin winked at his friend.

Arlin sighed glancing at Gavin before turning his eyes back on the road. He then ran one of his hands through his hair, although with his receding hairline there wasn't much left. "Gavin…" he began, as though trying to reassure him and warn him at the same time.

"Alright, don't worry about it. They'll tell me there, anyway." Arlin still wore the same concerned look on his face, Gavin tried to think of something to dispel it, it wasn't enjoyable to spend the last few hours he had with Arlin like this before he went out to help with whatever the knights needed next. "Hey look, a Taco Bell! Want to treat me to my last meal?" He winked at Arlin to let him know he was kidding.

Arlin relaxed somewhat as he turned off the freeway, although he was still sweating. "Yeah, some food will do us some good, how many tacos do you want?"

"Gavin," Arlin shook his shoulder, "we're here."

Gavin looked up, still somewhat groggy to inspect the surroundings. They had pulled into an alley, although he couldn't tell where, he rolled his neck to remove the cricks and stretched his arms above his head, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. A few of the taco wrappers crunched as he stretched his legs out, "Hey, there a garbage can close by that we can throw these away?"

Arlin looked mildly surprised, but peered around in the twilight, "It's getting dark, I can't tell. You might as well just leave them there. I'll clean them up."

Gavin nodded and climbed out of the car, "Okay, where exactly are we meeting them?"

Arlin was getting more nervous by the minute. He was like an old mother hen, never wanting to let any of the chicks go into danger, "It's a doorway down this alley, I believe it's number 17."

Gavin began walking briskly, watching for any signs of disturbances while watching for the door. Then he spotted it. The door looked pretty beat up, even moreso than the building, he turned around and whispered, "Okay, Arlin—" that was when he heard the SUV roar to life and back out of their quickly. Gavin was shocked for half a second before he took off. Someone must have ambushed them and taken Arlin! Then he tripped over a wire that had seemingly come out of nowhere, as he struggled to catch his balance, a large man burst from one of the doors in the alley and struck Gavin down. Gavin arched his back and threw the man off of him, kicking him as he managed to stand up. Another assailant came from the same building to help his companion and now had Gavin in a headlock. Gavin managed to kick the man, throwing him against the wall, hopefully knocking them both unconscious. Nope—apparently not. They were both stumbling to their feet and cursing. As he turned to race out of the alley he felt a small dart penetrate his skin, it came from one of the rooftops, Gavin stumbled as he tried to make his way out of the area, but he was already losing his ability to think straight. He stumbled to the ground and slipped into unconsciousness.

When Gavin regained consciousness he tried to decipher his surroundings. He was in a quite luxurious room, which under other circumstances would be nothing but inviting and pleasant. He began to assess his current circumstances. He was tied, rather securely, to some sort of hard chair. One would think that with all of the pleasant, comfortable chairs in the room they would have chosen one of those. They probably had to go to a small degree of trouble to get the one that he was seated in now. There was a gag over his mouth, quite securely placed. His captors knew exactly what they were doing.

Gavin had never been one to lose his head in a dangerous situation, primarily due to his encounters with dragons. He quickly began to assess the situation. Possible escape routes: A) The Window B) The Door C) The Air Vent. He took a second look at the air vent, evaluating its size compared to his own. Okay, he'd never fit. It was just too small. He had always thought that it might be somewhat cool to escape through an air vent. He glanced at the window, if it came to it, he could probably escape that way, but he had no idea how high up he was. The door would be his best bet. Granted, that was probably the way that they would expect him to go, and they would probably have more goons running around in the hallway, whoever they were. He was fairly confident in his ability to escape, but he did have that nagging doubt in his mind. They were able to catch you before, Gavin. These are no amateurs. Gavin quickly brushed the thought away, seeking for his options, and then returned to it quickly. He would find out eventually who had ambushed him, he would have to seek to play to whatever or whoever they were. The door opened and a slight woman peered through the door, before quickly slamming it shut. He could hear her footsteps softening as she walked away in some hurry. So now, they knew he was awake. Theoretically, one of his captors should be coming soon. Good. Gavin hated waiting.

The door opened once again, allowing seven men in, before the last shut the door and securely locked it. One of them was Arlin Santos. Gavin looked up in shock. He knew something fishy was up, he had just never guessed that Arlin would be a part of it. His mind began desperately grasping at straws, any possible answer to allow for Arlin's treacherous and traitorous actions. Even as he sought to free his friend from his obvious guilt, Gavin knew that Arlin was clearly on the other team. Gavin shook his head, he had to think quickly, Forget about Arlin, he chided himself, get back to the situation at hand. You can still get out of this!

The Sphinx nodded in the direction of the three burliest men. They all took up positions, one of them in front of the door, one of them in front of the window and the last in front of the vent. Wait, Gavin did a double take. The Vent, seriously? And then he rolled his eyes. Arlin must have told them about his old childhood fascination. It was the only plausible solution, granted the idea of him making his way through such a little vent was laughable. The Sphinx smiled as he approached Gavin.

"Gavin, you may recognize your assailants from last night." He gestured toward the three men now guarding every possible escape. "We were worried about you being able to escape, but unfortunately, it would have drawn more attention than necessary if we had filled the area with too many of our members. Your abilities truly are impressive, without that dart gun, our taking you would have been nigh impossible. You truly are a work of art."

Gavin watched the Sphinx with cautious, calculating eyes. He was fully aware that the Sphinx was dangerous. Dougan had contacted him only days before to let him know about the Sphinx's traitor status. "And of course, we couldn't have done it without Arlin," the Sphinx said, gesturing to the man behind him. Arlin didn't seem all that thrilled to be in the room with the young man he had handed over. The Sphinx continued, "His help was invaluable. Why, without him, it would have taken much more time than we could afford to lose to bring you into our custody. No one else would have been suitable."

Arlin interjected quickly, "Yes, I brought you the boy. I have other things I need to do, I'd like to leave as quickly as possible, if you don't mind." Gavin tried to glare at the man to give him some sort of inkling of what waited for him if he ever found him.

The Sphinx nodded dismissively, "Yes, your part is done, Santos." The man guarding the door sneered as Arlin Santos wormed his way out before heavily slamming the door again behind him. "Now," the Sphinx said evaluating the young man before him, "I have someone else to introduce to you. Why the reason you're here, actually." The Sphinx gestured the last man forward. Gavin evaluated him quickly. The man was strong and wiry, somewhat on the tall side. He looked to be in his late twenties, although his face did have an ageless quality to it. The man would be quick in a fight, Gavin guessed, and would probably be one of the first ones involved. "Gavin, I'd like you to meet Navarog, the Demon Prince," then the Sphinx quickly nodded, "I'll leave you to it then, Navarog. I have some very urgent appointments." With that the Sphinx left the room.

Navarog seemed to be evaluating Gavin, he was studying him quite intently. Gavin returned the steely gaze. The dragon might be a demon prince, but Gavin refused to be intimidated.

"You have something I want, something I want desperately. You see boy you are rather phenomenal, an anomaly if I dare say it. You are a phenomenal Dragon Tamer. You hold a very deep-seated trust in the hearts of those whose aid would help me the most. You will be invited on this next mission, and you will make things slightly easier." Navarog's voice was clearly mocking, but there was unmistakable hunger in his eyes. "Perhaps I'll even allow you to speak…it would certainly be interesting to get to know you a little bit better." The demon didn't move, but snapped his fingers at the man who stood guarding the vent. Gavin tried to keep his thoughts light, perhaps he felt pity for the man. After all, one must feel rather worthless and bored guarding a miniscule vent. The man roughly removed Gavin's gag.

Gavin glowered at the demon prince, "Well that's n-n-n-nice. You know, most fans just send letters, I think this is taking the whole admiration bit just a little too far."

Navarog laughed shortly, without humor "Oh you do have a fun personality. That will make my job so much more—enjoyable."

"Well now that we've laid out that you desperately envy me and all that, can we just cut to the chase? I really am a busy guy. Places to go, people to see and all that."

"And Dragon Sanctuaries to invade, keys to steal, the Society of the Evening Star to stop. Don't worry, you'll still get to do two out of three. Rather kind of me, don't you think?"

Gavin's jaw dropped, "B-b-b-but how d-d-did—"

He laughed again, "How did I know that? And even before you knew it yourself! Hmm an interesting quandary and conundrum if I do say so myself. Let's just say that I have lots of very valuable sources in places that you would never have imagined. But yes, you wanted to cut to the chase, and so I will, I must be on the move on as well, after all. You see, Gavin, as I said before, you'll be invited on the next mission, and I desperately need to be there."

"Oh, right." Gavin snorted derisively, "I'll be your foot in the door. I'll just trounce along back behind and say 'Hey guys, is it alright if I bring Navarog along? He won't be too much of a bother. He just wants to open Zzyzx and kill us all.'"

"Oh Gavin, you have much to learn. Even if you would cooperate, which I highly doubt, I would never send someone in my place on such an absolutely critical mission."

"Thank you for stating the obvious. And you're right I'd never help you, it might have something to do with the fact that you want to destroy the human race."

"Oh no Gavin, you are greatly mistaken. You will be helping me a great deal," Navarog began rolling his shirtsleeves up and flexing his hands. "You see you will be going there with the other 'Knights of the Dawn', or at least I will" he paused for emphasis, watching the confused expression on Gavin's face "as you."

Gavin looked horrified for a brief instant before he regained his composure and tried sounding nonchalant, "Well I'm so glad that we've got that all cleared up. It's all coming together now, seeing as you look so much like me."

"You're right. I don't look like you now, but I will. You see, Demons all possess different abilities, or gifts you might say—"

Gavin cut him off, "But you're not a demon, remember? You're a dragon that received the honorary title of demon."

"Hmmm… yes," Navarog seemed distracted as he continued to study Gavin intently, "Tell me… how often do you stutter?"

This question caught Gavin completely off guard, "What?"

One of the burly men answered the question, "Santos said that he stuttered whenever he was nervous, or didn't quite know what to say."

Navarog nodded his acknowledgement of the man's statement. "Well, to answer your question Gavin," the demon prince began circling around his chair, seeming to evaluate Gavin from every possible perspective. "I am a dragon, and we dragons do have magical abilities, although at this point I do align myself with my true identity, rather than simply relying on the one I was given at birth. But dragons do possess extraordinary ability, and by nature of my associations, I have picked up a few things over the past few millennia." He paused again, "Tell me, Gavin, are you familiar with stingbulbs?"

Gavin continued to try and remain nonchalant, "Certainly. Who isn't?"

"One of my many varied abilities is similar to a sting bulb. I can take on the human form of anyone I wish. My current form comes from an unfortunate man who tried to fight me. I do believe it was many millennia ago. Naturally, he lost, but I found his form so intriguing that I decided to replace it as my avatar. No, Gavin, I can see your horror. Don't worry, the last thing I want to do is inhabit your body and share your thoughts. No, I simply need your avatar. I understand that it will put you in a catatonic state. Who knows if you'll ever awaken. Most people I release have been long dead before I let go of them. Of course, they have to die a natural death, or I would instantly lose my avatar. Their bodies tend to exist longer, by about a hundred years, than most mortals. If I were to harm you directly in any way, my avatar would instantly lose shape, and you would die. Out of curiosity, I tried it once, the man instantly turned to sawdust. Quite painful for me, you can imagine."

Gavin worked hard to keep any of the alarm from showing on his face. Whatever this dragon planned to do, Gavin had to kill himself first to keep him from doing it. If Gavin was dead, Navarog couldn't pose as him and deceive all of his friends. Unfortunately, Gavin's mobility was somewhat limited at the moment. He began racking his brain for ideas. He had to be able to do something!

"But I must go now, Gavin. I am a very, very busy demon, and I'm supposed to meet with those heading to Wyrmroost in only a few short hours. You," he pointed to one of the men, "return the gag. I don't want my concentration interrupted when he screams."

Gavin hadn't said anything for the past few minutes, his mind had been working desperately to find alternative solutions, but at this he opened his mouth to try and distract Navarog, when the gag was firmly placed over his mouth. His words came out as muffled noises. The gag was tied tighter than before. Gavin began thrashing against his bonds, he knew it wouldn't do any good, but he had to do something, anything! Instantly two of the men were at his side, holding him down and forcing him to remain still.

"Don't worry, Gavin. This will only hurt for a moment." Navarog smiled and then placed his hands on Gavin's head, closing his own eyes in deep concentration. The agony that burst through Gavin's body was like a hot white fire. Gavin struggled incessantly even despite the pain. He couldn't let them down! The pain increased. It became sharp, jabbing, like knives were stabbing in addition to the hot searing pain. Instantly the pain ceased, as Navarog backed up. "Why won't you let go!" The demon prince looked furious. It was clear that he had never encountered such resistance. Navarog's determined look returned. "You!" he barked at the remaining man guarding the door. "Go retrieve Gularla!" The man visibly paled, but it was evidently clear that he would rather face whoever Gularla was than Navarog right now. He hurried out the door.

Gavin was spent, he wasn't sure that he could handle another attack like that. The pain was now dull and thrumming, a reminder of the intense, excruciating pain he had just experienced. Fortunately, it didn't appear Navarog could handle another bout of that either. Both of the thugs seemed to gather that asking Navarog about his condition wouldn't be wise. Navarog slapped Gavin on the face. "How did you do it? No one can fight me. Not one!" Gavin ignored the sting, the pain was insignificant compared to what he had just experienced. It was rather irrelevant that he couldn't really talk even if he'd wanted to, He honestly didn't know how he had resisted it. Maybe Navarog just usually chose weaker opponents. The third man finally returned, followed by a bent, crooked old woman.

She smiled with her crooked teeth, "Having troubles, Navarog?"

He glared at her, unsmiling, "You already know that I am, hag. Tell me what I must do to conquer this boy!"

"Unbelievable! Is the mighty Navarog, demon prince and, dragon actually coming to me, lowly old Gularla for help?" She cackled, "Well sorry to disappoint you old boy, but I don't think I will. It will do you good to be humbled a little."

Gavin watched the exchange in shock. Clearly this could work to his advantage. If they spent enough time arguing, he might be able to work his way free. Granted he still had the henchmen holding him, but all of his thrashing with the most recent excursion had loosened his bonds, but only slightly, but it would be enough. He was counting on his captors believing that he was spent, he would have to do it with his body completely relaxed, but he had to do it gradually enough that the henchmen wouldn't realize what he was doing. He'd lost track of the argument but picked it up again as he began working with his bonds. His surprising strength, although somewhat drained, would aid him here.

Navarog was now threatening the woman, if you could call her that, "I am Navarog! A Demon Prince! Your prince! I am the only one who is walking free at present, I would hate to see the Demon King's response when he finds how reluctant you were to aid me in freeing him." He hissed.

"I on the other hand am an actual demon. You, on the other hand, are only an honorary demon. It's almost like a child getting an honorable mention. They just let you join in name, you have no contest with any real demon kind!"

Gavin's hands came loose. This was the perfect opportunity to escape! The men were no longer watching him. Both were watching the fight with intent eyes, both glancing at the door, watching for an opportunity to run if the demons began really throwing blows. Gavin suspected that Navarog was superior, but that the hag was putting up a short streak of defiance, more for her own entertainment than actual enmity. No it looked like there was some of that too, but Gavin knew that the demon would help Navarog soon enough. He moved his hands slowly, he had a huge headache, but he still had a chance of making it out of the building. Then like a bullet, Gavin took off racing through the door. "STOP HIM!" Navarog yelled, "He must not escape!" He gritted his teeth as Gavin tore down a set of stairs, 4 steps at a time. He wasn't out of hot water yet, and his head hurt like he'd been hit over the head by a 2 by 4 multiple times, but his body was full of adrenaline as he considered the prospect of escaping. Well, he thought to himself, Arlin was right about something. They didn't feed me, good thing we grabbed those tacos.

I daresay you know what to do here. We'll see how quickly I can grind out the next chapter, so that we can find out what happens to poor Gavin.

~Gretta99~