Author's Notes: Okay, I am now officially enrolled in Bachelor of Business in university. There are no more books (or series of books) that compel me to read, making me useless and unresponsive to the world beyond my chair. For the next month at least, I can sit down and type this story!
A few months later: Well… that plan didn't work out so well.
A note to ArkansanDragon: I'd already planned for a location spell, so don't think I filched your idea. Also, thank you for being my beta, giving me needed trivia and prodding my lazy ass to write.
Disclaimer: I've forgotten to do this, bugger. I don't own… please don't sue. If I did, it would still be running with the original animation and the guy that came up with the idea for Homecoming (the ending at least) would be looking for a new job. I only own the characters I made up.
Previously on A Race to Protect
The object was about the size of her hand; rotating her wrist around, Thorn discovered that it was a phone. Excited, she flipped it open, hoping to find a link to the kidnappers. There was one new message on it. As her eager eyes read the print, Huntsgirl realised that it didn't belong to the captors.
Her muttered curses drew the others' attention away from their own search. "They have Clarkson, too." The adolescent waved the device to show how she knew.
A Race to Protect
Chapter 10: Scales
Night, about 1am, Jake's 'recovery room'.
With pieces of a plan forming and connecting in her mind, Huntsgirl faced Loa Shi. "Can Fu make a location spell for us? Quickly?" With the Huntsclan – officially, anyway – avoiding the use of potions, her knowledge of making such items were limited.
Rooftop of Canal Street Electronics
"Sorry, Sweetheart. We're missing one ingredient to whip up the quickest batch that doesn't need Krylock venom, and the second fastest potion takes days." The grey hound had just finished routing around his private stash when the four arrived back at the store.
"Days!" Thorn sputtered. "We don't have that amount of time. He could be taken out of the country by then. Even with the police, there's no way we'd be able to get to him." The only good thing in the entire affair was that since the doctor was kidnapped too, it could become a matter for the local authorities. She had asked Spud and Trixie to place an anonymous call to 911 that Dr Clarkson had been taken from the building. Spud had also hacked into their radios and found out that the cops weren't too surprised by the abduction. After all, having 'a creature unknown to science' – for a pet or to sell to the highest bidder – would be like striking gold to the illegal animal trade. Being an undocumented animal, Clarkson would be seen by most as the expert on the new species.
Thorn flopped down on the concrete with her back to the ledge in frustration. Struck with an idea, she raised her head. "What are you missing?" Maybe Uncle has it in the Lair. It can't be as rare as Krylock venom. It wouldn't have been the first time stuff had disappeared from the Lair, only to reappear in the American Dragon's possession. Fortunately for her, either nobody noticed the missing items or they blamed the last person who had them for losing it.
"Ooh, no! You are not gonna give 'em anything from the Huntslair. Master will kill us. He'll tie us up and throw us to the kraken for lunch! Na-ah, no way, no how!" The two trainees had said so little over the night that it was easy to forget they were there. Eighty-nine glared defiantly at Huntsgirl, daring her to dispute the obvious.
As much as Thorn disliked them questioning her authority, she had to admit that the younger teen had a point. No matter what the circumstances were, handing Huntsclan property over to dragons was forbidden. Now that I think about it, most of what we're doing is forbidden, and possibly treasonable. It was only a miracle that the two boys hadn't realised that. If they didn't cooperate with her now, she might as well stick them in the cell with Richard. She had to make this mission sound as though it had no consequences for them.
Huntsgirl stood up and looked as stern and formidable as her physical stature allowed. "Listen up, you two. Uncle put me in charge. So I am responsible for any decisions made. Since I outrank both of you, you cannot be held accountable for any orders I give. If anyone is going to be punished for this endeavour, it's going to be me." Thorn mentally cringed at the thought. Oh, well. If they're smart, the High Council will realise this rescue attempt is in the Huntsclan's best interest. Can't have dragons telling the public about our livelihood, can we? The boys looked at each other and shrugged. Number 88 gave a mock salute in her direction as if to say 'Okay, Boss'.
Fu shook his head. "Nice speech there, Toots. But unless you got a chuck of the kids' tail or somethin', we're sunk."
Thorn blinked. "You mean like skin, blood and hair, right? Why not just pinch some hair out of his hairbrush." After all, it was the obvious thing to do.
Loa snorted in contempt. "If you have noticed the abomination he calls 'style', I do not believe his head has knowledge of what a hairbrush is used for."
Huntsgirl closed her eyes in aggravation and absentmindedly scratched her neck. Unfortunately, the spot remained itchy due to her necklace that she had almost finished mak—
If she were an anime character, her sweat-drop and fall would have illustrated her 'duh!' moment. "What about scales?" Thorn stammered, once she had gotten over her shocked stupor of realising her incompetence.
With a surprised nod from the animal guardian, Huntsgirl pridefully dangled the red and gold scaled ornamentation between her fingers for the others to see. The entire piece was made from tightly overlapping scales, thus one could mistake it for actual dragon skin. Most of the 'band' of the necklace that circled her throat was made from the smallest gold scales — mainly so the shape would conform to her neck movements – and was 1⅔ inches thick. The colour of the scales changed to red at the centre of the 'band'. The bulk of the necklace, roughly three inches across the 'band' and four inches downwards, had the smallest red scales on top and the largest ones forming a 'V' at where Huntsgirls' bust started.
"When I die, I want ta be a necklace." It took a few moments for Thorn to figure out what Fu meant. When she did, he was rewarded with swipe to the head.
"Keep talking like that and you might get your wish, Mutt."
"But—but. Only girls make scale jewellery." The tall teen wiped his glasses and squinted at the design. Seeing the raised eyebrow he received, Number 89 tried to amend his blurted statement. "I mean – you know – the squawking banshee type that cry over broken nails or blood stains on their shirts."
"For your information, I happen to know grown men, with skulls to their name, wearing scale bracelets under their uniforms." The young woman retorted. It was true, of course. For those who were chasing their first dragon – or ones that were taking a while to slay – it was common for apprentices (even the initiated) to collect scale that had been knocked off their victim. Huntsgirl had seen many of her associates use however many scales they had collected as earrings, bracelets and necklaces.
Fu plucked the necklace from her and started down the rooftop stairs. "Ah-goo-goo, we're in business. I'll whip it up in less than ten minutes, and bada-bing-bada-boom, we've got where they've stashed the kid." He turned to Thorn, "You want ta sell this, I know some guys that'll pay a good amount of gold for –yah!" The rest of his sentence was cut short by a green beam aimed just above his head.
On a ship at the Hudson River docks. 1:30am.
Anne wrung the water out of the cloth and started collecting the fallen scales. She had noticed Lucky bleeding and after discounting the wounds re-opening, deduced that it was his 'skin' that was giving him discomfort. On the basis of the creature's health, the doctor had conned their captors into allowing him out of the cage for a rubdown. They were not stupid though, they had tied his muzzle to one of the rings bolted onto the floor. The chain leash was too short to raise himself more then a foot off the floor so he had restricted mobility. Plus a guard was set at the door, a tranquiliser for the dragon and a gun for Anne.
The woman sat on the cold flooring and examined the shiny red scales. They're probably made of keratin. If that's true, collecting discarded scales would be an easy and safe way to check the animal's condition. She placed a handful in one of the many lab coat pockets for later analysis, if there was a later. Anne went back to the task. A sigh of contentment escaped the beast's muzzled snout, his dark brown eyes drooping as he stretched as much as the constraints allowed.
Author's Notes: Krylock venom was used in Season 2 Episode 2: Half-Baked. I acknowledge I got this information from TV .com.
Keratin: makes up hair, nails, hooves and horns.