Bonded in Dreams
Bonded Series: Book One
Chapter One:
Meetings and Farewells
***Usagi***
"Alright you girls," came a voice from the hallway. They both turned and saw the adults had followed them up the stairs. "Happy birthday to you," they sang, Usagi's mom came into the room, carrying a small chocolate cake. "Happy Birthday to you," they continued. "Happy birthday, dear Usagi! Happy birthday to you."
Usagi felt excited and stared at the cake, her eyes caught by the glittering orange flames dancing merrily over the purple candles. She was overwhelmed, and happy. She could feel Ami's hand suddenly find her own.
"Make a wish," the other girl said softly.
Closing her eyes tight, she made her first Wish. She didn't speak the words aloud, but she wished, desperately, to find out where Makoto was. The real Makoto.
***Hank***
Hank frowned as the four-wheelers approached. There were two of them, both with search and rescue personnel sitting in front, and with a bench seat in the back that could take up to three people sitting side by side. If those people were relatively small, like the kids.
He didn't like the idea of being separated from the kids. Not with what he knew. He hoped he was the only one who knew. As much as he trusted his friends, he couldn't take the chance that they would say something about what the oldest boy was.
Hank had seen it, with his own two eyes. He had been ahead of the others, by only about half a mile, since he was looking for signs of a game trail he knew was in the area while they were bringing the gear. He hadn't found the trail. Instead, he had watched the dragon land in the clearing and become a human boy. His mind had taken several moments to catch up, and in that time his friends had reached him and seen the children.
Thinking fast, Hank had pretended to be shocked at the sight of children alone in the middle of the woods, during hunting season. Then he'd made sure he was the one who stepped forward. If anyone found out about the kid, the government would take him apart to see what made him tick, and then probably try to make weapons out of whatever was left. He shuddered. Maybe he had been watching too many science fiction movies.
When it came time to load up, Hank insisted on driving the kids himself. No one argued. It was obvious he had begun to create a rapport with them and no one wanted to interfere. He had been out on several search and rescue missions himself, and he had seen others cling to a rescuer in the past.
This time was different, however. Hank was determined that no one would find out about the boy. If, he reminded himself, he hadn't just eaten something bad and imagined the whole damn thing. There had to be a way to get Jessica involved, and quickly. Sometimes she could sense things about others. She would know what to do.
Almost the moment the engine revved, as he was pulling out of the clearing, the oldest boy, Mamoru, began to drowse. His head fell limply to the side, and he went into a deep sleep neither of his siblings could pester him out of. He slept through the journey out of the woods. Hank carried him to his own truck and lay him in the back seat, then made the slow drive to the police station, taking as long as he dared.
"What's wrong with him?" he finally asked, noticing that the twins didn't seem entirely worried.
"Nuthin'," the adorable Minako said, scrunching up her nose. "He carried us all night," she admitted. "So he is tired."
That made sense to Hank, but he sensed it was something more. Something deeper. It was as though the boy had held on for as long as he could, and then slipped into sleep to escape the pain of losing his parents. He seemed to trust Hank, who was in over his head.
Whatever had happened, those kids had not been out in the woods for even a day, let alone three weeks. They weren't covered in dirt, as they would have been had they been sleeping rough. And they weren't begging him for food, which meant they hadn't gone more than a day or two without.
Hank made a call over his radio, telling the others he was stopping to get the kids something to eat. He drove to the nearest fast food restaurant and parked at the back, which was right up at the edge of the trees. Then he turned to the twins, who were both watching him warily.
"We have a problem here," he said finally. "Actually several." He sighed, looking at the adorable blonde twins, who both seemed far older than their seven years. "First, there is usually a medical exam whenever kids are found in the woods. That means they will want to take your blood. I don't know if you kids are dragons too, but if you are, it would show up in a blood test."
For several long moments the twins stared at him without speaking. Then the boy, Jadeite, shook his head. "We're drakkon, not dragons," he clarified. "And nothing about our blood will look different. It's part of the spell. When in human form we appear exactly the same as other humans."
"Other humans," Hank mused. "So you are human too?"
"Yes," Minako said softly. "But not all humans like us," she added, her hand wrapped tightly around her brother's.
"Well I like you just fine," Hank said. "I don't like to think what the government would do if they found out about you."
"We don't have to worry about the government," Jadeite said sadly. "But the Enclave killed our parents, and probably all of our friends."
"How long will your brother sleep?"
"I don't know," Jadeite muttered. He reached for the bag, letting go of Minako's hand, and unzipped the front pocket. "We have life-bread though. I can smell it."
"What is life bread?"
"It makes drakkons strong. Helps them have energy for flying." Jadeite had pulled out something that looked an awful lot like a fruit cake. When he opened it, there was a delicious smell. It was a mix of fruit and spice, and as Jadeite broke off a tiny crumb, large enough to hold only a single berry, Mamoru began to stir.
Jadeite held the tiny portion to his brother's lips, and Mamoru immediately sat up and looked around. His eyes went wide when he noticed Hank staring at him. Feeling as though he had witnessed a miracle, Hank couldn't take his eyes off the boy. Color had come rushing back to him, and he looked healthy and well rested.
"Whatever is in that stuff," Hank said, "It did the trick."
"It's okay Mamoru," Minako said, reaching out to pat his hand. "He won't tell the Enclave."
Mamoru stared at Minako, then at Jadeite, and then turned his gaze on Hank again, his eyes seeming to hold Hank prisoner. For a long moment he sat there, caught in the boy's gaze, and he wondered if the child wasn't an ancient king reborn. He had a look of such sadness and wisdom, and of barely controlled movement.
"My true name is Mamoru Mat'nin Tir Saphgold," Mamoru said finally. "My sister Minako Jen'nia Lyn Saphgold, and my brother Jadeite Jam'set Arn Saphgold." He let out a small breath and then inhaled deeply. "You are not wita'hum, or reta'vulfa. I sense no fae in you either. That makes you wita'bom'hum, or A Friend of Magic."
"What is that?" Hank asked, feeling as though a much older person was speaking to him through the boy.
"One who helps a magical being, generally without thought of reward, and almost always without being asked." Mamoru smiled. "It means you are a true friend, one who can be trusted with the secret of what we are."
"If I take you home with me, it's only fair I tell my wife, and my girls," he said. "They have to know what they are getting into. But I promise you, my wife will find a way to help you. She's pretty special in her own way."
***Ikuko***
Ikuko waited until the girls had both fallen asleep before making her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. As she made her way in, she pulled down her frazzled mane and twisted it into a bun at the top of her head, fixing it in place with the hair band she always kept there.
"I don't know if it worked completely," she said to the man standing by the sliding door. "But they seem to believe they are cousins, and that we are their families." She frowned and rubbed her aching lower back. It had been hard work to set up the entire bedroom in one morning.
"They must be separated if they are to stay hidden," the man said, pulling a packet of papers from the pocket inside his coat. "The spell on their memories will only last until they each turn thirty, if it is not broken before then. You must wait for the right time to tell her," he added, his eyes turning amethyst for a long moment.
"How will I know the right time?" Ikuko asked anxiously. "Can't we tell her the truth and still keep her hidden on the Island?"
"No!" The word was bit out harshly. "Four drakkon, twenty-three reta'vulfa, and more than a hundred wita'hum are dead. I fear they suspect something of my true nature," he added, his hands coming down in fists, clenched to his sides. "They did not tell me who the betrayer was, only that they had been given the spell to release the protections."
"Read their minds," Ikuko suggested. "There has to be a better guardian than me! What can I teach a silver drakkon? I have no magic!" The last words were nearly a shout, and she saw that they had hit their mark.
The man sighed, loosing his rigid pose, and pulled one chair out to sit heavily and stare sadly at Ikuko. "You saw what they did to my wife," he said sadly. "They killed her for her failures, in front of our son." His voice shook on the words, and for a moment Ikuko thought he would weep. Then he held back his shoulders and stared at her.
"Ikuko, I chose you because you are human. You and your sister are the embodiment of what we came here to save. She will learn the most important lessons from you."
"I don't understand why you chose me," Ikuko said, still amazed that she and her sister had been asked to hide the princesses. "I will do my best to keep her safe, and I will continue to love her."
"You were her teacher for four years," the man said, his voice low. "You know what she is like. She must be encouraged in her ways, for her own sake, and for the sake of the world. More important than anything however, is that she must be given this book on her thirteenth birthday."
He placed a small silver book on the table. "Each of the words and pictures in this book are designed to draw out her own particular memories, and the memories of her ancestors. Until the spell is released, they will come in the form of vivid dreams. She must be prepared to take her place should something happen to the Silver Mother."
Carefully not speaking, or even thinking, the name of her guest, Ikuko went to the refrigerator and grabbed two bottles of water. She passed one to the man and settled into her own chair, taking a sip of the cold water. Staring at the label, rather than at her guest, she picked at the paper halfheartedly.
"I'm sorry about your wife," she said softly. "And all the others. I don't know what to say," she admitted.
"The only thing we can say is that we won't give up. We can't let their sacrifices go in vain."
Ikuko frowned. When the man had appeared at her window the night before, carrying the two little girls everyone believed had been taken, she had nearly fainted. When he had begged her not to tell anyone the girls were alive, it had been a further shock. She still wasn't sure she understood.
"What if, whoever gave them the spell, did so unknowingly?" she asked.
The man shook his head. "It isn't possible. No one in the Outer World could have lifted that spell, because it was only known to the Maiden, Mother, and Crone, and their protectors. No. I fear that in the house of Wita, there is a spy. One who somehow evaded the protections set in place. If this is so, we cannot be sure of anything. If one spy can get through, could one assassin? She cannot be safe in Nin'Kiz'Widme until we know for sure. And if anyone could accidentally be talking directly to a spy…" he let the words hang unfinished.
"Can't we at least get word to her grandmother?" Ikuko asked. "She dotes on the girls."
"Not even her," the man said softly. "Remember, I still cannot enter the Within World." He placed his hand on the golden collar at his throat. "None of us can. We must be freed from these before we can return home."
"I wish I could take that thing off you," Ikuko growled, angry at the sight of the horrid metal, lined with stones she could not name. Whatever they were, they kept him bound, like a slave, unable to disobey an order, though he had found ways to circumvent many of those orders by following them only to the absolute word, rather than the abstract meaning.
Ikuko had been there, when the man had been forced to kill the two drakkons they had managed to capture, in order to draw out the two missing girls. The third, their younger sister Makoto, had already been locked inside a tiny dog kennel, left out in the night without even a jacket for protection.
When the two girls had not emerged from the woods, she had heard the man hidden in shadows order this man to go find them, and not to return until he had done so. Then he had gone and found them, and knocked on her bedroom window, asking her and her sister, and their husbands, to take the girls and hide. He had handed her a gem, and the moment her fingers had closed around it, she and the rest had appeared in this very kitchen.
That had been last night. He had appeared twice more, bringing some of the girl's things, and again to lay the spell on them. Then he had taken Ami and her new parents away, only a few moments before Usagi had woken up. Now he was back a third time, presumably to tell her what to do next.
"I won't tell you where to go," the man said, as though he had followed her convoluted, overwhelmed train of thoughts. "In fact, for this to work, I absolutely cannot know where you are. You must move if you sense even the hint of danger. And you cannot stay here. A few days will not cement too strongly in her memory, but if you stay here long, and it does not meet the few memories I've allowed to remain, she will begin to fight the spell." He frowned, staring up the stairs.
"She cannot do that until she is stronger," he continued solemnly. "They know she is a silver now. They cannot be allowed to find her. Or her mate."
"He did escape then!" Ikuko breathed, grateful for this bit of news.
"Yes, and he took his brother and sister with him, carried them on his back like Mat'nin of old, so I am told," the man said, a hint of pride emerging in his tone, though he was still hunched with sadness.
"And the princess is safe," Ikuko added, staring up at the ceiling, where above her two little girls lay sleeping in the same bed, clutching one another tightly as though they knew they would soon be separated.
"They will remember their sister," the man said sadly. "I could not take her completely. I also left a remnant of their parents. Just a hint of what each of them truly are. They probably will not speak of it, but if they do, you can tell them after they are thirteen. Not a moment before."
"Why thirteen?" Ikuko asked, unsure if it has something to do with their biology as drakkons, or if it was a law he was trying to abide, even enslaved by the enemy of his people.
The man sighed softly. "A silver has the saddest memories of all," he said sadly. "Let her be a child, as long as she can. Let her be happy and free. Let her play with puppies, and chase butterflies. But do not shield her too much either. Though she will suffer pain, she will meet it as she must. With hope. That is the true gift of the silver."
"I don't really know much about any of their species," Ikuko admitted. "I've noticed tendencies, but I don't understand wita, or any of the rest."
"You will learn much, I'm afraid," the man said softly. "You have all taken on a great burden. Let the girls see each other once in a while, if you can find a way to do so safely. Remember, you are the best teacher for her." He smiled, though it had none of the spirit she remember from their youth.
"And she is also the best teacher for you. As she grows, she will dream. When you give her the book, those dreams will gain an element of her personal history, and the history of her kind. Ask her to tell you of them." He slowly stood. "I would like to see her, one last time. The next time I meet her gaze, I will be free."
"This book is for Ami," he added, placing a small sapphire colored book, identical in shape to the silver one, on the table. He offered her a small bow, then moved silently past her and up the stairs.
Breathing out heavily, Ikuko grabbed up the papers, and the two books, and hurried into the living room, where the others were busy working on forging documents for the identities the man had created for them. He had also given them all enough money so that they could move as often as necessary, and so that they would not need to work, and could therefore find ways to protect the girls at all times.
Ikuko herself intended to continue as a teacher, so that she could protect Usagi even at school. She thought her sister might do the same. They had discussed it at length while the girls had run off their sugar high after cake and ice cream that afternoon.
"He's gone up to see them," she said, startling both of the men. Akiko only nodded. Sometimes it seemed like the moment one of them knew something, the other knew it as well.
"Did he say what we should do?" Kenji asked, looking through the window nervously.
"Keep on the move. He asked us to let them see one another, but thinks we shouldn't live in the same towns. He said we should give them the books when they turn thirteen, but not before that. And he doesn't want to know where we are, or where we're going."
"Okay," Ace murmured, standing up. "That leaves a lot for us to decide. We want to live close enough to each other that they can visit, but not so close that it is obvious." He picked up an atlas book, containing road maps of all the states in the U.S. "Any ideas?"
"What about Utah?" Akiko asked. "Maybe in the mountains somewhere."
Ikuko settled in on the couch. Soon Kenji had joined her and the four of them turned their minds to planning. They had to keep the girls safe. If they didn't, the entire world could be at risk.
Joseph Clemmons stared at the two blonde-haired girls, wishing he had the power to turn back time and return their parents to them. And their sister. The seeds had been planted however. They would find her. Someday. He wouldn't live to see it, and his son…
Kneeling next to the bed, Joseph cleared his mind of all thought but one. He focused on their memories, and planted one new thought. Then he bent and placed a gentle kiss on each tousled head, then backed away and took one long, last look at his nieces before her fled from them, traveling away with the use of wita, to a lonely spot, deep in the swamps, where the sight of the whisps reminded him of all he had lost.
Finally, he let out his grief at what he had been forced to do. So long as the collar remained around his throat he could not disobey. He had been forced to kill his own wife, and his own brother, and his sister-in-law. He had watched enslaved reta'vulfa, ordered to cage Makoto, shuddering even as they obeyed.
Pulling a book from his pocket, he stared down at the emerald colored cover, his mind far away, on a far distant future, where all sentient creatures lived together, in harmony. Where all were happy, no one suffered hunger or fear, and where the needs of the individual were considered important to the needs of the whole. It was only one possibly future, but he had seen it. And it all hinged one one thing coming to pass.
She must find her mate. Their combined strengths would be enough to break the slave collars once and for all. Then the drakkon and all their magical brethren, and any who wanted to join them, could return to the Kiz'Widme, to live in safety forever. But the girl must live, free of the Enclave, if that were to happen. Should the Enclave find the girl, they would destroy both worlds with their hatred and greed.
Joseph shivered, though the air was warm even for late fall. Then he pulled a simple, clear stone, from his bag. It was a vessel. Holding it in the palms of his hands, he stored the memories of what he had done to help the girls, and sent them floating into the whisps, who circled around their new toy with delight, taking turns experiencing the memories.
"You keep them safe for me," he whispered, wiping his wet cheeks. Then he stood. His son would still be with the youngest princess, Makoto. He had been ordered not to return until he had found the girls. He could not break the letter of that order, but he had found the girls.
He knew he would be called from the search soon enough. His master had a mind that flitted back and forth, and chose new avenues at will. He was sure, when none of the others could make the girl transform, they would call to him.
It was too dangerous to return, though he worried deeply for his son, Jacob. He had lost his mother, had seen his own father kill her… His thoughts broke away. He could not handle the memory. Not now.
Joseph pulled at the wita all around him and teleported back to the scene of the attack. It had been cleaned. There was no evidence anything had happened at all. One of the other enslaved witches had even repaired all of the houses that had been destroyed. The Enclave had already gone, leaving the houses empty and silent in the darkness.
How many had lived in the small town? Two hundred? Three? How many had escaped, and how many had been killed. Their bodies would be taken back, no matter what form of creature they were. They would be dissected. The Enclave was searching for some hidden key in their blood that would lead them to others who had remained hidden.
It had been years since he had lived in the town himself. His wife had been taken, while she was pregnant with their son. He'd felt he had no choice but to try and rescue her. In the attempt he had been captured himself, and turned against the very people he loved. He had been so stupid. So sure that because of his strength with magic, he could not be captured.
Now, more than eight years later, he stared at what had once been his own house. Slowly he climbed up the steps and opened the door. None could enter the dwelling who was not of his own blood, or of one chosen by him. In the first moments of the attack, he had willed all of the books on magic and magical creatures into the safety of his workroom. He had to keep them out of Enclave hands, but he wanted to make sure the young drakkons had access to them when the time was right.
Terminology Notes: (More will be added later)
drakkon - a dragon (comes in one of three forms, Wyrm, Wyvern, and Drake, and in a variety of colors that generally correspond with a magical ability)
-Wyrm - has four limbs, but if they retain wings, they are kept hidden most of the time. Long, thin, serpent-like. Tend to live in warm, humid areas
-Wyvern - has four limbs, wings attached at the wrist of the forelimb, or in some cases at the elbow. They prefer elevation, but also warm and slightly dry climates.
-Drake - Four limbs, plus separate wings, attached at the shoulder or along the back. Tend to enjoy cold or temperate climates.
wita - magic of any form.
wita'hum - a human with the ability to use magic of some form.
wita'bon'hum - A human friend of magic
reta'vulfa - a werewolf
Silver Mother - the oldest living female silver drakkon (note, silvers, unlike other colors, are female only, and are the most rare color of drakkon. They also possess the strongest magical abilities, and one of their skills is being a conduit for other magical beings. Current Silver Mother: Kali'na "Colleen" Ahi Gol'Sil.
