Oz (The Outer Zone)
Four years prior to the end of the Dark Curse
Four years prior to the Double Eclipse
Time passed slowly for the dragon who was locked inside a cold dark, prison. The only sounds and sights he heard and saw were from his past, of the last time he saw his mate and his son. Although he held out hope they would escape from their pursuers, that hope slowly died as the years went by and so did his hope that he would one day escape his prison. He retreated once again into his slumber, yearning for the day when he would never have to awaken again.
Then it came...a scent that shattered the barries of time and space and forced him to awaken again. It was the scent of a rose beginning to bloom, the scent that would only be produced by his mate. It was not the same scent of the mate who bore his son; his former mate now carried the scents of steel and tin from the sword she wielded in battle against their enemies. But he would never catch her scent again for their seperation had severed the bond between them.
He was angry. She was the mate he'd chosen, the mate that had given him a child but somewhere in the realms another mate was calling to him and he would not be able to deny her call. He felt himself being pulled into the realm of dreams. It had been his refuge since his imprisonment began only now he would not be there alone. All he could do was wait patiently until her heart's memories brought her to him.
When she thought back on it, DG could trace the source of this particular set of dreams to being talked into reading Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series, particularly the book Dragonswan. She'd always enjoyed reading books and watching movies that had science fiction and fantasy elements in them and she filled her sketchbooks with drawings of mythical places and creatures.
She'd just turned sixteen and finally worked up the courage to ask the captain of the football team out on a date. It was her first date and unfortunately it ended in disaster. What should have been a good time turned into a play by play account of a football game because that was all he wanted to talk about.
As she always did when she was upset, she turned on music, opened her sketchbook and started drawing, her colored pencils seeming to take on a life of their own. She glanced down and saw that she had drawn a beautiful black dragon asleep in a forest, a pair of crossed swords lying in the grass in front of him. As she stared at it, she could feel her eyelids growing heavy and within minutes she was asleep.
She found herself walking in a forest similar to the one in her drawing, the skirt of the blue satin dress she was wearing fanning out in the breeze. She enjoyed wearing dresses about as much as having a tooth pulled but it seemed that she wasn't able to control her wardrobe in her dreams and she had to admit that that strapless dress with a long flowing skirt was beautiful and it made her feel like a princess. As she touched her head she was stunned to see a silver tiara resting on it.
She could see something shining in the distance and walked toward it. Lying in the grass were a pair of Japanese swords called Katanas, the blades crossed as they had been in her drawing. She kneeled down and picked one of them up.
"Princess," she heard a male's voice say softly.
"Who's there?" she asked, her own voice shaky and she dropped the sword.
"You don't have to be afraid of me, Princess." She turned around and saw a man with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail standing behind her, with his back to her. He was wearing black silk robes with a golden dragon emblem on the back.
"Then why don't you turn around and face me?" she demanded.
"I would if I could, Princess," was his answer. "I'm under a witch's spell that has confined my human body in a prison that renders it immobile but her spell has weakened enough that it allows my dragon's spirit to roam free."
"Okay...so...you're a dragon?"
"If the question you are asking is do I actually turn into a dragon, the answer is no. However the dragon's spirit is always inside me and I can call on it when I need it."
"This has to be the strangest dream I've ever had."
"What makes you think it's a dream?"
"What else can it be?"
"Your destiny."
"Oh, come on. You're pulling my leg!"
"How would I be doing that when I just told you I'm not able to move?"
She sighed with frustation. "I didn't mean literally pulling my leg! What I meant is that you're joking with me."
"This isn't a joke, I assure you."
"Okay, let's say for argument's sake this is real. Why am I seeing part of you?"
"As I said before, part of the spell on me has been broken and when the dragon's mate calls to him, he will always answer."
"Whoa! Does that mean what I think it does?"
"It does. You are my mate, Princess."
"First off, quit calling me Princess. Second, I'm sixteen years old and where I come from older guys get thrown in prison for having sex with underage girls. Third, I'll decide my own destiny, thank you!"
To her surprise he laughed. "You have a bit of the dragon in you. You'll need it. And if I'm not allowed to call you Princess, what should I call you?"
"DG," she answered.
"I don't like it."
"Well excuuuuuse me but I really hate my full name so I go by DG. Honestly, who wants to be called Dorothia...ugh! What was my mother thinking? Some people call me Dorothy but I hate that even more. Makes me feel old."
"I'll call you Dottie."
"Fair enough. Now back to issues two and three: my destiny and you referring to me as your mate. I don't like being told what to do. I want to have some say over my life."
"You do have some say over it, Dottie but I do need to tell you that you need to think before you act because your future does depend on it."
"I really need to wake up from this dream." she muttered.
"You won't until morning."
"I have to put up with you til then?"
"Yes."
"Okay but before this dream's over, you better have some answers for me." She sat down in the grass beside him. He remained standing and her heart ached with sympathy. "Can you sit down?"
"No. My prison makes it impossible."
"Does it hurt?"
"I'm not able to feel pain. I can't feel anything at all."
"You said I called to you. How?"
"You've made the transition from a child to a woman. Your scent, since it carries the essence of the dragon was able to breach the shields of time and space to the walls of my prison and weaken the spell on me enough that the dragon in me has been awakened to answer you."
"Gee I hope it was after I took a bath otherwise...gross!"
He chuckled. "It's the scent of a rose blooming."
"Thank God. Did not want a mental image of a dragon man puking from BO overkill."
"What?"
"Body odor but please do not make me go into detail or you will puke and I'd hate to see that beautiful outfit of yours ruined especially since the bitch who locked you up won't even let you change your clothes. Why did she lock you up anyway?"
"To punish me."
"For what?"
"For trying to protect the people I loved."
"You need to get out of your prison and melt her ass. Where's a good bucket of water when you need it?"
"Witches cannot be killed by water. Where did you hear that nonsense?"
"Books and I saw it on TV and the movies. Oh, you probably don't know what TV and movies are. Maybe it's a good thing I won't wake up for a while so I can at least tell you about them. I just wish you were able to sit down."
"I'll be fine."
"Can you at least tell me your name?"
"You can call me Talon."
"It's not your real name though, isn't it?"
"No."
"Why can't you tell me your real name?"
"I don't remember it."
"Are you serious?"
"I am...I've been cursed and losing my memories is part of that curse. I know that I had a mate and a child but they were taken from me and I was locked in this prison."
"Seriously Talon, the bitch needs to die."
"I'm not going to deny that. She's brought nothing but destruction to our land."
"How old are you?"
He thought for a moment. "You're sixteen, I'm twenty years older so that makes me thirty-six."
"Wow. I am definitely jailbait to you dragon man and I'm supposed to be your mate? Okay, so there are couples who are farther apart in age than we are but people aren't comfortable with it where I come from."
"You aren't ready to be my mate yet."
"And you being locked up makes it impossible once I'm legal. I will be in two years. Maybe you should come back then so we can hook up."
"Four, Dottie. You are at full maturity when you're twenty annuals."
"That's harsh, dragon man. Where I come from, you're considered an adult at eighteen. Why add two more years on?"
"That's how it's done. Although we cannot complete our bond physically, we have time to get to know each other. It was how my relationship with my first wife progressed."
"Talon, do you have any idea why...why..."
"Why you were chosen to be my second wife?" he finished.
"Yeah...if you really knew how I am, you'd be asking yourself the same question. I'm probably the last girl on Earth meant to be a dragonswan."
"A what?"
"Oh...there's this book I read about a human woman who ends up becoming the mate of a guy who actually turns into a dragon. He calls her his dragonswan."
"Hmmm...none of the books I've read ever said what we call our mates but I guess dragonswan would be fitting."
"And the more I think about it, you remind me more of Acheron, not the dragon Sebastian."
"I'm guessing this Acheron is from this book you've read?"
"Oh yeah but another one in the same set. He's my favorite character. He's an Atlantean god who was cursed to live as a human until he was twenty-one but he got killed by another god so now his powers are back and he uses them to kick ass. He has long blond hair like you but he changes his any color he wants. And there's a witch who keeps him in a prison in her own way...the Greek goddess Artemis."
"The woman who imprisoned me is also the child of a goddess. She's the goddess of the Underworld, Almedea."
"What did you do to piss off the goddess of Hell? It is Hell in your land, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"She's taken control of the body of our future queen and is using her powers to destroy our land. I was part of an uprising against her authority."
"She thought trapping you was a worse punishment than killing you."
"And it has been a worse punishment. Every day I am forced to watch an image of my family being taken away from me when I can do nothing to prevent it."
"I wish there was something I could do to help you."
"You'll be able to when you're older. My curse can only be broken when our union is consummated."
DG blushed. "No pressure there," she mumbled.
She heard him sigh.
"I realize this is as difficult for you as it is for me."
"You already had a wife you loved and a child...I can't replace them in your heart."
She had no idea how long the dream lasted but it had been long enough for her to realize that she was starting to enjoy Talon's company even if he was unable to interact with her in any other way other than talking.
"I'll see you again, won't I?" she asked hopefully.
"Only if you want to."
"See you tomorrow night then," she said with a smile.
The next day she went to the library and checked out every book she could find on dreams. She was researching methods on how to control them. If Talon actually was a real person trapped by a witch's curse she was hoping that they could possibly find a way to free him when she visited him in her dreams.
Unfortunately, she did not dream of him that night and after a month of silence she was starting to think that it had all been a product of her overactive imagination but in her heart she wanted it to be real. He was older yes, but if that first meeting was any indication Talon would treat her better than the boys she went out with. She just wished she could find a way to reach him again.
So you've awakened...part of you has anyway.
The stink of evil does that. Kind of hard to ignore even if you've been asleep for a while.
I see you haven't lost your sense of humor, Wyatt.
Oh, so now we're on a first name basis? Forgive me if I don't show you the same respect, bitch.
Bastinda gazed up at the tin suit and its captive. His eyes remained closed, his human body still locked in slumber but when she felt his dragon's essence awaken she needed to find out what was causing it.
Where is she?
Where is who?
Don't play innocent with me. She's alive, isn't she?
I thought we had this discussion a few years back. The princess is dead...probably nothing but dust now and why would I care anyway? Never was a fan of the monarchy."
You tell me where she is or I'll find out on my own even if I have to tear you apart to do it.
She heard him laugh.
What was it you said to that poor scared viewer? My heart's no good to you if its dead and once you take it out of me it'll be dead. Try and take me back to him for another reading. You won't get shit.
She motioned to several of her troops. They loaded the suit onto a truck to take it back to the witch's tower. The alchemist gazed at it, frowning.
"Can't we take him out and then hook him up?"
"No! He stays in there but I want him read. Find a way to do it." she commanded and stormed out of the room. The alchemist stared at the tin suit, amazed. No one placed in them had survived more than a week. The knowledge that there would be no escape broke the victims until they lost the will to live. Wyatt Cain had been trapped in his for years. Secretly he admired the man's courage.
Two days later the tin suit with Wyatt Cain's body still trapped inside was connected to a machine for the viewers Lylo and Raw to read him. Both of them remembered the intense pain they'd felt the last time they were forced to read this particular human. It hurt worse than the electric prod the alchemist would zap them with to give them a little "encouragement".
The viewing tank bubbled but the only image that would appear was a snarling black dragon breathing fire, the dragon's spirit guarding his host.
"What has awakened the dragon?" the witch demanded. "Lylo?"
"Dragon angry...wants freedom," the viewer replied.
"Raw?"
"Dragon not letting Raw see. Raw scared of his fire."
"He's trapped in a tin suit. Are you so stupid that you think he can actually breathe fire at you from in there?" She shook her head. This viewer was so cowardly that it affected his powers and made him weaker. "Disconnect this one and throw him back in his cell. Worthless." She turned to the alchemist. "Is the probe ready?"
"Yes, Sorceress."
She opened a small door in the suit and took the probe in her hands, shoving the pointed tip through the hole until it passed through flesh into the heart. This was the first time they'd ever tried a direct connection to the heart. She ran the risk of damaging it beyond repair but she needed to know if her suspicions were correct.
The tank began to bubble again and a wave of light shot the probe back to the machine. The machine exploded, the force of the explosion throwing everyone in the room to the floor. The witch howled with fury.
Zero and a group of his men ran into the room.
"Sorceress! Are you hurt?" he asked worriedly as he helped Bastinda to her feet.
"No," she hissed. "Get that thing out of my sight. Take it back where it belongs."
Zero glared at the suit. "I still say we should just kill him."
"Not yet. Once he gives me what I want, you are free to dispose of him as you see fit."
Zero smiled. "Now that is something worth looking forward to."
She retreated to her chamber, slamming the door behind her. She could hear laughing in her mind.
"You'll never get him to reveal his secrets," Az taunted aloud.
"I'll find out what kind of lock his heart's memories have on them and I'll break it," Bastinda vowed.
"Not if it's forged with the strongest magic."
Bastinda cackled. "Do you fools honestly think love is magic? Oh no my dear. Love is a weakness and yours will destroy you."
"No. It will save me. It will save us all," Az said determinedly.
Tokpeka, Kansas
Two years prior to the end of the Dark Curse
Two years prior to the Double Eclipse
She'd lost track of how far she walked but to her it felt like a thousand miles. She couldn't understand why this kept happening to her. Every time she thought she'd finally met a boy who would be good for her, he turned into an asshole.
It was Prom Night, the most important night in the life of a high school teenager. For the longest time DG thought no one would ask her but Mike, a boy in her Spanish class asked her two weeks before. She always thought he was good looking but when she thought about asking him herself she lost her nerve. When she told her parents she had a date for the prom, they were concerned but she and her mother had a wonderful time shopping for her dress. She'd settled on a blue satin strapless gown with a long, flowing skirt and had her high heeled shoes dyed to match it.
The evening started well enough. She and Mike had a wonderful time talking and dancing together and when the afterglow started, he asked her if she wanted to go for a ride with him. Thinking nothing of it, she accepted. The uneasiness started to creep in when he took her to the school's most popular make out spot.
"Ummm...Mike, this is too fast," she protested when she felt him try to touch her breast.
"C'mon Deege, relax." he said softly as he reached for her again. She shoved him away.
"I'm serious!" she said firmly. "What part of 'no' are you not getting?"
"You like me, don't you?"
"Well, yeah but not enough for that!"
"Come on. You want it. You know you do." He seized her arm roughly and pulled her to him, tearing at her gown and exposing her breasts.
Carefully you must guard your virtue
For it only belongs to a man with the heart pure and true
You address him by Talon but through love will reveal his true name
And that name is none other than Wyatt Cain she heard a voice chanting in her head. A rage she'd never felt before surged through her. She raised her free arm and slapped him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she hissed.
He slapped her back, drawing blood, her head slamming against the passenger door. She reached down and took off one of her shoes, throwing it into his face.
"The other guys were right. You're nuts...and a tease! Get the hell out of my car. You can walk home." He opened the passenger door and pushed her out. She landed face first in the dirt.
"Doesn't bother me," DG said calmly as she brushed the dirt off her dress and tried to hold up the bodice as best she could. "What did you do, Mike? Make a bet with your buddies that you could score with me when none of them could? I'm not like some of the other girls in this school who spread their legs for the first boy who notices them. Oh, and by the way, I'll call the cops and tell them how you tried to rape me."
"They won't believe you. You came up here so it'll be like you asked for it."
"That's what every rapist says. You'll try it one too many times and wind up behind bars and the inmates'll eat you alive. Didn't anyone ever tell you rapists and molesters are the bottom of the food chain?"
"Crazy bitch!" he muttered as he started the engine and sped off.
She took off her shoes after she felt blisters forming on the backs of her feet, scolding herself for letting Mike take her so far away from home. Her parents were probably worried but if Mike didn't tell them where he took her it would be hard for them to find her nor did she have any idea where she was either. Also it was dangerous for a girl to be walking at night. She stopped and picked up a stick, wanting to have at least some kind of weapon if she were approached.
When she felt her legs tiring, she stopped and sat down in front of a tree, wrapping her arms around them and lowering her head. She was trying to be strong yet it was difficult for a young woman lost not to feel frightened.
"I should have just let him do it," she sobbed. "I don't want to die out here."
You couldn't. He is not the one you are meant for. It was not just a dream, DG. The one who calls himself Talon is your true mate.
But...I haven't dreamed about him in two years.
When the dragon's mate calls to him, he will always answer. You now have the power of dream control. Use it, dragonswan. Seek out your mate. Make his strength your own. He will protect you.
How? He's locked up.
Yet his heart is strong, energized by his love for you as yours will be strong through your love for him. Your love is the strongest magic of all. It will breach time and space and allow you to protect each other when needed.
Why me? Why did he choose me?
You were chosen because of the powers you do not yet know how to use and the strength of your heart as he was chosen for the strength of his. You are the Guardian of the South Gate, the bearer of the chalice and keeper of water. He is the guardian of the west gate, bearer of the blade and the keeper of fire. Call to him, dragonswan. He needs you as you need him.
"It would be great if I knew how," DG mumbled. Every possibility she thought of, she quickly shot down until she remembered something she read in Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter novel Devil May Cry.
"What the hell...if that shithead Kessar can draw a dragon in the ground and bring up Striker I should be able to do the same thing to bring Talon."
She searched until she found a smaller stick and began to draw a crude form of the sleeping dragon she'd sketched when she first dreamed about Talon.
Please God, let this work otherwise I'm going to end up in the nuthouse.
Once again her fingers seemed to be under the control of another force as she worked. She felt her eyelids close and her body sag against the tree, the stick falling from her hand. When she opened her eyes she was back in the same forest from her first dream but she couldn't see Talon. Her heart sank.
"Stupid Deege. Really stupid. Time to call the men in the white coats."
"Who are the men in the white coats and why would you need to call them?" she heard Talon's voice ask from behind her. She turned around and gasped in shock. He was facing her.
"Talon! You're free from your prison!"
"No, I'm still in it," he said sadly.
"But...but you're moving and I can see your face!"
And a handsome face it was. He still had his long blond hair but he'd tied it in a ponytail on the left side. His eyes were as blue as sapphires, his complexion pale. Above his pink lips was a moustache. The black silk samuari warrior robes he wore emphasized his muscular body.
"If you tried to approach me you would walk right through me. Try it." She did and as she feared, she did walk right through him.
"You're like a ghost?"
"A shadow but you get the idea."
"But...this means the spell on you must be weakening. Do you still feel nothing?"
"Yeah."
"I gotta tell you dragon man, when I said for us to hook up in two years, I wasn't serious. Why did you disappear on me?"
"The witch sensed my dragon's essence awaken and she wanted to find out why. I needed all of my strength to block her from picking up your trail in my heart."
"She tortured you?"
He nodded. "And she enjoys it. If she ever found you..."
"I don't think I want to know what she'd do to me."
He noticed the bruises on her, her torn and dirty prom gown, his eyes narrowing to slits and hands on his hips "Who touched you?"
"Some boy I went to the prom with." She heard him growl. "Calm down, dragon man. I held him off."
"The dragon's spirit is stronger in you now. You can call on it when you need it or use my strength but I warn you, I won't be as lenient with your enemies as you are."
She laughed. "Doesn't surprise me, dragon man."
"Why do you sometimes call me Talon then other times dragon man?"
"Well you are a dragon in a way. I just think it would be really cool if you actually turned into one."
"No it wouldn't. I'm not easy to deal with when I'm pissed off as a human and it would be worse as a dragon."
"That's okay. I'd thaw you out," she said softly.
"Dottie..."
"I've missed hearing you call me that," she murmured. "We've only seen each other once before but it felt so much longer. I thought once I learned how to control dreams I'd be able to find you again but the bitch must've been torturing you then."
"You've been trying to learn how to control dreams?"
"Yeah because although I really like this forest, it's not a very romantic setting for a dragon and his mate to get to know each other."
"You still haven't reached maturity yet," he reminded her. "And I'm surprised that you're so accepting of this."
"My reality sucks at the moment. Every boy I've been with so far either bores me to tears or tries to attack me but when I come to you I know I don't have to be afraid you'll hurt me. Oh and if you even think about calling me a kid dragon man, I'm going to cut that nice long hair of yours down to your scalp."
"You can't and if you think a threat like that scares me, you've got another think coming. I've never worn my hair this long and it irritates me. When I get the hell out of that bitch's cage, I'm going to cut it off myself and the moustache along with it."
"Why? It makes you look cute."
"You wouldn't be saying that if you saw it inside my prison. Your hair probably looks bad too when you don't wash it."
"Oh, it does. So much oil in it that it can fry a dozen eggs so I tend to avoid that. I'm studying to be a beautician so I need to set a good example for my customers." She closed her eyes. "Okay...I'm going to try something."
A round table and two chairs appeared in front of her, a white lace tablecloth covering the table. Her brow furrowed as she concentrated harder and dinnerware of fine china and crystal wine glassses materialized, place settings for two.
"Ozma's ghost..." Talon breathed. His master had been a powerful sorcerer but even he couldn't manipulate his surroundings the way this young dragonswan was.
She wasn't finished. In the center of the table a vase appeared holding a boquet of red roses and a silver cart holding covered serving platters appeared beside the table.
"Dottie..."
"Shhhh...I'm not finished yet," she whispered, her eyes still closed. Another small table appeared and sitting on it was an unusual musc player. He saw two golden waves of light surround her, removing the tears and dirt from her gown. "I hope this works..."
The beams of light floated toward him and could see his own outfit changing into a black suit with a matching tie and white shirt. His blond hair was shortened to the length it had been before he was locked in the suit and his moustache was gone.
"That...is more than dream control Dottie," he whispered. She opened her eyes.
"Oh my God...I did it...I actually did it!" she cried. "Oh, Talon you looked good with your long hair and moustache but I like you better without it."
"Wyatt," he said softly.
"As in Wyatt Earp?"
"No, my last name is Cain."
"Wyatt Cain. Are you anything like Wyatt Earp?"
"Who's Wyatt Earp?" he asked, his voice taking a new accent, closer to that of a western cowboy.
"He was an old west version of a policeman."
"Where I come from we're called Tin Men."
"Oh, so you were a cop?"
"Yeah. On the Mystic Man's protection detail. After the witch took over I went back home and they made me sheriff there. We formed a resistance army. One of the guys I used to work with joined her side and he's the one who came after me."
"Please tell me you kicked his ass."
"No, as far as I know he's still breathin."
"Damn shame." She smirked. "Now I get another name to call you. Tin Man."
"Oh, no!" he groaned.
"Oh yes. And I have to tell you, that accent is enough to make a girl go weak in the knees. If you ever came back to Kansas with me I'd have to fight them off with a stick."
He chuckled. She loved the sound of his laughter and wanted to make him do it more often. Being locked up in a prison, he had nothing to laugh about. Unless...
"Wyatt, I think I know how to free you!" she cried.
"How?"
"Look around you. Do you see how much your appearance has changed, how this forest has changed?"
"Yeah, but for the life of me I don't know how you managed to work all that magic."
"I do," she said softly.
"How?"
"I was thinking about you...about us. It was prom night where I come from and the boy I was with was my date. Everything was going great until the prom was over. He took me to a place where people go to make out."
"Do what?" He crossed his arms over his chest and his blue eyes were as cold as ice. She smiled. He was damned sexy when he was pissed off.
"Ummm...have sex."
"You refused him and he beat you?"
"It's not that bad.."
"Like hell it isn't!" Wyatt raged.
"Wyatt, please, it's over now," she begged. "He got mad and threw me out of his car. I was walking home when I heard this voice telling me to try to call to you. And here I am."
"Here you are. I should have been there with you," he muttered.
"You were in a way. Can we just forget about that asshole, please? You're thirty-eight, too old to go to a prom so I was thinking about how a date would be for us."
"I take it a date is what you call courtship?"
"Yeah. Although I wish you weren't a ghost because it doesn't give us much to do. Anyway, when you're with me, you're acting more and more like you used to before you got locked up, aren't you?"
"Yes."
She began to pace frantically.
"Dottie, are you all right?"
"I'm thinking."
"You're gonna make a hole in the dirt if you keep that up."
She smiled at him. "Right now my being able to control my dreams is working in our favor. If I can change you based on my emotions, it might be a possibility that you can become human again the same way."
"But you're not a sorceress, Dottie."
"Maybe I don't need to be."
Love is the strongest magic of all...
Was it possible?
She focused her gaze on him and concentrated harder than she'd ever done before and felt herself feeling faint.
Wyatt reached out for her, cursing when she fell through him and crashed to the ground. This half existence was both a blessing and a curse. He had no concept of time while locked in that damned suit and the only company he had until he found Dottie was the bitch when she felt the need to torture him for information he either didn't have or wasn't giving her and memories of his family being taken away from him.
"You know you and Jeb are my life Adora. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You'll find another reason to go on."
He didn't think he had anything left to live for. His wife and child were gone and the witch wouldn't stop until she crushed what was left of resistance fighters. Grief and despair began to take their toll on him and he was slowly losing the will to go on living until two years ago when his dragon's spirit had been awakened.
The order must not end with you. Find your apprentice and claim your mate.
I had a mate and she's gone. I can't find my apprentice because I can't escape from this hellhole.
You are the dragon. A dragon lives and fights. A dragon never cowers in the face of danger. Force your enemies to face your wrath but never allow them to claim victory or the right to call themselves master. Your heart is not meant to remain imprisoned in darkness. It will love again.
When Dottie first appeared to him Wyatt cursed the dragon and the OZ for what he considered it's sick sense of humor. His second bride was half his age and an Othersider, even more forbidden to him than Adora was yet the dragon in him sensed a passion in her that mirrored his own, a passion that promised to grow stronger with time. Then she returned to the waking world and the witch came for him and once again he felt his reason for living slipping away. Now that she'd returned he wanted to believe she would stay this time.
"Dottie," he said softly as he kneeled beside her. "Wake up, sweetheart."
Her eyelids fluttered open. "W...Wyatt? What happened?"
"You passed out."
"Oh...I'm sorry."
"What were you trying to do?"
"I...I wanted to try to make you human again," she said softly. "I'm sorry it didn't work." She sat up.
"I don't want you trying it again. You could kill yourself."
"You being locked up really sucks," she muttered. "I wish I knew where your prison was because I'd like to take a hammer to it and pound it to bits."
"It's back at my cottage in the Outer Zone."
"Yeah and I'd probably need the Millenium Falcon to get there. It's a ship in a movie that travels to other planets. But," she smiled again. "I got to you without it."
She rose to her feet and they walked over to the table. To her surprise, Wyatt was able to sit down. It wasn't the improvement she was hoping for but close enough.
"You can interact with objects...that's a start. We can have dinner now. Wait, no we can't. Candles. I forgot the candles."
"Dottie, what did I just say about trying to do to much?"
"Oh hush up," she mumbled.
She closed her eyes and a silver candelabra with long white candles appeared on the table. She focused on the wicks and tried to light them but when she tried, she couldn't do it, nor could she conjure up a cigarette lighter.
Wyatt flinched as if he'd been struck by something. He moved his shadowy hand over the wicks of the candles and small flames appeared.
"How did you do that?" DG asked him.
"I don't know," he answered. "My Talon master was a famous sorcerer and while I was sitting here I had a vision of him teaching me how to control fire and me not being very good at it."
"You could've fooled me. It makes sense though since you have the dragon's spirit in you. The dragon's primary weapon is fire."
This was how she'd wanted her prom night to be, a handsome man seated at the table across from her having a conversation with her that she was actually interested in and willing to listen to her when she wanted to talk. He was as fascinated about her world as she was about his. There was so much she wanted to try to show him with her new ability but she knew it would upset him and she didn't like it when his anger was directed at her. He wouldn't hurt her, nor could he in his present form but she wanted the moments she had with him to be pleasant ones.
Wyatt noticed the sun rising over the horizon and sighed. "It's about time for you to go again," he said sadly. "If I never get to see you again, I want you to know this time I've been here with you is the happiest I've been since I got locked up in that damned suit."
"And this has been the best date I've ever had," she said softly. "I will come back this time, Wyatt," she promised and reached cross the table, her small hand passing through the shadow of his large one.
She expected to wake up in the woods, still a bruised mess but when the night turned to day she was still with him and he hadn't returned to his slumber inside his prison.
"Something's wrong," she said worriedly. "I'm not waking up. Not that I want to but..." Her outfit suddenly changed into a blue shirt, jeans, sneakers and her favorite black jacket.
"And I should have returned to that damned suit but something's holding us here." Now he was wearing a grey fedora hat with a matching duster coat, a brown leather vest, blue and white striped shirt and tan pants.
"I'm scared Wyatt. What's happening to us?" she cried, running to him, forgetting that she walked right through him.
He cursed the witch again. "I don't know sweetheart but we'll figure it out together."
Wyatt couldn't remember being more confused in his entire life. He knew part of him had been freed from the suit but he couldn't understand what was keeping Dori at his side this time. It wasn't that he wanted her to go but he was afraid of what she'd done to stay even if she wasn't aware of doing it.
"Try to wake yourself up again," he urged.
"I have been and it's not working," DG said. "What about you? The witch isn't trying to come after you again, is she?"
"No, must have other poor souls to torment."
"Wyatt, those clothes you're wearing now, is that how you normally look?"
"Yeah. I'm guessing that's how you normally look too."
"My parents are upset about it but yes."
"They're going to be worried about you the longer you stay away, sweetheart," he reminded her.
"Maybe not enough time has passed for them to notice I've been gone."
"We don't know that."
"Why are you trying to get rid of me?" she snapped. "Don't you want me here anymore?"
"I didn't say that!" he cried.
"Then what is it?"
"All I'm saying is that you have loved ones on the Other Side who need you too and you can't be thinking about yourself."
She crossed her arms over her breasts. "Are you suggesting I deliberately stopped myself from waking up?"
"Did you?"
"I can't believe you had the nerve to ask me that!"
"We've both seen what you can do when you put your mind to it and we have to consider that you may have done it without knowing it," he answered calmly. Ozma's ghost, the girl had a nasty temper like his when she got angry.
"Maybe I did," she said softly. "but even if I did, I don't regret it. I love my parents, don't get me wrong but sometimes I feel like they and everyone else in my world don't really know me at all. Haven't you ever felt that way?"
"Yeah. Mostly when I was a kid."
"Since it looks like I'm going to be here a while, why don't we see how far we can go in this little world of ours?" she suggested.
"What do you mean?" he inquired.
"I was only referring to a walk, Wyatt. We can't do anything else with my being able to walk right through you," she said and blushed.
"I never know what's going on in that mind of yours," he said and chuckled. "Sometimes I don't think I want to," he added.
While they walked, DG was able to get him to tell her some things about his childhood, which wasn't easy for him to talk about, especially when it came to the abuse he and his mother suffered at the hands of his alcoholic stepfather. He talked about Adora, Jeb and his time with the Mystic Man and the Tin Men and although he was afraid he was boring her, she hung onto his every word, her heart aching for the many painful moments he'd had in his life.
You'll never have another day of pain with me, she vowed.
As they were walking Wyatt suddenly stopped, his blue eyes wide with shock. She saw him staring at a small cottage just outside the woods.
"What's wrong?"
"We're...we're in Elba!" he whispered.
"What's Elba?"
"The village where I grew up," he explained. "And this is the cottage where my pa lived...until he was killed in a battle...along with my aunt Mari and a lot of the people who lived here." She gazed up and him and saw a tear slide down his ghostly cheek. She wanted to put her arms around him and hold him tightly to her but she would only be reaching for air and he wouldn't be able to feel the comfort she wanted to give him.
This is why I can't go. Some higher power put us together for a reason and now I know what it is. Despite the age difference and the fact that we come from different worlds, we're pretty much the same. He feels as alone in his world as I do in mine and the only time we're happy is when we're together. And the more we feel for each other, the more he returns to his old self.
"I'll be right back," he croaked.
"Don't you dare do it Wyatt Cain," she threatened.
"Do what?"
"Go off somewhere so I won't be able to see you cry. I don't give a damn how tough a man acts, he can cry just like everyone else."
"You don't need to see this..."
"I'll just follow you."
"Dammit..."
He sat down on the steps and his control shattered, alternating between crying and screaming out the years of pain, loneliness and heartbreak while she could only sit there and try to soothe him the only way she could; with soft words.
Days and weeks passed and they settled into a somewhat comfortable routine. Used to helping her mother with the housework at home, she took care of the housecleaning but left the cooking to Wyatt because the kitchen in his cottage was at least fifty years behind the times, feeling a twinge of jealousy that the spell on him had weakened enough that he could touch objects but not her. Nighttime was agony. She'd lay awake wondering if he was having as much trouble sleeping in his own room as she was in hers but didn't dare go to look. It still felt strange to her that she was able to sleep in both realities but as long as she woke up in Wyatt's cottage in the morning, she didn't mind it.
She already felt married to him. Although it lacked the physical intimacy of a normal marriage, they had connected with each other on an emotional level and even had their arguments like a long time married couple did. In the back of her mind however, she was beginning to sense that he was holding something back and those suspicions were confirmed when he started spending more time alone and he wasn't talking to her as much as he used to. Tired of the silences, she decided to confront him. She found him sitting on the porch steps. He kept his back to her and she could feel an icy chill in the air even though it was a beautiful summer day.
"You should go home," he said sadly. "You deserve so much better than to be with someone with only half an existence."
"Why are you giving up now?" she demanded. "You're gaining more of your humanity every day. I don't know how to make it come back completely but I can't do it alone."
"You're wasting your life here."
"Why don't you let me be the judge of that."
"Go home."
"No."
"I don't want you here anymore!" he yelled.
"Why don't you look at me and say it then?"
"I don't have to. You heard what I said."
"Then I want you to hear this: if you can look in my eyes and tell me you don't love me and that you want me to leave, I'll find some way to leave here and never bother you again. Then you can spend the rest of your life regretting giving up on someone who loves you enough that she doesn't give a damn that you only have half an existence now."
"Dottie..."
"If you want me to go, prove it. Look at me and say it." she urged.
He sighed deeply. "I can't. I can't do it, Dori because if you left me, you'd take what's left of my heart with you."
She burst into tears. Forgetting again that her arms would pass right through him, she reached out and touched his shoulder and to her surprise it stayed there.
"Wyatt..." she breathed. "I...I'm touching you!"
"Oh sweet Ozma's ghost...I can feel it!"
He turned his head and she could see that he was no longer a shadow but a flesh and blood man, his blue eyes locked on hers. "I love you," he whispered as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She reached up and caressed his cheek returning the kiss with a passion that matched his.
"I love you too."
Suddenly the very earth beneath them began to shake. Wyatt wrapped his arms around DG protectively.
"It...it's her, isn't it?" she asked worriedly. "It...Wyatt!" He was shivering, icicles forming on his fingertips and his skin turning pale.
"You have to go now!" he cried. "If you stay she'll find a way to unlock my heart's memories and track you."
"I can't leave you now! Not now that we..."
"D...Dottie, please. She's already taken Adora and my son away from me. I can't lose you too."
As the witch's spell took control of him again she could see that his hair was now long and dirty, the moustache reappeared and his clothes were now dirty as well.
"Wyatt, please don't leave me. I love you..." she sobbed.
"Find my prison and release me..." he pleaded as he began to disappear.
Wyatt's cottage faded away and she was once again back in the woods in Kansas. "I'll find your prison and free you Wyatt, I promise...We'll be together again soon my darling..." she whispered.
"DG! DG, it's okay...it's Officer Gulch," she heard a voice calling out in the distance but she ignored it. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be with Wyatt, where her heart belonged.
The alchemist removed the probe from Wyatt's heart and shook his head. Three viewers were dead in their chairs behind him while the Sorceress stood in the corner having difficulty controlling her fury. She felt part of the curse on him weakening and brought him back to the tower for another reading, this time taking him out of the suit. She had her suspicions that Princess DG was somehow responsible for it but no matter how hard they pushed, his heart would not betray its secrets.
A pair of medicoats removed the bodies of the viewers from the room and three more were brought in, the viewer Raw being one of them. He was worthless most of the time but when he was given enough 'encouragement' he eventually came up with something. The probe was reinserted followed by a second one to Wyatt's brain. If they could not find answers one way, they would try another.
"We're running out of viewers," the alchemist mumbled as two viewers from this set died after trying to read Wyatt for seventeen hours. Only Raw, Lylo and Kalm were left alive but neither Raw nor Lylo could see anything from Wyatt Cain and his body seemed to be shutting itself down.
"Take him back to his cottage," the witch mumbled. She never enjoyed admitting defeat but it seemed that Wyatt Cain would have the final victory because he was bound and determined to take the secret he was keeping to the grave with him.
When they reached Wyatt's home, the medicoats put him back in the suit while the witch sealed the lock with her magic. The man had been a constant thorn in her side yet no matter how much she wanted him to, he wouldn't break under her will. She only had one more thing to look forward to. If the princess was alive and planning on freeing him the curse she'd placed on them would eventually destroy them.
"...Wyatt, please don't leave me...I love you..."
"DG! DG, it's okay...it's Officer Gulch."
"I'll find your prison and free you Wyatt, I promise...We'll be together again soon my darling..." DG murmured.
The whole town had been searching for her for almost a month, having become convinced that they would only find her body. She may have given Elmer a few headaches speeding through the streets of town on that motorcycle of hers but she hadn't deserved to be beaten, nearly raped and left alone in the woods to die. The boy responsible was cooling his heels in a jail cell and if there was any justice in the town he would spend a long time in prison.
As he rode in the back of the ambulance with her, Elmer feared the worst damage had been done to DG's mind. She hadn't stopped calling for this person named Wyatt from the moment they found her but that wasn't as bizarre as the babbling she was doing about magic, dragons and witches. Hank and Emily had often said DG had a very active imagination and it seemed to be in overdrive now and causing her to have hallucinations.
Admit it El, he thought. Being left alone in the woods after someone tried to beat and rape you would make anyone go insane.
The next year was the most difficult of all their lives. Because DG had been deemed an incompetent witness, the charges against Mike had been dropped and she had to have regular sessions with a psychologist as well as take antipsychotics. When she went into town she thought she could hear people whispering about her.
Poor kid. She hasn't been right since prom night.
Yet she'd survived. She may have gone a little crazy and had bizarre delusions after the prom but the last thing she wanted was anyone's pity and she was tired of everyone treating her like she was a fragile piece of china that would shatter. She was now twenty years old and determined to show them all that she was not crazy.