Chapter 6

It had been three days since Firedrake had crash landed near to Ray's house.

Ray was finishing up his school term, he only had a week left. For now, it was the weekend. He explained to Firedrake what school was, and the days he had to go there. He was off work for the weekend, too.

A few of his friends had come over, but luckily the garage door was closed and Ray told them he couldn't do anything. Ray let out a sigh of relief as he closed the door, watching his friends ride down the long driveway on their motorcycles.

"They're gone, Sorrel," Ray called as he picked up a vacuum cleaner. Sorrel got back to sweeping up the mess she made eating all of Ray's food.

Ray turned off the vacuum cleaner and put it away. "You done?" Ray asked.

"I guess so," She tied a bag of trash, as Ray had showed her how to do. Ray grabbed the bag and heaved it over his shoulder, and dumped it into the trash can out by the garage.

He opened the garage door, and Sorrel followed him inside. Firedrake was sleeping, and Sorrel curled into a ball next to him.

"Thanks, Sorrel," Ray smiled and flashed a thumbs up. He could see Sorrel smile, but then quickly drew it back and buried her head in her furry arms. She was beginning to trust him, he was sure.

Ray trudged back into his house through the heat, and settled onto the couch in a familiar, air conditioned state. He opened his laptop and checked his Facebook for the millionth time.

He had three new notifications. One was irrelevant, but two stuck out.

"Ben Greenbloom has accepted your friend request." Ray's heart began to pound.

"New message from Ben Greenbloom."

He clicked the message, it was sent an hour ago.

"Call me as soon as you get this message." The message listed his phone number.

Ray's heart stopped. He took his phone off the coffee table and dialed the number.

After a few rings, someone picked up.

"Hello?" A masculine, British voice answered.

"Hey," Ray said. "This is Ray."

"Hi Ray, " The voice answered. "This is Ben. I got your message on Facebook."

"Yeah," Ray scratched his head. "So do I... Do I have the right person? Does the name Firedrake or Sorrel mean anything to you?"

The line was silent for a moment. "It means the world to me, actually."

"I know, Ben. They told me that story."

"They told you how we met? And the how we got to the Rim of Heaven?" Ben said.

"Yeah, but Sorrel was keen to make sure they left out a lot of the fun details. I don't think she trusts me too much."

"How are they at your house? Where do you live, in America, right?"

"Yep," Ray replied, suddenly noticing his southern accent up against Ben's British accent.

"I don't know, man. I was driving home one night on my motorcycle, and I see something flying across the sky. It crash lands in some trees, and I go investigate. Next thing I know, I'm leading them back to my house."

"Did they say why they're there?" Ben panted.

"Firedrake said he was caught in a wind storm one night, then he ended up here all dizzy, and crashed. That's what they've told me."

"Are they alright?"

"Firedrake broke his wing, but don't worry. I put it in a splint. Sorrel's fine."

Ben sighed and was silent for sometime, taking all this in.

"I lost contact with the monks in China. I thought I would never get to see them again. Does anyone else know they're here?"

"No," Ray responded. "My parents are divorced and separate, and my Mom is gone for the whole summer. We've had a few close calls with the police, though. It's just me and them."

"Ben, did he call yet?" An adult voice echoed in the background. Ray could tell he was put on speaker. "Yes, hello. My name is Barnabas Greenbloom, who am I speaking with?"

Ray told him his name, and Ben updated him on the situation.

"Remarkable, a windstorm, you say?" Professor Greenbloom said.

"You're a professor, they told me. What would your explanation be for that?"

"I'm no meteorologist," Greenbloom laughed. "I'm an archaeologist. No idea strikes me. If I could get some more details about it, maybe I could figure this phenomena out."

"Yes, can you put them on speaker please?" Ben said.

"Well, I just left my garage and they're both sleeping. Firedrake said he's nocturnal because of the moonlight thing," Ray replied. "Should I go wake them up?" "Oh, you needn't do that," the professor said. "Listen, I'll go see what I can find on any wind activity in that area, in the meantime. Just give us a call after they wake up, okay?"

"Okay," Ray said. "I will, I promise. Do you have Skype? I could put us on video chat."

"Sure," Ben responded. Ray and Ben exchanged Skype usernames. "It gets dark here at around nine o'clock, and you're four hours or so ahead."

"We'll be up. Bye, Ray," Ben answered. The line clicked and Ben hung up.

Ray stared at his computer screen. He couldn't believe how excited Firedrake was going to be. He could imagine what a difference this was going to make in getting Firedrake and Sorrel home.

Ray sat back on his couch, day dreaming about dragons flying around the mountains of the himalayas. He could see himself riding one, Firedrake in this instance. Ray had never left the country, and rarely left Georgia. The farthest away from home he'd ever been was in Michigan.

Suddenly, interrupting his train of thought, his phone rang. He checked the caller I.D. Big Bob.

Ray answered immediately. "Hey, Bob."

"Ray! I need you to get down here to the shop, pronto!"

"But I thought you told me I could take the weekend off?" Ray said.

"Yeah, I did. Jimmy called in sick and Garret quit. I have to run down to Macon and pick up a new shipment of parts, and it'll take the rest of the day. I've got no one else I can turn to, Ray. Can you do this for me?"

Ray paused for a minute. It's not like he could say no, Bob would probably fire him.

"Sure, Bob. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks, Ray. I owe you one, big time," Bob hung up.

Ray sighed, and got up from the couch, changing into a collared shirt. He grabbed his backpack with his laptop and stepped out onto his porch. He looked towards the garage. Should he go in and wake them up, and tell them that he has to leave?

No, he wouldn't be gone for too long anyway. Bob would surely let him off before nightfall. Ray put his helmet on and flipped down the visor. He slipped into his motorcycle jacket, even though it was well over ninety degrees. He paced towards the garage, and peered in through a dusty window. The pair were still fast asleep. He was just starting to get on Sorrel's good side, If only he could leave a note.

Ray mounted his bike and drove out of the driveway, and headed towards the interstate. After fifteen minutes of disregarding all speed limit signs, he made it to Bob's Custom Cycles, and not a minute too soon. Bob was waiting out front, already in his truck. "You're a life saver, Ray!" Bob shouted as Ray parked.

"Just man the cash register, and I'm expecting a few people to come and drop off their bikes for servicing."

"I can handle it, Bob."

"Atta' boy, Ray, see you when I get back." Bob pulled out of the parking lot and drove off.

Ray took a seat up at the cash register, surrounded by Motorcycle parts and gear hanging on the shelves. After twenty minutes with no customers, Ray took out his laptop.

Several hours had passed, and the two people who had bikes to drop off that day had come as planned. Where was Bob, though?

Ray checked the time. It was 7:30, he was beginning to see the evening sun reflect off of the Westin in the distance.

Ray pulled out his phone and called Bob. Bob answered at the second ring. "Hey Ray, how's everything holding up in Atlanta?"

"Every thing's fine, Bob. I put the bikes dropped off in the back, and a few people have come in."

"Uh-huh," Bob replied. "So, is something bothering you?"

"Kind of," Ray picked his words carefully. "I kind of needed to be home by dark, I had some things I had to do.

"Oh, what kind of things?"

"Um," Ray didn't like to have to lie to his boss. "I had some yard work that needed to be done, I was hoping to get home and finish that before tonight."

"I see," Bob said. I'm still in Macon, we're packing up my truck and trailer good and tight. If you really need to go, you've got the keys. You lock up tonight, and I'll see you on Monday."

"Sure, Bob. I'll catch you Monday."

Ray hung up, feeling a bit less anxious. However, Atlanta traffic on a saturday night was a force to be reckoned with. He had a three strikes on his license for running a stop sign and a few red lights. He couldn't afford another, or he would lose his license.

Ray waited until 7: 45, after his last customer left. After he finished locking up, he got back on his motorcycle, putting a pack of cigarettes he'd found under the break room couch in his glovebox.

The sun was beginning to set, Firedrake and Sorrel would no doubt be up soon. He wanted to be there just as they were getting up, so they could hear the news about Ben first thing.

It was as humid as a rainy day, and hotter than the desert. Ray pulled over and put his jacket under the seat, riding in a T-Shirt. It was much more comfortable, but he was more exposed. Ray had never crashed before, and was confident in his ability not to.

Ray approached a red light and pulled the brakes. The light went green, and he slowly pushed ahead, the first in line.

Suddenly, in the lane ahead of him, an SUV smashed into a sedan. Car parts and debris flew everywhere. Ray tried to brake, but it was too late. The front of his bike collided with the crunched sedan. He tried to hang onto his bike, but the sheer force knocked him over the roof of the sedan, his foot catching and causing him to do a cartwheel. He landed on the other side of the pavement, rolling across the road, suffering a hard road rash. His bike was soon to follow. It rolled several times and skidded to a stop on it's side, leaving a trail of sparks.

Ray felt extreme pain in his arms and the side of his head. He was in a state of shock. He tried to cry out, but couldn't. He tried to get up and move, but shell shock kept him rooted to the ground. He stared up at the sky, slowly turning to night. After a few moments, a man came to Ray's aid.

"Don't move!" He said. Ray glanced at his chest and arms. He wasn't sure if he broke anything, but he was laying in a pool of his own blood. Ray didn't know if it was the blood loss or if it was because he'd hit his head, but he began to drift away, everything was fading into black. He thought of Firedrake and Sorrel. What was to happen to them?

Ray lost consciousness as sirens began to approach the crash zone.