Chapter 6

Kendra grimaced as the car flew over another speed bump and she was jostled around in the back. Today wasn't her best day. She had been kidnapped and now she was tied up in the back of a car who didn't know how to drive under 100mph. Kendra really hoped Seth was okay. This was the second time he had been sent off with a Kendra-stingbulb. And last time Kendra-stingbulb had made him nearly have to go to a psychiatrist. Kendra guessed seeing your sister "die" can do that to you. The car finally stopped at it's destination after Kendra had sung '100 Bottles of Pop On the Wall' 10 times.

Finally, a man dressed in black opened the trunk and yanked her out. "Easy boy." Kendra muttered. The guy growled an unintelligible answer then pulled her toward a small cabin hidden behind a grove of trees. In the cabin Kendra was shocked to see the Sphinx sitting at a table. (Not really. I mean, who else would kidnap her?)

"Kendra!" The Sphinx said standing to greet her. "How very nice of you to come to my humble abode!"

"Yeah right." Kendra muttered. Her eyes widened as she noticed something in the corner of the room. "Whoa! What is that?" she said loud enough for everyone to hear her.

"What? Oh, the skeleton? He just wouldn't give me the information I needed . . . I had to dispose of him some way." the Sphinx said smugly. Kendra shuddered. Poor fellow. Hopefully it wasn't someone she knew.

"You... you... you monster! You're a murderer!" Kendra shouted.

"Oh, I have never killed a man, only my henchmen have. But I have read many obituaries with great pleasure," the Sphinx said. The Sphinx then turned to the man in black. "You may leave." he stated.

The man grumbled something and exited. "Does he know English?" Kendra asked.

"He has never been known to use a word that might send anyone to a dictionary," the Sphinx replied, watching the door swing behind the man. Turning back to Kendra, he asked, "So, Kendra, does Warren have any secrets that you may know about?"

"What? No! Not that I know of! Why would he tell me something like that? Last I checked, he's stuck in a different dimension, undoubtedly one of your 'henchmen', might I add." Kendra said as smoothly as she could manage. Unfortunately, her tone of voice suggested otherwise.

"Oh well, I didn't think it would be that easy anyways... Torina! Come take Kendra to her room." Torina entered and dragged Kendra out of the room rather unkindly.

"Wait! Why did you want to know Warren's secrets! He's gone!" Kendra shouted as she disappeared around the corner.

"Oh, I think not..." the Sphinx chuckled evilly. He then called for Warren... in a different language... that only he knew thanks to the skeleton sitting in the room. "Umna Draconious Labriana!"

Dale had written many journals and now he read through them quickly. He also had Warren's journals resting on the bed next to him. After searching through his for an hour he turned to his brother's journals. Opening the first one he saw the words Umna Draconius Labrania scribbled in Warren's messy handwriting. On instinct Dale looked closer and those three words swam before his eyes, then they finally stopped. Dale reread them and this time he understood exactly what they said, even though they were in a completely different language. Dale knew what he had to do. He opened the window and shouted those three words as loud as he could, hoping that his plan would work. Dale suddenly felt very drained and he went to go make himself a PBJ sandwich.

Far away up in the sky a dragon flew above the clouds. He looped-the-loop and had lots of fun. That was until he heard the call. It was as clear as a bell. "Umna Draconius Labriania!" The dragon heard the words twice. Once from a stupid mortal and once from a Dragonbrother. The dragon nearly stopped in his tracks. A Dragonbrother! Those were extremely rare! The dragon decided to go see what help the Dragonbrother. He swooped down toward the ground and headed to where he knew the Dragonbrother would be.

Dale had just finished making his sandwich when he heard a great roar echo across the yard. "What in the world?" he muttered as he snatched up the sandwich and exited the house. What he saw nearly made him collapse in shock. There in the yard were not one but two dragons. There was a silver one with shockingly blue eyes, and a smaller midnight blue one with an impressive wingspan. Through the blue one was smaller, he put up a nasty fight. The two dragons were fighting each other with roars of anger punctuating now and then. A fury of claws and fangs mixed with the gusts of wind blasted from the beating wings made it nearly impossible to stand too close. Dale stood there for a second just taking in the amazing sight. That is, until he recognized the silver one. "Shiara! What are you doing here?" Dale shouted.

The silver dragon continued to fight but Dale was able to hear her thought-messages. "I'm protecting you! This dragon heard your call and came here to find you. I told him that was trespassing but he doesn't seem to understand! Now I have to show him that this is my territory and he can't come barging in." Shiara explained, ducking under the blue's paw.

"You're territory? What do you mean by that?" Dale asked as he raised his arm to eyes to protect from the buffeting winds.

"Well, I live here." Shiara thought-spoke while simultaneously shoving the other dragon into a large tree.

"Why haven't I seen you then?" Dale asked.

"You haven't seen me in dragon-form but you have seen me in fairy form! I can also turn into a fairy." Dale's eyes widened. Shiara had been so close all these years. "You may know me as the silver fairy that is conveniently named Shiara also!" Shiara said teasingly.

"Wow that's pretty cool!" Dale said.

Just then the dark blue dragon roared loudly. "Brother of Dragons! You must meet me in the clearing near the Dragon Fountain at midnight tonight. Please leave your brave guard at the house." With that the dragon took off into the breezy air.

Dale looked at Shiara and asked, "Did you hear what he said?" Shiara shook her head. Dale then turned and saw Grandma, Grandpa, Seth, Coulter, and Kendra all staring at him. Most had their mouths hanging open, except Seth. He looked totally excited. Typical Seth.

"You were talking in a different language!" Seth shouted. "We couldn't even understand you!"

"I was?" Dale asked.

"Yeah! You were all 'Blargsh roar grr" and then the dragon was all 'WOOSH!'. Can you teach me?" Seth asked.

"Hold it! The last time someone talked to dragons that person ended up being a traitor. I don't know if we can trust Dale anymore." Grandpa said thoughtfully. Dale rocked back. Not good, not good at all.

"He's got a point." Coulter pointed out.

"But he's Dale! You guys can't seriously think he's the bad guy!" Seth shouted.

"Maybe, maybe not. We should have him leave immediately!" Coulter said. Seth glowered at him as Dale just stood motionless.

"How about we compromise. Dale can stay with us tonight then he must leave tomorrow morning." Grandma said.

"Sheesh! You guys can't seriously be kicking out Dale-" Grandma shot him a withering look. "Fine," Seth agreed. "But we're going to be talking about it before we send Dale away."

Dale just shook his head subconsciously as he went into the house, his mind still whirling with all the new stuff he had just learned. First dragons show up in his front yard, he discovers one of his old friends just happens to have been living near him for the past ten years without so much as a hello, now and invitation to some Dragon Fountain with a mysterious and questionable character, and now his family was going to boot him from his house. Absolutely wonderful! Dale decided he would meet with the intruder dragon tonight. He laid down to get the rest he would need to stay up til' midnight.