Based on characters from Fablehaven© by Brandon Mull. The original characters and plot details are my property. No copyright infringement intended.
"Warren's cabin is on the other side of the sanctuary. It will take us until dark to get there at our own pace, especially if I have to carry all of this. Have a fairy call Hugo for us," Seth said grumpily as he slung his pack on his back and picked up the other two they had left behind in their rush. He pulled Bracken's pack up on one shoulder and Leander's on the other.
"Good idea," she said, struggling with her own pack. "We have to get past the wards first."
As soon as they got to the cairn stones, she sensed a fairy long moments before she actually spied her. She was tiny, just a little bigger than a bumble bee and just as round with tiny crimson wings.
"Do you know me?" she asked the fairy.
"Yes, Kendra," the fairy blushed, nodded her head and flew up to her.
"Please do me the honor of your service. I need to get the golem Hugo to come to me as soon as possible, we are headed that way." She pointed. "Do you think you can help me? It's not an emergency but if he isn't too busy we need his assistance," Kendra asked the tiny fairy.
She nodded again and was off in a flash.
Kendra and Seth headed toward the cabin not knowing how long it would take the golem to find them or even if he would. Ten minutes later, they could hear the thunderous footfalls of the huge golem.
The little fairy flew up to Kendra grinning just as Hugo came into view.
"You did well, thank you so much for your help. You are so beautiful and so very fast," Kendra complemented her. "We have to go now. Thank you again."
The fairy made a fancy pirouette and giggled at the compliment.
"Hugo, we need to get to Warren's cabin as fast as you can get us there," Seth told him.
He lowered his arms and they scrambled up, one on each of his huge arms. Seth and Kendra leaned back against the hard dirt and rocky armor of Hugo's chest. When he had them securely positioned, he ran as fast as he could.
Seth thought about hanging the backpacks on the jutting stones on Hugo's shoulders but the way he was jogging the packs would have bounced off and wound up on the ground so he hugged them to him as they quickly made their way across Fablehaven.
It only took Hugo forty-five minutes to get to the cabin.
Leander was flat on his back on the porch breathing heavily from his run and Bracken stood over Leander watching him with a concerned look on his face. They had just arrived themselves.
"What's happening?" Kendra asked as she climbed down from Hugo's arm. "Why did you need to get here so fast?"
"I dreamt of her again … somehow I knew … I needed to be here," Leander gasped trying to catch his breath.
"Anybody here?" she asked looking around.
Bracken shook his head.
Bracken wasn't breathless like Leander but it was obvious that they had run hard. However, it was almost past Leander's capability.
Kendra took the water pack to Leander. He sat up on the porch floor but didn't stand. He drank deeply. Bracken did the same. Both of them were looking almost normal now.
"What did she look like?" She asked.
"She wasn't a physical presence it was all mental. I didn't see her. I couldn't tell you if she was a dragon, human, or a spirit. But I do know that it was a 'she'. She was helpful, caring and her aura was light so she couldn't have been a demon. She had the feeling of floating in space, nebulous ethereal. No notion of time like she had just been waiting for me to show up," he said dreamily.
Seth followed Kendra to the porch and was in the process of unloading the three backpacks when he suddenly felt prickles on the back of his neck. He stopped and listened to a soft whisper. Wide eyed, he put up his hand. "Shhhh, listen," he whispered.
They were silent for a moment, and then Bracken shook his head and whispered, "What?"
"I hear whispering, shadows, something of the shadow is nearby," he whispered. He cocked his head to listen closer. He shrugged out of his backpack and quietly sat it on the porch. He moved slowly, stealthily, past the front door into the cabin.
Hugo trembled in an attempt to follow but the ward held him back. He remained in the garden.
Bracken extended his hand to Leander and pulled him up from the floor and they all followed Seth into the cabin watching him as he listened.
"Here," he whispered his eyes closed. "Right here!" he held out his hands as if he was feeling something. He stood a few feet from the northeast corner of the room near the bed; he opened his eyes to see where he was.
Kendra noticed that Seth was within a foot of where she found Leander that first day and looked over at him as he looked over at her.
"'Dragon listen' is what I'm hearing. It is so soft," Seth said his face was uncertain, his eyes narrowed as he listened.
"How can I go to sleep here?" Leander said, unsure if he should be following the instructions that only Seth could hear, words whispered by something or someone 'dark'.
"You can't change here," she said to him. "It's not possible, it's warded against any creature but human's entering."
"But he is human now. What if he changes while he is already in the cabin, it won't spit him out will it?" Seth rationalized but was still uncertain. "Bracken?"
"He's too big, he will break the cabin," Kendra said crossly.
"I don't think so," Bracken said looking around, "and I think Seth is right it won't force him to leave if he changes inside the cabin. Since I am here, my shield protects us from eavesdroppers but I didn't affect the dream in the building so he should be able to contact her here.
"You were drawn here," Bracken addressed Leander and reassured him. "The girl had you invoke your avatar here and no one hurt you all the hours you were here alone.
"I can heal you if you need it. Seth can keep the fear away if it is a bad entity. We can wake you up. Hugo is here to help and Kendra or I can get other help here at a moment's notice. I think you are safe enough," Bracken concluded.
Leander seemed in a quandary so Kendra led him to the table and pushed him to sit down.
"Let's get something to eat and drink. We don't know how long this will take. You are already tired. Rest a little first," Kendra said to Leander and then she looked at the others too.
"But he's going to go to sleep!" Seth insisted.
"Well, it is stressful, Seth. It is not like I'm getting any rest," Leander stated grateful to be sitting down, his stomach growled and he was ready to listen to anything Kendra had to say if it included eating at the same time.
Kendra unloaded her daypack with quite a feast. They sat quietly and ate the food.
When they were finished, they moved all of the furniture to one side of the cabin. They were all thinking it was a very good thing Raxtus was a small dragon.
"We can do this together, you wanted to find her. This may be the only way," Bracken said encouragingly.
"We are with you Leander. I can hold your arm so if the shadow tries to frighten you I will counter it," Seth said as he reached out and grabbed his forearm.
"Sleep Leander, I know you're tired from your run," Kendra said soothingly.
"I still hear the voice whispering. So I will hear anything she says to you, if it starts getting threatening I'll wake you up. Okay?" Seth added. He backed up to let Leander do his dragon thing.
"Okay!" Leander closed his eyes and took a deep breath. With a bright flash Raxtus was in front of them. Kendra heard the floorboards creak but they held. Raxtus curled into a ball as before and put his head under his wing again. The dragon took several deep breaths and relaxed. Seth sat down next to Raxtus. He laid his hand on the dragon's forearm and closed his eyes. Kendra sat next to the front door, keeping a clear view of them. She sat quietly listening to the two of them breathe.
Bracken sat down next to Kendra and put his arm around her, he gave her a consoling smile and a wink. She smiled back.
She snuggled close to him hoping that this went well and Leander would find out what he needed to know and that none of their defensive skills, spells or magical backup would be needed. She didn't know it but Bracken thought the exact same thing.
Raxtus fell into a light sleep and Seth heard the whispers coming from him too. The same whispers 'Dragon listen, dragon sleep.'
When Bracken was sure he was asleep he whispered to Kendra.
"I don't understand why he is so human-like, he should have extraordinary stamina. He should have been able to run like that for hours. He eats like a growing teenage boy instead of a dragon avatar and he definitely shouldn't need milk to see magical creatures. This isn't normal something strange is going on." He shook his head and watched as Raxtus breathed slowly, showing he was sound asleep. "I'm surprised he could invoke his dragon form."
Kendra was shocked at Bracken's revelations. Even if he wasn't a normal dragon avatar he was definitely a normal human and that was what Leander wanted.
"Maybe the spell did something different than we thought. No one had ever performed it successfully before maybe he will be totally human when he isn't in his dragon form," she whispered back. She wondered what was happening, as she watched the dragon and his brother, they needed to be very alert now.
"Hmm?" was Bracken's only reply. He sat silently watching as he held Kendra close to him hoping that they hadn't given Raxtus another problem instead of solving the ones he had.
As Raxtus fell into a deeper sleep, another voice became stronger and communication was established. Seth fell into a slight trance as he emptied his mind to listen to the voices.
"You did well? You're proud of your avatar?" the female voice asked Raxtus, curious and happy the young dragon had come back to speak to her.
"Yes, I am happy with it," he answered. She doesn't know; she can't tell, he thought happily.
"What magic or skills do you have?" she asked.
"I have none," he answered bluntly, unwilling to reveal that he could turn invisible.
"What? You should have developed skills while you were growing. You were able to invoke your avatar. How could you not have other skills?" she said, astonished.
"No, I wasn't able to develop any of my dragon magic skills. It is complicated," he said evasively.
Another voice abruptly attracted Seth's attention, a different female voice, the dark voice.
"Help us please! I can hear you. Oh! … shadow charmer? I need your help. We're trapped and can't get out. The she-dragon can't hear me at all. The young dragon can hear me sometimes. I am stuck here with her. I am a shadow charmer like you. Please help us," the female voice begged Seth.
"I hear you. What are you doing there? Don't lie, I can tell if you are," Seth replied.
"Aaaah, I can tell you are a very powerful Shadowmaster. For me to hear you tells me much. Something attacked us, almost killed us so our only resort was to shade-share. The dragon was poisoned and fell into a deep sleep. I have been here with her ever since. I don't know how long. Time means nothing here. I have been surviving on her dreams or I would have gone insane. When she connected with the young one I hoped that we could be rescued," the voice was even more hopeful now.
Seth could hear Raxtus and the dragon talking. That was how he heard the dragon's voice because it echoed through the shadow charmer's mind. He was sure that they couldn't hear their conversation.
"Who tried to kill the dragon and for what reason?" he asked suddenly angry.
"Even here it is dangerous to speak the name of the dark dragon who is the demon prince and his reasons are his own," the female voice replied cautiously, hearing the anger in his voice.
"Oh, do you mean Navarog? He is dead," Seth said unconcerned, there was only one demon prince dragon.
"He is dead? How? … Never mind. It is good news if true. It may mean we are safe if you can find us and release us. Please," she begged.
"Where are you?" he asked
"We are in a cave. She dragged us deeper than I could have imagined before she fell into a deep sleep. The cut severely poisoned her but not fatally. You must be close if you both can hear us as well as you can."
Seth was amazed he could still catch what Raxtus was talking about also. He was listening to two conversations. Suddenly Raxtus' conversation was much more interesting.
"Listen to me! I am going to trigger a memory in you. So you must remember the first thing that comes into your mind when I say the trigger word. Do you understand?" the soft female voice prompted him.
"How can you do that?" he asked curiously.
"Not important how I do it just that I know how. Do you understand? Are you ready?" the stern voice asked him.
"Yes I do. I am ready," Raxtus replied.
"This is it. Yærtgupiti#i*," the female voice warbled strangely and their link was broken.
"Aaaah?" Raxtus lifted his head up, suddenly wide awake.