Based on characters from Fablehaven© by Brandon Mull. The original characters and plot details are my property. No copyright infringement intended.
Footfalls from behind the curtain wall made him drop his arms back to his sides. He looked up and saw Seth coming around the edge of the wall. Seth motioned for them to come with him.
Leander picked up his light stone, got up and helped Kendra from the cave floor. They followed Seth back to the larger space.
The scene had changed. Axezeles had been a large spiky lump in the middle of the floor, now she was standing in the center of the room looking magnificent and very large. Standing with her neck extended and tail stretching out behind her she filled the room.
"Prince Bracken, will you help me find those responsible for the attempt on my life and deaths of my children?" she asked him regally.
"I will help in any way I can," he returned the formal tone. "Axezeles, just call me Bracken. I am not known as Prince Bracken and it may be dangerous to all of us if you were to use that name at the wrong time," Bracken said nicely.
She nodded thoughtfully and looked at Leander.
"Tracker Leander, you will continue the search for my missing son?" she asked him equally as formally.
Seth, Bracken and Kendra all stared at him wondering what he was going to say.
"Yes, I will continue the search for him," he replied politely and without hesitation.
"No one knows what my avatar looks like since I only invoked it once. I think I will be safer if no one knows Axezeles is alive," she said resolutely.
Leander knew just what she meant by that, Kelmar was dead but he was probably someone's puppet. Navarog didn't take orders very well but he probably wasn't the originator of the murder attempt either. Leander definitely felt safer in human form. No one knew if Raxtus was alive or not and that suited him just fine based on what he had just learned.
"You will need another name for your avatar," Bracken suggested.
"Please, wait until you are changed to choose a name. It may help us to aid you in choosing a name, if we see you in your human form," Kendra requested trying to be helpful.
"I don't know your name," Axezeles said looking at Kendra with wide searching eyes.
"I am Kendra and this is my brother Seth. We are just human though very involved with the sanctuaries," Kendra said humbly, averting her eyes from the intense stare.
"I will join the search for the killers of my children but I need to learn the ways of the world in 2010. Kendra, will you teach me?" she asked politely.
"I will do what I can. The world is very complicated compared to a couple of hundred years ago. I can get my mother and grandmother to help also. They don't need to know who you are if you wish. We can tell them that we found you trapped in this place. Leander's search didn't provide clues to Raxtus but we found you," she said in reply. "Maybe we won't get grounded for life for dumping the cabin on the ground," she mumbled looking pointedly at Seth.
Seth made a face at her.
"When you invoke your avatar you may want to wear something similar to what I'm wearing," Kendra also suggested.
Axezeles looked at her appearance appraisingly. She was obviously not as judgmental as a human who might have worn corsets and long dresses all their life.
"What about me?" the little shadow charmer asked, she was still sitting on the floor watching the interaction. She was scruffy, barefooted and wearing thin rags.
"How old are you child?" Axezeles asked her.
"They told me I was 10 summers when the older shadow charmers recruited me and that I was old enough to correctly do what they asked," she sniffed. "They thought they could control me but they didn't know me."
Seth was amazed she was so young although he had gained part of his skill early too.
"How did you learn all your shadow skills?" he asked curiously.
"Both my parents were shadow charmers and I learned from them. They were cruel and evil people and I swore I wouldn't be like them. They had disappointed Kelmar a few too many times. He had me kill them thinking that it would make me more useable but it only liberated me to be less so. I regret killing my parents but not the evil people that they were," she said matter-of-factly.
Seth stood there mouth agape.
"When was this? What was the year?" Bracken asked.
"I didn't know there was a name for the year," she shrugged. "No one said and no one cared. It was hard just to survive, season to season."
Seth thought she certainly didn't act like a ten year old. It suddenly struck him that she wasn't anymore. She had just spent several hundred years living on the dreams of a highly intelligent mature dragon.
"The year I laid my eggs was around the year that Constantinople fell and John was King of England. The human wars drove me to this peaceful place. The eggs were in the cave for many years before the attempt on my life," Axezeles said.
"King John? He reigned in the early 1200's. Constantinople fell during the 4th crusade about the same time." Bracken accessed a rough date from his memory.
"How did you get here?" Kendra asked Unleea. "This continent hadn't been discovered by Europeans yet."
"One of the jealous female dragons flew me here. Kelmar didn't know where Axezeles had gone but a few of the dragons knew. Kelmar had no idea that I was flying over the ocean. I never returned to tell him either," she answered candidly.
"The world is very much more complicated than eight hundred years ago," Leander said staggered at the thought they had slept through that much time. The thought that Raxtus was about 800 years old also boggled his human mind. He had no idea he was that old, he hadn't thought about his age at all. This would take some adjustment.
"You could possibly pose as mother and daughter, if you want, and come home with me," Kendra offered.
Leander didn't know if it was a good idea to be in the same house with her. This also would take some adjustment. How much adjustment was he expected to make every day? Then he realized that he would be gone most of the day anyway. He would only see her in the morning and evening. In a week or sooner she would be leaving with Bracken to find the persons responsible for the death of his siblings. Then things would get back to normal, whatever that was.
"Before you invoke your avatar I have a question. We may need to prove that we found the body of Axezeles so we can find the instigator of Navarog's attack. We may need some sign of the dead dragon. What do you suggest we use to prove Axezeles is dead?" Bracken asked.
"I have a unique spike and scale pattern that would prove my body was found," she said thoughtfully.
"Won't that hurt?" Leander asked innocently knowing that it would indeed be extremely painful.
"Not the scale. But the removal of the spike will be painful but Prin…but Bracken can heal the wound," she answered. "I would give up my right claw if it would guarantee I will find my children's killer."
"I don't think that will be necessary. The scale and spike will be sufficient," Bracken said placating the dragon.
With a grunt and a great tug, she pulled a scale from her chest above her heart, the same one that Bracken had indented with his horn. There was a small amount of blood on the scale.
"This scale is special. It will take me many years to grow it back. Any dragon or foul dragon-slayer will know that a dragon cannot survive without this protection."
She held it out to Leander, stunned at first but he recovered quickly, took it from her huge clawed foot.
Then she looked at Bracken. "Heal me quick Bracken, the pain will be great," she told him and watched him prepare.
He pulled his short sword again and it became a horn. He pulled his other sword and it remained a sword.
"You pull and I will cut. It will go faster and be less painful," he told her. He stood close to her but also ready to jump away in case she lashed out.
She reached up and grabbed the unique spike and pulled. Bracken sliced the base of the spike. The dragon roared in pain and Bracken placed his horn on her shoulder to aid in relieving her agony. Kendra ran to him and added her magic to his. With another slice and a mighty tug, the spike came loose. She dropped the bloody spike and panted in agony but didn't collapse. Her blood clotted quickly as Bracken, with Kendra's aid, continued to funnel healing to the dragon.
Kendra knew Raxtus also had a similar though miniature version of the spike and it made her sad that she may never see his again.
Seth and Leander walked over and looked at the bloody spike lying on the floor.
"What are we going to do with this? The blood is fresh." Seth said as he tapped the spike with his foot. "No one will believe it came from a long dead dragon."
"We freeze age it," Unleea said. She had not moved and was still sitting on the cave floor where Seth had stopped her from attacking Bracken.
"What?"
"Freeze it and flake the blood off," she eagerly volunteered. "We used to make 'ancient' artifacts to sell by freeze aging new stuff. I was the quickest at it so they made me do it."
"Freeze it with what?" Seth asked.
"I know something you don't Shadowmaster?" she said in true awe. "May I teach you?"
"Yes, I would like it very much; it must be something lost over the years. You know how they are so secretive with their skills," Seth improvised, glad the little shadow charmer was on his side now.
Or was she? He needed Bracken to listen to her before he trusted her too much further. She had tried to runaway and she thought he would kill her. She could just be biding her time.
"Yes. I do know how secretive they are. I had to learn much of what I do know by shade jumping. Ha! They didn't know I knew how to do that," she laughed then shivered, thinking back on her training and their devious ways.
Seth saw her shiver as she stared into space obviously thinking of her past. It must have been tough on the little girl.
Axezeles sighed again. Bracken and Kendra backed away from the huge dragon.
"Thank you both for your aid," she said looking at the two. "You are more than just human Kendra, with the Prince of Fairydom as a suitor and a Shadowmaster for a brother. You are fairystruck at the very least."
Kendra blushed.
Seth looked up. Bracken was listening to the dragon talk to Kendra. He knew it might be rude but he needed to know if he could trust the girl.
"Bracken, will you check out Unleea? See if she has suffered any damage from her years attached to the dragon," Seth called out.
"She looks fine," Bracken said trying to dismiss him.
"Just take her hands and check her out. She could have hidden damage," Seth said suggestively. Knowing Bracken could tell in a moment if she was an enemy.
"Oh okay," Bracken caught Seth's hint. "Unleea let me see how you are."
"I've never seen a unicorn horn before. I've never seen a unicorn either but I've always been on the other side." Unleea looked up at Bracken with wonder in her eyes as he approached her.
"This won't hurt but be still and let him hold your hands." Seth told her quietly and calmly.
She stood still with her hands outstretched watching him with fascination.
Bracken took her hands and smiled at her.
"Why do you care for the dragon?" he asked her.
"She is not filled with hate like the others are," she answered truthfully.
"How did you know this before they took you to kill her?"
"My father took me to see the dragons once when I was younger. He wanted to see if I was going to be a shadow charmer, to see if dragons frightened me. She was there with a big silver dragon. I was not afraid of them. I passed their test. I could tell that those two held nothing against us humans unlike the other dragons who loathed us. She was so beautiful," Unleea said smiling up at Bracken.
Axezeles was listening to them now.
"Yes, I remember. I had just returned from hiding my eggs and it brought me pleasure to see a little one, even a human, knowing that ours were growing too," Axezeles said.
"She is just fine," Bracken said releasing her hands, looking over at Seth. "She is in good health. She could use something to eat though."
Seth started rummaging through his pack and pulled out an apple. Unleea looked at the fruit suspiciously.
"Bite it but only suck out the juice. It's sweet and good for you. It will give you energy." Seth told her. "I don't know what you ate before so offering you anything else may upset your stomach."
She sank her teeth into the fruit hesitantly but immediately began to suck out the sweet juice. When the juice stopped flowing, she bit it again.
"We will need to bring this to the attention of the caretakers but we won't spring all of this on them at once. You two are our priority at the moment. We will get you out of here and back into the world," Bracken said.
"Unleea and Seth will have to work on these to create the artifacts we need for our investigation. We will 'find" these artifacts later during Leander's continued search for Raxtus. That is his priority."