Dragonwatch
When Kendra entered Grandpa Sorenson's office, something about the
atmosphere made her feel she had interrupted an argument. Perhaps it was
the variety of expressions. Grandpa Larsen looked sad. Grandma Larsen
seemed angry, though she was trying to cover it up. Grandma and Grandpa
Sorenson both looked concerned. Bracken was there, appearing unusually
somber. And Agad looked apologetic.
"Not the best start for the chapter." Dale commented, looking nervous of what might be happening there.
"Do you have any idea already of what you might be telling us in the future?" Gloria asked the wizard.
"Foresight is not really one of my powers, sorry but I truly don't know this." Agad apologized, to which both sets of grandparents slowly nodded.
Perhaps it was the absence of conversation after they entered—no
greetings, no small talk. Everyone just stared at her and Seth.
Or maybe there really was an intangible tension in the air.
Agad broke the tension first, stepping forward to greet them. Plump and
elderly, he had a gray beard that hung almost to his waist. He wore a silky
robe of dark blue, topped by a black cloak trimmed with sable. Rings
glittered on all his fingers.
"Yes, that is me indeed, does the book always do that?" Agad tried to lower the tension slightly, and he was curious too about this magic.
"Yeah, it's weird, they've reminded us of things or people we already know… despite the sisters knowing beforehand that the books would be for us." Warren replied with a shrug.
"Truly curious, their magic has always been a motive of interest for many." The wizard said.
"Hello," Kendra replied. "Nice to see you, too." She meant it. Agad had
given them good advice when they were at Wyrmroost. He had recruited the
dragons that had enabled them to win the battle of Zzyzx. And he had helped
set things right at Fablehaven after the demons were locked away inside a
new prison. Agad was powerful, smart, and on their side.
"Hi," Seth said. "We weren't eavesdropping. Grandpa Sorenson told me
to bring Kendra to his office. What's going on?"
"More than you want to know," Bracken muttered
"If I can know something, better to know it than to not know it." Seth replied to the book, not liking when they hide things from him.
Kendra was feeling more anxious each moment, even Bracken seems to be quite down in the future, what's going on?
"I always want to know," Seth insisted.
"Is it bad?" Kendra asked. "Is everyone all right? Warren? Vanessa?
Tanu?"
"As far as I know, your friends are well," Agad said. "They all remain on
assignment."
It had been months since Kendra had seen any of them. Though she felt
certain that Grandpa Sorenson, as Captain of the Knights of the Dawn, knew
where they were, he never shared. It was all top secret.
"Months? The sisters truly got us in the best time, otherwise many here might be missing for a while it seems." Tanu said.
"That must be exactly why they did it right then, we got a full house." Seth nodded, and hoping all their friends are okay in this future.
"Then what's up?" Seth asked.
Agad looked at Grandma Larsen. "I'm not sure we've entirely settled on
what to tell you."
"Tell us everything," Seth said.
"Careful what you wish for," Bracken warned.
"How bad is it?" Seth asked.
"I don't like it any more than you do, Gloria," Grandma Sorenson said.
"But you know the stakes. We should at least have the conversation."
"The conversation? Oooh, you two are getting the talk, I guess Agad was called to show some magic examples, and Bracken wants to help you too" Warren tried to lighten up the mood with that too, the siblings quickly looked away as the unicorn had a slight blush from it.
"Warren, let's not." Seth simply said quite flustered.
"If we have the conversation, you know what will happen," Grandma
Larsen said. "The only way to prevent their involvement is to keep them out
of it."
"Out of what?" Seth asked. Then he paled, looking at Agad. "Oh, no. Out
of prison? Is this about the ogre? Is Kendra a witness?"
Grandpa Sorenson covered a grin.
"Am I saying too much?" Seth went on. "Are there magical lawyers?"
"Doren Goatman at law, Seth Sorenson, the magic police is gonna get you." Doren told Seth in a most serious tone.
"I don't know, but I don't think a satyr would be a good lawyer." Vanessa said to that, then focused back on the book.
Agad looked at Seth seriously. "I heard about the incident with the ogre. It
was unwise. But reprimanding you is not the purpose of my visit."
Seth looked relieved. "You brought us here to tell us something. Let's do
it."
"I agree," Kendra said, her mind flashing back to the robed figure in the
driveway of Fablehaven and his dire warning. Was this related to that
encounter somehow?
"You know how I feel," Agad announced to the room. "I don't like it, but
I would not be here if I had another option. They are remarkable children.
They could be of service. However, I am not their guardian."
Same way Kendra kept getting more anxious, Seth was looking more and more hopeful.
"Oh now this is the good stuff, you will be sending us in a super cool mission, that's why nobody in the room likes it, because it's "dangerous" Seth guessed, as Kendra stared at him.
"Are you serious? That's all you can think about? This all seems way too serious to be some "fun" adventure."
"Better than being grounded, it is." He replied.
"Mom and Dad are on a trip," Kendra said.
"We tried to phone them," Grandpa Larsen said.
"They wouldn't understand what is being asked," Grandma Larsen said.
"Not really. Our world is too new to them. Everything would depend on how
we present it. We could make it sound like a holiday. We could make it
sound necessary. We could make it sound out of the question."
"What are we talking about?" Seth asked, clearly frustrated. "What do you
need us to do?"
"Go ahead," Grandma Larsen said with resignation. "I suppose we know
this has to happen or we wouldn't have sent for them."
"They could decline," Bracken said.
"Quite unlikely." Seth now said.
"You don't even know what it is!" Bracken sounded rather frustrated, what is going on? In months, it seems like he's quite against whatever this is, are they gonna place Kendra and Seth in yet more immense danger? They've been through so much, they deserved more time of peace, years. This is just unfair if it is some new big risk.
"In theory," Grandma Larsen said sadly. "Tell them."
Grandpa Sorenson nodded at Agad.
The wizard cleared his throat. "There has been unrest of late among the
dragons."
Raxtus cleared his throat as well to stop for a moment, here it comes, the topic of dragons has sprung again, this will not be nice.
And meanwhile he wondered when he's going to appear with all this.
"Is a storm coming?" Seth asked.
"A new age of dragons?" Kendra added.
Agad furrowed his brow. "What makes you say that?"
"Witches," Seth said.
"A demon," Kendra said.
"I hope those are overstatements," Agad said. "But relations are rapidly
deteriorating. We could be heading in that direction."
"Aren't the dragons in sanctuaries?" Seth asked.
"The vast majority, yes, for now," Agad said. "May it ever be so."
"Are the dragon sanctuaries in danger?" Kendra asked.
"We have reason for concern," Agad said carefully. "All at once, across
all the sanctuaries, the dragons are suddenly testing their limits. No
sanctuaries have fallen, but in some places the situation is turning ugly. I fear
we have become too complacent over the years. We're not ready for a
coordinated draconic rebellion."
Draconic rebellion, the extremely few short talks Raxtus caught on that after Zzyzx did put him on edge, but dragons love to talk about their superiority, he didn't actually think it could get to this in so little time.
"Give them some history," Grandpa Sorenson said.
Agad nodded. "Have you children ever wondered why we started
relocating magical creatures into hidden preserves?"
Seth scrunched his face. "Kind of. But not really."
"To keep them safe?" Kendra guessed.
"That was part of it," Agad said. "But it was just as much to protect
humanity. And that started with the dragons."
"Dragons used to run around loose?" Seth asked.
"Essentially, yes," Agad said.
Kendra had met dragons. The thought made her shiver.
"Long ago, magical creatures dwelled alongside mortals," Agad said.
"Like tigers in the jungle, bears in the hills, or sharks in the ocean, enchanted
beasts wandered the world. There were plenty of wild places back then, and
coexistence was not a major problem. The unbelief of mortals helped repel
most beings of a magical nature. And there were unwritten laws that
generally kept humans and mystical creatures apart."
"Then the dragons got greedy," Bracken said.
"Are you truly fine with reading this chapter?" Bracken asked softly, looking at the dragon in the room.
"I mean, it doesn't really matter, if not this one I will read some other, and the situation with the dragons will just keep getting worse as we go on most likely so like I said before, I should try to brace myself too." Raxtus lamented with a short nod.
"Hey, you were quite cool last night, after you get some snacks, you can choose what we'll watch this night if you'd like." Doren offered, Newel looked surprised at that for a moment but then reluctantly nodded.
That got a slight smile from the "small" dragon, giving a nod to the satyrs, at least the night will be much better.
"You wouldn't have thought the satyrs could be good at making someone feel better like that, eh?" Seth whispered to Kendra, who nodded a bit surprised.
Agad held up a finger. "Not without reason. Remember, I was once a
dragon, long ago. I remember those times. As mortals spread, the wild
places grew smaller. Certain dragons foresaw the day when mortals would
claim the entire world. And they started to fight back."
"What happened?" Seth asked.
"The Age of Dragons," Bracken said.
"Dragons got carried away," Agad said. "They started with ships and
caravans. Soon it was villages and towns. Even cities."
"Wait," Kendra said. "We would have heard of this."
Agad smiled. "Are you sure? Ancient stories fade or change. Records get
destroyed. The magical community has historically done an excellent job at
avoiding detection by humankind. Doesn't it seem everyone should know
about the preserves for magical creatures dotting the globe? Places like
Fablehaven. And the enormous dragon sanctuaries."
"Distracter spells," Seth said. "People can see them but they don't
actually notice them."
"That's the idea," Agad said. "History can work much the same way. It
helps that people don't want to believe a dragon leveled a city or burned an
ancient library. They would rather believe it was a volcano or a war. There
was a time when a huge percentage of towns and cities offered tributes to
dragons to survive. Some gave treasure. Others provided livestock or even
people."
"That's horrible," Kendra said.
Kendra couldn't but agree with herself.
"If there somehow was some… new age of dragons, would it…?" She began to ask.
"The same? No, sadly I'd fear like it would be even worse if that ended up happening, so many years in sanctuaries to build up tension, and with humanity covering such big part of the planet, they'd see it as a lot more to bring down." Agad said in a sad tone.
"Demons would have destroyed everything, the dragons would destroy and control." Vanessa said with arms crossed.
Agad raised his eyebrows. "It was dreadful, and getting worse every year.
Many realized it had gone too far. I was among the dragons who sided with
humankind. Long, long ago, before my time, a mighty dragon named
Archadius learned that by permanently taking human shape, he could greatly
enhance his magical abilities. Archadius became a wizard, the first of his
kind. As you know, all true wizards were once dragons. Magic has never
been for mortals—they can only borrow it from magical beings. I made the
same choice as Archadius, partly because I had become ashamed of my kind
and wanted to stop them."
"It's hard to picture you as a dragon," Seth said.
"It has become difficult for me as well," Agad said. "That was so long
ago. Once upon a time I soared the skies and breathed fire. On occasion, I
experience echoes of those days in my dreams. It's as close as I get."
"You were one of the founding members of Dragonwatch," Bracken said.
"Title drop." Seth clapped his hands at that.
"Are you gonna do that each time?" Kendra questioned.
"Because that would be cool." Newel added.
"You know your history," Agad replied.
"I'm not as young as I look," Bracken said.
"Dragonwatch?" Kendra asked.
"The organization we formed to combat the dragon epidemic," Agad said.
"A consortium of wizards, enchantresses, dragon slayers, and many others
who agreed the tyrannical rule of dragons had to end. We began the practice
of confining dragons to sanctuaries. Other magical preserves followed."
"Places like Fablehaven happened because you needed to stop the
dragons?" Kendra asked.
"That's right," Agad said.
"When did this start?" Seth asked.
"Almost three thousand years ago," Agad said. "It was a long and bloody
process. We were still rounding up renegade dragons all the way into the
Dark Ages. There were many casualties on both sides. In the end, the
courage of dragon slayers and the ingenuity of wizards overcame the might
of our opponents. All the hostile dragons were confined to preserves. Only
dragons who had not besieged mortals and who pledged to live according to
a certain code of conduct were permitted to remain in the wild."
"Three thousand…" Seth was impressed by that number.
"And that still is small numbers within the magical community." Bracken added.
"The dragons must have been mad," Kendra said.
Agad chuckled. "Furious. Dragons are not accustomed to losing. They did
not go quietly. But over time they settled into their new lives."
"And Dragonwatch disbanded," Bracken said.
"Not completely," Agad said. "The organization shrank and the focus
changed. Attention was placed on managing the preserves. Later the Knights
of the Dawn formed. Eventually Dragonwatch faded away. For a time, one of
your ancestors, Patton Burgess, was the sole active member of
Dragonwatch."
"Wait, Patton… He even was a member of that too?" Warren hadn't heard of that before.
"Is there anything that Patton hasn't done?" Seth asked, raising his arms up.
"Most likely you'll end up doing something that you believe he hasn't done, then someday you'll find a super secret message saying "Patton was here". Dale said with a chuckle.
Kendra perked up. "Patton? Our Patton?"
"I know you idolize him," Agad said.
"Only because he's the coolest guy who ever lived," Seth said.
"Not a poor description," Agad agreed. "I admired him as well. His
stewardship was one of the few times a regular mortal took charge of
Dragonwatch rather than a wizard."
"Who runs it now?" Kendra asked.
"I do," Agad said. "I'm re-forming it. The need for Dragonwatch has
returned. As Seth mentioned, a storm appears to be brewing. I just hope
we're not too late to intervene."
Seth brightened. "I get it! You want us to join Dragonwatch! Is that what
this is about?"
"Ooh yeah! A Knight, and a member of Dragonwatch, hey if this ends up not happening, can I join the group now anyway?" Seth suddenly asked Agad.
"I am having my doubts that I'd actually have you join Dragonwatch in the future, and if we can prevent things well enough from the past, then it might not even be needed." Agad said.
"Aww, maybe someday." Seth said disappointed.
"Not exactly," Agad said.
Seth wilted.
Agad nodded slightly to himself, having assumed that.
"But we may need your help with a related matter," Agad went on.
"What?" Kendra asked. Based on the conversation leading up to this, it
had to be dangerous.
Agad pressed his fingertips together. "A bit more context first. I was
partially involved in stirring up this potential dragon storm."
"The battle of Zzyzx," Kendra said.
Agad gave a nod. "I cut a deal with the dragons because we had to win
that battle, and I saw no other strategy that gave us a chance. Celebrant, the
Dragon King, would come to our aid only on the condition that governance
of Wyrmroost would be passed over to dragons. He became a co-caretaker
with my brother, Camarat."
While reading, Raxtus remembered that day and the following weeks, his father and other dragons clamoring about the great victory they got, that dragons would finally get to truly be the ones to govern the dragons in the sanctuary, not some traitor wizard.
The small dragon remembered thinking that it did sound rather nice, despite him not having any qualms with Agad.
"Who is a dragon," Kendra recalled.
"Correct," Agad said. "As a caretaker, Camarat stays in human form and
goes by the name of Marat. Since he is housed at Blackwell Keep, Marat
still controls who can go in and out of Wyrmroost. But Celebrant is working
to undermine him. In effect, by seeking help from the dragons against the
demons, I solved one dire problem by creating a future dilemma."
"This is where the story begins to involve the two of you," Grandpa
Sorenson said.
"How?" Seth asked.
"Celebrant has attacked Blackwell Keep three times since my brother took
over," Agad said gravely.
Raxtus winced at that, three times in just some months, his father was really going to an extreme with this, and even then he should know it's fruitless, the keep has powerful magic that guards it even against the most powerful dragons… will his father believe that he can break the protection? He hoped not.
"How did Marat stop him?" Kendra asked.
"Blackwell Keep is protected by powerful magic that has been in place
since the sanctuary was established," Agad said, scowling in thought. "The
arrangement I made granted Celebrant no access to Blackwell Keep, yet he
keeps storming the stronghold. Dragons do not attack lightly. They play to
win, and they prefer to win decisively. A difficult victory is perceived as
weakness. A failed attack is worse. Let alone three failed attacks."
"So Celebrant thinks he can succeed," Seth said.
"It would seem so," Agad said. "The intent could be to intimidate or
confuse Marat. But I suspect Celebrant has found a weakness and is trying to
exploit it. The Dragon King thinks there is a way to overthrow my brother,
but has yet to pinpoint the correct approach. I fear that I know the problem."
"What?" Kendra asked.
Agad scratched his beard. "According to the treaty established when
Wyrmroost was founded, the caretaker should be mortal."
It was in that moment, that the wizard fully realized what he's gonna do, and mentally cursed himself upon noticing, would he truly give such a burden? War is not fair, but he knew this was still insane.
And upon giving a short look to Bracken, he noted how the unicorn must have actually realized where this is going too based on his shocked expression, and probably hoping he's wrong.
Agad wishes that he was wrong about this as well.
"Weren't you the caretaker?" Seth asked.
"That was no problem," Agad said. "Wizards are mortal. We age very
slowly, but dragons become wizards by falling to mortality while retaining
and enhancing our magic. When I left Wyrmroost to manage the Living
Mirage preserve, there was a shortage of candidates for a new caretaker, so
I went with my brother. We conferred and decided that as long as he
remained in his human form, there should be no problem."
"But there is?" Kendra asked.
"I'm afraid that Celebrant has become aware of this detail and may have
found a way to exploit it. I can find no other way to explain his aggression.
Perhaps he believes he can make Marat change to dragon shape and lose the
claim to his position. Or perhaps Celebrant has found some other
vulnerability. But I believe having a human caretaker would resolve the
issue."
Raxtus was in thought about this, might Agad be searching for a caretaker? He guessed that perhaps he would be considering Stan or Ruth, or either of the Larsens, though they already take care of a preserve that might still be a decently safe solution, as safe as it can be with a dragon sanctuary at least.
"What about Celebrant?" Kendra asked. "How can a dragon be a cocaretaker?"
"I had to restructure some aspects of the treaty to grant him that position,"
Agad said. "Even so, the magical defenses won't protect Celebrant as they
would a mortal. Not much of a problem for a dragon with so many powerful
underlings. But it could leave Marat exposed."
"What if Marat becomes a wizard?" Seth asked. "Right now he is just
temporarily using his human form. Can't he make it permanent? Then he
would be mortal."
"Sensible," Agad said. "But the art of turning from dragon to wizard has
been lost. I only did it with the help of an older generation of wizards, all of
whom have moved on. No dragon has become a wizard for more than a
thousand years."
"If Marat can't become a wizard, why don't you take control of
Wyrmroost again?" Kendra asked.
"Another sensible solution," Agad said. "Unfortunately, the Soaring Cliffs
sanctuary is in an even worse predicament, so I am going to take over that
preserve."
Seth looked around the room. "Are you recruiting Grandpa Sorenson? Or
Grandpa Larsen?"
"I will admit that I am not really a tamer or consider my chances with a dragon good, but I could try to train somehow if I could help you with Wyrmroost for the time being, Agad." Stan offered, and Agad gave a distracted thankful nod, most likely here it comes, both he and Bracken knew that when the bomb drops, there absolutely will be chaos, who can't blame them?
"Both capable men," Agad said. "But the caretaker of Wyrmroost must be
a true dragon tamer. Not just somebody who can stand in the presence of a
dragon and force out a few words—he or she must be able to hold a
conversation with a hostile dragon without becoming clouded by fear. Very
few dragon tamers remain."
"Oh, no," Kendra said.
The dragon's eyes widened as the others in the room were coming to the realization to what is happening, before anyone interrupts, the dragon quickly looks down.
"This cannot be true…" Raxtus said and read the last paragraph at a quick pace.
"Now you see," Agad said. "With Kendra being fairykind and Seth a
shadow charmer, when the two of you are in physical contact with each
other, you can stand tall in the presence of a dragon. Together you are a
dragon tamer. Kendra, Seth, I am here to invite you to become the next
caretakers of Wyrmroost."
And so chaos ensued.
Raxtus had immediately closed the book, by miracle not tearing off any pages, this just cannot be.
"Agad!" The dragon exclaimed with a light roar, has the old wizard finally lost his mind? Recruiting kids as caretakers of the most dangerous sanctuary? His father would eat them alive as soon as he could!
The expression of the satyrs had completely dropped, looking bewildered and with mouths wide open, caretakers? Being in charge of dragons sounds awesome, but then they think about the crazy responsibility it would ensue, and all the headaches, and how could a caretaker enjoy anything in the middle of Dragon War 2? And Seth being in charge just speaks trouble, even if his sister is there as a countermeasure too.
Bracken had feared it since some minutes ago, Agad actually proposes the role of caretaker to two kids, two kids that had already gone through so much pain, danger, loss, and fought in a literal war, they'd be in the middle of everything, they could very likely die, his face had turned pale and he was just, silent, trying to compose himself as he looked at Kendra.
It was night and day with the siblings, Kendra looked truly scared and nervous, her hand seeking Bracken's, which he softly took, and the two just stared in silence at the surrounding arguments and general shock.
And during that, Seth had the biggest smile he's ever had in his life, caretaker! And not just of a typical preserve, it would be sweet too, but a dragon sanctuary! This makes up so much for losing a big chunk of the first quest into Wyrmroost, he'll take care of the dragons, talk to the big king, could be neighbor with Raxtus, amazing!
Stan's face was red, he was looking at Agad while next to him, Ruth had a hand over her chest, Hank looked like if he had just swallowed a lemon and Gloria was glaring over to Agad too.
Dale, Warren and Vanessa had formed a trio discussing this at a quick pace, all dumbfounded by this turn of events, Tanu joining in at times.
Raxtus had directly walked over to Agad, accidentally knocking down a few chairs due to his size.
"How could you even think this? Wyrmroost already is not a good place as it is, let alone during a revolt, and even less for two kids." He protested to the old wizard.
Outside the fairies who were most kind to him due to his condition, and Shiara who he basically considered his mother, Kendra was his first friend, she comforted him, motivated him, and made him feel worth, and then Seth was a very cool guy too, how could he take losing them?
Agad looked rather sad to all this. "I know that this is a really extreme decision, I assure you all that most likely on the long days and weeks upon first considering that idea I'd be under great dread too."
"But we must remember, nothing of this has to happen, the dragons still have not attacked the Keep once, Kendra and Seth have not been named caretakers yet, and we'll most likely end finding out keys to stop this new possible war, which we could now get much sooner."
"So I must ask from all of you to try calming down and take this all as a very accurate hypothetical, there will be parts, details and ideas that could ruin one's mood, but at the end of the day, thanks to the sister these are very big "What if" Agad finished, trying to use a calming tone.
Raxtus still glared at him, but after a minute took a deep breath and moved back to his spot, pushing the book away so someone else can pick it up, and the others eventually gave a short nod too, though Seth instead deflated a bit from the possibility of never becoming caretaker of Wyrmroost. Agad gave a weak smile.
"Alright, I am sorry if I caused any pain and panic here from my decisions in the future, I don't like this either, but we have been given a possibility for Change." The wizard reminded the others, picking up the book and opening it where Raxtus closed it.
"If you'd allow me, I would like to read the next chapter… Caretakers Wanted." Agad looked down at the page, this will not be pleasant.