To have a Dragon's Heart

Part 8 - A Spying Portal

Sovijaka

An old woman sat on the steps to her home, which creaked in the wind as if protesting to its gentle touch. The woman had long messy white hair. Her skin is wrinkly and her clothes were worn. Her house is in bad need of repair.

                Suddenly she can hear horses and men shouting in the distance. Then a distinctive voice rises above the others, “Stay here! I shall continue with Faver!” Soon Sovijaka and Faver brake through the trees. The old woman stands up, “Well, well, well!” She cries out sarcastically, “It seems her majesty has chosen to visit me again! It’s been to long!” She chuckles and turns to Faver, “The last time you were here I seem to remember a certain weak, timid serving boy. Where is he now?” Sovijaka held her hand out in front of Faver to stop him from saying anything to Bethsay. "You know we're here about that certain weak, timid serving boy," Sovijaka growled, "Tell me. Why aren't my powers working. I've tried to use magic to spy on the boy and Malia, but it won't work."

The woman smiled and said in a sarcastic voice, "You're asking for help? I'm honored. Your feelings are in the way. You want to see Jaskar dead so much that your magic can't show you anything else. As for the dragon, you need to use a different spell then the one for humans. I could help you... for a price." Sovijaka threw a bag of gold at her feet and the woman greedily picked it up. After she had examined it she motioned for them to enter the house.

It was dark and messy inside. An unpleasant scent hung heavily in the air. Faver made a face and said, "The place is worse then last time. Would it kill you to pick up, Bethsay?" Bethsay turned to Faver and said in a sharp voice, "Look who’s talking, the so called " knight" who couldn't hold on to Jaskar." Faver's face turned red, but when he opened his mouth to speak Sovijaka stopped him. "Just do what we're paying you to do," she grumbled. Bethsay lead them into a room with a large basin of water and no windows. She closed the only door, but the room was lit by an eery glow that came from the water. On the edge of the basin Bethsay had placed several different objects that she would need for the spell.

Bethsay picked up an object, feathers from some kind of bird, mumbled something and threw them into the pool. She repeated this getting louder as she went until she finally shouted, "Jaskar!" and threw in one last object. At first nothing happened, then a large oval of swirling light appeared over the water. Suddenly it changed to show a scene. Jaskar was running through a rocky landscape.

“So he is alive!” shriked Sovijaka. Bethsay started to say another spell, only this time she screamed “Malia!” The scene changed to show Malia flying through the sky. She was humming a happy melody. Suddenly she stopped midair and stared directly at them. “Whoa! What’s that?!” she said to herself.  Sovijaka stiffened and cried, “She can see us?!” Bethsay shook her head, “She only sees a blue oval floating there. She can’t see or hear us.” Then Malia dropped out of the sky. Right before she hit the ground she pulled up. This maneuver was followed by many more dizzying stunts. Loop-da-loops, zigzags, and super-fast drops were only a few of the tricks she did. When she stopped and saw that the the portal had fallowed her she shouted, “Snake bite!” Then it seemed like an idea sturk her and she took a deep breath. “Uh oh, you might want to duck,” Bethsay told them. “Why?” asked Faver.

“Duck!” Bethsay screamed as Malia let a stream of hot flame loose. The three of them could feel the heat as the fire traveled over their heads. Afterwards Bethsay yelled a command at the portal and it disappeared. Faver jumped to his feet and said, “Your Majesty, may I have permission to help you up?” Sovijaka looked at him, flames in her eyes (since she’s not a dragon you shouldn’t take this seriously). “I can get up myself,” she said through gritted teeth. “Opps,” said Bethsay, “I forgot to tell you that dragon fire can travel between portals.” Sovijaka got up and headed outside. “Get over here Faver!” she yelled, “We have a dragon to slay and a serving boy to take care of!”

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Malia

                The sun was just beginning to set and it lit up the sky with bright, beautiful colors. Unfortunately I couldn’t  enjoy it since I was too worried about what that thing was. Naturally, my mind turns to magic (and I wonder where superstition came from).  Had someone been trying to curse me? If so did it fail and why? Because I flamed it? I was jerked from my thoughts by Jaskar, who was running around on the ground like a chicken running around with its head  cut off, waving his arms and yelling my name.

                “Ma…Malia,” he gasped. He must of run all the way from the village. “I… It’s,” he continued to gasp. “Spit it out!” I said, sensing the urgency in his voice. “It’s Sir Huskan! He’s planning on slaying you!” Jaskar yelled. I was quiet and started laughing. “What? Why are you laughing? This is serious!” Jaskar said angrily. “Jaskar! Sir Huskan is  proof that all you need to be a knight in this kingdom is a certificate saying you’re a noble,” I told him laughing. Then we heard shouting from over at the cave, which isn’t very from. “Dragon! Come out!”

                “Please, Malia. Don’t go,” Jaskar begged. I sighed and said, “If I don’t they’ll raid the cave. I can’t let them do that when I finally have something of value in there.” I flew off and landed in front of the party. Sir Huskan had this excited look on his face, which I saw once before on his seventh birthday party. Yep, I grew up with this guy. “Surrender, Dragon!” he roared.

                “Long time no see Husky! I guess you’re not here to talk about old times. Too bad. That would be fun,” I said. Before he could answer I continued, “Like that time your sister and I tied you to a tree and you couldn’t get out! Or the time you tried to kiss that farmer’s daughter and she slapped you! And best of all, the time you fell in the pile of horse manure and stunk for…”

                “Quiet Dragon!” he shouted, blushing, “I’m here to rid this land of your pitiful presence and take your scales to my love!” That was offensive. I got angry and you don’t want to make a dragon angry. “Oh, I know her! She came by earlier. She wanted to know if it would be worse to marry you or to be set on fire by me.” This started a verbal smack down between the two of us.

                Finally Sir Huskan threw a spear at me. Plink! “Ow. You could’ve chipped a scale,” I said angrily. Then I breathed out a small spark and his hair caught fire. “AHHHHHHHH!!!!” he screamed. I started rolling on the ground, roaring in laughter. This sent the horses and men running. Sir Huskan finally put out his hair and stood up. “Alright, that’s it! Men, attack!” There was a moment of awkward silence as he realized he had been abandoned. “I will be back!” he yelled as he ran off towards town. I roared with laughter as I located Jaskar’s scent. He was hiding behind the rocks. “Come out, Jaskar!” I said. Then I stiffened as a female voice said, “Jaskar, you know this dragon?”