Wayne put his gloves back on and made his way to Eiona.
Chapter 9
Kraigar flew into the dragon's lair and landed in front of the other dragons. Christopher, Nathaniel and Ravi slid off Kraigar's back. All of the dragons bowed to Kraigar.
The silver dragon with a gold streak down its back, started to cry. "Is this real? Is it really you my love? Have you finally come back to me?"
"It's real, darling... Not even the devil and all the demons in hell could keep me away from you forever," said Kraigar.
Eiona walked forward and rubbed her cheek against Kraigar's. "How did you manage to escape?"
Kraigar looked at Wayne. "This young man freed me from captivity, and in accordance with our law he is now my brother."
"Thank you, Wayne. You have done me and my people a great service... I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you earlier... The reason why I spoke so harshly was because Alizarin has been trying to steal that sword for years," said Eiona.
"I'm sorry for my heated outbursts too," said Jerion.
"It's alright, no harm done," said Wayne.
Eiona smiled and looked at Wayne. "You're truly a noble warrior."
Christopher rolled his eyes and then he shook his head.
Eiona looked from Christopher to Ravi and finally to Nathaniel. "Please follow me."
Eiona led them into a cave on the far side of the mountain.
She turned around and looked at each of them. "You must learn to forgive noble ones; otherwise anger will cloud your paths."
"No disrespect or anything, Eiona, but our feelings are none of your business," said Christopher.
Eiona frowned. "I don't wish to meddle, but you and Wayne have a long journey ahead of you —Your paths will be filled with many obstacles, and in order to overcome them you must be united in harmony, not divided by anger."
Christopher shook his head and huffed. "You would be angry too, if your best friend knowingly let you walk into a trap, where you could've been killed."
"I can't deny that what Wayne did was wrong, but he knows this and he has tried to apologise."
Ravi raised his right eyebrow. "Excuse me, your highness, but how do you know all this?"
"I have the ability to look into people's hearts, minds and souls. For instance right now, I can sense that you really want to go back home — But my abilities are not important right now — If you let your anger cloud your judgements, you'll never be able to return home."
"We've already forgiven Wayne," said Nathaniel.
"I know you have already forgiven him with your mouths, Nathaniel, but you haven't forgiven him with your hearts... Hold on, for just one moment, I'll show you what Wayne had to endure after you got caught and then I'll say no more on the subject," said Eiona.
She turned towards the wall of the cave and blew a huge flame at it. The wall transformed into a large TV screen, and everything Wayne went through in order to save his friends, played on it.
Nathaniel fought back his tears and looked at his two friends. Their eyes glistened.
Christopher said, "sorry, Eiona; the way I spoke to you earlier was disrespectful and rude."
Eiona smiled. "It's forgiven and forgotten. Let's go back to the tribe."
She led the boys back to the tribe. They made their way up to Wayne who was talking to Kraigar.
"Wayne, we're sorry for the way we treated you after you freed us, and we truly forgive you for not telling us that it was dangerous to go into the black castle," said Christopher.
Wayne looked at his feet. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry lads. I let my stupid pride cloud my judgment, when I shoulda been open with you."
Kraigar smiled and looked at the boys. "Well, now that everyone is forgiven, I think it's time we had a feast to celebrate — Tomorrow you have a long and strenuous journey ahead of you, but tonight we'll shed all of our worries and have the time of our lives."
Everyone sat down in a large circle. Kraigar blew a large flame into the centre of it, and a large table covered in food and drink appeared.
"Close your eyes for a moment and think about what you want to eat," said Kraigar.
Everybody did so, and when they opened their eyes, plates full of food lay in front of them. Nathaniel licked his lips. There was chicken, roast potatoes and coleslaw on his plate. He glanced around. The plates in front of him and his friends had knives and forks beside them, but the ones in front of the dragons didn't. Cups appeared beside each of the plates, the ones by the dragons were large enough for the dragons to lower their mouths into.
He picked up his knife and fork and started eating. The food was delicious, and the chicken was tender and well-seasoned. The aromas of all the food merged into one compelling scent. He put down his knife, lifted his cup and had a drink. It was cold, refreshing and sweet.
Nathaniel said, "hmm, what iz dis?"
Eiona looked at him. "We call it teshe. It's made out of the juices of a number of plants and fruits that come from our forests. Do you like it?"
"I luv it," replied Nathaniel.
He glanced around. Every one finished eating, and then the food on the table and the plates disappeared.
Ravi said, "can you give me some seeds and the ingredients for teshe tomorrow? If we don't have those trees or plants on earth, I would love to try and grow them, so I can try to make teshe, and maybe try some different combinations of ingredients to create new drinks — hhhmmm — I could do one with saffron and nutmeg and one with mint..."
"Of course," said Eiona.
Kraigar smiled. "Has anyone got room for desert?"
Nathaniel licked his lips. "Of course — it's not every day dat we get to taste food which iz prepared by a dragon."
Kraigar closed his eyes, bowls full of blackcurrant cheese cake appeared in front of everyone.
Nathaniel ate. Spoons scraped against bowls and people licked their lips. Christopher had seconds, and then he rubbed his stomach and grinned. Everybody finished eating, and then the bowls, the table and the spoons disappeared.
"I think it's time for a little bit of music," said Eiona.
She blew a flame into the centre of the circle; harps and violins appeared out of thin air and began to play themselves. Eiona started to sing.
Nathaniel truly believed that she had the most beautiful voice he had ever heard.
His friends started to clap in time with the song, and some of the dragons danced in the centre of the circle.
The celebrations went on until late in the night. Apart from Kraigar, all of the dragons fell asleep.
Wayne faced Kraigar. "Can you show us wot our parents are doin' on earth."
"Certainly, Wayne," replied Kraigar.
He blew a flame into the middle of the circle; a large TV screen appeared out of thin air; the boys focused on it.
Nathaniel took a deep breath, glanced at his friends and then he stared at the screen. On it, he and his friends' parents were standing in a white corridor. Along the walls there were doors with names of wards on top of them. A muscular black man in a tailored suit, stood a short distance away from the other parents. Every so often he glanced at Fiona Charles, and then he quickly looked away.
Nathaniel thought, hmm, I have never seen dat man before, but he looks so familiar. Where do I know him from? I'm sure I have never met him before, but something about him iz so familiar. Why?
Every so often a doctor or nurse rushed through the corridor, without saying a word to the parents.
Nathaniel's mother turned towards the other parents. "I just don't get it, last night when Nathaniel went to sleep he was perfectly fine, but when I went to wake him up this morning, I found him on the floor, in the centre of his room and he just wouldn't wake up."
"I wish these doctors would hurry up and tell us what's wrong with our sons," said Varsha Patel.
Sanjay Patel put his arm around his wife's shoulders.
Fiona Charles started to cry; the muscular man in the tailored suit walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.
She brushed his hand away and smacked his face. "Why don't you just get lost, Trevor? What the hell are you doing here anyway? You haven't been there for me or Wayne, since Wayne was born."
The man in the tailored suit broke down and started to cry. "I'm sorry Fiona. I'm so sorry."
Fiona walked away from him and stood next to Jane smith. The other parents looked everywhere, but at Trevor.
Nathaniel glanced at Wayne. Wayne seemed to be holding back tears. Nathaniel walked up to Wayne, put his arm around Wayne's shoulder, and then Nathaniel looked back at the screen.
Jane Smith wringed her hands together and turned to her husband. "Harry, Christopher's going to be o.k., isn't he?"
"Of course, he's going to be o.k., stop asking silly questions, Jane," replied Harry Smith.
Fiona kissed her teeth and shook her head.
A tall Asian doctor with pepper sprayed hair, walked out of the closest door and made his way to the parents. He had a concerned look on his face.
Nathaniel's mother asked, "how are our children, doctor Pindoriya?"
"Your children are still in a critical condition. We're not sure exactly what's wrong with them —"
"What do you mean you're still not sure exactly what's wrong with them," said Fiona Charles.
"Mrs Charles, I understand how stressful this is for you and the other parents, but you all need to understand that your children's conditions are unprecedented in medical history... They don't demonstrate the usual symptoms which are associated with people in comas and yet they can't be awoken... We've been running test after test and we've recruited all of the best medical minds in the world, yet we're still unsure about what has caused their condition — In cases like this it's best to pinpoint the cause before you start dishing out medicine, because the wrong course of action can be detrimental to the patient's health — Please rest assured that we're doing all we can — All of you, please follow me," said doctor Pindoriya.
The parents followed the doctor through a door, into a private ward where their children lay unconscious. Each child was connected to a number of machines via tubes and wires; every so often the machines bleeped or flashed, and the numbers on their screens went up or down. A dozen doctors went from child to child with clipboards, like busy bees looking for pollen.
Nathaniel gasped as he thought, our bodies look so lifeless — Wot did I expect? Us to be running around full of life? No - but I wozn't prepared for dis. My mother. My poor mother; wot iz dis doing to her? She has hated hospitals, ever since my dad... my dad di —
Nathaniel looked at his mother's face. She looked down at his body and started to weep.
Sanjay Patel whispered in Ravi's ear, "by the grace of Ishvara, you will be fine my son."
Jane Smith walked over to Christopher and brushed his hair from his brow.
Harry shook his head. "Stop smothering him woman."
Jane withdrew her hand and sat on the side of Christopher's bed.
Trevor Charles stood by the door and looked at Wayne.
Fiona walked up to Wayne, clasped his right hand, and looked at it inquisitively; her eyes opened wide. "Doctor! Doctor Pindoriya, come here quickly."
Doctor Pindoriya rushed over to Fiona and followed her trail of vision to the tattoo of the black dragon on the back of Wayne's hand.
Doctor Pindoriya dropped his clip board and shook his head. "That tattoo wasn't on your son's hand a few hours ago."
Fiona looked up at the doctor. "I know that. Where did it come from?"
"I don't know Mrs Charles. This case just keeps on getting weirder and weirder, but rest assured I'll work around the clock until I heal your son," said doctor Pindoriya.
The screen disappeared.
Kraigar said, "I think that's more than enough for now. You've got a busy day tomorrow —"
Christopher asked, "can we just watch for a little bit longer?"
"You need some rest noble ones. Without it you will not be able to overcome the tasks, which stand in the way of you returning home," replied Kraigar.
Christopher sulked. "But —"
"No buts. Would you prefer to waste time and energy watching your parents on a screen or would you prefer to do whatever it takes to be reunited with them."
Nathaniel and his friends lay down, and then he silently cried himself to sleep.
*
The next morning, Nathaniel opened his eyes and glanced around, his friends were sitting a short distance away from him, and some of the Dragons were going about their business in the lair.
He rubbed his eyes and stretched. "How long have you guys been awake?"
"We've been up for a while, but you looked so peaceful that we didn't want to disturb you," said Ravi.
Nathaniel looked around. "Where are Kraigar and Eiona?"
"They said that once you woke up we should meet 'em in the cave you went into yesterday," said Wayne.
Nathaniel stood up and started walking. "Let's not keep dem waitin' den."
His friends followed him into the cave. Kraigar and Eiona were standing beside some seeds, ingredients for teshe, satchels, suits of armour and weapons.
Christopher's eyes opened wide. "Wow."
Kraigar smiled. "We thought that these would be useful for you during your quest."
Wayne smiled. "Thank you. Thank you so much. How can we ever repay you?"
Eiona looked at Kraigar and then she looked at Wayne. "You're mistaken noble one, it is I who owes you."
Nathaniel, Christopher and Ravi put on the armour, and picked up the shields, the satchels and the weapons. There armour was as light as a feather. Ravi picked up the seeds and ingredients and put them in his satchel.
The disembodied female voice said, "hello, Kraigar. Hello Eiona. I'm happy to see you back together."
"Hello," said Eiona.
"It has been way too long, we must catch up with each other soon," said Kraigar.
"Yes, we must, but first you must send these boys east. There's a task which they must complete, waiting for them there," said the disembodied female voice.
Nathaniel asked, "what's der task?"
"You must free Dayja's niece. Her name is Potencia," replied the disembodied female voice.
Nathaniel asked, "who's Dayja?"
"He's the king of Borlosanti and the most powerful wizard in this world. He and he alone has the power to send you home," said the disembodied female voice.
"So we free his niece, find him and hope he's thankful enuff to send us home," said Nathaniel.
"Sounds like a plan. Where's his niece being held?" asked Wayne.
The disembodied female voice replied, "well, currently she's in Alizarin's dungeon —"
Christopher shook his head and sighed.
"But I have reason to believe that she is going to be moved soon," said the disembodied female voice.
"Thank god for that. I hope I don't have to see that ghastly castle ever again," said Ravi.
"I second that," said Christopher.
"I'll tell you where she has been moved to, later on this evening... Until then, goodbye and good luck," said the disembodied female voice.
Eiona turned to the children. "If you ever need us, just call our names and we'll come to your assistance."
"Thank you... Thank you for everything... We'll say goodbye to der tribe and den we'll be on our way," said Nathaniel.
"Eat breakfast with us first and then you can set off on your journey," said Kraigar.
Eiona and Kraigar led the way out of the cave, back to the tribe, and then everyone sat down.
"For breakfast, I think we'll have pancakes with fresh figs," said Kraigar.
Plates covered with layers of pancakes appeared before everyone.
Christopher licked his lips, and everybody tucked into their food.
The boys finished eating, said their goodbyes and then set off.