I got to a corner that seemed like it was probably going to be the last turn before we entered the spot where the dragon was hanging out, so I stopped and waited for Ben to catch up. When I felt him at my back, I said, "The dragon's in there. I figured we should just go in and try to talk to it."
"We don't know if I'm going to feel the fire or not," he said. "The dwarves took my elements away from me somehow. I don't know if it was just in that room or what."
"Try to contact fire and see," I said. I waited while he did his thing, but I knew right away it wasn't working.
He shook his head. "Nothing. Not fire, not wind."
"That sucks," I said, and I meant it. I knew what it was like not to be able to connect to the elements, when Ben took them away from me during my torture. Karma's a bitch. I got no pleasure out of that knowledge, though. If Ben got fried I was going to feel bad about it. No matter how much of a jerk he'd been, he didn't deserve to have his face melted off. Burned a little, yes. But not melted. Samantha's comment about not being happy about someone else's misery had apparently made an impression on me.
"So maybe you should just hang back here," I suggested. "I mean, maybe you won't feel the fire - I didn't in the Underworld even when the earth element was seriously messed up and I had to avoid it. But I'm not sure we should take a chance."
"Worried about me?" he asked bitterly.
"Not really. I just know how much you adore your face, and I'd hate to see you turn ugly. You'd probably kill yourself over it."
"I'm not that conceited," he said.
"Uhhh, yeah you are," I said, moving away from him to expose myself to the dragon.
I didn't know what to expect, but this hadn't been it. I stood there in shock, my eyes drinking in everything around me.
CHAPTER NINE
THE CAVE SPARKLED ON EVERY single part of its surface with some sort of hidden faceted gems or something. I babysat a kid once, and I left her alone with some glitter and some glue. After I came back about ten minutes later, this was what her bedroom looked like. Gold, silver, purple, pink, and blue sparkles winked at me from everywhere.
The cave was more a cavern in my book. It had a huge vaulted ceiling, glowing with that internal light that seemed to be everywhere in this mountain. The rock it was made of had the deep amber color, same as the hallways only with this added effect of rainbow-colored diamonds stuck inside it. Not one, but two dragons lay in the middle of the room, curled around one another, their necks intertwined, making it a little difficult in this dim light to tell which head belonged with which body.
But then they noticed me and their heads quickly separated, the larger of the two dragons moving its body to face mine as it positioned itself in front of its mate.
I held up my hands, hoping it meant the same thing in dragon body language as it did in fae. "Hi there, dragons." I searched my mind for their names. "Um, Light of Hawthorne and ... uhhhh ... Harriet? Harryman? Harrytown?"
"Heryon," came the slithery response, but I had no idea which dragon had said it.
"Yeah. Sorry. Heryon of Hawthorne." I curtsied, nearly falling over in the process. It so didn't work without a dress to hold on to and my complete lack of coordination in the face of killer dinosaurs. "I'm here at the request of the fae council, in the Here and Now, to ask you to once again come and stand at the doors of the portal. To be the portal guardians again." I gave them my winningest smile, hoping a little bit of charm would go a long way with these guys since it was all I had.
The smaller dragon, the purple female, came out from behind the larger silver one, stopping to stand at his side. Both of them were staring at me now, their forked tongues coming out every once in a while to lick their chops, hissing sounds mixing in with a low burning furnace rumble that could have been the dragons purring or possibly a fire building up in their chests that was about to blast my face off. It was hard to tell with my blood pressure so high and the pounding in my ears.
"Elementalllll ... ," came the first response. I was pretty sure it was the silver dragon speaking. I tried to erase the thought that it sounded like a deranged serial killer calling to me from a haunted house or something.
"Yes, that's me," I said as cheerily as possible, holding up a finger to indicate myself like I was in a friggin classroom or something. I was losing it. "We had a drink together that one time, remember? I got a little wasted, actually. No one warned me to only take a sip of that absinthe stuff."
"What do you offerrrrr," said the smaller dragon.
I fake-smiled, hoping I was pulling off the casual look I so needed to show them right now. "What do you want?" I asked, wondering if I would be so lucky as to get a request for a dark fae elemental as the trading piece. I'd be all Hell yeah! on that deal. One hot, fresh Dark Fae elemental, coming right up. I just happen to have one right here with me, as a matter of fact.
"Two thingssss ... ," said the purple dragon.
"Name it. I'll see what I can do," I said, nodding my head in encouragement.
"The weapon known as the Light of Hawthorne ..."
I took that to mean Ben's weapon and schooled my features to stay bland. "And?"
"And ... a companion ... "
I wasn't expecting that one. "Say what, now? Did you say a companion?"
"Yessss ...," said the purple dragon, now separating herself from her mate, taking slow, measured steps in my direction. She wasn't nearly as big as the silver dragon, but she was plenty big enough to scare the ever-loving shit out of me. I felt my bladder go loose and squeezed myself as hard as I could to keep from wetting my pants. Oh, please don't let her eat me. Please, I'll do anything, but I don't want to be dragon kibble!
"You feeearrrr meeee elementallll ... ," the dragon said when she was just ten or so feet away from me.
"Hell yes, I fear you. I'm ready to forget fifteen solid years of potty training right now, if you must know the truth."
"The dragon hassss no quarrel with you ..." She breathed her hot, eggy breath in my face, making me nearly swoon with the stench and withheld power. But the fact that she could have taken me down and was telling me she wasn't interested, helped me get over it quicker than I would have thought possible.
"And I have no quarrel with the dragons," I said, swallowing hard to get my voice down to its normal level. Right now I sounded like a strangled chicken. "Seriously, Heryon, I just want to help you get your jobs back. Unemployment sucks."
"Two conditionsssss, one solution. That isssss allll ... ," she said before snapping her jaws at me a couple times and then turning to join her mate again.
I was so cool right up until the snapping dagger fang thing. I felt myself get light-headed, and I almost passed out from the fear.
Ben decided at that moment to step from around the corner and join me. I'd never been so happy to be near that jerk in all the time I'd known him. He walked over slowly to stand at my side, his eyes never leaving the dragons on the other side of the cavern from us. I resisted grabbing onto his arm, though, like I wanted to. Instead, I looked back and forth between them and him, noticing there was some sort of stare-down going on.
"Uh, Ben? You might not want to do that," I suggested, getting nervous for him.
"What did they say?" he asked, almost mesmerized. It was like he couldn't tear his eyes away from them - or more accurately, the purple dragon. She separated herself from her mate again, stepping to the side. Ben followed her every move.
"She said they have two conditions. They want their tooth back and they want a companion."
He frowned, still not looking at me. "What kind of companion? They already have mates and they're dead."
The silver dragon obviously didn't like being referred to in that way because his huge jaws opened wide, and the low rumbling I'd been hearing all along became a deafening roar, as a fountain of fire came blasting out of his throat directly at us.
Even after already living through two separate dragon-eruption events, I still flinched and screamed at this one. B
ut as soon as the flames got close, I knew I was going to be okay. My hair would remain on my face and head. I turned to look at Ben, reaching out for his arm, but I needn't have bothered. The look on his face told me that he was also immune to their fire, just like I was. He smiled, his eyes closed as the flames washed over him.
"Open your eyes," I said, smiling in spite of my anger at him.
He did, and as soon as he saw the colors, his face lit up with a grin. "Whoa. That's pretty amazing, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is," I said, staring into the kaleidoscope. "I've never seen anything like it. The only thing that comes close is your fire."
"And it's really not as amazing as this, is it?" He turned to look at me, and he'd never been so handsome to me as he was in that moment. It was such a bummer that this beautiful package was wrapped around such a black heart. It totally forced the smile from my face, and I had to look away, shaking my head. What a waste.
"Your shit's pretty good, though," I said, looking into the fire again, refusing to acknowledge the hand he held out towards me.
"I never meant to hurt you, you know," he said, regret tainting his words.
"Save it for someone who gives a crap, Ben. It's not me, and it's not Samantha either."
He dropped his hand and once more faced the dragon whose fire was now dwindling. "What's next?" he asked.
"I guess we find out who this companion is supposed to be, and see if we can find it for the lady dragon. Then you hand over the tooth, and we get the heck out of here and find those other dragons in the Underworld."
The fire finally disappeared, leaving us once again in a much more quiet and less brightly-lit cave together.
"Who is the companion?" asked Ben of the purple dragon.
"The one who holds the one true weapon against The Light," she answered.
The silver dragon roared once, its head lifted to the ceiling and the flesh under its jaws rippling with the vibrations. Pieces of the cavern above us flaked off and fell down on my head. I hunched over a little, hoping a boulder wasn't going to come loose and squash me like a bug. I snuck a look upwards when the dragon was done freaking out, and didn't notice anything looking too dangerous. I turned my attention back to the dragons.
"What does that mean?" Ben asked, looking at me. "The one who holds the true weapon or whatever?"
I tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of it, but a few snorts came out anyway. "Well ... the name of the silver dragon is The Light of Hawthorne. So if I were going to guess, I'd say the weapon is his tooth and you are the guy holding it." I looked over at the purple dragon, and she dipped her head at me.
"What? No way." Ben backed up a few paces, shaking his head no and holding his hands up in front of him, palms out. "No. Huh-uh. That's not me. No, no, no, no noooo. Nope. Not me."
"What's the matter, Ben? Personal sacrifice not your thing anymore?" I taunted. He was so full of inspiring bullcrap until the rubber hit the road; then he was just full of a bunch of hot air. "Coward," I spat.
He glared angrily at me. "You agree with this?! You think I should be relegated to a life of dragon companionship?!"
"What better way to serve the fae? To protect the realms? Go for it, Ben. Stand at the entrance, and keep the guardian happy. You'd be like the boss of the Overworld. That sounds right up your alley, actually." He'd probably change his title from companion to 'King' in the first week.
"No. I have things to do in the Here and Now."
"Don't you mean in the Underworld? Demons to raise from the dead and all?" I challenged.
"You have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, I have an idea, alright. Sam filled me in on your plans. Not very smart to screw her over the way you did. Not very smart to screw me over, either." I rested my hand on my dragon fang, almost hoping he'd come for me. It might not burn with dragonfire here, but it sure could give him a nice lump on his forehead.
"I didn't screw anyone over. Everything I did was for everyone's good."
"See? That's your fatal flaw, Ben. You just don't get the fact that using people for your own secret plans is not cool. People who get used don't like it; they end up hating the user. So now where will you be without any friends, huh? All alone, that's where. All alone with nothing but your big, fat head to keep you company." I glanced over at Heryon. "Oh, and a purple dragon who obviously doesn't care about your past, lucky for you."
"Shut up, Jayne. You're just a child. What do you know?"
I snorted. "More than you, apparently. I don't sell my friends out, but that's just basic common sense. Anyone as old as you ought to have learned that by now."
"Friendship is a commodity," he snarled.
"Ha! Friendship is not a commodity. Friendship is a gift! A precious gift that you don't deserve since you treat it so casually and carelessly." I saluted to the dragons. "I'm outta here. Dragons, I agree to your terms. I'll deliver your companion and the tooth at the portal in two weeks' time." I hoped that would give me enough time to get from here, to the Underworld, and back home. I had no idea where the portal even was, but I knew that someone in the compound did, and we had an airplane. I could get there if the safety of the world was at stake.
"You have no right to negotiate my agreement to this plan!" Ben yelled, furious with me now.
"I guess you'd better find that dragon a companion then and hand over that fang, because I'm pretty sure the world doesn't have that much time left without her at that door; and your stupid plan to get the humans all riled up has already backfired. There are friggin demons in the Overworld now, thanks to you."
"It wasn't just me," he said in a quieter voice.
"Yeah, I know. You had Torrie and Maggie and Céline and all of them messing around with scryings and mimickers and who the hell knows what else. You've gone too far, Ben, and now it's time for you to make it right."
The two dragons turned in unison, their wings unfolding from their backs as they walked away from me and towards an area of the cavern that had been behind me. I watched as their tails disappeared and then seemed to go up into the air. A gust of wind pushed me back, making me run over to see what had happened.
When I rounded the corner, I stopped suddenly, my heart instantly picking up from its already accelerated pace. I was staring out of the opening of a cave high at the top of this mountain, the edge of a sheer cliff just one foot in front of me. One more step, and I'd be airborne.
Ben came up behind me, standing at my back. My hand gripped the rock next to me, my nails digging into its surface. I had no idea what he was going to do, but the thought crossed my mind that this would be the perfect opportunity to off me, if that was what he had planned for me. There were no witnesses to see it go down, and I didn't have wings. I'd be a goner for sure.
"Please don't kill me," I whispered, vibing Tony as hard as I could. Help, help, help, he's going to push me!
"What did you just say?" asked Ben from behind me. I could feel his breath on my neck.
"I said please don't kill me." I was afraid to turn around, he was so close to me we'd be nose to nose if I did.
The sounds of running feet broke into our conversation from behind.
"Ben!" came Spike's voice. "Get away from her!"
Ben grabbed me by the upper arms, wrenching me to the side a little.
I screamed, my foot slipping in the loose gravel at the edge of the ledge, causing me to lose my grip on the ground.
Ben was seized from behind by someone, which, because he hadn't let go of me, threw me to the ground on my side, my lower legs now dangling over the edge of the cliff.
Ben fell down right after me, landing partially on top of me, pushing all the air out of my lungs in one big groaning whoosh. He rolled to the side to get off, but must not have realized how close he was to the edge, because he just kept going, not enough ground there to hold him up.
I felt his arms sliding down my legs and heard him yell, just as the realization hit me. He's going over the edge! And he's using me
to stop his fall!
The weight of him hanging onto my legs and pulling me down from over the edge was too much to be able stop the momentum with the complete lack of handholds that I had in the ground under me. I was going over too. I screamed bloody murder, not ready to die, not ready to be squashed into a flat bloody pancake or battered by granite for a thousand feet or more. The fear rose up from my stomach, ready to announce itself as a stream of vomit.
Strong arms grabbed onto mine, halting my downward progress and my plans to spew my last meal. I looked up, tears streaking my face, my expression frozen into one of desperate horror, to see Spike holding onto one arm and Jared holding the other. I'd never been so happy to see my two friends as I was in that moment.
"We've gotcha, Jayne! Just hold on!" yelled Jared. Spike just grunted with the effort of holding me and keeping me from dying a painful death at the bottom of this cliff.
Tony was standing at the opening. "Ben's down there too! He has her legs!"
The guys were grunting, their feet unable to grab hold enough with the loose pebbles there. They were slowly losing ground.
Finn got behind Spike and reached over him to grab my arm farther down. Samantha got behind Jared and took him by the waist, hauling back as hard as she could. Niles did the same behind Spike. Sam's face turned beet red within seconds, veins popping out in her neck. My body moved up with their combined effort, but I felt Ben's hands slipping from my legs.
"Aaargh!" Ben yelled. "I'm ... fall ... ahhhhh!"
I flew upwards as Ben's weight disappeared from my legs and my friends kept pulling with all their might. I shrieked at the knowledge that Ben was falling from the cliff and I couldn't stop it.
"Oh my god!! He's gone!" I screamed, scrambling around on the stones, now out of harm's way and on top of a pile of my friends' legs. "Oh my god, oh my god! He's gonna die!"