CHAPTER 16
The White Dragon and the Mage
One moment the small clearing ahead of them was empty, the next it held a fifteen foot tall dragon with jaws lined with rows of big dagger-like teeth framed by pairs of opposing fangs. It was the smallest dragon they had ever seen; not that they had seen many. Even so, it was enormous, at least four times as massive as Grog but it looked much bigger, bristling with spines, spikes, and horns, clawed talons, and bat-like wings that were already eight-meters across, and long, whip-tail ending in several foot-long, razor-sharp spurs.
The entire dragon was mostly glowing white, with startling green eyes with black pupils, and a long, forked, green tongue that seemed to taste the air. There were also fainter green tinges and hues throughout the rest of the body. The humans were startled and frightened but at the same time astounded and exhilarated, for one thought dominated all others: this was the most magnificent creature they had ever seen!
“You need not fear me,” Freedom said to them audibly, though his mouth did not visibly move to form words. The statement, meant to be reassuring, only made things seem more strange.
“Freedom, you’re beautiful!” said Mary, grinning. She stepped forward and grasped a single scaly finger of that could be described as his right front paw in her own small hand.
The dragon gently moved its clawed hand up and down in keeping with what he had learned through study was likely what the human expected. “Of course I am,” agreed the dragon. “Strange human custom, this shaking of the claws. Among my own kind it would have aggressive connotations.”
“Well, you need not fear me,” replied Mary, as she released her grip.
The dragon lifted its crocodile-sized head and coughed a ten-meter-long plume of blue flame skyward. “Human humor,” he said, as his regarded her again with green glowing, all seeing eyes. “Thank you for your warm greeting Mary, Chosen of Jewel.”
“Good to actually see you in the flesh at last,” said George, as he also stepped forward and also shook ‘hands’ with Freedom, though it seemed a bit redundant, given that Freedom had spent many days on his finger and in his head.
“My Chosen partner in life,” said the dragon in return. “You are surprised at my size?”
“The egg was only as big as a breadbox,” said George.
“That was many days ago,” replied Freedom. “I have increased in volume by a factor of several hundred since then. Yet I am still growing very slowly, by dragon standards.”
With his bottomless green eyes Freedom looked past George at Johnny. “Johnny, brother to Mary! You can be of more help than you know. I have seen this in our future, but do not recall the details.”
The dragon next regarded Ellen, who had stood watching silently, with eyes and mouth agog. “Ellen, ambassador of Earth, daughter of Michel and Katherine, sister of Jennifer and Drew, I welcome you also to our little company of misfit beings.”
“Your name is Freedom?” Ellen asked.
“George and I think the name is appropriate," Freedom replied. "It is, after all, the goal for all of us to be free of the Dark One. Dragons generally value freedom greatly, except for our enemy, who is quite possibly mad, from the standpoint of normal dragon psychology.”
“Your color, is it symbolic?” Mary asked.
“Yes and no, small one," said Freedom, "it is, you might say, akin to being my genetic colors, though I lack genes of the form you possess.”
“From a scientific standpoint white is the combination of all colors, and Freedom is descended from all dragon colors,” explained George.
The dragon rapidly turned himself red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, and then white again, with tinges of green. “White is the combination of all colors and is preferred and optimal for me, as is my current shape and size, though all characteristics of my material form are adjustable. May true sire was green, which shows as my only pure color of prominence.”
"The Chosen may also assume the colors of their dragons," said Freedom.
"Interesting," said George, as he let his eyes turn green for a few moments.
"That's too scary, guys," said Johnny. "You'll freak people out doing that!"
“Will you grow to be as large as Jewel?” Mary asked Freedom.
The dragon laughed again. “Much larger, in time, assuming that I survive, given that I am male.”
“Can you destroy the monsters and the witch that currently plague Earth?” asked Ellen.
The dragon tilted his head as though thoughtfully considering the question before replying. “It is possible, but currently my powers are not sufficient to ensure success. I am very fresh from the egg.”
“But thousands of people are dying now, and Greble is getting stronger,” said Ellen.
“Yes, it is an interesting exercise in logic to choose an appropriate strategy,” said the dragon.
“If you are the only hope in the Multiverse to defeat the Dark One, immediate attack of Greble or the monsters by you seems too high a risk,” said Mary. “You are too valuable to risk yourself now. You need to get stronger first. All of us do.”
“That was also my most logical conclusion,” said the dragon.
“But something needs to be done right away about the monsters and Greble,” said Mary.
“We could at least try to slow them down,” said George, “but are we strong enough even for that?”
“I can make you still stronger, my Chosen. Once strengthened you and I may be able to at least slow the monsters and Greble until Jewel returns. An adult dragon should be more than a match for any witch or any monster of Earth. But first I must strengthen myself. I need to feed deeply as soon as possible, strengthen us, than feed again until eventually we have grown much stronger. When I am fully grown no Earthly monster or Narma witch will be able to stand against either of us.” He turned his gaze towards Ellen. “Until I feed I am vulnerable. Can you arrange to feed me as you did Jewel?”
It took some moments for the request to fully register, it was so bizarre a request, then Ellen’s eyes went wide again. “You want my Government to attack you? With a nuclear weapon?”
“Of course," said Freedom. "A small one first preferably, followed by larger ones: as large and as many as you can spare.”
Ellen shook her head. “I don’t think that the Government would do it. They would regard such a thing to be insanity. Most are still in a state of denial with regard to what Jewel did with the first bombs. The decision to nuke a backyard in a United States town and near a major city was regarded as a very serious error, and they won’t want to repeat something like that.”
“What if it were done at a more secluded location?” suggested George.
“Perhaps,” agreed Ellen. “A desolate location perhaps, in Africa. The Nigerian government has already requested that we nuke their monster. Though highly populated, Nigeria is secluded from an American standpoint, and the administration has been actually considering it, insane though it sounds.”
“That’s where the first monster showed up,” noted Johnny. “The giant African creature has killed tens of thousands of humans; the people there must be really desperate.”
“So we should help there first anyway,” said George. “It’s a matter of principle. And there would be no danger to people from the bombs if you eat them.”
“Agreed,” rumbled the dragon.
“There is another good aspect to this plan,” reasoned Mary. “Greble is unlikely to be there. That was the first monster she woke, so she is probably elsewhere wakening others. She should be avoided until we are all stronger, I assume.”
“True,” Freedom agreed. "Though over time Greble will also be strengthening herself."
“OK,” said George. “So let’s say that Freedom and I go attack it, but get nuked first, and everyone else stays here.”
“Ellen and I should go too,” said Mary, “at least to the general vicinity. We are needed to coordinate between the Governments and you.” She smiled at George’s
startled look. “AS ONLY I CAN DO,” she added silently.
“BUT JEWEL MIGHT RETURN!” George started to protest.
“GROG CAN TELL HER WHAT’S GOING ON," pathed Mary, "SHE’LL HAVE NO TROUBLE FINDING US IN ANY CASE.”
“TRUE ENOUGH,” added the troll.
After some thought Ellen nodded in agreement, though she had of course missed most of the discussion. “Freedom will need to go public to some degree, while the Simple House and Portal remain undisclosed. That’s going to take some doing, and it can’t be done from here. I’d welcome Mary’s help with that.”
“And also she will need keep watch for Greble, while George and I are distracted by the monsters,” said the dragon. “She and I will both track the Witch from wherever we are, after we are closer to her. But you must avoid direct conflict with the Witch, small one,” he told Mary.
“Of course,” agreed Mary.
“What about me?” Johnny asked anxiously.
“You’re going to be busy enough helping explain this stuff to Mom and Dad,” said Mary.
Johnny was clearly unhappy about not being directly in on the action. “For a minute I thought I’d be famous,” he lamented.
“If it would help, I can give you a ride later,” said Freedom. “Perhaps drop you off at your school and plead that yours has been an emergency absence from your adoring public that should be excused?”
Arrive at school riding a dragon? Johnny was grinning again, and so excited that he could only nod his head in agreement.
Ellen stepped away to phone her superiors. In an amazingly short fifteen minutes it was all arranged. “They agree in principle, though they’re still digesting the fact that they have been secretly for decades been essentially been allied to a dragon. They’re still squabbling over the nuclear attack business, but I think they’ll come around. We’ll be on a military transport within an hour. It’s big enough to carry Freedom, even in his dragon form, if he folds in his wings.”
“I think not; George and I will meet you and Mary there,” said the dragon. “GET ON MY BACK,” he added, to George.
George jumped up and sat twelve feet above the ground at the base of the creature’s neck, between sets of spikes that covered Freedom from head to tail tip. The spikes were about two feet long, and not too thick for George to get a good grip on them.
“There are a couple more things before we go,” said Ellen. “Do you know where the giant African zombie creature is?”
Freedom lifted his head up and belched blue fire skyward.
“You’ve got him laughing again,” explained Mary. “He can sense all the monsters from here, and will easily pin-point the giant zombie monster in Africa when he’s closer. George and I will be able to do that too.”
“Great,” said Ellen. “I’ll have to get Freedom flight clearances though. We don’t want you attacked by the military as an unidentified flying monster. Plus I need to talk to my bosses about publicity.” She stepped away a few yards to use her cell phone, while George and Freedom discussed various fine points of dragon flight.
“Well, how will we go public?” Mary asked Ellen, when the woman had at last returned. “Are we going to have a news conference, or what?”
Ellen shook her head. “The Government doesn’t want to go public just yet. They want a few successes against monsters first, and they also don’t want to tip off the witch.”
“That’s ridiculous,” said George. “The witch already knows we’re coming; that’s her whole plan. As to the public, unexplained dragon sightings could cause panic. They'll think we're additional monsters to fear. You said yourself a few minutes ago that we needed to go public to some degree.”
“They won’t see us unless we wish them to,” noted Freedom. The dragon disappeared for a few moments, apparently by tuning himself invisible, before reappearing.
“True, but I think you should let them see you,” suggested Mary, “so they get used to the idea.”
“Good points,” agreed George. “So let’s compromise. Tell your Government friends that we’ll let the military see us now and then. We’ll practice communicating with them through Mary too. We’ll want to coordinate with them when we eat the nukes and fight the monsters. But I still think we should go public more first.”
“The Government is firmly against that idea,” said Ellen. “That decision is right from the President.”
George shrugged. "Maybe," he said.
“Let’s get going than,” Ellen said.
Freedom tensed his legs and extended his wings as though preparing to leap upward and start flying, but then suddenly he and Grog turned as one towards the deeper forest, as though they had sensed an intruder.
“Someone of power came through the Portal moments ago,” said Grog.
Sudden fear gripped George, as he reached out with his own senses towards the Portal. Was it one of the Horde, or even worse, The Dark One himself? He was relieved when his senses didn’t detect that, but puzzled by what he did detect. The intruder seemed familiar in aspect, yet different. “Is it an elf?”
“Yes and no,” replied Freedom.
“Worse,” added Grog, shaking his big hairy head. “It’s an elf mage.”
“What’s an elf mage?” asked Ellen.
“A wizard,” said Grog. “But most elf mages be dead. Only full elf mage me know of be a scoundrel.”
“Watch what you say about my uncle, you big hairy oaf,” said a tiny, high pitched voice.
Standing at the edge of the wood was a tiny, ridiculous looking creature. He stood no more than a foot tall and over the usual elf-green outfit he wore a glowing golden armor breastplate that had to have been sized for an elf twice as large as him, along with a matching golden helmet that slipped down over his eyes even as they watched. He had no beard, and appeared to be much younger than Kip or Belinda.
“Scuttles,” he cursed, as he pushed the offending headpiece back, such that the scabbard containing a sword as long as himself slipped from a small shoulder and dropped to the ground.
“Pip?” blurted Grog in astonishment. “Baby Pip?”
“Baby!” shouted the elf angrily. “You hairy Throg footed son of a Woggot!” With that the tiny creature hopped high into the air, straight onto the head of Grog, who had dodged, but ineffectively, since the trajectory of the elf changed in midair to compensate for his movement. Kneeling on top of Grog’s hairy head, the elf began furiously pounding it with his tiny fists.
The whole sequence had erupted in seconds, with the elf speaking and moving in fast-motion, as the others watched on in stunned astonishment. George stood up on Freedom’s back, and was preparing to leap onto Grog himself, to knock his tiny tormenter away, but Grog managed that himself. A huge troll hand whacked this own troll head sharply, and lay over the tiny elf before closing tightly into a huge fist around what the onlookers could only assume was by now a small crushed elf body.
To the relief of all, when Grog cautiously opened his hand it was entirely empty.
“Ha ha ha,” laughed the elf, from where he again stood next to his fallen sword. How he had gotten there was a mystery. The tiny elf was soon rolling around on the ground, laughing hysterically.
Grog was soon laughing also, deep hoots that echoed through the forest, that only died down as he reached out and scooped up the tiny figure and let him stand in his open hand, facing the others. “This be Pip, third cousin to Kip and Belinda, and last known mage of elves, but for his Uncle Farnmouth. Pip be junior mage.”
The little creature bowed towards the others. “I am Pipen Luciduarn Ken-Warga the Third, but Pip will do nicely. I am greatly honored to be in the presence of the White Dragon and the Chosen Ones, George son of Joan, and Mary. But I fear that I am the only remaining living elf mage, good troll,” said the little elf, sadly.
“No!” blurted Grog.
“Yes,” said the little elf. “Uncle Farnmouth was killed near two Earth weeks past near Keep-Town. I now hunt his killer the Witch Gre
ble, who has now come to plague Earth.”
“In coming here you defy the ban,” said the troll. “Kip and Belinda not know you be here?”
“Of course not,” said Pip. “But they suspected the Witch was here, didn’t they? I sensed it in them. They have told me much over the years, but would not answer my inquiries about Greble. However I easily tracked her trail of stench to the Portal. I am a mage, you know.”
“Junior Mage,” countered Grog.
“Perfect,” said Johnny, sarcastically. “Junior Chosen Ones, junior dragon, junior elf mage. A complete set.”
“You must be Johnny, the wise junior brother to Mary,” said Pip, bowing towards Johnny before returning his attention to George and Freedom. “Kip has told me of your charming wit, brother to Mary. I do indeed, as a mage, appear to provide the group with full capability otherwise lacking. I propose to detect the Witch, and then to allow you to help me kill her.”
“You hunt Greble?” asked George.
“Obviously,” said Kip. “I’m going after her with you to revenge my Uncle Farnmouth. As much as we elves aren’t known to consort with dragons, I’m willing to risk myself by riding the dangerous white creature along with you.”
“We don’t need you, elf,” rumbled Freedom, with a dismissive snort.
“I am more powerful than I appear, oh great one,” countered the little elf. “She took Uncle by surprise; I will not make that mistake. Besides, I am small and I weigh very little.”
“No,” said Freedom bluntly.
“Perhaps he could go with us on the airplane,” said Mary. “I am sure that his expertise would prove useful.”
“Perhaps he should,” said George. “I don’t see the harm.”
“No problem,” said Ellen. “I think we could manage to make room for him.”
"I would prefer to ride on the grumpy White Dragon," said Pip.
“He is not needed,” repeated Freedom. “The elf chatter would be a constant distraction. Besides, were he even a full elf mage, there would be nothing he could do that I could not do better.”
“Yes there is,” countered Johnny, to the surprise of the others, “and he is very much needed.”
“What are you babbling about now, oh wise junior brother?” asked Mary.
“Something apparently too obvious for you bigger brained super hero types to figure out,” explained Johnny. “Even Freedom can’t be two places at once. What if Greble’s whole plan isn’t to take on you guys but to get you away from the Portal so she can get back to Narma and alert the bad guys? What if the monsters are merely a diversion to allow her to do that? We’ll need more than Grog and me in place here to stop her if she makes a quick dash for the Portal and Narma.”
“True enough,” said Grog. “She got by me more than once, and I be not happy to face her alone. Pip can more skillfully detect her stench and should stand on watch for her with me here at the Portal.”
“I didn’t risk the Void to sit here on my behind while the Witch is hunted down by others,” protested Pip. “I want her for myself, at least a piece of her. Thus I need to go on the hunt with the dragon.”
“If you go with them you getting a piece of her ain’t happening,” countered Johnny. “Freedom will likely fry the Witch before you even see her. But if she comes back here and you’re waiting for her, she’s all yours. Of course, it’s a big, dangerous job. If you aren’t up to facing Greble without a dragon or aa Chosen, maybe you should go with George or Mary.”
“Yes he should go with George," said Mary. "That way you can keep an eye on the little guy." She winked at George and Freedom, and hoped the action wasn’t lost on the dragon. “You know, to keep the young ban-breaking elf out of further trouble.”
“Maybe that is a good idea,” George agreed. "We could protect him and keep him out of trouble if he goes with us."
“Keep ME out of trouble!” complained Pip angrily. “Protect me? A mage of the Realm?”
“Yes I suppose that we can protect him best if he goes with us,” said Freedom, who had suddenly recalled something in his human library readings about reverse psychology, and hoped that it applied also to elves. “Yes; for his own protection, he should come with us.”
“You want to protect ME?” Pip shrilled. “A mage of the Realm? Welder of the Seer Sword and the Stone of Affenbeck?” He pulled his foot-long long-sword from its scabbard and it glowed bright-blue as he waved it in the air. “I declare before you all that I’m staying here to prevent the Witch’s escape to the Portal, and that’s the end of it. I have spoken.” He slammed the ground with his glowing sword, causing a deep tremor that shook the earth enough to almost knock the others off their feet, accompanied by a deep rumbling sound that took several seconds to fade away.
“Very well, mage,” replied Freedom. "We yield to your mage wisdom. You presence here will be much valued."
“Sure; that’s what I just said, more or less,” agreed the tiny elf mage. “So shoo then, you lot, much as I’d like to get to know you all better over a few mugs of glop, even the big white lizard. Herd the Witch here to me and I’ll fry her ugly soul through to Hell’s burning gates.”
At that Pip disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.
“Wow,” said George. “Johnny, it looks like you and Grog will have an interesting time while we’re gone. It is better that he stay here though, I think.”
“Yes,” agreed Freedom.
“I didn’t do that just to keep him out of your knickers, you know,” said Johnny. “If Greble or one of her monster friends does come calling at the Portal, maybe he can help.”
“No maybes about it. Pip be young junior mage, but be strong in magic,” said Grog. “You be a wise one, Johnny.”
“Good job Bro,” agreed Mary.
“We’re finally ready to leave then?” Ellen asked.
“Nearly,” said Freedom. “If you do not bomb me here, I will likely need to feed at an electric power station.”
“There is a coal powered one ten miles south of here,” Ellen noted, “but can’t you get enough power from a power line away from the station?”
“Not as good," said the dragon. "At the source is better. Much electric power is lost in transmission lines.”
“But then you’d probably have to go public,” said Ellen, “and that would go against my orders.”
“I will feed only lightly now, but I will need your bombs without fail, before I attack the first and greatest monster.”
“Understood,” said Ellen. “Anything else?”
“I haven’t even packed,” said Mary.
“No need, there are changes of clothes and other supplies on the plane for you," said Ellen. "For George too, when he needs them later.”
“We’ll re-meet in Africa,” said Freedom, “Near the giant that kills your kind. We’ll hold off our attack until you arrive and feed us with your bombs, so get them there as soon as you can.”
“You’ll get there before us?” asked Mary.
“Easily,” replied the dragon, as his legs compressed and his wings extended.
****