AutumnQuest (18 page)

“This.” He held up the stick. “Must be some kind of magic staff. I didn’t realize it, though, until I got inside the arena. Then it started buzzing like a swarm of wasps.”

“It made noise?”

“Well, no, not exactly. It just vibrated in my hand like mad. I couldn’t figure out what it meant.”

“Then how’d you break the dragonmasters’ spells?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. When I saw Xyla, I dashed to the edge of the field. When she tried to fly out and was thrown back, the staff just sort of took on a life of its own. It dragged my hand into the air, and then it spewed that red lightning. I almost dropped it in surprise, but it seemed to be stuck to my hand. I couldn’t even feel my arm.”

I reached out to touch the wooden staff. It felt like any old piece of polished wood.

“Xyla grabbed Breyard and disappeared. Then she came back for me, we got you, and that’s the whole story.”

“Not the whole story.” I looked over my shoulder at Breyard. “What happened?”

“How far back do you want me to go?” he asked, coming over to sit next to me.

“To the beginning, of course,” I said. Breyard shivered and sighed. “Well, maybe not the whole story tonight. Can’t you at least tell me what happened today?” I took his hand and held it tight.

His eyes took on a faraway look. “Today for you, but not for me.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded. Traz was baffled, too.

Breyard took a moment to gather his thoughts. “I know this sounds very strange, but it was all a year ago for me.”

“What?! A year ago?”

He held up a hand to keep me from saying more. “Do you want to hear the story?” He cocked his eyebrows and grinned.

I gave him a small smile. “Please continue.”

“I hardly remember the fighting pit, just the bright sunlight that hurt my eyes after being in the dark so long. And this large, red dragon who didn’t attack me. She grabbed me in her jaws, but it didn’t hurt. I was dizzy and sick and, the next thing I knew, in the middle of the desert.”

“Desert?!” Traz and I exclaimed in unison. I went on, “There’s no desert in Alloway.”

“I wasn’t in Alloway. Not in this world at all. I was in Stychs. A whole different world.” He paused to let that sink in.

“Another world?” I exclaimed. “Stychs is another world? Not someplace here? But how could Xyla get there?”

“I am a red dragon,” she said smugly, as if it were obvious.

“She’s a red dragon,” Breyard repeated, apparently for the benefit of Traz. “Red dragons are the connection between our world and Stychs.”

“But why did you take him there?” I asked aloud.

“There was no other choice. The spells of the dragonmasters would have snared me had I waited an instant longer. My only hope of escape was Stychs.”

I remembered the lightning the dragonmasters had shot at her just before she disappeared. “All right. But you came right back. Breyard says a year went by.”

“It did. For us. When I return to this world, it is only a moment after I left it. No matter how long I stay there.”

A realization struck me. “That’s how you grew!” I cried. “You went to Stychs before and stayed there, how long? A few years at least, I’d guess.”

“Yes.”

“But why didn’t you come back right away this time?”

Breyard answered. “I was too sick at first. Then other things came up.”

“What other things?”

“That’s another story for another time. For now, how about some supper?”

After a good night’s rest, I felt stronger. I still had many questions for Breyard, but there was a stillness to his spirit that kept me from asking. When he wished to tell me, he would; until then, I thought I must be content to have him at my side. And I was.

Xyla had hunted in the predawn and returned with the news that soldiers and dragonmasters were searching everywhere, so we’d best be on our way.

“Where shall we go?” I asked.

“That is for you to say.”

So where to? Roylinn? No, neither Breyard nor I would be welcome there, even if we wanted to return.

Home? The thought of being in familiar surroundings with Mama and Papa had a comforting appeal.

But when I thought of what had happened in the arena, the way I’d been able to draw on all that power and, however clumsily, wield it to such effect, I knew where I had to go.

“The mage,” I said, mounting Xyla and motioning Breyard and Traz to join me. “Take me back to Yallick.”

My father~

With pleasure I report that my caution was needless. All is ready. Prepare to move your Dagger. The Queen’s Heart is within grasp, and we shall end the game victorious.

~Your dutiful son

The End

About the Author

Terie Garrison discovered she wanted to be a writer at age 10, when she penned her first limericks at school. She wrote for her high school newspaper and was first published in
ZOONOOZ
, the magazine of the San Diego Zoological Society.

Since then, her nonfiction pieces have appeared in magazines such as
Bicycling, Cycling, San Diego Pedal Guide,
and
Austrailian Cyclist.
Her short story, “Folgers,” was published in
CATS Magazine.

Her current fiction projects include an adventure series for middle-grade children, a sports novel, and a fantasy series for young adults.

Currently, Terie works as a senior-level technical writer for a software company. During her many years in the technical publication field, she has written well over one hundred manuals and tried to make sure that none of them contained any fiction whatsoever.

A native of San Diego, California, Terie moved to Manchester, UK, in 2000, where she enjoys listening to English accents, driving on the left, and experiencing weather. She is also “a heathen [wo]man” and has the excommunication letter to prove it.