Born of Fire: The Dawn of Legend (78 page)

“I was going to ask you that,” EeNox replied.

They heard a girl cry out, and the three of them instantly froze.

“DiNiya!” BaRone cried, taking off in the direction of her room with Rex and EeNox right behind. He plowed through her bedroom door, sending it flying off its hinges. “No!” he gasped as he was greeted by the sight of LemaRes clutching his daughter in her claws.

“Father!” DiNiya cried out as she desperately struggled to free herself from the DraGon’s grip, but to no avail.

“Release her at once!” commanded BaRone furiously.

“Hmm,” replied LemaRes mockingly, pretending to give his order some thought. “I think not.”

“Drop her, or I’ll come and get her myself!” Rex declared angrily.

“You and me both,” EeNox added.

“Both of you stay back!” BaRone shouted back to them. “Let me handle this!”

“But Father—”

“EeNox! Not up for discussion!”

“I’d hate to get in the middle of your little family squabble, so I’ll just take my leave now, if you don’t mind,” said the DraGon, backing away from the hole in the wall she had made when she came crashing through.

“You’re not going anywhere!” BaRone shouted. “Drop her or I’ll—”

“You’ll do what, exactly?”

“Don’t act so cocky,” said EeNox. “We already beat you once!”

“Such insolent bravado,” LemaRes said, disgusted. “Normally I’d just rip the tongue out of the mouth that spoke it, but then again, these are far from normal circumstances. As much as it pains me to say, I do not believe the risk to myself from fighting the whole of KaNar is worth it.”

“So then let her go, fly away, and we can just call it even,” Rex said mockingly.

“Again, I must decline to acquiesce.”

“Damn you!” Rex exclaimed, taking a step forward.

The DraGon suddenly held DiNiya upside down by her left leg over the edge. The drop to the bottom was at least ten meters, and with her unable to ignite her flame, would prove lethal. “Think very carefully about your next move. One more step and I might just panic and accidentally drop her. Then again…you were the first one to tell me to do just that, were you not?” LemaRes released her grip on DiNiya for a second, causing the three to jump in panic, only to grab back hold of her leg in the time it took to blink. “Ahh, so I see you’ve changed your mind. Very well, I’ll just hold onto her for you until you come to collect her.”

“Collect her?” EeNox asked, unsure of her meaning.

“I swear, if you put even one mark on her, I’ll rip your skull open!” Rex savagely spoke as red flame rose from his eyes.

“She won’t,” said BaRone, not taking his eyes of his daughter’s captor. “Not for now, anyway. DiNiya’s her insurance.”

“Very perceptive, SaVarian,” LemaRes spoke with legitimate surprise. “I’m impressed. Indeed, she is my insurance, as you put it, for she is going to be the reason why you, Doom Bringer, and your little companions come to the tower of the western coast.”

“Tower?” EeNox asked. “You mean that old ruin?”

“Someone want to clue me in here?” Rex asked, looking from the DraGon to EeNox.

“Know this, though,” LemaRes said. “Should anyone other than the five of you come, we will kill her instantly; take too long and we’ll start taking her apart.” The DraGon brought DiNiya close to her face while stroking the girl’s fur with a long sickle claw. “Piece by piece.”

“No, please!” BaRone shouted. “Take me instead! My daughter is of no use to you! She can’t even ignite her flame!”

“Fool!” the DraGon bellowed. “Why do you think I’m taking her instead of any of you? And here I thought you were cleverer than that. Looks like it was just a fluke after all. You’re as inept and ineffectual as the rest of your kind.”

BaRone felt as if he was being forced to watch some perverse nightmare play out right in front of him. He could not fathom how, after all these years, he had failed in the one thing he had sworn to his mate to always do: keep their children safe. Now he watched, helpless and powerless, as his daughter writhed in the DraGon’s clutches, with eyes that were a mix of fury and terror. Finally, knowing not what else to do or say, he simply asked, “Why? Why are you doing this…why her?”

Fixing her gaze on the man, LemaRes grinned. “Because the reprieve is over. You have all been living on borrowed time, and now it has simply run out. The fate of the six children you have harbored cannot be stopped, cannot be undone. All that was promised, all that was sworn, will come to pass. It is time they deliver unto us that which will set us free and bring about an end to them and their kind forever.”

“I don’t understand,” BaRone said. “Why do your people so desperately want to make war with us? We’ve done nothing to you!”

“Your place was never to understand, but to die!” LemaRes reared her head back and prepared to fire a blast, when suddenly there was the sound of dozens of thunderous running feet, followed by a deep roar that they all instantly recognized to be VayRonx.

With a powerful flap of her wings, the DraGon pulled away and immediately burst into blue flame. “Five days, Doom Bringer! That is how long you have to reach the tower before we stop resisting the urge to visit all sorts of unpleasantries upon your little friend here. So by all means, take your time. Until we meet again!” With that, she rocketed off into the sky and out of sight. The three of them stood in stunned silence for a moment before BaRone collapsed to his knees. “DiNiya,” he said, utterly defeated.

Minutes later, VayRonx and the others reached the base of the manor. Rex and EeNox watched as his head came right up to the hole, carrying TarFor and VyKia, who leaped off and ran up to them first.

“Boys,” TarFor exclaimed, placing a burly hand on each of their shoulders and kneeling down in front of them. “Are you two all right?”

EeNox nodded, looking over to Rex, whose jaw was clenched with anger.

“What happened here?” the big man demanded, turning to BaRone, who was still on his knees, staring at the sky. “BaRone, talk to me, damn it!”

“They took her,” BaRone spoke in a weak voice.

“Who?” asked VyKia. “Who took her, BaRone?”

BaRone turned and looked her in the eye. “A DraGon.”

VyKia turned and looked at her brother, who in turn looked back to VayRonx.

Less than thirty minutes later, they had all gathered in front of the tavern beneath the partially covered moons. Rex and the others forced their way to the front so as to be a part of the discussion that was taking place.

“A DraGon,” VoRenna said with a look of surprise before silent acceptance crept into her eyes. “They were bound to try again…”

“But this soon?” KyVina bellowed angrily. “We weren’t ready for them so shortly after the attack!”

“That was their whole strategy, I’m sure,” VayRonx said. “Regroup and recover before us, and then attack with a surgical strike.”

TarFor looked over to BaRone as his mind flooded with feelings of regret and anger.
How could I have not been here when this happened
?
I swore I would always stand by his side and protect them
.

“BaRone,” VyKia said forcefully, marching over to the man that now looked like an empty shell of his former self. “Do you know where they took DiNiya? Did the DraGon say anything?”

“I…failed her,” BaRone said in a voice on the verge of tears. “My baby girl…I let that monster take her…”

“She said something about a tower on the western coast,” Rex spoke up from behind.

“Tower?” VyKia asked. “You mean that giant eyesore out west?”

EeNox nodded vigorously. “Yes! She said we have only five days to reach it before they…” he trailed off, daring not speak of what the DraGon had told them they would do to his sister should he and the other four not reach her in time.

VyKia turned back to BaRone, placing a hand on his back. “Come on, BaRone. Pull yourself together! We have to go rescue your daughter.”

“No,” said Rex.

“Come again?”

“The DraGon said only EeNox, LyCora, AnaSaya, ShinGaru, and I could go, or else they would kill her!”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“Wasn’t my idea.”

“We have to mount a rescue!”

Rex glanced back at the others, then back to her and said, “You’re looking at it.”

“Out of the question!” TarFor said furiously.

“I wasn’t asking one,” he replied defiantly.

“Enough,” VayRonx roared. “Senseless bickering will solve nothing and only impede our efforts to save DiNiya!” Everyone except the larger sauropods recoiled back at the massive DyVorian’s outburst. “Now we need to decide what our next course of action is going to be.”

“We
know
our next move,” Rex said, clearly frustrated not to be taken seriously.

“Wanting to help DiNiya is a noble sentiment, indeed, but you cannot help the fact that there are limits to what you can do alone. If you truly want to get her back, trust in us to do it.”

Rex looked around at all their faces and saw that they were not about to entertain the idea of going after DiNiya in the way her captor had instructed. With a final glare, Rex turned on his heels and stormed off through the crowd.

EeNox locked eyes with his father for a moment before following after Rex, leaving ShinGaru, LyCora, and AnaSaya to quickly decide which side of the line they would stand on.

“EeNox…” BaRone called out after his son, but was ignored.

With a slight nod of his head, ShinGaru turned and walked away in the direction the other two had gone, followed by LyCora, who while looking more annoyed by the situation than anything else, quickly filed in behind him. Now AnaSaya looked at her mother, who seemed to be silently telling her,
The choice is yours to make
.

With silent understanding, AnaSaya quietly turned her back to her mother and walked away, catching up with the others.

Rex had stormed off through the gates and into the forest. The very same forest he had wandered in the day he arrived and had been scared of for cycles after. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions.
How could things turn out this way?
He continued moving through the forest at a brisk pace, not truly knowing where he was going, just that he needed to get away. Suddenly there was a rustling from behind, and he instinctively whipped around to find himself face-to-face with EeNox, who was red faced and breathing heavily. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to catch up with you,” EeNox replied breathlessly. “You seriously know how to put some distance in a hurry between you and whatever’s making you angry.”

“Right now I’m more interested in closing the distance.”

“If you’re talking about going after DiNiya, then I’m with you.”

“What about your father, and VayRonx? Aren’t you afraid they’ll be angry with you when they find out you went against the orders?” Rex asked challengingly.

“I don’t care what they think right now! Besides, you heard what that monster said! If we don’t go by ourselves, they’re going to kill her!”

Rex nodded. “Not that I’m not happy about your motivation, but aren’t you the one who always wants to play it safe?”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong,” EeNox said, holding up his hands. “I’d love to go after that winged bitch with an army of the biggest and meanest carnivores in all of the Northern Continent, but revenge isn’t worth my sister’s life, so it looks like we have to do this ourselves, the two of us.”

“Planning on cutting us out of the action, I see?” ShinGaru said from behind. The boys turned to see him and the two girls approaching from the direction EeNox had come.

“I didn’t think you three were coming,” Rex said, crossing his arms.

“And why’s that?”

Rex just shrugged. “I suppose you just didn’t strike me as the type.”

“Wow, give us at least some credit, Rex,” LyCora said, giving him a look of admonishment.

“Why should I? From the moment I met you, you’ve done nothing but advertise how much you hate DiNiya, poking and prodding at her every chance you got. I knew tons of people just like you on Earth, and none of you were ever there when I was in a bad situation. Hell, it was people like you who were usually the reason why I was in trouble to begin with. Why should anyone expect you to stick your neck out for someone you get a thrill out of kicking around all the time? Why should—”

LyCora punched Rex right in the jaw, cutting him short and sending him staggering back. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Rex shouted angrily, holding the side of his face.

“What, you mean you didn’t see that coming?” she said with a look of pain rather than anger on her face. “I thought you had me all figured out! Well, I guess the great, all-seeing, all-knowing Rex is a bit more shortsighted than he would have us all believe.”

“Point taken,” Rex said through gritted teeth as he cracked his neck and gave a final rub of his jaw.

“If we leave tonight, we would probably have a few hours before anyone notices we are gone,” said AnaSaya enthusiastically. Everyone looked at her in surprise. “W…what is it?”

“We didn’t expect you to be so anxious to go against authority,” Rex said. “I mean, that is to say…don’t hit me.”

“It’s okay,” she said with a smile. “I know what you meant.”

“ShinGaru, you in, or do we have to knock you out and tie you to a tree?” EeNox asked.

ShinGaru grinned, amused. “Well, when you put it that way, it would seem it’s in my best interests to go along with whatever you’re planning.”

“So we’re all agreed then,” Rex said, looking at each of them. “We’re going to rescue DiNiya.”

“We’ll have to gather some supplies for the trip,” EeNox said.

Rex nodded. “Fine, but bring only what you can carry, and even then only the essentials. We won’t be stopping in many towns.”

“Why not?” asked AnaSaya.

“They’ll put the word out all over that we’re somewhere in the west when they find out we’ve skipped town. So we’ll want to avoid really populated areas. I hope at least one of you knows how to get to where we’re supposed to be going and how to do it via the back roads.”

“Sure,” replied EeNox. “Everyone knows where the Western Tower is. Getting there is a bit of a different story, though, especially the way you want to go.”