Dragon Magic: Book 3: Prophecy of the Dragons (18 page)

"Now that I'm really looking at them, there's no doubt Timothy and Sasha are controlling these guys," Ben said, as the former servants, now-defenders of the Stronghold, advanced. "They might as well be wearing blinking neon signs."

"Why would they not try to hide it?" Andi asked. "They did with me."

Good question. "Maybe there are too many of them so they couldn't. Or maybe they want us to know."

"I hate them so much," she said. "I don't think I can fully express how icked out I am that they made me so devoted to them."

"Benjamin, Alexandria, concentrate on the new power I showed you. Those things are resistant to magic, but with you two amplifying a spell to the nth degree, a heavy dark blast should wipe them out of existence."

"No, Ben! Tell him we can't. They aren't attacking us by their own free will."

"No way, Felix," he said. "They're only fighting us because Timothy and Sasha are making them. We can't hurt them, let alone kill them."

Felix mumbled something under his breath, and then said, "Fine. For now. If they prove too tough to knock out nicely, though, we go for the kill."

"Andi?" Ben asked.

She hesitated, but said, "Okay, but we'll give it a good effort first. And I don't mean one failed stun spell, got it?"

"Agreed." He relayed that to Felix, who again wasn't happy, but nodded.

The first wave of defenders came in hard and fast, aiming to kill to end this right away. Andi flew Ben to the ceiling, while Felix preformed a magical jump to one of the second floor balconies. Max and Nix retreated to the entry garden, but none of the defenders chased them. Most focused on Ben and Andi, while a few went after Felix.

"I'm assuming they can get to us up here," Ben said.

"Yeah, I bought us a few seconds, but not much more. They adapt to whatever's attacking the Stronghold, even though we aren't doing that. Stupid Sasha and Timothy."

"So are they going to fly up at us or start shooting?"

"We'll find out together."

A dozen or so rushed up the stairs towards Felix, while the rest, forty or fifty strong, rose off the ground and rocketed towards them. Andi took evasive actions. She flipped and floated through their ranks, all the while keeping Ben stable. He didn't once feel like he slipped even an inch, could, in fact, launch a few stun bursts. They connected with the defenders, square in the chest, but the bolts bounced off and dissipated. It didn't even slow them down.

Or did it?

"What if we concentrated like Felix told us?" Andi said. "Maybe that would knock them out."

"Benjamin! The stuns slow them for a split second, but not long enough to do any good."

"Andi and I are going to concentrate to see if I can amp one up enough to drop it."

"Great!" Felix yelled. Ben looked down and saw him dodging the attacks of the group after him. He used a combination of shield spells, dark energy bursts to their eyes to disorient them, and various movement spells which kept him out of reach. He'd be fine for now, but they needed to do something fast. "How are you two going to concentrate while dodging all of those?"

"Good point," Andi said. "We've never tried, so we don't know how much it takes." She flew between two that attempted to crush them, and then barrel rolled over another which had constructed a long dagger out of its middle finger. "Now that's just rude!"

Ben chuckled, cast a cloud of dust around them to limit visibility, and scanned their surroundings. "Look, we have a clear path to the upper corner of the room. Fly straight for it, we'll concentrate on the way, and I'll nail one of them. We'll see if that's strong enough."

"Let's do it." She zipped off away from the defenders. The room was so big that even with Andi flying at a fast clip, they had a few seconds to do this. They could always abort the plan and continue dodging if they ran out of room.

Their minds clicked in a way they never had before. It was like two puzzle pieces connecting, two Lego bricks snapping together. He had access to her mind, but knew not to take it, and that knowledge made it inaccessible anyway. This was why the trust issue was needed. He wasn't sure if a full mind control would be possible, but a nudge or two in either direction wouldn't be out of the question.

"That's it?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Let's see what it does."

Andi reached the corner, bounded off almost straight down, and landed on the ground. Ben took aim at the closest defender and let go a blast. Whoa! It was like moving from a dollar store squirt gun to a fire hose. The ray knocked the defender back and out of commission.

"Excellent!" shouted Felix as he vaulted over one defender and flashed a burst of dark energy into the eyes of another. "Can you put down more than one?"

If he couldn't this was going to be a long process. Plus, he didn't have an endless supply of energy to draw upon, even with Andi, unlike when he cast lesser spells.

Ben pointed each arm at a different defender and let loose. While the two blasts knocked them both back and down, neither was out. That wasn't good. It proved he'd have to target them one at a time, and he had no clue how long the stun would keep them down.

"Look out!" Felix shouted. One of the defenders snuck up on them, and Andi's quick reflexes saved them. She corkscrewed out of the way and maneuvered to temporary safety. That, however, broke their concentration. The forty or fifty defenders surrounded them, and he realized there would be no way for them to reattach, let alone get off enough new blasts without being nailed.

Felix saw it, too. "We may have to abandon this humane approach. You both see that, right?"

Yeah, and judging by her emotions, Andi did, too, though she wasn't yet ready to voice it.

"One more minute, Felix," he said. "Let's see what we can make happen. If nothing, then we'll nuke 'em, okay?"

"I can stay out of their grasp for another minute if you can," Felix said.

"Thank you," Andi said into his mind as she rocketed to the ceiling. They both scanned their surroundings to find their next plan of attack.

Trent glanced over and saw Heidi was okay. Like him, she had some sort of magical binding which kept her from moving, but other than that, neither of them had been mistreated. Unless they counted being abducted and tricked into thinking Fillmore, Sasha, and Timothy were their friends. But why? Obviously it had something to do with Ben and Andi, but what? Were he and Heidi to be used as bait to lure the kids into some sort of deadly trap?

"Why are you doing this?" Heidi asked. Sasha did nothing but flash a sinister grin, but Timothy proved eager to share.

"By all means we'll tell you everything. We have a few minutes to kill, and it won't matter one way or the other. We've set the servants of the Stronghold on your son and his mate. No worries, though, as they're well-equipped to blast the defenders to kingdom come. When the rest of the council discovers Benjamin and Alexandria's handiwork, you can bet they'll be none too pleased. But, you see, it doesn't matter. It's a ruse to gather the entire council together so you two," Timothy motioned at he and Heidi, "can enter and use mystical bombs to eradicate the council, leaving me and Sasha as the sole survivors."

"We, of course," Sasha spat out, "will make sure the dragon world knows this act of war was perpetrated by your meddlesome son and his unbearable mate."

"Yes," Timothy said. "They'll be public enemy number one, but we'll step in to calm everything down and smooth it all over. For a price, of course."

"We will force them to sign a magically-binding contract that will give us full control of their free will."

"And, if they won't," Timothy said, "we'll refuse to help them."

"Ben and Andi will never fall for your tricks," Heidi said.

Sasha sneered, while Timothy chuckled. "What choice will they have? If they don't sign over their souls, they die. Even with their incredible power, they can't take on everyone in the dragon world."

"This will show who the prophecy is truly about," Sasha said. "Not those two snot-nosed little brats, that's for sure."

"Yes," Timothy said. "When our…we're controlling them, the world may think they're the ones for whom the prophecy was written, but we'll know the truth. And if they refuse to join us, we'll still be the last of the council left, ready to forge a new world out of the ashes. That would also prove the prophecy pointed to us and not them."

"This is all because of that prophecy?" Heidi asked.

"What else could be more important?" Timothy said, spreading his arms.

Trent looked over to the side of the room and saw Fillmore watching. "You can't honestly believe these two are better for you and your mate than Ben and Andi. Seems to me they're more worried about killing and conquering than saving anyone."

"Been burdening them with your problems, Fillmore?" Sasha asked.

"We've discussed it many times, chum," Timothy said. Trent didn't like the way Timothy emphasized "chum." He made it sound much more like shark food than the synonym for friend. "If we stop feeding her our power, or attempt to transfer it, she, and therefore you, die. That's not what anyone wants, is it, Fillmore?"

Fillmore's eyes grew wide, as he first looked at Timothy and Sasha, and then over to Trent and Heidi. His mouth trembled to say something, but then he turned back to Timothy and Sasha and said, "My loyalty always remains with you."

"Glad to hear it," Timothy said.

"You overlooked something else," Trent said. "You said Ben and Andi were already here, and they'll have no trouble knocking out the defenders. That means they'll be able to deal with you two before the council arrives."

"It's a good thought," Timothy said. "Except we've already contacted the council and explained the need for an emergency session. They're on their way, and most, if not all, should show up in time to witness firsthand Benjamin and Alexandria exterminating the last of the defenders."

"That will send them on the run, and our plan will be in motion," Sasha said. "As a bonus, that meddling record keeper and his prophecy scholar mate, who never had the foresight to see we were the true subjects, will assist their departure. It should be enough to get them ostracized from the Stronghold. Serves the two fools right."

"Of course, that means they'll be safe from the blast in the council chamber," Timothy said.

Sasha sneered. "We can always seek them out later to end their miserable existence."

"Yes," Timothy said, a smile dancing on his lips. "Those two will indeed need to be silenced."

"What makes you think we'll carry any sort of bomb for you?" Trent said. "We'll die before we betray anyone."

"That's the beauty of it," Timothy said. "You'll betray the council
and
die. It's the best of both worlds, as far as we're concerned."

"Remember our little meeting in front of the ice cream shop?" Sasha said. "I was there for one purpose alone." She snapped her fingers, and Trent's mind went blank.

Two defenders lunged at Ben. Andi dove out of the way, keeping him safe, and then back-flipped away from another attack. He drew his sword, hoping not to have to use it, but preparing to parry away attacks if need be. His shield had already come in handy on a few occasions as the defenders were growing more and more dangerous as the battle moved along.

Felix laughed, drawing Ben's attention. He'd entangled three in a web of dark energy. They were already busting loose, but it had bought him a few more precious seconds.

"Having fun, Master?" Ben called.

"Yes, actually. Not being able to use lethal, or even harmful, magic is proving to be an excellent training session." He did a front flip over another defender and blasted a stun spell into its back. It didn't stun the defender, but knocked it off balance. "As fun as this is, though, you two do realize we can't keep it up much longer. It's getting to that kill or be killed phase. Or at least maim."

"He's right, Andi. I don't want to do it anymore than you, but we're going to have to end this."

She sighed, but her emotions proved she knew he was right. "Can't we at least try a turbo-charged sleep spell or something?"

"I don't think it'll work, but it's worth a shot. It'll probably just make them all a little bit groggy." It took a big stun spell to put the one down, so what chance did they have to nail all of them? But they should at least try.

As he was about to call out to Felix to tell him the plan, one of the defenders came out of nowhere towards Ben. Without thinking, he slashed its chest. Too hard, it turned out, as he drew blood, though luckily not enough to hurt the guy. The blood coated the tip of his sword, and his magic caught something right away. Maybe a game-changer.

"Andi, get closer to the one I hacked."

"What? Why?"

"I can see Sasha's mojo in its blood. If I can heal the blood itself, we have a way to win without killing them."

"Good, but how are you going to get them all to bleed?"

"Don't worry about that yet. Let's make sure this works first."

"Should I concentrate?"

"Not magically. I need to be in eyesight of that one."

"Done." She spun away from a half-dozen that were converging, and then dove into a tailspin, which brought them face to face with the target. Ben already had the healing spell on his lips, and aimed for the wound. Once the burst was off, the effect was instantaneous. The defender slipped back to the ground, already back in servant mode. It didn't move to help either side.

"What did you do?" Felix called.

"Sasha's curse went to their blood, so a healing spell directly to the wound cures them."

"How are you possibly going to draw blood from them all?" Andi asked. "They'll catch us and kill us before then."

At the same time, Felix shouted, "You see what to do, right?"

"Yeah, we got this," he said to Felix, but also for Andi's benefit.

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"We concentrate. We need two power boosts."

"Power boosts? Is that your name for it? Seems a bit too on the nose."

"You can rename it later, but, for now, no matter what, keep concentrating. Promise me."

She dodged three defenders and said, "Okay, I promise. Ready."

Their minds clicked together almost before he started thinking about it. He expected the connection to get faster since they'd already done it, but was this speed because they were so powerful, or because of their intense love and trust? Something to ponder later. He drew his sword up to his left bicep, whispered a spell, and cut.

He felt Andi's desire to break concentration to ask him why in the heck he'd done that, to scold him even, but she kept her word. Maybe the fact that all of the defenders gained identical slashes to their upper left arms eased her mind. He paused a second or two to give every defender a chance to bleed, and then shot a massive healing spell around the room, targeting the exposed blood. As soon as it happened, they each dropped gently out of the air and converted back to their docile servant mode.

"What in the world?" Andi asked.

Felix shouted, "Bravo! Couldn't have done it better myself. Literally."

The servants milled around, each looking confused. None of them approached him, Andi, or Felix, so they let them be for the moment. With the danger gone, Andi transformed back to her human shape. "So do either of you want to explain what happened?"

"There's a spell where I can target someone, hurt myself in some way, and pass it on to that person," Ben said. "I figured I could use our power boost to change it from one to all."

"You couldn't imagine ever needing to use that spell," Felix said. "Told me it was a waste to even teach it to you."

"Yeah, yeah," Ben said. "So I was wrong. Anyway, once that worked, the amped-up healing spell was a cinch. Since they're magically resistant, the blood wanted to be cleansed of Sasha's hex."

At that moment, members of the Dragon Council entered the grand entry hall. Murmurs rose, as it was unusual to see so many servants milling about in one place, to say nothing of the two main players in the prophecy standing in the middle of them, with their magical master by their side. He saw Max and Nix talking with Angus and Ingrid. In all the excitement, he'd forgotten they were here, though he supposed that was a good thing. Neither was a fighter, and they'd have been crushed by the defenders early on.

The last to enter was Jonas, flanked by Abigail. They surveyed the room, and then he said, in a calm voice, "What is the meaning of this?" Ben glanced over to Andi, figuring she should answer, since she was the dragon, but before she could, the servants all pointed at Ben and Andi and said, as one, "They saved us."