the fall of greenoakes (second half)

read it and be amazed

Chapter 18

 

 

 

 

 

“I’ve been working for Livy Trudel for as long as I can remember, probably cus she’s kept me, my siblings and many other servants since we were born. She always was raving about these fandynatics people, she built a school just so she could recruit some of them and finally two showed up, well more like became  cus they were there their whole lives. The next day they were gone, and my sister, Nalana had been killed. Livy Trudel pinned the crime on you guys, the 2 fandynastics, and sent me out to kill you. What she didn’t realize was just how powerful the two of you had become, so I went back, intending to bring my brother, Nasharian, or my other sister, nakiria, with me but instead I got stuck with that guy” Nakaran motioned towards the far, “but rite before I left I heard her talking about it to another of her minions, turns out she had killed my little sister just to have me kill you, and that’s way my allegiance has changed” Nakaran said lowering his head “a killer killing an innocent little girl to make another killer kill two innocent kids, it’s just not right” he said solemnly.

A moment of silence passed, Thea broke it “Im truly sorry about your sister, Nakaran” She said.

Nakaran Looked up at her with his big gray eyes “That means the world to me, thank you, Thea”

Theo, who wasn’t feeling the sentimental-story-time-moment at all, said “well then who’s your allegiance too now?”

“To you, the fandynastics, of course!”

“What are fandynastics?” Thea asked as if waking up from a trance.

“People, just like you too, who are the children of any immortal, god, or legend. They are almost made up of more power than person, their abilities can stretch to almost anything their subconscious can imagine then they master that skill and get stronger. Although they have amazing power they can’t use it unless there is a need for it no matter how small the deed or the need is. You might say that they are ‘magik’ but no, they have no natural magik ability, and they have natural power over magik and the elements, but not their own magik. Their eyes are always purple; no other living thing has purple eyes.”

“I guess you’re the expert on the subject” Theo said disbelievingly.

Thea shook her head “it has to be true, it explains everything completely!”

Theo sighed “I guess so but if were what-ever-you-calls-its then who-”

“Lady Death” Nakaran replied before Theo had finished his question.

“Who-”

“Lord Death’s wife”

“Who-”

“The grim reaper”

“Why-”

“Livy Trudel convinced lady death to dump you guys in greenoaks academy so lord death wouldn’t find out about you guys because you weren’t his you were some human dude’s”

“Why-”

“Didn’t he discover his wife was pregnant, because his busy with his job and frankly, he is kind of an idiot”

“But-”

“Lady Death couldn’t have said you were her and his because it would be way too obvious that you were fandynastics and mortal”

“Why-”

“Did she dump you guys at greenoaks? Because Livy Trudel told her it was the best place for them instead of the Fandynastics School down in-between baylocksia and kurahaven because Livy wanted to steal your power the second it showed up exactly seven days after your twelfth birthday, which is when it always shows up”

Theo was out of questions. Thea wasn’t “why haven’t we ever seen you or the other servants?”

“She kept us locked up in the basement”

“Why doesn’t banana or swivel remember anything about how they got there or what they were doing?”

“I don’t know the details on that one, but I know how to undo the mindlock if they wake up anytime soon”

Thea was quiet for a moment, her mind wandered “Who is prince cade, what are the fall blood games, and why do they have djinn as slaves to work at the fall blood games?”

“How should I know!!!? Can we get back on track please?”

“What are our real names?”

“Not Theodor and theantre clabegue, Theo and Thea ENDING”

Thea was out of questions now. Theo had one.

“Why do you let her finish her questions?”

“Because I like her more. She’s nicer, and your questions were so predictable.”

Thea snorted. Theo rolled his eyes.

“Now it’s my turn” Nakaran said. “Do you guys need a servant?”

“No…..”Theo said. Thea shook her head.

“Oh…cus I need a new master.”

Thea walked over to him and unbuckled her belt from his front feet then re-buckled it around his neck and scratched “Nakaran” into the leather with her nail.

Lord Magnolia tapped on the glass of his jar impatiently “can I get untrapped too?” he asked.

Theo flipped the jar onto its side and the little tree frog climbed out.

They all spun around at swivel’s shriek but before anyone had time to say anything she had flew at him.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 19

 

 

 

 

It took almost an hour to get swivel to stop attacking Nakaran but her screams of rage woke up Midori and banana so they rushed down and joined in. then it took almost another hour to explain everything that had been explained before Swivel came down. It was noon now and midori was making some lunch. Theo and Thea sat in the floor by the unlit fireplace with lord magnolia sitting on the toe of Theo's boot and Banana sitting jealously between Thea’s bare feet, the floor of them idly tossed back and forth a ball of wadded up paper.

Nakaran sat stone still in the center of the room while swivel tried to drawl him for a book she planned on writing. They had agreed to undo the mind lock after lunch for magik is dangerous to hungry creatures, or so they said.

Thea stood up “Nakaran, what happened to Nalana?”

Nakaran blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I mean how was she killed?”

“Oh, by Livy Trudel with a silver blade through the throat, silver weakens most magical creatures”

“Oh, then what happened to her”

“Livy probably still has her body lying in a heap in the basement of the academy”

Theo stood up; lord magnolia fell off his boot. “That’s not cool!” he said.

Nakaran sighed “I wish I could go back and see her one last time and dig her a descent grave.”

“Then why don’t we!” Theo and Thea said in unison

Banana let out an excited squeal “yeah let’s go kick some Trudel witch's butt!!!”

Swivel let out a whoop.

Midori banged on the pot a spoon “now listen hear you bunch of rascals! Im not having you getting in the way of that witch for this here beast! If you got hurt id never forgive myself, you’re not going”

Swivel was quick to reply “Thanks for everything you’ve done for us Midori, I don’t mean to be rude but you can’t stop us were doing this!”

Nakaran grinned “Guys! I don’t know what to say! I came looking for a descent master and I found true friends!”

Midori let out a crippling sigh and went back to cooking, she knew well enough not to cross the path of a Dynacazo, brownie, Rizorane tree frog and two fandynastics.

Lord magnolia slid over to Nakaran and whispered “smooth move, now getting the kids to master will be a piece of cake!”

“Trudel is not my master anymore and if you do anything to hurt the kids I will personally snap you in half” Nakaran hissed back, he looked up, swivel narrowed her eyes at them, no one else had noticed.

Theo and Thea were talking excitedly about how to break into the school, banana piped in “we should just poof there sneak to the basement and get Nalana, then burry her somewhere nice and away from that awful place! But Nakaran should undo the mind lock first”

And that’s what they decided to do. Roughly an hour later they were ready to undo the mind lock.

 

 

Chapter 20

 

 

 

 

 

 

One month earlier

The queen grew somber, “Swivel of Wolfsgate, Bartimaes of Windale, do you accept this quest I have set before you?”

Swivel bowed her head “I do”

Banana giggled excitedly “I doo”

The queen nodded “then you shall go to the witch Livy trudel’s academy, save the two fandynastic children and bring them back to Kurahaven?”

Swivel nodded “Yes, your majesty”

The queen stood up and gazed and the brownie, “you have never failed me once swivel, may love from every member of the RIZORANE’S COPANY go with you, and Swivel, do return with god speed.”

“I’ll catch a ride back with Captain Sandar”

“Sandar Connwaer! But he is a pirate!”

“And a good man!” Piped up Bartimaes, the little green rizorane.

“I suppose” The queen sighed, she turned to leave the dimly lit parlor, “best of wishes” she said before striding out the grand white door with her dress swishing.

Swivel and Bartimaes head out of the castle, into a courtyard. “You know where were going?” Bartimaes asked.

“Nope, but I know the mountains that surround the forest that surrounds the academy grounds”

“Alrighty, let’s go” the rizorane said pulling on his banana peel hat.

Swivel picked up Bartimaes.

Blackness.

They reappeared in a dense forest covering violently hilly ground, a heavy fog curled around their feet.

“Better get a move on, time is of the essence, of so the saying says” swivel said and started off heading downhill.

Two hard weeks of traveling and they finally reached a clearing that stretched into the grounds, the academy was so close.

Bartimaes took a step forward. A black sack was thrust down over them.

When the bag was taken off swivel and Bartimaes were tied in a dark room against a concrete pillar, with Livy Trudel herself standing right in front of them.

“I know why you’re here, and you’re not getting them, their power is mine!!!!”

“Grow a soul!” Swivel howled at her.

Bartimaes tried to chew his way out of the ropes holding him back.

“Did you really think you could just sneak in and take them? This place is guarded to the teeth with my minions! That dumb organization-whatdoyoucallit-the RIZORANE’S COMPANY never stood a chance, hah! And took think they call themselves warriors of the light! There’s no such thing as pure light, dark, power or magik, it’s always a mix!-oh yeah- back to business”

She swung her crystal pendant in front of swivels face then bartimaes’s and said “you shall forget everything of significance and everything within the last 2 months, Locked in the name of Livy Trudel!”

…

When Swivel woke she could hardly remember anything, so she got up and looked around, she was in a forest. She walked a little and came to a garden, beyond it was a building. She remembered she was with a friend, so she went to look for him.

When Bartimaes woke he only remembered the craving for a banana. He sat up, he was in a bush. People were coming. He looked. It was 2 kids, the girl had tawny lioness-like colored hair with a streak of purple and the boy had floppy dark brown hair. He decided to go see if they had any bananas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Banana gasped in his little high-pitched voice.

“What! What happened?” Thea exclaimed. Theo inched a little closer to swivel and banana, they looked like they were in a trance, sitting in the strange circle Nakaran had drawn in the middle of the wood floor.

“It’ll take a second, and then they’ll come to” Nakaran said.

Swivel slowly lifted her head.” Oh my gosh she whispered.
"Oh my gosh what?"Thea persisted. Swivel lifted her hand to her head. Then she went back to the floor on her back.
" Just wait a little while and they'll come around. One of them will eventually tell you the story,"Nakaran sighed. These kids were so impatient.
"Well why don't you tell us instead of us waiting in suspense like this? I mean you seem to have known everything so far, “Theo remarked. Nakaran rolled his eyes. He looked back at the children. They both had serious looks on their faces.
"No, I will not tell you because they are not my memories!"Nakaran replies with a huff.
"Please!!! What if it's about our mother,"Thea wailed. She wanted to know what had happened to Swivel and Banana. Why wouldn't Nakaran just tell them?
"NNNNNOOOOO! I WILL NOT!!!!!! This is not my story tell.
"Neither was it to tell us about our mother!"
"Theo, that's a different story."
Swivel mumbled, “Not really."
Theo and Thea sighed. They just wanted to know if Swivel and Banana were going to be okay. Lord Magnolia hopped from his place on the circle and back into Nakaran's mane. He disappeared among the sleek black hair. Midori stood up from her spot and hobbled over to the fireplace.
"Anybody else cold?"
"YYYEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!!!"They all almost screamed at her. Even Lord Magnolia peeked back out from behind the warmth of Nakaran's mane. He made a shrill attempt to yell but it came out as a high pitched shriek. For some odd reason the air around the place had been getting colder.
Midori looked bewildered. She shook her head and bent down towards the fire. She mumbled something like, “They could have told me earlier." She lit a match and threw it into the fireplace. A small blaze kindled. As the fire grew bigger, warmth flooded into the little shack.
"Ahhhh. Much better!"They all sighed in unison. Tension relaxed in the room for a few seconds. Thea closed her eyes and just rested for a moment.
At that moment Swivel sat up with a shriek.
"Great Rizorane Company!"
Banana crawled up onto Swivel's furry foot.
"Rissoowho's Comnies what?"Midori asked confusedly with her hands warming over the fire.
Nakaran roared with laughter that shook the whole tree house.
"Wwwhhaaattt?"Midori growled an awkward little dwarf growl at him.

Chapter 22

 

 

 

"No, no! It's called Rizorane Company. It's an organization Bartimaes and I were a part of. An organization for their mother," Swivel informed them as she pointed at Theo and Thea across from her.
...
With help from Banana or Bartimaes, Swivel explained the whole story to the small "crowd." Nakaran rolled his eyes a lot. Especially when Bartimaes tried to exaggerate a lot of the story parts. Soon they were all giggling at the tale.
"So what's our mother like?"Thea asked Swivel and Bartimaes. She wanted to call him Banana but Bartimaes would do.
"She's amazing! Like nothing you've ever seen before!"
"And beautiful!!!!!"Bartimaes added to Swivel's comment.
"Really?"Thea chided.
"Yeah. Anyways, that's how we ended up with you two. Now I understand everything," Swivel stated. Nakaran slid down to his belly on the hardwood floor.
Lord Magnolia, warm and out of Nakaran's mane, scuttled around the little tree house. Sticking to the shadows, he leaped to the door in the tree trunk. He disappeared behind the door and snuck up stairs. He had some snooping to finish.
...
For the next couple over hours, the group napped here and there and talked about Swivel and Bartimaes' past frequently. One time Nakaran was lying by the fire and he had Theo, Thea, Midori, Swivel, and Bartimaes napping with their head in his fur.
Thea sat up and finally said," Guys, we need a plan for when we go back to the academy."
"Well, we could have Nalana help us defeat her,"Nakaran mumbled with his eyes still closed.
"What?!"Theo jerked up. Now everyone was leaning up. Even Midori. Nakaran sighed and opened his eyes. He sat up as well.
"Huh. The dagger Livy Trudel, or Lady Truden, used to kill my sister is supposedly a magical dagger. Leave the dagger in, the mythical creature stays dead. Take the dagger out, alive again."
"Do you know where Livy Trudel hid your sister?"
"Well of course I do, Swivel. In the basement with everyone else. Well in a dungeon in the basement."
"Guys, I've got a plan." Lord Magnolia's voice came out of nowhere. No one had even seen him since Swivel and Bartimaes told their story.
"Spit it out!!!"Urged Bartimaes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 23

 

 

 

 

          “Well, don’t yell out me like that! I am Lord Magnolia and you shall fear me.”

          The whole room erupted with a roar of laughter. Lord Magnolia sat back on his hind legs and huffed. Bartimaes glided over to Lord Magnolia, giggling.

          “You guys shouldn’t be laughing. I’m the one with the plan here.”

 At that statement everyone fell silent. Nakaran inched toward Lord Magnolia and Bartimaes. Midori Crawled and sat on Nakaran’s back. Theo and Thea scuffled over to the group.

“Alright, listen up cus’ I’m only going to say this once… First, we are going to use Swivel’s awesome power to get to the academy. Second, we’re going to split up. I’ll take Theo and Banana to the basement going in from the main entrance in the school. The other group, Thea, Nakaran, and Swivel, will go in through underground entrance at the back of the grounds. Then, we are going to awaken Nalana. Lastly, with Nalana, we’ll destroy Lady Truden and get you guys to your mother through Swivel and Bartimaes. Any questions?”

          All seven of the audience stared down at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Lord Magnolia just shrugged off their stares of disbelief. His plan was going to work. Just part of the real one was very different.

“Well, I guess ya’ll be hungrrry by now. With all these crazy plans, you’ll need food in your skinny little bodies,” Midori piped from in the kitchen already. Thea nodded but Theo looked like he didn’t want to waste anymore time.

“Let’s at least eat and rest up a little. Swivel especially needs it if she’s going to be our transporter,” Thea whispered to her brother.

Theo just nodded and walked over to the bench to sit and wait for dinner... Midori brewed up a vegetable soup with fresh bread to eat. The food was gone in 30 minutes and everyone was full. Lord Magnolia had a good few flies when they ate.

. . .

Within a few hours, the group went outside to say their goodbyes to Midori. They made a circle around Swivel as the sun set in the sky. Theo and Thea laid one hand on Swivel’s shoulder. Banana hooked himself in between two of her toes. Nakaran laid a paw in her hand. And lastly, Lord Magnolia hopped on to her other foot.

Swivel squeezed her eyes closed and thought back to the Academy. In seconds the seven vanished from sight leaving Midori in tears at the front of her little tree hut. Something twinkled on the ground where they were standing just a minute before. Midori leaned down to pick it up. It was a medallion with the initials LM on it. Around the silver rim were words that read, Livy Trudel’s Avengers in bold black ink.

Midori gasped in extreme shock and outrage at what she saw at the bottom. Also in black ink on the medallion, more words that read, LORD MAGNOLIA, FANDYNASTICS CATCHER.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 24

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thea was mesmerized, the darkness washed over them like a wave, and she could almost feel herself moving, bumping up down and all around. She knew the others were still right where they were a minute ago before they started to spaceshift, but she felt a strange detachment from them, she wanted to leave and explore this roiling darkness, it enthralled her. She starred at it hard, and could see slight movements in the dark wavy void, and then it was gone. She was standing in a circle with swivel in the middle. A forest surrounded them; heavy fog toyed about their feet. Nothing was stirring in the forest. Bartimaes climbed onto Thea’s head. Theo looked at Thea, “did you feel that?” he asked her.

“If you thinking what im thinking then yes and I still do, something was, I mean, is calling to us.” She replied

“I think it needs us.” He said.

“Or maby it wants to lure you in, and trap you and eat you.” Lord magnolia pipped in ‘helpfully’

Nakaran glared at lord magnolia, “yeah, something like that”

Bartimaes giggled uncontrollably.

Swivel seemed to have something bothering her, she looked up, “I don’t like the way the sky looks, or the fog, or whatever is calling you two, I didn’t feel anything at all.”

“Maybe going through with this is a bad Idea” Nakaran said hastily.

“No” Thea said, trying to calm her racing heart by breathing deeply, it wasn’t easy, the air was cold and wet scratching her throat.” It’s your, sister Nakaran! And were going to save her!”

“Trust me; I love Nalana more than anything, but im thinking of your safety, Thea!”

“What are we chopped liver?” asked Bartimaes, who always made light of the situation.

“maybe we just need a new plan’ Theo said,’ Nakaran, are there any secret entrances to the school?”

“Yes, actually, there is a cellar door that leads into a tunnel that goes into Livy Trudel’s office. From her office we can reach the secret entrance to the dungeon, it’s her entrance, so it’s not heavily guarded.”

Swivel looked at Bartimaes.

Bartimaes looked at lord magnolia.

Lord magnolia looked at Nakaran.

Nakaran looked at Thea.

Thea looked at Theo.

Theo looked at Thea, “alright, let’s do this!” they said in unison.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 25

 

 

 

 

 

 

They trekked through the forest in a half circle, finally coming out near the courtyard behind the academy. Theo looked up; the sky was a menacing gray color. Nothing but clouds were visible, he watched the fog play about his boots, and tried to breath calmly but it felt like the air itself was suffocating him.

Nakaran couldn’t stop worrying. What if this ended badly for his new masters? What if lord magnolia still was loyal to Livy Trudel and he pulls a trick and they all die?

Bartimaes was unfazed by the magnitude about what they were about to do. He hummed his little song as they trotted along and thought about his name. He liked Bartimaes better than Banana, it was heroic sounding but he felt more like Banana.

“here.” Said lord magnolia solemnly.

They all stopped. “See through the last few trees? The back of the school is there.” Nakaran said, pointing with a big black paw. “If we happen to run into any of the drone guards, fight them. If they get back to Livy Trudel then she will know were here, and they aren’t very skilled, an ant could beat an army of them.” He exaggerated.

Bartimaes giggled “sounds good to me! Im like an army of ants! Red ants!”

Lord magnolia cursed under his breath, now the fandynastics wouldn’t lose their nerve after seeing the drone guards.

Swivel nodded, “alright, Nakaran, where is the cellar door?”

“First, let’s get up to the school” he said.

Swivel nodded thoughtfully “I can shift into something that wouldn’t be noticed but the rest of you will stand out like a sore thumb. We can’t be seen, so we need to be invisible” she turned to Theo and Thea, ‘can you do that?”

Both looked at her blankly. “I have no idea” Thea said slowly. Theo looked at Nakaran, “do you know if we can?”

Nakaran nodded “there is a need for it so yes, you can. But your power is not very strong so it will not last long, probably we will have just enough time to get inside”

 Theo tilted his head, estimating the distance between them and the school. “So how do we do it?” he asked.

“Just imagine us all dissolving into faint outlines in the mist.”

 Thea tried it first. She imagined them fading into misty outlines and slinking into the courtyard. Her concentration was shattered when Theo gasped. She opened her eyes. No one was there, it was just her, and the others slowly came into sight, though all she could see was there outlines.

“This is so weird” Theo said. “I can see me now but where are you guys?”

“Im right here” said Thea “I can just barely see you”

“We must be invisible!” Bartimaes chirruped excitedly.

“Let’s go, lead the way Nakaran” swivel said.

They could barely see the big Dynacacozo in the first place, but his image was clearer when he nodded and turned.

“Be careful, I could see you pretty clearly right then.” Thea said.

Nakaran flicked his tail to show that he had heard and crouched down low. He slunk stealthily over a fallen log and into the court yard, the others followed.

They stopped next to an old cellar door that looked like someone had thrown down a dwarf sized door diagonally leaning on the brick wall and the patch of mossy ground then built a wood box around it.

 Swivel silently opened the small double door that groaned in annoyance. But instead of seeing a tunnel all that was there was dirt.

Nakaran started to chant a code spell.

Suddenly their disguise started to fade, like water running off of them.

‘Hurrie” Thea squeaked. Theo’s heart started to thud, he heard heavy metal boots coming from around the corner of the school and someone say in a gravely monotone voice “this-way-I-thought-I-heard-some-thing”

Suddenly Nakaran finished and the earth under the door shifted and in a rush it caved in, sinking away into a long dark tunnel.

Without a seconds hesitation Nakaran leaped up and dived down the tunnel. Swivel followed then Bartimaes, Theo and Thea. Lord magnolia was last, and ‘accidentally’ left the doors open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 26

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visitors are great but the hard part is cleaning up after them. Midori starred at the dried blood stain she had just discovered on her fuzzy rug ‘I thought a cleaned up all that!’ She thought to herself huffily. She shuffled over to the closet and pulled out a wash cloth and bucket of soapy water. She kneeled by the stain and marveled about how Theo had survived bleeding that much. Then she remembered the arm and let out a little gasp. None of them had done anything with it! She looked around and lay down next to her rocker chair and peered under it. There was Theo’s arm. Midori shuddered at the memory, and then pulled out the arm. She picked it up and pushed herself to her feet, her flimsy leather boot-socks swishy over the wood floor she started to shuffle over the window. Then stopped, starring ashen faced at what had fallen. She sat abruptly on floor and started to cry softly for there in front of her was a blood caked crystal shard from Livy Trudel’s pendant. Midori knew that such items were easily used as tracking devices.

  Suddenly there was a crash from down the tree trunk; Midori’s hopes flared “Theo? Thea? The other creatures? Is that you?” she stood up, but fell as a mighty clap of thunder that came straight out of nowhere literally shook her tree house.

 Wind and rain battered savagely from the outside and swiped in by the hole in the wall Nakaran had made on his first appearance.

 Midori’s heart pounded against her chest. Fear seized her; it weakened her muscles and fogged her mind. Dwarfs weren’t supposed to be caught in things like this. Neither was the fangline forest. It was known to never have storm that were more than a bit of rain.

Midori screamed as a wall board was torn from the house and ripped away into the fraying storm. More wind rushed in through the new hole, the sound was deafening.

Wind and rain pushed Midori closer to the hole. She let out a muffled squeal and crawled towards the closet.

Another board was torn away and yet another started to peel off. Now miscellaneous items all over her living room and kitchen started flying out.  A small knife zipped straight by her head, midori ducked just in time.

Two more boards were torn away, midori was soaking wet, and the wing tore off one of her sock-boots and whipped her hair around her face.

There more boards jumped away from the house. A dangerous creek was emitted from the now sodden flooring as it curved out ward.

‘Oh no  no no no no! Pleeease no” midori wailed as the flooring sunk farther.

She remembered no more, not the wind, or the thunder and lightning, nor the rain, not even the floor falling through and splitting into a hundred pieces, or her falling to her doom.

Pain. That’s what she remembered. No, she wasn’t remembering it, she was feeling it now. Her arm was broken; the pain scorched her from fingers to elbow. She tried to open her eyes, but couldn’t, a bright sunlight was glaring at her, it did not comfort and sooth her like you might think, but struck fear into her heart, she waggled her legs and found that she was not dead, her dress had caught on a tree branch.

 She covered her eyes and turned to look back at the remains of her house, but there was nothing to be seen, it was all strewn about the ground. She let out a wailing sob.

“Yeasssssssssss, I acccomplisssshed all of thisssss” hissed a muffled, and terrifyingly snake like voice. Midori spun around to see a horrible blue cloud of smog with a solid gold eye, which she had mistaken for the sun, at its center hovering next to her.

 “Youhhhhh will give to me what I ssssseek or you will die.” It waited for a response but only got a whimper. “I have stripped through your hobble to find them but only found the crystal shard. SSSSSSsso now you mussst tell me where to find the onesss my missstress callsssss Theo and Thea Ending “

 “N-never, you’ll never know!”

“Then I shall rip out your eyesss and kill you! I am the stealer of eyessss”

Midori reached up and silently snapped the branch she was caught on. She fell to the ground which was closer then she expected and hit down running (but it was more of a limping hobble) down a worn path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 27

 

 

 

 

 

It was a good day to be a pirate. Captain Sandar brushed straw colored hair out of his face, adjusted his hat that had three short red feathers sticking out of it, took a deep breath of salty sea air, spun on his heels and looked back at his ship, the swifty, floating majestically on the blue-green surf and felt the sun warm his back and the cool new fall breeze. He looked up at his first mate Jaxi who stood in the crow’s nest with her back straight and one leg standing on the rail. Her hair, which was bright pink, was held into a   big wavy ponytail by a red cord with three short red feathers. She wore a tight white shirt, with a small brown leather vest that stopped half way down her torso and laced up vertically down the middle, and a gray ruffled skirt over baggy brown pants, with classic looking pirate boots. She wore 4 golden arm bands, 2 on each side one around the bicep and one around the wrist, and a blue crescent moon necklace around her neck. She was one good-looking young woman.

Sandar waved at her and she waved back focusing in on him with the silver spy-glass she held, he could just barely see her pretty hazel eyes through the shiny tube.

Sandar was about to walk down the board walk and into the small port town when Jaxi’s face was overcome by a look of horror, and she dropped the spyglass.

Sandar spun around to see what she was gaping at. Without a second’s hesitation sandar dashed in the direction she was looking. Sandar dashed down the planks and onto the cobblestone road and kept going until the road swerved  around the small town, which wasn’t much to see in the first place, it was more of a village than a town with little stone or wood houses and other buildings, it was very drab, not very colorful at all. He kept running, it took no time at all to pass the town and run towards the fangline forest.

He skidded to a halt at the forest’s mouth and crouched by a huddled figure at the side of the road.

It was a dwarf woman with black hair, wearing sock-boots and a brown dress, one of her arms was obviously broken. He turned her over onto her back and gasped, she was warm and clearly still alive but her eyes were closed with blood dribbling down her cheeks, and he whipped it away with the back of his hand.

“Are you conscious?” he asked.

“Yes” her voice was barely more than a whisper.

“What is your name?”

“Midori Wilkinsin”

Sandar though the name sounded familiar, maby someone in the rizorane’s company, he tested it “did befriending a rizorane cause you this pain?”

“Rizorane is my only friend who causes me no pain, but offers protection” midori’s voice was hoarse but she mustered the energy to say this. “Listen, they are in trouble, need help...”

He had propped her up, but she slumped again. “Yes you do need help” he said

“Not I, Theo…Thea… swivel...”

“Swivel! Did you say swivel?”

“Yes… went to greenoaks academy… you must… save them …. Kind gentleman…” Midori lost consciousness again.

Sandar fought back the erg to say ‘I am no gentleman’ but instead her scooped her up in his arms and trotted back down the road, until he spotted a cart pulled by a grubby looking donkey. He ran out beside it and plopped midori down next to a bewildered farmer.

“Get this woman to the hospital stat!” he tossed the man a small bag of coins and pointed him off in the direction of the hospital.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 28

 

 

 

 

Thea did not expect the drop to be so sudden, she simply leaped into the hole after Theo and found herself flailing through the darkness on her rear.

Bartimaes squealed ‘weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’ several times as they slid down over the slick muddy earth.

Swivel turned around and slid backwards, facing Thea. “This is surprisingly fun!” she said.

“For the circumstances” Thea replied.

Theo slid past Thea and Swivel backwards, laughing.

Then suddenly the tunnel straightened itself out and all six of them were piled in a heap on the now flat, mud ground.

Nakaran had skidded to a halt at the bottom but fell over when Theo, swivel Thea Bartimaes and lord magnolia cascaded into him.

Thea laughed hard and rolled off the pile, followed by Theo who stood up, grinning uncontrollably.

Swivel climbed to her feet, picking up Bartimaes and lord magnolia while Nakaran sat up.

“There should be an old latter around here somewhere” he said.

Thea squinted through the darkness, she couldn’t see through it for some reason, either her power was worn down or there was something different about this darkness, and started to feel around for the ladder, but promptly smacked into Theo and both children fell over.

“I found it” said swivel from a little ways of.

Everyone moved towards her. Bartimaes jumped onto the first rung of the ladder, it made a small metallic click.

He hopped up the next few rungs and swivel climbed onto the ladder “ill see how high it is” she said, and before anyone could answer she climbed five rungs and cursed.

“Swivel! There shall be now such language in the presence of children!” Nakaran exclaimed, huffily.

“Sorry I banged by head” she said

Swivel reach up and felt around the cave ceiling, indeed, as she suspected, there was a trap door, she pushed and was surprised by how easily it swung open, a sharp light shot into the cave.

“Achg!” Theo grouched and covered his eyes.

Swivel and Bartimaes climbed up into Livy Trudel’s office.

“Were lucky, she isn’t here” swivel said.

The rest of them crawled up into the office, except for Nakaran whose wings got stuck and they had to pull him through, much to his displeasure.

Lord magnolia walked promptly to the cabinet that Bartimaes Theo, and Thea had hidden in once, and swung it open.

Nakaran trotted over and shuffled a small box out of the way. He pressed his paw firmly against the back of the cabinet and the whole wall fell back wards.

The group walked forward into a small stone walled room with stone flooring and only on small opening in the floor against the back wall.

That is when it started. Suddenly ten large men who walked surprisingly like dolls, wearing metal boots and helmets that covered their faces, and leather armor came trooping up the trap door and into Livy Trudel’s office.

“drone guards” Nakaran said solemnly as they turned slowly and came storming at them “Thea, through the opening in the floor, get Nalana then get out through the other passage, well hold them off then follow you”

Thea barely nodded, she was terrified but then she remembered what Nakaran and said about the drone guards, an amused feeling towards them came over her. She turned and started towards the hole in the floor, but one of the guards stomped in front of her a few paces ahead. She got a running start at it. Then when she was barely two yards from it and it was prepared to fight she dropped onto her back and rear and her momentum sent her sliding over the stone floor, under the guards legs and across the rest of the room, she reached the hole and plummeted through it without being able to stop her sliding.

Meanwhile, Nakaran leaped forward and pinned down 3 of the guards then 2 more battered his back, he swiped at them with his tail and wings.

Swivel took on 2 of them with her bare claws. Bartimaes and lord magnolia leaped on the one that had tried to stop Thea and battered in with their sticky little feet.

I need a weapon of some sort Theo thought, as the remaining 2 guards stomped towards him.

A bright purple stick of highly polished wood and sharp tips appeared in his hand, “works for me!” he said out loud, in awe of his stick.

He swung the round side at the first drone guard’s head, it fit home and the guard fell to the ground moaning and did not get up.

Surprised by his own skill Theo looked at the last guard and laughed at it. “Bring it on!” he shouted at it. It charged at Theo, who side stepped it and hit it hard across the back with his stick. The guard spun around and Theo hit it in the gut with the stick’s rounded side and caught him in the arm with the sharp side.

As the guard fell Theo realized that they did not bleed, and their flesh was like rubber.

Nakaran had finished with the ones he attacked and the ones fighting swivel, he killed them with a swift blow to the neck, then finished the ones Theo at knocked down.

Theo looked at Nakaran horrified. Nakaran looked back at him “you fight well, don’t worry about them, they have no brain, no heart, and no soul”

 

Thea had landed flat on her back. Pain danced around her, her bones jarred painfully and she was badly winded.

When she could breathe again she pulled herself into a sitting position and looked around. She had fallen about ten feet. The room was dark, but her eyes were drawn to something glowing in the center of the room, she walked towards it and made out that it was a shimmering blue oval sitting on an ornate pedestal. Strands of small filaments wrapped around the oval and lead to a crystal pendent that hung a few feet above the oval.

 Small pulses ran from the oval to the pendant along the threads, like they were leaching power or energy from it.

Thea, without thinking rushed forward and snatched the pendent, shoved it in her pocket and broke away the threads, she knew that the oval was what was calling her and Theo, it needed her help! She picked it up; it was about the size of her head, slightly smaller. Then she knew. She knew because it told her. It was an egg. A dragon egg. A very powerful dragon egg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 29

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Captain Sandar rushed back to his ship, and was met on the boardwalk by Jaxi and Fang, they looked worried, and well he couldn’t really tell with fang because the 19 year old had his light blonde hair flopping over his thin face as usual.

“What happened out there?” Jaxi said as her hair turned to a shade of worried yellow, it changed colors with her emotion, no one knows why for she would never tell anyone in the first place.

“Something-“sandar panted “attacked that dwarf woman and stole her eyes.”

Fang laughed “dwarfs?! I didn’t know they even existed!”

Jaxi shot fang a look, her hair darkened in color, “you don’t know anything fang! This isn’t funny!”

Sandar rolled his eyes “as I was saying, swivel is at this place called green oak academy, im pretty sure I know where it is, and she is with some kids, there in trouble, she told me to help them!”

Jaxi nodded “help them, sounds like a plan.”

“yet we have no real plan” Fang scoffed and rolled his shoulders, having his wings concealed for so long made him sore and put him in a bad mood.

“Yes, we do. Jaxi, you, Fang, Backster and Coal ride with me on horses to that greenwhatsit place while the rest take the quick root to the port on the near side of wolf gate!” sandar decided.

Jaxi nodded “bird boy, spread the word”

“Do not call me that!” fang snarled then stomped away up the gang plank and into the ship

Sandar gave Jaxi a bemused look. Jaxi’s hair flushed red. Then to an excited orange as Coal and Backster camp over to them.

Backster was a big man, wearing a white shirt under his leather vest and brown pants. He had a bald head and was at least 5 inched taller than sandar.

Coal had short black hair and gray eyes. He was the youngest of the pirates, almost 16. “When do we go?” he asked.

“Now” sandar said. “Stables are that way, let’s go!”

 

Theo confidently leaped down the hole in the floor feet first, the drop was about what he expected.

“Hey, Whats that?” he asked Thea the second he hit the ground. He landed on his feet and walked over to her.

She jumped when he spoke. A chill went up her spine. “Oh! It’s you.” She laughed nervously “it’s a dragon egg!” she examined it closely.

“Whoa really!?!” He snatched it and held it up.

“What goes on?”Swivel asked.

“They’ve got a dragon egg!” banana chirruped.

“Livy Trudel was probably using it to charge her pendent” Nakaran said.

“Oh yeah, I got that too!” Thea held up the pendent

Nakaran laughed out happily.

“You should put those back!” lord magnolia cried warningly

“Don’t be stupid, lord magnolia!” Nakaran said, “Let’s go find Nalana now, bring the egg and pendent”

Nakaran led the way through the room. There was a narrow door at the back wall.  They walked into another room, which was dimly lit by 2 light orbs.

There to the side was a big white lion with feathered wings sprawled on her side with a knife lodged deep in her shoulder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 30

 

 

 

 

 

Fang stood on the overlook of the ship. Captain Sander, Jaxi, and he had returned to the ship to wait on the arrival of two more horses and grab some extra food for the trip.  He shook his shoulders and large black wings unfolded out of his black biker jacket. He wasn’t going to tell anyone, but he was leaving early to go get his hair dyed black. He leaped into the air and spiraled down towards the ocean. Within in seconds, he whipped out his wings. He caught an air current and soared up towards the clouds.

          His hair was naturally black but he’d died it blonde a year ago when the government started searching for him again. Now, it was time to go back to normal Fang.

          So Fang soared through the clouds at about 100 mph. He headed for the nearest town. His built in GPS system told him he’d be there in a couple minutes. Fang wasn’t much of an expression or feeling person but for some reason he smiled to himself thinking of how Jaxi might like the “REAL” Fang.

…

          Nakaran ran to his dead sister. He grabbed the dagger in between his teeth and jerked it out of his sisters’ shoulder. An odd rippling sensation swept through the room. Thea and Theo exchanged worried glances with each other. Bartimaes grabbed Swivel fur and Lord Magnolia cursed himself quietly behind everyone.

           Nalana’s body twitched then one eye opened suddenly. She yawned awkwardly with a huge jaw full of menacing teeth.

          “Nalana?” Nakaran whispered to his sister with a tear forming in his eye.

…

          Fang tightened the muscles in his wings and flapped downwards. His light weight body eased back into the clouds. The sun was setting and his shiny black hair glistened. He folded in his wings fell through the sky. The wind felt wonderful. He thought to himself. There is nothing better than the feel of flying.

          Down below he spotted Jaxi standing with her hands on her hips searching from the boat for him. But she was searching the land, not the sky! So right before Fang would’ve barreled into her, he spread his wings and grabbed Jaxi’s waist.

          “Ahhhh…. Let me GOOOO! HE…” Air filled her lungs and stopped her from saying anything else. Jaxi’s hair changed into pure white. Fang could sense the fear inside her. His heart smiled as he pulled her female body closer to his. He flapped his wings powerfully. Jaxi lifted her head up to look at him. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as her hair went from white to turquoise.

          Fang angled one wing down and abruptly turned into a flock of seagulls, heading back to the ship. He slowed to a stop, dropped Jaxi lightly, folded his wings, and came to a stop on the deck. Jaxi’s hair turned happy blue.

          “Hahaha. Very funny,” she said sarcastically. Fang gave one of his rare, quirky smiles.

          “Alright, alright. Enough of making googly eyes at each other. Let’s get Coal, Baxter, and the horses and get out of here,” Captain Sanders hollered from the lounge chair across the deck. Fang flipped his now jet black hair back over his eyes and Jaxi’s hair returned to a vibrant red. Both of their cheeks flushed. Jaxi shook her head and started off towards the door to blow deck.

          Fang chuckled and said,” They’re at the stables waiting for us to go help with the horses.” Jaxi whirled around and her hair flamed to an even brighter red. Fang ran and jumped off the boat. He landed on the dock without a sound. He watched Jaxi as she made her way down the ship ramp and finally onto the dock.

          Her hair returned to her normal pink color as they set off to the nearby stables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 31

 

 

         

 

 

Nalana became wary of people gazing at her. She peered at a large black blob in front of her. Slowly, her sight repaired itself and the blurriness lifted. She made out a large black lion leaning over her with two odd kids, a brownie, a rizorane, and a tree frog. She shakily lifted her head up.

          “Nnnnaakaaarrrannn?”

Nakaran took a deep, thankful breath. Thea stepped closer to the female white lion with brilliant wings.

          “Uh… Nalana, you’ve been dead for a long time. Lady Truden-or Livy Trudel- locked you in here for a week.”

          Her eyes seemed to recognize the name. Her pupils turned to slits and her gaze became cold and hard. Theo stepped up to his sister just in case.

          “I will have my revenge with that evil Sybil if it’s the last thing I do. Or the last thing, again.” Nalana growled angrily.

          “Oh Nalana. I’ve miss… I mean it’s been weird without you around to nag me.”

          “Nakaran, enough. We need to get out of here now. Especially since you found the dragon egg,” Nalana noticed the egg Thea was holding. Nakaran braced himself as Nalana leaned into him to stand.

          “Let’s just get out of here.”

          “I agree with Swivel. This whole network of underground rooms and tunnels are giving me the heebie-jeebies!” Bartimaes commented.

          “Follow me,” Lord Magnolia instructed from the door. One by one, the group filed out of the room and into the other room. Nakaran and Nalana took the lead back through the way they came. They all held onto Nakaran as he clawed and half used his wings to climb back up the hole.

          As they started back through the tunnels, a loud, angry scream erupted from behind them.

          “Run!!!”Nakaran roared from up front. Nakaran, seeing that strength had returned, fell in behind Theo and Thea to protect them. He wasn’t going to let that witch, Lady Truden, get near them. The group rushed to the nearest door and Swivel opened since Nalana couldn’t. Outside they were back in a forest like before.

          “Into the trees. Hide yourselves in the fog and leaves,” Nalana directed. Theo grabbed Bartimaes and started to climb the nearest tree. Swivel and Thea went a couple trees deeper into the forest. Lord Magnolia, being a tree frog, hopped up a tree across from Theo and Bartimaes. Nalana and Nakaran flew to the biggest trees they could find nearby.

          Drone guards came out of nowhere. A door swung open and out stepped Lady Truden with a furious look on her face. She searched the line of trees a moment.

          “Theo and Thea Ending, wherever you are I will find you and I will have my revenge!” she called out to them.

          Thea tried to think up a plan. The drone guards started to descend into the forest. Suddenly an idea popped into her head. She telepathically sent her brother her thought.

           We need to get over to Nakaran and Nalana. They can fly us to the edge of the forest. The drones can only go so far, they have a built in crystal that won’t let them go far from the grounds in case they try to run. I saw it in the back of one of them while we were battling.

          Ok. Shift everyone into invisible again.

          Theo and Thea thought hard about being invisible. Within in seconds they could only see the outlines of themselves and the others. Thea grabbed Swivels hand and leaped from the tree. Bartimaes held onto Theo’s shirt as he jumped from their tree. Lord Magnolia, hearing them land and noticing the outlines, grabbed hold of Thea as she passed.

          They made a run for it and met Nakaran and Nalana at the base of their trees. Thea sent their plan to them silently. The two winged lions nodded and knelt to the ground. Thea swung her right leg shakily over Nalana’s back. Theo and Swivel got onto Nakaran’s back. Lord Magnolia leaped up in front of Thea and held onto Nalana’s fur. Bartimaes clung to Theo’s shoulder. 

          As the drones and Lady Truden neared, Nakaran and Nalana leapt into the air and the invisibility wore off.

          “Arggggghhhh!!!! Theo! Thea! I will find you and I will have your power. My dragon egg will return to meee!” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 32

 

 

 

 

          Jaxi gripped the Quarter horse’s reins tightly. She couldn’t believe they’d convinced her to get on a horse. She hated horses! Well, she hadn’t always hated horses. It was just that something tragic happened in her life involving a horse. After the incident, she vowed to never love a horse again.

          But this horse was definitely different. He was beautiful, magnificent, large, and handsome. He was black with a white mark down his muzzle. The breeder at the equestrian center just bought him before they left. He used to be a show, race, barrel, and jump horse but the owners shut their place down. He didn’t even have a name.

          She decided to name him… Brody. Her body bounced in coordination with his. The sound of other hooves broke her thoughts.

          “Come on slow poke. We’re stopping at a river below this hill,” Fang called from the top of the hill. His hair whipped across his eyes as the wind blew past. Humph. Well, she did like it better black and long and curly.  Jaxi, snap out of it and focus.

…

          Thea pushed her face deep into Nalana’s fur. The wind whipped around them. She could feel Nalana’s shoulder muscles work to keep a steady wing beat. It was kind of exhilarating. She loved the feel of the wind until they’d gotten high and the air had gotten colder. Lord Magnolia disappeared in the white fur long ago.

          Thea laughed to herself when she saw Swivel almost fall and grasp Theo for her life. Suddenly, Nakaran began to slowly descend in front of them. Nalana followed his lead quickly. Pretty soon the two lions flew out of the clouds. Thea watched Theo and Swivel burrow down in the fur as she had.

          Down below, Thea could see miles of mountains spread out. Some were as high up as they with snow on their peaks. Thea felt the egg in her arm move a little. She bent her head and checked inside her jacket. The egg now shimmered with an even brighter blazing blue than before.

          Lord Magnolia’s head popped out of a tuft of fur on Nalana’s neck when Thea looked up.

          “We’re landing?”

          “I think so… I’ll ask Nalana.” Thea put her head close to the large lion ears.

          “Are we landing?”

Nalana nodded her magnificent head quickly, not taking her eyes off of the mountain cliff they were nearing.

          “Why?” Thea asked quizzically. Nalana shook her head and closed her wings a little getting ready to make a landing. Thea grasped the snow white fur and watched Nakaran make a wobbly landing due to his extra weight on his back. Nalana glided to the cliff. She pulled in her wings as she touched the dirt with her paws. Thea and Lord Magnolia hopped off the lion.

          “Why have we landed? Are we near the coast yet?” Bartimaes asked sliding off of Theo.

          “We need to restock on food and rest. It’s getting dark and it’s going to rain soon. I can smell it in the air. But it will only be a small storm.”

          “Nakaran’s right. I smell the rain too.” Swivel added.

          “When we landed, I spotted a large cave not too far from here. Nakaran and I could hunt and gather food while the rest of you gather branches for a fire.”

          “Nalana, there’s only one problem.”

          “I don’t see a problem with any of that, Theo,” Lord Magnolia stated.

          “What are we going to start a fire with?” They all shrugged their shoulders. Thea thought for a moment.

          “We could find a rock and some flint.”

          “Excellent. Uh, Nalana could you show us the cave? Then we’ll go hunting and they can search for stuff to make a fire.”

          Nalana nodded her head and set off towards an overhang of rock around the mountain. She slid behind a glistening waterfall and disappeared. Thea turned to Theo. He shrugged his shoulders and followed Nalana behind the waterfall. Lord Magnolia and Bartimaes went next. Then Swivel.

          “Go on. I’ll be right behind you,” Nakaran assured Thea. Thea carefully stepped onto the wet rocks behind the waterfall. Cold mist sprayed her face. She turned around and came face to face with a large cave. Her mouth fell open in awe. Nakaran’s nose pushed into the cave. Nalana sat down with an approving look in her eyes.

          “Children, there’s an opening at the back of this cave. It leads into the forest. We’ll exit and enter through there if we need anything.

          After looking around for a moment, the group, except for Banana and Lord Magnolia left for the forest.

…

          Rain poured outside of the cave. Thea snuggled up closer to Nakaran and the small fire. They’d all returned to the cave once the rain started with an abundance of food, firewood, and flint. Theo had been able to get a fire going and they cooked a stew of some meet, veggies, and some weird plants.

          Now they were all snuggled in a pile. Thea and Theo laid their heads on Nakaran. Swivel, Bartimaes, and Lord Magnolia rested on Nalana. Everyone fell asleep quickly, but Thea found herself awake thinking about her mom. Soon, though, Thea found herself in the clutches of sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 33

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nalana awoke first to the sun rise peaking in through the waterfall. She carefully slid out from underneath the sleeping Swivel, Bartimaes, and Lord Magnolia. Her paws led her out of the cave, behind the waterfall, and into the rising sun.

          She squinted into the sky. Faraway, she spotted something with wings, a speck on the winged thing, and many specks behind it. Strange. The specks grew larger and larger as they drew near. Then, suddenly she could make out a horrid beast she’d come to fear and drones upon drones closing in.

          Nalana disappeared back into the cave quickly. She prodded Nakaran in the stomach and roared quietly so it would only awake the others. Thea and Theo bolted up and Swivel, Bartimaes, and Lord Magnolia strode over to the group grudgingly.

          “Guys, we’ve got a problem. Livy Trudel is coming with her drones!”

          “So we took out all those guards easy enough. What’s the difference here?” Swivel yawned un-phased.

          “She’s not alone!” Nalana pleaded.

          “Yeah, she’s got the drones. So what?” Nakaran growled.

          “The ‘Death Snatcher’ is with her.”

Nakaran stared at his sister with utter shock, disbelief, and terror. The others just shrugged their shoulders at each other. Except Lord Magnolia, who laughed to himself?

          “Who the ‘Death Snatcher’?” Theo asked confused.

          “The most fearsome of the creatures. He’s….he… he’s the dragon lord of death.”

…

          Jaxi starred at the stars in silent awe and wonder. What could those tiny, bright dots in the sky be? She’d never been to a real school so how would she know about galaxies, planets, and other things in space?

She thought about how no one seemed to know where she came from. Her foster parents couldn’t tell her. The adoption agency, for some reason, had no records.  Who I am I, really? She asked herself lost in thought.

You’re a beautiful, spunky pirate who is AMAZING! You are Jaxi and people love you for who you are. You are great person who loves to steal from horrible people. This makes you even better. Remember that, it doesn’t matter where you came from, but who you are now. A male voice in Jaxi’s head soothed her.

Jaxi’s eyes flared. She bolted up to see whoever said those things. Only problem, everyone was asleep. Captain Sandar slept noisily snoring.  Coal and Backster tossed and turned but were definitely asleep with grunts and awkwardness that should not repeat.

Finally, she turned to check Fang. He seemed asleep with slow, easy breaths beside her. Jaxi relaxed and scooted back down into her pile of blankets. Jaxi felt a chill running through her body and she inched closer to Fang and felt heat radiating off his barely clothed body.

“You know its way warmer over here,” he whispered suddenly. A smile formed on Jaxi’s face. Fang wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her in closer. Jaxi laid her hand on Fang’s strong chest. Their feet intertwined and she soon found herself asleep clutched to him and lulled by the sound of his heartbeat.

         

 

 

 

 

 

                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 34

 

 

 

 

          Nakaran leaped to his feet. Theo and Thea scrambled to get Bartimaes and Lord Magnolia. The six ran to the front of the cave and carefully, but quickly, slid out from behind the waterfall. Livy Trudel and her drones were only about a half mile away now.

          “What do we do now?” Swivel asked a little dumbfounded. Nakaran and Nalana just continued to glare out at the incoming targets.

          A loud booming voice erupted through the mountain,” Hand over the children and we will do minimum damage. Fight and you will all die.”

          Nakaran bared his teeth and Nalana whirled out her powerful white wings. Theo’s purple stick appeared in his hands. Swivel started to hiss and Thea grabbed a sword out of her invisible backpack that she had created earlier.  Lord Magnolia and Bartimaes grasped nearby twigs.

          “Alright then, death it is!”

          The drone guards descended into the top of the large valley. Nakaran and Nalana disappeared off the edge of the long cliff and burst into the air. They hit the middle of the drone stampede head on. The others droned on to the cliff where Theo, Thea, Swivel, Bartimaes, and Lord Magnolia waited to confront the stupid drones.

          Thea ran at the drones as soon as they touched the dirt. Her epic sword cut through the thin leather with ease. She kept pausing to check her backpack to make sure the egg remained intact. Theo’s purple stick suddenly had a mind of its own. The stick destroyed and decapitated many drones within seconds. Bartimaes and Lord Magnolia took turns tripping the drones. When they fell, they broke into pieces.

          In a matter of minutes, most the drones were dead. Livy Trudel shook with rage sitting atop the mighty dragon.

          “Sssssssshall I kill them all?” the dragon asked evilly. Livy Trudel chuckled slyly.

          “All but the children. They must be alive for me to take their power.”

          “Yesssss thy queen. I will complete thissss tasssssk for thou.

          The dragon left Livy Trudel with the remaining seven guards and flew off to the reunited group on the cliff. Thea starred in horror as the ferocious black dragon neared. They all fell back when he landed mere feet away from them.

          His bat-like wings folded in. His blood red eyes sparked with hunger. His scaled black arched ready to leap. The dragons four large clawed feet spread evenly apart. The horns on his head stood on end fearsomely. This ten foot black dragon would kill them all in one swift claw or bite.

          “Ssssssoooo, who’sssss firsts?”

Theo gulped and stepped forward bravely with stick in hand.

          “Ahhh. Well, sssorry my dear boy but you are not to be eaten jussst yet. Anyone elsssse?”

          “No. I will fight you before you kill another soul!”

          “Ooohh hooo! A brave youngssster we have here. Eayy. What are you going to do with an ssssilly little ssstick? Hmm? Poke me to death? Haaaahaaahaaa. FOOL!!!”

          “It’s not just any old stick.” As if to support Theo, the stick transformed into a long spear. The dragon smirked teasingly. Thea went to help her brother but Nakaran and Nalana stopped her short. Swivel, Nalana, Lord Magnolia, and Bartimaes held her down while Nakaran searched for a way to attack the dragon from the backside.

          “Well, I guesss it’sss only fair that you know who your killer isss. I am LaeroD. Sssshort for Lord of Aero Death. Which meansss Lord of Air Death…” Theo jabbed the dragons paw before he could finish. Blood oozed from the open wound in between the claws.

          LaeroD lifted his head to the sky and roared out in pain from the gash and now a searing sensation from his whip tail. He peered back at the middle of his tail. Nakaran loosened his jaws from the tail and turned to flee from the dragon. But he wasn’t fast enough. Nalana screamed out to her brother but nothing or anyone could stop what was about to happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 35

 

 

 

 

          Jaxi awoke with a start. She opened her eyes to see that the sun was just rising. The others were still sounding asleep. Fang’s arm still held her close. She didn’t know why, but she enjoyed his warmth and company. She laid her head back against his chest and listened to his heartbeat again.

          Backster stretched his arms and sat up. Jaxi quickly rolled away from Fang so they wouldn’t make fun of her. Backster got out from under the blankets. Coal groaned and arched his back awkwardly.

          “Breakfast ready yet?” Captain Sandar yelled from the top of the hill with a bundle of twigs.

          “No, I need the twigs you have. Duh!” Backster retorted.

          “Oh, right.” Jaxi stood up to suddenly realize Fang no longer lay beside her.

          “Here, I got some bacon,” Fang informed everyone from across the fire pit where Captain Sandars threw his pile of twigs.

          The band of pirates ate their breakfast then packed up. Fang came over and hoisted Jaxi onto Brody. They all continued through the hills and towards the mountain range up ahead.

…

          LaeroD jerked his head back and snapped at Nakaran. Nakaran flapped furiously avoiding many blows from the evil black dragon. The dragon was four times Nakaran’s size and caught up to him in the air easily.

          “NAKARAN!!!!!!” It was too late. The dragon swung his huge paw and sliced through Nakaran’s beautiful bat-like wings.

          Nakaran began to plummet into the valley. Blood poured from his black fur. He looked like a tiger more than a lion. LaeroD caught Nakaran in his jaws and flew back to the cliff. It took everyone to hold Nalana back.

          “Run.…leave…now!” Nakaran wailed as blood began to trickle from his mouth.

          “Let thisss be a warning to you kidsss. You can choossse the way you die. But thisss creature isss going to have pain.”

          The dragon snapped Nakaran’s neck with a flick of his claw.

          “Nnnnoooooo!” Nalana wailed. She and Thea fell to the ground and began to weep. Theo ran at the dragon with his glowing purple stick. He leapt into the air, closed his eyes, and lifted the stick. As he lifted into the sky, the stick elongated and transformed into a machete spear.

          The spear cut through the dragon’s neck easily. LaeroD’s head rolled to the ground and the spear turned back into a purple stick. Livy Trudel screamed and rage and left with her drones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 36

 

 

 

 

 

          Thea and Nalana sobbed harder as they laid their heads on Nakaran’s lifeless body. Swivel burst into silent tears and Bartimaes remained calm. Theo went to the edge of the cliff pretending to make sure the coast was clear but his eyes were watering. He was now the protector and leader of the group. He had to be strong.

          But Lord Magnolia seemed to have disappeared. No one thought about it though.

          “We need to move the body to a safer place then bury it.”

          “Theo, no, he’s not dead. He’ll come back just wait.”

          My dearest, he’s not coming back. Nakaran is gone,” Bartimaes soothed Thea. She laid her head back on Nakaran’s blood soaked body.

          Nalana finally lifted her head. “This is your fault! Nakaran would still be alive if it weren’t for you stupid kids!” she growled at Thea.

          “WHAT? How dare you blame us? Nakaran chose his own fate, and if it weren’t for us, you’d still have a knife lodged in your heart!” Swivel lashed at the white and red Nalana.

          Nalana lunged at Swivel and Bartimaes on Swivel’s shoulder. Theo jumped in between them and held up his hand. Nalana shot backwards to the edge of the cliff. She looked furious when the force let go when Theo returned his hand to his side.

          Nalana was just about to attack again, a band of horses and what looked like pirates on them arrived at the cliff. Nalana looked from the newly arrived group to the other. Thinking better of attacking, she leapt off the cliff and soared away in a streak of white stained red.

          “So you’re the band of misfits I be supposed to save. Swivel, what have you gotten yourself into?”

          Swivel inched closer to the horses, “Captain Sandar?”

          “Well, duh. Who else would it be?” a man said jumping off draft horse.

          Thea gazed at a dark figure that slid off his Shire horse. A girl with a pirate outfit and dull brown hair got off her quarter horse. Two pretty guys got off their two Clydesdale horses.

          “So, these are the kids we are supposed to help?” the girl asked suspiciously eyeing the group of bloodied and dirt covered kids, brownie, and rizorane.

          The dark figure stepped into the He had long, wavy black hair. His clothes were all black. The only non-black things on him were his skin color, tan, and his eyes, a bright blue somehow.

          “Well, I’m Fang. She’s Jaxi. They’re Coal and Backster. And he’s Captain Sandar, as you heard.”

          “Uhh… Hehehe. I’m Thea. This is my brother Theo. That’s Swivel. And that’s Ban-Bartimaes.”

          “What happened here?” Jaxi asked looking around the clearing and starring at Nakaran’s body.

          “It’s a long story,” Swivel answered brusquely.

          “Well, we’ve got time for a story. Plus, we’re here to help,” Captain Sandar informed, “And we have food.”

          “Fine. We have a cave behind that waterfall. We built a fire pit in it and there’s a small river at the back entrance of it. While you guys make dinner, we’re going to bury our friend.”

          “’Kay.”

          The newcomers led their horses behind the waterfall and disappeared. Theo, Thea, Swivel, and Bartimaes returned to Nakaran’s body. Bartimaes scuttled up under the body as Thea carried the head, Theo carried the body, and Swivel carried the rear end. They made a trail into the forest.

          After about thirty minutes of trudging, Thea stopped. They dropped the body lightly to the ground. Theo and Thea concentrated on the earth and a large hole appeared in the ground. Swivel rolled Nakaran into the grave. Theo and Thea concentrated again. Dirt filled the hole once more.

          As Thea’s eyes welled up with tears, many things happened. A small path lined with flowers and brick formed from the cliff to the grave. A tombstone appeared. It said, “Nakaran: Here lies a beloved friend and brother. A lion of COURAGE.”  And the trees nearby were cleared out and replaced by rows of statues and one large carving of a large black lion with wings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Page Is Dedicated To Our Friend The Lion with Wings:

Nakaran

May He Rest In Peace Knowing That He Did His Best Job of Protecting Theo and Thea

Ending.

R.I.P

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 37

 

 

 

 

The rain poured down hard as dusk fell upon them and the group was forced into their cave. Thea built a nest for the egg out of a pile of leaves and curled up around it, she thought about Nakaran, how brave he was, how he had tracked her and Theo for a month just to avenge his sister when he though she and Theo had killed her, and how he had returned the next day. She remembered how he always thought of her safety and how his put his life on the line when she was in danger.

Suddenly she was aware of a presence next to her. It smelt like blood, pine needles and smoke. She looked up at a shimmering form of a black winged lion was crouching next to her.

I will always be with you Thea, you and your brother are my masters, my strength is yours now. You have the heart of a lion. Theo has the skill and mind of a wolf. You are fire and ice. Use these words well.

Then he was gone. Thea started to cry again.

Theo sat next to coal, trying not to think at all not about anything. Coal looked at him weird.

“I had a pet kitty once” coal said awkwardly “my uncle’s dog killed it though. I think I know how you feel”

Theo grunted.

“But really? That thing would probably have been happy to rip your arm off any day!”

Anger boiled in Theo. “he did. And that was because of a witch who lied to him.” Theo purple stick shimmered into view and lightning crackled above, rain poured down harder. A slender hand rested on Theo’s shoulder, he looked up at Jaxi who stood over him with her hair a concerned shade of periwinkle.

“Thea isn’t doing so good. You too need to get some rest.” She said.

Fang appeared behind her. “Yeah, I’ll stand guard. I don’t sleep much no matter the circumstances.”

Theo nodded and crawled over to Thea.

He heard coal snort.

Thea looked at Theo; he lay down beside her, looking at the dragon egg.

Backster clomped into the cave, dripping wet. The big man held a bundle of firewood and flung it onto the fire which released a plume of steam as if it were angered by being given wet wood.

Fang left the cave and Jaxi settled down near the fire.

Swivel fell asleep beside sandar with Bartimaes in-between her neck and her head.

Theo slipped into a dream. Hot sun baked sand covered him head to toe, he saw a rainbow mirage of colors and suddenly the sand became water and then he couldn’t breathe, his chest heaved and his lungs screamed for air.

Theo sat bolt upright spluttering, the fire had burnt down into glowing embers, and he could easily see through the dark and caught sight of a stream of water trickling down from a crack in the cave roof.

Not wanting to wake the others or even get up for that matter, Theo simply pointed a finger at the leak and focused a little of his power and it froze over.

A funny shaped shadow in the iced over spot caught Theo’s eye. He did a double take, it was lord magnolia!

 

 

 

Chapter 38

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theo quickly unfroze the water and scrambled over to the leak, lord magnolia fell into his hands, spluttering.

“Prepare to be vanquished Theo Ending!” lord Magnolia screeched, he threw himself up at Theo and grabbed hold of his neck with his little sticky feet. Theo scrambled back in shock and tripped backwards over Jaxi’s sleeping form. Jaxi leaped to her feet. She dived on top off Theo snarling, she grabbed the tree frog and wrenched it off.

Jaxi sat back on her heels, her knees still jabbing into Theo’s ribs and stomach, “Theo, you sure have some weird friends!” Jaxi scoffed, clutching the struggling tree frog.

“No kidding!”Theo said.

The others had been roused by the commotion and made a circle around Jaxi and Theo.

“Theo?” Thea asked in a small voice.

Theo blinked and shook his head “the frog tried to kill me!”

“You! Backster, toss me a sack!” Jaxi called.

Backster stomped over to the bags and tossed and empty burlap sack to Jaxi who promptly shoved lord magnolia into it and tied it shut.

“We’ve got company!” fang called from outside the cave.

Theo and Thea's heads shot up. Wing beats.

Swivel groaned “it’s gonna be Nalana and her other brothers isn’t it?”

“Something like that” fang said in a strangled voice.

Bartimaes was the first out of the cave, followed by swivel, Theo Thea Jaxi coal sandar and Backster.

A great black Dynacacozo with 4 red snaked attached to him at the shoulder blades and red stripes on the wings stood pressing fang to the side of the cave with one great paw.

Nalana and another Dynacacozo with 3 heads and 3 tails stood behind the male.

“Help!” fang said as the big male Dynacacozo pressed harder.

Jaxi’s hair turn bright red and she crouched to strike out at the cat, Backster joined her.

“Now that’s a cat!” sandar exclaimed.

‘Nalana! Why? Didn’t we help you?” Thea begged

“that’s why im here, it’s what Nakaran would have wanted, Nasharian this isn’t the time, we can kill the strange humans later, our first duty is to Nakaran’s final will, to protect the Endings”

The one called Nasharian promptly dropped his paw and fang stumbled over to the others.

“So, where is it that we are going now?” Nalana asked briskly.

Sandar took this opportunity to regain control of the group. “ we head west to the far side of wolf gate to meet up with the rest of the crew from there we sail to kurahaven to drop the fandynastics off with the queen and then to new Sparta , a passenger onboard the swifty is a snake breeder for the fall blood games”

“Whoa hold on! Your dumping us at kurahaven?” Thea demanded.

“We have to, it was Bartimaes and I’s mission; to save you and bring you to kurahaven” swivel said.

“No” Theo said indignantly “we are kids but were not packages to be bounced about without our own will! If I remember right, our next stop is new Sparta too!”

Thea smiled thankfully at Theo “I made a promise to a djinn and it’s a promise I want to keep!”

“Then that’s settled!” sandar said before Bartimaes or swivel could object.

The 3 headed and tailed Dynacacozo, Nakiria walked over to Theo, “will you ride?” her middle head asked him in a surprisingly nice voice.

Surprised and honored Theo nodded and climbed onto her back.

Nasharian motioned for Thea to ride him and Nalana took swivel and Bartimaes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 39

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2 day journey to the far side of wolf gate was very uneventful, but Theo enjoyed it, he felt empowered atop such a mighty beast, nakiria told him tales about her past adventures while they flew over a lush green forest.

Behind him Thea flew on Nasharian, swivel and Bartimaes on Nalana, fang taking up the rear.

Thea could see the rest of the pirates ridding on their horses under the trees, after her mind grew numb from watching the trees whirl past down below she turned her head around and looked backwards. She found it hard not to stare at fangs wings.

Nasharian snakes were wrapped around his front legs to keep them out of Thea’s way, she was glad because she wouldn’t be too happy to be sitting on four probably poisonous snakes.

Slowly the trees melted into sand and they approached the sea.

The Dynacacozos landed on the beach and the horses galloped over to them.

“They are on perfect timing” Sandar commented pointing out to sea.

On the horizon they could make out the picture of a large ship.

Nakiria nodded “we can fly you guys up to the ship”

Nasharian grunted.

“It’ll take a few trips though” Nalana said.

“Were thankful that you’ll even do this for us regardless how long it'll take” sandar said.

 

 

A few minutes later they were all aboard the swifty; it was a huge ship with an upper deck and a lower deck. A crow’s nest was attached to the main mast; there were 3 other smaller masts on either side of the main mast.

“We won’t stay on the ship for the journey but we will never be far away if you need us” Nasharian said.

Nalana and nakiria nodded with him.

“You’re going to fly the whole way?” Theo asked them

“Something like that” nakiria said as the other Dynacacozos took off. She turned and flapped off to meet her brother and sister in flight. They went upwards.

Theo and Thea looked back at sandar, he was talking to Jaxi. Coal fang and Backster had disappeared.

Swivel had climbed the mast and was standing on the very top looking around with Bartimaes on her shoulder.

The door to the cabins flew open and out clomped a girl who was at least a head taller than Theo and Thea; she wore baggy khaki pants and a bright green cameo tank top. Her long braid of hair that looked like a rope of dried blood reached her hip and she had green eyes that shone out brightly like knife waiting to slice through any thing that came near.

She clomped over to Theo and Thea “hey, cool eyes”

“Uh thanks” said Thea.

“Finally! Someone who's first reaction isn’t to say how weird we are, thanks for that!” Theo laughed.

 “Paired up with this lot? Ya’ll fit right in with this band of weirdys and rejects,” The girl laughed. “Im Seiggy and you are?’

“Theo” said Theo

“Thea” said Thea

Jaxi walked over to them, and handed Seiggy the bag lord magnolia was confined in “im sure you’ll have some sort of cure for this one”

Seiggy nodded, Jaxi walked to the back of the ship.

“Come on, I’ll show you my reptiles” Seiggy said

“You’re what?” Theo and Thea said in unison

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 40

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theo and Thea stared around in amazement. Seiggy’s cabin was lined with shelves and on those were glass terrariums where ever they could fit, in each tank 2 or 3 light orbs hovered at the cage’s roof giving off the right amount of heat for the creature contained.

There were turtles and tortoises, lizards, snakes, frogs and toads, salamanders, newts and even a few baby crocodilians.

Her bed stuck out of the wall beside the door and on it lay the biggest snake they had ever seen.

Seiggy sat down on her bed and petted the snake fondly, “this is max, he is an argonian bull python.” She said proudly “he is just a baby though”

The huge snake lifted its head and hissed a greeting to them then laid its head back down.

Seiggy picked up lord magnolia’s bag and peeked inside, a wide grin spread across his face, “red-eyed tree frog! These things are major rare!”

Seiggy retied the bag “so what did Jaxi mean by ‘im sure you have a cure for this one’? I was expecting something like a sick lizard”

“Well he did try to kill Theo!” said Thea

“And he was one of Livy Trudel’s minions!” Theo said   

Seiggy nodded “I have just the thing for him, a humid cage and a female” she laughed and hopped of the bed.

“Hold maxxy back will you? He tries to bit the frogs” she asked.

Theo sat down by the snake and looked at it nervously.

Thea sat on the floor and watched as Seiggy pulled a small foggy glass cage from the bottom shelf.

She sat on the floor with Thea and popped the lid off. The light orb that was inside leaped out of the cage and floated to the ceiling, the room’s temperature rose quickly.

Inside the cage was a jumble of sticks and a little water bowel atop a coconut fiber substrate. A little tree frog that looked just like lord magnolia hopped around the cage, she looked up at Seiggy and Thea and waved happily.

“The fangline forest was no place for a red eyed tree frog, they’re strictly tropical” with that she untied the bag again and dumped lord magnolia out into the little cage. He screamed with rage but Seiggy grabbed the light orb, shoved it back into the cage and clicked the lid shut before he could do anything about it.

Thea couldn’t help but laugh and soon all three of them were roaring with laughter as lord magnolia’s rage turned into delight as he skipped about humming about the joy of heat and humidity, the other tree frog whose name was lady hazelnut joined him in song.

Seiggy slid the cage back into its place on the shelf and hopped onto the bed next to Theo, “so Whats the story? Start at the beginning” she said.

So Theo and Thea once more retold the events of the last 2 weeks. When they finished Seiggy nodded thoughtfully. ‘And I think to myself ‘will anything normal ever happen to these two?” Seiggy laughed, then she went on to talking about how to set up a perfect dragon egg incubator but Theo and Thea weren’t listening.

“Nothing normal will ever happen to us, will it?” Thea asked

Theo grinned “Thea, there isn’t a normal for us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end, but not for long.

 

Theo and Thea Ending book two: the Siege of New Sparta will be coming the winter of 2012

 

 

For lots of fun related to the Theo and Thea Ending series go to:

http://theoandtheaending.webs.com

http://stormgarthpack.webs.com

http://sunlirxpack.webs.com

 

 

Thanks for reading! - Jenna Sam Johnson

Author's Note

thnx for reading <3