The Dragonstones Trilogy

After looking around the large room, Sara decided that the room had too much gold in it. It must have been expensive, Sara mused, or at least have taken lots of magic to make a room this gaudy. A woman with golden hair and matching outfit sat on one of the couches. She held a gold and white teacup, with steaming golden tea. Seeing the white, Sara sighed with relief. Finally! A color other than gold!

Sara tried to ignore James’s voice in her head. It hadn’t left yet, and was getting annoying fast. Strangely enough, he kept repeating the same words. Don’t trust Alva. Guard your thoughts. Sara turned to see James staring at her, as if willing the words to find their way to her.

Okay! She thought to James, hoping he knew she had gotten the message. As if someone had flipped a switch, the thoughts stopped coming. Instead, Sara heard James’s voice ramble on in her head. He spoke of everything, yet nothing of importance. Sara was quickly getting frustrated with their connection, and hoped it would quiet down soon. She didn’t want James’s voice in her head.

The woman on the couch looked up at them as soon as they entered. She smiled when she saw Sara. Her smile was the most beautiful one that Sara had ever seen. Sara didn’t know why James had been so insistent that she not trust her. “Hello Sara. It’s nice to finally meet you.” The woman, who Sara could only assume was Queen Alva, turned to James. “Welcome back, James.”

Welcome back? Despite being confused by that last remark, Sara replied to the queen anyway. “Hi,” she said awkwardly, not knowing how she was supposed to act.

“Hello,” James said. Sara couldn’t help but think that he looked a little nervous.

Alva looked pointedly at the door behind them. “James, would you mind if I talked with Sara in private?”

James’s expression hardened, and once again, Sara heard the voice. Don’t trust Alva. Whether it was his thought or her own, Sara didn’t know. “You can talk to both of us at once.” He looked at her as if to silently challenge her.

Alva narrowed her eyes. “So you were speaking to him then? Very well. Sara and I will talk on the balcony, where you will be able to see everything I do.” Sara looked over Alva’s shoulder and saw a glass door decorated with gold that hadn’t previously been there. She wondered just how magical this place really was.

Alva now spoke to Sara. “Follow me.” Don’t trust her. Sara looked back at James, who was staring at Alva. Feeling eyes on him, he turned to see Sara. He nodded once to her unasked question.

“Okay,” Sara said to Alva, who she knew had seen the exchange. She and Alva stood up, then walked through the nearly appeared door. Behind it was a balcony, and Sara sighed in relief. Below them was a valley of color. Bright reds, greens, and yellows could be seen on the leaves of trees, which were so dense Sara was sure that if she were to fall, she could walk on a carpet of leaves and branches. The trees stretched for miles, until they came upon tall mountains in the distance. Where the trees stopped, were flowers covering the entire landforms. Above the towering mountains, was the bright blue sky, wispy clouds softening the harsh blue just enough to make the entire scene one Sara could never forget.

“Charming, isn’t it? Although I prefer the inside of my castle to be honest.” Sara turned to see Alva behind her, looking upon the trees as if she did not see anything truly amazing.

“The inside of your castle, like the gold room we were just in?”

“The very same. All my rooms were made beautiful by being changed to solid gold.”

Sara glanced back through the glass door they had come through. She looked at all the gold, and could not help but see a waste. The gold, though a sign of great wealth, did nothing to complement the rooms, or their owner. Behind her, Sara heard Alva speaking. “Ah. I can see that your opinion is different than mine. That is quite all right. It is a nice change to have someone willing to disagree with me. Your friend James doesn’t seem willing to trust me, but I would like you to know that I am not the monster he thinks I am.”

Sara looked at Alva. “Who? James?”

Alva laughed, a very feminine sound that Sara was sure many found pleasing. To Sara, it was a little to high pitched. “Oh, no. James has a certain friend who doesn’t trust me. That is all. Have a seat.” Alva waved a hand, and two lawn chairs appeared in front of them, obviously made of gold. Alva’s expression turned serious before Sara could ask who James’s friend was, and how Alva knew about it. “Sara, do you know why I wanted to speak with you as soon as possible?”

Sara shook her head, confused. “No, why?”

“Many in my kingdom know about what you and James are doing, and think it a very noble endeavor, but a futile one. Even if you encountered some of them, they would not help you because they think that you will fail. You cannot defeat Aevill without their assistance. You need to prove them wrong, so that they will help you rid the world of dark magic forever.”

“Okay,” Sara said. “I’ll go get James so we can talk about this together.” She stood up to fetch James, but Alva quickly stopped her.

“No! This is for just you and me. We can fill him in on the details later.”

Sara sat back down reluctantly. “Okay,” she said. “But how do James and I get magicians to help us?”

“Let’s start at the beginning. Do you know what you have to do?”

“I have to find the Stone and defeat Aevill; or James , if he ends up fighting him.”

“No,” Alva said firmly. “You must find the Lightstone and you must kill Aevill. Allowing Aevill to live gives him a chance to run away, hide, plan, prepare, and strike back. No. You must kill him.”

“The Lightstone?”

“Yes,” Alva said impatiently. “The Stone you and James are looking for. The Stone that will end all dark magic with your help, finally.” The sky turned from bright to black in a matter of seconds, reminding Sara just how far from home in Mageton she really was. Apparently time acted the same way here as it did back where she and James were staying.

“But kill Aevill?” she asked.

“Yes. Think of all the people he has murdered, the lives he has ruined. When the time comes, you must be ready. You must kill him.”

Sara looked down at her hands. When transformed, her claws dripped with a deadly green venom, but Sara had never killed anyone before, only severely injured. “I’m not sure I can,” she said quietly. She blinked back silent tears that had begun to form.

Alva turned her back to Sara, then turned sharply after that last statement. She glowed faintly, seeming to be from another world. Her eyes blazed, power pulsing through them. Sara took a step back. Alva walked toward her, each step seeming threatening to Sara. Each word she spoke was frightening. Step. “This war between the light and dark has been raging for centuries.” Step. “It is up to you to end it.” Step. “It your job to find the Lightstone.” Step. “It is your job to kill Aevill.” Alva was now face to face with Sara. Sara would have backed up further if she could, but felt the gold railing behind her. She was trapped. Alva’s voice lowered. “If you don’t kill him and rid earth of dark magic, all this time and energy you and James have spent will be for nothing. I have waited too long for this.” Alva leaned in close to Sara. “If you fail to kill Aevill, and destroy dark magic, I will hunt you down and kill you.” Her eyes glowed, her intent so real Sara could feel it. Instinctively, Sara shifted into a dragon.

Behind them, the door opened, and James walked onto the balcony. “Sara, you all right?” James asked. Sara had never been more relieved to see him. The light from inside the castle shone behind him, and Sara could only think of him as some guardian angel sent to protect her. Sara shifted back into a human, but kept her distance from Alva this time.

“I’m fine,” she said, feeling anything but fine. I’ll tell you later. She thought, hoping James would hear it. He seemed to, because he nodded slightly.

“After you defeat Aevill, you will need to use the Shadow Stones to destroy dark magic,” Alva said, continuing as if nothing had happened.

“Great, but won’t we need to find the other Stone first?” James asked, stepping onto the balcony and joining them.

“You mean the Lightstone?” Alva asked. “It has its own mind. It will appear to you when it sees fit.”

“So you don’t know where it is?” Sara asked, not even knowing if she would believe Alva’s answer. It had only been moments ago when Alva had seemed to be a different person entirely.

“I do not, although I’d suggest looking near historic landmarks. Magic has always enjoyed being around humans, whether they know of it or not.”

“Great,” James grumbled. “That leaves us six continents where it could be.”

He looked up and saw Sara looking at him, he quickly said, “Sorry.”

Alva looked at James. In the darkness, Sara thought she looked a little annoyed. “Will you let us finish our discussion?” she asked him.

Sara and James both knew he didn’t want to leave, and Sara was not comfortable being alone with Alva again. Alva must have noticed this, because James went flying back into the room, the door closing behind him.

“When you come into contact with light magicians and other creatures, show them you know what you’re doing. Convince them that you can and will kill Aevill. If you can do this, they will help you,” Alva said. Sara tried to ignore the fact that Alva had said the word kill.

Alva turned toward the door as if readying herself to leave. “One more thing,” Alva said. “Don’t trust James. He is not all that he appears.”

After that puzzling remark, Alva turned and glided back into the room they had first been in. James was waiting for them. Alva glanced at him, and a light tunnel appeared. “You know what you need to do,” she said to Sara. “Any last questions?”

“What exactly do you rule over, if you’re a queen?” James spoke up.

Alva’s expression hardened once again. “I rule over anything light, whether it knows it or not.”

James nodded, then turned and entered the light tunnel. Sara was about to follow him, but Alva stopped her. “Remember what I said about James.” Sara wanted to believe her, but something told her that she would always believe James over Alva.

“Bye Alva,” was all she said as Sara followed James into the light tunnel.

The light tunnel ended after a few minutes, and Sara noticed right away that they were no longer in the Light Kingdom. They were in what looked like a train station. Busy people rushed past her and James, not seeming to even notice them. There were no spaceships in sight, only regular trains and cars.

James looked around. After a moment, he said, “Looks like somewhere in Paris.”

Sara could only nod somewhat numbly. She felt slightly lightheaded from the encounter with Alva, and still wasn’t sure what to think. She was vaguely aware of James guiding her to an exit, then to a hotel.

Sara mentally sorted through what had happened in the Light Kingdom. She had gone to a bakery, eaten a cake, and almost died. Then she had gone to Alva’s castle, home of a queen who had a different side than she let on. After speaking for what could not have been more than five minutes, she had traveled via light tunnel back into the “real” world. Sara glanced behind her, thinking of where she and James had landed.

Only a few feet away, a man seemed to be following them. He had dark hair and eyes, something that Sara had found to be a common characteristic among dark magicians, except for the little boy that had tried to kill her in the Light Kingdom. Sara purposefully willed herself to look away from him After all, there was a good chance that he was just another guy headed in the same direction that they were. Sara glanced back at the man as often as she could though, just to make sure.

As if sensing her tension, James looked at Sara. “You okay?” he asked.

Sara nodded, but kept looking back, giving away how she really felt. James looked back too, and quickened their pace.

Sara was surprisingly relieved when the man turned and entered a building behind them. It felt nice knowing that they weren’t going to get attacked by a dark magician, not yet, anyway.

James was able to locate a hotel and soon enough, she and James were headed for their own rooms. Sara was a little disappointed that their rooms were on opposite sides of the hotel, but there wasn’t much they could do about that.

Sara’s room was closer, and James was about to walk past her when she stopped him. “Can I borrow that magic credit card you made?” she asked.

“Why?” James asked.

Sara glanced down at her clothes. She had worn the same outfit for so many days now, she had lost track. “I need to go shopping,” she said. “And a lot’s happened. I could use the walk.”

“You sure? There’s a lot of dark magicians out there,” James said.

“I’m sure,” Sara said. “I just need to get out.”

James still looked uncertain, but he reached into his pocket and drew out the credit card anyway. “Try not to use it too often,” he said. “I don’t know where the money comes from.”

“I’ll spend it wisely,” Sara said. James smiled, and for a brief second Sara felt dizzy. She quickly looked away. “Okay.” She risked looking back up at him again. She ignored the butterflies in her stomach and said before she lost the courage, “How do you and Alva know each other?”

James looked at her sharply, his eyes showing several emotions at once, most of which Sara could feel. Surprise, anger and fear were the strongest ones. He sighed, then said, “You’ll know if I lie.” He took a deep breath, then told her, “I met her right before you did, but she wanted to talk to me privately.” James’s voice went on, but to Sara it became quieter, as if in the background. She saw, as if she were looking through his eyes, what had happened. She could see what he was remembering.

She saw the gold room, but this time, there was only Alva there, besides James. Sara watched as Alva spoke to James. “You know. . .Sara’s weakness.” Another pause. “And the problems you’re having with using your magic, and the fact that-” The memory quickly dissolved.

James looked slightly out of breath. “I didn’t mean for you to see that,” he said. He looked at her. “How much did you see?”

“You’re having trouble using magic?” she asked. She felt hurt that James hadn’t told her before now, and even then it had been an accident.

“It’s not that bad,” James said a little too quickly. “Sometimes it’s a little harder. That’s all.”

Sara could feel the tension James was feeling. “It’s worse than that, isn’t it?”

Inside, James was screaming. He didn’t know what to do. Sara, after hearing this, said, “James you can tell me.”

“Fine,” James said, more to himself than to her. “I don’t know why, but my magic has stopped working the way it used to. Now it only comes when I really need it. It gets pretty exhausting and painful the other way.”

“I’m sorry,” Sara said. She had only gotten her magic recently. She could not imagine having magic almost her whole life, then having it taken away by an unseen force. “Do you have any guesses as to why this is happening?”

“Someone told me that magic itself was changing,” James said.

“Who? Alva?”

“Yeah,” James said. Sara saw a brief image in her head, though, and this person was not Alva. It was a man, and if Sara didn’t know any better, she would have guessed it to be her father, but that was impossible. Her father was dead. She had watched him die.

Though Sara knew he was lying to her about who had told him about magic changing, Sara let the subject drop. It didn’t really matter how he had come by the information. What mattered was that James now had a guess as to what was happening to him.

“Why did Alva want to know my weakness?” she asked him, successfully changing the topic, and getting another question of hers answered.

James shrugged. “It could have been to help you overcome it, but I doubt it.”

“How come?”

“There’s just something about Alva that I don’t trust. She put on a big show of being perfect, and somehow that makes me suspicious.” Sara once again got the mental picture of the man like her father, but once again ignored it.

“Okay.” Sara looked up into James’s eyes, and felt her thoughts wander. She quickly jerked her mind back to the present. “Better leave before all the stores close,” she said awkwardly. “You need anything?”

James stared at her for a second, then shook his head.

“You sure? If your magic’s leaving, you don’t know how much you’ll be able to-” Sara paused, looking for the right word. “Conjure up.” She felt James’s discomfort coming back after that question, and quickly said, “But you can always come shopping with me and just go to different stores.”

James smiled. There were no butterflies this time, Sara noticed with pride. “I think I’ll just hang out in my room this time,” he said. “But thanks anyway.”

“Kay,” Sara smiled. “See you later,” she said as she turned to go.

“Sara?”

“Yeah?” Sara glanced back at James.

“Be careful. I mean it.” Sara could both feel and see the sincerity in his eyes.

“Don’t worry. I will.” Sara got into the elevator at the end of the hall, and had one final glimpse of James before the doors closed. From how his lips were moving, she would have guessed that he was talking to someone, but there was nothing there. The elevator doors closed with a ding, and Sara couldn’t see any more of James or what he was doing.

It didn’t take Sara long to find a store that sold clothes. What took the most time was finding an outfit she liked well enough to buy with James’s magic currency. As she shopped, Sara forced herself to not think of anything that had happened in her life lately. She didn’t think of the Stone, the Light Kingdom, the connection between her and James, or even James. Too much had happened in too little time, and Sara needed a break from it all.

Sara eventually found an outfit she liked, and was about to buy it before she felt the wave of dread, her warning that she was in danger. Sara felt someone behind her and turned to see a man. His pale, even sickly skin and white hair seemed even lighter next to his eyes. Sara wasn’t sure if black holes could be darker than this man’s eyes. This man was a dark magician, and from how much fear Sara was feeling, she could tell that he wasn’t nice like Cole.

“Hello Sara,” he said. “You’ve been busy.” There was something wrong with his voice, like two people were talking at the same time, through the same person.

Though Sara would normally have shifted into a dragon by now, she felt that something was different about this magician. He was the first one to talk to her before he attacked her. Not even Cole, when he was being controlled, had stopped to chat with her. For this reason, Sara decided to talk. “What do you want?” she asked.

“To let you walk away.” The magician took a step closer to her, and she took a step back. “You know you won’t be able to stop me.”

“If I can stop Aevill I can stop you,” Sara said with more confidence than she felt.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?”

After that chilling last remark, Sara looked at the magician again, or more specifically, at his eyes. She stopped breathing. Those were the same eyes she had seen on Drusk, on Cole, on every magician that had attacked her and James, proof that Aevill was controlling them. Sara wasn’t speaking to just another dark magician. She was speaking to Aevill in another magician’s body.

Sara backed away as quickly as she dared. Aevill, through the magician, laughed. “You’re smarter than I thought you would be, given the circumstances. I hope you’ll accept my offer. Don’t chase the Lightstone. Go home. I’ll even spare your friend. He doesn’t have to die.”

The image Sara had been trying to ignore for months now forced itself into her head. She saw black magic flying at James, then killing him. In the vision, Sara looked up, and saw Aevill. If she went after him, he would kill James. Sara looked at the magician. He seemed to be smiling. Did Aevill know about Sara’s vision?

“If I take your offer,” Sara started. Her voice sounded shaky, even to her own ears. “What will you do then?”

“What I have done for hundreds of years. Rule the world. Eliminate the occasional nuisance-” The magician paused. Near the front of the store, a fight broke out. It seemed to be between a young woman and her boyfriend. Sara could hear their yelling even from where she was. The boy slapped her, then stormed out of the store. A black mist seemed to come off of him, and head straight for the dark magician. Aevill smiled as the mist seemed to be absorbed by him. “Create more energy for me through the humans.”

“You did that?” Sara asked, aghast.

The magician sighed and shook his head sadly. “Sara, when will you learn that I am a force to be reckoned with?” He looked sharply at her. “You don’t want anyone to get hurt, so tell me now. Will you stop this foolishness, chasing after the Lightstone?”

Sara looked around the store, then back at the magician, into Aevill’s eyes. “Yes or no, Sara. This is not that hard.”

Sara thought of how James would die if they went after the Stone. She could not let that happen, but Aevill had killed so many, including her parents. Sara felt the familiar pang that came whenever she thought about her parents. She focused on that pain, then thought of how many others had suffered at his hand. She could not let him live on unopposed.

Sara looked up into the magician’s eyes, Aevill’s eyes. James will die. A voice told her. “I. . .” Sara started. She tried again. “I. . .” Others won’t. A different voice told her.

But James will die!

Sara stopped talking and tried to quiet the thoughts bouncing around in her head.

You have to do this.

It’s the right thing to do.

James will die!

You’re saving lives.

James will die, but hundreds of others will not.

“I can’t!” Sara said quickly. She felt like a building or something even heavier was crashing down on her. She was signing James’s death sentence. “I have to stop you Aevill,” she said, ignoring the tears in her eyes. “I have to stop you, by any means necessary.”

“Are you sure you can?” Aevill said, asking the one question Sara didn’t have the answer for.

Seeing that he had struck a nerve, Aevill continued, “You visited Alva. I know. I’ve been watching you for quite some time now. She wants you to kill me.” The magician pointed at her. “But you’ve never killed anyone. You had that encounter with Drusk, but the dragons killed him.” The magician looked disgusted.

“The dragons don’t have enough strength to kill me. I look forward to seeing how you try to defeat me. Maybe then you’ll have the courage to kill me.” The magician smiled, and Sara had to repress a shudder. The smile was malicious, evil. Sara was almost relieved when he started talking again. “Assuming you live that long.”

Sara had fought enough dark magicians to see the signs, and Aevill was no different. She shifted into a dragon and dove out of the way just in time. Black streaks of magic went flying past her. James! Sara hurled the thought into the air, hoping that James would hear it through telepathy and their connection.

“You can’t fight me without help? I’m disappointed in you Sara. I’d have thought that my enemy could defeat me on her own.” The magician disappeared, then reappeared behind Sara. “I see that I overestimated you.”

“It’s not possible to overestimate Sara.”

Sara turned to see James behind her, his aura glowing brighter than Sara had ever seen. His eyes glowed with an unearthly light, so full of anger that Sara forced herself not to take a step back. James walked toward the magician, singing under his breath, his aura growing brighter and brighter until Sara couldn’t look at him without being blinded.

Aevill must have felt the same way. He looked away from James and directly at Sara. “This isn’t over. When we meet again, I will kill you both, and it will not be in this weak body.” The magician withdrew a knife from somewhere within his clothing, then promptly stabbed himself in the heart. He fell to the ground. He looked at Sara one last time, blood pouring out of the wound in his chest. “Goodbye Sara. I look forward to killing you.”

Sara watched the magician close his eyes. When he opened them, they were no longer black, in any way. They were a striking emerald green, much like Sara’s had been before they changed. He looked around in confusion, then realized with seeming surprise that there was a knife protruding from his body. “What. . .happened?” he asked.

Sara shook herself, and looked at James. “Can you help him?” she asked.

“I can try.” James sang under his breath, presumably a song about healing, though Sara couldn’t hear the words exactly.

Sara walked over to the magician to see if there was any improvement. An orange light glowed around him, but other than that, there seemed to be no change. “What happened?” the magician asked again. He looked down at the knife. “Who did this to me? I don’t remember.”

Sara knelt down next to the man, then took a deep breath. “You did,” she said.

“What?” The magician’s eyes widened.

Behind her somewhere, James’s song became louder, faster. Sara looked over at him, and saw the worried expression on his face.

Sara turned her attention back to the magician. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead. His breathing became faster and faster, until he stopped altogether. The magician let out one final breath, and Sara could barely make out the words, “I’m sorry.” His eyes glazed over, and Sara could almost see the life leaving his body.