The Dragonstones Trilogy

The more they walked, the harder it was to resist the pull. James didn’t know if it was the Lightstone that was drawing them closer, or if it was something set up by Aevill. James fervently hoped that it was the Stone. He had had too many run ins with Aevill’s dark magicians as of late, Sara even more so.

Next to him, Sara shifted into a dragon. She looked at him. For some reason, James wasn’t afraid of her, only every other dragon he had come into contact with. I’m going to go ahead for a few minutes, see if the Stone is close.

Okay. James thought back.

Sara nodded, then jumped into the air, her wings nearly missing any of the trees. James watched her climb higher and higher into the sky, until James was barely able to make her out at all. I don’t see anything. James heard her voice in his head. But I’ll keep looking. You go on without me. I can see where you are.

James knew how good Sara’s vision as a dragon was, so he didn’t question her. He started walking in the direction of the pull again. He walked under a patch of trees, and suddenly felt cold. The temperature seemed to drop, so much that he could see his breath. James felt a wave of dread wash over him, and he looked around, suddenly wary. Sara had mentioned her dragon warning system to him before. James had never felt it himself before, but the connection was still changing both him and Sara.

James felt eyes on him, something he had felt before, and turned to see a magician standing there. Just like all the others, this magician was dressed in dark colors, and her hair and eyes were completely black, with no trace of color whatsoever. James was suddenly reminded of Drana, and how Aevill had tried to use her to kill him and Sara.

James realized that he was not afraid of this person standing in front of him. He was ready to fight, annoyed even, but not afraid. He sighed. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked the magician, hoping to talk some sense into her. James still could not get the image of Drana out of his head.

It didn’t work. What looked like liquid shadows flew toward him, and James only barely missed getting hit by them. James sprinted forward and hid behind the closest tree. Preparing to fight back, James sang one of his favorite fight songs under his breath. The orange aura that always accompanied his magic did not appear. “Really?” he asked, annoyed. He didn’t know who he was talking to.

James didn’t have enough time to waste it being irritated, though. Even now, James could feel the magician closing in, her magic feeling darker each second that passed. Sara! James thought. Dark magician down here! He reached down and grabbed a decent sized rock, hoping it would help at least a little bit against the dark magician.

Faster than James would have thought possible, Sara dropped out of the sky, right onto the magician, pinning her to the ground. The magician didn’t seem bothered by this new development. She was dangerously close to Sara’s venomous claws, and yet she was smiling.

The magician’s eyes hadn’t gotten any lighter when she spoke. “There you are. I knew you were close by. Aevill wanted me to wait until I saw you before I killed James, but I couldn’t help myself. People without magic are such easy targets, aren’t they?”

James didn’t want to give away anything, so he kept his mouth shut, though his insides were screaming, telling him to find out how they knew.

Instead, Sara asked the most important question. Where is Aevill? She asked. Even though it was just a thought, James could feel the intensity behind it. He winced, but the magician only laughed. “Here, there, everywhere. He sees everything, watches everyone. He waits for you to find the Lightstone, and when you get it, then he will strike.” Her eyes glowed with an evil light, on the verge of insanity. “He will tear the Stone from your cold, dead fingers, then destroy all that is light.”

James might have imagined it, but Sara looked just a little afraid. Having his suspicions confirmed after he felt the same emotion from her, he stepped in. “We never did get a straight answer from you. Where is Aevill?”

“He dwells in all the shadows. He lurks in every corner. He watches now. Look!” She looked at a tree behind them. Even though he didn’t want to, curiosity compelled him to glance behind him. He turned. At first he did not see anything, until he looked down, at the shadow of the tree. He did not know he was going to scream until it was too late. There, watching their every move, was a face in the shadows. James had never seen Aevill’s face before, but Sara had. He watched her face pale as she whispered one word. “Aevill.”

The horror of what they were seeing finally sunk into James, amplified by what Sara was feeling as well. He took an unconscious step backward, as did Sara.

That was when a strange thing happened. James’s mind seemed to open to Sara, hearing both his thoughts and hers. They felt the same emotions. What shocked James the most, however, was the magic he could feel. Music, ancient and modern, some not even from this world, pulsed through him, as if it wanted him to use magic. James had felt this all his life, but this time there was something else too. He felt the Dragon Stones, even heard some of what the dragons were saying to each other.

It has happened. James heard a dragon, Smolder, say. They are one.

James/Sara didn’t have time to think about that cryptic statement, though. Aevill was still there, still watching their every move. Together, they approached him, pushing away Sara’s fear and letting a sort of numbness settle over them.

The song seemed to come to James instantly. He wasn’t sure exactly what it said, but overall it involved banishing evil. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Sara was singing the same song, in unison with him. The orange aura was surrounding her as well.

James looked up suddenly, and both he and Sara saw the same thing. Aevill was afraid, not even bothering to hide it. Sara shifted into a dragon, though James could feel her as if he was the one changing forms. As one, Sara and James advanced on him, Aevill disappeared suddenly, leaving no evidence that he had ever been there.

A twig snapped behind them. Both Sara and James whirled to see the magician that had attacked them only minutes ago.

There wasn’t much time to think. James started singing an attack song, but at the same time, Sara threw herself at the magician. James could feel himself singing and using magic, but at the same time, he could feel Sara racing toward the magician, her claws digging into the soft earth, leaving behind a trail of venom. Orange magic flew at the magician, and James could feel it when Sara tackled the magician, her claws lightly grazing her shoulder.

It was enough to do harm. Sara jumped off of the magician when the venom started to spread, making the magician’s body glow an eerie greenish color. The rest of the process happened rather quickly. The venom spread more and more, the girl’s breaths coming in quick gasps. Suddenly, it was over. The magician screamed, a horrible scream full of agony, until she fell back, dead.

The feeling of unity with Sara was gone now. James could only feel his own magic, hear his own thoughts, see through his own eyes, but he could still feel Sara’s horror. It didn’t help that he felt it too. “What happened?” he asked, unable to think of anything else to say.

Sara looked up at him, tears running freely down her face. “I think-” she paused, and took a deep breath. She tried again. “I think I killed her.” She buried her face in her hands.

James looked at the body, then shuddered. He had only seen a few corpses in his life, and none of them had been pretty. This one was no exception. James sang a quick burial song under his breath, and the body disappeared. James didn’t know where it went, and didn’t want to.

James turned his attention to Sara. She was no longer crying, but instead was starring straight ahead, seeing nothing. He knew he had to act fast, unless he wanted Sara to burst into tears again. Gently, he reached out and took her hand. “C’mon, let’s go,” he said, guiding her away from the dreadful scene. Sara didn’t argue, only followed behind mutely.

Regret and self-loathing attacked Sara, continuing on to James. James wanted to speak, to comfort her, but he knew it was too soon. Instead, he turned his thoughts in a different direction. What had happened back there, James had never experienced before. He was sure very few people had. It had felt like they had somehow fused together, become one person in two bodies, one part being James, the other part being Sara.

Sara lagged farther and father behind, unwilling to move forward even the smallest bit. James ignored her thoughts in his head, and sang his travel song under his breath. To his relief, the orange aura appeared, then once again spread to Sara. She seemed to be singing the same song he was, unaware that she was doing it.

They both disappeared, reappearing farther forward, though just how far, James was unsure. They sang the song again, then again, and again after that. Each time, they were closer to the Stone. James could feel it, but he wasn’t sure whether Sara could. Sara had retreated into herself, trying not to think about what had happened to the magician.

Soon, it became dark, and James stopped. Sara ran straight into him, but didn’t seem to notice. “We should probably stop here for the night,” James said. He could still feel the pull of the Stone, but ignored it, knowing it could be a good ways away from where they were. If it was close, then great. They would find it early the next morning.

Knowing that his magic had been working better than it had been lately, James tried singing a camping song to set up two tents, far enough apart that they could have privacy, but still close enough that they would know if the other were in trouble.

It didn’t work. James sighed. He guessed that he should have expected that. His magic had been helping him way too much lately for it to last. He looked back at Sara, who was still staring off into space blankly.

“Looks like we’ll be sleeping under the stars tonight,” James said as lightly as he could.

Sara nodded, but didn’t seem to comprehend what he was telling her. James felt his heart sink. There was no way without magic to tell how long she would be like this. James wanted to punch something knowing that there was nothing he could do. Sara would continue to blame herself, even though it wasn’t her fault.

James felt some hope when Sara looked up and smiled weakly. “Okay. I like the stars. So your magic didn’t work then?”

James shook his head. “No, but I tried.”

Sara had been scanning the area, looking for a suitable place to sleep for the night when she suddenly looked up. “Can you explain what happened earlier? With the magician, I mean.”

James studied her, trying not to give anything away or be too obvious about it. He didn’t want to send her back into her previous zombie-like state. “It could have been different for both of us. What was it like for you?” he asked.

Sara wringed her hands nervously. “I don’t know how to describe it. It kind of felt like...I don’t know.” She looked up at him, her eyes glowing in the semi-darkness. “Like we were the same person. There was you, and there was me, but we weren’t separate.” Sara stopped wringing her hands and moved on to twirling strands of her chocolate brown hair. “I could hear your thoughts, feel what you felt. I felt like I was you, but me at the same time.” She looked up at him again, her eyes uncertain. “Does that make any sense?”

James nodded. “That’s exactly how I felt. I’m sure we can blame the connection for it.”

“But what if it’s not?” James saw worry flow her unnaturally bright green eyes.

“We’ll worry about that if it ends up being true,” he said.

“Maybe.” Sara looked up at him suddenly. “We should try it again,” she said, her eyes shining with enthusiasm.

“Try what?” James asked, a little taken aback by her sudden mood change.

“The weird thing that happened earlier. It was one of the few times that your magic actually worked.”

James nodded. “Yeah.”

“So you’ll try it?”

“It’s worth a shot.”

“Okay.” Sara looked around. “So where do we start?”

James shrugged. “Neither of us really thought about it. We were too focused on that magician. I don’t think we can do it willingly.”

Sara sighed. “I knew it couldn’t be that easy.” Somewhere beyond the trees, the sun set, allowing the sky to go dark, except for the millions of stars shining above them. “Would I be completely wrong if I guessed that something like that might happen again, though?” she asked.

“I don’t think you would be too far off,” James said.

She nodded, and turned to go. On an impulse, James said, “It wasn’t your fault.”

Sara turned back, looking at him gravely. “I know, but that doesn’t make it any easier.”

She shifted into her dragon form, then scanned the area until she found what she was looking for. She walked over to a bush, and pounced on it, flattening it completely into a kind of nest. Sara shifted back into a human and lay on the bed of leaves and crushed branches as if it was the most comfortable thing in the world. James didn’t know how anyone could find it cozy, but shrugged. Sara wasn’t anyone.

James didn’t try too hard to find a place for him to sleep. He simply scanned the clearing, then, finding nothing that immediately resembled a bed, lay down on a nearby patch of grass, twisting and squirming until he was in a position that made him adequately comfortable.

Sara had been watching him. “You’re going to sleep there?” she said it as if she couldn’t believe that James was sleeping on the ground, and not even trying to make a bed like she had done.

James looked up. “Yep. Why are you sleeping in a nest?” He looked over at Sara, and couldn’t help seeing her as a baby bird.

“It’s soft,” Sara said defensively.

James eyed the crushed bush. “A bunch of sticks. Soft? I’m not buying it.” James found that he was losing himself in the back and forth banter, feeling the old him coming back, replacing the serious James that had controlled his body ever since that encounter in the cave, so long ago.

“Well I like it,” Sara grumbled.

James grinned. “Good for you.”

Sara smiled, this one being genuine. Both went quiet, each one lost in their own thoughts, and occasionally, hearing the other’s as well. When Sara spoke, James had to strain his ears to hear her. “We’re so close.”

“Yeah,” James said. “I know. It almost seems too easy. Find the Stone, which is already pulling us to it, use it to fight Aevill, and win.”

“But what if we don’t win?” Sara asked. “What then?”

“Then we die, and you’ll get to see your parents again, and me as well,” James smiled. The thought of spending eternity with Sara appealed to him. He steered the conversation in a different direction. “And if we win, what are you going to do?” he asked.

Sara was silent for a moment. James turned to look at her, and saw that she was staring at the stars. “I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I haven’t really thought about it. I’d like to do something that I enjoy, something with my natural talents.” Sara looked up suddenly. “I wonder if I could do something with magic.” She turned to look at him. “What about you? What are you going to do?”

From somewhere behind the trees, the moon shined brightly. It was at just the right place, that it cast its white light on Sara, giving her an otherworldly look. She was beautiful. James had noticed that fact several times before, but her question forced him to think of something he hadn’t before. What would they be like when it was all over?

James forced his thoughts in a different direction. He was not ready to answer that question just yet. “I’ll do something with music. It could be fun to be a composer, make my own music and not to just use others’ all the time.”

Sara looked at him, her green eyes glowing, adding to the illusion that she could not possibly be real. An image forced itself into James’s mind. It was of him and Sara, together. It was brief, and James was not sure what it meant. He wasn’t even sure the thought was his own, or if it was planted there by something else.

James looked quickly at Sara. She didn’t seem any different, so James assumed she hadn’t seen what he just had. “That sounds like a good dream,” she said.

“Yeah,” James said absently, still thinking of what he had seen. “I thought so too.”

“Well,” Mr. Day said. “Something is interested in your future.”

James jumped up from where he was lying with a yell. He stared Mr. Day, and whispered angrily, “You need to stop doing that.” He glanced at Sara, and his face reddened. “Uh, talking to myself. Sorry.”

Mr. Day chuckled. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw Sara looking around, as if she had heard the ghost. She walked toward both James and Mr. Day. “Who are you talking to?” she asked James.

James smiled, a little uncertainly, at Sara. “I already told you. I was talking to myself.”

“Who?” Sara insisted.

James looked at her, then sighed. He was tired of keeping things from her. “Fine,” he said. “You already know that there’s a life after death.”

“No!” Mr. Day suddenly yelled. “Don’t tell her!”

Sara jumped, yet asked,“Don’t tell me what?”

James looked at her in surprise. “You can hear him?” he asked her.

Sara nodded. “Can’t everyone?”

“No,” James said.

“So who is he?”

“Just some ghost,” James said casually. “You wouldn’t know him. Lately he’s been following me around. He’s very interested in what we’re doing.”

“So what’s his name?”

“Don’t tell her,” Mr. Day told James darkly.

For once, James argued with the ghost. “She deserves to know.”

“Yes I do,” Sara said.

James didn’t know what happened next. It was like something took over his body, forcing him to do something he wouldn’t have otherwise. Not knowing what was going on, James crossed the remaining distance between himself and Sara, and kissed her.

James was just as surprised as Sara, but it worked better than magic could have. Distantly, he heard an angry noise, and felt the ghost leave. He didn’t care. He lost himself in the kiss, giving in to emotions that had been there for a while now.