The Dragon Heir Read online

  Barber crammed the last of the pizza into his mouth and wiped his fingers on the tablecloth. “Just remember, the longer it takes, the longer Grace and J.R. stay locked up.”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  To the Salt Mines

  One thing Jack had always appreciated about his mother, Becka, was her ability to make things happen, even when awakened from a sound sleep in the middle of the night. Looking back on it, he couldn’t even remember what he’d said to her. Or maybe it was his appearance—all muddy and bloody from the fight outside the perimeter. Anyway, it was enough to roust her from bed and send her to the phone. When she found it dead, she sent out runners and the result was this meeting around the kitchen table at Stone Cottage a scant hour later.

  The wind raked over the house, and hail clattered against the windows. Thunder growled out over the lake. It seemed like it was always storming, these days.

  It was a disparate group. Ellen prowled the room, flushed and restless, still pumped from the unfinished business outside the perimeter. Sweat glistened on her sinewed arms, and she mopped at her face with her shirt, despite the chilly breeze coming through the terrace doors. Her gray eyes were as turbulent as the surface of the lake.

  Jack understood—the blood still pounded through his veins, his rebellious body in endless preparation for battle.

  Nicodemus Snowbeard looked like he’d aged several hundred years, yet his black eyes still shone with the same old intensity. Nick had insisted that Leesha Middleton be included, though most everyone else would’ve voted against it. But the old man was a majority of one.

  For once, Leesha had little to say. She sat on the edge of the hearth, arms clasped around her knees. She kept looking over at Jason, as if trying to catch his eye, and Jason was looking everywhere but at her.

  Jason was his usual twitchy self, shifting his weight, checking the time on his cell phone. Nothing ever moved fast enough for him.

  Seph, brooding and dangerous, practically smoked with power.

  Mercedes Foster resembled a Manga construction worker in her coveralls, kasuri robe, and Japanese slippers. Iris Bolingame slumped in the corner, exhausted. She’d just come off the wall.

  Will and Fitch hung close to Jack and Ellen, as if determined not to be left out of whatever was to happen.

  Will’s father, Bill Childers, mayor of Trinity, and his uncle, Ross Childers, now chief of police, looked as awkward as two Baptists at a Hindu temple.

  “I think we’re all here,” Becka said to Jack. “Now suppose you tell us what’s going on.”

  “This had better be good,” Ross added gruffly, yawning behind his forearm and glaring at Will. “Real good.”

  Nick levered himself to his feet, using his staff. “Ross. Bill. Becka. These young people are about to tell you an extraordinary story. But I can assure you that it’s absolutely true. I hope you will listen to what they have to say with an open mind.” He nodded at Jack.

  “So,” Jack said, clearing his throat. “That is, we ...ah ...” He’d been keeping secrets so long that it was hard to let go of them. In desperation, he reached over his shoulder and drew Shadowslayer from his baldric, laying the great sword across the kitchen table. Ellen followed suit, pulling Waymaker from its scabbard and resting it next to Shadowslayer.

  Everyone stared at the two brilliant swords on the table, as if the weapons might speak.

  Becka found her own voice. “Jack. Where did these swords come from? They look like museum pieces.”

  Ellen rested her hand on the hilt of her sword and spoke, rather formally. “Waymaker was taken from a hoard of weapons in Raven’s Ghyll, in Cumbria, U.K. Near where you stayed with Mr. Hastings that time. It is one of the seven great blades, made by sorcerers under the rule of the dragon Aidan Ladhra. Jason ...ah ...found it and ...um ...”

  Her voice trailed away. Becka and Ross and Bill Childers stared at her like she’d grown another head. She looked down at the floor, the color coming up in her cheeks. Ellen hated speaking in front of people under the best of circumstances.

  Jack rested his right hand at the base of Ellen’s spine and touched the hilt of his sword with the other. “Mom. This is Shadowslayer. It’s another one of the seven. It belonged to Great-Great-Grandmother Susannah. We—Will and Fitch and I—dug it up from her grave, down in Coalton County.”

  “Susannah owned a sword?” Becka frowned suspiciously at Jack, then turned to look at Will and Fitch for the punch-line.

  “Susannah was a magical warrior,” Fitch said into the skeptical silence. “Like Ellen and Jack.”

  “They’ve been fighting off an army of wizards, Ms. Downey,” Will added. “Remember when we went down to Coal Grove with Aunt Linda to do genealogy? We found the sword, but then wizards attacked us, trying to steal it, and we had to hide in a church. Aunt Linda pulled up in the parking lot, and Jack, he flamed . . .”

  “Linda? What about Linda?” Becka interrupted. “You’re saying she’s a warrior too?”

  “Well.” Will cleared his throat. “Ah, no. She’s an enchanter.”

  “An enchanter,” Ross Childers said, grinding the heel of his hand into his forehead. “Right.” He’d asked Linda out— several times—before her relationship with Hastings became public knowledge.

  “We made it back to Trinity, but then wizards came after Jack here,” Fitch said. “Remember when those dudes tried to snatch him from the high school and Mr. Hastings chased them off?”

  Becka’s head came up and she wore that familiar lawyer expression that said she was about to drill an unreliable witness. Though she hadn’t totally bought the story they’d told at the time, she wasn’t buying this one either.

  “They were traders,” Will explained. “There was this huge price on Jack’s head, and they were going to sell him at auction. You see, wizards play warriors in these big magical tournaments. Called the Game.”

  “You’re telling me those men were wizards. And Leander Hastings chased them off?” Becka lifted her eyebrow.

  “Well, actually, they’re sort of buried under the school parking lot,” Jack admitted. “He had to do something with the bodies before the police came.” He shot an apologetic look at Ross, who’d been the commanding officer on the scene.

  “Mr. Hastings is a wizard, too,” Will said. “So is Nick.”

  Everyone turned and stared at Nick, who inclined his head slightly. “Indeed,” he said. “I’m afraid so.”

  Bill Childers looked from Nick to Will, then conjured up an explanation of his own. “You got us all out of our beds to talk about . . . about some kind of role-playing game?”

  “No,” Jason said from his spot against the wall. “It’s real. And there’s going to be a massacre if we don’t . . . if we don’t do something.”

  “Now hold on,” Bill glared at Jason, who never looked particularly reliable. “A massacre?”

  “Wizards have this town surrounded,” Mercedes said in her clipped fashion. “We put up a Weirwall, a magical barricade. That’s the only thing that’s keeping them out at the moment. Now the wizards have put up their own wall—a wizard wall. They mean to capture or kill everyone who tries to leave.”

  “Look,” Ross said, shedding his jacket and tossing it over a chair. His shirt had big sweat spots under the arms. “I’ve been in and out of town a dozen times over the past two weeks. I haven’t seen any one wall, let alone two.”

  “You can’t see the Weirwall,” Mercedes said. “It’s invisible to the Anaweir. The non-gifted. Those without Weirstones. Like you.”

  “The other wall went up tonight,” Jason said. “That one, you can see. I can show you, but we’ll have to be careful. They’re already out there waiting.”

  “You expect us to believe that someone built a wall all the way around the town since sunset.” Ross rolled up his sleeves, exposing his beefy arms.

  Mercedes sniffed. “Well. It is an ugly thing. Slipshod. But we have to assume it’s effective.”

  “You’ve seen this wa
ll?” Bill asked.

  “I have,” Jason said. “When they start grabbing the townies, there’ll be mass panic. We have to find a place to stash the Ana—the non-gifted—until this war is over. One way or another.”

  “We’re wasting time.” Seph spoke for the first time. “The morning commute begins in two hours. We’ve got sentries posted to turn people back, but anyone who slips through will be trapped inside the outer wall and taken. I’m not going to let that happen. I’ll immobilize them all if I have to.”

  Becka blinked at him. “Seph?”

  “Look,” Ross growled, exasperated. “I’ve known most of you kids all your lives, but I have to say, you’re scaring me. I’m thinking we should all get back to bed and see if those wizards have disappeared by morning.”

  “Listen with an open mind,” Nick repeated softly.

  “Hey.” Jason stared out the terrace doors toward the lake. “Come look at this.”

  They crowded onto the terrace, lining up against the wall, hunching their shoulders against the ice pellets drilled into them by the wind. Jason extended his hands. Light spilled from his fingers, gilding the tops of the waves across a gray expanse of water until it struck a thick black barrier a hundred yards from shore that stretched from horizon to horizon. It resembled storm clouds come to earth, or a layer of thick, roiling smoke with greenish lightning playing around its edges.

  “What the hell?” Ross stared out at the lake, scrubbing his palm across his bristled face. “Is that some kind of waterspout or squall line or . . .”

  “It’s part of the wizard wall,” Jason said flatly, “And it wouldn’t be a good idea to try and take your boat through that. It means there’s no escape by water.”

  “How’d you do that?” Bill demanded. “That thing with your hands?”

  “Magic,” Jason said matter-of-factly. “Get used to it, because you’re going to see a lot more of it, whether you like it or not.”

  Jack recalled his own experience, two years before, when Aunt Linda had told him that she was an enchanter, that Jack was a warrior, that wizards were hunting him down.

  There was just no way to ease into it.

  Jack ducked inside, retrieved Shadowslayer from the table, and strode back onto the terrace.

  “Stand back,” he said.

  Gripping the hilt with both hands, he swung the great sword in a wide, hissing arc, sending bolts of flame screaming across the dark waters to smash into the wall, feeling the familiar exhilarating release as he did so. Smoke and flame fountained into the night sky and smaller explosions reverberated along the rocky lakeshore. And again. Flame ripped into the night, exploded against the barrier, painting the waves in gaudy colors of red and orange. When the smoke dissipated, the wall remained, though a bit more ragged than before.

  “God almighty,” Bill said, after a moment of stunned silence.

  An acrid, burnt scent came back to them, carried by the onshore breeze. Dogs barked furiously, all along the shoreline.

  Becka slumped against the wall, bracing herself with her hands. Emotions tracked across her face. Astonishment. Fear. Regret. Guilt. “This has got to be a dream,” she said.

  “It’s okay, Mom,” Jack said, embarrassed, sitting down next to her and leaning Shadowslayer against the wall.

  Ellen took one look at the two of them, then firmly herded the rest of the group inside. “Take ten, Jack. We’ll bring the townies up to date.” She pulled the doors shut.

  “There’s not much time,” Jack said. “I’m sorry it had to come out like this.”

  “I must’ve been blind,” Becka said. She looked up at Jack. “When did you know?”

  “Not till my sophomore year. Warriors don’t manifest until they’re old enough to . . . um . . . fight.”

  “But what about after that? Why didn’t you tell me?” She caught his chin with her hand, and forced his face around so she could look him in the eyes. “I should have asked more questions. You’ve had to deal with this all on your own.”

  “Mom. You asked,” Jack said desperately. “About a hundred times you asked what was up. I just couldn’t tell you. I didn’t know how.” He looked down at his lean, muscular body. Designed for one purpose.

  “How was I supposed to tell you I’m a warrior? A hard-wired killer? This is so totally opposed to everything you believe in—that I’ve believed in, all my life.” He leaned his arms on the wall, his chin on his arms, staring out at the lake. “I mean, I wasn’t totally on my own. Linda knew, all along.

  And Nick was here, to keep an eye on me, I guess. He taught me some wizardry. And Hastings taught me how to fight.”

  “Hastings.” She let out a long breath. “What about Ellen?”

  “Ellen’s had the life I might’ve had if . . . things were different.” He paused, collected his thoughts. “They sent her here to kill me. And she could’ve. But she didn’t.”

  Seph stuck his head through the doorway. “Jack.”

  Jack stood, looking down at his mother. “All year you and Dad have been trying to get me to focus on my future, I don’t know if I have a future, if I’m even going to get through the year. I know we need to talk. And we will. But for now I want to say I love you. And I’m sorry.”

  Becka stood, reached her hands up, pulled his face down, and kissed him on his forehead. “I love you, Jack,” she said fiercely. “And I believe in you. Wizard, warrior, whatever.” And led the way back into the house.

  The others were gathered around the kitchen table, slugging down coffee in lieu of sleep. Something had happened in the interim. Wizardly Persuasion, perhaps. The mayor and the chief of police had moved from dogged skepticism to foot-dragging belief.

  “I still don’t get it,” Ross was saying. “Why would they attack a little college town in Ohio? What do they want?”

  Nick and Seph exchanged glances. “We have something they want,” Nick said gently. “A magical object that is said to be extraordinarily powerful. A small group of wizards hope to use it to seize control of the magical guilds. In effect, to rule the world.”

  “Can’t we use it against them?” Bill asked.

  Seph shook his head. “We don’t know how.”

  “Could we . . . couldn’t we give it to them?” Ross asked. “I mean, if it’s no good, anyway.”

  “That’s not an option,” Nick said. “You’ll have to trust me on that.”

  What does he know that he’s not telling us? Jack wondered.

  “We’re just a small-town police force,” Ross said. “We don’t have the manpower or equipment to handle major trouble. We need help. I could call the governor’s office. Bring in the National Guard.”

  “It wouldn’t do any good,” Seph said. “They might kill a few wizards with conventional weapons, if they took them by surprise. Then the Roses would immobilize and slaughter them. There’d be just that many more bodies on the ground.”

  Ross nodded, looking almost relieved, as if he didn’t want to contemplate that conversation with the governor. “Okay. What if the—ah—underguilds left? Wouldn’t the—wizards leaveTrinity alone?” The police chief was doing the best he could to master the jargon, to grapple with the monsters who’d come out from under the bed.

  “It’s too late for that now,” Jason said. “There are hundreds of wizards out there. There’s no way we can get through without being captured or killed.”

  “These are children, too, remember.” Becka leaned her hips against the kitchen counter. “Whatever powers they have, you can’t expect them to . . . fall on their swords.”

  “It doesn’t matter, Mom,” Jack put in. “We’d try to bust out if we thought it would do any good. We’d surrender if we thought it would save the town. But . . . they know we’re intertwined with the people here. And wizards are vindictive. The Anaweir are throwaways to them. Those they think they can use as hostages, they’ll take captive. The rest, well . . .” He found he couldn’t quite put it into words.

  But Jason could. “They’ll kill ev
eryone: men, women, children, down to the dogs and cats. There won’t be a building left standing. They’ll burn everything to the dirt. Then poison the ground so nothing grows here again. It’ll be like someone nuked the commons.”

  “Isn’t there anyone who can help?” Becka asked. “Where are Linda and Hastings?”

  “We don’t know, Becka,” Nick said softly. “They went to England, to secure a hoard of magical weapons, to keep them out of our enemies’ hands. So we’ll have to do the best we can on our own.” He patted her shoulder. “All is not lost. We have some principled wizards on our side. Seph may be young, but he’s quite powerful. And there’s Jason. Iris. And me,” he added, as if it were an afterthought.

  “And me,” Leesha said. She was still sitting on the hearth, but her chin came up stubbornly, like she was ready to pick a fight.

  “All right, Seph, Jason, Iris, me, and Leesha,” Nick said. “And a few others.”

  Dread coalesced in the pit of Jack’s stomach. A handful against hundreds. If they could even trust Leesha.

  “We have warriors,” Nick went on. “There’s Jack and Ellen, of course, and we also have a formidable army of ghost warriors. We have hundreds of sorcerers, enchanters, and seers. We hold a large collection of magical weapons, and we actually know how to use most of them.” Nick grinned, and Jack felt a little better.

  “All right, then,” Becka said, straightening, regaining her familiar focus. “Think. What can we do about the . . . people?

  We could put them in the Convocation Center, but that would just become an easy target.”

  “We need to hide them somewhere,” Ellen suggested. “Tell them some kind of story to make them stay put. How many basements would it take to hide ten thousand people?”

  “You know, I can’t picture telling citizens of Trinity we’re under attack by wizards,” Bill said. “Being drummed out of office is the least of it. I wish we could find a way to get them out of here.”

  And how, exactly, are we supposed to do that? Jack thought. Dig a tunnel under the wall? And how long would that take?

  That gave him a glimmer of an idea.