Chapter 7
Rescuer Versus Revenger
I looked around me. The night was ending fast. Trees everywhere. I'd covered a lot of ground in only ten minutes. I searched for some sign, something to tell me where to go next.
[Mom, you'd better hurry!]
[Where are you?] I asked
[Woods, somewhere around you. I know you're close. Keep looking!]
I couldn't see much. Not with human eyes anyway. I ran through the woods at an amazing speed. I guess I shouldn't have run so out of control, for I ran straight into them. Instead of completing a rescue mission, I ended up causing a collision. I ran right into the invisible Teran. He had a guard to his right who was holding my daughter. I crashed into Teran, who rammed against the guard, causing my daughter to break free and fall. I recovered quickly, but so did Teran.
[Run! Now!] I commanded my daughter.
Topaz stood and began changing to unicorn. Teran growled while running towards her. I jumped in front of him, knowing where he was by the sounds he made. Teran stopped an inch before hitting me. I could feel his breath in my face. He could do anything he wanted. Teran would not e stopped. I heard tiny footsteps to my right. I turned my head and gasped. Standing in the middle of nowhere with an invisible Dragon, a Unicorn, and a Queen was Eliza! She was clutching a stuffed animal. I was too distracted to hear the scratching of scales upon scales as Teran moved his arm. He knocked me to the ground. Eliza ran forward and gave a little kick to the Dragon. He picked her up. Apparently he had her up to his face, for she squinted and turned her head. I know from personal experience that dragon breath is not pleasant. I watched as Eliza did something I'd never have predicted in a million years. She reached her head forward an inch or so and kissed the dragon on the nose.
"Eliza!" I said in disgust while holding my hurting stomach.
Teran began reappearing instantly. He was whole after five seconds had gone by.
"What in the....!" exclaimed the dragon.
Out of shock, he dropped Eliza. She scrambled over to touch my hand. I felt instantly better. I just stared at her. Teran turned to look at us. He sneered and reached for Eliza. He grabbed her before I could stop him. Throwing her against a tree, he quickly knocked my little friend in unconsciousness. I jumped at him, he dodged. The fight began. I jumped out of reach and changed as quickly as I could to unicorn. The guard attacked me before I was fully formed. He came from the sky, so I lifted my horn and stabbed him. He died instantly. Teran jumped at me, but I was fully unicorn now. I dodged. He reached for my mane and caught it at the last instant. I turned my head and used my horn to stab him in the wrist. Teran let go. I turned around. He jumped out of reach of my kick. I was knocked to the ground. Teran clawed at the air. I looked up and found Kiol attacking Teran from the air. Someone was beside me. I turned to look but was told to change to Clyuire. I was so panicked, I did exactly what the unicorn said. We both changed to Clyuires. I opened my wings to fly. Teran reached over to grab me, but I was out of his reach. I felw up after the other clyuire, who by now was way ahead of me. I felt awful leaving Kiol there to fight Teran by himself, but I knew that he must have had a plan. I flew faster and caught up to the other Clyuire in no time at all. The Clyuire stopped and dove straight down. I dove down after it. We landed in a tree and hopped down to the ground. I changed to unicorn, and the other Clyuire did the same.
"Resda!"
"Long time no see, Mi'lady," she replied.
I chuckled with her. She sobered up and stared at me, waiting for the story.
"Oh Resda, so much has happened. The creatures from Zooloo are coming. I'm scared because Trinian was captured by them. Eliza, the girl you probably didn't see, is unconscious and there is nothing I can do to help her right now. Topaz is gone, I don't know where. Kiol is back there fighting that monster. What are we going to do, Resda? What can we do?"
Resda came up to me and lay her neck on my back. She sighed and tried to comfort me by telling me we'd find some way to save them all. I knew it was possible, but I certainly wasn't up to it at that moment. Suddenly, I remember Eliza's family. I changed to dog. Resda almost fell when I suddenly grew shorter. She watched as I quickly changed, then began trotting off through the woods. Resda hurried to catch up, then asked me where I was going.
"I'm heading towards town. Eliza's parents will be so upset when they find out their daughter is missing. I have to do something to comfort them until I can get Eliza back."
Resda was silent. I think maybe she thought I was losing my touch. After all, I had just been through an awful lot. I decided to ignore her silence and think about what I would do when I reached Eliza's house.
"Arrrrrr, rrrroooooooooowwwwwwwwrr!" I growled, then howled.
The man groggily answered the door. I looked at John with sympathetic dog eyes. He let me in and closed the door. I turned around and scratched at the door. He opened it again. In came Resda as a golden retriever. The man smiled.
"Brought home a friend, did you?" he asked.
In came Jan, his wife. She smiled sweetly when she saw Resda and I. I looked around, wondering what I should do. It took some quick thinking, but I pulled it off without giving anyone a heart attack in the end.
[No, you can't do that!] I heard Resda silently tell me.
I gathered all my energy and changed as fast as I possibly could. I went from dog to person in two seconds flat. The people just stared at me.
"I know this is weird, but I had to do that. Look, your daughter's in great danger. I will rescue her, make no mistake about that. Bu I need you to remain calm."
They only stared. Resda turned away, mad that I had not listened to her. The couple looked me up and down. I was a full grown woman in a navy blue dress and cloak. I had hair a little past my shoulders and a serious face.
"Where did you come from?" asked John.
"I come from Marana. I guess I have time to explain tonight, if you'll listen,"I suggested.
The couple slowly nodded and pointed to the table. I walked over to the table and called Resda to come over.
[I'm not crazy, Sariah. You've gone way out of line this time.]
[Be quiet! You listen to me and get over here now! I hate to do this, but I'm going to let you have your way and be a dog. You'd better get over here though, or I'm kicking you out of this entire mission.]
[Man, why you got to be so harsh?!] complained Resda.
[Resda! We go back a long time. In fact, I dearly respect you. But I feel it's my duty to tell you when you're way out of line. Get over here now. I am the Queen. To you, I'm a friend. But that doesn't take away my responsibility to make sure you don't get killed. Now, come on!]
[So what, you're allowed to tell me when I'm out of line but I'm not able to tell you?] she demanded.
[That's not the way it is, Resda. I can't take back that I've already become human, okay? Just get over here. I'm sorry for being so harsh, but I don't want these two to be oblivious to everything going on around them. I feel it's my duty to inform them of their daughter's condition to a certain extent.]
Resda growled and walked to my chair. She didn't look happy at all. John and Jan came over to the table and sat down in the chairs opposite me. Resda lay down beside me.
"Is she a human too?" asked Jan.
I nodded and said,"This is my friend Resda."
She growled but didn't silently say anything to me.
I took a deep breath and began my story by saying,"It all happened a long time ago. Let me give you the jist of things. I was about fourteen years old or so when I met my first unicorn. I met dragons and many other creatures. I chose to stay and fight with the unicorns in a fight called the Good and Evil War, GEW for short. Near the end of this war, I met the dog you see beside me. She helped me defeat my arch rival. I hated hi, but in the end, he proved to have a heart like any other creature does. He said there would be another after him. He had a son, you see. His son is now trying to avenge his father. I fought him about an hour ago. Your daughter is with him. I will save her. Don't worry about that. I just have to come up with a plan first. I also have a few friends who are in captivity. Lastly, my daughter is missing. I can't find her anywhere. I'll find them all someday. I plan to get your daughter first. I just thought you should know what's going on."
The couple looked at me in stunned silence.
"How can you possibly save them all?" asked the woman in nearly a whisper.
"Because I'm Queen of Marana. I am also the Dragon Slayer," I told her.
Resda stood up. I hadn't realized she had changed while lying beside my chair. She was now fully human and no longer looked angry.
"Yes, she's the ancient Dragon Slayer. You ave heard nothing about her, but she is the only one who can possibly lead is in Marana. She's powerful, loving, and just. We trust her very much, and when she says she'll get your daughter back to you, she means it."
I smiled at Resda, and she winked. I was glad to have her on my side once again.
"You can do that?" asked John incredulously.
I nodded. The couple looked at each other, then rubbed their eyes. After a minute or two of silence, they decided it was time for bed again. They let Resda and I into Eliza's room and told us we could sleep there. We thanked them continuously, then lay down to get some sleep.
I woke to find that I'd only slept an hour. It was eight in the morning. I yawned and looked up at the bed. Resda was fast asleep. Feeling hungry, I rose from the floor, put my blanket on Resda, and went out to make myself some breakfast. I'd not cooked before. As a girl, my mother had not taught me. Since then, I'd had people make me food. When I looked in the refrigerator, I couldn't find anything easy. I found strange food in the cupboards. Something called Poptarts. I ditched that idea, because I'd never heard of them before and didn't know how to prepare them. Still hungry, I went outside to get some fresh air. I closed the door behind me and took a deep breath.
"Heeeeeelp meeeee."
I froze and listened carefully.
"Drrrragon Slayerrrr, save mee!"
It was a werewolf! I'd not seen one in so long. I turned my head, looking this way and that.
"Where are you?" I asked.
The werewolf said to come to the front of the house. I hurried around to the front and gasped.
"3908! Oh how I've missed you!" I exclaimed.
The werewolf chuckled and said,"I did not think you would rrrrrememberrr me, Miss Sarrrah, uurrrrr Sarrrriah."
I laughed, threw up my arms, and said,"I could never forget you! Thought I can't remember your leader's name. I've only remembered you and hoped you didn't hold a grudge against me for scaring you that one time."
"Hehhehe, no way. You arre the Drrragon Slayerrrr. I could neverrr hold a grrudge against you," he said, smiling broadly.
"But, what's wrong? Why do you need me to save you?"
The otherrrs have escaped, but I did not have the time. I was capturrred by Terrran Mei. You know, Clyte's son. He is trrying forrmulas on us. Trrrying to find out what things do orrr don't affect us. I don't know why, but I was injected with something. I don't know what, but I need help! It can't be good! Please help me, Miss Sarrriah?"
"How did you get away?"
"I didn't get away."
"Then what happened?" I asked, my head spinning from the news.
"He let me go, Miss Sarrriah. He caught me, stuck me with a needle, and let me go."
I raised an eyebrow in surprise, wondering what Teran was trying to accomplish.
� shuddered suddenly and fell to the ground. I knelt down and grabbed his shoulders, lifting his back slightly off the ground. I heard the door open behind me and a gasp. I scooted over to the right side of my friend and glanced over my left shoulder to see John and Jan recoil.
"It's alright; he's a friend," I told them.
It did no good, they stepped back inside the house and disappeared from sight. Resda came to the door and looked out. She hurried to my side when she saw 3908 on the ground.
"What happened?" she asked in alarm.
"Teran's doing some sort of shot tests. He injected something into 3908, and now he's unconscious."
Resda helped me carry 3908 across the road and a little ways down the block toward a forest. There, we dropped 398 and covered him with some leaves and branches, hoping that would be camouflage enough. Without hesitation, we hurried back to the house and got Johan and Jan to follow us down to the forest.
"John, Jan, this is going to be strange for the both of you. If you do this, you'll save this wolf's life. Do you believe that I am the Dragon Slayer?"
They looked at one another before nodding their heads to me.
"Good, then you believe I can do most anything?"
Another nod from the both of them.
"That's great. Stay here with him. His name is 3908. Just make sure he keeps breathing. If he wakes up, tell him Dragon Slayer is away and will be back soon. Tell him I have ordered him to stay put and rest. I will be back soon, and tell him not to worry. Tell 3908 your names and keep him distracted. Werewolves aren't too good at following orders or at remembering things. Remind him over and over again who you are, who told you these things, and that he is supposed to stay here. Do you think you can do that?"
John hugged his wife and nodded. He licked his lips and commented,"Our daughter will be back soon. We trust you."
I smiled and hugged them both gently. Then I looked down at 3908 and felt a tear slip down my cheek. I felt bad for my friend and hoped he would last until I returned. I bent down and kissed 3908 on the cheek. He had been such a good friend. The two humans understood my sorrow and looked sadly up at me. I smiled weakly and looked over at Resda. She nodded to me, and we ran off through the woods. We didn't want to scare the humans anymore than we already had.
[I'm so sorry this happened, Miss Sariah] said Resda.
[Not your fault. Come on, we've got a lot of things to do] I responded.
I knew Resda knew the pain I was feeling. I also knew she knew I was trying to hide t. It didn't matter, though. I had a lot of lives at stake. I couldn't think of such trivial things. But I couldn't help feeling that lump in my throat swell and my eyes begin to get watery again. Resda looked about to say something, but I turned my head and smiled at her. She stared down at the forest floor and became lost in her thoughts. I had to come up with a plan and desperately fast. What would I do? I thought about my friends, my family, and the other creatures I'd included in my tangled up mess of a rescue mission. No longer confident in myself, I changed to unicorn and soared with Resda over the treetops. I hoped to save my family. I hoped to save my friends. I had to save that little girl.
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