Chapter 8
Treetops and Freestops
I was soaring above the clouds. Resda was by my side, and all felt like the old times we'd spent sailing over the grasses of Marana. But something was terribly wrong and different now. Everyone I'd ever loved was in some kind of turmoil. My mind was not resting, and neither was my heart. I had tears in my eyes most of the time, just thinking about the awful mess I'd created. I was supposed to be Queen of Marana, but I did not feel fit for the title at that moment in time. I had let everyone I'd ever loved down, and now I was trying so hard to fix it. I tall seemed impossible. New and old friends alike had escaped my rescuing hand and had been captured by that fiendish dragon, Teran. I could think no more; I could barely fly. My mind swirled with possibilities for rescues and plans. I thought over every possible advantage over the enemy.
[We're doomed!] I accidentally thought to Resda.
She whipped her head over to look at me and yelled into my head [Get your mind out of self pity and start thinking of something to do! You are Queen of Marana, but you sure aren't acting like it! We've been through too much together for me to let you quit on me now, Sariah. If you're the true Queen of Marana, you'd better start proving yourself and fast. You made a promise to those parents, and I'm going to make sure you see it through to the end. Queen or no Queen, I am your friend. If you won't listen to me, who will you listen to? Buck up and get thinking. We've got a lot of planning to do, and we've got to do it real fast!]
I felt courage racing through my bones again as I called into Resda's head [You're right! Resda, what do you say we kick some dragon butt!]
Resda laughed aloud and asked,"Where to now, Miss?"
I thought for a second and yelled the directions out loud to Resda. She smiled, turned with me, and we headed for Teran's cave. It was time to do some serious damage.
"Waaaaaaaatch out!" I called over to Resda.
She jumped just in time and yelled,"Sar, ger oer hher!"
She'd taken a hit to the mouth a moment ago, so I deciphered her slurred speech and ran to her rescue. I thrashed my legs out and wildly cleared a path to Resda.
"Help! Help me, Bambi!" cried a little voice to my back left.
I halted and spun around, sliding on the stone floor. Resda's hooves scrabbled on the floor as she tried to turn also.
"Eliza!" I called over.
She had one big scaly hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming and was struggling against the dragon.
"Let her go!" wailed Resda.
"I'll do no such thing!" sneered a very angry, every big, very advantageous Teran.
I was getting ready to lunge forward when I felt hot breath on my neck. I froze and drew in breaths amazingly fast. Jikson was right behind me. I knew he had his mouth around my neck. One bite and it would all be over. I watched as Teran Mei made his way over to me. Resda trotted over so she was forty feet over from me on my right. She stood there snorting and pawing the ground. Eliza had tears running down her cheeks as Teran dragged her toward me. I watched her reach her arms out to me, only to get them slapped by Teran, which made her cry all the more. I was in a real predicament now. With Eliza in Teran's grasp, Teran approaching, Jikson about to seal my death wish, and Resda not able to do a thing about it, I knew there was nothing left that I or Resda could do. But I had forgotten my ace. It was sitting in my pocket, just waiting to spring at the right time. Then, my ace sprung.
Teran was instantly on the floor; Eliza slid across the floor fifty feet away from him. I ran toward her and gathered momentum. I quickly worked on changing to centaur; I made it just in time. Eliza was scooped into my arms and I did a one eighty turn. I almost fell on my right side by making such a sharp left turn, but I was able to regain my balance and shift my weight over. Working to gain momentum again, I ran. I was only two feet from Teran when I sprang from the ground. Teran must have gotten a hand free, because he grabbed my leg and yanked downward. I cried out and felt myself falling toward the stone floor. I tossed Eliza into the air and watched Resda change to centaur and catch her.
[Watch out, Mom! Get Resda out of here too!] yelled Topaz as she continued to fight Teran.
The slaves and warriors of Teran's group were swarming into the room. I watched Resda escape with Eliza out of the corner of my eye. It was much too late to get my feet under me, and I hit the floor. Everything seemed to have gone in slow motion, but now it sped up to a dizzying speed. I heard Topaz whinny. Teran's dragons rushed into the room and gathered around us. Teran was helped to his feet. I was kicked in the side. My daughter and I were pinned to the floor by two dragons each. We both looked into the foot of a dragon, and everything from there on went black.
[Mom, I can't see anything] Topaz silently whispered to me.
I swallowed deeply and answered [Neither can I, but it should wear off soon.]
[What caused this blindness I'm feeling?] she asked.
[When they knocked us out, they jolted our brains, which makes for temporary impairment of our sight] I answered.
She nudged my shoulder and got up. I heard every movement she made. I stood to my feet too, struggling to see something. I took a step and jumped back.
[What is it Mom?!] asked Topaz after hearing me jump.
[Nothing, just a tree] I told her.
We stumbled around for a moment and tried to get our bearings. Neither of us could see as of yet. I sniffed all around.
[No dragons. They've left us here to die. Watch out, it could be a cliff. I've already had this trick played on me before by Teran] I commented.
Topaz shuffled up beside me and rubbed her head against my neck. "I'm so scared," she told me.
"So am I. Darling, I'm scared, but still so glad to have you back by my side."
I felt like Topaz was smiling at me, and I'm sure she knew I was smiling back as I said,"Be brave. Let's walk together."
"What if we fall?!" she asked in alarm.
"Trust me," I encouraged her.
"Alright," she answered.
I felt her quivering stop, and she slowly took a step. I stayed right beside her the entire way. Step after step we took. When we stepped on a stick, we would instantly hop back and check it out carefully with our hooves. We discovered no cliff, and our eye sight gradually came back to us. Finally, we were both back to perfect sight.
"You're sure you're okay?"
"I'm positive! Moooom, that's like the fifth time you've asked me!" responded Topaz.
I laughed and sidled up to her, saying,"I just missed you so much."
Topaz laughed her funny unicorn laugh and changed down to her human self. She was so beautiful in any form she took. I shrank to my human self too and held her hand.
"So, dear, what happened back there?"
"Well, I got away from the guards by changing into a dragon and distracting them. I was on my way out when I saw you and Resda in big trouble. I saw Eliza in Teran's grasp, and I knew he was controlling your actions by holding her hostage. So, I aimed my shot and used as much speed as I've ever used. I hit him directly where I wanted to, but I felt bad for Eliza. I hope she's okay. Anyway, I'm so glad you and Resda are alright. I missed you so much!"
"Is that all? They didn't torture you or anything?"
"Oh no, well, they didn't quite yet. They were going to tonight, but I luckily got away. I was afraid of it so much, but I determined I wouldn't crack. Have you ever been tortured?"
It was a quick change of subject, but I answered,"Yeah, I've been tortured countless times."
I pulled away my navy blue cloak and showed her the slight scars on my arms. Thanks to some salve and cream put on my arms when I'd first gotten the scratches, the scars weren't too big.
"Oh Mom! How did you get those?"
"Torture, dear. Never trust a dragon. Not even if they seem nice. I would advise you to be wary of dragons in our own perimeters too."
"You mean we have dragons in Marana, Mother?" asked an incredulous Topaz.
"Yes, Topaz. We have respectful and wonderful dragons in Marana, but you must always keep your guard up around them. Dragons are very good deceivers and were born to lie. Never fully trust one. Always look for a trap, and keep your guard up at all times. Understood?"
"Yes, Mom, I get it. So, what kind of torture did you go through to get those nasty looking scars?" asked Topaz.
"Well, it was the nastiest sort of torture, I guess you could say. Remember Clyte, the dragon I told you about?"
"Yes, I remember him. The one that was your enemy for so long?"
"Yes, that's him. He held me captive when I was about fifteen years old. I was one of his worst enemies, and he needed some valuable information out of me. He would grab my arm and drag his claws down into my skin. He would rip the skin to shreds all the way down my arms. From my elbows to my wrists, that's how far his claws would slice. Then...after he'd done that..."
I paused for a second and calmed my shuddering body. The memories were awful, and I began itching my scars, remembering how much they'd hurt.
"Then after he'd done that," I repeated,"he grabbed my arms and dipped them both in a salty baking soda filled water. I'm not sure what he got that was so salty, but it made my arms sting so amazingly bad. The first time he didn't get a word out of me. I just screamed and screamed. The second time a dragon friend saved me by causing a diversion and getting me out of there. I would have cracked that time, had it not been for good ole Trewan. He had sent Zalon crashing through the roof with a huge rock and a Clarque."
I smiled, remembering that wonderful break from the torture. Then I looked over to Topaz. She looked amazingly tired, and I decided we'd better find a place to rest. After I'd sent a quick message to her head, I changed to unicorn and had her hop on my back. I could tell she was enjoying the ride, and she enjoyed it even more when I leaped into the air and spread my wings. I flew around, my daughter on my back, looking or a nice place to rest.
Suddenly I jerked my wings into my body and fell straight toward the ground.
"Mom!" squealed Topaz.
I turned my head to look at her and winked. She stared at me and held on tighter. We fell and fell. She didn't trust me, and I was a bit sad at that fact. When we were five feet from the ground, our falling stopped. I heard Topaz gasp, and she clutched my neck.
"What's going on, Mom?"
She was trembling, and I decided to explain.
"It's just a Freestop, dear," I told her.
She sat up straighter and asked in a quivering voice,"What's a Freestop?"
I smiled and took a step. Topaz clutched my mane, but we didn't fall. We were five feet above the ground and standing on nothing but air.
"Why, what we're standing on, Topaz," I said.
She looked underneath me to find nothing under us. I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she slid from my back and checked to see how stable the Freestop was.
"Why am I able to stand here? And please don't say because we're on a Freestop. I need an explanation, please."
I smiled and took a step away from her. She lost her balance but regained it quickly. I could tell she was still afraid she would fall. After all, we were five feet above the ground. She didn't want to make any sudden moves and fall on her neck. My daughter was a bit cautious for a teen, but I guess I'd raised her that way.
"Uh oh, Freestop's moving. We better get in the air again, Topaz."
Topaz wobbled and fell on the Freestop. I wobbled my way over to her and let her climb on my back. She hopped aboard and relaxed. My daughter wasn't too used to seeing new things.
"So Mom," Topaz asked me when we were in the air,"what is a Freestop, anyway?"
I smiled as I continued flying and answered her question, saying,"A Freestop is a patch of air. It is very hard to detect, and if you are wrong, you could die. Though, only if you were careless enough not to stop falling towards the ground when you found it wasn't a true Freestop.
Freestop's are caused by gateways that are opened into other dimensions. When a gateway is closed, a Freestop will happen afterward. A Freestop is created by the other dimension's air. Because every dimension has slightly different air from every other dimension, the air is stable for about fifteen minutes. We can stand on the air for that amount of time. It makes for good resting spots."
"But I don't really understand how that can be?" pondered Topaz.
"Well, I'll explain it a little better then," I told her and continued flying. "The air from other dimensions is so different, that when mixed with any other kind of air it creates invisible matter. Sometimes it happens to matter brought into another dimension, but that doesn't happen very often. When the two kinds of air mix, the matter is invisible. After all, you can't see air. Do you remember when we saw Trinian coming from Zooloo?" I asked her.
"Yeah, I remember that," Topaz answered.
"Well, that's the way this air works. Trinian was between the two dimensions, so he was transparent. If he had come into our world, he would have been totally solid again. Sometimes the middle world, which is between every dimension, has a thing happen. This thing is a Torino, which is a flash in the other world. When a Torino happens, the object coming through from the other dimension is invisible. It only stays invisible for fifteen minutes, unless it came through a monstrous Torino. Then it can stay that way forever, unless something happens to disturb the substance inside whatever came through the dimension."
"So the true Teran Mei came from another dimension during a Torino?" asked my thoughtful daughter.
"Very good!" I answered.
"How can you get rid of the effects of a Torino, Mom?" asked Topaz.
"Well, if you die, the Torino's effects wear off within five minutes. I've seen it happen once before. If you aren't planning on dying any time soon, you can come see me. I can make the effects of the Torino wear off in a couple of days. It's a Dragon Slayer thing. There is also a girl named Eliza, who I met just recently, that can reverse the effects of a Torino. If neither one of us is around, you can return to the dimension you originally came from. Hopefully there won't be a Torino then too. If you have the ffects of a Torino and you return to another dimension when another Torino's going on, you will become part of the flash in between dimensions."
"Why is that?"
"That's how the flashes keep reappearing. The flashes create Torinos. They have to continue making others of themselves, so when a big torino comes, you will be invisible in the next world you enter. That is the beginning of how you become a flash, the creatures that create Torino's."
"Then what happens?" asked my curious Topaz.
"Ummm, then if you go back through when the effects of the first Torino haen't worn off and there's another Torino going on, you disappear into a flash."
"What happens after that?"
"Well, flashes are living creatures. The flashes will transport you to their world, which cannot be reached unless you go through the process of becoming one of them or you jump directly there. Once you are one of them, I suppose you are stuck there for quite some time. You return after a while as a flash, then go into any random dimension, returning normal at last."
"A random dimension, huh? Would you miss me if I turned into a flash?"
"Oh yes! Both your father and I would be devastated," I exclaimed.
"What are the chances of actually becoming a full flash and traveling to their world?" Topaz asked.
I looked curiously over my shoulder at her and answered,"One in at least a thousand. There has only been one from our kingdom that has become a flash. Luckily she reappeared back in Marana."
"Who was it, do I know her?"
"Yes, it was Resda herself. If you want to know more about the Torino's and flashes, ask her. In the meantime, let's get some rest. We've got some dimension jumping to do after our sleep."
Topaz rubbed my neck. I could tell she was still wondering about the Torino's. I hoped she would never have problems with them. If she did, there would be big trouble.
We landed in a patch of tall, green grass and ate some dinner there. Then I turned human and we hid in the grass together. While my daughter was falling asleep, I hugged her close to me and merely hoped nothing involving Torino's would happen on our way back to Marana. Then I gave her a kiss on the cheek and lay my head in the grass for some sleep.
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