| [What am I supposed to do?] [There is a switch that will cause all of Swiftwing to be encased in eternal shadow. If we can turn it on, the black mages will have no reason to hide and we can hunt them down.] It was a sound idea . . . [Kitiane, where�s that boy of yours? I was counting on him coming with you to help!] [I lost him at the front gate.] [Then we better find him. If another dragon finds him first, they�ll think he�s in league with the black mages and kill him. Follow me.] We snaked up the wall and through a thin passage that barely allowed us any movement at all. When we reached the roof we leapt straight over the side and dove for the ground. I searched for Zidane, throwing my mental rope as far as it would go and sweeping back and forth repeatedly. [Tiovex, I don�t understand your plan. Zidane is a human. Won�t the switch only react to dragons?] [Not necessarily. He may be a human, but he has the dragons� green eyes and a tail--even if it is fuzzy--to prove that he�s not completely human. Because he drank your milk, no matter how long ago it was, the traits of dragons run through him. Therefore, he is technically a dragon.] [I see.] Finally, I found him. I veered in that direction, Tiovex and Gelgameth following closely. Down twisting back alleys to a dead end. There, sheltered in a small brick-type box against the wall, was Zidane. [Ziaden!] I put my head in the box and nudged him. [Ziaden?] He stirred weakly. � M . . . Mother?� � I�m here, Ziaden,� I replied, relief coloring my voice. I tugged him out gently, very aware of the bruises and lacerations he had--surprisingly enough, his clothes had escaped punishment--and began to lick all the dirt off him, making his skin turn pink from the roughness of my tongue. � I�m okay, Mother. Really, I am.� [Oh, shut up. That�s what you always say.] � And you never believe it.� [Can�t help that you�re always getting yourself into trouble.] He laughed and threw his arms around my neck, giving me an affectionate squeeze that would�ve killed a human. � Is everything my fault?� [Why? Do you want it that way?] � Nah. I guess not.� He got up and climbed onto my back. � Oh yeah. This�ll make you mad. Wanna hear it?� I moved the necklace up to the front of my mouth and held one end of the leather in my teeth. � Oh. Never mind then.� He took it and tied it around his neck again, then tucked it into his shirt. � There.� Tiovex, Gelgameth, and I returned to the castle roof. They crawled down the hole and dropped to the floor. I peered in; I could never get through with Zidane on my back. Luckily, I raised a genius. � You can crawl backwards, right?� he asked, assessing the situation. [Yes.] � Hold my tail with yours and crawl backwards.� [That�s a nice idea, but your tail would slip out of mine.] � Okay then. Hold my ankles and crawl down backwards.� See what I mean by genius? I wrapped my tail around his ankles and watched him slither into the hole. I followed, keeping three taloned feet in the wall at all times. I never freed a foot until I was sure the rest were secure. Progress was slow, but no one complained. Except Zidane. � Hey, we have to help the other dragons remember? Move it or lose it! . . . Stop being so careful, you�re just begging for something bad to happen. . . . If you go any slower, moss�ll start growing on you. . . .� Evidently, I was the only one who got particularly annoyed. [Would you just shut up and let me do what I want without your chatter for five minutes?!] � Mmm . . . No!� he cried much too cheerfully. � Oh, is there an en-route play? I�m getting really bored down here. . . . All the blood is rushing to my head. My feet are numb and my vision seems to have had a little too much to drink. . . . Hey! I see a light at the end of the tunnel!� I rolled my eyes. [Don�t even joke about that!] � Why? I thought it was pretty funny.� We got to the bottom and I let Zidane go. He landed smoothly on his feet, but immediately started wavering dangerously from side to side. � Man,� he complained weakly, obviously feeling quite sick, � can�t the damn world just stop spinning and let me try to figure things out for once?� I nudged him up onto my back and Tiovex led us to the switch. By that time, Zidane had calmed down and was looking around in awe at the room. I, too, was awed. All colors and sub-colors of the rainbow streaked through the blackness, lighting up the area around it briefly. Tiovex instructed us on what to do. [The switches are all over the room, in no real order. When you find one, step on it. It should light up. Once your square begins to glow, close your eyes. The light that enters here will be very bright and could blind you.] [Understood.] � Gotcha,� Zidane said at the same time, wandering off into the dark. The room was a maze of clear walls, but he easily navigated around them, stopping at a dead end. The rest of us had already found a switch and were standing on it, our eyes closed, waiting for something to happen. � Uh . . . guys? Mine�s not doing anything.� I wondered what could possibly cause his switch to not light up. [Come over here. Let me try it.] So we switched. But his still wouldn�t light up. Mine was okay, though it hadn�t done anything for Zidane. I looked around, wondering what Zidane wasn�t doing that the rest of us were. I watched him shift from foot to foot and got an idea. I rose onto my rear legs. <--Part 14 Part 16--> |
| A team can do anything a solitary being can and cannot. Be a power of one--together. ~Dragon's Teaching's, pg. 57 Part 15 |