"Morning- Part 10" by Rosemary Williams

            Magira screamed. The whole group stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the ball of flame that covered where Tara once stood. An inhuman shriek ripped through the air. Suddenly out of the fire ball slithered a dark head and a long neck. A scaley back followed dorned by bat like wings. As the fire disappeared, a long tail whipped at the air and the creature let out another shriek. A dragon, the very creature they had left their town to run from. For a moment it stood on its hind legs, frozen as if unsure what to do. Then it lowered its head to look at the two horsemen. The horses were mad with fright, they reared back nearly knocking their riders off. The dragon itself looked a little taken back. It paused for a moment, looking wildly around. After a moment it seemed to regain its composure. It raised its dark head and let out a deafening roar. The horses were gone. The students stood behind the dragon, frozen in fear and confusion. The dragon turned toward them. For a moment it looked as if it were thinking very hard, then it began to shrink. It disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kayla was the first to venture forward, taking slow steps toward the disipating smoke cloud.

            Beneath the cloud was Tara, on her hands and knees, panting. Kayla ran up to her and slowly reached out a hand to touch Tara’s quivering shoulder. Tara flinched. Slowly she sat back on her heels and looked at Kayla. "Did you see that too?" she asked, as if hoping that it had been a dream. Kayla nodded and offered a hand up. The two girls met up with the rest of the group, who were all standing in perfect silence. "We need to move." Tristana said, turning after a moment and walking toward the trees. "They may send someone after us."

            No one said a word as they jogged through the woods, now more than ever desperate to reach the safety of the castle. Thoughts swirled wildly through Tara’s mind. All these years she lived thinking she was a mage who just couldn’t do magic. She had lived among people who hated what she just discovered she was. Only a couple times had the thought occurred to her that she could be of the dragon- kind, but she had always pushed that thought from her mind. And now what? The other students had hated her before, now what would they do to her?

            Tristana’s freckled face stared grimly at the stone roof jutting out below her. This was going to be so dull this time. She tugged the straps of her backpack, and the group slumped down the slope, leaving behind a dark looking girl who walked alone in the back. This had been so exciting a few months before, now they all stood at the edge of the water staring blankly at the submerged roof. Tara came up behind the group, pulling out one of the bags the head mistress had given her and Tristana. The two girls studied the roll of paper for a few minutes while the rest of the group whispered among themselves and looked for movement in the woods.

            Tristana stepped toward the water and stopped when the toes of her boots touched the water. She held the paper out in front of her and began to read the spell. It was as if a wind was blowing the waters aside at her feet. The undetectable wind shot out from by Tristana’s toes and revealed a four foot wide path of dry roof. When the path reached the edge of the roof, it paused for a moment, then shot downwards. Tristana walked slowly down the dry path with everyone following her nervously. At the edge of the roof, she looked down and saw that the water had created shimmering stairs that lead right to the waterless doorway. Tristana put a cautious foot out toward the first step and touched it nervously. It was solid. "Not to hurry anything." Aidan interjected. "But we really shouldn’t stall. We don’t want anyone to see this." Tristana nodded quickly and shot down the stairs as if they would turn back to liquid any second. After everyone was inside, she called off the spell and they watched the waters slosh back into place, leaving a wall of water that stopped at the door frame. Tristana didn’t like the look of it, so she shut the door.

            Tormar used his powers to fix glowing lights around the room so they could see. "So…" Tristana said, unsure of what to do.
"What the hell was that?" Aidan shouted, turning on Tara. "Why are you even still with us? Aren’t you what we’re trying to get away from?"
"Look, I had no idea-" Tara began.
"How are we supposed to know that’s true? How hard is it to pretend you don’t have any abilities?"
"If I knew what I was why would I be here?"
"To spy maybe? I bet you’re an informant. You brought this war to us didn’t you?"
"How dare you even-"
"Whoa! Stop!" Tristana shouted, jumping between the two girls as they were headed for each other’s throats. "Both of you just stop. It’s been a hard day. Go claim a room and relax a little."
"I don’t think I can relax with her here." Niles sneered. "It would be like taking a nap in enemy camp."
"Don’t you start." Kayla snapped. "This was a surprise to all of us, INCLUDING Tara. She can’t help her ancestry, but you can help being a jerk." Everyone stared at her in shock. "Wow, the timid little seer has claws I see." Niles said greasily.
"ENOUGH!" Tristana shouted. "I don’t want to hear another word! Everyone get to a room now. Please." Dirty looks were exchanged all around as everyone gathered their belongings and slumped off to separate rooms. Tristana pulled Kayla aside. "Kayla, can you contact Ms. Mairin?"
"Tris, I’m no good at linking. Especially if the other person isn’t a seer."
"I’d really like you to try. You need to tell her what’s happened, and ask what to do."
"I’ll…. I’ll try. But I need somewhere quiet and assurance that no one will bother me."
"You can go in your room, I’ll guard the door."
"Ok."

            Tormar was handing out lights to everyone, and Kayla took one gratefully. She found an empty room and gave the floating sphere a little push toward the ceiling where it floated peacefully. She threw her sleeping back out on the floor. It was going to be terrible sleeping on the stone floor with no mattress. She lay down and closed her eyes from the soft yellow light and tried to concentrate. Linking was always a weird thing to do. You had to be careful what you thought about when linking with someone, because your thoughts may end up in their mind. It was even stranger for the person who was being contacted, because they would all of a sudden start hearing voices. Kayla started searching for Ms. Mairin.

"Ms. Mairin? It’s Kayla. Ms. Mairin, if you can hear me please respond." It took quite a while before she got a response.
"Kayla? Heavens what is it? I can barely hear you."
"I’m not very good at it…"
"Is everyone all right?"
"Well, yes. We made it ok. But… well… we met some horsemen on the way."
"Were they enemies?"
"Yes, we think so."
"Tell mu fard geidn"
"What was that?"
"Tell me what happened. But be fast, I don’t have much time."
"We had to cross this field, and we decided to hurry across and not wait for night. These horsemen appeared. And….. and then…… Tama rlsm rovd."
"Concentrate, don’t get distracted. Repeat that."
"Tara turned into a dragon."
"She what!"
"She turned-"
"No, I heard you. I’m just surprised."
"What do we do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Aidan and Niles are really mad, they don’t like her even more now, and they think shu ramw fonro."
"Lownd mvods calm yourself. You’re going to lose the link. Tell me what they think."
"They think she’s a spy, and that she’s been lying about not having powers."
"Well, they are just going to have to either accept her as she is, or they can find somewhere else to stay. If they choose to leave, there is a list of people that Tristana has that you can trust, and they can help you. Kayla I really must leave. Thank you for contacting me. If you contact me in a few days I will tell you all that is happening here."
"Yes, I’ll try to. I’m not very-"
"Nonsense, you’re doing very well. You only cut out a few times. That’s wonderful. Have confidence. I must go. Farewell."
"Good bye Ms Mairin."

Kayla opened her eyes and watched the yellow ball float around her ceiling. It looked as if their party would become much smaller. But what if when they left they told people that they knew where a dragon was? What if they sold them out to the army? Aidan would do it, she hated Tara. Kayla jumped up and opened the door. "Did you talk to her? What did she say?"  Tristana asked. 
"She said everyone has to decide if they will accept her and stay. They can go to one of the people on the list if they don't want to stay. I'm going to contact her in a few days and she'll tell me what's happening." 
Taramina nodded. "Ok. I think everyone should just stay put and rest for the rest of the day. We can figure out what to do tomorrow. What do you think?" 
"Sounds good."
"This is turning out to be much harder than I thought."