The Final Storm (Part 3)

Cat Chasing

Lauri was furious. She read Ralem’s pitiful letter over again, her nails digging into the parchment. After all he put her through… and he writes this? So sorry, he had said. Ha! Sorry wasn’t going to cut it. Seriously, was he still in fourth grade or something? And what was with the ‘trouble’ Rrashkirr? What kind of trouble? Couldn’t he be a bit more specific?

But what really made her mad was that he had said he was in Redfield. Then it had totally made sense. He felt so sorry for himself about Arianna that he had decided to go and have a good cry with his family. He needed a support group for his tender, aching heart. He had put all Baroke in jeopardy, had risked both his and his dragon’s life, and had left without notice and nearly gave Lauri a heart attack. “I am going to send ‘someone quik’ but that person is going to drag him out, kicking and screaming, away from his precious family. And when I get a hold of him I am going to kill that little son of a goblin! I can’t believe he’s seriously that stupid! I mean, I knew he could be a little slow, he’s a male and all of them are like that. But, seriously, this? I can’t believe it!” And with that she crumpled his letter into a ball and chucked it at the wall. Before it could hit the ground a javelin pierced it and it dangled there like a mangled ornament.

Before she could fling another javelin, Vali walked into the room behind her and nudged her back. “Rider,” she said smoothly, her voice soothing Lauri’s raw nerves. Her body brushed Lauri’s as she circled around her before plopping down like a sunning cat.

Lauri dropped the javelin and sat down, leaning on Vali’s chest. The water dragon’s long, webbed fingers curled around her and pulled her closer to her warm body. “What’s wrong?” she said softly.

“Everything!” Lauri said, running her fingers through Vali’s tassels, “I just got a letter from Ralem- yes, him- and he said that he’s in Redfield and to send someone quick. After all we’ve been through looking for them and he’s at home with his family probably eating pies and having a good laugh!”

Vali didn’t say anything for a moment. Lauri sank into her side grumpily. “I guess I’ll send Ryan and Thistle to go fetch them.”

“No,” Vali replied, “It’s too dangerous.”

“Why?” Lauri sat up to look Vali in the eye.

“There’s been a… development. Renaldi and Ezra just arrived back bearing news. A Felinus has been spotted less than a mile from the castle.”

Lauri jumped to her feet and started pacing, her heart beating wildly, “You can’t be serious. You just… can’t. Are the magical borders still up? We need to go into lock-down. Have the bridges raised and all guards to the wall. We need every defense we can get.” She stopped suddenly, realizing she was trying to order Vali around. “Sorry,” she apologized quickly, “But this is bad. Really bad. Why did Ralem have to choose to take off now? We need them more than ever.”

“I fear that may be the Felinus doing,” Vali said heavily, “Which means the letter…”

“Is probably a trap,” Lauri finished. “But we need to at least try! They could be our only hope for winning the war!”

Vali heaved to her feet, “You rely too much on them. They are young and stupid. We win this war by men, not a foolish wind dragon. So I advise you to stop fretting like a mother bird over two lost chicks and to start acting like a Commander-in-Chief!” And with that she swished back out of the room.

Lauri stood there for a moment before sitting down at her desk, a quill poised. She had a lot to do today. And finding that wind dragon was one of them.

Chasing cats was a lot harder than Arianna expected. They had been on the road now for about a day and a half and their biggest lead had been a small tuft of blonde hair and some blood. After that… it was mostly guesswork.