Fireball

Beware of The Unseen

Elyse was swimming with Endrik when Fireball, Kaida and Drake showed up. They gathered together around the rocks where Dronin liked to sit. As they all started down the beach, Drake looked up and scrambled to knock his friends out of the way.

Kathump! The ground shook around them as Fausto crash-landed where the group had been standing seconds before. Drake laughed as the others got up and dusted themselves off.

"Fausto," Drake said, "are you coming with us? You might be best to stay on the ground, as we search. You really are a menace in the skies."

Fausto righted himself and the dragons continued their walk down the beach. Fausto lived in a cave near Fireball. He was a big, hulking dragon. Like his father, he was very clumsy. He meant well, but Fireball spent most of his time around Fausto avoiding getting sat on.

Finally, the dragons reached the brush that was at the end of the trail of clues to Dronin's whereabouts.

"We need to stay together if we are heading to the other side of the island." Fireball warned. "We can't have one of us go missing too."

Fireball and Kaida took to the skies. They went just ahead of the others to scout out the terrain. There was far less tree cover on this side of the island. It was rocky and mostly rolling hills. Fireball was scanning for wizards or other signs of evil.

On the ground, Drake took the lead. Elyse walked just behind him, looking everywhere, for any clue. Drake was not really looking for clues. He was following Fireball and only thought of finding Dronin.

Elyse kept up with Drake, but was very discouraged, not finding any sign that Dronin or anyone else had come this way. Fireball continued to fly just ahead, but Kaida kept distracting him. She continuously flew by him, bumping into him and giggling as she passed. Sometimes she dropped pine cones on him that she had swooped down to collect from the sparse trees below.

As they neared the foot of the mountains, Kaida passed Fireball again, but then slam! Kaida had flown into some kind of invisible barrier. Fireball froze for a second as he stared at Kaida in disbelief. Her limp body dropped rapidly to the ground. Snapping out of his trance, Fireball sped down after her, but he was too late and could only watch as she made contact with the rocks below. She hit the side of a hill and tumbled down the slope, coming to rest in a gully, just as Fireball arrived. As the other dragons caught up to them, Kaida was still not moving. Fausto reached out and gently pushed her little body.

"Is she dead?" Fausto asked. "What happened to her?"