Fireball

Entering The Enemy's Lair

Starting to get a little impatient, the wizard looked at Fireball. He didn't say anything. He just stared at him. Fireball did not understand why Ashneel wanted him. Drake and Fausto were much larger than he, so they had to blow a hotter, more intense flame. It just made sense.

Reluctantly, Fireball stepped forward and approached the wizard. Ashneel smiled at him again and turned toward the invisible barrier. Fireball was standing about where Drake and Fausto had stood, to blow their flames. The wizard nodded and Fireball breathed a steady, hot flame. It was not hard to tell his flame was more intense than the others. The Gardenia bushes and other flowers several feet away caught fire, and the invisible barrier glowed where the flame touched it.

Fireball ceased his flame and then looked toward the barrier. Nothing looked any different, except for the burnt plants near the barrier. Ashneel went right up to the barrier and tapped it with his wand, but the wand hit nothing. The wizard's arm went through the barrier this time. He looked back and nodded his approval to Fireball. Then he walked over to talk to the Alaric. After their conversation, the old dragon addressed the whole group.

"As you see, we have a temporary opening you can go through, but you must be careful not to get stuck. The opening will only last approximately 12 hours."

Drake patted Fireball on the shoulder. "Very nice work. I guess after what you did to my backside years ago, I should have expected you had the hottest flame."

The dragons went through the opening one by one. Elyse looked back at Alaric. She promised to be careful. Before the old dragon flew off with the wizard, he said something to Elyse. Then he was gone.

Inside Fireball looked at Elyse. She looked puzzled.

"What's wrong?" asked Fireball.

"Nothing." Elyse responded. "It was just odd. Wizards are creepy. Ashneel doesn't even know you, but Alaric passed on a message from him to you. He thanked you for helping to open the hole, but he also wanted to tell you that you will meet again, to help each other."

Now it was Fireball's turn to look puzzled. Why would an old wizard be sure they would meet again and what would he be thanking him for? Elyse was right, thought Fireball. Wizards' were a little creepy.

Endrik broke the awkward moment to bring everybody back in focus. "I think you should get up in the sky Fireball. These wizards are evil and we need to see them before they see us. If we all stay on the ground they will see us coming first and if any of us bigger dragons take to the sky they will also see us coming. We are rather large and not nearly as quick as you."

Thinking that was a good plan, Kaida flew up with Fireball, but this time she was not quite as playful. She flew just behind Fireball. As they approached the mountain that was an active volcano, Fireball still didn't see anything. They quickly flew back to the other dragons.

"Maybe you guys should stay back behind these trees." Fireball said, as he returned. "Kaida and I can fly around the mountain and see if we see Dronin or the wizards. We are small, so hopefully they won't see us and maybe we can find out where they are. We need to find Dronin, or at least more clues."

Elyse, Drake and the others agreed, but promised that they were all coming, in full force, if the two weren't back in 30 minutes. Fireball thought a thorough search might take a little longer, but he and Kaida agreed to the plan.