Touched By A Dragon

Chapter 32: Rebuilding Bridges

Emerald and Pearl had flown in through the city gates. She blushed at the amazed faces from the crowd in the main markets and the looks of astonishment from the royal guards that could not ride dragons. She flew Emerald into the royal stables and met with Erin; the young man that dealt with dragon’s and horses. His jaw almost hit the ground when he saw them swooping in through the huge, white stable doors.
“No way! Pearl? What are you doing here? Blimey, you’re famous now and so’s Emerald and everyone else. Your parents are really proud and so’s everyone else, only they miss you too. And...” He rambled out.
“Aha, look Erin, I wish I could talk but I’ve got something really important I need to do and could you not tell the King I was here? I don’t want him asking about the quest.” She interrupted, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
“Ah, so it’s not going too well then? Haven’t found the princess yet? It’s funny though cos the King received I letter via raven just a few minutes ago saying that she robbed...” He started.
“Yes Erin, I’m sure it was important. “Said Pearl, hopping from foot to foot, impatiently. “Can you look after Emerald for me; I don’t want to be noticed, thanks!” 
Then she ran out of the stable door, down the path and into the markets, thinking that someone has to know where Astrid lives.  She ran through the crowds doing their shopping, it was very crowded so it must have been a Sunday. With a sharp pang of guilt she realised that she didn’t know how long she been away or what day it was. Well she was 14 when Mike had asked for volunteers and now she was 17 so three years. She stopped dead in her tracks. Three years, she hadn’t seem her family in three years, the princess has been missing for three years and they hadn’t had a home for three years. Three years. She shook her head and ran on. She needed to find Astrid so they could get back to the others and find the princess, with or without Mike. There was no time for family visits and no time to tell Mike’s parents what had happened to him, guiltily she felt happy that she would not be the one to tell them. She felt it was better to let them believe that their sun was coming home soon. She asked around for Astrid’s address but found nothing. After a while she had asked 10 people hopelessness was starting to kick in. The sky slowly went through the colour spectrum from blue to orange as a lazy sun began set. People with shoals wrapped tightly around them began to desert the market place in trickles as the shops shut for the night. Pearl shivered and sighed, watching her breath come out like smoke in the cold night air. Not for the first time since they parted, she thought of her dragon and wished Emerald was with her. She felt an empty space in her heart where she knew her dragon belonged. Lost in thought she turned her gaze toward her feet and kicked around the dust. She didn’t notice the woman until she felt her hand on hand back. Startled she jumped up and raised her fists, ready for a fight a little too late. She looked at the owner of the hand at felt another wave of shock, then embarrassment. 
“M-Mrs Huntsman. I-I....um.” Pearl stuttered out, lost for words with embarrassment and sorrow.
A sad and lost look crossed Mrs Huntsman’s face and for a moment Pearl noticed how hopeless she looked. She smiled a sad smile and spoke.
“It’s ok Pearl, I know about the failing mission, Peter and...M-Mike.”
Her voice broke and her eyes shone with fresh tears that threatened to spill out.
Pearl turned her gaze towards her feet again and shortly after she felt Mrs Huntsman’s fragile hand picking up her chin.
“He would still want you to complete his quest, and for that you are going to need all of your clan, Pearl. I believe this is why you are truly here?” She said.
Pearl felt a lump in her throat, not daring to say anything she nodded.
“Have you any luck looking for Astrid?” She asked.
Curious as Pearl was to how she knew all of this, she still could not speak. Pearl shook her head. Mrs Huntsman gave a ghost of a smile and walked towards her dwelling, gesturing for Pearl to follow. As long as it had been, Pearl still remembered the way to Mike’s house. She had been many times to train, and before that to play. Everyone had known each other here and everyone was welcome. They walked over the small, grass covered hill to the house. The hose was still tiny; it held a sitting room for three and two rooms that was only just big enough for a straw bed and a single piece of wooden furniture. It had a beautiful garden filled with flowers. At the back of the house was the biggest farm in the village. As huge as it was it never made enough. Mikes family was kind and gave away most of anything that the soil managed to grow. They approached the front door and Pearl stopped dead in her tracks. The light breeze that wisped around her hair also carried a familiar sound, the comforting grunt of a dragon. Eyes wide, Pearl turned and faced the barn. There sat, staring at the stars, a small, blue dragon.
“Justice!” She exclaimed, before turning to Mike’s mother. “How did Astrid get here? Did you find her and bring her here?” 
Mrs Huntsman just smiled weakly and said.
“That is something you should ask her.” 
She pulled the door open and gestured for Pearl to go in. Confused and cautious, she stepped in the house and into the wooden floor.
“She’s in Mikes room. Don’t worry about your shoes.” Mrs Huntsman said, before walking out the front door and back towards the market. 
Pearl walked out of the sitting room and into a short hallway. She knocked on the first door to her right and heard a voice she knew well answer the knock. She placed a hand on the knob and flung it open. 
“Oh my Ethereal, Astrid you have got no idea...” She started before trailing off and looking at her hair. “Your hair is blond. Why is your hair blond? You know with blue eyes and blond hair you kind of look like... Nooooooooooooooooo. No way! O.m.e NO WAY! No way, no way, no way!” 
Astrid put her hands up in a half surrender half calming gesture. 
“Pearl I can explain, just calm down and we can talk about this like mature teenage girls.” She said, calmly.
“You lied to me! You lied to all of us! Your real name is Kelly isn’t it! You are unbelievable! You are Mike’s sister! ...... Oh, that means. You’re his sister and you saw it. I am so sorry. How did you do it? You seemed so cold, like you didn’t care. I thought it was because you didn’t know him but...”
“...I do, or I did. I know where he is. He’s with Stryker my other brother. He’s not dead Pearl, this has happened once before. It’s his test.” She continued.
“I don’t understand.” Pearl bluntly sighed.
“We are not a normal family. My parents rescued the last dragon so as a gift she gave us...abilities. To learn how to use these abilities, we are randomly put in the space that is neither here nor anywhere else, we can’t hurt others there so it’s kind of like a game. My youngest brother rules the shadows, the darkness and all that can poison people’s minds. He got this gift or curse from a shadow dragon. He was supposed to use it to keep away the darkness, but he prefers to live in it. Mike was granted the ability to feel what other living things feel and he can control light in order to care for other living things. My mother and father are guardians; they protect living things with enhanced senses and combat abilities.” She explained very quickly, with a look of boredom. 
“...And you?” Pearl pressed.
Kelly’s mouth scrunched up, they way it did when she was thinking. She shrugged.
“I have had my gift longer than both of my bothers, but the only thing I know about it is that it is very dangerous and it can hurt people.” 
As soon as she finished her sentence Pearl turned pail and fell to the ground. Kelly leapt up and rushed over to Pearl. She knelt down next to her put one hand under her neck. Then she lightly pressed two fingers against Pearl’s forehead and a dim light shone from under her skin.
“We need to get you to Mike, he can fix this.” She said to herself.  “He’s done it before.” 
Then she touched her fingers to her temple and said: “Mum, Dad, I’m going to find Mike, it happened again, to Pearl this time.”
She then grasped Pearls hands, lent over her and wisps of black smoke covered them like a blanket. Kelly half smiled and said.
“Thanks brother, I owe you one....Can you please take us to Mike?....Yes Mike....I understand you don’t forgive him but I need his help....Yes did it again...Thanks.” 
The dark blanket vanished but everything around them was still black. Pearl weakly opened her eye and saw Kelly, tears in her eyes, running towards Mike. She threw her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug. 
“Don’t you ever go and die like that again!” She yelled, breaking the hug to slap him square in the face. 
“Ouch!” He said, smiling. “Yeah, I’ll try never dying again. Ah, I see you brought Pearl, probably used your gift on her accidently when you where trying to be Astrid.”
Guilty Kelly realized that she had forgotten Pearl was there. Then looked back at Mike, shocked as she comprehend what he had said.
“You knew? You knew that it was me?”
Mike sighed.
“Oh sister, you are such a bad actor. Besides you had everyone else fooled but you couldn’t fool me. Why did you think you had to pretend to be someone else to join the clan?” He asked.
“We can talk about this later, Pearl needs help,” She blurted out, panicked. 
Mike lifted an eyebrow, looking straight at her. He then shrugged and walked up to Pearl. He pressed the palm of his hand to her forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. The light flowed out of Pearl’s forehead, up Mike’s fingers and into his palm, as easily as water flowing through a river. Pearl’s breathing returned to normal and the colour seaped back into her face. Mike smiled at his big sister.
“Do you want it back?” He asked, joking.
“Not really, but I don’t have a choice, Do I?” She sighed, downcast.
“Hey its ok, you’re going to learn how to control this.” Mike said.
“But what if I don’t what if I end up hurting more people and you’re not there to help. It nearly happened tonight! I nearly killed Pearl.” 
“Kel, I’m going to try so hard to always be there for you. But you’re right. It is going to take time to learn how to control this. People are probably going to get hurt and it’s not all going to be easy. But you can do this. I believe in you. And you have other people that believe in you too. We are all a huge mess but when we support each other we become strong.” He said.
“What if you’re wrong, what if I can’t do it!” She yelled.
“You can do it, but not alone. To get here you had to call on Stryker. You trusted him to get you here safely. I don’t think he trusted himself to get you here safely. We are all still learning. But we can teach each other.”
The sound of clapping rang through their ears and Stryker appeared from the shadows.
He still had his red and black suit on but he changed his hair and eyes back to how they where naturally. 
“Well that was absolutely touching.” He said, wiping away an imaginary tear. 
“Stryker, please come back home. I really, really miss you,” Kelly pleaded, tears in her eyes. 
“Oh, I full well intended to, my dear sister.” Stryker replied. “I have grown quite bored of living in the shadows, alone and cold.” Then his I composure and expression changed for a moment, showing how scared and hurt he was. “I miss you too, so very much. But I can not come until I get something from Mike.” 
“What do you want from me?” Mike asked, meekly, a thousand evil things going through his mind.
“What I want is simple, an apology and a promise.” Stryker said.
Kelly and Mike blinked at him, blankly.
“I-is that it?” Mike asked.
“I’ve been stuck here two years and all you wanted was a promise and an apology?” Mike asked, aggravated. 
“I want a promise by blood, never to leave me behind again, and an apology for running away.”
Mike sighed, unsheathed his sword and pricked his right hand.
“Where do you want me to put the blood?” He asked Stryker.
Stryker held out his right hand and an invisible knife pricked his right hand. He looked at Mike and gestured for him to continue. Kelly stood back, looking at her brothers.
“Wait!” She yelled.
Stryker turned around to face her.
“Sister, you can’t stop this. Mikes owes both of us something. He is the one in the wrong!” 
“I know. “She replied softly, grabbing Mike’s sword and pricking the palm on her right hand. “I want in.” 
Stryker smiled, beckoned Kelly over to him and again, gestured for Mike to continue. Mike cleared his throat, composed himself and spoke in a clear, confident voice.
“I, Mike Jeffrey Huntsman, swear to Kelly Rose Huntsman and Stryker Edward Huntsman; that I will never leave them again.” 
Stryker scowled at hearing his full name that he so wholeheartedly despised, but he said nothing. When Mike had finished speaking he shook hands with both his siblings, sealing the promise. Then he tore piece of fabric from the bottom of his shirt and bound Kelly bleeding hand tightly. He tore another piece off and walked towards his little brother. Stryker reluctantly gave his hand to Mike who bound it tightly. “Home?” Stryker asked, looking at Mike.