Beginning of a Legend

Cammie made her way back to the old truck and slid into the driver's seat. Mercury rested comfortably in her arms and his ears flipped cheerfully, but her mind was busy. She was in way over her head. She was far from home with no reliable transportation and no friends except George and the team. Although she had money in the bank, she couldn't go on forever, especially if she was supporting another two people. And how many marbles were there anyway? Was she just going to hole up in a motel? How would they follow the storms? What were Jason and Charaustra doing here?

A soft squeak and a gentle tug on the cuff of her jacket sleeve brought her out of her thoughts.

Mercury was peering up at her, his green eyes somber and curious. *You not be sad.* He nuzzled her arm reassuringly.

"Merc, we need help. We need to help Jason and Charaustra, but we also need to chase the storms and find the marbles. We can't do all that alone. This isn't even my truck... the only people we know out here are George and the team." She sighed and looked up at the ceiling, feeling overwhelmed.

*Team help.* The hatchling blinked at her, obviously finding the conclusion simple.

How can I even ask them? Cammie wondered. But there was no other option. She couldn't keep a dragon as large as Charaustra hidden in a small rural motel for very long, and Mercury would be growing. Even in his first two days, he seemed to be gaining inches of length. Cammie didn't know how he could be growing so quickly. Finally, she let out a breath and nodded. "Team help."

The drive back to the motel was as tense as the drive out had been, and it seemed to go on for ten times as long. Cammie's hand was throbbing and her nerves were worn thin by the time she and Mercury returned to last night's motel room. She sat on the bed, all the strength draining from her legs.

Mercury peered at her worriedly. The hatchling glanced at her hand, and Cammie saw sadness cross his face.

Amazing how easy it is to read his expressions, the woman reflected, her thoughts in a jumble. Part of it, she knew, was the bonding process. Still, for something that should be so strange and alien, he looked all the world to her like a child.

Cammie breathed for a few minutes, not thinking about anything at all. Then, she dragged herself up to find some more aspirin for her aching hand. She would have to find something to put on it... if regular antibiotic ointment wouldn't do, she would have to find something else. Finally, she sat down and picked up the phone. She listened to it ring a few times before it picked up.

"Hello?" George sounded confused and distant; the motel phone number wasn't a familiar one.

"George, it's Cammie. Is there any chance you could come back through Bluejacket?" She held her breath, hoping he wouldn't ask her too many questions. This wasn't something she could do over the phone.

"Something up?"

"Yeah. I'd rather chat with you in person."

There was a pause. "I'll swing it. In a hurry?"

"Before dark would be good, but I'll take what I can get."

"Okay, we'll be seeing you."

"Bye, George."

Cammie shut the line and stared blankly at the wall. That had been the easy part. There harder parts were yet to come.

Mercury chirped at her and tried to get into her lap.

She pushed his aside gently. "Hold on a sec, Merc." Cammie pulled off her boots and jacked, then slid back onto the bed, letting her shoulders drop to the pillows. When she was comfortable, she looked back at the hatchling. "Okay."

Mercury slithered over and nestled himself into her ribs. Cammie wrapped her arm around him and closed her eyes. The pain in her hand had dulled, but closing her eyes seemed to make it worse. She breathed and held the hand still, and eventually, the pain faded away to a distant twinge.

When George arrived, Cammie was ready. She met him head on, Mercury safely tucked into her jacked, out of sight.

"George, I'd like a word in private."

She must have looked serious because he didn't argue. He just waved her into the trailer and gave the others in the team an imposing glance before closing the door behind them. Cammie let Mercury out to play on the seats, then sat down herself. George followed suit, his eyes never leaving her face. Cammie took in a deep breath.

"My life has suddenly become very complicated."

George smiled. "No kidding..."

"No, it's not just Mercury, George. It's worse. Last night, Merc woke me up, ranting about a man and a dragon out in the storm. I thought he had a nightmare... but he was really worked up about it. So, today, I got a truck, and we went out to investigate. On a farm, about a half hour out, we found exactly what he said we would—a man and a dragon."

Cammie paused slightly, but George didn't interrupt. He sat listening, his hands folded and still. She continued. "They are in bad shape. The man's the worst of it. He took a blow to the head during the storm, probably a tornado. The dragon... well, she's large, and she can be dangerous, to put it bluntly. She nearly killed Merc and I, thinking we were there to hunt her and her man down. They aren't from around here... this is going to sound crazy, but I don't think they are from anywhere on Earth. At least, this Earth.

"So, here I am. I have a dragon hatchling to care for and hide, a bunch of magic storm-riding marbles to find, and now, fate has dropped a stranger and his strange, electric dragon in on me. They need help, but I'm not sure I can give it. I'm miles from home, no transportation, and in serious danger of revealing myself as it is. If anyone were to find out about all this, we could be in serious trouble. At the very least, Mercury and the other dragon would be captured and studied, something I don't want to happen under any circumstances.

"You're the only one I trust out here, George. I'm going down fast, and I'm grabbing for anything I can. I know it might be too much... all this might be too big. But I am out of good options, so I had to ask. I had to... try."

Cammie stopped, barely daring to raise her eyes to George's. She had traveled with him only a short time... but those months had been full. George was both eccentric and brilliant, in his own way. He was a person she would trust with her life, if it came down to it. Now, she was trusting him with not only her life, but Mercury's, and probably Jason and Charaustra's as well. The silence stretched, and she glanced up at his face. He looked to be deep in thought, his eyes fixed on the floor of the trailer.

"The team will have to be in on it," he said finally.

Cammie blinked. "... huh?"

"The team will have to be in on it. We might be able to hide a dragon or two, but only with their help. No other way. I'm going to have to tell the team." George looked up, and Cammie saw determination and earnestness in his eyes.

"... you aren't kidding, are you?"

George shook his head. "I'm glad you pulled me aside. Now, I can take it to them. Make it sound as big and important as it is. Because this is important, Camilla. This is the stuff legends are made of. You might not realize it, but you're on a quest, you have magic around you and at your disposal, and now, you say some man and his dragon have appeared, coincidentally enough, at the same time and place you are. This is big. These marbles, whatever they are, are important. They are important in the grand scheme of things."

*'Portant,* Mercury agreed, chiming in from where he sat on the leather seats.

Cammie glanced at him, then back at George, a bit overwhelmed.

George was nodding to himself. "Take Mercury back to the motel. I'm going to call a team meeting, talk it over with them. They all have to be in, one hundred percent. If they aren't, and this gets out, it could all be over. I'll let you know."

Cammie gathered up Mercury and left in a daze. She hadn't really been expecting George to say 'yes'. She had been expecting a downward spiral of hopelessness and helplessness. There was still the team, though. George was right. They had to be in, all the way.

Time passed slowly in the motel room. Cammie stared at the ceiling and walls while Mercury slithered around the room, enjoying the larger space to roam. He amused himself by hiding under the beds and poking out from under the slips. First ten minutes, then twenty, then a half hour were gone. Cammie became increasingly nervous. Finally, after forty-two minutes, a knock came at the door.

"Hide, Merc," she hissed. Mercury pulled himself under her jacket on the floor, and Cammie opened the door to find George.

George looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "We're in."

Jason gingerly felt his face, wincing at the pain that shoot through his cheekbone and nose.

*Stop poking it,* Charaustra chided, prodding him in the ribs with her left wing tip. Her right wing she held tucked into her side, and Jason knew that it must be paining her.

He sighed and looked out the window for the hundredth time that day. The light was starting to fade, and he wondered if the woman would be returning soon. He didn't much like the waiting... or the relying on someone who was pretty much a complete stranger. People were not to be trusted, even the ones you thought you knew. The floor dug too sharply into one of his hips, and he shifted his weight, trying to relieve the pressure. He had gotten up and walked for a bit earlier under Charaustra's close supervision, but it had made him feel lightheaded. So, back on the floor it was.

Charaustra snapped her head up and looked through the wall for a moment before padding over to one of the windows. After a minute, Jason heard it too—the faint grinding, growling sound of an engine.

He propped himself up, felt some sort of fluid shift in his head that made his vision go gray for a moment, and then stablized. "What is it?"

Charaustra was staring out in concentration, trying to get a reading of some sort. *People... sounds like two large vehicles.*

"What about the girl and her dragon? Are they with them?"

*... Yes, I believe they are.* She paused, then added, *This could be trouble,* mirroring Jason's own train of thought.

The woman could have brought any manner of threat down on them. Just the presence of more people was enough to set his mental alarms to clanging. Jason growled and tried to get up, keeping a hand on the wall to steady himself.

*Jason!* Charaustra moved quickly from the window to his side, putting her good shoulder toward him in case he needed extra support.

"We need a place to hide," he said.

*There isn't much of this house left. This is the only safe room. Besides, you can't move very quickly, and if they were intent on finding us, they would eventually succeed.* Charaustra's ears flattened back against her skull and her pale violet eyes seemed to spark with blue.

Jason felt her tense up, and the faceted blue crystal tucked inside his tunic suddenly felt cooler. The Vis Astrum was Charaustra's Coming of Age Gift. It acted as a focus for her magic, Biribiri, or the magic of electricity, and whenever she used it, the crystal went ice cold. He glanced at her. "There is the off chance that they don't mean us any harm... or that we could scare them off without excessive violence. We should try to figure out what they are up to before striking."

Charaustra growled softly and nodded. *There are at least half a dozen people... enough to cause a problem if they are armed with projectile weapons or skilled magic users.* Her expression turned grim.

The trucks were growing closer, and soon they had pulled up a safe distance from the damaged building. There were slamming doors and a few voices. One Jason recognized as the young woman's voice.

*She's telling them to let her go in first. Three of the people, men, are out of the first vehicle with her. Three others, two men and a woman, are staying in the second vehicle. ... She's bringing the hatchling with her.* Charaustra kept her projections quiet, and Jason knew she was shielding them from outsiders.

As for the hatchling, he wasn't sure what that meant. It could mean that the woman wasn't expecting trouble. If she was, she would have left the hatchling out of harm's way. Of course, she could also be trying to use the young Clarus as a living shield. People were difficult to understand that way. Jason held his breath as he heard her approach the house, then clamber through the front door.

"... Charaustra? ... Jason?" Her voice was tentative, tense... maybe a little frightened.

Jason looked at Charaustra, who nodded, then stalked silently toward the room's only exit. She paused a short distance from the door and flattened herself as best she could against the wall.

There was the sound of footsteps as Cammie slowly made her way toward their room. The girl's shadow, then her dimly lit form appeared in the doorway. She peered into the room, but twilight had fallen, and the room was much darker than the rest of the fractured structure. She had trouble seeing. Finally, she stepped through the door and looked over to the back wall, where Jason had been during her first visit.

Jason heard the hatchling yelp, *Hey!* a second before Charaustra's powerful tail wrapped around the woman's legs and yanked them out from under her.

Cammie shrieked in fear and sat down hard, then pushed the hatchling to the floor. "Merc, run!" she cried.

Charaustra quickly pinned the human with her paws and was about to wrap her tail around the woman's neck to add to the threat when the grey hatchling suddenly let out a high-pitched snarl and lunged for her, teeth bared. The larger Clarus changed her mind and instead lashed her tail around the hatchling and lifted him up, purposely hanging him upside down. *Stop that, both of you.* Her voice was backed up with a menacing growl.

The hatchling hissed and tried to find a way to twist around to bite Charaustra's tail. Cammie went still, but her breathing was quick and Jason thought he could see her shaking. Suddenly, the hatchling paused and looked directly at the woman. Then, he went limp, ceasing all attempts at biting. Jason knew she must have ordered him to stop struggling. There was a long pause, and everyone in the room was motionless and silent.

Finally, Jason decided to step forward. Gritting his teeth against any dizziness, he strode from the shadows, doing his best to appear angry and threatening. "A lovely welcoming party you've arranged for us." His voice was barely above a murmur, but it had an icy, hissing edge to it. He went for eye contact, but the woman didn't look away or show any sign of guilt. She stared directly into his eyes, letting him read the fear there quite clearly. He let the moment linger, waiting for her response.

She blinked, breaking the stare and snapping out of her frightened paralysis. "I needed help. ... Charaustra wasn't exactly going to fit in my truck. Actually, the truck wasn't even mine. I borrowed it... for the day. They are friends."

Jason grimaced. "So you believe..." He trailed off, letting her know he considered her judgement inherently flawed. "How long do you expect them to keep this secret? One or two people, maybe. But six? You might as well have turned us in to the local authorities." She shifted, and he saw worry flit briefly through her eyes. Jason fixed her with a stern glare.

"I trust George. And he trusts them. That's good enough for me." She was losing her fear now, and he could see defensive anger replacing it. "It should be good enough for you too. Beggars can't be choosers."

Jason couldn't really think of a response to that. He was starting to feel the effects of standing for too long, and the room seemed to dip a bit, making him sway to keep his head straight. Charaustra, who had been stoically watching the proceedings, flicked her eyes over to him briefly, ever watchful. Jason took in a deep breath. He was not going to faint in the middle of an interrogation. He peered suspciously at Cammie. "So you are just here to help, eh?"

"Yes. Although given the greeting, maybe I shouldn't." She glared at Charaustra, fear fading away. "Please, put Mercury down. He isn't a threat to you."

Charaustra visually checked with Jason, and he gave her a mental nod. The hatchling was lowered to the floor.

He puddled there for a moment before squeaking and racing to Cammie. Hurtling himself up onto her lap, he coiled before the gigantic form of Charaustra, his jaws opening in an aggressive hiss. *Away!* he demanded. *Not nice!*

It might have been funny if the hatchling hadn't been so completely full of rage. As it was, Jason found it slightly disturbing. Charaustra simply blinked at the younger dragon.

"Hey, army? Everything all right in there?" A voice floated in from outside.

Cammie glanced at the window, but she didn't yell for help. Instead, she turned to glare at Jason. "Are you coming, or would you rather stay in the nice, decrepit farm house?"

Jason looked out the window, as though weighing his options, but his thoughts went out to Charaustra. I can't phase out of this dimension yet. We have little food and no money, and since we aren't in a city, we can't sell anything to get some. Not to mention that because this world doesn't have dragons, you have to remain completely out of sight. Our best option might be to play nice for the moment.

*Agreed.* Charaustra answered him silently. *Besides, I have been looking, and I don't think any of them are armed... or at all trained in fighting. Despite the reference to the army, neither is she. They are generally harmless. I could easily take care of them if any trouble starts. It is the other people they might notify that we have to worry about.*

Jason turned from the window to meet Cammie's gaze again. "All right. But if there is any trouble..." He let the threat hang. Instead of fear, he saw the woman's glare darken. A woman who did not appreciate threats, apparently.

"Would you mind...?" Cammie turned to Charaustra. The Clarus stepped off her legs and moved away. The human rubbed her legs for a few moments, then carefully cradled her hatchling before pushing herself to her feet. "They cleaned out the trailer. It was the only place large enough for Charaustra to stay out of sight. Now, the only dragon they've seen so far is Mercury, so... try not to look too scary, okay?"

Charaustra raised a brow at Jason as Cammie led the way out of the room. She bowed and comically stretched out her good wing in an 'after you' gesture.

Jason sighed and took a step, but the room seemed to lurch a bit, and he nearly fell before he felt Charaustra's wing wrap around to support him. Maybe not, he thought, then leaned on her and let her escort him from the room.