The Dragoso Series 2: Strength in Darkness

Tyrande whined as the banging of metal echoed through the warehouse. Ractor hadn’t given up yet, throwing his body against his cage. Tyrande and Ayassa were only trying to sleep and Ractor was making all the noise.

“Stop...” Tyrande mumbled.

Bang.

“Stop.” Tyrande said a little louder.

Bang.

“STOP IT!” Tyrande snapped, a squirt of water escaped his mouth. He ignored the fact it was the first time he ever used a breath element and glared at Ractor.

“At least I’m trying to get out, fledgling,” Ractor snapped.

“If you stop trying to hurt yourself, our mom will come and save us all.” Ractor scoffed.

“Oh yeah? And who’s your mom? Some Water Dragon trapped in a clan?” Ayassa stood and growled.

“Nnnnno!” She managed to bark. Tyrande looked to his sister before looking back at them.

“Our mom is Anna Dragon,” Tyrande stated, puffing his chest. Ractor laughed, a few other dragons around them that were listening in started laughing too.

“How could a Flower Dragon have a Seaweed and a Hyferno?” a Moon Dragon laughed from another cage. Tyrande looked around before growling.

“You’ll see! She’ll come and save us all! She’ll prove you all wrong!”

“Tch, when hellhounds fly,” a Fire Dragon snapped.

“Uh...Hell Dragons?” a Wind Dragon countered.

“Right...”

Tyrande sat back and looked down at his claws. Ayassa nudged Tyrande and whined before sitting next to him.

“She’ll come...right?” Tyrande questioned his sister and she nodded. “Mom wouldn’t give up on us.” Ayassa shook her head to agree before snuggling close to Tyrande and they both laid down. Ayassa held her breath for a second and Tyrande felt her body warm up. “Thanks...” Tyrande barely closed his eyes when banging echoed through the warehouse again, but it wasn’t from Ractor.

“Where the hell is your mother?!” Garrett yelled, stomping towards Tyrande and Ayassa’s cage. Tyrande lifted his head quickly before standing and putting himself between the bars of the cage and Ayassa. “I’m not gonna say it again.”

“What makes you think we know?” Tyrande challenged. He lowered his head and glared, his nostrils flaring.

“That parasite of a lizard is a telepath! That power gets passed on, where the hell is she?”

“We’re not telepaths! Not everyone gets the power!” Tyrande jumped back when Garrett hit the bars of the cage and Ayassa wailed.

“Lies! Your mother has forty-eight hours.” Garrett stalked off and Tyrande let out a shaky breath. Ayassa trembled and huddled closer to Tyrande. The dragons around them stared.

“You don’t hear about telepaths much nowadays...” someone commented.

“Not since the Pink and Moon War,” another dragon added.

“The Anna Dragon is your mom?” Vatuna asked and Tyrande nodded.

“She won’t give up on me and Ayassa. She’ll come for us and help all of you too. You can’t give up! If we all fight back, we can buy some time.” Someone scoffed.

“Yeah, we fight back, they’ll kill us.” Tyrande looked around the cage before looking at Ayassa.

“Anybody try melting the bars of the cages?”

“No way out if we even could, kid.” Tyrande growled before exhaling. Ayassa whimpered and nuzzled him.

“We can’t lose hope, Ayassa. She’ll come...I know it.”

~oOo~

“This is your backup?” Sylark snapped. The team was meeting in the gym with the reinforcements Kathey had called, two of the four being the older siblings of Kyrus.

“There a problem, Sylark?” Kathey questioned, standing beside Kyrus’ brother, Kano.

“Yes, there is. Why in Kaylano’s name would you call these two?” Sylark pointed to Kano and Kyrus’ sister, Vena. Kathey crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“My own siblings have their own duties, Moonlight is literally no help to any of us, and Alex is unable to help us right now. Who else was I supposed to call?”

“Ghostbusters,” Aya mumbled next to Trevor who snickered. Kathey looked towards them and laughed. Sylark looked at them confused and Kathey shook her head.

“Let’s get everyone acquainted.” The gym grew silent and Sylark moved to lean against the wall with Malice and Zoymey. The Special Needs and Trevor and his siblings sat in the middle of the gym, it reminded the yearlings of Physical Ed in school. The backup stood on either side of Kathey, Kano and Vena on one side and the other two males on the other. “Those of you who don’t know these four, this is Vena, Kano, Shadow, and River.”

Vena and Kano had vibrant orange eyes, Vena’s were like a cat’s. Both had brown hair and freckles dotting their noses and cheekbones. Both were at least a foot taller than Kathey was. They both wore t-shirts, jeans, and gym shoes.

River had deep blue eyes and every breath he exhaled was a misty cloud like it was cold in the room, but it was a moderate temperature if not at least cool. What stood out most other than the shaggy ocean blue hair was the blue horns protruding from it. He wore a tank top and khaki shorts, nothing on his feet.

Shadow’s appearance mirrored that of Darkness, except his pupils were like a viper’s, glowing bright blue in black irises. He didn’t seem to really be looking at anyone, almost like Sonar usually did. Trevor wondered if he was blind.

“You’re in the presence of three unique dragons that aren’t as common as you would think,” Kathey continued. “Vena is a Volcano Dragon and lion hybrid, River is a Nixes Dragon and horse Hybrid, and Shadow is a Snake Dragon. Yes, Trevor, he is blind in a sense, but like snakes, he uses other senses. Shadow is able to sense auras and magic around him, easier to see magical beings than it is to see humans with no magic abilities.”

“Something like that,” Shadow mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s extra firepower at least, that’s all we can manage, I don’t have many connections anymore,” Kathey stated and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ok, considering how insane the Hunter Leader is, we should probably start planning our attack and strike tonight.”

“What makes you so sure that we shouldn’t just wait?” River asked.

“The leader will grow impatient, Tyrande and Ayassa’s lives are at risk if we don’t deliver what they want. What he wants.”

“You,” Trevor said and Kathey nodded. She looked to Aaron who stood nearby with the drawn blueprints under his arm. He rolled the prints onto the floor and everyone gathered around. “What about Salem?”

“Present.” Trevor jumped and looked over his shoulder as Salem seemed to phase out of the ground, followed by Darkness in his dragon form.

“Did you two plan this?” Kathey asked and Salem dismounted from Darkness.

“If I am to crawl through the vents, I need a means of getting to the vents without being detected. Darkness was a viable option for this mission,” Salem explained and grinned. Kathey smirked and shook her head.

“Least you’re here.”

“I wouldn’t want to pass up an opportunity like this. Amusement and blood. You will allow me to drain these peasants, won’t you?”

“That’s something we have to discuss. I’m sure Cyrus and Aaron aren’t the only ones who want out of the hunter lifestyle. We’ll round up the hunters, whoever surrenders will be taken for questioning. Those who resist, they’re all yours, Salem.”

“Excellent!” he clapped his hands together once. “Where do we begin?” Everyone stood around the blueprints and Aaron held a laser pointer. He pressed the button, pointing the light to the drawing that had extra pages added to it, showing the area around the HQ.

“The HQ is located south of Hamilton in Indiana,” Aaron started, his stutter absent. He pointed the light to each part of the drawing as he spoke about it. “It’s hidden well enough that not many humans would find it easily. They always have guards on the building itself, their dragons with them all the time. They patrol it 24/7, night and space class dragons when it’s dark and everything else during the day.”

“There are two lookout posts at the front of the base, the Boss puts his best archers at those posts and only the best. The best place to access the vents is through the warehouse on the north side of the base. You’ll have to get through one of the warehouse windows then through a vent on the south side of the warehouse. It’s a short crawl to the generator room weapon stash, they use really old generators, hit it enough and it’ll explode.”

“Tyrande and Ayassa are probably being kept in the warehouse. If not, the Boss will have them in his room with his guard dog, a Tech Dragon. If hunters aren’t patrolling the base, they’ll be in the barracks not far from the Boss’ room. When the generator blows, you’ll want to make your attack then, draw them outside. The base is kept at low light, it’s supposed to bother dragons enough to disorient them.”

“I suggest you all wait by the hills until the generator is down. You’ll be out of sight, but close enough to launch your attack quickly.”

Everyone listened carefully, watching the light as Aaron pointed out the locations of interest and explained the layout. Kathey nodded and looked up.

“Ok. Salem, Darkness, you two know your part. Get to the warehouse, then the vents. Salem, please have confirmation that Tyrande and Ayassa are alright when you are in the warehouse.” Salem nodded.

“Alright, when Salem gives the word that the generators are down and the weapons destroyed, we’ll launch our attack, hit the roof and the guards on top of the base, and draw out the rest of the hunters. While you all do that, I’m going to the source of this madness.”

“You can’t be serious,” Kano snapped. Kathey looked to him with a raised eyebrow.

“Excuse me?”

“The world can’t lose a protector like you, Kathey. Going for the leader is suicide!”

“And why should you care?” Kathey crossed her arms.

“I’m not letting my sister-in-law get herself killed.” Everyone was silent after Kano said that. The Volcano Dragon noticed and he exhaled. “I married her sister, Eshala.” Trevor looked between the two arguing about Kathey’s safety.

“Nobody else knows the Leader like Kathey does, we should let her take him out, at least then everyone’s chances of surviving and getting away will be better when he’s out of the picture,” Trevor argued.

“She can’t just go by herself!” Kano exclaimed.

“You are aware she is the most powerful out of all of us, yes?” Sylark spoke up.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean she should go against someone who is as screwed up as this human.”

“Do not act like your brother, Kano. Kathey can take care of herself,” Zoymey assured him and Kano groaned in annoyance.

“Fine! But I swear to Kaylano if you get yourself killed you will never hear the end of it.”

Kathey smirked. “And I’m sure Kaylano will help you with that,” she laughed and Kano’s frown turned into a slight smile. Kathey looked among everyone and exhaled. “Are we all clear on the plan?”

Heads nodded and some replied with “yes ma’am.”

“I need everyone on this mission, but if anyone wants to back out now, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

“We all know what we’re getting ourselves into, Kathey. Pretty sure we’re all with you,” Trevor stated and everyone nodded in agreement.

“Good, everyone rest up. We’ll gather out front at sundown, seven-thirty,” Kathey commanded and everyone walked out, Kano, Vena, Shadow, and River staying behind. “Vena, River, I know you two have been living in the wilds lately. Rest out back near the back fence, River there’s a spring you can sleep in if you wish, just pay respect first, it’s Kaylano’s spring.”

“Understood,” River replied and walked out with Vena. Kathey looked to Shadow and Kano.

“There’s a room available upstairs you two can use for a few hours.” The two nodded and Kathey led them upstairs.

“You worried?” Kano asked.

“About?”

“Your kids,” Shadow replied. Kathey was quiet for a moment before she stopped and faced them.

“I am worried, but I also know they’re smart enough not to piss him off. It’ll be the Leader’s own fault if he hurts those two. And I’ll be sure to deliver the consequences to him.”