Petra Price and the Last Dragon: Chapter 19
Here's this week's chapter! We're getting close to the end now. :)
This story is also posted here on FictionPress.com.
Description: Petra Price was a perfectly ordinary girl until she got sent away to Rosebury Academy, a school that would teach her all about magic. It's a brand new life, with new friends and a new power to be harnessed. An enemy is soon revealed. What will Petra do?
There were soon other things to be worried about other than the impending moment when they would all come upon the magwox. Everyone had just barely set foot in the second cave when large slabs of rock slammed down, blocking their escape. To make matters worse, Cecelia had left behind some spell that seemed to suck all the light out of the room. Most everyone was using a candle spell at that point. The little flames went out one by one until there was nothing but oppressive, heavy darkness.
There was a chorus of voices as many tried to to cast the candle spell once more, but not even a single flame reappeared.
Petra tried to remain calm. With no way to communicate how they should proceed, she groped around in the darkness. Finally finding some unidentifiable person in the darkness, she took their hand and tugged gently. The darkness was a little disorienting, but if they could make their way to the wall of the cave and follow it, they'd find the exit. It would be blocked, but they'd find a way around that.
“Who's that?” asked the person whom Petra had latched on to, trying to pull their hand free from her grasp. Petra thought it sounded like Silas Ritter.
“It's probably Petra,” Darlene called. “She'll know the way through here a bit better than the rest of us, even in the dark. I think we should try to form a line and link hands so that nobody wanders off in the wrong direction. We don't know how stable this cave is.”
It took more than a bit of stumbling and bumping in to each other before everyone could confirm that they were part of the line. Petra had been placed at the head. She moved forward with slow, cautious steps.
The journey across the cave was mostly silent. By the time Petra's outstretched hand touched the craggy wall, she had become very used to the sound of shoes scraping against the ground. She had guided them a little off course but was able to feel down the wall a short way and find the edges where the cave's exit met the newer addition of Cecelia's blockade.
“What do we do now?” Ruby Tyler asked once they'd come to a stop.
“I've read about some spells for blowing stuff up!” Porter Lacy volunteered.
“While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Mister Lacy, that just might bring the whole cave crashing down around our heads.” Miss Blake was just behind Petra. Petra felt the principal pull away. Miss Blake recited an incantation Petra wasn't familiar with, followed by a triumphant cheer.
“Just as I had hoped, the new rock wasn't just moved into our way with magic but newly formed by it all together. Objects created with magic take a while to become stable. While our senses can't detect the difference, magic can. A useful bit of information for anyone.” Taking the lead, Miss Blake pulled Petra into the tunnel beyond the cave. Thankfully, they were no longer shrouded in darkness and whatever had been blocking their candle spells was no longer in effect.
With any luck, nothing else would interfere with the whole lot of them getting to and then past the magwox. Petra thought they just might have that luck. Everyone had managed to get by the large beast, its loud snores echoing around them.
She was so busy with that success that she didn't notice when it became quiet. The scared faces of her peers were the first indicators that something was amiss. She turned around to find the magwox, whom at that moment began to issue a rumbling growl that seemed to almost shake the ground.
“Try and not look directly into its eyes. Just back away slowly, it's much too big to follow us down this tunnel.” Miss Blake instructed.
“What will it do if we look it in the eyes?” Marnie asked, her usual timidity forgotten in the heat of the moment.
It was Mister Glover who supplied the answer, “Miss Garland, I'll assume you're familiar with that certain kind of plant that is able to lour insects to its location when it needs something to eat. The magwox is not unlike those plants, though it exercises its powers on many creatures. We look like a tasty treat to that fellow.”
Petra had kept possession of her notepad and pen. She scribbled a quick message, explaining that they wouldn't be able to back away from the magwox like they were for very long. Eventually they would come to the part of the tunnel where Cecelia's magic had caused the ground to fall away completely.
She needn't have worried about that quite yet. Just as she was about to show the pad to Darlene, a few of the other students started wandering off.
“He has them in his thrall. We'll have to try attacking.” The flame atop Mister Glover's wand went out as he assumed a battle-ready stance.
The creature made no move to attack any of its captured prey. Instead, it backed out of the way to let those it had captured pass by. They rounded the curve of the cave wall and started down the other tunnel. With those few well on their way, the magwox curled up on the ground. It still kept its large, watchful eyes on those that were left.
“It's been enchanted somehow,” Miss Blake looked a little befuddled, “Usually it would just control someone's body until they were within biting distance. None of the books at the school mention anything about them controlling a beast for a purpose other than the hunt.”
“It's not trying to get us anymore. I think it knows we'll go after them,” Darlene voiced just what Petra had been thinking.
She was also set to thinking about what awaited them at the end of the other tunnel. As they raced to catch up with their friends and tried to halt their progress, she couldn't help but wonder about Cecelia's plan. If the magwox was so deadly, why not just let it eat them.
Petra caught Chip Sparks by the arm and held on tight. He was determined to get where he was going, dragging Petra forward a step at a time. He moved in a halting, jerky sort of way. He must have been trying quite hard to resist the control of the magwox.
Chip stopped moving so suddenly that it almost threw Petra off balance. He gave himself a bit of a shake, glancing around. Petra turned to look behind them at the others. Everyone looked equally confused, whether they'd been under the beast's control or not.
“Petra, is that you?” Chip reached out. Petra squeezed his shoulder lightly to indicate her presence.
“Hilton explained to everyone about your predicament. Goodness, that was terrifying. It was like my body was moving by itself and my mind was going along for the ride,” Chip looked back to the end of the tunnel, “I wonder what made it stop all of a sudden.”
“The animal's power can only stretch so far, I imagine,” Mister Glover offered from nearby. “Usually, it works at pulling things to it. Guiding them away probably takes a lot more energy.”
“Should we go back and try to fend it off?” Hilton asked.
As if prompted by the boy's question, the way back to the magwox became blocked with a large slab of rock.
“She needs better tricks. We got through the last one of those no problem, even in the dark!”
“Going back wouldn't do us much good, I'm afraid.” Miss Blake was dusting herself off, “We'd have to get back through and then past the magwox, then down the other tunnel. From what Petra's said, it's in a bit of a shambles. We might not be able to figure out a way to the exit before that awful beast figures out how to get to us again. It would only take one slip up.”
“What should we do?” Marnie's voice was thin. Petra thought it sounded like her friend was trying to hold back tears. They'd all been through a lot more than they'd expected, even those that had gone to face Cecelia.
“The best course of action,” Miss Blake replied, “I think, would be to go on ahead and see what kind of trap Cecelia's trying to force us into. We all know enough to be on guard. It's just a pity I never thought to teach you about defending yourselves. I never thought you'd need to know, really.”
“She hasn't got the best of us yet,” Darlene said, somehow finding the strength to show a smile. “If I might be so bold, she was a poorly made imitation of me. Whatever she sends our way, we can take it.”
Huddled close together, they went further down the tunnel. Just around a bend they came to a very fine looking door that looked very out of place, set as it was in the stone wall of the cave. It was their only way to continue onwards.
Petra was the one to open the door. It opened into a room instead of a cave. That room was the next thing to empty, containing only a small table with a framed note hanging on the wall above it. The table had several small bottles lined up across its surface, a few tools Petra didn't recognize were set neatly in front of them.
“I don't even have to look at the note to know what that's about,” Darlene's face was grim as she surveyed the scene. “That's just about everything you'd need to do the spell that created Cecelia in the first place.”
Budgerigar was the first to get close enough to read the message left for them, “It says that if any one of us will create a double to carry on in her place, we'll all go free.”
Darlene snorted, “Fat chance of that. I think I'd rather see what's behind door number two.”
Carelessly, she stuck out a leg and kicked the table over. The magical instruments struck the ground with a clatter, the glass bottles fragmented on impact and spilled their contents.
It seemed no one was thinking of chastising her. Those among them that knew enough about magic to do what Cecelia wanted were also wise enough that they didn't want to bring another such creature into existence.
There was no choice then but to rush forward through the door opposite the one they had entered. A few of the spilled potion ingredients were creating fumes that made it hard to breathe. Petra breathed heavily once the door was closed behind them, the relatively fresher air ahead refreshing her a little.
She had just started to get her bearings when she became aware of a mad sort of laughter echoing around her. It got louder for a short time before leveling off, almost loud enough to make Petra want to cover her ears. Some of the other students had done just that, while others couldn't be bothered. Many of Petra's peers had propped themselves against the wall of the cave or sat down to have a rest.
“Hilton!” Marnie cried out. Petra spun around to find her cousin slumped against the wall, Marnie shaking his limp form. It was the last straw for Marnie, it seemed, for after everything she had been through that day she was finally crying. “He won't wake up...”
He wasn't the only one having that problem. Those that hadn't succumbed to the urge to get more comfortable looked drowsy. Petra was feeling that way herself.
Miss Blake was the only adult left standing. She had one arm propped against the cave wall, “There's no time to counteract this sleeping spell...” Her words were slightly slurred, “If you're still able, run as fast and as far as you can...”
“But...” Marnie started.
“Go! You can come back for the rest of us once you find a way out. It's better than all of us being stuck here.”
Petra dragged Marnie away, only letting go of her friend when her own head started to clear.
There were only three others left besides Marnie and Petra herself. Budgerigar was catching his breath after the sprint they'd just done down the tunnel. Martin and Darlene were fairing a bit better.
They all agreed that just about the best weapon they could come up with was the candle spell. A little bit of fire was better than having nothing to swing at whatever might be up ahead. Petra kept trying to imagine something worse than the magwox but her mind wouldn't allow it.
“Is anyone else starting to get a little warm?” Budgerigar asked after he calmed down from their run, “At first I thought it was all the exercise of running for our lives, but I'm still feeling it.”
Now that he had mentioned it, Petra noticed it as well. The tunnel they were in was practically humid and that was quite a difference from the cool, damp place where they had started.
“If we've gone through all this just to get burned alive, fat lot of good these little fires will do us,” Martin looked fit to punch something. “If I was still a genie, I could have had all of us out of here hours ago. Wish or no wish, a genie is allowed to use their powers to escape when they're put in a dangerous situation and I wouldn't have just left you all here.”
“Being a person has its advantages, too.” Darlene chided, “It doesn't matter if you're not as powerful as you used to be. What does matter is that we have each other, and everyone is depending on us to get through this challenge and get them out of here.”
Several times, they came to a place where the tunnel branched off in different directions. They always decided which way to go judging by heat, as there was always a way that was much warmer than the others. After a little more walking, there was a bend in the tunnel. Just after they had rounded it, they came to the mouth of a large cavern. It could be plainly seen what had been increasing the temperature of the caves.
A few of the large rocks in the cavern glowed with heat. There was an island in the middle of it that was surrounded by what appeared to be more rock, so hot that it was molten. The island was only connected to the rest of the cave by a very thin bridge.
“Approach me!” Petra heard the voice, though she was somehow aware that it hadn't been with her ears. With it being their only option other than continuing to stand there, the group silently agreed to do what they were told. They filed across the thin bridge of land very carefully. Petra was the last to go, thinking she might otherwise get bumped into if the others got too concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other. More than once, she felt as if some unseen force saved her from overbalancing.
“I will show you myself, so that you might have the honor of seeing me before I take my vengeance,” that same disembodied voice boomed in Petra's mind as soon as they were all more or less trapped. A large figure came down from high above them and hit the ground with enough force to shake it.
Petra gulped. They were face to face with a dragon.
This story is also posted here on FictionPress.com.
Description: Petra Price was a perfectly ordinary girl until she got sent away to Rosebury Academy, a school that would teach her all about magic. It's a brand new life, with new friends and a new power to be harnessed. An enemy is soon revealed. What will Petra do?
There were soon other things to be worried about other than the impending moment when they would all come upon the magwox. Everyone had just barely set foot in the second cave when large slabs of rock slammed down, blocking their escape. To make matters worse, Cecelia had left behind some spell that seemed to suck all the light out of the room. Most everyone was using a candle spell at that point. The little flames went out one by one until there was nothing but oppressive, heavy darkness.
There was a chorus of voices as many tried to to cast the candle spell once more, but not even a single flame reappeared.
Petra tried to remain calm. With no way to communicate how they should proceed, she groped around in the darkness. Finally finding some unidentifiable person in the darkness, she took their hand and tugged gently. The darkness was a little disorienting, but if they could make their way to the wall of the cave and follow it, they'd find the exit. It would be blocked, but they'd find a way around that.
“Who's that?” asked the person whom Petra had latched on to, trying to pull their hand free from her grasp. Petra thought it sounded like Silas Ritter.
“It's probably Petra,” Darlene called. “She'll know the way through here a bit better than the rest of us, even in the dark. I think we should try to form a line and link hands so that nobody wanders off in the wrong direction. We don't know how stable this cave is.”
It took more than a bit of stumbling and bumping in to each other before everyone could confirm that they were part of the line. Petra had been placed at the head. She moved forward with slow, cautious steps.
The journey across the cave was mostly silent. By the time Petra's outstretched hand touched the craggy wall, she had become very used to the sound of shoes scraping against the ground. She had guided them a little off course but was able to feel down the wall a short way and find the edges where the cave's exit met the newer addition of Cecelia's blockade.
“What do we do now?” Ruby Tyler asked once they'd come to a stop.
“I've read about some spells for blowing stuff up!” Porter Lacy volunteered.
“While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Mister Lacy, that just might bring the whole cave crashing down around our heads.” Miss Blake was just behind Petra. Petra felt the principal pull away. Miss Blake recited an incantation Petra wasn't familiar with, followed by a triumphant cheer.
“Just as I had hoped, the new rock wasn't just moved into our way with magic but newly formed by it all together. Objects created with magic take a while to become stable. While our senses can't detect the difference, magic can. A useful bit of information for anyone.” Taking the lead, Miss Blake pulled Petra into the tunnel beyond the cave. Thankfully, they were no longer shrouded in darkness and whatever had been blocking their candle spells was no longer in effect.
With any luck, nothing else would interfere with the whole lot of them getting to and then past the magwox. Petra thought they just might have that luck. Everyone had managed to get by the large beast, its loud snores echoing around them.
She was so busy with that success that she didn't notice when it became quiet. The scared faces of her peers were the first indicators that something was amiss. She turned around to find the magwox, whom at that moment began to issue a rumbling growl that seemed to almost shake the ground.
“Try and not look directly into its eyes. Just back away slowly, it's much too big to follow us down this tunnel.” Miss Blake instructed.
“What will it do if we look it in the eyes?” Marnie asked, her usual timidity forgotten in the heat of the moment.
It was Mister Glover who supplied the answer, “Miss Garland, I'll assume you're familiar with that certain kind of plant that is able to lour insects to its location when it needs something to eat. The magwox is not unlike those plants, though it exercises its powers on many creatures. We look like a tasty treat to that fellow.”
Petra had kept possession of her notepad and pen. She scribbled a quick message, explaining that they wouldn't be able to back away from the magwox like they were for very long. Eventually they would come to the part of the tunnel where Cecelia's magic had caused the ground to fall away completely.
She needn't have worried about that quite yet. Just as she was about to show the pad to Darlene, a few of the other students started wandering off.
“He has them in his thrall. We'll have to try attacking.” The flame atop Mister Glover's wand went out as he assumed a battle-ready stance.
The creature made no move to attack any of its captured prey. Instead, it backed out of the way to let those it had captured pass by. They rounded the curve of the cave wall and started down the other tunnel. With those few well on their way, the magwox curled up on the ground. It still kept its large, watchful eyes on those that were left.
“It's been enchanted somehow,” Miss Blake looked a little befuddled, “Usually it would just control someone's body until they were within biting distance. None of the books at the school mention anything about them controlling a beast for a purpose other than the hunt.”
“It's not trying to get us anymore. I think it knows we'll go after them,” Darlene voiced just what Petra had been thinking.
She was also set to thinking about what awaited them at the end of the other tunnel. As they raced to catch up with their friends and tried to halt their progress, she couldn't help but wonder about Cecelia's plan. If the magwox was so deadly, why not just let it eat them.
Petra caught Chip Sparks by the arm and held on tight. He was determined to get where he was going, dragging Petra forward a step at a time. He moved in a halting, jerky sort of way. He must have been trying quite hard to resist the control of the magwox.
Chip stopped moving so suddenly that it almost threw Petra off balance. He gave himself a bit of a shake, glancing around. Petra turned to look behind them at the others. Everyone looked equally confused, whether they'd been under the beast's control or not.
“Petra, is that you?” Chip reached out. Petra squeezed his shoulder lightly to indicate her presence.
“Hilton explained to everyone about your predicament. Goodness, that was terrifying. It was like my body was moving by itself and my mind was going along for the ride,” Chip looked back to the end of the tunnel, “I wonder what made it stop all of a sudden.”
“The animal's power can only stretch so far, I imagine,” Mister Glover offered from nearby. “Usually, it works at pulling things to it. Guiding them away probably takes a lot more energy.”
“Should we go back and try to fend it off?” Hilton asked.
As if prompted by the boy's question, the way back to the magwox became blocked with a large slab of rock.
“She needs better tricks. We got through the last one of those no problem, even in the dark!”
“Going back wouldn't do us much good, I'm afraid.” Miss Blake was dusting herself off, “We'd have to get back through and then past the magwox, then down the other tunnel. From what Petra's said, it's in a bit of a shambles. We might not be able to figure out a way to the exit before that awful beast figures out how to get to us again. It would only take one slip up.”
“What should we do?” Marnie's voice was thin. Petra thought it sounded like her friend was trying to hold back tears. They'd all been through a lot more than they'd expected, even those that had gone to face Cecelia.
“The best course of action,” Miss Blake replied, “I think, would be to go on ahead and see what kind of trap Cecelia's trying to force us into. We all know enough to be on guard. It's just a pity I never thought to teach you about defending yourselves. I never thought you'd need to know, really.”
“She hasn't got the best of us yet,” Darlene said, somehow finding the strength to show a smile. “If I might be so bold, she was a poorly made imitation of me. Whatever she sends our way, we can take it.”
Huddled close together, they went further down the tunnel. Just around a bend they came to a very fine looking door that looked very out of place, set as it was in the stone wall of the cave. It was their only way to continue onwards.
Petra was the one to open the door. It opened into a room instead of a cave. That room was the next thing to empty, containing only a small table with a framed note hanging on the wall above it. The table had several small bottles lined up across its surface, a few tools Petra didn't recognize were set neatly in front of them.
“I don't even have to look at the note to know what that's about,” Darlene's face was grim as she surveyed the scene. “That's just about everything you'd need to do the spell that created Cecelia in the first place.”
Budgerigar was the first to get close enough to read the message left for them, “It says that if any one of us will create a double to carry on in her place, we'll all go free.”
Darlene snorted, “Fat chance of that. I think I'd rather see what's behind door number two.”
Carelessly, she stuck out a leg and kicked the table over. The magical instruments struck the ground with a clatter, the glass bottles fragmented on impact and spilled their contents.
It seemed no one was thinking of chastising her. Those among them that knew enough about magic to do what Cecelia wanted were also wise enough that they didn't want to bring another such creature into existence.
There was no choice then but to rush forward through the door opposite the one they had entered. A few of the spilled potion ingredients were creating fumes that made it hard to breathe. Petra breathed heavily once the door was closed behind them, the relatively fresher air ahead refreshing her a little.
She had just started to get her bearings when she became aware of a mad sort of laughter echoing around her. It got louder for a short time before leveling off, almost loud enough to make Petra want to cover her ears. Some of the other students had done just that, while others couldn't be bothered. Many of Petra's peers had propped themselves against the wall of the cave or sat down to have a rest.
“Hilton!” Marnie cried out. Petra spun around to find her cousin slumped against the wall, Marnie shaking his limp form. It was the last straw for Marnie, it seemed, for after everything she had been through that day she was finally crying. “He won't wake up...”
He wasn't the only one having that problem. Those that hadn't succumbed to the urge to get more comfortable looked drowsy. Petra was feeling that way herself.
Miss Blake was the only adult left standing. She had one arm propped against the cave wall, “There's no time to counteract this sleeping spell...” Her words were slightly slurred, “If you're still able, run as fast and as far as you can...”
“But...” Marnie started.
“Go! You can come back for the rest of us once you find a way out. It's better than all of us being stuck here.”
Petra dragged Marnie away, only letting go of her friend when her own head started to clear.
There were only three others left besides Marnie and Petra herself. Budgerigar was catching his breath after the sprint they'd just done down the tunnel. Martin and Darlene were fairing a bit better.
They all agreed that just about the best weapon they could come up with was the candle spell. A little bit of fire was better than having nothing to swing at whatever might be up ahead. Petra kept trying to imagine something worse than the magwox but her mind wouldn't allow it.
“Is anyone else starting to get a little warm?” Budgerigar asked after he calmed down from their run, “At first I thought it was all the exercise of running for our lives, but I'm still feeling it.”
Now that he had mentioned it, Petra noticed it as well. The tunnel they were in was practically humid and that was quite a difference from the cool, damp place where they had started.
“If we've gone through all this just to get burned alive, fat lot of good these little fires will do us,” Martin looked fit to punch something. “If I was still a genie, I could have had all of us out of here hours ago. Wish or no wish, a genie is allowed to use their powers to escape when they're put in a dangerous situation and I wouldn't have just left you all here.”
“Being a person has its advantages, too.” Darlene chided, “It doesn't matter if you're not as powerful as you used to be. What does matter is that we have each other, and everyone is depending on us to get through this challenge and get them out of here.”
Several times, they came to a place where the tunnel branched off in different directions. They always decided which way to go judging by heat, as there was always a way that was much warmer than the others. After a little more walking, there was a bend in the tunnel. Just after they had rounded it, they came to the mouth of a large cavern. It could be plainly seen what had been increasing the temperature of the caves.
A few of the large rocks in the cavern glowed with heat. There was an island in the middle of it that was surrounded by what appeared to be more rock, so hot that it was molten. The island was only connected to the rest of the cave by a very thin bridge.
“Approach me!” Petra heard the voice, though she was somehow aware that it hadn't been with her ears. With it being their only option other than continuing to stand there, the group silently agreed to do what they were told. They filed across the thin bridge of land very carefully. Petra was the last to go, thinking she might otherwise get bumped into if the others got too concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other. More than once, she felt as if some unseen force saved her from overbalancing.
“I will show you myself, so that you might have the honor of seeing me before I take my vengeance,” that same disembodied voice boomed in Petra's mind as soon as they were all more or less trapped. A large figure came down from high above them and hit the ground with enough force to shake it.
Petra gulped. They were face to face with a dragon.