Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 267

Chapter 267: Don’t get carried away
Mia screamed.

The dragon that held her uncle paid her no heed, even as she lunged out of her father’s arms and tried to grab Trace’s legs as they dangled in the sky.

Her reach was not enough. Grandpa ran faster than she did, grasping for his younger son’s ankles as the dragon swept upward and away. As a last ditch effort he leapt into the air, grazing Trace’s legs but not getting a good enough grip to accomplish anything by it.

A torrent of moths flew from the direction of the cave entrance towards the dragons, surrounding the beast that held a human in its talons.

It groaned with irritation as the bugs flew into its face, stalling its flight as it struggled against the blindness and the obstacle the insects were proving to be as they struggled to drive it back to the ground.

The dragon beat off the cloud of grey-winged creatures with a mighty flap of its reptilian wings, throwing them into chaos.

Grandpa’s fists clenched and the assault was renewed. The moths formed into a tight grouping and sought to pelt the dragon’s eyes, forcing it to land or risk injuring itself flying into something.

The wight made a guttural noise once more, and the dragon spewed flame from its maw, incinerating the insects. Those that survived fluttered aimlessly away, while Grandpa stared, bewildered.

He lifted his hands again, but the moths no longer seemed to act in any unnatural or organized way. Mia’s eyes widened as the flying monster gripping her uncle turned to rejoin the others in their departure towards a circular darkness in the wall of the cave.

It was a gaping hole large enough for the four dragons carrying the tree to easily fit through together, the longest roots trailing like golden tendrils as they brushed the bottom edge. Denholm was still screeching his protests about having the tree ‘stolen’ from him, and about being treated so disrespectfully.

The echoes were rather haunting.

The wights either didn’t understand or didn’t care, and the group of three wights, six dragons, and two unwilling humans disappeared into the darkness.

“How–why—” Mia’s father stuttered in disbelief and turned to her. “How did this happen? What were those? Is this all a dream??”

Grandpa dusted himself off as he rose from where he had fallen after his attempt at taking down the dragon. The cave was dark now, with the light of the tree fading into the inky black, and the torches and lamps the humans had brought with them seemed anemic.

“Dragons, Seth.” The old man shook his head and ran his hand down his face. “Those… were dragons.”

Turning several shades of red before settling back into his natural pallor, Seth took Mia’s hand and faced her again.

“You…”

“I’m sorry, Papa!” Mia’s eyes filled with tears. “I didn’t want any of you to come after me, I was going to come straight home after seeing the cave for myself, after filling in my lost memories as best I could! Do you know how disorienting it is to have memories pop up that seem like they were never there before? An entire chapter in my life a gaping hole in time?”

She threw her arms around her father’s neck, guiltily admitting to herself that she knew his ire would be substantially quenched by her display. And her tears, which flowed freely now.

Her father’s embrace felt like a safe place, and he sighed deeply.

“We can talk about that later. Right now we have to figure out a way to get Trace back from those creatures,” He put her back from himself and looked towards his father.

“Any ideas?”

“That hole is too high for us to climb up to without ropes and other equipment,” Grandpa mused. “I saw a bunch of supplies out in that strange little camp, but there’s no guarantee we’d be able to get up there either way.”

“Your moths could take the rope up and tie it off,” Mia looked up at the hole, “There must be some stalactites or something for them to attach it to, now.”

“Those… those things… dampened my power,” Grandpa looked at his hands. “It’s still there, but it’s like a weakened muscle. I think it will come back eventually, but for now, I’m about as useful as any mundane man out there,” He tried to smile apologetically, but his eyes darted in worry towards the tunnel.

“Oh!” Mia’s eyes widened. The tree was getting further away every moment. She only had a short time to make whatever use of its presences she could….

She looked for her uncle. More specifically, she looked for where she would be able to find him. Of course, she knew roughly where he was right now even if she couldn’t get to him…

Covering her eyes with her hands so that she could concentrate as much as possible on the images, she frantically searched for the place where she could see Trace again. That didn’t really work, which made sense. Her gift didn’t bring her to things that didn’t exist yet.

The wights’ home. That could work, assuming they were, in fact, going home. Taking the tree, and Trace, home with them. No, more specifically! They already had a destination they had chosen, surely. The quickest traversable path to the wights’ destination!

As the images poured into her mind she was, at first, elated over her success, committing each part of the path to her memory as if her life depended on it.

After all, her uncle’s might.

The images began to lose their focus, blurring as they went onward. Was the tree too far now for her to take full advantage of its power enhancement?

Desperately, she clenched her eyes shut as the images continued… and went onward. Just how far was the destination??

Past the land of gorges, through a grassland, a forest, and into a white mountain range. Committing each thing to memory, she nearly gasped when the power slipped beyond her ability just as she glimpsed the end of the journey.

Ford’s voice broke into her thoughts before she could finish absorbing the sight.

“I hate to interrupt, but—what happened to me?”