Page 39 of Riding My Dragons

”I’m studying to be a scientist,” I told him.“Science and faith don’t always get along.”

”Yes, that’s true.That seems to be true everywhere.Even…”And he stretched out his dragon neck towards me andfixed the gold eyes in his horned dragon head that much more closely on me.“Even…where you come from.”

A sudden shock of surprise flashed inside me, hearing him say that.Inhaling sharply, I took an instinctive step backwards from Nidaag, feeling as if he were looking right into me.“What do you mean, ‘where I come from’?”

Nidaag drew back his neck and stood straighter, making himself even more imposing in the confines of the room.He flexed his wings again.“There are others that we know of.And there are stories we’ve heard, tales of another world very much like our own—except that no beings of our kind live there.A world of only humans—and no Scalers.Those stories are very disturbing to members of my faith.Many of us deny them.And many of us would not respond well to any such stories being proven true.”

Hearing this from him, I felt wrapped up in reptile coils of dread.Nidaag was talking around something.I didn’t like what he was implying.“What do you mean, ‘others that you know of’?”

Nidaag said, “Have you heard of a group of misguided people called ‘the Intercross’?They are a group of social and cultural outliers, a fringe element of our world, who believe there is a world such as I’ve just described.Some of them claim to have visited such a world.And some even say that people from that other world, the world without dragons, have come here.What do you think of that, Jenna?”

Frozen in place, not daring to show any more of a reaction than was absolutely necessary, I said, “It sounds like a legend.”

”And you don’t believe in legends?”

”I believe in things that can be proven,” I said.

“Yes,” said Nidaag.“A scientist always searches.What they’ve learned can never suffice.But when you have faith, Jenna, what you believe is enough.”

“Faith.Belief,” I repeated his words.“People will do the most awful things for what they believe.They’ll kill and destroy.They’ll fight wars.That’s always been true, hasn’t it?”

“People will do what they feel they must for what they believe.And they’ll do what they feel they must to protect their beliefs.”

I asked him bluntly, “Nidaag, when you have what my friend stole for you, will you really let me go like you said you will?”

”Why would we reverse ourselves?” he asked back.

“Because of what you just said about what people will do to protect their beliefs.When something or someone could prove someone’s beliefs wrong, they’d do just about anything to stop it, wouldn’t they?”

”We are not monsters, Jenna,” said Nidaag.“We’re just protectors of our faith.And we are creatures of our word.We honor what we say.”

Somehow, his words didn’t reassure me.I sensed there was a trick or a deception in there somewhere; it just wasn’t obvious.So, I gave him another blunt question.“Do you know for sure that there’s anyone from that other place in this world right now?Has anyone shown you that there’s some human here who comes from over there?”

At that, Nidaag reared up his mighty, horned dragon head on his long, thick reptilian neck.He spread his wings and opened his dragon mouth wide, showing his rows of sharp, curved teeth.He took a step towards me, and another, hissing from that gaping reptile mouth.Sudden terror whipped me as if it were his curling dragon tail.I backed up, whimpering, into a corner by the big window as he loomed over me.Gazing up fearfully at him, I braced myself for the worst.

Then, just as suddenly, Nidaag calmed himself.He folded his wings, drew back his neck, and closed his jaws.He steppedback to where he’d been, and I stood frozen in the corner, my breath speeded up from my abrupt fright at his reaction.

“We have no reason to believe that any such being is abroad in this world,” said Nidaag.“Any such claim would be subject to proof.And proof is what science holds most dear, isn’t it?”

I didn’t answer him.I just stared at him, relieved that he’d stepped back from his wrath.

“No such other world exists,” said Nidaag.“There is only Tellus.And Tellus is rightfully the domain of dragons.The exchange of you and the item that we need will take place soon.I’ll have someone bring you food and something to drink now.You’re safe, Jenna.”

Without another word, Nidaag turned and exited with a twist and curl of his tail.He shut the door behind him.I heard the click of the lock.And only then did I relax—a little.

I put a hand to my chest to feel the rapid, frightened beating of my heart.I felt something else beneath my top and reached under my collar to take it out and look at it.On its chain, the sensor jewel flashed yellow at me, which I took as its reading of my physical response to my terror from being loomed over by a big, black, hissing, two-legged dragon.Just a short time ago, my gift from Byron had been responding to things much, much more pleasing.

Calming my pounding heart and my ragged breaths, I turned and stepped to one side to look out again at the underground village of Reptos.I had indirectly asked Nidaag if he knew anything about my father and where he might be.From the way he reacted to my question, he must have known something, and it seemed to alarm him that I would come that close to the truth.I still sensed some trick on the dragon leader’s part.And it made me wonder if my coming here to find my father would come to nothing.Would I really go free?Would Iever see him again?Would I ever see Byron and Elliot and Cade again?Really?

Just now, I couldn’t be sure of anything.

CHAPTER 19

Byron

Outside of Pendrake City there was a forest, and in the forest a large entrance to a cave.Elliot, Cade, and I flew Elliot’s car to a place at the edge of the forest where vehicles could be left.We turned the car off and let it settle to the ground in a parking space.Then we started down a forest trail on foot.The foot led to the cave opening and, on instructions from Neal Callaway, we took our dragon shapes and walked into the entrance.Cade was nervous about this part.As a wanted man, he was scared to be seen in the form that the University warehouse guard had recorded.But we agreed that we’d go in on foot, not flying, which would minimize the risk of someone picking up his wing patterns.

Once through the entrance, we went through a long passage that would have been pitch dark if not for the strips of Ambience lighting set into the walls.We made our way down that deep tunnel of stone, and as we went, we started to hear music playing.The farther we went, the stronger the music grew, and we began to hear voices subtly under it and the less subtle sound of dragon calls.Up ahead of us, the end of the tunnel came into view, and the music, voices, and dragon noises became more distinct.

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