Page 48 of The Dragon Shifters' Enemy
“I’m fine!The big green meanie can’t fit under here and I don’t think--hey!Using super strength is not fair!”Tilly snapped at the Green Dragon King.“He just lifted up the entire dining room table!”
“I will speak with Valerius! Now give me the phone, little girl!”Illarion demanded.
Valerius’ jaw clenched.“Tilly, put me on speaker please.”
“Right away!”she said and there was that hollow sound that signaled he was broadcasting.
“Illarion, are you in the habit of chasing 13-year-old girls?”Valerius’ voice was soft, almost gentle.
“I--I was not--she should have--you are making me sound foolish!”Illarion ground out.
“He’s doing that all by himself,” Caden muttered.
“You willneverspeak to Tilly orbehavewith her in that way again.Is that understood?”Valerius asked.
Caden’s head lifted up and his eyes widened as he heard atonein Valerius’ voice that he had never heard before.He’d threatened.He’d ranted and raved.Thiswas different.It wasn’t a threat.It was apromiseof terrible, terrible things happening to Illarion if he didn’t obey.
There was a long silence from Illarion and then a low, “I was not going to hurt her!I--”
“Do you understand?”Valerius pronounced each word as he repeated the question.
“Yes,” Illarion hissed.But Valerius knew he meant it even though the Green Dragon Shifter sounded put out. “But you need to tell us what is going on! We are equals to you, Valerius! We are not your servants!”
That was debatable.
“Gather the other Dragon Shifters near for I will not repeat this. Time is short,” Valerius' voice was clipped.
There were footsteps that neared and then stopped.He imagined all of the Dragon Shifters gathered around Tilly and the phone as if they were worshipping an ancient, occult object.
“We’re all here, Valerius,” Esme informed him.
“And here is where Caden and I are.We are certain that Chione told you much of this already, but here is the simple summary.Landry made a call.Her cell phone’s location was traced to a valley near my private retreat,” Valerius informed them and grimaced as he admitted this much.Hadn’t Caden said that Illarion would take off after the Behemoth? He likely could find them with this small amount of information, but if he didn’t give enough there would be more objections and children-chasing.“I sent Celestine and the other Falcons to investigate, believing if Caden and I went in our Dragon forms, Landry might be harmed before we could get to her.Only Celestine returned, desperately injured.Both she and Landry said the same words.Wall and death.”
There was a long silence as all of the other Dragon Shifters took this in.He wondered if their confusion and dread was as great as his.Likely not.Because they had not seen the battle in the past and its horrible conclusion.
“We must come with you,” Jahara said.“You are going to investigate this place, yes?”
“Yes,” Valerius said.“But it would not be wise for us all to go.”
“You are the largest and strongest of us, Valerius,” Mei said then, “but not even you can stop the Behemoth on your own.”
Actually, hecouldand hehad--or ratherRazielhad--but the results had been… terrible.
“I know,” Valerius agreed.He had no idea how to stop the Behemoth without devastating a whole country or more.
“It’s actually a lot more complicated than that,” Caden broke in.“Guys, you need to ask your Dragon Spirits to show you the battle with the Behemoth in the spirit realm.Once you see that, you’ll understand that Valerius and I aren’t going there to fight the Behemoth.We’re just looking for Landry or any sign of where the Behemoth is hidden.”
“Eldoron is quite upset all of a sudden!”Tez cried.“It doesn’t want to speak about the battle.Oh, my!”
“It must.All of us need to know what happened back then, because we cannot let it happen again,” Valerius told them.
Kaila piped in, “Lana said we won, but we--”
“Lost,” Esme murmured.“Oh, dear, this looks to be bad news.”
“Perhaps or perhaps not.We just cannot face the Behemoth as we might have intended,” Valerius said.
Anwar spoke up then, “Those wordswallanddeath.Do you recall the wall I found in my territory?The one that had the Behemoth’s likeness upon it, but then didnot?”
