Chasing Dragons

Book #11 in the Curse Breaker Series

Next Book: Curse Breaker Jousts

 Synopsis

Jerlo chases his dream of bonding with a dragon with a single-minded determination that might get him killed. Will he anger the mother dragon and send her on a murderous rampage through the city under Mount Eredren? Or will he achieve his heart’s desire?

Meanwhile, a magical crystal trapped a wounded Sarn. Can he unravel its secrets before its sender summons an ancient deity to take vengeance on him and his son?

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Chasing Dragons

by Melinda Kucsera

Schemes & Stories (Chapter 1)

“Does Auntie Sovvan eat?” Ran asked again since Uncle Miren didn’t answer him the first time he asked. To be fair, his uncle’s mouth was full of the delicious cookies Inari made with his help and Furball’s too. So that might be why he didn’t answer the first time. He didn’t want the cookies to fall out of his mouth. Ran could understand that. Good cookies should never go to waste.

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her when she comes back,” Uncle Miren finally said as he walked over to the cold box on the counter.

 Blue light spilled out when he opened it because a blue lumir crystal kept the contents cold, including a jug of milk he pulled out and poured into the three glasses lined up on the counter. The black lumir crystal must not have eaten the magic in that crystal because it still glowed, and hopefully, it kept all the yummy things in there cold like Inari wanted.

“Hey, you still need to tell me how you and Furball ended up making cookies with my mom.” Nerule poked Ran when he just chewed the cookie he was eating and enjoyed its light nutty flavor.

“Well, I helped her because she asked me to, so I’d leave Papa alone. And then Furball showed up, and I asked if he could help too.” Ran bit into another cookie as he reviewed events that felt like they took place a lifetime ago rather than that morning.

“What happened next?” Nerule accepted a glass of milk from Uncle Miren, but he kept his gaze on Ran like he thought Ran would stop his story there before the interesting part.

“Then we talked about our friend Saveen. He’s a dragon, and your mom got really quiet and weird. But Furball’s grandma came to check on him and she sent us to wash up because we got flour all over us somehow.” Ran still didn’t know how that happened. We were careful, but the flour just went everywhere. I wonder why it did that.

“Then what happened?” Nerule set his empty glass down.

Ran sipped from his glass. “Then Furball’s grandma, her name’s Amal, talked to your mom about dragons. But I don’t know if that made your mom feel better about dragons living under the mountain because she ran out right after that.” Ran shrugged.

“Why did she do that?” Nerule spun his glass on the counter.

“I don’t know, but I wasn’t paying attention because the cookies were done. And we had to taste them to make sure they came out good.” Ran stuffed the remains of his cookie in his mouth since he finished his story, then drank the rest of the milk. All the questions came roaring back now that his tummy was full.

How could a crystal ornament pull Papa inside it? Ran set his empty glass down and stared at it. Uncle Miren said he wasn’t worried because a crystal wasn’t much of a threat to someone like Papa.

“I’ve seen him do amazing things with crystals over the years,” Uncle Miren said maybe an hour ago, and he was right. Ran had seen Papa do amazing things with crystals too, but his absence gnawed at him. What if this crystal was more powerful than Papa?

Ran didn’t know how to help if that was the case. I already sent Auntie Sovvan to help him. What else can I do?

“What if there’s a bad person inside the crystal?” Ran asked again since Uncle Miren didn’t answer that question earlier either. Would Papa fight the bad person?

“Then your dad will throw up a shield and run away. He’s really good at that.” Uncle Miren pulled him into a hug. “Don’t worry about him. If there are any butts that need kicking, then your aunt will kick them for your dad. Just you wait and see.”

“I don’t want to wait and see. I want Papa and Auntie Sovvan to come back right now.” Ran leaned into his uncle and hugged him back.

Could they stay with Inari and Nolo if Papa didn’t come back? Ran didn’t know, but he didn’t want to find out either, in case the answer was no. Where would we go if we can’t stay here?

“Hey now, don’t cry. Everything will be okay somehow. It always is. It’s just the how part that’s a mystery. But we’ll find out together.” Uncle Miren rubbed his back.

“I hope so,” Ran said into his uncle’s chest as the tears ebbed. They might return if Papa stayed away for too long. If I can get the crystal, maybe it’ll take me to Papa. I could hit the bad person’s butt too. But he was probably too short to kick it.

One day, he’d be as tall as Papa and Uncle Miren, and then he could kick butts if butts needed kicking. That thought dried his tears as Ran tried to imagine what butt kicking looked like. But he gave up on that and instead wondered how to get that crystal as a new thought struck him. What if Auntie Sovvan got called away?

It happened before, so it could happen again. Then Papa would be on his own. If I get that crystal, maybe I can see Papa in it. Ran didn’t know what he’d do then. But just having a plan made him feel better, so when Uncle Miren glanced down at him, he wiped his eyes.

“Everything will turn out okay. You’ll see.” Uncle Miren squeezed him again and Ran nodded because his uncle was probably right. He just wished everything was all right now, not later. But he must get that crystal to make it okay, so he tried to look like that cheered him up and not like he was scheming, even though he was.

Fooling Uncle Miren would be hard, but he must do it if he wanted to get his hands on that crystal because Uncle Miren wouldn’t let him. I just need to make sure he doesn’t guess that’s what I want to do. Ran tried to think of a way to evade his uncle, but nothing came to mind since the kitchen didn’t have a wall to divide it from the living area, just a counter, and all the bedrooms were off that room.

But to get to the room with a hole in the wall that led to the cliff required Ran to get from the kitchen through the living room to Papa’s room and then go through the hole in the wall. But he needed to do all that without Uncle Miren catching him. How can I do that?

“Are you okay now?” Uncle Miren let go and studied him.

“Yes, I just want Papa back now, not later.” Ran folded his arms.

“I know. I want him back too, so he can tell us what happened.” Uncle Miren picked up the glasses and headed for the sink. But he walked backward to the sink so he could watch Ran. That just wasn’t fair.

“Okay, let’s clean up while we wait, so Inari doesn’t return to a messy apartment.” Uncle Miren clapped his hands to get their attention.

Maybe during this cleaning thing I can slip away. Ran hoped so as he followed his uncle out of the kitchen into the living room. When he passed the bathing room, an idea struck him.

“We should clean up in here first. We tried not to make a mess, but Furball is very furry.” Ran pointed inside the bathing room where he and Furball cleaned off the flour.

Damp towels littered the floor. Ran picked up one as Uncle Miren scowled at the mess. He just needed Uncle Miren to turn his back for a few minutes. That was all. Then he could grab the crystal and see what Papa was doing inside it.

“Okay. Let’s start here. You wipe up the water on the floor. Okay?” Uncle Miren must have guessed his plan because he gently but firmly pushed Ran inside.

Darn it. There went that plan. Now he needed another one. Ran wiped the floor with a towel that was on the floor as he tried to come up with another plan to escape his uncle.

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