fandomania | The Adventure continues... (Reply)

Our eggs:

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Our hatchlings:

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The Story:

I screamed as large section of wall and a huge rafter started falling down where I was laying. I screamed “No!!!” and stretched my hands upwards, defensively. I closed my eyes waiting for the pain, but nothing came. When I opened my eyes again, there were the walls and rafter, suspended about two feet above me. I was astonished and relieved by what I saw. I didn’t dare put my arms down for fear that that would shift everything and I would be crushed.

“PATRA? LITTLE ONE? ARE YOU OKAY?”

“Yes Orlando, for the moment. I just don’t know how long I am able to keep holding up this wall. Please help me?”

“I WILL BE RIGHT THERE.”

I could hear his footsteps coming from the outside to my room. I could hear him rummaging around in the rubble. It wasn’t but a minute or two later that he was close to where I was. I felt the weight lift from my hands and vanish into thin air.

“PATRA? YOU ARE SAFE NOW. ARE YOU HURT ANYWHERE?”

“Not that I know of.”

Orlando then leaned down and picked me up, carrying me outside the inn. “Donal? Is he okay? How are the children? And the hatchlings?”

“DONAL WAS IN THE TAVERN WHEN THE EARTHQUAKE HIT. HE IS A LITTLE CUT AND BRUISED. BUT OTHERWISE OKAY. THE HATCHLINGS ARE IN THE BARN AND THAT IS STILL STANDING. THEY ARE ALRIGHT. BUT I HAVEN’T SEEN THE CHILDREN YET. WHERE WERE THEY SLEEPING?”

“In the room next door.”

Orlando put me down carefully and went over to where the children’s room had been. While he was searching there, I heard footsteps and saw Donal come running towards me. He grabbed me into his arms and held me tight. “Oh, Patra, Love, I was so afraid you were dead or injured.”

“SHE MANAGED TO SAVE HERSELF WITH HER POWERS. SHE PREVENTED THE WALLS FROM COLLAPSING ON TOP OF HER AND CRUSHING HER. THAT WAS QUITE A FEAT FOR SOMEONE UNTRAINED IN MAGIC.

“THERE IS NO ONE IN THE CHILDREN’S ROOM. THEY MUST HAVE GOTTEN OUT SOMEHOW.”

“But where are they?” I began to call their names. When I didn’t hear their voices, I began to call them louder. I started running around the building, frantically calling their names, but I heard nothing. With every minute that sped by I became more frantic and more upset. I started to scream their names with every fiber of my being, when I heard faintly. “Okay, Mama! We come!” A minute later, all of the children appeared next to me. Loysa had brought them back. Celi started to speak first. “When the earthquake struck, I grabbed Jayzon and called the others to me. Just as the walls started to fall, a golden light appeared and the next thing I knew we were somewhere else. I am not sure where we went, but it wasn’t anywhere I had ever seen before. I figured out that Loysa must have teleported us to safety. But when I tried to ask her to take us back, she didn’t seem to understand. Then all of a sudden, she said, “We go now. Mama calling.” The golden light appeared again and we came here. Was I right? Did Loysa save us?”

“Yes, sweeting, it would seem so.” I hugged and kissed all of my children, but Loysa got many, many more.

Once it was clear that our family was all safe, Donal and Orland pitched in to help others, rescuing many more people from the rubble of the inn and from nearby buildings. They were still hard at it when the sun came up and well into the afternoon they worked. Only when it appeared that everyone was accounted for, did they stop. Exhausted, I made up beds for them in the barn and let them sleep until supper time.

The inn’s owner and his servants threw together an outdoor fire pit and cooked food for everyone. It was a simple repast, but it was nourishing and filling. After the meal, everyone found a spot in the barn and slept like the dead, all except me. I kept thinking about how close I came to either death or injury. Any movement that I felt, either real or imaginary, scared me to death. It took me a long time to fall asleep.

In the morning, I woke to find Orlando and Donal combing through the wreckage for as many of our things as they could find. After breakfast, we decided that it would be best to head out again to Alfaria. Adding to the strained resources of the city’s victims didn’t seem correct. It was better to go now.

We took the road north to Alfaria, stopping occasionally when our help was needed in rescuing more trapped people. It took us two weeks to get to the pass that linked Tuščia Žemė with Alfaria. Although the pass was mountainous, the Alfarian Mountains weren’t nearly as high or as dangerous as the Lag Range was. It took another day to travel through the pass and another week to get to Daihor, the city where Donal’s family lived. Donal knew the place well and pointed out things of interest as we passed them. By noon we arrived. Donal got out of the wagon and knocked on the large iron door that was part of the the wall surrounding the family’s compound.