“Apparently,” Anders held his arms out in front of his body turning them over as he examined them before resting them back behind his head. “She gave me the use of magic and now it flows within me. I have no idea how it works, apart from what Ivan’s tried to explain to me. He was bonded during The War of The Magicians, but his dragon was killed before the end of the war. The small bit I’ve attempted to use is hard to control. I’ve pretty much been using it constantly since she gave it to me and, as a result, I’ve never been more tired in my life.” He blinked heavily, letting his eyelids remain closed for several seconds before opening them again. “Once I’ve eaten a little more, I’m going to take a much-needed nap.”

“Wow,” Kirsten said. The rest of them sat in silence for awhile thinking about all that Anders had told them. He continued to eat several helpings of roasted mutton.

Zahara flew back overhead, returning from her fishing excursion. With the subtleness and gentle paws of a barn cat, she landed just behind Anders as he nibbled the last shreds of meat off the roasting stick. She let her body sprawl out on the green grass around them, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the warmth of the early afternoon sun.

“Yep, that seems about right,” Anders said and walked over to where she lay stretched out on the ground and bedded down next to her, closing his eyes and letting sleep overtake him.

Everyone else at the fire suddenly also felt the effects from their long night. Max and Bo joined Anders and his dragon, lying back on the ground where they’d been sitting around the cookfire. Maija walked around to where Anders and Zahara were napping and joined them only a short distance away.

Before Thomas and Kirsten joined the rest of the group in their afternoon nap, Kirsten asked her brother, “When should we tell Anders about what we found in Merglan’s chambers?”

Thomas shrugged, “Let him get some rest. We can tell him when he wakes up.”

Kirsten nodded and looked over to see her cousin soundly sleeping on the grass next to his dragon. She couldn’t believe all she’d experienced in the last several months. “I’ll tell him when he wakes up,” she said looking back to Thomas. But Thomas was already sprawled out on the ground, eyes closed.

When Anders awoke, he couldn’t immediately make the distinction between the darkness behind his eyelids and the darkness of the night sky. He shivered, feeling the cold ground beneath him sucking energy from his body. He sat up a bit confused.

I thought Ivan was going to come and get us before going to search for the missing dragonriders?

Anders searched the area around him, looking for Zahara. As his eyes adjusted, he began to make out his surroundings. The grassy patch on the valley floor beneath the fortress walls where they’d been napping no longer was beneath him and he couldn’t locate Zahara.

He snapped his head around, searching for the cookfire where he’d last seen his friends and family. The fire was gone and there wasn’t a soul around. He squinted into the darkness, but couldn’t see any sign that anyone had been there.

Anders rose to his feet and took several steps forward. The crunch of dirt and rocks beneath each step echoed through the night. He definitely wasn’t in the same place where he’d fallen asleep. Anders’ heart began to beat faster.

Where am I? he wondered. Anders remembered how Ivan used his magic to sense the people near him. Maybe I can do that now.

He closed his eyes to focus on creating a mental grid of the area around him, searching for any signs of life. He stretched himself out, feeling the cold dirt surrounding him continue farther and farther afield. As he strained his mind to maneuver through the space surrounding him, Anders heard a noise. Opening his eyes, he swiveled to face where he thought it had come from.

“Hello!” he shouted into the darkness. With no immediate response, he turned his right ear to the direction where he thought the noise came from, waiting for an answer. There was none.

“Is anyone there!?” Anders shouted and again thrusting his ear out into the darkness.

Then suddenly he heard it again. A reply to his call. Anders heedlessly ran toward it, not letting himself think about whether the noise he was running toward was a trap or a friend or family member. He didn’t care what had made the sound, he just knew that he needed to find it.

“Where are you?!” Anders shouted as he ran.

The noise replied again, this time turning into what sounded like muffled words. He couldn’t hear exactly what was being said, but he was able to pinpoint where the noise came from.

As he approached it, he could see the outline of several trees in the darkness. Under the trees there loomed a shadowed shape, darker than the night around him. Coming closer, he began to make out a distinct form… a dragon.

Anders skidded to a halt. Could it be, Merglan?

He heard the person call to him again.

“Help. Please, help me.” It was a woman’s voice.

That can’t be him, it’s a woman, and she’s hurt, he thought.

He started running again toward the dragon. As he drew closer, he could see the dragon was lying on top of the woman who’d called out for help. He rushed to the woman’s side and heard his feet splash as he ran through something wet. Looking down, Anders nearly lost his dinner when he realized that he was standing in a pool of crimson blood.

Forcing his last meal back down with a hard swallow, he bent down onto one knee and began to examine what kind of trouble the woman was in. Her long brown hair covered her face. She was being crushed under the weight of the bloody dragon’s body. He opened his mouth to ask her if she was okay but was cut off when he heard Ivan calling his name. Anders looked up in surprise wondering how Ivan had found him in this desolate place.

“Anders, wake up,” Ivan said, shaking Anders by the toe of his boot.

Anders opened his eyes, the setting sun momentarily blinding him with an unexpected jolt of light. Realizing he was no longer next to the woman crushed under the dragon, he bolted upright not sure what was happening to him. Just a moment ago he’d been in a dark place next to a strange woman and a motionless dragon lying in a pool of blood. Now he found himself back in the grass lying beneath the towering walls of the fortress. He put his arm along his brow to block the setting sun so he could see Ivan’s figure more clearly. Squinting, he could see that Zahara was still lying next to him, sprawled out sleeping. Max, Bo, his cousins and Maija were chatting around the smoldering remains of their cook fire. He looked back at Ivan, who continued to stare down at him.

“Anders, get up. We are going to search for the missing riders,” Ivan said with a stern expression.

“Hold on,” Anders said as Ivan began to walk away. “I was just with a woman.”

Ivan stopped, cocked his head to the side, and asked, “What?”

“It was dark. I was somewhere else. No one was around. I called out into the darkness and heard a noise. It was a woman. I ran to her. She was under a tree lying in a pool of blood. A dragon lay on top of her.” Somewhat breathless, he looked up at Ivan who was now back standing over him.

“Was it a dream?” Anders asked, already knowing better. “It seemed too real to be a dream…”

“That was no dream; you saw one of the missing riders. We must leave at once,” Ivan said sternly.

Anders hopped up onto his feet. Zahara had awoken and stood ready to take Anders where they needed to go.

“I need to grab my sword and bow,” Anders said, feeling the place at his side where he usually kept his weapons.

“I’ll get Nadir and inform him of your vision,” Ivan said. “He’ll be joining us on this mission.”

“Okay, I’ll be quick.” Anders ran to his small pile of belongings at the edge of the campfire.

“Hey, what’s the rush? Are you going somewhere?” Max asked. He’d been watching when Ivan went to wake Anders.

“I had a vision of one of the dragonriders,” Anders said. “We’re going to search for them.”

“Need any help?” Max, Bo, Maija, Thomas and Kirsten all stood up at the same time, ready to leap into action.

“No, you stay here. Who knows if Merglan is still out there? This is my task to handle.”

“Anders wait,” Thomas said while Anders was strapping on his sword belt.

Anders faced his cousin.

“You should know about the crystals,” Thomas said, glancing over at Maija and Kirsten.

“What crystals?” Anders asked. Just then Ivan called to Anders, waving his hand and urging him to hurry up. He nodded to show he was coming and turned his attention back to Thomas

“I found several crystals in the mine and each time I did the soldiers would confiscate them,” Thomas said.

“Merglan’s soldiers would bring them into the fortress and straight up to his personal chambers,” Kirsten interrupted. “Maija and I found a secret door that led to a room where he was keeping the crystals guarded by a dragon. During the last night, we were there, just after Merglan left, we found that he’d taken the dragon and the crystals with him,” she said in a rush.

“Interesting,” Anders said. “I’ll have to tell Ivan.” Anders thanked them before he and Zahara ran to join Ivan. The two climbed onto Zahara’s back and held on tightly as she took to the sky. Nadir ran along the ground below them keeping up as they journeyed away from the camp in search of the missing dragons and riders.