Sarah and the Steam Dragon
Chapter 9

The night sky was cloudy, the moon hidden from view, as Stanley soared through the air. Sarah barely felt the cold wind, sheltered as she was in his arms and tucked against his warm chest. Even at such a late hour, Pan City was awash with lights from its towers. Far below the headlights of cars and trucks shone along brightly lit roads, heading to their various destinations.

If they were not on such an important mission, the view would have been beautiful.

They raced past the last tower and then the school was below them, lit with its own spotlights around the grounds. A few lights shone from the buildings too yet from up here they could not see any people.

They dropped lower and then Sarah spotted one of the blue uniformed Guards, walking a solitary beat across the main courtyard.

“I wonder where the rest are?” she said to Stanley.

“Maybe they think the danger is past?” suggested the Dragon. He had keener sight than Sarah’s and he could see no other Guards on the school grounds. It made their task easier if there were fewer Guards on duty now, so Sarah directed her friend to another rooftop doorway she knew of.

With deft fingers, she pulled out a small torch covered with Unicorn stickers she had “borrowed” from Carrie. Using its light she keyed in Creepy Bob’s access code. Once again the door unlocked and she thanked whichever oversight had let his code remain active.

Inside the stairway was lit only by dim red emergency lights. Using her torch in one hand and pulling Stanley along with the other, the pair of them descended stealthily, alert for any trouble. Other than their faint footsteps and breathing, the school was as quiet as the grave.

With her extensive knowledge of the school, gained from many hours exploring the forbidden heights and depths of its buildings, she led them to the basement. They passed no one else on the way, the silence growing more and more oppressive.

At the final staircase to the basement, Sarah realised the automated lights were not working. They had always come on before, yet she had never been here so late at night. It must be a programmed thing she reasoned to herself, since there would be no need for lights with the school closed. Reassuring herself, she led the dragon down the stairs, only her tiny toy torch piercing the blackness.

They reached the basement, facing the three branching corridors. Acting on instinct Sarah turned to her right, heading for the Lost and Found room. If Albright had anything stashed away down here, that is where it would be. She led the way again, keeping a firm grip on Stanley’s foreleg.

“It would be easier if I led you” Stanley offered, shuffling along using only three of his legs. “You could hold my tail”

“Huh?” replied Sarah, glancing back at the dragon.

“I can see perfectly well in the darkness” he added. “If there is any danger ahead it would be best if I was in front”

Sarah humphed at her friend. “You could have said something earlier” and walked to the back of Stanley, who held his tail tip aloft for her. She snatched it and got a firm grip, eliciting a small yelp from the dragon. Now with Stanley in front, they continued. Sarah played her torch along their sides and behind them, alert for anything unusual.

The Lost and Found room was more of a three sided storage space, with the fourth side that ran alongside the corridor walled off by a strong plastic mesh. At the centre was a mesh door set into a metal frame, with a keypad lock fixed beside the door handle.

There were no lights on in the room, but Sarah played her torch over the shelves and storage containers visible through the mesh. It all looked much as she expected and was ready to move on when Stanley stiffened with concentration.

“Can you smell it, Sarah?” he asked quietly, his nostrils emitting small wisps of steam as he breathed in and out. He filled most of the narrow corridor and had his head hard against the mesh wall, sucking in air noisily.

Sarah sniffed the air experimentally, getting a waft of the flower scent she associated with Stanley. Underlying that was the stale odour of mould and bleach she always got from the basement.

“Nothing out of the ordinary to me” she replied. She inhaled again, closing her eyes and focussing on her sense of smell. It had never been that great, living as she did with an evil brother who smelled as bad as all young boys can.

Then she got a hint of it. A strange odour that reminded her of crushed insects, a pungent tang in the air that felt wrong to her somehow. She thought of the Shade, that dragon shaped creature of blackness that had injured Stanley. If the smell had a form it would be something like that. A smell she could only associate with evil.

“Whatever the Emissary left, it is here in this room” Stanley said. He pushed his head against the mesh, testing its strength. “My claws can cut this” he decided and lifted his foreleg ready to strike.

“No!” Sarah called as loudly as she dared. “If we break in then they will know we have been here. Let me try something first”.

Stanley lowered his claws and shuffled against the corridor wall to allow her space. She slid along until she was in front of the door and its attendant keypad. With deft fingers she tapped in Creepy Bob’s access code once more, holding her breath.

The lock clicked open, loud in the dark silence that surrounded them. Sarah gingerly turned the door handle and the mesh door swung open. She gave a look of triumph to Stanely and stepped into the Lost and Found room.

There was a brief moment when the world around her shimmered and she looked back at Stanley in surprise, her torch flickering over him. Without thinking she had broken the connection between their bodies, leaving her visible to the normal world.

Automated lights flickered to life on the ceiling, throwing shadows across the surrounding shelves. Sarah stood in the room, bathed in sudden illumination.

“Whoops” she said.

“Good evening, Miss Evermore” she heard from the room’s depths and a terrible shock ran through her body. She turned towards that voice, caught in the lights like a startled rabbit. Her torch played over the dark recesses of the room, showing a glimpse of a far wall that had a tunnel freshly carved into the earth beyond.

“I see you have found my little hidey hole” Mr Albright snickered, moving towards her and standing in the humming glow from the ceiling lights.

“Eric said you were being held by the Guard” she stammered. She backed away from her teacher as he stepped remorselessly forwards.

“In a way I am” he laughed. “So is Bob” he added. “We are both safely under lock and key, far from this school”

“So how can you be here?” she whispered, fear robbing her voice of all strength.

“A simple spell to summon a look alike creature, nothing more” her teacher said. “The Guard are unused to dealing with the powers of an Adept”

Sarah had nearly backed herself to the doorway, beyond which the reassuring bulk of Stanley stood. The dragon was growling deep in his throat, a powerful vibration that she could feel through the concrete floor.

“Move aside Sarah” he said in her mind, “And I will blast this foul magic user with my Vapora”

“Will you now, Dracoris Vapora” Albright said calmly and held up a handful of what looked like small gleaming gems in his left hand.

“You can hear him?” Sarah gasped.

“Of course, Miss Evermore. As an ally of the Abyss I have been given powers far in excess of simple mortals. More importantly, ask your friend what I hold in my hand”

Sarah looked at the gems, glowing with their own luminescence and not simply a reflection of the ceiling lights. She was close to Mr Albright now and there seemed to be something moving inside of each small object, writhing and twisting within the narrow confines of the crystals.

“What are they Stanley?” she asked with a trembling voice. As she looked at them, more and more she felt like she should know them somehow.

“They are Soul Sparks” admitted Stanley, defeat evident in his voice. “The captured essence of mortals, pulled from their bodies by foul magics”

Albright grinned at Sarah, and picked one up from his left hand, holding it close to Sarah with his right. It was pinched between two fingers and Sarah felt compelled to look within its swirling depths. She focussed her eyes and with a start she saw a face, filled with soundless terror, gazing back at her from the gem. It was Angelina.

“If I use my Vapora, it may destroy the Soul Sparks” the dragon said. “Your friends, all the people he has captured, will lose their Soul Spark forever”

Sarah thought about Angelina and Andrew, how dull and lifeless they had seemed. This was the reason why she knew now, why they had seemed to be without any “spark”. Even if Stanley could manage to use his steam breath, she could not let those people lose their essence.

“So we can’t use your Vapora, Stanley” Sarah said thoughtfully. She looked at Albright, standing a couple of arm’s lengths in front of her. “But I bet your claws will be fine!”

Stanley roared, an honest to goodness deafening cry that boomed and echoed from the concrete walls. He lashed at the mesh barrier that separated him from Albright and it parted like cotton candy. The teacher stepped back in a moment of fright and Sarah charged at him, swinging her right fist with all her strength.

She was only a young girl and her teacher was a fully grown adult, yet she had dreamed of a time like this. All those terrible exams he made her suffer through, all those gruelling lessons in a boring classroom. Even David was able to defeat Goliath, all it needed was one lucky shot.

Her fist slammed into Mr Albright’s stomach and he collapsed in a gasping pile on the floor, the Soul Sparks scattering from his hands. Stanley rushed into the room, shelves of confiscated toys and books flying as he came to stand over the fallen teacher. He put one clawed foot over the man’s chest and squeezed, just a little. Enough to let him know he could tear his body open if he wanted to.

“Hold him down!” Sarah shouted and started scrabbling about, picking up the glowing crystals lying all around them. She stuffed them in her pockets, feeling some fall again and bounce against her shoes.

“It will be my pleasure, Sarah Evermore” hissed the dragon, his head lowering to meet the wild eyes of her teacher. “You are defeated, Emissary”

Mr Albright started to laugh then, a wild maniacal laugh that rang throughout the room. His eyes were like those of a mad man, uncaring and fierce.

“Stupid girl and even stupider Dracoris” Mr Albright chortled. He stopped laughing as if a switch had been thrown, sobering in an instant. “I am not the Emissary”

Sarah felt a prickling sensation on the back of her neck, causing the hairs to rise of their own accord. She turned slowly, like in a nightmare where your limbs feel like lead, seeing Creepy Bob standing in the doorway. He was smiling at her, his creepy smile that gave even the bravest kids the chills, yet now it was worse. Far, far worse.

Blackness filled his eyes, and black tentacles of oily smoke crawled from his mouth and fingers, questing towards Sarah. She heard Stanley roar again and felt him rushing to protect her, but the darkness was quicker.

It boiled from the janitor like a tidal wave, filling the corridor, surging through the torn mesh barrier, sweeping her into oblivion.

=====

Sarah felt like she was stuck in a dream, caught halfway between waking up and the land of nightmares. Voices echoed around her and she felt like she was being carried somewhere.

“Take her Soul Spark” urged a voice, cold and emotionless.

“No, we have enough. The girl will be missed if we don’t set her loose” replied another, a man’s voice she had heard before.

“Take her mind then” demanded the first voice. “She may reveal our plans”

“A week should be enough” said the second. “She will forget everything that matters”

“What of the Dracoris? We should kill it!” uttered the first, a hunger evident in its tone.

“Its power may yet be of use. Leave it bound in shadows for now” answered the second.

Sarah dropped further into darkness, shadows engulfing her mind. Everything became quiet and she surrendered to sleep.

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