Chapter 12

Lexi walked into the Bear and Bull, Willy saw her and waved a grin on his face, he was a rich man thanks to her, maybe she had another little adventure to go on. Lexi walked over to Willy, “hello Willy, I’m looking for Mac have you seen him?” Willy nodded in the direction of a table in the corner “he’s over there chatting it up with some friends, what ya up too?” Lexi smiled “not a thing Willy, I just wanted to talk to Mac about something.”

Lexi looked in the direction of the table and froze seeing Tommy sitting next to Jimmy, Mercer, Billy and Heckler talking with Mac, she took a deep breath and walked over to the table “hello Mac, have you got a spare minute.”

Mercer grinned at her “sit down and have a drink, lass” Lexi shook her head “I just need to speak to Mac for a minute” Mac stood up and walked over to the bar “hmmm it’s been awhile since we’ve seen yea Lexi” Lexi sighed realizing Mac was almost as drunk as the rest of them “I wanted to talk to you about Captaining a ship” Mac almost choked on his ale “me? hell lass I’m just a seamen type pirate, no one would give me the helm” Lexi sighed “look Mac, I’m offering if your interested, the ship is mine, I want you to captain it” Mac grabbed another tankard from Willy, who glowered at him and shoved it in her hands “take a drink lass and think about what you’re sayin” Lexi frowned and put the tankard down “I all ready have thought about it.” Mercer who was watching Lexi and Mac sighed in his tankard and took another drink “odd how rape effects a woman, some women now they just go all crazed and off themselves, some women they go all cold and frigid don’t bed another man the rest of their lives, Lexi seems just to of turned mean, it was damn eerie her standin there not an emotion on her face as she watched those stables of Connor’s burn down, stood there starin until it was just nothin but ashes then she just up and left.”

Billy snarled “I’ll kill the bastard, who was it?” Mercer not looking at Tommy shrugged “someone by the name of Finbar and I heard she killed him herself in the same stables that burnt down” Jimmy took a big long drink of his ale “good for her, remember how she took care of all of us after gettin us out of that damned cell, don’t think she got one word of thanks neither.”

Mercer took another long swig “don’t know what happened asked Connor, he didn’t seem to know either but after she come back from the island, well she took up with Tibitron, any dragoness that takes up with him, well she must hate herself mighty bad or maybe she just likes those hurtin type mating games, hell who knows, heard they don’t even let the hatchlings near her cuz of Tibitron.”

They watched Mac suddenly grab Lexi and start bouncing her up and down hugging her, the whole place froze hearing a horrendous scream and a man came running in the door, Priss and Cadence padding in right behind him, Lexi sighed “I thought I told you to stay in the carriage” Priss purred “we were bored and decided to join you” Cadence saw Mercer and went bounding over, sailors scattering to climb on top of tables and stand on chairs, Mercer grinned widely “now there’s my boy” he said hugging the leopard, Cadence licked his cheek then nudged his tankard, “you lush” Mercer laughed, Cadence purred as Mercer poured his tankard into a bowl. Mercer gave Lexi a drunken grin “now Lexi, he had a powerful thirst” Lexi standing with her hands on her hips sighed “then you take him home for the night and listen to him roaring and deal with him in the morning when his temper is bad because he has a hangover, the last time you got him drunk he fell out of a damn tree.”

Billy started to giggle when Cadence gave a leopard like belch, the cat’s eye’s quickly swiveling in Lexi’s direction,

Lexi turned to Mac “think over what I said when you’re sober and let me know, you can reach me through my Uncle Joe, come on kiddo’s, time to go” Cadence roared, Lexi arched an eyebrow at him, they could all hear the leopard muttering under his breath as he padded after Lexi and Priss, sailors ran to the windows to watch the woman leave with the two cats. Tommy sat staring into his tankard most of the night not saying hardly a word.

Lexi walked into her mothers parlor, she stopped for a moment almost turning and leaving the room seeing Kat and Zara with Mal, Tabby and TeeLinn playing with Heather and Holly. Allora smiled “I didn’t expect you over today” Lexi nodded thinking to herself, that’s obvious, “I just brought some paintings by, I am running out of room, so I thought you might like to look at them and pick out any you want” Lexi closed her eye’s for a moment as TeeLinn gave her mama a glance then gave Lexi a little wave of her talons, Tabby and Mal just looked down at their paws, they wanted to go give her hugs but knew they shouldn’t for some reason that seemed to be some sort of grown up thing.

Heather and Holly who were used to seeing Lexi only smiled hi and went back to looking at Mal’s new story book. Lexi turned nodding to Riley “no thank you Riley I won’t be staying” Lexi said and went out the door, she vaulted on to horses back, he reared up startled, Riley gasped, then stood at the door watching Lexi and the horse race across the lawn.

Half way home she screamed out “NO MORE, I CAN’T TAKE ANYMORE” she slipped off horse while he was at a full gallop, he whirled and skidded to a halt “go home, I’ll walk home, just go home” she told horse laying in the dirt “are you injured” he asked, Lexi shook her head “no, please go home horse.” Lexi got up and started running, she ran until she fell down, she got up and ran harder, when she fell again she lay in the dirt sobbing, when she finally got home, she got back on horse and rode him over to SheringCross, Keebler came flying out with a frown on his face “do you have a place for horse here?” she asked him, Keebler frowned “I’m sure we could find a place for him, I imagine he would make a good stud, put some fresh blood in the group, umm Lexi are you ok?” Lexi turned to horse “I want you to stay here with Keebler, he’ll take good care of you, there are lot’s of fillies for you to meet” horse snorted and pawed the ground “no, this is not right” Lexi touched his neck “I need to go away for awhile and I want to know you are well taken care of” horse stamped his foot “when will you return?” Lexi sighed “I don’t know, I maybe gone a very long time, goodbye horse, I love you” then she was gone. Lexi returned home, Henry and Molly looked at her with concerned faces, “I’m going to be going away for an extended time, I have given the house instructions that it is to obey you both in all things. With one last look Lexi left her house and went to Montcliff, she walked into the dining room, the two cats standing at her feet, Allora gasped and stood up “Lexi?” Lexi looked around the table, they were all there, she knew it was what they called family night when they all got together, taking turns at each other’s homes.

“You’ve finally won, I can’t bear not seeing the children anymore, it’s hurting them because they don’t understand, even though I sent Tibitron away months ago it wasn’t enough for all of you it would seem, you’ve excluded me from everything, from story time to family get togethers, you’ve made me pay dearly for my sins, today was the final payment.” the air swirled around her making her hair fly wildly around her, with a heart broken sob she and the cats were gone.

For year’s they heard rumors of the woman and her wild cats that roamed the world never staying in one place long, Connor had spent almost two years trying to find Lexi but each time he got to where she was rumored to be, she had either just left or had been gone for months. Mac who was the Captain of the Emerald Light told Allora and Connor that he always received instructions by a letter appearing on his desk or a letter left with Uncle Joe. Neil at Tetly’s never saw her either, he also got letters on his desk about her investments or making a suggestion on cargo or a new venture.

Molly and Henry never said a word to anyone but they knew when she had been home because there would be a new stack of books waiting for him in the library or a bag full of yarn for Molly and always a note saying how pleased she was at how happy the house felt. Horse always proudly showed off his foals, or they would sit talking about this horse or that mare, she always gave him a hug and told him that he was loved before she left.

The boy lay on the hearth his arms wrapped around the old dog, he could hear his mother and father talking in the kitchen, he gently stroked the old dog and kissed his gray muzzle.

“I love you Hellhound” the boy whispered tears dripping down his face “I bet there’s a really nice dog heaven with lots of rabbits to chase” he blinked as a soft golden glow spread over Hellhound, “a boy should grow up with his best friend at his side, let him rest for a short while, soon he will be back to chasing Billy and her silly ermine, I love you Crispin” he heard Lexi say, he could feel the warmth of the glow, then it slowly disappeared “I love you Lexi” Crispin whispered, “let this be our secret, no one needs to know who helped Hellhound” she told him, he felt a soft kiss on his cheek “sleep tight Crispin” she said and was gone.

Tabby sat on her window seat watching the rain, she felt a soft kiss on her cheek “why aren’t you out playing? kiddo” Lexi asked her silently, Tabby sighed “I don’t know, I guess I just don’t feel like playing today” Lexi gave her a snuggle “you know your human can play out in the rain too, she’s ready to appear, is that what’s bothering you?” Tabby sighed again nodding “our humans seem to have so many problems Lexi, it’s not just that, Mal has Tee, Crispin has a young Hellhound, he told me it was you that helped, Heather and Holly have each other, I don’t have anyone.”

Lexi smiled to herself “sure humans have lots of problems, but you know what so do dragons, it’s part of life, if everything went smoothly then I don’t think we would appreciate what we have, or care so much. Give your human a chance to find out for herself, I bet you’ll be surprised, there will be someone for you one day Tabby, there’s a special person or dragon out there for everyone, sometimes it just takes a long time to find him or her, Mal was lucky Tee came into his life sooner then it happens to most, if she hadn’t shown up when she did then she would have one day because they were meant to be together.”

Tabby looked out the window, her little paw on the glass “are you still looking for your special person Lexi?” Lexi nibbled her lip “no sweetheart, I found my special person a long time ago sadly I ruined things but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a special person out there for you.” Lexi smiled at Tabby “would you like me to go out and play with your human in the rain?” Tabby gave Lexi an imploring look “would you please” Lexi hugged her “sure kiddo, come on.”

Zara glanced out the window, then walked over and stood with a smile on her face “come look, love” she whispered almost afraid what she was seeing would disappear, DeClan walked over to the window and looked out, he put his arm around Zara as they stood watching a young girl on the verge of womanhood dancing in the rain, her long silver hair plastered against her head and body, she kicked puddles, she jumped in them, they saw her laughing and giggling, dimple’s just like her mother’s showing as she smiled, a moment later a boy with black hair and the same dimples came running across the garden laughing and yelling to join her in the puddles and rain, they held hands and laughed sitting in a big puddle slapping their hands in the water. Zara started to laugh as she watched her children “maybe now Tabby won’t need her imaginary invisible friend anymore” she didn’t see DeClan looking intently out the window nor did she see the extra set of foot prints in a patch of mud by the puddle but DeClan saw them, “I think she will always have her invisible friend by her side, loving and helping her all her life” he said quietly. Lexi gave the two soaked children a kiss on the cheek “you better run and jump into the bathing pool and warm up before you catch colds” the two grinned and waved running towards the house, Tabby turned “thank you for helping me” she said softly, Lexi stood in the soft summer rain her tears mixing with rain “I love you kiddo’s” she whispered as she left. DeClan tucked Tabby into bed, his hand brushing over her hair “has Lexi always been the invisible friend you sometimes talk about?” Tabby looked at her papa in surprise then said defiantly “yes! Lexi has always been our friend” DeClan touched her cheek “I’m not angry, sweetie, I just wanted to know, do you always know where she is?” Tabby shook her head “sometimes if I need her I can call but she always seems to know when I need to talk or a hug or just company to giggle with and she comes” DeClan nodded “does Mal also know about Lexi?” Tabby with a worried look nodde.