Chapter 9

Lexi woke up feeling like she was a wrung out towel, she got up and took a long hot bath, dried her hair and dressed. When she had gotten up out of bed she had opened the round rose window and had chuckled as the kittens went hopping onto the windowsill then seeing the large tree just outside the window had gone climbing cautiously out on a branch then down to the ground, she had left the window open and it wasn’t long before they came hopping back into the room wanting their breakfast. The three went down to the kitchen, Molly smiled at the two kittens who padded in and sat down side by side staring up at her waiting expectantly for their food, Lexi carried her cup of cocoa into the library, seeing the scroll on her desk she picked it up and read that her Great Uncle Joe would be thrilled to have her stay and she could pop in anytime.

Lexi got the list of bookstores from Henry and told him if there were any books he or Molly specifically wanted to write those down, that she was going to leave for London that afternoon then went upstairs to the solarium and worked the rest of the morning on the portrait of Zara and DeClan.

A very elderly gentlemen, his hands gnarled with arthritis opened the door, he arched an eyebrow, Lexi smiled “Hello, I’m Alexi Montcliff Breeton” Ruckle smiled “do come in Lady Alexi, we’ve been expecting you, I look forward to hearing how Riley and Henry are getting on.”

A voice called out “go sit down before you fall down Ruckle, I told you I would get the door” Lexi smiled taking Ruckle’s hands in hers “Riley has told me so much about you, I’m glad I finally got to meet you in person” Ruckle smiled then turned to the portly, shorter version of her Grandfather who had the same smiling eye’s “Lady Alexi has arrived” Joe chuckled “I can see that Ruckle, she’s the spitting imagine of her mother but with the Breeton blonde hair” Lexi smiled letting go of Ruckle’s hands, she went over to her Great Uncle Joe and was suddenly crushed in a big hug “can never have to many Breeton’s running loose, ya know, keeps the world on it’s toes” Joe told her with a big smile, Lexi found herself being pulled into a big study “so you want to go looking through musty book stores, well the carriage is at your disposal, probably want to go see all the female frippery doodads too, take your time and stay as long as you want” he told her almost pushing her into a chair, grinning and rubbing his hands together “now tell me what my big brother has been up too, I want to hear all the good stuff, ya never know when the need for blackmail might come into play” Lexi found herself laughing and giggling as she listened to Uncle Joe as he insisted she call him, saying that Great tacked on made him feel too damn old. Ruckle came in a few minutes later with a tea cart “I have taken the liberty of adding a few small treats Lady Alexi, it is several hour’s until dinner will be served, might I also say my sincere thank you” Lexi smiled at Ruckle “your more then welcome Ruckle, a snack would be very nice right now” Joe looked closely at Ruckle “damned if you aren’t prancing around like a young stallion again, I better warn all the maids in town.”

Ruckle merely smiled and left the study moving like a twenty year old, not a touch of arthritis or old age aches and pains anywhere to be seen or felt. Lexi giggled as her Uncle Joe started to point out all his ill’s, giving her a dramatic cough, Lexi tapped the glass of port sitting by his hand “it might help if you didn’t drink so much of that” Joe rolled his eye’s “sound just your Grandmother, she’s been telling me that for year’s” Lexi grinned giving him a, you know it’s true look.

By the time Lexi got to the first book store on her list she was about to jump out of her skin, the noise and constant activity around her as she rode in the carriage was making her whole body shudder, she muted as much of the sounds as she could without losing all sound completely, with a sigh of relief she went into the relative quiet of the book store, Lexi had a wonderful time browsing through the store, a friendly clerk adding book after book to her growing pile, realizing how late it had become Lexi quickly directed where the bill should be sent according to Uncle Joe then had the clerk help her carry out her purchases. Dinner was a merry affair with several of her Uncle’s old friends dropping by adding to the merriment.

Tommy tried not to move, he knew if he fell there would be no getting up, he looked around the cell at the fifteen other dragons packed in so tightly they were actually holding each other up, how had it happened, he kept asking that question over and over again, what had gone so terribly wrong that he had lost the Sea Dragon and gotten his crew in this mess, not to mention Mercer who was still standing by sheer will power alone. “No use beating yourself up over it, lad, we had them well and truly on the run, all their ships destroyed, we had no way of knowing they had some magic tricks up their sleeve” Mercer whispered to Tommy. Tommy nodded, they had quickly learned after the third day in the cell that each time they tried to talk silently with each other, the dragon doing the messaging was slammed with an agonizing jolt of some kind, they didn’t even know where it was coming from, just like the shackles they were all wearing shouldn’t have been able to hold a dragon for a second but they were and for some reason none of them could turn to their human form. Heckler grinned and started to sing: ohhhhhh me mother was a saint, me mother was a saint, why she didn’t have to even faint...” Jimmy laughed “you didn’t even know your sainted mother, Heckler, the only reason she would faint was if she come across you” Heckler grinned widely “ahhhhhh but she was a saint for havin me don’t yea know” they all laughed then stopped as a loud banging hit the door and a voice yelled “shut up in there.”

Lexi dressed in her amazon outfit and a heavy jacket, her hair coiled up tightly with a cap over it slipped in the door of the Bear and Bull Tavern, it was very late and most of the customers were too drunk to pay attention to a new comer, Lexi walked over to the far side of the bar and grinned at several men leaning against it talking. Willy blinked “damnit Al, don’t sneak up on me like that” Mac peered at Lexi “hell Willy you must be getting old that’s not Al, Al had brown eye’s and wasn’t as tall” Willy frowned at Lexi “here now what do ya think ya be doin lookin like Al, if yea be a Montcliff bastard I ain’t got nuthin to do with them there fancy folk” Lexi grinned “awwwww comeon Willy, I was hoping for a whistle of my own” Willy choked on his drink and roared “who the hell are ya?” Lexi smiled widely “I’m Al’s daughter Alexi” Billy ran his up and down Lexi “that would mean Al was messin around while in her nappies, wanna tell us another tall tale?” Willy nodded vigorously “that’s right, got a good point there yea do Billy boy.”

Lexi leaned closer and whispered “it was magic, she didn’t want to put up with a kid in nappies and Billy the Margay cat agreed with her” Willy grinned widely “well hells bells why didn’t yea say so in the first place, have a drink girl” Billy beamed nudging Mac “did ya hear that she named the damned wild cat after me” Lexi laughed “that wild cat is now a mama too” Mac laughed loudly seeing the look on Billy’s face. Lexi looked a the tankard of ale and tried not to make a face as she took a drink then turned it into juice “bet Breeton is busting a gut right about now, what with losing the Sea Dragon and all” Willy said taking a swig of his ale, Lexi froze “what do you mean? losing the Sea Dragon, what happened to it?” Mac looked down into his tankard “got the word just before yea came in, she was sunk by those damn thievin no good pirates, makes it hard for an honest pirate to survive these days they do.” Lexi took a deep breath “what about the crew?” Billy slammed his tankard on the bar “lost half of um they did, heard they got the rest all locked up on a hidey hole of an island, they be lookin to demand a huge ransom from the Flying Dragon Fleet to get um back.”

Lexi sent a silent message to her father “did you hear about the Sea Dragon? have you heard if Tommy is all right?” Connor replied “I’m on my way to town now, we’ll talk as soon as I get to the house” nibbling her lip Lexi looked at Billy “do you know where this island is?” Billy laughed “hell ya but it won’t do the Captains of the Flying Dragon any good, they don’t let strangers in no matter what, got to have a special signal and password, if they even tried to sneak in they’d be spotted right away” Mac nodded “we heard they got some high muckity muck sorcerer that has had a bitch with the Fleet since he got caught stealin from them years ago, workin to keep the island locked up, they say if one dragon, fairy, elf whatever steps foot on the island the whole crew their holdin will be killed off.”

Lexi groaned, then did a little more probing, by the time she left she had the island location, the signal and the password, she promised the three that she would be back, Mac grinned “I don’t rightly care for Mercer to much of a dandy for me but now Tommy that’s another story, he’s an all right guy, if they need any help gettin them out you just give ol Mac a holler” Billy grinned “that goes for me too” Willy grumbled but nodded saying he was in for the long haul too. Lexi rushed into the house almost running her father and Con over “have you heard anything?” she asked trying to catch her breath, “not yet, I’m going to meet with the remaining Captains of the fleet now, I’ll let you know as soon as I find anything out” Lexi frowned “I’ll come with you” Connor shook his hea.

“stay here, there’s no need for you to go and the other’s don’t know you, their leery of those they don’t know” Lexi stood her hands on her hips “but I can help, I know the password and signal to get onto the island and the name of the island.”

Con’s mouth dropped open “how could you know all that? father doesn’t even know the name of the island or anything else” Connor looked closely at Lexi “where did you get that information?” Lexi frowned “from Willy, Mac and Billy at the Bear and Bull Taver.”

Connor sighed “hon, Willy isn’t the most reliable person to be listening too, I can’t say about the others but rumors in taverns aren’t very reliable.” Lexi watched her father and Con leave feeling angry and frustrated, why wouldn’t they listen to her and let her help, she knew all about Willy from her mother but any information was better then none at all. Lexi sat in the study fuming as she waited for her father to return, Lexi woke up slapping and snarling at the hand that was on her shoulder “easy baby, it’s just me” Connor said gently, Lexi sprung from the chair for a moment staring wildly around then blinked in confusion at her father “you fell asleep in the chair, you’re at Uncle Joe’s, take a deep breath and give yourself a chance to wake up a bit” Connor told her, Lexi licked her dry lips panting for breath, she looked around then back at her father nodding.

“What did you hear? did you find anything out about Tommy?” Lexi asked in a rush, Connor handed her a small glass “here drink this, you’re as pale as a ghost” Lexi shook her head “no, I’m fine now” Connor put the glass in her hand “you’re not fine, you’re shaking all over, drink up then I’ll tell you what I found out” Lexi frowned at the glass then quickly drank the contents, choking and wheezing she put the glass down. Lexi frowned at her father “well?” Connor sighed “we do know that Mercer and Tommy were taken along with fifteen others, they know where the island is but can’t get on it, it has some sort of protection keeping all dragons, elves, fairies and even humans from popping in, the one message they managed to get out said that they couldn’t send or receive any more messages or they would start dying, so we are going to have to pay the ransom and there is no guarantee that we will get them back alive.”