Chapter 8

New character appearing in this chapter:

Lalhlimpuil

Dragon Queen, dead nearly 3,500 years, only her ghost remains

After lowering the ward to my driveway, we drove onto my property and up to the house. While everyone exited the cars, I raised the ward on the driveway and checked all of the property wards. I also needed to lower the house ward so Josh and Brenda could enter the house. Ken and I plus our Familiars could now slip through that ward. I also pulled up the ward on my car before going inside.

“Would everyone like something to eat?” I asked, as we neared the dining room.

“Yes, definitely,” Brenda answered. “I’m not sure how long it’s been since I ate, but I’m starved. That brute turned my own Magic against me, and I don’t know how long ago that was, but I definitely need to eat,” she finished.

“The two of you have a seat in the small parlor, and I’ll whip up something for all of us,” I told her and Josh. I also signaled Ken to come with me. This would give them time together to get things straightened out. When we brought the food out to the dining room later, Brenda had questions, but seemed more settled and comfortable now.

“So you are the Ley Line Witch that everyone has been talking about. Josh told me that you and your husband are also Dragons. I saw that at the house when we went outside. How can that be?” she asked.

“For the first 25 years of my life, I was just a Witch. My mother and grandmother were Witches. I expected to be just a Witch until I died. That all changed when I delivered some charms one night and was met by a Demon, who tried to roast me and turn me into a crispy critter.

“Somehow at the hospital where I was taken, the Ley Lines restored me and changed me into a Ley Line Witch. The other Ley Line users weren’t happy about that. When I went to buy some books on Ley Line Magic, I was given six books that had been left for me years ago at the store. They taught me Ley Line Magic and eventually how to be a Dragon. There were a number of challenges along the way. Josh was involved in some of them.

“Now Ken and I are Dragons. We still have a lot to learn. We were informed that there is a place where we could learn what we need to know. It’s located inside of Stone Mountain. The problem is that the entrance is some forty feet above the ground. We haven’t determined how to reach it yet,” I told her.

Brenda didn’t speak for several minutes following that but stared at me with a look that said she was evaluating what I had told her. Finally, she began to speak.

“Josh told you that I’m a Witch. Did he tell you that I’m a Moon Witch? Do you know anything about Moon Witches?” she asked.

“They were mentioned in my classes at Georgia State as a separate group of Witches, but they weren’t gone into very deeply,” I told her.

“No, not much is said about Moon Witches, even among other Witches. We are a rather secretive group. You must be invited to join and pass the initiation. It isn’t a Coven as such, as there can be any number in the group. We are at our most powerful at, or near, the full Moon. During the new Moon, we are at our least powerful and are just normal Witches. We are dedicated to the Lady in the Moon and receive our power from her. There are rituals that are performed during the various stages of the Moon. The most powerful ones occur on the full Moon.

“I have told you this for a reason. For the Full Moon ceremony, the highest and most powerful of us feel the need to be closer to our Mistress. They can create what is called the ‘Steps to Heaven’. This allows them to rise above the ground, and its distractions, and also the rest of us. The most powerful can easily cast the spell. It takes much preparation the first time that one uses it, but the preparations can be used over and over if they aren’t changed much. I believe that you may be powerful enough to cast that spell.

“I will teach you the spell, and what is required in preparation to use it, if you wish,” she finished. I stared at her in amazement. Witches seldom shared spells, especially those associated with their most cherished beliefs. Why would she do this, I wondered?

“What must I do?” I asked after a few seconds.

“Here is the spell,” she said before looking around at those present. “In private though. This spell is only for Witch women. Not even Warlocks are allowed to know it,” she finished.

“Let’s go to the large parlor. I will ward it using the Lines that cross under it,” I told her. We left the men in the dining room with the empty and dirty dishes.

In the large parlor, she told me the spell after I had cast Dragon wards around the room. It wasn’t a difficult spell, but I had never heard of it before.

“Now, comes the difficult part,” she told me following that. “First you must determine how large to make the final step, as all of the others are calculated from it. How large a step does your Dragon require to stand on alone?” she asked.

“That will depend on how large my Dragon is. Twelve feet tall is usually a good all around size, but I often need to be twenty-five-feet-tall or even forty-feet-tall at times,” I told her.

“How large are your feet at twelve feet tall?” she asked, and I looked at her in surprise.

“I have no idea.”

“Can you become that size in here?” she asked. I changed into my Dragon form, and she marked the outline of my feet in chalk on the wooden floor before I changed back to my Human self.

“The final step will need to be a bit larger than this for your comfort. Are you bothered by heights?” she asked, pointing to the drawing as she outlined a step that was a bit larger.

“We can fly and often go up to several thousand feet. No, I’m not bothered by heights,” I told her. She seemed a bit surprised by this, but continued with the explanation.

“From this you can determine the size of each tread of the other steps. You must also decide if the treads will be extended to one or both sides of the next step, or if there will be no side extensions.

“The size of the next lower step will be the sum of the higher step plus any extensions, and the width of the tread necessary for your feet to step on it. The only other thing that you need to know is the rise of each step. As a Dragon, you appear to be able to lift your feet quite high. How much can you raise your feet?” she asked.

“I would think between two feet and thirty inches at that size,” I told her.

“Good, we usually use a foot, as it simplifies things. The highest steps are usually less, perhaps eight or nine inches. You may want to do that also,” she told me.

“So, I’m looking at 16 or 17 steps to get up to 40 feet or so,” I said.

“Yes, something like that. Our most powerful leaders often have as many as a hundred steps. You can remove the steps with a simple cancellation spell, or just lower them with an appropriate spell. They can be made any color or of any material that you desire, or could be left clear to be nearly invisible,” she told me.

“Thank you. You have saved Ken and me a lot of trouble. Is there anything that I can do for you?” I asked.

“Can you give us a spell for a ward that will keep Josh’s house and property safe?” she asked in a desperate voice.

“I could give you one, but neither Josh nor you would be able to cast it. It’s a Dragon spell. I will cast it around his house and his property for you. I will give you the spell to lower the ward and to raise it. No one will be able to penetrate it. Well, unless you have an argument with a Dragon. They will be able to walk through it,” I told her.

A short time later, everyone went to bed. There are several unused bedrooms at the house, and Josh and Brenda used one of them along with the main bathroom. I loaned Brenda some of my clothes from before the Lines had changed me. They fit her well but would no longer fit me. Everyone had a good night’s sleep, and it was late the next morning before we were all up.

It had rained some overnight, but not as much, or as hard, as the previous night. The day turned out to be sunny but not too hot.

Following a good breakfast, we followed Josh and Brenda to his house. There, I cast my latest property wards around Josh’s property and his house. Once completed, I taught both of them how to raise and lower the wards so they could get on and off the property. I also warned them to always keep the wards up around both the house and the property.

“Those wards are stronger than any I have ever seen. You were right that we would never have been able to cast them ourselves. Thanks, Maddy,” Josh told me before we returned to our house. Ken still had studying to do, and I needed to prepare the list of sizes for the ‘Steps to Heaven’. That afternoon, we went to the store to get food and other items to maintain our supply of backup food and things. We were in bed again early that night, as tomorrow would be a busy day.

When we arose early the next morning, the weather had changed again, and the rain was back. The afternoon that we had rescued Brenda the rain had stopped, and it was just cloudy. While it had rained that night, yesterday had been cloudy but cool. This morning, it was foggy, but the rain was mostly a mist. Still if you were out in it long enough, you would eventually be soaking wet.

Following breakfast, I set out food for our Familiars for the rest of the day, as we didn’t know how long we would be gone if we succeeded in entering the Dragon’s lair in the mountain.

“You don’t want us to go with you?” Al asked on seeing this.

“It’s raining out. We didn’t think you would want to go,” I told him.

“It isn’t raining too hard,” Al said after going part of the way out the cat door in the back door.

“Okay, we’ll pack some of your food with ours, since we don’t know how long we’ll be,” I told them.

We had planned to leave in our Dragon forms but would need to leave in our human forms now and change forms at the park. On casting the transfer spell, we appeared in the cove. The area around the mountain was even foggier than it had been at the house, but the drizzle or mist didn’t appear to be any worse. It would all probably burn off later that morning.

“Are you ready to cast the step spell?” Ken asked shortly after we arrived.

“Yes, after we change to our Dragon forms. The 12-foot size is what the steps have been calculated for,” I told him. We both changed to our Dragons then, but our Familiars remained as house cats. I was ready to begin casting the step spell then, when Mandara shook Its scabbard for my attention. I withdrew it from Its scabbard to see what It wanted.

“There is a quicker and easier way to cast the steps, Mistress,” It told me. “The Witch didn’t know about it, as she isn’t powerful enough yet to use it. Change the spell as follows,” It told me before telling me how to change the spell. On casting it, the steps appeared as a complete unit, much to my surprise.

“I’ll go up first,” I told Ken. “I’ll call when I have determined how to get in, and that it’s safe,” I added before starting up the steps. On reaching the top step a couple of minutes later, I faced bare rock with the feel of ancient Magic, but was unsure of how to proceed. Mandara again had a suggestion. It was still in my hand and out of Its scabbard.

“Touch me to the rock. I have been here many times in the past,” It told me. On touching the sword to the rock, a large opening appeared, and I was nearly knocked off the top step, as a platform shot out of the opening. If Mandara hadn’t lifted both of us above the surface, I would have been knocked to the ground forty feet below.

“Sorry, I forgot about the platform. That’s how flying Dragons landed here. Previously, this entrance was much closer to the ground. The platform was only put in about 5,000 years ago,” It told me.

“Oh, only 5,000 years ago!” I said in amazement.

“Yes, let’s go in,” It said. The entrance was large enough to accommodate me at my 25-foot-tall size and I changed to that. The entrance was a tunnel some hundred feet plus long. As we walked along it, Mandara pointed out several security traps along the tunnel and deactivated them. The tunnel eventually emptied into a room of gigantic size. The ceiling was easily fifty feet above the floor. The walls here were as smooth as glass leaving no indication of how the space had been created, just as the walls of the tunnel had been.

“I should get the others up here before we do anything else,” I told Mandara.

“Yes, but you’ll need to fly now to do that. With the platform out, the steps are inaccessible,” It told me.

“Alright, it will be just a short flight,” I told It and returning to my shorter height, I went back down the tunnel to the entrance. On reaching it, I saw the problem I had. The trees were taller than the entrance in not only this area, but all around the mountain. How was I to take off?

“I won’t be able to take off with these trees in the way,” I told Mandara.

“The Dragons always kept them trimmed around the entrances before,” It told me.

“Can you retract the platform, so I can use the steps?” I asked.

“Yes, but the entrance may close again,” It told me.

“Let me see if I can use a spell to deactivate it,” I told It. On examining the mechanism, I couldn’t determine how it worked.

“Can you retract the platform part of the way?” I asked it.