Chapter 7

Doreen has the Narrative

The trip to Chattanooga went well. It wasn’t that far from Atlanta, being something like 115 miles (184 km) or so. It was a little further for us as our building is located off of I-85 east of Atlanta. It was easy to get on I-85 and then I-285, the Perimeter Highway, to where it intersected I-75 which went to Chattanooga. Of course, there were still the many tractor trailers on the roads around Atlanta plus the delays caused by the never ending road maintenance and construction on them. There was also an accident that slowed traffic. I drove and allowed Keith to catch a nap as he had been up last night at work, but had gotten some sleep. I led in our SUV, and Chu and Franklin followed us in the other one.

On reaching Chattanooga, we remained on I-75 to the Tennessee exit 20, which went around the south side of Cleveland and connected to State route 40 / US 64, which took us out to where Myles Graham had his house. It was easy to identify his house by the ward that he had around it and a part of his property. We easily passed through his property ward and pulled up to the house. A very upset Dragon stormed out of the house to see who we were.

“Who are you and how did you get through my wards?” an older man of about 65 demanded in a very upset voice as the four of us exited our vehicles. His anger turned to shock when he realized just what we were. He had been followed out by a young woman of about 21 years of age. My Magic senses immediately detected that she was a near-Dragon, and I smiled.

“Good day Mr. Myles Graham and Vivian. I’m Doreen Kavanagh and this is my Husband, Keith. The others are Chu Hua and her Husband Franklin. We are all Dragons. My Mother, the Dragon Queen of the West, sent us to see you,” I told a very shocked young Dragon but older Human.

“How ... how do you know where I live?” Myles asked in a disturbed voice.

“The Dragon Queen had a minor Demon checking on the rumor of a Dragon in Chicago,” I told him.

“Was that bastard John working for you also?” he demanded in an upset voice.

“John? No, we don’t know any Demons named John. Mom always works through Bob for things like that,” I told him to a surprised look from him before we both figured out what had happened at about the same time.

“Those bastards collected twice for the same information,” we both exclaimed, or at least words similar to that.

“I’m sure that the Queen will be less than pleased to hear that,” I added before turning to look at Keith and the others. They had already realized what had happened. “They won’t be happy about her displeasure,” I added.

“Why are you here then?” Myles asked in a much better voice.

“WE are really here to speak to Vivian about becoming a Dragon and to see what help she may need. Oh! the We are Chu and me. The guys will be talking to you also,” I told him while looking at Vivian to see how she reacted. She seemed quite surprised by what I had said.

“You came to see me!” she asked. “All of the way from Atlanta?” she added.

“Yes, dear. Female Dragons are few and each one is to be cared for and helped to become a real Dragon,” I told her.

“Perhaps we should go inside,” Myles suggested on hearing this. “We don’t want any of my neighbors hearing any of this,” he told us.

“How close are your neighbors? You seem to have a good size piece of property,” I commented having been looking at the area around the house.

“I have 20 Acres (8.1 hectares), but you never know when someone will decide to stop by to see what is going on, especially when they see strange cars here,” he told us with a bit of a smile.

“Yes, let’s go inside. Later, we can discuss a ward to cover a large part of your property,” I told him.

On the way to the house, I again checked the availability of Magic in the area. We had found an abundance of Regular Magic and Witch Magic since arriving in the Chattanooga area. It appeared to be the same here plus there was a medium strength Ley Line that ran along the back of Myles’ property. It was strong enough for the two of them, but we hadn’t really sensed any other Ley Line users on the way here. This wasn’t to say that there weren’t any others, just that we hadn’t sensed them on the trip here. Myles’ house turned out to be very nice, especially the furniture that we could see.

“Are you a collector?” I asked as we entered the living room with its fine furniture.

“Collector?” he asked in an unsure voice.

“Of antiques? You have some very nice antique furniture,” I responded.

“Oh!” he said with a smile. “No, I was in the custom furniture business for many years. What you see aren’t antiques, but some of the better samples that we produced,” he told me.

“You are certainly very talented then,” I complimented him before changing the subject.

“Chu and I need to talk with Vivian alone for a time about female things,” I told him. “Is there some place where we can do that?” I continued.

“The den would probably be best. It’s where she studies,” he told us.

“Studies?” I asked.

“Yes, she is studying to be a Dragon. It’s why she came with me from Chicago,” he told us. This was news to us.

“Alright, we’ll confer with her in the den. She can tell us how her studies are going,” I continued before Vivian led the way to the den, which appeared to be a very nice area for studying. Once seated, I opened the conversation.

“We are here to see what assistance you may need to become a Female Dragon. Myles said that you had been studying. Have you been studying Magic, and if so what kind?” I asked. Chu spoke before Vivian could answer.

“We aren’t very formal unless it is an occasion when the Queens need to make a ruling. We usually go by first names. You may call me Chu. May we call you Viv?” she asked.

“Yes, most people call me Viv when they get to know me. I have been studying Ley Line Magic, mostly. Originally, I studied some Regular Magic to learn how Magic is organized,” she told us.

“I see, and what books have you been studying from and how advanced are you?” I asked.

“I’ve been studying from the books that Daddy, Myles, has. He has a large collection of books on Magic, but I have been studying mainly from one series of books,” she told us.

“I see, and what are these books called, this series?” I asked.

“They don’t have a title, and they are written in what I have been told is a very old dialect of Gaelic,” she told us before a book appeared in her hands, much to our surprise.

“This is the book that I am currently on. It’s the last book in the series,” she told us and held up the book for us to see. It was a thick book of about 6.5 x 8.5 inches (165 x 215 mm) in size with a black leather cover. Both Chu and I were shocked when we recognized the exterior appearance of the book.

“May ... may I look at the book?” I asked.

“Certainly, you are both Dragons, so you already know what is in the book,” she told us, as she handed me the book. I was still shocked when I opened it to the first few pages. I handed it to Chu and could see that she was also shocked by what it revealed.

“You said this was one of Myles’ books. Does he have the entire set ... all six books?” I asked.

“Yes, I have read the first four, but skipped book 5 as Daddy wants me to be able to be a Dragon quickly. I’ll go back and read the fifth book after I’m a Dragon,” she told us but had a question. “Do you know where I can learn to fly?”

“Yes, dear. We can take you to learn to fly. The Dragon Lands would be the best place. It’s much nicer than the Demon Lands,” Chu assured her as she handed the book back to her.

“WE need to speak to Myles about the books before we go any further,” I told both Viv and Chu.

We found our Husbands and Myles in the kitchen. They were drinking beer while Keith and Franklin told him about working at Dragon Security. I cleared my throat to get their attention, but being upset, I would have rather roared like a Dragon or breathed Dragon Fire to get their attention.

“Myles, we need to talk to you about where you obtained the books that Vivian is studying,” I told the three of them. It was probably in a louder voice than necessary.

“Books?” both Husbands asked.

“Yes,” I said as I took the book from Viv and showed it to our better halves. The look of surprise on their faces was something to see.

“Where did you get the set of books that this is the last volume of?” I demanded, ready to breathe Dragon Fire for the wrong answer.

“I obtained them something over five years ago, shortly before I retired. I found the first volume sitting out in a used book store. The proprietor told me that the set had been there for a considerable time, but no one had shown any interest in them. He was glad to sell them to me for twenty-five dollars plus tax,” Myles told us. Both Keith and Franklin had examined the sixth book by now.

“This isn’t one of our new books,” Franklin told us, as he had been one of those at the printing site while they were produced and was very familiar with them.

“No, this is an original,” Keith agreed. “Nicolae did say that there were a dozen sets of the books where he bought his. This has to be one of them. I’m sure we would have heard him scream bloody murder if someone had stolen his set,” Keith told us with a little laugh.

“If you got the entire set for twenty-five dollars, then you made the deal of the century,” Chu added with a smile.

“Yes, these books are hugely expensive even individually, if you could even find one,” I admitted before changing the subject. I had cooled down already.

“Let’s return to the den and talk with Vivian about what else she may require,” I told the others with a smile. The guys returned to drinking beer.

Back in the den, I continued to question Vivian.