“I--I don’t know. He had one of the Behemoth’s possessed there when I saw him while flying,” Anwar said and pointed over to an ice cocoon that had been shattered. No one was in it. “The doors there opened and more of the possessed emerged. So many. These people got in the way of Caden’s ice breath. I had to stop their car from hitting the building. I got out a few light blasts but then…”
“Then you lost Caden? How useless are you? Caden may not be a warrior but you are!” Illarion roared, his cheeks reddening with anger and sulfurous green showing in his eyes. “Stupid, little Dragon!”
Anwar’s head lowered with every word. Valerius wanted to shout just like Illarion was, but he didn’t believe that Anwar would fail to assist Caden. There must have been a reason.
“How could you be so stupid, Anwar?” Illarion continued to swear as he paced like a caged panther. “How--”
“Enough, Illarion! We need to keep it together. For Caden’s sake,” Valerius reminded him. Those words helped both of them settle. Illarion put his hands on his hips and glared at Anwar while Valerius tried not to rush him as Anwar was clearly traumatized as he asked, “Then what?”
“There were children, Valerius,” Anwar’s voice choked up for a moment. His eyes were haunted. Anwar had lost children of his own long ago. It would have flayed him to attack them, even to save Caden. “Children. No more than eight or nine… and I couldn’t… I couldn’t… I should have attacked them! Caden was swarmed, but I… I…”
“Hesitated,” Illarion grunted. “Good tactics on the Behemoth’s part. Even a hardened criminal will hesitate to attack children.”
“Yes, most would hesitate,” Valerius said and any anger he had evaporated.
“And then they were on me and I… there was some gas. The world spun and I was going down,” Anwar explained. “They wanted to take me too, but they were most worried about Caden, I think. And then… then I was out. Unconscious and I have not been unconscious for… for so long.”
“We need to know where they went, Anwar. Where did they take Caden?” Valerius asked. “Do you remember anything? Did you see or hear what direction they went in?”
“No, I was out,” Anwar said, grimacing. “I shouldn’t have hesitated!”
“The doors. They went through them.” One of the teenagers from the car pointed towards the rusty entrance to the tunnel that cut through Reach like a hot knife.
“Are you certain?” Illarion growled causing the teenagers to shrink away.
These teenagers were obviously shocked already, and seeing him, Illarion and Anwar like this wasn’t helping them recover. But Valerius couldn’t care about their mental health right now. If they had information, he needed it from them.
“Answer! Answer us!” Valerius commanded.
All four of them nodded.
One of the boys managed to get out, “They carried the White Dragon King off with them through the doors and barred them and shit. We tried to open them, but we couldn’t!”
“How long ago?” Valerius asked.
“Just like five or ten minutes ago,” one of the girls said.
Five or ten minutes coincides with the pain, Valerius realized.
Must get to Iolaire! Must not let them imprison Iolaire again! Raziel demanded.
We will get to them, Valerius swore.
“Let’s go!” Illarion spun on his heel to head towards the doors.
Anwar got up to his feet, trembling and swaying. “I’m going with you!”
“No, Anwar!” Valerius put a hand on the center of the smaller Silver Dragon King’s chest.
“I will not fail again, Valerius! I was just… shocked. Not any longer. I will do what must be done,” Anwar answered.
“That is not why I do not want you to accompany us. You need to get a hold of the other Dragons. I want those not waiting on info up in the air,” Valerius explained. “Use one of these teenagers’ phones. There is little service in the tunnels. I need you to coordinate.”
Anwar bit his lower lip, but then nodded. “It will be so.”
Iolaire! We must get to Iolaire! It will not survive being enslaved again! Raziel cried.
A cold chill went through Valerius. Iolaire’s extreme fear of the Behemoth had nearly paralyzed it before. To go through that again… to take Caden into that maelstrom… would the young man even survive it?
