Mystery At Midnight - Part 2

The next day, Fiona could hardly keep her mind on school. There were two questions she knew the answers to in math class, except she was too distracted to raise her hand. At lunch, Aerya put a whole plum in her mouth, and then pulled out the skin. This amazed the other kids who wondered how she managed to peel it with her tongue. Fiona was preoccupied and not the least bit embarrassed by her friend.

At home, Fiona only ate a little supper, though she made up for that by eating a little of Aerya’s dessert. When it was time for bed, she was the first to get her teeth brushed, and got into bed before Aerya. When Aerya came in, Fiona reminded her of the promise. Aerya said she remembered, and not to worry, she would take Fiona with her tonight. While she didn’t feel tired, Fiona fell asleep anyway. The next thing she knew, Aerya was shaking her.

“Fiona, wake up. Fiona, we’ve got to go - our ride is here.”

Aerya was standing beside the bed, her hand on Fiona’s shoulder. Fiona opened her eyes, and yawned. She stretched like a puppy waking from a nap, then sat straight up.

“We’re going to see the special thing, right?”

“Yes,” said Aerya, opening the bedroom door. “We’ve got to go now or we’ll miss it.”

Fiona popped from the bed like a piece of toast from an eager toaster, wiggled her feet into the puppy slippers, and reached for her bathrobe.

“Leave that here,” said Aerya, taking the bathrobe and putting it back on the hook.

“You mean, just go in my pajamas?”

“Yup. Come on!”

The human girl in Bratz pajamas, wearing puppy slippers, ran softly behind the fairy girl in the Hello Kitty nightgown wearing bunny slippers. They got to the kitchen where Aerya gently slid back the lock, and opened the door.

“Shhhh,” she said to Fiona, one finger on her lips. Fiona gently closed the door.

“Oh my -- ” whispered Aerya, pointing across the yard.

There, near the fence where Fiona found Aerya’s slippers, were two deer. Their antlers looked silver in the faint moonlight. Aerya spoke softly - the deer turned their heads to look at the two girls. Aerya walked straight to them. Instead of jumping over the fence, the two deer lay down on the ground, folding their front feet under their chests. Lying still, they were waiting for the girls.

As she shuffled across the grass, Fiona was surprised that right here, in her own yard, two deer waited under Aerya’s command. Aerya went to one deer, took off her slippers, then carefully got onto the deer’s back. The deer stood up smoothly, as if Aerya weighed nothing. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the strong neck.

“Go ahead and get on,” said Aerya.

“Aerya, where did these come from?”

“They live on the mountain.”

“I don’t know about this. Is it safe?”

“Totally safe. Go ahead and get on.”

“Why are we riding on deer?”

“Because we don’t have horses. Come on, Fiona, get on. We have to go or we’ll miss it.”

Fiona’s heart fluttered, and her stomach grew tight. Ride a deer? A deer with antlers? This close, the antlers looked enormous, and the deer itself was larger and more muscular than she ever realized. It looked at her, then blinked one large, gentle eye. Fiona stroked the deer’s neck, then settled onto the deer’s back, trying to keep her face away from the tips of the antlers.

Before she knew what was happening, the deer stood up. Again Fiona’s heart fluttered and her stomach churned. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the deer’s neck. ‘Please don’t poke out my eyes with your antlers’, thought Fiona. The deer turned his head and blinked again, as if saying ‘don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe’. Aerya spoke a command, and both deer began running.

The deer jumped fences so lightly, it seemed they had wings on their feet. They bounded through yards, dashed between bushes, and followed such a tangled route Fiona was soon lost. The deer kept running, leaving the houses of Frederick behind them, and moving across the farms that existed at the edges of the town, their stride as smooth as melted chocolate as they crossed the dark fields. They ran over the farm fields and kept going, quickly reaching the wilder land at the edge of the foothills, where solitary trees sprouted. Still streaking through the night, they entered the forests that covered the mountains.

The chest of Fiona’s deer swelled as it breathed harder, bounding up the mountainside. The air from the deer’s nostrils puffed out in white curls that soon faded in the cool air. The deer’s hard muscles rippled and flexed under his skin. The tiny dark hooves never slipped as the deer swept through the trees, dashing to the left of a dark trunk, jumping a dry creek, or dipping to pass under a thick branch. Fiona saw the forest world through the twisted lines of the antlers, and marveled that the deer could go so quickly without tangling its antlers in the branches. At last, the deer slowed, and walked the last few feet.

They emerged from the woods and into a wide clearing. The deer stopped, and laid down. Aerya got off, and Fiona did the same, her arms aching from holding so tight. Aerya spoke into the downy ears of her deer while Fiona patted her ride. Aerya’s deer snorted, and then both of them vanished without a sound into the woods.

“How are we going to get home?” asked Fiona.

“Don’t worry, they’ll come back.”

“Where are we?” asked Fiona, still too amazed by her journey to notice that it was much colder on the mountain.

“At the edge of a world you never imagined! Come on, follow me!” Aerya held out her hand; Fiona took it, and they ran along the edge of the clearing. Aerya stopped near a tall pine tree. She sat down on the thick cushion of pine needles, and patted the ground next to her.

“Sit here, and watch.”

“What am I watching for?” asked Fiona, her eyes wide.

“Look over there.” Aerya pointed across the clearing.

“Aerya, I don’t have fairy eyes . . .” started Fiona, squinting. At that moment, she saw something; two somethings, actually, which glowed red. She grabbed Aerya’s arm, and asked,

“Aerya, what is that?”

“That’s where she waits.”

“Who waits?”

“Shhh,” hushed Aerya, pointing up to the sky. “Just watch.”

They sat at the edge of a field surrounded by trees, a green frame around this patch of ground. They were in a perfect place to see the stars. Stars which twinkled, seeming to call out ‘hey, look at me!’ to everyone watching. No clouds tonight; just stars, which, as she watched, disappeared and came back. ‘What?’, thought Fiona. She looked more intently, and saw there was something flying high above. Now there were two of the mysterious things, and when they passed overhead, the stars were blocked by their bodies.

Gradually the shapes grew clearer - the flying things were getting closer. Wide, and long; moving smoothly as a dolphin in the ocean. Flying above, the two went around like hawks - were those wings? Closer now, and Fiona gasped as she recognized what floated in the sky above her.

Dragons!

Two dragons circled, following each other, getting closer and closer to where the two girls sat in the edge of the woods. If these two were dragons, then the red spots across the clearing . . .

“Aerya,” whispered Fiona, pointing where she still saw the red eyes, “is that a dragon?”

She was excited and scared at the same time. Somewhere in her mind she thought, ‘don’t dragons eat girls?’

“Yes,” whispered Aerya, “that’s the female dragon. She’s watching the two males.”

“Is she going to eat us?”

Aerya turned suddenly to look at Fiona.

“Eat us? Why?”

“Isn’t that what dragons do? I mean, don’t they like to eat people? Especially girls?”

Aerya gave Fiona a puzzled look.

“Fiona, don’t be silly. Of course she isn’t going to eat us. Tonight, she is going to choose her mate. Forget about her, and watch those two!”

The eyes of the dragon hadn’t moved, which helped Fiona feel a little better about a fire breathing creature she was certain ordinarily ate human girls. She would keep checking on those eyes, and if they got closer, well, Fiona was right at the edge of the woods. That would make it easy for her to grab Aerya then run and hide. Confident that this was a good plan, Fiona relaxed a little and focused on the dragons in the sky above.

They were enormous! Wide wings spread out from a thin, snakelike body. The dragons’ tails were long, following every move like a ribbon on a kite. The dragons made their circle smaller, flying faster and faster, becoming a blurred ring. They were much closer now, and Fiona could hear the whistling of the spikes along their back as they chased each other. She could not tell which was which when they separated, and swooped down at the field.

Fiona screamed as the dragons turned at the last moment, turning in opposite directions, each of them sailing just above the tips of the trees. Aerya put her hand over Fiona’s mouth, muffling the scream. Fiona could see the golden belly scales; she could hear the whistling of air across the long, curved claws; the horn covered face so terrible it was like a hundred nightmares packed into one instant.

The dragon above did not stop to eat the girls. Its tail flowed behind, marking the path it flew. Then it was gone, silent as a cloud upon the sky, flying up higher and higher. Both dragons reached a place almost out of sight, then began a complicated ballet. They twisted and rolled; they turned and looped; they dropped and rose; always linking their moves together, each a mirror to the other. The two dragons flew so close to each other, Fiona wondered how they kept from tearing the thin skin of their wings on the big spikes that studded their backs.

The dragons flew with a grace that surpassed the wide winged heron. The dragons displayed their inventive minds, each trying to out dance the other upon the night. At last the display was done, and the two floated like downy feathers, swooping down and rising up, each pass bringing them closer and closer to the clearing. A dip down, then a pull up, a dip down, then a pull up, closer and closer. In a moment, they would land, shaking the ground with their immense weight.

Yet they didn’t land. The red eyes across the clearing moved. Fiona drew back, alarmed by the motion. Then the eyes were gone and Fiona saw the female dragon moving upward, moving as if swimming through the air, the sleek, strong body pale silver in the starlight. Still without a sound, the dragons hovered as the female swam up.

The female dragon rose to where the other two hovered. She circled one, her giant head sniffing at him, then she circled the other, sniffing at him, too. She circled each of them, flying around them, over them, under them, at last stopping beside her choice. That dragon threw back his head and let out a sound like a thousand mountains rumbling, and then the two of them, male and female, flew off, quickly vanishing in the night.

-- End of Part 2 --

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