Jake flew to the narrow gorge they had agreed on to meet. Jake felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness about testing his limits. Also, he was a little angry with his sister for risking herself during the rescue of the little girl. Privately, he doubted he could have done nearly so well, especially in the part about keeping them calm. Something about seeing a flying, fire-breathing thirty-ton lizard seemed to panic people, encouraging a strong sense of hiding and running while exercising their lungs as loud as they could go.


He hadn’t actually tested out his theory about that, but something in his fuzzy memories seemed to suggest things of the sort. Hollywood certainly encouraged that image enough. Maybe there was some truth to it.


The gorge grew bigger and wider until he flew in about halfway along its distance. Just ahead and maybe a hundred and fifty feet below him he could see everyone else waiting for him. He relaxed his muscles to let his camouflage fade and reveal his sparkling golden scales. He landed easily despite his bulk and settled in front of Brian.


“No one about for miles.” He reported. He could see the girls finishing up whatever they were talking about.


“Good.” Brian agreed, flicking a fly with his black tail. He prided himself on being a cleanly creature, and flies were particularly abhorrent to him.


Tom nodded. He was perched on Brian’s shoulder and seemed perfectly relaxed. Jake could see his friend was putting on a good show, however. That was alright. Jake was nervous himself, and very much afraid of hurting his friends accidentally while testing his powers.


“Shall we get started then?” Jake asked, mostly to cover his fear with bravado.


“Yes.” Brian agreed. He looked at the assembled group. Clearing his throat, he spoke in a easy-going, almost fluid manner.


“We are all hear to test the limits of our abilities in a controlled environment to prevent injury to ourselves or bystanders. I would like to start off with our magic abilities, to see what we can achieve there, before moving on to the more physical powers such as flight and stamina, followed by a sparring course to acquaint ourselves with various styles of hand-to-hand combat.”


“We don’t all have hands to fight with.” Jake pointed out. “And my ‘hands’, as you put it, are more likely to eviscerate you than anything else.”


To illustrate his point, he reached out and swiped at the trunk of a large tree laying nearby on top of a rock slide. Deep gouges appeared, through which the scratched surface of the rocks beneath could be seen.


Everyone stared and then Brian let out a shaky breath. “Yes. Well, we’ll have you practice shadow boxing on the walls or something. Carefully!” he cautioned. “We don’t want you to bring down the whole wall.


Looking around, he pointed to a huge boulder some distance away. “Please use your fire on that boulder. Try for as long as you can stand it, and we’ll see what happens.”


Jake shrugged serpent-like and strode over to the boulder. Standing in front of it, he studied it’s craggy, unremarkable surface. With a deep breath and grunt of effort, he let loose a stream of fire almost white-hot. For what seemed an eternity he held his fire on that rock, the heat grew almost unbearable even for his fire-proof hide. When he could at last breath out no longer, he cut off the flame and stood panting.


He looked around for his friends and saw Serena standing in front of them all, her horn glowing brightly in the dim light of the gorge. In front of her hooves the ground smoked from bits of brush that had caught on fire from the heat. Everyone was staring at him, he could see that much. The smoke made reading their faces out of the question, however. Jake turned back to the rock and was surprised to see it was completely gone. A rapidly cooling puddle of lava stood in a spray pattern from a shallow bowl that appeared to have been almost scooped out of the rock. The air was filled with ping-pop!


Oh, my. Did I do that? A small voice inside of him asked.


He walked back to the others. When he got there he could see everyone was sweating like they were in the middle of a Louisiana summer. Brian appeared to be studying the damage.


“How was that?” Jake asked him.


“Most impressive.” He replied quietly. “Far more than I expected, to be honest. A blast of fire like that could melt all modern tank armor that I’m aware of. Maybe even most bunkers, if given enough time.”


Jake shrugged, uncomfortably aware of the sudden lethality he had achieved. But Brian apparently wasn’t done.


“Now, I’m curious to see if Roland’s words were true. If you can control your flames after it leaves your body.” He pointed in the opposite direction, where a single tree stood growing into the cliff. Below stood another group of stones.


“See if you can melt the stones, but leave the tree intact.” Brian suggested.


Unsure, Jake went to the tree and stone. He thought about the stone, it looked dark, with the wet moisture on it’s surface and hideous splotches of dirt on its dark grey hide. The tree, by contrast, seemed stout. A tall, green, living creature reaching for the sky. Something like this needs to be protected, he thought. He opened his mouth and a swirling jet of flame roared out. It parted before the tree and reformed down on the rocks below.


Jake stepped back slightly to view his work with satisfaction. The tree looked completely unharmed, while the rocks below were a red-hot liquid mess running down towards his feet. He stepped delicately out of the way until they cooled, watching the tree the whole time. It began to brown slightly when he glanced away, but when he watched it stayed fine. Wonderingly, he tried again. This time, he lessened the heat of the flame until it just barely reached organic cooking temperature. How he managed it, he couldn’t know.


This time, the rock beneath glowed a faint, dull red. Like a cooking element left on very low heat. The tree remained untouched this time.


Jake felt less nervous about training, and began experimenting with various temperatures and forms of fire until he felt comfortable wielding it around his friends. Brian suggested trying to form the fire into various shapes and pictures, and left him working on controlling the flame until he could manage more than a basic circle.


Even while he was focused on his own training, Jake remained aware of the other’s working around him.


Tom and Stacey were practicing flight maneuvers under Rachel’s careful supervision. Each light twisted in spectacular figure eights, circles, spirals and sudden stops. Occasionally, a plant near Rachel would abruptly straighten and clutch at her hoof or a puddle of water would seemingly appear out of the ground and soak her hooves. Jake was impressed with how Rachel ignored the distractions. In a flash of wonder, he realized she was encouraging it! The reason was obvious almost as soon as he thought it; the ability to fly and to accurately hit a target with magic would be of vital importance in any fight.


Brian seemed to have his own hands full with Serena. He had her perform a series of exercises to determine what magic she could or could not do. Everything from lifting rocks to healing a cut on his leg. She could seemingly do it all. Then;


“Serena, I would like to see how much power you have over living objects. Not creatures, but things similar to Stacey’s power. The green woods, for instance. Try to grow a tree or something. It probably will take a lot of effort, so take a moment to gather enough power to try, then attempt it.”


Jake thought Brian might be taking things a bit too far. A tree? Serena could do amazing things with plants, and so could Stacey for that matter, but she seemed only able, or willing, to do it with trees that had already grown.


His thoughts caused his attention to wander, and he realized he’d stopped blowing flame and had instead caused fantastically shaped smoke rings to appear.


A feeling of immense power made him jerk in astonishment and he turned back towards Brian and Serena just as a terrible creaking noise shook the ravine.

A host of trees was marching towards them. Their roots writhed in open sunlight as they clawed their way slowly up the rock. Soon they had completely surrounded the group, forming a dense ring of sentinels glowering down on them. Jake could feel their displeasure.

Everyone seemed struck speechless. Stacey trembled, looking scared.

“Yes, well.” Brian managed to say.

“I have to admit, I did not expect so much. We shall have to modify our training to small scale to work on control, but it appears you have plenty of power to call upon when needed.”

‘I thought I was going small.’ Serena whinnied nervously. ‘I didn’t even try hard for this.’

“What?!” Brian yelped, stunned.

‘I hadn’t meant to call so many! I just put out a summons and thought one or two trees might answer. Not the whole forest!’ she explained.

“Oh. Well, perhaps they would be so good enough to return to their homes so we can continue on with the training?” Brian asked.

‘Give me a few moments with them.’ Serena begged. ‘Stacey too. The journey wasn’t easy for them, they have hurts.’

“er. Yes, of course.” Brian managed.

Stacey flew up to Serena, heading to the forest. As they reached the first tree, Serena’s horn flashed brightly, while Stacey gestured to each trunk they passed. So quickly did they work in concert, that Jake felt the anger of the forest around them lessen with each passing minute, replaced by a feeling of anticipation.

When the duo returned to the group, the trees were marching steadily back down the ravine, but to Jake’s eyes they seemed to stop well before their original line.

I guess a chance for rapid advancement like this doesn’t come along very often for the trees, Jake mused.

Brian took a staff from the ground and began to spar with Serena. Her horn agilely blocked every swing he put to her, yet she made no attack of her own. Stacey returned to strafing Rachel and having smaller plants clutch at her hooves or smack her hide gently.

Jake, under Brian’s direction (after he’d finished with Serena for a short time) stood in front of the stone wall and boxed with his shadow. He found the notion of a dragon standing on his hind legs and fighting with clenched fists ludicrous, not to mention impossible. While he could stand on hind legs and grasp things, he was dangerously unbalanced. It was safer to use his jaws and teeth for his primary weapons, followed by lightning slashes from his front legs and occasional strikes from his tail. He practiced dodging his shadow and striking unexpectedly from the side. By the time they finished, he’d become useful in tail strikes as much as bites.

“An excellent effort.” Brian proclaimed as the sun set. They started walking back towards the forest and Serena’s meadow.

Jake followed them for a short distance, ostensibly for protection but more for the feeling of company then any real reason. He wouldn’t be able to speak with Nacomi tonight, he thought regretfully. The story of their disappearance had swept up the campus community, Nacomi told him. She’d been singled out as his girlfriend and held up as a pillar of strength. She mentioned how tired she’d gotten of all her friends and strangers coming up randomly to her and offering support. She managed to deflect all questions concerning him, claiming it was simply “to difficult to talk about right now”. The police were under fire for having filed Jake’s report of the odd store and nothing having come of it. Now, with the treasures reported not found anywhere, suspicion was on Roland and his store and they were out searching for him.

All the attention, however, had made it extremely difficult for her to sneak away to talk with him. He couldn’t get close without the threat of discovery.

She had promised to come to the park next Saturday, however. He looked forward to seeing her then, he just wished he could find a way to visit her every night.



Jake groaned in his sleep. His stony bed was giving him trouble again. No matter how he tried, he could not seem to get completely comfortable on it. He needed something softer. Experiments with moss and ferns however, proved how little normal solutions lasted. They didn’t last more than an hour before becoming dangerously dried out in his presence, and prone to catching fire.

Nope. He needed something else to sleep on. He came awake to that conclusion, peering out at the dark walls. His eye caught on the golden statue given to him by Roland. He searched his memory for the words Roland had said. “You will have need of it soon, I’m sure.” What had he meant by that?

Since I cannot sleep tonight, I might as well have a look at it. He thought. He settled down with the statue clutched in his front claws. He rotated the statue every which way without success. There seemed nothing different about it, other than it was made of gold. He felt another predatory stir at the thought of gold. He lusted after it, but it did not control him. He found he could push the thought away to a corner of his mind and lock it up. He was glad, he did not fancy becoming a robbing dragon.

The statue began to anger him. What did the riddle mean? What possible use could he have for the golden thing? It made a niece addition to his collection, and it was easily carried, but what else could he use it for?

Unbidden, words came to his lips: Melak-tolin bedacordash silmanil.

The eyes of the dragon glowed with inner light, becoming brighter as it consumed more and more power. Jake dropped the statue and jumped backwards with a snarl; he didn’t understand what was happening. The cave shook like a sail in a faltering breeze, he dug in his talons to keep from being knocked off his feet. A sound like metal falling filled the cave. Everything stopped at once.

Jake eyed the cave roof warily, looking for cracks or signs of damage. Finding none, he sighed. As he dropped his gaze he noticed a large opening in the back that he hadn’t seen before. A dry, dusty wind came out of it.

Jake stood there debating with himself. Should he go in to search? Should he go find his friends and they all could search together? Or should he activate the statue again and try and seal up the opening altogether?

At last his curiosity won out and he stepped past the threshold.

It was dark, the light ending a short way past the door. The only light came from his own eyes, allowing him to pierce the cloak and see a well-trodden path, the stones rubbed smooth from tramping feet. But whose feet made the marks? And were they still around? They were very old, he could find no sign or smell that anything had been on that path for centuries.

He followed the twisting trail down, down, deep into the mountain. Could it be the same mountain? Jake wasn’t sure. He was no geologist, able to read the rock around him. Still, he felt confident that it was. The magic of the statue was very great, if it could create such a monstrous passageway into the bowels of the mountain.

Why would this be useful, he wondered. Sure, it provided an escape route in case of discovery, but his wings would serve just as well. It didn’t make any sense.

That thought was on his mind when he turned the last corner. The sight that greeted him struck him speechless.

Gold and silver were piled high in a huge cavern. Coins, statues, swords, bits of armor and jewels of every description were there. All of them seemed very old, but could be called well-preserved. His sharp eyes spied no rust on any blade or piece of armor, so it could be pure gold, though he knew how useless such would be in battle. Ceremonial, perhaps.

After a while Jake began to wonder. Who had collected such a hoard, and where were they now? He scanned the hall but could see no sign of any other inhabitant. Several arches were visible, however. One by one he began methodically searching each room or passageway beyond the arches. Many appeared to be empty, awaiting some treasure to fill them. A couple had long tables made of oak with drinking mugs and dining ware set evenly along them, seemingly set for an army. One passageway contained many rooms obviously made for sleeping in. Pallets were spaced in several, while some had real beds. All of them had washstands, mirrors and what appeared to be actual working toilets set in them. Three of the last rooms turned out to be store rooms lined with shelves. They were not filled, but gaped openly, awaiting a bounty to be placed in them.

Jake withdrew from the last passageway and returned to the great hall. The gold and silver glittered in the light from his eyes. His thought was on the remarkable underground fortress he had discovered.

He wondered if the statue had merely opened a passageway to a place where all this actually stood, or if the magic inside had been great enough to carve out each room for his use. That the golden hall was for him he no longer doubted. There were no signs of anyone in the hole when he looked. It had been empty for a very long time, so he would take ownership of it for now. If the original owners came looking for it, perhaps an accommodation could be reached. Somehow, he doubted they would. Old memories of fire and death came to him, and a seizing of a hold very similar to this one from short hairy creatures that were distant cousins of the much taller men. Dwarves, perhaps.  

Jake sighed. That probably meant that a rampaging dragon had taken a dwarf fortress in the ancient world. He hated memories like that, he didn’t like to see the innocent suffer.

He would have to decide what to do about the hall tomorrow. For now, he curled up on top of the gold and silver, finding it surprisingly comfortable. He soon fell into a deep, contented sleep.


Jake woke the next morning feeling wonderfully refreshed. His golden bed was much more to his liking than bare stone or dead plants. Now I know why dragons covet gold so much. He thought. Still, this is enough for me to be comfortable on. What I’d really like now is my library.

He missed his large book collection. He’d had books on lots of different subjects, from history to fantasy. For all he knew, they could be sitting in a police lab somewhere being dusted for fingerprints.

He strode to the outer gate. There he discovered a great stone lying there as if left; he was sure it hadn’t been there yesterday. It seemed just the right size to stop up the cave entrance. Jake felt delighted. All I need is a brass knocker and I’d have a real front door.He felt pleased to note how easily the door rolled into place. Once in the tunnel entrance, it seemed to become the back wall of the cave. Perfect for keeping his home secret.

Flying to the training grounds he found everyone already gathered. In a brief explanation he told them of his new home.

“Do you think it is possible that it was built by dwarves?” Brian asked interestedly.

“I don’t know.” Jake replied. “But I suspect so. Don’t most dragon myths say they fancy dwarf mines?”

“Some.” Rachel agreed. “Though that is made famous by The Hobbit. Still, I daresay we can give greater credence to such tales now. What I’m more interested in is the fortress itself. It could prove useful to have this place to retreat into should the worst happen. And the statue appears to be another door in addition to the stone, yes?”

“So far.” Jake told her. “I haven’t tested it much for obvious reasons, but I think we can close the door with it and the entire place would cease to exist.”

“It must be a pocket dimension.” She theorized. “With the statue its key. We can make a impregnable bastion if that is the case.”

“Say more like a doorway between places.” Jake guessed. “The dwarf outbost—it seems to small to call it a city or a fortress—may exist somewhere else in the world, tucked away in the heart of a mountain and my statue can simply connect the cave systems together.”

Rachel sighed. “I haven’t the slightest clue how to test either hypothesis.”

“Well,” Jake said in a lighter tone in an effort to cheer her up. “After we get done here today I’ll show you all my new flat. Don’t have any beer or snacks stocked yet, so BYOB” he joked.

Everyone laughed a little before Brian guided them back to testing their skills.

While he and Rachel practiced archery on their freshly carven bows, Serena studied the effects of her healing spells under various levels of power and Tom and Stacey took turns spell weaving in their two elements. Jake ambled over to his tree and rock to work on his flame control some more, not having a desire to shadow box at the moment.

His heart wasn’t in it however. Instead of focusing, he found his mind wandering to all the books he loved. He wished he could put them in his new home. He’d need to find some way to protect them from the elements and keep them from falling prey to time. The caves seemed dry, but books could mildew and rot in a heartbeat if not given adequate protection…

“Jake! What are you doing?!” someone shouted, breaking his train of thought.

“Huh? What?” he asked bewilderedly.

“What are you doing to that tree? Brian asked in a more reasonable tone.

Jake frowned, wondering if he’d accidentally scorched it or something.

He found, instead, the tree encased in a transparent shell of a translucent material. He stared at it, puzzled. How did it get on his tree? What was it? He swiped at it with his claws but failed to either scratch or dislodge it. Noticing it went down the trunk, he dug a little ways down to verify that it did indeed follow the root system underground. He had no doubts that every square inch of wood above and below the earth lay sealed in the thick shell.

“What happened?” Jake asked in confusion.

“We were hoping you would tell us.” Brian said dryly as he came up and placed a hand on the surface of the tree.

“I don’t know.” Jake admitted.

“Well, why don’t you tell us what you were thinking? Oft times, it seems as if our thoughts or will directs the magic we use.” Rachel suggested.

Jake told them everything and they returned to gazing at the crystal covering.

“Protection.” Brian muttered to himself. “I wonder. Is this something like suspended animation? Or is it something else? Can it be temporary, or long-term? I need more to go on!”

“The only way to test your theory is to see if the tree is alive now or can be awakened from slumber.” Rachel told him, moving to stand beside him and placing her hand on his arm to calm him. They locked eyes for a moment and smiled.

Serena shook her head. ‘I cannot sense the tree.’ She told them. ‘Not like the others. It’s blank, yet I could say that something is there where it stands.’

“Well, let’s see if we can awaken it.” Brian urged.

Jake looked at the tree, wondering how on earth he would free it from its crystal prison. He thought about the tree shedding its skin and becoming whole and alive again. Nothing happened. Perhaps because it was already alive? He thought about watching the crystal shedding like a snake skin, and still nothing happened. At last, in desperation he thought about simply getting rid of the crystal. A familiar tickle in the back of his mind told him he was on the right track.

This time he watched when a grey fog emerged from his open mouth and flowed across the ground like water to the tree. Moving on its own like a living creature, it crept up the trunk until it covered every branch and leaf. It went down the base and pushed underground. It grew ever thicker and heavier as Jake watched.

Long seconds passed before he cut the smoke. It started to clear away, leaving the tree clean of the crystal.

“It’s alive!” Serena sounded incredulous.

“Excellent!” Brian enthused. “Let’s try something more complex. Tom, do you think you can catch a live squirrel?”

Serena and Stacey both protested such inhuman treatment. Tom looked doubtful but flew of without saying a word.

After an hour, Jake suggested they look for him. Being so small, he might have been worsted by the squirrel and in need of help.

No sooner had they started down the canyon after him when a bright ribbon wound its way sinuously from the trees and rushed towards them. Beside it, like a master watching over a favorite hunting hound, Tom flew proudly. As the patch of water drew closer, Jake could see a large, fat, thoroughly unhappy grey squirrel floating at the surface of the water. His head stuck out while the rest of him remained submerged. From his vantage point Jake could see the squirrel struggling to find traction and escape, but it was if below the surface there was only air.

“All right Jake.” Tom panted as he stopped next to him in triumph. “Here’s your squirrel.”

The rodent went bonkers the moment it stopped glaring at Tom and looked at him. The eyes rolled until only the whites remained, the mouth dropped open in one long, continuous wail. Jake stared; he hadn’t known squirrels could scream like that!

Serena pushed past him whickering softly as she laid her horn against the flank, the water hindering her not in the slightest. Slowly the squirrel calmed until it lay quiescent. Tom let the water drain away reluctantly, eying the nearly comatose animal distrustfully.

‘He will not run away’Serena told them. ‘I’ve sworn he will be safe.’

“Sis, I don’t think…” Jake started uncomfortably but she cut him off.

‘He will be safe, brother. I do not doubt it, and you cannot as well.’ She spoke fiercely, and a angry light shone from her horn.

Jake nodded slowly. Honestly, he had no idea what would happen, but he decided it would be wiser to say nothing.

Thinking about preserving and protecting the squirrel, Jake watched almost idly as the grey fog issued from his mouth in a manner similar to his fire. He even had some control over it, but it was hard. The mixture seemed to make him partially torpid. He was only obliquely aware of the fog engulfing the squirrel, his mind kept trying to wander down other paths and he struggled to keep it on task.

The squirrel became encased in crystal; every detail of it clearly seen. The entire affair looked like a stuffed trophy encased in glass, Jake thought. This time the crystal formed more of a tear-drop shape rather than a squirrel shape, making it easy to hold in the hand.

Brian walked over and picked it up, looking at crystal before Serena.

‘I can only just sense him.’ She told him. ‘Not alive, or rather not as I can sense others, but something more than simply a void or dead thing.’

He nodded and proceeded to smack it against the rocks despite her increased protests. He placed it on the ground and had Jake breath fire on it; once it had cooled he even jumped on it several times; he beat at it with a scavenged metal post that Jake left to find for him; and drew a diamond from Rachel’s earing across one facet (she didn’t wear it since turning, but kept it on her person at all times as it had been her grandmother’s). The surface stayed bright and clear. Nor mark could be seen on the animal inside.

Brian set it down again and Jake bent close to free the squirrel. It lay where it had been set for a moment after the Crystal had evaporated. Coming too, it chattered at them a moment before scampering away to the forest. Serena whinnied after it.

“What did he say?” Rachel asked curiously.

‘He said he was happy we didn’t kill him but wanted no further part in this.’ Serena told her. ‘I thanked him and told him where the best nuts close to here could be found. Oh, and he also thanked me for removing the ache in his hip. Poor thing, he hadn’t realized it had broken and didn’t heal right. Before much longer the pain would have debilitated him and made him easy to catch.’ She added.

“Ah.” Rachel nodded.

She walked in front of Jake. “Now it is my turn.” She announced to everyone’s astonishment.

“It’s too risky. There’s a possibility it might go wrong. There’s no need for such an experiment.” They all started to argue.

“The risk is manageable. I doubt anything will go wrong, and there is a need to see if it will work on beings of higher cognizance and magic ability.” She answered them firmly.

One by one she defeated their arguments until at last they gave in. Brian had been the strongest dissenter, matching her logic with his own, but he too admitted that it would eventually have to be done.

Despite his own misgivings, Jake froze her. That was how he was coming to call it; “freezing” them in dragon ice.

When the fog dissipated, Rachel stood fully encased. Her eyes remained open, staring out at them with unnerving calmness. Jake looked her over and turned quickly away; a glaring difference between her and the squirrel immediately presented itself. Her shirt that she’d worn as her sole attire had vanished. No trace of it remained.

“Odd.” He remarked, fighting his embarrassment for his friend. “Do you think this only works on living tissue then?”

“Possibly.” Brian mused. A tinge of red had appeared on his cheeks. “There’s only one way to see.”

He removed his own shirt and assembled a pile of inanimate objects; his bow, some arrows, and several rocks of various shapes, sizes, and material. He also placed several large centipedes on top of the stones before stepping back.

Jake froze the pile. Looking closely at his handiwork, he could see the shirt, bow and rocks sealed behind a large, square crystal (he’d been thinking of a large box when he started), but of the centipedes there remained no sign.

“It does appear to work only on either living or inanimate objects. Probably the chemical makeup, I suspect. So of course it wouldn’t work on both.” He fingered the earing. Jake was suddenly glad that Rachel hadn’t taken it back yet.

“Stand back.” Jake said. “I’m going to roast the shirt and clothes to see if I can damage them, even at my hottest fire. If I can’t, we’ll wait for the area to cool before I release them.”

Everyone scrambled back, leaving him a place to work. Jake placed Rachel some distance back as well (he didn’t want to take chances with his friend’s life) and let loose with his hottest blast. The floor melted around the crystal, becoming a runny lake of molten rock that trickled down towards the forest. Yet Jake could tell that nothing about the cloth changed. Whatever substance encased them, it proved extraordinarily resistant.

Jake waited an hour before pulling the crystal out of the hardening rock it had sunk into. Placing it next to Rachel he released them. Rachel stood still for a long moment before blinking and yawning.

“How long?” She asked.

“An hour, maybe a hour-and-a-half at the most.” Jake told her.

“Really? I can’t tell.” She exclaimed. Her eyes became unfocused as she looked back into her memory. “I fell asleep, not quite dreaming but just above that level. No time passed before going unconscious and waking up. Naked.” She added with a grimace, looking down at her arm over her breasts. Everyone was looking away. Brian offered her his shirt to wear, and she pulled it on over her head.

“Sorry.” Jake said again.

“You didn’t know.” She told him sharply. “Now we do. And we know that this ‘Dragon Ice’ as you called it can work on us. That is very useful information. Say, as if we were caught in a long siege. You could put is in this suspended animation until the danger goes away, whether that be weeks or months or possibly years. The only danger I foresee is if you are killed. Then we could be unable to escape unless someone else can counter your magic.”

Everyone looked uncomfortable at the thought.

“It’s certainly something to look into.” She told them firmly.

“Do you really think that’s possible? Jake asked.

“Well, let me suggest we go to the Fortress now and have a look around. We can evaluate the feasibility of such a plan. And, if you don’t mind…perhaps you can visit Nacomi tonight and have her buy me some more shirts.”