(no subject)

[seymoure]

47.

The trio crawled up on Rugglestump’s back.

“Where are we?” Asked Mickey.

“We thought you knew!” Jeremy said, "If you don't know where we are, how will we ever find our way home?" Then he smiled in a way that said he was joking.

“Doesn’t matter,” Don told Mickey.

Then the air began to rush past them in hurricane force.

The boy was now aware that the dragon on which they rode was flying past the wreckage of the train and up the tunnel that had been the massive plunge he had experienced.

Mickey took the same kind of hold on scales that he saw the others take and was soon happy he had done so. He was pressed down by the roaring wind.

When the giant beast reached the top of the tunnel it continued up into the open air and the boy found the entire experience exhilarating in a way he had never known. He was not only flying, he was free from his captors and those who would end his life and threaten the safety of his family.

He was aware of Emo thumping his shoulder. When he looked up he saw the man was trying to hand him a small device.

“Here,” Emo shouted in a nearly vain attempt to be heard over the atmospheric roar. He made sure that the boy saw the ear plug attached to the box. He then reached back and used both hand to hold onto his ride.

Mickey put the plug in his ear and looked at the box. There was a tiny screen that seemed to be some sort of LCD presentation. On the left of the screen was a red button marked “Power.”

He depressed the button and a picture faded in on the square. There standing at a bed were his mother and father. In the bed, with a bandage covering his head was his brother David. They were all waving.

He yelled, “Mom, Dad, David!”

His father spoke to the camera, “Sorry son, we can’t hear anything from your end, but we thought it was important for you to know we were alright. The kind of folks that you were dealing with probably told you we were dead, or some such, so we wanted to put your mind at ease.”

His heart was light, but he was still hoping this wasn’t all another ruse by the bad guys.

“Hey there Kiddo,” came his brother’s voice, “They gave me a shot to the head, but there are some kind of amazing Doctors here. They got me though and said I’m lucky to be young and strong.”

Mickey thought as hard as he could, “Who’s Green Arrow’s girl friend?”

“You mean the Black Canary? Why would you think that right now?” His brother’s words came like a cooling rain in the middle of the desert.

“Just wanted to make sure it was you,” He thought back.

“Okay, but we better cool this,” David winced, “It kinda hurts my head.”

“Tell everybody I love them,” The sibling thought.

David turned to his parents and said, “He says to say he loves you.”

It was apparent from their reaction that they didn’t know about this link between their boys.

“Bye for now,” Mickey thought and watched everyone wave, some a littler more thunderstruck than others.

He hit the power button and put the device in his pocket.

Now he was free.

The first laser blast hit the scales near his hand.

“Damn,” he thought as he looked at the flying beings shooting things at them, “It’s not over yet.”

“Free doesn’t mean safe,” He thought.

Wisdom was coming faster these days.

(c) 2005 by C. Wayne Owens