Chapter 12: Breaking & Entering

Chapter 12: Breaking & Entering But me seeing nothing didn’t mean much. Maybe the battery was further away, on the other side of the building, or maybe it was taking a form I wasn’t familiar with. But... I planted a hand on either side of the streaming, red marks. But if it ran the same principal as my charm, and I was pretty sure that it did, then perhaps there was a way for me to take the energy source out of the equation. I stepped back, took a breath, and pictured the little girl from my dream. "I know you’re there!" I said firmly, my voice bouncing off the walls and dissipating into the rain. I stared at the red lines then closed my eyes, burning the image of the girl in my mind. I saw her hands clasp at her dirty knees and her little back quiver. I saw her hair, wet with rain, stick to her face and her eyes squeezed shut to stop the water from getting in and the tears from getting out. "There’s a magical space here! I can see it! There’s a little girl inside it! She’s right here!" I held out my hands and walked forward, willing myself to believe that I was going to walk into the space where the girl was and not into the wall. "I can see you! I can-" "Quiet, little dragon!" The words cut through my ears and a clawed hand grabbed me by the shoulder, talons cutting into my skin and pressing me forward to the wall... and through it! -- Bran stopped and raised a hand to wipe his face. He’d abandoned the raincoat almost as soon as Misha had disappeared. If his fears were justified, then he couldn’t afford to have any of his movement restricted. He stood to the side of the street, letting a policeman on motorcycle go past him, then planted his sword in the ground again. The white glow of the compass spell was starting to wane. Bran hadn’t lied about his sword, but he hadn’t quite told Misha the truth. His sword didn’t have the same charm on it as his tail, rather, it was a full-on invisibility spell that could be activated on command. To be honest, Bran was still a little disturbed at how Misha could completely see through the spell but everything about that dragon seemed to defy expectation. Maybe he was the main character of some video game. Bran had heard of video games before, and even watched a little gaming in an arcade, but he’d never touched a joystick, so he was just guessing here. Bran finished the prayer then drew the sword again, the white glow now strong again. It streamed off into the darkness like the thinnest of fingers. The gu-huo-niao had taken a zigzagging route full of backtracking and unexpected turns and it was all Bran could do to keep on her trail. Did he really think she was the kidnapper? He wasn’t entirely sure. He’d never met one before, only read about them, but their collective deeds were long and stained with blood. Their reputation was great enough that it had even traveled during the Tang Dynasty to neighbouring Japan, generating a healthy number of chilling tales. Bran shook his head. He was letting himself get distracted in an effort to ignore that bad feeling that was starting to rise again. He regretted letting Misha go off on his own. If he insisted on helping, then he should have just let him come along. He should have... The bad feeling climaxed then suddenly vanished. This was bad. Bran whispered something under his breath, ordering the white glow to return to his sword, then set off again, this time to where that feeling had come from. -- I landed hard on the floor, but I didn’t pay it any mind. I had other things to focus on. Behind me, standing with the poise of a hawk, stood the woman from the roof, the gu-huo-niao. She looked at me with her sad eyes though this time I felt something more to them. Behind her I saw the red edges of a tear in space tremble then quickly seal themselves together. I’d done it. I’d gotten the spell to break for a moment and gotten in. Unfortunately, I had company. I slowly rose into a crouch but kept my centre of gravity low in case I had to suddenly dodge. "How can I help?" I asked the gu-huo-niao. Those sad eyes curved a little as the woman smiled. She smoothed her clothes, and her shawls fluttered like feathers then opened her mouth. But before she could reply, I heard a strangled wail come from behind me. I snapped around and saw that a few metres away down the red coated alleyway was a small, crumpled figure - a small girl quivering in fear. "Hey," I called, crawling towards her. "It’s okay, I’m-" The girl raised her head then screamed and scrabbled at the ground with her bare feet in an effort to get away from me. "What...?" She shouted something at me, still pushing herself further back against the end of the passage, and I stopped. I didn’t understand, couldn’t understand, yet I did get one thing - she was afraid of me, deadly afraid. Then in her babbling I heard one word that I did recognise: gwai. The woman quickly walked past me and to the little girl, stooping to help her up. She patted her on the head and shielded her with her body against me. "Don’t worry," she said to the little girl. "Come with me. I’ll protect you." "No!" I made to stop them, but the little girl screamed again making me hesitate. The gu-huo-niao took advantage of my momentary pause and threw her shawl around herself and the little girl. The shawl, suddenly far bigger and more feather-like than ever, swept around them like a mother hen’s wings covering her brood. I pounced forward, bracing myself for more screams. I knew that if I let whatever the gu-huo-niao finish whatever it was that she was doing, that she and the little girl would be gone. The feathers completed their circle and the woman’s smile broadened as the air rippled and their forms began to dissipate. "Move!" shouted a voice from above. The dragon, on hearing that familiar voice, obeyed and rolled to the side, barely missing the blade as it came down on the woman, skewering through her and pinning her to the ground. The feathers of her shawl fell, and she and the girl became fully corporeal once again. Bran landed lightly beside them and pulled the little girl from the woman’s grasp. The little girl cried and screamed, and Bran hugged her close and whispered in her ear, telling her that it was alright. But it wasn’t. The woman writhed and clutched at the blade that grounded her, no, not a woman, a creature. Gone were her human features, and in their place growled the hairless head and beak of a vulture, its angry eyes burning as it stared at Bran. The dragon immediately got between the bird creature and Bran, snarling at the former as it protected the latter. The girl gave another whimper and Bran said something more to her. He said the name ’Misha’, which made the dragon’s ears flick back momentarily, though it remained focused on the bird. "Misha," Bran called again. This time the dragon turned its head. "Looking fierce," said Bran. The dragon, Misha, blinked, not understanding. Bran sighed with a smile. "Try standing up on your legs," he said. The dragon cocked its head to one side, still confused, tried to rise back onto its haunches, then immediately lost balance and fell to the side. The little girl gave a giggle. Bran said something more to her, also smiling. Misha looked down at his hands, no, claws, then glared at Bran. He now understood why the girl had screamed. He would have too, if a dragon had suddenly run up to him. "You could have told me earlier," he said. "Sorry, I don’t understand dragon," replied Bran. Misha the dragon gave a little shocked whine and shuffled up to Bran nudging him pitifully with his muzzle like he was trying to tell him to stop joking around. Bran said something to the girl then reached out a hand to pat Misha on the head. Misha froze. It felt... really nice?! He sat on the ground and found himself purring as Bran massaged behind his ears. I’m literally a dog... he thought to himself, but he couldn’t stop his tail from thumping happily on the ground. It was then that the little girl also reached out her little hand and touched Misha’s nose. It was kind of itchy, but Misha could guess what Bran wanted to do so he put up with it and let the girl continue. Slowly, a smile spread across her face, and it made Misha feel happy too. Bran said something more to her then walked next to Misha and put the girl on his back. His body was long, longer than even a horse and he had to work to keep himself steady. It was an even weirder feeling, and he looked skeptically at Bran, somehow hoping he could read his mind. "Look after her for a bit," Bran said quietly to him, then stepped back and walked over to the gu-huo-niao.