Bryan Davis - Eye of the Oracle

“I know what she used to look like, but we can ask around for Jasmine. That’s her name here.”

The ground trembled. A window in a nearby feed store shattered, and a crack split the road between Gabriel and Sapphira. Gabriel leaped over the widening rift and grabbed Sapphira’s arm. “Hurry!”

Running side by side, they followed dusty cobblestones that led to a broader road and then to a city square. In the central garden, a statue of a man riding a horse stood watch over an array of colorful flowers, and a rope lay over his outstretched arm with a hangman’s noose dangling underneath. Several people milled about, and a woman knelt next to a body lying on the road.

Gabriel let go of Sapphira. “I guess they didn’t feel the quake here.”

She ran up to the corpse the body of a petite female. A gash in the front of her dress revealed a gaping wound in her bosom. Sapphira gulped. “Naamah!”

The kneeling woman stood and faced them. Her stern, angular features hadn’t changed in the slightest. “So, you have come to bring our destruction, have you?”

When Gabriel joined them, Sapphira latched on to his wrist and squeaked. “It’s good to see you again. . uh. . Jasmine.”

Jasmine glared at Gabriel. “You’re not an oracle of fire, are you? The prophecy said that there would be two oracles, not one.”

Gabriel pointed at her. “Listen, Roxil, or Jasmine, or whatever your name is now, I may not be an oracle of fire, and I don’t know about any prophecy, but this place is about to blow, and I need to find my. . I mean, your father.”

The ground shook again. Two more windows cracked, and a chimney toppled, spilling broken bricks down an angled roof. Sapphira stooped to keep her balance, and Jasmine dropped to her knees. The people in the streets scrambled in every direction.

When the tremor settled, Jasmine rose slowly to her feet. “You won’t find my father here. He left a long time ago, and he never came back.”

A fountain of fire erupted in the city hall building, spewing wiggling ribbons of flaming debris onto the street. As sparkling ash rained down, the three backed toward the statue to avoid the embers.

“Merlin predicted this,” Sapphira said, swatting at the ash. “We have to get you out of here before it’s too late!”

Jasmine sneered. “I should have known Merlin had something to do with this. He has been plotting to kill dragons all along, and now he has arranged our apocalypse.”

“Merlin set up the way of escape!” Sapphira grabbed a fistful of Jasmine’s sleeve. “This place is about to burn! What’s it going to take to get you to change your mind?”

“Truth!” Jasmine shook away Sapphira’s grip and pointed at Naamah’s body. “She killed that so-called dragon messiah with the same dagger that took her own life. A dead messiah cannot save anyone from this God-forsaken place. It is hopeless. There is no way out.”

“Really?” Sapphira narrowed her eyes. “Then how did your father leave?”

Jasmine nodded at the statue in the garden. “He wandered over there in sort of a daze, saying something about a red glow, but Brogan and I never saw anything. Then, he just vanished.”

“And he became human.” Sapphira clasped her fingers together. “He rejoined your mother, who also took a human form, and they had two children, Gabriel and Ashley, your brother and sister.”

Jasmine’s expression softened, and her voice lost its sharp edge. “So, they’re a happy family now, I suppose.”

Sapphira shook her head. “A slayer killed your father and mother, but Billy risked his life and resurrected your mother from a dragon graveyard.”

Jasmine glanced at the hangman’s noose. “Billy resurrected her?”

“Yes. She’s alive now and is a dragon again, but your father’s spirit is missing.” She nodded at Gabriel. “That’s why your brother is here looking for him, and we were hoping you’d want to help.”

Jasmine’s lip trembled slightly, but she quickly firmed it. “Of course I want to help, but there are a couple of important obstacles.” She extended a finger. “First, I’m dead.” She extended another finger. “Second, apparently you have to trust in a human to get out of here, and I haven’t seen any good reason for doing that.”

Gabriel stepped up to Jasmine and stood toe-to-toe. “I’ve been listening to you jabber long enough.” He extended his own finger. “Our father was dead, too, and that didn’t stop him from coming back to life.” He flashed all four fingers and began lowering each one as he continued. “This Billy guy is human, and he died trying to save you. Merlin’s human, and he sent Billy in here to save all the dragons. I’m human, and do you think I’m going to gain anything by risking my own life to argue with a stubborn dragon?” He lowered the last finger and formed a fist. “And Sapphira’s human, and she has more love than all of us combined. Without her, I would have been dead, Billy couldn’t have come here to rescue dragons, and you wouldn’t be getting another chance to crack your cold heart of stone.”

The ground suddenly lurched. Sapphira fell on her seat, and Jasmine toppled backward into the garden. Gabriel kept his balance, flailing his arms as he rode out the bucking cobblestones. When the quake settled, Gabriel helped Sapphira up, but the entire garden area broke away from the street and began to sink, taking Jasmine and the statue with it.

Gabriel dove for the edge and reached down into the growing chasm. “Jasmine! Grab my hand! I’ll pull you up!”

Jasmine struggled to her feet and jumped, but her fingertips merely brushed against Gabriel’s. With her second jump, her hand passed several inches too low.

Sapphira dashed along the chasm’s perimeter, jumped down toward the statue, and landed in the rider’s lap. Grabbing the hangman’s rope attached to the horse’s neck, she screamed up at Gabriel. “Catch the noose!”

Gabriel reached both hands. “Toss it!”

Sapphira slung the noose upward. The rope smacked Gabriel in the face, but he managed to latch onto it before it slipped away. “Got it!” he shouted, wrapping it around his wrists.

Sapphira clambered down to the pedestal and extended her hand. “Up here, Jasmine! We can still climb out from the top of the statue!”

Jasmine bent her knees, but the ground suddenly crumbled. She fell forward and grasped the bottom of the statue’s pedestal as it dropped, and her momentum drove the pedestal against the sloping wall, wedging it there.

The weight dragged Gabriel’s body farther out over the pit. He strained against the load, every muscle in his face quivering, and he let out a roar. “The rope’s cutting my wrists!”

“Hang on!” Sapphira yelled.

As Jasmine dangled over a deep pit, purple fumes rose from the blackness, smelling of camphor and garlic, then a voice filtered upward. “Roxil. Come and join me. I have been waiting for you.”

Jasmine twisted her neck and looked down. “Goliath?”

“Yes. Just let go. I will catch you, and we will live together in the true Dragons’ Rest.”

Jasmine spun her head back toward Sapphira, her wild eyes darting all around. The statue lurched down a few inches, jerking one of Jasmine’s hands loose, but it suddenly halted, teetering over the black pit.

Gabriel slid farther. Puffing and grunting, he let out a loud, wordless moan.

Stooping carefully, Sapphira grabbed Jasmine’s wrist. As she pulled, her vision sharpened. Far below, the skeletons of several dragons lay scattered in the midst of a black fog. A huge red dragon stood among the bones and called out, “Please do not abandon me!”

“Don’t listen to him!” Sapphira reached for Jasmine’s flailing arm. “Give me your other hand!”