The Dragon Heir

“Could we…couldn't we give it to them?” Ross asked. “I mean, if it's no good, anyway.”

“That's not an option,” Nick said. “You'll have to trust me on that.”

What does he know that he's not telling us? Jack wondered.

“We're just a small-town police force,” Ross said. “We don't have the manpower or equipment to handle major trouble. We need help. I could call the governor's office. Bring in the National Guard.”

“It wouldn't do any good,” Seph said. “They might kill a few wizards with conventional weapons, if they took them by surprise. Then the Roses would immobilize and slaughter them. There'd be just that many more bodies on the ground.”

Ross nodded, looking almost relieved, as if he didn't want to contemplate that conversation with the governor. “Okay. What if the—ah—underguilds left? Wouldn't the—wizards leave Trinity alone?” The police chief was doing the best he could to master the jargon, to grapple with the monsters who'd come out from under the bed.

“It's too late for that now,” Jason said. “There are hundreds of wizards out there. There's no way we can get through without being captured or killed.”

“These are children, too, remember.” Becka leaned her hips against the kitchen counter. “Whatever powers they have, you can't expect them to … fall on their swords.”

“It doesn't matter, Mom,” Jack put in. “We'd try to bust out if we thought it would do any good. We'd surrender if we thought it would save the town. But…they know we're intertwined with the people here. And wizards are vindictive. The Anaweir are throwaways to them. Those they think they can use as hostages, they'll take captive. The rest, well …” He found he couldn't quite put it into words.

But Jason could. “They'll kill everyone: men, women, children, down to the dogs and cats. There won't be a building left standing. They'll burn everything to the dirt. Then poison the ground so nothing grows here again. It'll be like someone nuked the commons.”

“Isn't there anyone who can help?” Becka asked. “Where are Linda and Hastings?”

“We don't know, Becka,” Nick said softly. “They went to England, to secure a hoard of magical weapons, to keep them out of our enemies' hands. So we'll have to do the best we can on our own.” He patted her shoulder. “All is not lost. We have some principled wizards on our side. Seph may be young, but he's quite powerful. And there's Jason. Iris. And me,” he added, as if it were an afterthought.

“And me,” Leesha said. She was still sitting on the hearth, but her chin came up stubbornly, like she was ready to pick a fight.

“All right, Seph, Jason, Iris, me, and Leesha,” Nick said. “And a few others.”

Dread coalesced in the pit of Jack's stomach. A handful against hundreds. If they could even trust Leesha.

“We have warriors,” Nick went on. “There's Jack and Ellen, of course, and we also have a formidable army of ghost warriors. We have hundreds of sorcerers, enchanters, and seers. We hold a large collection of magical weapons, and we actually know how to use most of them.” Nick grinned, and Jack felt a little better.

“All right, then,” Becka said, straightening, regaining her familiar focus. “Think. What can we do about the … people? We could put them in the Convocation Center, but that would just become an easy target.”

“We need to hide them somewhere,” Ellen suggested. “Tell them some kind of story to make them stay put. How many basements would it take to hide ten thousand people?”

“You know, I can't picture telling citizens of Trinity we're under attack by wizards,” Bill said. “Being drummed out of office is the least of it. I wish we could find a way to get them out of here.”

And how, exactly, are we supposed to do that? Jack thought. Dig a tunnel under the wall? And how long would that take?

That gave him a glimmer of an idea.

“We have to come up with a place to put them until this is over,” Seph said. “Like…like a bomb shelter, or something.”

“Well,” Jack said thoughtfully, “There's the salt mines.”

“Come on, Jack,” Jason snapped. “We don't have time for…”

“I'm serious,” Jack said. “There's plenty of room, and they're well-ventilated and …”

Jason's bleak expression reorganized into interest. “What are you talking about?”

“They mine salt under the lake,” Ross Childers explained, eyeing Jack speculatively. “Have for years. The mines are like huge, man-made caverns that go halfway to Canada.”

Jack grinned. “Halfway to Canada, but all the way to the Sisters.”

Bill Childers nodded grudgingly at Jack. “You know. That's an idea.”

“I never heard of any salt mines,” Jason said. “Where are they?”

“The entrance is in the industrial park on the lakefront,” Ross explained. “Within the—ah—perimeter. Some students and faculty from the college got arrested for picketing there back in the spring. Seems there was a proposal to close the mines and use them as a nuclear waste reservoir.” Ross rubbed the bridge of his nose with his forefinger, looking over at Becka.

Jack rolled his eyes. Naturally, his mother had been the ringleader of the protest.

Becka waved her arrest away, not the least bit apologetic. “After we killed the nuclear waste idea, the owners gave us a private tour of the works. It's like an underground palace, what they call room-and-pillar construction. The mines run as far north as the Sisters, and there are ventilation shafts that come up through some of the smaller islands.”

“So we could bring people out through the mines and up on the Sisters,” Ross concluded.

“It'll be like the Mines of Moria,” Fitch said. “Hopefully without the orcs.”

Jack nodded. “It's not perfect. I mean, you'd still have to work out the food, and there'd be long lines for the Porta-Johns.”

“We have tons of bottled water and MREs in the basement of City Hall,” Ross said. “In case of terrorist attack.”

“Well, I'd say this qualifies,” Ellen muttered.

“The food bank is full,” Becka said. “We just finished the annual drive. But how are we going to get people to go into the mine?”

“Imminent nuclear accident,” Fitch proposed. “At Ohio Power. All of northwestern Ohio could be contaminated. It'd be better than a chemical spill, since radiation is nondetectable. So we go door-to-door and tell people they have an hour to pack…”

“Half an hour,” Seph put in.

“Half an hour, and then they have to go down into the mines for their own protection until the all clear.”

Seph leaned against the mantel. “Nobody's allowed to leave. We can't let word leak out about what we're doing. The Anaweir will be vulnerable once they leave the sanctuary.”

Jack shuddered. It was his idea, and if it all went bad …

Ross's thick fingers twitched, beating a tattoo on the table. “Once they reach the Sisters, we could fly them out then, or send boats from the mainland, and…”

“No.” Seph shook his head. "No way. If the Roses get wind of it, they'd be even more vulnerable out on the water.

“I'll take care of the phone service on the islands, too,” he added. “We can't let anyone know they're there. Which means we have to finish this thing before the food runs out,” he said, half to himself.

“Don't worry,” Jason said, smiling crookedly. “Once this starts, it'll be over in no time.”

“Will and I'll go door-to-door,” Fitch said. He was dressed in his urban-pirate garb, khakis and camouflage and military-surplus boots, heavy chains around his neck, a bandana tied rakishly around his head. Next to him, Will looked like a member of the Jaycees.

“You'll need help,” Seph said, inspecting him skeptically. Jack knew what he was thinking. Some people in town would likely slam the door if Fitch appeared on their stoop in the middle of the night. “We have to reach everyone before people begin leaving for work.”

“Fitch, why don't you and Will handle college housing?” Becka suggested. “When you finish the dorms, start in on the streets south of campus. I'll work the north end.”

“I'll help, too,” Leesha announced.

Everyone swung around to look at her. Jack had forgotten she was there.

“You?” Jack blurted.

“You can use my help, you know,” she said defensively. “I can be very persuasive.”

“We can use every willing hand,” Nick said.

“Deal,” Fitch said. “You come with us. Let's go.” He tossed Leesha a bandana like the one he wore. “Tie that on your head or arm or something.”

Leesha glanced at Jason, who was gazing into the fireplace, pretending not to be listening, then followed Fitch out the door.

Oh, well, Jack thought. If Fitch can forgive being kidnapped and dragged to the ghyll as a hostage, I can go with it.

“Ellen and I will work the perimeter, to make sure no one sneaks out,” Jack said to Ross.

“I'll go back to the station and brief first shift,” Ross said. “I'll send along some black and whites to help clear the houses, escort people to the mine, and keep them from slipping away. We'll stick with the story about a nuclear accident.”

He banged through the door.

The others left in twos and threes until it was just Seph, Jack, Ellen, and Jason.

“Well,” Ellen said, sliding Waymaker into its baldric. “We'd better get going, too.” Ellen looked from Seph to Jason. “What do we do when the Anaweir go? Do we go with them or what?”