The Battle of the Blue Dragons

Chapter 11

HI!!!!!!!!! GUESS WHAT?! I AM NOT DEAD!!!! YAY! HERE"S CHAPTER 11! SORRY FOR THE WAIT!!!

"The itsy-bitsy spider crawled up the water spout!" Ruby sung, swinging the soda bottle in her hand with the tune of the music.

"Down came the rain, and wash the (hiccup) spider out!" Tara joined.

I rolled over onto my back, and stared up at the ceiling. That song was getting really annoying. It was nearing two in the morning and the aftermath of the Jones soda I had had, had long since worn off. In the bed next to me, Pip rolled her eyes, and turned over to face me.

"Won't they ever shut up?" she whispered.

I shook my head. "Not for a good couple of hours, at least!"

Pip sighed. "Well, I'm about ready to either knock her one or go sleep in the guy's room."

"Out came the sun and dried up all the rain!" sang Angie.

"I'm beginning to agree with you…" I said slowly, looking over at the three of them bouncing around on Tara's bed.

Pip nodded. "Well, I'm going next door, you coming?" she asked, taking off her blanket and sitting up.

I nodded. "Sure, why not…" I mumbled, taking off my blanket as well.

"AND THE ITSY-BITSY SPIDER CRAWLED UP THE SPOUT AGAIN!" they all three sang together as Pip and I slowly opened the door connecting the two rooms, blankets in hand.

I closed and locked the door behind us, and looked in to the room. To my surprise, everyone was asleep. I then realized that the walls were probably soundproof, and got this weird chill feeling that they were watching what we were doing. I laughed. It didn't matter anyway.

Pip yawned. "Whelp, good night Autumn," she said, and went to lie down next to Elijah's bed.

I smiled. "Good night, Pip," I said. I looked around for Leo, then remembered that he had to sleep on the ground. I walked to the end of the room, next to the front door, to find Leo sleeping peacefully next to Robbie's bed. I watched him snore for a second longer, debating whether or not to just lie down next to him, then decided to lie down next to Evan's bed, which would put me feet to feet with Leo. Within moments, I fell asleep.

The next morning I awoke to a sharp poke in the side. "Mmf…" I mumbled, thinking it was just Pip or Angie. "Lemme alone!" When the poking continued, I figured I should open my eyes. When I did, I almost screamed.

Evan was standing over me, an evil smile on his face. "Rise and shine, beauty queen!" he said happily. "You're drooling!"

I yawned, and quickly wiped my face. "Really?" I asked, laughing along with him.

I sat up and looked around. General Parsner was dressed and was pacing back and forth in front of the door, obviously waiting for Delilah to come get us. Leo was still asleep next to Robbie's bed, and Robbie was lazily putting a sock on his hand. Pip was currently being awoken by Elijah poking her. Amadrien was still asleep.

Evan sat down on his bed next to me. "What are you and Pip doing in here?" he asked, a sly smile on his face.

I coughed, and looked at him. "You are so lucky these rooms are soundproof," I moaned. "You didn't have to listen to the trio singing the itsy-bitsy spider all last night."

Evan chuckled. "So you guys couldn't stand it anymore, eh?"

I nodded. "We just decided to come in here."

Evan nodded. "Makes sense," he said slowly. "What time is it, anyway?"

I shrugged.

"5:15!" Elijah yelled from the other side of the room. "Exactly!"

My eyes widened. "Um, why are we up this early?"

Evan shrugged. "Kevin woke us up," he said.

"Kevin?" I asked, confused.

Evan nodded. "That's General Parsner's first name. He didn't want us to keep calling him General all the time, and Mr. Parsner didn't sound right. So Kevin it is."

"Oh," I said, and jumped as Amadrien bolted awake, screaming, "No! Not the pink bunnies!"

"What the heck?!" Robbie exclaimed, ripping the sock off of his hand and putting it on his foot.

Pip yawned from the other side of the room. "Autumn, come with me, let's go see the aftermath of last night!" she said excitedly, and jumped up.

"Ok!" I said, and jumped up as well, dragging my blanket behind me.

Pip wrenched the door open and sprinted in, me following after her. Suddenly, she fell to the ground.

"What the heck?!" I exclaimed, looking down at her in wonder.

"Ugh!" she said, extracting from under her feet an empty popcorn bowl. "Stupid bowl…"

I suppressed a giggle, and helped her up. "Sure, why not…"

We looked around the room, and suddenly noticed that Angie was asleep next to Tara, and Ruby was hanging off the side of her bed, mouth open, snoring.

I started laughing uncontrollably, Pip following suite, and tripping over the bowl again. I laughed harder.

"ACK!" Ruby screamed, suddenly waking up and falling off of her bed. This served to make me laugh harder, and Pip dragged me to the ground next to her.

Tara and Angie both awoke slowly next, looking around wildly. "What time is it?" Angie demanded, looking at her watch. "What? No way did you guys wake us up! We just went to sleep like an hour ago!"

"That's your problem," I said, getting to my feet. Just then there was buzz on the intercom, and Pip went to go answer it.

"Are you all awake in there yet?" Delilah asked from the other line. "I'll send breakfast up, and in half an hour, I'm coming to pick you all up. We have some briefing to do."

"Alright, we're all awake in here, send up lots of pancakes! And no more popcorn!" Pip exclaimed.

I laughed, and grabbed my shoes and socks from next to my bed, and sat down on it. I put my socks on and was tying my second shoe when Diane walked in, carrying a TV tray with a pile of pancakes and eggs and bacon and everything else you could imagine. 'Wow,' I thought, 'They must have a big kitchen under here, too!'

After we had all eaten as much as we could, and Ruby was beginning to go for another Jones soda, Delilah walked in, making her change her mind, and sit on her bed.

"Everyone well fed?" At our nods, she continued. "Good, now please follow me." She turned and left the room. (A/N: You guys, I just wrote 'She turned and left the world'…I am so sure…sorry, that was hilarious…)

We followed her out, where the boys were all waiting already. She walked to the right of our room, and only walked about twenty doors down, with us following, when she stopped, took out another key card, and opened the door.

"Please sit," she said, motioning for us to go in the room. When I did, I found it was a conference room, with a long table in the middle, and about fifteen chairs on either side, with a chair at either end.

We all took our seats around the table, with Delilah at the top, and Diane at her right hand side. Delilah smiled around at us all. Kevin tried to stifle a yawn; Robbie stretched.

"Well," Delilah said, looking at those two in particular, "sorry to have gotten you up so early, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And desperate measures we have."

Pip and I glanced at each other.

"Screen," Delilah said, and a screen appeared behind her. "As you heard yesterday, we have found a weakness of the Blue Dragons." On the screen appeared the same images from yesterday. "Each Dragon has a weaker spot right underneath the chin, where the flame sac is held. This skin and the flame sac can be punctured, causing the Dragon to spontaneously combust."

Again, the exploding Dragon caused everyone to flinch.

"So," Delilah continued, "when we make our attack on the Dragons, we will obviously need to target this area of the Dragon with our weapons."

General Parsner spoke up. "Guns won't work, will they?" At Delilah's head shake, he said, "Well, we wont be able to get close enough to use swords without getting hit…what'll we use?"

Delilah sounded like she was talking to a baby. "That's what these are for," she said, and an image of a crossbow and arrows appeared on the screen.

Kevin smiled. "Excellent. But my army is based on firepower. They have no practice with a bow and arrow."

Delilah smiled. "Please, Diane, go up top, gather the General's army, and bring them down to the main room."

Diane nodded. "Yes, ma'am, right away!" She got up ad walked quickly out of the room.

I looked around at everyone. Everyone seemed (A/N: God, is smeemed a word?) excited and interested. Again, I couldn't blame them. Leo was sitting next to me, and he had his head in his hands, looking thoughtfully at Delilah. Pip, on my other side, was smiling wide, eyes darting around the room. Kevin, on Delilah's left side, was watching Diane leave. Evan seemed to be drooling over Delilah. Robbie and Angie were sitting next to General Parsner, fingers secretly entwined under the table. Tara was sitting next Robbie and Ruby, and Ruby was whispering incoherently into Tara's ears.

"Now," said Delilah, "what we need to do is go over our history. It seems you know a bit more than I thought you would. Please, explain to me what you know."

I looked to Angie. Who else to tell what we knew? I didn't know much, and I had a feeling I was about to find out a lot more than my brain could remember.

Angie started. "Well, so far we know that our four necklaces are called the Four Jewels, and we are reincarnated people of the past."

"Do you know who each of you are? 'Cause I can assure you most everyone sitting at this table was once someone of great importance."

"Well, we have some idea, but we're not exactly 100% positive," Angie answered.

Delilah nodded. "Very well. Let me answer that unasked question."

Everyone tensed up. Most were eager to find out who they were, but some were scared. Robbie put his arm protectively around Angie's shoulders, as if he was afraid to loose her. Angie bit her lip.

Delilah seemed amused by everyone's reactions. "Well, first of all, let me assure you, Angie, that you are Queen Angela Emily Elizabeth Baker, bearer of Alatornifta, and Robbie is King Arthur Roberto George Dennison, and you two are therefore destined."

Robbie's grip loosened, and they hugged each other tightly. A tear escaped Angie's eye. I looked sadly down at the table. It gave me a feeling of loneliness to not be able to do this with Leo.

"Pip, you are Pypinnyea Dennison, bearer of Palartonira, daughter of Queen Angela, and twin sister of Allison Dennison, who is now destroyed. Elijah, you are Eli Welsse, the stable boy with whom Pypinnyea fell in love with."

Elijah looked across the table to Pip, a blush creeping upon both their faces. They glanced quickly, and looked away, Elijah rubbing the back of his neck. This made me smile. How cute!

I looked next to me at Leo. Lord, how much I loved him. It was a love that could never be broken, the sort of unconditional love parents have for their children. I could not imagine life without Leo. What if Angie was wrong and I had been destined for Evan? So Evan was cute and funny and nice and all but, I just wasn't in love with him. The prospect of Angie's mistake scared me out of my wits.

"Ruby, you are Rubiana Nightingale, bearer of Ronantonora, love of Amadrien, which sort of explains Amadrien, who is the master wizard, and local outlaw of Farrowen, the village you all end up in."

Ruby suddenly started to have a coughing fit, and had to go to the bathroom. I wonder why…Amadrien just sat there, looking as if nothing had changed, with the faintest shadow of a blush creeping up his face.

Delilah turned toward me. "And you are Autumn Markari, bearer of Arlainorta, maiden of Farrowen, secret love of Leotheron Maculba, who was apprentice to Amadrien, hero of the world, who's reincarnated form is Leonen."

"Oh…" I said slowly, and side-glanced at Leo, who now had his head bowed so that his long bangs hid his face from view.

Delilah took a sip of the tea that was slowly cooling in front of her. "Now that you all know who is who, let's move on. I'm guessing most of you don't know the story of the Princess and the Wizard, so I'm going to explain everything."

Angie sighed, leaning her head on Robbie's shoulder. Looked like she had finally given up; Delilah did know more than she did.

"In the year 34 of the Second Age of the ancient world, there were great kings and beautiful queens of wonderful kingdoms. The kingdoms of Artuana and Marneol (A/N: the 'e' should have two dots over it, but my computer sucks) were rejoicing over the recent wedding of their prince and princess, Angela Baker of Artuana, and Roberto Dennison of Marneol. Their wedding had been anticipated in the highest by both kingdoms. Now, both kingdoms could prosper fully and trade freely with one another.

"Around this time, also, Leotheron of Farrowen was apprenticed to the powerful Wizard Amadrien Zephyr. In the town of Farrowen, which was in the kingdom of Artuana, they ran life in an agrarian society. Most people farmed for a living, and others took care of all necessary needs in the community. Leotheron lived in a farming family, and was the only Wizard in a long line of mortals. He had just turned 25, and had been readily accepted to learn magic from the most gifted Wizard of all.

"A year later, the King and Queen had a set of twins, both girls, though not identical. One was named Pypinnyea, with beautiful curly brown hair, porcelain skin, and bright blue eyes. The second was named Allison, with straight brown hair, and dark eyes."

At this everyone looked around the room until they found Tara, who fit this description. Tara looked scared, and put her head down.

Delilah laughed. "Oh, no, not to worry, Tara, Allison has no reincarnate. She is destroyed forevermore. Leotheron saw to that!"

Tara relaxed, and looked up. Everyone chuckled a little, before investing their attention in Delilah again.

"As the twins grew," she continued, "they started to realize certain differences between the two. The most obvious was that Allison was a Witch. You see, in those days, Witches and Wizards weren't rare; a lot of people were magical. Pypinnyea was not a witch, but was very in touch with nature. What no one noticed though, was that Pypinnyea was magical, she just never showed anyone. While her sister paraded around turning bees into bonnets, getting lessons with the palace Wizard, and learning to fly, Pypinnyea ran with the unicorns, and used her special magic only when the most dire times occurred, which she proved later on."

Pip looked uncomfortable; everyone's eyes were on her.

"In the town of Farrowen, two little girls also grew. Their names were Autumn Markari and Rubiana Nightingale. Neither were Witches in the sense that the modern people knew, but both had the same special magic as Pypinnyea had. Autumn's family consisted of mostly Witches and Wizards, and sometimes the money made by selling potions and reading the future was enough to sustain a family, like in this case.

"Ruby's family, however, was not magical at all. They were a farming family, and earned all their money by selling their wheat. Ruby's family lived next door to Leotheron's family, so Leotheron and Ruby had become great friends. Though Leotheron was much older than Ruby, he and her had become like brother and sister. Autumn's mother made potions for Ruby's family regularly, so Autumn and Ruby were best friends. Autumn and Leotheron got along wonderfully, as well, and Leotheron was the girls' big brother they never had.

"In the capital city of Atlantis…" Delilah trailed off, testing the reaction on the group.

At first they couldn't figure out why she had stopped, then it hit Evan. "Atlantis, like the lost city Atlantis? The one that sank?!"

Delilah nodded. "The one and the same. It was the capital city of Marneol, where the King and Queen lived." Before anymore questions could be asked, she continued. "Things started to get a little wacky. The twins were growing up, and Allison was growing stronger, becoming a more accomplished Witch. She craved power, and she would stop at nothing to get it. One night, when they were fourteen, Allison had decided she was ready to take the throne. She went to her mother's room, and told her exactly what she was planning to do. When Angela got scared enough, Allison used a terrible curse to kill her. Thinking her job was done, Allison went to sleep.

"But Angela did not die. It seemed she had powers of her own as well. Remember Pypinnyea. Angela had these same abilities. She stayed alive, using the only powers she had. Pypinnyea came to her in the middle of the night. She found her, barely alive, and decided to take her to a small town in her home kingdom by the name of Farrowen, where she would be safe. She did not want to go on the journey by herself, therefore she employed the help of her best friend, Eli, a stable boy and Wizard. On their journey to Farrowen, they fell in love, and were married when they reached the town.

"Autumn and Rubiana had been introduced to Amadrien, and the four of them had become the best of friends. Since Amadrien and Leotheron had stopped aging at 25, and the girls were now nearly that age, they started to take romantic interest in the two. The boys felt this way as well.

"One day, while the four were together on a hike in the woods surrounding Farrowen, Pypinnyea, Eli, and Angela stumbled into them. Finding them in need of help, they helped them out. In the coming years these seven would become the best of friends.

"Back in Atlantis, things were getting really hairy. Allison had become in charge, but things were still not going her way. No one would listen to a teenagers, and chose to do things their own way, and she was really getting tired of it. She decided to force them to listen. Gathering up all the magic she had within her, and all of her hatred for the world, she changed everything. The world had been crawling with cold-blooded beasts much like lizards, and she sought to make them terrifying and deadly. Thus she turned them into Blue Dragons, the Blue Dragons that we know today. She was sick of the Witches and Wizards and the unicorns. Combining them, she made the Centaurs that raid our towns. She unleashed these demons into the world, causing mayhem and destruction of all.

"These beasts attacked Farrowen, and killed all who couldn't properly defend themselves. Safe in Amadrien's magical cottage, our seven were unharmed.

"As time wore on, Autumn, Rubiana, Pypinnyea, and Angela did not age. They showed more and more power, but still not what was normal of a Witch. Autumn specialized in the power of love, Rubiana in the power of friendship, Pypinnyea in the power of happiness, and Angela in the power of faith and trust. Amadrien and Leotheron began studies secretly about what could possibly be wrong with these four. At this time, the capital city of Atlantis was sunk, and Arthur went down with it."

At this, everyone bowed their heads at Robbie, who shifted uncomfortably.

"Years went by still, and Leotheron and Amadrien found nothing. Until one day, while delivering supplies to some survivors in the town, the four girls found four necklaces. These necklaces were beautiful pieces of work. One a red rose, one a gold lightning bolt, one a blue crescent moon with a star on the end, and one a star-like shape. When the girls presented these to Amadrien, he knew exactly what they were: they were the four Jewels, of course! And the girls were obviously their bearers.

"Now, I must mention, and even though I know lots more details of this that I don't care to discuss just yet, that sometime before the finding of the Jewels Autumn and Leotheron, and Rubiana and Amadrien fell in love. Rubiana and Amadrien showed it readily, but Autumn and Leotheron refused to tell anyone, not even each other."

My eyes widened and again I looked at the table. Gee, why did that sound so familiar.

"Anyway," Delilah continued, "The Legend of the Four Jewels. A long time ago, in an age that is now forgotten, there existed four Jewels. Each belonged to a maiden of extraordinary beauty, and worn on a chain around their neck. The first was a red rose, set on a gold backdrop, made of ruby, called Arlainorta. The second was a blue crescent, with a little golden star on the end, set on the same backdrop, made of sapphire, called Ronantonora. The third was a golden bolt of lightning, set on the same backdrop, made of pure gold, called Palartonira. The fourth was a green star, set on the same golden backdrop, made of emerald, called Alatornifta. Each Jewel gave each maiden a magical power, whether they were a witch or not, and the power to be immortal. The Jewels had the basic power to destroy anything and anyone, if used correctly. Of course, they each had the power to do nearly anything, but what most people wanted them for was to destroy. The way to use a single Jewel was simple; say the magic words and direct the Jewel at whatever the maiden wished to destroy, or heal, or whatever she wished. (Note: There were no magic words made up already, it was said that the maidens knew what the words were inside their heads, and would never tell the public. It was said that if a witch or wizard knew their names in order, and exactly how to pronounce them, then he or she would be able to use the powers of the Jewels to do whatever he or she wanted.

"Most people didn't believe that this legend was true, but as you can tell it was. After discovering that the four Maidens were none other than Autumn, Pypinnyea, Rubiana, and Angela, the seven started to form a plan to ultimately defeat Allison.

"Even though the Maidens themselves could have defeated Allison, it is said that they did not have the time or the material to do so. No, I am not exactly sure what this means, but we're getting there. So, they used their second choice…

"For Leotheron to be able to use the power of the Jewels, he would need to know their names, the order in which to say them, and exactly how to say them. This itself took a long time to figure out, and this was with the help of the Maidens. It took nearly a year to get it right.

"When finally they came up with the plan, they set it into action. Leotheron ventured to the Plains of Rantara in Marneol and called upon Allison to come to him. If at first he could not defeat her in a duel, which was the courtly fashion, then she would kill him. But when they reached this point, Leotheron used something she had not been expecting. As she started the spell that would end his life, he cried the four words that would ultimately consume everyone and everything in exsistence, and kill the most powerful Witch of the world.

"Not having enough power in him to destroy all of her creations, they had decided to lay everything to rest. One day, when the Maidens were reborn, and the Jewels had enough power in them to destroy the creatures, the creatures would come back, and destroy the world a second time, until finally coming to an end. That is when the world will be truly right again.

"So you see, Autumn, Ruby, Pip, and Angie, who you are and who you used to be are one and the same. You all must unite together, using the Jewels to destroy the Witch's creatures once and for all."