Chapter 8 Ludo
2230 Words
Ludo
The next day, Becca and I headed to Black Wing for a planning session. I was driving so she could organize the portfolio for the wedding. I have only been behind the wheel for a few months now, but I was getting the hang of it. I was better than Freyja, at least.
By the time we pulled into Black Wing territory, Becca had finished the portfolio and made three more vendor calls for other events. I had to admire her ability to multitask; she could give Miss. Patricia a run for her money. I grabbed Becca’s briefcase and followed her to the castle, where she knocked.
“Becky, dear, you don’t have to knock every time; you are family,” Patricia cried when she opened the door.
“I’m sorry old habits,” Becca chuckled and hugged her. “How have you been?”
“I'm lovely, my dear,” she replied with a smile, then turned to greet me. “Ludo, we have missed you both; you must visit more often. Come in, come in. Gwen is waiting in the living room.”
“It's good to see you,” I said, walking into her embrace. “We have missed you too.”
Gwen was sitting with Elle looking over a few magazines. Becca sat down with them, and they started right in with planning. Ginny came in and joined them after a while, and I let them plan together while I went with Elias to the kitchen.
“How are things with Becky?” Elias asked as he handed me a soda from the fridge.
“Great,” I said. “I can’t believe how amazing she is.”
“Ginny told me about England. Are you going to ask Becky’s parents for her blessing?” he asked.
“Not you too,” I groaned. “Freyja asked me that yesterday. I didn’t even know about that. Becca and I haven’t discussed marriage; we haven’t marked yet.”
“Yeah, what's up with that?” he asked. “It’s been like six months.”
“I want to, but Becca is afraid that she can’t mark me,” I confided in him. “Her parents never marked, and her dad told her that lions didn’t do that for some reason. She wasn’t sure if it would work because we aren’t the same species.”
“But she’s part dragon,” he pointed out.
“It sounds like there are some issues with her parents in Dragoon,” I said softly, hoping the girls were too busy planning to be listening in. “She thinks maybe her mom was embarrassed to bear his mark, so her dad made it seem like it was something else.”
“Oh wow,” Elias said with surprise. “That’s pretty heavy.”
“Yeah, and I thought I was the one with a crazy family,” I sighed. “Which her parents know about and seem very concerned. I overheard Becca talking to her mother, who wasn’t too keen on me being her mate and told her to reject me.”
“What?” he gasped. “What did Becky say?”
“She stuck up for me,” I said and couldn’t help the smile. “She said that she loves me, that I treat her well, and I’m nothing like my father.”
“What are you going to do when you get to Dragoon?” Elias asked and poured some chips into a big bowl. He pulled up a stool and pointed me to sit down.
“Becca said that her dad is excited to meet me,” I said. “All I have to do is show her mom I’m a good guy, and she will like me too.”
Elias laughed at the face I had made. There was no chance in hell her mother was going to like me. It was going to take a lot more than just being good to her daughter.
“Have you heard anything about the missing dragon?” Elias asked after we sat for a while, eating chips and drinking soda.
“Yeah,” I said. “Freyja told me about it, and apparently, the Fire Eater tribe is mostly former Dragoon members with hybrid or non-dragon mates.”
“I knew they were an inclusive tribe, but I didn’t realize they were all from Dragoon,” he said. “I don’t know anything about Dragoon; I don’t think we’ve ever met anyone from there, but I don’t understand why they’d be biased against hybrids. Did you know Fire Eater has a bear with wings and breathes fire?”
“Is it weird I really want to see that?” I asked.
“Hell no, I’ll take video for you,” he said with a goofy grin.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I decided to go to Fire Eater instead of America,” Elias explained. “Freyja needs help.”
“What about Ginny, Everett, and Elle?” I asked.
“Everett needs to stay here,” he said. “The girls are coming too, all of them.”
“If you need me, I’ll be there,” I said, a bit hopeful I could get away from Dragoon. “Maybe Friday?”
“I’ll let you know if we need you,” Elias laughed. “But you need to meet Becky’s parents at least.”
“Okay,” I sighed. “Freyja wanted me to keep an ear out for any missing dragons in Dragoon.”
“Any clue on what the missing dragons and the plane crashes have to do with each other?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” I replied. “I mean, the likelihood that there are two issues relating to dragons at once tells me it’s more than likely. But I have no idea what it means.”
“I hope Greg and Megan are okay; they are good dragons,” he said. “Have you ever met them?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Were they at the wedding?”
“I don’t think so; it was kind of short notice for them,” he said. “And now that I think about it, they weren’t at the chief ceremony, and I knew they were supposed to come.”
“Megan was probably missing by then,” I thought out loud.
“Probably,” he agreed. “I’m going to help Freyja and see if we can figure something out together, but unfortunately, we will need to wait until another dragon disappears or another plane crashes for any new information.”
“My offer still stands,” I said. “If you guys need help, I won’t be too far.”
“Too far from what?” asked Becca as she came into the kitchen. “Hey, Elias, how are you?”
“I’m good, Becky,” Elias replied with a smile. “We were talking about Dragoon. We are going to Fire Eater. Ludo offered his help in case we need it.”
“Oh,” she said and looked at me. “I understand.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about it,” Elias said, waving it off. “I want you guys to enjoy your visit with your parents.”
“Well, if Fire Eater needs help, just let us know,” Becca said. “They are good people.”
“Thanks, Becky,” he replied. “We appreciate that.”
“How was the planning session?” I asked.
“Great, Gwen knew exactly what she and Freyja wanted,” she said. “We did what we could and are waiting to hear back from vendors. We come back on Thursday for another session. When are you guys going to Fire Eater?”
“This weekend,” Elias said. “We are driving. Why don’t you guys stay the night on Thursday, and we all leave together? We will take one car, you take yours, and we can ride the ferry together.”
“That will work actually,” Becca said. “We are technically closer from here than we are from my cottage. I didn’t think about that; thank you, Elias.”
“You’re not flying?” I asked.
“No way,” he said. “It's not safe right now, and I’m not taking chances.”
“Freyja flew,” Ginny pointed out when she came into the kitchen. “I don’t get why we can’t either. If anything happens, we can shift.”
“Everett banned anyone from leaving the territory just now,” Elle announced as she hurried into the kitchen. “Another plane went down in Australia. This time there was video evidence.”
“What?” Ginny gasped.
Elle had a tablet in her hand, and she held it up for us to see. She pushed buttons until a screen popped, and she tapped the play button. We all watched as a shaky hand caught an image of a long, scaled body floating through the clouds outside of a commercial airplane window.
“What the feck is that!” a quavery voice shouted as the other passengers seemed to take notice and begin to scream. “Is that a snake? How is it flying?”
The man taking the video dropped the camera as everyone on the side of the plane scrambled to the other side, causing the plane to rock to the side. Everyone was screaming and crying as the plan straightened itself out, and the flight attendants tried to calm everyone down and get them back to their seats.
“Where did it go?” someone shouted, and the cameraman managed to point it outside the same window; there were no scales visible in the clouds.
“Where is it?” other voices were shouting.
The camera turned to face the man, and you could see the fear in his eyes as he filmed himself looking out the window. His eyes popped wide, and his mouth dropped open before turning the camera to point out the window; a pale blue dragon eye surrounded by scales stared at the man. The eye blinked, and then it disappeared as the man with the camera screamed over and over and over. The video went black after that, making the room seem quieter without the screams.
“What happened to them?” Gwen asked.
“Authorities found it on a crash victim,” Elle answered solemnly. “He had it on his body, and it somehow survived the crash. It was the first thing the rescuers saw.”
“That was a dragon eye, wasn’t it?” Becca said, looking paler. I reached for her and felt her shiver; I pulled her against me and held her close.
“Yes, it was,” Elle answered her question. “Everett is grounding everyone; nobody is to leave the territory. No one is to go anywhere alone, even on grounds.”
“But what about Freyja?” Ginny asked. “We are supposed to go help her.”
“We are allowed to go,” Elle said. “I should be going to Australia, but the only way to get there is by flight, and Everett said absolutely no air travel.”
“Hopefully, their council will be able to handle it,” Elias said. “Is Everett okay with you going to England?”
“Not really,” Elle said. “But something is going on, and we need to know what it is. He can’t abandon the tribe and needs to be here in case of an attack on our land.”
“Did Ian and Tasha make it to Russia safely?” Becca asked.
“Yes, they are safe and sound,” Elle said. “They may extend their visit longer than a month depending on what’s happening.”
“That might be for the best,” she replied. “Are all tribes putting in these orders?”
“Probably,” Elle said. “I’d hope so anyway. Perhaps you should call your parents and ask them if you can visit.”
“That’s a good idea, excuse me,” Becca said as she pulled out her phone and left the kitchen.
“When are we going to Fire Eater?” Elias asked Elle.
“I think we should go as soon as we can,” she said. “I’m going to talk to Everett about possibly bringing Fire Eater back to Black Wing until we can locate Greg and Megan.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said.
“I’ll be right back,” Elle said and headed out of the kitchen.
“Ludo!” Becca shouted, and I sprang out off the stool, knocking it to the ground as I rushed to her. She stood in the front hall, clutching her phone in one hand while covering her mouth with the other. “My…my mom….”
“What?” I asked as I stood in front of her. Her eyes were wide, and tears began to spill down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” Elias asked as the others came into the hall.
“My mom is missing,” Becca whispered before covering her eyes and bursting into tears.
- Writer
