Fire! Fire!

"Fire!"

The fifteen-year-old boy grabbed the castle window that he had been passing. Below, in the city proper of Bon Su Pear, a building began to burn. The boy, Gideon, turned and grabbed his dragon's hide coat. He stopped at the lump in the middle of the floor and nudged it with his foot.

"Wake up!" cried Gideon. "There's a fire!"

The seven foot long dragon that lay on the floor opened one eye.

"The castle on fire?" asked the dragon, Pavataro.

"No, a building in the city," said Gideon.

"Good," said Pavataro and closed the eye again.

"We have to help them!" said Gideon.

"Why?" asked Pavataro and he gave a huge yawn.

"Come on, you lazy lima bean," said Gideon as he ran to help.

Captain Doyle was shouting encouragements to the bucket line. As Gideon ran up, he saw a bucket of water move quickly from a canal to be thrown at the burning building. Doyle turned as Gideon skidded to a halt next to him.

Gideon saluted. "Reporting for duty sir!"

"And good timing," said Doyle.

"Did everyone get out?" asked Gideon.

"We don't know," said Doyle. "The place was pure chaos when my squad arrived, but you... you're impervious to fire, aren't you?"

"Kinda impervious," said Gideon.

"Because you drank the what's-it..." started Doyle.

"Dragon's milk," said Gideon.

"Whoo, and my Mom only seemed like she was breathing fire when she was mad," laughed Doyle. "So, how close can you get to the fire?"

"Pretty close," said Gideon.

"Can you scout around the top of the building and make sure everyone's out?" asked Doyle.

"Yes, sir!" said Gideon and he ran toward a building neighboring the burning one. The mention of dragon's milk had made him think of his adopted mother, who was a dragon. For a moment, he wondered when she would visit next, but he chased away the thought because he had a job to do. The boy jumped.

Gideon leapt up into the air tapping into the magic in him. The dragon's milk allowed him to change his personal gravity. As the magic opened, Gideon became lighter. He jumped high on the building and quickly scaled it. Reaching the top, he turned around to survey the burning building.

Gideon scanned the building looking for any sign of life. He moved around the building and just as he was about to go back down, he heard something. Gideon jumped on to the edge of the building. He perched on the lip of the roof listening past the crackling fire. He heard cries in the building.

Jumping across the roof, he found a trapdoor leading down. The trapdoor was cool to the touch so he opened it and dropped down in the building.

"HELLO! Can anyone hear me?" shouted Gideon.

"Is.....dy out there?" said a muffled voice nearby.

"Keep calling out!" replied Gideon.

As the voice talked Gideon walked down the hallway. The stairs were engulfed in flames a floor below. He stopped a door that was cool to the touch. Gideon gave it a kick and it splintered easily, which spoke more to poor building standards than his strength. Inside, three kids were huddled together.

"Help, our mama just left for a minute and then everyone started shouting," said the eldest girl.

"Come on, I'm going to get you out of here," said Gideon reaching out his hand. The kids came forward and he led them out into the hall. As they got close to the stairs, the kids recoiled.

"It's too hot!" said the oldest girl.

Gideon paused, his mind racing. The fire roared drawing closer.

Suddenly, Gideon smiled. He whipped off his coat.

"This is made of dragon's hide," said Gideon. "I'll wrap you all in it."

"Can you carry us?" asked the eldest girl. "You're not that big."

"Don't worry," smiled Gideon trying to ignore the short joke.

As the kids climbed into the coat, he decreased their gravity. Wrapped in his coat, he ran past the stairs where flames leapt out at him. Reaching the trapdoor, he jumped up with them through the trapdoor. They cried out in surprise. Dropping on the floor, Gideon looked around for a safe building to jump to.

"Over here!" cried a voice above. Pavataro swooped down.

"What is that?" cried the eldest girl.

"That's Pavataro, he's a friend," said Gideon.

Pavataro slowed his flight and came down to hover above Gideon and the children.

"He's awfully small for a dragon," said the eldest girl.

"Hey!" cried Pavataro.

"He's young," said Gideon with a grin. "But safe."

"Okay," said the eldest girl.

"Ready?" asked Gideon as he looked up at the dragon.

"I can get two for sure," said Pavataro. He reached down with his legs. One of the kids looked at their older sister.

"It's okay," assured the eldest girl. The kid nodded and let Pavataro pick him up. The dragon took the other child until he held one in each arm.

"I think I can...," started Pavataro when the roof buckled. Gideon stumbled away from Pavataro who took to the air. There was a deep cracking noise inside the building. Gideon pulled the eldest girl close to him and ran. A section of roof gave way, spouting a geyser of fire up.

Running to the edge of the crumbling roof, Gideon leapt for the next building. He lightened their weight but when they hit the roof, they dropped right through. He hit the floor of an hallway stumbling to a halt.

"Are we safe?" asked the eldest girl. The floor shook and began to buckle. Gideon took off running for the far end of the hallway. There was a wicker window covering at the end.

The building groaned terribly like a dragon rising. Gideon jumped and kicked out his feet. He smashed through the wicker window and out into the baking air. The other building was right there. As Gideon feet hit the wall, he crouched into the side of the wall. Jumping off he hit the opposite wall and bounced between the walls until he reached the bottom. He stumbled out between the buildings. Once he was safely away, he opened the bundle of his coat. The girl looked up at him.

"Can I get down now?" she asked.

"Sure, kid," said Gideon as he set her down on the cobblestones.

"Marita!" cried a voice in relief. A mother came running up with the other two kids following. She scooped up the eldest girl and held her tight.

"I'm fine," sighed Marita. The mother ignored her and turned to Gideon.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" said the mother.

"No problem," said Gideon as he backed away from the family reunion.

"Gideon! Watch out!" cried a young girl.

Gideon whirled around to see a giant golem made of water baring down on him. He jumped aside as the water golem walked past him and into the fire where it was reduced to steam. Pavataro reached out his long neck, clamped on the back of Gideon's shirt, and pulled him away. More giant water golem's walked out of the canal and into the fire.

Half submerged in the canal was the fifteen-year old water mage Brianna. It had been her that called out to Gideon. Beside Brianna was the wizard Al, adding her magic.

Standing back, Gideon and Pavataro watched as the fire was contained and finally burned out. Captain Doyle and his soldiers were leading the homeless people toward the castle for temporary housing as Gideon went down to the canal. Al seemed okay, though a trifle winded, but Brianna was wobbling on her feet.

"That was amazing," said Gideon.

"Not a problem," said Brianna with a small smile and then she tipped over backwards. Gideon rushed into the water and held her to him.

"You don't have to carry me."

"It's okay," said Gideon. "You're never a burden."

Brianna smiled sleepily and curled into him.

THE END

Bio: In Walter's own words,  Aphelion published “Dancing Stones” in November 2015, “Overcooked” in September 2015 and “Sacred Logs and Crocodiles” in April 2011.  Dark Dossier published the horror stories, “Red Rain” in September 2015, “Smoke’em If You Got’em” in December 2015 and “Goodrum’s First Day” (Date TBA).   Schlock published “Wizard Con” in their August 2015 magazine.  Residential Aliens published: “Sharp Stick” (March, 2010), “Fur Flying” (August, 2010), “In Hot Water” (October, 2010), and "The Mystery of the Black Nail (February 2011).  Conceit Magazine has also published “Shooting Star” in their September 2010 issue of the Ultimate Writer and the website Static Movement published "Sand Sharks" in January 2011.

E-mail: Walter G. Esselman

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