[stylist] Trials of an honorary Dragon chapter 20 (new chapter).

[helene ryles]

Chapter 20
Fulfilling dreams by Liza Bronze
1997

What a day! Thanks to Vinny’s children, I've got Nadia back!  Not only
that but my father is behind bars and so my mother is free from his
tyranny!
I saw P.C. Rickshaw with a police dragon, as I got off the train as
Stilosarka station.
"Hello Bronze.  Fancy joining us, we are going on a secret mission,"
she told me in a friendly tone.
"What's it all about? What do you and Beria want now?" I asked
suspiciously.   Rickshaw has been really matey with me ever since she
started going out with Pyre.  I had suspected interior motives.  I
just didn't know what they were.
"I can't say here and now, you will find out in due course as soon as
we've left the area, but I can assure you that this has nothing to do
with Beria. I'm acting independently."
I eyed Rickshaw suspiciously.  What was going on now?
Just then a tiny golden figure with dark red hair landed on the
platform.   She seemed familiar from somewhere?
"Ah I made it on time.  Fiona the fader at your service.  I saw the
child being pushed into this very platform.  So I want to help in
whatever way I can.  I've just been asked to join you on this mission
to arrest Madrella's step father Snyder," the tiny woman told us,
bowing to each of us in turn.  After she said that I remembered when I
had last seen her.  I also remembered P.C. Rickshaw’s visit to my
home.
"You are actually going to arrest Snyder?" I asked Rickshaw in astonishment.
"That’s right, why don’t you let the whole world know,” Rickshaw
commented.  She grabbed me roughly by the arm and bundled me onto the
dragons back.  I let her take me, wondering what kind of spell Pyre
had put on Melissa Rickshaw to produce such a change of heart.  The
little woman climbed on the dragon's back with us.
"Well, if you want to make yourself useful, could you make us all
vanish?" Rickshaw asked the tiny woman.  At that point we all became
invisible.  It’s a really eerie feeling to see but not be able to see
yourself.
"So what's going on?" I asked Rickshaw.
I couldn't hear her response since I generally need to lip-read and
besides the wind and flapping of the dragon's wings was creating a lot
of back ground noise.
"Why don't you pair talk like this?" Fiona asked using tactile sign language.
"P.C. Rickshaw doesn't sign," I told her.
"Why not?   I mean even Pyre can sign and he is totally blind, so why
not her?" Fiona asked.
"She's very audist," I signed back.
"An audist deaf person? How can that even be possible?" she asked me
in confusion.
"P.C. Rickshaw isn't that deaf.  She's only a little hard of
hearing..." I told her.
"Well neither of you can hear much without lip-reading so you both
seem deaf enough to me," she commented.

As we landed in Keraina I saw a number of red and brown clad women
along with a few dragons.  There were several junior police officers
accompanied by several members of the armed forces.
At that point we reappeared just before landing near the other officers.
“How did you get this lot together?” I asked Rickshaw.
“I didn’t.  I’m as surprised as you are by this turn out.  I just
spoke to my friend who resigned from our police department over
Madrella.  She just told me she would pass the message on to a few
friends hers.  I suppose I‘d better speak to them all,” Rickshaw
muttered looking anxiously round.
"Right,” she announced, “the plan is to capture Snyder, and fly him
over to another district senior police officer other then Beria.  I've
got Snyder's file here.  There is enough material to arrest him by,
including charges of wife battery,   planned infanticide in order to
capitalize on body parts, non payment of bills,  dealing with
contraband goods, and illegal dealings with Dragon killers.  This
includes marrying his daughter to a dragon killer without even
obtaining her consent first,”
The women and dragons around nodded angrily.  Here in Darthrila we
hate dragon killers and anyone who associates with them.
>From what I heard from mother, my sister Monika wasn't even alerted to
the fact that she had been married at all.  She was lured to the
dragon slayers home to meet his brother, with the possibility of them
getting married if they got on. Monika had agreed as she liked the
dragon slayer's brother, but she'd never liked the dragon slayer even
then.   It wasn't the first time father has done this to Monika
either.

I remember the first time father married Monika off.  That must have
been after Monika left school.  After getting a job with the police
force I turned up at my brother-in-law's home with a couple of police
dogs.
"I want my sister back!" I had demanded as an older woman opened the
door.  She had taken one look at the Growlin Shepherds and started
screaming.
"How dare you come and scare my mother in this way.  I’ve had enough
of your deceitful family.  Your father lied to me about your sister.
He never told us about her limitations until after the wedding.  Then
he claimed it was only temporary.     He deliberately hid the fact
that her condition was inheritory, and his family only produced
girls," my brother-in-law ranted.  He slammed the door in my face.
I waited, wondering what to do next when the door was flung open
again, a few minutes later with my startled sister whom he thrust in
my direction.
“Here, take your wretched sister and begone,” the man screamed before
slamming the door in our faces.  It was as easy as that.
I should never have handed Monika back to father though, I only took
her back because my mother was very keen to see her again.
The next I heard father had married Monika off again.

Today I was banging on my fathers door.  The other police officers and
members of the armed forces were staying invisible with the help of
Fiona the fader.  P.C. Rickshaw had handed father's file to another
police officer and asked her to hold on to it as she needed to go
somewhere.  That's the last we saw of P.C Rickshaw.   I expect she
just didn't want to be part of the operation itself in case it got
back to Beria.
"Nadir is not at home," Snyder snapped as he opened the door to me.
"When will she be back?  Can I pay mother another visit.  I want to
talk to her again," I asked.
"No! You've only just seen your mother.  Your visits only upset
her..." my father retorted.  He was about to slam the door in my face
but I stuck a foot in the door.  At that point the other police women
all rushed at him.  He was handcuffed and led away on the back of one
of the dragons.  A stream of outraged shouting was the last I heard
from him.
After that I went inside to speak to mother.
"Father has been arrested now," I told her using finger spelling.
"What?" she asked in confusion.  I had to repeat myself several times
before my mother understood what I was saying to her.
"Why? Your father is a law abiding citizen. There must be some
mistake..." She stated.
"He beats you," I told her.
"That is my fault.  I can be so silly at times," she objected.
"Mother, there is never any excuse for what father does to you," I
told her, trying hard not to lose my temper.
"You don't understand. One would need to be a saint not to lose their
temper with someone as annoyingly silly as me," she protested.
"Father also married Monika off to a dragon killer," I told her.
"First I heard that was illegal?" she complained.
"It is in Darthrila.  Especially if you marry someone without their
permission or even their knowledge, then lure the bride to the Dragon
Slayers home under false pretences," I corrected.
"That happened three or four years ago," she stated.
"So, father should have been arrested for it four years ago, but Beria
was covering for him," I told her.
"Why can't she cover for him now," my mother demanded.
I could have wept with frustration at the way mother was backing
father, instead of celebrating the fact that she was free of his
tyranny at last.
"I've got to go now mother,   would you like to go and live with me
and my new family," I asked her.
"No, I want my husband back.  I'm sure there is a big misunderstanding
here. When do I get to see him again?" she asked.
I got up and left the house.   Mother was determined to back my father
whatever his crimes were.  I wondered what father needed to do to her
to make her see how evil he was.
It had been my life ambition to rescue mother. I never expected her to
stand up for father like this.  After the way he treated her.

I caught the train back to Druzil after that.  Fiona the fader
insisted on coming with me to act as my bodyguard.  The plans were for
me to wait for Kan Darth the dragon, at Talmon's place.  She would
bring me Nadia, and then go back with her to her place. Hoping that
part of the plan had gone well, and Nadia was where she should be.
The dragon Kan Darth had agreed to pick up Nadia and let her stay at
her flat in exchange for my services as a nude Model.  Nude modelling
can be extremely tedious, as I was required just to sit there in
various poses.  Some of them were quite uncomfortable.  It's not easy
to sit perched on a branch, while the dragon spent several hours
sketching me in that awkward position.   Then Kan wanted me to do a
repeat of that particularly position, this time with a pair of
papier-mâché wings strapped to my back.  Pictures of winged humans
sell extremely well in Darthrila.
Still, it was all worth it to keep Nadia safe.

When I got to Druzil railway station, Madrella and Beria were waiting
for me along with several other police officers.  After taking a good
look at their angry faces through my monocular, I felt very glad that
Fiona the fader was still with me.
"Where is she?" Beria demanded.
"Where is whom?" I asked.
"You know perfectly well who we mean.  I went to collect her today,
but we found my step father had been arrested and Nadia was gone,"
Madrella snarled.
"Whose idea was it to arrest your father anyway?" Beria demanded.
"Mine," I told her.   I have no liking for Rickshaw, but I didn't see
the point in grassing on her.  After all I'd always wanted to arrest
father.
"How dare you! Your mother was all by herself.  She was very upset
that her husband was gone.  What have you done with Snyder anyway?
Where is Nadia gone," Beria ranted.
"Sorry but that's confidential material," I told them.  The truth was
I had no idea where either of them was.
The two witches made several attempts to break Fiona's shielding
charm.  The little witch was good, but she had to keep her shielding
charm up against two powerful witches, working simultaneously.   In
the end she was pushed out of the way, where she fell to the ground.
Beria summoned one of the police officers that were with her, who
attached the handcuffs to Fiona’s ankles like Shackles.  Fiona’s hands
were so tiny that they could have squeezed through the handcuffs.
This left me totally unprotected.