Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

familiar feeling washed over me.
    “Oh no, not now,” I said as the afternoon light shimmered, dimming into that of predawn.
    “Ysolde-”
    I held up my hand to stop the complaint I was sure was to follow. “Don’t tell me to stop the vision, Baltic. I’ve told you repeatedly I can’t. And besides, I don’t want to. They are the only way I ever find out anything, since you refuse to tell me things I evidently need to know.”
    “Ooh, another vision,” Cyrene said, looking around us with bright, interested eyes.
    “I’m beginning to enjoy them, I have to admit,” Savian told her.
    “They do bring back some fun memories of times long past,” she agreed. “Although Ysolde never has visions about anyone I knew.”
    “You’re not going to get hurt, are you?” Brom asked, moving over to stand next to me. “Pavel told Nico you had dreams of when someone killed you a long time ago.”
    I pulled him between Baltic and me, smiling at him when Baltic put his arm around us both. “No, I’m not going to be hurt, and you don’t have to worry, lovey-I would never let you see that vision. This one looks like ... ” I looked around us at the images of the past. “I-I don’t know where this is. Baltic?”
    “It’s Latoka, isn’t it?” Drake asked, sidestepping when his brother, still fully engaged in fighting with Constantine, was thrown backward. “Baltic, is this Staraya Latoka?”
    “What’s Latoka?” I asked Baltic, nudging him when he was obviously reluctant to answer.
    “It was the holding of Alexei.” He glared around him at the vision people as they fought in an oddly ironic mimicry of Constantine and Kostya. Only the dragons in the vision all belonged to the black sept, and they were armed with swords. “It was destroyed.”
    I looked at the two squat round towers that towered over us, noting the men running along the ramparts of the stone wall. It wasn’t a very big fortress, nor did it look to my unknowledgeable eyes as being nearly as protective as Dauva was, but clearly this stronghold was built centuries before the latter.
    “It looks fine to me now. When was it destroyed? And why are all the dragons fighting one another?”
    Baltic’s expression grew grim, and, much to my surprise, he took my hand and led me toward the nearest tower. I grabbed Brom with my other hand, pulling him after us. “For once, you have chosen a fitting vision. No, do not bring my son. He may stay out here with his tutor.”
    I caught his eye and read a warning in it. I turned back, expecting to see everyone still watching Constantine and Kostya despite the vision, but they had all fallen into place behind us. “Nico, would you mind?”
    “Not at all,” he said, obviously lying, but his dedication to Brom won out over his interest to see whatever event Baltic wanted to keep Brom from seeing. He held out his hand for Brom.
    “Why can’t I stay with you?” Brom asked.
    “Because there are some things that even I, a mother who allows you to help firebomb negrets, have issues with your seeing, and this is obviously one of those things.”
    “But you don’t know what it is,” he pointed out.
    “Go!” I said firmly, pinning him back with my best annoyed-mom look. He walked slowly over to Nico, muttering under his breath about no one letting him have any fun.
    “Jim will stay with you, won’t you, Jim?” Aisling said, nudging her demon.
    Its eyes grew big with an obvious plea in them.
    “You can talk, but only because I want you to keep Brom and Nico entertained.”
    “Seriously, Ash, you’ve got to stop taking mean lessons from Soldy.” Jim walked just as slowly as Nico, casting plaintive looks over its shoulder as we all moved toward the tower. “We never get to see any of the really good stuff.”
    “What about them?” Cyrene asked, pointing to where Constantine was in the process of head butting Kostya, while the latter was trying desperately to pull Constantine’s legs out from under him.
    “They can stay where they are. I’d much rather have them keep each other busy than have to cope with more attitude from either of them,” I said, squeezing Baltic’s hand.
    “It’s too bad Maura isn’t here,” Savian said as we entered the tower. “She really enjoyed the last vision.”
    I expected there would be more dragons fighting inside the tower, but it was empty. Or so I thought at first. Across the vast space was another door, obviously leading to an antechamber. Before it, two men