by Aaron Crash
“What’s that?” Steven asked.
“‘Freebird’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I said no classic rock, but I guess that’s as classic as you can get.” Mouse sighed. “I have to go. You could say this bird can’t change. I can’t go with you to this Nye place. And I need to get a new hurricane circle tattoo so no one can find me.”
“We’re not splitting up,” Steven insisted. However, he had a bad feeling that Mouse had a really good argument.
“Right now, Rahaab is watching our every move. If he sees me go with you to Mathaal’s place, he’ll know. There goes our surprise attack. This isn’t something I’m going to discuss. I’m leaving. I’ll fly on to Billings. But first, I want you to say goodbye to me.” Mouse held her head up defiantly. She had thought this through. If she left, Rahaab wouldn’t know where they were. It made sense.
Steven didn’t like it. “Mouse, no, we stick together.”
“Goodbye, Steven,” she whispered. “I love you.”
Steven left the gas pump. “Mouse! No!”
“Magica Defensio.” She cast the hide spell and transformed into a dragon, clutching the sword and her bag. She then swept her wings and took off into the air. She climbed higher, higher, higher until she was gone, heading east toward Billings.
Steven thought about shifting and following her. They could give up on Nye and then go on to Billings. It wasn’t that far. Mouse had made herself clear, however. She was doing it for the good of the team. Rahaab now had no idea where they were. Once they unlocked the secrets of the Mirror-Souled Dragon skill tree, they could rendezvous with Mouse. And then end the ancient dragon who’d orchestrated the murder of Steven’s father.
Sabina came out, leaning on Tessa. “Is she gone?”
“She is,” Steven said. And he hadn’t said goodbye. He felt terrible.
“It is as it should be,” Sabina said. “She will be alone. There will be fire. And the dead yellow dragon will come for us. And we shall see horrors we can hardly understand. This will all lead us into the final fight with Rahaab.”
“Will we win?” Tessa asked.
“Of course we will,” Steven growled. “Dammit, Mouse. Why is she such a pain in the ass?”
“Because she’s a warrior,” Aria answered. “She has given us an advantage. Time after time, Mouse has made the sacrifice play. She is as strong as she is smart.”
“And giving,” Tessa added, “in a really, really sarcastic way.”
Steven hoped Mouse stayed smart. If she went after Rahaab, alone, with the Slayer Blade, she’d be killed for sure.
They were all feeling sad as they took Highway 78 south. But then Tessa put on road trip music, and the songs made Steven feel better. They turned onto the 419. Each road got smaller and smaller and smaller. Tessa kept them in music.
Fifteen minutes after Tessa played “Stacy’s Mom” for the second time, he saw the sign.
Entering and Leaving Nye, Montana.
The town was small to say the least: a one-room schoolhouse, a phone booth, and a log building called the Nye Trading Post. He parked outside that last building. That was where Uchiko had gone, or so Mathaal had thought.
It wasn’t even noon, so the afternoon clouds were still in the western sky. Up that high, it generally rained every afternoon.
They all left the Suburban to stand on the dirt parking lot, smelling the fields and the oil burning from the Suburban’s old engine.
“So you think Mathaal is around here?” Aria asked. “It seems remote.”
A Japanese woman walked out of the trading post.
She locked eyes with Steven. It was Uchiko, fully human.
She moved off toward a Jeep Cherokee parked down the way.
It was obvious she had not recognized him, not at all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
STEVEN FOUND HIMSELF staring at Uchiko.
Before, half of her face had been covered with the scales of a reptile. Even her nose had been split, one side a normal human nose and the other a snake’s snout. Now? She was wholly human and gorgeous. She had big, almond-shaped eyes, a nicely shaped nose, and a small mouth with full lips. Her long dark hair was swept back from her face. She was more girl-next-door-cute Japanese hottie rather than model beautiful.
Uchiko seemed fragile at first, but the way she walked—with muscle and momentum—proved she could turn deadly in seconds. And Steven knew firsthand how lethal she could be. He remembered she’d done a wicked DarkArmor and DragonStrength combo on him that had left him bruised. She’d wielded a kusarigama, a curved blade attached to a chain that ended in a heavy weight. He hated that damn thing. He’d felt its kiss one too many times.
Now she looked like a cleaning woman with a blue dress and a white collar. Clunky white nurse shoes with thick soles made her feet seem huge. What was going on?
She paused to give him a long look, those eyes taking him in even as his own eyes traveled down her slender body and then back to that angelic face.
He was so surprised by her that he didn’t call out her name. She climbed into a new Jeep Cherokee, black and mud-splattered. After backing it up, she went roaring away.
Tessa exploded in laughter. “Did you used to look at me that way? I literally watched you fall in love with her.”
“Despite her questionable choice in shoes,” Aria added.
“No time for our trademark witty repartee,” Steven said quickly. “And yes, I did look at you like that, Tessa. You were my first love.”
“Aww!” Tessa purred.
“Magica Defensio!” Steven hid himself from human eyes, not that Nye, Montana, was a mecca for pilgrims and tourists. Secrecy was important for now. He shredded another set of clothes as he shifted into his True Form and took to the sky. His Escort would know to follow him in the crappy mustard Suburban.
He floated over the trees, enjoying the noon sun on his back and the fresh smell of the pine trees below.
Uchiko turned the Jeep off the highway, down a gravel road, driving toward the slopes of the mountains. She turned again, onto a dirt track, basically a hiking trail, bouncing over rocks, churning over exposed tree roots, and splashing through a small stream. Steven glided above, mindful of his shadow. He used the thermals rising from the Earth to keep him aloft. The changing air streams and the feel of the wind in his wings made flying so much fun.
For the millionth time, he marveled at his life. He was flying, actually flying, as a thirty-foot-long black dragon. Was the constant battle worth it? Yes. And if he had his way, he’d end the fighting and dragons would crisscross the skies without having to hide.
Uchiko drove slowly through the bogs and over the hills. For her, it was a simple drive home from the trading post.
Her presence was a mystery. Why didn’t she remember him? And how could she be fully human? She and the Onari Guard had failed the Dragonskin rituals and had become trapped in various partial forms. Were the rest of her deformed Skinlings with her?
He aimed to find out.
Uchiko reached the Stillwater River, and she guided the Jeep straight through it. On the other side was a big ranch house, a sprawling complex, at least five thousand square feet if not ten. Paint peeled off the siding and the windows were splotched and dirty. It was a weather-beaten place, old and not well kept.
Steven flew over it as Uchiko got out of the Jeep. She walked up onto the big front porch under a sagging eave.
While dilapidated, the ranch did have a commanding view of the river and the Beartooth Mountains to the west. Steven saw a stretch of open field between the house and an old barn made of gray wood sagging against a jumble of boulders. He wasn’t sure what kind of reception he would get from Uchiko and Mathaal. He assumed the woman was watching over the elderly Dragonsoul. No, not Dragonsoul, Old Matchstick was full Alpheros. He knew Liam and Sabina could track him to the ranch, so his Escort would be along soon enough. He landed on the field and shifted into his Homo Draconis form.
He tromped up onto the steps, seven feet of black
scales, longer if you included his powerful tail. He raised a taloned fist and struck the wood frame of the screen door.
Uchiko came to the door. She saw him and let out a wail. She flung her hands up in the air and collapsed onto the floor. Steven opened the door and squeezed himself inside.
Someone cursed in what could only be Japanese. Not just someone, a lot of someones. A group of men of all shapes, sizes, and nationalities had come running. They weren’t the winged, fanged, scaled half-dragons from before. No, the entire Onari Guard had become human. They wore the keikogi of a Japanese martial arts student. When they saw the dragon man crouched next to Uchiko, they all let out wails and fled. Except for one fat Asian man who hurried forward. He held a mop in his hand.
“Back away!” he said in accented English. “I warn you! Stay away from her!”
Watching the man brandish his mop made Steven smile. In his very first fight, he’d bested Edgar Vale with a mop.
“It’s okay, I’m not a monster.” Steven shifted human. Sure, he was naked, but whatever. It was better than a face full of wet mop.
The fat guy’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he toppled over. Steven triggered SerpentGrace and raced over to catch him before he brained himself on an end table. He gently laid the guy on the ground.
It was a dark, sparse living room with a couple couches sitting in an L shape. The patterns on the upholstery were decades old. They could’ve been on the set of a 1960s’ sit com. The place smelled of floor polish and cleaning supplies.
Uchiko moaned. She was waking up. He knelt by her. “Uchiko, it’s me, Steven Drokharis. We met on Mathaal’s island. Well, we met, fought a bunch, and then you helped us.”
Her eyes flickered open and then zoned in on his groin. She squeezed them shut. Japanese words flooded out of her mouth.
Steven interrupted her. “Hey, I don’t speak Japanese. You spoke English before. I’m hoping you still can now that you’re fully human.”
“Of course I’m human!” she snapped. “And I speak English, probably better than you do. What do you want? And why are you naked?”
“I can turn into a Homo Draconis,” Steven said. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
Uchiko lay on the thin, ragged carpet covering the hardwood floor with her fists curled over her chest and her eyes clamped shut. “First you’re a monster. Now you’re a naked man. Of course I don’t remember you.”
“What do you remember?” Steven asked.
“I don’t...I don’t think about it much,” she whispered. “I know I’m here to take care of Mr. Mathews with the others. We keep him safe, and we keep the house clean. That is all my life needs to be.”
“You’re under some kind of spell,” he said. “You’re Uchiko of the Onari Guard. You tried to become a Dragonskin and failed. You are a ninja, very powerful. Is any of this ringing a bell?”
She cracked open an eye. “You’re serious. I’m a ninja. And a dragon?”
He grinned. “Half-dragon. It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But look.” He morphed into his partial form to hulk above her.
He turned human again. If anything, today had been good Transformatio practice.
Uchiko climbed to her feet. “What do you want?”
“I’d like to talk with your Mr. Mathews. He’s an old, old man, am I right? And I think he really likes your peach cobbler.”
The gorgeous Japanese woman smiled for the first time. It put a lump in Steven’s throat. She was absolutely radiant, as sweet as cherries, and he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be with her.
She caught him looking, and her face burned red. Yet, she didn’t look away. Their eyes came together. For several long seconds, they were caught in an intense stare. It was like each could feel the desire of the other. Steven found he couldn’t breathe. And since he was naked, his arousal was about to become very apparent.
He could fix that. He went Homo Draconis. He stood there. “My friends will be here soon.”
Brakes squeaked outside as the engine of the Suburban rattled to a stop. Doors slammed.
“They’re here.”
“Before they come in, I must know... Were you and I... Did you and I ... ever ...” Uchiko’s face flushed further.
“No,” Steven growled. “Actually, the first time we met, you tried to kill me.”
“Maybe I was afraid of you,” she said in a stronger voice. “But I don’t remember. I’m sorry for trying to kill you.”
Steven thought about mentioning that he and his Escort had been forced to kill several of her friends, but he decided against it.
His Escort, along with Liam, stood on the front porch. Tessa knocked lightly, though she could see them through the screen door. “Hey guys, we’re here for the peach cobbler.”
Uchiko laughed a little. “It seems it has become very famous.” She then frowned. “Oh, what will Mr. Mathews say?”
Steven was curious about that himself.
The now human Onari Guard found a keikogi for Steven to wear. They set the table on the back deck, which was surrounded by pine trees and big crags of sparkling igneous rock.
Tessa helped Sabina into a chair. Steven sat down near the head of the table while Uchiko and the men brought out dishes, silverware, and napkins and put them down on the linen tablecloth. When everything was set, they helped an ancient man limp out of the house. He could barely walk. His eyes were covered in cataracts. Age spots stained his desiccated flesh. He looked like he’d turned a hundred years old several decades ago. His hair was like fishing line on his scalp.
Steven had mostly seen Mathaal in his True Form, but he’d caught a glimpse of him as a human. He’d been old then, but still in good shape. This husk of a man seemed like a stiff breeze might blow him away.
He sat down at the head of the table, to the right of Steven, and fell fast sleep, chin on chest. The servants all left him there and returned inside.
“Mathaal,” Steven said. He touched the ancient man’s hand. “It’s me, Steven Drokharis.”
The ancient man didn’t wake. Maybe he’d gone deaf as well as blind?
“This is bad,” Tessa said. “He’s so flippin’ old. What’s going on here?”
Steven wasn’t sure. But Tessa was right. If this was the new Mathaal, they were in trouble. They’d placed all their hopes on him, and they’d found him barely able to function, inches away from death.
Steven shook the ancient man’s arm. “Mathaal.”
“Why do you call me that?” he asked in a croaking voice. “I’m Mark Mathews. From Billings. I was a librarian for the university there. Montana State University. Uchiko brings me peach cobbler, and I enjoy what I can before I die. For death is near, always so near. Why are we given life at all if it ends in death?”
The word patterns echoed the voice from the third volume’s encrypted page.
Tessa gasped out a sob. Steven turned to see she had tears in her eyes. “It’s so sad. It’s like The Notebook sad.”
“Si, that book, very sad,” Sabina agreed. “But maybe there is more going on here than we know.”
“Yes, there is.” Steven motioned for Tessa to come over. “Bring me the third volume and the topaz pen. Let’s see if we can shake him out of this.”
The barista rose with her leather satchel and walked over to stand on Mathaal’s left side.
She touched the ancient man’s back. “Mr. Mathews. If you were a librarian, you must like books. Can I show you one?”
“I can’t see,” he grumbled. “But I would touch it. I do love books.”
Tessa slipped the grimoire out of the satchel and laid it down in front of Mathaal. His hands reached for it to feel at the worn leather cover. He opened it up and shifted through the pages. “It’s lovely. Leather binding and vellum pages. This book is old, loved, and powerful. I can feel how powerful it is.”
“And here’s a pen,” Tessa said. She pressed it into his right hand, but his knuckles were so enflamed he could hardly hold it.
“Try writing something here, Mr. Mathews.”
The ancient man scrawled nonsense across the page, just swoops and swirls. The ink rose from the page and flowed to drain onto the binding. It piddled across the table and onto the pristine white tablecloth.
Aria tsked. “There goes a perfectly good piece of linen.”
“Sabina?” Steven nodded at her.
“Magica Divinatio,” the blind woman murmured. Emerald light flashed in her eyes.
Liam also muttered the divination spell.
Sabina let out a hiss. “Nothing, I can’t see a thing. This place, it has powerful magic to it, more powerful than I could ever hope to become. Minds are hidden, flesh is hidden, and all reality bows to the majesty of the spell work. We can’t break this spell. Mathaal is lost to us forever.”
Liam closed his eyes and frowned deeply. Shaking his head, he said, “And Mouse, she is gone. She has restored her hurricane circle tattoo.”
Steven’s heart sank. What was Mouse thinking? And how could they ever hope to stand against Rahaab without the secrets in the third volume?
The short answer? They couldn’t.
They tried to reach Mouse on her cell phone, but she never picked up, and she’d turned off the tracking feature.
She’d gone rogue.
Chapter Twenty-Five
THE FORMER ONARI GUARD, now just servants, brought out a thin miso soup followed by rice and vegetables. All six shared a small roasted chicken. The old man, this Mr. Mathews, ate the lion’s share, not stopping to talk, just shoveling the food in as fast as he could.
Uchiko hadn’t come back, and Steven missed seeing her. Something about her drove him wild.
“At least this meal is good for one thing,” Sabina said quietly.
“Yeah, watching this old guy eat.” Tessa grimaced. “It’s amazing. And really gross.”
“No,” Sabina replied. “Rice and vegetables are about all I eat now. And the miso soup was good. I don’t need any chicken.”