Dragons and Mages: A Limited Edition Anthology

by Pauline Creeden

  And there she was, in a cell with nothing but a hard cot, a ratty quilt, and a pot to piss in. Did I get my fair-skinned complexion from her? Ruby was a bit more tanned and resembled “dear-ol’-dad.” Luciana wasn’t a witch you wanted to cross paths with—that’s probably why my father picked her to be his wife. She didn’t let anyone stand in her way—but neither did Dad.

  Both my parents watched me like I was an acid frog, about to burn their skin with a dose of my poison as I pulled up a creaky wooden stool to their cells, passing my father’s to sit in front of Luciana’s. Deep down I purred with satisfaction when my dad’s eyes widened because I hadn’t come for him.

  I hadn’t come to visit either of them since Ruby had drained all their magic and locked them up once she freed the Kingdom of Mortia from their grip. Once she returned the kingdom to its rightful king, Ty, technically, the Kingdom was still all hers as she was the one to take the crown off Luciana’s head.

  “Greyson,” my father’s voice croaked like he hadn’t spoken in months. “My dear boy…”

  “Shh,” I snapped, raising my hand and sacrificing a few pieces of firewood to weave a simple magic spell to block his words out of my head. I didn’t want to talk to him. There was no reason for him to give me fake apologies for all he had done to me. I focused my eyes on the evil ex-queen instead.

  “What brings the seven kingdoms’ best healer…and his dragon…to this dungeon?” Luciana asked.

  “Drink this.” I held out a small vial between the bars of the cell.

  “A potion?” The ex-queen arched an eyebrow and leaned closer to the cold iron. “What for?”

  “I need to be certain that you are telling the truth.” I set my jaw and stared into her eyes, waiting for her to make the next move.

  “Where did you get a potion?” she whistled, rubbing her hands together. I hadn’t realized how interested a witch without magic would be in a potion.

  There was no sense in lying. “Payment from the villagers.”

  “Ahh.” She rocked back on her heels. “I wouldn’t waste a truth potion on me. I’ll tell you whatever you want…for a price.”

  “Your freedom?” I raised an eyebrow and shook my head. “That’s not happening.”

  “I wouldn’t turn my freedom away, but that’s not what I was going to ask for.” She eyed my father over my shoulder. “All I want is a few days away from him. I can’t stand seeing his face and listening to his apologies! It’s been a year of that. Enough.”

  I laughed, very inappropriately, but…karma. She had sacrificed everything for Dad’s master plan. I would be a bit bitter, too.

  But she had made her own choices.

  My tongue itched to blurt out the question I’d had for way too long, but instead, I kept it professional. If she was my mother, you’d hope she’d want to help me.

  “I visited Ruby’s realm yesterday.”

  “The mortal realm?”

  I nodded. “Have you ever been there?”

  “Of course. Crazy, dirty, confusing world that it is.”

  Now, I had multiple questions on my tongue. If I was a smarter man, I’d get right down to helping Izzy, but that wasn’t the first question I blurted out. I tilted my chin and tried to see some resemblance of me in her face other than her paleness. “Are you my mother?” I sounded like a lost school child, gazing upon this woman with hopeful thoughts, but did I really want to be the child of the woman everyone had referred to as the Evil Queen?

  “Your mother? Heavens no.” She scoffed, glancing over her shoulder at my father.

  Why had I even asked her that? If she was like Ruby’s mother, her memories of me had been wiped by my father as well. Now wasn’t the time to quench whatever aching need to belong I held in my heart. Moving on to my other questions…

  “I met a young woman who is very sick in the mortal realm. When I went to help her, she couldn’t be healed. She was sick from a magical curse.”

  “In the mortal realm, you say?” Luciana arched a narrow eyebrow. “And you think I’m behind it?”

  “You and I are the only two witches I know who have the special ability to heal or harm with a simple spell.”

  Luciana laughed. “Yes, we can influence a person’s health without sacrificing something to make our magic work, but actually any witch could have cast a malignant health spell.”

  “But health manipulation takes a huge sacrifice, especially if it takes a life…” Which was what it appeared Izzy’s curse was doing to her.

  “I’ve been here in prison for over a year. How would I make her sick?”

  “She’s been sick for years. And lives in Arcola…the same city that Ruby’s from. The same city Dad lived in with Ruby’s mom…”

  “Hmm…” Luciana tapped a too-long nail to her pale lips. “There’s no reason for me to help you. I’m stuck here…with him.” She eyed my father again.

  I pushed my shaggy, over-grown hair out of my eyes and took a deep breath. “There is a reason,” I said. “A woman is sick. Going to die.” Another deep breath. What did I have to lose? “You should help me because you care. Because he,” I pointed at my father, “stole your memories. Because, you are my mother.” She had to be. We had so many similarities.

  No sooner did I get the word out that she sprayed a veil of spit in the air from her laughter. “I am not your mother. I’d know it, if I had had a child.”

  “We have the same kind of magic. You two were together way before he met Ruby’s mom. Back when I was born. He had to have stolen your memories of me.” Because if she wasn’t my mom, who was?

  “Oh, dear child. We weren’t together like that. I only knew your father because he dated my twin sister.”

  “You have a twin?” Was she telling the truth? I hadn’t had her drink the truth potion, yet.

  Luciana nodded. “I used to have a twin. She passed away…” she tilted her chin at me. “Right after you were born.”

  My stomach turned. “My mother is dead? You’re not my mother, but my aunt?”

  Luciana smiled. “In the flesh…and blood.” She shrugged. “But it means nothing. You were nothing more than a burden set upon your father.”

  My stomach tightened. She was trying to get to me, and I wouldn’t have it. “So, what about the curse in the other realm? Is there a way to break a magical sickness?”

  “Of course. The same way you’d break any magic. Get the witch who cast the spell to reverse it.”

  My hands fisted. “I don’t know who cast the spell.”

  “Then your lovely dies.”

  My lovely? Luciana was trying to aggravate me now. “She’s not ‘my lovely.’”

  “For the great Greyson the Healer to have a passion project? I think she’s more important to you than you’re admitting.”

  “I just met her.”

  “But you accepted responsibility.” She folded her arms over her chest. “This should be quite an interesting adventure. Please keep me informed…as I don’t have anything else to do to pass the time.” She set her lips, and I knew I wasn’t getting anything else out of her.

  I rose, twisted around and looked past Luna to see my father’s wide eyes. He looked up to plead with me, but I didn’t wait. I spun my finger in the air, lifting the silencing spell, and left the dungeon without looking back.

  But as I passed through the dungeon’s stone archway, my dad called after me, “She’s not dead!”

  It was enough to make me hesitate.

  “Your mother,” he said. “She’s not dead. She’s still in the other realm and probably has a coven of witches. One of them should know something.”

  It felt like my world came to an end. After all these years of having a father who disowned me and never knowing my mom, was this my opportunity?

  Or was my father playing with my head? He seemed to enjoy that.

  Either way, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing his words stuck with me. I smoothly continued out of the dungeon, on my way to find my
actual half-sister.

  Izzy’s room was empty when I arrived the next day. Her bed was made and the few items she had were gone. Luna was invisible except for puffs of frosty breath as she paced back and forth in the hallway. My heart pounded in my chest. “I have this under control,” I whispered to Luna as I headed back to the elevators to stop at the nurses’ station.

  “Where did Izzy go?” I asked a male nurse who hadn’t been there yesterday.

  “Izzy Burcham? From 321?”

  I nodded.

  “Are you family?” he questioned.

  Why was everyone so secretive at this place? “Yes.” I lied.

  “I’m not allowed to disclose anything to her family.”

  Really? I felt the stubs of my nails digging into my rough palms.

  “It’s okay, Fred.” Marge slipped into the nursing station. “Izzy likes this one.”

  “We have to look after our little Izzy,” Fred said. “She had a rough night, but instead of going to ICU, she insisted on the hospice unit. She’s in room H632.”

  “Hospice?” I wasn’t familiar with that term.

  “It’s for those who have six months or less to live,” Fred said.

  Izzy had less than six months to live? I knew the magic was getting to her, but six months was nothing. A mere blink of an eye in this life we live. My mouth felt like paste as I forced a coherent question. “How do I get there?”

  “Up the elevator to the sixth floor and take a sharp right.”

  I didn’t know if I even said thank you, but within seconds I was on the elevator, pushing the number six.

  The hospice floor wasn’t like the other parts of the hospital. The lights were dim and amber, and the odor wasn’t that of antiseptic, but rather of fresh-baked cookies, with soft music playing in the background.

  I stepped off the elevator and held the door for Luna who had been making nearly inaudible noises beside me on the entire ride up. That was highly unlike Luna, as usually dragons were silent creatures. My feet weren’t fast enough as I headed to room H632. Something inside me said things weren’t right.

  And worse than that, I didn’t like knowing I was helpless in this situation.

  Luna beat me to the room way at the end of the hallway, pushing herself inside and dropping her invisibility.

  When I leaned around the big, blue dragon, I saw the sweet smile of Izzy. She looked healthier today. Much healthier than yesterday as she wore regular clothing of old, worn black pants and a long-sleeved pink t-shirt that hung over one shoulder, revealing a black tank-top beneath. She sat in an oversized lounge chair reading a book.

  Sure, she still had circles under her eyes and a grey complexion, but she wasn’t washed out from the artificial lights and worn-out blue hospital gown.

  She lowered the book and her eyes lit up. “I knew you’d come back!” The pure joy in her voice made me wonder why I had even considered not returning. Luna…purred! It was the only word to describe the deep rumble in her chest when she rubbed her nose to Izzy’s cheek, causing Izzy to laugh the most delightful sound in the entire world.

  Four years ago, I had been in love. Nieva had been the only woman strong enough to put up with my crap, and I loved her for it. She wanted nothing in life other than whatever adventure we ended up on together. My little cabin in the mountains was more than enough to keep her happy…

  Until it wasn’t.

  After two years together, she woke up one morning and said she wanted something more with her life. She packed her bags and never returned, but I never went searching for her, either. Instead, I embraced my solitude. I was better off alone.

  Luna had never liked Nieva. Perhaps my dragon knew something about her that I couldn’t sense?

  And if that was the case, what was Luna saying about Izzy?

  I pushed myself in between Izzy and Luna. “The nurses down on the third floor say you should be in ICU, but you look good.”

  Izzy tugged on a tuft of her dark hair that hung well below her shoulders. “I’m done with treatment after treatment. Seeing Luna yesterday reminded me that I’ll never get what I want in life being stuck in a hospital. It’s time to fill my last months with experiences and adventures.” She coughed, and I waited for another episode like yesterday, but it didn’t come.

  “The nurses told me that hospice is for people who are going to die in six months.” Maybe that was too blunt, but Izzy didn’t flinch.

  “I have three months left without treatment…and even if I could have six months by letting the doctors and nurses poke, prod, and humiliate me, the extra time isn’t worth it if I have to stay in the ICU.”

  My outlook on life, which was typically pretty much doom and gloom, fled as fast as a fairy who stole your lunch, and a deep urge had me wanting to cheer her up. “This is a much nicer floor.”

  “It is, but that’s not why I came.” A sweetly sly smile tugged at her curvy lips. “There are fewer hospital employees on the sixth floor. It’s perfect for you and Luna to help me escape.”

  Chapter 4

  “Luna and I aren’t taking you anywhere.” I sat down on the edge of Izzy’s bed, watching the look of excitement in her dark soulful eyes fade to sadness…and a bit of fear? “Besides, a hospital isn’t a dungeon…err…prison. You can just get up and walk right out of here.”

  Izzy closed her book. Her thumb strummed through the pages while her eyes avoided me. “That would work, if I could walk.”

  My eyes wandered the room, and that’s when I saw it, hiding behind Luna. The silver and black wheelchair. “You can’t walk?”

  “Do you like me less because of it?”

  “I don’t like you.” But I bit my tongue as she laughed at my directness. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that it doesn’t matter if you can’t walk or if you can. I’m not getting you out of here.”

  “Come on!” She tossed her book on a table beside her. “Take me with you. My dying wish is to spend my last months with Luna. I’ve dreamed about her. I’ve seen how happy her strange world makes me.”

  “You’re manipulating me.”

  She batted her ebony eyelashes. “Is it working?”

  “No.” A little.

  “Pretty please?”

  I folded my arms over my chest. “No, but I did come to let you know that I’m trying to help fix what’s wrong with you.”

  Izzy laughed. “I’ve had a hundred doctors and nobody has done anything to help other than give me pills after pills that do nothing but make me groggy and sleep.”

  “That’s because they don’t know how to fix what you have. They don’t even know what’s wrong with you.”

  “And you do?”

  I tightened my lips, but there was no sense in keeping it a secret. Izzy had already seen Luna and was somehow connected to my world through dreams. “You have a curse.”

  A huge laugh rolled from her lips that sent her coughing again. When the coughing didn’t stop, and I saw the distress on her face, I sprang to her side. She unwrapped her arms that hugged her body enough to point to her bed, and a sudden urge to care for her consumed me.

  “Luna, go outside,” I commanded, needing room. I scooped up Izzy’s tiny frame into my arms and laid her on her mattress. I helped her get a pill from a bottle on the table next to her bed, as well as held a glass of water to her lips. I laid her back down and positioned her legs and body, helping to ease her constricted muscles. Her coughing lightened and eventually stopped.

  My hand had been stroking the side of her head, calming her, but when I realized she was back to her baseline, I jerked it away. “I can’t take you with me. I don’t have the resources to care for you.”

  She waved a dismissive hand at me and spoke with hoarseness in her voice. “One minute in your world would be worth all the time I have left in this one.”

  My stomach clenched, and I shook my head. “I can’t…but I promise to come back and see you again tomorrow.”

  “No. Please. I don’t want to spend
another moment here. I could be dead by tomorrow.”

  Crap.

  She was a master manipulator.

  And I was falling for it.

  I had to stay strong, but that didn’t work. I took the weak way out. When her eyes began to grow heavy from the meds, I whispered. “I have to go, but I’ll be back.” I gripped her relaxed hand, giving it a little squeeze. “Tomorrow. I promise.”

  Out in the hallway, I took a deep breath as I stood beside my invisible dragon, but my thoughts lingered on Izzy. Completely helpless, yet able to make such an impression on me. The hospital was the best place for her. I couldn’t heal her and, eventually, her medicine would run out. What would become of her in my world?

  I should have gone to find Ruby on the third floor, but the hospital walls felt constricting and I needed to put some distance between Izzy and me before I gave in.

  Once Luna and I squeezed into the first empty elevator, I lit up the number three as well as one. “Luna, let Ruby know I’ll be outside. I need some fresh air.”

  The doors to the third floor opened, and I waited for the coolness Luna brought to disappear from the elevator before heading down to the ground floor.

  Outside the massive brick hospital, I found a little nook tucked away and surrounded by shrubs where another man sat and smoked a cigarette. I paid him no attention as I paced the small concrete walkway.

  My hand slid down my face, feeling the scruff of my beard.

  What would I do with Izzy if I brought her with me?

  What if she couldn’t breathe again?

  I had no medicine and my magic couldn’t cure her sickness.

  But what if she died tonight?

  Could I live with the guilt that I didn’t fulfill her last wish?

  She wasn’t my problem.

  And I was already working on helping her. I was going to figure out how to break her curse, but she’d have to stay in the hospital until I knew what had to be done. I had to hunt down whoever cursed her in the first place.