by T D Raufson
Nethliast jumped the fence and walked on all fours to speed his approach. As he crossed the yard, he noted the old school bus in the back of the barn. Pages of The Knoxville News Sentinel obscured the windows. The smell of fresh blood filled his nostrils, and he shifted his gaze to the barn.
“Come on up here. I got nothin’ but livestock out there. We need to talk. You can talk, can’t ya?”
“I can, but why do I want to talk to you?”
“Ya came to me, didn’ ya?”
“How have you dealt with the madness?”
“It ain’t so hard when you live on a farm and raise livestock. Me’n my son, he’s in college, figured it was just confusion, mostly. See, he thinks sumthin’s missin’ in ar heads.”
Nethliast nodded, impressed. He wasn’t sure if there were any others who had been able to overcome the madness this soon. Hunger was part of it, but the ready supply of cattle would have helped that. Even though a partial needed about the same amount of food as it had when it has human, the dragon in them would feel hunger upon emerging. They all had. Nethliast was sure that was the base of several of the newsworthy stories so far. The rest was because they didn’t know who or what they were.
“Where’s your son? I’d like to meet him.”
“Who are ya? I see what ya are and figure ya got something to do with what happened here, or know sumthin ‘bout it.”
“I am Nethliast. As you can see, I’m a full dragon. You’re a partial, or had you already figured that out?”
“A partial what? Dragon? ‘ell, that makes sense. Why you here?”
“Just being friendly.”
“Aint likely. I don’ trust ya’. Neither would Alex. He’s the one figured most o’ this out. You need to be headin’ on.” The old man waved his clawed hands at Nethliast.
Nethliast transformed into his human form and made sure he was wearing clothes that were more casual. He appeared in blue jeans and a black shirt.
“Thought you’d surprise me, huh? Nothin’ doin’. I already seen it.”
“Your son? He can transform, then?”
“You’re gonna need to go. I...”
“But, he can’t teach you how, can he?”
The old man shifted on his porch, unwilling to say the words Nethliast knew were true.
“I want to help you. I know it’s hard. I want to help all partials live, but I need some help. I can’t reach all of you myself, and I want to help before the humans round you all up and, well you know. I’m sure you have heard of the hunt squads combing this area looking for your kind.”
The old man looked at him out from under his hat. The eyes and draconic snout beneath the hat seemed interested in what he was saying.
“I know you’re helping others. I know they’re here. I can teach you how to transform. You can do business like you always have, or you can use it to make sure you and others aren’t taken advantage of.”
A barn door behind them opened, and a tall young man with blond hair and wearing overalls stepped out of the barn. Two larger boys stood behind him.
“Leave my dad alone.”
Nethliast raised his hands and turned to face the young men. A grin briefly crossed his face as he took in the cluster. They were young, and they all looked very strong. It was apparent that they had learned, in their transition, how to keep some of their dragon strength. It was a good sign that they could learn others abilities as well. One of the flankers was staring at him over his phone.
“This here’s a dragon, son.” The old man introduced his visitor and Alex nodded patiently.
“I’m Alex. What do you want?” The cleaner youth in the middle stepped forward to confront Nethliast, but there was no denying that threat of the other two. “My father doesn’t need your help, and we don’t need you scaring us about what humans might do. Their hunt squads have already hurt a few of us.”
“As I see you have discovered, we have the advantage of being able to take their form,” Nethliast responded, playing his strong hand to keep control of the meeting. “It keeps them from hunting us down, but we can use it to our advantage in other ways as well.”
The young man smiled. The conversation just got easier. Nethliast could see that he had found someone who shared some of his ideals.
“Alex, look. We don’ need ‘is help,” the old man said.
“Pop’s right. Why are you here?”
“Because, I can tell you where you came from. Because, I can help you understand where you belong.”
“You caused this, didn’t you? Dragons changed us somehow?” Alex asked, jumping quickly to answers. Nethliast would have to be careful how he worked with this one.
“Dragons are not your enemy.” He lied carefully. Historically they had not been allies, but he didn’t think they knew that. “Humans have caused this and hurt both dragons and partials alike.”
“Partials? So, I’m right, we are part dragon. You returned and that has affected us because we are a mixed breed. Mongrels.”
Alex chose to use the more derogatory term, and Nethliast could see he was not easily convinced.
“Yes, you are part dragon,” The idea seemed to make the young men behind Alex grow taller, but the young leader held his ground.
“And that’s something we should be proud of? It’s currently the cause of our only torment.”
“But it can be an advantage. You are quickly learning the simple advantages. We can show you the whole world of abilities at your command.”
“And why would you do that?”
“Because, I want our brothers and sisters to stand beside us. I want to repay the humans for their treachery, which has led to your torment. Other partials are not adapting as well as you are.”
“I’m working on it, where I can.”
“We need to deliver this message to all of them. You have already started here. I want to help you. We need to teach them there is an option to the hunger and the doubt.” Nethliast could feel Alex shifting. “Later when everything has calmed down we can pay the humans back.” Nethliast tested the waters a little.
“Pay them back for what?” Alex looked at him with a curious look, but the hostility he had started out with was gone.
“They caused this. They entrapped all dragon kind, even you, and forced us to live in human form. Like this. They were playing around with magic and caused this.” He smacked his chest. “Maybe they figured out we could take this form and wanted revenge or something. I don’t know why they did it, but they did. Now we’ve broken free, and it caused others who were part dragon like yourselves to be released without any idea what they are. We can’t reach them in ones and twos, though. We have to work together. We have to organize. I can help with that.”
“I can use some help.”
Nethliast felt the last remnant of resistance start to break.
“I have a lot of partials here. We need to feed them, and it’s taken a toll on the livestock for sure,” Alex said.
“Alex, no.” His father still refused to believe they needed the dragon’s help. “We don’ need ‘im.”
“Pop, your pride is going to get you killed. What if he had been a hunt squad come to kill you?”
“Alex,” Nethliast played his trump card. “If you’ll help me gather the others I can help you with this. We can work together. How many of your group can’t take human form?”
“Quite a few, there were some that we had to tranquilize to get here. They’re hard to manage.”
“Come down here.” Nethliast motioned to the old man. He looked to his son who nodded and then walked out into the sunlit opening between the buildings.
Nethliast reached up and removed the straw hat from the man’s dragon head.
“Never be ashamed of what you are. There will come a time when you can show your face with pride.”
The young man with the phone walked closer to them and turned the phone sideways.
“Focus on your human form. Think of it here where we are speaking.”
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The old man nodded. “Tell ‘em all.”
“Think of your human form in your mind and focus on it.”
The old man nodded again.
“With that image in mind you will focus your energy on taking that form.”
“See it first, then think of changing.” Nethliast used his mental connection to coax the old man to change, but the old man squeezed his eyes together and clenched his jaw, and nothing happened.
“You can’t force it. It is a natural ability. It doesn’t take magic words or even understanding. Just relax and see yourself the way you want to be.”
The old man released the breath he was holding. When he relaxed his face and body, he suddenly changed into his human form. As the scales on his hands disappeared into his skin, he laughed.
“‘ell, I be. Son, I can do it.”
Alex laughed the laugh of a relieved man. He smiled at Nethliast and looked back and forth between his two friends.
“You can teach them that?” Nethliast asked.
“I think I can.”
“Then let me teach you another mystery.”
Alex looked puzzled.
“Can you speak to the others with your mind?”
“I thought something like that was possible, but I can’t do it yet.”
“Here, try this. Focus on my mind and think what you want me to hear. Your father can do it. He did with me.”
Alex looked at his father. Nethliast could see the focus on his face and the amazement as the two talked.
“I have it now. Thanks to my father.”
“That’s a secret power of your dragon kin. You possess it. Use it to bring the others in.” He could tell with those last gifts that he had won the boy. He transformed back into his dragon form and started walking back to the field.
“Alex, get them organized and communicating. Someone I trust will be coming to see you. Tell the others we’re organizing to pay back the humans. Keep me informed. I have plans, and you can help me.”
“What’s in it for us and our kind, dragon?” the boy asked.
“The world, if you want it. It’s a big place, and I need help with it. Once we were powerful. We ruled the world. We can again, with your help. Don’t be trapped thinking within the fences of this farm.”
The young man looked at his hands for a moment and then nodded back at Nethliast.
“Alex, I’ll send someone to help you. Get it organized,” he said over his shoulder as he leapt into the air and flapped toward the mountains. He had a few more places to get to before the end of this day. But, soon he would organize his own kind. These simple minded partials would follow him and with the help of the human worshipers he would return the dragon to the ruling houses of the world.
June 30 – 1030 EDT – Signal Mountain, Tennessee
Melissa had finally decided it was a good idea to talk to Nickliad’s father. He had always been more like a friend to her, and what pieces of her dragon memories she could trust told her that he was faithful to her father. He was an old advisor and aide that was slow to anger, a calm voice among the excited. Nickliad’s mother, killed in an accident on the “W” road the year before she and Nickliad had finished middle school, had been the one force that kept him from sinking into the familial quest. Her death had driven Nickliad deeper into the male bonds he had with her father and ultimately into the place he was now.
Melissa walked to the door from her Range Rover parked in the circular driveway. The stone and brick of the path to the door was surrounded by tiger lilies and hosta intermingled with monkey grass that reached out at her from the fringe. As she looked at everything now with both perspectives, she could see the draconic influence on the architecture and landscaping. It would be interesting to see if all dragons somehow expressed their inner being while trapped in their human form. She could not see what she had ever expressed in her life, but she also was not sure what kind of dragon she really was.
A gothic dragonhead held a knocker ring in its mouth on the door. She laughed a little at how ironic the symbol was and used the ring to attract someone to the door. After a few moments, the door opened and an elderly black man in a black suit answered.
“Miss Melissa, it’s good to see you. I’m sure master Gerald will be glad to see you as well. How have you been?”
“I’m doing very well, Sedric. Is he busy? I didn’t call, but I need to speak to him.”
“I’m sure you know where he is. Go on back. He’s not busy with anything important.”
The grin on the man’s face told her that at least some places were not that different. Did he even know that his employer was a dragon? Her father had to have visited. How could everything here seem so unchanged?
“Mel, you look amazing this morning. How are you child? I’ve seen your parents. Come in.” The tall dark haired man standing in the door of his dark wood-and-leather study was as much a father to her as her own had been. He stepped back to let her in and closed the door behind him. The room was cave-like and comforting to her. There was no light from the outside entering the room.
“I don’t know how to address you.” Melissa realized suddenly that he deserved the honor of his position, but he was also someone she had called uncle for years as a human child. She really had no idea how to address him.
“Nonsense, child. I’m your Uncle Gerald. I’ve been that to you for many years before you called me that as a human child. There is nothing formal between us, at least I hope there isn’t.”
“You aren’t upset with me about Nickliad?”
“Why, what did you do to Nickliad?” He grinned at her as he asked the question.
She smiled back at him and relaxed some.
“Uncle Gerald, what am I supposed to do? Nickliad is out to pay humans back for trapping us, but I’m not sure they really did. Father agrees with him. What can I do to keep them from starting a war?”
“Can you be sure of anything right now, Mel?”
“Yes. I’m sure humans didn’t do what they think they did.”
“Really, show me the proof you have. I’ll take it to your father and tell him, Nickliad too. Just show me the proof you have.”
Balanced, as he always was, Melissa could not be angry with him. He was right that all she had was some memories and a feeling, nothing worth acting on.
“Tell my father the same thing.”
“I did.”
Melissa looked up at his direct answer. There was a sadness in his voice.
“He is not in a place to be talked to.”
That scared her. If Gerald, or Gerliast in his dragon form, could not calm her father then none could.
“You must convince him.”
“I’m sorry, Mel. If there was any way I could show him proof, I could convince him.”
“You don’t believe it do you? You don’t think we were really trapped by humans, do you?”
“I can’t get a good enough hold of my thoughts to tell you what I believe. We have to figure out what has happened to our memories before we will really know, unless there’s some kind of proof. What do you know?”
“Nothing certain.” She frowned at her feet.
“What do you need from me?” He looked at her very seriously.
“Keep them from doing anything stupid. Protect my father and Nickliad, Gerliast.”
“You have but to ask, and this request I provide without being asked. That is the root of my duty to your father.”
“This conclave is dangerous business, uncle.”
“Nothing more than we have done in the past. Situations like this have always ended up in conclave. The right decisions will come from the full meeting. Calmer minds will be heard in that room.”
Melissa did not believe him. She trusted he would do what he promised, but would it be enough to sway her father and worse, could he really change Nickliad’s mind? Melissa kept her thoughts to herself. This visit was not making her feel any better.
“If you had more, if you could show
us who trapped us, if you could explain why, then we would have something to share at the conclave.”
“Shouldn’t the conclave require that before they act?”
“They should. That doesn’t mean they will. There are a lot who agree with your father. There are many who do not want to wait to act. There are many who believe it is time to teach the humans a lesson about dealing with dragons.”
“And, are they willing to deal with the results of this lesson? Do they not realize it is a different time now?”
“Some do, some don’t care. Worse than that, something is missing that we had before we were trapped.”
His words tickled a painful area in her mind that she had struggled with until she could not stand the pain. There was something missing, and she could not remember what it was.
“It feels like a madness has taken over our minds. I can’t think like I should be able to.”
“What should I do, Uncle? I can’t let dragons fight humans.”
“Your grandmother would know.” He shook his head.
Melissa wondered if he knew how painful those words were. She was gone. Did he know she knew about all of this? “What do you mean?”
“Heliantra always knew how to advise us. She was a steadying force. I miss her now that we have emerged more than when I was only human.”
“I miss her too, Uncle. I wish she was here to guide me.”
“We will get through this, child. We will make it as we always have. Let the conclave deal with it. Find proof if you have it.”
He put his arm around her shoulders. For the first time that she could remember it was not comforting.
Chapter 5 - Peace of Silence
July 2 – 1307 EDT – Washington, DC
Silas closed the folder and reached for the door to the small, glass-walled, meeting room on the main floor of the FBI offices. His own handwritten reminder from an early morning phone call with the White House urged him to break the stalemate caused by a sudden end to all “lizard man” activity, but the other note in his hand promised to help. Silas knew shutting him down didn’t mean he would lose his job. On the contrary, he would likely be promoted to some other position where he could sit behind his desk and wait for a phone call, but he had a life sized puzzle in front of him that he wanted to solve, and now it was mocking him.