by Logan Jacobs
A huge green creature covered in shimmering scales soared out from the pit. Enormous wings flapped the air until its flight was stopped by a thick iron chain that surrounded one of its back legs.
A dragon.
I stood about fifty yards from a real dragon. I didn’t know the beasts still existed.
One fiery red eye turned on me, and its nostrils flared. A lipless mouth curved into a nasty smile and exposed razor-sharp teeth that were as long as my arm. I readied myself to run in case the beast was about to unload a stream of fire on me, but it did no such thing.
“You are a human.” Its rumbly voice echoed through the hall.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ariette and Kalista turn and walk back toward me. Both warriors looked ready to yank me away from the dragon, but I put out a hand to stop them. I was mere feet from a creature of legend. There was no way I would leave until I absolutely had to.
“Yes,” I said, and I kept my voice low and steady.
The beast’s red eyes looked me up and down, and then it pointed one golden claw at me.
“You are not just any human,” the beast growled with an almost musical cadence. “You have the Hand of Blood. Do you know what that means?”
“No, but I bet you do,” I replied.
The dragon tilted its head, and its green scales caught in the torchlight and glimmered once again. Then a deep haunting laugh escaped its mouth. It threw its head from side to side as it laughed before it abruptly looked back at me.
“I do,” the dragon said. “I have seen it. You will be one to remember for a very long time, Milton Bailey.” It savored my name and drew out each syllable.
“How do you know my name?” I asked as I stepped closer to the bars.
“Milton,” Kalista let out a warning, but I ignored her.
“That is not important. What is important is you. You will ensure that evil does not reign, Milton Bailey. You are the Racmoth.” The dragon smiled at me again.
“Reign? Racmoth? What are you talking about?” I rushed toward the cage without a thought of my own safety and wrapped my hands around the bars.
The dragon said no more and instead tilted its head in a slight bow. Then it dipped its wings downward and disappeared from sight. I heard the chain rattle for a second before there was dead silence.
My ears rang, and it took a moment for me to realize Kalista and Ariette stood on either side of me. Both of them wrapped their hands around my biceps to keep me from collapsing, and then my world went hazy. It took a moment to recover while I stared at the place where the dragon had been moments ago.
Ariette and Kalista hauled me ten feet down the hallway before I forced them to stop.
“What was that back there?” I said and pointed an accusatory finger between my teammates. “How do you have a dragon here? I thought they all died centuries ago.”
They shared a look before Ariette spoke.
“They did, all except for him,” she said with her arms crossed over her chest. The elf looked uncomfortable and purposefully avoided my gaze. “He’s the last of the dragons.”
“So why is he here? Why keep him chained up?” My blood boiled, and my voice grew louder.
“Because dragons are like weapons of mass destruction, except they don’t explode and die after one use,” Kalista interjected. “A dragon is like a flying nuclear warhead, and they have no allegiance. Seelie, Unseelie, they don’t care who they work for, as long as they get treasure. If we let him out and the Unseelie got their hands on him…”
“But the Unseelie live in their own realm like they have for half a millennium. And the treaty stops them from doing any harm to our realm, so it shouldn’t even matter.” I threw my hands up in the air wildly as I spoke.
Again, the Fae women shared a look. Something passed between the two of them, and I could see that an unspoken decision was made.
“What?” I queried with my hands on my hips.
“A long time ago,” Ariette started, “the Fae realm was separate from the human realm. We knew you existed, but you didn’t know about us. Magic was ridiculed as fake, something only found in stories. The Unseelie liked to come into your realm and screw with you guys. Make things go missing, cause couples to fight, trip people, that kind of thing. Mostly harmless.”
Ariette sighed and lowered her eyes. “It was like that for millennia. About six hundred years ago, though, some of the Unseelie grew restless with the little parlor tricks. They began to recruit others and eventually formed a faction. It didn’t take long for every single Unseelie to go along with them. They moved up from pranks to starting wars among the human race that caused destruction on a massive level. The Seelie Court tried to stop it, and suddenly, the war wasn’t just among the humans. It was a war between Seelie and Unseelie, too. Both of these wars together forced the two realms to merge into one, kind of like the Big Bang. All of a sudden, all of us were here together, Seelie, Unseelie, and humans.”
Ariette paused, and an intern rushed past us with a huge mug of coffee. When he was gone, she went on.
“Merging the two realms wasn’t enough for the Unseelie, though. They decided they wanted to destroy the human race and have everything for themselves, but the Seelie and the humans worked together and managed to wage a strong war against them. We brokered a tentative treaty with them, and then the Unseelie retreated beyond the dark border, past the Dracun Mountains--”
“Yeah,” I interrupted her before she could continue. “I know all of this. Tenth-grade history. So why is that dragon still chained up if the Unseelie were basically forced into the nether realm by the Seelie?”
Once again, the warriors shared a knowing look. I clenched my fist in aggravation.
“Because the Unseelie aren’t all that likely to stick to a piece of paper with a signature on it if they find a dragon,” Kalista said darkly.
“You just said we pushed them past the Dracun Mountains, which is supposed to be like a place of no return--”
“We did,” Ariette interrupted, “but some of the Unseelie have figured out how to come back over here. Like the fairy who gave you your hand.”
“You think he was trying to break the treaty?” I asked.
“Why else risk being caught?” Kalista pointed out.
“Look,” Ariette said with her hand on her hip, “if we find an Unseelie, we kill it. End of story.”
“Okay, fine. So evil still roams the Earth and ignores a magical treaty. Then what did the dragon mean when it said I would make sure evil doesn’t reign?” I asked as my eyes drifted from one Fae woman to the other.
Ariette shrugged. She wouldn’t meet my eyes, so I turned to Kalista.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “It’s never spoken to anyone before. I thought we might see a flash of scales or a bit of flame. I didn’t expect him to actually speak to us.”
So the very first time the captive beast spoke, and it said something cryptic as hell to me.
“Great,” I snarled. I didn’t mean to be pissed at her, but I was seriously over the lack of straight answers I got around here, so I paced in a circle for a moment and let my breathing return to normal.
“Next question, how did it know my name?” I asked as I rounded on the women. “And what was it that he called me? Racmouth or whatever?”
“Racmoth,” Kalista corrected quietly. “It means ‘blood wielder’ in the language of the dragons.”
“And as for him knowing your name, dragons see the future,” Ariette replied with a shrug. “It knew you were coming, and it knew who you were.”
“So then…” I trailed off, lost in my thoughts.
“So then whatever it meant about you defeating evil is in the future,” Kalista finished with a sigh.
The three of us stood quietly for a moment. Ariette’s eyebrows knitted together, and she crossed her arms over her chest in that sexy stance of hers. Kalista had both hands on her head, and her full breasts rose and fell rapidly.
“Come on,” Ari
ette interrupted our silent moment. “We can worry about what the dragon said later. Right now, we’ve got to get you to the testing room, HC.”
We finished our trek through the bowels of the guild hall and finally came upon a huge oak door. It was completely bare, except for a silver doorknob. Ariette turned the knob and swung the door open to reveal a huge room that looked like a gym.
Except most gyms weren’t filled with deadly weapons and fist fights.
There were dozens of Fae inside the room. Some were fighting with swords, others were working on archery skills. A few were off in the far corner as they practiced their magic.
“Watch out!” I heard someone screech to my left. I whipped toward the yell just in time to see a tiny figure as it bolted through the air, straight for my head. I barely registered the pointed green face when two emerald lips parted to screech once again.
“I’m sorry!” the lips yelped as the tiny figure crashed into my face full on and sent me careening to the ground.
My head spun, and my vision was fuzzy as I lay on the itchy gray carpet for a moment. Then, I realized I couldn’t breathe because something covered my entire face.
“Yo, look where you’re flying, would you?” I heard Kalista grumble from somewhere above me. Then the weight was lifted off my face, and I gasped in a breath of air before my vision totally cleared and I looked up.
Kalista held a tiny green fairy in her hand. The pointy face and emerald lips were attached to a thin body that was no more than six inches long, and she wore a thin brown tunic with holes cut into her back that allowed translucent green wings the space needed to pop out. Kalista pinched the part of the tunic between the fairy’s shoulder blades as the tiny creature hung her head in apology.
“I’m so sorry,” she squeaked, and her neon pink eyes looked up at me full of tears.
“Don’t worry about it,” I nodded to her as Ariette helped me stand up. She looked pretty pissed off too.
“Maybe learn how to fly in a crowd of people, okay?” the elven warrior said curtly. The little fairy nodded silently, her eyes wide as she stared at Ariette before she wriggled in Kalista’s grasp. The dwarf let go of her tunic, and the fairy zoomed off to the opposite corner of the room.
“Pixies,” Ariette shook her head, “very useful but very stupid.”
“It’s alright, really,” I assured her, but my mind was already over the incident as I continued to look around the room and take in the assortment of magical creatures as they practiced.
One Fae, a statuesque elf, had his eyes closed. His right hand hovered in front of him and curled and flicked in the air. It wasn’t until we got closer to him that I noticed what was in front of his hand.
Three tiny flames danced in unison with his movements. When he curled his fingers inward, the flames flickered out. He opened his hand, and the flames reappeared and grew bigger. Then the elf swung his arm to the right, and the flames flew through the air before they stopped abruptly like they hit a wall.
A few feet from the elf and his fire was a dwarf. I could tell she was a female only by the breasts sticking out from her chest. Her long black hair blended into an equally long beard, and she couldn’t have been more than three and a half feet tall.
The dwarf had her eyes open, but she was concentrating so hard that she didn’t notice me as I looked at her. Both of her hands were by her side, and I could barely hear her hum a soft tune. I squinted my eyes a bit and noticed there was a small group of gnats flying in a circle in front of her. There was probably about twenty of them, and they formed a circle as they danced and spun along to her melody.
“Hand of Music,” Kalista whispered when she caught my stare. I looked at her in surprise, and she winked. “You should see what she does with horses.”
“Hello, you two, we don’t have time to stare rudely at people who are just practicing.” Ariette snapped her fingers in both of our faces. “Let’s go!”
We followed her back into a room on the other side of the gym. This room was about a quarter of the size, and it had a computer in one corner along with weapons, target boards, and a punching bag.
“Alright, HC, let’s see what you got,” Ariette announced.
Chapter 6
I stood in the center of the mat and waited for Kalista and Ariette to return. They had left me over twenty minutes ago, and I started to wonder if this was part of the test.
Test number one: how long can we make the human wait before he comes to find us?
Finally, they returned, and Kalista held a rabbit in her hands. Danira entered moments after them and stood against the wall farthest from me with a smirk. Her black eye looked me up and down confidently, but she said nothing.
“Oh, no,” I protested with a shake of my head, “you guys are not about to make me kill a rabbit so Danira can figure out how strong my magic is. Nuh-uh. Not gonna happen,”
“Please, Milton, we’d never let you hurt an innocent little bunny!” Kalista exclaimed with indignation. “This is just a robot with some blood inside.”
I frowned and studied the animal again. Then I noticed that the creature’s eyes were a dull gray, and there were hinges where its back legs met its body.
“But we’re not there just yet,” Ariette said, and then she pointed to the wall of weapons behind me. “Take out your gun.”
I unholstered my weapon from where it sat on my hip and relished the feel of the cool heavy metal against my skin. The knowledge that intensely strong magic ran through my veins, and that I also held a sleek gun capable of warding off the strongest of foes, made me feel powerful in a way I’d only ever dreamed about before now. I felt the child inside me jump for joy once again, and I smiled.
“Okay,” Ariette said with a light laugh and pressed a button on the computer. Then a target dropped down from the ceiling behind me. “Empty the chamber.”
“I haven’t shot a gun since I was ten,” I admitted. I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of the hot warriors. “I’ll be a terrible shot.”
“Fae have extreme accuracy. How accurate you are helps test the strength of your magic. Are you afraid you’ll miss?” Ariette teased with a twinkle in her eye.
I set my jaw and lifted my chin.
“No, I’m not afraid of anything,” I grunted. Then I turned around and raised the gun as I tried to remember everything my best friend’s dad had told me about shooting. I locked my elbow, wrapped my index finger around the trigger, and lined up my shot.
The gun went off twice. I paused and realized I’d put both shots in the exact same place. There was a gaping hole in the middle of the black head on the target board.
“Okay!” Kalista exclaimed gleefully. “I think we can stick that one in the accurate category.”
“Very well done, Milton,” came Danira’s voice from the side of the room, “but don’t get too comfortable. All Fae are highly accurate. The real test is to see how you do in a magical battle.”
The commander stepped forward, and a sly grin spread across her face. Ariette and Kalista both hid snickers behind their hands as they watched what was definitely a worried expression cross my face. I stumbled backward for a step before I forced myself to stand my ground.
“You can put that thing away,” Danira grunted with a look at the silver weapon still clutched in my hand.
“O-okay.” I swallowed and nodded, then replaced the gun in my holster as she began to circle me.
“Connect with your magic, Milton,” Danira instructed as her black eye stared me down.
I nodded and tried to recall the feeling from that morning. The magic had vibrated inside of me instinctually when I smelled the blood of that poor man, and then when I saw the little girl, it was like I was on autopilot. I didn’t really know how to summon it and, on top of that, I wasn’t too sure I could trust myself not to kill the commander.
“You won’t hurt me, Bailey,” Danira chuckled, “even if you try.”
I didn’t find the situation quite so amusing as th
e commander did, but I figured if she was that confident I had nothing to worry about.
Hopefully.
“Alright,” I sighed, and I closed my eyes briefly as I concentrated.
Then I felt it. It was like my entire body began to vibrate at a cellular level, and my Hand grew warm. The blood in my veins rushed faster, and it was like the world slowed down for a moment. I opened my eyes to see that my Hand glowed a soft crimson red, just as Oragon’s had.
“Good,” Danira said proudly. “Now let’s see you actually put it to some use, boy.”
I waited, but she said nothing else. And then suddenly, she raised her left hand, and a torrent of water came gushing out of it, headed straight for me. I didn’t act quickly enough, and the water soaked me to the bone as it encapsulated me. I was swept up in a sphere of water that floated two feet off the ground. Through the swirling liquid, I saw Danira twist her hands in a circle, and the water suddenly flipped upside down and took me with it. My lungs screamed for air, and I pushed against the waves until I hit cool air and fell hard onto the floor.
The magic left my cells swiftly as I spluttered and gasped for air.
“What was that?” Ariette cackled from the place where she and Kalista stood. The dwarf was bent over her knees and also shook with laughter.
A small surge of frustration flared through my body as I wiped a sopping piece of hair from my forehead.
“Well, I wasn’t ready!” I protested.
“No enemy is going to wait until you’re ready,” Danira pointed out. “Again.”
She raised her Hand once more, and I noticed it glowed a bright blue color. Quickly, I called on my magic and the warmth of its vibration rose within me. This time, when Danira brought her Hand forward, I willed myself to connect with her blood. My Hand shifted, and it was as if I had grasped onto the commander and could push her in any direction I wanted. I watched the water build up and start to crash toward me, and then I pushed my Hand forward and felt a surge of magic as she was thrown to the side. The water landed about five feet to my left, but I almost didn’t register it as I took in a breath as the heat receded. My Hand vibrated with the aftershock, and I realized I was slightly lightheaded from the effort.