Mated to Dragons

by Laura Wylde

  The Director clasped his hands behind his back and paced back in forth in front of a chalkboard covered with scribblings only he could understand. “I’ve done all the calculations. The Eurynome, it is.” He pointed to the board. “Don’t you see? All the indicators say they are the favored ones.”

  “Favored to wield the trident?”

  “Favored to keep it for the one who will.” The Director beamed at the chalkboard with self-admiration. He turned to Macy and looked at her as fiercely as a frog-face can look. “Do you have anything to tell me? Anything to report or add to our conversation?”

  “No,” she said, her eyes widening.

  He didn’t seem satisfied with her answer. He circled around her, sniffing and muttering. He stopped. “Are you sure? You didn’t bring back anything?”

  “I brought a dog.”

  He sucked in his breath. “A dog? A special dog?”

  “An ordinary dog. It had been abandoned.”

  “Abandoned you say!” He muttered some more, paced, then scratched his head, puzzled. “What did you say was abandoned?”

  “A dog.”

  He smacked his lips loudly. “Ah. Very well. You have your assignment. Report back when it’s completed.”

  Reuben didn’t speak until we were flying back to the island, then settled beside me, his wings flapping noiselessly. “You told Macy not to mention the god water?”

  I slipped into a cloud, luxuriating in the moist air slipping along my flanks. I could barely see Reuben, but Macy was just a little ahead of me, clinging to the back of Kauris. Reuben nudged closer. Keeping my voice low, I answered, “I told her to keep quiet. I think everyone should keep quiet. The gods could have struck her down for that vial, or melted the ship, or crushed us in the wall. I don’t know. They let her have it. It’s her secret and we are all keeping it.”

  “No problem,” he answered. He flew up ahead to tell Kauris and Kazan.

  AMP had been efficient. When we went out to the boat the next day, an AMP team had restocked it with a top-of-the-line deep-diving suit. It had an eight-hour oxygen supply and could withstand water pressure at -minus two thousand feet. It looked like a spacesuit designed for underwater expeditions. Somehow, Macy still managed to look sexy in it.

  She had insisted on taking the dog along. I don’t know why. We didn’t have a suit for it. She said it was to reassure the dog. It was part of the family now. When we went out, the dog wanted to go with us. It stood by the stern and barked while we went over the edge.

  12

  Macy

  We sank down, down, deeper than I had ever been before in water. The suit wasn’t nearly as cumbersome as I had expected. Under the sea, it felt light, although it did slow down movement. I adjusted the visor to see better. It was incredible, like nothing I had ever expected. The sea floor was covered with amazing creatures. There were four-foot seahorses playing games with neon-colored, two-foot prawns, multi-colored starfish performing a slow ballet around a giant jellyfish that performed its own slow dance. There were gardens of sea blossoms and forests of ocean plants, all landscaped and cultivated. Through it all, swam fish of all colors, sizes, and shapes.

  As my eyes adjusted to the waving currents and the psychedelic explosion of color, I was able to discern more detail. Some of the seahorses had tiny riders who looked like underwater fairies. Eyes peaked at me from the forest and not all looked fish-like. Some of them looked human. My neck prickled. Who watched us now from under the ocean?

  The forest leaves rustled. I noticed my team tense and give each other guarded looks. Clutching the wrapped trident to me, I shifted my gaze, trying for a full panoramic view. A few shapes slithered out from under the dome of leaves and headed straight for Kazan. He wriggled and beat at them, trying to get them to let go of his legs. The creatures had human faces, oversexed female bodies, and large gills at the sides of their necks, which puffed in and out like a pufferfish.

  Reuben’s voice clicked in on the muffled transmitter. “Nymphs! Give them a taste of Nirvana.”

  I interrupted his call. “You aren’t harming them, are you?”

  There was a chuckle in his voice. “No, milady. Just a little tranquilizer. They’ll drift away.”

  It was effective on the first three nymphs, then more came. Their hands were all over my dragons as they slid up, rubbing against the smooth, white stomachs, and around their camouflage legs. Behind them, came another group. I sucked in my breath. So, these were the water dragons! They were stunning. They had great, horned heads, well-muscled chests, and long bodies. They shimmered blue and silver.

  They pushed aside the nymphs to wriggle closer to my team. They kissed and nudged the amphibious group, begging for a bit of dragon tongue. I had to give my guys credit. They were doing their best to fend off the mob. That bit of Irish temper that crackles in at the most unexpected moments, suddenly sent me an all-system broadcast. They might be nymphs. They might be shape shifting dragons, but they were women, and there was one thing all women understood.

  I struggled through the nymphs whose only concern was finding a bit of male flesh to rub against like pole dancers and battled my way to stand beside Kazan, the most afflicted member of the group. “Mine!” I shouted into the headset, not at all sure if the sound carried to them. I put an arm around Kazan’s neck and managed to make hand contact with Kauris’ arm. “Mine”.

  I waved my arm to include all four men, then pointed at myself. One of the nymphs spat and made a face. I took an aggressive step toward her. She turned and fled, the other nymphs following her.

  The water dragons sniffed and turned up their noses, but they didn’t leave. They didn’t bother my men anymore, either.

  “That’s better.” The voice was feminine and lilting. I puzzled over my transmitter. It should only be carrying the voices of my dragon team. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll fix it for you.”

  From out of the shadows of the watery gardens appeared a solemn procession of mer people. They wore flower wreaths, both the men and women, over the top of spider-web thin veils. One of the mer men floated up to me and examined my helmet. “Don’t be afraid. I’m just making a few minor adjustments. Land technology is still in its primitive stages. There.” He stepped back. “Now you can hear everyone around you, and they can hear you.”

  I was astonished. I could hear the fish mumbling to each other as they passed each other by, the sounds captured in bubbles. I heard the shuffle of tiny shrimp feet in the garden path and the snickers of the seahorses. One of the sea dragons was leering at me. “They are all yours? A little greedy, aren’t you?”

  “Aw, cut it out,” said another laconically. “You know we don’t put a limit on the men we keep.”

  The complaining one leaned closer to her companion. “I think she’s a drug addict.”

  The other snapped back. “Oh hush, will you? I want to hear the Shepherd.”

  The Shepherd was the one who had adjusted my helmet. He folded his hands together and bowed his head. “Greetings, traveler,” he began. “We have waited for you.”

  I wasn’t sure what I should say in return. David lowered his head and long dragon neck until he was nearly buried in the ground. “We are honored to be with you, Shepherd of the Eurynome.”

  Realizing now who they were, I added, “thank you for your beautiful gift,” and bowed.

  “Walk with us,” invited the Shepherd.

  I followed him. Soon, I was in the middle of a long procession. My dragons flanked me on both sides. Behind me and in front were the Eurynome, the veiled heads bowed, crustaceans cavorting around their feet like puppies. The water dragons joined guard and the two-foot prawns, bridled, and ridden by ocean fairies, followed. I saw other mer people slip out of the shadows. Most of them were humbly dressed but a few wore flashy clothing, gold headpieces and bracelets piled from their wrists to their elbows. Where they swam, the other mer people gave a wide berth.

  The procession continued until it reached what can only be de
scribed as an underwater village. The homes were dome-shaped huts built with stone and a type of mortar. Each had a small garden and sheltered a variety of sea creatures. They circled a tall, spired building. All paths led to the building.

  In front of the building was a pavilion that surrounded the entrance like an open mouth. The columns holding the roof of the pavilion were draped with the same gauzy fabric dyed violet. There were deep steps leading to it. The mer people glided up the steps. Kauris carried me on his back. From the pavilion, we could see the crowd below us. They stayed on the ground, looking up at us expectantly.

  “Did you bring the trident?” Asked the Shepherd in the same gentle voice.

  I nodded wordlessly, completely overwhelmed with this strangely human ritual at the bottom of the sea. I scolded myself. Of course, it was human. They were human, even if they had fish tails. “I did,” I whispered, holding out the wrapped treasure.

  He pulled away the canvas lovingly and looked at the celebrated prize. Even in the watery shelter, the metal gleamed so brilliantly, it was nearly blinding. He held it up for all to see. The humble Eurynome bowed, covered themselves with their veils, and stretched their arms along the ground. The well-dressed mer people behind them reared up on their seahorses and called hoarsely, “they’ve got the trident!”

  The seahorses bellowed; their nostrils flared. The cry turned into an angry shout. “They’ve got the trident!”

  Mer people swam in from every corner, some on seahorse, some under their own power. The Eurynome stood and faced them fearlessly. I got it. They were the kung-fu monks of the ocean. Their tails slashed back and forth dangerously. They drew back their arms in classic Bruce Lee fighter pose. The ground squad of mer people backed away warily. The seahorses gnashed at their bits, their riders goading them on.

  The dragons turned on the crowd, their beautiful faces turning dark and menacing. They bared their teeth and hissed at the invaders. My team members slithered between them, flicking their long tongues, their fangs shiny with venom. The mer people murmured, then fell quiet. The Shepherd stood solemnly, holding the trident. A woman called out to him from the restrained mob. “What do you want with the trident? You can’t even use it!”

  “It should belong to the Olympians!” Shouted another voice. “We have a demi-god, descended from Triton.”

  “We have a demi-god, too!” Challenged another. The two groups turned on each other, slashing with their tails, punching, hitting, thrashing around so much, there was nothing but a blur of water surrounding them, like brightly colored whirlpools.

  “It will not go into the hands of a demi-god!” The Shepherd didn’t shout, but his voice was deep and firm. The sound carried over the quarrelling mer people.

  “Then who will rule the seas?” Asked a voice bitterly. “Who will keep order? The Ceti are killing our people. The squids won’t build. The seahorses are running wild. The nymphs won’t leave our men alone. It’s chaos!” The voices swelled in protest.

  Hundreds of feet above the top of the spires, a blazing blue-white light pierced the black cover of the ocean and plummeted downward, growing larger and brighter as it drew closer to the pavilion. It appeared as a star, glittering in the ocean, then slowly took human form. “I will.”

  Nearly transparent, alabaster skin, spun gold hair piled high on her head and covered with tiny gems, the goddess in front of me was full of grace and beauty. She took the trident in one hand and looked out over the multitude. The mer people covered their heads and bowed. The riders got off their horses and clasped their hands prayerfully in front of them. “Amphitrite!”

  The goddess turned her face toward me. One eye flashed blue; one eye brown. “You are…. You were….” I gasped.

  She smiled a perfect Madonna smile and touched my lips with her finger. The touch was cool, yet underneath radiated a warm energy. “An act of compassion is the best of all human traits. Gaia was wise.”

  Returning to her audience, she ordered them all to rise. “The prophecy has been fulfilled. The war of the gods continues to rage but there will be peace among Poseidon’s own. There will be peace with the land people. They are our allies. The mother of the Titans is the mother to us all, whether we are of land and sea.”

  The cheers and applause were so great, anything else she had to say was drowned in the excitement. David put a hand on my shoulder. “We can go home now.”

  “Wait,” said the goddess. She drew us deeper inside the pavilion and showed us where we could return to the surface without battling the crowd. She thanked each of us and gave Rueben a hug, much to his surprise. “I’m afraid you will have to get yourself another dog, but I did enjoy my time with you.”

  “Well, you made a nice foot warmer,” he mumbled, dabbing at his eyes.

  She took Kauris’ hand and gazed at him earnestly. “You are a man who never acts without thinking, yet when the need comes for quick decisions, you make them. Those are the qualities of good leadership.”

  “Dear David.” Her voice was filled with quiet amusement. “Your respect for the gods pleases me. You place this respect above all other pursuits for power or knowledge. You are a true guardian and protector.”

  She hugged me in a sisterly embrace that felt like the energy of the sun soaking in during the first warm days of spring. “Listen to David’s advice. Guard your vial well. Learn its secrets, but like a sorcerer, keep those secrets with you. You can replenish a dying world or destroy it through your choices. Be wise.”

  “What about me?” Protested Kazan, afraid he was going to be left out.

  She kissed his giant lizard muzzle. “Congratulations, fledging dragon. You are about to become a father.”

  He gasped, startled, and stammered to say something more, but she had already disappeared and like it or not, we were shooting up toward the surface in a jet stream that plopped us down on the deck of our boat. We had been five hours underwater.

  My skin was light deprived. I shed the diving equipment as quickly as I could, stripped to my bikini and climbed into a hammock. Kazan blocked the sun by standing over me, his green-tipped hair standing on end. “Well? What about it?” He demanded. “Is it true? Are you going to have a kid?”

  I noticed the others were also crowded around; their faces filled with questions. For their benefit, I sat up and crossed my legs, considering. “I don’t know. The thing is, we don’t know exactly how much time went by while we were in vacation land. It was only a few days here, but consider how often David had to shave, how much food we ate, how much we slept.”

  Rueben nodded his head in agreement. “We don’t even know how much time we spent in Aphrodite’s bed. It could have been days by our clocks. The table was nearly empty when we left.”

  “And Kazan’s balls dropped,” said David bluntly. When I looked at him quizzically, he explained, “A dragon is at his most fertile during the first few years after his balls drop.”

  “Then that makes me a granddaddy,” said Reuben. He had left for a second but came back with an entire box of cigars, which he passed around proudly, even offering me one. I passed. The others accepted, lighting their cigars as elegantly as gentlemen at a private club. “Kazan’s my kid.”

  “That doesn’t make you a granddaddy,” David answered between puffs. “Kazan’s not your kid. He’s our youngest trainee.”

  “That makes him my kid!” Argued Rueben. “I trained him to follow right in me footsteps. He’s my boy through and through.”

  Kauris waved his cigar around. “It could be mine. I’m still in the high-fertility curve. Maybe not as high as Kazan’s but still high enough to be competitive. It could be mine.”

  Reuben blew a smoke ring. “Eh? Then why didn’t Amphitrite congratulate you? You think she don’t know whose kid it is?”

  I slapped my hands against the hammock. “Enough! I don’t even know if I’m pregnant yet, and if I am, it doesn’t matter whose sperm reached the egg first. All of you are the father.”

  That quieted them down
. “What should we do?” Asked David.

  “Behave like fathers. You wanted a family? That’s what it means to be family.”

  They cleared their throats and shuffled their feet. Reuben went to pilot’s cabin to steer the boat, David called in an official report and Kauris put away the diving equipment. Kazan scrambled into the hammock beside me, laced his fingers together over his chest and soaked up the sunshine with a broad smile.

  “I’m thirsty,” I told him. “Could you bring me a glass of lemonade?”

  He jumped up immediately. “Yes, ma’am. Anything you want.”

  I settled back and relaxed. There was still an hour until sunset. The breeze was refreshing, the ocean filled with the tangled scents of marine life. Life is good when you have dragon family and maybe a baby on the way. All possible worlds were in front of me. Instead of Kazan, David sat in the next hammock and handed me my drink. “I just signed off with the Director. It seems there was an incident at the Temple of Zeus and the bats were the only witnesses.”

  “The Temple of Zeus?” I asked. “I thought it had never been discovered.”

  “It hadn’t. It just suddenly appeared in a cave that had been explored a thousand times before. A cave full of bats.”

  I sipped at the lemonade, wondering if it was a cocktail. It was becoming difficult these days to tell the difference. It seemed I was always on full sensory overload. “He wants me to talk with the bats.”

  “He requests that you talk with the bats,” agreed David.

  I laid back again. Sure, why not? I’m pregnant. I’m committed to four dragons. I spend half my time on a made-over fishing boat. I talk to animals. What’s a trip to the Temple of Zeus? Like I said, life doesn’t get any better.

  Also by Laura Wylde