Sleeping Dragons

by Phoebe Ravencraft

  I went into the bedroom and started stripping. Felicia followed me.

  “Tell me what happened,” she said again.

  I outlined for her what I’d done, omitting the part about how Stormy the Sex-Demon had fucked with my head and loins. I explained that I’d made it down to the vault, successfully decharmed the box, and discovered there was no knife where it was supposed to be.

  “Oh, shit,” Felicia said.

  “‘Oh, shit,’ is right,” I replied. “Damn, you know what he did have, though?”

  “What?”

  “A mint-condition, black-bordered Black Lotus.”

  “No way!”

  “I shit you not,” I said. “I couldn’t tell if it was Alpha or Beta Edition, but it was in perfect condition, Felicia.”

  “Holy shit! How much was it worth?”

  “I’ve no idea. My guess is six figures.”

  “Ron would have crapped his pants,” Felicia said with a laugh.

  “Totally,” I agreed.

  “Did he have other things like that?”

  “Yeah, there was a Joe Montana rookie card and some art. Anything you might think of as treasure, this guy had.”

  “Wow, I wish I could have seen that Black Lotus.”

  “I wish I could have stolen it,” I said. “You and I would be set if I got that and sold it.”

  “Yeah, we would. So what happened when you couldn’t find the dagger?”

  “Oh, yeah,” I said. “That’s when shit went sideways.”

  As quickly as I could, I told her how the whole thing had been a trap to catch me, how I’d been lucky to escape, how I took out Stormy, and how Ephraim lost his mind and tried to kill Mk’Rai himself.

  “But McCray turned into his dragon form, knocked Ephraim out, and fled to the Caribbean,” I said. “And now I gotta go rescue him, because the dragon is going to torture him to learn all The Order’s secrets before taking revenge on everyone.”

  “Jesus, Sassy, that’s crazy.”

  “You damn right it is.”

  “Sassy, the news said Stormy Williams was missing and presumed dead. They said the same thing about Dirk McCray. Did the house actually burn down?”

  “I don’t think so. McCray breathed some fire, but he didn’t set the whole thing ablaze. The Order probably said gas explosion because he ripped the house apart when he flew off.”

  “Well, if the news said both McCray and Williams were missing and presumed dead, and McCray got away, you have to figure Williams did too.”

  Oh, shit. I hadn’t thought of that. If she was out there, not only was she still working for whoever wanted me dead, she was going to be pissed about what I did to her.

  “I think you need to find out if Stormy Williams is still alive,” Felicia said.

  I nodded and grabbed my phone. I hastily texted Ash: Did you guys capture Stormy Williams or recover her body?

  “Who’d you text?” Felicia asked.

  “Ash.”

  “You have his number?”

  Her tone told me she thought this was not cool at all. I pulled on my Doc Martens.

  “Felicia,” I said, trying not to sound patronizing and totally failing, “we’re working together. We exchanged numbers so that he could get in contact with me. Since he is the one who is providing me information The Order does not want me to have, I thought it might be a good idea to be able to get ahold of him.”

  She grimaced. Her look said it didn’t matter how much of a good idea it was. She did not approve.

  My phone chimed. I looked down.

  No, Ash replied.

  Shit.

  “They didn’t find Stormy’s body,” I said. I paused trying to find a way to make this not bad news. “Maybe she burned up?”

  “She’s a demon,” Felicia said. “I’m guessing she wouldn’t last long in Hell if she could catch fire. Besides, you said the dragon didn’t torch the house.”

  Shit. This was absolutely not good.

  “So what are you gonna do?” Felicia asked.

  I sighed. It was a damned good question with a weak-ass answer.

  “I’m going to fly to Jamaica tonight to slay a dragon,” I said.

  “Don’t you have work tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, I texted Ron that I was throwing up and couldn’t come in.”

  “Did he buy it?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “All right,” Felicia said. “I’ll cover your shift. You go play the hero.”

  “Thanks.”

  Felicia nodded. She pursed her lips.

  “I’m scared,” she said after several seconds.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m worried I’ll never see you again.”

  “Weren’t you the one who encouraged me to do this? Weren’t you the one who told me I was a hero and I needed to act like it?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  Her face got all sad. Those beautiful brown eyes got wet with tears.

  “But that doesn’t mean I’m not worried. I still want you to be the hero, Sassy. I just wish you didn’t have to be.”

  I nodded. I felt the same way.

  Standing up, I left the bedroom. Felicia followed me, looking anxious. I grabbed my katana and faced her.

  “I have to go,” I said.

  “I know,” she replied.

  Then she kissed me again. I wished she would stop doing that. It was making this whole thing more complicated than it already was. But I didn’t stop her.

  She pulled away and looked deeply into my eyes.

  “I love you, Sassy Kincaide,” she said, tears marring that pretty face. “You better come home.”

  A lump came into my throat. I choked back tears and nodded.

  “I love you too,” I whispered.

  Felicia hugged me tightly again. Then she fled the apartment without saying goodbye. It was just as well. It made it easier to believe this wouldn’t be the last time I’d ever see her.

  Thirty-three

  H ours later, I was sitting in the back of one of those military transport planes with Ash and Erin. The three of us were decked out in that black armor they were wearing when they rescued me from The Guild of the Blade. It was weird. It fit tightly like leather, but it wasn’t hot. In fact, I’d never felt more comfortable in skin-tight clothes, even with the molded plastic breastplate, groin covering, and arm, shin, and thigh guards. There was a helmet too, but we all had them off for the flight.

  We weren’t given parachutes. Instead we had these magic belts that made us weightless or something when activated. I didn’t understand exactly how they worked, but it was very James Bond. We had gadgets.

  Ash had a laptop open and was studying it carefully, periodically tapping in commands.

  “Can you get YouTube on that thing?” I asked. “I’m bored.”

  Erin snickered at my joke. Ash gave me a tired look. What was I supposed to do? Each mile through the air took us closer to a straight-up fight with a real, live dragon. Given how badly my first confrontation with D’Krisch Mk’Rai had gone, I wasn’t anxious for a rematch.

  “I’m a little busy to surf the Internet,” Ash said, returning his gaze to his computer screen.

  “Doing what? Playing Fortnite?”

  “Tracking our dragon,” he growled.

  Damn. Someone was surly.

  Too bad. I was nervous.

  “How?” I asked.

  Erin smiled. She probably knew what I was doing. She was a former soldier. She’d probably seen rookies or newbies or whatever they called them in the Army pretend not to freak out before their first battle.

  “A dragon is a magical creature,” Ash explained, sounding irritated that he had to. “If you know what to look for, you can determine which way it has passed, assuming you can home in on its aura. Magical creatures have stronger auras than ordinary humans, and they alter the surrounding atmosphere subtly when they move through it.

  “The technology – by which I mean enchanted software
– to track this signature exists, but it is expensive and difficult to use, especially when the trail is hard to spot in the first place.”

  “Meaning it would be easier for you to do your job if I would shut the hell up,” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh.”

  Erin’s grin was bright enough to light up the whole compartment now.

  “Dang,” I said. “That’s pretty cool, though.”

  “Thanks,” he said without looking up.

  We flew for maybe twenty seconds in silence. Then the worried voice in my head decided to speak again.

  “We need a wizard,” I said.

  Ash looked up with an offended look on his face. Actually it was more shock, but I could tell he was pissed at me for suggesting such a thing.

  “What do you mean?” he said. “You don’t think I can do this?”

  “No,” I said with a laugh. “It’s not that. I’m talking about D&D.”

  “What?” he replied.

  “I’m saying this party of ours needs a wizard. Look, we’re about to go into the dragon’s lair. We’ve got a monk – i.e., me – Erin’s a fighter, and you’re the rogue. We need a wizard. We don’t have anyone to cast ‘Cone of Cold’ or ‘Hold Monster’ or anything.”

  Bewilderment seized complete control of Ash’s face. It was cute. Damn him. We were off to fight a dragon. No one had time for cute.

  “We need a cleric too,” Erin said.

  I snapped my head in her direction.

  “You play D&D?” I asked.

  I was kind of thrilled. It was the first time since I’d met up with The Order that I felt like there was anyone there who got me.

  “Not much anymore,” she said. “I don’t have friends who play, and frankly, dealing with magical creatures all the time makes me less inclined to play a game about them.

  “But back when I was in the service, I played with some of my friends in the squad.”

  “Ha!” I said. “A bunch of Army guys playing D&D? Were you all fighters?”

  Erin laughed. Her gaze retreated to an earlier time in her life.

  “No, we had a balanced party. My sergeant played a halfling thief. He was hilarious.”

  “What did you play?”

  “I always liked druid. It was a good mix of magic and fighting ability. Plus, you know, healing spells are important, and when you’re the one who has them, people treat you with respect. Especially military guys. If you’ve ever been in a firefight, you know the importance of ‘Cure Wounds.’”

  “That makes sense,” I said.

  “If you say so,” Ash commented.

  He tapped a few more commands into his laptop. Then he shut and stowed it.

  “We’re coming up on the drop zone,” he said. “I’ve transferred the tracking program to my watch to help guide us in. We should get ready to jump.”

  Fear lit up in my brain like fireworks. This was the first time I’d ever been on a plane. It was scary enough. The concept of actually jumping out of it while it was still flying seemed incredibly stupid.

  “I can’t believe my first trip to a foreign country is a nighttime, black-ops mission to kill a dragon,” I said. “This is the Caribbean. Ain’t I supposed to be kickin’ it on the beach with a piña colada and my toes in the sand?”

  “Maybe next time,” Erin said.

  She grabbed her helmet and put it on. Then she unclipped herself from her seat, picked up that giant dragonslayer sword they’d tried to teach me to fight with, and headed to the back of the plane, strapping the sword onto her back as she went.

  I sighed heavily and put on my own helmet. For half a second, it was too dark to see. Then whatever magic or technology was in it activated, and I could see dimly through the mirrored faceplate. A heads-up display came online. “Shinoch” and “Brinson” appeared in red lettering above the corresponding person’s head. Okay, that was cool.

  Feeling like a stormtrooper, I grabbed my katana, unclipped myself, and stood up, slinging the sword over my back. Soon, all three of us were lined up, with Ash in front.

  “All right,” he said, his voice sounding in my head like it had at McCray’s mansion, “I’ll lead us in. Stay on me and don’t get lost.”

  “How exactly do these things work again?” I asked.

  “They basically put a zero-G field around you,” Ash said. “You’ll float down instead of falling.”

  “But you’ll want to regulate your descent,” Erin said. “Don’t switch it on until after you jump out of the plane. That way your body will have some momentum to carry you down swiftly. If you slow up or start to fall off the pace, switch it off for a second, then turn it back on.”

  I gulped. I couldn’t help it.

  “What if it doesn’t turn back on?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry, Sassy,” she said. “It will. It’s magic.”

  Easy for her to say. I was still new to this.

  “Okay, hold tight,” Ash said.

  I double-checked to make sure my katana was still on my back since strapping it on a mere thirty seconds ago. Then Ash pushed a button, and the whole fucking back of the plane opened. I grabbed the jump-wire tightly in my right hand, terrified of being sucked out, despite being in the back of the line and having an anti-gravity belt on.

  “Okay,” Ash said, “radio silence all the way down unless you get lost.”

  Then he jumped out of the plane.

  What the hell was the matter with him? I had a thousand questions I needed to ask. He couldn’t just leave without giving me a chance.

  Erin followed right behind him. I was now standing by myself facing utter blackness. How was I supposed to follow them down when it was pitch dark?

  Be a hero, Felicia would say.

  Somehow, she wouldn’t be scared. Why was I?

  Maybe because I understood how many things could go wrong. Regardless, I ran forward until there was nothing but air underneath me.

  I plummeted instantly. Panic leaped from my stomach to my brain. I was falling to my death! Trying to keep from totally blacking out with fear, I punched the button on my belt buckle.

  All at once, I had control over my descent. I was still falling. Sort of. But the magic reduced the speed. The wind didn’t feel as violent. I was coasting.

  I looked around, trying to find Ash and Erin. The HUD showed their locations, along with my altitude and airspeed. Once again, cool.

  But my teammates were rapidly getting away from me. I needed to do something about that.

  Both of them had their bodies stretched out straight, their arms at their sides. I’d seen this maneuver in action films. Skydivers did it to go faster, especially if they were chasing someone who had a parachute and they didn’t.

  I imitated their poses and felt as though I were rocketing forward, like there was a jet pack or something on my back. But they had a big head start. And with my body being totally weightless, I was actually slowing. I held my breath and switched off the anti-grav belt.

  I kept the skydiver pose, and immediately raced forward faster as my body suddenly reacquired weight. My speedometer leaped up until I was cruising at forty miles per hour.

  Holy shit, this was awesome!

  But a few seconds later, I was lower than Ash and Erin. I was actually falling again. I clicked the belt back on and was relieved as my progress slowed.

  Mk’Rai’s lair was in the Blue Mountains. I hear they’re beautiful, but I couldn’t see shit, coming in at, like, three in the morning. So I was a little surprised when I realized I was only a few feet above the treetops. Apparently, there is a forest or jungle or whatever covering the side of the Blue Mountains. How the hell were we supposed to thread our way through trees?

  Without explaining that, Ash dipped into the leaves. He may as well have dived into the ocean. He vanished into a sea of darkness.

  Fortunately, Erin gave me some clue. She was coming in hot, and she suddenly spread her arms and legs wide and tipped herself into a vertical positi
on. She slowed down considerably, and then sank slowly into the branches.

  I would have loved to have had someone explain how to do this. Instead, I did my best to copy Erin.

  Once again, the change was sudden. I basically turned my body into a sail, and the wind caught hold of me and blew me to a halt. I drifted down lightly, penetrating the leaves. They smacked softly at me as I descended.

  Then I came to a dead stop as I landed on a tree branch. My momentum pitched me forward, and I thought I was going to tumble down, hitting every branch like a sack of rocks.

  But I caught a branch with my right hand and steadied myself. Then, assisted by the fact that I was essentially weightless, I stepped off, and pushed my way further down.

  It seemed to take ten minutes to figure out how to actually get to the ground, but at last, I finally landed on earth. I sighed in relief and thought very seriously about kissing the ground.

  I switched off my anti-gravity belt and had a look around. I couldn’t see much. Above the trees, I’d had at least had the moonlight. Down here was blackness. The magic of my visor only showed the vague outlines of trees. Plus, the terrifying sounds of screaming insects and croaking frogs surrounded me.

  “Everybody down?” Ash’s voice asked in my brain.

  “Check,” Erin said.

  “Yeah, I’m down,” I said. “Where the hell are you guys.”

  “Approximately ten meters east of you,” Erin said.

  “Yeah, I went to American public school,” I said. “The metric system means shit to me. And even if it did, I’d have no idea where east is. It’s totally fucking dark. I can’t look for the sun, which, incidentally, isn’t up during nighttime.”

  Erin giggled, which was a strange sound since I couldn’t see her. I’d gotten used to people talking in my head, but laughing was something different. Made me feel a little crazy, you know?

  “Hang on, Sassy, I’ll send you a homing pulse,” Ash said.

  I had no idea what that meant, but a second later, a new sensation hit my brain. As though I’d downloaded GPS directions from my phone, I suddenly knew where they were. It was damned strange. As cool as all this magic stuff was, I was looking forward to being done with this mission. Playing D&D was plenty magical enough for me.