by Logan Jacobs
“Just hold on.” Maaren commanded.
“Hold on?” I asked in a fluster. “What do you mean just--”
Without warning, Jake spread his wings and shook like a dog before he jolted forward. His paws slammed into the ground as he broke into a run, and I quickly left the other three behind. It was a rough ride at first, and I nearly lost my delicious guild lunch as I jolted up and down on the griffin’s back. Once I got my grip and squeezed my thighs tight, I managed to brace myself and stop the jolting.
As I felt Jake pick up speed, I hunkered down and grabbed a handful of his feathers in each hand like reins. Just as I thought he couldn’t run any faster, his torso tilted upward as his wings spread to their full breadth. The griffin caught the air, and we were lifted up off the ground.
With one massive beat of his wings, we were flying.
“Holy shit,” I breathed as the world blurred around me.
For a moment, I was in shock as I watched the brown grass below me grow smaller and smaller impossibly fast, and then I took it all in.
This was nothing like when Maaren used her Hand to push us a few feet off the ground. I was so high that I could feel the air get a little thinner, but the ride was so smooth, I felt like I was atop a furry cloud. Jake only flapped his powerful wings once every minute or so as he primarily used the winds to glide along between strokes. The wind was so strong my cheeks flapped back, and all I could hear was the wind against my eardrums.
Jake turned his massive head back to me on the downbeat of his flap as if to check and see if I was still there. I gave the creature a massive smile and a strong pat on his neck, and he tilted his head in confirmation and made a gentle turn in the air.
I enjoyed the cool breeze of the air as it zipped past my body, and then we were above the sprawling metropolis of Jefferson City. I looked down and saw the outlines of the roofs of buildings, which were now tiny like pieces in a game. Ant-sized figures milled about on the street or dashed down it with purpose, and it made me realize just how high up we had flown.
I’d lived in Jefferson City my whole life, but now I felt like I was seeing it for the first time all over again.
Jake kept going, and then we flew past the city and onto the outskirts, near Kaul Mountain. Even in the summer, the mountain peaks were dipped in snow, and we rose just a little higher as Jake took me over those snowy peaks.
We dipped over the southernmost peak of the mountain, and as we turned back around, Jake flew us straight into a cloud. The cold foggy air enveloped me for a few seconds, and I reveled in the feeling. It was like one of those early winter mornings where the fog rolls in, and it feels like the whole world is wrapped in a mist of white. Except this time, I was actually on the inside. I came out the other side cold, damp, and very happy.
“This is fucking fantastic!” I screamed into the air, and Jake dipped heavily to the side.
Jake changed his directory back toward the guild, and I was sad that our ride was coming to an end. I saw all of my friends jumping up and down, waving at me excitedly as we descended. Finally, the griffin landed gently on the ground in front of my team. Ariette and Kalista now both wore excited expressions, and Maaren looked anticipatory.
“How was it?” the hunter demanded as I slid down from the griffin’s back. I gave him a nuzzle against his beak before I answered her.
“No offense, but flying with him is way better than flying with you,” I joked. “There was a lot less head bumping and sewage smell.”
“Isn’t it so cool?” Maaren asked with a bright smile.
“Like you’re floating on a big, fluffy cloud,” I confirmed.
The blue-skinned hunter turned to the rest of the team. “Who’s next?” she asked excitedly.
Ariette was slightly hesitant at first, but she stepped forward and raised her hand. “Normally, I prefer to keep my feet firmly on the ground,” she admitted, “but I’m willing to give it a try. It looks like a load of fun.”
Maaren helped the blonde elf go through the same ritual of submission that I did with Jake, and then the hunter helped Ariette mount the griffin and gave Jake a playful slap on the rear. The griffin cawed, bounded forward and took to the sky, all while Ariette’s terrified screams filled the sky. They were gone for about five or ten minutes, and then our new pet landed back in front of us.
“See?” Maaren giggled. “It was awesome, wasn’t it?”
Ariette’s hair was a complete mess, and she looked like she was about to be seasick.
“Yes,” she nodded. “It actually was the coolest damn thing I’ve done in a long time.”
A short blur dashed past my position and tried to hop on the griffin before it could even get settled.
“My turn!” Kal exclaimed as she approached the beast. The dwarf practically shoved her palm into Jake’s beak as she waited for him to acknowledge her. He finally did with a little coo that sounded a lot like laughter.
Maaren gave the half dwarf a boost onto Jake’s back, and she leaned forward like a horse jockey in a Saturday morning race.
“Yeeeehaawww!” the dwarf exclaimed as Jake took a running start and then leapt gracefully into the air.
The griffin took Kal on a wild ride, and shouts of joy emanated from the dwarf and echoed across the fields. Jake dipped and spun in circles and even did a backflip in the air. They disappeared over the horizon toward Kaul Mountain, and I knew he had taken her to the same snowy peaks and frigid clouds he’d taken me. Their dark forms appeared against the skyline ten minutes later, and Jake landed in front of us with a giant caw.
Kalista slipped from his back and hopped to the ground. The dwarf grinned happily from ear to ear, and her cheeks were bright red, though I couldn’t tell if it was from the cold of the mountain or the exhilaration.
“Best day ever!” she exclaimed as she ran over to us with the excitement of a child. Jake let out a squawk of agreement.
“As much as I hate to put a damper on things,” Ariette spoke up. “Arendor and his team should be back by now. Who wants to see if those guys we arrested have anything to say?”
“That’s not even a question,” I pointed out.
Maaren took Jake back to his stall, and then the four of us took off toward the interrogation rooms.
There was a strange tension in the air as we strode through the guild halls. It wasn’t exactly silent, but the usual bustle of activity I’d grown used to was tamped down quite a bit, and most people spoke in hushed whispers. A few Fae gave my team pointed glances as we passed by. An iridescent blue nymph watched us as we walked past him, and almost instantly turned to the satyr next to him to whisper in her ear. The nymph never took his eyes off me.
As soon as we got downstairs, Ariette pointed to the door of a room where the prisoners were being held. Almost instantly it swung open, and Arendor strode out. He wiped his knuckles off with a white towel, and I could see that the towel was now stained with blood.
“I hope he at least talked to you if he wound up like that,” I grunted at Arendor. My body vibrated with anger and disgust at the elf before me, and my stomach turned at the thought of what Arendor had done.
“He was … unhelpful,” Arendor spat back at me. “Maybe your whole ‘good cop’ routine can get something out of him, but I doubt it.”
“We’re not supposed to use physical force unless Hasen gives permission, Arendor,” Ariette growled.
He looked her over, and for once, there wasn’t the expression of intense awe on his face that he usually wore around the elven warrior.
“Hasen did give me permission, Ariette,” he responded primly like it was something to brag about. “Now, would you like to know what he said, or would you rather chastise me on my interrogation tactics?”
“You just said he was unhelpful,” I all but snarled at the elf. He turned calmly and cocked his head to give me a once over that was meant to be intimidating. I returned the look with a glare.
“He doesn’t know where the phoenix is,” Arendor re
plied slowly, “but he gave up something about the Phobos that you four might find rather interesting.”
“Your definition of unhelpful needs some serious help,” Kalista growled. “Maybe you should go back to elementary school.”
“Shut up, dwarf,” the elf snapped back.
Immediately, Kalista lunged forward at Arendor, but I beat her to the punch.
Nobody talks to my friends like that.
There was a distinct cracking sound when my hand made contact with the side of the elf’s jaw, and my knuckles burned at the impact. The anger faded from my vision, and I looked down to see Arendor on the ground, with a hand over his mouth and fire in his eyes.
“I am going to--” the elf started as he stood shakily, but Ariette put a hand on his chest and shook her head.
“You deserved that,” she spat at him, and he up at her with wide, hurt eyes. I bit back a laugh at how upset he seemed as he nursed his jaw.
“Would you just tell us what he said?” Maaren sighed. “Enough with the macho shit.”
“He just said that the animals are only a part of the Phobos’ plan,” Arendor replied with a frown and a spit of blood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go clean up. This was one of my favorite outfits, too.”
“Poor baby,” Kal hissed under her breath.
“That dude,” I said quietly as I watched Arendor’s lean form stride down the hallway, “is an absolute idiot.”
“An idiot who just confirmed our suspicions,” Ariette said darkly.
“This fight is just beginning,” I finished Ariette’s thought and looked at my three teammates. Each one of them stared back at me with a mixture of unease and worry in their expressions.
“Let’s just focus on one thing at a time,” Maaren finally said, her tone full of fake cheer. “We need to find that phoenix, or we may just end up fighting somebody who has the power of immortality on their side.”
Chapter 16
“Alright,” Kalista said as we entered the command center, “phoenixes need to eat. No food equals a dead phoenix, and a dead phoenix equals no immortality. So first, we need to find the food source.”
Ilias and his team were seated at our round table when we came in, and Elvira looked up to search for Storm worriedly. Her iridescent pink body unconsciously shifted backward, like she was ready to leap onto the table to avoid the cerberus at all costs. When she saw that we were free of any three-headed animal, her body sagged in relief.
“No little monster today?” she asked impetuously as if she wasn’t absolutely terrified of the puppy.
“What are you talking about?” Kal asked joviantly. “I’m right here!”
“Nope,” I responded casually. “I thought I’d let Storm wander around the guild so she could get a sense of her new home, you know?”
Instantly, Elvira’s blue eyes went wide, and her chest heaved with terrified breaths. Her full lips pressed themselves into an impossibly thin line as the rest of her body went rigid, petrified with fear.
“You mean it could be … anywhere?” she gasped.
“Yes!” Kalista gasped back mockingly. “Even in your very own room…”
Kal was obviously joking, but Elvira was falling for it hook, line, and sinker. At least she was at first. Then, Kal doubled over in laughter and gave herself away. She had a terrible poker, well, everything.
“You’re teasing me,” Elvira said nervously as her brows knitted together and she let out an uncomfortable laugh. “You are teasing, right?”
“Who is to say?” I chuckled, “Maybe I’m kidding, and she’s locked in my room, and you’re safe from the terrible, awful puppy love.”
“But we both know that’s less likely, now isn’t it?” Kal replied as she shot me a smirk. “I’m not sure we can risk it.” She nodded to herself. “Why if I was you, I’d be battening down the hatches right about now.”
“Oh God!” the nymph exclaimed as if she was going to have a heart attack. “I think I’d better--”
“Look, can you guys move?” Ariette said impatiently to Ilias. “We need this table for a meeting.”
“Actually,” the grizzly dwarf replied apprehensively, “we have come to offer our help. We heard what that man told Arendor. And there have been other rumors, about a certain prophecy that a lot of folks are interpreting now to mean the Phobos.”
“Geez, people really do gossip around here,” Maaren complained, and Ilias shot her a glare.
“Look,” he said diplomatically, “we’re competitive when it comes to defeating monsters and killing Unseelie, but this sounds like something much bigger. Whether you believe in prophecies or not, we’re all in this together.”
The dwarf shot me a look that told me he definitely didn’t believe in prophecies, especially ones that concerned me.
“But,” he continued, “the Phobos clearly have an agenda. It’s no longer about who can get the most bounties or which team has the better rooms. This is about the survival of peace and prosperity.”
The room went silent as we acknowledged, truly acknowledged, the reality in his words. It wasn’t about gold coins and sports cars now. It was about dragons, and prophecies, and the kind of evil that could threaten an entire civilization. And while it wasn’t happening tomorrow, that fight was coming, whether we wanted it to or not. It wasn’t about who could stop our enemy first. Thinking that way would sew division, and then there would be no stopping them.
A war had been brewing for a long time. Prophecies had been written, sides had been chosen, and all of us in this room right now were all on the same side.
“Okay,” Ariette said finally. “I’ll hear you out.”
“Well, that was intense,” Kal said with a nervous laugh as she clapped her hands together. “What do you say we find a baby animal and do something good?”
“Please!” Maaren exclaimed. “So much doom and gloom in this room. Yeesh.”
“So,” Kal said as she brought one of the computers to life and pulled up a digital map of Jefferson City, “unless these guys want to travel across the nether realm and that’s pretty damn far away, there are three places in the city where they can get Moly Flowers, as we said before. We’ve got the University, the botanical gardens, and that little farm on the edge of the territory.”
Kal drew two red circles around the university and the gardens and then drew a third red circle on the outskirts of the city.
“We already cut off their supplies at the university,” I reminded the team. “So it’s unlikely they’d try to go back there.”
“That leaves the botanical garden and the farm, and the guy who owns the farm is this old hermit wizard who used to work for the guild,” Kalista explained. “He was very into plants and their healing properties, and when he left, he started a little farm to grow herbs and plants for naturopathic medicine. He claims the Moly Flower actually has some benefits for Fae, but I don’t believe him. That’s beside that point, though. The point is, he has a Moly Flower plant.”
“Do you think the Phobos know about this guy?” Maaren asked skeptically as she motioned to the third circle outside of town.
“How could they not?” I argued. “We found out about it pretty easily, didn’t we?”
“I think we can’t rule a single thing out,” Kal replied. “We’ve got enough people to cover all three areas, especially if we send Ilias’ team to the University.”
“We can do that,” the dwarf agreed. Elvira and her teammates gave a nod to Kalista.
“Good thinking, Kal.” I patted her shoulder gently. “Ariette and I can go the farm, and you and Maaren can stakeout the gardens.”
“And then we wait,” Ariette added.
“And then we wait,” Kal repeated somberly before perking up. “But we can bring snacks. I heard about this place that has tacos that are better than sex.”
“You know… you said that about those sandwiches, and while they were good…” Maaren glanced from me to her. “I’m wondering if you’ve actually had
sex with Milton because let me tell you…”
“I don’t count Milton when I talk about things being better than sex. He’s too great at it. Like, I dunno, he was a god sent down from earth to pleasure women into oblivion with his giant throbbing cock.” Kal sidled over to me as she spoke and then ran her hand along my thigh. “You definitely fulfill all my needs.” She winked at me. “But yeah, you don’t count when it comes to my taco comparison.” She smacked her lips. “Damn, now I don’t know whether I want to eat or fuck.”
“Is it really that big?” Elvira asked suddenly, and when I glanced at her, I found her staring at me with a look that was part hunger, part curiosity, and part, “what the fuck, let’s try it and see.”
“Bigger,” Ariette said firmly, and then she led the way out of the control room. “Alright, everyone, let’s go,”
As we entered the lobby of the guild, my ears perked up as I noticed how unusually quiet it was. At pretty much all hours of the night, the guild was usually lousy with loud activity, but right now, despite the fact that it was still as crowded as ever, it was eerily quiet. I felt like my team and I were Moses parting the Red Sea as we walked toward the doors since every Fae stepped out of our way, almost reverently.
Slight whispers broke through the silence. I turned to see a satyr and dryad involved in a hushed conversation so quiet even my Fae hearing couldn’t pick up on it. But I didn’t miss the way one of the fauns pointed directly at me before she blushed and quickly turned away when I looked in her direction.
They must have heard the news. The Phobos were coming. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that satyr had an affinity for scrolls and realized that I was the Racmoth the prophecy spoke of. Even though most of the Fae didn’t believe in prophecies, I was sure Kalista wasn’t the only one who was a firm believer. And the moment that more Fae understood what we faced would also be the moment that I was suddenly thrown headfirst into my destiny.
I pushed down my thoughts, turned away from the faun, and walked through the guild lobby with my head held high.
“I couldn’t get him on the phone, guys,” Kal said as she handed me a manila envelope with white papers, “but if he doesn’t want to help, that’s your warrant.”