by Oxford, Rain
“He looked me in the eyes and was unafraid.”
I was right back on Enep, in the same place, and surrounded by the same Arcani who arrested my friends. They recognized me and the closest two grabbed me by the arms to restrain me. They dragged me down the hallway, which I didn’t resist. We came to a heavy wooden door that they pushed open. Inside was dark.
I stumbled because I wasn’t warned about the step down, but they caught me and guided me impatiently down a flight of stairs. It was a dark passageway, so I could only be glad the entire way that Hail wasn’t here. He was brave, but he hated the dark because when his powers first developed, he didn’t know the difference between a vision, a nightmare, or reality.
As we traveled deeper into the compound, I memorized the route. We came to a typical dingy dungeon filled with built-in cells so cliché that I rolled my eyes. “Are you serious? I haven’t had my tetanus booster.”
“If you become sick, we will treat you,” one of the guards promised.
Plan C, good. “If you have rats, I will scream until your ears bleed.” They ignored my threat and pushed me into a cell before slamming it shut. I took one look at the disgusting, brown/gray cot and scoffed. “This is no place to keep a person! This isn’t even good enough for a dog!”
They walked away without comment and I studied my six-by-six cell. It was a corner unit, so two adjacent sides were concrete. The bars were vertical, from floor to low ceiling, a good inch in diameter, and about five inches apart. The straw-covered stone floor looked halfway clean and the concrete ceiling had no mold or stains, but the bed was disgusting, made worse by the urine-yellow stain on the pillow.
Outside my cell, there were three more along the wall and four along the wall across from me. In two of the cells across from me were Drake and Sen. In the cell two over from mine was a man I didn’t know. Keys, which I assumed would unlock the cells, hung on the wall far out of reach.
As soon as the door closed behind the Arcani, Drake and Sen stood. “What happened? How did you get caught?” Drake asked.
“I didn’t leave you guys. Vretial pulled me away when my powers cut out. Regivus sent me back here, but he only gave me an hour. Sen, do you have any stones that can get us out? There are keys on the wall.”
“I saw them, but I don’t have anything to levitate them with, or anything to open a lock with.”
“Can you shift and melt the bars?”
“There isn’t enough room. I mean… I could try.”
“You know your body better than me; if you think you can’t do it, I’ll take your word for it.” As I spoke, I started with the bar closest to one wall and tested the durability of each bar until I reached the other wall. “There is a way out. There is always a way out. Now, Dad had a thing.”
“Should you be telling us this? I mean, is it age appropriate for little Sen here?” Drake asked.
The dragon-mage scowled at the older boy. “I am a dragon! You will not talk to me like that!”
“I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking about you!”
Sen blushed and his scowl deepened. “I won’t take that from my mother and I won’t take that from you!”
They continued to bark at each other while I searched my cell. The bars were stable, but Dad always taught me that if the exit was easy, everyone would know about it. Or something like that… There… A loose stone in the floor. I gripped the rock, only to wince due to the sharp edges. My hands were as soft as they could be; I never did any physical labor.
“Drake, toss your shirt over here,”
“Why?”
“I’m not going to ruin mine.”
“I don’t want mine ruined either,” he said as he took it off and threw it across the room.
I caught it easily, wrapped the dark blue t-shirt around my fists, and tried again to move the rock. Despite the fact that it was about a foot wide, ridiculously heavy, and attached to one of the bars, my persistence paid off. I was panting by the time I got it out of the way, but I was able to bend two loose bars out of the way enough to squeeze through.
Once I was out of the cell, I stood and dusted myself off, then took the keys from the wall. “I did it without magic,” I bragged, proud of myself.
“Great. Let me out now,” Sen whined. I unlocked his and Drake’s cells. “How do we get out of here without the Arcani catching---”
“Please don’t leave me here,” the stranger in the other cell interrupted.
“What did you do to get locked up?” I asked.
“No more than you.”
Evading the answer. “If you don’t tell me, we’re just going to leave.”
“He is the reason for the curse.”
We all turned to see Samorde, the Guardian of Enep. Since he was nearly two thousand years old, it always bothered me that he looked about my age. Although his light blond hair, bright hazel eyes, and soft, trusting face were no doubt cute, I was not envious of him.
“This is Eton Luenough, the man who designed the weapon that he destroyed the world with.”
“Why is he locked up?”
“Because Regivus always offers a way out. If this man is killed, the curse will end. Knowing this, the Arcani locked him up to protect him.”
“Why did he do it?” I asked as Drake picked up his shirt and put it back on. It was out of shape and dusty, but there were no holes in it.
“What does that matter?”
“I’m curious of the way he thinks,” I said. Drake sighed. “Regivus gave me one hour and I’m running out of time; I promised I would fix everything in the museum.” The words were barely out of my mouth when the entire dungeon shook. The groan of the world quaking was a miserable sound, as well as deadly.
When four demons appeared right in front of us, the balance woke with a ferocity I hadn’t yet seen. They was not tearing out of the void but traveling as the Guardians did, and that was unacceptable. The balance bonded to my Iadnah energy at the same time nominal energy was drawn into me. Outside my control, green lightning burst from my hands to strike all four demons, causing them to burst into ash.
The silence that followed as the balance settled down was deafening. Samorde hesitantly took a few steps back from me.
“Why would demons show up here?” I asked.
“They are looking for this, I imagine,” the Guardian said as the bow appeared in his hands. He handed it to me gently.
It was the same size as Hail’s azurath bow, but heavier, as it was made entirely of obsidian. “It was you who took it? Not the demons?”
“I did not mean to cause a problem or get in your way.”
“I know that. More importantly, my powers are working now. Take this to Regivus.”
“You trust him?” Sen asked.
“He is a Guardian,” I said. Although I said that, it wasn’t the real reason I knew I could trust Samorde. After Rasik’s betrayal, I knew the Guardians were capable of it, but I also knew it was the fault of their god. Rasik betrayed us because his god allowed him to. Azenoth wanted more than he could handle. Regivus, on the other hand, could easily control Samorde. It wasn’t that I trusted Samorde, more that I trusted Regivus.
The Guardian took the bow and disappeared.
“You cannot just leave me here!” Eton Luenough said.
“What is he saying?” Drake asked.
“He wants out.”
“Good idea. Kill him and end the curse,” Sen suggested.
“You can’t kill him,” Drake argued. “Yeah, he may have killed people, but you don’t have the right to judge him. Maybe there was extenuating circumstances.”
“Maybe he killed millions of people for a good reason?” Sen asked. “For what reason would killing millions of people be a good thing? You can end the suffering of all these people. Why should they suffer for this man’s sins?”
“That isn’t for us to decide!”
I sighed with frustration. They were both right, and that meant whatever I chose was wrong. Worse, this was exactly the kind of deci
sion I would have to make as a Noquodi. I took Sen and Drake’s hands and as light filled the room. When the light cleared, we were in the museum.
Elwyn was there, cleaning up. My magic was powerful in healing people, but I knew I could repair these artifacts because they had sentimental value to the people here. My energy flooded the room, not with the intention to repair the artifact, but with the desire to help the people who cared about the items. Glass, stone, clay, and wood suddenly fused together as if in rewind, though anything on the floor remained there. When my magic had done its job, the artifacts were repaired, while the dirt and rumble was still all over the ground.
Elwyn gasped. “You did it. You fixed everything.” Then she screamed and I felt a hard nudge against my back. I turned to find Seimei sitting on her hunches. She narrowed her eyes in disapproval at Elwyn.
My griffin was so elegant. Being separated from me for years while I lived on Earth was hard on her. After all, I hatched her and took care of her since she was a baby… behind my parents’ back, of course. Although she often snapped at Ikiru, she did it in an elegant way, as if nobody could ruffle her feathers or her fur. She could usually glare at Ikiru until he stopped doing whatever stupid thing he was doing to annoy her.
I knelt and hugged her. This seemed to calm Elwyn down a little. Drake, however, was on the verge of hyperventilating.
“Seimei is his baby. If you insult her, Ron will eat your entrails,” Sen warned the fae.
Drake waved his hands in a panicked motion and gritted his teeth. “I’m not freaking out. Does it look like I’m freaking out? No, I’m cool as a cucumber,” he said, his voice breaking.
Chapter 7
Mordon
Emiko laid her head on my shoulder as she stroked her finger over my chest. She had something to say and I had been waiting for her to say it all night. I didn’t feel like pushing the matter, since I knew what she wanted to say anyway.
“I think we should stop seeing each other,” she finally said, looking up at me. I continued to stare at the ceiling. “I don’t love you.”
“I don’t love you, either.”
“We never make each other happy.” I looked at her and she rolled her eyes. “Outside of the bedroom. It is not enough. I want to be the most important person in the world to someone. I think I just like you because you are the most powerful dragon I have ever met.”
“Rojan is anyway.”
“I know you could never love anyone the way I want to be loved. You will never be happy.” She turned over to face the door.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
She sat up and looked at me. “If Dylan were a girl, you would have married him already. There is no one more important to you than him.”
“If Dylan were a woman I would be very jealous of his wife. But I don’t love him that way. I don’t want to sleep with him at all. Not only is he a guy, and not even an effeminate one, we are in each other’s heads all the time. It would be weird. If he was a girl, I still wouldn’t love him that way.”
“I can give you sex. I can even give you a child if you wanted. But you would drop everything for him.”
“He is my brother.”
“That doesn’t mean the same to everyone else as it does to you. You killed Rojan’s sister without hesitating.”
“She tried to kill us. Rojan never had the same sibling bond as I do with Dylan.”
“It isn’t a sibling bond. You call him your brother, but he isn’t. Maybe it isn’t a sexual thing, but you could never love a person more than him, and I think he would even help you over his wife. And even then, Dylan still loves his wife. I want someone to treat me like Dylan treats Divina.”
And I wanted Sydney back. I only knew her as Sydney for a short time, but her soul was Arazel, who Rojan had spent more than a hundred years with.
A dragon never loves another after we find our mate, Rojan thought.
I know. I had long since given up on the argument. Rojan constantly reminded me that Emiko, although beautiful, was a nightmare as life partner. She was like a poisonous snake; lovely to look at and amazing in her survival strategies, but absolutely impossible to keep.
“If you want to stop seeing each other, I can handle that.” I shouldn’t have felt sad to say it. As troublesome as the dragoness was, she had been getting better over the years. I actually started to think she really did care about me in her own selfish way. Apparently, I was wrong.
“If we saw each other more… Do you think you could love me if I wait long enough?”
I sighed. “You just said you thought we should stop.”
“I do think we should, I just don’t want to. I want to know if we will ever get anywhere with this.”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not very reassuring.”
“That is what I can offer you right now.”
She was silent for a few minutes while my fingers played with her gold and red strands of hair. “I’m sorry about your knee,” she said.
I realized when I moved back to Duran that part of Emiko’s nature was to make sure she was actually with the strongest dragon, which meant she was constantly testing me. If I didn’t rebuke her for talking back or being rude, then I wasn’t what she wanted. She often provoked a fight and then wanted to be cuddled and coddled after I won. I didn’t like myself when I was with her… I just didn’t want to be alone.
“Mordon, I’m---”
The sudden appearance of Xul cut her off. The demon ignored her as she covered herself up with the dark blue blanket, which I found odd because she never used to hide her body from anyone.
“Is Dylan hurt?” I asked, instantly worried despite the fact that I normally sensed when Dylan was in trouble. Something had been off the last couple of days, though.
“No, Ron is trying to put himself in danger. I don’t know how or why, I just know I need your help.”
I got up, put my shirt back on, and grabbed the azurath sword from under the bed. The scent of the demon’s worry was enough to incite my fire. The instant I stood, I was facing a creature so huge and hideous that Rojan shuddered. Our instinct was to shift, but a dragon cannot hold a sword and I knew that in a dragon fight, size mattered.
This monster stood as tall as some castles. Out of what should have been its face, huge tentacles writhed and flexed, each moving of its own accord to create a frightening, alien effect.
The creature reached for me and I swung, successfully cutting off the creature’s clawed hand. Every move from then on was automatic until my opponent was dead. The last thing I was expecting was for Ron to attack me; however, Rojan and I both knew it was the balance, the natural force of the universe, not my nephew. Ron was a little demon behind a sweet face, but he put family first, which included me. Fortunately, Xul was able to shield me in time since Dylan’s magic enabled him to be fast enough and powerful enough to protect me as well as the boys.
When Ron struck again, it was Xul who went down, but as he rose his hand to attack again, bright light filled the area. Ron was gone when it cleared. I went to the demon, who was already struggling to his feet, and helped him up. Although I could heal as any wizard could, such methods were slow compared to Dylan’s magic, so instead I reached into the bag at my side, pulled out a small vial, and handed it to Xul. He took it hesitantly, then drank it down easily.
He frowned at the empty bottle. “Did you make this?”
“Yes.” Working with Dylan, I learned to always have medical supplies on hand. Even though Dylan could heal anyone from anything, he felt phantom pains of the wounds he healed. If I had something on hand that could save him from the trouble, I would use it. This potion was specifically designed to clear up nausea and kill pain without impairing judgment.
“Damn. You should sell potions professionally,” he suggested. “It seems you took your vacation a few days too late; the demon war has begun. Demons have been attacking some of Dylan’s known supporters.”
“What is Dylan doing
about this?”
“I haven’t told him.”
“Why not? Dylan needs to know.”
He sighed, as if unsure whether or not to tell me. “Vretial told me what Dylan is doing now will turn out to be pivotal to our success.”
“And you trust him?”
“I trust Dylan, and Dylan seems to trust Vretial. Do you want me to send you back to your dragoness?”
I wasn’t a fool; I knew Xul and Sydney had a history together. Often when we were with the demon, Rojan felt perverse joy that she had chosen us over Xul. Xul and I both refrained from bringing her up around each other. Out of all of us, I was the one Xul was most civil to.
“Can you send me to Dylan?”
“I can’t. There is someone keeping you and Dylan apart as well as Ron and Hail. Ron is trying to find the god weapons, while Hail is stranded. I can’t find him, you, or Ron unless one of you is in immediate danger.”
“What about Divina? Can she send me to Hail?”
“She is busy,” he said.
“Tell Kiro to separate from Dylan, then you can flash me to him and he can… No, never mind; he can’t flash.”
“You realize that being less powerful than Dylan is not a handicap, right? I was furious and jealous that he had so much power until I realized how much shit he actually has to take for just being alive. Are you ever jealous or angry at him?”
I shook my head. “He can be a brat, but he has never done anything to really warrant anger from me or Rojan. I don’t think he is actually capable of such a thing, not even accidentally. Send me to whatever god you think would give me the time of day. I’m going to get Hail and we’ll work on the keeping the demons from hurting anyone. You just… keep doing whatever you’re doing.”
He looked a little offended. “I have been running myself ragged trying to help everyone and keep demons under control. I have even found out information about Janus.”
“What did you find out?”
“He’s missing.”
“Fantastic. We already knew that.”
“No, you thought he was dead. He isn’t. I don’t know where he is, but I know he’s alive.”