by Aaron Crash
Steven wheeled in the sky and then came down to land on the road beside their vehicles: Liam’s F-150, Bud’s BMW, and their Chevy Silverado, brand-new and sparkling.
Steven changed into his human form, put on his jeans and shirt, and walked up to them. His face was dark.
Mouse rushed to him and grabbed his arm. “What did he want? Tell me everything. You told him we’re going to murder him, right? He killed my parents, Steven. That son of a cocksucker killed my parents!”
Steven took her into his arms and hugged her tight. Mouse wasn’t ready for such a display of affection. Then she realized she was shaking. She couldn’t control her anger. A million memories flooded her—her mother reading her bedtime stories, her father’s fencing lessons, evening meals with her father, his wives, their children. There had been a ton of fighting, and most of the time, Mouse had been on the losing side in the chaos of such a big family. She had never really felt like she fit in, but there had been some good times.
Until Cassius Pine.
“I’ll tell you everything,” Steven said. “It’s … interesting, to say the least. But let’s eat first.” He pressed his hand to his gurgling gut.
The seven of them crowded around the table full of food. They had bags of salt ’n vinegar potato ships, kettle-boiled and extra crunchy. Dip them in potato salad and they were delicious. Liam had made a three-bean salad and a coleslaw that was as sweet as it was creamy. For the burgers, they had homegrown tomatoes from Liam’s hothouse, fresh lettuce, pickles, raw red onions, grilled onions, avocado, mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise. Sweet relish for the hot dogs. Sauerkraut for the brats.
Mouse took a hot dog, though she didn’t have an appetite.
There were only six places to sit on the benches of the picnic table, so Bud sat on a cooler at one end. He wasn’t too happy about it. The folding lounge chairs they’d brought were too low.
Bud smiled while complaining. “Sure, stick the money guy with the crappiest seat. Once I start bringing you millions of dollars, then you’ll treat me like the prince I am.”
Liam took a bite of his cheeseburger. He swallowed. “Tell me again, Steven, what are Bud’s powers? Can he breathe fire?”
“Better,” Steven said. “He can breathe money.”
“Hells yeah I can!” Bud exploded. “See, Liam, I may be the simple human in the group, but I gots the mad skillz! With a ‘z’!”
“I’m human,” Tessa protested.
“How many humans do you know that can cast spells?” Bud asked. “And when you kiss Steven, you glow. Yeah, I’m thinking you are something else.”
“She is,” Liam said. “Tessa’s magical gifts are considerable. I think she has some hidden history that we don’t know about, some connection to the Dragonsouls—maybe an ancient ancestor of amazing power.”
“Aww, I’m blushing.” Tessa grinned. “But if I am related to Harry Houdini or Steven Strange, I’d be the last to know it. As far as I’m know, I’m half American, half white trash, with a little Cherokee thrown in for flavor.”
Mouse lost her shit. She’d felt it slipping out of her hands, and now she was flinging it everywhere. “This isn’t just some fucking picnic. This is important. Cassius Pine is a murderous asshole, and I need to know what that fucker and Steven talked about. Can we cut the witty fucking banter for once?”
The awkward silence that followed was too much for her. “Oh, just never mind,” she snapped and stormed away into the trees, into the darkness. She wandered into a clearing of green grass. A huge moon gave her light, but it was cold away from the warmth of her friends. Once more, she’d exploded, and she knew that while the women were patient, she could strain their patience to the breaking point. She’d done it before.
She felt the tears come, and how she hated that, crying, alone, hungry. Everything had smelled so good, but she simply didn’t have an appetite.
Steven found her and handed her a plate. He’d added a little bit of everything. “I brought you some food. I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you what he said right away.”
“Yeah, you should’ve,” Mouse said in a weepy voice she hated. “Where can I sit?”
Steven stepped out of his clothes again and turned into his True Form. He thumped his tail on the ground, flattening the grass. “You can sit on me.”
Mouse agreed. She rested on his scales. His massive body warmed away the mountain night’s chill.
Steven told her the high points. Every word cut into her, but once she started eating, she couldn’t stop. Oh, she’d been hungry! That was why her mood had been so rotten.
When Steven finished, he let it all sink in.
“So what are we going to do?” Mouse asked.
Steven growled, and his tail thrummed under her. “We are going to go to France and get the third book. If we’re attacked, we know Cassius is a lying piece of shit. If he’s not, then we come back and pick a fight anyway. We won’t be joining with him, Mouse. Not after what he did. We simply can’t trust him. Not ever.”
Mouse let out a huge breath. It felt like she’d been holding it in for hours. “I’m so glad to hear you say that. But now that I’ve eaten, I can think a little more clearly. He really is offering us an olive branch. I guess we can’t just go in and kill him.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Let’s go back to the others. Let’s see what they all have to say. Okay?”
She nodded. She then flattened herself against his tail, giving him a hug. This big body under her, the warm scales, the power in it, made her feel safe. Finally, she slipped off him.
He shifted back, dressed, and they returned to the picnic spot. A big fire bloomed in the darkness. The meal had been cleaned up, but they’d left a platter of grilled meat for Steven, who took it and stuffed himself while he again went over his meeting with Cassius.
They all sat in folding lounge chairs around the fire, and Bud got the cooler once more.
Mouse sat with her arms folded across her chest. Tessa was across the way. Sabina sat next to her. The two held hands like a couple of young lovebirds.
When Steven finished, Tessa was the first to speak. “It sounds to me like Cassius is telling the truth. Why would he go behind Rahaab’s back to tell us about the third volume? Maybe he’s afraid of us. After our battle with Mulk, he knows we can kick some serious ass.”
“Tessa is right,” Aria said. “We are powerful, and the Primacies around us know it. Others will reach out to form alliances. If we partnered with Cassius, that would solidify our position. These are dangerous times for the Great Plains Primacy, as Steven is new to the game.”
Mouse wanted to shriek in frustration, but she kept her mouth closed. It took some effort … quite a bit of effort.
“And this is what the Dragonsouls do,” Liam said with a shrug. “They use a mixture of politics and violence to play their games. So far, Steven, you and your Escort have only seen open battle. But there is a constant cold war among our kind. It can be difficult to know who you can trust.”
“What do you think of Cassius’s offer?” Steven asked.
Bud, ever clueless, burst in. “That guy is trying to get into our heads. I say fuck him and the dragon he rode in on. Okay, he kinda rode in on himself, so that’s not quite right, but this seems all too convenient. He reaches out right after you kill the Australian guy? And let’s not forget you now own two Primacies. No, it’s a squirrely move. If he really wanted to form an alliance, he’d have reached out right away. No, we should—”
Steven cut him off. “Wait, Bud, I want to hear from Liam. Hold that thought.”
“Holding,” Bud said good-naturedly.
Liam let out a long breath. “We are not going to brashly rush into anything with Cassius. The third volume is a test, and it’s a dangerous one. We need to scry Mont-Saint-Michel to see if we can sense anything. And then we should proceed with caution. Rahaab is a foe we can’t face, not yet.”
“What do you know about Rahaab?” Steven asked.
Liam shifted
in his seat, grabbed a split log, and threw it into the fire. Sparks washed up into the darkness.
“Mathaal was the only ancient dragon that I knew of … the others are only myths, mere legends. There was a story about three brothers, ancient dragons, that kept the peace in America for centuries, though they did it behind the scenes. Could that be Rahaab and his brothers? Possibly. There are many stories. For example, supposedly the father of all dragons is living on the Arabian Peninsula, and the mother? She is said to live in the Andes Mountains in Peru. But again, these are only legends. This Rahaab has kept himself hidden for millennia. Even during the Conclave, he manipulated the outcome using the secret cabal of Mulk, Wenck, and the other three Primes, now all dead. Could it be that Cassius is simply using the name of Rahaab to scare us?”
No one answered. Mouse raised her hand. Okay, this was going to take some self-control.
Steven nodded at her. “It’s not school, Mouse, you don’t have to raise your hand to talk. Go ahead.”
“I thought I was next,” Bud pouted.
“Sorry, keep holding,” Steven said.
Mouse felt her brow furrow. “First of all, I’m sorry I was such a bitch earlier. This is all really hard on me. You guys still have families. I don’t … because of what Cassius Pine did. He killed my mother, my sisters, everyone in my family. A few of the wives he spared, but now they have to serve him. It’s … so fucked.” She swallowed hard and tried to keep herself from yelling or sobbing. “I can’t … I can’t stay with you guys if you join up with Cassius. I’d have to leave. I really don’t want to. But I can’t forgive him.” She exhaled. Nailed it. No tears. No screeching.
Steven nodded. “We’re nowhere near that, Mouse. And for the record, I’m on your side.”
“But if Cassius can help our cause,” Aria said, “we’d be foolish to turn him away.”
Tessa was the next to speak. “And at some point, if we really want to bring revolution to Dragonsoul culture, we’ll have to forgive sins. If people want to change, we should let them.”
Her words hurt Mouse. She so wanted to get up and storm away. However, she stayed in her seat, shaking. She couldn’t stop shaking.
Bud raised his hand. “Hey, it worked for Mouse. Can I talk now?”
Steven waved him on.
“Uh, fuck Cassius Pine.” Bud leaned back and folded his arms. “Okay, I’m done.”
They all laughed. Bud could be such a tool.
“What do you think, Sabina?” Steven asked.
Sabina rose from her chair. Her white cane fell to the ground. She reached out her hands and murmured, “Magica Divinatio.” Her eyes flashed a brilliant emerald green color. That gleaming light cast a strange luminescence across the ground.
“I see France. I see the coast, Normandy, next to Bretagne, and the ocean there. The tide is in, and the waters wash against the stone of the monastery … the castle … the walls, they are thick. People are there, praying, and I hear their supplications. Power is there, ancient power, and the books. A library, hanging between the sky and the Earth, buried in secrets and death. Dragons. Fire. A murder. Brother against brother. Blood on the ground, a volcano, not there, but elsewhere, on land not named by man or god.”
Mouse watched in fascination. So much Animus filled the air, it was like she could taste it.
Sabina’s eyes flashed brighter. “Sorrow. The past is filled with sorrow, and now, there is regret, and through the veil of time, into the future. Death. I see a yellow dragon, rotting, but alive. An abomination. Mouse, Melissa Craygore, she will be a sacrifice. She will go willingly, despite her fear. The mountains are on fire. The ground boils. Death from the shadows, from the darkness, and Steven, wounded, riding the edge between life and death, victory and defeat, and no, no, it can’t be.” Her voice fell away. The terror on her face was evident, cold and pale. Sabina croaked out her next words. “Truth as sharp as a sword, sharper, cleaving through this world until the very shadows come alive to destroy us.”
Sabina’s face twisted in anguish. Tears leaked down her cheeks. She fell onto her hands and knees in front of the fire, trembling like a leaf in the wind. Tessa was the first to reach her, trying to soothe her. Aria joined them.
Mouse couldn’t move. She’d never been more afraid in her life. Was she going to sacrifice herself to save them? She had in the past, laying everything on the line, but would she have to do it again? It seemed so.
Steven and Liam stood over Sabina, Aria, and Tessa, who were all on the ground.
Mouse finally found the nerve to get up, but she wasn’t sure where to go. She ended up fleeing from Sabina’s prophecy. She opened the door to the Orange Crush and pulled out the cigarettes from the glove compartment. She lit one and took in a long drag. The smoke in her lungs soothed her.
The ride back to Cheyenne was quiet. Steven drove, and Aria took shotgun, which forced Mouse, Sabina, and Tessa in the back seat with the barista in the middle.
When Tessa took Mouse’s hand, Mouse let her.
“Do you hate me?” Tessa asked.
Mouse snuggled in next to her. It was true she wasn’t Mouse’s favorite person at that moment, but the petite blonde wasn’t going to let that truth cut them. “I don’t hate you, Tessa, you’re far too nice. Do you hate me? I’ve been kind of a pain.”
“I don’t,” Tessa whispered. “I can’t imagine ever hating you. And I can’t imagine what you are going through. My dad died when I was ten, after my brother was born, but before we knew Jared had MS. If someone had actually hurt my family? I’m not sure I could forgive them, no matter how much I wanted to. I can’t forgive death. And I can’t forgive MS. I hate them so much. But not you.”
Mouse sighed in relief. She still had a family.
“It’s settled,” Steven said from the front seat. “We go to France. The reality is Cassius Pine can wait. We don’t need to make a decision about him.”
“I want a crepe,” Mouse said. “Before I die, I want a crepe in France. If this is a trap, well, fuck it, at least I’ll get something yummy before I die.”
To her shock, everyone broke into laughter, even Sabina.
“Crepes it is,” Steven said.
EIGHT
Twenty-four hours later, Steven stood near a bonfire that Liam had built in the ruins of the Infinity Ranch. They’d driven the Jayco trailer there, and the Yellow Ronin had set up a tent. He didn’t complain, but Bud wasn’t about to camp. He was back in his hotel suite in Cheyenne.
Sparks spat from the roaring fire to drift up to the stars. The Yellow Ronin had spent the day eating, resting, and getting ready to cast the portal magic, which would sap most of his Animus. Steven made sure he and his Escort were powered up.
They were ready. Mouse, in an easily discarded blue dress, had the Slayer Blade strapped across her back on the adjustable belt. Tessa wore jeans, a ripped Halestorm T-shirt, and had her pistols on her side. The leather satchel with the two Drokharis grimoires was slung over her shoulder. The topaz pen with the sapphire feathers was also inside. Aria stood in a red dress, hair braided.
Sabina wasn’t there.
“Hold on a second,” Steven said. He saw something glowing green in the garden. That would be the blind woman using her Divinatio magic to see.
He approached her. The ground was black from the fire and smelled like an ashtray. Some weeds had sprung from the soil. The plants were bright against the blasted earth.
Sabina’s eyes shined a brilliant emerald color. “Steven, I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but come over here. I know we have to go but … the power here—the sadness, the madness. Mathaal’s battle. I can see him using his magic and his Exhalants. Even now, his ghost is here. He used a Defensio spell to pull a wall out of the house. It’s more like telekinesis than a force field. I’ve never seen such a thing.”
Steven nodded. “It was quite the battle. He saved us. Tessa hated that we used him as a weapon, but in the end, he forgave us. He felt bad for killing his brother. And he and my fath
er were friends.”
“Stefan Drokharis had many friends, but Rahaab wasn’t one of them. I can see that as well. And yet, he has the third volume of your family’s grimoire. I don’t know why.” Sabina approached him and touched his face. She smiled, and it made her even more beautiful. “You will have a thick beard when you walk across the universe. That could be your future, if you are not killed. I see both possibilities. As for your past, three months ago, you were working so hard, going to school, being a good son and a good student. You were younger. The battle has aged you. And that is sad.”
Steven was blown away. “So you can see all of that right now?”
Sabina nodded. “Your past, your future—right now, it’s a swirl of images, but if I focus, I can tell which is which. And I know I will kiss you before we leave.” Tears trickled down. They sparkled like gems on her cheeks.
Steven used his thumbs to brush them away. “Why are you crying?”
“I feel ugly. I feel useless. Aria whispers to Tessa that I might not be able to fight. That I am a liability. Or she will say those things in the future. I wish I was whole. You are a good man, Steven Drokharis. Maybe I’m not worth your time.”
Steven paused to think. Aria would have her doubts. She was a tough one, and though she was not the jealous sort—not in the least—she could be brutally utilitarian. If Aria thought, even for a moment, that Sabina couldn’t pull her weight or would risk the Primacy, there could be trouble between them. But it was possible Sabina could hear things from the future, which demonstrated just how powerful she might be. And besides, she’d come to him looking for help. He couldn’t turn her away. Couldn’t.
He wrapped his arms around the blind woman and held her. She fit perfectly in his arms. Her head rested against his chest, and her sizeable breasts pressed into his body. She didn’t have a dragon scent, but she was wearing a light perfume that smelled so good. He kissed her head.
“We can make this work, Sabina,” he whispered. “If you can see into the future during attacks, you might be able to anticipate our enemies’ movements.”