The Dragon's Choice

by Wesley Allison

  “Your right. At least now we can get it to the repair shed.”

  “Lord Dechantagne?” called a man in a black suit and bowler hat. He was carrying a carpetbag, having just stepped off the train.

  “Dr. Megistus?”

  “Yes. You are Lord Dechantagne?”

  “I am.”

  Augie looked the doctor over. They were about the same height and weight, and though the doctor looked a decade older than the young Birmisian lord, he still seemed quite young for someone so accomplished in the field of medicine. He looked quite average, with the exception of a truly prodigious handlebar mustache. He stuck out his gloved hand and Augie shook it.

  “Let me help you with your bag.”

  “No, that’s quite all right. I’ve got it.”

  “Okay then. Right this way. I’ve got my steam carriage parked just across the street. We can go right to the hospital to meet your team, or if you prefer, we could stop and let you freshen up or take a nap. I’ve had a room prepared at my house. I hope that’s acceptable.”

  “I am honored, sir,” said the doctor. “I’d like to get right to work. I’ve had almost three days of nothing but rest on the train.”

  “Very good,” said Augie with a smile. “Right this way then.”

  They left the station and crossed the road to where he had left the car. Augie got it ready to go, which included adding more coal to the firebox, and then climbed up next to the good doctor. As they drove across town, he pointed out some of the areas of interest, including the 203 foot tall Victory Obelisk.

  Just after they made the turn east toward the hospital, Augie was almost startled off the road as a great mass of flame shot just over their head, hitting the trees in a small park, setting them aflame. Augie gained control of the vehicle, but brought it to a quick stop at the curb.

  Jumping to his feet, he watched as a dragon landed in the street not fifty yards away. It was only about half as large as Zoantheria in her dragon form, but that was still three times the size of a car, plenty big from Augie’s point of view. The dragon’s scales were the color of dazzling sapphire, and it would have been beautiful had it not been so frightening.

  The dragon breathed out another blast of fire, setting a house aflame.

  “I know you’re here!” yelled the dragon, in an obviously female voice. “I just can’t tell which one is you! Show yourself and your death will be mercifully quick!”

  Augie thought for a moment of shouting to the beast that Zoantheria was not there. Then it occurred to him that maybe the dragon was looking for him, rather than his lovely dragon acquaintance. He slipped his hand into his pocket and grasped the statuette. “Senta.”

  She appeared right beside his car, looking just as she had when he had summoned her last, which had only been a half an hour before. She looked up at him and smiled.

  “This one is going to cost you, Your Lordship.”

  He just pointed. She turned and looked.

  “Holy crapbasket!”

  “My feelings exactly,” he confirmed.

  She looked both up and down the street, before stepping out across the red brick thoroughfare, which struck Lord Dechantagne momentarily as funny, as any vehicles in the area had either fled or crashed.

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve, dragon!” she shouted.

  “You don’t scare me, human! I am the Goddess of War! I will crush you like the bug you are!”

  “Uuthanum rechthinov uluchaiia,” said the sorceress.

  A massive bolt of lightning shot from her hands, hitting the dragon in the chest. It was knocked backwards, tumbling over itself several times before coming to a stop. It lifted its head and another blast of flame shot out of its gaping maw, this time directly at Senta.

  She threw up a protective shield, but when the flame died away, she still looked a bit singed.

  “Uuthanum beithbechnoth eetarri.”

  A dozen spheres of energy flew from the sorceress, all of them unerringly hitting the dragon. Augie had seen magic users of all stripes throwing magical energy bolts. A powerful wizard might throw a dozen. Even hedge wizards could toss a few. These were to those small balls of energy as cannonballs were to cricket balls.

  “You’ll have to do better than that!” shouted the dragon, apparently not much injured, but the bravado was gone from her voice and she looked a little shaken.

  Spreading her wings, the sapphire dragon jumped up into the air and hovered about a hundred feet off the ground. She spat out what looked, for all the world, like a gigantic wad of dragon phlegm, which landed in a blob ten feet from the sorceress. Senta looked at it with disgust, but then it began to glow amber, then red, and then white. Then it exploded, leaving a large hole in the street and spraying pieces of brick in all directions. The sorceress held up a hand and a giant spectral replica of it stood between her and the explosion protecting her from the fragments.

  “Face it,” said the beast from above. “You’re outclassed.”

  “Is that what you think?” asked Senta. “Uuthanum pestor uusteros jonai.”

  Suddenly her body began to grow and shift. Within the space of three seconds, she had taken on the form of a dragon, three times the size of her sapphire attacker, with off-white scales that let off little shimmering rainbows in the sunlight, like the surface of a pearl.

  “I’m going to eat you for lunch,” she said, leaping into the air.

  The sapphire dragon only just dodged out of the way of her snapping jaws. Then shot away into the distance, with the pearl dragon following.

  Lord Dechantagne looked down at Dr. Megistus.

  “It seems like everyone I know is a dragon these days,” he said.

  The doctor just stared at him.

  “Oh my God!” he said, realization pulling on his face. “She was after you. You’re one too. Aren’t you?”

  Chapter Seventeen: Crème Brechlaise

  Yuah opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling for just a moment. It was the same gold pattern fresco that it had been for years, matching the intricate pattern of pink roses between gold bars on the wallpaper and the gold floral carpeting on the floor. It was high time for a change. Turning to the side, she came nose to nose with Gladys Highsmith, who was looking back. Without her glasses, her eyes looked larger and sadder than normal.

  “How did you sleep?” asked Yuah.

  “Not very well, I’m afraid.”

  “Why not? I slept wonderfully.”

  “What will you do now?

  “What do you mean?” wondered Yuah.

  “Are you going to throw me out or have me arrested?”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “That’s what they usually do,” said Gladys, sadly.

  “Do you think I’m some little girl that you took advantage of?” asked Yuah with a laugh. “Maybe you think I was so overwhelmed with passion that I didn’t know what I was doing.”

  “People do things in the heat of passion that they wouldn’t otherwise do.”

  “No they don’t. That’s just an excuse. Or maybe it’s true for stupid people or those who are not particularly self-aware… my God, I sound just like Iolanthe.” She kissed Gladys on the forehead and then sat up. “You should go back to your room.”

  “You don’t want anyone to see us together.”

  “You have to get ready. We’re going to shrine. You do still want to go, don’t you?”

  Twenty minutes later, Yuah entered the dining room and took her place. The others were present, though as yet, no one had been served. A line of lizzies arrived from the kitchen carrying enough food for twelve people, and began serving the four at the table. Yuah watched as her plate was filled with white pudding, sausages, bacon, fried potatoes, grilled tomatoes, beans, scrambled eggs topped with cheese, and toast.

  “I am so hungry this morning,” she said.

  “We can see that,” said Iolanthe, raising a brow.

  “That’s good, Mother,” said Augie. “I think you’ve gotten a bit too
thin of late. Better to keep up your strength. And how are you this morning, Miss Highsmith?”

  “Very well, Your Lordship.”

  “We’re friends now,” he said. “Please call me Augie. After all, you’re dining at my table and living in my house.”

  “Yes,” said Iolanthe. “How long is that to be, exactly?”

  “I have asked Gladys to live here permanently,” said Yuah. “She is my good friend and will be my companion.”

  “Indeed,” said Iolanthe, with a smirk.

  “Well, I think that’s wonderful,” said Augie, spearing a piece of sausage with his fork. “Mother can arrange an allowance for you. I sure you know by now that if you spend much time with mother it will include copious shopping.”

  “Thank you, Your… Augie.”

  Yuah had Walworth drive them to shrine. She wore her new dress—the black one with a small bustle and the high neck, along with her black top hat. Gladys wore a black over dress with white skirts. It was nice, but not the type of thing usually worn to shrine—a bit on the fancy side.

  As Walworth helped them down from the car, Yuah stopped to take a look at the majestic building and the beauty that surrounded it. The sun was shining through the trees. The grounds around the shrine were newly mowed and the shrubs had been trimmed. Yuah didn’t even mind that the street sign had Iolanthe’s name on it.

  Just outside of the entrance, they ran into Yuah’s father and his wife and young daughter.

  “Good day, Papa. May I introduce my friend, Gladys Highsmith? Gladys, this is my father Zeah Korlann, his lovely wife Egeria, and my little sister, Olivia.”

  “A pleasure to meet you, Gladys,” said Zeah. “Someone told me that you were staying at the Dechantagne home. Who was it now? I don’t remember.”

  “It was Augie,” said Egeria. “He told you at tea the other day.”

  “Oh yes. You know, he loves to visit his Grandpa. Some other people could stand to visit a bit more often.”

  “If you’ll have us,” said Yuah, “we will come to tea today.”

  “You are always welcome, Yuah,” said Egeria. “You know that.”

  “Since you have your friend with you, are you going to sit in back with us today?” asked Olivia.

  “Yes.”

  “Lovely,” said the girl, clearly excited. “I’ve so wanted you to sit with us.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?” asked Yuah. “For that matter, you could sit up front with me anytime. You are a kindeschrein.”

  “Mother says I must sit in the back until I’m sixteen.”

  “Then she can decide for herself whether she is a Kafirite or a Zaeri,” said Egeria.

  Though Zeah was Zaeri, his second wife was a devout Kafirite. They and their daughter attended both shrine and church. This was possible because the two religions had Sabbaths that were two days apart.

  In shrine, though visitors were always welcome, they were required to sit in the back. Children whose fathers were Zaeri, like Yuah and Olivia, were known as kindeschrein and were automatically members of the faith. Children born to a Zaeri mother and a Kafirite father, as was the case with Yuah’s children, had to convert like anyone else who wanted to embrace the Magnificent teachings. As a group, they entered the building and took seats near the back on the right.

  Yuah waved to her friend Honor, but the happiness she had been enjoying all morning fled when she saw Ascan Tice walk by on the way to his seat near the center of the congregation. He looked lost, and she remembered how she felt after Terrence died. He wouldn’t be single long, she thought. Some young woman would snatch him up. He was a handsome, kind, hard-working man with a young son. In fact, looking around, she noticed more than a few doe-eyed looks in his direction.

  “It’s a shame Iolana is so far away,” said Egeria, intruding into her thoughts. “I always thought that she and Ascan would make the perfect couple.”

  “Oh, I think the poor man has been through enough already,” said Yuah.

  * * * * *

  “So, this is the infamous Theodora Reisenstrauss,” observed Prince Clitus, looking through a barred door into a cell in the lowest level of Ravendeep.

  “You are the infamous one, usurper,” hissed the woman on the other side.

  “Me? I haven’t usurped anything, I’m not an anarchist, and I’ve never murdered anyone. Can you say the same?”

  “Your country has all but destroyed the Fatherland. Anything we do to you and your people in return is justice.”

  “So I don’t suppose you want to tell us all about your organization? Where it meets, who is included, what your targets are?”

  She spat at him, but he wasn’t hit.

  “We’ll make her talk,” said Mr. Meanie. “I’ve cracked tougher nuts than her. Once she loses a few fingernails, she’ll be begging to tell us everything she knows.”

  “No,” said Clitus. “She’s not to be harmed. Put a guard on her. No one is to see her but Mr. Aurium or myself.”

  Above the twenty subterranean levels, Ravendeep was a massive five-story building with high gabled roofs and a great tower housing a gigantic clock. In the lobby on the first floor, Mr. Stigby and Bob waited for the Prince.

  “What’s next on the agenda, gentlemen?”

  “You have your final fitting, Your Highness.”

  “Oh yes. We wouldn’t want me to stand up for my brother in a suit I’d worn once before, would we?”

  Outside, they climbed into the car and were soon on their way to the Old City, Stigby driving.

  “My invitation to Lady Terra is being delivered today,” said Clitus, out of nowhere.

  “You didn’t wait until today to ask her out tonight, did you?” asked Bob, looking back over his shoulder.

  “Of course not. The invitation in question is to the wedding. I sent her a simple invitation for tonight days ago.”

  “It wasn’t too simple, I hope.”

  “What are you getting at, Bob?”

  “Well, Your Highness, you have been out and about with the lady, as friends I mean. Did you make it clear in this simple invitation of yours that this was to be a romantic liaison?”

  “Hardly a liaison,” said the Prince. “It’s just a date. You’re upsetting me a bit, Bob. I have to tell you. I’m already under a great deal of pressure you know.”

  “I’m very sorry, Your Highness,” said Bob, turning back around.

  “You did indicate that you had a romantic interest though?” said Stigby.

  “How was I supposed to do that exactly?”

  “Did you mention that she would need a chaperone?”

  “Well, no. You two will be there, like when we went to the opera.”

  “Hardly appropriate for a young lady, Your Highness. And at the opera, she was attending as your friend, at least as far as either of you knew at the time.”

  “Kafira’s blood.” Clitus could feel the blood draining from his face. “What am I going to do, Bob?”

  “Send her a quick note right now, telling her that if she doesn’t have a chaperone, you’ll provide one.”

  “But that makes me sound like an idiot.”

  “There’s nothing that can’t be smoothed over with flowers,” said Stigby. “Send red roses. Every girl in the Empire knows that means you’ve got love on your mind.”

  “He’s right,” said Bob, and then to Stigby, “Swing us by the closest florist.”

  The copper brought the vehicle to a stop in front of a shop called Flora’s Floras, and the three of them hurried inside. The young woman behind the counter, immediately recognizing the Prince, fainted and had to be carried to a couch in back. An older woman with a red face replaced her.

  “I need to have some roses delivered,” said Clitus.

  “Yes, sir. How many?”

  “Three dozen,” said Bob.

  “Why three dozen?”

  “Anything more than that would seem like you were showing off.”

  “Isn’t three dozen quite a lot though?�
�

  “Well, you are the Prince,” said Stigby. “You want to show off a bit.”

  “And you don’t want to look like your being cheap,” added Bob.

  “Three dozen roses,” said Clitus, and taking a note card from the counter quickly wrote, “Looking foreword to this evening. I will provide a chaperone if you haven’t one available. Clitus.”

  “Perfect,” said Bob. “Have these delivered immediately,” he told the counter woman, as he pulled several bank notes from his wallet.

  “Maybe I should get a wallet,” said Clitus.

  “You don’t need one,” Bob assured him.

  “Why not?”

  “For one thing, as long as you don’t have one, I’ve got job security.”

  * * * * *

  “Your family are lovely,” said Gladys, as they sat in the Dechantagne parlor.

  “If you mean my father’s family, then you are right,” said Yuah. “Although I’ve had my differences with Egeria, I’ve come to think of her as a good friend, and Olivia is a wonderful girl.”

  “Your son is very nice.”

  “Augie is a fine man,” agreed Yuah. “He doesn’t really feel like he’s mine though. He’s so much like his father, and more than a little like Iolanthe. Terra was always much more like me.”

  As if the speaking of his name had summoned him, Augustus Dechantagne burst into the room. He sat down across from the two women.

  “Good day, Mother, Gladys.”

  “Good morning,” said Yuah. “Any results yet from your medical team?”

  “I’ve only just got them set up and started, but I have great confidence in Dr. Megistus.”

  “There seems to be fewer cases of the Sweat in the news lately,” said Gladys.

  “Yes, it seems to be on the decline. Until we know the cause however, we can’t be sure that it won’t come back to haunt us at some later date.” He looked at his mother. “Have you arranged an allowance for Gladys yet?”

  “Not yet, but I will.”

  “Good. I suppose now that you have a companion to keep you company, you can dispense with any possible suitors.”