by Alan Marble
There was some logic to the man’s words, enough that the others fell silent and did not offer any objection, not immediately, even if they looked displeased all the same. When no one spoke up, Carolus stood once again. “Then there is an alternate proposal to consider. Is there any other proposal? Any other comment? If not, then let us proceed with making a decision …”
The whole time up to that point, Jonah had listened to the proceedings, the little banter back and forth between the members of the “clan”, trying his best not to dismiss it all out of hand. It all seemed rather silly and absurd to him, as if it were all made up for his benefit, to get him to go along with the whole dragon story.
Still there was that tiny nugget of doubt. Much as he wanted to believe it was all some fabrication, that everything on down to his imagined fall from the bridge was somehow made up, he knew that he could not just pretend the entire thing was a fantasy for his benefit. It was becoming easier to believe in dragons than a vast conspiracy to ends that he could not imagine.
Fact or fiction, it was time for him to get more involved in making decisions about what was going to happen to him. It was, after all, still his life to lead. “Wait. I have a question.”
The entire gathering fell silent when he spoke up. All eyes were on him - Rebekah’s included, her green eyes widening in surprise, as well as something that almost looked like admiration. Carolus, equally caught off guard, cocked his head. “You have something to say?”
“You asked for opinions, but before I can give one, there’s a few things I have to know, a few things I have to understand. I’m supposedly a part of this thing, and … it’s ok if I ask a few questions, right?”
Glancing to his side, he could see Abe practically beaming with pride, as if he’d taken some special interest in him. Oddly, he felt proud to see the reaction. “Very well,” Carolus said, with a nod. “It is well within your right to speak at Convocation.”
“Right. Well … first, I need someone to tell me about what’s going on with this Syndicate. I mean, what’s really going on. Abe told me about how they’re hunting you down - hunting us down - but I want to know why. What do they really want with us?”
“To destroy us,” the old man said a little severely. “Nothing more, nothing less. Those of us who they cannot subvert to their own means they will simply eliminate. They will not stop until the last of our clan is gone.”
Jonah shook his head a little impatiently. “Yeah, I get that, but what’s really going on? Surely you can’t mean to tell me that it’s nothing more than a thousand year old feud and they’re just out to get us because they don’t like us.”
Carolus, on the other hand, seemed only too patient with the question. “That too is easily answered. The Syndicate seeks nothing more than power. Since the beginning they have viewed the dragons as the only thing standing in their way. They are both covetous of us and afraid of us.”
“More than that,” Abe interrupted. “They believe that mankind is destined to rule the Earth and that all the creatures are to be subservient to them. The existence of the dragons is an affront to that belief. The fact that we’re still here, empowered on our own, and not fallen sway under their influence is the one great bane of their existence.”
“All right. So let’s say they get their way, let’s say they hunt us down and win this little war,” Jonah said, noticing that many of those seated around the table cringed at the very thought. “What happens, then? They going to enslave humanity or something like that?”
“No, I doubt that,” the old man muttered, resting his hands on the table. “They have already worked their way deep into many of the power structures, governments, corporations, and so on. Without the dragons in their way they will have essentially achieved their goals of power and control.”
Frowning a little at the answer, Jonah shrugged. “So, then, not much else is going to change, other than we’re outta the picture.”
“Yes, you could say that.”
“So we’re not like, fighting for the sake of mankind, the future of the world, anything like that?”
Jenna, the woman who had spoken up before, broke the silence in an almost animated fashion. “We’re fighting for our lives. Isn’t that enough?”
“Yeah, I get it,” Jonah responded with a bit of a frown. “But, I mean, is it really worth all of this running and hiding and fighting? Don’t you all get tired of it sometimes, wouldn’t you just like to be done with all of that? Have a little peace and quiet?”
“Well, certainly,” she spat back with a slightly irritated tone to her voice. “But that’s not going to happen, not until the Syndicate is gone to the last man. I can accept that you are new here, that there’s a lot you don’t know, but you can’t be so stupid as to believe we can accomplish that. There are hardly more than fifty of us anymore, and the Syndicate are numerous. They’ve wiped out every other clan and whittled us down to the few that remain.”
“And are they ever going to stop? If they’re just going to keep hunting us, just keep picking us off till there’s only a few left then what is the point? It sounds as if you’re saying we’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t.”
The woman frowned again, but Carolus raised his hand to interrupt before she could respond. “It is the curse and the burden that we are all born with, Jonah. Would that it were different, that it could be different, and not a one of us here would not leap at the chance. Perhaps we are doomed to fail to the Syndicate in the end. Perhaps we are doomed to eke out a meager existence, hidden in the shadows and hanging on by a thread. Then again, perhaps fate will smile on us eventually and we may be allowed to flourish again. None here can see the future, Jonah, and so we must do what we can and fight for survival.”
Shaking his head with a little sigh, Jonah considered letting it go there. He could not help but to wonder if the whole lot in front of him were simply resigned to their fates; perhaps they had been fighting so long they weren’t even capable of finding a way out. “What if there was a way? I don’t suppose anyone here has bothered calling this Syndicate up and seeing if you can’t put together some kind of peace treaty, or something.”
His suggestion seemed to have caused a shocked silence to fall over the assemblage, and it was a long moment of listening to the fire crackling before Abe spoke up, his voice rather muted. “A novel idea, kid, but I’m afraid it wouldn’t work. The Syndicate does not want peace, they want control of us.”
“And what if we gave it to them? Told them we were sick of fighting, that we’d agree to play by their rules, work for their team?”
“Utterly ridiculous,” Jenna spat out again, this time not bothering to hold her tongue in the least. “To do so would be to abandon everything we’ve fought for, for generations. It would be no better than being yoked to work for them, to give up our own free will.”
“So what?” Jonah shrugged from across the table, not feeling intimidated by the woman’s ire. “Maybe working for them wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It doesn’t sound like they’re out to destroy the world, so why not? Beats dying, if you ask me.”
Several jaws around the table went slack, and the woman sputtered angrily before answering with nearly a shout. “Absolutely preposterous! Are we really going to sit here and listen to this whelp insult our very way of life by suggesting …”
“Enough, Jenna.” It was Carolus, the old man, who cut her off once again and demanded silence - which he received. He regarded Jonah with an inquisitive expression, reserved but curious, as if he were trying to figure something out, as if he were trying to peer deeper into his soul. “He may be a whelp but Jonah holds the token of the Silver Dragon. It is his right to speak here, and he may have a point. Something none of us, set in our ways, would have ever suggested, never even considered. Let us not stifle his input.”
Jonah found his confidence beginning to waver even as the old man made a point of defending him. Four of those assembled were regarding him with open contempt, the woman and th
e man who looked to perhaps be her brother, as well as two others who had been silent up to that point. Abe looked to be slightly impressed, and Rebekah wore an expression that was nothing short of incredulous. It all made him feel nervous, and he found that he could no longer speak. Even when Carolus asked him if he had anything further to say, he merely shook his head and sunk into his seat.
“Then,” the old man went on, “I must ask if there are any other alternatives to the plans that have been suggested by the Convocation.” Again there was a brief silence, a few heads shaking in the negative, before he continued once more. “Very well. The time to make a decision is upon us. First, the alternative proposed by our brother Ibrahim. That we take no immediate action with regards to the disappearance of our elder and Jeffress, and that we attempt to formulate a plan to capture an agent of the Syndicate for questioning. All in favor of this course of action, please indicate.”
Abe raised his left hand slowly but resolutely; no one followed suit. Even as he surveyed those seated around him he still smiled pleasantly, nodding as his eyes met the others, each in turn. He did not seem to be either disappointed or surprised by the defeat.
Carolus looked around with a nod. “Now the second alternative, proposed by myself. That we assemble a group to assail the Syndicate compound where we now know that our elder is being held, and attempt his escape. We shall also attempt to locate our brother Jeffress, if he is held in the same location. All in favor of this course of action, please indicate.”
Several hands went up this time. Jonah glanced around the table to see that Carolus, of course, supported his own proposal. He was not surprised to find that five other hands raised - in fact, everyone at the table except for Abe and himself had their hands in the air. And once again, all eyes were cast upon him, as if expecting him to do something.
He did nothing other than sink deeper into his seat.
“Very well. As there are enough in support of this course of action to proceed, there is no longer any need to consider further proposals,” Carolus intoned, resting his hands on the table; he still seemed to be looking right at Jonah. “This Convocation is hereby concluded. All participants are expected to reconvene here in five days. Good day to you.”
Just like that, the little meeting was over. There was some muted discussion, but for the most part the participants simply got up from their seats and made their way out of the room. Jonah was fairly certain that more than one of them paused as they passed his seat to scowl, but by now all of the defiance he felt earlier had washed away. When the woman Jenna stopped in front of him, he felt himself blanch.
“How you were ever chosen to be the Silver Dragon is beyond me. The drake whose place you take is likely rolling in his grave, as are those who came before him. You do a disservice to the name of the Silver Dragon and are a shame to the council.” She scowled at him severely before she continued. “You would do well to keep your mouth shut and do as you are told, whelp. You don’t deserve that token, and until you prove yourself worthy of it …”
Rather than meet her eyes, rather than try to justify himself, he simply kept his focus fixated on the table in front of him. “I didn’t choose any of this. I’m sorry if you don’t like me. I’m just telling it like I see it.”
Instead of responding she merely shook her head and breathed a quiet groan before stalking away, leaving Jonah to feel strangely exhausted, disinterested in the rest of the gathered as they made their way past him. He was a little surprised, then, to hear himself being addressed once again.
“You know, that was pretty gutsy of you.”
He didn’t have to look up to realize the voice belonged to Rebekah. Looking up anyway, he almost cringed at the sight of her bright green eyes looking down at him; she somehow loomed large where she stood, looked bigger, somehow authoritative, even if her expression was one of muted admiration. He could only muster a little whispered “What?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t agree with you, not in the least. I suppose it’s like the old man says, though, you’re just a whelp and only just got here, so it’s not like you know any better. Still, it took a lot of guts to speak your mind in front of everyone like that. I admire that.”
“Thanks, I guess,” he managed weakly, shrugging his shoulders.
Mimicking the shrug, she turned to head toward the door, but not before adding, “There might be some hope for you yet.”
Watching her go with no small amount of confusion and conflicting emotion, Jonah sighed a little before he caught sight of another figure approaching, Abe’s thick frame and bald head unmistakable. “I gotta agree with her, kid. You showed a lot of spunk. I knew you had some real potential to you, and not just because you’re the new Silver Dragon. But today you even surprised me. Not easy to do.”
With a shrug, Jonah repeated himself. “Thanks.”
“I should have warned you, before we started, that some of us are pretty old and set in our ways. These things can get a little political, but for all her huffing and puffing, not even Jenna is going to hold your opinion against you. It’s all just old habit that dies hard,” the big man responded, resting a meaty hand on his shoulder.
“If you insist. I swear she wanted to bite my head off.”
Abe laughed heartily at that, leaning his head back and bellowing out a long, loud chuckle. “Try not to take her too seriously. She still has some strong feelings about the whole situation … it’s a little complicated to explain now, but just remember, she’s a bit set in her ways. It’s hard for her to change. Or any of us, for that matter. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, and I for one am glad to get a bit of a fresh perspective going on here.”
He was still not convinced that he hadn’t made himself some enemies already, but did not think it worth belaboring the subject. Still shrugging he shifted the topic. “What now, anyway?”
“Well, you heard old Carolus. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.” Abe pulled his hand away, adjusting his suit a little as he stood. “Normally I’d say it was time for you to go and get some rest after your long drive, but, you don’t really have that luxury just yet. We can’t be dragging you off on one of these little excursions without a little proper training, first.”
Jonah frowned dubiously at that. “Training?”
“My good friend here is correct,” a voice from behind him sounded out. Turning, he saw that Carolus had approached, still wearing that cautiously inquisitive look on his face, making Jonah again feel as if he were being appraised. “But don’t let that frighten you. You have a busy day ahead of yourself Jonah, but we are going to make certain that you are prepared.”
In spite of the reassurance, Jonah could not help but to feel a sense of dread creeping upon him. Any hope of going back home and pretending that none of this had happened had already faded, but the thought that they had something like training in store for him did not sound in the least like something he was interested in. “What do you mean, training?”
The old man flashed a crooked smile. “Why, flying of course. Learning to take on your true form, and learning how to use it. You still have much to learn, regarding what it truly means to be a dragon, but we too have much to learn about your abilities, what you are capable of. That is what we mean, by training.”
Jonah opened his mouth to protest, but the man continued, cutting him off before he could speak. “Now, I understand you still have doubts. Your first change was brief, and in dire straits; a part of you wishes that this were all still just a dream, no? A part of you wants to believe that we are all … how shall I say … insane. I can understand. I might well feel the same way, were I in your position.”
The fact that Carolus seemed to be able to read him so readily made him feel moderately disturbed, and suddenly he found himself hesitant to trust the old man, in spite of his friendly demeanor. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Surely you can’t be looking forward to this training, either. It’s been a long day for you already, and it wou
ld be unwise for us to throw you to the wolves so quickly, so to speak. I will have my friend Ibrahim here escort you to your quarters shortly so that you may get some rest, and food will be provided. But there is one thing I must impress upon you,” he said, stepping forward and resting a bony hand on Jonah’s shoulder. “What you see and learn this evening will change your life, forever. For the better, I assure you, but you must be mentally prepared for it. I’m certain we can count on you.”
Jonah wanted to retort with an insincere “gee thanks”, wanted to brush the man’s hand from his shoulder and back away. No small part of him still wanted to turn and flee from the compound, find the first bus headed east and make his way back to Florida, fend for himself, turn himself in to the police, perhaps.
Yet at the same time he realized that option no longer existed. Looking dubiously back at Carolus, he simply shrugged one more time. “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s a good boy,” the old man said, smiling crookedly again, patting him on the shoulder before turning back to Abe. “Be a gentleman now, and show our young friend here to his quarters, will you?”
He heard Abe say something in acknowledgment, turning to him to beckon for him to follow, but for a moment Jonah’s gaze was fixed on the old man as he made his way to the door. He wasn’t sure why, but he could not shake the feeling that there was something about him he simply could not trust.
TWELVE
“What if I don’t even want to be involved in any of this?”
After having been given a few hours to rest in a rather sumptuously appointed guest room that rivaled his own bedroom back home in Florida - if not his apartment in its entirety - Jonah had been awoken by the old man Carolus and told that it was time to commence with his training, so that he would be “Prepared to participate in the effort to free the elder”, he had been told.