Dragon Deception

by Mell Eight

  "There's something happening," Nickel said quietly so the other, actually sleeping kits wouldn't hear that he was still awake. "Tell me."

  Dane told him. From the first moment Mercury had made Dane take Nickel along to a raid to save the air dragons, Nickel had always been an active participant in their goal to save the dragons from the enemy. Nickel might still be young in body, but his psyche was that of a man twenty years older, and Dane trusted Nickel to have his back.

  "Damn. So they were able to catch a precious dragon," Nickel sighed. "That's real magic to the humans."

  "Elemental magic is real magic too," Dane admonished. Nickel wouldn't be the first person Dane knew to bemoan the fact that their magic was too specialized to have a broad use. Mercury could cast any spell he wanted as long as he knew it and had the power for it. Nickel could only use magic that pertained to water.

  "If you know how to use it properly," Nickel replied easily. He clenched one fist, which squelched slightly as if he were holding a water balloon, and his smile grew a touch more deadly. No, Dane didn't have to worry about Nickel. He did have to worry about greedy humans who would see elemental magic as weak in comparison to a precious dragon's and who had the technology to try and warp their stolen magic even further. "So when do you think Stockton's going to give you a call? If they're raiding a lab with humans using tainted magic, he's going to want the strongest magic user in the area working with his team."

  With just a few moments of thought Nickel had figured out why Dane was still in the sitting area instead of preparing for his own bed. Mercury might not be able to call Dane to his side in this case, but Stockton could and would.

  As if Dane's cell phone were just waiting for Nickel's cue, it rang. Dane let it ring twice, carefully cupping his hand over the speaker to keep the noise from echoing so it wouldn't wake anyone.

  "This is Dane," Dane said politely into the phone. "I assume you got this number from Mercury's emergency contact form?"

  Stockton laughed on the other end. "Good guess. You probably also know why I'm calling. I've arranged for a babysitter to watch over your kits. We'll pay her rates and yours. If you could come to the FBSI offices as soon as she arrives?"

  The front door downstairs popped unlocked and Dane leaned to the side in his chair to look over the railing to see who was coming inside. Daisy's distinctive green skin was visible through the window as she tucked her key away again and pushed the door open.

  "That shouldn't be a problem," Dane replied. They both hung up. Dane got to his feet and headed down the stairs to say hello to Daisy, Nickel tight on his heels.

  "Ya know, Boss, ya didn't need to get some head honcho to call me if ya needed me to stay here a few extra hours," Daisy said playfully as she took her light coat off to hang in the hall closet and stashed her purse underneath.

  "You're moonlighting as a babysitter for difficult children?" Dane asked, trying to keep his own tone playful. "Clearly I'm not paying you enough if you need to go elsewhere for money. Nickel, remind me to double her salary when we get home."

  Daisy was still gaping incredulously at Dane when Nickel's hand landed on Dane's shoulder and Dane's magic pulled them away. Dane focused on Mercury, letting his magic take them to Mercury's side. They appeared inside a conference room that Dane felt safe assuming was somewhere inside the SupFed's regional office.

  There were a few exclamations of surprise and one man instinctively unhooked his gun holster at their sudden appearance.

  "Not the usual method of entering our premises," Stockton called above everyone else's noises of surprise. "We prefer if you were cleared by our security team downstairs first." Dane had slipped through the wards the SupFeds had around the building to prevent people popping in like Dane had, and he didn't even look winded for the effort. Nickel got a few odd looks as well, but since no one commented on him, Dane assumed Mercury had warned everyone.

  "This is the warehouse we think the dragons are being kept in," Mercury said. He slid a piece of paper across the table towards Dane. Nickel picked it up and held it so they both could see.

  "They couldn't build underground in this neighborhood, even if they just stuck to underneath the warehouses," Nickel said thoughtfully. "Even with magical reinforcement, there's too much chance they would open up a sinkhole underneath someone's house and give away their position."

  "So we're looking at an aboveground assault." Dane agreed with Nickel's assessment. "O'Simmons' magic was powerful enough that he could transport himself places, but he couldn't transport something as large as a dragon. He's definitely a threat, but I'm more worried about him combining his magic with others. That could be deadly." Dane had used a lot of magic earlier in the day and his stores were depleted. However, one of the nice things about his lineage was that he couldn't get exhausted from using too much magic. Dane just had to replenish his stores. Magic came easily to Dane's call as he slowly, but steadily, began to prepare for the coming fight.

  "SWAT goes in first. We would like you with them," Valerie said. "You have the magic to combat any attacks that the SWAT witches can't handle, and if they find the dragons, you'll be able to calm them."

  Nickel was the one who answered even though Valerie was speaking to Dane. "That would work. Getting doused in water would certainly throw the enemy off their game and Dane and your witches can follow up. This O'Simmons guy has had at least an hour's head start on us. We should head to the warehouse now."

  "The longer we wait, the more chance that we'll miss him entirely," Mercury agreed.

  Dane took in another large gulp of magic and let it settle before asking for coordinates of where they were meeting in the town. The problem Dane had working with the government was that they had to follow so many regulations. Every I had to be dotted and T crossed on dozens of forms before anything could happen. Plans had to be made and double-checked. In a way, Dane did understand why. Should someone get injured or die during a raid, no one would get in trouble thanks to every single properly filled-out form. It was sad that the government had to work that way and Dane hated the delay it caused, but liability suits were ugly. Gregory, Dane's lawyer, would kill Dane if he had to handle one of those simply because Dane had rushed the SupFeds and something bad happened.

  Yet every second they dithered over red tape and preparation, Dane grew a little more impatient. If it were just Mercury and Dane, they would have already infiltrated the warehouse and been saving the dragons by now. Having backup was a nice change, Dane couldn't deny that, but if it meant harm would come to those poor dragons… Dane didn't really want to think about it.

  Magic crackled under his fingers and Dane reeled it back in. Wasting magic just because he was getting antsy was stupid and starting a raid off with his being stupid was not a good omen.

  "You're to stay behind a shield at all times," the burly guy apparently in charge of the SWAT team insisted to Dane and Nickel. Dane quirked an eyebrow, wondering just what he needed a shield for—he could stop bullets and spells equally with his magic—but he nodded just to keep the proceedings moving along.

  "All right, that's enough stalling," Valerie snapped. She slammed her hands down onto the table to get everyone's attention. "We've all run an operation like this before. We're all trained and prepared. Let's stop talking over the what-ifs and move to actually doing. We have lives to save."

  "Well said," Stockton agreed. "This is high profile, people. The Secretary of Defense wants these terrorists stopped before they escalate to higher-profile targets. Let's move out!"

  Higher profile, as in people more important than dragons. The mindset that dragons were wild and untamable needed to be changed in order to keep something like this from ever happening again.

  Nickel growled at Stockton, who looked suddenly chagrined as he realized what his words implied while speaking in front of two dragons and some other people who might remember his insensitivity and potentially deny him a future promotion. He didn't apologize, instead turning to Dane.


  "Can you transport all of us to the rally point?" Stockton asked.

  "If we're finally ready to go?" Dane couldn't help adding his own disapproving growl—a lot less impressive than Nickel's since he didn't have the proper vocal cords for it, but still strong enough to emphasize his own unhappiness—into the mix. "Everyone who's going needs to stand up and come closer to me."

  Dane sucked in more magic and then let it flow around all the people gathered. It took a second to weave them all into his usual transportation spell—without them touching him, he needed the extra effort—and then the conference room vanished around them.

  They reappeared in a small parking lot about four blocks around the corner from the warehouse. The area was a mix of industrial and residential with apartments above crumbling storefronts directly adjacent to the warehouse. It wasn't a great part of town, another strike against the façade that the warehouse was being used to securely house police evidence, but the increased police presence would hopefully keep everyone safe until they could leave again.

  Things moved quickly once everyone was present and accounted for. Nickel and Dane were placed in the middle of the SWAT team breaking through the front door. A second team was circling the back of the warehouse with Mercury and a pair of witches. Everything was timed so Dane's team arrived at the front door at the same time that Mercury's was arriving at the back. The man in front of the group holding the battering ram stepped forward on time to match the man with the same job at the back door. He swung, and the ram hit the door with a hollow gong sound. Runes flared brightly along the ram as the man pulled it back and thrust it forward again. This time when it hit, the runes swirled and rammed into the door along with the more mundane metal. Dane smelled a whiff of tainted magic as the runes fought against whatever was protecting the door.

  An amazing bit of spell work was on the battering ram. Dane hadn't seen its like in at least two decades, but the height of runic spell work had come and gone before the advent of Christianity. Still, the runes destroyed the spell placed on the door. It popped open easily and then the runes faded from sight. SWAT poured inside; Nickel and Dane went with them like pebbles caught in a strong current. Dane was feeling a little superfluous at the moment. SWAT had infiltrated the evil lairs of bad magic users plenty of times before without his help; that they had included him with them this time was probably only because the SupFeds had insisted.

  Dane forced his attention back to the task at hand as SWAT began to spread out and search the building. The warehouse itself was fairly large, larger than the one on the Chesapeake that Mercury, Nickel, and Dane had tackled five years ago. It wasn't nearly as high tech, though. Off to the right he could see heavy plastic sheeting hanging from the ceiling where a cleanroom had been set up. He could see some machines behind the plastic, but Dane didn't want to get closer to investigate. To the left were clapboard walls that didn't reach the ceiling. SWAT members cleared both rooms while Nickel and Dane stood ineffectually near the door with their guard.

  The air felt heavy with magic. Since Dane wasn't doing anything else, he sent a tendril of his own magic out to investigate why. Magic could build up in the air from frequent usage or from big spells like the runes impacting against the door ward, but this felt different. It felt like an active spell, but it was unlike anything Dane had ever encountered before. He might have been impressed with what the otherwise magic-less humans had managed to come up with if he hadn't also been so utterly disgusted by their methods.

  "It's something like Zinc's magic," Nickel warned, glancing around the room. He strode forward and Dane followed, their guard hissing at them to remain still before he trotted after them too. "It's the bad magic, though."

  "So someone here is using tainted air magic?" Dane asked, although his own magic was confirming what Nickel had told him. This was a great educational moment for Nickel. They weren't being actively attacked, so Dane could take a few seconds to let Nickel parse out what he had already surmised. Dane let his magic flow through the warehouse and began to pluck and tug at the suffocation spell that blanketed the building. It was difficult to force the tainted magic to change to what Dane wanted it to be and it took far more magic than he wanted it to.

  "Don't touch that!" Nickel shouted, suddenly dashing forward. He ran through the corridor between the clean room and the clapboard room and vanished around a corner. Dane followed more sedately while the guard growled about the difficulties of protecting two people who wouldn't damn well listen.

  Nickel was squatting over a grate set into the floor, carefully not touching it. It was wide enough for an adult human to fit through when the metal bars were removed, and for those people who knew that the last facility had been underground, it was the perfect trap.

  "Let me," Dane told Nickel. He squatted at Nickel's side and let his magic flare between his fingers. The suffocation spell was waiting for someone to touch the grate, either by foolishly walking over it or by trying to pry up the bars to investigate underneath. Dane let his magic hit it first and the grate shuddered as he started unweaving the spell. The air felt suddenly heavier, like it was trying to push down and force everyone to fall to the floor. The guard swore and spread his feet out to brace himself. Dane's magic continued to nip and push at the spell, tugging the strands of it apart.

  He felt Nickel jump to his feet and then felt Nickel's magic flare, but Dane needed to get this spell unraveled more than Nickel needed his help. Water splashed in Dane's face and he heard the echoing bang as multiple guns fired. Someone screamed, someone else gurgled as they choked on water, and the suffocation spell collapsed underneath Dane's hands.

  The air felt lighter as he stood up to see what he had missed. Nickel was standing in the center of a large puddle of water, somehow still in human form. Three bodies lay at his feet, dead. Their guard and three other SWAT members were staring at Nickel. Dane could see that their mouths were hanging open in surprise even through their mostly opaque helmets.

  "What happened?" Dane asked curiously, watching as Nickel stepped through the puddle and around the dead bodies nonchalantly.

  "We broke a concealing spell in our half of the warehouse," Mercury called from somewhere out of sight. He was apparently close enough to overhear Dane. "Three of them slipped past us. We've got O'Simmons in cuffs, but I could use your help on these cages."

  Cages? Although now that Dane thought about it, the warehouse wasn't exactly set up for proper cells. Nickel and Dane both hurried further down the corridor, passing another two plastic-sheeted clean rooms before they found an open space with two large cages. O'Simmons was being helped to his feet by three SWAT members. He looked furious, but at the same time he had the slightly bewildered look Dane recognized from his colleges that had been drained of magic in the forest. Apparently even O'Simmons hadn't realized just how dangerous a drug he had ingested. Although, since he didn't have the death spell at the end of his spool of magic, Dane couldn't help wondering if they had managed to catch a big enough fish that they might finally get the information they needed to begin dismantling the operation.

  Inside the cages were two dragons. The closest cage held a little boy approximately Lumie and Alloy's age of five. He had very long golden hair, unkempt and dirty from lack of care, and he was using it as a curtain to hide behind. Dane could see the gleam of his golden eyes through his hair as he stared worriedly at them. Mercury was kneeling next to the other cage and one glance told Dane why. Lying there was a woman with dirty silver hair cut as if she had fought with whoever had the knife so the result was uneven and ugly. Her stomach was bulging and she was snarling and gasping for breath.

  "We're going to get you out of there and somewhere safe," Mercury was insisting as Dane hurried to his side. Nickel knelt down next to the boy's cage to try to coax him to sit up.

  "They won't have my kits," the woman growled semi-coherently. "I'll die first."

  "They won't," Mercury replied reassuringly. "You'll have your kits among other dragons and rai
se them as a dragon should."

  The lock was a simple padlock that a pair of bolt cutters should pop open easily enough, except Dane's fingers tingled with magic when he touched it. Unless the bolt cutters were covered with the same runes as the battering ram, they would be turned into scrap metal. Dane pulled in more magic from around him and formed it into a hammer. The woman didn't have time for him to carefully unravel the spell; she needed to get to help now. Dane's magic hitting the lock made an echoing clanging noise. The woman shrieked, then clutched at her stomach with a groan. He banged again, harder, and the lock broke in two with a screech.

  Mercury had the door open in seconds, and he climbed inside the cage to help the woman awkwardly crawl out. She clutched at Mercury's arm desperately, sobbing.

  "She needs medical care," Mercury insisted to the SWAT leader who had joined them at some point. "Let me bring her somewhere where she can get help. You can get her statement after she's given birth."

  The SWAT leader backed away with his hands up in the air. "Take her," he insisted. Apparently womanly troubles like babies weren't his forte, and he must have understood that a regular human hospital probably wouldn't be able to help a dragon lay her eggs.

  Mercury wrapped his arms around her to support her. Dane felt his magic flare as he built his transportation spell. The young dragon apparently felt it too. He screamed, one hand reaching through the bars of his cage desperately.

  "Not without Goldie," the woman gasped, turning around towards the kit's cage.

  Dane hurried over to the lock, pulling more magic so he could get Goldie out. It took two tries while Goldie continued to whimper, but once Dane had pulled the door open Goldie dashed towards the woman. His legs were shaky and he mostly crawled, but within seconds he had his arms wrapped around her leg, much like Dane had seen Alloy do to Mercury.

  Before leaving, Mercury caught Dane's eye, then looked around the cage area once more. Dane could see what he was thinking: Platinum, a dragon they knew was being held captive by the enemy, wasn't here. The battle to save the dragons wasn't over yet. Mercury altered his spell to account for one more and then all three dragons vanished from sight. Nickel and Dane stood and they both walked over to the SWAT leader's side. The situation felt anti-climactic to Dane. Yes, he had unraveled a big trap spell and he had gotten two dragons safely away, but he hadn't captured the enemy or really fought at all. Most of his time had been spent standing around waiting for something to do. Still, no one on their side had died and the mission had been accomplished. Dane shouldn't complain.