Blademage Dragontamer

by Deck Davis

  Larynk, of course, didn’t have lungs and so had no need to clear them, and he stayed and watched the spectacle, unmoving as the mists began to dissipate. When Charlie looked back, the fog was gone. Ozkar was gone. And the once-dead dragon was alive.

  “He is reborn!” shouted Serpens.

  He took a hollowed-out human skull from behind the alter and lifted it to his mouth and drank from it, big long gulps that seemed never ending, and when he brought the skull from his face, his skin was coated in blood.

  Still the chants carried on. The worshippers raised their arms to the ceiling, as if stretching to the heavens, and then brought them down, over and over with such repetitiveness that Charlie felt his own arms ache.

  Whatever he’d seen, he didn’t like it. It stirred something deep inside him, it poked at the darkness that he’d felt creep into him earlier.

  Larynk grabbed him and pulled him away from the entrance. Charlie found that he was shaking with tension.

  “Did he just change Ozkar into a god damn dragon?” he said, struggling to keep his voice low and even.

  “He’s building his army. Damn it, Serpens…I didn’t know you’d fallen this far.”

  “But he’s the god of dragons; can’t he just create them fresh?”

  “Do you know how much sphere power it would take to create a dragon? It isn’t like using a sphere to plant a crop of corn. Conjuring a living, sentient being is hard enough; even creating a mouse would drain some god’s spheres. To make a dragon would take decades of worship-worth of power. His way is cheaper; he’s simply creating the husk of a dragon, then transferring another soul into it.”

  “So…kind of like recycling?”

  “This isn’t good. He knows he can’t do this; once you create a mortal soul, you can’t play with it like that. It’s forbidden”

  “Are you forgetting that you took me from my home world without asking?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t transfer your soul into a damn dog, or something. Maybe I should have; at least I wouldn’t have to listen to you.”

  “What about the people? And their skin?”

  “Look at them. They haven’t eaten in weeks. Their faces…they may as well be dead. They don’t even sound like people. He’s forcing them to worship him day and night. That’s forbidden too.”

  “Gods have rules about worship?”

  “You can’t force worship, Charlie. You have to earn it. Otherwise, we’d have slave planets spread through space, galaxies of planet full of brain dead worshippers. A god has to earn the worship of his people. If he doesn’t…”

  “He doesn’t fill his sphere?”

  “Not exactly. He fills it, alright, but the power you get from forbidden worship is dark. It’s sick in its essence, and that darkness affects any god who uses it in his sphere. Serpens is making his own mind sick; and what’s more, its making him stronger.”

  Larynk stared at the worshippers. This was the second time Charlie had seen him worried, and it made his own tremors of doubt creep in.

  “This isn’t sustainable,” said Larynk. “If he carries on filling his sphere this way, he’s going to destroy himself, and his planet along with it. Whatever defences he’s got against the demi-gods, whatever’s stopping them raiding his planet, it’ll fall.”

  “What can we do? There’s five of us against a planet of dragons run by an insane god.”

  “We’ve gotta talk to him. Try and make him see sense while there’s still a tiny bit of the old Serpens left inside him. If we let this go on much longer, it’ll consume him completely.”

  “Or…we just fix up the ship and leave.”

  “Leave how? You’re not seeing the bigger picture, Charlie. With a sphere full of forbidden power, we won’t get the ship of the ground before he blasts the hell out of it. If I can get him alone and talk to him, I can make him see sense. I’ve got to try.”

  “Okay, so we’ll talk to him. I’ll speak to his secretary and set up a meeting.”

  “Funny. And now I’m really wishing I turned you into a dog.”

  “Fair enough. I get how serious this is, and I agree we’ve gotta talk to him, but we can do it now – look at him. He just broke Ozkar’s jaw and put his soul in a dragon. Now doesn’t seem like the right time for a chat.”

  Larynk brushed back his long fringe. “Let’s get back to the village. We’ll let Serpens’ mood pass, and then we’ll try and talk to him.”

  “I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere,” said a voice.

  Charlie turned, instinctively flicking Lifedrinker into place on his switcher, only to see a woman standing behind him, with two armed pirates either side of her.

  “Mia,” he said.

  “If it isn’t my good friend Charlie. We didn’t finish our last conversation, did we?”

  “Now isn’t the time, Mia, no matter how much you want to kill me. There’s an insane, pissed-off god in there.”

  She nodded, her ponytail swishing around her. “I know.” She strode past him and into the atrium. “Serpens, dear? There’s a mortal and a corn god here to see you.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  It all turned out to be a lot more civilized than he’d expected. Serpens, his face covered in blood from the human skull he’d sipped out of, led them to the end of the dragon tower atrium and to a spiral staircase, where they went up and up and up, going up so many stairs that Charlie’s chest felt tight, the pain from the wolf smashing into him flaring anew.

  Just when he thought the stairs would never end, Serpens stopped, and he ushered them into an oval-shaped room.

  “Please, this way,” he said, his voice the epitome of manners, all the more unnerving when Charlie considered that not long earlier, he’d watched him pulverize a man’s face with one swipe of his hand.

  I’m going into a mad god’s dining room with a duplicitous pirate and a god of corn. What the hell has happened to my life?

  Existential questions would have to wait, because Serpens was glaring at him, and now, more than ever, Charlie didn’t want to annoy him. So, he went inside and found himself in the god’s dining room.

  He could only call it a dining room because of the giant table that took up most of the space. That aside, it resembled the prehistoric section of a museum, full of bleached bones on the walls. Some were of weird animals with skeletal shapes Charlie had never seen before, but at least a few of the bones looked human. Or maybe his unease at the whole mess made his brain twist it so they looked human, anyway.

  Serpens took a seat in a throne-like chair made from dragon bone at the end of the table, and graciously waved a hand at his guests. Larynk nodded at him and swaggered toward the table like he didn’t have a care.

  He must have been feigning his confidence. Sure, Larynk was a god, and maybe this wasn’t as strange a situation to him as it was to Charlie, but there was no way he didn’t feel seeds of unease blooming in his marble stomach.

  Mia’s swagger, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more real. She took a seat near Serpens, helping herself to a silver chalice and goblet of liquid that could have been red wine, but could just as easily have been blood.

  “Take a seat,” said Larynk to Charlie, who hovered at the doorframe.

  “The mortal will stand,” said Serpens.

  Charlie looked from Serpens and to Larynk and then to Mia. This wasn’t good. They needed to talk sense into Serpens, but how could they do it with Mia there?

  “How are you, Serpens?” she said, swishing her ponytail flirtatiously. “How’s the family?”

  “Family?”

  “Your dragons.”

  “Fine.”

  “Been anywhere nice lately? You look tanned.”

  Serpens pounded the table. The glasses and goblets shook. “Enough. What are you doing on my planet, Mia?”

  “I came to warn you, of course. I knew Larynk was coming here to steal your sphere, and I wanted to capture him so you could kill him.”

  Larynk flinched in anger. “Wha
t? You horse-haired bitch. How dare you accuse a god of…”

  Serpens pounded the table again. “Enough! Will you idiotic mortals and gods of damned corn shut up for a minute?”

  Charlie eyed Mia. Had Serpens meant her when he spoke about idiotic mortals? He must have, because Charlie had never said a word. The thing was, he’d never been sure what Mia was. She told him that she did jobs for the demi-gods and gods so that they’d increase her lifespan, so did that make her mortal, or immortal? Quasi-mortal, maybe? Either way, she apparently deserved a seat and Serpens table, while Charlie didn’t.

  Screw that.

  He walked toward the table, pulled out a chair and sat down. As Serpens stared at him, rage flushing his marble face, Charlie grabbed a glass, poured himself some of the red liquid, and gulped it back.

  God, it burned. Not just burned; it scolded him hotter than the fires of hell, the alcohol searing the inside of his throat. He wanted to cough, but that would have ruined the confidence he’d tried to feign.

  Hold it in…hold it in…

  No good. He spluttered, spiting some of the incredibly-potent wine over the god’s tablecloth.

  “I’m a hair away from killing you all,” said Serpens, gripping the edge of the table as if it was a physical representation of his own sanity. “The only reason I haven’t is that I want to understand why you are here. Not you, Larynk, before you open your mouth. You, Mia. Explain, and don’t give me any lies about coming here to warn me.”

  “Would I lie to you, my great god?”

  “You’d lie to your own reflection if you thought you could profit from it.”

  “Your wit is-”

  “Listen,” said Larynk, cutting her off. “Just take a second and think about this,” he said.

  Serpens glared at him. Larynk evidently took that as approval to carry on talking. “You know me, Serpens. How many times were we the last ones in the pantheon bar? How much personal stuff have I told you when we were neck deep in a few thousand shots of amber?”

  “Don’t listen to him,” said Mia.

  “Silence,” said Serpens. “I am listening, Larynk.”

  “I need to talk to you alone. It’s important.”

  Mia laughed. “Yes, so he can whisper lies into your ear. Come on, Serpy.”

  Charlie flinched. Serpy? Was she out of her mind?

  Evidently so, because she carried on. She even leaned forward, and she touched his dragon arm. “Would you rather talk to a god of corn alone, Serpy, or would you rather have me alone?”

  Serpens eyes widened for a second. Charlie felt strangely reassured by it; he thought he was crazy in finding the dangerous pirate attractive, but it seemed her charms worked even on the god of dragons.

  Larynk took out his sphere. At this, it was Mia’s eyes turn to widen. She stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, and she stared at the sphere like it was the greatest treasure she’d ever seen.

  “My sphere won’t lie to you,” Larynk said. “And I let you see it, didn’t I? Now, I ask only for one thing; that we can talk alone.”

  Charlie found himself gripping the edge of the table. This was their only chance to bring Serpens back from the brink; he was sure now that Mia was playing a game, that she was trying to drive the god further into madness for her own ends, even if he couldn’t work out what she got from it.

  Serpens stood up. “Come on.”

  Charlie sank back in relief as the two gods left the room via a passageway at the end of it. It was a short-lived relief, one that disappeared when he realized he was alone with Mia. When he looked at her, he was caught between two states; attraction, and fear. He decided to choose a third state – anger.

  “You really are a bitch, you know that?”

  She scoffed. “Whatever do you mean, Charlie?”

  “You’re playing a game, aren’t you? You’re provoking him.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  Just like that, a piece clicked into place in his mind.

  “Because you work for the demi-gods, and Serpens’ powers are stopping them coming to his planet. They want to round up the spheres of the gods who didn’t join them, and Serpens is someone they can’t get to. So, they sent you.”

  “Interesting. Go on.”

  “You want him to go over the edge. You want him to lose control and do something to empty his sphere. Because when that happens, his defences fall.”

  “I’m enjoying this, Charlie. What next?”

  “That’s all I have,” said Charlie. He reached for the glass again and brought it to his lips, then stopped when even the fumes of the alcohol burned his throat.

  “Let’s say you’re right. What of it? You can’t see the woods for the trees, Charlie. What are you doing hanging around with a god of corn, when you could be at home? I know you think I hate you, but I don’t. You’re nothing to me. I can destroy you, or I can send you home, and I’ll sleep easy no matter what. Wouldn’t you rather that I treat you nicely?”

  “I’d rather you pissed off onto your ship and flew away.”

  “If you help me, Charlie, if you bring Crosseyes to me…maybe I don’t send you home. Maybe I take you somewhere else.” With this, got up, crossed the table and sat next to him. She stoked his hand. “I need another body in my crew. One I can get close to.”

  He needed to be honest with himself here. He’d never been seduced before. A few girls had glanced his way in the past, but he’d only figured it out long after he’d made a fool of himself and said goodbye to the moment. His only couple of serious relationships had happened only because the girls had made it so clear they’d almost had to slap his face and yell ‘hey! I like you!’

  But Mia…she’d gone beyond slapping. She might as well have been flirting through a bullhorn. He didn’t buy it for a second.

  “You know…I’d love to join your crew, but I’m busy right now. I already have a job on earth, and it just wouldn’t feel right to leave without giving my notice.”

  She scoffed. “I give a mortal a chance and he throws it in my face.”

  “Just what are you, Mia? You said the demi-gods extend your life. You’re mortal too, right?”

  “Not as mortal as you. You might have those fancy daggers, and sure, I can sense the mana inside you, but what you don’t realize is…”

  He cut her off. “What you don’t realize is that you’re trying to wrap Serpens around your finger. What’s really happening is you’re wrapping a cobra around your arm, and it’s going to bite your goddamn head off. He’s crazy, Mia. The demi-gods and their plot…it’s driven him mad.”

  “I know.”

  “And yet you’re still trying to mess with his head.”

  “I have nothing to fear from him. He doesn’t care about me, Charlie. He wants Larynk.”

  “Wants him for what?”

  “You haven’t figured it out, have you?”

  “If you’ve got something to say, then say it.”

  “Why do you think he’s let you stay here? More to the point, why does he let me stay here? He’s the god of dragons, for Christ sakes. He could snap his fingers and have me burned to a crisp.”

  “And the world would be a poorer place for it.”

  “You joke, but it would. Look, I might not agree with the demi-gods, but the real gods are a joke, and they have been for centuries. Too many immortal beings responsible for nothing, taking up power spheres that could be used to help the universe. Why does Larynk have a sphere? To grow corn? Farmers on a hundred planets can do that without a god’s help. And there are even more pointless gods out there. There’s a God of Inane Questions. Does that sound like a good use of a god sphere?”

  “That doesn’t explain why he hasn’t killed you yet.”

  “Because I represent the demi-gods while I work for them, and Serpens knows he can’t hold out forever. He might be trundling off the cliff of insanity, but he isn’t an idiot. He knows his defences will fall at some point, and when you and Larynk crashed from the sky
, Serpens thought it was his birthday.”

  “He’s using us?”

  “He’s keeping you here until the demi-gods come. Then, he’s going to barter Larynk and his god sphere for his own safety.”

  Footsteps boomed in the hall behind them. Mia suddenly leaned forward and pressed something into Charlie’s hand.

  “A gift to remember me by. If you change your mind about which side you’re on, just touch it and think my name, and we can talk.”