Where Dragons Haunt (The Diaspora Book 1)

by Scott Meaders

  “I don’t know what has come of the boy, and if he has died; yes I am angry,” the wizard mumbled.

  The god moved to the front of Mikael and looked him in the eyes, “Your concern blights your spirit. Do not forget that the gods need you not, Mikael the Great Wizard. You feel for your friend, the boy, but you rather have lost a worshiper. That loss of praise is the greater hurt, for not many have found you delightful as of late.”

  The wizard looked away from the god as words of truth hurt his heart. He spoke softly, “You speak truth, but I also care for the boy. He has grown on me.”

  “As he will with the rest of the land, be of a cheerful heart, Zoe is not dead but alive!” The wizard’s expression changed instantaneously from depression to overwhelming joy. He stood up and looked intently at Hagious wondering what he was about. “Yes, I see! You do care for the boy as well as your own praise. If that be so, you will need to journey to Kedron for his direction and comfort. He will not need your help as he is becoming more resourceful as the day pass into night.”

  “Where in Kedron must I go?”

  “To a brook near Jerus, I will guide you when you are needed.” The god paused for a moment before continuing, “You will only be with him for a short time, as the god Tifereth has want of you. You will do his biding while the boy travels to the dragons and owls.”

  “So he is to go alone?”

  “No, you will meet a band of people made by my hands in the city of the Kedron. They will lead him to the dragons as you watch from afar.”

  “So he is to die?”

  “Yes, Zoe is to die. The sacrifice of one for the many.”

  Chapter 24

  There is no teaching

  until the pupil is brought into the same state or principle

  in which you are; a transfusion takes place; he is you,

  and you are he; then is a teaching;

  and by no unfriendly chance or

  bad company can he ever lose the benefit.

  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

  Zoe came to the hills of Kedron in the night. He did not like the night, as he knew it to be filled with terrible creatures, but he at least had the company of a sprite once again. He walked up to the base of the first of many hills and started to proceed up when he stopped to look behind him. The pixie was hovering in the air at the base of the hill looking sad and happy at the same time. Zoe was not sure what was causing the fairy’s sadness, “Why are you sad Dixie?”

  “Who me, no, not sad!” She whimpered as she sniffled and wiped a tear away.

  “What is it?”

  “I was told that once you were to the hills of Kedron away I go!”

  “You mean you can’t come with me?”

  “No, the Great One himself, Ain Soph, spoke to me, the unknowable and unseeable one.”

  Zoe had never heard of this person, “Who is he?”

  “He is the maker of all the gods, he the god of gods, te hee do you not know him?”

  “No I have never heard of such a one. What did he say to you about me?”

  “Silly boy, I told you te hee, once you were to the hills of Kedron away I go!”

  The boy stood there realizing that he would lose yet another friend he had just met. He became upset knowing that he had no choice, “Well, Thanks Dixie for all you and your friends have done for me.”

  “Bye, bye silly boy, I saw you naked te hee!” And away the pixie went giggling into the distance. Zoe wondered what it was with imps and nakedness that made them laugh so.

  He set his heart to the journey and started up the hill. At the top of the hill he could see a great city with lights lighting up the night sky in the midst of the hills. He was in awe at the twin cities, and thought there could never be another with such grandeur and splendor as that. Yet the city that was spread out before him matched his amazement and wonder. “What an amazing thing to behold,” he said to himself.

  “Yes, I must agree.”

  Zoe spun around in panic not expecting a reply to his words. Before him stood a man of average height and size, large compared to Zoe. The man looked rough; untrustworthy was Zoe’s first thought. He had dark hair, darker than he had seen on any man; except for one spot on the side that was white as snow. Zoe said nothing as he tried to figure out if he were friend or foe. The man read Zoe like a book, “So you must be wondering if I am good or bad, if I can be trusted?”

  “No.”

  “Ok, so I see that you are not to be trusted.” Zoe took one step back not liking the man’s manners. “I am called, Kope the Slaughter.” Zoe’s eyes widened at the tail end of the man’s title as a growing sense of alarm was raised. “Worry not young one, ha, ha! My father was a butcher!”

  Zoe was not amused nor did he trust the way the man freely spoke to him. He seemed to not understand boundaries with regards to strangers. Zoe turned to go without saying a word. The man watched for a moment and then raced up beside him having a new thought, “Look, I am terribly sorry for the way I came across. I have a camp just over the next hill. It is getting late, and my friends and I would be delighted if you would join us for some provisions.” The man could sense Zoe’s growing hunger. “You must be hungry and we have plenty.”

  Zoe thought for a moment letting his hunger cloud his mind; he nodded in acceptance, not saying a word.

  “Great! Um do you have a name?”

  “Um…Zoe.”

  “Ok Zoe, Lets get going before my friends eat all the meat. We like meat and potatoes, but if you are last, you are sure not to get much meat!”

  They walked on for a short distance all the while the man talked not giving Zoe a chance to think. He talked about unimportant things, the city life, government, art and the like. Distraction was the key element in the voice of the man, not getting personal and not peeking any interest on Zoe’s part. When they came close to the camp, Kope made an abnormal amount of noise for someone in the forest. The men of the camp heard the racket and drew swords and spoke loudly, “Whether you’re man, woman or child, you had better speak your business, or your life will soon come to a terrible end. Speak now!”

  Zoe became terribly frightened at the words the men used realizing maybe he made a bad choice to follow Kope back to his camp. Kope anticipated Zoe’s fear and spoke quickly, “It is I, Kope, and I have a most honorable guest with me.” There was some chatter amongst them. Then laughter and joking could be heard. The two approached the camp as Zoe became tense with anxiety.

  There were nine men visible in the camp, all rough looking and lacking ethos. Zoe didn’t trust the men even after the introductions by Kope, “This here is Sumpnigo. He is a jokester, he will choke you up with laughter!” The guy nodded toward Zoe and went back to sharpening a knife. He didn’t look like the joking type. He was fat and angry looking. Almost looked like he despised Zoe being there.

  “This here is Plege . Don’t worry about the wound on his cheek; he’s as harmless as a rattlesnake with no venom. He got that working the farm. His father had him working beyond his capabilities.” The man had a huge gash in the side of his face, disfiguring it for life. The wound did not look like a childhood injury, more like a barroom brawl.

  He walked over behind a tall slender man that seemed to glow with wicked intelligence, “This is Ennoia , we call him Enno. He is the mind of the group, always coming up with great ideas for us to get mixed up in.”

  “This is Agon and his twin brother Achthos ,” Kope pointed to two different individuals. “Their parents were displeased that they had twins. They are twice the work; I’ll tell ya!” Laughter erupted as the inside joke was not understood by Zoe.

  “Here is Bronte …”

  Bronte thundered out, “Pleasure to meet you,” as he nodded with a smile. He was the only one to say anything in response directly to Zoe.

  “This one laying down here is Eleeinos ; don’t mind him as he is in a miserable condition; he caught the lying sickness. He cant move, but it will be gone by tomorrow.” Again laughter brok
e out. “And this is his pet dog,” The dog growled fiercely at Zoe. Zoe took a timid step back.

  “This is Mastix . What to say about this mute? You see he doesn’t talk as he has no tongue. Show the boy your back.” The man stood up and lifted up his garment revealing a scarred back. “He was scourged, you know flogged for stealing bread. The only thing is he was innocent; he has never done horrible things such as steal in all of his life.” Only one burst out laughing, and the stares quickly quieted him. Mastix took a seat again and watched the boy intently.

  “And lastly this is Oinophlugia ; you have to excuse him; he has had an excess of wine tonight. You see his wife and child were brutally killed three months ago and the man is still not over it. So he drowns his sorrows in drink.” The man took another swig out of a jug he had been holding onto the whole time.

  Now to your introduction, “This here is Zoe. I met him on the road, and he is traveling to the same city that we are going to. I told him we have food, and as he is hungry, he would be allowed to join us. So we will show him our proper manners the whole time while he is with us and let him have the first helping.” The men looked questioningly at Kope, but didn’t say a word. The speech seemed more for show to keep them quiet until a later time.

  All of them ate their meal in silence while Kope spent his time talking to Zoe, to keep him feeling some semblance of ease. The meal was flavorsome having a pot of potatoes and a large portion of meat, exactly as Kope had told him. Zoe noticed that the last man to go was Mastix. He went without meat and did not look to happy about that. Kope had to calm him. He took him to the side while he talked to the man, Mastix had pointed several times with an angry look at Zoe. This didn’t make him feel any safer. But Mastix was appeased and the evening came to an end.

  Zoe retired early not liking the company he was with. They found a spot for Zoe away from the fire a little distance, so they could talk. He could only hear mumbled words, but he could make nothing of it. He had fallen asleep while the men were busying themselves with chatter.

  Kope looked over at Zoe and made sure that he was sleeping. He gathered up the men around the fire to speak softly to them of his plan, “We can use him!”

  “How?” Mastix said, “And why in all of the gods did you tell him I was a mute?”

  A smile spread on Kope’s face, “Because my friend Mastix, you have a temper and tend to give away our secrets. This way you will have to watch yourself around the boy.”

  “But what of the boy?” Bronte broke in.

  “He could be used as a way to get in.”

  “I don’t like it. We don’t need him!” Mastix shot back.

  Kope defended his plan, “If you don’t want him, slit his throat. I am in no way attached to the boy. But first hear my plan.” Mastix nodded in agreement that he would hear the plan first. “What is our biggest challenge?”

  Agon responded with what they all knew, “We have no way as of yet to get in.” They all grunted and nodded in agreement.

  “Exactly! But the boy, he is small enough to get though the bars in the sewer. He could crawl though and let us in. Don’t you see, he is our sure way in!”

  “But why would he help us? You’ve seen his disposition; he doesn’t seem to like us,” Achthos said questioning his strategy.

  “Not to worry,” Kope shot back. “I will tell him a story that he will believe. He will be more than happy to help us.”

  “What if he doesn’t buy your story?” Oinophlugia said to sound important as a part of the decision making.

  Kope looked at him a little annoyed at his challenge, “Then we threaten the kid with death. If that doesn’t work, we kill him.”

  “I like the idea,” Enno said ending the debate, “you come up with a story. Anyway what a better way to see what type of kid this is; we will be his teacher and train him in our bad ways. If he is a good pupil, he will be brought to our ways and be beneficial to us. If by unfriendly chance the boy is of bad blood to our means, we will dispose of him – Mastix gets to take care of the kid if such a thing occurs!” Mastix grinned with pleasure.

  Sleep came to the group and the sun rose. Zoe was the last to awaken. He saw all of the men gathering up their items. He was surprised at the efficiency of the men in cleaning up camp. They were all working having a job that was to be done; they worked as a family of sorts. When Kope saw that Zoe was awakened, he shouted out, loud enough for all to hear, “Well, good to see you have awakened from your slumber.” They all took a quick note and went back to their own work.

  When camp was packed the group traveled toward the city. Zoe was kept close to Kope the whole time. They talked about several things of no importance, once again Kope did most of the talking.

  Then they fell on the topic of why they were at the city, “Zoe, why are you traveling to this city?”

  Zoe became afraid because he was not sure what to say or think. He doubted the men followed the gods of the land, but he also had not expected to give an account of his own wanderings. “Um…I...I um.”

  “Don’t worry about it, we all have things we don’t talk about. I don’t need to know what you are about.” Kope paused for a moment and contorted his face with a deeply concerned look. Zoe noticed but was not going to ask anything. Don’t ask and please don’t tell was Zoe’s thoughts on the sudden change of Kope’s disposition. Kope realized Zoe was not going to bring the information out of him, so he spoke, “Zoe, I have been troubled at heart for some time now.” Zoe looked up at him. “I want to share something with you, but you have to hear me out. Will you listen to everything I have to say?”

  Zoe nodded without saying a word.

  “We are going to a place where our fierce enemies are. There are many of them and we might not live through the next two nights.”

  Zoe became confused and for the first time had concern for Kope, “Why would you go to where your enemies are if you might die?”

  Kope was hoping for his response, “Because they have stolen from my helpless widowed grandmother. You see I formed this group. They are people from my town. I have brought them together to get back that which was my grandmother’s.”

  Zoe wasn’t sure what was so valuable that it would be worth risking your life for, “What did they take?”

  “Many things Zoe, but the most important thing they took was her life stone. They came in the midst of the night. They must have had it planned out for sometime, as they knew exactly where things were. They came in undetected and left without a trace.”

  Zoe cut him off, “Then how did you know that it was them?”

  Kope saw his intelligence, “Ah, you interrupted me. They left undetected but for one man was trapped in an animal trap just outside the cities’ walls. In the morning when we found out what had happened, we came to see if there were any clues to follow. This man told us all we needed to know. He also had the proofs of clothing, bearing the symbols of the house. And without her life stone my Grandmother will soon die.”

  “Who would do such a horrible thing?”

  Kope had him where he wanted him, naive and compassionate, “That is my point exactly, Zoe. Who would be so cruel? So you can see why we need to go and get this stuff back. But…” He trailed off just enough.

  “But what?”

  “Well we are not sure how to get in. The place is a palace and there seems to be no weakness. The bars are to small to get though for a grown man and…”

  “I’ll do it!”

  Kope gave a fake confused look, “Do what?”

  “I will go though the small bars to help you get in.”

  “Oh, no. Zoe you can’t!” Shock and concern were on his face.

  “Yes I will do it. It is the least I can do for all of your kindness!”

  “No, I would never put you…”

  “Yes! I feel it is the right thing to do.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes!”

  They walked on with Kope being pleased with his own intelligence.

&nb
sp; Chapter 25

  ‘Tis better to be righteous and poor

  than to be in crooked and rich.

  ~Chinese proverb~

  As they were stopped for a mid day meal, the men made a fire while Zoe wandered off a little ways. He was able to hear the group as he sat behind a tree having second doubts about the Kope’s story. Rightly so he found out as he was listening to the men talk.

  “Oh that Kope, he sure a smart one. Figure out how to get us in!”

  “To be sure about that, to come up with such an idea.”

  Zoe peaked around the tree to see Eleeinos and Mastix speaking. Mastriz can talk, Zoe thought to himself, I don’t understand! He positioned himself behind the tree again as to not be seen.

  “Kope smart, get kid to do our work. What a fool that boy is. Think he does good, ha, ha. What a stupid little boy!”

  A different voice sounded out, “Sure enough that story about his poor grandmother, what a stupid boy to believe such a story.”

  Zoe felt humiliated as the shame rose with every brailing word shot out by the men; as if by a fiery dart, their words pierced the heart of the boy. He sank down in dejection and covered his face as a few tears escaped from his eyes. As he sat there he didn’t notice Kope coming up upon him. Kope could hear the conversation that the men were having and perceived that the boy had heard it alike. He spoke to Zoe to see where he stood, “Hey Zoe.”

  Zoe looked up at the man that had made a fool of him. His tears turned from sad displays of humiliation to seething embers of anger. He was enraged at his own foolishness, but also at the lies fed to him by the man. “How could you! How could you lie to me? How could you use me like that?” The men that had let Zoe in on the secret had looked over at the tumult arising from behind the tree. They came over quickly to where Zoe was arguing with Kope.