The Dragon Lord

by E. G. Foley

  “Take it! Do something!” Then Jake cried out as he saw a transparent copy of the Elder witch rise from her body and stand behind the old woman kneeling on the ground.

  “No—Aunt Ramona, please.” He spun to face the Gryphon. “Red!”

  The Gryphon had already plucked one of his best golden feathers from his otherwise scarlet plumage and now offered it to him. Jake didn’t even know yet what the gold ones did; they’d only just grown in since Red’s recent molting.

  The physical Aunt Ramona’s eyes crinkled with fondness at the corners as Jake dropped to his knees beside Zolond, prepared to use the Gryphon’s best magic feather on the Dark Master.

  If he could heal him, then Aunt Ramona ought to be all right…

  Wouldn’t she?

  “Save it, you darling boy,” the flesh-and-blood Ramona whispered sadly. “I’m afraid it will not work.” She looked down at Geoffrey again.

  “We can at least try!”

  “He’s already dead, Jacob. In a few seconds, I will be too. At least I was able to be with him at the end. Now, listen—”

  “No! You can’t leave us. Don’t go.”

  She shook her head with a wince. “I have no choice. I know you don’t understand but…our lives were inextricably bound.”

  She didn’t know Nixie had told them her secret. Jake didn’t see any point in telling her now.

  Too weak to remain upright any longer, Ramona lowered herself slowly to rest her head on her old beau’s chest. She closed her eyes and sighed with exhaustion. But even as her life force ebbed, the spirit copy of her shone all the brighter.

  Jake looked at it, at a loss, then Archie arrived, screaming her name.

  The girls were a step behind. Jake had just come back from fighting a dragon, but right now, of course, they didn’t even look at him.

  He gazed at his friends, bewildered. How can this be happening? All the sounds and sights around him seemed cloaked behind a fog of disbelief.

  He just stood there, lost, while the others shoved in front of him to gather ’round the Elder witch in panic.

  It was then that he spotted Zolond’s ghost nearby, removed from the knot of children around the motionless pair.

  The Dark Master was dressed in the same plain black clothes he had been wearing in life, except for the bowler hat. He was just standing there, looking forsaken and as shocked as the rest of them at what had just occurred.

  At that, Zolond’s gray specter turned slowly and saw Aunt Ramona’s shining spirit.

  “Ramona,” he said.

  It was the saddest three syllables Jake had ever heard in his life, filled with mournful regret.

  “Dani, use the feather—she’s dying!” Isabelle screamed.

  “Give it to me!” Dani yelled through her tears.

  “I-I can do a spell…” Even Nixie was sobbing, her hand shaking so badly as she lifted her wand that it wobbled all over the place. “Archie, get out of the way!”

  “No! Magic is what caused all of this rubbish. Stay back!” Archie sounded ferocious. “I can save her! There are methods of resuscitation. Just—give me some room! She’s still breathing, but just barely.”

  Archie gently rolled Aunt Ramona onto her back and then proceeded to blow air into her mouth and pump the center of her chest with his hands. He kept checking her pulse in between these strange attempts to revive her, but gave no indication it was working. He’d whipped off his glasses, and his cheeks were wet with tears.

  “Jacob,” the spirit Ramona said gently, “tell them to stop this nonsense. I love them for trying, but this is what I want. I am ready.”

  “But we’re not ready!” Jake yelled at her.

  His friends all paused and looked at him.

  “No, no, no,” Isabelle whimpered, the first to realize Jake was speaking to Ramona’s ghost. The empath pressed her fingers to her lips.

  “Tell her to come back right now, Jake,” Archie said in a shaky voice. “I can make this all right. I know I can.”

  Jake shook his head, tears rolling down his cheeks. “She doesn’t want to.”

  “Well, too bad! We need her!” Nixie wrenched out. “The Order needs her! This isn’t fair!”

  Aunt Ramona’s spirit winced with sorrow. “Jake, tell the girls they are stronger than they know.”

  Jake flinched but nodded. “Everyone, be quiet so I can hear her.” He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Zolond’s here as well.”

  “Well, you can tell him to go straight to Hades, where he belongs! This is all his fault!” Archie said with utter hatred.

  As though reminded of his destination, the Dark Master let out a groan of despair that grew into a shout. He lifted his hands out to his sides, looked at the sky, and unleashed a deafening, ghostly “Noooo!”

  Suddenly, Celestus appeared near Aunt Ramona in his most radiant angel form.

  Inhaling sharply at the arrival, Jake stared in wonder at the angel’s white wings and ethereal robes.

  Though his light shone on the kids—and on Derek and Leopard-Helena, who now joined them—none of the others acknowledged him. Jake realized that he was the only one who could see Celestus this time.

  His heart sank, for he knew why. He had seen Celestus in this role before—as the sort of angel who escorted the departed to heaven.

  Celestus smiled warmly at Aunt Ramona, and alarm filled Jake anew.

  He stepped forward. “You’re not really going to take her from us, are you?”

  The angel gave him a faraway smile, aware that Jake could see him. His manner was so gentle that he seemed like a different being than their fierce, black-clad rescuer from last night.

  “That is not up to me,” he said softly. Then he offered Aunt Ramona his hand, as if to assist a lady into a carriage.

  “But…” Before Jake could gather words for his protest at all of this, two more otherworldly visitors arrived.

  A pair of hideous, red-skinned devils climbed out of the ground in a puff of sulfurous smoke. Larger and uglier than the pitchfork crew who had harassed Jake and his friends the previous night, they climbed out of the ground and approached Zolond, cackling and leering at him.

  “Well, look who it is!” The first turned around and pulled his colleague the rest of the way up out of the dirt.

  Scrambling to ground level, the second picked a clod of grassy turf off one of his horns, where it had become impaled.

  Jake stared at the sneering, ugly creatures in dismay.

  Warily, they approached the ghost of the sorcerer-king. Zolond backed away, then tried to flee.

  One leaped ahead of him while the other blocked his escape, laughing gleefully. “Come with us, Master Zolond!”

  “Why do I smell sulfur again?” Brian mumbled.

  Isabelle and all his friends were watching Jake.

  “What’s happening, coz? Tell us!” Archie said.

  “Two devils have come for Zolond,” Jake reported, watching the creatures chase the Dark Master. “Celestus is here for Aunt Ramona.”

  “What?” Isabelle whispered.

  Aunt Ramona’s spirit watched in distress as the two devils chased Zolond about. “Make them stop!” she said to Celestus.

  He did not respond, looking on with inscrutable serenity, as though he had gazed upon this scene a million times before.

  “Come, come, that’s enough of that!” the taller devil said. “Don’t be a baby! Shemrazul is eager to welcome you home to the Ninth Pit!”

  “You’re gonna love it there, Your Majesty,” the other one said with a sneer.

  “Leave him be!” Aunt Ramona cried, but the creatures ignored her.

  Celestus’ dispassionate gaze slid toward her, but still, the angel did nothing. “He chose this, Ramona.”

  Even Jake started to feel a bit sorry for Zolond as the pair of devils seized him by the arms.

  “You hear that, deadie? You’re doomed. We have your signature, in your own blood! I have the contract right here.” The taller devil c
racked one of his horns open sideways and pulled a scroll out of a hidden compartment inside.

  He snapped his horn upright into place again, then unfurled the parchment, while his snickering partner gripped Zolond’s arm to stop him from fleeing.

  “See this?” He held up the paper and tapped the bottom with his claw. “That’s your name right there, inn’t it? Geoffrey de Lacey. Your real name. Not your stupid fake identity—Zolond! You can’t fool us, mate. Nobody cheats the devil.”

  Aunt Ramona moaned while the shorter devil waved his forked tail eagerly. “I suppose you thought the Horned One would let you off the hook, eh? Not hardly!” he said. “Our master kept his end of the bargain, Geoff. Can I call you Geoff? You should’ve kept yours.”

  The taller one snapped the scroll shut, then tossed it carelessly over his shoulder into the gaping black hole they’d left in the turf of Parliament Square. “You got everything you wanted, stupid human. Now it’s time to pay the price. Fair is fair.”

  Glancing from one to the other, Zolond looked far more terrified of these creatures than he had been of Wyvern.

  “This was almost too easy, wasn’t it, Ronny?” the short one said to his chum.

  “Aye!” said Ronny. “Not much of a Dark Master, are you? The ones before you were at least worth our time. Well, enough dawdling. Come on, you!” Roughly, they grabbed Zolond and started dragging him off toward the hole.

  Zolond looked back at Aunt Ramona’s shining spirit. “Forgive me.”

  “Oh, Geoffrey—I never stopped loving you!” she said.

  “I love you too, my dearest Ramona. Farewell.”

  “Wait!” she said. Jake looked on as Aunt Ramona turned desperately to face Celestus. “Is there nothing you can do? Please!”

  His glowing blue eyes remained impassive.

  “But there must be!” she insisted. “I beg you, if I have done any good at all for these children, o-or the Order or the world, then let him receive mercy! He was lied to, deceived! He held the truce for centuries, prevented wars— There is good in him! I’ve seen it!”

  It nigh broke Jake’s heart to hear the strong, stoic Elder witch pleading like this.

  “Listen to her! Please, Dr. Celestus!” Jake interjected, ignoring the fact that Zolond was the one who’d sent his parents into that terrible cavern.

  Celestus turned to Jake intently, studying him for a moment, then again at Aunt Ramona, as though weighing her request.

  For Zolond himself, the angel spared only a brief, contemptuous glance.

  It didn’t look promising.

  “Hmm,” he finally said. “Considering how much losing him at this late date would enrage my old friend, Shemrazul, perhaps I can call in a favor. Let me check. Hold!” he ordered the two devils.

  They whined and protested, but it seemed they had no authority to resist a Light Being’s command. They stopped dragging Zolond toward the hole and waited, muttering.

  Celestus closed his eyes for a long moment. “Yes… Yes, sir. I understand…”

  Jake held his breath and tried not to listen to the heartbreaking sound of the girls sobbing as he waited. He still could not believe any of this was happening.

  Aunt Ramona couldn’t possibly leave them now. She had only just started mentoring Nixie—and now there was a rupture to deal with. How was the Order supposed to fix that without the Elder witch?

  It wasn’t as though they still had Balinor. She was their leader now. And what was he, Jake, going to do without her?

  Celestus opened his eyes. “Your prayer has been heard,” he informed her. “The prisoner shall be shown mercy.”

  “Oh, thank you, Lord!” Aunt Ramona lifted her eyes to the sky.

  “Seventh Circle,” Celestus informed them. “Thirty thousand years.”

  “What? Hey! Now just hold on!” the devils protested. “What about the Ninth Pit? We’ve got a contract!”

  “Thank you,” Zolond uttered, gazing at the angel.

  “Don’t thank us yet,” Celestus said crisply. “Your new home is not exactly cozy. Unhand him. Now!” he ordered the two devils, who whined.

  “What are we supposed to tell Shemrazul?”

  Celestus chuckled. “That’s your problem.”

  The pair began raging at this last-minute stay of execution, roaring and cursing, stomping their cloven hoofs, and thrashing their tails.

  Jake was glad no one else could see this. Their temper tantrum was ugly and slightly terrifying.

  “This is a travesty! Your side claims to care about justice? What a bunch of hypocrites! We have a contract!” the taller one howled.

  But when a transparent rectangular door opened out of thin air nearby and another angel stepped out, the nasty pair fell back and instantly cowered.

  “Yea, what is it?” the new arrival asked Celestus, looking rather bored with it all.

  Even Jake was intimidated by his appearance. He stole a glance at his friends, but they couldn’t see this Light Being either. He was kind of scary.

  “Jake,” Celestus said pleasantly, “allow me to present my old friend, Azrael. Angel of Death.”

  Jake’s eyes widened.

  The death angel smiled with grim amusement at his reaction. He was taller than Celestus, with high cheekbones and long, dark hair. He wore a silver tunic that was cinched around his lean waist and just grazed his knees; on his feet, he wore Roman centurion sandals that laced up his muscular legs.

  In his hand, he carried a silver spear. This Azrael was such a formidable fellow that his brief gaze sent a shudder down Jake’s spine.

  When he glanced at Zolond, his eyes flashed briefly with white flame. Then he turned to Celestus. “Change of plans, eh?”

  Celestus sighed. “Upstairs agreed he doesn’t deserve the Ninth Pit after all. A speck of love has been found in his heart. Two specks, actually.”

  “Aww!” The devils started complaining again until Azrael gave them another sharp look.

  “And he did keep the truce,” Celestus added, “thus preventing a war and sparing countless lives. So, there’s that. However.” Celestus’ cobalt eyes narrowed as he stared at Zolond. “He murdered seventy-three souls in his lifetime, and violated Creation by fashioning numerous unnatural creatures.”

  “I-I was going to destroy them as soon as I’d finished here! It’s the truth!” Zolond cried.

  “Well, you ran out of time, didn’t you?” Azrael drawled, then snorted. His grumpy air reminded Jake of Maddox. “Seventh Circle is more than fair, you murderer. You’ll fit right in.”

  Celestus nodded. “It would’ve been the Ninth Pit, but Upstairs says he qualifies for Seven, since there’s real love for this woman in his shriveled old heart.”

  Azrael nodded. “I checked his file on my way here. It says he does not leave the Earth unloved, despite all he’s done. That’s usually a good sign. Her love for him is genuine enough. And the boy cares for him as well.”

  “Uh—no, I don’t,” Jake blurted out.

  Azrael glanced cynically at Jake. “I wasn’t talking about you, kid. The other boy. The real Black Prince.”

  “What?” Jake forgot all about the Dark Master’s body count at this revelation. “Real Black Prince?” He hadn’t known there was one! But there would be, wouldn’t there? “Who is it? Oh! His grandson?” He’d heard Wyvern say something about that.

  “Never mind!” Celestus said, scowling at the Angel of Death. “That will do, Azrael. Pay him no mind, Jake. Azrael was just leaving. Weren’t you?”

  “Sorry!” Azrael muttered to Celestus. “I didn’t know it was a secret. Nobody ever tells me anything. You all just call on me whenever you need some human dragged off to one place or another.”

  “Well, start dragging,” Celestus said in annoyance, gesturing at Zolond. “Get him out of here. I’m sick of his face.”

  “At least let us take part of him back to Shemrazul, please?” Ronny pleaded. “You have no idea what our master will do to us if we go back there empty-handed!”
>
  Azrael cracked a grim smile. “I can imagine.”

  “Aw, c’mon, either half will do! An arm?”

  “No.”

  “Just the head, then!”

  “Get back!” The death angel prodded his red-skinned foes away from Zolond with his spear. Then he took the old warlock by the arm with a no-nonsense grip. “This way, Mr. De Lacey.”

  “Goodbye, Geoffrey.” Newfound relief had filled Aunt Ramona’s face. “We will see each other again one day.”

  “I will always love you,” Zolond said earnestly, unable to tear his gaze off her.

  Azrael rolled his eyes. “Please. I just had my lunch.” Looking disgusted, he led Zolond toward the weird, out-of-nowhere door while the devils’ tantrum continued.

  “Wait!” Zolond cried.

  Azrael’s grip tightened. “No, now.”

  He started pulling Zolond through the doorway into a foggy realm, but the Dark Master’s ghost resisted, struggling to shout one last thing to Aunt Ramona. “Warn the Order of my creatures in the desert!”

  “What creatures, Geoffrey?” she exclaimed.

  Then the door slammed—and in the twinkling of an eye, it vanished altogether.

  Jake stood there, stunned.

  What creatures? And what of the real Black Prince?

  But there were no more answers to be had. Zolond was gone; Azrael did not return.

  Suddenly, without warning, the red devils were sucked backward, tumbling toward their hole as a terrifying roar echoed up from deep underground.

  Jake jumped, nervously looking around. That voice was all too familiar.

  It seemed Shemrazul had just heard about the lighter sentence handed down to his longtime servant.

  He’d want someone to take his fury out on, and Jake had a feeling he knew who it was going to be. The two red devils scrabbled with their claws along the turf, trying to cling above ground, but they could not avoid their fate any more than the Dark Master.

  They were dragged back under, and as soon as the tips of their horns ducked beneath the soil, the hole in the lawn disappeared.

  The grass was green and perfect again. The ground looked undisturbed.

  “What’s happening, Jake?” Dani whispered.

  He swallowed hard. “The Angel of Death has just taken Zolond away.”