by L Ward
Chapter 29
Under the cover of nightfall and a cloak that swept the night like a dark ages villain, Evan slipped from the palace. He followed Nath with haste into the darkened gardens, the air was cool and dry, moonlight winking behind clouds of smoke and shadow. How in the name of the gods Nath had escaped his office was beyond him but here they were pausing beneath a staggering pink-tinted pine, waiting mere moments for Will’s dark figure to appear, eyes undetectable in the night.
Nath nodded from beneath his furs and they marched to the sound of night birds and crickets. There were guards at the gate, Evan and Nath did as agreed and pressed to Will’s back dousing themselves in an icy powder that stung like a dozen bees but cloaked them into Will’s furs.
“Night hike,” Will said, towering above both guards and undoubtedly looking at them like they’d make a decent dinner.
Evan swallowed his nerves and steadied his breathing. If he got them caught now they’d be failures.
“As you wish, Sir. Are your guards present?”
Pause. Will must’ve made some kind of facial expression because the older gentleman who spoke hesitated.
“Not to be disrespectful of course, Sir.”
“They’re cloaked as always,” said Will. “May I pass?”
“Of course.”
Footsteps.
Twigs snapping.
Gravel crunching.
They were outside and the heavy gates clattered shut behind them, sparkling with threads of blue enchantment.
They followed Will in silence deep into the forest not once deviating from the decreasingly visible track. When the trees became dense a flame bobbed in his palm leading them through the darkness. There was a certain thrill to it like watching fireworks or like when he was fourteen and he snuck out his bedroom window at midnight to go to a book release, his dad caught him when he got home but once he realised Evan had only been to buy a book he didn’t bother to punish him and instead made him a brew and wished him goodnight.
The darkness was encapsulating, suffocating as though the air had thinned and mist set about them turning everything a hazy shade of warning. The air simmered and the heat drew a bead of sweat down the back of his neck. Then a peculiar sensation overcame him and he realised they’d passed a magical barrier. The sight robbed him of his breath. He’d only seen them from a distance on expeditions with his sister and their friends, never once had he come across a tamed one. The dragon was curled at the entrance to a large cave rippling with purple and smelling strongly of smoke and dung. It raised its enormous head, glossy with ebony scales and two glaring red eyes of the devil stared back.
Nath stepped away, admiring the creature. Something glinted, a rare pendant around his neck nestled deep inside his furs, a green light pulsating. “This is the royal pendant; it grants the sovereign absolute control of the dragon.”
Evan’s jaw hit the floor and some. “It’s said to be a thing of legends…”
Nath’s smile was cutting and shimmering with charm. “And yet it hangs around my neck, or yours if you’d prefer to command him.”
Evan swallowed shooting Nath the most panicked look he could muster.
Nath laughed beautifully and even Will was smiling along. “I’ll take that as a no then,” he said and turned back to the dragon. “Now, we ride.”
“Wait- what?!”
“Ride,” said Nath.
Evan’s stomach did at least five somersaults and performed the macarena. “The dragon?”
“Unless you want to ride my dick all the way across the border, the dragon it shall be.”
Will snorted with laughter.
Evan blushed and, with Nath’s guidance, climbed onto the dragon’s back safely nestling into the riding saddle.
“Budge up a bit,” Will said, crushing up against his back. There was a hump dividing his ass and Will’s unwanted groin but it was small and Will seemed determined to cross it.
“Conservative hands,” Nath warned, turning back to glare at Will.
“Aye aye, captain.”
“If you molest him once I’ll dump you over, understood?”
“Jesus, Nath I’m not gonna start feeling him up on a dragon.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you, Will.”
As much as Evan didn’t want to be held by his husband’s ex, it was happening. Two strong hands clasped either side of his waist and he clung to Nath as the dragon’s body swayed; it was on its feet. Magical ropes held their thighs to the saddle as its wings stretched into the blackness, leathery and coated with glossy scales. He held his breath as the wind roared in gigantic arcs either side of his head, and they were off. Its wings beat slowly raising them up, up, up. He clung tightly to Nath as they were suddenly tilted back and the wind belted him in the face. The stars burst before his eyes and the clouds drew nearer as they rose high into the sky, a rippling mass of ebony and scales. The wind was cold lashing at his furs.Eeventually they evened out flat; just the rhythmic bobbing of the dragon’s body and his pounding heart shifted it. Nath was shivering and tense; Evan buried his face in the furs and a rush of heat spread through his entire body like hot air and for a split second he believed it was the dragon’s breath, but then he realised it was Will. His arms were bound around his waist, arms locked and stiff. The shivering stopped and despite his terror he could relax and dare a peek.
The world was far below in a stream of light and colour. Bursts of magic and showers of silver lit up the night sky and Evan got his first true glance at the land. It was beautiful, trees towered into the clouds dusted with shimmer and owls the size of grown men swooped below. They soared above villages, windows of candlelight and the occasional cluster of pixies. The stars were close enough to steal.
The serenity shattered when a surge of panic struck him forcefully in the back, but it wasn’t his own, it was Will caught in the vicious clutches of an internalised panic attack. There was nothing he could do to relieve the fear itself but he could help and allowed the magic to trickle into Will’s skin like raindrops on glass. Will felt it and flinched but didn’t let go even though he’d be perfectly safe if he did. It was enough to soothe and focus him, the last thing they needed was him passing out.
He kept them warm and after a time the border appeared in the distance, now a vast field of poisonous purple streaked with violent green and crimson. Magical concentrate. It wasn’t a border any more. The earth became desolate, shattered trunks blistering with burning embers and tumbledown buildings smouldering in misery stretched for miles. If he squinted he could barely make out the ruins of small villages and towns, dozens of them destroyed or barren after the riots. The enchanted lands were much larger than the Otherworld and he could only imagine the devastation the monsters would cause if unleashed there. Will loosened his grip a little and the waves of panic barely lapped the shore.
There was an expectation to feel something when they passed the dense purple field, stinking of scorched incense and a dozen ash trays. It didn’t help Evan’s motion sickness, nor apparently Will’s as he gagged loudly. The atmosphere changed, the temperature dropped and the blackness caved in. It felt like it did the first time, the crippling silence and eeriness that made every hair on his body stand on end. Disorientation struck; he had no idea how long they’d been flying, whether it’d been long hours or mere minutes. Emotions were running high and adrenaline was pumping through his veins.
And then his stomach began to drop as the dragon’s wings evened out and the gradual descent began. Bolts of light and clusters of diamonds filled the sky, black clouds over the triple moons each in various stages of fullness but none of them near peak. It was said that when the three full moons aligned the strongest monsters would be unleashed on the world. It was an old prophecy, borderline a myth by this point, that lands cursed by the devil’s finger would reveal three interdimensional moons; they would reveal the moon of the earth, the moon of the gods and the moon of the devil, and when the three aligned all hell would break loo
se. Wales was by no means the only nation turned to the dark side baring such a mark, plenty of nations had fallen over the centuries. Evan swallowed watching for any sign of approaching life or concrete rising formidably but there was nothing but blackness interrupted only by brutal slashes of light too quick to register their surroundings. He’d lain awake in bed many a night researching the lore of their worlds far more deeply than before and it’d left him devastated.
His guts wrenched as they floated from the sky. Treetops appeared, hills and the flashes of a silver river running way too fast uphill caught his eye. Down, down they went until the land was no longer distant and the dragon’s scaled talons touched the floor and a cloud of black dust erupted smelling of sooty spells.
“This is it,” said Nath.
Will raised a palm and an orb of fire floated away like a Chinese lantern.
It was a clearing among some trees and boulders that looked like any eerie landscape he’d seen so far. He looked about questioningly. “Here?”
“We can’t get into it by air so we’ll enter on foot. There’s a disposal unit intelligence suggests is unsecured, we can follow it up to the main floors where I’m certain the creatures are being manufactured. Are you alright, Will?”
Evan turned back. Will was no longer panicking but he looked pale.
“Motion sickness.”
And fear of heights, or flying, or dragons, or falling, or hugging princes. Evan didn’t know what upset him but something had thrown Will on that flight.
“How many years has it been since you were last on a dragon?”
“Five or six,” Will smirked and Evan watched the laughter well in his eyes.
Nath laughed. “Well, none of us predicted this.”
“We certainly didn’t.”
They slid from the dragon’s back; the great creature turned to Nath, eyes fixated curiously. “Wait here for our return, any sign of disturbance- attack,” he said, touching the stone beneath his furs.
To Evan’s surprise the dragon inclined its snout.
They padded across the clearing and through the trees. Evan couldn’t decide if he felt like he was being watched and that was worse than actually being watched. There was a hunter out there and they were the prey. He had to trust in Nath, he was a werewolf after all surely he’d know if they were in danger.
It appeared like a mist through the trees, the iron fortress like a cube of dull metal stubbornly rejecting the glare of moonlight. The building was huge, they skirted it silently concealed by trees, watching; listening. Quiet as the grave didn’t cut it and as they made their way to the target entrance a horrible smell punctured the air.
“What the fuck is that?” Evan whispered, covering his mouth with his sleeve.
“Death,” said Will.
The urge to heave was powerful. He hoped Will was joking, but something in the back of his mind screamed with knowledge. The smell worsened and the flies appeared, filthy great things the size of an adult palm buzzing round large metal containers secreting ominous dark liquid. The place stank to high heaven. There was no sound from inside the loading bay leading into a what appeared to be a warehouse littered with bones and scraps of fur.
“This place is extremely dangerous,” Nath whispered. “There’s monsters here, hundreds of them, and things moving beyond that door,” he nodded a way ahead where a large black garage door separated the disposal unit from the labs.
Evan’s heart rate wasn’t possible and his entire body prickled with sweat. They huddled close, a palm raised each at the ready. The stench was overwhelming and he tried to ignore the crunchy and squashy things they stepped on. They reached the top and loud bangs echoed from behind a door some way off.
“Sounds like someone’s opening and closing huge metal drawers,” Will said quietly.
“It’s definitely a warehouse sorting system,” Evan whispered.
“From the likes of this place I’d guess it’s body parts and corpses,” said Nath.
Light filtered through the cracks and small puncture holes in the metal door. Will peered through. “Cursed astomi.”
Confusion draped over him. “What’re they?”
“Small humanoids without need for food or water, they usually survive on nature’s pleasant smells but if they’ve been cursed it’s likely they’re feeding on the scent of death,” Nath’s brows drew together.
“They don’t have mouths?”
“No.”
“So then—”
“They can’t scream,” Will said with a smile. He raised a palm and melted the door like it was nothing, the thin metal hissed at their feet and all sounds of production stopped. The smoke cleared and beings of horrible legends stared back. They were like grey-skinned emaciated teenagers with huge black eyes and vicious slit nostrils, their rugged slash mouths were sewn together and crusted with black blood. Their ears stood long and to attention and for a moment everything stopped.
“Get to the door!” Nath hissed. He seized Evan’s arm and they made a break for the door and all hell broke loose.
Panic took the astomi in its unforgiving grasp and they threw themselves at them, hair flying in matted tendrils; the sound of their bare feet slapping the floor was all they made.
Will used both palms like a blowtorch and burned alive any monster that drew near. They tried skirting the room and Evan caught sight one of up ahead smashing its head against a protective box over an alarm.
“Stop it!” he cried.
Nath drew in power and shot a shard of moonlight through the back of its chest. The monster tensed and collapsed to the floor in a heap of bloodied limbs.
Will took aim and melted the alarm; it dripped down the wall.
Monsters continued to fly at them, arms and legs thrashing uncontrollably. Evan threw up barriers as Nath and Will sliced and diced their way across the room. They dodged hefty containers with furry arms curling into talons hanging out. The smell was seriously violating and worsened the more Will continued to melt the creatures, eyes blazing. The lack of screams was worse than agony because at least suffering could be expressed. Evan’s body was going haywire with magic and they burst through the door slamming it in the face of a male.
They were fools.
They were in danger.
There could’ve been anyone on the other side of that door but instead they were greeted by a cold, dark passage.
“At least we’ll be out of that soon,” Will nodded up ahead. The corridor looked pretty civilised with low burning torches and tidy black bricks. It was the kind of place you could walk in wonderment or horror.
“The body parts were being delivered by a chute,” said Nath tightly. He looked repulsed and pale.
“Which means?” asked Evan.
“We should be clear up ahead to find the labs,” said Will.
“It shouldn’t be too hard the security’s fantastically crap,” said Evan.
“Why would they need security in the morgue?” Will asked, wrinkling his nose with distaste. “The smell alone puts me off.”
Nath’s ears pricked. He cloaked them in darkness and Will took first position along the twists and turns of the corridor. Dozens of doors glared back, they risked a peek in a number of them but most were empty and full of desks or cleaning supplies from another era.
“Was this an old school?” Evan whispered.
“I’ve never been to peasant school so I wouldn’t know,” Will said lightly.
Nath shot him a look.
“I was homeschooled,” said Evan.
“Bless.”
“Fucking stop it, Will,” Nath snapped. “Let’s go this way.” He led them for another few minutes, the corridors brightened and they reached a levitating platform ready to take them to the upper floors.
“I don’t like how easy this is,” said Will.
“Me neither,” said Evan.
Nath pauses to listen, pointy ears pricked and pupils pinpoints. They hadn’t been over the border long and already he looked
wolfish. “It’s clear for the foreseeable but there’s a lot of activity in this building.”
They stepped onto the platform and as soon as they did a ring of bright red lit up at their feet and they began to rise at a pace befitting bent knees. They stopped pretty high up and stepped onto a cold metal landing. There was a sign for the toilets and below it a picture of an ogre painted with a big red x.
“Wonder what happened to get them banned from toilets,” Evan snorted.
“Ogres don’t have toilets in the wild so…” Will trailed off.
Evan’s smile faded.
“Why do you think they’re on outdoor duty?”
Ascending a staircase, cloaked in the darkness of space, they confronted a glowing security portal above a set of doors. Nath raised a finger and the shard glittered and shorted out, fading like quartz in the sun.
Evan swallowed his nerves as they waited a couple beats. Nothing happened. That’s when he noticed a plaque on the wall that read: Artemisial Laboratories.
Will nudged the door open with his foot. The corridor was empty but nearby the sounds of monsters, machines and magic rang out.
Evan’s anxiety was reaching nuclear mode and the suspense was killing him. Time was of essence and they had to destroy these labs. Moments passed and nobody came, so Will set off along the corridor. Howls, clangs and snorts tumbled from behind steel doors leaving his mind hazy with possibility and fear. He almost jumped out of his skin when to their right a door banged against a wall and garbled speech disappeared behind it.
“The sign posts aren’t very sophisticated,” Nath commented, deciphering a large spray painted poop with an arrow pointing back the way they came.
“What’s a Blood Barn?” he asked.
“It’s where they harvest the blood of rare or diseased beasts and use it on other creatures,” said Nath.