by Aaron Crash
Besides, there was a very precise series of events that had to happen that night before Ymir slayed the dragon. He would’ve wanted more time to prepare, but the enemy had come.
That dragon had divination magic. It had waited for the ring to be finished before it had come. Or perhaps it was the wogglesparks that had brought it out of hiding. Either way, it had called out for Ymir, and Ymir would answer the challenge.
He slipped on the rings, all except for the Veil Tear, though he had that one ready. He had a plan, but he needed his sharreb there for him to use the Gather Breath. It was one of Gatha’s tasks, though knowing his women, they would be running straight into danger. They’d all been waiting for the dragon to appear.
Della grabbed Ymir’s sleeve. “Please, what happened in the Scrollery shouldn’t have happened. We shouldn’t have wasted time with such activities when our work is almost finished, and the enemy is at our gate. I blame—”
Ymir chuckled. “There is no one to blame, except for me, perhaps, and Ziziva. But I’ve wasted too much of my life hating that fairy. I’ve decided to just love her instead. We’ll discuss things if we survive this night. And if I die? I’m glad I died having tasted you, my Princept.”
Gatha didn’t just chuckle, she laughed loud and long. “You merely sipped her Ymir, but I drank her to the lees.”
Della colored. “Please. Let’s not talk of our little indiscretion.”
It wasn’t little, but they could keep it discreet.
They ran for the upper hall, emerged from the Scrollery, and immediately knew that whatever lust magic the Glow Rain had brought with it was gone. The scholars, a few visitors, and the special investigator from the Alumni Consortium were in the process of putting on their clothes. The Librarium had been cleared of the sparkles, which was probably why all those people weren’t having sex.
Issa Leel stood casting spell after spell, keeping the ice gate she’d created intact as dragon fire threatened to melt it. Molten rock dripped from the flames kissing the Librarium.
The Flow professor was sweating. There was a look of fear on her face until she saw Ymir, the Princept, and Gatha, who already had a curved Sunfire sword in her hand. Ice might work better. Best yet would be Della and her twin magic blades. Their edges were preternaturally sharp.
Issa Leel’s eyes filled with hope. “I kept the beast out, but the fire is too hot, and I reached out to feel its core, and it doesn’t have a dusza. It has something else.”
Ymir took pity on the professor. “Take everyone out through the Throne Auditorium and to the Sunfire Tower. We’ll handle this.” The fewer people who saw him wield the rings the better.
Professor Leel herded everyone away.
Another blast of fire, this one dark, like burning midnight, hit Professor Leel’s wall, and half of it melted in an instant along with most of the archway, as well as a few shelves on the second floor. A second later, the entire wall shattered from the lightning breath of the monster.
“I will kill this fucker for destroying my books!” Gatha screamed.
“Jelu prolium!” Ymir summoned a battle ax made of ice and gripped it with both hands.
He expected the beast to come tearing into the Librarium.
Instead, when the smoke and debris cleared, there was only a slight figure standing there with something on his shoulder.
Ymir walked forward.
The something on the figure’s shoulder flashed to life in a splash of green sparks. It was a fairy, Anny Prettytoad, sitting on Jayke Appleford’s shoulder.
Della and Gatha walked with Ymir shoulder to shoulder.
Della cried out, “Jayke, you have to get to safety, the dragon might—” Then the Princept’s voice died in her throat.
Because Jayke’s eyes ignited into an orange fire that blackened the skin around his eyes. Unger. Jayke had been Unger the entire time. Of course. Della said he’d talked of poisons a boy his age wouldn’t have known about. And he’d been studying the Withering. The dragon’s words came back to Ymir—When the time comes, you will give me the fruits of your labor, and I will bear fruit myself, finally. Finally, I’m free to sow the seeds I bear.
Lastly, Jayke had those orange specks in his otherwise green eyes.
“I’m not Jayke, Della,” the boy with the burning face said. “I’m Unger. Don’t you remember me, Princept?”
Anny Prettytoad giggled. “You aren’t telling us anything we don’t know, not even a silly little Prettytoad, who will not listen to her weak queen, not again, not Queen Deedee who is only a queen of beans in the end. She counts her gold, but I will win treasures untold.”
“Hush now, Anny. No use rubbing it in.” Unger grew bigger, broader, and it was then that Ymir realized he was naked, had been naked the entire time. His body had been lost in the darkness of the night, though it wasn’t completely black. There was still Glow Rain drifting here and there. One drifted near the tall, muscled figure.
“Gatha, your work isn’t here,” Ymir said in a quiet voice.
The she-orc growled, “You’d better not kill that fucker, Ymir. If I miss this battle running your errands, I’m going to carve my disappointment into your skin.”
Ymir grinned. “You know I can’t kill this asshole until he does what we need him to do. Go.”
She turned him to face her. “When we die, we’ll die in blood.”
Ymir nodded. “When we die, we’ll die in blood. But that won’t be this night, my ptari.”
Then Gatha was gone, running back through the Librarium, through the feasting hall, dashing toward the Zoo. The she-orc would hurry because she wouldn’t want to miss out on what would be a unique battle, one of the most unique in the history of the school.
Never before had there been a dragon at Old Ironbound.
Anny Prettytoad fluttered her wings and cast a green light upon the man, who wasn’t a man—hadn’t Della seen a green light in her vision? Scales rippled up and down Unger’s skin, and he grew taller and thicker, his hands turning into claws. A tail sprouted from above his ass. Wings unfurled from his back. His face elongated and suddenly, Ymir was looking into the orange eyes of a dragon man. The scent of him, that spicy, smoky scent, blew in on a wet breeze. It wasn’t raining, but the clouds swam thick in the sky.
Unger growled, “Della Pennez, I did a fucking great job on fixing those elf ears. But what of your soul? Are you still a wounded thing from fucking and then murdering the men you fucked? Wasn’t just men, though, but women as well. You were as horny as you were bloodthirsty. I hope that hasn’t changed. You missed me, didn’t you? When this barbarian is on you, I bet you don’t feel a thing. But with me, you felt me come with your very soul.”
Ymir reached out with the Crystal Null Ring and found some kind of energy inside this dragon man, but again, it wasn’t a dusza. Professor Leel had known that. It was something else.
Della wasn’t responding. Nor was she running her errand.
Ymir shoved her. “Go. You know what you need to do.”
That shocked Della out of her stupor. “Fuck you, Unger. You won’t be leaving my school alive tonight. I don’t know how many people will die, or how many buildings you’ll destroy, but I would suggest you not burn books. The she-orc loves those books, and you don’t want to piss her off.”
“Gatha of the Majestrial.” Unger growled laughter. “Yes. War’s Wet Cunt. She’s not a threat. None of you are. Come, I came here for a very specific reason, and I won’t leave without it. I don’t have to burn books or buildings or devour your horny little scholars. No, if you give me what I want, I will leave.”
Ymir stepped between Della and the dragon man. “Princept, go!”
Della finally left in a flash of Moons magic. She flew upward to the entrance of her room on the sixth floor.
Ymir’s gaze never left the dragon man and the fairy on his massive shoulder. “Well, Unger, I’m a reasonable man, but I also have my own concerns. We’ll give you the Flesh Steal Ring, but in exchange, you will us
e your flesh-mending ability to give my friend, Charibda Delphino, her breath back. Then you can go about your important business. Before when we talked, you mentioned your seed, your fruit, your offspring. You want to use the ring to bring forth more dragons into the world.”
“Dragons,” Unger hissed. “Such a weak word. We were the Alpheros, and we travelled the universe, until...until we were forced into hiding. But that’s ancient fucking history. I don’t have to hide anymore. Yes, there is a game being played on this fucking world, but I don’t have to pay it much mind. I want children. That’s all you need to know.”
Ymir had to keep this thing talking. He had to give his ptoor time. And there was Della’s vision of Ziziva, who would stop the dragon, though Ymir didn’t know how that could be. When he’d left her last, the fairy girl couldn’t stand, let alone fight. How much weaker would she be after giving birth to the countless wogglesparks, assuming that was what had happened?
Ymir set his ice ax on his shoulder. “But we have time, Unger, to chat. Della is getting the ring. By the Axman’s heavy balls, I hope it’s ready. If it’s not, we can get some beer and wait. You can tell me of the Night of Fire. I saw your ShadowFlame melt through the ice we put up in the archway of the citadel. You were there when the Vempor Aegel Akkridor was slain, weren’t you? Tell me about that.”
Unger laughed. “I’ve forgotten most of what has happened on this little world, with that little man. Aegel Akkridor was just some king with delusions of grandeur. He lived a long time, granted, through sorcery. This world does like its little dusza sorcery. He forged the rings, which were interesting, but they were stolen from me. Which meant I had to wait for you.”
The dragon man snorted flames. The fairy on his shoulder shivered her green wings and filled the air with dust.
“And was the Midnight Guild part of the game?” Ymir asked. “Was the Silent Scream?”
“Things to relieve my boredom,” Unger sneered. “My little secret guilds, to bring me information, to let me rule my own little secret empire. If the fairies can do it, why not I?”
Anny giggled. “Why not I? Why not us? We can play the game better than anyone. We can be powerful and have our fun.”
The dragon man showed his fangs as he grinned. “I do enjoy a good fairy. You know, when I first became aware of your curse, when I first saw you in a vision, I knew this moment would come. We tried to stop you, we tried to kill you, because you stink of a dark destiny. If you give me what I want, you can continue your dark destiny. You can continue to play your demon games. I won’t care. But get in my way, and you will die.”
Ymir would not be surrendering the ring to the dragon. The Akkiric Rings were his. And besides, the things that Unger had said to Della could not go unpunished.
All Ymir had to do was keep this beast man talking. “And my mermaid?”
Unger’s eyes blazed orange. “I can shape flesh at will. I can work magic undreamed of by you and this little school. It would be an easy task for me, if I should choose to do it. Give me the ring first.”
“Shape your flesh at will.” Ymir nodded, seeing the truth. “Who did you murder first? I think it was Jayke. You killed him, took his shape, which allowed you access to every part of Castle SkyReach. No one knew. Then you murdered the Grand Vempor Arcadius, but you confused everyone by both burning his bed and poisoning him. All to get here, to this moment, so you could win the ring from me.”
Unger shrugged. “They’re just little toys, little pale worms, that don’t matter. Just as you don’t matter despite the destiny stink on you.”
Anny wouldn’t stay quiet. “Human toys we play with, and I’ll play with my Fayee mistresses the same way. Play all night and play all day.”
“Never!” From out of the air flashed a streak of pink. Jacinta Sugartime, armored, flying, with her pink-hued sword flashing, came down and struck Anny off the dragon’s shoulder. Both went tumbling in the air, throwing Scintilla Dust, pink and green.
Blue fire struck the dragon—vermillion magic hurled by Dillyday Everjewel herself. Queen Deedee spoke in perfect Verum Tongue. “No, Unger, we will not let you bring more of your kind to this world. You want this magic ring, but we will not let you have it. Not now, not ever.”
Ymir’s heart fell. Both Della and Gatha were on their way. They only needed a bit more time. It seemed fate had other ideas.
Unger hissed laughter. “I fucking love fairies. Unless I fucking loathe them.”
The dragon man lengthened into his full bestial form, orange eyes blazing and fire blazing in its throat.
Ymir ran forward, not knowing if he would fight the fairies to save the dragon, or the kill the dragon outright. They had to give Ribby her breath back, and this beast seemed like the only way.
On the other hand, Unger had caused the people of Thera enough trouble. Given that he was the last vestige of the Midnight Guild, Ymir thought it would only be fitting if the worm died by his hand.
They might have to address Ribby’s woes in some other way.
Chapter Forty-Two
YMIR CHARGED FORWARD ready to use the Winter Flame Ring to freeze the dragon’s feet to the stones of the Flow Courtyard. Ymir also filled Unger’s maw with snow. It was like the barbarian had shoved a glacier down the dragon’s throat.
At the same time, Ymir slid across the ice himself. “Jelu armatus!” Ymir used his school magic to cover himself with ice armor.
Ymir slid past the dragon and found dry ground. Gripping his frosty battle ax with both hands, he swung the blade into the back of the dragon.
The dragon’s tail swept around and tried to crush Ymir, but he cast his Moons spells. “Caelum caelarum.” Unseen hands lifted him into the air. Ymir tried to use the Crystal Null Ring, tried to get to the dragon’s core like he’d done before, but he couldn’t latch onto the power. It seemed Unger had learned from their last encounter and protected himself somehow. It was completely different energy, after all.
Ymir knew there was little hope of help. Either people would be lost in the lust of the Glow Rain, or they would be following the imposed curfew. He would have to fight this beast until Della returned with the ring or his wives showed. He had some help, however.
Queen Deedee hurled more blue-fire magic, sizzling through the dragon’s black and orange scales.
Unger tried to scream, but he couldn’t—too much snow filled his mouth.
That wasn’t going to last long. Already water was pouring out of Unger’s mouth as the snow melted. The dragon ripped its claws free of the ice.
Ymir grabbed moisture from the night air and peppered the dragon with ice spears, one after another. Some of the spears broke, others skewered the beast.
A second later, Unger was back in his man shape, breathing fire, which he swept into a circle. “Magica porta!” He sped through the doorway of flames.
Ymir was impressed by the magic. He floated down to help Jacinta with Anny Prettytoad. The two fairies were fighting in their Winkle Selves, both in tiny suits of armor. Jacinta’s pink blade struck Anny’s green one in clouds of pink and green Scintilla Dust. They were moving so fast that it was hard to keep track of the fight.
The barbarian smelled the spicy, smoked sweetness of the dragon too late. Ymir turned and saw the dragon man had returned, healed and winged, from a flaming circle. Unger struck Ymir, and those long claws squealed as the barbarian’s ice armor turned the talons. The dragon was an inferno of heat, and Ymir’s armor was already melting. His battle ax was knocked from his hands.
Unger threw Ymir to the ground, then turned as Queen Deedee hurled more blue fire. Vermillion flames exploded around Unger. The dragon man’s flesh sizzled. He was clearly hurt until he transformed back into his massive form and called out, “Magica Cura!” Orange light healed the scorch marks. The dragon then unleashed his dark flames, the flames that could melt stone. That ShadowFlame could easily kill the fairy queen.
On the ground, Ymir accessed the Yellow Scorch Ring. He could feel the inten
sity of the heat in the air. However, he could dissipate the hellish fire by spreading it across the entire courtyard.
The result surprised even Ymir. For a second, the entire night was as bright as noon, and they were all caught in the intense heat. Ice turned to mist. Most of the Glow Rain vanished. Other wogglesparks went rolling across the ground, finding cracks and crannies to hide in. A few of the sparkles rolled into the moat surrounding the Librarium Citadel. Laughing eels came to gulp them down.
Suffice to say, the dragon’s ShadowFlame was gone.
More fairies arrived—Professor Lolazny Lyla, Zorynda Gold, and a few others that Ymir didn’t recognize. Still in their Winkle Selves, they hurled prolium spells of different colors into the dragon. The beast let out a roar and turned, and a terrible light filled the thing’s throat. It wasn’t just fire, or the dark flames, it was something that crackled with a power Ymir hadn’t known was possible.
There was a dreadful silence right before Unger let loose his deadly breath. Time seemed to slow. Ymir didn’t bother trying to get to his feet because he wasn’t going to be fast enough to stop whatever was coming.
Silence. A growl. And then a whomp as reality itself seemed to bend into the dragon’s mouth. Light flared in the back of Unger’s throat. Blinding energy crackled out. It wasn’t just lightning, but cold, fire, and eye-biting colors of every hue. The energy struck the collection of fairies who had come to help. Professor Lola managed to get an ice wall between herself and the energy, and it was enough to protect her.
Zorynda Gold, though, was turned to ash. Other fairies lost their wings, fell, and were soon dust, disintegrated by the blinding hell of pure energy leaving the dragon’s mouth.
Professor Lola’s ice wall vanished. Her wings were damaged. She turned into her Verum Self, but the last bit of the dragon’s nightmare breath flung her into the Flow Tower, which she hit with a terrible crunching sound.
