by Craig Askham
As soon as Vykron the gangster had dragged himself from the portal, Lee Casey turned and headed for the wooden stairs. Sorin was off after him like a shot, and Talia not far behind. Vantalon held back to wait for Ben and, as they set off, Vykron put a hand on his shoulder and offered him a forced smile.
“Apologies for my rudeness, Akelius.” He placed one hand on his stomach and jabbed a finger from the other back at the portal. “I am not a good traveller.”
“No problem,” Ben grinned back, straight away. “It’s a hell of a ride, isn’t it?”
Vykron furrowed his brow, and then smiled as if they were sharing a joke and Ben couldn’t possibly be serious about such a thing.
“Of course. Like a funfair, yes?”
Ben laughed, no doubt sounding a little shrill, and set off after the rest of the group. Both Vykron and Vantalon followed, dropping into polite conversation with each other. Good. Vantalon didn’t look the type to be intimidated by gangsters, so he could be the one to take one for the team and keep Vykron occupied. Quickening his pace to leave them behind, but not increasing it enough to catch up with the other bunch of people he didn’t particularly want to spend time with, he cut a solitary figure on the short march to the staircase. Stuck between rocks and hard places, and grateful for it. He was here for the dragon, and only the dragon. Everything else was secondary. Unimportant. Well, that was what he kept telling himself as he stared hard at Sorin’s arm draped around his ex-girlfriend’s shoulder. Secondary. Unimportant. All about the dragons.
Seven
It was night. As ever, Ben’s first reaction was to feel slightly cheated. It had been daytime back on Earth, yet somehow he’d fallen asleep and missed the rest of the day here on Vangura. That wasn’t it, of course, and he knew it. The two planets weren’t the same size, didn’t rotate at the same speed, and didn’t travel around their respective suns at the same rate of knots. There were so many differences that he couldn’t keep up, and knowing what time of day (or night) he was going to arrive was just one of the many enigmas that flummoxed him. The portal he used the most was the one in LA; sometimes he travelled through it first thing in the morning and arrived in Arunkumar in the afternoon, sometimes he travelled through first thing in the morning and arrived late at night. Sometimes he even travelled through first thing in the morning and arrived, shockingly enough, first thing in the morning. There was definitely a rhyme and a reason to it, he just didn’t understand the ins and outs of the physics involved. Vangura was bigger than Earth, and the days were longer. It was simple enough when he thought about it like that; he just had to get over that initial shock of thinking he’d stepped into a time machine as well as through a portal. Of course, maybe he had stepped into a time machine. No. Don’t even think about that.
He shivered as he clambered up the last few steps from the underground cavern. Although grateful for the warmth provided him by his sensible clothes, he nevertheless had a feeling he was going to need more of them. For a long moment, he silently cursed the dragon for not being spotted somewhere more southerly and warm. Like Arunkumar, for example. Now, that would have been far more preferable. Anywhere, in fact, where his breath didn’t fog the air and his knees didn’t knock together. He looked up into a cloudless night sky, startled by the billions of stars packed together as if they were mere millimetres apart. Only one of Vangura’s moons was visible, showing off a teasing crescent whilst demurely keeping the rest of the goods covered like a stripper at the beginning of a show. Ben had no idea where the second, brighter moon was hiding; sometimes it came out to play like its smaller playmate, and sometimes it just couldn’t be bothered to put in an appearance at all. It was a shame, as the sight of both moons in all their glory, up here in the mountains where the sky was closer, would have been a magical sight to behold. He grinned, face still upturned, just happy to be here. Happy to breathe the crisp, lung-shocking air without having to do so via a mask that filtered out the parts that wanted to kill him.
They were in the Seghiri capital city, Ghulam-Qadir. The mountains of Seghir began as foothills further south, way down in the grasslands of Haghir. Travellers knew they’d traded the land of the horse people for the land of the mountain people as soon as those foothills turned abruptly steeper and rockier. From there the mountains spread thousands of miles north, getting higher and higher until they reached Ighalo Kekilli, the highest mountain the known parts of this world had to offer. There was nothing on Ighalo Kekilli except an ancient monastery hewn into the mountainside, and after that the mountains started getting smaller and smaller again until, finally, they reached the ocean. It was there, partly perched atop and partly clinging to the edge of the world, that Ghulam-Qadir had been built. A city on many levels, with inclines so steep it was impossible to find an unfit citizen, it was an impregnable barrier against the majestic waves that battered the rocks below. It was within these rocks that countless caverns and crevasses had formed over the millennia, some discovered and most no doubt still waiting to be. One of them was home to the Stillwater portal, and the stairs that Ben had spent an exhausting ten minutes climbing led straight out into the grounds of someone’s rather expensive looking house, right in the middle of the city’s wealthiest neighbourhood and no more than a stone’s throw from the palace of the king and queen. He’d often wondered what was inside the forbidding, ivy-covered stone building; travellers were usually filtered out of the grounds and into the city without ever setting foot inside, and for somebody as curious as Ben it was a fascinating puzzle. It intrigued him that Stillwater had the audacity to operate their clandestine tourism business so damn close to such a high profile royal palace. Why the hell would they do that when they were apparently so desperate to keep the whole thing a secret? He couldn’t help but think it lent credence to the possibility that Stillwater didn’t have quite as much control over the positioning of their portals as they claimed.
Realising he was gawping, Ben forced his eyes back down to earth, then stole a quick glance around before setting off across the perfectly manicured lawn. A shadow flitted across his vision, and he snapped his head in the direction he thought it had been travelling in. There, twenty feet away, was the obligatory Stillwater guard. It was too dark to see what he was wearing, but he looked big, and the moonlight cast the shadow of two sword hilts jutting out of his shoulders from their resting place strapped to his back. Despite expecting him, the appearance of the guard still made Ben jump.
“Keep moving.” He looked back to the top of the stairwell, which stood out in the dark and surely must have caused suspicion amongst any that visited the estate. Lee was standing there, managing to bring up the rear like a good guide, despite being the first one to have reached the foot of the stairs. He made a flapping motion with both of his hands, which made Ben desperate to show him the finger. Instead, he ignored the urge and resumed his march across the grass, lengthening his stride so much that he was in danger of catching up with Sorin and Talia. No, Ailat. Damn it, make a decision. Talia.
“Idiot,” he breathed, and forced himself to slow down again.
“Sorry if I startled you.” The words came from the guard he hadn’t even realised was keeping pace with him. Despite already having being told to keep moving, he was surprised to realise it was a woman’s voice instead of the man’s he’d automatically assumed it to be. He felt himself blush, and immediately felt stupid for doing so because nobody could see him doing it.
“Nothing to be sorry about,” he replied. “I was expecting a guard, and still failed to spot you until I nearly bumped into you. You’re clearly very good at your job.”
“Ha.” She sounded amused, a lightness to the word that was really little more than an expulsion of breath. “Caspillo and his men are waiting for you up in the academy. Have a very pleasant stay, and I hope you find your dragon.”
“Thank you.” Ben had no idea who this Caspillo was, but in his head he was already imagining both him and his men as well-trained dragon soldiers, sent to
protect them from what would undoubtedly be a very angry dragon if it discovered them. Of course, he had no idea if such a department within the company even existed, and was willing to admit it didn’t really sound plausible. Sorin and Talia came to a halt in front of them, turning to wait for the rest of the group to catch up. Ben pulled up just shy of them, and looked up to study what he assumed was the academy rather than be forced to speak to them.
“Did you just say Caspillo?” Lee demanded, trotting up to the Stillwater guard and coming to a stop a little too close for her liking, although she refused to take a step back. His cockney accent may have been toned down by his tracker, but it unfortunately couldn’t do much to adjust his volume. Ben suspected this was a theme that was going to set the tone for the rest of the trip; if anyone was going to alert the dragon to their presence, it was surely going to be their very own dragon guide.
“I did, indeed.” The guard made no attempt to elaborate, or move. She may as well have been a talking statue.
“But…” Lee paused, trying to think of the best way to frame his next question. “I’m still in charge, right?”
“I would suggest the best person to ask is Caspillo himself.” She clearly wasn’t going to give any more away than she absolutely had to.
“Fuck it.”
“Who’s Caspillo?” Ben suspected Sorin was on the verge of asking the very same question, so got in there first.
“He’s a Catcher.” Surprisingly it was Vantalon who answered, stepping out from behind Lee. Vykron followed, seemingly wanting to make sure he could hear every word of Vantalon’s explanation. Lee, meanwhile, appeared to still be reeling from the unexpected revelation. “If you were to dig that little tracker out of your arm,” Vantalon continued. “And decide to make a run for it, never again to return to our awful little planet, he’s the guy Stillwater would send to bring you back. One of the best, actually. I’ve met him a couple of times…” He paused, as if rethinking what he should have said. “Not that I’ve ever decided to try and run away, he just sometimes drinks in the tavern I own in Arunkumar. He was kind enough to pull some strings and get me into this little trillionaire group. I didn’t think he’d be coming along as well, though.” Realising he was talking too much and potentially dropping himself in it with Lee, Vantalon stopped speaking. It was Sorin who jumped immediately into the gap, with a clap of the hands designed to startle them all into action.
“We’d better not keep him waiting, then. Chop chop, everyone. Let’s pull our fingers out of our backsides and get a move on, shall we?”
Ben didn’t need telling twice, even if the directive came from Sorin Costache. He nodded curtly to the Stillwater guard just in case her eyes were sharp enough in the darkness to see it, and followed Sorin as he marched across a flower bed that had probably taken weeks to grow, flattening everything in his stride as he made a beeline for the grand steps that led up to the academy’s flagstone terrace. Stepping politely over the flowers rather than being quite so unaware, Ben shook his head and stared daggers at the taller man’s back as he went.
Eight
“Hi, I’m Ben.”
The older man looked down on him as if he was a child. His hair was so blonde it was almost white, and his eyes very pale blue. His skin was tanned golden, which only served to highlight the intensity of those striking eyes. He was dressed in grey leather armour, with numerous metal studs and buckles across his chest that Ben didn’t understand the purpose of. Ben left his hand frozen in front of him, waiting for a handshake that didn’t look like it was coming. They were all gathered in one of the no doubt countless drawing rooms the building had to offer. Ben hadn’t been able to see much of what the building looked like as they’d approached it from the lawn, but it had risen in front of them like a monolithic slab of thick grey stone, covered liberally in rambling ivy. They’d stepped up onto the terrace and entered the building through open double doors, to find themselves in a wood-panelled room with high ceilings, comfortable looking chairs and the bored-looking Stillwater agent the guard had warned them about.
“No, you’re not. You’re Akelius. Portal travel, rule number one.”
“Sorry.” Ben shook his head, and heard Sorin titter behind him. “I’m Akelius.”
The other man finally looked at the hand on offer, and then stepped around Ben with a shake of his head. When he spoke again a few seconds later, he was clearly addressing everyone.
“I’m Caspillo, and I’m your babysitter for this trip.” He pointed at Lee with the index finger of his right hand, and extended his thumb upwards so that it looked like he was holding a pretend gun. “Jokdrath…” He paused and squinted at a spot just above Lee’s head, as if he was trying to read something in the air. “…Copperhead?” Lee rolled his eyes, and then nodded his confirmation. Caspillo raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Jokdrath Copperhead is still in charge of this expedition, until such a time that I feel the need to step in and make some violence-related decisions. I should warn you that this isn’t my day job; I’m officially taking annual leave right now, but couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. I want to see a dragon, so here I am. Do everything Jokdrath says, as soon as he says it, and we won’t have a problem. Be aware that, if this dragon decides she really wants to eat any or all of us for dinner, there’s very little I can do about it. Just say a quick prayer, and hope it’s over quickly. Now, do you have any questions?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “No? Good. Let’s go and get you some weapons that will most likely be just for show, and you can meet the rest of my team before we leave.”
He led them all from the drawing room, out into a dimly-lit corridor. Portraits and coats-of-arms adorned the walls, all completely unfamiliar to Ben, but none of the portraits looked similar to each other in the familial sense and all of the dozen or so coats-of-arms were different. This was no ancestral home of some wealthy family in the city; the guard had described the place as an academy, so his best guess was that the walls were decorated with some of the more important or most famous past attendees.
Down the corridor they went, travelling deeper into the building. There were literally no signs of life other than themselves, although it made sense that anybody who studied here would be tucked up in bed right now, fast asleep and oblivious to their otherworldly guests. They had the run of the place, like burglars in a museum, and it made Ben think of a castle he’d bought a few years ago in the English countryside, simply because he’d been fascinated by them as a kid but had never had the money to go and visit. He kept an apartment there that he hadn’t actually stayed in yet, and had opened up the rest of the building for the general public to take tours of for a modest fee. The place lost money hand over fist thanks to the ridiculous costs involved in maintaining it, but he didn’t care. He’d stopped it being bulldozed to make way for affordable housing, and now kids could go visit and learn about their history. This place was a lot like that castle; it seemed like Stillwater had acquired it simply for the portal that came with it, and had come up with the idea of an academy to disguise the fact they were really only interested in using it as a base for their wealthy gamers and holiday-makers, much like the tavern outside Arunkumar that was really only a meeting place for those travelling through the LA portal.
The corridors twisted and turned, maze-like in their seemingly infinite possible routes. It was Talia who finally spoke up and asked the question that was on all their lips, except probably Lee’s.
“Excuse me, Caspillo?” He didn’t acknowledge her, so she steamed ahead with the questions. “Where is everybody? Is it a quiet night for the Beijing portal? Is this the new place for gamers to meet before heading out into the city?”
Caspillo kept walking, but held up his index finger for them all to see.
“To answer your first question, the students who train here are no doubt in bed. We’re not alone, though. This entire facility is probably more heavily guarded than the palace just across the way, it’s just that you can’t see the guards. Rest
assured, though, they can see you.” He held up two fingers, effectively swearing at them. Nobody noticed, as everyone immediately looked to the portraits as if they might catch the eyes following them. “To answer your second question, I’d imagine the Beijing portal is having a fairly normal night in terms of traffic, but that’s only because I can’t think of a reason why they wouldn’t be.” He held up a third finger. “And to answer your third question, no. I have access to all of your files, so I know you’ve all used this portal before. Have you ever been brought here previously? Of course not. You usually either head straight out into the city, or get taken to another building in the grounds, right? The one that looks like a mess hall?” He wasn’t looking at them, so couldn’t see the nods he received in reply. Ben was intrigued now, wondering why they were being given such special treatment. He didn’t have to wait long for an answer. Although Caspillo sounded bored, he was at least being forthcoming with his answers. “Well, the mess hall is where gamers congregate. Tonight, you’re not gamers. Tonight, you’re on a very special mission. It’s all very last minute due to the nature of dragon-watching, and speed is of the essence. The academy is where us Stillwater employees come for training when we’re new recruits, before we’re unleashed on you lot. Think of it as our head office on Vangura, if you like. Forget about its existence, as it’s unlikely you’ll ever be brought here again. You’re being treated to some behind-the-scenes shit, let me tell you. You’ll see why when we get to where we’re going.”
With that, he lapsed into silence. He led them up flight after flight of stairs, until Ben was convinced he was deliberately leading them around in circles to make sure that, should they ever find themselves here again and without a guide, they would be hopelessly lost within minutes. Eventually, though, just when he thought they must surely have climbed enough stairs to have found their way to the attic, Caspillo stopped outside a closed door on the right that looked exactly like a hundred doors they’d already passed. He reached for the brass handle and gave it a turn, then pushed the door open and beckoned for them to follow.
