by Jadyn Chase
Aroused in Flames
Curse of the Dragon
Jadyn Chase
Copyright © 2020 by Jadyn Chase
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
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Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
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Contents
1. Thomas
2. Allison
3. Thomas
4. Allison
5. Thomas
6. Allison
7. Thomas
8. Allison
9. Thomas
10. Allison
11. Thomas
12. Allison
13. Thomas
14. Allison
15. Thomas
16. Allison
17. Thomas
18. Epilogue: Thomas
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1
Thomas
I felt sick to my stomach. Overpowering nausea seeped bile into my throat, but when I tried to turn over to spit it out, I ended up bashing my forehead into something solid.
I reared back, snarling in pain. My hand flew to my head and hit the thing again. When I tried to sit up, a resounding thunk shattered my brain. I flailed to get away and beat against what felt like dense wood.
I flew into a panicked rage for a second, beating my arms and legs in all directions. I tried to smash my way out of this prison. Everywhere I struck, stout walls enclosed me on all sides.
I vented my ire on this…whatever it was, but I got only sore knuckles for my trouble. When I collapsed back in exhaustion, my mind spun into a whirlwind, trying to piece together where exactly I was.
Impenetrable darkness blocked out my sight, but the cushion under me felt soft enough. A silken pillow supported my head, so things couldn’t be all bad.
I extended a tentative finger and touched…. yes! It really was wood. A flat, strong surface covered me a few inches from my nose. A little more exploration revealed similar walls enclosing me on both sides. Another smaller section rose near my head and my toes discovered a fourth when I stretched my leg. I appeared to be in some sort of box.
How I got into this infernal thing, I couldn’t begin to imagine. I patted the boards one after the other trying to piece together my last memories.
I traced the crease between the sides in search of any weakness that would allow me to get out of this trap, but I found none.
I fought my jitters down. I had to remain calm if I hoped to find a way out of here. I rotated onto my side hoping to…well, I didn’t know what I hoped to do, but I had to do something.
When I did, the box teetered. It wobbled for a second before it tilted over. I experienced a rush of vertigo falling through thin air. Then a thunderous, splintering concussion rocked me and I slammed sideways onto the left-hand wall. The top piece cracked off and dim light flooded my world.
I pitched out onto an icy stone floor. The sudden movement ripped my shirt across the front and I landed flat on my face. I managed to break my fall and the cold floor instantly numbed my fingers.
My hair fell into my eyes and cast me in shadow again. The next instant, I leapt to my feet and spun around ready to assault any phantom intruders who happened to threaten me.
I found myself in a bare stone room empty but for five more crude wooden coffins set up on trestles. They packed the chamber with barely enough space between them for a man to walk. A tiny window high up the wall allowed a trickle of daylight into the crypt.
I stared at the long boxes constructed of hewn wooden planks. The broken one on the floor resembled them in every detail. My addled brain took a moment to comprehend the fact that I’d been shut up in one of those right up until five minutes ago.
What in the name of Heaven was I doing in there? Something didn’t add up here, but I couldn’t put my finger on what. The cold air hit my chest through the ripped shirt. My hand migrated to the spot without my intention and I touched my own skin.
When I did, I happened to look down and noticed the shirt I was wearing. It was new in 1840, which was when I remember last looking at the world from an upright position. Now it hung in threadbare tatters. A plume of dust billowed from the fabric when I brushed it.
I took a step and my trousers dissolved across my knee. All the evidence pointed to me being locked in that coffin for a long, long time. I couldn’t begin to fathom how long. My head swam. What was going on?
Just then, I heard voices approaching nearby. I crept toward the sound along an interminable corridor. I was still in Dover Castle, but not in the Great Armour Hall as I last remembered.
I continued to the passage' and discovered a cleft in the wall. Beyond the opening, bright lights illuminated a large room with drab beige walls. Enormous lamps dangled from the ceiling. Tables cluttered the place with a few scattered chairs along with a bunch of other stuff I didn’t at all recognize. A shelf piled with papers covered one wall.
In front of my eyes, a young woman strolled into the room followed by a group of people wearing the strangest clothes I ever had the misfortune to behold in my life. One old woman actually had the temerity to wear trousers like a man!
I couldn’t believe the evidence of my senses. Even two little girls clutching their mother’s hands wore trousers—and the woman! Merciful Heavens—the woman had short hair! I only knew she really was a woman because her pearl earrings glinted when she turned her head and I spotted makeup on her cheeks and lips.
I blinked at this mangy collection of personages. They gathered around the table and the young woman waved toward the walls. “This is the World War Two military command center converted from a barracks storeroom in late 1839. This is the very room in which Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey conducted all his operations to evacuate the British and French soldiers from Dunkirk. He set up his headquarters in these tunnels to coordinate Operation Dynamo. He even had new tunnels constructed right over there to house the batteries and chargers to keep the telephone exchange operating twenty-four hours a day.”
She pointed directly toward me. A few of her accomplices glanced over their shoulders, but none came near my hiding place.
I crouched out of sight and drank in this unusual speech. What in the world was she talking about? I couldn’t understand half of what she said except the part about the tunnels. I knew about them, but the rest of it sounded like gibberish.
“Isn’t it fascinating?” The mother leaned over to murmur to her daughters, but the girls only rolled their eyes.
“I’m hungry, Mummy,” one girl moaned. “When can we get something to eat?”
“I need the toilet.” The other wrinkled her nose at the surroundings. “I don’t like it down here. It’s icky.”
The woman bestowed a patronizing smile on her progeny. She didn’t look half so ugly when she smiled. “We’ll be finished soon, darlings. Then we’ll all get some lunch.”
This speech didn’t impress the little urchins much. They glared at the room with undisguised malice.
The young woman guide overheard their conversation and raised her voice. “Now, if you’ve all seen enough, we’ll go take a look at the hospital tunnels.”
“Do we have to?” the first child moaned.
The group shuffled toward the exit and my heart leapt into my mouth. These might not be the most inspiring individuals I ever laid eyes on
, but they could be my only lifeline to sanity. I couldn’t let them slip away without at least trying to make contact with them.
I mustered my resolve and stepped out my hiding place. I lifted a forefinger and said in my most polite tone of voice, “Um, excuse me, but if I may….?”
The entire group whipped around fast. The mother shrieked aloud. In one swift movement, she clasped her beloved tots to her sides and crushed them in a death grip. The girls screamed in unison, more from surprise at their mother’s sudden action than anything else.
The old lady reared back baring her yellowed teeth. A middle-aged man snarled at me, but he shrank away instead of coming closer.
The young woman guide, on the other hand, lunged forward and spread both arms in an attitude of protecting her charges. She thrust herself between me and them as if I could harm them all with my presence.
“What are you doing down here?” she demanded. “No one is supposed to come down here without a designated tour guide. If you don’t pay the entry fee, you’ll have to leave at once.”
“Yes, well….” I began, “if you will be so kind as to let me finish what I was about to say, I would explain that…..”
“There’s nothing to explain,” she snapped. “Please leave immediately.”
“I’m trying to, my dear,” I murmured. “I simply wanted to ask you….”
She aimed a dangerous finger at the door. “You heard what I said. If you don’t go see the docent and pay the fee, I’ll have no choice but to call security to remove you.”
I compressed my lips. How long would this go on? She indicated the exit, anyway, and I certainly wasn’t about to get any answers from her.
The two little girls burst into tears and pressed their pug noses into their mother’s hideous trousers. She smashed their faces into her so hard I wonder how she didn’t suffocate them.
I made up my mind to leave this lunatic asylum as quickly as possible to avoid any further awkwardness. I took a step toward the exit. The entire group recoiled in unison as if from an infected leper. One of the men bumped into the shelf. A pile of papers—perhaps the secret codes for the military command—slipped out of place and took flight. They scattered through the air and fluttered down on top of our hapless group.
The first page touched the mother’s nose. She screeched again and tried to retreat from the menace, but only wound up crashing into the shelf again. The more papers appeared in her line of sight, the more insane she became. She actually let go of one of her precious children to bat at the venomous monsters attacking her.
The aforementioned man waded in to defend the damsel from said monsters. He did his best to snatch the papers out of the air. He missed his aim and his finger poked the woman in the eye. She screeched afresh, all the time baring her teeth at the horrible things hemming her in.
The young guide dove into her pocket and brought out what looked like a small black slice of bread. She held it against her ear and jabbered, “Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Fourth telephone exchange room. Priority one!”
I stared at the scene partly bemused but mostly mystified by their strange actions. Perhaps this was some dramatic recreation of the wartime action. How was I to understand their idiotic behavior? She told me to leave the room and I planned to do just that. All I had to do was get to the door.
While this pandemonium was still going on, I betook myself toward the exit to slip out. I made it as far as the threshold when three portly characters appeared and blocked my path. They all wore the same ghastly brown and mustard uniforms that made them look even fatter than they actually were.
The first one aimed a toy gun at me. “Freeze, Mister!” he panted. “Don’t move.”
I waved toward the guide. “This young lady just ordered me to leave. Now you want me to stay?”
“Arrest him!” the guide barked. “He hasn’t paid his entry fee.”
“You told me to leave,” I called over my shoulder. “I’m trying to do that if you’ll instruct your minions to get out of my way.”
The uniformed…. I hesitate to call them soldiers. I could see at a stroke no one ever graced them with any formal training at all. The leader shoved his gun at me, but I could also plainly see the pretend weapon had no barrel, no firing mechanism, and not much of a trigger. Where he dug up that article, I could only guess.
“Get down on your knees and put your hands behind your head,” he puffed. “You’re under arrest for criminal trespass.”
I drew myself up. I might not have been wearing the nicest couture in the world, but a gentleman still knows his station and these personages were no more than commoners. “I will most certainly not get down on my knees! The nerve! Do you have any idea who I am?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” the man replied. “You’re under arrest whoever you are. Now get down on your….”
I didn’t wait around to hear anymore. What could he really do—club me with that plaything? I pressed forward. “I will not get down on my knees and you don’t have the authority to arrest me. I’m leaving just like the young lady told me to. If you don’t like it you can take it up with the….”
I got within a yard of the man when he pulled what passed for a trigger on his weapon. To my amazement, three metallic prongs shot out of the thing. Coiled wires stretched from the projectiles and the needle-sharp barbs buried themselves in my chest.
A sizzling sensation shot through me and all my muscles tensed to a crushing tightness. My jaws locked and I couldn’t move. I could hardly breathe. Every sinew threatened to snap from the tension.
I convulsed trying to free myself, but nothing worked. My legs locked at the same time my knees buckled. I felt myself falling, falling all over again.
At that moment, something unusual happened. I seemed to rise out of this frozen body. For a second, nothing felt real. Then my body and mind fractured as never before. The rational part of my brain dissolved and left pure foaming hatred and rage in its place.
I exploded out of myself. The next second, I glared down on the room from the ceiling. All the other people present gaped up at me in silent horror. The woman stopped her shrieking and the girls stopped crying. The guide dropped her slice of bread and her mouth fell open.
I bellowed at them in fury, but I couldn’t form words. I could only seethe in furious wrath that they ever dared to cross me.
I pivoted around to thunder at them all and happened to see a grotesque monster reflected in a mirror across the room. Some wordless understanding entered my head. That was me. That thing over there with the black papery wings was me.
I flexed those wings and untold power surged through me. I never felt so strong and dangerous and powerful. I reveled in that feeling as never before. My rage manifested and became monstrous.
When I pumped my wings, all the papers took flight again. No one noticed them. I was a monster and now nothing could stop me from getting out of here.
I arched my neck and roared at these puny beings who had the audacity to stand in my way. Then I gathered myself into a ball and launched. Forgotten instincts took hold and I soared out of the room. I rocketed over the soldiers’ heads, down the tunnel, and exploded into the clear, blue light of day.
The first thing I saw was the wide ocean spread out before me. The White Cliffs of Dover ran along the coast to the south. I knew that coast so well and it welcomed me home.
I streaked into the firmament on unstoppable wings. Dover Castle and the coastline and all the insanity of that room faded to nothing.
2
Allison
A clattering, smashing sound startled me out of deep thought. I jerked in my chair and spun around. My office windows looked out over the backyard, but I didn’t see anything.
I propped my glasses on my forehead to take a better look, but nothing disturbed the morning stillness. I stood up, but I hesitated to go out there. I always did my work in the early morning to avoid disturbances exactly like this one.
My computer call
ed me back to my project, but when I turned to sit down again, the same raucous clamor made me jump. It sounded like it came from the garden shed.
I put out my hand to pick up my phone and stopped myself. What if it wasn’t anything? What if it was only the neighbor’s cat out there doing something?
I ought to go out there to find out, but I still didn’t want to leave my computer. I just got to the good part of my research paper. I didn’t want to give it up to go chasing neighborhood felines.
Just then, a shadow flickered behind the shed. It looked a lot bigger than a cat, but I still didn’t feel right calling the Police. If they came and found nothing—or worse, something harmless—that would make me look like a wimp. I better go check.
I opened the back door and paused on the deck to listen. I didn’t hear anything. Maybe the cat ran off. I could check and get back to work with no loss of dignity. I could pretend I was brave by checking without any help from anyone. I grabbed my bathrobe off the kitchen chair, tossed it on like a jacket, and slipped outside.
I tiptoed through the grass. The dew chilled my bare feet and saturated the cuffs of my pajama pants. I kicked myself for not putting on shoes or at least a pair of slippers, but it was too late to do anything about it now.
I snuck closer to the shed and peeked through the window. Dust and cobwebs clouded the view, but I could clearly make out the place was empty.
Just then, I heard a cough—a very human cough—coming from behind the shed. My blood ran cold, but the next instant, I steeled myself to forge ahead. For the love of Christ, Allison, quit being such a wet blanket! It’s a person, not some monster.
