by Logan Jacobs
I waited for her to say something more, but she had just narrowed her violet eyes and shut her mouth in thought.
“And etorphine is … ?” I prompted.
“M99 in layman’s terms,” she responded with a shrug.
“Kal, I’m still at a loss here,” I chuckled. “What’s your point?”
“Uh, that it’s actually pretty cool, duh,” she said. “There was this show one time where the lead guy got knocked the hell out with this syringe full of M99. One minute he was totally awake, and then BAM! Out cold. So cool. I tried to get the guild to sanction the use of the stuff, but they said it was too dangerous. Apparently, you could ‘easily overdose and kill someone.’ Like, yeah, okay, maybe that’s true. Well, it’s really true. But it’s not like we don’t kill people anyways, so what’s the problem?”
“Kal, if I remember correctly, you brought this up to Arendor and told him you wanted to use it to knock him senseless and throw his body in the ‘shit-filled sewer,’” Ariette responded. “That might have a bit to do with why Hasen wouldn’t let you use M99. Just a thought.”
“Oh,” the dwarf giggled, “I did tell him that. I stand by it. That guy’s cologne is horrifically overpowering. A dip in the sewers might actually counteract it a little bit.”
“Are you guys coming?” Danira called impatiently back down the hallway.
The four of us all nodded and quickened our pace as we navigated through the halls to my bedroom. The guild was still silent, and the few people we passed looked at us with harrowed expressions before they shot past without a word.
“I feel like we’re in a horror movie,” Kalista whispered-yelled and looked around wildly. “Like one of those movies where the pod people take over and a small group of friends somehow manages to escape possession, but they don’t even know what’s going on until they’re all about to die at the hands of their coworkers and acquaintances.”
“No one has been taken over by a pod person, Kal,” I chuckled at the sincerity in her voice. “People are just nervous, that’s all.”
“Nervous,” she repeated as she eyed the walls suspiciously, “or possessed? That’s the question.”
“You really ought to write a novel with your wild imagination,” Ariette rolled her eyes. “It’d be a bestseller.”
“That’s a fantastic idea!” the dwarf cried out as we reached my bedroom. “I have this fantastic idea for a book where everyone’s actually living in a virtual reality made by robots, only they don’t know it, and this one guy wakes up, and--”
“Gee, that sounds awfully familiar,” Maaren chuckled as we entered the room and she heard what Kalista said. “A lot like that ancient human film. What was it called? The Matrix?”
Ariette peeked her head out to check for any eavesdroppers before she shut my door and clicked the lock into place.
“Oh, am I?” the dwarf moaned hopelessly. “I thought it came too easily to me. Can you blame me, though? We had to watch it for our ‘ancient culture’ class in high school, and it was pretty damn badass.”
“You won’t write any sort of novel, plagiarized or otherwise, if we don’t stop the Phobos,” Danira interrupted as she sat on the edge of my bed. “Hasen didn’t give us much to go on. What are we thinking?”
“We know their home base is in the nether realm,” Maaren pointed out. “It makes sense that they’d take their victims there. I say our plans stay the same.”
“But why?” I asked as I paced my room slowly.
I brushed the pads of my fingers over the golden medal that hung on my dresser. I liked to keep it there so I’d always be reminded of my first mission, and how much my life had changed since then.
“HC’s right,” Ariette agreed. “Why kidnap these people? There’s really no rhyme or reason to it. Sure, they’re high up in the guild, and Hasen’s the guild master, but what do they get out of it?”
“Information.” Maaren shrugged, her expression dark. “These guys don’t think like us, Ari, you have to remember that. They’re the absolute worst kind of Unseelie. And sometimes, they do horrible things for stupid reasons. They must be doing it to extract information from top members of Fae society. Anything else, and we’d have three bodies lying in the coroner’s office right now.”
“Were all of those people from our guild?” I asked Danira.
She flipped open the manila envelope and thumbed through the papers before she shook her head. “We’ve got two from the Atlantian Guild, and one from the Carnan Guild, plus the three from our guild,” she responded. “They’re all high level, and they all had access to top secret information.”
I paused for a moment as I mulled it over in my mind. Maybe Maaren was right. None of the rest of us could really understand the mind of an Unseelie, but she could. Maybe all they wanted was information out of these people.
Or maybe they had some other reason. There was only one person who might know for sure, the same one who first told me of the prophecy. The dragon who dwelled within the bowels of our guild.
“I say we get some rest, and go after them in the morning,” I finally said to the four women. “Whatever the reason, these people need our help.”
“Agreed,” Danira said as she stood up. “You know, boy, you are going to make a very fine commander one day.”
I nodded my thanks and waited as the other three women stood up to go.
“I am going to feast!” Kalista said happily as she wandered toward my door. “Who knows, this might be our last good meal ever. Baby back ribs, here I come!”
I chuckled as the dwarf raced into the hallway, and Ariette dashed after her at the prospect of food. Only Maaren was left.
“What are you thinking?” she asked softly as she perched herself on my bed and motioned for me to join her.
“I think …” I started before I shook my head. “It’s too crazy.”
“What is?” she asked softly, her green eyes wide. “Milton, you’re in charge here. The only person who decides what’s crazy is you.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “I think we need to go down to the dungeons.”
Maaren paused for a second, but I could see by the intense expression on her face that she realized what I had in mind.
“The dungeons,” she repeated slowly as she thought it out.
“I want to talk to the dragon,” I continued. “He’s the only one who can maybe clarify the prophecy, and that might give us a lead.”
I waited for Maaren to tell me what a terribly dangerous idea that was, but the hunter just cocked her snow white head and appraised me with her dark green eyes. Then she reached out and ran her thumb along my forearm tenderly.
“Okay,” she breathed. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Seven
Maaren and I wound our way down through the guild and into its cold underbelly, where the walls stopped gleaming with white and instead turned to a dirt brown. The air was cold and dank down here, and I couldn’t help the tiny flare of anger that burst through my belly as we descended further underground. As much as Ariette and Kalista had insisted that the dragon was a volatile and dangerous beast, it didn’t feel right to keep a sentient living creature in a tiny cage where his only visitors were rats and the young interns who tossed him food.
“I’ve never been down here before,” Maaren said as she shivered in the chilly air. “It’s kinda freaky.”
I could see the goosebumps that rose on Maaren’s blue skin, so I slipped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her to my side. Her green eyes held a world of sadness as we descended the final flight of stairs and came to the dirt tunnel where the dragon’s cell was located.
The artificial light of the upper parts of the guild had given way to torches that were hung in five-foot intervals along the wall, and the damp earth was soft under my boots. If I had thought the upper part of the guild was eerily quiet, it was no comparison to the dead silence that met us in this dank tunnel. Maaren leaned a little further into my side as she shivered again.
�
��Do you want my jacket?” I asked the hunter.
“Nope, I’d rather have your muscly arms instead,” she replied perkily. “Of course, there are a few other things I’d like your arms to do, but we’ll save that for later.”
The hunter shot me a playful wink, but I was too distracted. We were here, at the dragon’s cell.
“Here it is,” I muttered, “but there’s no sign of the behemoth.”
The Fae next to me peered between the iron bars with a frown that quickly shifted into an expression of frustration.
“You know,” she said heavily, “Hasen and I don’t agree on very much. But this is just … beyond wrong. A dragon should have a hundred times the amount of space here. Or better yet, not even be in captivity.”
“I think so, too,” I sighed, “but Ariette said he’s way too dangerous to let free.”
“Ariette’s brilliant, but she doesn’t know everything,” Maaren huffed. “I’ve been out in this gritty world, Milton. I was out there hunting and scavenging to stay alive while she was back here getting trained by her father so she could be a good little guild member. These creatures deserve to be free, just like I was.”
I turned back toward the cell, but before I could say anything, the whoosh of powerful wings sounded. Immediately, green scales began to emerge from the depths of the pit, illuminated dimly by the torch light.
Maaren let out a gasp of shock as the dragon’s massive form flew from the pit and landed on top of a dark black rock in his enclosure. His long nails glinted in the torchlight, and his blood red eyes appraised us as he snorted out hot breaths of air.
None of us said a word as we took each other in. It’d only been a few weeks since we’d first met, but I’d forgotten what an amazing sight the fantastical creature was. His massive form was covered in huge, glittering green scales, and his long snout released hot steam with every breath. The muscles in his body rippled and rolled as he folded his giant green wings into his back.
“And here I was starting to wonder when you’d return for me,” the dragon finally rumbled, and I caught a hint of mirth in his red eyes. “Maaren Euphry, it is my absolute pleasure to meet you.”
Maaren’s jaw dropped in awe, and she wore an expression on her face that reminded me of a teenage girl’s when she meets her celebrity crush. Although in this case, that celebrity crush was a huge, mythical beast everyone else in the world thought was long extinct. Her green eyes danced in the firelight, and her full blue lips formed a perfect “o” as she stared back at the dragon in silence, until she finally found her voice.
“M-me too,” she croaked out, but cleared her throat and started again. “It’s nice to meet you too, uh, Mr. Dragon.”
Maaren winced at her own awkwardness in the face of the dragon’s majesty, and I could see how much she wanted to smack her forehead and take it back. The hunter shook her head slightly and drew her spine perfectly straight as she pulled herself together and smiled at the beast.
“Very professional,” I whispered in her ear, and the hunter responded with a good, hard smack on my butt.
If that was what I was going to get every time I teased her, I needed to do it more often.
To both of our surprises, the dragon let out a deep, raucous laugh.
“I prefer to be called Kajul,” he rumbled mirthfully. “That is my true name, after all.”
The moment he said it, it occurred to me I’d never asked for his name. I hadn’t really considered that he had one. It seemed strange, somehow, for the glorious beast to have such a simple name.
Maaren, on the other hand, just nodded as she regained total control of herself and transformed back into the sultry agent she normally was.
“I’ll remember that,” she replied. “Kajul. It’s a pretty name.”
“Thank you,” the dragon said as he turned his giant red eyes on me, “Now, I know you did not come here to discuss my name, Milton Bailey. You would like to know more about the prophecy, yes?”
“Anything you can tell me,” I replied. “We know the Phobos are in the nether realm, and we know they’re kidnapping Seelie Fae. But we don’t know why. Or how to defeat them.”
The dragon said nothing for a painfully long moment. Instead, he just looked at me with his gleaming red eyes. Then, his giant maw stretched into a terrifying smile that revealed huge white teeth that glinted in the light.
I involuntarily stepped back and pushed Maaren behind me, unsure of what he was about to do. Even though he had not been malevolent so far, I had to remind myself I was still face-to-face with an enormous, fire breathing creature who could easily smite me within seconds.
“Relax, Milton Bailey,” he rumbled. “I’m not going to hurt you. That would be completely detrimental to my own interests.”
“How, exactly?” I asked. “I thought you dragons had no loyalty?”
“Please,” he replied calmly. “Fae slander. It would be detrimental to hurt you because you’re going to free me, Milton.”
Maaren stepped back so she was even with me, and her green eyes darted inquisitively in my direction. She looked excited at the proposal, and I knew the animal lover in her had already made up her mind. But I also saw a glint of an agent of the Jefferson Guild in her eyes. The one who, even though she disagreed, knew she was supposed to follow Hasen’s orders.
“I don’t know if I can do that, Kajul,” I said. “I just … it’s a big decision.”
The dragon’s head twitched slightly, and his smile faltered when I said his name, as if he hadn’t heard it in ages. But just as quickly as it had come, it was gone, and his expression melted back into one of perfect confidence.
“Then I am afraid I cannot help you, Milton Bailey.” He started to turn away and unfurl his wings.
“People are going to die,” I bellowed. “Innocent people who had nothing to do with your imprisonment. People who didn’t choose to be a part of this unholy war among the Fae. Humanity is going to pay for a war in a world they were never supposed to be a part of. How can you live with yourself?”
“I imagine,” Kajul spat, “much the same way your precious guild master lives with himself. We are not to blame for the choices of others.”
“But maybe we are to blame for not helping the victims when they’re caught up in the horrific, bullshit choices of others,” Maaren said as she stepped toward the cell.
I watched in awe as the sexy hunter looked at Kajul with complete empathy.
“What do you mean?” Kajul asked as he turned back around.
“We’ll help you,” she replied coolly.
The hunter looked at me inquisitively, and I nodded my affirmation to her.
“We’ll help you,” I echoed to the dragon, and his blood red eyes dropped to the ground briefly.
When he spoke again, his voice was full of emotion. “Thank you,” he rumbled lowly. “You have no idea what freedom means to me.”
“There is one condition, though,” Maaren added quickly. “I know that dragons have to keep their word. I need you to promise me you will never help the Unseelie and that you will help us. Whatever we need from you after you’re free, you’ll do it.”
The beast appraised her with his wise eyes as a smile crept over his snout. He snorted out a burst of steam and let loose a thunderous chuckle.
“You drive a hard bargain, young Fae, but I will accept,” he finally growled.
“Good,” she responded. “Then we have some questions for you.”
“My freedom first,” he challenged, but I shook my head.
“We can’t break you out in the middle of the day,” I pointed out. “Someone will see. We’ll come get you tonight, you have our word. But we need some answers now.”
“You want to know about the Phobos,” the dragon snarled. “I assumed as much.”
“Yeah, we do,” I answered calmly now that Maaren and I had the upper hand. “What do they want? Why these kidnappings? How do we stop them?”
There was a long pause, and for a moment I wor
ried the dragon would refuse to answer anything until we made good on our promise. The crackle of the torches roared in my ears, and Maaren sucked in a nervous breath. Her fingers laced themselves through mine, and I thumbed the soft skin on the back of her hand as we waited.
“The Phobos are merely a vessel,” he finally rumbled. “A dangerous problem, yes, but the Racmoth is not meant to defeat the Phobos.”
Complete confusion clouded my brain for a moment. Ever since that first fateful day in the guild, I’d been completely convinced the Phobos were the evil that I was supposed to stop. The way Ariette spoke of them, they definitely seemed like a great evil. I felt like my identity had been ripped away from me for a moment.
“What do you mean?” I asked in disbelief. “The Phobos are back. They want to make humans and dwarves and Seelie elves their slaves. How is that not a great evil?”
“Oh, it is,” Kajul responded, “but it is the leader of the Phobos you are to face. He is the evil the prophecy was written about. Speaking of which, I highly suggest you procure that scroll from the scroll room. As well as its partner. You’ll need the proper tools if you are to defeat your mortal enemy.”
I got the sense that Kajul was holding something back from me. Maybe it was just human intuition gone haywire, but there was a fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach and a tiny thought that prodded at the back of my mind. There was more to this story, but the dragon clearly wasn’t about to tell us anything more.
Kajul turned to go back down into his chasm. “Oh, and one more thing, Milton Bailey,” he thundered without turning around, “in the end, it will be you alone who will have to face the great evil. Your team can’t help you.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded, but he had already launched his enormous form back into the dark depths of the pit.
Slowly, I turned back to Maaren. The hunter’s green eyes were dark with worry and thought. Her full, blue lips were pursed, and she looked directly at me, but it felt as if she didn’t actually see me.
