by Logan Jacobs
“How about we cut the chain loose and let him fly out the top of the pit?” Danira grunted, and all of us looked at her in shock. “It’s a bit of a maze, but I could guide him to the top. How do you think he got down there in the first place?”
“Are you seriously saying Hasen brought him through the ground into that pit, so he always knew he could find a way out?” Maaren asked, aghast, and Danira nodded in confirmation. “But he’s always been chained up … that’s cruel.”
Danira shrugged coldly. “There really wasn’t any other way to get him down there in the first place.”
It was a hard reminder for me of how differently Fae and humans often saw the world and other living creatures. Maaren and I had human blood, and we understood things in a different way than the other three. I couldn’t blame them at all for that, but it did send a pang of sorrow through my chest for the poor dragon. He was really just collateral damage.
“So when are we going to do this thing?” Kalista asked excitedly.
“We’ll do it tonight, so there’s no risk of getting caught by Arendor and his mightier than thou attitude,” I answered with a heavy eye roll as I recalled the elf’s haughty smirk.
“I like it,” Kalista said. “I like it alot.” With that, she turned abruptly and started to stomp down the hallway.
“Where are you going?” I called after the dwarf.
“To the scroll room, obviously,” she threw over her shoulder. “Geez, Milton. Get with the program.”
“Yeah, HC,” Ariette teased me as we began to move, and I felt the tension ease between us.
I reached an arm out and caressed the curve of the Fae’s hip softly and tenderly as we followed the enthusiastic dwarf to the scroll room.
By the time the rest of us had gotten to the small, square room, Kalista had already yanked down multiple scrolls from the shelf. They were scattered around on the floor, and Kal was going through them like a student cramming for an exam.
I inhaled sharply as I looked around and took in just how much important information was available on these walls. All of the shelves overflowed with yellowed old papers and tattered parchment, the whisperings of thousands of years’ worth of history and prophecies of the future.
I hadn’t really appreciated the gravity of the scrolls the first time I’d been in here. Everything had still been pretty new and strange to me, and I had walked through that first day like I was in some sort of strange daydream, or someone else’s life. Plus, human me hadn’t completely believed in the power of prophecies just yet, despite how much Kalista insisted they were true.
But now I knew how real they were, and it astounded me that every single yellowed, torn, and rolled up piece of paper in this room held the words of some ancient souls who had dedicated their time and energy to predict the future. Even more so, those souls had written down their predictions in an effort to help out future generations, ones they would certainly never live to see. It was almost sad how little stock the general Fae population put in their words.
That is, before the Phobos showed up and gave them a reason to believe.
Kalista told me that very first day few Fae actually believed in every prophecy, if they believed in any prophecies at all. Those ancient wizards had put time and effort into collecting and recording their warnings, but most of the Fae didn’t spare the time to actually use them.
“Man, we need to get a professional organizer in here, stat!” Kalista grumbled as she waded back through the yellowed scrolls and pulled some more down from the shelf. “Isn’t that a thing you humans do, Milton? Professional organizing? I saw this show about it once. Find one for me, would you?”
“Sure thing, Kal, I’ll get right on it,” I chuckled. “I’ll add it to my to-do list, right next to ‘break out the dragon, stop the Phobos, and fulfill a prophecy.’”
“Good man!” she exclaimed in response and stood on her tiptoes as she tried to reach a scroll that was a good five feet off the ground.
After a moment or two of watching her struggle, Ariette went over and silently yanked the scroll down herself.
“How do you know what to look for?” Maaren asked in awe. The blue Fae stood in the center of the scroll room, surrounded by Kal’s cast-offs, and turned in a slow circle as she looked at the mass of prophecies before us.
“I don’t,” Kal replied with a shrug. “I’m just looking for anything that says something about the Racmoth or the Phobos. There’s a million prophecies in this room, but only a few of them talk about that stuff. Hey, what are you waiting for, M-Dawg? Grab a handful of scrolls and help us get to work.”
“Oh, I don’t read Elvish,” the hunter replied, and the hint of a blush turned her cheeks a light purple.
“You don’t read Elvish!” Danira gasped, slightly appalled. “But that’s the first thing you learn in school! Before mathematics or herbology or survival, even.”
“I was raised by a human, remember?” The hunter shrugged. “Human schools don’t teach Elvish. They don’t, uh, really like it.”
“They don’t like us, is more like it,” Kalista corrected matter-of-factly.
“Well, I wasn’t going to say that part,” Maaren laughed, “but you’re not wrong.”
“Could the two elves who actually can read Elvish at least give me a hand?” Kalista sighed out dramatically. “The longer we’re here, the less time we get to spend with our dragon friend.”
Maaren and I stood lookout near the door while the others, the three of us who could read Elvish, read through the scripts. The chances of nosy interns or wandering eyes down here were slim, but we didn’t want to risk it. My hands itched to touch the yellowed scrolls and read through them, even though I wouldn’t be able to read the words. I made a silent vow to myself that my next major mission would be to learn Elvish.
Finally, after about an hour of studious work, Kalista sprang to her feet. “I’ve got it!” she screeched excitedly. Her violet eyes dashed up and down and back and forth across the yellowed old scroll. The violet orbs in her head flitted in every direction so quickly, she almost looked like a robot that had just short-circuited.
“What is it?” Ariette demanded as she tossed the scroll she held off to the side and stood to join Kal.
The dwarf knelt back down, shoved a few scrolls out of her way, and placed the scroll in her hands onto the ground in front of her.
“When the time of the Racmoth is upon us, he must use the spell transcribed from the flames of dragon’s breath to destroy the evil that threatens the realm,” she read out in a wavery voice. “But beware, the spell was created for the blood-wielder alone.” The dwarf sat back on her heels as she gazed at the yellowed old scroll with bright violet eyes, in awe of the ancient words.
The rest of us weren’t quite so impressed.
“Transcribed from the flames of dragon’s breath?” Maaren echoed scornfully as she stared down at the darkly inked words with a confused frown. “Um, what the hell does that even mean?”
“Ancient wizards loved their riddles,” Kal said with a shrug. “It’s a dying art form, you know? It would be so cool if we all still talked in riddles. Can you imagine that? Like, what if I just walked up to you and was like ‘I’m thirsting for something you cannot drink and yet will still feel satisfied afterwards.’” She stared at us expectantly, and gave a long, frustrated sigh when none of us came up with an answer. “It’s sex you guys, come on!”
“Right,” Ariette said slowly. “Maybe we shouldn’t try to converse in riddles, okay? We seem to have enough issues communicating already.”
“Fine,” Kalista huffed, “but maybe if we all thought more like the ancient ones, we could figure out what this means!”
“Or we could trust your killer instincts and brilliant brain to figure it out for us,” I pointed out flirtatiously. “You’re the puzzle-master of the group, after all.”
A pink blush crept up Kal’s neck, but she tried to roll her eyes to brush off my compliment.
“Ok
ay, Milton, well played,” Kalista responded with a poorly hidden grin. “If I’m interpreting this correctly, it means the dragons had a spell to destroy the Phobos, and that it was written down somewhere.”
“Okay, that’s great!” I exclaimed excitedly. “So where do you guys keep your spells?”
I turned excitedly toward Danira, but she wore a grim expression on her face. I felt the excitement in my stomach transform into a tightly coiled knot of disappointment.
“You don’t have spells, do you?” I asked dejectedly.
“Oh no, we have spells,” the commander responded. “Just not the ancient ones. There was a bit of a … problem a few millennia ago, and the wizards destroyed the ancient spells. They live on only in their memories now. And almost all of the ancient wizards are dead. I don’t know where we could find any that are still living.”
“I might,” Ariette said slowly and turned to look at me.
I was lost for a moment, until I remembered our last stakeout. On a small farm, out on the outskirts of Jefferson City, lived an old hermit wizard.
A very old hermit wizard.
“You don’t think Herm is that old, do you?” I asked in slight astonishment. “He was old, sure, but thousands of years old?”
“I think he’s absolutely the oldest wizard I have ever met,” the Fae replied. “And it’s worth a phone call at this point.”
“A little phone call never hurt anybody,” Kalista said as she rolled up the two Racmoth prophecies and held them in her arms like they were two precious babies. “Let’s hop to it!”
The dwarf did a little hop as she moved toward the door, and I couldn’t help but notice her curvy ass jiggle seductively as she walked.
“Where are you going?” Danira asked as the dwarf pushed open the heavy door to the scroll room with a creak.
“To find a phone,” Kalista answered over her shoulder, but she didn’t bother to stop or turn around. “I don’t know about you, but my head hurts from all this reading.”
We all scrambled to follow Kalista as she zipped through the hallways and back to the control center. For such a tiny person, she moved extremely fast, and at times we struggled to match her pace.
The sun had already started to set and cast its beautiful pink and purple rays through the stained glass window. A knot of anticipation formed in my stomach when I saw the sky darken. In just a few hours, we’d be breaking one of Hasen’s biggest rules and going against his explicit orders. But, I had to remind myself, this was for the greater good. Kajul had helped us, and we’d given him our word that we would come back and free him. Besides, it was cruel for such a majestic, sentient creature to be locked away for the sins of his brothers.
The moment we entered the control room, Kalista dumped the scrolls onto the round table with an exasperated sigh and pulled up the record of Herm’s number. She picked up the phone and started to dial a few numbers, but then Ariette caught her attention with a wave of her hand.
“Um, Kal,” Ariette interrupted just as the dwarf was about to hit the “send” button. “HC and I should probably call him. He’s not too big on strangers.”
“Imagine someone who doesn’t want to talk to me!” Kalista gasped as she jokingly put a hand over her heart and handed Ariette the phone.
The elf put it on speakerphone and punched in Herm’s number. We all waited with bated breath as the dial tone thrummed from the speakers, and then there was the click of a connection immediately followed by Herm’s gravelly old voice.
“Hello,” he said, and I drew in a breath to speak right before he continued. “You have reached … wait, is this thing working? Oh, good, it is.” He cleared his throat and started again. “You have reached Herm. I am not available to answer the phone right now, because I don’t want to talk to you. Leave a message, and I might return your call.” There was another click as he ended his message, and then the flat, long beat to signal the answering machine.
“Hi Herm,” Ariette started in a bubbly tone. “It’s Ariette. And Milton. We had a question to ask you. We might just come out there and see you, since it seems you don’t answer the phone. Okay, bye.” The elf quickly smacked the button and hung up.
“I hate those things,” Ariette complained, and her tone returned to its normal, lower register. “I never know what to say.”
“I didn’t know your voice could sound that excited,” I teased as I lightly pinched her side. “How much practice did it take?”
The Fae slapped my hand away playfully. “You have to know how to talk to people in this business, HC, especially when you want something from them,” she responded nonchalantly. “You could learn that lesson.”
“Hey!” I protested. “I am extremely charming, I think!”
“Don’t worry Milton,” Maaren interrupted, “I find you very charming.” She sent me a sultry smile and batted her thick black lashes at me seductively.
I felt myself go hard in my pants as I flashed back to what the hunter had looked like on top of me. If we didn’t have an important, world-saving mission on our plate, I definitely would have asked her back to my room right then and there.
“What do you say we go get some grog before we break our fiery friend from his prison and set off on an adventure?” Kalista piped up suddenly as she rubbed her stomach. Just then, it cut through the silence of the control room with a loud gurgle and a growl.
“Good plan,” Danira grunted and pushed herself casually from her spot against the desk. “We’ll eat, and then once everyone’s gone to bed, we strike.”
The five of us set off to the dining hall to enjoy an extremely lavish feast. In the next twenty-four hours, we were set to embark on a mission that would take us to a dangerous alternate dimension. We weren’t exactly sure when we’d get to enjoy the delicacies the kitchen staff cooked up again, so we made sure to stuff ourselves silly.
I piled my plate high with two huge ribs that had been cooked to absolute perfection. They nearly fell off the bone when I picked them up, and both of them seemed to melt on my tongue into a smoky, sweet sensation. I added nearly a whole head of garlic roasted broccoli, which was so tender and flavorful it could have been a whole meal in and of itself. Finally, I treated myself to the most delicious piece of creamy chocolate cheesecake, complete with a graham cracker crust. The delicacy was so rich it filled my taste buds with a sweet sensation of ecstasy, and I almost felt like I needed a cigarette afterward.
Ever since I’d been endowed with Fae magic, my metabolism had been three times as fast as it used to be, and I needed to eat more food to keep up with it. But I was not about to complain about my increased food intake, especially when it meant I could stuff myself to the gills with amazing food.
Once we finished our meal, we waddled back to the main lounging area of the guild. The team hung around, waiting for the rest of the people in the building to go to bed. Eventually, the guild became almost completely silent, save for the whispered movements of some of the late night staffers.
I glanced up at one of the clocks on the wall and then turned to my friends. “It’s half past eleven,” I observed. “Are we ready to move?”
Kalista jumped to her feet and put her hands on her hips happily. “I was born ready, Milton,” she exclaimed.
The rest of us looked around at each other awkwardly.
“Kal … ” I sighed. “As much as I know you’re going to hate this, we need you to go over to your bedroom and keep an eye out for Hasen or Arendor.”
“What now?” the dwarf asked, completely dumbfounded. “Did I just hear you say what I think you said? Because it sounded like you said I have to stay in my bedroom and that I don’t get to hang out with the super-cool dragon.”
“You’ll get to eventually,” I promised. “It’s just this is a super-secret mission. Danira needs to be there to lead him out of the tunnels, Maaren and I need to be there because we’re the only ones he trusts, and Ariette is one of our best warriors. Besides, you’re our tech person, anyway. I don’t
think any of us would even know where to start with one of those surveillance feed doohickies. You’re the only one here smart enough to work the equipment.”
Kal nodded as a smile spread across her face. “Nice save, Milton,” she chuckled. “Fine, I’ll do it.”
The five of us stood up, Kal gave us a quick salute, and then the dwarf headed back to her room. At the same time, the rest of the team made our way toward the tunnel that led to the belly of the guild.
Along the way, I made a pit stop in the weapons room to grab a sharp, diamond tipped axe. This weapon could cut through anything, including the massive chain around the dragon’s leg. The magical being might not be able to get loose, but even the iron chain wouldn’t hold up to a few good whacks with a magical axe.
“Alright,” I said as I pulled to a stop just outside of the entrance to the tunnel. “Ariette, you watch this entrance. If anyone tries to come down this tunnel, stall them.”
“Got it.” The blonde nodded in affirmation.
“Maaren,” I said and turned to the blue Fae, “you go to the other end of the tunnel and do the same.”
“On it,” the hunter responded, and then instantly took off with footsteps that were quieter than a mouse.
“And I’m with you,” Danira confirmed as she took an audible deep breath.
“He’s not going to hurt you,” I promised the commander. “He gave us his word.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she responded gruffly. “Dragons are serious business.”
The low tone the commander used was meant to hide her fear, but I could see through her facade. To see the battleworn Danira so nervous made me a bit unbalanced. I’d never seen the commander so vulnerable before. Her normally rock hard exterior gave way to a furrowed brow as her hands nervously twisted themselves together. She’d mentioned to me before that she’d seen dragons in action, and she must have seen them do some truly horrific things.
