The Black Dragon

by Allyson James

  He sniffled, face wet, and buried his head in his hands again. They all sat in glum silence a moment, then Axel frowned.

  "Wait a minute, did you say babies'? Babies, plural?"

  Caleb nodded. "Twins. A boy and a girl. They're in incubators."

  "Oh." Axel sat back. "You had me worried. I was picturing a dozen baby dragons flying around the place."

  Caleb shook his head without smiling, "They're beautiful little babies, but so small." He looked at Saba. "They're too small. Malcolm is a healer. He can help them."

  "I don't know where Malcolm is," Saba said. "I was trying to find you when you called. The white dragon took him."

  "The white dragon," Caleb rumbled, the warrior inside him waking up. "I will find that white dragon and slice him into twenty white dragon pieces."

  "You'll have to get in line behind me," Saba said.

  "And me," Axel put in, cracking his knuckles.

  "Count me in," Lumi finished.

  Caleb looked at Saba, grief and fear on his face. "I know you came to me for help, but I'm too worried about Lisa and the babies to think straight right now."

  Saba squeezed his hand. She realized with sickening surety that it was up to her. Lisa was down for the count, Caleb's place was with her and his infant children, and Malcolm was in danger, whether he'd gone willingly with the white dragon or not. She thought not—she'd seen the magic surround and bind him.

  Axel would help, but the look on his face told her he wouldn't take over. This was her fight, she was captain, he was lieutenant.

  She drew a decided breath. "We need to find Malcolm. Not only is he powerful, but he's damn smart and likely has twenty-seven plans mapped out with the probability of each one's success calculated to the nth decimal space. Then we find the white dragon and have at him." She turned to Caleb. "The white dragon stole a book out of the dragon archive, and Malcolm and Metz seemed very worried about it The Book of All Dragons. Do you know what that is ?"

  Caleb's blue eyes widened. His irises were larger and bluer than most humans', so it was like gazing into the depths of a lake. "He has The Book of All Dragons? Where?"

  "I don't know. He stole it from the archive, and then we lost him."

  Caleb rose, unfolding to his great height. "You have to find that book. If he's got it, then Malcolm and I don't stand a chance of surviving. Every dragon in Dragonspace is screwed."

  Saba got to her feet with him, and Lumi, alarmed, also jumped up. Axel remained seated, leaning elbows on knees.

  "I could do a locator spell both for Malcolm and the book," Saba said. "But I'm not sure it will work. Dragons can block locator spells, and I'm sure the white dragon has woven all kinds of blocking spells around the book and himself."

  "What about the house?" Lumi asked. "The house where the party was, where the witch lived. We might find some clue as to where Malcolm is or where the white dragon is. Malcolm was worried about something in the basement, remember, and he never told us what."

  Axel nodded agreement. "It's worth a try."

  "I can't leave Lisa," Caleb said.

  Saba patted his shoulder. "I wouldn't expect you to."

  Caleb gave her a morose look. She knew he felt bad about not being able to help, but his worry about Lisa and his children consumed him. She patted his shoulder again, herself unhappy that she could do nothing more for him and the woman who had become her close friend.

  "We'll be fine," she said, knowing the words sounded feeble.

  Caleb started to answer, but just then a doctor in green scrubs entered the waiting area and motioned to Caleb. Caleb squared his shoulders and strode to him.

  "She's out of recovery," the doctor said. "She wants to see you. We need to discuss…"

  What they needed to discuss Saba never learned, because Caleb pushed past the doctor and ran for Lisa's room, the doctor hurrying behind him.

  Axel got to his feet. "The house then?"

  Saba watched the doors through which Caleb and the doctor disappeared, her heart heavy. She nodded. "The house."

  Axel gave her a reassuring smile and laid a strong hand on her shoulder to guide her out.

  The mansion in Pacific Heights was dark and looked deserted. Police tape stretched tight around the lawn.

  "Breaking and entering is illegal, you know," Lumi said as they slipped into the shadows around the back. The taxi that had dropped them at the end of the block had long since sped away.

  "We know," Axel said. "But we're going in anyway."

  "The miasma surrounding the house unnerved Saba, which was too bad because the house itself was beautiful. But it had been used shamelessly, and the house had taken on an aura of evil. The next owners would have to call in either a priest or a witch for a house cleansing, maybe both. She itched to run home, fetch a sage smudge and start in.

  "This is the basement door." She stopped before a glass and wood door set at the bottom of five stone steps. The taint of evil was strongest here.

  "Yick," Axel said, drawing back. "I don't like the smell of this place."

  Saba agreed, but Malcolm was trapped by the white dragon and who knew what magic, and she needed to find him.

  She put her palm against the lock and breathed a word. A sudden blue of clean magic flared, the lock clicked, and the door opened. Axel deliberately moved Saba out of the way and went first.

  Saba followed him down the steps into a dank, unfinished basement that sported cement walls and water pipes. The stench was more than that of evil; a tang of decay sat on the air and made her want to gag.

  "It's pitch-black down here," Lumi said, hovering in the doorway.

  Saba realized that only Lumi didn't have the benefit of sight touched by magic. She drew a pentagram in the air, her magic making it glow blue, and let it rise to half-illuminate the room. The magic didn't burn as brightly as usual, as though the darkness sucked out its energy. Saba moved a little faster, anxious to finish the search.

  "Wish I knew what the smell was," Axel muttered.

  Saba couldn't smell much over decay and mildew, but Axel wasn't human and perhaps had a better sense of smell than she did. They moved through debris, bits of drywall, and crumbled cement likely left over from the last earthquake toward the stairs that would lead to the main house.

  The air seemed fresher as they climbed, and Saba gladly hurried upward, despite whatever danger might be waiting at the top.

  They emerged into the same hall she and Lumi and Malcolm had stood in a few nights ago, but now all was dark and silent. As they explored the first floor, Saba's witch light illuminated the mess of the living and dining rooms, scattered with empty glasses and bottles, plates of crusting food, towels, ashtrays heaped with cigarettes, the smell of stale nicotine, and smoke hanging in the air. No one had bothered to clear up after the party.

  "I don't think Malcolm's here," Lumi ventured. "I don't feel him."

  Saba had to agree, but the white dragon or his accomplice might be. Saba was angry enough to grab the white dragon by the throat and shake him until he blurted out Malcolm's whereabouts.

  "We should look at the tower room again," she suggested.

  "I was afraid you'd say that," Lumi answered. "This place is a spook-fest."

  "Haunted?" Axel asked. "Not this house. There's a feeling here, a darkness, but not ghosts or ghouls. That's for the movies."

  "Some bad magic, though," Saba countered.

  "Never said there wasn't. Shall we?"

  "Axel," Saba said.

  A door had opened on the second floor. A woman stepped onto the landing and snapped on the overhead lights, chandeliers outshining Saba's floating pentagram.

  It was Annie, the colorless witch Saba had met during the party. She was still colorless, dressed in a drab brown skirt and beige blouse, her hair pulled back unattractively from her face.

  "He isn't here," she announced over the railing.

  Axel put on an innocent face. "Who isn't here?"

  "The black dragon. That's what yo
u're looking for, isn't it? But the white dragon has him hidden in a safe place. You won't find him, no matter how long you search."

  Saba's mouth tightened. "You work for the white dragon now?"

  "I have no choice, do I? He takes care of me, and I do magic for him. I'll never have to go back to my coven again." She sounded smug, a witch who'd found more power than the ones who had shamed her.

  "Where is he?" Saba asked the question carefully.

  Annie shrugged. "Out. He never tells me where he's going. He'll kill your black dragon, though. He has enslaved him already, and the black dragon would kill himself if Roland wished it."

  "Roland?" Axel asked blankly. "Who the hell is Roland?"

  "The white dragon," Annie explained. "That is the name he uses among humans."

  Axel snorted a laugh. "All that power and the best name he could come up with is Roland?"

  "There's nothing wrong with Roland," Annie began, her voice petulant.

  "Where is he, Annie?" Saba asked again. She made her voice stern, sending her pentagram to hover before Annie's face. "You know the witch's rede, don't you? Do as you will, an' it harm none. You are doing much harm being silent about him. I need to find him, and Malcolm."

  Annie looked complacent. "That doesn't matter anymore. Roland explained it to me. When I'm under the power of a dragon, the rede no longer applies to me."

  Saba sensed the dragon's mark strong over Annie, and she knew from experience that a marked person would defend their dragon unto death. Stealthily she let her pentagram float closer to Annie's face. "Where is Malcolm?"

  Annie set her mouth in a sullen line. Saba hadn't really thought she'd answer, even when she used the pentagram to compel her to speak. It was an even bet that Annie didn't know where Malcolm was; the white dragon would likely not confide in her.

  Saba had an idea, however. "The white dragon wouldn't have chosen you if he didn't think you had potential," she said. She saw Axel and Lumi glance at her in surprise and hoped they'd catch on.

  "Why do you say that?" Annie asked, her tone suspicious.

  "A dragon needs a witch to open a door for him. They don't have the magic to do it themselves."

  "That is true," Annie agreed. "Why do you think I can open doors for this dragon?"

  "Because he seems to be able to move around quite easily, appearing and disappearing whenever he wants to. I followed him tonight, and he vanished into thin air. But I think what happened is he went through a portal that you constructed."

  As Saba hoped, Annie looked pleased with herself. "Do you think creating portals is restricted to opening doors to Dragonspace?"

  "So you can make one?" Saba asked, sounding impressed. "That's not easy magic. Every time I try to create a portal, I nearly kill myself."

  "It's not so bad when you're staying within the city," Annie said.

  Interesting. "How many have you done? I know you won't tell me where they are, but I'm curious about how many you have been able to do."

  "Four. It's not difficult once you know how. The first one was hardest, but they get easier."

  "I see."

  While Annie boasted of her successes, Saba surreptitiously commanded her glowing pentagram to slide over Annie's head and down her torso, trapping the witch in the middle. Annie gaped, then her face turned dark with anger.

  Saba flung up her hand and said in a loud voice, "I bind thee in the name of the Goddess to do my will."

  Annie's magic was no match for Saba's. The witch glared at her. "Roland will punish you," she said in a ringing voice.

  Saba had no doubt of that, but at the moment she didn't care. She felt Annie struggle with the bond, but the white dragon wasn't here to defend her, and Saba could command her body with the binding spell.

  Lumi grinned at Saba in appreciation. "Neat trick."

  Saba ignored him. "You and I are going to take a short trip," she said to Annie.

  "Where are we going?"

  "To the pagoda. The one in Nihonmachi. You are going to show me exactly where you made the door and how to open it again."

  * * *

  Chapter 13

  Annie went complacently with them down the stairs, looking slightly dazed. Saba realized she'd now have to protect Annie and try to get her free from the white dragon, who had already killed one witch and likely would have no qualms about killing another. I'll put that on my to-do list.

  At the bottom of the stairs Axel declared he wanted to go back out through the basement. Annie did not want to and hung back at the doorway. "He never lets me in there."

  "If Axel is going down, I am, too," Saba said.

  "Me, too," Lumi said quickly, though he looked as though he shared Annie's opinion.

  Saba gave Annie a stern look. "I can't leave you up here by yourself, so you're coming with us."

  Annie began to wail, but the binding spell gave her no choice but to go where Saba told her to. She at last followed Axel down the stairs with Saba close behind her.

  The basement smelled and looked no different from when they had hurried through it earlier, but this time Axel walked slowly, scanning the floor. Saba's blue witch light cast strange shadows into the corners, reminding her of the inky snakes of darkness that had filled the upstairs room a few nights ago.

  Axel stopped suddenly and made a noise like a growl. "Can you shine your light just here?" he asked Saba.

  Saba let the pentagram float to stop over Axel's head. He studied the floor at his feet, where cracked slabs of concrete bore scratches around the edges.

  "I don't like this," he announced.

  Annie held back, her body tense. Lumi, too, looked in no way anxious to see what Axel had found. The two of them hovered just inside the witch light, as though afraid to stray from its circle but not wishing to draw too close to Axel and Saba in the middle.

  Axel put his fingers on one edge of a concrete slab and started to pull. Saba hunkered down to help him, and together, they pulled the heavy concrete free.

  Saba scrambled back, feeling sick. Axel remained in place, staring down at what he had revealed.

  "What is it?" Lumi asked.

  Axel pulled up three smaller pieces of stone and threw them aside. In a large, squared out hole in the earth lay a pile of bones. They were picked clean and almost polished, stacked neatly from side to side. They had been carefully sorted—thigh bones and tibias, radii and ulnas, skulls in a pile, each one with the jaw bone removed. They were all human.

  Lumi made a gagging sound and swore a few words in Chinese. Annie said nothing. Axel remained staring at the piles, and Saba felt the fury building in him.

  "He needs to eat." Annie's voice held strain.

  Axel snarled. "He's human when he's here. If he wants meat he can eat at Burger King."

  "He can't digest human food," Annie argued. "He told me. He must still eat like a dragon."

  "Then he can go the hell back to Dragonspace when he's hungry. This is unforgivable."

  Axel looked up, rage shining so hard in his black eyes that Saba took an involuntary step back. His gaze switched to Annie, who stared back at him, open-mouthed. Annie was as guilty as the dragon for this, Saba thought, neither trying to stop him or telling anyone about it, dragon mark or no.

  Axel obviously agreed. He rose slowly to his feet, his skin rippling in the shadowy light, whatever dangerous thing he truly was trying to manifest itself.

  Saba stepped into his path, her heart beating hard. "No, we need her."

  Axel glared at her in mindless rage, and for a moment Saba thought he might shove her aside and kill Annie anyway.

  "Please," she said softly but in a tone that indicated she agreed with his anger. "We need her now, we can take restitution after we find Malcolm."

  Axel subsided the slightest bit, but his eyes still held black fury. "Later. Oh, yes, there will be a later."

  He turned away and replaced the cement slabs almost reverently. They left the house without further adventure and Saba spelled the lock shut b
ehind them.

  When they reached the pagoda it was locked again. Saba drew a circle around the lock and spoke a word, and as before, it easily gave way to the spell.

  Axel made her let him enter the pagoda first. He studied the carved wood inside as the others peered into the small space. "There's been some fierce magic worked in here," he observed. "It will take a long time for it to wear off."

  "Malcolm was here," Lumi said, filled with conviction. "The mark on my mind is pulling me. He's very close."

  Saba dragged Annie in front of her. "Is this your work? Your door?"

  Annie couldn't keep the complacent look off her face. "Yes."

  "Good. Then you can open it for me."

  Annie's eyes took on the look of cunning. Saba twined her fingers through the other witch's and held her firmly. "We'll go together."

  Annie deflated, but Saba knew better than to relax or to trust her. She brought up their joined hands, fingers pointing in front of them. "Go ahead," she said.

  Annie tensed, and Saba's own muscles tightened with rising magic. The energy that came from the woman beside her felt strange, witch magic overlaid with the white dragon's mark and the same thick darkness Saba had seen in the house the night of the party, when she'd worked the locator spell.

  In front of them, the air split in two, tingling brightness that seemed to lead nowhere. A cold wind blew through the slit along with dampness and the sharp smell of the sea.

  Annie dove through, dragging Saba firmly behind her. Saba heard both Lumi and Axel shout and then the howl of the wind dragged away their words. The slit closed with a loud pop, cutting the two women off from Axel and Lumi.

  Saba stood on a metal platform only a few feet square attached to a giant metal girder. Wind beat at her and threatened to knock her off the small perch. The darkness around her was absolute, and while she could see nothing below her, she sensed empty air and much of it. San Francisco fog whirled thick about her, water droplets stinging her skin.

  She realized where she was, and her heart gave a sickening beat. "Holy Mother Goddess."