The Black Dragon

by Allyson James

  Malcolm sensed Caleb pause in his conversation to listen. Malcolm tilted his head to one side, reassessing the dragon across the smelly cage. "You aren't after dragons. You are after the archive itself."

  "Yes." His eyes gleamed with the glint of a fanatic. "How can you live in that archive day after day, how can that bloody sprite live there for centuries and not understand what power is there? It is the key to everything, the secrets of the universe, power beyond imagining. All the writings of the black dragons is there and everything they thought important enough to collect. The key to power, the ability to travel anywhere, in any world, to open any door I wish without having to rely on a witch. Power and knowledge that the black dragons guard and never let anyone near. Knowledge they are too stupid to use."

  He ran out of breath and passed his tongue over shaking lips. The other inmates where staring at him, blank looks on their faces.

  Caleb stood up. "Wait a minute," he said, outraged. "All this was about the archive? You poisoned my wife and children over books?"

  "Not just books, you fool," the white dragon said. "Knowledge. You won't need your Lisa if you learn what I plan to learn. You can do anything."

  The large man sitting just inside the white dragon's cage understood what Caleb said if nothing else. He rose to his feet and glared at the white dragon. "Hey, man, are you saying you tried to hurt those babies?" He pointed a blunt finger at the picture on the wall.

  The other men stirred, restless for a fight, and this fight could be justified.

  "He did," Malcolm assured them.

  The white dragon still didn't understand his danger. "What kind of dragon follows around a female and her clutch?"

  Just as the last word left his mouth the four men in the white dragon's cell jumped on him, intent on beating him to a pulp. The white dragon was still very strong and the four-against-one fight was somewhat uneven, favoring the dragon. The men in the other two cells cheered them on until the officers in charge came to break it up. They had to take the white dragon to an isolated room, but Malcolm tasted satisfaction.

  When Saba met Malcolm outside the county courtroom, he was enigmatic as ever. He held her hand and gave her a brief kiss, as nonchalant as if she and Lisa hadn't worried themselves sick, then driven four hours up here to find them.

  Saba knew that the manipulative power of dragon magic had succeeded in getting all charges against Malcolm and Caleb dropped. In fact, everyone in the courtroom seemed to now be Caleb's best friends. Two police officers accompanied him out, congratulating him again on having such beautiful children.

  The white dragon was a little more complicated, because he hadn't tried to deny that he'd killed Annie, but Lisa had been adamant that he get released—into her custody, although the county sheriff wouldn't exactly know that.

  Saba felt a pang when she thought of Annie, the poor witch who had been guilty of nothing but an inferiority complex that had left her vulnerable to the white dragon's mark. Saba thought she should have done something more for her, but it was difficult to know what.

  I should have grabbed her and taken her to Lisa when I thought of it, she chastised herself. It hadn't exactly been Saba's fault, and maybe Lisa couldn't have prevented what eventually happened, but Saba felt she might have tried harder.

  "Lisa wants to see the white dragon," she told Caleb, who cheerfully waved good-bye to everyone on the courthouse steps.

  Caleb lowered his arm and turned away. "It might be tricky getting him back to San Francisco."

  "She's not in San Francisco. She's here." Saba pointed to a newly built motel that stood shining in the sunlight at the end of the block.

  "What the hell is she doing here?" Caleb demanded. "She's supposed to be safe in the hospital. Resting. Healing."

  "She healed herself." Saba held up her hands. "Don't blame me—I tried to stop her, but I can't fight the silver dragon. She has to have it her way, you know that."

  "But the twins. They're too small." His blue eyes filled with worry.

  "They're still in the hospital. They've got the whole staff looking after them—and Axel. Axel will protect them with his life, believe me."

  Caleb looked skeptical, and Malcolm gazed at Saba in quiet interest. "You know this for certain?" he asked in his cool voice.

  "He's a god," Saba said, feeling slight satisfaction when Malcolm's brows twitched in surprise. "He'll protect them. We should go to Lisa now. I convinced her to stay in bed, but if she gets restless she might decide to come looking for us."

  That convinced Caleb, who sprang into action. Whatever he did, however he manipulated getting hold of the white dragon, Saba never knew, but ten minutes later a police car stopped outside the hotel, Caleb emerging with the white dragon in his strong grip. Malcolm and Saba had walked, Malcolm still holding Saba's hand, and they all met up at the hotel's entrance.

  "How did you convince them to let him go?" Saba asked as Caleb led the white dragon, still cuffed, along the corridor to the room Saba indicated.

  Caleb shrugged. "I can be very convincing."

  Malcolm rumbled. "He had everyone in the courthouse eating out of his hand this morning. They'll probably erect a statue."

  He spoke with his usual quiet sarcasm, but his voice held something else, a worry that she couldn't place.

  Lisa sat propped on pillows in the bed reading a novel, which she dropped when they entered. Caleb went to her, and she held out her arms. He gathered her to him, and they shared a long, intense hug, he holding her tight, she with her head on his shoulder.

  Saba sat down in a chair, unable to stand any longer. A profound pain entered her heart and made it beat a little bit faster.

  Lisa at last unwound herself from Caleb. He sat on the bed beside her, his arm protectively around her, and Malcolm took up a position in front of the door. The white dragon waited, his hands still manacled behind him, his stance arrogant and upright.

  Saba from her vantage point saw the white dragon's fingers twitch in the cuffs, betraying his nervousness. Lisa fixed a brown-eyed stare on him, one that held the penetrating magic of the silver dragon.

  "I am very annoyed with you," Lisa said.

  It was just like Lisa to make such an understatement. No raging, no bitchy voice, just the quiet tone that said she was unhappy.

  The white dragon lifted his chin. "I have no interest in what you think."

  "You should," Malcolm said. "She can snuff out your life in an instant. You should be scrambling to find reasons why she shouldn't."

  Another twitch of his bound fingers. "She wouldn't dare kill me here."

  Again Malcolm answered. "Why not? She can kill you, kick your carcass back to Dragonspace with no one here the wiser. She can easily make everyone who ever saw you forget all about you."

  The white dragon took a quick breath. "Do you expect me to beg for my life?"

  "No," Lisa told him. "You should beg to make amends. The two witches, Annie and Rhoda, didn't deserve to die. And my children were innocent."

  "We are dragons?" the white dragon said, sounding incredulous. "Witches are nothing to us."

  "Thanks a lot," Saba said.

  The white dragon cast a glance at Malcolm. "You bed her," he said in a voice dripping with disgust. "Why you even let her live is beyond me."

  Malcolm made no reaction, not even a flicker.

  "Saba is my friend." Lisa's even, calm tone made the white dragon swing back to her. "You are not;"

  "Then the powerful silver dragon is weak."

  He spat the words but Saba could taste his fear. He spoke out of sheer bravado.

  Lisa lifted the pillow next to her and pulled The Book of All Dragons out and into her lap. Without a word, she unfastened the catch and leafed through the golden pages, their rustling like faint, faraway music. She reached the page with the white dragon and stopped.

  "You erased your true name," she said, looking up at him. "Or did you?"

  The white dragon started, craning to peer at the book, then
he laughed. "I burned it away. You will not learn it there."

  "No?" Lisa ran her fingers over the blank gold page. "But this is not an ordinary book. The etching of your true name runs deep. I think I can just feel…"

  Caleb looked over her shoulder, interested, and the white dragon's face went slightly green. "You feel nothing."

  Lisa glanced up. "Saba, would you help me?"

  Saba nodded and got to her feet. Only Malcolm hadn't moved during this exchange, remaining immobile by the door. Caleb stood up to make room for Saba, and he went to flank the white dragon on his other side, looking as though he hoped the white dragon would break free of his restraints or otherwise try to escape. Caleb wanted an excuse to spill blood.

  Saba sat down next to Lisa, and Lisa spread the book over both their laps. Saba ran her fingers over the page and felt the faintest scratches, but nothing she'd be able to make out.

  Lisa smiled at her. "You could do a rubbing," she suggested. "Except with your magic instead of a pencil. Just a thin coating. The letters will shine like fire."

  "Do you think so?" Saba asked dubiously.

  "I'm pretty sure."

  Easy for her to say. Lisa thought anything possible, but then again, Lisa was a silver dragon and could do almost anything.

  Saba drew a breath. Magic required a relaxed, healthy, and rested body, none of which described Saba at the moment. She fixed her gaze on the page and forced herself to see it and only it, to forget Lisa radiating encouragement, the white dragon nearly bouncing with fear, Caleb spoiling for a fight, and Malcolm…

  What was Malcolm doing? Just standing there, his dragon gaze fixed so hard on her she could feel it. Did he expect her to succeed, to fail? Did he care at all, or was he simply bracing himself for the white dragon to command Malcolm with his true name?

  Saba wrenched her concentration back to the book. She pretended she could see the very faint indentations that used to be letters, that the blue light that slid from her fingertips could flow over the page and into the tiny crevices that the acid had left behind.

  At first nothing happened. The page remained blank gold, and Caleb moved restlessly. Then the blue light began, very faintly, to blacken into fine lines of symbols and script. As Saba continued to focus, the lines deepened, the page absorbing the blackness and causing it to almost glow. She watched, openmouthed, as the gold page hissed, her magic re-etching the name onto its surface.

  Saba felt a strange tingle as she looked at the runes and curves and symbols, and Lisa looked delighted. "There it is. Thank you."

  * * *

  Chapter 19

  Caleb strained to look, and the white dragon said in a horrified voice, "Don't let him see."

  Ignoring him, Lisa started to read, her voice forming notes of music that jangled and rang and were on the edge of beautiful. The white dragon screamed. He began to writhe, jerking at his bonds as though he'd break his wrists trying to free himself, all the while screaming, his eyes glazing in pain. Despite herself Saba felt a stab of pity for him.

  "Lisa, stop," she said.

  "Yes." The one word came from Malcolm, his body tense. "That's enough."

  Lisa closed her mouth and the music ceased. The white dragon dropped to his knees.

  "You belong to me now," Lisa said quietly. "I hate to do this, but it is the only way. You will obey the silver dragon's commands."

  "Yes," he panted, his green eyes wide in fear.

  "Good." She closed the book with a thump and set it aside. "This first thing I want you to do is forget Malcolm's true name. Can you do that for me?"

  The white dragon looked confused. "I don't know."

  "Let me help you."

  When Lisa became a dragon, she didn't have the same constraints as did Malcolm and Caleb. No removing her clothes or having to wear an armband or having to be in the presence of those who believed in dragons. She could simply flow into whatever shape she wanted any time she wanted. She chose a string of colored lights that flowed about the room, making a noise like wind chimes and laughter, and wrapped around the body of the white dragon.

  "Forget," she commanded in a sweet, gentle voice.

  The white dragon closed his eyes. Lisa's form shimmered from lights to pure, radiant silver and back to lights again.

  Suddenly she burst away from him and landed on the bed, morphing into her human form, breathing heavily. "I can't."

  The white dragon shot her a look of triumph. "Some things even the silver dragon can't do."

  "Why can't you?" Malcolm demanded, his voice harsh.

  "I don't know." Lisa looked up at him, face strained. "Perhaps because the name came straight from The Book of All Dragons! Perhaps it is the book that binds, not the dragon's mind."

  Caleb paled. "Crap. And you just leave that thing hanging around your archive?"

  "No dragon should have wanted to steal it," Malcolm said in a hard voice.

  "Oh, that's reassuring," Caleb shot at him.

  "I'll find a way." Lisa spoke with conviction, truly believing. She truly did believe she could do anything, and what's more, she was likely right.

  Saba kept her skepticism to herself. "So what do we do with him?"

  Caleb brightened. "I could crush the knowledge out of his brain. That would work."

  The white dragon tensed, and Saba sensed the music of Malcolm's name rising in his mind. In desperation she imagined her own thoughts reaching to the white dragon, trying to damp down the name. To her surprise, she saw black and silver threads, gossamer in the room's half-light, drift from herself to surround the white dragon.

  If any of the others saw them, they said nothing although Malcolm stiffened. The name floating in the white dragon's head dissolved.

  "We send him back to Dragonspace," Lisa finished. "Bound to obey me and remain in a certain area, nice and chilly, where frost dragons like it."

  "You'd let him go?" Malcolm rumbled in disapproval.

  "I'm showing him compassion. He needs to pay for his crimes, but he can do that better while he's still alive. He'll serve me now."

  The white dragon's hands twitched again and sweat began to trickle down his face. He was fighting Lisa's hold. Lisa smiled and said one word. Instantly, the white dragon was back to screaming, writhing pain. He fell to the floor, begging for mercy.

  Lisa leaned down and touched his forehead. He stopped screaming, subsiding to a relieved whimper. "Do we understand each other?" she asked him.

  "Yes," he whispered hoarsely.

  "Good."

  She straightened up, and Saba felt the power growing inside her, the incredible magic of the silver dragon. Caleb shot her a look of concern.

  "You need to rest."

  "And I will." Lisa got to her feet and regarded him fondly. "As soon as I am finished, I promise."

  Caleb growled a little, but subsided. He pointed at the white dragon. "If I see you near my territory or if I think I even sense you around someone I love, you are dead meat."

  "He will be confined," Lisa said.

  She spoke with confidence, but Saba saw the cunning in the white dragon's green eyes. Roland was foolish if he thought he could best Lisa, but then again, he might have some contingency worked out.

  She glanced at Malcolm, who was watching the white dragon just as carefully. If she knew Malcolm, he would have at least forty contingencies in his head—what the white dragon might do and how to counteract each plan. That was Malcolm's way.

  Lisa sat down on the bed again. She focused on a point just beyond the white dragon, pressed her hands together, and drew a straight line down with her fingertips. Her body flashed into incandescent lights, then back into Lisa sitting cross-legged on the bed.

  There was a tearing sound, and then a bright light, a rush of freezing wind, a swirl of snow. The white dragon staggered to his feet with a look of intense panic. The light grew, slicing into the room to clutch at the white dragon and pull him back toward the slit.

  His body began to change from human to drag
on, his torso thickening and lengthening, his hair becoming pure white spines on his head and neck, his green eyes enlarging and moving backward on his head. His clothes tore from him as he changed, a painful process if Malcolm told the truth. The manacles burst from the dragon's wrists and clanged to the floor of the motel room. With a sudden flash of white leathery wings, the dragon was gone.

  Lisa drew her hands upward again and the slit closed. The wind died, the cold vanished, and silence took its place.

  Saba felt a momentary pang of envy. Lisa could create a door to Dragonspace, just like that, without even getting out of bed. She regretted her envy instantly as Lisa sagged, and Caleb caught her against him.

  "Caleb's right about resting," Saba said. "You shouldn't have even come up here."

  "I had to." Lisa looked up from the circle of Caleb's arm, her voice weak. "Something needed to be done about that damned dragon. He's now confined to a small area of Dragonspace. He can hunt, but that's about it."

  "He wanted to use the dragon archive," Malcolm said. He explained what the white dragon had revealed in jail, that he'd planned to use the archive itself to gain knowledge, gather power, and wreak havoc. "He seemed very familiar with the archive and all it could do. Suspiciously so."

  Saba met his gaze. "You don't think Metz let him explore the place, do you?"

  "It is possible. Perhaps the white dragon offered him a share of knowledge and power he hoped to gain. Metz has worked in that archive a thousand years. He would know the important books from the unimportant."

  Saba considered. "I don't know him as well as you, but he seemed very devoted to the archive. Wouldn't even leave when the cavern caved in."

  "I do not know whether to suspect him or not. I am pointing out possibilities. When I return The Book of All Dragons to the archive, I will question him." He advanced to the bed and held out his hands as though ready to receive the book and leave right then.

  Lisa gave him a wan smile. "Not yet. That drained me more than I thought it would."

  Malcolm dropped his arms, eyes flickering. Saba got to her feet. "Even silver dragons need their eight hours. Let the poor woman rest, Malcolm. You look like you could use a little sleep yourself."