Suddenly, Rhen appeared in front of the dragon. He barked ‘Stop!’ using the language that the Surpen Beasts of War used. The audience watched as the olive-green dragon peered down at Rhen and snorted. Rhen laughed in response. The animal then put its head forward and gave Rhen a shove. Rhen reached out to pat the dragon, as it released the man from its mouth. Seconds later, the blue dragon began to make a deep humming sound and vibrate its tail.
“What’s happening?” the Headmaster asked the company President.
“I have no idea,” the man said. He’d never seen anything like it.
It wasn't long before the green dragon began to hum as well. The air felt alive from the vibrations of the two dragons.
“Would you mind taking off their chains?” Rhen asked the handlers.
“They’ll kill us!” a man cried out.
“No, they won’t,” Rhen told him. He reached out his hand to touch the olive-green dragon's head. Glancing up at the stage, he yelled to the company President. “May I remove their chains?”
“Who’s that?” the President asked Professor Dewey.
“Surpen’s Emperor,” the Headmaster replied with a smile. He’d heard anger in the other man’s voice and was enjoying the look of shock on the man’s face when he discovered Rhen’s identity.
“You can only remove their chains if you can guarantee the safety of the people here,” the President announced into the sound system.
A moment later, the chains disappeared from around the dragons. The blue dragon stepped closer to Rhen, lowering its head for affection. Rhen pet both dragons while they continued to vibrate and hum. When the olive-green dragon tried to lick Rhen with its razor-sharp tongue, he stepped away. “Not with your tongue,” he told the dragon. “Inhale it."
The dragon placed its nostrils by Rhen's bare arm and breathed in. The crowd gasped as a wisp of white power left Rhen's arm. It flowed up into the air then entered the dragon's nose. At once, the dragon’s dull scales turned a brilliant blue and its body mass increased in size. The olive-green dragon inhaled a wisp of power by Rhen's head. The crowd watched as its scales turned a richer green and the red pattern across its chest and sides became apparent.
“Oh, my!” Professor Dewey exclaimed.
"What's he doing?" someone asked beside Ceceta.
She turned to find James and Reed standing in the aisle near her seat.
“He's feeding them his powers. The Surpen Beasts of War do the same thing. They can only reach their full growth potential if they drink power.” As if to make her point, the olive dragon tripled in size before their very eyes.
“They can just pull the power out of someone?” Reed asked.
“Yes,” Ceceta said. A dark shape passed over their heads. Ceceta looked up to find an enormous red dragon coming in for a landing. The trainers scrambled to get out of the way, as the red dragon bounced to a landing not more than ten feet from them.
Before anyone could comment on the red dragon’s surprising appearance, several more shapes cruised across the sky above them.
“Themrock,” Erfce breathed out, when a snake dragon slithered down for a landing near the lake. Like the other dragons, once it landed, it made its way to Rhen. In a short period of time, there were forty dragons on the school’s lawn and countless more hovering above the grounds.
“It took us five years to find those two dragons,” the company President declared, the microphone catching his voice. “Where the hell did all these dragons come from?”
"Do you know?" Latsoh asked Ceceta.
“I assume the vibrating motion they were doing was a dragon call, since I’ve seen the Surpen Beasts of War do the same thing.”
“Unbelievable,” Reed said softly, before he and James headed down to the stadium floor for a closer view.
No one could see Rhen because the dragons were pressing in on him. The crowd watched with fascination. After a dragon inhaled Rhen’s powers, it would step back and shake its head, then snort and prance a few feet away. The dragons were all changing. Their scales were becoming brighter, their wings and bodies were growing and horns, and spikes were popping up in various locations on their bodies.
“They’re so happy,” Crystam said with a laugh as she watched the dragons prance about.
When the snake dragon was finished with Rhen, it slithered over to the school’s lake and dove in. “If that thing lives in there, I’m no longer going swimming,” Erfce told the people around him, while they nodded in agreement.
A moment later, the water in the lake started to shake and churn. The crowd watched as a portion of the lake rose upward, forming an enormous dragon that appeared to be made of water. As the dragon beat its wings, water sprayed off of them in such a way that the dragon had rainbows bursting from it. The water dragon flew over and landed in front of Rhen. It bowed its head to him. Rhen reached forward to stroke what looked to be solid water. The animal inhaled his powers and then raised its head high to shoot a blast of water into the air. When it was finished, the water dragon lifted off into flight. With rainbows shooting out of its wings, the dragon dove back into the lake. As it entered the water, the surface of the lake remained calm. There wasn’t a sound or ripple as it disappeared beneath the surface.
“I’m definitely not going swimming in there anymore,” Erfce said. The students around him nodded again with vigor.
After the water dragon had left, Rhen phased back up to his seat in the stadium. “They’re finished for now,” he told Ceceta.
“Good,” Tgfhi replied, as if he had anything to say about it. His friends laughed at him as Crystam gave him a kiss.
Ceceta put her arm around Rhen and together they walked towards the exit. They happened to pass the dragon company President on their way out. “Justor and Davis thought it was funny that you wanted to try to breed them,” Rhen told the man. The President stammered unintelligibly as Rhen and Ceceta moved on.
The students and teachers watched the remaining dragons play and preen. It wasn’t until several hours later that the final two dragons took off.
“Rhen!” Henry called out, entering his son’s apartment later that evening.
Rhen stuck his head out of his bedroom, surprised by Henry’s presence.
“Oh, there you are, my boy,” Henry said. He stopped to catch his breath. “I wanted to find you before you retired for the night. I had to let you know about Charlie.”
“You’ve found him?”
Henry nodded. “Kate was by the pool earlier today. She saw him going into the men’s locker room. She told me she’d give him your message to contact Erfce.”
Rhen sighed with relief. Charlie wasn’t the man he’d seen in Hell. “That’s great. Thank you, Henry. I really appreciate it.”
Henry’s head lifted a little higher. “Anything for you, Rhen.”
Chapter 45
Planet of Rasack
“Congratulations on your latest planetary acquisition,” Therol told Sinter as he landed beside him on the gravel path outside the Rasack King’s castle. He reached out a black-gloved hand for the chain-link fence beside him.
Sinter was inspecting his pens to see if he had any slaves he wanted to sell to the Sastarians. Therol gazed through the diamond shaped openings in the fence to see if any of the slaves might be of use to him.
“Thank you, my Lord,” Sinter hissed with pleasure. He flicked the purple tip on the end of his tail and raised his head. “That one,” he told his waiting soldier, indicating a thin boy who was huddled beside an older man. “Send him to Sastar with the others I culled earlier.”
“No!” the old man shouted, his hands wrapping around the boy. “Please! Don’t separate us!”
“Take him away,” the Rasack soldier inside the pen ordered Sinter’s palace slaves, who were standing behind him holding iron chains.
“No! Please! I beg you!” the old man cried.
Therol turned his back on the scene. He could hear the old man crying as the slaves cuffed his boy a
nd pulled him from the cage. Glancing sideways, he found Sinter grinning with pleasure and it occurred to him that the Rasack King had taken the boy simply because he’d wanted to witness the man’s reaction.
“Have you heard anything from the Thestrans?” Therol asked. He watched Sinter’s hoof raise in annoyance. It seemed the Rasack King didn’t appreciate Therol interrupting his show.
With a flick of his tail, Sinter pulled his eyes from the grieving man. “As you predicted, my Lord, we’ve heard nothing from the Thestrans or the Black Angel. It appears they take no interest in planets that are ruled independently.”
Therol grunted and leaned back against the fence. He was surprised that Rhen hadn’t picked up the Black Angel again and wondered what was keeping him from it.
“Would you like some wine?” Sinter asked, his eyes focused on the old man behind Therol.
“No, not now. I’ve something I want to discuss with you.” He pushed himself off the fence and walked towards the castle, knowing Sinter would follow. They walked in silence until they reached Sinter’s study.
Therol sat down on one of the wicker chairs that Sinter had had his slaves make for guests. He stretched out his legs, then pulled on the fingertips of his black gloves to remove them. “I visited with Thaster. He has a plan that’s of interest.”
Sinter waited patiently, while Therol considered his visit to Hell. His eyes were focused on a tuft of grass that had started to grow under the bottom of Sinter’s rough wooden desk.
“I’d like you to attack Tgarus.”
Sinter raised his head, his slitted eyes widening with surprise. He hadn’t expected that. “You want us to attack a Surpen planet?”
“Yes,” Therol said. “You’ll lose the men sent on this mission, but there’s something I need on Tgarus and I can’t think of any other way to get it.”
Sinter wondered why Therol didn’t just fly over to Tgarus and take whatever it was that he wanted, but it wasn’t his place to question the Genister God. “You mentioned Thaster?”
“Yes,” Therol said, sitting upright. “He’ll help us. He wants the same thing.”
“How many soldiers do you need me to send to Tgarus?”
“Perhaps five legions? The future is vague regarding this plot, since another Genister is involved, but I can tell you that you’ll only need to attack the capital of Tgarus. The other Tgarian cities can be left unmolested.”
“You’re certain that I’ll lose the soldiers who are sent on this mission? You can foresee that much?”
“Yes. That much is clear.” Therol glanced up at Sinter to find the Rasack King contemplating his request. “It’s a small price to pay. The item I need will aid us and might even bring forth an end to Thestran’s power once and for all.”
Sinter flicked his tail. He was surprised that Therol and Thaster were working together on something. He didn’t like the idea of losing so many soldiers for no gain, but his Genister God seemed to feel it was important. Whatever it was that Therol wanted on Tgarus had to be valuable. Sinter wondered briefly if he might be able to send a spy troop to gain the item for himself.
“Don’t,” Therol snapped.
“My Lord?”
“You’ll never get the item I’m looking for, so don’t bother sending spies in search of it.” Therol stood up and pointed at Sinter. “My request wasn’t up for negotiation. It was a command.”
“I understand,” Sinter said bowing his diamond-shaped head. He’d forgotten that Lord Therol would, upon occasion, read his mind. “It’ll take some time for me to train the troops to fight the Surpen soldiers living on Tgarus.”
“How long will it take?”
“Seven of our moon cycles.”
Therol shook his head. “You’ve got five.”
“Five’s not long enough,” Sinter protested. “Not with the schedule we’ve set for…”
“Quiet!” Therol barked. “Five cycles. Give up the other planets you’ve set your sights on if you have to. Get your soldiers ready for Tgarus.”
“Yes, my Lord,” Sinter hissed with annoyance. He knew better than to argue.
Chapter 46
Swimming Pool – Hell
Charlie lay naked on the wooden deck that surrounded Thaster’s largest swimming pool. “I’m dying,” he announced. Thaster’s slaves stood around the pool watching him.
“I’m dying!” he shouted. The slaves didn’t respond.
Closing his eyes, Charlie took a deep breath. It felt like a year had passed since the Black Angel had flown into Hell to fight Thaster. Charlie had run out of his bedroom into the garden yelling “HELP!”, hoping to catch the Black Angel’s attention, but he’d failed. The Angel had taken a beating from Thaster and flown away.
A fly buzzed around Charlie’s head. It landed on his nose. The fly’s legs tickled his skin as it walked down his nose to his cheek. Charlie remained motionless, trying to prove to the slaves around him that he was dead. Flies were already arriving to eat his corpse.
“Hey!” Charlie shouted, when he felt a sharp pinch. He threw his hand up to his face, hitting himself on the cheek. “That fly bit me,” he complained.
The slaves did nothing as Charlie rubbed his cheek, feeling angry at himself. How was he going to convince the slaves that he was dying if he couldn’t even handle the bite from a fly?
Lying back down with his arms and legs spread wide open, Charlie closed his eyes. This time he’d remain motionless, no matter what happened. He’d wait until Thaster came to remove his decaying body from the deck of the pool.
Charlie hadn’t seen Thaster in a while. The red Genister had barricaded himself into his palace right after his fight with the Black Angel. Charlie had tried searching for him, but the slaves hadn’t let him anywhere near Thaster. He’d tried to catch Thaster’s attention a few times by lighting his room on fire and emptying the water out of all of Thaster’s hot tubs, but the red Genister hadn’t shown up. Instead, it’d been his slaves, who’d cleaned up the messes Charlie had made. Their tiny eyes boring into him accusingly as he watched them work.
In his mind, Charlie heard a young girl giggle. It was a pleasant, light sound. Something from his memory, obviously, since there weren’t any girls in Hell.
Charlie strained his ears to hear it again. Perhaps he actually was dying? It could be that he was hearing the sound of angels from the Time After as they headed down to pick up his essence.
He heard a rustling sound not more than five feet away and felt proud. He’d done it. Thaster’s slaves had approached him to see if he was dead. They would fetch Thaster and then he’d finally have someone to talk to.
A young girl giggled somewhere near his feet. “Why are you naked?”
Charlie’s eyes shot open. He glanced down his body to find a short Neptian girl staring at him. Her dark, innocent eyes twinkled as she laughed at him again.
“Crap!” Charlie shouted. He slammed his legs closed and rolled over onto his stomach to hide himself. “Who the hell are you?”
The girl laughed at him as she watched him curl up into a ball. “Why are you naked?”
Charlie stared at her. She was dressed in a red sundress and wore sandals on her feet. Her short blond hair was cut in a bob and she was carrying a teacup. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?” he asked, glancing around the pool deck for something to use to cover his body.
“I walked here,” she told him.
Spotting the dragon innertube he’d used before sitting on a deck chair, Charlie crawled over to it and pulled it down in front of his crotch.
The girl laughed at him. “You’re funny. You crawl like a duck.”
Charlie stood up, holding the innertube in front of him. He took a moment to inspect the child. She was definitely Neptian with her blue skin, dark eyes and blond hair. He figured she was five or six, maybe. She had a light blush on her cheeks and appeared happy and well-fed. “Are you alright? Why are you here?”
“I’m looking for Mr. Gasrina. He’s s
upposed to come to the tea party.”
“Gasrina?”
“You know,” she insisted. “He’s got a suit and a hat.”
Charlie had no idea what she was talking about. “Listen…”
“Chisten!” Thaster called from inside the palace.
Lifting his head, Charlie watched as Thaster walked out through one of the patio doors towards them. He was dressed in a high-waisted red dress and he was wearing four-inch heels. A hat, with a stuffed bird on it, was on his head. “There you are, Chisten.” He held up a doll. “We found Mr. Gasrina under the breakfast table. I guess he decided to take a…” Thaster hesitated when he saw Charlie. His open, friendly face instantly radiated fury.
“What’s wrong?” Chisten asked. “Why are you mad?”
With great control, Thaster changed his frown into a smile. “I’m not mad. I was simply surprised. Come! Let’s go back to our tea party.”
“Can he come too?” Chisten asked, pointing at Charlie.
“Yes!” Charlie shouted. “Can I come too? I look good in dresses.”
“Not today, child,” Thaster replied lightly. “There isn’t room at the table for him, not with all of our other guests.”
Charlie opened his mouth to beg Chisten to let him join them, when he felt Thaster’s red powers tighten around his neck. He couldn’t speak, let alone breath.
“Aww,” Chisten pouted.
“I’ll race you back to the table. First one back gets extra chocolate cake.” Thaster turned, as if to run back inside the palace.
Chisten squealed and ran past him through the open patio doors.
Once she was gone, Thaster turned on Charlie, releasing his powers from around his neck. “Don’t you ever come near her again! If you do, I’ll torture you until the end of time.”
Charlie knew better than to argue. “Why’s she here?” he gasped, massaging his throat.
Thaster gave him a thin smile. “Why Charlie, I thought you’d know the answer to that, after all, you gave me the idea.”
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