Black City Dragon

by Richard A. Knaak

  “You might want to look into that,” came Galerius’s voice from the mouthless figure. “His hide will look good on my wall.”

  “Fetch!” Claryce screamed.

  I made a grab for the sword, but the golem executed another twist. The shadows still wrapped around it swallowed up the animated statue before my very eyes. Both the golem and the sword vanished.

  Swearing, I raced with Claryce out of the church and toward where we both thought the howl had originated. Circling around to the back of the church, we stopped dead as we came upon a disturbing sight.

  There was no sign of Fetch himself, but a splattering of blood covered a good portion of a path. Claryce gasped and started toward it, but I blocked her with my arm. Even a view like this could actually be a trap where magic was involved.

  Without a word, the dragon granted me his vision. Through it, I saw nothing else out of the ordinary.

  “Oh, Nick. Did he really . . .”

  “Looks like it.” After Diocles’s betrayal, I’d not trusted many through the centuries. Even with Fetch, I’d always kept one eye open, but, still, I’d come to count on him as few others. I swore next time I had the chance I’d lop off Galerius’s head to make certain.

  Of course, I no longer had the sword.

  “Don’t give up hope, though. I know Galerius well enough to understand that he won’t want to kill Fetch. Fetch is going to be bait for me.”

  “Are you certain?” Naturally, Claryce sounded both relieved and more worried.

  “Yeah, he’d never waste a good piece in the game, as he sees it. We’ll get Fetch back.”

  “How will we locate him?”

  “Exactly as Galerius no doubt expects. I have to go to Feirie. I would’ve had to anyway, due to the sword. At first, I summed up its inability to affect the golem because the thing isn’t actually alive, but the simple fact that it’s magical should’ve allowed the sword to affect it. Hopefully, she can explain that and at the same time help us with Fetch.”

  I eyed the stain. There wasn’t an untainted part from which I could save a reasonable dot of blood. If I hoped to get the sword back and also track Fetch, I definitely needed something better. Her Lady would surely have a better idea.

  Of course, there’d be a price.

  We returned to the church long enough to check on the priest and anyone else who might’ve been affected by Galerius. Fortunately, no one recalled anything.

  Diocles trailed behind us, but as I didn’t talk to him he remained silent. I caught Claryce giving him a supportive smile and decided to pretend I’d missed it.

  I’d planned on bringing Claryce back to her apartment, but she refused to even discuss it. Bowing to the inevitable, I headed to the lake.

  Images from my aquatic struggle returned to me as I pulled up at a quieter part of the lakeshore.

  “Do you really think she’ll help us, Nick?”

  “Logic would say yes . . . but logic and Feirie don’t always intersect with one another,” I answered truthfully. “Not much choice, though, especially not for Fetch.”

  We both knew that this situation involved far more than just a threat to Fetch . . . or to Claryce, naturally. What it actually all entailed still didn’t make sense. Galerius appeared to have pretty much everything he desired. So far, it seemed all he was doing was entertaining himself by putting us through hell. But with Galerius, there had to be much, much more.

  Before heading to the lake, I’d made another call to Kravayik to check on the card. He assured me it was still in its place. He also assured me that there’d been no suspicious characters visiting Holy Name. That should’ve made me feel better, but instead it only made me more uneasy. I’d expected some stunt by Galerius’s stooges. It almost felt as if he was going out of his way to avoid the card.

  We weren’t all that far from the warehouse where the boat was stored. Michael had stored that boat for the future, but I still didn’t know exactly why. It couldn’t have been so I could go hunting whatever sea—lake— monster was out there, but it had to be connected to the beast.

  “Did you remember something about what happened out there?” Claryce asked.

  I must’ve spent too long staring at the water. “No. Just trying to make all the connections.”

  “God! When I think about what you went through!”

  “Don’t.” I turned my attention to a another part of the shoreline. “I really wish you’d stay here.”

  “No arguing. I need to go with you.”

  I sighed. “All right. Prepare yourself. I’m going to open a different way. It’ll mean some disorientation.”

  “I’ll handle it.”

  “All right.” I shut my eyes and concentrated on the Gate, visualizing it.

  I’d barely done so when Claryce said, “The water is shimmering, Nick.”

  “I know.”

  “No . . . I don’t think you do,” she countered, her voice rising. “I think that thing is coming after you again!”

  I opened my eyes just as a long, sinewy appendage shot out of the water toward where we stood. It was massive enough that it could carry off both of us if given the opportunity.

  I was left with no choice. “I’m sorry!” I shouted to Claryce. “Only way!”

  Grabbing her in my arms, I jumped. As they always did, my clothes magically faded away. Fortunately, by that time there wasn’t much human left. My body had already taken on a more reptilian aspect and wings had sprouted from my back. I felt the dragon revel in yet another transformation. I still kept control, but now we were nearly two equal minds. He could feel the air, dwell in the glory of flight.

  A flight almost aborted as two more tentacles shot from the water.

  The Gate opened up. I had no time to admire its ancient, arresting beauty. We darted through before the tentacles could snare my legs or my tail.

  I willed the Gate shut behind me, hoping at the same time I hadn’t accidentally allowed something out of Feirie. I had no doubt that there were still many creatures of the dark realm seeking escape from Her Lady’s purge. They were somehow slipping through enough without me leaving the door open, so to speak.

  We landed far more gracefully than we had last time. I gently set Claryce down just before willing the change back. The dragon didn’t argue, not only giving way to the transformation but slipping into the recesses of my mind without another word.

  I adjusted my overcoat slightly as I avoided Claryce’s eyes.

  “When are you going to learn I’m not bothered by all that?” she quietly asked. “My only concerns were you escaping that—that thing—again and whether the dragon would fight you at all.”

  “I guess he was as happy to get away from it as I was.” Feeling a little bit more at ease, I looked around. As usual, the endless forest was quiet, almost deathly still. That meant nothing. Among the legions of oaks and other trees, I knew that there was a wave of fear and violence progressing.

  “So, how will it work this time?” Claryce eyed our surroundings. “Will she form out of the shadows or separate from a nearby tree? Maybe appear as a raven or some other animal?”

  I swore the trees rustled angrily in response. I didn’t care. Claryce was under my protection. She’d already been used in the past by Her Lady and as far as I was concerned had every right to not treat her with respect. Feirie might have to bow to Oberon’s widow, but we didn’t.

  I only wondered if Her Lady understood that.

  We waited for a couple of minutes, but nothing changed. It was possible that Her Lady was caught up in other matters, but there was no way she would’ve not sensed our arrival. I doubted that, with her power, she had any other concerns truly keeping her from us. We were simply being made to wait, something for which we had no time.

  “I know you can hear me, your majesty,” I told the forest, “and you know I wouldn’t have returned so soon if it wasn’t important not just to me but to you.”

  A wind rose up. It shook leaves loose from the surroundin
g trees, leaves that swirled madly around us before collecting in front of us. They quickly piled up until they formed a tall mound.

  The wind shifted, blowing apart the pile . . . and there, very theatrically, of course, stood Her Lady.

  Her darling Gatekeeper, she sang in our heads. Her veiled eyes looked to Claryce. And his warrior maiden . . .

  “I’ve never been called that before,” Claryce muttered.

  Her gift to you has been taken, the queen of Feirie went on, her song taking on a more threatening tone. This is not the first time, Her darling Gatekeeper. There have been too many times over the years . . .

  “There’s been times over the centuries,” I admitted. “but I always got it back, didn’t I? And I usually lost it because you failed to warn me about something I should’ve known about before it happened. Maybe like now, too.”

  Did not Her darling Gatekeeper receive our warning through our loyal servant?

  “You mean that pin Lon left me? Yeah, I got that. Thanks for that little bit. There’s a lot more, though, like maybe what you know about Galerius’s activities over the centuries. We already have your history with the Beast, Holmes. He had ties to Galerius. I’ve got to believe that means you might have some information concerning what he really wants. It’s something about the Clothos Deck, but not simply gaining the card I watch over, is it?”

  Her Lady said nothing at first. Then, slowly, gracefully, she circled us. As she did, I sensed other presences encroaching from every direction.

  The legacy of He is far reaching, Our darling Gatekeeper. His are in every shadow, every little hidden place. They must be rooted out like the weeds they are using whatever means necessary . . .

  It took me a moment to understand that the “He” to whom she referred wasn’t Galerius, but rather her former liege. Her Lady always appeared in control; in reality, she dreaded anything that even remotely suggested Oberon’s power remained a danger. Small wonder she’d begun the purge.

  But I had more important things to concern myself about than the Feirie Queen’s paranoia. “Stop evading. The conversation concerns Galerius and the Clothos Deck. What do you know?”

  She stopped circling. Her deathly beautiful face revealed no emotion, although I suspected a number of them bubbled below the surface. A card here, a card there. Where do you think yours was played before it fell to you?

  I’d never given that question much thought. Once I’d gotten the card, my only interest had been to put it where no one else could get it. Just the thought of what it could do had been enough to make me never want to touch it.

  Of course, I apparently had been in the minority.

  “Who’d Oberon take it from?” I asked impatiently, not caring how the trees rustled nervously at the mere mention of the late Lord of Feirie. “Are you saying he took it from Galerius?”

  Twice you ask, but three is the charm. Three are the faces, one and the same . . .

  “Does she never answer straight, Nick?”

  “Hardly ever, even when doing so would be to her benefit.” Scowling, I responded to Her Lady, “All right, I’ll ask a third time, then. Where’d the late lord of the realm get the card?”

  The one who is three and can never be free. The pull of the card brings him together even as it tears him apart.

  There she was with more threes. Better her riddles and—”I’ve had my head messed with too much. It’s him, isn’t it? Not ‘them,’ but just a him.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “Remember our friends in Dunning? The same ones who attacked me earlier? She’s saying that they’re the same man. Not three who look similar, but the same exact man.”

  Claryce shook her head. “But they aren’t exact! The two I saw had subtle but real differences.”

  “Remember what the card did to Chicago even for a brief time? Imagine being around its inherent forces for so long. The possibilities are as endless as they are heinous.”

  Her Lady laughed lightly. The Triple Man is ever bound to happen. He cannot do anything else, sealed as he is, to the card you now wield . . .

  And there it was. Galerius’s tie to the card I protected faded away, replaced by a hunt by its previous possessor, who had apparently been affected by his years of claim. “So the card made him this . . . triplicate figure?”

  All three shadows of the one, but together a very part of the card’s essence. What it can do, they can do to some small effect. They need the card, though, to be whole again. Her Lady gave me her most winning smile, which, aware of the shadows within her, did not in the least entice me. She would advise Our darling Gatekeeper not to allow that to happen.

  “No kidding. Where did it say when I was chosen for this that I’d have to spend time cleaning up after what others have done?”

  The Dacian Dragon is yours, Our darling Gatekeeper. You brought him into this game.

  My scowl deepened. “What about the sword?”

  You have wielded it for some time. It will call you. Just allow it in.

  I was getting some surprisingly cogent answers at the moment, which worried me even more. So now I had a link to the sword that’d let me reach out to it or vice versa. “Would’ve been nice to know that over the centuries. When did that happen?”

  When He returned.

  Her short response said something as to its significance. Okay, so she’d only added it when Oberon had proven to be alive just a few months back. I hadn’t been missing out on some extra helpful ability. She’d just not thought it important until her own hide had been on the line.

  Thunder abruptly roared in the distance. I glanced up, saw that to my left—presumably north—the sky had darkened. Weather didn’t just happen in Feirie. This was her doing, and I knew exactly why. Even as she dealt with us, Her Lady continued her crush of any potential opposition in the realm.

  That brought me to our other important reason for coming here. “Fetch is in danger, maybe badly wounded. Galerius has him. I could probably track him myself, but being of Feirie, Fetch may be quicker to find with your help. I’ll brook no argument. Fetch has—”

  She surprised me by extending one slim hand my way. The track is simple, if his gift is still with you . . .

  “The what?”

  You were presented it to give to him. Now, it will serve doubly . . .

  Suddenly I understood what she meant. I pulled free the tooth that I assumed belonged to Fetch’s kin. I also remembered something else. I drew forth Galerius’s coin with my other hand. “Will this be of any use to you?”

  Her Lady studied it for a moment. Set it down on the ground before you . . .

  Once I did, she made a brief gesture indicating Claryce and I should step back. Once we had, Her Lady stared at the coin.

  Galerius’s token sizzled, then melted. The remnants quickly seeped into the soil.

  “Hey! Damn it! That—”

  Is dealt with as it should be, Our darling Gatekeeper. There is a taint of Feirie blood shed in making that, Feirie blood shed in human magic . . .

  “Fetch . . .” Claryce blurted, obviously not meaning that he’d been used to make it but that now we had another possible motive for him taking Fetch.

  Feirie and human magic had connections and could be used in conjunction with one another, as I’d learned to my dismay many times over the centuries. However, what Galerius had evidently done was actually work to meld the two together to do whatever monstrous spellwork he had in mind.

  Her Lady kept her hand extended to me. I dropped the tooth in her palm.

  She shut her eyes. An abrupt stillness overtook the forest. Claryce moved closer to me. We watched as the elven queen covered the tooth with her other palm.

  Her Lady gasped . . . and from her shut palms sprouted a glowing figure, a tall, lithe creature with features mixing canine and lupine with something almost human. Red eyes stared warily around. The creature bared a strong set of teeth, whose sharpness was matched only by the long, curved claws.

  I’d s
een Fetch in his true form, but it was still easy to forget sometimes just how deadly he was at his peak. In the mortal world, he had only a fraction of his true power, and even then he was pretty capable.

  Then it occurred to me that this wasn’t Fetch. There were subtle differences, even a slight hint of more age.

  The ghostly figure leaped into the air, vanishing as it did. All the while, Her Lady stood with her eyes shut and her body still. Quiet continued to envelop the forest.

  Her Lady’s eyes shot open without warning. They widened and stared past us. For a brief moment, they also changed, becoming like those of Fetch or one of his kind.

  They shifted back just as quickly. Focus returned.

  Eyes narrowing to the slightest of slits, Her Lady gazed at me. Our foolish Gatekeeper! What have you thought to release into Our domain?

  A full-fledged storm rocked the forest. Trees swayed dangerously. Lightning wracked the land and thunder boomed.

  I couldn’t recall ever seeing her so openly outraged. As the ground shook, I instinctively grabbed Claryce and held her tightly to me.

  “Nick! What’s happening?”

  “I’ve apparently done something to rile her up!” I gripped Claryce tightly. If this was going where I thought it was going, we were in for a wild ride.

  Thousands of leaves ripped from the trees. As each flew into the air, it transformed into a large black bird. I’d forgotten one old title of hers. The Mother of Ravens. They swarmed above, a growing, cawing cloud of dark design.

  Her Lady angrily thrust her left hand to the side. The still-growing unkindness gathered in that direction . . . and then dove at us.

  CHAPTER 15

  “Hold tight!” I started to transform again, but the change came slower for some reason. The ravens thrust out their talons and began plucking at us. With so many attacking at once, we were immediately lifted a few inches off the ground. Then a few more. And a few more.

  In seconds, we were hurtling away from Her Lady.

  The dragon’s wings finally burst through my back, scattering a good many of the ravens. We briefly plummeted, until the wings took over and kept us afloat. Still, the flock as a whole continued to harass us and force us back to the Gate.