A Dragon's Clutch

by Alica Mckenna Johnson

  The silver dragon laughed, puffs of smoke coming out his nose. “I do like to see the havoc a magical blade can cause. Will it inspire those with warrior’s hearts to take up a cause or quest? Will it drive the greed and fear of the weak and pathetic into madness? Will it offer hope of something bigger, something greater in the world? It is always fun to watch and see.”

  “You are a trouble maker, Zennyo Ryūō,” Mizuchi said.

  “You should not speak so to your elder,” he said smiling, or maybe he wanted to bite someone. “And what did you do to your clothes? You shouldn’t be greeting guests looking like that.”

  I bit my lip, my cheeks warming up. “That was my fault. I overreacted.”

  “No,” Mizuchi said. “Her powers flared when I scanned her mind. She is young and hurting. It is not the Princess’ fault.”

  Zennyo Ryūō raised a long silver eyebrow at me, the scales glinting in the fire light. He slid over to us and stopped right in front of me. “The Phoenix Princess, the Jewel of Shamash and Aya from the prophecy. What do they call you?”

  “Sapphire.” I mentally patted myself on the back for speaking normally. The dragon’s breath was hot and smoky, his power fierce and strong. Physically he might be smaller than the other dragons but he was the most powerful we’d met so far.

  He reached out a single silver clawed finger and took my hand pressing a hot, dry, scratchy kiss to the back of it. “It is a pleasure to meet such unique and powerful woman, Princess. And please tell me all about your lovely friends.”

  “Zennyo Ryūō, that is enough,” Mizuchi said, his voice wanting to be firm, but he couldn't quite hide his laughter.

  “What, look at all of them,” he waved a scaled hand over us. “Their power tingles, and they’re all so pretty and fit.” Zennyo Ryūō turned to me, his dark gray eye alive with excitement. “What do you do?”

  Okay, this is kind of intense. “We perform in a circus.”

  “Oh, Mizuchi, circus performers, can’t I keep just one? It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to have a human. I always took good care of them.”

  “Now Zennyo Ryūō, we’ve talked about this many times, and no you can’t collect humans anymore,” Mizuchi said his voice soft. “It would be too hard to hide them even if you could get them to accept staying here with a bunch of dragons.”

  “Every dragon should be able to collect for their hoard. Pictures are not enough,” Zennyo Ryūō complained, reaching out he took my hand. “You would want to stay with me my dear, wouldn’t you? I would buy you pretty things, and treat you like a queen. You would be my first and only circus performer. Unless you wanted to keep one of the others with you.”

  Cartazonon’s offers were eerily similar, but the dragon’s felt so genuine and admiring and mostly teasing. I was flattered and intrigued. What would life look like with Zennyo Ryūō? “We are needed to open the portals to Akasha so we can’t stay with you. But if you can come to Tokyo you can see us perform before we open the portal for you to go home. You could have your picture taken with us.”

  “With all of you?” he looked the group over and his body shuddered. “Oh yes, yes. I want that very much. There won’t be humans in Akasha, Mizuchi. We should go.”

  “We will see. Come, let’s go and see the gateway stone.”

  I held onto Zennyo Ryūō’s hand, leaning forward once the others had walked away. “I sent a group of Quetzalcoatl's descendants with him into Akasha, so there are humans there.”

  “Are there really humans in Akasha? Are they pretty?”

  I thought about the tribe that had hidden in the Peruvian rainforest, protecting Quetzalcoatl’s sleeping body. Their dark red-brown skin, large oval turquoise eyes, and bright smiles. “Yes, they are very pretty. Prettier than me.”

  Zennyo Ryūō waved a clawed finger at me. “Now, my dear, that’s not possible. Are you sure you need all those pretty young men, it’s greedy to keep them all to yourself.”

  Laughing, I squeezed his hand and stepped away. “Yes, it takes all of us to open the portal, and we are friends. They aren’t mine to share.”

  “Life is a cruel thing,” Zennyo Ryūō said with a shake of his silver head. “Do catch up with Mizuchi before he thinks I’ve stolen you away.”

  “It’s very nice to meet you, Zennyo Ryūō, and I hope to see you in Tokyo.”

  “Oh, you’ll see me even if I have to sneak away.” He winked at me, bowed, and went back to the blade he was crafting.

  * * *

  We crossed the stream over an arched red lacquer bridge. On the other side was a garden with stylized trees, carefully placed moss covered boulders, and winding stone paths. While I knew nothing about Japanese gardens, I could tell this one was amazing. I thought the gardens at the ryokan were beautiful, but these had been created by a master.

  In the middle stood a small building of golden wood and shoji, and under it I felt the warm welcoming pulse of the gateway stone.

  “Why are there humans in my garden?” hissed a dark green dragon coming towards us, her eyes hard as they looked us over.

  “Sapphire, is everything okay?” asked Michael.

  “Um, hopefully.” I watched the new dragon carefully.

  “Kiyohime, they are here to see the gateway stone,” Mizuchi said. “They’re going to open the portal to Akasha.”

  “I don’t know why they need to see the gateway stone. The energy of the portal won’t affect the tea house,” she said in dragon speak.

  “It’s not big enough,” I said, flinching when the green dragon glared at me. I pointed at the small building in the middle of the garden. “We need to bring the Gaki here.”

  “You won’t get it to come willingly. It’s foolish to even think you can get it out of Aokigahara forest, let alone all the way up here.”

  “What did she say?” Shin asked.

  I translated for everyone.

  “Kiyohime, they have a plan and if you join us for lunch we’ll all talk about it.”

  She sneered. “I will not eat with their kind. You can tell me about it later. Right now I suppose I’ll have to start tearing down a five-hundred-year old tea house.”

  “Do you have to?” I asked. The tea house emanated peace, tranquility, and history. It would be a shame to lose it. “Can’t it be moved?”

  “I don’t see how that is any of your concern,” Kiyohime snarled and leapt into the air flying away. Her body slithered through the sky towards the mountain.

  “That did not sound happy,” Kayin said.

  “No.” I told them what she said.

  “I’m sorry. Kiyohime, well, it is her story to tell. But as I said the last Children of Fire who came here betrayed us and stole several of our eggs,” Mizuchi said. “Not everyone will trust or even welcome you here, as much as they do wish to go home to Akasha.”

  “It’s fine,” Michael said. “As long as they don’t try to hurt us.”

  “No, they will not,” Mizuchi said firmly.

  I watched as the Kiyohime’s green body disappeared. “I understand holding a grudge.”

  Mizuchi chuckled. “Sometimes living a long time allows you to grow and experience new things and become wiser. Other times it allows you to submerge yourself so deeply into your own self-pity and hatred that you can’t even remember a time without it. Come, let’s get cleaned up for lunch, and if you don’t mind I’m going to change into my dragon form.”

  “Sounds good,” I said, my stomach giving a happy growl in agreement.

  “Maybe there is some dragon in you after all,” Mizuchi teased.

  * * *

  A long thin dragon with white scales tipped with pale lavender helped me into a kimono. The soft cotton felt smooth against my skin. It had been dyed a deep indigo blue decorated with white dragons, each one unique.

  “We paint the designs on the white cotton in wax,” she explained as she wrapped the obi, a wide fabric belt, around my waist. “Then we dye it and the wax keeps the design from accepting the dye.”r />
  “It’s lovely, thank you for allowing me to wear it,” I looked at the dragon breathing fire on the sleeve. “Is that Zennyo Ryūō?”

  She laughed. “It is. You have a good eye. There are forty dragons on the kimono, one of each member of our clutch. There all set.”

  “Thank you.” I bowed to her.

  “It is my pleasure Princess, and I hope that when you look upon this kimono you’ll remember us fondly. Well, most of us at least.”

  “I am sure I will.” The dining area was large enough for forty dragons, and in the center of the wooden floor was a sunken fire pit, surrounded by four long tables. Several dragons rushed about stirring deep black pots and turning spits of roasting meat which hung over the fire.

  “Sapphire, you look beautiful,” Nyota said.

  “Thanks,” I walked over, my steps small due to the kimono.

  “Figures you could insult a dragon by trying to set it on fire and get a handmade kimono out of it,” Miu said.

  “It was offered to me. I didn’t ask.” I rubbed my ears as an irritating buzzing started.

  Miu rolled her eyes and walked away.

  “I hope you have told us everything,” Taliesin said his hand wrapped around his bracelet. “They have split us up among the tables. They say it’s so the dragons all get a chance to meet us. But what if we’re attacked? We’ll be separated, vulnerable.”

  What the hell? “First, you are welcome to leave. Second, do you see something? You can see auras. Do you see something bad or worrying?”

  Taliesin looked away. “No, not yet, but they’re dragons.”

  “Yes, they are dragons and there are forty of them in this village. Together or apart we couldn’t defeat them. They want to go home, they have eggs, babies who need to get to Akasha to hatch. If they even can.” I took a deep breath trying to calm my emotions.

  I had no idea what had been irritating Taliesin or Miu lately, but according to my leadership class I should “open a dialog”. “Taliesin, is everything okay? You’ve been … tense lately. I’m here if you want to talk. Or if you need to sit down with the group and voice your worries or concerns. Then we can make that happen.”

  Taliesin’s sky blue eyes became unfocused for a bit and he frowned, then rubbed his bracelet. “I don’t need or want anything from you. If I want to talk to someone I have Emiko and Miu. They aren’t enamored with you, princess.”

  Taliesin turned and walked away. I rubbed my chest, my heart aching. How had this happened? How had things turned out so badly between us? And how was I going to fix it?

  The crystal bead on my unicorn hair bracelet glowed with a rainbow of color, showing happiness, fear, anger, protection, and the gray of a hunter. I rubbed my ears as the buzzing faded. I must be really stressed or maybe I had a brain tumor.

  “Princess,” said Zennyo Ryūō holding out his arm. “I’d hoped you would sit by me for lunch.”

  Smiling I took his silver hand, the scales hot and rough beneath my fingers. “I would like that very much.”

  “We got a bunch of new cheeses,” he said helping me sit. “I do hope you enjoy cheese.”

  “I do, but I don’t know much about them.” At each place setting sat a square raku plate with a variety of cheeses. Small rectangular dishes held several types of pickles, accompanied by a bowl of miso soup. For the dragon’s everything was bigger, including the chopsticks.

  “Oh, we have some delicious types today. Let’s see, we have two hard cheeses: a gouda with a coating of herbs, and a cheddar with Japanese pepper.” Zennyo Ryūō pointed to each one with a clean sharp claw. “We also have a blue cheese, a brie soaked in miso, and a fresh mozzarella. They are all made here.”

  “Wow, I didn’t know dragons liked cheese so much.” Using my chopsticks, as I saw the dragon’s doing, I picked a piece of blue cheese. It tasted mild and slightly salty, much milder than blue cheeses I’d had before.

  Zennyo Ryūō grinned at me. “Because of our body heat the cheese melts on our tongues. So we get the pleasure from the taste and the sensation of the cheese melting. We are creatures of pleasure. Everything we do brings us happiness or we don’t do it.”

  “That sounds like a wonderful way to live,” I said sipping some of the miso soup.

  “It is until we get into a big fight over who has to take out the trash. No one likes to do that.”

  Laughing, I shook my head. “No, I suppose no one does.”

  “I do wish I could keep you,” Zennyo Ryūō said. “You are a delight.”

  “Thanks, I think. Do all dragons collect people?”

  “Oh no, we each have our own obsession. Some like Mizuchi,” he pointed to a blue dragon with blue-green speckles, “collect gold, jewels, and pearls. Some collect paintings, sculptures, pottery, swords and knives, scrolls and books, music, textiles, anything we find beautiful, anything that sets our souls aflame.”

  “I didn’t realize a dragon’s hoard could be so varied.”

  “Well, our cousins, those big round dragons with wings that live mostly in Europe, they are all about gold and precious stones. They aren’t nearly so refined as we are.”

  “Will you tell me more about dragons?” I asked. Zennyo Ryūō’s pride and excitement bubbled around my shields making me smile.

  Mizuchi stood and cleared his throat and raised himself up. “We have the honor of the Phoenix Princess and her Treasures joining us for lunch. They will be opening the portal to Akasha, but first they must bring the Gaki of Aokigahara here.”

  The dragons began to hiss and growl, some wondering how, other expressing their opinions of our sanity and intelligence.

  “Stop. The Princess has a plan.”

  All eyes turned to me. I had a plan, since when? “Oh well, I am going to speak to the tengu and ask for their help to capture and hold the Gaki while we bring her here.”

  “And how do you plan to accomplish that?” asked Kiyohime. “They hate humans almost as much as some of us do.”

  I forced myself to stay calm and speak firmly. I wanted to hide; the negative emotions slammed into my empathic shield and the curiosity pricked like a needle. “I was given a bell from the stag guardian near the Aokigahara forest. He said it would help me.”

  “It will help you,” said Mizuchi. “And so will we. The site of the gateway stone will be cleared so all creatures can easily access the portal. Also some of us, including Hakuja no Myojin will help transport the Gaki and all of you back here.”

  “We are going to work with the tengu?” Kiyohime hissed. “Who knows what kind of plan the human and the bird-men will create together.”

  “That is why I shall join them in Tokyo and accompany them to Mt. Kurama and meet with the tengu,” Mizuchi said.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Dragons don’t eat meals like we do. Apparently, they have one massive meal every three days. Being reptiles they don’t need to eat very often. Groaning I rubbed my belly. Lunch had been five hours long and countless courses. It became clear quickly that not eating would be very offensive, and the chefs didn’t seem to like us very much to begin with. Also, my empathy had absorbed the dragons’ desire for experiencing pleasure and perfection through the food I ate. So we ate roasted vegetables covered in butter, curry soup, sushi, baked potatoes with butter, cold soba noodles, ramen with butter, dumplings, cheese cake, and more. They must have known we were coming because our meals were vegetarian, while the dragons had fish and several types of roasted meat with their lunches.

  When we left, Zennyo Ryūō and Mizuchi were discussing what restaurant they wanted to go to when they came to see us perform in Tokyo, before heading off to talk to the tengu. I was almost scared to think of how much they would eat when getting to eat out.

  “There is mint tea in the kitchen if you want some,” Miu said, sitting with her own steaming cup.

  I sat on the futon. “Thank you.”

  Miu sat on her futon with her own cup of tea. “I made enough for everyone. Is Nyota still in the bath?�
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  “I guess so.” I took a deep breath. “Is everything okay? You’ve seemed very upset lately and if there is anything I can do to help ...?”

  Miu held up her hand. “Stop. Taliesin already warned me you would be doing this fake leader-who-cares thing, and I’m not interested.”

  Staring at Miu I didn’t even know what to say or think. The light flashed on her moonstone pendant. Blinking, I shook my head. I did my best to ignore her and the ache in my eyes. Miu touched her necklace. She’d been doing that a lot, and Taliesin frequently touched his bracelet. Maybe that was why they were so harsh lately? Maybe Emiko was controlling them somehow. I snorted, yeah right. They’re pissed at you. But still, maybe I’ll mention it to Philip when he gets here.

  I put my ear buds in and turned up my music. I used my phone to send Gavin an email updating him about the dragons. I’m sure he’s anxious to know what had happened. I let the mint tea sit on the table.

  I jumped when Nyota tapped my shoulder. “Hey,” I pulled out the earbuds. “What’s up?”

  “Some of us were going to play Go. They have several boards set up downstairs by the fire.”

  “No, thanks. I’m going to finish my email to Gavin and Anali and then go to bed.” I couldn’t face seeing or hearing anything else from Taliesin and Miu today.

  “Are you sure?” Nyota frowned looking me over as if she could find a clue as to what I really thought.

  Was I sure I didn’t want to be around people who I had thought of as friends but who now seemed to hate me? “Yes, I’m sure. Have fun, let me know who wins.”

  Nyota squeezed my arm. “Okay, but if you change your mind come and join us.”

  “Sure, don’t worry about me.”

  “You’re not the boss of me. I can worry if I want to.” Nyota winked at me then left.