Sword of Fire

by J. A. Culican

  When it drifted into them, it burst apart in a shower of lights. All around the elves, the little bits of green growing up through the pavement stopped being so little—in seconds, they’d grown larger and shot up toward the sky. Behind an elf, one grew into a sapling, and as it grew, its branches folded around him. The branches pinned him and then kept growing, lifting him up. Vines slithered up another elf's legs, around his body, and up to his arms. The vines tightened and held him fast.

  The plants grew until all five elves were helpless, and then Jaekob's flashing, slashing blade made short work of them. Panting heavily, he turned toward Bells with his hands on his knees and grunted, "I don't know what you did or how you did it, but it worked. I could have handled them, but...thank you."

  Before she could think of a reply, he turned and continued toward the docks. One or two Pures came at him along the way, but he dispatched them easily. No larger groups attacked them.

  When they were quite close to the docks, he pointed out a mass of dragons standing side by side as they fought a much larger mob of elves, weres, and trolls. He looked down at her and gave her a grim smile. "Are you ready for this? I suggest you stay out of the way, but if you're going to follow me, stay close. Just don't trip me up."

  As he charged into battle, Bells did what she could with her plant magic, but she continually had to use her shadow-walk to avoid attackers. It was impossible to get any spell up to full strength. In the end, though, the dragons defending the docks scattered the mob. The chaos and noise all throughout the dock district seemed to be petering out as well. The battle was won, at least for the moment.

  Though his Guardians tried to convince him to leave and go to safety while they mopped up, Jaekob refused, and in the end, there was nothing they could do to force him. "Let's help our wounded," he told them, "and then I can get back to ignoring your advice."

  Jaekob finished rendering first-aid on the last of the wounded who could be saved just as a dragon flew down to them, summoning his human form as he landed. He walked up to Jaekob and saluted. "Sir, I've scouted the docks district as you ordered."

  Jaekob nodded and tossed his bloodied gloves aside. "What news to report?"

  Still standing at attention, the scout replied, "It appears as though the Wards held. The dark Pures of the Black Court didn't have the numbers to break through. We don't know why they attacked here, and our only guess why they didn't bring more fighters is that they simply lacked the numbers. Throughout the district, our Guardians have restored order and are now finishing off the wounded attackers and any who refused to run or surrender. The day is won."

  While they talked, Bells looked around the plaza. It led to the docks themselves and had been the most heavily warded against the Black Court or dark Pures. She spotted an elf body that lay away from any of the others, and it looked unarmed. She felt a growing concern—something just felt wrong about the scene. As she got closer, she saw the elf had no visible wounds and no blood surrounded his body.

  While she was examining the elf’s body, his clothes begin to wriggle, and by reflex, she stepped back. Moments later, a vine appeared from within his shirtsleeve. There was something blue and pulsing emerging from its tip like tiny electric arcs. She realized in horror that they were thin filaments, more vines growing from the thicker one snaking its way out of his shirtsleeve. The first vine continued to thicken, and before her eyes, the filaments thickened, turning into thin new vines. They were a sickly, electric blue, too, like the first one. His clothes kept squirming and then she saw several more vines began growing out from beneath the dead elf's clothing.

  "Jaekob!" she yelled, and even to her own ears, she sounded panicked.

  He turned to say something, but whatever it was died on his lips when he saw the body at her feet. He sprinted over. "What in Creation is this?"

  A shout sounded behind him and he and Bells both turned to look. The other bodies had also begun growing the thin, pulsing vines. She couldn't see a single corpse that was unaffected. Her first thought was that it was a dragon trap that had taken effect too late, but then the Guardians who fell in battle began to squirm. Moments later, vines began to appear on them, too. Bells felt panic rising. She had never seen anything quite like that, but she had seen something similar when she was very young.

  While the vines kept growing and splitting, then growing again, she cried out, "Don't touch them."

  Jaekob rolled his eyes. "Why? They're blue vines, and they’re only affecting the dead. Don't worry about it." He bent down to the body next to Bells, frowning.

  Bells felt her heart skip a beat and she rushed forward, grabbing him. "No. Don't touch it, Jaekob. You'll die."

  He stopped and stood straight again. "Whatever for? It's only on the dead, and I'm not dead."

  "Not yet. It's a fungus. Not like any I've seen before, but trust me—you don't want to touch that."

  A Guardian said, "I'll do it, sir. I have gloves on."

  Jaekob nodded and the Guardian reached down to flip the body over. Then he and Bells recoiled, backing up a step. The elf's entire front side was melting into a truly disgusting black-and-red goo. Only Jaekob stood still. "He's decomposing right before our eyes."

  Bells nodded. She had worried about a fungus and now she was pretty sure the vines were mycorrhizal strands. She turned to the Guardian, whipping her head around, and blurted, "How do you feel?"

  "I feel fine," he said, shrugging with his hands out to either side. Then he cocked his head and looked down at his right glove, a confused look on his face. Then to his left glove. "What the..."

  Thin, blue tendrils, each only as thick as a hair, had begun winding their way around the gloves, splitting and multiplying. It looked almost fractal.

  The Guardian quickly flung off his gloves. "By Creation, what is it?"

  Jaekob frowned but didn’t answer right away. At last, he said, "I think I see. This is the real attack. This is how they intended to get through the Wards, but we stopped the elves. It was a matter of inches."

  "Um, sir?" the Guardian said, his voice shaking. One blue tendril snaked from his wrist and up his arm.

  He hadn't removed his glove fast enough. Jaekob stripped off the man's shirt and drew his sword, ready to chop his arm off to save his life. Arms could grow back if you were a dragon. But as he drew back his sword, he froze. The man's veins and arteries were visible through his skin, a deep blue pattern already reaching the man's shoulder and growing up his neck.

  The Guardian began to scream, whether from fear or pain she couldn't tell. Probably both. He fell to the ground and began twitching, blue foam coming from his mouth.

  Jaekob took a step toward him but Bells grabbed him. "Get back," she said, dragging him away. Quickly, she threw a fungus repellent spell toward the guard. The Guardian coughed, splattering blue froth all around him. "If that had landed on you..."

  "Yeah, I get it. That poor man. But look, all the bodies are getting overrun by these things. And they're spreading." Jaekob snarled, his eyes flaring red. "The elves will pay for this."

  Bells nodded and said, "Yes, of course. But right now, we have more important things to worry about. We have to find a cure, and fast. We have the outbreak contained to the docks for now, but for how long?"

  Jaekob took a deep breath. "Damn. Fine. You fae are the best at this, right? We'll need fae to fix this mess the elves started."

  Bells nodded. She had saved the Dragon Prince, not once but twice that day. It felt good to be a protector, even if only for a little while.

  The day dragged on as Jaekob rallied the docks district until the dragons had restored some semblance of order. Those who were infected were sent—at spear-point, if necessary—to a horrid area where the dead also were slowly being collected. Dragons air-dropped stacks of tarps so the survivors could safely move the bodies, but each body took two tarps—one to roll the body onto and the other to carry the corpse back. This made it possible to move corpses at all, though two fae still were lost duri
ng the effort after accidentally touching an infected body while moving it.

  There wasn't much Bells could do since Jaekob had things under as much control as possible, given the circumstances, so she spent the afternoon being his messenger. She hadn't wanted to leave his side, but as he pointed out, he had enough Guardians who could protect him, and he sent two with her, as well, despite her protests that the Guardians would only make her more visible.

  Running back and forth left her a lot of time to think. Mostly, she thought about her family. She missed them, and it was possible she'd never see them again. What if the fungus became airborne? How many spores did it take to become infected? Her father would be the most crushed of her family if she died here today.

  On the other hand, Jaekob had saved her family from the troll and from her village foreman. Maybe it would cost her life but she was at peace with that if her family was safe. Coming to the city in the first place had been a terrible risk and she'd been mentally prepared for the worst before she ever got to Philadelphia.

  When she got back to Jaekob after her latest run and handed him messages written on slips of paper, he looked exhausted. She felt wiped out, too, actually, but his exhaustion was plain even in his voice, which was hoarse and had a little tremble. His back was stooped, shoulders slumped, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

  He smiled when he saw her and took the paper slips. "You look exhausted, Bells. Why don't you take a nap? We don't know how long we'll be here."

  She closed her eyes and felt sleep rushing at her, even standing up. He had a point. "Yes, you might be right," she said, suddenly eager to fall asleep somewhere quiet. "But you're more tired than I am. Leave this to your Guardians for a while and come rest with me. I'm not going if you don't."

  After a long pause, he said, "Yeah... Yes, of course. You need sleep. If you won't catch some rest without me, then for your sake, I'll go with you."

  Bells suppressed a smirk and saw the nearest Guardian smile wanly. She said, "It's a deal. Thanks. Who knows what kind of protection I'll need here in this mess. People can get dangerous when cornered like this."

  Actually, that was true, and as they trudged toward a nearby empty building, she found that she really was glad to have a dragon with her.

  Bells awoke suddenly and looked around, half-panicked, but it was only Jaekob. He was standing at the building's one small window, looking out and muttering under his breath.

  "What's wrong?" she asked, her tongue not yet working quite right as she came awake.

  He rubbed his eyes with his palms. "Ugh. We've been asleep for an hour and a half. I told them to wake me after half an hour. Now I'm more tired than when I went to sleep."

  "I'm sure they were just doing their duty for you, the Prince of Dragons." She sent her senses outward as far as she could, though, and didn't relax until she felt the energies of living beings. Just in case the reason they hadn't woken him was that they had all died. It was a mighty relief, for once, to feel people all around.

  Jaekob smiled down at her, and with his rumpled hair and cheesy grin, he looked even more handsome than before in a natural sort of way. He reached down to help her up, and the feel of his strong hand on hers was entirely too pleasant. She cleared her mind of the thought. He was a dragon and she was fae. A nice daydream, though.

  "Come on, little fae," he said, still smiling a little. "We have to go see how far they got in moving the bodies while we wasted the day away."

  When they stepped outside, she saw from the sun's position that he was right. They had slept for almost two hours, actually. They walked side by side back to the work area. When they arrived, a Guardian approached, glancing back and forth between them, but his expression didn't reveal his thoughts. "Sir, we've finished moving the dead away from the water and out of the buildings where some crawled off to die. It was hard work and everyone's worn out, but the job is done. The city is safe from contagion."

  Jaekob took a handful of paper slips the Guardian held out and skimmed through them. "Excellent," he said when he got to the last slip. "You've outdone yourself. You shouldn't have let me sleep, though. My place is leading, not sleeping while everyone else does the work."

  Bells looked at him in surprise. She simply hadn't expected a dragon to say such a thing. Weren't they all lazy and vicious? No—that was what the elves told her people, nothing more. She looked at the Guardian to see if he seemed surprised by Jaekob's words, but no, he just kept giving his brief description of the big picture situation. Maybe there was more to Jaekob than being a killing machine. She filed that away to think on later.

  A were approached and the conversation died. He stopped just out of striking distance and politely bowed his head. "Jaekob, one of the elves here got a brief message, by spell, from elves outside the docks district. The first cases of this strange disease have popped up on the other side of your Wards, but they've been quarantined."

  A shadow passed over them all and Bells looked up. A large, green dragon circled above, wings spread wide as it slowed itself to land. She nudged him and pointed. "Jaekob, a dragon is coming down."

  "I see it. I imagine he has new instructions for what to do here, from the Dragon Council." He stepped away from the group and waited for the newcomer to land, then the two spoke in hushed tones with their heads together.

  Bells couldn't hear what they said, even extending her senses. The other dragon must have worn a privacy screen pendant or something. She had a hard time standing still as she waited.

  A couple minutes later, Jaekob came back and said, "The situation is grim. Confirmation that the disease is spreading beyond the docks, for one. Worse, it's spreading faster than anyone can do anything about, though they're trying to quarantine the infected."

  Bells' eyes went wide. "So what do we do about it?" she asked, trying not to let her voice tremble. The thought of a city that big being overrun by the weird and deadly disease, well, it was staggering.

  Jaekob shook his head and scratched his neck. "Well, the Dragon Council needs to come up with a new plan of action, and the First Councilor has ordered me to return home to help them. I'd fly there but they just put up a new boundary, another shell farther out than the Wards, to slow the spread."

  "Oh no. How do we get in?"

  "We'll have to walk in. Come on." He began to walk toward the city proper, then paused and turned back to the Guardian. "Stay on top of these people, keep them calm, and send regular reports to the Guardians at the Wards gateway. It's due west. Just take the biggest road going that direction and you'll find it."

  The dragon saluted, and Jaekob put his hand on Bells' back. "Let's get you out of here—you and my bodyguards."

  She took a deep breath. Part of her wanted to stay and help the people stuck inside the shell but she wasn't going to let Jaekob out of her sight until she absolutely had to. She needed to know what was going on and Jaekob was the only way she’d learn the truth. "Lead on."

  They headed west with four Guardians flanking them on all sides, alert for danger. It took only about fifteen minutes to find the shell gate—a gap between two trees, heavily guarded—and Jaekob walked up to the Guardians blocking it. "Let us pass. I have business with the Dragon Council," he said almost casually. His tone was the same one she used when coaxing plants to grow—like it was inconceivable they wouldn't just do what he asked.

  "Negative, my prince." The Guardian in front checked a clipboard. "My orders are to let you out, but no one else is listed, sir."

  Jaekob snarled. "I'm not some random Pure. I gave you an order, Dragon. Step aside, while you still can and let us through."

  Bells found herself taking an involuntary step back from him. Either he was very used to being obeyed or he was tired enough to be dangerous. Or more likely, both.

  The guard immediately got down on one knee, bowed his head, and put his fist over his heart. Still looking down, he said, "Forgive me, my prince, but the orders come from the Dragon Council and are signed by the First Councilor.
Only you may come through, and you are instructed to report to the Council. With respect, sir."

  Bells felt her throat tighten and bit her lip, hoping the pain would keep her from panicking. Jaekob was going to leave her there, and she'd be left in a chaotic city district without any protection, unable to escape the creeping death inside it.

  Jaekob was silent for a painfully long moment until he said, "Then I regret to inform the Council I am unable to obey their instructions. These are also my people and I won't leave them to risk infection here by themselves, alone and forgotten. Let Mikah lead his people. Please pass along my sincerest regrets, Guardian."

  He turned and strode away from the gateway, leaving the rest of them to stare at each other in surprise. Suddenly, Bells felt even more frightened than she had before. If he died in there with her, no one would help the fae. She scrambled after him and his Guardians ran with her.

  Then, from behind, she heard the gate guard yelling, "My prince, please stop! I have a message from your father giving you authorization."

  Jaekob stopped suddenly. He turned around slowly and Bells could have sworn he winked at her right before he strode back toward the gate. "And what is this message? I'd have thought you'd pass that on to me when I arrived here. Explain yourself."

  Bells suppressed a mischievous grin at Jaekob's tone of voice, but the guard turned two shades lighter. Only Jaekob's wink told her he was messing with the poor guy. Still, he really should have given Jaekob all of the information.

  The guard abruptly stood ramrod straight—any soldier's natural defense against getting in trouble, from what Bells had seen over the years—and said, "My prince, your personal authorization did not include other people. We have orders to quarantine the docks. But the First Councilor's instructions did say to get you out of the area 'at all costs.' Sir, this Guardian was only trying to accomplish all his duties, sir."