by Shay Roberts
"Hmm, I don't know."
"Please, Preceptor. This could be my last case before retirement. I want to do my best work."
She taps her fingernails on the glass desk, mulling it over.
I can see now that this bureaucratic bitch has already decided to approve my request, but she wants to make me squirm a bit.
Did she just glance at my bald head?
The flight to Ethiopia is uneventful, and we're able to find a local driver in Arba Minch to take us out to the temple site.
Once Snedeker and I are on location, I tell our driver that we'll only be a few minutes, and he's to wait for us. I take his keys to ensure he doesn't leave.
In reality, we could be on this mission for months, but no time will pass for the driver here in the present.
The driver eyes us skeptically as we leave. Snedeker is pulling the handle of a utility cart. We don't have the money for a powered vehicle. The cart carries three months of supplies. We certainly don't look like we're returning in a few minutes.
I find myself excited about this mission. I love fieldwork. I wasn't built for sitting behind a desk. Exterminating this den of dragon worshippers and destroying their pagan icons will be the most meaningful thing I've done in years. The dragons themselves are bad enough, but the traitorous humans who support them are beneath contempt.
I can't believe I've made it this far. I think back to all the obstacles fate set in my path. I've always had terrible luck, as did my father. I suspect that the chronomichani is cursed. The more I use it to cheat fate, the more fate fights back. Yet somehow, I've always found a way to overcome the challenges and emerge ahead of the game. It could be due to my own ingenuity, but I'd like to think that the relic protects me from more than just dragons. I touch the reliquary hanging under my shirt and say a silent prayer to my beloved patron, Saint George.
Snedeker and I find a location with a good view of the hill that shelters the dragon temple. We're also out of sight of our driver.
I tell Snedeker to stop, and he releases the cart handle. I pull him in close and put my hand on his shoulder.
"Are you ready for this, son?"
He nods eagerly. "I'm ready for anything, boss."
"We're about to do something extraordinary. But if you ever want to be knighted, it's imperative that you tell no one what happens here. Not even the Preceptor. Do you understand?"
He nods, looking worried.
I take Snedeker's hand and use my other hand to grab the cart handle. In my mind, I picture the chronomichani, at home in my hidden safe. I see its gears turning and its wheels spinning. Because it's bound to my soul, the device works instantly, even on the other side of the world.
Snedeker makes a whimpering sound and we feel the falling sensation associated with time travel.
Suddenly, we're in the past. October of the year 542 CE. The weather is surprisingly warm and dry.
Snedeker whispers, "What just happened?"
"We've jumped nearly fifteen hundred years into the past. Your body will be sore for the next few days. That's a normal side effect of time travel."
His eyes widen. "Time travel? How?"
"I can explain more, after you're knighted."
He nods, his face a strange mixture of fear and awe.
We unpack our gear and set up a camouflaged observation position. Snedeker stares at every rock and bush with wonder.
The scroll said that a dragon would rise sometime near the end of 542 CE. I intend to be watching when that happens.
I spend a miserable month with Snedeker, a boy with all the charm of a syphilitic boil. His eyes are better than mine, so he does most of the observation work. I spend the time reading thrillers on my phone, kept alive by a solar charger. I do love a good thriller.
Each night we leave the post, under the cover of darkness, to refill our water jugs in a stream at the base of the hill. It's a fair bit of exercise, and the only reason I haven't grown fat from eating our high-calorie prepackaged meals.
At one point, we're forced to shoot a lion that gets too close. Both of our rifles have suppressors, so as not to attract attention when we fire. A swarm of huge vultures descends and picks the lion carcass to the bone.
It's November before we see the first sign of human life. We catch a quick glimpse of a man in a robe, climbing down the far side of the hill. I can't see his face, but his skin is too light to be Ethiopian. Could it be Tyler Buck, the young man sent here by Lord Beasley to find dragon bones?
The man drops out of sight on the other side of the hill. I wonder where he's going. It's the wrong direction for Arba Minch, not that it matters. There probably is no Arba Minch in 542 CE.
We continue to watch for several minutes and see no further activity. Then suddenly, Snedeker cries out and points.
On the far horizon, with my naked eye, I see a faint smudge of color in the sky. I find it with my scope and my heart suddenly pounds.
It's a dragon! The first I've seen in my life. I now suspect that Tyler is a dracoform, a type of Were that can shift into a dragon. Is he the dragon shifter from the scrolls, and the one mentioned in Draco Historia?
This is a rainbow dragon, and it shimmers with a riot of colors cast off from the sunlight. What a magnificent creature. A pity it's out of rifle range.
My scope can collect video, so I flip the switch that streams it to my phone for storage. I manage to capture footage of the airborne beast. When I show this around at KoR, they won't have a prayer of retiring me. I just won't tell them the video was shot fifteen hundred years ago.
The video feed gets cut off when the phone runs out of charge. Curse those thrillers I've been reading. I'll need to plug the phone back into the solar charger.
I continue to watch the distant dragon through my rifle scope, and suddenly, it disappears!
Snedeker looks stunned. "There was a dragon! An actual dragon! And then it just disappeared. What happened to it, boss?"
"I'm not certain."
But I'm guessing it made a time jump. Rainbow dragons are known for that. Hopefully, it will return. We'll reposition ourselves and prepare a proper greeting.
I whisper to Snedeker. "Unpack the helmets and body armor."
He nods, his hands trembling. As he unpacks the armor, I see he's brought the training kit, rather than the field kit. The training armor offers equivalent protection but, like our base uniforms, has our name on it. I push aside my irritation. This isn't a black op, so I suppose it doesn't matter. I don't know if dragons can read, but I hope the foul creature sees my name as it dies.
My body hums with purpose. On this momentous occasion, I don't feel like the humble descendent of Georgios of Lydda. I'm the incarnation of the saint himself.
Rosemarie
TYLER BUCK
I slowly step toward the object the mysterious woman placed on the ground. As I move toward it, she retreats into the darkness.
I pick up the object. It's a thumb-sized piece of clear quartz crystal. Why did she drop it here? What does it mean? Maybe Fenfang will know.
The strange woman has completely disappeared now. Still wary, I put the crystal in my pouch.
I'd really like to go back now, but I don't feel strong enough to make the jump. Instead, I find a good hiding place along the rim of a wide ravine that splits the west side of the hill. It's a warm night, at least for a dracoform, so I use my robe as a pillow and sleep in the nude. I'm hungry, and thirsty, and uncomfortable, but so exhausted that I still manage to get some sleep.
In the morning, I'm still not sure I have enough strength to time jump, but I'm damn sure going to try. It would be easier to make the jump in dragon form, but I don't have the energy to shift again so soon. I put my robe back on, secure my pouch, and attempt the jump while in human form.
I make it, but fall to my knees, retching as I arrive. That's never happened before. I'm definitely pushing my limits. When I feel less queasy, I get to my feet and survey my surroundings. The weather is cooler now, and
the hill more weathered. It looks like I made it back to 542 CE.
I walk along the edge of the ravine, hiking toward the temple entrance. Suddenly, I hear a distant popping sound and feel intense pain behind my right shoulder. Instinctively, I drop to the ground, and see blood spurting from the front of my shoulder. I've been shot from behind, and it looks like the bullet went all the way through.
My heart pounds with adrenaline. I'm really exposed here, so I ease myself over the edge of the ravine, trying to find some cover, but dizziness overwhelms me and I fall, tumbling into darkness.
I wake up and find myself lying in thick bushes at the bottom of the ravine. Fortunately, these must be the only bushes in all of Africa without thorns.
My right arm is numb, and I'm too weak to stand. Someone with guns has found the temple. But how is that possible? It's 542 CE. No one should have guns yet.
So, either I jumped into the wrong time, or someone who can time travel came here with guns. Either way, if they tried to kill me, the temple's in danger. I have to warn them.
One of the things Fenfang taught me is that shifting is a useful way of mending wounds. It's time to put that to the test.
I manage to crawl out of the thick bushes and find myself in an area just big enough to shift. I still don't feel like I have enough energy for a shift, but I've got to try.
With great difficulty, I remove my robe and pouch using only my left hand. When I shift, it requires enormous concentration and takes much longer than usual, but I finally emerge into dragon form.
Now I'm gonna find anyone with a gun and burn them to ash.
My wound has healed. Fueled by anger, I take off from the ground with unusual ease. As I rise above the hill, I spot smoke swirling from the temple entrance. They must be under attack. I wonder how long I was unconscious.
I spot two dead temple Guardians near the entrance, apparently killed by gunshot wounds. There's nothing else out here. I need to go into the temple, but in dragon form, I won't fit through the entrance.
I quickly return to the ravine and land, scooping up my robe and pouch in my dragon jaws. Then I take off again and fly to the top of the hill, where I drop my possessions and shift back, knowing I'm committing myself to human form for the next day or so.
I throw on my robe and my steel claws, then race to the temple entrance.
As I enter the temple, it takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light, and I stumble over something. I look down to find a dead body at my feet. One of the Hwedoists. I didn't know him. He has two bullet wounds in his chest.
Okay, so I'm definitely in the right time period, and yet there are people here with guns. I think back to the guys at the Arba Minch airport who were looking for me. Could they be time travelers?
I move through the stone passage, hurrying, but trying to stay alert for ambushes. This is probably a hopeless cause. What good are steel claws against guys with guns?
Now that I'm in the temple, I can time travel as much as I need without resting in between. Maybe that will help somehow.
As I continue deeper into the temple, I find a few more bodies, but not nearly enough to account for everyone. I find Lagashan's room, and she isn't there. Neither is Gammachu. It looks like they've been using their time travel ability to jump people to safety, though I have no idea what time period they went to.
It takes me a while to get to Fenfang's room, and there I find another body. But it isn't Fenfang, it's Ayana.
My heart sinks as I kneel beside Ayana's body, covered by dozens of wounds, possibly shrapnel from an explosion. Were the attackers using grenades? Most of the flowers in Fenfang's garden have been knocked flat, and the glowing sphere that once filled the room with light is now riddled with holes and weak as a torch.
Poor Ayana. She knew it would end like this.
I hear a noise coming from the adjacent clock room. Someone's alive in there! Is it Fenfang?
I move quietly to the door of the clock room just as a figure emerges, a man in a helmet and thick body armor, carrying a rifle. A tag on his chest spells Snedeker.
Without hesitation, I leap on him, choosing to grapple at close range so he can't use his rifle effectively. As I attack, I become aware of another soldier behind him, also carrying a rifle and wearing similar armor.
Shit, this is a bad situation! I could be moments away from getting my head blown off.
Snedeker is slow to react, and I slide my claws into the thin gap between his neck armor and his helmet's face plate. He gurgles blood as my claws jab under his chin and up into his head.
Rather than letting him drop, I seize his body in a hug, and use it as a shield as I drive myself toward the other man, this one with Argyros on his uniform.
Argyros, his eyes wide through his faceplate, fires his rifle, but Snedeker's body armor absorbs the shots.
I drive Argyros into a brass water clock. As he falls, I toss Snedeker's body aside and leap on Argyros.
Through his faceplate, I see that Argyros is the same man who was looking for me at the Arba Minch airport.
I drive my claws into the gap under his helmet. But to my shock, they don't penetrate. It's like I've hit stone.
Then suddenly, Argyros is gone and I'm lying on the stone floor.
The bastard got away!
He's a time traveler, no doubt about it. But he's not a dracoform. Maybe he got the power naturally, like Ms. Luvalle.
With no other threats in sight, I return to the garden room. As I pass Snedeker's body, I feel a little queasy, and experience a touch of guilt. I've never killed a man before. I hope I never have to again.
I go to Ayana's body and sit beside her, holding her hand. I feel my anger rising at the injustice of it all. These soldiers came into the past with guns and attacked people who had only primitive weapons. It's not right. And suddenly, I realize there's something I can do about it.
I probably shouldn't do this, but fuck it. I get to my feet, take a deep breath, and shift back in time, to just after I left the temple to go on the flower quest.
Light dazzles my eyes, and for a moment, I'm blinded. The globe is back at full strength, and I find Fenfang watering some pink peonies.
She looks up at me and smiles. "Back so soon?"
"Fenfang, listen to me. All hell is going to break loose here. People are going to die. We have to get everyone out. Is there a safe time period we can jump to?"
Fenfang nods, looking less distressed than I would have expected. "Let's target May first, 749 CE. The temple will be unoccupied then, so there's no chance of doubling."
Fenfang runs to tell the other mentors, and I start looking for Ayana. I eventually find her in the communal dining hall, eating breakfast with a pair of other Hwedoists.
She sees my face and instantly knows something's wrong. "Tyler, what happened?"
"We're under attack, we have to get out of here, now!"
I grab her hand, instructing the other Hwedoists to grab on as well, and I shift all three of them to 749 CE. It's pitch black when we arrive.
"Ayana, get the lamps lit, I'm going back for the others."
"Tyler, wait. What is happening? Who is attacking us?"
But I jump back without responding.
My mentors and I are the only ones here who can time travel. We work together to clear out the temple before the soldiers arrive. I also manage to grab the logbook and beacon stick from my room.
After I take a bath and a much-needed nap, Ayana meets me in my room to ask more about what happened. I decide to tell her the whole thing, including finding her dead body.
She slaps me in the face. I blink at her in surprise. She's never been violent with me. But now, tears of rage run down her cheeks.
"How dare you, Tyler? You had no right!"
"You're actually mad at me for going back in time and saving your life? They were cheating, Ayana. They were time travelers with guns. You shouldn't have died in the first place."
"That was my fate."
I shake my head in frustration. "I shouldn't have told you."
"Why did you?"
I shrug. "You have a right to know."
She turns on her heel and marches out the door of my bedroom.
"Ayana!"
I start to follow her, then run into Fenfang, headed my way. She has the dragon amulet in her hand, and the ruby gem is now glowing.
Ayana rushes past her and disappears around a corner.
Fenfang frowns. "Should I return later?"
I sigh. "Now's good. I should probably let her cool off."
Fenfang nods and hangs the dragon amulet around my neck. "Congratulations, Tyler. You have completed your training here."
For some reason, it doesn't feel as great as I expected. Ayana's anger is killing my buzz.
"Thank you, Fenfang. I really appreciate all the work you put into me. I should probably be celebrating or something, but what I really want to do is ask you about something that happened when I was getting the flower."
"Please, go ahead."
I take the quartz crystal from my pouch and show it to her, describing my interaction with the mysterious nude woman.
Fenfang mulls it over. "It sounds like an encounter with a desert Fae, or what some people call elves. She tried to use glamour, a type of illusion, to seduce you. But it doesn't work well against dracoforms. I doubt she had any harmful intent. The Fae were drawn to dragons, their allies in the war against man."
"What's with the crystal?"
"Probably a peace offering, or gift of friendship. They love simple things from the natural world, like flowers and pretty stones. She may have chosen the crystal because of the crystal scales that cover your skin when you're in dragon form."
I spot Lagashan and Gammachu coming up behind Fenfang. This is the first time I've seen all three of them together. Something's up.
Gammachu smiles and claps my arm. "It is time to open the vault."
After all that's happened, I'd forgotten about the dragon vault. There's some sort of prize now that I've graduated.
