Dragon Green

by Macy Babineaux

  The fates had at the very least chosen her as his guide to this world. She possibly knew the path to the trident. And so he would listen to her and follow her lead.

  “Okay, good,” she said, seeming a little surprised that he was willing to cooperate so easily. “Now, I’ve spent the last twelve hours working on the translation myself, and—”

  “You speak the ancient tongue?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “Not exactly. I mean, I’ve got some reasonable interpretations, but I definitely don’t understand it all.”

  “You are a scholar,” he said. “Like the mages at work in the One Tree.”

  He could see by her face she didn’t know of the owls, but some part of her brightened at his choice of words, though tears began to stand out in her eyes.

  “Did I say something to offend?”

  She sniffed and shook her head. “No,” she said. “The opposite, actually. Most of my peers don’t see me as much of a scholar. Thank you for calling me that.”

  “Forgive me for saying so,” he said. “I have only known you a short time. But your peers sound a bit like fools.”

  She laughed at that, a delightful sound. Then she stopped, looking at him with a look of affection he had not expected. But just as quickly as it was there upon her face, she hid it, returning to a businesslike manner.

  “Like I was saying,” Brynn said, looking back down at the image of the message above the door. “I think this might say that this door can only be opened by someone who is dragonborn.”

  “Most interesting,” he said. “You know where this door is?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Three hours west of here.”

  “In your carriage?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, my carriage.”

  “We could make it in one,” he said.

  “What?” she said. “Oh, if you…no, we can’t do that. As interesting and fun as that might be, it’s too risky. Besides, your portal or whatever it is doesn’t open for another twenty-four hours, right?”

  He nodded.

  “Look,” she said. “I can’t wait to find out what’s behind that door. I’ve been waiting my whole life. But we don’t need to take any unnecessary risks.”

  She was right, of course. Caution was not his strong suit, but he needed to exercise it here in this strange world. The fate of his own might very well depend on it. Something told him the trident lay on the other side of that door.

  She nodded at his plate. His eggs were the only thing uneaten. Her plate was clean. “Are you done?”

  “If it is as you say and we have time to spare, I would eat another pile of cakes.”

  6

  BRYNN

  She sat beside him in the jeep, the warm morning air blowing across her face. That was good. She needed something to keep her from passing out. She’d gotten her second wind after meeting Vander, and the coffee had helped. But she could feel herself fading again. She’d been up for nearly twenty-four hours straight, and she wasn’t sure her brain was going to keep working right too much longer. Fuzzy spots kept winking in and out in front of her eyes.

  She’d gotten him talking about his world, and that had helped, too. The place he called Xandakar was straight out of the fairy tales and fantasies she used to devour all the way through high school. Five different-colored dragon clans rules five distinct kingdoms, with a tree as big as a city in the center of it all. And dragons weren't the only types of shifters. There were people who could become just about any kind of animal you could think of.

  Vander had said he was a dragon, able to transform at will. And that bit with his hand morphing into a claw was good enough to sell her. Either that, or she was delusional, hallucinating the whole encounter. That wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. Maybe the stress of working so hard, of trying to prove to everyone she wasn’t crazy had actually made her snap.

  She looked at him filling the entire right side of the jeep, seeming so out of place with his long blond hair and beautiful green eyes, like some sort of demigod come down from the heavens to see how the mortals lived for a while. She wanted to reach out and touch his forearm, to feel that skin-tight armor and verify that he was real. Though if her brain had fooled her this well for this long, it could certainly conjure up the sensation of a muscled arm.

  He was still talking, telling her about his recent meeting with some kind of fish woman, though she was having a hard time concentrating.

  The sun had not yet risen, but its burnt orange light was already crowning up on the horizon. The red desert lay on either side of the road.

  When he got to the part about how the oracle told him he needed the trident, she sat up straighter in her seat, trying to focus.

  “Did she say why you needed it?” Brynn asked.

  “Something about it being the only thing that could harm the coming threat,” Vander said. “But she was blinded before she could see the entirety of the vision.”

  “Oh God,” Brynn said. She wanted to know how that had happened, but was almost too afraid to ask. She didn’t have to.

  “Whatever dark force she was about to see blackened and destroyed her eyes,” he said. "She thought it was a demon."

  That sounded terrifying. Vander didn’t sound terrified, though. Either he was too brave not to be disturbed by some malevolent force that could melt your eyes from miles away, or this sort of thing happened all the time where he came from.

  She wanted to help him, but she was also hoping that there would be more than enough archaeological evidence behind that door to fill several issues of National Geographic. Vander could take the trident, if it were there, and she could redeem herself to the academic community and finally have a real career. She could get a job wherever she wanted.

  The thought did cross her mind to ask about going through this portal thing with him, though. Finding relics was one thing, but actually visiting his world? Bringing back video footage? That would be on an entirely different level. And part of her had to admit she was starting to develop a crush. What sane, heterosexual woman within a hundred yards of him wouldn’t? She didn’t know if she were imagining it, but he also seemed to like her. But whenever that thought crept into her mind, she pushed it away. He was royalty back where he came from. He probably had a wife, or a harem, or both. She was dizzy from lack of sleep, that was all.

  But even if she could go through this portal and even if he would take her, would she really want to visit a place full of dragons and eye-melting villains? She'd be leaving her father, whom she dearly loved. He lived alone, still able to take care of himself. But for how long? She had friends, but no one especially close. Almost all her personal relationships were distant and fleeting, a by-product of focusing so much on her career. Maybe she did want to go. Maybe it was possible to be with him.

  “Vander?” she asked. “What did the queen think of you coming here alone?”

  “The queen?” He looked a little confused for a moment. “The blue queen is the one who sent me here.” Then his eyes lit with understanding. “Ah, no. There is no queen of the Emerald Isle.”

  She felt her heart lift, the beat quicken. Then he opened his mouth again.

  “We have not wed yet,” he said.

  Brynn felt a hard knot form in the pit of her stomach. “Yet?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I am to marry Nevra Nightshadow when I return.”

  She felt as if he had just dumped a bucket of ice water on her head. The only consolation was that he didn’t sound very thrilled about marrying this Nightshadow woman.

  “Oh,” was all Brynn could think to say. They were approaching the turn-off for the site. “How well do you know her?”

  “I’ve met her,” he said. “She is…interesting. But she is not the type of woman I would have chosen.”

  Oh? Brynn thought. And what kind of woman would that be? A five-foot five single archaeology professor from Earth who drinks a little too much white wine in the evenings and DVRs way too many Lifetime movies
? Instead she kept her mouth shut, waiting to see what he might say next. She slowed the jeep and turned off into the red dirt, heading for the site. Even woozy with exhaustion, she knew the exact location of the hatch.

  Vander laughed a little. “It just struck me that perhaps the two of you might share some similarities.”

  They have the Lifetime channel in Xandakar too? she thought, and almost giggled. But she held it in. She wanted to hear this.

  “I don’t know Nevra very well,” he said. “And you and I have just met. But neither of you seem the sort to hide your feelings. You both seem to be strong and smart, and willing to do what it takes to get what you want.”

  Now she thought she might tear up again. She’d been with this man from another world for less than twelve hours, and already he’d said more nice things about her than any boyfriend she’d had in the last two years. Still, being directly compared to his fiancé didn’t make her feel great.

  “Well,” she said, trying to keep her emotions bottled up. Whether it was the lack of sleep or the whirlwind of events and revelations over the past day, her feelings were all over the place. “I hope it works out for the two of you. Some studies have shown that arranged marriages are actually more stable and successful than non-arranged ones.”

  What the hell, Brynn? she thought. Why did you say that?

  He laughed. “Such things are studied here?” he asked. “Truly?”

  “You’d be surprised at all the things people study in my world,” she said. She would have loved to digress into the vagaries of academia with a dragon king from an alternate universe, but the site with the door was just up ahead. She pulled the jeep to a stop, red dust billowing up into a cloud around them.

  “We’re here,” she said, climbing out. God, she felt so tired. But being here before the door, she felt like she could make it through. Was there such a thing as a third wind? She didn’t know, but she was damn sure going to sleep for two days straight when this was all over.

  She watched with amusement as the jeep wobbled under Vander’s weight as he struggled to climb out. “Sorry,” she said. “Next time we’ll rent a truck. Something with more leg room.” It made her a little sad to think the chances of there being a next time were probably non-existent.

  Vander stood and straightened up, looking down at the trapezoidal outline on the ground. The red dirt had settled back over it after it had closed.

  “This is it?” he asked.

  “This is it,” she said. “Here, let me show you.” She stepped forward and put her fingers under the dirt, just like before. The cool metal hummed under her touch and the mechanical churning started up underneath their feet.

  Brynn stepped back to stand beside Vander, folding her arms to watch. The lid tilted and rose just as before, puffing up a cloud of red dust. The revealed hallway lit up with running lights.

  Even Vander was impressed. He took a cautionary step forward to look down into the semi-darkness. “I’ve not seen sorcery like this,” he said. “You went down there? By yourself?”

  “Yep,” she said, enjoying the shocked look on his face.

  “You are braver than I gave you credit for,” he said, and that made the skin on her forearms tingle. He made her feel a lot braver than she felt. She was curious. That was all.

  Brynn stepped forward into the metal cave and waved him forward. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s have a look at that door. It’s not far.”

  They walked down the incline, the lights fading behind them and illuminating ahead. When they got to the door, they stopped. Vander looked up at the message, then around the seal that marked the frame.

  “There is no knob or handle,” he said.

  “Maybe you should just try touching it,” Brynn said. “That’s how the hatch worked. Though it didn’t work for me on this.”

  “And you think it will open for me?” Vander asked. “Because I am dragonborn.”

  She sure hoped so. He was looking for some kind of ancient weapon, and she was pretty sure it was behind this door. If he couldn’t open it, he was going home empty-handed. Then she would take what she had to the Dean and they’d have to hire a crew to try to get in with drills or explosives.

  Vander reached out, pausing just before his fingers touched the door. He looked at her. “Why are you helping me?” he asked. “You did not need to bring me to this place.”

  That was true. The mere existence of this hatch validated her theories. Bringing him here instead of reporting what she had found had not been very professional. But she couldn’t exactly tell him that he made her feel like a little girl. That he’d compromised her academic integrity. Those things were true, but ultimately they weren’t why she had helped him.

  “You said you need this weapon,” she said. “This trident. It sounds important. More important than my career.”

  He smiled at her, a smile that made her want to melt into a puddle despite the cool metallic air. “I will not forget your kindness and generosity.”

  Okay, she thought. Maybe her helping him had a little more to do with how giddy he made her feel than she wanted to admit. She felt the blood rush to her face.

  “No problem,” she said, the words immediately sounding lame as they left her mouth.

  Vander turned back to the door and pushed his fingertips against it. He looked up. Brynn listened. A few seconds ticked by as nothing happened.

  “Damn,” she said. “I really thought—”

  The door seemed to split down the middle with a high-pitched squeal. Vander jerked his hand back and the metal wrinkled and pulled away to either side as if it were a curtain made of silk. Inside was pitch black.

  Vander looked at her. She shrugged.

  He held out his hand to her, a gesture she hadn’t expected. She slid her hand into his strong, warm palm. He held her hand aloft as he led her through the doorway.

  The chamber filled with light, and Brynn couldn’t help letting out a gasp. The room was huge and spherical, the walls made of metal, but not the dull gray of the hatch and door outside. The material seemed like a mixture of stainless steel and mother-of-pearl, rainbow patterns swirling on its surface. It was producing the light that suffused the chamber, giving everything a bright, otherworldly glow.

  The room itself was filled with tables and pedestals holding all kinds of intricate gadgetry, like some kind of museum of alien technology. To her right, hovering above a low dais was a golden sphere that seemed to be made of interwoven helixes. The structure floated and rotated around some invisible axis. Brynn had no idea what its function might be. Art? Some kind of globe?

  And the room was filled with dozens of other wonders, sculptures of living machinery that all looked in perfect working condition.

  “I do not see it,” Vander said beside her.

  Oh right, she thought. The incredible array of artifacts filling the room had made her forget why Vander had even come. The trident. Such a simple weapon with no moving parts seemed like it wouldn’t belong in a place like this. Scanning the room, she saw nothing resembling a trident either.

  “Will you help me search for it?” he asked her.

  Hell yes, she would. She had to restrain herself from blurting that out loud. But she felt like a kid in a candy store. She thought she could spend her entire life studying the contents of this room. Exhilaration filled her as she realized that was exactly what was going to happen. But first she needed to help him find this spear.

  “I’ll circle around to the left,” she said. “You go to the right. We’ll meet on the other side.”

  He nodded and let go of her hand. She had almost forgotten he was holding onto her. It had felt so natural. But once his touch was gone, she instantly missed it.

  Vander moved off to the right. She watched him go, marveling at how natural he looked in this place, among all these mechanical wonders. Then she turned to the left and walked among the displays.

  The first item she came across was a pyramid made of the same metal as the walls
, rising up from the floor to chest height. Floating just above the pointed top was a liquid sphere of perfect white, like a giant drop of cream suspended in mid-air.

  She knew better than to touch anything here. Every single item needed to be carefully catalogued and studied. New technologies that might benefit humanity could be reverse-engineered. Each piece was potentially a cross-section of the history of an entirely different world. So it would be stupid and reckless to contaminate anything. It might also be dangerous.

  But as Brynn stopped and looked into the milky surface of the sphere, a voice spoke to her. No, that wasn’t quite right. She heard voices in her head, but they sounded less like they were trying to communicate and more like a crazy person mumbling to themselves on a subway. She also felt the disturbing sensation of something rummaging through her mind, trying to piece together words and thoughts. She saw a tree, then heard the voice mumble a word that sounded like tree, each iteration getting a little closer, like an infant somehow teaching itself to talk.

  She closed her eyes and put her hands on the sides of her head. Get out, she thought. Whatever you are, get out of my head.

  But the mumbling only increased, the rate of images flickering through her head an incredible pace, as if it were thumbing though her brain like flipping the pages of a catalog.

  I’ve got to get out of here, Brynn thought. She opened her eyes and looked back the way she had come for the doorway out. She took a step in that direction and the mumbling stopped.

  A clear, but stilted voice took its place in her mind.

  Hello, it said. Please don’t leave.

  The voice was that of a young woman, a little robotic, each word pronounced distinctly with just a little too much of a pause between them.