by Sariah Skye
I blinked rapidly and forced the words to come out, wincing already at the reaction I knew it would cause. I stared directly at Maxxus first, as it was easier to speak to him; because he'd been there. “Nicodemus. He...he was...” an involuntary whimper escaped my throat then, and distressed tears began pouring from my eyes. I shuddered at the thought of what I'd seen and struggled to tell them.
Maxxus inched closer and kneaded my shoulder comfortingly. He gave me a look of urgency. “What is it? It'll be okay, we'll figure it out.”
I sobbed lightly. “That's just it...no we won't. At least...” I cut myself off, feeling the panic overtake me, cutting off my words.
Another set of hands squeezed my upper arm. I turned, and the soft gaze of Gabriel penetrated through my sadness. “It's okay, Leo. We'll figure it out. We've all got your back.” I felt his hands warm against my bare skin and it helped melt away some of my fear. I offered him an appreciative smile, and I finally was able to nod and speak.
“Nicodemus. He...he was at the Court. On Mabon,” I finally managed to choke out.
Kiarra gasped. “Oh my, but that's... really soon isn't it?”
I nodded. “That's not all. He...he...”
“Go on, Leo,” Maxxus spoke in his gentle voice.
“He was... attacking the king. Athalos... he was...dead.”
Maxxus's mouth formed into one of shock. “Dead?!”
“Dead?” repeated Kiarra with incredulity.
“Yes. Dead.”
Gabriel swallowed next to me. “What does that mean?”
“It means that... the Court is in trouble. All of it. It wasn't just him... it was dozens of other Court members. They were either dead or succumbing, it was hard to tell.” I sniffled, my lower lip trembling with fear; horrified at what I'd seen. Nothing we accomplished when we went over there did one lick of good. We changed nothing at all,” I replied, defeated.
“So. What do we do, then?” Gabriel questioned.
“It means we're going back to Anarach,” Maxxus finished for me, his tone cold as stone.
“All of us though this time.” Finnian said, smacking his hand on the table defiantly. He caught my eye and I nodded.
“Yes. It's time.”
“Time for what?” Kit asked, confused and still terrified simultaneously.
“Time to battle the Shadows before they destroy my world,” I said in a solemn voice.
Fuck.
Here we go again…
Chapter 15
Another few minutes of deliberation, we decided we’d leave after dusk the following day; giving Maxxus and I about thirty or so hours to recover from our previous and ineffective ordeal. Not that there was much to recover from other than emotional trauma. To us, we hadn't been gone enough to even miss a full night of sleep.
It was nearing nightfall and although I was feeling somewhat drained physically, my emotions were on high alert with anxiety. Kiarra had all but barred me into her bedroom, Esmè giving her an armful of healing supplements and whatnot to give to me. No matter what she coaxed down my throat, I just couldn't relax.
I grumbled out loud while lying in bed with a glass of spelled champagne. Gabriel had graciously loaned me his laptop, and I sat upright with my legs crooked up, computer in lap, trying to watch Star Trek: Enterprise on Netflix. Even though it was one of my favorite episodes I couldn't concentrate. I could hear mumbled talking from the other room and no matter how I tried to drown it out, I couldn't.
I clicked the browser shut and closed the cover. I was already in some relaxation type casual clothes— but when wasn't I? —so I grabbed a set of dark green robes of Maxxus' that somehow found their way into my enchanto-sack pouch and wore them over my gray shirt and black yoga pants.
“Leo!” Kiarra scolded, as I made my way into the living room. She and Kit were giggling like little school girls over a magazine or something held between them. Gabriel was curled up on the end of the sofa with a book I couldn't see in his lap. Maxxus was noticeably missing, but I didn’t inquire.
“Don't say it. I need to get out.” I held up my hand in a gesture of dismissal, sliding my feet into a pair of sneakers. I didn't even know whose they were; they felt a tiny bit big but I didn't care.
I burst through the screen door and it smacked against the doorframe and I walked away from the town, into the woods. I summoned and flicked up a small orb of light and I held it out in front of me as I wandered aimlessly through the dark woods, with only my magic and small rays of moonlight poked through the small openings in the treeline.
I was surprised when the pine trees and other assorted shrubbery grew sparse and the leafy forest floor not so subtly changed into a pebbled shoreline. Somehow I'd walked all the way to Lake Superior without even realizing that's where I'd been going. I wondered if I was still within Castle Danger boundaries. Curious, I held my palms outward. I could sense magic in humans and mythos, perhaps I could sense it in the air as well... though I wasn't sure how the hell I would do it.
I clamped my eyes shut and willed my magic from my core; I felt a mild tugging sensation in my chest and my fingers began to warm gently. I stepped forward cautiously a couple of steps until my hands seemed to hit—a wall?
I opened my eyes and saw the nearly transparent wall in front of me that spread out for about a mile on either side of the beach and seemed to blur out into the water about half a mile. It was tinged a light lavender and I assumed it must be arcane magic helping bolster the wards. I grinned to myself, awed both at the magic and the fact that I'd been able to detect it at all.
I was interrupted from my magical admiration by an indistinguishable noise from behind me.
I spun around and gasped, startled to see a very large, bearded dragon behind me. From his sheer size I assumed he was a male and that he was very, very old. His copper-hued skin was wrinkled and worn. He had dull hazel eyes with bags underneath that sagged with age. One of his wings lay limp at his side with a large tear in one of the membranes. I winced at the sight; a torn wing was nothing to scoff at. It appeared scarred over and I was curious on how the injury remained; after shifting a handful of times it should have healed.
“I am sorry; I did not mean to startle you.” He spoke with an unfamiliar accent I couldn’t place. Generally, the dragons of Anarach had slightly European or American sounding accents; at least from what I could tell from my years of exposure to human pop culture. He was awkward sounding, and he seemed to put emphasis on the last syllable of every word.
“Who are you?” I asked hesitantly, taking a slight step backward.
A small smile curled up on one side of the dragon's face; the other side remained lazy and made no movement; almost like he couldn't move it at all due to an old disability. His left eye blinked a little slower than his right eye and I gathered my assumption was correct; he didn't have full motion of his face because of whatever trauma he couldn’t heal from. He trotted towards me ever so slowly, his left front leg limping slightly.
I smacked my hands together and opened them and a crack of magic sounded as I brought a plasma ball to life. “I'm armed, you know. Don't come closer.”
He stopped in his tracks. “I'm sorry, I guess you're used to being suspicious. Let me introduce myself; I am Prelate Yarrem from the kingdom of Apakoh.”
I blinked in confusion. “Apakoh? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that kingdom.”
Prelate Yarrem smiled lightly again. “I am not surprised, we were absorbed by Zyanhei many, many years ago. If your schooling is anything like Zhannish schooling, I'm sure they gloss right over that bit of information,” he spoke somewhat dryly.
“Zyanhei? But that's clear across the dragon realm from Anarach—what are you doing here?” I questioned suspiciously.
He shifted his feet slightly, grunting uncomfortably. “Would you mind terribly if I sat? I'm afraid my knee isn't doing me any favors today.”
I nodded. “Sure. But why can't you just shift and heal yourself?”
He
sighed, while slowly lowering himself to the ground, letting out a pleasured groan as he lay down, his legs splayed out around him. “Apologies; nothing feels better to this old dragon than sitting,” he said playfully.
I raised a brow, but allowed the plasma ball to extinguish in my hands. “And just how old are you?”
“Two-thousand, eight hundred and twenty-three years old.”
“You—what?” That was about five hundred years older than the oldest dragon I'd ever heard of. “Nearly three thousand years old?”
He gave a curt nod. “Yes, that's right.”
I let out a low whistle. “That's... amazing.” My grandfather neared two thousand years and that was considered old for us.
“Given what I've been through, yes. You see, I recognize you, pink dragon.”
My eyes widened. “Well... of course you do, I've been in Castle Danger for a couple weeks now. Surely you've seen me—”
He shook his head, cutting me off effectively. “No no. I never leave my cave. It's off towards the west. Finnian allows me to stay there in seclusion. I hunt on my own and provide for myself, but occasionally he does come bring me treats on holidays. I very much appreciate that, especially now because getting around isn't so easy anymore.” He sighed, his expression distant. “I can recognize your kind. Long, long ago I was bonded to a pink dragon. You all have a certain... light about you.”
I inhaled quickly. “You were bonded to a pink dragon?” I repeated in awe.
He nodded. “Indeed. Shannishe; she was beautiful. I lost her long ago, and never loved another.”
“I am sorry. How long ago? And how?” I inquired with interest.
He appeared sullen as he looked down at the ground momentarily before raising his head and eyeing the sky. “The same time I received this,” he said, twitching his mutilated wing carefully. “And this facial deformity, and limp. About fifteen hundred years ago, when the Dark World spilled into our own.”
“Dark world?” I repeated, confused for a moment before I realized with a start. “Oh, you mean Shadow realm?”
He nodded slightly. “Yes. Shadow realm. We called it the Dark World. Either way...”
“And they caused that—” I pointed towards his injured wing.
“Yes. I was a training Sovereign at a Moon temple in Apakoh. They'd slowly began encroaching on our kingdom and when we were at a weak point, they attacked. More than three quarters of us fell and just about everyone that survived suffered permanent injuries they couldn't shift out of because of the dark magic that now rests within us. Apakoans could no longer run their own society, so Zyanhei graciously took over our affairs. They've always been very kind to us; I have no quarrel with them. Most of us Apakoans were like I am now. If I attempt to shift, I can't walk at all as human. I have no use of the left side of my body, and I'd be in a wheelchair. I also feel like I go mad, so I just stay in dragon form all the time. I'm less susceptible to the Dark—err, Shadows pull.”
My mouth opened. “So... you’ve been Shadowtouched essentially for half of your life?”
“That is right.”
“Wow...” I stood in awed silence, not sure of what to say.
“To my knowledge I'm the last living Apakoan there is.”
“I...I am sorry,” I replied regrettably. I didn't want to inquire if he'd had any children; not daring to learn about their fate.
“After the Dar—Shadows—I devoted the rest of my life to serving the moon Goddess; it was the only thing that gave my life meaning after such a loss. But eventually in my advanced age, it became too difficult to control the madness—I never injured anyone, but I'd be inconsolable for days. Weeks. I became a burden to everyone around me so I left. There was a community much like this one in the human country of China and, I was allowed safe passage to the Hidden City, where I lived for a short time before Finnian—who was still in training himself and traveling about to learn the Loremaster ways—offered to bring me here. He claimed I'd be able to impart my knowledge on someone in later years about the dark world.” He chuckled mildly. “It appears he was right after all. I'd been beginning to wonder...”
I pressed my hand against my chest. “Me?” I asked with surprise.
“Yes. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before they resurfaced. When the world is full of chaos and strife, it can be assured that the Shadows are behind it,” he sighed sadly, shaking his head.
“They cause it, or they are attracted to it?” I questioned.
“A bit of both, I think. Many legends are based on the myth of the Shadows. The humans might consider it Hell, though we know that Hell and the Underrealms are one and the same and quite different from the Shadows of course.”
I nodded in agreement. “Of course. The Shadows are fucking evil. The Underrealms or Hell is neutral, basically.”
“Precisely. And to my knowledge, they haven't been back since; at least not in the dragon realms.” Yarrem sighed. “There's reason to believe they've been on Earth—the human Earth—here and there for some time.”
I raised a brow. “You know this for sure?”
If he was in human form, he would have shrugged. Instead, it was just an awkward head bob.
“They're more insidious on Earth, though. Sneaky. Since most humans don't use magic, they're harder to target. But they can plant ideas in peoples' minds. There was an instance, some time ago—a particular human caused a lot of problems. War. Genocide. I hear it was a particularly dark time for humanity,” he explained.
“Hilter,” I said bluntly. “Though I suppose it could be any number of devious humans.”
He nodded. “Indeed. I do believe that was the name, though.” Yarrem shuddered. “It was horrible indeed. All those suffering humans... I can't help but think that if we'd still been there—dragons—we might have been able to save them.” He blinked quickly and I swear I could see a glistening tear trickle out of his dragon eye and down his scaly cheek.
Seeing his open display of regret towards humanity—a sentiment rarely expressed by many dragons—caused my lower lip to tremble a little. “Maybe... you're right.” I had never thought about it that way. It'd been many years since dragons left human Earth for our own realm. Humans were selfish at times, and violent, but they were such a young race. Teenagers essentially in the grand scheme of life. Of course they'd screw up, and be prone to such things. We abandoned them, essentially. Had we stuck together... perhaps…
Yarrem let out a cough and fixed his face into a more pleasant expression. “Well. Best not to dwell on things we can't fix.”
I forced a smile. “So what can we fix? You know anything about how to defeat these Shadows now? They have attacked the Court in Anarach but, it might just be a handful of them still. One has been Touched—or possessed, whatever—and seems to be the one carrying out the attacks so far. How did they become defeated before?”
Yarrem grinned knowingly. “Ah. Well, it was quite difficult and it took awhile, but eventually it was the Ord na Dracionis Dianthus and the pink dragons such as yourself that were instrumental.”
“Really?” I was surprised he'd heard of Gabriel's 'order', though I guessed I shouldn't be; he was ancient.
“Oh yes. Them combined with every magical being that existed. Fae. Unicorn. Pixie. Dryad. Witches and wizards... everything. Including magical species that have since been extinct I'm afraid,” he said with a sigh.
“Like?”
“Oh. Merpeople. Titans. Things of that nature,” he replied blandly.
“Merpeople? Titans?”
He nodded once. “Yes. Though there are legends they still may exist, though, there's no proof. Only rumors and hearsay.”
My hands flew to my forehead and I kneaded my temples with my fingers. “Ugh. So, since we have no merpeople, no Titans, we're basically fucked?”
Yarrem's eyes twinkled. “Never lose faith. Sometimes the Fates work in mysterious ways.”
I threw up my hands in exasperation. “I don't know what that means.” Cra
zy old coot, I thought to myself.
“Pink dragons were born in abundance years and years ago, before the fall of Apakoh. And while we still lived on the human Earth. After the Shadows were banished once again, there was little need for their skill so, not so many were born. Save a few, of course. The fact that you've been born means that you were put here for a reason. I truly believe, Leorah, that you’re the answer to our questions,” he said in a solemn tone.
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “I don’t really believe that. I was born by accident. I don't know why I was allowed to live; probably because my Grandfather's position in the Court. I don't know. I am an accident, not an answer.”
He grinned. “Dear Leorah; there are no accidents. Only events unexplained that will reveal themselves in due time.”
I shook my head, and sighed. “So, you think the Shadows can be defeated? And I'm the key to doing that? What if I didn't want to? Getting sort of tired of having all these decisions made for me, you know.”
He nodded knowingly. “I can understand. You just do the best you can, and let history decide the rest.”
“Ugh. I was never good at history.”
He chuckled. “Did you ever know the story of how dragons got their human forms?”
I blinked, once or twice, taken aback. “You mean, we didn't always have human forms?”
He shook his head. “Heavens no. Long, long ago, when the earliest humans were just taking their first steps out of the water, dragons ruled the skies; remnants of large reptiles from eons past.”
“Dinosaurs?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes.” I supposed that made sense, though I never would have put two and two together and come to that assumption.
“Damn...” I said in awe. “So we evolved from them?”
“Indeed. Anyhow, dragons assisted humans in the first few millennia of their existence. We protected them from predators and from the weather. Eventually, like us they evolved. They learned to make tools and learned about wielding fire. They had to figure out how to make it themselves, but we inspired the drive to make it happen.
