by Peter Glenn
I had to keep from rolling my eyes. Asking about family health and welfare before moving on to business was an ancient Chinese tradition. I should have expected the pleasantries, but it had been a long time since I’d been exposed to them, so they came as a bit of an annoyance.
“Just great,” I told him.
In truth, I hadn’t heard from either of them in a couple years, but I was sure they were doing just fine. The last I’d heard, my brother was in Africa trying to cure the latest plague affecting the youth there, and my sister was in Bolivia trying to end the political unrest and upheaval that had rocked the country in the last year or two. She was a renowned diplomat of sorts.
Yeah, I was definitely the black sheep of the family.
“They’re doing well,” I added. “And how about you? Is your family doing well?”
It was a bit of a mechanical response, but I still winced a bit as I said it. Of course his family wasn’t well. Mei had been kidnapped. But just how much did he know about that yet, anyway? He must know something, or he wouldn’t have come here.
“My family is well,” Lao said, his head hanging low. “They are weathering the current tragedy as well as can be expected.”
I had to stop myself from snorting. Tragedy? Mei was an outcast to them. She consorted with humans too much for their liking, and as such, she wasn’t well regarded in dragon culture. Maybe that’s why the two of us got along so well. We were both outcasts in a way.
“That’s… good to hear,“ I said.
Lao nodded once, and he paced around in the small space a bit. I caught his eyes darting over to the kitchen, then back away just as quickly. I could only imagine what was going through his head as he looked over my messy place, but it’s not like I’d had a long time to clean up or anything.
“Indeed,” he said, the words floating off his tongue.
The whole conversation was exasperating. I cut to the chase. “Look, what can I help you with? Why did you come to me?”
The elder balked a little and seemed taken aback. He wasn’t used to people dispensing with small talk, I supposed. But I wasn’t any more comfortable in this meeting than he was, and besides, I’d rather be out there spending my time looking for Mei than in here talking to him any day.
“Forgive me,” Lao said with a slight bow. “Of course, you must be worried as well.”
I nodded. “Indeed.”
He turned his back to me, his hands clasped together behind him, the billowing sleeves of his Hanfu almost covering them entirely. “I need a favor.”
This time I did snort. “A favor? From me? What could you possibly want?”
I hadn’t expected that. It was well known exactly what the dragon community thought of people like me. I was the reason Mei had “strayed from her path,” according to those types. I’d corrupted her. In a sense, I was the lowest of the low.
Lao turned to face me, his expression grim. “As you are no doubt aware, Mei has gone missing. She did not answer any of my calls this morning.”
“Yeah, no bull,” I said, snorting again. “I was there when she was taken.”
There was a slightly-perceptible shift in Lao’s demeanor. A widening of his eyes, perhaps. Then it was gone as quickly as it had come, replaced with the typical stoicism.
It brought a smile to my lips. So, he wasn’t completely infallible after all.
Lao nodded. “Yes,” he said slowly. “Such an… unfortunate occurrence.”
“Unfortunate?” I’d had enough. I shot up out of my seat and got in Lao’s face. It was uncharacteristic of me, but he was getting on my nerves. “Your daughter goes missing without a trace and all you can say is it’s unfortunate? Tch. Unbelievable.”
Lao backed away slightly, his face contorting into something bordering on confusion before he regained control of his complexion again. “Indeed,” was all he said.
I shook my head. I wanted to spit on him, or deck him, but I held back my anger. If I got into a fight with her father, he’d kill me. Then who would search for Mei? No, she needed me. So I bit it down.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t call him out a little bit.
“I can’t believe you types. You treat Mei like an outcast, all but cutting her out of your wills and disinviting her to social functions.”
There was another slightly perceptible widening of Lao’s eyes at that. He hadn’t known she’d told me about that part.
I kept going. “You treat her like a complete pariah when it’s convenient, all but ignoring her as best you can. And for what? Deigning to speak to us human types on equal footing?” I scowled. “And now that she’s missing, you’re suddenly the concerned parent? Unbelievable.”
Lao looked down at his robes for a second and brushed away a tiny spot of my saliva that had landed there during my tirade, then he took another half-step backward until he was almost against the couch and looked straight at me.
He bowed his head. “My apologies,” he said. “I did not know you had such strong feelings on the matter.”
I let out a sharp laugh that came out sounding almost like a bark. “Yeah, well you got that right.”
Lao lowered his gaze again. “Allow me to explain. Even a black sheep is still a member of the herd and deserves to be protected from danger as much as any other.”
In spite of myself, I nodded. That, I could understand. My mother didn’t approve of many of my antics, either, but she still called me every other week and came by for visits twice a year. Mei’s dad was doing the same thing.
My expression softened a bit, and I felt the tension leave my shoulders. I hadn’t even realized it had been there until that moment.
“Look,” I said, “this is a hard situation for all of us. We’re all doing the best we can.”
I took a few steps backward and slumped back into my chair. Its comforting warmth soothed my frayed nerves even further.
Lao nodded again. “Indeed.”
I held back another snort. It was like the only word he knew or something. “So, about this favor you wanted of me?”
A flash of something washed over the elder’s face, and he nodded once more. “Indeed. The favor.” He turned his back to me again. “You are an occult investigator by trade, are you not?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
Technically, it was true. I was something of a private eye for the magically inclined. It’s how I made enough money to pay rent and drink. Not that I worked that often. I maybe took on one case a month. But the pay was good. Not as high as Rick’s, perhaps, but still good.
“Excellent,” Lao continued. “The Dragon Clan would like to hire your services, then.”
I balked. “You want to hire me? Like, pay me actual money or something?”
That was the last thing I’d expected to hear coming out of his mouth. The guy could barely stand me.
“Indeed,” he said, turning around to face me again. “We would like to hire you to find Mei for us. The reward will be considerable, of course.”
Before I knew what I was doing, I waved my hand dismissively. “That won’t be necessary. I’d search for her anyway.”
Lao nodded again. “A generous offer, but we must insist. It is tradition.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. To be honest, I still wasn’t sure how I was going to pay Rick off, let alone cover the rent payment due next week. A little extra cash could go a long way right now. And to get paid for something I was going to do anyway? Score!
“Very well,” I said, trying to sound as disappointed as I could. “I accept your offer. I will look for Mei for you and keep you apprised of my progress in the matter.”
Another nod from Lao. “Excellent. It is settled, then.” He gave me another slight bow, this one a little deeper than before.
“Yes. It’s settled.” I inclined my head, since I was still sitting.
I got up from my chair again and started toward the door. “Was there anything else I could help you with?” It was a courtesy question, but I was r
eally hoping the answer would be no.
Lao shook his head softly and followed after me. It looked like he was just as eager to leave my dingy apartment as I was to have him leave. I opened the door and beckoned for him to waltz on through.
The elder brushed past me wordlessly, doing his best not to touch anything in the process, and left my apartment.
But before I could fully close the door, he spun on his heels, one bony finger raised in the air. “Oh, and there is one more thing, Li Xiang.”
I groaned. It was all I could do to keep from rolling my eyes. It was always one more thing with these types. “Yes, Lao? How else can I be of service?”
“Mei’s… health is of the utmost importance to us. If she is not found in three days’ time, we will be forced to go looking for her ourselves.” The slightest hint of a grin formed on his pale lips. “You understand?”
My blood went cold and all the life drained from my face. That had been a veiled threat, and I knew just what it meant. If I was unsuccessful, the Dragon Clan would wage war on the human realm, stopping at nothing until they found her, dead or alive.
To my knowledge, such an event had only happened a handful of times in written history. The events were hard to miss, though as a regular human you probably wouldn’t have noticed. The dragons took on human forms when they went on these types of conquests. It was easier to convince other humans to do their bidding that way.
You’ve probably heard of a few of these dragon wars yourself. Alexander the Great? Dragon. Attila the Hun? Dragon. Julius Caesar? Yep, you guessed it. Another dragon in human disguise, waging war for his own ends.
It was no wonder that their reigns were so short-lived once their tasks were completed. That was the easy escape. A way out that didn’t require brainwashing thousands or a crazy story. Alexander’s untimely death? Faked. Caesar getting stabbed? A subtle distraction. Attila turning back around after sacking Rome? Just a ruse.
But the legions of bodies and untold destruction left in their wakes? Now that was very real. And the tools they’d had to do it with had been primitive. War machines and weaponry had advanced considerably since those ancient times. To think about what a dragon could do in today’s world with those kinds of weapons…
A shudder ran down my spine, and I gulped down hard. “Understood, Lao. Don’t worry, I’ll find her.”
“Indeed,” he said. It wasn’t so much acknowledgement as it was a promise.
With that, he turned and left.
I slammed my door shut and slumped against it, the whole encounter leaving me feeling drained and exhausted. I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves and steady my heart rate, then glanced down at my watch. It was seven o’clock.
Ugh. Three days. If Mei hadn’t been found by seven o’clock three days from now, the whole world would be in danger. It was a huge weight to have on my shoulders.
Kind of a downer, really.
“Well, I think this calls for a good FPS to take my mind off it,” I said aloud.
I walked over to the stack of discs next to my gaming console and picked out a good one, slipping it into the machine as it whirred to life alongside my TV.
Easing into my comfy chair, I picked up my wireless controller and killed some aliens for a good hour or so. It’s as good a way to ease tension as I’ve ever found, and as far as habits go, it was one of my cheaper ones.
Right as I blasted the head off some xeno-looking monstrosity, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I picked it up and looked at it. The number wasn’t one I recognized, but it was a local number.
My mind instantly went toward bill collector, but I was pretty sure I was all caught up on those.
I shrugged and answered it anyway. “Hello?”
“Yes, Damian?” It was Rick’s voice on the other end of the line.
“Rick? Is that you, buddy?”
“That’s right.”
I groaned a little. “Listen, if it’s about your payment, I’m sorry, I totally spaced it, but I’ll send it just as soon as the banks reopen, I promise.”
“No, it’s not about my fee,” Rick answered. I couldn’t quite tell, but I felt like there was a bit of an annoyance in his tone about that anyway.
“Well what is it, Rick? Spill the beans already!”
“I’ve been going over the inscription on that cloth of yours.”
“Uh huh.” I pressed a few buttons rapidly, trying to fend off another alien that had gotten a little too close. “Go on.”
“Well, I’ve deciphered their origin. They’re definitely Celtic runes.”
I rolled my eyes. I could have told him that much. Did tell him that much, in a way. “Yeah, and?”
Another alien grappled me, and I gave it a solid uppercut, followed by two rounds of shotgun fire right into its dirty little skull. Gaming could be so therapeutic.
“Well,” Rick said, “it struck me as odd, but the lines, the way they’re written here, they match the runes on that sword of yours almost exactly.”
“Good old Grax’thor?” I groaned. “What’s he got to do with it?”
“I can’t say for sure,” Rick replied. “It’s just odd. The thing with runes is they’re like any other form of handwriting. The way they’re written down can give you a clue as to the person who wrote them. It’s not as exact as handwriting analysis in today’s day and age, because carving runes into metal and stone is a far cry harder than writing them down with ink and paper, but there’s still slight variations in how each rune is written based on the writer.”
“Get to the point already, Rick. You’re starting to bore me.”
I switched to my railgun and let loose on a bunch of aliens that were loping in my direction. No way I was falling to their sorry asses. Not after the day I’d had.
“What I’m trying to say is I think the same person that engraved your sword also wrote these runes. Which should be impossible, of course, but there you have it.”
My blood froze and the controller fell from my hands, the gnashing aliens momentarily forgotten.
“Come again?”
“The person that forged Grax’thor is the same person that wrote your little inscription.”
My phone buzzed, signaling there was another call incoming, but I did my best to ignore it. It was probably Lao again, hoping to scare me further.
“How is that even possible?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but that’s the conclusion I’ve come to. At the very least, the two writers probably existed around the same time. Much more than that is hard to decipher, though. It’ll take a while before I make much headway.”
“Sure, sure.” I still had no idea what the point of it was, but I figured he’d get there eventually.
My phone buzzed again, this time with a text message. I moaned again, but decided I’d check it out anyway. I didn’t need forty-some missed messages again.
“Hang on a sec, Rick,” I told him.
I pulled my phone away from my ear and looked at the notification. It was Sevin of all people. “What do you want, Sevin?” I muttered.
“What now?” Rick’s voice boomed from the phone. Apparently, I’d set it on speaker.
“Never mind, Rick buddy.”
I looked at the message. Damian, I’ve been practicing my clairvoyance.
Nice. I was proud of him.
Good 4 u, I wrote back.
“So, what were we talking about, Rick?” I asked him.
“The runes on your piece of fabric, Damian. The inscription on it just plain doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“Uh huh. Well what do you want me to do about it?”
New words popped up on my phone screen. I think I’m getting better.
All well and good, but why was he bothering me with this now? Great, Sevin.
I turned my attention back to Rick. “You’re the ancient culture specialist. That’s why I hired you, remember?”
Rick sighed. “Yes, I know that, Damian. Now, will you listen to me for a moment? What a
re you doing over there, anyway?”
Sevin again. Do you know a man named Richard?
My fingers started to twitch. That was uncanny. How did Sevin know that? Maybe his powers were better than I gave him credit for.
Yes. Why?
Rick was prattling on about something, and I’d missed the whole thing. “Okay, I’m listening, Rick, really I am,” I told him, interrupting his spiel. “Just… repeat the whole last bit again, okay?”
“Ugh. I can call back later if you want,” Rick practically yelled. I was glad the phone wasn’t on my ear anymore. That would have hurt.
“No, no, I’m listening, I swear! This is important to me. You’ve got my full attention this time. Promise.”
“Good. Now, as I was saying…”
Another text popped up. I think he’s in trouble. Right now.
My fingers trembled so bad I ended up dropping the phone onto the floor and swore in my native tongue. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge as my eyes darted toward my TV screen.
Two big, floating words, written in red text greeted me. “Game Over.”
I didn’t need a clairvoyant to tell me what that meant.
Game over, indeed.
6
“Rick?” I shouted into my phone, picking it back up off the floor.
“Yes, Damian?” He sounded even more angry than before.
“Are you still at your office?”
I heard him scoff. “What, I can work late if I want to. Who are you, my mother?”
“No, it’s not that.” I shook my head. “It’s just… stay where you are, okay. I’m coming to get you.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
I didn’t have much time. Sevin wouldn’t have texted me if he hadn’t been certain about his premonition. He was a serious type of person, in spite of everything. Besides, the creeping feeling in my gut told me he was dead on.
“Just stay where you are. I’ll be there as soon as I can. And don’t do anything stupid.”
“Whatever, Damian. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
The line went dead.
“Damn it!”
I wanted to hurl my phone at the TV, but that wouldn’t have done me any good. I slipped it into the pocket of my jacket and went into the bedroom. Both Grax’thor and my family’s katana hung there on the wall, looking unassuming. I hesitated for just a moment, then grabbed both of them.
