Dragon with a Deadly Weapon

by Michael Angel

  “Wait a minute,” I said, as Galen put out an arm for the tired bird to land on. “I know you, don’t I?”

  “This one is known as Elekin,” the owl said politely, as he perched and inclined his feathery horn tufts towards me. “This one had delivered messages before. At the Spring Tournament.”

  I snapped my fingers. “That’s right. You’d told me that my friend Xandra had successfully placed an egg in her nest.”

  “Most assuredly, one does spark recall!” Elekin bobbed his head encouragingly. “The Albess wishes for you and your friends to come to the Roost of the Star Child immediately for the Ceremony of First Sight!”

  “First Sight?” I scratched my head and looked to the Court Wizard. “I’m…not familiar with that one.”

  “Neither am I,” Galen admitted. “But I am more concerned with how to travel to this location. I have not been to the Roost, so I cannot transport us there.”

  “This one has been given an amulet to complete his task,” the owl said smoothly, as he held up the medallion in one set of talons.

  “All right, it does sound urgent,” I said, as Liam and I stepped closer to Galen. “And official. Let’s go, Elekin.”

  A flash-bang of white, and for a second time today the scent of ozone scoured my nostrils clean. In the space of two heartbeats we arrived, the world rematerializing around us. I blinked owlishly as I looked around, surprised at the sight.

  We arrived amidst a clearing of gnarled evergreens, set a couple dozen paces back from the edge of a sheer marble cliff. The clean scent of pine was a welcome relief to inhale. The view was familiar, for I recalled seeing it from Shaw’s back. This was the summit above the Roost of the Star Child.

  The tree branches were bowed by the weight of several of the Hoohan. They let out an excited chorus of ‘hoos!’ and murmurs of ‘It is she, it is she!’ until Albess Thea stepped forward on her branch.

  “Hush, for it is indeed She-from-another-world,” the Albess announced. “I see yet more heroes of our world have accompanied her. The great Centaur Wizard, and the Protector of the Fayleene.”

  Elekin fluttered over to a nearby tree as Galen made a formal bow. I followed suit. Of course, we were both outdone by Liam’s graceful sweep of his antlers.

  “Thank you for the invite, Albess,” I said. “However, I’m afraid that none of us are familiar with the Ceremony of First Sight.”

  Thea’s grandmotherly tone soothed my concerns. “That is to be expected, for none have been invited before who are not Hoohan. When an owlet finally comes into their feathers, they are brought from their nest to see the world outside the caverns for the first time.”

  The Albess made a motion with one wing, so I looked over to the right. A natural fissure in the stone had been widened so that a single person, or owl with outstretched wings, could pass. I made out a series of narrow steps that led down into the cliff’s interior.

  “We are, of course, grateful for this honor,” Galen said courteously, as he turned to display his brace. “Yet I am afraid that I cannot participate.”

  “Neither can I,” Liam added, as he canted his head. “We mean no offense, but fayleene antlers and Hoohan caverns are a difficult match.”

  “No offense is taken,” Thea assured them. “In any case, it is Dame Chrissie who must be the one who carries out the ceremony.”

  I blinked at that.

  “Me?” I asked. “Not that I’m objecting, but why me? Surely, this is a common enough ritual, and one best served by Xandra or her mate, Orestes.”

  My words caused a kerfuffle amongst the owls. ‘Is she-from-another-world joking?’ ‘But she must be the one!’ and ‘Common enough? Surely not!’

  Great. It looked like I’d stirred up something new.

  Hopefully, whatever it was didn’t involve any prophecies this time.

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  The Albess had to snap her beak a few times to get her fellow Hoohan to quiet down.

  “Dame Chrissie, surely you have been following the scrolls I’ve sent?” she asked pointedly. “For it has been six weeks since the chick has left the egg. What has happened since then is hardly a common occurrence among our kind!”

  I felt my face flush. I hadn’t been keeping up with anyone’s correspondence. In fact, I’d especially avoided any scroll with the seal of the Parliament on it. Mostly because I was sure that they’d hit me up for another tax payment.

  Luckily, Galen stepped in to rescue me yet again.

  “Albess,” he said, “you may not be aware that Dame Chrissie has withdrawn from all functions of the court, out of respect for Grimshaw’s passing.”

  The centaur’s announcement was met with a chorus of mournful ‘hoos!’ and downcast horn tufts.

  “Once again, it seems that we speak only when the winds blow ill,” Thea sighed. “I bid you to go down into the Roost. Xandra and Orestes shall allow you in to see their latest addition to their brood. As for the rest…it shall be made apparent when you reach their nest.”

  Well, that cleared things up. As clear as mud.

  I wasn’t about to insult the Albess or her people with any more objections. Galen had already done what he could to soften the blow of my ignorance. I wasn’t going to push things.

  I picked my way across the rock until my feet found the first steps leading down into the cavern. The crevice was straight, but steep and narrow. I went along slowly, allowing my eyes to adjust to the light as it dimmed. The air grew chill, and I began to see the glowing blue mats of lichen I associated with the Hoohan’s dwellings.

  The last of the sky vanished as I entered a high-ceilinged corridor. In the distance, I made out the sounds of falling water and the meditative, Latin-sounding chant of the owls. I continued onwards until I spied Xandra and her mate perched on a ledge across from a small wooden door.

  “She-from-another-world has graced us with her presence once more,” Xandra said, in a tone that practically sang with happiness.

  That was a good thing, for it was a far cry from the last time I’d been down here. Just before her dying son Perrin had been murdered. Part of me had hoped that she could take some solace in the hatching of a new egg, and it looked like that had happened.

  “I’m humbled,” I said. “Thank you for allowing me to take part in this ceremony.”

  “Only one such as you could appreciate and understand it,” Orestes said, in his deeper, masculine tone. “This one did not trust She-from-another-world before. This one begs forgiveness.”

  “There’s nothing to forgive,” I said quickly. “What must I do?”

  “One asks you to enter,” Xandra replied. “One asks you to introduce yourself to Phoebe, this one’s youngest daughter. If one deems her ready, then one might carry her out to see the world for the first time.”

  That seemed straightforward enough. I opened the door just wide enough to slip through, then closed it behind me. The chamber inside was cheerily lit by a pile of glowing stones, which illuminated a set of shelves holding neatly stacked books and scrolls. In the far corner lay a raised platform crafted from freshly woven reeds and soft white cloth.

  A little owl sat inside the cloth-lined nest. To be honest, she resembled a chicken that someone had started plucking, and then lost interest. But enough of her feathers had grown in so that I could make out the general pattern of her plumage.

  I inhaled sharply as I realized why Thea and the rest of the owls had been so excited over this particular birth.

  The youngster’s feathers were the exact shade of orange sherbet mixed with ice milk.

  In other words, her coloration was the same as Albess Thea’s.

  “Oh, hello,” Phoebe said, in the sweet voice of a little girl. “You must be the kindly monster that my parents were talking about.”

  A strange thrum went through me when I heard that. Yes, to a young owl, I probably did look pretty strange. Maybe I even looked like a monster. But that wasn’t what had affected me. It was the fact that I’d hear
d those exact words before.

  “Um, yes…I guess I am,” I finally said.

  “Uh-huh,” Phoebe agreed. She blinked her pretty yellow eyes. “I mean, that’s what I said the first time, wasn’t it?”

  The first time?

  My heart practically skipped a beat as it started racing. I hadn’t misheard Phoebe’s words. I’d heard them loud and clear.

  “Perrin?” I whispered.

  The owlet gave an energetic little hop to perch on the edge of her nest. She cocked her head at me before answering.

  “I think so. That is what you called me before, wasn’t it?”

  I swallowed, hard. “Yes. Yes, it was.”

  “Well, this time my name is Phoebe.” She motioned like she was about to tuck her head under her wing in embarrassment. “I’m a girl now. I’m still getting used to it, but at least I’m not sick anymore. Except in the head, I mean. Everyone still thinks I’m crazy.”

  My knees threatened to buckle under me, so I moved to kneel in front of the nest.

  “But…how…” I choked out. “How in all of heaven did you…”

  “I’m not sure. I was in darkness for so long…and then I heard the pounding of hooves. I felt something brush against me. I think it was a horse’s mane. I grabbed on with my talons and held on until I passed out.” Phoebe thought a bit before continuing. “Until I woke up on this pretty island. I made friends with a beautiful griffin lady. You were there, too! You were doing…something. A man was there, teaching you. Or maybe it was a big black horse, I’m not sure.”

  “Maybe it was a little of both.”

  “It was so nice having friends,” Phoebe mused, and then her eyes widened in fear. “But then you left! You left us, you left me!”

  I put my hands out to calm her, rubbing her little horn feathers the way I’d done before. I spoke desperately, trying to soothe the little owl as well as beg for forgiveness.

  “Shh, it’s okay,” I said, and my eyes suddenly felt wet. “I’m so sorry I left you. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I won’t ever leave again. I promise, okay? I…I had people who needed me here. I didn’t know what would happen to you.”

  “It was scary,” Phoebe snuffled, as she rubbed herself against my palm. “The whole island turned to white dust and blew away like ash. Then the ocean began to disappear and there wasn’t anything left below, just blackness. There was nothing to perch on. We had to keep on flying.”

  “We? The griffin lady stayed with you?”

  “Yes, just as she said she would. She stayed next to me, wingtip to wingtip, as we flew over the endless sea of blackness. And then…” the owlet’s voice took on a note of wonder as she continued. “And then, a second griffin was there, flying on my other wingtip.”

  “Another griffin?” I croaked, as my throat began to swell up.

  “Uh-huh. Oh, the griffin lady was so happy to see him!” Phoebe bobbed in her excitement. “He was bigger, and he talked funny. He said, ‘Thou must go back, fledgling. For we griffins are to return to the Eternal Sky.’”

  “Did they…return?”

  “I think they did. I saw them spiraling together up into the blue, until I couldn’t see them against the sun. And then…I was here. It was tough, waiting until I could talk again. But when I could, I asked the Albess if I could see you.”

  I made a last desperate attempt to hold back my emotions and failed utterly. I put my arms around Phoebe and held her gently as my tears finally flowed. They flowed hot and scalding and cleansing down my cheeks. They flowed for Shaw and Holly, for Destry, and for all the others who’d been lost in helping me save this world.

  The owlet let me hold her, let me sob until my shirt and her feathers were damp with tears.

  When I was finally close to crying things out, Phoebe held me at wing’s length and gave me a worried look.

  “Did I say something wrong, Dayna?” she asked, alarmed.

  “No, you didn’t,” I replied. “I’m crying because I’m so happy right now.”

  “You’re crying because you’re happy? Maybe you’re the one who’s crazy, not me.”

  “Tell you what,” I said, as I brushed away yet more tears with the back of my hand. “How about we both be a little crazy together?”

  Phoebe brightened at that. “Oh, I like that idea!”

  “Come on then,” I said, and I felt something awfully close to joy for the first time in weeks. “Let’s go see the outside world together. For the first time.”

  Phoebe eagerly climbed onto my shoulder. I made sure that she was perched there securely before we exited. Her parents beamed as we passed them on the way back to the stone steps. My steps felt light, as did my heart, for I recalled what Hollyhock had said before we parted.

  If this was your miracle…then maybe I will find one for me and Perrin as well.

  Maybe she did.

  I couldn’t explain what had happened. I didn’t read the Good Book like Shelly. I didn’t pretend to understand anything about the universe except what Destry taught me, and even that faded more every day, like something out of a dream.

  Destry created something out there in the darkness. It had been real. It saved this world, it saved me, and it saved my friends.

  Sirrahon hadn’t been defeated. He was still out there. Fitzwilliam’s kingdom was still so very fragile. But I would return to it. I’d return as the Head of the Order of the Ermine. My friends and I would continue to fight for everything that was good in Andeluvia.

  The first patch of blue sky appeared above us. I began ascending the steps as I spoke to Phoebe again.

  “Your parents love you, of course,” I said. “But you’re always going to be a little ‘mad’ to them. I’d like you to meet your new family, a kind you’ve never had before. A family of choice. And they all share the same madness as you and me!”

  The owlet danced excitedly on my shoulder. She gave my ear an affectionate nibble. I tousled her horn tuft feathers in return. This was everything that I’d hoped and wished for.

  The part where I could stand up and say: This is how my story will end.

  My luck wasn’t rotten after all.

  It just was.

  I couldn’t help but smile as Phoebe and I emerged into the glorious sunshine.

  The End

  Afterword

  Hello again, and I hope you enjoyed reading Dragon with a Deadly Weapon.

  First off, THANK YOU for coming along on this journey with me. I did a little number crunching, and (including the novella Forensics and Dragon Fire), this decalogy tops 850,000 words. That’s a lot of time to spend with Dayna and her friends in both worlds!

  Of all the books in the series, this one was by far the most difficult to write. A small part of this was the logistics – such as making sure that every single prophecy was touched upon. But it was far more difficult to say goodbye to many characters – Destry, Holly, Archer, Nagura, and of course Grimshaw the Great.

  Which leads me to the question that a lot of people have already emailed me about: Is this is the final book in the Fantasy & Forensics series?

  Rest assured, we will see Dayna in action again. While I tried to provide enough closure for Dragon, there’s obviously a couple of plot threads that could be picked up without too much difficulty.

  So, I’ll be taking up F&F again after a little break. Dayna and her friends have been living rent-free in my head for quite a while now, and they need a vacation on the Île de Rêverie.

  In the meantime, I’ll be updating everyone when my next books will be out in early 2019. If you haven’t joined my newsletter by now, please consider doing so – you’ll get advanced notice when new works are published, and a chance to get them at a discount!

  If you’re interested in checking out some of my other fantasy work, I’d like to suggest The Detective & The Unicorn. It takes place in a different version of Los Angeles, with a different unicorn culture, and a new fantasy world called ‘The Morning Land’. In it, you’ll meet a hard-luck detective,
unicorns, dryads, pegasi, and the dreadful doglike yena.

  Finally, if you liked this book, it would be great if you could post a review of Dragon with a Deadly Weapon. Knowing that you enjoyed the ending to such a grand adventure would be very much appreciated!

  Thanks for staying the course on my first-ever decalogy,

  Michael Angel

  Now Available on Amazon:

  The Detective & The Unicorn.

  LAPD Detective Derek Ridder

  has a new partner from ‘The Morning Land’

  one with cloven hooves, a palomino coat,

  and a spiral horn!

  Other Books by Michael Angel

  The ‘Fantasy and Forensics’ Series

  Centaur of the Crime

  The Deer Prince’s Murder

  Grand Theft Griffin

  A Perjury of Owls

  Forgery of the Phoenix

  Assault in the Wizard Degree

  Trafficking in Demons

  A Warrant of Wyverns

  The Conspiracy of Unicorns

  Dragon with a Deadly Weapon

  Forensics and Dragon Fire

  (Fantasy & Forensics Novella)

  Standalone Fantasy and Sci-Fi Novels

  The Detective & The Unicorn

  The Wizard, The Warlord, and The Hidden Woman

  The Adventures of Amanda Love

  Treasure of the Silver Star

  The ‘Apocalypse with a Side of Spam’ Series

  Episode One

  Episode Two

  Episode Three

  Episode Four

  Entire ‘Season One’ Compilation

  The ‘Fringe Space’ Series

  A Shovelful of Stars

  Pay To Pray

  Dogfight

  A Planet Torn

  The Complete Collection: Fringe Space Tales

  About Michael Angel