by Dante King
“We shall refrain from handing Dragonmancer Noctis over to the Lorekeepers for examination for the present,” she said. “And we shall do as the Seer seems to think necessary. If she believes that in exploring the subterranean realm—that part of our world that has long since been off limits to us—we can save dragons from their slow extinction, then that is what we shall do. We have already begun such incursions, but we shall increase them tenfold.”
I grinned then. Things had suddenly taken a turn for the promising.
“Great,” I said. “When can we get going? What with Wayne and everything, it’d be better if we could get off in the next few days.”
The Overseer turned those pale green eyes of hers on me. I felt my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.
“Dragonmancer Noctis, you will have to stay here inside the safety of the castle. With you being as rare a specimen as has walked under the sun of the Mystocean Empire for a thousand years or more, you are far too precious to be sent away, especially on a mission that will be fraught with the utmost peril.”
My mouth went dry.
“Are you grounding me?” I asked.
The Overseer nodded. “For the time being.”
Of course I understood why she did that, but it didn’t make the medicine any easier to swallow. I’d had a taste of battle and of fighting for something that I believed to be right, back in the Leprechaun-inhabited woods. It had been gruesome, it had been intense, but it had also been satisfying and more exhilarating than any MMA fight could ever be. That famous quote from Winston Churchill floated into my mind then:
Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
I had read that on the back of an advertisement for paintballs or something, back in California. I had liked the sound of it, thinking that it was probably on the money.
Now, beyond any doubt, I knew that it was true. There was no rush like running out into a battle and not knowing whether you were going to make it or not. Nothing more invigorating than facing your fear and going head on with it anyway.
The soft sound of Claire clearing her throat drew every eye in the room.
“Yes, Seer?” the Overseer said.
“Unfortunately,” Claire said, “Michael Noctis will not be able to remain within the Drako Academy while others partake in this expedition.”
“Why is that?” the Overseer asked.
“If you are to find these empty crystals and the substance which will replenish his seed, then you will need him searching for them. He is the dragon breeder, and with this power comes the knowledge of where to find these items.”
“But, with every drop of respect that is due you, Seer,” the council member with the whiskers said, “he just said that he had no idea what the substance we will be searching for is.”
“That is true,” the Seer said, “but it matters not. Once inside the subterranean realm, he will be drawn to it. Drawn to it as a sunflower is drawn to the sun, though it has no eyes. How else did he come upon the crystal, the exact one needed to house the dragonling that is now a Pearl Dragon?”
There was a long, heavy, thoughtful pause. A pause so thick that you could have greased a bicycle chain with.
Then the Overseer smiled.
“Very well,” she said. “The expedition into the subterranean realms will be organized, and with alacrity. You, Michael Noctis will go with it. You will be called when all is finalized. You may leave.”
And, just like that, I was shown the door.
I walked out of the chamber, leaving the bunch of bureaucrats that was the Martial Council behind. The Seer followed me.
It just goes to show, I thought, even in a magical realm as full of possibility as this one, and with a name as cool as the ‘Martial Council’, things are still run by a bunch of dusty old farts.
Except for the Overseer, of course. In a room full of flintlock pistols, she was an E-11 blaster rifle.
Only once Claire and I were in the dragon bay of the old arsenal tower did I turn and say to her, “When were you going to tell me about this special crystal locating power of mine then, huh?”
The Seer shrugged and smiled at me. “I saw the potential future. If I had told you of it, you would have set off for the subterranean depths immediately, in order to secure the safety of your other son, Wayne.” Her mismatched red and blue eyes sparkled knowingly. “And had you done that, you would have not stopped the evil you stopped today. The Overseer owes you her life, though she does not know it.”
We flew back to Augury Grove, to the Seer’s orchard, at Claire’s invitation. As we circled down into the orchard, I noticed that, along with the lights of the cottage, there were also fairy lights fluttering through the trees and lanterns of different colors hanging from the branches. There was also a large fire burning.
When we landed, I saw that there were a whole lot of people standing around the fire and scattered through the trees.
“What’s this?” I asked, turning to look at the Seer, as Noctis and Sonos, Claire’s Luck Dragon, slunk off into the orchard. I released Garth from his crystal too, and he loped off in search of Saya.
“Well, what’s the use in being able to read the future if you can’t use it to throw a little get together every now and again?” the Seer said placidly.
All my favorite people were present; Elenari, Saya, Tamsin, Penelope, and all of their squads. My own coterie—Bjorn, Rupert and Gabby—stood around the fire talking shit and drinking out of large tankards.
Thinking that an ale would be just the thing, I cast about and saw a few kegs sitting under a tree not far away. I smiled. It had been a long day, and an even longer night, but this was just the thing to put the pin in it.
“Got a lovely salamander sausage ‘ere for you, Dragonmancer Noctis,” said an unexpected voice from out of the night. “Fresh as a daisy it is. Caught only last week in traps I made meself, seasoned and spiced and hung for five days in an easterly wind.”
I turned. Old Sleazy had just emerged from out of the night bearing skewers of cooked sausages.
“What herbs and spices do you use?” I asked the gnoll, smiling at the sight of him in his chef’s toque and apron that read: Sex, Drugs & Sausage Rolls.
“What do you think I am, daft?” Old Sleazy said in a hurt tone. “I can’t be givin’ me secret away willy-nilly, lad! Just bloody eat them and tell me they were the best sausages you ever ‘ad later.”
I took a sausage.
“How much is this going to set me back?” I said.
“Not a scale,” Old Sleazy said. “The good Seer has me on retainer.”
I took a bite of the salamander sausage.
“That,” I said, wiping grease from my lips, “is the best fucking sausage I have ever fucking eaten.”
“I bloody told ya, didn’t I?” Old Sleazy said, and he bustled off to offer one to Elenari.
I smiled, took another bite of sausage, and looked around at my friends gathered here. There was a bond that was growing, burgeoning. I could feel it as surely as you can feel when the rain is coming. It was a bond not only between me and my dragons, but also between me and these people. Already, we had been through some tough times and close shaves. Most of us had killed together, while other people had been trying their damndest to kill us too.
The bond that I shared with these people was one that had been hammered on the anvil of shared trials. It was one that had been forged in blood.
I walked over to the keg, took a pewter tankard from on top of it, and poured myself an ale. As I took a long, thankful mouthful, there was a shriek overhead. Wayne, my dragonling, came to perch on my shoulder. I reached up and tickled the little dragon under the chin.
Yeah, life was pretty sweet. I took another pull on my ale.
Of course, things were bound to get a little sticky sooner or later. There was the ever-present threat of the Bloodletters for one, not to mention the fact that I was on the cusp of being sent on an expedition into the subterranean realm
s—a place that the Empire hadn’t set foot since the Shadow Nations retreated down there.
The future was an unknown country rising up to meet my feet; a country dotted with possibly enormous dog turds in the form of insurmountable problems to be faced, heart-breaking decisions to be made, and a whole smorgasbord of people trying to kill me.
I gazed out at the lantern-lit orchard and all my friends gathered there.
I smiled to myself. Dog turds aplenty the future might hold, but that’s why they invented boots, wasn’t it?
I refilled my tankard and walked out to join the party.
End of Book 2
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