The Scarlet Dragon Saga

by J. P. Rice

  “It’s the right spot,” he grunted as he gestured with his head for us to get moving.

  I sighed in relief and shivered at the thought of how our entire plan had almost blown up in our faces. Now the Morrigan could have her crows pick up the flute and give it to Mike Merlino. If things went south with the Harp, at least I’d eliminated Ice Heart. It felt good to stop that murderous asshole.

  We trudged into the woods. Frozen leaves and brush sat just beneath the few inches of snow, crunching and snapping underfoot as we went. It was nothing but trees as far as the eye could see, their naked branches crusted in fallen snowflakes.

  The shy sun was still hiding behind a gray cloud, its weak rays casting odd shadows on the snowy landscape. Bruceras shifted into demon form in full stride, his body expanding as he kept moving ahead of us.

  He really filled out that duster now. Dweezil shifted seamlessly as well, taking his normal wart-infested form. I had to stop myself from following their lead and shifting into my normal body. I thought about a sneak attack right now.

  Bruceras seemed to read my mind and slowed down, falling in next to us.

  About twenty minutes later, Bruceras broke the tense silence, “There’s a clearing up here where we can take a quick break.”

  That was our chance. Dweezil was going to distract Bruceras and I would hit him from behind. I started dipping into my magic and assumed the best way to end his life was to burn him to death. He had so much fire inside him, I was just going to strike the match and watch it combust.

  My arms went numb as showtime neared. I focused on my magic, trying to heat up my insides to launch the most powerful attack possible. Usually, I coalesced the flames in my mouth, but I’d already started that action in the pit of my gut. I was going for napalm.

  We entered the clearing and Cheryl’s flushed face told me she was nervous. That probably made three of us. The mental and physical exhaustion had taken a serious toll.

  Dweezil maneuvered himself so that when Bruceras was facing him, he would have his back to me. The devil’s assistant spoke, his voice almost cracking, “My lord. I have a humble question for you.”

  Bruceras turned to him, squaring his shoulders with Dweezil’s. The fire raced up from my belly and stopped in my throat as the flames built up more power. Just a few more seconds and Bruceras would be engulfed in flames. I had to be careful not to light up Dweezil too.

  Dweezil opened his mouth to speak as Bruceras drew back a tightened fist. What the fook was going on? I assumed Bruceras was about to threaten his servant. Instead, he unleashed a monstrous punch that landed against the side of Dweezil’s head. His skull collapsed under the pressure of the punch, the jagged edge of his busted cranium cutting into Bruceras’s knuckles.

  The shock of the moment knocked the fiery magic out of me. My mind scrambled to reignite the flames but I couldn’t achieve full concentration. The raw brutality had shaken me.

  Dweezil collapsed, dead before he hit the ground. Black blood poured from his mangled head, the white snow lapping up the liquid greedily. Bruceras proceeded to stomp on Dweezil, focusing on his already busted skull.

  Come on. I only had a few moments to act. But the flames were weak and being uncooperative. What the fook? It had to be because of the lack of sleep, and overusing magic caused rapid aging, depleting my magical power. When Bruceras had broken my concentration, I’d lost my total focus on the magic.

  “I trusted you.” Bruceras continued kicking him as spittle flew from his mouth. “I gave you the highest honor to serve me.” He paused and delivered a few more stomps. “And you betrayed me.” He stared down at the dead body. “You deserve worse than death.”

  He finished the brutal assault and turned to us. The prospect of my sneak attack had disintegrated.

  The speckles of black blood gave his duster an uneven luster as he stepped closer to us. “Thought I could be fooled,” he mumbled and lifted his boot, showing us the sole.

  I gasped and my life flashed before my eyes.

  Chapter 28

  Nestled tightly between the tread of his boot was a tiny flute covered in snow. Bruceras plucked the object from his boot and dusted it off. He opened a zipper on the duster near his elbow and tucked the flute into a pocket. He closed it up and pulled his carrying sack up to his chest.

  How had he outsmarted us? Obviously, Dweezil hadn’t sold us out or he’d still be alive.

  The devil dug into his leather bag as I stood there in shocked silence. The fire inside me had disappeared. I didn’t want to go down without a fight, but my options were limited now. Cheryl stood with her mouth hanging open. Our great plan had been obliterated with one punch.

  Bruceras produced four thin strips of silver. He began mumbling under his breath, setting a spell on the materials. Silver sparks jumped off the objects and a devious grin formed on the devil’s face.

  “Ditch the coats and hold out your arms,” he ordered.

  Powerless in the situation, we both followed his directions, then held out our arms. He instructed, “Bare your wrist by pulling up your sleeves.”

  We both hiked up the sleeves on our right arms to our elbows. He slapped Cheryl’s wrist with one of the straight pieces of silver and it latched onto her. The bracelet molded around her wrist forming an unbreakable connection.

  He hit me next and the cold metal dug uncomfortably into my flesh, grabbing hold of me. Pulses of magic flowed from the bracelet, allowing me to feel its power. Bruceras took the third strip of silver and slapped it onto his left wrist.

  He looked over us, and said, “If you get farther than ten feet from me, you will die.”

  He held up the fourth piece of silver. “Just a demonstration of what will happen.”

  He spun in a one-eighty and threw the silver strand with all his might. It rotated end over end as it sailed toward a snow-covered tree branch. As soon as it cleared ten feet, a silver explosion almost blinded me. I heard the huge branch buckle and then fall to the ground, crashing loudly. At least, I assumed that had happened.

  My eyes were still watering from the flash of bright light. When I was able to see again, I noticed a blackened and splintered tree branch scattered across the landscape before me. The circumference where the branch had been attached to the trunk was wider than my head. I got the point of his demonstration and instinctively inched closer to him.

  Now we had a new plan. We would be marched to our deaths by a ruthless demon. It was a done deal. Everything except writing the epitaphs had been completed. Why didn’t he just kill us right now? What was he waiting for?

  He was probably enjoying this. The sick bastard. He pulled a cellphone out of the inside pocket of his duster and stared at the screen. He squinted in confusion, apparently looking for a saved number. He nodded and held the phone up to his face.

  “Sparvero. It’s Bres. Hey, I’m in your neck of the woods and have two fresh ones for you.”

  That was why he hadn’t killed us back at the Red Cavern. Just a little human trafficking. Nothing to see here.

  “Yeah, they’re still alive. It’s a male and a female.”

  He listened for a few seconds and said, “You can torture them, sure. You can do whatever you want once you pay the fee.”

  “All right. I’ll meet you there in an hour.”

  He hung up and put his phone away. As he secured the buttons on his duster, he said, “We need to move.”

  Cheryl and I followed close behind. Who was this person he was selling us to? I took stock of the current situation. If I ran, my bracelet would explode and kill me. If I didn’t, Bres would sell us off to someone who planned to torture us.

  I knew I couldn’t escape from Bres, but maybe his friend wasn’t as powerful. With limited options, I had no other choice. I had to bide my time until we met up with this Sparvero character. I couldn’t even form a plan until I got a look at the guy.

  How had the original plan gone awry already? Right now, I should have had the Harp in my hand. Dweezil
should have been heading out into the world to form a life of his own. And Cheryl was going to return to Pittsburgh. Instead, one of us was dead and two more seemed destined to follow.

  I hustled through the woods to stay close to Bruceras, who was setting a brisk pace. Mud stained snow flew from the back of his boots, the nasty speckles finding a home on the pantlegs of my jeans. I’d escaped near-death situations before, but this had a different feel to it.

  In the other instances, there was a little bit of hope attached to the situations. But there was no getting out of this. The more I thought about it, the more I realized Bruceras wouldn’t just hand us off to some idiot. I’d spit in the face of death one too many times. I knew it would finally catch up with me.

  I contemplated whether the explosion would kill Bruceras too. If I was going to die, I could at least make sure he did too. My scattered mind quickly dismissed that option. His demonstration had proved that the explosion was concentrated.

  We’d been showered with shredded scraps of the tree branch, but the actual blast hadn’t touched us. He wouldn’t have set something up that would get him killed too.

  Fook.

  We came upon another big clearing with a small pond. I noticed a streak of silver just beneath the surface.

  In an instant, the water from the pond fountained into the air. Before the liquid showered back down, a bright figure emerged from the pond, his dripping body outlined in a bright silver glow. But it wasn’t sparkly or glittery or in any way pretty. The haggard figure sped toward us, and as it neared, I recognized the man dressed in black. Vlad the Impaler.

  Chapter 29

  Before Bruceras had a chance to move, the speedy vampire lowered his shoulder and rammed the other devil, knocking him back. Cheryl and I hustled to stay close to Bruceras. Vlad studied us with a confused look on his reconstructed face.

  “Run,” he screamed. “Get out of here.”

  Cheryl held up her wrist, showing him the bracelet. She yelled, “We can’t. If we get outside of ten feet, our bracelets explode.”

  I could only assume that Vlad was paying us back for not taking the buckets of his swampy remains far enough to sever his silver cord. Or he wanted to kill Bruceras for ordering a hasty execution. Whatever the reason, it was the first time I was relieved to see a devil.

  Bruceras ran at the much smaller Vlad and threw a slow, looping right hand. Vlad ducked, clearing the attempt easily, and Cheryl and I moved closer. We stood right behind Bruceras, who reached out and gathered in his opponent for a bear hug.

  Most people thought that supernatural fights were all about slinging fireballs and lightning or busting out some crazy magic spell. To be fair, most of them were. The rest involved firearms or gritty hand-to-hand combat where things could get really personal.

  Vlad groaned as Bruceras tried to squeeze the life out of him. I thought about killing Bruceras from behind and called fire to my hand. The rush started in my midsection, then up into my shoulder and raced down my arm. It worked this time as my hand tingled in anticipation.

  Before it materialized in my palm, Vlad broke the hold and Bruceras stumbled backwards, crashing into Chery and me.

  We fell to the ground, and the Bruceras barely maintained his balance. Vlad moved in quickly and dove at Bruceras with his left arm extended. It looked like a classic clothesline at first, but Vlad hooked his arm around his opponent’s neck. His momentum swung him around behind Bruceras and he cinched a chokehold.

  Cheryl and I scrambled on our hands and knees to chase the two brawlers. Bruceras backpedaled unsteadily and fell, slamming Vlad into the ground. Despite the heavy impact of the fall, Vlad maintained his chokehold. Foamy spit fountained up from Bruceras’s mouth as he gagged and fought to break free.

  With a sudden jerk of his body, Bruceras rolled onto his side and then made it to his knees. He stood up with Vlad still hanging on for dear life. Bruceras’s bloodshot eyes searched around for an answer and his wobbly legs staggered backward.

  Cheryl and I raced after the two devils as Bruceras picked up more speed. Unknowingly, Bruceras rammed Vlad’s back into the trunk of an oak tree. Vlad’s hold was broken and Bruceras took a few steps forward, gasping for air.

  His head swiveled from Cheryl and me to Vlad. The latter’s fingers started to glow silver. Bruceras turned his attention to Vlad, who formed two argent batons, each about twelve inches long.

  Fooking lightsabers? Okay, this just became much more dangerous. I’d been trying to stay really close to Bruceras because of the unpredictable nature of fights, but I had a feeling the ten-foot limit would be tested soon.

  Bruceras crouched down and circled his opponent. I sidestepped, following him from behind. The two men continued sizing each other up. I called fire to my hand again, but before it could take form, Vlad jumped at the other devil, drawing his glowing baton back.

  Vlad came down with his charged weapon and struck Bruceras on his wrist. Silver sparks sprang from the impact and a mangled ring fell innocuously into the snow. I looked at my bracelet and the sparkle was gone.

  “Go, now,” Vlad screamed, and Bruceras punched him in the chest with the heel of his palm.

  Cheryl took off at a dead sprint, and surprisingly, so did Bruceras. Both in opposite directions. Vlad recovered quickly and started after the devil. I was torn on what to do. Vlad could kill Bruceras, but I wanted to make sure. In fact, I wanted to help Vlad. I still needed to get the Harp from Bruceras, who still had the leather carryall over his shoulder.

  I hated to admit it, but if Vlad fell at the hands of Bruceras, I didn’t know if I could win a one-on-one battle. Constantly shapeshifting to maintain the appearance of a man had been aging me. I had barely been sleeping. I was still sore from the beating I took at Mike’s.

  Magic relied on energy and I was running out of it. The reckless side of me wanted to throw caution to the wind and chase after the devils.

  Instead, I turned and ran after Cheryl who was about thirty yards ahead. She disappeared as the woods grew denser with evergreens dusted in snow. I had to follow the sounds of her feet. A few steps into the chase, I slipped on a patch of ice and my feet left the ground. My back landed first, knocking the wind out of me.

  When I recovered, I rose to my feet and realized how fooked I was. The sounds of Cheryl’s footsteps had ceased. I stood in the middle of a silent forest. I didn’t know where I was or how to get out of here. My Raven’s Eye. I could have the Morrigan help me out.

  I pried open the skin on my wrist and pressed my thumb over the eye to activate it. Ten seconds passed and I didn’t feel the normal burning sensation in my wrist. I moved my thumb aside and stared at a dull burgundy eyeball. Why wasn’t it working?

  I didn’t know if I should stay still or start moving. A sitting duck or a lost wanderer? Which was worse? The obvious choice was to keep going in a direction opposite to the one which Bruceras had gone. With my heart thumping, I put one boot in front of the next and plunged deeper into the frosty forest.

  The heat suit kept me warm so I wasn’t worried about freezing to death. I would starve long before that. I walked for what must have been an hour across the white landscape. No signs of Cheryl or Bruceras or Vlad. No animals either except for a few bird’s whistling from a great distance.

  Alone and lost, I had a tough choice to make. If I went further into the woods, I could wind up lost and never get out. If I turned around and walked straight, it would lead me to the entrance point where we had arrived. Taking that route carried the possibility of running into Bruceras.

  Neither option inspired confidence in me. Fook. The Harp had slipped right through my fingers. When we had arrived, I thought this would be an easy victory. How had Bruceras found out about our plan? Then a horrible thought hit me.

  Cheryl. Was it her? Had she sold us out? It would have been almost impossible. I’d spent almost every waking minute with her in the Red Cavern. Maybe someone had overheard us and reported back to Bruceras. I had to stop worrying and
find a way out of this mess.

  My first instinct to shift into a dragon would face problems. First, I was low on energy and my magic had been maxed out. Second, the dense wooded area would cause me to hit lots of tree branches when I ascended and probably prevent me from escaping.

  In the past, I’d never had to take any of this into consideration. I’d used as much magic as I’d wanted without repercussions. Ironically, it was the lava bath from my first trip to the Red Cavern that had caused my magical problems. Now I had to use my magic wisely, rather than heave it recklessly at every bad guy.

  It was a strange transition that I didn’t like. I would have to be more cerebral and craftier in the future, which started now. I couldn’t count on my magic to bail me out, anymore. It left me feeling hollow. Helpless.

  I made a deal with myself. I would walk toward Cheryl for another half-hour. If I couldn’t find her in that time, I’d turn around and head for the exit.

  I wandered through the woods peeking continuously over my shoulders, searching for Bruceras. I came to another clearing, and as I brushed a snow-crusted bush to the side, there she was. My eyes widened in excitement as I stared at Cheryl sitting on a fallen tree trunk.

  Her head jerked toward me and a relieved smile spread across her face. She rose slowly to her feet as I approached. We still weren’t out of the woods yet, though. Literally and figuratively. The reunion spiked my confidence and injected some new energy into my ragged body.

  Cheryl looked spent. Her face was covered in tears, her punky hair was a mess and she shivered despite the protection of her heat suit. My body slammed into her and I gripped my arms around her for a big bearhug. I even picked her up off the ground, which surprised her.

  “I thought I’d never see you again,” she said, her voice sounding a little deeper than normal. “Is he still alive?”

  I shrugged. “Not sure. I hope he’s dead. But if not, I’m going after him.”