Chapter One
Dragon’s End
The man and young woman sat outside the red bricked tavern taking what little shelter they could against the weather at one of the two tables under the awning. She had called the man outside so they could talk in private.
“I’m looking for a dragon.” said the woman. She was in her late teens dressed in a black trench coat with the collar folded up against the cold and the rain of the Dublin autumn. Her long, honey-golden hair was hidden by the collar. Her light complexion suggested a softness in her which no longer existed. She could be considered beautiful, but now anger and frustration clouded her looks.
Though the man was clearly bigger than the woman, she was fearless. She held her gaze level. Her steel grey eyes pierced the warm green eyes of the man who sat in the booth across from her.
The man’s shoulders shrugged beneath his longshoreman’s coat, and he nursed his dark ale before replying “You’re kidding right? Where would you find a dragon in this day and age? Not around here that’s for sure. I hear they keep tiny dragons as pets in the orient. You might want to mail order you one of those.” The man smiled kindly at the serious looking girl, like one might smile at the mentally challenged child. “Now go play somewhere else.”
The woman ignored the comment. “No, that’s not the type of dragon I’m looking for. I’m looking for an ancient green dragon. I heard there was one around here, and I heard you could help me find it.”
“What would you do if you found it?”
“I released it into this world a long time ago when I unsealed a mana gate. I need to return him to it so I can reseal the gate I opened.”
“What if the dragon doesn’t want to be returned?”
“I don’t care. It’s my responsibility to close the gate I opened. I’ll need the dragon to do it.”
“What if I said I could lead you to the dragon. Would you ask him to return willingly?” The man rubbed the red stubble on his face.
“I’d say lead me to him and find out.” She was hoping to avoid a major confrontation, but she was ready for one.
“Okay.” The man slowly got up from his seat under the tavern awning, finished his beer, and suddenly turned and sprinted away. He was almost to the alley, before the woman could react. She stood up quickly, knocking over her seat, and pursued the man.
A large, black bird flew down from the pub rooftop and joined the pursuit of the man. With the help of the bird the woman could track the man anywhere he might run in the labyrinth—like alleys that ran behind the rows of shops. Even on this dreary evening, the woman could see the magick that pulsed through the man as he ran.
Somehow the man was linked to the beast. She could tell it in the tangible way magick clung to the man. Its varied shape and hues all told her one thing: a dragon was nearby. She could practically taste it. She wasn’t about to lose her only link to finding this monster. Not tonight. Not ever. She had waited too long, worked too hard, and prepared herself too well to let one fleet-footed character ruin part of her life’s work.
The man turned to run between two brick buildings then headed back to the shadows of the alleyways. The bird was on him before the woman could make it around the corner.
The man hoped to lose the bird in the area where the roofs came together and covered the alley. He cut right with the bird and the woman nowhere in sight. He was breathing hard but he knew the race was not finished. He was hoping to out flank his pursuers and circle around behind them.
Suddenly, a wiry arm appeared out of a doorway and clothes-lined him. The man fell flat on his back. The arm belonged to a slight Asian man wearing a white tank top and olive cargo pants. “I guess that will teach you to run away.”
The man slowly stood up and raised his hand. The lithe Asian man was slammed up against the wall with a force that felt like it might belong to a Mack truck. “And, I guess that will teach you to bloody well know who it is you’re dropping before you drop him.” He had lost time. The woman was coming up close behind him with the bird on her shoulder, and when he turned to run he saw a little girl standing in his path.
The woman looked at the man pinned to the wall and shouted “Joshua! Are you okay?”
“He’s got me. Heather. I can barely breathe.”
“Come any closer and he’s a bloody smear on that wall.”
“Okay. I’ll stay put.” Heather looked at her comrades. Josh was unable to move and her familiar was nearly useless in these confined spaces. That just left...
The man uttered a sound that grew into a roar. The man she had been pursing was shifting his shape from human to dragon. The dragon’s wings knocked holes in the second story walls and the bulk of his body was squeezed into the alleyway. “Now, I believe you have a question for me, girlie. Ask it.”
Heather took in a breath at the transformation and now she let it out. “Will you go with me to be the guardian of the Dragon’s Gate again and to seal off its magick that I unlocked when I was still a child.”
The great green and gold dragon reached forth its talons and snatched Heather up. “No, I won’t. I’ll kill you and your friends before I go back to that prison.”
“Don’t believe you... You haven’t killed anyone since I set you free.”
“True. And, I won’t kill you if you leave me alone now.” The dragon’s red eyes narrowed. “Do we have an understanding?”
“Sorry. I can’t give up on closing that gate,” she said. The dragon’s claw tightened, and she could feel the dragon’s talons ripping through her clothing and piercing her side.
“You can’t do anything to me. I’ll squish your friend and then I’ll eat the little girl while you watch. Then I’ll rip you to shreds.”
“That’s what I hoped you’d say.” She dispelled the magick on the force that pinned Josh to the wall and called out to the little girl. “Suki! He’s going to come after you.”
The child reached into her pocket and produced a glowing ball which she tossed at the dragon. She shouted, “Akuma, protect me and save teacher.” The ball grew in size until it was half the size of the dragon when two muscular arms with clawed hands and two muscular legs popped out of the middle which then formed the head and torso of a very angry looking demon. “You ain’t eating no one, my friend.” Akuma pinned the dragon by his wings and pulled him over backwards. Akuma threw one arm around the dragon’s neck. “Now it’s time for you to go sleepy sleep.” As the dragon passed out, Heather fell from his talons and onto the pavement. Her wounds were severe enough to be fatal, but she’d never been one to let a little thing like death stop her.
Her vision grew dim as the dragon transformed into a man again. As her eyes closed on this life, Heather wondered just how she had gotten herself into this mess in the first place. It seemed so long ago, but it had only been over half-a- decade. The woman remembered the events she could never forget. The past was engrained forever in her memory.
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