Chapter 17
THE HARD SELL
June handed him an enormous pack stuffed full of food and drink. She saw it as her duty to overfeed Devon at every opportunity she found. He added it to Jet’s saddlebag and gave her a kiss in thanks. As usual, she became hot and flustered, which he loved to see.
Earlier, he had created a sizeable gateway into his realm that now hummed happily to itself nearby. The translucent mist inside the portal swirled, allowing occasional glimpses of Devon’s domain on the other side. The gate opened out onto the vast hexagonal centre of the city he had built a long time ago for the refugees from the fairy queen’s world. Devon wished he had more time to revisit the beautiful place he had created.
He had opened up his realm so that Madi, Finn and the other villagers could start work on the new homes for everyone. There had been no time for a tour, sadly, but they’d find everything soon enough. Before his curse, he’d worked with the dryads to create a forest city in his world. They had built the entire settlement inside and among the trees, in the old elven style. There were many thousands of home spaces inside the giant moon-willow trees, just waiting to be finished, furnished and occupied.
After Devon had opened the portal, he’d recruited Beks to work with Pip to create a unique weapon for her sharpshooting abilities. Devon didn’t want to get involved with making guns as he was positively clueless about their design, and Pip wouldn’t be much use as a sharpshooter if she didn’t have a quality sniper’s rifle and customised ammunition to work with.
Once all that was done, Devon then spent an energetic afternoon training with Izzy, Gwen and his students. He taught them tactics, the critical lesson of when to cut your losses and quit and any other trick he could think of. They’d all practised with the new mana-blades he’d invented, and the overall results had been impressive. It was evident that everyone still needed more time to grow into their abilities and skills, though.
Lorn had begged him to take her on his journey, too, but that just wasn’t possible. Jet was already overburdened. Instead, he instructed her to supervise the Shadow Elite’s training tomorrow and ready them to move by midnight of the next day. Hopefully, they would have a chance to do some live training in the city. He was starting to think of Lorn as the leader of the other students. She fitted the role so comfortably.
Jet stood proudly in the centre of the settlement’s clearing, her coat gleaming in the approaching twilight. Her plush tail swished, and the long black hair around her fetlocks swirled as she stomped impatiently. She had Devon in her saddle and Gwen positioned awkwardly in front of him. When Izzy jumped up behind him, Jet knew they were finally ready to depart. The light was fading, and the conditions were perfect. Devon, Gwen and Jet were creatures of the shadows. Darkness empowered them.
Jet stomped around in a circle. Devon knew she was checking to see if she had a sufficient runway. It took energy and momentum to punch through the reality barriers that encased a realm. She made her way to the far edge of the clearing and turned on the spot again. Devon noticed that they had an audience, as usual. Watching his antics had become a new theatre for the villagers and kept them well entertained.
“Brace yourselves. This is going to be fast,” Devon said to Izzy and Gwen. He felt Izzy’s arms fasten tightly around his waist, and he did the same with Gwen.
Jet reared up then launched herself forward with a leap. Her huge muscles began pushing hard against the soil as each powerful hoofbeat propelled her faster, kicking up earth and gaining momentum with every step. Halfway across the clearing and she was nearly at her full speed. The wind whipped around, trying to unseat them, and the trees on the far side of the clearing were approaching fast. Thinking they were going to crash, Izzy began to squeak loudly. Jet finally reached her target velocity, released a powerful magical pulse and leapt hard into the air. There was a loud boom as the reality barrier had a Jet-sized hole punched clean through it, and then they were out into the void.
“Wow! What a rush. That was awesome,” Gwen shouted over the noise.
The broken reality membrane struggled to heal itself behind them as the horse fled on through the emptiness. For the three riders, the sensation of movement had ceased altogether. There was no atmosphere to pass by and no gravity to pull at their bodies. In the void, there was nothing except a witch, a worried priestess, an uble, and a god. He was grateful for Jet’s unerring sense of direction because, to him, it all looked the same.
After a few minutes, they heard the rush of something approaching fast. There was another thunderclap as they smashed through a different barrier and into another reality. Jet’s hooves finally made a slight noise as she fought to slow her pace as quickly as she could while keeping her footing. Her eyes went wide, and Devon felt her body tense. After a few more steps, she locked her legs, pointing forward, and skidded for the last ten yards. He sensed panic from Jet and then noticed the reason for her desperate attempt to slow down. They were fast approaching the mouth of a vast cave.
When they came to a halt, they were a mere five yards from the gaping cavemouth. Jet turned and trotted quickly away from it. Devon could feel her need to put distance from the ominous entrance. Once they were fifty yards further away, she stopped and turned back. He marvelled at the two long gouges in the flat ground, where Jet had fought to eradicate their momentum.
Devon looked around and grinned at the familiar place in which they had landed. Rolling grass-covered planes stretched as far as anyone could see. They were standing in a shallow valley that contained nothing else remarkable other than the cavemouth that faced them. The warm zephyrs that ruffled Jet’s mane smelt of hay and late summer. The sun was shining down from its zenith, meaning that it was a completely different time here than it had been on Earth realm.
Jet looked back at him and sent him weary thoughts of happiness. She gave him a toothy smile.
There was a rumble, and a heart-trembling roar rent the air around them. Thunderous footsteps were approaching them rapidly, and each step shook the ground.
“Okay! Time to disembark,” Devon said to his two petrified passengers. “Whatever you do, don’t hurt him. That would end badly for us, I promise.”
“Hurt who?” Gwen asked. Then she saw it. “HURT THAT? You’ve got to be kidding!”
“Oh shit!” Izzy managed to squeak before a golden dome enveloped them. She’d cast her first-ever spell and was feeling quite pleased with herself. It had taken a little time for her powers to manifest. Then her mind registered what was thundering their way. “Eeee! DEVON! Why have you brought us here, you idiot?”
“Shhh! You’ll spook him.” Devon warned, grinning at the giant black dragon stomping toward them, looking not only angry but extremely hungry.
When the dragon got closer and started to look like it might inhale at any moment, Devon acted. He raised his left arm to the sky, loaded the pattern for his ‘divine truth’ spell into the spell-crystal in his forehead and then, with Brack’s assistance, sent a blast of mana through it, directing the spells trajectory by channelling the mana along his arm. Golden light erupted from his left hand and coated the world around with its glow. White sparkles floated everywhere and settled on every living thing. This spell was unique to the Wayfarer and revealed the purity of the target’s soul. While Izzy and Gwen glowed with a golden aura, the dragon’s aura went amber. Devon felt relieved. Aura colours started with golden for the purest souls and black for the most rotten. Red usually meant deceit. Sulkiss was still good at heart, although slightly tainted in places.
“Sulkiss! You old fool. Don’t you recognise a friend when he visits?” Devon said, raising his voice as much as he could without resorting to a shout.
“Reaper? That cannot be you. You are supposed to be dead.” The dragon boomed. His voice sounded old, but there was a good-natured tone to it.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Gwen looked up at the dragon in awe. He was the most fantastic creature she had ever seen. He was at least sixty feet long from maw to spiked tail-tip with sleek, jet-black scales covering every part of him. His long neck had sharp spines all the way down either side that grew significantly in size as they continued down his back, then ended partway down his tail. Devon had called him ‘Sulkiss’, which she liked the sound of, in an odd way. His regal head was characteristically equine but more pronounced and angular. It was long and elegant. Bony ridges ran down to his nostrils which were large and occupied the front of his upper jaw. Massive teeth lined the beast’s mouth, which was currently smiling.
“I think this young lady fancies me,” Sulkiss cackled at Devon. “And well she should. For I am gorgeous.”
“The years have piled high on you, old friend. It was over two thousand years ago that we last hunted together,” Devon said, sadness tinging his words.
“Has it really been that long, Reaper? Is that insect queen still running this rat-infested realm?”
“Yes, Sulkiss, although her remaining days can be counted on one hand if I get my way.”
Izzy was surprised to see how much hatred crossed Devon’s features. Now she could see that he wanted the fairy queen’s demise as much as she did. That meant the day of the queen’s death was nigh; Izzy could almost feel it approaching. A shiver of anticipation rippled down her spine as she thought about the world without that monster. Then her focus snapped back to the massive monster that loomed here in front of her, grinning.
“Need a hand?” the dragon offered jovially. “I haven’t done anything even remotely interesting for centuries. The excitement would get the old blood pumping again,”
“About that. I have a proposal for you, actually,” Devon said. “Might you be interested in a lifestyle change?”
“Oh? Do go on, dear boy. You’ll have to speak up a bit, though; my hearing isn’t all that good these days,” Sulkiss replied.
Devon raised his voice a little, knowing that Sulkiss was playing to the crowd. His hearing had been good enough to hear Jet land from inside his cave.
“Your age is showing, old friend, and your life has been boring for the last two thousand years, I’ll wager. Am I right?”
“Indeed. No living creature passes this way these days. They all know where I live and stay away. I don’t have the magical energy to fly far, and my symbiot died of starvation just after you disappeared. I miss the old days, the adventures, the gold, and the pillage. What’s happened to this place, Reaper?”
“The fairy queen happened. She cursed me and destroyed the waygates. She banished me to the earth realm without memories of who I had been. That was then. Now I have better news. I am back, the nexus’ are working again, and soon the waygate will be restored.”
“Yes, yes! That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t change my circumstances. Not a jot. I didn’t hear mention of a lifestyle change in all those pretty words,” the dragon said testily.
“I have come to offer you a choice, sir dragon,” Devon said. He kept his words carefully enticing but vague. “I could offer you renewed life, an abundance of magical energy, a wyrm to replace your sadly departed symbiot and as much adventure as you can handle, but I need you to do something in return.”
“I’m not going to like that something, am I? The first part sounds absolutely marvellous.” Sulkiss studied Devon for tells. Then he happened to glance at Gwen, who gazed adoringly back at him. The signs were all there, and the penny dropped. “OH NO! No, no, no, no, no! You cannot be serious, Reaper.”
“Please, old friend, this powerful young witch is as dark as you are. The two of you would see so much and have so many adventures together. She has me as her sponsor, and you could be part of that. She’s a master alchemist too. You could both swap recipes.” Devon was going for the hard sell now. The dragon had caught on before Devon had buttered him up sufficiently. Sulkiss was a shrewd character, as were all dragons who managed to live as long as he had.
“Wait! You are serious?” The dragon questioned incredulously.
“Yes. Please, old friend.”
Gwen looked at Devon with abject shock and amazement. Familiars were supposed to be small creatures, easy to transport and interact with. This creature’s litter tray would need to be the size of a small field. What would she feed it?
Izzy had been trying to follow Devon’s plotting, but now she felt he’d wandered away from all sanity and reason. She struggled hard to keep her silence, hoping that things would start to make sense again soon.
“And if I agree? I suppose you want me to lumber across this wretched land then squeeze through one of your waygates?” Sulkiss already knew that he was going to accept the Reaper’s offer. He was slowly rotting away in his damp, rodent-filled cave. Most of his joints ached, and he was sure he’d pulled a muscle while he was charging at his visitors. He didn’t want to fade away. He was a dragon, king of all beasts. More than that, he was a black dragon, master of magic and cunning. At least he had been. Now even the rats poked fun at him. His thoughts made him feel wretched. The Reaper must have known he’d take whatever deal he offered.
Devon sensed the depression settling on the dragon. “Sulkiss, I am your oldest friend. I offer you this partnership because I know it will be good for both of you. I would never do you down, I swear. This young lady will be devoted to you, and together you will carve your way throughout the worlds. Enemies will perish where they cower, and you may pillage to your heart’s content if it is from our enemies. I must insist on that last part. Please, bond this dark-witch as her familiar and live again. She’s part of our new army, so adventure is assured.”
“Yes, yes, yes! I hear you. Offer too good to decline, blah, blah, blah. I accept, you win,” Sulkiss grouched.
Devon produced a pale blue crystal from his pouch and waved it under the dragon’s nostrils. He had to hold on to it tightly when Sulkiss inhaled deeply and sighed loudly.
Izzy gasped when she realised that the crystal was one of the precious few her people had scraped and saved to collect. It was a magical energy crystal. One of the ones Defiance had gifted to her and Devon. Her thoughts caught up with her. Once Devon opened the waygate, magical energy would flood through from Earth realm into this one. Izzy did not need those crystals now, and soon, neither would anyone here.
“You’ll need this to change your size. Whatever is left over is yours to keep.” Devon kept waving the crystal under the dragon’s nose. A swift, forked tongue lanced from Sulkiss’ maw and wrapped around the crystal, whipping it away before Devon could react. There was a crunch as the creature bit down on its prize and then swallowed.
“Ahhhh! That tastes so good. It’s been too long since I felt that tingle. A little old for my tastes, though. You better have plenty of the fresh stuff in this realm of yours.”
“More than enough,” Devon replied. “Now make good on your side of the bargain.”
Sulkiss shuffled himself around a bit until he was directly facing Gwen. “What is your name, young lady?”
“Uh!” It was all the stunned Gwen could manage in response.
“Come, come! Don’t be shy. This is the beginning of a partnership that they’ll sing about in all the best songs,” The dragon said with a huge grin.
Devon couldn’t suppress his snort of laughter. The songs he’d heard about his friend had been written by the dragon’s pillaged victims and didn’t portray Sulkiss very kindly.
“My name is Gwen, mighty dragon. I seek your consent to become my bonded familiar. Equal in every way, our powers combined. The Reaper is my bonded deity, and I offer you a joint share in that bond,” Gwen said. Her voice sounded like she was reading her words from a text, but they were all present and in the correct order. If the dragon agreed, the bond would be made.
“I agree, Gwen. I will accept your bond and the terms of which it was offered. I shall be proud to become your familiar. Let us treat our enemies as our playthings and revel in their demise.”
With that, a thick cloud of shadows engulfed both him and Gwen. Devon and Izzy could see shapes writhing inside the gloom, but nothing more. The dragon’s shadow shrank rapidly, and its bulk flowed into Gwen. There was a loud pop, and then Gwen screamed and fell to the ground. Devon’s arm shot out and held Izzy back from rushing into the murky depths of the shadows to help Gwen.
“She’s okay, Izz. The bonding between a witch and her familiar is a much more intense experience than our bonding was. The familiar can exist inside their bonded as well as out. This is an auspicious day. Not just for Gwen, either. Sulkiss is the last and mightiest of his kind.”
Gradually the shadows dissipated, revealing Gwen’s prone form spreadeagled on the ground. This time Devon didn’t stop Izzy rushing forward. In fact, they both raced over and knelt beside her. Devon placed his finger on her neck and sighed with relief when he felt her pulse and relaxed when he noticed the slight rise and fall of her chest. Poor Gwen had suffered over the last few days. Hopefully, this was the final milestone on her road to powerful magic.
Devon scanned the area around and found no trace of Sulkiss. He had seen his shadows flow into Gwen so he could make an educated guess about where his old friend was lurking—probably making himself comfortable in Gwen’s psyche. If Devon knew that dragon, he would emerge knowing a lot more than Devon about Earth realm after memorising everything in Gwen’s mind.
Leaving Izzy tending to Gwen, Devon walked into Sulkiss’ cave and set about retrieving all the dragon’s possessions. His friend would never forgive him if he left his library behind, not to mention the large heap of precious metals that he slept on. Devon also spent time collecting the dragon’s alchemy equipment, enchanted weapon collection, war trophies and stacks of metallic junk that he’d accumulated over the years. All disappeared into his pouch. Fortunately, Haven’s void storage allowed him to hoover up practically anything, and Abi would sort it all out neatly for him. Anything that wasn’t needed would get recycled by the mana-forge. With the sheer quantity of items that needed to be fabricated for the settlement, raw materials would be at a premium.
Sulkiss would need a much smaller bed now, but Devon would wager that he would still demand a nest of gold before he would sleep. He grinned to himself when he wondered how long the dragon would take to train Gwen to administer to his every whim. Then the reality struck him. This was Gwen. More likely, the dragon would soon be rolling over or fetching sticks to please her.
After Devon had collected all of Sulkiss’ possessions, he and Izzy struggled to sling Gwen over Jet’s saddle so that Devon could hold onto her and ride at the same time. Izzy jumped up behind him once more, and they set out towards Triana.