Wizard Ch. 21

John goes from the hunted to the hunter -- until the hunter realized just how scary what he's hunting really is!

You can find Chapter 20 here, Chapter 1 here, and the story (Enchanted) that started it all here

The main tunnel of the cavern remained dry as it burrowed into the mountain. John tried not to think of the sheer weight of the stone above and around them. The cave seemed ancient and sturdy but a cave-in would crush them all in less time than it took to realize it was happening. No amount of magic or infernal intervention could save them.

He shook the though from his head as a warm draft rose out of the depths. It carried a musky odor with it.

"That's different," Roxanne muttered.

They kept moving, falling silent as the air grew so warm it became stifling. Sweat beaded on their faces. A light in the darkness ahead boded an end to the passage.

"The light at the end of the tunnel," Zynga said with a snicker.

"That amuses you?" Roxanne asked

"It does," Zynga said. "So many jokes you wouldn't understand."

"I'd like to," she responded.

"Yes, well, I can't just explain them... you'd have to see what I've seen and go where I've gone."

"So maybe sometime you can take me there."

Zynga stared at Roxanne's back in surprise. Roxanne turned her head enough to offer her a smile and said, "I told you that you ruined me."

Zynga's lips twisted up in a grin. If Roxanne had come to terms with her true form already--

"Enough," John said, forcing Zynga and Roxanne back to the present. "No distractions, however pleasant you might find them."

"Sorry, milord," Roxanne mumbled.

The light grew brighter and soon they saw the end of the tunnel. It opened into midway up the wall of a large cavern. Broken nubs of stalactites dotted the ceiling. A glimmer in places, especially to the right, gave evidence of water on the ceiling and walls.

They approached the opening as stealthily as possible and slowly found themselves looking down a broad ramp made of rocks, packed with gravel and dirt. The egg shaped room had a pool that flowed in a river on the right into the mountain, no doubt heading toward the other passage they'd found that these dragonkin used as a latrine.

Gathered near it was a smooth shelf of rock where a score of leathery pods sat around a pile of stones. Two draconians moved among them, touching and rotating the pods and tending to them. The pods would shiver and throb in response.

"Saints protect us!" Helleen whispered as she looked to the left.

The left side of the room cavern was higher than the right. Large braziers flanked crude stairs that had been carved into the rock. The stairs rose less than a dozen feet to a flat shelf of rock with more braziers spread evenly around its edge. At the top of it knelt a nude woman. A nude woman with blond hair and a youthful but shapely figure they all remembered from Hawk Hollow: Arika.

Beyond Arika was a creature John had only seen in books. It towered over Arika with one might clawed hand raised. The hand was as big as the woman was.

"Master, I failed you," Arika pleaded. "Give me another chance. I won't underestimate them again! We will destroy them this time, not capture. I won't risk the wizard's power again."

"You have failed me," the dragon replied, his voice so deep and powerful it seemed to come from the rocks around them as much as it did from the terrible creature.

"Look at all the gold!" Roxanne hissed and pointed at the stacks of smelted ingots of gold. There were sacks setting next to it, with one open enough to reveal the shimmer of golden coins inside of it.

The dragon caught her in its hand and lifted her off the ground. It brought her up closer to its carriage sized head and said, "I intend to destroy you when my forces are replenished and promote another. Until then you may try to prove yourself worthy... perhaps I will only return you to the lesser ranks if you please me."

"Yes, Master!" she wheezed in the crushing grip.

He tossed her away, sending her flying through the air and rolling down the steps. She cried out and gasped but eventually rose to her hands and knees at the bottom."Thank you, Master!"

"How do we fight that?" Helleen hissed.

"Did you see when it rose up?" Artesia said. "It's belly looked... different."

"Arika is coming, back up," John warned the others.

"Back up where?" Zynga wondered.

"Up the tunnel a bit, I'll silence it so we can capture here."

Zynga grinned. "I should never have doubted you, Master."

John ignored her and retreated with the others. They split into two groups, one along either side of the passage, and john readied his spell until Arika entered the tunnel and began to walk along it. Her shoulders rose, her chest thrust out, and her demeanor changed from one terrified and cowed to a woman that was confident in herself. She showed no concern for lack of modesty.

John cast his spell and Arika almost missed a step. Her mouth opened but no sound came out. She twisted around, looking behind her, and then turned again to see all of them charging down the passage toward her. She turned again and started to run. Her bare feet slipped, slowing her a moment. Two steps later she was thrown to the ground as Sasha landed on top of her.

The rest of them arrived while Sasha had a paw on Arika's back, her claws extended. Her jaws were wrapped around the woman's neck from the back, her teeth poking into her skin and letting her know without any sound what her fate would be if she resisted. Jennaca tied her arms behind her back and then hobbled her ankles together before tapping Sasha and motioning for the tiger to get off of Arika.

Helleen and Roxanne picked the woman up and brought her back up the tunnel out of the globe of magical silence. John left his spell in place for now in case to block any noises they might make. Arika might yet be foolish enough to cry out.

The twins twisted her around and sat her down with her back against the wall. Arika looked up at them, eyes darting from one face to the next until she saw John step up behind them.

"John!" she gasped.

John held his spear in his hand and then slowly knelt down to one knee. He stared into the woman's face and studied her. He was certain of the fear he saw, but there was more going on. He sent his tendrils of magic into her. She squirmed a moment and then sighed and opened her mouth, almost as though she could see them.

"What--" he began to ask.

She shuddered as his magic dove into her and consumed her. She didn't fight him this time, she welcome his dark touch and even let out a sigh of longing as it touched her in places she did not know she had.

"Why?" John asked.

"Why what?" Roxanne wondered.

John ignored her and watched Arika. Her could feel her emotions more clearly now. Fear was still strong, but there was relief. Her lust was growing by the second, of course, but he did his best to lock that in place so she didn't lose herself in it.

Arika hung her head. "I haven't been able to get you out of my head," she mumbled. Ever since I saw you in the inn and felt your power... I got away, but I wanted to go back so badly. You did something to me... you made me feel things I've never felt. Made me want things I didn't know existed, let alone that I could want."

"But you came here instead," John said.

"She's lying," Artesia declared.

John held up a hand to silence his woman-at-arms.

"I... this is what I know. Dargoth is... he is my Master. My sire. My everything. Or I thought he was. Now, with you... I feel there is so much more I never even knew about."

"Your sire?" John asked. "You don't like anything like him... you're not a dragon."

"Untie me and I'll show you," she said.

Artesia barked out a laugh.

"Maybe later," John said.

"All the others you killed, they were my kin," she said. "I was once like them."

"Brothers and sisters?" Jennaca gasped.

"Not... exactly."

Jennaca's hand went to her mouth. "Those pods... are those eggs? Dragon eggs? Are the dragonkin just baby dragons after all?"

"No," she said and shook her head. "They are scales."

"Scales?"

Arika looked to John. "John... help me."

He could feel her confusion and fear. He tilted his head a little and asked, "Help you with what?"

"Help me survive! I... I don't want this anymore. Dargoth is going to... he's going to kill me."

"We heard," John said. "Then you came toward us so we retreated."

She sighed. "I don't want to die. I've only just been alive, it seems. Or alive like this."

"What do you mean?" John asked.

"I... promise you'll protect me. Promise me you'll take me with you."

"No," John said.

She gasped. Tears shimmered in her eyes.

"I'm not like your sire, but you've tricked us and then proven you were our enemy. Why should I believe you now?"

Tears ran down her cheeks. "I'm doomed."

"I feel your terror. Tell me what I want to know and I'll decide then what to do with you," John said.

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. He'll kill you all. Then he'll kill me too. I was a fool to think I could run. I'm bound to him for as long as I live."

"As long as you live, or as long as he lives?"

She looked up at him. "What?"

John searched her brown eyes and saw gold flecks in them. "If Dargoth dies, are you still bound to him?"

"I... I don't know. I would think not, but how would he die?"

"We came here to kill him," John said.

She looked at John and all of the women standing around him. She gawked for a moment and then fought back her shock. "But... he's a dragon! Dargoth is mighty! He knows the ancient magics of creation. He can't be killed."

"I've never killed a dragon," John said, "but I know they can be killed."

"That's right," Jennaca said. "I've some friends who have slain a few of them."

Arika stared at Jennaca before reaching a decision and turning back to John. "All right. If you fail, I will die anyway. What does it matter?"

"That's the spirit," Zynga cheered her on.

"Hush," Roxanne said to the imp.

"I was created, like those pods you saw. Dargoth learned the ancient magic that created the Splisskin, but he changed it. He made it so that the kin he creates are bound to him. We-- they-- know only to serve him. They are little better than animals.

"I did something, I have no idea what, that impressed my Sire. He put more of his magic into me and I rose to walk on two feet. I was his first sergeant. I could think for myself then and I told him we should get to know the humans in the mountains more. Understand them and... and use them, rather than just feeding on them."

"Sergeant? We call them draconians," Helleen said.

Arika nodded. "I've heard that. He made more of draconians from the dragonkin to replace me. For me he invested more power and sent me to live amongst them. I was a child though and he made me look like one. I learned about your people. I learned of your wants and your weakness. I learned how we could capture and use your people. Make them work for us... and I even convinced him that he should have a proper home and not a hole in the ground."

"Wow," Helleen said when Arika fell silent.

Arika risked a glance at her and then returned her attention to John. "After I met your group in Rock Haven and returned to him, Dargoth gifted me with another promotion. He made me like I am now. I am stronger, smarter, and appear as I do to be most appealing to your people. But with that intelligence I understand more. I feel for your people. I could dismiss it before but now that I've met you-- all of you-- I can't deny the feelings and thoughts I've had. I... I don't want to do this anymore.

"I had to bide my time though," she continued. "I am bound to him, you see. That's what I was doing in Hawk Hollow, I was trying to convince them all to work together. If they continue to do as he bids, I could keep him from hurting more of them. I didn't want them to get hurt. I... I'd already been the cause of too much hurt."

Artesia snorted.

"It's all true," Arika insisted and then sighed. "I understand why you wouldn't believe me though. Especially now that I am your prisoner."

"I do sense truth in you," John said. "But there are many conflicting emotions in you."

"I'm terrified, can you sense that?"

John smirked. "I can. What do you fear?"

"I fear Dargoth," she said. "I've disappointed him and, in his opinion, squandered the gifts he gave me. I fear you, John. All of you, really. I fear you'll ignore my pleas."

She paused to take a deep breath. She let it out and admitted, "Above all, I'm afraid to die. I've only just begun to discover what it means to be alive. To think and be free and-- well, okay, I've never been truly free, but still. I want to feel the way you make me feel, John. I want to explore and see new things. I want to eat proper food, not just stews and freshly filled carcasses. I want what any person wants. The right to live and prove themselves worthy of living. To make a mark on the world, even if it's only a tiny one."

Jennaca nodded and said, "I believe her. I'll vouch for her and keep an eye on her."

John glanced at Jennaca and smiled. "You're so kind and good-natured it's almost too much sometimes, you know?"

Jennaca laughed. "No, I guess I don't. My heart tells me this is the right thing to do."

"I think it's a bad idea," Artesia said.

"I would expect no less from you," John said with a chuckle.

"You don't want my counsel?" Artesia bristled.

"I do want it," John said. "But I knew what you would give."

Artesia stepped up next to John and looked down on the naked woman. "You want to impress me, tell me how we kill it."

"Kill my sire?" Arika gasped.

"Yes."

She shook her head. "I... can't imagine such a thing. He... he's so powerful! He created me."

Artesia scowled. "My position stands."

"Wait!" Arika pleaded. "I... I don't know it would help but, his belly. Each of his children are grown from a scale he must pull out. We are created of his flesh. There are twenty fresh holes for his latest brood. There are other scales that are fresh as well. They are softer and more vulnerable. If... it is possible at all, that's his only weakness."

John turned to Artesia and lifted one eyebrow.

She nodded. "I did notice the dragon's belly looked different. Discolored, almost."

"That is where he tore out his own scales," she said.

"All right, but I don't trust her to fight with us."

"No," John agreed. "More than that, there will be a heavy chain on your freedom, Arika. When we defeat your sire I will require your service."

Arika looked around at the women with John. She nodded eagerly. "You will have it! I will make whatever pledge you require!"

"Oh, there's more to it than a pledge," John warned her. "You will be bound to be my an infernal contract. One year of service."

"I... don't really know what that is. Infernal, you mean like a contract with a demon?"

"Yes," John said. He glanced at Zynga and Zynga waved at the bound woman. "Zynga is my familiar, she's an imp. She's infernal, and so is a part of me."

"Oh!" Arika said. She looked around for a moment and then nodded. "I understand. All right, I will do that. What if I want more than one year of service?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, one year at a time."

Jennaca winked at her and whispered, "Don't worry, you will."

John frowned at Jennaca and received a stuck out tongue in response.

"All right, if that's all well and done, how are we going to do this?" Roxanne asked.

John nodded. "Arika, you're going to remain here. Bound as you are."

"I could slip these ropes," she said. "They're not doing any good and I'm telling you this so you trust me."

They turned on Jennaca.

"I tied them good! She can't get out of those, not without a long time working them," the huntress protested.

John looked back at Arika. "When you escaped us in Hawk Hollow you lost your clothes."

Arika nodded. "I've been a draconian and a dragonkin. I can take the form of either if I need to. Either one would be enough to break these ropes and escape, if I wanted."

"Shapeshifter," Jennaca breathed. "Oh... yes, you are definitely sticking with us!"

John chuckled and didn't need to turn to see Artesia rolling her eyes. "Then consider this a test of faith in you. When we return I expect those ropes to still be tight."

Arika bowed her head. "Yes... Master?"

John smiled. "Not yet, but soon."

"If we survive," Roxanne muttered.

"We'll survive," Zynga said as a brown cloak shimmered into existence briefly on her back and covered her wings. "We're too pretty to die."