Inquest Page 2

  “Come on, we’ve got seconds!” Skye said quickly.

  Jonas and Twist didn’t lose a moment, snatching up their luggage and rushing out of the room as the stranger began to moan. Twist felt the edges of a second shock wave of energy splash over him as he and the others ran down the hallway. They hurried down the stairs and came back to the lobby as Skye caught up with them.

  “Head for the docks,” she said, handing Jonas a piece of paper. “Jetty number seventeen. There’s a ship waiting for you.”

  A furious bellow shook the gilded ceiling and set the chandeliers swaying. Twist and the others all looked up in silent horror.

  “Go!” Skye yelled, shoving Jonas onward.

  A wave of orange light flew down her arm, taking the shape of a tiger as it grew and solidified; Kali took a mouthful of Jonas’s wrist and ran for the open front door of the hotel. Jonas struggled to keep up while Twist and Myra ran with him. The rain was still pouring freely from the sky outside, and Twist felt it fall like a solid weight on his shoulders when he ran out into it. His heart was racing, fueled by the unnatural terror he’d felt facing the dragon.

  They splashed out into the deep puddle that filled the plaza but only made it a few steps before a huge, long, shining-black, snakelike dragon streaked past them and then coiled and rose up from the ground before them like a cobra. The massive beast glowered down at them as they pulled to a hasty halt, its enormous face all sharp angles made of black, mirrorlike scales. Its red eyes glowed fiercely, and its long black whiskers danced in the air around pointed white fangs. Twist’s attention caught awkwardly on the tall top hat that still sat on its head between two long, black horns.

  “You’re wearing out your charm, little ones,” the dragon purred, its voice loud enough now to be heard easily over the din of the heavy rain.

  Myra shrieked in fright, clinging to Twist and trembling. Her fear poured into his Sight, sending his own heart racing even faster and making him feel slightly faint.

  “Kali, get him!” Jonas roared at the tiger.

  The tiger pulled back to jump, her teeth bared, while Jonas took Twist’s walking stick again and readied his own assault.

  Before either of them could act, a burst of black smoke shot out from the rain behind them and slammed into Jonas, throwing him down to his knees. Twist glanced back through the rain but found no cannons in the flooded plaza. He looked down to find Jonas kneeling in the rainwater.

  Vane had appeared just behind Jonas, holding his hand over Jonas’s mouth. The human-shaped fox looked up at the dragon with terror in his black eyes, holding Jonas no matter how he struggled. The rain poured over Vane’s pale skin and short but fluffy black hair and darkened the purple silk of his Japanese-style jacket almost to black. Kali paused and then snarled at Vane. Vane, however, only flinched against her reproach.

  “They’re sorry, Master!” Vane called up to the dragon. “Please, they don’t understand. Have mercy on them!” Twist noticed that the rest of the dragon’s lengthy form was curled around them all now in a wide but complete and coiling circle. Any chance for escape was most certainly lost.

  “Who the devil are you?” the dragon scoffed, its great shining brow frowning. Kali looked back and forth between the dragon and the fox, clearly at a total loss of what to do. Twist’s mind raced, searching for any way to use the distraction that Vane had become.

  “I’m just a kitsune, Master,” Vane called back.

  Jonas, meanwhile, had stopped struggling. Twist realized suddenly that Myra’s fear had been replaced with startled confusion as she too stared at Vane, which did very little to clear Twist’s own bewilderment.

  “What do you care about these men?” the dragon asked, sounding honestly curious.

  “They’re…” Vane muttered, looking between Jonas and Twist. “They’re my friends. Sort of.” Twist glanced at him, frowning. He couldn’t remember a single moment when Vane had seemed much like a friend to him. An ally perhaps, but a friend?

  “Sort of?” the dragon echoed, almost laughing. “That’s hardly the most glowing review.”

  Twist looked back toward the hotel, wondering if he could expect to see Skye and her magical bombs again anytime soon. Hope died instantly as he saw that the front double doors of the hotel were being held firmly closed by the end of the dragon’s tail. He could see the door shudder against an assault from within, but the dragon’s hold was firm.

  “It’s complicated,” Vane grumbled. “Please, Master, just don’t kill them. If they understood, I’m sure they never would have tried to run from you.”

  The dragon began to chuckle. Jonas pulled sharply at Vane’s hold on him, catching the fox’s attention. Vane released the hand over Jonas’s mouth, but Jonas remained quiet. The dragon leaned its massive head down closer to Jonas, peering at him with its glowing red eyes. Kali, standing at his side, let out a roar, but the dragon didn’t seem to notice. Jonas’s eyes were tightly closed.

  “Your sort-of-friend here doesn’t want you to die,” the dragon said almost softly to him. Twist felt Jonas’s contained fear sting at the buzz in his own neck. “I don’t actually want you to die, either. I want to take you to your trial, unharmed. Unless you’re suicidal, I believe we can come to some sort of arrangement.”

  “You want us to just surrender to you?” Jonas growled, his anger barely formed enough to hide his fear.

  “Yes, I do,” the dragon said smoothly. Its great, shining head turned, now looking down at Twist. “I don’t want to have to eat one of you, just to get the other to comply.”

  Jonas’s face turned to Twist like a shot, his eyes open and a clearly frightened gold. Twist’s limbs were shaking as he looked up into the monster’s face, and he knew it wasn’t because of the light chill that the pelting rain left on the air. Myra’s horror screamed through his Sight as she stared up at the beast’s face in dismay. Twist forced his eyes closed, pulled in a quick breath, and demanded clarity of his own mind.

  “You won’t eat either of us,” Twist said as firmly as he could, looking back up to the dragon. “Your brothers wouldn’t want you to.”

  “Ho, ho…” the dragon toned happily. “You have a good head on your shoulders, little one, and masterful control of it as well. If you could come to see that it’s useless to try to fly or fight and agree to simply come with me as I asked”—the dragon turned to look at Jonas now—“do you think your rash little friend would consent to follow you?”

  Vane looked imploringly at Jonas, while Kali only watched. Still struggling to keep his fear at bay, Twist stared back at Jonas silently. As the rain continued to beat down over them, Jonas held Twist’s gaze with a purple one of his own. Twist felt their minds shift closer together as Jonas’s Sight locked on to his. They had fought dragons before and won, but they would continue to be hunted even if they escaped this one. Knowing as little as they did about the beasts, it would be nearly impossible to find any real safety. At least this dragon found them charming.

  “All right,” Jonas muttered, dropping his eyes to the deep puddle around him. “We’ll go with you.”

  The dragon gave a pleased tone. Then, a subtle vibration grew quickly in the air, into a steady and incredible buzzing. Before Twist or anyone else could voice their surprise, the buzzing snapped, there was the distinct feeling of a shock wave of energy, and Twist’s vision blanked to pure white.

  When the whiteness faded and Twist’s vision returned, the first thing that he noticed was that it had stopped raining. He looked around to find that while he, Myra, Jonas, Vane, Kali, and the enormous black dragon hadn’t appeared to move, they were now all in a completely different place. Even some of the puddle had traveled with them, but it now drained away across the new ground.

  The cavern around them was massive and open, with a vaulted ceiling that was filled with shadows. The ground sloped away from the walls into a wide pool of still, sapphire-blue water that seemed to glow from deep below. Figures moved at the shore of the pool, while submersibl
e metal-and-glass ships floated just at the surface along wooden jetties. It took Twist a moment to realize that some of the figures in the cavern looked human except for their tails, horns, or wings, while others appeared to be wholly animal in appearance.

  “I thought you said you weren’t going to zap us!” Jonas growled up at the dragon.

  “What are you talking about?” the dragon asked as its long tail coiled back toward its head, as if retracting into it.

  “Did you just make everyone forget us?” Jonas asked sharply.

  The dragon shook its head, releasing a shower of mirrored black flecks that fell in a rain around the last of its lengthy tail. When the shower ceased, the dragon form had been replaced completely with the tall, thin, human form once again. The now man-shaped dragon adjusted his top hat and looked to Jonas as if confused.

  “No, I just brought you here,” he said in his much less impressive human voice.

  “See?” Vane said to Jonas, reaching out to slap at his arm with a hand. “Don’t be so rude to the nice dragon!” Twist gritted his teeth as the odd sensation rippled over him again.

  When Jonas turned a glare in Vane’s direction for the slap, Vane gave a hopeful smile to the man in the top hat. The stranger laughed heartily, and Twist stole a moment to listen to Myra’s now calmer emotions. She caught his eye, appearing deeply relieved.

  “Thank you, dear,” she murmured softly to him. Twist looked back at her, confused. “For surrendering,” Myra supplied earnestly.

  Twist couldn’t keep the surprise from his face. “You didn’t think we should fight?”

  Myra shook her head, a fresh wave of fear blooming in her spirit. “No, not against a dragon,” she said in a whisper, sending a chill rippling over Twist’s skin. “No matter how wonderful you might be, you’re human after all,” she added with light smile.

  While Twist struggled to reconcile both the compliment and the lack of faith he heard in Myra’s words, Kali gave a whimper, looking around her.

  “Good heavens,” Myra gasped in a whisper to Twist, peering at one of the nearby beasts that moved in the cavern. “Is that a gryphon?”

  Twist followed her gaze to find a lion that had the head of an eagle and a huge set of golden wings folded neatly on its back.

  “And look, dear,” Myra said, pointing to the side. “It’s a minotaur!”

  “Where the hell are we?” Jonas asked.

  “The Melbourne undersea docks,” their captor answered brightly. He turned and waved to a figure that was already hurrying toward them.

  “Vane,” Twist snapped, turning to the fox. “Where the bloody hell are we? What are all of these…creatures?”

  “Just where he said,” Vane answered. “Magical beings don’t always use human transport, you know.”

  As Twist listened, he noticed that the approaching figure, which their dragon had beckoned closer, appeared exactly the way Twist imagined a goblin might.

  “We have our own ways of getting around,” Vane went on as the goblin came to join them.

  The goblin paused, catching its breath. While it almost looked like a man, it had pale-green-colored skin, thin and knobby limbs, very long pointed ears, and bright-yellow eyes. It wore a simple shirt and trousers but had no shoes on its overlarge feet. Once it seemed to catch its breath from the run, it pulled its hunched form up to stand straight and gave the man in the top hat a salute.

  “Sir,” the goblin said in a sickly and garbled-sounding voice, “the ship is ready to sail as you instructed.”

  “Thank you, Bill,” the man said with a nod. “If you would please introduce me to our guests,” he added with a gesture to Twist and the others.

  Bill the goblin looked them over with seeming disdain. “This is my captain, known now as Zéphyrin,” Bill said proudly, with a gesture to him. Vane’s eyes widened in clear alarm, but his lips remained sealed.

  “Pleased to meet you,” Zéphyrin said, tipping his top hat. “Now, please, come with me,” he added, falling into an exaggerated, inviting gesture.

  Twist glanced at Vane and Kali. Kali seemed to be staring into the middle distance as if listening to an unheard voice. Vane glanced at Jonas with obvious concern. Zéphyrin, seeing that no one had moved yet, straightened up again with a light sigh.

  “Considering the fact that you seem very concerned with these men’s safety,” Zéphyrin began, speaking to Vane, “I have no issue with you coming along if you wish.”

  “Oh, thank you, Master,” Vane said, bowing his head. “I’d like to come.” Jonas grumbled slightly and crossed his arms.

  “And the familiar?” Zéphyrin asked, looking to Kali. Twist looked at him, startled that he knew her true nature so easily. “It’s not yours, is it?” he asked Jonas.

  “Kali, go back home,” Jonas said to the tiger.

  Kali looked up at him and very clearly shook her head.

  “Are you refusing to go back?” Jonas asked, looking bewildered.

  As if in response, she gave a soft, barking sound and sat down with purpose.

  “And we’re losing the tide…” Zéphyrin muttered.

  “Yes, sorry,” Vane gasped. He grabbed Jonas by the collar and shot Twist a meaningful look as he began to move forward. “We’re coming.”

  “Get off!” Jonas grumbled, struggling.

  As Twist and Myra followed along, Kali got back to her paws and matched her pace with Twist’s. When Twist glanced down at her, Kali looked up to meet his gaze.

  “You’re here so that Skye can watch over us, aren’t you?” he asked the tiger, speaking very softly.

  Kali looked away from him, but Twist caught the slightest of nods as she did.

  The group moved toward the water and past some the other travelers, while Twist tried very hard not to stare at any of them. A few glowing pixies flew about in the cavern, whispering to ears before flitting off again. Twist noticed a pair of giraffes with flaming whiskers having a pleasant-looking chat together while a centaur trotted by them. A rather large-bodied and small-headed troll looked down as they passed and gave Twist a disdainful grunt.

  Twist sighed and tried to keep his eyes on his feet, while Myra continued to look around and gasp on occasion. The group came to a long, wooden jetty that reached far out across the wide, glassy, dark, and deep pool at the center of the cavern. Glancing up, Twist spotted a small hatch-like opening protruding from the surface of the water at the end of the jetty. Looking down, Twist couldn’t make out much of the huge ship in the shadowy waters below.

  “This is a good idea, right?” he asked softly, not looking up.

  Jonas gave a sigh, watching Zéphyrin’s back as the dragon led them on. “It’s too late to fight it now,” he muttered back.

  The submersible turned out to be much larger than Twist had expected. It was long, flat, and generally followed the shape of a giant golden crocodile. From inside, Twist saw that the large open space in the snout served as a luxurious viewing salon that revealed the sea outside through tall window-like teeth of glass. Zéphyrin casually explained that the body of the massive beast contained the cabins and other internal sections of the ship, while the four short legs ended in navigational nodes, and the long tail that followed along behind housed the engines.

  The interior of the ship rivaled the opulence of the cruse airship that had taken Twist and Myra over the polar skies. The walls were inlaid with ornate decorative designs in varying colors of gleaming, brushed gold, copper, and brass. Glowing orbs of light—bright enough to be electric, except that there were no obvious wires or batteries—sat in elegant silver holders that hung from the ceilings of every hallway and cabin, spilling day-bright light over the lush emerald-and-azure carpeting that filled every floor Twist saw.

  Twist and his companions were left in the salon inside the mouth while Zéphyrin and Bill, the goblin, went off to attend to departure. Twist marveled at the huge, gold-lined plates of the glass wall that filled the enormous, two-story-high, grinning mouth at the front of the sh
ip. A second floor of the salon ended in a brass-balustraded balcony near the center of the space, connected to the first floor by a spiral stair to one side. Twist could see floor-to-ceiling bookcases beyond the huge gold chandelier that hung in the open space at the nose.

  On the first floor, he saw gaming tables, wide green velvet couches, and a single large globe of azure glass that stood directly under the chandelier. Peering at it, Twist spied a tiny golden crocodile floating above the surface of the glass, right beside the etching that looked just like Australia. Prowling around at the edges of the salon, attending to their own business, were very inhuman-looking things, and things that looked oddly like men.

  “Remind me to travel with these big lizards more often,” Jonas said, looking around at the luxury of the room with just as much wonder as Twist showed. “This one has style, I’ll give him that.”

  Twist smiled at Jonas’s new pet name for dragons. Considering the effect that hearing the word “dragon” had on Twist, he was grateful for his friend’s attempt to refrain from saying it.

  “It must be good to be an ancient,” Vane said, tossing himself lazily onto a nearby couch.

  “An ancient?” Myra asked curiously.

  “That’s right!” Vane gasped, sitting up sharply to look at them. “You still don’t know who he is, do you?” he asked urgently. Twist and the others looked back to him with questioning eyes. “He’s Zéphyrin!” Vane declared, as if it were an answer in itself. “The west wind. The river drinker. Papa Damballah the sky god. Hell, some say that once he was called Nzambi! He’s one of the oldest creatures that there has ever been, and you can trace him back through more than one religion, playing the part of the creator of the world.”