That night, as I slept, warm and safe and happy in the arms
of the man I loved, I found my way back in time to my great, great grandmother.
I stood beside her where she sat in a massive, ornate stone
chair. She wore bright gold jewelry around her throat and wrists, and little
else, her long hair like a thick, raven river around her shoulders.
Beside her, I was delighted to see Agmund sitting tall and
handsome beside Cuicatl where he belonged, with his cloak of bright feathers in
place.
I had the oddest feeling that a great deal of time had
passed since I was there last. I looked out at what the couple were watching.
Definitely, a lot of time had passed. The stadium that had been in the early
construction phase when I first met Quetzalcoatl and his wife was now in use,
and already showed some signs of wear, so it had been in use for many years.
What looked like a few thousand people screamed and hollered
and urged on their favorites, as the game played out below. Food sellers hawked
their wares up and down the aisles. It wasn't all that different from a UT game
at Texas stadium.
I grinned. In some ways, people just don’t change all that
much, no matter what time period or part of the world they lived in.
I watched the game, contentedly for a while, in the shadow
of Cuicatl’s massive stone throne. She hadn't noticed that I was there yet. I
decided to just let her watch the game. I remembered Agmund saying that there
was no higher purpose than to play, since without joy, what was the point of
life? Let them have their fun. I’d say my hellos when the game was over.
The athletes wore nothing but tiny loincloths, showing off
beautifully fit bodies, their thick black hair braided and bound out of the
way. They ran and bounced the ball with every body part but their hands. It was
sort of a combination of soccer and basketball from what I could tell. The high,
vertical goal was barely bigger than the ball, though. It looked crazy hard to
hit.
I saw two near misses that had the crowd gasping in unison. Then,
finally, one unusually tall, beautifully built man practically ran up the
barely tilted wall like it was flat ground, a teammate passed him the ball. I
held my breath along with everyone else, and ... Bam! He smacked that ball with
an elbow right through that crazy difficult goal.
The crowd went crazy jumping up and down and making so much
noise, it washed over us in a wave.
With an ear-to-ear grin, I looked over at Cuicatl, expecting
to see her cheering like the rest.
Her hand was over her mouth in an expression of absolute
horror.
I blinked. My smile faded. Why was my great, great
grandmother upset? Did she have some kind of huge bet on the other team
winning?
I looked over at Agmund. He had a satisfied smile on his
face, like nothing I’d ever seen before. That expression had a cat that ate the
canary smugness that just didn’t seem to fit what I knew about my great, great
grandfather.
My first thought was to ask either Cuicatl or Agmund what
was going on, but some instinct held me back. Maybe if I just watched a little
more, I’d understand.
The game went on for a bit longer, but no one even came
close to scoring another goal. It was clear, when a man in a tall, feathered
headdress walked out and dropped a huge red flower to signal the end of the
game, exactly who had won.
The winning team didn’t seem nearly as jubilant as I would
have expected. They all reached out reverently one by one to touch the tall man
who had scored the goal. The losing team all at once, dropped to their knees
and covered their faces in front of the man.
Wow. I've heard of worshiping sports heroes, but these guys
really went all the way.
The tall hero of the day walked, head high, to the end of
the stadium where the Aztec god and goddess sat with the best view of all. He
climbed the steep steps to stand in front of us.
Cuicatl and Agmund both stood. The boisterous crowd went
silent.
“Well done!” Agmund said. “It pleases me immensely that you
all compete for this honor with such zeal!” He laughed, as if at some marvelous
private joke.
I heard his voice echo back from the other side of the
stadium. Agmund’s stadium design clearly included awesome acoustics. Everyone
in the stadium could hear him.
The dragon in the feathered cloak walked forward and laid
his hands on the man’s shoulders. Compared to the tall, Norwegian dragon, the
Aztec champion looked a lot shorter than he did standing next to his teammates.
“You have proven yourself most worthy of all this day!”
“Thank you, oh great one.” The handsome man’s chin trembled,
and he blinked a few times, emotion threatening to overwhelm him. He knelt
down, covered his eyes, then held his hands upward to Agmund. “For all of
eternity, I will cherish this honor.”
Agmund chuckled darkly. “Of course you will.”
The man laid face up on the stone front of the dais in front
of where the two stone thrones sat, in full view of the entire stadium.
Cuicatl knelt next to the champion, her face filled with
sadness. “You will feel no pain. I promise you.” She shifted into scaly
humanoid form. It was the first time I’d seen her in her humanoid form. Her
vivid, shimmering purple wing feathers ran down her back and under her arms.
They looked a lot like a feathered cloak. I could see where the feathered cloak
style for royalty came from.
The gold necklace around her neck looked more like a collar
on the larger form. The ornate design actually aimed spikes toward the
shimmering iridescent purple scales on her neck, spikes that glowed softly. I’d
seen that glow before somewhere.
It took me a moment to remember where. I’d seen it on the
weapons that the Georgians used to try to kill Vlad, weapons that could pierce
dragon scales.
With a twist in my guts, I recognized that necklace as a
pretty, but very deadly, form of slave collar. If Cuicatl shifted to her
massive panther/eagle battle form, those spikes would kill her. She could
attain only two forms while wearing it, human and scaly humanoid, or what I
tended to think of as normal, everyday dragon form.
I swallowed. And took another quiet step back into the
shadows behind the thrones.
Agmund would never do that to Cuicatl.
That wasn't Agmund.
Cuicatl popped claws on one hand, and gently inserted one,
like I would a hypodermic needle, into the crook of the ball game champion’s
arm.
His body went limp, and his eyes, while still open, lost
focus. The quiver in his chin that the stoic champion had been unable to
control, relaxed. His beautifully toned body lay stretched out on the stone as
if comfortably sunning himself.
Cuicatl put a hand on the champion’s shoulder. To those
watching, it might look as if she was holding him down, but the courage of the champion made that unnecessary. She was
simply offering him comfort.
The man who wasn't Agmund shifted to his normal humanoid
dragon form.
He stepped forward with a fanged smile that made me wonder
how I EVER could have mistaken that man for my jovial great, great grandfather.
The dragon with Agmund’s face put one foot on either side of the champion’s
legs and knelt down astride him.
His hand had the normal sharp, but venomless claws that all
dragons, other than the Aztec Purples, had. He smashed his hand directly
through the champion’s rib bones, and ripped free the man’s still beating
heart.
I couldn't tear my eyes away from the champion’s face. He
was alive and conscious for a few seconds, long enough to see the dragon that
had ripped away his life stand and hold aloft his beating heart for the
thunderously cheering crowd to see. Long enough to watch as the monster that
had killed him took a bite from his heart.
The Agmund-faced beast ripped into the lump of still
wiggling muscle with a dragon’s sharp teeth, relishing the gushing scarlet
blood that dripped down his chin, like the juice of a delicious fruit.
My stomach heaved. I covered my mouth and fought the urge to
vomit. I couldn't help but make a gagging sound. The sound of the crowd would
have covered for me, if not for the perfect acoustics.
Cuicatl’s head whipped round. Her catlike eyes narrowed as
she struggled to make out my shadowy form. “Daughter of my daughter,” she
whispered. “You have been gone for a century. You should not have come back. I
am ashamed for you to see what I have become. You gave me my freedom, but I was
unable to keep it.”
“Who is that?” I asked her.
The blood-soaked monster that looked like Agmund turned
around to face me, clearly having no trouble seeing me.
Cuicatl stood, and introduced us formally, her eyes on her
toes. “This is Smoking Mirror, the Obsidian One, the dark reflection of the one
I once loved. He is my husband now.”
“The dark mirror of the benevolent Quetzelcoatl,” I said
softly, as all the dots connected in my brain. Agmund’s evil twin. Alrek? Had I invited this horror into my house? Had
I just had Christmas dinner with this monster? Could Agmund have more than one
twin brother? “Alrek?”
“Yes, I am Alrek.” He bowed, while licking the blood from
his chin. “And you need no introduction, since my stupid wife has already given
away who you are, daughter of our daughter. It seems that our mating WILL
eventually produce offspring. Although I would prefer sons, if my children gain
the ability to travel in time, as well as claws, then my line will prove truly
powerful beyond all others. Welcome, future child of my line.”
I lifted my head and wrinkled my nose. “I’m no child of
yours, for which I am very thankful. Agmund was my ancestor. What have you done
with him?” I growled.
“I killed him, of course,” Alrek said with a satisfied smile
on his blood-smeared face. “Stabbed him in the back as soon as he told me he’d
fathered a child with claws that could paralyze or kill. The idiot actually
seemed surprised to see my blade come out of his chest. Of course, I couldn't allow his children to have an ability
that mine didn’t. That would make his line more powerful than mine.”
I blinked tears for the laughing god who asked that his
worshipers release butterflies in his honor, not give him the beating hearts
of their champions. Then, the anger hit. This monster was raping my great great grandmother regularly to try to make babies with claws. I popped out my own claws. “Release
Cuicatl.”
Alrek laughed, really laughed, a lot. Like the time when I told
Agmund that Fafnir was a wise mentor. He laughed until he had to set down the heart and hold his sides. “Do you threaten me, fledgling?” he chuckled again,
as if that were the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
It was insulting. I’d fought giant robots and flame-throwing
super-villains. I could handle an elder dragon. Sure. Yeah.
Okay, not a chance. But I wasn't going to let him keep
Cuicatl, the woman who looked and smelled like my mother, as his personal sex
slave, and do nothing. “Yes,” I said softly. “I do threaten you. Take that
collar off of her and Let. Her. Go.”
Cuicatl looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “You
must not defy him, child. He can kill you before you ever even have a chance to be
born.”
Alrek casually back-handed my great, great grandmother in
the face. “Silence, female. At least this one shows some spirit.”
Cuicatl fell backward onto the steep stone steps and rolled
down a few steps, grunting with the pain.
Alrek’s burning red eyes narrowed on me. “How can you be my
brother’s descendant? I killed his child.”
I swallowed. If I wasn't careful about what I said, I could
get my little great-grandmother killed. “Maybe Agmund is not as dead as you
think.” I’m a terrible liar. I never regretted that so much as now.
Alrek rolled his eyes. “I ate my brother’s heart, chopped him
up into pieces and buried him in different parts of the jungle.”
“There are powerful magics that can bring a dragon back even
from beyond death,” I said truthfully. “Merlin knows these magics.”
“The wizard who travels in time,” Alrek said, thoughtfully.
“Merlin’s power sent me back in time.” That was sort of
true. “You have no idea what I am capable of.” That was true, too, thank
goodness. “Now, set Cuicatl free.”
“Or what?” Alrek said, with a mischievous smile.
Cuicatl had crawled back up to the dais, but she stayed on
her hands and knees, eyes on the stone floor in shame as I spat reckless defiance in the face of her captor.
“Or I will cripple you,” I said softly, thinking of Alrek’s
limp. It’s possible that he got that limp here today. Likely even. I saved my
great grandmother’s life last time I was here. I wasn't just coming back by
chance. Something was drawing me back exactly when I was really needed. It had
to have been Cuicatl who drew me back today. I didn’t know why she needed me so
badly, but I would do whatever I could for her. “Today, you will be crippled
for life, if you do not free Cuicatl.”
Faster than I could react, Alrek's right hand, coated in the
still warm blood of the human champion, flew out and grabbed me by the throat.
He lifted me right off my feet.
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even gasp or choke or try to
breathe. My mouth opened wide, trying for air, but nothing came. His grip all
but crushed my neck.
“Merlin is a fool to send a fledgling back in time to try to
change what has already been written. My line will destroy his one day, along
with all the inferior dragon lines with only one power. That’s what he’s trying
to prevent, isn't it? Once I have what I need from them, I will destroy all
other clans. Only my descendants will continue. One day, all dragons will be
Obsidian.”
I clawed desperately at the hand holding me, and was
surprised when I actually scratched through the dark shimmering scales to draw
blood. My claws were a combination of the unmatched strength of the Silver
clan, and the powerful venom of the Aztec Purples. It was ironic really. I was
exactly what this maniac was trying to build, a dragon with the powers of
multiple clans combined.
His arm dropped limply by his side.
I dropped in a little heap, and tried to remember what air
felt like through the burning in my throat. I coughed and coughed, and nearly
threw up.
He looked alarmed for a second or two, then chuckled again.
“This will heal in minutes. You don’t even know how to use the venom to full
affect.”
I swiped toward his legs, weakly.
He stepped back a few feet, almost casually. He sighed. “I
tire of this game. I thought, perhaps, you might prove a worthy opponent. But you
forget, little fledgling. I have the blood of Eric the Red in my veins.” He
started inhaling hugely, like a kid about to blow out birthday candles.
Oh, shit. Reds breathe fire.
I was sort of fire resistant, but only a full coat of silver
scales like my grandmother had, charged with the power of lightning, could
withstand a direct blast of Red dragon flame.
I curled in a tiny ball, and thought, Now would be a really good time to wake up.
But instead of a blowtorch blast, Alrek’s mouth let out a
scream.
Cuicatl had bitten him hard on the ankle. She may have given
up on fighting for herself, but she would never just watch that monster kill me
and do nothing. Her fangs didn’t pierce, but she bit hard enough to make him
hurt. She tried to claw him, too, but her claws were black, not silver, not
hard enough to pierce his scales.
He kicked her in the face.
I heard her cheekbone snap, but she just shook her head and
bit him again.
I leaped to help her, without bothering to get to my feet. My
silver claws ripped a long gash in Alrek’s leg scales.
Rage. My great, great grandmother had told me the key to the
intensity of the claw venom was rage. I hadn't been pissed off enough when I
clawed Alrek’s hand to do any real damage. The horrible things he’d done hadn't
really sunk in yet in my mind, so I wasn't angry enough.
Oh, but Cuicatl was. She had rage to spare.
She sank her claws into Alrek’s leg muscle through the slash
I’d made, and ripped for all she was worth. Her yellow cat eyes blazed fierce,
angry red in the center with berserk hatred for the man who had murdered her
husband and her child, imprisoned her and raped her repeatedly. “You will not harm
any more of my family!!”
Alrek fell.
Cuicatl ripped his leg open from knee to ankle. The venom from her claws made the flesh swell with huge blisters that oozed sluggish black blood with a
foul smell.
Alrek's eyes widened. His pupils expanded, the darkness rapidly swallowing
his own red glow. For a moment, it looked like he might lose consciousness.
Then Alrek shook his head, roared, and shifted to battle
form. A sinuous dragon’s body as long as a freight train car filled the dais.
He curled clear around the stone thrones and surrounded us in his coils. He
blinked his softball-sized reptilian eyes. They gained back their focus, and
immediately honed in on the dragon who had hurt him.
The collar on Cuicatl’s neck trapped her in her far smaller,
weaker humanoid form. She faced the massive dragon, with teeth as long as her
forearm, head high with the feathered cloak of her wings giving her a noble
aspect. “I do not fear you. I will never fear you again.”
“No, you won’t, you barbaric little whore.” Alrek’s one
functional hand lashed out. He pierced through her chest scales with his claws
and shattered her ribs with the unmatched power of an elder dragon, as easily
as his humanoid dragon form had pierced the chest of the human champion.
He ripped Cuicatl’s beating heart from her body.
She smiled at him triumphantly as she collapsed to her knees.
Blood bubbled through her mouth as she said with her last breath, “I carry your
son in my belly.” She dropped limply to the stone beside the dead champion. Her
lifeblood spread in a wide pool, mixing with the human’s.
“NOOOOO!!!” Alrek howled, as the dragon’s heart he held in
his hand beat once more, then stopped forever, taking his dream of a powerful son with it.
“No!” I whispered, weeping for Cuicatl, my courageous great,
great grandmother who had died a thousand years ago, fighting to protect me. Her
desperation to be free had called me back to her.
Now, she was free.
The morning light of the modern world dragged me back to my
own time, still weeping bitterly.
