Dangerous, Diabolical

The magic gathered around Leofstan like a second skin. Whereas he remained staring at David, the glowing manifestation turned its head to face me. Upon his head stretched two stag-like antlers and for a moment, it was as if I forgot to exist as all thoughts fled my mind. Under the creature’s scrutiny, it felt as if my soul was laid bare and my very bones had forgotten what shape they were meant to take.

This was the creature I’d glimpsed within Leofstan before, and now I was certain it was a separate entity. As the presence’s mouth curled into a lopsided grin, he winked, turning back to rejoin his host’s point of interest. Goosebumps ran across my skin.

The force that Leo hit David with sent him spiralling into the darkness where his undead managed to catch him before he lost his footing. At the last second, I caught a little bit of magic that I stashed from Leo and with each attack he threw at David, I pulled a little more inside.

David did not stay down for long. He retaliated with almost equal abandon. Their folly ranged between shielding and striking, sending spells back and forth. Any of David’s creatures that tried to attack were quickly dealt with.

I continued to horde power, siphoning a slither from each of Leo’s attacks. The army David was controlling began to move less - instead one by one they fell to the ground as their puppeteer focused his concentration on the fight over directing them. Leo threw a bludgeoning attack that shattered through David’s shield and sent his staff clattering to the ground.

“You think you are stronger than me?” David yelled. The Dybbuk-possessed man has gained ground each time one of their spells had collided. Small tears had temporarily opened allowing more of the Dybbuk’s realm of power to flood the area with charge. Raising his hands slowly, both Leo and I realised too late that he’d been led into the spot on purpose. The trap ensnared the councilman in a blink.

With nowhere else to go; the circle underneath Leofstans feet activated, throwing up the iridescent wall of a shield and trapping him there. The opaque spell shimmered as Leo uselessly threw his hands against the bounds.

David threw back his head, laughing as he ran a hand over his face, before opening his arms wide and deepening his rejoicing.

Chest heaving, fixated on man before him, Leo began chanting under his breath with a new found agility. Nothing happened. Giving the wall another hit, he pushed his staff against it, launching into a tirade of practised words.

Then he just stopped; dropping his staff which clattered at his feet, and drew in a quick audible intake of breath. Leo’s fingertips twitched, as if still to process the staff that was no longer there. He stared to the floor, the staff rolling away, unblinking, mouth trying to form words.

His gaze followed it roll in my direction, until he looked up and winced when he noticed me still hanging upside down.

“Oh no.” Leo whispered. If I’d been human, I wouldn’t have heard him utter the words. He placed splayed fingertips on the shield. “Fuck!” He screamed so suddenly, even I jumped, before he resorted to banging the shield with renewed ferocity.

David had recovered from his laughing spree and glanced at the watch on his wrist, “Excellent, there’s still time.” He sighed dramatically, “I’ll come back for you.” He informed Leofstan, before heading my way.

“Celandine!” Leofstan shouted unnecessarily, “don’t panic!”

What? I wasn’t panicking. Was he? Should I start? Why would he yell that?

“It’s going to be okay!” He added, his voice cracking, the pitch akin to something I’d expect to be used if I was about meet my doom immediately. Yes, definitely start to panic. Additionally, as I tried to siphon more magic from him, it seemed that the circle trap he was confined in was also cutting off any chances of that happening.

Leo dropped to the ground, jerkily running his hands over the floor and containment wall around him, in between stealing desperate glances toward me.

Fortunately it was taking David’s creatures quite a while to figure out just what Leo had done to sabotage the circle around me and I felt like I should be telling Leo not to panic. After all, I was the one who would be saving him. All I needed was to wait for the right time, considering how easily David and overpowered Leo, I didn’t fancy going head to head with him on a battle of magic skills.

If only I could get a message to him, then maybe Leo would calm down enough to think rationally. Open and closing my palm to try and catch his attention, I hoped he’d notice and connect the dots. And it did, kind of. The shimmering figure that he’d summoned turned to study me, head tilted curiously whilst Leo contained to fret about separately.

The figure rose a single finger to his lips in the universal sign to ‘shush’, only to then point towards my hand. I narrowed my eyes, but stilled the motion, waiting to see just what it was up to. Apparently, that satisfied it, as I was given another cheeky wink before its form dispersed, evaporating to wherever it had come from. More questions than answers, David interrupted my line of thought with a rather annoyed shout.

“You imbeciles!” He accused the puppets, storming to inspect the runes himself. Shoving them aside, he began studying the patterns. Even though I couldn’t draw anymore magic from Leo, as David was stood only a few metres away, I began pooling the magic I’d stolen.

He moved left, then right, and I followed his movements with a hunters precision. It wouldn’t take much effort to reach him. Transformed, it was a given that I was longer than the space between us. With one giant push, he’d be in my grasp and I’d finally be able to pull him apart limb by limb.

All I needed was the perfect moment.

Cradling the slither of power that would unbind the tendrils holding my human form together, I continued to watch, and wait.

David finally spotted the first missing mark, muttering as he cut across his thumb and painted it back in with the blood. From across the room, Leo drew a sharp breath. There was only one mark left to find, and a half skeletal creature found it not long after.

“Dammit!” Leo mumbled in a guttural tone under his breath, fists clenched.

The chanted resumed, circle redrawn. David sighed a long exhale, trading his staff to retrieve the knife he’d brandished earlier.

Leo began to smash furiously against the binding wall once more. “Celandine!” He shouted, face white as a ghost, chest heaving.

David walked into the circle, and Leo’s hands dropped uselessly to his sides as he gave a low submit anguish.

It wasn’t his best moment. Seeing him all all defeated and hopeless looking wasn’t a side of him I’d seen before. Even when he was beaten down in the hotel, he’d still had an air of confidence that he’d get to the bottom of what was going on. Now all I could think of was the moment I was trapped in his memories and he’d slighted the dragon that had destroyed his family.

And now he was going to know I was one of them too.

I sighed. I hoped that didn’t make him wear a more pathetic expression. It wasn’t his best look. Speaking of which, it was time to put him out of his misery - and take the cue to save myself.

David grew closer knife catching the flickering candlelight. In a blink, I called forth my true eyes, sharpening my pupils into their reptilian focus, David hesitated, quickly double checking if what he’d just glanced was true. Slowly pushing out sharpened teeth, it was my time to grin. The smirk fell right off of his face as he stumbled back, dropping the knife.

“Impossible!” He cried.

The bones which stabilised my two-legged form began to crack, the snapping being the only noise to fill the cavern. With one almighty push, the skin earlier split on my cheek ripped open fully and I exploded from the captive human form. The tangled bones and muscles crunched their way into the desired shape of my natural form, leaving David perfectly snack sized.

At the same time he saw my open maw descending towards him, he scrambled around for the dagger, holding it up in front of him as a last line of defence. With a blood curdling screen he exploded wave after wave of magic, only for them to bounce harmless off of my scales into the chamber behind. He must have realised this was the end of the line for him; as did the creature he harboured inside. The Dybbuk tried to flee his mortal host, beginning to split away like a stringy glue.

A deep growl that emanated from the back of my throat. No prey would escape today and I snapped my jaw closed around the distorting body with a satisfying snick. Throwing back my head I greedily gulped the man down whole.

For a few worrying seconds he lodged. In and ideal world I would have loved to stay and relish at the meal; waiting until it lined my stomach, basking in the sunlight of a hot rock or taking a nice deep slumber in a comfy spot.

For a moment I rejoiced in how glorious it was to be big again, back on all fours. My gait felt balanced. Stretching my wings wide I delighted as the joints popped lazily. After all the years of hiding, to be able to move the itch on my back, sent my muscles humming appreciatively.

Finally, the lump in my throat shifted, and around the room, as if their strings were cut, the figures all dropped to the ground at once. It left only one man standing, Leo.

And the feeling of elation, contentment and the hum of pleasure evaporated. It left a big ugly cold chill that felt like the weight of the world had just landed. I pulled my limbs in close as I watched Leo warily.

He was as far away against the captive circle as he could manage, back pressed against the impassable wall. Mouth pressed in a tight line, he was completely pale, shoulders shaking. I attempt to move closer, only for him to try and scrabble back further. I halted.

My mouth began to water at the scent of his fear. Leo would make a very good snack. I hadn’t been able to enjoy the death of David… but Leo….

A thunderous rumble rolled from a distant tunnel, dark dust billowing into the chamber as brick collapsed. We both swivelled our heads in unison towards the sound as some of the candles were blown out. Instinctively ducking, another loud crack germinated dully above our heads. We froze, neither daring to breathe incase something else dislodged.

The walls began to groan. There was multiple tunnels leading out the area, and I was certain the one to the left was now a no-go. There was one straight in front of me, behind Leo, and that was the closest. The smaller the rocks began to escape the netting above us as the ground shook, a large one hitting my back, but not bruising too badly. It was almost as big as Leo.

His deep brown eyes met mine calmly. In that moment it felt as if we had all the time in the world and weren’t about to meet an early grave. I was large enough to negate the effects of the circle he was trapped in, and pull him to safety. But he was from the SPCC; and if he lived he’d know, and I could say goodbye to a long healthy life.

I’d killed his friend. Lied to him. And stolen his magic. Another fracture wracked from overhead, and we both ducked instinctively again.

As a dragon, I wouldn’t fit through the tunnel.

A visible crack had begun to form.

And as if I was letting someone else pilot my limbs, I launched towards Leofstan. He freaked, screaming audibly, hands held out; outstretching my claws, they wrapped tightly against his frame. Spine thin enough to snap. Muscles delicate enough to rip. And we tumbled out of the circle as I rapidly worked to snap my bones back into their smaller shape.

Rolling head over heels, I just about caught my feet as they returned to two; staggering into the back of Leo as he launched to his own feet. Turning, eyes wide, he stared at me as he stumbled to a stop. Whatever he was going to say was lost under the loud groan of the ceiling.

I shoved him, hard. “Run!” I yelled, dashing past, flinging out my hand to make sure he was following, and caught his fingertips. With no time to backtrack, I yanked. We ran like there was a mine about to collapse on us - only the sound of our breathing and feet slamming against the floor accompanied us, as the earth shook as rock tumbled behind us - water began trickling from the walls.

Enveloped in darkness, small rings of luminesce began to form a few meters in front of, fading from life as we passed them. Leo continued to create the rings and as my muscles began to burn, and lungs began to ache we pushed forward to each checkpoint, by some sort of miracle the passageway was sloping upwards until finally the smallest prick of light became visible.

The last few minutes were torturous; as if the exit signified our muscles could begin to ponder relaxing. Leofstan overtook me, but didn’t let go, dragging me with him.

A single light awaited us at the exit - another one of Leo’s summonings which remained as we escaped the threshold, collapsing to the ground, legs trembling and lungs on fire. Sweat dripped in pools and I fought the urge to vomit my stomach contents. Just in time, the shaft to the mine completed its collapse, clouds of dust covering the night sky and hiding the full moon.