Page 88 of Catastrophe

“I don’t have bone pointing through my skin right now. You are the fool to think telling me this is going to change my mind. I left my family to follow Fafnir. I killed my girlfriend to create the perfect weapon for him to defeat his enemy and I am aiding hunters. I am not on your side and I never will be. I know what I’ve chosen and I’m prepared for the benefits. Because that’s what I will get. Fafnir has promised me more than anyone ever has, and I want it.”

I lay limply on the bed, my limbs chained and shaking, knowing she was right. She would never turn to our side, but gave her this parting remark, “He’s promised you more because it’s unachievable. You won’t ever be a dragon.”

I didn’t know how right I was.

But like the fool I accused her of being, she replied, “We’ll see about that.”

I hissed as I woke up. My body throbbed and my mind struggled to understand why. I tried to shift and searing pain shot down my leg and I bit down on my lip to stop from screaming.

My eyes turned to the person next to me and I blinked a few times, assuming I was seeing things, but he remained the same, frightened, blackened and dirty witch that had helped us. Laurence.

“I thought you were dead,” I said in a low, pained voice. “Charlie said you were dead. Be gone, spirit.”

“I’m not dead yet,” he told me in a dull, detached voice. “But we are about to be.”

I certainly felt like I was about to die. But I looked at my arms and legs and noticed there wasn’t a large chain around them any longer. However, I couldn’t move easily. The bone and blood were still visible on my calf and my head tilted to one side, squashed against the wooden lid of a box.

“What do you mean? Where are we?” I asked Laurence.

“We are in a crate on the stage in the hunter compound. They are going to murder us. He kept demanding that I shift, but I can’t shift. I’m not a dragon.”

“What?” I asked, shocked. He thought it was Laurence that was the dragon? Does he know it’s not now? “Did you tell him it was Charlie?”

He didn’t answer me. Instead, he turned to the sound of footsteps walking past us, across the platform. I could see just enough through the small slits to know that we were, in fact, surrounded by hundreds of hunters. The crowd quieted as a voice boomed out across the courtyard.

“Friends. Colleagues. Soldiers. We’re gathered here for a demonstration of our newest weapon. Many of you have seen the news. When a dragon was sighted flying across the skies of Sweden, like the true warriors you are, you came to fight, to bring it down on its tirade of terror. And yet, despite the numbers here, the opportunities, you followed orders not to touch it. Understandably frustrated, you still respected the leadership of the hunters and listened because you know that we have a greater purpose in mind.”

“We brought Darren into the leadership fold only a few weeks ago, and I know many of you have also questioned this. You don’t know him and he has changed things in our community quickly. He ordered the capture of an island of witches that had all gone into hiding when usually such a mission would have been a massacre. He also introduced supernatural colleagues who have produced the shields which protect us now while we all meet, and keep the supernaturals in our prison powerless.

It’s been a difficult transition, but you have been loyal, patient and obedient. Everything we expect from our hunters. Today we explain the reason for these changes and demonstrate the need for such within our walls. But first, a little history. We spent our existence as an organization working in isolation to defeat the supernaturals. We weren’t recognized as one until the second world war where we met others and formed a network across the globe of humans who actively hunted supernaturals.

Decades ago a man spoke at a proposal meeting of a project which was laughable. The seniors almost jeered him from the room. But his idea had merit, and was based on a stone which he’d found here in Sweden. He was a scientist and explained that a myth around Sigurd and Fafnir could be true and that the dragon could be brought back to life, and would be, by witches. But this dragon could be harnessed for our own purposes.

It was a revolutionary idea, and the result has been immense. It turned the organization on its head with innovations in weapons, medicine, knowledge, and more. We are a better organization because of this project. There’s no denying that. And now to introduce the work of his ancestor. Darren Jensen.”

There was a polite applause that quickly died down. “Thank you for the warm welcome. Today we welcome a new age. Today, I introduce just some of the work my ancestor began years ago, which has been so successfully taken on and developed. As you know, I have introduced changes to this compound in the short time I’ve been here, starting with using witches to create wards and the capture of an island full of supernaturals. This is different to you and I thank you for your patience. These supernaturals were brought here for a reason. And the reason is this.”

I listened to the gasps of horror and fear, but I couldn’t see what they were all so shocked about. I tried to peer through the cracks of the crate, but moving hurt too much. Yet, I heard the beat of wings and Laurence trembled like a leaf, and curled into a ball, covering his head with his hands as though the sound alone scared him.

“Please stay calm,” Fafnir shouted at all the hysterical hunters who were just as shocked by the dragon as I was. “He will not harm humans. He only feeds on supernaturals. Do not be afraid. He obeys me.”

Wait. If Fafnir just said that, who is the dragon? I blinked and, ignoring the blinding pain, I tucked myself close to the gaps in the crate to stare out onto the stage. And there next to Fafnir stood a dragon who looked exactly the same as Fafnir did in his drakorian form. But it made little sense. There had to be a spell on one of them. Someone was using magic to trick the hunters, otherwise this was another dragon. A female? One of the witches? Mary?

I hoped with every fiber in my being that it wasn’t.

Then a roar shook us, quieting the courtyard, and wetness trickled along the bottom of the box toward me. Laurence mumbled to himself and blocked his ears. Avoiding his accident, I leaned across to touch him gently. He opened his eyes, but they were clouded with fear and I knew he didn’t truly see me. I couldn’t heal myself but I attempted to heal him, yet something stopped me, probably another ward preventing me from using my gifts and I let out a frustrated sigh as Fafnir began speaking again.

“There was a supernatural planted within the hunters many years ago as an experiment. We wanted to see if we could use a supernatural ability within the community, indoctrinate one and then cut out its poison from the organization when its purpose had been fulfilled. For the past few years, you have worked alongside this colleague and suspected that his ability to find the supernatural was supernatural itself. And you were right. Michael Lloyd is supernatural. And today we cut him out.”

“Michael?” someone gasped.

“Cut him out how?” another hunter called from the muttering crowd.

“With this dragon, a mindless supernatural beast, we can hunt supernaturals in the same way Michael has been doing his entire life. This beast cannot help being from another realm. It is not supernatural, just natural to another realm. You wouldn’t kill a bird because it had migrated from other parts of the world. But Michael is supernatural, has been using his power around you, and has been sympathetic to the supernatural cause. It was him who has been asking questions and even today I heard he willingly allowed a familiar into the compound.”

Clawdia. Clawdia is with this hunter, so perhaps she is close. Perhaps she will save us in time. It wouldn’t be the first time that we survived by the skin of our teeth.

“Laurence,” I whispered. “It’s going to be all right. Do not fear.”

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