Page 47 of Bleeding for the Prince
“Magic stuff, Bitey. Not really your speciality, is it?”
“He’s out. Playing dutiful husband.” He thought Copperpipe turning up might be a good reason to call him back. “I could try to contact him, but I’d need a bit of detail. He won’t come just because you’ve turned up and want to speak to him.”
“I’m hurt. Doesn’t his royal sparkles like me?”
“He doesn’t dislike you.” There was only so much diplomacy he could muster. “But he doesn’t know you.”
Copperpipe sniggered. “Tell him Dante’s has a dragon problem?”
“Dragon? Are you sure? The owner is rumoured to be a wyvern, maybe you’re confusing the two.”
“Look here, you walking phlebotomy kit. I don’t tell you how to suck blood, you don’t lecture me about magic.”
He didn’t expect to touch a nerve. Copperpipe was rattled, far worse than any state he’d seen before, and that was a worry. “You seem upset.”
“There’s a bloody great dragon under the city of London in hibernation, the things happening at Dante’s are because it’s starting to wake up and is sending out rogue dragon magic. Like hiccoughs or mini burps while leaching out waves of neutrality to hide its presence as it starts to stir.”
He didn’t know much about dragons beyond the basics. They were shifters, having evolved from a static dragon-only state, and tended not to live in the middle of cities, as it got ugly when they wanted to stretch their wings.
“I don’t understand. There are dragons everywhere. Why would one be hiding? It could just shift and sod off.”
Copperpipe rolled his eyes. “This is an old dragon. A dragon from before… stop wasting time and call the one who has the brain!”
He was not equipped to deal with ancient dragons.
“I’ll see if I can get hold of Hyax.”
Gwil: Can you come home?
He waited for a reply, unsure if Hyax would have his phone on him or be able to check it easily.
Hyax: I’ve not been here long. Need your cock sucking that badly?
Gwil: Always, but not the reason. Copperpipe is here. Says you would understand him better.
Hyax: Since when?
Gwil: Since he thinks there’s an ancient dragon under Dante’s.
He stared at the screen, waiting for Hyax to respond, but instead, a portal opened and Hyax stepped through. “Dragon? You have got to be shitting me?”
“I assure you, Your Highness, they are not the sort of creature that can be mistaken for something else,” Copperpipe said.
They stared at each other. Gwil wondered who was more intrigued by the other. This was their first meeting, and from Copperpipe’s agitation, there was no space for formal interactions.
“Gwil said it was an ancient dragon. What are we talking about here?” Hyax asked.
“There is not much known about dragon origins, but from what I could tell, this beast was old, maybe thousands of years old. That it could have remained undisturbed for so long suggests it created a pocket of magic to sleep in.”
“I see.” Hyax worried his bottom lip. “Like a bubble of neutral ground.”
“Yes, but it is just a hypothesis. I got only so far because of the wards under the store, and could not get close enough, but I reckon you could.”
“If you couldn’t get close, how did you know it was an old dragon?” Gwil asked.
Copperpipe tutted. “Modern dragons are shifters. In their human form, they’re the size of a taller-than-average man or woman, and as a dragon, they’re not usually bigger than a large car. I was able to use a modified scrying spell to see a little. But the wards did not allow for much. I could tell the creature under Dante’s is massive, the size of a house. And there was something about the feelings I got from it, I can’t explain them in your language.”
Hyax began to speak, but Gwil had no clue what he was saying. Copperpipe’s eyes had widened comically. They gabbed back and forth, the two of them sounded like they were speaking something between Swedish and Midnight hacking up a hairball.
