Page 54 of Bleeding for the Prince
“That is very civilised. I’m not surprised they’d keep magical tabs on their books.” He held up the Lexicography. This one is promising. I’ve a feeling we may have a Rex.”
“What? A King Dragon? I thought they were myths.”
“Not myths, but extinct. They were the original dragons, not sure how many there were in total, but according to this book, there are four pure breeds of dragon that exist today.”
“I can’t say I know much about dragons,” Gwil admitted. “Apart from that I tend not to get too close as they have a tendency to flame first, speak later when challenged.”
“Most creatures aren’t comfortable with vampires getting too close to them. Dragons have adapted over millennia, and modern ones are pretty much everywhere but have restricted fly zones.”
Gwil smirked and squeezed his arse. “You’ve no problem being up close to a vampire.”
A couple of books on the shelves behind them shuddered. “Gwil, behave. You do not want to mess with the magic in some of these books. I don’t think they approve of your wandering hands, even if I do.”
“I’ll behave—for now.” He chuckled. “Now, what were you saying about dragon breeds?”
Hyax showed Gwil a page of the book. “Fire, Earth, Air and Water—but there’s also various crossovers, but the tone of this author is a bit anti-diversity, so I think we should see if there’s another, while parts might be factual, there’s a fair slice of rhetoric that’s skewing the narrative.”
Gwil took the book and flicked through a few pages. “I see what you mean. There’s a lot of naysaying about mixing and the loss of purity and other bullshit. But I guess it’s a start. Do you think we’re dealing with a Rex, then?”
“Maybe.” Hyax had selected another book:The House of Dragons. “This suggests the Rexes are long gone, but there were four superior beasts that started the Dragon Families. I’m not sure what it is we’ve got. Maybe just a very old big dragon. But we should go and scope it out before we disappear down a rabbit hole in the wrong direction.”
“Did Copperpipe explain where the dragon was exactly? Being under Dante’s is a large area to cover.”
They’d spoken in Goblin more about the magical signature and the sensation Copperpipe had felt but hadn’t been able to articulate in English. “Not exactly. I think you’ll need to get the details of the path he took. From what he described to me, we probably won’t have to travel far before I pick up the dragon vibes.”
“Is that the technical term?”
“It’s the best way I can describe without using a lot of magical words you’ll consider jargon or gobbledegook.”
“Fair enough. I’ll send him a message when we get home. Based on recent interactions, he’ll be back to us in no time.”
Hyax selected several other books from the shelf, and after a few minutes decided on the five they’d take with them. “Let’s get these, head home and spend some time getting to know all we can about dragons.”
“Maybe we should speak to Howard. Let him know our suspicions and see if he offers up that he is a wyvern, and if he does, he might be able to help.”
Hyax wanted to be more prepared before they spoke to Howard. “I’d like to see if we can confirm it’s a dragon first. There’s no point in unduly worrying him if we’re wrong. Or we might look like a couple of idiots.”
“He is the client, we’re supposed to be keeping him up to date with developments.”
“We are, and we will. But there are too many unknowns for me to put my reputation on the line to say something is lurking under his shop that no one realised was there.”
“But the wards will flag we’re on the premises.”
“That doesn’t mean we have to divulge when we’re visiting. Send Howard a message to say we’re following up on a couple of leads underneath the building, but leave it at that.”
“All right.” Gwil took the stack of books. “I’ll go get these.”
While he waited, Hyax scanned a different shelf, surprised to find how many authors had wanted to write at length on the topic of orcs and their mating rituals. He would love to come back when they had more time to have a proper look around. Gwil could bring his never-ending paperwork, and Hyax could ponder the great mysteries, such as why lavender pomade was an erotic thrill to ogres.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Gwil woke up to find a hand-drawn map had been stuck to his fridge. He blinked several times, trying to focus before realising it was meant to be a drawing of beneath Dante’s and the access point to get underground. He turned it over and found a series of sketches which looked to be pictorial directions of what to do once at a certain level, but they were difficult to decipher out of context.
Hyax padded into the kitchen. Gwil loved to see this rumpled side, his hair out of place and completely at ease. “What you got there?”
“I think they’re the directions I asked for from Copperpipe. He’s marked an entrance hatch from the lower basement. They only go so far, so I guess that’s when the anti-goblin charms kicked in.”
Hyax took the piece of paper. “Hopefully, they make more sense once we’re there. He should try becoming an abstract artist; he’s got a certain flair for random design.”
