Page 59 of Bleeding for the Prince
“There’s no such place as the elf meadowlands,” Hyax said. “Is that what they tell little wyverns and dragons so not to have to explain death to their young?”
Howard scowled. “The elf meadowlands don’t exist as a distinct place today. I believe the fae and elves had a long, bloodthirsty feud, which changed a lot of things. But according to our lore, the dragons took the meadowlands from the elves to use as hunting grounds.”
He chose not to point out that Howard had used the possessive in referring to the lore.
“We have had the odd skirmish over the years,” Hyax admitted, but he wouldn’t be drawn into ancient history. He saw Gwil smirk. Fucker.
“The point being, is there is a place you could move it to, but we’d need to find out where its exact location would be today.”
Hyax had been toying with the idea of using a specially constructed portal, which would need a fuck-ton of magic. He couldn’t do it on his own and had been thinking he’d need Simon’s help, but whether he would know more about a secret dragon world was debatable.
“I will be using my contacts throughout the magical community,” Hyax said, not wanting to sound as if he hadn’t a clue where to start.
Howard was on his feet. “I don’t want this to get out. This is meant to be a discreet operation.”
“It will be,” Gwil said. “Prince Hyax’s contacts aren’t the sort to tell the world their business. But there is the matter of informing the police.”
“Do you have to?” Howard asked. “Goya is aware of there being an investigation. He thought we were all crazy and abandoned me to fend for myself.”
“Unfortunately so.” Gwil didn’t look any happier than Howard at the prospect of talking to Goya. “If we don’t inform the authorities about the potential risk, we’ll all be in serious trouble.”
“I want it made clear I can’t be held responsible because my property, that I bought and didn’t build, has a dragon asleep under it that I didn’t know about.”
“Not reporting the threat would be the issue,” Gwil said. “None of us can be blamed for where a dragon decides to have a kip, but not informing the police we know would be considered a crime.”
“I want copies of anything you provide to Goya.”
“Of course. Everything we have, you will have too.”
Gwil showed Howard out. Hyax got the distinct impression Howard would distance himself from this as much as he could. He didn’t blame him; he couldn’t be held responsible for the situation and wouldn’t want anything leaking and ruining the reputation of his store, but it did mean Hyax and Gwil were once again stuck clearing up the shit they hadn’t caused.
“That went better than I thought,” Gwil said as he returned. “Howard said he’d cooperate in whatever way was needed.”
“Not like he has a choice.”
“I got the feeling you weren’t exactly sold on his mystical dragon reserve idea,” Gwil said, throwing himself onto the sofa.
“Not so much the premise of it existing. Having read about the Rexes, their not all being dead is feasible, but more where he’s describing where they relocated to.”
“Beyond the elf meadowlands? I have to admit, it does sound a bit like a concept album from a prog rock group.”
“I’ve no idea what that is, although I’m assuming you’re trying to be funny.”
Gwil rolled his eyes. “I was trying to lighten the mood, but I forgot about the stick you keep up your arse. Now, instead of bitching at each other, how about you tell me why the location sounds out of whack?”
“The meadowlands don’t belong to the elves, and even if they did, beyond them are coastal areas, not dragon playgrounds.”
“That’s a pure geographical answer, and Howard was alluding to something more pan-dimensional.”
“Did it hurt using such big words?” Hyax wasn’t used to Gwil calling him out on matters of the fae realm, and it irked him that he might be right.
“I’m onto something, aren’t I? Or you wouldn’t be so arseholish.”
“You might have alluded to a possibility, but it’s purely theoretical, and I’d have no idea how to access the in-between realm space.”
“Sounds like you might need the help of a certain vampire-fae. I’m sure you tried to explain to me that his magic worked due to dimensional dibdabs.”
Gwil was deliberately trying to irk him by using his ridiculous vernacular, and he wasn’t going to rise to it. “We had already discussed bringing Simon into our confidence; this just confirms the need to do so.” Simon might also have information on the elf meadowlands. “Let me contact him. While I do that, makeyourself useful and skim through our special magic books on my bedside for portal and transportation-related spells.”
