Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“ Y ou know I’d rather have you with me, or me not have to go at all,” Hyax said, the residue of the toe-curling kiss he’d been enjoying still causing happy chemicals to dance in Gwil’s brain.
Gwil had no interest in attending a boring dinner for the Elementa conferring honours on a few chosen dignitaries for spending a career toadying up to the royal family.
“I might have a bath. You go off to your party, and remember I’m here naked, and wet and slippery.”
“Fucker!”
“Maybe when you get back.”
Hyax stuck his middle finger up as he stepped into a portal, and Gwil blew him a kiss, laughing. He’d been teasing Hyax about him taking a bath, but after flicking through the TV channels, nothing caught his eye, and a soak while reading seemed like a great idea.
He levered himself off the sofa, and all hope of a quiet night disappeared as he heard a cry from the fireplace. “Fang Face!”
“Copperpipe, how nice of you to pop in unannounced,” he said, as Copperpipe rolled onto his rug.
“Doesn’t look like I’m interrupting anything. Is your pretty prince in?”
“No.”
“Hmm. Can you get him? I think he might understand what I have to say better than you.”
Copperpipe and Hyax hadn’t met in person, and Hyax had been happy to keep it that way. “What’s that meant to mean?”
“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.
Copperpipe nodded, and his arms flailed. “Yes, that is it!”
Gwil turned to Hyax. “Want to clue me in?”
“Copperpipe was having trouble translating some of the technical jargon into English, so I spoke to him in Goblin. I’m a bit rusty, but I got the gist.”
“The gist being?”
“There’s a dragon under Dante’s. A big one, who has been asleep for a long time, and is now showing signs of waking up. It could sleep for centuries or it could wake up tomorrow… we don’t know.”
“I take it we don’t want to wake the sleeping dragon.”
Hyax rolled his eyes, and Copperpipe snorted. “No, Fang Face. It would destroy the block as it dug its way out and set fire to half of the city as it flew off.”
Gwil didn’t appreciate the tone, but he guessed it was a daft question. Although he still didn’t know what it was they were supposed to do. “I guess we want to keep it asleep.”
“Yes, and move it,” Hyax said, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Got you. Sing a lullaby while moving a twenty-tonne lizard. Simple.”
Copperpipe let out an exasperated huff. “You are not helping.”
“I’m not known for my dragon transportation services. Tell me, oh wise one, how does one move a sleeping dragon the size of a house without waking it up?”
“We don’t know,” Hyax admitted. “We’ll need to do some research. The dragons haven’t written an official history of their people that’s been shared with outsiders. While I’ve not had cause to look, I don’t remember a specialist dragon section in any fae library I’ve visited.”
“Goblins eat books, and my people don’t care for the past,” Copperpipe said.
“Good job I’m now a member of the place with one of the paranormal world’s most extensive collections of books, then, isn’t it?” he said, trying but failing not to sound smug.
“The Jyndarin Society, of course.” Hyax grinned. “I’ll contact Simon. We’ll arrange dinner, and I have a feeling he might be useful.”
Copperpipe sucked his teeth. “I will ask around, but I fear I might not be able to help you more this time, Fang Face.”
“You’ve done a brilliant job already. Mind you, your dinner at Dante’s was a hefty price.”
Copperpipe chuckled as he climbed into the fireplace. “Worth it,” he called as he disappeared.
Gwil turned to Hyax. “Thanks for coming back. I wasn’t sure if I should interrupt, but he was quite insistent.”
“He’s not wrong to be worried. And I was happy to have an excuse to leave.”
“Do you need to go back?”
Hyax sighed. “I probably should.”
“ Probably isn’t the same as have to.”
“True. I could use the time to have a look through a few of the books using our dynamic before I discuss anything with Simon, as I think we’re going to need to come up with something special to solve this.”
“Perfect reason to stay at home if you ask me.”
Hyax grinned. “Let me get changed. I can sit and watch you have a bath as I read—I noticed you’re not wet and naked.”
Gwil laughed as he dodged out of Hyax’s reach. “See you in the bathroom. Be careful not to get your books wet!”