26. Confrontation
Fred’s heart raced. Tension sparked through his muscles, and he felt like a single sneeze would release all the anger and magic rolling through him.
Red-carpeted stairs stretched up before him.
Standing at the bottom of them, flanked by Foxy, Chester and Bob, he felt as intimidated as the owner must have intended.
The whole building was a proof of wealth and therefore power.
It felt wrong to just walk in, despite being invited.
If the Dragon Lord was holding Cara, they were entering enemy territory, unprepared and unarmed.
“Why did we agree to meet here?” he hissed. “This feels like a terrible plan right now.”
“Respect!” Bob hissed back. “Asking to meet anywhere else would be a declaration of hostility, if not war. Now be quiet and lead the way!”
Fred was glad it had been decided that, as he was her main connection to the magical community, enquiring after Cara would be his job. Bob had given him a lecture about holding his tongue and staying calm, but he knew Bob didn’t truly trust him to by the way he glared at him.
At the top of the stairs stood two security guards, and Dina.
“Nice to see you all,” she cooed. “Did you forget to bring your new recruit? Shandy, wasn’t it?”
“There’s no need to drag her into this,” Fred answered, scowling. “Anyway, why have you taken a month off the gym? I bet Chester hear would love to know.”
“I broke a nail,” Dina answered, raising her middle finger at him.
“Now, let’s keep this professional,” Bob blurted out. “Just take us to the Dragon Lord and we can get this over and done with.”
“As you wish,” Dina answered, with an exaggerated bow, opening her arms to lead the way.
Today, Dina’s wings were on full display, and her uniform exposed a strong, scaly tail.
Walking behind her, Fred couldn’t help but admire the strength and beauty of the human body that supported these magical attributes.
He accidentally caught Chester’s eye, and a sheepish grin passed between the two of them.
It was hard not to have such thoughts when presented with such a view.
At the end of a corridor they came to an old-fashioned elevator.
The four of them squeezed into a wrought iron cage, and all looked anxiously at the ancient machinery.
As Dina closed the door on them, and tapped a button for whatever floor they were to head to, Fred worked hard to dispel the image of being grilled alive in there.
Each level they passed had the same elaborate wrought iron railings, behind which there was a walkway, the other side of which they spied doors and mirrored windows. It might have been a huge corporation, or a military barracks, there was no way of telling.
He was equally thrilled and horrified to watch Dina rise up from the ground, beating her powerful wings slowly to keep her mocking eyes level with his own.
After around ten storeys of ascent, Dina flew round the cage and alighted on a walkway, from which she opened the door of their cage.
Fred was hit by the realisation of how hard it would be to escape from there, unless you had wings.
Dina laid her hand on a pair of heavy, brass doors, which swung open to reveal a high-ceilinged, tapestry-hung throne room.
The floor was a checkerboard of white marble and red agate, that glowed eerily up at him.
The tapestries all depicted dragons, some winged, and some more serpent-like.
At the far end of the room was a magnificent, stained glass window, where the two forms of dragon were twined intricately around one another.
For a moment, Fred was dumbstruck. The thought that a space like this could exist in the London he had grown used to was utterly fantastical.
It was as if a corner of his own world had been transplanted to his new home.
At the far end of the room stood a dais, on top of which the Dragon Lord was seated, not on a throne, but a pile of gold.
“Welcome!” An imperious voice bounced around Fred’s brain, coming to him straight from the mind of the dragon, rather than through the air. “What a pleasure to finally meet the infamous Fred.”
Clearly, the Dragon Lord did not believe in half measures. While his guards stood around him in semi-human form, he lounged in the full majesty his giant dragon incarnation, his skin glowing ruby red, the only hint of humanity being the voice he projected into their minds.
“I understand you have a matter you wish to bring to my attention.”
“Yes. Yes, I do,” Fred said, aloud. “I have reason to believe you may know the whereabouts of my dear friend Cara. She is very precious to me.”
“So I have heard. She even seems to have absorbed some of your magic, you’re so ‘close’. In fact, she tried demonstrating some of her fire power, which I understand you passed on from Dina, when we captured her. Guards! Bring out the prisoner!”
From behind the dais, two guards carried Cara in and placed her on a cushion just in front of the Dragon Lord.
“My darling Dina has been studying the ancient art of Shibari, as you can see,” his voice snaked into Fred’s mind. “I think she may have been a little too enthusiastic.”
Red ropes crisscrossed Cara’s nearly-naked body.
Her arms were bound together by a series of complicated knots, and twists, stacked so close together that almost no skin was visible.
Her ankles were bound too, and her knees had been pulled into her chest, forcing her into a permanent foetal position.
Fred shot towards her, but a wall of fire leapt up between them.
“Tsk, tsk, my hot-headed young friend,” the Dragon Lord’s voice echoed around his head. “For the moment, she’s mine.”
“What do you want?” Bob shouted. “This isn’t your usual style. I’ve never heard of you kidnapping anyone before. And displaying her like this? I thought you were more subtle!”
“Well, I sent Dina in first. I tasked her with seducing this young man, both the day he arrived, and when you met at the gym, but she failed.” Dina bowed her head as her master spoke.
“Had he come back with her that day, it would have saved me a lot of trouble! Luckily, we already had a plan B. When Dina typed her phone number into Fred’s phone, she also activated a tracking charm.
We have heard everything you’ve done from that moment forward. Everything.”
The dragon’s forked tongue slithered out across his lips and his eyes narrowed.
“Why? What do you want from me? We have never met before! What harm was I doing? Was it because I took out that bag thief? Were you scared I had too much power?” Fred asked, his anger rising ever higher.
Laughter filled all their minds.
“Foolish elf! Of course you didn’t scare me! Your powers are nothing compared to mine! No… this was simply a business deal. Let me introduce my business partner.”
With a flick of his tail, that sent gold coins rolling from his hoard, the Dragon Lord conjured a portal. Sitting on his own throne, on the other side of the portal, was Fred’s father.
Fred’s jaw dropped.
“You!” gasped Bob, before Fred could respond. “What have you got to do with all this!”
“Why, hello, little brother! How nice to accidentally find you! Thank you for taking such good care of my eldest son and heir!” Fred’s father replied, laughing.
“It never seemed worth sending out a search party for the spare. You were born disposable. And look at you now! A tiny little man working in a dingy little bar, on a pointless little planet! You haven’t been missed! ”
Fred felt anger bubbling up in his chest, dispelling the confusion in his mind. It was easier to accept that Bob was related to him than listen to his father’s insults.
“Leave Bob alone!” he spat. “He’s supported me more than you ever have!”
“And yet you still have no respect for him! I heard what you said about him. You’ve never dealt well with authority, have you? A change in environment doesn’t seem to have helped.”
“Get to the point!” Fred rumbled. “What do you want?”
“I want my darling son back, of course!” His father opened his arms wide, a magnanimous gesture entirely unnatural to him.
“So you kidnapped my girlfriend? Why would that make me want to come with you?”
“Now, now, now… let’s not be hasty. Try to see her less like a girlfriend, more like a bargaining chip.
If you come with me, my friend here will let her go.
If you refuse… roast girlfriend,” Fred’s father laughed hard at his own joke, but Fred knew he was also deadly serious. His father never made idle threats.
“I am not coming with you! I am not going back to the life you wanted for me!”
“Well, that’s a huge pity for Cara,” his father shot back.
“You harm a single hair on her head and I will kill you!” Fred growled.
He felt his anger building again, and his magic too.
He could launch himself through the portal at his father at the slightest provocation, but if he engaged his mind, he knew his father’s goons were standing just out of sight.
He knew his father was protected by the highest levels of magic, and his vulnerability, sat alone on his throne, was pure illusion.
“Why are you helping him?” Bob asked the Dragon King, gesturing wildly towards his brother. “What has he offered you? You must be able to tell you can’t trust him! Once he gets what he wants he will be of no use to you!”
“I trust his desperation, and I trust our contract,” the Dragon King answered.
“He has reawakened passions in me that I had long since forgotten. With his help, we dragons can return to the positions of power we were always intended to have. Humans usurped our place through sheer numbers, despite their inferior intelligence and life spans. With King Dom’s magic at my disposal, I could control the whole planet! ”
“You would not go unchallenged!” Foxy snarled. “The humans are not the only force on Earth! I doubt you would even have all the dragons on your side!”