Bryan Davis - Eye of the Oracle

“I doubt that he would let you ride him, but even if he would, I need you to do something for me.” Merlin pressed the candlestone into Edward’s palm. “Take this gem to my quarters. Clefspeare might not be able to fly if I have it in my possession.”

Edward gazed at the stone and tensed his brow. “Begging your pardon, good prophet, but I believe my abilities can be used more efficiently. I am a warrior, not a trinket courier.”

Merlin released his grasp. “If you would stop obsessing over your honor, young man, you would easily discover what you have been commissioned to learn.”

“Commissioned?” Edward chuckled nervously. “What are you talking about?”

“There is no need to pretend. I have already discerned how the king is using you as his surreptitious eyes and ears, and I am troubled by your dual purposes.”

“I have no dual purposes.” Edward closed his fingers tightly around the candlestone. “I am bound to serve His Majesty, and none other.”

“If that’s true,” Merlin said, pointing at Edward’s fist, “then do what I say and leave the controversy surrounding the dragons to me. I understand them far better than you do, and I have a plan to save them and Arthur. For the sake of the kingdom, stand down from this spying mission.”

Edward tightened his jaw, etching his words with anger. “I will take the gem to your quarters, as you have requested, but you do not have the authority to countermand the king’s orders. No one has more authority than the king.”

Merlin sighed. “And that is where you lose your way.” As the flurry of Clefspeare’s wings sent gusts across their faces, Merlin gripped Edward’s wrist again. “Don’t make rash decisions while the world is dark. Wait for the light to make all things clear.”

Edward didn’t answer. He just glared at Merlin, every muscle in his face as taut as a bowstring.

Merlin climbed aboard Clefspeare and shouted. “To Makaidos’s cave, my friend! And hurry!”

As Makaidos flew toward the entrance of his cave, danger scraped his senses. Goliath’s brooding anger rose from the ground like the odor of a steaming tar pit, a heavy, simmering wrath that longed to lash out and destroy. Yet, the anger seemed to restrain itself, as if waiting for an opportune time to strike. Ever since the spirits of the Nephilim stole Goliath’s mind, he had become perverted, bestial. He seemed anxious to kill anything that stood against his plan to rule the dragon kingdom. But what of Roxil? She seemed possessed by a misguided idealism, not a warped spirit.

Makaidos landed and faced the dark cave. His eldest son waited inside, and perhaps his eldest daughter as well. Was there still hope? Could they be rescued from their respective demons? Maybe. He had one last idea to try.

He folded his wings and ducked inside the cave’s low entryway, turning on his eyebeams as he glanced around the inner chamber. Goliath sat next to the wall, Roxil at his side and King Arthur lying at his feet, motionless.

Makaidos focused the beams directly on Goliath’s eyes. “You could not battle me yourself, my son? You had to bring your sister to help?”

Goliath blinked and lowered his head below the beams. “I will not harm you. I am here to keep my word.” He rolled the king face up. “Arthur is alive but unconscious.”

“I see. An unconscious king cannot bear witness to your crime.” Makaidos reared up, exposing the most vulnerable part of his underbelly. “I have trained Roxil well, so the two of you should be enough to do the deed. I will not resist.”

“Father!” Roxil slapped her tail against the wall of the cave. “Are you implying that I will help Goliath kill you? Have you no faith in me at all?”

“Faith in you?” Makaidos narrowed his eyes. “Did you and Goliath pass through a covenant veil?”

“You know we didn’t.” Roxil swung her head to the side. “Arramos joined us together. The ways of the covenant veil are the ways of the past.”

“Then you have answered your own question.” Makaidos lowered himself to all fours again. “Your unholy alliance with a demon-possessed mate has incinerated my faith in you. Since Goliath is against me, and you stand with him, you are against me as well.”

Goliath raised a wing and draped it over Roxil. “We are not going to kill you. Roxil insisted on coming to ensure my safety from outside interference and from you. As old as you are, I still doubt that I could defeat you in single combat. Only Clefspeare is your equal in battle.”

“Now I am sure it is a Naphil who speaks,” Makaidos said, “for you know that my age has weakened my skills. In order to fool your mate into coming, you have chosen to lie, and lying is the fruit of the dragon prototype. His Eden curse made him a legless and wingless serpent, and I thought that ended all dragon deception forever. Obviously, I was wrong.”

Roxil slapped the wall again. “How can you possibly believe what you are saying about Goliath? Our war is against the human race, not each other!”

“I believe what I am saying because I sense danger. If Goliath intends no harm, then where does the danger originate?”

Roxil’s eyebeams flicked on and pointed toward the cave entrance. “I have also sensed danger ever since I arrived. A human must be near, probably someone who intends to rescue his king.”

Makaidos’s beams crossed over Roxil’s, creating a diamond outlined in scarlet. “I should feel no danger from any human who would rescue his king. I helped save them all from the barbarians.”

“They merely used you.” Roxil doused her beams. “They will turn on you whenever it is convenient.”

Makaidos rubbed a foreleg against his tender underside. “Humans have had convenient opportunities to strike a blow for many years, even centuries from my days of weakness in the ark, to the nights I have slept at Merlin’s side in the wilderness as he taught me the ways of his messiah, the ways of love, grace, and mercy.” He flashed his eyebeams at Roxil. “Once again you have acted rashly because you know so little, yet think you know so much.”

Makaidos bowed toward Goliath. “You have captured her heart, my son. Congratulations. She has forsaken all reason and will believe you no matter what you say or do.” He spread out his wings, exposing his underbelly again. “Now, do what you must. Dying in your fire is better than living under your rule, especially when you have stolen the heart of my precious daughter. Following in the footsteps of the human messiah, I will not resist. I give my life gladly, hoping that Roxil will finally see the difference between a loving father and a deceiving usurper.”

“Father!” Roxil growled. “Listen to yourself! Do not play the fool to win me back to your home! I stand with my mate, no matter what outrageous grandstanding you do.”

Goliath snorted. “You will not die at my hand.” He turned his beams toward the back of the cave. Two men leaped from the darkness. Devin plunged a sword into Makaidos’s belly, and Palin thrust his into Roxil’s. Both men twisted their swords, then sprang away, dodging the dragons’ gushing fluids.

Roxil teetered. Her eyes widened. First glancing at Goliath, then at Makaidos, she toppled forward. Makaidos fell at her side, pressing his scaly jaws against hers.

As his vision faded, Makaidos watched Goliath. He tried to speak, but he felt his life seeping away.

Goliath pushed Arthur’s unconscious body. “Take your king, Devin, and be on your way. Tell Morgan that our deal is complete. I will make no more contracts with her.”

“As you wish.” Devin helped Palin hoist Arthur over his back, and they shuffled out of the cave.