Vance_The McCade Dragon Read online

  Vance thought about trying to contact the dragon, or Caelin and his mom. But he was a little nervous about it. Not about talking to them, but about not being able to. What if he’d been wrong about his dragon? Maybe he’d never had one at all, and this would have to begin again. When Kenton snapped his fingers in front of his face, he noticed that the others had walked away while he’d been worrying himself sick over this.

  “I don’t have a dragon.” Kenton said that he did. “I don’t think so. I haven’t heard from him. Nor has Warrior spoken to me. What if there isn’t one in my body, and all this has been for nothing?”

  “Calm down. Have you tried to contact your dragon, or anyone else?” He shook his head. “Well, I think that it worked. I mean, the rest of us felt something when it touched her skin. Have you tried touching your skin to where the necklace is?”

  “No. Is that what you had to do?” He told him that Emma had touched the ring to his heart and he could shift. “I’ve not done that. I never thought about that part.”

  Vance looked for Micky, wanting to try it right now. But Kenton grabbed his shoulder to stop him from advancing toward her. He asked him if he was calm yet.

  “Calm? No, not in the least. Why? What happens if I’m not calm?” Kenton told him. “Yeah, I can see scaring a lot of our guests with this. I’ve never been so scared in all my life. Not even when I’ve been in front of a firing squad.”

  “You’ve been in front of a firing...? You know what, I don’t want to know. Yes, you’ll scare everyone here if you go off halfcocked like you are.” No one had ever called him that before. He was always calm and knew just what he was going to do and how to make it happen. But right now, he felt like his head was going to explode, and he didn’t care for that feeling. “Just calm yourself and I’ll let you go. You’re starting to draw attention to yourself, and you don’t need that either. If we looked worried, like you do right now, then everyone is going to be worried, and that would be bad. So just take some breaths in and out and then you’ll be all right. I hope.”

  “No. No, I don’t want to start a mass hysteria. I’m better now, but not great.” He looked at Kenton and smiled. “I’m wondering how you call to the dragon.”

  “I don’t know. If you mean Warrior, he never shuts up. Which is what has surprised me with you. But if you mean your dragon, because you do have one, then all I do is think about him and I can shift. Just try that first.”

  Closing his eyes, he thought of a dragon—his, he supposed. But there was nothing there. The sword was there, shining like a new penny in the ground, but nothing to do with a dragon. Then he reached for Warrior, just saying his name as if they’d been friends forever.

  “Warrior, are you there?” He said that he was. Vance felt his knees buckle, and had Kenton not caught him, he would surely have hit the ground. But he did go all the way down, just so he’d not fall a second time. Calmly, he spoke to the dragon. “I was wondering about my dragon.”

  Your dragon, my lord? You have no dragon. Vance told Kenton what he’d said. You have no use for the dragon, sir. You have the sword.

  “Am I to change into a sword?” Warrior said that he didn’t think so, but he would search for information for him. “Have I ever had a dragon?”

  Yes, when you were born, you all had them. But since you have had the sword come to you, you no longer have it. There is, from what I can remember, no need for you to have it. I’m not entirely sure why, but I will look, as I have said. He nodded and sat there waiting. It might take me some time to find it, my lord. I have only just gotten all the information that I’ve had before I was only a spark. Give me some time, then I will have it for you.

  “I don’t have a lot of time, Warrior. I mean, Butler could be here at any moment. And if he comes and we’re not ready, I don’t know what will happen to you.” He said he wasn’t worried. “No, you’d not be, I guess, but I just got married today. And while I won’t die, nor will the rest of us, I’d really rather not spend it all banged up because I don’t have a dragon.”

  The riches, they are for all of you. Vance said he wasn’t worried about any money. There are more than just monetary gains, my lord. Much more than that. I can remember a lot more, and I do remember taking a great many treasures to be hidden away for you and your family. That, too, might take me some time to find. I’m like a newly born dragon. I’m learning as I go.

  “So long as I have Micky as my wife, then I couldn’t care less if we lived in a cardboard box. I love her that much.” Warrior told him he didn’t understand. “That’s fine. You go ahead and see what you can find out, and I’ll wait for you. But if he comes here, I’m not sure what we’re to do about this.”

  He will not be there today, my lord. He is recovering. The magic that came when you put the necklace on your other half, he was harmed with it as well. It took a great deal out of him, and from what I understand, he didn’t have much anyway. Vance liked the idea of him being weaker, and told Kenton what he’d found out. There is much information, but none of it is clear. Your family is the first generation to have ever completed this. And you are the first one to have gotten the Sword of Caelin.

  “Fat lot of good it’ll do me if I can’t pull my dragon to help.” Warrior said that he would do some research. Vance looked at Micky while talking to his brother. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now. Not just with this dragon stuff, but at all. I’m out of work as of the middle of next month. I’m on a sabbatical until I get out of the service.”

  “You can do pretty much anything you want, Vance. You could do nothing and still be able to live nicely. You could work for yourself. Open some kind of private investigation office and do that. Though, I don’t know if I’d recommend that. You might beat the shit out of the person you’re supposed to be following around.” Vance laughed. “You’ll be just fine. You won’t have to live in a box, and if you do, Micky can come and live with us.”

  “Gee, thanks.” They laughed again. “I’ll be all right. I just, after being on my own for a while, making decisions about my own life, it’s difficult to think that I’m responsible for another person. Who could, I think, take care of both of us without breaking a sweat.”

  “Same here with Emma. I love her to death, but there are times when her mind goes all villain, and I worry about what she’s going to teach our children.” Vance had always loved her for the way her mind worked, and told Kenton that. “Yes, well, you should watch television with her, especially crime movies or shows. She can pick it apart faster than I bet Dalton can. Not to mention, she has it all figured out within the first five minutes. I don’t even watch them with her anymore.”

  “Yes, you do. And you love it. And her.” He said that he did, then asked Vance if he was all right. “Yes. I suppose. I’m still clueless, but I do feel better now that I’ve let some of it go. Thank you for helping me stay sane.”

  “You’re very welcome. You can do the same for me when our child is born. That way, when I freak the fuck out, because I’ve no doubt that I will, you can hold my hand.” He said he might be more inclined to hurt him. “You do, and Emma will hurt you back. She’s my hero.”

  Vance got up from the ground and walked to where Micky was. She looked so beautiful in Mom’s gown. The guests talked about the castle with him and her, telling them how it had come up over a period of time, but in the last few weeks, much faster. Vance was glad something was going right.

  The gifts that were given to them had been a surprise. There were mounds of them on a table, and a lot of envelopes in a large basket at the end of the decorated table. Vance hadn’t been to a wedding in a long time, so had to ask his mom if they opened them there or they waited until they were home.

  “Here would be nice. Since we don’t know these people, when their gift is opened, they can come to you two and you can acknowledge them personally. I think that would be a lovely thing to do.” He wasn’t so sure about that. He wasn’t much of a people person, and neither was Micky. “You’r
e going to be just fine, Vance. Trust me.”

  In the end they opened about half of them there and took the envelopes to their room. There were just too many people to talk to, and the ones that they did all had a story to tell them about the gift. Vance hated that they’d run out of daylight. He was enjoying each and every one of them, as well as the stories that they told.

  Chapter 7

  Butler lay as still as he could. He was sure that the earth was going to open up and swallow the whole town soon. When the ground had shaken, he had been as terrified as he’d ever been.

  He’d not seen anyone all day, and he wondered if there had been a big announcement that said to get out of town and he’d not heard about it. Getting up slowly, careful where he stepped, he went out of his little shack and into the darkening evening.

  The sun had fully been up when he’d felt the earth move. He might have known more about what was going on, but he’d fallen over, and then a large piece of the boards that held his roof up fell down over him and hit him on the head. It didn’t help that he was nearly as weak as a kitten and his belly was seeping again. Nothing was going right for him.

  He’d heard in town that the McCades were here. He’d not expected them to come here at all, much less before they got all the pieces. He was glad for it, really. It would save him the time and expense of going to find them. Getting here had been the hardest trip he’d made. No magic to speak of, no funds, not even a copper penny, and food was almost as hard to find as magic.

  These people were going to be easy pickings because of their stupidity, and he was going to make them suffer when this was all done. But the town was all a twitter about them being here, and he couldn’t help but be envious of how they were being talked about. Like they were kings of the land and he was nothing more than a pauper down on his luck. Perhaps, he thought, that was the reason they were here, to see if the last piece was here. It was, but not in a way that they’d ever lay their hands on it.

  “It is. If they cared to get close enough for me to kill them then I could take what they have and be rich beyond my wildest dreams. Then we’ll see how the townspeople bow down before me. Just before I remove their heads.” Which was saying a great deal; Butler had some pretty wild dreams about money. He laughed at his own funny and held his head. “Damn hovel. Once I’m in the castle, I’m going to rest for a month of Sundays.”

  The shops were all closed up, and even the benches that some of them put their wares on had been put inside. He wondered if that was to keep him out, but he had no way of knowing since they all seemed to be gone. Even the houses that usually had a curl of smoke coming from the back yard for a grill out were silent as a tomb. He wondered about that when something else had occurred to him. There were no cars to be seen anywhere. They were usually lined up and down the street like stones on a walkway.

  “Mayhap they’re all dead.” He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but then he realized that dead men didn’t lock their doors and bring in the products they were hawking. “Nay, just gone for the day. And not even an invite for me to join them.”

  Every day he met someone else that was hostile toward him. Butler was amazed that they could hold a grudge for so long. He’d done this or that to their family. Or he’d stolen something in the last few days from them. He was not even given the chance to defend himself or his actions. The thing that really stuck in his craw was the fact that they hated him so much for whatever he’d done to their aunts, cousins, or whoever. Like he should be punished for trying to make himself a son that would be just like him. Pussies, that’s all they were. And he’d never had to resort to rape, as they accused him of. He was a man that was king, and everyone knew that a king had special privileges.

  Butler would show them all when he was king again, and then they’d have to treat him better. He was going to tax them too, until they had nothing left and he had it all. After he took all their women to his bed and planted a child in every one of their bellies. It would be the first rule he made them adhere to. He was fucking king, after all.

  “Stupid people.”

  Taking a walk because he needed to keep moving in order to keep his bones from stiffening up, Butler thought of the McCades. He wondered what they’d say if he just headed to the hotel and tried to talk to them. Not that there were that many hotels around, but he wasn’t even sure where to begin with his search. Butler had to sit down only after a few yards—he’d never been so weak before.

  Butler knew that he was going to need to find himself some magic soon. Right now he wasn’t sure that he could take on a small child, much less the McCades. The only thing going in his favor at this point was that they were just too stupid. And he knew they were because of how they were going about things. He would have done things differently had he had money like they seemed to have.

  For instance, he would have dressed in the finest clothing. Silks and velvets that were so purple that they looked black. And he’d have his own crest designed too. He had never liked the one that had been on the castle door. It had been dragons, and there weren’t going to be any around when he was finished. Also, he’d have a feast every night with singing and dancing, and naked women for him to take when he wanted. Christ, all they seemed to do was work, work, work. Like there wasn’t anything else to occupy their time.

  It hadn’t escaped his notice that the McCades all lived in fine houses, drove nice trucks, and didn’t seem to have a care in the world. Had he been them, he would have gotten the pieces as they had, but then killed off the women so they’d not be such a bother. And they were, too. Every woman had her place, and the McCade women hadn’t seemed to be put into theirs yet. Standing, he started limping to get moving again.

  These women of the McCades went about like they were ruling the roost. They had their own money too, it seemed to him, and spent it on things that were only for themselves—he’d seen the boxes at their trash cans. And they didn’t cook. Not a one of them seemed to be at home making a meal for their mates, but had other people doing it. And the house where someone did cook, he did it for his wife. Like that was something special.

  As he made his way to the orchard where he’d gotten a couple of apples yesterday, he saw a long line of cars down the road that led to the castle. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he decided to have him a looksee. Maybe it was a funeral, he hoped, and all the McCades had been killed for him.

  Everyone there was dressed in their finery. There was a nice smell of food that made his belly growl a little too. But as hard as he tried to get close enough to see what was going on, he couldn’t get any closer.

  There was a large tent in the front of the castle; he could just barely make out the poles that held it up and the colors of Prisane’s own crest at the top. Butler could see long tables of what he thought was food, but couldn’t be sure. Then there were the gifts. They were closer to him, and he could see the ridiculous ribbons on the boxes. A waste of money, as far as he was concerned.

  “It all comes in a box or a bag anyway. Why waste the time and money to pretty things up that are not going to mean a hill of beans once they tear into it? And who could be having such a grand affair that I’d not heard about it? I’ve been about the town all week, and nothing was said.” He was nearly to the table of the gifts when he realized that they weren’t gifts at all, but empty boxes and torn papers. “Can’t even have a proper party. Whoever these fools are, they’re going to know what it’s like to see someone having a good time when I’m in charge.”

  The orchard seemed less like a place that he wanted to get his meal from now. The food that he could smell, a roasting pig, was the most wonderful smell he’d ever encountered, and it seemed a great let down for him to have just an apple or so. Instead, he went back to his little place and sat on the rags he had for a bed.

  “I have to get me something to use. Magic. You’d think in a place like this, there’d be something.” He had been in the fields in the early morning, looking for a faerie or t
wo. Even the brownies, who were dumber than rocks, seemed to have gone into hiding. “I could go to the mountain, I suppose. Look there.”

  But the thought of going there, climbing the mountain even for magic, seemed a task that was too much for him. He was exhausted most of the time, and he could barely move around the rest. Being without his magic was like having his teeth pulled out and a steak, a fine rare one, set before him.

  Butler would have to do something, and the sooner the better. He needed those pieces they had, and he wasn’t going to get them without more magic than he had on him now. He’d forgotten how much he had come to depend on the magic and all that it had done for him. Like his body falling apart. His teeth, never in good shape in the first place, were hurting him all the time now.

  Butler was even beginning to look older. There wasn’t enough to keep him alive, much less make him look like a young man who had had it all. He would again, soon too, but for now, he was living in a shack without heat or water, and he was hungry. All the time.

  Resting for a little bit, he thought about the necklace and how it was supposed to be this all-powerful thing. He had, at one time, been able to rub the blue diamond in the middle and replenish himself for several days. Now all it gave him was a shiny stone and a sore thumb.

  After napping for a few hours, he made himself walk to the mountain. Stopping by the orchard this time, he picked himself several apples, a few pears, and a fruit that looked like it had scabs all over it, with the ugliest hard stems out of the top of it. It was the most dreadful thing he’d ever seen, but he figured that as big as it was, he should be able to get some energy from it. The walk was made more difficult with his extra weight, and he thought about just sitting down again and resting.

  “Can’t do it.” Butler had been talking to himself for all his life, and thought that he needed to pep himself up more instead of thinking of only bad things. Like how hurt he was, and how hungry he seemed to be all the time. “Can’t rest until this is done. I will win this. I will.”