I recognized the name, which loosely translated meant, “You’re a dragon steward?” The Ušum-gal Abarakkum being a sect from my maternal progenitor’s time that cared for my kind. Worshipped us even.
“Steward probably isn’t the right term anymore, seeing as how the Ušum-gal Abarakkum were the ones who eradicated the dragons more than a thousand years ago.”
“They killed my kind?” It hit me hard to learn that a group once dedicated to serving had ensured our demise.
“Oh, yes. A few incidents led to them shifting their focus and deciding it wasn’t in humanity’s best interest to have a dragon rule the world. You might be intrigued to know your mother came close, though. Alas, she died before achieving that feat. One of her own servants betrayed her.”
“Traitor,” I growled.
“I’d say understandable, seeing as how your mother ate the steward’s baby.”
While I might be cold-blooded, even I internally winced. Humans tended to be emotional about their progeny. “Her servant killed my egg-layer out of revenge?”
“And for money. The Ušum-gal Abarakkum promised her half of the hoard for killing your mother. The great and mighty dragoness never saw it coming. Supposedly, she gorged on the vat of blood served to her, the fluid contaminated with a drug that paralyzed. Not for long. Your mother was immune to almost everything by this point. But the servant needed only a moment to stab her through the eye, right into the brain. Alas, the woman didn’t live to celebrate her victory or enjoy her newfound wealth because no one warned her that a dragon of your mother’s age, a fire breather, upon death, self-immolates.” Malone mimed an explosion with his hands.
“The thieving murderess gave the Ušum-gal Abarakkum the riddle with the egg locations,” I surmised.
“Actually, she didn’t. I found it by chance about a decade ago, in the Rocky Mountains. I stumbled across a network of caves with carvings and artifacts. I thought I’d found an ancient settlement until I stumbled across the bones of your mother, an actual dragon. Even more exciting than the hoard, which funded my work in the beginning, were the dozens of scrolls that had been remarkably well preserved. It took me years before I could translate them all. But once I did and realized I had in my possession the clues to finding dragon eggs, I began working in earnest to bring your kind back.”
“To use us,” I accused.
“Seems fair, given how dragons used to prey on humanity.”
“These scrolls are why you’re so well informed.”
“They were remarkably detailed. It’s how I know you’re undersized for this stage of molting. Although I don’t recall reading anything about an interrupted curing of the egg. I wonder if that’s the cause of your obnoxious color. Your species usually have more subdued hues.”
Rather than fuel my ire, his continual harping of my defectiveness actually had me drooping. I changed the subject.
“You’ve mentioned my maternal progenitor, but what of my paternal inseminator?” A strange question since dragons didn’t usually care about familial bonds. However, seeing Iolana with her grandfather, the affection they shared—couched in insults—had me curious. Had those who created me done so for practical or emotional reasons? Because, while my inherited knowledge kept claiming dragons were above such things as feelings, I feared I had yet another flaw because I found myself reacting in ways I shouldn’t. Despite my bravado, I couldn’t seem to fully control my emotions.
“The only mention of your father claimed he was a master of disguise. Which makes no sense. What would he hide as? An elephant?” Malone snickered at his own jest.
How intriguing. Like Malone, I also wondered what ability he’d had, as none that I knew of would classify.
“This Abaddon you spoke of, he is powerful.” Stated, not asked.
“He thinks he is.” Said with a sneer.
“He will be angry you escaped.”
“I’ll bet he’s livid, but he can stomp and rail all he wants; he won’t find me. I covered my tracks when I fled. While I might have met Apollo using my true name, I’ve been travelling under aliases. And he’d be wise to not try, anyhow. I know where he lives. It wouldn’t be too hard to take him down. All it would take is a few phone calls.”
I cocked my head. “You hate him, and yet you haven’t revealed his location? Why?”
“Because I didn’t work so hard to hatch dragons to have them killed or end up in the wrong hands. I’m not done with Abaddon yet, and you will help me to control him.”
“Me? You said it yourself. I am small. He would laugh at me should I confront him.” It galled to denigrate myself like that, but Malone appeared in the mood to talk, and I needed to keep him at ease so he’d tell me everything he knew. After all, knowledge could be power. If this Malone had a plan to subjugate a strong dragon, then perhaps I could use that to my advantage.
“You? Fight Abaddon?” The derisive laughter had me gritting my jaw. “Hardly. What you’ll be good for is testing substances I can use to subdue him. I already know he metabolizes most drugs too quickly, at least in the doses I attempted. But I know it’s possible, else your mother wouldn’t have been killed.”
His plan for me sounded vastly unpleasant. Hence, I rejected it. “I will not be party to your diabolical plan.”
“As I said before, you have no choice. Once I get you to my lab, there will be no escape for you. Soon as this storm lets up and planes start flying, we’ll be out of here.”
And my bright future would be lost.
A knock at the door swung Malone’s head, and his gaze narrowed.
