Jigsaw World (25 page)

“
As I was saying” The Herald
continued. “Charlie called to ask that you meet him in Provo to
help him with a little dragon problem they have down
there.”

“
Do I look like a dragon slayer?”
Tom asked. “Can we just call for an exterminator?”

“
You don’t
have
to go, but it is
something that is in line with the nature of the task you signed up
for. Think of it as one of the ‘pre-tasks’ that you need to
complete, in order to prepare yourself for the main task
later.”

The group exchanges glances amongst
themselves, which might best be described as the ‘Is he shitting
me?’ looks, but Arpad put it into words. “I know this crap doesn’t
look like it has anything to do with anything, but there are
associations of actions and objects in a working that make no
causal type of sense, but are necessary to success.” He said. “Take
for instance, the need for a spirit quest, or the need to walk to
where you will complete a task, rather than simply being teleported
there by one of the adepts.”

Even though this statement of Arpad’s raised
far more questions than it answered, the group was reluctantly
willing to concede the point. A semi-civilized discussion of the
details of the dragon infestation ensued, with much interrogation
of the Herald for details as yet unrevealed. When the Sorcerer
shadowed into a chair at the table, he proved to be a better source
of information than the Herald. He stood up in front of the group
in standard lecture mode, when it became obvious that he would be
pumped for information before being allowed to enjoy the
food.

He indicated that the dragons of ancient times
had evolved along the pterodactyl format, a serpentine body with
oversized bat wings, and at some point in the past; they had
developed an ability to exhale fire, in the form of an ignited
methane and propane mixture. Only a few of each generation of the
dragons were able to breathe fire. The rest had to depend on their
excessively long teeth, their almost impenetrable scales, and their
generally vicious attitude.

The Sorcerer grinned and made an odd gesture
which none of the group could follow, because some of his motions
seemed to be in some other place where they could not see. It was
quite odd to be standing directly in front of him, watching his
hands move and sometimes disappear while looking directly at them.
When he finished his movements, he was standing in front of a pile
of stuff which had mysteriously appeared while nobody noticed.
Nobody was sure how it appeared right in front of them without them
being aware.

“
If you are going out dragon
hunting, you need to have some stuff.” The Sorcerer said. “Here are
some fire blankets and an assortment of spears, harpoons, arrows
and swords. I would have gotten you shields, but frankly, if the
dragon gets that close to you, you would be dragon kibble
anyhow.”

With that dubious pronouncement, and with a
MapQuest map and directions provided by the ever helpful Herald of
Cernunnos, the group found themselves watching the white dashes
that divided the highway between Camden and Provo go by with the
miles, as they made the minor trip between the towns along a route
that in other circumstances would have been restful.

Arpad and Veritasia had insisted on coming
with Markus, Tom, Karla and Vera on this trip. Tom examined her
motives and behaviors in a circumspect, but careful manner, and
could see no indication that Veritasia was motivated to come along
with any other motivation than to be helpful and active. It looked
like she wasn’t going to be catty about their history.

The trip was just a shade under a hundred
miles, with relatively well maintained blacktop all the way. Some
significant portion of the trip was on winding rural roads, so the
trip took a shade over two hours to travel. When they got to Provo,
most of the party wondered why they bothered. It was more a rural
community than any sort of town, with small collections of related
families living in the houses that their family had owned for
generations. While it was all homey and rustic, the place hardly
seemed to be worth the bother of saving.

They pulled up to the family home of Diane
Cannon, who was an apparent acquaintance of Charlie’s, and was the
place chosen by him for them to meet up with him. She was a very
good looking red head of the Irish persuasion, and she had a brood
of what is known in the Celtic communities as ‘Cotton tops’. It
seemed that the children, who would someday be blonde, red headed
or brown haired always started their lives with a head topped by
almost white blonde hair.

They all went in to meet Charlie, who was
sitting on the couch, with his feet up on the coffee table,
drinking sassafras tea collected and made right there on the
property. He had what is generally known professionally as a shit
eating grin on his face, which was possibly a sign of his happiness
to see the group, or more likely because he had spent all day in
the presence of a gorgeous redhead.

When the family left the room to come up with
some food for the hungry travelers, Charlie confided in the group
that he had chosen Diane’s place because, in his world, she had run
away when she was fifteen with a guy, who had taken her to
Louisiana and had killed her. When he had found out that she was
alive in this world, he just had to see how she had come
out.

Diane and the kids brought in a big tray of
food, mostly sandwiches and a pizza, along with a gallon of milk
and a couple of big cokes. Everyone got a drink and some food, and
they sat around the coffee table eating while Charlie explained the
current problem.

“
There have been some sightings of
a flying serpent or dragon in the area. Several people and a few
calves have gone missing, presumed consumed by said dragon.”
Charlie said. “One person got a photo of the dragon, and I
recognize it as the creature that the Lakota knew as Unhcegila. It
is reputed to have first been seen rising from the ice in the North
Atlantic, and has been seen pretty much all over the states since
then.”

“
So what can we do about it?” Tom
asked. “It has the advantage of flight, and there is no way that we
can intercept it once it decides to avoid us in this
country.”

“
True. But I have a plan.” Charlie
responded. “We can all defend ourselves should it attack using the
weapons. I have some spelled sunglasses to protect us from its
killing lights. Just remember to only look at the dragon through
the sunglasses.”

“
So how do we go on the offensive
against this thing?” Markus asked. “Can’t it just flap away
whenever we get close to it?”

“
I have an answer to that as
well.” Charlie replied. “We will summon the Tlanuwa, the Cherokee
Thunderbird to kill the dragon.”

“
Long as I don’t have to dance
naked to summon it, count me in!” Tom joked.

“
Nah, just the girls have to get
naked for this one.” Leered Charlie. “Just joking. It will just
take me a moment to complete the summoning. I need to get into a
meditative state.”

With that, he removed himself into one of the
back bedrooms, where items that looked like his suggested that he
had stayed last night. He settled into a Lotus position and started
to do his thing, having to stop only once to throw a small girl off
who had climbed into his lap. After a bit, he must have been
satisfied with the exercise, because he opened his eyes and
rejoined the group.

“
Okay, it is done. The Tlanuwa
should be here sometime this evening.” He said. “It has to fly here
from the Little Tennessee River basin, so it will be that long. I
suggest that we go out and check one of the kill sites.”

Charlie cautioned that they and the community
would be almost as endangered by the Thunderbird as by the dragon,
as she was known to carry off the occasional cow or person to snack
on herself. She should focus on the Unhcegila, because he had
instilled an idea in the Thunderbird that the dragon was
encroaching on her territory, so she will be focused on him, and
then should immediately fly back home when the deed is done, but
get close enough, and she might try to snack on the
group.

They all got in the jeep that Charlie had come
up with from somewhere, and he drove them out to a field on the
North side of the Blacktop, not more than two miles from Diane’s
place. They all got out and followed Charlie into the middle of the
field, where a cow’s carcass lay forlornly. A gigantic tear had
opened the carcass up from the belly up the side to the shoulder,
which would have been enough to kill the animal, but there was
more. Around the eyes there was what looked like a highly
accelerated rotting process that took place, so that the eyes were
almost free to fall out of the orbits due to the softness of the
rotting tissue around them.

Charlie pointed out that the necropsy was a
direct result of exposure to one of the seven patches on the scales
of the serpent that emitted a strange blue light. Just seeing the
light wouldn’t kill you, but if the beams of the light directly
struck the eyes, you would instantaneously die from a massive
system collapse, and the flesh struck by the direct beam would
rapidly rot away.

After hearing about the light, and seeing the
evidence, everyone managed to don their sunglasses as nonchalantly
as possible. Once they had seen the killing field, they were all
too happy to return to the nourishing home of the lovely Diane to
spend the night in familial comfort before seeking out the beasts
tomorrow to conclude the task.

Later on that night, Tom was treated to the
jarringly incongruous sight of four ladies singing country songs in
perfect harmony while playing guitars, while a whole herd of kids
ignored them studiously while texting each other on their smart
phones. Later there was food, and there was Muscadine Wine, and
there was home brew, and there was crappy television, and later
still, there were feather beds.

In the morning, the group traveled back to the
killing field to set up to either witness or do the destruction of
the flying serpent. They took up positions under a gigantic oak
tree in the middle of the field, and Tom manned a harpoon gun,
which launched the harpoon via the use of compressed air, and
tethered to the oak tree via the long cable attached to the shaft.
Everybody was careful to wear their sunglasses for this
mission.

It was about nine am when they took up their
position, and it was about eleven fifteen when they first caught
sight of the massive hawk form of the Thunderbird. The thing looked
to be about the size of a small elephant, but somehow, it had no
difficulty riding the air currents in search of its
prey.

It flapped its way to the south, barely
adjusting its course to avoid what it must have seen as an inept
attempt to ambush it. In a minute or less, it was out of sight,
supposedly hunting the dragon. Everybody settled back into more
relaxed positions to wait out the time until the worm showed
up.

It was about twelve-thirty when they finally
caught their first glimpse of the dragon. Its scales were gleaming
an iridescent copper-red in the sunlight, and spread over its front
side were patches that glowed a sky blue glow. These patches were
said to be deadly, should their light be focused on the eyes of any
mortal creature. The Thunderbird was not mortal, and it was
theoretically not endangered by the glow.

The serpent was first seen flapping its way
out of the south, looking a bit harassed. The group surmised that
the Thunderbird had found it, and it was attempting to make its
escape. The reptile did not seem to notice the group, there beneath
the tree, and he was about to fly directly overhead. It could not
have been planned better.

Tom sighted the harpoon on the nearing dragon,
eased it upward to adjust for the distance, and then he squeezed
the trigger. The tube bucked on the tripod, and the cable set up a
high pitched whine as it unwound through the tube. For a second the
spear was in flight, and then it buried itself into the neck of the
beast. The dragon instantly started to veer to the east of the
group, which caused the slack in the cable to be used up much more
quickly.

As Tom watched, the dragon reached the end of
the cable, and then his flight took the form of a ground facing
arc, where he dived nose first into the dirt in the middle of the
field. The crash felt like the energy of two semis colliding, but
after laying inert for less than five seconds, the dragon shook its
head and got back onto its feet. It backed away from the cable
until it reached the end of it, and with a mighty jerk, it pulled
the harpoon out of its flesh.

The reptile shook itself, and if it had
feathers, they would have been ruffled up. It flapped its wings a
couple of flaps, and then it took to the sky once more. Tom had not
had time to reload the harpoon, and did not want to detach the
cable anyway, so he had to watch helplessly as the dragon began to
flap away.

It was with a great deal of satisfaction that,
almost before the beast had got off the ground, the Thunderbird was
on him. It completed a typical hawk’s strafing run at the dragon,
and pierced it through the spinal cord around the front shoulders
with its talons. The dragon hit the ground once more, and the bird
flapped in the air above the beast, jerking its talons deep into
the reptile until she was satisfied that the dragon was dead. At
last, the Thunderbird let loose of the lizard, and flapped away
toward the east and home.