Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

“What are you, a child?” Poseidon hissed at the trapped Brock, who struggled in vain to escape from his watery prison. Poseidon was wielding a more ornate version of the usual guard’s two-handed spear, and the gold tip came out to three points, like a trident. The shaft was blue, and the butt end of the lance had a golden dragon head tipping it, its mouth open in mid-roar.

“You really must have meat for brains if you thought that behavior was going to fly with me as the prison warden.”

Brock’s attempts to break free from the water orb gradually grew feeble, and then they stopped altogether as he grew still, apparently unconscious. Poseidon released his spell at that point, and Brock fell to the ground, out cold. Seconds later, the water from Poseidon’s spell fell right on top of him, causing Brock to wake up, sputtering and coughing. After spitting up some water, he looked around and noticed Poseidon floating above him, giving him a cold glare. Brock’s complexion paled instantly.

Poseidon didn’t even give Brock a chance to make excuses. He turned his attention to a pair of guards posted close by. “One of you, take this orc and put him in solitary confinement for forty-eight hours,” he ordered. “Maybe that’ll teach him to shape up. The other, go to the castle and get the word out that I require Damrabe’s presence as soon as possible. I don’t care what excuse he gives you; I need him here now to heal Draycos. I could hear ribs cracking all the way from my office.”

The pair of guards saluted, and as one flew off to the castle, the other pointed the butt end of his lance at Brock. The dragon head on the end opened its mouth, and a silver chain shot forth from its maw, quickly wrapping itself around Brock, restraining him. Without missing a beat, the dragon guardsman unfurled his wings and took off with Brock in tow.

Poseidon returned his attention to Draycos, who was on his knees, attempting to get back on his feet, despite the fact that he was still spitting blood. Poseidon tsked, and held a finger in front of his snout. A small bubble formed on the tip of his claw, and he sent it off with a gentle blow. Floating lazily through the air, the bubble eventually drew close to Draycos and settled on the back of his neck before popping with an unusually loud sound. Draycos slumped to the ground, out like a light. Poseidon approached the unconscious boy and carefully scooped him up into his hands before taking off, heading back to his office. Once inside, he used his tail to open a barred prison cell door placed in the wall next to the fireplace. The purpose of the prison cell inside his office was for keeping a very close eye on convicts who were suspected of being involved in unusual crimes, so it was more of a detaining cell than an actual prison cell. He put his hands through the door and gently laid Draycos on the bed inside. After that he sat at his desk and waited, doodling on some spare parchment. Roughly thirty minutes passed before there was a knock at his door.

“Come in,” Poseidon ordered. The door cracked open, and one of the guards from earlier stuck his head inside the office.

“Sir, I just returned from the castle. I arrived just as King Theravor, Reothad, and Damrabe returned from their trip, so I was able to bring Damrabe back with me.” The door fully opened, revealing Damrabe towering over the guard from behind, a stiff expression on his face. Damrabe was now wearing a brown leather sash diagonally across his chest, from his right shoulder to his upper left thigh, and there were test tubes stuck into slots cut into the sash. Some of the test tubes were filled with what appeared to be blood. The guard stepped out of the way, allowing Damrabe to enter the office.

“Good work,” Poseidon told the guard. “You may go now. Take the rest of your day off; I’ll get someone else to fill in for you.”

The guard bowed deeply, grateful. “Thank you, sir,” he said. “Have a good day.” With another bow, the guard backed out of the office and closed the door, leaving the grandfather and grandson alone in the office. Silence filled the room while Poseidon stared at Damrabe, who was less than pleased, not looking his grandfather in the eye.

“Damrabe, I know how you feel about me, but I didn’t bring you here to discuss your feelings this time,” Poseidon said, breaking the silence. “I’m not sure if you were made aware of this, but Draycos already ended up getting hurt in a fight against a stupid orc over food. I need your power to heal him.”

With a start, Damrabe finally made eye contact with Poseidon. “I definitely wasn’t told about that. What happened?”

Poseidon sighed. “As I said, an orc named Brock tried to take Draycos’ lunch. Draycos must’ve not taken to that very well, for he continually provoked Brock until a fight broke out. Brock ended up with a broken nose and two full days in solitary confinement as punishment for instigating the brawl, and Draycos ended up with at least three broken ribs and one or more destroyed internal organs from a single kick.”

Damrabe whistled. “Humans really aren’t very durable, are they?” he commented.

Poseidon nodded. “Exactly what I said earlier. Now, if you’d please, heal him.” Poseidon directed Damrabe’s attention to the cell door with his tail. Squatting down in front of the door, Damrabe peered inside and saw Draycos laying on the bed, blood still slowly trickling from the corner of his mouth. Damrabe lifted his right hand to his mouth and grunted in discomfort as he bit into his thumb, drawing out a droplet of blood. Using his index finger, Damrabe skillfully flicked the blood droplet off his thumb and sent it flying through the air until it landed on Draycos’ cheek. It sunk down into his skin until it disappeared, and a crimson glow dimly flashed around Draycos’s body until it disappeared.

“All done,” Damrabe announced as he pulled two empty test tubes out of his sash. “I might as well get a couple of blood samples while I’m here; I’m interested in learning more about this boy.” Uncorking the test tubes, he pointed his middle and index finger at the blood dribbling from Draycos’ mouth and made a come here gesture. Following his command, the blood lifted itself off Draycos’ face and flew through the air until it poured itself into the empty test tubes. Corking them up, Damrabe put them back his sash and stood up. He turned around to meet Poseidon’s quiet gaze.

“Well done,” Poseidon commented. “Blood healing and blood control. Both powerful skilled belonging to those of the Sangues Draconis dragon species.”

“Shut up!” Damrabe suddenly spat, losing his composure. “I’m not of that class; I’m a half-breed between that and your Anear Draconis species. You know that.”

“Indeed.” Poseidon’s eyes unfocused as he gazed out into space. “How I wish your mother was still with us.”

Damrabe approached his grandfather’s desk and slammed a fist on it, scattering the piles of parchment and books. “Shut up,” he repeated, glaring at Poseidon.

“I still remember the day she disappeared,” Poseidon went on, off in his own world. “One night, she just up and vanished. We had no clue as to why she disappeared and where she was. I didn’t know her fate until you suddenly showed up on my doorstep thirty years ago and gave me your story.” Poseidon sighed again. “Spirited away by the leader of the Sangues Draconis tribe, she ended up giving birth to you a year later. Then she was killed off after they confirmed that you would be able to live a long life.”

“Stop digging up the past,” Damrabe growled in Poseidon’s face. His father had been a cruel man, not caring about the feelings of those around him. All he cared about was having a strong successor to lead the tribe after he was gone, and Damrabe was the result. Damrabe hardly had memories of his mother, since his father killed her when he was about five years old.

It was thirty years ago when that incident happened. Damrabe’s father was experimenting on his son with a ritual that supposedly made dragons immortal, but that wasn’t what the ritual’s true purpose was. When all was said and done, Damrabe ended up contracting vampirism. Even though his father’s tribe was a group of blood dragons, they couldn’t tolerate a vampire being in their midst, and Damrabe was kicked out. With nowhere to go, Damrabe followed the details his mother told him about her life during stories she told him when he was a hatchling and ended up at the dragon king’s palace doorstep. That’s when he first met the then-prince Theravor, and eventually, his grandfather.

Poseidon’s eyes refocused on Damrabe. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to be ‘dragon’ up painful memories with my comments,” he joked.

Damrabe blinked at the horrible pun. He then sighed and took his hands off the table as he straightened up. “I can never understand you, ya know?” he said, shaking his head.

“Of course you can’t,” Poseidon responded. “For someone who doesn’t even want to understand himself, understanding others is nigh impossible.”

Damrabe glared at him but didn’t comment.

“By the way, I understand you went with the king to spy on his son at a class five gate, correct?” Poseidon questioned. “How did the prince do?”

Damrabe gave a half-hearted smile. “Fairly well,” he responded. “There was a massive amount of mana pouring out of that gate; the Gatekeepers couldn’t even get close to it without taking severe damage. They were in total disorder. But then Prince Drax swooped in and easily claimed the gate. It was pretty impressive.”

“It sounds like it was,” Poseidon commented. “Prince Drax seems to be much stronger than his father was at that age.”

Damrabe turned towards the door. “Leaving so soon?” Poseidon called after him. Damrabe stopped at the doorway and looked over his shoulder.

“Yeah, the King should be starting a meeting with the Dragon Council about the situation with the stolen Orb right about now,” he said. “They’re gonna want as much info on any leads we have to its location as possible, and Draycos is our only possible clue. I’m going back to the castle to analyze his blood and see if I can find out anything.”

“At least you know what you have to do for now,” Poseidon sighed. “Come back to visit your grandfather more often; I enjoy the conversations we have on the rare occasion.”

Damrabe narrowed his eyes and remained silent as he slammed the door shut behind him.