Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

“S-stop!” the black and grey dragon demanded as Boreta continued to approach him. “Stay away from me with that stuff!”

“Huh, that’s interesting. He’s still able to talk that clearly with his mouth forced open like that?” Draycos remarked. “That’s impressive.”

Vertex lightly smacked the back of Draycos’s head to shut him up. “This really isn’t the time to be making comments, Draycos,” he muttered under his breath. “Just keep quiet and watch.”

Draycos rubbed the back of his head but did as he was told. Boreta had reached the Killwing family branch head and started to tip the vial over as the dragon struggled furiously against Zero and Vinzgar. Everyone watched on silently as a single drop of the cloudy liquid spilled from the neck of the vial and fell into the dragon’s open mouth.

The second the drop touched his tongue, the dragon ceased struggling and hung limply in Zero and Vinzgar’s arm, as if he had been knocked out. The two dragons holding him in place released him and he fell to his knees, staring listlessly at the floor.

“Let’s start with the basics. Would you tell us who you are?” Boreta questioned.

The dragon looked at her with unfocused eyes. “My name is Daiken Killwing, head of the Killwing branch family.”

Boreta nodded at Theravor. “Everything’s ready now, Theravor.”

“Excellent work, Boreta,” Theravor praised. “The potions you create never leave anything to be desired. I can see why you were nicknamed, ‘the Toxic Butterfly’ during your time in the dragon king games.”

Boreta frowned at that remark. “I never did like that nickname,” she murmured. “Please refrain from calling me that anymore.”

Theravor gave her a slight bow. “My apologies, Boreta. I meant no offense. My praise for your talents in alchemy still stands, though.”

Boreta returned the bow. “Thank you, my king.”

Finishing with the formalities, the two of them returned their attention to the drugged dragon before them. Theravor took a few steps forward and glared down at Diaken.”

“Now, tell us, Daiken, what reason did you have for attempting to sabotage the assessment exam?” he growled in a dangerously low voice.

“I was following orders given to me by Vinzgar.”

Everyone was shocked upon hearing this and immediately turned to Vinzgar, who was so shocked that he had frozen in place, mouth hanging open. He quickly regained his composure and glared at Daiken.

“What lies are you spouting off, Daiken?!” Vinzgar roared. “I never gave such orders! for one was all in on getting Draycos through the exam; I even conjured the weapon he used in the first part of it! Why would I go out of my way to sabotage him when I’m more concerned with recovering the orb?!”

“Easy, easy, Vinzgar!” Theravor soothed, placing his hand on Vinzgar’s shoulder once more to calm him down. “None of us here believe that statement; for that matter, Zero, Boreta, and I know you far too well to even consider this a possibility from you.”

Draycos had his hand on his chin, deep in thought as Theravor calmed down Vinzgar. He then looked up at Theravor.

“There’s three possible answers that I can think of to this, Theravor,” he said. All the dragons turned to look at him. “One, Vinzgar is lying. I can’t say much about him since I hardly know Vinzgar, but if you trust him, that’s a good enough reason to rule that possibility out.”

Theravor and several others nodded at this.

“Two, there’s the chance that Vinzgar was somehow controlled against his will when that order was placed and has no memory of it.”

“That’s nearly impossible,” Boreta interjected, shaking her head. “Magic might not be the Killwing family’s strong point, but Vinzgar has an exceptionally high amount of magicka for his family. And brain-control spells are completely ineffective against targets with stronger mana than the caster.”

“Then that brings up another point,” Draycos stated. “Who has more magicka than Vinzgar? Anyone who fits that bill could be a suspect.”

There was an uneasy silence at the dragons exchanged worried looks with one another at this remark.

“Then the last possibility is this: Daiken could have been given fake orders.”

“That doesn’t add up with the situation, though,” Zero responded. “If he had been given fake orders, then why wouldn’t he just tell us that instead of struggling against us and forcing us to use a truth serum?”

A sudden thought occurred to Theravor and he looked down at Daiken. “Daiken, how did you receive these orders for the sabotage?”

“I received the orders on a scroll delivered by a messenger,” Daiken answered. “It had Vinzgar’s personal seal on it, so I didn’t doubt it came directly from him.”

Theravor exchanged glances with Vinzgar. “Vinzgar, go to your office and see if your seal stamp is still there,” he ordered. Vinzgar nodded and rushed out of the room.

“Alright, Daiken, where is that slip of parchment now?” Theravor probed. Daiken responded, and Theravor sent Zero to go retrieve it.

“That was some impressive thinking there, Draycos,” Theravor remarked as he looked at the young man sitting in bed.

Draycos tched. “Honestly, I can’t take much credit there,” he responded. “I read many mystery and crime books when I was in middle school, and this kind of situation happened more than once in those stories.

Vinzgar returned to the room a few minutes after Zero’s departure, a look of outrage on his face. “The seal stamp I currently use is still there, but one of my spares I keep on the shelves is missing,” he hissed when he rejoined the group. “Someone must have swiped it when I wasn’t around.”

Zero walked through the door at that moment, staring at a piece of parchment in his hands. His eyes were covered by his goggles with the blue lenses. He sighed as he walked up to Theravor, pulling the googles back to the top of his head..

“Looks like we all got hoodwinked,” he grumbled. He pointed to a lacy black thread still attached to the bottom of the scroll. “This thread had the effects of a strong alteration-class spell woven into it. From the way everything seemed to be set up, the spell was cast the moment the thread was broken. It was probably a simple command, like, “Follow the orders you are given, ′ or something like that. In this case, the orders were, ‘interfere with the spells during Draycos’s assessment exam so it looks like he was killed due to an accident.’ There’s Vinzgar’s seal there at the end, too.”

“This obviously wasn’t stamped by Vinzgar, though,” Theravor commented as he took the parchment from Zero and carefully looked it over. “So, he’s under the effects of a compulsion spell, huh...?”

“Umm, hold on, I’m confused about something,” Draycos spoke up. “Boreta just said that brain-control spells don’t work on people with stronger mana than the caster, right? How’s Daiken being controlled, then?”

Vinzgar shook his head. “You’re forgetting the fact that the Killwing family isn’t known for our magicka skills, excluding me,” he told Draycos. “On top of that, this is a compulsory spell, not a brain-control spell. There’s a big difference between the two. Brain-control spells are some high-level alteration-class spells with many restrictions on their usage. Compulsory spells aren’t as strong, but that means there’s less restrictions on them, allowing them to target a larger variety of victims. They may not be as effective as normal on a target with stronger mana, but they still work to some degree.”

“Huh, this spell was fairly powerful, though,” Theravor remarked as he continued to study the scroll and black thread. “Someone highly skilled in magic obviously created this. It’s no wonder it was effective on Daiken; in fact, it seems like he’s still under its influence. Boreta, would you like to do the honors?”

Boreta bowed. “It would be my pleasure.”

“Hey, what’s Boreta about to do?” Draycos asked Vertex in a whisper, leaning closer to the dragon and covering his mouth so the others wouldn’t see him.

“She’s getting ready to dispel the compulsory spell on Daiken,” Vertex whispered back, also leaning in closer to Draycos.

“I wonder what she’s gonna do,” Draycos said as Boreta walked over to where Daiken was still sitting on his knees. She stood there, staring at the drugged dragon for a moment, before raising her hand high in the air, fingers outstretched. She brought it down and slapped Daiken as hard as she could across his face.

“Umm, what was that?” Draycos asked as Daiken fell over on his side.

“I told you; she’s dispelling the compulsory spell,” Vertex answered.

“But, isn’t there any... less painful ways to go about it?”

“There are plenty. But that’s Boreta’s preferred personal method, and the one she’s the most efficient with.”

“...”

Remind me never to get on the nerves of the dragon called, ‘The Toxic Butterfly.’ I’d lose my head if she slapped me like that…

“Huh?” Daiken grunted, blinking. He blinked several more times as he slowly sat up and looked around. He saw the crowd of dragons surrounding him and tilted his head in mild confusion.

“Umm, what’s going on? Why’s the king and the rest of the Dragon Council meeting here in the middle of the afternoon?” He noticed the chains binding him and began to struggle against them. “And why am I wrapped in chains?!”

“Calm down, Daiken. Let us explain the situation to you,” Theravor told him. He gave Daiken a quick rundown of what had happened as Zero removed the chains from Daiken’s body.

“I was under the effects of a compulsory spell?” Daiken growled, rubbing his wrists where the chains and manacles had chafed them. “What nonsense.”

“Daiken, please. What’s the last thing you remember before waking up here?” Boreta queried. Daiken was quiet for a moment as he thought about it.

“Last thing I remember, I was at home when a messenger arrived and gave me a scroll, saying it was some new orders or something from Vinzgar. I ripped the thread binding it, and...I was here.”

“Daiken, you opened that scroll at least two or three days ago,” Vinzgar growled. “How do you explain the memory lost if you weren’t under a spell?”

Daiken hissed unpleasantly but didn’t have a response. At length, Theravor shook his head.

“We can talk more about this tonight during the Council meeting,” he announced. “Let’s not forget that we’re in the infirmary; there are patients here trying to rest and recover. I doubt they care much for the racket we’re making.”

Draycos looked around but saw none of the other beds were occupied. “Umm, Theravor, what patients are you talking abo--”

Vertex slapped the back of his head again. “He’s talking about you, Draycos.”

“Ow, would you stop hitting me already?!” Draycos demanded, both hands on the back of his head. “Is this how you treat patients here?!”

Theravor chuckled softly before looking Draycos in the eye. “Once again, Draycos, well done passing the assessment exam after only one month of training. I’ll have Damrabe come back later and heal the rest of your injuries, but I want you to stay here for the night. We have no way of knowing if there’s anyone else under the influence of a compulsory spell, so staying in the castle infirmary is much safer for you than back at the prison.”

Draycos simply nodded in response and laid back down on the bed, pulling the sheets up as he turned on his side while all the dragons exited the room. Vertex, however, remained behind, cracking his book open once more.

“Aren’t you going to the meeting?” Draycos asked.

“No,” Vertex grunted. “I’m just following orders right now. The king wanted me to guard you while you were unconscious, and he didn’t give me any further orders, so that still stands right now.”

“You sure you aren’t just staying because you’re worried about me?” Draycos teased.

“Go to sleep,” Vertex sighed, ignoring his comment. And Draycos did just that, sleeping the rest of the day and night away.