Remnants

Bigfoot

"So they're really dragons?" Jack asked as they sat around the campfire built from pallet wood.

"Well we can't actually see them. They only come at night. But they sound like what you would think a dragon would sound like. And they breathe fire. And their wings are so huge you can feel the air they push down while they fly from the ground. So you know what they say, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck," James explained.

"It must be a duck," Jack said, completing the cliche. "I just wasn't sure I wanted to believe it. Not that it's any crazier than anything else that happens in this world."

He stared into the fire, pondering on how one would actually kill a dragon. He felt sure that if any gun would work, the Barrett would. But just because he had a gun that could kill the dragon, or likely dragons in the plural form, based off of the talk he had heard so far, didn't mean he would be able to kill these dragons. If they were as big as James described, and if they truly could breathe fire, if they were anything like the dragons from the stories he used to read, there were plenty of ways that the dragons could kill him too.

"So we all know about the goblins and the dragons, but what is it that we don't know, Evan?" Becca asked.

Evan looked at the faces of those seated around the fire who knew the whole story. Or at least what Evan had told them was the whole story. He stopped on Jack who nodded his invitation to begin the same explanation that had awakened him to a secret world only mere months before.

"What you don't know is that this is all much older than you think. It all began long before the Separation," Evan began.

"Of course it did. I mean, I'm sure we've all thought it did," Becca countered. "All the creatures and the magic is way too close to those fantasy stories that have been around forever. I figured everybody assumed that now this world just proves that there was some truth to all of them."

"You're right of course, but there's more to it. Before the Separation, there was a war going on. A secret war. One that I was involved in. And until this organized goblin uprising started happening, I thought I was the last one alive that was a part of it," Evan said.

James and Becca listened in stunned silence as Evan inducted them into the small but ever growing number of people who knew the real truth of the world and of the Separation. He explained the histories of the Order of le Fey and of the predecessor to the Journeymen, the Arthurian Guard. He told them of the plot to take over the world, to bring back magic in greater strength than ever before. And he told them of the events of last fall, the near destruction of the governing body of their order of lawmen. And finally he explained his belief that the remnants of the Order of le Fey were operating out of Dallas, right in the backyard of the stunned Journeymen who sat around the fire.

Jack watched Anya as Evan explained the events of the pecan grove. He chose not to mention much of her involvement, other than a vague statement about her impressive use of magic but he could see that it troubled her. Her eyes looked dark, only further emphasized by the magical eye shadow and eyeliner that she wore. She stared into the fire, unwilling or unable to look at the faces of those around her.

"That's, well-," James began.

"Es loco, cabron," Becca said in disbelief. "How was this huge secret kept so well?"

"You think the government didn't keep other huge secrets? The JFK assassination? Literally anything the CIA was involved with? Bigfoot?" Evan asked.

"Wait, what was that about Bigfoot?" James asked, nearly leaping off of his bucket he used for a stool.

Evan sighed in exasperation and looked to Jack for help. Jack also wanted to know what Evan meant about Bigfoot but understood that the time for more questions would come later, likely because Evan was unwilling to share more.

"The point of all of this is, we need to get intel. We don't know much about what's going on in the city but I think you both can agree that since the fall, the goblins have been stepping up their operations. They're more organized and it seems like multiple tribes and clans are working together," Jack said, hoping to bring them back on track.

James looked visibly disappointed but nodded in agreement, "You're right, they do. And the dragons have only just appeared since around when you described in the fall. They have to be connected."

Becca nodded, clearly more concerned with being kept out of the loop than with the potential for learning more about America's most famous cryptid, "That's what I'm thinking too. And if these dragons are from the Order, I'm in for whatever you guys need. Those things have done a lot of damage to people who have only just started to scrape together a semblance of a life. Even the villages that have been working with the goblins."

"Wait, villages have been working with the goblins?" Jase, who had previously been silent asked.

Jack nodded, "Yeah, that's not something I expected. Last I heard, the goblins were raiding villagers not working with them."

"They're the only city villages that haven't been wiped out. They trade, they go on raids together, but they don't seem like they like each other. It seems more like a relationship of necessity than anything else. Like it's an act of survival," James said.

Although Jack thought he couldn't be surprised anymore, here he was, surprised again. Goblins working with the Order made sense. They were a tool for the magical organization's quest for power. Anya had told him that Gabe and his men had seemed disgusted by the goblin presence and had commanded them around like mere slaves. It was anything but an equal relationship. But these humans in the city worked with them rather than over them.

Evan was the one who spoke now. "That makes things difficult. Because we need to get into Dallas so we can check things out. That means we have to get through Fort Worth and Arlington so that we can get there. And at this point, no more disguises. Nobody can know we're here."

"We can do that. It won't be easy and we'll need to leave all of the horses and the cart behind. And any non-essential personnel," Becca said after some thought.

"I'm hoping that means me," Liza said with a bright smile.

"And me, if Liza stays, I stay too," Leo said.

"That's right, only Journeymen from here on," Evan said.

"I guess this means I can finally take off the dress and makeup then," Anya said brusquely, arms crossed over her flower print dress.