The Dragon Games

Drax

The raiders never stayed in one place for long, so I rarely bothered with decoration. My chamber was bare except for a bed, a nightstand, some toiletries, and random articles of clothing scattered across the floor.

I had one window and always cracked it open to see the stars. As I lay in bed, my fingers drifted to the bronze amulet hanging from my neck.

Certain moments change a person forever, dividing their life into two halves: before and after. Marcus' moment was whatever the hell happened in Drax's office. I couldn't decide mine, whether it was the day I met Samuel Crenshaw or the day he disappeared.

After Sammy recruited me to join the raiders, the next seven years were the best of my life. The eighth year was the worst.

Wherever Sammy was now, was he looking at the stars, too? Sammy had a passion for them. On stakeouts, he would point out the constellations and explain their lore and founders.

Mind you, the lessons bored the hell out of me, but not many men can crumble a building in the afternoon and then spend the whole evening captivated by an astrology book...

I don't recall falling asleep. One moment, I was thinking of Sammy. The next, thunder cracked, followed by sheets of rain pounding against the roof. It was so loud, it almost drowned out the faint ripping noise crawling down my walls.

Almost.

I blinked groggily. My vision slowly returned to find a burly man covered head to toe in tattoos standing at the foot of my bed. I shot up, awake in an instant. Black had swallowed his eyes whole. He slowly raised his hands, matching the pace of the wallpaper ripping from my walls.

"Want to tell me where it is, or should I tear your chamber apart, piece by piece?" Drax said.

I stared at him, too stunned to move.

"Very well." He targeted my floor next, ripping the wooden panels out. One came easier than the rest, revealing a hidden crawl space containing my boat tickets and a bag of gold coins.

Drax's lip curled. Then he tucked the coins into his jacket. "I heard rumors you were holding out on me, but I didn't need Marcus to tell me that."

My blood ran cold.

I wanted to say I saw it coming; that it was a dog-eat-dog world, kill or be killed. But the betrayal hit me like a kick to the gut.

Marcus must have given me a hundred warning signs – his fear of Drax, his nervous behavior, his insistence on following the rules down to the letter – yet I still managed to miss what was staring me in the face.

Or perhaps I saw it all and refused to believed it. Refused to acknowledge that someone I trusted so much for so long was capable of betraying me.

"You think I wouldn't notice that when Crenshaw left, he took half your talent with him?" Drax said. "That you've gotten greedy?"

"I got my quota, just like everyone else--"

"Did I say you could speak?"

I fell silent. I tried to think of a way out of this situation, but it was useless. As soon as Marcus opened his big fat mouth, the fight was lost.

Drax's mouth curved, his eyes dancing. "You think you can just up and leave? That you owe us nothing? Let me remind you where you came from. Before the raiders, you were nothing. Just another worthless orphan, destined for the whore house or off a bridge."

As he spoke, he tore my tickets and tossed them out the window. I watched the scraps flutter to the ground below, turning brown and dissolving as they sank into the muddy puddles.

My stomach gave a nasty throb.

Years of hard work, gone in a matter of seconds. I bought those tickets with money I had saved up from years of raider jobs. But under Drax's command, it would be near impossible to build up savings like those again.

Drax sneered. "Crenshaw was too easy on you. It's a wonder the Raiders lasted so long in his hands, the wag-tailed fop."

At the mention of Sammy's name, my shoulders stiffened.

"You're lucky I haven't cut the dead weights yet," Drax said, "all the fools Crenshaw was too soft to get rid of."

"Ay," I said. "I'd weep if we lost everyone's favorite new captain."

Drax's hand shot out, and an invisible force grabbed my neck, slamming me into the wall. While I hung from the air, my toes grazing the ground, Drax strode closer, til I could see nothing but the black pooling in his eyes.

Everyone's Divine felt different. Some Divine felt cool and warm, like dipping your hand in a pool of honey. Some Divine was feather light and tickled. Drax's Divine was like white hot spikes, like your skin was peeling open from the inside out.

I couldn't make him release me by force. My hold on the Divine was nowhere near his skill level. Returning to the meek yes-sir, my-pleasure-sir routine that had kept me alive these past few months was my best defense, but now that I had finally spoken my mind, I couldn't stop.

"You know what Sammy will do to you when he returns?" I rasped around his tightening chokehold. "He—"

The invisible hand clenched, squeezing my throat within an inch of my life. The room spun. Black spots appeared in my vision. Just when I thought I would black out, he let go. I fell to my hands and knees, wheezing and gasping.

Seven hells, it was embarrassing, a bigger blow to my pride than my neck. Drax made me feel like a scrawny eight-year-old again, powerless and weak.

"Lose the ego," Drax hissed.

I tensed for another blow, but he straightened up, leaning away from me. He could not afford to injure me. At least not tonight, the eve of our biggest job yet.

"After tomorrow, I'll be a rich man. And you?" Drax sneered wide, revealing rows of gold-plated teeth. "If you think you have it bad now, I'll teach you what pain really means. That was the last time you try to escape me."