The Dragon Games

Drax

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

The closest thing to a luxury I had was a window, which I always cracked open to see the stars. As I lay in bed, staring into the night, my fingers drifted to the bronze locket hanging from my neck. Sammy's locket.

Certain moments change a person forever, dividing their life into two halves: before and after. Chick' 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 I accepted Sammy's offer to join the raiders, the next six years were the best of my life. 

The seventh year was the worst.

Wherever Sammy was now, was he looking at the stars, too? He was obsessed with them. On stakeouts, he'd point out the constellations and ramble about their lore and founders for hours. 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 evening captivated by an astrology book...

I don't remember 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 ripping wallpaper.

"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.

"Piece-by-piece it is." 

He targeted my floor next, ripping the wooden panels out. One came easier than the rest, revealing a hidden crawl space below. Drax's lip curled. With a flick of his wrist, a bag of loot shot across the room and hit his waiting hand. 

"I heard you were holding out on me," he said, "but I didn't need Chick to tell me that."

My blood ran cold. I wanted to say I saw it coming, but the betrayal hit me like a kick to the gut. I didn't want to believe it. I refused to believe it, not unless I heard a confession straight from Chick' mouth.

"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, my lips pressing into a thin line. I valued my life more than I hated Drax. Or at least, that's what I told myself at times like these.

Drax's mouth curved, his eyes dancing. "You think you can just up and leave? That you don't owe me anything? 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. 

 "Crenshaw was too easy on you," he hissed. "It's a wonder the raiders lasted so long in his hands, the wag-tailed cur."

At the mention of Sammy, 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 felt soft and warm, like dipping your hand in a pool of honey. Others felt feather-light and tickled. Drax's was like white hot spikes peeling your skin open from the inside out, burning hotter than anyone elses'.

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 when he returns?" I rasped around his tightening chokehold, my eyes wild. "He's gonna —"

The invisible hand clenched, squeezing within an inch of my life. The room spun, and black holes spotted my vision. Before long, the lack of blood flow made my head pound, like it was caught between two closing walls slowly grinding my skull to dust. 

Just when I thought I would black out, he let go. I fell to my hands and knees, wheezing and gasping. Bloody hell, it was embarrassing, a bigger blow to my pride than my neck. Drax made me feel like a scrawny eight-year-old orphan 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."