Chapter Twenty-Nine

Once Bitten

Tooth had only one thing on his mind, and her name was Nix. She was sleeping quite soundly, a look of what he could only perceive as profound satisfaction on her face. He quite imagined that his visage bore the same appearance. He bore no woeful countenance this day.

The man looked at himself in the mirror that was attached to Nix’s dresser. He looked different. He was younger than before. His mustache and hair were more pepper than salt, and he’d completely removed his beard. He’d also taken away most of his wrinkles, he’d only made himself look older so as to make his enemies underestimate him. At the moment, that move seemed ludicrous. Why would a man as handsome, virile, and powerful as him pretend to be a weak and ugly old man? The motivation escaped him. Tooth reveled in the power he felt. He had been strong before, but now that his true essence was revealed to all the world, a world that would bow at his potency; he felt all the more powerful for it.

He looked at the woman asleep in her bed. How she had sparkled last night; it had been as if she had danced in a shower of golden flecks of light. She sparkled and shimmered until he was intoxicated by her glow. The beautiful golden light that had cloaked her as darkness cloaks the world at nightfall. She would always stay gold, even though that was the hardest hue to, to, what was he doing?

Tooth stared at the lovely creature softly snoring on her pillows. She no longer glittered, in spite of her raw beauty. He had been drawn to her before, a genuine and real attraction, but that had also come when Dev had been in the grip of his gold fever. Had that happened again last night? Had he seen her through Dev’s eyes again?

Come to think of it, when did he become so vain? Tooth didn’t care about how he looked unless his appearance hurt or helped Dev in some way. He’d been just fine as an old man; so why had he dropped years from his appearance? Nix had accepted him for who he was, he hadn’t needed to preen for her, and after last night he was certain that she would take him any way he came. He had no motivation to change himself for her. Yes, he wanted to please her, but he did not want to blow his cover. That meant only one thing.

Dev was struggling against his old instincts again and losing. You could take the soul out of the dragon, but you couldn’t take the dragon out of the soul. The vanity was easy to resist, but that gold fever was overwhelming. Now, having broken the hold that pride had held over him had faded Tooth felt a lethargy that he had never known. Dev was slipping away. He could sense that now. The core had pushed itself too far, and his old traits had begun to fight to the surface of his personality. Who knew what kind of mischief he could get into while in such a state of mind?

Tooth fought through his stupor with raw determination. He couldn’t understand how he had gone from feeling so powerful to think that it would great just to feel exhausted. He pushed himself up and walked unsteadily out of the room. His legs weighed thousands of pounds, and the floor seemed to stick to his feet as if it was covered in fast-drying glue. It was an effort to move his foot more than an inch off the ground. He braced himself by placing a hand on the wall and forcing his legs to move.

As heavy as his legs were his eyelids carried twice their weight. Tooth wanted to do nothing more than to lay down and hibernate, but he stifled that thought as well as a yawn and made his way out of the book store. The moment he had left the business he attempted to mentally connect to the core.

Dev, are you OK? He worried that he might sound panicked, but his mental state was so sluggish that he practically slurred his thoughts. Dev?

Nothing. The core either could not or would not respond. Tooth believed that the stone had finally given in to its need to sleep. Dragons could sleep endless years, the process initiated growth and rejuvenated their bodies so that they ended up awakening with a body that was physically younger than when they’d started their nap. If a dragon was injured or overexerted itself it simply snuggled up somewhere in their treasure hoard and went to sleep. The only upside to the whole event was that they were notoriously light sleepers; taking a single coin from their stash would be an alarm they could not ignore.

Tooth stumbled along. Holding onto the insane hope that the greed in Dev was still strong enough that its desire could be used against itself. His problem? It felt like he’d already walked a thousand miles and he was barely ten feet from the book store.

“Thank you for your kind gift, Mister Tooth,” a woman called from across the street. “The park has never been lovelier!” Toot gave her a wave and she went on her way. He had no idea what she was talking about. He hadn’t been to the park, let alone done anything there.

Three more steps and he stopped and looked into the sun. Most people would suffer terribly if they did this, but Tooth’s physical make-up was made of sterner stuff. The sun was lower in the sky than he’d expected, the night’s exertions had made him sleep longer than he normally would, which was never before. He hadn’t needed to sleep, as the companion to a dungeon core and he should have realized that something was amiss when he began to grow drowsy. He might have experienced bliss, but it did not make him tired as it would other men. As a companion, he had limitless stamina. He could feel the touch of exhaustion but he would never need to sleep or rest. Nix’s arms, as comfortable as they were to relax in, wouldn’t have lulled him into a nap.

He achieved two more steps and took his eyes away from the sun. Spots danced in front of him, but the light had light a flame in his soul, a small spark that helped him fight his desire to sleep. Tooth took another step, and then another. He focused on just putting one foot in from of the other and nothing else. Along the way he had a few more people thank him for his generosity and he nodded back to them in appreciation. His internal spark, started when he’d stared into the sun, began to dwindle. He was not going to make it back, and he hated himself for his weakness. He leaned on a horse post and considered the consequences of him falling asleep in the street. His bond with Dev was so strong that he doubted that he would awaken before the core did.

Tooth was about to succumb when a small hand tugged his arm. His bleary eyes took a moment to focus on the face of Q’uillen, the youth who had helped him on his first day in town. The boy’s eyes were filled with concern and he signed to the grizzly of a man that loomed over him.

Can I give you a ride somewhere? You don’t look so good. The boy’s face was etched with worry for his friend. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, no charge.

Tooth nodded and looked to see the lad’s wagon not five feet away. He hadn’t heard the vehicle approach. The companion realized that he probably looked drunk or sick and that Q’uillen wanted nothing more than to help someone who had shown him kindness. He nodded at the boy and signed, Can you help me to the wagon?

Q’uillen didn’t respond with his hands other than to place one of Tooth’s arms over his shoulder and guide the big man back to his coach. The boy pushed Tooth as hard as he could, giving him a much-needed boost that allowed the core’s companion to climb onto the seat. Before he knew Q’uillen was sitting beside him.

Where to? The same place as before? he asked.

Tooth nodded and thanked the gods for the boy’s timely arrival. Gods might not be able to compete with the overseers, but they could, and often did, stick it to them when the opportunity presented itself. Fate really hated them, as they often changed her decisions at the last moment.

The next thing Tooth knew Q’uillen was helping him down from the carriage and taking him inside the Rubbish Bin. They entered and Shu rose to meet them. The trash collector thanked Q’uillen as he carried Tooth into the backroom ahead of several customers.

“’Ey! I was here wif me rubbish first,” an older lady complained.

“I apologize for the delay,” Shu shouted from the back room accompanied by the squeak of hinges, “Anyone in line will get two bits of copper as an apology.” Shu looked at Tooth, “Do you want me to accompany you, sir?” he asked respectfully.

Tooth waved him off. “Just drop me down the shaft. The pain should keep me awake long enou … ack,” and then he was falling. Shu, it seemed, followed orders quickly and efficiently. He did not need explanations.

Toot landed with an oomph and the popping of his knees. He was out of breath and sore, but more alert than he had been seconds before.

“Dev,” he called out. No answer came. The core was, in a technical term, zonked out.

He made his way into Dev’s room and without hesitating reached down and grabbed a handful of coins. Hoping that the perceived theft would cause him to stir.

Nothing happened.

He scooped up two handfuls, and still, there was no reaction. Toot, no longer outside altered his perception of himself to be the tutor again and realized that he and Dev were tied so closely together that the core did not see Toot’s taking of the coins as anything abnormal.

“These coins,” he said with a long yawn, “Are mine!” The proclamation wasn’t as forceful as he’d hoped it would be, but Toot’s message came across loud and clear.

“Give those back!” The core’s voice was deep and resounding, and most unquestioningly dragon-like. The words were commanding, threatening, and ferocious, but Toot noticed that there was an underlying hint of fear there as well. Fear that he would lose his precious coins.

“It’s me, Dev.” Toot shouted back.

“Return that which you have stolen from me!” Dev commanded. The air became supercharged and coins lifted from the ground and began to circle in the air like dust particles. Toot could see mana practically manifesting around the core.

“Devin, stop!” Toot’s voice was barely audible above the din of the coins impacting one another. His plea did nothing to deescalate the situation. In the span of a heartbeat, he was going to be obliterated by a barrage of booty. He had no choice but to do the one thing he didn’t want to do, use Dev’s true name.

“Devinadinthrayvicrialborreir!”

Everything stopped. Coins dropped to the ground and the hum of mana build up dissipated. The only light in the chamber came from a funglow colony near Dev’s hidden pedestal. “Toot?”

Dev’s voice echoed off of the walls softly, in the manner a grain of sand would make ripples if dropped into a pond, minimal but noticeable.

“I’m here,” Toot said to his friend. Dev’s reply was plaintive and heart-wrenchingly full of fear, remorse, and pain. He bared his soul to his companion in a way no other living being in the universe ever had. His one request brought a tear to Toot’s eye and made his heart falter.

“Help me.”