By A. C. Williams
I’ve spent too much time in the underworld.
Atticus scowled at his reflection in one of The Drake’s shiny hull plates. Dark shadows drooped beneath his eyes, and his skin had taken on a bluish tint. Too many months breathing the fog in the netherwoods.
He hitched the burlap sack higher on his shoulder and scaled the rigging that draped down the back haunch of his giant clockwork dragon.
The Drake stood proudly in the dimness, wings of metal and laminated canvas lifted high in salute nearly twenty feet into the thick, murky air. Leaving the ship at attention made it harder to climb, but its ominous shape discouraged any voidbeasts from attacking while Atticus conducted his business.
At the back of the ship, Atticus knelt and opened the hatch over The Drake’s rear hip joint. He set the burlap sack down and began carefully placing its contents inside.
This trip.
A full jar of phoenix feathers would bring a good price from any airship engineers who happened to be passing through the Veil. He’d even found a Gorgon nest deep in the far reaches of the netherwoods—one with a conveniently discarded length of skin, which was even more rare than phoenix feathers.
Just wait until he saw Tobias. The old trader up at the Emberstone would faint with the shock of it.
He added the treasures to his store of Centaur hoof clippings and basilisk fangs and shut the hatch door, securing it with a bolt.
A vague whining trembled in the warm, misty air, growing louder, rattling his eardrums. He paused, carefully perching on The Drake’s spine as a flickering light darted toward him. No larger than his hand, radiating vibrant green energy, the living sparkler zipped through the gloom and halted before his face.
“Wakefield!” The shimmering pixie flailed in the air, translucent wings flapping too fast to track.
“Hello, Clodagh.” Atticus turned toward the bend in The Drake’s neck. “What can I do for you?”
“Where are you going?” The pixie’s voice, somewhere between a whine and a squeak, trilled at a pitch so high it made his scalp itch.
Atticus ascended Drake’s scaled neck to the flight controls at the crown of its horned head. “Up to the island. Emberstone Tavern. I’ve got goods to trade.”
Clodagh tittered and circled his head, her little green face luminous. “You can’t go yet, Atticus. You won’t believe what I’ve found!” She fisted her tiny pixie hands into his hair and pulled.
“Ouch! Away, you blasted Sidhe!”
She laughed, a twinkling sound, and ducked beneath his hand. “I thought you wanted the treasures that fall between the cracks in the worlds.”
He narrowed his eyes at the pixie. She’d not led him wrong yet, but a man could only trust a Sidhe so far.
Atticus checked the lock on the storage hatch and climbed down the rigging with a sigh. “This had better be worth it, Clodagh.”
The pixie clapped her hands, her natural shine growing brighter. Once Atticus hit the mossy ground, she streaked into the forest, leaving a shimmering trail behind.
The Sidhe, pixies and other fae like them, could exist in the dark without being affected by it, and most of them didn’t like humans. Clodagh was no exception to this rule, but she did like candy, which Atticus leveraged to his benefit.
Clodagh’s trail led him far into the netherwoods where the twisted shapes of the ancient trees loomed like ogres. Saints, if the little Sidhe led him into a nest of voidbeasts, he’d be done for.
Clodagh chattered in his ear, but he tuned her out. He leaned against a gnarled banyan tree to catch his breath, and a glimmer caught his eye.
Curse the little pixie. She was right.
Nestled at the heart of a banyan grove, a glittering blue iris swayed in the still air. Lacy, glass-like petals shimmered with iridescent light.
“A frost iris,” Atticus whispered.
“I told you!” Clodagh giggled.
Atticus picked his way around the crooked, intertwined roots until he reached the mystical flower and knelt beside it. The air around it was cool, easier to breathe.
“Amazing.”
Frost irises lived only in legends. All the traders talked about them. Remnants of a world that was. The Veil hadn’t always been poison, the local traders claimed. Once it had been alive, thriving like the worlds it connected. Once it had fields of glassy-petaled irises just like this one that cleansed the air and sweetened the wind.
But that had been long ago.
“Well?” Clodagh settled on his shoulder. “What are you waiting for?”
Atticus reached for the base of the iris’s long viridian stem, then stopped as his fingertips stung with cold. The space around it was freezing.
The flower swayed again, a silent dance in the darkness. A gentle fragrance reached him, the scent of childhood and rain and peaceful days. Were his eyes burning?
He cleared his throat and stood.
“What are you doing?” Clodagh fretted in his ear.
“If I touch that flower, my hand will freeze off.” He poked her in her tiny ribs. “Are you trying to maim me, you cursed fae?”
“Atticus!” She skittered backward.
He fished in his trouser pocket and pulled out a wrapped peppermint. “Here.”
Clodagh narrowed her eyes but alighted on his palm and snatched up the sweet.
“You’re not going to take it?” She tilted her head. “But it will fetch you a fine profit.”
Atticus set her on his shoulder as he made his way back through the twisted roots of the banyan grove.
“I hunt treasure, you silly creature. Not legends.” He glanced back at the shimmering frost iris, the muggy warmth of the underworld surrounding him once more. “Legends have earned some peace and quiet.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Here’s hoping that the frost irises come back in full force!
*Also: omigosh I love that man’s vehicle yes please may I have it now*
Wouldn’t that be amazing? And I would LOVE to have a clockwork dragon to fly around on.
I love it!
Thank you! I had a lot of fun with it!
Wow, I love the world building in this! (As always! LOL!) The descriptions create such a nice sense of tension. Feels like I’m right there, and nervous right along with the MC.
Thank you! Wouldn’t it be cool if frost irises were real? Gosh, that would be amazing.
Wish people in the real world had that attitude about what is priceless and legendary… Loved the flow of your writing!
Wouldn’t the world be a beautiful place? Thank you so much.
Just enough detail to create a picture in my mind. Wow, a clock work dragon, who knew. Pixies, gorgon’s, basalisk, Phoenix feathers, there’s no end to this world. Bring on more, I will read it!
Lol! This series has been so much fun to work on!
Very imaginative. I kept wondering if Atticus would pay for all the priceless artifacts in his hold. I was torn between wanting him to fall into a trap and to get away with it, which is the sign of a multi-faceted character. Good job on this.
Thank you so much!! I had a ton of fun, so it’s awesome that other people are enjoying it.