Cold Blood

By J. L. Ender

I’ve always hated rain.

As a dragon, it quenched my fire and made flight more difficult. Now as a human, it seeps through the hair and clothes, bringing with it a damp, miserable chill. To the reptilian part of me, the disappearance of the sun marks something even darker in my soul, a secret fear that my cold-blooded nature will betray me, that despite my inner flame I’ll freeze far from the warmth of the sun.

So I had every reason to despise the drizzly morning as I prepared to depart from the castle complex of the Infinite Library, my home for the past several years.

Standing in my small bedroom in the dormitories with its shabby, third-hand furniture and array of tattered old books, I stared down at my knapsack. The meager bag contained only some pens, a few treasured books, a kettle, a mug, and this enchanted journal. Despite the legends, ownership is a rare thing to dragons. We have no great hoards of treasure. That’s purely a human fiction, designed to make hunting us more tempting.

So why do I feel like I’m tearing myself in two?

Outside, rain misted my tiny, thick-glass window. With an effort of will, I grabbed the bag and turned away, shutting the door quickly. I couldn’t afford to hesitate. This had always been a temporary home anyway.

Maybe I’ll find a world without rain.

I snorted at the thought.

I was to meet Eleanor—my interdimensional traveling companion—out by the stables, but I found myself walking toward the Infinite Library proper instead, the stacks and stacks of books that cored the mountain citadel like a literary diamond mine. Eleanor can wait. She’d been stranded in this universe for a while. A few more minutes wouldn’t kill her.

Rain pattered against skylights high above. Considering the early hour, few mages were about. The knapsack weighed heavy on my human shoulders as I stepped across soft, well-worn carpet. A few of the volumes I’d chosen to accompany me had been… liberated from the vast treasure stores of this collection. But if I wanted to explore the far reaches of the multiverse, I would need them.

A fugitive whisper reached me from the stacks. I walked to the edge of the railing and looked down on seven levels of shelves. Two floors down, a pair of figures skulked among the books.

A telltale blue glow backlit the pair—willpower, imparted into runes. It was so familiar to me now. I no longer felt the pang of disgust at the human blasphemies of magic.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” a female voice whispered.

A tall man and a slightly plump blonde woman carried bulging sacks. They were shoving books inside, barely stopping to read the titles before moving on.

Thieves? In my library?

But… it wouldn’t be my library for much longer. I could just walk away. This world and its troubles were nothing to me. These weren’t my people. But who is? I didn’t belong among humans, didn’t belong among dragons.

I shivered, my blood running cold. Despite being warm-blooded creatures, this is a thing that often happens to humans.

It always scares me.

“What are you doing?” I called out.

The woman turned. “Dragon!” she hissed. It was Alicen, I realized. An old rival who had learned my secret. The sorceress had caused me trouble on a few occasions.

“Get gone, bookworm. While you still can.” Her companion sneered at me. His face glowed in the runic light of a wand.

“These books are under my protection,” I replied. “Put them back and maybe I won’t turn you in to the Keylord.”

I peered closer, trying to read the runes on his wand. Too far. Oh well, I would just have to hope they weren’t of disintegration.

I leapt over the railing, flaring wings that briefly sprouted from my back, tucking them back away as I landed on the carpet of the lower floor with a roll. I stopped quickly, but still bumped into a shelf, knocking a few books of potion-craft over.

The man flung a spell at me. Blue light struck me in the chest, and I briefly felt an odd tightness, but it soon passed. I studied the wand again. A shrink spell.

I laughed aloud. My shape was already altered. It would be all but impossible for him to use shape-change magic on me.

Seeming to sense this, he raised his other hand and summoned a fireball.

I snorted in disgust. “Seriously? Fire in a library?”

I reached into a leather pouch and flicked water at the stranger, coating him in ice before he could burn a single precious book.

He froze in place. Icicles hung from his chin and his outstretched arm.

Yanking his wand out of his grip, I tossed it out over the drop, and teleported it into a volcano.

Now that he was incapacitated, I turned to face Alicen. She looked… taller.

He must have shrunk her a bit and it just wore off.

“Put the books down.” I did my best to keep my voice steady. I was technically vulnerable. If she cast battle magic, I wouldn’t have time to block it.

“Relax,” she replied. “I’m no thief. He threatened me, said I’d be the height of a mouse if I resisted.”

“Who…?”

“New student. Just transferred from Vespera.”

I nodded, studying her. “Are we square?”

“You saved me.” She smirked. “I suppose I can keep your secret. But what about him?”

I walked through the library, which was quiet now. A peaceful quiet. I’d left the thief frozen on the roof. The rain would thaw him out, and an anonymous tip would alert Library authorities.

Before I could meet Eleanor, I had one last job to do.

I picked up the books I’d knocked over and put them back. Dusting off my hands, I whistled and walked away, feeling warmer than I had in days.

But I still hate April rain.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J. L. Ender is the author of the superhero series Steel Fox Investigations and mecha vs kaiju mayhem The Cold Below, as well as a number of other novels and short stories. Ender has worked as a dishwasher, a beef jerky labeler, a warehouse worker, a shelf stocker, a greeter, a traveling technician, a laser engraver, a package handler, a copywriter, a graphic designer, a librarian, an editor, a dispatcher, a phone operator, a hotel clerk, and hopefully someday soon as a novelist… He lives in Ohio with his wife and fellow writer SCE Ender.

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