Nettle
I climbed the many stairs to the House and slipped through the smaller doors that opened in the imposing wooden... gate. Usually I went through the side doors but today I enjoyed crossing the shiny tiles of the green vestibule and carpeted hall leading to the resplendent ballroom, where Chris was packing his supplies beside huge canvas maybe nine feet tall, covered with stained raw linen cloth.
It took me couple of weeks to realise, that he chose the ballroom for the beautiful background it provided, but also because it gave him room to work with such a large set.
He looked up and his eyes lit up when they met mine. I suppressed a twinge of guilt for being involved with the mob again and rushed to hug him. He smelled slightly of soap, turpentine and himself, which was quickly becoming my favourite smell.
"Glad you came" He said releasing me.
"Of course" I turned to the canvas "where are they?"
"Fetching champagne from the cellars." Said a sensual voice behind me and I turned in time to see Calista and Felix slip in through a hidden panel in the wall.
She carried four slim champagne glasses.
Felix held a bottle and a fancy silver bucket, that he placed on the floor in front of the easel and started to work the wrapping of the cork.
"Don't you want yo see it first?" Chris asked.
"Nope, wait. Everything looks better over the rim of a glass of champagne." Felix answered smiling and the bottle in his hand gave with a small pop. He poured four glasses one by one and handed them to Chris, me, Calista and then put the bottle down into the bucket and rose his glass.
"To art - that which distinguishes man from beast." He said and took a sip before he nodded to Chris.
If Chris was surprised by any of this, he didn't let it show as he handed me his glass, gripped the linen and with practiced move made it fly up over the top of the canvas and then snatched it so that it fell in front of the painting, from where he dragged it to the side and rolled into a handy bunch. It was all very fluid and now the painting was bare for all to behold.
I have seen glimpses of it weeks ago, before Riley contacted us again and even the portrait Chris painted of me, Kain and Mist, haven't prepared me for the final result.
The setting was conventional, a dancing couple in a ballroom, I watched Felix and Calista posing and dancing and nothing have prepared me for what I was looking at.
Calista and Felix on the canvas were drawn with thick lines and blotches that captured their resemblance down to tiniest detail and yet insisted on being messy swathes of paint. She wore purple dress offsetting her beautiful skin and black hair, he was dressed in... a fancy navy gala uniform or an armor of thin blue scales, the ballroom was a... ballroom with shiny floors, fancy painted walls or the bottom of the abyss with a blue dragon lurking in the cloudy storm surrounding them. But their own expressions were the most terrifying thing. Calista seemed lost in drunken ecstasy, her eyes shining with love and desire so raw and naked, that it made me feel uncomfortable to watch standing right beside her. Felix watched her and the room or space around them at the same time. His face and eyes were delighted and hungry, he seemed to be devouring the world she was dancing in. The whole scene was a the same time conservative and subversive, official and intimate, serene and dangerous.
I looked away suppressing a chill.
Chris stood with his many bags on his shoulders, folding the cloth and seemingly not interested in our reactions, which I knew wasn't true.
Calista had tears in her dark eyes and Felix... His eyes shone dangerously, but then he clapped his hands and laughed.
"Excellent! Magnificent!" He exclaimed and took another sip of his champagne. "You're the first person who noticed the dragon, without me pointing it out." He said and seeing my confusion continued.
"Look at the walls from this to this corner..."
Indeed the walls were covered with hand-painted wallpaper depicting blue animals and greenery that, when you knew what to look for, crated a three-dimensional form of a blue dragon filling almost half of the wall!
Chris smiled at my amazement and said.
"I assume you're satisfied?"
"Way beyond satisfied. I'm going to frame it and hang it there" He pointed at the wall opposite of the dragon. "But of course, your question was a prompt to remind me of due second rate of the payment for this amazing commission, let me see."
He took his phone out of his pocket. "I'd like to buy the portrait of my nephew and his friends too if it's for sale." He offered.
"I need to think about it." Chris replied politely and finished his champagne. "Now if you excuse me I have a class to attend."
"Attend your class, but I'll be throwing a party in a couple of weeks, to show this piece to our friends and I'm sure they'd enjoy to meet the maker." Felix said and shook Chris hand.
"I'd love to be there." Chris said and turned to leave. I followed him to the side doors to say our own goodbyes that were awkward.
"See you?" He said facing me on the threshold.
"I'll walk you to the station." I offered quickly, longing for more time alone with him and fearing it at the same time.
"I'm kinda in a hurry, how about going out tonight?"
"Tonight sounds good." I said smiling and went back into the house to see if they'd offer me a cup of hot chocolate, when my phone buzzed, Riley.
"Hello Cobalt." I said to tease him. He hated his name for some reason.
"Very funny. I have a riddle for you to unravel. The magical object guarding St George HQ is the shield of St George hanging in their Chapel in the basement under the building. It hurt Garret badly when he tried to go there. I'm on my way to there in a minute. The election is tomorrow and Garret is indisposed. I wonder if that Felix fellow has any ideas about how to pull this off?"
"Then why don't you ask him yourself?" I asked sweetly.
"Please? Gotta go, please do what you can, we're out of options here." Riley said with his reasonable tone, that he used whenever he needed to bend will of a stubborn hatchling. I suppressed irritation and said." You know I will." Before I hung up.
"It's cursed. It's filled with hatred and desire to kill." Calista said. We sat down in a cosy nook of their kitchen for this conversation.
"How was it made?" I asked.
"By a twisted dragon rider, who was the founder of the Order of St George." Felix said in low dangerous voice.
"What?" I was shocked.
"Yes. George Kernick was a rider of a young adult dragon named Lapis. They were a couple of what you'd call a jackass nowadays. George was a country lad, who encountered Lapis during some market, he recognised him as non human and they became friends and then bonded. George wanted to try his luck in war, as he was poor and meeting Lapis made him stronger than most men. Lapis was an armorer in his human form and he gifted George a shield, that he has enchanted like your Viper suits are enchanted with its own kind of power. The shield would absorb the intent and harm of George's opponents and then returned it to them on form of a magic attack. I think Lapis only wanted to protect his rider. Unfortunately Lapis was killed by another dragon during the siege of Grol. The dragon was guarding the city with her rider. Unseen by most they'd harass english troops besieging their city. So George and Lapis decided to intercept them and Lapis turned out to be weaker. But as he died he must have pushed more of his magic into the shield, because George survived the fall from the sky and held the dragon off for weeks with only his shield, and in the end the city fell and the dragon fled.
But grief caused George to lose his mind. He burned with hatred for the dragon, who killed Lapis and envied the other riders. He started to preach dragons were evil creatures and assembled a group of followers with whom he started quest of killing all dragons.
He mostly was able to find and kill young inexperienced dragons, but with each kill the shield absorbed not only the dying dragon's power, but also cunning and pain and hatred towards its killer. That force the shield would turn towards next encountered dragon.
Before elders noticed what was going on, George was pretty much invincible, his Order got recognised by Church and most young dragons fled Britain." Felix said with pain.
"But I thought you didn't know what the item was?" I asked suspiciously.
"Lapis made a set of armour for George during years of their time together. Helmet, sword, shield and a lance. All were coveted reliquary within the Order and the church and I've lost the track of them as their proximity gives me a nasty headache." He shrugged.
"Garret got hurt by the shield! He was enchanted by Riley during a life saving blood transfusion and he went to see if he could touch the shield before the anointment ceremony and now he is injured. And he needs to touch the shield to become a Patriarch and he cannot. What are we going to do?" I asked panicking.
Calista looked at Felix seriously.
"Who is Garret again?" He asked.
"He is... he is Commander of St George and Ember's rider, a friend of dragons who wants peace between the Order and dragons. He is important Felix. I cannot say why but there's such a field of fate around him, he is a key player of some major shift." I hated how little of what I knew could be put in words, but at least Felix was someone, who understood more than, what was said.
"Okay, bring him to me then." He said finally.
I felt shame, when I stood on Garret's mansion roof and texted Chris.
Something came up, cannot do tonight anymore. I'll make it up to you :*
I pocketed my phone without waiting for reply and walked over to Mist perched on the edge over the balcony in Madison's room.