A Dragon's Crimson Cry
By: Tippi
Ch 85 Serpent Q
It was mid February and it was only about a week till the Chinese New Year. This was to be the year of the snake and some illegal activity in the human world was going to make it a dangerous year for both worlds.
That night down by the docks a secret and illegal shipment was coming in. Shady men waited at the warehouse as the ship came into port and unloaded its cargo. These men were in the illegal trade of live animals and animal parts. It wasn't like selling drugs or weapons but still made good money and you actually don't attract as much attention from the cops as the drug and weapon dealers do.
But the men still had to keep up the air of secretes. Before morning they had their cargo unloaded and tucked away in the warehouse. All the men had left the inside of the warehouse and just a few were left out to guard.
Inside the caged animals were becoming agitated as they sensed something dangerous in the new shipment.
Within one of the crates was a rather large egg, of unknown origin. The egg started to glow a bight red and pulsed like a beating heart. The actions went unnoticed by humans but the acute senses of the animals felt it perfectly.
The big cats were growling and clawing at the bars of their cages, the canines howled, the primates climbed their enclosures while screeching, and the reptiles scurried and slithered about their tanks using the intimation methods they used on predators on whatever was coming.
The men came into the warehouse wondering why the animals were going crazy. Inside the crate the egg cracked and something hatched then with great strength it broke through the create. At the sound of wood cracking the men ran to the crate to find a large hole in it and whatever was in it gone. And not but a few feet from the broken crate was a swear drain.
~5 days later~
Jake and his friends were at school having lunch.
"Hm meatball subs again" Al said looking at his tray and meeting Trixie and Spud at the table. "Isn't this the third time in two weeks?"
"Could be worse" Trixie said munching on onion rings.
"Dude I love meatballs" Spud said taking a bit out of his sub.
At that moment Jake came over setting down his back pack and taking a seat.
"Where's your lunch you forget your lunch money" Al asked.
"No I brought my own" Jake said taking what looked like a wooden box out of his pack.
"That suppose to be a lunch box" Trixie asked.
"Yes but it's called a bento and you've seen me use it before" Jake replied.
"Really I don't remember" Trixie said.
Jake sighed setting it down, sliding the lid off and breaking his chop sticks apart and started to eat.
"So what's with the sudden Chinese enrichment" Al asked.
"It's two days till Chinese New Year and G wants to make sure I'm in touch with my heritage" Jake explained taking a bite of rice. "I don't really mind some of it's kinda cool."
Just then Jake's text message ring went off. Jake flipped open his cell to read and got a displeased look on his face.
"Gotta go, dragon duty calls" Jake said putting his cell away and got up to leave.
~Later~
"And you guys skipped school to come with me why" Jake asked as the foursome met up with LS and Fu at the designated meeting place.
"Getting real information on a magical creature or listen to Rotwood misinform the youth about magical creatures," Al said. "I think we made the right choice."
"You need to learn about magical creatures why" Trixie asked.
"Yeah, you like lived with most of them all your life" Spud added.
"I was speaking for you two" Al answered.
"Okay enough we got a real problem here" Fu said.
"Some trolls for the pass few days have been terrorized by an unknown creature in the swears" LS explained.
"Why is it always in the swears" Jake complained.
"Just suck it up," Fu said. "We've got a meeting with an old troll friend of mine so we can get an idea of what we're dealing with."
The group climbed down an open man hole into the swears.
"Stan, Stan you down here" Fu called.
"Fu that you" a one eyed troll asked coming out from around the corner.
You could tell the troll was slightly nervous. His knees were shaky and his eye kept darting around making sure nothing suddenly jumped out to surprise him.
"Thank goodness you're here" Stan said. "You have no idea was the last 24 hours has been like."
"Tell us what has been causing chaos here" LS asked.
"I'm not sure, I mean I never got a good look but it's big and has wings with red glowing eyes" Stan explained.
"Yea that really narrows it down" Jake said then a hissing sound echoed through the tunnels.
"That it it's coming" Stan exclaimed shaking and running for cover behind the dragons.
"I guess this means we have to go see what it is for ourselves" Jake said taking on dragon form.
"Indeed we do" LS said also turning dragon.
"You guys stay here" Jake said.
"But who will protect us if it gets pass you and comes this way" the worried troll asked.
"Um hello water elf, swear" Al suggested.
"Al will" Jake said before he LS went deep into the swear to find the beast.
"Just so you know you better protect us" Trixie said to Al.
"A lot of water in a swear, I think I can make some pretty powerful attacks and defenses" Al assured her as well as Spud, Fu, and Stan who was scared the most.
LS and Jake were following the sound of hissing in the underground tunnels of the city till they came to a fork in the tunnel.
"Now what do we do" Jake asked the echo of the tunnel making the hissing sound like it came from both tunnels.
"We split up I'll take the right you take the left" LS said as they split ways.
Jake was wondering what he would find if he found it first. Then there was some sudden movement in the shadows and Jake got poised for a fight.
Before Jake could move a muscle he was slammed into the wall by a thick something. The hissing resumed and was ringing in his ears as it echoed off the tunnel walls. Jake caught another attack coming from out the corner of his eye and jumped out of the way. Once dodging that attack he was face to face with the creature. He looked into it's blood red glowing eyes that were creepy enough but when he took a step back it was worse. The creature opened it's mouth to show two curved fangs almost the size of Jake's head. Jake stepped the side to avoid it's lunge but the confines of the tunnel made Jake's back and head make painful contact with the wall. But it was a small price to pay compared to what the fangs would do.
Jake got his bearings back just in time to see the tip of it's tail disappear. Jake went after it only to find him self face with a multitude of tunnels it could of escape through.
Jake just heaved a sigh and decided to find his grandfather so they could plan their next move.
~At the shop~
"So where's Stan and the others staying till this thing is caught" Al asked.
"They've all decided to bunk with their friends and relatives in the swears on the other side of the city" LS said. "But we must focus on the creature now."
"Okay kid so what did it look like" Fu asked Jake.
"Well it looked like a giant snake, but it had glowing red eyes and the weirdest part is it had wings you know like big bird wings" Jake explained the took a bite out of a rice ball.
"What are you eating" Trixie asked.
"It's a rice ball you want one" Jake asked.
"Pass" Trixie said.
"How can you eat" Spud asked.
"We skipped lunch I'm hungry" Jake informed.
"O kid I sure hope you're wrong" Fu said looking through one of his many books. "This it" Fu asked as the book projected an image.
"Yeah that's big ugly and scaly" Jake said.
"O this is bad" Fu said.
"Why" Jake asked not sure he wanted the answer.
"Well it's a little story that starts in Mexico…" Fu started. "The Aztec's believed in a winged serpent god Quetzalcoatl or Q for short. But it wasn't really a god" Fu said.
"Let me guess magical creature" Jake said.
"Exactly, they believed that everything went in circle of 52 years. So to they would make sacrifices and offerings to Q to stop it causing destruction every 52 years. But in truth they only breed every 52 years so that's why they would see them every time at the end of the cycle" Fu finished.
"And why are they so bad" Jake asked.
"Well they're vicious and deadly as you've seen but it get's worse" Fu was saying. "They grow fast and only a week after hatching they're close to full grown and their hungry. In Mexico it has a good food supple to keep it happy and depending on how much or big a thing it eats it maybe satisfied for days or weeks. But here without it's natural prey around it's going to go looking for new prey" Fu explained.
"And I take it magical creatures are on the menu" Jake asked.
"Everything's on the menu magical or not" Fu informed.
"Well good news is it can't get worse" Al said trying to make things better.
"Actually…" Fu said not wanting to go on.
"It get's worse how can it get worse" Jake yelled.
"It has good eye sight but it hunts mostly by smell and vibrations" Fu said.
"And in two days the streets are going to filled with a crowd to watch the Chinese new year's parade" LS said.
"That's got to be a lot of smell and a lot of vibration" Jake said. "We got to find it now" Jake added with urgency.
"Thanks for coming with me looking for this thing in the swear" Jake said to Al as they walked trough the swear.
LS and Fu started their search on the opposite side and the four decide their groups meet in the middle and hopeful one would find it.
"Hey look feathers" Al said pointing to a trail of feathers starting from one of the tunnels.
"Since there's no birds down here I think I know where those are from" Jake said as he and Al followed them down the tunnel.
Finally they came to a swear grid with a hole in it.
"Looks like it's going above ground" Al said as they push the grid off and went top side.
They found them selves in a warehouse full of exotic and rare animals.
"What's this" Jake asked.
"Looks like housing for an illegal animal trades" Al said. "And look at this" Al said mentioning to the create with a hole in it next to the drain.
Jake opened the create to find egg shells.
"Well now we know how it got here but not were it is" Jake said.
"Back to the swears" Al said "but first." All took out his cell.
"What are you doing" Jake asked.
"Tipping off the police" Al said. "Not only is this illegal and cruel but we should stop it before they import other dangerous magical beasts."
A/N So what do you think?The next few chapters will stray from the TV series which some of you have been asking for