They approached the camp carefully. It was already dawn, and the sun was peeking from between the highest branches of the trees. Aileen’s heart was beating wildly in her chest, which distracted Drakon a great deal. Instead of focusing on the noises surrounding them, his ears could only hear her fluttering heart and slightly panicked breathing. He took her hand and squeezed it gently.
“It’s all right,” he whispered. “As long as I’m here, by your side, you don’t have to be afraid.”
Aileen looked up at him, relief flooding her whole body. The kindness in his pale blue eyes immediately put her at ease.
“Sorry,” she said.
She felt foolish. Of course she was safe! Her lover was a dragon shifter!
Drakon led her by the hand. His keen sight studied the forest, and his ears easily caught the sound of the wind, of the small twigs breaking under their feet, and the little noises the animals made as they scurried out of their way. When they reached the camp, Drakon motioned for Aileen to stop. He wanted to take a minute to assess the situation before they decided on a plan.
Aileen bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from gasping. She could see Nadia, Josh, and Luka tied with their backs against the same tree. They all looked terrible, as if they had barely eaten or drunk in the past two days. Nadia was shivering in the cold morning air, and Josh was whispering encouraging words, trying to help her calm down and forget about how much she was suffering. Aileen could tell he couldn’t possibly do more than that. Luka, the guide, had his eyes closed, but Aileen doubted he was asleep.
“We have to do something,” she told Drakon.
“Shh… Wait.”
Aileen pursed her lips. He probably saw or sensed more than her eyes could see. She needed to trust him.
“Look,” Drakon pointed at the only tent left upright. “There.”
Aileen followed his gaze and saw a man emerging from the tent. So, the three guys who had attacked her in the clearing had left this one guy at the camp to guard the prisoners. It made sense. Now, the question was whether this guy was alone, or whether there were more people with him. She couldn’t know.
“I think he’s the only one left,” Drakon said, as if he had read her thoughts. “I can’t detect any other foreign scents in the near vicinity of the camp.”
“I know him,” Aileen whispered. She took a step closer and peeked from behind a tree. “Oh my God, I know him!”
She didn’t wait for Drakon to reply. She pulled her hand free from his, and started running towards the camp. As she reached the middle of the clearing, she slowed down to a purposeful walk, and spat between her gritted teeth:
“Derek Stevens! How could you do this?!”
“Aileen!” Drakon ran after her. “Be careful!”
Just as he fell in step with her, said Derek Stevens pulled out two guns from under his coat. He stood in front of his tent, his feet firmly planted on the ground, his fingers trembling slightly around the guns. Unlike the other three attackers, he was anything but strong and bulky. He was tall, but thin and lanky, which showed he had never lifted weights in his life. He probably didn’t even know what the inside of a gym looked like.
“Miss Callas, please stop where you are,” Derek said. His voice trembled as hard as his fingers on the two triggers, but he did his best to be intimidating, nonetheless. “Stop, or I’ll be forced to shoot you.”
Aileen listened to him, but the expression on her face didn’t betray fear. On the contrary, she was angry, baffled, and determined to get to the bottom of this ridiculous situation.
“Who is he?” Drakon asked. His eyes were fixed on the guns. He already knew they couldn’t do anything to him, but he couldn’t risk letting the man hurt Aileen. If needed, he was ready to push her out of the way.
“He’s one of my former students,” Aileen said. Her voice was loud and filled with anger and disappointment. “Last year, Derek Stevens studied Greek Mythology at Harvard for one semester. He was in my class. What happened to you, Derek? You were one of my best students. Why are you doing this? Attacking our camp, taking my people prisoners, trying to kidnap me, maybe even torture me…? What the hell?! What have I ever done to you?”
The young man’s body shook as if he was having a fever. A few minutes ago, he had seemed confident enough, but now his resolve was faltering, and it was obvious.
“Where are my brothers?” he asked.
Aileen crossed her arms over her chest, once again aware that she was only wearing her sports bra and she was rather exposed.
“Those three were your brothers?”
“Y-yes. Where are they? What did you do to them?”
“Err…”
Aileen hesitated. Even though she had just found out Derek had been at the heart of this whole, messed up operation, she didn’t know how to give him the news that his brothers were dead. More than dead, actually. Completely vanished into the cold wind of the Egrisi Mountains.
“Dead,” Drakon answered in her stead.
His harsh, matter-of-fact voice made Aileen’s heart jumped. Then, she saw the confusion in Derek’s eyes, followed by utter pain and helplessness.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Was she really sorry? She couldn’t say, at the moment. Maybe, it would have been better to capture the three men and not set them on fire, but when the tragedy happened, she had been dying herself. Drakon had made the call he had believed was fair.
Derek shook his head slowly. He could barely wrap his head around the news, let alone speak. To Drakon’s and Aileen’s surprise, he let the guns drop to the ground, took a couple of steps towards a nearby tree, then sat down with his back against the rough bark. Everyone was looking at him dumbfounded, even the three prisoners. They hadn’t expected that reaction from someone who had come up with such an elaborate plan and executed it with cold blood. At least, up until then.
Aileen and Drakon exchanged a quick glance. Then, Aileen made eye contact with Nadia. She was itching to walk over there and untie all of them, but, to her surprise, the blonde shook her head “no”. She was right, of course. First, they had to make sure Derek was no longer a threat.
“Do you even know their names?” Derek asked, weakly. He didn’t even look at Aileen or Drakon. His gaze was fixed on the ground.
Aileen sighed deeply. She didn’t like this one bit.
“Well, they forgot to introduce themselves before they grabbed me and started playing Tic-tac-toe with a knife on my back.”
Derek cringed at her words.
“Sam, Lee, and Cole. Well, Collin, but by brother always hated his name.”
Aileen wanted to say she was sorry again, but changed her mind. Nothing she said would make things better. All she could do now was listen. Just as she had expected, Derek went on without anyone asking him to.
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, you know? I told them I didn’t want to be dragged into it, but they wouldn’t listen. A couple of months ago, when I went back home on vacation, I was so excited about everything I had learned at your course that I filled their heads with stories. The most fascinating one was the myth about the Golden Fleece and the Guardian, and… I don’t know why… your unique version just struck a chord with me. I was so enthusiastic about the possibility of the Fleece still existing somewhere in these mountains, that I told my brothers about your theories and how I believed you might, actually, be right. I didn’t expect them to believe me. I didn’t expect them to give me the time of day. After all, they had always made fun of me for being the little brother who had managed to be accepted at Harvard, the fancy family genius who thought he was better than them. My brothers had barely managed to finish eight classes. They weren’t smart, and they never cared about being smart. They spent all their time at the gym, on the streets, daydreaming about various businesses and making quick money. So, knowing them, I was shocked when they started asking me questions the moment I finished telling them about your version of the myth. They wanted details, they even grabbed a map and asked me to show them where the old Kingdom of Colchis would be today. Happy they were showing so much interest, I did my best to answer their questions. I was so naïve… I thought they were finally beginning to understand how important education was. If everything went smoothly, maybe I would even have a chance to convince them to go back to school. What a fool I was!”
Derek paused for a minute to gather his thoughts.
Aileen and Drakon were calmer now. It was clear to them that the young man was not dangerous. He had just been forced to follow his brothers’ lead, and had only done what the three older men had ordered him to do. He was as much of a victim as Aileen and her team had been.
“In my stupidity, I told them my Mythology professor was planning a trip to the Egrisi Mountains. I told them she wanted to film a documentary, gather evidence, and write a paper in which she would prove all the literature on the topic had gotten the myth wrong. I was so excited about your project, Miss Callas. I had almost considered asking you if I could join your team, but my brothers were quick to claim me for their own team. They said, if you truly went on this trip, then all we had to do was follow you, give you enough space to find the treasure, then kidnap you and your people, force you to tell us all the secrets of the Guardian and the Golden Fleece, then get the treasure and get rid of you. Of course, I refused to help them. I tried to explain and show them why their plan was bad and, honestly, retarded. I told them Mythology didn’t work like that. The Golden Fleece could be a symbol, a metaphor, it could stand for pretty much anything and have nothing to do with gold, money, or jewels. They wouldn’t listen. They just wanted to get rich fast, and once they reached the conclusion that this was the perfect way, nothing I said mattered anymore. Then, I told them they could do whatever the hell they wanted, because I had no intention of going with them.”
Derek smiled, then chuckled. It was a dark, bitter chuckle. Nothing in his expression said these memories about his brothers brought him any joy.
“Well, you can imagine that growing up with three older brothers who spent their every waking moment bullying everyone around them and picking on those who were weaker and shyer didn’t exactly turn me into a strong, confident character who knew how to defend himself and his opinions. I was never able to stand up for myself in front of my brothers. I don’t know why I thought I could do it then. Stupid. I was so stupid.”
It seemed like that was the end of Derek’s story. They knew the rest, anyway. Aileen glanced at Drakon and nodded her head as if to say it was fine. Then, she closed the distance between herself and Derek. She did it carefully, as to not startle the young man. The guns were lying on the ground, a couple of steps away from him, but she couldn’t know for sure whether he had other weapons on him or not. He was lost and broken. Many people in his situation could have easily switched to rage and the desire to take revenge.
“Derek, I’m so, so sorry. It wasn’t your fault.”
She knelt beside him and dared to place a hand on his shoulder. The second she squeezed his shoulder gently, he started sobbing. Aileen bit her lower lip, sighed, then sat down next to him and took him into her arms, allowing him to rest his head on her chest and cry like a little child.
“Shh… it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything bad, you didn’t kill anyone. It’s okay. I got you. You’re a good kid, Derek. You’ve always been a good kid.”
While Aileen was comforting Derek and offering him a shoulder to cry on, Drakon carefully approached the prisoners. When the young man didn’t do anything to stop him, he untied Nadia, Josh, and Luka, and helped them up.
The middle-aged guy stared at him with wide eyes.
“Who are you?”
Drakon smiled. “A friend.”
Luka shook his head, as if that answer was far from satisfying. He felt like there was much more to this tall, bulky man. His raven black hair, his unnaturally white skin, the pale blue eyes… He looked as if he belonged to a different world. Also, the strange thing he was covered in made Luka consider all kinds of weird possibilities.
“Thank you,” said Nadia, losing herself in Drakon’s eyes.
“Oh, God! Water!” said Josh in relief, as he grabbed a canteen and proceeded to drink greedily.
They all stopped in their tracks when they saw Derek jump to his feet. Drakon’s whole body tensed. He was ready to tackle the man to the ground at the first sign that he intended to hurt Aileen.
“I want to see them,” Derek said. “I want to see the bodies of my brothers.”
“That… won’t be possible, I’m afraid,” said Drakon when he saw Aileen was incapable of telling Derek the truth.
“Why? How did they die?”
“In a fire.”
“A fire?!” He looked from Drakon to Aileen. He was waiting for any of them to shed more light on the matter, but he soon understood he wasn’t going to get more details from them. “I want to see with my own eyes.”
“Derek, there’s nothing there,” said Aileen.
She stood up with the intention of stopping him, but changed her mind. He was already out of the clearing, heading for the cave.
“Let him be,” said Nadia. “I have a strong feeling he’ll be back in an hour or so.”
Josh crossed his arms over his scrawny chest. After having pretty much starved for two days, he had lost even more weight.
“Are you saying we have to take him with us?! No way! I don’t want to hike through these mountains, back to the village, with this criminal right behind me.”
“You can walk behind him, if it makes you feel better,” Aileen said. “You heard what he said. Those bullies forced him to go along with their plan.”
“He attacked our camp!” insisted Josh. “He didn’t do anything when his brothers tied us all up and ordered we weren’t going to receive any food or water.”
“Did he hurt any of you?” Aileen moved her eyes from Josh to Nadia, then to Luka. “Did he do anything to you with his own hands?”
They all shook their heads.
“No,” said Nadia. “Actually, when his brothers went to get you, he gave all of us some water. Not too much, because he was afraid they would come back and realize too much water was missing.”
Aileen nodded. “Then, we have no reason to be afraid of him. I think, deep down, he knows he’s better off without his brothers, even though they were family. Anyway, Drakon is here now. He will protect us.”
“Drakon?” Nadia asked.
They all turned to the man who had obviously helped Aileen and the three of them escape.
“Oh, yes. I’m sorry, I should have introduced you guys. Drakon, this is my team. Nadia is my assistant, Josh is the camera guy, and Luka is our guide. I wouldn’t have made it this far without them. Guys, this is Drakon. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be alive now.”
They exchanged some pleasantries, but it was obvious that Aileen’s team was reluctant to the newcomer.
“Err… who is he, exactly?” asked Josh. “How did you guys find each other?”
Aileen laughed, sent Drakon a mischievous glance, then took a deep breath. She was getting ready to tell them the whole story. That was… until her eyes fell on the broken camera on the ground.
“Oh my God!” She picked it up, turned it around in her hands, then gave it to Josh to properly check it. “Please tell me it’s not completely broken.”
“I’m afraid it is.” Josh didn’t even have to inspect it. “Derek’s brothers decided to destroy everything we had filmed so there wouldn’t be any proof of our journey. They intended to get rid of us, drop our bodies off a cliff or something, then head back to the US with the treasure. Even if someone did find us at some point, they would have no idea how and why we had ended up dead. They would probably assume we had chosen a particularly difficult mountain trail and fell to our demise.”
“Great plan,” Aileen said sarcastically. Everything she had worked for was gone. “What about my notes? Nadia’s notes?” She proceeded to dig through the mess of clothes, pans, and various things on the ground, around Derek’s tent.
“I’m sorry,” Nadia said. “They burned everything. There’s nothing left.”
“Shit!”
Aileen fell to her knees and covered her face with her dirty hands. She felt helpless. All this trouble, for nothing. She had hiked through mountains and woods for days, spent huge sums of money on this trip, and almost ended up dead… for what? She sobbed quietly. All she could feel was anger and frustration.
Drakon knelt in front of her and took her in his arms. He hugged her gently, cradling her trembling body and whispering words of encouragement in her ear. He completely ignored the baffled looks on her people’s faces. They still had no idea what was happening, who he was, where he’d come from, and why he acted as if Aileen was his girlfriend.
The feel of Drakon’s strong chest and big arms calmed Aileen down. She felt safe. With him by her side, she didn’t feel like she had lost everything anymore. She still had the most important person in the world in her life, and that could easily make her move on from her failures. She wiped her tears off her dirty face, then wrapped her arms around Drakon’s neck and hugged him back. Resting her chin on his shoulder, she looked at Josh, who was standing a couple of feet away from them. He was still holding the useless camera.
For a moment, Aileen wondered if she could start over. She certainly had the strength to say “fuck it!”, go back to the village, find a working camera, then work with Nadia on rebuilding their notes and research, redoing the interviews. It wouldn’t be easy, but it wouldn’t be impossible, either. She wondered whether Drakon would be interested in helping her. Oh, he could tell his story to the world, let her interview him for her book! The result wouldn’t be just a normal book and a normal documentary. No! The result would be something out of this world! Her research paper would change the way everyone approached Mythology and Folklore. She could already picture Drakon shifting into his dragon form in front of the camera. She, Aileen Callas, would bring the truth to light, show the world that the myths were real and dragon shifters existed! She would become the one true authority in her field. She would be not only admired and envied by her colleagues, but worshiped like an ancient goddess of truth and wisdom!
But… at what cost?
Aileen sighed and allowed herself another minute to bask in her fantasy before pushing it aside. She couldn’t do that to Drakon. She couldn’t possibly be so selfish as to use him and the pain of his curse to gain success, wealth, and the incredible reputation she had dreamed of since she was a child. She was Aileen Callas, after all. She was fair and resourceful. Yes, everyone in the academic world would see this as a huge failure. She would return home with her tail between her legs, and with nothing to prove that her daring claims about the myth of the Golden Fleece held any relevance. No one would know about Medea’s prophecy and the Guardian’s healing tears. As a result, no one would ever listen to her if she decided, one day, to question the validity of another ancient myth. Her career would be pretty much ruined. Oh well! She could live with being a simple Mythology professor who taught everything by the book and never challenged her students with new ideas. As long as she had her mate by her side, she would be fine. She could survive the shame and move on.
Once her decision was made, Aileen stood up and took Drakon’s hand in hers.
“You know what? This ends here,” she said. “I truly appreciate everything you guys have done for this project. I am deeply grateful to you because you believed in me and in my vision, and you risked your lives to help me prove my theory. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Destiny, or whatever is dictating our lives, sometimes working completely against us, has obviously decided this documentary and this book will never see the light of day. And, you know what? That’s fine. We’re back together, alive, and that’s all that matters. I will not risk our lives, health, and sanity for a second time in pursuit of a wild dream. We’re going home.”
Nadia, Josh, and Luka sighed in relief. Aileen smiled at their reaction, then asked them to help her sort through their things and see what they could save and take back with them. Drakon helped. In two or three sentences, she managed to convince them that he was just an eccentric tourist who had happened to be around when Derek’s brothers had attacked her. He saved her life, and then offered to help her free her team. Sometime during the whole madness, they realized that they simply clicked, so they decided to give their attraction a chance. Nadia and Josh accepted Aileen’s story. Luka, however, was still not convinced. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t believe half of what Aileen was trying to sell them. He kept his suspicions about Drakon and his true identity to himself.
They ate what they could find, and Aileen asked Josh to lend Drakon some clothes. Drakon looked ridiculous in the sports pants and T-shirt which were way too small for his bulky frame, but it was better than nothing. They all laughed for a couple of minutes, until Derek appeared from behind the trees. He reluctantly asked if he could join them, and Aileen agreed. She still had a bit of work to do to convince the others that Derek was not dangerous, but she was willing to give it a try and give Derek another chance. She had no intention to punish Derek for the sins of his brothers.
Still tired, but eager to leave this dreadful place behind, Aileen, Drakon, Nadia, Josh, Luka, and Derek started on their long, hard journey back home.
“I’m still getting paid, right?” asked Josh as he was walking behind Aileen and Drakon.
For a second, Aileen didn’t know what Josh was talking about.
Nadia elbowed Josh in the ribs. “Don’t be a jerk.”
“What?!”
Aileen laughed out loud.
“Yes, Josh, you’re still getting paid. All of you.”
“Aileen, it’s fine. Really,” said Nadia.
“No, no. It’s only fair. I only paid you guys an advance. When we get home, I’ll transfer the rest of your money.”
“Awesome! I’ll buy a new camera,” chirped Josh.
This time, Nadia smacked him upside the head.
THE END
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