Plans and Play

My eyes opened to a dim light. I immediately fought my skin's urge to change as I could feel my own warm breath against my face. I felt my wrists and ankles tied to a chair I was sitting on. I couldn't see too much, but I could see through the veil of the dense square pattern of fabric over my face, one male-shaped silhouette pacing around, and one behind their path. I could hear the breath of one behind me.

Suddenly the fabric was pulled off my head. I could see everything as plain as day now: the one pacing infront of me, a man standing by the door I could only assume I knocked on, and a man leaning against a table that had my belt, messer, dagger, and cloak resting on top.

The leaning man stepped forward, slowly. He looked no older than middle age, tall and fit. "Ah, he's awake now? Tell me, why did you come to the door?"

" . . . "

"Do you not speak much, or are you mute?"

" . . . "

A man from the right pulled out a knife. "If he's refusing, I can make him."

The first man held his index finger out to him. "No. Tactics like that are a last resort." He leaned in.

A man from the left walked to the table. "Mighty fine equipment for a kid your age. Where'd you get such things? Did you steal 'em?" He slowly picked up the scabbard, about to place his hand on the handle of my messer.

"Put that down."

"Oh! So he does speak," the first commented.

"Put it down. It's not yours to hold."

He pulled my messer out, smirking as he watched the clean shine of my blade show him himself.

The first one continued. "Kid, you don't quite seem to understand what kind of position you're in. I can give you a hint. You're certainly not in a commanding one."

My eyes never left the man holding my sword. "I said put it the fuck down. It's not yours."

He kept examining it. "It's even nicer than I thought. Not heavily used. I think I might keep it."

The first man leaned in closer. "Do I have to make you listen to me? How did you find us?"

I looked him in his light brown eyes for a moment. I headbutted him in his face, tore my left arm out of the rope along with both of my ankles, and stood up. The first man stumbled back as the man behind me grabbed my right shoulder. I turned toward him, backhanded him across the cheekbone with my left, then smacked the man holding my messer with the chair, breaking it on him, freeing my right arm.

I grabbed my messer and scabbard from him.

The man I backhanded got up. "Fucker really packs a punch."

The man with a knife rushed at me. Scales formed up my neck, arms, shoulders, sides, and most of my legs.

"STOP!!" the first man shouted.

"Look! He's a fucking demidragon!"

"I said stop." He wiped some blood from his nose, then turned to me. "Why are you here."

"I came to find the rebellion."

"To wipe us out?! I bet the guard sent you!" The knife wielding man shouted.

I scabbarded my sword, still holding it so its handle would be in reach. "No. I wanted to help if I could. But if this is how you handle things, I want no part in it." I started toward the door.

"Wait! Wait. I'm sorry," the first one explained. "We just have to be extra careful. Can't take any risks."

I stopped.

"Yennen, you can't seriously be considering letting him join, can you?" the man still holding the knife asked.

"Demidragons are strong, fast, and more capable than any of us, as I've heard. We could use someone like that. So yes, I am considering letting him join, Randen."

I turned back around slowly.

The man I backhanded held his cheek. "I mean he effortlessly hit me as hard as he did. Holding a sword, loose in that mansion . . . I think he could make our plan much easier."

"Thank you, Lund," Yennen said.

"I can do more than that."

"Do tell."

"I can control fire."

"That could come in handy. I say you can join." He turned to them. "All in favor say aye."

"Aye!" Lund shouted.

"Nay." Randen said.

"Well, Bron is still out cold, and the rest aren't here. You can join, kid. What's your name?"

"Ladon."

"Welcome to the rebellion, Ladon."

" . . . "

"You gotta be kidding me!"

"Calm down, Randen. It'll only be until our plan is complete."

"What's the plan, Yennen?" Lund asked.

I put my belt back on, reattached my scabbard, then put my cloak on.

"Well, as everyone but Ladon knows, tomorrow's the night we strike the mansion. When the moon's high in the sky, we'll meet with the others at the front gate. With our stashed weapons and torches, we'll rush in. But before that, three of us, Parin, Janusz, and Jackob, will start a large fire close to the storehouse to distract as many guards as possible. Obviously they won't be setting the storehouse itself on fire. After that is when we rush in. We'll torch the building, and fight the guards there—Our goal: kill the Mayor. If we never reach him, that's fine. We really just need to set the whole building aflame. He'll probably get trapped in it anyway."

Bron woke up, slowly returning to his feet.

"If anybody from the rebellion gets trapped, I can get them out," I added.

"Perfect. The plan isn't too complicated. But if it works, we can really do good by this town. Any questions?"

"What happened?" Bron asked.

"I'll fill you in later, Bron. Anyone else?"

No one asked anything.

"Verywell. Remember, tomorrow night. When the moon is high. Tell the others."

They all nodded and left. I was going to leave just after them when Yennen stopped me.

"Ladon?"

I turned to him.

"I may not give a donkey's ass about you being a demidragon, but there are plenty others in this group that'll hate your presence."

I rubbed my forehead a bit. "I was aware of that when I decided to come here. Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm just saying, I'm the leader and they follow me, but I don't control them, nor would I be able to if I tried."

"What's your point?"

"If any of them try to kill you in the chaos, and I'm sure some are already planning to. I can't guarantee your safety."

"I figured as much already. If you guys didn't act the way you did, nobody would've known."

"Again, I apologize."

" . . . "

"Why'd you want to join in the first place?"

"I… feel I might need to."

He took a second to read my answer. "Alright. Well I won't keep you any longer."

I turned and walked to the door.

"See you tomorrow, Ladon."

"See you." I exited.

As I walked up the stairs, I saw the one I hit with a chair leaning against the wall of the building, staring at me. We shared no words as I walked past; he just kept staring. I could feel his gaze even when he was behind me. After I rounded the corner, I walked back to the road, heading back to the crossroad. When I got there, I took a right, then another right, then kept walking until I got back to Meg's house. I entered quietly, incase anyone was asleep. I quietly stepped to the rack and hung my cloak. After that, I went to my room, undid my belt, took my boots off and layed down in the bed. Immediately I felt like I was on a cloud. I've never layed on anything softer in my life. The ground, bed roll and tents, even my bed, couldn't compare to this one. Despite my headache, I fell asleep just as the relief subsided to pure comfort.

My eyes immediately opened to darkness—cold, empty darkness. I'm getting used to this . . . somewhat. Before long, a column of flame spiraled from the ground like a tornado, long lines of fire whisping all around. At the top of the column, the fire all collected until the bottom suddenly stopped erupting as the last flames reached the top, then all of the collected fire slammed down to the ground bursting into several colors, then pulled back in, above the black ground, to form a massive dragon head. Just the front tip of his head, chin to snout, dwarfed me like a house to an ant. Abraxas was truly small compared to this image. The head was incomplete, flames constantly flowing away to the back of the head until they disappeared into nothingness.

"Is this you? Ladon?"

"Yes, boy."

The light emanating from his red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and white disembodied head was so brilliant, I could see both his head and myself reflected on the ground. This space was warmer than I've ever imagined it could be. It felt as though my whole body would melt, though it never did.

"Listen carefully to everything I'm going to tell you. Most of everything from when you met Abraxas leading up to now has all been for tomorrow. Be careful, look out for a stab in the back if it comes, and push yourself as hard as possible. I can't give you all the answers, but tomorrow, you'll get a few."

"You're huge."

"Did you not listen to me?"

"I did. Abraxas said you were bigger than him. I didn't know you'd be this big."

"This is not important right now, boy."

"Do you know you're dead?"

He stayed silent for a moment. "I . . . found out, a few weeks ago, but I'd always suspected."

"Do you see what I see? When I'm awake?" 

"When I want to."

"So you've known me my whole life?"

"Yes. Now, tomorrow you must prepare. You'll have a long night ahead of you. Too many small mistakes, and you'll likely die. Now go."

His head burst outward, too fast to burn me, just before my eyes opened to the now familiar, warm bed. I was almost too comfortable to get up, but when I looked out the window and saw the sun, I pushed myself out. Only about an hour or two before noon. I put my boots on, attached my sword, then started making my way down the stairs. I smelt cooked eggs coming from the dining room. It was like heaven. I don't remember the last time I had eggs. I entered to see a plate with a slice of toast and a couple sunny side up eggs on the table. Meg and her mother were already eating.

"Come, join us, Ladon."

I didn't hesitate to sit down and eat.

"We don't have a lot of bread, but our chickens always keep eggs coming."

I took a bite. "It's delicious."

"Oh, really?"

"Compliments with him are rare, Ma."

"Well I'm glad you like it. When was the last time you had the tastes of home?"

"I was seven."

"Yera above, that long? Well I hope for your sake you stay a little longer then."

I chuckled a little.

"How long will you be staying?" Meg asked.

"The guards will be after me past midday. Depending on how things go, I might leave before then, or next morning."

"Well, if you stay til tomorrow, I'll make more food for you. Oh and your shirt will be good before noon."

I finished my last bite. "Thank you. For everything."

"Of course."

"I'm gonna head out now." I stood up and walked over to my cloak to put it on.

Meg sprung up. "I'll go with you."

"No you won't, honey; you have chores to catch up on."

Meg sighed audibly. "Yes, Ma…"

"I'll be back later for my stuff."

"See you later, Ladon," her mother said.

"See you."

I walked out the front door. I should find Gin-me. Although the sky was mostly clear, the air smelled of an approaching storm. I made my way to the crossroads and went straight. Before long, I made it to the same alley. She wasn't there. I turned around and saw her leaning against a wall in the alley on the opposite side. I walked to her.

"I did some digging. As it turns out, Cornelius and Malkan, mostly Cornelius, go to that room almost everyday. One of the guards that watch the door told me they've heard another person in there many times. He also told me they're not allowed to know anything that goes on in there. The last guards that peeked in . . . well let's just say curiosity is what killed the cat. They're not even allowed to ask questions. I can't confirm there's a demidragon in there, but I think there might be a person. Whatever goes on in that room must be fucked."

"Is the door the only way in?"

"The room has a small circular window in the back, but there's no access to it from the outside."

"So the only way in is the door."

Her brows furrowed with a perceptive stare. "What are you planning?"

"Just try not to be in the mansion tonight."

"Why?"

"Your job would have unfortunate obligations then."

"You know, I've done what I've done for my sister. I may not like the things I've done, but I couldn't imagine anything changing here, so rather than fight against it, I played their game as well as I could. I wasn't exaggerating when I said they're dickholes. I'm damn good with my daggers, but I always wanted to use a sword. I'm not allowed to because apparently "I'm too weak to carry one, let alone fight with one," which is bullshit. The point is, I've done a lot of shit, and dealt with a lot of shit because I never thought anything would change. But… now that you're here, and the rebellion's apparently happening, it feels like change is about to crash through this town. I mean, on your first day you fought a bunch of guards without a second thought. Nobody here has done that in Chrona knows how long. Most people get arrested and even hanged for such crap. But here you are, doing it no matter the consequences, and succeeding."

"Is that why you're so willing to help?"

"I never would've done this for anyone, but here I am, doing this for you. I just don't get it. I mean, just asking about that room could get me hanged if the wrong ears hear it."

"Well, I appreciate it."

She stood there, staring at me for a while, like she was contemplating something.

"When this is all over, I want a rematch. I'm sure I wouldn't lose twice."

I chuckled a bit. "Me too."

"Anyways, I gotta go. This is probably the last you'll see of me, unless you want to get arrested."

I smiled lightly. "I'll be fine without that."

"Alright. Well. Whatever it is you're gonna do, goodluck."

  "Thank you, Gin-me."

"Yeah, whatever." She walked off.

After a minute, I left the alley and started walking to Terin's house. I went straight on the crossroads, took a right, then a left, and the wagon was in sight. Once I reached the small house, I knocked on the front door.

Muffled through the other side, I heard Terin yell, "Who is it?!"

"Ladon."

"What?!"

"Ladon."

"What?!!"

"Ladon!"

"Well come on in!"

I pushed the door open to enter a big open room, stairs hugging the left wall close to the door. At the back of this room was a kitchen, but most of it was living space with a long rectangular table and many chairs all around. Terin, Dannas, Tulas, Percy and Holind were sitting at it.

Terin pulled out a chair next to Dannas. "Come sit down."

Dannas was trying to avoid looking at me.

I saw Tulas catch a few odd cubes in his hand, shaped like square prisms with pyramids on each end. Three more of those dice fell onto the table. He slowly opened his hand as his noticeable anticipation grew. As soon as his hand revealed the dice, whatever excitement he had was replaced by utter disappointment.

"Gods above! I only got one!"

I walked to my seat. "What's happening?"

Tulas put his hands to his face.

Terin sat down with me. "We're playing scraps."

"Scraps?"

"Yeah, everytime we have a potato and cheese casserole everyone loves it. And we don't get to have it often. The day after, we play scraps to see who gets the scraps. You want in?"

"Sure."

"Alright well you'll be after Percy and Dannas."

Percy picked up the six wooden dice. Before he did, I noticed three had an X around its rectangular sides, the other three had an O on all of the same spots.

"The game is simple. You throw all six dice up into the air. The goal is to catch all the O's in one go. If you catch a single X, or miss a single O, you lose."

Percy threw the dice up and caught two. "Damn it! I never win scraps!"

"Alright, Dannas, it's your turn."

He grabbed the dice, still avoiding turning to me despite him being directly to my right. He half heartedly threw them up, and caught three. He opened up his hand to reveal two X's and one O. He sighed.

"Alright, Ladon, your go."

I grabbed the dice, and looked at Dannas for a moment. He was as mopey as ever, still afraid to look near me.

"Alright, Dannas, what's your deal?"

"What?" he asked, looking away.

"Maybe now's not the time, Ladon," Tulas said.

"What other time is there?"

"I don't know, just try to give him some space."

"No . . . no. No, we need to do this." Dannas lifted his head up slowly. "I . . . it's hard . . . I mean."

"Don't break yourself, man," Terin said.

"What I'm trying to say is, when shit rains down, I seize up and hide. It's a knee-jerk reaction. It's how I've always dealt with things. I've been like this since I was a kid. It's not like I wanna hide when someone is trying to hurt or kill my friend. I want to help, I want to back you up. I want you to trust me. I just . . . can't."

"Dannas…"

"Listen, I'm trying . . . It's just . . . hard."

"I understand."

"What do you mean? You've fought shadow wolves, an . . . a really skilled guy, those guards, and these people."

"I used to hide from everything. For a long time, I didn't trust anyone. I learned the hard way if a person figures out what I am, I need to leave, even if they were nice at first. When I was a kid, a nice family took me in, they found out what I was, and got a whole town aimed against me. I ran. Anytime I went to a town or village and they found out what I was, I'd run away or hide. I never stood up for myself because I hate hurting people and I always thought it would make things worse, and normally it did. I took a lot of beatings."

"What changed then?" He finally looked at me.

"I met Abraxas. Because of him, I met you, Lili, Yara, the captain, Soras, Tulas, Meg, Terin, and everyone else. None of them give a shit about about it, and I realized, if that's possible, then it's possible for anyone to not give a shit about it. And if that's the case, then why not help them, even if they hate me, even if I have to fight for it, even if it makes things worse for myself. I've always wanted to live, but I never had anything to live for. Now I have an option."

He sniffled a small bit. "That's nice, but how does that help me?"

"Maybe you need to find something that you feel stronger about than whatever stops you from confronting things. Something to protect, or someone. I don't know."

"Maybe… I dunno. I'll think about it."

Meg entered through the front door, looked at us all, and saw the dice. "Hey! Are you playing scraps without me?!"

Terin cleared his throat. "Actually, it's Ladon's turn, then mine, then Holind's, then it can be yours."

She took a seat across from mine. "Usually takes all day for a winner anyways."

Holind sild a lone die to the rest. "Well go on. Toss 'em!"

I picked them up, shuffled them lightly in my hand, then tossed them into the air. As they started coming back down, I saw the three O's, then caught two of them along with an X. I then opened my hand to reveal what I caught.

Dannas clapped. "Ha!! So you don't win at everything!"

"Yeah, yeah." I handed the dice to Terin.

He failed, then Holind failed, then Meg, Tulas, Percy, Dannas, then me by choice. We spent the next hour or so like this. Everyone got close several times, which only made everyone more excited and anxious to win. Eventually we reached a point where all of them wanted anyone to win.

"Why not just give everyone a little bit of the scraps?" I asked.

They all stopped, then slowly turned to me with hate or shock in their eyes, as if I said the most offensive thing they ever heard. Even Dannas and Tulas were looking at me like that. Meg grabbed the dice and continued the loop.

We were decently far into the afternoon at this point. The more time passed, the more I'd think about the night to come. From the possible demidragon, to the fire, and the likelihood I'd have to kill someone, my mind could think of nothing else. Or at least, that was the case until Dannas shook my shoulder to reel me back in.

"W-what?" I relaxed a shaky breath I thought was normal.

"It's your turn." Dannas looked somewhat worried.

Now that I started to look around, everyone looked a bit worried. "Oh." I grabbed the dice and started shaking them in my hands.

"What's going on? Are you okay?"

I didn't want to tell anybody about this. Since I was close to having to, I tossed the dice, caught the O's, placed them on the table, and walked out the door, sharing only the words, "I'll be back."

Dannas quickly caught up to me on the road. "Hey I know you don't like talking about stuff, but anyone could see something's going on in your head."

I kept my stride, heading toward Meg's place.

"Can you tell me what's going on?!"

"Why?!" I turned to him in a snap. "Why do you need to know my business?"

"'Cause I wanna help you. Incase you didn't notice, I'm trying to be your friend here."

"I've been on my own for most of my life, Dannas. Why would I suddenly need help now?"

  "Well, 'cause whatever's going on, you spaced out for a while there. It took a lot to bring you back. We all tried to get your attention before I shook you."

I didn't realize it was that bad. "I… I'm fine."

"At least try to tell me. There's no way you can be fine forever if you don't talk to anyone."

I stopped for a moment, then sighed. "I found and joined the rebellion."

He looked like his whole mind readjusted. "What?"

I continued toward Meg's house. "They're going to hit the mayor's mansion tonight. I'll be going with them."

"Woah woah woah. Hold on a second. You joined the rebellion? When? Why?"

"Last night, I found them, joined them, and they told me their plan."

"Uhuh. Why'd you join them? This isn't part of the mission."

"There seems to be a decent chance there's a demidragon locked up in his mansion."

"Enough for you to trust it and find out for yourself?"

"Yes."

"Okay. That's all I need. What's the plan? When are they meeting?"

"I'm going alone."

"What do you mean?"

"There's going to be guards, and fire. Lots of fire. I can lessen some of the danger for myself, but not everyone."

"I get it. You had me at fire personally."

We made it to the door.

"So are we stayin' another night?"

"No, I don't know what the results of tonight will be. It'll be best to be out of town when it happens."

"Well if you decide you want help I'm always there."

I nodded before entering the door. Dannas stayed behind.

"Oh, Ladon. You've returned," said Meg's mother from the living room. She quickly got up and walked my repaired shirt to me. "The stitching's not perfect but it'll help it last much longer."

I grabbed it. "Thank you."

"So, are you staying another day?"

"I'll be leaving tonight."

"I'll make you dinner tonight then." She smiled warmly—a smile I could only imagine a mother making. "Oh, and you can keep the shirt. Can't hurt to have an extra."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

I walked upstairs and grabbed my quiver. I spent a second looking at the room, mostly the bed, to think that I most likely won't get to feel its firm yet soft warmth again. After a moment, I stepped back down the steep stairs into the front hall to see Meg's mother standing by the door.

"Leaving so soon?"

"Everyone else is waiting for me. I won scraps."

"Oh well I won't keep them waiting then." She smiled warmly. "Have fun."

"Thank you." I walked out.

Dannas was watching a ladybug walk from one finger to another, completely engrossed.

"We—"

"AH!" The ladybug flew off.

"We can go back now."

"Gods, you scared me."

"Let's go." I walked off back toward Terin's.