Chapter 1

Characters appearing in the first couple of chapters:

Craig Sweeney

Maddy and Ken’s son, 5’-11’’ tall, 175 pounds, 21 years old, brown hair, violet eyes, very handsome

Tezcaoatl

Craig’s Dragon name in Gaelic, he is a Red color in his Dragon-form

Suchin Wannasutr

Interpreter, Thai, 5’-6’’ tall, 145 pounds, 28 years old, brown eyes, black hair

Saroj

Driver, Thai / Chinese, 5’-4’’ tall, 125 pounds, 30 years old, brown eyes, black hair, superstitious

Jorani

Female Dragon, Craig’s future wife, 5’-2’’ tall, 107 pounds, 34C-22-34, 19 years old, long black hair, brown eyes, very good looking

Heng

Cambodian Bar owner, a large man of mixed Khmer and European or American ancestry, 6’-1’’ tall, 220 pounds, 36 years of age, light black hair, gray eyes

I arrived at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport (pronounced su-wan-na-poom) some four days after the Spirit of Ley Line Magic had requested our assistance locating a young woman trying to become a Dragon. The Queens in the Jewel had insisted that one of us accept this assignment, and I had been picked as the only one available who wasn’t busy, as my Sisters both had twin daughters just over a year old.

My Mother, who is the present Dragon Queen, had chosen the ‘City of Angels’ over Phnon Penh in Cambodia for several reasons. The main one being the availability of flights to each city, Bangkok having more and easier to get flights than the Cambodian capital. Another consideration had been the ease of transportation in the arriving country, Thailand obviously having the better transportation network. Lastly had been the availability of Magic. The Spirit of Ley Line Magic had advised her that Thailand, but not necessarily Bangkok, had more use of Magic than Cambodia.

Since my flight arrived in Bangkok in the middle of the night, she had made a reservation for me at one of the local tourist hotels, The Royal Orchid Sheraton. The room was very comfortable, and I slept for a number of hours after reaching it. A good shower and air conditioning had aided my ability to sleep as Bangkok in June, even at night, is a hot and humid place.

Following a late breakfast at the hotel, I set out to see the city. I could sense that there was a good bit of Ordinary Magic in use here, but there was no Ley Line Magic here in the heartland of Thailand. While Bangkok was a built-up city presently, in the past the area had been a marshy lowland of the Chao Praya River and not a favorite place for Dragons to hang out. No, I would need to go up country to the areas of solid hills and mountains to find any Ley Lines.

That day, I visited several places where I could sense that strong Magic had been used. They were never near any of the many Wats or Temples, but always located near the more disreputable places where things of questionable legality took place. There were, of course, many other places where less strong Magic was used including at some of the Wats or Temples. The Chinatown area just exuded the use of minor Magic. Of course, Magic here was not performed using Gaelic, but a different language. It was often an older dialect of Thai or a form of Chinese. I did check though, and Gaelic worked just fine even here for the performance of Magic.

After obtaining maps of Bangkok, Thailand, and Cambodia the following day, I planned my trip to northeastern Thailand, to be specific to the Korat plateau. I also hired a car with a driver and an interpreter, who spoke English, Thai, and Khmer. The interpreter’s name was Suchin Wannasutr. He came very highly recommended by those at the American Embassy. The driver who came with the car said to just call him Saroj. A driver was definitely necessary as the Thai drive on the left side of the road, like the English and the Japanese. They also drive very aggressively. Besides, I wanted to be able to check on the availability of Magic wherever we went and couldn’t do that very well while driving.

We set out for Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) on the morning of the fourth day that I was here. There wasn’t really anything of interest to hold me in Bangkok at this time. The drive went very well as the road is a large, very modern highway in excellent condition. We remained in Korat for the remainder of that day checking out the area. There was more Magic available here on the Korat Plateau. Suchin got us a decent hotel for the night after we arrived.

Korat is a medium size city compared to Bangkok. The traffic in the center of the city, however, is as bad as that in the center of Bangkok. It is better the further out from the downtown area that you go. We had lunch and dinner at two different restaurants near the hotel where Suchin had gotten us rooms. I particularly liked the Korat style Chicken Fried Rice that I had for lunch. It was better than the same dish that I’d had in Bangkok. The Sweet and Sour Pork that we had for dinner was just as good and as hot as that in the capital had been. My mother loved Thai food, and we had often eaten at a Thai restaurant in the town near her house. While here, I had acquired several large-scale maps of the Korat Plateau and Isan, the Upper Northeast, in case we needed to visit there. As it turned out, we didn’t require the maps of Isan then.

That night, I had a strange dream. I don’t know if it was brought on by the Sweet and Sour Pork or something else, but I dreamed about taking a trip from Korat and traveling across the southern edge of the Korat Plateau to where there was a major border crossing through the Dangrek Escarpment and into Cambodia where we stopped at a large village that had some importance.

When I awoke in the morning, I remembered the dream in detail and consulted the map that I had bought. I could see that there was one major border crossing shown on the map, and it led directly to the town of Samraong, which is the capital of Oddar Meanchey Province in North-west Cambodia. On my cellphone, the internet site for Samraong was less than impressive. It did, however, appear to be typical of villages that I had seen pictures of in the quick study of country villages in Southeast Asia that I had done at home before leaving. At breakfast, I informed Suchin and Saroj of where I wanted to go that day.

“Today, I want to go first to Praset and from there across the border to Samraong in Cambodia,” I told the two of them.

“Why would you go there, Craig?” Suchin asked. “There is nothing there. It’s a very poor place,” he added.

“Do you want to gamble, is that it? There are gambling places there between the borders,” he finished.

“I had a dream last night that I would find what I am looking for there,” I told him. I had never actually told them what I was looking for. I had only told them that I was searching for something. I wasn’t sure what they had presumed from that.

“Yes, go!” Saroj said. “Dreams important; tell future,” he added in Thai and Suchin translated, though he didn’t appear to believe this himself.

We left Korat that morning going east on road #24, a country road but two lanes and in good repair. The land along it was full of rice paddies and other crops. From Korat to Prasat was 170 km (106 miles) according to the map. The town that we arrived in was rather small. From Prasat, we turned generally south on road #214. It was about 41 km (25.5 miles) to the border at the town of Chomg Chom on the Thai side and O’Smach on the Cambodian side.

We were each required to get a Cambodian tourist visa at their immigration office on the border. There were a couple of casino hotels between the two border stations. The trip descending the Dangrek Mountains was very scenic, and the two-lane road #68 was paved all of the way to Samraong, which was 35 km (21.8 miles) from O’Smach at the border.

Arriving in the town, I wasn’t disappointed, as it appeared just as poor as the few pictures on its internet site had portrayed. It might be the provincial capital of Oddar Meanchey Province, but it was little better than any of the other villages that we had passed on the way here. Those on the Thai side of the border had been cleaner and had some paved roads and streets.

Samraong had dirt streets with many one-story buildings and sheds. The exception was the Aclada Bank building which was of concrete construction and several stories high. The main market was south of the bank building on the dirt street.

As we had neared the town, I could sense the presence of a strong Talent, but it didn’t seem to be conscious presently. I had Saroj stop the car near the bank building, as it appeared to be a safe location to park.

“The two of you remain in the vehicle, while I check on what I saw in the dream last night,” I told them before exiting the car.

“It isn’t safe to go alone in some place like this. You could be robbed or worse,” Suchin told me.

“It won’t be a problem. Trust me on that,” I told him.

“Do you speak Khmer then?” he asked.

“No, not a word, but it won’t be necessary. When I find what I’m looking for, I’ll be back,” I assured them before exiting the car and casting a ward around it. Suchin hadn’t argued with my decision but didn’t look happy with it. Saroj only smiled. There was plenty of Magic here and a strong Ley Line not far away. I suspected that was why the original village had been built here.

Walking south from the bank building, I soon came to the market. It was a collection of small buildings and stalls where everything from food to electronics was sold. There was a large concrete block and tin building about midway through the market. It stood out because it was two stories high. It appeared to be a bar and possibly something else. I could sense that the person with the strong Talent was inside it as I approached its doorway.

Standing just inside the doorway, I observed what was going on in there. The building had the lights on even in the daytime as there were only a few windows and the nearby building didn’t allow in a lot of light, plus I was blocking the entrance. There was a long bar on one side of the visible room, and a number of tables scattered around the remainder of the room. There were only a few patrons at this time of the day, early afternoon.

In front of me in a cleared space, a large man who appeared to be of mixed Khmer and European or American ancestry was kicking a small body on the floor. He was backed up by two men who were large for Cambodians.

“You’ll find what I want the next time, or I’ll beat you to death, you sorry bitch,” he was screaming at the body in passable English, as he kicked it again. It was obvious to me that the one on the floor was who I was looking for. I therefore decided to intervene.

“That’s not very likely to happen,” I said with a smile, as the three men turned to see who had dared to speak and interrupt them. They seemed surprised to see me standing there just inside the doorway.

“Who the fuck are you, and what the hell business is it of yours?” the large man demanded.

“I came looking for the girl. She’ll be leaving with me,” I told him, still smiling.

“Kill him,” the large man told the other two who drew pistols and fired at me several times. Naturally, I had my wards around me. I had cast them on exiting the car. Their bullets had no effect on the wards and only fell to the floor after striking it. They did, however, agitate me. I had come a long way in search of this person and finding her beaten and bleeding on the floor had not improved my disposition. I cast a ward around her before proceeding.