Chapter 14

Having policed the shower area in the men’s changing room, picking up the used towels and wiping down the wet floors, Jack checked the maintenance sign-off list. He could not read the signature, but a signed off walkthrough fifteen minutes ago was impossible. He would have to kick this one upstairs. Maybe he should start referring to the little bastards as dragon bait.

Recognizing that he was acting unprofessional, Jack tucked in his shirt and straightened his resort-issued tie. Feeling like he was under control again, he stepped out onto the pool deck.

A group of men and women were huddled around a chalkboard with unusual focus. The professor was standing next to the board, waving her arms with great energy. She had a smile on her face, bouncing around as if she were performing in a Broadway show. Jack’s stomach flipflopped.

As he approached closer, he saw that the doctor had established a strong rapport with the guests, who were hanging on to every word she spoke. He drew nearer, the scent slapped him in the face. Squinting his eyes, he watched the magic emanating from her skin. Scanning the rest of the crowd, he saw several of them generating as well, in tiny quantities. Then he spotted Ms. Shivdasani standing behind the group, holding still as she pumped goodly quantities of magic from her body. Her nipples were prominent through the sheer material of her light blouse.

Taking a slight detour to approach the group from behind, Jack came abreast of the Bollywood actress and stopped. She took a deep breath with a startled look on her face. Jack looked to the side, surprised to see two tahtel slowly waving their tails as they watched the group. A mixed orc crew had gathered in a corner behind them, studiously watching the lecture and murmuring among themselves.

“What is happening to me?” Ms. Shivdasani whispered to Jack.

“You are generating magic,” Jack said. “Feels wonderful, doesn’t it?”

“It feels naughty,” she said. “I feel liberated and unbound from gravity. A wildness that I abandoned long ago is surging through me again, but I am not a wanton child. This is the power of Gaia, from my womb to the world.”

“I’ve never heard the magic of the Twilight lands described that way,” Jack said.

“Because I am describing me,” she said. “The magic is me, emerging from a suffocating shell.”

“Perhaps, now is a good time to seek out your companion,” Jack said, trying to secure his immediate agenda item of keeping her aimed at someone else.

“He’s a blithering ass,” she said. “An infected abscess that should have been lanced already. This magic gives me the ability to see reality objectively, stripped of my affectations and fears.” She made two fists and pumped her biceps. “This power gives me illumination and it is beautiful to participate.”

Jack nodded, crossing his arms across his chest. He pretended to listen to the lecture as the scents around him became stronger and stronger. The doctor caught his eye, and the magic began curling off her faster. He nodded to her as well, determined to keep the situation as calm as he could. He hoped that the group was still manageable, as one woman who was generating unbuttoned her coverup and kicked off her sandals.

Jack heard a door open and heavy footsteps approach. He did not look at the arrival as he tried to gauge if the professor still held control of the group. If she could not, he would need to act fast. Last time was a disaster.

As he mused, a large body mustered past him, shouldering him out of the way. The man stood in front of the actress, blocking her view of the chalkboard.

“What do you want?” she said to the man. He towered over her. His thick moustache reminded Jack of Snidely Whiplash for its cartoonish waxing job. His ridiculously short shorts made the entire look of outrageously-sized muscles absurd.

“You should go back to the room,” he said with clenched fists.

“I choose to stay here.”

“I say you will go back to the room. I say and you do.”

“You have no say, Sajid. I am not dependent upon you.”

“You will do,” he snarled, before he raised his hand and slapped her across the face, sending her hurling to the ground.

Jack took a half-step back to launch himself at the mountain of muscle when he was pushed aside by a young orc throwing himself at the man at full speed. The orc grabbed an arm and was immediately tossed off as if he were an insect. Jack caught the orc fully in the belly and they both went down.

When Jack untangled himself, he saw the man drawing back his leg to kick the woman as she lay on the ground. A tahtel launched itself and sank its teeth in the man’s lower leg. The man screamed, shaking his leg as he tried to throw off the creature. He reached down to grab the tahtel when the crew of orcs tackled the man from his head down to his knees. He went down as the back row of guests jumped out of the way.

As the man began fighting to throw the orcs off his frame, the other tahtel jumped into the fray. Another orc went flying. A second was losing his grip when the man let loose an unearthly scream and fainted.

Jack clambered to his feet and approached the prone body. The second tahtel crawled out from between the man’s legs. The creature’s face was bloody and in his mouth was a pair of human testicles. Before Jack could grab the tahtel, it scurried away, running down the length of the pool and plunging into the garden where it disappeared.

Jack slowly ran his hand over the hair on his head as he viewed the scene. Estra was leaning over the actress, feeling the bones in her face and neck, accessing the damage. The orcs were helping each other get out from under the bulk of the human body and stand. The other tahtel was perched on the shoulder of the professor, licking its paws. The guests were mulling around, shaking their heads, and exchanging quiet comments. Jack straightened his tie.

“You,” he said to the young orc, “Take our stricken guest to the infirmary with Estra.”

He pointed to the orc supervisor. “Take this man to the tack room at the back of the first barn. Tell Soren the man has just been gelded. He will know what to do. You will leave only when he dismisses you. Send one of your men to retrieve the front-of-the-house crew to escort our stricken guests to the lounge. The bar manager will take responsibility from there. Let’s move.”

“Where are you going?” Kat asked Jack, coming over with the tahtel on her shoulder.

“With an incident of this magnitude, I must inform the general manager immediately,” Jack said. “He has a friend visiting and he is going to be most unhappy.”

“A friend visiting?”

“Just a friend, I can assure you. However, she is a dragon.”

“Oo, a dragon, Jack. I’ve never met I dragon. I’m coming with you.”

Jack bent over to address the tahtel. “I am going to talk to Hypatia. Are you sure you want to come?” The tahtel looked a Jack for a moment and went back to grooming itself.

“This way,” Jack said, taking Kat by the waist with his arm.