A Royal Choo-Choo

I’m embarrassed enough as it is to have been kidnapped, but did it have to be by these insipid fucks? Father did always tell me that my incompetence would be the death of me. I hate that that asshole is going to end up being right. What would he even think of his daughter, the Dragon Warrior Princess, being knocked out from behind by a couple of vampire thugs? I’m absolutely mortified.

“This was not at all how things were supposed to go tonight! You knew the plan. How could you possibly fuck this up for us?” A high-pitched male’s voice accuses. The sound of it slightly rouses me from the unconsciousness I was beaten into. The last memories I have of this night before it all went black are slightly unclear but I do remember chunks of time, here and there. It wasn’t too long after midnight that I was on my way to my apartment from a late night training session, when I was attacked by two large men dressed in black. I guess no matter how long you’ve been trained to look over your shoulder, you still might not notice the creatures of the night.

My head throbs horribly. I keep my eyes closed (not that I really have a choice in the matter), careful not to make any sudden movements that might draw any unwanted attention to me.

“Listen, no one could have possibly foretold how incredibly strong she is, especially given her size. We even had the jump on her. Sylus and I did the best we could given the circumstances. We’re lucky we got her here at all. Anyways, it’s done. I can’t take it back, so let’s move on.”

This voice is huskier and lower. It sounds vaguely familiar though I can’t quite place it. I’m trying but thinking actually hurts my brain.

“For fucks sake, Jake! I told you ‘NOT A SCRATCH’. That’s it. It’s over. We might as well just jump onto the tracks.”

Jake? I rack my brain for any Jakes I might now and come up flat. No Jakes in this Rolodex.

“That’s enough, Nelson. The deal still stands. Sure, we will have to improvise, but what do we say about improvisation?”

“Improvisation keeps our minds sharp,” Nelson says in one long exhale.

“Exactly. Nelson, I want you to take five deep breaths. Very good. Everything will be okay. I promise. Now, why don’t you go and find out which cargo container holds all the liquor and find us something brown. Let’s celebrate that we managed to get this little bloodletter at all.”

Ah. So, Jake is in charge of this operation. Good information to have, especially for a damsel in distress.

I can hear heavy footfalls receding away from where I sit and for a long time there’s silence. I try desperately to stay alert enough to hear if anything else happens but I slip and fade back into unconsciousness.

“Psst!”

Someone nudges my arm, not so gently. I come to very slowly, despite the agonizing protests from my throbbing head. Everything seems so hazy and thinking is still a challenge. I definitely have a concussion. A pretty gnarly one at that. I think I might even be sick. Ugh. My own weakness revolts me. I am a dragon for crying out loud. A fearsome beast and this is what I’ve been reduced to? Concussed on a train, placed here by would-be kidnappers.

I can feel the deep vibration of the “chugga chugga” in my bones, rattling me to my core. I can hear it too, though the sound is muffled by the thick glass of the windows. Which means, the train car is safe enough to have bullet, maybe even missile, proof windows, indicating it’s not a “cheapy” train. The rattling means it's going too fast for its intended purpose. My kidnappers seem to have stolen a royal train. Good for them, and me too, I suppose. It’s always nice to work with familiar machinery.

I try opening my eyes again, only to regret it immediately. I might hurl. Everything is spinning.

Through the crack of the window comes a cold breeze, the kind that chills your bones until they feel like they might snap and break.

Despite the chill that escapes in through the window, the heat is on around me and I’m drenched in sweat.

The booming thunder and the pounding rain that threaten to break the glass window that my face is plastered against are what startle me the last bit into consciousness. I bolt upright in my seat and try aggressively to rub the sleep from my eyes, but quickly realize that I am restrained; bound by both arms and legs to my seat.

Another clap of thunder rumbles in the sky and I jump involuntarily in my seat, the leather beneath me protesting against my movement.

Where the hell am I?

It’s dark outside and it’s dark in here, wherever it is that I am, and my sight hasn’t adjusted to the dim lighting.

The sky is heavy with night and thick with rain clouds. There is no moon in sight, so I can’t judge what time of night it is. I can’t see anything out my window to be able to gauge where I am or how fast we are going. One thing is for certain though; we are not slowing down.

“HEY! Princess!” Whoever it is that is trying to summons my attention is very impatient. Give an unconscious girl a hot fucking minute, please.

A groan escapes from deep within my chest, the only response I am capable of giving in my current state. I turn my head in the general direction of where I think my wakeup call is coming from and barely make out a hazy shadow of a very tall and masculine entity.

“Your Royal Highness, it’s time to be waking up now. We don’t have much time, and I need you to be alert for this.”

I groan again, involuntarily.

“Who are you? What do you want from me?”

“Apologies, your Highness, for not finding the time last night to introduce myself. My name is Sylus, and I am your conductor for this trip. I do hope you’ve been enjoying the ride so far, but I must say that all the fun is still to be had,” he gives a deep, throaty chuckle. A devilish grin spreads slightly across his very angular face, exposing his fangs.

“Buckle up, it might get bumpy.”

“Unless you choose to cooperate, of course.”

“Well, here’s a little bit of irony for you, I kinda already am all ‘buckled up’. Maybe you could unbuckle me and give me a chance to properly cooperate…”

“Oh, no, you don’t. We’re no dummies. Like we would chance that with your reputation,” the pudgy assistant guffaws.

“And is who you think I am so terribly frightening that you have to keep me bound in order to feel safe. The two of you together, the ‘muscle’ of this band of renegade bloodsuckers, I am assuming, are afraid to take on tiny, little me?” I pause, letting my words hang heavily in the atmosphere.

“Tsk tsk. My experience with vampires has never been quite this disappointing.”

“Tread carefully, Princess, or we will be sure make it so that you’ll be begging us to just drain you end your life.”

“It’s about high time for your family to experience the consequences of their actions, and you’ll be the first one to start your penance.”

“You seem to be operating under the illusion that you know exactly who I am and what I’ve done, and that you know exactly what you’re doing here-but I can assure you that you’ve been ill prepared for our meeting, and you will absolutely regret it. Or at the very least, be embarrassed by the huge mistake you’ve made. This decision you are making will haunt you for the rest of your lives.”

“Oh, is that so, Princess?” Jake, who I hadn’t seen standing in a dark corner by the back of the car, spits out that last word like its venom. He makes his way over to me and squats all of his thick, six foot five frame down in front of me. Jake’s deep blue eyes meet mine and I suddenly feel cold. He smiles menacingly. In his hands, he twirls a baton around. My head throbs in pain from the blow I took earlier, and it seems to hurt even more as I watch the baton spinning in the air.

“For the millionth time, I am not the princess you are looking for!”

Jake throws the baton the floor and makes it back my side in two giant steps. He doesn’t even acknowledge my Star Wars reference. I’m almost offended for the humans at the lack of appreciation for one of the few good things they contributed to our shared world. I’m a little more offended at the possibility that maybe he just doesn’t know Star Wars, at all. Our world is to remain hidden from the humans, not the reverse.

It doesn’t do enough damage to obliterate the little bit of Stockholm syndrome that’s starting to progress within me. I mean, yes, he did concuss me. That’s a major red flag, but honestly, he did it so passionately. I can respect that. Life has made me a warrior and a survivor, so I of all people, understand that pulling your punches will get you in some fucked up situations. I think on some level, Jake and I could really understand each other, if we really tried. Maybe after all of this is over…

His strong hands grab at my left arm and he yanks up the sleeve all the way up to the inside crease of my elbow, exposing my golden tattoo. Jake rotates my arm as much as the rope holding me in place will allow. The light catches it, revealing the golden dragon wearing a crown and holding a witch’s staff.

My stomach tightens and icy dread spreads throughout my veins, despite the electricity that tingles on my skin where Jake is touching my arm. I definitely did not see that coming. I suddenly feel invaded, exposed and even embarrassed. I was just now seriously considering putting out some feelers out there for Jake and suddenly he knows more about me than I care to acknowledge. I was not prepared for this.

All of my life I guess I just assumed that our family “branding ceremony” would have been kept completely under wraps, so I never expected to have to hide it from anyone. I mean, it’s pretty morbid. So why would anyone know of the magical tattoo on my arm? Every single person in any and all of the royal families have a magical tattoo. Each royal family has their own “theme”, or reference to their familial heritage and name, and each individual member of the royal family has something that is specific to them personally. Having one is a sign of power. Its presence on a person is a marking of the most elite society. The trait that distinguishes our family’s tattoos are that they are done in golden ink. A symbol of our powerfully mixed lineage, though gilded. A lineage with such potential, but also greatly tainted by instability and chaos. You could say we are very much the Midas’ of all the royal families.

It’s only in this moment in which Jake’s thumb and forefinger hold my wrist and his face is just inches from mine, that I realize I’m ashamed of my golden Scarlet Letter.

Our gazes meet for a moment. Just long enough for the fire in his eyes to dull slightly and his snarl to relax. Just a moment long enough for me to see my soul reflected back at me.

“You see, Princess? I know who you are. I know exactly who you are,” Jake almost whispers to me. His eyes hardened, suddenly and he releases his grip on my arm aggressively, as if he had forgotten he was holding it and is suddenly disgusted. And Just as quickly as he was by my side, Jake is suddenly on the other side of the train car, one hand on the glass window to his left and his right hand gripping the back of a seat.

“And I know that I can take you to either kingdom and get a hefty reward. Who do you miss the most? Your daddy, the Mad King? Or Mommy, the Usurper’s right hand lady?”

A sudden thought occurs to me.

“How interesting,” I say, “That you should have options such as these. It almost seems as though you have yourself two different deals with two different kingdoms to fulfill. But that couldn’t be, now, could it? That’s treason upon treason! Unless…” I trail off and let the words hang in the balance.

“Unless what?” He asks, his eyes piercing through my soul, begging me to seek out the answers that make up his truth.

“Unless you’ve gotten chummy with both parties and you’re going to betray one or both of them,”I finish. He stares at me and relaxes his gaze, a smile pulling at one end of his mouth.

“If only it were so simple as that.” Jake chuckles low, a deep rumbling in his massive chest.

“Your voice sounds familiar to me, but I can’t place you. How is It that you know my parents? Which one of them betrayed you?”

Jake’s smile drops instantly and his body tenses. He stares at me with wide, angry eyes for what seems like a long time. Long enough to make me almost squirm under his gaze. I think that maybe he won’t speak to me again at all when he turns towards the door of the train car and looks back at me over his shoulder, his expression cold and distant.

“So which one will it be? Do you want to go home to Mommy or Daddy? And do you want to be dead or alive? Think about it and let me know. Sylus, go ahead.” Venom drips from his words and linger long after he walks out and slams the door shut.

“Alright. Let’s try this again,” Sylus says with a smug smile. It seems he is going to be taking over for Jake, and judging by the pliers in his hands, he means to use violence to get what he wants from me. Fun.

“ You don’t understand,” I gasp, trying to swallow some air. After removing my nails one by one, Sylus and his round pal Ernie, decided to switch gears. That’s when the waterboarding began. “They don’t care about me. They never have. That’s why one parent tried to have me killed and the other one didn’t even try to stop it from happening. It’s evidently easier to hold on to the throne when there isn’t any competition around to challenge your rule. I was only ever a problem to be solved. So, no. Kidnapping me and taking me to either Royal Court, is not going to bring you the riches you so desire. I’m the only royal princess of my lineage to ever be discarded so willingly and violently. If anything, they’ll kill you after they’re done killing me. Or maybe they’ll be feeling extra mean that day and they feed you to the pets instead. Unless, of course, you hear me out and we work together on this.”

“What do you have in mind?” Jake asks reluctantly, as if he is weighing his options. Shortly after violent river ride started, Jake remade an appearance to check on the progress of things. His presence made it easier for me to endure the torture. In fact, when he walked in, I felt the desire to shout at Sylus to make it hurt more, just so I could show off a little in front of Jake. I want him to know just how much this dragon can’t take.

“There’s been a reward placed. Anyone who brings you in to King Pendragon and the Queen Mother alive and unharmed gets 50,000 dragon jewels.”

“No, no. The reward is for anyone who brings her in dead or alive.” The jittery, fat one of the bunch yelps from the corner where he sits slumped on a seat, eating a sandwich.

“There are two separate bounties from both kingdoms for her, you doormat. We’ve discussed this,” Sylus berates.

“The Queen Mother specifically requested that Tiamat be returned to her without so much as a scratch or hair out of place,” Nelson chimes in. “And we clearly can’t do that anymore. We have to take her to the Old Kingdom. King Faranth and Prince Tiberius offered more for her anyways.”

“So… what now then? Do we ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ our way into making a decision? Best two out of three?”

“No, wait!” I exhale slowly and rack my brain for a way out of this cluster fuck without digging my hole deeper.

“This is actually kinda perfect. Hear me out. Let’s proceed with your plan to take me to the Royal Court, ALIVE, but looking really roughed up.They’ll assume that beefcakes here incapacitated me. You said so yourself, you didn’t expect me to be so damn strong.So why should anyone else? They won’t see it coming. You let me kill them and then when I come in to my throne and fortune, I’ll pay twice as much as the reward for my head is. My needs. Your needs. All of them satisfied and appeased. It’s the perfect solution.”

“What makes you think that we would so readily trust you? How easily it would be for you to rid yourself of us. We aren’t as dumb as we look. And again, we could just take you in as a corpse. That seems like our easiest solution, actually.”

“No, no. You don’t get it. If you try to kill me, I will be forced to do something I truly don’t want to do today, even though you haven’t been so pleasant to me, today. It won’t go the way yo expect it to and it won’t end well for you. I hate waste, and I feel that you gentlemen have some serious potential. I could really use the help and again, there is a hefty reward awaiting you on the other side. So there’s that. But I mean, the longer you wait to accept that deal, of course, that benefit will be retracted and then you’ll just have to do as I say or die on this train.” I smile calmly at them.

These idiots stand there, seemingly stunned with their jaws slack and eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It lasts half a second before they all burst into laughter and clap each other on the backs.

I’m not offended. I can’t be. I can’t feel anything other than embarrassed for these dumbshits. Well, when reason fails, people usually start getting shot…by me specifically.

Jake is off to the side, smirking slightly as he pretends to suddenly take great interest in making sure his tactical knife.

“Well, I kind’ve assumed that you didn’t really have a choice. The only way to know if I’m trustworthy is to take the leap and see the whole mission through. Won’t know until you’re on the other side.”

Before I can blink twice, Jake is using his tactical knife to slice through the rope that binds me. When he’s freed me, finally, he shakes my hand and smiles at me,.

“Glad to be in business with you, your Royal Highness.”

Suddenly I understand. There were never any deals with the Mad King or the Queen Mother. I’ve been played and I find myself admiring the dedication to getting this job done.

The rain has stopped, finally. I was starting to think that the clouds wouldn’t ever run out of water. But they’re all cried out now.

The train, though going impossibly fast, is traveling nice and steady. It’s a constant purr that hum through my bones, in my chest. It surges through me, making me feel powerful, despite the fact that not an hour ago, I was still a prisoner on this train. Now, I’m an accomplice in going to my younger brother’s palace with the proposed intention of murdering him and our mother, and stealing his throne. Whether or not I do as I’ve led Jake’s gang to believe is yet to be seen. Though, right now that’s the agreed upon plan that got me out of that fucking chair and in better position to make some last minute changes.

The clocks on the train are all in tick-tick sync.

They seem to be getting louder. The echo of them surrounds me.

“You’re running out of time, Tiamat. Tick-tock, tick-tock,” time itself mocks and taunts me.

It drowns out all other sounds. I’m consumed by it.

“Tiamat, I know what it is that your tattoo can do. I’m surprised that you haven’t used its power to spare yourself of this inconvenience,” Jake says, almost as if he can feel where my train of thought was.

“Why would you even bothering going through with this scheme of yours if you know what I’m capable of doing to all of you?”

“I had a theory and I wanted to test it out. Now tell me, for the sake of argument, why you haven’t unleashed the full force of the Draconian lineage on us.

There it is, suddenly. Bubbling up from deep within my belly and rising in my chest. The weight and pressure of the family name I carry and don’t feel worthy of carrying, despite our misgivings and skewed moral compasses. I can feel the call to wrap things up with this lifetime. Just end the ongoing nightmare of existing as Tiamat, the Dragon Warrior who has more red in her ledger than even Dracula himself.

A cold dread spreads through me as the adrenaline like ice slithers through my veins. I’m getting dizzy. My natural instincts for survival are going up to bat against the call to the next life.

I think about how much easier it would be if they just got it over with and killed me, here and now. They could dump my body onto the tracks, if they wanted to. I wouldn’t care. All of my problems would be over with.

Or maybe they would take my body to the palace to show to my mother as proof in exchange for her dowry. I wonder if she’d feel joy at finally having gotten rid of me, all without having to get her hands dirty. I know that’s why she allowed Father to order the attack on my life. That was the summer of my tenth birthday and nothing could have made it more memorable.

Since the birth of our younger brother, Pendragon, it was apparent that Tiberius and I no longer held any value for Mother.

Sometimes, I get too wrapped up in my thoughts and I dabble with the notion of how I would end things. I begin to imagine all the different ways I could possibly die.

The adrenaline rush stops that train of thought, mid track and catapults me into a dangerous desire to be impulsive and reckless. Just to see if the rush is something worth living for. Or maybe it’s because with each new risk, I gamble with my life a little bit more. I’ve become a junky for this thrill.

Jake clears his throat, trying to get my attention back.

I’m zapped right back into reality. Back to the gentle swaying of the train car.

The clocks aren’t as loud, now that I’m out of my reverie. There’s an ache in my chest. The loss of the moment I was having. I feel so robbed.

“Maybe I just like the challenge. Maybe I just want to know what I’m made of without magic’s help,” I say, quickly recovering myself.

Jake looks at me softly, gently regarding me.

“Do you really expect me to believe that whore shit?” He smiles sadly.

Jake glances around calmly, before looking back to me and leaning in. His face is suddenly inches away from mine and my breath catches.

“I have something to show you. This is how I know about your tattoo,” he breathes. His scent is suddenly the only thing filling my nostrils. For a moment, I forget how to breathe, I forget who I am and what it is I am doing standing in the bullet lounge of a train that my kidnappers stole from my family. Nothing else exists but this gorgeous man, who fights with the strength of twenty men and has a smile that threatens to melt my panties right off.

Out of my peripheral vision, I vaguely notice that Jake is reaching for the sleeve of his left arm and begins to roll up.

Before I can figure out what’s happening, there’s a loud explosion towards the rear of the train in one of the compartment cars.

We both turn in the general direction of the explosion when we hear a gunshot from the opposite side.

A bullet buzzes right passed Jake’s jawline, leaving a burn mark on his chin. It just barely misses anything important.

“Traitor!” Someone shouts from the next car over.

I look at Jake with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, and he returns my feeling of shock.

“I can explain,” We say to each other at the same time.