The Shadow Of The Dragon - Chapter Three

Chapter Three


"In the street, women and children like beautiful clouds were gathering to look for their soul, passing from the shade into the sun....."

- Jules Supervielle

Springtime in Palmer, Alaska 2009


40 miles north of Anchorage on the northern shore of the Matanuska River surrounded by the Talkeetna Mountains to the North, The Chugach to the South and Pioneer Peak to the East is the sleepy little town of Palmer, Alaska. A stop on the Alaska Railroad since 1916, Palmer wasn't truly settled until the summer of 1935 when President Roosevelt under his "New Deal" sent 203 colony families from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan to establish the Matanuska Settlement. He gave each family a 40-acre tract to farm. There were alot of failures, but in the end it suceeded and Palmer became the hub of the Matanuska Valley. The train doesn't go through Palmer anymore but the old depot is still there and on old locomotive engine still sits proudly outside for all who like to take photographs of it and kids find it fun to crawl all over like ants in sand. At the end of each summer Palmer hosts The Alaska State Fair but other than that there really ain't alot to be found in this old town. Coming in from Anchorage on the Glenn Highway there are 3 traffic lights. Coming in from Wasilla on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway there is 1 traffic light and 1 blinkie four-way stoplight. Oh it has 2 grocery chain grocery stores, a smathering of chain fast food joints, a fire station, a library, a hotel and a post office. It also has the three places in town where most business is done over a handshake and a beer.

Three of the town's four bars sit side by side by side on the main drag: Palmer Bar, Mooseheads Saloon and Klondike Mikes. The later is the busiest of the three and is sandwiched between the other two. Originally the left side of the bar was a hardware store that was turned into a bar called the "Tropical Paradise". Funny cause there ain't nothing tropical about Palmer, Alaska even in the short 3 months of summer. In fact most folks agree there are only two seasons in Palmer: winter and getting ready for winter. At some point it changed hands and the bar expanded through an alleyway into a restaurant and bar becoming "Leroy's 49er Club." Rumor has it a bordello was housed on the second floor of the building but you can't tell now as the 2nd story is no longer on the building. After that a man named Bud bought it and it became Klondike Mikes and while numerous others have owned and run it, it's still the same bar it ever was. ghosts in the building. Leroy is the best known of them. He was murdered in Texas but his heart It is rumored, of course as in any old building, that there are at least four as always at Klondikes. There are tunnels that run under the bar that at one time before being closed off, ran from the bars to the dairy to the north and the middles school to the south. Even to this day people sneak in and out of the ice room at Klondikes to indulge in their "not so legal" smoking habits. His ghost can be found down in those tunnels and anyone going for ice is always heard to be greeting Leroy and letting him know they are doing "bar business". It is reported that there are at least three other ghosts that roam the bar as well. Cookie is a woman dressed all in white who likes to sing with the jukebox and Mike and Johnny pop up here and again to surprise early morning or late night staff. It is thought that these ghosts feel that Klondikes is a better alternative to heaven.

The bar's hours of operation ar 11am - 5am. On most weeknights the locals can be found shooting darts or playing pool while listening to their favorite picks on the jukebox. On weekends, however, the younger crowds fill the bars and travel from bar to bar for varying entertainment. At Klondike's it's usually for karaoke.






"My life is sooooooooo boring and dull." said Leoness Andersen to her friend Vivian who was perched on the next barstool pondering yet another coffee or soda. Vivian, or Vie as she was dubbed, was Leoness's sense of reality, her reason and her sponsor. She was not as tall as her friend but was a graying compliment to the firey redhead. Leoness had been in and out of foster homes all her life after her parents died in the great quake of '64. She ran away from more foster parents than could be counted by the age of 16. At the age of 18 she had gained her freedom from "the system" but having had no sense of direction, ended up on the streets alone. She had mucked up her life pretty badly after that in failed 2 marriages and in the drowning of her sorrows in alcohol. The previous summer she had been in and out of institutions and was in a deep depressive state. Now at the age of 45, she had just graduated from a nearby drug rehab center and was living on her own in a apartment in town and was a karaoke DJ at Klondike Mike's. To add to that she was 8 months sober. The tempataions to drink and drown her sorrows were gone and she was doing well considering her profession kept her in bars most nights.

Vivian herself understood Leoness as she too had at one time been a raging "crazy" person herself. At a very young age she had been getting "visions" and she thought that by gouging out her eyes they would stop. Unfortunately the visions still occurred but she was at peace about them now as she had a psychic mentor who helped her understand the visions when they came. Vivian recognized Leoness's moanings were because her friend was single yet again. Her friend lacked the ego to maintain any relationships other than with herself or her cat Ash, who sat in her lap now. And besides her work schedule, she wasn't allowed to date for at least another year according to "the Book". She was always complaining that she wasn''t pretty enough but Vivian knew this was untrue. Leoness was a raving beauty she'd been told through the local talkings. She was even considered a "a good catch." But she knew her friend's tone of voice and new it was because Leoness was hitting a wall. "Really! So have you meditated on it yet to your higher power?' she asked smartly.

Leoness went rigid on her stool and looked at her friend and obliged her with the "God here we go again, yes of course I have. I guess I'm just feeling sorry for myself as always." The sounds of the jukebox started playing "Picture" by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crowe and Leoness cringed. "Oh lord if I hear that blasted song one more time I swear I am going to kick that jukebox to hell." she said loud enough for the people gathering in the bar to hear and laugh. Everyone knew she hated the song and they purposely played it to get her goat and to motivate her to start up the night of karaoke.

"Hey, has your mystery guy showed up again this week?" asked Vivian changing the subject.

Leoness scanned the bar and spotted him on the opposite side of the bar staring at her over a bottle of beer. He was gorgeous of course, just like she imagined a god would be. He had short black hair and a well groomed gotee with opaline eyes of coffee and amber swirls. His body was sculpt like that of a god too. At least what she had seen of him in tight fitting flannel shirts, who's sleeve were rolled up revealing delicious arms, jeans that fit over an even nicer ass and cowboy boots. Drawing on her cigarette nervously she waved at him and he turned his attention away from her to watch a pool table behind him.












Figures, thought Leoness. "Yup he's here alright watching the pool players." she confirmed for her friend. "Well since these idiots have no taste at all in music," she said jumping off her barstool, " guess I'll kill the jukebox from hell and get some real music started." This was uttered loud enough so that everyone cheered. She laughed and snuffed out her cigarette and grabbed her coffee mug and headed to the stage and her "life". While most of her life had been miserable she had always found solace in her music and the crazy anctics of her cat Ash. That and her Higher Power, and lest she forget Vie's wisdom, which helped strengthen her. It was what had gotten her the job and through the past 8 months. Well that and a hell of an imagination of course.

People started handing her tickets and she booted her system and muttered to herself "time for some fun" and she kicked off her working night. She again scanned the crowd and found "mystery man" had vanished. "Oh well so much for looking at a fine specimen of man" she thought and went into DJ mode. Ah yes just another ordinary boring karaoke night in her dull life.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to another fun filled night of Karaoke. I'm Leoness and I'll be your DJ till the wee hours of the night..." she started with her usual monolouge and the sounds of Evanescence roared through the bar and so did the cheers. She didn't notice the two men who enterd the bar through the front door. One was tall, the other short. Neither did she see her "mystery man" following them at a distance. If she knew why the three men were there, she'd think for sure she was headed back to API for another week of "rest".

5 hours later after shutting down her equipment and saying farewell to the karaoke faithful for the evening, Leoness walked out the front door of Klondikes and made a beeline for her apartment a few blocks away. It was a chilly evening in May and the breeze starting picking up.

"Figures" she said aloud to no one.

She pulled her coat closer around her and tightly tugged on the straps of the knapsack on her back. As she fought to pull the hair tie out of her long curly red hair for added warmth she passed over the train tracks that ran through the center of town and then crossed the street onto the paved path that ran adjacent to the town's library. In the distance she saw the water tower looming and heard the flags flapping overhead. She started across her favorite shortcut through the field of snapdragons and dandelions around the corner from her apartment when she noticed two ravens sitting on the telephone lines across the street.

"Ugly damn birds" she thought.

It was in that instant that she tripped over a vine growing across the path and she bumped against an old rotted tree stump. Curseing at her luck she picked herself up from the ground, dusting herself off, and noticed a shiny object nestled in the stump. She picked it up and brushed away the dirt discovering it was a necklace with a oval gem.

"I wonder who lost this thing?" she muttered. "Oh well, I guess it's finders keepers huh"

She pulled off her backpack and started to put the object in it when all of a sudden the two ravens she had noticed earlier swooped down towards her. She ducked and again cursed the two birds as they flew off into the distance.

She crossed the street onto the sidewalk under the telephone lines and noticed her "mystery guy" standing outside one of the apartments in her complex. When he saw her he quickly put out a cigarette and ducked back into the doorway behind him and she laughed to herself.






"So much for him being a potential knight in shining armor." She shirked and continuing to the back side of the complex to her apartment.

When she opened her door, her cat, Ash was eagerly awaiting her. He walked up to her and sleekly rubbed her calves and started purring like a rusty old motorboat's engines. Ash was your typical black cat, sleek with great yellow eyes and a tail always arrogantly in the air. He was her greatest comic relief. He frequently accompanied her on walks to her 12-step meetings and was always chasing shrews, butterflies or dragonflies in the warmer summer months, and running like hell from dogs, often ending up in trees. He always semed to understand her moods but now was rushing her to his food bowl concerned with eating and not love. She looked down and noticed the bowl empty again as usual and laughingly queried "Where do you put it all buddy, there ain't no fat on you?"

She opened the bucket of cat food and scooped a fresh cup into his bowl gently caressing him. With the cat feeding and purring she proceeded to take off her coat and backback and draped both on the black couch nearby. She walked back towards her littered coffee table and kicked off her sandals and replaced them with her favorite pair of fuzzy slippers. She turned around and walked to her makeshift alter and lit a dragon's blood incense and her white pillar candle quickly saying her evening prayers to the goddes.. "Goddess thank you for yet another sober day and a good night at work." she mumbled to no one in particular. She had been studying Wicca for almost a year now, but who knew if she was really listening. She then grabbed a fresh glass of water and ensconsed herself on her couch to read yet another trashy goth romance novel. She lived vicariously through the characters in her favorite books which made her boring life seem all the more tolerable. After awhile she drifted off to sleep to dream about her "hero", her glasses still on her face. Her dreams were usually the same with little twists here and there. She'd be transported into her current book and in the end one thing always remained the same. The same voice would whisper "I must leave you now, little one, but I'll always be nearby..."

While she dreamed, Ash being the nosey cat that he was, followed the scent Leoness had brought through the door with her. It was a scent he had not smelled in many years. He then poked his head in her open backpack cautiously and very carefully, very deliberately pulled the necklace out of the bag between his teeth. He studied it curiously and then gently lay atop the opal gem to play guardian for the night curled up in sleep. Neither of the apartments occupants noticed the man hiding in the shadows of the tree outside, who also stood vigil for the night.


Zenith Sidh that same night........

Arys was in her gaudily overdecorated sitting room of rich golds and maroons contemplating how good it was to be Queen when she heard a knock at the door. "Come" she said and in entered her tow ravens, Gunther and Rufius. "What brings you two to my rooms this late?" she said striking fear into the pair.

"We have found the necklace my queen." stated Rufius bending on his knee before her.

My God she thought, finally it was found. "Quickly give it to me." she beckoned.

"We can't do that, your majesty" said Gunther in fear, "unfortunately someone else also found it and is now in possession of it"

"And this person is still living for what reason?" she queried tapping her tiny foot and with a terribly evil gleam to her silver eyes.






"Lord Ayden was present when the "human" found it" replied Rufius respectfully.

Arys clenched her teeth at the mention of her brother in law's name.

"God's teeth, must I always be twarted at every turn?" Angrily she spat a nasty hue of blue flames out her fingernails towards a vase on her mantlepiece blowing the poor thing to oblivion.

Gunther and Rufius heads bowed cringed in dire fear of their mistresses anger.

"What good is having you two around if everytime you come across that necklace you are unable to retrieve it? Please give me one good reason to keep your miserable hides intact, hmmmmm?"

"Er...." "Uh..." the pair started in unison.

"Wait a minute...wait a minute...let me ask you this. How was it this "human person" who is now holding the necklace able to even see the damn thing. Only Fae blood can see the damn thing, much less touch it?" By the Gods the thought was too evil to relish. Could it be this "person" was in someway related to the necklace? How could they be? It was in the human world. Elzbeth had died 45 years earlier in the "Great" quake. Even at this time her body lay entombed in the palace's crypt. And her baby, born dead had been brought before her by Nix after thwarting their attempt to escape the sidh. And Shamus had died before that. No it just wasn't possible, was it? But what if........."You two get from before my eyes and keep watch over that necklace. Don't let it out of your sites again." she commanded and ushered the two men out of her rooms hurridley.

Arys rushed from her chambers to a secret doorway hidden behind a magnificent wall hanging of a raven, the royal court's symbol directly across the hallway. Down a deep curving set of stone steps carved from the stone of the sidh itself, she rushed to her still room. The room was lit with candles that seemed to turn on by themselves as she entered the room. A giant fire hearth sat on the back wall with a black cauldron perking qietly. The walls were covered with spiders and their webs to protect the various jars and bottles scattered amongst the shelves. In the center of the room was a makeshift alter. Quickly she pulled a jar of "Innocence" (the ground bones of the children killed by Kelpie and Nightmares), and a jar of "Bozer Stones" (the stones of the great goats stomach) from the cobwebbed shelves overhead. Carefully she measured a palmfull of the ingredients and cast them into a black gleaming obsidian bowl that sat on the alter. Uncorking a bottle of "Dragon's Blood" she added just enough to coat the bottom of the bowl, and a powerfully fowl stench of sulfur rose through the air .

"Through the world's, my voice does part...Demon Rackus answer that which holds your heart. Through blood and bone I call your name, an you shall answer just the same........."