TITLE: Icarus Manor, chapter 12

AUTHOR: lillywhite1, but you can call me Casey.

SUMMARY: In a mysterious mansion in a secluded part of North America, a man 
discovers that he is far from alone in the world. Here at Icarus Manor several species of 
non-human description live together to survive in a world that does not know they exist. 
LAST CHAPTER: Continuation of William and Dominic’s night. Elijah and Orlando 
grill Dominic the morning after. THIS CHAPTER: Elijah seeks out Sean in the 
dungeons.

PAIRING: DM/BB, hints of EW/SA

RATING: R; still setting up the base for the affair.

FEEDBACK: is my neutella on a spoon that makes me go all gooey and melty and 
mmmmm...

A/N: Text in asterisks (*) represents italics or general emphasis. This is a book and a 
work in progress. Be gentle. Comments to cswann1@gmail.com.

Chapter 12

Well into his day, Elijah decided his schedule could use some re-arranging. He had 
battled with Grady, the annoyingly cunning little thrope that he was, managed to turn 
down Elijah’s gracious pay raise with the reason that he was far too essential to the 
keeping of the grounds to be paid off with such a small sum. Elijah had been warned 
against such things. Grady is a luchorpan, a kind of elf that hordes small amounts of 
treasure, who are also notorious for their greed and clever ruses. Unfortunately, the only 
way to win any respect with them was to catch them. Obviously enough that was 
extremely difficult. 

Elijah however had the ace up his sleeve to deal with Grady. With Dr. Viggo 
Mortenson’s help, Elijah had the perfect weapon: a small bottled hex to capture the elf. 
With one word, and a quick uncorking, the elf was snared and screaming on the grass. 
Elijah then picked him up and hung him upside-down as he hollered that Sean would 
never have dealt with him this way.

“He at least granted me the decency to chase me and catch me fairly!”

“If you swam, I would gladly chase you, but I’m not of your element, Grady.”

“I’ve been planning this for too long for you to screw it up! I want a real chase and 
you’re going to give it to me!”

Elijah jiggled the captured elf a little, “You would have to be right-side up to argue with 
me and achieve anything. I have far too much to deal with today to simply let you go. 
Now, you will take the raise and behave. Get yourself swimming and we’ll discuss a 
proper chase.”

Grady had gone from green to a hideous shade of purple before Elijah released him from 
the charm. Elijah watched as the tiny elf stumbled off, shaking his head and muttering in 
an ancient tongue.

Many people on the staff had also mourned Sean’s absence, though some more politely 
than Grady. He certainly had gained the respect if not friendship of most people Elijah 
had dealt with so far.  

Elijah sighed into the wind and spoke to one who wasn’t there, “I miss you.”

His spirits sunk a little lower when the clients in Mexico asked what happened to Sean. 
Elijah could do nothing but assure them he was fine, but now they would be doing 
business with him instead. They settled on rather generous rates to ship their thousand or 
so crates of firebrush to Greenland, and the meeting was terminated on a satisfactory 
note.

But he couldn’t stop thinking about Sean.

After coming across Sean’s signature on some past transaction papers in his new – 
embarrassingly bare – office, he decided that three reminders were enough and he should 
conduct his business in the dungeons and stop procrastinating.

He was actually somewhat excited at the idea of running into Sean and found himself 
walking down lichen-coated halls in very little time. He passed the large, mangled doors 
with little care. Animals of their enchanted world snorted and sniffed at him, but he 
plowed on while his confidence still stood strong. 

“Good afternoon, Signors.” Elijah tipped an invisible hat to the Ophid Twins. They 
glanced up from their lounging positions on one of the stalls.

“Buonas tardes, Signor.” One of them replied lazily.

“I’m Elijah Wood. I don’t know if you remember –”

“We alwaysss remember, Signor Wood.” The two Brazilians looked up at him with 
curious expressions of anticipation, as if they were waiting for Elijah to make one more 
false move before they sang venomed fangs into him.

“Oh, of course,” Elijah stuttered, “I meant no offense.”

“None taken, Signor Wood.” The twins shifted their gaze off him, and Elijah felt 
immense relief. 

“I am here to visit a few of your charges,” Elijah glanced at his schedule book, “Cronus 
and…Gusto.”

“Toward the back, last two cells on the left.” They pointed.

Elijah carefully stepped over the lazing serpent twins and made his way cautiously to the 
back of the dungeons. The light decreased even more so. A few of the enchanted 
skylights had fizzled out, and it leant even more to the foreboding mood of the place. 

Elijah stopped at the next to last cell where he peered inside. A large reddish animal was 
snoring softly into the grass at his feet. Elijah watched for a few moments as his massive 
chest rose and fell.

“Hey there, leave him be for a while. He doesn’t sleep much as it is.”

A large taloned hand beckoned to Elijah from the bars of the next cell over. He was 
reminded of fairy tale monsters in the wood who you should never listen to, but he 
squashed the childish fear and approached the second stall. 

“What business do you have with us, merman?” 

Elijah could barely make out a dark face beyond the bars. This must be the dragon, 
Cronos. He was very large. The file Mr. Boyd had given him had said he was nearly ten 
feet tall, but to read such a thing was far different than experiencing it. The five horns in 
his forehead told Elijah that this dragon was ancient. 

Cronos stared at Elijah and smiled a little. The deep green scales on his face rippled with 
the movement. He propped his massive arms on the sill of the door’s window.

“I am the new Liaison to the staff and I was told it was about time to check up on you 
both.”

“What happened to the Moon-Man?”

“Sean? He’s working down here. I assumed you would have seen—”

“Not Sean. The other one.” Cronos’ black eyes focused on Elijah’s awaiting an answer.

“Dominic. He’s fine. Completely healed and back to work in no time.”

“Your tone would suggest that he almost didn’t make it.” Cronos’ voice held neither 
amusement nor concern.

“It was close, but he’s of a resilient species,” Elijah added, “No thanks to you and your 
friend.”

Cronos chuckled at Elijah’s barely veiled anger.

“Why do you care how Dominic is?”

“I was just curious. Nothing much happens down here.”

“You nearly killed a person just to relieve your boredom?!”

“I wouldn’t say that’s the truth.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Sean gave me something in return. Something I needed.”

Elijah snorted in disgust, “Is that why you’re serving your sentence down here? You’re a 
hired thug?”

Cronos shifted and Elijah could hear the rattle of heavy chains, “You know better than to 
assume I’m nothing more than muscles and teeth, guppy.” Cronos smiled wide to show 
all of those teeth. 

“Why should I assume better?”

“My kind ruled the very Earth. My kin were the chosen ones and we were here long 
before you. The dirt of this planet runs in my veins. We are The Remaining. Our bones 
burrowed so deep in the Earth that we reached the very core before your ancestors grew 
limbs to swim. You and all of your kind are made of us. Our blood, our flesh was the 
breath of life into you. We were the Great Ones who survived the Freezing Times to 
bring your primitive elders the wisdom to be. We were buried in this good earth for so 
long that we absorbed it. We became it. 

“Some of us melted with the ice and lived in water. Others drove so deep that they came 
out of the volcanoes and breathed fire. The blistering winds of the Freezing Times birthed 
others to the air and clouds. The great glaciers broke and split and unearthed more who 
had lived in the rock and stones. We are this earth. We nurtured your kind. We are your 
parents. We are timeless, though not without a price.

“A long time after the Freezing Time and after the Birth of the New Ones, like you, the 
human began to take slow control of the planet. Overtly powerless as they were, they 
were given extraordinary talents of intelligence not unlike your ancestors. But for some, 
the respect for the Earth was lost. They lost the way of harmony and began to spread and 
multiply. It was so slow that we did not mind, hoping that they would find the way again 
if they were left alone. We withdrew from them. 

“Our world became separate from theirs. We took you and your kind and taught you the 
way of harmony so that you would not become like them. You understood, for we did not 
let you lose your connection to the earth. You are of the water, young one. You will never 
forget the way. The humans lost their attachments, and strayed far. We sheltered you. We 
were the very reason your bloodlines did not cease to be. 

“By the time that the humans had encroached far into our world and had grown beyond 
our nightmares in number, it was too late to fight them. Some of the dragons gave up and 
went to the most remote of places so they would never be discovered. Many returned to 
the land that is still frozen to bury and outlive this encroachment of the spreading species. 
Others would not leave. The fire and earth dragons refused to go underground. We could 
not face the Freezing Times again and thought we could fight back.

“We attacked their villages, put fear into their lives and tried in vain to beat them back, 
but it was not in the hearts of most of us. Many would sooner lie down to die than give up 
hope in the creatures they had fathered into the world. They tried to reach out to the 
humans and bring them back to the way, but the fear of us was too great. We were 
monsters to them and they nearly killed us all. 

“The ones that did survive were hardened souls and over time, all new dragons were 
raised in isolation and fear. We began to lose the way ourselves. The new dragons were 
ferocious and bitter. Many would sooner die than raise new lives to be so cruel. So they 
died. The tales of the human dark ages mentioned treasure-guarding dragons breathing 
fire and kidnapping princesses. Tales of knights slaying the dragons for fame, glory and 
true love spread to all four winds. They slaughtered the elders who could not escape. The 
gentle souls of the ancient dragons would not lift a talon to their children. And sadly none 
of their children would lift a talon to save them. Not even your kind.

“The newest generations of dragons had a great deal to be angry about, but it is rare that 
dragons are born. We are a dying breed who has lost our way. We have been waiting a 
very long time to claim our places as the leaders of this earth that we are so very close to; 
Waiting for the humans to accept us, to return to their way so we can return to ours. The 
last of us became legend. We have been waiting a very long time, little one. I have the 
patience of the creator, but if you have something to address with me, I suggest you not 
insult me before asking, because I have no patience for that.”

Elijah was awed into silence by the words that Cronos spoke. Perhaps he had not 
approached the situation with enough reverence. If the dragon's tale was true, Elijah 
would be speaking to the creator of his ancestors. His own culture had a myth about the 
origin of his species all its own, but he was open to the human scientists' evolutionary 
theory; However, had said scientists known of his existence, that might have been a 
different theory. Elijah didn't much care where he came from since he was already here. 

"That's an interesting myth."

"It's no myth. I was there when the humans began their slaughter."

"But were you there when humans were born; when your kind raised them from the lower 
mammals, were you present?"

Cronos narrowed his eyes in anger or concentration. Elijah continued.

"Were you coaxing the frightened animals from their burrows and teaching them your 
wisdom?"

Cronos' silence was a resounding negative.

"And, dear father, when did you lose the way? What turned you against your wolfish 
children, but not," he gestured to the cell housing the red-haired beast, "your friend, the 
giant?"

Cronos shifted and again came a subtle sound of metal scraping against stone. 

"You want to know what Sean did to persuade me to act for him?"

Elijah nodded slowly. Cronos leaned in towards the bars.

"I won't tell you," he smiled as though victorious, "but I may next time."

Elijah sighed. 

"I think that's enough checking up on you." Elijah left the cells but not before glancing in 
the red-haired giant's cell. He was still sound asleep. He walked back down the hall and 
just as he was about the leave, remembered the reason he had gone down to the 
dungeons. 

"Signors, is Sean around? I would like to see him."

The twins looked up with fanged smiles. 

"No, Signor Wood. Sean has not been into work today. Perhaps he is ill..."

"…Perhaps it was the quilled swine spine from the other day…"

The twins smiled at each other in their twisted, sadistic humor.

"Well, when you see him, please tell him to find me. Gracias, Signors."		

In his apartment, a few miles from the manor, Sean sweated and tossed in a feverish 
dream of hot sands and heavy nooses hung about his neck.	
~
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