Steel and Fangs

by Sami Dougish

  He was right, having spent many years in stone mines, and quarries in my younger years, I knew how difficult digging out stone could be, and somehow Orizmad had widened this cavern, and made a small outpost for his smuggling ring here. I was, once again, probably underestimating the wealth and power someone would have when they commanded a continent-wide smuggling ring.

  Orizmad had noticed that I had stopped in my tracks and turned to grin at me in knowing pride. “Impressive isn’t it?! Cost quite a bit of coin to make, but it was worth it, this is one of my main storage, and shipping outposts in this region of the continent. Now follow me, you will have time to explore later if you want, I must first show you to your room.”

  Orizmad continued on into the outpost, and I followed close behind, taking in the sights around me as we made our way forward. As Orizmad led me onwards, the people who saw us, all called out greetings to Orizmad. Many of them were dwarves, but a large number of them were humans as well. Fortunately, besides the occasional look of surprise when they took in my stature and appearance, most of the people didn’t take more than a casual glance at me, it appeared that the rest of our group hadn’t begun spreading the word yet. Well that wouldn’t last much longer. Still I kept my mouth closed as we walked and focused on following Orizmad.

  Orizmad for his part, said his hello’s, and waved back to all of his men and women. It was strange, from what I had heard of smugglers, they were generally cut throats, but so far everyone I had seen here, seemed to respect and like Orizmad. I knew he had a harder side to him though, I had seen pieces of it when Adarossa and Primus had come close to ruining his vow.

  After a bit of walking, we ended up in front of an impressive mansions. It was made from a darkened marble, mixed with stone. I assumed this was Orizmad’s personal quarters. The architecture was as impressive as the rest of the hideout, with tall marble pillars, and that rose all the way to the top of the mansion. What was most impressive though, was that it seemed to be built into the walls of the cavern itself. The marble of the building seemed to meld into the stone of the cavern wall behind it.

  Orizmad smiled as he looked at the structure, and said, “Ah I haven’t been here in several months, it’s good to be back underground again. Come, follow me.”

  He marched up the small flight of steps that led up to the mansion, and we came to a large door that appeared to be made out of some red opaque quartz. Orizmad reached out, and with surprising little effort for the size of the door, pushed the double doors open. He marched inside, obviously happy to be back. I quickly followed him inside, glad to finally be away from all the people outside. Oktai bounced in behind us and clapped his hands together.

  “You know boss, I never get tired of seeing this place, you really do have a love of fancy houses and all don’t you. I prefer the open plains, and the nomadic life, but I must say you have been doing a very good job of changing my tastes over the years.”

  Orizmad laughed, and clapped his friend on the back, “Of course, what’s the point of being filthy rich if you don’t spend it on something.”

  While the two talked, I surveyed the interior of the mansion. It did indeed extend at least ten meters into the stone, and as I looked up, I saw small balconies on either side of the second story. Just as his house in Ravengrove, there were paintings hung all over the walls, with assortment of weapons, and other items I assumed he had collected or traded for. Well he was a smugglers, so he probably stole a lot of this stuff too. I didn’t care though, just as long as I got paid, and had a chance to rest.

  “What do you think of it all Vakarrian?” Orizmad asked me as he turned to face me with a smile on his face.

  I just raised an eyebrow, and said, “Not as impressive as sleeping mat, and a place to clean my wounds would be right now.”

  Oktai snorted, and Orizmad’s laughter echoed throughout the halls. I narrowed my eyes, I hadn’t been joking, I really did want to rest, and rebind my wounds. The fall into the water had been extremely painful for my leg, and then walking on it afterwards hadn’t felt any better. I just wanted to rebind the wound and get some rest. I was exhausted.

  Eventually Orizmad stopped laughing, and he cleared his throat, and said, “Alright then one moment,” Orizmad turned around, and took a deep breath, and yelled, “EKTON! I have a man in need of a room, get your ass over here boy, and show him to his room there a good lad!”

  I looked around slightly confused as I didn’t see anyone, but a moment later, I saw a young dwarf run into the room, from a nearby door. He barely came up to my waist, and he leaned over and panted as he tried to catch his breath. He quickly straightened back up though and looked nervously at Orizmad.

  “Boss, I didn’t realize you were back! I’m sorry for not greeting you! I was doing some cleaning and, then I heard your voice! So, I came running I did boss!” He said all of this in a rush, and I was barely able to follow what he said.

  The boy had a higher voice then the other dwarves, but his voice was still deep compared to most human voices. He had a small black pony tail, and had a light shadow of facial hair coming in. Was this Orizmad’s son? No, he called him boss, so a servant of some kind most likely.

  “Boy, calm down before you shit your pants, and make a mess all over my good floor,” Orizmad said as he shook his head bemusedly at the youth.

  “Oh, uh yes sir, of course sir!”

  Orizmad shook his head again, and gestured to me, “Take him to one of the rooms with a balcony, give him a quick rundown, and meet me in my room when you are done, I will have another set of tasks for you.”

  The young Ekton turned to me, and he seemed to finally notice that I was in the room as well as his boss. His eyes widened, as he craned his neck to look up at me. I didn’t say hello, and just looked at him expectantly. It only seemed to make the boy more nervous, and I had to suppress an irritated eyeroll.

  “Your way with people never ceases to amaze me vessel.”

  Raskorian wasn’t making my attempts to not roll my eyes any easier, but I pushed the dragon aside, and waved the boy on impatiently.

  Orizmad gave the kid a shove, and said, “Don’t stand there like some slack jawed child who just saw their mother didn’t love them! Get a move on!”

  The boy flinched, and bowed his head, before turning back to me, and in a voice slightly higher than it was a few seconds ago, said, “Um this way sir!

  Glad to finally be on my way, I followed the boy, as we moved off, I heard Orizmad shout after me, “I will call you when the food is ready. I don’t know about you, but I am ready to eat!”

  I didn’t reply, and instead followed Ekton through the stone and marble building. He quickly led me to a flight of stairs, and we made our way up to the top of the mansions, which appeared to have three stories. He led me down another stone corridor, that had a dark purple rug that ran the length of the walk way. The walls were similarly decorated with paintings, and other such art. Intricate designs had also been carved into the stone. It was all very over blown in my opinion and reminded me too much of the nobles houses in Thuum.

  After what felt like way too much time, Ekton stopped in front of one of the many doors in the walkway. He stepped forward, and pushed the door open, and gestured for me to follow. I had to duck a bit to get into the room, and it occurred to me then, that the house had been built to the scale of the average human height, and not that of a dwarf. It made sense though, as it seemed that Orizmad worked with a variety of different races, and if all of his building were built to the proportions of dwarves, then I could imagine issues would arise.

  As I stepped into the room, I swept my gaze back and forth over the area I would be staying in. It was a far cry more impressive than the room I had stayed at in Ravengrove. The main area of the room had an assortment of leather armchairs, and tables that surrounded a large hearth. The room was currently cold, as there was no fire going at the moment, but I could imagine the fire would heat up the stone room quickly if started. I saw three differe
nt doors that branched off from the main room. One directly in front of me, and the others were to my left and right.

  “This is one of the boss’s guest’s rooms, He takes great pride in the accommodations he provides to his guests. Out the front door is a balcony, with a view that looks out over the canyon. The boss insists that all the rooms on this side of the house have the view. To the right you will find the washroom. It is complete with running water, both cold and warm, so you can wash whenever you like. The final door leads to the bed room. There is a mixture of furniture in there, and if you are staying for an extended period of time, feel free to place your belongings in there. There is also a handle in there, that If you pull, I or another one of the boss’s employees will come to assist you. Do you have any questions sir?”

  I didn’t have any questions for the boy, but for now all I wanted was to be left alone for some peace and quiet. So, I turned to the boy, and decided to have a little fun at his expense. I stared at him, and then without warning, bared my fangs at him, let my tongue flick out as a hissed rose out from my throat.

  Ekton fell back with a cry of alarm and tripped over his own feet as he fell. With a terrified look on his face, he scrambled back to his feet, and bolted for the door. He didn’t even bother closing it, as he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. As he ran, I heard him yell, “Drayzraac! Drayzraac! Get the boss, he needs to know this! Hurry before he tries to kill us all!”

  I moved over to the door, and slammed it shut behind the boy. I chuckled to myself, thoroughly pleased with myself. Now that I was free, I was coming to realize that the reactions people had to my race could be made comical if used the right way.

  “Hmm, well I must say that was almost dragon like. There could be hope for you yet vessel. Now if only you were able to spit a gout of fire after him, that would have been perfect.”

  In as sarcastic of a voice as I could manage, I said, “I am so pleased that you approve.”

  “You see whenever I think you are finally showing improvement vessel, you remind just how hopeless you are. Now hurry up and do whatever you lesser people do, so we can get around to spending all the delicious blood we absorbed during the fight.”

  My fatigue, pain and hunger were all forgotten as the dragon reminded me that I could unlock more of my abilities and power now that I had more blood essence to spend. It was going to take me awhile to get used to the concept, but for now I didn’t care, I was eager to purchase a new upgrade for my body.

  By my last count, I had a total of 165 blood essence points. One hundred and fifty from the bandits, five left over from my initial pool, and another ten I had gained from my trek to Ravengrove. I Had lost track of how many I had killed while fighting in the city, and during our retreat, but It had been a fair number. Hopefully I would have enough to buy the vision upgrade I wanted.

  Making sure the door was locked, I sat down on the stone floor, and concentrated on letting myself fall backwards into my mindscape. The sensation of falling came soon afterwards, and after a few seconds I opened my eyes again. I was greeted with the sight of Raskorian, staring at me eagerly. It appeared that he was as eager as I was to use the blood essence.

  Raskorian touched the floor in front of me again, and the same circle of power appeared as last time. I didn’t need to be told what to do this time, and I stepped into the circle. Immediately, the blood began to flow out of my body, and form the same condensed sphere as last time. Raskorian processed it for me, and I sighed as the blood was sucked back into my body.

  Raskorian hummed a satisfied growl as well, and said, “Now chose the power you want, that meal pleased me vessel.”

  He didn’t have to tell me twice, and the moment the two images materialized, I check my total blood essence count.

  Blood Essence available 213.

  I frowned, that was less then I had expected. That was only a 48-point increase. Which didn’t make sense as humans provided 3 points each, and that didn’t divide into 48 equally. Plus, this meant that I killed only about sixteen people. I had lost count, but I knew it had been more than that. Curiously, I looked over at Raskorian, and asked, “Hey why did I only receive 48 points? I know I killed more than sixteen people? “

  Raskorian sighed, and said, “Well since you insisted, I hide the intake of blood, I was limited on how much I could pull in at once. A large portion of the available blood essence I could have absorbed was lost. I wasn’t able to absorb it all in time due to the restriction of keeping the process hidden. It is a trade-off. The slower and more inconspicuously I pull blood into us, the less I can absorb in a short amount of time,” His gaze became judging when he continued, saying, “Which is why you should have listened to me when I said I should pull it all in as usual.”

  I rolled my eyes at him, “You could have told me that before I asked you to keep it less obvious that you were puling blood in to my body. Didn’t that occur to you?”

  “No, it did not. I thought that it would have been an obvious side effect. Cleary I was wrong, I shouldn’t be surprised though, you do have a knack for acting like a brain-dead mountain goat at times.”

  “Well at least I have a brain to be dead! You are just a soul that has the ability to think!”

  I regretted the words the moment they came out, damn that sounded stupid. Raskorian whole heartily agreed, as he paused for several seconds, and just stared at me. I had never seen Raskorian give me a look filled with so much scornful pity. Finally, in a tone dripping with disgust, he said, “That’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard.”

  I decided to just try and save as much dignity as possible, and ignored him. Instead I turned back to the displays in front of me. I opened both the dragon and human pages, and briefly looked over my options again

  Strength

  Increase total musculature strength by 15 % for a cost of 20 blood points

  Increase total musculature strength by 35% for a cost of 100 blood points

  Increase total musculature strength by 75% for a cost of 500 blood points

  Increase total musculature strength by 100% for a cost of 1500 blood points

  Titan’s Might

  5.Increase total musculature strength by 200% for a cost of 3000 blood points

  Agility

  Increase overall movement speed by 15 % for a cost of 20 blood points

  Increase overall movement speed by 35% for a cost of 100 blood points

  Increase overall movement speed by 75% for a cost of 500 blood points

  Increase overall movement speed by 100% for a cost of 1500 blood points

  Wind Disciple

  Increase overall movement speed by 200% for a cost of 3000 blood points

  Skeletal Integrity

  Increase overall skeletal integrity by 15 % for a cost of 20 blood points

  Increase overall skeletal integrity by 35% for a cost of 100 blood points

  Increase overall skeletal integrity by 75% for a cost of 500 blood points

  Increase overall skeletal integrity by 100% for a cost of 1500 blood points

  Rock Giant’s Frame

  Increase overall skeletal integrity by 200% for a cost of 3000 blood points

  Scale Durability

  Increase overall scale durability by 15 % for a cost of 20 blood points

  Increase overall scale durability by 35% for a cost of 100 blood points

  Increase overall scale durability by 75% for a cost of 500 blood points

  Increase overall scale durability by 100% for a cost of 1500 blood points

  Dragon Hide

  Increase overall scale durability by 200% for a cost of 3000 blood points

  Draconic Vision

  Able to increase the distance of effective sight by 20 feet for a cost of 50 blood points

  Able to increase the distance of effective sight by 40 feet for a cost of 200 blood points

  Able to increase the distance of effective sight by 80 feet for a cost of 1000 blood points

  Able to increas
e the distance of effective sight by 200 feet for a cost of 2500 blood points

  Eyes of the Dragon

  Able to increase the distance of effective sight by 500 feet for a cost of 4500 blood points

  Draconic Hearing

  Able to increase effectiveness of hearing by 15% for a cost of 50 blood points

  Able to increase effectiveness of hearing by 30 % for a cost of 200 blood points

  Able to increase effectiveness of hearing by 45% for a cost of 1000 blood points

  Able to increase effectiveness of hearing by 60% for a cost of 2500 blood points

  Ears of the Dragon

  Able to increase effectiveness of hearing by 100% for a cost of 4500 blood points

  Draconic Scent

  Able to increase effectiveness of sense of smell by 15% for a cost of 50 blood points

  Able to increase effectiveness of sense of smell by 30 % for a cost of 200 blood points