by Logan Jacobs
As much as I wanted to tell Lezan and her kin that the boars needed to be cooked and prepared first, I could see the look in their eyes. They were eager to tear into the animal’s flesh, and they wanted to do it right now.
“Tell you what,” I offered. “This boar right here was caught specially for the Coonag. I’ll leave it here for you, and I’ll take this one back to the castle for our dinner later tonight. Sound like a deal?”
Suddenly, Sela stepped forward. “Oh, allow me, Draco Rex. I’ll take the boar back to the castle, and you just wait right here.”
“You sure?” I asked, but now I was confused. “I’ve lugged it this far. Why don’t I--”
“I insist,” Sela persisted. “There’s something you need to see here, and I wouldn’t want you to miss any of it.”
Okay, now I was very intrigued.
So, I heaved the bag from over my shoulder and held it out for the water dragon warrior, and Sela took it from my grasp. I watched as the woman threw the hammock over her scaly green shoulder, and then I watched even closer as she began to walk away with a sashay of her tight ass.
Behind me, though, I suddenly heard what sounded like several animals chittering angrily, followed by a few snarls. When I turned back around, I saw the Coonag women were now all surrounding the bloody hammock while Lezan bared her teeth at them.
“There’s enough for all of us!” she proclaimed. “Remember this fact, so that when you’re ripping into our meal you don’t accidentally take off your kin’s arm!”
Then, without another word, Lezan tossed the hammock into the air. The fabric fell away from the boar’s body as it flew, and the lifeless corpse of the animal hit the sand with a muted thud.
The next thing I knew, it was surrounded by dozens of Coonag, and the air was filled with angry hisses and snarls as they tore it apart like a school of hungry piranhas. Bits of bone and hide flew from up from the frenzy every now and again, but in a matter of seconds the women were done with their meal.
The Coonag people stepped away, with their mouths covered with blood and small bits of meat, and let out a primal cry of satisfaction.
Somehow, this was both scary and unbelievably hot at the same time.
After they had devoured the boar, the racoon women went back to their business as if nothing had even happened. They just returned to the beach to play with the children and chat up the dragonkin women who were gathered on the sunkissed landscape.
“You look troubled, Draco Rex,” Talise giggled as she slapped me on the shoulder.
Her words broke me out of my trance, and I quickly tried to think about anything that would make my fear boner go away.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be used to that,” I admitted. “But damn if it’s not fun to watch. Anyways… What’s this ‘surprise’ Sela was hinting at?”
Talise and Careen both looked at each other with a sly grin and shook their heads coyly. Then they shot each other another glance and begrudgingly pointed up toward the sky.
It was the middle of the day, when the bright yellow sun was up high in the sky and the soft, fluffy clouds hovered above. The sky was crystal clear, covered only by a thin layer of clouds, yet I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
“It sure is a beautiful day,” I observed with an inflection that suggested I needed a hint or something.
“Keep looking,” Careen giggled.
I squinted to see if maybe my vision was just failing me, but the air was still clear. What the hell was I looking for? Was there a cloud shaped like a bunny or something?
My jaw hit the ground when I saw what was finally going on, because out of nowhere, a shadow appeared through the mists above.
It wasn’t very large, but it was a shape I knew all too well from my experience on the Coonag island. It had a wide, oval body with an elongated snout and fins on its head, all of which was supported by two large, beating wings that were the size of an angular parasail.
A dragon.
And, judging by the casual and excited expressions of all my friends, I assumed it was one of ours.
A moment later, the silver body of Tirian broke through the veil of clouds in a dive-bomb formation, with a look of pure bliss on his leathery face. Then I heard a joyful scream erupt from the dragon’s position, and I recognized it instantly.
It was definitely Jemma’s voice.
I squinted again and, sure enough, the figure of the tall deer-woman was latched onto her dragon with her legs wrapped tightly around the scaly stalks that attached its wings to its body. Her hands were wrapped around the dragon’s neck Neverending Story style, and she was making noises that sounded like they could have been ripped directly from the movie.
Tirian was still a fairly small dragon, and it looked kind of comical to see Jemma’s tall figure mounted on top of him like a moped that was half her size. Still, the dragon didn’t seem phased by the weight of the full-sized humanoid on his back.
“What the hell?” I gasped through my dragon connection. “How are you doing this, Jemma?”
I don’t know! the auburn-haired beauty exclaimed as her locks billowed behind her. Tirian just asked me if I wanted to go for a ride, and then he tossed me onto his back.
I was feeling a lot stronger than usual, Tirian’s voice interjected. So, I wanted to see if I could carry things on my back. I started with a few stones, and then I tried to lift up a couple of logs… Then I wanted to show off my new talents to my best friend.
I appreciate it, Tirian, Jemma giggled. I don’t think I’ve ever gone this fast before. And never so high!
The silver dragon did a low flyover on the beach, which sent all of my children into a fit of excited cackles.
Honestly, I was pretty damn impressed, too.
Now, not only did we have a fire-breathing dragon that could fly… we had a fire-breathing dragon that could fly and who we could also ride into battle like a warhorse.
More like a war pony at this point, but still a warhorse nonetheless.
“Hey, George!” I called via my dragon bond. “When are you going to let me do that? I mean, on land?”
I am not built for riding on land, dear one, the blue water dragon scoffed. I can’t really fly, either.
“Awww, come on,” I prodded at my companion. “Think of how awesome it would be the next time a bunch of orcs land on our shore. You and Nixie could carry Mira and I out to meet them, and we could deliver a whole big pre-battle threat like they do in all those fantasy movies. It’d be really badass and intimidating, don’t you think?”
I’ll consider it, George conceded, but maybe we should both work on building up our muscles first. I don’t want to throw out my back.
“Fair enough.” I shrugged. “But we’re totally doing that someday.”
“Daddy! Daddy!” Arrick practically screamed as he ran over to me and then proceeded to jump up and down. “Do you see what Aunt Jemma’s doing?”
“I do.” I smiled as I warmly patted my son on the head. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
“Will I be able to do that someday?” he pleaded with hopeful gray eyes that made me practically melt.
“You’ll be the king someday, Arrick,” I reminded him. “You wouldn’t be much of a Draco Rex if you didn’t know how to ride a dragon, now would you? Maybe George could take you out for practice?”
“Really?” Arrick gasped, and his eyes widened. “Would George let me do that?”
Arrick is bonded with Malkey! George protested. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for him to practice with him?
“Malkey’s still too small,” I explained. “He can handle somebody as small as the twins, but a growing boy like Arrick here? He’s starting to outgrow his own bondmate!”
“Puh-leeeease, George?” Arrick turned to the blue dragon and begged.
I glanced over toward George, who immediately frowned.
That’s a low blow, dear one, he grumbled.
“It’s a win-win,” I chuckled to myself. “You get t
o build up those back muscles, and my kid gets to have a blast riding a water dragon. You don’t want to upset your future king, do you?”
Alright, alright, George conceded. You already had me. There’s no need to guilt trip me even more.
“You heard it, son,” I announced to Arrick with a smile. “We’d better see if we can get Isla to make you up a saddle.”
Nobody said anything about a saddle… George grumbled in my head.
“Don’t worry, it’s just for Arrick’s safety,” I promised the water dragon. “When I’m riding you into battle, I’m going full Mongolian style.”
But the saddle is going to-- the blue dragon began, but his mate quickly interjected.
It’s for the children, my love, Nixie implored. Also, I think I’m with him on this one. Having our bondmates right next to us on the battlefield, fighting along with us as one, would be an incredible feat. Look at how close it has made those two. A closer bond will make us and our bondmates all the more powerful.
The pink water dragon nodded up into the air toward Tirian and Jemma, who were still letting out cries of excitement as they swooped around the beach.
That does look like fun, George admitted, though I was pretty sure his opinion was heavily swayed by his mate. If you have your dragonkin come up with a saddle, I will go along with this new training regimen.
“Does this mean I’ll get to ride them?” Arrick gasped.
“It does.” I crouched down so I was at eye level with the boy and wrapped my arm around his shoulder. “Soon, you’ll be riding the water dragons into battle just like Jemma is doing on Tirian.”
“Boo-yah!” Arrick fist-pumped before he ran off to tell his siblings. “Guys! Guys! We’re gonna get to ride the dragons!”
“I hope that’s okay with both of you,” I chuckled nervously as I turned to Talise and Careen. “I probably should have asked you guys if you wanted our kids riding deadly, ancient sea creatures into battle.”
“Of course, it’s okay.” Careen flipped her pink pixie-cut bangs out of her face. “They’re dragonkin. It would be strange if they didn’t want to ride a dragon into battle.”
“It just sucks there are only four of them right now,” I sighed. “And all of them already have formed their bondmates.”
“Four that you know of,” Talise reminded me. “Remember how long it had been since we’d seen a water dragon in the flesh? They only came back once we found you, Ben. For all we know, there could be a whole colony of them hiding somewhere.”
The healer was right. Tirian seemed to believe there were more of his kind out there somewhere, so it would only make sense that there would be more water dragons around, too. The orcs surely hadn’t killed them all, right?
“Let’s hope we find them soon.” I whistled as I watched Lizzie and Amara ride atop the baby water dragons like kittens on a St. Bernard. “Just imagine what it would be like if everybody on our island had a dragon at their disposal. Water or fire!”
Ben? Jemma’s fearful voice cut off my daydream of grandeur.
The two bondmates were high up in the sky, far beyond the clouds and my sightline, but, apparently, they weren’t far enough away to affect our dragon bond.
“What is it?” I demanded as I tried to keep my composure.
Like most of the deer-women, Jemma was fairly skittish and fearful, but the tone in her voice was one I’d only heard a few times before.
It was usually used when she was talking about Wargs.
There’s a bunch of boats out in the water! Tirian exclaimed before Jemma could respond. They look just like the one we brought from my nest.
My heart sank into my knees.
Orc ships.
“What is it, Ben?” Talise implored, and her aqua eyes shone with concern. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
“How many are there?” I ignored my mate’s question as my mind raced.
Five, Jemma confirmed. They’re all sailing in a straight line, like they’re trying to block off any boats from getting out.
Fuck. It sounded like they were forming a blockade, which probably meant one thing.
They were preparing to invade, and they didn’t want any escapees.
My heart started thumping at the speed of a crack addict, but I couldn’t let my subjects see the fear on my face. Still, they needed to know what was going on before it was too late.
“Talise and Careen,” I muttered to the two dragonkin women. “Take the children back to the castle.”
“What is it?” Careen gasped. “You’re starting to scare me, Ben.”
“Orc ships,” I explained. “Five of them, and Jemma says they’re heading right for our island.”
The color drained from the pixie woman’s slender face, and Talise wasn’t doing much better, either. Try as she might to contain herself, the healer’s bottom lip was trembling with fear.
“How much time do we have?” Talise asked.
“Jemma? Tirian?” I asked our scouts up above. “How far out are those ships?”
They’re still out on the open sea, Jemma answered. That should give us plenty of time to evacuate and fortify.
“Kids?” Careen called out in her calmest tone. “Playtime’s over. Let’s go back to the castle, okay?”
The younger kids all stopped in their place and let out the most pathetic groans of protest I’d ever heard, but they knew better than to disobey their mothers, so they hung their heads and stomped over to where we were all standing.
Instantly, Careen threw her arms around the three children and began to make her way back to the castle, but Arrick and Marella didn’t have the luxury of ignorance on their side. My two eldest children had bonded with their water dragons, so they’d already heard the entire conversation between Jemma and I in their heads. They knew orcs were coming, but they also knew better than to say anything in front of their younger siblings.
“Dad, can I fight with you?” Arrick asked as he puffed out his chest. “I’ve been practicing with the bow and sword Mira gave--”
“Absolutely not,” I shot back. “You’re way too young to be fighting these guys, Arrick. I’m sure you’ll be a great warrior someday, but I’m not going to let you risk your life when we have plenty of able-bodied fighters. Plus, your mother would probably kill me if she even knew I was considering it.”
“But, Dad--” the preteen protested, but I wasn’t having it.
He was too young to fight, and I wanted him to be safe behind the walls of the castle in case, gods forbid, anything unexpected happened to us.
“You’re the next in line, son,” I explained to him softly. “If I were to ever fall in battle, you would be the king of the dragonkin. Fighting on the same battlefield would be completely foolish.”
“This is such bullshit.” Arrick stomped his foot and pouted. “I’m not a kid anymore, Dad.”
“You’re literally less than a year old,” I chuckled and shook my head. “Your mother needs you right now. Please be a good son and go comfort her.”
Arrick’s big gray eyes looked up at me sadly, but he seemed to understand what I was saying. So, he nodded before he turned back to the beach, whistled for Malkey, and then headed off toward the palace with his water dragon by his side.
“What shall we do, Ben?” Nadir offered as she drew closer to me, and her mouth contorted into a half smile.
“You guys get to do what you do best.” I nodded. “Kill some fucking orcs.”
Nadir turned back to her people, flipped her stone axe out of its holster, and pumped it up into the air. Then she let out a long, shrill battle cry, which the rest of the Coonag people repeated in unison.
Meanwhile, Ainsley was already preparing her bow and arrow for battle. The pale, blue-eyed deer woman checked the tension on her string before she flung the whole weapon back over her shoulder and stared off into the distance. The president of the deer-women was still fairly early along in her pregnancy, but she already had a small belly. Her breasts were already s
tarting to swell almost a full cup size larger, and I tried my best not to stare at her perfect bosoms while she readied herself for battle.
I didn’t want her fighting while she was carrying my child, but she needed to be prepared just in case the orcs broke through our defenses.
“I’ll alert our warriors when I get to the castle,” Talise noted as she put her hands on Marella’s shoulder. “Come, Marella.”
“Mom, we don’t have to go anywhere,” our daughter announced. “I had a vision about this last night, and we’re going to be perfectly fine.”
“What are you talking about?” Talise grumbled as she looked Marella in her amethyst eyes. “You had a vision about the orcs invading? Why in Oshun’s name didn’t you tell us about that?”
Marella shook her raven locks vigorously. “No, Mom… They aren’t going to invade at all.”
My heart slowed just a smidgen at my daughter’s words. She was still a young soothsayer, but she hadn’t had a false vision yet.
Maybe we weren’t going to be locked in a life or death battle after all.
Do we need to come down and prepare for battle? Jemma pleaded from somewhere above.
“No,” I commanded, “I need you to be my eyes up there. Marella says she had a vision, and they don’t attack us.”
Then what do they do? Jemma shot back. Because they look pretty invasive to me.
“What did you see in your vision?” I asked Marella firmly. “If they aren’t coming here to try and take us over, where are they going?”
“I can’t say for sure, Daddy,” the amethyst-scaled girl sighed. “I saw them land on the shores of an island that was covered with dark rocks, and I saw you and Jemma and Lezan following them shortly after.”
“Am I being volunteered?” Lezan interjected with a grin. “Because I’m always ready to kill some orcs.”
“Is that all you saw?” I continued to press the issue. “Were there any other women on the island? Any new creatures?”
“I-I’m sorry, Daddy,” Marella sniffled. “That’s all I saw.”
“Hey, heyyyy.” I hugged my daughter tightly. “Don’t cry. Your vision just saved us all a lot of panic and stress. How about you two go along and tell the rest of our people this was a false alarm?”