by Logan Jacobs
“What’s going on?” I chuckled as I held on tight to the water dragon’s neck. “I thought you didn’t do ‘piggyback rides?’”
This is a one-time deal, George laughed. To save us time. Once we are back home, you’ll have to walk again.
“Fine,” I chuckled. “This is the one and only time I’ll ask you for a ride.”
“Unless you’re going into battle,” Lezan shrieked with glee and pressed her body closer to mine. “The Draco Rex can’t go into battle without his trusty ‘Draco,’ right?”
George didn’t even dignify that with a response.
The five of us continued down the pathway we had come, until we arrived at the end of the forest. Then we hopped off our respective dragons, crouched down, and tried to observe the ship from afar.
There were two orcs pacing the deck, both of whom had an iron sword in their hands and a bow slung across their shoulders.
“There’s only two up top,” I whispered, “but there could be more below. These vessels don’t have much room inside the hull, but we’d better check just to make sure.”
“What’s the plan, Ben?” Jemma asked.
“George and I will sneak around to the other side of the boat, and then we’ll take care of the guard on that side. Jemma, I want you to get as close as you can without being seen, and then snipe that other bastard from afar. Then, once they’re gone, I want all of us to sweep the ship for any other survivors. Got it?”
All of my friends responded with “got it” in unison, so we got to work.
George and I walked down the length of the tree line until we were nearly half a mile out of the sightline of the ship. Then we hurried out across the beach, jumped into the water, and got into position.
I guess we’re doing this sooner than I thought, the water dragon joked as he motioned for me to get on him.
I swam over and wrapped my arms and legs around the dragon’s neck, and George let out a small “oof” under my weight. Then he ducked himself down into the water so only our heads were sticking out, and he began to swim toward the ship.
“I hope you’re hungry,” I mused, “because I’m gonna throw that guy overboard for you to chew up.”
Chew up and spit out, George gagged. Orc meat is the vilest thing I’ve ever tasted.
“Hey, you do whatever you want.” I shrugged. “I’m just telling you he’s going over the side of the boat, one way or another.”
We swam along for a few more minutes before we made it to the side of the schooner.
I’m in position, Ben, Jemma’s voice spoke up. Let me know when you want me to take the shot.
“Will do,” I answered telepathically. “George? How far do you think you can throw me?”
Throw you? The water dragon sounded flabbergasted.
“Yeah,” I continued. “The ladder is all the way on the other side of the boat, so there’s no way for me to get up there unless you heave me. Just pretend I’m a piece of orc meat you want to get out of your mouth as soon as possible.”
I suppose… the dragon pondered.
“Great!” I announced, and then I let go of my friend and swam around in front of him. “Jemma? I need you to do me a favor. Tell me when the guard on my side is close to the hull, okay? When that happens, I want you to take the shot.”
Okay, the deer-woman confirmed. He’s actually heading that direction right now.
“I’ll get into position, then,” I announced via our dragon bond. “Are you ready, buddy?”
George reached out and wrapped his teeth around the opening in the back of my shirt.
As ready as I’ll ever be, the dragon chuckled. Just give me the word, Jemma.
I drew my pink-stone dagger and floated in the water patiently. Then Jemma’s voice erupted through the soft sound of the waves against the shore.
Now! she called out.
George heaved his head as hard as he could, and I felt myself get lifted out of the water and tossed up into the air.
I rocketed up, landed on the side of the boat, and then quickly steadied myself.
The orc guard took a step back when he saw me, but he didn’t have a chance to sound the alarm.
I slashed my dagger across his throat in an instant, and he gurgled on his own blood as I grabbed him by the collar and flung him overboard. At the same time, I heard the twang of an arrow hitting its target, followed by a loud thud.
I looked back over the deck and saw George caught his body in his fanged jaws. The water dragon shook the orc like a wolf trying to shake a rabbit, and soon there was a loud crack, and the orc went limp. George spat the corpse out almost immediately and then stared at the floating body in the water.
Ewww. He shook his head vigorously, and then he tried to rinse his mouth out with salt water. I’m going to be scraping that flavor out of my mouth for weeks.
“Good job, guys,” I announced telepathically, and I signaled to Lezan since she couldn’t hear me. “Now, get on board, and we can clear out the rest of the ship.”
I waited on the deck as Jemma, Tirian, and Lezan climbed up, and not even a few seconds later, George’s massive figure lumbered over the side of the ship.
“Let’s go check it out!” Lezan proclaimed, and then she raised up her stone axe and charged toward the entrance to the below-deck section of the boat.
“Uhhh, you two stay up here.” I pointed to the two dragons. “We’ll be back in a second.”
Jemma and I followed the overzealous Lezan with our weapons at the ready. We ran across the deck and then scurried down the ladder that took us deeper into the ship.
Upon first glance, it appeared to be empty. There was nothing down in this main room but half-eaten hunks of meat, a few cages, and the rotten stench of orc.
However, our illusion of victory was quickly gone.
“What the fuck was that?” I heard a voice shout as footsteps resonated through the area. “Did our boys snag a big one?”
“You’d know all about taking the big one, wouldn’t ya?” another orc snickered from afar.
Jemma and I instantly pressed ourselves behind a set of wooden pillars to hide, but Lezan simply held her axe with both hands and took a fighting stance.
“What are you--” Jemma began, but she was cut off by the approaching orcs.
“Who the fuck are you?” one of them gasped. “Where’s the rest of the crew?”
“They’re dead,” Lezan stated matter-of-factly, and she flashed a feral grin. “And you’re about to join them, you stupid orc idiots.”
Fuck, I loved it when she talked like that.
I gave Jemma a look, and then we both twirled out from our hiding spots.
There were three orcs, one for each of us, and they all held iron swords in their hands and were in complete shock to see anyone other than their crewmates on their ship.
Without another word, though, they charged us.
That was a huge fucking mistake.
Jemma pulled up her bow, yanked back the string, and sent an arrow straight into the heart of the first assailant. He gasped when the projectile struck him, and then he fell down to the floor and began to gurgle for air.
Meanwhile, Lezan and I both ran straight for our opponents and engaged them in hand-to-hand combat.
I parried the orc bastard’s first blow. Then I sidestepped to the left, made an upward motion, and took his sword-wielding arm clean off. He instantly went into shock when he saw the blood erupt from his wound, so I put him out of his misery with a quick stab to the brain.
When I turned back to help Lezan, I saw her axe literally split the last orc’s head in two. The stone hit him square on the crown of his head, and his skull shattered to bits.
He tried to say something, but the axe in his brain had caused some major cognitive damage. The orc’s tongue flopped out of his mouth as his eyes drifted off in opposite directions, and then he collapsed down to the floor. When Lezan yanked her weapon out of his skull, bits of his gray matter oozed out onto the floor.
The three of us moved onto the next part of the ship, which appeared to be nothing but another storage room. There was a door at the far end that I assumed was the captain’s quarters, so I motioned for my friends to be silent as we approached. Once we were in position, I reached over, grabbed the door knob, and turned. Then I flung open the door, and Jemma stepped in with her bow and arrow at the ready.
“It’s clear!” she exclaimed happily, and the auburn-haired beauty stopped back through the threshold. “We did it, Ben!”
“We did it,” I sighed and sheathed my sword.
I couldn’t believe it. Not only had we discovered a literal island full of dragons, but we’d also just hijacked a second ship that would come in handy on our future adventures.
Now, all we had to do was escape without drawing the attention of our enemies.
Chapter Eleven
Jemma, Lezan, and I each took a dead orc by the arms and proceeded to drag their lifeless carcasses across the wooden floor. Then we pulled the bodies over to the bottom of the ladder that led to the upper deck of the ship, where we tossed them into a mangled heap.
“These guys are way too heavy to carry up on our own,” I noted as I wiped a bead of sweat away from my forehead. “But we definitely don’t want to just leave their rotting carcasses down here for any longer than we have to, either. I don’t want our entire ship to reek of dead orcs.”
“We could cut them up and shove them through those holes in the side?” Lezan suggested as she pointed to one of the nearby portholes.
“I like the way you think,” I mused and shook my head, “but it’s going to be a lot cleaner if we just have George pick them up and toss them into the ocean. Or we could have Tirian burn the bodies on the beach. I just don’t want to leave too much evidence behind for the rest of the orcs to see that their friends are dead.”
“Little bitty bits of orc body would be easier to hide…” The black-and-white haired woman shrugged.
“It would be a total mess, though.” Jemma shuddered. “These are nicely constructed floors, and I’d hate to see them stained any more than they already are.”
“I suppose you are right,” Lezan sighed, and she hopped onto the ladder like a frog that had sprung from its lily pad.
The three of us then ascended the ladder up to the deck, where Tirian and George were pacing back and forth along the sides of the vessel.
“It’s alright,” I announced as I came up through the threshold of the lower quarters. “We cleared out the lower decks of the ship, and all the orcs are dead.”
I’m glad to hear that, dear one, George said through a long-winded chuff. We heard the commotion downstairs and started to get worried.
“It was three versus three,” Lezan chuckled and placed her hands on her hips. “They didn’t stand an acorn’s chance in monsoon season.”
“We are gonna need your help, though.” I pointed with my thumb back at the ladder. “There are three bodies down there that need to be disposed of, and none of us are strong enough to pull them up on our own. Do you think you could--?”
Say no more. George nodded. Just as long as you don’t want me to eat those nasty things, I’ll be more than happy to help out.
“Great!” I smiled at my loyal dragon, and then an idea crept up into my macabre brain. “How about we do some target practice? Would you be up for that, Tirian?”
Target practice? The little silver dragon looked over at me and quirked his head to the side. Is that some sort of training you want me to do?
“Think of it more like a game,” I explained. “A game that will also help you build up your combat skills and let you get a handle on your growing powers.”
That sounds like fun! The little dragon closed his eyes and smiled as he bounced back and forth on his two hind legs.
“What exactly is he going to be practicing with?” Jemma questioned as she looked around the deck. “We don’t have any targets…”
“Sure, we do.” I patted the beautiful deer-woman on the shoulder. “What else are those orcs good for right now?”
Horrified realization flitted across Jemma’s chartreuse eyes at the dark suggestion, but Lezan’s mouth twisted into a devilish grin, and the Coonag woman rubbed her hands together excitedly.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” she giggled.
“George?” I asked my water dragon. “Do you think you could bend down there and pick up the first body?”
My blue, scaly friend nodded, and then he lumbered over to the hole that led down to the lower deck. In one swift motion, he shoved his head down into the opening up to his shoulders, and he came out a moment later with one of the dead orcs in his jaws.
Shall I throw him overboard? George gagged as he held the filthy creature.
“Throw him up into the sky.” I shook my head. “And Tirian? I want to see what that flamethrower of yours can do.”
The silver dragon’s eyes widened when he realized what I was asking him to do. Then he flapped his wings happily, rose up a few feet into the air, and began to clear his throat.
Suddenly, George lowered his maw and then heaved it upward as hard as he possibly could. When he hit the top of his movement, the water dragon opened up his mouth and sent the dead orc ragdolling into the sky.
Tirian let out a pitiful little growl as an orange glow started up deep in his mouth, and the dragon squinted and angled his head upward as he followed his target. Then Tirian opened his jaw wide and blasted a stream of white-hot fire at the dead orc.
The flames streaked through the sky and made contact with the fleshy target, but it wasn’t a direct hit. The orc’s entire right side was incinerated by the flames, and the impact of the attack caused the rest of his body to spin around wildly like a life-sized top.
Tirian grunted in frustration and then took aim once more. He watched intensely as the body plummeted back down toward the deck, and this time he seemed to be more cautious.
The little dragon held his fiery breath until the very last second, and then he spread open his lips wide and sent a shot of red and orange flames directly into the orc’s body.
This time, the entire corpse disappeared upon impact, and all that was left when the fire subsided were a few bits of ash.
“Great job!” Jemma exclaimed with a broad grin.
The long-legged deer woman ran over and hugged her bondmate tightly, and she gave him a few scratches under the chin, which sent him into a fit of humming.
“You’ve still got two more,” I reminded the dragon. “Tell you what… If you disintegrate both of these targets like you did this one, I’ll give you a whole boar when we get back home.”
A-A whole boar? Tirian licked his lips. Just for me?
“I’ll even have Hali prepare it for you.” I grinned. “That way you don’t have to worry about eating the bones or the guts or any of that gross stuff.”
The bones are the best part, though, George interjected.
You actually like the bones? Tirian gagged like the little kid he still was. Yuk. It’s like eating a bunch of long rocks!
“No bones it is, then,” I confirmed, and I gave George another nod.
The blue water dragon reached down, picked up the second body, and then tossed it up into the sky. This time, my bondmate put a hell of a lot more force behind the throw, and the orc’s corpse flew up a good sixty-feet into the air.
Tirian, however, was more than ready.
The silver-scaled dragon floated up a few feet higher, furrowed his brow with determination, and lit up his mouth like it was made of hot magma. This time, he didn’t go for the bullseye. Instead, Tirian inhaled deeply and then blew with the force of a small child trying to blow out his birthday cake, and white-hot flames erupted from his mouth and fanned out across the sky horizontally, just a few feet underneath the falling body of the orc.
The corpse hit the flames head-first, and gravity did the rest of the work as it was turned to ashes.
“Clever girl.”
I whistled.
I’m a boy! Tirian protested as he turned to pout at me. I know I haven’t fully matured yet, but my voice isn’t that high, is it?
“It’s from Jurassic Pa--you know what?” I sighed. “Never mind. You’re one orc away from a big, fat, juicy boar.”
I know it. The silver dragon licked his lips. Let’s get to it, George!
George flipped the last orc body into the air, but by now the corpses must have been beginning to fill with gas. It looked swollen as it turned end-over-end in the sky, and its limbs didn’t move whatsoever.
All the more reason to incinerate it, I suppose.
Tirian took a deep breath and wiggled his hind end a bit as he tracked the target through the sky. Then he sucked in air, produced superhot flames, and blasted it directly into the chest of the bloated body.
Much to my dismay, the gas must have mixed with the dragon’s flames, because the body exploded into a giant ball of fire. The shockwave rocked the boat in the water and caused the sails to flutter, and we all had to brace ourselves so we didn’t go overboard.
When the motions finally settled down, everyone looked around at each other cautiously and then began to laugh.
“Welp,” I conceded, “if anyone deserves a whole boar, it’s a dragon who can make that sort of a freaking finale!”
Tirian bowed his pointed head as well as his wings. I’m glad I could entertain you.
“I just hope the other orc ships didn’t see that,” Jemma muttered as she stared out across the sea. “That ball of fire was pretty large.”
“They’re pretty far out,” I reminded the auburn-haired beauty. “Even if they somehow did see it, it’d take them hours to get here. From what I could tell, most of the other ships in the fleet were galleons.”
“Gallons?” Lezan questioned as she cocked her head to the side. “Isn’t that a unit of measurement back in your world?”
“No, no.” I shook my head and repeated the word more clearly. “Galleons. They’re the biggest sailing ships I know of, which makes them really, really slow and hard to maneuver. As a trade-off, though, they can carry a literal small army, and they’re packed to the brim with weapons…”