by Logan Jacobs
And why didn’t she wake up for me? Tirian interjected sadly. My mama told me when I was still in the egg that she’d never forget me, even though she’d never seen my face. But she didn’t even wake up…
A few tears trickled down the silver-scaled face of the dragon, who began to sniffle profusely. Jemma ran over to her bondmate, wiped away the salty drops of sadness, and then began to rub on his neck to calm him down.
“It has nothing to do with you,” Jonas promised the dragon. “When a dragon goes into slumber, nothing can wake it up. Absolutely nothing. Well, nothing except for a re-bonding ceremony, but one of those hasn’t been successfully performed in centuries.”
A wave of fear shot through my body like a jolt of electricity.
“You can bond with a dragon who’s already been bonded?” I gulped.
“If you know how.” Jonas shrugged. “But now that all the dragonkin elders are dead, knowledge of the ceremony is practically lost with them.”
I really hoped the soothsayer was right, and that this wasn’t common knowledge. Because if the orcs ever figured out how to do a re-bonding ceremony, we were all doomed. They would take the dragons from the volcano, make them their slaves, and then proceed to conquer the remaining civilizations in this world.
However, the fact that they thought they needed an egg or a baby dragon told me they weren’t aware of this possibility, so my fears were eased a bit.
“So, you know how to do this ceremony?” I asked calmly.
“I do.” Jonas nodded. “I’ve just never had the opportunity to do it before.”
Suddenly, my mind was flooded with the possibilities that laid ahead. If we could go back to the volcanic island with Jonas, I could try and bond a warrior woman to each of the dragons there. Then we would be practically unstoppable, strong enough to take out the entire orc army in a single battle.
“What are we waiting for?” Nadir interjected as she threw her arms up into the air. “I want my own dragon! Let’s get in the boat and go!”
“I appreciate the enthusiasm,” Mira chuckled, “but that would probably be the most foolish thing we could possibly do right now.”
Nadir must not have appreciated the comment, because her brow furrowed as she bared her teeth at Mira and chittered. However, the stone-cold dragonkin warrior simply rolled her golden eyes.
“She’s right,” I sighed. “As much as I want to run off and tame each and every one of those dragons right now, we can’t go back to the island yet. The rest of the orc fleet is probably there right now looking for their missing search party. If we went back, we’d be walking right into a direct confrontation at a huuuuuge disadvantage.”
Nadir flicked her dark tail and shrugged. “I’ve never been one to care about the odds.”
“Even if the odds were on our side,” Jonas admitted, “we couldn’t do it right now anyway. I may know how to do the ceremony, but I’ll need to do some practice before we actually try it on live dragons. If I were to mispronounce a single word or do one of the actions out of order, the dragons could wake up but not be bonded to anyone. If that happens, the lot of us would be facing down a horde of angry, fire-breathing beasts, and I don’t think any of us wants that to happen.”
“How the hell did this work before?” I mused and then shuddered at the mental image. “Was this like, a common thing you guys did back in the heyday of the dragonkin?”
“Not at all.” Jonas shook his head. “A dragon’s bond with its bondmate was seen as sacred, so we only did it in cases where someone had instructed us to pass on their bond to their children. The event was made even more scarce by the fact that most water dragons fell in battle, usually because they didn’t want to leave their bondmates behind.”
“But it does work?” I pushed further. “You’ve seen it happen before?”
The old soothsayer nodded, and I felt hope swell in my heart.
This was the key to solving all of our problems. All we had to do was let Jonas practice his craft, get to the island, and bond my best fighters with the mighty fire-breathing dragons located inside the volcano. Then, once we had a literal army of dragons on our side, we could ride them off into the sunset, find the orc island, and then burn it to the fucking ground.
However, first we had to worry about the orcs who were currently out in the ocean, the ones who were looking for their missing vessel.
“Do you have any idea what this could mean, Draco Rex?” Mira asked, and her gold eyes were wide with utter disbelief. “Not only could we bond with the dragons on the island, but it’s possible we could find some of the surviving water dragons that used to inhabit these islands, as well.”
“The glory days of the Dragonkin could come once more!” Sela proclaimed, and then she stamped the hilt of her spear against the sand proudly.
“Don’t forget about the glory days of the Coonag!” Lezan interjected. “We were deadly before, but with fire-breathing monsters? Nothing could stand in our way.”
“Take it from somebody with a dragon bond already,” Jemma giggled as she looked up at me bashfully with her chartreuse eyes. “It’s one of the best feelings you could possibly have.”
“Then we need to get on with it,” I announced. “Jonas, I want you to go back to your place and start practicing the ceremony. Ainsley? I want you to run to the castle and let them know what’s going on. Tell them everything, but tell them to stay inside until we’re sure the coast is clear.”
“I could fight, though,” the pale, strawberry blonde deer woman argued as she lifted her pointed chin. “You’ve seen first-hand how deadly I can be with a bow and arrows…”
I walked over to the tall, gorgeous woman and placed my hand on the slight bulge of her tummy. Then I stared lovingly into her blue eyes.
“If you stayed here, you’d be lethal as hell,” I reassured her. “But I don’t want to put our baby at risk. Jemma’s going to stay on top of Tirian if worst comes to worst, so she’ll be at a distance, but I can’t let you fight on the front lines, should it come to that.”
Ainsley frowned and sighed, but she seemed to understand because she nodded. As much as she wanted to stay and fight, neither of us wanted to put the baby at risk. So, we kissed goodbye, and then the deer-woman began down the pathway back to the castle.
“Wait for me!” Jonas scurried along after her. “I don’t want to be going down this path alone. Not with all the gargamors that come out at this time!”
Once my two friends were safely out of sight, I turned back to Jemma and Tirian.
“I need you guys to be my eyes in the sky again,” I chuckled at the expression. “We need to see what’s going on with those orc ships.”
Yes, sir! Tirian exclaimed as he swooped over and bowed before Jemma.
The auburn-haired deer woman mounted the silver beast, and then they both rocketed off up into the sky. They ascended at a pretty slow pace, but it didn’t take long before they completely disappeared through the thick layer of clouds in the sky.
Could you imagine? Nixie asked George and I through our bond. More creatures like us out there? The little ones would finally have someone to play with. Plus, who knows? Maybe our own parents or siblings are out there somewhere…
You just want somebody else to watch Malkey and Cerin, George joked with a muffled snort.
They are quite the handful, the pink water dragon shot back. But I’m serious. Wouldn’t it be nice to finally know who our parents were? Or to simply have the luxury of not being the last remnants of our species?
George wrapped his neck around Nixie’s lovingly. That would be quite nice, my love.
“Careful, you lovebirds.” I whistled to the two dragons. “Unless you want another little baby dragon running around.”
We’ll need one to bond with your next children, no? George shot back without missing a beat. You are making babies much faster than I am.
“Touché, George…” I shook my head and smiled. “Touché…”
Hey, Ben? Jemma gulped
telepathically, and the tone of her voice made me go onto pins and needles. I can see the ships from here.
“And?” I asked, and I hoped the deer woman had some good news to deliver to me.
They’re not headed toward the volcanic island at all, she began. They’re coming straight toward us. All four of them.
My blood ran cold as I realized we were in the worst-case scenario. There were now four orc war ships headed in our direction, and they surely brought with them nothing but trouble.
Chapter Twelve
I really shouldn’t have been that surprised. We knew the orcs were going to get suspicious when they couldn’t find any signs of their schooner vessel. So, it was only natural they were going to scour the surrounding islands looking for it.
I just hoped they thought this was a plain old island and didn’t realize it’s the home of the man who’s been terrorizing their people for the last several months.
“How far out do you think they are?” I asked my friends above telepathically. “Do we need to get ready for battle right now?”
I don’t think so, Tirian responded. According to my instincts, it looks like they are still about a day’s sailing away.
How is that possible? Jemma questioned. We went from the volcano island to our home in about twelve hours, right?
“We had a much faster ship,” I explained. “That’s why schooners are usually used to transport high-demand goods. The rest of those boats were galleons, which would be weighed down by all the cargo, bodies, and weapons they have onboard. Plus, they surely stopped by the island first before they came in this direction. In all honesty, they’re actually moving pretty fast if they’re only a day out…”
“What shall we do to prepare for their arrival, Draco Rex?” Sela questioned. “Should we put up more fortifications?”
“There’s no time,” I sighed. “The best thing we can do right now is train the Coonag women up so they can truly be a part of our team.”
“Whooooooa.” Lezan stepped forward as she threw out her arms. “What do you mean ‘train us?’”
“Yeah,” Nadir added with a frown, “you should know just how deadly we already are. When those orcs show their ugly, acorn-stuffing mugs on this beach, we’re going to bash their heads in with our axes!”
The rest of the Coonag women let out a loud “ayeayeayeaye!” battle cry, but I just held my head in my hands and rubbed at my brow feverishly.
“See, that’s the problem,” I tried to explain. “Your fighting style is great, but it’s very… guerilla.”
The Coonag women all went silent before they turned to look at me with pure confusion on their faces.
“What’s the matter with our fighting style?” the gray-haired Malak demanded. “It’s gotten us this far, hasn’t it?”
Oh, man. I saw this all the time when I was in boot camp, so it shouldn’t be surprising to see it now. You always had those people who thought they knew everything there was to know about combat, or shooting a weapon, or surviving out in the wilderness, and these people thought there were only two options.
Their way, or the wrong way.
The Coonag seemed to be these people.
“Nothing is wrong with your fighting style,” I backtracked a bit. “But you have to realize that, if our math is right, this is going to be the biggest battle we’ve ever had on this beach. We’re going to be outnumbered at least two to one, and that’s if we’re lucky. Sure, your fighting techniques are great when you can sneak up on a group of enemies or simply bum-rush them and use your sheer strength to overpower them, but that sort of thing isn’t applicable right now when we are going to be outnumbered and the fight will be out on the open beach.”
“This is going to be a direct, head-on conflict,” Mira noted. “Where the difference between life and death will be the efficient execution of military strategy.”
“In short,” I continued, “we have to all function as a well-oiled machine. And, from what I’ve seen of your fighting styles, you guys like to just kinda… free for all.”
I could see the Coonag women were now getting annoyed with our comments, but this all needed to be said if we wanted to have a shot at winning this fight.
“And?” Nadir demanded with her hands on her hips. “I don’t see the issue here.”
“We have to fight as a unit,” Sela blurted out. “Which means we need you to follow orders, and follow only those orders. You can’t go off for yourself on this one.”
“Excuse me?” Lezan growled with bared teeth.
“I’m just calling it like I see it.” The woman with the moss-green scales shrugged.
“Guerrilla warfare will always be useful,” I tried to defuse the situation, “but only in certain cases. This isn’t one of those cases, so we need to train you guys in our ways. Trust me, it’s the only way we stand a chance against their superior numbers.”
Nadir, Lezan, and the rest of the Coonag women exchanged skeptical glances, and then they all broke out into whispered chattering noises as they communicated secretly. Finally, after about a minute of discussion, Nadir turned back to me and smiled.
“Fine,” the beautiful racoon-woman conceded, “but if you’re going to train us in your ways, then we get to train you in ours, too.”
“After we win the battle.” I nodded.
“After we kill all the orcs and snatch victory away from those ugly molehoarders,” Nadir purred.
“Excellent!” I clapped my hands together with excitement and then turned back to my dragonkin warriors. “First thing’s first… We’re going to need daggers for all these women.”
Darya and Zarya nodded at each other and then whistled loudly. Several of the dragonkin warriors joined the lean, golden-scaled twins’ sides, and then they all rushed off to find their stash of weapons.
“Daggers?” Lezan questioned. “Why can’t we just use our axes? And our claws? And our teeth?”
“You can,” I promised the multicolor-haired woman. “But a lot of our fighting techniques require up-close, swift attacks. Plus, you’re not an official member of our family until you get your seaglass daggers. It’s the beast material possible for a weapon, and it’s symbolic of your connection to the dragonkin people of this island.”
“We all have them,” Theora, the deer-woman with long black hair, added. “They’ve gotten us out of quite a few pickles in the past.”
“A few what?” Nadir asked.
“Pickles!” The lanky deer-woman grinned. “You know, those delicious things that come out of the clay jars? I think they come from cucumbers…”
“They’re carnivores,” I whispered to the airy woman. “They don’t really eat vegetables at all.”
“Oh!” Theora gasped. “So, they’re like we were, where we wouldn’t eat meat, but only reversed? So, they won’t eat vegetables?”
“Uh… sure,” I chuckled. “I guess you could look at it like that. The point of the matter is you are all getting a seaglass dagger, and we’re going to show you how to use it to your advantage.”
After a few minutes, the warrior twins and their posse returned with dozens of seaglass daggers in hand, and the scaly women passed out the daggers to all of the Coonag, who studied them curiously.
These weapons had been handmade by our tribe using the material George, Nixie, and their children often spat out, and their hilts were carved out of the dirty white tusk of killed boars and engraved with the insignia of a water dragon. The smooth, nearly opaque seaglass was shaped into a wide and deadly blade, with serrated teeth on the back and a razor-thin edge on the other. All of it was held together by tightly-wrapped rope, but it looked like it had been hand-crafted by the finest weapon maker in the world.
Then again, the dragonkin women may actually be the finest weapon makers of this world.
“Well…” Nadir said. “It is very shiny and sparkly.”
“But not much of a blade, is there?” Lezan mused as she ran her finger along the flat edge of the weapon. “As shiny as
these are, I think I’m always gonna prefer the axe. How am I supposed to bash somebody’s skull in with this thing?”
“Bigger isn’t always better,” I joked.
“I’d disagree,” Nadir purred as she batted her gray eyes at me. “Especially when it comes to you, Ben.”
“In this case, it is,” I noted. “Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what you guys do with what you have. The biting and slashing and bashing… It’s a ton of fun to watch. But what kind of fighting strategy do you use?”
The Coonag women looked at me like I had a third eye.
“There are strategies to battle?” Lezan chuckled. “We always just run head-first into the fight and use our instincts to get the job done.”
“That might work when you encounter a primeval creature like a gator or a gargamor,” I warned, “and it might even work to your advantage when you’re up against a small group of orcs trying to invade your island. But when push comes to shove, and you’re hopelessly outnumbered against an entire small army of orcs? Pure instinct can only get you so far. When those bastards get here, we have to make sure all of us fight together, as a well-oiled machine.”
“Why can’t we do that with our axes?” Nadir pouted.
“Think about what the orcs will be using,” I tried to explain my thought process to my loyal subjects. “They might have a few archers, but they’re going to be coming at us mostly with giant clubs and swords. An axe can be easily countered by those weapons, but a dagger? You have to float like a freaking butterfly to block or dodge a dagger. And the orcs almost certainly aren’t that nimble.”
“What about our natural weapons?” Nadir bared her teeth. “I’ve yet to find somebody who could dodge these.”
“Those are fine and all, but when you lash out at something with your teeth, it leaves you completely exposed,” I continued. “Here, let me show you…”
I motioned for everybody to step away from Nadir and me, and the raven-haired woman’s eyes lit up as they formed a circle around us.
“Ohhhhhh.” She grinned. “You want to wrestle with me?”