Valley of the Dragons (Rule 9 Academy, #3)

by Rain, Elizabeth

  “Get up! All of you. Secure your families and grab whatever weapons you can. The war has come to Basilisk Valley and we have no choice but to fight.”

  Too many stood staring at him in shock, still unsure. His voice rose and whipped through the room. “Move now!” he screamed, already turning and heading for the door. There was no more time to see who still hesitated. Enough of them rallied and sprang into action that the rest would follow.

  But he was afraid it was already too late. They were outmanned and outgunned. Most of their weapons were kitchen knives and hunting bows and the clawed talons and the brute strength that came with the change. Still no match for guns with steel bullets and drugged darts that would render them weak. Despair threatened, but with a savage stamp of his dragon’s temper, he thrust it aside and moved to join.

  THE FEAR WAS A LIVING thing inside of me. Always before, I’d jumped into the fray along with my closest friends and allies, and we’d whooped butt. I hadn’t paused then to think of the cost. But now I had my nightmare and the fear of it coming true threatening to overwhelm and shut me down. My dragon wanted to come to my rescue. She wanted out.

  As we ran up the last hill and turned the curve that led into the main valley I could feel the crawl of scales emerging like a nasty case of chicken pox along my arms and shoulders and spreading towards my back. My eyes burned and I knew the center part of my iris was changing to that vertical reptilian slit, staring out at the world with a predator’s sight. My teeth too were sharp, the razor edge abrading my tongue and lips until I tasted the faint tang of blood. And I wanted more. I wanted Hunter blood. My vengeance and rage pooled thick in my veins, as if my dragon’s wrath could change fate if I allowed it.

  We topped the rise, hearing the sounds of dying long before we did. It filled the evening skies. Dragons were there, swooping down and picking victims up and slamming them into the ground, jaws working to ruin their day. Only these victims were Hunters, and their agenda was far worse than ours. I realized that the war wasn’t just in the main valley, but also towards the ridge and the deeper Valley of the Dragons where the newly changed flew on Flight Nights.

  I spotted Niel in human form, his broad shoulders bare, what was left of his shirt hanging in tatters as he fought. The silver flash of his shurikens sang through the air, hitting amid shrieks of rage and exploding into lethal balls of flame on contact.

  But the Hunters were experienced fighters. Unlike normal humans, they were used to fighting the monsters. They ripped the disks free, leather gloved hands making quick work of the metallic shurikens as they took aim on any of us that were exposed and in the open. It relieved me to see that at least there appeared to be no children in sight. The Hunters wouldn’t have cared if there were I knew, they’d have gunned them down like animals, because to them, that’s what we were.

  My teeth gnashed together in a rattle of canines and I notched my bow as a deep roar issued from my throat. If that was what they wanted, I could help them out.

  My first bolt hit high, but it had the desired effect as the hunter in question screamed and arched his back, the quarrel’s tip severing something vital. His eyes clouded and he hit dirt. I felt no remorse as I moved on to the next.

  The rest of us had spread out, each one of us doing our part while trying to maintain what cover we could behind the trees. The cabins were a flurry of activity too, I could see them in the distance. But we’d never make their scant protection, not across the open field.

  Instead, we moved up the main road towards the upper valley. I saw Niel run through the woods, long legs whipping up an impressive speed. The rest of us couldn’t hope to keep pace. Still, I was moving, bolts flying as I ran. On either side of me ran Nick and Sirris, their staffs flashing arcs of blue and green fire as they shot them at their advancing quarry. But like the disks, much of what landed only hit a glancing blow to the leather-clad tunics of our foes who had come more prepared than what we were used to fighting. The thrust of Nick’s magic did more damage, lifting them into the air and smashing them against the trunks of the trees. Not dead; but hurting for sure.

  The entire way as I ran, I fought her. My dragon beating her wings against the inside of my human skin. I thrust her back; I wasn’t prepared. The world wasn’t ready for what I was.

  Ahead of me as the ridge moved into view I watched Niel suddenly transformed in a matter of strides, bearing down on a hunter who was pulling down on Fern. Screaming in rage, Niel’s talons snatched the shoulders of his victim and lifted before he could fire his gun, the claws sinking bone deep as they bore him up and swung out and over the valley. He rose, wincing as the Hunter, knife in hand, slashed at the wicked claws binding him. So Niel rose higher and dropped him. We heard his scream echo as he fell into the valley before it abruptly cut short. And then in horror, I watched as a dart came out of nowhere, fired from some unseen Hunter’s hand and hit Niel square in the meaty part of his scaled shoulder. The result was almost instantaneous. He dipped twenty feet in a second, the ground far below coming up to meet him way too fast. I screamed, watching him fall from sight, losing his dragon’s form in mid-air. I never saw him hit.

  A sudden burning along my shoulder pulled my attention, and I realized I’d been hit as well. A bullet had creased my arm, taking scales and a sliver of flesh with it. I moaned and turned on my assailant, eyes flashing. My dragon wanted to rip out his throat. Instead, my eyes landed on the gun he held and without conscious thought I sent my magic, watching in surprised satisfaction when his gun burst into flames. My magic didn’t let up, fanning the heat higher until it glowed red in his hands. Gloved or no, he was no match for the deep melting heat, releasing the weapon with a scream of pain.

  And then I was on him before he could pull anything else, tearing at him in a red haze of fury for his gall, unwilling to look at what I’d left behind when I thrust him aside. The need shivered in my veins, but again, I held it back. I moved on, unable to worry about Niel—that would come later.

  My eyes fell on Fern as I approached the lip of the valley ridge. She stood concealed in a cluster of boulders, fingers weaving, mouth moving. Her eyes had darkened from bright blue to near black as she spun her spells through the air with dizzying speed. She called the earth magic she was good at. Vines whipped wildly down from the trees, tangling and ensnaring Hunters two and three at a time as she used the snippets of vines and roots at their feet to twist in their ankles and trip them up. Once on the ground the earth came alive. In horror I watched it open, the dirt boiling like a mad pot of soup to pull them in and under. I had to look away as her victim’s mouths opened, a swarm of black loam and wriggling beetles rushing in as they disappeared from sight. That was a new one. I was sure I’d never be able to get rid of the memory.

  Our eyes met. Hers were grim. Out of bolts, I moved out along the edge of the valley, gliding from boulder to tree as I progressed, picking out a hunter bearing down on Thomas and pulling my disks free. They were cool in my hands, but unleashed they were already heating, the thin metal a red glow by the time they plowed into the unprotected skin beneath the hunter’s neck. Thomas whirled in alarm as the hunter screamed in shocked pain, the disk flaming as it buried deep, blood welling and flesh cauterizing instantly under the heat. He fell, clutching his throat and gasping. If I hadn’t killed him, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

  My eyes met Thomas’ and a cruel smile graced my lips as I moved on. He moved beside me, and I realized I wasn’t the only one fighting my inner beast and holding back. His bolos sprung free, spinning in an expert arc above his head as he moved, yellow eyes moving back and forth, searching. He was having a tough time holding onto them, though. The clawed hands, fingers splayed and tipped with lethally sharp nails, were more dog than human. With a howl, he reached out and raked a hunter from chin to sternum, drawing four perfect furrows before the hunter could do more than pull his knife for close combat. With a strangled yell, he was down and out. We moved on.

  I blinked, using my power and
holding back my dragon was taking its toll as exhaustion tried to slow me down.

  Despite the damage we were doing, and it was plenty, all around us Magicals continued to fall. It might not have been my nightmare exactly, but it was a lot closer than I liked. The guns were deadly. We hadn’t battled against them before. But it was the darts that were doing the most damage, incapacitating any and all Magicals they struck and making them easy targets for the Hunters to finish.

  And they just seemed to keep coming. By then we were on our way back down to the main valley, circumventing the high bowl shaped divot formed millennia ago by the glaciers that had come through, bumping over the land and causing the deep impressions as they passed. As we entered the lower valley, I realized an awful truth. There were more of us concentrated here. More Hunters too. Despite our powers and abilities, the experienced Hunters had herded us in, we were cattle in a pen, and they were getting ready for the slaughter. Together we broke the cover of the trees and made a run for the cabins. Behind us, the Hunters took their time, in no apparent hurry. We were target practice and they took their time and aimed.

  As we neared the cabins, I glanced beside me at the exact moment one dart hit home and buried itself deep in Thomas’ arm beside me. In slow motion, I watched him start to fall, a scream on my lips as I swerved to intercept him. I wasn’t sure what I thought I could accomplish. I had little strength left to lift anything. But for me, at least, that was a cardinal rule. You didn’t leave a fallen soldier behind. A blur passed me as I turned, coming from the cabin. Todd was there. I hadn’t seen him since he flew off on Niel’s back several hours before.

  Todd never paused; lips pulled in a thin line of determination. He lifted Thomas’ limp form over his shoulder and whirled back towards the relative safety of the cabins. I kept pace beside; the whir of bullets exploding around me. I felt the hiss as they flew by my head and shoulders, just missing my fleeing form. I didn’t have time to look and see if the rest of us had been as fortunate. We reached the cabins. But I didn’t delude myself, we were just waiting for death to arrive. The thing about using our powers was that it was temporary. It drained us until we were weak and useless against our attackers. Easy pickings. The Guild had studied our kind, had they just been waiting us out? At the corner of the main hall, we turned to make a stand. This wasn’t the way my dream had ended. We weren’t standing helpless on the edge of the valley cliff. Maybe it was worse.

  I looked around at the survivors gathered beside me. Fern, Thomas, Sirris and Todd stood with me. Jayne too was there. I’d lost track of her in the fight, and now I wondered how she’d made it this far, weaponless and without any magic of her own. But I was sure Jayne was more than just human.

  From the doorway of a cabin two down from us my eyes met Franz Hobert’s, his bleak with knowledge. I wanted to tell him that none of this was his fault. I knew he wouldn’t believe me.

  Looking at those of us assembled there, I realized we were all done in. The mad dash up the mountain to get here in the first place hadn’t helped. But using our magic, as we had, had finished the job. It was a miracle we were all still standing.

  Inside me, my dragon whimpered and gave a frustrated shiver. I’d held her back, Franz’s words coming back to me. I didn’t know enough yet. It would most likely kill me. Besides, what could she do that my magical abilities and weapons could not? Now I wondered if any of it mattered.

  I realized they’d ceased fire, held up by some unseen hand as they circled. With a growl of awareness, only his eyes showcasing his ancient heritage, Franz Hobert pushed away from the cover of the cabin and strode into the middle of the yard.

  I straightened up. I would not face death hiding, waiting to be picked off like fish in a barrel. Let the cowards know they had won, but they’d never conquer the fiery beast within me. With a growl and a show of fang, I stepped away from the building to join.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  I FELT MY STRENGTH returning as I waited to die. It wouldn’t matter. What was I going to do with twenty guns, many of them loaded with drugs strong enough to fell an elephant—or prevent a dragon from changing—pointed at me? Still, it was becoming increasingly hard to hold her back. I grit my teeth; the effort making me ill. Or was that the terror?

  Next to me stood my best friends. We’d been through so much, but I wondered if this time we’d reached the end. At least it would be together.

  I thought of my mother and the father I hadn’t seen in months. I despaired that they wouldn’t know the truth of how their daughter had died. I wondered how my death would be explained to them. Would they get along at my funeral?

  Nick stood by my shoulder. My eyes slid to his and he shot me a crooked smile, making my heart stumble. More time, I wish we’d had that. I felt the brush of his fingers along mine as he clasped my hand, wincing at the sharp slide of my clawed fingers along his palm. But he didn’t let go.

  I turned back as two Hunters separated themselves from the others and took a step forward. The one was a stranger. He wasn’t tall, nor muscular or remarkable. Off-hand, I dismissed him. A fool’s mistake. Or a Teenager about to die. The other man was Terrence.

  I blinked. He was at the doctor’s house, tied up. I hadn’t imagined that part; I was sure of it.

  “Father?” Jayne whispered in astonishment. “What are you doing here?”

  The flash of rage that passed through his eyes made me want to step back.

  “WHAT, AND MISS THE party? I don’t think so. Your brother’s will have to join later. After they are released. The authorities have no evidence to hold them. Or they won’t when we get done. It pays to have friends. Human friends.”

  “I think you have a misguided idea of what friends are. You have lackey’s that do your bidding out of fear. There’s a difference.”

  He shrugged, a thin smile splitting his lips. “Perhaps,” he acknowledged. “But it won’t matter to any of you. There’s still time for you, Lucy. You can step over the line and join us.”

  The other man finally spoke up, his eyes the lightest of gray and wintry cold. “No, I don’t believe she can. There can be only humans on this side of the line, Terrence.”

  His eyes flashed to his companion. “I called you. I’m in charge here, not you! That’s my daughter you’re talking about.”

  The coldness spread, I could feel its whisper over my skin, and the hackles on my neck stood at attention.

  “Is that what you think? I’m afraid that’s where you are mistaken. You’ve made a mess of things, Sawyer. You’ve alerted the authorities and made them curious. And you’ve invited an Other into your midst and lived with her for seventeen years. Neither one of which are acceptable.”

  Terrence stood up straighter, narrowing his eyes on the shorter man in disdain. It wasn’t his first mistake. Like many, his biggest was in assuming lack of stature meant weak.

  “Now you just wait a minute here. We’ve been working this piece of the Pacific coastline for close to twenty years Solomon Reddit, I don’t need to listen to the likes of you.”

  Solomon’s eyes narrowed even further. “And your reputation follows you. You and your sons have caught the attention of certain people we are trying to avoid. That makes you no longer an asset, but a liability instead. Your sons will most likely be out within the next few days. I am making sure of that as we speak. Inside, they are more likely to talk about their adventures. Depending on what they have to offer the Hunter’s Guild, I may let them live.” He stated magnanimously.

  Terrence blinked in shock, some of the bluster fading from his cheeks as he realized he wasn’t as much in charge as he had thought. He looked behind and next to where he stood, surrounded by armed mercenaries, all under the command of Solomon.

  “What are you saying?” he breathed in a nervous breath.

  Solomon smiled coldly. “You aren’t stupid. You screwed up Terrence Sawyer. You created a mess and I’m here to clean it up. You’ve put the lives of innocent civilians at risk and jeopardized th
e effectiveness of the Hunter’s Guild. Too many bleeding liberals out there would get in our way if they knew about us. They wouldn’t understand the crucial role we play to their uncomplicated existence. I need soldiers and generals who are team players. You are not the man for that job.”

  Terrence realized there was a gun in his belly at about the same time it went off, and a flash of pain and spreading coldness hit him. His knees crumpled beneath him and he tumbled to the ground, his fingers reaching like claws towards the other man who neatly took a step back, his features schooled in lines of distaste.

  Fading eyes moved to Jayne. “So, it’s true. Family means nothing to you, daughter. Nor what they did to your mother. She loved you you know, like you were her own.” He whispered.

  Jayne stared at him with wet eyes. “I do remember that. I remember every soft touch, each kind word. But you aren’t doing this for her. I believed your lies for too long. You’re doing this for your own sick agenda. Bad things do happen to people that don’t deserve it. But there’s a lot of good in this world, and I think somewhere along the way you lost sight of that fact. I’ve let you guide my hand down a wicked path because I thought I had no choice. But we all have choices father, it’s time I started making the right ones.”

  The shot sent panic rippling through our ranks. Jayne whimpered, the sound wounded and confused as her eyes moved away from the man she’d known as her father to stare at the man that had shot him.

  Solomon turned back to stare at the Magicals. His eyes moved down along our line, curving into a slight smile of triumph when they landed on Franz Hobert, who stood straight and proud, despite his advanced years.

  “Looks like your luck has run out, old man. Bit of a history lesson for you. I had a spot of time on the way here. A chance to look into the records and information I have on you. Salem, right? Three hundred years ago or about that? Well, isn’t it ironic that my great, great, oh whatever the hell... my ancestor was a boy by the name of James Corbin? It always fascinated me as a child, reading the family journals. My family kept careful records. His own ledgers and books told an interesting tale of scaled monsters that lived among them for a while until the town rallied together one night and went hunting...”