by Mel Teshco
Asher
by Mel Teshco
Copyright 2017 Mel Teshco
Cover Art by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design
www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy.
Acknowledgements
Thank you Alissa for being an amazing critique partner, I’d be lost without you.
As always, lots of love to my supportive family x
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
First Chapter of Baron, Dragons of Riddich
Chapter One
Asher Mannett, ruler of the Riddich people, woke coughing and blinking through the haze of toxic smoke billowing into the cabin of his crashed craft.
He and his crew had reached Earth, despite their unorthodox landing. But he wouldn’t allow joy to flood his system just yet. Not when the instrument panel before him flashed red in a distress signal that issued universal alert.
He sucked in a jagged breath, his belly turning to liquid. The forced touchdown had set off an alarm that wouldn’t attract anyone friendly.
He and his four comrades had fled their world, along with a dozen other crafts filled with the last remaining survivors of Riddich. Each craft had been preprogrammed to journey to different parts of the universe so that some might elude the Tantonics, an armor-plated enemy who had almost succeeded in making his people extinct.
“Cold-blooded bastards,” he growled, coughing fitfully again with the vile smoke even as he released the safety mechanism of his body yoke and dropped to the floor. He fell heavily, his ankle snapping beneath him. He bit back a curse at the sharp, searing pain. But a broken bone was the least of his concerns.
If the hated Tantonic fuckers hadn’t been far behind, the distress signal would now bring them in fast. If he didn’t get out of here with his comrades in the next few minutes they’d be blown to kingdom come, or worse, brought back to Tantonic for months, even years, of torture and degradation before being subjected to energy extraction, which would eventually shut down their organs.
Dahlia. He looked up at his sister who, along with other members of the crew, was unconscious and still yoked to the craft. He swallowed past his fear. He’d already lost his reckless younger brother, Kadin, three years earlier through banishment. He wouldn’t lose his sister too.
“Wake up,” he shouted hoarsely between another round of hacking coughs. Smoke didn’t normally bother him, but this shit was deadly. He called out to each of them, hoping to rouse them before the noxious smoke filled their lungs. ”Dahlia. Baron. Wyatt. Valor. Wake the fuck up!”
Dahlia came to first, her big green eyes blinking and her helmet sitting askew on her short-cropped blonde head. She coughed and looked around, her webbed, one-piece uniform stretching with her movement and her eyes going wide. “What the hell happened?”
Thank god. Asher bit back a joyous laugh at seeing his sister alive and well. But he wouldn’t get too jubilant too soon.
“We crashed somewhere on Earth. I’m guessing Australia since blips on the radar showed we were still headed that way before I blacked out.” At least they hadn’t landed in the ocean. “The distress signal’s been set off. We need to wake the others and get the hell out of here.”
“Holy shit,” she groaned. She was just as aware as he that the signal would bring their enemy. And with the instrument panel damaged beyond repair there was no way to override the system. She unclipped her helmet, took aim, and threw it hard. It thudded into Baron’s gut and he woke with a harsh grunt.
“What the fuck?”
It took less than a minute to wake the entire crew and Asher dragged himself out of the way before the bodies overhead thudded to the floor. No more bones were broken, and Asher sat tight while his comrades grabbed anything useful.
Desiccated nourishment pouches, weapons, med kits and hydration flasks.
Baron crouched beside him, a giant of a man, his golden-brown gaze sweeping over Asher’s ankle. “You know what you’ve got to do, yeah?”
He sighed. “I don’t suppose I have a choice.”
Shifting into dragon wasn’t the smartest move. It’d be like waving a retrieval smoke device at the Tantonic fuckers and yelling, Come and get me! The enemy’s heat sensor tracking devices targeted fire-breathing beasts with an ease and accuracy that was scary to say the least. But if he didn’t shift into his secondary form, his ankle wouldn’t mend, and he’d have no hope in hell of escape.
Dahlia keyed in a code at the nearest escape hatch. A hiss filled the cabin, and fresh air poured through the door, clearing away much of the noxious smoke. Asher breathed deep and blinked at the green world outside that dazzled the eye. A bird twittered amongst tree branches, and some kind of fat insect droned past.
Seemed he hadn’t learned all there was to know about Earth’s fauna.
He sucked in another breath, taking a moment to savor the crisp scent of soil and foliage, along with the danker smell of decomposing vegetation.
It was familiar in an odd kind of way, even as it was vastly different to his world. Like comparing black to white. Not that there was any more time to take it all in. Survival was all that mattered.
He looked up at Baron. “You’re going to have to carry me outside.” A pity he was almost as big as the other male.
Baron nodded, his huge arms bulging beneath the webbed sleeves of his uniform as he hefted Asher from the floor, took a dozen strides, before placing him with a relieved grunt on a patch of grass.
Even under the dappled shade the sun’s heat was noticeable. Asher smiled and lifted his face to its blazing intensity while his crew retrieved the stash they’d collected. Going by the sun’s high position, it looked to be almost midday, the hottest part of an Earth day.
Not that the high temperature bothered him. For a Riddichian, heat was a blessing. For the bastard Tantonics it was nothing short of a curse.
His sister and the rest of the crew gathered around Asher, and he looked up at them with a gratified stare. He was going to miss them more than he’d ever be able to put into words. Not that there was time to string together his deep appreciation for all they’d done and had been through. “We can’t stay together, we all know that.”
They nodded. It would be suicide to stay in a group.
“Divide the stockpile between the four of you and choose an opposing compass point. Don’t deviate from that path. In one Earth year from now, when the sun is at its zenith, those of us who survive will meet back here.”
The blond-headed Valor nodded, and reached for his share of weapons, food and water. “Guess I’ll be heading north.” His light-blue stare glinted with emotion, but he stepped away from his king and said brusquely, “Take care.”
Valor
knew the sooner they all departed, the sooner Asher could shift into dragon without compromising them all.
“Count on it,” Asher said, watching as Valor then disappeared through the trees.
Dahlia crouched beside him, and threw her arms around his neck. “Don’t you dare go dying on me,” she whispered hoarsely.
“You won’t get rid of me that easy, sis,” he said quietly. But the unease sitting like a brick on his chest was all for Dahlia. She hadn’t found a mate to bring out her inner dragon, and the beast was their last line of defense. Without it she was more vulnerable, less likely to survive.
She released him and stood, the dark brown of her eyes glimmering with unshed tears. His heart ached. She too had lost a sibling and parents. Only in those rare moments when he succumbed to grief, did he acknowledge he wasn’t alone in his pain.
Everyone on Riddich had lost loved ones.
“See you in a year,” she whispered, before turning to jog east without looking back.
Wyatt thrust an outspread hand through the prickles of his dark hair, clipped shorter than his beard. “Take care, my King.”
Asher smiled at his comrade. “Just don’t turn up late.”
Wyatt’s white teeth gleamed behind his beard. Everyone knew his skill at fighting was equaled only by his skill with the ladies. Too many hours between soft, hespian sheets didn’t balance well with grueling, early morning training sessions. “I’ll be the first one back.”
He grinned. “I’ll hold you to that. Now get out of here now while you still can.”
Wyatt didn’t need to be told twice. Giving a short wave, he jogged west.
Baron was the last to leave. He squatted beside Asher. “I never did get a chance to thank you.”
Asher stared at his friend, feeling his heavy burden of guilt. “Believe me, I was two seconds away from passing Rhyhana off to one of my soldiers. You saved me the trouble.”
Rhyhana always had been too shallow for Asher’s taste. But then, he’d heard Baron had uncovered her cold, manipulative ways in the worst way possible. Poor bastard. If they both survived, maybe one day Baron would want to talk about it and get it off his chest.
Baron nodded and stood. “You had best shift into dragon, my King. Goddess willing, we’ll meet again.”
“You know we will.”
Baron blinked, and then pivoted on his booted heels, striding south in his long-legged gait that was oddly graceful from someone so huge.
It wasn’t until Baron had been gone for a few minutes that Asher exhaled slowly and willed his change. His vision went cloudy before blinking into a clarity that was startling compared to his primary sight. Colors and tones in every imaginable variation shifted and unfolded before him. He clenched his teeth. His changed eyesight was the first and least distressing part of his shape change.
All Riddich people went through an involuntary change when their planet’s two moons rose simultaneously in the sky. Whether they liked it or not they were well versed in pain. Except none would willingly endure the grinding of joints, the breaking and snapping of bones. Not unless it was life and death.
His jaw broke next, twisting and elongating, gums itching and moving as teeth widened and lengthened, sharper than hunting knives. Blood pounded hotter through his veins, his nostrils flaring and inhaling the vague taint of smoke and ash that was all dragon.
His skin stretched and crawled, and his body tensed, readying for the worst of pain. If the enemy arrived now he’d be at his weakest and most vulnerable. He had to push through the change faster.
He writhed in agony, his whole body splintering, bones shattering and then reforming, growing to take on his bigger shape. He couldn’t stop the convulsions, but a distant part of him was glad of their arrival. It meant he wouldn’t feel anything soon.
His screams of agony were all on the inside when he finally fell into blessed darkness.
He woke maybe a minute later. It was never longer. Not unless every single molecule of energy had been exhausted and the body needed longer to recuperate. Because to lay unconscious was infinitely dangerous and a dragon’s self-protective mechanism was as instinctive as breathing.
He pushed to his powerful legs, ignoring his uniform that lay scattered in torn and fragmented pieces around him. He flexed his once broken ankle that was now attached to a webbed foot with retracted claws. Sucking in a smoky breath, he stretched his wings, three-hundred-and-sixty degree vision catching the iridescent blue-pearl gleam.
Not that he needed phenomenal eyesight when his race had a wingspan almost twice the length of their body. His scaly body altering to the olive green hue of his surrounds, he folded his wings against his broad sides and slunk away from the craft that would have his brutal enemies arrive here sooner rather than later.
It would be too dangerous to fly with the Tantonics closing in. Better to blend in with the landscape, and try to keep his high body temperature obscured as much as possible.
He was only five hundred yards away from his craft when the high-pitched whine of the enemy flyer closed in. He didn’t stop. His webbed feet enabled him to steal through the trees noiselessly and with minimal impression on the ground, despite the Earth’s gravity being so much thinner than his own world’s.
Little wonder he’d landed so heavily and snapped his ankle. Flying would also be more difficult. The bones of a Riddich dragon might be hollow, but he guessed gliding through the air would no longer be so effortless. Not that he’d be testing that theory anytime soon.
He needed to stay calm, keep his heart rate down and therefore his body temperature. Fear, anger, adrenaline, any or all three triggered internal heat and would be a giveaway to the Tantonic assholes. His body temperature as dragon was already many degrees hotter than a human’s, on this planet or his own. Hot enough for internal specialized gas to belch free and spark into an eruption of fire.
He didn’t pause when the hiss of a blazer was launched from the flyer and his smaller craft exploded with a deafening roar behind him. Fuck. There was no going home now. Not ever. Not that there’d be anything to go home to. He flicked his long, spiked tail, a telltale plume of smoke rushing from his nostrils.
He sucked back much of the smoke and held it in. He wouldn’t give away his position, he needed to keep moving forward. Needed to keep his fury at bay. Though a dragon’s nature was to stand and fight, the future of his people was at stake.
They couldn’t afford even one more of their species dying. Couldn’t afford to take on an enemy who now easily outnumbered his kind a hundred-million-to-one and had the power to blow him and his comrades off the face of the Earth, one-by-one.
He brushed past a dozen more trees before his nostrils flared, catching the nearby scent of water. And though adrenaline burned his body all the hotter, he didn’t slow down, no longer tried to reduce his body temperature. Water was a natural coolant and he just might be able to hide in its depths too.
The whine of the enemy flyer sounded closer. He quickened his stealth mode pace. With the scent of water becoming overwhelmingly strong, he sucked in the oxygen-damp air seconds before he slid into the murky depths of a lagoon.
His nostrils closed even as a clear, double protective eyelid slid over his eyes to shield whatever parasites or bacteria might be in the water without taking away his vision. He had so much yet to learn about Earth.
His temperature immediately dropped even as his big webbed feet pulled him under the water and to the shadowy, rocky bottom. His scaled body flickered from green to black, blending in with the murky surroundings.
With his dragon lungs capable of going without oxygen for twenty minutes or more, he unsheathed his claws and gripped a submerged rock. Staying motionless, his exceptional eyesight watched the underside of the enemy flyer move slowly over the water and then hover above where he hid.
A small section of the flyer’s base opened and Asher’s belly and lungs constricted even before a seeker beam lit through the water. The Tantonics weren’t wastin
g any time finding him. He’d probably left behind a faint heat trail that led straight to this lagoon. But he wouldn’t flee unless there was no other choice. Any motion would make him easy to detect and therefore a perfect target.
He only hoped his sister and his comrades were now safe with the enemy Tantonics tracking the Riddich leader.
His claws elongated. If he made it out of this alive and free he’d never again take anything for granted. Breathing for one. Laughing for two—not that he’d had a lot to smile about recently. But compared to the fallen left behind he was damn lucky and wanted to keep it that way.
Hell, he’d even come to enjoy the television programs on his screen-capture, not to mention the radio stations he and his crew had soaked in over the five month journey to Earth to learn human ways.
The beam moved slowly through the water, carefully assessing and rejecting each and every lump and crevice. Asher had no idea if they’d soon cut him in half with their crystalline laser or release a team of the Tantonic hunters to trap and restrain him before bringing him aboard.
His muscles quivered, a combination of rage and fear that threatened to open his sealed nostrils and release a plume of smoky bubbles that would give him away. He restrained his emotions. He’d fight to the death if the bastards tried to capture him. Better to die than become their prisoner.
He’d not add to their abundant supply of Riddich prisoners, or add to their energy storage after they’d tried to extract all his secrets. The Tantonics language decoder, worn as an amulet against their prominent voice boxes at their throat, translated their hissing garbles into something comprehensible, enabling them to demand whatever confidences from the Riddichians they wanted to learn.
The beam was a heartbeat away from finding him when it abruptly flicked off. His head jerked back when the flyer shot up and then zoomed out of sight, so fast it was almost undetectable.
Seconds later he understood why. Earth fighter jets skyrocketed past, their subsonic boom piercing the water.
Staying motionless for at least a minute longer, he pushed away from the rock to resurface and greedily suck in air. Oxygen had never tasted so damn good! He paddled effortlessly toward shore and then waded clear. The water poured off his scales and he extended his wings to release the moisture trapped in the thin-skinned folds.