by Eric Vall
I nodded in acknowledgement. “I’ll need to go help Valerra move her hoard over today, so I probably won’t be available for a few hours. If you need me for anything, send a message.”
“I will.” Alyona grinned as she walked to her wardrobe, pulled out a dress, and disappeared into her bathroom. She returned a few minutes later with her nightgown over her arm, and now she was dressed elegantly in a pale and sheer lavender gown. She hadn’t pulled her hair out of the pony tail, though, and it fell down her back, except for her black forelocks that framed her face.
I took in the sight of her body and felt my blood rush south. Gods, she was beautiful.
Alyona gave me a mischievous grin as she walked toward me, and her hips swung so hypnotically, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“Are you alright, my love?” she purred in my ear.
“I will be as long as you keep this up,” I replied with a smirk and pulled her hips against me.
Alyona giggled and stepped back. Then she kissed my cheek before she sighed.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have time right now. I promised Laika I’d meet up with her first thing in the morning, and if the position of the sun is anything to go by, I’m already late.”
With a growl, I released her hips and pressed a deep kiss to her lips. “I suppose you can go, but I expect something in return.”
Alyona laughed loudly and nodded. “I’m sure I can think of some way to repay you later, but I really have to go. I’ll come by after lunch to see how Valerra has settled in.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I warned her. “Valerra has been a lot worse, temper wise. I don’t want to piss her off any more that I have to.”
“I understand,” Alyona sighed. “Let me know if she needs anything, okay?”
“Will do.”
I walked to the hidden door along the wall and pushed back the tapestry that covered it. The door swung open silently, and Alyona waved as she left her room from the main door. Then I heard her steps as she walked the short distance to Laika’s room.
I quickly ran down the steps to my room and walked through the passage door. Once in my own quarters, I changed into fresh clothes before I stepped out onto my balcony. Then I shifted into my dragon form and tore into the air. The wind whipped through my wings as I flew toward the canyons, and the sun beat down onto my dark scales. I could feel the heat of its rays warm my body, and I sighed comfortably.
Ten minutes later, I reached the entrance to Valerra’s cave and froze. For the second time this week, Valerra didn’t come out to yell at me. I figured she must be busy with her eggs, so I shifted into my human form before I stepped inside the inky blackness of the cave.
“Valerra,” I called out into the darkness, “it’s just me. Don’t eat me, or whatever.”
Silence echoed around me, and I frowned and continued forward into her lair. Her treasure was neatly piled around the room, and the eggs still sat atop the crimson silks, but Valerra was nowhere to be seen. Worry began to tighten in my chest, and I ran out from the lair and back outside. Then I shifted into my dragon form, jumped off the cliffside, and soared through the canyons in search of my mate.
“Valerra!” I roared, and the name echoed around me. “Are you out here?”
I heard a familiar roar in response echo somewhere from my left, and I turned my body and adjusted my wings to help turn me as fast as possible.
Then another roar ricocheted off the surrounding rocks, and I growled in anger.
She sounded like she was in pain.
My wings beat faster, and I flew quickly through the air. I absently noticed a few animals underneath me that cowered under my shadow as I passed overhead, but I paid them no mind.
A minute later, I flew over a large rock formation and finally spotted the familiar crimson scales. Then Valerra let out another pained roar before she lunged forward toward some beast hidden from my view.
Blood poured from several cuts around Valerra’s neck and legs, and she had a dozen blistered wounds that looked oddly like burn marks. One of her wings hung limply at a twisted angle, and I grimaced as I realized the creature must have broken a wing to keep her on the ground.
I let out an enraged roar, and rainbow glitter poured from my mouth and settled around Valerra’s body. Her wounds quickly healed, and she flapped her injured wing slowly before she sent a cloud of dust around the area as she took to the skies.
I sniffed the air as Valera rose into the air, and it smelled like salt and strangely like fish. Before I could think too much about the strange odor, the creature burst forth from between stone and let out a high-pitched scream that made Valerra and I roar in pain as we scratched at our ears.
I instinctively breathed fire down on the creature, but it met the flames that erupted from my jaws with a stream of scalding water. The two elements hit with a hiss and evaporated into steam.
I glared down at the creature and finally took in its appearance.
It was built like a massive snake, but its size was closer to Valerra’s than mine. It had no legs, so it just slithered along the ground on its belly. Blue scales covered the entirety of its body, and it had a large fan like membrane around its neck that opened with each burst of water it shot from its mouth. The beast had large, black eyes and two long slits on its snout that I assumed was its nose. Two other slits were on the side of its head in place of ears, and inside its mouth were several rows of jagged, fanged teeth. Drool dripped from its teeth as it hissed up at us.
“What the fuck is that thing?” I shouted to Valerra.
“A Leviathan,” she snarled back as she hovered in the air beside me, “It’s a type of water demon. I don’t know how this one reached us, though, since they live in oceans and seas.”
“Well, it’s here now,” I growled. “And it needs to die.”
“On this one thing,” Valerra bared her fangs, “we agree.”
“Do you know how to kill it?” I asked her.
“If I did, do you think it would still be alive right now?” Valerra snapped.
“Good point.” I rolled my eyes at her tone. “What have you tried so far?”
“Well,” Valerra dodged a stream of the water the leviathan shot toward her, “it doesn’t seem to mind fire, and the only time I got close enough to bite it, it broke my wing.”
“I’m here now,” I reminded her, “so let’s tear the bastard up. Show him what happens when you mess with mated dragons.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Valerra gave me a fanged grin. “I’d like to get revenge for my broken wing.”
I gave her an identical grin, and then we dove in synchronization. Valerra flew down toward his head while I dove behind him to sneak up and grab him from behind.
It worked, but only for a brief moment.
Valerra held the leviathan’s attention until he spat water directly into her eyes, and she roared in aggravation as she wheeled away from the beast.
I managed to grab his neck and pushed him to the ground while my magic healed Valerra, but before she could rejoin me, the creature’s tail whipped out and struck my snout. I reared back in pain, and the leviathan slipped from my jaws. Dark blue blood dripped from the wounds left by my teeth, but it didn’t seem bothered. Instead, it hissed loudly, and water poured from his maw as it directed the stream at me.
The water hissed along my foreleg as it connected, and I realized the liquid was hot enough to burn through my scales and leave a nasty red and white blistered wound behind. I snarled at the creature, and it let out another high pitched sound that left Valerra and I incapacitated until it was finished.
“Fly!” I ordered Valerra as I spread my wings and took off into the sky.
I felt her more than I could see her take off from the ground. Then we hovered over the air above the demon, and Valerra turned her head toward me.
“Any other brilliant ideas?” she snarked.
“He’s fast.” I ignored Valerra’s sass and looked down at the snake
-like creature below us. “I can probably trap him with my web magic, but I need him to be still. He moves around too much for me to trap him.”
“You have stone magic,” Valerra snapped, “just use that instead.”
“I don’t think I can,” I admitted. “I’ve used too much of my magic on Hatra’s buildings. My power drains too quickly if I use my stone magic right now.”
Valerra gave me an annoyed look. “Of course you would be useless when I need you.”
“I’m not useless,” I growled. “I’ll kill it for you. I just need to be a bit creative.”
“Well, hurry it up,” Valerra growled. “I’ve been away long enough. I need to get home.”
“The eggs are fine,” I assured her. “I stopped by your lair before I came here.”
Valerra nodded, but her eyes still flickered toward the direction of her cave.
“So,” she finally said, “what’s the plan now?”
“Distract him again,” I ordered. “Keep his attention on you. I’ll make sure he’s trapped with my webs before I try to rip him apart this time. The webs should hold long enough for me to finish him off.”
“This had better work, Evan,” Valerra growled. “I won’t be your distraction a third time.”
“It will,” I promised. “Trust me.”
Valerra didn’t respond, but she did fly down toward the creature. It snarled and snapped its jaw at her as she got close, but thankfully Valerra was able to maneuver her body out of the beast’s reach.
Only once the leviathan gave its full attention to Valerra did I finally fly downward toward the back side of the creature. Then my webs shot from my claws and trapped the leviathan’s tail against the earth, and I continued to wrap the tail in the webs until I was sure it wouldn’t be able to break through quickly.
With the leviathan trapped, I lunged at the beast, and it only had a millisecond to realize what happened before I clamped my jaw around his neck and bit down as hard as I possibly could. Blood poured into my mouth from the wounds, and I nearly spat out the neck of the creature due to the horrible taste, but I held on. Then I twisted my jaw to the sides, blood sprayed over my scales, and the creature let out a horrible sound as it realized it was trapped. I could feel the sinew begin to tear under my powerful jaws, and I heard the sound of bones as they snapped. The creature gave one last pitiful roar before I twisted my jaw sharply, and the head of the leviathan tumbled down to the earth.
I landed with a deep thud next to the severed head, and its navy blood still dripped from my mouth. Valerra landed next to me, but more burns covered her legs, so I sent a fresh wave of my healing glitter to her.
I waited to see if I would gain a new power, but nothing seemed to happen.
“What the hell?” I muttered, and then I turned to Valerra with a frown. “Why haven’t I gained a power from the leviathan? I killed it.”
“Our predation skill doesn’t work on demons,” Valerra grunted as she stepped forward and studied the leviathan’s corpse. “We can only assimilate powers from creatures born in this world.”
“Like the driders,” I said.
“Yes,” Valerra huffed and rolled her eyes.
“I guess that makes sense,” I muttered mostly to myself. “I didn’t get any powers from the water demons I battled by the aqueducts either. I just didn’t notice it before.”
Valerra didn’t respond to my musings. Instead, she sniffed the air a few times before she ripped a piece of the still warm flesh from the leviathan and devoured it.
“What the fuck?” My lip curled in disgust. “What are you doing?”
“I haven’t eaten in days,” she snarled. “I’ve been too busy with the eggs to leave the cave. This is fresh meat, so I won’t let it go to waste.”
As Valerra gulped down her meal, my stomach growled hungrily, and I realized I’d skipped breakfast. The longer I watched my mate, though, the more I realized I wasn’t actually grossed out. I was merely curious. I didn’t know if it was my instincts or my hunger, but as I watched Valerra eat the carcass, I growled deep in my throat.
Valerra’s head turned toward the sound, and she slowly backed away as I stepped forward. Then she stood back as I sniffed the beast.
I relied solely on my instincts as I ripped a piece of the leviathan’s flesh away with my teeth, and my clawed talons held down the body of the beast as I pulled the flesh away.
Once I got past the taste of blood, it wasn’t too bad. It actually tasted like unagi back on Earth.
When I was finished, Valerra returned to the body and ate her fill. Then, once the levitan’s body was little more than bones, we took off back toward the cave in silence.
I was sure the blue blood of the leviathan still stained my teeth, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was a dragon, and this is how dragons behaved. We consume what we kill, and that’s how we became the top of the food chain.
Valerra and I landed at the entrance to her cave, and we shifted back into our human selves. Then, without a word, Valerra strode past me and walked into the darkness. I followed slowly behind her as adrenaline still pulsed through my bloodstream, and I realized with a shock that this was my first hunt. I intentionally killed a creature and then ate it. I was oddly proud of myself, and I grinned in the black cave.
By the time I reached the lair, Valerra stood over both eggs, and her hands gently caressed the shells.
“How are they?” I asked through the silence.
“They’re perfect.” Valerra confirmed. “Just like I left them.”
I nodded silently and walked through her rows of treasure.
“What do you want?” Valerra asked without turning to look at me. “You came here for a reason, right?”
In all the excitement, I’d nearly forgotten what I was here for, and it took me a few seconds to clear my head.
“I told you I’d be here to help you move,” I reminded her.
“You want me to move already?” Valerra asked, and her voice was tight.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “It will be easier now so I can help you. If you wait, I might be gone before you realize you’re even ready. We need to get it done now.”
“Fine,” she grumbled with a glare.
“Come on,” I smirked and tried to lighten her mood, “it won’t be that bad. Your cave will always be here whenever you’re ready to come back. It’s just for a few months until I come back home.”
“I know,” she snapped and crossed her arms over her bare chest as she turned toward me. “I’m not a hatchling, Evan. Don’t coddle me.”
“Sorry.” I rolled my eyes. “So, how do you want to do this? Take the piles of gold in waves, or I can ask Alyona to create a portal that could move it all at once?”
“No,” Valerra snapped. “I don’t want any humans near this cave.”
I held up my hands in surrender. “Okay, so no humans. Fine. How about we store it away then so we can just load it all up here and take it to Hatra? It would be one trip.”
“And allow you to take what you want for yourself?” my mate sneered. “No. We will carry the loads one at a time.”
“Why do you insist on the most difficult methods?” I groaned. “You know I’d never take anything from you. You’re my mate. Besides, I have my own plentiful hoard.
Valerra sent me a deadly glare, and I smirked. Then she turned her head away and began to shovel her treasure into a large wagon she’d set up in a far corner.
“I never thought the wagons of travelers would ever be useful to me, but here I am,” Valerra grumbled mostly to herself, “moving my treasure to the wagons so I can live inside a human city. My family would be devastated if they could see me right now.”
“No,” I argued, “they’d be proud. You’re doing whatever you can to keep your eggs safe. That’s not something to mock.”
Valerra offered me a rare appreciative look. “You can store the eggs away, if you’d like. I know you would never intentionally hurt an egg, especially your own.”
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“I’ll keep them safe until we get to Hatra,” I swore. “Once we’re home, we can place them in the safe until we’re finished with your hoard.”
“I guess that would be fine,” she mumbled quietly. “At least I know they’ll be safe inside there.”
“Valerra, they’ll be safe anywhere in Hatra,” I assured her. “No one will let any harm come to my future child.”
“So you’ve said,” she remarked and bared her fangs, “but I don’t have a reason to trust humans the way you do. I will not put the life of my child at risk so your people can be heroes.”
I huffed at her in annoyance but let her be. I figured she could get away with more snark for a while since I was sure she was under a lot of pressure right now.
“Let’s get started then,” I replied as I approached the eggs. I quickly stored them away into my storage space before I turned back to the treasure. Then, with a sigh, I shifted back into my dragon form, pulled one of her wagons closer to the treasure, and began to pile it up.
It took hours for us to get all of her treasure packed up, and then another few hours to carry the wagons from her cave to the Lunar Palace in Hatra. Valerra and I could each carry two wagons at a time, but Valerra had accumulated a lot of riches throughout her life.
“Okay,” I panted later on in the day once all the treasure had been taken down into her vault. “That was all of it, right?”
I shifted into my human form and collapsed onto her bed with a tired sigh.
Valerra rolled her golden eyes, but her breaths came in slow pants, and I knew she was exhausted, too.
“Do you ever shut up,” Valerra criticized. “Just once, you should try to be silent. It might be good for you.”
Valerra stood next to the bed and messed with the silks wrapped around the wooden crib-like structure that could hold the eggs.
“I’m sorry,” I said dryly. “I’ll make sure to just shut up and do nothing next time you need help.”
I slipped the eggs back from my storage space and offered them to her, and she gently lowered them into the red silks before she joined me on the bed.
“Thank you for your help,” she grumbled under her breath. “It would have taken me days to move all of it alone.”