The enterprising rodents had set up a number of different targets throughout the area, and it was now up to Spot to hit them. He wouldn’t have any problems finding the targets. She had already tested his vision, and it was already as good as the average elf’s. Sure, it wasn’t as good as hers, but she was way better than any of those namby-pamby, tree-hugging losers, and Spot still had plenty of growing to do.
“Come on, Spot.” Avraniel scratched the back of his head. The little dragon craved physical affection, and the book had mentioned that young dragons often spent much of the day playing with their nest mates. Well, he was the only dragon they had, but she didn’t mind playing with him. “Try to hit one of the targets with your fire.”
Burn?
Avraniel cackled. “Yeah. Burn them all if you can.”
Spot took a deep breath and unleashed a jagged bolt of black flame at one of the closer targets. Unfortunately, his aim was less than great. His attack went wide, and the attack ripped a crater into the ground about five feet from the target. Hmm. He’d have to work on that. The target was only thirty feet away, so it shouldn’t have been too hard to hit. She could have put one of her daggers right through the centre of the target with her left hand and with her eyes closed too. And that wasn’t even mentioning her bow. She could put every arrow in her quiver through the centre without even looking at the damn thing.
The dragon must have sensed her disappointment. Spot lowered his head. Sorry.
For a moment – just one – Avraniel considered sending a mocking comment Spot’s way. If it were either of the idiots, Old Man, or the twerp, she wouldn’t have hesitated. They were all jerks in some way or another, and she knew a few insults wouldn’t do more than annoy, terrify, or amuse them. The twerp would probably insult her back and then go straight to plotting her revenge with some crazy kind of zombie. But Spot was different. He was a hatchling, and… well… he thought she was his mother.
Now, no one had ever accused her of being the most moral person in the world. The way she saw it, the whole world was out to get her, so there was nothing wrong with her going out and getting the world first. Anyone dumb enough to pick a fight with her deserved what they got. But Spot, at least, wasn’t out to get her, and she knew, even if it had been years since she’d cared, how much it could sting to have people tell her that she was useless.
Oh, she’d paid all of those people back in the end. She’d shown all of them – those stupid, dumb elf bastards – that enough fire could beat anything and that she was better than all of those jerks put together. But those words had still hurt when she was a kid, before she’d realised that the only way the world was ever going to accept her was if she forced it to. Maybe if they’d been nicer to her – no. It wouldn’t have changed a damn thing. In the end, the other elves still loved their stupid trees, their stupid traditions, and their stupid history that they thought made them better than everyone else. Well, she’d burned their trees, she’d broken their traditions, and she’d written her own damn history.
Avraniel put on what she hoped was a gentle smile – gentleness wasn’t something she did a lot – and patted Spot on the head. “Don’t worry about it. You were only born yesterday. I’m a lot older than you. It’ll take you a while to become as awesome as me. Even the rats are older than you. So don’t worry if you miss. Try to do better next time.”
Spot’s expression brightened, and he gave a happy trill before he turned to face the target again. This time, he managed to hit the edge of the target, and within moments, the rest of the target was gone. Interesting. From what she’d seen so far, Spot could project his fire in several different ways. There was the standard cloud of flame that dragons were famous for, but his lungs simply weren’t big enough to sustain it for long. Melting a pile of metal and rocks about the size of a person was the most that he could do. He could also shoot balls of fire that contained a lot of heat. Those didn’t move very fast, but they could travel quite far. Then there were his bolts of flame, like the one he’d just used. Those bolts couldn’t hold a lot of heat, but they had a lot of force behind them, and they were very fast.
She would have to get him to practice those bolts more because he wasn’t big enough to take on other scary things in hand-to-hand combat. Cows were all well and good, but they didn’t stand much of a chance to begin with. Against something like a hydra, his odds would not be good at close range.
“Okay, Spot. Good work. Try to hit the target over there.”
She wasn’t sure if it was Spot’s innate talent, her incredible teaching skills, or the fact that she’d joined in about halfway through the training session, cackling as she burned things alongside him, but it wasn’t long at all before his accuracy had dramatically improved. If he were already this good after one training session, who knew how good he’d be after a few months of training? Oh, she’d definitely done the right thing in liberating his egg and bringing it back to the castle. She couldn’t wait until the two of them were roaming the battlefield and burning their enemies together.
“It’s starting to get dark.” Avraniel wasn’t worried about the dark. She could see perfectly well at night, and she was certain Spot could too. However, it wouldn’t be much longer before dinner was served, and she could use something to eat. “We should head back.”
Spot made a grumbling sound. Actually, it was his stomach that made a grumbling sound. Given his size, the fact that he could eat an entire cow meant that there had to be something magical going on with the stomach of his. It was the only way that all of that meat could possibly fit. Hungry.
“It has been a while since you’ve eaten anything.” Avraniel pursed her lips. “Damn it. I should have brought something for you to eat. Next time, I’ll have the idiot lend us one of his zombie wyverns, so it can carry down a cow or two for you to snack on while you’re training.”
The elf thought about simply returning to the castle with Spot, but Timmy had mentioned that it would most likely take a few days for him to organise all of the extra ore, rock, and livestock. It was far from ideal – and she’d threatened him to make sure that he was doing his best – but the castle hadn’t had reason to increase its supplies of ore, rock, and livestock in years. However, Spot had done well today, and the book had mentioned that dragons liked to hunt from an early age. She could always eat a late dinner. Taking Spot out on his first hunt was more important.
“Hey,” Avraniel said to the rats. “You guys do regular patrols around here, right?” The rats nodded. Patrolling the area around the castle was one of their duties, and they’d recently expanded the area they patrolled to include all of the local villages and their surroundings. Sure, Timmy had zombies, but the rats were experts in discretion. True, these particular rats weren’t the subtlest in the clan, but they were still ninja rats. They could do subtle when they had to. “Have their been any bandit sightings recently?”
The rats exchanged a few squeaks amongst themselves before they offered their reply.
“Is that so?” Avraniel murmured as her lips curved up into a toothy smile. “So there are bandits, but they’re not technically in the territory that belongs to the castle.” The leader of the demolition rats nodded and squeaked some more. “But they are threatening some of the local villagers? That settles it.” She stroked the rat’s fur. “We’d be doing everybody a favour if we got rid of those bandits, and the idiot is always saying that he doesn’t like it when bandits pick on the villagers. Apparently, people always blame the closest necromancer when bandits start robbing people. Do you think you could lead us to the bandits?”
The rat tapped his cheek thoughtfully and nodded.
“Good.” Avraniel flared her magic to catch the attention of one of the zombie wyverns that Timmy had patrolling the skies around the castle. She could always run to wherever the bandits were, but it would be quicker to borrow a zombie wyvern and fly there. And speaking of flying, hopefully, it wouldn’t be too much longer before Spot learned how to fly. She didn’t mi
nd carrying him – he was surprisingly cuddly for a creature with scales – but he was a dragon. Flying was what dragons did, and it wouldn’t be long before he was too big for her to carry around.
But she could worry about that later. Right now, they were off to find those bandits and to find Spot some dinner. And if those bandits were unlucky, well, they’d end up as dinner.
* * *
The Bloody Wyvern Bandits had a long and bloody history. It did not, however, include any wyverns. Most of their members were thugs, criminals, and deserters from Everton and its neighbours. They conducted the majority of their banditry in less-occupied areas, skulking near lonely travelling routes and attacking trading caravans and merchants before fleeing back into the wilderness to escape Everton’s soldiers and mages. It was a tiresome existence, and one that they were eager to put behind them, which was why they were making their way toward Black Tower Castle. They had all heard the stories about the line of necromancers who had ruled the castle for generations. Surely, they thought, a necromancer would not care if they preyed on the local villages. Why would he? They would gladly turn over a share of their profits in exchange for safety from the Council, and they’d even give him all of the corpses he wanted for free.
So far, they’d done nothing more than launch a few isolated attacks on some of the villages, but it wouldn’t be long before they made a real move. They finally had a good grasp of the area, and they’d even managed to acquire a trained hydra from an illegal creature dealer. Life was looking good.
The forty members of the group were gathered around their campfire with their hydra keeping watch when a female elf walked into their campsite with a few rats perched on her shoulders. They couldn’t help but laugh. Was this elf crazy? Maybe she was, but she was also very beautiful, and it had been a while since they’d enjoyed companionship of the female persuasion. Women, especially beautiful women, tended not to find wandering bandits particularly attractive.
“You know,” the elf began, studying her nails intently as one of the rats scampered down her arm with a nail file. “You guys must be really dumb bastards. You’re probably here because you think a necromancer won’t care about a few bandits. Unfortunately for you – and fortunately for Spot, the rats, and me – the idiot who owns that castle hates it when people pick on the villagers. Sure, they’re not very useful and they did try to kill him a few times, but they’re his villagers. If anyone is going to mess with them, it’s going to be him or me.” The elf pointed to a few crows perched on trees nearby. “When I borrowed one of his zombie wyverns, he sent along a few zombie crows. He’s been watching you, and he’s not happy. I don’t think he’d mind very much if Spot ate the lot of you although I think Spot should be okay with just your hydra. It’ll be more nutritious, and you’re probably worth more reward money alive than dead.”
The leader of the bandits drew his sword and scoffed. “Who is this ‘Spot’ you keep blathering on about?”
“Ah, I’ll introduce him.” The elf smiled sunnily. A few of the bandits swooned. It was a lovely smile. “Okay, Spot. You can come out now. Say hi to the ugly bandits.”
A reptilian… thing toddled out of the shadows near the elf. It took the bandits a second to understand what it was. It was a baby dragon. They burst into laughter.
“That thing is going to kill us? Hah! It’s two feet long.” The leader of the bandits threw his head back and laughed. “A baby dragon might not be completely harmless, but we have a hydra. It’ll swallow that dragon in one bite.”
“Excuse me.” One of the bandits pushed his way to the front and raised his hand politely. “Uh, boss. I think I’m going to switch sides.”
“What?” The bandit leader stopped laughing and turned to stare at the man who’d spoken. It was one of the newest recruits. He had dusky skin and platinum hair. He was a desert elf who had somehow managed to find his way into Everton from the deserts to the east. “You can’t switch sides. We’re in the middle of… of something! And why would you even want to?”
The desert elf nodded sagely. “It’s been a while, but I know her. I would definitely prefer to be on her team.”
“You do realise that there are forty of us, and we have a hydra.”
“Yeah, maybe if you added a few zeros and a lot more hydras, you might stand a chance.” The desert elf waved at the other elf. “Uh, hi, Avraniel. Do you remember me? We robbed that elf caravan, what was it, seventy years ago? I was working with that other desert elf – the tall broody guy, he was bald too, never stopped complaining about it.”
The other elf’s amber eyes narrowed for a moment. “Oh!” She snapped her fingers. “That’s right. What was your name again? Jack… John…?”
“Jared.”
“Yes, that’s it. I think I called you dumb ass when we were working together, and I called the other guy bald loser.”
“He hated that,” Jared said as he raised his hands in an unmistakable sign of surrender. “We also worked a few other jobs, didn’t we? So if it’s okay with you, I’d like to join your team.”
To the bandit leader’s utter disbelief, the blonde elf shrugged. “Sure, go ahead. I’ll make plenty of money turning them in, and you weren’t completely useless on those jobs. But that makes me wonder. How did you end up with dickless losers like this?”
“I am not dickless!” the leader of the bandits snarled. “And what are the rest of you standing around for? Kill her!”
One of his most loyal bandits surged forward, sword drawn. The leader smirked. He was skilled with a blade and had years of experience under his belt. Even a veteran soldier would have trouble dealing with –
The bandit went flying into a tree, his entire body wreathed in flames. Silence fell over the campsite as the blonde elf slowly, deliberately, picked up the downed man’s sword and melted it. The little dragon looked to her for permission and then hurried over to drink the glowing metal.
“Like I said,” the blonde elf sneered. “You’re dickless losers.” She turned back to the desert elf. “How did you end up with them?”
“You know that big, broody, bald guy? He sort of tried to murder me a few decades back, and I’ve been bouncing around trying to find a new group ever since. I met these guys while I was passing through. I was running low on money, so…”
“You joined them.” The blonde elf laughed. “You were going to rob them once they’d managed to get some decent loot, weren’t you?”
Jared scratched the back of his neck and did his best to look innocent. “I can neither confirm nor deny that.”
“You were going to rob us?” the bandit leader cried. “But why?”
“Are you seriously asking that?” the blonde elf shouted. “You’re bandits. You don’t get to complain when people rob you.” She folded her arms across her chest. It was, the bandit leader thought, a very nice chest. But he had a feeling that he wouldn’t be seeing any more of it in the future. “This is how this is going to work. My dragon is going to eat your hydra, and you’re all going to surrender, so I can turn you over to the authorities for reward money. If you resist, I set you on fire. If you annoy me, I set you on fire. If Spot gets hungry, I set you on fire – and then he eats you. If I feel like it, I set you on fire. Are we clear, you dickless bastards?”
“Do you really think that you can beat all of us?” The bandit leader laughed and gestured at the group’s hydra. “Kill that little dragon of hers and then finish her and the desert elf off!”
The blonde elf rubbed the baby dragon’s back. “Remember, you should aim for where all of the heads meet the body. If you can hit it there with enough of your fire, it should die, and then you can eat it.” The dragon nodded. “Okay. Go ahead and fight it. I’ll be right here.”
The hatchling waddled forward as the hydra stomped over and loomed above it, all five of its head hissing and baring their teeth. With a speed that the bandits struggled to follow, the hydra lunged forward. The dragon rolled to the side and spat a tongue of black flame. It did
n’t look like much, but something disturbing happened. When the flames died down, the big burn on the hydra’s side didn’t heal. In fact, the wound continued to expand, almost as if the hydra’s flesh was decaying and falling apart. The hydra gave a shout of alarm and lunged forward again, spewing acid. The hatchling shut its eyes and rolled out of the way again. The acid bubbled and hissed on the dragon’s scales, but that was all.
“What?” the bandit leader growled. “That dragon should be melting!”
“Dragon scale is virtually impervious to acid, dumb ass.” The elf rolled her eyes. “And Spot there is part corruption dragon. You’ll need something a lot stronger to get through his scales.” She scowled. “Come on, Spot. You’re not doing enough damage. Don’t waste your effort on lots of little attacks. Go for something big.”
The hatchling nodded and jumped back to put some distance between it and the hydra. It took a deep, deep breath, and its chest expanded like a set of bellows before it unleashed a cloud of black fire that swallowed the hydra whole. It only lasted for a moment, but the multi-headed beast gave a hideous, agonised shriek and stumbled back. That was the only invitation the dragon needed. It leapt forward, its jaws wide open to reveal a set of dagger-like, oversized teeth.
And then the horror started.
The bandits had seen many things, but they had never – ever – seen something so small devour so much of something so big so quickly. In little less than half a minute, the ravenous winged reptile had consumed almost a third of the hydra – and it had not been a small hydra. Finally, the hatchling stumbled back and coughed up a few hydra scales. With a low sigh of contentment, it flopped onto its back.
“You guys got off lucky. It looks like Spot is full, so he won’t be eating any of you. As for the rest of the hydra, you lot are going to drag it to my zombie wyvern. It should be enough to tide Spot over for another day or two.” The elf paused and sneered. “Or you could fight. I’d like that. Spot isn’t the only one who likes burning things. So what’s it going to be? Are you going to fight, or are you going to surrender?”
Two Necromancers, a Dragon, and a Vampire (The Unconventional Heroes Series Book 3) Page 4