Into the Dragon's Den (Axe Druid Book 2)

by Christopher Johns

  Primal Aspect – While in their natural shape, the Druid can use aspects of their shape-shifted powers from their animal forms. Certain statistics or abilities may change depending on the aspect chosen and cast. Cost: 200 MP. Duration: 10 minutes. Cooldown: none.

  These were so fucking wild that I didn’t even know where to begin trying to explore them, so I decided to relax and wait for my friends to return.

  I had gained a decent chunk of experience that put me more than a quarter of the way to level 26, but the lack of EXP compared to the carnage we had done was menial, and I was pissed about it.

  For the first extra tail I had gained, I snagged a new ability called Vulpine Casting.

  Vulpine Casting - The Kitsune brings their trickster nature to the fore to steal mana from a full strength spell. Once a day, the Kitsune may cast one spell for half the mana cost.

  The fifth tail bumped my Charge ability up to a full thirty seconds of holding a spell. That’s fucking awesome! It was weird that I couldn’t pick anything else, but these were amazing.

  I was about to look into my aspects when my friends returned with a small Dragon-kin who looked both reminiscent of Muu and Ampharia’s true form. So I assumed that the Dragon could shapeshift. Which was pretty dope, actually.

  “Yo… what’s with the mysterious tree?” Bokaj asked as soon as he turned his attention from a conversation he and James had been having. “And what’s with the stick?”

  I tossed it to him, and he caught it deftly. “It’s a gift from Mother Nature. She’s pretty sure that a group of people live in the eastern portion of the jungle who might be able to make a bow from that.”

  Ampharia stepped closer to the tree and pressed a hand against it.

  “This is from her.” Her eyes closed. “It feels strong. A good napping tree.” Her form shimmered, and her real body stood and curled around the tree with her massive head on her paws before yawning lazily. “This shall be my new nap spot. Wake me tomorrow, little Muu. We shall begin your training then.”

  “You got it, Dragon lady.” Muu saluted lazily. He looked drained, the sword still in his grip.

  “What’s up with the sword, man?” I asked Muu.

  “It’s strong as fuck, it makes what it hits decay, and it’s called Rotten Ruin,” he said matter of factly. He held it out in front of me.

  “That is a cursed sword.” Ampharia’s half-lidded eye focused on the weapon. “The Celestial Elf there can tell you more. Elsewhere.”

  We took our conversation into the building we called home and began speaking in the largest room.

  “Is it cursed?” Muu asked, his eyes narrowed at Maebe uncertainly.

  “Pass it to me, so that I might inspect it further.” She offered her hand, but Muu pulled the weapon behind him.

  “No,” he said like a sullen child. We looked at him incredulously.

  “What?” He looked at us nervously. “It’s mine!”

  “Did he use any other weapon in the fight?” Maebe asked.

  “I saw him use his spear once,” I admitted, “but he still had the weapon in hand.”

  “And Muu, do you feel the need to use any of your other weapons?” He looked confused for a moment, then stood his ground.

  “Why would I?” He brandished the blade in front of himself. “Fighters have been known to use multiple weapons. Why not this one?”

  Maebe turned to us. “It is meant to erode the will of the wielder so that they feel the need to only use this weapon, I believe. There are many cursed weapons such as this—I even have a few in my own vaults.”

  “Why do you have cursed weapons?” Bokaj looked sideways at her.

  “Sometimes there are acts in war that require sacrifice.” She raised her chin in challenge. “Sometimes those sacrifices are willing hosts to weapons of terrible and great power.” She smiled wide. “Other times, I am an avid collector.”

  “I see.” Jaken made a noise in his throat of thought. “So what do we do about this one?”

  “Well, we could overpower him and take it,” Muu instantly fell into a defensive stance at her words, “or we can help him overcome the curse in his own way. A sheath would be good for now.”

  “Muu, you any good with making things out of leather?” I asked.

  He eyed me silently, then focused back on Maebe. His knuckles popped and strained around the hilt of his blade.

  “Hey!” I snapped my fingers in front of him to get his attention.

  His arm was moving before I could even think to dodge, and Jaken’s arm was suddenly wrapped around the struggling Dragon-kin’s throat. The weapon flashed dangerously close in front of me, and James was right next to me prying it from Muu’s grasp using pressure points to try and dislodge his grip.

  I stepped forward and whispered, “Sorry, buddy.”

  If anyone was going to knock my friend out, I wanted it to be me. Not for selfish reasons but because I knew that he would know I did it out of love.

  I whipped my fist into his chin, once, twice, and finally a third time that put him down. We carried him to his bed, and Maebe held on to the weapon for a bit while Jaken and I tried to come up with a makeshift cover. Nothing could touch the blade and stay whole, so we opted to just let Maebe hang on to it for the night.

  She stowed the item in her inventory with a slight shiver, then looked to me. “We truly do need to address your penchant for stupid ideas that can get you hurt.”

  “Oh, fuck.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Maebe had damned near chewed my ass straight off my body about my not giving her warning before throwing myself out there as stupidly as I had. By the end of it, she was fine, and I was fine. But there was an understanding that the next time I did some stupid shit—I would have my ass handed to me.

  I climbed out of bed, dressed in some fresh clothes, then went outside to see what was going on for the morning. I walked outside to see that Jaken, James, Yohsuke, and Bokaj hadn’t joined us yet.

  Muu was sitting with his armor off in front of Ampharia as if he were meditating. In his hands was a globule of what could have been venom—or green apple jam—but I wasn’t certain.

  Rather than disturbing his training, I opted to shapeshift into my owl form and find my own source of training.

  You flap your wings over much, Druid. A light, reedy voice spoke directly into my mind. I did my best to try and see where the voice was coming from, but the more I looked, the less I saw.

  Who is this? I asked inside my mind. To avoid flying into something or being vulnerable, I landed on a branch with a loud rustling of feathers and the sound of my taloned-claws clacking into the wood.

  I am the instinct of the owl form you are currently in. I am attempting to guide you on how best to fly. Your landing was not owlish either, the voice observed dryly. It is not necessary for you to stop your flight. I will guide you. Take a small dive, then spread your wings and glide for a spell.

  Over the course of the next hour of flight, I learned how to fly silently and swiftly and how to better traverse the thermals that carried my body higher than I had been before. I learned to be more perceptive than I had ever been. I spotted multiple large rodents that, to the instincts in my mind, would make excellent prey. To me, nah, son.

  Still, this was amazing too. I wondered how this could be applied in combat. If it could. I imagined it could. I’d have to check that out.

  We had flown eastward. My reasoning being that the Elven village that Bokaj would need to go to should be scouted out, but the longer I flew, the more trees there were to be seen. There was nothing out here that I could find. After the second hour, I turned back toward the village we were using and began to fly.

  I heard a loud crack and looked down just in time to see motion through a break in the trees. A small figure leaped from one medium-sized branch to another. I dropped lower to investigate further.

  This is unwise for someone our size, Druid, the agitated voice groaned at me.

  I ignor
ed it and came closer to the scene playing out below me.

  The trees thinned slightly, and I watched as a smaller Elf with deeply tanned skin in gray, green, black, brown, and tan tunic and breeches frantically leaped from one tree to another as a horned figure gave chase beneath it. It looked like a rhinoceros, but it had three razor-sharp horns working up the tip of the nose that were smaller as they went up.

  The Elf looked younger—hard to tell ages on beings with such long-ass lifespans. He had a bow in his hand, and the quiver was strapped to his back, unlike my friend who wore his on his hip. I suppose this was okay since he was running for his life.

  I dropped lower to try and get a reading on the animal giving chase. It was easily larger than my Ursolon form and didn’t give the slightest fuck about the trees it was running into. It left huge divots and ruts in them where its gray, armored shoulders hit and shaved off the bark and wood.

  Better do what I can, though that thing’s hide is probably thick as fuck, I thought to myself.

  This is not an intelligent endeavor for an owl, the owl warned me.

  Pie, I retorted sarcastically then shifted to my fox man form slightly above a large limb that I was certain would hold me in the Elf’s most likely direction of travel.

  His eyes had been on the pursuing figure, so when I was just touching the branch with my toes, he turned, and we collided. By then, I had the place for Teleport in mind and cast it as we careened over the side of the branch.

  The feeling of the jump that would bring us back to the village we were staying in was minor in comparison to the falling sensation that I felt in that moment. It honestly made me feel queasy.

  We landed a moment later with a hard thud that really rustled my jimmies, and the kid groaned. I began to sit up while casting Regrowth on him. Then he put an arrow to my throat in an instant.

  “Eathali, wick eir grein mahul, ard dulin twax?!” He shouted in my face, dwarfing everything around me and blocking out the sunlight.

  His features were soft for an Elf’s, his body lean but the angles were there too. I was sure he’d grow up to be a real lady killer—if he stopped picking fights with huge monsters and people like me. On closer inspection, I saw that his bottom lips pulled back to bare small tusks. A Fae-Orc then.

  “Eathali ard dulani warnala ack var ni,” I heard Jaken’s voice trying to take a soothing tone but in a language I didn’t understand. Some of the words were harsh, but the language itself had an almost-lyrical quality.

  The child seemed to think for a moment too long for some of my party member’s tastes because I heard a grumble of dissent, then James was suddenly in my vision. He reached down and snapped the arrow at my throat with his thumb and grabbed the child by the scruff of his neck and tunic.

  “What was he saying?” I grumbled to Jaken as he helped me stand.

  “Druid, with the green magic, where did you bring me?” Jaken translated.

  He turned to the child. He seemed to know better than to fight the monk, but he wasn’t happy, and he was beginning to panic.

  “Lithuli, wilan ard dillir arckieri batu?” Jaken spoke then translated for us. “Cousin, where did you come from?”

  Over the course of the next few minutes of tense conversation, Jaken learned the child’s name was Set and that he had been sent on the trial to adulthood in his tribe when he had been interrupted by a cowardly Druid.

  That last one stung. No lie. But hey—kids, right?

  “I mean, of course I’m sorry for having interrupted him running for his life—I mean trial,” I spat at him. “I saw a scared kid running from a beast that would have easily killed him before letting him put one of those lame-ass arrows in it.”

  Jaken translated for me, and the disgruntled wanna-be Ranger took a threatening step toward me with an arrow nocked. I thought about the spell I wanted to cast, and a large flaming great axe burst into life in my hands. I raised an eyebrow at him and watched the blood leave his face slowly.

  Jaken said a few words, and he visibly relaxed and put his bow away. He mumbled something at Jaken, and the Paladin strode over to the boy and took him by the shoulder before leading him toward where we ate.

  The Paladin spoke to Yohsuke, motioned to the child, then Yohsuke pulled out another plate and began piling food on to it. Looks like we would be taking the kid back home after all. Oh well. Could’ve been worse.

  I could’ve had to watch that monstrosity gore that poor kid. I’m a dad. Didn’t matter what was going on in my life, I wouldn’t watch another kid die after what happened to us with Rowan.

  Muu and Ampharia, in her Dragon-kin form, returned from the woods south of us, holding a good conversation.

  “So, all you’re saying I have to do is think of the venom coming from where I want, and then I can make it do whatever I want?” Muu asked excitedly.

  Ampharia laughed loudly. “No. You still must focus it in one spot, but you can improve the potency by working with your venom. You truly are a special creature.”

  “Thank you, my mom assures me of the same,” Muu responded, nonplussed. “So, since we can’t train my venom any more, how can we continue?”

  “You and I will hold mock battles, and we will discuss tactics,” Ampharia explained. “Then if I feel you a suitable vessel—I may bequeath my blessing upon you.”

  “How long will that take?” Bokaj asked.

  “As long as it takes,” Ampharia responded simply, and she cocked her head. “Your impatience means nothing to a Dragon. Though Muu does seem to pick things up quickly.”

  “We have a plan, man.” Muu clapped my other friend on the shoulder. “Believe me, I’ll bust my ass for this.”

  Bokaj simply nodded and went to go speak with the kid while he ate.

  “Don’t worry about him. He’s simply worried about a friend of ours,” I told the Dragon as she watched Bokaj for a moment longer.

  “Not my concern,” she shrugged and walked off. Muu followed her dutifully, and that was likely the last we would see of him today.

  “I must return to my people for a little while,” Maebe said from behind me. “I have only been gone for a few hours, but something that requires my presence has occurred, and I must go.”

  I turned to find her standing in the doorway to the housing we all shared, her face unreadable.

  “Will you be able to come back?” I asked softly as I walked toward her.

  “It will be some time before I can. Days to a week, perhaps?” Her eyebrows furrowed. “My magics return swifter in the land of the Fae. I am stronger there. So it could be that long at most. I do not know for certain.”

  “Is being here hurting you? Making you weaker?” I asked softly.

  “Not in so much as it takes me longer to recover my magic here. I can do it, I have been, but it can be taxing.”

  “Shit, I had no idea, I’m so sor–” She held a hand up to hush me.

  “My aid was given out of personal interest and for the good of my people and friends.”

  “Okay, well I wish you luck with what you need to take care of, though I doubt you will need it.” I tried to smile at her reassuringly. “Just be safe over there, okay?”

  “I will.” She pulled me closer to her by my hips. “I will miss you, Zeke.”

  “I’ll miss you too.” I kissed her softly. “Don’t worry. I have the guys here to keep me from losing my mind too much and doing some ‘pie’-level stupid shit.”

  “Good. Because if I return to find you hurt, I will lay waste to whoever hurt you.” She kissed me fiercely. “I will go now. Please, give the others my regards and well wishes.”

  I nodded, letting her go reluctantly. I watched in curious, sad silence as she splayed her hand out in front of her and a circle of light burst into being beneath her feet. Her other hand flashed through a complicated sequence of motions before a rent in the air turned into a tunnel devoid of any light.

  Maebe glanced back one last time, and I blew her a kiss. She blinked and looked at me od
dly before nodding to herself and stepping into the tunnel. I blinked once, and it was gone. The others looked over at me, and I waved their looks away. I wanted to be alone at that moment.

  Sure, I was moping, but who the fuck are you to judge? Oh, yeah… sorry about that, mate.

  After an hour or so of obligatory sadness, I decided to go out and see what the others were doing.

  “Just the guy we wanted to see!” James clapped. “You’re gonna help lead us to the kid’s village.”

  “Sounds fair to me. Where is it?” I looked to Jaken.

  “He said it wasn’t far from where you found him.” Jaken leaned forward and pulled me close. “He doesn’t want to teleport again. So we’re gonna need to surprise him with it.”

  I smiled and nodded once before looking toward the tree line, “Who all is going?”

  “The kid, me, Jaken, James, and Yoh,” Bokaj said as he joined us. “Muu is staying behind, and I think we all know Maebe isn’t coming.”

  “She said bye, by the way,” I added. “Though I don’t like leaving Muu behind.”

  “You gonna tell Ampharia to put her training on hold?” He raised a brow.

  “Fuck no, let’s get to getting.”

  We gathered closely around the kid, and he looked at us oddly. Jaken reached out and touched his shoulders. I saw that the others were all touching and activated the spell with the same spot in mind that I had gotten the kid out of.

  The weird sucking and jumping sensation came and went, and the boy threw up uncontrollably. Poor kid. I cast Regrowth on him to try and help him. Luckily, we had landed on the ground and not the tree limb we had originally been on.

  I surveyed the damage to the ground and trees around us. That creature had done a great deal of damage. Some of the trees had since begun leaning dangerously against the trees around them. I cast Regrowth on the closest one to me and watched as the injured wood began to grow back quickly. That was amazing! First time trying that, and it was a success.

  Look at me, being all Druid-like.

  The boy knelt on the ground and began to analyze the tracks that were there. He looked at us, determined, and raised his chin before stalking off. He pulled his bow off, then prepared an arrow.