Order Of The Dragon (Omnibus 1-4)

by Jason Halstead

  Patrina reached over and touched his sword. She nodded and even smiled at how comforting it felt to her.

  "Den him's still kickin'. If Alto gets bashed, den dat sword gets bashed."

  "Bashed?"

  Thork picked up his spear from where he'd planted it in the sand and turned to a nearby boulder. He jammed his spear into it, green glowing tip first. The rock cracked loud enough to make Patrina jump and blink. When she looked at it again, she saw it had broken in three pieces. Thork's spear remained unharmed. "Bashed," the troll explained.

  Patrina pulled Alto's sword from the sand and looked at it. It was whole and well; she hoped that meant he was, too. "All right, but I'll hurry."

  The troll shrugged and wandered back into his hut. Patrina walked over to the edge of the river and glanced over her shoulder. She frowned and moved farther inland, following the edge of the river until she was almost in the shadows of the tall mountain next to her. She looked up and gasped. Was this the same mountain that Alto was being held in by the apes?

  Patrina jammed the sword into the ground and took off her weapon belt and boots. She left them on the sandy ground next to Alto's sword. The kelgryn princess stepped into the cold water and fought the urge to cry out. She forced herself to walk in and found the bottom fell away after a few feet. She came back to the surface, sputtering, but still refused to say anything. Thork was nowhere to be seen but she saw Bonky was sitting on the beach hunched over and looking away from her. Sulking over the latest color the troll's magic had changed his skin, no doubt.

  Patrina stripped off her clothing in the water and did her best to wash the salt out and dirt out of it. The river had a good current pushing into the sea, keeping it mostly fresh. She ducked her head under and scrubbed at her hair, wincing as she forced her fingers through the worst of the tangles. She glanced again at the troll and goblin and found them still paying her no attention. She shook her head, amazed to find nobility among such creatures, and then climbed out of the river and onto the shore.

  Patrina wrung out her clothes and put the damp fabric back on. She washed her boots off and then slid them back on her feet before cinching her weapon belt and picking up Alto's sword. She used the comb and forced it through her hair, unsnarling it one painful tug at a time.

  She'd removed the worst of the mess from her long hair by the time she returned to Thork's hut. She could hear him rummaging around inside and, when she walked around to the front of it, she gasped at the light spilling out from inside. "Thork?" she called out, uncertain if she should venture inside.

  "Ey!" Thork called out. The light died away and he stuck his head out. He blinked a few times and then offered her a toothy smile. "Yous boyfriend gots a good handle on him's fear."

  "Uh, I guess he probably does," she agreed.

  "Yous's stinkin wif it," the troll added.

  Patrina sighed. "People keep telling me I stink since I've got here. That's not something a lady is used to dealing with."

  Thork's hearty laughter echoed off the cliff walls and nearly deafened the princess. "Animals can smell fear, even da animals like dat stupid ape."

  "You know Bucky?"

  Thork laughed again. "Bucky? Dat's a stupid name for a stupid monkey. Bucky him is!"

  Patrina offered a weak smile. "So, about Alto? Bucky's got him and our friend Namitus trapped in the castle on the mountain. Can you help me get him?"

  "Firstist, yous gots da wrong weapon," Thork said.

  Patrina frowned and looked at the sword in her hand. "This is Alto's weapon."

  "Thork knows dat, dumdum. Thork made it! Da sword yous got, dat's da wrong weapon for yous."

  "I'm pretty good with it," Patrina said.

  Thork nodded. "Dats cause yous didn't know no beddur. Here, try dis!" The troll ducked back into the hut and emerged a second later with a battle axe that boasted a blade on one side and a spike on the other. It had a shorter spike sticking out of the end of it.

  Patrina took the axe, expecting the weapon to be heavy. She gasped when a pulse of energy shot up her arm and into her chest. It felt like a shock from rubbing her feet on a rug but without the pain. She pushed Alto's sword point first into the sand again and held the axe in both hands to get acquainted with it. "What is this?" she breathed.

  Thork shrugged. "Thork found it sittin' in some chest after him bashed some stupid years an years ago."

  "Was it his? The, uh, stupid's?"

  "Him had it, but him couldn't use it."

  "Why not?" Patrina frowned even though she was turning the axe over and looking it up and down.

  "Dis fing only work for stupids dat doesn't want to use it to do bad fings."

  Patrina blinked and focused on the troll. "I'm sorry, what?"

  The troll pointed at Bonky. "Bonky can't use it, him would want to bash someone just for fun or cuz him wanted to take somefing shiny. Yous can. Yous will only bash for da right reasons."

  "Oh, um, okay." Patrina frowned. "What would it do if Bonky tried?"

  "Burn him's hands off."

  Patrina nearly dropped the axe in surprise. She stared at it and nodded. "I'll use it for the right reasons, I promise."

  Thork shrugged. He turned and stepped back into his hut before coming out with a shining bundle of metal. He grinned at her and held out the bundle. "Dis da only armor Thork's got dat will fit a lady like yous."

  Patrina frowned and leaned her new axe against Alto's sword. She took the armor and unfolded it, and then held it up and stared at it. Her eyes went to the armor and then back to Thork three times before she lowered it and shook her head. "You're making fun of me, aren’t you? This leaves half my chest exposed! And my belly. And my legs! What's the point? Am I to dazzle my opponents with skin instead of steel?"

  Thork guffawed again until he calmed down so he could talk. "Dere's mojo in it, trust Thork. If yous can't dodge or block, da weapon gets pulled to da armor. Strong armor, stronger dan it looks."

  "This is ridiculous," Patrina mumbled. "And I think you're a pig!"

  The troll snorted with laughter, bearing further resemblance to a pig. "Put it on," he urged.

  Patrina scowled and glanced around. "Fine, but I can't wear much of anything beneath it!"

  Thork nodded. "Dat's da point. Da magic won't work if yous do."

  "This was made by a lecherous man, wasn't it?"

  Thork shrugged but she noted his toothy smile wasn't going away.

  "If my father ever sees this," Patrina mumbled as she walked around behind the troll's hut.

  She slipped out of her freshly scrubbed clothes and then shimmied into the armor. It was a combination of plates and chain that, while beautiful and ornate, did little to offer protection. As she fastened the buckles, the armor shifted and adjusted, making her gasp. In moments, it had a comfortable and secure fit against her skin. She'd been worried that, as a best-case scenario, she might slip out of it and put an awkward show on for people. Now that the magic had sized it to her, she realized she wouldn't have to worry about that, at least.

  The plated skirt fell to her mid-thigh, leaving her legs exposed above her boots. The skirt was attached to the bodice portion, which was little more than chain with a fabric backing over her more sensitive areas. Metal scales that were curved to protect and enhance her had been attached to the chain. The neckline of the armor plunged to the additional cleavage the armor gave her. It acted like a cuirass without the side effect of suffocating her. A hole in the abdomen of the armor invited a foe to disembowel her even as it put her stomach on display. It would be scandalous in any kelgryn or kingdom city.

  Patrina walked back around the hut and glared at the troll. Thork eyed her up and down and grinned. He held out a circlet that reminded her of a queen's crown. "Yous's pretty, but dis is part of dat armor. Dis da helm."

  "You're lucky Alto's not here; he'd cut your tongue out," Patrina snapped. "And that is not a helm; it's a piece of jewelry!"

  Thork guffawed at the empty threat. "Just put it
on, lady." Patrina scowled at him and snatched it from his hand. She slipped it into her hair without more than a quick glance and then cinched her weapon belt tighter before grabbing her axe.

  "Couple of fings," Thork said. He handed her a belt and scabbard for Alto's sword, and then he picked up a dagger. "Don't move," he warned.

  "What?" she snapped, confused. After all that he'd given her, was he threatening her?

  The troll threw the dagger at her. Patrina's eyes widened, shocked at the speed of the troll. The dagger flew at her face and then dipped low and struck her in the mail-covered breast. She grunted and stepped back, and then stared down at the knife that lay on the sand at her feet.

  "See, dat's how it works!" Thork said before laughing again at her open-mouthed expression.

  Patrina met Thork's gaze and glared at him. "Warn me when you're going to try something stupid like that!"

  Thork's laughter faded. He frowned. "Womens never have fun," he muttered. He sighed and turned back to the river. "Follow dat in. Yous's gonna have to swim a little, den yous can get on da cave and walk up."

  "Walk up to where?" Patrina craned her neck to look around his hut at the cave the river emerged from.

  "To da castle, dumdum!"

  "Oh," Patrina said. Her eyes widened a moment later. "You mean that's a secret entrance?"

  Thork nodded. "Yep, dem needed a way to get out, just in case."

  "Oh wow. Did they?"

  "What?"

  "Get out?"

  Thork nodded. "Yep, dem's just waiting for someone to bash Bucky so dem can come back and start over."

  "Start what?"

  "Whatever fruity magic dem was doing dat made Bucky in da first place."

  Patrina blinked a few times as she processed what the troll said. She stepped forward and hugged him, realizing too late that her new armor allowed far too much of the troll's skin to touch her own. She grimaced and pulled back, only to see the green skin on Thork's face turning an unusual purplish color. "Thork, thank you so much."

  The scary troll cleared his throat and mumbled something, and then coughed and tried again. "Yous gots to face yous fear to get control of it. Den yous can fank Thork. Now git going. Dem apes isn't going to put up wif Alto for long."

  Patrina nodded and grinned. She slid Alto's sword home in the scabbard and then slipped it over her back. She grabbed her new axe and hurried towards the cave, anxious to make her way up into the castle above and pay Alto back for all the times he'd rescued her.

  Chapter 14

  "You don't look so good," Namitus told the warrior as he held his arm and slumped against the crumbling crenellation on top of the tower. "Does your hand hurt that badly?"

  Alto looked over at his friend and shook his head. "No, that's not it," he said. "I mean yes, it's broken. I probably shouldn't have taken my gauntlet off to look at it; now it's too swollen to put it back on."

  Namitus frowned. "So is it bad or not?"

  "It is, but that's not what's bothering me," Alto explained.

  Namitus chuckled. "It is kind of embarrassing, being trapped on top of a tower by a family of giant apes."

  "What? Oh, I suppose, but that's not it, either," Alto said. "It's my sword."

  "You lost it, you said. I've got mine and you've still got a dagger, not that it's much good against those beasts."

  "No, it's not," Alto agreed. "I've never been without it for so long before, nor so far away."

  "It's just a sword," Namitus dismissed the warrior's magical weapon.

  "It's got part of my life in it."

  The rogue blinked. "What? Part of your life? What are you talking about?"

  "While you were cheating Tristam and that knight out of their gold at cards, we were forging a weapon mighty enough to let me kill Sarya," Alto reminded him.

  Namitus waved his hand and winced as the movement jostled his broken leg. "I was there for parts of it, I remember."

  "Remember Thork's magic healing me while he drained my blood and used it to cool the sword? That and his magic bound my life to it. Or my soul or something—I don't really understand it." Alto shrugged and sighed. He glanced over the crenellation and when he wasn't quite high enough to see, he gave up and slumped back down. "Without it at my side or in my possession, I feel like I've been fighting for days without rest, but sleep won't come."

  "And now it's lost," Namitus said with a frown. "You remember where you dropped it?"

  Alto nodded. "By a tree."

  "Oh good," the rogue quipped, "shouldn't be any trouble finding it in the jungle then."

  Alto's lip curled into a quick scowl but he didn't have the energy to hold it for more than a fleeting moment. "It's near Carson's cave. I'm sure I can find it."

  Namitus gazed at him for a moment and then looked away. "That was pretty stupid of you, charging after me."

  "It's not the first stupid thing I've done," Alto said. He sighed and added, "But it looks like it might be my last."

  "You leapt off a mountaintop to land on a dragon and kill it, yet now you're giving up because some overgrown monkeys captured us? This doesn't sound like the Alto I know."

  Alto stared at him and nodded. "It doesn't sound like me, does it? I'm so tired without my sword, I just want to lie down and give up."

  "I'll create a diversion—you climb down and escape," Namitus offered. "Go get your sword and come back and get me."

  "Yeah, because me fighting the apes worked so well the first time," Alto scoffed.

  "So bring Trina and Carson back next time. Strength in numbers."

  "They'll still outnumber us," the warrior reminded him. "Besides, you're in no shape to be moving or providing any distractions."

  "I'll figure out a way if it means I don't have to put up with you moping around!" Namitus said with a grin that failed to bring a smile to the warrior's face.

  Alto forced himself to his feet, grimacing as he brushed his broken left hand against the stone parapet that ringed the top of the square tower they'd been placed on top of. The tower overlooked the stables, a smithy, and the courtyard in front of the castle's gatehouse. Walls had once connected their prison-tower to other towers along the castle's perimeter, including the gatehouse, but the stone had been smashed and broken next to the tower, making it impossible to escape. There was no trapdoor leading down into the tower.

  Looking away from the castle, as Alto did now, he could see almost straight down the northern cliffs of the mesa the castle sat upon. The top of the jungle waited over sixty feet below for anyone foolish enough to attempt to scale the cliffs or walls. Farther out he could see the ocean to the north and northeast, but no ships sailed the calm waters.

  Alto turned and glanced over the far roof to where Bucky sat with his back against a partially crushed building. One of the female apes was picking at his hair while another one was chewing on either a tree limb or a sapling. The other two females were gone; either they'd left before the sun rose or they hadn't come back with them.

  Alto turned back to the north. Something pulled his attention that way. He frowned and studied the jungle and water below. He couldn't imagine climbing the cliffs to escape and trying to jump would be certain death.

  "What is it?" Namitus asked him.

  "I don't know," Alto admitted. "Probably nothing. It just feels like there's something out there."

  "I think there's enough in here," Namitus muttered.

  Alto nodded but he continued to stare. He turned when he heard one of the apes moving. Bucky rose up to his full height, standing tall enough that his head was just above the level of the tower. He walked towards them, each step sounding loud enough to make Alto unsure if he felt the ground shake or if it was his imagination.

  Bucky stopped next to the tower and reached up to place a large hand on the crenellations. He grunted a few times, his breath blasting over Namitus and making the rogue gag. He tried to move away but shifting his lower leg made him groan.

  Bucky turned away and looked at the gate
to the castle. One of the missing apes crawled through the gates, moving on three legs and clutching her right arm to her chest. Alto wondered if she'd been hurt by something.

  As soon as the female ape was through, she straightened and walked towards Bucky. She held a branch torn from a tree with several bunches of bananas hanging from it. Bucky took it with the hand that had been resting on the tower and grunted at her a few times. She reached out and petted him and then turned and used her hands and feet to walk over to rest against what might have once been a guard house. Bucky plucked three bunches of bananas off the branch, crushing and bruising most of them, and set them on the top of the tower.

  "Feeding time," Namitus muttered.

  Bucky grunted and pushed the bananas with his finger, shoving one bunch towards Alto and the other towards Namitus. The third he left sitting in the middle of the tower. He grunted again before pinching off a fourth bunch and tossing all of them into his mouth at once and chewing on them. He grunted again, pointing at each man, and then stopped and watched.

  "He wants us to eat," Alto said. The warrior shook his head. "I didn’t know monkeys were smart."

  "Everything eats," Namitus said.

  "Yes, but why does he care if we do?" Alto asked.

  "Fattening us up so he can eat us," the rogue suggested.

  Alto frowned and reached out to tear a green and yellow banana from the bunch. "They've been eating trees and fruit so far. I don't think he wants to eat us."

  "You forget about that walking snake?" Namitus asked him. "Carson called it a crawler."

  Alto frowned. He had forgotten. "Carson distracted me. Did they eat that crawler or just kill it? I didn't see."

  Namitus tilted his head. "I guess I don't know. I thought they ate it, but maybe they didn't. You're right, we were distracted."

  Bucky grunted again and reached over to push the bananas near Namitus even closer to him. The slender man sighed and broke one off the bunch, and then peeled it back and took a bite. "There, happy?" he said to Bucky with a mouthful of fruit.

  The ape grunted again and showed his large teeth. Bucky slammed his hand into his chest and then turned and walked away, using his hands and feet to cross the courtyard so he could settle in with his back to the broken building. His eyes stayed on them even when all three of the females moved closer to him.