Kraken Killjoy (Son of Fire Book 2)

by Aaron Crash

  That final piece of magic felt like a puzzle piece I could slip into an unfinished puzzle.

  I exhaled. The fire rushed from my core, through my lungs, and out my mouth. I bathed the wall with flames, such a blinding hot heat that the stone turned red and then melted into magma.

  All three of the women smiled and clapped at me.

  I snorted flames. “Hot damn, literally.”

  Figg stepped up. “Have you mastered your strange leveling? Have you climbed the skill tree to the very top? What of your Anjagar Dayva abilities?”

  Dryx furrowed her brow. “In your ancient Sayskritch, that would be dragon angel. What are these abilities?”

  “My birthright.” I frowned. I’d been able to breathe fire, finally, but I’d not unlocked the central nodes, so Magica Porta was still beyond my reach. It seemed I might have to master every spell on the skill tree until I could unlock those powers. That meant I had fourteen more spell categories to learn.

  Still I couldn’t complain too much. Figg ran over to me and threw her arms around my wrist. “You are amazing, Axel, for coming so far so fast. I never would’ve thought it was possible. When you were suffering so, on our way to Sweetleaf, I was worried you might break your atma. Yet here you are, better than ever.”

  I nuzzled her hair with my huge head.

  Dryx was staring at me with a wicked gleam in her eye. “You promised, Axel, that you’d take care of my Quickening. Well, I think now is a good time. You and I can be together. And the ugly girls can find solace with each other.”

  Figg then surprised me again. She left me, walked recklessly over to Dryx, and kissed her on the cheek. “You might find me ugly, Lalindryx, but I find you beautiful. I’ve always found your kind beautiful. I was enraptured the first time Geeze told me a story about the angels who fought dragons in the sky. Then I studied the Wingkin at my university and pored over sketches in different books. I used to fantasize about having sex with a Jataksha woman, or man, I didn’t care. It’s one of the reasons why I wanted to summon your kind to help us.”

  Then she walked over and drew Rhee over to the shelter. “Here we go!” the elf said with a happy shout.

  I shifted into a human, but I kept my Homo Draconis wings.

  Dryx stood there, touching her face with her hand. I pulled her into the shelter, where my summoner and the sea elf were already naked and kissing, Rhee lying back on a stone bed while Figg bent over her.

  Dryx took off her tunic. She got on her hands and knees, and I was surprised when she put her face near Rhee’s, to kiss the elf. She had to wait her turn because Figg was already there.

  This time, I could touch Dryx’s wings during sex. She loved that.

  We did it doggy style. Figg climbed up and straddled Rhee’s face.

  While the elf licked the sorceress, Dryx sucked on Rhee’s tits while she rubbed her pearl nearly lost in her golden curls.

  I slid my cock into Dryx’s wet pink sex, keeping her body straight while holding on to her wings. The harder I fucked her, the harder I grabbed her wings, until she let out a series of growls and groans. And then I let myself orgasm into her. We both got enough energy for the flight home.

  Figg and Rhee found their own fun.

  Afterwards, we washed in the fountain. The bubbling water from the deep cistern felt cold and refreshing. It felt good to remove the soot and grime of Sweetleaf.

  We then winged our way across the grasslands until Foulwater Bay came into view. The sun was setting behind us, the red light making the sea sparkle. I felt relief at the sight of the Old City, the Hintala Village, and the New Pier.

  The merfolk hadn’t attacked. We still had time to prepare the sea walls.

  I landed in the marketplace, which on a Friday night should have been full of life and people. However, the only faces I saw were fearful. Dryx landed next to me, and she felt the anxiety as well. She drew a sword. Rhee and Figg slid off my back.

  Geeze came hobbling toward us. By the time he got to us, he was wheezing too hard to talk. “The... merfolk... they...”

  “The Aquaterreb,” Dryx corrected.

  Rhee had her own words for them. “Fin lickers. Fish fuckers. I’ll call them whatever I want to.”

  The ancient elf gasped in a series of breaths. It took a bit for me to realize he was laughing.

  “Yes, those people, the Aquaterreb.” He swallowed. “Thank the seven angels you are back.”

  “No, it is the Gardener you should be thanking,” Dryx said.

  “Shut up,” Figg snapped. She’d kept her temper in check for days now, but this was her town and her family that were on the line. “Grandfather, what is the problem?”

  Geeze took her hands in his. “Finniwigg, the Aquaterreb will arrive tomorrow morning. They found a third family to help them. I tried to expose Illbro’s lies, but I don’t think Princess Ibbithy believed me. The merfolk are coming, and they are coming in numbers. The Flow magic showed me.”

  Figg’s lips pressed together in a barely held back snarl. “Then we work the night through. I have the Ksu Jalana. Axel has the Calcifax staff. We will build walls that have never been seen before. And we will save our city.”

  Rhee sighed. “I just want a bed. Some drinks. No, make that a lot of drinks, and I got a gift from Cash. I was wanting to try it.”

  I’d seen her put the gift in her satchel outside of the centaur’s bar.

  Dryx pushed past her to get to Figg. “Finniwigg Nightshine, we will work. And if you are running out of magical power, I will sleep with you. You might be ugly, but I am seeing the beauty of your soul.”

  “Gah! Not now!” Figg left us, running toward the New Pier.

  “Figg is too human to get shakti from you, Dryx,” I said in my rumbling voice. I was still a dragon, towering over them.

  Rhee moved quickly to Dryx. “I probably wouldn’t get any power from your pussy either, but I am so willing to try.”

  The sky warrior looked baffled. She wasn’t sure who to believe.

  “I definitely get shakti from sex,” I told her. “But Figg is right to run. I’ll go and pick her up. Hello, Geeze, can you bring us some food and water? We’ll be on the New Pier, doing a little nighttime excavation.”

  I flew over and snatched up Figg. I felt her sobbing in my claws. She’d been so relieved, thinking we wouldn’t have to fight the clock. Yet here we were, battling the minutes, and there was no guarantee that the minutes wouldn’t win.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  FROM WHEN THE MOON set, I figured it was three in the morning. Good thing we had a spare moon so we had some light.

  I rested in my True Form on the southern part of our sea wall, taking stock of the situation. It had taken hours of grueling work, but we had most of our wall built. It was a muddy, drippy affair, covered in seaweed and smelling like a sewage treatment plant.

  I wanted to finish the last section quickly. I needed to get at least thirty-nine winks—I knew I couldn’t afford to get forty. I’d be lucky to get one. At least I’d eaten well. When trying to save a town from sea monsters, I recommend stuffing yourself with fried taggoggo root and buckets of fried jimps. Mumi kept us all fed. I also used her storeroom to restore our shakti. I was pretty sure I wasn’t the first person to bang in Mumi’s back room. I’d been refueling Figg, and she’d been refueling me, with Rhee joining in to help. I liked Rhee’s help. That slutty elf could talk so dirty right when I needed it.

  I took off from my perch on the southern part of the wall to check over our defenses. We didn’t have any official gates or doorways through the battlements. We could fix that later, but for now, we just needed a barrier between us and the Aquaterreb. I hoped they’d bring more kraken. I wanted another fish fry.

  We’d been forced to create underwater portals, blocked by iron bars, so the Yellowmud River could flow out to the bay. Otherwise, we’d have had a dam instead of wall. I didn’t want to flood the town I was trying to save. Once we beat back the merfolk, I could create a gap in the
wall so the fishing boats could get out.

  Flying over our defenses, I had to admire our medieval work which stretched from the southern to the north shore. Ten feet tall and six feet wide, the walkway ran behind the merlons and crenels of the battlements itself. Fun fact, you know the square-toothed top of your typical castle wall? The stickie-uppie things are called merlons. Where you stand and fire arrows are called crenels. Taken together, they are all a crenellation.

  We still had one section of the wall to build, right in front of the Kaccarra Ank Shipwright. Victorio Varuna was storing some of the boats that usually sat on the pier. Other ships we’d stuck behind the wall, near Mumi’s, with buoys set up so the vessels didn’t crush their hulls against each other.

  Agni torches burned on the wall, giving it an epic feel. I felt the pressure to finish. I’d be much happier once the fighting started. Then I wouldn’t have to think or feel very much. It was just war, and I’d been built for that.

  I landed and shifted into my partial form. Figg was sitting on the ground, her clothes stained with mud, her hair wet. A brazier of flames smoked next to her, and she was enjoying the heat. Rhee was checking on the Twilight Gem, down near Mumi’s. Knowing Rhee, she would be sipping wine while she hunted for more of the holy hand grenades we’d used against the merfolk before.

  Figg had already offered to help me with my Agni Enchant spells so I could make Rhee all sorts of wicked weapons. I’d created a flare gun, that night, for Dryx, so she could warn us when the merfolk finally showed.

  It was more magical rod than gun, but it worked about the same.

  The sky warrior came flying in from Foulwater Bay. A leatherworker in town had tailored thick armor, so it would fit around Dryx’s wings. The buckles securing it to her were complicated, and yet, they had a certain BDSM charm. She had her kurrachiyya, the twin swords, on her hips.

  Instead of pants, she had a thick leather skirt. Her legs were covered by high leather boots, painted red for some reason. I was low on shakti, tired beyond reason, and yet, when I saw her in that leather with the red boots, I got a little stiff.

  Figg smoked a bidi, eyes closed. She was full of anger and grumbles. “I hate this fucking wall. I hate this fucking town. We should let those fin lickers have it.”

  “You love this town,” I said. “Besides, we have to save it because I want to reopen the brothel. Make some money on the side. I’ll get me a pimp hat like Rhee.”

  Figg gave me a withering look. “I’m too drained for your jokes.”

  Dryx crouched, fluttering her wings. She touched Figg’s hand.

  My summoner opened her eyes.

  Dryx eased the bidi from Figg’s fingers. The sky warrior took a drag. Exhaling, she nodded. “You are weary. I understand that. And you say you hate this town, but you don’t. Being responsible for a place is difficult. I served the sky king. I protected the city of Al-Mawkwa-Takka. I know it is wearying, and yet, it is our duty. I will help the dragon man get an erection. He can inject energy into you.”

  Then it struck me. Of course Dryx didn’t think it was strange that sex gave us power. It was sex that kept her wings and muscles working. Did she have an atma? I didn’t know, and I didn’t know how her banshee-shriek worked. It probably had something to do with what she called her hu’kay. Not sure. We could figure out such things once the night’s work was done. And the night’s work was saving the town and killing the merfolk. Or maybe explaining to Ibbithy Alyyb BuBano that she was being used. It was possible she could be reasoned with.

  I did have to protest. “The dragon man doesn’t need help getting hard. But you’re smart, Dryx. Where should we go?”

  “Why not do it right here?” the sky warrior asked.

  Townspeople were bringing weapons up to the battlements, lighting torches, and bringing people water. The entire place was busy. For now, the old people, the women who couldn’t fight, and the children were in the college in town. If things turned south, it was a straight shot to the west gate. They could flee out into the fields. They could make another town at the outpost on the Yellowmud River. But they wouldn’t need to. Because we weren’t going to lose.

  Figg got up. She offered me the bidi.

  I shook my head. “I have my own little bit of tebbeck in the morning, and that’s all. If I don’t limit myself, I’ll smoke like a chimney for the rest of my life, and our town couldn’t afford it.”

  Dryx took the bidi. “I’ve had this tebbeck before. But I prefer the quacha of Rydd R’Tah. However, I’m interested in this dully weed I hear about.”

  “And I’m curious about quacha,” Figg said with an easy smile.

  We found a back room at the shipyard. Surrounded by tools, listening to the gurgle of the water beneath us, I shifted human. I didn’t need to worry about clothes. The only thing I needed was the stone staff. I set it aside. Figg found a workbench about the right height for us. She got on it, pulled up her leather skirt, and opened her legs. I had sex with her while Dryx stood next to me, kissing me.

  I was a little surprised when Dryx kissed Figg. But like the sky warrior had said, she was learning to look past Figg’s lack of wings to the soul of the woman herself. And Figg’s soul was strong, beautiful, and so full of honor.

  The sex was good, but I missed seeing their tits, which were under their armor. War is not very conducive to sex—most of the time battles and boobs don’t mix.

  Refreshed, the three of us hurried back to the dock. Dryx gave us both pecks on the cheek before flying off over Foulwater Bay to run recon. She had the flare stick thrust through her belt.

  Figg pressed her legs together, grimacing then smiling.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Just a bit sore,” she said with a shy grin. Then she grew serious. “Let’s just get this done. Vankaat injit!”

  Figg drew up water and suspended it in the air. At the same time, she shouted, “Ksaat injit!” She parted the silt. Both of her brands, used in unison, were enough to get us down to the bedrock.

  Then it was my turn.

  As a Homo Draconis I sailed down to the rock below and slammed my staff into the muck-stained stone there. The ground moaned, groaned, and cracked open. I then rode the wall upward. My new wall was slick with slime and smelled like an ass swamp. Riding the rock, I rose until I was even with the other battlements. There was about a foot of space on either side.

  Figg let the sand, silt, and sea storm back into place, creating a temporary maelstrom.

  Figg and I sealed the spaces on either side of the new wall with more Ksu magic. We also created a crenellation at the top. Other people came and set up torches.

  Our work wasn’t done. Palmer Barggby, the owner of the general store, brought me several long iron poles. Holding one of the poles, I cast an Agni Enchant spell. “Agnaat injit!” Magical fire, more white than yellow, flickered along the edge of the pole above where I held it.

  Thank goodness for leveling. I leapt into the black water. In my serpentine form, I swam using my long tail to swish me through the water. The flickering pole was like an underwater welding torch in my fist, giving me light in the silty dark swirl of the water around me.

  At the wall, I used the stone staff to open a round hole. That would allow water flow. I eased the iron poles into place, then sealed them with more stone. The light pole continued to spit and sputter. I’d sealed off that hole so the merfolk wouldn’t be able to swim through.

  I swam to the surface. There, I cast a spell to turn off the Agni magic enchanting the iron pole. “Agnaat nivir.”

  The underwater glow subsided.

  Figg lit another bidi and kissed me. More shakti passed between us.

  Geeze came tottering up. He appraised our ramparts. Behind him, a torch glowed, lighting up his ear hair. His ear hair was magical in the early morning hours. Okay, I was getting punchy. I needed to sleep.

  “Yes.” The old-timer nodded. “We have our wall.”

  I went over, towering over the stooped man,
who had been very tall when he was younger, but time shrinks us all, even elves.

  I put on my general hat and started giving orders. “So, Geeze, you’re going to fight on the north part of the wall with Bragg Bharta and most of the tougher women, and that would include the rajani.”

  “Good,” the ancient elf wheezed. “I like those women.”

  “A bit too much,” Figg said with a sly grin.

  I turned to her. “You and Rhee will take the south. Make sure you keep an eye out in the water. Those merfolk might find the portcullis underneath and try and break through. We don’t want our walls to be breached. As for me, Dryx and I will take the center walls. But I have a secret plan. I want to see if I can get to Ibbithy. I might be able to talk some sense into her.”

  Figg shoved me. Good thing I was eight feet tall and had a long tail, otherwise, I might’ve been pushed over. “You will not! You will kill that fish whore if you see her. They decided to attack us, they want revenge, and they want us gone. No, Axel, kill them all. Bring fire to the water and roast them alive.”

  Geeze was used to Figg’s anger, and he eased her back from me. “Finniwigg, Axel is right in this case. Every second we fight, there is a good chance more of us will die. We are protecting the people of our village just as much as we are protecting the village.”

  Figg shook her head. “Ibbithy won’t listen. The squid suckers will never listen.”

  “We’ll see,” I rumbled. “But trust me, Figg, if the fish princess can’t listen to reason, I won’t hesitate. In this universe, you’re either an asshole, or you’re not. It’s been my job to remove assholes from office.”

  “Your job?” she asked.

  “Long story.” I brushed my big scaly face up against her. “Let’s try and get some sleep. Just a couple of hours might really make the difference between life and death.”

  We took some blankets with us, and I flew us to the top of the shipyard. We found flat space on the roof. Before we slept, we had sex again. I wanted as much shakti as I could get before the coming fight. It was surreal, pushing myself into Figg, under the starry sky, with the torches flickering on the battlements.