Dragon Adventurer collection

by K V Deal

  It must have been a surprise attack too. No sign of the lock being damaged.

  Poking my head around the corner, I couldn't help but let out a curse. A quick count showed roughly 20 bodies scattered around the room. Some of them in several pieces. And no sign of what had done it.

  My tail began to shake, the rattle going at a frantic pace.

  I stepped into the room, trying to keep my eyes open.

  “Holy...” Carah whispered as she stepped into the room behind me.

  There was a variety of different types of wounds--cuts, stabs, a few crushing blows... No sign of anything having been eaten.

  Axle rushed past me to kneel at one of the bodies. He gently reached down to turn it over.

  There on the chest was a cauterized letter “I” surrounded by a shield.

  Charlie said something that would have made sailors wince. “It was too much to hope.”

  Even I knew what that symbol was, and I had only spent a couple of days in the actual city. “I thought they were all gone.”

  That symbol meant Inquisitors. A group of Day Ones who as far as anyone could tell took every chance they could to kill a Changed, anyone who woke up after that first day. I’ll admit, I didn't know too much about them. My first two weeks after waking up had been a bit hectic to say the least. I’d fought and even killed a few of these guys when they’d tried to assassinate me and kidnap Charlie and Carah's twin sister, Brittany. Even with all of that, I still didn't really understand why they did what they did.

  Last I’d known, we’d smashed their base when we tried to rescue Charlie and Brittany. I’d thought that the majority of the Inquisitors had been killed in an assault on the only other known dungeon.

  “Not even a chance,” Charlie gritted out. “The best guess was that we didn't even get half of the bastards. I was hoping that the survivors would have gotten the message and gone to ground, but doesn't seem like they’re that smart. Ya might want to get that lamp out.”

  Shoot. Right.

  I quickly reached to my belt and adjusted the old copper lamp hanging there. It looked like it had come out of an Arabian Nights play with its almost teapot like shape and curved grip. The most astonishing thing, though, was that the small flame danced merrily away at the tip of its wick—nothing seemed to be able to put it out. The lamp had been burning since the moment I had woken up. It had saved my life maybe three or four times already. All in fights with Inquisitors.

  See, those bastards had a special toy. A bit of fabric that almost every single one carried. It was strange that they all had it. Finding even two of the same magic item outside of a dungeon was unheard of. Especially something like this. See, this little scrap of fabric turned them invisible.

  Fun right?

  Those pieces of cloth were a big part of what made them so hard to deal with. And they were why my lamp was so useful. It dominated all other light sources in the room, and its light revealed the shadows of invisible inquisitors. Right now, it was like my lamp was the only source of light in the room. Oh sure, you could see daylight through the open door, but the sunlight was more like a painting.

  I glanced around. Looking for any out-of-place shadows.

  “Not seeing anything,” Carah said, moving over to cover my back.

  “Same.”

  “Keep the door open.” Charlie pulled a clay pigeon out of a pouch at her waist. With a quick mutter to the bird, she tossed it towards the open door. Mid-toss, the clay burst to pieces releasing a small sparrow made of mist that flitted away out the door.

  As Charlie was doing that, Axle had moved through a few of the bodies. “No magic items, no weapons,” he muttered. His face was drawn as he searched.

  “So, here’s the nasty little question,” Charlie asked, “did they leave? Or…”

  I followed Charlie’s line of sight to the stairs leading down into the dungeon.

  “Who cares,” Carah said, cutting into all of our thoughts. “Let’s just get out of here.”

  Axle bit his lip. “No…we can’t just yet.”

  “Don't tell me we have to wait here till somebody else shows up?” Carah groaned. “They killed twenty people! How are the four of us supposed to do anything if they come back?”

  She did have a point.

  “We can't just leave this place unguarded,” Charlie explained with a grimace, “but this does feel kinda dumb.”

  Axle glanced around the room nervously. “Okay. I understand this isn't a good situation. But we can’t just leave all these people here.” He gestured at the bodies.

  “Why? They’re dead. They don't care,” Cara countered. I think that's the second, no third, coldest thing I'd ever heard her say.

  “And if it was Brittany?” Charlie shot her a look. “Watch the instincts.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” Carah looked away.

  “I...might be able to store them.” I really didn't want to try to put them in with my stuff, but if it got us out of here...

  “Now there's an idea.” Axle said, grinning.

  “You think it will work?” Charlie asked giving me a dubious look.

  “Only one way to find out,” I shrugged and looked at Axle.

  “Go for it.”

  Reaching out, I grabbed the leg of one of the corpses. “Store this.”

  No such luck.

  With a flash of light, my hand was blown back as the recoil from the failure wrenched my finger backward.

  “You okay?” Carah winced as she saw me cradling my hand.

  “Yeah,” I grunted. “That’s not gonna be an option though.”

  “Kinda guessed that.” She shook her head and then looked at the other two. “So, what’s Plan C?”

  I glanced around the room as everyone took a moment to think. The thing that really got me about all of this was how one-sided it all seemed. There weren’t any bodies from the other side or even signs that they had been wounded. I could understand that if it had been a surprise attack, but from what Axle was saying a surprise attack really didn't make all that much sense. We had been keeping this place pretty much locked down, so how could the Inquisitors smuggle enough people in to make sure that they got everyone first try?

  “Alright. Here’s what we're going to do.” Axle broke through my thoughts. “Carah and Charlie, go across the street and see if you can get that house open quietly. Jake, you and I are going to start dragging the bodies over there. We can bunker down in there until reinforcements arrive.”

  “That sounds like a better plan,” Charlie nodded, as she headed for the door.

  Says the woman who doesn't have to drag the dead bodies. Well, whatever.

  In the end, it really was just me moving the bodies. Axel's elven frame, while making him a fast and deadly archer, really wasn't suited to heavy labor. By the time I had moved four, he finally got his first body to the house, and, actually, I had to carry it into the room where we were storing them.

  “Why don't you keep lookout while we help Jake.” Carah was patting the exhausted Axle on the arm as I went back for another load.

  By the time we finished, the room was pretty full.

  It wasn't a pleasant sight, either. Maybe I could find something to cover them up like they did in TV shows?

  I walked back to the others who were currently hunkered down in what used to be the house’s front room.

  “Hey, I'm gonna go look around.”

  Axle and Charlie were crouched at the edge of a window peering out into the street, while Carah sat next to them with her back against the wall.

  “Fine. Stay away from windows,” Axle muttered as he watched the door to my house.

  Charlie had been sure to close it behind me when we had the last body out. If that door even twitched, we’d know there was somebody inside.

  Carah stood up and smoothly came over, trying to stay out of sight from the street. “I’ll tag along. I'm just a third wheel here.”

  Charlie shot her a look before turning back to the window. “Fine. Make
sure he leaves that lamp of his someplace that doesn't have a window. I don't want it giving us away.”

  Oops. I hadn't even thought about that. I was so used to the thing I didn't even notice it anymore. I stepped back into the other room to hide its effect.

  Carah slipped out after me. “So, what are we looking for?”

  “Something to cover them up with.” I jerked my finger at our impromptu morgue.

  “Oh.” She glanced over at the open door. “That’s a good idea.”

  “Should we split up?”

  “Nah, lets stick together.” She grinned. “Never know what might happen in a strange place like this.”

  I shrugged. Guess it made sense.

  As I recalled, back before the change this had been the house of a roughly forty, maybe closer to forty-five, year-old woman. I never did really get to know her. I mostly saw her getting into or out of her fancy car in her crisp suit.

  It felt a little bit strange to be walking through her house now. It was obvious that she hadn't been back since the change. The house looked untouched.

  Actually, now that I thought about it, that was strange too. The Search and Rescue team that found me would have checked this house. Hell, they pretty much broke down my door in order to make sure that I wasn't hiding somewhere inside. Now really wasn't the time to try and figure all that out. For the moment, we needed to focus on just making it through the afternoon.

  “Hey, let’s go this way.” Carah gave my arm a tug, pulling me towards a hallway heading back into the house.

  I turned and followed along after her. Hopefully, we wouldn't run into any nasty surprises.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Chapter 3

  It didn't take us long to search the place. It was pretty empty. Very little in the way of furniture--a table here, a chair there. Mostly what filled the rooms was artwork. Paintings hung on almost every wall, and there were sculptures in just about every room. The art ranged from modern stuff to things that looked like they came out of the Greek wing of a museum.

  I guess the lady had really liked art.

  After some searching, we managed to find a few sheets and a blanket in the master bedroom on the second floor that fit our needs.

  Minutes later, the dead were covered. We checked on Charlie and Axle.

  “How’s it going?” Carah told me to wait and slipped into the front room.

  She was a lot better at being sneaky then I was. I blame my new size, shiny scales, my tail, and my lamp. I listened from the hall, out of sight of the windows.

  “Nothing so far on the Inquisitor side, but no reinforcements either.” There was a beat of silence. I guess Charlie was looking around. “Where’s the dragon?”

  “In the hall.”

  “Huh. Smart. How about ya keep him occupied for a bit. Maybe explore some more while we wait.”

  I felt my face scrunch up into a glower. Acting like I needed a babysitter. It was kind of insulting. On the other hand, I did want to explore the place some more. Something was nagging at me, saying that there was more here to find. I’d felt like this before too. Usually it meant that there was something magic somewhere around and my instincts wanted me to find it.

  “Sounds good, but how will we know if you need us?”

  “I’ll come grab you if something comes up,” Axle said.

  “Or ya might just hear us start shouting if it gets really bad,” Charlie added darkly.

  “Alright,” Carah agreed, “we'll keep our ears open.”

  In seconds, she was back out in the hall.

  I gave her a thumbs up. “I caught that.”

  “Okay. Well then, Dragon Boy, sniff us out some treasure!”

  “It doesn't work like that! I'm not some kind of bloodhound!” I hissed at her, fighting to keep my voice down.

  “Right, right. Where do you want to start?” She glossed over my complaint, rubbing her hands together.

  Fine. Be that way.

  “Let’s go back to the bedroom. I want to take another look there,” I sighed.

  We padded back up the stairs, Carah making sure I stayed away from the windows as we moved.

  The bedroom was just as we had left it. A queen bed in the middle of a jungle of strange green art. It looked like Picasso had carved a forest of five-foot-tall trees. They filled much of the room, leaving only two paths, one to a space around the bed and another to a closet. The forest only came up to about my chest, so I could easily see the rest of the room, which basically amounted to the bed, several large paintings and the before-mentioned closet.

  We walked over to the bed with its two flanking paintings. As we stopped beside the mattress, Carah opened her mouth to say something, paused, then snapped it shut, blushing. Succubus instincts, I guessed.

  I turned away to give her a moment and began to eye the room.

  Yep. There was something here. I resisted sniffing the air. As far as I could figure, it didn't actually help, and I wasn't going to give Carah any more ammo for her bloodhound comments.

  There was a creek from the bed behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Carah standing on it, looking around. She saw me looking and grinned. “You may see over these things just fine, but I can use the extra height.”

  I nodded and looked back to... Wait. Something caught my eye next to the bed. One of the paintings was at a slightly odd angle to the wall. Like there was something behind it.

  I reached out, gripped the edge and gave it a pull. Soundlessly it swung outward revealing an ornate safe set into the wall.

  “Really?” Carah laughed. “You gotta be kidding me! That is so cliché!”

  I smiled at her, then turned back to the safe. I considered the three tumblers on its front, and my tail began to lash.

  This is going to be tough to crack.

  A red hand reached past me and eagerly gripped the safe's handle.

  Well, I guess she can give it a shot but it's not like…

  The safe swung open at her slight tug.

  “Really?” I said, echoing Carah’s first appraisal of the safe. Who just left a safe like this open?

  “Jake! Look!” Carah was almost jumping on the bed as she pointed into the safe. Inside was a mess of gold coins. “Were gonna be rich!”

  I swallowed hard, bracing myself for the instinctive reaction of MINE that usually accompanied the sight of gold.

  It never happened. Not that it was a bad thing, but it was a surprise.

  Something about the coins did nag at me though. While there were a lot of them in there, they were mostly in the back. There were just a few upfront. And there was a cluster of trinkets that were piled up against the side of the safe.

  “I think somebody has been here before, since the change,” I muttered.

  “What? Why would they have left all of this?” Carah was reaching into the safe as far as she could. Her arm only got about two thirds of the way in, but she dragged every bit of gold she could reach to the front. “Help me get this out!”

  Height does have some advantages, such as longer arms. I began to pull out the lingering gold from against the back. I tried really hard not to think about the feel of the coins against my hands, instead I forced my mind to focus on the impressions I had about the safe. “Dunno. But it feels like somebody grabbed all of the…stuff they could and left the rest.” It had happened to me, so I wouldn't be surprised if someone else had the same experience. My tail began to lash as I thought back to the stuff I had left behind in my house.

  Carah plopped down on the bed and motioned for me to put the gold next to her.

  I frowned at her as I extended my hand over the bed. “Release Rucksack.” The copper storage ring on my finger glowed for a moment, and then the rucksack fell down onto the bed.

  She looked down at the sack then back up at me with a suspicious expression. “You do know were going to share this right?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. But this isn't the time to count it. Load it in the bag, and we'll check it all out late
r.”

  “Oh, I see how it is,” Carah grumbled. “Make me do the hard work.”

  “If I start counting that stuff, I don't know when I'll stop.” In fact, it was hard enough just to leave it alone after moving it all to the front of the safe. Hoarding instincts suck.

  She frowned at me, then her eyes widened. “Oh shoot. I get it, sorry.” Grabbing the bag, she stood up and began shoveling the gold away out of sight. “Here. Take a look at those.” She tossed the knickknacks from the side of the safe onto the bed.

  I forced myself to turn away from watching her to look at the new pile. Kneeling down to examine them, it was quickly apparent they were mostly junk. Some small statues and a miniature painting, but...

  I hesitantly reached out a hand and pulled three items off to the side of the side of the pile. One was a book with the title Magic for Hearth and Home, that I figured might be worth a look. The other two, they were oozing that feeling that I had come to connect with magic. One was a brooch with a black pearl set in the center. The other was a small, ornate coin that seemed to have been made of clear ruby.

  The coin felt normal, at least as far as this crazy new sense went. But the other, there was something about it that felt... It was almost like it was both disgusting and darkly attractive. I was wary of it. I didn’t know how else to think about it. I didn't want to put it on, that was for sure.

  “-Get down here!” Charlie’s voice echoed up to us from the bottom of the stairs.

  Shoot!

  “Damn it!” Carah ran over holding out the bag. “Just throw it all in! We can look later.”

  I hesitated a moment, trying to decide if I should bring the brooch.

  “Come on Jake!” She shoved the bag at me.

  Okay. I'll deal with it later.

  Grabbing up everything off the bed I tossed it in then grabbed the bag. “Store this!” With a flash, the sack was safely tucked away into my ring.

  Carah was already out the door, her rapier in her hand as she ran down the stairs.

  Fast!

  I scrambled after her, a hand gripping the handle of my knife. Unlike Carah, I didn't trust myself running down stairs with a weapon in hand. Knowing me, I would probably trip and stab myself.