Dragon Adventurer collection

by K V Deal

  “We'll both have water,” Carah grinned as she sat across from me.

  The waitress nodded, “I'll have them right out.” Then she pointed at a large wooden board that had a list of dishes carved into it. “That's our menu. Just wave me over when you’re ready!”

  As soon as the waitress moved off, Carah leaned forward. “Sorry for ordering for you. It just jumped into my head that somebody who can breathe fire probably shouldn't drink flammable drinks.”

  That...

  I winced at the thought. “God, I hope it doesn't work that way.”

  “Sooo...Charlie...,” Cara said, “I may have an idea.” She looked over at the water’s edge, while repeatedly drawing a circle on the table.

  Something about how she said that made me nervous. “What?”

  “Well…she could fall in the lake. No railings on anything, you know? Why, if someone happened to rip her jacket saving her...”

  “No. Too risky.” I frowned thoughtfully and leaned back in my chair. “I think we're going to have to wait and watch for an opportunity.”

  Carah wrinkled her nose at that. “Leaving her under the sway of whatever that is? That seems like a bad idea.”

  “I really don't want to hurt her trying to fix this.”

  “Humph,” Carah huffed. She crossed her arms and looked away.

  I spotted Charlie and Axle as they walked into the room and gave them a wave. From the looks on their faces they hadn't had any success. They made their way across the room to join us.

  I raised an eyebrow at the pair as they sat down. At the same time, I reached out and felt for magic around the two. Axle was fine still, thank goodness. As for Charlie...no change.

  “No luck,” she grumbled.

  “We had a little,” Axle countered. His frustration was evident, but he forced a cheerful tone. “She still lives there. She just wasn't home.”

  “Her neighbor hadn’t seen her in days!”

  Axle closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Charlie, we have to start somewhere. We're trying to find a shape shifter. Unless we get really lucky, or she wants to be found, there really isn't anything we can do about it.” It sounded like this wasn't the first time they’d had this conversation.

  I felt kinda guilty for leaving the two of them alone together.

  “Hey, let’s not worry about that right now,” I cut my way into the conversation. “Let’s just grab some food, and then we'll see if we can come up with a plan.”

  The meal was quiet, as we all took a moment to eat and think.

  That, and the food was really good. Everything this place did was some sort of grilled fish according to the menu. Each of us had ordered something different.

  Me? I got something they called the Predator Platter. Personally, I couldn't see a difference between mine and any of the others’ orders. All our plates had a slab of fish on a bed of greens.

  “So,” Carah looked over at Charlie. “How do you think they handle eating these down there?” she asked, pointing at the water with a fork.

  Charlie glanced over at the pool. It was just out of sight. “Ya know, I'm just not sure.” Interest colored her tone.

  “They did offer us seating next to the edge--what they called the splash zone--I should have realized you’d want to sit there,” Carah continued. There was something about her tone. Just a little too relaxed... “I bet they wouldn't mind if we just took a look.”

  “Seems like it might be kinda rude...” Even as she said it, Charlie was already putting her fork down.

  “Come on, I bet they wouldn't mind.” Carah grinned, getting out of her chair.

  “I guess just a peak wouldn't hurt.” Charlie stood and began to walk over to the edge, Carah right behind her.

  “Nice of Carah to find something to catch her interest,” Axle said with a tired smile.

  The way Carah was standing behind Charlie as she leaned over the water... Suddenly, it clicked in my head.

  “If that was what it was,” I said with a growl, standing up and striding over to them. Just as Carah reached back to shove Charlie in, I grabbed her arm.

  “I thought I said no!” I snapped.

  Carah looked up at me in shock. Charlie whirled around to look at the two of us in surprise. Then Carah’s expression changed from shock to anger. “We have to get that off her! Also, don't fucking grab me like that!” She yanked her arm free.

  “Get what off her?” Charlie asked darkly as she eyed the two of us. She took a step sideways, getting a clear path towards the doorway.

  Shit.

  This felt like the wrong way to do it.

  Here? Now?

  My brain blanked on any other way. Still, I didn't want to cause a scene. Or a panic if push came to shove.

  “Charlie, let's go outside and talk for a second, okay? I’ll explain everything.” I held up my hands, palms out, trying to calm her down.

  “Really? Ya will?” The sarcasm was plain in her voice as her hand inched up to grab her chest.

  Right where I knew that thing was.

  Ah, crap. Not a good sign.

  “Fine. Let's go outside.” Sweat was beading on her forehead as she gave us a sickly smile.

  “Let me just handle the bill,” Axle muttered as he hurried over to a small desk by the door.

  Glancing around, I could see that a lot of the patrons and most of the staff were watching us now.

  “Come on.” I nodded towards outside.

  I led the way, Charlie behind me, while Carah followed up at the rear. Carah was probably thinking she could keep Charlie from running if something happened.

  Outside, I did a quick look around for someplace private.

  There.

  While the streets here were open to the water, there were still several small alleyways in between businesses down the street that looked relatively secluded. Looking over at Charlie, I could see she was even more nervous than before. We waited in silence for Axle to show up before heading over to the nearest of the alleys.

  “We’re going in there?” Charlie asked, her eyes flicking to the mouth of the alley and then down the road.

  “Just figured you wouldn't want to talk in front of everyone.” I gave her my best close-lipped smile, careful not to show teeth.

  “I ain't going in there! Ya gotta be kidding!” She took a step back.

  “Whoa, Charlie! Relax! We’re not going to do anything to you,” Axle said, holding up his hands.

  “Yeah. We just want to help!” Carah added.

  Charlie's eyes were going crazy, flitting back and forth between the three of us.

  “We don't have to go in there. How about I start by saying what I know,” I said in the calmest tone I could manage.

  Seeing Charlie like this was really throwing me for a loop. Before this, she’d always been the collected, grounded member of the group. She’d been able to think straight even when she’d been kidnapped and had the crap beaten out of her. To see her like this...

  She gave a short, curt nod, and her shoulders tightened up till they were almost level with her ears.

  “Alright.” I sat down on the sidewalk, resting my back against the wall of the building. “There's a magic item affecting your mood and behaviors. We’re worried about you.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she stated, shrinking even further as she looked at the ground.

  “Oh, come on, Charlie! Jake felt it. You know, that magic-sense thing he does. And it’s pretty obvious that’s where it’s at,” Carah said, gesturing at the spot Charlie was clutching on her chest.

  Axle stepped up and put a hand on her shoulder. “Charlie, please. Tell me what’s going on... Let me help!”

  She flinched but didn't knock away his hand this time. She was just on the edge of telling us, I could feel it.

  Should I mention that I’m pretty sure I know where she got the item? And what it is? No, that probably would just make things worse.

  “How the hell could ya help?” Sh
e asked it so quietly that I almost didn't hear. “Ya can’t do anything about it.”

  “Charlie, please. Let me try!” Axle pleaded.

  She stood there, in between the three of us, rocking in place. Her eyes flicked past us to the sidewalk and then to the waterway just a few feet away.

  Is she going to bolt?

  Then her eyes settled on Axle. A breath passed, and her shoulders sagged. “I...let’s go,” she said, gesturing towards the alley. “I’ll show ya.” The last words were, once again, just at the level of hearing.

  We followed her in, stopping just inside. She glanced past us at the street beyond, shrinking away from it.

  I grabbed Axle and Carah and gently pulled them into place. The three of us formed a wall between Charlie and the street.

  “If you want us to move, just let us know, okay?”

  She nodded, then took a deep breath. “I...” A pause. “It’s...” Another pause. “Aw, to hell with it,” she said morosely. She gripped her leather jacket, quickly unbuttoned it and pulled it open, letting it slide to the ground.

  Something’s off.

  I frowned as I looked at her. The shirt she wore was pretty standard clothing. It was what people woke up in after the change—long-sleeved, cotton, with a bit of a v-shaped neckline that showed the parts of her upper chest that society considered decent. The brooch sat framed by the neckline. It looked like it was hooked onto some kind of scaled undershirt.

  Wait.

  There was no seam on the scales, no edge where they met the flesh! They were just like the ones on my chest! And there was no edge between the scales and the brooch either.

  My eyes flicked up to meet hers. Now that I was thinking of Charlie as being a Changed, I noticed that her eyes had shifted as well. Her pupils were now slightly pointed on top and bottom, and there was more of a purple twinge in their overall color.

  “I...don't know when it happened. The brooch, I mean. In all the mess with the Inquisitors, I just figured ya stored it away. Wasn't till that night I found it. Here.” She tapped the pearl at its center. Tears began to flow down her face. “Then...it was like something out of a monster movie. Every day, the changes spread out from it, moving across my body inch by…!”

  Axle stepped in, wrapping Charlie closely in his arms. “It’s okay. Deep breath.”

  “Okay? Okay?!” she screamed. “How can this be okay? Don't ya get what’s happening?”

  “Charlie…” he began.

  She shoved him away, her fists balling up. “It isn't just my body! It’s getting into my head! Giving me urges to do things! I fight and I fight, but it doesn't go away! Back when Jake and I got ambushed by those inquisitors, it was so hard not to just go charging off after them when they retreated! I just wanted to hunt them all down!”

  “Hey, calm down!” I said, trying to get her attention.

  “How the hell am I supposed to do that? I'm changing into…”

  Carah stepped in close, her tail lashing, and she slapped Charlie across the face.

  Charlie jerked back, anger flashing across her face. She raised a hand as if to lash out at Carah.

  Carah ignored the attack. Instead she stepped in to get face to face with the other woman. “Don't you dare say ‘monster!’” she hissed. “Pull yourself together and listen! Everything you described? We've been through that. Bodies changing? Look at us. New things nagging at you mind? How many times have you see us pulled off on tangents, not really able to control it? After all the times you've made sure to call us still human, are you really going to call what you’re becoming--one of us--a monster? You are not that kind of hypocrite.”

  I couldn't help but stare at Carah with my mouth hanging open.

  “Now. What you’re going to do is lead us back to where this Rachel woman lives, and we’re going to see if she comes home. And while we’re there, you’re going to tell us everything that’s going on just as if you were asking for it for that book of yours. Then we can work together to help you handle it, or, if we can, try and find out what’s happening with that.” Carah pointed at the brooch. “But for right now? Get walking and get talking!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Chapter 13

  By the time we got to the house, a building set right at the water’s edge, Charlie was either finally calming down or just so exhausted after letting everything out, that she didn't have the energy to be upset anymore.

  We sat around on the grassy shore keeping an eye on the building as we tried to comfort Charlie. We’d tried to get her to talk about her new instincts, but something about them kept her from wanting to talk about them or, possibly, actively got in the way of her being able to talk about them.

  Carah had found a workaround, though. Charlie seemed comfortable writing them down. We were currently taking turns reading the passage she’d written on herself. Axle had gone first, and he was now sitting next to Charlie on the ground, an arm wrapped around her, as Carah took her turn.

  While I waited, I wondered if this was really why we were put to sleep while our changes were taking place--to keep us from having this level of stress about the whole thing. When I thought about it, if I’d been asked before the change to honestly answer what my reaction would be if all of this were to happen, I would bet all my money that my reaction would’ve been just like Charlie’s.

  And I would have lost.

  For some reason, I didn't panic about the change. Nobody did, really. There was no riot, no mass hysteria. The only people acting like that were the nut cases making up the Inquisitors, and they were probably some form of crazy before all of this anyways.

  Carah nudged me with the book bringing me out of my thoughts. She looked worried but didn't say anything.

  After reading what Charlie’d written, I could understand why. If people thought I had gotten the wrong end of the stick as far as instincts, well, I had nothing on her.

  Her desire to keep what was happening a secret explained why she couldn't just tell us what was going on from the start, and why she was twitchy now even with us just reading her passage. That was made worse by paranoia, little voices telling her not to trust anyone. And from what it said here, she desperately wanted to be in, or around, water. She was fighting against an obsessive need to go for a swim.

  Then came the most worrying one, the urge to kill. A small voice in the back of her head that said, whenever there was a disagreement, an argument, or if somebody just pissed her off, all she needed to do was kill the other party, and the problems would just go away. That was the one that frightened her the most, especially since, day by day, the voice was getting louder. I looked up from the book to see everyone looking at me, except for Charlie, who was watching the ground, fidgeting.

  “Thanks,” I said, carefully handing the book back to her. She snatched it away, gripping it close, with a grateful sigh and visibly relaxed.

  I looked over at Axle. He was sitting next to Charlie, obviously trying to keep her calm. Trying not to freak out himself, too.

  Easy to see why. Our changes had left us relatively the same people. This thing was trying to change someone he really cared about from the inside out.

  “Any ideas?” Carah asked, watching me. The other two looked over at me as well.

  Why me? Axle was the team leader! Not that he looked in any shape to lead given how frazzled he was.

  I let out a huff, reached behind my horns and ran a hand through my hair. “I think...we may have run into our first cursed magic item.”

  “Oh, shit! I should have thought of that!” Axle slapped his forehead.

  “Cursed magic item?” Carah asked, giving us a nervous look. “That doesn't sound good.”

  “It isn't,” I replied, shaking my head.

  “In some games, and a few myths, not all magic items are…beneficial, “Axel explained. “Some can be dangerous or downright malicious. Usually, cursed items have some negative effect, or they can possess the user or any number of other bad things, including transformation
s.”

  “Usually, they’re hard to get rid of too,” I muttered. The brooch looked like it was fused to the scales on her chest. That would make it… difficult to remove.

  Carah broke the silence. “Well, if one caused the problem, maybe another magic item can fix it?”

  Axle blinked and then broke into a grin. “That's right! A healing item or something that can break curses!”

  I grinned as well. “Gloria was making that list of all her staff's items, remember? Even ones held by teams like us! Maybe, somewhere in there...”

  Carah jumped to her feet. “Well? Come on! We can just make it by sundown if we hurry!”

  “No!” Charlie snapped. She paused, closed her eye and uncrossed her arms.

  The three of us turned to look at her, surprised by the anger in her tone.

  She took a deep calming breath and tried again. “No. We got a job here. We finish that first. Then we can work on my personal problem.” This time the words came out in a calmer tone.

  “Charlie…” Axle started.

  “We finish this first. Even if ya don't think about how important this is to the city, I'm worried about Rachel.” Charlie crossed her arms again as she glanced up at the building Rachel was supposed to have been living in.

  Well, that, at least, I could understand. While tracking down a possible lead on that doppelganger inquisitor was important, it didn't rank over Charlie's safety. Charlie wants to make sure a friend is safe? Different story. Maybe we could speed it up, though.

  “Can you use a sparrow to let Gloria know what’s going on?”

  “Good idea!” Axle began to dig out the little clay bird without a moment’s hesitation.

  “Now wait just a minute. Those are for emergencies!” Charlie blurted, her eyes going wide.

  “You wouldn't call what’s happening to you an emergency?” Carah asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically at the other woman.

  “Even if you think it isn't, the existence of magic items like that one is something she should know about,” I added.

  Charlie hunched over just a little bit as she glared at the two of us.

  There was a small 'piff,' and we turned to see the swallow flitting away through the sky as the shards of its clay shell fell to the ground.