Dragon Adventurer collection

by K V Deal

  She nodded quickly and moved back. She seemed to be trying to hide behind Charlie. “The west river districts. Edward said it was under what used to be the sports dome.”

  Cyrus leaned down to plant both hands hard on the desk. “Understandable. I have heard that the coliseum it has become has an extensive underground portion. It would be perfect as a fortress. Still,” he looked up at us, “I'll have some of our people confirm the information. It would not pay to simply believe what a kidnapper said. Now, get some rest. When we know the truth, the war will be on.”

  He was wrong.

  The war had already started. We just didn't know it yet.

  The end.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Chapter 1

  Finally!

  A perfect blend of both the nature and civilization. I took a deep breath inhaling the welcoming, moist, earthy smell of the cave.

  Shadows danced along the rough carved walls and high ceilings, all in the thrall of the light of MY copper Arabian Nights-style oil lamp that I held high above my head.

  I took a step forward into the room, the claws on my scaled feet clicking against the hand-polished stone floor that had been carefully leveled for the owner’s convenience. I couldn’t help but marvel at the way the polish had turned the usually boring gray stone into such a beautiful reflective surface. It was still gray, but now you could see little flecks of black and even little metallic slivers in the stone.

  That wasn’t the only alteration that had been made to the cave either. There were five doors that had been set into the side wall, all of them hand-carved from a gorgeous red wood that I hadn't ever seen before. The color really popped against the gray stone of the floor. Probably, they led to the kitchen and stuff.

  Speaking of the kitchen, I really was going to need to check that out. While I wasn't a fan of cooking, I did like eating a home-cooked meal, like some more of that salamander I still had stored away.

  I could feel drool beginning to pool up in my mouth as I thought about the Salamander steaks that I could make. They really did taste like cow, not giant, mythical lizard things.

  Not that I had any real idea on how that was supposed to taste.

  To distract myself before I really made myself hungry, I looked around again. The source of the moisture in the air was easy to see. A small stream cascaded down from a hole in the back wall to a small pool of crystal-clear water. From there, it entered a path cut into the floor that wound its way along to a small exit next to the open door behind me.

  I dipped a toe into the water before yanking it back out with a wince.

  Damn that’s cold!

  I glanced over my shoulder. The realtor, a man named Danny, was standing a dozen feet or so behind me.

  Probably best not to spit fire all over the floor while he’s watching.

  Especially since I hadn't bought the place yet. It was going to be MINE, though. I already knew that. The minute I’d walked into this 'house,' I knew it was the place for me, but it wouldn't pay to say it.

  Taking my look as a signal, Danny stepped away from the thick wooden doors that had been installed in the entrance of the cave. He walked over, stopped beside me and looked into the room. At about six and a half feet tall, he was half-a-head shorter than me, if you didn't count the half-foot horns protruding up out of my head. He took a second to leisurely slip his hands into the pockets of the black tailored suit that he was wearing.

  “Well, what do you think?”

  What I was thinking right then was how strange it was. It had already gotten to the point where seeing someone in a suit was off-putting. It had only been a few months since the change, but still, after seeing everyone walking around dressed like they were going to a Renaissance festival for so long, it was weird to see a classic business suit.

  The fact that the guy wearing it had green skin and tusks growing out of his mouth where his lower canines would normally be didn’t make it less strange either. I wasn’t going to comment on it, though. It was probably a habit with him to wear it. Just a little thing that helped him keep feeling connected to who he was when he was human, before the change.

  I noticed he was looking at me.

  Oops.

  Got lost in my thoughts there.

  “You thinking about Charlie?” There was sympathy in his eyes.

  It didn’t help.

  I had specifically come here to try to not think about Charlie or anything else that was going on for a bit. Guess I couldn’t even escape that stuff here.

  He was a friend of hers too, so I guess I should at least talk a little bit about it.

  “Her surgery is later today.” I reached behind my horns to run my fingers through my hair, careful to make sure that I didn’t scratch my head up with my own claws.

  “Surgery? It’s that bad? I mean I’ve only heard some vague stuff about what’s going on. Can't they just, you know, magic it away?” He wiggled his fingers in the air in front of us.

  “No. We don’t have any spells or items that can handle it.” I sighed. If he only knew the full story about what was going on. I still wasn’t sure that suppressing the story was the right idea, but I wasn’t the one in charge of that crap.

  “Let her know that if there’s something I can do, well, she knows where to find me.”

  “I will,” I said, nodding before crossing my arms and turning my attention back to the cave.

  He cleared his throat, catching on that I didn't want to talk about the subject anymore. “So?” He waved a hand at the house.

  “I don’t know... It's nice, don’t get me wrong. But the price?” Friend of Charlie or not, this was a negotiation, and I was aiming to knock at least some silver off the amount.

  He must have come to the same realization. His face settled into a serious expression. “Ten gold is reasonable for this type of home. I mean, look at this place! Three bedrooms, each with its own full bath, full size kitchen, this living room and even a den!” He flicked off the points on his fingers as he listed them. “ It’s got the special features you asked for. And that's not even talking ‘bout how close it is to the marina! This is prime real estate! You’re already getting a deal at ten. I ain't bargaining.” He crossed his arms with a smile and leaned back.

  Damn! He sure saw through me.

  My long gold-scaled tail lashed once causing a rattle from the red metallic barb at its end. “Fine,” I huffed. I reached into my leather jacket and pulled out the small plain-leather bag of ten gold coins.

  I’d been warned beforehand that this guy didn’t haggle, but you can't blame a guy for trying.

  Danny held out his hand and grinned as he watched the bag swing from my claws

  One swing.

  Two swings.

  “Umm...” The man prompted.

  “Sorry. Give me a sec.” I focused hard, trying to make myself believe that the bag just had stones or something--not gold coins.

  MY gold coins-

  NO! Just rocks!

  Three swings.

  With an effort, I forced my fingers apart. The bag dropped into his waiting hand with an audible clink.

  “Sorry. Instincts,” I muttered and turned my back so I couldn’t see the bag.

  “Ah! I get it.”

  I heard clinking behind me. He was counting the coins! I clenched my eyes shut.

  “Take it you got hit hard with the instinct stick. I got off easy -- half orc, you know. Little higher aggression, and a bit of a tendency to want to to group up. How about you?” he asked nonchalantly.

  I heard a series of clinks. Hopefully that meant that he was putting the coins away.

  “Half dragon. Hoarding seems to be my biggest thing.”

  There was a sudden clinking clatter. “You’re the dragon?”

  I felt something metallic skid into the back of my foot.

  Taking it now would be stealing!

  I'm pretty sure my shoulders were up by my ears with how tense I was. The tip of my tail twitched rapidl
y back and forth letting out a constant rattle, much like a maraca…or a rattlesnake.

  “Woah! Hey there! Calm down?” Danny's voice now sounded nervous.

  Calm down? How was I supposed to do that with MY…?

  No!

  …HIS gold! Which was now scattered across the floor right at my feet. I needed to get away, if I wanted to keep my head clear. Walking at full speed, I hurried to the nearest door.

  “What the… Hey! Where are…”

  “Clean up those coins!” I shouted back at him as I fumbled with the polished bronze handle of the door. “Please.” I managed to get in as an afterthought before I slammed the door behind me. Closing my eyes again, I took a deep breath.

  That...had been close. If I had stayed there a few more seconds, I would’ve been scrabbling across the ground after those coins.

  Why was that instinct so much stronger with gold than it was with other coins? I had bought food and stuff with copper or even silver once. It wasn't fun, but I could manage it pretty easily. And I could handle being around gold, if it was somebody else's. The problem seemed to be that this gold was MINE. I caught myself glancing back at the door.

  Shoot.

  I needed to get my mind off that. Just thinking of those coins was making me want to head back out there. I opened my eyes and looked at the room I was in.

  It was small.

  I began to list off features, if only to keep my mind busy.

  It looked like this room was tied into the same water source as the main room.

  To my right, the water filled a small basin that had been carved into the wall, polished just like the floor had been.

  Ahead was a pool set into the floor. Now that was pretty cool. The water spiraled down from the wall and ran into the pool in just such a way as to keep the water spinning. It formed a slight whirlpool that twirled into a drain below.

  In the corner of the room was the classic, fired, brown-clay pot with a black pattern around the lip that seemed to be in every bathroom. The new, medieval alternative to our toilets. Nobody knows how to make them, but thankfully, when everything had changed, these things had shown up just about everywhere a toilet had been, so there were plenty of them around.

  There was a polite, yet hesitant, knock at the door. “Ummm… I got all that g-” Fortunately, Danny caught himself before he uttered the word. “…stuff cleaned up. We still got some stuff to do. You know, to finalize the sale.”

  “Right.” I opened the door and stepped back out. “Sorry.”

  “Just so I don’t hit that land mine again, what happened there?” Danny asked, standing just off to the side outside the door. Whatever he had done with that bag, I was grateful that it was nowhere in sight.

  “I...” I probably did owe him an explanation. “It’s the hoarding thing. I get defensive of my stuff. And it's hard to stop thinking of stuff as mine.”

  “Huh.” A contemplative look crossed his face. “That's gotta be tough in some situations.”

  There was something about his tone...

  “Anyways…” And just like that he was back in business mode. “…your payment is good, so here's the keys to your new home.” He handed over a set of elaborate copper keys. “Oh! And just so you know, this neighborhood has been safe from the Inquisitors so far. In case they do come this way, I personally guarantee that door isn't going to give way no matter what anyone throws at it. Anything getting through it has to have a key.”

  Well, that’s nice. Hopefully its true.

  I had already been ambushed twice in places that my attacker shouldn't have been able to get into. It was fine, though. I had plans that should make any more attempts like that very unpleasant.

  I said my goodbyes to Danny, with him saying stuff like ‘he would check in on me,’ and ‘let him know how Charlie was doing.’ I shut and locked the door behind him and turned to look over my new home, hands on hips.

  Nice as it was, it was still only the shell of a house. It needed quite a bit more if it was going to be a home such as furniture, bedding and a ton of little touches that make a place feel lived in. I had lost just about everything when the world had changed and that damn dungeon had eaten my house. Now it was time to start over.

  I paused.

  Actually, what time was it? I placed my lamp down on the floor and hurried over to peek out the front door at the sky. Still full cloud cover, so no way to really guess what time it was.

  Damn! Guess I should head back to the hospital.

  I really didn't want to be late.

  As I closed and locked MY new front door for the first time, I really couldn't help wishing that somebody would figure out a way to make clocks.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Chapter 2

  I sat in the middle of the long, dark, wooden bench, my hands resting on my knees as I watched the curtain over the doorway at the far side of the room. It was that white color that almost screamed, 'I have been so sterilized that I kill germs by looking at them!' that places like this always seemed to employ.

  In fact, that was the color of most of this room. The wooden-slat walls had been painted the same color as had both the ceiling and the floor.

  The room smelled sanitary, too. That or like a bar that serves really cheap drinks. You know, the type that burn going down, because they’re more raw alcohol than anything else. I guess that would make sense. Alcohol is a pretty good disinfectant and is pretty common in this new world unlike a lot of the stuff that was used before the change.

  The only real pops of color were the five or six benches exactly like the one I was on. Oh and the people in the room. Four people to be exact, and I was one of them. Two sat on the bench ahead of me, and they were the ones I was most worried about--Axle and Rachel. Both were members of the five-man Adventures team the city had assigned me to.

  Axle was currently sitting hunched forward on the bench as he drummed his fingers on its edge. His long, pointed ears, usually sticking straight out from his head, were currently angled back and towards the ground. I was pretty sure that meant he was both nervous and feeling down. Not a huge surprise considering what was going on.

  Next to him was a slim blond, a supermodel-level beauty to be sure. She was our newest member, and that wasn't what she really looked like. Unlike the 100 percent human exterior she was sporting, Rachel was a shape shifter. As a former low-end actress, she was pretty self-conscious about how she appeared, so she tended to borrow other peoples’ looks most of the time. Rachel was also the cousin of the fifth member of our party.

  The fourth member, though, was sitting next to me. Like, right next to me. Her thigh pressed up against mine.

  Carah put a hand on my leg. “Cheer up, big guy. She’s gonna be fine,” she said, grinning up at me.

  For most people, having a devil tell you that would be disconcerting. We knew otherwise. The change had hit Carah, who had come from a religious family, pretty hard. She now had bright-red skin, a long black tail with a spade tip, long gorgeous black hair and a single horn over one eye. It didn't help that her new instincts enforced a rather…umm...bold style of dress and behavior?

  Axle suddenly yanked a hand up and ran it through his hair. “I shouldn't have let her go through with this,” he muttered.

  Rachel reached up to put a hand on his shoulder. “Axle, it’s accelerating. Something had to be done. This is the only possibility we could find.”

  “I know that! But...” He stopped. His shoulders bunched up to the tips of his ears. He just gestured at the curtain in frustration.

  Carah hopped up off the bench, walked up behind Axle and placed a hand on his other shoulder. “You’re talking like you could have stopped her.” She almost giggled. “You’re an awesome guy, Axle, but I can't see you getting her to back down.”

  “I...?” Axle slumped down in the chair. “You didn't have to put it like that.”

  She leaned back and stretched. “Jeez! You'd think a place like this could at least find chairs. You know,
something with a back on it.”

  I glanced down at her. “With everything they lost, I guess…”

  There was a sound—something between a scream, and something more...bestial.

  “What was that!?” Carah jerked up and spun around to face the curtain.

  That voice had almost sounded like...

  Axle was already on his feet and running towards the covered door as I realized I could hear shouting coming from behind it.

  Damn! I kicked up to my feet and almost toppled the bench over in my haste.

  “Hurry up, Jake!” Carah was already running after Axle.

  I pounded after them, passing Rachel as she was just beginning to struggle to her feet.

  “Hey! What's going on in there?” Axel shouted in.

  Axle and Carah were already waiting at the curtain. More shouts and another one of those screams exploded from the room beyond, so I wasn't so polite. I bumped them to the side as I rushed past the curtain.

  Oh, wow!

  It was a small room, maybe fifteen by fifteen, all in that same white color. Most of it at least. There was an awful lot of red splashed around. The source was obvious. The coppery smell of blood slapped me in the face.

  In the center of the room, mostly strapped to a heavy-looking metal table, was Charlie. Just mostly, though. Somehow, she had gotten her arms and torso free and was sitting upright, her hand wrapped around a scalpel-like knife. Blood ran down the flesh-colored scales on her chest from where a metallic brooch dangled by a piece of her flesh that it seemed fused to.

  Damn it!

  They hadn't managed to cut it fully free. Blood stained Charlie’s normally blond hair as it framed a furious face.

  Not all the blood was hers, though. The two doctors who had suggested this approach were down. A small woman, and I do mean small at three feet tall, with skin that glittered with silver to match her hair, had a cut along one arm from shoulder to wrist. She was desperately trying to apply pressure to stem the flow of blood. Her associate, a man who looked to be goat from the waist down, was slowly trying to lift himself up from the ground. His nose was broken and leaking blood into his goatee.