Dragon Adventurer collection

by K V Deal

  I’m pretty sure that I was the only one to hear Carah mutter, “Ass!” as she turned back to me, a grumpy look on her face.

  “Thanks,” I said, smiling down on the red-skinned beauty.

  “No problem.” Carah looked away, her cheeks turning a little purple. “She was being a jerk.”

  “Nice job defending your man there.” The gray-skinned woman from before had walked over. She was looking at Carah with an amused smile on her face. “Been a while since I saw Gloria cowed like that.”

  “Jake’s not my man!” Carah protested. Then she paused and quickly turned to me. “Not that I don’t like you! I mean, I like you a lot! I mean…! Er—” By this point, she was bright purple.

  For my part, I was standing frozen in place, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do here.

  “Oh, brother!” The gray woman put a hand on Carah’s shoulder. “Deep breath, girl! This really isn’t as hard as you’re making it!” She turned to me and jabbed a finger at me. “You! Do you like this girl?”

  Oh, shit.

  “I…umm…I mean…”

  “So, you’re a matched set!” The woman blew out a breath in annoyance. “Boy, it’s a yes-or-no question.”

  “I… Yes…” I don’t know how loud I was. It felt like my voice was caught in my throat, and I felt my face blushing like crazy.

  “Good.” The woman turned to Carah. “Hear that? He likes you. Your turn. Do you like him?”

  Carah opened her mouth for a moment, as a look of terror passed over her face. “You don’t get it, there’s a reason that I haven’t asked—”

  “Girl, look at him! Are you going to just leave him waiting like this?”

  “I…” She looked up at me, her eyes wild, sweat on her face.

  She’s panicking!

  “Hey,” I said, stepping forward, “Carah, you don’t have to answer. It’s ok.”

  “Jake...” Her face was conflicted.

  “Boy, don’t give her an out,” the woman said flatly. “You both do realize that we may die here? Best not to just leave it hanging.”

  “Brooky!” a new voice cut in, as a woman suddenly whisked in so fast that the long trailing sleeves of her jacket were still whipping behind her when she stopped. The new woman’s silver hair feathered out into a wild pattern around her pointed ears, as she leaned down, hand on hips to look the gray-skinned woman straight in the eyes. “You’re doing it again, aren’t you!”

  “Doing what?” Brooky took a step back, letting go of Carah’s shoulder.

  “Trying to play matchmaker during a fight!”

  “Heather—"

  “Don’t you ‘Heather’ me!” The woman—Heather, I guess—stood up and looked at both Carah and me. “I’m so sorry… She’s had this habit ever since she and I hooked up during a fight. Please forgive her for anything she said!”

  Heather grabbed Brooky by the ear and dragged her away. “Really! They need to be preparing for a fight, not stressing over their relationship!”

  “But Heather! What if something happens, then they might go on the rest of their lives never having told the other that they loved them!”

  “You read too much of that romantic junk!” Heather’s voice trailed off as the two of them disappeared into the crowd.

  The tension broken, I almost started laughing, but then I saw Carah’s face. She still seemed torn, her expression wavering between scared and frantic.

  “I… Look, it’s not you…” she said, hesitantly reaching for me.

  Ah... Those words.

  I’d never had them directed at me but…I knew what came next. Just the thought of it made me feel like I’d been hit by a truck.

  She didn’t actually like me.

  Not LIKE like, at least. All those little actions must have just been friendship coupled with her new instincts.

  I should’ve seen it coming.

  “It’s okay,” I said, forcing a smile onto my face. I could at least not be a jerk about it. “I can understand it. What with this,” I gestured at my body, “and all the new programming I’ve got in my head.”

  “Jake! That’s not—”

  There was a massive thud from the far end of the hall that shook the floor. There was a scream.

  “Damn it! All fighters, get over here now!” Gloria barked from the direction of the thud.

  Not good!

  The fight was on and not a moment too soon. I really needed something I could work out all of my feelings on, and those Chosen assholes were just the right people for the job. Sword in hand, I raced toward the sounds of battle. As I ran, I tried not to think about what I was running away from.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Chapter 17

  It was easy to see where the fight was. At the far end of the hall, right near the stairs, a steady stream of silver-armored figures was coming in, swords raised. They hadn’t expected the level of organized resistance that they were getting, though.

  Looking over the top of the throng, the greatest press seemed to be at a line of bed frames that had been turned on edge to form a makeshift barricade. Nick was already at the wall swinging a sword at anything that poked up over the barricade.

  That was good and all, but just defending wasn’t going to get us out of here. With a snort of anger, I picked up the pace while storing my sword away. I was going to need it later, but for what I had in mind, it was too unwieldy.

  “Big Guy! Wait up!” I heard Carah call out behind me. I pretended not to hear her.

  I needed some space or at least a chance to vent, and venting was a lot easier.

  “Give the dragon a path!” Gloria shouted at the throng ahead of me as she waved me onward.

  Well, that makes life easier.

  I thundered on, picking up speed as I hurled myself forward.

  Nick glanced back to see what the shouting was. I saw his eyes go wide as he realized I wasn’t slowing down. “Holy—!” he shouted as threw himself to the side.

  It was just about at that point I leapt. I threw myself over the barricade barreling into the mass of startled Chosen.

  From there, madness reigned. Claws, muscle, and flame—those were my weapons.

  I felt pain as blows fell on me, but I continued on. Crushing my way forward.

  Something smashed into my knee, and I went down. I grabbed my attacker as I went, dragged him down with me and ended him. I didn’t have time to check to see if it was broken, as I forced the knee under me and tried to stand.

  My tail lashed out, stabbing deep through someone's armor.

  Something sharp slammed into my neck. It failed to cut through my scales, but it knocked me back to the ground. I coughed, trying to breathe as I let myself continue to roll, avoiding the follow-up blow. On my back, I tried for a fireball. All I got was a sensation that was a lot like having a way too dry throat—absolutely no flame.

  Fuck! This is one hell of a way to learn I have a limit on my flame!

  The woman didn’t let my lapse go to waste. She flipped her sword around and quickly brought it down toward my chest.

  Crap!

  I fumbled in my ring, trying to pull out my sword or anything that could help!

  There was a flash of light that was instantly followed by a wave of pressure and heat.

  The lady trying to stab me was thrown back screaming, while I was sent tumbling backward.

  “Jake!” Carah stood in an open patch of ground, her arms out.

  She…isn’t going to try and catch me, is she?

  I clawed at the ground trying to stop my tumble but only succeeded in slowing it down. Carah and I collided with a bang that sent us both sprawling.

  “Okay, for future reference, I appreciate you trying, but don’t try to catch me next time.” I pushed myself up to my knees.

  “Jake, I… Um…” Carah looked away, a sad expression creeping onto her face. “Listen. There’s a—”

  “Carah! Jim! Get back in the fight!” Gloria yelled from the other side of the bar
rier.

  Jeez! That woman can really belt it out when she wants to!

  With a heave, I got back up to my feet. I reached out and offered a hand to Carah. “Come on. Whatever it is, I’ll listen after we get out of this. I promise.”

  Carah hesitated then took my hand. I pulled her up.

  “But…what that woman…Brooky, right? What Brooky said, what if she’s right? If something happens and…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

  “If one of us dies? Yeah, that would suck… So, I guess we just gotta not die,” I shrugged.

  “Really? Just ‘not die?’ Oh, wow! Why didn’t I think of that?” Carah snapped, ending on a sarcastic note. “Seriously Jake—”

  “I am taking this seriously, but now isn’t the time. It’s not like we can just pause the fight or let other people fight it for us,” I countered. “Or are you willing to let people die for this?” I looked up at the fight happening up ahead.

  Things weren’t looking good there. As far as I could tell, our side was being pushed back, slowly but surely.

  Damn!

  “Of course, I’m not!” Carah snapped. “Fine! We’ll do it later! In the meantime, don’t you dare die!”

  “Same to you!” I grinned at her and drew out my sword.

  “Jake! You can be damn annoying!” she said grumpily. “You’re damn lucky I really like you.” She began to wiggle her fingers and mutter, preparing a spell.

  I ran forward, her words ringing in my ears. ‘Damn lucky I really like you.’ Even just those few words... I could feel myself grinning like a maniac as I charged back into the fray.

  I hit the Chosen line hard, smashing into them with so much force that I’m pretty sure the first guy I hit with a shoulder check flew through the air a few feet—armor and all.

  “Holy fuck!” Nick exclaimed. “What in the world got into him?”

  “Dunno. But whatever it was, I hope he keeps it going!” Another voice called back to him.

  I ignored them and pressed my attack. Step by step, we pushed the enemy advance back toward the stairs. There was a scream from my right as a Chosen drove his sword home into a small guy off to the side. I risked a glance around.

  Crap!

  We were already down to about half the number that we had when this started. While we were advancing, it really was just on the strength of me and a few others, including Nick and those two women from before.

  Oh, and Carah. Another ball of flame flew over my head to explode deep behind the Chosen’s line.

  I’m really going to need to work on learning some magic. That stuff is just too useful in situations like this.

  “Damn it!” The shout came from behind us. It was quickly followed by screams.

  The hell?

  “They broke through the back door!” Gloria bellowed from behind us. “Nicodemus! Grab some people and get back there. Protect the civilians!”

  “It’s Nick!” he growled before jabbing fingers at about ten people. “All of you, come with me!”

  Great.

  There went about half the forces we had left! The instant they were gone, there was a sound from the staircase. It was an almost bestial wail that was followed by a series of deep clicking sounds.

  Whatever it was…well, if I still had hair on the back of my neck, it would have been on end after that.

  The Chosen who were not directly engaged in combat glanced back. I could read a mix of excitement and fear on their faces.

  There was a gurgly hiss, this time closer than before. It echoed down the stairs, causing almost everyone who heard it to shiver. Not me, though. I knew that sound. A grin spread across my face.

  “Charlie! You’re late!” I roared.

  The wail came again. It sounded angry this time. I blinked. Something about that scream was...threatening. I hadn't felt anything like that since the Sentinel...

  The Chosen began to bolt. They withdrew from their fights whenever possible and ran for the cells along the walls.

  The hell?

  There was the clicking again as a figure came into view.

  “Charlie...?” The name escaped my mouth almost as a whisper.

  I had seen her just under two days ago. What in the world had happened? The woman on the stairs only barely resembled the short blonde. Hell, it barely resembled anything human!

  It looked like somebody had taken a squid, a lantern fish and a hammerhead shark, shaken them all together and then added just enough humanity to make it bipedal.

  Her eyes stuck out on protrusions on either side of her bald head, while a small glowing orb dangled hypnotically above a large overbite of a jaw that was filled with needle-like teeth. Somebody had thrown what looked like a sheet, with a hole cut for the creature’s head, over the thing to protect her modesty. There really wasn’t anything else that would’ve covered the three snakelike arms it was waving around. Suckers opened and closed along the arms as it forced its awkward, fish-scaled legs to move down the stairs. At the bottom, she let out another angry wail, her eyes locking on me.

  Those eyes…there was nothing in them but anger—no recognition, no intelligence.

  What the hell have they done to her?

  “Ah!” Carah shouted from behind me. “Jake! Her chest!”

  My eyes darted down to look at the point right above the hunk of cloth she was using as clothing. There, attached to a grouping of flesh-colored scales, was the black-pearl brooch. Anger flared inside me.

  They put that thing back on her?!

  “Something’s wrong here,” Carah said. “How did it affect her so fast?”

  I heard her. I really did. But it was as if a red fog had been shoved into my head. All I could think was three things.

  How dare they do this to Charlie!

  I was going to save her by ripping that damn brooch right back off.

  And the final thought—one that I didn't completely understand—how dare that thing try to force its way into my space!

  With a sudden series of angry clicks, Charlie hurled herself forward.

  I snarled in response and charged, throwing my sword to the side with enough force to leave it impaled in the bars of a cell. The sword would only do me good if I was willing to kill her. Even as angry as I was, that wasn’t an option. The problem was, she didn’t seem to share that feeling.

  As soon as we closed, Charlie lashed out with a whip-like movement of all three of her right arms. The combined force of the blows slammed the air from my lungs. I was lifted and hurled across the hall into the bars of the cell across from my sword. Pretty sure I at least dented the heavy metal bars before I bounced onto the stone floor.

  I don’t remember her ever being that strong...

  I looked up just in time to see that needle-toothed jaw wide open and aimed right at me. For just a moment, I saw a jet of black...stuff. The stream hit me clean in the face and slammed me back into the bars again.

  I can’t see!

  The gunk had glued my eyes shut and sealed my nostrils! My hands shot up to my face. I tried to claw enough of the stuff away to get a breath, but my claws couldn’t tear it! Instead, they just wound up stuck in the mess as well!

  I began to thrash only to find that I was stuck to the bars behind me. Panic began to set in, as I realized that I might just die here.

  A burst of heat engulfed my head, the third hottest thing I had felt since the change, right behind lava and my flame dagger. Sound began to filter back into my ears, and I realized I could move my mouth! Yanking open my jaw, I gasped a deep breath of superheated air. Even with the temperature, I was thankful for each breath I was able to suck in.

  “Jake! Get out of the way!”

  That…was not a good thing to hear right now. Neither was the monstrous wail that was quickly approaching.

  Shit!

  I yanked my head forward, managing to rip the gunk free from the bars, and threw myself to the side.

  Not my brightest moment. Sure, it saved me from whatever made t
hat huge clanging sound behind me, but I came to a quick stop as my head and hands stuck to the ground! I tried to force myself up, but I couldn’t get enough purchase or a decent angle to pull myself free.

  The only benefit to all of this, and really, in my opinion, the ONLY bright side, was that getting smacked around like this had cleared the cotton from my head, finally letting me think clearly.

  “Charlie! Stop it! We need to help you!” I called out. It probably wouldn’t help at all, but I needed to at least try.

  The flames were finishing up the job of burning off all the black gunk. My eyes were still sealed shut, but I was able to first yank my hands free and then push my way up from the ground to my knees.

  “Damn it, dragon! Get out of that thing’s way!” Charlie yelled.

  Without thinking, I rolled to the side.

  There was a thud and a crack that shook the stone beneath me, and I felt shards of the stuff pinging off my scales.

  Thank god for that...warning... Wait!

  “Charlie?”

  With an effort, I forced my eyes open. Charlie turned towards me, her arms waving. Her lantern-fish jaw opened in a burbly hiss as she readied for another attack.

  And there was Charlie again, standing just down the hall, her blond hair pulled back. She settled her crossbow into firing position. Beside her stood Axle and Rachel. Axle drew his bow as Rachel gaped at the thing facing me.

  What the hell is going on here!?

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  Chapter 18

  Charlie pulled the trigger, letting her bolt fly as she aimed for...not-Charlie?

  God, I hope the human-looking one is the real thing. I’d hate to think that the brooch-wearing monster is the original.

  The creature screamed as Charlie's bolt slammed into its shoulder.

  “Jake! Get up!” Carah was by my side, tugging me to my feet as the thing turned its attention to Charlie.

  “Take it that flame was yours?” I voiced my guess.

  “Yup, but I think I’m out now.” She looked so exhausted that I was surprised that she was still on her feet.

  “I got this.” I forced myself up. I was a bit wobbly on my feet, but I was damned if I was going let her waste her energy trying to lever my big ass up.