The Steel Dragon (Steel Dragons Series Book 2)

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “Sure, thanks,” she said and again weighed the benefits of being in the good graces of the guards compared to being at odds with the inmates. She found that she couldn’t help but side with the guards, though. They were the peacekeepers, after all, the police of the prison. Their task was to maintain order as well as the wellness of the prisoners until her eventual freedom. It made sense to be nice to them.

  And her companion certainly wanted to be nice. She practically bubbled with enthusiasm as she showed her around the prison. First, they stopped at her cell, 113. It looked very much like a cell in a human prison—three walls built of cinder blocks with a tiny window crossed with iron bars in one of them. The front wall was simply a row of bars with a door that slid open and a slot near the bottom for people to slip food or whatever in. There was a toilet as well, but it was hidden behind a little curtain, something she had never seen in a human cell.

  The bed was surprisingly plush, and Sangre told her there was a library of resources she could check stuff out from. Apparently, she could even get a TV or workout equipment in her room. The priorities of human and dragon prisons were obviously different. She couldn’t help but think that dragon prisoners probably never committed suicide.

  From her cell, her guide took her to the cafeteria. Restaurant might have been a better term, though. There wasn’t a line there but waiters who went from table to table, taking orders and refilling cups of water. There wasn’t any privacy—the tables were all long bench-style—but other than that, it seemed like a reasonably good place to eat. It smelled shockingly good, and she saw a variety of foods being served—everything from curried rice to whole salmon. She supposed it might be easy to treat a society’s prison population well when much of the history of that society was built on hoarding gold and other forms of wealth.

  From there, they stopped at a library that had everything from books to tablets, then a gym, and finally, the yard itself. Everywhere they went, she saw guards, all of whom were armed with magic weapons. But beyond that, they didn’t seem particularly on edge. Many of them talked with the dragon prisoners, helped them check things out, or spotted for them in the gym.

  Kristen realized that the power balance was so different that it made for unusual housing conditions. These dragons were all used to being flying, fire-breathing monsters. Now, they were trapped not only in their human bodies but within the limits of their human strength. The guards were all either dragons or mages. That meant they didn’t feel threatened, and the dragons didn’t feel like they could threaten. It seemed to ensure a fairly calm environment, although she wouldn’t describe it as lax.

  Outside, guards manned towers at the corners of the chain-link fence and she even saw giant crossbows—scorpions, she believed they were called—aimed at the yard. She would have been able to make it past those in her dragon form, although she was sure they were loaded with enchanted projectiles of some kind, but in her human form, it was impossible. Even climbing the fence would be extremely difficult. Razor wire was a significant impediment.

  As they completed the tour, Sangre explained the basic rules. “Number one, obviously, is don’t fiddle with your anklet. It will mess you up badly if you try, and once you become conscious again, we’ll have put more on you. Plus, you lose privileges.”

  “Privilege sounds about right,” she murmured.

  “Privilege? Really?” the woman asked, incredulous before realization clicked in. “Oh, right. You were a human cop, right? Yeah, compared to human prisons, this must seem fairly pleasant. Dragons would never treat their own the way humans do. It’s one of the reasons I’m happy to be a mage. If I freaked out and lost my powers, at least I could still take a private shower and eat decent food. Human prisons are…” She grimaced.

  “Yeah, this is a little different,” Kristen said. “I can’t use my powers, which feels horrible, but other than that, I can do whatever I want?”

  The guard shrugged. “Basically—within limits, of course. We only have so many tablets, so many books, and so much workout equipment. You can put yourself on the waiting list for it, but if someone has credits, they can bid for a better place in line. It’s the same with the food. We always have enough meat for everyone, but if you want something besides ground beef or chicken, you need to bid credits. We only get so much fresh fish a day, you know?”

  “How do I earn credits?” she asked, unable to believe that such a system existed. She could earn cuts of steak or an Xbox in her cell? How strange.

  “We’ll pay you five a day for good behavior. I know security might seem lax, but we’re always watching. If you get in trouble, you lose that daily income. If you start trouble, you might have your account docked. You can also do jobs for us.”

  “Really? Somehow, I can’t see dragons doing laundry,” she responded.

  Sangre giggled. She had to be the most jubilant guard in the history of the penal system. “Some dragons will, believe it or not. Most of our prisoners—scratch that, none of our prisoners—have ever worked. Some get bored enough that they find laundry interesting or reshelving books therapeutic. Although no one ever wants to help in the kitchen. I think the desire to eat raw meat is too high in your people.”

  “Huh, that’s weird. I wouldn’t think a dragon would ever lower themselves to laundry duty.”

  “Well, you have to remember some of our inmates have been in here a long time.”

  “How long is long?”

  “We have one inmate who’s been here for over three hundred years, which was before the prison was modernized. When he came in, he had to wear an unbreakable chain around the neck of his dragon form. It didn’t let him turn into a human at all and didn’t even limit his powers. It merely stopped him from transforming. We lost many guards in the old days but technology has improved since then.” Sangre pointed at her anklet like it was the latest phone to come out rather than a device that stripped her of her powers.

  “It seems like we have considerable freedom,” Kristen said and told herself yet again that this was all for the best. It was a better situation than humans experienced, that was for sure. And she shouldn’t be there long, not unless she was being framed. And that, unfortunately, was a problem she wouldn’t know how to tackle.

  “That’s a really good way to look at it.” The mage nodded. “But there is a tight schedule you’ll have to stick to, especially if you want perks before you have credits to choose your time. You’ll adapt, though. Most learn the ins and outs in a few weeks.”

  Kristen nodded, not at all happy with the casual certainty with which Sangre had implied that she would be there for more than the week she’d prepared herself for.

  The guard led her back to her cell, showed her the schedule posted on her wall, and left her to walk about the prison at her leisure.

  She told herself once more that she was there to learn and that by submitting to her incarceration, she was doing humankind a kindness. Rather than dwell on her circumstances, she headed to the cafeteria, hoping that a burger might settle the dread that kindled in her stomach despite her attempts to remain positive. Her greatest fear was being imprisoned there for centuries, utterly powerless and surrounded by beings who hated humans.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  It wasn’t particularly easy, but Kristen fell into a routine over the next three days. She would wake up and breakfast alone in the cafeteria before she spent time in the gym. After lunch, she’d visit the library and kill time—far too much of it—until dinner. At night, she’d lay awake in bed and try not to think about a war between humans and dragons that plunged the entire world into chaos. The worst part was that there was so much time with nothing to do. Her mind had little to occupy itself but wander through her imaginings and ponder worst-case scenarios. The rest of the dragons at the prison kept their distance from her. They obviously knew she was the Steel Dragon, a cop, and a dragon killer. She assumed that bought her a modicum of respect and only hoped it lasted longer than however long she would be locked in he
re.

  On the third day, something broke her routine of boredom.

  She attempted to read a novel—which felt like a pointless task considering it wouldn’t help her solve anything about whoever was killing dragons—when a knock came at her door. She peered into the gloom. It was after dinner so the lights were mostly off, although the prison never allowed the inmates full darkness, of course. The doors to the cells weren’t locked yet and the silhouette of a man stood there. He was short and a little twitchy.

  “Hey—hey, Steel. Someone wants to see you,” the inmate said.

  “Unless it’s someone to spring me out of here, I think I’ll pass,” she replied and refocused on her book.

  “It’s not about getting you out but about you putting someone in.”

  “I’m really not in the mood for riddles, buddy. You might as well head on back to your cell.”

  The man snorted at that. She recognized it as a gesture that dragons did but it came off strangely when performed by a human body.

  “It’s Obscura. She wants to see you and have a little chat about why you’re both in here.”

  That gave her pause. Why on earth would the black dragon want to see her? She told herself quickly that she didn’t really care. Obscura was a psychopathic monster who had abducted her brother and threatened all her friends on human SWAT. She was in there because she was a killer who needed to be kept away from society. Kristen was there because she hadn’t yet got to the bottom of a mystery. There was nothing to talk about it. “Unless it’s to pay my respects to her corpse, I don’t have any reason to see the old dinosaur.”

  The dragon at the door scowled at that. She couldn’t quite make out his face in the dim light—she missed the night vision her dragon powers would have granted her if she didn’t have the silver anklet on. Still, she could see the guy was frustrated and tried to be intimidating. He was small but in dragon form, the scowl would have no doubt shown that he could have swallowed a human in one bite. But he was as powerless as her so she didn’t really give a shit about his little errand.

  “You shouldn’t speak that way about your own kind,” the dragon said. “Those are monkey words.”

  “Look, I don’t plan to spend any more time in here than necessary. And that means I don’t intend going for a stroll after lights-out and losing the few credits I have. I don’t care if she sends me an invite for afternoon tea. Unless she takes a long walk off a short pier, you can tell her to go fuck herself.”

  “You can’t talk about her that way.”

  “Can’t talk about who? The bitchy old lizard?”

  The dragon’s eyebrows raised at that and his entire posture stiffened. He growled again and marched away in a huff.

  Good riddance. She sighed and tried to go back to her book.

  Before she could really focus again, he returned, this time with a friend.

  His companion was considerably larger than him. He stood with his arms folded behind the shorter man, who pulled the door to her cell open. The two dragons in human form took a step inside. She wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that the thugs had come now. That they’d arrived while the doors were still unlocked meant that they probably didn’t have a key—a good thing—but it also meant that they assumed no guards would appear.

  “You were rude to me before, but that’s fine. This place is stressful. Now, come quietly so we can all have a nice little talk with Obscura,” the short one said.

  “If that’s a problem, we can try to help you up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you fall down a few times. These bed frames are brutal. They leave all kinds of bruises,” the taller, broader dragon said. He had a deep voice that was particularly effective for delivering threats.

  Kristen stood slowly. Before she was even completely up, the shorter dragon rushed forward with his fists clenched. She twisted her back to him. His blow didn’t hurt, but it slowed him enough for Kristen to be able to spin and land a nasty right hook. He fell with a curse.

  This didn’t seem to intimidate the other dragon, though. He approached like a tidal wave—slow, sure, and inescapable.

  Rather than wait for his assault, she delivered two punches, but the big thug blocked them with his forearms and retaliated with a vicious kick that caught her in the side and catapulted her into the wall of her cell. He didn’t give her a chance to recover but closed the distance and threw a punch that pounded her head against the brick wall.

  She rocketed a knee up, aiming for his crotch. He blocked her once again but had to move back to do so. She was ready to lunge forward and seize the opportunity, but his smaller cohort rejoined the fight. He ran forward with his head down and hammered his skull into her solar plexus.

  Her breath gone and lungs frozen, she careened into the wall again.

  The little dragon stepped back to admire his handiwork and let the big thug step in. He caught her by the hair and pummeled her half a dozen times in the gut. She did her best to resist the blows, but it still hurt badly.

  Finally, seemingly finished, he hurled her down by her hair.

  Kristen’s head struck the bed and for a second, she saw stars.

  When she managed to focus through the pain, her large assailant was breathing heavily.

  Slowly, she pushed herself to her feet. “Are you getting tired, asshole?”

  “Fuck off,” he wheezed.

  Without warning, she launched herself at him and aimed her jabs as his face, which forced him to keep his guard up. The other man jumped on her back and tried to restrain her arms, but she back pedaled and slammed him into the bars of her cell. He released her and fell with a groan.

  His cohort resumed his offensive. He threw a punch that seemed like it would have been hard enough to crack bone. She avoided it—barely—and backed away. The prison bars stopped her retreat way too soon, but that gave her an idea. The next time he threw a punch, she dodged and his fist pounded into the bars. He howled in pain, loudly enough for it to echo through the prison. When she heard no guards coming, she understood that she would be alone until this fight was over, one way or the other.

  While he moaned and cradled his fist, Kristen attacked the smaller dragon. He didn’t like that at all. Obviously, he was used to aiding the bigger thugs in fights and when he saw her determined approach, he tried to scurry away. But she had trained with her human friends. Drew had forced her to not use her powers when they sparred, so she didn’t need dragon speed to cut off her opponent’s exit.

  She kept moving and made sure to remain between him and the door until he rushed forward. Kristen shoved him back and cracked him across the temple with an elbow. It was a brutal move and it was effective. He yelped in pain and sagged into a heap, rubbing his temple.

  Unfortunately, the other man had recovered and grabbed her from behind. He trapped her with his long arms and pinned her arms to the side of her body. She could feel his ragged breath in her ear.

  “You miss your dragon powers, huh?” Kristen said.

  “Fuck off. Splinter, on your feet and work her fucking gut.”

  Splinter pushed himself up and limped toward her. He threw a couple of exhausted punches into her gut and she spat in his face.

  “You bitch!” he wheezed. He was obviously tired and hurt.

  “Waiting for your healing powers, huh?” she demanded before she drove the heel of her foot onto her captor’s pinky toe.

  He cursed and released her. Kristen took half a step forward and threw an elbow back and into his face. She felt something warm and moist and knew she’d at least bloodied his nose, if not broken it. He staggered into the bars of her cell and fell.

  Splinter made another attempt, but she was able to kick him in the throat before he could get close. He collapsed, writhing in pain as he tried to breathe.

  Kristen put her hands on her knees and took a few deep breaths. “You assholes made me fairly tired. Thanks. It was way better than the gym.” In reality, she was almost spent. She had a pounding headache from wh
ere she’d struck the bed and her stomach ached from the pounding. Without a doubt, her entire torso would be a bruise by the morning. The only question was if it would be yellow or purple.

  “Bitch,” the large man said through the blood pouring from his nose.

  “That’s right, and don’t you fucking forget it. You may think I’m weak because I grew up with humans, but we’re all human in here. You probably feel slow and weak, like your wounds aren’t healing fast enough. Well, guess what? I lived that shit for more than twenty years. In here, my time as a human is an advantage.”

  She told herself that she would have to thank Drew when she was released. He’d been a real hard-ass about training without her powers. She had never envisioned a need to strip a dragon of their powers but she was thankful for the demanding training sessions. If she ever saw her freedom again, she’d be sure to buy him a beer.

  “Now, get the fuck out of my cell,” she said and thought she should drag them out to really show them how strong she was. But honestly, after that fight, she didn’t think she could. She’d won—barely—but what had that achieved? Nothing at all if she couldn’t intimidate them.

  “Out. Now, before I grind your nuts into the floor. You’ve been human enough to know that hurts, right? They’re not on the inside like they are when you’re in lizard form.”

  “We’re not lizards,” Splinter retorted but he scurried out of the cell and left his cohort against the bars.

  “Are you gonna move your ass or do you need assistance?” Kristen kicked him gently in the ribs. He grunted and scooted out of the cell on his rear end.

  “You’re tough, Steel, able to take two dragons. It’s a good thing there aren’t more of us in here,” he said as he pushed himself to his feet. He spat on the ground between them and left a big nasty mess of snot and blood. “See you around.”

  Obscura’s goons stumbled away and left her alone once more, this time with the door to her cell standing wide.