by Eric Vall
“Sure.” I set the buckets down by the tents and rushed over to help him carry the large log to the fireside. It was the perfect size for all the women to sit on while they ate, and we dropped the log on the ground and brushed our hands clean.
Not a bad little setup. We’d gotten pretty good at this.
The dryads rushed back into the clearing, and they each held a large basket that looked like the sisters had just weaved them from the leaves and twigs in the forest.
“We found a whole grove of fruit trees over there!” Polina squealed.
“There were, like, a hundred fruits to choose from--” Trina started.
“So, we just grabbed a few of everything!” Marina cut in.
“I’m sure everyone will love them,” I chuckled. “Thank you, and good job.”
“Oh, thank you, Lord Evan!” Marina curtsied.
“Anything we can do,” Polina added with a wink.
“And we do mean anything!” Trina giggled and licked her lips.
My cock pulled at my trousers at the thought of being with the dryad sisters again. They’d kept me busy for two days straight the first time we were in bed, and it had been fucking amazing.
“Let’s worry about dinner first, my love,” Alyona murmured as she snaked a hand around my waist and smiled at the trio. “We only have one more night to rest before we arrive in Lumin, and who knows what we’ll have to handle there.”
“True,” I grunted. “Tikal was quite the hassle, so I guess we better just expect work wherever we go.”
The sisters sighed together.
“Milady is right,” Trina mumbled.
“Yes, we must eat and then get our rest,” Polina agreed with a frown.
“But a bath couldn’t hurt, right?” Marina clasped her hands together and looked over at the flowing water with a smile.
“Oh, yes, let’s go get cleaned up!” Polina gasped.
The dryads ran over to the water and ducked behind some tall grasses on the riverbank, and I squinted to see their beautiful green skin through the reeds. Then the three women immediately hopped into the water and laughed together. They splashed each other, and I absently imagined running my tongue over their cool, slick skin.
“We have meat!” Aaliyah called out as she and Laika entered the clearing.
I shook my head to clear it of my little daydream and focused on the Demi-Humans. They each carried a couple large birds over one shoulder, and they both had a hold on either end of some kind of large pig. It looked a lot like a boar, but its fur was a dark mahogany, and its tusks extended about a foot away from its face.
I didn’t care about looks, but I hoped it tasted like bacon.
“I’ll put them on the fire.” Nike took the carcasses and began preparing them to cook. For having been raised a warrior, Nike was a damn good chef, and I looked forward to whatever flavoring he found to season the meats with.
“Anyone care to join us before dinner?” Trina called out from the water.
“Oh, me!” Ravi answered quickly and ran over to join them, but she took her time and laid her clothes on a tree branch before dipping into the water behind the reeds.
“We probably should, too,” Aaliyah said to Laika with a laugh. “Those birds were not easy prey.”
“Ah, yeah.” Laika’s gray eyes shone with mischief. “They seemed to like teasing you.”
“But I got the bastards!” The lioness smirked.
“Yes, you did,” Laika laughed, and the two walked over to join the other women at the brook.
“No bath for you, my princess?” I asked Alyona. I’d been looking forward to watching all my women get naked, so I was a little disappointed when she shook her head.
“I’m too anxious about tomorrow,” Alyona admitted as she twisted a lock of raven-colored hair around her finger. “I’ve never actually been to Lumin, but I’ve read they’re very intelligent and wise creatures.”
“If they’re smart, you have nothing to worry about,” I replied with a smirk. “They’d have to be really stupid to upset you with me around.”
“Well, I suppose that’s true,” Alyona murmured and gave me a half-smile.
“It is,” I confirmed as I put my arm around her shoulders and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. “So, don’t worry about a thing.”
“I’ll try,” she answered. “I think I’m going to do some more reading about the Dandelion Gates until dinner is ready.”
“Okay, I’ll come get you when it’s done,” I agreed.
I watched Alyona glide over to our tent, sit on the moss bed, and pull a book out of her spatial storage. She’d already read countless books on our trip to try and prepare for the next step in our hunt for the Green Glass Sect leader. I knew it bothered her that she didn’t know why they were worried about her. She had no clue how to stop the Breach from opening yet, but I knew she would figure it out. I just hoped she had as much faith in herself as we all had in her.
“Is the princess still worried about what the traitor said?” Nike asked under his breath.
“Yeah,” I replied. “She’s back to studying to see what else she can figure out.”
“It’s good to be prepared,” he murmured, “but I hope she doesn’t put the whole weight of the problem on herself. We’re in this together.”
“I keep trying to remind her of that,” I sighed. “She’s been raised to be a superhero, though.”
“A superhero?” Nike raised a brow.
“Oh, yeah.” I rubbed my chin. “It’s a person with special powers who goes around saving people in trouble.”
“So, basically, what you do?” Nike looked at me and cocked his head to the side.
“Huh,” I muttered, and a grin spread across my face. “I guess so. Never thought of it that way.”
I liked that idea. Not only was I a badass dragon, but now I was a fucking superhero.
I’d landed in the best realm possible.
A loud cackle interrupted my thoughts, and I turned to see the rest of my women as they pulled their clothes back on to return to camp. I was about to suggest another swimming party, but then Nike announced dinner.
I walked over to our tent and bent down to where Alyona could see me, but she was nose deep in a thick book with pages that looked older than dirt.
“Ready to eat, princess?” I asked her.
“Oh, of course,” she mumbled as she closed the book and stood up.
Everyone crowded around the campfire as Nike handed out bowls of charred meat and fruit from the baskets. The pig smelled of the purple flowers that draped from the bushes near the creek, and it was a sweet, almost cinnamon smell that made my mouth water. The meat also tasted like crispy, smoky bacon, just as I’d hoped. When I’d finished off my slices of pork, I picked up a small brown fruit from one of the baskets and bit off a chunk. A pungent, sour juice filled my mouth, and then the juice sweetened and ran down the back of my throat. It was like a candy as I chewed the flesh and swallowed, and I had no idea what the fruit was called, but it just became my new favorite.
We filled the cups with water from the jugs and sat around to eat. The sun had finally set, and the fire lit up the campsite while shadows danced around in the trees surrounding us. We filled the air with idle conversation about food before yawns echoed around the group.
“Okay, let’s get some sleep before we all pass out right here,” I suggested with a sleepy smile.
“Yeah,” Polina agreed and yawned. “We have a big day tomorrow.”
“Very big,” Trina added and stretched.
The dryads retired to their tent, while Ravi and Aaliyah made their way to the next teepee. Nike headed to his moss bed alone, and Laika joined Alyona and I in our bed. I felt both of their warm bodies press up against mine and grinned until I realized they were already snoring.
I sighed and closed my eyes. I guess I was in for a night of rest.
The next thing I knew, sunlight streamed in between the trees surrounding the tent. I opened my
eyes and stretched gently so I didn’t wake my lovers, but Laika was already up. Her gray tail twitched as she bent over to lace up her boots, and I stared at her long slender legs for a moment before she turned around and smirked.
“Come on now, Lord Evan,” she teased. “We have a big day ahead of us.”
Then the wolf warrior sashayed out of the tent to load up the wagons.
“Yeah, yeah,” I grunted and rolled over to get up. Then I pulled my boots on and climbed out of the tent.
Everyone else was already awake and loading up, and Nike walked over and handed me a plate of leftover meats and fruits from our dinner.
“The rest of us already ate.” He smiled. “I saved some for you two.”
“Thanks, brother,” I replied as I clapped him on the shoulder, and then I turned back and gently woke up my fiancée.
Alyona rolled over and gazed up at me with glassy, purple eyes before she blinked a couple times and smiled.
“Come on,” I whispered. “We’re the last ones to wake up.”
She nodded and worked her way out of bed, and then we rolled up the tent and tossed it into the wagon with the others. The rest of our group had climbed up on the wagons, so I lifted Alyona up next to Laika and clambered on behind her.
Laika snapped the reins, and we were off.
“Did you learn anything new in your book?” I asked Alyona as we rolled down the forest trail toward Lumin.
“Not really,” she answered with a shrug. “There isn’t much else in any of the texts besides the fact that it has a magical presence, and some people find it peaceful for meditation.”
“That doesn’t really tell us anything,” I remarked.
“Exactly,” Alyona sighed and tugged on her braid. “I feel like we’re going into this completely blind.”
“Well, we have you on our side,” I countered. “So I’m not worried.”
The princess smiled at me and looked back down at her hands in her lap. I wasn’t sure how to convince her that she could do this, but I’d figure it out.
We traveled in silence until I could see a break in the trees. It looked like we were finally at the edge of the forest and about to arrive in Lumin.
A few minutes later, we stopped at the tree line and looked down the rest of the path to see a huge stone wall that surrounded an expansive city. Spires and turrets peeked over the edge of the wall, but the palace was clearly the largest building in the center of the city. Its bell tower sat high above the rest of the buildings, and the entire balcony around it was decorated with gold and jewels so it sparkled in the late morning sun.
“I’d say that’s probably it,” I announced.
Alyona laughed and rolled her eyes.
“Brilliant, my lord,” Laika added with a chuckle. Then she cracked the reins, and we continued forward on the path to the city.
But my dragon senses suddenly put me on high alert.
“Wait,” I ordered Laika.
The wolf yanked the reins back to halt the horses, and Nike abruptly appeared at my side, with the Sword of Light in his hands. He’d apparently felt the disturbance ahead as well.
I opened my spatial storage and pulled out the Sword of Healing as I looked around.
We were now completely out of the forest and totally exposed. I didn’t like it.
Then I heard a soft whistling noise that was somehow familiar. I tried to pinpoint its location, but then realized I couldn’t because it was moving.
I looked up in time to swing my sword and slice the arrow in half before it could penetrate our wagon.
Nike looked down at the wooden pieces on the ground next to me.
“Fucking arrows again?” he asked with a grimace.
“Fucking arrows,” I confirmed.
Chapter 2
Nike and I searched for the source of the arrows as Laika unsheathed her broadsword and jumped down next to us.
“Over there.” The wolf Demi-Human pointed to a turret on the city’s east wall.
I looked closer and saw she was right. A shadow filled the window of the turret, and another arrow peeked out, ready to fire.
As we assessed the situation, I heard another, much louder whistle coming from the north side of the wall, and I glanced over in time to see a barrage of arrows hitting the top of their arch before they began their descent toward us.
There was about a zero percent chance I could deflect all of them before they hit our convoy, so I called on the fire magic I’d learned from the phoenix chief, Fiyero, and reached my fist into the sky. A moment later, a giant fiery shield appeared at the end of my arm and covered our entire group.
Dozens of arrows hit the shield and caught fire, and the projectiles burned from one end to the other before the arrowheads dropped to the ground all around us.
“Why do people keep shooting at us?” I heard Polina sigh from somewhere behind me.
“Let’s find out,” I growled as I lowered my arm, and the fiery shield evaporated with a puff of smoke.
Then I looked in the direction the arrows had come from, and my jaw fell open in shock for a solid five seconds.
Our attackers were fucking centaurs. The half-man, half-horse creatures held bows, and quivers of arrows were strapped to the back of their human torsos. They also currently wore extremely surprised expressions at my ability to use fire magic.
I smirked. They had no idea who they were messing with, and they were about to be even more surprised.
“You guys stay here!” I called out. “I’ll handle these assholes.”
With that, I shifted into my enormous, black-scaled dragon form, flapped my wings, and took flight down the rest of the path.
The centaurs wavered for a moment and glanced at each other, but then they reloaded their arrows and took aim at my large body.
I bobbed and weaved with ease to avoid the projectiles, though, and I almost wanted to laugh.
A few centaurs continued shooting at the convoy, and I glanced back as Nike and Laika followed my lead and fended the arrows off with their swords. Nike’s sword burned through batches of arrows with its light powers, and the wolf Demi-Human was a blur as she deflected the projectiles like Neo in the Matrix. Then Ravi set her face with determination and created a shield similar to mine, though hers was not as big. It was enough to provide cover, though, and the rest of our group joined her underneath it.
I turned back to my destination, and with several more flaps of my massive wings, I reached the centaurs and shot piles of webbing over them. I hoped it would stop them from attacking long enough for me to find the leader, but the huge man-horse creatures ripped and shredded through the webs like paper.
Okay, so these guys were pretty strong.
Another round of arrows flew toward me, but instead of dodging them this time, I released a hot breath of fire to burn through them. A few arrowheads still made their way to my underbelly, but they felt like pinpricks without the force of the arrow behind them.
“Stop firing!” I roared at the creatures below me. “I’m not trying to hurt you!”
A few of the centaurs laughed, and they all reloaded their bows with more arrows to shoot at me.
I continued circling the group as I tried to find the centaur in charge of the attack. Considering how close we were to the city, I figured these guys were residents of Lumin, and the last thing that would help with diplomacy would be to kill their warriors.
Finally, I saw him.
The centaur leader was in the second row of attackers. He wore a gold chain that dangled halfway down his torso, and another gold chain was woven through the braid that laid over his shoulder. His tan skin was covered in tattoos, and his bare chest and face glistened with sweat as he watched me soar above them.
“You!” I pointed a claw at the leader. “You have to see I’m not attacking!”
The centaur smirked and signaled for another round of arrows.
I growled and burned through the barrage.
Then I had an idea.
I looped wide around the centaurs then veered straight for the ground in front of them. Just before I slammed into the dirt, I covered myself with my healing magic and summoned my earthquake ability.
The ground rumbled and shook as jagged cracks etched across the grassy field and sliced through the group of centaurs. The creatures yelled and jumped around to avoid falling into one of the cracks, and I flew back up above them to make sure no one got hurt.
But my mouth nearly fell open when I saw a few of the warriors shift into human bodies to dodge the giant holes.
So, the centaurs could shapeshift like me. I wondered if I could use that to my advantage.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone!” I shouted down to the leader. “Let me come down and talk to you in my human form!”
The centaur commander stood tall and stared at me as I continued to fly around them. Then he lifted a single fist without looking away from me, and the rest of the warriors lowered their bows and watched him.
I glided down to the ground in front of the earthquake damage, landed, and shifted into my human body.
The leader’s eyes widened as I brushed myself off and strode directly to him, and I bypassed the handful of centaurs who glared at me as I made my way to the commander.
“Are your men willing to stand down so the rest of my party can join us?” I asked him.
The centaur commander towered over me on his tall, equine legs. The hair that covered the lower part of his body was a shiny, raven color, and his brown eyes stared at me with suspicion.
“That depends on what you have to say,” the centaur responded in a gravelly voice. “I’m sure you understand if we don’t trust your … kind.”
“My kind?” I raised a brow. “Dragons?”
“Yes,” he hissed, and his horse tail snapped in annoyance. “Don’t be coy. I have no patience for such games.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hand. “Someone offended you, now you hate everyone, got it. I don’t do all that shit.”
The centaurs around me chuckled until the leader glared at them.
“I see,” he murmured as he rubbed his chin. “And you are?”
“I’m Lord Evan of Hatra el Shamash,” I announced. “Your turn.”
