‘He’s probably married,’ Trudy said as they set off toward the entertainment district.
‘Glinda’s not that stupid,’ Charlotte replied.
Trudy gave a shrug. ‘It’s not exactly unheard of in Concord City. She’s far too young to get pregnant. Some older dragon with an unhappy marriage, or just a taste for younger dragons, decides he wants something on the side. A few expensive gifts might come her way and she’s not really got anything to lose…’
‘Where would she even meet someone like that?’
‘She was at the Founder’s Day party, wasn’t she?’
‘Oh, yeah.’
That ended that line of conversation and they chatted about school work, teachers, and some of the shops and bars they were passing until they arrived at the club Trudy had suggested. It was called Naga’s and there were several silhouettes of the snake-tailed beings decorating the outer walls. All the silhouettes suggested female nagas, though Krystal knew something of them and they did come in two genders. The pictures also suggested dancing, somewhat erotic dancing at that.
‘Don’t worry,’ Trudy said as she started for the door, ‘it’s not as sleazy as it looks. The cover charge isn’t too high, and the drinks are neither watered down nor over-expensive. If we’re lucky, we might even get in for free.’
‘Why?’ Krystal asked.
Trudy smirked. ‘Take your glasses off.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Just do it. And think sexy thoughts. Five hot girls in a group ought to attract the seeding discount.’
‘Seeding discount?’ Krystal took off her glasses, as requested, hooking them into her shirt. Then she moved in to take Trudy’s arm as the world turned into a blur.
‘Yeah. I’ll explain once we’re inside.’
Krystal had to admit that ‘five hot girls’ was not an entirely inaccurate description. Charlotte looked amazing most of the time. Tonight she was in a cropped T-shirt and a short, pleated skirt, and showing a lot of flesh between her bare midriff and her long legs. Trudy had selected her best summer dress: a short, rose-coloured garment made of very light fabric which became almost transparent when backlit. She had a pair of strappy, red heels which seemed to be kept for best too. Neither Xanthe nor Jesse had exactly dressed up for the occasion, but they were both attractive young women, and they were both in denim shorts showing plenty of leg. Xanthe had added some heeled court shoes which looked like they had never been worn before and a string-strapped, short top. Jesse was in running shoes, like Charlotte, but it was unlikely that anyone would be paying a lot of attention to her feet: she had put on a loose, green tank top which technically covered her up very well, except that the arm holes dipped almost to the bottom of her ribcage, resulting in the garment being a lot more revealing than it first appeared. Krystal felt entirely underdressed in comparison: she was wearing a pair of ankle boots, her best black jeans, and one of her school shirts knotted under her breasts.
Half-blind, Krystal did not see the man on the door waving them in without paying, but Trudy giggled as she carried on into the club. ‘That worked,’ Trudy said. ‘You can put your glasses on now.’
Krystal’s vision returned and she looked around at the interior of Naga’s. She had already decided that Trudy’s explanation of the ‘seeding discount’ was going to have to be given at reasonable volume since the music was loud. It was some sort of synthesis of northern vocal harmony and southern jungle music, and it was actually not too bad; the southern beat structure gave you something to dance to while the harmonised voices gave a melody you could listen to. There was no band: it was either someone using air magic to generate the sound or a recording on disc, probably the latter, though there might have been an enchantment to provide the amplification.
The decoration was baroque and naga-themed. Columns supported a central, domed area which was the dance floor. Each column was a woman with her legs replaced by a snake’s tail, and each column was painted in gold and red. The walls were panelled with paintings of naked, dancing nagas, and these ones were in colour. Very bright colours, in fact. Around the dance area there were tables and, on one side of the room, a long bar which the girls worked their way over to.
‘We’ll head over to the back when we’ve got drinks,’ Trudy half-shouted over the music. She indicated a more dimly lit section of the room beyond the dance floor. ‘It’s a little quieter over there.’ Quieter seemed like a good idea: Jesse was looking nervous.
The drinks were, indeed, not too expensive. That was good since Krystal was on a fairly strict budget. Her grant allowed a little extra money for ‘living expenses,’ but nights out like this were probably going to be thin on the ground and she suspected that Trudy and Charlotte were in the same boat.
‘So,’ Krystal asked as soon as they had found a table they could all sit around, ‘what’s this “seeding discount?”’
‘They attract more men, who spend more money, if they have more attractive women in the club,’ Trudy replied. ‘So, they “seed” the room by letting some of those attractive women in for free. It’s known that a couple of the clubs do it, and the more you dress like you’re looking for a partner for the night, the more likely it is you’ll get in free.’
Krystal raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s why you persuaded me to dress like this?’
‘It’s a good excuse,’ Trudy replied with a smirk.
‘We’re eye-treats?’ Charlotte asked, though she did not seem to be too bothered by the concept.
‘Basically,’ Trudy agreed. ‘Especially you.’
‘I’m not–’
‘Don’t fish for compliments. Everyone here is, at the very least, seriously cute.’
‘I don’t think freckles and glasses are really up to modern ideals of beauty,’ Krystal said and then held up her hands. ‘But I’m not going to argue and I wasn’t looking for praise of my looks. Just an objective observation. So, what do we do now we’re out? I’ve never really been on a “girls’ night” before. Do we… talk about boys?’
‘Ugh, no,’ Charlotte replied with a grimace. ‘We may make passing comment on really good-looking ones, but in general we should avoid them.’
‘I certainly will,’ Jesse said.
‘You’d avoid people in general if you could.’
‘Meh, people are overrated,’ Xanthe said. ‘I mean, look at them, milling about like… like… I can’t actually think of an animal I’d insult by using them in that sentence. All of the people here are trying to be individuals by copying what everyone else is doing. They make ants look original.’
Charlotte frowned and then shrugged. ‘Okay, yes, it’s a valid point. You see, Krys, you shouldn’t worry about conventional ideals of beauty. Xan says they’re overrated.’
Krystal grinned. ‘Oh, well if Xan says so…’
‘I think you’re gorgeous,’ Trudy said, grinning at Krystal.
‘You’re biased,’ Charlotte replied.
‘She is?’ Jesse asked. ‘Why? Just because they share a room?’
Krystal’s cheeks went scarlet and she willed Charlotte not to say anything. Apparently, her willpower was not up to the task.
‘No, Jesse,’ Charlotte said, a big smirk developing, ‘it’s because they’re–’
‘Such good friends,’ Trudy broke in.
‘Oh,’ Jesse said, nodding. ‘That explains it then. Friends, yes. Nothing to do with all the sex at all.’
Krystal let out a whimper and tried to slide under the table.
‘Jesse!’ Trudy squeaked. ‘I don’t know. There I was thinking you were such a nice girl.’
‘Always beware the nice ones,’ Charlotte said, nodding sagely.
~~~
On the third round of drinks, the topic shifted to boys, but not in a good way. Four of that gender had taken a table fairly close to the one the girls were on. It was a colourful collection: the apparent leader had deep-red hair, and his friends were dark-blue, green, and blonde. That suggested a red, a blue, a green, and a
yellow. The blue-haired one could have been an indigo, but an indigo would probably not have deferred to a red. The fact that the red was in charge was pretty standard in such a group: reds were the warriors of the dragon world, and this one was a big man, heavily muscled on a heavy frame.
The four boys kept their conversation low, but they kept looking over at the girls and there were periodic bursts of laughter. It was not hard to imagine what they were talking about.
‘Ancestors, look at them,’ Xanthe said. ‘This is what I meant about being the same while trying to be different. I bet the red thinks a leather jacket is so cool. And that yellow is only wearing one too because his buddy has one. Almost makes me ashamed of my colour.’
‘The blue isn’t making me feel like a proud member of dragon society,’ Charlotte said. ‘The green is absolutely mesmerised by Jesse though.’
‘He is?’ Jesse asked. Her expression of mild confusion, combined with her reddening cheeks, suggested that she had genuinely not noticed the attention she was getting from the boy with green hair.
‘He is,’ Charlotte told her. ‘That leaves the red gunning for you, Krys. He probably thinks you’re an indigo. Reds are always trying to hit a target they don’t have the skill for.’
‘He might be after Trudy,’ Krystal countered.
‘Go after a grey when he thinks there’s an indigo on offer?’ Trudy said. ‘No chance.’
‘There isn’t an indigo on offer. I mean, if I actually was an indigo, I wouldn’t be on offer.’
‘Tell that to your cleavage,’ Charlotte suggested. ‘I think they’ll develop the courage to actually come in– Oh, I underestimated them. Here we go.’ She leaned back in her seat with a sigh and waited.
It was the red, backed up by the yellow, who walked, no, swaggered over to the girls’ table. He was grinning in the same way every cocky male had sauntered up to a female he expected to be easy since creatures on Draconia had developed legs. ‘Ladies,’ he said, broadening his smile, ‘we were wondering whether we could buy you a drink.’
‘Got drinks, thanks,’ Charlotte replied.
‘Maybe a dance then. We–’
‘If we wanted to dance, we’d be dancing.’
‘Hey, why the hostility?’ It was said in a jovial manner, but there was a hint of annoyance developing in the red’s voice: he did not, it seemed, take rejection well. ‘I saw a group of girls and we’re a group of men… Seems like the perfect match.’
‘Except there are four of you,’ Krystal said, ‘and five of us, so someone’s going to get left out in your perfect match.’
The red seemed pleased that Krystal had joined the conversation. He leered at her. ‘Sweetness, I’m a red. I can handle any two of you, no problem.’
He did not look pleased when the girls, even Jesse, burst into laughter. ‘Oh, Red,’ Charlotte said, ‘you couldn’t handle one of us, even if your buddies all held your… hand while you did it.’
Anger flashed in the red’s eyes, but his friend muttered something behind him and, whatever had been said, it caused the red to back off. He did mutter ‘Damned feather-munchers’ loud enough to be quite audible as he left, but he left and, a minute or two later, the boys left their table and moved elsewhere.
‘Feather-munchers?’ Krystal asked.
‘You really need to get out more,’ Charlotte commented. ‘Were you raised in a nunnery or something?’
‘Well, yeah, sort of.’
Charlotte giggled. ‘I know. And maybe you didn’t know this, because you don’t have your dracoform yet. Most girls in dracoform have a little patch of feathery scales above their… Um, down there, you know? So, well, feather-munchers are girls who…’
‘Munch feathers,’ Trudy finished. ‘You started really confidently there, but you kind of chickened out at the end.’
~~~
Only Charlotte and Trudy had put make-up on to go out. Krystal did not even own any, a fact which had surprised Trudy more than it should have. Trudy was checking her lipstick in the mirror of the club’s restroom while Jesse finished up in one of the cubicles. Jesse had needed to go, but she was too timid to leave the group entirely, so Trudy had gone along to freshen up. She was fairly sure they would head back to the school soon anyway, but she had every intention of taking Krystal straight to bed when they got in, so freshening up a little seemed like a wise idea.
The cubicle door opened and Jesse emerged, heading for a sink to wash her hands. ‘Thanks for coming with me, Trudy,’ she said, smiling at Trudy’s reflection.
‘What are friends for?’ Trudy replied. ‘You really haven’t spent much time around other people, have you? I mean, we’re in a club, they have security. Nothing to worry about here.’
‘I know. Intellectually, I know. I just feel safer when I’ve got plants and wilderness around me.’
Trudy giggled. ‘You mean, in the exact position most dragons would find the scariest?’
‘Well, maybe. I suppose I’m not like most dragons.’
‘None of us are, really. I’m a grey that works magic. Charley is at a magic school, but she’s more concerned with flying than weather magic. Xan is a loner. She may not be as timid as you, but she’d rather be on her own really. Krystal’s… Well, she’s powerful and she might be an indigo when she finally comes into her dracoform, but she’s a bookwyrm and an orphan. We don’t really fit in. And you’ll get used to this place. The city’s not that different to a jungle.’
Jesse gave Trudy a look. ‘I know people talk about urban jungles and stuff, but really, jungles have trees, and vines, and bushes. And lots of them, not just a few parks. And the wildlife consists of more than rats.’
‘I think there are more than rats in the city. You should ask Xan. I bet she knows. Let’s get back to them.’
‘Okay, but I’m pretty sure it’s just rats.’
Grinning and shaking her head, Trudy opened the restroom door and stepped outside. She had a brief impression of redness and she heard a squeal of protest from Jesse, but by then she was being pushed, hard, down the corridor, away from the public rooms and toward the back of the club. She stumbled on her heels and fell, and someone grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet, almost throwing her down the corridor where she fell again. This time, Jesse almost fell on top of her. Trudy managed to turn and look back, and there she saw the four boys from the club marching purposefully after them. The red was in the lead, wearing a broad, cocksure grin.
‘Run,’ Trudy said, pulling herself to her feet and grabbing at Jesse’s arm. Running on her heeled sandals was probably a bad idea, but stopping to remove them was not an option. As fast as they could manage, the two girls rushed down the corridor, turned a corner, and found themselves up against a locked door. That had been just what the boys were planning. Trudy turned and balled her fists.
‘Oh, you really think you can fight us, little girl?’ the red asked.
‘I can make you wish you hadn’t started this,’ Trudy replied. ‘And we can both scream.’
‘Just try it. The music’ll drown out any sound you make. Now, I can open that door there and you can come with us, all quiet like, or we can soften you up a little and take you anyway. What’s it to be?’
Trudy squinted at the red dragon and his cronies. There was a light behind them and they were more or less just shadows, menacing shadows. Too many of them. If Jesse was willing to fight… But no, there was the red and his four friends and that was too many for two girls to take on without things ending up just the way the red had– Trudy frowned. His four friends?
‘Why don’t you boys pick on someone your own size?’ The voice was obviously female and it sort of sounded like Krystal’s smooth soprano-toned one, but it was a register lower and it had a soft purr in it that Trudy had never heard from her friend. It came from the shadow at the back of the group of boys and, now that Trudy really looked, this was a tall woman, at least six feet in height, with a substantial bust. As the figure moved back a little, the overhead light sho
wed long hair, blue with patches of red and purple in it, and the glint of rainbow scales on the woman’s arms. Whoever she was, she was a royal!
The red turned, looking back. ‘I don’t know who you are, lady, but if you don’t want to end up the same way they’re going to, you better get out of–’
‘She’s a royal, Trent!’ one of the others hissed. ‘You don’t want to piss her off.’
‘Too late,’ the woman said, and she raised her hand. ‘Blaze forth the light of a thousand stars!’ And light blazed forth, maybe not as of a thousand stars, but the sudden flash in the darkened space had the effect such things usually did. Trudy let out a shriek as her vision went from more or less useless to totally dark. ‘You two, move!’ the royal shouted.
Jesse grabbed Trudy and pushed. Apparently, Jesse had managed to avoid being blinded by the glare, but she was stumbling, not her usual graceful self. Another hand grabbed Trudy’s arm and pushed her on down the corridor and Jesse heard a door open and close a second later, and then her vision was clearing and they were out on the main floor of the club. She could see, but she was still shaking.
‘I can see,’ Trudy said. ‘We get to the others and get out of here.’
‘Yes,’ Jesse managed, her voice tight.
But when they got to the table, only Charlotte and Xanthe were there. ‘Where’s Krys?’ Trudy asked. ‘We need to go. Now. We need to go now. Where’s Krys?’
‘Here,’ Krystal said, coming up from behind them. ‘Where were you? I went to the restrooms too, but neither of you were in there.’
‘Those boys. They came after us. They had us trapped in the back and then–’
Krystal was suddenly right beside Trudy, lifting her face and checking her for any signs of injury. ‘Ancestors! Are you okay? Did they hurt you?’
‘No, a woman was there. She stopped them.’
Misfit Magic (Misfits Book 1) Page 7
