Walking cautiously, since I still couldn’t see for shit, I followed the signal Ash had sent me. Less than a minute later, I met up with my partners.
“Okay,” Ash said, his voice low, “we’re about five hundred yards from the cave entrance. Follow me and keep quiet.”
“Why? Are his big, dragon ears able to hear us sneaking around five football fields away from his house?” I said, smirking even though they couldn’t see my face.
“Yes,” they said in unison.
Shit. How the hell were we supposed to do this, then? I shook my head in disgust and followed Ash deeper into the trees.
Our progress was slow, since it was dark and we were in the middle of a forest. Plus, we were trying to be quiet. Not that I thought we were. Now that they had told me how good dragon hearing was, every time we stepped on a twig or brushed through leaves, it sounded like a car horn to me. How could we possibly sneak up on this bastard?
Ash came to a stop, knelt on the ground, and slipped his pack off his shoulders.
“We’re at the mouth of the lair,” he murmured so low I almost couldn’t hear him. If he hadn’t been talking in my mind I might not have understood his words.
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“It is a cave, with the opening approximately five feet from where you are standing,” he replied. “He has cast an illusion over it to make it look like more trees. There are also several safeguards. I’m going to disarm them. Stay where you are.”
I gulped despite myself. I was standing five feet away? I didn’t see anything that looked like a cave mouth, even one that had been covered. Not that I could see much anyway, but it still unnerved me.
Ash opened his laptop, and I was nearly blinded by the light from the screen. After all this darkness, the sudden change was dazzling. I watched as his fingers flew over the keyboard, and strange, red sigils ran across the screen.
“You can disarm spells with a computer program?” I said, blown away.
“Not exactly,” Erin said. “The software is casting a series of spells. The computer can interpret data and cast counterspells faster than the human mind. Since Mk’Rai has no doubt created a ton of illusions and traps on the entrance, we would have needed a spellcaster to work against them, and they’d have had to be fast enough. With the software, Ash can do it himself more efficiently.”
“Assuming the software was programmed with the correct counterspells and algorithms to interpret what it sees correctly,” Ash added.
“You know, you’re not very good at soothing fears,” I said.
“Quiet, the both of you,” Ash said. “He’ll hear you.”
I shut my mouth and rolled my eyes. My heart seemed to be beating louder than I was speaking. I wasn’t sure it was going to matter how little we spoke.
Regardless, Ash worked in near-silence, save for the tapping of computer keys. The software ran, a never-ending stream of cryptic symbols flying across the screen.
A moment later, there was a flash of red light. Suddenly, I was standing next to an enormous cave with brush growing down over the opening. Startled, I jumped away to my right.
I felt like an idiot, but the change had been so sudden, I was unprepared for the dragon’s illusion to suddenly vanish. There were three more flashes in rapid succession. Ash studied his computer for a moment, then closed it.
“Okay,” he whispered. “The shields are down. This is it – just like we planned.”
Erin drew her sword softly out of its sheath. I did the same. Then I stepped forward. Ash nodded at me. I pulled aside several vines and ventured into the cave.
The plan was for me to go first and draw the dragon’s fire. Since I was supposed to be immune to his magic, I was basically the tethered goat – distract him and keep him busy.
Erin’s job was to actually kill the bastard. I’m sure Ephraim would have been jealous that the mission had morphed for me to be the distraction and someone else to do the deed, but it made sense in this context. If Mk’Rai were dealing with me, Erin would be able to find an opening and kill him.
Speaking of Ephraim, Ash was supposed to rescue him while we were fighting the dragon. He was the rogue in the party after all. Mk’Rai likely had Big Brother Asshole tied up or worse, and it was Ash’s job to get him clear while Erin and I did the dirty work.
The air cooled as soon as I got inside, and there was ambient light I could see by. I didn’t know if this was magic or not – who knew with dragons? But the light flickered soft and red as though it were coming from a fire off in the distance.
The other thing I noticed as soon as I got inside was the smell. As in, it smelled like death and garbage. The stench penetrated my visor as though I weren’t wearing a helmet at all. When my nostrils were first assaulted, my impulse was to vomit. I mean, I had seriously never smelled anything this awful in my life. Even the dragon’s breath, which was wretched, hadn’t been this bad.
Partly, it made sense. There were bones and refuse scattered throughout the cave. Apparently, dragons weren’t too tidy when it came to taking out the trash. But even then, the stench was so rank, it didn’t seem possible it could be natural.
The cave itself was huge. I supposed it would have to be, since it housed a dragon, but I was awed by how massive it was. The ceiling was at least fifty feet up in the air, the walls equally far apart. It was no wonder he’d had to cast an illusion to protect this from discovery. It would have been impossible to miss otherwise, even with the brush hanging over it.
The passage wound its way left and right and angled down. New bones, some with meat still on them, appeared every few feet. D’Krisch Mk’Rai was a slob.
At last, the tunnel wound sharply left and opened up into an enormous chamber. The ceiling here was at least seventy-five feet high, maybe a hundred. I didn’t have a good estimate of the circumference. That sort of math had always eluded me in school. It was big.
It also smelled worse than the rest of the cave. There were even more bones, and the walls were coated with some sort of slime. Two more passageways left the room at two o’clock and four o’clock from our position.
Hanging on the wall at one o’clock was Ephraim.
He was suspended by some sort of invisible restraints. It must have been magic. Mk’Rai had hung him up spread-eagle, and Ephraim’s head lolled forward. He was either unconscious or dead. Given that Mk’Rai had planned to torture him and that the dragon seemed to do his eating here, I guessed it was the former. Big Bro’s tux was shredded, and there were superficial burns on the parts of his body that were exposed. I didn’t want to think about what sort of “enhanced interrogation techniques” a dragon could perform.
Something wasn’t right about this, though. It felt too easy. If Mk’Rai was supposed to be torturing him, why wasn’t he doing it now? It was nighttime. Was he asleep? Were dragons daytime or nocturnal creatures? Was he exhausted from flying here from Kingston?
“All right,” I said. “We’ve found Ephraim. Where’s Mk’Rai?”
“Looking for me?” came a dreadful, deep, rumbling voice.
I whirled in time to see that horrific dragon head emerge from the passageway behind me. He opened his mouth and spit fire.
Thirty-four
I think this is where we first came in. Me trying to rescue Big Brother Asshole because he thought he knew better than anyone else; big-ass dragon with super-stink breath exhaling fire at me; me probably about to die.
There was no time to move, no chance to get out of the way of that gout of flame. It hit me full-on. I was cooked, literally.
Except I wasn’t. The flames washed over me like pleasant heat – sort of like when you go outside on a hot day after being in air conditioning that’s turned up way too high. That first blast of the actual temperature feels so good on your skin. I closed my eyes and luxuriated in the sensation. I could feel myself filling up in a way I’d only ever experienced once before.
I don’t know how long Mk’Rai breathed fire on me. It mi
ght have been thirty seconds; it might have been an hour. I was lost in the beautiful feeling of the power of his brimstone breath.
But when it stopped, things were different. I felt alive – more alive than I’d ever been; more alive even than after that wizard hit me with a lightning bolt. I was powerful, potent, invincible.
And I could perceive everything. I didn’t have to look around; I just sort of knew. Ash, Erin, and Mk’Rai were all staring at me, awestruck. I’m sure the dragon had imagined reducing me to ashes. Instead, I was still here, looking at him. A wicked grin he couldn’t see behind my visor slid up my face.
“Damn, dude,” I said. “You are in serious need of a breath mint. I mean, you need an Altoid the size of a coffee table.”
“Insolence!” Mk’Rai roared.
Then he launched himself towards me, his claws gleaming. I threw myself to the ground and rolled right, easily evading the attack. He landed like a cat and whipped his tail at me. This, too, I dodged with no trouble.
Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew this was unusual. I was a good fighter, fast. But Mk’Rai seemed to be moving in slow motion. His attacks were clumsy, predictable. It was like he was a yellow belt taking his first sparring lesson. Everything he did was simple to counter.
Speaking of which, I might be able to evade his attacks, but I did eventually have to do something offensive myself. The problem was, he was so damned big. Against a human fighter, I’d have parried and then counterattacked. But neither my sword nor my arm was large enough to block one of his blows.
However, I perceived my partners going to work. Ash bolted for Ephraim, and Erin moved to flank Mk’Rai. Maybe all I had to do was keep him occupied.
“You know, I don’t understand why everyone is so afraid of you,” I taunted. “You are one slow-ass brute. You’ve got so much size on me, but you can’t even tag me.”
“I will land a blow eventually, human,” he said. “And when I do, you will be dead.”
“Promises, promises,” I teased.
He roared and swiped at me again. This time, I waited until the last second. Then I sidestepped the blow and brought my sword down. A powerful pulse of electricity went through my arms, there was a bright flash, and I neatly severed one of his fingers.
If I’d thought his voice was terrible before, it was nothing compared to how he howled in pain. The monkey part of my brain wanted to flee at the mere suggestion of his distress. His fury and anguish scratched at my mind like nails down a chalkboard.
And then it got worse.
Erin activated her anti-gravity belt, jumped up, and drove her sword deeply into the dragon’s neck. He screamed again and backhanded her, sending her weightless body hurtling into the cave wall. She hit it, bounced off, and floated lazily in the air, her head and shoulders slumping.
“No!” I cried, fearing she was dead.
The distraction provided Mk’Rai with the opportunity to hit me too. He caught me with a massive backfist that cracked my visor in six places and sent me rolling backwards. Spots danced in my eyes, and car horns blared in my ears. I came to a stop on my stomach and tried to get my wits about me.
Meanwhile, Ash had made it to Ephraim and was examining him to figure out how to free him. Mk’Rai roared something in a language I couldn’t understand, and Ash’s body suddenly glowed yellow and froze.
The dragon reached up with his good hand and drew Erin’s sword out of his neck. He whimpered at the pain, a sound that was almost tragic. Almost. Then he took the blade and snapped it in half. There was a brief flash of magic as the sword let go of its enchantments. Then Mk’Rai cast the ruined shards aside.
Clutching his wounded hand, he hopped around Ash, so he could face him. Ash struggled to move, but the dragon’s spell held him fast. Mk’Rai leaned in, putting his nose inches from Ash’s body.
“You fools in The Order think you’re special,” the dragon growled. “You think you have some sort of right to determine who lives and who dies, who can rule and who must serve.
“Let me tell you something, assassin, The Arcane Council only has authority given to it by those who acknowledge it. I do not. I am a dragon – an apex predator, greater than any other being on Earth. Neither you, your Order, nor your Council has any right to rule over me or my actions.
“There is an old saying humans have, half-breed. Perhaps you are familiar with it. ‘Let sleeping dragons lie.’ You ignored this advice. Now, I am awakened. And The Order shall pay the price for its folly. I will take its secrets from you and from Ephraim Silverman. And then I shall destroy all of you. The so-called magical community may even thank me for it, grateful for eliminating your tyranny.”
I struggled to see through the spiderwebbed cracks on my visor. I pulled off the helmet and got to my feet. While Mk’Rai was busy taunting Ash, I’d recovered. I still felt a little shaky, but I’d taken blows to the head in tournaments and kept fighting. I was a black belt, after all. And the defining trait of Kenpo black belts is their unwillingness to ever give up. I grabbed my katana and faced the dragon, who had conveniently given his back to me so that he could stick his ugly mug in Ash’s business.
“Hey, asshole,” I called out.
As I’d hoped, Mk’Rai whipped his head around to look at me. I threw him my best fuck-you smile.
“You’re not the only sleeping dragon who’s been awoken,” I said.
Then I launched myself at him. He reared up and opened his jaws, planning to either burn or eat me, I suppose. I didn’t give him the chance to do either. I was moving too quickly. As soon as I was close enough, I slashed him across the chest.
Once again, a fiery pulse of electricity raced through my arms and into my sword. A brief flash of blue light accompanied the strike.
Then a nasty cut opened on the dragon’s chest, blood poured out, and he roared in agony.
A second later, he belched forth another blast of fire. As it did the first time, it engulfed me, warming my skin and heating my insides pleasantly. I felt even more powerful than before. Magic coursed through me, igniting my soul. There was so much, I could barely contain it.
“You’re not very bright,” I said when the flames ceased. “That doesn’t work on me.”
I leaped into the air, soaring up over him. He stared at me with surprise and fear. Then I turned my sword over and drove it between those horrid, yellow, lizard eyes.
A pulse of energy more powerful than any I’d yet felt erupted from my blade. The dragon’s brain exploded inside his skull. Blood shot from his ears and mouth. His eyes went dark. I yanked my katana free, and the dragon’s body collapsed to the earth.
D’Krisch Mk’Rai was dead.
I dropped lightly to the ground. Unable to resist, I posed dramatically. All hail Sassy Kincaide, Dragonslayer!
A second later, Ash’s body flashed with yellow light, and he could move. He took off his helmet, popped his neck, and stared at me in awe.
“How did you do that?” he asked.
“Do which?”
“Fly.”
I stared at him dumbfounded for a moment. I opened my mouth to answer and realized I didn’t know.
“I must have triggered my anti-gravity belt without realizing it,” I said.
“I don’t think so,” he replied.
He raised his hand and pointed behind me. I looked. There was my belt lying a few feet from where I’d fallen before.
“Mk’Rai smashed it when he hit you,” Ash said. “Not only are the controls likely ruined, it unbuckled. You weren’t wearing it when you killed him.”
I blinked in shock. I could fly? How? I didn’t remember doing anything. I just knew the best way to kill the dragon was probably to stab him in the brain. So I’d jumped.
I looked back at Ash. He grimaced.
“We’d better keep this between ourselves,” he said. “I don’t know what the extent of your powers are, Sassy, but the less The Order knows about them the better.”
He was damn right about that. Now
that the dragon was dead, I was determined The Order and I were going separate ways. I didn’t need them thinking I should be studied. I nodded in agreement.
“How’d you get free?” I asked. “Ephraim is still stuck.”
“I was wearing a decharmer,” he said, tapping the ring on his left hand. “You didn’t think I’d come in here unprepared, did you?”
I grinned broadly.
“See? I told you you were the rogue.”
He frowned in incomprehension. I opened my mouth to explain the D&D reference to him, but from across the cave, Erin groaned. In the heat of the battle, I’d forgotten about her.
“Holy shit,” I said, racing over to her.
She floated not far from the wall Mk’Rai had knocked her into. I grabbed her ankle and gently pulled her down. When she was on the ground, I deactivated her anti-gravity belt.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I hurt everywhere,” she moaned.
She pulled off her helmet, put a hand to her head, and winced. Then she tried to sit up, but immediately decided that was a bad idea.
“Take it easy,” I said. “We don’t know how badly you’re hurt.”
“Okay,” she replied. “That sounds fine. What happened?”
Mk’Rai knocked you across the cave,” Ash said. “You were weightless, so you hit the wall pretty hard.”
“That explains a lot,” she murmured. “Where’s Mk’Rai now?”
“Dead,” I said.
Erin’s eyes popped fully open. She forced them into focus and stared at me.
“You got him?” she asked.
“I got him.”
“Nice work,” she replied.
“I’m calling in a pickup,” Ash said. “I’ll let them know you need medical attention.”
“Thanks,” Erin said.
I stood up and looked around. Aside from the presence of a dead dragon, the chamber was no different than when we’d first entered it.
“All right,” I said. “We defeated the dragon and rescued the prisoner. Where’s the treasure?”
Sleeping Dragons Page 27
