Dragon Slayer 2_A Pulp Fantasy Harem Adventure

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “So be it,” she rumbled after a long moment and dipped her crimson head in acknowledgement. “We will give her the chance to join us.”

  “But if she forces our hand,” growled Arieste, “we will choose to protect your life rather than save hers.”

  “Understood,” I told them with a grin. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that, then. Three dragons are going to be better than two when it comes to dealing with Curym and Zaddrith.”

  With that, I triggered the gemstone in the Circlet of Darksight. The metal hummed in my hands as I closed my eyes and tapped into the first magical ability that I’d received from Barodan. Electricity flowed through my chest as the Mark of the Guardian reached for the fire magic flowing through the Circlet. I pulled the tendrils of flame into myself, and then opened my eyes to see its effect. The two dragons glowed a brilliant yellow-red, and Captain Daxos and Sergeant Dai gave off a richer red-orange light.

  I placed a hand on Irenya’s chest and Arieste’s forehead, then channeled the fire magic through the gemstones and into their bodies. They let out a little rumble as the magic took hold within them, and then turned their eyes to stare at the darkness of Emroth’s lair.

  “Let’s get this done before the power runs out,” I said as I drew my axe and led the way into the darkened cave.

  Emroth’s lair was a vast cave, but the interior was nearly pitch black beyond the first few yards. Sunlight seemed unable to penetrate the gloom of the cavern, and silence filled the huge space within. I pressed the gemstone set into my pauldron to switch it on, and the metal soon gave off a bright glow.

  The light revealed a cave easily thirty yards tall, and the fifty-yard radius of light failed to reach the back and far side of the cavern. The rocky walls rose in swirling layers of strata to an arched roof above my head. The floor of the cave seemed to dip and rise like the waves of the ocean, but it was made of deep red stone instead of blue water. The uneven surface and jagged walls could provide any number of places for Emroth to hide, and the altar could be anywhere in the cave.

  In a small depression a short distance from the mouth of the cave, I saw a dark shape that turned out to be a man in armor. The armor resembled that of the Blackguard, but far more elegant, with intricate designs etched into the breastplate. The moment I saw the golden circlet on the helmet, I knew I had found King Astralon. Kingshome’s ruler would not be returning home.

  I kept my head on a swivel as I scanned the cavern for any sign of Emroth. At the same time, I used the Mark of the Guardian to search for the faint feeling of her magic. The nature of her power made it difficult to detect, but I could feel that slippery evasive feeling coming from the far side of the cavern.

  I strode across the uneven floor toward the evasive feeling with my axe in hand. I didn’t know if Emroth could see in the dark, but there was no doubt that I made an easy target with my shoulder armor all lit up.

  “Come out, come out!” I shouted, and the sound echoed off the walls of the cave. “Surrender and I won’t have to hurt you.”

  Behind me, my two dragons let out low growls. They let it be known they were more than willing to hurt Emroth, and only my word to take the black dragon alive would hold them back.

  I saw no sign of Emroth as I approached the far side of the cavern, but there was no mistaking the fact that the feeling was growing stronger. I could almost sense the evasive magic that gave her the powers of concealment.

  “Ethan!” Arieste’s rumbling shout echoed behind me.

  I threw myself to the side on instinct, and a loud thump echoed on the floor behind me. A moment later, crimson light bloomed in the cavern and a blast of Irenya’s fire swept the air where I’d been standing. I glanced back in time to see Emroth’s compact, panther-like form bounding along a rocky shelf set high on the cave walls.

  “Get her!” I shouted. Ice ran down my spine as I realized how close I’d just come to becoming dragon food. Emroth had to have been crouched out of sight high overhead, and only the Circlet’s ability enabled the dragons to warn me before Emroth pounced.

  But that had been the point. I’d wanted to be the bait dangled to tempt Emroth into attacking, and I had counted on the dragons to warn me. Now the black dragon had revealed herself, and my dragons would put her down.

  Emroth let out a loud roar as she rebounded from an ice dome that Arieste threw up in her path, and the black dragon barely managed to dart out of the way of Irenya’s flames. Emroth was fast, but she faced two dragons twice her size. Her magical powers of concealment wouldn’t help to evade them, and she was at a huge disadvantage. Emroth must have realized that, and I could see her leaps and bounds growing more and more desperate as she tried to evade the two dragons.

  “Arieste, guard the exit!” I shouted. “Irenya, try to corner her and bring her down.”

  I was struck by how absurd the image would have looked to any spectators. It was like the world’s strangest game of tackle football, with two dragons as the linebackers and Emroth as the running back trying to escape them.

  But this was no game. This was life and death. If Emroth walked away from this, the danger to the people of Windwall would continue, and Whitespire would never receive the help it needed.

  Irenya cornered Emroth against a high cavern wall, and a toothy smile split her broad dragon snout as she opened her mouth to send a blast of fire at the smaller dragon. But she hadn’t counted on Emroth’s bloodlust. Instead of trying to retreat, the black dragon’s huge muscles bunched and leapt at her with forelegs outstretched. Irenya let out a pained growl as Emroth’s talons raked long furrows down the side of her neck and back, and the larger dragon twisted away. This created a bit of a gap, and the smaller black dragon raced toward the mouth of the lair, and freedom.

  But Arieste was ready and the frost dragon threw up an ice dome in front of Emroth while she lumbered toward the opening of the cavern. The black dragon let out a ferocious snarl and darted away, no doubt to try another way of escape.

  I wanted to help my dragons, but I had to trust they could handle Emroth. I had a job of my own, and I had to find the altar that connected her to the source of her powers. Now that I could physically see Emroth, it proved easier to feel her magic with the Mark of the Guardian. It still felt like trying to capture smoke, but at least I could see the roiling black mass that was the power surging through her. After a few moments of concentration, I found the tether connecting her to the massive battery-like source that was the altar far to my right.

  Yet there was something strange about that magical link. With Riamod and Frosdar, there had been a thin, almost thread-like string connecting the two dragons to their altar. Emroth’s tether, however, was thicker than the trunk of a sequoia tree, but it seemed far more limited in its reach than the red or white dragon’s. Indeed, it was as if every step Emroth took away from the power was as hard as walking through mud, but the magic actually pulled her closer to the altar like metal being drawn to an electromagnet.

  “Why is her tether different from the others’?” I asked Nyvea as I raced toward the side of the cave where I sensed the altar.

  “Her connection to the magic is stronger,” the woman in my amulet explained. “But the stronger her connection, the more tightly bound she is to the altar.”

  The explanation reminded me of something Irenya had told me about the black dragon. The red-haired woman had mentioned Emroth’s ability to create minions far exceeded her own.

  “Could that stronger connection to the magic be the reason she could spit out ghoulins faster than Irenya could produce fire goblins?” I asked.

  “Certainly,” Nyvea replied. “Yet that link would prevent her from straying too far from the source of her powers.”

  That could explain why Emroth had never attacked Windwall in person but had sent her minions to do it for her. She might have simply been unable to get far enough from the altar to climb the canyon walls or to get within striking distance of the massive stone wall.

  �
�Does that mean she’ll need to stay close to me to keep her powers once I claim them?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Nyvea said after a long moment of hesitation. “Your situation is unique in every way. Never before has a human wielded the sort of power you now control. You really are the hero of heroes, handsome.”

  I felt a smile spread to my lips at her words, and the grin grew even wider as the light of my magical pauldron shone on the altar that was Emroth’s source of power. It was made of a glittering black stone that reminded me of onyx, and its many-faceted surface reflected the glow emanating from my armor as I approached.

  A growl of fury echoed behind me, and I risked a glance backward. Irenya had her teeth clamped down on Emroth’s hind leg, but the black dragon scratched and raked at her neck in an attempt to break free. Each attack left long furrows down Irenya’s red scales, and dark red blood dripped onto the surrounding stone. I could see that Arieste wanted to help Irenya, but she still held her position near the exit to prevent Emroth’s escape. If I didn’t deal with Emroth, she could do serious damage to Irenya.

  I swung my axe high over my head and brought it crashing down onto the gemstone set into the altar’s surface. An audible snap echoed through the cave, and I felt a rush of wind buffeting me as the magical connection to the black dragon cut off. Emroth let out a shriek of pain and writhed in Irenya’s grip.

  “No!” she growled, her voice pitched high in terror. Her stubby wings beat furiously against the ground, and her body twitched as a violent spasm shook her.

  “Arieste, help Irenya hold her!” I shouted as I raced toward the twitching and wailing black dragon.

  The white dragon lumbered toward Emroth and clamped her massive taloned claws on her jerking forelegs while Irenya released her biting grip on the black dragon’s hind legs and used her enormous bulk to hold Emroth to the ground.

  I crossed the distance to the three dragons in seconds, and I quickly studied Emroth’s heavily muscled body to find the black gemstone. It wasn’t on her forehead or her chest, so I had to find where on her body the stone would have been set. I circled warily, careful to evade the small dragon struggling in the grip of my larger dragons.

  “There, on her neck!” Nyvea cried out just as I saw the onyx jewel set into the side of her throat behind a row of sharp spikes.

  “Hold her head!” I told Arieste. “Keep her still so I don’t accidentally cut it off.”

  The white dragon stamped a heavy paw onto Emroth’s face and twisted her neck to give me easier access to the gemstone. Emroth’s shrieks of panic echoed through the cavern as I climbed onto her short neck and raised my fireman’s axe high over my head. I used my ice powers to sheathe the blade in ice, then sent a jolt of fire coursing down the handle. The moment the two powers met, I swung the axe in a powerful stroke right at the gemstone.

  Emroth let out a terrible scream as my axe sliced the gemstone free of its setting deep within her skin. The black onyx skipped across the ground, slid up a curved section of floor, and skittered off a stalactite-shaped stone pillar before skidding to a halt. I sprinted over to the twinkling black gemstone, picked it up, and brought it to the altar.

  “Don’t do this!” Emroth cried.

  I took a deep breath and pressed the gemstone against the altar. The instant stone met stone, Emroth let out a piercing wail that set the walls of the cavern trembling. Power rushed over me in a wave so powerful it sent me reeling, and I nearly collapsed beneath the force of the magic flooding my veins. The flesh of my upper back sizzled right beneath my left shoulder blades, and I could feel the power bringing another tattoo to life.

  This was a pure, raw form of energy that could not compare with the fire and ice I’d taken from Riamod and Frosdar. This was an energetic, shifting, sprightly sort of power that seemed to set every nerve and muscle tissue vibrating at once. It felt like every cell in my body wanted to change and adapt to its surroundings so it would blend in. The magic itself shied away from my senses yet forced itself deeper into the very core of my being.

  I gasped at the exhilarating sensation. It was like being energized by all the caffeine on Earth, but with none of the side effects. It was a dancing, shifting, and leaping power that never stopped pushing my body to conform to the world around it. I watched in stunned surprise as my skin changed from its golden tan to a stony red to match the rocky floor, then black to match the darkness, then a bright white for the glow of my armor.

  The transformations finally stopped as the magic settled from an overpowering roar to a quiet whisper deep within me. I could feel the power trying to change me as I moved as if it acted on instinct to blend me with my surroundings. It would take a bit of getting used to this new power, and I’d have to work on controlling it.

  Thankfully, I had someone who could teach me.

  Arieste and Irenya growled down at the woman lying on the floor between them. Her skin was a deep chocolate color, and it glistened in the light of my magical pauldron. I could tell that she was taller than Arieste in her human form, only a few inches shorter than me, actually. She had strong shoulders and arms, full breasts, and a solid six-pack. Her hips and legs would have looked perfectly at home in the sports bikini of a professional beach volleyball player, and her black dress hung in gauzy strips of fabric that only accentuated her sleek, toned physique.

  “Well, spank my bottom and call me princess,” Nyvea purred. “She’ll definitely fit in with the rest of your pretty treasures.”

  I ignored the voice in the amulet as I came to stand before the unconscious woman. I kept my axe handy in case she decided to attack me but made no threatening gesture toward her. I figured two huge dragons would be enough of a threat for now.

  The woman who had been Emroth stirred slowly, and then sat bolt upright on the floor. She fixed me with a glare of green eyes that seemed somehow brighter in the darkness.

  “What did you do?” she gasped as she looked down at her human body.

  “I took your powers,” I said with a shrug, and I took another step closer to her.

  “Do your worst,” she growled in a husky voice that I found surprisingly appealing. “You have defeated me, but I will not beg for mercy. I accept my fate. I only ask you to make it quick.” She bowed her head to expose her neck for my axe.

  “I don’t want to kill you,” I told her.

  Her head flashed up, and she fixed me with a stern glare of her green eyes. “Why not? That is what you humans do, is it not? You kill.”

  “We humans,” I corrected as I motioned to her body.

  “You took my power,” she growled as her eyes narrowed.

  “Yes, but I can give it back,” I said, and her eyes widened a bit. “We humans are facing a threat from Curym and Zaddrith. The blue and green dragons are invading our lands, and they’re bringing their hordes with them. I want your help to defeat them.”

  “And once I aid you in your conquest,” the dark-skinned woman snapped, “you will simply kill me.”

  “No,” I said as I shook my head. “Ask them what sort of man I am.”

  “I will not take the word of your pets,” the woman snapped, which elicited a growl from both of the dragons. She didn’t flinch despite their huge size. Instead, the woman who had once been Emroth met their gazes with a defiant glare.

  “Then give me a chance to prove it to you,” I told her. “Swear that you will help me in the war against Curym, Zaddrith, and the other dragons, and you have my promise that you will be permitted to go free when they are conquered.”

  “Free?” The woman narrowed her dazzling green eyes again as she studied my face.

  “Yes,” I replied. “My mission is to end the reign of dragons on this world. You all fight with each other and the humans. If you serve me, I’ll let you go after we have ended the last dragon.”

  “As a human?” she asked with confusion.

  “Yes,” I replied. “You are human now. I’ve taken your power. Kill me, and it will be gone forever. Serve m
e, and you can taste it again.”

  “Hmmm,” she said as she glanced between the two dragons at her side.

  “But I warn you,” I said as I crouched in front of her, “I am now the source of your magical power. I claimed it from the altar, and I know you can feel it inside me. If you want access to that power, you will need to stay close to me, just as you had to stay close to your altar. I’ll be much more likely to give you what you want if you help me with what I want.”

  For a long moment, the woman remained silent, her gaze piercing as she studied me.

  “If I give you my oath,” she said slowly, “what do you intend to do with me?” Her eyes flashed toward the figures of Sergeant Dai and Captain Daxos standing at the mouth of the cavern, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was thinking.

  “First, I will send you back to Whitespire,” I said, “where the humans have no reason to hate you. You will be safe there, you have my word.”

  “And then?” she pressed.

  “Then, you’ll help us prepare to fight off Curym and Zaddrith,” I replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “Once the dragons are defeated, and the threat has passed, I will give you the choice of what to do. Stay with me and have access to your magical power or be free to explore the world of humans on your own.”

  “Without my magic?” she asked in a sardonic tone.

  “Yes,” I answered with a shrug. “Like I told you, I’m now the only way you get access to your magic. I will be happy to give it to you if you help me, but only once I’m sure I can trust you with the power.” I fixed her with a hard gaze. “Once I’m sure you’ll no longer use that power to attack the humans.”

  “This is the best offer you will receive, Emroth,” Arieste rumbled. Irenya lifted a razor-sharp talon for emphasis.