I smiled. “How’d you get it?”
“A small scuffle some time ago.” It was obvious this scar would look much bigger in his dragon shape. It had to have come from another dragon. I couldn’t think of anything else that could pierce a dragon scale.
“You seem pretty okay with having it.”
Raikidan shrugged. “I have other ones. They show how formidable I am in battle.”
He has more? I knew this one was hard to see because of how faded it was, but he was bound to have more recent ones than this that were more noticeable.
“Why don’t I see any other scars?” I asked.
“Maybe your eyesight sucks.”
I punched him in the shoulder. “It does not.”
Raikidan laughed and rubbed his shoulder. “Then tell me, why do you think you can’t see them?”
“Because you’re hiding them.”
His brow furrowed. “How’d you—”
I snickered. “I didn’t. You just told me.”
He stared with bewilderment and then laughed. “Cheeky human. Now tell me, how did you really figure it out? You had to have thought about it first to trick me into telling you.”
I smiled and checked over his arm once more. “It’s simple. If you can shapeshift, why not be able to shift in a way to hide something. Although I’m not sure why you’d want to hide a few scars.”
“I knew enough about humans to know many are repulsed by them so I chose to hide them,” he said. “And because I chose to do that, I’ve decided I needed to keep this disguise up. But you appear more interested than anything.”
I nodded. “Scars show character, and as you put it, many show battle experience. There are many reasons scars exist, but there should be no shame in obtaining any of them.”
“Is that why you are okay with the scars you have?”
I nodded again. “I have seen battle. I have fought formidable opponents, and I have made mistakes. Every scar I have shows that. They map out my life as an experiment.”
“But you don’t like being reminded you are an experiment.”
I sighed and moved around him to check his other arm. “No matter how much you wish you can, you cannot change who you are. Once you learn that fact of life, you can get by the best you can.”
I ran my fingers along his arm to check for tenderness. Even if he didn’t have any burns, he might have damaged himself in some other way. I blinked when my fingers touched another scar. As I touched it, another one appeared nearby right before my eyes. He wasn’t hiding them anymore.
I traced my fingers over the larger scars, bypassing the smaller ones. They showed signs of deep gouging and long healing times, as if he chose not to heal them himself, couldn’t, or didn’t know how at the time of receiving them. I could only imagine how large and deep these where if he wasn’t in this nu-human shape.
I followed the scars to his chest and traced even larger scars. “These were deep wounds.”
“We’re not as well protected on our underside,” he admitted.
I looked up at him. I almost couldn’t believe he had told me that so casually. He had revealed a weakness of his like it was nothing. “You’ve seen many battles.”
He nodded. “I have prime territory. I have to fight to keep it, and there are a lot of other dragons who want it. Corliss and I work together to keep our territories as large as they are.”
“Who is Corliss?”
“He’s a dragon whose territory borders mine to the West,” Raikidan explained. “We work together to keep other dragons from moving in.”
“So he’s your friend,” I said.
Raikidan nodded slowly. “Yeah, I suppose he is.”
The corners of my eyes crinkled. “And here I thought you didn’t have friends.”
He crossed his arms and snorted, causing me to laugh. As I laughed, his frown turned into a small smile. He really did suck at being mad.
I finally managed to get my laughter under control and look up at him. A small scar on his cheek caught my eye, and on impulse, I touched it. It was much different than his other scars. It looked as though he had obtained it in a human form.
“How did you get this one?” I asked.
Raikidan reached up to remove my hand from his face and then looked away. “I’d rather not talk about it…”
“Oh, okay.” I knew that tone and it was best that I not press. This scar was a painful reminder of something tragic and I had a feeling he didn’t mean to let it show up.
He looked at me again, and the two of us stared at each other. I didn’t know why I wasn’t going back to my burn search. Eira, go back to your burn search. It’s more important to make sure Raikidan is healed—but I like—
I tore my gaze from him and looked up at the stairs to the living room when someone thundered down them. Argus ducked his head under the low ceiling when he had made it half way down. “You two need to get up here right now. We have a problem.”
Raikidan and I looked at each other briefly before we bolted over to the stairs and followed Argus back up to the living room. Everyone was gathered on the couch when we reached the threshold of the door. Ryoko looked up and motioned for us to join them. When we reached the couch, I noticed they were watching something from a small hologram device.
“They’re still looking for Arnia and Jay,” Rylan informed us. “And they’re not doing raids this time.”
I watched in horror as soldiers stormed the streets and killed anyone in their path. They searched buildings before blowing them up and moving on.
Blaze threw his hands onto his lap. “I don’t get it. Why would they do this?”
“To flush more than just Arnia and Jaybird out,” I replied. Everyone looked at me, but I pointed to the hologram. The hologram showed an average-sized woman with long hair and heavy makeup.
“It can’t be…” Ryoko whispered in disbelief.
My anger boiled as I watched her. “Verra.”
“There you are, Eira.” I looked down from my perch on my favorite tree to find Amara standing below me. “I would have figured you’d want to say goodbye to Ryoko and Rylan.”
“I already did.”
She blinked. “Really?”
I nodded. “Just after they were given their assignment.”
“Are you okay, dear?”
I sighed and jumped down. “Something doesn’t feel right about this. I have this feeling, like something bad is about to happen.”
Amara smiled and wrapped her arm around me. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Who is she?” Blaze asked with a little too much interest.
“Someone who will do anything to get what she wants,” Rylan growled. “Zarda hates the rebellion, so she will be his faithful bitch and attempt to destroy us without a second thought for civilian lives.”
“Kill her. Make her beg for mercy.”
“You three seem to know her pretty well,” Blaze remarked.
“Unfortunately we—uh, Laz, where are you going?” Ryoko asked as she noticed me make my way to the front door.
The training yard was empty. The uneasy feeling I had kept growing. There were always soldiers brushing up their skills. Amara didn’t seem to notice. She kept walking with her arm around me securely.
A woman with snow-white hair and a disgustingly revealing uniform walked into the training yard. She walked past us with a smug smile. “Enjoy today together. It may be your last.”
A growl escaped my lips. Amara tightened her grip to quiet me and I looked at her curiously, but she wouldn’t look at me. She kept leading me, and the feeling of unease grew.
“To battle.” I responded. I didn’t wait to see if they would follow. I didn’t wait to discuss the options. My option was clear. I would fight th
is demon woman and end her for good. I owed it to Amara. I owed it to her to release Lumaraeon from this vile woman’s grasp.
As I stormed down the stairs, I drew my favorite dagger and thought of Amara. I thought of how she would dress and how she would choose her battle weapon. I thought of how she would march into battle with confidence and power. I willed my clothes to shape themselves into the style of her military uniform and willed my dagger to change to her choice of weapon.
The sun was low in the sky. Its low beams created a blinding threshold to the front door as I opened it, but I was not afraid of the unknown. I would fight just as Amara would. Resolve pushed me to fight Verra on her behalf—for the sake of her memory. I owed it to her.
The air was still and smelled of fire, ash, and burning flesh. The military was on a rampage and anything that stood in their way was eliminated. The soldiers didn’t care if they were potential rebels or loyals. They killed them anyway.
I wished my feet could carry me faster but I wasn’t accustomed to carrying such a heavy weapon. I couldn’t see how Amara could use such a weapon in battle, especially during high gunfire situations. Sure, it was strong when used properly, but the weapon was so massive, it was heavy and hard to swing in a small area, but somehow she managed and could make it look easy, even though her strength was no greater than mine.
“Laz, wait up!”
I glanced back to find Ryoko running after me—her dog-ears twitching occasionally when a loud noise echoed through the street. I tried not to cringe as I watched her run. I wasn’t sure how she was capable of running without being in pain. She had once told me she learned to ignore the weight on her chest but I couldn’t imagine how that was possible.
She carried her large battle wrench, and even with the type of strength she had built up in her body, she was struggling to keep up. Apparently I was still capable of running at adequate speeds even with this burden on my back.
I slowed my speed until she was able to run beside me. “You should be at the house.”
She snorted. “Like I’d miss this. The others are coming too. They sent Raikidan and me ahead to let you know.”
I blinked. “Raikidan?”
She pointed up and I looked. Above us flew a black raven. I snorted. Of course he would choose an easy form of transportation. The raven shifted shape and he dropped down to run with us.
“You know, you should learn to pay attention to things above you,” he remarked.
I snorted. “Things don’t normally drop from the sky at me.”
Ryoko laughed. “No, Laz is usually the one doing the dropping.”
I laughed and agreed. Aerial stealth attacks were one of my favorites.
“So what’s the plan?” Ryoko asked.
I shrugged. “Kill Verra and get out. How’s that sound?”
Ryoko laughed. “Not much of a plan.”
“I don’t care how this goes,” I admitted. “As long as none of us get hurt, and Verra ends up dead, nothing else matters. She’s destroying everything in her path, so it’s not like we can do any more damage to the situation.”
“She has a point,” Raikidan remarked.
Ryoko sighed. “I know, but I figured we’d have some sort of plan of attack. I get the feeling Laz is going to be the only one fighting.”
“If the other soldiers attempt to attack, they’re fair game to you, but you know I have to take on Verra. It’s the only way,” I explained.
“We cared about her too.” I looked back to see Rylan catching up with us in his white wolf form.
“This is a first,” I remarked. “Usually we have to force you shift outside of battle.”
He grunted. “I wasn’t going to be able to catch up with the three of you at this point if I hadn’t.”
“I like it when you shift,” Ryoko said. “You’re cute like this.”
“I am not cute!” he objected.
“Yes you are,” I teased.
Rylan growled and then shifted to his nu-human form. “You’re both wrong and it’s stupid to think that I am.”
“It is not,” Ryoko muttered before picking up her pace.
“Nice going, Rylan,” I said.
“What? I didn’t do anything wrong!” he defended.
I rolled my eyes. “Course not. You’re male and never do anything wrong.”
“Don’t get sarcastic with me,” he threatened.
“I wouldn’t have to if you would stop upsetting Ryoko!” I barked. “She was trying to be nice and you threw it back at her. Maybe you shouldn’t be such an ass to her.”
I picked up my pace to catch up with Ryoko without waiting for Rylan to respond. I couldn’t believe him. Ryoko was sensitive, even though she tried to make it look like she wasn’t. It didn’t matter what he hated—his ability to shift, or his element—Ryoko was trying to be nice to him, and he refused to acknowledge it in the least.
I almost sighed. It sounded like I was scolding myself. But Rylan and I were different. He deserved compliments. A monster like me on the other hand… didn’t.
“You okay?” I asked Ryoko as I caught up with her.
“I’m fine,” she muttered.
“Forget about what he said. It’s not worth brooding over, okay? It’s just a waste of time and energy.”
She sighed. “Fine. But I’m not going to forgive him for being so rude about it.”
I chuckled. “I never said you had to.”
She smiled her thanks. A small building crumbled ahead of us and we stopped dead in our tracks. I could hear the soldiers marching and I could hear people screaming. We were close.
“Looks like Argus and Blaze are going to miss the fun at this rate,” Rylan remarked as he and Raikidan caught up with us. He was looking at Ryoko, hoping she’d respond positively, but she folded her arms and stuck up her nose. He sighed. “Ryoko, I’m sorry, okay?”
“Tell somebody who cares,” she replied before stalking off.
He sighed again. “I can never win with her.”
“Thinking before speaking in the initial conversation is usually a good practice so you can avoid the mess later,” I advised before dashing off.
I ran past Ryoko, who shouted in objection, and swung around the corner of the street that sounded to have the most activity coming from it. As I rounded the corner, the devastation before us was astounding. Buildings everywhere were in crumpled heaps and bodies of civilians were strewn about. The scent of blood was heavy in the air, and I did what I could to ignore it. I didn’t want to lose control but I also refused to turn back. I had to do this.
I narrowed my eyes when the woman I was seeking came into sight. I didn’t waste any time. I took the heavy zanbato and, with as much strength as I could muster, I swung it, letting it fly at her. I knew there was a large possibility it would miss her, but I didn’t care. I was going to make a statement nonetheless.
“General, look out!” a soldier warned.
The woman turned and then flattened herself to the ground. My weapon flew over a group of soldiers, who also flattened themselves to the road to avoid my attack, and crashed into the side of a building. The woman I intended to hit stood back up and glared at me, but then her lips turned into a disgusting smile.
She was an average-sized woman, around Ryoko’s height with tan skin, long, snow-white hair with bangs that swept over her left eye. A large black rose was tucked in her hair behind her ear on the opposite side her bangs swept. Clasped around her neck was a black choker, and on her body were clothes that I wasn’t sure could qualify as armor.
She wore mid-thigh high black-and-white boots and a cropped jacket that clasped at the neck and cut around her bust line. Under the jacket, a black and white micro tube top covered her chest, and around her hips she sported a black and white mini skirt. I couldn’t find a scra
p of armor on her anywhere.
“Well hey there, Eira,” she cooed. Her accent was thicker than I remembered. “What a pleasant surprise findin’ you’re here. I’m so glad you’re alive.”
I snorted. “I’m sure you are, Verra.”
She snickered. “Why wouldn’t I be? It means I have the chance to kill you with my own hands.”
“In your dreams,” I spat.
She chuckled and her grin grew. I didn’t understand why until a group of footsteps approached behind me. Turning to take a look, I spotted Ryoko and the two boys making it down the street. Argus and Blaze were also with them. They all skidded to a halt when they reach my side.
Verra chuckled. “This day keeps gettin’ better an’ better.”
“Stuff it, Verra,” Rylan growled.
Verra wagged her finger. “Temper, temper, Rylan. And it’s General Verra now.”
I snorted. “Finally whored yourself out enough to get promoted to the top?” I sneered. “You’re disgusting.”
Verra glared at me. “How dare you suggest such a thing?”
Raikidan snorted. “She smells like she’s been with a thousand different men.”
I snickered. “You were saying, Verra?”
Verra growled. “I’ll make you regret sayin’ that.”
“Suck my dick, Verra!” Blaze challenged.
“I wouldn’t ask that of her if I were you,” I advised him. “She just might.”
“Oh really?” He seemed a little too interested in the idea.
“Again, I wouldn’t advise it. She’s infested with more diseases than you.”
“I told you, I’m clean,” Blaze growled.
“Sure, sure, but I can guarantee she’s not,” I replied.
Blaze grunted. “Pitty. She’s hot.”
Verra drew her sword. “I’m growin’ tired of this. If you’re here, Eira, then you must know where Arnia and Jaybird are.”
“I don’t kiss and tell,” I remarked. Ryoko giggled and I glared at her but that didn’t make her stop right away.
Verra sighed. “You’re such a pain. Just like Amara. I don’t see why Zarda was so fond of you two.”
Pieces Page 25
