dragons breath 01 - stalked by flames

by Susan Illene

  She wasn’t leaving me much choice, but I’d worry about visiting again later. “Fine. I’ll come back soon.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Would you like a crate of red apples to take with you?”

  “No!” Conrad and I shouted at the same time.

  She looked taken aback. “Why not? You could share them with your friends.”

  “Clearly, you need to read up on your fairytales,” I said, heading for the door.

  Chapter 30

  Aidan

  Aidan reclined his head against the pool edge, letting the steamy water soothe his inner dragon. This was one of his favorite places in the castle—a room with a rectangular bath spacious enough for twenty men and women to sit in comfortably. The water was purified each day and kept hot enough even he couldn’t stay in it too long.

  There were several more like it around the fortress. Dragons had an affinity for water and enjoyed bathing daily. In the evening hours, it could get quite crowded in the baths. Aidan had risen early and come down just before noon, allowing him to have the place to himself. Most of his clan would just be beginning to rise.

  Donar burst through the door. “I just saw Ruari coming from the apothecary.”

  “And?” Aidan lifted a brow. He was not getting out of the bath for any reason.

  “I saw him carrying a vial out. It had a yellowish color to it,” Donar explained.

  “That could be several things.” Aidan ducked his head under the water, scrubbed at his hair, and came back up. The dragon in him calmed even further.

  “It was a small vial that fit in the palm of his hand. There was a red cork in the top.”

  He knew of only one thing that could be. “Banewort.”

  “Exactly.” Donar crossed his arms.

  Mixed in small amounts with other herbs, it made an excellent pain reliever for those who did not wish to seek a healer. On its own, it could be deadly to shape-shifters. Ruari had no reason to take an entire vial from the apothecary unless he had malicious intent.

  “Did you see where he went after that?”

  Donar frowned. “He was heading toward the great hall.”

  The afternoon meal would be served there with the food laid out for passersby to take on the way to their day’s labors. Surely Ruari wouldn’t try poisoning the whole clan? Only humans sat down to eat with their fancy plates and forks. Shape-shifters preferred to eat standing without implements—except a knife. Zorya wouldn’t have given them hands and teeth if she didn’t intend for them to be used.

  “We will see what he is up to.”

  Aidan stood, letting the water slough off his bare skin. He climbed out of the pool and grabbed a fresh cloth from a nearby stand. Normally, he preferred to air dry, but that would take too long. Once he finished with the cloth, he pulled his clothes from shiggara. They fitted to his body without him having to dress himself—the same as when he switched from dragon form to human. He pulled his weapons belt and sword as well.

  “Let’s go,” he said to Donar.

  The bath was at the back of the castle. They had to navigate several corridors before reaching the great hall at the front. Humans scurried past them as they performed their daily chores. He had to sidestep around one sweeping the cobwebs from the ceiling. A dragon could have burned them away in seconds, but it gave the humans something useful to do.

  They entered the great hall and found it already crowded. Before coming to Earth, the selection had been limited to fruits, grains, and perhaps bits of meat from whatever small animals they could catch. Now the long stone table running the length of one side of the room was filled with a variety of offerings. Shape-shifters lingered around it, unable to decide which foods to take. Someday, the task would not seem like such a complicated decision.

  “He’s over there,” Donar whispered, nodding toward a corner of the room.

  Ruari was standing at least ten feet from the table, chatting with a female warrior. Both of them were smiling and laughing with each other. It was as if his brother didn’t have a care in the world.

  “Are you certain of what you saw?” Aidan asked.

  Donar’s expression hardened. “Yes.”

  They waited a few more minutes, standing near the far wall. Ruari didn’t notice them. If he was up to something, he would have at least looked around once in a while. There had always been certain tells his brother would give if he were about to do something he shouldn’t.

  Such as during Aidan’s warrior training when he was young, Ruari would hide his sword in the morning. Then Aidan would be forced to search for it and show up late for practice. He was punished numerous times over that. None would believe that his brother—who was one hundred thirty-five years his senior—would do such a thing. They didn’t consider that Ruari wanted to disgrace Aidan and make him look foolish to the clan. He’d never been happy with gaining a younger brother.

  Eventually, it stopped when Aidan gained the ability to use shiggara, but he’d been twenty-five by then and almost finished with warrior training. There were other things Ruari had done back then as well. Forced him to eat tainted food the night before his skills tests, tripped Aidan at clan gatherings, and locked him in the dungeon whenever their father summoned him so that he wouldn’t make it.

  With time, he learned Ruari’s tricks and how to avoid them, but by then many in the clan saw him as clumsy and incompetent. Aidan hadn’t tried to dissuade them, letting them think what they would if it would keep his older brothers away. It was only his inner dragon’s pride that suffered and that had been the most difficult part to control.

  “Whatever he plans,” Aidan said, working to keep his tone level. He had to hide the anger that rose up whenever he recalled old memories. “It isn’t here and now.”

  “Agreed,” Donar said.

  “Excuse me, sir,” a young woman said from behind him.

  Aidan turned to find the teenage girl he’d rescued during the missile attack. She bowed her head, not meeting his gaze. A lot of humans did that despite the shape-shifters’ rules against harming them. It wasn’t to say incidents didn’t happen, but they were rare. Why most humans continued to show fear of them, he didn’t know.

  “Yes?”

  She shuffled her feet. “I just wanted to thank you for saving me the other day. I thought I was going to die, but then you came and rescued me.”

  The girl could stand to gain some weight, but she looked a lot better than the day of the attack. All of her wounds had been healed and she had a fresh set of green camrium clothes, including a tunic, pants, and boots. She’d left her red hair loose to hang down her back.

  “What’s your name?” Aidan asked.

  “Kayla,” she answered.

  “You have no need to thank me, Kayla. I only did what was right.”

  She lifted her head, revealing green eyes. “If that were the case, then someone would have helped me before you. I know you’re the one who figured out how to save us from the missiles.”

  Donar leaned toward her. “Don’t tell him that. He doesn’t like to think of himself as a hero.”

  “But he is,” she argued.

  “Hardly,” Aidan said, giving Kayla a stern look. “You should not judge a man by his actions on one day. They might differ on the next.”

  She straightened her back and jutted her chin out, getting braver in their company. “If I can ever repay you in any way, let me know.”

  Aidan shook his head. “I assure you, there is nothing you can do for me.”

  “There might be.” Donar rubbed his chin, ignoring Aidan’s elbow when it struck him in the ribs.

  The girl’s eyes lit up. “Anything.”

  His cousin considered her. “How old are you?”

  “Sixteen.”

  Donar nodded. “For a human, that is old enough. Would you be willing to keep an eye on someone for us? Don’t get too close to him, but let us know of anything he does. It’s that man over…”

  “I don’t want her involved in this,” Ai
dan interrupted.

  Kayla gave him a determined look. “I can do this.”

  Donar nodded toward Ruari, making certain she saw the right man.

  “It is too dangerous,” Aidan spoke again. “I don’t want her getting hurt if he catches her.”

  “He won’t catch me, and I’ll get some friends to help,” Kayla insisted.

  “This is foolish.” Aidan rubbed his face.

  “Perhaps,” Donar said. “But if we’re going to figure out what he’s up to then we need all the help we can get. Ruari won’t expect us to use human spies.”

  “Do not get caught,” Aidan warned the girl. He had to hope to Zorya nothing happened to her.

  Kayla smiled. “I won’t.”

  Chapter 31

  Bailey

  Miles pulled his truck into a shopping plaza. We’d decided to check out an area north of campus in the hope we’d find someplace that hadn’t been totally cleaned out yet. It had been two months since D-day and it was getting more difficult to find the things we needed, but not impossible.

  “This store ain’t gonna have anything left in it,” Conrad said, shaking his head.

  I shrugged. “Even if all they have is some fresh socks you can put on your nasty feet, I’d call that a win.”

  “Yeah, cus you smell like sunshine and roses.” He huffed. “I ought to toss you into that park pond when we get back.”

  “As if you even know where it is,” I retorted.

  “Are they always bickering like this?” Jennifer asked from the front passenger seat. She and Bomber had come along as well.

  Miles parked the truck. “Yes. That’s why we usually let them go out on their own to hunt for supplies. We’re hoping they’ll just off each other—or someone else will do the job for us. They always come back, though, like a bad habit.”

  “Don’t listen to him, Jen.” Conrad leaned forward. “Miles is just mad because his razor mysteriously went missing this morning and he can’t look like a proper Marine.”

  I held back a snicker. That had been Danae’s doing. Once again, Trish and I had been the lookouts while she snuck into Miles’ room to take it. There weren’t any more spare razors left so unless we found some while we were out hunting for supplies, it would be a few days before his reappeared.

  Miles turned and shot me a dirty look. “Don’t think I don’t know you were involved again.”

  “Hey, Jen,” I said, ignoring him. “How about we go inside with Bomber and let the guys stand watch.”

  “Sounds good to me,” she agreed.

  We got out and she called the dog to her. Bomber hopped out of the back of the truck and followed us inside. The place was huge—one of those stores that had groceries, home furnishings, and clothes. We pulled our guns out and walked the length of the front, letting the dog sniff around. I ran my flashlight down the aisles and looked for anything suspicious. Since there weren’t any big holes in the walls, I assumed we didn’t have to fear a mother dragon and her eggs being in there.

  “I’m not seeing anyone. How about you?” I asked.

  Jen glanced down at Bomber, who swished his tail. “No, I think the coast is clear.”

  We grabbed a cart and passed through the food aisles. Most of the shelves were empty, but I found a few cans of vegetables and some dry noodles. There were a couple bars of soap and a bottle of shampoo in the beauty section, too. The biggest find was some leftover feminine products that I happily packed into the cart.

  “Oh, look, there’s a pack of razors over here,” Jen said. “Miles will be glad to get these.”

  “Put those in your cargo pocket and don’t let anyone see them for now,” I whispered, as if the Marine might hear us all the way outside. You never knew with Miles.

  It’d be a waste not to take them, but I didn’t want to risk them being discovered yet. Luckily, Jen tended to wear cargo pants, which had big pockets to hide things. If he wondered why one of them bulged, we could always claim they were spare tampons. That’d shut him up.

  She looked at me aghast. “Why?”

  “Because not shaving for a few days will do him some good.” Like, make his face itchy.

  Jen shook her head and stuffed the razors in her pocket, snapping it shut. “Alright.”

  There were a lot more clothes left than I expected. We loaded up on the ones we knew would fit people until the cart was almost full. Then we scanned the hardware aisle. I spotted a shovel and grabbed that. You never knew when you might need one of those—such as once a certain man figured out who’d taken his razor. We left the light bulbs and other useless products that required electricity. Most of that stuff was still around.

  “See anything else?” I asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Then let’s get out of here,” I said, pushing the cart toward the front of the store.

  “I wish I could find a pair of pants like that,” Jen said, shining her flashlight on my legs. “You said you found them while out looting?”

  “Yeah. I got lucky they were in my size. It was the last pair in the place,” I lied. I couldn’t help but wonder what she’d think if I told her the truth that a dragon gave them to me. Nah, there were some things people were better off not knowing.

  “That’s too bad. I’d definitely get a pair if any were left.” She held the front doors open for me.

  We were making our way down the sidewalk toward the truck when Bomber began growling. Jen gripped her gun tightly and looked around. I let go of the cart and did the same, but neither of us saw anything. Then the sound of running footsteps came from the end of the building. Two grungy-looking men with numerous burn holes in their clothes emerged, screaming and waving their arms. Behind them, a swarm of petroes followed.

  “What are those?” Jen squealed, eyes widening.

  “Insects from the dragon world that can blow fire.” Damn. Mating season must have begun.

  “Maybe we should get inside.” Jen started backing toward the doors. Bomber was barking loudly beside her, straining at his leash.

  I shouted at Conrad and Miles. “Hide in the truck!”

  There was no need to tell Conrad twice after his experience with them. He hopped inside right away and I overheard him tell Miles to roll up the windows. I grabbed the shovel from the cart, brandishing it in front of me. The one good thing about petroes was that they were easy to kill, unlike dragons.

  “Go in, but be ready to open the door when I tell you to,” I told her.

  Concern filled her gaze. “What are you going to do?”

  “Try to save these guys if I can. Don’t worry about me—I’ll be fine.” The petroes could burn the t-shirt I had over my camrium top, but that was it. Not that she knew that.

  “But what about Bomber?”

  “Take him with you,” I said.

  She went through the door and shut it behind her. Through the glass, I could see her gripping the handle—ready to shove it open when the time came.

  “Hey, guys. Run this way,” I screamed at the men still racing around the parking lot.

  One of them heard me and glanced over. I beckoned with my hand for him to come. There was no telling if he could hear me over the buzzing of the petroes. He grabbed his friend’s arm and started running toward the store. I kept shouting for him, wincing every time they got burned.

  As soon as they reached me, I yelled at Jen. “Open the door!”

  The men went running through, but the dog escaped and went for the swarm. Dammit. Bomber was going to get the crap burned out of his fur. I started slamming the shovel into the petroes, smashing as many as I could. The dog bit and pawed at the insects, twisting and turning to reach the ones who attacked his tail.

  I reached down and grabbed his leash, dragging him with me toward the doors. He nipped the lower ones and I smashed the higher ones. We killed at least a dozen of the insects by the time Jen opened up for us. Once we were inside, she slammed it shut. A few petroes made it in with us. The dog and I worked together to finish them of
f. By the time I crushed the last one my shovel was covered in brown petro blood and guts.

  “I ain’t never seen anything like those,” one of the men said, heaving for breath. “They look like tiny dragons.”

  The other guy had collapsed on the floor, laying on his back. Shock filled his features, but a quick check of his body revealed he just had a lot of minor burns. They were similar to how Conrad’s neck looked when Aidan had touched it. The men could have been a lot worse off.

  “They’re leaving,” Jen said, staring outside.

  I turned my head toward the doors. The swarm was heading across the parking lot to somewhere across the street. No doubt looking for fresh victims. I wondered if bug spray would work on them. We had a lot of it back at the library.

  “You two going to be okay?” I asked the men.

  The one still standing nodded. “Yeah. Might just stay here for a bit.”

  I nodded. Probably not a bad idea. “Check if there’s any bug spray left inside. You might see if that will hold those things off if you run into them again.”

  “We’ll do that,” he agreed. “Thanks.”

  I checked myself over and found only three holes in my t-shirt. Bomber sat on the floor with singe marks in about half a dozen places. His tongue lolled out of his mouth and his gaze was focused on Jen, full of adoration. Yeah, the dog would be okay.

  “Good luck to you guys,” I said, giving them a wave.

  Jen and I headed out the door, keeping a close eye on the swarm that had moved across the street. We grabbed the cart and quickly wheeled it down the sidewalk. Conrad and Miles helped us dump everything into the truck bed. When we finished, I let Bomber sit in the backseat with me. The dog had earned it.

  Chapter 32

  Aidan

  Someone pounded on his bedroom door. Aidan cursed, rolling off his bed and getting to his feet. He’d just returned an hour before from his latest training session with Bailey. It had been his hope to get a little rest before he went to Donar’s place to help with more masonry work that needed to be done. Some of the tunnels underneath the castle had caved during a recent earthquake and would need new stone to rebuild them. Donar and Olin were working late into the night to get the first order finished.