by Eric Vall
I looked at Nike, and we nodded to each other. Then we rushed the manga with our swords held high.
The manga roared with rage as the vines held its hands above its head while we approached. When we were finally within striking distance, Nike and I slashed at the beast’s exposed chest, but no blood came out. Then we jumped back out of range.
So, it was dead already?
Back to my zombie movie knowledge.
“We have to cut off its head!” I shouted to Nike.
“What?” He frowned, and his gaze flickered between the creature and me.
“Trust me,” I called out.
“Okay,” he said with a shrug, but he still didn’t look entirely convinced.
“I have an idea!” Laika bounded over to the fray. “Just be ready!”
She leapt onto a branch next to the manga and grabbed the vines holding its arms. Then she sliced through both sets of vines with her broadsword and swung back down to the ground with the bottom half of the vines in her hands. As she landed, the manga was taken by surprise, and the top half of his body slammed into the jungle floor.
He was flat on his face, but I didn’t know how long that would last. So, I followed her movements and swung my sword through the manga’s now exposed neck like a guillotine. The slice sent its head tumbling away from the body, which now laid limp on the ground. There was no blood from the decapitation either, but at least it wasn’t trying to tear us apart anymore.
“Nice moves,” I congratulated the wolf-warrior.
“Thank you.” Laika nodded.
“How did you know we had to cut off its head?” Trina questioned with wide eyes.
“Zombie movies,” I replied without thinking. “They’re … ” I trailed off as I remembered Alyona’s confused reaction to my earthly reference. Plus, we were with Jai, who didn’t know about my previous life.
Thankfully, Polina saved me from stuttering through any more answers.
“Dragon stuff, Trina,” Polina filled in with an eye roll.
“So, are all mangas purple?” I asked Alyona to change the subject.
“No,” Jai answered before the princess could respond. “They’re typically brown or black. And they don’t usually attack us. They don’t care about anything they don’t eat.”
“And mangas don’t eat many things bigger than birds.” Laika scrunched up her nose as she got closer to the dead creature. “It stinks like the Corrupted Corpses.”
“Maybe it drank from the river, too,” Alyona mumbled as she crouched next to the head. “It could have a different effect based on the species it poisons.”
“That would explain the change in color,” Laika agreed. “If it has any sort of miasma poisoning, it can affect all kinds of coloring.”
“Just don’t touch it,” I warned. “We don’t know how it’s spreading for sure. It makes sense for it to be the river, but some viruses are airborne, so let’s just keep clear of it.”
“That’s a good point, Lord Evan.” Alyona nodded. “We may have to purify the entire jungle. There could be several other species that drank from the water.”
Ah, shit. That would suck.
“Yes, we do not want any more animals to attack citizens,” Jai agreed.
“Let me start with the water.” Alyona stood up and walked toward the river’s edge.
“Don’t get too close, Milady,” Laika said with concern, and she jogged over to walk next to Alyona.
“Let’s go ahead and burn this manga’s body,” I suggested to Nike. “The last thing we need now is for some other animal to eat it and spread more of this shit around.”
Nike nodded and helped me drag the body away from the trees. Then I took a deep breath and blew my dragon fire over the corpse to burn it and hopefully kill any remaining pathogens before they could spread. When I was done, I looked back to the princess and Laika as they walked along the river. I didn’t like how close they were to the water, but I kept my mouth shut.
“I have to get a feel for what is wrong here,” Alyona said as she closed her eyes. “Let me concentrate.”
We all watched in silence as she mumbled the ancient words to her spells. Then she followed the path of the water and held her hand above its surface. Small droplets came up almost to meet her hand and then fell back into the clear, blue river. If we hadn’t already seen the results, I would never be able to tell how deadly the beautiful river water was.
Laika walked next to the princess, and her shoulders were hunched over with tension. She clearly didn’t like Alyona being so close to the river that was clearly tainting anyone or anything who messed with it, and I smirked at the sight. The wolf was almost as protective of the princess as I was.
I didn’t like the princess’ proximity to the water either, but I knew Alyona was the best person to figure out what was wrong with the river. From her purity to her magical knowledge, she was highly qualified to solve whatever this problem was.
Then Alyona stopped pacing and began chanting the same word over and over as she held both hands above the water.
Suddenly, the water darkened and began to rush and form harsh whirlpools. The calm waves of the river turned into rapids, and the once-clear water was now a deep, navy blue. The air around us grew colder, and the dirt next to the water sunk down and turned black.
The dryads looked down and jumped away from the soil, and then they stood next to the rest of our group.
“What the hell?” Jai muttered.
“I found a cloaking spell,” Alyona declared over the rushing water. “I’ve exposed what the water actually looks like, but it looks like this because of another spell that cursed it.”
I had a creeping suspicion who was behind this kind of spell work. The faces of the necromancer, Olivier, Mara, and the latest assassin flashed through my head, and I growled in anger. The Green Glass Sect had been behind most of the magical miasma shit we’d dealt, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were behind this one, too. I wished I could just execute the whole Sect and be done with them.
“So, how do we get rid of it?” I asked.
“The curse is old and very dark,” Alyona answered as she twisted a braid around her finger. “I need some time to figure out how to reverse it. It reminds me of something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
“How much time do you need?” Jai asked with a furrowed brow. “We are limited on water now, plus I don’t want to risk the jungle creatures for too long. They are important for our food supply, and apparently we have to make sure they don’t go attacking other people now.”
“I understand,” the princess responded. “I will work as quickly as possible. I just need to research a little bit. I’m sorry I don’t have all the answers just yet, Lord Jai.”
“For now, she exposed the true nature of the river,” I pointed out. “Hopefully, that will deter some of the creatures from drinking from it anyway.”
“True,” Jai sighed, and his eyes flicked over to the water. “It certainly doesn’t look as appealing.”
“And I’ll help with the research,” Ravi added as she dropped from her phoenix flight and landed in a column of blue flames to transform back to her human shape. “I can help with any of the purity rituals as well. We’ll figure this out, I just know it.”
“Thank you.” Alyona smiled. “I’ll take all the help I can get. This is a large river and an ancient curse, so it may take us some time.”
“What will we do for water until then?” Jai asked as he wrung his clawed hands together. “We don’t have much left, even with the limitations I’ve set for water usage.”
“I think I may have a solution for that,” I answered. “Give me a couple hours.”
Jai raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth before he shrugged and followed me back through the jungle without question.
At least he had finally learned to just believe in the dragon lord.
And I wouldn’t let him down.
Chapter 7
We followed the t
rail back toward House Onca, but it didn’t feel like a leisurely stroll through nature anymore. I kept my head on a constant swivel as I looked for any more crazed creatures, and I could tell Laika and Jai were doing the same as they followed in my footsteps. The Demi-Humans’ animal ears twitched and flicked atop their heads, and they both walked with their weapons clenched tightly in their hands. Laika’s sword glinted silver in the weak sunlight that filtered through the thick canopy above us, and Jai used his spear as a walking stick while he picked his way across the jungle floor.
The women seemed to be less affected as they chatted amongst each other in the middle of our group, and I could hear the dryads’ excited voices even if I wasn’t really paying much attention to what they were saying. Ravi and Alyona chimed in every now and then, and the dryads even roped Nike into their conversation from where he was taking up the rear of our little party. My fellow noble also walked with his Sword of Light in his hand, though, and when I glanced back to check on him, his eyes darted around to check out our surroundings. Then he met my gaze for an instant and nodded to signal everything was alright so far, and I sighed in relief.
It felt good to know my brother would always have my back.
As soon as we cleared the thick of the jungle, I transformed into my dragon self. Then I stretched my wings out to their full length and let out a hot breath of relief. It felt so good to feel the air on my scales again.
“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to get started on my research now,” Alyona said with a curtsy.
“Absolutely,” I agreed as I tucked my wings against my spine again. “The sooner we can get the river cleaned out, the better for everyone.”
“I’ll be with the princess,” Ravi declared, and her face stretched into a broad grin. “We will purify the shit out of that river!”
“Love the enthusiasm,” I chuckled. “Laika, I assume you’ll go with them?”
“Of course,” the wolf Demi-Human answered with a smile.
I could always count on the warrior to protect my fiancée.
The three women gathered around each other and headed back toward House Onca to begin digging into the origins of the river’s curse. Only the gods knew how many tomes Alyona had tucked into her spatial storage, but her bookish tendencies would be a lifesaver today.
“Jai and I can start letting everyone know to avoid the river and jungle for a while until we can get this situated,” Nike offered as he scratched at another red welt on his neck. “No need to have more people get attacked, plus we can let them know it’s being worked on.”
“I agree,” I said with a nod. “Let’s keep in good communication with the people. But before I do that, do you need a little anti-itch relief?”
“Please?” Nike winced and moved to scratch at his wrist.
“Stop that,” I snickered. “You’re going to break the skin, and I don’t even want to know the numerous kinds of diseases you can catch in that jungle.”
“Besides the miasma?” Polina chimed in.
“Besides the miasma.” I nodded.
Nike paled, and he froze mid-scratch.
“I won’t die, right?” he asked with a slight hitch in his voice.
“Not while I’m around,” I laughed and sent out another cloud of healing rainbow glitter to cover the itchy noble.
“Thank you,” Nike sighed in relief as the red bumps faded from his skin.
“You’re welcome. And girls?” I turned to the dryads. “I need you three to come with me.”
“Us?” Trina pointed at her own chest.
“What can we do for you, Lord Evan?” Polina asked as she batted her eyes.
“First, you can get on me,” I growled playfully.
“Oh, most definitely!” Marina squealed and pulled herself up onto my back. Then she rubbed her hips up and down one of the spiky needles on my spine and giggled.
“You can’t have all the fun!” Polina cried as she clambered up behind her sister and stroked her own spike.
“Wait for me!” Trina called and jumped up behind Polina.
The three sisters continued their bump and grind on my back, and I couldn’t help but snicker. They were silly, but I was a nerd, too, so I loved the way they acted.
“Are we ready?” I laughed.
“Yes!” the sisters cried out in unison.
I jumped into the air and flapped my massive wings to gain altitude, and the dryads gripped my back tighter with their hands and thighs, so my quick take-off was worth the effort. Then I grinned to myself and flew higher as the girls squealed and tightened their grips even more.
Being a dragon was so fucking cool.
As we soared over Tikal, the dryads hooted and hollered behind me, and I did a few aerial tricks just to hear them gasp and squeal. They particularly enjoyed when I tucked my wings and nosedived for several dozen feet, before I snapped open my wings and glided along an updraft.
“So, where are you ladies originally from?” I called over the easy wind. We weren’t flying very fast, so it wasn’t hard to hear each other, and I found myself curious about the dryads now that we were spending so much time together. They’d been some of the first people I’d met when I came to Inati, but with everything that had happened since my arrival, I hadn’t gotten to know the sisters very well.
“The Green Mother,” Trina answered in a voice that felt like it contained an eye roll.
“Who’s that?” I craned my neck to look at them. “I mean, I literally know nothing about you before we met in the cave.”
“Ooooh, very true,” Marina giggled. “Well, the Green Mother is the giver of life for all dryads. Though we all have different birth mothers, Green Mother is the reason our mothers carried us into life.”
“Because you aren’t blood sisters, right?” I questioned. I thought one of them had made that comment before, but I never really thought about it.
“No, silly!” Polina laughed and shook her head. “We are sisters in the sense that we come from the same Green Mother, and truly, we also came from the same village.”
“Interesting,” I commented, and I shifted my wings a bit so we ducked beneath a fluffy cloud. “What about how you guys can sometimes read each other’s minds or something?”
“Well, the connection is much stronger when we’re near the Green Mother,” Trina admitted.
“She is the reason we are linked, after all,” Polina said.
“But we can still sense strong feelings from each other, which can sometimes lead to full thoughts or sentences,” Marina added. “It just depends on how in tune we are with each other and with nature.”
“So, back in my old world, dryads were said to only live in or near a tree, but you girls go wherever you want, right?” I asked as I pulled some old mythology knowledge from my high school days.
“Oh, my, your old world history books are outdated.” Trina stifled a laugh. “We haven’t been held to the trees for generations, though we do still get our power from trees and nature.”
“The Green Mother decided long ago that our women should mate with humans, so we could gain their ability to travel and live outside the trees,” Polina explained. “It was dangerous for us to be held to trees because humans kept tearing them down to build cities.”
“As soon as a dryad’s tree was killed, especially violently, her spirit died with it,” Marina said, and her emerald eyes glistened with tears that were quickly whisked away by the wind.
“I’m so sorry,” I replied. “I had no idea.”
“How could you know, Lord Evan?” Polina cocked her head to the side. “You aren’t from here, so you would never know. Anyway, those were the old days. Once we started mating with humans and gained some of their traits, it became possible for dryads to travel.”
“I mean, we’re the only ones who left and never went back,” Trina remarked.
“Yeah, but we had our reasons,” Polina said sharply.
The comment made me curious, but before I could ask, the sisters bar
reled on with the conversation.
“And the Blue Tree Guild made the most sense for us,” Marina added. “We needed to learn how to defend ourselves. No one in our village knows how to do anything but hide.”
“Such a waste,” Polina sighed, and she pushed strands of jade hair out of her face. “Hundreds of dryads in one village, but if someone came in to take it over, they would have no idea what to do.”
“We’re better off out here in the real world,” Trina concurred.
“Well, I’m glad you made it to Hatra,” I said and hoped to cheer them up a bit. “And I’m glad you made it to my bedroom when we got here.”
“Oh, yes, we love being in your bedroom!” Polina chirped, and she bounced and grinded along my spine.
“And you being in us,” Trina giggled with a sly grin.
“I also love being in you,” I growled. “We certainly have a lot in common.”
The sisters laughed and leaned into each other as we continued on our journey. We’d left the jungles of House Onca behind us a while ago, and now the cheetahs’ grasslands were already thinning out below us. I could see the ancestral seat of House Oel in the distance, and I angled my wings to catch a little more wind.
We coasted over the golden sands, and I flew a little lower to take in some more detail. I could see more houses than I’d noticed on previous treks to House Oel’s territory, and the structures reminded me of teepees with animal skins covering the outside, but they were flat on top instead of pointed. I thought I’d read somewhere that animal skins helped regulate temperature, so that’s probably why the lions used such a material in the desert heat. As we neared the end of our journey, I made a mental note to ask Lord Kinba what animals had been used to create the large houses.
Then we came upon the golden pyramid that sat in the heart of House Oel’s territory. Crimson jewels and gold adorned every corner and column, and I gently floated down for a soft landing before the towering palace. The girls slid off my back one by one and waited for me to transform back into my human shape, so I took the smaller form and gestured to the dryads to head for the palace doors.
