by Amelia Jade
“Away,” the newcomer said gruffly as he digested the information. “And the Council members?”
“Imprisoned in many cases,” came the imperious response.
“And in the others?”
“They met a suitable end.”
Ana shivered at the casual reference to the death of some of the oldest creatures on the planet. Whatever was going on, it sounded more serious than she had any interest in being involved in. She took a step back, but the instant she moved, the two Order members started to close the distance.
Until the newcomer—she still had no idea of anyone’s names—moved to intercept.
“Why don’t you join us?” the smaller man said greedily. He recognized the power the newcomer held, and was eager to have him join their side.
Ana fervently hoped he wouldn’t take them up on their offer. Her wish was confirmed when he spoke again.
“What does the Order stand for?” There was genuine curiosity in his question, but also a sense of knowing the answer and not liking it.
“The Order stands for purity of the system. We believe that those who rise above the rest are the ones who should rule.”
“Was Luthor the head of this Order?”
She had no idea who that was, but her two enemies did.
“Luthor was a member of the Order, but he was not our leader.”
The newcomer’s eyebrows rose in surprise at that revelation, though she wasn’t sure why.
Without any warning the newcomer moved. One moment he was standing between the two parties. The next he was standing tall and strong a couple of feet in front of her.
“I suggest you leave,” he said angrily as the two dragon shifters warily approached.
“In case you can’t count, bub, there are two of us, and only one of you,” the smaller one said, his voice practically slithering as he spoke.
“We should leave,” the newcomer said, tilting his head slightly in her direction. “The smart one knows better,” he raised his voice slightly this time, so that everyone could hear, though he was still talking to her. “But the short one is too dumb to realize how erroneous his statement is.”
“Who says I’m leaving with you?” she asked him skeptically.
There was a short pause. “I do not wish to state the obvious to appear to be bragging, but right now I am the only thing standing between you and certain death. I have no interest in seeing you hurt or ended.”
“Prove it,” she demanded, ignoring the looks the other two shifters were giving her.
“I cannot prove it, other than to say that I had not originally intended on stopping here. I was but passing through. Now, however, I have intervened on your behalf, as I value life over the alternative if at all possible. They have not given me a valid reason for your ending, so I shall give you my protection, unless you become no longer worthy of it.”
It wasn’t that long of a statement, but she got the impression that the man in front of her rarely spoke that much at once. He seemed to run out of loquaciousness, his mouth closing abruptly, while he waited for her response. The entire time, he continued to stare across the space at the two members of this mysterious “Order.”
“Oh.” It was all she could manage. There was something about him that was throwing her off, keeping her off balance.
“Now, please?” he asked, sticking a hand out.
She took it.
The jolt of electricity that shot up her hand as soon as his skin touched hers was powerful enough to make her jerk back. He snatched his hand back at the same time, shaking it for a second. His head swiveled around to look at her. She caught a glimpse of breathtakingly beautiful silver eyes. They were only there for a second before he snatched her hand again and took off at a run, shaking his head to clear it.
Ana wanted to speak, to ask what the hell that had been about. But she couldn’t. Her tongue was still, the muscles of her jaw refusing to work. Instead, she simply ran after him.
“Ferrovax.”
The single word snapped out of the silence from behind them, cracking against her savior like a whip. He stopped so suddenly when the unknown called his name that she had to dodge around him, flinging his hand away to maintain her balance.
“What the fuck?” she shouted, turning to face him.
He wasn’t looking at her though, already having spun back to face the other way.
What the fuck is going on?!
Ana looked back the way they had come just in time to see a third form emerge from the darkness.
Chapter Four
Ferro
His spine went rigid. Not only did someone recognize him, but he recognized the voice. The shock of that almost overwhelmed the reaction he had had to touching the female shifter. His hand still tingled with the sting that had shot up his fingers and into his core at her touch. He craved more, wanted more, but just then, he had a bigger issue to deal with. One that wouldn’t let him truly focus on her without interfering.
“Korbin,” he said with more joviality than he felt.
Casting a quick glance at the skies, wondering what else might happen tonight, he confronted the newest member to the rapidly expanding gathering. When he had first landed near the woman—whose name he still hadn’t had time to get—Ferro had hoped to scare the villagers off and then depart the area. That simple step was proving to be exponentially more complicated than he could ever have imagined.
This is why you need to think these things through more often. Making rash decisions gets you into situations like this.
He ignored his inner voice.
He had been provided with knowledge it might have taken him a long time to get through more traditional ways. The revelation of this “Order” was unsettling. As was the presence now of Korbin, the elder son of Karthorax, one of the dragons who had sat upon the Council, and one of Ferro’s eldest children. If he was here…
“Where is your father?” he asked carefully. It had to be said, even though Ferro was sure he knew the answer.
“Gone,” Korbin sneered.
“Who is this guy?” That was the female shifter.
“He is the offspring of one of the Council members,” Ferro said, his gaze still fixed upon Korbin, who had moved now to stand between the other two.
The woman made a strangled sort of noise, but quickly lapsed into silence as Korbin spoke once again.
“Your vaunted Council is no more Ferrovax. It is gone, scattered to the wind. Many met their end.”
Ferro shook his head. “Why?”
Korbin rolled his eyes. “That’s what they were all asking as well. Why, why, why. Well here’s a question for you. Why not us?” His voice snapped, almost like a teenager complaining their curfew wasn’t fair. “The Council,” he dragged out the word for several extra syllables, “was old and stagnant. The members are opposed to change of any sort. They wanted to hide away from the world, to act like we don’t exist.”
“You are wrong, Korbin,” Ferro said softly. “They did not want to hide away from the world.”
“Oh is that so?”
The elder dragon shifter nodded sadly. “It is the world that wanted them to hide from it. The humans are not ready to see us, not on a regular basis. Many of them barely know we exist. Most of those who do, are folks like them,” he said with a wave at the village beyond them. “Nobody from the city world is going to believe their claims.”
Korbin was shaking his head. “See, there you go again. Acting like the humans should have the choice. That they should be able to dictate whether we need to hide in secrecy or not. Do you not understand how ridiculous that sounds? That they can dictate to us what we can do? We exist, we should not be ashamed of it, grandfather.”
Ferro’s head snapped up. “You do not have the right to call me that.” His voice was still low, but the steel tone of command in it reached out and slapped Korbin. Hard. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
“You know I have a point,” Korbin said.
The
worst part of it all was that Ferro knew the young shifter was right. He snorted internally. Young. He’s several millennia old himself. That didn’t detract from the accuracy of his statement. Humanity was dictating whether some of the more rare shifter breeds were comfortable in public. It was approaching common knowledge nowadays that dragon shifters did exist, but they still tried to stay in the shadows, avoiding being seen if possible, and generally only flying at night, or in ultra-remote locations.
“I will concede that it is an unfortunate situation we find ourselves in. The reality of it, however, is that humans would react in a multitude of ways to our existence, not all of which are pleasant. There are already attempts by government agencies to try and conduct experiments on our kind. I have no doubt, much to my dismay, that they have likely succeeded in some cases.”
“Yet another reason that we should exert our rightful place in the world!” This was the smaller of the two Order members Ferro had originally confronted.
“I do not know your name,” Ferro said with rigid anger, “and you will regret if I am forced to learn it.”
Korbin put a restraining hand on the smaller shifter just as the man looked ready for another outburst.
“The idea that we dragons should lord over humanity is ludicrous,” Ferro stated sharply. “Whatever point you may have about humans forcing us to stay in the shadows goes out the window when you begin to talk about things like what this imbecile is saying. I will never support that.”
Korbin looked at him. “You are either with the Order, Ferro, or you are against it.”
The woman chimed in again. “You’re against it, right? Please tell me you’re against it.”
He nodded, though he didn’t turn to face her. “I was not a part of the Council, and I will not be a part of your Order.”
The three shifters arrayed against them stiffened and spread out.
“Dammit,” Ferro said softly. He turned his head slightly to talk to the female. “You should probably be prepared.”
“For what?” She was nervous, but her voice never wavered. He respected that.
“To run.”
“Okay.”
He frowned at the sound in her voice. “You were going to run anyway.” It wasn’t a question.
“Probably,” she admitted with a frank honesty he found refreshing.
To his surprise, Ferro laughed. “I shall meet you at the fork in the river,” he told her. “Two miles that way.” He pointed southwest of the town.
He waited for a confirmation from the woman, but he wasn’t given the time. The trio of dragon shifters chose that moment to attack. The two unnamed spread out wide, preparing to attack him from the flanks like a pincer, while Korbin came slower up the middle. He was the real threat, Ferro knew. The other two shifters were very young, likely not out of their first millennia yet. They would take a beating, but neither of them truly posed a problem for Ferro. Korbin would be more of a challenge, and not one he was looking forward to.
“Please,” he asked. “Do not make me do this.”
“They don’t look like they’re stopping.”
“I had noticed that,” he responded, matching her sarcasm with his own. It felt nice to banter with her, something that he hadn’t felt an urge for in a long time.
“I wish they would,” he said, his voice becoming serious once again. “I do not enjoy fighting, nor do I care to take one life, let alone three.”
“You... you do know how to fight though, don’t you?” she asked. This time the nerves in her voice showed through.
“Yes.” He wanted to say more, to reassure her, to let her know that she was in no danger. That after it was over, the two of them would be able to depart, and he could finally learn her name and take a long look into her eyes. His dragon was torn. It rarely got a chance to fight, and it was looking forward to that despite his own reservations.
But then there was the woman. He forced himself to ignore her. He had to, if he was going to win the fight on his terms. That was the way it had to be, and he cursed himself for it. It was his fault. By intervening in this conflict, his presence back into the world had been revealed. If he was going up against this Order, it would be necessary for him to operate in secrecy.
Which meant that none of the three now opposing him could leave here to tell anyone.
They were almost on top of him now. He had to make his move.
“Dammit!” he cried, upset that it had come to this.
The taller and—he was fairly positive—dumber one, had come in faster than he should have. It left him exposed, and Ferro went to meet him. He firmly put the female out of his mind, focusing his efforts on the fight.
Lunging to the right, he intercepted the eager shifter. His opponent’s move almost succeeded. It was so dumb, it was almost brilliant. Instead of slowing to trade blows, the big man leapt at Ferro like a football player trying to bring down his opponent. The sheer bravado of it caught him off guard.
Nobody is that dumb anymore! Are they? He spent valuable moments trying to decide if the other man was a genius or suicidal. In the end, he had to go with the latter. Ferro could have dodged to the side and attacked him with a horrific blow to the ribcage. But he didn’t. He wanted this over as swiftly as possible.
Please forgive me. The thought echoed in his head as he met the flying leap head on. Instead of trying to dodge it, he drove forward with as much energy and power as he could summon. His fist opened, his arm locking straight in front of him.
The big man was the first to die that night. Ferro’s palm struck his nose harder than a steel beam, driving the other shifter’s nose up and into his brain, ending him instantly. His momentum stopped immediately and he fell to the ground, his face mashed beyond recognition.
Behind him, the woman made a retching sound, but he didn’t have time to comfort her. He grunted as the second man hit him from behind. The blow had been expected, and he was already moving with it, ducking forward.
It had been much lower than he planned for however, and Ferro’s plan of a duck and roll to come up ready was thwarted as he lost his balance and was taken down hard. The ground rushed up to meet him, and he jerked his head to the side as a rock loomed up out of the ground. The sharp end cracked hard against his temple and he saw stars momentarily.
“Ow,” he said dully, remembering to roll to the side, keeping away from the other man. His roll stopped abruptly as his back slid up against something. A quick glance over his shoulder let him know he’d rolled into the dumb one’s corpse.
Angry at himself, he tried to get to his feet. A swipe from Korbin, now entering the fray, sent Ferro tumbling away.
He rolled twice, using the second one to come up on one knee. A hand dug itself into the ground, spinning him back to face his opponents as he slowly slid to a stop some twenty feet from where he’d first been hit. Ferro’s head snapped up, eyes blazing as Korbin took a step toward the woman, who was steadily backing away.
“Leave. Her. Alone,” he growled, getting to his feet.
Korbin cast a glance his way, then ignored him, continuing to pursue the woman.
Ferro snarled and stalked forward. The more diminutive shifter moved to block his way, but he didn’t care. Long, powerful legs carried him forward with a smoothness that spoke of thousands of years of experience. He walked straight at the other man, not making a single effort to avoid him. At first his foe smiled eagerly, but with each unflinching step, the confidence on his face began to wane.
His courage was shaken, but at no point was it broken. When Ferro got within range, the other man came in hard, feinting with his right before trying to deliver another blow to Ferro’s side. In no mood to toy with his opponent, Ferro waited until the left arm was mostly extended before he reacted. As the fist came in at him, he wrapped his left palm around the other man’s fist.
Fingers clenched and the bones in the shifter’s hand disintegrated. Ferro didn’t release his grip, however. He used the other man’s momentum to p
ull him forward. The man began to spin as his left arm was yanked diagonally across him, exposing his back to Ferro. Faster than the man could blink, the dragon shifter released the crumbled fist from his grip, wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, and twisted.
His spine broke with an ear-shuddering crack and Ferro let the body simply drop to the ground. The entire time he hadn’t stopped moving forward, his eyes never leaving Korbin’s back.
The sound of the second shifter’s spine breaking stopped his true opponent in his tracks, and he turned back to face Ferro at last. The next part could still be fatal to Ferro if he wasn’t careful, but Korbin had revealed much about himself in the past few minutes.
The younger shifter had no sense of tactics. When the two of them had hit Ferro from behind, they should have pressed their advantage. He would be in a much tighter spot than he was now if they had done so, forcing him to fight them both at the same time. Instead, Korbin’s narrow-mindedness, lack of patience, or both, had ensured the outcome of the battle.
He saw it reflected in the other man’s eyes too. So he’s not completely stupid. He can learn. Unfortunately, it was too late now. The outcome was already set. Korbin realized that and attempted to flee, but he had waited too long. Ferro would have caught him eventually, but by waiting that long, he had time for two, maybe three steps. Then, the rock Ferro had swiftly palmed from the ground soared out of the darkness, slamming into his temple in a wound similar to the one Ferro had sustained early in the fight.
Korbin tumbled down, the head-sized rock hitting him with more force than a human could comprehend. In a flash Ferro landed atop him. A swift wrench of his hand snapped one leg. Reaching back, he drove a vicious jab into Korbin’s side, snapping ribs and likely forcing some internal bleeding. A feeble elbow rose, trying to dislodge Ferro from his back.
All it did was expose him to more agony as Ferro snapped the arm in two and then dislocated it. Satisfied his target wasn’t going anywhere, he flipped Korbin onto his back. A casual clench of Korbin’s forearm shattered the bone in his remaining arm.
