The Reluctant Lord (Dragon Lords)

by Michelle M. Pillow

  “I’m guessing the sonar,” Matus said. “That is the only way to explain the cave-in. The shaft would not have collapsed like this if the rock had been solid. The smaller drones do not create a large enough shaft to cause this kind of damage.”

  “Are sonars expensive to replace?” Clara asked Vlad in concern. He nodded once but didn’t seem troubled by the cost. She couldn’t help thinking of how he’d reacted when she asked for servants. Then he made it seem as if he were broke.

  “Lady Clara, please stand aside. Boys, let’s get mining,” Tomos directed. They all shifted into dragon form and began systematically moving rocks with their hands. Tomos took lead, gruffly directing the men in the Draig language. She wasn’t sure how long she watched, but she was fascinated by the strength of the men in their shifted form. Curious, she tried pushing a boulder on the floor with her hip, it didn’t move. Her husband and Sven had lifted it easily moments before.

  Used to standing like a statue for hours at a time, she waited patiently, only moving when she needed to get out of their way so they could work. Once, she wandered closer to the opening to study the Trolla sculpture. The goddess looked wild and dangerous, none of the things Clara was. She’d reached her hand up to hover over the stone, but received no messages from the cold rock—not that she’d expected to.

  * * *

  Vlad wedged his hands between two stones and pulled hard. Rocks began sprinkling around his feet. He sensed his wife was away from the immediate area and knew she’d be out of harm’s way.

  “Easy,” Tomos warned gruffly in their native tongue.

  “The post is holding steady,” Matus said in the same language.

  “Almost,” Vlad answered as Nolan reached in to join him.

  Several smaller rocks fell as they removed the boulder. They quickly backed away, watching the stability of the shaft. Rocks tumbled, stirring a thick layer of dust. Vlad closed his eyes and waited for the ventilation to pull the dust away so they could see. The soft hum overhead indicated the vent was working.

  “What is…?” Matus rushed forward. He poked his head toward the opening they’d made to look inside. A soft light shone from within, a light that should not have been there naturally.

  “Matus,” Tomos warned. “Be careful.”

  Taking his handheld unit, Matus didn’t listen as he crawled through the narrow opening. Seconds later, he yelled through, “I found the drone.”

  “Vlad?” Clara asked softly behind them. Her skin was paler than usual but her expression was blank. He lifted his hand to her to indicate she should wait. She ventured slowly toward them. He heard her footfall as he turned his attention back to Matus.

  “Father, you should…” Matus’s words were less gravelly, indicating he’d shifted back to his human form. The others automatically did the same.

  “They found the drone,” Vlad translated for his wife.

  “What?” Tomos went to the opening, checked the security of the hole and then crawled through. Seconds later, he yelled, “Vlad!”

  “Vlad?” Clara repeated, her tone lowering.

  “I will be safe,” he assured her. Vlad moved to the opening to follow Tomos. Nolan handed him a couple of lights. It was a short crawl into the hollow.

  The light came from the drone, which was on and running. Matus hit the handheld against his knee close to the drone. “The signals are blocked. The unit is reading that the drone is dead but it clearly has power.”

  Vlad switched on a light and handed the other to Tomos. They shone the beams around. Strange rock columns filled the space, as if holding up the ceiling. The floor was smooth with natural steps leading to the edge of an underground stream.

  “Where did this come from?” Matus asked as the light hit the water. “There should be no underground water supply in this section of the caves. It’s flowing in the wrong direction.” He pointed toward the far wall. “The waterfall is that way. Water should flow out, not in.”

  Tomos kneeled beside the stream. “This has been cut. It’s not natural.”

  Vlad observed the evenly spaced ridge marks along the river bank. They did indeed look like a cutting tool had made them. “They’re fresh too. This stone is not weathered with age.” He leaned toward the water and sniffed. “This smells off.”

  “Don’t touch it. I know that smell, but…” Tomos frowned. “I can’t place it.”

  “Nolan, bring the big light,” Matus ordered.

  Vlad explored with his light beam as they waited for Nolan. He listened carefully but did not hear anything besides his group in the opening. Minutes later, Nolan appeared with a light. He set it on the ground and turned it on. The beam was directed at the ceiling and it bounced off the rock overhead to illuminate the area.

  The first thing Vlad noticed was the columns were too evenly spaced and had strange carvings on them. They weren’t of Draig doing.

  “We’re coming in,” Sven said.

  Vlad held up his hand toward the opening, “No, wait.”

  It was too late. Sven had already entered and was helping Clara through the hole. She unhooked her elbow from Sven as she stood to her feet. He noticed the darker color of her eyes as she looked at the area and wondered at her physical reaction to the place.

  “Are these ruins?” she asked.

  “No. These are not of Draig doing,” Matus answered.

  “Then…?” Clara prompted.

  “We don’t know,” Matus said.

  Vlad automatically moved closer to his wife. Perhaps he should not have allowed her to come. When she’d offered, he thought this would be a simple task and would give her a chance to see the mines.

  “My lord,” she whispered to him. Her hand trembled slightly. “You bid me to tell you when I had a medical issue. I do not feel well now.”

  He placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her nerves and placed a quick kiss on her head. “I will protect you. We shouldn’t be here long.”

  Vlad hadn’t expected to prove his words so soon, but almost the second he said them, the low hum of an engine sounded behind the rock. The men instantly formed a half circle around Clara and faced the noise.

  “The Var?” Nolan asked, specifying their ancient enemy, the cat shifters.

  “They don’t come this far north,” Tomos denied. “They wouldn’t dare. They have no interest in our mines.”

  “I don’t feel so…” Clara whispered behind him, her words weak.

  Vlad listened to her heavy breathing as he kept his eyes on the far side of the cavern. The noise grew. He backed up toward the hollow’s opening.

  The water began to ripple in the stream.

  “The water is changing directions,” Matus noted.

  “Clara, if I tell you to run, get through the opening and run,” Vlad said. “Try to make it back to the village.”

  A strange alien craft surfaced. Its circular shape rotated around a center support to propel it forward. The support pressed to the sides of the new waterway with metal teeth cutting into the grooves they’d been examining earlier. It towed a load of raw ore behind it, the minerals wrapped in a thick sheet of molded plastic to keep it dry.

  “He doesn’t see us,” Matus said under his breath.

  The vehicle slowed as if it might stop.

  “Nolan, take my wife—” Vlad ordered.

  It was almost too late. The sphere transport opened.

  “Clara, go,” Vlad whispered frantically.

  The men shifted, ready for battle. They tensed, waiting to see what great foe dared to steal from their mines. A short alien stepped out of the unit and hopped onto the ground. It landed on three stubby legs, using them like a tripod to stand. Translucent skin had a milky-white sheen to it, covering the strange pulsing blue and purple veins beneath. It was impossible to detect the alien’s sex. Tiny arms stretched from the sack-like frame of its gelatinous body. It stood only as tall as their waist.

  “No,” Clara protested softly.

  The sound of her voice drew the not
ice of the alien. Its face had humanoid features—two black eyes, a small nose and fat lips. A look of what could only be surprise passed over its face. Vlad dropped his guard by small degrees, waiting to see what the creature would do. The alien screeched, opening its fat mouth wide.

  Tomos growled in return. Vlad took a challenging step forward. The alien began to shake, the body spreading thinner as it expanded in size. The screeching grew louder.

  “Get her out of here!” Vlad yelled.

  “I can’t,” Nolan countered. “She’s…”

  Vlad wanted to look but didn’t dare take his eyes off the threat. Growling harshly with his shifted vocal cords, he ordered “Protect my wife!”

  The alien slapped his hand forward like an elastic band, striking both Matus and Sven with one swing. Surprised by the creature’s reach and strength, both men lost their footing and fell on the ground.

  “What is it?” Tomos asked. Vlad didn’t have an answer. He’d never seen such a being before.

  “How do we kill it?” Sven yelled.

  Vlad managed to ease his way to the side. He rushed forward, talons and fangs bared, and leapt, aiming for what equated the alien’s chest. Punching as he landed, his hand met viscous flesh. The alien absorbed the blow. It moved with him, enveloping Vlad’s fist and arm within its body. Translucent skin encased him like a tar pit while suctioning him deeper. Vlad used his loose hand to try and claw himself free. A sticky substance flowed over his fingertips. Blood? He couldn’t be sure. The alien’s body tried to absorb him. Strange flesh encompassed his arm then shoulder. Within seconds, he felt it sinking into his mouth to suffocate his breath. Vlad bit down on reflex, hearing a pop as his fangs punctured the being’s skin.

  “Vlad!” He heard Clara scream.

  Suddenly the alien screeched louder and expelled him. Vlad was slingshotted away from the creature. He flew through the air, stopping only when he hit the rock wall. His head whipped back onto stone and he dropped to the ground in a daze. The acrid taste of fluid in his mouth caused him to gag and cough even as he tried to find his breath.

  Clara screamed again, this time an incoherent sound. The alien’s screech grew louder in response. Someone pulled at his arm to lift him up. Vlad tried to move toward the sound of his wife and stumbled.

  “Vlad,” Tomos said, sounding shocked. “Look.”

  Vlad stopped moving long enough to take in the situation. Clara stood with her arms raised, wrists and palms pointed at the alien. The creature squirmed in pain, writhing toward its spherical transport. It shrunk in size, almost like it tried to be smaller in an effort to protect itself. Vlad moved slowly toward his wife, awed at her ability. As her face came into view, he saw her ashen features. Her eyes were nearly green as the center ring consumed the purple. She screamed again, as if the sound was being ripped involuntarily out of her.

  The alien jerked, falling back into the transport. It slapped it arms about before lifting a tiny sphere in its hand. If Vlad wasn’t mistaken, he saw the creature smile seconds before it threw the sphere to the ground. The metallic-colored device shattered like glass but nothing else seemed to happen. Seconds later, it was gone.

  Clara gasped and dropped her arms. Vlad caught her as she fell. Holding her on the ground, he stroked back her hair. She was damp and trembling.

  “You’re infested,” she whispered weakly.

  “Boys,” Tomos yelled. “Take cover. Don’t go in the water!”

  The others ran and Vlad scooped up his wife to carry her after them. They dove behind columns. When he turned, he saw the drone blinking wildly. Vlad pressed Clara into the column and shielded her with his body. On instinct, he shifted and buried his head next to hers. The drone squealed seconds before a deafening explosion echoed the hollow.

  Chapter Eleven

  Clara coughed, pushing at the weight holding her down. Her arms met a chest and she struggled to see past the hair in her face. It did little good. The cavern was dark. She spit strands from her mouth as she endeavored to breathe the smoky air.

  A moan sounded in the distance. Then a cough. Stones scraped stones.

  “Boys?” Tomos’s voice came hoarse and gruff. “My lady?”

  Clara managed a high-pitched wheeze and cough for an answer.

  “Father,” Matus called. His voice reverberated off the hollow. “Nolan? Nolan!”

  Suddenly the weight was lifted from her and she could see. Sven laid Vlad on the floor and began to examine him. “Vlad’s down but alive.”

  The smoke began to clear as it was pulled from the room.

  “The vents are working,” Sven said.

  “Nolan?” Matus yelled louder.

  “Son?” Tomos’s cry rose. “Nolan!”

  “Stay with him,” Sven told Clara. “I have to find my brother.” She nodded weakly.

  Sven disappeared into the darkness, leaving her alone with her husband. She felt along his body, over the hard shell of shifted flesh. He didn’t move, didn’t moan. His chest lifted only a little.

  The fight had left her drained and unable to concentrate as she needed to. Her hands met the stickiness of his arms and withdrew, unsure as to what she touched. The back of her hand brushed near his waist only to bump into thick metal. She fumbled for it, blindly searching for the switch. A light shone and she pointed the beam at her husband’s face.

  “Over here!” Sven ordered. She directed the light toward the sound. A body lay covered in rock. “I found him.”

  The men worked to unbury Nolan. She placed her hand on Vlad, not taking the men’s light even as she desperately wanted to see how badly her husband was injured. As long as his chest moved she knew he lived. The feel of his slow heartbeat gave her comfort. It took some of her remaining energy to feel it against her palm beneath the shield of hard flesh.

  “He lives,” Matus said after what seemed like an eternity of digging.

  Another light turned on and Clara instantly began examining her husband. He was locked in his dragon form, unconscious. She drew the light down to his hands were she’d felt the stickiness. Bloody, charred flesh covered his hands and forearm. She looked at the other one. Though not as bad, it too was burned.

  “I need a medic,” Clara said, gingerly placing her husband’s hands on his chest.

  “I’ll go,” Sven said. The light moved with him as he crossed the distance only to stop. It shone over the caved-in wall hiding the opening. “I can’t get out. Our supplies are on the other side. We’re trapped.”

  * * *

  Clara wasn’t sure when it happened, but she had passed out from exhaustion. The last thing she recalled was being told they were trapped in the hollow. Someone must have laid her down next to Vlad and Nolan, because when she awoke she was sandwiched between the two men.

  A soft glow surrounded them, flickering off Tomos’s naked back. He lifted a makeshift torch constructed of metal scrap and his clothing and stuck it in the underground river. He carried it to the torch that already burned from its place wedged between two rocks and lit it.

  “The water burns?” Clara asked. On one side of them was the river. On the other was the scorched pattern centering around the metal debris of the droid. Only the columns had protected them from the full blast.

  “It’s tainted.” Tomos glanced in her direction before eyeing Vlad and his son. He came closer and wedged the second torch into the wall. “They’re chemically stripping the ore from the mines. It took me a while to remember the smell. Years ago, when I first took up an axe, these strange aliens tried to sell us chemical mining technology. I remember the event because we felt sorry for them. They looked humanoid but afflicted with strange mutations that did not appear indicative of their original race—one’s face was covered in large growths, another had three extra fingers on one hand, yet another seeped white fluid from his eyes. They called their process hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. It’s efficient, but its cost to the land is great. Thinking back, their mutation was probably due to chemical exposure over a
long period. We’re lucky the explosion today didn’t set the river on fire. Trolla was looking after us. But you don’t want to touch that water. We were able to start the fire from the burning debris of the droid.”

  Clara looked to Nolan and then her husband. They were both shifted.

  “They’re lucky,” Tomos said. “Their dragons saved their lives and protect them even now. They’ll heal faster like that, but they still need medical attention. I can’t clean the wounds in here.”

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  “We wait. Sven and Matus found a crack in the rock wall from the blast. They’ve gone for water and to see if they can find a way out. The main shaft is too blocked with debris.” Tomos lit another torch and found a place for it before joining her on the floor near his son.

  “Can we dig out like you dug in?” She wasn’t sure how well she could help move boulders, but she would try.

  He touched Nolan lovingly on the top of his head. “From the looks of it we’ll need weeks to dig, and we don’t have the supplies to last weeks.”

  “The others will come for us,” Clara insisted. “Arianwen will come. She knows we’re here.”

  “Eventually, yes. She’ll think I forgot time again and wait a night.” Tomos sighed. “When she does look, she might not realize we’re inside here. It will depend on how things look on the other side after this second rock fall. Vlad ordered the digging stopped so the mines are most likely empty. No one would have heard us. They will search the open shafts and forest first. Then, when someone realizes the rocks have fallen a second time, they will start to dig.”

  Clara hid her fear. She appreciated his honesty, though she wasn’t sure she appreciated hearing it. Swallowing nervously, she tried to breathe. The air smelled foul and burned when taken in too deeply.

  “The explosion brought down more rocks. The rubble is thicker than before. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to pick up our life signs from the other side.” Tomos stood, leaning to get a better view of the debris. “I worry we won’t have the energy to move the rocks ourselves. Our best bet is to find another way out.”