Dragon Breeder 3
Page 15
“That’s r-r-right, Dragonmancer,” Rupert said, being careful to observe the niceties when addressing any dragonmancer that was not me. “A full stomach and a little time to rest between potential battles can do the world of good.”
“The lad might look like a possum that’s just been hit by a bolt of lightning right up the browneye, but he’s right,” Diggens Azee said, meticulously manufacturing one of his roll-ups. “Besides, I’d say it’s barely past breakfast time. Can’t be too far past dawn out where the wind blows and the sun shines.”
“I guess it makes sense,” I conceded. “We did get the dragondust out of the fight. That puts us ahead of the game, really. We just need to find and retrieve at least one of these damn crystals and then we can get the hell out of here.”
The soldiers, summoned by the noise of the battle, began to quickly and methodically clean up the charnel house that the chamber had become. They were experienced troops, and they didn’t need their superior officers’ brisk instructions to know the importance of getting rid of this amount of dead flesh.
Lack of hygiene and illness had probably laid low more soldiers than battle through the years, and it would not be long before this number of bodies soon became a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty diseases. There was no glory for a soldier in going out via an infectious disease that could have been prevented by quick action. It was not a glamorous detail, but it was an important one, and the troopers set to it without a murmur of disgruntlement.
“Why the hell did those ratfolk attack us like that?” I asked as we watched soldiers begin to cart the bodies, or body parts, of our fallen enemies out of the tunnels. “Why did they just keep coming? We were cutting them down like grass and they just wouldn’t stop.”
“The ratfolk are not renowned f-f-for being great thinkers,” Rupert said.
Tamsin snorted. “You’ve got that right. We have had dealings with them up in the mountains of my own home—or at least some distant cousins of the members of this clan, perhaps. Territory is something that these creatures prize above all other things. It is a measure of wealth, I suppose, in a world without coin. They treasure it, hoard and protect it with mindless violence.”
“I rather think they had been aware of the encroachment of the Empire for quite some time,” Jazmyn said. “It was just our misfortune that we were at their entrance point when they decided to sortie against those they deemed to be invaders.”
Bjorn chuckled darkly. “Our misfortune,” he rumbled, running a whet stone along the edge of his axe blade. “I wouldn’t call it that so much, Dragonmancer. A bit of a morning training session might better describe it.”
There was some black quiet laughing from the other members of the coteries at this.
I scanned the faces of the gathered squad members. The squads that followed me, Tamsin, and Renji looked flushed with the fight they had been in, while those six men that followed Ashrin and Jazmyn looked pretty much indifferent to the blood and gore that spattered their armor.
I was glad that everyone had survived. All in all, with everything considered, we had done well for ourselves and got some much needed battle experience.
As we watched the steady clearing of the bodies, an older woman gestured for Ashrin and Jazmyn to come over and see her. She had wavy steel gray hair, wore a flowing scarlet cloak, and walked with the proud, sure tread of a dragonmancer.
Jazmyn sighed and got to her feet. “This is the one thing about this job I don’t like,” she grinned. “Bloody reporting.”
“We’ll be back in a moment,” Ashrin said to me. “Jaz and I will just give a report to the dragonmancer supervising the clean-up. Don’t go anywhere. Eat. Rest.”
Jaz dropped me a wink. “I know you’re itching to get a move on, Mike, but the more the chain of command knows, the easier it’ll be for us to move around in here.”
My two bodyguards left. I watched as they embraced the older newcomer and launched into their report, every now and again gesturing over their shoulders at our company.
As the three female dragonmancers conversed, a flash of light in the corner of my eye attracted my attention. I looked to my right and saw that the mysterious but helpful wisp had reappeared again.
“What the hell is that thing?” I asked, nudging Gabby with an elbow and pointing at the will-o’-the-wisp as I sat down.
Gabby shrugged and made a noise of vague disinterest.
“I don’t have a ruddy clue what it is,” Diggens said, exhaling smoke luxuriantly as he poked at the fire and stirred the pot of stew that was simmering on it. “But the little fella has been pretty helpful so far, hasn’t he?”
I watched the wisp darting about the place, hovering around soldiers and flying around with the random and unpredictable movements of a moth. I smiled. There was something inherently good-natured about the thing, whatever the heck it was. It reminded me of an eager puppy; keen to help and be a part of things, but generally just getting in the way and being a bit of a nuisance.
The crunch of approaching footsteps stirred me from my gazing. I glanced up and saw Jazmyn and Ashrin approaching along with the older dragonmancer in the scarlet cloak.
I quickly stuffed the stew-coated bit of bread that Gabby had just handed me into my mouth, brushed off my hands, and got to my feet. Chewing quickly and then swallowing, I walked out to meet the dragonmancer with Renji and Tamsin following a few steps behind. Behind them, drifting silently along like a tobacco-smelling fart, came Diggens Azee.
The newcomer had a squarish face under her wavy gray hair. A small mouth sat beneath a sharp nose and a pair of clever hazel eyes. Her pointed ears told me that she was an elf of some kind. She came to a halt a couple of paces away from me and held out her hand. In the way of the dragonmancers, I put out my own hand and we clasped forearms.
“Well met, Dragonmancer,” the woman said in a hearty voice that I instantly found myself trusting. “I’m Dragonmancer Kenia, Bearer of Pherlo the Sand Dragon.”
“Dragonmancer Noctis, Bearer of Noctis the Onyx Dragon and Garth the Pearl Dragon,” I said.
“You did damn well here for a Rank One,” Kenia said to me, looking around approvingly at the bloody work that had been done to the ratfolk. “I’m a Rank Two myself, but I think I would have been pretty hard pushed to make this sort of beautiful mess back in my youth!”
It wasn’t a slight or a dig, but I still felt myself bridling just a touch. More and more, I was getting the impression that there was maybe a little less to the ranking system among dragonmancers than I initially thought. I wondered how quickly it was possible to ascend to the level of Jazmyn and Ahrin? How long had it taken them to become members of this illustrious Twelve that they spoke of?
“Well,” I said tactfully, “every man and woman of us did their part, you know.”
Kenia nodded. “I don’t doubt it,” she said approvingly before clapping her leather gauntleted hands. “Now, has anyone taken a wee look into this hole that the ratfolk used to burrow up into this main shaft?”
All of us shook our heads.
“We haven’t really had the chance to explore,” I said. “The attack happened so quickly that we more or less fought it off, and then the soldiers came in here to clean up.”
“Understood,” Kenia said. “I have everything I need for my report to General Shiloh. I’m going to deliver it personally, once I’ve overseen the cleanup and ensured there’s a fresh outpost here.”
“I see you’re onto that already,” Jazmyn said, nodding at where five or six tents were being erected along one wall of the cavern. “Commendable speed.”
“Aye, well, you cannot piss about down here,” Kenia said. “You two know that as well as any. If more of these ratfolk appear, we need to be able to deal with them in short order.” She puffed out her cheeks and looked around the cavern. “Yes indeed, this will make for a nice little forward staging area. Can’t think why we didn’t set up here before. Probably a lack of men or something like that.”
Kenia stroked her jaw. “I think you will find that that pond will be all right in time, Dragonmancer Noctis. Like you say, it’s an unlimited source. It trickles in slowly through that crack in the wall there and down into the pond. It doesn’t just sit there though; it seeps slowly back through the porous rock and back into the earth. After a few days, that pond will be as clear and clean as it always has been.”
“That’s something at least,” Ashrin said.
“Aye, but now, with respect Dragonmancers Ashrin and Jazmyn, tell me; do any of you have any guesses as to what’s down that tunnel? General Shiloh would appreciate any info she can get about where the ratfolk and, more pertinently, that dragon came from. Even if it’s just speculation.”
The five of us dragonmancers exchanged glances. I for one had no idea what else might be down that tunnel.
A surreptitious clearing of a throat sounded from behind us. Kenia looked over my shoulder, and her small mouth stretched into a patient grin.
“Ah, I didn’t know that you were part of this here company, Mr. Azee,” she said.
Diggens stepped forward and blew a nonchalant smoke-ring. “Good day to you, Dragonmancer Kenia,” he said affably. “Always a pleasure to clap eyes on your mug.”
The dragonmancer snorted. “If it isn’t Galipolas Mountain’s most illustrious sapper and treasure hunter. Am I to understand by that polite clearing of the throat that you know something? That you might be able to shed a little light onto this fresh tunnel of ours? The General would appreciate any help.”
Diggens shrugged and stuck his smoke between his teeth. When he spoke, the thin roll-up jiggled up and down in a vaguely hypnotic fashion.
“I might be able to shed a candle’s worth of light on it,” he said grudgingly. “At the very least a glow-worm’s worth.”
“Go on then,” Kenia prompted.
Diggens tucked his thumbs into his tool belt. “Now, this here tunnel looks to me to be heading in a generally south-westerly direction. Couple that with a downward gradient that must be, oh, eleven degrees, that means that this tunnel goes someplace special. It goes in an unexplored direction. None of the other tunnels or mine shafts that we have explored go there.”
“How do you know that?” Renji asked.
Diggens took a slow drag on his smoke and exhaled a blue plume. “Oh, I get about, Dragonmancer Renji.”
“And what would you guess might be at the end of this tunnel?” Kenia asked, crossing her arms and looking at the gnoll with a type of bemused respect.
Diggens spread his three-fingered hands. “If someone had a crossbow to my head? I’d hazard that there would be some more of the ratfolk down there, or at the very least the nest that this lot made their exodus from. Then I think it might be safe and prudent to assume that there could be a few more wild dragons down there.”
“More?” Kenia blurted out.
“Yeah, I’d put a couple of scales on there being at least one other dragon down there somewhere,” Diggens said casually. “But probably more. Southwest points toward the very heart of Galipolas Mountain, you see. It’s probably nice and warm in there, what with this being a snoozing volcano, the perfect spot for dragons to rest up. They have prey in the ratfolk, and chances are that they’re looked after by kobolds.”
Kenia ran a hand through her steel-gray curls and puffed out her cheeks yet again.
“Dang me, but when you speculate, you really do speculate to the moon, don’t you, Diggens?” she said. “More wild dragons and kobolds… I don’t know what the General might have been expecting, but I don’t think it was that.”
Diggens fixed her with a confident eye. That was the thing about the gnolls. They came across as these ludicrous little cartoonish creatures, but more often than not, they knew exactly what way the wind was blowing. I was becoming more and more inclined to trust the noses—as squashed as misshapen as they might be—of Diggens Azee and the rest.
“This,” Diggens said, through a cloud of blue smoke, “is the Subterranean Realms. It’s home to the unexpected.”
Kenia shook her head. “Well, I’ll report all this to General Shiloh. Better to hope for the best—”
“But prepare for the worst,” I finished.
Kenia grinned, and a host of fine lines spread out from the corners of her eyes like cracks in china.
“That’s right, Dragonmancer Noctis,” she said.
“Call me Mike,” I said.
“Mike, do you think you could tell me a little more about this dragondust?” Kenia asked me. “Dragonmancers Ashrin and Jazmyn are of the Empress’ Twelve and so I’d trust their word, even if they were to tell me that the sky was green, but it’s you that this stuff is meant to help. Are you sure it will? Have you tested it?”
I glanced over my shoulder at Rupert, who was sitting by the fire and repeatedly smacking his still adamantine knob with a bit of kindling, trying to get his boner to go down. Bjorn sat nearby guffawing with glee.
“Uh, no, I have not tested it as of yet,” I admitted, “but I’m almost one-hundred percent certain that it’s the ingredient we’re after.”
Dragonmancer Kenia took a step toward me. She might have been slightly older than the majority of other dragonmancers I had come across, but that did not mean the elf was any less alluring for that. Under her scarlet cloak, she wore the tight-fitting deep-green fighting garb of the Rank Two Dragonmancer with lightweight, custom-fitted leather armor over the top. Her outfit showed off every swell and curve of her toned physique.
“Well, you know I don’t have to be dashing off straight away,” the older elf said in a soft and inviting voice. “I am a dune elf, and have been on this world for more moons than you might believe. I’m sure there are a few tricks that I can teach a young Earthling like yourself, while we find out whether that dragondust you have collected is the genuine article.”
I ran my eyes over the woman’s face. There was something extremely appealing about her; a mature sensuality that was unique when set among all the younger women who made up the Academy dragonmancers.
“I’m afraid we’ll have to take a raincheck on that one,” I said, finding myself genuinely disappointed about having to turn the woman down. “I’ve already made plans on testing the powder out with another one of my generous dragonmancer colleagues,” and I looked over at Tamsin, who was standing with Renji. They were talking under their breath and pointing at the cleanup operation. Almost as if she felt me looking at her, Tamsin glanced up and smiled that bright white, sharp-toothed predatory smile at me.
Suddenly, my blood turned to fire in my veins. The thought of testing the dragondust while planting my seed in the hobgoblin was an engrossing one.
“She’s been waiting a long time for this,” I said, turning back to the Rank Two dragonmancer.
Kenia grinned and raised an eyebrow. “And she is not the only one, I think.”
I laughed lightly. “You might be right about that,” I admitted.
“Very well,” Dragonmancer Kenia said. “In that case, allow me to excuse myself. I need to get a semi-fortified position set up at this new tunnel entrance. I want to make sure that the captains are aware of the possible danger that lies below.”
With that, she bowed and excused herself, whirling away in a flash of scarlet cloak.
“Dad?” a voice resounding in my head said.
“Yeah, Garth,” I replied telepathically.
“Guess what?” the young dragon said.
I waited for a few moments and then realized that Garth wasn’t going to tell me what had happened until I followed the script.
“What?” I asked.
“I unlocked a new slot! Left Arm!” the Pearl Dragon said.
“No shit!” I replied.
I pulled out Garth's crystal on its golden chain and studied the minut
e inventory that swirled up from its smoky pink depths. My progeny was right.
Left Arm Slot: (Harpoon Stun - Support Weapon)—Fires a harpoon from left hand that can pull an enemy toward the wielder. Delivers a stunning charge when embedded in the chosen enemy.
“Good work, bud, I’m proud of you,” I said, with genuine warmth.
“Thanks, old man,” Garth quipped.
“Shove that old man stuff up your ass, you young whippersnapper,” I said, laughing in my head.
I wandered over to where Renji and Tamsin were standing, talking with their heads together. When I approached the two dragonmancers, they stopped their conversation and focused on me, their faces set in masks of alert keenness.
“What news, Mike?” the blue-skinned djinn asked me. “Will we be moving on soon?”
“Shortly, I think,” I replied. “May as well rest up a little more while the cleaning up takes place, and we figure out our next steps. Diggens made some deductions that might require us to strategize a little more.”
There came a tramping of more booted feet, and another small company of troops marched into the cavern. At their head, I was delighted to see Penelope and Saya. My two friends spotted me, Renji, and Tamsin and hurried over.
“We heard all about this ruckus,” Penelope said, in her quiet scholar’s tone.
Saya looked wistfully around her. “I cannot believe that I missed out on all the fun.”
I laughed and put my arm around the statuesque blonde warrior.
“If there is one thing that I think we can all rely on,” I said, “is that there is bound to be more enemies that need killing just around the corner.”
Saya looked slightly placated and gave me a half-smile.
“What are you two doing down here?” Renji asked.
“General Shiloh put us on messenger running duties,” Saya said. “Messenger drakes can be unreliable underground. We’re meant to report back about supply lines and all that.”
“So, have you found anything?” Penelope asked me. She scanned my person, as if looking for crystals.