Dragon Sorcerer 1- Chapter 34 (Patreon)

Chapter 34- Fight or Talk

I rifled through the belongings each of the dead humans had. It was an awkward reminder why claws were great for fighting, but not so good for looting. I was forced to transform my hands back so that I could get at their coin purses and such. Their clothes were soiled, and I wasn’t going to sink low enough with the seed loot I was gathering for my hoard to take used clothing.

The various smells they put off were quite distinctive. It reminded me of a portion of the dragon dream I had once experienced and yet had tried to block out. Apparently, one of my ancestors had been a bit odd and an entire portion of his lair and hoard was maintained for the curating of different scents. He had animals, plants, and people kept in there. Everything from the scent of fresh blood, which apparently was the responsibility of his servants to gather each morning, to that of curing leather. It was all a bit disgusting to me. I remember another of my ancestors had thought he would have caught the scent of various bodily eruptions if it had been possible to preserve them. That was not the type of collector I was going to be.

Each of them had odd hiding spots where they kept a stray coin. None of them had more than silver on them, but it wasn’t called a seed for nothing. From these humble beginnings, I would grow a mighty hoard that would comfort me as I lived through the centuries. As I had that thought, I felt compelled to look back at Cami.

She must have taken my glance as an opening because she started talking then. That aside, she was at least doing as I had asked. She held the spear at the ready with its butt in the ground and most of her focus on the entrance to the alley from which we could still hear faints sounds of combat and the occasional sparkle or flash of magic. I wouldn’t have thought that the thugs would have been able to put up such a fight..

“Are you about done? We need to run, help Modessa, or if we are just going to stand around, I want to know why you think you can just tell Daggin what type of weapons I’m going to use or share my personal information with him.”

Before I could answer, the decision was made for us as another half dozen thugs came into the alley. One of them shouted, “There they are!”

It seemed impossible that they would have defeated Modessa, but I had to face the evidence of my eyes. I prepared to transform again when suddenly a crossbow bolt flew by me and stuck into the wall, sending chips of stone flying. Immediately after that I saw the orange of magical fire spring to life in the hands of one of the others.

Ranged weapons changed everything. Force Darts just weren’t powerful enough to take out six of them. I frowned as I imagined the devastation my breath weapon would have brought upon them in this tight space, but that wasn’t possible now. Instead, I looked around for a place to flee. If these foes had defeated Modessa, then I worried about our chances, especially while trapped in these tight confines.

The light coming through the boards. Maybe I could tear them away. It must lead into some level of the building beneath the ground. I think humans called those basements, but right now I had too much on my mind to worry about it. The problem was that even if I transformed my claws back, I still wouldn’t be able to rip the boards up while protecting Cami.

Then I felt her casting magic. It was oddly familiar, and I grinned as I realized why. She was duplicating the spell which Modessa had cast on us before leaving the inn.

You have been covered by Shadow Cloak cast by your bonded companion. It will not make you invisible, but will make it easier for you to hide. Only those specifically looking for you will see you. If you are in deep shadows, the difficulty seeing you will increase significantly. The enchantment will break the moment that you attack another living being.

It was essentially the same description as when Modessa had cast it. The difference being that the duration was only five minutes rather than an hour this time.

Cami’s voice came into my mind, “Run or fight?”

I thought about her and was torn. If it was just me, I would have been able to run, but I worried if we ran that she might be hurt. Then there was also the fact that fleeing my clutch had been all the fleeing I ever wanted to do in my life.

“Fight, but we only get one chance.”

As we were speaking to each other telepathically, one of the thugs shouted, “Where’d they go?”

Another said, “There… wait no… I swear I saw something.”

“They can’t have just disappeared. We need to get the gold they have,” said the one with flames in her hands.

She was the first one that needed to die. I thought about it. If we hugged the wall on one side, we’d stay in shadow the entire time. We just needed to get close enough to take away the advantage of their ranged attacks and cut down their numbers enough to give them a chance. My mind was racing about what all this meant, but nothing added up.

“Stay close to the wall and behind me. Hold your spear up and make sure it doesn’t clang against anything. When they get close enough, you need to thrust your spear into the one with the fire. Aim for her throat.”

“Not her heart?”

“Her heart would kill her faster, but you don’t have much experience with the weapon and there is some bone in the way. The throat will keep her from casting and will likely end up killing her just the same. If you can, twist your spear once the tip is inside.”

It never occurred to me that I was teaching a fourteen-year-old girl how to sneak attack and kill another human. This was the sort of instruction our mother had given to me and my clutch mates when we were first sent out to hunt on our own. Most of us weren’t successful the first time, but that wasn’t really the point. The point was to learn to assert our dominance.

“Okay, I understand. What about you?”

“I’m gonna take out the one with the crossbow at the same time that you move and then the big one with the tiny club in his hands. Once you stab their mage, just run out into the street. If you can safely do it, cast a Force Darts, otherwise just let me handle them.”

“I want to fight beside you,” Cami protested.

“And you are, but we each have a role in this battle.”

Hopefully, that sufficed for her because the thugs were starting to slowly work down the alleyway. I was proud of Cami for having learned another spell. The sensation was odd, but I couldn’t let it distract me now. We had to stay in the shadows or they’d see us. I transformed my claws again, hoping this didn’t count as a full transformation, because if it did I’d be stuck with scales and claws from the elbow down until the next day when my abilities would reset.

As I did, I gritted my teeth and even tasted some blood from my tongue as I made sure not to cry out in pain. The second time was better than the first, although it still took me three seconds to transform them. We were moving for the street while they were moving deeper into the alley.

The flames in the mage’s hands were largely blocked by the three four thugs in front of her and the crossbow wielder. They really just cast more shadows and made it easier for us to hide. From time to time, I’d see one of the thugs double take at us. I assumed they caught a vague glimpse but then the magic and shadows combined to hide us again and they doubted what they saw.

Finally we were across from the back too. It was now or never. At that exact moment, my foot landed on a stick. I’d been so careful up to that moment but it didn’t matter as the stick snapped and all eyes turned towards us.

Cami didn’t hesitate though. She would have made a good dragon but for the misfortune of her birth as a human. She thrust with the spear and I didn’t even wait long enough to see if her aim was true. Strangely, I trusted her and threw my body at the crossbowman. If the mage was still alive, she could sear my back with those flames, but I had job to do and I’d do my part.

One claw snapped the bows cable and rendered it useless while the other was drawn across his face. His chin was down so I couldn’t get a good take on his neck, but he’d be hard pressed to fight with his eyes cut clean through. His face was a mess, but I didn’t care, instead allowing my momentum to carry me forward and drive my shoulder into him, which in turn pushed him into the stone wall. I heard bones crack and the explosive expulsion of air from his lungs.

Then I was on the others. I moved like a whirlwind. A small club struck me atop my shoulder. I think my shoulder was dislocated, but I was a monster and monsters could deal with that. One swipe opened a foes belly. He clutched to hold in his bowels and I moved past him to swipe at another. They were falling around me, but then there was a flash of light behind us and I heard a commanding voice shout out.

“Drop your weapons and leave the children alone.”

I recognized Serius’ voice and then a second later, Galbrecht was standing next to us. I fell forward with my arms underneath me as I focused on changing them back. Galbrecht leaned forward and put his hand on my back, but Cami let out a groan at that moment.

It was enough to distract the paladin who then looked over at her. I was then able to push up with my arms, which were once again human. The pain my shoulder as I pushed was worth it. The shredded shirt was already going to be difficult enough to explain, without him seeing blue scales and claws.

One thing led to another while we discovered that Serius and Galbrecht had come after discovering that Modessa was seriously injured. Apparently, their party had some tracking magic, which allowed them to know if any of the others were hurt. Lisella was attending to the injured rogue.

Galbrecht took a look around and started to ask, “What cause these…”

Serius cut him off. “Can you get the students to Lisella? Let them check her out. I’ll question any survivors. I know you find that sort of thing distasteful. Besides, we can’t leave Liam at the inn by himself for long. His arm still isn’t fully regrown.”

I glanced at their faces. Something was off, but I didn’t know what. Reading human expressions was still too difficult. Fortunately, Cami’s voice went off in my head, “They're hiding something.”

So she suspected it, too. She was clever for a young human and I’d have to trust her judgment about many things. It made me feel good that we were on the same page. Neither of us said anything more, but answered a few questions before helping Lisella escort Modessa back to the inn. The rogue had a slight limp but otherwise seemed fine.

Lisella gave me a look that even I knew meant I had a lecture coming for sneaking out right when we had been in discussions about her becoming my mentor. I glanced at Cami though and shook my head. The priestess would just have to get in line. Now I knew why dragon males rarely lived with their mates for long after the deed was done. Females of any race could apparently be exhausting.

The walk back at least gave me time to check on the notifications I had ignored. Most of them were combat related, but the few key ones which mattered made me smile.

You have looted 6 silver and 22 copper.

You have looted 3 low quality daggers, a sliver of jade, carved ivory dice, and a low-quality potion of healing.

It wasn’t much, but it was the beginning of my hoard. I didn’t count the weapons I had gotten from Daggin earlier even though they were of much higher quality. Those were meant to be functional for now. Maybe later they’d make their way to my hoard.

The next notification was also related to the battle.

You have defeated 1 human mage, 1 human archer, 3 human brutes, and 4 human rogues. All were below your human level.

Threat level: Minimal, but numerically significant. DKP split with bonded companion.

DKP awarded: 1

That got the mind racing. I knew none of them had seemed that powerful, but how could they have defeated a level 20 rogue if they were all below my human level? Did it possibly mean my monk and sorcerer levels combined? Yet even as I asked myself the question, I knew that wasn’t the case. I was a poor judge of human power, but these attackers had been rather pathetic. I had erred on the side of caution because I didn’t want Cami to get hurt, but hopefully we could get her some armor and training to make her less vulnerable.

I shook my head, as I wasn’t sure what was going on. I’d have to speak to her later. The telepathy headache had already begun and this could wait. I didn’t want to push it for now, especially with how fragile she could be. It had absolutely nothing to do with not wanting her to have a headache when she yelled at me later, as I knew she would.

The final notification would have been good to know earlier, but now was better than never.

You have mastered the art of partial transformation by sheer will. This pushes your Shape Change racial ability to level 2 without requiring you to spend any DKP. Further partial transformations may be possible, but take care. Transforming your body in ways you don’t understand can be lethal.

You earned DKP: 1 for mastering this aspect of the skill on your own.

Your bonded companion will also gain access to the Dragon Claws bloodline ability once she reaches sufficient level or gains the appropriate secondary class.

That last part left me scratching my head. Maybe I’d talk to Cami about it, or maybe I should just wait and see. It wasn’t the most exciting part either way. Discovering that I could improve some of my bloodline skills without costing me DKP made my mind race. There were many more options. I would have to consult the dragon dream about this.