Dragon 6 Chapter 8 (Patreon)

My wings scattered the grass and dirt at the edge of the jungle that was the fae wilds as I touched down with the women on my back.

Bright green leaves were everywhere, spotted with flowers and other bright pops of color.

The passengers slid off my back as I began to shrink, standing up naked and putting on a pair of pants.

I finished buttoning them, looking up and noticed that Polydora was physically holding Trina in place while Trina’s eyes were a little wild. I went to move closer in concern, but Polydora met my eyes and shook her head.

So, throwing on a shirt, I took the device from Maeve and pressed it to my arm.

But when it touched my skin, nothing happened.

“You didn’t give me much time to work on this.” The fae princess rolled her eyes. She touched it, and the arrow came to life pointing into the jungle in front of us. “I have to power it. You are just the conduit to connect through the wilds.”

“Ah.” I replied, although I didn’t understand what she was saying. I wasn’t very well versed on fae magic, despite having a piece of Ikta’s power.

I looked out at the Wilds, wondering if it would recognize her magic.

Regardless of the answer, I was about to make my way through it.

We walked forward, and the delineation was clear. A line of mushrooms at the edge of the jungle detailed the separation between the tamed and wild fae lands.

I looked around and stepped over the mushrooms, looking back over my shoulder.

Everything was the same as it had been a second ago. The only difference was that I was on the other side of the mushrooms.

“Careful. Archways will lead to different places.” Maeve warned.

“Got it. Don’t walk under arches.” Helena rolled her eyes.

Evelyn stepped over the mushrooms, and the others followed. “This is serious.”

“It isn’t an if, but a when. When we get separated, you stay put until Zach finds you.” Maeve said.

“If that’s the plan, do I need to mark you and Evelyn?” I asked Maeve as I tilted my head at the other fae.

“Yes, please.” Evelyn batted her eyelashes.

Maeve pulled her back. “No. Our friendly neighborhood nymph here can navigate me back if we get separated. But, that only works if you stay put. She can help me find my way back to where I was if we make a wrong turn or pass through an arch. Worst case I could modify this to work on our promise.” She pointed at the device we were using to track down her mother.

I didn’t like that at all. “Then what happens if we all get separated? How am I to find you?”

Maeve’s brows pinched down. I could tell she didn’t have a good answer. “Zach, if we don’t find my mother, then I cannot be your mate. I’ll be in the faerie ten months out of the year.”

Evelyn looked at Maeve strangely. It seemed like there was something being left unsaid, but the fae kept her mouth shut.

“It is okay, my king. You have enough of us.” Polydora put a hand on my shoulder.

“Let’s go before you throw him a pity party.” Helena marched right on into the jungle.

I was a little surprised at Maeve’s statement. I could feel her pulling away, worried about what it meant if she was forced to become queen.

I looked up, noticing Helena was far ahead of me. While I’d been distracted, she had kept moving.

“Hold up. We need to stay close.” I shouted at the nephilim.

“I’m fine.” She shouted over her shoulder as she kept walking.

The air between us wavered for a moment, and then she was gone.

I hurried forward.

“Zach!” Maeve warned me. “Arches.” She pointed up at where Helena had disappeared. Once she did, I could see where a large vine bridged the gap between two branches, completing an arch.

I looked around, suddenly horrified. If that was all it took, this entire jungle was going to be filled with arches.

“We’ll wait here. Go through the arch. It hasn’t been long, so you should end up close to where she went. Grab her and bring her back.” Maeve instructed.

I nodded and went through the arch, stepping out in a completely different area.

The climate was suddenly much more humid, and the leaves that had been large and flat were now prickly.

“Helena.” I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Helena, where are you?”

I looked back, and sure enough, the group was gone. It was unsettling how quickly we could be separated.

Focusing on the beast, I let it pull me towards my mates.

I felt two off to the right, maybe a mile out. And then there was a single one straight forward, maybe a few hundred yards away.

“Damnit, Helena, if I’d known you were going to be a problem, I would have left you behind.” I grumbled under my breath as I stomped through the jungle.

My eyes kept scanning for natural arch formations as I moved, now far more aware.  The last thing I wanted was to get bounced around the wilds.

“Helena!” I shouted again, and there was rustling in the bushes.

I turned, ready to chew out the nephilim, but instead I was greeted by a panther with thorns growing out of its spine. The big cat gave me no time to think before it leapt at me.

Falling back with it, I planted my feet on its chest and kicked it up and over me as I spun to the side and got to my feet.

The fae wilds were chaotic, and my red side called to me.

I shifted, red scales covering my body and spines growing from my face as I turned into my hybrid form, my clothes tearing away.

“Come on kitty. Let’s go. You don’t know what you are messing with.” Maybe I had a little frustration to work out as well.

The panther got to its feet and rounded on me with a low stalking prowl as it started to circle me.

It waited in one spot too long and my mouth opened, roaring out a blast of fire.

The panther jumped back, but as soon as the fire cleared, I was on it. My clawed hands tore into its side as I tried to grab it, but it twisted out of my grasp, leaving me with only a pound of flesh in my hand.

Its paw caught me in the shoulder as it came back around, making me reconsider if the thing even had a spine with how it moved.

I staggered to the side as it darted forward, avoiding much damage thanks to my scales.

My hand came down on one of the bony spines in its back and pulled.

The panther yowled and tried to rake me with its claws, but I grabbed a second spine. I pushed them in opposite directions until there was a snap and the back half of the panther stilled.

Tossing it aside, I checked my arm. My red scales were scratched, but they had protected me.

The panther was struggling to move, but it attempted to drag itself away on its two front legs.

It was badly broken, and I knew it wouldn’t survive much longer in the wilds.

Grabbing it by the scruff of its neck, I put the thing of its misery before pausing and sucking the corpse into my bracer.

It might as well be nourishment in the future.

I paused, still feeling like I was being watched.

I focused on my beast, curious if it was Helena, but she seemed to have kept moving.

I grumbled to myself as I marched on through the jungle after her, not bothering to shift back.

If there was another creature preparing to ambush me, I wanted to be in my hybrid form and ready to fight.

Whatever was watching me, it was smart and stealthy. I only heard the rustle of leaves; I saw nothing.

But I also was ignoring it, pretending I didn’t know it was there. I just didn’t want to deal with it.

A twig snapped, and I stopped on instinct rather than on purpose.

There was a tense moment before a woman spoke.

“I see you. You’ll come back now without a fight, or I’ll bring the sisters out to drag you back. You might have come a long way from the village, but you’ll not escape.” The woman was wearing torn leathers, like some sort of jungle dwelling tribe as she pointed a spear at me. Her fiery red hair swayed as she stepped around a bush, keeping her spear leveled.

I looked down at the weapon. It was well made, but it was simple.

Not wanting to underestimate her if she was able to stand up against a hybrid dragon, I looked her in the eye, keeping myself braced for battle.

“Excuse me?” As I said it, I realized she didn’t seem surprised to see my current form at all. I wondered what in the wilds would look like a hybrid dragon.

“Do you know I’m a dragon?” I asked.

“Get on the ground, male. Shift back and I’ll pretend you didn’t ignore my order.” She stabbed the spear at me again in warning.

I paused, staring at her harder as my dragon woke up inside of me.

I nearly choked as I registered she had dragon eyes. Looking closer, mana was pulsing out of her with every beat of her heart.

“Wait. Are YOU a dragon?” I asked, absolutely shocked.

“Get on the ground, male.” She ordered me.

I couldn’t help it; I laughed. With everything I’d been through, it was like I was hallucinating. And here was this woman trying to order me around.

“Fuck you.” I wheezed out between my laughs.

Standing tall, my fear aura blanketed the area. I took a deep breath before fire raged out of my mouth, setting the whole area in front of me ablaze.

The dragon woman stepped forward, walking through the flames calmly, red scales dotting her skin.

She was a red dragon. My brain swirled with all the implications; they were supposed to be extinct.

But all my questions would have to wait, because she was fully pissed off.

I was so stunned I didn’t react fast enough as she snapped the heel of her hand into my jaw.

It was enough to jar me and make me stumble.

“You, a male mongrel, dare try to intimidate me?” She threw a kick at my midsection.

Now more prepared for the attack, I grabbed her foot and leaned back, swinging her into a tree. The hit shattered its trunk and sent her tumbling through the bushes.

“I don’t know who the fuck you think I am, but you are coming with me.” I growled.

I needed answers. She wasn’t supposed to exist, and now it sounded like there could be an entire village.

The now hybrid dragon rolled to her hand and feet. “You have some nerve demanding something of me. Were you someone’s favorite breeder? Did it give you an ego?”

“I’m not from your village.” I replied.

She snorted. “So you are an escapee? Good to know some of our escapees have formed a new village. You aren’t even very old.”

“Careful, you are talking to the dragon king.” I wondered if the title would matter to her.

It did not.

She nearly fell over with laughter. “King?” She redoubled her laughter. “That’s a fucking good one. There is no king of dragons. Men led the dragons to their doom.”

The dragon kicked up her spear into her hand before hurling it at me.

I dodged out of the way, but it wasn’t enough. I had to shift down to a human as the spear whistled through the air and then blew completely through a tree trunk.

I stared at it for an extra moment.

That wasn’t a spear; it was a missile in the hands of a dragon.

Shifting back into my hybrid form, I grabbed the dragon as she tackled me to the ground.

Her loin cloth had stayed on her hips as she shifted, and she pulled something off of it. It looked like a vine. “Hold still while I bind you.”

I did not want to find out what kind of vine she thought could hold a dragon.

And the fuck I was going to let her bind me.

I let my colors ripple to blue before jags of lightning tore their way out of my throat, catching the dragon in the chest and hurling her off of me.

If she could handle a red dragon, I’d try one of the other elements.

The dragon landed a few yards from me, twitching as arcs of electricity still jumped about her skin.

“Sorry about that.” I took the cord from her grip as she still twitched. “But I need to figure this out, and I’m already on a tight timeline.” Helena was likely still marching through the forest.

Quickly, I rolled her over before she got control of her muscles and started tieing her hands behind her back.

She thrashed without much coordination as she tried to make it harder for me. “You—“ Her jaw chattered as she struggled to form words.

“Yes?” I finished the knot on her wrists and pulled tight.

“You’re the son of Tiamat.” She managed to state.

“Okay, so king has no effect, but Tiamet does. Good to know. And yes, I am. I’m also the son of Bahamut.” I rolled her onto her back. “See?” My scales rippled through the chromatic and then to the metallic colors.

The dragon woman’s eyes were growing wider as she witnessed it. “No. Impossible. Let me go.”

“Sorry. You are just going to fight me more if I do. Tell me about this village.” I demanded, lifting her by the cord that I’d used to bind her wrists.

“Let me go.” She jerked her arms, but I had the leverage.

Both of us were in our hybrid forms, and I thought I still had an advantage in strength. She was my prisoner. “Go on. Tell me about this village. Are there more red dragons?”

“Of course there are. Tiamat saved our people.” She jerked again.

I was done with her fighting me and pulled up hard on the cord, jerking her arms back far enough to force her to bend over. “Tiamat saved your people?”

“Yes. She is a great ruler of dragons. When The Church assassinated dozens of dragons in a single night, she led us away. The first generation were but kids, but they preserved the dragon race when The Church killed them all.” She begrudgingly told me her history before she snapped a kick at my knee.

The hit connected and my knee bent the wrong way.

I went down with a scream as she shifted into a human and rolled away, slipping her bindings. Then she flipped through the air, her foot connecting with my jaw and sending me sprawling.

Stars filled my vision and when I tried to push off the ground, the whole world spun and I fell to my side.

“Typical male.” She snorted and flipped her red hair. “All aggression and no brains.”

I was a little dazed by her kick, but it was getting better quickly.

She straddled me, and I felt her wrap something around my wrists. “You don’t even know how to tie knots.”

I bucked, but she rode my hips with a laugh.

“Don’t worry. If you are really the son of Tiamat, you’ll make a great breeder male. We won’t even castrate you as long as you can be tamed. I need to report to the village that there is a community of males out here.”

I ignored her last statement, not caring if she had the wrong information.

But what she’d said fit with the history I knew. The war with the church had led to a group of dragons entering the fae wilds. It would have been easy for them to be presumed dead.

I was still thinking through all she’d said as her weight left my hips, followed by a thunk on the ground next to me.

A silver spear embedded itself in the ground.

“Who are you?” The dragon shouted, and I rolled onto my back to see Helena gliding over.

“I see.” The dragon looked at me for a moment. “You are her slave. Do not worry, we will free you.”

“Fuck no.” I groaned.

The dragon woman jumped up, still in her loincloth, and grabbed Helena, the two women landing on the ground and beginning to wrestle.

I was still blinking the stars out of my vision as I let myself shift down to human.

I tried the same move she had, but the vines she had tightened with my shift. They were tight around my smaller wrists after just a few movements.

I stared at it, desperately wanting to learn how she’d tied the knot.

“Zach.” Helena shouted.

I rolled to my feet and leaned against a tree as I breathed deep. I built up my lightning and then let it rip from my throat, catching the red dragon and tossing her aside.

She rolled with the blow and her fingers dug deep furrows in the ground. “Angel.” She spat before throwing her body uncoordinatedly to the side.

But as her body moved, it disappeared, never emerging on the other side of the tree.

Helena rushed over to where she had disappeared. “Where’d the bitch go?”

“Wait. Fuck. Come back here.” I didn’t have time to chase Helena through the woods again.

Helena snorted. “Did she show you those breasts, and you just fell over for her? I mean seriously, what the fuck happened to you?”

I grunted, already pissed at the nephilim. “You happened. You rushed off ahead and got yourself transported off into the wilds. I came to get you.”

Helena had a stubborn set to her brows. “I did not get lost.”

“Yes, you did.” Getting my feet more solidly under me, I stood up against a tree and walked over to where the red dragon disappeared and looked up above. “See that?” I pointed with my chin while Helena pulled her spear out of the ground.

“No?”

“The branches form an arch. Any naturally formed arch is a portal among the wilds.” I explained. “You walked through one not a minute into the wilds. Now the rest of the group is waiting. Come on.”

Her spear spun at me, but she only sliced the bindings on my arms. “So, what happened with the woman?”

“She wasn’t a woman. She was a dragon.” I rubbed my wrists and pulled out a pair of jeans. I only had a dozen pairs in my bracer, and I was starting to think it might not be enough for the trip. “Let’s get you back to the group. Help me keep an eye out for natural arches.”

AN - Here it really starts getting interesting. I would point out that Tiamat is known by this red dragon, who I'm sure isn't attractive at all /s. Maybe we'll start to get some answers as to what happened to Zach as child.