Dragon 6 Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Polydora took a swipe at the giant serpent as her body rapidly expanded. Thankfully, she’d had Zach stuff his bracer with plenty of her clothes, so she didn’t worry about the garments tearing off her body.

The serpent struck, and she sidestepped the attack, using her tail to whip it in the face.

Even if it was giant, it was still a snake. Polydora had played with bright colored snakes since she was a child, before she learned they could harm and kill humans.

All they had left her with was a painfully stinging scratch, so it had become a game for her to avoid their bites when she found one. The bright and venomous ones had always been the easiest to find.

She batted the giant snake’s head to the side to prevent it from winding up again to strike.

Giving it the opportunity, it bit her arm. She smiled, lifting her arm up with just the leverage she had been looking for. She bit the snake back, tearing a huge chunk from it with her far more dangerous maw.

And Trina wasn’t far behind. As soon as it had taken the bait and bit, Trina was on its back, biting and scratching like a rabid dog.

Polydora hoped her copper counterpart would calm down in the coming days. She, too, wanted their king’s whelps, but they had time. Rushing and pushing him was going to have dire consequences for the rest of the honor guard.

She might have to talk to Trina after this and see if she can help the dragon relax a little. She was marked and left with the itch to mate for almost a day, which Polydora couldn’t imagine. But she needed to relax now that she was mated.

Ice hit the serpent, freezing half of its neck.

Polydora wrenched the serpent’s head to the side, shattering the ice and ripping the head free.

The nephilim arrived at the same instant, stabbing her spear into its head.

The hit was more gratuitous than necessary. But the winged woman always seemed angry to Polydora. Honestly, the entire party seemed to have some sort of emotional issue at the moment. Maeve was no more stable as she ignored her duties and twisted herself around her feelings for Zach.

“Wait, who’s watching our— “Polydora turned to see Zach leaning against a tree with no one guarding him. Her injured mate was alone. And he was in danger.

Above him, another smaller serpent was uncoiling around a branch.

Polydora cursed everybody else as fools.

Rather than shout or waste any more time than was necessary. Polydora breathed lightning at the serpent, catching it with her breath. It made the serpent lose control of its muscles, falling to the jungle floor behind her mate.

He acted quickly, shifting into his hybrid form to take on the smaller serpent.

Polydora smiled. Her mate had the instincts of a fighter. Morgana had drilled him well.

More noises in the jungle caught her attention, and with her mate able to handle himself, she shifted her attention to the new noise.

“More are incoming.” She observed, her voice rattling the nearby leaves.

“We must have been seen falling from the cliff. Either that or they smell his blood.” Maeve turned in a slow circle to survey the scene. “His blood would cause quite the stir if they could smell it from that far.”

Polydora listened, but she didn’t respond to the fae. She had learned long ago not to trust the fae, but her king was currently supporting the woman, so Polydora would try to help him keep her alive and find her mother.

She trusted the king’s instincts even if they went against her own.

And the journey had yielded an incredible surprise. There was a chance she might even know some dragons in the village from her younger days.

“Trina, stop eating and defend our king. He’s in need of us.” Poly couldn’t help but scowl at the broody dragon, taking the time to munch on their latest kill.

“You know how it is.” Trina grumbled around the meat as she swallowed.

“Do you see me imposing on our king? Or leaving him on his own in this dangerous place?” Poly pushed her.

Trina’s head snapped to their mate, her eyes growing wide with anger. “Why was he left alone and injured?” She growled, looking around for somebody to blame.

“Defend him then.” Poly nearly rolled her eyes. But at least Trina had taken her head out of the kill.

Despite everything happening, Poly’s mission was simple. Keep Zach alive.

Nothing else mattered. And anybody who stood in her way would die.

***

Poly’s lighting attack had paralyzed the serpent in front of me, making it an easy kill and an even easier meal.

“More are incoming.” Polydora shouted, and the girls talked, but I was more concerned with stuffing my face and feeling mana flood in my body as it repaired itself.

I checked above me again, now keenly aware that I hadn’t been paying attention.

At the moment, there was nothing around us, but I knew Polydora was right. I could hear the thuds of beasts in the distance.

I needed to keep working to regain my strength quickly. The crash landing had really done a number on my body, but it sounded like there were plenty of fresh kills coming to help me feast.

The beast growled in my chest. It was in full agreement.

All the beasts I’d eaten so far were delicious. I’d had no idea the fae wilds had such mana-potent meat. I was surprised it hadn’t been mentioned before. Then again, maybe that was on purpose. Going into the wilds seemed taboo to the fae.

The area was practically heaven for a dragon if they wanted to grow, though it came with its own dangers. Monsters and the ability to lose yourself definitely seemed like potential downsides.

If the dragon village really was unknown to the fae for so long, it proved that there was a good chance you’d enter and never come back out.

Listening to the other beasts approaching and feeling better, I let myself shift to my full dragon form to finish off the serpent.

As I finished my bite, I looked up to Trina, bounding over to me. She stood in front of me protectively. “I’m sorry, My king. We left you alone.”

“I’m a big dragon. I can handle myself.” My words came out harsher than I’d intended, and Trina recoiled.

I would have apologized, but I needed to focus. A pack of wolves came into view, prowling from the direction of the cliff.

They picked their way methodically around the trees, trying not to damage them. But each wolf was nearly the size of a double decker bus.

I watched them move, noting that they were stealthy. Whatever was making the thuds was further off..

“Group up.” Polydora commanded, stepping near me and hip checking Trina to the other side. “Dragons on the outside.”

“I can handle myself.” Helena landed on my back with her spear at the ready.

“Ever seen a wolf snap a small bird out of the air?” Polydora asked her.

Helena frowned but remained silent.

“Besides, the giant snakes still fought like snakes. So will the giant wolves. We will need help keeping them off our backs.” Polydora said.

The wolves began to fan out around our group, growling and pawing at the ground as the betas started to get eager for a fight.

A larger, darker wolf with a scar over one of its eyes stepped out amid the pack and growled.

Almost as one, the rest of the wolves bared their teeth and began growling.

“Don’t break formation.” Polydora warned. “Stick together. Non-dragons, focus on killing anything that gets between us.”

My scales rippled to bronze and blue. Not waiting for the wolves to kick off the fight, I breathed a torrent of lightning at the wolves.

They dispersed in a puff of fog, vanishing before me. The fog wrapped over us.

“Huh?” I paused, trying to figure out what was happening.

I heard similar gasps around me, although I couldn’t see anybody else.

A heavy weight landed on my back and powerful jaws latched onto my scales, putting enough pressure to shatter them.

Helena screamed and her spear flashed amid the fog stabbing into the wolf.

There were more shouts and screams as the wolves attacked the others. But they weren’t the only ones attacking. I could hear yelps and whimpers around as our attacks found flesh.

I continued looking for targets as the leader came out of the fog, its fangs dripping with saliva as it came at me.

I slashed with my claws, leaning my neck back and away from its powerful jaws.

It dodged under my claws, coming up and heading straight for my jugular.

Rather than let it get a good grip, I dropped to my belly and curled my head in, catching its teeth on my horns and headbutting it with my full body weight.

It yowled and stumbled back as I gathered my feet back under me.

My head came back up crackling with lighting as I sprayed the area in front of me to buy time. Polydora had two on top of her and needed my help.

I swung my open mouth to her, letting my lightning breath wash over her head and protect her from the wolves.

Trina was the best off. Her purple fog lingered in front of her like a cloudy shield while she angrily pawed something into the soil in front of her.

Somehow the wolves had become fog, but they were apparently terrified of her death breath.

Smiling, I decided to embrace her tactic.

My scales rippled to black and copper before I blanketed the area in front of me with the same dangerous breath.

“Watch it!” Helena landed on my head amid my horns. “That breath is dangerous.”

“So are these wolves.” I replied.

All around me there was a thick blanket of fog that prevented me from seeing much more than the tip of my snout.

It had grown quiet; even Polydora had her wolves step back.

“Did they leave?” I asked, scratching at the ground with impatience.

“No.” Snapped Poly. “Do not break formation. Can you chill the air and freeze this fog?”

“I got it.” Maeve raised her hands, and a cold wind froze the fog into crystalline shards of ice.

Just outside of our range of vision, the wolves had been prowling in a full circle around us, watching and waiting for an opportunity.

“They fight like wolves.” Polydora reminded us all.

This time I knew what I was looking for. Rolling off of their gray fur were little wisps of fog that fell to the ground.

My scales shifted again to white and silver. If the wolves could turn into fog, then I had one breath I thought would be most effective.

My frost breath came out in a white spray.

Even as a wolf puffed into fog, my frost breath ripped through it and it condensed back into a wolf. But as it reappeared and tried to move, its back haunches stayed put, frozen over.

Helena’s spear launched from over my head in a brief twinkle before the wolf’s frozen half shattered. It whined as it fell to the jungle floor.

Fog enveloped it, removing it from my vision, but from the sound of it, the wolf was dying.

The spear shot back to the woman holding onto my horns. “Do it again.”

“I am not some minion of yours.” I growled back.

She leaned over my horns. “Do it again you stubborn mule. Better?”

I huffed and tossed my head, feeling some satisfaction when she stumbled. “Careful, it might get a little nippy up there.” My frost breath shot out into the wolves as I raked the concentrated blast of freezing fog across the area.

Even as I did it, the wolves were surrounding us with more fog once again.

“Maeve, clear it again please.” I roared as Helena’s spear shot out again, followed by a glass like shattering and more cries from the wolves.

We had a working strategy.

A cold wind blew over me and banished the fog, but in the same moment, the lead wolf charged through the fog towards me.

On instinct my claws came up and swiped across the wolf’s face, catching on his hide and tearing three jagged rips across it before tossing it aside.

My freezing breath came next, but the wolf was quick.

It dodged my breath, keeping ahead of the continuous stream until I had to stop to breathe.

The wolf charged in again.

Helena’s spear flashed into the wolf as it puffed into a cloud of fog, only to reappear as it latched onto my throat.

The thing had powerful jaws. My scales cracked, and I could feel my warm blood trickle down my neck.

It thrashed side to side, trying to deepen the bite.

Growling, I was getting angry.

My claw came around and sank into its back, tearing out huge chunks of its flesh. It clamped down harder on my neck, and I knew if I threw it off of me it would likely end up taking a good chunk of my neck with it.

So, I did what any good dragon would do. I held it out from my neck and craned my neck down, slamming my jaws around its back half, and cutting it in two before tossing its back end up into the air and swallowing.

Three more wolves materialized out of the fog, going for my throat.

“My King!” Trina shouted and blew death breath over me.

My scales rippled instantly to black and copper as it touched me, but I was more concerned about Helena. I lifted my head clear of the fog even as the nephilim clung to my horns with the sudden move.

“Holy shit! Watch where you point that fucking instant death lizard brain.”

“His life is my concern; yours is not.” Trina snapped at another wolf who tried to take advantage of her distraction.

“She is my mate too.” I growled, feeling possessive of the nephilim.

“Don’t you dare start that again.”  Helena rebuked me, smacking my horn.

I let a low growl from me warn her. “Do not hit me while we are fighting, unless you’ve forgotten our situation.” I hadn’t. The blood trickling down my chest as the wolf finally let go of my throat made it hard to forget we were in a battle.

But the wound was slowing, and my dragon regeneration was still flowing strongly in me as I digested some of the monster meat that I’d eaten.

I snapped up the second half of the leader wolf, or at least the part that remained after Trina’s death breath.

I looked around.

The wolves were thinning out, and Helena and I managed to work together. I’d use my frost breath to catch the wolves, and she’d use her spear to shatter the ice.

Soon the field was littered with dying wolves.

“Stupid wolves.” I grumbled under my breath as the fog started to dissipate with their reducing numbers.

“Maeve, which way should we go?” I asked, wanting to move on from the sight of dozens of corpses. They were sure to attract more attention.

And some of them looked rather tasty. I was still healing, after all.

Snatching up a few more of the wolves, I could feel the itch of my body growing and new scales finding their place among my hide as I shed broken scales for new ones.

Maeve didn’t respond immediately, and I turned to find her.

As I searched, a green dragon head popped up above the fog on one side of the clearing.

Doing a double take, I looked closer. The creator didn’t have horns, although it did resemble a dragon.

Several more identical heads appeared next to the first, squirming over the first as the fog continued to clear and show they were all attached to the same body.

“Fuck.” I groaned. “Is that a hydra?”

“Yes.” Maeve replied quickly. “You will have to be the one to fight it. It has acidic blood that can melt just about anything except a green or brass dragon’s scales.”

“Move.” I growled at my mates. “I’ll deal with this.”

“My king.” Trina argued even as she stepped out of the way. “You are injured.”

“Don’t care.” I tossed my head, and sure enough, I saw some white wings flutter into the air in my peripheral vision. Helena had gotten the message.

“I want to kill something.” I growled as I prowled forward.

The nephilim laughed at me, repeating her words, but it didn’t matter.

I was ready to take out some of my current feelings on a target, and the hydra was as good a target as any. It seemed particularly meaty.

AN - Whoops, I did post out of order. Enjoy an extra chapter today!