Dragon emperor 19, p.1
Dragon Emperor 19, page 1
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Chapter 1
“It’s sickening!” I thundered as I stormed back and forth in the great hall of the Lunar Palace. “An absolute disgrace!”
I felt the amethyst eyes of my wife Alyona as she watched me migrate from one side of the room to the other in a fit of rage. Her stark white hair was twisted back into a long French braid while her raven-colored forelocks framed her porcelain face. She caressed her growing belly as she pressed her lips into a thin line of concern, and I took a deep breath and stopped to face her.
“You are right, my lord,” Alyona said with the cool tone that usually eased my fury. “No one should suffer that way.”
“Son, you must form a plan,” my father chimed in and frowned.
Ruslan, my adoptive father, was a fox Demi-Human whose bushy red tail swished back and forth behind him as he watched me pace. He put his arm around my human adoptive mother’s shoulders and pulled her close, and Julia nodded her agreement.
“I do think making a plan of attack would be much better, Evan,” she said as she glanced over at the two dragon brothers who had ignited my anger. “We must know more about these people before you go.”
Mikhail and Angelos had arrived from Afur last night while I was still in Odrein, and they’d shared the details of their escape from a band of criminals who had captured a number of dragons and tortured my brothers to carry out their evil schemes. The scars on the brothers’ skin made my stomach twist into knots, and I’d done well to contain my rage so far.
My first instinct had been to fly to Afur and set the entire group ablaze, though I had a particularly torturous plan in mind for their leader who called himself Kocin. He would be the last to die, and I hadn’t decided how quickly I’d make that happen yet.
“We know they must be stopped,” Valerra growled.
My rage was nearly matched by that of my dragon mate and mother of our egg, and it seemed she’d returned to the murderous anger she’d felt when she and I first met. Back then, she was known as the Crimson Dragon who lorded over the Crimson Canyons and guarded her treasures with unmitigated fury. I’d soon discovered she was not only protecting her gold but also her sister’s egg, and once we’d made our own, she agreed to stay in Hatra with both eggs within the city walls.
We’d thought we were the last of our kind, and it only heightened the desire to protect the eggs from harm, but lately, it had come to light that more than a few other dragons had stayed hidden from the wrath of the Sage.
Once I’d captured and she’d killed the Sage, I sent out a message to our fellow dragons, and they’d flocked to Hatra for safety. Mikhail and Angelos were our newest arrivals, and their story had put a kink in my current plan to close the Breach.
I knew it was no small task to close the largest rift Inati had ever seen, but the call to help my brothers felt just as large at the moment. I couldn’t simply go on with this mission knowing they were in trouble. The very idea of leaving them there until I’d finished with the Breach made my stomach twist into knots.
“My lord, if I may, we still have the mission at hand,” Laika said with a frown. “With this new development, we need to ensure our plan is swift and successful, so we may return to our mission quickly.”
As the leader of the Blue Tree Guild, Laika was familiar with making plans of attack, and I didn’t doubt the wolf Demi-Human had already begun to form a way to rescue the dragons. Her sapphire tunic was tucked into her brown leather pants, and her signature broadsword was strapped to her back as her steely gray eyes fixed on the map of Inati laid out on the coffee table.
“We need to have a good lay of the land,” Nikolaus agreed as he examined the map with his keen silver eyes. “Afur is strange territory with forests and mountains we’ve never explored, and there are these odd symbols I don’t recognize.”
Lord Nikolaus, or Nike as I called him, was a fellow Noble of the Sword from Leyte, and he’d spent the past year helping me with my missions. Even though he was a human, his experience with military techniques and diplomacy had been invaluable. Not to mention, he was a badass fighter, too. Having him on my side during our battles had been invaluable, and I wanted him there when I found Kocin and escorted him to the afterlife where he belonged.
“I believe it’s a reference to the type of stone there,” Ravi said and tapped on the symbols. “I recall seeing such markings on one of my father’s maps. I can’t remember what they mean, though.”
The phoenix brushed her fingers through her fiery orange hair that rolled down her back in waves and left the scent of a campfire in the air. She’d ditched the robes she often wore in favor of a gold tunic with black leather pants that matched Laika’s, and I realized Ravi was becoming more like the guild warrior with every passing day.
“Does it matter what stone it is?” I asked through gritted teeth. “I can move any stone in my way. I won’t let Kocin and his men keep hurting my brothers.”
“No one is suggesting you let them,” Nokomis assured me as she put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “We’re simply advising you to avoid the ‘guns blazing’ tactic you mentioned before, though I still don’t quite get it.”
Nokomis peered into my eyes with a soft, understanding look as she squeezed my shoulder. The snow leopard Demi-Human’s brown eyes were watery with her concern, and her speckled ears flicked atop her head while her matching tail swayed behind her lithe body. She was the newest lover to join my family, and I was reminded of her temperament as her other hand grazed over the Sword of Mercy. She wasn’t likely to run headlong into battle, but she was a warrior for the right reasons.
“I know I shouldn’t storm the castle yet,” I sighed and rubbed a hand across my face. “I want to, but I’ve already learned my lesson about doing the right thing the wrong way.”
Aeron, the God of Punishment, had already given me a crash course into the way a bad choice could affect everyone around me. I’d wanted to go after the Demon King as soon as I had a few bonding ceremonies under my belt-- and some additional abilities to boot-- but he’d shown me what the future would be with that choice, and it ended with my family missing and probably dead, which wasn’t a possibility I was anywhere near okay with. I’d had to learn to be patient, and this was another time where patience was due, even if it wasn’t my specialty.
“Well, that’s a relief,” Polina chirped, and the trio of dryads giggled in unison.
Polina, Trina, and Marina were the dryad sisters who were also part of my harem, and while they put off a frilly, girlish vibe, they weren’t the women to fuck with. They were members of the Blue Tree Guild, and they’d taken on more than one fierce creature with their nature magic and swordsmanship. They’d rushed into the great hall in a flurry of purple robes and jade skin just now, and they hovered near Skye to whom they’d been teaching nature magic.
Skye was part-Naiad and part-Nepin, which made her an outcast in her home city of Yrosa, but it made her a one-of-a-kind lover as far as I was concerned. She had the beautiful cerulean skin of the Nepin people and dark chestnut hair currently pulled back into a ponytail that grazed her shoulder blades. Swirls and dots of white ink tattooed her collarbone and disappeared beneath her white robe, and she gripped the Sword of Youth on her belt as she awaited my decision.
“But how do we make our plan?” Aaliyah asked. “None of us have ever been there.”
The fierce lion Demi-Human put her fists on her curvy hips and furrowed her brow. Her dark blonde hair was braided into a pleat that hung down to her waist, and her crimson robe was wrapped tightly around her athletic body. She rarely carried a weapon, but her retractable claws were all she needed to do damage in a fight, and I’d seen her tear many opponents to shreds in the blink of an eye.
Next to her, Rebecca nodded her agreement, and the bear Demi-Human crossed her arms over her ample chest. Rebecca was as tall as I was and built like a bodybuilder, but she was soft and curvy in all the right places. She and Aaliyah had been connected at the hip since our return, and they stood together now as we determined our next steps to rescue the dragons.
Perhaps you should take advantage of the wealth of knowledge your people now have, Miraya suggested from my spiritual sea.
I focused on the spirit of the Sword of Healing, who sat on the beach in my mindscape and dragged her fingers through the pale sand. Her robes, which barely covered her anyway, hung open to reveal her sensual figure, and she laid back as the sunlight danced across her alabaster skin. Her white-blonde hair swept across the sand as the breeze tickled past her, and she looked completely calm despite my fury.
“What do you mean?” I asked in a low voice.
You have thousands of citizens in Hatra now, she clarified. Any number of them could be familiar with Afur.
“Miraya thinks we should ask around,” I said as my temper began to simmer down. “Maybe someone we’ve invited into our city has been there before and can give us some insights.”
“That’s a good idea,” Naomi agreed with a nod. “I’m sure we could go talk to a few people.”
Naomi was a lizard Demi-Human and one hell of a mage, despite being mostly self-taught. She’d grown up only reading books to learn about her magic, and she still managed to be incredibly powerful in her skills. Now, she tucked a stray magenta hair behind her ear as she blushed, and she turned away from the group whose attention was now on her. Then she subconsciously traced the scar from her forehead to her cheek as she bit her lip.
The scar was another thing that made me want to tear into someone, namely her brother, for giving it to her, but that was an issue for a different time. She’d put him in some sort of magical coma for his attack on her, and I had to let it go for now. We had non-comatose people wreaking havoc on our world to deal with.
“No, you’re right,” Isabella encouraged her. “We should talk to people. If we know what to look for, it may be easier to get rid of this Kocin guy.”
Naomi looked at the Nepin with grateful adoration, and Isabella’s sapphire skin darkened with her own blush. Isabella’s kaleidoscope-colored wings fluttered with happiness, and she twisted a lock of silvery hair around her finger before she looked at me with her bright turquoise eyes.
“Okay, so, what do we need to know?” I asked as I pushed my anger further down.
I wanted to do all the things they said not to. Storm the castle, roast the thieves, watch Kocin burn into a pile of ashes.
And yet, I had to push that aside and focus on what needed to happen.
Which was rescuing the dragons and getting back to our mission to close the Breach.
King Rodion, Alyona’s father, had already said he was losing his grip on the seal that currently kept the demons in the Breach at bay. If the seal broke for good, the demons and the Demon King would be free to roam throughout our realm, and the Demon King had already promised death and destruction to all of us on Inati.
I’d blocked him from invading my dreams, which was why Miraya had been spending so much time in my spiritual sea, but the only way to block him from our world entirely was by combining my power with that of each of the Nobles of the Sword.
So far, I’d bonded with five other Nobles of the Sword, which meant I was halfway through the plan the gods had laid out for me, but I couldn’t slow my pace. I had to handle the captured dragon situation efficiently, so I could stay on track to keep the Demon King in the Underworld where he belonged.
“Um, well, they kept us in a cave,” Angelos offered with a grimace. “It was always dark in there.”
“B-But it wasn’t always too dark to see the other dragons,” Mikhail added. “I think there were at least six, maybe seven others.”
Angelos and his brother Mikhail shared the same yellow scales on their forearms and pale-blond hair, and their blue eyes had become a little brighter with a good night’s sleep. They looked less ragged than they had when they’d arrived, and I was ready to get the rest of the prisoners back here to rest as well.
“And we were always chained up,” his brother said as he subconsciously rubbed his wrists. “Not just any chains, of course. They were magical, and we couldn’t shift while we were in them.”
“So, no getting bigger to bust out or smaller to slip them off,” I murmured. “What else can you remember? How many guards were there?”
“There were always at least four men guarding the cave,” Angelos replied. “Of that, I’m certain, but sometimes there were more. I think it just depended on if they felt threatened.”
“By whom?” Laika cut in with an arched eyebrow.
“Not sure.” Mikhail shrugged. “The guards always talked about them as though they were animals.”
“I suppose we’ll need to be prepared for the wildlife, then,” Nike said and pursed his lips. “What about Kocin?”
“I never saw him,” Angelos said with a shudder. “Heard the screams from his victims, though.”
“And the guards always talked about how everything they did was by his orders,” Mikhail added and curled his lip into a sneer. “As though the man was a god who couldn’t be defied.”
“Well, I can assure you, he’s not a god.” I smirked at the thought of this man being faced with the gods I’d already met. “And I wouldn’t be scared of him even if he was.”
“But we don’t know what he is,” Aaliyah pointed out. “What kind of man is brazen enough to take dragons as his slaves?”
“A stupid one.” Valerra scowled and drummed her fingernails on the table. “I say we slaughter them and hang their bodies in the cave as a warning.”
My inner dragon roared in agreement, but I had to let my human instincts step in.
“While I like that plan, it only applies once we’ve found Kocin and his men,” I said with a half-smile at my dragon mate. “We need to plan the attack itself first.”
“We have to hurry up and save them,” Valerra insisted. “Then you can finish off the Breach. We can’t let it stay open!”
I could feel the stress coming off her in waves, and I suspected she was having an internal struggle between wanting to rescue our fellow dragons and making sure the world was safe for our egg to hatch. She’d been under a lot of stress since we’d found a crack in the shell, though I’d told her I had a feeling it was a sign of our success.
But right now wasn’t the time to point that out, so I turned to my aunt Emma for a little support. She’d grown close to Valerra in the past few months since I’d brought her here from Earth, and she wrapped her arm around the lady dragon’s shoulders and hugged her close.
“Evan would never let anything happen to those eggs,” Emma assured my mate. “Let’s take a walk, okay?”
Valerra sighed but nodded, and the two women meandered out of the great hall.
I was grateful for my Aunt Emma every day but especially now that she and Valerra had formed such a close bond. Emma was the only human allowed in our secret egg vault, thanks to an enchanted necklace from Alyona and Valerra’s blessing, and she often took Valerra’s place guarding the eggs and checking for any more cracks. She’d been a godsend while I was away on our mission, and I was thankful now for her ability to get my dragon mate some fresh air.
“So, I think if we surround these cliffs where the cave is, we can attack from all sides,” Laika said as she pointed to the map. “I can gather the guild warriors, and we’ll have plenty of people to find the cave and take out Kocin’s men.”
“That’s a large area to sweep without being seen.” Nike frowned and rubbed his chin in thought. “Even if we start on the edges and work our way in, we don’t know the landscape well enough to search it thoroughly in such a large group.”
“Then maybe we should go small,” I suggested with a shrug. “We shouldn’t need that many of us to rescue the dragons, right?”
“Small is good,” Nike said as his eyes widened. “Yeah, okay, so just a few of us go, and we can scope out the landscape. We can find where the dragons are being held, and then we can see how many guys are in Kocin’s group.”
“And come back with reinforcements,” Laika murmured. “I think that would work out well. We could also find the right place to attack. If the guards only move in groups of four to watch the dragons, there’s probably a secondary location nearby where the rest of them go.”
“Okay, I think you two should go,” I said to Laika and Nike. “You have the most experience with strategizing the second half of this plan.”
“Agreed.” Nike nodded his head and glanced around the room. “I think the dryads should go as well. They can help us navigate any natural elements we find.”
“Good call,” I conceded. “And Alyona will be with me, and Nokomis should come, too.”
“Why me?” the snow leopard asked in surprise. “I have no experience with this type of mission. I had never even left Odrein until today.”
“Right, but you need the experience,” I said with a smile. “Trust me. You should come.”
“Whatever you say, my lord,” Nokomis agreed after a moment as she gave me a shy smile.
“What about us?” Mikhail asked and clenched his jaw. “What should we do?”
“I don’t want to go back.” Angelos shook his head violently and crossed his arms over his chest. “I-I can’t do it.”
“I wouldn’t force you to,” I assured him. “You can stay here and be ready when the other dragons are freed. They’re going to need to see some familiar faces.”
