Dragon Emperor 10: From Human to Dragon to God Read online

  “And why should I trust you to take us to the leader of Kana?” I pressed. “You’ve already tried to kill us once.”

  “Well, you certainly won’t get into the city without me,” she answered with a shrug. “Besides, I wasn’t trying that hard to kill you, or you would be dead.”

  “That’s the silliest thing anyone has ever said to me,” I laughed.

  “Oh?” The woman blinked.

  Then my companions trotted closer, and I walked over to them out of her earshot.

  “She said she’ll take us to Kana,” I murmured.

  “Oh, the lady who sent giant scorpions at us?” Polina scoffed.

  “And tried to kill you and Ravi with her black fire?” Marina added.

  “Yeah, that’s the one,” I chuckled.

  “I don’t like it,” Trina muttered.

  “Me, either,” Laika agreed, and her gray wolf ears flattened against her head. “What if she’s taking us into a trap?”

  “I don’t want to trust her, but we clearly can’t find the city on our own,” I argued. “What else are we going to do?”

  “Maybe we could follow her but be on our guard,” Nike suggested. “I don’t think she’s a member of the Sect.”

  “I agree.” I nodded. “She wasn’t as aggressive as the mages we’ve seen with the Sect before.”

  “She is rather difficult to interpret,” Alyona murmured as she peered over my shoulder at the mage. “It seems she has studied magic, but she doesn’t quite know about any magic besides her own because she doesn’t know how to properly defend herself. Perhaps she is self-taught.”

  “That would mean she is not from the Sect,” Ravi pointed out. “Mara told us the Sect trained her from an early age.”

  “Okay, so we can agree she isn’t from the Green Glass Sect, but we still need to be careful, right?” I asked, and several heads nodded in response. “Good, let’s see where she takes us.”

  I led the group back over to the woman, who was tapping her foot with impatience.

  “Well?” she asked as she threw her arms out.

  “We have decided to follow you to Kana,” I declared.

  “As if you would find it any other way,” she replied and rolled her eyes. “Will you let me out of this thing, then?”

  “Don’t try anything else,” I warned. “I didn’t come here with the intention of killing anyone, but I won’t allow you to hurt any of my people.”

  “I won’t,” the mage muttered.

  I reached out and put my hand in the fire, and the flames returned to my body as though I’d called them home. The warmth surged through my veins before it returned to normal, and then I dropped my arm.

  “How did you do that?” the woman asked, and wonder colored her raspy voice.

  “I know a few things.” I smirked. “My name is Lord Evan of--”

  “I’m Naomi,” she cut me off as she averted her gaze. “The rest doesn’t matter to me. Now, come this way.”

  She turned on her heels and walked away toward the vast desert. As her hair swished around her head, I realized I could see the curves of her hips through the black robes, and I could almost imagine the swell of her round ass as her hips swayed back and forth with each step.

  “Uh, where exactly is the city?” I asked.

  Naomi turned back and smiled as she lifted her hand and flattened her palm. Suddenly, the image of the desert wavered and disappeared completely to reveal a gated city. The beige walls stood high above us, and a large metal gate covered the entrance into Kana. A turret sat to the right of the gate, and I could sense someone peeking over the edge to see what was going on.

  That explained my wayward fireball earlier.

  “Mirage magic to defend an entire city,” Alyona breathed, and her amethyst eyes widened. “Brilliant.”

  The lizard smirked and waved to someone at the top of the wall. The metal gate lifted, and we followed Naomi inside the walls of Kana.

  “We’ve never seen that before,” I muttered to Alyona.

  “No, we haven’t,” she said. “And it would require a great deal of power to maintain for long periods of time.”

  “So, we should be on very high alert with her?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes,” Alyona agreed. “She could still be very dangerous if we aren’t on her good side, whether or not she knows it.”

  A small, tan building stood just inside the gate, and a guard waved to Naomi as we passed through. She smiled and lifted her hood back over her head. We followed the mage down a cobbled road, and we passed by what seemed to be houses. The buildings were made from sand bricks and held together with mortar and long, wooden beams. The beams stretched from house to house, and many of them had clothes draped over them.

  Most of the houses had lizard Demi-Humans outside who stopped in their tracks as we walked past, but several of them looked up and smiled. They began to gather in small groups together, and they mumbled to each other as they pointed and waved.

  I was surprised by the excited whispers and attention as we continued toward Lord Vallen’s palace. Most of the cities we’d visited weren’t excited to see us when we first arrived, but Kana seemed different, even if their first representative had not been very receptive to our arrival. The other lizards seemed ready to throw a party already, and we hadn’t even done anything yet.

  “Is there something going on?” I whispered to Alyona.

  “I’m not sure,” she murmured back.

  After a few minutes, we arrived at the castle, and it reminded me of a sandcastle back on Earth with its tall, beige bastions and arched entrance. Towers stood at every corner, and the sandy face was decorated with black and gold finials. At the entrance, two lizard guards stood at attention as they held tightly on to their staffs and narrowed their eyes at our appearances.

  The guards’ leathers were stitched with black and gold fibers, and their staffs were etched with carvings of various types of lizards.

  “Is Lord Vallen--” Naomi started to ask, but then the doors flung open, and a small lizard Demi-Human man bounced out of the castle in front of us.

  The leader of the lizard Demi-Humans stood at least a head shorter than me, and his yellow eyes were bright with excitement. He wore a cream tunic over black harem pants with a black and gold poncho draped over his shoulders. His brown scales crept over the collar of his tunic, and his head was covered with a black turban.

  “Greetings! Greetings!” he chirped with a wide grin.

  “Lord Vallen?” I asked and quirked an eyebrow.

  “Yes!” the man confirmed with glee. “You’ve heard of me?”

  “Well, I, uh--” I was baffled.

  “Oh, never mind that,” he chuckled. “Come on in!”

  Vallen turned and scurried back into the castle without a backward glance, and I looked over at Nike, whose face mirrored my confusion as he shrugged.

  “Well, come on,” Naomi said as she rolled her eyes, took off her hood, and trudged inside.

  With her features exposed up close, I finally got a good look at the lady mage. Her deeply tanned skin contrasted with the scar over her eye, and her magenta scales traveled up the sides of her neck into the base of her scalp where they blended into her hair.

  I led my companions after Naomi, and we walked into a large room that was covered with artwork. Tapestries, paintings, and sculptures covered nearly every surface of the room. The art mainly depicted battles, but two paintings of a man and a woman hung over the fireplace. We looked around as we tried to take it all in, but there were so many pieces of art, it was almost overwhelming.

  “Ah, you see my collection?” Vallen asked as he bounced from foot to foot.

  “It’s hard to miss, Vallen,” Naomi scoffed.

  “Oh, hush,” he scolded her and turned back to me. “I’m so sorry for Lady Naomi’s negative energy. I am Lord Vallen, and I am honored to be your host here in Kana.”

  Lady Naomi? Interesting.

  “I am Lord Evan of Hatra el S
hamash,” I replied before I gestured to the princess beside me. “This is my fiancée, Princess Alyona of the White Jade Sect.”

  “By the gods!” Vallen cried and dropped to his knees in front of us, much to Naomi’s apparent disdain. “I had no idea, Your Highness.”

  “Ah, it’s okay,” Alyona said with a bewildered expression. “You couldn’t have known it was us. We did not send ahead word of our arrival.”

  “Word had traveled that the princess was accompanied by a dragon on some kind of mission, but I had no idea it was you outside our defenses!” the lizard wailed and put a dramatic hand to his forehead. “And alas, Lady Naomi attacked you! We are ashamed.”

  “I’m not ashamed for protecting our city, Vallen,” Naomi interjected as she crossed her arms over her chest. “And you shouldn’t be, either. You didn’t even ask who he was when you invited him into the castle. Someone has to be vigilant. There is dark magic brewing, I told you!”

  “I didn’t have to ask who it was,” Vallen huffed. “It was fairly obvious when we saw a dragon flying above the city as he defended himself from your little spells, which I’m sure will do nothing to the black magic you claim to feel coming.”

  “Little spells?” the mage grumbled as she clenched her fists. “You have no idea--”

  “Okay, okay,” I cut in with my hands up. “What’s done is done. We’re here now, and no one got hurt. It’s all good.”

  “I agree,” Vallen conceded as he got back on his feet. “But you are the dragon who has returned to save Rahma, yes?”

  “Returned?” I echoed and raised an eyebrow. “Ah, yeah, I guess so. I mean, I have been doing a lot to help everyone since we started fixing up Hatra, but--”

  “Marvelous! Vallen gushed. “The story says you rebuilt the city of Hatra from ashes. Then you stopped a civil war in Tikal and rescued the prince of Lumin! And they say you have defeated countless warriors, mages, beasts, and even a necromancer. Are they telling the truth?”

  “Well, there’s at least some truth to every story, right?” I avoided answering him directly until I knew I could trust him. “So, do you know why we’re here?”

  “Not really.” The lizard shrugged and lifted a finger. “But I do have a problem you can fix, since you fixed the other problems.”

  “What kind of problem?” Nike asked.

  “Ah, you must be the other nobleman,” Vallen said with a grin. “The story says you accompany Lord Evan and his harem. What a depressing existence. You, ah, never mind. Anyway, my problem is our crops.”

  Nike frowned at his description in our story, and I wondered how much the other people knew about his home city Leyte’s required commitments to a betrothal. Nike wasn’t allowed to be with other women until he’d married his fiancée, who he’d never even met. He was committed to his city’s beliefs, and he’d even turned down a beautiful warrior back in Colaruma who had tried to flirt with him.

  “We need a little more details than that,” Trina pointed out.

  “Are they wilting?” Marina inquired. “Dying?”

  “Or dead?” Polina added.

  “I’m not sure, but I’ll tell you more once I’ve seen Lord Evan’s dragon skills for myself,” Vallen replied and clasped his hands together. “If he wins, I’ll even show it to you.”

  “Dragon skills?” I muttered. “I’m not some kind of trick pony.”

  “Oh, gods, no!” he cried out. “I meant no disrespect, Lord Evan. I simply wish to instill the faith of my people in your abilities. It’s one thing to hear the rumors, but it is a whole new thing to experience them in person, especially after the dragons’ reputation for killing anyone who got in their way. You need to make a new reputation that brings joy and hope to the people. Plus, I think you’ll enjoy it.”

  “I suppose,” I grumbled.

  I did enjoy a good fight.

  “Should we be looking for a trap?” Laika whispered into my ear as she stepped up behind me.

  “Yeah, this guy is weird,” I murmured.

  Laika’s furry gray ears twitched on her head as she stepped back, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see her place her hand on the hilt of her broadsword. She was ready for action.

  “Abel!” Vallen suddenly screeched.

  We looked around in confusion before a young lizard Demi-Human rushed in through the back door.

  He stood over six feet tall, and his features were mostly hidden by a black head scarf that left only his yellow, reptilian eyes exposed. His warrior attire reminded me of a video game I’d played back on Earth called Assassin’s Creed. The layers of cloth and leather wrapped around his muscular form, while a scabbard hung from his belt, and the silver hilt of a sword glinted in the light of the torches that decorated the walls.

  “Yes, my lord?” Abel boomed as he stood in front of Vallen.

  “Meet Lord Evan,” Vallen said and gestured toward me. “He will be your opponent in the arena.”

  “The dragon, sire?” the warrior asked as his eyes flashed with a moment of disbelief. “In the arena?”

  “Oh, not to the death, Abel,” Vallen scoffed. “Only a friendly display of each of your abilities.”

  “Of course, my lord.” Abel bowed deeply and strode out the front door.

  “To the arena!” the lizard Demi-Human lord cheered as he skipped after him. “Come on!”

  Ravi and the dryads giggled as I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily before I followed the lizards outside.

  What had I signed myself up for?

  As we walked a few blocks, I saw the arena. It stood nearly as tall as the castle, and its sand block walls were decorated with carved images of war. Battle scenes were depicted on nearly every visible part of the building, and as we walked through the entrance, I realized dozens of the citizens had followed us inside. In fact, there were at least a hundred other lizard Demi-Humans who now dispersed into various sections of the arena.

  “This will be over quick.” Naomi smirked at me and then led the rest of my group up a set of stairs to wooden benches placed above the arena floor. The other lizards had spread out among the seating areas and sat down, so it seemed we had an audience.

  I continued walking behind Abel and Vallen, who stopped in the middle of the arena. Abel stood behind his leader, and Vallen took a dramatic breath as he put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth in front of us.

  “What is this place?” I asked Abel under my breath.

  The open space where we stood was about as big as a football field, though the entire floor was sand. The walls of the arena stood eight feet high, and about fifteen rows of wooden benches circled around us. One of the walls featured a set of weapons from a broadsword to nunchucks to flails, and I eyed the weapons with curiosity until Abel spoke.

  “The arena,” the warrior replied and cocked his head to the side with confusion.

  “Yeah, I got that,” I laughed. “What do you guys use it for?”

  Then Vallen turned to face the growing crowd.

  “People of Kana!” Vallen called out. “Your esteemed warrior Abel will now face the legendary dragon, Lord Evan of Hatra!”

  Cheers erupted from the crowd, and many began to chant our names.

  “Fighting,” Abel yelled over the noise. “I’ve never lost a battle. That’s why they love me.”

  Well, if it was a fight the people of Kana wanted, I’d give them just that.

  I felt a rush of adrenaline at the excitement that pumped through the arena, and I bowed before I shifted into my dragon form with an extra flourish. I whipped my large tail around and slammed it down to kick up the sand around me. Then I tilted my head back and roared loud enough to echo throughout the grandiose stage.

  Gasps rippled throughout the crowd, and I bared my fangs in a grin as I towered over my opponent.

  Abel gulped as he drew his sword and squatted into a fighting stance.

  He was about to lose his first battle, and he knew it.

  “Let the fight begin!” Vallen decl
ared as he stepped back.

  I watched as Abel stared at me and calculated his first move. Then I took to the sky, hovered a few feet above his lanky form, and blew a small column of fire at his feet.

  Abel hissed as he hopped backward and threw off his headscarf to expose his head. His scalp had been shaved, and his deep purple scales peeked out over the collar of his tunic and then continued up his throat onto his bare skull. The shiny layers of purple reflected the light of the sun and created patterns in the clouds of sand around his head.

  Then the skin of his neck expanded outward as he hissed again. His scales were fully extended as he unfurled the skin flap around his head, and I coughed to stifle a laugh.

  He was a frilled neck lizard, and he was posturing.

  As I composed myself, Abel ran toward me with his sword held high and took a swing at my underbelly.

  The crowd gasped as I dodged the blow and circled back around behind him. He flailed wildly with the sword, and I dipped my body just low enough for him to nick my exposed belly.

  Might as well put on a show.

  As my blood dripped down his sword, the crowd cheered and booed. Then I grinned and sent a wave of my healing magic down to the flesh wound. As the laceration stitched itself closed, I could hear Abel’s sharp intake of breath.

  It seemed not all my skills had been passed along in the stories.

  I whipped around and opened my maw to send two fireballs in front of him, but he jumped backward and then did a back handspring to land on his feet.

  Abel was agile, but he was no match for a dragon.

  Then I made a beeline for the warrior and funneled a wave of earthquake power that carved a jagged gash into the ground and toppled him onto his back. In the same forward motion, I slammed down on the ground next to his prone body and planted my front foot on his chest.

  After a moment of dead silence, the crowd went into a frenzy, and the screams and cheers echoed off the walls.

  “Oh, my!” Vallen squawked as he scurried back over to us. “What an incredible fight!”

  “Are you satisfied with my abilities, my lord?” I smirked.

  “Delighted!” the lizard exclaimed as he clasped his hands together. “Now, could you release my warrior?”