Dragon Emperor 7: From Human to Dragon to God Read online

  I nodded and pointed to the table with the best view from the ground. “We should use that table for the signing, so the community witnesses everything and can be more supportive. Cool?”

  “I don’t think it’s any cooler there than at one of these other tables, but whatever you suggest is fine,” Kinba responded with a raised eyebrow.

  “I believe Lord Evan has used slang,” Aaliyah snickered at her father’s response. “We will use that table. You’re right about the view for the people.”

  I looked at Nike and Laika. “You two should go scope out the area. Make sure there’s a good place for Alyona to sit safely. I’ll be moving around talking to the crowd, so I’ll figure out something for me.”

  The two warriors nodded and walked over to the long, dark wooden table that was now being adorned with torches and inkwells for the signing.

  “You worry too much,” Alyona murmured. “Look at how happy these people are. I think this is good.”

  “Some are happy,” I replied with a furrowed brow, “but I’m not sure everyone is.”

  “I agree, something feels heavy today,” Aaliyah chimed in. “I can’t put my claw on it, but there’s something.”

  Before I could respond, Nike and Laika waved us over to the table.

  “Here, Milady,” Laika pulled out a chair for Alyona, “I will be right here for the entire ceremony, just in case.”

  “Me too,” Nike said. “We won’t let you out of our sight.”

  Ravi looked at me with excitement. “What should I do, Lord Evan?”

  “You should go ahead and transform and keep an eye out from up top. You’ll have a bird’s eye view,” I chuckled to myself while Ravi rolled her eyes, “and you can make sure nothing weird happens.”

  “You got it!” A quick blue flame flashed before me, and then Ravi’s beautiful bird form was floating up to one of the ceiling beams above the signing table.

  I looked up to see Lord Chax, Lady Imani, and Chidi walking through the temple to the signing table. Chidi pulled out a chair for Lord Chax and then stood behind him with a blank expression. I gave Imani a small wave, and she smiled in return, then resumed her stance next to Chidi.

  Lord Kinba looked appalled for a brief moment, then he quietly pulled out the chair to Chax’s right and sat down. Finally, Jai strolled through the back door to the temple and looked around for the rest of the group. He found our table and strode through the building crowd to sit at the final seat on Chax’s left.

  I made eye contact with each of the House leaders to make sure they were ready. Then I turned back to the crowd and began.

  “Ladies and gentlemen of Tikal! Welcome to a day that will never be forgotten. Today, the leaders of the Houses Jubatus, Oel, and Onca sign a treaty to bring peace back to your great city.”

  Most of the crowd cheered at the last line, but some looked around and were still confused with how we’d gotten here in a matter of days after years of civil war.

  “Would any of the House leaders like to say anything before the signing?” I asked.

  Jai stood up quickly. “I would like to start, if that’s alright with everyone. I am pleased that--”

  His voice seemed to fade out as a strange feeling clustered in the pit of my stomach. Something was wrong. The hairs on my neck stood on end, and my eyes darted around as I tried to find what had set off my dragon instincts.

  Then I saw her, the serving girl who had avoided my eyes at the breakfast table yesterday. She wasn’t avoiding me now, though. In fact, I thought I saw a smirk flicker across her face as she stared directly at me.

  The hell?

  Suddenly, metal flashed across my line of vision, and my gut told me to move. In the blink of an eye, I tackled Jai to the floor just as a green-handled dagger stabbed into the back of his chair.

  “What is the meaning of this!” Lord Kinba roared as he shot to his feet.

  “Everyone, get down!” I shouted, and I reached out with my healing power to check on Jai.

  Classification: Jaguar Demi-Human.

  Condition: Mild concussion.

  Priority: Healing required.

  Status: Low danger.

  “Someone tried to assassinate him,” I growled as I pulled a small dagger from Jai’s chair. “Get down!”

  Chax was already under the table and had yanked his sister down as well, but Kinba and Aaliyah stood tall and scanned the panicked room.

  We noticed them at the same time. Several of the servants who were preparing the temple this morning stalked toward the table instead of out the doors with the crowd.

  There was no way I could transform in here, as big as the temple was, so I quickly reached into my spatial storage and pulled out Miraya, the Sword of Hatra.

  Nike and Laika jumped up next to me, Nike with his Sword of Light and Laika with her broadsword already in their hands. I nodded to them and then toward the servants who were only a few feet from us. Then we headed toward the would-be assassins with Kinba and Aaliyah close behind us.

  I saw a blur of faces under dark cloaks, but I found the serving girl quickly enough. She gave me a tight-lipped smile, and then she launched a second dagger right for my chest.

  I conjured a shield with my phoenix fire and blocked the dagger, and the female assassin looked at me with wide eyes.

  So, whoever these people were, they had no idea what I was capable of.

  Good.

  I smirked back at the girl and swung the Sword of Hatra at one of her comrades. He was dressed in rags, not the same cloaks as the other assassins, and his skin was mottled and gray, but I didn’t have time to think about all that.

  I had a city to defend.

  The sword pierced flesh, but the man had no reaction. He just stared at me blankly as my blade sunk into his gut, but he should have been dumping blood onto the floor with that damage.

  “The hell?” I growled, and I imbued my sword with fire and took another swing. This time, the man began to burn and fall to pieces, and a familiar stench invaded my nose.

  I recognized that smell. Corrupted Corpses had joined the assassins in their attack on the city leaders.

  “What are these creatures?” Ravi swooped down from the ceiling and rained down more fire on the advancing group. Then she let out a piercing war cry and strafed another assassin with blue flames.

  “Corrupted Corpses!” Laika yelled back as she took the legs out from under one of the attackers. “They’re infected with miasma--use your fire!”

  I saw Lord Kinba from the corner of my eye as he used his lion-sized claws to slice through a Corrupted Corpse. Then I noticed Aaliyah pouncing from body to body, and she shredded whatever was left of their faces.

  Color me impressed.

  I knew the leaders of Tikal could handle the corpses now, so I focused on the humans who were quickly realizing the error of their ways. Then I looked for the serving girl since something told me she was important in figuring out who these assholes were.

  I scanned the group of assassins, which had dwindled in number thanks to Ravi’s fire attacks. Then I caught a glimpse of blonde hair and turned toward the girl.

  She was directing several of the human assassins to retreat, but as she waved her hand, I saw it.

  A green leaf tattoo on her left hand.

  Of course, this was the Green Glass Sect.

  I growled in anger and bellowed a full column of fire on the Corrupted Corpses and humans between us. Then I charged forward and released a string of webs from my fingertips to attach the girl’s feet to the ground.

  She mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out, though, and the webs disintegrated as she took off running toward the jungle with a handful of humans in her wake.

  Great, she was a fucking mage.

  I ran out the door behind them and summoned a stone wall from the earth to block their path to the jungle. I was not letting any more of these bastards get away.

  The girl pushed her hands out in front of her, though, and it was like
the stone turned to slush. Then she and the other assassins ran right through it, and they shook off the dust as they went.

  What the fuck?

  “They won’t get away with this,” Chax muttered as he ran up beside me. Then he motioned toward another twenty cheetahs who dispersed into the jungle. “We’re the best hunters here.”

  “Is that so?” Aaliyah smirked as she joined us next to the edge of the jungle, and the female lion met my eyes with a hungry expression. “I’d like to join in the chase, Lord Evan. I’d like to put my claws through a few more of these traitors.”

  I nodded. “We need all hands on deck here. And I need at least one of them alive for questioning.”

  Aaliyah grinned and took off into the jungle, and I sprinted after her with Chax hot on my heels.

  The chase was on.

  Chapter 2

  The cheetah Demi-Humans were incredibly fast. They raced through the jungle and tore into the first two Green Glass Sect members within minutes. Even Lord Chax dug his long, yellow canines into the throat of one of the assassins, so these cheetahs took their hunting very seriously.

  I smirked and kept running. I was going to catch that mage.

  I passed more downed assassins before I heard Aaliyah roar with rage. I could tell it came from about twenty yards ahead and to the right of me, so I picked up speed and headed in that direction. Then I came into a clearing in time to see the mage halfway up a huge tree and Aaliyah growling at her from the base.

  “Come down and play, you coward!” Aaliyah screeched up at her.

  I contemplated taking on my dragon form and lighting the mage on fire. It seemed like a fitting end for the assassin.

  Before I could decide, though, the mage shimmied over to a branch the size of my dragon tail and sat down. Then she began mumbling under her breath, with her hands clasped together.

  “No, we can’t let her finish the spell!” I shouted to Aaliyah as I moved toward the tree, but I was too late.

  The mage smirked at me and threw her hands out, and hundreds of small, green bubbles erupted from her hands.

  Seriously? Bubbles?

  “Lord Evan!” Aaliyah called out. “What is this?”

  I reached out and touched one, only to watch my finger turn black down to my second knuckle. I cursed and quickly pushed my healing power to my finger.

  “They’re like acid or something!” I yelled. “Stay back!”

  I watched as bubbles landed on jungle plants and turned them black and withered. How the fuck did I get rid of these things?

  I had to try something, so I pulled from my spiritual sea and sent a fist-sized stone hurtling toward a bubble. It popped, and I watched the mage’s satisfied smirk turn into an agitated frown when the black decay didn’t appear on the rock.

  I grinned. So, the acid could only damage something living. I could work with that.

  I called on more stones and sent them flying around the clearing to take out all the acid drops. While I still wanted to light the girl’s ass on fire, I didn’t want to set the jungle ablaze, so I called on my earthquake power and sent a tremor straight for the tree. Then I watched as the mage held on to no avail, and she came tumbling down into Aaliyah’s grasp with a scream.

  Aaliyah immediately dug her claws into the woman’s chest and shredded her from collar to hip. The lion Demi-Human growled like a feral cat while she tore into the mage’s cloaked body, and blood ran in rivulets down the lion’s torso as she stood up and licked her clawed hands. Her gold and red robe was torn from the chase through the jungle, and now it was covered in splatters of the assassin’s viscera.

  My pants tightened as I watched the warrior princess clean up after her kill. That had been incredibly sexy to watch. Then I reached out with my healing powers, but she did not have even a single scratch on her.

  “Impressive,” I murmured. “Where’d you learn how to fight like that?”

  “I’m a hunter, Lord Evan.” Aaliyah looked at me and smirked, and her orange eyes darkened to a coppery hue as she stared hungrily at me. “I see what I want, and I take it.”

  I cast a devilish smile back at her. “I see. And are you on the hunt?”

  “Always,” she answered, and I could have sworn her nipples tightened beneath her crimson and gold robes.

  “You can devour me later, princess.” I shook my head to banish thoughts of filling her lean body with my dragon seed and cleared my throat. “Let’s get back to town and see if anyone managed to deliver me a live captive first.”

  “I suppose.” Aaliyah bared her canines with a growl, and then she grabbed the hood of the girl’s cloak and began dragging her corpse back to the temple.

  I half-expected Aaliyah to scalp the girl and wear her skin back to show off her kill. I laughed as I fell into step beside her, but then my thoughts turned back to darker musings.

  How were the members of the Green Glass Sect able to find us all the way here? King Rodion knew where we were going, but did he tell anyone else? Was there yet another traitor in the king’s posse?

  Suddenly, another thought hit me. Had they already attacked Hatra?

  I quickly summoned a messenger dragon. “Go to Valerra and Ruslan and make sure they’re okay.”

  The dragon dipped its head before it split into two dragons and flew toward my home.

  “Neat trick,” Aaliyah declared with a smile. “You seem to have magic we don’t know, dragon.”

  “I do,” I answered with a wink. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Let’s get moving.”

  We picked up the pace and passed a few maimed bodies on the way back to Tikal’s temple. The cheetah Demi-Humans were nothing if not efficient, since I reached out with my healing power and found none of the assassins alive so far. I would have no one to question if the cheetahs couldn’t contain themselves, but it was hard to reprimand the citizens of Tikal when I’d also killed many enemies to keep my own city safe.

  As we broke through the jungle and into the fountain clearing, I searched for Alyona, and I found her tending to Jai, with Laika standing guard next to her. Nike was talking with Lord Kinba nearby, and both lords looked uninjured.

  We walked over to join them, and Aaliyah tossed the mage’s body on the ground next to us.

  “Kinba, are any of your people hurt?” I asked.

  “No, thank the gods,” he responded with a slight bow. “ I see my daughter was able to catch one of these traitors. Who were those people?”

  “Members of the Green Glass Sect,” I answered. “Have you heard of them?”

  “I heard they all died out a long time ago,” Kinba said as he rubbed his chin in thought.

  Nike raised an eyebrow. “The Green Glass Sect? Here? What could they have against Tikal or the peace treaty?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe they don’t want Tikal to reunite and support the king. Or they just want me to look bad. Either way, we aren’t leaving until we’re sure what the hell’s going on.”

  Alyona, Laika, and Jai joined us at the fountain, and I checked on his healing and found that he was back to normal.

  “So, we’re staying?” Alyona asked with a frown. “It was the Sect again?”

  “Again?” Jai questioned in annoyance. “You all know these bastards?”

  “We know who they are, but it’s not like we’re friends with them,” I responded with an eye roll. “They seem to be led by a necromancer.”

  Jai and Kinba both took in sharp breaths.

  “But I thought--”

  “They have been outlawed--”

  “For centuries!” Jai finished.

  “Indeed,” Alyona confirmed. “No one is supposed to use necromancy magic anymore, but we saw it with our own eyes in the forest near Hatra only a few weeks ago. A necromancer brought dead animals back to life to attack us as part of his escape.”

  “This is an outrage!” Kinba declared.

  “I’m sorry, Lord Evan, but we were unable to catch any of the assassins alive,” Chax interrupted as he joined
the group and toed the mage’s body over. “I see you were unable to complete that task as well.”

  I nodded with a grim smile. “I understand. They attacked your people. I just wanted to find out what they knew. Until we know for sure what they were up to, we will be staying a while longer. Especially since the necromancer wasn’t the only mage we’ve seen within their ranks.”

  “We can help you with some rebuilding in the meantime, and we need to reintegrate your community,” Alyona added. “There is much hostility between your people, and this attack will probably make it worse.”

  Jai nodded his head in agreement. “You are welcome to stay in House Onca as long as you see fit, Lord Evan. I have a feeling that attack would have been much worse had you not been here to stop it.”

  I smirked. “And you didn’t even get to see me go full dragon on their asses. But I did have a weird experience with acid bubbles in the jungle.”

  “Acid bubbles?” Alyona questioned. “Were they green?”

  I nodded. “Have you ever seen those?”

  “Not in person,” she replied and pursed her lips. “They’re dark magic, part of the nexus spell meant to desecrate a city. They’re known as letums.”

  “Well, I’m glad I can heal myself because I poked one of them,” I said with a shrug.

  “Evan! You must be more careful than that--”

  Before Alyona could finish, we were interrupted as a scream echoed from the crowd near the temple.

  We all turned to see three jaguar Demi-Humans facing off with two cheetahs, while another cheetah laid on the ground.

  “How do we know you weren’t in on it?” one of the cheetahs yelled. “You had the most servants here!”

  The middle jaguar pointed at the cheetah on the ground. “He’s the only one who was with one of them before the ceremony!”

  “Yeah, and why would we try to kill our own House leader?” questioned another jaguar.

  “Jaguars aren’t known for being the smartest cats,” the cheetah on the left sneered.

  Hissing and growling began on both sides, and torchlight glinted off multiple pairs of claws.

  I ran over to the cats and stood above the downed cheetah. Then I sent out healing tendrils to check on him.