Dragon 2 Chapter 31

Nat’alet wiggled his hips and pulled at the tight corset. “How in the hell do you wear this?” He asked with Morgana’s body.

“Better than you, that’s for sure.” Morgana scowled as the fight simmered. I braced, knowing this would be it. We weren’t all going to make it through this battle, and I’d be damned if anybody on my side went down.

Two illusions of me squared up around Nat’alet as Scarlett’s tails went to work. They moved first.

Nat’alet spun with Morgana’s speed and grace, a blade slicing through the first illusion. I moved forward. I’d fought with Morgana, and I could only hope that he couldn’t use her skills as well as she could.

As I moved in front of him, I swung, my scale-wrapped fist swinging for the fences. Unfortunately, Nat’alet blurred with vampiric speed, his leather clad leg wrapping around both my shoulder and head as he twisted and threw me into the real Morgana.

We went down in a tumble as Morgana caught me.

Nat’alet was on us in an instant, but I was able to get on my back and coil my legs before he reached me. I snapped them out, catching him in the chest and launching him backwards.

Morgana rolled off me and back to her feet, shooting forward a moment later. Her blades were like hummingbird wings; they struck faster than my eyes could track. But Nat’alet kept up with her in his Morgana form. Their blades rang out in the partially collapsed mall.

This wasn’t right. Had Morgana been holding back this much in all our sparring?

Either way, they were equally matched. Given his relation to the Winter Queen, it was likely he was old enough to have learned to fight with swords and practiced as long as Morgana. Based on the slightest furrow in the real Morgana’s brow, she was coming to the same conclusion. I needed to do something to break this stalemate.

Think. I had to find a way for my brute force to help make a difference in the delicate dance they were doing.

If he had all of Morgana’s skills, that meant vampire speed and healing from near death. I needed to distract him and give Morgana an opening.

Picking up a chunk of concrete, I hurled it faster than a baseball pitch at Nat’alet, only to charge after him.

He dodged back, letting the chunk separate him and Morgana. And dodged right into my fist.

Or at least, I thought it would. Instead, my fist bent in space and nearly collided with the real Morgana as she came at him from the other side.

The spatial distortion snapped away, and I ducked into a roll, just barely avoiding my arm being severed as Nat’alet cut at me with a blade of spatial magic. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

That had been too close.

“Zach, let me handle this one. My speed and spatial magic paired together are going to be too much for you.” Morgana was short as she reengaged Nat’alet.

I stepped back, startling as Scarlett grabbed my shoulder. Jumpy as I was, I whirled on her with my fist up.

“Careful, big guy. We have another problem.” She pulled me away from where the two Morganas were heating up. Spatial magic crackled through the air and large rents were torn in the floor as the magic went wild.

A shiver raced down my spine. I didn’t like it, but Morgana was right. This was a fight above my level of skill. I might be a badass dragon, but I wasn’t a match for Nat’alet when he was mimicking Morgana.

Scarlett pulled me away and pointed to the quarry, which was still sticking out of the mall floor. Trolls were starting to twitch and wiggle; their blood was flowing once more.

“Shit.” I came up to the first troll. Reaching down, I wrapped my hands around its throat, about to pull its head off. But this felt different from when I’d killed in the heat of battle. These were innocent people, nothing more than a tool that Nat’alet used.

A growl of frustration escaped me as my claws opened and closed inches from the troll's head. “Scarlett, can you frost the area? Keep it cold enough that they don’t become active?”

She looked at me funny, but then put the blasting rod to use. Given the size of the quarry, it felt like trying to put out a fire with a squirt gun.

I growled and grabbed the closest troll, pushing it off the ledge of the quarry to the bottom. He’d heal.

Then I grabbed the next troll, shoving him down. “Focus on frosting the inside lip of the quarry. If we can keep them down there, that’s enough.” It would also reduce the amount of area we needed to keep cold.

She continued to spray frost over them. “Zach, can you breathe frost again? I think we could use it about now.”

Pushing another troll back down into the quarry, I stared at the pit. Even if I got them all in, Scarlett was right. She wasn’t going to be able to cover the whole pit with just that blasting rod.

Her idea made sense, but I hadn’t used the frost breath outside that one battle. My scales were still silver, but I had only purposefully breathed fire before. And if I accidentally washed the place with fire, we were going to have hundreds of trolls snap awake.

Fuck. Risky was an understatement.

“Let me get them down into the pit first.” I worked double time, pushing half-frozen trolls into the quarry pit as Morgana and Nat’alet fought so hard that the surrounding stone was cracking. Their spatial magic was running rampant from their battle.

Morgana had always held back her magic; I remembered now when she told me that her magic essentially cost lives. Every time she used it, she’d have to replenish herself with more blood.

At times, I hadn’t understood her reluctance to just drink more blood, but then again, Morgana was a complex woman. She had secrets that I still didn’t know.

Pushing the last troll into the quarry, I looked over to check on Scarlett’s progress. She was still hosing down the lip, angling the blasting rod upwards so it would freeze the air above the quarry and settle down into it.

I hoped that would keep the trolls inactive rather than outright kill them.

And now I had to do the same, but on a larger scale. Don’t fail me now, beast, I told myself.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled on my body the same way I would to breathe fire, hoping that my breath had changed along with my scales.

Feeling the breath coming, I let it go.

Bright dragon fire exploded across the opening of the quarry. I knew the second I’d let it out that it was wrong. I quickly twisted away, melting the entrance to an old clothing store instead.

“Zach!” Scarlett admonished me.

I cursed inwardly. I didn’t need the added admonishment. Just that bit of fire had warmed the quarry, removing the thin layer of frost that had settled down there.

Trolls and shamans rumbled as they moved and uncurl from their almost frozen states.

“Let me try again.” I dug deep, trying to recall what had felt like when Scarlett had been hurt. It wasn’t a fiery, explosive rage. It was sharper, crisper.

Trying to resummon the image and emotions that had been raging through me when the shaman hurt Scarlett, I drew on my breath again and let it loose.

This time, it worked.

Frosty blue fog sprayed out of my mouth, coating the ceiling in thick layers of ice. Confident I had used the right one, I pivoted and directed my blast downward, coating the lip of the quarry in ice so cold that wisps of fog rolled off of it as the warmer outside air came into contact.

I sprayed down the surroundings, feeling the temperature drop sharply and letting the peripheral spray sink down into the quarry.

When I let up, the trolls and shamans had hunkered back down, trying to preserve what little warmth they had left.

But before I had time to pat myself on the back, two Morganas flew through the air, landing not far away. They seemed to have lost their swords, reverting to wrestling on the ground.

Both of them were torn up. Their healing appeared to have slowed, and one look with my shifted eyes told me they were nearly drained dry of mana. That meant their enhanced speed and healing were also nearly gone, not to mention their spatial magic.

“Gun.” I held my hand out to Scarlett. She didn’t hesitate, slapping a pistol into my hand. Checking the gun over, I racked the slide and pointed it at the two vampires. “Okay, enough.”

The two looked at me, taking in my position and the gun. It was enough to make them pause.

“Don’t worry, I have this.” Morgana on the right said.

“Bullshit.” The left one said, clawing at her eyes.

I fired off a test shot. When neither of them blurred away, I confirmed my suspicion. They were out of juice and susceptible to bullets. “Cut it out. Now, which of you is actually Morgana?” I regretted saying that the moment it left my mouth.

“I am.” They both spat with the same characteristic, Morgana snark.

Shit, I cursed inwardly. I had to figure out how to tell them apart.

My eyes shifted between the two drow vampires, and I felt a headache coming on.

“What am I?”

“A dragon.” They both said quickly.

Morgana on the right continued. “I mean, it is pretty obvious after what’s happened. You’re going to have to pick a harder question.” She said it with the same typical Morgana characteristics. But it could easily be Nat’alet.

“That’s just what the fake Morgana would say.” Left narrowed her eyes before her expression softened. “Zach, come on. Stop being stupid. It’s me.” Seeing me falter, she added, “I love you and trust you to do the right thing.”

A shot rang out, and the Morgana who told me she loved me crumpled, the bullet lodging itself right between her eyes.

“Holy shit.” Scarlett yelped. “You shot her!”

“That was one hundred percent Nat’alet.” I turned to the real Morgana. “Like hell Morgana would ever profess her love for me. Even if she did feel that way.”

Morgana rolled her eyes at me. “Remind me never to get mushy with you. Help me up?” Her leather leggings and signature corset were torn, showing off more of her dark blue skin. Her corset was barely hanging on to keep her nipples covered, exposing more of her sinful curves. I wondered how it had held up in the first place. “Had enough?” She asked.

“I was assessing your injuries.” I grumbled. Reaching down, I offered her a hand, pulling her up. Then I went one step further and lifted her up, swinging her into a princess carry. Turning, I started walking to the exit. “Besides, you know you like me looking.”

“Get a room. This is getting old. Either fuck each other’s brains out or move on.” Scarlett scoffed, but the way her tails moved energetically behind her gave away her excitement at the idea.

“Morgana would probably be all for it. What do you say?” I teased her, wondering if she’d finally open up.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Her red eyes dripped with hidden meaning as she gazed into my eyes.

I couldn’t help but let the moment linger. “Let’s get out of here first, then we need to have a talk, Morgana.”

Her cheeks turned a darker blue, and she looked away, a cute shyness coming over her.

Up above the torn roof, I looked at the barrier that the Winter Queen had erected. I was surprised it was still there. Based on what she’d said, it was supposed to fall when Nat’alet died.

I froze. The back of my neck prickled just as the area lit up bright red. “Dodge.”

Curling down over Morgana, I watched in horror as Scarlett took the brunt of a red beam that hurled her across the open space and crashed through a boarded up store.

I whirled. My chest felt like it was filled with enough anger to burn the world alive.

My mate. No one fucks with my mate.

Morgana pushed against my chest, rolling out of my grip. “I’ll check on her.”

With the need to carry her gone, I shifted into my hybrid dragon form. Mass packed onto me as I turned into a sixteen foot long dragon, pouncing on Nat’alet.

I wasn’t sure what had possessed me into thinking I could kill a god with a bullet to the head. It had seemed straightforward at the time. And now Scarlett… If she...

I couldn’t even think about it, flying into a blind rage.

Nat’alet smirked at my anger, shifting once again. This time, though, he grew even larger than the hydra we had faced. His skin bubbled a swampy green as he transformed into a twenty foot tall swamp troll.

He caught me mid pounce and slammed me into the mall floor, shattering it and sending a spray of concrete everywhere.

I coughed up blood; even my hybrid body didn’t hold up against that level of damage. My rage had overpowered my better senses of combat, and I paid the price. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“If you were an adult dragon, this might have been a challenge. Little baby whelpling, it is a shame to kill you and remove your heart from helping heal the world.” Another one of those huge, green meaty fists slammed into my flank, and I felt my ribs crackle dangerously.

I worked my jaw and tried to quip back, but even if I could speak, he didn’t want me to.

A fist came and broke my jaw as he buried my head into the floor. Nat’alet punched as hard as a semi-truck flying down the highway.

“Maybe I’ll skin you, wear it myself. I hear you married into the Scalewright family. That would make a wonderful cover for me as I establish my new religion. Despite the hitch the Winter Queen put into my plan, they will move forward.” Nat’alet’s ugly mug smiled around his tusks as he huffed swampy breath in my face. It smelled like a sewer.

“The best part? I need to take off your skin while you are still alive. I think I’ll do the same with your two ladies and find two lovely shamans to take them over. Have a beautiful drow vampire and kitsune to play with and do my bidding.”

I thrashed under him, but even with my size and might, he had at least another several tons on me and was pressing me down with his full weight. If I tried to shift out of this, he’d flatten me like a pancake.

He was deliberately keeping my head and my mouth pointed away from him, forcing me to watch him out of the side of my eye.

Working slowly with my dragon tongue, I asked. “Why?” Or at least, I made a noise that sounded somewhat like that. But I needed to keep him talking, so I had a chance to come up with a better plan.

He paused, trying to decipher what I said before he guessed it. “We are tired of how the world is progressing. It was simpler back when humans had bows and spears, or even swords. Modern weapons are a problem, even for those of us who have been around long enough to amass power. So much sweeter were the days when a little magic brought tribes of man to their knees in worship.” There was a gleeful look on his face as he reminisced.

I snorted; he was an old man stuck in the past. Things changed. The world would always move forward. The only option was adapting to the changes, not trying to revert everything to what it used to be.

It didn’t escape me that he spoke as if he wasn’t alone in this endeavor.

I realized paranormals in general seemed more outdated. Maybe the shorter lifespan and turnover of generations among the humans had led to faster advancement.

Reading my face, Nat’alet continued. “You are too young. Far too young to understand. It was better back then and will be again.” His hand came off my chest and he hammered me again. This time, I could feel my ribs snap under the force. “But you won’t get to see that. I’ll beat you until you can’t move and then we’ll see about that skin of yours.”

But before he could hit me again, the mall lit up with bright silver light. He turned to look, his eyes widening at whatever he saw.

Something hurtled into him, large feathery silver wings filling my vision as Nat’alet was ripped off me and thrown into the stone structure that pierced the mall’s ceiling.

It came crashing down on top of him as my new feathered friend landed gracefully.

“Morgana?” I tried to say in disbelief as I pulled myself out of the hole Nat’alet had put me in.

Standing there was Morgana, battered and beaten, and with two silver angel wings sticking out of her back. They gave off a radiant light that even now I could see was burning her shoulders.

“I can’t hold this for long.” She punctuated the statement by coughing up blood that sizzled as it landed.

“Scarlett?” I tried to ask, wheezing the word out. But Morgana knew what I wanted.

“Safe. She’ll live... if you can get your ass up and help me finish this.”

My bulk rose from the ground, and I roared in answer. Despite my broken jaw, I was filled with enough determination to ignore the pain that coursed through my body.

Nat’alet pushed aside the stone wall that had collapsed on him, taking us in. “Ah. This is part of the secret between you and the church.” His body was covered in wounds. I noticed they weren’t healing quickly.

It seemed all of us were on our last legs.

I opened my jaw and breathed out frost at him before he could get up. I wasn’t about to let him recover if I could help it.

Nat’alet blocked it with his forearm and pushed it away with a blast of red energy. “Please. It won’t be that easy.” He stood back up, his left arm partially blackened like it had been frostbitten. “Come on. I want to see the full power of the famous Morgana Silverwing.”