Page 4 of The Dragon’s Captive

“Oh, shit.”

Kate suddenly realized that she was not just watching them. They were watching her. She had been spotted from thousands of feet in the air, like a rabbit by a hawk, and they were coming for her, wings back, tails straight, necks extended in a fast dive.

Elation turned to fear. Would they be hostile? They were more than capable of killing on sight, of that she had no doubt. What if they mistook her for food, or what if she became prey? She bolted for the portal, her feet almost failing to carry her across the short distance as fast as the dragons covered vertical miles. She threw herself back into her kitchen and killed the power just as the ground beyond her world shuddered with the impact of two heavy creatures making a hard landing, great dragon heads and slitted eyes rolling in the direction of the glowing aperture.

The portal shut down a millisecond later, leaving her panting, elated, and covered in a sheen of sweat.

“Holy…” She stared at the wall where the dragon world had once been. Now it was nothing but a grease-spattered, yellow-painted wall. It was almost a shock to see it, as if her typical reality had just asserted itself even more violently than the dragons that had come for her.

For a few minutes, she had walked in another world—and she couldn’t wait to do it again.

Her little kitchen victory dance knocked the dish soap into the sink and made grumpy Mrs. Morris downstairs bang on the ceiling with her broom, but even the thudding disapproval of the world’s touchiest neighbor couldn’t impinge on Kate’s pure triumph.

“I did it! I really did it!”

There was a whole world waiting for her at the flick of a switch, and she could go there any time she pleased. Of course, she would have to plan a longer expedition, but there was no reason why she couldn’t go back sooner for a little while, just to look… she already missed the world, which seemed brighter and so much bigger than the one she inhabited.

“That’s because your world is this apartment and the lab,” she lectured herself. “Or, it was, at least.”

It took some time for her pulse and breathing rates to return to normal. When they did, and she was able to think a little more clearly, she took a shower and checked herself carefully. She monitored herself carefully for any signs of radiation exposure. Welts, burns, rashes. Nothing seemed to be present, though it could take some hours for any symptoms to show. She was confident though. The dragon compounds provided protection on a cellular level, and at the rate of radiation exposure in the dragon realm, the effects would have been more or less immediate, she was fairly sure.

CHAPTER 2

Lord Vilka, guardian of the slumbering isles, was bored. He held a rock between his hands, manipulating it lightly between his fingers. Slowly it was starting to change color and form, dull stone turning to brilliant gem. He was bringing it into being using the powers all dragons had to manipulate the physical structure of the substance. When it was finally all a bright uniform blue, he tossed it over his shoulder into the growing pile of precious stones in the corner of the room. His war chamber, a room that had never once been used for anything remotely resembling war since the fortress was first built, was beginning to grow cluttered with the hobby he kept himself occupied with.

He reached for another plain stone, held it up to his eyes, and wondered idly what he might make this time. Ruby, perhaps. As his fingers set to work on the stone, he gazed out the window and sighed a deep rumbling sigh. His posting was allegedly a highly honored one, but though he had distinguished himself in the warrior trials and earned his status many decades ahead of most other dragons, he was being sidelined having been given command of the most remote post possible, a post that looked out over the remnants of the last great war and little else. There were no homes here, no civilization of any kind, just Vilka and a hundred and one hotheaded warriors.

Hunting was the preferred pastime, hunting and training for a war that in all likelihood would never come. His father had been privileged enough to see true battle, but Vilka was beginning to think his mettle would never be tested that way. The single greatest challenge he had was managing his warriors, all of whom felt as he did, whose blood ran hot with dragon fire, and whose natural instinct for battle had distinguished them as creatures best suited for the furthest reaches of the empire. Delinquents, that was what they were, and he was their king.

“M’lord!” A voice came from somewhere behind him. “I bring news!”

Vilka answered without turning around. “What is it? Are the men restless? Do we need to announce another round of sky battles, Erias?”

“It is an infinitely more pressing matter, my lord.”

Vilka turned to look at Erias with a raised brow. There was something in the man’s tone that held excitement. Erias was never excited. He thought it beneath him.

Erias was the most steady of all those under Vilka’s command, which was why he had made him his second. Unlike most of the men who had been deployed for various disciplinary incidents, Erias had volunteered for the post. He was a deep and devout believer that the slumbering world eaters would soon emerge, an obsessive with his old scrolls, scripts, and tablets. If he had not been the second ranking officer in the fort he would no doubt have come in for a great deal of teasing. As it was, he commanded a certain amount of respect even though he was relatively young compared to Vilka.

Erias was built on a smaller, sleeker scale in both his dragon and human forms. He was dark-haired and dark-eyed and usually smiled easily, especially if he got onto one of his favorite subjects. He was almost beaming now.

“What is it?”

“Yvor and Grail claim to have seen a human emerge into the northern field below the slumbering mountain while they were practicing aerial maneuvers.”

Lord Vilka let out a snort. “Had they been drinking?”

“No, sir. I verified their reports before bringing them to you, of course. Reckless guard chatter is of no interest to you. But both men are in good standing and high esteem. They investigated, saw the human at close quarters and say that it ran back to a very small portal which closed before they could capture it.”

Vilka tapped his fingers thoughtfully against the desk. “It’s not possible for humans to walk in our realm. They are prone to illness.”

“I know, sir,” Erias said. “But at one time it was not possible for there to be any gateways between the realms either, and that changed. It could be that a human has found a way through.”

“It was just one human?”

“Just one, a young female according to the guards. They say she did not seem to be armed, or interested in conflict. She fled as soon as she became aware that contact was imminent, into an area which they described as a dark little hole.”

“We cannot have young female humans creeping about our fields, can we,” Vilka said thoughtfully. “If I have learned anything about human qualities at all, it is that they are persistent. If this human was able to enter and leave, she will likely return. Perhaps with other humans. It is imperative we do not allow our borders to be breached. The second war of the worlds could take place here if it is.”