Greetings Readers!
I hope your week is going well. As usual, I'm busy busy busy! I am doing a book on canning foods to preserve them. What an interesting topic! I had no idea about the complexities involved in it.
But none of you are here to hear about that, you're all here to see what Saita is up to. Please join me for the next chapter of Fell Dragon Book 3!
A panel slide opened next to Saita’s head and Chaka jumped from the hidden compartment. Both Saseric and Saita jumped in their chairs.
“Ah! There is number three.” said the Lizard when he managed to compose himself.
Saita was looking at Chaka with a bemused look on her face before she said. “He’s a goblin.”
“Hey!” Chaka pointed at Saita. “That is our word and is considered derogatory.”
“She grew up on human fairy tales, you can’t blame her,” said Saseric.
“Fine, that is the only time I will let you use it.” Chaka sat down at the table. “Now, let’s talk, Princess.”
“You clearly haven’t heard the news. No royal ties so that title is useless.”
Chaka chuckled. “That is your nickname from now on because I can see it irritates you. Your irritation makes me smile.”
Saita looked to Saseric and asked. “This is their King?”
“Kings come in shapes and sizes. Now for your contract. You see, Saseric has one drawn up for you and it is more than fair. Now I am willing to change a few things. You wish to travel fine by me, but I want a demonstration of your power.” Chaka indicated to the wall behind Saita. “Hit the wall and call for Bruno.”
Bemused Saita used the side of her fist to hit the wall and shouted. “Bruno!”
The door to the inn burst off its hinges as the three armed and two-headed person entered the room. Saita’s mouth dropped when she saw the creature.
“You think humans just dreamed up the creatures that were in your fairy tales?” laugh Chaka. “We all came from somewhere. That said, ask for names instead of using what you think we are called.”
“Well, what is that!”
“That is Bruno. Bruno is my current brawler, but he has suffered too many blows to his head over the last fifty years and I think it is time for him to retire. Your test is to retire him.”
“You mean kill him?” Saita looked horrified.
“By all means, if you think you can achieve that you can try but he will not allow it.” laughed Chaka who waved the bartender over.
The tall, thin creature, which mostly resembled a human, if a human had red skin, stepped forward and said. “Would this brawl be on your tab sir?”
“It would be. I’m testing the waters of a new brawler.”
“Bruno versus who?”
“Princess here.” he pointed to Saita.
“Very good. I’ll start moving the tables out of the way. We will begin in ten minutes.” the man moved away.
“And no alcohol for Bruno until he is finished with his fight. Oh! And a surgeon for afterwards.”
The man laughed as he walked away.
“A surgeon for who?” asked Saseric with suspicion.
“For whoever lives.”
“I’m not killing him,” said Saita more sternly.
“Then you best beat at least one of his heads into unconsciousness because he won’t stop until he soda pops you.”
“Soda pops?”
Chaka gripped the thumb of one hand with the other and pulled, making a popping sound.
“You’re kidding.”
“Am I?”
“You know what.” Saita got to her feet. “Fuck it! What do I really have to lose? I wouldn’t mind venting. Hey! Bruno, let’s chat.”
Chaka grinned as Saita went up to Bruno who towered over her by at least three feet. “She’s both brave and stupid. If he doesn’t rip her head off, I think I may grow to actually like her.”
Saseric ground his teeth and watched as Saita approached the giant creature and tried to talk to him. She knew exactly two of the human dialects by heart and the third was one she could at least read and write. Other than that, she knew no other language. This was going to be a problem.
“What are the rules about having nanites?” he asked Chaka.
Chaka was standing and directing the barkeep in moving tables and chairs, but he paused to ponder the question before asking. “Why?”
“A few years ago, she had an arm regrown, it still houses nanites that heal, to an extent. I am concerned about her lack of language. Translation nanites are allowed for brawlers, right?”
“A technicality that is often overlooked. I’ll organise something, give her an opportunity to be taught some of the more common languages. She looks bright enough so I am not worried.”
“And your friend there?” Saseric saw Bruno almost gently pat the top of Saita’s head at something she had said.
“Bruno knows about the contract. He won’t kill her, but I want her to think he will try to kill her. You are throwing her into something you barely understand in hopes of it protecting her. It won’t. There will always be people out to get revenge for what her father has done. I would rather have her ready to face people who want to kill her than her be unprepared.”
“Why the sudden interest in using her?”
“You, my friend, are unable to see the level of power in her. Us children of the forest, we see and know the flow of life and she is bursting with it. Those marks she is trying to hide under clothes glow to me. She is powerful but she is angry. She may not seem it, but she carries a fury I haven’t even seen in the biggest of your hoarding kind.” he grinned. “She is going to make me so much money.”
“Just promise me that you will keep me informed of her well-being.”
“Let’s see how well she manages before we make promises to each other.”
“So, you are a troll, right?” asked Saita as she walked around Bruno. “You are not like the stories I read as a child.”
“Rock ogre.” said the creature as one head looked at her while the other looked at the tables being moved. “Monkey?”
“Close I guess, human or you can call me pink thing.”
“Does pink thing fight?”
“I do yes.” she showed him her hands.
Bruno breathed in deeply and said. “Burned meat. You fought fire.”
“I did.”
“Fought earth?”
“No.”
“You learn.”
“Don’t hold back Bruno!” shouted Chaka from the table where he sat cross-legged waving a tiny beer mug over his head.
“Is it safe to actually fight in…”
A giant fist came crashing down and she barely had enough time to kick back to avoid it.
“I guess we start then.”
“No talk. Fists up!” the ogre rushed at her, and she simply stepped out of the way.
She assumed because of his size that his speed would be diminished but she had forgotten about his third arm. She didn’t avoid that. She was grabbed around the middle and slammed against the inn’s wall. The wind was knocked from her, and she barely had time to gasp for breath before the other two tried to smash down on top of her head. It was her force field that protected her from death. Even though the direct blows didn’t rain down on her head she felt the force and it made her head pound.
She used the strengthening energy she had seen Bolx use to protect her hands as she punched at the arm that held her. They made a difference, even though the massive creature before her didn’t show it. The pebble-like skin split and blue blood oozed out. Then, out of nowhere one of the heads was in her face trying to bite. She pulled back as far as possible and slammed her forehead against its nose. Both hissed in pain.
Bathing her lower legs in the energy she kicked at the creature’s elbow until it eventually released her, but the other two arms reached forward to grip her shoulders to the wall. The third then pulled back. As it came thundering forward, she raised her legs to catch the impact and angle it toward the head that had tried to bite her earlier. A crack echoed in the inn as the fist slammed the head back. The uninjured head looked at the injured one and blinked a few times before the body toppled over backwards. Saita found herself pulled forward to land on the creature with a thud. For a moment she thought that Bruno would rip her arms from her sockets but then one arm released and fell while the other slammed her into the floor next to the conscious head.
The blow echoed in her head, and she struggled to see straight for a few seconds but found herself shakily getting to her feet without knowing she had. She rubbed the left side of her head and moaned when she felt blood under her fingers and the bump. She tried to shake the triple vision she had as she looked down at Bruno. One head looked very unimpressed while the second was clearly unconscious and drooling on the floor.
“Clever.” said the conscious one.
“Bravo! And no broken chairs or tables!” shouted Chaka. “Barely got through one beer. No time wasted.”
Saita was still trying to get her bearings when several hands hit her back in congratulations. Then the cheers came to her ears. It reminded her of the time when the Vulpine had cheered her victory. It brought a sense of joy to her that she thought had been lost to her. It overshadowed the anger in her heart for a moment and she wanted more of that. She grinned as the blood dripped from her chin. She looked up at Chaka and said. “Where’s the contract?”
“Not bad,” said Saseric. “Thought he'd at least break her left arm.”
“Bruno was downed, there was no point in harming her further.” Chaka drained the rest of the beer. “Before I give her the contract let me ask this: When will her family realise that they made a terrible mistake?”
“They have already likely realised it,” said Saseric softly. “However, it is in both your and her best interests to keep moving so that they do not find her.”
“You would keep her from her family?”
“It is difficult to explain but there is a time when children need to avoid the clan to get stronger. Something is brewing and she keeps popping into my life at the strangest times. She is important. Important enough that I would ask you to make sure she works this contract to the end. If she returns to her family, she will always feel like she can never trust them. That trust needs to be earned back. Take the 18 months with her and put it to good use. Try not to maim her too much.” Saseric looked to where Saita was trying to help Bruno to his feet. “This is the first time I have seen her happy since she was a child. Maybe this will ease her rage.”
“Unresolved problems don’t ease rage. It intensifies it.” Chaka banged his mug on the table as Bruno lifted Saita onto his shoulders which caused her head to almost hit the ceiling. “I do not want the humans to come sniffing at my door because if they do, I will show them the contract. She will be with our company for 18 months. After that, she will have to decide where she wants to go.”
Edzeeker heard via the grapevine that the experiment had been expelled from her home world and away from her species. He wasn’t sure what to feel. He desperately needed to talk to her but now his bargaining piece was held in the human royalty’s hands. She would have no reason to talk to him and even if she did it was purely to rip his throat out. He rubbed at his throat and grimaced when he thought back to her trying to reach for his throat and tearing down his forcefield. At first, he had no idea how it had been capable but then he remembered that her right arm. The skeleton structure was of a metal he had only seen on his planet. He wondered if he still had all the research notes that Doctor Sellious had sent him. He needed to be sure.
He shook his head. He was distracted and tired. The taint was spreading. Several systems had already been enveloped by the wasting disease and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had nothing left in him. This had been the last timeline he would have had the power to do anything in. He had found Saita earlier this time. Had a son produced. Yet now, they were both gone, and the Fell Dragon was slowly starting to exert its presence in this world. He needed to do something, anything to save this time for if he didn’t there would be nothing to stop what was coming.
He looked out the window of the abandoned home and frowned at the sunset.
“How many do we have left?” he asked the person sitting opposite him.
“Years? Judging how quickly this is spreading I’d say between three maybe four years.”
“Even if I could get the boy back, he is too young to do the experiments on. I need the girl.”
The stranger leaned back on his chair and started rocking on it. “I don’t condone what you did but this is not my time, nor is it yours. Was there really no other way to stop this creature?”
“I tried to find another way!” he growled as he drank from the cup before him. “Why do you think your time was eaten?”
“The girl is angry.” the rocking continued. “She has no memory of what discussion you had before she was found. You held her captive for over four years and all that time is gone. All were replaced with pain and terror, and now her family has turned their backs on her. She will not talk to you willingly. Hell, if she saw another of your kind, she is likely to attack it.”
“You had a bond with her, help me!”
“Had. This timeline I never met her. I recognised her and she had no idea who I was. If it weren’t for the war her father caused maybe we could have met but even then, in this timeline his wife and daughter lived. In mine, they succumbed to the wasting disease, and I was free to pursue her…”
“Why don’t you pursue her again?”
“Look,” the chair slammed back onto the ground. “I agreed to help you find a way to save the timelines from collapsing when you came to me. That is the only reason I am here now. I am not going to toy with her heart. Hell, she has literally been thrown away by her family.”
“From what I understand you were the one that suggested it.”
Bolx slammed a fist onto the table and then pointed to Edzeeker. “I only did it to keep her alive. You said that she was your key, your last key.”
“And now she is somewhere in the universe, and I can’t find her.” Edzeeker curled his hands into fists.
“Look, most of those that came with me were able to pick up their lives where they left off but some of us couldn’t. Maybe I can convince them to help scour around. We know the planet she was destined for. There were rumours of a fight between her and a Behemoth but after that, we were not able to find her.”
Edzeeker nodded his head and then asked. “What about you? Could you integrate back in with your family?”
“Both yes and no.” he shook his head. “My youngest nephew was the only one I could speak to before you asked me to join you. He didn’t believe my story. I will need to return to explain to him. I need to also convince Saasha and that will be no easy task. At least she read my letter and started speaking with Pura.”
“I need you not to worry about your family but to find the girl. She needs to play her role in all of this.”
“Easier said than done. You didn’t hear what your cousin said to her. I doubt she will want to be found for some time.”
“Make it happen. We don’t have time for her to find peace. That is not why I made her.”
“Yeah, we all know why you made her.” Bolx got to his feet and sneered. “You made her to fight a creation of your making which you lost control over. Do you think I didn’t know? My Saita had her way of finding information. Had she brought me through earlier I would have saved her and not helped you. Just remember that. You are still the bad guy. Don’t think for a moment what you did will redeem your damned soul.”
“Just find her and bring her to me.”
Bolx spat into the corner of the room. “Don’t call for me again. I’ll find you.”
Then he teleported away, leaving Edzeeker to nurse the cup before him.
You didn't think I would just let Edzeeker fade into the background, now did you? Nope, and he's trying to get Bolx to help him in his plan, but will the Saith do as he has been ordered to do? Guess you'll have to keep reading to see what happens.
For those of you just joining us, please note that this is the follow on book from Fell Dragon. Follow this link to read it
Fell Dragon Book 1
Fell Dragon Book 2
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 2>>You are Here>>Part 4
