forward, bared sword in hand. “A dragon,” he says with satisfaction. “And a woman from the alien tribe. Truly a great catch.”
“Please lower your spears, warrior,” I say in cavemanese. “We are not a threat to you.”
“Not now, certainly,” the caveman says. “Never again, if I have my way. And I think I will.”
“We are innocent travelers,” I persist. “We have not harmed you or anyone else. Let us go, as honor dictates, and no harm will come to you.”
The caveman sheaths his sword and frowns. “Harm? How would you inflict harm on us now?”
“You know about the alien tribe,” I state, not feeling good about how calm this guy is. “We have many, many warriors on our side. As well as full dragons that breathe fire and are impervious to your weapons. They will all seek revenge on you if anything happens to us.”
“That may be,” the man says, a smirk playing in the corner of his mouth. “But if so, someone must tell them. To be honest, I don’t think I will.”
A chuckle goes through the gang of cavemen. There’s about thirty of them, and I rack my brain to remember if I’ve seen cavemen with those dark blue stripes back at the slayer camp next to the village. I can’t be sure — I’ve been too focused on going home to Earth, not really that interested in the army the married girls have built, along with their husbands.
Another caveman, bigger than most, comes up to Caronerax, grins, grabs the spear shaft, and yanks it out of the dragon’s chest. It’s followed by a short spray of ichor.
“Don’t do that!” I yell. “He’s injured! Have you no honor?”
Caronerax stands still for two heartbeats. Then his hand shoots out, he grabs the man’s throat, there’s a muted crack, and the tormentor collapses to the ground, head flopping loosely on a neck where the spine inside has been pulverized.
The leader draws his sword again, fast, and puts the edge at my throat. “Calm down, dragon. This soft one has no scales to stop my blade. You are fast, but are you fast enough?”
Caronerax clearly considers using his great speed and power to attack the leader, and I half want him to. The other half is extremely conscious of the cold sharpness of the steel where it touches my soft throat.
“If you draw a single drop of blood from that female, I will burn you all,” the dragon growls.
“I will draw more than a single drop if you don’t stand still,” the leader says and nods to his men.
Four of them inch closer to Caronerax and tie his hands and ankles with steel wires.
My heart sinks in my chest. For a dragon in human form, and especially an injured one, that should be enough to bind him so he can’t escape. That was how Mia caught Kyandros, using the steel string from her crossbow.
“Why are you doing this?” I try again. “That dragon is not an enemy! He’s friendly, and he will help us against the other dragons!”
“The other dragons are none of our concern,” the leader says as he sheaths his sword once more. “The alien tribe can deal with them if they want. And if they can. Which I understand has recently become much less likely.”
“Why?” I inquire. “What’s happened?”
The leader ignores me. “This is as good a place as any to set up camp for the night, Baliduz’ar,” he says to another man. “Send ten men to hunt and gather food for a feast, celebrating our victory over this dragon. Carry poor Gump’an to the middle of the clearing and prepare him a pyre. He will be avenged before this night is over. Avenged very, very slowly.” He sends an angry glance in Caronerax’s direction.
“Yes, chief,” the man says and walks off.
The chief reaches out and strokes my hair with his fingertip. “And maybe celebrating much, much more. I think it will be a long and uncommonly pleasant night. For some of us.”
I recoil from his touch, but he just chuckles.
“Touch her again, and I will save you for last when I murder you all,” Caronerax says, and the menace in his voice makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
The men around him instinctively draw away, feeling the danger.
“Be quiet, dragon scum,” the chief says, going pale and not smiling. “Your time will come. Very soon.”
They tie Caronerax to a tree at the edge of the clearing, but they take me with them to