Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
The thing that emerged from the mountain—the alien that truly did fucking exist!—windmilled its arms, lifted its legs and stamped them, and even from this distance, I swore the ground rumbled. The clouds wreathing it from the neck up spared us a glimpse of its head.
Movement drew the eye as its tail whiplashed back and forth. A tail big enough to sweep an entire street clear of houses.
Joslyn uttered a heartfelt, “Holy fuck, it’s Godzilla.”
“No, it’s a dragon,” I murmured as I saw wings unfurling from its back. Wings so long and wide they cast a shadow despite the midnight sun.
“Dragons aren’t real?” Vernon stated and questioned at once.
“Oh, they’re real all right and not very good at listening,” Alistair said. Then, in a louder voice aimed at the sky, he shouted, “I told you to wait!”
I raised my gaze and gaped at the colorful bodies swooping in from above.
I screamed, ducked, and covered. Don’t laugh. What would you do if you saw a whole bunch of dragons coming right at you?
Noah threw himself on me, probably mentally cursing the fact he didn’t find a gun anywhere in the station. Not surprising. Antarctica had a treaty forbidding firearms, and it wasn’t as if there were any meat-hunting predators on the continent.
I waited for us to get torn to shreds only to hear a deep sigh and Alistair apologizing.
“Sorry about that. My companions are a bit excited, but they won’t harm you.
Right?” A comment not directed at me, I realized, as Noah removed himself as a shield and I uncurled from my balled shape.
Before getting to my feet, I took in the situation.
To my left, Vernon clung to Joslyn, who, for once, had nothing to say.
Noah stood to my right in a half crouch, fists partially raised.
As to who Alistair addressed…
I swallowed hard as I beheld a quad of dragons ranging in size and color.
The biggest possessed scales of glossy black with a pair of impressive horns.
A pink dragon, her fuchsia-hued scales limned in pale pink, stood by the ebony’s side.
On his other, a pearlescent beast, hinting blue one moment, mauve and silver the next.
The fourth was a slightly smaller, orange dragon who hopped on clawed feet, exclaiming, “The big one is mine.”
The threat had me gasping, “You are not eating Noah.”
“Eat?” I swear its orange snout wrinkled. “Ew. No. I want him as a servant. He seems rather capable and courageous. Although, I do wonder about his intelligence. Who fights a dragon with his bare hands?” it chortled.
“It’s talking.” Noah couldn’t have sounded more surprised if he tried.
“You don’t say,” drawled the Ebony. “You can have him, Tig. He doesn’t seem too bright.”
“We are not here to take servants,” chided Alistair. “But to do something about that.” No need for him to point.
“Do what exactly? Have you seen the size of it?” The pink dragon waved its hand. “Maybe we should give it what it wants and get in its good graces.”
“What does it want?” I blurted. When all the eyes swung on me, my stomach sank. “You’re here to bring me to it.” A remark that led to me glancing at the still stretching behemoth. Was there any point in even trying to resist?
“While it did demand quite forcefully that we retrieve you, I managed to fight the compulsion and ordered the hatchlings to shake it off, too,” Alistair explained.
“It can control minds?” Vernon squeaked as I pushed my glasses up on my nose and squinted as the wings suddenly folded and the sun blasted me in the face.
“It didn’t control me,” the ebony huffed. “It merely asked for a favor.”
“It wanted you to kidnap me.”
“We wouldn’t have to if you weren’t such a poor servant,” exclaimed the pink. “Imagine hiding away instead of being thankful for the honor he bestows.”
“Pretty sure his plan is to kill me.”
“Probably because you’ve failed to properly do your duty,” the ebony noted.
“She truly has,” the pink tsked.
Before I could retort, the little orange clapped its paws and bounced again. “I didn’t know we could grow so big.”
“Neither did I,” muttered Alistair.
Trust Joslyn to not be frozen in disbelief. “Holy shit. I need my camera.”
“Don’t talk about anything good until I grab my microphone,” Vernon added racing into the station.
“Um.” Noah couldn’t have looked more flummoxed if he tried.
Me? I ignored the little dragons to stare at the mega one. The one who wanted to lay claim to my eggs. Who held up his paw and waved.
At us.
Me.
Gulp.
He began walking, each step shaking the ground underfoot. Guess that was to be expected with a dragon that had to be a mile or more in length.
“Is it heading for McMurdo Station?” Noah queried, looking pale.
“Probably looking for lunch,” my morbid reply.
“There was nothing living left at that settlement,” Allistair interjected, “If I had to guess, he is going for a magma bath.”
“Won’t he burn?” I might have sounded a tad hopeful.
Alistair shook his head, but it was the orange dragon who stated, “Dragons are born in magma. It helps us develop in the egg and cures the shell to hatch.”
“After a long nap, heat revives muscles long disused,” added Alistair.
“Like soaking in a hot tub,” I muttered.
“Exactly.” Alistair smiled, but I wasn’t in the mood.
“Can someone explain what the hell is going on?”
Alistair’s brows drew together. “It’s rather complicated.”
“Give me the abbreviated version.”
“Someone intentionally woke that elder dragon.”
At hearing the word someone, I blurted, “Dr. Malone?”
“Yes. How do you know of him?”
“He was at McMurdo station under an assumed name. Why would he want to wake that?” I waved my hand at the big dragon, who’d chosen to drop to the ground and slither rather than walk.
“Because he couldn’t catch us!” squealed the orange.
“Malone is the reason we hatched,” stated the big ebony. “He has a process for activating volcanoes, even dormant cones. He’s been exploding those he thought might have eggs to hatch. Looks like this time, he went for a bigger prize.”
“I can’t believe that’s a dragon.” One that was millions of years old, and alien to boot. “That must make you like his kids, grandkids, great grandkids--” I threw out options, but the pearl dragon interrupted.
“While we are descended from him, we are also far removed. Think Cro-Magnon versus humans today.”
“Meaning it’s stupid?” I said it, even as I knew it to be false.
Alistair shook his head. “Far from it. Our kind have unique learning abilities. While he might come across as simple-minded, he will quickly adapt to this era.”
“It already speaks English,” I informed him. “Despite the fact it’s been sleeping for thousands of years. Says it learned by listening to the wind, whatever that means.”
Alistair appeared thoughtful as he mumbled, “It must have been intercepting radio waves and frequencies. There’s enough of them flitting around.”
“And by invading our dreams,” I blurted before I could stop myself.
Rather than be ridiculed, the little orange exclaimed. “Ours too!”
“I think how he learned to speak is the least important thing right now. What are we going to do about it? I mean, it’s going to have to eat. And soon. In case you hadn’t noticed, ain’t too many meal options in the area,” Noah swung his arm back and forth.
Before anyone could reply, Joslyn, with her camera pointed, chirped, “We’re back. What did we miss?” Vernon stumbled in her wake with the microphone I’d used on our trip to the falls.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow you to record,” Alistair stated.
“If you’re worried about people learning about dragons, I’d say the behemoth over there is ruining your plan to stay hidden,” I pointed out.
The giant beast had reached the volcanoes, the fog in the area not thick enough to hide its massive bulk. It stood for a moment before flopping atop Erebus, stifling the smoke.
“While we won’t be able to deny the existence of The Destroyer, there’s no reason for anyone to know of the hatchlings,” Alistair argued. “It wouldn’t be safe for them.”
“The Destroyer?” Noah repeated. “Is that its name?”
“It’s the only one I’ve heard thus far. I didn’t learn of its existence until recently. It’s possible it had another title noted in historic texts.”
I shook my head. “It claimed its name is something that can’t be pronounced by humans.”
“It seems you’ve spoken to it at length,” Alistair noted. “What else did it mention?”
“Before I start spilling my secrets, I think you should start. Like, who are you, really? And how is it you’ve got four dragons?”
“Shamash doesn’t own me!” huffed the ebony beast.
“Shamash, whom you know as Alistair, is our daddy,” the orange runt explained.
“Although we only met a few months ago, on account our mother stole his seed to fertilize her clutch eons ago. We might not have ever hatched, were it not for Malone. Well, Abaddon, Persephone and Pollita, at least. My volcano in Hawaii has always been more or less active, but my egg must have been wedged in a bad spot since I only recently matured enough to be born.”
“Tigger, you’re talking too much again,” Alistair chided. “You’re going to confuse her.”
“Too late for that,” my dry retort. I rubbed my forehead. “So let me get this straight, Alistair is your father? Dare I ask how much you had to drink when you slept with their mother?”
Laughter barked out of him. “Not enough to agree, I assure you. She drugged my refreshment.”
“Probably best you were passed out. I can’t imagine it would have been fun for you,” I said, eyeing the shape of the dragons versus the man.
“Who gives a fuck about how you became a dragon daddy. How do I know you aren’t going to steal Velma to appease your great times a hundred grandaddy?” Noah remained wary.
“Because she’s currently the only leverage we have.” Alistair didn’t couch the truth.
“Going to dangle me as bait?”
“Only if necessary.” Alistair didn’t lie, and I kind of wished he would.
“And will I survive if you do use me as a meat carrot?”
A shrug didn’t reassure. “I have no idea. I’m only here because Astaria deemed it important.”