Chapter 2 #2
The footsteps increased their pace as they followed.
Two sets of them—large men from the sound of their footfalls.
The dragon, already too close to the surface, roiled beneath Erich’s skin, seeking to break free of the tight chains that kept it in control.
The mental barriers that he held it in place with were meant to prevent a transformation before the full moon, when the dragon became too powerful and overcame him.
He turned a corner, hurried down an empty street, and abruptly met a dead end.
It would appear to them that he was cornered, but he’d led them there for a reason.
These ruffians were doing this outside the law, and he wasn’t about to alert the Midnight Guard to his presence with a street brawl.
Erich turned to face the empty alleyway. There was nothing there but shadows. But he could sense the stalkers close by.
“Come out. I know you’re following me,” he said.
Silence answered, and for a moment, he thought he’d imagined the footsteps.
Until three people stepped into view—one more than he’d counted.
Either he was losing his touch, or there was mischief afoot.
The largest of them had a jagged scar bisecting his face and an empty, puckered socket where his eye used to be.
The second man was missing a thumb and pointer finger, as if they’d been bitten clean off.
The smallest man was well-dressed and unscarred, a strange juxtaposition to his comrades.
Erich also realized, as he tried to study the smallest man, that his eyes kept drifting away from the man as if some spell were repelling him from looking too closely. Not good.
“You’re rather brave, corrupted,” the smallest man, and the presumed leader, said in a silken tone.
“I’m impatient, is what I am. Why are you following me?” Erich asked, his hand resting on the pommel of his dagger.
“I’m doing what all men must—earning geld. Your head will fetch a good price, I think.”
Hunters. He should have known. He’d been so preoccupied with the Midnight Guard that he hadn’t thought about the Hunters’ Guild. Basilia had the largest group of organized hunters and smugglers on the continent. He hadn’t been as inconspicuous as he’d thought.
“I think I’d rather keep it, thank you.”
The man shrugged. “Suit yourself. Watching these two fight is half the fun.”
The largest man was wielding an axe, twice the size of his head. It would have a slow swing but a deadly, bone-crushing strike. The best thing Erich could do was try to avoid it.
Erich drew his dagger from its halter, and the axe man laughed at the sight of it.
“Is that all you have?” he asked.
“It’s all I need.”
Erich lunged at the leader. As expected, the big man swung his axe toward Erich.
He dodged and backed up a step, and the smaller lackey pinned him between him and the larger one.
What he hadn’t expected was for the leader to move, lightning quick, out of harm’s way.
Erich slashed the axe wielder at the elbow, and his massive weapon sagged.
Erich turned to the smaller one, who blew a cloud of something foul-smelling into Erich’s face, which rendered him partially blind.
Stumbling in the dark, Erich narrowly avoided another crushing swing of the large man’s axe.
Someone let loose a bloodcurdling scream, and Erich jabbed in the direction he last remembered the big man to have been in.
He heard a loud thud as the axe fell to the ground, and using his heightened sense of hearing, Erich rushed the man, grasped him by the neck, and twisted.
A sickening crack sounded as the man fell to the ground.
Erich could hardly see through the haze of poison, and his sense of smell was impaired.
The dragon inside him roared, eager for bloodshed, hungry to destroy them all, but the sensible part of him held on.
It had been long enough since the last full moon that he had greater control.
Erich used his dragon sight to find an opening, sliding in close enough to stab a dagger into the poisoner’s ribs. He crumpled to the ground.
As soon as they were dispatched, Erich stumbled away, half blind, for several city blocks before he found a fountain that he could dunk his face in and wash the poison from his eyes.
His dragon blood would take care of the rest. But even with his quick healing, his vision remained blurry.
A disadvantage he couldn’t afford should the men recover and come after him.
Erich took the long way back to the inn.
He was afraid that he was being followed and had to loop around several neighborhoods before he was confident that he wasn’t leading the hunters to Fritz.
If a corrupted like him fetched a high bounty, he could just imagine the geld they’d offer for an elf.
That was why Erich preferred being alone. If you didn’t have companions, you didn’t have to worry about risking their safety. Worrying about someone else only made his job more complicated. By the time he returned, the sun was high, and he was exhausted.
The inn they’d chosen was a shabby, run-down establishment in one of the more unsavory parts of town.
When Erich entered, Fritz was sitting in the common room.
His body was angled toward the flames, and there was a blank expression on his face.
It was a painfully uncanny scene, and Fritz may as well have waved a flag over his head that declared him nonhuman.
Thankfully, the innkeeper was the sort who accepted bribes, and Erich, anticipating this, had paid her extra when they’d rented the room, just in case.
She was the common room’s only other occupant, and her gaze was averted.
Erich fell heavily into the wooden chair across from Fritz, startling him from his vision.
Fritz blinked at Erich in a haze, before shaking himself like a wet dog.
How Fritz had survived this long among humans was a mystery.
At times, he seemed wise beyond his years, while at other times, he seemed terribly young and naive.
“We might need to change inns,” Erich said by way of greeting. Living with the constant fear of attack was normal for Erich. Watching another person’s back was unfamiliar. If it weren’t for Fritz, he wouldn’t have gone back at all.
“Getting into trouble already?” Fritz asked.
“It finds me. Or rather, it found me today, on my way back from the docks.”
“That is trouble. I told you to stay away from her until we’ve formulated a plan.”
Erich grunted in acknowledgment as guilt gnawed at him. He trusted Fritz’s intuition, but he trusted his gut too, and he was glad he’d been there.
“You don’t have to stay. I can get her out and bring her to you,” Erich said, though he already knew what Fritz’s answer would be.
“Trying to get rid of me again?” Fritz said with a single raised eyebrow.
“Better we break apart than get caught together.”
“This only works if we do it together,” Fritz said, pinching his brow. He looked skinnier and paler than when Erich had first met him.
Erich leaned forward to whisper. “Did you see something?”
“No. There are too many possible outcomes, a thousand tangled threads.” He sighed and leaned back to slump in his chair.
“Well, you keep trying, and I’ll do what I’m best at.” Erich stood and grasped Fritz’s shoulder.
Fritz looked up at Erich with a quizzical stare. “And what’s that exactly?”
“Find information. I’ll search for a way into the temple.”
“You make it sound so simple. Do you really think you can simply carry her out of the temple?”
“I’ll do whatever is necessary,” Erich said, with a nonchalant shrug. But on the inside, his gut was churning.