Escaping Antarctica's Dragon

Prologue

I soared high over a land of glaring white streaked with hints of gray of varying shades. The mountain I flew over stretched for hundreds of miles, however, I only focused on one section. A sinuous expanse with nothing remarkable about it.

Yet.

Having been here before, I knew what to expect, but it didn’t stop the terror from filling me when a section of the snow-covered ridge began to shiver.

I’d seen this several times now, and it still stole my breath.

Caused my beating wings to falter. As panic pulsed deep within, making my heart pound.

I roused from the nightmare, panting and thrashing. My antics woke my guest.

His low voice emerged from the darkness of my lair. “You had the dream again?”

Obviously, but shame at the recurring fear wouldn’t let me admit it. “Nope. Was sleeping like a hatchling in its shell when an insane itch woke me. Grab the rake, would you, and give the spot between my wings a rub.”

A snort was my reply. “You have servants for that.”

“Pip’s gone into town for dinner and a movie with Maddox.” Apparently, they couldn’t accomplish this thing called “date night” at home. Something about me constantly interrupting. As if their need for intimacy was more important than taking care of me.

“If they’re out, then it’s the perfect time.”

“Time for what?”

“For us to leave.”

Not the first time Shamash, whom I’d only met days before, broached the idea. “To do what?”

“Prepare for the threat your dream portents.”

My snout wrinkled. “I told you I didn’t have the dream.”

“Lying? Really?” He crossed his arms and pursed his lips.

“I should eat you,” I hissed.

“You could try and fail,” Shamash corrected.

“I should have never told you about my dream,” I muttered, shifting in the nest I’d been building of blankets and pillows.

“It’s a vision of something to come, and it needs to be dealt with.”

“I don’t see why I need to leave home to handle it.”

Shamash waved a hand. “You know what? Stay here wallowing in comfort while I gather the other hatchlings to heroically counter the impending danger.”

“Them heroic? I am the mightiest of the clutch.” I puffed my chest at the declaration.

“Strength is nothing if you’re hiding.”

“You dare call me a coward?” I hissed.

Rather than reply with words, Shamash clucked, implying he thought me a chicken!

“We will depart at once!” A decision rashly made but once spoken, could not be retracted. Quicker than I liked—with no time to present a plausible excuse as to why we should postpone—we ended up outside just as twilight ended.

“Give me a moment to pack my clothes, and then we’ll be on our way.” Shamash stripped and shoved the garments into a satchel.

Took effort to not gulp at the reminder we’d be leaving.

Why dread instead of excitement? I’d always planned to go.

Eventually. On my terms. With Pip, and likely Maddox, too, since she never went anywhere without him.

And they’d likely be even more disgustingly devoted to each other instead of me because of the baby growing in her belly.

Another loyal servant once they got past the useless age where they did nothing but piss, cry, and sleep.

“You’re sure this is the right thing to do?” Me, the mighty Abaddon, not usually prone to uncertainty, asked my father.

Yes, father. A term I’d thought only applied to humans until I met the man who’d fertilized my egg and turned my entire world upside down.

Alistair Graham, formerly known as the mighty dragon Shamash, had only days before, without warning, landed in front of me and offered revelations that shattered everything I knew about my existence.

It appeared my understanding of dragons had been vastly skewed. The female who’d imbued my egg with her knowledge had also passed on her thirst for world domination. According to Shamash, the inseminator, her violent nature and mistreatment of humans led to our kind being wiped out.

Still, just because the older dragon had no plans to become a supreme leader and insisted we should instead strive to cohabit with humans didn’t mean I didn’t still desire the title of supreme commander.

A name Pip refused to use. She giggled each time I demanded, and would smirk as she said, “You’re so cute when you’re trying to be ferocious.

” To which I growled, “I should eat you.” “Go ahead and try,” she’d sass in reply.

Lucky for Pip, I liked her more than I wanted to fill my belly.

Shamash—a much more proper name than Alistair—*cringe*— offered a slight smile.

“I can keep you mostly undetected so long as you remain close to me, but not so close as to tangle our wings. My bulk will shield you from eyes on the ground, and the signal refraction on my scales will skew with any radar. If we spot any planes in the air, I’ll huff a concealing mist.”

He had a solution for every argument because, unlike me, who’d yet to discover a second gift, my father had many, but the one ability that made me most jealous?

My father could change shapes. Human. Animal.

The inseminator informed me he could transform into any flesh he’d ever imbibed and then revealed an even more shocking revelation.

Apparently, our kind could acquire the abilities of the dragons we devoured. Another tidbit not imparted by the shell that ensured we hatched knowledgeable. Then again, the female who’d produced my clutch wouldn’t have wanted her progeny to realize her plan to consume us all to grow stronger.

I shuffled restlessly under the starlit sky. “What about when I require rest and sustenance?” For while I could fly for great distances, even I would eventually tire.

“While the world might seem overrun with humans, there are still many areas that are wild and untamed. So long as you don’t decide you need to stop over a city, we will find places you can revive yourself without being seen.”

It all sounded perfect, and yet… I stared at the house I’d been calling home. A home that held Pip, Mads, and Leo, my servants.

My friends...

“It must be frightening to think of leaving the familiar for the unknown,” Shamash murmured.

Accusing me once more of cowardice. My spine went ramrod straight and I hissed, “I’m not scared.”

“You should be.” A flat reply. “We both know what would happen were the humans to discover the existence of dragons.”

I did know. I’d seen the movies. Being shot dead on sight being the kindest of the outcomes. The thought of being locked away in a cage as an experiment, or worse, as some kind of zoo animal for entertainment, horrified.

“Then isn’t that all the more reason to stay here?”

“We can’t.” Shamash paused before sighing, “Astaria says we must go.”

“Your selkie seer?” Shamash appeared to put great stock in her predictions.

“She says it is imperative I gather you all.”

“To do what?”

Shamash shrugged. “She couldn’t say, other than it was important we leave without delay.”

“If it’s so important, shouldn’t we have a video conference and warn the others?

” It was how I’d been communicating with my clutch.

Pollita in South America, a lovely dragoness with a flirtatious tone.

Persephone in Europe, with delicate manners and filigree horns.

The only one I’d met in the flesh? Tigger, whose runt size made him small enough to smuggle for travel.

“We will tell them in person.”

“In dragon,” I corrected. “I think you’re being paranoid. Leo assures me our communications are secure.”

“And yet I found you,” my father reminded.

“I still don’t see why you are so determined for us to gather.

Aren’t we safer apart in case Malone didn’t drown in Scotland and is still out there?

” A reminder of the mad scientist who’d not only deciphered the location of the scattered eggs from Tiamat’s clutch, but found ways to have volcanoes erupt to hatch them.

Malone wanted nothing more than to get his greedy hands on a dragon.

If he got the chance to capture all of us at once…

He’d pay with his life.

“Must you argue with everything I say?”

“Just pointing out an alternative point of view.”

“Trust me, I am not happy about having to do this. I could be in my castle right now, with Davina, enjoying her company.”

“Ew. Bad enough Pip and Maddox insist on copulating more often than should be healthy, I don’t need to hear about it from you, too.”

“Just saying, I’m taking this seriously and so should you because the lives of those we care about could hang in the balance.”

Lose Pip? Never.

“Very well. Let’s do this.” Left unsaid? Before I changed my mind.

We took off under the cover of night, having left only a simple note for my faithful servants.

I have business to attend. Grow the hoard in my absence.

Pip would likely rant and rave about my disappearance.

She protected me fiercely. Mads would calm her down—eventually.

Likely by canoodling, gag. As for Leo, the man who’d graciously donated his wealth to me, he’d be doing his best to track my movements by hacking airport towers.

Guess we’d soon find out if my father’s boasting that he could fly us across continents undetected had substance.

We flew all night long, Shamash, with his greater size, coasting effortlessly while I had to pump my wings more often to keep up.

Once I stopped thinking I might throw up—damn that crate of crunchy cheesy poofs I ate before leaving—the flight did prove exhilarating.

Leaving the safe boundaries and familiar landmarks.

Going off into the unknown on an adventure.

But the best part of all was yet to come.

At the end of the first leg of our trip, I’d be meeting one of the females who might one day let me fertilize her clutch.

Who would it be, Polly or Percy? I couldn’t wait to find out.

Six hours of flight later, we landed in Mexico. Just in time.

“This is a good place for us to rest,” Shamash said of the gorge with the many recessed caves.

“I’m not tired,” I argued rather than admit the soreness of my limbs.

“Perhaps not, however, daylight means more chance you’ll be observed.”

“You claimed you could shield us from detection,” I accused.

“Not if you plummet with fatigue while we’re over a city. Know your limits or you will die young.”

The firm and flatly delivered advice had me restraining my usual, adversarial retort. He might have a point. “We shall depart at nightfall,” I decreed before finding a cave to nestle within.

There, exhausted by the day’s flight, I slept.

And dreamed.

Dreamed once more of the vast mountain of snow and ice. I soared over it, noting the cracks peppering its surface. Perhaps it was simply this climate change thing humans were always going on about, causing instability. Maybe nothing hid within the mountain at all.

A small speck at the base of the mountain drew my eye. With sudden urgency, I arrowed for it, my mighty shape casting a shadow that caused the person on the ground to tilt their head up and look me in the eye.

Recognition hit.

Malone!

Father was right.

We are in grave danger.

Malone frowned at the cloudless sky. How strange. For a moment, he’d been covered in a shadow. Felt as if he were watched. Most likely one of the birds that managed against all odds to survive in Antarctica. He returned his gaze to the mountain that had been shivering since his arrival.

A voice whispered, “Free me.”

His lips curved. “Soon,” he promised.

Soon, he’d prove dragons existed by revealing the biggest one of all and cheering as it gleefully ate those who’d mocked him.