Dragon Adventurer collection Page 3

  Sarah just shook her head and kept moving.

  It took about another twenty minutes before we began to see people. It was…strange.

  The first person that we came across was, well, half spider. She had six spider legs coming out of the back of her waist. She was sitting on a stool outside of one of the homes. I didn't even notice her at first, since I was staring at the building. The windows of the building were webbed over. As we approached, Sara called out to her, and she looked up from her work. Sarah waved us on saying she would catch up.

  As we passed, the spider girl gave me a curious glance over her glasses.

  After we were a way past her, Robert couldn't help but mutter. “Poor girl. Seems she’s still struggling.”

  “What?”

  “A lot of us Changed have new instincts. Some good, some bad, all hard to ignore. That girl has been trying to find an outlet for one of hers. She just can’t help but weave webs. “He shook his head.” It’s inconvenient for the rest of us to be walking along and then get stuck in a web we didn't see. They’re a mess to clean up too.”

  “Huh.” Like when I couldn't help but pack some coins. Thinking back, I had a small twitch of panic, since I had left so much behind.

  We began to come across more and more people as we moved along. They were mostly Changed, and it was interesting to see the variety of beings. It was only once or twice that I saw a second member of a race.

  It was also easy to see that people were, on the whole, not at all comfortable with their changes. Everyone was walking with quick, nervous steps. Many of them had hoods up or some other kind of garment on to try and hide their changes. The whole thing led to a contagious feeling of nervousness in the air.

  The only people who didn't seem to be catching it were my two guides. Robert nodded at Sarah as she rejoined us, and they both continued on with a relaxed step. I was glad for that too. I was already nervous enough that my tail began to rattle as I walked. This led to us getting a wide berth. I blushed in embarrassment.

  “Stop it. I shot a glare at it, but the tail paid me no mind.

  “You alright back there?” I looked up to see that I had fallen a bit behind. Both Sarah and Robert turned back to look at me.

  “I'm fine.” I could feel the blush working its way up my face as my rattle picked up speed. People began to give me even more space as they passed.

  My two guides walked back to me. Robert was watching me with wary eyes, while Sarah just seemed concerned.

  “Jake, this is important. If there is something wrong you need to tell us. While you’re still learning about your new form, it's important that you be honest with what you’re feeling. We can't help if we don't know there's a problem.” Sarah was talking in a calm, quiet voice that kind of reminded me of the therapist I had been going to before all of this.

  “Seriously, you need to let us know. Remember what I said about the new instincts. If you’re getting a strange urge, it could be important,” Robert added.

  “I'm fine.” I couldn't meet their eyes.

  “Obviously not.” Robert gestured at my tail which was still rattling away. “If that's anything like a rattler’s tail, then…”

  “Are you nervous?” Sarah interrupted him. She looked at Robert. “If it's like a rattlesnake, then that would explain it.”

  “A bit,” I hemmed.

  “Don't rattlers do that right before they strike?” Robert seemed a bit confused.

  “No, it's a warning that they’re scared.”

  “Oh.” He looked at me. “Sorry, thought it meant you were gonna attack something.” Robert rubbed the back of his head.

  I was a bit worried that that was their first thought. “Is it normal for people to get violent?”

  “No...but it has happened. Some people snapped. Others couldn't control their instincts, and a few were just the same criminal crap after the change that they were before it.” He sighed. “Crisis like this one brings out the best and the worst in humanity.”

  “Come on. It’s getting late, and we still need to get Jake settled.” She tugged on Robert’s tunic.

  It took another hour, but we made it to our destination, much to my joy. By that point, my arms were finally starting to get sore.

  From what I remembered, the stone tower we were standing in front of used to be one of the many hotels that dotted downtown. I had driven past this one, but I had never had a reason to go inside.

  Robert pushed open the large, bright-green doors. They were the only painted wood I had seen in the city so far. I wondered why.

  We walked up to what I was guessing used to be a hotel receptionist’s desk that was painted the same green as the door. There was somebody at the desk. I could see a mop of silver hair, but the rest of their body was hunched over a stack of books that was arranged in such a way as to act as a book stand for yet another book.

  Sarah walked up to the desk and gave it a loud knock. “Jasper!”

  The figure behind the books jerked, almost seeming to fall out of the chair as thin arms waved franticly from behind the stack.

  After a moment, a head peeked out from concealment. “Umm…yes?” The person was a young man, seeming to be in his late teens. He had a thin frame appearing to be almost at the point of starvation. From under his shaggy hair, a pair of sunken eyes peered out looking terrified of our very existence. Seeing Sarah and Robert, a look of trepidation crossed his face. “You found another one?”

  “Yes, Jasper, you actually have to work now,” Robert commented in a dry tone.

  Jasper threw him a glare.

  And then he saw me.

  His eyes went wide as he looked up. I tried to give him a friendly smile, but this appeared to make things worse. He squeaked and dived back behind his books.

  “Jake, just to remind you, your teeth are pretty intimidating now. Maybe show a few less with the next smile?” Sarah's smile was a bit shaky. Ouch.

  “W-welcome to Asylum. We will assign you a living space that you can use for the time being. We welcome you to this brave new world that we will survive together.” Jasper was still hiding, but at least he was talking to me. That last line had sounded a bit canned though. “I-if you wouldn't mind answering a few questions before we get you settled?”

  He began to run through a list. A lot of the questions were normal--name, age, sex, etc. But then we started to get into some different ones. Where did you live before the change? Any missing family? Any special requirements?

  Even after I finished answering, I could hear a pen scribbling. The sound was interspersed with pauses when Jasper peeked around the books before darting back to scribble more.

  As I looked around, I noticed that my two guides had disappeared.

  Well, that doesn't seem good.

  The ominous rattle of my tail began to pick up speed, and I winced. It had been going for a while now, and it was getting sore.

  The scribbling stopped, and Jasper leaned out a gave me a worried look.

  “I'm sorry. Can't control it. It just does that when I'm nervous.” I tried another smile…no teeth this time.

  “Oh.” He went back behind the stack.

  That damn tail was going to be trouble. Worse, worrying about the thing was making it go faster! I had to try and shut it up.

  It seemed to be connected to my emotions so maybe if I tried to control them?

  ....

  And nope. Always did suck at that.

  Shut up!

  Nope. Thinking didn't do it either. That rattle was getting on my nerves. The next step would be physical methods, but I wasn't sure where I would put down my load, or even if I should.

  As I was considering that, Robert walked back up. “Do you have your key yet?”

  “Here.” A large copper key slid out from behind the stack of books, almost falling off the table, before Robert stepped forward to catch it.

  He shot a glare at the stack of books. “And the rest?”

  “Not done yet.”

&
nbsp; Robert rubbed his forehead. “Fine. Jake, I’ll make sure you get your I.D. when it’s ready. For right now, let’s get you to your room, so you can put all that stuff down. Just watching you makes my back hurt. “He held up the key for me to see. “So, this is your room key. If you look at the body here, you can see that there’s a number. Yours is…” He turned the key to get a look and frowned. “Jasper, you gave him Charlie’s room!”

  “S-She moved out. It’s been cleaned.” He reached around the stack to point at me. “A-and he said he was nervous. Being next to an exit always helps me…”

  “Oh. Well alright then.” Robert looked down at the key and shook his head. “It’s down this way.”

  I looked over at the desk. I could still hear Jasper's pen working away.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  The pen paused for a moment before continuing its work as I headed off down a hallway following Robert.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Chapter 4

  We passed door after door as we went down the hallway. Lanterns hanging on the wall threw a flickering light on the stone corridor.

  Or they would have, but my lamp quickly overwhelmed them.

  I should probably check on it when I got a second.

  Eventually, after far too much walking, we came to a stop at a wooden door that had the number 1355 carved into the front.

  “Alright. So, this will be your room. You’re pretty lucky to get something on the first floor. Most people these days end up on the fifth or higher.” He reached down and unlocked the door.

  Swinging it open, we both froze.

  The room was a shambles.

  I could see how it was supposed to look. The bed frame was still there, even if the feather mattress had been ripped to shreds and spewed across the room. Oh, and the bed frame itself had been levered up and leaned against the wall, exposing its bottom. In the corner, there was a chest of drawers that had been knocked over. The drawers themselves were thrown onto the feather mess on the floor. A closet off to the side had its door thrown open. Seems the mess ended there only because there wasn't anything else in the room to be ransacked.

  “Holy…” Robert muttered. “What the hell happened here?” He looked down at the lock. “How did… I have to go get Henry. Look, don't let anyone mess with anything!” And he took off running down the hall.

  Well, now I was standing outside a trashed room. This felt like the setup for a bad misunderstanding. Still, it wasn't like there was much of anything else I could do. Robert had the room’s key, so it wasn't like I could secure the room and leave.

  Or maybe I could, after a fashion. I didn't think Robert would mind.

  Eh, why not?

  I stepped into the room, kicked the door shut behind me and set my stuff down along the wall. A check of the lock showed a keyhole on this side too. With a shrug, I sat down with my back against the door. That should keep it from opening unannounced at least.

  I unhooked my lamp from the backpack and set the pack down on the floor. I made sure it was against the wall, so it wouldn't fall over. The lamp overwhelmed the light coming in through the barred window and threw two large shadows against the far wall.

  Looking around the room from my seat, something felt…off. More than just the room being knocked about. Maybe I was just getting tired. It had been a long day after all.

  I reached up to scratch my head and watched my shadow follow the movement.

  Oh, fuck.

  The second shadow didn't follow my movement. In fact, there wasn't anything in the room in position to throw that second shadow.

  Worse still, it was moving. I watched as it crept along, pulling out something long and thin from behind it.

  Was this real? Should I trust the damn lamp light?

  I pushed myself quickly up to my feet and began to franticly look around. Looking down, I saw the feathers.

  Right!

  The shadow froze as I followed the path between it and the lamp with my eyes until I found the things I had really hoped I wouldn't. Two indents in the feathers. In the shape of shoes.

  My tail began to lash, shaking out a frantic beat as I saw the shadow pull out the long thin thing with a quick yank. The footprints began to rush at me.

  With a cry, I dived sideways. As I hit the floor, the sound of metal impacting wood echoed out from behind me. There was a muffled curse. I could see a divot in the door that appeared to be widening itself, pushing on one side then rocking to the other.

  It’s stuck!

  Sensing a chance, I threw myself at a point above the footprints, desperately trying to grab at where I thought the arms should be.

  I slammed into something that, with a sudden exhale of breath, went tumbling across the floor with me. The divot in the door splintered, and something hit the stone floor with a metallic clang, feathers flying as it skidded toward a corner.

  Panic began to rise as I realized I had missed the arms of whatever this was. I could still feel the shape that I was grappling with, and, with a desperate cry, I hauled back and struck at it with all of my strength. My assailant slipped free just in time as my blow shattered the stone where it had just been, throwing chips in all directions. The feathers exploded outward from my strike obscuring my vision. I felt a strange sense of physical contact as my tail hit something behind me and tore through it. There was a small cry of pain. I spun around to see that some of the feathers had little drops of red on them now, all clustered next to a fresh set of footprints.

  The door slammed open to my left.

  “What the hell is going on in here?” a voice bellowed. Looking over in surprise, I saw a tall, broad-shouldered man standing in the doorway. Taking advantage of my distraction, the footprints rushed past me towards the door.

  “Look…!”

  Before I could finish, the man in the doorway appeared to throw himself backward, falling onto a startled Robert, who had been standing behind him.

  I ran to the door, whipping my head back and forth trying to catch a glimpse of the thing’s shadow to no avail. The only trace of it was the echoing footfalls and the slamming of a door as whatever it was made its escape.

  My tail continued its lashing although the rattle had ceased its beat.

  I stalked over to the two on the floor, as they tried to right themselves.

  It was kind of strange. I was pretty sure someone had just tried to kill me, but instead of being scared, I was upset that I had let them escape. There was a gnawing feeling in the back of my mind that wanted me to chase down the escapee.

  Not that I have a chance in hell of finding them.

  I shook my head to clear it as I reached out to help the others to their feet.

  “…the hell was that?” The new man almost bellowed as I pulled him up. Now that I had a chance to look at him, I could see he was a Changed too. The horns coming out from either side of his head and the cow tail gave it away. His nose was wider and flatter than a normal human’s, and something about his eyes gave him a permanent angry expression, although that could have been a human trait too.

  He was clearly startled but accepted my hand as I yanked him to his feet.

  “I don't know.” I muttered as I pulled up Robert as well.

  “You don't know?” Somehow the new man managed to look even angrier.

  I wasn't in the mood to play this kind of game.

  “No. I don't. It was in the room, and if I hadn't seen it's shadow, I would most likely be dead.” That reminded me, its weapon.

  I turned. Stomping my way back into the room as I made my way to where I thought it had landed.

  They followed me in, the big man looking around as Robert watched me.

  “You’re telling us you spotted and fought off an assailant you couldn't see? And ended up with no injuries? And what's going on with the light in this room?”

  “Yes, yes and my lamp,” I answered with a gesture at the lamp.

  He shot me a glare. “Are you trying to be funny?”

 
At this point Robert intervened. “Henry! The man’s brand new. We literally just got him his key. I brought you because of this!” He waved at the room. “This was supposed to be his room! How the hell did someone get in here? The locks are supposed to be magic! Nobody could pick them!”

  I crouched down and began running my hands under the layer of feathers. It was a small room, and the bed, a queen size it looked like, had taken up a good third of the space. Its destruction created a good layer of feathers over the floor.

  “We tried every method we knew! Most of them should have worked! Every room we tried, nothing! So yes, they should be pick proof!”

  Wow, this Henry guy was defensive. Also, that explained why Robert was so shocked that the room had been broken into. With a big key like that, I had been thinking the lock would be easy to pick.

  My hands brushed against metal. I carefully slid my fingers along until I got to leather. Lifting the thing, I stood up pulling it out of the feathers and saw a two-foot, needle-like weapon. Other than the leather wrapping on the hilt, it was one continuous piece of copper-colored metal. The tip was coated in a green substance. The pommel was a stylized scorpion tail, curling back to act as a hand guard for the hilt. The tip of the scorpion tail was pointing outward from the grip and was coated in the same green stuff.

  While I was occupied with finding my new toy, Robert and Henry were continuing their argument. Seemed Henry must have been looking for a distraction, because he jabbed a finger at me. “You want me to find out what's going on? Fine. But you gotta leave crime scenes alone! This guy’s been fighting in the room! How the hell am I supposed to find anything now?” They both turned towards me and jerked in surprise.

  “This is the weapon that guy was using. “I walked back over to them and presented the sword, hilt first. I was careful not to touch the blade, though. Didn't know what that stuff on it was, but I’ll bet nothing good.