Dragon Adventurer collection Page 4

  “That’s a fucking…!” Henry began to bellow.

  “Henry, shut the fuck up!” Robert shouted over the man, startling him into silence. “Do you want a riot? Because that’s what we'll have if word gets out that they can break into the rooms here.”

  “Shit!” Henry hissed. He reached out, carefully took the weapon from me and began to look it over. “The only good thing about this whole mess is that we finally get a chance to get a sample of this poison when it’s not actively killing someone.”

  The fire had gone out of their fight by this point as Robert pointed at me. “We'll go get him a different room. See what you can find here.”

  “The mayor is gonna want to know about this.” Henry shook his head as I began to gather up my things.

  “I know…”

  It was a quick trip back to see Jasper, who was startled to see us. Robert didn't even explain the situation, just telling Jasper that he would hear why later. The new key, labeled 4122, was up on the fourth floor, something that Robert wasn't very happy about but accepted with a sigh.

  When we got to the stairs, Robert finally pulled out of his thoughts and started to explain a bit more to me. Seems the first number on the key represented the floor the room was on. And yes, we took the stairs. Whatever the elevators had become, they scared the hell out of Robert.

  The climb was kind of exhilarating, actually. Before, four flights of stairs would have left me huffing right alongside Robert when we stopped on the final landing. Now, my legs weren't even tired. There were some definite upsides to my transformation.

  Once he caught his breath and muttered something about stairs and short legs, we continued on our way.

  Opening the door, I saw what I figured the other room should have looked like–a queen bed pushed up against the wall, a dresser in the corner, and two closed doors. Looked like a themed hotel room, without the TV or microwave. It did have a large fireplace against the far wall, though, and a small window that was letting in the fading light of dusk before my lamp overwhelmed it.

  Robert closed the door. “I would appreciate it if you kept that attack between us for now. I don't want to cause a panic.” He rubbed the back of his head.

  I nodded.

  “Thanks. Somebody will come by in the morning to finish getting you situated. Welcome to Asylum.” He waved and left the room.

  Finally!

  I almost threw my load off in my haste. I only stopped to put the lamp on top of the dresser, before I began to pace around the room.

  Why the hell is it bothering me so much that he got away?

  I wasn't going to kill him or anything. I was just trying to survive!

  This must be one of the instincts I had been warned about. I hated it. It almost felt like something was hooked into my brain and was trying to force it onto a single path.

  It took an hour, I guess, of pacing and debating with myself, before I finally managed to get that little voice, which kept telling me to go hunt the escapee, to shut up. It had been a serious struggle. In the end, the only thing that worked was to fight one compulsion with another. That’s why I was sitting on the edge of the bed letting a handful of gold coins trickle from one hand to another, back and forth.

  It was really soothing.

  In this calm state, it occurred to me that if I was trying to figure out why my dragon side ticked the way it did, I might already have my source of answers. All had to do was go grab that book about dragons I had brought. But I couldn’t get myself to put the gold down to get it.

  One compulsion for another.

  Right.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Chapter 5

  It had been one of the worst nights of sleep I could remember. I finally managed to get myself to put down the gold and try to pass out, only to find that the bed was just too uncomfortable to sleep in.

  This was the first time I had ever had a problem with a mattress being too soft. Usually, the softer the better, but now, no matter how much I tossed and turned, I couldn't find a comfortable position. It just didn’t feel right.

  It was a little better when I abandoned the bed and lay down on the stone floor. Still not all that great, but I did manage to pass out there.

  The way that my body felt when I woke up, though, reminded me of the one time I had been talked into going camping.

  I slowly stood and began to walk around the room trying to work the kinks out of my body.

  As I moved about, I took a peek behind the two doors. One was a simple closet, actually not looking too different from a modern one--hanging bar, wire hangers--all stuff that was probably easy enough to make with blacksmithing and woodworking.

  The other room was a bathroom--copper tub, a large copper washstand, and a heavy-duty clay pot that I guessed took the place of a toilet. I winced seeing the pot. That…that promised to be pretty disgusting depending on how well these people had their infrastructure working. I didn't want to think about it right now. The washstand had a jug of water sitting on it, which I presumed was for cleaning up. All and all, it seemed more like a mockery of a modern bathroom than something that was functional.

  I would have to ask about it later.

  For now, I was hungry. Realizing that I didn't know where, or even if, I could get breakfast here, I walked back out into the main room and dug into the food I had brought. Sitting on the floor as I ate, I began to go through all the stuff I had brought with me. The food, clothing and the other, more normal, things I put off to the side. The more interesting things I sorted into four piles--books, ‘shinies,’ weapons and dangerous.

  Dangerous pretty much just consisted of the lamp right now. It still worried me, but considering how it had saved me last night, I was glad I had brought it.

  For right now, though? It might be best not to mess with it too much.

  There wasn't much space in the room to lay everything out, so before I dug into the three remaining interesting piles, I took the time to put my clothing away in the closet and store my bathroom stuff away too. I took the time to change while I was at it. That was another question for later, how did people do laundry now? I hoped things hadn’t regressed back to rivers and washboards.

  I put the lamp on top of the dresser, where it gave the best light and would show shadows if that invisible person came back. It still hadn't run out of oil and, honestly, I was beginning to suspect that it wouldn’t. I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. Rather than think about it, I moved the shiny pile up onto the bed for later consideration.

  After last night, I could see that this was a more dangerous world now. It would probably be best to stay armed. But as I reached for the weapons pile there was a knock on the door.

  “Hey! You awake yet?”

  That voice was way too excited.

  “Give me a moment.”

  I took the time to throw the other two piles onto the bed before going to the door. I cracked it open and looked out. Standing in the hallway were two girls that were mirror images of one another. They both stood at about 5’4. They both had shoulder length black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, and their cute faces were identical. They were obviously Changed, with both of them having apple-red skin, and silver eyes.

  They did differ a bit, but the differences seemed to stem from their changes. The girl on the right had a red horn growing from her forehead over what would be her left eye. The girl on the left had a matching horn but over the opposing eye. As I looked I could see that they each had a long black tail ending in a spade.

  They were both wearing rather revealing outfits too.

  “Eyes up here!” the one on the right ordered, looking a bit embarrassed.

  “Sorry.” I could feel myself blush as I looked anywhere but at the girls.

  The one on the left giggled. “Lay off him B. He wasn't even looking.” I looked back at her as she smiled at me. “Don't worry about it. Our change enforced a bit of a dress code, and Brittany is still a bit upset about it. I'm Carah by the
way.”

  Now it was Brittany's turn to blush. It was an interesting thing to see. Instead of turning redder, a purplish hue colored her cheeks. She looked like she was going to say something, too, but changed her mind at the last second.

  “Anyways,” Carah said, grinning up at me, “we were sent up to get you. Sarah said you have weapons? Grab ‘em, and let's go. It's not good to keep Axle waiting.”

  “Wait…what?”

  Seeing my confusion, Carah just grinned.

  With a sigh, Brittany stepped in. “You've been requested to join an Exploration squad as your service to the city. You were told about that right?” At my blank expression, she shook her head. “Oh, of course you weren't. It would be just too much to ask of Search and Rescue to do their job. Look, since over five-sixths of the former jobs available in this city are now gone, we've taken to re-assigning people to new roles, at least until they find their feet and pick their own path. Most people get placed in city-based tasks, but for people like us, who have some kind of skill in combat or exploration, we tend to get assigned to either Search and Rescue, though that one is losing a lot of its importance, since they’re running out of people to find, or to us, the Exploration teams. In return for helping the city like this, we get room and board. You didn't think all this was free, did you?” She waved her hand at my room.

  Carah cut in with a smile. “The S&R team’s report has you being really strong. Plus, you fought an inquisitor already, though there isn't much information on that. How did that happen by the way? The report said you just woke up yesterday, so I can’t see where you would have had time.”

  “Speaking of time. Axle is waiting.” Brittany gave Carah a glare. “Grab your weapons and come on! You don't want to make him wait! We'll be over here.” Brittany grabbed her sister by the shoulders and pushed her a little way down the hall.

  Still trying to process everything that was going on, I turned back to my room.

  Alright. Well, I might as well be prepared.

  I quickly put on my leather armor before grabbing up my backpack and throwing it on the bed. It hit with a clink.

  Right, the gold.

  I took a moment to pour out the gold onto the too-soft bed. I gave the bag a final shake to make sure I had gotten everything out before throwing the seven daggers into it. Looking at the bed, I hesitated before grabbing up the gauntlets and throwing them in as well. For good measure, I grabbed Fire Magic for Dolts and heaved it into the bag too. Never know when I might have a free moment to read.

  My hand twitched. I really didn't like leaving stuff here. My mind kept going back to how I had already seen one room broken into. In the end, I couldn't help myself and threw the rings, gems and jewelry, as well as a few handfuls of gold, into my bag as well.

  Lastly, I lifted the great sword off the bed before turning to step back out the door.

  “Jeez!” Carah's eyes were wide with wonder. “That thing is almost as big as I am!”

  “The size doesn't matter, only how he can use it,” Brittany said, sizing me up.

  Then she saw Carah's evil grin.

  Brittany seemed confused for a moment, then turned purple again. She hauled back and punched her sister in the shoulder. “I didn't mean it like that!”

  Carah laughed while rubbing her shoulder. “Suuure you didn't.”

  Still blushing, Brittany turned to me. “Right, well, looks like you have everything. Let’s go see Axle!” She quickly turned and began to walk down the hallway. Carah followed along, laughing the whole way. I shrugged to myself and then followed the two down the hall.

  They took me a different direction than Robert had. Eventually we ended up at a square hole in the floor. It had some ropes dangling down into the hole. Looking up, I could see similar squares cut out of the floors above. The ropes went up at least another six floors before I couldn't see them anymore.

  Carah recovered from her laughing fit. She reached out and gave a tug on one of the ropes. “Seems like it's clear.”

  Brittany nodded and then turned to me. “Haul on that rope till we tell you to stop.”

  I frowned. This seemed like the setup for a hazing ritual, but I did as she asked. The minute I started to pull, I could hear a rattling down below. There wasn’t any resistance, so I began to speed up, yanking hand over hand until Brittany, who had been looking down over the edge, called out for me to stop. I grabbed onto the rope, stopping it abruptly as a wooden platform shot out of the hole and stopped with an alarming wiggle about halfway up the wall.

  Oops.

  I let go of the rope.

  “Jeez! That was pretty fast!” Carah was staring at the still-wobbling platform.

  Brittany walked over and pulled on another rope. Slowly the lift lowered.

  The two of them climbed on. I, on the other hand, couldn't help but look at it dubiously.

  Carah rolled her eyes at me. “Oh, come on. It’s fine. Nobody has died on it yet.”

  “All seven days it’s been in use?” I asked.

  I got a smirk out of Brittany with that one.

  “Its fine! We don't have time for this. Axle is waiting.”

  Grumbling, I got on the lift. I didn't like how I was being rushed along. If it weren't for the fact that I wanted to know more about what these explorers had found out so far, I would have just gone back to my room. Once I got on, Brittany began to pull on the rope again, lowering us down.

  “Want me to do that?” I couldn't help myself. Mom had beaten a little chivalry into me at least.

  “Not on your life.” She gave a little grunt as she pulled. “I saw how fast you had this thing moving.”

  Well, that wasn't very nice.

  We stood in silence until we reach the ground floor.

  The girls led me down the hallway until we reached the main lobby. Looking around, I could see the familiar pile of books. I caught a glimpse of Jasper before he ducked back around into hiding.

  He’s still here? That’s a long shift.

  The girls, on the other hand, were getting nervous as they looked around the room.

  “B…”

  “I know, I don't see them either.” Brittany glanced at her sister before walking over to Jasper. “Jasper, do you know where Axle went?”

  To my surprise, Jasper actually came out of hiding to talk to her. “H-he said that something came up. I'm to tell you t-that he would test the new guy tomorrow, and that you two were to have the day off.” Jasper didn't seem to be able to meet her eyes, looking down at the table the whole time he spoke.

  “Thanks, Jasper.” She gave him a friendly smile before walking back over to the two of us as Jasper hid himself back behind his books.

  “Well, he did it again.” Carah just shook her head.

  “We were too slow... I thought for sure Drake would be able to keep him here. The man just can’t stay still.” Brittany joined her sister in the head shaking.

  “Wait, so the reason you were rushing me was so that he wouldn't run away?” I was a bit nervous now, what kind of a team was I getting lumped in with?

  Brittany wouldn't meet my eyes. “It’s not running away exactly...”

  “You'll understand when you meet him. Well, seems you have a free day, and so do we! See you tomorrow!” Carah grabbed her sister under an arm and quickly dragged her away and out the door.

  They just ran, too!

  I was now really worried, and my tail began to show it. I needed to distract myself, but what to do? Pondering this, I walked over to Jasper.

  I did my best to be as non-threatening as I could but, seeing as the books began to vibrate a little bit, I probably failed. Ah, well. I pushed ahead to ask my question anyways.

  “Hey Jasper, is there anything interesting to do in the city?”

  Thankfully while he might not show himself, at least he was willing to answer me. I had no idea who else I would have asked if he wasn’t. For a building full up to the fourth floor, this place was surprisingly empty.

  “N-n
othing much yet. People are still doing recovery work, and most everyone doesn't have time to relax.”

  Makes sense. Might as well change tack. “Did they find anything about the incident last night?”

  “I'm sorry, but I can’t talk about it.”

  I sighed and began to walk towards the door. “Alright. Thanks Jasper.”

  “W-wait! where are you going?” He actually came out from behind his books for that one.

  “I just figured I’d look around town. Don't feel like staying in my room all day.”

  “B-but…!”

  Before he could finish, I was already out the door.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Chapter 6

  Stepping out into the early morning sunlight, I couldn't help but smile. It felt good after the cool interior of the tower.

  As I looked around, I noticed that, compared to yesterday evening, the streets seemed to be empty. I could see one or two people moving around, but mostly they were going somewhere in a hurry.

  Myself? I was still trying to figure out what I could do to pass the time. If this was me yesterday--actually a week ago, I guess--I might have gone shopping for some new antique for the cave. Now? There was a part of me that just wanted to go back up to my room and sort through my hoard--I mean, my stuff. I got the feeling, though, that if I stayed there, all that would happen would be a constant stream of interruptions.

  I had packed a book, though. Maybe a quiet place to read?

  The universe, on the other hand, had different plans. As deserted as the town had seemed, finding a quiet place to read was nearly impossible. Every time I thought I found a quiet nook or niche where I could settle, something interrupted me--workers, kids, and dogs. I was glad to see that the world still had dogs, but this one was pretty angry. I was even chased down an alley by a bird one time! I was kinda glad no one saw that. Each time something happened, I found myself moving farther away from the center of town, right up till I walked through a church yard, and realized that I had reached the edge of the forest. I would’ve called it more of a swamp, though. The ground was muddy enough on the city edges that I could feel my toes sinking in a bit. At least it was quiet.