Page 5 of The Dragon’s Captive

“Yes, sir,” Erias agreed. “Human capacities cannot be assumed, they develop quickly, even in their stunted world.”

“This fortress is now on a war footing,” Vilka declared. “Put the field under constant surveillance. If another great tear is to be made in our world, it could be the last.”

“The sleeping mountain…” Erias said. “If the humans were to awaken a world eater…”

“They would realize the error of their ways too late to do anything about it,” Vilka nodded. “I think this is it, Erias. The winds of destiny are rising.”

This was what they had all been waiting for. A second breach. History was upon them and they could both feel it.

“Sound the horns, Erias, I will brief the men.”

CHAPTER 3

Kate couldn’t wait any longer. It had been several hours, there were no signs whatsoever of radiation sickness, and she had made up a significant batch of further formula to take with her over and above her existing supply. Her backpack was brimming with bits and pieces she’d figured could be useful on a second incursion—which she hoped would be longer than the first. The few minutes she had spent in the dragon realm had left her with a burning desire to see more, and even the sight of the dragons looming large through the portal excited her. This time she would be more careful not to be spotted. She had stood outside in the open like a fool, gawping at them. She was going to need to be more sophisticated in her approach. To that end, she had a green umbrella. She figured if she held it above her head, she would appear to blend in with the terrain at the distances the dragons seemed to fly at, instead of being a humanoid figure standing there in bright clothing.

She hit the switch of the portal and in seconds it bloomed before her, that radiant field under a blanket of otherworldly sunshine. Kate stepped through, her backpack heavy and overloaded enough to make her look a little like a beetle laboring beneath its weight, her umbrella at her side.

Aware that there could be dragons nearby, she was careful as she entered the field, deploying her umbrella. The murky green of the fabric did not match the grass very well at all, but hopefully it looked like a bush or something.

Crouching in the shade of her umbrella, Kate drew in a deep breath of the dragon air. It was fresher, richer, so much more vital than the air back in her apartment. It had a floral note and a tang to it, something a little metallic and salty perhaps, but sweet too. She liked it very much and stood there for several minutes, simply breathing in and out.

Then she got to work. Even a simple field was full of potential samples. She needed grass, pebbles, earth, any insects she could lay her hands on. They would all make rich subjects for later analysis.

She peered out from under the umbrella and scanned the sky. The sun was beginning to set in the distance, behind a very imposing mountain that made her shiver for some reason. It didn’t fit with the rest of the landscape somehow. Even at a distance it seemed older and… unnatural. Was it possible for an entire mountain to be unnatural though? Kate shrugged the question off. She did not know enough about this world to go declaring large parts of it strange.

“I’d like to thank the committee for this Nobel Prize,” she murmured to herself, practicing her acceptance speech as she plucked blades of grass and placed them into a test tube. Nobody had ever brought back samples from another universe—and that was essentially what the dragon realm was, a parallel plane of existence. Going into deep space was nothing on stepping through worlds.

She combed her fingers through the grass, finding the dirt beneath. It was quite rocky and silty, quite like sand, but coarser. The grass was deeply but loosely rooted and she was able to gain some complete samples, and some of the sandy earth as well.

A little gold and green centipede went skittering over her fingers, jeweled and gorgeous like so much of this realm. She was too slow to catch it, and reluctant to really try. The biologists could do that when they came. And they would come. One day this would probably be the site of a scientific outpost. One day, her name would be written along with the other famous mavericks of science, Galileo, Newton, Curie…

A rumbling thunder behind her made her turn her head. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she saw what was causing the sound—an entire flock of dragons heading toward her out of the sky, the rumbling caused by the resonance of their wing beats with the earth below.

There was no time to run. There wasn’t even time to scream. Kate stood up, umbrella in hand and awaited her fate as the lead dragon—a great fiery red beast—touched down, skidding a good few hundred feet, its claws kicking up grass and dirt.

Its head was larger than she was, its body bigger than a bus. It was a mammoth creature, and Kate’s fascination mixed with her fear to create a strange reaction she could not quite control. The other dragons landed further back, keeping what felt like a respectful distance. They were not as brightly colored as this one, nor did they seem as large, though that could have been because they were not as close.

The dragon reared, casting a massive shadow over Kate and then its front feet hit the ground hard enough to make her almost lose her own footing and the great head swung down close to her, horned nostrils drawing in a breath powerful enough to make her hair sail in the wind it created.

They were intelligent, and they had human forms. She knew that. So this must be some kind of display, or test, or… it opened its mouth, displaying rows of devastatingly sharp teeth, any one of which could have pierced her whole.

For a moment, she was paralyzed with horror, then she snapped out of her frozen fear, took her umbrella in her hand and began to rap the dragon around its great nose and mouth. “No!” she said in forceful tones. “That is not nice!”

The dragon drew back, let out a snort—and disappeared.

In its place stood a man. A very naked man. Kate let out a gasp, her umbrella still held out in front of her like a very flimsy, now quite broken, sword.

He was stunningly handsome. The lines of his face were hard and chiseled with precise masculinity and his body… she couldn’t bring herself to look at all of it, though it was all bared before her. She didn’t know where to look: at the broad, hard planes of his shoulders and chest, or at his searing eyes, which were a bright golden hue ringed with a dark circle and framed with dark lashes and thick black brows. His hair was dark, hitting his shoulders in a thick shining mane.

Kate drew in a breath and opened her mouth to speak, but there were no words. He was so handsome her brain had frozen completely. The umbrella was still raised, but she no longer had the compulsion to swing it.

“Put it down.” The voice that rumbled from the powerful man sent shivers through her body. His was a voice for the ages.

“Uhh…” She lowered the umbrella, but did not release it. Couldn’t. Her hand seemed caught around the handle, her fingers locked like stone as she stared at the male creature that had come from the dragon.

“I know you understand me,” he said, his rich voice making her feel weak at the knees. “Lay your weapon down, human.”

“It’s, uh… uh… uh… an umbrella.”