Paper Dragon by Coralie Moss

Author:Coralie Moss [Moss, Coralie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pink Moon Books

Twelve

“Good.” Pavel returned to his log. I opened a side pocket on my backpack and pulled out my GPS device, my smartwatch, and my phone. I held them up for everyone to see. Dita continued to translate for me, and for the others.

“I can use these to communicate with my friends. I’ll need their help to reach the dragon king and neutralize the witch. We’ll bring a healer, in case we have to stabilize the king before we bring him here.”

I didn’t add how much I hoped the king would recover enough to see the error of his ways and agree to therapy. Or its Magical equivalent. Maybe there was a twelve-step program for megalomaniacs. “I know the dragons who adopted me will help in any way they can.”

Telling the assembled shifters I hoped Audrey and Eli would help wouldn’t sell my plan. A few crossed their arms. Others looked at Pavel expectantly. The bear shifter shook his shaggy head.

“Yakov, Yakov. Now that you know of your connection to the dragon king, this is something only you can do.”

“Why, Pavel? Why should I go it alone when I have resources, I have people who can get information, data—” I was arrogant enough to think I could reach out to friends and colleagues who’d helped me in the past—including Catriona, Lacey and the Roccaforte Mischief, and the Arkadis, a trio of demon brothers who happened to be excellent fighters. They’d ask questions, sure. And not everyone would want to enter the cave system, or could. Two of the demon brothers had wings, which they could hide with glamour, but moving through tight spots—

“Yakov. The dragon king hides in the innermost underland, and you, little dragon, know nothing of the underland and how it works.” Pavel waved me over, removed the items I was holding one by one, and handed them to the other bears. His officers examined my belongings with casual interest, then dropped them in the same cloth shopping bag used to transport the bread and sausage.

“Yakov.” Dita continued to translate. “You will carry the same tools we carry. A knife, your head, and your heart.” Pavel made to return my pocketknife to me, hovering the hinged end near the silver chain before he tapped my forehead, then the left side of my chest. “And, your magic. That is what works in the underland and that is what you must focus on.”

Fighting the feeling that everything I suggested would be overridden, I asked about a bathroom and a shower and hot food. I wasn’t accustomed to being around this many Magicals in such magically charged quarters. Exhaustion hit me like a truck.

“Come.” The bear shifter led the way to the opposite side of the cave. Hopping easily over a narrow section of the stream, he wended along its bank, ducking under stalactites and dodging slabs extending from the cave walls until the path made a sharp right where stairs had been carved out of the stone.

“Here.”

A dorm-style space had been created out of another cave.

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