Dragon Royale 2: An Urban Fantasy Adventure Page 13

  “Ew. The only thing worse than his grungy clothing would be a lack of it. I, for one, don’t think we want to unleash half-naked Anton upon the world.”

  We all reveled in a laugh.

  “OK, so there is nothing around we can use.” The siren was naked, like Echo, and all the royale players had suits that wouldn’t fit. Unless we went back to the park and scrounged around, or ranged elsewhere to find the proper materials, I wasn’t sure how we were going to make this work. “And the only thing we’ve brought, or added…” I held my thought for a few seconds. “The boat!”

  “What about it?” Jo asked.

  “We saw the boat. Even sat in it. It was made of material designed to keep out water.” I spoke louder and louder, as if I’d just discovered electricity for the first time. “All we need is a part of it, not the whole boat.”

  Tex shook her head. “I did a little tailoring of my t-shirt, but I’m not sure I could design a whole outfit. How are you going to get a wetsuit out of a rubber boat?”

  “Don’t need to. The magic will know.” I was excited now.

  “But it couldn’t handle this stuff,” Tex tapped her new skin. “What if it can’t figure out rubber.”

  “The system described this suit as magical. Maybe Conflict provided them to the players as part of her game? Who knows how it got magi-tized? The rubber boat was a plain-old thing. It held air and popped like you’d expect. I’m sure we can use that material.”

  “It’s kind of a stretch, Matt,” Tex went on.

  Jo put her hands on her hips. “Is this what you really want? If it is, I’m sure I can swoop back down the river and get you part of the boat.”

  “Are the witches still around?” I asked.

  “I listen in whenever I can. Many are still up to the north, taking care of something they refer to as boulders. No one has come back to investigate the wreck. I think we’ve got a window of time.”

  “You’re going to need me,” Echo said matter-of-factly.

  I flashed my girls a bemused look, then we stepped over to the shore.

  “I didn’t know you could hear us,” I said in a friendly manner.

  “My sense of smell is terrible, but my ears are pretty good.”

  “So, what do you think of my plan?” I asked.

  “I’ve never worn clothes before. I’m excited to try, though.” She stood in the shallow water at the edge of the stream. “And I think your boat has the right material to keep me wet.”

  Her eyes twinkled. “But you will need me to get it out of the stream. I’m sure by now it has been swept under the water by the same creatures you saw harassing me. They do not tolerate foreign objects for long. Eventually, it all gets carried upstream.”

  “Seriously?” I asked. “Upstream?”

  “Yes. There are creatures who tend to such things. Anything unnatural that falls in the water eventually goes away.”

  “Then we can all go,” I began to say.

  “No,” Jo insisted. “She will travel in the water, and I will fly a little above her so as to stay hidden from the witches. No harm will come to us as long as we are not seen. At this point, we can be reasonably sure no one is back that way, because we came through without incident until this place.”

  “I can fly with you,” I suggested.

  “Not necessary,” Jo said as if she’d prepared for this argument. “I can fly faster by myself. You need to stay here and watch over Tex and our new friends.”

  “But I’m supposed to be the leader,” I carried on with concern.

  “A good general must delegate,” Anton interjected.

  “Damn. Does everyone have better hearing than me?” My ears still had a faint ring from all my shooting, but that was almost gone. Still, if I ever wanted privacy, I needed to get far from everyone else.

  “Good sir, I offer my wolf to assist these two young women.”

  “Can he get along without you?” I asked without being mean about it.

  “Well, there was this one time.” Anton left it hanging out there like he was tempting me to stop him.

  I didn’t have time for his hijinks.

  “No. We can’t risk it. Both of these women have strengths we can use for this specific task. I appreciate the offer of help, but if anyone was going to travel with them, it would be me. Tex and I can use your help defending this patch of shore.”

  I wanted to make him feel important, and his bright smile suggested he was happy to be given such a task.

  “So be it, Sir Matt,” he said.

  We talked for five or ten minutes about all the possible problems they could encounter, but eventually it became repetitive. Like so many things, I had to trust they could take care of themselves while out in the world. If I needed to be with each girl every minute of the day I would never get anything done.

  I had to trust them to perform the task as I’d laid it out but stay flexible enough to change plans if they encountered trouble. It bugged me how Echo wasn’t really under my protection, but that’s what I was attempting to change.

  “Good luck, fair ladies,” Anton said from his spot on the ground.

  “Keep it simple out there. Swoop in. Swoop out.” I’d just summarized the whole plan for the twentieth time.

  Jo pulled off her large hat and used it as a shield while she stole a kiss from me.

  “Come back and you’ll get a bigger one,” I grinned.

  Jo slapped the big hat on her noggin and jumped on her ride. “Promise?”

  Echo wouldn’t be outdone. “Can I get something big when I get back?”

  I took a few steps down toward the shoreline. The afternoon sun reflected off the water as well as off the tops of her insane tits. I motioned for her to come closer to me, since I couldn’t go out to her.

  “Like this?” she purred.

  She splashed up the bank a few feet, but a fat rope of water linked her ankles to the river like a pair of chains.

  “You can do that?” I asked stupidly.

  “I feel stronger now that I’m not tied to my people. I think they liked to keep me …”

  “Helpless,” I finished for her. Like a blossoming flower, she seemed to be coming into her own now that she was free. I was more excited than ever to add her to our team.

  She met my lips as if she knew exactly what was on my mind. Her mouth had the faintest taste of sea water, but it perfectly complimented her tanning oil and ocean perfume. I felt like I’d gone on spring break.

  I might never have ended the kiss, but Banger complained loudly at my feet, so I came up for air and checked if he was OK.

  The black kitty peered directly at Echo.

  “Don’t worry, meow, she’ll be back,” I said to him in a sympathetic voice.

  Echo also talked to him. “And he says I get something big when I do.”

  She let me go and practically dived back into the water. Jo floated away a few feet above the picturesque stream, but not so fast the water woman couldn’t keep up.

  As the pair headed down the river, I thought of everything that could go wrong. It concerned me how I’d split the party. Despite her logic, should I have been the one to go? Were my misgivings a sign I’d soon be responsible for another giant mistake?

  I would know the answer soon enough. In the meantime, I had to think about the big thing I was going to give Echo when she got back.

  I’d all but promised it to her.

  ECHO! ECHO!

  The two women weren’t even out of sight before Anton spoke in a cheery voice.

  “You promised me I could tell a story when we made it to this side.”

  There was never a question the old general would tell a story, but I did make the promise to hurry him across the stream. I needed to kill some time and not think about two of my friends being out on a mission that should have included me.

  Anton’s voice softened a small bit. “Remember, a general must delegate, my young friend. You can’t strategize for the whole army as well as dig trenches fo
r each soldier.”

  “They aren’t digging—” I started to say, but he cut me off.

  “Those two are following your orders so that you may win the war. It must be this way in battle.” He sat back against his tree like he’d said enough.

  Banger hovered nearby, so I ordered him into listen mode. Tex kept watch on the far side of our little sitting area, behind Anton and Raven. The wolf seemed alert for trouble, as well.

  I leaned myself against a tree with my rifle at my hip, but tried not to relax too much. “I did say that. We are all keeping watch while we wait, so it can’t hurt anything.”

  The old general nodded his mangled face. “You have probably been wondering how such a dashing figure could end up in this forest.”

  “I figured you retired and wanted to celebrate your golden years,” Tex said from behind him.

  Anton tried to turn around and smile at her, but his neck didn’t twist that far. “Aye, fair lady, I retired, but here is a secret they don’t tell you at the academy: retirement sucks. Six months ago, I was leading soldiers in the biggest military force of my career. We found targets with magic and destroyed them with your mundane weapons. It was truly the highlight of my life.” He sighed and stopped trying to look back to her. “Today, I can barely aim my piss to keep it off my remaining boot.”

  Tex wrinkled her nose in disgust but didn’t say anything to Anton.

  “What were you doing?” I asked. “Leading forces in Valhalla?” He’d spoken of many campaigns in the few hours I’d known him, and I expected him to one-up all his other stories.

  “Never heard of it, and trust me, if I did, I would have conquered it. No, my campaign was in your world, good knight, I mean good Matt.” He spoke with a little less volume. “I was sent by her to wreak havoc with your armies.”

  “No, that can’t be,” I replied. “The TV never said anything about magical creatures flying around. I never saw a single magical being until a witch hit our windshield.”

  The general looked at me like I was nuts.

  “Oh, long story. A witch hit the plane that brought us here.”

  “And did you see anything else up there?” Anton asked.

  “No, but.” I recalled all the gunfire and shaking that went on in the plane. “But there were some strange things hitting our aircraft. The witch said we were attacked by air units because the plane had crossed into their territory.”

  “Aye. Conflict has set up a magical boundary around Silver Bow. The rivers are charmed around three sides, and the fourth is—”

  “The wall,” I finished for him. “We crossed it when we flew in.’

  “Aye, you truly have it figured out,” he said sarcastically.

  I shook my head at his insincerity.

  “Sir Matt, how do you think all those armies came to be on our frontier in but five seasons?”

  I knew the answer. “Conflict said she used illusions to get the world fighting against each other.”

  “That was a big part of it. I will never take any credit away from the dragon to which I swore my sacred honor, but she could not do it alone.”

  Anton shifted in his place with a grunt. He looked up to the sky as if remembering the glory days.

  “She required old warriors like me to lead those armies. To do that, she needed chaos, magic, and time. The first was served when she used her powers to get your nations fighting each other. Tribe against tribe. Nation against nation. It was pure chaos.”

  “I remember those days,” I said with barely contained anger. “Most of those nations came after mine. America.”

  He nodded. “I meant no offense. Your nation fought well, but you never had a chance. Conflict’s magic enabled me to kill off an important general in the Russian army and take his place. My job was to get as many tanks and men to your Alaska as I could. Other generals from the Endless Imperium were assigned to the American force. Save for a few holdouts by armed civilians, it was easy to walk in when the formal military was already in full retreat.”

  He laughed.

  “Those were my people, general.” I knew how it happened and had come to terms with the chaos, but his attitude about it was maddening.

  “Again, no offense, my good boy. You really must understand that all of your nations were the enemy, not just America. It was nothing against your tribe.”

  “So, magical generals infiltrated our leadership and caused the war to happen?”

  “More or less. Our goal was not to destroy the world. You have nuclear weapons even more powerful than the MOAF’s, that is, Mother of all Fireballs, we use in our own wars to destroy small cities. Conflict insisted they not be used.”

  “A conventional war?” Tex asked from behind him.

  “Aye. A war crafted on the planning tables of the Imperium, driven by our best generals, including yours truly, and executed to perfection to get as many of your most powerful units to a single point on your world’s battlefield.”

  Anton’s voice rose as if it was understood where he meant.

  I took the bait. “Outside the dragon’s realm. They are all surrounding us right this very minute.”

  ***

  “You are very smart for someone so young. Hell’s dogs, when I was your age I was still doing hard labor up in the Krackow Mountains. I hadn’t begun to study war!”

  I tried not to hold the collapse of the world against him. It was Conflict doing all this. He was one of her pawns, the same as me. However, I wasn’t going to tell him my military smarts came from playing video games. I was also slightly embarrassed about the age comparison. He broke rocks in the mountains; I sat in plush chairs and chugged too much Mello-Yello.

  “General, please stay with me in the present. You said you were going to tell us how you ended up here.” I waved to the forest around us.

  He scowled for a moment. “Fine. It would take a week to tell you all my heroic actions, and I don’t have that much time.”

  “Neither do I,” I said under my breath.

  Tex smiled from across the way.

  Anton continued. “Yesterday afternoon, it all changed. I was at the railroad depot watching more tanks come off the flat cars of your wonderful train system, doing exactly what she asked of me. A buzz in my ear heralded a new message from Conflict, and I scurried to a private chamber to listen to it.”

  Anton pulled at the big rip in the side of his pants, then patted the wolf responsible for it.

  “Son, I’ve followed orders my whole life. I wasn’t happy dropping the MOAF on that elf citadel. It was so impersonal. My winged squadrons erased villages from the Xanzhi Crags to the Islands of Brittania. The nightmares never stop, of course, but I knew what I did was right. The orders made sense to me. But now…”

  Anton paused for so long Tex had to come over and put her hand on his shoulder.

  “Ah, thank you, Lady Tex, for your kindness. Perhaps I do not deserve it, after all. People will not remember any of that, for I was taken down by a lone warrior with a severed head.” He chuckled without any happiness.

  “We are the only people who know about that, sir,” I said. “We won’t share it with anyone.” I could say it with a straight face, because there was no one to tell.

  “He knows.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  “The young buck who struck me down. He knows he did it. He took my medals.” Anton pointed to the orange stripe ribbon. “They used to be with this.”

  The gray-haired general painted a sorry portrait around himself, but getting knocked out in the woods was a far cry from Conflict’s order to him.

  “General, you skipped over something. You were saying she contacted you?”

  “My final order,” he deadpanned. “Yes. Conflict sent me the first order I was unwilling to follow. A whole career flushed down the shit chute because I wouldn’t turn the guns on my own kind.”

  “The Russians?” I asked with surprise.

  “No. Not the Russians, although I did grow to respect some of my pee
rs in their army.”

  The strategy I learned from gaming came to my rescue again. The armies of the world had been manipulated into lining up in a circle around the Silver Bow Aerie and the lands owned by the dragon. I felt confident enough to make an educated guess.

  “She asked you to attack the magical folk?”

  “Aye, but I call them folk,” Anton replied with a strained smile. “My people from the core of the Imperium. Yes, many of them are enemies from a lifetime of campaigns and conquest, but they are still my people. Last night she gave orders for the mundane armies to press their attack on this place. On ourselves.”

  “I heard her talk of this,” I said. “She told the people of earth that your magical folk were going to take over the world.”

  The general seemed surprised. “As part of this game, you talk directly to Conflict? You heard her give the order?”

  “Well, she basically broadcast it to the world, but I did have a one-on-one with her.” I walked a fine line because I was unsure of his loyalties. “She trapped me.”

  “You are lucky to still be alive, but maybe not for much longer. The tanks are coming, friends, and they will drive into ally and foe alike. The 505th is going to be under assault, soon. I should have been with them, not pressing the attack on my own men.”

  “You were going to find your troops,” I said as if I’d solved a complex puzzle.

  Anton nodded, but for once didn’t seem interested in talking about it. He rubbed Raven behind the ears.

  I hesitated to tell him the real reason the order had been given; Conflict did it to keep me from running away. However, he also would have figured it out if he played the digital version of Dragon Royale. In the computer game, the designers needed a way to push the players into ever smaller circles, so that the games didn’t stagnate into camp fests. The outside of the map starts to burn with acid, and it slowly contracts toward the center where the dragon is located.

  Instead of acid, I would be ushered to my doom by a bunch of army guys, including the very same US Army I’d defended a few moments before.