Page 75 of The Dragon Warlord

“That’s the spirit, Warlord, find something to smile about,” Ikara says. “I was beginning to wonder where your sense of adventure went. The Warlord I met would have loved this break from monotony.”

“That guy didn’t have the real responsibilities he thought he did. This guy stands between evil and all the dragons in The Tower.”

A look passes between us. Even though Ikara would say her mother made a choice that day because of her seer’s foresight, I still live with the guilt that I could have been more prepared, and I wasn’t. I dicked around. Pouted like a child. If I’d had even a quarter of the command of dragon magic that I have now, I would have had one measly Wasteland beast by the balls before it had the chance to stab her mother. Destiny chose me for this role, but I accept it. I might sometimes fail, but it will never again be because I didn’t prepare myself in every way I knew how.

Since, I’ve worked hard to keep The Tower secure using everything in my arsenal. Putting the right people on jobs when I don’t have the skills. Consulting with the right counsel instead of assuming that I know everything.

Though apparently, I didn’t have the wisdom to protect my rooms from one troublesome dragon woman and I’m going to pay for that one. The dragon lord won’t be pleased.

If we survive this.

* * *

Their fortress isn’t very fortress-y. It looks like someone planted stone and then it grew up from the ground, and then someone beat the shite out of it. It may be a fortress in name only, which bodes well for us. I don’t think it could keep out a fruit fly infestation and clearly, it doesn’t with how many are flying around us. Blech. This place is infested with creepy crawlies and there is no shortage of decaying corpses strewn about the place. I’ll never get the smell of mortal remains and sewage out of my nose so long as I live.

From several leagues away from the fortress and under a cloak of darkness, we do our best to piece together a plot.

“With just the three of us, our best chance is magic, Warlord,” River insists again.

I nod. “Do you have any idea where they’re keeping this ice dragon?” I ask Ikara.

“Deep below, in the darkest recesses. Poor thing. No dragon should have to live like that. Who knows how long they’ve had him chained up like that?”

That brings to mind yet another problem. “If he’s been a dragon all that time, how do we get him to shift? He won’t want to.”

She shakes her head. “We don’t if we don’t have to. Not yet. The collar is for when we get him through the portal.”

“Oh good, so we’ll just cart a massive dragon out on our backs. No problem.”

“No. You’re going to form a temporary bond with his mind so that you can control him. Once we get in, we could use his help getting out.”

The list of magnanimous things she expects is piling up. “I’ve only just begun mastering that kind of magic.”

“You recently collected hydra demons by bonding with their minds. You have experience with several other kinds of dragons.”

“No one has experience with an ice dragon. Apparently, they don’t exist.” I’m about to pull out my hair. “What about a portal? Can you make us one of those to get us inside?”

“I could, but they have a kind of magical warning bell surrounding this place. It would cut the time we have to free the dragon in half, and I don’t know what they’re using to keep him trapped.”

Even with the wild cards of having to figure out how to free him and hoping I can command him, that’s better than fighting an entire run-down fortress of Wasteland beasts.

“And there’s one more problem,” she says.

“What else?” I snap.

“Creating portals takes a lot of magical energy and there isn’t a lot of energy to draw from here. It’ll take much more of me and I’ll be sapped. Our ice dragon will be the only way out.”

“And what if you’re wrong, Ikara? What if there’s no ice dragon?”

She shrugs. “We’ll be stuck down here forever. Wasteland beasts are disgusting and largely unintelligent, but they’re willing to use a combination of brutish and sophisticated magic and are good at keeping prisoners.”

“Awesome.”

* * *

It’s go time. Now or never. We’ve got to act before our presence alerts someone or before our portal does. The element of surprise is the only thing we’ve got going for us.

River stares straight into my soul. “If anyone can do this, you can, Warlord. I know it’s a bit of a suicide mission, but now that we’re here, I can’t stop thinking about one of our own locked up for who knows how long. I want to save him.”