Dragon Treasure by SJ Sanders
Chapter 14
Tania’s stomach twisted, and her chest ached with a biting intensity. She rubbed her fist against her breastbone, wincing.
Stupid snowberries must have given me indigestion.
The thought brought a scowl to her face as she thumped her chest in the hopes of working out a gas bubble. She tried to ignore the fact that her reasoning had huge holes in it. The discomfort aside, it didn’t explain why she was so hot. She had already undone the sash provided by the monastery to keep her coat closed, allowing the material to gape open and bring relief.
It barely helped. An intense, scorching heat crept out from every inch she was covered. She could even feel it creeping up in her face from her chest, despite her coat gaping open.
At least she had been able to evade the attentions of her admirer-guard when she left the city. The idea of any possibility at all of being so much as touched by him now made her skin crawl. It was an unusual reaction and one that she had not had before. In fact, the day before she would have been tempted to scratch that itch if not for the fact that a smart thief didn’t linger after completing a job. And if Derek hadn’t come so close to boring her to tears. Instead, it was as if her sexual appetites just withered and died.
Unease stirred within her gut, and a shiver that had nothing to do with the outside temperature shot through her. Perhaps she was sicker than she thought. She definitely didn’t need to fall ill while evading a dragon. Could the clergy have poisoned her? There was something off about the monastery, but she wouldn’t have believed the possibility of a clergy member doing so before entering the mountains.
Now she wasn’t so sure.
All she knew was that her temperature had climbed abnormally high in the last few hours, to the point of wanting to strip out of her gear, and that her illness was getting worse as she made her way down the mountainside.
Or it could be fucking a dragon that did it… Some kind of cross-species STD for all you know, a snide little voice quipped in her head. See what happens when you play recklessly with nonhuman dick, it tsked, sounding more like her mother with every passing second.
Tania groaned. Apparently even her inner voice wasn’t going to cut her a break on that one. And it wasn’t wrong. The one and only time she let herself to get plowed by an inhuman creature and she did nothing to protect herself. She never allowed a dick anywhere near her without protection. That she had disregarded one of her personal rules without a thought was irritating. The thing, while not an animal, wasn’t even remotely human or humanoid. Who knew what it did to her? That was more than a little concerning.
Taking a calming breath, she slowly let it out again, forcing herself to relax into the cog mare’s swaying motion. No helping it now. The important thing was that she didn’t have a pissed off monster hurling itself from the mountaintops right at that moment. Just the idea of it was enough to make her want to either piss herself or throw up… or maybe even both. She needed to rightfully focus on that. Indigestion wouldn’t kill her like the dragon would… or at least she didn’t think so.
And if it was some sort of strange fae STD, well, she would just have to get herself checked out when she safely arrived at the port city of Aleskarthi. Since the Qadar gateway wouldn’t ice up for a couple months yet, she would be there in plenty of time before the southern passage closed. Enough time to see a certain witch she knew before booking passage.
It would just be an uncomfortable few weeks until she got there. It was miserable, but she would survive. She wasn’t trusting herself to some hack mage who would squeeze her in between tech enchantments. She patted the sack in an effort to self-soothe. It would be a wait, but least she had the resources to pay for treatment.
Allowing herself to lean back as the mare picked her way down a particularly steep spot, Tania squinted at the sun. The dragon still posed a potential problem, one that she was even less thrilled to deal with in her current condition. Then again, it was well into the morning. Wouldn’t the dragon have made an appearance by now? She had a hard time believing that he would still be slumbering… but then again, what did she know of the creatures? It could very well just wake up intermittently to fuck and eat cattle once every few years.
She snorted in amusement, loud enough that the mare’s mechanical ear turned back toward her. She gave Jasnee a pat to signal that she was fine, and the cog mare trudged on. It was just as well. Her problems weren’t ones that Jasnee could protect her from. It would not only be unfair but also a terrible headache to get the mare worked up over things that couldn’t be resolved by brute force.
Truth be told, there was little her mechanical friend could do if it came to an outright attack. She could make calculated strikes to vulnerable places with her teeth and hooves, but with her simple programing, anyone skilled would find a way around the cog mare’s defenses.
All Tania could do was sit back and try to relax.
As if on cue, her stomach twisted in a deep, pulsing cramp that stole her breath. The sensation was so strong that it felt like there was a hook and line imbedded deep within her that someone grabbed ahold of and pulled, threatening to turn her insides out.
Gasping through the pain, Tania felt the cool, damp tears sliding down her hot face. They reflected the sun, almost blinding her as they stung her eyes until a shadow slid overhead as if summoned.
The relief was immediate, but dread accompanied close on its heels. There was only one thing outside of a great sky ship that could cast a shadow like that.
Lifting her gaze, she had only a moment to scream as claws descended on a huge rush of air. Sensing her distress, Jasnee jumped forward, taking the mountainside in dangerous leaps as she attempted to evade the threat coming straight for them. Tania’s teeth vibrated from the skid of metal hooves against loose stones. The mare’s footing was sure, and she was able to ignore the jarring sensation and keep her focus on what lay ahead. While the jagged rocks rising around them gave them few options, the larger ones ahead, she knew, would provide some protection.
They never got there.
The roar of wind was almost indistinguishable from the bellow of the beast as it dropped on them. Within the next moment, claws clamped down around the cog mare.
Jasnee twisted in its grasp, her hooves kicking and teeth gnashing in an attempt to break loose as the dragon dropped lower, his enormous wings beating to steady him as he worked to secure his grip. His intent was clear. He was trying to draw Tania and her mount directly up to his broad, scaly chest so that he could safely return to the air.
“Oh, I don’t think so. Let me go!” she shrieked, pulling out her blade, her heart hammering in her ears.
She struck at the claws with her knife, wincing as it rang off the scales without inflicting damage. The vibration ran up her arm so intensely that she nearly dropped the knife. Her fingers went numb, and she pressed forward, capturing the blade between Jasnee’s neck and her chest. The dragon’s neck swiveled, his pale head swinging down to look at her through baleful, icy eyes.
He didn’t appear hurt. Just annoyed.
Wrapping her fingers around the hilt again, she drew the blade up defensively just as he jerked suddenly. He tumbled to the side, wings outspread, with enough force that Tania snarled under her breath, releasing her blade so that she could grab ahold of Jasnee just to keep from being thrown against the merciless rocks.
Just as quickly, they were steadied, and the wings gave leisurely flaps as the dragon ascended. A scream of anger and fear left her, her mind conjuring up terrible ways it could kill her. She beat against the claws around her, frightened enough that she was tempted to throw herself to a quick death to evade whatever violence may come.
Sagging in her saddle, she stared down at the ground, hating herself as she realized that she couldn’t do it. She didn’t have what was necessary to kill herself and be spared the pain that awaited her.
As the ground sped away, a deep, rumbling chuckle vibrated around her, dragging her attention away from the shrinking ground below.
The sound caught her attention, and her head snapped up. She narrowed her eyes. It was laughing at her. That icy blue eye was once again trained on her with a gleam of obvious satisfaction. The reaction was almost human enough to be reassuring… and to risk pissing her off. Despite his brutish size, there was something in his mannerisms that seemed familiar to her, taking off the edge from her fear as she squinted up at it.
What was more, as seconds passed, it became increasingly clear that it had taken a calculated risk with her life, wagering that she would not risk certain death to escape him, and had won.
Fear soon morphed into anger on a surge of adrenaline, and she curled her lip, baring her teeth at him.
He snorted, unimpressed, a refreshing mist blowing over her feverish flesh. She almost begged him to do that again when he drew his head back only slightly and bugled victoriously, the sound making her ears ring.
Asshole.
“I hate you,” she snarled at that eye, her voice faintly shaking with false bravado. “Keep your eyes where you’re fucking flying at the very least.”
Ducking low against the mare’s flanks, Tania muttered a string of profanities, her heart beating erratically as she felt the dragon’s breast press against her, pinning her between beast and machine. As it wheeled about in midair, her stomach dropped away, but strangely, despite her sudden urge to puke all over the dragon’s pretty scales, the terrible pain had vanished.
Winging across the sky, she watched the city get closer, and in the distance their destination—the dark shadow of the monastery. Who knew what activity was now underway since her departure?
Despite the setback of her own situation and uncertainty of her fate, a grim smile pulled at her lips. The high cleric and his cohorts had seemed intent on a specific result: acquiring the alliance of the dragon. But for what reason? Prestige alone? It was possible, but it was hard to imagine the high cleric getting that excited or invested in a small increase in pilgrimage. Tarachna was not as popular as some of the friendlier deities.
She wondered just how thrilled the priests would be to see her return when it was the dragon they wanted. The dragon who apparently was determined to hang onto her for whatever reason.
Probably to eat her at his leisure. Just because he showed characteristics that were almost human didn’t mean he was close enough to not eat her. A number of fae beings had the opinion that human flesh was a delicacy. And they were far more humanoid in appearance than the dragon. She only hoped that he had enough of the curiosity she saw in his eyes that she could keep him distracted from making a meal out of her.
She could hope, anyway.