Her head rocked back, and I used that opening to swipe my claws across her throat. The attack automatically triggered as another critical strike. I didn’t need the system to tell me that, though. The spray of arterial blood was more than sufficient. HP are an important gauge of health and one's ability to continue in a fight, but an instinct from deep within me said that few creatures could continue to fight once their throat was ripped out.

  I shoved her dying body into the wall. With my strength, it was more like I threw her and she slammed into the bricks about five feet off the ground, before slumping down never to move again. Moving directly from that shove, I threw myself onto the two foes thrashing about on the ground. The man with the open chest kept flailing about, effectively keeping his companion from getting up.

  I wish I could have transformed my eyes, nose, and ears to their draconic forms, but it had been a bold move to try a partial transformation of my hands. As it was, I couldn’t see a weapon being wielded by the pinned man. When my knee dropped onto the open chest of the man on top, I deflated one of his lungs and crushed his heart. He might not be dead yet, but would be shortly for the same reasons that no one lives long without a throat.

  My fists flew in a flurry as I used a monk skill to land a series of punches against the bottom man’s face. As a monk, my unarmed blows had been strong, but with dragon scales they landed just as powerfully as if I had been wearing the enchanted brass knuckles. His head bounced against the ground, which I noticed was only hard-packed dirt and gravel, rather than the cobblestones of a proper street.

  My third blow finished him off and his skull gave way. I don’t know if it was bone shards driving downward into his brain, or chunks of gravel driven up through his skull that sealed his fate, but either way he was dead.

  I jumped back up and took stock of the situation. Our three foes were all dead. No one else was moving in the narrow street, or what I guess the humans called an alley.

  At first, I didn’t think there were any windows in the buildings on either side of us, but then I saw a bit of light leaking out from some boards at ground level. It was just enough light that, as my eyes adjusted, I could see the filth that was in this alley—and I didn’t just mean the dead attackers.

  From behind me Cami said, “You’re kinda scary when you cut loose.” Her voice was hushed, but there was an odd note of excitement and pride in it.

  “You never have to be scared of me. Remember, we’re bonded.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t saying I was scared—or that it was a bad thing. You being scary makes me feel safe… and maybe a little proud.”

  “Speaking of proud, I’m impressed with how you retained enough presence of mind to cast Force Darts—not once, but twice.”

  She blushed, then said, “I’m still mad at you about earlier, but it feels sorta silly, now. We should probably run.”

  “Not yet.” Without looking back at her, I pulled her new spear out from my soul space and held it out. “Stand guard.”

  I released the spear, and because it didn’t hit the ground, I knew she had grabbed it. But my eyes were on one thing as I knelt down next to the two men on the ground in front of me.

  ‘What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Getting my loot, of course. It’s the best part of winning.”

  Chapter 34 - Fight or Talk?

  I rifled through the belongings each of the dead humans had. It was an awkward reminder that claws were great for fighting, but not so good for looting. I was forced to transform my hands back to squishy pink mitts so that I could open their coin purses and such.

  Their clothes were soiled, but I wasn’t going to sink low enough with the seed loot I was gathering for my hoard to take used clothing. The various smells they put off were quite… distinctive. It reminded me of a portion of the dragon dream I had once experienced and had tried to block out. Apparently, one of my ancestors had been a bit odd and maintained an entire portion of his lair and hoard for the curating of different scents.

  He had animals, plants, and people in there—everything from the scent of fresh blood, which apparently was the responsibility of his servants to gather each morning, to that of curing leather. It was all more than a little disgusting. I remember another of my ancestors had thought he would have sought to trap the scent of various bodily eruptions, if it had been possible to preserve them.

  That was not the type of collector I was going to be.

  Each of them had odd hiding spots where they kept a stray coin or two. None of them had more than silver on them, but it wasn’t called a seed for nothing. From these humble beginnings, I would grow a mighty hoard that would comfort me as I lived through the centuries. As I had that thought, I felt compelled to look back at Cami.

  She must have taken my glance as an opening, because she started talking then. That aside, she was at least doing as I had asked. She held her spear at the ready, with its butt to the ground and most of her focus on the entrance to the alley from which we could still hear the faints sounds of combat, including the occasional sparkle or flash of magic. I wouldn’t have thought that thugs could have put up such a fight against a level twenty adventurer.

  “Are you about done?” Cami asked, sounding a bit nervous. “We either need to run or help Modessa.”

  When I didn’t immediately respond, she blew out a frustrated breath. “Well, if we are just going to stand around, I want to know what gave you the right to tell Daggin what type of weapon I’m going to use, or to share personal information like my pursuit with him?”

  Before I could answer her, the decision was made for me as another half dozen thugs sprinted into the alley.

  One of them shouted, “There they are!”

  It seemed impossible that they could have defeated Modessa, but I had to face the evidence before my eyes. I prepared to transform again, when suddenly a crossbow bolt flew by me and stuck into the wall, sending chips of stone flying. Immediately after that, I saw the orange of magical fire spring to life in the hands of one of the thugs.

  Their having ranged weapons changed everything. Force Darts weren’t powerful enough to take out all six of them. I frowned as I imagined the devastation my breath weapon would have wrought upon them in this tight space, but that was impossible now.

  Instead, I looked around for a place to flee. If these foes had defeated Modessa, then I worried about our chances—especially while trapped in these tight confines. The light coming through the boards... maybe I could tear them away.

  It must lead into some level of the building beneath ground level. I think humans called such places a basement, but right now I had too much on my mind to worry about what its name was. The problem was, that even if I transformed my hands back into claws, I still wouldn’t be able to rip the boards up while protecting Cami.

  I suddenly felt her casting magic. It was oddly familiar, and I grinned when I realized why. Cami was duplicating the spell which Modessa had cast on us before leaving the inn.

  You have been covered by Shadow Cloak, cast by your bonded companion. It will not make you invisible, but will make it easier for you to hide. Only those specifically looking for you will see you. If you are in deep shadows, the difficulty seeing you will increase significantly. The enchantment will break the moment that you attack another living being.

  It was essentially the same description as when Modessa had cast it. The only difference being, that the duration was a short five minutes, rather than nearly an hour this time.

  Cami’s voice came into my mind, “Run or fight?”

  I thought about her and was torn. If it had been just me, I would have been able to escape, but I worried that if we ran, she might get hurt. Then there was also the fact that fleeing my clutch and then the horror had been all the fleeing I ever wanted to do in my life.

  “We fight… but we’ll only get one chance to do this right.”

  As we were speaking to each other telepathically, one of the thugs shouted, “Where’d they go?”

  Another said, “There… wait. No… I swear I saw something.”

  “They can’t have just disappeared. We need to get the gold they have,” said the one with flames in her hands.

  She was the first one I needed to kill. I thought about how to get to her. If we hugged the wall on one side, we’d remain in deep shadows the entire time. We only needed to get close enough to take away their ranged attack capability and thin out their numbers enough to give us a fighting chance.

  My mind was racing about what all this meant, but nothing added up.

  “Stay close to the wall and behind me,” I finally sent. “Hold your spear up and make sure it doesn’t clang against anything. When we get close enough, you need to thrust your spear into the one holding the fire. Aim for her throat.”

  “Not her heart?”

  “Her heart would kill her faster, but you don’t have much experience with that weapon and her ribcage might get in the way. A stab or slash to the throat will keep her from casting, and will likely end up killing her just the same. If you can, twist your spear once the tip is inside her throat.”

  It never occurred to me that I was teaching a fifteen-year-old girl how to ambush and kill another human. This was the sort of instruction our mother had given to me and my clutch mates, back when we were first sent out to hunt on our own. Most of us weren’t successful the first time—but that wasn’t really the point of that first hunt. The point was to learn to assert our dominance.

  “Okay, I understand.” Cami responded. “What about you?”

  “I’m going to take out the one with the crossbow at the same time that you move and then the big one with the club in his hands. Once you stab their mage, just run out into the street. If you can safely do so, cast Force Darts—otherwise, just let me handle them.”

  “I want to fight beside you,” Cami protested.

  “And you will… you are… but we each have a role in this battle.”

  Hopefully, that sufficed because the thugs were starting to slowly work their way down the alleyway. I was proud of Cami for having learned another spell. I tried to send that pride and my confidence in her across our connection.

  The sensation of moving without attracting attention was odd, but I couldn’t let it distract me now. We had to stay in the shadows or they’d see us. I transformed my claws once again, hoping this didn’t count as a full transformation—because if it did, I’d be stuck with scales and claws from the elbow down until the next day when my abilities reset.

  As I did, I gritted my teeth, tasting some blood from biting my tongue. I cursed myself for a fool, having forgotten how much even this simple transformation hurt—even as I made sure not to cry out in pain. The second time was better than the first, although they still took three seconds to transform. We were edging towards the street, while they were moving deeper into the alley.

  The flames in the mage’s hands were largely blocked by the four thugs in front of her and the crossbow wielder. They just cast more shadows, though, which made it easier for us to hide. From time to time, I’d see one of the thugs do a double take at us. I assumed they’d caught a vague glimpse or our figures, but then the magic and shadows combined to hide us again and they doubted what they saw.

  Finally, we were directly across from the thugs rear rank. It was now or never. At that exact moment, my foot landed on a stick. I’d been so careful up to that point, but it didn’t matter now. The stick snapped and all eyes turned towards us.

  Cami didn’t hesitate. She would have made a good dragon, but for the misfortune of her having been birthed a human. She thrust with her spear and I didn’t wait long enough to see if her aim was true.

  Strangely, I trusted her completely. I focused on my job, and threw my body at the crossbowman. If the mage was still alive, she could sear my back with those flames, but I had job to do and I’d do my part.

  One set of claws snapped the crossbow’s cable and rendered it useless, while I raked my other set of claws across the man’s face. His chin was down so I couldn’t get a good swipe at his neck, but he’d be hard pressed to fight with his eyes sliced clean through.

  His face was a mess, but I didn’t care. I allowed my momentum to carry me forward and drove my shoulder into his chest, which in turn pushed him into the stone wall. I heard bones crack and the explosive expulsion of air from his lungs.

  Then I was among the others and moving like a whirlwind. A small club struck me in the shoulder. I think my shoulder may have dislocated, but I was a monster and monsters could fight through pain. With one swipe, I opened a foe’s belly. He clutched his gut to hold in his bowels as I moved past him to swipe at another thug. They were falling around me left and right, but then there was a flash of light behind us and I heard a commanding voice shout out.

  “Drop your weapons and leave the children alone.”

  I recognized Serius’ voice. A second later, Galbrecht was standing next to us. I fell forward with my arms tucked underneath me as I focused on changing them back to human hands.

  Galbrecht leaned forward and put his hand on my back, but Cami let out a groan at that moment. It was enough to distract the paladin, who looked over at her.

  My shredded shirt was already going to be difficult enough to explain, without him seeing blue scales and claws. I was able to push myself up onto my knees and hands, which were once again human. The throb of pain from my shoulder as I’d pressed the attack was worth it, though.

  One thing led to another and we discovered that Serius and Galbrecht had come when they’d discovered that Modessa was seriously injured. Apparently, their party had some tracking magic, which allowed them to know when any of the others were injured. Lisella was attending to the injured rogue.

  Galbrecht took a look around and started to ask, “What caused these…”

  Serius cut him off. “Can you get the students to Lisella? Let her check them out. I’ll question any survivors.” He pressed his already thin lips together. “I know you find that sort of thing distasteful. Besides, we can’t leave Liam at the inn by himself for long. His arm still isn’t fully regrown.”

  My gaze darted back and forth between the two. Something was off, but I didn’t know what. Reading human expressions was still difficult for me.

  Fortunately, Cami’s voice sounded in my head, confirming my suspicions, “They're hiding something.”

  Cami suspected them, too. She was clever for a young human, and I knew I’d have to trust her judgment about many things. It made me feel good, knowing that we were on the same page. Neither of us said anything more, only answered a few questions before helping Lisella escort Modessa back to the inn. The rogue had a slight limp, but otherwise seemed fine.

  Lisella gave me a look that even I knew meant I had a lecture coming for sneaking out right when we had started discussing her becoming my mentor. I glanced down at Cami and shook my head. The priestess would just have to get in line. Now I knew why dragon males rarely lived with their mates for long after the deed was done.

  Females, apparently of any race, could exhaust a man.

  The walk back gave me time to check on the notifications I had ignored. Most of them were combat related, but the few key ones which mattered made me smile.

  You have looted 6 silver and 22 copper.

  You have looted 3 low quality daggers, a sliver of jade, carved ivory dice, and a low-quality potion of healing.

  It wasn’t much, but it was the beginning of my hoard. I didn’t count the weapons I had gotten from Daggin earlier as part of my hoard—even though they were of much higher quality. Those were meant to be functional, at least for now. Maybe later they’d make their way to my hoard.

  The next notification was also related to the battle.

  You have defeated 1 human mage, 1 human archer, 3 human brutes, and 4 human rogues. All were below your human level.

  Threat level: Minimal, but numerically significant. DKP earned split with bonded companion.

  DKP awarded: 1

  That got the mind racing. I knew none of them had seemed that powerful, but how could they have defeated a level 20 rogue if they were all below my human level? Did that mean my monk and sorcerer levels combined? Yet even as I asked myself the question, I knew that wasn’t the case.

  I was a poor judge of human power, but these attackers had been rather pathetic. I had erred on the side of caution because I didn’t want Cami getting hurt, but hopefully we could get her some armor and training that would make her less vulnerable.

  I shook my head to clear the tightness that throbbed behind my eyes. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I’d have to speak to her later. This telepathy headache was already making it hard to think, and this could wait.