Dragon Slayer 3: A Pulp Fantasy Harem Adventure Read online

  “I did,” I said, “but I don’t think they’re going to be able to help us right now.”

  “What?” Sir Galfred’s bushy eyebrows knitted together. “Surely their forces weren’t completely decimated by Emroth before you brought her down?”

  “No, but they’re too far away to help us.” I shook my head. “Even if they rode horses as fast as they could go, they wouldn’t arrive before the armies of Curym and Zaddrith. The dragons and their minions are a little more than a day away.”

  “Goddesses!” Sir Galfred’s face went a little pale, but his expression grew determined. “Come. The king must hear everything.”

  “One moment,” I told the knight, then turned to the redhead. “Irenya, how are you feeling? That had to be a long way to fly, and after the battle with Emroth and her ghoulins. If you need to rest—”

  “I am fine,” my lover said with a stubborn shake of her head. “It felt good to stretch my wings and use my magic once more. I want to see what I can do to help the people of Whitespire.” She shot me a wink. “A powerful man I know once said something about being a heroine, so I’d like to give that a shot and see what it feels like.”

  I grinned and turned to Sir Galfred. “Lead the way!” I needed to go see Rizzala and Sergeant Dai, but I couldn’t refuse the king of Whitespire.

  Irenya, Arieste, and I accompanied Sir Galfred through the palace toward King Obragar’s study. I noticed artisans and craftsmen had begun to repair the damage done to the palace by Riamod’s attack a week earlier, though all repairs had ceased as the city prepared for war. After we survived this battle, it would only be a matter of time until the palace once again looked as majestic and elegant as it had when I first arrived.

  King Obragar was sitting in the plush armchair in his study reading over reports I guessed contained updates on the city’s preparations. He had a cup and a plate of food in his hands, but they looked like an almost ignored afterthought left by a concerned servant.

  “Your Majesty,” Sir Galfred said, “Sir Ethan has returned and he bears grave news.”

  King Obragar looked up, and I found he looked even older and more tired than when I’d seen him last. Worry for the welfare of his people had deepened the age lines of his face, and his blonde hair was almost as pale as Arieste’s. Dark circles made his blue eyes seem even more filled with anxiety.

  “Sir Ethan, the Goddesses have smiled on you and brought you back from your mission to Windwall safely.” King Obragar stood slowly and extended a hand to me.

  “It’s good to be back, Your Majesty.” I shook the king’s hand. “Windwall is safe, and they will be sending as many Blackguards as they can spare in order to render aid to our cause. Unfortunately, they’re not going to get here in time.”

  I turned to the large wooden table that occupied the center of the king’s study and looked at the map of Elloriel. I scanned the curving outline of the Crystal River until I found the section that most resembled the area where I’d seen our enemies.

  “Here,” I said and tapped the spot, “I saw them here almost an hour ago. Curym’s minions were traveling in and alongside the river, and Zaddrith and her minions were going through the forest.”

  King Obragar and Sir Galfred bent over the map with matching frowns.

  “A fast horse could cover that distance in about a day of hard riding,” Sir Galfred said to the king. “Assuming Zaddrith’s forces can’t quite match that pace, we’re looking at closer to a day and a half.”

  “And what about Curym?” I asked. I ran my finger along the Crystal River. “Will she and her forces stick to the river, or can they fight on land, too?”

  Sir Galfred shot the king a hesitant expression, then turned to Arieste and Irenya. “Perhaps this is a question they could answer better than I,” he said with only a trace of a frown.

  “I have never encountered Curym’s minions,” Arieste said. “She was on the opposite side of the continent from me, and I never had cause to fly that far away from my lair.”

  All of us turned to Irenya. The red-haired woman smiled, seeming pleased to be the center of attention.

  “I only ever roamed into Curym’s lands once, long ago,” Irenya said, “before Zaddrith had claimed all the swamplands. Back then, Curym used the waterways to travel out of sight, protected by the depths from even my fire. If she is still the same dragon I faced back then, she and her minions will remain as close to the water as possible.”

  My brow furrowed as I stared down at the map. The Crystal River meandered through forests and farmlands, but there were a few larger towns and villages along its banks.

  “Do you think Curym will attack these?” I asked as I pointed to the settlements along the map.

  Irenya frowned, then shrugged. “I don’t know. Curym’s mind is a mystery to me. She may seek treasure, to feed her minions, or simply to destroy as a tidal wave destroys the land it floods. I have never seen her out of water, so I can’t tell you what she wants or why she has chosen to join Zaddrith in attacking Whitespire.”

  “But what can you tell us about Zaddrith?” I asked. “Why would she attack Whitespire?”

  “Zaddrith is much like Emroth and Curym,” Irenya said. “She will hide until her enemy is too weak, then, like a viper, she will strike and let her acid bite kill her enemy. At her core, she is a coward. My guess is that she attacked because she felt threatened by something, so she seeks to overwhelm the threat before it can truly endanger her.”

  “So she’s the kind of dragon that’s going to throw her minions at our walls, like Emroth did?” I asked.

  “Definitely.” Irenya nodded. “Emroth did it because she was smaller and weaker than the other dragons she faced, but Zaddrith is simply unwilling to take the risk herself. She cannot produce as many minions as Emroth, especially not so far away from her lair, but she would have expended as much energy as was required to produce the army marching toward us. She’d only march with an army which she was confident would triumph.”

  I turned to Sir Galfred and frowned. “The forest was too thick for me to get a good look at her army, but we’re going to be facing an enemy that numbers in the thousands. Tell me you’ve managed to raise an army of our own.”

  “I wish I had better news for you,” Sir Galfred said, and his expression grew grim. “In the last week, I have managed to scrounge up a force of close to two hundred and fifty fighting men. Many from the White Guard, who have more experience at managing an angry mob than swinging a sword in battle. However, there are a few stalwarts from the nearby villages and towns that served in the militia. We can count on another hundred or so strong men and women willing to take up arms, but they have no more than a few days’ training under the Grey Hunters.”

  “Damn!” I breathed.

  “The good news is that the city’s defenses have been greatly improved.” Sir Galfred produced another map, this one of Whitespire, and spread it out on the table. “The cliffs to the north and east of the city will prevent the enemy from coming at us that way, so they will come at us from the west and south. Unfortunately, the forest to the south will give them enough cover to get within half a mile of the city walls before we can see them. For this reason, we have made the defenses there the strongest.”

  King Obragar lifted one of the reports he’d been reading and scanned its contents. “According to your Grey Hunter friend, the battlements have been reinforced and raised, so the enemy will be hard-pressed to climb over them. The sharpened stakes outside the walls will slow them down enough that our archers can pick them off.”

  “Which leads us to another problem,” Sir Galfred put in. “While there are more than enough bows to go around, the king’s armory only holds two thousand arrows. Divided among the one hundred competent archers we have mustered that is just twenty arrows apiece.”

  “That’s two thousand enemies down,” I said. “Not bad, right?”

  “Alas, in a battle, those two thousand arrows can be expected to bring down no more than thr
ee to five hundred men.” Sir Galfred stroked his bristling red moustache. “Flights of arrows are far less accurate than single shots, and too many fly wide of their mark or strike the earth.”

  “Damn,” I said with a shake of my head. “And there’s no way we can make more?”

  “All the fletchers in the city have been hard at work,” Sir Galfred said, “but they cannot produce more than a few hundred per day. If the enemy will hit us tomorrow…”

  “Then that’s not going to make much of a difference.” I stared down at the city map. “What other defenses have you come up with? What can we use to fight back?”

  “For that, you would have to speak to your friend Adath,” Sir Galfred said. “He is running things from the wall, while I am handling the training of the recruits.”

  “Well, then, I need to go speak to Adath about the defenses,” I said. “There has to be a way the dragons and I can help out.”

  “Your aid is greatly appreciated, Sir Ethan,” King Obragar said, and I heard the quaver of exhaustion in his voice. “I feared you would not return from Windwall in time.”

  “I’m here now,” I said in the most confident tone I could muster. “I promised I’d help fight for Whitespire any way I can, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  “We will lend our assistance, Your Majesty,” Arieste confirmed.

  “I’d love nothing more than to roast a few thousand of Zaddrith and Curym’s minions,” Irenya added.

  “Thank you,” the king said with a relieved expression. “All of you.”

  I gave the king and Sir Galfred a little bow, then turned and strode from the room. I kept my pace slow so Irenya and Arieste would be able to easily match it.

  “We need to do more,” I told them in a low voice so only they could hear. “I saw the city’s defenses as we flew over, and while it’s a start, it’s not enough. If they attack us now, we’re screwed.”

  Chapter Two

  As we walked down the hallway that led away from the king’s study, I was struck by how empty the palace was. Last time I’d been here, there had been servants bustling about, busy caring for the king’s guests and keeping everything in order. Now, it was all but deserted, save for a few of the oldest men and maidservants.

  “Looks like everyone is getting ready for the fight,” I remarked to Arieste and Irenya.

  “From the size of that army, we’re going to need as many warriors as we can get,” Irenya said.

  I noticed her use of the “we”. Not long ago, when we first arrived in Windwall, she’d spoken of the humans as “them,” as if she wasn’t one of them. She’d changed a lot over the course of our adventures in Ironfast. Hopefully she was starting to feel more at home among the humans. After all, she was one of us now.

  “I saw no army as I flew back here with Rizzala,” Arieste said, “but I felt both Curym and Zaddrith drawing nearer. There was so much magic surrounding them; their minions must have numbered in the thousands.”

  “At least two or three thousand,” I said and looked to Irenya for confirmation. “I couldn’t get a good count, but there were enough that it looked like the forest floor was covered in ants. Big, ugly, monster-sized ants.”

  “Zaddrith will be the visible threat,” Irenya said, and her expression grew pensive, “but we cannot underestimate Curym. She will find a clever way, the way we least expect, while Zaddrith is throwing her forces straight at our walls.”

  “Then we’re going to have to be more clever.” I shot a grin at them both. “Between the three of us, there’s no army or dragon we can’t defeat, right? We just kicked Emroth’s ass and all but wiped out her minions. We’ve got this.”

  “That is right, hero!” Nyvea purred. “Nothing will stand in your way.”

  I smiled at the sexy voice and hoped I sounded more confident than I felt. The ghoulins had been slow, their strength was in their numbers. I didn’t know what we were facing with Zaddrith and Curym, so I’d just have to be ready for anything.

  As I moved through the palace heading toward the rooms where Rizzala and Sergeant Dai waited, a familiar figure appeared in the grand chamber and strode toward me. Princess Selene had a face as narrow as the king’s, framed by yellow-blonde hair. The blush of her cheeks matched the rosy red of her lips, and her button nose wrinkled as she smiled at the sight of me and my companions. She swept back her deep blue dress as she curtsied, which gave me a full view of her ample breasts.

  “Sir Ethan, it is a pleasure to see you,” she said in a charming voice. Her expression was pleasant, but I saw the mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “It has been too long since we last… spoke.”

  I tried not to blush as I thought of the last time the princess and I had done anything like talking together. We’d been interrupted by the king’s summons to deliver the news of the approaching threat. With my hasty flight to Windwall, I hadn’t had a chance to even see her.

  “Your Highness,” I said with a bow. “That is how we’re supposed to address the princess, right?” I still hadn’t quite gotten the hang of manners and etiquette here on Iriador.

  “Such formality?” Princess Selene cocked an eyebrow. “Call me Selene, please.” She graced my companions with a smile. “All of you. From what I hear, we’re about to owe the safety of our city to you.”

  “We are going to fight like everyone else, Your High…er, Selene,” Arieste said and returned the princess’ smile. “We simply happen to have more powerful weapons at our disposal.”

  “Indeed.” Princess Selene leaned closer and spoke in a low voice. “Perhaps one of these days, you could take me for a ride? I imagine flying on a dragon’s back is unlike anything else in this world.”

  “Oh myyyyyyy,” Neyvea purred in my mind. “After you give her a ride on one of your dragons, you should give her a ride on that big, thick, pen--”

  “There is nothing like it,” I said to the princess as I pushed Neyvea’s vision of Selene straddling me out of my head. “And, if your father has no objections, perhaps when this battle is over, we will have a chance to take that ride.”

  “My father,” Princess Selene said, and her voice dropped to a monotone. “He would order me to remain safely on the ground.”

  “He’s just doing what any father would,” I replied. “You’re his only daughter, so of course he’d want to keep you safe.”

  “I’m not a child any longer.” The princess held her head high, and her expression grew imperious, regal. “He cannot shelter me as he once did.”

  “Perhaps he will listen to me,” Arieste said, and she took the princess’ hand in hers. “I will talk to him for you, and I would be happy to take you to the skies.”

  “I’d like that very much.” The princess’ eyes sparkled with delight.

  “If you will excuse us, Selene,” I said and swept a little bow like I’d seen Sir Galfred do, “we’re going to see if we can find a way to help make the preparations for the battle.”

  “Of course, Sir Ethan.” The princess curtsied, smiled at Arieste and Irenya, then swept from the grand chamber in an elegant flurry of golden hair and blue cloth.

  We hadn’t taken two steps when I saw the familiar black beard and bald head of Adath the Grey Hunter striding through the entrance of the grand chamber toward us.

  “Ethan!” he called out, and a broad smile stretched his face. “I hurried here the moment I saw you fly over, but I suppose these feet of mine could never match the speed of your dragons’ wings.” He winked at Arieste, and the smile only slipped a little as his eyes fell on Irenya. Though most of the people in Whitespire knew the truth about who these women were, it would take time for them to get over the fact that Irenya wasn’t Riamod, the red dragon who had terrorized the city for years.

  I pulled Adath into a hug and slapped his back. Adath was the one to teach me to fight with an axe, and he’d been the closest thing I had to a friend on my arrival here in Whitespire. It was odd to realize how much I’d missed the man.

  “Looks l
ike the walk did you good.” I grinned and pointed at his knee, which had been injured in the battle with Frosdar’s minions. “That limp has healed right up.”

  “A few days of hard work will cure anything, so my pa used to say.” He shrugged. “Maybe you should spend some time hauling and building instead of riding around on your winged carriages like some uppity nobleman, else you might go soft on me.” He jabbed a finger into my mailed midsection.

  I laughed, and the feeling of camaraderie helped to melt away my worries over the impending attack. As long as I had men like Adath to fight beside, Zaddrith and Curym didn’t stand a chance.

  “Sir Galfred just filled me in on the preparations for the battle,” I said. “I was looking at your fortifications when I flew over, and I was wondering what else you had in mind besides the spikes outside the wall.”

  “Young pup’s got it in his head he can outthink an old wolf like me, eh?” Adath cocked an eyebrow. “Been in a lot of sieges, have you?”

  “No,” I said with a shrug, “but I’ve had enough learning experience to have something to offer.” He didn’t need to know that my ‘learning experience’ included playing lots and lots of video games and reading historical fiction.

  “Right.” Adath scowled, but a moment later a broad grin broke out on his strong, bearded face. “Don’t worry, lad. I’m not too proud to think I’ve got the answers for everything. I’d welcome any ideas you’ve got.”

  “So tell me, what have you got cooked up for the enemy?” I asked.

  “For now, all I’ve managed to come up with are the spikes and the barriers atop the wall.” Adath’s expression grew grim. “I’ve had all the masons and stoneworkers in Whitespire hauling rocks, so we’ll have those to drop atop ‘em if they get too close. With the archers we’ve recruited and Grendis has trained, we ought to hold off a few waves of them. But if they make it over the wall, we’re in serious trouble.”

  “We’ll have to stop that from happening.” I turned to Irenya and Arieste. “Between the three of us, we ought to be able to keep them back.”