Dragon Defiant Read online

  Born nameless in a tank, they try and make her into a weapon, but she chooses defiance.

  Eltrinia sounds like a good name, and Lem comes naturally. After falling through the sky during a lightning storm, Eltrinia is free of the tube that they grew her in, and while she doesn’t yet know her name, she knows that she needs to get in touch with society.

  A fisherman and his wife take her in, and a shore patrolman offers to take her to safety, but minimal contact with him tells her all she needs to know. The valley wants her back, she is expensive, and they have scouts looking everywhere for her. Her captor thinks he is in charge, but that is when he meets the lightning.

  After that, things get a little blurry.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Dragon Defiant

  Copyright © 2019 by Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-987969-73-3

  ©Cover art by Angela Waters

  All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.

  Published by Viola Grace

  Look for me online at violagrace.com, Sea to Sky Books, Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, B&N, and other eBook sellers.

  Dragon Defiant

  The Covert Dragons Book #5

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  The first awareness she had was of being jolted from left to right. Voices were shouting an alarm, and she was being rocked violently from side to side.

  She went from seeing flaring light through her lids to a warm silence that was broken as the entire world around her rumbled rhythmically to life.

  She braced her hands against the wall of the tank she was in. She kept herself from rocking wildly from side to side. She didn’t know who she was or what she was, but she was in fluid, and there was something attached to her limbs.

  She heard a soft voice speaking in her ear, it was explaining words and concepts. She looked to the left, and an audio output device led to the small wires that ran into her skull.

  The world around her was dark and humming as she rocked back and forth with the movements.

  Who am I?

  The thought echoed in her head as she swayed.

  There were shouts from outside, and whatever she was in shuddered and skidded to a stop.

  There was screaming, and then, the vehicle she was in was torn open. A creature made of light grey-green scales grabbed her and tore her tube away from its moorings. The dragon flapped its wings and pulled her upward and away from the small town that she was in.

  She watched the ground move away from her, and beads of water swelled and coursed across her tube. Rain. It was raining.

  A dragon made of onyx and shadow struck the one carrying her, and the tube fell, end over end, toward a wide and slick surface.

  It felt like she fell forever, but when she saw the lightning, she knew that her cascade into the world had only begun. Forever would have to wait.

  She stood up on the shoreline, naked and confused. The tube was long gone, swept away and taken under by the waves.

  She looked down at her arms and felt her skull. The holes that had let fluids and sound in were closed. She was whole. She looked down at herself and nodded. Adult female. Not human. The blue light that crackled and moved across her skin was not something humans could do.

  She took her first few steps, walking without purpose. The tiny house on the bluff above the shoreline had a light in the window. That meant humans, and that could mean food. She looked from side to side and found a set of worn and silvered stairs.

  She gripped the railing and began the climb. It was so strange; every touch was new. The skin of her feet was new, her hands were soft, and when she dragged them across the railing, bits of wood worked into her skin. The pain was peculiar, but it didn’t stop her, and she left a trail of blood up the steps.

  She walked to the house and knocked on the door. A man opened it, and a woman behind him gasped.

  She wanted to speak, but it wasn’t in her head.

  “Did you wash up?” The woman grabbed a blanket and bustled toward her.

  She nodded.

  “Did a ship sink? Were you adrift?”

  She shook her head.

  The woman wrapped the blanket around her, and she flinched when her hands were grasped.

  “Oh, pet. You are bleeding. Come with me.”

  The woman was kind and used metal pincers to remove the bits of wood from under her skin.

  “What is your name, dear?”

  She thought about it and opened and closed her mouth before trying again. “Eltrinia.” She smiled proudly. It sounded like a good name.

  The wife continued to pull the splinters free. Eltrinia felt right.

  “What is your last name?”

  Eltrinia answered without hesitation. “Lem.”

  The couple paused. The husband turned from the window. “You have no one?”

  “I do not believe so. I was in a tube that fell from the sky. There were dragons and lightning, and then, I was falling.”

  The couple blinked. The wife whispered, “Dragons?”

  Eltrinia watched her hand push out the bits of wood that the woman had yet to remove. “That is good, right?”

  The woman looked down, and her eyes widened. “Yes, it is very good. Are you a healing dragon?”

  “I am a dragon?” It sounded right, but she wasn’t sure.

  “Your eyes are glowing, and there is power running under your skin. You are either a dragon or a mage, and the mages generally keep to their own city.”

  The man said, “Rekker. They have a homegrown dragon now. She is making the deals between the new diamond dragon at the capital and Rekker City.”

  “New dragons?” Eltrinia held her wrap around her. It seemed so familiar.

  “I have a dress that you can wear, dear. Let’s get you decent, and then, we can continue this discussion.”

  Eltrinia stood up and was about to drop the wrap when she saw the woman’s eyes. She sighed and tightened it up, following the nameless woman into the rear of the cabin and standing still for lacing and layers. She felt hot and tight when she stepped back into the main room, and to her surprise, there was a man next to the older male who lived there.

  Eltrinia cocked her head. “Do I know you?”

  He blinked in surprise. “No, I do not think you do. I would have remembered you. Your hosts have stated that you appear to be some kind of dragon, and looking at your features, I do believe they are correct.”

  Eltrinia looked at him and cocked her head. “I am sure that I know you from somewhere. What kind of dragon are you?”

  Her host smiled. “He is the pewter dragon that is posted here on the coast. Dalvid has always been very good at keeping us secure.”

  “That is nice. Thank you for the clothing; I will return it when I am able. I need to be going now.”

  The man in uniform moved to block her. “You are going to remain here until the others from the valley come to retrieve you.”

  She frowned. “No. That is not where I am supposed to be.”

  She moved to pass him, and he grabbed her arm. Her hosts gasped. “You should really unhand me.”

  Dalvid spoke softly, but they all heard him when he said, “If you don’t want these old humans to meet a grizzly fate by falling over the cliff, you will cooperate.”

  Her hosts gasped, and she sent a bolt of lightning through his hand, and his hair spik
ed up and began to smoke while crackle surrounded his body.

  “I will remove him. He will not harm you.”

  The elderly couple was shocked, but Eltrinia simply grabbed the man by his wrist and hauled him out of the small house on the hill, walking up toward the road where she could hear the occasional vehicle passing.

  There was a slight groan from the Dalvid. She spoke softly to him. “Never threaten the first thing that a newborn sees. I have imprinted on humans, and no threats to them will be tolerated. You and yours should remember that. You do seem to know who and what I am, but that doesn’t matter. I can always find out later. For now, there is a world to explore, and I am not going to take you with me while I do it.”

  She hauled Dalvid to the edge of the road, and she waited. Hmm. If she wanted a vehicle, she was going to need to learn how to drive.

  She crouched next to her victim. “Do you know how to drive a vehicle?”

  His eyes opened slowly, shot with red. “What?”

  “Do you know how to drive a vehicle?”

  “I am not driving you anywhere.”

  She held her left hand over his head and asked him again. “How do you drive a karros?”

  The light charge that she played across his thoughts picked them up and gave them to her. She learned about brakes, gears, clutches, and traffic laws. Oh, those were important.

  The next vehicle that came along was a two-passenger vehicle. It was enough for her purposes.

  She waved the vehicle down, and a woman got out with a serious expression who looked her up and down. “Well, you match my vision, but you look a little scruffier. What are you?”

  Eltrinia looked at the woman and recognized her for what she was. “You are a dragon. I am lightning.”

  “Excellent. Get in. The assholes from the valley are going to get through the roadblock shortly. We don’t want you to be here when they arrive.”

  Dalvid was out cold again.

  Eltrinia cocked her head. “You will drive?”

  “I will drive. We are going to my museum. No one will look for you there, and it will at least let us get you some clothing appropriate to your progenitor.”

  “You know what I am?”

  The woman walked around and opened the door for her. “I know what you are, and I know how they made you. Trin is not going to be pleased that they have continued their work, but they couldn’t miss a chance to make her again, now could they?”

  The woman got behind the controls.

  Eltrinia looked down the road, and she heard another vehicle. Dalvid was still out, so she did what her instincts told her to do. She got in the vehicle.

  “Please, keep your hands in your lap. The vehicle is not built for someone with electrical skills. You might short us out.”

  Eltrinia nodded. “I am Eltrinia Lem, by the way. I am glad you have arrived.”

  “Of course, you are. I am the curator, and I will explain my name and my purpose to you once we have gotten you safe. You were the jewel in their plans, and they are very unhappy that you have gone missing.”

  Eltrinia held her elbows as they cruised along the roads at high speeds. “I didn’t go missing. They dropped me.”

  “What?”

  “There were a truck and my tube, and then, a dragon tore me free and flew away with me. Then rain, lightning, black dragons, and I was falling. More lightning. I woke up on the shore and climbed to the small house on the bluff.”

  “That is where you found that guy.”

  “My hosts called him. He is some kind of shore patrol. A pewter dragon. He also works for the valley, whatever that is.”

  “You don’t remember?” The curator kept her gaze on the road.

  “I woke up in the truck. That was when my memory started. I have been given language and knowledge, but there are a number of things that I am a little fuzzy on.”

  The curator laughed. “Okay. We will try and fill in the blanks. Anything spring to mind?”

  “Should I have killed Dalvid or burned him much more badly? Were the friendly couple witnesses, and should I have taken the memory of me from them?”

  “Wow. Um, no, leaving Dalvid alive is good. I will let Trin know, and he can be brought in for questioning. We can get more information out of him if he is alive and all his organs work.”

  Eltrinia smiled. “Oh, good.”

  “As for the couple, are you really good at removing memories?”

  Eltrinia snickered. “Dalvid can’t drive a karros anymore. I took it from him. If he wants to do it, he is going to need to learn again.”

  “What?”

  “I took his memories of driving. I thought I might need them.”

  The curator whistled slowly. “Right. Of course, it is what someone in your situation would do.”

  “So, I behaved normally?” Eltrinia was pleased.

  The curator laughed. “Having met your genetic donor, yes, child. You did.”

  Chapter Two

  Eltrinia gasped when they got to Breaker City. She stared out the windows and watched the throng of humanity and others who were not human move and jostle amongst each other.

  “Are you doing all right, Eltrinia?” The curator drove them smoothly through the city streets.

  “I am fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You are on your own for the first time. I thought you might be tired.”

  “What does tired feel like?”

  The curator thought about it. “Heavy. Your limbs feel heavy, as do your eyelids. If you are hungry, there is an energy in your abdomen, but the rest of you is tired. If you are thirsty, your mouth feels slightly sticky, and you swallow a lot.”

  Eltrinia thought about it. She felt heavy, her mouth felt dry and sticky, and there was an uncomfortable churning in her abdomen. “I am all three.”

  “We will fix them in a few minutes. That large building ahead of us is our destination.”

  Eltrinia nodded. Now that she was aware of her discomfort, she could think of nothing else. “I am also hot, and this fabric scratches.”

  “I will get you something softer. If you are just out of one of those blasted tanks, your skin will be very sensitive.”

  As she spoke, they drew close to the building, and the curator pressed a button on the console. To Eltrinia’s astonishment, a door opened in a wall, and they slowed but drove inside it.

  There was a row of karros of different sizes and shapes. Some for six people and some for only two. The curator pulled up and parked neatly in a space that seemed made for their transport.

  The curator opened her door and got out. “Come along, Eltrinia. I have a meal and change of clothing waiting for you.”

  Eltrinia fumbled at the door, but her limbs didn’t want to obey her. She got the door open and pulled herself out, leaning against the wall next to the karros. “I will be with you in a moment.”

  The curator sighed. “I guess I misjudged how much power you were carrying. Do you mind if I assist you?”

  Eltrinia shook her head wearily. “Please. I need help.”

  The curator wrapped Eltrinia’s left arm over her shoulder, held onto her hand, and put her own right arm around her waist. They walked slowly to a lift and from there down a series of halls until the smell of food caused Eltrinia’s stomach to make a darkly audible sound.

  “Don’t worry. That is a normal sound if your stomach has been empty for several hours. I have some easy-to-digest foods waiting for you. We can work your way up to standard foods over a week.”

  “Can I start now?”

  “You can start now. I have oatmeal, jam, toast, and broth. You can eat any or all of them.”

  The curator opened a door, and the bedroom was neat, tidy, and precise. Blue and silver were the colours, and Eltrinia instantly felt at home.

  The food was under covers on the table. Eltrinia released the curator and stumbled to the chair. While she sat, the curator opened the covers, and the s
mells came to her with taunting enthusiasm.

  “I am going to loosen your dress. The corset you are in was made for someone much smaller.”

  “Thank you. Can I just start while you do that?”

  “Begin with the warm water. Drink some and then wash your hands.”

  With shaking hands, Eltrinia took the pitcher of water and poured it into a cup. She drank the tepid water, and her stomach paused its ferocious sounds.

  The curator worked quickly, flipping the shirt up while she tugged at the laces. Eltrinia exhaled happily when the laces released, and her torso was no longer on fire.

  “We are going to get food in you, and then, we are going to remove your clothing and get you into something more comfortable.”

  “Are you sure that we can’t change the order? These clothes are really hot.”

  The curator sighed. “Fine. Stand up, and let’s get this over with. I will get you a second gown when you finish eating.”

  “Why?”

  “Because consuming food doesn’t usually go smoothly the first time.”

  Eltrinia got to her feet and stood with her arms out while the curator unbuttoned, untied, and unsnapped the borrowed clothing. Everything came off, right down to the skin.

  The curator hissed. “You weren’t kidding. Your skin did not like that.”

  She got to her feet and picked up a folded item. “Stick your arms out.”

  With a little tugging and pulling, the loose, gauzy fabric slipped over her arms and hands, and the neckline whispered into place on her shoulders. The roomy garb covered everything but didn’t touch.

  “Oh, that is much better.” She touched the silky-soft fabric. “Can all my clothing be made of this?”

  “No, but I can choose some fabrics that feel similar, even when against the skin. There are a plethora of options here in the city. The trade winds bring in folks and items from near and far. Now, sit, and I will show you how to eat.”