Dragon Queen (Avery Rome Book 3) Read online

  So she smiled at the girl.

  “I noticed that. Still, he was right about things. The chicken last night especially. I would have been beaten as a child for serving that.” She paused. “My clan… my family? They’re not evil really, but… Well, they also kind of are.”

  Leslie moved up near them, and spoke without warning. Avery actually jumped a bit, not having noticed her closing with them like that.

  “True. The Gray… We’re a bunch of bigots. It’s our faith, really. It took me years to really break free of it, myself. Even after they tried to kill my daughter and I had to run away to save my own life.” She bowed her head, shame clearly on her face, even from the side.

  The others all made nice blue images in front and behind her as they moved. So did a family of deer about fifty feet off the trail. They were just moving away however, not trying to sneak up on them or anything. Real deer didn’t do that, but Avery had learned to be careful of any sort of animal at battle camp. Even birds and squirrels could be Shifters.

  There to spy on you, if it were their mission of the moment.

  These were probably real though, given everything.

  Looking at Bridget from the side, since the tiny woman was right next to her, Avery explained a bit more.

  “Leslie is my mother. She was made to look younger by The Rotted. A Greater Demon. Then she was forced to attend Human high school. The same one that I go to. We’re off for summer break right now.”

  She didn’t know if anything would make sense to the girl, but the red-head looked ahead, sniffing at the air.

  “Radical. I was home schooled, myself. That means I never really had friends near my own age growing up. It’s warped me, clearly. So, you brought guys with you? Smart. I should have done that, but… Well, I kind of broke up with my boyfriend. Or, well, it didn’t go that way. He dumped me like a sack of bricks. That was down to his parents though. They’re anti-Infected bigots, I’m infected... You get the problem there. It was either not have me in his life or lose them for good, and they won. We weren’t really in love or anything, so I guess that makes sense. It kind of sucks though. So, you have guys? Are they single? Do any of them like slightly hyper, incredibly strong women? I’m seventeen, so… We’re all about the same age, right?”

  She looked younger than that by a few years, but Avery nodded. Part of that was down to her size.

  “I’m dating Phillip. Using Vampire rules, so if you want to do anything with him, you need my permission. Which is possible, if you want. Alan is single though. The one with the fake black hair? His people are Rubber Men. That… They’re really bendy and flexible?”

  Those words were taken the wrong way by the girl, but only enough to get slightly wicked laughter.

  “Kinky! I should get with him then? We have some single men with us, too. For you Leslie, unless…” She stopped then, not saying what she was thinking.

  Possibly that Avery might not be fine with her getting a date for her mother.

  Leslie however was actually fine with that.

  “Oh? That sounds interesting. I’m not allowed to marry right now, but perhaps I could entertain a few of them? Women as well?”

  “Cool. We can hook you up with Georgia? Let me… Hey, Georgia!”

  That got a friendly seeming woman to drop back from the head of the line. She was dressed in bright colors, being red, purple and gold from head to foot. The clothing was tight, but didn’t show a lot of skin.

  “Hey! What can I do for you, Bridgie?”

  “It’s what I, or rather, Leslie here, can do for you. She likes girls and guys, so…” They kept walking, but Bridget kept talking, not letting anyone else say anything. “Also, she’s older than she looks. She’s Avery’s mother. I didn't get an age, but that should be old enough, right?”

  Leslie brushed at her long strawberry blonde hair. It was being held back, but a few wisps had escaped the scrunchy being used for that purpose.

  “Forty-eight. I’m a Shifter, and we tend not to have kids until later. Then, we often live much longer, so it works out.”

  That was a simple truth, but instead of thinking it a problem, Georgia touched Leslie on the arm.

  “Oh? That works for me then. We should meet up later? We can discuss the idea?”

  That was actually agreed to, even if they were both right in front of her at the moment. It seemed a bit off to Avery, to tell the truth. They didn't get into specific details however, though Georgia moved forward again, pulling her new friend along with her. Leaving Bridget and Avery alone.

  The smaller girl watched them leave her face seeming almost sad for a bit.

  “It’s really hard for Georgia. She likes everyone, but she pretty much has to get with three or four people a day. Her power is weird, too. She makes people horny. You know, makes them feel like they want to have sex?”

  “Like an Alede?” Avery realized that might not mean too much, so tried a different word. “We call them succubi, sometimes. They feed off of sexual energy. Only after you’re done with it, so sex is kind of part of what they do each day. They can make people, um, what you said. Horny?” That word felt awkward, but it was part of their common language. At least she’d heard people at school use it before.

  There was a nod then.

  “I don’t think Georgia needs it for the power. Other than that it sounds similar, yeah. Neat, really. A lot of people from where you’re from sound like they’d fit right in, back home. Is everyone with you Infected? Or, um… different? You don’t have the Infection there, right?”

  “Right. Kaitlyn is an Alede. Also a line walker. Brian is one of those… You know him, right?”

  There had been something like that said the day before, but she didn't want to presume, in case it was rude.

  “Right. He’s my grandfather. I know that he doesn’t look old enough for that, but there was time travel involved. My grandmother, the biological one, she can do that too. Travel between worlds? I guess it means I probably should be able to learn it.” There was a serious look about that part of things. As if that honestly didn’t make sense to her.

  “Possibly. You should at least try it, to see if you can learn how to do it. We can do that if you want? Later? After vacation. I can go to your world after all. In fact, I will be there in the next week or two, delivering messages. After we’re finished here, I mean.”

  They walked for a bit, with the smaller girl nodding eventually.

  “That sounds nifty, to be honest. So… You’re just going to let the time traveling grandpa thing go by without comment?”

  Avery pursed her lips, thinking before speaking. It probably made her seem slow to a lot of people, but it was mainly about not wanting to get things wrong and insult anyone.

  “It seems normal enough to me? I haven’t done it, myself, but I hear that it’s something that can be done, in the void between worlds. I used to live there, for about five hundred years, so I could probably manage it. It just isn’t that good of an idea, I don’t think. What if I messed something up? Say, end up having a granddaughter that’s practically my own age? That would make holiday gatherings very difficult, I’d have to imagine.”

  That got her slapped on the arm. It didn’t hurt but did nearly push her over.

  “Sorry. Anyway, that’s kind of interesting. Now, you mentioned me sleeping with your boyfriend? Or was that about something else. Fishing or going for a run?” There was a bit of a dig in the words, needling her a bit.

  As if it were going to embarrass her. Which it did, really.

  Avery focused fast enough to not let that show in the slightest.

  “No, I meant the sex part. The rest is up to you two, unless I forbid it. He’s going to be a Vampire, or at least is in training for it. I don’t really have a sex drive, so it kind of works out. Technically I can sleep with whoever I want, but he has to do what I say, because I’m more powerful than he is. For the time being. He has the skill to become a line walker. We’re waiting for him to look a li
ttle older first, since once you learn to do that kind of thing you tend to stop aging. Do you think you want to do that? He’s pretty nice. I don’t really want to stop him from doing anything.” It was true, after all. Bridget seemed that as well. Nice.

  Also, a bit high energy. Like a Bat Shifter, if they gave them drugs to make them even twitchier. Really, the girl reminded her a lot of that, except the nose shape was wrong. The rest was close enough for her to pass, however.

  They chatted for a bit about the wonders of her boyfriend. All the way into the village in fact, where the forty-odd people stopped, standing right in the middle of the glass roadway. No one was out or about yet, though smoke rose from the chimney of the shop they stopped in front of. That was a bakery, she thought. At least given the rolls that they’d been given the day before. Will waved at them.

  “Everyone wait here for a bit? There isn’t a lot to see in the area, but the commoners might be afraid of you, if they see you here.”

  About half of them looked down, then. Including a very large woman, who moved toward the front a bit, then glanced up to see them all. She was over eight feet tall and had heavy features. Like a Trollienkeine would. Her accent was wrong for that, however.

  “Don’t worry, it isn’t that we’re strange looking, as much as the people here have been genetically modified to be very meek. Some of them. Mainly the country folk. They won’t fear you for your Infection or differences. They’ll fear you for your size and for being unfamiliar.”

  Bridget raised her right hand, pushing a fist up into the air.

  “Ha! I’m finally in my element. They’re going to love me, I bet!”

  That got several people to chuckle a little bit, and everyone relaxed. Phillip moved over to stand by her, which got him knocked into by Bridget.

  “You’re Phillip? Avery here was just telling me about the amazing three way we were going to have later. Well, she didn’t offer to join us, but I assumed that was what she meant. We could liven that up and go full on orgy, if you want?” At the end of the words, she took his hand, which was both cute and probably too surprising to be ignored by almost anyone standing there.

  They weren’t supposed to do things like that in the village, so she grinned and waved the hand away, before anyone could see.

  The thing was that they’d actually done things like that before, so Phillip had no reason to think that Bridget was teasing him. Normally getting one of the Alede to help them out, since Avery just wasn’t that into the whole thing. It was kind of a chore for her, to be honest.

  “That sounds fun. We should invite Kaitlyn, too. She needs to do things like that.”

  The use of the name, standing right there, had the woman herself coming over directly.

  “What a great idea! Thanks for thinking of me, Phil. You’re Bridget?” A hand came out, seeming very normal. It was taken for shaking, the smaller woman just nodded at the use of her name.

  Which was good, since Will came out just then, holding a large metal canister that had a tight looking screw on lid. There was one metal handle on it, but it was clearly supposed to have two. The other one was only partially attached.

  Holding it up, he smiled.

  “I borrowed the old milk canister. Now we just need to walk over to Old Larry’s farm. That’s about three miles. We probably don’t need to all go. Really, I should send some of you to other places, for a visit. We can use the booths for that… Except that I’m the only one who knows how to read Standard, I bet. Well… Actually… I might know some people. Then I can go and talk to Larry?”

  They had to work that one out, with Will moving over to the small red house that hid a node inside of its being. After a few seconds, he waved toward Avery.

  “This way? You should learn the locations, for taking messages around.”

  “Sure.” She didn’t know if the man was planning to try anything with her or not. It didn’t seem likely, but he was good looking, and might feel like his chances were good that way, even if she did have a boyfriend there. Certainly, she was allowed to do that, and could at need to make certain she got along with Will, so she simply moved forward.

  The canister was handed off to Sara, who took it as if it weighed nothing at all.

  Once they got inside the box, Willum tapped the door shut, then turned and scrolled through the menu of places.

  “We need Lairdgren School first. My younger sister, Diana attends there. She’s also learned English, so if I can get her free of the place for a bit, that could work. Then I just need to get with Clem and Dumas, since they can do the work as well. So could Uncle Timon, Dareg, or even Uncle Tor. I’m… Well, I guess I could ask Dare? He’s nice enough. So are the others, but they’re, you know, famous. It might seem off, having them play tour guide like that. They’re world leaders.”

  “Oh? I didn’t really know that. I got that Countess Thompson was important, given the first name. Countess. We probably shouldn’t bother anyone for a camping trip or sightseeing. Not at that level of things.”

  The door opened again, at a touch, with Will moving out quickly.

  “We need to do this backwards, I’m afraid. We have to liberate my sister, by going to the headmaster of the school, first. Then we need to go and see if we can get her to help us with the task for the day. She may have other projects going on. I don’t really know what all they have her doing, to be honest. My training has been very different, I think. Clearly it isn’t just teaching her to be a normal schoolgirl, though.”

  Why that was, Avery wasn’t clued in to. She nearly asked, but Tarsus cautioned against it. Not because it would make Will angry, but due to the fact that several people around them were clearly listening to them. More to the the point, they understood what was being said, even if it was happening in English. In fact, they were getting ready to attack, if she had the situation right. Looking around, she understood that before her new friend did.

  Probably due to the fact that she recognized what a firearm was right off the bat. So, when the men, and there were three of them, all looking identical, grabbed for their backs at once, she yelled.

  “Ambush! The black-eyed men. Get behind me.” It sounded good, but the bullets ripping through her didn’t feel that way so much. They all hit center mass though, ruining her shirt. It was one of the new things that she’d made just for the trip.

  She didn’t scream or anything, just standing there, being hit multiple times as the seconds passed. Growing suddenly, pushing into pain, to turn into her secondary form. The full dragon would have worked as well, but the courtyard they were in, while good sized, was ringed in buildings. Damaging those seemed rude, so she decided to avoid that kind of thing. There were only three attackers there after all. There were also many younger people in the place. Many of them were very large, but they were standing there in shock, instead of running away like they should have.

  Becoming too large would mean crushing them, given that.

  Just as she finished her change, already running full speed at the men, most of the bullets skipping off her armored scales, Avery realized her mistake. Willum was still right there, being shot. Also, she realized, moving in on the men himself, the bullets were just bouncing away from his skin as they moved. The three attackers, clearly being more clever than they looked, tried to run. That didn’t do much, at first, since she was closing on their position, even as they moved away.

  Until a flying craft hit her from the side, moving at several hundred miles per hour. That hurt.

  It was enough that she blacked out, only to find herself coming to as she shrank, back to her normal size. That probably had to mean that she’d nearly died from the impact. Otherwise she would have just woken up. Will seemed fine still, clearly being stronger than she would have guessed. Sitting up, she grimaced. All of their new playmates seemed to have escaped.

  Pointing upward, her new friend grimaced.

  “That was a space craft. An older model, I think. Not a Jump Ship. From the way they looked…
I think those might have been Larval Assassins? Except that… Well, they always use knives. They used to. Those weapons aren’t from this world. Interesting.”

  It kind of was, Avery had to allow that.

  “Okay. Well, no harm done, except to my clothing. This… is pretty embarrassing.” She was nude after all. Totally, and just standing out in the middle of the square, with people coming out to see the free show.

  Rather than make an excuse or even staring at her too much, Willum just reached into his own shirt and pulled out an amulet, which was handed over, promptly.

  “Clothing.”

  She nodded, having used some of that before, once.

  “Can you turn it on for me? I can’t do that. It should work though…”

  Without hesitation her friend reached out, nearly touching her breasts, the amulet hanging just over them, in the center of her chest.

  Activating it put her in plain brown clothing that nearly matched the people around them. All except for a slightly older seeming man, who clearly had magic on his face. Probably to add wrinkles and lines that didn’t belong. She could feel the buzzing of it even from ten feet away. To her it also glowed a bit, which probably wasn’t what everyone else was seeing. When she looked hard she realized that the clothing did as well. It wasn’t a bright light at all, but there was a soft whiteness that came off of all the magic, when she paid attention.

  There was a bit of calling out, in Standard, which she understood clearly. Thanks to her lessons with Dumas and Clemance.

  “Situation Report!”

  Will froze for a few seconds, but she didn’t. It was exactly the kind of thing that they needed to be doing.

  “We were attacked as we came out of the small red transport hut. By three or more men. They had firearms. I think they were large caliber handguns. Forty-four caliber, at a guess? I can’t be certain of that without examining one of them. We have those in my world. The men were identical, wearing matching black clothing. Their eyes and hair either a deep brown or black. It was hard to tell. They were white? Lighter skinned than any of us here. I transformed into my second shape, and Willum managed to push them back, by rushing the weapons fire. We both seem unharmed from that. Then a space craft, an old style one, from Will’s estimation, rammed me. Allowing them to take off and get away.” She used Standard for the whole thing, getting the fake old man to bow toward her.