Dragon Queen (Avery Rome Book 3) Read online

  Slaughtering them, which was the only thing she really had as a response, would just push those who lived into feeling even more justified into thinking that they were right and everyone else was wrong. Plus, even if she kind of hated a lot of them, some of them had been her friends, growing up. Degra, for instance, had always helped her and Leslie get the meals and wash prepared. The men, no matter how stern they were at times, had also made certain they always had food, shelter and fuel to keep them moving. It didn’t make what they did, or thought, correct.

  Those things didn’t mean they should have to die though. Avery just couldn’t find another way at the moment.

  “No. This is… Really hard. They’re bigoted and prejudiced without real cause… and too hidebound to see that they might be wrong about it all. Worse, telling them that they’re being bad and hurting people will just make them more certain that they’re correct and everyone else is wrong. Killing them for it won’t fix them either. They honestly can’t help being what they are. I can assure you all that growing up thinking the wrong thing is a powerful tool. Even the Eldest of The Gray never had a chance to learn anything better. I don’t really know what to do. The truth is, I was planning to just ignore them. I guess that isn’t going to happen now? The men will come, to kill the Unclean thing they spawned. Then I’ll have to murder them all, or die. Maybe then… I guess if I make sure to take all the men, I can get the little ones and women free. At least enough that some of them might stand a chance at having something else. Eventually.”

  Will tilted his head, then smiled at her. Something happened then, that Avery didn’t understand at first. He shifted a bit, standing straighter, his head slowly moving to the side. As if he were thinking. Remembering something, or perhaps using that most crucial of Human magics. Imagination.

  “Why don’t we simply remove them from this world? Here, ready to aid you, are several powerful line walkers. Any of us could steal into their camp and remove them at will. We can take them to another place, those men, where they won’t bother others, but won’t have a hard time really? I have seen a dozen worlds where such beings might thrive, with a bit of effort and at the same time not be able to hold to their old ways. It’s hard to keep a culture going with no women, after all.”

  Where that was, a world such as that, she didn’t really know. Fortunately, Will kind of did have a place. A specific one.

  A place he described for a few moments, everyone else in the room looking at him as if he were being interesting, rather than angering them by suggesting anything except the death that normally would have been the punishment for plotting to kill one of their own.

  “It’s close to this world. Similar in many ways? They have cars and such things, so it won’t be different on a level that these men, individually, can’t adapt to. They speak English there, and don’t punish people for simply living, even if their ways are odd or different from the norm. They don’t have Shifters or magic however. Just Human beings. They aren’t a particularly good people, or an evil one, though they tend to be against us in the saving of reality. So we won’t be sending people to a place that will bother our friends in other places, directly. Would that serve, do you think?”

  Edom clapped the tall, fairly pale boy on the shoulder then.

  “That could work. It’s a good plan, even, I think. Can you do that? Remove the men, without harming any of the others there? They could, perhaps, be made to vanish in the night, without a trace?”

  It turned out that they could do that.

  The whole operation took about an hour, since they didn’t have to do everyone, just the adult men. Two of them were standing guard, which was probably just a precaution, in case Avery came after them before daylight arrived. She built a warping in space herself, for each of them, holding them open with pure focus. Then the boys, Phillip and Willum, moved in fast, taking them before they could get a single shot off to alert the others.

  Then, one by one, Avery did the same thing, inside the sleeping areas of the Caravans, using her ability to hear very low sounds to find the low, deeper and louder male heartbeats inside the tin cans they lived inside.

  They were all sleeping, those who remained, which meant sneaking in to remove them, but the guys both helped her do it. Very quietly and carefully. Slowly as well, since they had to make sure no one had a chance to set up an alarm.

  Avery just stood there, not fifteen feet from where the others slept, moving around to make new nodes for the others to use, over and over again. Eleven more times. She nearly took a few of the older boys as well, since they were probably past their own first change, but she didn’t. It was a risk, but Tarsus, laughing a bit, suggested that removing those used to being in command would probably be enough. The others would, finding themselves abandoned in the night, first search for their protectors, then move away. Fearing that they were all dead.

  After that, inside of a few years, they’d take to different tasks. Having to deal with the Humans, learning for themselves that they weren’t that different at all. It would be hard, but the most common idea would be for the group to ask the Nation for help in resettling. That could be made to come at a price though. Being, or at least learning to pretend, to be less bigoted, over time.

  It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it really would keep anyone from coming for her again, personally.

  By morning there was no one left there, except women and children. Each of the men had been scattered in an alien reality, alone, and without weapons. In some cases, without shoes. No money either, but they were well trained to survive, if they had to. Hunting and working wasn’t totally outside of what they could do, at need. That would be a little bit hard on them, but they also had a chance, if they worked hard and were willing to be free of the old ways.

  What they wouldn’t be doing was dying later that day, trying to attack Avery or her friends. That kind of foolishness was the part of The Gray men, rather specifically. Without them to hold things together for their own benefit, their way of life would, hopefully, die.

  It was a good thing, she decided.

  A very good one.

  Even better, she didn’t have to try and talk them out of being like they were. It wouldn’t work, really. You couldn’t actually talk a bigot out of their beliefs. Most of the time they just figured that they were correct, after all. The only way for them to change was to see firsthand that what they had been taught to believe wasn’t correct. Probably hundreds of times before they managed to realize what was going on.

  Willum took Phillip away with him, to get the camp sites, plural, ready. The ones for the IPB people in Noram. The second trip sounded like it was going to be a bit more advanced than the one before had been. For one thing, even though it was still June in her world, it was nearing mid-fall in that other world. That was a bit chilly for a pleasant camping trip. At least if you didn't have magical houses being provided for you.

  Baker, their man from that world, didn’t think it would be an issue at all. Half the Wizards in that place were backing them in their efforts, after all.

  Avery for her part, caught a nap, then ate as much food as she could hold… and went to find Gwen Harrison. Her new friend from a different world.

  It wasn’t hard, being she was inside the same large house. There the day was warm and bright. Sunny. The air was clean as well, holding a scent that reminded Avery of good times. Sweet flowers, mowed grass and just a hint of something sweet being baked nearby. Pie, or perhaps jam being made.

  “Avery! I didn't know if I’d been forgotten or not. I see that I wasn’t? Nifty. Come in? I have a bag ready. This is going to be fun. I can feel it.”

  She nodded.

  “It should be. We have my show to watch, as well as several Greater Demons who invited themselves over for this. That should be entertaining, if nothing else. They’re mainly nice? The ones who are coming I mean. Just don’t make any bargains or deals with any of them. They can take over your will that way, and hold you until you die, so i
t isn’t worth the risk.”

  The woman looked slightly troubled, then flipped her palms up to the ceiling.

  That was vaulted, being high above their heads. The room was filled with paintings, carpets and there were thin curtains over the windows. They allowed light in, but would reflect part of the heat of the day. All the windows were closed though, as something beat slowly in the background. Like a giant heart.

  Furrowing her brow, a bit, Gwen made a slightly odd noise in her throat.

  “Like, with horns and red skin?” That got Avery to shake her head, going wide eyed.

  “Oh, no. They can look like anything they want. Anyone, as well. These should all look like women. Girls, for some of them. You probably wouldn’t know who, or what, they were if you weren’t told. I know too many people like that, to tell the truth on the matter. Anyway, we should go in early? There are a lot of people to meet today. Also, I heard something about nachos? They have that kind of thing there, I think?” It had come up, the night before.

  Marcia Turner had mentioned it to her as being possible, when she’d mentioned the idea.

  “Oh, yum, then! Let me grab my bag. Do we need to walk? I… Um… I have some weapons with me? I don’t know if that’s allowed or not.”

  Avery shrugged.

  “It should be fine? It’s on a military base, after all. Plus, everyone there has super powers. You know, I never asked, do you have that kind of thing?” It wasn’t needed to be a good person.

  That was a thing that she could actually feel for herself now. It was like a weight had lifted from her shoulders, the instant The Gray men were in a safe place, where it would be harder for them to carry on as bigots like they had been.

  True, they’d probably die, in the world they’d been placed in, but they had a chance to learn and grow, if they could. If they just tried hard, and learned that they could, just possibly, be wrong… Then they might end up being better than they had been, in the end.

  The woman next to her, who looked very much like Marcia Turner, nodded then.

  “Magic? I can fly, shoot power beams from my fingers, teleport and travel between worlds? Some other things as well. It even works in other realities, so that part is kind of cool. I guess it’s this body that allows it to happen, not something about this universe?”

  Avery nodded. That was a lot, actually. Easily enough to show that Gwen was a force to be reckoned with.

  “Neat. I can’t really do a lot of magic, myself. I’m kind of immune to it? I can also change shape and fly when I do that. Let’s go and see who’s around? It’s a bit early yet, but we can get the lay of the land there. It will be fun, like you said.”

  Interestingly, even with all the Greater Demons being there, it really was.

  For the first time she could remember, Avery just got to sit with her friends and be happy.

  Like a real girl, instead of an Unclean Death Serpent.

  Which, finally, she knew she never had been at all.

  Chapter twenty-six

  Avery hadn’t been sure how to celebrate the Fourth of July. As a child, and even at battle camp, it hadn’t been a thing for her. Her people had always been in, or around, America, but weren’t strictly speaking part of them. So she’d heard about things, a bit, but didn’t understand the lore or customs of the day particularly.

  It turned out to be done with explosives. That, and lots of shooting. Along with a space battle taking place the next day, on the fifth, as the Larval assassins, and the people who’d made them, fought desperately to survive.

  It didn’t work.

  They had a mixed group of fighters on hand, including Shifter mercenaries, which meant that of the twenty-seven or so known Dragons in the world, ten of them were right there. Ready to do their part to take down a serious threat to their own people and the other groups.

  They didn’t really get to talk, through the meat of the fight. Not until they were in Human form, standing next to one of the several pits in the ground that had been left in different areas of the United States. Avery had stayed in her giant form for longer than she ever had before. Over a full day.

  There were also Human military men and women there. Ones that had been there the entire time, fighting on their side. Against the people who had attacked them and killed their friends and beings from other groups.

  The IPB was there as well. Coming in with everything they had, under official sanction of their government, being that the President of the United States in her world had asked for their aid, once he’d heard about what was going on and what the options were. They were amazing in battle. The men and women of that place, some of whom Avery knew from the camp outs, so her personal friends, did things that baffled the mind. What they were was incredibly effective. So much so that the rest of them being there were almost not needed. They still did their own work, trying not to seem lazy. Avery was doing that at least. Really, it felt like everyone else, from all the other groups was doing that. The brave men and women from the IPB were humbling to see in battle.

  The only reason that Avery didn't feel bad was that she was so large and powerful that she, and the other Dragons, had managed to work in as part of their battle lines. Even at that, Bridget, her tiny red headed friend, managed to do most of the work against the armed military force. Alone.

  When they came back into their own forms, Avery was near Ang, from Westfield, as well as Merisy, Clyde and of course, their father. John Fellows.

  The man looked at her, too closely, his eyes searching her body. Lingering in a way that was meant to be sexual. They were all naked, so it was more than a bit creepy. Outside of what any of the other Shifters were doing, as they moved back to their two-legged shapes. You didn’t as a rule, stare like that. It was considered unprofessional. They learned not to do it at battle camp at least, to prevent making anyone uneasy. A thing that he seemed to know on some level. It resonated off of him. The man just didn’t really appear to care about that part of things.

  The others were looking away, as was polite, as they changed into military fatigues, so that they’d match their units.

  The man smirked at her a little bit, looking at her girl parts openly. If it had been Phillip, Chi or even Willum Baker doing it, Avery would have figured that she was about to be asked to perform for them. It was heavy handed, even for a friend, given the context.

  From the man next to her, it was, of course, even worse.

  “John Fellows. Nice to meet you.” There was a tone to his words that were a bit outside of what was normal. He was trying to be smooth. Like a Human man in a movie, attempting to meet a woman. If he thought that he was particularly cool and attractive. The man wasn’t ugly, but he wasn’t going to make it on television either. Not without makeup.

  Then, she wouldn’t be doing that either.

  She nodded.

  “Avery Rome. Your daughter. So you can stop looking at me like that now, thank you. We aren’t really doing this. I need you to understand that right now. You, personally, set me up to kill the only family I ever knew… Doing that before I was ever born, knowing it was the only possible result having me would mean. So we aren’t talking, is that understood? We can fight about it, if you want, but…” The truth was that they’d just been in battle together. The man was good, but they all had been. She was at least twice his size though, and frankly, in a fight that was going to make a difference, if he wanted to push it to a battle between Dragons. Even in a fist fight, in Human form, where he was larger, they were probably no worse than even in strength. He had greater mass, but she was lighter, which would mean faster.

  Plus, she could change faster than he could and probably had a better sense of focus. Those might not make a difference, since he was hundreds of years old and had mastered the Human shape long ago, but it also could. She was willing to try it, if that was what it took to make him go away.

  The man just made a disgusted sound at her.

  “Oh. I see… I do recall something that. It was wo
rth it, just to remove some of those vermin from the world. The Gray… they are a plague. I’ve worked for two centuries to weaken them, a bit at a time. Eventually I wish to see them removed from the world totally. I can’t regret your actions against them.” It seemed that he was finally making the connection between who Avery Rome was, and what he’d done, a decade and a half or more before.

  “I did that. A few weeks ago. I removed the men of The Gray from the world. The women and children are getting help now, from the Shifter Nation. Their way of life is over and religion fading. It won’t be an issue for you any longer.” Avery didn’t smile, but didn’t cower away from the male, either.

  He might try to harm her, but gone was the Avery who was going to live in fear of being tied over a log and being beaten, just because he was a man and older than she was.

  Her face probably looked stern. Like her character, Bethany Spires. She put that on for a moment, chuckling a bit under the words she spoke next.

  “So, let’s not meet again? We aren’t going to be friends. I’m not going to forgive you for the wrongs you’ve done, and you probably can’t feel guilt over what you did. We either let this go now, or one of us dies. So… Goodbye?” She finished dressing and walked away.

  Feeling a little angry.

  The rest of her was doing fine though.

  They’d won, after all, with very few casualties. Fast as well. She wasn’t even late for work, having gotten four days off in a row for the holiday.

  Their friends from other worlds, the IPB and Queen Tiera’s fleet had really come through for them. A smaller space fleet, from the IPB world, led by Clemance Thomson for some reason, had helped as well. At the end, when the bad guys, the military men and women, the killer assassin clones and even some other things that no one had known would be part of the fight, all died. Mainly. A few had even surrendered, so they could be questioned.