Dragonslayer

DRAGONSLAYER Book 2 of Convergence By Craig Alanson Text copyright @ 2023 by Craig Alanson All Rights Reserved Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELeVEn CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN CHAPTER TWENTY CHAPTER TWENTY ONE CHAPTER TWENTY TWO CHAPTER TWENTY THREE CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE CHAPTER TWENTY SIX CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT CHAPTER TWENTY NINE CHAPTER THIRTY CHAPTER THIRTY ONE CHAPTER THIRTY TWO CHAPTER ONE “Hold on, hold on,” I took my foot off the gas, letting the Jeep slow as we cruised up an incline. A wave of dizziness hit me and I fumbled for the brake, missing twice as a hot icepick of agony stabbed my right eye and I went blind there. With the left eye, all I could see was the vague outline of dark trees on both sides of the road, it felt like the tires on the right side were thumping off the paved surface. Desperate, my feet searched for the brake pedal and one of them found the target. Pulling the wheel to the left toward what I hoped was the centerline of the road, I gritted my teeth as the pain in my head became overwhelming. With neither of my eyes working at that point, I slammed the shifter into Park by feel. For a second, the shifter resisted, the Jeep might have still been creeping slowly along the road. Then the transmission engaged in Park mode, and I took my feet off the brake, trying to find the door handle. It was easier to reach out the window for the handle there, press the large button with a thumb and wrench it open. Rolling out of the seat, I fell ungracefully to my knees, bashing my forehead on the inside of the door that was swinging back to close. The pressure in my head and the nausea were so bad, bashing my head was barely noticeable. What I did notice, as I tried to crawl away on hands and knees, was a dog jumping out of the car and landing on my back. “Oof,” the breath was knocked out of me, I fell on my right side, and he licked my face. “Are you OK?” “N-no. Duke, I can’t even see OK from here.” “If you give me a hint which direction, maybe I can smell it for you.” “W-what?” “That was a joke.” A dog making a joke should have been a big deal, at the moment I couldn’t focus on anything other than the stabbing pain in my head. “Stand back,” I got back on my knees. “I’m gonna ralph, it, oohuuuuuh.” You know how, right after you barf, you feel better for a short time? Yeah, that didn’t happen. It made me feel cold, and so dizzy that I flopped on my back. Patting my chest, I fumbled for the amulet. “Azib?” I called for the genie. “Azib? Your Eminence?” No answer. The amulet felt cold, and of course I couldn’t see if there was any green glow coming from the thing. “Azibera-whatever?” At the moment, I couldn’t remember his full name. “Come on, talk to me. Please?” No answer. Maybe my overuse of magic to force the portal shut had harmed him. He had spoken once after the portal disappeared, but when I had asked him about the thing I’d seen in the sky, he hadn’t responded. Damn it. A freakin’ dragon was loose in our world, law enforcement was coming to investigate the firefight at the mound, there might be more Order bad guys hunting for me, my backup team were all injured, and now I was totally blind from my chaotic overuse of powerful magic. Something had to change. “Duke?” I let go of the useless amulet. “Duke, are you there?” “I’m always here,” he nuzzled my left ear. “You can’t see me?” “I can’t see anything.” “Ruh roh,” he gasped, and I had to laugh. Hearing an actual dog say that was freakin’ hilarious. “Can you see, or hear,” I added because he is a dog, “any cars coming?” We were on a two lane country road, it was the middle of the night, and the area was mostly gently rolling farmland. There likely wasn’t a lot of traffic on that road even during morning rush hour, and we hadn’t passed any cars that were going toward the portal site, but even a single vehicle on that road would be a big problem for us.’ He sniffed the air loudly. “Nope. I hear something, but it’s not close, and it’s going away from us.” “You are sure about that?” “You remember that I have a dog’s hearing, right?” “Good point. Can you get the phone from the car?” “Shouldn’t you get back in the car?” “Good idea, except I can’t do that right now. The phone?” The Jeep’s springs made a creaking sound as he hopped in, then back out. A phone dropped into my right hand. Great. It was covered with dog slobber. And I was still blind. Wiping the phone on my shirt, I wondered how the hell I could call anyone, without being able to see the icons. At least I could feel which side of the cheap burner phone was the front, the back had a curved plastic surface. Scraping a fingernail on the front glass, I located the speaker on top, and got the phone oriented properly. “Which direction is the Jeep? The car?” “Behind you,” he gently tugged on my jacket sleeve, without me needing to ask for help. Damn. Dogs are the best. Reaching out, I found the front tire, and sat back against it. “Duke, I need you to look at this phone,” it was resting on my lap, face up. “There should be, uh, ten circles. You see them? Three rows of