About Dragon Hunted
by JB McDonald
55 pages / 14900 words
ISBN: 978-1-61040-244-6
Ebook zipped file contains -
html, lit, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub
Getting eaten by a dragon wasn't part of Ashe's plan. Not that there was
much of a plan to begin with, but it had definitely involved more chasing
and less running. Ashe supposes there's one good thing about all this: if he
has to be trapped in a cave with a very large predator outside, at least
he's with Katsu, the company medic and Ashe's current crush.
Even better, Katsu has enough knowledge of dragons and medicine that he
might just be able to hatch an escape plan. Even better than that, Ashe is
discovering that Katsu might not dislike him after all. It's a small step,
Ashe hopes, from not disliking him to something significantly more. That is,
assuming they don't get eaten first.
Sample
"Hey, Katsu. I need a wrap."
The moment when Katsu noticed the blood seeping from between Ashe's fingers,
which were clamped tightly around Ashe's left hand, was obvious. Katsu's
dark eyes bugged out and his own broad, human hands tensed in alarm. "What
the nine hells did you do?"
Ashe loved it when Katsu said something particularly human like that. He
crooked a grin, tipping his head to see past long strands of pale brown
hair. "I was showing Eddie--"
"She hates it when you call her that." Already Katsu was snatching up
lengths of bandage and pots of salve. The little shelves built into the
medic wagon shook with the force of his grabs.
Ashe continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "--some knife tricks I
know--"
Katsu stopped, glaring up at him. "What is wrong with you? I should have
known this was self-inflicted. Only an elf would do something this
idiotic..."
Ashe frowned. "I'm trying to tell you what's wrong with me, and it doesn't
have to do with my race." As expected, Katsu just leveled a flat,
unimpressed glare at him again. Ashe grinned broadly, showing off the
slightly pointed canines that matched his delicately pointed ears. "It was
great, right up until I missed."
Katsu slapped Ashe's good hand away, then grabbed the injured one and lifted
it to peer down, pulling Ashe into a sun patch to see better. It gave Ashe a
moment to admire the way light played on Katsu's gold skin and ran down his
silky black hair. Katsu was smaller than most of the other humans in their
crew, and definitely shorter than Ashe. Ashe found him utterly charming.
"We're hunting dragons here." Even his acerbic tone.
"A dragon," Ashe corrected.
"They don't need your help in slicing you to pieces." Katsu twisted Ashe's
slender hand this way and that, wiping at the blood with a rag, pulling at
the cut.
The wound was small but livid against Ashe's pale skin.
Ashe winced and tried not to resist. The medic only got worse if he thought
you were thwarting him. "Dragons don't slice," Ashe muttered, pain washing
away any good cheer. "They chomp."
With a grunt, Katsu dropped Ashe's hand and unscrewed a cap from a jar.
"They especially like chomping idiots." He dipped two fingers in the salve
-- a disturbing blood color -- and smeared it across the cut before wrapping
it tightly. His movements were quick, economical, as if he'd done this a
million times before -- which, of course, he had. "Try not to use it for a
few hours while it binds. And if you must use it, don't come whining to me."
With a sour look, he shoved Ashe's hand back and turned away, muttering
under his breath.
Ashe hesitated, watching the graceful way Katsu's muscles, exposed by his
short-sleeved tunic and the odd lengths of cloth wrapped around his
forearms, moved. But Katsu had already dismissed him, and the stinging in
his hand was getting worse. Ashe frowned and examined it, turning away. He
glanced back once, trying to think of something to say, but the look on the
human's face wasn't encouraging. Plus, Ashe's hand was really starting to
hurt.
Carrying his hand cradled gingerly against his chest, Ashe threaded his way
through pitched tents and mercenaries, around bladed weapons and pointed
spears, back to the banked campfire. Come nightfall, they'd be ready to slay
a dragon. Come daybreak, they'd be ready to collect their reward.
He swung a leg over the fallen log that Eddie was using as a bench,
straddling it and sitting carefully. "I don't think he likes me." Ashe
didn't have to say who "he" was.