Page 66 of The Dragon Recruit
She nodded, and he returned the gesture. He flashed his own metal disk, catching the moonlight in a specific sequence, and counted to sixty. Once done, he waited as Joseph and Kaine from Northcastle approached the hatch. Joseph could unlock anything, and Kaine’s hearing and sight would help keep his human partner safe.
He kept one eye on the pair and one on the surroundings. Only once Iris touched his arm—she could see far better in the dark and had agreed to signal success with two pats—did they slowly make their way toward the hatch. Kaine and Joseph would enter first, then Antony and Iris. After that, the others would approach in intervals. If there was an ambush, they needed to be prepared.
After stepping through the opening, which was about a foot shorter than him, Antony could just make out the walls and the floor, thanks to his special contacts. While not quite as good asnight vision goggles, they were a vast improvement over regular human eyesight.
The walls were brick, as was the floor. However, a few were cracked and some of the mortar was missing. At first glance, he thought these tunnels had been here for decades.
Tucking that information away for later, he motioned for Iris to proceed him, so he could take up the rear.
The tunnel seemed to go on for miles, although he judged it to be only one before he spotted two doors—one at the very end and one to the right of it.
He and Iris stopped about a hundred feet behind Joseph and Kaine, waiting for a signal that it was safe. Joseph carried a small heat detection device, which would let him know if there were any people behind the doors.
Eventually, he pointed to the one on the right and gave the signal for safe. Antony signed back for them to enter.
As soon as Joseph tested the door for traps, he opened it.
At the same time, the floor under him and Iris slid open, and they fell.
Within seconds, he hit the ground. But despite the pain he’d feel in the morning, he was alive. Antony rolled over and jumped up, only to find Iris was on her feet already. She gave the okay signal, and they both surveyed the space. It was dark, with a few faint lights flickering on the walls. However, he didn’t see a door.
Which didn’t mean there wasn’t one, just that it was probably hidden.
Before he could signal Iris to help him look, a loud scraping sound filled the room. Turning, he saw a large opening and a second later, a small dragon, probably an older child’s size, roared and barreled straight for Iris.
The space was too small for Iris to shift. And even though she jumped out of the way, the small dragon’s tail swung andsmacked her against the wall. The dragon roared again, foam dripping from its mouth as it stalked toward Iris’s still form.
He refused to think the worst and focused. After pulling out his stun gun, he shot a few barbs. And while they penetrated the scales and it went off, the dragon barely grunted.
The beast did, however, turn toward him.
The eyes were glowing, which wasn’t normal. Add in the foaming mouth and one broken horn on its head, and the small dragon looked possessed.
He didn’t waste time drawing his mini-tranquilizer gun. He fired, and again, but the small dragon didn’t falter. No, it headed toward Antony.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Iris remained unconscious on the ground. In that second, he knew he had to get the dragon out of this room and back through the door.
But the only way to do that was to leave his dragonwoman.
Faint shouts from Joseph and Kaine overhead told him help was on the way, but since sound echoed in tunnels, he didn’t know how long it’d take. He couldn’t wait and hope someone would show up in time. Especially since the beast was gearing up to charge him.
If he was going to act, it was now or never.
So Antony walked backward, toward the door, and hit the dragon with another tranquilizer dart, hoping it would follow.
The beast roared and in the blink of an eye, it raced toward him, opened its mouth, and clamped its jaw up around his middle.
The dragon’s teeth pierced his skin, pain shot through Antony’s body, and he screamed. Breathing became harder, and his vision began to swim.
As the small dragon raced out of the room, carrying him like a toy, Antony hoped his distraction had worked and that Iris was okay and would escape.
Then the world went black.
A scream jolted Iris awake, just in time to see the dragon carry Antony away in its mouth.
And he was limp.
She struggled to move, every nerve hurting. Her only thought was that she had to go after that mad dragon, had to help Antony.
