The Fiery Crown Cycle: A Dragon's Rebirth

Chapter 138

Green dragons really are deviants.

Aiden mentally critiqued the illustration in his mind's eye. Using cock as whips during mating? A bit derivative, isn't it? And I thought I had high standards.

He flipped the mental page. Oh? Other species? The compendium offered detailed anatomical diagrams of feline and vulpine humanoids. Exotic. Impractical, perhaps, but the aesthetics are... intriguing.

Snap.

He slammed the mental cover of The Demi-Human Guide to Intimate Compatibility. The projected images dissolved into the ether of his mind.

Enough academic research for now, he decided. Time to work.

Aiden lifted his heavy, scaled eyelids. The world had turned to ink and shadow; night had fully descended.

Huu... Huu...

A steady, rhythmic breathing filled the small clearing.

To his front, Azure’s head lay flat against the earth, crushing the ferns beneath her jaw. She was silent. Even in rest, that wretched sister of his was disciplined.

Is that what it takes to be a scholar? Enviable.

He glanced to his side.

Bianca lay sprawled in a heap. Her mouth hung open, her massive scarlet tongue lolling out onto the dirt. A long, viscous string of saliva connected her tongue to the bushes, glistening in the dim light. The soft, whistling snore was coming from her.

Aiden looked from the pristine blue dragon back to the drooling white lump.

The genetic disparity in this clutch is truly tragic.

He raised his head, peering over the top of the brush toward the cavern entrance.

Wait. The lighting is off.

The grassy plain before the cave was bathed in a faint, eerie green glow. Aiden craned his neck upward. High above, nestled among the stars, hung a pale green moon.

The Second Crown has a twisted sense of aesthetics, Aiden thought dryly.

He lowered his gaze back to the target.

A dozen torches had been staked into the ground around the goblin tunnel, pushing back the darkness. But the discipline of the guards had crumbled. Only three goblins remained standing, leaning heavily on their spears, fighting to keep their eyes open. The rest were sprawled on the ground, deep in slumber.

Aiden’s lips curled back to reveal a row of razor-sharp teeth.

Perfect.

He ducked back down, his nose almost bumping into Azure, who had silently lifted her head. Their eyes met.

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Damn. She never gives me an opening.

Aiden had briefly entertained the thought of delivering a "loving brotherly wake-up call"—perhaps a roar in the ear—but her cold, alert stare ruined the fun.

Boring.

He turned his attention to the drooling idiot.

Slap.

His long tail lashed out, striking the white dragon's flank.

Bianca jerked awake, leaping into the air. She opened her mouth to unleash a confused roar, but the sight of Aiden’s glowing red pupils made her choke it back instantly. She shrank down, trembling slightly.

Good. The foolish sister is learning fear. That saves time.

"Take a look," Aiden whispered.

The three wyrmlings poked their heads out of the bushes, six reptilian eyes locking onto the cave entrance.

"Only three standing," Aiden murmured to Azure. "Can you handle them?"

Azure scanned the distance. The three guards were spaced out, but they formed a rough line. She calculated the trajectory instantly.

Doable.

She nodded. "Consider it done."

"Good. Drop the sentries. We’ll clean up the sleepers together."

"Understood."

Without a sound, Azure spread her wings and launched herself vertically, vanishing into the dark canopy above.

Aiden watched her go, then nudged Bianca with his tail. "Move out."

He launched himself into the sky, the white dragon scrambling to follow. They hovered high in the darkness, looking down at the clearing.

A moment later, a blue blur detached itself from the shadows above.

Azure didn't just fly; she plummeted like a kinetic strike. She was nothing more than a streak of azure light against the night.

As she skimmed the ground, her claws extended.

Shing!

The three sleepy goblins didn't even have time to widen their eyes. In a split second, they were bisected, their upper torsos sliding off their legs in a spray of dark blood.

Aiden and Bianca landed a heartbeat later.

Aiden pounced on a cluster of four sleeping goblins. He refrained from using his fire breath—setting off the powder horns strapped to their chests would be a disaster. Instead, he became a whirlwind of violence, claws and teeth tearing through leather and flesh before the goblins could even scream.

Bianca landed on the other side. She opened her maw, and a cone of absolute zero poured out.

Whoosh.

The freezing mist enveloped the remaining seven goblins. They froze instantly, their bodies turning into brittle statues of ice and gore.

Azure banked in the air and landed gracefully beside them. She glanced at the carnage—efficient, silent, total.

"What is the next phase?" she asked, looking at Aiden, who was wiping goblin blood from his claws.

Aiden stood to his full height, inspecting the corpses. "We confirmed they have muskets. We can't fight them in a narrow tunnel if they form a firing line."

He pointed to the towering trees surrounding the clearing.

"We cut the canopy. We stuff the cave mouth with timber."

Azure blinked. Block the exit? No... create a barricade. If the entrance was choked with debris, the goblins couldn't bring their heavy weaponry to bear, and their numbers would count for nothing.

"A sound strategy," she admitted.

Aiden grinned. It was rare to get a compliment from the family genius. Validation feels nice.

"Let's get to work."

Seeing Aiden and Azure move toward the forest, Bianca flapped her wings and trotted after them. She had learned a simple truth: Stick with Aiden, get fed. Disobey Aiden, get hit.

The three dragons set to their task.

Aiden approached a massive tree, easily a hundred feet tall. The crown spread out nearly sixty feet wide—a perfect plug.

He lashed out with his claws.

Crack!

The thick trunk splintered and snapped like a twig. Aiden caught the falling timber, grunting slightly under the weight. It wasn't too heavy, but it was awkward. He dragged the massive crown toward the cave entrance.

He dropped it at the mouth of the tunnel and frowned.

Too wide. Needs trimming.

He began snapping off extraneous branches, sculpting the mass of wood into a dense blockade.

Once the makeshift plug was ready, Aiden gripped the trunk and began to shove it backward into the cavern.

Scrape... Scrape...

The wood groaned against the stone floor as he pushed deeper.

The air inside the cave was stagnant and cool. It smelled overwhelmingly of rotting fruit and unwashed bodies—the distinct, pungent musk of a goblin den.

The tunnel was vast, stretching down into the earth beyond his darkvision's range. It was roughly forty feet wide, and running down the center was a set of rusted iron tracks.

Mine carts, Aiden noted. Excellent. A supply line we can exploit.