Book 5: Chapter 27 (1/2)

Vur yawned and stretched out his limbs. He sat up and rubbed at his eyes. He glanced down and tapped the tattoo on his chest. “Stella?”

“I’m here,” Stella said, her head popping out of the tattoo. “What’s up?”

“Can I finally go eat those evil beasts now?” Vur asked. “You don’t want me to wait for anything anymore, right?”

“Nope,” Stella said. “There’s nothing else worth waiting for.”

“Finally,” Vur said and got up. He grabbed the sleeping Recordkeeper and heaved her over his shoulder. He carried her out of the tent and glanced around. The four members of Generis Squad were sitting around a fire. They looked up at Vur with wary expressions. “We’re going to hunt the evil beasts.”

“We’re not eating breakfast first?” Helden asked, raising an eyebrow. He put away the pots and pans he had just taken out.

“The beasts are breakfast,” Vur said. He dropped the Recordkeeper, causing the winged woman to yelp and sit up upon hitting the ground. Vur leaned forward and dropped onto all fours, blue scales sprouting from his body as he did so.

“Oh my goodness,” Ingwer said and covered her mouth with her hands. She stared with wide eyes as wings sprouted from Vur’s back, his body growing in size. “He really is a dragon. We actually antagonized a dragon.”

Helden gulped, and Blau clenched her hands. Forster’s face paled, and she scrambled backwards without getting off the ground. When Vur’s transformation finished, he swept his golden eyes over the group. His front paw reached out and scooped the four of them up. He picked up the Recordkeeper with his other paw. Then, he stood on his hindlegs and bent hit knees. He leapt upwards, launching himself into the air. The people squished together in his paw screamed, but the sounds were drowned out by the wind rushing into their mouths.

After the initial acceleration, Blau turned her head to face her companions. “We never would’ve caught up to them if he had done this from the start. I knew we were being toyed with.”

Helden grimaced. “You’re right,” he said and sighed. He glanced at the ground below. Even with his humongous repertoire of skills, if he was dropped at this height, there was no way he’d be able to survive. “Does this dragon really want to keep me around for my cooking skills?”

“You are a pretty good cook,” Forster said. She wriggled around, but there wasn’t much space to move. “But what does he want us for?”

“Maybe he’s going to eat us,” Ingwer said. “Dragons eat people, right?”

Blau rolled her eyes. “Dragons don’t eat people,” she said. “That’s been disproven for many years in academia.” She used her leg, the only limb she could move, to tap on Vur’s claw. “Excuse me. I have a question.”

Vur glanced down. “What?”

“Dragons don’t eat people, right?” Blau asked.