Ready to catch dragons with the Knight Division? If so, please enjoy the first excerpt from my upcoming novella, Of Wings and Shadows (Of Cinder and Bone #5.5).
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Agent Okamura then used the clicker for the projector to get the slide started. “I thought it best to show you one of the group hunts by the Knight Division. This is their capture of a crystal dragon that was discovered near the Wegner Quartz Crystal Mines in Arkansas last spring. Crystal dragons have the second hardest scales next to the Highlander dragon, hence the name, and they’re among the rarest dragons in history. As you can imagine, it made subduing it quite a challenge.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Beowulf said. “How the hell did something called a crystal dragon end up in a place full of crystals?”
“The working theory is that when it’s not the illegal dragon cloning farms, it might be conservationists who clone and release them not only to repopulate the Earth, but also to study the effects they have on the environment. This one is specific enough that it’s likely a conservationist released it into a habitat where it would have naturally lived had dragons not been hunted to extinction. Crystal dragons lived in quartz mines. That’s how they evolved to have their eponymous crystalline scales.”
Yusuke hit Play. The footage had been taken from the bodycam of one Dr. Rhett “Jack” Jackson—the MIT scientist responsible for the dragon resurrection project that had later kickstarted the resurgence of the reptiles into modern society. He stood at 6’2’’, dressed in an armored suit similar to theirs, but it was gunmetal grey. The visored helmet provided a heads-up display with different kinds of information like the area’s temperature, the distance to target, and the vital signs of his three other team members. The small plaque built into the armor had his codename, Gawain, embossed upon it.
Jack had just stepped out of the Knight Division van and turned to help his fellow hunter and girlfriend, Dr. Kamala Anjali. She was a petite but curvy woman at 5’4’’, her long jet-black hair pulled back in a bun at the base of her neck, her helmet tucked under one arm. She had a gold stud in her nose and her suit’s plaque read Parvati.
She was followed by a slightly taller, slender, tattooed black girl in her early twenties, Libby Calloway, and her older brother, Bruce Calloway, who was near Jack’s height and muscular with a beard neatly trimmed into a goatee. Their plaques read Bast and Sobek respectively. The last person out of the van was a tall, dark-haired man in a black suit, black tie, and crisp white dress shirt with a gun on his hip.
“Quite a day for a hunt,” Agent John Shannon said as he tucked his aviators into the front pocket of his suit jacket. He walked around to the back of the van and pulled open the double doors. Their equipment was neatly stored in the rear, either bolted to the walls or in large reinforced cases. There was already a shatterproof cage in the parking spot beside them that had been provided by the Arkansas Department of Natural Resources. “Libby, can you get an eye in the sky for us?”
“Yep, I’m on it.” She opened one of the smaller cases and retrieved a fairly small drone and the tablet that controlled it. She held the drone flat on her palm and then switched it on. The four rotors began to spin and the drone took off into the air. “What’s the last known location?”
“There should be a burrow near the Phantom Mine according to the dragon tracker,” Shannon answered, handing her brother one of the net launchers. “The park rangers said it’s been collecting quartz pieces for its lair, so they’ve cleared the area and set up security cameras to track its movements.”
“Got it. Let’s see…” She guided the drone away from the parking lot and onto the premises of the Tailings Pile—a huge open area with blasted soil from the mines where visitors could dig to find different types of crystals. The soil had a reddish-brown hue and it was easily walkable as it had been set in a field. There were trees and picnic tables surrounding the pile and the whole area was inside of a valley in Ouachita National Forest, giving them a rather breathtaking view. “I’m seeing tracks towards the bottom edge of the Pile. They look fresh.”
“Crystal dragons are sensitive to light,” Kamala said as she pulled on her helmet as Libby and Calloway did the same. “It’s possible it went searching for quartz to bring to its lair last night and it’s resting right now.”
“Good call,” Calloway said as he shouldered the net launcher onto his back. “After all, it’s not exactly the most inconspicuous dragon there is and it probably wouldn’t want to draw too much attention to itself. From what I’ve read, it’s not one of the more aggressive breeds.”
“Which is a blessing and a curse.” Jack shut the doors to the van. “That means it might opt for flight instead of a fight, which could drag this hunt out for a while if we’re not careful.”
“Agreed. Your main focus is to try and keep it on the ground. Once Libby locates it, we’ll use the drone to lure it out into the open. Jack and Calloway will flank and Kamala will run point. I’ll keep an eye on the perimeter to make sure we don’t have some meddling kids interfering.”
Jack snorted softly. “I’d say that was a Scooby Doo reference, but there is no way in hell you’ve seen a single episode of that, even as old as you are. You were probably alive when Hanna Barbera was first created. Hell, they probably based Captain Caveman off of you, didn’t they?”
Shannon didn’t even blink at the insult. “Who?”
Jack shook his head. “Heathen.”
“Aha!” Libby said, perking up a bit as she watched the drone footage. “There. We’ve got some movement. Looks like it’s digging to expand its burrow. Sending the coordinates to your HUDs now.”
She tapped a few keys. A moment later, the digital panels on their right forearms chimed and then the coordinates loaded into their helmets’ displays. The team left the parking lot and entered the grounds. Once they were several yards out, they split up. Jack and Calloway stayed upwind of the dragon’s nest and settled above the entrance to the burrow, which had an outcropping of a few feet. Calloway prepared the net launcher while Jack switched his HUD to X-ray so he could examine the tunneling that the crystal dragon had completed so far. The burrow went into the hill horizontally for about ten feet, then expanded down twenty feet into the earth. They weren’t directly above it, so the dragon hadn’t noticed anything yet. Often, the element surprise was the best way to capture a dragon safely, after all.
“Alright, crew, the early reports appear to be accurate,” Jack said quietly as he knelt beside Calloway. “It looks to be about nine feet long from snout to tail. It’s not as dense as, say, a Hercules dragon, so it’s probably very agile. If we don’t get it with the first shot of the net launcher, I’ll try and keep it from going back into the burrow while Kam and Libby intercept. Ready, little bit?”
“Ready,” Libby said.
“Hit it.”
Kitty Kallen’s “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” began to play from a small speaker built into the drone.
Jack held his breath as the shuffling dirt inside the burrow stilled. Then, a moment later, the crystal dragon emerged.
It was a long, slender creature with sharp spines down its back and a few horns along either side of its jaws. Its unique scales gleamed under the sunlight, nearly transparent, and colors of the rainbow reflected off of them. Its eyes were pale blue and its claws were blacked and hooked much like a bird of prey with webbed skin in between each one for digging. Its wings were tucked against its back as it walked outside of its den and focused its gaze on the drone hovering twenty feet overhead.
The dragon cocked its head as it listened to the song, which was part of the Knight Division’s strategies for catching dragons. They had discovered that there was an underlying tone embedded in the song that could sooth certain wild dragons. It appeared curious, its tail lashing back and forth in the rust-colored dirt as it observed the device.
After thirty seconds, Kamala emerged from the forest and approached the dragon slowly, her tone friendly as she held out a hand. “Hello there.”
The dragon shifted its body weight, its nostrils flaring as it drew in her scent. Kamala continued forward until she stood within arms’ length of the reptile, allowing it to smell her. It gave her an uncertain look as her gloved fingertips grazed its snout.
“That’s it,” she cooed as she gently stroked between its brow. “I’m not going to hurt you. It’s alright.”
“The dragon whisperer,” Calloway murmured to Jack. “Never ceases to amaze me.”
“Right?”
Just then, Shannon spoke over the comm-link. “Shit. We’ve got incoming.”
“What is it?” Kamala asked.
“Someone must’ve seen Libby’s drone,” Shannon said. “We’ve got a second one that just appeared out of the tree line to your ten o’clock.”
“I thought the park rangers cleared this place,” Jack said as he adjusted the helmet’s field of view to zoom in on the second drone. It was larger than Libby’s and had a camera on front, likely recording the capture for whomever was controlling it.
“They did, but sometimes these little punks skirt the rules by parking outside of the area and then send their drones in so they can sell the footage. I’m concerned shooting it out of the air is gonna spook the dragon. Calloway, do you have a clear shot?”
Calloway lined up the sights on the net launcher. “If Kam steps to her right, I should.”
“Alright, we’ll try to do this simultaneously. On three.”
“Got it.”
“One…two…thr—”
The second drone’s top compartment burst open with a tiny explosion of brightly-colored confetti and the strobe lights on its hull began flashing.
The crystal dragon roared and leapt into the air after it.
“Dammit!” Calloway pulled the trigger on the net launcher. The net shot out from the barrel and expanded in the air, but missed the dragon by a scarce inch.
“Jack!” Kamala called out as she raced uphill towards him. “Spring board!”
“On it!” Jack cupped his hands together and dug in his heels as she ran towards him, then jumped. She landed with her feet in his grip and he then launched her up. She spun backwards, twisted her body, and then landed on the dragon’s back in mid-air. The dragon screeched and went into a spin, trying to get her off. Kamala planted her feet on its hindquarters and held on for dear life, dragging herself up so she’d be straddling it as one would a horse.
“Madarchod!” Kamala exclaimed. “I did not think this through!”
She wrapped both arms around the dragon’s neck and pulled its head back towards the ground, which was quickly getting farther below them.
“We’ve got you, girl!” Libby hurried over to Jack and Calloway, who were quickly unraveling the diamond wire net and spreading it out. Kamala craned her neck to look at the dragon’s wings as they flapped up and down trying to keep the two of them aloft, then placed her feet onto its shoulder appendages and pressed hard. The dragon’s wings then extended outward into a glide and its body pitched towards the ground.
“Incoming!” Kamala waited until they were just a couple of feet from the net and then launched herself from the dragon’s back. The crystal dragon landed in the center of the net as she rolled across the dirt and skidded to a halt in a crouch. Jack, Calloway, and Libby twisted the net around the creature so its limbs and wings were pinned to its sides, then lowered it to the ground carefully. The dragon wriggled, but ultimately stilled when it realized it couldn’t move.
“Jesus, Kam,” Jack said with a sigh. “They ought to have you as a guest acrobat on Cirque du Soleil.”
“Not my smartest moment, I admit, but at least it worked.”
Jack snorted. “Now you sound like me.”
“Yes, recklessness is usually your department, isn’t it?” she teased as she grabbed one corner of the tangled net and helped lift the struggling reptile between the four of them.
“Hey! You’re not wrong, but hey.”
“I’d thank you to leave it to him next time,” Agent Shannon said as he descended the hill. “My blood pressure’s high enough as it is.”
Then, without even blinking, he pulled out his gun and shot the second drone out of the air. It exploded into a shower of sparks and metal scraps as it tumbled to the ground. “Now let’s get this show on the road.”
The video stopped playing.
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Release date: July 22nd, 2023
Pre-order now for only .99 cents on Amazon and all major retailers. The price will go up July 23rd. Don’t forget it to add it to your Goodreads TBR shelf as well. Excerpt 2 is here for your viewing pleasure as well.
