Greetings Readers!
It's finally here! The first chapter of Fell Dragon 3. I hope you all love the art as much as what I do. It's courtesy of 
Sorry I haven't been around much. Too many bad things have been going down, and I just needed some time away to gather my thoughts before releasing the next book. I hope you all love this chapter!
Saseric had wasted no time waiting for an explanation. He asked but one question. “Where can I find her?”
The coordinates were sent, and he left, leaving his assistant in control of the installation of the hatchery. He was cursing under his breath the whole way to the neutral planet. Hoping that he could catch the girl before the planet’s underbelly swallowed her whole. Neutral planets rarely supported laws and rules from more established planets, and she literally knew no better.
He, himself would need to be careful in how he travelled. He was a King after all and one that was not favoured and several of his father’s relatives have made it known that they wanted his throne. He was not going to let them have it so he needed to revert back to his old habits.
A single-man craft with his camouflage suit and his weapons was what he needed to move silently and with haste. He still had connections, no true King ever kept his hand squeaky clean, they couldn’t afford that. He had sent messages ahead of himself and the answers all can back the same: No humans have arrived here. We will keep searching.
He had been to this planet once before, it was nasty by most standards but now with the humans declaring war, it was in turmoil. Trade had been disrupted, food shortages and now a boiling hatred of the human species for bringing this on themselves. He needed to find the girl and fast.
She had left home four days ago, Saseric hadn’t even asked who had asked him for help, he had just jumped. He was risking much but he remembered the words he had uttered all those years ago and what the Heavenly had confirmed. He needed her and she was likely going to need him. He arrived at the planet two days after he had received the message and immediately went to the underbelly of the city to announce himself to the Dregs’ King. Each one of these planets had one and if you wanted to operate on the planet you needed to have their permission.
Dregs, people who society had thrown away. Beggars, whores, orphans, and those who else were unwanted. They were the reason that the underbelly ran as well as it did. They were the eyes and ears of all who were willing to pay the tithe to their King. His contacts had already set up a meeting for him, yet he was still forced to wait. It was necessary, without this King’s permission, he was going to find himself with the unwanted competition. They wouldn’t care as to why he was searching for the girl; they would be after her for the potential profit she could bring in. They were always people who were willing to pay for a body, whole and working or parts thereof. Nothing had changed.
“Ah! Before me stands the great assassin Saseric or do I need to bow and scrape to you, Your Majesty?”
Saseric knew then that his skills had diminished with his time upon the throne. He had not heard or sensed another presence in the room when he walked in. It had been dark, with several low fires burning and a heavy incense in the air. It had confused all his senses. In his haste to get to the girl, he had forgotten about being cautious.
“It is clear that I have fallen into a simple trap due to my haste.” he chuckled as he leaned against a wooden support pillar and allowed his eyes to scan the room. “You can simply call me by my first name. Saseric.”
“Well met Saseric.” a small figure jumped from a chair to the desk before it. “You can call me Chaka.”
“We have worked together in the past, but you were not a King then.”
“Ah! Glad to see those at the top do not forget about us Dregs.” the creature laughed. “Ledger!”
The door banged open behind Saseric and a huge humanoid creature with three arms walked in carrying a giant book. Its two heads looked from Saseric and Chaka for a moment before it mumbled and echoed a single word. “Tithe?”
“Tithe.” said the smaller creature.
“Fire?”
“After you put the book down.”
“Good!”
The creature put the book down and then busied itself with stoking the fires. The four fires sprang to life and the room brightened considerably. The pebble-skinned creature gave a clumsy bow before leaving the room. Chaka immediately started paging through the giant book, each page almost bigger than he was. A tiny thing, no more than a foot in height, dressed in what appeared to be rags. He also had comically large feet, ears and a nose that was almost touching the pages as he turned them. Placed upon his head was a bright red cap. With each turn of a page, he would noisily lick a long finger before continuing the action on the next page.
“Sa...se...ric…” he said slowly as he paged. “Ah! Here you are. Well, well! This is a surprise. You are paid up fully with us. I did not expect that. Normally an assassination is a once-off payment, but you have continued to pay tithe even though you were placed upon the throne of your race. I must know, why?”
“Because one can never have enough contacts, and everyone knows the best favours come from the lowest of the underbellies.”
The creature roared with laughter and slammed the book shut. Though short in stature Chaka was not weak.
“So, you come for a favour knowing that we might grant it?”
“No, I come to buy a favour with the hopes that my gesture of paying a yearly tithing would allow for an audience at the very least.”
“Though my trap caught you your mind has not completely dulled. Very well Lizardling, what business do you wish to do on my planet? Murder? Kidnapping? What?”
“I’m looking for a human. May have landed already or will soon.”
“A human?” Chaka laughed harshly. “After their war with the Saith and Kai, we have not allowed a human to set foot on this planet. I can take you to the mass burial site…”
“You would not have caught this one with a blade to the ribs. This one would have killed any that you sent after her.”
“A her?” Chaka practically vibrated with excitement. “Oh, Your Majesty your father would be rolling in his grave if he knew you were seeking love from a warmblood!”
“It is not love that I seek from her. It is her uncanny ability to fight.”
“She’s a fighter? A human fighter?”
“Yes, and very loyal to those that are willing to pay for that service and nothing else.”
“A mercenary then? Interesting. But mercenaries can be found on any street corner by the dozens. Why this one? And why are you sweetening this? Are you trying to get me to bite the bait before you hook me with the problems that she brings?”
Saseric chuckled and said. “You were conniving when I met you and it has gotten far worse as we have aged. Yes, there are problems with this one.”
“Then why are you looking for her.”
“Because sometimes something innocent lands on a planet like this and I don’t want to see it swallowed up and destroyed.”
“A romantic, how quaint. You need to realise that planets like this are made to eat innocence. How else would people like us ever come into being? Who is she? This is no ordinary girl. She is special to you. You know that will cost you more.”
Saseric sighed, knowing that if he didn’t tell Chaka who Saita was, he would only find out later and that could be disastrous to her in the end.
“She is Saita.”
Chaka sat down immediately, and his green skin paled to the point of being white. “What?”
“From the rumours, I have heard she has been banished after King Karesh was defeated. King Pura is back on the throne and deemed this the necessary punishment for regicide.”
“King Karesh is dead?”
“Unconfirmed.”
“Why come to this hell hole?”
“I don’t have all the information yet. I was hoping to sit and talk with her once she arrived. I was told that she would end up here and soon.”
“Saita was the reason for the war, to begin with, or that was what Karesh was yelling and now she has been banished. I didn’t even know that she had returned!”
“It was kept quiet for almost a year.”
Chaka pulled an abacus from his ratty coat and started muttering to himself while moving the beads back and forth.
“Are you calculating her worth?”
“I am calculating what you will need to pay me to shelter her versus what the rest of the universe would be willing to pay to have her head on a stake to punish her father.”
“Shelter her? That is not…”
“Shh...I am trying to use math.”
“All I want is the right to take her back…”
“I said shh!” he hissed.
Saseric had not considered that this would be the Dregs’ King’s other option. He needed to make some sort of counteroffer but he had no idea of the value this man could put on her head. All he could say was. “I also heard she is a very good brawler with the ability to copy most opponents’ abilities.”
“Did you say, brawler?” Chaka’s ear twitched.
“Correct me if I’m wrong but Dreg King’s rise and fall from power through challenges made between different planets.”
“And she can copy abilities?”
“Not all but she is quite adept at, well, you know that old human saying. Monkey see monkey do.”
“Well now!” Chaka threw the abacus aside. “That changes everything! Tell me, was she the one that brought Karesh to his knees?”
“Likely. She’s tough too, heals at one and a half times faster than most humans.”
Chaka had to catch himself from grinning, so he asked. “What is the catch?”
“She’s been banished from her home, what do you think?”
“Oh, trauma is nothing new to this place.”
“And a parasitic machine that creates excess energy within her body that makes her skin break out in a crystallized form of it.”
Chaka’s one ear drooped and he tilted his head. “And the problem with that is?”
“She will need to burn through it.”
“I see.” Chaka stood up and started counting on his fingers. “Bruno is almost at retirement age. He can train her but…”
He frowned. “There has to be a contract.”
“How many years?”
“Your tithing is fully paid and always on time. The girl is worth a considerable amount either alive or dead. The overhead cost of feeding and sheltering her, paying a liveable salary, hmm...two years of service.”
“A year.” haggled Saseric. “And I present the offering I brought.”
“A year and a half, plus the offering you brought, and I castrate anyone who thinks of her other than my brawler.”
Saseric roared with laughter. “I’m sure she could manage that herself but that is fair. Throw in a room she doesn’t need to share, and I will get her to agree to your terms.”
“Why would she need a room for herself? I’ll just put her in with those that have no interest in women or humans.”
“Her screams at night won't let them sleep.”
And so a new adventure starts. How will Saita move on from here?
For those of you just joining us, please note that this is the follow on book from Fell Dragon. Follow this link to read it
Fell Dragon Book 1
Fell Dragon Book 2
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
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