Defiance and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 1) Read online

  Defiance and the Dragon

  The Redwood Dragons, Book 1

  By Sloane Meyers

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Similarities to actual people or events are entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Sloane Meyers. All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Thank You For Reading!

  More Books by Sloane Meyers

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Knox Pars stood as motionless as a stone amidst the thick tree trunks of the redwoods. Even his eyes remained frozen as he stared deep into the forest in front of him, searching for any movements that would give away his prey. He knew better than to be distracted by the rustle of leaves indicating that a bird was flying by, or by the soft scamper of a mouse. No, what he was hunting was much bigger.

  He was hunting a dragon.

  Knox’s body tensed as he breathed in slowly, and deeply. If you hadn’t known better, you would have thought that he wasn’t breathing at all. His body was a perfectly still mass of muscle. Even in human form, one felt instantly impressed when they looked at him. He was tall, and his piercing green eyes seemed to see right through you. Right now, those green eyes blended in with the deep green of the forest. His dark brown hair blended in with the tree trunks. The redwoods soared high above him, standing watch over the forest as they had for hundreds and even thousands of years. These woods were ancient, and had seen things most humans alive today considered to be the stuff of fairy tales and fantasy legends.

  Not Knox. He knew that there was often much more to see than what met the eye. After all, he himself hid a dragon within. He could transform at a moment’s notice into a giant, fire-breathing creature that struck fear in the hearts of almost everyone who saw him.

  But right now, he was content to stay in human form. This allowed him to slip through the forest undetected, chasing the dragon that had managed to elude him for the last several hours. He was close to catching the bastard, though. Even though he couldn’t see the beast, he felt it. He knew that it was hidden somewhere among these old trees. He just had to make sure he saw it before it saw him.

  Knox let his eyes roam over the dense forest. Birds sang out, tweeting happy songs in the waning afternoon sunshine. Every now and then the wind rustled through the trees. But otherwise, Knox heard nothing unusual in the sounds of the forest. He was not alone out here, though. He knew it. And he knew he was getting closer.

  “Where are you?” he mouthed, not even daring to whisper the words. And then, he saw it. Several hundred feet away, where the trail through the woods rose in a series of sharp switchbacks, there was one spot where the outline of the trees was a little bit too irregular. If you hadn’t been well-trained to look for this sort of thing, as Knox was, you would have missed it. But Knox had spent his entire life practicing for moments like this, and now, the slow curl of a smile played at his lips as he saw that the irregular pattern continued just long enough to be the outline of a large dragon.

  “Gotcha,” he mouthed, again not actually saying a word.

  The next few moments were a blur of action. Knox started running toward the steep trail, as silently as was possible for a man as large and muscular as himself. Within a few seconds, a large pop sounded out through the forest, and Knox began to transform mid-run. His head was the first to morph, quickly becoming covered with iridescent dragon scales. His teeth grew until they were so long they would have given chills to even the hardiest of men, and sharp horns grew behind his ears. His body, legs, and arms all followed a similar pattern, changing from soft human flesh to the thick scaled skin of a dragon. His hands and feet became large dragon feet which ended in razor-sharp claws, and wings sprouted from his back. The wings came last, and as they did, Knox let out a roar and rose into the air.

  His dragon prey had at first attempted to retreat slowly and silently, maintaining its chameleon-like camouflage as it went. But as Knox picked up speed, and the dragon realized it had been found out, it gave up its attempt at stealth. It rose into the air, suddenly starkly visible against the outline of trees and skies as its camouflage completely disappeared and it took on the same iridescent green hue that Knox’s dragons scales had.

  Knox flapped his wings even harder, pursuing the other dragon at top speed. Knox knew the other beast didn’t stand a chance. If there was one thing Knox was good at, it was speed. He’d always been the fastest flyer in his crew, and today he was feeling extra energetic. The other dragon made a brave effort to get away, but Knox was soon flying directly over it, reaching his long, clawed feet out toward the other dragon’s neck. The other dragon dove suddenly and sharply down to the earth, and Knox followed. As soon as they hit the ground, skidding to a halt between the large redwoods, the other dragon shifted back into human form with a loud pop.

  “Damn you, Knox! How did you find me?”

  Knox shifted back into human form, doubled over in laughter as he looked over at the other man. “You need to work on your chameleon skills, Myles,” he said.

  Knox’s clanmate, Myles, glared at him for a moment, but eventually cracked a smile. “You’re right, I know. I just got nervous when I saw you approaching. I didn’t concentrate hard enough.”

  “I could see your outline,” Knox said. “You weren’t too bad overall, but if the colors on the edges of your body aren’t perfectly lined up with the colors around you, your chameleon camouflage won’t work.”

  Myles sighed. “I need to work on that.”

  “Yeah, you do,” Knox said, but then added kindly. “But good job otherwise. You hardly left a trail of where you had been. Even I had a really difficult time tracking you.”

  Myles beamed with pride at Knox’s praise. Knox was a superb tracker, so this was quite a compliment. Knox was also the best in the clan at using chameleon skills to blend into his surroundings. All reptile shifters could learn to do this, but it was difficult to do it well if you weren’t actually a chameleon. Being able to essentially make yourself invisible was worth the hard work of mastering chameleon skills, though. One never knew when one might need to disappear.

  “Shall we head home?” Knox asked. “We can do a full debrief there, over beers.”

  “Now you’re talking,” Myles said. In the next moment, both men had shifted back into dragon form and were rising high above the Redwood forest, their powerful wings easily propelling their large bodies into the clouds.

  Knox breathed in deeply, loving the heady rush of cool air. He had been leader of the Redwood Dragons clan for two years now, but he was still getting used to being the one in charge. Some days, the amount of responsibility that rested on his shoulders nearly overwhelmed him. But on days like today, where he was training one of his dragons on how to sneak through enemy territory undetected, Knox was happy with his role as clan leader. If there was one thing Knox could do well, it was move through woods undetected. William had always said it was Knox’s greatest strengt
h. And Knox had enjoyed taking over the training missions that William had spearheaded in the past.

  Knox felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him as he thought of William. William had been the leader of the Redwood Dragons before Knox, and it was still hard to believe that the old dragon wasn’t around every day. He’d been too old to fight well anymore, and so had handed the number one position in the clan over to Knox. Knox knew William had a lot of faith in him, but he also knew he’d never be as good of a leader as William had been.

  William had come from a long line of dragons who had been guardians of the immensely powerful ancient dragon artifacts. William was the last of the ancient Redwood dragons, though, and realized that he needed to figure out who would guard the artifacts when he was gone. Twenty years ago, when Knox had been a young child and had been orphaned during the last great war on shifters, William had rescued him, along with ten other dragon orphans. Knox’s clan, the Redwood Clan, now consisted entirely of these ten orphans—himself and nine other dragons. The ten of them were brothers, fighting together to keep the world safe. Myles, Owen, and Vance were the only dragons with Knox in the Redwood forest at the moment, though. The rest of the clan’s dragons—Grayson, Weston, Noah, Finn, Holden, and Zeke—were all off in various parts of the world, chasing down dragon artifacts. This was their life: guard the dragon artifacts that had been recovered and were stored in their Redwood lair, and go out to find and recover the artifacts that were still missing—and were often being used by corrupt shifters to do awful things.

  These ancient artifacts held supernatural powers that had once belonged to the ancient dragons. Few modern shifters realized what great powers the shifters of old had once held, but the Redwood dragons knew, and they did their best to keep ancient artifacts out of the wrong hands. The Redwoods of Northern California, with their own ancient secrets, were the perfect home base for a group of fantastical beasts like Knox’s clan. As Knox rose higher and higher above the forest and turned his great dragon body toward the hidden lair they called home, he felt his heart lighten.

  No matter how many worries weighed on his mind as clan leader, he knew he could always relax at their clan headquarters. It was a place of community and safety, only occupied by the ten Redwood dragons. The brotherhood of beasts that retained something of the ancient dragon magic, and were sworn to use it always for good.

  It was a good, noble life, and Knox could not have asked for more. Little did he know, though, that he was about to get more, whether he wanted it or not.

  Chapter Two

  Bree Riley didn’t even bother trying to hide the deep scowl on her face. The High Council were all looking at her like she had lost her mind, and she knew they didn’t trust her recommendation on the current crisis facing the clan. She also knew that they were fools not to believe her, but one could not simply call the High Council members fools.

  “You are young, Bree, and perhaps do not understand the magnitude of what you are suggesting,” said Peter, the oldest of the councilors. He had a long, white beard that reached down to his belly, and with his formal pointed hat that was worn to Council meetings, he looked every bit the part of a powerful wizard. And what a powerful wizard he was! Bree knew that, although he was kind, he was not used to being questioned. He had spent his life gathering a deep well of wisdom, and what reason would he see to trust a young Wizard Advocate such as herself? Bree was the youngest and most junior of all the Advocates, and she had only been assigned to work on the dragon stone case because when its existence was first discovered, no one thought it was a big deal. It had been, they all thought, a throwaway project. Bree’s research had quickly found otherwise, and now, the wizard clan realized that the powerful stone was actually stones, plural. And those stones, if they fell into the wrong hands, could be fatal to the wizards’ ability to practice magic freely and undetected by those humans who believed magic did not actually exist.

  “I understand that it’s extremely unconventional to suggest that we join forces with shifters,” Bree said. “But—”

  “It’s not just unconventional, it’s unheard of!” Samuel, another one of the High Council members interrupted. “Don’t you remember your history lessons, child? You are so young that the ink on your Advocate Diploma can barely have dried, and yet you cannot remember what you learned in your wizarding history lessons? The last time wizards attempted to team up with shifters, the entire wizarding race was nearly destroyed! We cannot let shifters know we still exist, or our very existence itself is at stake.”

  Bree bit her lip, doing her best to maintain a calm exterior even though her insides were flaring up with anger. She may be young, but she was not an idiot. She had graduated in the top of her class from the Advocacy program, and she knew well the stories of how the shifters of old, in their quest for power, had nearly destroyed the wizards. She adjusted her robes and absentmindedly fingered at her blood-red ruby ring. Magic rings were used in place of wands by wizards of modern times. Her family didn’t have much money, but her father had given her this expensive magic ring over twelve years ago for her eighteenth birthday, and it had served her well since that time.

  “But, your Honors, those were dark times, full of dark shifters. The good shifters themselves were nearly extinguished as well. The evil shifters were in power, and they were the ones who tried to kill off wizards. They also tried to kill off those of their own kind, the shifters, who did not agree with them. I understand that the events of those days left a bad taste in the mouths of all wizards—”

  A large snorting guffaw arose from the High Council table, but Bree pushed forward, doing her best to ignore it.

  “—but we cannot allow ourselves to remain trapped in the past when it would keep us from seeking the help we need today. The dragon stones will be nearly impossible to find and defend if we don’t have shifters on our side, helping us. It would behoove us to seek out help from the good shifters before evil shifters discover that the dragon sapphire stone still exists and has been located.”

  “You are a disgrace to the Advocates,” Samuel bellowed out. “How dare you tell the High Council what would behoove us! You—”

  “Silence!” Peter bellowed, glaring in Samuel’s direction. Bree cringed at Peter’s tone, but Samuel did not so much as wince. He glared right back at Peter, defiant. But he did fall silent, and, for a moment, the entire Council room was heavy with the silence. Then Peter spoke.

  “Child, your dedication to your work is admirable,” Peter said. “We old Council members do sometimes need the zeal of youth to keep us on our toes, and I respect the conviction with which you present your case. But I’m afraid that this is one instance where we must remain firm, no matter how much you disagree with us. The consequences of a misstep here would be too grave.”

  “But you don’t understand,” Bree said. “Not reaching out to the shifters would be the misstep. We need them!”

  Gasps rang out across the room. None of the other Advocates would have dared to defy Peter in this way. Peter looked taken aback, and, for one awful moment, Bree thought he was going to yell at her. But then his face relaxed, and he chuckled.

  “You are a fiery one,” Peter said. “But I remain firm in my decision. We will not contact the shifters. This meeting is adjourned.”

  The room became almost instantly noisy with the hum of excited conversation. Everyone was discussing the unusually tense High Council meeting, and they were all avoiding eye contact with Bree. Angrily, she picked up her folder of work and left the room, nearly tripping over her own formal robes which were a size too big. She’d had to borrow some from her roommate, because she hadn’t bought any of her own yet. She’d never expected to be participating in a High Council meeting within months of beginning her work as an Advocate. Usually, such meetings consisted of only seasoned wizards. And, Bree thought angrily, she might as well have not been there today anyway.

  No one had taken her seriously. They all looked at her like she was a little girl who knew nothi
ng. But Bree knew too much, and that was the problem. She knew that this was one of those rare occasions when the High Council was wrong, and if they insisted on sticking to their decision, their entire clan was going to be in trouble. Bree’s work on the dragon stone project had convinced her of that.

  Bree fumed the whole way home, walking as quickly as she could through the streets of Falcon Cross and telling herself to just ignore the curious looks being cast in her direction by the other wizards on the street. She wished more than anything that she had brought her car so she could avoid people, even though the walk home was less than a mile. She liked to stretch her legs when she could, and avoided taking her car when possible. She didn’t particularly like working in an office job where she had to sit so much all day, but she did love her work. Well, she had loved it until today, at least. Now she was not so sure. What was the point of all her careful research and detective work if the High Council was just going to laugh in her face?

  Bree finally reached home, storming up the stairs to the two bedroom apartment she shared with another Advocate, Lily, who was a year her senior. Bree slammed the door behind her and immediately started peeling off her oversized dress robes. Lily, who had been sitting on the couch with a stack of papers, looked up at Bree and arched an eyebrow.

  “I take it things didn’t go so well?” Lily asked.

  Bree scowled at her, then threw the dress robes across an armchair next to the couch.

  “I’ll have those dry-cleaned later. Right now I need to think,” Bree said, then disappeared into the small bedroom that was hers. She felt slightly better as soon as she closed the door behind her. The bedroom was small, but it was the only place Bree had where she could feel truly alone. She had her own office at the Advocacy Bureau, but her coworkers and supervisors were always popping in and out of there without warning, often opening or closing the door so quickly that Bree’s Advocate diploma shook on the wall, threatening to tumble to the ground.