Book 5 in the Awaken Dragon Series

Camile Sawyer is a witch living in hiding with her grandfather, secluded away from those who feared her kind. She doesn’t know what she’s doing when she blows on The Horn of Summoning, and she doesn’t understand why a huge dragon soon crashes onto her family land. And her attraction to this dragon is unlike anything she’s ever felt before. Her need for him is all-consuming.

First, Slag the Magnificent is awakened abruptly after centuries of sleep. Then, he is shot out of the air by some modern human weapons. Finally, he faces off with a human sorceress who transforms him from his fire dragon form into a measly human. But none of that compares to the fact that he’s finally found his one… and she’s a human witch. A beautiful, sassy and strong woman he’s happy to call his mate.

Slag isn’t the only dragon who’s been awakened by the Horn, but the others aren’t as forgiving. Slag and Camile will have to defend themselves and save cities while continuing to search for a way to turn Slag back. Their troubles don’t end there. There are dragon Hunters chasing them, and they’re furious that Camile is refusing to fulfill her duties by eliminating Slag.

Chapter 1: Slag

Dreams of war, dreams of lies, dreams of dragon’s fire…

For centuries, the great dragon Slag slumbered, healing from old wounds and dreaming of a day when he would awaken and begin devouring and looting again. His slumber proved peaceful.

His awakening was anything but.

A glaring, piercing musical note blasted its way through his layers of consciousness, jolting him instantly conscious. His eyes snapped open and darted around, trying to find something on which to focus. The dimly lit cave he’d fallen asleep in now appeared to be pitch black.

Slag groggily sucked in air and then blasted out a gout of flame. He looked around, finding that his cavern had collapsed, at least partially. In fact, his tail was fossilized under stalagmite mounds.

His slumber had been much, much longer than intended. Part of him wanted to return to the comfortable sleep, but the note still rang in his mind even if he could no longer hear it with his ears.

It was a magical compulsion, one he could recognize though he was powerless to resist. Slag freed his tail from its rocky prison with a jerk, which was followed by the sound of rocks crumbling. He rose to his full height…

Just to slam his head on the cavern roof. His eyes slammed shut, and an annoyed, pained growl rumbled through the near-total darkness.

A mountain had grown up around him since he’d fallen asleep. Fortunately, his breath weapon burned hotter than the fires of hell.

Slag sucked in a great lungful of air and then released it through his snout. Flames leaped out in a cone pattern from his wide-open maw, licking the stone ceiling and turning it red hot in a matter of seconds. Slag shut off the font and then rammed his claw into the resulting morass. Molten rock dripped down his red scales, but heat meant nothing to a fire dragon.

With alternating blasts of fire and claw, he slowly tunneled his way out of his prison. He burst forth into a snowy mountainside and roared his triumph to the heavens. A surprised goat turned tail to run in terror, but Slag snapped his claw out with liquid grace and snagged it, shoving the beast into his mouth—still alive and wriggling until he masticated it with a few crunchy bites.

His hunger somewhat abated, he felt the call returning to prominence in his mind. Slag let out a roar that could be heard twenty miles away, shaking the mountains and causing an avalanche.

Beware, humans. Slag has returned! All will worship me or despair!

Slag extended his massive wings, stretching them out over three hundred feet. He gave them a mighty beat, then another, and slowly rose into the chilly air. As he gained altitude, he saw an astounding sight.

A pattern of lights on the ground far below the mountainside. Some of the lights moved, and the more he stared, the more details emerged. The humans had built a vast city, bigger than any he’d ever seen. Worse, they’d somehow managed to create their own dragon fire—human fire? —to light their city. They also had carriages that appeared not to need horses or oxen to move. The animals providing locomotion must be hidden inside, he thought to himself.

He wanted to explore the city further, maybe eat a human or two, but the call was too insistent, too potent. He roared in frustration and rage and flew off to the northwest, where the pull of the call was the strongest.

His wings beat the air as he climbed above the clouds. The humans had ballista and trebuchets when he went to sleep, powerful enough to harm or even kill him if they got a lucky shot in—especially if the tip had been treated with dragon's bane.

Slag climbed higher, catching the stream of air which moved much quicker than the rest. He put on enough speed to leave white streaks in the air behind him.

The humans have changed. I see many more of their cities below. They always did breed like rabbits... Maybe I’ll slaughter a few thousand of them just to keep their numbers in check…

He flew over land and sea, soared over mighty rivers and deep trenched canyons. The call pulled him onward, enough that he couldn’t even consider stopping to feast on an entire field of bovines just ripe for the taking.

Slag’s ears detected a new, strange sound. A high-pitched whine reached his ears, one that grew ever closer. Though it was quiet at such altitudes, he knew something was amiss right away. 

Suddenly, he was flanked by twin metal birds. He glanced over at them in curiosity, not alarm, because they were much too small to be a threat to him, even with metal skin.

However, the more he stared at the birds, the more he thought they weren’t birds at all. They were some kind of clockwork, a machine designed to move through the air as a carriage moves on the land or a boat moves through the water.

Inside of a glass bubble on top, he spotted humans. So, the humans had conquered the skies? That was a disheartening thought.

Why didn’t my draconic brethren do something about this? They should have eaten any human who dared to challenge our mastery of the skies!

It was too big a mystery for him, and besides, the wake-up call drove him relentlessly on, while the metal flying machines didn’t seem to be harassing him. They were just flying along beside him.

He grinned a toothy grin when he noted that the human pilots couldn’t keep their eyes off of him.

Let them stare at my magnificence, my draconic glory. Go ahead, humans—be jealous.

He was getting closer to the call now. Much closer. 

The metal birds kept pace with him for a long time. He began to grow annoyed at their presence. He tried putting on more speed, but the uninvited companions easily kept up with him. Their wings didn’t even beat, but he noticed dragon’s fire shooting out of the back of them.

I grow weary of your presence, humans.

He turned his serpentine neck about and opened his maw, snapping at one of them. Instantly they both broke away, veering off at speeds he could respect. Slag snorted. Of course, the humans ran away from him. It was only right and natural. Just because they could fly didn’t mean they could harm him.

I saw no ballista mounted on the back of that flying machine. They have no power in the air! Dragons still rule supreme.

Slag felt the call getting closer. He dove down below the level of the clouds, his vision obscured by the roiling mists for a moment. Then he broke free below and saw the rocky, forested landscape below him.

The high-pitched whine returned. Slag turned his head in annoyance to see that the two metal birds were back. Only this time, they seemed intent to keep their distance.

He roared and shot a fireball at one of them. The metal bird easily dodged the missile, which seemed to move in slow motion compared to the two of them.

Take the hint and leave me be. If it were not for this cursed compulsion, I would eat both of these foolish humans.

Then, something small broke off one of the metal birds. At first, he assumed it was some kind of dropping—did mechanical birds even need to defecate? —but then a white plume appeared behind it, and it shot toward him.

He decided the thing looked like a fish more than anything, its metal hide akin to shimmering scales. The shape proved similar as well, but it moved far faster than any fish he had ever seen. Not to mention it flew instead of darting through a pond or stream.

Slag’s instincts told him he didn’t want to let that fish bite him. He folded in his wings and plunged into a steep, rapid dive. The fish changed course to match him and began gaining ground.

He flared out his wings and slowed and altered his descent, swooping back up in a sharp arc. Again, the fish easily matched his movements.

Slag began to feel the sting of hurt pride. Such a little metal fish, barely longer than his forearm, and he was running from it? What would other dragons think if they happened to see him? The humiliation would be unbearable.

He suddenly pitched into a hard turn, coming about to face the flying fish head-on. Slag raced toward it, claw outstretched to scoop it out of the air as adroitly as he would snatch a fish out of a pond.

The fish darted under his outstretched claw and instead impacted on his flank. Pain seared through his body as a deafening roar thundered in his ears. Suddenly he couldn’t tell up from down. Though he flapped his wings frantically, erratically, he couldn’t stop his inevitable descent.

Slag saw the ground rushing up toward him through a haze of pain.

Then, he saw nothing at all.