Dragon's Key--Complete

Chapter Eleven

Aaron pulled off his helmet and dropped it near the bike.  It rolled to lay on its side in the dirt near the vintage motorcycle.  I grasped my own helmet, pulling it off and tossing it after his.  I had a feeling I would need every advantage I could get quite shortly and having my vision obscured wasn't going to be in my favor.

“What do you want, Zoschke?” I asked, my eyes leaving the group behind us as I looked back at the man who seemed to be cause of this mess.

“That's very easy, my dear.  You,” he responded, his smile growing more revolting with the self-satisfaction he took no effort to hide.  The man seemed more reptile than human to me and just being around him made me want to take a shower.

“You can't have her,” Aaron interrupted suddenly, taking a step toward me as though he was going to protect me from Zoschke and his men.

“But I will have her,” Zoschke told Aaron, his reptilian eyes narrowing in determination.  “If I have to kill you to get her, that is fine by me.  I would like to take both of you, but in the end, we already got all you had to give, didn't we?”

His laugh was low and it echoed of a comic book villain, all drama and very little substance.  Not very creative.  But Aaron responded to it with surprising violence, growling low in his throat, his eyes focused on Zoschke.

“It's fine if you resist.  It is more fun for the rest of us if you do.” Zoschke stepped away from the cars lining the road and took several steps toward us.  The words were so close to what he'd said in my bedroom that I shuddered in revulsion.

He reached down to the belt at his waist and pulled a sword out from the sheath at his waist.  It was short, probably only as long as Aaron's forearm, but appeared to be sharpened on both sides and had a serviceable leather handle.  On Zoschke's other hip, a pistol was strapped low on his thigh.  His steps toward us took on an ominous edge as his men joined him in closing in on us, front and back.

I turned, putting my back against Aaron's.  I was more than willing to leave Zoschke for Aaron since he seemed focused on the orchestrator of my kidnapping in a very personal way.

They were all wielding swords and I looked at the three coming toward me warily.  I'd had considerable martial arts training, but I hadn't focused on fighting barehanded against weapons.  There was also a good chance that those swords were steel, something that could do considerable damage to Aaron and I since I knew they had a high percentage of iron.

Aaron stepped forward to meet Zoschke, making it very clear that he wasn't going to allow them to take me without a serious fight on their hands.  I looked up as the footsteps in front of me continued to get closer and three of the men in front of me drew their swords, preparing for a fight.

“Oh, come now, my dear,” Zoschke called out from behind me.  “This does not have to be difficult, you know.  No one has to die.”

“I disagree,” I could feel the rumble of Aaron's words though he was several steps away now.  “You've proven that you, at least, must be one of those who have to die, Zoschke.”

I regarded the men approaching me warily as I heard the clang of steel on something else hard and turned my head quickly to see Aaron repel one of the sword swings with what must have been his claws.  Slashing out with the other hand to dig furrows into one man's arm while turning to meet yet another sword attack.

I turned my attention back to the ones I needed to worry about, getting more and more wary as a low fog crept in.  It rolled up through the trees and along the road, obscuring everything save the bubble of violence we now resided in.  The rain started to come down harder and it became impossible for me to see the men hiding in the trees.