The dragon's harem

Alcott smiled as he sat on his chair, throwing a glance at Poppy. “A vampire child, never seen that before. Were you born as one, or turned?”

Poppy looked toward him and sighed, “Turned, a vampire witch in the northern forest rescued me from a bandit raid and kept me as her student and alchemy helper. In reality, she just wanted to study vampirism.” Poppy smiled, “After fifty years, I managed to kill and drink her blood, thus freeing myself of the shackles of her blood.”

Merlin didn’t look convinced, “A vampire spawn killing their lord? That’s as rare as a golden cow.” She pointed her staff at Poppy, “You’re lying.”

“Feel free to believe me or not, I don’t care.” She shifted her gaze toward Amber, “But, I would appreciate it if you let me go, I left a pot boiling after all, and I won’t want to return to a burned down hut.”

“There is one problem with that.” Alcott spoke in the back, resting beside the table as he poured himself some beer. “We can’t just let a vampire loose in the middle of the city.”

Alcott had a large grin on his face as he pulled his sword, rested it on his shoulder, and leaned toward Poppy. “Now, little girl. Want to tell me why you’re really here? I’m quite certain it has something to do with a stinky green lizard.” He tapped her head with his sword, “Now, choose. Want this blade up your ass, or up that monster’s ass.”

Poppy glared at him for a bit, and then sighed. “Fine, I’ve been driven out of my hut by a green dragon. I believe it might be the same one you fought. I was first forced to hide in the city where it’s safe, but when I saw you, I thought I could catch you off-guard and turn you into a vampire spawn.”

Alcott sheathed his sword. “So, I can fight that dragon off for you.” He looked at Merlin, “She is on our side until that dragon is dead. Release her.”

“What are you talking about? A vampire of her power could crush down this entire tavern. Do you want Alex to kill us for trashing his business?” She growled, and Amber thought the same. “We’d better keep her shackled.”

Alcott shook his head. “No, sadly, we need her to be able to move freely.” He patted Poppy on the head. “I’ve got a job for you. One that would help us kill that dragon, he had been so much of a problem that talking with him wouldn’t even help.”

“What are you talking about?” Merlin stared at him for a long moment, and then blinked. “Wait, don’t tell me you’re still up on that shit?”

Alcott smiled. “I’m telling you that green dragons have a weakness. We just didn’t find an alchemist skilled enough to find it.” He turned toward Poppy, “Listen, you know that green dragons’ blood is extremely poisonous, and you also know that the older they get, the deadlier it becomes.” He reached into his backpack and pulled a tied sack filled with bloodied rags and black mud.”

“When poisoned by a green dragon, multiple symptoms show up, but they aren’t unique; many other poisons can show them as well.” He started counting. “Paralysis, blindness, deafness, necrosis, pain, bleeding, rash, hallucination, and far more…”

Poppy’s one eye flashed red. “So, you’re saying that green dragon poison is a combination of multiple types of poisons that show up even in weaker monsters and plants. They don’t have a unique poison, but a mixture.”

Alcott smiled and swung his sword, cutting the ropes tying Poppy, “Bingo, and I want an alchemist bold and stupid enough to help me with that.”

Merlin and Amber growled at him for freeing the vampire, but he didn’t care; he had finally found someone who might be able to help. “I’m not looking for an antidote for green dragon poison, I’m looking for an antidote to just one of its components, or something that makes one of the components stronger.”

Poppy walked out of the sealing circle and healed her eye. “So…what would that do? It’ll just make the deadly poison a tiny bit less deadly, or stronger.”

Alcott shook his head. “Think about it, their blood is poisonous as well. If we break the fragile balance between all of those poisons inside the dragon, we might be able to stun it for a second or two.” A grin covered his face. “That’s all the time I need to take its head off.”

“Well, I’ll research it for you, but didn’t I just tell you that I was driven out of the forest? I can’t possibly get back to my hut.” She shook her head. “Without tools, an alchemist is nothing but a glorified cook.”

Alcott rested his fists on his hips, “Well, we just the right place here.”

Merlin rubbed her face and growled in the back. “I just want to go back to Alina and rest…”

Alcott looked out of the window and pointed. “See that massive tower over there? We’re in the city of Baladcoast, and that is where the local archwizard lives.”

“Don’t tell me you want to go there? I’m a vampire; the entire city garrison would swarm us. Not even mentioning the archwizard.” Poppy looked worried, but Alcott was in fact, not worried at all.

“I know someone there, I’ll get her to lend us a lab or two.” He smiled, and Amber sighed. “The archwizard’s daughter. How in the nine-hells do you get with so many women?”

“Well, that tower looked really nice and perfect to practice climbing, so I’ve been going there every night. That’s how I met her.” Alcott picked his stuff. “I’ll go do a bit of climbing today as well, and I’ll make sure to get us access to one of the labs there.”

“The archwizard is going to kill you one day. You can’t keep trespassing onto his tower and meeting his daughter like this without him knowing; he’ll find out.” Merlin sighed, “What will you do then?”

“Well, he’s gotta put better security than, since he found out the first night when his daughter told him, yet he was never able to catch me.” He looked at Amber, “Get Poppy cleaned up and buy her a change of clothes. I’ll be back before dawn.”

Somewhere else, in one of the rooms of the wizard’s tower, a guard had finally finished his shift and was going to fall asleep. It was a boring day, but a peaceful one. There wasn’t a single guard in the city who hoped to have anything but that, and serving at the wizard’s tower seemed to be the most luxurious and relaxing job ever.

“Ah! Ah… guh! Emuh! Ah! Guh! Guh!” As he rested on his bed, he could hear someone gasping and moaning outside, and his eyes immediately burst open, flushed with blood. “Damn it!” He jumped out of his bed, punched the window open, and looked down.

“How many times do we have to tell you to stay the hell out of the tower?!” As the guard growled, he could see the shirtless Alcott climbing the tower using only his hands and the small imperfections of the tower’s smooth wall.

Alcott looked at him with a grin. “Ah, Pollo. It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it? Perfect for a bit of exercise.”

“Listen, you bastard! You’re fifty meters above ground; do you have spider blood in you or what? Get down immediately before you hurt yourself, or get us all hanged.” Pollo was fuming, but Alcott only giggled.

“Sorry, but I have to ask the young lady for a favor. Can you tell me what rounds the guards have tonight? Should I expect someone around her quarter, or is there any new spells that her father brewed up?”

Pollo couldn’t endure looking at Alcott’s face anymore. At first, it was just a trespassing problem. The wizard found out that Alcott was using his tower to practice climbing and so asked him to stop, but Alcott kept coming back, and no matter how many guards he put or spells he cast, Alcott always found a way around them.

But even then, the wizard was more annoyed than angry; he became furious only after he found out that Alcott had been humping his daughter, which he kept safe and locked at the peak of the tower, and that he was doing it almost every night.

He got Alcott thrown in jail, but it seems that the bastard was escaping from jail every night to climb the tower still and see his daughter. Eventually, Alcott was released to deal with the dragon, and on their contract, Alcott got a signed waiver from the city Lord that he wouldn’t even be charged in his land.

“Just leave! If he catches you, he’ll kill you on the spot. You’ve driven him mad.” Pollo rubbed his eyes, “But… I do feel bad for the young lady being locked up in her quarter, so I do understand… I’ll give you info about the rounds.”

“Thanks, Pollo!” Alcott gave him a thumb-up and a smile.