CoCo_P

Dream 17

It took a day.

A full day of laying almost perfectly still, trying to suppress his nervous fidgeting in the silence of his tunnel.  Hour after hour passed, the gentle burble of the lava ...

Somnus III - Chapter 19

The next hour or so was more of the same.  Kat sniped the frog monsters with Overpressure while Dorrik slowed their advance with Ego Shards.  Meanwhile, Kaleek enthusiastically r...

Somnus III - Chapter 18

“Remember to chew the meat thoroughly,” Dorrik lectured, handing a fist-sized hunk of well seasoned steak to Kat.  “You’ll need to hold the juices in the back of your throat for as lon...

Somnus III - Chapter 17

“I just feel like we’re wasting time right now,” Kat opined, slouching against a stone column next to Kaleek.  “The entire galaxy is descending into flaming chaos around us, and here w...

Somnus III - Chapter 16

Kat flicked her eyes to the side, sending the e-mail.   She settled back into her chair, trying to focus on the pressure of the wood against her back in a vain attempt to relax. A single ...

Somnus III - Chapter 15

Kat grunted, pulling her knife from the crumpled dent in the Guillotine Tortoise’s hide.  She wiped the blade on her thigh armor while grimacing at its hulking corpse.  Dark green blood...

Chapter 14

“What are we looking at?”  Kat asked, shifting slightly as she crouched behind a dumpster.  Dawn was only a couple of hours away and she’d been wearing her infiltration suit all nig...

Dream - 16

Samazzar’s tail swished violently back and forth in the dark, a smile splitting his scaly muzzle.  In the distance, the tunnel gleamed golden-red in his magical vision as heat poured off roc...

Somnus III - Chapter 13

Kat slipped the datastick into her pouch and sheathed her knife.  “Deal. I have a safe house in Chiwaukee where we can stash you until I can buy you a new identity.  I have contacts in ...

Somnus III - Chapter 12

“Are you sure about this?”  Kat asked, glancing worriedly at the submachine gun clutched in Whip’s hands.  The gun was on the smaller side, but in Whippoorwill’s awkward grip it l...

Dream - 15

Samazzar scuttled forward, doing his best to avoid thinking about his empty stomach.  He’d finished the last of his rat jerky yesterday, and already his still growing body was screaming for ...

Somnus III - Chapter 11

Kat ducked under a stream of acid, not even bothering to watch it splatter against one of the fake wooden pillars that were strewn about the dungeon.  As far as she could tell, the wood cylind...

Somnus III - Chapter 10

Kat knocked on the metal reinforced door, smiling at a security camera as it paused its normal sweep of the hallway to swivel and observe her.   A second later the door clicked as its loc...

Dream - 14

Bad air puffed out of Samazzar’s muzzle as he clambered down the cave wall, a worried frown on his muzzle.  The floor of the chamber was covered in scratch marks and the dull red-orange glow...

Somnus III - Chapter 9

Kat stumbled on the indoor track as her smartpanel chirped at her, indicating a phone call from an unknown number.  She jogged past a man and a woman in the middle of their morning cardio in t...

A Dream of Wings and Flame Index

DREAM 1 IS MOVING TO KINDLE

I have to take Dream's chapters down for the kindle release next Wednesday (10/11/22) so this is your 24 hour notice that chapters from Dream 1 will be coming dow...

Dream - 13

The breath burned in Samazzar’s lungs.  He fought the urge to struggle against the claw holding him beneath the water’s surface.  He knew from experience that Crone Tazzaera would kee...

Dream - 12

Takkla, Dussok and Samazzar’s saved merits were more than enough for them to rent their own modest cavern about halfway between Center Cave and their former creche.  With a little help from ...

Dream - 11

Samazzar returned to the creche in a fog.  Dussok walked next to him, a large claw on his shoulder gently steering him back on track every time he missed a turn on his way back.

The word...

Dream - 10

“Stand in line and wait your turn,” the kobold that spoke practically glistened in the firelight.

Her delicate red scales, free of any dirt or blemish, glowed like rubies.  Sam’s e...

Dream - 9

The water burbled in the polished stone bowl hanging over the fire.  Samazzar kept both his normal and magical gaze trained upon it as the bubbles hit the surface and released small puffs of s...

Dream - 8

“I killed someone,” Takkla stared at her claws like she expected to see blood on them.  “I just remember thinking that he was going to hurt Dussok, and everything went red.  The nex...

Dream - 7

“Come on Takkla,” Sam grunted under the weight of the millipede’s corpse.  The sharp ridges of its chitin biting into his scales as he plodded across the dark stone of the cavern.

...

Dream - 6

The millipede clattered to the cavern floor, the sound of its chitinous bulk slamming into stone echoing throughout the otherwise silent cave.  It reared back, a dozen or so of its armored seg...

Dream - 5

“It’s really dark down here Sam,” Takkla whispered, stumbling as she reached out for him.  He winced as her claws scraped noisily against the rocks of the lower tunnels.

“I still...

Dream - 4

“Crone Tazzaera!” Sam’s voice echoed through the creche cave as his clawed feet clicked rapidly against the stone floor.

He burst into the creche cave, a toothy smile painted across his...

Dream - 3

The sound of claws on stone click clattered through the dark cavern, pausing only to be replaced by deep sniff.  Samazzar blinked his yellow eyes as the scents of the cave flooded into him. &n...

Dream - 2

“Feel it on your scales Sam,” the Crone’s voice seemed to surround him as Samazzar stared into the roaring inferno that had been the cave’s simple fire pit.

“Everything has some hea...

Dream - 1

“Crone Tazzaera, I collected the twigs and firemoss you wanted!” Samazzar called out cheerfully as he trotted into his creche’s cave, arms heavily laden with the dry green lichen.

It ha...

Dream - 0

“Come hatchlings,” Crone Tazzaera’s rheumy voice crackled, silencing the cave full of rambunctious youngsters.  Their play fights wrapped up, leaving a pair of doglike kobold pups, their...