The Dragon Rogues

  THE DRAGON ROGUES

  THE DRAGON ROGUES BOOK 1

  D.K. HOLMBERG

  Copyright © 2022 by D.K. Holmberg

  Cover by Damonza.com

  All rights reserved.

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  CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Author’s Note

  Series by D.K. Holmberg

  PROLOGUE

  The air stunk.

  Jonathan knew better than to take a job like this, especially one that would place them all in such a risky situation, but the reward was simply too high to turn down. How could he miss the opportunity to earn more in one job than he had in the last ten?

  “What now, Dragon?” Grayson asked.

  His mentor was an older thief who had considerable experience with jobs like this, much like most of the men Jonathan worked with. He preferred those with experience over those without, but really, he needed their instincts. Those couldn’t be taught.

  Jonathan glanced over from where they crouched outside the entrance to the warehouse. They would have to sneak past a series of defenses before they reached a hidden vault. If the job went as they intended, it would be a simple matter to break in. Given the enchantments he had on hand, along with those his crew had, he expected he would be able to finish this hours before anyone even realized they had been here.

  “Now we have to see if the enchantment we bought was worth it,” he said.

  Grayson grunted and looked along the street. They knew it was empty. Had it not been, Burton would have signaled them as he watched from a nearby rooftop, peering down on them and giving them the reassurance that nothing was amiss.

  For a job like this, Jonathan dared only to involve a small crew, so it was just the three of them. Too many others and he feared that someone would talk. He had seen it too often.

  “It’s a little strange, isn’t it?” Grayson asked. “Not like the usual jobs you get us.”

  “What is?”

  “How quiet everything is.”

  Jonathan pulled an enchantment from his pocket—an item of magical power designed for a specific purpose. The small sphere was made of a hazy glass filled with deep blue and purple swirls, and though it seemed simple, it contained significant power. The man who’d hired them had procured it for them. It was unusual to have anyone in the Sorcerers’ Society willing to create enchantments for men like him, so having it gave Jonathan even more confidence that it would work. How could it not?

  He crouched in front of the door, holding the enchantment as he looked along the street. In this part of the city, the street was quite narrow. Buildings practically pressed in toward it, adding to the shadows of the dark night. They had chosen a moonless night intentionally, and the heavy storm clouds, along with the distant rumble of thunder, added to the darkness. It was during this time of day that Jonathan preferred to operate.

  He had planned for all possibilities. Their current employer had helped provide them with everything they might need to accomplish the job. Jonathan didn’t fear they would fail. They couldn’t fail.

  “It’s damn near three bells,” he said. “It’s going to be quiet.”

  “It’s more than the time of night,” Grayson replied.

  “Would you stop being so worried?”

  Grayson shrugged. “This guy is ruthless. You go after him, and he takes down you, your family, and everything you care about. That’s his reputation. Besides, don’t you pay me to worry?”

  “I pay you to be my sneak.” But he didn’t really pay Grayson. Not like he did others on the team. The man didn’t need his money, but instead took jobs because he wanted to.

  “And I am. That don’t mean I can’t be concerned about what’s happening around us.”

  If Grayson was doing what he was supposed to do—and knowing him, he had it handled with exquisite control—no one would even be aware they were here. He concealed them so that, as far as anyone who ventured along the street would be able to tell, there was nothing here but an empty storefront. That was the power of a sneak, especially one with Grayson’s skill. He had magic, but it wasn’t the kind the Sorcerers’ Society even cared to regulate. That was to Jonathan’s advantage.

  “Just keep your eye out, and hold on to your facade,” Jonathan said.

  There was another grunt, and Jonathan turned his attention back to the door. He had planned this job as meticulously as he planned every job. He had anticipated every eventuality. At this point, all he had to do was use this enchantment on the door and he would be able to overwhelm the others that had been placed on this innocuous-seeming warehouse.

  Not so innocuous if it was protected with heavy enchantments, though.

  Which was part of the reason this job was worth as much as it was.

  “Here we go,” Jonathan whispered.

  He cupped his hand around the orb as he raised it near the door. When the magic was triggered, a tingling sensation slowly washed over his hand and left him feeling a surge of energy. It was enough that he knew something had happened, though not exactly what it was. His own connection to that kind of magic wasn’t such that he would even know.

  A faint glow came from the enchantment, and then it faded.

  “Is that it?” Grayson asked.

  “You were supposed to be holding on to your facade,” Jonathan said.

  “I am. I also saw what you did. Is it done?”

  Jonathan shrugged. “I have no idea. I haven’t used an enchantment like this before. If it works, I can think of the other jobs it might be used for…”

  “I’m sure the employer will be thrilled.” There was a knowing look in Grayson’s eye, one that left Jonathan asking the same questions he’d had when he’d been given the job.

  “Hey. I took the job, and I’ll make sure we finish it. When we’re done, I keep the tools.”

  Jonathan tested the lock, and the door opened soundlessly. Darkness greeted him.

  He glanced over to Grayson. “Are you ready?”

  “I’m ready, but I can’t help but feel as though we would be better off if Matthew were with us.”

  “He wasn’t available. Besides, this isn’t the kind of job that needs too many hands in it anyway.”

  There were other reasons, though Jonathan wasn’t about to share them with Grayson. Hell, he wasn’t about to share them with anyone, not even Matthew.

  Grayson nodded, and Jonathan turned away from him, focusing on the darkness in front of him. He held out the enchantment. He didn’t know if it was going to be powerful enough to push away the darkness, though it theoretically should be able
to do that. He hadn’t asked enough questions when he had been given the enchantment. As far as he knew, it would work to overpower most of the enchantments they encountered on the way into the warehouse, but even those weren’t the ones he truly needed to bypass.

  It was the one leading into the vault.

  Jonathan guided them into the warehouse. He had the layout memorized, and even in the darkness, he knew exactly how many steps they had to take. He walked as soundlessly as possible, as did Grayson, though he seemed to use his sneak ability to help.

  Twenty-three steps.

  Turn left.

  Eleven steps.

  A door.

  Stairs leading down.

  Jonathan paused at the stairs, then made his way down them carefully. He counted the steps, hoping his informant had been accurate. The plans were as precise as possible, but this was one place he worried about. People didn’t keep track of how many steps there were quite as well as they did how many feet there were in the hallway.

  They didn’t have to go all the way down. That led somewhere else, though given the prize they would find here, Jonathan had to wonder if there might be something valuable even farther down. Even if there was, he had enough experience and self-control to know that it wouldn’t matter to him.

  Thirty-one stairs.

  Ten feet. Maybe twelve.

  Another door.

  He stopped in front it.

  Grayson stood behind him, his breaths soft, regular, and cautious. Jonathan appreciated that about the old sneak. He could control himself in situations like this. Not all sneaks were as skilled as Grayson, and even if they were, they didn’t have the experience to know to control their emotions.

  Jonathan ran his hand along the door, feeling a series of markings on it. His informant had not been able to provide any detail on the nature of those marks. Not that it mattered. Jonathan knew as much as he thought he could about them. They carried with them a hint of magic. Power.

  The clock in his head continued to count down until the next bells.

  He wanted to be out of here long before then.

  He raised the enchantment, holding it up to the door. As before, there came a surge of warmth, a tingle that washed over his skin, and a hint of a glow. He hoped Grayson did his job and concealed it as much as possible. If there was anyone out here in the warehouse, as unlikely as that was at this time of day, the briefest surge of light might be enough to draw attention.

  The door vibrated. Not only could he feel it, but Jonathan heard it too.

  Shit.

  He had to work quickly, but he didn’t know how to do anything faster than he already was. He forced the enchantment against the door, and the vibration took on a soft hum.

  “What are you doing?” Grayson whispered.

  “I’m not doing anything. It’s this damn enchantment.”

  “Make it stop. It’s too loud.”

  “I know it’s too loud,” Jonathan snapped.

  He had to be careful. Even his voice was louder than it needed to be.

  Expect the unexpected. Wasn’t that what he always preached to those he worked with? This was unexpected. He had to respond in a way that would ensure they got out of here safely.

  The door continued to vibrate, and the enchantment hummed. They still weren’t even to the vault yet. Once they got through the doorway, they would reach the vault, and then he would need not only this enchantment but the other one that had been provided. The combination of the two was supposed to allow him access to the vault.

  “Keep your facade up,” he said.

  “I’m doing it, but it doesn’t mute sound.”

  Jonathan took a deep breath to control his emotions and then focused on the door. The enchantment worked by being pressed against it. He knew that the vibration and the hum that came with it mattered somehow, even though he didn’t really know what it was or why it would be so. He could hear it practically whistling around him. He was tempted to pull back the enchantment to silence the noise, but if he did that then he would be abandoning the job.

  He forced the orb forward. It surged with light for a moment, and the door vibrated more violently.

  Then it came open with a soft click.

  Jonathan paused and looked along the hall, but it was so dark that he couldn’t see anything. He hadn’t anticipated that he would need to be able to see. When he’d made his plans, he had memorized the dimensions so that he wouldn’t need any light. He knew that if anyone were to come across them, they would be carrying light, so he would be able to anticipate their presence long before anything came up.

  Now he wished he had brought a light source.

  He stepped through the doorway into the room and felt Grayson behind him.

  “Should I close the door?” Grayson whispered.

  “No. I don’t know if it will reactivate whatever enchantment has been placed on it.”

  Everything was completely and utterly dark around Jonathan. He could see nothing other than the faintly glowing enchantment resting in his hand, but it wasn’t enough for him to see by. Even with that, he avoided looking at it for too long, not wanting to disrupt whatever night vision he had.

  Seven steps.

  That was all they needed to reach the vault.

  He took each step cautiously, smaller than he would have otherwise, not wanting to slam into the vault. He knew he needed to be much more careful this time. With the way the enchantment had vibrated and hummed, he wanted to ensure that he didn’t trigger the same sort of noise again.

  A strange pressure pushed against him. Jonathan slowed, sliding one foot forward, but nothing more than that. Grayson remained close behind, one hand practically pressing up against Jonathan’s back.

  Jonathan stretched his foot forward. Then he felt the wall. Reaching out with one hand, he was greeted by a cold metal surface.

  The vault.

  This was it. Use the enchantments to break into the vault, take what they had come for, and deliver it to his employer. Then the reward was theirs.

  He pulled the other enchantment out of his pocket. The combination was somehow important, though Jonathan didn’t really understand it. While the one he was already using was a sphere, the other was a flat square made of rough and irregular stone. And somehow they worked together. At least, that was what he’d been told. He didn’t like not being the one in control of the enchantments, but in this case he had to deal with it.

  Jonathan pressed them both against the vault door.

  Nothing happened.

  He continued to hold them in place, and the sphere started to glow softly, color swirling up from somewhere deep within it, as if it came from another place. Even the square stone started to change, though it might have only been energy he became aware of, not anything else. Nothing about it changed like it did with the sphere—no color and no glowing light.

  “What are you doing?” Grayson asked.

  “I’m pressing these up here, but I don’t really see anything happening.”

  “Look up,” he said harshly.

  Jonathan looked up and realized what had drawn Grayson’s attention. The vault itself had started to glow. It was faint, almost as if it were taking on the light of the sphere, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the sight.

  The vault trembled. The sound was more violent than what they had heard from the humming at the door. Jonathan glanced over toward the doorway. It was too dark for him to make anything out, but he feared that leaving the door open would draw attention to them.

  “Go close it,” he said to Grayson. Jonathan could feel him when he left, though he didn’t see anything.

  He held his hands out, and the space continued to take on the steady glow as the rumbling built. Then the vault started to move.

  He’d expected the vault door to swing open much like any other, but sections shifted instead. One pulled up from above, and another section lowered into the ground, opening like some strange metallic jaw.

  He had to h
urry. Grayson wasn’t with him, but the man could catch up. He knew the layout as well as Jonathan did, and he would realize where Jonathan had gone.

  Taking another step forward, he entered the vault.

  The air was cooler here, and there was a strange energy as well.

  He had not been given any floor plans of the vault. The only thing he knew was that reaching his destination would be difficult without the enchantments and a skilled sneak who could conceal him.

  Jonathan reached into his pocket and pulled out the final enchantment he had brought with him. It was small, barely larger than his thumbnail, and soft. He dropped it to the ground, where it stuck. Immediately it began to stretch outward, sending pale lines streaking along the floor, giving off enough light for him to see by.

  The vault was smaller than he would’ve expected, though still a large vault. Considering how difficult it had been to access and how buried beneath the ground it was, he would’ve expected it to be enormous. If someone were to go through the trouble of making a vault this impenetrable, they might as well have made it so that it would hold something useful.

  He skimmed the inside of the vault. One wall had stacks of gold that his mind quickly counted—and nearly stopped him in his tracks. Carinna would chide him for carelessness like this, but she’d also appreciate any extra bauble he might bring back for her. That was almost enough to grab something extra.

  That’s not the job, he had to remind himself.

  The crystal. That was what he’d been sent to find.

  And he found it glittering with a faint green light on a table near the center of the room. That was what he’d been sent for.

  Anything else that might be here had to be ignored.