Draka

It was two nights until our meeting with the Blossom. Most of the day after I returned with Herald was spent going over what Tarkarran had told us. It painted a picture of a cautious woman who rarely slept in the same bed two nights in a row, and always had guards with her. The fighter with the scarred lips, a man named Hardal that we had taken captive and who had escaped the Wolves, was usually one of those guards. We had all seen what he was capable of, holding his own against multiple opponents at once. Tarkarran had freely admitted that the man was damned good, and that he would not want to try to face him in anything resembling a fair fight.

Well, his words had been more like, “Killing is all that street rat is good for. Hells, I wouldn’t fight him unless he was asleep and unarmed. You two? He’s gonna cut you up beautifully before he cuts you down.” Same difference.

One thing we got out of him was the reason for his visits to the particular brothel he was on his way to when we took him. It wasn’t that he had a girl there he was sweet on; that brothel was where he usually met with the Blossom. Which would have been very useful information, except that, with how careful he made Zabra sound, it seemed unlikely that we’d find her there in the future. Still, she hadn’t hidden Kesra away until we took Tark, so maybe he’d exaggerated. If things went poorly at the meeting we’d have to check that brothel out regardless, together with half a dozen other places he’d told us about where she might be found.

The day passed. We talked. I read and I rested. I wouldn’t sleep that night; I had a solo mission planned.

When night fell, Herald saw me off with an insistent, “Be careful! Watch the ground for flashes of magic!”

“I will,” I promised, and then I Shifted and set off. I still avoided flying out from the inn, just in case.

I headed south, flying high and scanning the ground. I knew where I was going. Or rather, I knew where I wanted to go. I just didn’t quite know where that was, so I was trying to find it. My destination, if it existed, was Kesra’s villa in the country.

I might be wasting a night. The place might not even exist, or if it did, it might just be a place that Kesra had visited once. But no one had seen her since I delivered my letter into her bedroom, and when I wanted to hide people, I took them out of the city. Why couldn’t Zabra do the same? If that villa in Kesra’s dream truly was the safest place she knew, weren’t the odds good that she was there now? I thought so, and my sisters agreed that it was worth investigating, so I wanted to find it. I wanted credible leverage.

In the dream the villa had been in sight of the city’s walls, but that may or may not be true. There was no way of knowing how many liberties Kesra’s dream-image of the place took with reality. In the end, what I was looking for was an estate, a central villa surrounded by accessory buildings. It should be somewhat out of the way, and not too far from the city. And while that didn’t narrow it down too much, there weren’t too many estates that fit the description to start with. Besides, I knew Kesra’s scent, and I had all night to search.

So search, I did. It reminded me a little of when I’d been looking for the raiders who turned out to be the Silver Spurs mercenary company. I flew from estate to estate, watching, listening, sniffing at doors and windows and generally invading people’s privacy. I checked both large estates and smaller ones, in case Kesra’s memories made the place grander than the real thing. I caught the scents of jasmine or orange blossoms more than once, and I spent a long time investigating those places before I was satisfied.

Sometime in the small hours, only a few miles from the coast and with the city just barely in sight, I was sniffing around a likely-looking place. It had half again as many guards patrolling as was reasonable, and at an open window I caught a strong scent of orange blossom, together with a weaker one of jasmine.

It took me an hour to get inside and find Kesra, and another to get out. Not because there were any problems, but because I took my time, memorizing everything that I could of the place, inside and out. The long pergola covered in grapevines, the fruit of which must have been harvested already. The dry, crumbling well at one end of the courtyard that was slowly being filled with household refuse. I spent extra time on the murals and mosaics on the walls and in the central pool of the villa, trying to pay attention to little details, like how many dogs there were, and what kind of fruit the man in the couple that was the focus was feeding to the woman next to him. I made absolutely sure that I’d be able to describe Kesra’s bedroom in detail. Which way the windows faced, what furniture she had and how the rugs were placed, things like that. I wanted to be able to describe the place so meticulously that there could be no doubt that I’d been there.

On a nightstand by the bed where Kesra slept fitfully I saw a necklace that I’d seen her wear before. It was a simple thing, a leather thong with a small ceramic pendant of a bird in flight. I silently Shifted, taking it and putting it in my mouth before turning back into shadow. I felt like a creep — which, fair enough. I was being one — but I wanted to be utterly convincing if I had to. And then, satisfied that I’d done as well as I was likely to, I was on my way back to the city, with no one the wiser.

“I only want Mak with me at the actual meeting.”

The muted sound of a lone, mournful string instrument bled from the common room above, lending some unexpected gravitas to my words. I’d questioned my family’s choice of musician at first, but apparently the woman was some adventurer they knew who wanted to practice playing in front of an audience, and people who came in to drink in the afternoon appreciated something downbeat, apparently. It was their world. If they said that the music was appropriate, who was I to argue?

The family, along with Ardek, the cousins Terriallon, and even Bardo, were gathered in the cellar. It was well into the afternoon. At midnight I was meeting with Zabra, the Night Blossom, at a derelict brickyard in the slummy southwest of the city, and we had very little idea of what to expect, besides treachery. “Sorry, Herald,” I continued, “but Mak, you’re better in a negotiation. And if we need to bail, I need someone I can just grab by the collar and fly, without worrying if I’m hurting you.”

Mak understood me perfectly and just nodded. Herald looked unhappy and gave me a curt, “Fine.” The others did not quite understand me, and there was an uncomfortable silence.

“Bad phrasing. I mean that I’m confident that I won’t hurt her if I just grab her by the collar and fly off.”

“Oh, right, that’s what I thought,” Tam said unconvincingly. “Good.”

“Herald, I want you hidden somewhere you can see what’s going on. Rib and Pot — and, again, thanks for doing this — I want you to make sure that no one sneaks up on us from behind. And Tam, Val and Barro standing by somewhere close. If the shit hits the fan… uh, I mean, if things turn ugly, I need Herald to go alert you that you should get back to the Favour as fast as possible, or come help if I can’t get us out. Use your discretion. If there’s a dozen of them suddenly and there’s nothing you can do, don’t risk yourselves. Ardek, you’re not fighting. I want you and your minions scouting the area, letting us know if they’ve got anyone set up ahead of time. Everyone all right with that?”

“Quick question,” Pot said before anyone else could speak up. “Do you want us slitting throats or just running people off? Because we’re fine with the first, but it’ll be a lot harder to explain if we’re caught.”

“Cousin Mordo will not be best pleased if we’re locked up with good cause,” Rib agreed. “We can afford the fines. But we’re still Wolves, and it’s his ass unless he punishes us convincingly. Which might mean us on a boat back to Tavvanar.”

“And that would be damned annoying,” Pot finished.

“I mean… if you can run them off without things getting bloody, do it,” I said. “I’d prefer if you don’t get in any unnecessary shit because of me. But if they’re there expecting a fight…”

Rib nodded. “Likely to cause trouble, and not likely to back off. Right. We’ll get messy if we have to.”

“Right. Anyone else?”

“Retreat, abandoning Mak and yourself, are unpalatable,” Val said, a slight scowl backing his words. “As you say: we will use our discretion. Will you agree not to argue with our decision, if worse comes to worst?”

Instinct was not happy that he’d argue the point to start with, but Val was the most experienced combattant in the group. “Yeah,” I agreed reluctantly. “It’s your call. Whatever you decide needs to be done, I’ll accept it.” Then I grinned. “But, hey! Maybe it’ll be fine and Zabra won’t try anything stupid!”

The only one who didn’t scoff or roll their eyes was Ardek. “What’re you thinking?” I asked him.

“Just, you know, don’t take her lightly? She’s got this far, yeah? She didn’t do that by being stupid. She knows you got out of a locked cell. She knows what you did on your way out, and what you did to a whole boat full of fighters. She won’t be meeting you without protection, but I don’t think you can assume that she wants this to get violent. I’ve never heard of her fighting anyone who wasn’t much weaker than her.”

“You think she really just wants to talk?”

He shrugged. “I don’t think you should be so sure she doesn’t. She underestimated you pretty bad, yeah? And she’s been hurt for it. She might just want to cut her losses.” He looked at the others in the room, settling on Herald and Mak. “If you’ll let her or not, that’s not up to her. But she may want to try. I’m thinking, be prepared for her to come in good faith, just as you are for her to try something.”

“All right. The point of even going to this meeting is to get a read on her. If she wants to keep things peaceful, fine.” I looked around the group. “But a straight up truce is still out, right?”

Herald, of all people, looked thoughtful. She’d been so sanguine up until now that it took me by complete surprise when she said, “That depends on what she is willing to give up, does it not?”

Mak looked at her incredulously. “Her life would be a good start!”

“I do not think we will get her to agree to that. But if she is willing to consider reparations…”

Mak turned to face Herald completely. “You’re not seriously considering this, are you? Even if she’s willing to negotiate something closer to a surrender than a truce, you know where that money comes from.”

“Silver is silver. I do not think that she is likely to give us anything, but with a good enough offer… we should keep our minds open.”

I loved Herald. I really did. She was my dearest friend, my closest confidante. We understood each other in a way that no one else could compare to. So why, oh why, did she have to go and make things difficult?

“She will never agree to paying tribute in exchange for peace,” I said, but I could feel my conviction wavering. I wanted Zabra dead. I did. I wanted vengeance for what she’d done to my sisters, to myself, and to the unknown number of people who’d been enslaved and otherwise harmed on her orders. But silver was silver, and gold was gold.

A crime lord paying me tribute, growing my hoard… I was sorely tempted.

“We’ll see what she has to say,” I decided. “If she tries to buy us off, her offer will tell us how desperate she is. But we won’t agree to anything. And I still think it’s more likely that she’ll try to use the opportunity to kill me, anyway.”

“And if she does, I will try to take her out, along with as many of her people as I can,” Herald stated. “I will probably not use the expensive arrows though,” she added thoughtfully. “I have full confidence that you can get yourself and Mak out safely, Draka, but I doubt that I will be getting back any arrows I loose.”

Again, she was so casual about it, and I couldn't make my mind up if I should be delighted or concerned.

The day passed quickly after that, and I was excited. I wanted to face this woman. She’d been a ball and chain on my life, a constant threat hovering in the background, and I wanted it to be over. I wanted the threat to my humans, to my family, gone, by any means necessary. Even if that meant letting her buy us off. Maybe. Silver was silver, but blood was blood, and I had wanted hers for months.

We rested, we ate, and we talked, and the evening passed. Then it was time. Mak opted to forego her armor, taking only her sword. Her argument was that against the kind of people the Blossom was likely to have with her, armor wouldn’t help much. The others, though, wore theirs, covering it with cloaks. We made our way down to the garden, my preferred place for take-offs and landings, and after a quick check to make sure that it was clear I had Mak get on my back.

She was nervous about the whole idea of riding me, of course. I was pretty sure that she had a fear of heights, flying, or both, but she pulled on her big-girl britches and did it anyway.

Her arms tightened around my neck like she was trying to choke me out. “Think of it this way,” I cajoled her, gently pulling on her arms to try and get her to loosen her grip. “You might be the third person in decades, maybe centuries or even longer, to ride a dragon!”

“The third?” Herald said with mock outrage. “I thought I was the only one! Who else?”

“Lahnie. Way back when— have I told you about how I saved her from a monster boar?”

“This is familiar, to me at least,” Val said, and the others nodded.

“She was too scared to climb down from the tree she was in. So I went up there and had her cling to my back.”

“Oh. But you did not fly with her?” Herald asked.

“No, just climbed.”

“Well, then. You are forgiven.”

I rolled my eyes, then bumped her shoulder with my forehead. “How very generous. Thank you. Are you settled in there, Mak? I promise I’ll go slow and easy.”

Mak had her face pressed into the back of my neck, and I just assumed that she had her eyes screwed shut. “Just get it over with, please.”

“All right. You know I’m going to need to circle a bit, to let the others get into position?” I gave the others a look, and they understood perfectly, hurrying off to do just that.

“Don’t remind me. Just— Let’s just go.”

I obliged, leaping into the air and climbing steadily. Mak stiffened, her grip tightening, but I was not the least bit concerned. Being generally smaller than Herald, Mak actually fit better on my back, and with her heels locked under my hips I was pretty sure that she was more secure than her sister was. If only she could learn to enjoy flying. Letting someone ride me wasn’t nearly as much fun when the person on my back was terrified.

Once I’d reached my preferred cruising altitude, where I could see practically the whole city beneath me, I tried to take it as gently as possible. “You really should try to open your eyes!” I shouted back at Mak. “It’s absolutely beautiful at night!”

There was a short pause, and then Mak’s Strength-enhanced grip became, somehow, even tighter. “Mercies, Draka! How high are we?”

“Not sure!” I choked out. “3000 feet, maybe? High! But don’t think about that! It doesn’t matter. Above 100 feet you’re done for anyway!”

“Why would you tell me that!?”

“Think of it like this! This high up I have plenty of time to catch you if you fall! But you won’t!”

“No! No, Draka, it’s time! It’s time! Take us down!”

The wind swallowed my sigh muttered “Where did you get bossy from, all of a sudden?” But she was right. It was time.

I turned and descended slowly, heading south, then corkscrewed down until we were only a few hundred feet up. Then I searched the cityscape for our destination, and swept in.

The brickyard was a large, roughly square space bracketed by buildings. Broken down wagons and other litter were piled by the walls. Someone had taken the time to line the place with torches on poles driven into the ground, with more making a square in the center of the yard. And at one side of that square, looking up at our approach, were about a dozen humans. Most of them stood with long spears at their sides. One, dressed in fine silks, sat with perfect posture on a tent chair. She somehow looked like a queen on her throne.

The Night Blossom was there, and she’d been waiting.