Draka

“Lady Justice,” I said, looking from Sempralia to the two uninvited guests. “I don’t appreciate surprises.”

She had the good manners to look chagrined, at least. “Nor do I, Lady Dragon, but I’m afraid that my two colleagues wouldn’t take no for an answer. Though I can’t help but notice that you yourself have brought someone with you. My lords, may I introduce Lady Drakonum Makanna?”

Mak stood next to me, her heavy leather raincoat dripping onto the stones. She looked momentarily stunned, then quickly swept into a bow, saying, “My apologies, my Lady Justice. My Lords, it is an honor to meet you.”

She stayed bowed like that for a long while. I was about to tell her to get up when the lord commander grunted. “Mercies sake, is no one going to— Lady Drakonum, please rise. You’re embarrassing everyone involved.”

Mak quickly unfolded. “I’m sorry, my Lord Commander, I—”

“Yes, yes, no worries. It’s not every day you meet three lords and ladies of the Council. I get it. Hells, I’ve been there. For the future, no matter how many of us you meet, a quick bow is enough. Please.”

“Of course, my Lord Commander.”

“For Lady Draka’s benefit,” Sempralia cut in sharply, “these gentlemen are Lord Commander Barvon and Lord Exchequer Soandel.”

I ducked my head. I didn’t want them there, but they were on the Council, and it couldn’t hurt to be minimally polite.

“They were not invited to this meeting, but it seems some of my staff need a lesson in discretion. They more or less ambushed me this morning.”

“Please, Sempralia,” the lord commander scoffed. “Lady Draka here came to the Forum, and then a few days later you start arranging for a pavilion on the roof of the citadel. Were we supposed to just sit idle? We didn’t even have a chance to introduce ourselves last we met, much less to get to know each other.”

“You were supposed to let me handle any business between the city and Lady Draka, lest our new dragon ally become irate at any unwelcome participants in our private meeting, and unwilling to help us any further!”

The lord exchequer looked at me anxiously. “Ah, forgive us, Lady Draka, for imposing. We mean no insult. We only feel that the stakes are now too high to be handled by a single councilor. Lady Sempralia, as you can imagine, disagreed. We would have put it to a vote, but with sessions temporarily suspended…”

“We decided that ambushing her on her way up was the way to go,” the lord commander concluded for him.

Sempralia looked at them both sourly. “Again, Lady Draka, I apologize. Can I ask that the meeting proceed despite the intrusion of these tactless old goats?”

“Fine. There were two things we were supposed to talk about, yeah? One, what the hell you were thinking when you sent me south—” Sempralia winced almost imperceptibly at that. “And two, what it was that you were so keen on me helping you with, and if I’m still interested. Anything else?”

“I’d like to talk about why two dozen of my guards have been on rotation watching, and dying to defend, a certain inn,” the lord commander said, “but that can wait, I suppose. It’s the second of the two issues you mentioned that I’m most interested in, so if we could get the first out of the way…?”

“It’s the first that interests me most,” I snapped back, “so we can damn well take our time. Sempralia. My traveling companions: why them, and why not just tell me from the start?”

She sighed. “Because for various reasons I expected someone to attempt to intercept my message, and I did not want anyone to know who, exactly, would be carrying it. Your companions themselves did not know until the morning they left. I especially did not want anyone to know who would be protecting them. As for you, Lady Draka… I simply do not know you well enough to be certain that you would be discreet. And I judged that if you were the type to take such offense that you would refuse to work with us afterwards, then we would be better off without you.”

I sputtered a little at that, but she pressed on. “As for why I chose those particular individuals, it’s quite simple. Again, I do not know you well. Beyond a single, admittedly friendly meeting, I’ve had only the opinions of your close friends and confidants to go on, and I am not well acquainted with them, either. I needed to be sure that you’d stay close and protect the messengers. My people have connected you to the two Wolves. As I understand it you’ve saved both of their lives, on different occasions. And the young archer has been involved for some time with Lady Drakonum’s younger sister, who I know for sure is quite taken with you. I admit that he was something of a gamble, but I needed someone from the army to carry the actual message. It was him or an infantry tribune who was once involved with Mister Valmik.”

“And where does the damn tracking medallion come in?”

“Nowhere. You have my word as a lady of the Council and a woman of honor that I knew nothing about and had nothing to do with that. When General Sarvalian reported that you had been attacked by the same mercenaries that have ‘eluded’ Commander Rallon and his Wolves so long—”

“‘Eluded,’ my ass,” the lord commander grumbled. “We all know that Rallon would have wiped them out weeks ago if he hadn’t been hobbled. Our thanks for dealing with them, by the way.”

“On that, we’re in full agreement,” Sempralia said with a nod to her colleague. “That tracking medallion was handed over to the White Cranes, since they patrolled much farther south than the Wolves, albeit only along the coast. We hoped that they might be able to keep track of these mercenary raiders. How the thing found its way into the message case, which I sealed myself… I simply don’t know. Kalder handed it directly to your young archer friend’s commander, who passed it on directly. I trust Kalder implicity. The commander has been questioned at length by our finest interrogators and found entirely innocent of both wrongdoing and carelessness. I don’t suppose that the young archer in question could have the skills to recreate an official seal?”

Mak laughed, a short, musical burst before she covered her mouth and looked down in embarrassment.

“Lady Drakonum? Anything you wish to share?”

“No, no. Mag?” Mak cleared her throat and tried to be serious, but her mirth still tugged at the corners of her mouth. “It just seems unlikely, that’s all.”

“Quite. With all that said: Lady Draka, despite this slight, you still chose to fulfill your side of the agreement. General Sarvalian was quite clear about his satisfaction, both in his regular reports and in the message that I understand you brought north. I believe that we can work together, and so, I hope, do my colleagues.” Sempralia looked at the two lords, who both nodded. “The question is: are you willing?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? Was I satisfied with her excuses? I wasn’t sure. But the whole mess had left me in a stronger position. That tension that I’d felt at the beginning of the meeting, which had broken once we started talking, was back. They were anxious. Nervous. They wanted my cooperation, and they were worried that I’d refuse. They weren’t even pretending to negotiate. They were in a bad position, and they didn’t care if I knew it.

Sempralia had told me that there was something I was uniquely suited to helping them with, but now I got a feel for just how important it was to them.

I looked down at Mak, who nodded and gave me a small, predatory grin. The message was clear: “Squeeze them.”

“Very well,” I told the three councilors. “Tell me what the problem is and what you want me to do about it, and I’ll tell you what I want in return.”

“Ah, well, Lady Draka, you see, it’s quite simple.” I turned my head from Sempralia as the lord exchequer, who had mostly stood silent, spoke. His voice was shaky and he looked almost sick, but neither of the others interrupted him. “The problem is that there is a dragon heading our way. And we want you to help us.”

For a long while the only sound was the rapid drumming of rain on the taut cloth above us.

“You’re serious,” I asked hoarsely. “And you’re sure?”

“Serious as the pox, and sure as death, Lady Draka.”

Another dragon. My mind went momentarily blank as I tried to decide how I felt about that. As I aimlessly scanned the assembled staff I became aware of how none of the guards and scribes and whatever else the people accompanying the councilors were seemed at all surprised. Sempralia and her colleagues must trust these people implicitly, I decided. They probably knew all kinds of things. Like how there was another dragon on its way here.

I was elated and terrified and curious and outraged. There hadn’t been a dragon on Mallin for centuries, or so I’d been told. Not since my father died, was my guess. I hadn’t actually expected to ever meet one, and that had been a source of both relief and disappointment. Now the Council wanted me to help them deal with one. Somehow.

What did they expect me to do? Talk to them? Was that even possible? I’d been told that I was much more intelligent than anyone expected, and I was pretty average, I could admit that much. Could a normal dragon be reasoned with?

Or were they expecting me to fight them? Surely not. They knew as well as I did that I was bloody tiny compared to an adult dragon. I remembered how big my father was in my memories, and the size of his teeth. He must have stood ten feet tall at the shoulder and weighed literal tons! I couldn’t fight something like that, Advancements be damned. An adult dragon would rip me to shreds without even slowing down, and that was assuming that they didn’t roast me in the air.

But would I even have a choice? Why were they coming here? Did they want to carve out a territory? This was my island. Instinct and everything else in me that was draconic recoiled at the idea of sharing it with another of my kind, especially one I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have it. No dragon would, I knew that in my bones.

If anyone, anything tried to take this island from me, I’d fight. I’d have to. My hoard was here. My humans, too.

I’d fight. I just prayed it wouldn’t come to that, because I didn’t see how I could possibly win.

Everyone was looking at me. I’d been silent for too long, and now the humans were nervous. They couldn’t read me, I realized. They didn’t know if I was scared or shocked or offended, and they were all braced for how I might respond to the lord exchequer’s request.

A small, firm hand on my neck snapped me out of it. Mak looked up at me, and all I saw on her face was her faith in me. She didn’t say a word. She just smiled and nodded, then lifted her hand and patted me twice, hard, as if to say, “You’ve got this. You’ll figure it out.” And I’d better, hadn’t I? It wasn’t like I could run.

I gave her the slightest nod back, and turned to the councilors. They were waiting patiently, Sempralia calm and collected, Lord Commander Barvon full of anxious energy, and Lord Exchequer Soandel looking like he was on the verge of a panic attack.

“Yeah, all right,” I said, relaxing onto the stone roof. The tension melted away as I settled in. “Tell me everything you know.”

Two hours later, my humans and I sat silent in the cellar. I’d just finished telling them about the meeting, with Mak’s help to fill in details that I’d missed, forgotten, or hadn’t understood the significance of.

The mood was tense and uncertain, and there was quite a bit of wine being knocked back by everyone except Mak.

There was another dragon coming to Mallin. There was no doubt about it. No room for any kind of misunderstanding.

“The world is vast,” Sempralia had begun. “So large that if you tried to explain it to the average citizen, they wouldn’t believe you. The mind boggles at the scale. There exist people and nations in places so far away, that to travel there even by the fastest ships would take months. The city of Karakan, even the entire League, and those nations have little real interest in each other. We are each aware that the other exists, but our people do not mingle. There is no trade, except by fourth, fifth, or sixth hand. Yet we stay in contact, because some events are too big not to warn each other about.

“A few days before I contacted you, Lady Drakonum, asking for a meeting with you, Draka, a dragon was seen several thousands of miles to the north-east. That itself is nothing terribly unusual, since dragons are more common in some areas than in others. But this one was a true monster, massive in size and with fiery brass scales, and so far as anyone knew it belongs hundreds of miles north of where it was seen. As you may imagine, those who live in areas where dragons are prolific keep quite meticulous records of such things, and the news went out via Sending to anyone who would listen. Then, the day before I sent that message the same dragon was reported a few hundred miles south-west of the first location, on a line that, if it continued, would bring it close to us and not much else. And so, I penned that letter.”

“That early?” I’d asked. “Wasn’t that risky, getting involved with me just in case this dragon kept moving? What if they stopped somewhere, or turned back?”

“Lady Draka, the moment you revealed yourself the Council began discussing what should be done with you. Based on the testimony of your friends we decided that you should be explored as an opportunity rather than a threat, and that it was better to try and make you an ally than attempt to dispose of you. In any case, the dragon did not turn around, though it appears to stop for several days for every few hundred miles it travels. It kept moving along that same line, and while you were on your way south with my messengers it became all but certain that it was heading here.

“The last report we had was two days before the Cranes’ treachery. It placed the dragon some two thousand miles away. And at the pace it’s been going, we have two weeks before it arrives, give or take a day or three.”

There had been no more reports of the dragon since, for one simple, devastating reason: The Cranes’ attack on the Palace had been successful. I’d wondered why they attacked the place at night, when only the night guards were there, and now I knew: their goal had not been the Council, but the magical sending circle which allowed the city’s leaders to communicate instantly with others around the world. The large, complex enchantment had been smashed beyond repair, and they couldn’t tell me how long it might take to replace. Herald, when I asked her, guessed months, and that was once they brought together a group of enchanters capable of performing the work.

All in all, Karakan was in a tough spot. The city was cut off, forced to rely on messages sent by ship to communicate with its allies. It was under attack by an enemy that was in theory weaker, but which was now confident enough to go on the offensive. And on top of that there was a dragon coming. One that was seemingly on a mission, traveling thousands of miles across the world to come here. One which was, by all accounts, a giant among our kind. The kind of creature that, if the histories were to be believed, could destroy cities and bring down nations.

The dragon even had a name. None of the councilors knew if it was their real name, or just what they were called, but it didn’t matter much.

The dragon was known as Reaper.

It was no wonder that the Council were so anxious for my help. Could they fight a dragon? Perhaps, but the price of failure was too high to bear thinking about. Instead they hoped to negotiate, to find what Reaper wanted and possibly buy them off. And they wanted me to be their representative.

I’d told them that I’d think about it. We were meeting again at the same place in two days. Two days to decide if I was going up against another dragon.

“So,” Herald said. “How much are you going to demand?”

“Hmm?” I was so lost in my own thoughts that her question didn’t register.

“They want you to put your life on the line for the sake of a city that does not officially recognize you as a person. In the best case you successfully see this other dragon, Reaper, off. How you accomplish that does not matter. In the worst case… let us not dwell on that. No matter what, you will have risked everything and inconvenienced yourself significantly. So how much are you going to demand?”

“Oh, right. I hadn’t thought much about it.”

That was a bit of a lie. I’d thought about it a lot. I just hadn’t tried to figure out what I could reasonably get away with.

“You should let them make the first offer,” Tam said. “Or open with something obscene, like fifty pounds of gold.”

Next to me Herald snorted, sputtered, then began coughing in earnest as she choked on her wine. Her golden eyes were ringed with pink, and had the most avaricious gleam in them I’d ever seen as she wiped her mouth and looked at me. “Do it!” she said hoarsely. “Ask them for fifty pounds of gold! Let them negotiate you down to ten if you have to, but do it!”

“I thought you were a patriot,” I chuckled. “That you were grateful to this city for giving your family a chance. You want me to rob your city blind?”

“What else is our tax money supposed to go to, if not to assure the security of the city?” Val asked, to a chorus of agreement from the others.

“They already owe you for warning them that the Happarans were crossing the river,” Mak said. “Did I tell you what they offered us for your help in the south? One year of tax exemption. It’s ridiculous! Skin them!”

“Hear, hear!” Tam toasted from where he sat, nestled in Val’s arms. Wine sloshed onto the floor from his full cup. “Get our damn two hundred eagles back, too, while you’re at it!”

Outside, winter crept closer as the rain continued to hammer down. In the city people stayed inside as much as they could, as the Council dealt with the damage wrought by the betrayal of the Cranes; meanwhile, Tespril Kesra, the sister of the Night Blossom, struggled to keep her sister’s organization under control and to comply with our demands. In the north, nearly forgotten as the southern border heated up and ignited, communities were devastated and evacuated as monsters pushed the frontier back into settled lands. In the south soldiers died in the first open movements of a war whose purpose we didn’t know, and which on paper the invaders were doomed to lose.

Somewhere in the north-east a dragon, a real dragon, not whatever I was, came closer every few days. I was going to have to face them. I could only pray that this Reaper could be reasoned or bargained with, or half a year and a bit might be all I got to spend in this place.

But that day — and it was a long day, which extended into the evening as Garal and Lalia joined us, dripping wet, fresh from reporting to Rallon, and bringing Rib and Pot with them — that day we did our best to forget our worries and the struggles to come. We talked, and joked, and laughed, and we played stupid games and ate and drank too much and were generally irresponsible.

If we were lucky, there would be time enough to worry in the future, once we were out of the shadow of the dragon.