Draka

I allowed myself to sleep until the sun was beginning its descent behind the peaks. I could tell that Becky was awake, and I doubted that she’d slept at all. She was probably as terrified as ever, but at least she wasn’t shivering any more.

I felt a twinge in my conscience. She probably didn’t deserve what I had and would continue to put her through, but at the moment she was cargo, nothing more. I had the location of the raiders’ camp, and I had a prisoner who hopefully wouldn’t be missed, and who could tell us a lot about who they were and why they were doing what they did. I needed to get her to Karakan as soon as possible, and all she needed to be was alive and able to answer questions. Whatever trauma she suffered on the way didn’t really matter.

Or so I told myself. I wasn’t entirely sure if I believed that, but it made things easier.

“Are you awake?” she asked, her voice surprisingly steady considering the past several hours.

“Yeah. Time to keep going. We have another…” I looked at the landscape. I usually navigated by which peaks and valleys I could see, and from this angle it was hard to tell. “Another hour at the very least. Could be two or three, depending on how fast I can fly,” I said.

“Alright.”

I realised that her voice wasn’t just steady. It was tight, completely flat and empty of emotion. She crawled out from under my arm and got to her feet a little unsteadily, not really looking at anything, and stood straight with her arms out.

Well. That couldn’t be good. I might have gone a little overboard. But while I thought that I saw a very interesting shine from under her shirt. The telltale glow of magic. And it wasn’t inside her.

“Are you alright?” I asked, considering my approach.

“I’m fine,” she lied in that same, flat voice. She was very clearly not fine. I wondered if she’d completely checked out. Which… actually might make things easier. I just wasn’t sure how that would affect the questioning part once we were back in Karakan. Maybe Mak could do something about it?

“If you say so,” I said, careful to not put too much weight on my injured wrist. The pain was gone, but I knew that it might not be completely healed. “Are you wearing a necklace, Becky?”

She looked at me. For just a moment there was a spark of defiance in her eyes, but it flickered and died under my gaze.

“Yes,” she said.

“Is it magical?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“It… I took it from the Lieutenant,” she said, looking down. “If you charge it, it will point you to its twin.”

“Which is where?”

“The Commander has it,” she whispered.

“Shit,” I growled. “Do you think she knows where you are, now?”

“She keeps them in a chest. There’s no reason for her to keep an eye on them. They’re only so any group that leaves can follow the main company as they move.”

“Great! Thanks for telling me this, Becky. If you’re keeping anything else from me, I’ll drop you. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Are you hiding anything else that’s important?”

“No. I swear it.”

“Good. Give me the necklace. Just put it on me.”

Becky removed a small silver medallion from around her neck, the chain hidden by the high collar of her tunic. She hesitated before approaching me, then put it over my head, letting it slide down to settle against my chest.

“Thank you, Becky. Now it’s time to go. Stand right on the edge,” I told her, and she calmly walked up, raising her arms. With her arms out she looked like she was about to throw herself off.

Is it just me, I asked myself, or is she looking down?

“Let’s not do that,” I muttered. I quickly grabbed her and leapt, spreading my wings and turning the fall into a glide then banking north. I’d considered going east of the nearest mountains to be able to stay a little lower and still completely avoid being seen, but decided against it. It would add at least an hour to our time, and I’d need to go pretty high over some of the passes anyway. Instead I stayed much lower this time, barely a hundred feet above the ground. If I happened to pass above anyone I’d just have to hope that they didn’t get a good look at me. Becky hung limp and silent under me, which I had thought would make things easier but actually turned out to be really disturbing. At that point I was pretty invested in getting my prisoner back to the Wolves, and I kept wondering if she’d somehow died on me.

“Becky!” I shouted. “Are you alive?”

She stayed silent at first, but I felt her tense a little. Then, barely audible over the wind, I heard her shout, “Kira!”

“What?”

“Kira! Everybody calls me Kira! I don’t like Beki!”

“Yeah! Whatever! Kira! You’re not dying on me, are you?”

“I’m cold! But not like before!”

“Yeah! It gets cold above a few thousand feet! Sorry!”

“Are you?”

“Not really! Won’t do it again though! I need you alive!”

“Oh! Good!”

Becky – or Kira, as she apparently preferred to be called – shouted her side in a disinterested monotone, but at least I hadn’t accidentally squeezed her to death or anything.

I had to stop to rest one more time, after the sun had set. Carrying over a hundred pounds – somewhere upwards of half my weight – really added to the strain of flying, and I was slowly getting worn out, wings, arms and legs. This time I set down by a hidden stream, and Becky, Kira, whoever she was, dropped obediently. She went to the stream for a drink, then sat down and just watched me for a while before laying back and looking at the stars.

“You’re taking me to Karakan,” she stated into the air, startling me from my nap.

I raised my head to look at her. She was still just looking up at the partially obscured stars. “I am.”

“What will happen to me there?”

“You’ll be questioned. Then, I don’t know.”

“Will they kill me?”

“Hard to say. But if you convince them that you’re truly not a soldier, and that you didn’t hurt anyone, I don’t think that they will. Especially if they know that you can heal.” I paused to think, and remembered what I’d been told about criminals who couldn’t pay their debts. “You’ll probably be indentured or something.”

“Is that like being bonded?”

“I don’t know. What does it mean to be bonded?”

“It’s like being a slave. You can’t choose where to work, or live. But with more rights, I suppose.”

“Huh. I suppose so. Indentured servants are supposed to be released when they’ve worked off their debt. No idea how long that might be, though.”

“Being bonded is for life.” She giggled, but it had a disturbing edge to it. “So perhaps this is a good thing for me. Huh? What do you think, dragon?”

“Yeah,” I said indifferently. “Maybe. It’s too bad you don’t speak any Karakanian, or the Wolves might ask to keep you. I don’t think they have any magic using healers in the company.”

“They are mercenaries, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m with a mercenary company, too. Or I was until this morning, I suppose. The Silver Spurs.”

“Hope you don’t like them too much. The Wolves are going to come down on them like the fist of God once I tell them where your company is.”

“No,” she said sadly. “I only liked Magara. She was kind.”

“To you.”

“To me. Not to the Karakanians, I suppose.”

“What is this language we’re speaking, anyway?”

That made her finally sit up and look at me. “What do you mean? How can you not know what language this is?”

“I never needed to know what it’s called. I just speak it.”

“It’s Tekereteki, of course!”

“No,” I said bluntly and switched languages. “This is Tekereteki. What you speak is some related language or dialect.”

Kira’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, the strongest reaction I’d seen from her since she went silent at the beginning of our flight. “You speak both classical and regular Tekereteki?” she asked incredulously.

“And Karakanian, and Barlean, and anything else you can throw at me. But,” I switched back quickly, “this is what Tekereteki merchants speak, according to my friends.”

She mouthed the words, going over them carefully, then said, “Merchants would speak that, yes. Any Tekereteki merchant you meet in a foreign port would be a noble of some kind, and the aristocracy all speak classical Tekereteki, as does anyone from the City. Nobody else does unless we have to deal with the bastards.”

“Huh. But you don’t look Tekereteki.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” She actually bristled a little at that.

“I know some Tekereteki. They’re much darker than you.”

“They’ve got their roots in the home provinces, then. I don’t. Doesn’t make me any less Tekereteki. You’re a dragon so maybe you don’t get it, but being Tekereteki isn’t in how you look.”

“Yeah, alright! I believe you! Sorry. And I actually am, this time. It sounds like a sore spot.” I actually did feel a little bad. I should have known better, it was just… weird ancient-slash-mediaeval fantasy world.

“Damn homers are always lording over the rest of us in the provinces,” she said, almost muttering to herself, “even if they’re poor and common like birdshit.” She switched to what I considered Tekereteki, putting on an accent similar to how Herald usually spoke. “Even if they do not speak the classical half so well as me.”

“You speak it better than some of my friends,” I told her honestly. Better than Tam, certainly, and more confidently than Mak.

“They make you learn when you get bonded,” she said. “In case your bond goes to a noble.”

“So what did you do? Debt? Steal something? Unlicensed magic in the city? That’s a thing in Karakan, apparently.”

“What did I do? Why should I have done anything?”

“You were, what did you call it? Bonded. Enslaved. Or kind of but with more rights,” I added when she looked offended again.

“Do you know anything about Tekeretek?” she asked carefully.

“Not really. The people I know don’t like it much and I don’t plan to go there.”

“It’s beautiful,” she said wistfully. “White marble, black basalt, and so much green from trees, grass and jade that you’d think you were in a rainforest. And enough rain for it, too, obviously.”

“The City of Rains. Right. So what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything. I’m a magic user,” she shrugged. “When I got my advancement I reported to the Council of Magic to serve the people, like any magic user would.”

“You… enslaved yourself?”

“No,” she said slowly, “I reported for bonding. If I’d tried to hide it and the Seekers had found me out later, then I might have been enslaved. There is a stark difference. I am still a citizen, just… less free in how I live my life. For the good of all.”

“Damn, that’s messed up,” I muttered. “Are you ready to go? It’s not far, now.”

“I’m ready,” she said, though she said it like she was walking to the gallows. Maybe she was. I wasn’t entirely confident that they wouldn’t execute her once she’d been interrogated, though in my opinion it would be a damn waste of a healer. And she probably didn’t deserve it, either.

I could see the flames miles out from Karakan. A pillar of smoke rose high into the air, lit from below, and I knew, I just knew in my gut that it would be the Wolves’ headquarters, because what the hell else could it be? I increased my pace, not caring if I had anything left to give in my wings when I got there.

Herald. The Herald? No, just Herald. I had to find her, make sure that she was safe, and keep her that way. And Mak. Even Ardek. My humans. My humans. I should never have brought them to the city, because of course something like this would happen! The Blossom had infiltrated the Wolves once, and who could say that there weren’t one or two of her people left in their ranks?

Faster, damnit! I had to go faster! I’d been staying high again as we approached the city, but now I spat on caution and went into a dive, feeling Kira tense beneath me as our speed increased to sixty, maybe seventy miles per hour, maybe more. Fast enough that she couldn’t shout over the wind anymore, and so that even with my second eyelids closed I was starting to feel my eyes sting.

I wasn’t quite worked up enough to just land in the street in front of the inferno, but it wasn’t far off. I dumped Kira quite unceremoniously in a nearby alley, then heard her squeak and saw her back up rapidly on her butt into a stone brick wall as I shifted, still in the air, to swing around the corner and get a look at the people in the street. I felt a sharp, momentary pang of loss as the necklace slipped through me and hissed onto the ground. My humans were not there. I glided closer, pushing the dark with me and using whatever natural shadows I could, but they were not among the wounded being treated on the street, either. The only person I found that I knew was Lalia, who moved from group to group, and I couldn’t talk to her in the street. Only one thing to do.

I returned to the alley. Kira was still there, huddled among some broken boxes. She pressed herself into them when I approached in a cloud of shadow, making herself as small as possible out of some kind of useless, prehistoric instinct when faced with something terrifying and no way to escape. I shifted back right in front of her, and she went back to her babbling, most of the words completely incoherent. What I understood was mostly variations of “What are you? Oh gods, what are you?”

“Silence,” I growled. “I need to find my humans. You will help me.”

“Anything. Please. Anything!”

“There is a woman on the street. Her name is Lalia. She is…”

From around the corner I watched Kira walk unsteadily towards the crowd of mercenaries and gawkers. I’d described Lalia pretty well, I thought, and Kira went straight towards her. Nobody stopped her, which I thought was pretty bad security, but they were all busy staring at the fire, trying to fight the fire, or trying to help those hurt by the fire.

“Lalia?” Kira said loudly when she got close to her. Lalia turned to look at her, and not recognising her gave her a brusque, “What? Kind of busy here.”

“Lady… hmm…” Kira started in Karakanian, trying to repeat the words I had quickly drilled into her. “Lady in forest back? Talk you. Lady in forest talk you?” She waved towards the alley where I waited.

“What are you talking about, woman? Can’t you see what the hell is going on here? Piss off!”

“Lahnie! Lahnie friend lady in forest talk you!” Kira insisted, taking two steps back and waving for Lalia to follow.

“Lahnie? What are– Lahnie. The lady in the forest. Oh! Oh, shit! Yeah, alright. Alright. I’m coming.” Lalia turned and said some quick words to a merc standing near her, then took a couple of steps toward Kira, who turned and jogged back towards me. Lalia followed at the same pace, though her eyes darted suspiciously and her hand never left the dagger on her belt. I wondered if her sword had made it.

While Kira just went straight into the alley, Lalia stayed well into the street. She walked up so that she had a clear sight down the length of the alley, then caught sight of me and ran in.

“Draka! You chose a shit time to come back! Not like I can blame you this time, though.”

“Me being innocent never stopped you before. What happened?”

“What do you think? A fire broke out. Looked like it started in the mess, but it wasn’t exactly easy to see while we were evacuating. Not too many hurt, thank the fucking Mercies. Begging your pardon,” she added in a lower voice, looking skyward.

“You think it’s an accident?”

Lalia scoffed. “Looks like it, but no way. Nobody believes it. Although it’s even money on whether it’s the Night Blossom, the Cranes, or some other band of bastards. But you don’t really care about that right now, do you? You’re looking for the girls.”

“I care,” I protested. “Just…”

“Not as much. And I get it. The girls are safe, alright. And that stray you picked up, too.”

“Where are they?”

“We sent them out of the city again, what else?” The relief that flooded over me at those words was immense, to the point where even Lalia must have been able to see it. “Hey, we’re not going to let anything happen to them, you know that. Rib and Pot took them as soon as it became clear that the fire was beyond control. Almost two hours ago, now.”

“And Garal?”

“With the Commander, talking to the Guard. Not that we expect anything. It’s not like we can prove that it was arson. So, uh, who’s the woman? Newest addition to your collection?”

“She’s Bekira…” I trailed off and looked at Kira.

“Bekiratag,” she said.

“Right. My prisoner. I was going to let you interrogate her… though she only speaks Tekereteki, so I’d have to translate, I guess. Not like that’s going to happen now, though.”

“Draka, you…” Lalia sighed and ran her hand down her face. “You were supposed to do recon, right? Figure out where their camp was?”

“Yeah, and I did. Then they sent a group south with a bunch of prisoners, so…”

“Right. So you saw an opportunity and you took it. Let’s call it that. But you know where the camp is?”

“Yeah. Can probably show you on a map.” I looked at the inferno. “If you have any. But with this I can’t imagine the attack is happening.”

“Guess not, no.” Lalia frowned. “We lost a lot of equipment, but at least the stables were untouched and the animals are all fine. Can’t exactly hold a prisoner, either,” she said, looking at Kira. “She speaks Tekereteki? How’s that work?”

“She says she’s Tekereteki,” I said with a shrug. “A mercenary, though she’s more like a slave healer than anything else. But that’s who’s doing the raiding. A Tekereteki mercenary company called the Silver Spurs.”

“And you… carried her here?”

“Yep.”

“How high?”

“Dunno. Five thousand feet, maybe higher? Until she started freezing to death on me.”

“Five thou– Gods preserve us. Never try that with me, alright?”

“You be nice to me and I’ll be nice to you,“ I said with a toothy grin that made Kira take half a step backwards. Probably didn’t look great to our audience, I thought. Combined with the rather aggressive tone Lalia and me usually took with each other, I wondered what Kira expected to happen.

Lalia was used to it, though. All she did was to shudder theatrically and say, “Deal.” And only a month before I had been practising smiling without showing any teeth at all. Trying to appear nice and friendly. Ridiculous. Anyone who knew me understood that I didn’t mean them any harm, and anyone else would be best off showing some damn respect.

“Draka, I need to get back. Rallon didn’t exactly leave me in charge, but someone’s got to keep that lot from falling apart. I’ve got people out securing lodgings, and all that. I, uh… I appreciate the initiative, yeah?” She nodded at Kira. “Good thinking, bad timing. Any chance you can hold on to her for a while longer? Having to keep track of a captive that I can’t talk to won’t exactly make things easier.”

“I’ll keep her,” I said. “I should go find my humans, anyway.”

“Your humans,” she said with a grimace. “Right. Tell them we’ve got things under control, yeah?” She turned to Kira. “And you, you murdering little shit? You behave around the girls, or Draka here will be the least of your worries.” The look on her face was enough for Kira to take a few steps back, putting me partially between the two of them.

“I’m pretty sure she didn’t murder anyone,” I told Lalia.

“She would say that, faced with you. Go on now. I’ll see you in better times, in a few days maybe, yeah? Me and Garal will be at the Favour, tell the girls that.”

“Alright. But the sooner the better.” I said, “Listen carefully. This is what I’ve found. The raiders are a Tekereteki mercenary company. The Silver Spurs. They’re capturing magic users and sending them back wherever they came from. Happar, I think, but I’m not sure. I was waiting to question this one until I got back here, but that’s not happening unless you’ve got someone who speaks Tekereteki. Do you?”

“Not that I know of,” Lalia said. “Tekereteki mercs? Are you sure?”

“That’s what she tells me. They’re massacring whole villages, alright? They’re camped in a wooded gorge near the mountains, about sixty miles south of here. We need to end them. You know where we’ll be. Send for us as soon as you can organise a force.”

“They’re… alright. I’ll see what I can do.”

“And, not to forget, I have this.” I lifted the medallion, which I’d recovered from the ground. I hesitated for a long moment, then held it out to her. Giving something magical and made of silver away was almost physically painful and I had to fight myself every inch, but I managed to drop it in her outstretched hand.

“That, Kira tells me, will point towards wherever their camp is. Their commander has a bunch like it. But they may be able to use theirs to find this one, so… I’ll trust the Commander to know what to do.”

“Alright, yeah,” Lalia said, looking at the medallion. “Thanks. Seriously.” With that, she headed back towards the fire.

“Can you tell me what all that was?” Kira asked me when we were alone.

“All you need to know is that I have nowhere to lock you up, which means that you get to come with me to see my humans. Stand in the street and hold your arms out. I don’t have room to take off here. It’ll be a rough start. I need to be quick.”

“Oh,” Kira said and deflated a little, clearly having looked forward to her flying days being over. But she did as she was told, and this time, when we flew, she neither screamed nor emotionally flatlined on me. The woman was adapting quickly, I had to give her that.

I was, I decided, warming up to Kira.