Draka

As the last light vanished behind the mountains, I took off. I climbed and climbed, reaching well over a thousand feet before I turned toward the city in a long arc. I must have reached two and a half thousand by the time I was above the city and began a rapid, corkscrewing descent. I fell hundreds of feet in seconds, the wind tearing at my wings as I began to slow myself to pinpoint Mak’s location as the streets came closer.

There!

They had made quick progress, being halfway down the wide, poorly lighted boulevard that led to the central square – or the forum, as they’d explained it to me. I picked a tall, important looking building ahead of the sisters, with a dark roof, and set down almost softly. There was still a clatter of tiles, but nothing fell off, which I considered a good result! From there I shifted, sliding off the roof to that of a smaller annex and into a partially lit courtyard, and then over the wall into the alley outside.

There were two guys hanging about, drinking something, presumably wine, out of a skin. I doubted very much that they were a danger to my girls, since they weren’t paying any attention to the street at all, so I let them be. Mostly. I let my shadows pass over them as I went past, and to my satisfaction both of them shuddered, then one with the wineskin nearly dropping it.

“I, ah, I’m getting a bad feeling about this place, Bor,” he said. “How about we go somewhere with some light and… some people around, aye? Somewhere more lively?”

“Right, right, yeah,” the man called Bor said a little shakily, though he was trying to put on a brave face. “Some music. Too quiet here, right?”

“Right,” the first man said as they began moving out of the alley. “No reason to be hanging out here on a night like this. Temple’s giving me the creeps, anyway, looming like that.”

“Should be more lights on the temple at night, right? Disrespectful is what it is.”

The two continued talking, agreeing that they both just wanted something more fun and lively that night, while nearly running out of the alley.

I was very happy with the result. It had been practically effortless, though that was partly thanks to the ‘disrespectful’ lighting of the building, the temple, presumably, that the alley ran along. Still, knowing that I could cause fear and discomfort in different degrees, not just the outright despairing terror that I’d unthinkingly inflicted on Jekrie and the sisters, was very nice. I could already see a multitude of situations where I could make good use of it. To be fair most of those involved either clearing a space when I didn’t want to reveal myself, or messing with people, but I was sure that there would be situations where I might want to make someone fear me without the explicit threat of violence.

And it had been so satisfying to see Jekrie fall to his knees. If I’d still had hair, the memory would have given me goosebumps. I wanted more of that. What the hell was the point of being a dragon if you couldn’t have the weak prostrate themselves before you?

I had a sudden image of the Blossom, pale and wide-eyed with terror, begging for my forgiveness as I stood in judgement above her, with Herald and Mak by my side. Oh, that would be sweet. I’d still kill her if I got the opportunity and she might get away, but if I could see her crawl…

My pleasant night-time daydream was interrupted when I felt, more than saw, Herald and Mak walk past the alley and had to rush after them. I was about to shift back to call them into the alley, but I had the presence of mind to look around first.

Across the street and a ways back, two smaller than average figures crouched in the shadows.

Mentally, I smiled. It looked like the sisters had indeed been spotted, and even followed. And with a bit of luck…

I let the pair pass me, then drifted invisibly across the street and after them. And just as I had hoped, the two looked familiar. A little harried, and a little warier of dark alleys than the last time I’d seen them, but the two kids were definitely the ones who had followed my humans out of Karakan. I thought that I would have scared them off messing with these particular Tekereteki women, but in this case I didn’t mind so much. I would have to have a word with them, that was all.

As I basked in my own smug satisfaction, up ahead on the street Mak stopped, halting Herald with a gesture. That caused the kids to stop and duck behind a corner, and that was where I struck.

I didn’t want them to run off anywhere, but I did want them nice and attentive. So, as I began to shift, I also enveloped them in darkness. I tried not to hit them too hard, but I had no real reference to work with and I didn’t know if it was an exact science anyway, so I went for ‘as hard as I could without straining myself’.

I heard the girl’s breath catch as some nameless fear gripped her, while the boy went very, very still. Then, as I finished my shift, I grabbed them.

I could only guess what it felt like to have your shoulder grabbed from behind in the unbreakable grip of a talon. Combined with the fear from my shadows, and the anxiety they already must have felt about the chance of running across, well, me, it resulted in two entirely different reactions.

The girl started crying. Silent, shuddering sobs with no attempt at either fight or flight. She just stood there, silently awaiting her fate.

The boy tried to run. Credit to him, he grabbed the girl’s arm first, but it wasn’t a very clever move. Of course, desperation isn’t always clever. He got almost all of one step before he jerked to a stop and yelped as my claws dug into his skin. He should thank the Mercies that I had been expecting something like that and had them mostly retracted.

With both of them well under control, and feeling Mak approaching, probably to check out the sound, I leaned my head in over the kids and said, “You're still following my girls.”

The girl started frightened-child ugly crying. The boy stared, and started babbling, “Oh. Oh, no. Oh, no, no no!”

And I… was not sure what to do next. Their terror, as always, was quite satisfying, but the little voice was not happy at all. I wasn’t angry enough to be cruel – although one might argue that possibly traumatising two kids was already quite cruel. Besides, their noises were getting annoying, and I wasn’t sure how to stop them without hurting them.

I was saved by first Mak, then Herald rounding the corner, hands on their weapons. Mak didn’t have her spear, of course, but she looked threatening enough with her hand on the hilt of her sword. They looked at me, and at the children I was currently terrorising, and the Herald gave me an exasperated look.

“Was this really necessary?” she asked, waving towards the kids.

“They were following you,” I said.

“Was that not what we wanted?” Mak asked. “I could feel that you were pleased. Why stop them?”

I suddenly felt defensive. “They were… these are the same kids who followed you out of the city.”

Herald nodded sagely. “Ah, yes. I see. Why is that important?”

“They were supposed to be too frightened of me to risk messing with you again!”

“So your wounded pride is why you are terrorising children?”

The boy had gone quiet at that point, looking back and forth as we spoke, but the girl chose that moment to start whispering, “We’re sorry! We’re so sorry!” between her hiccuping sobs.

I briefly considered doing… something to her, then recoiled as the little voice turned into what I could only think of as a mental snarl. “You take them, then,” I said hurriedly. “I was hoping to find out who they report to, but I doubt they’ll be much use with me around.” I glanced at Mak, and saw that she knew exactly what had passed through my mind. The annoyance, followed by the urge for casual violence and then the horror I’d felt at myself.

“Come here,” she said quickly, offering her hand to the boy on the ground. “She’s agreed to let you live for now, but there’s no telling when she’ll change her mind. Go on, get up! Herald, take the girl!”

Neither of the kids seemed inclined to move, but when I drew back my shadows and growled a little they allowed themselves to be dragged along deeper into the alley and onto a street that ran parallel with the main one. From there I followed the small group towards the harbour and finally to a building that was unmistakably an inn, which they entered.

The sign read ‘Her Grace’s Favour,’ and judging by the surprisingly well-painted image on it, the favour referred to her bosom. The inn sat where a large road met a small square, looking much less well-to-do than the surrounding expensive-looking shops and trading houses, with their high roofs where hidden observers might lurk. While waiting for some sign from the others I made my way around, just in case, but my idea of spies hiding among the chimneys had perhaps been a little romantic. All there was up there was a steadily more bored dragon and a nocturnal bird or two.

Soon enough, though, as I circled the building, I found an open window with a very familiar face looking out of it. Garal was hanging on the sill, looking down into the alley below, then up along the rooftops. I could have just gone in there. His room was lit too brightly for me to shadow in, but I could have fixed that by bringing my shadows with me. But there were two problems with that. One, only Herald and Mak knew what I could do, and I was trying to keep it that way. A sourceless shadow gliding in through his window followed by me suddenly materialising was not the kind of thing I could explain away. And two, if I did shadow in past him, I wasn’t sure how he’d be affected. I liked the guy, and I didn’t want to freak him out for no reason.

So I settled on walking out of the shadows on the roof of the opposite building. He saw me soon enough, and had clearly been expecting me.

“The girls have the kids in their room,” he hissed across the gap. “I’d invite you in, but…” He waved at the narrow frame of the window. His meaning was clear, and he was right. There was no way I’d get in through there without a whole lot of racket, not unless I could, perhaps, change into a cloud of malleable darkness. But he didn’t know that.

“I’ll come out,” he continued. “Front door. Follow me?”

“Right,” I said, and vanished back into the shadows.

When Garal came out the door a short while later he didn’t go into the alley. I followed him with interest. Looking like a man just walking home after a night on the town, he went down a side street, around a long bend, down some stairs, and under a small bridge, ending in something like a small, abandoned park or garden. There he stopped to wait, but since I was right behind him he didn’t have to wait any time at all.

“Hello again, Garal,” I said as I came into the little patch of wilderness. “I missed you, last time I was here.”

“Well, I was a little busy,” he said with a smirk. “Home on fire, unknown enemies, you know how it is.”

“Did you find out what happened?”

He sighed. “No. No evidence, and no leads. It might’ve been an accident, but that seems unlikely. Still, we’re not letting that whole mess slow us down. We’ve got new accommodations, the old place is still sound, if badly damaged, and there have been some perks to not having to sleep in the same room with all the others.”

“Not you too!” I complained. “Lalia has already filled me in on how the two of you have been taking advantage of the situation. Too much information!”

“Can you blame a man for bragging?” he asked, with a glint in his eye. “But I take your point. It’s good to see you again, Draka, though it would be nice to meet under better circumstances, for once.”

“One day, yeah. So. You beat up an old innkeeper?”

“He’s not so old. And Lalia did the beating, though I won’t pretend I tried too hard to hold her back. She was furious when she found out that the man had betrayed the girls like that. They’ve stayed there for months, and have had a very friendly relationship. Still, he’s not entirely to blame. He was being paid, but he was also being threatened, and he’s sure that whoever it is would know if he confessed what he had done.”

“It has to be the Blossom, right?” I said hopefully.

“Don’t see who else it would be. He’s supposed to hand the letter over tomorrow, so I’m glad you’re here. I can’t exactly go running after thugs. Patrols to make, you know? But with you here…”

“Yeah,” I said with a grin. “That’s good. That’s really good! We can follow the bastard back to whoever he reports to!”

“Right. Hope you find something,” Garal said with a nod.

“What about Tam and Val? Do we know which ship they’re coming in on? When it’s expected?”

“They’ve booked passage on a ship called The Laughing Gull. As for when they’ll arrive… they should have departed already, and then it’s a question of whether the winds are with them. Tomorrow, perhaps, or the day after that. I’ll have a boy watching the harbour, and it wouldn’t hurt if you do the same. We have to assume that the Blossom, or whoever, knows their ship from the previous letter. They’ll be watching, too.”

“Any chance we can pick off their people before anything happens?”

He shook his head. “I don’t see how. They’ll just be regular dockers, street urchins and whores, not thugs that stand out in a crowd. The heavies will be waiting somewhere comfortable until the ship comes in.”

“Right…” I said thoughtfully. I’d been looking forward to messing up some of the Blossom’s people. But that could still be arranged, I thought. I just had to run it by the sisters first. I’d had the kind of idea that you don’t just spring on people. “You couldn’t spare some of the Wolves, I suppose?” I asked.

“Still can’t act in the city,” Garal said apologetically. “And that includes Rib and Pot, unfortunately, even if they’re kind of on leave at the moment. Although, those two are damned sneaky. I’m sure that no one could say anything about them keeping their eyes open and their ears to the ground.”

“Too bad. But thanks for the advice.”

He nodded. “Of course, if anything happens… I mean, if we had known about Mak and Herald… there are limits, you know? We would have gone, and damn the consequences.”

“I know,” I said. “You two really care about them, don’t you?”

“Mak’s a good woman, and a good friend to Lalia,” he said. “And Herald… I think she reminds Lalia of her sister, the one that she lost. She was about Herald’s age. And she’s quite likeable, isn’t she? A little serious, but…”

“She can be fun!” I protested. “She just has a dry humour, that’s all.”

“No, I know! We all like her. She’s like everyone’s little sister. Although,” he grinned, “I hear that we’re not supposed to call her things like that anymore, now that she’s all grown up.”

“I don’t think she cares what you call her, as long as you treat her as an adult. And she is, you know that. By your laws and by what she’s experienced, she’s as much of an adult as anyone can be at her age.”

“I know, I know,” he said, raising his hands defensively, then smiling. “It’s really sweet, do you know that? How protective you are of her?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I am not sweet. I’m a dragon.”

“A dragon who’ll burn the world for her human friend. It’s sweet. And… reassuring, I guess. Seeing you like this – up close, I mean – you’re quite scary. It’s good to know that you can care like that.”

I blew some air out my nose. I could live with that. Garal grinned, seeing that he’d won the point.

“You know what, though?” he said suddenly. “We can’t go running after criminals, of course, but, if me and some of the others are off duty, there’s nothing stopping us from going down to the harbour to meet our old friends. Once their ship gets here, that is. We’ll need some deniability.”

I liked the sound of that. If Tam and Val were to be attacked when they got off their ship, it would be good to have as many friendlies around as possible. And if not, I figured Tam and Val were the kind of people who’d be touched by a big welcoming party.

We said our goodbyes after that. I asked him to tell the girls that I’d be around and to come out before dawn so we could talk, which he said that he would. But as we were separating Garal spoke up. “Before you go… Mak. Is she going to be alright?”

“Haven’t you talked to her?”

“I have, and I know what she and Herald think. I’d like to know what you think.”

“We’re okay again, her and me, if that’s what you mean. Mak…” I hesitated. Would she be alright? Did I even know, myself? “Mak,” I said again, “has chosen a path that she can live with. One that she hopes that she can be proud of. And I’m going to do what I can to help her. But until she and Herald can close the book on… all of this. What happened to them–”

“You mean revenge?”

“Yeah, I mean fucking revenge! Don’t interrupt me! I’m being contemplative here! Anyway. Herald might be able to survive without it. She won’t forgive anything, but she might be able to put all this shit behind her some day. But not Mak. Not after what they did to Herald, and not after what they made her do. Either we break the Blossom, or Mak breaks. I don’t see it going any other way. But yeah, once we have our revenge – and I am going to put everything I have into making that happen – once we have that, I think that they’re going to be okay, both of them.”

“And what about you?” he asked gently.

That caught me by surprise. What about me? Was I going to be okay? Which side of me? All of me wanted to grind the Blossom under my heel, but the question was if that would be enough. Once she was gone, then what?

Sometimes it felt like the Blossom was just the most obvious symptom of a broader disease, one that I’d been suffering from since day one. A big part of me blamed the council, the adventurer’s guild, the whole city for my self-imposed exile, for the secrecy that I had forced upon myself in the name of safety. Would I ever truly be okay as long as I lived in the shadows? I wasn’t so sure.

“Don’t ask me that. The answer is too long, and you won’t like it.”