Dragon-Ridden

by T. A. White

  A small part of her had always wanted to see how she’d fare against him. She’d cheat of course. When you’re smaller and weaker than everybody else, you had to even the odds somehow. Only a slim scrap of sense had kept her from challenging him.

  Still, it was hard to remember how dangerous he was when he made it his mission in life to by turns irritate the hell out of her or scare her into complicity.

  She was plotting the various ways to get revenge when he bent close and said, “You know, your face is very expressive. Every thought you have just floats across it.” Straightening he shot her a wicked smile that said he knew exactly what she was thinking and was looking forward to the challenge. “It’s actually quite entertaining.”

  Tate harrumphed at him, telling herself she needed to stop rising to his taunts. Only a child would let someone continually get her goat. The worst part was she knew he saw it as a game. Like ‘let’s see how furious we can make Tate today.’

  “Why didn’t you tell Jost about the problems you were having with the rest of the crew?”

  Tate hunched her shoulders refusing to meet his gaze. She didn’t want to talk about that. It was embarrassing to admit she hadn’t been able to take care of it on her own and had instead run away like some coward.

  “Do I have to threaten you again?” he asked.

  “Jost couldn’t have solved my problems.”

  “How would you know?” he asked. “You didn’t even ask him.”

  He didn’t get it. “If I’d told him he would have punished those responsible.”

  “Of course he would have.”

  “He would have ordered any other member of the crew to figure out how to handle it on his own. That’s if he didn’t have them put on shit duty for bothering him with such insignificant matters.” Tate didn’t let him answer. “Let’s say he did punish them. What then? All that would have accomplished is pissing off the rest of the crew who didn’t already have a problem with me. Not to mention adding wood to the fire for those reprimanded. Jost can’t be around me all times of the day. Eventually, I’d have been alone when they cornered me. Only it would have been worse because there would have been more them.” She knew she was right. She’d spent weeks considering all the angles. Leaving the ship was the only thing she could think of that actually solved matters. “Like I said, he couldn’t have solved my problem.”

  “And your friends? Surely they could have helped. They could have made it clear what would happen if you weren’t left alone.”

  Tate rolled her eyes. “The only friends I have are among the senior members of the crew. They can’t help for the same reason Jost can’t. Most of the junior members dislike me and barely tolerate me as it is. You know as well as I do seniors cannot indulge in favorites. Not if they want a functioning crew.”

  Ryu’s expression was closed off as he listened. There wasn’t much he could say. She’d been accurate in her assessment of the situation, surprisingly so.

  “You picked the worst time to desert.”

  She snorted. As if she cared if she inconvenienced him.

  Tate folded her arms and watched him as he prowled around the room. He looked a little more convinced, but not as much as she’d like. What would she do if he turned her over to Jost?

  She didn’t let her uncertainty show, preferring to bluff her way through the confrontation, but she was scared. Her palms were sweaty where they rested against her pants.

  She watched him closely as he seemed to come to a decision.

  “What’re you even doing here?” she asked, hoping to stall him.

  He paid no attention to her question. “You’re going to do a job for me.”

  “A job?” she repeated blankly. “No, I’m not. I need to get out of the city.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “For one, you’ll need money if you plan on living here. Aurelia is not a cheap city to live in.”

  Didn’t he hear the part where she wanted to get out of the city? She wasn’t staying here so she didn’t care about the cost of living. All she wanted to do was put enough distance between her and the ocean so she could feel safe.

  “I’m not staying in Aurelia,” Tate said again. Enunciating this time.

  “Sure you are.”

  She flopped back on the bed. It was like talking to a wall. He just ignored whatever she said.

  “I don’t need money either. Jost gave me all my wages.”

  “Not enough.”

  “I think he was more than generous.”

  “Did you never stop to think why he gave you your full wages?” Ryu asked in a silky voice. “Jost isn’t usually considered a generous man.”

  She chose not to comment. People were rarely who they seemed. No surprise there. It was no secret Jost had deeper motivations for some of the things he did for her. The man was a genius at the art of subtle manipulation. She’d spent enough time on his ship and working with his crew to know that. It didn’t even matter anymore. She was off the ship. The motivation of its captain was no longer her concern.

  “Why would you care whether I had enough money to live or not anyway?” she challenged him stubbornly.

  Her slight form bristled with anger as he chose his words carefully.

  “You’ve changed since Jost and his crew left,” Ryu observed. He reached out and wrapped a stray strand of copper hair around his finger, tugging slightly. “You never used to be this combative. At least not outright.”

  Tate yanked her hair out of his hand and glared up at him, her green eyes flinty. “Of course I never acted like this on the ship. You and Jost were practically bosom buddies, and I was the stray Jost picked up on a whim. It would have been foolish to challenge you where I could have been thrown overboard miles from shore.” She bared her teeth at him. “But there’s no captain to enforce good behavior anymore. I can act however I feel.”

  “I see. Well, you’re much more interesting now that you aren’t so tongue tied and reserved.” Ryu was amused as he sat on his bed, leaning back on one forearm. “I would remind you that you’re now at my mercy instead of Jost’s.”

  Tate rolled her eyes. For now.

  “You’ll want to put any plans you have on hold for now, because after we’re done discussing the job, I’ll need you to meet your employers.”

  “I already said I wasn’t interested in a job right now,” Tate said with forced patience.

  “Even if I said it involved the Kairi you were so fascinated by yesterday?”

  Tate hadn’t realized Ryu had been paying enough attention to her yesterday to notice her fascination. Bastard. He was even more observant than she had given him credit for.

  The chance to learn more about them was tempting, but it went against the grain to fall in line with his plans. She needed to proceed with caution, or she’d find herself doing exactly what Ryu wanted.

  “What makes you think I care anything about them?”

  Ryu shot her a pointed look. Tate crossed her arms and gave him her ‘get down to business or else’ glare. His responding smirk said he wasn’t intimidated by her ‘or else.’

  “I think the fact that you couldn’t take your eyes off them was a dead giveaway. What really clinched it was when you returned the woman’s hairpiece given how much it could fetch if you fenced it.”

  For a beat, Tate blinked at him nonplussed. “How did you know I returned that? You weren’t there.”

  He waved a hand imperiously as if to say ‘it wasn’t important.’ Had to be from Trent. He had a tendency of blabbering on and on to any who listened.

  “That is highly unusual behavior for a pirate,” he said.

  “So?” Tate shrugged. “I returned it. Big deal. Doesn’t mean I care to get to know them any better.” She made a face. “And I’m not a pirate anymore.”

  He shook his head at her objection. “You’re curious. You wouldn’t have intervened if you weren’t. This job gives you the opportunity to indulge that c
uriosity.”

  “What’s the job?” she asked. Just because she asked about the job, that didn’t mean she’d take it, she told herself, she just wanted to know what she was giving up.

  Ryu slid off the bed and strolled to where she sat.

  “They’re looking for a stolen object.” He stared intensely down at Tate sifting through the best words to manipulate her with no doubt.

  “Stolen?” she asked. “What am I? A hunting dog? What can I possibly do to help them? I’m not some investigator.”

  “Your job wouldn’t be to find it,” he replied. “You’d simply act as a guide while they looked.”

  “A guide?” Great, now she sounded like a parrot. Surely she could think of something more intelligent to say.

  “Yes. You have a lot more experience with people who frequent the black market than they do. All you have to do is get them there and make sure they don’t stand out too much.”

  He wasn’t telling her the entire truth. She was sure of it.

  He could have picked someone who was much more familiar with the city and its criminal elements. They’d have probably been a lot more helpful than a newcomer to the city.

  “You’d report everything you saw back to me afterwards.”

  She snorted. There it was. The real reason he wanted her to take this ‘job.’

  She opened her mouth to refuse. A knock interrupted, and she was instantly on her feet with a knife in her hand.

  Ryu gave her a considering look and said, “That would be them. I don’t think a knife would send the right first impression to a potential employer.”

  “Wait. I haven’t said I’d do it,” she said dashing to block the door.

  He grinned and took her by the shoulders and bodily moved her out of the way.

  Tate watched in disbelief as he greeted his guests with a genial smile. “Umi, Kadien so glad you could make it. Come in.”

  Umi’s bodyguards flanked her as she greeted Ryu in a low murmur. They nodded sharply at Ryu and moved into the room, checking for threats as they entered. They all came to a dead stop upon seeing Tate standing in the middle of the floor with her arms crossed and a surly expression on her face.

  The older guard dropped back a step and moved to put Umi behind him while Tempest dropped into a defensive crouch.

  “You?” he spat. “What do you want? Haven’t you done enough damage?”

  Finally, someone she could relieve all this pent up frustration on while not having to worry about death and torture later. “I want to be here even less than you want me here.”

  He kept his eyes trained on Tate, watching for threats. Confusion radiated off him in waves. She sighed inwardly. She’d kind of been hoping he’d attack first. Ryu would see that this was impossible, and she could go back to making her escape.

  Instead, Ryu grabbed Tempest by his shirt, tossing him against a wall. Tempest hit with a thud and landed on his feet. To Tate’s surprise he didn’t attack, instead bowing his head and falling to one knee in a supplicant’s position.

  “I bring you someone who can help and you threaten her.” Ryu’s voice roiled with a dark power. Umi and her other guard fell to their knees and cowered from his words. “I will remind you that I do not have to help you. It rests on the Kairi to get back what was lost before it is too late. It is you who will bear the brunt of the consequences. You should be grateful for any help you can enlist.”

  By the end of his speech, the two guards had placed their hands flat on the ground and bowed to touch their foreheads to those hands. Umi stayed on her knees with her silken skirts pooled around her but bowed her head in supplication.

  Tate blinked. This was surprising. She was beginning to get the feeling that Ryu had hidden depths. There was no way he was just a pirate. Lords and ladies didn’t show this level of groveling for an ordinary sea rat no matter how scary he could be.

  Ryu dismissed them and faced Tate. A slight shiver raced down her back as the rage drained from his face. She hoped he never had cause to turn that look on her.

  It made better sense now, why Umi and her guards had chosen to fold rather than challenge him. His expression was fierce enough to steal the strength from a man and leave him quivering in his wake.

  The last of his anger fled. He tilted his head with a thoughtful expression as if she’d given him something to think about.

  “Get up,” he said without taking his eyes off Tate. His voice left no room for argument.

  Umi rose gracefully to her feet, her clothes falling around her in clean lines as if she hadn’t just been kneeling. Tate felt a brief spurt of envy at the ease with which she moved. If Tate had tried that, her clothes would have been wrinkled and dusty and probably ripped by the time she gained her feet.

  Tempest bounced lithely up. If he had any pain or injuries from his contact with the wall, he didn’t show it. The last guard hovered near Umi, eyeing Ryu and Tate as suspiciously as his neutral expression would allow.

  Umi’s face was composed and only her hands clasped tightly at her waist gave away her nerves. “My-“ Umi changed what she was going to say at a sharp glance from Ryu. “Sir, we are grateful for whatever help you choose to offer. I am sorry for my guard’s earlier thoughtlessness. We had encountered the lady earlier and were not expecting her to be here.”

  Tate shot him a sidelong glance. What had Umi been about to say? My lord, perhaps? But what would a lord be doing on a pirate’s crew?

  “Yes, I had heard you had met. It is one of the reasons I thought her best suited to this task. Is there more to the story than what I had heard?” Though the question was directed at Umi, it was clear he expected Tate to provide the answers.

  She met his eyes with what she hoped was an innocent expression. He was the one who had been spying on her. If he didn’t know the full story, who was she to inform him?

  His face tightened further while his eyes almost seemed to take on a glow. It might be best not to push.

  “I returned a hair ornament to Umi after some pick pockets had taken it.”

  Ryu lowered his eyebrows; he already knew that. Tate let the silence stretch, plucking a stray hair from the bottom of her tunic. Her hands fluttered as she smoothed them down the arms of the tunic and gave it a sharp tug.

  Ryu didn’t move a muscle, making it clear he could wait all day. His eyes settled with a grim patience on Tate’s bent head. She shifted under his steady gaze, feeling like a child trying to keep a secret.

  Umi and her guards watched the two raptly. She would have preferred not to have an audience.

  Knowing from prior experience he’d wait all day until he got an answer, Tate told him, “I may have relieved some pickpockets of the trinket after watching them take it. The guards may have then incorrectly assumed I’d been responsible for it being stolen. We cleared up any misunderstandings with no blood shed,” she finished.

  Ryu had once again pinned the three under his sharp gaze before the end of Tate’s explanation. They wilted, beginning to sink back to their knees. Tate rolled her eyes, fed up with all the tap dancing. They’d be here all day at this rate.

  She slapped his arm and snapped, “Quit it. I’d like them to explain what they need from me at some point, so I can refuse and get on with my day. They can’t do that with you glaring at them every five seconds.”

  Umi’s faint gasp distracted Tate from Ryu. Tempest regarded Tate with wide eyes, acting like she’d just hit the Dragon Emperor himself. Their deferential treatment of Ryu was beginning to irritate Tate. It highlighted all the questions she had about Ryu and his past.

  Tate folded her arms and waited crossly for any explanations that might be forthcoming. She’d give them another 30 seconds.

  Umi’s gaze darted to Ryu and then back to Tate as she straightened. Her hands fluttered nervously up to check to make sure her hair was still in its complicated twist at the back of her head.

  Licking dry lips, she said, “An object of great significance to my family was stolen about two w
eeks ago. We were able to trace the people who took it to this city but lost the trail before we could locate it.”

  She would have continued when Tate interrupted her. “Wait. Why me?” Tate turned to Ryu. “What in our history makes you think that I am qualified to go hunting lost objects? I’m sorry Umi, but I think your best bet would be to go to someone a little more experienced in these matters.

  “She can’t.” Ryu looked grim as he spoke. “The object’s value would make it dangerous for outsiders to know it was missing. No one can know it is gone, or there will be grave consequences for Umi and her family.”

  “Oh, that explains everything, doesn’t it?” Tate said sarcastically. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m an outsider.”

  “Never mind that,” Ryu said. “Umi, and in large part her guards, have led very sheltered lives with little to no interaction with anything outside of Kairi society,” Ryu explained. “They are having some difficulty navigating the cultural diffrences in Aurelia.”

  Huh? Tate studied the three across from her. Umi’s cheeks flushed a slight red under Tate’s observation while Tempest met her eyes with a stubborn defiance that dared her to make a smart remark.

  Tate found it hard to believe that they wouldn’t know how to interact with the people of the city.

  She arched an eyebrow at Ryu.

  “Their society is very different from ours,” he said with a grim smile. “It is much more rigid and follows a strict code that holds honor in high esteem. As a result, they’ve had difficulty making any progress in their goals. That’s where you would come in. You would act as a sort of guide in their quest. Plus you know how to navigate amongst the less savory elements of the city because of your past. You’ll be able to find out more than them.”

  That and he wanted her to report back on their movement, she finished grimly. Instinct told her there were things he hadn’t shared, pieces of the puzzle that they had left out. The hesitation every time they referred to the ‘object,’ as well as their reluctance to say what precisely was missing was evidence of that fact.