Test of the Dragon

by Jessica Drake

  "Just an ale for me, and another for my friend." I wedged myself into the sliver of available space between two men so I could lean in and talk to her. "Looks like business is booming around here."

  She smiled as she poured my drinks. "All of the lower-end establishments like mine are," she said. "The soldiers have taken over the classy joints, so this is where normal folk go to get away and pretend like we aren't under occupation." She slid the mugs over to me, then frowned as I placed a coin on the counter. "Your money's no good here."

  "But—"

  "No." She slapped it back into my hand, then made a shooing motion. "You can pay me back by doing what you came here to do. Now get going. I have customers waiting!"

  Stifling a grin, I wound my way through the crowd and found a small, empty table toward the back of the room. As I sat back in my chair, eyes trained on the door as I sipped my ale, my thoughts drifted back to the last time I'd been here. I'd been ruminating over a mug of ale at the time too, trying to figure out what my next move was, when Jallis had shown up. The two of us had been at odds—I barely remembered what about, now—but he'd given me my dragon blade that night, and he'd stuck by my side as I solved the mystery of Tavarian and his dragon heart piece. Whatever Jallis and I had gone through, I would always be grateful to him for giving me that piece of my identity, the one object that was a tangible link to my real family.

  My fingers twitched, seeking out the two-ended blade now, and I sighed, remembering I'd left it back in Polyba. It was too risky for me to carry a dragon blade in Elantia. They were extremely rare, ancient weapons once wielded by dragon riders. The mages who'd crafted them keyed them to the families they belonged to, so they could only be wielded by those who had the right blood. The fact that the blade had responded to me when I'd picked it up had been unmistakable proof that I'd come from a dragon rider family. Unfortunately, the family crest that had once adorned the handle was missing, and without it there was no way to tell who.

  Will I ever know? With the Zallabarians mercilessly hunting down the dragon riders, it was all too possible that my real family, whoever they were, would be wiped out before we took the country back.

  If we take the country back, a small voice in my head reminded me, but I shoved it ruthlessly aside. I couldn't contemplate the possibility of failure. Not when the accompanying future was so bleak.

  I was saved from my thoughts by Tavarian entering the pub, looking flushed but no worse for wear.

  "Everything turn out okay?" I asked as he sat down in the chair across from me.

  He nodded, then took a great gulp of ale before speaking. "I distracted them with a wild tale about staying late to work and seeing a group of masked men set the fire through a window overlooking the back garden. The authorities are now convinced that the arsonists were a group of patriots fighting back against the Zallabarians."

  I bit my lip. "I hope the fallout from this isn't going to be too bad." The regime would likely enact even stricter measures, and would probably make an example of anyone they could to discourage further acts of violence. I hated that people would suffer for what we'd done, but there was nothing for it. Retrieving the dragon heart before Salcombe could was of paramount importance.

  "I'm guessing we're going to have to put the second part of our plan on hold?" I asked.

  He nodded grimly. "It's too dangerous to consider going back, and curfew is almost here." We'd been planning on hitting the treasury, but since it was on Dragon's Table there was no chance of that now. "Our priority is to get the relic—and our friends—away from here as fast as possible. There's no telling when Salcombe will try to come for us again.”

  I nodded, tension digging into my shoulders again. I was surprised Salcombe hadn't already caught up with me. Was it possible he'd been injured in the fire? I knew the black flames couldn't hurt him, but the fire could have brought wooden beams or other heavy objects down onto him, and I had locked him in the cellar.

  But whatever injury Salcombe had suffered wouldn't keep him down for long. The dragon god had invested too much into him. He wouldn’t let his champion fail now.

  11

  After deciding it was too risky to return to the Treasure Trove—Salcombe could very well have told his local minions about our presence, and that was the first place they'd check—Tavarian and I finished our ale and headed for the orphanage.

  "We need to hurry," I said, my breath frosting in front of my face as we hustled through the emptying streets. "Curfew is almost upon us."

  We expected to arrive at a quiet scene—the orphans would be settling down for bed at this hour—but what we encountered was quite different.

  "You can't do this to us!" Miss Cassidy shrieked as she was dragged from the building by two rough-looking men. "We have nowhere else to go!"

  "Then you shoulda come up with the rent money when Mr. Blighton asked for it," the thug sneered as he tossed her aside. I darted forward to catch her just before she fell, and the man sneered at me. "This ain't none of your business. Now move along."

  I ignored him, helping Miss Cassidy back to her feet. "I thought you said that the investors were still haggling over the place?" I asked her as the staff and orphans were marched out of the building. Half of them were in their nightclothes, clutching what little belongings they had to their chests.

  "It turns out the building was purchased this morning." The words came out as a sob, and my heart plummeted to my toes as the children began crying as well. "When Mr. Blighton's representative came tonight, I told him that we didn't have the funds to pay the rent. I asked for more time, to see if we could raise the money we needed, but these men won't hear of it."

  "Where are we going to go?" one of the older orphans asked, a boy no older than eleven. His teeth chattered as he clutched a threadbare blanket around his thin shoulders, and his wide eyes were filled with more worry than any child should have to experience. "The soldiers will throw us in prison if they find us on the streets now."

  "At least prison will offer a warm place to sleep," one of the other kids muttered. Her cheeks flushed red when Miss Cassidy glared at her. "What? I'm just trying to stay positive."

  "You're not going to prison," I announced firmly to the group, wanting to squash that notion before it could take root. "I'll find you guys a place for the night, and we'll go from there." Turning to Tavarian, I added, "I'll take them back to the pub, see if Portina can put them up for the night. Meanwhile, do you think you could talk some sense into these guys? I know we can't move the children back in, but there's no reason for them to hold onto the stores of food or any other belongings left behind."

  "I'll do my best," he promised.

  "Thank you." I turned back to the orphans and staff and raised my voice over the anxious din to be heard. "I need everyone to form two lines, quickly! We don't have much time."

  The staff managed to marshal the orphans into some semblance of order, and we marched down the street, back to the Blue Daffodil. Thankfully it was only a few blocks away, and we made it back with two minutes to spare.

  "Tavern is closed!" the bouncer announced as he tossed two drunks out onto the street. "Besides," he added, his eyes narrowing, "we don't accept tykes their age here."

  "We're not here for drinks," I told him. "Please, go get Portina. She's expecting me."

  That last bit was a lie, and for a minute I was worried she wouldn't come, since I couldn't give my name. But Portina appeared at the door soon enough, and her annoyed expression gave way to one of astonishment when she surveyed the crowd camped outside the door. "Miss Cassidy!" she exclaimed. "What in the bleeding skies is everyone doing here? Is this the entire orphanage?"

  "It is," she said tightly. "I hate to impose on you like this, Portina, but we are in desperate need of your help."

  Portina sighed, eyeing the approaching guards. Their fingers were twitching toward the whips at their belts, and my own hand unconsciously reached for one of the daggers hidden in my skirt even though I knew it wa
s pointless. "Let's get you inside before these fools decide whipping children is acceptable behavior, and you can tell me all about it." She trained a gimlet stare on Miss Cassidy, and I knew she was remembering all the times we'd gotten our knuckles slapped with rulers, or were bent over the knee and spanked, because we'd broken the rules.

  Miss Cassidy’s cheeks reddened, but she merely lifted her chin and ordered the others to follow her inside. Thankfully, the establishment could hold up to fifty people, so we all crowded in at the tables, and I told Portina everything that had happened, including my friends' various plights, in the privacy of the back room.

  "I'll send a runner to the Treasure Trove first thing in the morning," she promised. "As for the orphans, they can bed down here in the tavern. I'll bring what extra bedding I have from upstairs, but I warn you, it’s not much. You'll all have to sleep on the floor."

  When we emerged back into the public area of the tavern, I was relieved to see Tavarian amongst the group.

  "Did everything turn out okay?" I asked, rushing over to check him for any bruises or bumps. He was unscathed. Surely the guards would have tried to arrest him for being out past curfew, wouldn't they?

  "I managed to convince the men to allow the orphanage staff to come and collect their stores in the morning," Tavarian said. "Believe it or not, the guards actually assisted with the issue. Seems they were thankful not to have to round up a bunch of children and toss them into prison overnight, and they upheld my view that by law, the new owners had no claim to any of the property within the walls since the orphanage did not owe them a debt."

  "Lucky for us the Zallabarians are mostly pragmatic." Of course they wouldn't actually want to beat and arrest the children. That would only cause public outrage and make it harder for them to establish control over the city. While they were applying a vise-like grip on the citizens now, they knew that sort of thing wasn't sustainable. Eventually, they wanted the public to settle down and accept the new regime so things could resume some semblance of normalcy.

  The orphanage staff were overjoyed to hear that they were being allowed to collect their belongings, but their fears were far from allayed.

  "It is very kind of Portina to let us stay the night," one of the staff said, "but what about tomorrow? Where will we sleep, and where will we store the supplies once we get them?"

  "I'm afraid you will all have to leave the city entirely," Tavarian said. "The two of us do not have the time or resources to help you find a new residence in the city, and you know what will happen if you all end up on the street tomorrow night."

  "Leave the city?" The staff looked like they were about to keel over from shock. "But I've spent my entire life here!"

  I squared my shoulders. "Look, I know you guys are just employees here, and you probably have families to go home to. If any of you want to leave, to head back to them, you're more than welcome." I pinned Miss Cassidy with a frank stare. "I sincerely hope you're not one of them. Someone needs to be around to take care of the children." And even though Miss Cassidy and I had different ideas on how to handle small humans, she was the only one with experience, and most importantly, the only one here.

  Miss Cassidy straightened her spine. "Of course I will come with the children," she said. "Just because the government has cut off funding does not mean I can abandon my responsibility to them. Besides, I have no family here in Zuar City. It's just me." She turned to the staff. "While you are free to leave in the morning, I must say it is going to be a challenge caring for over thirty children by myself. If any of you would like to volunteer to come with me, I would greatly appreciate it."

  Most of the staff didn't look enthused about the idea, but two stepped forward, an older man with a thick silver mustache and a lean build, and a young, dark-haired woman who couldn't be more than twenty. I knew both of them. The woman was Tammy, a former orphan who'd stayed on both because she liked children and because there was nowhere else to go. The man was Filan, the cook. The food he made was barely fit for consumption, but I knew that wasn't really his fault— the scarce funding had restricted us to mostly gruel. I was certain that with the additional supplies, he'd been making better meals for the kids. They didn't look nearly as scrawny as the ones I'd grown up with.

  "I don't mind coming with you," Filan said. "My children are all grown and moved out of the city, and my wife passed two years ago. But I am reluctant to leave when there is no guarantee of a new place to call home. What do you have in mind?" He turned to Tavarian. "Do you expect us to camp in the woods?"

  "No," Tavarian said. "I have a few ideas, but I need to confirm some things before I can announce anything. For now, we should all try to get some sleep. I will update everyone in the morning."

  I pulled Tavarian aside as the staff helped the children settle down for bed. "What's your plan?" I asked. "Do you want to take them to the hidden estate?" It was definitely big enough to house everyone, but how would we get everyone there? The dragons couldn't carry more than three or four people at a time. They would have to make multiple trips, and the others would be forced to camp out somewhere in the meantime. And what if bandits or thieves came upon them? Not to mention that we didn't have time for this. We needed to get back to Polyba as soon as possible to make that trade with the Porcillas family.

  "No, that would be too difficult logistically," he said. "However, my floating island is set to arrive here in a day or two, which means it is only an hour's flight from here."

  "Right." Tavarian had a device that told him where his island was, a combination of magic and technology that tracked the magnetic pull of the island. "So we can just fly them up there. We'll have to wait until nightfall tomorrow, though, and that'll still be risky as hell." Tavarian's cloaking spell only worked if the dragons were high enough in the air. Too close to the ground and they became partially visible. "Do you think they'll be safe up there? Considering how pissed the Zallabarians are about that airship crash, I'm surprised they aren't patrolling the skies more regularly."

  "I imagine the autocrator is having his engineers work on a new airship design, something more dragon-resistant," Tavarian said. "As we've demonstrated, it is far too easy for dragons to take out the airships, and too costly to continue sending them out only to have them destroyed. To be honest, I have no idea how the Zallabarians will create a design that is truly dragon-proof."

  "They don't have to," I said bitterly. "All they need to do is exterminate the remaining dragons and bring the newly hatched ones under their control, and it won't be a problem anymore."

  With little else to do, Tavarian and I retired for the night, sleeping on the floor with the others. Once more, I was plagued by terrible nightmares, and was woken up repeatedly by children crying.

  Damn you, I cursed the dragon god silently as I held a four-year-old in my arms, trying to rock her back to sleep. It was one thing to torment me, or even the fellow riders who were helping me, but poor, innocent children who had just lost their home, who had no families?

  "It's unforgivable." Caor's voice echoed in my head. "And the longer you delay your journey to the forge, the more people around you will suffer."

  I chased Caor's words around in my head for most of the night, the restlessness and anxiety having long banished any possibility of sleep. Besides, I had a feeling that as long as I stayed awake, depriving myself of rest, Zakyiar would have less hold over the dreams of others around me. The theory seemed to hold true—none of the other children woke again. Even Tavarian seemed to sleep deeper, his breathing normal.

  Great, I thought absently as I stroked a hand down his back. His powerful muscles flexed a little, but he did not wake. So, all I have to do is stay awake until we reach the forge and I destroy the pieces of heart. Easy. I fingered the amulet resting against my chest, wishing it could do something to protect me against the dragon god's dreams. But I had a feeling it could only defend against magic in the real world. That, or Zakyiar was too powerful, even in the spirit realm, to be stopped by
something as simple as an amulet.

  The moment the first rays of sunlight began to poke through the windows, I forced myself from the hard ground and went upstairs to wake Portina and get her to send a message to the Treasure Trove.

  It didn't take long for an answer. A mere two hours later, just as the children stirred from their own pained slumbers, Carina filed into the pub with Rhia, Jallis, and Mrs. Thomas in tow. "I'm so glad you're all right," Carina said as she threw her arms around me, and I was shocked to feel her tremble a little as I hugged her tight. "When you guys didn't come back to the shop last night, I was terrified that you'd been caught and that I would see you two swinging from the gallows today."

  "I'm sorry we couldn't get a message to you sooner," I said, then pulled away to inspect the others. "We barely made it off the streets in time for curfew as it was. Did anything unusual happen last night?" I asked Rhia. "Anyone come to the shop looking for you or your mother, or the dragon heart?"

  "As a matter of fact, a man did come by early this morning," Carina said grumpily. "Some stuffy official who claimed he needed to search our place for contraband. I was worried he'd come searching for Rhia and her mother, so they hid in the cellar. But he didn't seem to be looking for a person, at least not that I could tell."

  "What did he look like?" I probed.

  "Mid-forties, lean, posh," Carina said. "Red beard."

  A chill ran down my spine. "That's one of Salcombe's acolytes. He must have come to see if I was hiding out at the shop with the piece of heart we nabbed." I glanced sideways at Tavarian. "Guess it's a good thing we didn't go back to the shop after all."

  He nodded. "It's only a matter of time before Salcombe's men come looking at other places of interest, like this one," he said. "We need to get out of here, but I'm not sure how to make that happen since we were unable to break into the treasury last night."