Dragons of Mars Box Set

by Leslie Chase

  "Yes, I'm fine," she said. "My patient here needs to get to one of those magic healing baths so the nanotech can do its thing."

  Markath's rumbling chuckle made her smile, and she tried her best to hide it behind a scowl. He was already far too good at ignoring her instructions, even when they were for his own good. "The emperor comes first, Amanda. Once I've given my report, there'll be plenty of time for you to look after me."

  "No, you come first," Amanda put her hands on her hips and met his eyes, trying to stay stern. It wasn't easy when just looking at Markath sent a wave of delicious weakness through her. "Verikan can wait an hour or two before you tell him things that he already knows."

  They'd sent a report ahead as soon as the Golden Kite had been back in radio range of the Dragon Palace. There were plenty of details that needed to be filled in, of course, things Markath hadn't wanted to say over the radio. Anyone could have been listening in, after all, and having pirates descend on the dig site could only be a bad thing. The broad strokes had been enough to get Verikan to send another skyship out to secure things, anyway.

  But Markath didn't look like he was going to back down that easily. Tough, Amanda thought. I'm not going to let you walk around with a broken wing, mister, not when I can get it fixed up easily. You mean too much to me for that.

  The two of them stood, facing off against each other. Then Josie coughed pointedly, drawing their attention back to her. The amused grin on her face made both of them smile too.

  "Markath, you should know better than to argue with your mate," Josie said, her stern tone spoiled by the smile on her face. "Verikan can wait. As your empress, do I have to order you to do as your doctor tells you?"

  "No, my empress," Markath said, bowing his head. Amanda mouthed 'thank you' to her friend, who grinned and shrugged it off.

  "Let's get you all back to the Palace then," Josie said, turning and walking back down to her escort. "And on the way, I want to hear all about your trip, Amanda. Tell me everything."

  About to protest, Amanda realized that she had no way to object. Behind her, Hannah laughed, apparently unintimidated by the ring of Dragon Guards protecting the empress.

  "She's got you there," Hannah told her sister. "So, time to spill the details!"

  "Fine," Amanda said with a sigh, looking between the two women. "This may take a while..."

  She found that she was smiling as she started to tell her story. She was amongst friends and family, walking beside her mate, and Amanda realized that this was what home felt like. Mars might not be safe, but it didn't have to be. It was where everyone she loved was, and it was where she belonged.

  Hugging Markath tightly, she felt herself smile and relax as, laughing and talking, the group made their way into the city.

  Epilogue

  The Outrider settled back into the dock, Markath and Amanda waiting there to greet it. As soon as the docking ramp lowered, Hannah bounded down it, her enthusiasm carrying her into Amanda with an energetic bound that nearly took both of them off their feet. Markath laughed, catching and steadying the two of them.

  “Careful, Captain,” he said as they caught themselves.

  “Sorry,” Hannah said, “sometimes I still forget about the gravity here.”

  She stood back from her sister, and Amanda grinned as they looked at each other. Hannah had settled into the role of captain easily, picking up the remains of the scavenger company and making it her own. It suited her, and the repaired Outrider was now one of the more profitable scavenging operations run out of Marsport. The ship, confiscated as part of Dieter’s punishment, had been a gift from the emperor. Verikan had wanted to thank Hannah for her help dealing with Captain Rivers and his crew of thieves, and letting her loose in a ship of her own served both of them well.

  Not that he’d forgotten Amanda’s contribution. Verikan had sent Mr. Dieter back home to Earth at his employer’s insistence. The RyaTech were paying for his return with funding for the clinic, which meant Amanda could at last afford to hire more doctors. She wasn’t sure that was an ideal punishment after all the harm Dieter had caused, but she put that out of her mind. He was on another planet now, and she wasn’t likely to ever see him again. Would having him in prison somewhere really be that much better?

  And as Markath had pointed out to her, Dieter had embarrassed his corporate masters. They weren’t known for being forgiving, so his future was hardly rosy. That would have to do as a punishment.

  But between that, and the prize money they’d each gotten for their part in discovering Kagurash’s Monument, the Cain sisters were doing well for themselves. The clinic was funded for years in advance, and Hannah had the capital to invest in making her salvage operations one of the best-equipped on the planet.

  The only problem, from Amanda’s point of view, was that she still didn’t get to spend much time with her sister. The Outrider spent months at a time away from Marsport, making her sister’s visits short and scattered events.

  But Hannah had cut her latest venture short when she heard Amanda’s big news, hurrying home with the hold only half full. Her eyes wide, Hannah grinned ever more broadly and looked at Amanda’s belly. The pregnancy was far enough along to be clearly visible, and Hannah’s eyes went wide with delight.

  “Congratulations, both of you,” she said, and Amanda threw her arms around her sister. “I never thought I’d see you settle down, sis.”

  Amanda looked up at Markath, who watched over her with a protective pride. “It took meeting the right man, I guess. Come on, I need to sit down, and you need to tell us all about your adventures.”

  Markath stepped forward and, without any sign of effort, swung her off her feet to carry her away. He still bore scars from their adventures, but otherwise he was fully recovered — and he’d refused to consider having the scars removed. They were a constant reminder of how he had won his mate, he’d told Amanda when she suggested it, and he would wear them with pride for the rest of his days. Unless she preferred not to see them, he’d added, which had made her laugh. He looked even more ruggedly handsome with them.

  “Put me down, I can walk just fine,” she protested as he carried her away from the dock and towards their home.

  “You said you needed to sit down,” he said, grinning. “And I’ll not have you overdoing things now. Not while you’re carrying my son.”

  “Overprotective idiot,” she said, putting her arm around his neck and hugging him close with a happy smile. “Everyone’s looking at us.”

  “Let them stare,” Markath said, laughing. “I’ve no intention of hiding how much I love my mate.”

  Hannah laughed too and followed the pair of them off the dock. Behind them, her crew set about securing the ship as the port bustled around them. Amanda looked around at Marsport, holding onto her mate as he carried her home, and realized for the first time that it really was home she was going to. Finally, she had a family, a home, and a place she’d be happy to raise children.

  And in turn, her children would have a chance to see the stars.

  Dragon Lord’s Hope

  Dragons of Mars

  1

  Gillian

  Gillian Willis glared at the distant skyship moving along the horizon. Her family's little ice farm out here on Mars's polar ice cap was supposed to be a place to get away from everyone. To be self-sufficient in a way that no one could be on Earth anymore.

  The little patch of ice they'd colonized had been out of everyone's way — until the dragon shifters woke up. Their anti-gravity technology made the skyships possible, and the lure of finding more of their secrets brought more human colonists out to Mars, making the once-empty planet feel almost crowded. Now, skyships passed by the Willis farm most months and it was only a matter of time before someone took too much of an interest in their lives. What they'd planned to be a quiet place where they could live in peace was destined to become a glorified truck-stop.

  Assuming they could keep paying their loans long enough for that to
happen, of course. It was entirely possible that wouldn't last. The ice they mined for drinking water was valuable here on Mars, but the market was getting crowded. A few more years, that's all we need, she told herself. Once the loans are paid off and we own the land free and clear, we can live off what we raise.

  "What are you staring at out there?" her brother's voice crackled over the radio, startling Gillian out of her reverie.

  "Just watching the future go past, Harry." Gillian sighed and turned to look back at the small colony standing on the ice far behind her. There wasn't much to the Willis family home. The glass dome covered enough space to raise their crops, the vehicle bay where they parked equipment out of the cold, and an atmosphere recycling tower that gave them air to breathe. Beside the vehicle bay airlock was a small landing pad for visiting skyships, though it was hardly ever used.

  The actual living areas extended into the ice beneath their feet rather than being on the surface. This far north, the winter cold would freeze them solid if they stayed above ground.

  Ice farming was cold and lonely work. And soon to be automated away, of course, but the Willis's goal had always been to make themselves mostly self-sufficient. For that, they needed their own water source, and the northern ice cap meant that they'd never go thirsty.

  "Number Five isn't getting any closer," Harry warned, sounding a little sulky. "We don't have the power to waste on your suit's heater, you know."

  He'd wanted to be the one to go chase down their errant mining robot, but Gillian had insisted on going herself. She knew her brother well enough to know that he'd be just as annoyed after the long hike chasing it as he would be cooped up in the dome. Her kid brother could be a pain sometimes, but at least this way she could keep him safe.

  "Yes boss," Gillian said dryly, turning away and looking for signs of their wayward robot. The damned thing was meant to be around here somewhere, but it was hard to see it against the bright white of frozen carbon dioxide. Winter was setting in and the Martian atmosphere might be thin, but what there was of it was freezing. Literally: the air was turning to ice around her.

  The mining robots they'd bought were supposed to handle the temperature, but they didn't seem to like carbon dioxide freezing on them. Who does? Gillian asked herself as she set herself into the ice-cold wind and pressed on. There might not be much air to push against her, but the wind was still strong, and she could feel the bite of the cold through the insulation of her suit.

  "Any word from Dad?" Gillian asked as she searched. Their father was on the road to Olympus Colony to talk to the bank about rearranging their loan payments, and she'd been alone with Harry for three days already. She was really starting to look forward to Dad being back.

  I should be reasonable, she thought. He's not been gone that long, not when he had to sell the big load of summer ice too. They wouldn't be able to make many more trips as winter set in, so her father had taken all the ice they had stored to sell. Hopefully the money he'd raised would put the bankers in a good mood for negotiations.

  And while he was in Olympus Colony, maybe he could track down the damned robot salesman who'd offloaded these miners on them. They clearly weren't up to the polar winter. Number Three had fallen into a ravine, and now Number Five had wandered off-course somehow. It was almost as though they were cursed, and the farm really couldn't afford to replace them.

  "No luck yet," Harry replied. "Dad checked in at Fuller Station, so he made it there safe. He sold the ice to Maxine, and that's the last news I can find."

  That wasn't unusual, but it wasn't good news either. Gareth Willis hadn't been the same these last few years, not since his wife had passed. Going to town with all their profits was a temptation Gillian wished he didn't have to face alone.

  Three days should have been enough time to reach Olympus, at least. Gillian tried to put the sinking feeling out of her mind, but she couldn't quite stop herself from worrying that he was drinking their profits rather than paying the bankers.

  "I could have gone with him," Harry said, as though he was reading her mind. Gillian snorted.

  "You're a little young for getting dragged into the bars and gambling joints, Harry," she answered, then felt her cheeks heat. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

  "Hey!" Harry sounded embarrassed too, but she knew they'd been thinking the same thing. "Maybe you could have gone and kept him out of trouble?"

  Gillian sighed. "Dad doesn't listen to me much, you know that. And I couldn't leave you on your own out here — how would you track down a missing robot on your own?"

  "I'd do better than you," Harry objected. "You're slow."

  "It's not easy, walking in this wind." Gillian would have taken a lift on one of the other robots, but Three was down for repairs and Five was missing. They couldn't afford to risk another one just to drive her around. Which meant walking, or taking the one remaining crawler. And the crawler was their only way to get back to Fuller Station if something went wrong out here.

  There was no way she was risking it just to speed up the search, but the biting cold that made it through her suit's insulation made her wish that she could. She tried to distract herself with her anger, and it worked a little.

  The signal from the robot miner drew her south, across the frozen plain. Beneath her feet the ice crunched with every step, and her helmet darkened automatically to save her eyes from the glare of the distant sun. She kept a careful eye on her suit's battery — it was cold enough that the suit heaters had to work hard to keep her alive, and the suit wasn't in the best condition. It didn't keep a charge as long as it should have.

  Nothing around here works, she thought as she crested a dune of ice and looked around for the miner. It should be nearby, according to its radio beacon, but she couldn't see it. Frowning to herself, Gillian pressed on, wondering why the damned robot had traveled so far from home. There was plenty of good ice nearer the farm, ice they'd tagged for the robots to dig out. But sometime during the night, miner Number Five had decided to set out for the edges of the farm's territory.

  "Were you making a break for freedom?" Gillian asked under her breath as she spotted the green hull of the robot in the distance. It was the only splash of color in sight. "I wouldn't blame you if you did, you know. It's been a long time since I got to see anything but ice."

  It wasn't that she didn't like life out here, away from everything. It was better than things had been on Earth, much better. But it did get monotonous and only having her father and brother around was something of a drag. A little more social life couldn't hurt.

  Closing in on the errant robot, her frown deepened. The machine wasn't moving, and ice had formed on its surface. Worse, the damned thing had a crack running across its side. This wasn't just a software error, something had damaged the ice miner.

  Flicking on her suit radio again, she hailed the ice farm. The channel was thick with static, and she had to try several times before she got through.

  "I've found our missing robot," she said. "Don't know if I'll be able to get it up and running though. I can see some hull damage, and it isn't moving."

  "Great." Harry's voice barely made it through the static. "Let's get it back before you freeze out there, right? I don't want to have to come and get you."

  "Don't you dare leave the farm," Gillian snapped. "It's not safe."

  Whatever her brother said to that was lost in a surge of static and Gillian thumped the transmitter on her suit's belt. Damn it, why are you acting up?

  "I said, if you can get the robot moving you should be fine," Harry repeated himself. "The battery will have enough charge for the two of you. Or it should. But if you can't, I'm coming out to get you. You can ground me when you get back."

  "No, you stay put," Gillian said firmly, trudging carefully up to the machine. As she got closer she could see that it was at an angle. The ice under its left tracks had given way — which was exactly why the robots weren't supposed to wander far. The freshly-formed ice sheet was unstable, and sti
ll needed humans to survey safe paths.

  Not to mention the fact that the water around here wasn't the good kind. It was laced with contaminates and salt and would cost a lot of energy to purify. The veins of almost pure drinking water that Number Five was meant to be mining out today would net them a lot more of a profit.

  "Alright, big fella, let's have a look at you," she whispered as she finally reached the bright green hull. The sudden jolt from the ice giving way shouldn't have damaged the big machine, but they'd already found out the hard way that the robots' plastic hulls weren't as resilient as they should be in these temperatures.

  The short fall didn't look like the only source of damage, either. There were tears in the machine's casing, rips where something had dug into the hard plastic high up on the robot. Which ought to have been impossible out here on the glacier. There weren't any crags to hit it, and even if it had run into one of the other robots the cutting surfaces were all too low.

  "What the hell happened?" she asked, getting no reply from the silent machine. "I guess I just have to hope that your error logs actually recorded something. Okay."

  The inspection hatch opened easily enough, and the computer inside was still functioning. That was something, at least. A quick look at the information told Gillian that there wasn't much more good news. The automation software was offline, and the logs were corrupted. From what she could see, the machine thought it had been lifted off the ice and traveled far faster than its maximum speed. Which was impossible. Even the fastest winds she'd seen since the family moved to Mars wouldn't have been fast enough to carry the damned robot that far.

  Whatever had happened to the robot, it wasn't going to find its own way back. Sighing, Gillian checked her suit's battery level again and shook her head. It was dangerously close to halfway dead, so she ought to be turning back.