by Sam Hall
That was the sum total of all knowledge from Aravisian sources in the Celestial Record? I looked at Flea with a frown. “Did you read this?” I pointed to the page. He nodded. “How did a major player in a war get written out of the history books?”
“History is written by the victors. What did the victors want hidden?” Flea said, setting a cuppa before me.
I flipped the page and kept reading.
“It seems the Rozenrrath had more powers than the other riders,” I said after wading through a few chapters. This was a compendium of all the articles or excerpts of books the Record had found about the Rozenrrath. “It’s hard to say specifically what they had, the references are kinda vague, but reading between the lines, definitely seems to be some kind of extra-ness going on. They seem to feature a lot in other cultures as well like they were ambassadors or something. Obviously I would need to read a review of all cultures’ references to any dragon riders to be sure, but up until three hundred years ago, there was a lot of mentions of them visiting, being fixtures in international courts, mediating disputes, facilitating the moving of difficult feral dragons back to Aravisia. I wonder if there’s anything like it now?”
We didn’t get to discuss that further. The front door banged open and Jez stomped in, looking a little worse for wear. “You owe me,” she said, pointing to me. She tried to wipe a smudge on her face away with the back of her hand, but it just smeared further.
“K, what happened?”
“I found evidence that the school is behind the poisoning is what,” she said, brandishing a stained piece of paper. She tried to pass it over, but it seemed to stick to her hand. I plucked it off with my fingertips, trying to avoid getting the gunk on me as well. I took it over to the bench, Miazydar remained asleep despite my movement and smoothed it out on the cutting board. “Next time I give a blowie to a guy for information, I’m getting him to retrieve it,” Jez muttered. She scrubbed her hands in the sink, rubbing soap between them with enthusiasm. “Found a bloke who cleans the VCs office and thought I was on to something. Did the deed and the prick just showed me the midden where all the stuff from Bhechro’s office is dumped. This was under the rotting remains of the last staff function,” she said with a shudder. “The guy gave me a stick to move the rubbish but told me to not make a mess. Bloody dickhead. But I found this.”
“Looks like an invoice, but what for? We can’t read Aravisian,” Flea said, peering over my shoulder.
“Look here, this word, this is how keletha is spelt in Aravisian,” she said.
“How d'you know that?” Flea said.
“Asked the bloke to tell me before he got to the happy place,” she said.
“You think this is evidence they purchased the poison? They wouldn’t be so stupid as to just chuck it in the rubbish pile at the back of the university, would they?” I said.
“It’s not that close, the guy had to give me a lift out there on this cart pulled by these donkey/cow things. Also, these guys are overconfident dick weasels. Not quite in the ‘I’m going to tell you all my evil plans’ way, but more ‘I don’t have to cover my arse because I’m invulnerable,’” Jez said. “And anyway, are any of these lily-livered university students likely to go and trawl through the rubbish? I don’t think so.”
“So we need a translation. I can’t go into Bhechro’s office waving around a partially translated document,” I said. We didn’t get to discuss who would go to the Record because there was another knock at the door. We all looked at each other with frowns. The minute we’d decided to lock down the place, we’d had people fronting up more than ever. We each grabbed our pistols and walked over to the front door.
“Oh!” Scalla said, taking all three of us and the weapons in. Her eyes flicked to me, then Miazydar. “You found him!”
“Yep and come in,” I said, glancing around. “It’ll have gotten out Keel had Hand and Lane over here, but I don’t want everyone coming through here to have a look.” Jez closed the door behind her. “How’re you feeling?”
“I was just released from the hospital. I’ve been able to hold down solids for twelve hours so I was free to go,” she said. “What about you and Miazydar? What happened? Where did you find him?”
The three of us traded looks. I liked Scalla; she seemed friendly and nice, but who’s to say she wasn’t the one pushing me down stairs, or wanting to? “He just turned up,” I said, which was true enough. “While you’re here, can I get you to read something?”
She nodded and then followed us into the kitchen. I pointed to the invoice stuck to the chopping board. She reached out for it, then stopped herself when she saw how sticky it was. Instead, she stood close and read it standing. I watched her eyes scan the text, growing steadily wider as she went. She gasped, then went for something in her pocket. “Uh uh,” Flea said, pointing the gun at her, “what’re you grabbing?”
“My communicator,” she said, freezing still. “This is huge. This is evidence that the VCs office purchased a massive amount of keletha just before the poisoning. I have some contacts in the capital that will want to see this,” she poked the stained paper with a finger. “This could mean the sacking of Bhechro.”
“And who are these contacts?” Jez said, arms crossed over her chest. “I’m not sure we want to release this to the media yet.” She turned to me. “You could do with a blackmailing ace in your pocket if all these assessments go south.”
“They aren’t in the media. They’re…” Her eyes roamed across the floor of the cottage before meeting mine. “They’re an underground organisation.”
I laughed, then forced my face to seriousness when I saw her hurt expression. “I’m sorry, but you’re a secret agent?”
“I dunno, the cutesy-pie look girlfriend’s rocking is a pretty good disguise,” Jez said. “Who’s gonna suspect the kewpie doll?”
“I’m not sure what they are, but she’s correct,” Scalla said, yanking out the pigtails in irritation. Weirdly that was enough to make her look like less doll-like, despite the short, pastel peach A-line dress and chunky Mary Janes in the same shade. “Do you mind if I have a seat?”
I looked at Flea and Jez who nodded. We all ended up back on the couch, Scalla sitting in the armchair. “I’m involved in an organisation that seeks to better represent the interests of dragons.”
“What, the Dragons Liberation Front?” Jez said with a cackle.
“Ah, yes actually. Have you heard of us?”
“No…” I tried to think of a way of explaining the popularity of that style of name on Earth but gave up. “So what does the DLF stand for?”
“Wish it stood for DILF,” Jez said, getting to her feet. “I’d like some hot, older guy to spank me on the arse and make me call him Daddy.” She demonstrated what that would look like with a grin on her face, much to Scalla’s horror. “But I’m going to go and brush my teeth, hopefully without having to wrestle a spider for my toothbrush. I’m pretty sure that guys dick tasted a bit like bin juice.”
“Jesus, Jez!” I said, throwing a threadbare pillow at her.
“What? I said only a little bit. So puritanical.”
“That’s your porter?” Scalla said, narrowing her eyes, then shaking her head with a blink.
“No, she’s my friend acting as my porter. Look, don’t worry about Jez, she’s always like this. But this organisation. Isn’t it risky, talking to a dragon rider about it? I’m assuming you haven’t gone to Alden and his crew about this?”
“Dear gods, no. If there’s anyone bound up into the current system of subjugating and keeping dragons in a state of arrested development, it’s him.” Those big brown eyes turned to me. “I wasn’t sure if I should contact you, my handlers are of two minds, but after you helped the sick students out, I thought it worth a try. I also have plausible deniability. My family pedigree is impeccable, generations of high-scoring merit candidates who have all taken their place in the government for the betterment of Aravisia. They’ll never believe you if you sque
al on me.”
“So, what’s the point of your little secret club and why are you after Tess?” Flea said.
“We believe that dragons are treated like barely sentient transport devices. Their lives, breeding, interactions are all carefully proscribed to keep the human/elf elite in power and everyone else beholden to them.”
“Human/elf?” Flea whispered.
“I think whatever is translating for us is struggling with the term,” I hissed back.
“Everything, from the children’s books and toys we play with as children to the state patronised shows we watch as adults, is designed to maintain the status quo.”
“The same could be said for any society,” I said. “If you’re trying to be a progressive voice in Aravisia, that’s awesome, but what does that have to do with us? We’re not Aravisian.”
“No, and that’s part of the threat you pose, and you’re not even aware of it. Your dragon speaks, has his own mind, contradicts what he doesn’t believe is right, isn’t content to do as he’s told. He’s potentially a one-tonne animal that refuses to mind his betters. Do you know how dangerous that makes him in this country? Dragons never used to be bonded to human/elves when they were just out of the shell. Our records show that they grew up in their family group until late adolescence, then decide whether they wished to take a rider or not. Dragons participated in the governing of the country, were part of the collective wisdom due to their longevity. Now they are little other than winged tau.”
“She speaks truly.” Our eyes jerked down to see M reclining sleepily along my arm, only just awake.
“I believe that the more Miazydar’s abilities are demonstrated, the greater danger he’s in. It might have already started with the poisoning attempt.”
Is that what happened? Were you poisoned?
Later, he replied.
“I think you’re correct,” M said. “So what is it that you want?”
“When you’re better, I want you to meet some of the higher-ups in my organisation. I think we can help each other as well as reverse what dragons have been reduced to.”
“We’ll meet with these people,” Miazydar said, turning to me. “I’m not sure if they’re merely malcontents or the first native humanoids to show some sort of sense since we arrived, but I’m willing to find out. I’ll be ready to fly us to the place of your choosing the day after tomorrow. There will need to be a pretext for our journey and the place will have to be close or we risk breaking the conditions of our stay here.”
Scalla nodded. “I’ll bring a picnic basket and there’s quite a pretty waterfall near here. It would be plausible that we take you somewhere to rest and recover in the sun. I’ll see you early in the morning, a day from now.”
I waited until Jez had gone to her room and Flea was outside having a cigarette before I spoke to Miazydar. “Where did you go? What happened? Were you poisoned by the keletha? Did something attack you?”
He’d settled down into my arms, his long snakelike neck running along my forearm, his eyes heavily lidded. “I don’t know.”
“What? How can you not know?”
“I remember disposing of the keletha, I remember flying back and then…”
“And then?”
“And then it all went blank. When I woke up I could hear you calling so I came as quickly as I could.”
“Where did you wake up?”
“It was a field. There were tau and zaan and grass and that’s it.”
“Do you know which direction you came from? How far away was it? Miazydar?”
Instead of an answer, I got a gentle snore.
22
I slept on the couch that night, Miazydar sleeping along my ribs and shoulder. He had gotten a bit bigger, no doubt as he regained his strength. I woke up with a start the next morning when Jez was making a cup of tea in the kitchen. My eyes had barely begun to focus when I started looking around for him. “He’s outside, in his eyrie,” she said. “He must be feeling better, he’s back to full size and ate a tau already. That’s what woke me up.” She rubbed at her eyes. “I wish he wasn’t the only one getting beef.”
“I’ll go take a look,” I clambered free of the throw blankets I had wrapped around me.
It was chilly when I walked outside, so I rubbed my arms. I looked up at the eyries, walking backwards, my chest a little tight until I saw the hint of gleaming red scales. As if aware I was searching for him, his great head dropped over the edge to stare at me.
Feeling better? I asked.
I didn’t get an answer; he leapt off, dropping down beside me in a fluid swoop. Seeing him whole and at the right size loosened something inside me. I stepped into the curve of his neck, resting my face against the smooth metallic scales and wrapping my arms as far as I could. For a moment, I just was, listening to the sound of his breath come in and out, staring up at the sky as dragons wheeled above us, their riders waving as they passed.
“So, you’ve found your dragon.” I turned to see Bhechro standing there, Kelern, the desk bitch in tow, as well as several burly looking guys.
“He found me, yes.”
“Your dragon is an Aravisian asset and not only did you lose an incredibly valuable entity, you did not report his absence,” Bhechro said. He gestured to Kelern who hurried over with a roll of paper. “This is an authorisation to—.”
“No,” Miazydar said, taking a step forward. It was easy to forget just how big he was sometimes. His claws were bigger than any of our heads, his jaws wide enough to swallow us down. A single trickle of flame came from his muzzle, a sufficient enough threat that everyone else stood back. Bhechro, to his credit, tried to stand his ground. He wiped his brow and blinked, the whites of his eyes beginning to show very clearly as the flare flickered closer. He finally backed up but the piece of paper caught on fire, being quickly set alight and forcing him to let go or be similarly consumed.
“This is… You… This will not stand!” Bhechro spluttered.
“You forget yourself, petty pen pusher,” Miazydar said, growing larger as he loomed over the university officials. “You may try to tie me up in red tape, but you’ll never win a head-on confrontation with a dragon. Now, remove yourself, little man, and go and scour your obscure codes and laws for other ways to ensnare me.” He blew a heavy breath of air at the lot of them and they obediently scurried away, Bhechro struggling to do so at a suitably sedate pace. Miazydar’s head turned as other dragons landed in the clearing by the eyries. Keel swung off his dragon, yanking off his helmet and running over, followed by the Captain and several of her riders.
“What happened? What did he try this time?” Keel said, his eyes flicking from M to me.
“Stand down, Lieutenant. Captain Keya, I’m not sure we’ve met officially,” she said to me, holding out a hand. I shook it.
“He was about to try to use red tape to separate me from my rider,” Miazydar said. “I can’t be certain. I burned the paperwork.”
Captain Keya looked M over carefully, blinking several times as if she couldn’t trust them. “That’s quite unnerving. I’d been alerted to the fact that your dragon was quite different, but seeing is a whole other thing than hearing about it. This is my beast, Hunderley,” she said, gesturing for her beast to come over. He lumbered over on massively muscled legs and bunted her side with his head. “He can say my name, sort of. Hunderley, speak!”
“Kay-va! Kay-va!” her dragon said, sort of. It was almost as if his vocal cords had somehow atrophied, his words sounded like they were being forced past some kind of blockage, sounding somewhat gravelly and distorted. She tossed him a piece of jerky from her pocket without a look and he seemed very pleased with the reward.
Dear gods, Miazydar said.
I know, I know. I don’t know what’s happened to dragons here, but they seem to think it natural. We’re a threat to their accepted world view, so keep that in mind before you act.
You think I don’t realise that? I very much look forward to meeting these coll
eagues of the infantile looking one. If they can explain some of what’s happened here, it will not be time wasted.
Keya waved a hand at Hunderley, stopping him from saying her name over and over in the hope for more treats. She moved away with a little frown when he started snuffling at her pockets. “Hunderley, no!” she said and the dragon instantly fell back. She turned to Miazydar. “I’m still trying to decide whether or not this is a clever parlour trick or you really are fully sentient.”
“How does one prove sentience? Most testing is to establish the opposite.”
“You could be just extremely adept at repeating scripts that your rider feeds you,” she said, looking between the two of us.
His lips curled back from his teeth, but he settled down on the ground, head resting on his paws. “Captain, I…” Keel said but she held up a hand.
“I have not given you permission to speak, Lieutenant. This place always ruins officers. Too many flirty students throwing offers of sexual favours is detrimental to discipline,” Keya said.
“Human/elves can’t fuck and follow orders? One might suggest that it is your kind that has the intelligence deficit,” Miazydar replied.
“Hmm, well, whoever I’m fencing wits with, I have neither the time or inclination to do so. This dragon will be coming under our jurisdiction, not the university’s, so any further overtures from the VC, you need to tell me or one of my people. You’ve obviously made a contact in Lieutenant Bowmere,” Keya said, nodding to Keel, “but any ADC personnel are authorised to bring you to me to discuss any further antics. I have an appointment in ten to inform Bhechro his little enrolment drive centrepiece is no longer his to play with, which promises to be as difficult.” Her eyes fixed on mine, steady and unrelenting. “I don’t enjoy playing politics, human girl, so don’t force me to. I promise; you won’t like the outcome.” Finally, she looked away. “The dragon is to be seen by the Corps veterinarian and the proscribed tests are to be carried out, without argument. The other dragons here can be used to ensure your compliance. Once he’s cleared for flight, you’ll work with Bowmere to ready yourself for the war games. The Queen’s not bending on that. Miazydar and his rider must prove themselves.”
