Dragon's Fire

by Gwynn White

  “Well, I hope your prayers worked. We’re going to need a few miracles to keep that lot happy for the four days they’re here,” Axel said with a levity that belied his concerns about the potentially traitorous desert king.

  As Lynx considered the palace, she wondered where Jerawin intended to house thirty-seven pampered monarchs and their entourages. Even leaving Liatl aside, it sounded like a nightmare to her.

  “Let’s have some breakfast to fortify ourselves for our planning.” Jerawin took Lynx’s arm. “If that great clod of a husband of yours permits, allow me to escort you to my courtyard. There is someone special waiting for you there.”

  “Clod?” Axel groused. “’Nimble, athletic warlord’ is what I think you meant to say.”

  Jerawin laughed and said to Lynx, “As dear as he is to me, I think his head is quite big enough. That’s why I keep the compliments to a minimum.” Before leaving the orb, he bowed his head and closed the simple wooden door behind them.

  Lynx’s curiosity about this “friend” mounted as she followed Jerawin into a narrow passageway as stark as the entrance hall. She caught the sound of tinkling water. They turned a corner into a glass-roofed courtyard, big enough for a small fountain and an intricately shaped wrought-iron table and chairs. It would have been cold but for the wide-mouthed fireplace running the length of one wall.

  A man with long blond hair, dressed in worn leather, stood facing the fire.

  Lynx squealed, “Father!” and broke away from Jerawin to throw herself in her father’s waiting arms.

  “My Lynxie,” her father murmured into her hair. “Back with me after so very long.”

  Body trembling, Lynx clutched him, keenly aware of how much she’d missed him. So much to tell him. So many questions to ask. But she could find no words to say as she held him.

  It didn’t matter; he patted her back as he had when she was a child.

  Finally, she pulled away and looked at him.

  He had more lines, perhaps, around his eyes and forehead, but apart from that, his sun-bronzed face, rimmed with braids, feathers, and beads, was very much like she remembered it.

  “I am so sorry about Mother.”

  He sighed. “I miss her daily. But you are back now, and that is good.” He took her hand and faced Axel and Jerawin. Smiling broadly, he said, “Now, what are we doing to rescue the rest of my family from Lukan’s clutches? I want my grandsons, Nicholas, Grigor, and Meka, safe. And, of course, Kestrel.” He hesitated. “If she wants to be rescued.”

  Lynx looked at him in astonishment. Surely, he, of all people, would acknowledge Talon’s Norin name.

  She opened her mouth to challenge him, but he held up his hand.

  “Nicholas it is, Lynx. He is the Light-Bearer, after all.”

  “Axel warned you,” Lynx said flatly. She was immeasurably grateful to Axel for arranging this meeting with her father, but Winds, as much as she adored her warlord, the man could be annoying at times.

  “Raider, I am a founding member of the Pathfinder Alliance.”

  Even after so many years, Lynx recognized her father’s commanding tone.

  “For the safety of my tribe, I might not have hands-on leadership the way Axel, Jerawin, and Chad do, but our warlord keeps nothing from me.” Thorn’s involvement had never been revealed to the world for fear of Lukan’s retaliation. Despite the best efforts of their raiders, as a vassal nation, Lukan could do what he willed with Norin.

  Lynx grimaced. King Thorn was still her monarch, and she would always defer to him when he wore that “hat.” Still, the defiant she-bear in her longed to counter with, And I’m his mother, so I will call him what I will.

  Instead she smiled sweetly and bit her tongue.

  Despite pulling rank, her father’s eyes twinkled as he guided her to a chair at the breakfast table.

  Jerawin gestured to Axel to sit and then tossed a couple of extra logs onto the fire. He picked up a tunic, hanging over the back of his chairs, and pulled it over his head. The moment he sat, a couple of women appeared, bearing trays of bread, cheeses, a jug of goat’s milk yoghurt, a pot of honey, and a platter of winter berries. A third brought in a samovar and glasses.

  Jerawin pushed the bread and cheese across to Lynx. “Please, help yourself.”

  Lynx poured a bowl of yoghurt and lathered it with honey and berries. Eyes closed, she savored a mouthful, remembering a thousand breakfasts just like this, shared in the cottage with Tao and Talon. She wiped her lips on a napkin. “Father, I assume you are staying here?”

  “Yes. Axel sent an airship for me. Nothing as grand as the Light-Bearer, but it served its purpose. I leave tomorrow when you return to the mines, but I will be here for the solstice meeting.”

  Lynx’s stomach knotted. “Isn’t that risky? Exposing your membership of the alliance to the other monarchs?”

  “If, as I believe, war with the empire is the only way to free the Son of Prophecy so he can go onto destroy Lukan, then the time for hiding one’s alliances is past. The monarchs need to see that we mean business.”

  He was right, but Lynx wished it wasn’t so risky for her people.

  She gestured to Jerawin. “If you don’t mind me asking, where are all the leaders going to stay?”

  Jerawin pointed to the ground. “My home is deceptively large.”

  “You built underground?”

  “A defense against your erstwhile husband. I call it my burrow.” Jerawin patted Axel’s arm. “It was my dear friend Axel’s idea when Stefan was inflicting the worst of his air raids on us.”

  “I had airtight doors and air scrubbers installed here, too,” Axel said, around a mouthful of bread and cheese. “Most of the town could survive in the burrow for a month-long siege.”

  “And the rest of the town?”

  “Would be fighting alongside me against the Chenayans.” Jerawin shot an I-won’t-brook-any-argument-on-this look at Axel.

  Axel snorted. “It’s an old battle. One I have resigned myself to losing.”

  Lynx grinned. “That must be tough, Warlord.” She ran her foot up Axel’s leg under the table. It felt truly wonderful to be at peace with him. For the first time since her release from the cottage, she could banter and play with him without guilt that she was enjoying herself while Talon suffered.

  Axel grinned right back as his foot danced with hers. “You have no idea. So, while the beds aren’t a problem, everything else is.” He pulled a wad of papers, each bearing a royal seal, out of the inside pocket of his coat and slapped them down on the table. “Each monarch’s culinary likes and dislikes, who they’re speaking to and who they’re not speaking to.” He rolled his eyes. “Unless we want another war, we better not put Hi Lai and Beric in the same room.”

  “They sound worse than children.” Time to get down to business. Lynx pulled her foot away from his.

  He gave her a mock frown. “At least children have an excuse.”

  “What underlies their conflict?”

  Jerawin spoke. “Beric of Rain is sandwiched between Zou and Zakar Province. He knows how vulnerable he is to attack if Lukan ever decides to go after Zou’s spice wealth. He was smart strategically, too. He married his swarm of sons and daughters into just about every royal family on the continent of Eraloth. That means most of Eraloth will support him. We expect them all to throw in with the alliance.”

  A small country, Zou made up for its lack of population with its vast spice wealth. In contrast, King Beric of Rain counted his gold in manpower. His allies also had more mouths to feed than coin. It was that abundance of muscle the alliance sought for their war against Lukan.

  “And that’s a problem,” Axel said. “On principle, Queen Hi Lai of Zou will do the exact opposite of what Beric does. She had wanted one of Beric’s sons for her daughter, but he refused. He said an alliance with her would increase his vulnerability. In reality, he didn’t want to get too close to her because Hi Lai is well known for using her economic strength to bend her trade partne
rs to her will. He knew she would control any alliance. Apart from being an affront to her family, his refusal left her feeling exposed. Balancing the two of them has always been a challenge.”

  “And there’s Liatl.” Jerawin threw up his hands in despair.

  A derisive smile from Axel. “My inclination is to run his ass up the flagpole.”

  Lynx patted Axel’s hand. “While I agree it would be satisfying, it would not solve anything.”

  Axel grunted, slashing off a chunk of cheese. “I will be my usual politic self. I will carefully pick my time to tell the bastard that I know about his plans to attack us.”

  “That is probably wise. With luck, when he sees the opposition, he will silently recant without losing face,” Thorn said. “Because if he suspects we know, it will force him to continue on that course.”

  Jerawin shifted through the pages Axel had given him. “Like it or not, Hi Lai and Beric will have to be together in the temple, where we’ll have our official meeting. Hopefully the stars will spread their peace on everyone. Including the desert king.”

  “I suggest we have the business meeting before the solstice festival starts,” her father said in his usual decisive way. “That will give us an opportunity to talk informally with each of them while we celebrate. We can answer questions and bring over any of the undecideds.”

  Heads nodded in agreement.

  “I’ve arranged with my programmers to prepare informas for each monarch as gifts. I want Nicholas’s imprisonment to be a constant reminder to them of the need for war.”

  The stars on Jerawin’s face rolled their surprise. “Axel, most of them will resist informas. You know they don’t like the technology.”

  “I don’t like yoghurt, but that doesn’t change the reality that the foul-smelling stuff exists.” To make his point, Axel pushed the jug to the far side of the table.

  Lynx smiled and covered her mouth with her hand.

  Axel noticed. “Too late, my Lynxie, you’ll have to wash your mouth out with soap and water before I come anywhere near you again.” But he squeezed her hand briefly before saying, “It will not harm for Liatl to see that he will be fighting technology far more advanced than his with nothing but crossbows and steam engines to aid him. Hopefully, the man will see reason.”

  “I agree with Axel,” her father said. “Liatl is no fool. He won’t like those odds. But he is also cunning.” He curled his lip. “Seems there is not much honor to be had amongst the desert tribes. Expect a cornered rat’s reaction from the man, and we should be ready for anything he throws at us.”

  Jerawin pursed his lips. “Then it would seem that I am in the minority. Informas it is.”

  “I’m counting on the shock factor of seeing Nicholas in his cell to prod Hi Lai’s conscience to get her to agree to fight next to Beric and his allies.” Axel’s hand shot into his pocket. He pulled out his informa and flicked his thumb across it.

  From where Lynx sat, she saw nothing but a gray stone, but Axel held up his hand to her, Jerawin, and her father.

  “Excuse me, but it’s Stefan.” He pulled up the light, and both Stefan’s face and Chad’s popped up. They both looked grim.

  “This seems ominous. What’s happening, Stef? Has Lukan caught wind of our conclave?”

  “No. But that’s moot. He plans to gas you all on the night of the solstice. He’s using the festival to target the leadership of the alliance because he wants Axel, Chad, and Jerawin dead so he can get to Lynx. He thinks Axel will leave her in the mines during the festival.”

  Stefan’s words fell into a pool of silence.

  Axel recovered first. He turned to Lynx. “You still think Lukan could ever worship in this temple with Jerawin and Simtal?”

  All traces of appetite gone, Lynx stared at her yoghurt. “He’s not right in the head. A normal man doesn’t plot mass murder to get a woman, the same woman who has spent seventeen years rejecting him.”

  “Spirits preserve us, they most certainly don’t,” Chad said. “But clearly, we cannot risk the monarchs’ lives.”

  “No, we can’t.” But Lynx could almost see Axel’s mind churning. “What’s his plan, Stef?”

  “Felix wasn’t expansive. All I know is that Lukan, Felix, and Meka are coming to Maegkin for the solstice. That’s when the Dragon’s Fire, that’s what he calls the gas, will be unleashed by a drone airship. The bad news is that he’s designed the ship for getting past your early warning system.”

  Both Axel and Jerawin grimaced.

  Then Axel said, “I’m surprised it hasn’t already happened. We’ll just have to find a new way of programming our defenses, but clearly that won’t help us now. The good news is that we’ll have Meka. What’s happening with the release of Nicholas?”

  “I’m glad you found a bright spot in that, Ax. See how you go with this. Lukan has a whole fleet of airships loaded with gas stationed around the world. He carries the trigger in his skin for that Burning, so Felix refuses to consider giving us Nicholas until Lukan has been neutralized.”

  Lynx flung her chair back and shot to her feet. “Doesn’t the idiot know that Lukan will never be neutralized until Nicholas is freed?”

  Her father stood and rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure Felix knows that only too well, and that is precisely why he’s hedging.”

  Lynx sat, fighting to get her temper under control.

  Axel stroked her hand. “It’s why I wanted Meka, remember?”

  Of course she remembered—now. “Sorry. I get . . . frustrated.”

  “We get that. And as an alliance leader, that’s an important part of your job,” Stefan said gently. “To remind us all that we are dealing with human beings, not assets.”

  Axel grunted at Stefan. “You’re never going to forget that, are you?”

  “Nope.”

  Axel gave a derisive smile. “It’s my job to make sure we use every advantage we have. And that includes Meka.”

  “Then I have even more news. You can decide for yourselves if it’s good or bad,” Stefan said. “Felix plans to let Vasily take the fall for leaking the Dragon’s Fire to Meka. But because Vasily would never tell the boy such sensitive information, we have to convince Meka to confront Lukan with the gassing. Felix believes the lad is rebellious enough to mouth off to Lukan.”

  Stefan paused, looking pained. “Gods preserve me, but I propose suggesting to Meka that he wear an ice-crystal tracker. Felix assures me he will imprison the lad with Nicholas. Meka’s ice crystal can led us right to Nicholas’s jail cell.” He held up a vial of blue liquid. “I have a tracker right here we could use.”

  A wave of oohs surged through the room. Even Chad, sitting next to Stefan in the hot springs cavern, shook his head, looking troubled.

  “I know how terrible this sounds,” Stefan said defensively. “And I’ve just accused Axel of heartlessness, but if it prevents a war to rescue Nicholas, then surely it is an acceptable compromise?”

  A victim of ice crystal, Lynx wanted to argue, but she couldn’t. Not when she saw Stefan’s anguish at the mention of more war. Also, this idea was relatively low risk. Not something that could be said about marching on Cian.

  She glanced around the room to assess everyone else’s reaction. Cautious interest.

  Was it possible it could be so easy? Lynx tugged on her braids until her scalp hurt, unable to believe that Felix could be trusted to bring his side of the deal.

  “Tao raised Talon as if my boy were his own son. I have to look after his boys in the same way. I could never live with myself if Meka is harmed because we trusted that snake Felix.”

  “Felix assures me Meka will not be harmed. I believe him because I extracted the plans for that stealth drone from him. He knows if he reneges and hurts Meka, I will tell Lukan that Felix is responsible for the leaks. Felix is up to his neck and has very little wiggle room.”

  Axel looked up sharply. “The stealth drone? Send the plans to Gareth and his team. They can get working on a new design
right now.” He grinned. “Forget a naval invasion. A fleet of invisible Light-Bearers would be unstoppable.”

  “I have already sent him the plans.”

  Axel still envisaged war, despite having Meka?

  Her father raised his hand. “Stefan, you’re certain Felix won’t guess about the ice crystal? I don’t want to imagine what he will do to my grandson if he discovers he wears a tracker.”

  “Unlikely. He doesn’t even know I have a stash of them,” Stefan replied with quiet certainty. “No one outside this meeting will know that we plan to embed Meka with a tracker.”

  “Objections, anyone?” Axel looked at each of them in turn.

  No one responded.

  Jerawin clapped his hands. “Then it is decided. Young Meka will be persuaded to act for the common good. The only question that now remains is how we deal with the gassing. It will, of course, mean that we have to cancel the conclave and the festival. May the gods forgive us.”

  He—and everyone—looked squarely at Axel for answers to this problem.

  Axel paced the length of the room. “There will be no cancellation of the conclave and no word mentioned to the kings, either. Not when Lukan has finally given us everything we need to convince the bastards to commit to fighting this war with us.”

  “You still want to fight?” Stefan asked.

  “Of course! What else is the Pathfinder Alliance for? We all knew that once Nicholas left the forest, we would put a campaign together to fulfill the prophecy. The monarchs never intended to be part of the war even though they’re clamoring for it. We can’t wage it successfully without them. I’m not giving up this opportunity to persuade them to get on board so we can finally defeat Lukan.”

  Everyone looked expectantly at Lynx.

  Her father asked, “Is the Light-Bearer ready?”

  Lynx bit her lip. “Not to plan a campaign, no. But after his imprisonment, I doubt he will have any trouble slitting Lukan’s throat. With Lukan gone and Felix supposedly on our side, the empire should fall. That is the core of the prophecy, isn’t it?”