Dragon: Allie's War Book Nine

by Andrijeski, JC

  The Mythers were trying to breach their wall. Again.

  I’d been hearing about this kind of thing on the feeds, even before we got here. It wasn’t only happening in Thailand. These more systematic and better-armed attempts to break into enclave communities from the outside had been springing up all over. We didn’t know if Shadow’s people were behind it, not for certain, but I strongly suspected they were.

  I figured they had to be funding it, at least, even if they weren’t involved directly.

  Anyway, this had the stink of Menlim all over it, from the weirdo apocalyptic religious crap to what it seemed to be doing to the human population. Divide and conquer, keep everyone afraid and traumatized, willing to act impulsively, violently…and stupidly.

  It might have been boring in its repetition if it wasn’t so consistently effective.

  Adding that darker injection of religious fanaticism just made it all worse.

  You couldn’t reason with these fuckers, whether they were being actively brainwashed by Shadow and his people or not.

  All of it seemed calculated to divide the human populations further and get them to turn on one another even more. Also, yeah, so far they’d solely targeted non-Shadow cities and enclaves, so there was that. The feeds claimed that was because security measures were too impenetrable in the Dreng cities, but I had serious doubts that was all of it.

  I was still watching the smoke rise on that end of the wall when a voice rose in my headset.

  “Hey,” he said, impatient. “What’s going on? Are we all right to continue?”

  I clicked softly, my lips firming.

  I looked down to the streets around the hotel itself, looking for any increased activity from the blast. There was plenty, but it was all heading away from us, not towards us. Civilians were locking their doors. The militia was heading for the wall on the other side of the river.

  I clicked over into the Barrier construct I was helping to hold since we didn’t have anything permanent in place yet. I pinged Wreg in the same set of seconds.

  Hey, I said to him. We okay? Revik wants to know.

  I practically heard Wreg’s snort, even with the wind and from all the way across the roof.

  Of course he does, Wreg muttered. Tell him we’ve split off part of the team to monitor the area of the bomb, but we should have more than enough to cover his end. I was considering sending Chan down there…since they haven’t left yet. What do you think?

  I nodded, once.

  Before I answered Revik, I sent a packed message to Balidor conveying everything Wreg just told me, including the part about Chandre.

  Tell him yes on Chan, Balidor sent back at once. Unless you disagree?

  No, I agree, I assured him. Thanks. And let me know if anything changes down by that wall. Can you coordinate with Chan directly?

  When I felt Balidor acquiesce, I switched my focus back to Revik, unshielding my light.

  We’re all good, I assured him. Balidor’s monitoring the situation on the wall. You don’t need to worry about that. And I’m staying away from those lights, too.

  I felt Revik relax…slightly…but he still felt wound up.

  I didn’t bother to ask why.

  Good, he sent. Then we’re ready to go down here…

  I passed that on to Wreg, too.

  It was weird acting as translator for Revik of all people, but they didn’t want him tied in too closely to our main security constructs right now, for obvious reasons. I was only in part of those same constructs for the same obvious reasons. Wreg acted as a go-between too, keeping my light in an area of the construct that had been sequestered off from the most high-level security segments. They’d restructured all of those constructs in the last few weeks, too.

  Are they any closer to locking that box of crazy down? Wreg asked me.

  Rather than interrupting Revik to ask, I read him in order to answer Wreg’s question.

  Revik thinks they’re most of the way there. It can only be temporary, of course… I added, more or less translating Revik’s thoughts. He wants to take both of them out of the city as soon as possible, now that we’ve got them secured in the truck and the tank construct’s holding. He’s thinking maybe we use Chan as a diversion if she gets stuck here much longer…

  I felt Wreg acknowledge that, too.

  A twinge of impatience left his light that time, though.

  It occurred to me I was thinking things at him that Wreg already knew, maybe out of nerves, or maybe just to fill space. Unlike humans, seers didn’t tend to repeat known information to one another as a general rule, so Wreg took my doing so now as nagging.

  Or an unnecessary reminder, at the very least.

  He took his security duties pretty damned seriously. Especially now.

  What about the illusion on the street? Wreg grunted. How does it look? Can we lock it down as is, or does he want us to modify it first?

  I sighed a little, but passed that question on to Revik directly.

  “I’m thinking we should go more towards the dead body smell for the humans,” Revik said matter-of-factly, using the headset that time. “…We’re good on the seer side. As good as we can make it, anyway. We’re pretty far from most of the seer enclaves anyway. The humans are no where near cleaning up this side of the city, so a large number of their dead should create a pretty wide area of avoidance…”

  I nodded, then sent that on to Wreg, too.

  Most of my attention remained on the wall and the column of smoke and to a lesser degree on Balidor’s team, even through the back and forth with Revik and Wreg.

  I could hear the increase in automatic gunfire.

  I got a twinge when it hit me that Balidor and Wreg had already sent Chan with a small team to see if they could help the Thai humans. From the Barrier things were still pretty confused––a lot of shouting and tension, especially on the defending side of the wall. The Myther side felt strangely blank to me until I realized they must have seers with them, shielding them, which made me nervous, too.

  Don’t get too close, princess… Wreg cautioned me. Adhipan is monitoring those fucks.

  What do you think, Wreg? I sent. Do they know we’re here?

  I felt Wreg focus on my question, even as his consciousness remained split.

  I felt him continue to work on the construct around the truck and monitor what Chan and the others were doing even as he answered me.

  I think your husband is right, Wreg said finally. I think our being on the defensive and simply trying to avoid them won’t work for much longer, Esteemed Bridge. I think we’ll end up being dragged down by the wolves if we continue like this. They’ve got us on the run, and they know it. It will only make them more aggressive…

  I frowned, but didn’t comment.

  I agreed with him, just like I’d agreed with Revik when he’d said more or less the same thing to me, only using stronger words. I knew with Revik it was more than that, but it didn’t take away from the essential rightness of what he believed.

  I also knew it had to happen soon.

  The thought brought a sudden, hard knot to my chest.

  The pain came fast enough and intensely enough that it nearly blanked me out. I found myself panting a few seconds later as my vision blurred, a fist pressed to the middle of my chest. I forced my mind to work, to pull back, even as I fought for air. It hit me suddenly that I might black out…I might black out for real.

  Sister? Wreg sounded alarmed. Sister…are you all right?

  His voice receded as I fought to hold it back.

  Sister? Allie!

  That time, Wreg’s thoughts sounded clearer. Still panting, I shook my head, still fighting to hold onto consciousness, to force it back.

  I’m all right, I managed.

  Sister…I did not mean to upset you, he sent. He exuded worry now, even a flicker of panic. I felt guilt with that, too, but his worry overpowered the rest. Esteemed sister, I apologize. Truly. I spoke too bluntly. I thought I was merely
confirming what you and Nenz––

  It’s fine, I told him again. Really, Wreg…it’s fine. It’s nothing you said. And I agree. Just get Chan out of there in one piece…we need her. Especially now.

  Wreg hesitated, long enough that I knew he didn’t believe me.

  He didn’t try to get me to tell him anything, though.

  And yeah, I wasn’t lying. My reaction wasn’t about him at all.

  It wasn’t even really about what he’d said.

  I agreed with Wreg’s assessment about the current attack on the wall of the enclave, too. I didn’t think we were at immediate risk. I thought Chan should go down there to make sure, but I didn’t think they would be coming for us today.

  Even so, the timing of the breach attempt unnerved me.

  It also felt a lot like a message. Like whatever their plans for us, they knew where we were. I was beginning to think they knew exactly where we were…that maybe they’d known that pretty much from day one. In some more distant area of my light and mind, I felt Revik agree.

  Pushing that awareness out of the forward areas of my light, I forced myself to sigh.

  Right now, there was only the immediate.

  Revik had been teaching me a lot about that lately, too.

  In the immediate, we had to deal with Feigran and Cass.

  Once we had the two of them secured, we would take them out of the city, using the same armored truck now parked below the apartment complex. But first we needed to create a construct that had a prayer of getting us past Shadow’s seers. The problem with that, of course, was that the main person we had to help us with that––meaning Revik––was also the one person in our group most likely to be overheard by those same Shadow seers.

  Which meant, yeah, we had to get Cass and Feigran the fuck out of Thailand.

  More to the point, we had to get them away from me and Revik.

  Same with our daughter. Same with Revik’s son, Maygar.

  Same with any asset we couldn’t afford to lose, apart from one another.

  Given everything, neither Revik nor I could know much of anything about the route they took out of the city, much less their final destinations. I could make some guesses, sure, given what I knew about the neighboring countries and bodies of water…but I went out of my way to minimize my exposure to information or intelligence that could aid me in those guesses. The news feeds didn’t penetrate much of the countryside outside of the enclaves anyway, and I’d deliberately kept far away from all of those planning meetings, especially those involving Lily.

  Revik and I had been letting Balidor handle the bulk of the logistics for those.

  But yeah, most of our people would be driving into the dark soon.

  As the thought repeated in my light, I made a decision.

  I’m going down there, I told Wreg. To the tank. You don’t need me up here anymore, do you? You got what you needed from Revik?

  I felt a flicker of surprise on Wreg, and an awareness that something had just happened. I could feel him trying to tie that in some way to the reaction he’d felt on me a few moments earlier when he’d spoken about the likelihood of a Shadow attack.

  I felt something else in his light, too…something more subtle, something to do with Revik. I felt that last part tangibly enough that I could tell Wreg had noticed things were a bit off between the two of us. Maybe even a lot off.

  I felt curiosity on him related to that, but mainly I felt his worry.

  I felt Jon in some of that, too.

  Of course, princess, he assured me, blowing warmth at me, as if he’d felt my increased attention on his light. We are perfectly fine up here. You are free to go, if you wish. He hesitated, then his thoughts turned more carefully teasing. Are you going down there to give shit to that dugra-te di aros husband of yours? If so, I heartily approve. Moreover, I would be happy to assist if you require back up in any way…

  Liar, I sent, snorting. You’d probably help him to gang up on me. Smiling, I shook my head, even though I knew he couldn’t see me where he was. And no, brother troublemaker…I’m not going down there to hassle Revik. Not this time.

  Then what? You have some purpose, yes, ilya? You feel…purposeful.

  I rolled my eyes. Subtlety is not your strong suit, Wreg.

  I felt him smile, but that sharper interest remained in his light.

  I felt him waiting, too.

  Yes, I sent, clicking in exasperation but smiling in spite of myself. Yes, I have a purpose. I’m going to talk to Feigran…while we still have him, I added darkly.

  I felt a flicker of real reaction in Wreg’s light that time.

  He didn’t say anything, but I felt him understanding more than just the words I’d spoken. That worry in his light intensified as I thought it, enough that I felt a twinge of guilt.

  Things were definitely going to get harder soon.

  Even apart from what was going on with me and Revik…I could feel it.

  3

  EXCUSES

  Loki walked past the make-shift security station that stood watch over the Barrier construct tank, now housed inside a military ground-transport vehicle. Pushing through the organic flaps that denoted the edge of the main construct, he left through the doorway cut in the organic separating wall that acted as a buffer from the apartment complex lobby.

  He nearly ran into the Bridge as he did it.

  She seemed to look through him in those first few seconds they faced one another.

  Then her light green irises clicked into focus. She frowned, and Loki couldn’t help noticing how much the expression reminded him of similar looks he’d gotten from the Sword.

  “Loki,” she said, her voice crisp. “You’re still here.”

  Loki hesitated, looking past her briefly. Then he nodded, reluctant.

  “Yes, Esteemed Sister.”

  He fought with what else to say, even as he saw her eyes narrow. He could almost feel her scanning his light, although he imagined it might be in his head.

  In any case, her messaging was clear.

  She knew. She knew, and she wasn’t having it.

  When she didn’t break the silence for another few seconds, Loki nodded again, more decisively that time.

  “Yes, Esteemed Sister,” he said, his voice more formal. He executed a short bow, his hand in the respectful sign of the Bridge. “I will remedy that tonight.”

  The harder look in her eyes relaxed.

  “Good,” she said. She seemed about to walk past him, then hesitated. She startled him, reaching out with one hand and laying it on his bare arm. Loki had been about to continue walking forward, but he froze, meeting her gaze.

  “Tell Gina I’m sorry,” she said, quieter. She gave a sideways head tilt, a seer’s apology. “I don’t like sending you, Loks…I really don’t. But we don’t have any choice. We’re all going to have to do things we don’t like right now. All of us. Do you understand?”

  Looking at her, Loki exhaled.

  Feeling something in his own chest relax, along with a flicker of warmth for the Bridge herself, he nodded.

  “Of course, Esteemed Bridge.”

  “I really am sorry,” she said.

  “Don’t be, Esteemed Bridge,” he said, and meant it. “Thank you, Esteemed Bridge,” he added and meant that, too.

  She gave another seer’s nod, a single, sharp jerk of her head.

  Then she was gone through the organic flaps, entering the security station Loki himself had just left. Taking another deep breath, he let it out a few seconds later. Frowning as he thought over the Bridge’s words, even as a firmer resolution made itself felt in his light, he turned on his heel, walking with determined steps towards the lobby of the apartment building.

  He pushed his way through the glass doors, and…

  The daughter ambushed him on the other side.

  She must have been waiting for him there. Either way, she stepped out at him, barring his way the instant he emerged from the relative brightness of the outsi
de to the dimmer gold and red hues of the once-opulent building lobby.

  “You!” she said, her voice already accusatory. “I want to talk to you.”

  Loki felt his light reconfigure, turning immediately into a shield, even though the girl in front of him was slight, a bare sixteen years in age, and human.

  Behind him, he heard a laugh. Loki turned, saw a group of infiltrators walking in the glass doors on the other side, including many Loki knew. Raddi walked in directly behind him, clapping him on the back as he passed with a barely suppressed guffaw.

  Good luck, brother… the younger seer whispered in his mind. That’s what you get for going after jailbait human tail…

  She is not jailbait.

  What is she, thirty-five? At most?

  That is full adulthood for a human, and you know it, Loki sent back, gritting his teeth. She has an adolescent child of her own, for the love of the gods…

  Whatever you say, brother, Raddi joked. I bet Dante thinks her mom’s too young for you, too…

  I highly doubt that is her complaint, Loki retorted.

  Raddi grinned. Well, I’m positive that if you just explain to her how it really went down…how you met her mother when she was half-naked, tied up and being kept as a sex slave, and how seeing her like that brought up an overwhelming urge in your light to fuck her senseless, Dante won’t mind a bit, brother––

  Loki shut the other seer out of his mind before he could go on.

  Not before he heard the giggles of Chinja and Starlen on his other side, though, or before he caught Jax grinning at him from the opposite end of the lobby where he stood with Deklan.

  Loki didn’t want to hear the rest, not with his light still swimming with reactions to the Bridge’s words, and the teenaged daughter in question glaring up at him, tapping her foot as she waited for him to deal with her.

  Truthfully, though, Raddi’s words stung.

  Maybe in part because the seer’s jabs skirted awfully close to some of Loki’s own misgivings around what he’d done in the field that day, as well as his lingering guilt at how he’d reacted when they’d first found Gina. It didn’t help that he’d intended to go visit her at that very moment, and had in fact intended to do more than simply talk. Even now, as his eyes studied the face of Dante warily, his light looked for her mother’s almost obsessively inside the construct.