Dragon Bones (The Dragonwalker Book 1)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Don’t be stupid,” she said.

  “Why is that stupid? How long have we known each other?”

  “It’s been a year, Fes, but you can’t keep doing this.” She glanced over at him before entering Horus’s home. It was much nicer than others within the slums. He had a thick carpet across the floor, something that Fes had never seen anywhere else. The table and chairs resting near the hearth both matched, and from somewhere in the back came the smell of baking bread, a savory scent that made Fes’s mouth water. He doubted Horus would allow him to have any, especially now that he wasn’t the one to have completed the job.

  Horus emerged from a back room, dressed almost regally in a chocolate-colored jacket and pants, smiling warmly at Alison before turning to Fes. “Did you get it?” he asked. He had a deep voice and flat gray eyes. He had to be in his fifties, but he was still fit, and he was still intimidating.

  “We got it,” Alison said.

  “The two of you?” Horus asked.

  Alison pulled the necklace from her pocket and handed it over to Horus. “We got it.”

  Fes glanced over at her guiltily. She was giving him too much credit. Seeing the way that Horus’s eyes lit up when he saw the necklace, Fes didn’t know if it was because of the gold or whether it was the jewel at the center. Either way, the necklace was far more valuable than the few coppers that Horus had offered for it.

  Reaching into his pocket, he felt for the bone. It was warm, and it pressed against his thigh. How much would Horus offer for something like this?

  Probably not nearly what it was worth.

  “I’ll be honest. I didn’t think Fezarn was going to be successful,” Horus said.

  “Well, we were,” Alison said.

  She was far better than him. Would he have included her if the situation was reversed? He knew that he would. Alison might be the only person he protected.

  Horus reached into his pocket and handed Fes a pair of copper coins. He squeezed them tightly. They would feed him for the week, and in that time, he had to hope that Horus would come up with another job. And then another. As long as the jobs kept coming, and as long as Fes managed to succeed with them, he would be able to keep eating.

  The coins he handed Alison seemed shinier than the ones Fes held.

  He glanced over at Alison. Fes had taken the job for a few coppers, but how much did Alison get paid? They didn’t talk about it, but he wouldn’t put it past her to be paid twice as much as him.

  “Go,” Horus said.

  Fes looked around the room a moment before getting dragged away by Alison. There was wealth here, the kind of wealth that Fes would never know. He would never reach the luxury that Horus knew, and if his jobs failed to deliver, there might come a time when he starved.

  When they reached the street, he looked over at Alison. “How much did he pay you?”

  “Fes—”

  Fes shook his head. “How much were you paid? We were offered the same job, more or less.”

  “You were offered a job, and mine was to ensure it succeeded.”

  “Then I should have been paid more.”

  “Except I was the one who completed the job. Were it not for me, you would have wandered off like you did and we never would have managed to get the prize.”

  “How much?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Then tell me. You know how much I got paid.”

  She stared at him for a moment. “Two silvers, okay?”

  Fes blinked. Silvers? He couldn’t imagine being offered two silvers. Even a single silver would be enough for him to eat for more than a month. Two would let him sleep in his own room, albeit not all that nice of a room.

  “Why are you getting paid so much?”

  “Keep working for him, and you will get rewarded. Maybe find a prize that you don’t need someone’s help for.”

  Fes thought of the dragon bone, and he glanced toward the door, wondering if maybe he shouldn’t go and tell Horus about it, before deciding not to. If he did, there would be no point. What would Horus even do if he brought him a dragon bone? Maybe he’d offer him two coppers, but maybe he would offer less. And if it was less, what was the point of it?

  “Where are you going?” Alison asked as he turned away.

  Fes looked over at her, shaking his head. “I’m just going away for a little bit. I might go visit Tracen.” At least if he visited his friend, he would be out of the slums, if only for a little while. Tracen was one of the few people he knew who had managed to escape, finding an apprenticeship that offered him a life beyond this part of the city. While Fes missed him, he didn’t begrudge Tracen the opportunity to live a life where he wouldn’t be forced into stealing. Tracen was better than that. He deserved better than that.

  “Come on, Fes. You know that we need to take what we can, especially here.”

  He nodded. The message was clear. Life wasn’t fair in the slums, and he knew that, but that didn’t change the fact that he wished that things were different. Had his parents not been lost—or his brother—maybe things would’ve been different for him.

  As he made his way down the street, he stayed in the shadows, keeping off to the side so that others didn’t bump into him. He rounded a corner, barely paying attention, and came face-to-face with a tall man dressed in a crimson-colored robe.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, turning off to the side.

  “Sorry. Yes. Perhaps you are sorry.” He leaned toward Fes, and he ran his hand along Fes’s jacket until it was just outside of the pocket containing the dragon bone. A smile drifted across the man’s face. Warmth radiated from him, reminding Fes of the sensation he’d had before leaving with the necklace. He jumped back, trying to get away, but the man smiled at him. “Interesting.”

  Somehow, he had known that Fes had the dragon bone.

  This couldn’t be the same person he’d caught a glimpse of during the job, could it? How would he have followed?

  “Listen, I’m just going to be—”

  The man started to laugh, cutting Fes off. “You’re just going to be what?”

  “I’m just going to be going,” Fes said.

  “Oh no. Not quite yet.”

  He started to turn, but the man grabbed his sleeve, keeping him from turning. “You can have it. I—” Fes started.

  The man jerked him around, and Fes came face-to-face with him again. “How did you find it?”

  “It was in a room.”

  “Yes. I know that it was in a room. How did you find this one?”

  Fes shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  The man cocked his head to the side, seeming to study Fes. The crimson cloak was the color of the empire, and there was something about this man that made Fes nervous in a way that even the Dragon Guard might not.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Nobody.”

  The man took another step forward. “What’s your name?”

  There was a command within it, and he felt almost as if he were compelled to answer. “Fes.”

  The man smiled slightly. “Fes? That’s quite the unusual name.”

  Fes only shrugged. “What do you want with me?”

  “It’s not so much what I want with you, it’s what I can offer you.”

  “And what can you offer me?”

  The man smiled widely, but it never seemed to reach his hazel-colored eyes. “A job.”

  Chapter One

  Fes knew better than to take so long completing the most recent job to acquire a dragon bone. In the year since accepting Azithan’s offer, he’d learned the fire mage was patient, but there were limits to that patience. He needed to acquire the bone, and when he did, he would get paid. Three gold coins, enough to keep him fed for the next month given the lifestyle he now kept. It was much more than he’d once been paid for similar jobs, but then again, Azithan appreciated Fes and his work.

  There was movement along the street and a flash of red hair. Fes swore under his breath.
/>   Carter.

  If she managed to get to this before him, he’d miss out on his payment. Fes prided himself on completing Azithan’s jobs, ensuring that he did everything that he asked, not wanting to fail him. He rarely failed Azithan, something that made both of them happy. It certainly allowed Fes to remain out of the slums and stay in nicer parts of the city. The jobs Azithan asked of him required him to sneak around, but for the most part, Azithan wanted him for his ability to find Dragon relics, something Fes seemed particularly skilled at. For some reason, he was drawn to them.

  Fes raced forward, chasing after Carter. The street was busy, but not so busy that he couldn’t navigate through it, and he bumped past a few people as he made his way through. Storefronts lined the street on either side, but he didn’t pause to look at any of them, not wanting the distraction. He hadn’t been through this section in the city for a while, and even if he had, he wasn’t sure that he would recognize any of the stores. This was a better section, a place where merchants sold their wares and would expect to be paid what they were worth, nothing like the slums Fes had come from.

  Carter turned a corner, and he chased after her. She was a thief, but she was more than that. She was violent in a way that Fes never was—at least not anymore—and when she got involved, people ended up hurt. It wasn’t that Fes minded violence, certainly not if he was the one inflicting it, but he didn’t like the idea of Carter getting involved in a job he was after.

  There had been enough interaction between the two of them over the years, going back to when he had worked for Horus, hat he knew better than to take her lightly. She often chased the same dragon relics as Fes, and she had an ability to sniff them out that rivaled his, something that he suspected annoyed Azithan.

  Fes turned a corner, and there she was. She stalked toward a child standing near the merchant he’d been following, a knife in hand.

  His mind flashed back to what had happened to his brother. He’d been lost in the city, killed by someone too much like Carter.

  Fes lunged, grabbing her and pulling her focus away from the boy.

  Carter spun around with a growl that faded to a smile when she saw him. “And what are you after today, Fes?” she asked, leaning toward him. She shifted her hips, swaying them as she took a step toward him, almost as if trying to seduce him. She was an attractive woman, but far too deadly to be of any interest to him.

  “Stay back, Carter. This is my job.”

  “And what does your master have you doing today?”

  “The same thing that your master has you doing.”

  She grinned. “Oh, that.”

  “And who is your master?”

  Carter stepped up to him, leaning toward him. She was about a head shorter, but incredibly strong. He’d seen her fight with the two swords she had buckled at her waist and knew better than to tangle with her. All Fes carried were his daggers, and he hesitated to use them in any way that would draw attention. All it took was one wrong move, an attack on someone who mattered within the city, and he would attract the attention of the Dragon Guard, something Azithan warned him against. Azithan protected him, but there were limits to his protection, and Fes had no interest in testing them, not wanting to jeopardize his position with the fire mage.

  “I’m sure you would like to know,” she said.

  He would like to know, and that was entirely the point. As far as he knew, she served someone much like he served Azithan, but he still had not been able to figure out who that was. Carter took higher-end jobs, and as far as he could tell, she was even better off than him, and Azithan paid well.

  “So, it’s like that?”

  Carter smiled, leaning toward him with a slight shake of her hips.

  Fes danced back, grabbing for his dagger almost too late. She grinned as her sword slipped free from her sheath.

  “So jumpy,” she said.

  “Stay back from me,” he said.

  “Are you worried I might hurt you?”

  Fes stared at her. “I know well enough to be concerned.”

  “Good.”

  “Are you sure that you really want to get involved with what I’m after? If you know anything about me, you know that the person I work for has no tolerance for those who get in his way.” Since Azithan served the emperor, it gave Fes a little more cache, but with Carter, it was hard to know if that mattered.

  She took a step back and slipped her sword back into her sheath.

  At least she still gave him the treatment that he thought that he deserved, a certain level of respect that should exist between them. They were competitors, but they weren’t all that different, other than the fact that she was willing to maim and kill to accomplish her goals, and Fes was the more cautious of the two. It was different than what he had experienced when he still had worked in the slums. When he was there, there had been no honor between thieves. It had been everyone for themselves, which was part of the reason that he had struggled as much as he had.

  “Yes, about that. I am certain your master has no tolerance for such things, but at the same time, neither does my employer.”

  There was a flicker of movement behind her. Fes glanced past and saw the merchant he had been trailing. He needed to get past Carter, or it was entirely possible that he would miss out on this job.

  “Carter, I’m sorry that I don’t have any more time to chat with you, but I really do need to be going.”

  Carter glared at him. “What are you after?”

  She didn’t know. And if she didn’t know, then maybe he could mislead her.

  “There was something taken from the palace, and I was asked to retrieve it.” She already knew that he worked for Azithan, so he wasn’t revealing anything too far from the truth. What did it matter that it was a dragon relic rather than some jewel?

  “Something was stolen from the palace, and you were the one sent? Not the Dragon Guard?”

  “There are certain things that they don’t necessarily want revealed. This happens to be one of them,” Fes said with a shrug.

  She eyed him for a long moment. By telling her that he was after something taken from the palace, it hopefully would delay her, if not prevent her outright from trying to go after it herself. More than that, he wanted her to believe that it was something other than a dragon relic. There was a market for many things within the palace, but the dragon relics were valuable enough that Azithan paid well for them.

  “I’ll be watching you,” she said.

  “I’m not interested,” Fes said.

  She stepped off to the side, pressing her back up against the wall as she watched him. “We both know that’s not true.”

  “I’m not interested.”

  “You know, I’m sure I could find a role for you within my organization,” she said.

  “Is that right?”

  “I’m sure that she would pay more than your current compensation.”

  “I already have an employer.”

  “For how long?” She smiled at him, and there was a hint of menace within it. “Eventually, he’ll grow tired of you. That’s the story with him, or haven’t you heard?”

  “If he does, he’ll have paid me well in the meantime.”

  “Perhaps, but I wonder if it’s quite as well as you could be paid? Do you not realize what you’re worth?”

  Fes snorted. “Now you’re resorting to compliments. Interesting.”

  “It’s better than the alternative.”

  “And what’s the alternative?”

  “You know what the alternative is, Fes. Don’t cross me. I’m not the kind of person you want as an enemy.”

  “Is that what we’ve become?”

  She flashed a smile, and there was something both beautiful and dangerous about it. “This? No. We’re competitors, nothing more. For now. I’m happy to chase items throughout the city and beat you to them.”

  “You haven’t beat me to all that many,” Fes said.

  “Enough that it’s valuable to me,” she
said. “But even I have limits. There are certain things that I won’t tolerate you challenging me on.”

  “And those are?”

  “You’ll know them when you see it,” she said.

  Fes slipped past her, not wanting to stay too close. She unsettled him, and he wasn’t afraid to admit that. He would have to let Azithan know about this, especially as he knew that Carter went around collecting items throughout the city that he was interested in. Neither of them knew quite who she worked for, but Fes had a sense that Azithan was a little more aware of what it might be than he let on. That was fine with him. He didn’t necessarily care to know; all that mattered was that he was paid for his jobs, and Azithan had never failed to pay.

  As he disappeared along the street, blending into the crowd, he caught sight of the merchant once again. He hazarded a glance over his shoulder but didn’t see any sign of Carter. She was easy to make out in a crowd with her red hair, but somehow, she did manage to sneak up on him far too often.

  Fes crept behind the merchant, watching as he meandered through the crowded market. He really shouldn’t be dressed in such bright clothing. The stripes of red and gold made it easy for Fes to find him—and to follow. Hopefully, Azithan was right with what he knew and that this man and had what Azithan sought. Fes couldn’t detect anything, but his knack for finding real relics wasn’t what Azithan wanted from him right now.

  A cart nearly crashed into him, and Fes barely managed to duck out of the way. What was that doing here anyway? With the market crowd as thick as it was, there shouldn’t be any carts moving through here. It was set at the edge of the city, in an open field designed for the migratory tents from merchants who would come to the city to trade. Wagons were hidden from view, most of them parked on the other side of the market, tied off so that the animals didn’t get in the way. Why was this idiot driving through here?

  The man ducked into a tent, and Fes swore under his breath. The tents would be much harder to follow him into, and much harder to separate the man from the dragon bone.

  Fes reached the tent door and parted the fabrics, glancing inside. Most of the tents were colorful, and this was no exception. Striped canvas in nearly a dozen different colors assaulted his eyes. The smell on the inside was pungent, the food eaten by the people from the plains permeating everything. Fes nearly jerked his head back, wanting nothing more than to get away, but the merchant was inside.