by Stella Cassy
Now I had zero dollars. Nothing. I had not once, ever, been given any of the local money for myself. Sure I’d been sent to buy things occasionally, but every single microcredit and gold chip were accounted for.
I cleaned until well into the night. Until after the chef had finished and the bankers had returned to their quarters in other parts of the bank building.
“Get some rest. You can carry on tomorrow,” said Frantew. Although he was just a slave like me, by dint of his much longer service and more senior position he held some small authority over me.
And since that authority was being used in my favor in this instance, I gratefully acknowledged it.
The chef had a corner of the kitchen that he used for sleeping purposes. The rest of the slaves and I had to share spartan quarters that I refused to call home. I didn’t even have my own bed. Instead, each evening I would seek out the best remaining spot on the floor to roll out my sleeping pad.
To me, the slave quarters were nothing more than temporary lodging until I figured out a way to get off this rock and back to the real world of condos in Miami, lodges in the Rockies and a little town pad in Manhattan. I was on a vacation from hell, and as soon as I got a chance, I was going to end it and head home.
Head heavy with weariness, I walked down the hallway that would eventually lead me to the staircase that led to the dark and dingy slave quarters below.
On the way, I passed a window. I liked to look at the stars at night. Even on Earth I’d enjoyed it, but since I had ended up here on Minapolis it had become even more meaningful to me. I’d stare up, wondering which point of light was our sun, which direction Earth was. I was always looking for some kind of sign but never found one. Not yet at least.
This time I found something different.
I shaded my hands over my eyes and pressed my face up against the window.
“Fuck!” I shouted, jumping back.
When you peer out a dark window at night, there’s one thing you don’t want to see: another face staring back at you.
Trembling, I processed what I’d just seen. It was a face, but not quite a human one. Shaking, I went back to look again. I peered outside, but this time all I could see were the lights of the city and the stars above.
There was no one there.
But I knew what I had seen.
It was the dragon from the bank earlier. He’d been peering through the window.
Hugging my arms around myself, I quietly made my way back to the slave quarters. What did that dragon want? Did he think he would spot tons of gold he could just nab while peering through windows at night?
I didn’t know whether to tell Tytrik or not. He didn’t exactly like my input these days.
I shook my head. No, I wouldn’t tell him. I’d tell Frantew instead and let him decide whether the bankers needed to be informed.
Covering my mouth as I yawned, I padded back to the kitchen to let the chef know what I had seen.
Then it would be his problem.
5
Rethryn
Rethryn
During the night I shifted and flew around the bank complex, examining its structure and defenses. At the top were large skylights that looked like they could be blown asunder with a burst or two of dragon fire. Entry would be no problem.
But I did not know what to expect inside. It would very much depend on what material they used for their vault. If it was simple steel, my crew and I could make short work of the door and help ourselves to the contents in no time.
But if they used something stronger, then we’d be frustrated. Still, we could at least bring the rest of the building down on top of the safe. If they wouldn’t let us have the contents, then we could make it very difficult for them to get at it either.
That would show them that you don’t get away with disrespecting a highborn Hielsrane dragon prince. If there were any survivors, that is.
As I was soaring around the building something caught my eye. Through a hallway window I saw into the kitchen. The human girl was in there. I beat my wings in the air to hover for a moment but couldn’t get more than a shaky glimpse.
I grasped the outer windowsill with a talon and shifted back to my bipedal form, standing on an exterior ledge of the building. I pushed my face up against the glass and peered in.
There she was again. Like she was magnetically drawn to me, she walked down the hall and stopped by the window. She put her small hands up over her eyes, then pressed her face up against the glass.
Our eyes met immediately, and she jumped back, uttering a curse. She was dressed in a white robe-like costume that was loose around her ample, ripe breasts. If I had given up on the bankers already, I would have burst in and taken her away, soaring back to my ship with a pretty little prize. I deserved something after being assigned this embarrassment of a mission.
But I had not yet given up on the bankers, and they were to have one more chance.
After a final glance at the delicious little human, I bounced backward off the ledge, letting myself fall for a second or two and enjoying the rush of the night air over my skin before shifting back and flapping away.
My dragon was now kindling a spark of curiosity and lust that would soon need to be sated. It was a deep carnal desire to experience the pleasures of a soft ripe human.
Preferably one as delicious as that kept by the banker.
The next morning we sent word to the bank of when we would be arriving and received a semi-favorable reply.
At the appointed hour, my crew, replete with the gifts that they had acquired the day before, marched in behind me as we were again led into the bank.
This time I was not taken to the same office. Instead we were led to a large meeting room, built of the same white and pink stone that Minniku seemed to love.
Inside there were a dozen bankers sitting around the table, including the one I had met the day before. There were seven empty seats waiting for me and my crew.
As we entered, the bankers all stood up, offering a little of the respect that we expected and demanded. It was a slight improvement over the day before.
My eyes paused as they swept the room. In the corner stood the human girl, again clothed in a white robe that left most of her light-brown arms bare, as well as a significant gap in her cleavage that allowed me to see a small part of the inside of her firm round breasts. My tongue snaked out and licked my lips in a rapid, involuntary movement that lasted only a split second. The girl watched me with open eyes, not afraid or hostile, but curious.
“Do you require refreshments?” asked the banker from the day before.
He glanced at the human girl. It was only now that I noticed she was holding a jug of some kind of liquid. After the failure of the meeting the day before, I was even more wary of taking refreshment from the Nortian bankers.
“No. Do not offer again. We require funding not sustenance.”
“Very well.”
“We arrive with gifts.” I turned to my crew. “Present them.”
The crew had kept themselves busy the day before, looting the markets for prizes to give the bankers, though I was sure they kept the best trinkets for themselves, as was right. Any one of them was more deserving than these soft creatures.
The crew members approached, piling their gifts onto the center of the table. There were local delicacies and imported gems, ornate daggers and small framed paintings, exotic jewelry and stuffed wildlife from distant worlds.
“This is a small token from us,” I told them when my crew had finished.
“Please, have a seat.” The banker gestured with his arms toward the empty chairs.
I waved my caudal to the crew to tell them to stay behind me. Respectfully, they stepped backwards and stood in a line along one wall. I sat down in a chair.
The chief banker flicked his eyes over the six remaining empty chairs and then at the rest of my crew. He looked at me and opened his mouth as if to say something, but then shut it again as he thought better
of it.
We only needed one Drakon to make decisions, and that would be me. I had no use for my crew at the table. At best they would be a distraction.
“We require fifteen tons of gold.”
“Yes. So we heard. We have been talking and considering, and we have tried to come up with a way to make it work.”
“What do you mean make it work? Give me the money and we can depart immediately.”
“Well, ye-es, while I’m sure that would work fine for you, it would be less than optimally desirable for us.”
I could feel my dragon rumbling inside me. This banker was going to get insolent again, I could feel it.
“So here’s our proposal…”
I froze while he spoke. Every muscle and nerve was locked in position as I exercised a kind of self-control that I had little practice with. With every sentence I became angrier, but I wanted to hear every last word of their insolence.
When he was done with his proposal I stared at the banker.
“That’s it?”
The Nortian gave his confirmation.
I was very calm measured when I spoke and I think it unnerved them.
“Your proposal is tantamount to enslaving the Hielsrane. We would be under your control for generations, with little ability to set our own course and make our own decisions.”
I don’t think the head banker realized the danger he was in. He took my calm and measured tone for acceptance.
“I don’t think slavery is quite the right term, but yes, we would have a great deal of input in how the funds were used and the repayment process.”
“Banker Tytrik, I came here very nicely. We even brought you gifts.” I pointed at the heap of treasure in the middle of the table that had so skillfully been earned by my crew.
“Yes, about that — we heard this morning that a motley group of Drakons were stealing and bullying people in the market. While we are grateful for the gesture, we really can’t be seen taking stolen property from a client.”
My eyes blinked a single time as I stared at him, barely comprehending him. Was he really throwing the gifts my crew had earned for him back in our faces? After proposing to enslave the Hielsrane? Did he have no idea? Or was he such a pompous and ignorant money lender that he no longer believed his words had consequences?
“Then we shall take back the gifts.” My voice was so low and cold the twelve bankers should have been crying for their wet-nurses.
“One other thing,” piped up a tiny little Vence. “We heard you were peering through our windows last night. Is that true?”
I glanced at the human girl, whose face was now blank, no emotion showing. It was like she didn’t hear what was being said. I turned back to face the money lenders.
“Yes. I came by last night to inspect your defenses. I was considering helping myself to the money.”
The bankers exchanged looks with each other, that started off startled and changed to amusement. They began to laugh, not having any idea of the danger they were in.
“Do you have any idea how secure our vault is?” This banker was the small Vence again, and he seemed to find my words far funnier than he should have. “You would need a laser the size of a planetoid to even think about penetrating it. You can’t exactly blow a puff of smoke at it and make it pop open!”
“I can assure you dragon fire is not a laughing matter.”
Tytrik stood up. “And I can assure you that on this planet we take the idea of bank theft very, very seriously. Our generous offer to you is rescinded as of this moment. Take your stolen goods and leave this place immediately.”
I looked over my shoulder to my first officer. We exchanged a look that asked whether this guy was actually serious. But serious or joking, he had gone too far. Actually that point had been reached long earlier, when they had first presented their ridiculous offer. The point was crossed again when they refused our generous gifts. Their utter destruction had been inevitable for some time now.
“In fact, I think we need to inform the authorities. You lowlifes robbed the market and considered robbing us! I don’t know about where you’re from, but on Minapolis we do not stand for that kind of thing!”
Slowly and calmly, I stood up. I placed my hands on the table, digging into it audibly with my talons.
“That is four deadly mistakes you’ve made.” I turned to my crew. “We leave shortly. Prepare the ship.”
It was perhaps a little mean of me to not let them partake, but they had just enjoyed a day playing in the markets. Fleet life wasn’t supposed to be all fun.
“You’re not leaving. I just told you, we’re going to inform the authorities. You’re going to be stuck on Minapolis for a long, long—”
He didn’t get to finish what he was saying. As he was halfway through his second sentence I smirked, stepped backward and with a surge of pent-up power, finally unleashed my dragon, shifting immediately.
I filled the whole back third of the room. Just before I unleashed my deathly furious anger my gaze lingered on the sight of the slave again. It would be a shame to waste such a pretty piece.
I jerked my head at her, and she understood immediately. With surprising swiftness she dropped the jug she was still holding, letting it smash onto the floor. She crouched down for a moment, but then she was up again, and sprinted around the room to the doorway my crew had just left through.
Safely out of the way of my anger, she stopped running. Very well. If she wanted to watch, she was welcome to.
“Hey! Get back here!” yelled Tytrik,
The slave shook her head at him. I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. After a deep breath in I launched my dragon-fury at them. Four times they gave me deadly insults, but I could only make them pay for them once. But pay they did.
They didn’t believe what was happening until it was too late. The soft, money-hungry fools had no idea how dangerous the universe was. On their safe little trading world they didn’t know about war, about vengeance, about honor and doing what was right.
The fire burst out from my gaping maw, filling the back half of the room with dragon-flame. In the enclosed space, the effect was amplified, and in the blink of an eye there were twelve blackened corpses, still sitting in their chairs. With another breath, the blackened corpses had the meat stripped from their bones, and each of them fell to the floor in a clattering, shattered pile of bones and soot and dust.
“Fuck me,” said the slave.
I stomped around in a half-circle, and as the slave jumped backward, I smashed open the doorway wide enough to accommodate my form. I exited into the giant atrium that was the center of the bank building.
The slave looked like she was going to run away, and in a spur of the moment decision I decided that no, I was going to keep her.
Human slaves were valuable, and this one was far too pretty to waste in my anger. I launched myself into the air and grabbed her by the shoulders with my talons, making sure not to ruin her in the process. With two more flaps of my wings I was high up in the atrium and I began to unleash further vengeance with targeted bursts of dragon-flame to wreck the soaring columns that supported the building.
In concentric circles I flew higher and higher, shooting flame and knocking chunks out of the building with my wings as I did so.
At the top, a cone of fire was enough to blast an exit way through the skylight, and we were free, out into the open, away from the awful cave of the fresh-roasted money lenders.
It was only when I was out of the collapsing building that I heard the slave. She wasn’t screaming in fear, as you would expect, but was instead screaming instructions.
“Put me down! You can’t just kidnap me! I demand you—”
Her voice was drowned out again by the thundering noise of rockfall as a large portion of the building collapsed below us.
I’d had enough of Minapolis. It was time to get us out of here. With powerful beats of my wings I soared high into the sky until I could see the spaceport and the paltry s
hape of my ship.
Growling in anger — at the bankers, at the planet, at the ship, at the mission, at the ‘verse itself — I dived toward the spaceport.
6
Talia
Talia
Well that wasn’t exactly how I thought my day would go. My employers had been barbecued to a crisp, the building I lived in left in ruins, and me kidnapped — again.
The dragon-shifting monster that had done the aforementioned kidnapping had me in his talons as we soared across the city. Like most people in my social circles, I’ve flown in helicopters, I’ve flown in airplanes and I’ve flown in hot air balloons. But I had never, ever flown through the air with the only thing keeping me from plummeting to my death being the tight grip of a frickin’ dragon grasping me by my shoulders while I dangled below.
When we were well above the city, he yelled something at me that sounded like, “Jump on my back.”
I was trying to figure out what exactly he meant — it’s quite hard to jump when you’re hanging in midair — when he let go of his grip on me, sending me plummeting to my death. Except I didn’t plummet to my death. The moment he released me, Rethryn dived underneath me. It was only then that I realized what he meant. Though jump was the wrong term. Fall gracelessly was a lot closer to what actually happened.
With a thump that slightly winded me, I landed on the back of his neck, gripping on for all I was worth. The city was a dizzying distance below and despite how lucky my life had become the last few months, I wasn’t eager to end it.
When I lived back on Earth, my life was predictable. To a certain extent, so was everyone’s. You knew, roughly, what was going to happen each day. You might be surprised when the chef made you pancakes instead of eggs for breakfast. Or when your normal driver was sick, and there was a replacement brought in. But you didn’t get surprises like this — your home being burned down by dragons followed by being kidnapped. The surprises that happened in my life these days were otherworldly. Literally.
