“So the Dakrovians would have to kidnap him?”
Ort’s brow furrowed. Maybe he hadn’t thought that could potentially happen. “We wouldn’t let it be known that the king is the only one who knows the location. And he should be hard to get to at any time of day.”
“They might guess he’d be the one to know where it is though, since Tolemek, under the influence of a truth serum, said the vials are in the castle now.”
Ort spread a hand. “I still think they should be moved.”
“I’m not arguing against that, sir. Vilhem. Just saying the king’s bodyguards should be extra vigilant because he might be seen as a likely resource.”
“They should always be vigilant.”
“True, but they don’t have much experience dealing with magic. Who does in this era?” Ridge stroked his jaw. “As I said, Sardelle mentioned setting some traps, but that may take a few days. Maybe Therrik should be added to the castle duty roster for a while. He and Kasandral can stalk around, looking for evidence of magic use. The sword is apparently like a hunting dog that can lead him to sorcerers. And shamans, presumably.” Ridge remembered trailing Therrik through the castle earlier that summer as Kasandral led him to the collapsed rubble that Angulus and the sorceress had been under.
“Are you actually recommending Therrik for something?” Ort’s gray eyebrows arched. “I didn’t think you cared for the man.”
“I don’t, but recommending him to be Angulus’s hound doesn’t seem that much of an accolade.”
Ort snorted. “I’ll pass the idea on to the king. I’m meeting with him and Admiral Hamilin later to discuss submarine deployment and the likely capabilities of one piloted by a shaman.”
“Good. You might want to get Therrik in the castle before the Festival of Lights tonight. I’m sure there will be legions of people milling around, cadging free food and drinks up there. I know most of the high-ranking officers were invited.”
“Seven gods, I forgot that was tonight. Do you think the shaman has heard about it? He might figure that’s the ideal time to sneak in and raid the vault.”
“Possibly. He was in the capital long enough to shop as well as kidnap Tolemek. He’s clearly not so pressed for time that he can’t read a newspaper here and there.”
Ort thumped a fist on the chair and scowled out the window, then shoved himself to his feet. “Damn, I thought we’d have days before he made another move. That’s only hours away. How could I have forgotten?”
“Because the festival doesn’t sound that exciting? Other than the free food. Someone waits until dark, flips a switch, and electrical lights go on.” Ridge shrugged.
“With thousands of people watching from the city and hundreds of guests in the castle. As you said.”
Seeing Ort’s distress was starting to worry Ridge. He hadn’t even planned to go to the event. The hangars had gotten electricity earlier in the year, so he no longer found turning on lights that enthralling. But maybe Ort was right and the shaman would use the festivities as a distraction to sneak in. He grimaced at the idea of some Dakrovian dribbling the equivalent of one of Tolemek’s goos down Angulus’s throat to question him.
“Get Sardelle and meet me at the castle, Ridge. We’ll need someone who can detect magic use. I’ll see about tracking down Therrik, but I need to talk to Angulus as soon as possible too.”
“Now? I was going to…” Ridge stopped himself from saying he’d planned to check on his mother, since Ort was scowling at him. That had definitely been an order, not a request. They might be the same rank now, but Ort had seniority. Besides, Ort was right. The safety of the king had to be placed above visits to one’s mother. “Yes, sir. I’ll go find her now. Maybe one of the dragons is around too and could be of assistance.”
“Good. Make it quick.”
Ort almost ran as he left the office, closing the door with a loud thump.
“And he wonders why I still call him sir,” Ridge said, grabbing his uniform jacket off the back of his chair.
13
The wind beat against Cas’s goggles and tugged at her scarf as she brought her flier in for a landing. Pimples, Duck, and Crash had already pulled into the hangar. She swept down, opting to practice a wheeled landing rather than using the thrusters, and made it smoothly. She would have been pleased with herself, but she felt useless at the moment, since neither she nor anyone else on Wolf Squadron had caught sight of that shaman’s submarine.
That had been their sole purpose in heading out that day, even if it had been an idealistic one. They had been looking for an underwater craft that wouldn’t be visible unless it rose to the surface. Colonel Tranq had reported that submarines did do that from time to time, so there had been a chance they would spot it, but not today.
As soon as she parked her flier inside, Cas hopped out and jogged to the back to attend to biological needs. The lavatory in a little corridor at the rear of the hangar was a popular pit stop after missions, but she didn’t see anyone else, so figured she wouldn’t have to wait. Then a black-clad figured stepped out of the broom closet opposite the lav.
She let out a startled cry and threw up her hands in a semblance of defense before she recognized the man. Her father. He gazed blandly at her, his hands clasped behind his back.
“You all right, Raptor?” Pimples called back.
“Yes,” she yelled over her shoulder. “Just slipped on a puddle.” She lowered her voice to a whisper to address her father. “What are you doing here? You’re not allowed in the fort without an escort. Probably not at all, given your profession.”
“That is indeed true. However, I came to relay some information to you.” He didn’t bother to explain how he had gotten into the fort or up the tram and onto the butte.
“It couldn’t have waited until I was at home?”
“You weren’t at home last night.”
“No, I was getting Tolemek.”
“So I heard. I shall offer my congratulations on your successful reunion with your pirate.”
However awkward-sounding the words, they surprised Cas, and she squinted at him, trying to decide if he was being genuine. He wasn’t generally tactful when it came to her relationships.
“Thanks. What’s the information?”
“There is a reward out for the dragon blood that your people brought back from Cofahre this spring. I’ve only just learned about this, so I believe it’s been recently placed. The job of retrieving it wasn’t given to me specifically, merely put out on the market where many of my colleagues seek out employment opportunities. Since I have numerous clients that keep me busy, I don’t typically take on jobs like that, but I still peruse the offerings to see what’s going on in the city and what my contemporaries are up to.”
“And they’re up to looking for dragon blood?” Cas grimaced. Had that shaman decided to hire freelancers instead of attempting to steal it himself. “How good is the reward? Any idea how many people might try to find it? It didn’t say where the dragon blood was located, did it?”
“It’s an excellent reward in untraceable silver nucro coins. Many will be tempted, though I suspect few will make a serious attempt at getting it, since the dragon blood is believed to be stored in a vault deep within the king’s castle.”
Cas’s grimace deepened. Tolemek believed that was its location, so it did seem likely. She would have to tell General Zirkander about this.
“No idea who offered the reward, I suppose?”
Father shook his head. “It’s to be turned in to a middleman, one who is often used for this kind of thing, and who has already been given the funds for safekeeping. There also seems to be a competing faction that is offering a much smaller reward. They want to see the dragon blood utterly destroyed instead of stolen, believing neither the Cofah nor Iskandia should be able to use it to make super weapons.”
Cas didn’t necessarily disagree with that sentiment, but she was duty-bound to protect the king’s interests.
“All right,” sh
e said. “Thank you for the warning.”
He inclined his head. “You are welcome.”
“I’m going to assume this means you aren’t taking on the job for yourself.”
“I am not. I have other work that will take me out of the capital for a while. Do you wish to shoot when I get back?”
The one father-daughter bonding thing they did. She never knew what to talk to him about when they were out there on the range behind the house, but as odd as it was to her, he seemed to appreciate merely shooting in silence with her. And since he’d done this favor for her—risking sneaking into the fort to deliver the message—she could find time to go out there with him.
“Yes,” she said. “I need to get back to work.” Actually, she needed to use the lav, but her statement was still true.
“Of course.”
She glanced over her shoulder to make sure nobody else was ambling in their direction. When she looked back, her father was gone. She peeked into the broom closet, but it was vacant. He’d either sneaked out the back door or into the men’s lav. Did assassins ever use the facilities while they were illegally trespassing? She had no idea.
As Tolemek reached the bottom of the long winding street that led up to the castle, a steam carriage rumbled up behind him. He shifted to walk along the side so it could pass, though he was half-tempted to ask for a ride. He didn’t mind a little exercise, but he wanted to get up there and in to see the king before Angulus stopped taking appointments for the day.
The night before, Tolemek had said everything he thought he had to say to the army’s persistent intelligence people—their insistence on questioning him for hours had kept him from having the conversation with Cas that he’d longed to have since before he had been kidnapped. Only after the officers had left had Tolemek realized he should advise the king to move the dragon-blood samples out of the castle. Maybe Angulus would reach that conclusion on his own, but Tolemek felt compelled to suggest it before taking off for the day. Taking off and finding Cas.
He wanted to bring her dinner—or should he take her out to dinner?—and explain that he’d been premature in discussing children and that he understood if she didn’t want to have them. He hoped she would change her mind someday, but he thought he could live with it if she didn’t. He might be disappointed, but he didn’t want to lose her.
The carriage slowed down instead of passing him, the uniformed driver pausing to look down at him from her bench.
The door opened, and a familiar head poked out with a general’s army cap perched atop it.
“What do you want, Zirkander?” Tolemek asked.
“Peace for Iskandia, a beautiful wedding with Sardelle, and a dragon that doesn’t eat all my cheese.” Zirkander offered a lopsided smile. “Also, to give you a ride up if you want it.”
Tolemek grumbled but pulled himself into the carriage. Zirkander would likely have an easier time getting in to see the king than he would, so he might as well tag along.
Tolemek sat on the bench opposite Zirkander. “What in all the hells would you do for a living if Iskandia found peace?”
“My mom has offered to teach me how to make soap and candles. I bet I could figure out how to shape them into fliers.”
“The newspapers would definitely stop printing articles about you if that became your new career.”
Zirkander’s expression grew a touch wistful as the carriage rolled into motion again. Maybe he was fantasizing about making flier soaps at that very moment.
“You going to see the king?” Zirkander asked. “Or just heading up for the festival?”
“I want to warn him to move the dragon-blood samples,” Tolemek said.
“Ah, I’m on my way to do the same thing, per General Ort’s orders.”
“The king has probably already thought of it on his own.”
“Probably. I’m also supposed to find Sardelle, so she can be on hand for the festival and hopefully detect magic in use. But she wasn’t at the house.” Zirkander spread his hands. “I’m hoping she or Jaxi will contact me at some point so I can let them know. You’re not able to sense them or where they are, by chance, are you? I know you’ve had a few tutoring sessions with Sardelle.”
“I had to throw a tub of lard at my captor to escape. My magical talents are nascent at best.”
“Too bad.” Zirkander draped his arm across the back of his bench.
“I’m surprised you’re riding around in a carriage. It doesn’t have wings.”
“Which is a shame. I usually take a horse around town, but this one was on its way to the vehicle pool when I was on my way to the stables. I decided to requisition it for my purposes. This rank ought to come with some privileges, right?”
“You couldn’t have requisitioned one without bullet holes in it?” Tolemek stuck his finger in a round gouge in the wall near his bench.
“Well, it’s an army vehicle, not some fluffed up carriage used to tote noblemen about. You can’t expect luxuries like upholstery and velvet cushions.”
“Or walls without holes in them?”
“Precisely.”
Zirkander gazed out the window overlooking the harbor and the butte at the far end where his flier hangars perched. They were nearing the top of the hill, so they had an impressive view.
“Do you want to have children, Zirkander?”
Zirkander’s eyebrows arched. Perhaps it had been an abrupt question, but they were almost to their destination, and Tolemek had been wondering earlier that day whether Zirkander and Sardelle had ever had a conversation similar to—and similarly awkward to—the one he’d started with Cas.
“I didn’t think I did, but then Sardelle and I had a chat, and she has since convinced me I’d be a good father.”
“So, she lied to you.”
Zirkander smirked. “Possibly so. I’m not the one in the relationship who can read minds. Technically, she may have only suggested that I wouldn’t be a horrible father, as I’d always assumed.”
That admission surprised Tolemek, and he squinted at Zirkander, trying to tell if he was lying—or making some joke. If he was, it wasn’t obvious. His smirk had faded, and he looked out the window again.
“So, she convinced you that you do want children.” Tolemek couldn’t help but wonder if he could do the same with Cas, but he didn’t want to pressure her in any way. Maybe he was dwelling too much on it, especially considering they had only been together for six or seven months.
“Mm, she knocked aside the main obstacle that was in the way of me thinking I should have kids. I actually do like them, you know. They’re fun, especially when they’re old enough to talk. Kind of like young lieutenants.”
Tolemek wasn’t sure exactly what the main obstacle was for Cas. Maybe she was simply young and wanted to focus on her career. Which made sense. He had to remember that she was several years younger than he, even if she was the mature one.
“Have you been talking to Sardelle?” Zirkander asked.
“No. Cas.”
“Has she been talking to Sardelle?”
“I don’t think so. About what?”
“Never mind.” Zirkander leaned closer to the window, then grabbed the horn in the corner. “Corporal, slow down again, will you?” He lowered it and told Tolemek. “Another hitchhiker.”
Before Tolemek could peer out the window to see who, Zirkander opened the door and stuck his head out. “Care for a ride, Ahn?”
Tolemek blinked. Cas? Why was she going to see the king?
“I’m almost to the top, sir.”
“Yes, but I have your boyfriend in here, and he said he’d feel like a lazy lump if he got a ride while you walked all the way to the top.”
Tolemek pushed Zirkander back into his seat so he could lean out and offer a hand to Cas. Also, because he was being a pest.
She wore her army uniform, as usual, and looked to have come from work. When she saw him, she climbed in and sat on the bench beside him.
“Are you also going to w
arn the king to move the dragon blood?” Tolemek asked.
“Er, how did you know?” Cas asked.
“It’s the trendy thing today.” Zirkander draped an arm over the back of his bench again.
“Actually, sir,” Cas said, looking at him, “I wanted to warn him that there’s a reward out there for it now. I went to your office to tell you and then General Ort’s office to report to him, figuring I should go through the chain of command. But neither of you was in your office.”
“That’s because generals get to spend their days having long lunches, gambling at the horse races, and leaving early to drink at the Officers’ Club.”
“I don’t believe you, sir.”
“Good. And don’t believe it from anyone else, if they ever try to push that spiel on you when offering you a promotion. Where did you hear about the reward? And do you know who’s offering it?”
“My father. He came to see me at work.”
“Random civilian assassins aren’t supposed to be let into the fort.”
“I told him that, sir. But he told me that his contacts mentioned a job being put out to his network of associates. Someone knows the government or the army has all those vials of dragon blood we brought back from Cofahre, and they’re offering a substantial sum for it. There’s a middleman involved for the delivery, so he doesn’t know what nation. The payment is in Iskandian nucros, so it might be someone other than the Dakrovian shaman.”
“Oh?” Zirkander asked. “Does he not know how to use a money exchanger?”
“He didn’t when he went hat shopping.”
Though Zirkander didn’t seem to find anything unusual about the comment, Tolemek gazed at Cas in surprise. “I may have to ask you later what route led you to find me down in Ambergull.”
“It’s a somewhat interesting story.”
“All right,” Zirkander said. “We’ll add that to the list of things to tell the king. Speaking of chains of command, I suppose all this should go to his internal intelligence man, but I have another reason to want to check in with him. I hope he doesn’t think it odd that I’ve come to visit him three days in a row.”
Oaths (Dragon Blood, Book 8) Page 21
