The Dragon and Rose

by Gerhard Gehrke

  Rochus bumped into her. She turned to face him.

  He backed up a step and kept his head low. “My apologies, Queen Claudia.”

  They had just walked past a storefront window where a gyrating greenskin woman was dancing. She was dressed in a long wrap and little else.

  “That’s okay, my faithful steward. At least the wares down here can get someone’s attention.”

  Jamie appeared not to notice, as he was staring at a neighboring shop. A display of small mechanical toys were set out on a table. A demonstrator was showing a few spectators how they worked. The tiny metal animals wound up and then bounced and rolled around the table’s surface when released, all to the delight of those watching. Some of the gadgets made tiny ringing noises.

  Claudia led Jamie over to the table.

  The spectators suddenly made room as if just realizing the lady of the island was among them. Perfect, in her mind. No need to make a fuss. Rochus had wanted a dozen guards to come along but she had nixed the suggestion, allowing two to trail behind them several yards back. No doubt Rochus had told the rest to be somewhere close. As long as they were out of sight as to not disturb her time with Jamie.

  As Jamie crouched to get a close look at the toys, he was grinning ear to ear. “They’re magnificent.”

  He picked up a metal dog that could do backflips. Its tiny legs slowed their movement and finally stopped.

  “Three short winds of the crank and let him go,” the shop owner said.

  Jamie did as instructed. The dog bounced a few times before falling over on its side and appearing as if it were going through a death spasm.

  Something about the tiny devices looked familiar to Claudia. “Are these made by you?”

  “Aye. Me and my daughters make them by hand.”

  “You’re good at mechanical devices. Ever think about working on a larger project?”

  The shop owner gave a bow. “Juan Pizzaro trained me. I was an apprentice.”

  “You mean my Master Pizarro, who even now works for me? No wonder these devices are so delightful. But you’re no longer an apprentice?”

  “I saw an opportunity here for my own business. The waterfront is booming with tourists who love their toys.”

  “So it seems. The visitors to my island have an appetite for amusements. But do pray tell, are some of these Pizarro’s designs?”

  “My lady, many of his works we developed together.”

  “I see. Were you with his crew working on the catacombs?”

  Another bow. “It was my honor and privilege to have served you, my lady.”

  She picked up the tipped-over dog and set it right. With a final click and a halfhearted bounce, it ran out of strength and once again fell. Jamie picked up the dog and opened his purse.

  “With my compliments, young master,” the shop owner said.

  “Oh, pish-posh,” Claudia said. “An up-and-coming master worker like yourself is worthy of his wage. Besides, from what I hear, rent on the waterfront isn’t easy and you have daughters to feed.”

  Jamie handed the shop owner a few scrip notes and thanked him. The man bowed a few times as Claudia led Jamie away. Her nephew was peering at the small toy and oblivious to the world.

  She patted his arm. “I understand that place across the way with the purple awning makes horchatas. Go and order us one. Go on.”

  Once he was across the street she waved Rochus over. “That shop owner? Have him arrested tonight.”

  “My queen?”

  “You heard me. Him and his daughters. Place them in the lower cells. And go find Master Pizarro. Tell him I’ll see him first thing in the morning. We’ll be retooling our chamber of secrets. There’s some devices I’ll want to run some new tests on. This time using volunteers.”

  “I’ll have a messenger sent.”

  “I want you to go yourself once you relay my orders to the guards. And ask Pizarro how many others of his employees are out here making a profit on his shop’s secrets.”

  “Yes, my queen. The guards will keep an eye on you.”

  “I’m sure they will. I’m so happy you care enough to worry. Now shoo!”

  As Rochus departed he paused to confer with the two guards who were following them. Such a worrywart. As if she had anything to fear here, on the waterfront, with her people and fans all around.

  She went to join Jamie under the purple awning. It was perfect timing. Their frothy beverages were just being poured. The sweet aroma was heavenly.

  Word of her presence must have spread, as now a small crowd had formed, intent on greeting her and engaging in tiresome chatter.

  She endured it. Kept smiling. Amused herself with the thought that some among them would be new challengers for the games. While the waterfront and its delights were fun, they would realize that for the best of times they’d have to come up to her castle, where only her catacomb games could deliver what they craved.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “DID THEY SEE US?” ISABEL asked.

  Digger just grunted and kept going. The guards had definitely seen them but Digger and Isabel had made two turns since. If the guards had run they would have caught them, but this particular patrol was leery and searching for one of its number. They were also no doubt aware of a murderer loose in the city.

  He was trying to move as quickly as possible but in their haste the cart was making too much noise. Even a half-deaf city guard couldn’t miss the clackety-clack-clack of the wheels on the cobblestones. He slowed down. His head still spun from his blow. He faltered. Isabel took the cart from him. At a depression in the street their load almost overturned.

  Voices were coming.

  “This is no good,” she said. “You’re almost dead weight and you’re ready to keel over.”

  “Can’t stop.”

  But he didn’t protest as she turned them into a detour between two brick buildings and into a back lot. Here the cart’s wheels were muffled as they traveled over hard dirt. But they were heading in the wrong direction and the uneven ground was treacherous.

  Isabel got in front of the cart to lift it out of a furrow that had caught a wheel. Digger hung on to the handles to keep from falling. The voices were getting louder. A man with a lantern was hurrying towards them from between the buildings.

  Stalks of corn were growing on the opposite side of a short wire fence. A makeshift garden occupied the corner of the neighboring property.

  Digger and Isabel parked the cart and dove into the corn.

  Someone shouted, “Heard something!”

  A watchman with a lantern was coming and he was alone.

  More lights were shining from the gap in the brick buildings. Two more guards appeared but they stopped at the edge of the first lot.

  As the watchman approached, Digger could only hope the cart would look like something the garden keepers used. But the guard was heading straight for it.

  “The blood trail leads here!” the guard called.

  The other two were coming now.

  Blood trail? Was his cart leaking? Then he realized his hand was dripping fresh blood.

  He considered his opposition. Taking down one member of the city watch was doable. Three who were on alert would be a challenge even if his head didn’t feel like it was about to explode.

  “Move,” he whispered.

  They crept deeper into the garden. Rocks and gravel bit into his palms and knees. But the light from the guards’ lanterns was only getting brighter. Getting to the nearest street would mean crossing a wide patch of open ground.

  “There’s a shovel,” the watchman announced.

  “Is this a graveyard cart?” a second man asked. “Look! It’s Manny.”

  “Spread out!”

  One of the guards blew his whistle.

  Digger and Isabel bolted.

  “There!”

  They made the street but the sounds of feet tromping through the garden came from behind them. Digger felt a sudden loss of direction. Isabel didn’t
hesitate; she took him around a corner and down to an intersection with a dry fountain. They were running downhill, Isabel seeming to choose streets at random.

  It felt like they were running a maze with no exit made of endless streets that kept going and going. The watchman’s whistle continued its shrill cry in the distance. Finally there were starbursts of light ahead of them. Digger couldn’t focus to see what it was. His vision was swimming and he felt like he was going to puke.

  “Got to stop.”

  “Save it,” she snapped.

  Voices around them. He was barely able to walk straight and leaned on Isabel. Someone howled and others were laughing. People moved around them wearing bright clothes. Men and women were pointing at them. Purebloods. Bright smiles of white teeth and red lips lined with rouge. Big eyes with sparkling lashes. Ladies in large hats and a man in a cat mask.

  The lights spun.

  Someone shot past them on a bicycle, causing Isabel to almost fall and him with her.

  A few in the crowd shouted curses and a horse began to chuff and buck.

  And the world spiraled more. Digger broke from Isabel and found his way to a wall, leaned for a moment, and dry-heaved. His head pounded. After catching his breath, he looked about and blinked away the starry patterns in his eyes.

  Bright marquees lit the names of the newest waterfront establishments. Venture. Gold Island. The Lucky Goblin. Other businesses were sandwiched between the largest of the clubs and casinos: restaurants, bars, arcades, shops, and fortune-tellers.

  He hadn’t been to the touristy part of the waterfront while it was in full swing. He guessed it was after midnight but the party wasn’t over.

  Isabel stood beside him and was scanning the crowd. “I think we lost them.”

  “Maybe for now. But we’re going to stick out here.”

  With so many in costume and wearing masks, he wasn’t sure if he was right. But it wouldn’t take more than a cursory glance to see he was wounded and that neither of them belonged to any entertainment venue.

  The fel who were on the street were either selling things or dressed up and trying to coax tourists into the doors of their establishments. The street also had its own guards. None of the ones he saw were paying them any particular attention—yet. That would change if their pursuers made it to the waterfront.

  Digger led Isabel down the side of a restaurant that featured several tiny outdoor tables. In the back they came to a kitchen entrance. He could hear cooks and staff busy at work.

  Isabel stopped him. “What are you looking for?”

  “Sewer entrance. Someplace where we can get off the street. Find a drain cover or grating.”

  There were plenty of them. But all were fixed and none large enough to climb through.

  She tugged on a grating, which didn’t yield. “If we jumped off the pier, we could climb into one.”

  He made a face.

  “I’m joking. I’d just as soon pass on that and you can’t swim in your condition.”

  “Then we find another alley and hide.”

  But there were people everywhere. A pair of waterfront guards were coming down a long secondary street straight for them. These guards wore garlands and didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry, but Digger and Isabel turned back down towards the main boulevard and joined the throng of tourists. He kept a hand on her shoulder and focused on not falling.

  From the opposite end of the avenue someone blew a whistle. The crowd around them hushed. And more guards appeared where the storefronts terminated at the docks. These began pushing in their direction.

  They were surrounded. They’d have to cut through one of the establishments, get past whatever cordon was being assembled, and run. If they couldn’t get past the watch, they’d have to fight. He needed a weapon.

  “Calm down,” she hissed. “You’re looking like a psycho who’s running from the city watch.”

  “If word’s out about a dead guard, they’re all looking for us. It won’t take long before the castle sends everyone out. There won’t be any place to hide for long.”

  “You still think the Dragon and Rose is the best direction to go?”

  “I’m not leaving Monty with that butcher out there.”

  “You tried getting your brother to leave once before. What makes you think it’s going to go any different?”

  He ignored the question. “You should get out of sight. No one is after you and you’ll have an easier time hiding. I’m heading to the bar and it could get rough.”

  “Like I said, relax. You can barely stand straight. I’ve an idea to get you there.” She grabbed him by the hand and stepped up on the side of a lamp post. “Hello Diregloom!”

  “What are you doing?” he asked through clenched teeth.

  “Saving us.” To the crowd, she announced in a surprisingly earsplitting voice, “Diregloom, would you like to meet the winners of the queen’s games? If so, follow me to a rustic bar where you can tell your friends you met the fel champions of the greatest season of the catacombs!”

  Chapter Twenty

  CLAUDIA NEVER GOT TO try her horchata.

  The waterfront crowd pressed in to greet her. Among them were many young nobles she had met before. She greeted as many as she could by name, perfectly concealing her distraction and disappointment in her evening out with Jamie.

  One of the aristocrats was a pimpled woman who had been at her games. Claudia’s usual trick of accepting a suppliant’s bow and then pushing them along by their elbow wasn’t working. The woman didn’t let go and Jamie made no move to follow her out of the shop. He just stood there with a ridiculous frothy milk mustache and sipped his beverage.

  Claudia maintained her smile and nodded absently.

  The aristocrat was speaking too loudly and her breath stank of wine. The woman’s irritating tiny nose moved up and down as she talked.

  “So Lord Rosales’s father sent message that none of his children were allowed to come to the island. You remember Rene and Mauricio? It seems their cousin Lord Gomez’s death after his wounds suffered in the games was too much for the family. But Mauricio and his sister showed up yesterday and are staying with me. Isn’t that wicked? I’ll have them at your next gala. Isn’t that a delight?”

  Claudia conceptualized a growing list of those who might be arrested. But the nobles were here to spend money, she consoled herself. She put on her best smile.

  “I’m looking forward to meeting both Rene and Mauricio. I hope your stay on the island is a delight and you show them a good time. There will be an announcement of a new round of games soon and news of an expansion.”

  The aristocrat raised her woolly eyebrows that desperately needed separating and a good plucking. “Oh, we won’t have to wait for that. Haven’t you heard, Lady Claudia? There’s a new theater with their own games which, while not as elaborate as yours, are making quite the splash. I hear they have a game this Friday. I’m sure they’re not as colorful as what you put on at the castle, but three times a week, every week? I hear they sold out of tickets already after their preview tonight!”

  “What games?” Claudia snapped. “What theater?”

  The woman looked startled. “Why, the one over in the Temperance District. My apologies, I didn’t mean to offend.”

  Claudia dug her nails into the woman’s wrist. “Which theater? The Temperance District has seven.”

  “I...I’m trying to remember. I’m sorry, Lady Claudia, I had too much wine. I can’t recall the name. Please.”

  Claudia let her go. Grabbed Jamie. She pushed towards her two guards.

  “There’s a theater in the Temperance District with some kind of games. Find out which one.”

  The guard didn’t move. “We have orders to not leave you.”

  “Well, this is a new order. Who would you rather upset, my steward or me? Off with both of you. That’ll get the job done faster. Go!”

  Both guards departed.

  Jamie appeared confused. She led him away from the
tight cluster of tourists. It was all too loud and everyone was too close. A dozen thoughts were running through her mind and she couldn’t concentrate on any of them. She pushed a large man out of the way who cursed before biting his tongue, no doubt realizing who had just bumped past him.

  Who would dare set up a show to cannibalize her profits? Hadn’t she given everything to make this island a place where everyone saw a return on their investments? But if her games weren’t special, she’d lose ticket revenue when it came time for her new season. If the mainland visitors could find satisfaction with second-rate entertainment, why would they bother with hers?

  First the meddling sheriff, now this.

  She checked her watch. “Wipe your mouth, dear. Time to go.”

  Jamie cleaned his face with his sleeve. “Is this theater she was talking about really something we have to take care of tonight?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about,” she said dismissively. “I need information about everything in my city. It’s time for us to return to the castle.”

  A whistle began blasting nearby. The buskers stopped playing. The shrill sound kept going until finally the tourists in the street parted to reveal a squad of the city watch heading her way.

  She intercepted them. “What’s the problem?”

  The man of the watch bowed. “There’s a guardsman down. Looks like a pair of fel killed him. We saw them heading this way. Large one and a woman. Best get someplace safe, my lady. The streets aren’t safe.”

  “Keep your voice down. All this commotion won’t help you catch them. Have one of your men report the details to my guards in the castle.”

  She stepped out of the way and the squad hurried past as they began to scour the street. They were going to each establishment. Such a search would take quite some time. The gang of cops also killed the buzz in the air. The crowd started thinning. The waterfront was done for the night.

  Rochus found them again. “I heard there was trouble.”

  “I presume you didn’t have time to deliver my message. Be sure this is done. But now bring my carriage. I’m suddenly tired.”