Dancing with Dragons

by Lorenda Christensen

  Nevertheless, I gave him a bright smile. “Not a problem. That’s why I’m here.” I might not have fun while doing it, but if reading through these papers was the fastest way I could get the proof of Savitri’s growing army Daniel was looking for, reading was what I’d do.

  But I really, really hoped there was an easier way. However, I had a hard time coming up with a question that didn’t sound in any way similar to “so, Krishnan, can you tell me where you’ve filed all your military secrets?”

  I decided to start small. “Any place in particular you want me to start?”

  Krishnan jerked forward, apparently happy to have something to do. He picked up a box from the floor, set it on my desk, and rifled through the first few pages. “Yes, this is it. This one should contain some details on dairy and petrol agreements we’ve made with Adelaida’s territory. They need to be read, summarized, and bundled so I can get Savitri’s signature on them as soon as possible. For now, just translate them to English.”

  “What do dragons want with dairy agreements? Is it for Savitri’s household staff?” I’d never heard of a dragon eating anything but a meat-heavy diet. They could eat cheese and milk, sure, but generally if given a choice they gravitated toward pork and beef—the rarer, the better.

  I assumed the dairy was intended as food supply for the dragon lord’s human servants. Based on what Myrna told me, the arrangements between personal servants included room and full board in addition to a salary. But it seemed odd to me that out of all of this paper, Krishnan wanted me to start on food arrangements for only a handful of people.

  “The agreements aren’t just for her house staff. It’s for everyone. All of India. The petrol too.”

  “Lady Savitri negotiates on behalf of humans?” I was fairly certain Lord Relobu didn’t do that for North America. We had a human government in place for that. Since the war, their meetings didn’t happen in stuffy offices like those of their forebearers since most of the national buildings had been bombed, but the newspapers still reported on their activities. And we still voted for our representatives.

  Lord Relobu wasn’t involved with anything the American government did. Well, at least not directly. Obviously the dragon lord’s feelings were taken into consideration—he could pretty much put an end to any laws the humans developed simply by ignoring them, or attacking if someone was stupid enough to try and enforce them. But for the most part Relobu maintained a separate authority over his dragons, and left the humans to their own devices.

  I guess that wasn’t the case with Lady Savitri. Maybe, like Daniel had said, she really was power hungry. She’d taken full control of the humans in her territory, and now she was turning her attention to expanding her rule into China. The usurping of the Indian government must have happened very recently, otherwise we would have heard about it.

  But it didn’t make sense. How had the human citizens of India not realized their government was no longer functioning autonomously from Lady Savitri? Wouldn’t the politicians complain at their loss of power? My mind was racing with questions. I had to get this information to Daniel.

  “Prime Minister Kapoor asked for her help with this matter. Since Lady Adelaida owns the major oil and dairy production companies in the Middle Eastern and European territory, he thought it best to have Lady Savitri and her staff handle the negotiations. India has the highest human population in the world, you know. It’s important that we get the very best price from Lady Adelaida.”

  I nodded. Before humans had even realized dragons had been genetically “born,” China had been one of the first countries to enter World War III. Because of the country’s size, it was obviously seen as one of the larger threats to the guys on the other side of the disagreement, and had suffered quite a few attacks as a result. The war stopped—at least between the humans—when the dragons started claiming territory, but the Chinese had strenuously objected to Hian-puo’s arrival, and had lost millions of their population trying to force him from their land.

  In contrast, Lady Savitri’s settlement into India had been much less violent, with the Indian people quickly recognizing there wasn’t an upside to fighting her claim. As a result, India had officially overtaken China as the most populous country in the world.

  Suddenly, my wild suppositions seemed ridiculous. Lady Savitri hadn’t overthrown the Indian government. She was helping them.

  “I see.” I cleared my throat, embarrassed about the place my mind had jumped. Daniel’s military conjectures were turning me into a conspiracy theorist. “I’ll get right on these.”

  Krishnan smiled and bid me farewell.

  I sat in the chair and sighed. I hadn’t even been here an hour and already had a headache. Picking up the first bound set of papers and a fresh notebook, I started taking notes on the agreement between Adelaida and India, making sure to note all the important dates, numbers, and addresses. But after only about twenty minutes, I’d finished with the petrol contract, and I hadn’t seen a single mention of troop movement near China. Which wasn’t surprising, of course. This room was a mess. No one in their right mind would have routed high priority troop commands into this black hole. There had to be another room with all the good stuff in it.

  Because I hadn’t the slightest idea where to start on Daniel’s project, I was a model employee for Savitri. At this rate, I’d have all her normal, non-secret business cleaned up within a couple of days. And I’d know more than I ever wanted to about petrol and dairy products.

  It was time to change my approach.

  My behavior last night had me itching to find whatever proof I could in hopes that Lord Relobu might accept the information in exchange for leniency on my arrest order. I’d be delighted to go home immediately and never have to face Daniel—or my feelings—again.

  I scanned the room, trying to determine where I should start digging. But alas, not one of the boxes was labeled “super-secret invasion plans.”

  I was just about to leave my cube and wander the halls, hoping that I’d run across, I don’t know, a room that looked suspicious or something, when something caught my eye. It was a small white envelope, unopened, dangling precariously between a stack of old bank statements on the top of the desk, and another stack of random files that had been half shoved into the desk’s open single file-drawer. Addressed only to “The Dragon Lord of India,” the envelope caught my eye because of the very un-banklike pattern of embossing that ran along the back flap. It matched the stylized logo from the hotel in Budapest. I was almost certain. I remembered admiring the elegant illustration of alternating dragon heads and tails in a deep gold.

  I snatched it up, tearing through the paper with a ragged nail. When I’d finished reading the short note, I slammed my palms on the desk. “That rat bastard.”

  I’d read too many notes written by Richard Green to mistake the sender as anyone else. The note was typed, but the phrasing, the sentence length...I was an expert at written languages, after all, and absolutely everything about it pointed to my boyfriend as the author of this letter.

  Furious, I ran my gaze along the neat rows of pencils, notebooks, and paper clips. And stopped at the phone.

  I hesitated for only a moment before picking up the receiver and dialing my apartment. When there was no answer, I crossed my fingers and dialed Myrna’s work number. Based on the last time I spoke with Myrna, odds were good she was holed up at DRACIM.

  “DRACIM Reparations, this is Myrna.”

  “Hey. Whatever you’re doing, I want you to stop, find Richard and kill him.”

  “Carol? Is that really you? Wait just a sec.”

  There was a slight rattle as she settled back at her desk and adjusted the receiver. “Sorry, there are a couple of interns still here helping me sort through the backlog. I had to kick them out of my office. I’ve been so worried. There’ve been reports that they came looking for you at the hospital, but no one knew where you’d gone.”

  “I’m fine. Safe. Richard on the other hand, isn’t g
oing to be so lucky. You will never guess what I have in my hand right now.” I was so furious I didn’t give her enough time to respond. “It’s a letter. Addressed to Lady Savitri. And judging by its contents, I’m betting every other dragon lord received a note exactly like it. He signed my name to it, Myrna! He sent an invitation to a “private demonstration” of another of Hian-puo’s bioweapon on the thirteenth of December. And he put my name on it. While we were running around trying to stop Hian-puo’s bomb, Richard was busy commissioning another one!”

  Myrna sighed. “I know. Lord Relobu’s copy arrived in the mail last week. That’s what was behind his announcement that you were to be apprehended. Lady Adelaida got her letter about the same time as Relobu. When the Shui-Tech scientists who’d worked on the bomb suddenly resigned without telling anyone where they were going, the two dragon lords got together and decided to try and find you before any of the other dragons could make contact, just in case you really did manage to get another bomb built and intended on selling it to the highest bidder.” Myrna paused. “I am so sorry. I feel awful. I dragged you in to this mess. If I hadn’t introduced you to Richard, Relobu wouldn’t be out for your head and you could come home.”

  My shoulders drooped. I guess that answered my question about whether Relobu still planned to arrest me as soon as my feet hit American soil. I’d half hoped Myrna had worked a miracle and convinced Lord Relobu that I’d had nothing whatsoever to do with Richard’s plans for the bomb. But obviously that wasn’t the case.

  “So it sounds like I’m still unwelcome in Tulsa, huh? Have you heard from Richard? Did he get out of Budapest?”

  Myrna’s pause did not make me feel good about her answer. “Unfortunately, Relobu still wants your head on a platter. Richard, on the other hand, is already back home.”

  “They caught him? What did they do to him?” My mind suddenly flashed back to some pictures I’d seen of a general who’d displeased the former Chinese dragon lord. The general was a dragon, and he’d still managed to have almost every bone in his body broken before Hian-puo had sliced him neck to hindquarters and ended his life. The way I felt right now, I almost hoped they’d given Richard the same treatment.

  Myrna made a noise, half snort, half snarl. “He’s still alive, but only because they won’t let me near enough to kill him myself. Relobu sent Trian on an out of town project, so I’m getting my information from spotty sources. They don’t exactly trust me much at the moment. But they all tell me Richard is holed up at Relobu’s house and in perfect health. He turned himself in. Pretended like he’d had no idea anyone was looking for him, and said he’d been trying to track you down after he’d realized that you’d sent out those letters, and probably had another bioweapon, or at least a copy of the device schematics.

  “He acted like he’d been working in Relobu’s best interests the entire time.”

  I was quiet for a moment, absorbing the information. “That doesn’t make any sense. And Relobu believed him?” Before the question was even out of my mouth I knew the answer. Of course Relobu believed him. Richard had worked for the dragon for years. I was the new girl who’d asked to be on the team, even though she’d never had any real experience dealing with dragons.

  There was another long pause, and for a moment I thought I’d lost the connection.

  Myrna’s voice was hesitant. “I’ve tried getting information from some of my contacts in Relobu’s house, but mum’s the word on the Richard situation. All I know is that Richard spent a couple of hours in a holding cell downtown before Relobu sent some guys to pick him up. Richard and the dragon lord were in a closed-door meeting for about two hours, and when they emerged, Lord Relobu said Richard was not to be harmed.

  “I’m only hearing this stuff through the grapevine, but it looks as if Richard will be taking back some of his responsibilities with the company.”

  “What?” Of all the fates I’d imagined for Richard, being reinstated as Relobu’s chief operations officer had not been on the short list.

  “Crazy, right?”

  “Well what happened to Emory? I mean, if Richard was welcomed back with open arms, did Relobu give Emory the same benefit of the doubt?”

  Myrna snorted. “Of course not. Emory was taken into custody the day the bomb went off at DRACIM, and Relobu hasn’t wavered in his belief that Emory was involved. The only difference is, Relobu thinks he was working for you.”

  “And Emory didn’t call Richard a liar?” If Myrna’s old boss did anything well, it was blaming other people for his shortcomings. Frankly I was surprised Emory hadn’t started talking before they’d even managed to get him in cuffs.

  “That’s the problem. At the time of the bombing, Relobu was so furious he sent a contingent of dragons to the DRACIM base for Emory instead of allowing the Tulsa police department to pick him up. It’s possible Relobu might have calmed down enough to allow Emory a chance to explain himself as Richard did. But a group of humans heard we’d let a dragon take custody of a DRACIM employee. While the cleanup crew was making certain we’d cleared all traces of the biomaterial from our building, the humans formed a small militia and tried to shoot down Relobu’s contingent, claiming humans weren’t subject to dragon law, and therefore could not be tried for killing them. One sec—”

  There was a loud click and then a groan as the spring mechanism used to open the two enormous, dragon-sized doors in her office engaged. I waited while Myrna spoke to one of her interns about organizing food for tomorrow’s safety meeting about train accidents and low-flying dragons.

  “I’m back. Sorry about that. Anyway, Relobu’s team made it to DRACIM, but when they were leaving, the dragon carrying Emory was almost shot down. She lost her hold on Emory and dropped him from about twenty feet in the air. It broke several bones, one of the main ones being his jaw.”

  “Oh crap. Emory wasn’t in a saddle?” For my dragonback trip from Beijing to Budapest, I’d sat in a seat designed to strap tight around the dragon’s belly, placing me near the dragon’s neck, just above the wings. The saddle had a pretty intricate seatbelt that kept me anchored even if the dragon decided to fly upside down.

  Which I’m happy to confirm he did not.

  Myrna snorted. “Nope. They’d brought him a saddle, but somehow the dragons incorrectly assumed Emory was a delicate flower of a man, and not the three-hundred-and-fifty-pound candy lover that he actually is. The seatbelt didn’t fit him. The dragons were in a hurry, so it was decided that one of them would simply carry him clasped between his lower claws.”

  “Ouch.” The flight itself in that position couldn’t have been comfortable. And to be dropped? Just the thought made me rub at the wound on my head in sympathy.

  “Yep. Anyway, he’s still not able to speak—the doctors are keeping him pretty drugged up because of the pain and to ease the use of his feeding tube—but when he’s well enough, Relobu has demanded an audience. We can always hope that at that point Emory will point the finger at Richard, but as of right now, Relobu has not lifted the bounty on your head. The doctors say it will be at least two weeks before he’ll be in any condition to have guests.”

  I wasn’t happy about my situation, of course, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear that I had potential support for my story, even if it was just Emory. “Well, that bodes well for my triumphant return.”

  “Exactly. But until then, I think you ought to stay where you are for now. Just to be safe. And I’d rather not hear the details. Right now, Relobu hasn’t quite forgiven DRACIM for allowing the deaths of his dragons, regardless of who specifically caused the deaths. We’ve been asked, through a politely worded memo, not to approach the Relobu properties until this blows over. But just in case he decides to lift his moratorium on DRACIM employees, I’d rather be in the dark on your whereabouts. How’re you holding up?”

  Her question was cheery, but I could hear the exhaustion in her voice. It sounded as if Myrna had taken over most of the Tulsa DRACIM office when Emory had been arrested. I�
�d dialed Myrna with the intention of sharing Daniel’s theories about the trouble brewing in India, but I didn’t feel comfortable heaping on to her worry. Myrna never worked this late unless there were severe problems. And if humans forming militias and shooting down dragons weren’t severe problems, I didn’t know what would qualify.

  And Relobu refusing DRACIM interference? That was unheard of. She had enough to deal with. Until I had proof, I didn’t want to make Myrna’s day worse than it already was.

  “I’m doing fine. Really. A—” I wasn’t sure how to describe my relationship with Daniel, “—a friend helped smuggle me out of Budapest on a plane. I’m currently stretched out in a hammock in Cancun, soaking up the sun, right under Relobu’s snout.”

  “Uh huh, sure you are.” Myrna knew better than anyone that I turned into a roasted tomato when I was in the sun for more than five seconds, and the idea of sand between my toes gave me the creeps. Her voice turned serious. “Wherever you are, I’m glad you’re okay. I’ll do my best to get you home.”

  “Thanks.”

  I hung up the phone and looked around. I’d decided that my next move was to start thinking outside the box in order to locate Savitri’s military records, but after my talk with Myrna, I couldn’t get my brain to do anything but replay the letter Richard had sent over and over.

  Lady Savitri of India,

  Hian-puo isn’t the only one with dragon-killing bioweapons. For the right price, you too can obtain the ultimate tool for ensuring your territory’s continued dominance. Appointments for product inspection can be made by calling the number printed on the back. I look forward to making your acquaintance, and hope that this is the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship.

  —Carol Jenski

  There, right on the page, was unquestionable proof that I was a complete idiot for trusting Richard, and that Richard was the vilest human on the planet.