A Cat Among Dragons

by Alma Boykin

  Rada considered the King-Emperor’s words carefully, sorting through the foreign tongue and formal language to find the heart of the matter. “That is a delicate proposal, Your Majesty. Forgive my bluntness, for I am a soldier not a courtier,” and she bowed her head towards the reptile. “If I do as you wish, I will offend some people, infuriate others, and challenge a number of traditions and taboos. Your people’s anger may well be aimed at Your Majesty as well as at the bearer of any bad news.”

  “We are aware of that. And We do not make this request lightly,” his eyes narrowed with irritation, “nor would We make it to one in whom We did not have complete confidence that they can keep their muzzle shut when the situation calls for it.” He was pleased to see the soldier recoil slightly from the heat in his tone.

  She gave a slight bow. “Then Imperial Majesty, I accept your contract. Where do you wish me to begin, and within what time frame do you want my analysis?”

  “We give you two moons, Commander Ni Drako. You will have funds, open access to all Our military positions, transportation, and two guards to assist you and to deter,” he paused, “difficulties. We expect you to report any immediate dangers to Us as soon as you find them, should you come across anything of that nature.” Shi-dan thought for a moment before adding, “Start as far as possible from the Palace complex, then work your way back here. Have you any questions?”

  Rada pursed her lips. “Only one, Imperial Majesty: may I carry my sword and practice my blade work? I foresee no need for self-defense,” she assured him as Shi-dan frowned slightly, “but I do not care to let hard-earned skills grow rusty from disuse.”

  His quick reply should have aroused her suspicions. Shi-dan’s eyes narrowed and his tail tip wiggled just a fraction. “Yes, We grant you sword-right outside Our court, and We will give word that one of your escorts is to be a bladesman.” You do not know what you have asked, do you Commander Ni Drako? I hope you are as good as you seem to think you are.

  “Thank you, Imperial Majesty. Is tomorrow morning too soon to begin?” the mercenary inquired.

  “No. You will find transportation and your guards ready at sunrise, Commander Ni Drako,” Shi-dan said, well pleased with the situation. “You are dismissed, Commander.” She returned to attention, saluted, then backed ten paces before she turned and left. Who told her about that? Shi-dan wondered, then turned his attention to other matters.

  Rada’s initial reports confirmed Shi-dan’s suspicions about Azdhagi overconfidence and his fears about the neglected state of Drakon IV’s defenses. Service with the Defense Forces had never been as prestigious as that with the Imperial Forces, and it showed in the quality and readiness of the soldiers and their bases. That the position of Lord Defender had declined into a merely ceremonial role no doubt contributed to the situation, confirming Shi-dan’s suspicion that reversing the trend would require drastic measures. Lord Tak was a good man, but he was in ill health and old, and none of the senior officers currently serving with the Defenders showed the skills and character that Shi-dan wanted in his next Lord Defender. Shi-dan noted with great interest that the closer to the Capitol—Palace that Commander Ni Drako came, the worse the news in her reports grew. Shi-dan mulled over the situation as he drifted through his private gardens, enjoying the warmth of early summer.

  In contrast to the state of Drakon IV’s defenses, the word from his spies and agents about the Commander pleased him greatly. She learned the Azdhag language very quickly and impressed the guards with her blade skill, based on what they’d seen her do in practice. Ni Drako managed to thread her way between two feuding Houses without causing offense, and seemed to have a talent for getting people to talk to her, be they noble, servant, or soldier. While she was gone, Shi-dan’s off-world spies had gathered more information about the mercenary, but aside from stories of occasional brutality, and whispers that Ni Drako had assassinated at least two people, they found nothing new. The rumors that they confirmed, however, gave the King-Emperor an idea of how to bait his offer, should he make it.

  For her part, Rada found herself battling her temper as well as the summer weather and stubborn reptiles. Drakon IV’s climate shared much in common with that of other water-rich planets, including hot, humid summers. The natives seemed to thrive in the heat despite being endothermic. The mammal did not, and it took most of her self-control and self-discipline to keep working at the pace she had set herself. At least the food agreed with her and she found the rural nobles relatively easy to deal with. They were blessedly direct. Shi-dan they seemed to respect and possibly even like, and many had served in the Azdhag military in one form or another, so she could talk with them soldier-to-soldier. The majority of the rural Azdhagi acted uncomfortable or impatient with the arrival of “the mammal,” but came around once she had visited the local leaders and shown that she knew the difference between a blaster and a black hole.

  The state of Drakon IV’s defenses appalled Rada. She leaned against the battlement of one of the old royal forts, now a Defense Force supply depot, and watched a storm explode in the distance, white tongues of fire licking down onto the grain fields and crop lands of the eastern plains of the northern continent. I could take this planet with the Adamantine Division, easily. Hell, I could almost have taken it with the Marauders and no ground troops! No coordination, morale sucks like a gravitational singularity, slack discipline, and no worries because nothing can get through the Imperial Forces. Bah! No wonder the King-Emperor is concerned! And I’m probably missing things, as fast as I’m moving. She rubbed her forehead, trying to fight off a pounding headache. His Imperial Majesty’s going to have his forefeet full trying to sort out this mess. She sniffed the wind as it gusted, heavy with the scents of wet loam, ozone, and damp reptile. Damp reptile? Huh?

  Commander Ni Drako spun around as one of her two guards trotted up, wet and worried. “Commander, Lord Beesh is here and he’s not happy with His Imperial Majesty’s response to your report.”

  “I’m sure he’s not, Sergeant Tiis.” Rada snorted and strode down the worn stone ramp. “I was honest and honesty is usually not flattering.”

  Her other guard waited at the foot of the ramp, carrying her sword. “You’ll want this, Commander Ni Drako,” and he held it out to her. She didn’t question him, slinging the belt and blade around her waist as she walked.

  The two guards fell in behind her, exchanging a worried glance. “Not to be too presumptuous, Commander, but have you sent in your latest report already?” Tiis asked.

  “Affirmative, Sergeant.” Lord Beesh must be utterly furious, Ni Drako realized, if the soldiers were concerned about her paperwork.

  The medium-sized Azdhag noble waited none too patiently in the courtyard of the former castle, his personal armsmen standing with him. His grey and brown skin and scales shone with moisture from the rain that had started falling and he snarled as he saw the mammal approach. “You! What did you tell his Imperial Majesty?”

  Commander Ni Drako bowed, as was appropriate for a soldier to do in the presence of a mid-rank noble, before she replied, “The truth, my lord. I wrote that the Defense Force facilities near your residence were being used in part by your House, and that morale among the Defenders was rather low. I included my observations about your House’s preparedness for an attack on your property, Lord Beesh. That is all.”

  “Stupid fur-covered female! The King-Emperor ordered me to remove my people from the old base immediately, despite my needing the room to house dependents, and he suggested that perhaps another House might take over local command of the Defenders! You furry, incompetent whore!” The noble hissed, shaking with fury. Ni Drako worked very hard to keep calm and to not respond to his insults. He advanced on her and she stood motionless, waiting.

  “Coward,” he spat, reading her non-response as fear. “Lying, hairy, deceitful mammal!” Rada stood with her hands at her sides, and Beesh failed to realize what it meant when her ears flattened against her head and her claws extended from the t
ips of her fingers. By now her guards understood very well what they saw and eased backwards, just in case she lost her temper.

  “Why did Shi-dan ask you to inspect the Defense Forces, anyway? It can’t be competence.” Beesh made a severe miscalculation, following that sally with, “Perhaps the rumor is true and this is your reward for providing,” and he gave her a lascivious look, “personal service. In which case his judgment is as flawed as his taste.”

  Her blade flashed out and she took a guard stance before he realized the danger. “Insult me as much as you wish, Lord Beesh, but do not insult my employer by suggesting he would stoop to consort with the likes of me, especially in that fashion.” Rada’s voice rang through the rainy evening and the brown-grey noble swung around, taking her blade as a challenge.

  Beesh drew on her and charged. Rada held her ground, waiting until he was committed before changing to an attack stance. At the last moment she spun to the side, cutting at his shoulder and flank, then dodging his tail. He skidded to a halt on the wet pavement and advanced on her again. This time Rada met him halfway, blocking early in his swing and sliding her blade up under his foreleg, slicing towards his shoulder joint. Beesh twisted out of the way, then rose on two legs and slashed down on her. Rada ducked his blow and stepped forward, stabbing him in the chest and then slithering out of the way before he hit the ground. He wasn’t dead, just winded and very surprised, and the Wanderer slammed the pommel of her blade against the top of Beesh’s head, ringing his chimes hard enough to leave him flat on the ground, blinking with confusion.

  Then Rada backed away, bowed, wiped her blade on her breeches leg, and inquired loudly of Sergeant Tiis, “May I leave him here, or do I need to notify his next of kin to take the body, since the brain is obviously long since gone?”

  The soldier nodded with satisfaction. “Lord Beesh’s House can ransom him after you leave, Commander Ni Drako.” Beesh’s body men didn’t protest when the Defenders hauled the noble off to the infirmary, then to a holding cell.

  Two days later, Shi-dan’s eyes bulged as he listened to Lord Kiitara’s account of the combat. “She did not react until after Beesh insulted Us?”

  Kiitara had been at the depot and had watched the whole thing from the shadows. The old warrior chuckled, neck-spines flaring briefly. “Correct, Imperial Majesty. And she has to know how badly he insulted her, as well as she speaks our language. But she didn’t do anything at all until he insulted your judgment and said that she was your,” and he caught himself as the King-Emperor smiled unpleasantly.

  “Beesh is a fool and she should have killed him and spared Us the trouble.” Shi-dan was not joking, as Kiitara well knew. “However,” the King-Emperor continued, “Commander Ni Drako couldn’t have known that. Thank you for your report.” She only fights to defend me and then she beats Beesh fairly easily. Things are moving the way I hoped they would, Shi-dan thought to himself, growing cautiously optimistic about the situation.

  Rada finished her tour and retreated to her assigned quarters with several dictionaries in order to write her final report and recommendations. She emerged to visit the Palace Guard’s practice salle, where she drew an interested audience, and once visited a court function.

  Lord Tir-shiis, followed by two or three of the ambitious younger nobles approached her where the Commander stood watching goings on. He swaggered a little and Ni Drako wondered if it was bravado or alcohol. She mentally shifted to be ready for whatever came next. The pale green reptile with light blue robes bowed slightly and she returned the courtesy.

  “Commander Ni Drako, I understand that you have some skill with a blade?” he asked.

  She replied after a moment’s thought, trying to gauge the reptiles’ moods and intentions. “I’ve learned a few techniques, my lord, but I’m not a true swordsman or master.” Rada’s cautious response emboldened the youngsters, who started looking cocky. Juvenile pack behavior never changes, does it? Rada asked a random deity.

  Tir-shiis bared some fangs and casually observed that, “It seems true, then, that real blade and weapons skills are for males alone.”

  “The Argonian Battle Queens would suggest otherwise, my lord,” Ni Drako pointed out. “Argonian males never touch weapons because the males are considered too valuable. Only the lesser sex wages war.” She kept a politely neutral expression on her face as the four Azdhagi thought through her comment.

  “Are you saying that males are inferior?” the young noble demanded.

  “Not at all, my lord, merely that some species think so,” Rada soothed. Then she added, “But you would need to ask one of the Braganza assassin-courtesans for her thoughts if you truly wish an educated opinion, my lord.”

  One of the older courtiers, who had been doing his scrupulous best to act as if he were not listening to the conversation, could no longer resist wading in. He sneered, “And what would a mammal such as you, Commander, know of the Braganzians?”

  “One of my former teachers is currently head of a training temple there,” she explained, omitting that it was one of the healing schools.

  As she had hoped, that terminated the discussion. Lord Tir-shiis and his friends suddenly found somewhere else to be and the other nobles eyed her with a hint of respect. Rada excused herself and returned to her quarters. It’s like walking a greased tightrope over a pit full of swords, she thought. And you like the challenge, a wee little bit of her admitted to herself. She’d learned a great deal about Azdhagia over the past seven weeks, probably more than any other mammalian foreigner currently alive, and had come to like Drakon IV, feudal system and all.

  Rada turned in her final report and began making preparations for departure. She assumed that Shi-dan would debrief her and made some notes before packing. As she did, she checked in with her business partner and was pleased to see that three-fourths of her contract price had already appeared in her personal account. The Azdhagi had paid the Marauders very promptly and apparently the tradition continued. A refreshing change, but then debt is dishonorable, isn’t it? Zabet certainly thinks so, so maybe it’s a reptilian trait the Wanderer mused. But then so do Traders, and to call them reptiles is an insult to lizards, newts, and salamanders everywhere!

  A servant interrupted her musings with a note from the King-Emperor. He wanted her to come for a private audience that afternoon. “We wish to discuss future business in light of your findings, Commander Ni Drako,” it read. Hmmm. Why do I have a feeling this is related to the discrete inquiries someone has been making about me? Shi-dan was not the only person with contacts in interesting places.

  It was a very private audience. Rada waited in a beautifully appointed reception room adjacent to the Imperial suite, admiring the patterns of wood and stone inlay in the walls and floor. The door slid open and Shi-dan entered, alone. The mammal knelt, Azdhag-style, and when the King-Emperor motioned for her to be seated she simply moved over onto one of the cushions on the floor. He seemed agitated and the Commander did her best to be calm, patient, and attentive. The dark brown Azdhag hesitated, tail-tip patting the floor with what she would learn to read as nerves, before launching into his offer.

  “Commander Ni Drako, what We propose is this: that you assume the position of Lord Defender of Drakon IV when Lord Tak dies, and make it an actual position, no longer ceremonial. And that you remain Lord-Defender until you choose to retire, die in battle, or are dismissed by the King-Emperor and full Imperial and Planetary Councils.” Shi-dan watched the mammal carefully, trying to anticipate her reaction.

  She almost passed out from surprise. Her eyes widened and she blinked several times. “Ah, Imperial Majesty, this is, ah, more than I am capable of doing. Forgive me if I speak plainly, Imperial Majesty, but I’m just a mercenary. I’ve no training or skill in politics or diplomacy, nor any great knowledge of commanding a planet-wide military force. I can find holes and suggest how to fill them, or strengthen weaknesses, but that’s all, Sir.”

  The King-Emperor paced, then made a forefoot gestu
re of negation. “Not correct, Commander Ni Drako. You’ve navigated the complexities of court without getting killed, which suggests more skill in diplomacy than you claim. No one rises to command her own mercenary company without having the ability to negotiate, advise, and learn. And you have the potential to outlive Us, Our heir, and probably his heir as well, if We guess correctly.” Shi-dan’s eyes narrowed as he circled the seated woman. “And you are not Azdhag born, and so will serve as a reminder that we must never underestimate other species. So what say you, Rada Ni Drako? Will you accept Our challenge?” He stopped in front of her, looking into her grey-silver eyes. “We offer you no great income, no sinecure. But you will have court rank, respect once you have earned it, and,” he threw his bait, “a place in the history of Our Empire that cannot be erased. What say you?”

  She hesitated. “You are correct about my potential longevity, Imperial Majesty. And you need to know what comes with it, before I can accept your overwhelming offer.” She took a risk and told him everything.

  Shi-dan listened and considered her words carefully. In the silence Rada also thought hard. She had been offered what most mercenaries only dreamed of. It would be nearly impossible to do and could cost her her life at any given moment, but then so would remaining a glorified gun for hire or getting caught by the Trader tarqina. And the chance to live on, even if only through her alias!

  She had almost made up her mind when Shi-dan decided. “It makes Us no difference, Commander Ni Drako. The Empire does no business with the Trader clans, and so long as you keep your feud out of Our politics, it has no bearing on Our opinion.”