Between Flood and Flame (A Cat Among Dragons Book 6)
Page 8
It took the efforts of two healers and their assistants, but Lord Ni Drako did not die. He should have, but Heirlah and her fellow medical specialists very carefully cleaned the wound and cut the cranial pelt away from the wound site, then pulled the bone out of the mammal’s brain and stopped the scalp bleeding before neatly stitching and gluing the gash closed. Teesh studied the small metal cap the mammal had worn under his elaborate braids. “Senior Healer, what’s this?”
The older female looked at the thing and rumpled her tail. “I don’t know. If it was supposed to be a skull protector, it certainly did not do the job. Have you informed Lady Zabet of her master’s condition?”
“Not yet, Senior Healer. I thought it best to wait until Ni Drako was stabilized.”
Heirlah considered for a span of time as she washed her forefeet. “Good. Go, now.” Under-Healer Teesh bowed and rustled off to find the mammal’s concubine.
An hour later, Zabet frowned down at her supine pet. This was not at all what she had expected to find after getting a message that Rada had been “lightly injured” in the sword dance. Zabet wasn’t a Healer, but she did not like Rada’s coloring and shallow breathing. <
Heirlah blinked, perplexed. “Brain swelling, Lady Zabet? There’s no infection so it should not be a problem.”
Zabet’s ears went flat and her whiskers snapped out rigid. <
The Azdhagi conferred. “We don’t have anything, unless we open his skull again. None of us are trained in mammalian neural anatomy or cranial specialties.”
Rada’s Boss made herself count to ten before speaking. <
Under-healer Teesch raised her tail for attention. “That would explain this note in his medical files,” and she pointed to the screen. The others leaned over to read. “In case of extreme trauma, stabilize the Lord Defender and return him to his time vessel as rapidly as possible. Place him in the medical bay, press the green button and leave.”
<
Rada was neither happy nor surprised to open her eye and see first the metallic frame of the Dark Hart’s medical pod, then the underside of Zabet’s muzzle pressed firmly against the clear ceramic of the tank. “Diagnosis, please,” she requested in Kaeltaw’kt, the Wanderer’s original language. She listened to the results, which explained why her head ached and she could barely focus her eye. She also noted that the medical processor had not treated her other injuries. <
<
Rada stripped off her clothes and gently cleaned the blood and other things from her head and the rest of her. Something felt wrong and it took her a bit to realize why she seemed unbalanced. “Zabet, where’s my hair?”
<
“Thanks Boss,” Rada sighed, eye closed as she tried to suppress the pain in her heart. It was foolish to mourn over something that would grow back, if very slowly. And the Azdhagi did not know what long hair meant among the Traders or why Lord Ni Drako insisted on wearing such elaborate braids and hairstyles. “I guess I’d better get something to even it up with.”
Zabet tipped her head to the side and studied the woman. <
Rada didn’t argue. She drank some of the herbal tea the healers had recommended the last time she’d gotten a concussion, then carefully laid down on the sleeping platform. Zabet went off on an errand and the Wanderer tried to make herself sleep, but couldn’t. Instead she wept silently for her missing hair. Dear God, I’m not sure Kirlin’s support is worth this. I pray that it will be, please, but just now I hate him, I hate the Azdhagi, and I want my contract back so I can shred it and be gone, Lord. Her chosen deity did not reply, not that she expected anything from Him. She was alive, which was probably a minor miracle in itself. Against her closed eye she saw again the shine of Kirlin’s sword, felt the realization that she couldn’t dodge, and the acceptance of her coming death. Then pain and darkness and nothing.
Rada studied herself in the small mirror in her private quarters two days later. To her surprise, Zabet’s idea worked. Rada had, very unhappily, trimmed a matching amount off the side of her head opposite the missing hair-patch. Then she’d divided the rest into two sections instead of the usual four and braided the sections. Now the braids nestled slightly back from her temples, held in place by pins and a dull metallic mesh net with spaces open for her ears to fit through. It concealed the newly-healed gash in her scalp and masked the missing hair. <
Now, however, Rada was more concerned with looking squared away and professional. She tugged her jacket straight (again) before buckling her weapons belt over it. The dark-gray outer seams of her breeches exactly lined up with the seam on her boots and in turn disappeared under the outer seam of her dress’s slit skirt. She spun on her heel and stalked out of her quarters. “The council chamber,” she informed her guards as they fell in behind her. She had no real need of them within the Palace-Capital complex, but appearances meant a great deal in the Planetary Council and Commander Rada Lord Ni Drako intended to appear sound and in total control. Thus the guards traditionally permitted to the Lord Defender. They would join the other members of the Palace Guard outside the doors once the Lord Defender entered the council chamber, but for now they followed, matching their commander’s pace and steps.
To her mild surprise, Rada was not the first member of the Council present. The Prince Imperial sat on the observer’s bench just inside the door, looking at something on a portable viewer. And Great Lord Kirlin reclined on his bench, studying a document. Rada said nothing, merely nodding to the noble as she walked to her place at the King Emperor’s left. Here, in this place and time, she was Kirlin’s equal in her position as Lord Defender, commander of the planet’s military. She ignored his careful study of her as she reviewed the proposed agenda.
It took a bit of effort for Kirlin to conceal his close inspection of the Lord Defender. Ni Drako’s survival pleased him. It had taken all of his
skill to pull the blow enough to keep from cutting the mammal’s head off and the mammal’s survival counted as another example of Kirlin’s prowess. Defeating the Lord Defender, in front of all court, and seeing the mammal’s recognition of his impending death satisfied Kirlin’s need and desire. At least in this generation, at this time, Kirlin of Kirlin Lineage was the better swordsman. The reptile was content.
Ghost Story?
A.D. 4001
The Lord-Defender’s chamber looked pitch black. After a moment Sergeant Shoi’s eyes adjusted and he could barely see enough by the light of the stars and the courtyard lamps to find the entrance to the noble’s sleeping chamber. The lithe, slender reptile eased towards the blacker area, unhappy with what was going on and only slightly less unhappy with the prospect of waking his commanding officer. “Lord Defender?” He inquired quietly.
In the silent darkness, the sound of a blade clearing its sheath seemed unnaturally loud. “What?” Fabric rustled and footsteps moved towards the reptile, who retreated two paces. The mammal loomed over the noncom, blade held in a defensive stance, blast pistol also at the ready.
“Forgive me for intruding, Lord Defender, but you must come to the Defender’s worship area at once. Two of the officers have a priest who claims he can bring the Great Shi-dan back and that the Great One is offended by the changes you suggest.”
Lord Reh-dakh stalked past the male and stared out the large window, shaking his head. “Let them try. If they succeed, they will have more trouble in their forefeet than the chapel can contain.” He exhaled loudly and rested the tip of the sword blade on the floor. “Thank you for the warning, Sergeant Shoi. You are dismissed.”
<
The mammal snorted, then stalked back into her quarters. “A religious idiot with delusions of grandeur. Thinks Shi-dan’s mad at me and wants to bring him back from the grave to prove it.” Rada slid the sword into its sheath, put away her hold-out blaster, and started getting dressed.
Zabet rolled onto her belly and yawned, then blinked. The True-dragon watched the mammal fastening her body armor before pulling on a shirt and breeches. <
Rada pulled a skirt on over her head and settled it at her waist, then sat on the edge of the sleeping platform and reached for her boots. “Nope, not that I’ve ever read or heard. No necromancy in Azdhag religion, no exorcisms either. They do believe in ghosts, but Shi-dan wouldn’t come back as a ghost.” She tugged the leather up, locked the boots’ straps and then reached under the bolster and pulled out a dagger, which she slid into the pocket in the side of one boot. “Ghosts show up immediately after death, or so I’ve read.”
Zabet yawned again, her whiskers floating and waving gracefully, and blinked sleepy blue eyes. <
“He’s probably got some kind of effects set-up to make it look as if he can summon a spirit, boss. But I’m the only one who knows what Shi-dan really looked like, so I can spot the fake, shoot the priest in the ass for making my chief of staff wake me up at midnight, then go back to sleep.” She put on her weapons belt and selected a sword cane. “That and I need to know who’s backing him.”
<
Lord Ni Drako entered a passcode on a pad beside an old door and let herself into the military wing, just past the Defenders officers’ wardroom. She rarely visited the chapel, in part because it sat on the next floor up, in with the Palace Guard’s quarters. She limped into a small passage and up the treaded ramp, ducking her head at the top. The low lintel gave a hint as to the age of this part of the stone complex and Rada paused to get her bearings. The chapel lay to her right and seemed dark and deserted. However, beyond it she sensed movement. The Wanderer-hybrid squinted a little, looking and listening carefully. Yes, she could see flickering light coming out from under a door. Target acquired, target in sight, mammal in motion she snorted to herself, easing down the passage towards what should have been a locked storage room.
Rada sniffed the air and frowned. She did not recognize the incense being burned, and after this long even she knew all the various seasonal and occasional blends by heart. It smelled dark, somehow, and left a metallic tang in her throat that she liked not at all. Inside the room she heard an Azdhag chanting in an unfamiliar dialect. The fur on her tail began bristling and her ears went flat against her skull. Whatever was going on, it called up every negative emotion held by whoever was in the storage room and Rada slammed her mental defenses full up. If she could sense Azdhagi emotions from this distance, something very serious was going on. Lord, I don’t know what’s up but I think I need Your help on this one, she half prayed, half reported. She also flipped the safety switch on her blast pistol to “off.” The woman eased silently along the wall, paused beside the metal door, and listened. As soon as she heard steps moving away from the entrance, she took a deep breath and shifted her grip on her sword cane.
One, two, THREE, and she slammed the unlocked door open, hard. Someone bellowed as she caught his tail between the heavy door and the stones of the wall. “Just what the fuck is going on here?” she demanded, single eye blazing fury as she took in the gathered reptiles and the makeshift worship space.
“Get the defiler!” a green Azdhag in pink and deep gray robes ordered. Two males in robes with Lord Shu’s House markings on them charged for Rada, who ducked them and slid forward into the room as she drew her blaster. But a soldier struck her from behind, smashing his fisted, gauntleted forefoot onto her skull. The mammal dropped to the floor. The soldier disarmed Rada, then backed up as the priest came over and inspected the unconscious noble. “Secure it,” the smaller reptile ordered and one of the servants pulled the female’s forelegs behind her back and chained them together, then dragged her body off to the side of the room.
As the gathered Azdhagi returned to their places, a newcomer peered around the still-open door and frowned. The Defenders’ priest didn’t try to enter the room but studied it instead. He’d noticed the lack of light from the chapel and had discovered that someone had put out the ever-burning lamps of memory and guidance, a grave insult to both the Ancestors and to the spirits of the dead Defenders and Palace Guards. As he re-lit them, he noticed the Lord Defender sneaking past the doorway, then followed the mammal. The makeshift worship area and the ritual repelled the chaplain. The incense did not rise as it should have but gathered low like fog and made him feel greasy. The “priest’s” chants twisted the traditional words of rest and praise and invoked things no Azdhagi in their sane mind dared to contemplate.
The Defenders’ priest was not the only one growing concerned. One of the two officers, not the one who had attacked the Lord Defender, shifted in place uneasily, his neck spines starting to rise a little and his tail twitching as if he were bothered by hide-nippers. The other, larger, officer noted his discomposure. “Problem?” he growled quietly.
“No, just, well, what if the Great One doesn’t come? Or if he is not alone? He guards the Gates, and if he is gone, then something might come out and follow him.”
The stranger priest made a gesture of negation, then stalked over to the unconscious mammal and pushed up the fabric covering his foreleg. The reptile’s talon slashed down and cut the Lord Defender’s arm. As soon as blood began dripping from the wound, the priest resumed chanting and caught the crimson flow in a small bowl. When he had enough he returned to the tempora
ry altar that had been prepared, dipped a talon in the liquid and inscribed a large half-circle on the floor. “Nothing from the cold realm can cross this barrier. And if it tries, it will be drawn to the one who so generously gave of himself to make the defense,” and the priest and larger officer smiled. The Defender’s priest and one of Lord Shu’s servants shuddered and the servant made a warding sign with his hindfoot.
Someone moved behind the chaplain and he glanced back to see Lord Heersi, the King-Emperor’s sire’s brother, trailed by one of the Defender NCOs. Both reptiles looked very concerned and Heersi gestured a question. The observer signed for silence and eased forward around the door and into the room, using the shadows as partial cover while the newcomers peered inside but did not enter.
The pink and grey robed priest rose onto his hind legs and hissed an incantation and summons. As he did, the smoke from the strange incense grew thicker and seemed to gather itself into a long cylinder. Nine stunned Azdhagi stared as two pair of legs and a tail emerged from the cylinder, followed by a vaguely head-shaped appendage. The smoke solidified, thickening as the priest hissed more words and the shape enlarged until it loomed almost three meters from “nose” to “tail-tip.” The head grew more distinct and suddenly two yellow, flame-like shapes appeared where an Azdhag’s eyes would be.
“Welcome, O Great One,” the false priest said, carefully backing over the blood circle so as not to smear the darkening red line. Off to the side, Rada winced and stirred a little as the Defenders’ chaplain, who had crept into the room unnoticed, nudged her with a careful forefoot. She blinked and tried to turn her head so that she could see what was going on. “We apologize for disturbing you, oh Great King-Emperor, but your creature had broken its oath to you and we plead with your greatness for justice,” and the reptile pointed towards Rada with his tail and hindleg.