Agents of the Crown- The Complete Series

by Lindsay Buroker

  “Didn’t you say that when dragon tears were carved into animal shapes, the magic created a link automatically? It didn’t sound like the animals could break the link.”

  “A dragon isn’t just some animal. I’m certain this one could break the link if it wanted. The dragon tear magic might find another dragon to link with, a hibernating one that wasn’t aware of it and that wouldn’t be so amenable to assisting Zenia.”

  Jev squeezed water from the hem of his shirt, hoping that Cutter’s speculations wouldn’t come to pass. He wouldn’t want to face another hydra without the help of Zenia’s dragon tear.

  “I can take your watch shift, Zyndar,” a crewman said, walking toward them in the dark. “The captain said you shouldn’t have to be out here in the rain.”

  “I don’t melt in the rain any more than other people do.” Jev didn’t want any special treatment. He’d already felt strange being given the opulent stateroom that had clearly been meant for the king when he traveled. Even if he had shared it with Cutter.

  “You’ve been out here for hours, Zyndar. You’ve done your shift.”

  Jev looked toward the campfire, admitting that he did want to check on Zenia. “All right. Thank you.”

  “Anyone coming to take my shift?” Cutter asked dryly.

  “Soon, Master Dwarf. The engineer is requesting your assistance.”

  “As he should.” Cutter sniffed. Or maybe that was a sneeze.

  Jev smiled, knowing Cutter would enjoy helping with repairs. But he didn’t want to leave his friend behind for this expedition. If some strange magical trap held that dragon, Cutter was the most likely one to know how to break it.

  “I’ll be up there if anyone needs me.” Jev waved toward the campfire.

  “I’ll tell the healer,” Cutter said. “I saw your noggin bleeding like a volcano before it got dark.”

  “It wasn’t that bad. I didn’t pass out.”

  “The night is young.”

  Jev smiled, though it turned to a grimace as he picked his way up the beach, the sharp, barnacled rocks making it difficult to maneuver in the dark.

  “Halt,” came Rhi’s voice from under a tree. “What intruder dares enter our camp?”

  “A soggy one with a bloody head.” Jev assumed Rhi recognized him since that had been a cheerful call rather than a threat.

  “Is that supposed to make us want you in here?”

  “Over here, Jev.” Zenia sat on a log under a tarp strung between a few trees. The campfire burned cheerfully in front of her. She patted the log next to her.

  A couple of people wrapped in blankets also occupied the mossy ground under the tarp. It didn’t look dry. The tarp kept some of the rain from hitting the earth, but the ground had been soaked when they arrived.

  As Jev unbuckled his sword scabbard so he could comfortably sit on the log next to Zenia, one of the blanket-wrapped forms started snoring.

  “Is that Borti?” Jev wrapped an arm around Zenia’s shoulders.

  “Horti. His muteness doesn’t extend to his nostrils, I’ve learned.”

  “Huh.” Jev realized Zenia was dry and withdrew his arm. He didn’t want to get her wet again. “How’d you manage to get dry?” He waved at the rain running off the edges of the tarp and spattering the log.

  “Magic.” She smiled and laid a hand on his arm. A trickle of warmth flowed from her fingers—or maybe from her dragon tear and to her fingers.

  “My clothing isn’t about to be incinerated, is it?” He remembered her dragon tear doing that to one of the zyndari castle gossips.

  “Probably not, but don’t make any sudden movements.”

  Jev thought she was joking, but he stayed still as the strange warmth flowed up his arm and wrapped around his entire body. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, and he wasn’t sure if it was from having magic applied to him or simply a response to the pleasing heat.

  “Cutter expressed a concern that your dragon might leave your dragon tear once we free it,” Jev said, wondering if she would know it if the dragon was thinking along those lines. “That it might have only linked its soul with the gem in the hope of attracting attention and help.”

  “Her.”

  “What? Oh, the dragon. Sorry, her soul. I better not offend her if we want her to stick around and help afterward.” Jev rested his waterlogged palm on the back of Zenia’s warm hand. He almost removed it right away, realizing how clammy his skin was, but she leaned her shoulder against his and rested her other hand atop his.

  “Cutter would know more about dragon tears and magical links than I,” Zenia said, gazing thoughtfully into the fire, “but I was imagining—hoping—she would continue to work with me. From wherever she wished. She needs to be free to fly around the world and not be in pain.” She swallowed and lowered her voice. “I think they’ve been torturing her.”

  Jev didn’t want to distress her by continuing to speak of the possibility of the dragon leaving them, so he focused on her other concerns. “Why would they do that? They’re orcs, right? You described the nightmare once.”

  “Yes, though I’ve only ever seen one in the dream. I’m not sure if they’re keeping her injured so she won’t be able to free herself or if there’s something they gain from torturing a dragon.”

  “If anything, you’d think an intelligent being would find that a foolish thing to do. If she ever escaped, she would have the power to raze their settlement and kill them all.” Jev still couldn’t imagine how a bunch of orcs had found the power to imprison a dragon in the first place.

  “I hope she does that when we free her. They would deserve that.”

  “Halt,” Rhi called from the trees. “And prove you’re not orcish or trollish before entering our camp.”

  Jev detected a shadowy figure standing on the beach.

  “I think she’s enjoying her job,” Zenia murmured. “That should be Hydal, returning from the town.”

  “Oh? I didn’t realize he’d gone in too.”

  “I’m wearing spectacles and clothing from Tate’s Tailoring in the capital,” Hydal spoke from the beach. “Is that proof enough of my humanness?”

  “I don’t know,” Rhi said. “I may need you to read me a poem.”

  “I’d prefer to do that from under the tarp and next to the fire.”

  “While you’re giving me a massage?”

  “If my lady wishes that, I’ll be happy to oblige.”

  “Then you may enter.”

  The snoring had stopped, and Horti lifted his head. He watched Hydal approach, then sighed and lay flat again.

  Hydal stopped under Rhi’s tree, and they murmured a few words to each other. If they were poetic in nature, Jev couldn’t tell. Then Hydal continued under the tarp and bowed to Zenia as if she were a zyndari woman. Jev approved of the treatment.

  Hydal also nodded toward Jev, and the light of the fire reflected in his spectacles. Jev started, realizing the lens on one side was cracked.

  “Was that from the hydra battle?” Jev pointed to the broken lens. Hydal’s eye appeared puffy behind it, and his lid drooped.

  “No, that was from my visit to the town,” Hydal said dryly. “Captain Cham, I’ve acquired as much information as possible given my unwillingness to spend all my funds on the first night. Also, someone objected to my presence—” he waved at his broken lens, “—so it seemed a good time to leave.”

  “Thank you, Zyndar Hydal,” Zenia said formally. “Will you sit?”

  Hydal perched on the far side of the log from Jev.

  “I didn’t know you’d gone to scout, Hydal,” Jev said.

  “Captain Cham was thinking of going herself, but I volunteered since I know a few words of the local language and since I’m accustomed to gathering intelligence.”

  “Also, Captain Yug was about to put him on a watch shift,” Zenia said.

  “This is true.” Hydal removed his spectacles and frowned at them. His eye was definitely puffy. “The first thing I learned was that the hydra was
an anomaly. A couple of the large inland lakes are rumored to have them, but no sea vessels have encountered them in recent decades, nor has one been spotted along the coastline. The trolls believe it’s a portent. The orcs believe fish have grown scarce, forcing the deep-sea creatures to shallower waters. The ogres believe the elves sent it to attack the town and take revenge for some skirmish from a few years ago.” Hydal spread a hand, not appearing enthused by any of the suggestions.

  “What does the person who punched you in the eye think?” Jev asked.

  “That was a human, actually, an ex-subject of Kor. I thought he might be a friendly person willing to share information with me inexpensively, but he’s bitter because he was forcibly exiled some years ago for crimes related to a gang affiliation. He recognized the king’s emblem on the steamer and also recognized my accent. He jumped on me as soon as I spoke.”

  “So, no opinion on the hydra, eh?” Jev smiled and joked, but he also hoped Hydal had another set of spectacles along. He would have trouble seeing with all the cracks in that lens.

  “Not that he gave me. He did say he hoped it came up on the beach during the night and ate our ship.”

  “Let’s hope that’s not a possibility,” Zenia murmured. “I didn’t see any legs on it.”

  “I believe they evolved in the water and can’t leave it,” Hydal said.

  “Did you hear any rumors about a tribe of orcs with an imprisoned dragon?” Zenia asked. “And do you want me to attempt to fix your spectacles?” She touched her dragon tear.

  “I’m afraid nobody I spoke to knew about the dragon,” Hydal said. “I did ask. I didn’t get the sense that people were lying about it, but I don’t know how well I can read those of other species. Cutter always out-bluffed me at cards.” He glanced at her dragon tear.

  Jev would offer to act as Zenia’s bodyguard if she wanted to go into the town to talk to people. Hydal might have more experience gathering intelligence, but with her dragon tear, she could tell if people were lying to her.

  “As for my lens…” Hydal unhooked his spectacles from his ears and looked down at them. “May I ask how your dragon tear would fix it? It’s not simple glass. The lenses were crafted precisely to correct my exact vision deficiency.”

  “I was—she is—thinking of melting and re-hardening the glass.”

  “I fear that wouldn’t work, that it might make my vision worse instead of better. I can see somewhat through the cracks.” Hydal hooked the spectacles over his ears again. “I have a second pair with my gear in my cabin. Assuming it isn’t more mangled than the rest of the ship, I should be able to find them.”

  “Maybe you should keep wearing those for a while,” Jev suggested. “Go show Rhi that you were punched in the eye and look pitiful. Maybe she’ll want to rub your shoulders to make you feel better.”

  “How would her rubbing my shoulders help with my eye?”

  “I think it would help with everything.” Jev waved for Hydal to go talk to her, in part because he wouldn’t mind a quiet moment alone with Zenia, and in part because he truly felt Rhi might be willing to comfort him. If Hydal knew enough to accept it. “And you did promise her poetry.”

  “Ah, that is true.” Hydal offered a distracted army salute, as if they were back in the wilds of Taziira again, and headed toward Rhi’s tree. The rain had stopped falling, so it wouldn’t be too soggy of a visit.

  Jev smiled at Zenia, though her eyes were closed, her chin to her chest, and she’d wrapped a hand around her dragon tear.

  “My clothes are dry,” he realized. “Thank you.”

  “Mm,” was the only response he got.

  Maybe he would have to recite poetry to her to kindle her interest. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten most of the stuff he’d memorized for his tutors in his youth. All he recalled were a few limericks that had been popular with the soldiers during the war. The fewer retellings of the one featuring a plucky private named Doracio, the better.

  “I’m disappointed he wasn’t able to find any leads on the dragon,” Zenia said quietly, her eyes still closed. “I didn’t expect everyone in the first town we visited to know where she was, but… it would have been nice.”

  “We’ll find her.”

  “I’m asking her if she can tell me where she is,” Zenia said, rubbing her thumb against the dragon tear.

  Jev supposed it wouldn’t be manly to be envious and wish she were rubbing something of his. Even if his clothing and hair were dry now, it was still cold and dreary, so it would have been a nice night for snuggling. Especially since Horti was snoring again. Borti had never stirred, so Jev assumed he was sleeping. He and Zenia had their privacy.

  “I asked earlier, but I think we were too far away. This is interesting.” Zenia opened her eyes and focused on the fire. “I get the faintest sensation… that we should go…” She twisted around on the log and pointed into the jungle. “That way.”

  “I think that’s south.”

  “I think she may be to the south.”

  “Then we’ll go south. But we may want to visit the town with your dragon tear in the morning and see if we can get a more pinpoint location from people.” Jev touched his temple to indicate mind-reading might help. “At the least, it would be useful to buy a recent map of the interior.”

  “True. I looked in the castle library before we came and couldn’t find anything less than three centuries old and sparsely filled in. A good idea, Jev.” She smiled at him.

  He straightened, pleased to have her attention again. Now that his sleeve was dry, he slid his arm around her back. “Are you feeling better now that we’re not at sea anymore?”

  “I have a lot of concerns, but my stomach is far happier on a log than on a boat.”

  “Good. I’m sad that the only way to get back home is to sail back over those seas. I wish I could open one of those magical elven portals for you, so you could skip the voyage.”

  “I appreciate the wish, though I’d probably end up in Taziira if I went through one.”

  “That is a possibility.” He leaned a little closer, wondering if she was in the mood for kissing. They didn’t have to worry about zyndar gossips spreading rumors in the city, not way out here.

  She looked into his eyes, then at his lips. With interest? “I think I could manage that voyage one more time if I’d completed my quest and had something to look forward to when we got back.”

  “Like ice cubes?”

  She snorted softly. “Right now, I think I’d prefer heated lava rocks.”

  “I can get you those. I am a man of means.”

  “I don’t care about that.”

  “I know you don’t.” He slipped his other arm around her and kissed her, delighted when she scooted closer and wrapped her arms around him.

  A part of him wished he’d actually asked her to marry him that night when they’d spoken about whether she would accept a proposal. But he didn’t want his proposal to be off-hand. He wanted it to be perfect with the blessings of his archmage arranged and a jade ring in his pocket that he could slip onto her finger. There would be wine too. An elven variety aged perfectly, so that they could taste its earthy warmth on each other’s lips when they kissed, just like they were doing now.

  Zenia slipped her hand under his shirt, her warm palm sliding up his bare skin, and a charge of heat rushed through his body. She leaned into him, her lips growing bold and hungry. Jev slid his tongue into her mouth, tasting her and wanting her all the more. Maybe they didn’t need to wait until he proposed. It was a given at this point, wasn’t it? She wanted to be with him, and he wanted to be with her. In marriage and all other ways.

  He slid his hand lower, cupping her butt and pulling her into his lap. Maybe they could lie down behind this log and nobody would notice them… Nobody would care. They could—

  A gun fired, and they jerked apart.

  A curse came from Rhi’s tree, and Hydal jumped away from her.

  “It came from the beach,” Zenia whispered.
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br />   “I’ll check.” Reluctantly, Jev slid her off his lap and somewhat stiffly rose to his feet. He grabbed his sword and ran toward the beach, stumbling and cursing in the wet foliage as soon as he moved away from the light of the campfire.

  Hydal joined him. The crewmen watching the ship had lit a few lanterns around the wreck, but Jev spotted two lights farther down the beach. Surprisingly, they weren’t in the direction of the town. Two men held lanterns aloft, peering into the woods. Both gripped pistols, pointing the weapons into the dark trees.

  Jev spotted Captain Yug maneuvering across the rocky beach toward them and hurried after him. He hoped the men hadn’t simply fired at some coyote or whatever the local equivalent was. Jev hadn’t wanted his kiss with Zenia to end, especially if there was no good reason. Admittedly, if he had dragged her down behind that log, it wouldn’t have been the most romantic place for their first time sleeping together, but she’d seemed so willing. His skin almost burned with sensitivity where she’d been stroking him under his shirt.

  “What was it?” Yug asked, reaching the two men first.

  “Someone was watching us,” one said, glancing at Jev as he jogged up with Hydal on his heels.

  To Jev’s surprise, a dragon tear glowed faintly on the speaker’s chest. It was gold instead of blue like Zenia’s.

  “Engineer Dodger?” Jev guessed. He’d seen the man in passing on the ship but hadn’t been introduced to him.

  “Yes, Zyndar Dharrow,” he said, not acknowledging Hydal. Poor Hydal. Even though his family was based in the capital, few people seemed to recognize the surname and that he was also zyndar. “I was walking this way with my assistant here, taking a look at the forest and wondering if we could cut and mill some of the trees for repair. It was mostly just musing since you can’t see much right now, but my dragon tear warned me of something magical out there. I saw a faint glow, like maybe someone else with a dragon tear or some other magical artifact.”