The thought of her a captive once again filled me with an unfamiliar coldness that had nothing to do with the temperature in the room. This couldn’t be allowed to happen. I would not allow it.
I will fly back and give myself up for Zin.
No. There would be a third way.
I don’t see another alternative. How many armed people are around you?
The jewelry on the attendants here suddenly took on a new meaning. Was it magical? Should I consider that to be a weapon? If I did, then we were surrounded by seven armed guards.
I will come to you.
Stay away! I was at the bottom of this mess. I’d brought them all here and I’d decided to come to this place. Skies and stars! A man sure could get himself in trouble just by trying to do the right thing. But since I’d made the mess, I’d be the one to clean it up.
Like you did with the egg?
Forget about the egg.
“Do you understand?” Karema asked, a sinister note in her voice.
Zyla lunged forward, but I caught her around the waist at the same moment that energy crackled around the twin bracelets Karema wore. I was right about the jewelry. The thought was not comforting. If anything could be a weapon, everything could be one.
“Let go of me!” Zyla yelled. I liked her fighting spirit. I’d probably do the same thing if I didn’t realize what was going on here. We’d been suckered. We’d been suckered and trapped on every level and only idiots doubled down when they’d been suckered.
I bit my lip, anger at my foolishness flooding me.
“I’ll take that bracelet now,” I said through clenched teeth. At least we should get what we came for. Apeq would be expecting us to arrive home with it. Wouldn’t he?
After all, we wouldn’t be in this situation if he hadn’t betrayed us. How else would they have Zin?
Chapter Eleven
THE CITY SMELLED OF spices and snow. It was strange how often that thought whirled into my mind with the others. We made our way back to Bataar’s side through the dusk and slowly falling snow. My thoughts were a whirl.
I’d been suckered. I wasn’t used to that. Usually, I pulled the cons around here, but now that I looked back it all seemed so obvious. Apeq with his bright coat and charming ways had distracted us all from what he was really doing. He wasn’t after Zyla’s heart – as I’d feared – he was after Saboraak. I should have remembered that she was more valuable than all of us put together.
I don’t endorse that thought.
I should have realized that he was making me jealous on purpose, getting us away from our dragon on purpose, separating us at his home on purpose.
Worse, I was beginning to realize that I wouldn’t be able to wiggle out of this like I usually did. When my mom died – so very long ago – her last words to me were, ‘take care of yourself.’ I took those to heart. I’d taken care of myself when I left her frozen in the streets before the city watch could snatch me up. I’d taken care of myself all those years in Vanika. You can’t trust anyone else when you’re living one risk to the next, but that was okay. After all, they were just trying to take care of themselves, too. That was only fair. And it made solving problems easy. As long as the solution meant you’d live to see another day, then you went with that.
But things were more complicated now. I had Saboraak. And surprisingly, I thought that maybe taking care of her might be taking care of myself. I wasn’t sure I would survive without her anymore.
In fairness, you should know that Hubric made the bonding when we said our vows of commitment to each other.
What is the bonding?
It’s a ... thing ... between dragons and humans. A sort of magic, perhaps. And not an entirely fair thing. But it does mean that your survival depends on mine.
How?
If either of us dies, the other dies, too. You would die within weeks of my death.
And no one told me? I felt the equivalent of a mental shrug.
Just don’t die and it will be fine.
I didn’t know if I felt betrayed or not and I didn’t have time to sort that out. It was just one more complication in what was becoming a very complicated life.
Because Saboraak wasn’t the only change. I felt very responsible for the girl back there who had wanted to read my book, and to the one who was stalking angrily by my side muttering under her breath. I even felt responsible for the man lying in a bed in a betrayer’s house. And responsibility was certainly not my thing.
I was a free spirit, beholden to no man. I lived and died on my own efforts. I didn’t ask anyone else to save me and I didn’t go saving anyone else.
Except now I had four people to save.
Technically, I don’t need saving.
Okay, three people to save.
There is a kind of freedom that comes from duty. A kind of freeing of the spirit that only loosens when you stop clutching your own interests so tightly.
That sounded like something you would tell children to con them.
Keep on caring for people and you may find it is true.
Or I might end up a broken man, betrayed, controlled by others, and left to die of starvation in a ditch somewhere.
Stop caring about others and that is exactly where you will end up.
I wasn’t sure I believed her, wasn’t sure I dared to live so exposed, but I didn’t have time to think about that right now. I couldn’t betray these people in this moment, so I needed a plan to save them all. Something that conned the con man. Something that took me from being a mark to finding a mark. Something really good.
Chapter Twelve
I WAS STILL BROODING on it when we reached the Jadefire House of Marvels. I only noticed that Zyla was shaking when we reached the door.
“Zyla?” I asked, reaching toward her.
She stepped back, her arms curling around her body protectively. “We left her.”
“Only for tonight. We will get her back tomorrow.”
Was she crying? Her hands twisted around the feather bracelet as her hot tears fell in the cold snow.
The snow was a blanket – so thick it shielded us from the people of the city even though we stood right on one of the boardwalks. I took a step toward her and into the shelter of the building and after a moment Zyla stepped into the shelter with me.
“We need the bracelet for Bataar,” I reminded her. “We’ll take care of that and then ...” I scrubbed my hand through my hair as my mind raced. I hated that downfallen expression on her face. There had to be a way to cure it. “And then I’ll go in there and get her myself.”
“You’ll go in through dozens of guardians and magical items?” Zyla asked, her mouth twisting ruefully. Tears spilled slowly from the corners of her eyes.
“What? You don’t think I can?”
She sighed. “No one can, Tor. Your confidence won’t help. It will just mean you disappoint me.”
“Look at me,” I said, waiting for her golden eyes to meet mine. “I won’t disappoint you.”
She nodded but I could tell she was just pacifying me.
“I promise, Zyla.”
Her broken smile broke my heart.
I was gentle with my next words. “Now, how are we going to sneak Bataar out of this place?”
“Sneak him out?” She sounded surprised.
“Well, we can’t trust Apeq. He’s clearly involved in your sister’s capture.”
“He can’t be,” she argued, wiping her eyes as her expression turned muley. “He’s our contact here! We can trust him.”
“If he’s our contact, why hasn’t he given us further instructions?”
“He was about to when you disappeared!”
“But – ”
“Don’t.” Her expression hardened. “I have enough going on without dealing with your jealousy. You want me to trust you about Zin? Then trust me about Apeq.”
I opened my mouth to tell an easy lie and froze. There was something about Zyla that made it impossible for me to lie to he
r. Instead,
I took a step back, shaking my head.
“Let’s go get this bracelet to Bataar,” I said instead.
At least we could agree on that.
Once Bataar was healed, all I needed to do was save Zin and then Saboraak and I could be free to leave this complicated city. I just needed to make sure Apeq didn’t twist the knife in deeper than he already had before I could make those things happen.
The Jadefire House of Marvels was dark despite the occasional braziers warming the place and lanterns hung through the halls. Oddly, none of the staff seemed to be on duty – not even guarding the door, and there was not a customer to be seen.
“I don’t know how they keep the braziers so full of embers,” I told Zyla as we meandered through the labyrinth hallways. Everything seemed spookier there at night. The masks seemed to hide actual faces. The sculptures seemed alive in the flickering light. Any one of them might hold magic within. I almost thought I could hear faraway chanting. A trick of the imagination, no doubt.
“Coal,” Zyla said. “They mine it here in the mountains. Why do you think they have a city in such a strange place? It’s for the coal.”
I didn’t even know what that was.
A tasty snack. I ate the extra in the corner of my cote. I‘m almost drooling thinking about it.
So, it was food?
It’s rock – I think.
Rocks that burned? Impossible. But I didn’t have time to think further on it. As we neared Bataar’s room, Apeq stepped from the shadows as if he had been waiting for us.
“Zyla! I’m so pleased you’ve returned unharmed – and with the boy. I have sad news. Your sister is missing. She slipped away just after you left to find the boy.”
Boy, was it? And did he really think either of us would believe that Zin left on her own? I knew her well enough to know she’d rather be curled up with one of the books in this House of Marvels than venture anywhere on her own. I pushed past him, unable to stomach his lies.
Behind me, I heard Zyla apologizing for me. “He’s overwrought. We both are. Someone took Zin! They are holding her for collateral!”
“Collateral? This is serious, Zyla! Tell me how I can help.”
I ignored him. I heard the sound of lies in his voice. I never should have believed he was safe to trust.
There was no lantern lit in Bataar’s room, but moonlight flooded through the glass panes creating a watery-light effect through the room. I scanned the room quickly, but it was small, and no one could hide here. Something on the bed caught my attention and I took a step toward Bataar.
Bataar’s sleeve had pushed up as he lay unconscious, and in the moonlight, a silver design wound around his forearm. A design I had never seen before.
Frowning, I pulled my own sleeve up and gasped when the design on my own arms lit the skin. Guiltily, I shoved my sleeve back down and hurried to Bataar, tucking his sleeve over the pattern. No one needed to know this about us. No one needed to know we both had ...
Ko. That’s what they called it. Ko. Apparently, they are only revealed by moonlight.
I swallowed nervously, but I had no time to ponder it before Zyla and Apeq entered the room, holding up a bright lantern.
“Leave it to me,” Apeq was saying. “I will speak to the authorities and we will find a legal way to settle this.”
It sounded harmless enough – if you weren’t watching for the deceit gleaming in his eye.
“Thank you, Apeq,” Zyla said and I hated that her smile was so genuine. She believed him when she hadn’t believed me. And he was playing her as a mark. I clenched my jaw until the muscles hurt. “Let’s help Bataar.”
Zyla slipped the feather bracelet over his wrist and we waited.
“It will take time,” Apeq said. “Magical healing can take days. Don’t expect miracles.”
I watched him, looking for any twitch in his expression that might give him away. How did he know so much about items imbued with magical power? Or was this just another con? I knew he was in league with those people at the Bright Redemption and I knew he was working against us. Would they really heal Bataar, or was this just another move in a game I still hadn’t solved?
We move tonight, Saboraak. You and I. You’re the only one I can trust.
A wise choice. I’m afraid that everyone else feels – complicated – at the moment.
Which was just another way of saying that they were lying. And whether they were lying just to me or to themselves, too, I couldn’t work with liars. Not on this. Not when I was about to put everything on the line.
Chapter Thirteen
BY THE TIME I REACHED Saboraak at the edge of the city, it was nearly morning. It had taken time to sneak out of the House of Marvels without being caught. More time to navigate through the icy walkways and staircases with only the moonlight to guide me, warming myself by street braziers as I went. Men and women in white livery filled the streets at night, trimming lantern wicks, filling braziers, hauling packages on their backs, and chipping ice from staircases. I realized that they must work for the ruling families of the city. Black embroidery on their chests always displayed one of four different sigils, an oaken wreath, a single flame, a soaring eagle and a swirl of smoke.
I was conscious of their eyes on me and found myself tugging my sleeves down more than I needed to. I didn’t dare let them see the Ko on either arm. By the time I reached the far side of the city, I was growing anxious to find Saboraak.
I’ve been hiding under a warehouse here. I snuck back into the city when the guards weren’t looking.
I thought Zyla said that sneaking past them was impossible?
Maybe I’m better at this spy stuff than you might think.
Speaking of which, I should probably tell her what I was planning.
I believe I have gleaned most of it from your thoughts. You want us to con the con men, yes?
I did.
You want to arrive at the Bright Redemption at first light, riding me like a charger strutting across the battlefield at dawn. I will be golden, of course.
Well, my thoughts hadn’t been quite so fairytale-esque.
Then you will exchange me for Zin.
I flinched, anticipating her anger at that part.
A sensible idea. When the switch is complete, you simply return Zin to safety and sneak back to release me. I will morph into a different color and shape and who will be the wiser?
It seemed like a great idea. Which was why I was nervous about it. Was I missing something? I’d missed all the cues that something was wrong when I brought Apeq into our lives.
I will be fine. I’m a dragon, remember? A few tiny pawn shop owners in a human-built house will not stop me if I choose to leave. I will flame the place to ash – leaving time, of course, for their escape.
Of course. I had the only dragon in history who was nervous about killing humans. She was probably worried about those yudazgoats, too. I felt embarrassment through our mental link.
Actually, I found them very tasty. You didn’t expect me to eat the food in the dragon cote, did you? It was disgusting.
How so?
It was already dead!
Yeah, we tended to prefer our meat dead. Funny, that.
Mock me all you like, I think it’s boorish.
I ducked in behind the warehouse she’d described. There was a variance in the rock here that left a large gap behind part of the building. Ah! There she was. I couldn’t help the affectionate pat at her muzzle, though I pulled my hand back quickly when she tried to return it and drooled on my sleeve.
Well, we were just talking about food ...
Time to mount up and fly to the Bright Redemption. Wait. No saddle? Again?
I can’t very well saddle myself.
I shuddered. Riding a dragon bareback made me feel my mortality a little too intensely.
There was nothing for it but to take the gamble.
I climbed awkwardly onto her back and gripped with my knees. She needed a
leather strap necklace. Something to wear all the time so I at least had something to hold in moments like this.
If you get me a necklace, could I at least request a gemstone pendant?
She could ask for anything she wanted as long as she realized I was broke. Okay, enough chatter. Let’s fly!
We flew over the sleeping city together. Saboraak was good about adjusting her glide to keep me on her back as we flew past the layered buildings and tiered streets, all frosted with white snow like Sata Day cakes.
I just wished I knew why Hubric sent us to this country. Who were we supposed to be watching and what were they supposed to be doing? We seemed like a bad choice for this job. Saboraak wasn’t meant to be cooped up in a dragon cote and I wasn’t meant to be trying to keep two girls safe.
I’m okay with it, Tor. I want those girls safe, too. And I’m curious about Bataar. How do you think he got those marks?
Maybe he found a door in the wilderness and put his hands on the symbols just like I did.
How many of those doors do you think there are?
Maybe it was the same one.
I doubt that.
We were almost at the Bright Redemption and the sun was just coming up over the horizon. I could count on my fingers the number of hours I’d slept since I met Zin, but I was going to make sure she didn’t lose any more sleep by being held prisoner.
Okay. Focus. When we get there, you will do the talking.
She was a joker after all! I liked that.
Smoke hovered over the boardwalk as we landed, a tiny localized cloud from the braziers and the morning sun. I slid off Saboraak’s back as soon as her feet alighted on the walkway. It was a tight fit. These walkways were never meant for dragons. I scrambled around her to lead the way to the door, hoping she’d fit through it.
Maybe if they take me down below, I can find out if they really are smuggling people through this building.
Now who was being irresponsibly adventurous?
Dragon Chameleon: Episodes 1-4 Page 19