Dragon Queen (Avery Rome Book 3)

by P. S. Power

  There was no way to explain why keeping the little girl out of the palace would be a bad idea in time to save the life of whoever was getting in the way. On the good side, there didn’t seem to be much of a staff there. It saved lives, she had to believe.

  As they got to the room that the others had been left, Avery confidently opened the door, walking in as if it wasn’t going to be the last thing she ever did. Instead of finding her mother and friend lying dead on the floor, they were in the space being fed by Timon and Tam. Large amounts of meat, from the look of things. Using their own hands, the two that had been changed were being waited on.

  They did look different, but you could still tell that it was them. Mark looked ready to be on camera, but wasn’t exactly doing what Phillip or Will had going on. Leslie actually seemed very close to the same, except with slightly more pronounced cheekbones and hair that was currently bright blue.

  “Here they are! See, I told you they’d be fine. They even have two of the most important people in this world feeding them. In a palace… after giving them super powers. You can’t really ask for more than that, can you? I even managed to get it all done for free. Well, I have to trade some work and transport, but we aren’t charging you much for it. A few million gold coins is all.” She managed to deadpan the last bit, not really meaning it.

  The girl ran over to them, and gave each of them a hug, one at a time. It was when she’d be collecting the information from them. Making certain they were really who, and what they seemed. When she moved back, so that both of them could keep eating, she actually smiled.

  “Okay. I guess I can let this part go. We probably have to fight to the death now, however. I didn’t say you could break their links like that, did I?”

  That was just true. Everyone else seemed either frightened at the words or bemused, not really understanding what they, or at least Avery, was facing at the moment. Kait and Phillip understood, and so did Leslie and Mark.

  The Noram folk seemed to think she was a real little girl instead of a fearsome and mad creature that could very possibly kill them all, even if they did have powers of their own.

  “Sure. We can do that, if you want. Or… If you want to trade? I’ll forgive half that debt you owe me, say, for that minor inconvenience that came up while I improved your slaves for you? True, they’re more like family to you, but that just means you lost very little and gained much today.”

  The words were the right thing to say, but not what Avery would have ever come up with. At first, she figured that it was Tarsus, acting inside of her head. Helping her survive. Then she realized that it wasn’t that at all. It was, instead, coming from a deeper place than that. Not from the memories of the demon library at all. No, it was from Zack. Her Zack. The Greater Demon.

  She’d traded with him for a speech once, on her first day of school, months before. It had just been pages of arcane symbols, but the next day she’d given a very good talk to her classmates. The feeling was nearly exactly the same, even though the words were different.

  Ann gave her an annoyed little girl look, complete with crossed arms and phony seeming foot tapping.

  “You’re going to try and charge me for work that I didn’t even ask for? They already have it, after all.”

  Rolling her eyes in return, Avery snorted. Then she crossed her own arms, tapping her foot in time with the Greater Demon. Mirroring what she was doing exactly. It got her scowled at.

  “Um, yeah. After all, you made a deal to actually love them. You’re bound by that contract to do the best for them you can, which is what we did for you, even if you weren’t here. They haven’t left you, and can’t be easily taken again, by anyone. They’re powers in their own right, now. So, yes, you get to pay for it. That way it will be you doing it for them, not just me or these people here. Half a million gold coins. Payable to Timon and Taman here. They did the actual work, after all. That’s only fair. Besides, you might want their services sometime again, so it’s worth gaining their favor now.”

  Rather than start hitting her, the girl, who was truly an insane Greater Demon, laughed.

  “All right then. Fine. One hundred thousand gold coins, for the two of them. I’ll also leave you alive and only slightly crippled, Avery Rome.”

  It was kind of brutal sounding and the others were getting a little tense, but she went on, feeling bolder than was entirely proper, given everything.

  “Half a million, no fighting or harm, and you have to help me come up with ideas for the cooking program that we’ve been doing?”

  “Mmmm. No? A hundred thousand, no fighting or beating or tricking you into doing something foolish to teach you a lesson. I’ll help with a few ideas, if I want to.”

  She just spoke then, narrowing her eyes at the tiny girl. No one else even seeming to be there in the room with them.

  “I can agree on the gold and the non-violence. That has to be everything though. No harm or repercussion over this coming from you or anyone you can influence. Ever. Ten show ideas, and if we do it in our world, you have to be in the show. In your little girl shape. Doing a good job, as well.”

  That got a laugh, for some reason.

  “Fine, on those terms, Dragon Queen. I’ll have the funds delivered to you. You can bring them here, however. Now…” She smiled, softening a good bit. “Do you two want to stay for the rest of the trip? Are they treating you well enough? If you need anything let me know. I can get it for you, I’m sure.”

  Mark actually moved in and hugged the girl, as if they were real friends. Then, more or less that had been what he’d bargained with her for. That and the same treatment for Leslie. It had been harder for her before that, Avery thought. They’d never really spoken of it.

  It was bad enough that her mother shied away from the topic, whatever had gone on. She didn't seem pleased just then, either, but did step in and hug the Greater Demon.

  “I’d like to stay, if I may? I had been planning to move here, to be honest. Not that I want to leave my world or daughter, having just gotten her back. Would it be all right to come back? I’d need to get my own place, but… We can try being friends?”

  That seemed to go over pretty well with the kid, who finally waved Avery away.

  “Time for me to go then. Watch out for them, Avery?”

  “Of course. This isn’t too bad of a place, really. Some violence, but it’s a bit better than our world that way so far.”

  As they got outside, walking in silence for a bit, there was a smile from The Rotted.

  “Just so you know, if you steal from me again, I won’t leave you alive. It would have hurt Leslie and my Mark if I’d done that over them. That’s the only reason you still breathe. Don’t for a second think that it’s anything else. Even if you were halfway clever. Nearly like one of us. A Greater Demon. Only too kind by far.” The words were fierce, if also young sounding and a bit petulant at the same time.

  “I know. It was all part of my plan. You won’t believe that, but it’s true.” Not that it really was.

  Her skin made it really hard for the Greater Demons to simply read her mind, however. As long as she didn’t put a finger, or energy probe down Avery’s throat, she really wouldn’t know that part of things.

  “I don’t, of course. You simply aren’t that clever. No Dragon is. Crafty at times, powerful in their own way, but the best they ever manage is wise. This would take more than information and knowledge of what might work. Not that it matters. We have our deal. I simply don’t want you to feel like you can just run all over me. Even if this was a rather nice set up. Not of your making, however.”

  Chuckling a little bit, Avery took the Greater Demon back home. The Demon Zack’s book store. More accurately the space right next to it, where he did his daily work. Moving people to different worlds.

  It was oddly heavy going, taking the Greater Demon through the void. Like carrying two or even three people along with her. That was due to the woman fighting her the whole way, surging and trying
to go off in her own direction. That meant, when they stepped through, that Avery lightly tossed the girl out of the Node. Then growled at her.

  As she sucked air in.

  “Next time, walk. You made that harder on purpose. Anyway, see you at school in a few months?” Before the being could have a further problem with her, she left. It was probably a bad idea to get into trouble with that kind of being, but she didn’t want to be pushed around like Ann had just tried to do.

  Probably because she felt wronged, not getting to keep her slaves. Getting that gold from her wasn’t a bad thing either.

  She went back to Soam, and was walking out when everyone else got there, seeming worried, finally. Avery grinned, since it was clear that someone had actually explained things to the people from Noram. At least Timon moved over to her and gave her a hug, then spoke in his slightly accented English.

  “That could have gone better, yes?”

  She could see that being what he’d think.

  “Not really. She was clearly in a good mood today. We didn’t all die, so that part worked out incredibly well. I’m probably arguing with her now, which is less than good. We go to the same school, after all. We even have the same group of friends.” That had to sound funny, so she shrugged, then tried to explain. “Ann is at least two thousand years old. Maybe a lot older than that. She can also change shape, so she looks different at school. Older.”

  The people from Noram all just nodded.

  The tall man seemed to understand things better then.

  “Ah. She’s an Ancient. That makes more sense. I can look younger or older, too. Not that young, but the basic idea makes sense to me.” Tim blew a gust of air out, as if the world suddenly fell into place for him. That was the feeling coming off of him at any rate.

  Taman looked at everyone, then smirked a little bit.

  “On the nice side, tomorrow will almost certainly be more restful. We should set up a meal here, with the others, for this evening? Perhaps a party of some sort. In a few days, at least. I’m not that great at things like that. Really, we should get with Aunt Connie, don’t you think?”

  The others seemed all right with that idea, though Avery had to admit, if only to herself, that it didn’t really thrill her that much. It felt like there was just so much to do. Her life had been constant work for several years, more or less. Even on her vacation she was feeling the strain of it. It wasn’t a horrible thing, just one that felt like it should break at some point.

  Leslie and Mark were both feeling pretty positive about things. At least they were both smiling and kept touching each other. That quickly had Kaitlyn moving in to get her share of the attention.

  Making a grid, she put together exactly what she needed to do, in the coming days and months. Several of the items that were weighing on her mind were crossed out in red. It was stark, and actually floated in front of her as she focused on it. The sense of things being taken off was from Tarsus, she noticed.

  Things like dealing with her father. John Fellows. The one who’d set her up to be a murderer before she was even born. Next to that box, in small print, it just said that she simply didn’t have to worry about that part. It was already done and over. Confronting him over the idea wouldn’t help her at all. Neither would attempting to reconcile with him. The idea that she’d had, of fighting or even killing him for the slight was equally lacking, according to the red letters. Not because she wouldn’t win, just because there was no value in killing the man at the moment. No, the correct way to deal with that issue was to largely ignore it. Possibly to tell him to get lost, if they ever met again, but no more than that.

  The next box was the little show like thing that she was doing with Mark and Denis. On that topic, she was told to simply turn it into something wild and fun. That way it wouldn’t be a problem for her. It meant controlling her emotions, but she could do that. It was a big part of how she managed acting at all. By focusing on the memories of different emotions, then laying the powerful sense of things over the words or actions she needed.

  Tarsus seemed to be indicating that she could, and possibly should, do that all the time. It was an interesting idea. One that sounded exhausting. Except that she could probably make herself not feel that, being tired, as well. It wouldn’t be magic for her, of course. She just didn’t have that much power inside of herself that wasn’t geared toward changing shape.

  Still, it might work.

  There were other problems, but a lot of them actually could be fixed by simply not caring about the issue. Like the idea of losing her boyfriend. She didn’t love him. That was a thing that she’d known the whole time they’d been together. She liked him. He liked her…

  That was the whole thing and it wasn’t going to ever be more than that. The problem there was that Avery had a bit of an issue when it came to being abandoned. At one point her entire life had gone away in an instant. That meant, deep down, she was afraid of losing anyone.

  Starting on that one first, she held the idea down and made the fear go away. It was kind of clear to her that it wasn’t going to help her at all, anyway. That really helped, thanks to her ability to concentrate as hard as she was doing. The idea of being afraid of losing everyone was just gone, suddenly.

  Some of the things that she was thinking of as being a stress to her, like making certain that everyone had fun on their vacations were given little frowny faces. The words in red mentioned that it wasn’t her job to do that at all. The only thing she was supposed to even be considering was her own happiness. That felt off, but she didn’t have a good argument against it.

  Then, added in red, were some things that almost didn’t make sense.

  Like making certain that Clemance Thomson was ready to face off with the government of the IPB world. Escaping from them if they tried to take him prisoner. Even though, Tarsus assured her, that wouldn’t be happening. No body of people would enslave someone who was already willing to do the work for free. Especially a powerful one, like Clemance. It was also why The Rotted wasn’t going to be coming after her later. Ann knew, on some level, that they were friends. That was more valuable to her for the time being than revenge for stealing her slaves would be. Especially considering that she hadn’t lost anything at all.

  Thinking about all of it, she nodded.

  “Right. A party with your aunt. That could be fun. We should also set up an exercise for Clemance. Will has been working on escape and evasion with him. We can spend a day hunting him through the woods? If he can keep ahead of the people we have camping with us, he should be more than fine with a government. The IPB people all have special powers. Then he can go and do that work he’s supposed to, soon.”

  Everyone turned and looked at her, like she was being insane, except tiny Taman. That woman just nodded, her face suddenly serious.

  “That… Would be a good idea. Will has been chasing him around alone for months, off and on, but that isn’t going to really mimic the possible threat. Ambassador Mableton set the conditions. Clemance needs to be able to pilot a jump ship and teach that skill, which he’s up to speed on already. Then, if taken, he needs to be able to escape and evade those who might keep him. Helping with that would be a great help.”

  Avery clapped her hands together, faking energy that she didn’t feel.

  “Good. We should do that in a few days? I’ll get with Will on that. We should probably kidnap Clemance in the middle of the night, while he sleeps. We’ll want Count and Countess Thomson in on that part.” It made sense to her, even if she wasn’t certain that was going to be possible to arrange.

  Interestingly, Timon pulled a flat piece of stone from his right-hand side pocket, then worked the glowing blue letters that floated above the surface so rapidly there was no way for her to track what was going on.

  Finally, Jahn Samson’s face came up. Or, more likely, Count Thomson. The giveaway there was that the man spoke in Standard, without an accent.

  “Timon! How may I help you today?”
/>   The younger seeming man smiled hugely.

  “Hey, Tovey. I’m here with Ambassador Rome and some of her people. They’re planning to kidnap Clemance in the middle of the night, then run him through the woods, in a few days. We were wondering what it would cost to get you and possibly Terlee in on that?” There was no explanation about why they’d ever do such a thing.

  Which didn’t seem to be needed, for some reason.

  “Ah? For his training with Willum Baker?”

  “Exactly. A graduation exercise, of sorts. If he can manage it. We might be able to bribe you with, say… A party invitation? I think that the plan is to put something together in the next few days.”

  The man stroked his bare chin, his tan face darker, but very similar to President Samson’s. Soon to be former President Samson. That reminded her to go and see Calley soon, before she went off to work on the new television program with Krista Hall.

  Red Rain.

  The main theme centered on a male Shifter, but he was really progressive, which meant he had some friends that weren’t strictly of his own kind. One of his buddies was going to be a Shifter girl, Bethany Spires. His sidekick, after a fashion. That was, at least currently, the role that Avery was playing. It was a bigger part than she’d signed on for originally, since at first it had been all about her ability to change form. Then she’d proved that acting wasn’t totally beyond her abilities.

  It was a little nerve wracking for a few moments. Then she focused and tried to feel peaceful and on task, instead. That got her to center on the people around her, with a lot of clarity.

  Count Thomson actually smiled, his face seeming well enough pleased.

  “We can do that? Please contact me with my duties for both events? I’ll work on Terlee, to see if we can get her in on things as well. I’ll need to go carefully there, of course. You don’t plan to harm the boy, correct?”

  Avery shrugged at the words, then spoke in Standard.

  “Not really. We’ll have to bat him around enough that it seems real, but we won’t need to cripple him or anything like that. If we were sending a normal force after him, that might be useful, but he’ll need any edge he can get against the IPB. I’ll make sure that Debbie and Alan are the ones to do that part? They don’t have any powers that will hurt him in particular.”