The Dragon Circle

by Irene Radford

  (Your mate is safe,) Irythros reassured him. (Safer than you. I must protect you when, and however, I can.)

  Konner’s head emptied of external thoughts. He felt a little light-headed and disoriented.

  What in St. Bridget’s name did the dragon mean?

  (We of the nimbus have exiled the one you call Sam Eyeam, though he gives himself another name. But the beacon still speaks to the stars. One you should not trust has betrayed you.)

  Who, Irythros? Who should I not trust? Konner asked. Worry began to gnaw at his stomach and the back of his neck.

  (We of the nimbus may not speak his name.)

  Hanassa.

  Irythros squeaked a loud protest that stabbed at Konner’s eardrum as well as his mind.

  “What is that thing?” Kat asked. Her voice still sounded strained but she had opened her eyes.

  “That, baby sister, is a dragon,” Loki said. He beamed with pride.

  “St. Bridget, those things really do exist,” she breathed. Now she leaned forward for a better look at the creature through the windscreen. Sunlight sparkled along his crystalline fur, reflecting it back to them in a myriad of prisms.

  “Is that blood showing through his horns and wing veins?”

  “Doubtful,” Kim replied. “Each adult male dragon sports a different color. I understand the females are iridescent, all colors blending into no color at all. This one still has hints of silver in his hide—signs of a juvenile. They are born a dark pewter color and get more silvery as they mature until they are as transparent as glass. By my guess and from what Iianthe has told me, I presume the purple-tip and this red-tip are from the same litter. They are less than three decades old.” He too leaned forward.

  “Litters? Not clutches?”

  “Litters. Our dragons are mammalian, bearing live young, suckling them. They have fur instead of hide. Each hair is like an individual crystal that directs the eye around the dragon,” Kim continued to lecture all he had learned about the elusive creatures.

  “How long is a year on this planet?” Kat cut off his monologue. She sat back, gathering information now as well as satisfying her curiosity.

  Konner needed more information, too. What kind of trouble did Irythros warn him of?

  “Three hundred fifty-two point six local solar days,” Konner replied, forcing his mind back into the conversation. He’d spent time observing the stars and moon, verifying what the computers had told him. He agreed with the calculations, but found satisfaction figuring it out for himself.

  “And how long is a day around here?” Kat tried to look casual, but she kept leaning farther forward for a better view. The huge continent below them gave way to the ocean. Soon they would be over the Great Bay and home.

  “Twenty-seven Earth standard hours,” Konner replied. He suddenly realized he’d had no trouble adapting to the longer day or shorter moon cycles. As if his body knew what his mind only recently began to accept. This planet was home.

  His lover lived here. This was home. But, oh, how he missed traveling the stars. There had to be a way he could do both.

  Presuming they all survived the coming encounter with the IMPs.

  Irythros continued to fly around them, more maneuverable than the man-made craft. He offered no more conversation, even when Konner prodded him mentally.

  Loki slowed the vehicle as he descended. The atmosphere glowed around them from the heat of their reentry. Shields automatically slid across the windshield, deflecting light as well as heat. The interior lighting snapped on to compensate. Yellow-red light similar to Earth’s sun.

  And seemingly alien to Konner after five months of the redder but dimmer light of Star MKO in the local heavens.

  “Any sign of pursuit?” Loki asked.

  “Can’t tell. Sensors still gummy from the green layer. We need a bath before we land.” As Konner spoke, Irythros plunged into a steep dive. He entered the choppy waters below without a splash. Seconds later he swooped up. A fish, nearly as large as himself, was clutched in his talons.

  “Can your dragon sense intruders?” Kim asked, eyes glued to the dragon.

  Konner stilled himself, waiting for the clarity of mind to listen to the dragon. His vision dimmed. Colors lost intensity. Edges lost their definition. And then . . .

  (I caught it!) Irythros chortled. (I caught a behemouth. Tonight I feast.) With his last words the dragon dropped his prey upon an open desert behind them.

  Konner cringed, almost hearing the thud of its landing through his contact with Irythros. The fall killed the monstrous fish. Then the dragon landed gracefully beside his dinner and loosed a long spurt of green fire.

  Irythros continued to ignore Konner’s mental probes.

  “Dragons are civilized. They cook their food before dining,” Loki informed their sister.

  “Nothing about this place is civilized. Yet. Including you three.”

  “You’d be surprised, little sister,” Konner said. His mind remained open to the dragon. He listened to his siblings with half his attention. “Loki, let me take control. I want to try something the dragon taught me.”

  Maybe Irythros would release more information if he saw the lander and its passengers as kindred spirits.

  Reluctantly, Loki shifted piloting interfaces to Konner.

  “What are you going to do?” Kat asked skeptically.

  “Drown some unwanted passengers.” Konner grinned at her. If she was ever to be part of the family, she had to learn to accept their teasing.

  She blanched at Konner’s words, but held her tongue.

  “No. You aren’t going to do what I think you are going to do.” Loki looked pale as well. His fingers curled and brushed his interface. He wanted control of the lander back.

  “Why not?”

  “Because this thing was built by the GTE, not to our specs.” Loki’s voice rose an octave as he braced himself for a steep dive.

  “We’ll see.” Konner let go of his contact with Irythros. He’d learned enough from the dragon. Now he needed to listen to the ship. “Kim, does this thing have atmosphere wings?” he asked. His voice came out hoarse and barely above a whisper.

  “Little ones,” Kim replied. He moved his hand to a lever above his head. The manual override. If the craft lost power, the wings could catch the winds and glide to a softer landing than a straight plunge. Modern pilots rarely used them for anything but emergencies. There wasn’t even a place on the pilot screen for activation.

  “Little is all I need.” Konner adjusted his angle of entry and slowed.

  “One hundred meters to impact,” Loki said. He called out the numbers as they descended.

  Twenty meters above the water with the engines slowed to a near stall Konner called out, “Wings. Now.”

  The lander shuddered and creaked and abruptly slowed.

  Two heartbeats later they impacted the water. Konner’s head whipped back and slammed into the headrest of his chair. His teeth clanged together and he bit the inside of his cheek. He tasted blood.

  His spine jolted. An ache spread outward.

  Their world became blue. Bubbles streamed past them along with fish and seaweed. Light played games with shifting currents. He wanted to linger and observe. He couldn’t.

  Fighting gravity and pressure, he reached for the interface. The ship did not respond.

  Water trickled in from around the seal of the tiny hole in the hull. Steady drops hit Konner’s face. The trickle became a stream.

  “Sluggish as a garbage scow!” Loki spat. He wrenched control away from Konner. “Kim, get the sealer out. Now!”

  Kim reached for the tube of cerama/metal caulk. He moved gingerly, not jarring his body further.

  The lander wallowed in the water and sank deeper.

  “I’ll have you know, this lander is the latest model. Engineers can’t design anything better!” Kat spluttered.

  “You could design something better in your sleep,” Loki replied. “Not even a joystick to control this heap of
junk.”

  “Imitating dragons diving into the depths of the ocean is not the kind of maneuver any sane pilot would put a ship through,” Kat retorted. “If you’d just let me . . .”

  “Forget it, Kat. You may be the best pilot the GTE can produce, but I taught you how to fly.” Loki’s fingers flew over the interface. Hard as he looked, he could not find anything resembling full manual control. The computers kept compensating for every correction he made.

  “Our father taught me how to fly before he left. You just followed up on his lessons,” Kat retorted.

  “You know, if you hadn’t put that red-tailed spiny lizard inside her pants when she was five, she might be more cooperative.” Konner grinned at Loki.

  “That was you!” Loki spluttered. “You put the lizard on her. I was there to protect her.”

  “But it was your idea,” Konner protested.

  Loki couldn’t even remember what game had inspired the prank.

  “Manual is in the kneehole. Far right corner,” Kat said. She sounded as if she begrudged the information. At the same time a memory clicked behind her eyes. That look always led to mischief; mischief that got Loki and Konner into trouble with Mum. “I’d have had us out of here by now if you’d just let me . . .”

  “Forget it. I’m in charge,” Loki spat at her. “You can help Kim seal around the windshield. I’m surprised this barge has held together this long!”

  “Manual is a last resort,” Kat continued. “You shouldn’t reach for it, unless you are desperate.”

  “We are desperate,” Konner whispered.

  Loki glanced at Konner. He was pale and sweating.

  “I know I copied every last move Irythros made. Including the twist upon entry. It should have worked.”

  “But we don’t have a tail as long as the body for a rudder and you didn’t collapse the wings the moment we entered the water,” Loki reminded him. He reached left instead of right. If manual control was a last-ditch effort, then it would be opposite the dominant hand of most pilots. But convenient for the left-handed O’Haras.

  Kat swallowed hard and scrunched her eyes closed the moment Loki found the toggle. She obviously did not like that he could second-guess her even without using telepathy.

  “Wings?” Konner looked a little brighter. “Are they down now?”

  “Kim, do it!” Loki called

  The ship shuddered slightly as Kim shoved the lever upward. The wings locked into place with a clank that reverberated around the cockpit and inside Loki’s skull.

  He clenched his jaw against the beginning of a headache as he manipulated for manual control while trying to keep one eye on the windscreen and the other on the interfaces. “Damned inconvenient release when you’re desperate,” he muttered. At last the computer released control. The interface went blank, a small joystick rose from the panel.

  Loki breathed a sigh of relief. The ball fit loosely into his palm. Designed for someone with smaller hands; a smaller right hand. A quick rotation of the stubby control and he had the feel of it. The lander’s nose edged upward. It nudged something pliable, but heavy.

  A startled dolphinlike creature stared at him through the bioglass windscreen. It blinked, then nosed the craft. When it encountered the resistance of the screen, it bounced back, working its fins and tail to maintain position.

  “That must be a mandelph!” Kim exclaimed. He brought his nose up to the screen and made faces at the creature. “The original colonists brought dolphin embryos from Earth. They had genetically engineered language into their intelligence, looking for partners in fishing and exploration. But the creatures disappeared. The colonists thought they died out when released in the wild. But they went feral. Maybe interbred with something native. Local fishermen gave them the name because they have been known to help drowning fishermen back to shore and are quite adept at stealing fish from the nets. No one has mentioned anything about them speaking to humans, even telepathically.”

  “Is he always so . . . ?” Kat asked.

  “Kim is our family scholar. He reads everything and remembers every word. He’s collecting local lore now,” Loki said. A smidgen of pride swelled in him. He’d helped Mum teach Kim how to read and encouraged the boy to study everything that came to hand since he could never go to school while they were on the run. Kim had quickly outstripped the tutorial programs available through local educational systems. Now he qualified for three doctorates. Someday, when he was no longer on the run, he would collect them.

  “But how did you find out about the original colonists?” Kat shifted her gaze from the curious sea creature to Kim.

  “We found journals. A full record of . . .”

  “If this is a lost Earth colony, then why are the locals so primitive? No communications to monitor, no industry, nothing but farms and those are few and far between.”

  “Their own technology killed them. We don’t intend to ever let that happen again,” Kim said. Anger made his voice husky.

  “This planet remains free of GTE interference,” Konner added with equal vehemence.

  “That’s why you stole the king stone.”

  “That’s why we stole the king stone.”

  “Make me understand why you think primitive life in the bush is more valuable than all the benefits of the GTE,” she pleaded.

  “We’ll show you as soon as we get this garbage scow out of the water,” Loki reassured her. “Observe closely, because if you do not understand, you will never leave this planet again. None of your people will be given a chance to hint to folks back home that this place exists.”

  Kat snorted as if she did not believe him.

  Loki gritted his teeth. She was more stubborn than all three O’Hara brothers combined. Maybe as stubborn as Mum.

  With that thought he shuddered.

  All he needed was another strong-willed woman in his life.

  So why did the image of Paola Sanchez rise before his mind’s eye rather than Cyndi, the love of his life?

  CHAPTER 31

  DALLEENA WATCHED the Others in indecision.

  Her tracking talent sensed that Konner returned. She knew that water surrounded him, but he did not drown. Had he flown another vessel into the Great Bay? He did not need her at the moment. But she needed to tell him that Taneeo had disappeared in the move to the other village, then reappeared with two dozen men in thrall and returned all of the weapons and comms to the Others.

  She also needed to warn Konner about the Others. They had broken a flag of truce. They honored nothing.

  Even now the guards tramped about the fields and swamps, crushing delicate plants and heedlessly scattering wildlife in all directions. One of them took aim at the red bull with his long weapon.

  The bull! The heart of the village livestock.

  He could not be allowed to kill the beast. They would have to borrow a bull from a neighboring village—rarely a wise move for many reason—or wait for one of the calves to mature.

  Saving the bull was more important than watching the intruders from her hiding place. Raiders. Nothing more than pirates.

  She abandoned her hiding place and ran full tilt for the man taking aim at the bull.

  The belligerent, red creature pawed the ground, head lowered, nostrils steaming, preparing to defend his territory and his harem.

  Too far away. She increased her speed. Her lungs labored. Her heart pounded. Her legs strained. Her feet burned with power and speed.

  She saw the IMP’s finger tighten on the trigger.

  “No!” she screamed.

  The man barely shifted his attention to her, but his grip on the trigger eased.

  Dalleena took a flying leap, knowing she must fall short.

  Miraculously she collided with the man. They tumbled to the ground together. His gun flew away.

  The bull charged. The ground thundered beneath Dalleena. She looked up. Enormous horns filled her vision. The tips gleamed sharply.

  She thought nothing. Said nothing. Only star
ed in horror at approaching death.

  All around her, she heard shouts and screams of panic and warning.

  The shooter tried to scramble from beneath her. And then those monstrous horns scooped her up and sent her flying over the top of the bull’s head.

  She landed hard. Something snapped. Something else crunched.

  Black stars crowded her vision. She could not breathe. She could not move.

  Pain filled her being. Fiery lances shot through her with each attempted breath. Death. Release.

  If she died now, would Konner know that her last thought was of him?

  “Something is wrong,” Konner said as he jumped out of the lander’s hatch.

  Loki had parked the vessel three klicks from Rover, well away from IMP patrols.

  “Of course something is wrong,” Loki said as he joined Konner on the ground. “Our home is swarming with IMPs.”

  They watched the enemy prowl around the village. Few strayed more than a single kilometer from the cluster of their comrades.

  “Dalleena is not here.” Konner made a rapid circuit of the lander, searching with all of his senses for sight, sound, smell, or feel of Dalleena anywhere in the vicinity.

  “She would be here if she could.” Kim placed a soothing hand upon his shoulder.

  “Konner, you only spent one night with the woman. Maybe she’s had second thoughts.” Loki shrugged his shoulders.

  Konner pinned him with a glare.

  “Okay, maybe she is special to you. But any one of a hundred things could occupy her right now, including spying on the IMPs. Maybe she’s just late.”

  “No. I know she’s in trouble. I know it here.” Konner pounded his gut with a fist. “And I know it here,” he said more softly, open palm atop his heart.

  “Trust your instincts,” Kim agreed. He paused in the hatchway long enough to assist Kat down. The force bracelets still limited her movements.

  “Well, if we’re going to help your lady, shouldn’t you remove these?” Kat held up her hands.

  “Your word of honor as an O’Hara that you will not try to escape.” Loki planted fists on his hips.