The Dragon Circle

by Irene Radford

  Desperately, she tried to get a sense of place. The light was wrong. Yellowish. Harsh. Her eyes did not want to open to confront it.

  She let go of her need to know for a moment. If she could just relax and let her senses take in the flood of information, she could sort it out later.

  A vague recollection of flying soothed her. She had flown with Stargod Konner. He had shown her the wonders of her world from the inside of his magic dragon. Not magic, she reminded herself. A machine. A very complicated machine.

  One day, perhaps, he would allow her to control it, to feel the rush of air beneath the wings and the speed of flying across the vast ocean in a few hours. Fishing boats needed many months to do the same and rarely undertook the perilous journey to the other side of the world.

  She wanted to fly again. In the machine called Rover and in Konner’s arms. The wonders of the last two days flooded her with warmth. She felt herself smile and sigh contentedly.

  The barrage of voices quieted. Good. They confused her so that she could not think, could not sort through what her senses told her.

  Another long space of time. She thought she slept. The light changed. Dimmed. No longer harsh, just . . . different. Finally, she opened her eyes.

  Starlight glimmered beyond the window. She knew where she was now. The cabin of the Stargods. The bed she had shared with Konner last night. Where was he now?

  Beyond the curtain that separated the two rooms of the cabin, she heard a murmur of voices. He must be there, talking with his brother Loki. Too many voices. One feminine. Kim and Hestiia must have joined Konner as well.

  Why had he left her alone?

  She tried sitting up. Pain lashed across her middle. Her breath caught and she cried out.

  Memory returned. The bull. The intruder with the gun. The bull charging. The wide horns filling her vision. Flying through the air. Landing heavily, too heavily, hearing something snap. Something else crunched.

  If she did not move, she could breathe through the pain. Every muscle stilled. A gnawing ache persisted.

  Then true fear assailed her. The IMPs controlled the village. Konner and his brothers had gone to steal something very important from the intruder’s ship, far up in the sky, near the blanket of the night sky.

  She wanted to cry with loneliness and pain. She dared not. Until she knew the extent of her injuries and her status with the Others, she had to remain strong. And silent. Listening and watching.

  Stillness was good. She could control the pain and her breathing if she remained motionless.

  A shadow blotted out the stars for a moment. She held her breath. Then a familiar scent wafted across her face. Her heart warmed.

  “Konner,” she breathed.

  “Dalleena, sweetheart.” His lips whispered across hers.

  “Are we safe?” She barely heard her own voice.

  “Not completely. What happened? Are you ill?”

  “Hurt. The bull.” She gasped for air. Her chest did not want to expand far enough to let her bring enough in. “One of the Others was going to shoot him. I could not let him. Ruin village if lose bull. I tackled. Bull charged.” Each phrase came out more broken than the last.

  Stillness, she reminded herself. After several long moments she could breathe almost normally again.

  Konner hushed her with a hand over her mouth. He made a brief but thorough examination of her body with gentle hands.

  “Gored?” he asked.

  “Broken ribs. Don’t know what else.”

  She sensed his nod more than saw it. “Immobility cast across your belly. Head?” His fingers found the bindings on her brow.

  She tried to shake her head no, but it hurt too much, all the way down her spine to the backs of her legs and up over the top of her skull into her eyes.

  He must have felt her wince.

  “Concussion. Painkillers. Can you be quiet if I help you out of here?”

  No! Her mind and body protested the thought of moving. But she had to trust Konner. The Stargod must know what was best for her.

  As long as he remained by her side, she could endure anything. She hoped.

  “Yes.” She breathed deeply, preparing herself for the sharp onslaught of pain.

  He ripped something from her wrist. Just a tiny prick of discomfort compared to the thought of actually moving her body. A few drops of moisture trickled across her hand. Then he removed a patch from her temple. It came off with a sucking sound. She winced again as several hairs tore free with the patch.

  A quiet chirp, like a baby bird, began. The soft voices on the other side of the curtain ceased.

  Dalleena felt them listening.

  Konner hurriedly replaced the patch. The bird ceased chirping.

  “I’d better check on that,” a female voice said.

  Konner faded away from Dalleena. One of the yellowish lights glowed brighter, closer. It appeared around the edge of the silvery curtain that separated the two rooms of the cabin. The too-steady light reminded her of an overlarge fish eye glowing in the depths of the Great Bay at midnight on the dark of the moon.

  Soft footfalls behind the light explained the slight bobbing motion the eye made. Still it did not flicker like a normal candle or oil lantern. Dalleena studied the area illuminated by the eye, memorizing the placement of the few articles of furniture and the baskets of clothes and tools. Konner was neater than his brother, but still not overly concerned with the clutter that blocked direct pathways. Some of the baskets showed signs of having been pushed hastily aside to clear a broader path.

  Of the person behind the light, she could see nothing.

  Dalleena lay still, barely daring to breathe as gentle hands probed the patch on her temple and then ran down her arm.

  “What have you done, silly girl?” The woman shook her head as she laid the light down on top of the machine beside Dalleena. The new position of the light allowed greater visibility. Words flew rapidly from the woman’s tongue. Dalleena had to listen carefully and sort them through several times to make sense of them.

  “If you are awake enough to rip out your IV, I guess you don’t need it anymore.” The woman stared at the transparent snake in her hand. Instead of a head, it had a long metal tongue at the end. A tongue that was so sharply pointed it could easily penetrate flesh. Moisture dripped from it onto the floor.

  “You’ll feel the lack of pain meds, but I think we can leave this out. You’ll be able to eat and drink in the morning. Then we’ll get a real ultrasound unit from Jupiter to hasten the healing.” The woman set aside the snake.

  “How about another session with the US?” The woman sat on a stool beside the bed. She retrieved a small device from her pocket. With a quick flick of the woman’s hand, Dalleena’s shirt fell open. She placed the small device upon Dalleena’s ribs, right at the sorest point. Something thick and hard lay between the device and her skin.

  The immobility cast?

  After several long moments the woman sighed and lifted the device. “Enough for now. That should speed the healing and let you move a little easier. But you have to leave the monitor alone for now.” She pressed the temple patch tighter against Dalleena’s skin. “Now go to sleep. That is the best medicine for broken bones and a bump on the head.”

  The woman left as quietly as she had come, taking the light with her.

  “She woke up and ripped out her IV. Must have panicked. You know primitives. They fear anything they haven’t seen before,” the woman explained to her unseen companions.

  When their soft murmurs resumed, Konner eased back beside Dalleena. Where had he hidden? The light had been powerful enough to eliminate all but the darkest recesses of the room.

  He fumbled with the machine attached to the patch by a stiff string. Then he removed the patch again. The bird remained asleep.

  “Not a sound,” he breathed.

  She nodded her consent. Then he gently helped her to roll to her side and drop her feet to the dirt floor. Her body was on fire with pa
in. She kept moving, knowing if she flopped back upon the bed she would never get up again. The effort made her hold her breath against crying out.

  Tears pricked her eyelids. She clamped them shut while she breathed heavily.

  Konner sat beside her. She leaned into him, grateful for the support of his body. He draped one arm around her hips, placing her own arm around his.

  “Together,” he breathed and stood, carrying her with him.

  She wasn’t ready. Agony sent her head spinning. She had to close her eyes again to maintain her balance. But she was up. The worst was over.

  She hoped.

  One step at a time, halting for her to catch her breath with each one, they walked to the curtain. Konner breathed deeply, three times. Then he gently eased the silvery material aside.

  Dalleena nearly stepped back into the darkness at the sight of a blonde woman and two men, all in the mud-colored uniforms of the Others, sitting on stools of curious construction around a small table. They held flat things in their hands, like leaves but sturdier, covered in bright colors and designs. Surely they must look up from their intense study of the leaves and see Konner and herself.

  As if she had commanded it, the blonde woman looked up and stared right at them.

  Dalleena held her breath.

  Konner kept his body between her and the intruders and kept walking, slowly, quietly.

  The woman returned her gaze to her leaves. Her eyes did not focus upon Konner and Dalleena.

  Dalleena held her breath until they passed through yet another of the silvery curtains. The night was warm and the intruders had not closed the door that Loki had installed just days before. He had been proud of his accomplishment, showing the others how the door would keep out the cold, wind, and rain better than blankets woven of red cow fur.

  Outside, Dalleena breathed short gasps of the humid air. The intense pain of getting out of the bed faded to sharp aches. She breathed again, shallowly. The air was heavy with recent rain and more to come. It smelled wet, clean, better than the closeness of the cabin. Clouds obscured the stars. Rain would fall again by dawn. She and Konner had to be far away long before then.

  How? Already her knees wanted to buckle from the strain of walking through the pain and the dizziness from the lump on the back of her head. Konner kept her upright and moving. Konner showed her the way through the sleepy patrols around the perimeter of the village. Konner gave her the strength and courage to keep moving when all she wanted was to fall upon the ground and sleep until the ache went away.

  Finally they reached Petram, the huge boulder that had refused to be moved from the middle of the fields.

  Gratefully, Dalleena leaned against the rock. The cool surface soothed her sweating body. She hoped she wasn’t feverish from her injuries.

  Konner scanned the skies and restlessly paced around Dalleena and the rock. She was afraid the sentries would see his movement, a darker shadow in the night.

  “Konner, you have to know. Taneeo betrayed you. He . . .”

  “I know. Raaskan told us. Pryth led a band of women to rescue the men. We will question Taneeo later.”

  “Then your people are safe from the Others?”

  “For now. But they are not safe from Pryth.” He almost chuckled.

  “Now what?” Dalleena whispered. She doubted she could walk much farther without more rest, and nourishment. And more rest.

  “We wait.” They still spoke in hushed tones mindful of how sound carried on the still night air.

  Dalleena was more than willing to wait. Not move. Just exist. She shifted against the rock and started to slide to a sitting position.

  “Don’t.” Konner was beside her before she could do more than bend her knees. “If you go down, we’ll have a s’murghin’ difficult time getting you back up. We won’t have a lot of time once things start happening.”

  “Like what?” She had to keep talking, keep him talking in order to stay awake. Her entire body felt too heavy to remain upright. And her torso ached. The pain reached all the way up her spine to her head and then darted between her eyes.

  A refreshing breeze wafted across her face. It became a wind.

  “Our transport just arrived,” Konner said.

  She felt the smile in his voice.

  Dalleena dared move her eyes beyond the dim outline of his face. A larger shadow directly behind him blotted out the rest of the darkness.

  “Oh,” she moaned. “I do not think I can climb atop a dragon.”

  “You have to, Dalleena. This is the only way I can get you to safety.”

  CHAPTER 38

  “CYNDI, HONEY,” Loki pleaded with the irate woman before him. “You know I would never deliberately hurt you.”

  “Do I?” she snarled at him. “Now answer my question. Why are you doing this?”

  “It’s a long story. One that will sound better around a campfire with a good dinner inside you.” Five months ago, Loki had scorned the evening ritual. At this moment in time, he wanted nothing more than to be in the middle of one.

  “Campfire? Campfire!” she shouted. “You expect me to contaminate myself with smoke, and meat, and . . . and unscrubbed air?” Lucinda Baines, daughter of a planetary governor, granddaughter of an Imperial Senator, and great-niece to a previous emperor, shuddered with genuine fear. Her attention wavered and her grip on the needle pistol loosened.

  Niveean, the silent warrior, pushed off the bulkhead to his left and slammed into Cyndi. Startled, Cyndi did not begin to struggle until they slid toward the deck.

  Loki grabbed the loose pistol and tossed it to Hestiia. “Don’t use it unless you have to, to save the crystals. Get the crystals to Kim,” he commanded. He lunged into the fray, heavily and clumsily.

  Hestiia, Poolie, and the others grabbed the sleds and disappeared down the last hatch.

  Cyndi kicked and tore at Niveean. She twisted herself on top of him. Each movement became slower in the heavier g. The big man kept his arms around her in a wrestler’s hug.

  Loki fell short of his target. With his head in the middle of Cyndi’s back he locked his arms around her legs. She kicked back, connecting hard with his upper thigh. The heel of her fashionable shoes gouged his flesh. He gritted his teeth and hung on. When he knew his grip was firm, he flung his legs wide, encircling hers. They tumbled backward, Niveean on top of both.

  She heaved against Loki. He pressed harder.

  Niveean scrambled to his knees and then to his feet. He grabbed the jamb around the hatchway. His breath came in short sharp pants.

  Then Loki pressed their limbs together in an odd parody of a lovers’ embrace.

  Loki rolled, keeping his arms around Cyndi. The open hatch downward toward the launch bay was at his elbow. “Duck,” he screamed in her ear and swung his feet into the opening.

  She barely obeyed him in time. The top of the hatchway scraped her flying hair close to her scalp. With a little yelp of surprise, or indignation, he couldn’t tell which, she complied.

  They fell heavily.

  Still locked together, they slid down to the lowest level of the ship. The extreme gravity—less than when Loki had left the launch bay an hour ago—grabbed hold of them. They landed heavily on a pile of tarps and rolled.

  To their right, Kim was helping his wife and Poolie steer the sleds into the launch bay. The corridor was otherwise empty.

  “Loki, we don’t have the time or resources to tend a hostage,” Kim warned him.

  “This one we have to take extra special care of,” Loki grunted. Slowly, he disentangled himself from Cyndi.

  “Who?” Kim asked. Then his eyes widened as he saw Cyndi’s face.

  “I believe you two have met,” Loki said as he assisted Cyndi to her feet. He kept one hand firmly locked on her wrist. His grip must be painful to her, but she said nothing, only glared at him.

  “A few years ago,” Kim admitted. He turned his back on them and pushed Poolie and the second sled ahead of him into the bay.

 
“You owe that man your life,” Loki reminded her. “Remember that and stay out of trouble.”

  “I owe you and your brothers nothing, Mathew Kameron O’Hara. You sabotaged this ship. You endanger my life now. Mine and everyone’s aboard this ship.” She hung back, bracing her feet wide.

  “I always knew that life with you would never be easy,” he grunted. Before she could reply, he slung her over his shoulder, clamped his arms around her legs, and lurched into the launch bay.

  “Put me down, you barbarian.”

  “Quiet.” He swatted her bottom. “There was a time when you liked being mauled by this barbarian.”

  “Never again!”

  He did not care. He had better things to do with his life than cater to this spoiled dome breather.

  (Iianthe,) the dragon announced his name.

  A niggle of disappointment crawled up Konner’s spine. He had come to think of Irythros as his personal dragon. Iianthe seemed more attached to Hestiia and Kim. Konner had to remind himself that no one “owned” a dragon. Wild creatures, they belonged only to themselves and to this planet. They assisted and advised humans as their whims and sense of honor dictated. Humans had little if anything to do with the decision.

  “Konner.” He bowed slightly to the purple-tipped dragon. “Give him your name, Dalleena. Dragon protocol.”

  She wheezed something that approximated her name. Konner did not like her labored breathing or how heavily she leaned against him.

  “Sweetheart, we have to leave,” he urged her forward. She shuffled her feet heavily. “It’s for the best, Dalleena, no matter how much it hurts. I could not have gotten you away from the IMPs tomorrow.”

  She nodded her mute agreement and trudged the few remaining steps to the huge beast who waited for them.

  Then the significance of the dragon name penetrated through Konner’s worry about Dalleena.

  “Iianthe?” Konner peered more closely at the purple-tipped dragon crouched in the middle of the field. “I expected Irythros.” Where was the red-tip? They had planned for him to meet Konner and Dalleena.