Dragon Game

by Alicia Wolfe

  I leaned back against the kitchen counter and played a sip of wine around my tongue. Sweet and tart, just the way I liked it. Struggling to pay attention, I said, “Go on.”

  “You woke up a demon lord in that cemetery.”

  “We didn’t wake him up. He was dead. Angela roused him and his zombie priests to kill me and Davril. We escaped, though.”

  “Yeah, but Mr. Demon Lord and his buddies are still around. And it was only a couple months after that that we had the homunculi factory incident—all because a woman was doing the bidding of a demon lord.”

  “You think the two are connected?”

  “Maybe.”

  I shuddered. “Lighten up, sis. Besides, why would they send a fire bird to hunt us down? And what was it?”

  We drank and rummaged through our limited magical library, then hit Google. Neither turned up any results, although we thought we had it narrowed down to a magical construct of ancient Assyrian devising. No word on how to discorporate it. The good news was it probably had a short shelf life.

  “That’s something, anyway,” I said. “I bet it’s faded by now.”

  She slumped back in her chair, third glass of wine in her hand. “Couldn’t happen to a nicer bird. But I wish I knew who was trying to kill us.”

  “Would be nice. Well, tell ‘em to get in line.”

  She fixed me with a searching look, and I knew she was about to ask me the question that was really on her mind. I braced myself. Slowly, she said, “Jade, are you going to go through with it?”

  “With what?”

  “Working with that crew. You know, to steal some magical item from this mansion of yours for Nevos. That what.”

  I let out a breath. “I don’t know. I mean, that is kind of what the Queen ordered me to do. Let me talk to Davril.”

  Chapter 5

  Davril stalked back and forth, mulling on what I’d told him. Morning light turned his hair to beaten gold and made his blue eyes shine. “You’re crazy,” he said at last.

  “Hey, I don’t want to do it. But isn’t that what Her Majesty said to do—infiltrate the Guild and use it to find Nevos?”

  “I suppose …”

  “Listen, if you want to order me not to go, fine. I’d rather not go, believe me. Just the initiation nearly got me killed. And if Nevos can’t get at something, if he needs the Guild to steal something for him, then it must be damned tricky to get. Damned dangerous. No thanks. I’ve got laundry to do. Maybe my bathtub needs to be scrubbed, I don’t know. My nails could sure use another coat. Trust me, I’ve got better things to do.”

  We were in the Tower of the Shield, in one of the private rooms used for conferences on the third floor. The window afforded a magnificent view of the panorama of the city. Red-tinged sunlight drenched the metropolis, turning everything into molten gold. Damn, I thought. I remember when I couldn’t see the tops of the buildings, and now this. It was a lot to take in. I could understand why Ruby wanted to keep visiting.

  Davril turned to me. He was dressed in his clingy athletic clothes, and sweat beaded his forehead and white cotton garments. He had wanted to practice sparring before he would allow me to give my report.

  His blue eyes speared me. “What’s your game, Jade?”

  “My game?”

  “You know what I mean. You can’t mean to actually help these criminals. That would mean helping Nevos.”

  “Oh, that. Well, obviously I’m not just some hired goon of your brother. But if I don’t go with the burglary crew, they’ll pick someone else, right? Nevos will get what he’s after, if it’s possible to get, anyway, whether I’m there or not. But I guess if I do sign on with the outfit, then I can be the Queen’s eyes and ears.”

  “Perhaps you could prevent the item from being stolen in the first place.”

  “Yeah, but then they’d just try again and I would’ve been exposed. Even if I just pretended it was a fuck up, they wouldn’t invite me back for the next job, and they might kill me in punishment.”

  “They would try.”

  I smiled. “Thanks. But no. Listen, if you don’t want me to do this job, that’s fine, but if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it my way.”

  His mouth quirked. “And what way is that?”

  “I go on the job with the crew, help them steal the item and then take it to Nevos.”

  “I fail to see how that helps us.”

  “Duh, because then we’ll know where Nevos is.”

  Davril laughed. “Well, that does make sense, actually.”

  I breathed out. At least we were on the same page. But it was the page that was going to land me in a lot of danger, unfortunately.

  “And once we know where he is, we can strike at his base,” Davril went on. “We can retrieve the item from him once he’s in custody, and it will serve no further threat to us. If it’s deemed safe, we can return it to its owner.”

  “That’s the plan. I guess.”

  His voice lowered an octave. “You’ll be on your own, Jade. I … won’t be there to protect you.”

  “I know. But I’ll be fine.” I placed one hand on my hip and batted my eyes at him. “I will miss you, though.”

  He said nothing, just stared at me. My heart went thump-thump.

  “And who knows?” I said. “Maybe Nevos will be cute.”

  Humor flashed in Davril’s eyes. I thrilled to see it. You never knew with Davril.

  “Oh, I’m sure he would say so,” Davril said. “But really, Jade. Be careful. Nevos is dangerous. Remember, he caused the downfall of not just my kingdom but the entire Fae. Our world is completely in thrall to the Shadow now, thanks to him.”

  The old need for a cigarette came on me suddenly, but I forced it back down. It had been years since my last smoke, and I meant to keep it that way.

  “I’ll remember,” I said. My limbs still burned from the workout, and my blood boiled from sparring with Davril. I could smell his sweat, too, clean and lightly spiced with a hint of musk. It was sexy as hell.

  “I’ll miss you, too,” I said.

  He cleared his throat. “You know how to call for us when you need us, right?”

  By us, he meant the full might of the Fae Knights. I might be going undercover amongst the Guild of Thieves, but I could summon an army whenever I wanted. Just like James Bond.

  “Got it,” I said.

  He took a step closer to me, so close I could feel his heat. “Be careful, Jade. Come back to me.”

  Gulp.

  “I will.” I hesitated. Was now the time to resume what we’d started yesterday? I waited for him to make the first move, but he just stood there, gazing down at me.

  Eventually, he shook himself, then moved past me, our shoulders just brushing, to the door. “Time for showers,” he said.

  Is there enough room in there for two? I almost said. I knew he wanted to keep our relationship professional, but I also knew there was something there, and the longer it built up the more frustrated I was getting. I knew it might be bothering him, too. Heh, I thought. I’ve got him hot and bothered. Only I was, too, damn it.

  Our gazes lingered on each other just for a moment as he turned at the door, then he moved out of sight. I let out a long sigh. My shower’s going to be cold.

  Afterwards, I found my flying motorcycle in the hangar and stroked her handlebars lovingly. “Are you ready to go for a ride, Chromecat?”

  She didn’t exactly bounce up and down, but I thought I sensed a swell of excitement from her. I also thought she liked the name. I did. Wait till I tell Jessela. I hadn’t been able to hang out with my female Fae Knight friend in almost a week. We would have to do something about that soon. I had a new bottle of Fae wine I’d acquired with my last paycheck, and I wanted her to teach me the finer points of the stuff. It was as good an excuse as any to get plastered with a girlfriend.

  I hopped astride Chromecat (May as well start thinking of you that way, I thought at the bike) and took to the skies. The wind streamed my
hair out behind me and I relished the feeling of the sunlight on my skin. As the city tilted below me to every small turn of the handlebars, I smiled wide. This was living! My fire and my wings may have been stolen from me by Vincent Walsh, but by God I had new wings now. Black ones, sure, but they kicked ass.

  I’d never been to my destination, but I’d heard about it, and I followed the directions Gavin had given (ha ha, Gavin and given) me into a seedy area of town, then found the rusty building indicated. Sure enough, lights and music blazed from an appropriately seedy-looking rooftop bar. They were starting to become popular, what with the rise in people using dirigibles and zeppelins. I saw a few ratty dirigibles tied up at the dock, but not many. The clientele here weren’t a group of fliers, then, but just liked rubbing scuffed elbows with them. And I doubted the fliers were on the up and up.

  That included me.

  I flew Chromecat down and landed her on the roof, then glanced in a mirror to make sure my glamour was in place. It was. Gavin had given that to me, too, in order to ensure that I could protect my identity from my new associates. A stranger’s face stared back at me from the side-view mirror, but it was presentable enough. It would only last a few hours before fading. The rest of me was my normal self, clad in my black cat burglar outfit complete with a utility belt packed with spellgredients. I was ready for action.

  “Want me to tie her up for you?” a rough-looking guy said, coming over. He meant Chromecat.

  “No thanks,” I said, turning off the engine. I ran a hand through my hair, smoothing it out. “I’ll get it.”

  Hopping off, I tied the bike off. No way I trusted these yay-hoos. I hunched my back unconsciously as I entered the bar, its neon-spiced shadows falling over me. Wouldn’t want to come here at night, I thought. It was about noon, and this place was thick with shadows and hushed conversations. Thuggish and larcenous folk of all descriptions spoke and drank and laughed all around. Some brooded darkly in corners. One fingered a knife. A guy dressed like a pilot was chatting up a young woman at the bar while another guy tried to buy him a beer.

  I found Hela and the others at a table near the bar. She was the leader of our raid, a green goblin with a scaly crest sticking up from her head like a Mohawk. I’d never met a goblin before but knew they came from the Fae Lands. Her kind were enemies of the Fae, generally. She’d fled her homeworld, though, so I didn’t know where her loyalties lay.

  “Glad you could find the place,” she grunted to me.

  The others chuckled. There were three of them, and they were a hard lot. One was a huge guy with a red Afro. Another was a Latina woman with silver hair, eyelashes and tight silver clothes, including boots. I was instantly jealous. The third was a medium-sized, sinewy black guy with glowing green Xs tattooed over his eyelids, so that I saw an X on each eye every time he blinked.

  “Yeah, well, I’m a busy gal,” I told Hela.

  They hadn’t bothered to wait for me to start eating lunch. Fortunately, the waiter, a guy dressed as a biker, came over and took my order—cheeseburger. I do love a cheeseburger, and this probably wasn’t the crowd to indulge my periodic love of green things in front of.

  “We were just going over the plan,” Hela said.

  The sinewy guy with the Xs on his eyelids tapped a piece of paper on the table. It looked blank.

  “I don’t see anything,” I said.

  “Fisa mumlatta,” he intoned, and waved a hand in front of my eyes.

  I blinked, the image on the page slowly coming into view. Nice. A spell that could mask sensitive information from prying eyes. And this was definitely the right place to use it.

  “Can you see it now?” he said.

  “Yeah.” I studied him with new appreciation. Like the others, he hadn’t been at the Guild meeting earlier, so this was my first introduction to him.

  “Lux, they call me,” he said.

  “Jade.”

  We nodded at each other.

  “And this is Robespierre,” Hela said, indicating the big guy with the frizzy red hair. “And this Sathaba.” She gestured to the Latina in silver.

  I waved at them. They cautiously lifted their hands to me. I wondered if they wore glamours, too, or if I was seeing the real “them”.

  My cheeseburger arrived as we went over the plans again, and I munched on it as I studied the op. Hela pointed to various points on the picture, indicating the different stages of the plan. I admired the image. Beautiful. The picture showed a zeppelin, but no ordinary one. The airship depicted was a mansion in the sky. A wizard lived there. A dangerous one. Even though the air was reasonably warm, and the meat was hot in my mouth, I felt a chill. What we were about to do was crazy—break into the aerial lair of a powerful magic-user. I’m not getting paid enough for this shit. Then again, my real payment was to get closer to Nevos.

  Somehow.

  “Any questions?” Hela asked when she was done, her gaze going around to each of us. We all shook our heads. I hoped I didn’t look as blank as I felt. The truth was I’d only half been paying attention. The other half of my brain had been hatching my double-cross.

  “Good,” she said. “Then I guess we’re ready to go.”

  “Ready,” said Sathaba.

  “Ready,” said Lux.

  “Excuse me?” I said. “Ready for what?”

  Hela frowned at me with her weird green face, and the scales on her head pulsed red in anger. “Weren’t you listening?” she said. “We’re leaving now.”

  “Right now?”

  She gnashed her sharp teeth. “Yes,” she said, visibly repressing her anger. Sheesh, goblins could get mad easily. “Right now.”

  Robey laughed at me, flashing brown teeth. “Don’t mind the newbie, Hell. She was just too busy admirin’ me to pay attention.”

  “As if,” I said. Although the truth was that his gray sweater under that tattered bomber jacket was pretty tight, and I could see that he was built damn well. I wasn’t sure about that frizzy hair, though.

  “Is there a problem?” Hela asked me, and I knew she meant that if I was going to back out, it better be now. We really were leaving right now. That had not been part of the original plan.

  “Er, no,” I said. Glad I came in my suit. “I mean, let’s go, already. What are we waiting around for?” Some excuse to back out of this, maybe.

  Instead, Hela threw a wad of cash down on the table. Evidently she was paying for us all. Hell, if I’d known that I would’ve ordered the fries. When she stood and moved toward one of the doors, the rest of us followed. She led the way to a docking bay, where a dirigible was tied up, straining against its cords as the wind bobbed against it. Its pilot smoked a cigarette and leaned against the railings. He stood straighter when Hela approached.

  “Time to go,” she said.

  He nodded. “We’re ready.”

  We turned out to be him and one crewman. We boarded, and they cast off. I wobbled on my feet as the deck swayed beneath me, then clutched at a railing—a gunwale, I guess—for support. We rose above the rooftop bar, then the surrounding buildings, and I held back a swear when I saw the city streets move beneath us. This was different from being in Lady Kay somehow, or even Chromecat. We were in a ship. In the air. It was pretty cool.

  I felt butterflies in my belly as we rose above the city, drifting gracefully and purposefully. Wind misted my eyes, but I loved it. The rocking of the deck made me a little nauseous, but I pushed it down.

  “First time in dirigible?” Sathaba said, coming to lean on the gunwale next to me. Her silver eyelashes flashed in the sunlight.

  I swallowed. “Yeah.”

  She stretched luxuriously, and I wondered if she was trying to draw my attention to her chest. It was nice, I had to admit, but I didn’t swing that way. “I love the air,” she said. “Especially dirigibles and zeppelins. There’s just something special about them.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Something wrong?”

  I shrugged. “Just thinking about the job.” />
  “What about it?”

  “It just doesn’t make sense to me. I mean, I know we’re supposed to steal something, this item, from the air mansion, but what does it do? Who is it for?”

  She studied me, silver lashes lowering. “You ask a lot of questions for a thief.”

  “Hey, I’m a cat burglar. We’re curious.” I tried a smile on her that I had been told was winning, but either I’d been misled or she was a hard sell.

  “Don’t be too curious,” she said and moved off.

  I let out a breath. That’s Lesson Number One, I told myself. Don’t give yourself away, toots. If these guys knew why I was really here, they would string me up in five seconds flat. Or maybe Hela would just eat me. I’d heard goblins ate human flesh. Hopefully that was just an exaggeration. Either way, I had to remember that I was now officially an undercover agent.

  As we plowed through the air, I avoided talking to the others as best I could. Part of it was because I didn’t want to give myself away. I’d proven just how much I sucked at hiding my motives. That was one thing about my profession; it was a solitary one. Teamwork wasn’t part of my skillset. In order to get along with a team, sometimes you had to lie, and I wasn’t as good at that as I needed to be. Ruby might think otherwise, but she was wrong.

  The other reason I avoided the others was to keep from getting close to them. After all, soon I might have to betray them. They wanted the item (whatever that was; its actual description was something Hela wasn’t sharing) for themselves, or at least their employer. But if we got it, I knew it was Hela that would hand it over to him, not the whole group. She would get the credit and the alone time with Nevos, if that’s who it was, and I was pretty sure it was.

  Somehow I had to be that person. I had to get him alone for my own purposes.

  That meant I had to get the item for myself … and do something to the rest of the group to ensure they couldn’t come after me until it was too late. Well, we were going into a wizard’s lair. Hopefully I could turn something there to my advantage. If it didn’t get me killed, that was.

  Or if something else didn’t do the job first.