Shadow of the Dragon

by Kyra Dune

  Micayta barely suppressed a sharp retort. Charm, she reminded herself, she was supposed to be using charm. “What do I have here to stay for?”

  Jaysir gazed at her through the candle flame. “I would think a young woman like yourself could have anything she wanted.”

  Micayta felt herself start to flush. “Such as?”

  “Something better than wasting her life washing other people’s laundry.” He placed his fork aside and leaned toward her. “Something better than serving drinks to drunken fools. Or any of a number of other meaningless, go-nowhere jobs. There’s nothing wrong with smart people, people like us, using our ambition to take us as high as we want to go.”

  Us, we, she didn’t appreciate his use of the plural when it came down to the two of them. In fact, she didn’t like anything about this entire conversation. But she needed supplies and she needed him to help her get them. She didn’t like that either.

  “Ambition is all good and well,” she said, “but you still need the means to carry it out. You were lucky, being born here in the city and having a chance to be a member of the guard and rise all the way to commander. There isn’t any such opportunity for someone like me.”

  He sat back with a smile. “You can make your own luck. Your own opportunities. All it takes is a little determination. My parents never understood that, but I did. I still do. And when I see something I want, I stop at nothing to get it.”

  Micayta felt a chill at what she could see in his eyes. “What does that have to do with me?”

  “Everything,” he said. “When I look at you, I see myself. Strong, smart, hungry for something more than the hand life has dealt us. You can have more. You can have anything. You only have to be willing to open your eyes and grab opportunity when it presents itself.”

  A trickle of sweat rolled down Micayta’s back. The conversation had taken a turn in an odd direction. It made her distinctly uneasy. “Opportunity for what?”

  “Power.” Jaysir reached across the table and laid his hand over hers. “The kind of power that lasts forever.”

  Micayta jerked her hand away, knocking over the chair as she jumped to her feet. “No, no, you’re with him too?”

  Jaysir stood, still smiling. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t want you dead. In fact, he wants to offer you a rare opportunity. The chance to have everything you ever wanted. He can give you so much and all he asks in return is your complete loyalty.”

  “No.” Micayta backed away from the table. “I’d rather die.”

  “But that would be such a waste.” Jaysir came around the table. “Please, Micayta, be reasonable. In a very short time, I’m going to rule this entire world. Demos has promised me that. I could use someone like you to rule by my side.”

  “You’re mad.”

  “I have vision. Great vision. Sometimes that can be confused with madness.” He came closer, holding his hand out toward her. “He can give you everything you want, or he can take it all away. It’s your choice.”

  “I don’t have anything to lose.”

  “Don’t you?”

  Micayta’s breath caught in her throat. Pytaki. She’d left him all alone to come here. Fool, fool, she was such a fool. With a wordless cry, she lunged at Jaysir, driving her dagger deep into his shoulder. He cried out, staggering back. Micayta jerked the dagger free and spun on her heel, racing toward the door. She had to get back to her brother.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  As soon as Micayta was outside again, she knew something was wrong. She slowed as she came out of the garrison, coming to a full stop in the middle of the deserted street. Not a soul in sight despite the fact that the street had been crowded no more than a half hour ago. It was nowhere near dark; the street shouldn’t be empty. Not completely. Not like this.

  Micayta continued down the street, the sensation of being watched crawling across her skin like the chill air. Her dagger was in her hand, Jaysir’s blood still dripping from the tip, and she had the unnerving feeling she was going to need it again, and soon.

  “Micayta.” She whirled at the sound of the voice. Tech stood about ten feet behind her, hands up at chest level, palms out.

  “You shouldn’t have come here,” he said, “it’s not safe.”

  She glared at him, gauging the distance between them and knowing she could easily hit him with the dagger. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you knew and you didn’t tell me.”

  “I told you repeatedly to stay away from him. Why did you think I was doing that?”

  “I…,” A heat crept up the back of her neck as the truth slowly dawned on her. She had thought he was jealous. That was the truth of it, much as she hated to admit it even to herself. She scowled. “It doesn’t really matter does it? I took care of Jaysir,” she lifted the dagger, “and if you don’t back off, I’ll do the same to you.”

  Tech lowered his hands, his gray gaze meeting hers and holding it. “So kill me then, if that’s what you really want. It’s the only way you’re going to get rid of me.”

  Micayta’s hand tensed, preparing for the throw, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She hated him for that. For somehow managing to slip through the wall she’d build to protect her heart. For the fact that she couldn’t seem to put him out again.

  A sudden explosion rocked the ground, nearly knocking both of them off their feet. Micayta half turned and saw smoke rising black against the gray sky. Her heart lurched and she knew. She knew.

  With a gasp, Micayta dropped the dagger and ran in the direction of the smoke, ignoring the sound of Tech calling after her. She ran and her mind was a complete blank except for one word that kept repeating itself over and over: Please, please, please.

  Blasted bits of wood and glass littered the street in front of the tavern, which was now nothing but a solid wall of flames. Micayta skidded to a stop, all the breath knocked from her lungs by the shock. A low moan escaped her lips as she lunged toward the tavern, desperate to reach her brother despite the fire and the heat.

  Tech grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off her feet as he pulled her away from the flames. Micayta screamed, flailing against him, but he managed to hold her tight.

  “Stop,” he said. “You can’t go in there; you’ll be killed.”

  She grew still, gasping for breath between strangled sobs. He was right. She knew that. She couldn’t save her brother. He was already gone.

  “Okay, I’m fine you can let me go.” As soon as Tech’s grip loosened, she turned within the circle of his arms, planting both hands against his chest and pushing him back.

  “You did this.” Her hands balled into fists. “You tricked me. You kept me back there so I couldn’t get to my brother. You… You…” She flung herself at him, tears running down her cheeks, no real intent but to spread some of the pain that she was feeling.

  Tech caught hold of her wrists. “No, no, no, stop it.”

  She growled as she tried to pull free of his grasp. “Let me go.”

  “No. You have to listen to me now. You have to calm down.”

  Trembling, Micayta glared at him through the hair clinging to her wet cheeks. She’d never wanted to kill anyone, not really. Not even her mother, not even Weylan, despite the fantasies. But in that moment, she wanted to kill him.

  “Listen to me,” he said, his voice low and urgent, “everything is going to be all right. I promise. Trust me.”

  She choked on her retort, so full of rage she could hardly think. How dare he say those words to her now? If she hadn’t stopped to talk to him, if she’d been only a few moments earlier…she likely would have died right along with her brother. But such logic had no place in this situation. She didn’t want to be rational, or calm, or think clearly, and it annoyed her that her brain was trying to function properly when all she wanted was to drown in her anger. Better that than to acknowledge the pain.

  “Am I interrupting?”

  Demos. Micayta knew it even before she turned her head and saw him standing the
re. Something cold went through her then, blowing her mind clear. Her gaze focused on the source of all her pain, her loss. Tech released her, and she turned her back on him as if he no longer existed.

  “I thought you’d be dead by now,” Demos said, a hint of a smile crossing his face. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted to find you still standing here. I’m also astounded that you managed to beat the sphere’s natural safeguards. That you walked away, not only alive, but unscathed. I’m impressed and that is not something I often say.”

  “Well, don’t I feel special?” Micayta was fully aware she had no weapon, not that she thought it would be of much use anyway.

  “But you should.” He smiled in earnest, which only made his eyes darker. “I’d begun to despair of ever finding anyone in this wretched world worth breaking. The others Tech brought me weren’t half as smart, as fierce, as you. But you beat even my expectations.”

  “You haven’t broken me,” Micayta said, “and you can’t. I’m not like the others. I’m different. So you better go ahead and kill me.”

  Demos chuckled. “No, you are nothing like Jaysir. He was no effort at all. His greed and ambition were there for any to see. But Tech, you are more like him than you know. Both of you full of contradictions, unsure of yourself, but fiercely dedicated to who you think you are. You amuse me.”

  “That’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it? To amuse you?” The fire was hot at her back but inside she was cold, so cold. “Let me tell you something, dragon, mage, whatever you are. I think you’re full of it. That’s right. I think you’re afraid of me now, because I did something you never thought I could.

  “I may not have the sphere anymore, I’m sure your lapdog gave it back to you, but I had it once and that scares you.” Now it was her turn to smile.

  “If it happened once, it can happen again,” she said, “and it will. Someday, someone like me will bring you down and you know that now. So if anyone is broken here, it’s you.”

  Demos’ eyes glittered. “You think you can stand against me, little girl? With or without the sphere, it doesn’t matter. I would crush you like the insignificant speck that you are.”

  “Funny, you don’t sound so sure of yourself anymore,” Micayta said. “You’re finished and you don’t even know it. From here on out, you’ll be looking over your shoulder, waiting for that day to come. Every time you close your eyes, if things like you are capable of dreams, you’ll see my face and know I was the one that brought you down a step or two.”

  Demos snarled, lifting a fireball in his hand. When the blow struck Micayta in the chest, it lifted her off her feet and flung her across the street into the side of a building. She never knew she hit the building, so intense was the heat. Like a raging fire running all across her skin.

  Every nerve in her body twitched as she lay convulsing in the street. There was a heavy pressure, until it felt like every bone in her body was being crushed beneath an intense weight even as her insides melted from the heat.

  Only when her mind was nothing but a white-hot pulse of agony, when her heart felt near to bursting in her chest, only then did she find merciful oblivion.

  Chapter Thirty

  Micayta opened her eyes. The room was blurry and slow to come into focus. And even when it did, she had no idea where she was. It was all a little familiar, somehow, but her mind felt foggy and slow. She couldn’t manage to grasp anything with any real clarity.

  “Welcome back,” said a soothing voice.

  Micayta turned her head, aware of a stiffness in her body that made it difficult to move. Alansa smiled down at her. “You had us worried for a little while. Even my skills were tested to bring you back from that.”

  Then it all came rushing back in a torrent of pain-washed memory. Micayta groaned, seeing her brother’s face flash before her eyes. She took a trembling breath and glared up at Alansa. “If I could, I’d get up from this bed and rip that smile right off your face.”

  This seemed to amuse Alansa. “Coming back to your old self rather quickly, I see. That’s good.” She drew a chair up beside the bed and sat down. “But since I still have you as a rather captured audience, I think it’s time we had a little talk. Woman to woman.”

  Micayta gritted her teeth. “Save it. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”

  “There isn’t much you can do about it at the moment.”

  And it was true. Micayta’s body was unwilling to follow any of the directives she was trying to give it. The most she could manage was to move her head and even that was a massive effort. “What did you do to me?”

  “Saved your life, that’s all, and you certainly are ungrateful.” Alansa folded her hands in her lap. “But that’s something to discuss at a later date. Right now, there are a few things you need to understand so that you can grasp the seriousness of the situation.” She fixed Micayta with a level look. “This world is dying.”

  Micayta blinked. “Dying? What do you mean?”

  “I mean exactly what I say, and I should know. I had to watch the same thing happen to my own world. Now, do you want to hear this or not?”

  “You have my undivided attention,” Micayta replied.

  “Good.” Alansa took a breath, as if to steady herself. “This entire thing is my fault. That’s a fact I must live with every day of my life. I was a willful, stubborn, selfish young woman, determined to break free from what I felt was a life of confinement.

  “My mother was the ruler of Cooris and as her only daughter I was set to follow as her successor. That meant my life was never my own, not from the moment I was born. I couldn’t even choose the man I would marry. Tradition said I must marry the man chosen as my guardian when I came of age. That man was Tech.”

  Micayta stared up at the ceiling, not wanting Alansa to see the sudden whirl of emotion she was feeling.

  “Tech swore a blood oath to protect my life under any circumstance and it was because he took that oath with such devotion that so much heartache was to follow.” She sighed. “I met Demos by chance, or so I thought, and found him attractive, in a dark sort of way. He can be rather charming when he makes the effort. I know how that must sound to you, but you must understand that I didn’t know what he was at the time.”

  “That’s not much of an excuse,” Micayta said, glancing at Alansa.

  Alansa nodded. “I know. But as I said, I was young and stubborn. Not so different from you, in many ways. Except, that I craved attention where you shun it, and it didn’t take Demos much of an effort to get me to bring him around and introduce him to Tech and his brother, Licus. Licus was keeper of the sphere, a magical orb that kept our world in balance.

  “The sphere draws magic into itself and gives it to whoever possesses it. As keeper, Licus held a position in our world that was nearly as high as that of my mother. Licus was also in love with me, a feeling I didn’t return, and he was not pleased I was to marry his brother.

  “That’s the worst thing about power, that it is possessed by beings ruled by emotion.” She shook her head and wiped away a stray tear that slid down her cheek. “I don’t know everything, but I what I do know is Demos promised Licus our world for his own, with me by his side. All Licus had to do was give him the sphere. And all the while Demos was feeding Tech and I an entirely different line of lies.

  “He twisted us by using what made us who we were to manipulate us into his games. You’re lucky that you came into this with at least the knowledge of what he is. We had no idea what we were doing. We were all so wrapped up in ourselves and our own little worlds that we were blind to the truth.

  “Tech was the strongest of us, but even he broke in the end. When he realized what Licus had done, that he’d given the sphere over to Demos, he was beyond furious. There was a confrontation between the four of us, but Demos was manipulating that, too, and we didn’t even know.” She laughed shortly, shaking her head.

  “Youth is never a good excuse for anything. I see that even more clearly when I lo
ok at you. No, I cannot blame youth entirely for our mistakes. It was our own flaws that brought us the end of our world. We must share the equal blame for all of it. Tech killed his brother trying to protect me and it was that moment that finally broke him. Demos was bored with our world by then; he was ready to use the sphere to cross over onto a new playing field.

  “He destroyed Cooris. He drained it dry so there wasn’t a living thing left. Except for Tech and I. He brought us here with him because it amused him to watch us suffer for our sins and because he enjoyed forcing Tech to do terrible things in order to keep me safe.

  “I never loved Tech. Not in the way a woman should love the man she must marry. But he was more than my protector; he was my friend. I lost him the day he killed his brother and with every day that has passed since then, I became more certain I would never see that man I grew up with again. Until you.”

  “Don’t say that,” Micayta said. “I don’t want to hear that.” She turned her head toward Alansa, doing her best to keep her own tears at bay. “Tech lied to me. He tricked me. And because of him, I lost my brother. So whatever it is you think you’re trying to do, stop.”

  “Micayta–”

  “No. I’m not listening anymore. As soon as I can get up from this bed and get my hands on a weapon, I’m going to find Tech and I’m going to kill him. Then I’m going after Demos and I’m going to finish this thing one way or the other. No more games.”

  “It’s a good thing you have such a firm grasp of the situation,” Alansa said, standing. “Otherwise you might make a terrible mistake.” She turned toward the door.

  It was just as well. Micayta had no wish to talk to the woman any more. She was only making things worse. Micayta was hurting in a way she hadn’t hurt since she was a child and all that she wanted was to sleep awhile, to forget.

  “Micayta?”

  Her eyes snapped open, heart freezing in her chest. If this was a dream, it was no dream that she wanted. It was too cruel. She turned her head and saw Pytaki standing there beside Alansa. Tears welled up in her eyes.