Dragon Lord's Hope

by Leslie Chase

  Gillian's shocked glare was enough to make Zardan wince, and Harry's loud objection was no happier. But he kept talking, not letting them interrupt. "Listen to me. These people are dangerous, they are killers. You need to consider the option of backing down, even if you reject it. I'm not going to pretend that you don't have a choice here."

  "It's no choice," Gillian snapped, tears in her eyes. "This farm is our family's legacy, it's everything we've built on Mars. I'm not letting them steal it from me, and fuck you for suggesting that I do."

  Her angry words hurt worse than the wound on Zardan's back ever had, but still he smiled. It was the smile of a warrior, bared teeth ready to tear at the throat of the enemy, and he took Gillian's hand in his own, firmly. She tried to pull away, but he held her steady and pulled her back into his embrace.

  "Good. I would never drag you into a fight against your will, Gillian. You mean too much for me to risk you for my own purposes. But these, these sons of zrell, they've earned a thousand deaths for what they've done to you and your family. If you are determined to fight them, then we shall give them such a fight as they've never seen."

  Her face cleared and she looked up at him. Their eyes met and Zardan could see the jumble of her feelings. Anger at those who'd attacked her family, fear of what might happen next, and something else, fragile and beautiful, that she directed at him. His heart thumped in his chest at the sight of that, and they embraced wordlessly.

  From behind him came a disgusted noise, and Harry stomped towards the door. "Ew. Can’t you at least wait until I'm out of the room?"

  Gillian's laugh was quiet, embarrassed, and she pulled back from the hug with a shake of her head. Harry slid the door shut on his way out, but the moment had passed and Zardan stood to look out of the window.

  "Okay, we've settled what we won't do," Gillian said, picking up the tablet and fidgeting with it. "What's the other option?"

  "Simple." Zardan spread his wings, stretching, his hands closing into fists as he looked south. "We take the initiative. If we let them pick the fights, eventually they'll win — so instead we're going to take the fight to them and see how they like it."

  17

  Gillian

  For the hundredth time since they'd set out, Gillian wondered if this was a smart idea. When she'd said to Zardan that she wasn't willing to sell out, she'd meant it: she was going to fight the bastards attacking her family any way she could. But walking into their lair was still terrifying and dangerous.

  At least Zardan was next to her, crammed uncomfortably into the small space of the crawler. His presence brought her more comfort than she'd care to admit to him, and she had to fight the urge to lean into him.

  The crawler itself chugged along the route automatically. The tracked vehicle was meant for delivering cut ice for sale, and its stupid artificial brain couldn't handle unexplored terrain, but it was the only transport they had. At least it had a heated cabin for passengers, unlike the mining robots. But, also unlike them, it could only cope with the simplest of paths.

  They'd left the ice cap behind hours ago, and now the crawler's tracks bit into the red sands of Mars, pulling them up a rise. As they crested it, the domes of Fuller Station appeared in the distance. Gillian swallowed her fear, trying to put on a mask of determination as she turned to Zardan.

  "Nearly there," she said, hating the way her voice cracked as she spoke. More for something to say than because she didn't remember, she asked. "Tell me the plan again. What do we do once we arrive?"

  Zardan's hard, rugged face hardly shifted, but there was something about his eyes. Some slight change in the strange violet slits that showed her he cared, despite the mask he put on. Or am I just seeing that because I want to? Because I really want to.

  "You sell the ice," he told her. There wasn't much in the crawler's cargo compartment, of course, but they'd taken everything they could. "That should give you the money to make a call, and try to hire a lawyer from Olympus Colony. If you can report what's on your land to the Empire, it'll make things a lot harder for Karaos. Meanwhile, I'll look for Karaos and his flight of dragons, see where they're hiding."

  "And when someone comes to find me?" Gillian tried to sound brave, but it came out as petulant, and she felt herself blush as she looked at the domes ahead. I am not going to let my fear get the better of me, she promised herself. And I'm not going to look weak in front of Zardan. I can look after myself, damn it.

  But she couldn't hide from the fact that it felt much better when he was there to back her up.

  Zardan's big, powerful hand squeezed her shoulder, and she sighed, resisting the urge to lean back against him. The slightest touch set her heart racing and her mind spinning in circles, and while the distraction had been welcome on the long drive she didn't want to lose her focus.

  "Gillian," he said, his rough voice filling the small cabin. "Trust that I will not let anything happen to you. That's why we have to split up: I'll attract a lot more attention than you will, and give you a chance to move freely. If they find you anyway, cooperate with them until I rescue you — that's all you need to do. They have nothing to gain by harming you, and if they do I will tear them into pieces so small that you'd need a microscope to find them."

  It was a gruesome image, but Gillian couldn't help smiling. The simple earnest passion with which he promised to protect her made her quiver, and she regretted that they were about to arrive. If they'd had more time...

  No. Don't think about that. It wasn't easy, trapped in such close quarters with him, and worse she knew he was thinking the same thing. And for all his promises, she knew that they were going into danger. This might be the last time they saw each other if things didn't go well.

  The urge to jump him now, while she still had the chance, was almost irresistible.

  "I'm not going to let them take me away without a fight," she said instead. Arguing with him felt safer, somehow.

  "Gillian." The warning tone in Zardan's voice made her shiver. "Don't put yourself in more danger than you have to."

  "Why not? You're putting your life on the line, aren't you? It's my family we're here to protect, I'm not going to do less than you."

  "Because it's your family," he said in a low growl. "You still have one to protect. Your father, Harry, they'll both miss you if you're gone. My family and friends are a thousand years dead."

  The pain took Gillian right out of her argumentative mood, and she twisted to look back at Zardan. He looked back at her, his lips pursed together tight, anger and sorrow mixing in his eyes. Gillian bit her lip, looked down, and then met his gaze again.

  "I'd miss you, you big idiot," she told him fiercely. "So would Harry, God knows why, but he practically worships you. Don't you dare take any risks for us, hear me? We all have to get out of this in one piece."

  If we can, the traitorous part of her mind added. She managed to keep herself from saying it out loud, but she knew that it was far too likely that they wouldn't all get out of this. They had to face three dragons plus whoever else Danforth had hired. In principle, the security team at Fuller ought to be on Gillian's side. Even at the best of times, though, they'd been willing to look the other way for anyone with a bit of money. If Danforth had thought to bribe them, there was no way Gillian could compete.

  Zardan didn't look convinced, but he nodded anyway. "I'll stay as safe as I can, I promise."

  Gillian sighed. That wasn't as comforting a promise as it could have been, but she'd take what she could get.

  The crawler rumbled up a ramp and into the docking area. It was nearly empty now, almost all the traffic going to the skyship dock that had been added to the top of the station. Dragon technology was already reshaping Mars, even without the discovery of the faster than light engines that lay under the ice.

  Gillian tried not to think about that, concentrating on being glad that the crawler didn't need to maneuver around any other vehicles today. The stupid computer wasn't great at that and it would have been a slow
process, or worse, she'd have had to take over manually. It wasn't as though she'd had much chance to practice.

  As it was, the crawler made its way to the docking station and only took three tries to pull into the vehicle-sized airlock. The hatch popped open as soon as the pressure equalized, and Gillian hauled herself up, glad of the chance to stretch her legs after the long ride.

  The inner door of the airlock slid open, and Gillian stepped through into the station itself. She was almost surprised that Danforth wasn't waiting for her on the far side, and let out a sigh of relief to find that they were alone. It seemed like no one was using these airlocks anymore.

  Dad must have, she reminded herself. A few others, too — of the rows of airlocks, four showed as being pressurized, meaning that someone was parked in there. One of those must be the farm's other crawler, left behind when her father vanished.

  Behind her, Zardan groaned as he pulled himself out of the crawler and into the station. Looking back, she realized how much worse it must have been for him. The cabin was tight for a human. For a dragon shifter, it had to be torture.

  "Sorry about the lack of space," she said, rolling her shoulders and stretching. Zardan just laughed.

  "I'd put up with far smaller spaces if I was trapped in them with you," he said with a bow. She felt her cheeks heat and shook her head. It wasn't exactly a great time for flirting, but she had to admit it lightened her mood.

  Nothing would put off what they needed to do, though. This was where they'd part ways. Gillian just hoped that they'd be back together soon — she didn't want to think about how many things could go wrong here.

  "Right, I guess I need to organize the ice sale," she said after a moment's pause. It wasn't easy to turn away from him, even if she knew she had to.

  "Wait until I have a chance to draw their attention before you do anything," Zardan reminded her. "We don't want them to notice you first."

  Gillian swallowed nervously, looking back at the crawler. "We don't have long, then. The crawler's registered to the farm, so if anyone's paying attention they'll know we're here."

  "Then I shall draw them off." Zardan nodded once and walked away, still stretching as he moved. That didn't make it any easier for her, admittedly. Watching him move was a pleasure in itself. One I can save for later, she told herself sternly, turning her back. He's got things to do, and so do I.

  Pulling out her tablet, she connected to the local Wi-Fi and checked for news. There wasn't much — extra spam in her email, a quick note of recent and upcoming events at Fuller, and a docking bill. But the important thing was that she could connect. She could get word out about the Grace of Herendar and let the world know.

  In theory, anyway. In practice, who would she call? Zardan hadn't been able to help there. Well, it would have to wait until she had some money in her account anyway. Long-distance calls on Mars weren't cheap, and right now she barely had enough credit to pay for the crawler's parking.

  Walking along the empty, darkened docking bay, she remembered what it had been like when they'd first arrived. Bustling and busy, full of people coming in from the ice farms or their mines. Now, everything happened by skyship, and the shop fronts by this dock were almost all empty.

  It had only taken a couple of years for everything to change, and the change wasn't finished yet.

  "Gillian, is that you?" a voice called out from up ahead, jerking her out of her reverie. "It is! Why, I just saw your father the other day, and now you. What's going on?"

  "Hello, Maxine," Gillian said, looking up at the ice merchant with happy surprise. "Why aren't you up at the skyship dock with all the rest? I expected to have to go looking for you."

  "Well, I never did like heights," the woman said, laughing. "Made getting to Mars a real horror show, let me tell you, and now that I'm here I don't intend to encourage those damned flying machines. There's not enough business to go around up there, anyway: too many of the captains don't want to stop off here anymore. Besides, someone's got to take what little trade still comes in this way. Better all of a small pie than a tiny slice of a big one."

  Gillian couldn't help laughing. "I don't think that's how that saying usually goes."

  "Maybe not," Maxine conceded. "But it's my version, and I'll stick to it. Never did like sharing pies."

  She patted her ample stomach and the two women laughed again. It lifted Gillian's spirits a little to see a friendly face, and she stepped up to Maxine's storefront. The prices advertised weren't the best, but they were here — and right now, Gillian didn't want to waste time looking for a better deal. Even better, it let her make the sale discretely. One more thing done before giving Danforth a clue where she was.

  "I've only got a small haul," she warned as she passed over the details. Maxine laughed again.

  "Of course you do, honey," she said, flicking through the tablet and taking notes. "I wasn't expecting your farm to have another shipment ready before spring, anyway. So, what's gotten you down here? Still looking for your dad?"

  "Yeah." Gillian tried to keep a cheerful smile on her face, but she could feel it slip.

  "I'm sorry, honey," Maxine said, her smile fading. "I'd hoped he'd have gotten back to you by now. You know I'd have told you if I heard anything, right?"

  "I know, Maxine. But we've not heard from him at all, and I'm starting to wonder if he ever left Fuller."

  "He must have. There's hardly anything here worth staying for, 'cept the business. It wouldn't be the first time he fell of the wagon down south in Olympus, though. That city's got itself an underside."

  Gillian grimaced. It was still possible, she conceded, that her father had made his way there and gotten lost and drunk. With the year's ice haul money, he could have had a spectacular time... but she didn't dare hope it was as simple as that.

  "You didn't see him go or anything?"

  "No, but I do know he bought a ticket on a skyship. Had a couple of drinks with me in the Last Stop for old time's sake and told me he was leaving in the morning." Maxine passed the tablet over to Gillian and looked her in the eye. "If you're going to follow him, you might talk to Captain Olsen, for a skyship jockey he's a trustworthy sort. But are you sure you want to find your father like this, honey? Might be better to wait it out."

  "I've got to. If he doesn't get back soon, it'll be too late to travel and we won't see him before spring." Gillian didn't want to try and explain the real reasons, especially not if it might drag Maxine into danger. There was too much trouble to go around as it was, and one of her few friends getting sucked in wouldn't make things better.

  She looked down at the tablet and blinked. The number on offer was too high by far for the meager amount of ice she had to sell, and she looked up at the other woman to tell her about her mistake.

  "Don't argue now," Maxine said. "If you're going looking for your dad, you're going to need some funds to do it. What's the point of being an independent trader if I can't give my friend a good deal?"

  "I'll pay you back," Gillian promised, only for Maxine to laugh again.

  "Nope, no way. I don't make loans to people I like, that's the best way to ruin a friendship. Just promise you'll look out for your friends when they need you, too, okay?"

  Gillian nodded quickly and pressed the 'accept' tab. The tablet chirped as funds appeared in her account, and she resisted the urge to jump the counter to hug Maxine. Running into unexpected kindness like that almost made her cry.

  "You need a place to stay?" Maxine asked, but Gillian shook her head.

  "No, I'm not going to be here long," she said. More importantly, there are bad men after me. And they can't kill me, but that won't protect you. But she knew if she told her that, Maxine would insist on helping.

  "Stop by on your way back then," Maxine told her in a tone that brooked no argument. "I hope you find your dad and that he's okay. He's a good man when he's not drowning his sorrows."

  Gillian felt her eyes tear up at that. It had been a long time since she'd been in Full
er Station, and it would be easy to feel lost and overwhelmed. Knowing she had a friend, someone to turn to, made her feel so much safer.

  But now it was time to go to work. Time to try to get through to someone who'd believe her about a lost dragon spaceship under the ice. That was something she should have thought about earlier, she realized, but now that the choice was in front of her she didn't know.

  A human leader meant speaking to the corporate authorities of Olympus Colony, most likely. But perhaps the Dragon Empire would be a better bet? Certainly that's what Zardan had encouraged her to do, but she had no idea who to speak to at the Imperial capital in Marsport. As a dragon lord, Zardan would have been the better choice to speak with them. Gillian had to laugh at the idea of trying to convince him to make a phone call rather than hunting down and confronting their enemies on his own.

  That's not his style, not at all, she thought. And I'm sure I can muddle through. Just as soon as I buy myself a communication pass. Setting her shoulders and waving goodbye to Maxine, she set out to find a terminal.

  18

  Zardan

  The Last Stop looked no different from the last time he'd visited, but Zardan saw it with fresh eyes. On his first visit he hadn't cared much about anything, now he paid attention to his surroundings. The peeling paint, the faint smell of old booze and decay, the torn and patched padding on the chairs, all of that told a story of a failing business.

  The barman looked up at him, shrugged, and turned away. Other humans had a harder time disguising their interest, and conversations stopped as Zardan entered. But he wasn't here for any of them.

  He made his way through the nearly-empty bar, meeting the eyes of those who looked up at him. Most looked away nervously, some tried to hold his gaze for a moment before breaking eye contact. None of the humans wanted trouble with a dragon shifter, and he was just as glad. Tearing his way through them would have worked off some of his frustrations, but he had no time to spare.