Draekon Warrior

by Lee Savino

I hear a pop. It sounds like someone’s opening a bottle of champagne. A giant hole appears in the wall to the right of me.

  Shit. Someone’s firing at us. That should have been obvious from the instant Kadir picked me up and started running, but in my defense, I’m having a rough day, and weapons in this alien planet don’t sound like guns. Actually, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure Kadir’s hurt, yet he’s showing no obvious sign of discomfort. If it weren’t concerning, it’d almost be annoying.

  The big alien reacts with the reflexes of a jungle cat. He instantly changes his direction and ducks into a dark alley. Footsteps pound the streets behind us. Kadir lobs something in the direction of our pursuers. Someone screeches in pain and curses loudly.

  The curse is in Zor.

  The hair at the back of my neck stands up. I recognize that distinctive high-pitched shriek. “That’s Fal’vi,” I whisper. According to Kravex, the scientists were given orders to evacuate. They sold Tanya and me to the traders. The last time I saw them, they were in the middle of the desert. What are they doing in Akan?

  Kadir looks unsurprised by the news, but his grip tightens around me. “Don’t think about running away. You won’t escape me.”

  Is he freaking kidding me? “Run away? People are shooting at us. What am I going to do, wander into their path? How stupid do you think I am?”

  “You were going to walk into Akan by yourself in the middle of the night,” he retorts in a low undertone. “I don’t know your species. Was that clever by human standards?”

  Asshole. I mean, he’s right, but he doesn’t have to rub my nose in it. I flip him off, but sadly, he’s not watching me. Not that he’d understand the gesture anyway. He’s looking around the corner, and it almost looks like he’s waiting for something to happen. “Where are they?” he murmurs under his breath.

  Does he have backup? Before I can ask, I hear more footsteps, a lot of them. This time, they sound like coming from in front of us.

  My throat goes dry. Fuck. We’re going to be penned in.

  Kadir makes a sound of satisfaction. “Finally.” He turns another corner—this place is an absolute maze, and I’m hopelessly lost—and sets me down. To my everlasting shame, I immediately clutch his muscled forearm. “Don’t go,” I beg, my voice thin with nerves.

  He slants me a glance. “I’m not going anywhere, Alice Hernandez. We will wait here while the Akan City Watch confronts the Zorahn scientists.” His teeth flash in a grin. “The scientists are carrying laser weapons, which is forbidden in Coter. The City Watch does not like to do their job, but they cannot overlook this violation. While they are squabbling, we can escape.”

  “How do you know it’s the City Watch, not friends of the scientists?”

  Another grin. “The City Watch is responsible for the wall that surrounds Akan. It keeps out the desert raiders.”

  Hang on. In the split-second he had before we’d heard the engines and the scientists fired their weapons, Kadir had run through our options, evaluating each one, and then he’d intentionally demolished the wall so that the City Watch would be forced to intervene. All while shielding me with his body.

  Fuck. He’s big, he’s powerful, and he’s smart. A dangerous combination.

  My knees give way. Gah. I slide to the ground, slumping against the wall. Kadir gives me a worried look, and despite myself, his concern warms me. “I’m fine,” I whisper. “Just exhausted.”

  He nods and folds himself onto the ground next to me. I see a dark stain on the wall where he was standing. “You’re bleeding.” The doctor in me takes over. There’s so much blood. If he bleeds out… “Let me look at the wound.”

  “It is nothing. A mere scratch.”

  Evidently, you can travel halfway across the universe, and guys are still stupidly macho about being injured. “I’m an emergency room doctor.” On Earth, where nobody’s blood is bright blue in color, but still, four years in med school followed by four years of grueling residency has to count for something. “That doesn’t look like a scratch.” I want to insist that he use the med-kit on it, but before I can, a horn blows, loud and shrill. Voices shout in anger.

  The diversion.

  Kadir gets back on his feet and swings me into his arms, cradling me against his chest. “Let’s go. We need to reach my ship.”

  6

  Kadir

  My ship, a top-of-the-line Adrashian cloak ship donated by the city of Ashara expressly for the purpose of finding the human women, is gone.

  For a knur, I stare at the empty space where I left the Bikana, my brain refusing to process the fact that it isn’t there any longer. Then, I start to swear a string of angry curses. Fucking Cotari insects, gnawing away at anything that isn’t tied down. It’s not enough that I’ve been woken up from the blessed peace of stasis, no. It’s not enough that the rathr bite is sharper than ever. It’s not enough that a Zorahn scientist has injected me with a slow-acting venom in an attempt to control me. It’s not enough that the human I’m here to rescue isn’t the slightest bit grateful. No, instead, she’s sharp-tongued and suspicious.

  Spirited, my dragon corrects. Spirited is good.

  No, to add insult to injury, the Cotari traders have hauled away my ship.

  They can’t take off. The controls are keyed to me and will not respond, and besides, the Cotari are a primitive species that, left to their own devices, would have never achieved spaceflight. But the desert worms will strip it for salvage.

  Not if I stop them first.

  Alice starts to giggle.

  The human is definitely soft in the head. I turn to her very slowly. She stares back at me, completely unafraid. “Is something the matter, Kadir?” she asks, her voice innocent. Her eyes dance with amusement.

  “Is this funny to you?”

  “That your ship is gone, no, of course not. But I’ve never heard someone curse the way you do. You called this planet the lice-infested armpit of the universe. That’s impressively creative. You have a true gift.”

  My lips twitch. She said she was a healer, which would make her Highborn. I really shouldn't be swearing in front of a Highborn, but Alice appears completely unperturbed by my profanity.

  Strange, interesting woman.

  You shouldn't notice that the moonlight dances in the eyes of this woman. You shouldn’t notice the soft curves of her body, and you definitely shouldn’t be having sexual thoughts about a Highborn woman.

  “What do we do now?”

  I lift my shoulders in a shrug. “Tomorrow, I will find the ship and exact justice on those responsible. Tonight, we find somewhere to sleep.”

  She cocks her head to one side. “You think it is still here?” She waves her hand to the sky. “Not out there?”

  “No. The ship is keyed to me. Whoever took it cannot fly it. They would have hauled it away.” I lift my head and listen for trouble, but the city is silent. The scientists are either in a holding cell for the night, or they’ve retreated for the moment. I’m sure they will be back, but for the moment, we’re safe.

  Well, safe from the scientists. There are many dangers in Akan, and the Zorahn scientists are only one of them. By now, word would have spread. The Cotari traders, who act as an incredibly efficient whisper network, would have realized that the scientists came back for the human woman. It won’t take them long to realize that Alice is valuable.

  By the morning, the traders who abandoned her today will show up to recapture the human. Not just them. Every Cotari will be greedy for the profit Alice represents.

  I grit my teeth. Let them come. They will meet my wrath.

  I look at Alice again. She’s swaying on her feet. She looks drained. Pure contrariness is the only reason she hasn’t fainted. She needs a bath, warm food, and a bed.

  If I’m going to protect the human from the many threats that face her, I need rest. I am not at peak fighting strength. I have lost blood. To heal, I need to either transform or sleep.

  The former is inadvisable. The r
ebellion has made clear that I can only shift into my dragon form as a last resort. A Draekon hasn’t been seen in the Uncharted Reaches in a thousand years. The last time the Draekons were on Calis, they came as an attacking force, bent on conquering this world for the reserves of fuel buried deep under the desert sands. If I shift, I will cause mass panic. I will frighten Alice.

  We need to take refuge in an inn.

  “Come on. We will find shelter.”

  I start to pick her up again, but she shakes her head sharply. “I’m capable of walking. And besides, you’re injured. I don’t think you should be carrying me when you’re bleeding.”

  Stubborn human. “I told you, it’s just a scratch.”

  She snorts, unconvinced. “Of course it is.”

  I hide my smile. Most people I met fell into two categories. There were the scientists and the other ruling elites, who held us in contempt but were nonetheless happy to buy their victories with our blood. And then, there was everyone else, who stared at us with terror in their hearts.

  Alice is neither contemptuous of me, nor afraid. Nobody has treated me this way. It’s refreshing.

  I could pick her up, but I will not disrespect her bravery. “Alright.”

  Her eyebrow lifts. “Hang on. You’re being reasonable.” Her eyes widen with mock-alarm. “You’re not dying, are you?”

  This time, I can’t hold back my bark of laughter. “No, little human. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”

  Akan is a city of thieves. Even in the dark, we will be seen. I look around for a way to disguise Alice and spot a pennant hanging on the wall. That’ll do. I rip it free of its fastenings. “Wrap this around yourself,” I instruct Alice. “Cover your head and shoulders, and let it fall to the ground.”

  “Like the Cotari?” She takes the deep indigo fabric without argument and starts to drape it over her strange human clothing. “I’m too short to pass for one of them.”

  “The children are small.” Not that I think of her as a child. My every sense is aware that Alice is a woman. A very desirable one.

  I shake that thought free. “This way.”

  The inn I pick is not one of Akan’s finest establishments. That’s a deliberate choice. Alice is disguised as a Cotari child. There’s a certain type of inn that won’t ask any questions, and that’s the sort of place we need.

  This one fits the bill. Like most dwellings in the desert, it has only one story. The mud-tiled roof, on the other hand, towers into the sky, three times as tall as the inn walls. High ceilings and durable, heat-absorbent tiles. Hallmarks of traditional Calis construction. People have been building houses like this one on the desert planet for thousands of years.

  I open the door, and we enter. The conversation in the common room comes to a stop.

  I do a quick scan. Six occupied tables, thirty-seven inhabitants. Twenty-five Cotari, six Infar, four hooded Makpi, and the innkeeper and his bondmate. The Cotari are farmers, not traders. Their hands are stained with ochre, a residue from the fertilizer without which nothing will grow on this inhospitable planet. The Makpi are a powerful species, one of the Triumvirate, but they are intensely reclusive and a long way from home, which makes them unlikely to be threats.

  The Infar are always trouble, but there are only six of them.

  The conversations resume. Keeping Alice at my side, I march to the innkeeper. “I need a room for me and my ward.”

  “Ward.” He smiles lasciviously, and I know exactly what he’s thinking. “It’ll cost you.”

  It always shocks me that people can, for the right sum of money, turn a blind eye to the most horrible of things. I’m clearly an Offworlder, and I’ve shown up at an inn with a Cotari child. The innkeeper is Cotari. You think he’d want to protect his own, but no. He only cares about money.

  The first time we ran into this behavior, we were in the middle of a prolonged battle in Tilrim. One of the enemy captains approached us, offering to sell us information in exchange for safe passage off-world. He didn’t seem to care that his betrayal would cause the death of his comrades. He just cared about himself.

  First was the most idealistic of us. When he heard the captain’s proposal, he’d been bitterly disillusioned. His temper had flared, and he’d killed the man, burning him to death. I remember the scent of charred flesh as if it were yesterday. Strange how memory works.

  The innkeeper is staring at me expectantly, waiting for me to haggle. Switching to Cotari, I start to bargain. “I also need a comfortable bed,” I demand. “A set of clothes for my ward and a hot-water bath.”

  “A hot-water bath?” The man's eyes widen at my request. Water is precious on Calis. To bathe in it is immensely wasteful. “That will be very expensive.”

  I shrug. “I can pay.”

  An oily smile covers his face. His emotions come through, loud and clear. He thinks I’m an idiot. His initial curiosity has been replaced with contempt. I’m a stupid Offworlder who has no idea how to survive on this harsh planet, but I’m rich. How can he liberate me from my credits?

  After some back-and-forth, we agree on a price. The innkeeper’s mate shows us to the room, her eyes fixed on Alice. Her posture is stiff, and she radiates disgust. “This is it,” she says, throwing the door open.

  I check out the room. As promised, the bed looks soft, and the linens appear clean. A door to the left leads to the refresher. The wall on the right has a window. A metal grille covers the opening, but the bars look rusted. A security risk.

  It’s not ideal, but Alice needs rest. “This will do.”

  The Cotari woman turns around and marches away. “She doesn’t like you,” Alice remarks. She takes a step into the room and sighs in pleasure when she sees the bed. “A real bed,” she says, sitting down on it and bouncing up and down on the mattress. “I’m so happy I could cry.”

  More human peculiarity. “If you’re happy, why do you cry?”

  She giggles again, the sound pleasing to my ears. “Happy tears. It’s a human thing.” Her smile wavers when she looks at me. “Let me take a look at your back.”

  She looks determined. There’s no getting around this. “Very well.”

  I take off my shirt and turn around, and she gasps out loud. “Kadir, this looks deep. I need to attend to this right away. Hand me the med-kit, please.”

  “You know how to use it?”

  Her expression turns distant. She’s remembering the scientists’ torture. “Yes,” she says, after a moment of silence. “I taught myself. It isn’t rocket science.”

  “Rocket science? What do spacecraft have to do with med-kits?” I ask her, for no other reason other than to distract her. I don’t understand the idiom, but the implant provides an adequate interpretation.

  My attempt at levity fails. “It’s another human thing,” she says flatly. “Stop stalling, Kadir, and hand me the med-kit. I promise you I know how to use it.”

  I fish the med-kit out of my pack.

  It’s broken. The case is cracked, and the internal mechanism has melted. It must have been the line of fire.

  Mahr. Alice isn’t Draekon. She isn’t designed for battle. When her bones break, they won’t knit together. When her skin tears, it won’t reseal itself in a few hours. She is human. Fragile. I must have a working med-kit.

  Alice catches the expression on my face. “What’s wrong?”

  I show her what’s left of the device. She exhales a sigh. “Murphy’s Law,” she murmurs. “If something can go wrong, it will.” She bites her succulent pink lip, her teeth small, white, and even, and her expression brightens. “Can you buy one from the innkeeper?”

  “I doubt it. Calis is a primitive world, and Akan is a small and insignificant outpost. Med-kits are advanced tech.”

  “But people get hurt here,” she persists. “They must have some variation of a first-aid kit.”

  She’s not going to let this go. “I will ask.”

  I stick my head out of the door and bellow for the innkeeper. Behind me, Alice m
akes a strangled sound in her throat. “Are your legs broken too, or is there some other reason you can’t walk to the front and ask him like a normal person?”

  Really? I shut the door and turn around, my eyebrow raised. She glares back, unimpressed. I guess the impact of my wound has faded. “I cannot leave you here alone while I fetch the innkeeper.” I point to the window. “Someone could climb in. If an intruder abducts you, how are you planning to fight back? Are you going to stare them to death?”

  Her face turns red. She opens her mouth to say something, but before she can, the innkeeper appears in view. “You shouted for me?” he asks stiffly.

  “Yes. I need medical supplies.”

  My upper body is bare. The innkeeper’s nostrils flare as he smells my blood. “You are wounded,” he says, his eyes glittering with a strange excitement. “That is unfortunate. I will return with what you need.”

  He bustles away.

  Alice moves next to me and stares at the innkeeper’s retreating back. “Is it my imagination, or did that seem too easy? He didn’t even quote you a price.”

  She’s not a fool at all. She’s got good instincts, warrior instincts. In just one short day, she’s got the measure of the Cotari. Nothing is free. Everything has a price. “He thinks I’m weak because I’m wounded. He’ll bring us medical supplies, along with a sedative. Later tonight, when I’m asleep, he’ll break into my room, slit my throat, and steal my money.”

  She inhales sharply. “Really?”

  I bare my teeth in a feral smile. “Don’t worry, human. I have promised to rescue you and your friend, and I will keep my word. When I meet my end, it will not be at the hands of a puny innkeeper.”

  “No, what will bring you down is an infection,” she replies pertly. “Tiny, microscopic bacteria. Even punier than the innkeeper.”

  So much spirit.

  There’s a knock on the door. I open it to find the innkeeper standing there. “Medical supplies for your cut,” he says, handing me a frayed bag. “There is a sanitizer, needle and thread, and some gauze. If you want dinner, I will fetch it for you.”