Blood of Dragons

by Jack Campbell

  Blood of Dragons

  Copyright © 2017 by John G. Hemry

  All rights reserved.

  Published as an ebook in 2017 by JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.

  Originally published as an Audible Original in August 2017.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover art by Dominick Saponaro

  eISBN 978-1-625672-92-6

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Also by Jack Campbell

  Acknowledgements

  I remain indebted to my agents, Joshua Bilmes and Eddie Schneider, for their long-standing support, ever-inspired suggestions and assistance, as well as to Krystyna Lopez and Lisa Rodgers for their work on foreign sales and print editions. Many thanks to Betsy Mitchell for her excellent editing. Thanks also to Robert Chase, Kelly Dwyer, Carolyn Ives Gilman, J.G. (Huck) Huckenpohler, Simcha Kuritzky, Michael LaViolette, Aly Parsons, Bud Sparhawk and Constance A. Warner for their suggestions, comments and recommendations.

  To Sarah Damario, whose spirit sings bright and strong.

  For S, as always

  Chapter One

  “Kira!”

  Seventeen-year-old Kira of Pacta Servanda paused with her saber held in a guard position and yelled a reply. “I’m busy fighting!”

  She shifted to attack, beating aside the blade of her opponent.

  He managed a riposte that almost got past Kira’s parry.

  Without pausing, Kira ducked inside his attack and stopped with her blade poised near his neck. “Yield?” she asked, breathing hard from the duel.

  Jason of Urth laughed, spreading his arms in surrender. “Okay, dragon slayer, I lost. What’s my penalty?”

  “Kiss me.”

  “That’s no penalty.”

  She was lost in the feeling of Jason’s lips on hers when someone nearby made a loud throat-clearing sound.

  Kira jumped back, glaring at her mother. “A little privacy?”

  Master Mechanic Mari of Dematr, the woman known to her world as the daughter of Jules, pirate queen, dragon slayer, the woman who had raised and led the army that freed their world from the domination of the Great Guilds and since then used her vast popularity and moral authority to prevent further wars, looked around at the open land surrounding their home, waving toward the sea coast visible to the south. “You’re in our yard, Kira. The patrols around the house could see you. Passing ships could see you.”

  “I was just giving Jason a lesson in sword fighting.”

  “Yeah. Sword fighting,” her mother said with a glance at Jason, who was looking at the ground, embarrassed. “It seems to be going pretty well. Listen, you know we’ve got a big dinner tonight. You two need to be ready for it.”

  Kira held out her own hands in mock surrender. “We’ll stay out of the way,” she promised.

  “No, you won’t. Both of you will attend the dinner, and the discussion afterwards.” Mari paused to look around again, her dark Mechanics jacket open so that the pistol holstered underneath it could be seen. Kira had rarely seen her mother without the weapon. While loved by the great majority of the population of the western parts of her world, Mari still had plenty of deadly enemies who needed always to be guarded against.

  Kira had a similar pistol, and a similar holster that she wasn’t wearing at the moment. She had grown up knowing that her mother's enemies would also target her if given the chance.

  “Dress is casual,” her mother said. “This is just a gathering of friends who happen to have tremendous political power. Don’t wear your Lancer uniform, Kira.”

  “I thought Queen Sien was one of the guests.”

  “She is, but you need to be present as my daughter, not as one of her officers, even an honorary one. We’re keeping this informal. Asha has already arrived. She’s—”

  “Over that way with Father,” Kira said. “I could feel it when she got here.”

  Her mother didn’t say anything, watching Kira with concern, then shook her head. “Dinner. Be ready. On time.”

  “Yes, Lady Mari,” Kira said. “The wish of the daughter of Jules is as good as an order.”

  “I only wish my own daughter really felt that way.” Her mother smiled, then walked away.

  Kira waited until her mother was a good ways back toward the house. “I wonder what that’s about?”

  Jason scratched his head. “Have you been part of the group at your mother’s dinners before?”

  “No. Or maybe just the dinner and not the discussion afterwards. Queen Sien is coming, and Mage Asha is already here, and Master Mechanic Lukas. I heard Jane of Danalee will be here, too. There must be something very important they want to talk about.”

  “Who’s Jane of Danalee?”

  “President of State of the Bakre Confederation, second only to President in Chief Julan. And there’s Aunt Alli and Uncle Calu, too, since you came down here with them. Has it been all right, staying in Danalee with them? I wish you could be here all the time.”

  “Me, too,” Jason said. “But not if I had to live in the same house with you as sort of a brother.”

  “That would be too weird,” Kira agreed. She sat down in the grass, her sword across her lap, waiting while Jason joined her. “You don’t mind having to attend as well?” she asked.

  “Not if your mother needs me there,” Jason said, laying his own saber over his legs. “Your parents have been so great, accepting me the way they have, and taking time for me even with all their responsibilities.”

  “They know that you’re important to me, Jason,” Kira said.

  “How important?”

  She gave him a disapproving smile. “You’re not supposed to push. It’s only been six months since you got left on Dematr. But I will tell you that I am pretty sure that I'm getting to like you more every day.”

  “In that case,” Jason said, grinning, “I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

  “Do you have any regrets? About staying on this world?”

  “With you? No.”

  “What about not counting me?” Kira asked.

  “No,” Jason repeated. He looked at the world around them. “I wanted to stay here, remember? On Earth, I was an unhappy kid who had never done anything with his life and never expected to do or be anything, with parents who spent half their time putting down each other and the other half putting me down. Here…besides you—and it’s really hard not to count you—I’m seen as sort of special, and I get to see steam locomotives and sail on sailing ships and ride horses with that cavalry unit you belong to and see a world that isn’t overcrowded and over-tired, and meet people like your mother and father.”

  Kira looked at him, remembering that not much more than six months ago she would have flared with rebellious and insecure anger at mention of her mother. “I can understand wanting to escape the control of those awful parents of yours, but being with me isn’t all sunshine and flowers. I mean, you almost got killed, too, a few times. And I’ve got Mother’s temper.”

  “You’re worth it,�
�� Jason said, smiling at her.

  “Stop it. But not until after you’ve kissed me again. Then we need to go into the house and start getting ready. Father still can’t read a clock, but when Mother says on time, she means it.”

  * * *

  Conversation during dinner kept to mild topics. Questions to Jason about far-off Urth that he patiently answered, talk about local events in Tiae and the Bakre Confederation, the latest weapon designs in Master Mechanic Alli’s workshops, and reminiscing about some of the less stressful events during the war against the fallen Great Guilds. Kira stole glances at the others as she ate. All of the Mechanics wore their customary dark jackets over nice but not fine shirts and the sturdy trousers of engineers. The dark jackets had once symbolized membership in the Guild that Mari had destroyed, but Mechanics still took pride in wearing the distinctive garment. The Mages, her father Alain and Asha, wore traditional Mage robes. Queen Sien was in loose trousers and shirt, a long coat over them, like any citizen of Tiae might wear. President Jane of Danalee’s working suit was the nicest garment at the table. As her mother had said, this was simply an informal gathering of friends, the sort of friends who had immense power to direct the course of the West and thereby much of the world of Dematr.

  Afterwards, they went into the living room to talk. Everyone settled back in their seats on one of the sofas or chairs. There weren’t enough to go around so Kira and Jason sat on the floor in one corner of the room, Kira feeling both excited and intimidated to be part of such a group. “Let’s start with the Imperial ships on their way to Tiae,” Kira’s mother said. “Lukas, I understand you have some inside information.”

  Master Mechanic Lukas, old but still sharp, was one of the most experienced Mechanics in the world. Any Mechanic he didn’t personally know was probably known to someone else he did. Lukas rubbed his brow as he thought before speaking. “Yeah, Mari, the Gray Squadron. That’s the name the Imperials are giving the five ships that are conducting supposed ‘friendship visits’ across the Sea of Bakre before heading south into the Umbari and visiting more ports in the Confederation and Tiae.”

  “How good are the ships?” Queen Sien asked.

  “Good enough. Metal hulls and decks. Most of the stuff on them is state-of-the-art for what we can reliably build now. They’ve each got two boilers feeding into a single stack, and from what I hear enough coal storage for them to be able to go from the Sharr Isles to Tiaesun without refueling.”

  “That’s a long haul,” Mari said.

  “Yeah. I imagine they’d be scraping the bottoms of the coal bunkers by the time they got here.” Lukas shrugged. “They’re the pride and joy of the new Imperial fleet. Everyone knows the so-called friendship visits are actually aimed at intimidating every place they stop. And they are pretty intimidating. One medium-heavy gun in an enclosed mount on the bow and two medium-caliber guns, one in an open mount forward and the other on the stern.”

  “That’s enough to be trouble,” said Master Mechanic Alli.

  “Yup,” Lukas confirmed. “Individually, they’re no match for the big gun ships being built by the Confederation and the Alliance. But all five of those new Imperial ships together would give the two Confederation big gun ships a tough battle.” He smiled at Alli. “I had a look at the Julesport, Alli. You did some fine work on the heavy guns on those ships.”

  “I have some great people working with me,” Alli said. She grinned. “Of course, I’m pretty good myself.”

  Her husband, Mechanic Calu, leaned forward. “How good are the Imperial guns?”

  “Nothing to match Alli’s work, but good enough. You wouldn’t want to tangle with all five of those ships. Which is why the Empire is sending them around to overawe everyone.”

  “The Imperials are getting more aggressive,” Mari said. “It’s been building. The Imperial legions have always been tough opponents, and now all the front-line legions are fully equipped with rifles. The last time I talked to Camber he told me that sentiment in the Empire is growing that they lost the War of the Great Guilds because of some tricks by the West and a loss of resolve by the legion commanders.”

  “They took hideous losses at Dorcastle,” Calu said. “I’ll never forget seeing all the bodies that hadn’t been collected yet. I still get nightmares about that.”

  “I’ll trade you for my nightmares about Dorcastle,” Mari said.

  “No, thanks. My point is, how can anybody in the Empire pretend that didn’t happen?”

  “They remember the losses, Calu. What they call the heroic losses, which they increasingly claim were caused by the actions of the legion generals at Dorcastle. They blame the defeat on betrayal, saying that without that the legions would have triumphed.”

  “Huh.” Everyone turned to look at Jason. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “What is it?” Kira’s father asked. Master of Mages Alain, arguably the most powerful Mage in the world, and the wisest as far as Kira was concerned. “Tell us your thoughts, Jason.”

  “It’s just like history back on Earth,” Jason said, with an anxious look at Kira that she replied to with an encouraging smile. “There was something called World War One. Millions of dead, and one of the countries that started it got beaten. But a generation later, that same country helped start World War Two, because they decided they hadn’t really lost. Their armies had been somehow betrayed.”

  “How many died in the World War Two?” Alain said.

  “A lot more millions,” Jason said. “Tremendous devastation. I mean, the guys who started it paid a horrible price, but so did other countries.”

  Queen Sien nodded in understanding. “They did not forget the losses in the first war, but they convinced themselves a second try would end differently. This is what the Imperials are heading for?”

  “It’s crazy,” Calu objected. “If the Imperials attack anybody, Mari will call for action and everybody else will come down on them. The Imperials could beat any country in the west individually. But they can’t win if the Confederation, the Western Alliance, the Free Cities, and Tiae combine forces. I’m no military expert and I can see that. And they will combine forces under Mari’s leadership.”

  “You have identified our vulnerability in the west,” Sien said: “Mari. If she is not there to unify us, old rivalries and new fears might prevent a combined response until the Empire achieves the gain it seeks.”

  Kira stared at Mari, worried. “They’re going to go after Mother again?”

  “That might have been their plan once,” Jane said. “To somehow neutralize the daughter. But things have grown more complicated for the Imperial plotters.”

  Jane of Danalee had been Bakre Confederation President of State for eight years. As a veteran of the siege of Dorcastle, one of those who had stood on the last wall with the daughter to halt the Imperial legions despite impossible odds, Jane could be sure of being reelected as long as she wanted the job.

  “Something important has changed,” Jane added. “Kira.”

  Everyone looked at her. Kira, wishing that she knew a way to sink through the floor and out of sight, tried to hold her expression rigid, since she had no idea how she was supposed to react.

  “If you had asked me about Kira’s status in the Confederation a year ago,” Jane said, “I would have told you that many people had hopes that she would in some small way be able to fill the shoes of the daughter if Mari was no longer able to do so. But there was also skepticism and concern. Aside from her youth, she is not Mari. She did not hold the wall. She is not the daughter of the prophecy. If Kira had called for the army in the name of the daughter, had asked for joint action in the name of the daughter, there would have been confusion, uncertainty, delay, and debate.”

  Everyone else nodded in agreement, their eyes on Jane now, while Kira looked around at them, uncomfortable at being the subject of the conversation and trying to guess at the thoughts of the others.

  “But,” said Jane, “after the events surrounding the visit of the shi
p from Urth, perceptions of Kira have altered dramatically. She is a dragon slayer, one who did the deed in hand-to-hand combat, surpassing even her mother in that. The stories of what she did at sea keep growing in stature. She was seen facing down the people from Urth alongside her mother and father. And, judging from the stories being passed around, while she was in hiding from the Urth ship Kira seems to have encountered half the population of the Confederation, the Free Cities, and Ihris, all of whom claim she acted with all the courage, grace, wisdom, and common touch that her mother is famous for.”

  “Jane,” Kira’s mother sighed. “Let’s keep it real.”

  “That’s your reputation, Mari. And now to some extent it’s Kira’s as well. The world hasn’t fully embraced her as a successor to you, but it is a lot closer to doing so. If you were out of the picture, and Kira called today, the army might hesitate, but I believe it would come and answer to her. The Bakre Confederation would listen, the Free Cities would listen, and even the Western Alliance would likely be swayed.”

  “Tiae would also answer,” Sien said.

  Kira swallowed nervously, reaching to grasp Jason’s hand with her own. The idea of most of the world listening to her, doing as she asked, was almost overwhelming.

  Queen Sien’s gaze went from Mari to Kira. “The Empire will have noticed that change.”

  “Exactly,” Jane agreed. “Which means those in the Empire who want war know that they can’t just try to neutralize the daughter. They also have to neutralize Kira, or she could become the new daughter and frustrate their plans.”

  “Which explains the renewed push for an engagement with an Imperial prince,” Mari said. “There's no attempt at subtlety. The Empire wants Kira engaged to Prince Maxim and they want it now. There's a clear message that if the world wants peace, the daughter should agree to the arrangement, and if she does not, it will be her fault if a major war erupts. But they're also still trying to persuade her. The presents the Empire is sending Kira keep getting bigger.”

  “And more embarrassing,” Kira added. “That jeweled bracelet they sent last month! Who would wear something like that? It was big enough to serve as armor for my lower arm!”