Dragon-Ridden

by White, T. A.

  There was a strong urge to touch her tattoo. It was tingling again.

  Their information didn’t mean anything. It was just coincidence that her tattoo was a dragon. Nothing more.

  Hadn’t Riply just said no woman had ever bonded to a dragon before? There, a coincidence.

  She looked up to find Ryu staring at her with a considering look.

  A chill slithered down her back. Suddenly the food she’d eaten sat like a hard lump in her stomach. Nevertheless, she picked up a fork and forced herself to take a bite of the food in front of her.

  She’d think about this all later. When not under another’s watchful eye. ‘Til then she’d put everything in the back of her mind. Surreptitiously, she tugged the sleeve on her tattooed arm down further until it covered her hand.

  Before walking away the waitress leaned over and whispered into Riply’s ear. He nodded and slapped her on the ass as she sashayed away.

  After she left, Ryu said, “I’ll tag along with you this afternoon.”

  Trent gave a cheer and even Danny seemed pleased with the company. Not Tate. Ryu usually went his own way once they got on land. She didn’t see why he wanted to tag along now. A part of her couldn’t help the paranoia that said Jost had set him on her in case she ran. That was ridiculous though.

  “I don’t know about you deck scabbers, but I’ve got a date with a pretty little female,” Ripley said.

  “Big surprise there, you throwing over your friends for a bit of action,” Tate said sarcastically. The rest of the group laughed.

  Chapter Two

  They ended up close to the merchant district, not for the shopping, but for the entertainers that invariably found open spaces to perform. Danny explained that there were four main markets in the Lower City and Little Harbor Marketplace was one of the smallest.

  Tate’s head swiveled looking at all the brightly costumed people. They were like brilliant colored birds as they flitted through the open-air market. After weeks at sea where everything on ship was drab brown and grays, just seeing the rich colors people draped themselves in was a culture shock. Tate thought longingly of what it must be like to wear such vibrant clothing.

  Danny’s broad figure cut a swath through the crowd making it easy for Tate and Trent, with their smaller builds, to tag along. Ryu followed with his hands tucked in his pockets. He hadn’t said much since they’d left the Crow’s Nest. Now, he simply watched everything with a bored expression.

  Enticing smells tempted Tate. Pasties, meat pies, desserts and the like made her mouth water. She’d already begun a mental list of the food she wanted to try once there was a little room in her stomach again.

  A large open square housed the market. Vendors set up stalls that were easily dismantled at day’s end. Some vendors had set up shop by laying blankets down and placing theirs goods on them. They reclined on pillows and chatted amongst themselves until a customer approached, then suddenly they were all business with gracious smiles and helpful comments.

  Tate absorbed the cacophony and organized disorder around her. She felt small in the midst of all this movement. How was she ever to find her way?

  Slim paths clogged with bodies wound amid the stalls. Though chaotic at first glance, it was an organic maze, made new with the start of each day.

  Danny was like a shark scenting blood in the market. He led Tate and Ryu from stall to stall, bargaining for goods for the ship with a tenacity Tate had never seen in him before. It was no wonder he was in charge of ship supplies. Trent had already peeled off to explore on his own.

  At one such stall, she watched with a slightly bemused expression as he gestured wildly at what he wanted to buy. The top of the vendor’s baldhead turned red as he argued just as fiercely back.

  “Not what you expected,” Ryu asked.

  “I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to barter quite like that.”

  Ryu laughed. “It just takes practice, and Danny’s had a lot. Not everybody approaches bargaining like he does either. Most are a little more subtle.”

  She nodded thoughtfully. A movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned to see a pair of boys standing across the small alley, half hidden by a stall. If one of them hadn’t been staring straight at her, she never would have noticed them for they blended into the crowd. She cocked her head as he swiftly looked away.

  “What’re you looking at?” Ryu asked.

  The boy said something to his companion who scanned the crowd casually. His eyes met Tate’s briefly before moving on. She rubbed her nose in thought. That was interesting. Maybe the boys were embarrassed she’d caught them looking.

  Somehow Tate wasn’t so sure. The way the second boy had checked her out while not seeming to, wasn’t a skill most people had. At least, not most law-abiding people. He was part of a crew. Had to be. Pickpockets, probably.

  A sharp pinch interrupted her musings. “Ouch,” Tate said, rubbing her arm and frowning at Ryu. “What’d you do that for?”

  “Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “What’re you looking at?” he asked.

  “You pinched me just to ask that?”

  “You weren’t answering me.”

  “Still, that doesn’t mean you go around pinching people. That hurt,” Tate complained. “What if I kicked you every time you ignored something I said.”

  “Not everybody has your poor manners,” he pointed out helpfully.

  “So next time you ignore me I can kick you?”

  “Sure. If you don’t mind being hung upside down by you ankles. I am bigger than you, you know.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. The devilish side of Tate, the one that wanted to do the exact opposite of what she was told, itched to see what would happen if she followed through on her threat.

  Danny rejoined them, saving Tate from temptation.

  “I got rope for half what he was asking,” he said. “He’s going to deliver it to the ship. That was the last of what Jost wanted so for the rest of the day I’m free.”

  “Half?” she asked, dismissing Ryu. “It was already cheap. I can’t believe you got him to lower his price more. I wish I knew how to do that.”

  Danny smiled shyly at her and dropped his eyes. “I can teach you.”

  “Thanks, but I doubt I’ll ever be as good as you,” she said.

  “It’s not hard, really, you just have to be smart about it,” he explained.

  “I suppose,” she said, doubtfully.

  “Here, I’ll show you.”

  Danny headed further down the alley of stalls.

  The more industrious hawkers stood in the street trying to convince customers to stop and have a look at their goods. Tate skated around these. They were very aggressive, not content to see a potential mark slip away. One made a grab for her arm. Smoothly, she slid out of the way and kept moving.

  Danny looked back and slowed when he saw Tate dodging one particularly persistent woman trying to sell her a scarf.

  “Now see here, missy, these scarves are some of the best quality you’ll find in Little Harbor.”

  “No, thank you, I’m just, um—” Tate put her hands up and tried to edge around the old woman who kept shifting, preventing Tate from getting around.

  “I’ll give you a deal. Three shillings,” spittle flew from the woman’s lips as she thrust the scarf up to Tate’s face.

  “I really don’t need a scarf.”

  “Fine. Two shillings,” the woman said.

  “No, I don’t think-“

  “You won’t get a better deal.”

  “She’s already said she doesn’t want it. Now shove off.” Danny loomed behind the woman. He was over a foot taller than her and used every inch of his size and a black glare to intimidate the woman into leaving.

  She draped the scarf over her wrist and muttered to herself as she ambled back to her stall.

  “There’s your first lesson,” Danny said. “You have to be firm with them, or they’ll run
right over you.”

  “I see.”

  “The ones who ambush you like that are the ones who have to hunt down their customers because their goods are usually inferior. They’re also the ones who are most persistent when it comes to making a sale. They’d sell the clothes off their mother’s back if they could convince you to buy the,” Danny instructed. “Now, how did you get her to drop her price?”

  Tate thought a minute. “I said I didn’t want it.”

  “Right. As soon as you showed disinterest, she dropped her price. It doesn’t always work, but it’s best not to show too much interest in something you want. Also be prepared to walk away, otherwise they know you’ll pay what they’re asking and not budge.”

  Danny spoke with an authority and confidence he didn’t normally have. He gestured and pointed as he tried to convey each thought. Tate smiled faintly as she listened and nodded in response.

  A movement from the corner of Tate’s eye caught her attention. She glanced over and saw a piece of fabric fluttering in the breeze. A man in loose pants squatted in the shade, his inscrutable eyes observing the crowd. He waited until a patron had stopped at his table before jumping up and gesturing them inside. Tate watched as he led a well-dressed man inside. He held up several rugs until the man found one he liked. She drifted closer, drawn by the brightly colored rugs.

  One in particular was a rich black with a blue and red pattern on it. Looking closely, she could see how the blues wound around the red and spiraled out into several curlicues and leaves into a complicated pattern. It was beautiful.

  Danny noticed what she was looking at and said, “It’s pretty, but I don’t think it’ll fit in your bunk.”

  He was right in that. Her berth was really just a hammock with sheets hung around it for privacy. She didn’t have a lot in the way of personal possessions. Just two changes of clothes. It was one of the reasons she didn’t have to go back to the Marauder if she decided to run.

  With a last wistful glance at the beautiful rug she moved on. Her life just didn’t have room for stuff.

  “Where’s Ryu?” Tate asked, noticing for the first time that he wasn’t standing with Danny.

  “He had to take care of a few things,” Danny said without meeting her eyes. “He’ll find us again later. Shall we see the sights?”

  Tate nodded eagerly and paced by Danny’s side as they continued their stroll. They stopped and joined a crowd as they watched a colorfully dressed man hold a strange looking creature up. Its body was a bizarre combination of furred parts and hard reptilian limbs with soft looking quills sticking up from its neck and back. The man held up a finger and then pointed into the air. The crowd ooed and awed as the creature leapt up and darted through the air performing twists and turns just over people’s heads.

  Tate’s dragon watched with equal fascination, piggybacking off her thoughts. It seemed content to watch and not comment, for which Tate was relieved. She could relax and enjoy the day without having to worry as she normally did.

  It felt comfortable to simply be part of the crowd, one of the many anonymous faces that had turned out to enjoy the start of the Donza Festival. The greater celebrations wouldn’t start for a day or two, but the smaller parades and impromptu entertainment helped ramp up the crowd’s spirits.

  They walked a little farther.

  A woman and man with painted faces and flamboyant dresses over long pants twirled in a complicated dance. Their faces were painted white except for where they’d drawn black eyebrows and a vertical red line on their upper lips.

  Another man in costume leapt out, matching steps with the woman’s. Their tunics flared out as they twisted into another turn. One of the men leapt powerfully into the air arching his back and flipping in midair while the other two stomped their way to the front. The musicians sitting on the cobble stone patio executed a complicated flurry of notes that reminded Tate of a pounding wind. The trio burst into an explosion of movement arching their bodies and then bending them in time to the music.

  “As the Donza Festival draws closer, you’ll see all sorts of performers around the city. It’s truly an amazing sight to see,” Danny said.

  Tate nodded keeping her eyes on the performers whose dance had drawn to an end and who were now mingling with the crowd. She watched as several of the watchers tossed coins into the bowls each of the three held. When they passed her and Danny she threw a copper piece into the collection. The man bobbed his head in thanks and moved on.

  As the crowd dispersed Tate noticed a stall tucked into a corner of the market that had previously been blocked by the performers. She walked towards the oddly formed contents of the little shop. A sign above the table— for that’s all it really was— a table with a sign above it, read ‘Relics of the Past.’ She came to a stop in front of it and stared down at the odds and ends cluttering the surface.

  “What is this?” she asked.

  “Relics, miss,” the wizened old merchant said. He didn’t bother getting up from the chair he’d settled his old bones in. “These were found in ancient ruins a few miles outside Aurelia.”

  She didn’t say anything, already absorbed in the trinkets before her. Most of it was junk, just twisted metal with strange markings on it. Her eye was drawn to a small rectangular piece, no bigger than her palm. It was crusted with dirt, but its surface was smooth with white shapes imprinted on it. She ran a finger over one of the shapes thinking it was ink or paint and felt it give slightly under her touch. She recognized it or at least thought she did.

  “How much?” she asked impulsively. She had to have it.

  “Excuse us?” Danny took hold of her arm and dragged her a fair distance from the stall. She stumbled after him as irritation bubbled inside. “What are you doing?” he finally asked.

  “What business is it of yours?” she asked arching an eyebrow and yanking her elbow from his grip.

  “For starters, real relic hunters don’t sell their wares at an open market,” he hissed. “There’s a reason for that. The ancients left behind some very dangerous things that tend to hurt those curious and stupid enough to acquire them. What he is selling are either knockoffs or dangerous. Perhaps both. Either way, you don’t want what he’s selling.”

  “I know that,” she snapped. “I know they’re not real.”

  He stopped. He hadn’t expected that response, simply assuming she was one of those obsessed with the ancients. Danny stared down at her in puzzlement. “You do? Then why-?”

  “It reminded me of something from my past,” she mumbled. Her cheeks burned under his sympathetic gaze. Most of the Marauder’s crew didn’t know much about her. They’d found her wandering on an isolated spit of land. She learned incredibly fast and most had forgotten or didn’t realize how lost and out of place she really was.

  The theories of her origin and history had amused them for a time but were just that. Theories.

  Many nights while in her hammock, she’d listened to the waves lap against the hull and to the men discussing her possibilities. They covered everything from being marooned during a shipwreck, to being a lost heiress, to being one of the odd races that abounded on the outer edge of the empire.

  Danny settled his hands on her shoulders and bent to stare her in the eye. “I don’t know what you’re looking for, but I know that nothing on that table can help you find it.”

  She bit back the reply that sprung to her lips. She wanted to rail against him, tell him it wasn’t any of his business and get the trinket anyway. Stubborn, she held his eyes with hers. What she saw there made her back down, and her shoulders slumped. They spoke of kindness and a caring that had been missing for as long as she could remember.

  Danny took off again, his long strides forcing Tate to half run to keep up. People got out of his way when they saw his expression, and Tate trailed in his wake. He barely noticed when she stopped, and spun around to see her standing stock still in the middle of the road staring at something to her right.

  Her attentio
n was focused on a familiar trio checking out the wares at one of the blacksmith’s stalls. Weapons hung on displays and were carefully laid out on tables.

  It was the trio from the Crow’s Nest. Tate struggled to remember what they were called. The Keyline. Kayi. No, the Kairi.

  She moved closer. She hadn’t gotten a chance to meet them and now seemed like a perfect opportunity.

  Just as she was about to make her move, the two troublemakers she’d seen earlier came into view. She watched as the smaller one, who she mentally dubbed as Bones, sauntered past the strangers. He subtly checked them out from the corner of his eye and signaled his companion. The second boy, who she referred to as Dewdrop because of his fresh baby face, walked past a good minute after he did.

  They reminded Tate of shark circling their prey. Dimly, she was aware of Danny following her as she drifted closer.

  She snorted when Bones pretended to examine the wares at a stall next to the Kairi while Dewdrop bent to fuss with his shoes. So obvious. No doubt their marks would guess what they were up to any moment now.

  Bones flicked his fingers at Dewdrop as the Kairi began to move. Dewdrop stood and stumbled into the path of the woman whose guards snapped into action, jerking him off his feet and away from the woman.

  Guess not. Tate didn’t bother warning the Kairi. All she had to do was yell ‘thief.’ But that didn’t seem the sporting thing to do, them being fellow criminals and all.

  Bones used their distraction to slip behind the female. While the three’s attention were focused on Dewdrop’s profuse apologies, Bones snagged one of the lady’s ornaments from her hair and dropped it into one of his pockets.

  Tate ambled across the market making sure to cross his path. She felt a bit of professional pride in his work. It’d been a clean grab, even if the setup could be spotted from a mile away.

  She kept her head down and let some of her hair slide forward to cover her eyes. When Bones’ muddy boots came into view, she stumbled against him and mumbled an apology.

  It was another three steps before she looked down at the object in her hand. The ornament’s black wood was warm against her hand, probably from the lady’s body heat. A single pearl bobbed from a delicate chain attached at the top of the hair stick. Tate pulled it and was only mildly surprised when it revealed a sharp little knife sheathed in the black wood. Pretty, but deadly.