Dragon-Ridden

by White, T. A.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if Sheila had any hats when Sheila sprang to her feet with an exclamation. “I know the perfect thing to go with your outfits.”

  She hurried back into the room where Tate had changed. They could hear things being shifted around, and then Sheila was waving two masks in her hands as she swished back to them.

  She handed the gold one to Tate and the silver one to the little boy who took it and put it to his face. His eyes blinked out at her. The mask itself was a stylized etching of a growling beast, with swirls and groves carved onto the forehead and cheeks before elongating into a snout over a mouth filled with sharp teeth. The incisors jutted fiercely over the edge of the mouth on both top and bottom. An icy blue had been rubbed into the groves while the rest was an aged silver color. White and blue feathers stuck out from the top in varying lengths. Once on, the mask would cover his entire face and all of his hair.

  Tate’s mask was simpler, being a smooth gold with red designs painted on one cheek and around one eye. Similar to the boy’s, the headdress had red, gold and black tulle sprouting from the edges while waves of expertly bunched cloth fell down the back.

  She pulled it on and looked around. She’d have no peripheral vision while wearing it, but nobody would be able to recognize her.

  “I made those for some friends who couldn’t make it,” Sheila said. “I’m so glad they can be put to use.”

  Dewdrop helped braid the boy’s hair so it wouldn’t stick out of the bottom while Tate twisted her hair into a knot at the base of her neck before putting her mask back on. She moved her head experimentally. Nothing snagged and she could look from side to side with no problem.

  “Time for Donza,” the man said when they were done.

  “Thank you so much for all you’ve done,” Tate said. They’d helped a lot more than they would ever know.

  “Don’t even mention it,” Sheila said. “If this is your first time experiencing Donza, you’ve got to do it right.”

  Tate laughed at that.

  The festival seemed to have kicked into high gear, even though it was an hour after midnight. Many were in costumes similar to Tate and the boys’. Some had less ornate masks while others put theirs to shame. It seemed to be an anything goes mentality. There were regularly dressed people mixed in with the costumes. Tate kept one hand on the boy when the crowd pushed in on them. She waited for the brother and sister’s attention to be focused elsewhere before drawing Dewdrop and the boy in another direction. Their companions would simply assume they’d gotten separated in the crowd.

  “What’re we going to do now?” Dewdrop asked, shouting above the noise.

  “I don’t know.”

  It was slow going trying to push their way through the streets. Traffic from horses and carriages had been shut down as the simple magnitude of the crowds caused the streets to be filled wall to wall with people. They passed a square where a group of musicians had set up and people danced in time to the music.

  Tate wanted to get off the streets so they could plan but didn’t want to head back to their previous hideout, as it was too close to the harbor. Going up onto the roofs was out given it’d be pretty much impossible to find a spot free of revelers to gain access to it. She looked at the boy’s thin arms and legs. He probably wouldn’t be able to make the climb anyway.

  “How much do you know about barrier stones?” she shouted above the crowd.

  “A little bit,” he shouted back. “I had to know their limits when I was a thief.”

  “Is it true no one can get in unless the owner lets them?”

  He nodded slowly, his expression thoughtful. “As long as their blood hasn’t been spilt and smeared over the stones. If they have an item of clothing that you bled or sweated in, they can use that to get in too. Are you talking about Ryu’s place?”

  She nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see her through the mask. Remembering, she said, “Yes. Lucius and the Red Lady don’t know about that place, and Ryu is in the city. We should be safe there for a short time. Long enough to figure out our next move and pick up some money.”

  “What if he left someone to guard it?”

  “I think I’ve worked out a back way into the place.”

  “You’re the boss,” he said.

  She pushed him lightly but behind the mask she was smiling.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Tate couldn’t decide if this was a good plan or not as she made her way across the building’s roof, Dewdrop and the boy following behind. She tried to keep her steps as quiet as possible, not wanting anyone inside to know she was up there.

  When they walked by the building earlier, it had been impossible to tell if anybody was watching it with all the revelers clogging the streets. While the masks hid her and the boy’s identity from sight, she knew it could do the same for her enemies. That’s why she was creeping across the roof in the dead of night.

  She dropped to her belly and slithered the rest of the way to the edge. Cautiously, she poked her head out, looking at the street. Good. It didn’t look like anybody was looking up. Tate swung one leg over the edge and then the other and lowered herself to her window. Her hands gripped the edge tightly as her muscles protested her weight. She stuck the tip of one foot in a small crack in the wall before peering into her room. It was empty. Not even Night or his cubs were there.

  She placed one hand on the window frame gradually adjusting her weight until only her hand and her foot held her up. Tate let go of the roof and grabbed the frame before she could fall.

  “Did you fall?” Dewdrop hissed.

  “Not yet,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Be careful.”

  “No, I thought I’d do something crazy while I was up here.”

  “You’re so grumpy when you’re hanging by a finger.” He snickered at his own joke.

  She rolled her eyes at his banter before getting back to the task of breaking into the room. The window wouldn’t budge no matter how much she yanked and pushed at it. Probably because it was locked from the inside.

  “Do you have something-“ she stopped when a thin piece of metal appeared in front of her. “Thanks.”

  She slid the jimmy between the window frame and window and yanked hard, popping the lock. The noise was lost in the furor of the crowd. Tate pushed the window open, throwing one leg over the sill so she was straddling it. She held her arms up to Dewdrop.

  He lowered the boy down. “You got him?”

  “Yes,” she said, clasping him around the waist and guiding him into the room. She repeated the process with Dewdrop. With him, she barely had to steady him before he was scrambling into the room.

  She stepped totally into the room after him and shut the window before leaning against the wall with a sigh.

  The little boy wandered around the room, touching things lightly before moving to the next object. It seemed that the utter lack of expression or concern for his surroundings of before was fading the longer he was away from Jost. She was glad. It wasn’t normal, his lack of response. Even now he didn’t act like other young boys.

  Dewdrop stumbled over to her bed and collapsed face down with a groan. “So tired.”

  Tate’s stomach chose that moment to protest. It’d been several hours since she’d last eaten. In fact, her last meal had been when Ryu fed her when she’d first woken from her injuries. Suddenly she felt weak as if her body suddenly realized just how hungry she was.

  She searched the top of the desk for any food, hoping Ryu had left some from earlier. No such luck. Not there, or in the drawers or on her bed or under it. Nothing. There was no food in the room. She growled. She felt like she was going to turn into a raving lunatic if she didn’t get some food in her.

  “I don’t suppose you have any food on you.” She kicked the bed next to Dewdrop.

  He lifted his head from where he’d already been half dozing and gave it a slight shake before burying his face back in the covers.

  Tate thumped her
head against the wall. She wanted food. Already she felt slightly nauseous and headachy from hunger. Ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away.

  The little boy stopped in front of Tate and held out his hand. A wrapped piece of candy was in it. She took it, unwrapping it before popping it into her mouth. Its flavor burst sweetly on her tongue.

  “Thanks,” she said. “Its good.”

  It was too. And oddly filling. Already she could feel the worst of her headache fade and the nausea lesson as if she’d eaten part of a meal instead of a small piece of candy.

  He nodded gravely and took a seat beside Tate and looked up at her expectantly. She smiled faintly down at him, not really knowing what he wanted. A tap on the window saved her from having to ask.

  Her heart in her throat, she looked over at the bed. Dewdrop had stiffened but didn’t lift his head. Even his chest barely moved.

  Tate thought about ignoring the tap and remaining seated. It was unlikely that whoever it was could see her and the boy from their viewpoint. Maybe they would go away.

  There was another tap. Tate waited with baited breath not daring to so much as a twitch. She jumped when there was suddenly a pounding against the wall next to her head.

  It was with reluctance that she moved to peer out the window from her position on the floor. She lost her balance when a feline face appeared before her.

  Cursing she popped to her feet pulling the window open. “Night, what are you doing here?”

  Me? he asked hanging onto the ledge effortlessly. You’re the one who disappeared this afternoon. We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Ryu’s furious.

  “Is that Tate?” a head popped out of the window next to Tate’s. She could barely make out Tempest’s dim figure despite the light spilling from the street.

  Let me in, Night ordered.

  “I’m coming to,” Tempest said climbing out of his window.

  “I don’t think-“

  Do it or I’ll go find Ryu and tell him where you are, Night said, striking for her weakness.

  She glared at him, “And how do you expect to do that. People would probably run screaming in the opposite direction if they saw you bearing down on them.” Nevertheless she relented. The last thing Tate wanted was Ryu to come back and mess up her plans with his own agenda.

  She pulled Night then Tempest in despite her reservations. Perhaps they could help her put together the missing pieces of this mess and find a way out of it.

  After pulling Tempest in she glanced around the street one last time before ducking back into her room. No one appeared to be watching.

  Tempest had frozen in place at the sight of the boy, and Tate barely managed to avoid bumping into him as he stared transfixed. The boy, for his part, met Tempest’s gaze with a calm acceptance. Tate looked between the two. It looked like they knew each other. She rolled her eyes. Of course they did. Tempest had been part of Umi’s plan to locate the fulcrum. He had to have known they were searching for a boy and not a thing.

  Suddenly Tempest was on his knees in front of the boy and had prostrated himself, placing his forehead on his hands on the ground. Words from another language spilled from his mouth in a torrent.

  “What are you saying? Share with the group.”

  The boy looked at her with a very adult expression on his face. “He said, ‘Forgive me. Please forgive me. I did not know. That is no excuse, but I am prepared to make recompense.’”

  “So you can speak,” Tate said with an arched eyebrow. “Why would he need to make recompense for Umi’s actions? He’s not responsible for what she did.”

  The boy kept his eyes trained on Tate’s though he didn’t move from the spot where he’d been sitting. “In our culture a servant can be held accountable for a master’s actions just as a master can be held accountable for a servant’s.”

  Tate snorted. That was ridiculous. She folded her arms in aggravation. All right so maybe it wasn’t exactly ridiculous. A ship’s crew often shared in their captain’s fate in the event the Emperor’s Justice found him guilty of a crime. Usually, though, they contributed to whatever crime he was charged with.

  “What would happen to him?” Dewdrop asked sitting up in the bed.

  “Maiming or exile,” was the quiet response. “Death.”

  Tate wrapped her arms around her body and shivered. Those were some harsh penalties when he hadn’t really done much wrong. None of the options sounded particularly appealing. She wasn’t too sure of what all he’d done against their laws, but from where she stood it wasn’t enough for the penalty proposed.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to say so when Tempest spoke, lifting his head, his face wet with tears. “I’ll accept any punishment the elders feel appropriate.”

  Tate bit her tongue against what she wanted to say and looked away instead. She wanted to shake Tempest until he felt some form of self-preservation. It wasn’t any of her business, though. How they dealt with internal problems was their own affair.

  Dewdrop didn’t look any happier about it than she did, but he too kept his own counsel.

  The little boy seemed perfectly content to let the silence stretch as he regarded them placidly.

  “Enough of this,” Tate finally said, reaching down to pull Tempest to his feet and forcing him onto the bed beside Dewdrop. “We’ve got a lot to sort out. Focus on your personal failings later.”

  Tempest nodded shakily keeping his head down and wiped the tears from his eyes quickly.

  “What’s this about Ryu?” she asked Night changing the focus.

  He straightened when attention turned to him. When he came back from his errand to find you gone, he was not happy. Wanted to know where you’d gone and why.

  “Did he have anybody with him?” Dewdrop asked.

  Night thought back and shook his head slowly. Not in here, but he carried scent markers for several other men.

  “Could be the same people we saw earlier,” Dewdrop told Tate.

  She nodded. Probably.

  “They were probably enforcers with the Kairi Ambassador’s party,” Tempest said quietly. “It’s likely they are trying to recover the fulcrum and key before the ball on the last night of the Donza Festival.”

  “Why before then?” Dewdrop asked.

  “He’s needed for a religious rite,” Tempest said, not quite meeting anybody’s eyes.

  The truth, but only part of it, Tate’s instincts said. She wasn’t content with a partial truth. Not anymore.

  “No doubt, but what’s the real reason?” Tempest hunched in on himself. It was noble how he wanted to keep his people’s secrets, but Tate didn’t have the patience for it. “Answer me.”

  The answer came from a surprising source. The boy spoke strongly and confidently. “It’s to seal the peace between my people and yours.”

  “I don’t understand,” Tate said. “I thought the Kairi were part of the empire.”

  “We are, but we aren’t,” was the boy’s confusing answer. “We stand with the Emperor but apart. He doesn’t entirely trust us or we him. For that reason, once every ten years our representatives meet with his to renew the seal on the fulcrum’s powers.”

  “Your powers,” Tate clarified.

  He inclined his head.

  What happens if you’re not there? Night asked.

  “It would be considered an act of war.”

  The room got very quiet after that response, with each person lost in their own thoughts. War, huh? Tate really didn’t want to be responsible for starting a war, and in her room sat the possible spark.

  “I’m never doing a favor for anybody ever again,” she said, looking up at the ceiling in disbelief.

  How did these situations find her? She pinched the bridge of her nose. This made her already difficult situation more precarious. She couldn’t give the fulcrum to Lucius in exchange for him forgetting about the key. Now it sounded like the whole Kairi nation would be out looking for the boy, and if they found him with Tate she’d probably be blamed f
or snatching him. If they executed people who were only mildly responsible for this situation, Tate very much feared what they’d do to her.

  “I still can’t figure out Jost’s role in this or the Red Lady’s,” she finally said.

  “From what I picked up during my time at her… mercy, she’s the one who originally kidnapped the fulcrum,” Tempest said.

  The boy nodded.

  “How did Jost come to have you?” Tate asked the boy. “I can’t see him working with either of those women.”

  He inclined his head slightly. “He took me from her several days ago. It was part of a plan to lure those responsible out so that they could be arrested.”

  Tate gulped. “So I guess I shouldn’t have rescued you then?”

  He shook his head. “No, your interference has actually saved this scheme. Even if Umi had been caught, her accomplices would not have been. I, and it seems your Ryu, believes there is another party behind all of this. Umi just doesn’t have the resources or knowledge to attempt something like this.”

  “We already know who the other party is,” Dewdrop said. “It’s the Red Lady.”

  “She is only a pawn,” the boy said. “The mastermind has a knowledge of magic and politics that a low level Night Lord would not have. We’re after the string puller, not the puppets.”

  “So you agreed to be bait in all this?” Dewdrop asked.

  “Yes.”

  Tate listened to the conversation with folded arms and a pensive expression. This explanation made sense and fit with what Tate knew of events but still didn’t answer the question why. Why would Ryu, much less Jost, involve themselves in politics? The pay, while great, would in no way equal what they could make by selling to the highest bidder. And Ryu. Why did the Kairi want to work with him, much less trust his plan? Most important of all, why send Tate into the tunnels with Umi to locate him if they already had him in custody? Was it a ruse? To throw her off about their knowledge of Umi’s involvement? Ryu had said that she was simply to keep an eye on Umi and report back. Tate’s encounter with Lucius might not have been part of the plan at all.