Between Flood and Flame (A Cat Among Dragons Book 6)

by Alma Boykin

  As it turned out, the Cadets did not have to march the hundred kliqs to where they met the reserve units. Instead they loaded onto heavy ground transports. The Guards and Defenders claimed the best benches and upper level and promptly fell asleep, leaving the short ends by the light ports and rear exit for the cadets. Saetee didn’t mind because it gave him the chance to see new landscapes.

  He came from near Nightlast, on the western edge of the continent, south of the border of the Wildlands Mountains and not far from the coast of the Stormwrack Sea. The central highland, with its broad river and cover of greenery, was a novelty. Saetee watched avidly as the transports rolled along the great central road, going up and down gentle hills in between fields of grain and long stretches of trees. Forest plantations separated the grain fields from the silk estates to the south and east. It would be easy to hide soldiers under the heavy tree-canopy, the young reptile thought, trying to apply all that had been drummed into his head over the past five moons. Where would he put his troops if they were attacked? How could you defend the central road, or should you? Would it be better to let the enemy have it and instead concentrate on the Zhangki River and the hills? No one interrupted Saetee’s musings, at least not until green Naeka got hill-sick. “Happens to everyone at least once,” one of the Guards said. “Sit by the light-gap and look out at the horizon. You’ll feel better. The Ancestors meant for Azdhagi to walk or fly, not roll.”

  The eight transports rolled into the Defenders’ camp just before the time for the evening meal. Soldiers and cadets spilled out and scattered into their squads. As Sergeant Tyee chivvied his stiff-tailed charges over towards their section of the camp, Saetee tried not to get caught looking at the six aircraft and four half-hovers parked at the far edge of the encampment, behind a weak force shield. He’d heard about energy shields, of course, but the cadets had not yet trained with them. “They fail. Get used to wearing armor and moving first, then you can play with the fancy toys,” Captain Kiiroe informed them after their third lesson on using advanced weapons. Saetee liked the breeze and the scent of the slifan trees surrounding the camp, and stretched his hindlegs when the sergeant wasn’t looking. He wasn’t the only one, he noticed. Tyee pointed wordlessly at a mound of equipment, then backed up and watched as the cadets sorted out their shelters, cookers and other field gear.

  The cadets set to work, finding their places in three neat rows so that they filled in a gap in the tent lines. As they worked, they heard a whining whistle in the distance and a few of the soldiers around them exchanged curious glances. It didn’t sound like the usual aircraft engines or landing repulsors and Saetee looked over his shoulder towards the source of the noise. It grew louder and as he watched, a strange-looking aircraft appeared over the tops of the trees. The vehicle had droopy wings and a narrow body, and landed far beyond the other machines, out of sight of the curious reptiles. Saetee went back to what he was supposed to be doing with a bit of a shrug. They couldn’t eat until everyone was done to Sergeant Tyee’s satisfaction, and since the cadets ate after the officers but before the reservists and regular enlisted troops, it would be healthier for the young reptiles if they finished quickly.

  After several minutes a commotion began spreading among the Defenders. A lieutenant with the steel-tipped spines of the Palace Guard was trotting from tent-row to tent-row, passing the news. “He’s really come back!” the junior officer hissed, pointing with his tail towards the temporary landing area. “The Lord Defender’s back!”

  Saetee, truth be told, was much more concerned with getting the antique weather shelter up and trenched well enough to keep Sergeant Tyee happy than he was about the return of his semi-mythical commanding officer. The rear pole wasn’t quite straight and seemed to have a mind of its own as he tried to get it into the sleeve in the special fabric cover, being mindful not to scratch the waterproof, thermal-barrier coating on the upper half of the shelter. He’d just managed to get the blasted thing in place when a very loud voice called, “Cadets fall in! Fall in!” Saetee jumped, dropped his shelter and scrambled over to where everyone else had formed up.

  A few of the other cadets and soldiers gawped openly at the newcomer and Saetee winced. Their squad leaders would be clawing their tails for the rest of the exercise for such a lack of control and discipline. But it was hard not to stare at the strange creature that stood talking to Captain Chae. He was tall—the Captain’s shoulder only reached the top of the newcomer’s midsection—but very lightly built. The male’s black tail looked fuzzy and swished gently back and forth while black, pointed things on top of his head pointed toward the captain. The stranger replied to something Chae said and turned a little, giving Saetee a glimpse of a black piece of something covering one eye and shiny pink lines on the scaleless-skin below the patch. The Lord Defender had a strange black lump at the back of his head and the cadet suddenly understood what his great-uncle had tried to explain about the Lord Defender having a haircoat. Oh, that’s why the Captain calls him ‘Lord Mammal’ Saetee thought. The Lord Defender really is a mammal! It was one thing to hear about it, but another to actually see a sentient mammal—especially when that mammal was your commanding officer!

  “Attention!” One of the big noncoms roared and everyone except the Lord Defender and Captain Chae snapped to attention, feet square, tails centered and stiff. Lord Ni Drako walked through the formation, studying the cadets. Saetee desperately wanted to watch but didn’t dare because he didn’t want to be one of the ones with extra duties for breaking formation. Finally the voice boomed, “Parade rest,” and everyone relaxed their bodies a fraction. The Lord Defender returned to the front of the group and bared his teeth.

  “For those of you who have not guessed, I am Commander Rada Lord Ni Drako,” the mammal announced. His very high-pitched voice carried easily over the massed ranks. Saetee thought he had an odd accent that sounded a bit like an uplander’s, but with strange emphases—Lord Ni Drako rolled some sounds and swallowed others. The noble continued, “Cadets, unless you are assigned to assist my guard, you will not meet personally with me until after you graduate, except in the salle.” He looked around, meeting everyone with his metallic-silver eye. “Correction. You had better hope that you don’t meet me personally unless you are in my guard or in the salle.” Saetee and several others shivered at the cold threat in the mammal’s voice. “Ask your squad leader what happened to Lord Shu’s tail before you try and challenge me or think you can do something stupid.” His tone softened, “However, the rumor that I’ve eaten cadets raw is not true. I prefer to eat them lightly singed,” and he bared his teeth in what Saetee would learn was his smile. “Captain Chae, I’d like to meet with you and your officers. The rest of you are dismissed.” Saetee glanced around as the ranks broke, then trotted back to resume battle with his shelter.

  As Cadet Saetee and the other Defenders were adjusting to the new order of their world, a flurry of activity erupted in the servants’ ranks at the Palace. A young male named Shlaer had just finished delivering a cart of fresh drying clothes to the cool pool in the workers’ bathing area. He slid into the main workroom to mark off his assignment and get another. The other servants seemed to be a flurry of twitching neck spines and tail tips as they surrounded Kaertak, the senior Palace servant, who repeated the news. “Yes, Lord Ni Drako has returned. The protocols for his chambers have not changed,” and the green-brown manager pointed towards a computer screen with his tail. The others murmured with relief for some reason and Shlaer rumpled his tail before turning to find out his next task. He was curious but knew better than to ask questions just now.

  Kaertak continued, “However, there will be some reassignments,” and Shlaer stopped, listening carefully. Kaertak looked around the gathered Azdhagi. “Lord Ni Drako does not bring personnel from his estates, so he will need four staff members: two body servants, a general servant, and someone to do everything else. No message runners because the Defenders do that.” Shlaer shrugged to himself. He’d be spa
red the duty then, since he was a messenger first and general servant second. “You, you, you, and . . .” Kaertak hesitated for a moment, then caught sight of the newest palace servitor. “You there in the back. Yes, you, the small one,” he repeated as the young male looked around to see who else might be nearby. “You look trainable. I’m sure the rest of you have things you could be doing?” The servants got the hint and scattered back to their tasks and duties, and to spread the word of the new arrival to the Azdhag Imperial Palace and Capital.

  “First get yourselves the appropriate livery, then report to the Lord Defender’s chambers,” Kaertak informed the quartet before going off on his own business, making notes on an electronic recorder as he went. The oldest reptile, a female who wore the purple band of a secondary Healer, led the way to where the various liveries were kept.

  The Assistant Steward on duty ran through the list of Court nobles and rubbed a thumb-talon under his chin, then summoned a junior, who took four chits and vanished. He returned moments later with four sets of back panels. The steward rose onto his hind legs and shook one out. “Lord Ni Drako doesn’t have livery per say,” he explained. “Add this over your usual robes with the Imperial crest towards your head.” The short, sleeveless over-robe bore the Imperial crest, with the addition of a pair of stylized dragons and stars at each tail-side corner. “Dragon and star is House Ni Drako.” The old reptile folded the garment, then pushed the four stacks of cloth towards the newly-assigned servants. “Get a replacement if you ruin one, and come back for better if you have to go to court.”

  Shlaer dutifully took the bundle and fastened it to his carry-harness, then trailed along behind the adults as they walked to the wing where the mid-ranked nobles had their quarters. He’d passed the door to the Lord Defender’s quarters several times, but the chambers had always been sealed, since Lord Ni Drako had been “away.” The young reptile assumed that Ni Drako had been at his estates, wherever they were, but soon found out otherwise.

  The rooms and their contents were old—very old. Two of the cleaning specialists were just finishing their tasks while someone else brought in bedding for the sleeping platform in the noble’s private chamber as the servants arrived. “Be careful,” the cleaner cautioned his assistant, busy polishing the big window. “Those panes are pure sand-glass and they are very fragile and hard to replace. If you break one, it will cut you to the bone.” Even Shlaer knew that all the Palace windows had been replaced with boro-silicates and blast-resistant clear metals, and he wondered why these had been forgotten. As he looked around the room, he saw other strange things, like an antique metal and enamel heater-stove, and a worktable that stood higher than his head, with a second little table behind it. The weapon stand he recognized, but it too appeared taller than the usual. Maybe Ni Drako was just eccentric, Shlaer thought, or big, like the King-Emperor’s bodymen.

  “Are you the ones assigned to Lord Mammal?” a voice asked from the private room. A very large male wearing the steel gauntlets of the Imperial Bodyguard emerged, looking over the four newly arrived servants.

  “We are, Sergeant,” the older female agreed.

  “A healer? Good. Lord Mammal needs one on staff. I’m Sergeant Tauk, Lord Mammal’s chief-of-staff. Lord Ni Drako is addressed as ‘My lord’ or ‘Lord Mammal.’ His concubine is not with him at the moment, so you don’t have to worry about Lady Zabet for the time being. Unless things have changed greatly in the past decades, Lord Mammal keeps the same hours as the rest of the Defenders. He is also on call to the King-Emperor and the Royal Council. He may eat here, at court, or with us,” and the big, dark-green reptile pointed at his Defenders’ insignia. “He’ll brief you on the rest of his needs.” Shlaer blinked at the sergeant’s plain words, but the others didn’t seem to mind. Maybe that was just how soldiers talked, the young reptile thought.

  While the adults sorted out who would do what, Shlaer poked his muzzle into the Lord Defender’s personal chamber. Small and plain, it contained only a single, unadorned sleeping platform, a wash place, and what proved to be an oddly-designed and enclosed necessary. The only personal items appeared to be an elaborately carved wood and metal chest at one end of the sleeping platform, and a small table with a sculpture on it and a picture hanging above. Shlaer glanced around, but none of the adults had noticed that he was missing, so he took his time studying the little table. White fabric of some kind covered the table, hanging down on the long ends. The sculpture consisted of two crossed pieces of metal mounted on a base, with a flat ring of more metal around where the two parts joined near the top of the thing. Wood in three shades of brown had been inlaid into the gold-colored metal and it looked rather attractive in an austere sort of way, Shlaer thought. The picture made no sense to the reptile and after staring at it for a moment or two he rippled his tail and went back to the main room.

  The old female caught him. “Good. You and I will be serving Lord Ni Drako as body servants, so its good you are studying where things are in his private chamber. If he summons his concubine to join him, she will share his quarters, and her things will go there,” she pointed to the space beside Ni Drako’s press with her tail. “Show me your forefeet talons,” she ordered, and Shlaer complied, puzzled. The green and tan female examined them carefully, testing the sharpness. “You will need to practice with loops and laces.”

  “Pardon, ma’am, but with what?” Shlaer asked, even more confused than before. What were loops and laces?

  She snorted, “How long have you been serving here?”

  “Ah, my contract was bought, um, two moons ago? I think . . ?” Shlaer didn’t really remember. The last year turn since his sire’s death had been nothing but upheaval and confusion.

  The healer took pity on him and rather than disciplining Shlaer for his ignorance, explained, “When Lord Ni Drako dresses for court, he will need assistance with his robes. You and I have to be able to work all the fastenings on his robes and his armor and weapons’ harness. Some of them are very small and delicate, so you need to practice on something that won’t cost a thousand credits if you make a mistake.” The young male’s tail went limp at the thought of ruining a noble’s court robes. He’d seen a few, but only at a distance, and the female was right—they looked very easy to ruin. Shlaer could hardly imagine how long he would spend working off his contract if he tore Lord Ni Drako’s things. And how badly Lord Ni Drako would hurt him for causing damage!

  A hundred kliqs or so from the anxious young servant, Cadet Saetee chewed his evening meal and looked forward to getting a little sleep. Once the cadets had their shelters up, Sergeant Tay had announced that the best way to work off transport sickness and stiff legs was to run, and a good officer set an example for the males under his command. At least the other reptiles had not been exempt from the five-kliq run, the exhausted young male sighed to himself. The meat-heavy meal helped, but all the soldiers were tired and quiet. It had been strange, running and setting pace for soldiers a lot older, larger and more experienced than he was, Saetee mused, but then that’s what he survived training and became an officer.

  It seemed like he’d only just let his eyes close when one of the Defender corporals, horribly awake despite the darkness, shook the young male out of his sleep. “Cadet Saetee, Sergeant Tay says you need to arm up and report to the Lord Defender’s shelter, sir.”

  Saetee found the Lord Defender’s quarters even in the darkness and unfamiliarity of camp: by Defender tradition, certain things were always in the same places relative to eachother, and everyone learned those by heart. Saetee trotted up to the guard standing watch at the open flap of the shelter. “Cadet Saetee reporting as ordered,” he announced quietly.

  “You have the last watch, Cadet,” the guard informed him. “Lord Mammal will dismiss you when you are done,” and the male disappeared into the night. Saetee took his position, listening to night sounds and peering into the blackness. His artificial night vision equipment had been called back for an upgrade and without moonlight to
help, his plain eyes seemed next to useless. After what felt like forever, he thought he could start discerning more of the shelters and equipment around him. Behind him, soft noises began coming from the Lord Defender’s shelter. Saetee wondered if he should poke his muzzle in and see if the Lord Defender needed assistance, but caught himself. The soldier had not said anything about serving the noble and Saetee had already learned never to volunteer.

  About the time the cadet made up his mind, the bug-shield on the shelter’s entrance flickered off and Lord Ni Drako emerged into the darkness. Already fully armed and armored, he carried a long stick in one forefoot. Saetee tried to snap his stiff and cold limbs to attention. The senior officer glanced down at the sound and nodded. “Good. Since Sergeant Killee is running errands and messages for me, you’re my guard for the next few days, Cadet. Come.” He started walking off into the dim twilight, tapping the end of the stick on the ground with every other step. Saetee closed his jaw and hurried to catch up. He had to trot to match the Lord Defender’s pace and wondered if it would be easier on his hind legs. They left the main camping area and Saetee concentrated on following the Lord Defender and memorizing landmarks so he could get back to the noble’s shelter without getting lost. As a result he almost crashed into the big mammal when Ni Drako came to an abrupt halt.

  “Captain Greyseer, well met,” the mammal said, addressing a male almost as big as Defender Seertar.

  “Lord Mammal,” Greyseer replied. “This way. We came in after sundown, as you ordered.” He turned, walking towards a group of equally huge males. Ni Drako followed and Saetee’s eyes went wide. The males were not as big as they looked, but they wore armor and weapons that the cadet had not seen before.