Dragonsword

by Chloe Garner

  Mahkail laughed.

  “That sounds like the woman I knew. Rise, child.” Kelly stood. “Do you know that she played our games with us, when she was among us?”

  “I heard stories, sir.”

  “She played harder than any of us, because she wanted to win. She will always need one more person keeping her safe.”

  Kelly nodded. Mahkail put a large palm on top of the boy’s head.

  “Understand that she is mortal. She will die when it is her time.”

  “Already have, once,” Samantha muttered. Mahkail shot her a look and she shrugged, then tapped her wrist.

  “Go with my blessing. I will call you back when there is other work for you.”

  Kelly turned to Samantha and she shrugged.

  “Let’s go. I won’t send you away.”

  Kelly grinned and waved at Mahkail as they made their way back to the path. Sam was rubbing his hands together in a characteristic motion that Jason knew meant he was about to do something stupid.

  “Hey, Sam,” his brother said. “Can we talk for a minute?”

  She looked over her shoulder at him with exasperation.

  “I have a whole bunch of temperamental people showing up all in the same space in very little time. Can’t it wait?”

  “Please,” Sam said. It wasn’t really a question so much as an emphatic demand. She frowned.

  “What’s up, Sam?”

  “I just need a minute,” Sam said, rubbing his hands again. Jason wondered if she knew that motion. It felt like it had been a long time since he’d seen his brother do it. She sighed.

  “Kelly, go check in with Maryann and make sure everything there is still okay. Jason, go hail a cab. We’ll catch up with you.”

  Sam pulled Samantha off to the side, and Jason caught Kelly’s elbow.

  “Go hail a cab,” he said, glad the angel had paused before glitching.

  “What?”

  “Please. Go. I’ll throw your ball if you want.”

  “There is no ball,” Kelly said. “And I don’t know how to hail a taxi.”

  “Put your arm out and look needy. Someone will stop. Then you make them wait until I get there.”

  “Why aren’t you doing it?” Kelly asked. Jason looked after Sam and Samantha, trying to figure out where they were going.

  “Because I’m going to go eavesdrop on my brother making the biggest mistake of his life,” he said.

  “Anadidd’na Anu’dd said…”

  “Are you going to do everything she says, all the time? Go. There,” Jason said, making a quick throwing motion. “Go get your ball.”

  “There is no ball,” Kelly said, looking after the imaginary toy anyway. Jason clapped him on the back.

  “Thanks, man,” he said, plunging into the woods after Sam and Samantha. They hadn’t gone far. Sam was pacing.

  “I’ve been thinking,” he said. Jason put his back to a tree and waited.

  “Sam, please,” Samantha said. “We need to go.”

  Jason sighed. Clearly she didn’t see it coming.

  “I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life. All I’ve done all this time is follow someone else around, and I can’t keep doing that.”

  There was a pause.

  “Sam, what are you talking about?”

  “I’m making a decision. This isn’t the life I wanted, but it’s the life I have. And it’s what I’m good at. I’m really good at it. I didn’t realize until I was out with Carson how much things have changed…”

  He was wandering. Jason gritted his teeth. Get to the point, Sam.

  “I’m glad,” Samantha said. “I am. Can we talk about it later?”

  “I wanted to wait until we got some space to breathe, but we never do. There’s always the next thing, and…”

  “There’s always the next thing,” Samantha said. “We need to go.”

  “Marry me, Sam.”

  There it was.

  Jason’s heart stopped, waiting.

  And waiting.

  “What?”

  Their mother’s ring, hidden all those years above the glove box in the Cruiser. Sam had taken it before he left.

  “I know it’s awful timing, with Carter and everything, but… It’s always bad timing. I talked to Doris, because she was the only person I knew to ask permission, and then I talked to Nuri and Kjarr, and… Kjarr had some funny things he made me promise, but I got their blessing and… Marry me.”

  “You talked to Kjarr?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Without me?”

  Jason rolled his eyes. Wasn’t that kind of not the point, right now?

  “I would have asked your dad, but… and then Carter…”

  Sam was drowning. Jason wanted to smack Samantha for leaving his brother hanging like that. On the other hand, Sam had ambushed her at a rough time. He’d wanted to ask the first night he got back, but that would have been too much. Samantha had been exhausted to the point that Jason wouldn’t have considered it legal consent any more.

  “But Kjarr… said yes?”

  There was a pause.

  “Yes.”

  “And Nuri?”

  “Wished us happiness.”

  “Wow.”

  There was another long silence.

  “Sam?”

  Jason peeked around the tree. Sam was on one knee, just like he was supposed to. Samantha stared. Her head wandered in random circles. Finally it resolved into emphatic nods.

  “Yes. Yes, Sam, I will marry you. Yes.”

  She put her hand out for him and he put the ring on the appropriate finger. Jason smiled to himself and turned to go.

  “But not without Carter’s blessing,” she said. Jason stopped dead.

  “What?” Sam asked. Jason crouched in bushes and watched as she stared at the ring on her finger.

  “It probably won’t make any difference, but not until we get Carter back and he gives you his blessing.”

  “So if we fail…”

  She looked up, tears streaming down her face.

  “Sam, if we fail, it probably won’t matter at all. The first people they’re going to come for are us.”

  “And…” Sam stood, taking her hand in both of his and kissing the knuckle above the ring. “What if he says no?”

  She laughed and sniffed.

  “That isn’t going to be on the list of options.”

  They looked at each other for a minute, then Samantha grinned.

  “I haven’t had a last name in years.”

  Sam kissed her. That was Jason’s cue. He crept back away. Well, that was that. Hadn’t even slept with her yet. Talk about reckless. Once he got back to the path, he ran to make sure he found Kelly before they caught up, praying the angel had managed to hail a cab rather than get mugged.

  He wondered what would happen to the man who tried to mug that kid.

  <><><>

  Samantha stood on a table.

  She could have used her wings, just now.

  Kelly was in a wrestling match with one of Lindsay’s demons, Maryann was pressed into a corner somewhere behind her, Jason and Lange were in a shouting match over nothing of any consequence Samantha could discern, and Sam was trying to break up a fistfight between Argo and Mitch. She hadn’t known Mitch had it in him.

  And that was just her people.

  Peter had brought a trio of mages who were fighting with Argo’s demons about some minutia that had apparently been under contention for centuries, and it looked like that was about to erupt in demonstrations of dogma, which with magic users meant explosions, more likely than not. Ian was in the middle of it, playing both sides. Lindsay was screaming at her people over a breach of etiquette that had nothing to do with anything going on around them, and Spake had brought Dobermans.

  Dobermen?

  Four of them.

  He was standing by himself, in a conspicuously empty space in the center of the room, while the dogs ravaged the buffet tables. He stood
on one foot, fingers darting away from him in poking motions at the air as he stared at something only he could see.

  Bane stood against one wall, watching Samantha with an appraising look.

  Curse Bane and his collectedness.

  She only had one shot at this.

  If she couldn’t establish authority now, in one fell stroke, she would have failed. She would just be a part of the chaos, uncontrolled and without recognized authority. She had summoned them and they had come, but she had the distinct impression that it was out of curiosity rather than respect.

  She had no idea what she was doing, and she dearly missed her wings.

  She looked at her hand.

  No one had noticed it, other than Jason, who had apparently been in on it. She wondered if she was finally up for playing cards with him.

  Samantha Elliott.

  It spoke of a kind of belonging that she had long since abandoned. Nuri approved. He had thought to ask the demons, the two creatures closest to parents that she knew. And they approved. She wondered what strange oaths Kjarr had made Sam take, with a wry smile. They weren’t binding. Sam didn’t have the ability to consent to a demonic contract, and even if he did, it was no more enforceable against a human than what Kjarr could himself do. She frowned slightly. That was quite a lot, when she considered it.

  The ground shuddered as one of the tables turned over, and the sound of Spake’s creepy cackle rose above the rest of the shouting and grunting. There was the zapping noise of electricity. The demonstration of magical ability had started. She felt helpless and out of sorts. Bane was staring at her.

  She looked at the ring. Heard the sound of knuckles against cartilage and watched as Sam stumbled away from Argo and Mitch holding his nose. He plunged back in, angry now, and Jason turned from his fight with Lange. There was a rapid series of motions as an angry Sam and an angrier Jason got in the middle of the fight between Mitch and Argo, and then Sam was pummeling Mitch and Argo and Jason were squaring off against each other. Lange came to watch.

  Samantha Elliott.

  She felt the absurd smile creep onto her face, banishing it away unsuccessfully.

  She’d stood on the floor of the front court of heaven and bore God’s blessing. The Angel of Death had blessed her with success and the Sword of God had not only allowed her to name him as such, but had blessed her with power and grace. The vast stupidity of the room in front of her was no match for that.

  It had just always looked so easy when Carter had done it. His temper would flare and he would just… silence them. With dark threats and depths of power that no man before him had ever held.

  She had temper to spare, but that wasn’t who she was. If she was going to control them, it would have to be her way, but what did that mean, exactly?

  She looked down on the chaos, Spake frozen with his back bent sideways and his hands in claws, dogs running around covered in food, demons and men grappling, and Bane… staring. A sense of inevitability settled over her and she took an easy breath. It would come. She just had to start, and it would come. It always started this way.

  “Anadidd’na Anu’dd Parroah’na Lahn,” she started. No one paid any attention, though she might have heard Maryann squeak behind her. The rest of it fell into place, beautiful, clean, radiant magic of peculiar power and nature. She let her hands fall, heavy and weightless at her sides, and she spoke the words. Silence. Peace. Power. It invoked some of the crossroads magic she had found at the trap Carly had laid for Sam, because it had - objectively - been elegant magic. The buffer and roll of magic swirled around her like a changing tide, and then spilled out, first blanketing the room, and then filling it. It wasn’t just social dynamics that brought everyone to their feet, facing her. It was the magic itself. First their voices were silenced, and then their violence. The dogs came and lay at her feet, on either side of her on the table. She closed her eyes, feeling the power of the magic, satisfying and clean, then closed it. The purpose wasn’t to prevent them from speaking and reacting, but simply to force their attention to shift to her.

  She paused, letting the effect of the magic dampen and fade, and then she looked at each of the agents, Bane, Peter, Argo, Mitch, Lindsay, Ian, and Spake. Spake remained on one foot, spine contorted, fingers hooked, mouth in a silent snarl. She tipped her head sideways to look at him and he winked. That might have been worse.

  “We are going to get Carter back,” she said. The first words hit resistance, but the last ones echoed off of the far wall like normal sound should have.

  “And how do you plan to do that?” Argo challenged.

  “I have the ashes of three lawyers working on behalf of the demon who wants to purchase him,” Samantha said. “Sam has followed them, and I have direct leads on how to find her. Her name is Cassie, and she is extraordinarily powerful. I need all of you actively and collectively searching for her. I will stay here and enforce peace.”

  “Why do you stay and we go?” Ian asked. “Why do we take all the risks?”

  “Would you like to try to keep the lid on this pot while I traipse across the country instead?” Samantha asked. “Cassie is powerful, but she is not fond of confrontations. She wants to work here uninterrupted, which means I must stay and continue to interrupt her.”

  “And what makes you think we will do as you say?” Lindsay asked. “I think any one of us may be more qualified than you.”

  “Because Argo certified Carter’s measurement,” Samantha said, pausing. His head snapped up and everyone looked at him. Grudgingly, Argo nodded. “But mostly because I told you to come and you came. You’ve already conceded authority.”

  “Why aren’t we looking for Carter?” Bane called. She looked at him.

  “Because it doesn’t matter where he is. He stays alive until Cassie comes to collect him. We take out Cassie, holding him further ceases to be profitable.”

  “So they kill him,” Ian said.

  “They’ve held him against his will this long,” Samantha said. “You know how angry he’s going to be? I’d like to see them try. I’ll put out that I’m willing to come collect him, after this is all over. Anonymously. It will be their best shot at getting out of it alive. We just have to eliminate Cassie. If she can do what she thinks she can do, she’s the only one who can control him, long term.”

  “And then what will you do?” Bane asked. “After he’s back?”

  It was a trick, and one she didn’t have a good answer for. If anyone was going to step up and take power, it would be now.

  “Carter has the power and authority to lead us. Once he’s back, I’m done.”

  “What if we don’t want him back?” Lindsay asked. There was muttering among the demons and humans who flanked her.

  “Then come up here and fight me,” Samantha said.

  “You can’t fight all of us,” Ian said. Leave it to Ian to stir. He didn’t want the power, he wanted to watch the fight. Argo nodded, though. Spake rolled his head toward the ceiling, snarl unmoving.

  “In point of fact, I believe I could,” Samantha said, “but that’s not relevant. By my count, no more than two of you want this seat, and Lindsay isn’t going to fight me for it. Argo? Will you?”

  Jason had stood a fair shot, man to man. In bare-knuckles fighting, Samantha was out of her league, but put a blade in her hands and none of them trusted themselves against her. Lange was faster and better than Argo, but he was allergic to responsibility.

  Argo shook his head.

  “No. If that’s what you say we do, that’s what we do.”

  It came stunningly easy. There was nothing she could see in him that suggested he supported her. It was just the way it was. She tried not to look surprised. She looked at Lindsay.

  “I didn’t come prepared to fight,” the woman said. That almost got a sharp remark out of Samantha, but she kept her tongue. It was a concession, and she wasn’t secure enough to backhand it. She looked around the room.

  “How do we find her?” Peter asked. Here
, she was back in her element. She jumped off the table and went to get a roll of paper she’d left against the wall. She wished they were her friends, people who would look at her work and comment on it, rather than attacking her for political points, but it was what she had. She started documenting their search and her evidence to date. They would need to be able to react dynamically, so they needed all of the information. She just hoped that letting them go out without her was the right decision. She was looking at Peter to lead them. Leadership had never settled well on him, but he was good at it. Tactical and pragmatic, and politically savvy. It was why Carter had sent him to New Orleans, and why he’d survived the place.

  Several hours later, Samantha was growing hoarse, but the network of demons and hideouts, especially those tied to the three lawyers, was laid out to the best of her ability on the paper, and she was sure that the agents understood it as well as she could communicate it. Lindsay, not so much, but she had a tactics guy who seemed to get it. When he wasn’t fawning over her.

  She stood and yawned. She needed sleep. And food. And to sit with Sam and just not talk for a few hours. She wasn’t going to get all of them. Maybe she’d get to pick two. But they were ready to go. She stood back up on the table.

  “That’s it,” she said. “Go find her. Kill her if you can, call me if you can’t. One way or the other, she dies. That’s the whole list.”

  Peter nodded, and slowly the congregation filtered out. Spake came over to her and nudged her as she got down.

  “I brought my dogs,” he said.

  “I noticed,” she answered, feeling bad for the cleaning crew that would come to find this in the morning. The blood had mostly ashed. Maryann was cleaning the human blood where a fight had gotten out of hand.

  “They’re good,” Spake said.

  “They find demons?” Samantha asked.

  “Why would they do that?” Spake asked back, then started to pick at something deep in his molars with a fingernail. She took the opportunity to stop talking and leave. Jason and Kelly were waiting for her by the door.

  “I say we go back to the apartment and get passing-out drunk to celebrate, order pizza, and don’t think about anything important until tomorrow,” Jason said.