Lioness’ Legacy IV—Torment

by Valerie J. Long

  She brings bright light to humanity’s darkest hour.

  Organized crime has suffered another drawback, but the masterminds are still well established. Politicians are helpless against the world-spanning organization that has secured the monopoly on Dragon technology. Should Jo leave it to mankind to shake off this yoke, or should she risk her life again for others who wouldn’t lift a finger for her sake?

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Lioness’ Legacy IV—Torment

  Copyright © 2013 Valerie J. Long

  ISBN: 978-1-77111-703-6

  Cover art by Carmen Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books

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  Lioness’ Legacy IV—Torment

  Zoe Lionheart 15

  By

  Valerie J. Long

  To New York and the New Yorkers—yes, I love Big Apple!

  Part One—Goodbye

  Chapter One

  I was rudely woken up, alarmed by a noise. My heart pumped power into my stiffened limbs. My Analogy told me the location of the noise source and delivered further details along with it—a harrumph was the cause.

  Relax, Jo. You’re safe here.

  The reassuring feeling was further supported by the warm, scaly body to which I had snuggled up, by the leathery wing that gently covered my flayed body, by Achrotzyber’s own, slow heartbeat and his even breath. No, here in my Dragon’s protection, nobody would want to attack me.

  At least not with a harrumph.

  The originator’s breath was low and unexcited, on no account a reason to feel alarmed. I was to blame, the habits of long underground years—even if it most often had been a tall building’s rooftop—couldn’t be shed off so easily. My protective reflexes had kept me alive in a hostile environment. I shouldn’t feel bad for them.

  By their breaths and the crunching of the sand where they stood, I knew four more people near me. Four soldiers of the Imperial Guard, who’d protect our lives with their own—as I had risked my life only two days ago to protect their Emperor and each of them against the Cartel’s assault. Day and night, they were around us as long as we stayed here, and not just due to their orders. Occasionally, one of them had smiled or winked at me.

  My Analogy further told me that I had slept nine hours without interruption. My healing continuously made good progress—the last traces of Jana’s Wyvern venom had been metabolized, so that my nanos could work on rebuilding my inner organs exclusively.

  So who had appeared to disturb my beauty sleep?

  The easiest way to clarify this question would surely be to open my eyes. On the other hand, my recovery phase would then definitely be over, and I didn’t want to become active yet.

  Another harrumph told me that I couldn’t simply wait the situation out. The visitor wanted something from me, and soon, otherwise he’d have already left. A pity. But the second noise had given him away anyway—it had to be Shogun Nakamichi, the leader of the Imperial Guard. He wasn’t only competent, but also a nice guy, so I opened my pre-accommodated eyes and smiled at him. “Good morning, Shogun. How can I brighten your day?”

  He smiled upon my flowery wording. “I’m always delighted to hear how well you’ve mastered our language, Protectress Johanna. It grieves me to admit that nothing can brighten this day on which I’m bringing you bad news.”

  “Bad news? Spill it out—are the cultists attacking again?”

  He opened his arms wide. “It’s not that, but is it appropriate to discuss the topic here in the open? Even less so, as our Master would like to consult you personally.”

  “Ah, so. Me or us?”

  “As you’re commanding the Dragon, it would suffice for you alone to join. But neither the Tenno nor I will tell you or him where he may go. Our house is your house, Golden One.”

  “Well. Then I’ll ask him myself.”

  Achrotzyber. I could send his symbol or a call for help mentally. Would a more elaborate conversation be possible this way, too? Aw darn, there still was so much I didn’t know about me, my nanos and the Dragon!

  “Mistress.”

  “Would you like to accompany me to our host? He wants to tell us something.”

  “Thank you, Mistress. I feel a certain…unrest in the humans that I approach. Your talk will be more relaxed if I do not participate. Is that logical?”

  For a Dragon so young, he was remarkably attentive and considerate. Where might that come from? And how did it match his previously shown naivety in dealing with the cultists who had enticed him to attack? Or did he try to make it easier for me, because I was his surrogate mother? Oh, what did I know about the Dragon mind?

  “Fine, until later then.” With a flowing motion, I rose and advised the Shogun to lead. “After you.”

  He looked as if he’d object, as if he’d want to let me go first. I only smiled and waited, and then he gave in with an almost perfectly suppressed shrug.

  Silently, we marched up to the palace’s main building. I wasn’t in the mood for shallow talk, as there was still too much to think about under my yet bald head. First of all, there was the feel of subdued pain in my tortured, still slowly healing body, connected with slight nausea and hardly played-down weakness. Okay, that was purely physical. Soon my nanos would have healed it all. But there also was the aftershock of the terror I had gone through. Had I thought that after Dandy’s torture nothing could hurt me anymore? There, I was wrong. Perhaps this supposedly overcome terror had indeed helped me to boldly—if not recklessly—join a battle. But even Dandy couldn’t have prepared me for the horror that was triggered by the suffering and death of so many people. Having to see a linear slug penetrating a human body hadn’t come easy to me, and I hadn’t digested the memory of it yet.

  Apparently hard-boiled, cold as a Dragon, I then had sabotaged the cultists’ armor suits. I had caused their micro fusion reactors to run off and thus burn them alive. Initially, I had only survived the burning with a reflecting heat shield made from my nanos, which had also cost me my hair. Later, I had been able to do the same over some distance. That was less painful physically, but in no way less burdensome. It’s been right, my mind said. Murderer, my heart said. Oh no, I wasn’t through with that, either. A psychological trauma? But who could and should I trust my psyche to? Nobody, no human and not even my Dragon.

  Now the wound caused by Jana’s toxic projectile called for attention, too. Nothing I had ever experienced had been so bad as the shock of the terrible Wyvern venom. I should actually be dead. Instead, I now climbed the steps to the palace as if nothing had happened. No, it was out of the question for the self-proclaimed Golden One to show even the slightest weakness!

  Did I truly have an idea what it meant to be a Golden One? I, the little whore, thief, gambler? Well, o
kay, the high-end call girl, the master thief, the master gambler, the Dragon university graduate, inventor of the Meier effect, the sting in the Cartel’s ass, the beyond-all-measure-successful Johanna who had shown them all—I was no nobody. But did that qualify me for the role of a Zoe Lionheart? Never!

  Achrotzyber had said something about inherited memories. I remembered having heard something about that, too. But, yes, the Dragon empress had publicly announced it—Dragons remembered what their grand-grand-grandparents had learned. They commanded a rich treasure of experience—they didn’t have to start from zero again and again. That was a basis for rulership!

  That was a basis I lacked. How did ruling work, after all? To know when you had to decide and when to let things go? To know the consequences of a wrong decision. To know how people reacted to the decision of a ruler. Or Dragons.

  No, that wasn’t my role. I couldn’t and wouldn’t be a new Zoe Lionheart. I wanted to be Jo. With a bit more responsibility, perhaps, but no new obligations. Except toward my Dragon, naturally. My Dragon. My Dragon.

  Why did my life have to be so complicated?

  What was coming next? Why couldn’t I just have a few days’ rest, healing, sleep in? Here in Japan, where Dragons were held in high regard, I simply had to be welcome, hadn’t I? After I had saved the Emperor—ah no, Tenno—from the cultist attack, now that I was protected like he himself, what could come next?

  Bad news, Nakamichi had said. I wouldn’t want to hear those. I already had collected enough bad news for several lives.

  Behind the entrance, Nakamichi pointed at the door to an adjacent room. “In case you want to refresh yourself. I’ve also prepared a change of clothing.”

  So. That must be part of the protocol. I wasn’t dirty, I didn’t smell—another advantage of my nano enhancement not to be underestimated—and my clothing was made of nanos and thus dirt-repellent and unbreakable. And very body-hugging, which surely could have an irritating effect on men. Perhaps that was why it wasn’t appropriate for the upcoming talk?

  Most of all, I was curious what Nakamichi had chosen for me, so I insinuated a bow and approached the side room. The door stood ajar, and I heard breathing from the other side. So I wouldn’t be alone for changing?

  I passed the door and spotted a large wooden bathtub plus two young and pretty, but also very embarrassed Japanese women in short bathing robes, who didn’t dare to look at me straightly.

  A brief thought made my nano suit flow down my body. With three steps, I reached the tub. A short ladder helped to climb inside.

  With closed eyes, I enjoyed the feeling of security that the immersion into the pleasantly warm water relayed. Sadly, it didn’t remain so peaceful for long. Splashing noises told of company. Then I felt the comfortably gentle touch of a sponge on my skin and was in peace with the world again.

  “Would the mistress like a massage?”

  Does massage mean the same to you like to me? Oh, no matter. “Yes, please.”

  No, she really only meant a massage. With skilled hands, she began to work my shoulder muscles.

  “You’re not hardened, mistress,” she soon found out.

  Of course not. Not only for my nanos, but because I as athlete knew quite well how to treat my muscles. “It is pleasant. Please go on.”

  Sadly, I couldn’t grant myself extending this treatment the way I’d liked to, regardless how cute the two were. “I cannot let the Shogun wait,” I announced to my bathing company’s disappointment, and rose.

  Both hurried to follow me and rub me dry. But to their amazement, they discovered that I was already dry. That gave me the opportunity to notice that the two with their boy-like breasts and carefully trimmed black bushes looked truly cute.

  In the background, I now also spotted the clothing mentioned by Nakamichi—a noble kimono with elaborate embroidery, surely expensive but totally not to my taste. Once again, I had to disappoint the two girls when I stepped into the puddle of my nano suit and focused my mind. Showtime.

  The material covered my feet, crept up my legs, chastely covered my pubes, played around my navel and ran over my breasts, closed around my neck and my wrists. A skin-tight armor, covering everything and yet hiding nothing, with the color of pure gold, was just the canvas on which I now applied the finely entangled contours of half a dozen scaly Dragons. Some color seemed appropriate to me, so I tinted the Dragons in red-gold, white-gold, blue-gold, green-gold, turquoise-gold and violet-gold. Flowery vines filled the little remaining space.

  A mirror on the wall allowed me to examine my own, improvised artwork. I was especially proud of the white-golden Dragon with the possessive claw on my left breast. Actually, I didn’t need this mirror image as confirmation—the two girls’ awe-struck gaze told volumes.

  With a grateful nod, I told them goodbye and stepped outside again. Nakamichi was standing right where I had left him and stared at me. I slowly turned around once. “Well?”

  Chapter Two

  The Imperial Guard leader didn’t comment on my artwork but briskly marched ahead. His glance had told everything. The ornaments had to suffice to make me appear less nude than before, and yet this tight hull wrapped a woman in damn good shape—in this regard I was shamelessly immodest. My body was my capital, even if I had left prostitution behind. My body was my weapon—it had to warrant my survival. There, I invested everything. Oh yes, and you could also see it this way—the amount of nanos circling inside me and on me was literally priceless. My body was, perhaps except for Achrotzyber, the most expensive on this planet—no, in this solar system.

  Could I, should I present myself this way for that reason? That wasn’t my objective. Anyone having claims for me had to take me the way I was. I had played hide-and-seek for long enough. Now that I finally could walk tall and openly, I wouldn’t want to play an alien role, but be myself.

  Why did I preach this to myself? Because I still felt somewhat insecure. After all, I was visiting an emperor. I needed only to pass through this door, and there he was standing, looking up and watching my appearance. Was there the insinuation of a smile?

  “Protectress Johanna. Thank you for answering my invitation on such short notice. And allow me to congratulate you for this extremely artistic choice of garment, even if I have no clue how you could have procured it so quickly.”

  “I’m a Golden One, your Highness.” As confirmation, I made the white-golden Dragon blink.

  He flinched, but quickly gathered himself again.

  “Protectress, I hope you’re not lacking anything. Your welfare is important to us.”

  “I’m only lacking a little time to finally overcome the traces of battle. But the worst lies behind me—I’m much better off than some of your followers, so I may not complain. I am ready.”

  “I’m very pleased to hear that.” He didn’t look at me directly, so there was something unpleasant coming? “You’re always welcome in this house, as your companion is, too.”

  Aha. “But?”

  He remained silent.

  “You didn’t invite me for a tea ceremony, your Highness. Talk business. Who’s causing you trouble?”

  “You are very straightforward, Protectress.”

  “I’m a product of western culture. I understand the Japanese language and have a little insight in the local culture. It isn’t common, not to say impolite, to say something that the person addressed might decline. But the way of the Dragon is different, is determined by logic and straightforwardness. Un-Japanese. It’s also the way of the Dragon to follow logical reason regardless of personal inconvenience. So tell me.”

  “You are very understanding, Protectress.” Now he met my eyes again. “Only two days ago, we cut off the Dragon cult’s active arm. We’ve shown the Dragon cult as well as the Dragon Order that we won’t allow our reign to be stolen easily, and we’ve also demonstrated—you’ve demonstrated—that we’re the true followers of the Dragon, that our claim is legitimate and paramount. This should have clarified the situa
tion and ended the battle.”

  “Oh—but it didn’t.”

  “No. The Imperial Guard has gained control over the heart of Tokyo and won’t give it away, but the rest of the country isn’t pacified yet. You know that the Yakuza—the organized crime—is very strong, even without the support of religious fanatics or the Cartel, which is weak in Japan anyway. Our battle success hasn’t changed that, just the opposite.”

  “But that’s not my problem, and not the reason for your invitation.”

  “No. That’s not your problem. We’ll deal with the situation as we always did—as we lately failed to do sufficiently. We must talk about the Dragon followers.”

  Spontaneously, I came up with some ideas—did I have to care about public relations, show the Dragon around? Although he was still so young? But for now, I kept my mouth shut.

  “Some of them might lean to follow your lead. Those are the true Dragon followers. But the majority of them must have regarded the Dragon Order or the Dragon cult only as a useful, powerful organization without accepting the religious background. They aren’t willing to yield their power.” He spread his hands. “My sources say that one side is already negotiating an arrangement with the Yakuza. The other side will try to credit you as an impostor who’s stolen or kidnapped the only true Dragon.”

  Where they were technically right.

  He shrugged. “This way or that, your presence or a public Dragon appearance wouldn’t change anything about it, or would even be turned against you.” He lowered his gaze again. “I say it straightforwardly—your presence doesn’t give us an advantage, just the opposite. As long as the Dragon remains in Japan, he’ll pose a challenge for the opposition to try a strike. If I want to try de-escalation and avoid a gory civil war among my people, the Dragon must leave. You must leave.”