Draka

“So, lady Draka. Have you decided?”

I again stood on the roof of the Citadel. The furious drumming of the rain on thick, taut fabric above us forced the Lady Justice Sempralia to raise her voice to be heard. Far below us the river that cut through the city and poured into its harbor was a raging torrent; Ardek had told me that it was the worst he could remember, with the river close to overflowing its banks and flooding into the streets of the poorer neighborhoods lining it.

I’d had two days to think since our last meeting. As ludicrous as the idea of me facing off against a fully grown dragon was, I’d never really had a choice.

Perhaps I could have moved my hoard and all my humans somewhere else. It would be difficult, especially on such short notice, and I might go mad from the discomfort of my hoard being on the move, but it might be possible. But both Instinct and Conscience, my dragon and human sides, rebelled at the idea of simply surrendering this place to another of my kind without a fight, or without even a word. In short, it was my island. I hadn’t claimed anywhere close to the whole thing as my territory, only a small area around my mountain, but to Instinct it was only a matter of time. And Conscience refused to abandon the people of Mallin to some other dragon before we knew what its intentions were.

I had to at least try. I’d known that since the moment that Lord Exchequer Soandel said that there was another dragon coming our way. The only question was what my intervention was going to cost the great city of Karakan.

On one side of the wide pavilion sat the Lady Justice Sempralia, the Lord Commander Barvon, and the Lord Exchequer Soandel. With them were about three dozen guards and other staff who were there to protect the councilors, record every sigh and twitch of our meeting, and take care of any other need that might pop up.

On the other side were me and Mak. It could have been an even match with Mak supercharged the way she was, if not for Sempralia’s bodyguard, Kalder, who comfortably held the title of the most passively menacing bastard I’d ever met. Not that there was any reason at all for this meeting to turn unfriendly, but his presence was enough for me to want to make sure that it didn’t. Which was, presumably, the point.

I answered the lady justice with a question of my own. “Have you heard anything new about Reaper?”

“Unfortunately not. Communications are slow at the moment, as you know.”

“Right. Not that it would have made any difference. I have decided, yes. I’ll do what I can, but I’ll need something in return. Quite a few somethings.”

“We thought you might,” Sempralia said. She looked relaxed. Comfortable, even, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “That is why lord Soandel is here, after all. Name your price, and let’s see if it’s possible.”

Instead of answering immediately, I turned to Mak. I spoke in English, a language I knew with absolute certainty that no one else could understand. “She’s too confident, isn’t she? Are you picking up anything off?”

“Not really. It feels like she wants this to go off without a hitch. I think she’s just sure that you’ll say yes to helping them, and not too worried about the cost. Probably expects you to be reasonable.”

I grinned at her. “That all depends on your definition of reasonable, yeah?”

Mak returned my grin with a laugh, which only grew when we saw the lord exchequer’s worried face.

“Right,” I told the assembled councilors. “First: The House Drakonum is under my protection. The law does not touch them or anyone under their wing without first talking to me.”

“That can be arranged,” Sempralia said, “so long as you’re willing to actually allow justice to take its course, should it be necessary.”

“Justice, yes. Unreasonably legal persecution, no. Second: You will remember that we’ve had a dispute with a prominent figure in the criminal underworld of this city, known as the Night Blossom. Believe me when I say that while she is still alive she has been punished, and she will no longer cause the law-abiding citizens of Karakan any trouble. I want the council to abandon any investigations you may have ongoing into her. I’m handling it. On a completely unrelated note myself and my friends have recently become associated with the House Tespril, consisting of two sisters. They are also under my protection, same as the House Drakonum. I don’t care about their staff, but Lady Tespril and her sister, Kesra, are not to be touched without first going through me. Agreed?”

Sempralia’s face scrunched with what I could only interpret as annoyance. I hadn’t exactly been subtle, and she’d wanted to see the Night Blossom punished for her crimes for some time. She shared a look with the lord commander, who asked, “Does that mean that I don’t need to worry about this particular criminal bribing my most promising officers any longer?”

“Eh… probably?” I said. “The Blossom should have much less need to bribe guard officers with the terms she’s agreed to.”

“Fine, then,” he said with a nod. “One less bastard to worry about.”

“Agreed,” Sempralia said. “On the same conditions as the House Drakonum.”

“Lovely. Third: the prisoner Avjilan. I want him. Give him to me.”

“For what purpose, exactly?”

“To be clear, I don’t intend to harm him in any way. I want him indentured for whatever is an appropriate sentence, and I want the House Drakonum to hold his indenture, assuming he can’t pay it off himself. He didn’t seem like a bad fellow when I talked to him, and I want him to work off his debt to me.”

Sempralia looked at the lord exchequer, who shrugged indifferently, then said, “That should be fine.”

“And I want fifty pounds of gold.”

Lord Exchequer Soandel choked.

We did not get our fifty pounds of gold. It was an absolutely ludicrous sum: four thousand gold dragons, probably equal to a hundred million dollars or something equally ridiculous back home.

But then, we’d never expected to get fifty pounds. We’d never expected to get anywhere close. But we had to try, and then we let ourselves get haggled way, way down to eight pounds of gold and two hundred eagles, with two pounds and the eagles to be paid immediately, two pounds once Reaper arrived and I made contact, and the remaining four pounds once the other dragon was no longer a threat to the people or treasury of Karakan. It was still an enormous amount of money. On top of that, my first three demands would be accepted, effective immediately, with Avjilan to be delivered to the inn once he’d had a chance to eat a decent breakfast and clean himself up.

After our first discussion, Tam had suggested simply telling the councilors how my power grew with my hoard. If they knew, he argued, they might actually give me those fifty pounds or more in the interest of giving me the best chance possible against Reaper. He’d been all but shouted down.

“If they do not already know,” Herald said, “this knowledge might make them rethink giving Draka anything at all. They have asked for her help, yes, but I doubt that they would do so if they did not believe that they can control her in some way. They would not want her growing too strong.”

“This is a reasonable concern,” Val said, looking at Tam apologetically. “I think I must agree.”

“That, and I doubt that anything we tell the Council will remain secret for too long.” Mak said. “It’s not just Sempralia, Barvon, and Soandel. There are— well, there were twelve of them, and they’re not united in supporting Draka. If people think that robbing Draka—” Her voice faltered and she shuddered, as though just thinking of that was painful to her. “If they think they can prevent her from growing stronger, that would just give idiots another excuse to go looking for her hoard.”

Tam held his hands up in defeat. “Yeah, all right, just a suggestion. Then, what if we try to borrow a bunch of money and put it all on the hoard? That would make you stronger, right?”

“Interesting,” I’d purred, “Tell me more.” But Herald and Mak had both almost panicked when I did.

“Please, Draka, no!” Herald said, taking my head in both hands and looking me in the eyes. There was real concern on her face as she continued. “You know as well as I that if we do that, we will need to find another way of paying back those loans. Do not tell me that you would give up a single silver eagle once it is yours, because I will not believe you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I’d muttered. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

So in the end, with no really safe way of arguing for more, we settled for eight pounds of gold and two hundred eagles.

“If I may ask,” said the lord exchequer, “why the two hundred eagles?”

“My brother was fined six months ago, and still feels grievously wronged,” Mak answered for me. “He was completely at fault, of course, but this should make him happy.”

There was some polite laughter at that, except from the lord commander who grinned widely, seeming to find it genuinely funny.

“Put the gold in two equal bags,” I told them, “and the eagles in a third.” The lord exchequer’s assistant, who was just leaving, looked at his master and got an affirmative nod in return. “Half is for the House,” I told Mak.

My thinking about wealth had slowly been shifting in a way that Instinct was uncomfortable with, but had tentatively accepted. The House Drakonum was, essentially, an extension of myself. Their wealth was mine, whether it was in the form of gems, property, precious metals, or precious people. Investing in the health and happiness of my humans was a difficult concept for Instinct to wrap her dragon brain around, but she was getting there.

Mak looked at me with surprise and barely concealed greed. “Are you sure? It’s a lot of money.”

“Yeah, no worries. Got to contribute to the family coffers, right? And who bloody knows where I’d be if not for you guys?”

“You know Herald’s going to shriek herself hoarse over this, yeah?”

I knew very well, and I was looking forward to it.

We returned to the inn with one hundred and sixty gold dragons and two hundred silver eagles, and a carefully sealed message tube. The tube contained an agreement between the lady Drakonum and her “associate” Draka — species unspecified — and the three councilors, who signed on behalf of the city of Karakan. The agreement set out the rights and responsibilities of each party, what services were expected, and what compensation the House Drakonum was owed and when it would be paid out. The services amounted to, “Please save us from Reaper without ruining the city.” It wasn’t like any of us knew what to expect. I did my best to put up a confident front, but I’d consider anything a victory where I came out alive from my first meeting with my fellow dragon. They insisted that the name was probably just for show, but still. Reaper. That sounded like a name you had to earn.

There were no penalties specified for breaching the agreement. Nor were any threats made during the negotiations. But I felt like there was an understanding there anyway, that if I tried to screw them they’d find a way to hurt me, directly if possible, indirectly if they had to.

It was still early in the morning, but Herald had been up since we left. She joined us in the cellar soon after we got back, and she did indeed shriek with excitement when we told her how much we were getting paid, and how much I’d already brought back. She shrieked loud enough, in fact, that I had to quickly Shift and hide as the door at the top of the stairs flew open, and Relki, one of the two street kids who used to spy on us, came quickly down the stairs, asking worriedly if Herald was okay.

“Oh, yeah, yes I am,” she replied, laughing and with a huge grin on her face. “I just… I saw a rat, that is all.”

That was the end of it. Relki didn’t look the least bit convinced by her explanation, but he didn’t argue. Not that there were never any rats in the cellar; I’d eaten a few myself. But the idea of Herald screaming at the sight of one clearly didn’t convince him, when he knew that she was friends with a midnight terror that stalked the city’s streets; namely, me.

When Tam came down much later, having been told that I had a surprise for him, he controlled his excitement much better than his sister had. He did appreciate that I’d taken him up on his drunken joke to demand back the two hundred eagles he’d been fined, though.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” he said, hefting the bag of coins thoughtfully. “These two hundred eagles are the whole reason we met in the first place. Six months ago it was such a huge sum that the others risked their lives for it, and now it’s a pittance compared to the kind of money you’ve helped us earn, or that you’ve given us directly. I mean… you’re aware of what a ludicrous sum two hundred eagles is, never mind forty dragons, aren’t you? Me getting fined like that might have been the best thing to ever happen to us.”

“Where do you think you all would be if you hadn’t?”

“Still doing small jobs, probably. Getting by a week or three at a time while trying to save up some kind of nest egg. Still babying Herald, I’m sure, unless she’d acted out in some crazy way by now. I’d been wondering if she might join the army to follow Mag, or joined up with the Wolves.”

“You know, I still might have met her, then. If I hadn’t met you all I would have probably tried to find Garal again. Though Lalia might have hacked my head off the next time I saw them if I hadn’t gotten my fortitude Advancement with the silver from the mine, so… yeah.”

Tam chuckled at that, a short, snorting laugh that ended in a wide grin. “Well, that settles it, then. Breaking the law can only end well!”

I joined him for a moment. Then, something occurred to me. “You know, no one ever told me exactly what happened! I know you got fined for using your magic without a license, and that Mak and some mercenary were involved somehow, but I’ve seen you fight. I can’t imagine you using your magic without killing someone. So what happened?”

“Ah, that. Well…” he looked suddenly uncomfortable. “The short of it is that I stabbed a man with a spreading knife. One of the Gray Wolves, in fact, who is no longer with the company. As for the why, well… he was rude to Makanna.”

“Somehow I don’t think that ‘rude’ would be enough for you to stab a man.”

“No. There was more to it. But I don’t think I can say much more without embarrassing her. Can we just say that they were both drunk, that he knew her from before her adventuring days, and that he thought that entitled him to take some unacceptable liberties. At a table in the common room of an inn, no less.”

“Right, so I imagine you kicked his teeth in,” I said. I could guess what had happened. I knew what Mak had had to do to feed her siblings, and what that must have done to her reputation. “But where does the spreading knife and the magic come in?”

Tam shrugged. “He had a proper dagger and a thick leather vest. I had a spreading knife, and it had a rounded point. I couldn’t very well stab him without magic, could I? Of course, once I’d cut through his dagger and stabbed him in the shoulder with a spreading knife, it became pretty clear what had happened, and some little shit ratted me out to the guard.” Then he smiled again. “Gods, but it was worth it in the long run, though! You should have seen his face when all his mates just stepped to the side. He was probably the only Wolf who didn’t know how close Mak and Lalia were by then, and once she heard, hah! He was on the street the next damn day! Of course, then he just joined up with the damn Cranes instead, but that lot all deserve each other.”

“With some luck he was one of the bastards I pasted with my rock,” I suggested.

“We can only hope.”

Late in the afternoon, four guards arrived at the back door of the inn with Avjilan the hunter. A man who’d magically tracked me, who’d tried to kill me on several occasions, who’d almost hit Kira with an arrow and nearly made me drop Herald to her death. A man with a voice made for song, and who I and only I knew shared a body he had not been born in with its original owner. A kindred spirit, in a way.

He was also someone whom I’d broken, and whose wellbeing was therefore important to me. Thus, why I’d demanded he be released to my family as an indentured servant to pay for his crimes. Not for trying to kill a dragon; that was entirely legal. But for shooting an arrow only a few dozen feet above the head of the Lady Justice Sempralia.

I had no idea which law specifically that might have broken, but after a few encounters with Sempralia’s bodyguard Kalder I knew that Avjilan should count himself lucky to be alive.

I’d known that he was coming, of course. I’d even expected him earlier in the day. But I didn’t find out that he was there until Mak and Tam brought him into the cellar, after showing him around the place and introducing him to the staff.

They brought him to the strongroom, where I was generally lazing about and reading Herald’s trashy romances for “reading practice.” The moment he saw me he bowed low, and said, “My Lady Dragon. Thank you. Lady Drakonum and her brother have told me what you’ve done for me: that you demanded I be released into the custody of this House as part of some agreement with the city. I can only hope that I prove myself worthy of your mercy and your trust.”

I just lay there, barely hearing what he said and just listening to the sound of his voice. Mercies, but he was easy on the ears! Pretty, too, but that voice! And he was all mine!

Listen to yourself! The disgust that accompanied Conscience’s words were enough to make me cringe on the inside. Whatever you’ve done to him, he does not belong to you. Even by this society’s messed up laws, he is not property. You spared him. You chose to take responsibility for him. And you will live up to that, just like you do with the others, or I will make sure that we never have a peaceful night’s sleep again.

Right, yeah, I agreed with myself. He’s an indentured servant. An employee of the House, not me personally. I went a little too draconic there. Thanks.

I told him some general pleasantries, welcoming him, telling him that I was willing to forgive and forget as long as he was loyal — like he could be anything but — and worked to help the House. All the while I worked hard to silence the part of me that wanted to keep him down there, in the cellar, to sing for my own entertainment.

Happily, and with Conscience’s help, I succeeded.

“I don’t suppose you want to go flying again?” I asked Mak after Tam had taken Avjilan away to get him properly settled in. “I’m going to need to head up to the mountain tonight.”

“You still haven’t managed to dreamwalk away from your hoard?”

“Nah. Don’t know if it’s ever going to be possible, but who knows? Anyway, I figured it might be a good time to show you where my share goes.”

As far as I could tell, the regret on her face was entirely honest when she told me, “As much as I appreciate that, Draka, I’d rather not. I feel like I only barely got warm again after this morning, and with a new… employee I really should stay here. But I would love to finally see your hoard some other day. After the rains stop, perhaps?”

“Yeah, no dramas. I’m not even sure that I have any firewood left, come to think of it. After the rains stop, then.”

She gave me a contented smile. “I’ll look forward to it.”

I took my half of the council’s up front payment, and Mak opened the cellar door for me. On the way out I noticed for the first time how the door frames and even the corridor had started to feel cramped. The strongroom still had plenty of space for me to relax, but gods only knew for how much longer I’d be able to get in there. And I was getting tired of hiding in my own home.

“Mak,” I said thoughtfully as I looked out into the rain. “Maybe it’s time we let the staff in on the secret?”