Dragon School_Dire Quest Page 5

  Generous of him to give away what wasn’t his to give.

  What else would we do?

  I was just feeling grumpy about not being able to communicate. Plus, I didn’t want to be separated from Raolcan. At least we finally knew why Hubric insisted on so much water.

  Renn waved to me. “We need to give them all the water for passage into the city. Where are you headed?”

  “I need to find a saffron honey dealer named Jasmeer.”

  “You like saffron honey? I never found a taste for it.” He turned back to the sentries and they spoke again.

  He has succeeded in convincing them to let us in – dragons, too. There’s an inn next to the saffron honey dealer’s shop. We’ve been ordered to stay there. We don’t have free access to the whole city, only the business and beggars’ districts.

  They were certainly very strict here.

  The soldiers outside the city are only moving through on their way to the war against the Dominion. There are thousands here. See the ships waiting for them in the harbor?

  I hadn’t paid much attention to the harbor with all the excitement of the buzzing sentries, but he was right. Saffron sail after saffron sail dotted the harbor and with all the smaller craft bringing supplies out to them and returning empty, they were clearly preparing for a voyage.

  This is only one city of this land. Imagine the sheer magnitude of the forces they send against us, and in the meantime, the Dominion rots from the inside. Is our true enemy the one within or the one without, or both of them?

  I needed to find Rakturan soon. Hopefully, he had a plan to hold this army back. Renn helped me loosen the ties on our water supply and hand it all to the Sentries. I didn’t like them so close. The very thought of one of those hair-like tentacles touching me made me break out in gooseflesh. Erg. Were they intelligent creatures? Like dragons or humans?

  Like horses. Not stupid but not on the same level as humans and definitely not anywhere near the same level as dragons.

  Renn signaled for us to follow as the lead sentry peeled off from the others and led us to the sprawling city. Even from the air, the streets looked like a maze. If I was on the ground trying to find my way through it, I had no confidence that I’d succeed. One blind alley led to another. Groups of streets spiraled in on each other, completely closed off from the rest of the world. But none of that mess stopped the body-to-body press of traffic as horses, mules, people and even the occasional elephant jostled for position on the crowded streets. Wisely, there was a well at every crossroads, with hawkers selling water from them as quickly as they could fill clay pots and waterskins. Hawkers set up under colorful awnings lined the streets.

  We passed over a more desolate area – just as overpopulated but dirty and worn by comparison.

  Beggars sector.

  And flew over an area where the buildings were larger – warehouses? Stores? Each segment of the city was separated from the next by high walls, guards at every entrance.

  They limit who may go where that way.

  The Sentry spoke one last time to Renn, handed him something that looked like a coin and then buzzed away – a bee out to sting a few more passersby. Renn signed to follow as Ahummal spiraled down neatly and landed on a flat roof below. There was just enough room for Raolcan to join him.

  I coughed at the dust as we landed. It was thick here on the roof and even thicker in the air below. What would the streets be like with this clogging every nose?

  “This is Jasmeer’s Saffron Honey warehouse and her shop is in the front,” Renn said. “The Sentry tells me that she is well known for her quality of wares and we made a smart decision choosing to deal with her. Hopefully, your contact is here.”

  “Renn?” I was feeling nervous now that we were here. “I don’t speak the language. How do you?”

  He grinned. “Golds are trained in languages. It helps with negotiation.”

  He turned to go, but I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Look, I’m sorry about not trusting you. Can we be friends? I think we want the same things.”

  “See? I told you that you needed me!” His smile showed all his teeth. “Of course, we’ll work together. I need the things you know and you need my ability to speak the language. It’s a bonus that I’m also great company and by far the better looking of the two of us.”

  Good thing he didn’t include me in that or I would have had to set him straight.

  No one could out-arrogant Raolcan. I followed Renn to a narrow staircase at the side of the building. It was going to be difficult to negotiate the steps with my crutch. I slowly eased myself onto the first step, grateful when he held out a hand to me.

  “You never told me how you were injured.”

  Make sure to keep thinking about what’s going on so I can keep an eye on you from up here.

  “It was a childhood accident.” There was something strange about the ground below. Unlike the other streets and alleys, this one was desolate. A broken basket tumbled by in the wind, but only dust followed it.

  “It’s a bold move to choose to ride dragons with a bad leg. See, this is what I want for the world – opportunities for everyone. No one being left behind because they aren’t quite like anyone else.”

  “It is?”

  We stepped off the narrow stairs into the alley and I followed him around to the front, hobbling on my crutch to keep up.

  “It’s why I chose Gold. I want to negotiate a better future for everyone. Rich, poor, skycitizen or farmer, soldier or dragon rider, girl or boy – I want to see all of us do better. You’re a great sign of what could be, you know that?”

  “Most people don’t see it that way.” I liked his enthusiasm, but I was distracted. The warehouse across the street had curtains drawn against the entrance and the one further down had all the shutters barred despite the bright sunshine. Was this area abandoned? Everywhere else in the city people were fighting for elbow-room. Why would this place be different?

  There was a large sign above the door of our building and the colorful shutters were wide open, though I couldn’t see anything within. On the wooden door, someone had painted a symbol so hurriedly that the paint had dripped down the door. It looked like the spiral sign of the Dusk Covenant, but where that symbol had a single diagonal line, the line going through this one was an arrow. Drag marks showed in the dust of the street, leading under the door.

  “Right building!” Renn said cheerfully. “The sign says, ‘Jasmeer of the Fragrant Islands. Dealer in Saffron Honey.’”

  “Renn ...” I began nervously, but he pulled the door open in one movement, flinging it back to let sunlight flood the warehouse beyond.

  I gasped.

  Chapter Fourteen

  There had been a lot of people who worked for Jasmeer. Or at least, I assumed all these people who had been strung up in her warehouse used to work for her. Maybe they’d been killed for some other reason. I didn’t even know which one was Jasmeer. All I knew was that my only chance of making contact with someone who could help me get to Rakturan was gone. I felt an icy thrill of terror mixed with the stomach-churning horror of watching the dead treated with such disgrace.

  “They left them as a warning,” Renn said. His grin was gone and his face pale. “The sign says, ‘Light followers take warning.’”

  “Does it say anything else?” My voice was strangled. I was trying to keep it steady, but my eyes were tearing up. It really wasn’t right to treat people like this. They weren’t things to be left as warnings. These people had names. They’d had smiles and favorite foods and funny habits. They’d been filled with hopes and ambitions and someone took that and didn’t even have the decency to hide their evil.

  I swallowed down acid. No, no, no. This wasn’t right. Why was the world like this? Why couldn’t it be different here than at home? In a strange land with strange people and creatures you’d think that maybe they could find a wisdom we didn’t have – a wisdom that made this kind of thing unthinkable, but no. They were as willing
to toss people aside - like ashes from a fire – as we were. I didn’t even know them and I wanted to cry.

  “It doesn’t need to say anything else,” a voice said from the shadows. The accent was so thick that I had to concentrate to understand his words. “Anyone who enters is already dead.”

  Under attack!

  I pressed the button on my crutch. We were under attack. Who knew how many enemies lurked in the shadows? The quarterstaff top of my crutch didn’t pop out. I tried the button again. Nothing.

  Seawater. Or sea spray, more likely. It’s jammed. It needs oil.

  “Renn Woelran?” the voice asked as the man stepped from the shadows. His long hair was streaked with gray and his clothing – high collared with shoulder flares, like the sentries – reminded me of Rakturan. A dozen other men and women stepped from the shadows with him. They held crossbows high, their bolts pointed at us.

  “Javeen Tiksa?”

  Did Renn know this man? The man nodded, but the crossbows stayed up. “But we weren’t expecting another Dragon Rider. She has no place in our negotiations.”

  Wait. He was speaking our language! This was a good sign, right?

  “Are these the friends you came to find, Renn?”

  Renn tugged at an earlobe while the other man grinned. After a moment, he spat something on the ground and chuckled.

  “Has Renn been talking about us? ‘The Secret’ is what you call us. The mirror of your Dusk Covenant.”

  I paled and turned to Renn. Above us, sounds of a battle penetrated the building’s walls.

  “I thought you said the Ya’kar were the mirror to our Lightbringers?”

  His brow furrowed worriedly and he swallowed, but the other man broke out into laughter. “Hardly! Ha! He’s quite the talker is Renn Woelran.”

  He was quite the talker and now I was the one feeling the blood rush from my face, sink through my body and make my feet feel heavy. I hadn’t trusted Renn at first, but he’s made me believe him. I’d been such a fool. No wonder he advised us not to sneak in. He knew what was waiting for us all along.

  He looked like a fish standing there with his eyes wide and his mouth opening and closing. Why was he so speechless when he planned this? After all, I was the one taken by surprise. I clenched my jaw. Think, Amel, think! Find some way out of this! Renn’s expression firmed.

  “Girl, you’re coming with us.” The man spat again, like he used spitting as punctuation. “The Kashran will take you and your dragon into custody for us.”

  Kashran?

  I think it’s the school for the Sentries and their riders. I’m barely keeping them off my back. Decide what you’re going to do quickly.

  There wasn’t much choice ... or was there?

  “I want to see Prince Rakturan.”

  There was silence, as if someone had dropped a blanket over everything. The only sound I heard was a creak of leather as someone adjusted his positioning.

  “Is that an official appeal?” He said it like a great deal of importance hung on my answer. What did I say? I didn’t know what that meant here. I should have read those books!

  Say something! Make a choice!

  A bead of sweat broke out on Renn’s brow, dripping down his nose and off the tip of it. His gaze held mine, but if he was trying to silently communicate with me it wasn’t working.

  “Yes,” I said. An official appeal sounded like a legal thing. Legal rules protected people ... didn’t they?

  “Very well. Take her and the dragon to the Kashran. I will register her appeal with the Crescent Prince. Gahmed, Rutrand. Go.”

  Should I try to run? A crossbow string creaked under tension. Probably better not to. One of the men carefully lowered his crossbow and grabbed my arm and a second grabbed the other.

  “I need the crutch to walk,” I said, but they kept pulling me until I fell, and their leader barked something in their own language. Their responses sounded like curses, but I was hauled to my feet and allowed to lean on my crutch as they marched me up to the roof.

  Raolcan glared at them as they approached, but he was surrounded by twenty Sentries, their tentacles all waving within inches of him as they ringed him in, tiny flashes of white and blue lightning zinging from them to him. Their riders kept their faces covered with wide scarves so that their expressions were impossible to read as they sat the strange creatures. Was Raolcan hurt?

  Just irritated.

  And Ahummal?

  Can go eat feet. He’s gone off to enjoy some saffron honey.

  Just our luck.

  They were a lot more welcoming the last time I was in this country.

  We should have known that Renn was a traitor. And now we were trapped here in Baojang. As Gahmed prodded me back into Raolcan’s saddle and the Sentries clearly indicated that they’d be staying in the protective ring while we flew to the Kashran, the severity of our situation began to dawn on me. No one knew we were here. Our contact was hanging from the rafters in the warehouse below. Our precise location was known to no one outside Baojang and our only friend in the city was a traitor. I wished I’d never seen him or his golden friend.

  That makes two of us.

  Our only hope was Rakturan. But was this official appeal enough to get us to him?

  And do you trust him once we get there? I remember you having reservations about the dashing prince.

  What other hope did we have?

  Chapter Fifteen

  The similarities between the Kashran and Dragon School were shocking. The Kashran was built like a man-made cylindrical cliff. It rose to five stories high of arched doorways leading into the central building. Arch upon arch stood open and ready to receive the Sentries entering them, looking so much like dragon cotes that I almost felt we were coming home.

  Not even close.

  As we approached I saw young men and women – my age, and yet so foreign in their loose-fitting silks compared to my form-fitted leather – tending to their strange tentacled creatures. One of them had something that looked like a soft brush in her hand. She ran it over the tentacles, static electricity flying visibly in every direction and causing her long hair to stand out around her head like a dandelion. A young man carried a bowl of wriggling worms as long as my forearm toward a second arch.

  They eat those. And for the record, I’m now officially choosing to go on a diet. I can afford to lose weight. I can’t afford the memory of slurping one of those things down.

  I shuddered at the thought. Our guards led us to the rear of the Kashran where Sentry-mounted guards watched over about a dozen arches filled with flashes of light and muted booms of thunder.

  Wild Sentries awaiting training. They plan to hold me here.

  At least it seemed safe enough.

  If you can stand the smell.

  I smelled nothing, except maybe a vinegary acid smell, but it was faint.

  Skies and Stars! If I only had your weakened senses now! Anything to drown out the stink of these horrible creatures.

  Hopefully, I could endure my own captivity with less drama. At least here at the school, the security seemed minimal.

  The instructors will be Sentry Riders just like yours were Dragon Riders. The trainees are merely inexperienced versions of the same. Far from being undefended, this school is nothing but defenders. You’ll be living in a building filled with nothing but guards. And you don’t’ speak their language. Escape is unlikely.

  I was given a cot at the back of Raolcan’s alcove – which was ideal given the circumstances. We got to stay together, at least. There was a human-size door at the back that stayed shut and while I could hear voices through it easily, there was no way for me to know what they were saying. I could have leapt from the arch - four stories high – if I wanted a quick death. I could have tried to scramble to a nearby arch, but each of our neighboring arches held a wild Sentry.

  Trust me. Their sting is not pleasant. It might not kill you – hard to say with humans – but it will certainly incapacitate you and then
where will that leave us?

  Raolcan could have flown out, but he’d be seen immediately by the Sentries on guard here, and they’d already proven they could stop him if there were enough of them.

  There are enough for that.

  If only I had Savette here with her truth-power. Or Shonan with his own abilities. Or Leng or Hubric or someone smarter than I was.

  I don’t think intelligence will get us out of this, or I’d already have a solution.

  Then I’d have to wait to find some luck. Waiting, at least, was both informative and entertaining. Raolcan and I sat side by side on the lip of the arch and watched the activity of the Kashran like spectators at a town fair. I dangled my legs over the edge. I was getting more used to heights as time wore on.

  I never understood your concerns about them in the first place.

  They rang gongs here instead of bells. But they resulted in the same thing. Students ran at the sound of gongs, ascending and descending the spiraling staircases they had here instead of ladders. Sentries were mounted – in somewhat less dramatic ways than dragons were – and flown around. Sometimes they flew in formation. Sometimes the students were lined up somewhere and lectured in harsh tones by lecturers. I almost wished I was one of them. Dragon School had been hard – and yet, it was easier than life since then had been. The steady rhythms and sure knowledge that someone else was in charge of things made for a very safe life.

  Food was brought to us – and despite the new spices in the meat, it was tasty. I shared some with Raolcan. He kicked his bowl of worms over the edge of the arch as soon as it was set down. You could almost think it was a mistake, except that he flamed it on the way down. If he kept that up they’d likely stop giving him anything to eat at all.

  That’s not something to eat. The only thing it feeds is nightmares.

  And so, one day slipped into another as we sat in confinement and silence, watching the steady thrum of the Kashran. No one came to speak to us except the students who brought our food, and they didn’t speak Dominion. Raolcan could still read their thoughts, but he said there was nothing interesting there.