Dragon-Ridden (17 page)

Umi’s shoulders stiffened, and she
started to glance around. Tate punched her in the arm before Umi could give
them away. Her ploy worked because Umi grabbed her arm and gasped. Guess she
had never had anyone play punch her before.

Tempest set Tate’s drink down hard
in front of her, half the liquid splashing out. He glowered down at her,
shooting daggers with his eyes. Tate grinned up at him and licked her hand
where the liquid had splashed.

“Aw, so sweet of you to get my
favorite,” Tate simpered up at him. “What about the food? Oh, never mind,” she
said before he could answer. She reached up and grabbed his arm dragging him
down into the seat beside her.

“I’m claiming this one,” she told
Umi.

“Wh-”

Umi looked befuddled and Tempest
looked like someone had just socked him in the jaw. Tate bit her lip and
giggled. Keeping these guys off balance was more entertaining than she had
thought it would be.

“No, no, Bronty,” she cooed at Umi.
“I gave you a chance to pick and you didn’t say anything. Or is it you want
both? Naughty, naughty.”

Kadien looked like he was catching
on. He sat himself next to Umi and draped his arm over her shoulders. Unlike
the other two he had the posture of a normal person down pat. A slight grin
tugging at his lips, he surveyed their surroundings with bored nonchalance.
Just a couple of roughs out for a good time.

Knowing that he was onto her game
and willing to play along, for now at least, Tate turned her focus on trying to
clue in the other two.

Before she could talk herself out
of it, Tate clambered into Tempest’s lap and threw her arms around his
shoulder. She let her fingers play with the hair at the back of his neck while
she made calf eyes at him. Tempest was having none of it and stared at her like
she was a bug he had found in his soup.

Umi had unconsciously relaxed back
into Kadien. That was two down, now one to go.

Tate smiled sweetly at Tempest.
Running her fingers up his neck, she gently grasped the upper tip of his ear
between her fingers and then pinched. Every muscle in his body locked up,
though his face remained neutral. It was like sitting on rock. She had to give
it to him though if she hadn’t felt how rigidly he held himself she would have
never known she was hurting him.

“If you continue to act
suspiciously and get us all in trouble, I am going to rip your ear right off
your head,” Tate whispered through clenched teeth. She shot another smile over
at the other two.

“Perhaps if you would tell people
your plan before you started acting on it, they would be quicker to do what you
wanted.”

“Aw, my little snugglekins is
upset.” Tate rubbed her nose against his. She was slightly surprised when he
didn’t try to bite it off.

She jerked at a sharp pinch to her
backside. Bastard.

“If you don’t get off of me, I’ll
make you pay when we get out of here,” Tempest hissed.

Touchy, touchy.

Reluctantly, she climbed off his
lap and settled back into her chair. The cute talk made up for his earlier
nastiness. Now that the group was acting more like normal city folk rather than
nobility slumming, Tate could relax a little bit.

She took a cautious sip of the
beer. Mmm, it wasn’t half bad. Too bad most of it was soaking into the table.
She chanced a glance around over the rim of her mug. Most of the other patrons
in the half pub, had dismissed the small group after Tate’s performance. There
was one, however, who remained fixated on them. He was also the one she’d been
most worried about. Menace seemed to radiate from him and her instincts were
saying danger. He sat with his back against the wall and his face in shadow.

“Your friend will be here?” Tate
asked.

“Yes,” Kadien replied.

“I hope it’s sooner rather than
later.”

“Are you not confident in your
acting, little thief?” Tempest said tweaking a lock of Tate’s hair. He’d
obviously taken pointers from Ryu. He smirked at her look of disgust, which she
quickly smothered.

“It’s not my acting that’s the
problem, my insolent friend. If I were alone, I could slip through this place
unnoticed and be out with what you want before your enemies even knew I was
here. Instead we’re risking all of our lives, because three idiots who cannot
even act relaxed long enough to get this job done. Forgive me if I am a little
on edge.”

“He is here,” Kadien said, putting
an end to the hostility that was brewing between them.

Tate turned with a large smile to
greet the man approaching them. He was not what she was expecting. She’d been
expecting a ruffian, a man capable of taking care of himself. Perhaps she’d
even been half anticipating a shifty man, one whose penchant for snooping
showed through nervous twitches and sly sideways glances. The man who sat
himself at their table was none of these. He wore fine silks and his weapons
openly. Gold glittered on his fingers and a jewel winked from his throat. This
was a powerful man, for only a powerful man or a fool would walk through the
night market so finely dressed. And he did not carry himself like a fool.

Tate had a sinking feeling that
things had just taken a turn for the worst. She chanced a glance at Umi and
Kadien, hoping this was the friend they had arranged to meet. Both sat rigidly
in their chairs, backs straight and faces frozen. Kadien’s knuckles were white
where they clutched the tankard. Not a good sign that.

“You’re friend is not coming,
M’lady.”

That answered that then.

“You won’t find your trinket in the
Yellow or the Red Circle,” the man said before taking a sip of his wine. “But
you knew that before you came.”

Tate froze. No, they hadn’t. Unless
they’d lied. Which would mean, she’d been played.

The man’s eyes locked on Tate’s.
They were as piercing as a hawk’s and studied her as if she was a mouse. His
head tilted to the side, his golden hair brushing his shoulders. Tate sat still
for his perusal. There were undercurrents to this exchange that she didn’t
quite understand. Not yet, anyways.

“My dear, I was sad you turned down
my invitation earlier today,” the man said to Tate.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t remember
receiving an invitation from so esteemed a man as yourself.”

Tempest shifted uneasily next to
Tate. She willed him to keep still and for once be silent.

“Perhaps this will jog your
memory.”

The man lifted a hand. Tate would
have snorted at the absurdity of the gesture if she hadn’t suddenly found
herself surrounded by the three men who’d tried to kidnap her that morning. The
man sitting in the shadows rose to his feet and sauntered into the light. Tate
knew who it was even before she could make out his face. Unlike the others,
Blade didn’t gloat down at Tate but instead regarded her with a calm amusement
that was unnerving.

“Outcast.” Tempest’s voice was ripe
with loathing as he glared at Blade. Tate really wanted to hit him. The man had
almost zero sense

“Ah, that invitation.” Tate’s
comment shifted the increasingly hostile attention off of Tempest and onto
herself. Once she had everybody’s attention she didn’t quite know what to do
with it. She preferred the way they’d been sizing Tempest up. “I’m sorry, sir.
I often find that unless one is quite clear about the wording the recipient can
sometimes misconstrue the intended message.”

“Jost told me you had a way with
words.” The man swirled his wine around in his cup and watched the four with a
slight smile on his face. No doubt he was enjoying the discomfiture his
presence caused.

“Did he now?” Tate asked tightly.

“Indeed.” For all his finery, the
man was a predator. Plain and simple. He addressed his next remarks to the
person Tate had once dubbed Leader. She wouldn’t be calling him that anymore.
Not with this man sitting in front of her. “Thom, was my message vague at all?”

“No, M’lord. I delivered it clear
as day. Told her you wanted to meet and that she was to come with us.”

The man raised an eyebrow at Tate
inviting her to say her piece. What series of words would get them out of this
mess? In all honesty, Tate didn’t see them getting out of here unscathed.

“No names were mentioned, I had no
idea who had sent the invitation. You can’t blame me for being careful.”

“Everyone knows Lucius’s men,”
Dewdrop protested.

Tate had no idea who Lucius was, or
why he had taken such an interest in her. There were a lot of things she didn’t
know and it was becoming tiresome. If she made it out of this situation alive,
she promised herself that she would study the customs and habits of this city
until she knew them better than she knew herself.

“And yet, I didn’t.” Tate couldn’t
help the bite of sarcasm that crept into her voice. “I’m new to this city and
haven’t had the time to learn who belonged to whom.”

The finely dressed man watched the
two of them quarrel, his lips slightly quirked. Tate’s companions sat stock
still beside her, letting her direct the conversation. Although they were
present, Tate might as well have been on her own for all the help they offered.

She tallied the odds of them
fighting their way out of here. Tate had two decent blade dancers by her side.
The men confronting them had Blade, whom Tate knew to be extremely deadly. The
misspoken man was more of a brawler than anything. He’d be slow to react, and
the two pickpockets were barely more than children. The greatest unknown was
the man sitting across from her. He moved with a lethal kind of grace and
watched the proceedings as one would a game. He was dangerous and something
told her Blade wasn’t the sort to follow a fool.

It wasn’t quite even odds, but if
it came down to it, Tate felt certain they could fight their way out as long as
there weren’t extra men waiting in the wings.

“Seeing as you held up your end of
the bargain,” he said to Umi, “I will allow you access to the Black Night until
the sun rises.”

He set a black disk with a crescent
moon carved into it on the table. Umi picked it up, her hands shaking slightly.
Neither she nor Kadien looked at Tate. Tempest looked confused even when Umi
and Kadien stood. When they made it clear they planned to leave Tate there, he
looked like someone had just slapped him across the face.

Poor guy. He acted as if he was the
one betrayed and not Tate. It was obvious he believed all the crap he’d spouted
earlier about nobility and honor. To have those values trampled by those he
held in high regard must hurt. Tate felt a small portion of pity for him. Not
much. He was, after all, part of the group who’d led her into this trap.

Tate searched for that same feeling
of betrayal and found nothing. Just a weary resignation. She wasn’t surprised.
Not really. Something had bugged her about this setup from the beginning, but
her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

“Let us go, Maiko,” Umi sounded
tired when Tempest didn’t move from his seat. “We have much to accomplish this
night.”

“But, milady, we can’t do this.
It’s wrong. I have as little respect for the thief as you, but she helped us in
good faith. We cannot hand her over like this.” Tempest was earnest as he pled
Tate’s case. She wondered idly if he’d succeed.

The sharp crack of flesh meeting
flesh sang through the air. Tempest’s face turned sharply to the side from the
force of Umi’s slap. Guess not.

“She’s a much better actress than I
gave her credit for,” Tate said softly. Indeed, Tate hadn’t thought Umi capable
of such violence after her gentle lady routine. Those tiny details were right
as always. Should have paid more attention.

“There are more important matters
at stake than some thief’s life,” Umi said.

“I’d have to disagree. I find my
life to be of utmost importance,” Tate said, crossing her arms. Her
disagreement fell on deaf ears as the two ignored her and continued with their
own conversation.

“Now, come. We have a task to
accomplish and not a lot of time with which to work.” Umi’s figure was regal as
she turned on one foot and walked away. The argument was over, and she trusted
the other two to follow. Kadien trailed behind her without a word, but Tempest
cast one last look at Tate.

“I am sorry. I will find a way to
make it up to you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tate waved his empty
words away. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. As for your apology, it was
not yours to make. Now get out of here. You’ve rough waters ahead.”

He nodded gravely at Tate. For a
moment, it seemed like the events of the past half hour had aged him, made him
more mature. The loss of innocence does that to a person and there was nothing
that did that better than finding out the people you thought you knew didn’t
quite measure up.

She watched the three disappear
into the labyrinth of the market before picking up her beer and draining it.
She set it back on the table with a thunk and turned her attention back to the
man seated before her.

“What can I do for you?”

The man didn’t answer, instead
preferring to study Tate. No matter. Tate wanted to study him as well. She
hadn’t given him a nickname yet. With all his bright plumage that contrasted
nicely with his dark looks, he reminded Tate of a bird. But what kind? A
peacock perhaps? Too obvious. A hawk? Too showy. Nothing seemed to fit.

“You seem awfully unsurprised at
this turn of events,” the man observed. “Not many would have let them walk away
without some vow of retribution after a betrayal like that.”

“Betrayal?” Tate asked surprised.
She chuckled. “That wasn’t betrayal. Betrayal comes after you’ve formed a bond
of trust with someone. It’s when they take that trust and shit on it. That’s
betrayal. I’ve known them all of one day. They owe me nothing just like I owe
them nothing.” Tate tossed Kadien’s purse onto the table. She’d lifted it right
after he’d sat down. What could she say? It was habit.