Dragon-Ridden (44 page)

“You have to understand, Tate.
There are many who would like the power and standing a dragon can give them,
but only about one in ten million have the strength to be a host. Even fewer
have the compatibility it takes to be part of the dragon,” Ryu explained. “As
you saw with the Red Lady, that doesn’t stop others from trying to force a
merging. Usually resulting in the death of both. Your lack of memories seemed
like a good excuse if anybody wondered how you came to be soul bound to your
dragon.”

“Why would a pirate care about any
of this?” Tate asked having to fight to keep her voice steady.

“He’s not just a pirate. He’s more
of a privateer. The empire has many enemies both within and out. Jost targets a
lot of our foreign enemies for his pirating and if he hears of any large scale
plots, he warns his handlers.”

“Great,” Tate said pressing her
palms to her eyes. They were stinging now. “I’m so glad.”

Ryu pulled her hands away from her
face and clasped one in his. He rubbed her knuckles softly.

“What happened after I… changed?”
she asked looking away. “Did we stop the Red Lady from whatever she had
planned?”

He sighed softly but let her direct
the conversation to less dangerous waters. “Yes. For whatever reason the spell
didn’t work on you the way it was expected to. If she hadn’t gotten greedy she
would have pulled the fulcrum’s power into her, and we’d probably be looking at
war right now.”

“I saw her suck power from the
little boy,” Tate argued. “He was barely breathing.”

“The spell was tailored to both of
you. Since you took your dragon’s form, it skewed the focus of the spell,
making it work harder at draining you when there was nothing to drain. Because
of that imbalance, she wasn’t able to absorb what she got from Kenan. Once your
thief friend broke the runes, the power went back to the original owner.”

Tate flinched, remembering exactly
how he had broken the barrier. His body crashing into the circle and his
screams as the light enveloped him echoed in her dreams.

“Have you been able to locate the
key?” Tate asked.

He shook his head grimly. “We don’t
know where it went. Officially the Kairi are happy with the return of the
fulcrum and are blaming the key’s loss on Umi.”

“And unofficially?”

“They are unsure of how they feel.”

“What will they do about Tempest?”

“What do you mean?” he asked
carefully.

“He died a hero,” Tate said flatly.
She didn’t care what their honor stated about his previous actions, all she
cared about was his final act. He should be remembered for it. “He died trying
to keep the boy from Umi’s followers.”

Ryu was quiet. Tate closed her
eyes. It was all the answer she needed.

“They will not strike his name from
the family record, and his family will be told of his final deeds. But, he will
not be given the warrior’s call nor will his name be entered into their hall of
heroes. They will not give him a sea burial either.”

So not full honors, but it was
something. It burned. Man, did it hurt to know that no amount of arguing could
change their minds. It wasn’t fair, but she couldn’t force them to her way of
thinking no matter how much she wanted to.

“What about Dewdrop and the boy?”

“Alive.”

She nodded and sank back into her
pillows. “I’d like to be alone now.”

“Tate,” he began before quieting.
Her face was set and closed. He sighed. “All right. Rest now.”

The chair creaked as he leaned back
and folded his arms. He had no intention of leaving, but that was all right.
Tate was tired enough that sleep came quickly to steal her away.

Tate tilted her head back to bask
in the warm light of day as the city sounds burbled below her swinging feet.
Needing to get away from well-meaning healers and their poking, prodding and
insisting she do nothing but rest, she found herself across the city and
climbing up to the perch Dewdrop had showed her when they’d been hiding from
Ryu. That morning was the first time they’d let her out of bed, two weeks after
the events in the Castle Pointe catacombs. So named for the fact that they were
under the palace on the cliffs.

Evidently her wounds, while
shallow, had been plentiful enough that even their best healers had had trouble
getting everything to close up. The blood she’d lost had needed to be replaced
with rest and food. The stress of shifting to the dragon form had kept her
asleep for a good portion of that time as her body recuperated.

The hospice where she’d been
treated had been kind but strict in keeping her in bed until some of the deeper
cuts had fully closed. The moment they’d let her up, she had walked into the
city and somehow ended up here.

She liked it up here with the city
sprawled below and the wind ruffling her hair, the smell of the sea in her
nose. For a moment she could pretend it was as it had been the first time she’d
stood on the Marauder’s deck and watched the city opening its arms to welcome
her.

Tate squinted down at the harbor.
It felt good to be under the wide-open sky with no walls around her and no
ceiling above.

In her dreams the tunnels called to
her, whispering of secrets revealed and her past concealed. She knew there
would come a time when she’d have to go back under and speak to Ai, but not
yet, not when the pain of recent events was still too close.

A boot scraped against rock. She
didn’t turn around, her shoulders tensing slightly. She’d seen him as he made
his way up to her perch.

“You come to kill me?”

His stride hesitated a beat before
Jost lowered himself to sit on the ledge beside her, swinging his legs out over
it as she did. His shoulder brushed hers as he took in the panoramic view.

Somehow she couldn’t work up
interest in his response, content to look out over the city while they sat in a
companionable silence. Guess that was answer enough. Of course he might just be
waiting, toying with her. Naw, wasn’t his style.

 “Only the senior officers are
killed when they leave the crew.” He bent forward resting his elbows on his
thighs. “And then only when they turn traitor.”

She squinted up at the sky and
leaned back.

“I won’t apologize for the things I
kept from you,” he said.

She lifted an eyebrow. Good. She
didn’t want an apology.

“I acted the best way I could with
the information I had at hand. I won’t make excuses or ask forgiveness.”

At that Tate finally turned to look
at him, giving him a hard stare. What had he come here for?

His weathered face softened
slightly as he met her eyes. “I do apologize for the pain I caused you. It
wasn’t my intent.”

“Did you know the crew was
harassing me?” She blinked at him, slightly surprised at her own question.

His astonishment answered better
than words ever could. “I knew you were planning to leave, but I didn’t know
the reason behind it until Ryu told me.” He rubbed his neck. “If I had, things
might have turned out differently.”

She gave a short nod, relieved. She
hadn’t realized how much that question bothered her until now. If he’d known
about it; she shook her head slightly. Well, she didn’t know exactly how she’d
feel but she suspected it wouldn’t have been forgiveness.

She didn’t know how to respond to
the other part. The part where he’d been informing on her since the very day
he’d forced her on board his ship. Probably the very moment, even. Intent or
not it felt like he’d violated her privacy and damaged her trust, and she
couldn’t decide how she felt about that. She’d thought she’d been part of
something only to find out they’d been spying on her. She couldn’t help but
question every word and deed in her eight months with the crew. She’d probably
be doing that for a long time to come.

She sighed and leaned back on her
hands. It would be easy to rail at him, point out how his actions had
indirectly cost someone their life. That would be wrong, however. The blame
didn’t rest with him. It didn’t even rest with her, though it was tempting to
fall into the trap of self-guilt. One hand clenched into a fist. No, the people
responsible had been Kadien, Umi and the Red Lady. They’d all paid for their
part in it with their lives. Still, she couldn’t help but think about what she
could have done differently if she’d only known what was at stake from the
beginning. Tempest might still be alive, and she wouldn’t be facing practical
servitude for simply being dragon-ridden.

Her own integrity wouldn’t let her
do any of that, however. There was no guarantee things would have turned out
any better if she hadn’t gotten involved and a good chance it would have been
worse. Like it or not what was done was done, and there was no going back to
change it.

Good or bad, things had turned out
the way they had, and there was no use moaning about what could have been. The
only thing left to do was accept it and move on.

Jost waited patiently for her
answer.

“I don’t blame you for spying on
me,” Tate finally said.

The tightness in Jost’s body
relaxed, and he let out a huge sigh of relief. He clapped her on the shoulder.
“I’m glad. The boys wanted to see if you’d come pub crawling with us to
celebrate our victory.”

“I can’t today. I’ve got a few
loose ends to take care of first.”

His weathered face frowned in
disappointment. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear but hardly surprising given
the events of the last few days. She knew he thought she’d refused because she
still blamed him. That wasn’t it, but she did nothing to correct him. It would
take time to build up the rapport of trust they’d previously had. Going forward
their relationship would have to change, and only time would tell whether it
was a good or bad change.

She turned her face back up to the
sun watching as the birds called to each other. They didn’t speak after that,
letting the time slip past in a companionable silence.

**

After she climbed down from her
perch, long after Jost had left, she wandered the city again not quite ready to
return to the healer’s hospice. Somehow she found herself in the temple
district with her feet taking her to the Hall of Saviors. It was even more
majestic and serene when she was fully conscious. Somehow she had thought that
had been an aspect of the pain she was in when she’d come through before.

She took a seat on one of the wood
benches that littered the great space and stared up into the familiar stone
faces. None of the different sects’ priests approached her this time. They were
probably under the impression that she’d come here to pray. No prayer moved
her. She hadn’t been drawn here to commune with the gods but instead had wanted
to know if that faint sense of remembrance she’d had visiting them last time
was real.

It was while she was soaking in the
atmosphere that Blade took a seat on a bench in front of her after bowing his
head while he mumbled a short prayer.

Tate tensed in preparation to flee
or fight. In all the craziness she’d forgotten Lucius had set a price on her
head.

“Relax, Tate. I’m not going to drag
you off to Lucius. I’m alone,” Blade assured her without turning around before
she could do more than tense. Tate let herself settle back into her seat,
curious as to what business he had with her.

“Every time I come here I’m struck
anew with awe in the presence of these monuments,” he said, nodding to the
towering statues. Tate nodded cautiously. She could relate. “The time and
effort that went into building each of the four. Each person who worked on
these masterpieces left their mark on the world for generations to come. I find
it breathtaking.”

She eyed him suspiciously. Why were
they discussing inert stone? She edged back on her bench and turned her head to
see if anybody was watching them. Despite his assurances, she didn’t trust him
to be as alone as he said. His companions could be hiding in case she ran.

Her silence didn’t deter him from
speaking. “Lucius wasn’t pleased to find the key lost to him, but since nobody
knows what happened to it, he’s willing to let it go.” He looked down. “For
now.”

Tate released the breath she had
been holding. Angering one of the five great Night Lords would have made
staying in the city difficult if not impossible.

Until that moment she hadn’t
realized how much she’d wanted to stay. She’d had some half-baked notion of
disappearing into the countryside and leaving all of her problems behind. Tate
had spent enough time around thieves and their hunters to know how to hide her
trail.

Now that Lucius had called off his
men, staying seemed more attractive all the time. She looked up at the faces
towering over her. Yeah putting down roots might not be such a bad idea.

“Have you performed the ceremony of
remembrance for your lost friend?” Blade asked.

In a rusty voice, Tate explained,
“I’m not familiar with the customs he was born to.”

“I thought as not.” Blade stood.
“Follow me. I’ll show you what I remember.”

She copied his motions as he paid
his respects to the gods and then made his way to the shrine of the god of
water and patron to the Kairi, where he lit incense, bowed and then clapped his
hands three times. He told her it was to celebrate the person’s birth, life,
and death.

It was her idea to head down to the
cliffs closest to the water. He helped her pick out a suitable spot of smooth
rock face to etch out the name she’d given him, Tempest. She’d come up with the
idea after Ryu told her the Kairi would keep his name in the role call of
ancestors. That had been for his people; this was just for her. She wanted his
name tied to the city he’d died to defend.

Under his name she wrote, “He paid
the ultimate sacrifice so that others might sleep in peace.”