Steelhands (2011) (63 page)

The men of the guard parted, revealing the Esar behind them. Much like the Esarina, he was dressed casually in simple clothing and his family rings, though there was nothing casual about his gaze as it flicked over the three of us.

There was a madness in his eyes, I realized. Something frenzied that he was only keeping in check by his enormous will. Surely he didn’t think he could carry on this way? But then, presumably that was the problem: he believed himself capable when he no longer was. It was our duty—the Esarina’s duty—to convince him of the truth. Barring that, it would be our duty to depose him.

“Hello, Antoinette,” the Esar said, coming forward through the pathway his guard had opened up for him. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to see you. I told Troius he couldn’t expect to hold you for long, but he seemed very confident. I suspect he knows what these men do not: that you need blood to work your little Talent.
Clever
bluff, as always. You’re very frightening when you want to be. I might even have believed it myself, though I, of course, know better.”

“I do not reason with madmen,” Antoinette said, turning her face to the side. “Despite how long I have chosen to stay in Thremedon. Your words are wasted on me.”

“Then I will speak to the Esarina,” the Esar said. “Discover what lies you’ve poisoned her with. Imagine my mistress and my wife, conspiring together against me.”

“It’s happened to other men before,” Antoinette said darkly. “With some success, even.”

“And a member of my old Dragon Corps, I believe,” the Esar added, glancing quickly at me. He still had a discerning eye; I would give him that. “It was only a matter of time before you turned against me. You loathed submitting your personal wills to a master. It’s why, despite how useful your training was, I could never include you in my new plans.”

“Oh, yes,” Antoinette said. “It’s so wise to surround yourself with agreeable lackeys rather than people willing to tell you when your plans are pigheaded and disastrous. That’s how all good empires come to an end, you know.”

“She always does this.” The Esar sighed. “She says she will not speak to me, then offers her opinions despite her promise. I’m afraid there’s no point in arguing, in any case. You know as well as I how this looks. It is my duty to arrest you as traitors to the crown.
Please
do not attempt to resist. I have more than the soldiers you see here at my disposal, and let me make it perfectly clear—the three of you are not their equal in combat.”

If only Ghislain had been with me, I thought, then we could have made a proper distraction, while the Esarina and Antoinette used one of the secret tunnels as a getaway. But I was the only member of the Dragon Corps in the room, and I still knew—because my years of training under Adamo would never leave me—that I had to defend my country, against all odds. Even if it had been just me and Anastasia left fighting over the Lapis capital, I would have done so until the bitter end. Did I consider myself too important to make the same sacrifice the other men had?

Of course not.

“I cannot allow that,” I said. Antoinette and I had flanked the Esarina. At least I didn’t have to consider myself alone in my efforts.

“Truly,” the Esar said, “what do you believe you will accomplish?”

“What we have to accomplish,” Antoinette replied.

“I would prefer to hear my wife say this,” the Esar said. He took a step closer, and his guard followed suit, closing in on us from both sides. They were blocking all possible exits. I was going to have to make a dent in their ranks somehow, with no weapons, and the odds stacked against me. I only wished I’d been blessed with a more imposing build.

Nonetheless, if I could not
look
as intimidating as Ghislain, then I would have to
act
as intimidating. If I believed myself, perhaps I could convince a few others to believe me.

“We will do what we have to do,” the Esarina complied. “They say you kidnapped
children
for this task.”

“It was necessary,” the Esar said.

“And the treaty with the Ke-Han?” the Esarina asked.

The Esar waved a heavily ringed hand. “Would you have
them
betray
us
first? These are my precautions.”

“And these are mine,” the Esarina replied.

The Esar sighed; he’d known all along it would come to this, as had we. Even Antoinette had given up reasoning with him. “Arrest them, if you would,” he said. “They are too dangerous to allow them their liberty while they await trial.”

I steeled myself—I wished I’d had the chance to hear the now-infamous song about me before I died—and saw Antoinette do the same. I didn’t want to die with the guilt of implicating the Esarina on my conscience. I didn’t want
her
to die because of our pleas for assistance.

Then, without any warning, the floor exploded beneath us.

Is it Royston?
I wondered, as I did my best to pull the Esarina away from the epicenter. I placed myself between her and the blast, feeling little bits of stone cut into my back as shouting began among the guards. They didn’t seem so well trained now that disaster had struck; they were running every which way, boots trampling anything that tried to stop them. I heard something that sounded like a cry of triumph, cut off abruptly in the rush of falling rock. The Esarina tripped over her skirts—I thought I heard her curse, though it could have been my imagination—then the voice in my head returned, louder than ever.

Balfour!
it said.
At last!

I was startled enough that, this time, it was the Esarina who kept
me
from falling.

We did stumble, my metal hands gripping her sleeve and tearing it as we kept ourselves from toppling over, and I was forced to turn around, to face the direction from which that voice had originated.

I found myself face-to-face with a metal snout, flared nostrils, and sharp teeth. The expression was a familiar one—its owner could have been related to my girl—but the craftsmanship revealed a different aesthetic. This
was
a dragon, unmistakably so, just smaller, as Adamo had warned us the new ones would be. Her jaw was made of darker-colored metal than the rest of her body, and some of her scales were a steely blue color. She looked ragtag but beautiful; her eyes were pale, jeweled orbs, staring straight into mine.

Who are you?
I asked. It was only polite.

I don’t know yet
, she replied quite honestly.
But I think I hurt someone
.

I realized all at once that the shouting had stopped. Those members of the Esar’s guard who hadn’t fled were all cowering from the dragon, in a corner of the chamber far away from the fissure in the floor, and around a body lying still amidst the debris.

“My husband,” the Esarina murmured. Somehow, despite the dragon between them, she hadn’t been distracted from what—in her estimation—mattered more.

“Damn it, Nico,” Antoinette said.

Neither of them moved to his side; they couldn’t, as they had no reason to trust this beast wouldn’t attack them the moment they
moved. My mouth was dry, but I thought I was beginning to understand what had happened. Slowly, carefully, ready to pull back at a moment’s notice, I reached out to close the distance between us, preparing to stroke the dragon’s nose with my fingertips.

Then again, it wasn’t as though I’d lose any natural part of my body if the dragon were to bite off my hand. She’d find it difficult to chew, at that.

What happened?
I asked.

He was in the way
, the dragon replied.
He called to me, but it wasn’t strong enough. I like your smell better. You were in danger. I couldn’t let anyone hurt you
.

I inched closer to her to get a better view of the other side of the room. The body sprawled across the floor did, indeed, belong to the Esar; whether he was dead or merely unconscious wasn’t something I could determine from this distance, with my limited expertise.

It was an accident
, the dragon explained.
I hit him with my tail. They keep us inside; no room to stretch. Our tails are too long for that. You aren’t sad, are you? I didn’t like him, but you creatures get so finicky when someone gets hurt. You should know better than anyone, we can
all
be rebuilt
.

As if to drive the point home, she sniffed gently at one of my fingers; or, at least, I felt hot air roll across my fingertips, singeing my gloves.

I was grateful for my training as an airman since I was certain that it was all that was currently keeping me together. I had priorities, but whether or not I could respect them would be a different story. There were actions an airman had to take in a situation like this one, and none of my options had anything to do with standing as still as my statue, staring at a dragon. Then again, no one had planned for these contingencies. Not even Adamo, and he’d been the chief strategist among us.

I have to check the Esar’s body
, I told the dragon, marveling at how strange it felt. Minutes ago, the Esar had almost certainly been willing to arrest and execute the three of us—his wife and mistress included—and now here I was in the unique position of checking whether or not he was even still alive.

But it was the right thing to do, whether or not he would have done it for us.

Why?
the dragon asked, cocking her wide head curiously as I got to
my feet.
You’re safe now, I think. He won’t get up. I hit him hard. It was an accident, but I’m not sorry
.

I know
, I told her.
But if he’s still breathing
 …

I trailed off. Not because I didn’t know what to say but because I honestly didn’t know what would come after that.

He’s not dead
, the dragon said, peering up at me.
We’d stop working if he were
.

Why’s that?
I asked, curiosity getting the better of me for a moment.

We’re tied to him by blood
, the dragon explained.
Just a little. Not enough to wrangle me, but if he broke, then so would we. I think
.

I still have to check on him
, I told her.

Even his guards don’t seem very worried about that
, the dragon said, swishing her tail thoughtfully.

They’re scared
, I explained.

Sissies
, she replied, but she sounded pleased to know I believed they were scared
of her
.

The Esarina sucked in a breath, perhaps still anticipating some further attack. I was acting as though in a vacuum—I was still the only one who knew the dragon was on our side. Or at the very least, she seemed to be on
my
side. But it wasn’t kind to keep this to myself any longer.

“It’s all right,” I said aloud, holding up a hand slowly, so as not to startle anyone. “She isn’t going to hurt us. She came to find me.”

Balfour!
the dragon said, proudly.
I thought I’d bust a gear with all that waiting
.

I probably looked as though
I’d
busted a gear, attempting to have two separate conversations at once. Still, I did my best to apologize to her.
I didn’t know you were looking for me
, I explained.

“This …” the Esarina faltered, not knowing what words to use. “This creature belongs to you?”

“I wouldn’t put it like that, exactly,” I said; everything had happened so quickly, I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea.

Are you embarrassed of me?
the dragon asked.

I wouldn’t put it like that, exactly
, I repeated, this time for her alone.

“It’s one of Nico’s dragons, Anastasia,” Antoinette said. “Balfour looks as surprised by her appearance as the rest of us—if not more so.”

She wasn’t wrong about that, I thought. Skirting the edge of the hole my dragon had torn in the floor—while she watched me curiously,
wondering why I cared—I knelt near the rubble half covering the Esar’s body. His skin was pale, coated in dust from the white stone of the floor beneath the mangled carpet. His condition didn’t look promising, but I steeled myself—there was that word again—and leaned in closer, with my head nearly up against his chest, to see if he was breathing. I could have checked his pulse, but I didn’t want to trust something as crucial as the Esar’s life to the particular sensitivities of my hands. Even after all this time, I was still getting used to them.

Antoinette started across the floor toward us, then stopped herself, standing just short of the dragon behind me. The Esarina herself hadn’t budged but was as still as a statue, with her hands clasped tightly together.

A faint, guttural rasp filled my ears, and I felt the Esar’s chest rise weakly, then fall.

“He’s alive,” I said, breathing a considerable sigh of relief myself.

“These damned dragons,” Antoinette muttered. She didn’t appear to be happy
or
sad about the news, just angry. “He couldn’t leave well enough alone.”

“We’ll take him with us to the Basquiat,” the Esarina said, her voice quiet but with an unmistakable undercurrent of iron. “Your healers can see to him, Antoinette.”

“Of course,” Antoinette said without hesitation. “I’ll make arrangements at once.”

Just as I was about to ask how we’d make it across Miranda with a dragon in tow—obviously, I could hardly leave her here unsupervised—the sound of shifting rock and dirt broke once more through the silence of the audience chamber.

If it was another dragon, I really didn’t know what we’d do. Just one had already caused damage enough, though at the same time, we were all beholden to her for her help.

Antoinette took her place once more beside the Esarina, and I stayed crouched next to the Esar, tensed for whatever might next be thrown our way.

Don’t worry, Balfour
, the dragon said, apparently having sensed the sudden chill in the room. She hadn’t tensed; in fact, it appeared to me as though she was inspecting one of her sharp claws.
It’s only a friend. She’s awfully cranky, sometimes, and rarely clever, but she means well
.