The Blind Dragon (5 page)

"Shut up," d'Rent told him, not taking his eyes off Master Khondus.

Anna saw the Master ready himself.

"No need for further injuries, good Master." D'Rent smiled, seeing the Master's stance. D'Rent's teeth were very white against the black of his beard. His western accent was thick. He showed Master Khondus his palms. "We will go now together to Lord Gideon, yes? Put the hammer down."

"Come take it," Master Khondus said quietly.

Nightlove growled, grunted, and struggled to rise, but she was too weak and collapsed into the straw with a groan. The foal hissed, but uncertainly, its eyes wide.

Be ready
.

The moment the thought entered her mind, the foal cocked its head and went perfectly still, as if preparing itself—as if it understood exactly what Anna was thinking. Its white tail hung straight down from its perch, a pale serpent against dark stone.

"We both know that he is a fop and a fool," d'Rent said, cocking his head at Lord Layne, not taking his eyes off Master Khondus. "But his father cares for him. And he is a High Lord, after all. Lord Gideon will hear you fairly, Master. House Tevéss and House Dradón, we are friends, no? There is no reason for anyone else to be hurt. No reason for this to . . . how do you say?
Escalate
?" D'Rent pronounced each syllable of the word carefully.

Master Khondus didn't answer, but his grip tightened on the hammer.

"
Take
them, curse you!" Lord Layne cried, wiggling in the straw. "Take them! Kill them! I
order
it! By my father's name, I
order
it!"

And then d'Rent's revolver was in his hand, and he was moving smoothly into the stall. He didn't act on Lord Layne's hysterical command. Rather, his move was calm and deliberate, the calculated action of a professional soldier ready for combat. His weapon was trained on Nightlove's head. Three of his guardsmen drew steel and followed him. The two others blocked the stall's door, standing just outside it, battleswords and shields at the ready.

Anna had no weapon. But she could still punch and bite. From its perch, the dragon foal hissed. Anna set her jaw, her head clear. She wasn't angry. She was determined. It felt
right
. They were at war. This was the enemy. And she'd make House Dradón proud. Father had died in battle. Perhaps she would, too. She looked at Master Khondus's broad back. If she did, then she'd die fighting beside one of the Kingdom's greatest warriors.

"We are strong," she whispered to herself. She could feel the foal's silvery eyes on her. "This is
our
time."

Anna stepped out from behind Master Khondus, looked d'Rent straight in the eye, and said evenly, "Prepare to die, traitor."

"See! You
see
!?" Layne screamed. "Why do you
wait
?!"

One of d'Rent's guardsmen chuckled, ignoring Lord Layne completely. The other guardsmen seemed to relax a bit. But not d'Rent. He didn't smile. If anything, he seemed even more wary. His dark eyes were practiced and lethal. Behind her, Anna felt the dragon foal tense, its white presence a vibrating silver javelin in her mind, waiting to be launched.

"Calm that thing," d'Rent said, feeling the foal's energy but not looking at it, keeping his revolver trained on Nightlove's head. "I will put one in its mother's brain. There is still time, Master. Come with us quietly?"

"You
fool
!" Layne shrieked and kicked in the straw, rolling, coughing, trying to stand.

The foal reared back, wings spread, took a huge breath—and burped a cloudy puff of silvery smoke.

D'Rent's revolver swung up and locked onto one of the foal's eyes.

"No!" Anna yelled and ran straight at the gun, waving her arms like a lunatic. "Me!
Here
! You coward! Me!
Me
!"

And then she was staring into the black bore of d'Rent's weapon. She stopped in spite of herself and looked into death.

Time slowed.

Master Khondus grabbed Anna's shoulder and pulled her back just as d'Rent fired. The shot was impossibly loud. Anna's ears rang. Master Khondus grunted and staggered back. Something wet spattered Anna's cheek. But the Master was still moving forward, still brandishing the hammer. Nightlove bellowed. The stable shook. The big dragon tried to stand, collapsed. Layne squealed. On its perch, the foal rose to its full height, white wings wide against the darkness. D'Rent adjusted his aim and fired. The foal snapped its head back with preternatural speed, the bullet sparking off stone. D'Rent adjusted his aim once again and Anna dove straight at him crazily, arms wide and waving, doing anything to get in front of the gun. The foal took a deep breath, snout pointed at the ceiling. D'Rent knocked Anna back with a fast slap, aimed. But the foal was already dropping its head, fangs wide, wings spread. It blasted d'Rent with silver-white fire—neck craning, eyes clamped shut, flame roaring from its mouth. But d'Rent wasn't there. He'd already dropped to his side, rolling towards Lord Layne fast as a cat. The three guardsmen behind him weren't so lucky, however. They took the full force of the foal's discharge and were instantly burning, screaming, and running frantically into each other, swords dropping mindlessly to the straw.
Not trained to war with dragons?
Anna thought, a weird glee rising up in her mind. Her lip was bleeding. And she loved it. She reached for one of the guardsmen's swords. "Back." Master Khondus grabbed her by the collar and pulled her behind him, moving once more for d'Rent, hammer ready. The guard captain was up on one knee, his arm on fire, aiming at the foal, correctly assessing the most serious threat even as Master Khondus closed. Nightlove roared. The stable thundered. The two guardsmen at the door looked like they wanted to enter, but they dared not face the dragon foal's flame. Layne screamed. D'Rent fired. Again the foal seemed to anticipate the shot, its neck whipping sideways, the bullet punching through the membrane of its right wing even as it craned its head to the ceiling, taking another breath, its head coming down, mouth yawning wide. Master Khondus saw the foal's intent and threw himself sideways. For d'Rent, however, there was nowhere to hide. Beside him, Layne shrieked, legs churning in the straw. The foal blasted them both full on, plastering them back in the straw, silver-white flames funneling flesh from bone. D'Rent dropped his pistol, raised his hands as if to fend off the dragon fire, lips and beard crisping and melting, white teeth flashing in a molten skull. Layne squealed once and went silent. And still d'Rent's three guardsmen burned. Two were down, but the last one ran in place with tiny steps, his voice a kind of mad gibbering. One of the guardsmen outside dove into the room and knocked his comrade to the ground, trying to tamp out the flames. "Run!" he shouted to his mate outside the door. His partner made to turn, but Master Khondus rose on one knee and hurled the hammer, striking the turning guardsman on the back of the head, dropping him like a stone. The foal swelled on its perch, wings spread wide, took another huge breath, and hit d'Rent and Lord Layne one more time for good measure, the force of the blast knocking them across the floor smack into the far wall. Then the foal turned its attention to the two living Tevéss soldiers at the center of the stall, cocking its head, staring at them inquisitively. The Tevéss guardsman who'd come in from the doorway had managed to put out the fire on his friend. He now rose to his knees, his sword held uneasily before him. The foal's wings slowly fanned the air. Cinders swirled. The stench of scorched straw and charred flesh was everywhere. D'Rent and Layne burned amidst the blazing straw. Nightlove stretched, calmer now, savoring the heat and the smell of battle. Smoke billowed. The foal seemed to be waiting for something, its silvery-white eyes wide, staring at Anna.

"Traitors!" the Tevéss guardsman finally shouted helplessly, his voice cracking. "Treachery!"

"
You
are the traitor, soldier," Anna shouted, her mind roaring. "We know
your plan. Understand?"

The man stared at her. Clearly, he did not understand.

"We know!" Anna pointed at him, her finger aimed like a thunderbolt. "
We know
!"

The foal leapt from its perch and landed with a grunt in front of the guardsman. The man screamed. The foal looked at him for half a moment, cocking its head. Then it casually bit the man's head from his shoulders, tossed it out the birthing stall's door, and started in on its dinner, gnawing on the man's spurting neck, oblivious to the burning straw around it.

"And so die
all
who break their word!" Anna roared.

"Anna," Master Khondus said gently.

Anna blinked. A blood stain had appeared beneath Master Khondus's right armpit, but it wasn't large.

"The fire, Anna," he said. "I'll lock the outer stable door."

The foal looked up at her, as if awaiting a command.

"No." She shook her head at it and took a deep breath. "You did well."

The foal grunted and shoved its snout back into the bloody hole it had made at the top of the guardsman's corpse. It seemed to be eyeing d'Rent and Lord Layne hungrily, even as it feasted.

"Anna," Master Khondus repeated, "the fire." Then he hurried out of the birthing stall, pausing a moment to finish the Tevéss guardsman he'd downed outside the door with a boot stomp to the throat.

Anna blinked, and things came back into focus. In front of the door, everywhere on the far side of the stall, the straw was burning fiercely. Somehow, she hadn't really noticed it. Their enemies were dead and—despite the smoke and the flames—Anna felt like she could breathe for the first time in three years.

10

S
TAYING LOW
, A
NNA
ran and pulled several woolen blankets from their shelf on the near wall, calmly laying the thick fabric over the fire. The smoke stung her eyes, but she was able to get the blaze under control. Master Khondus returned just as she'd finished tamping out the last of the flames.

The Master set the hammer down, saw that the fire was entirely out, then opened the shutter of the stable's small window to let in some air. A large crow sat on the window sill. The Master shooed it away, came back, and took a knee beside Anna. He glanced at the feasting foal then inspected Anna's face and arms and torso.

"You hurt? Looks like he split your lip. Your eyes?"

"The smoke, sir. It's fine. You're injured." She looked at the bloodstain below his armpit.

"Don't mind that. Look at me."

Anna did so.

Master Khondus took her chin, turned her face towards the window's light, and brushed a lock of dark hair from her eyes. He took a clean cloth from his pocket and cleaned her face.

"You all right?" he asked gruffly.

"Yes, sir."

"Good." He cleared his throat. "Now, attend. We've got even less time than I thought."

From its place on the guardsman's chest, the foal burped, settled back on its haunches, and showed Anna its bloody fangs. It snorted, unfurled its wings, and leapt to its spot beside Nightlove, where it turned three times in a circle and lay down, nose on its tail, and watched her—or seemed to watch her, she had to keep reminding herself. Nightlove took a deep breath, closed her blue eyes, and licked the foal's face clean. The foal sighed, but its eyes stayed open. Even as Nightlove cleaned it, the foal tracked Anna, as if observing her every move.

Master Khondus raised an eyebrow. "Looks like we've got a war dragon on our hands."

11

"
Y
OU MEAN HE'LL
live?" Anna asked, all caution gone.

"How can he not?" Master Khondus scratched at his stubble. "Regardless, we'll attend to
him later
.
Right now, we move."

Anna's heart soared. It took everything she had to keep a lunatic smile off her face. The foal grunted and cocked its head at her. Of course, Anna knew the foal's rider wouldn't be her. Couldn't be her. She was too young by two years. But that didn't matter. The foal would have its chance.

"Let me bandage your side, sir." Anna grinned. "Can't win wars with open wounds."

Master Khondus's eyebrow arched at Anna's expression. "Very well. Hurry it up."

Anna stepped out of the birthing stall, knelt by the Tevéss guardsman that Master Khondus had killed outside the door, and removed the soldier's belt. It had not been damaged by the fire. She returned to the stall and tore one of the sleeves from her tunic to use as a pad for Master Khondus's injury.

"Master Borónd will have a healing cordial in the library," Anna said.

"No time," Master Khondus grunted. He turned and knelt in front of Anna. "Bind me."

Anna pulled Master Khondus's shirt up around his neck. D'Rent's bullet had plowed a furrow through the muscle just under his right armpit. There was some blood, but it didn't flow. Anna tended the wound with a clean cloth, using some warm water from one of the buckets that they'd used for the birthing. As she did, she saw other scars on the Master's back. At least two other bullet wounds, three other punctures, and a raking gash that ran from shoulder to hip that only could have come from a dragon's claw.