05 Dragon Blood: The Blade's Memory (20 page)

A throat cleared in the office. All right, there was
one
person who might notice, the person who had approved of this evacuation.

As Ridge strode toward the office, his earlier apprehension faded, replaced by irritation. He was irritated at Therrik, and he was irritated at the queen, too, even if he hadn’t figured out what her role was in all of this. It was hard to believe that the king’s wife of over twenty years would be spearheading some plan to make her husband disappear and empty the city of its defenses. Why would she? To hand the capital over to the Cofah? How could anyone who had grown up here and endured the frequent and inexorable attacks from the empire think of working with them?

Ridge knocked on the door. The only thing that kept him from barging in and making demands was the reminder of Therrik’s training as an infantry soldier who had spent time with the elite forces units. As twitchy as those boys were, he would probably spring for Ridge’s neck before bothering to identify him.

“What?” came the familiar growl. Apparently, Therrik wasn’t worried that some general had come up to visit him.

“You’re in my chair,” Ridge said as he opened the door.

The big desk faced the door, so Ridge looked his nemesis in the face as he walked in. Therrik’s eyes narrowed to slits. He planted his hands on the paper-filled surface and rose slowly, his massive shoulders flexing. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing corded muscle and tattoos of daggers dripping blood. He could probably spring over the desk from that position. Ridge propped a fist on his hip, hoping to show that he wasn’t intimidated. He actually wasn’t since Sardelle was out there, though the idea of relying on his lady for protection did make him feel a tad unmanly.

“It’s
my
desk now.” Therrik smiled, an alarming gesture, even if it was every bit as cold and unfriendly as the rest of him.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for a desk man. Pilots like to sit down, but I would have thought all your big muscles would cramp up being forced into inactivity.” Ridge glanced at Therrik’s forehead, hoping to imply his brain muscle had cramped up, too, but he doubted the man was perceptive enough to see through such a subtle hint.

At what point will you start directing the interrogation toward the questions we wish to know?
Sardelle asked politely.

I figured we needed to exchange pleasantries first.

If you goad him into attacking you and I have to reveal myself, I expect he’ll be less amenable to answering anything. If he’s affiliated with that organization, he’ll hate me on sight.

Yes, Ridge remembered the unflattering things Therrik had said regarding Sardelle and Tolemek in that first meeting with the king. He’d never met either of them then. He might have based his hatred of Tolemek on his reputation, but he couldn’t have known a thing about Sardelle, unless he had been chatting with the queen back then and
she
had told him something.

For most, it’s enough that I have dragon blood. It seems that people in this century don’t need any greater reason to hate me.

Ridge would have liked to say something comforting back to her, even if she had stated it without much emotion, but Therrik was opening his bear trap again.

“Where have you been, Zirkander?”

“Cofahre.” Ridge almost made a comment about how he had been risking his life while Therrik had been polishing that chair with his butt, but that would remind Therrik about how he had been abandoned. No need to bring that up.

“After that,” Therrik said. “Kaika and your scrawny lieutenant came back more than two weeks ago.”

Ridge tried to sense if he knew anything about Kaika’s capture at the castle, but Therrik did not give any special emphasis to her name.

“We had to deprive the Cofah of the source of their dragon blood, which we were successful at.”
I’m going to try and direct him onto more relevant topics now
, he added silently, assuming Sardelle was monitoring his thoughts. “But as Apex would have reported, I’m sure they still have supplies stashed away. Therrik, how could you approve sending both squadrons out of the city? Those weapons are mission-ready. The unmanned fliers and self-directing rockets could show up in our airspace any day.”

Therrik had opened his mouth, a protest on his lips, but he frowned at Ridge’s last couple of sentences. “Rockets? What are you talking about?”

Ridge stared at him. “How can you not know? Didn’t you get Apex’s report? The dragon blood samples?”

Since Therrik continued to look puzzled, Ridge started to doubt himself—to doubt his officer. Apex had placed that tracking device. What if he
hadn’t
reported in and
hadn’t
brought the vials of blood? But even if he hadn’t, surely Kaika would have shared all that information with her superiors. Or…

“Wait, was General Ort still in charge then?” Ridge tried to remember exactly what Kaika and Apex had said when they had found him on Owanu Owanus. They’d said Ort had been missing, but maybe he hadn’t been when they first reported in. Maybe Ort had received the information and then been kidnapped before being able to brief anyone.

“No, he disappeared shortly after the king did,” Therrik said. “
Several
people have disappeared. Maybe you’ll be next, now that you’re back. I’ve noticed it’s the mouthy ones that go.”

“Have you?” Ridge muttered. Ort wasn’t mouthy, not generally, but Ridge could see him protesting something like these foolish orders to send both squadrons away. “So, why are you still here? Is it true you’re sleeping with the queen?”

Therrik made a choking noise, and his hands, which had been pressed flat against the desk’s surface, now curled around the edges.

He’s thinking of strangling you
, Sardelle informed him.
You predicted that well.

I’m surprised he’s restrained himself for so long. You getting anything from him?

“Listen, Therrik. I don’t care if you are.” Not entirely true. Ridge liked the king well enough and would prefer to believe his wife was loyal to him. “But tell me someone knows about the dragon blood and the new Cofah weapons. What did Apex report to you?”

“Yes, we know about the dragon blood. Vile stuff.” Therrik jerked a thumb toward the back of the office.

Ridge had to rise to his tiptoes and lean to the side to see around him. What he spotted tucked behind the stand for the telegraph machine made him gape. Even without seeing the contents, he recognized the bags that he and the others had used to tote the vials of dragon blood out of the volcano laboratory. They slumped dejectedly in the corner, not looking like anyone had even investigated them.

“What’s been going
on
around here?” Ridge thrust his arm toward the bags. “Our scientists should be studying that, trying to make weapons or defenses to counteract what the Cofah are going to launch at us, what they could be flying over here to launch at us even as we speak. Didn’t Apex tell you how viable their weapons are? One of those smart rockets, or whatever you want to call them, followed me all through a canyon and nearly killed me.” It
would
have killed him if not for Jaxi’s intervention.

“I’ve seen you in canyons. You could crash yourself without the help of a rocket.” Therrik waved a dismissive hand. “Even if they’re making weapons, they’ll be testing them for a while first, I’m sure. They haven’t had the dragon blood for long—we would have known about it. It’ll wait until after the fliers get back from their mission, a mission you really should join in with. In fact, I insist you join it.”

“Does the queen insist I join it? Is she the one trying to get all of the fliers out of the city? To make us vulnerable to our enemies?”

Getting anything from him?

Yes, some. Bring up the sword, if you can.

“What makes you so sure an attack is coming, Zirkander?” Therrik glowered suspiciously.

He’s truly wondering if you know something he doesn’t
, Sardelle thought.

I know all kinds of things he doesn’t.
“I’m not
sure
, but if we have spies over there, we have to assume they have spies here, spies who are reporting back that we’re having a few problems right now.” Ridge strode forward until only the desk separated them. “You don’t know where the king was taken do you?”

“No.”

“Does the queen know?”

“How should I know?”

He’s lying. An image of a lighthouse flashed through his mind when you asked.

“You didn’t maybe get hired or coerced to kidnap him, did you?” An expression of pure rage contorted the man’s face, but Ridge pressed on, hoping to give Sardelle the opening into his mind that she needed. “Maybe you and your big ugly dragon-slaying sword?”

Therrik’s muscles had been bunching, as if he meant to leap over the desk and attack, but he froze when he heard those last words.

“That’s right. We found it. Funny thing, though. This assassin was wielding it, trying to use it to kill a dragon. Ahnsung. I assume you’ve heard of him. I shot him. Guess I’ve got another reason to watch my back. How did an assassin get ahold of your sword, anyway? Or
is
it yours? I know you’ve got the box under your bed, but I suppose you could have stolen it. I—”

Duck!
Sardelle urged at the same time as Therrik exploded into motion.

Ridge ducked—he almost tumbled all the way to the floor in his effort to do so. Therrik sailed over his head, a powerful gust of wind coming from nowhere to add to his momentum and keep him from grabbing Ridge. He flew all the way to the door and bashed against it with his shoulder so hard that the wall rattled. That did not keep Therrik from whirling back toward Ridge.

“I didn’t
steal
anything,” he snarled, his hands outstretched. He took a step toward Ridge but seemed to be fighting something. The wind had stopped, but some other barrier restrained him. “That sword has been in my family for a thousand years.”

Ridge darted behind the desk so there would be one more barrier between them.

“And I wouldn’t kidnap the king. I’m loyal, more loyal than you, you smug bastard.” Therrik looked down at his hands, confusion replacing some of the rage on his face. Was he just now realizing that something was holding him back?

“Did she ask you to?” Ridge asked, trying to decide if the way Therrik had phrased that denial hinted of that.

“I’m loyal to the king,” Therrik repeated, then his lips reared back in a snarl. “Your witch. She’s here!”

“You think I’d come visit your tiny, unstable brain on my own?” Ridge asked. “Who gave the sword to Ahnsung?
He
didn’t kidnap the king, did he?” No, Ahnsung couldn’t have been in two places at once. He had been hunting the dragon.

Yes, but he got there after us, remember? Therrik believes Ahnsung
was
the one who kidnapped the king. After he refused to do it for the queen.

For the queen. She’s really the one behind everything?

Therrik believes she is.

Therrik seethed, his muscles straining against the fabric of his shirt and his face flushed red as he tried to physically fight the invisible barrier that held him.

Why?
Ridge asked.
Is she working for the Cofah?

He doesn’t think so. She wanted to get rid of me and of Tolemek, of any magic users on the continent, actually, but apparently, it was our appearance in the city that spurred her to action. The king gave Tolemek a position here and stocked that lab. And he didn’t particularly care that I was walking around with you. It enraged her. The king wouldn’t listen, saying he wasn’t going to prosecute people for their blood. She decided to deal with us—with all sorcerers—her own way. This is the story as it was relayed to Therrik, by the way. I have no way to know if it’s the truth. But Therrik’s prejudices are clear. He was happy to go along with her insofar as getting rid of us, and even volunteered to get his family’s sword out of the crypt, because it could slay sorcerers as well as dragons. He’s quite proud that he’s descended from dragon slayers.

“I’ll bet.” Ridge eyed Therrik, wondering if he was about to have a stroke. His face had gone from red to almost purple.
So all of this is about getting rid of people with dragon blood? It has nothing to do with the Cofah?

With the king gone, she saw this as her chance to ensure all of the Referatu and their descendants were utterly wiped out. As if Iskandia didn’t nearly accomplish that three hundred years ago.
Sardelle’s bitterness seeped through the link, and he could not blame her for it. The next time she was clinging to a wall while the queen walked past underneath, he wagered she would do more than watch in silence.

She didn’t kill her husband, did she?
Ridge asked.
Was he truly kidnapped or… something else?
If Ahnsung had been involved, it could definitely have been a more final treatment.

Therrik believes he’s being stored somewhere out of the way. He doesn’t know, but thinks it has to do with a lighthouse. I don’t recognize the one he’s thinking of. He may not even recognize it. I get the sense that he’s never been there, since he did draw the line at being a part of the kidnapping. The queen asked him to do it first, but he wouldn’t betray the king, not even to get rid of witches.

He’s so noble.

I hate to interrupt, my interrogation specialists,
came Jaxi’s voice,
but company is coming.

What kind of company?
Ridge would have looked out the window if the office had one, but there wasn’t much access to natural light in the hangar when the big rolling doors were not open.

Several soldiers coming up on the tram. I think they’re here for you.

Wonderful.
General Arstonhamer must have checked up on Ridge.
Sardelle? Can you convince Therrik to step outside for a few minutes? Uhm, Jaxi? Is there any chance you could delay that tram for a few minutes?

You and Sardelle aren’t planning a rutting session before you’re parted, are you?

I’m not planning anything that enjoyable, I assure you.