6.0 - Raptor (41 page)

Kasandral’s wooden box hummed, almost vibrating in Cas’s grip. The sword’s agitation beat at her mind, containing a mix of eagerness, fury, and a desire to kill.

“
Meyusha
,” she whispered, “
Meyusha
.” It was the word Sardelle had translated that meant
stand down
. Relax. At least for now. She’d spoken it in her mind last night to get the sword to stop harassing her about Tolemek.

It didn’t work as well this time. Maybe asking Kasandral to calm down when there was a dragon thirty meters away was too much.

“Hiding in the tram tower, or better yet, down in the mines, doesn’t sound half bad,” Pimples said, his gaze locked on the dragon.

“I’m not hiding anywhere,” Duck said. “I want another chance at that oversized canary. Tolemek was supposed to be making some bullets that could hit him. Cas, you know if that happened yet?”

“Uh.” Probably not, since Tolemek had been busy with her this morning, unless he’d gotten them done before coming down. “Let’s see if Kaika has something for us.”

She took a step in that direction, but Tolemek jogged out of the headquarters building, and she paused to see if he would come over. The courtyard had cleared somewhat, with most of the soldiers at their posts now, and he spotted her. He waved, but he headed for the airship instead of in her direction. He glanced around the outpost and nearly tripped when he spotted the dragon on the tower. He ran several steps with his head craned all the way around before picking up his pace and racing to the ladder.

“Maybe he’s going to get those bullets now,” she said.

But Pimples and Duck had left her, already heading for the tram tower. She ran to catch up.

Captain Kaika stood alone in there, looking bored as she leaned against a big piece of machinery and gazed through the open sides of the tower toward the dragon’s perch. A wooden box rested at her feet, a plunger in the upright position. Cas recognized the detonator for what it was and halted well away from it. Between the machinery, giant cable spool, and a tram car half hiding Kaika from view, it was crowded in the small tower even without four people inside. At least it provided some shelter from the hail and wind.

Kaika’s eyebrows arched. “Can I help you?”

“Therrik said you were in charge of us,” Cas said, “that General Zirkander is busy doing something.” Napping, supposedly, but that sounded extremely unlikely.

“Lucky me.”

“Are we supposed to help you with—uhm.” Duck bit his lip and looked down at the detonator.

“Nope. Therrik probably wanted you out of the way.”

“Do you know what’s going on?” Cas asked.

“Yup, but I’m not supposed to talk about it,” Kaika said. “Or think about it. Everyone’s hoping the dragon won’t notice me, since someone had to stay awake who knew what was going on.”

“Uh, what?”

Kaika held a finger to her lips and nodded toward the artillery tower.

Therrik was below it, waving his rifle and pointing up at the dragon. Morishtomaric wasn’t looking at him. Instead, he was studying the silver-scaled dragon standing on all fours in the courtyard behind Therrik. Phelistoth was not glaring defiantly up at Morishtomaric, as Cas would have expected. His neck was bent low, his head near the ground, his eyes turned toward the mud.

“Why does he look like a dog about to roll over and give up his belly?” Duck asked.

Cas shook her head. She had no idea what was going on. Were the dragons communicating?

The soldiers stationed on the walls all had their rifles trained on the dragons—both of them. From the way those men shifted about, glancing at each other and muttering imprecations, they had to be nervous. A bullet wouldn’t likely hurt Phelistoth, but he had proven himself an ally, at least nominally. What would he think if Iskandians started shooting him?

Morishtomaric leaped into the air.

“Get back,” Kaika whispered. “Hide behind the car.” She crouched behind the machinery, so she wouldn’t be visible to the dragon.

Cas did as instructed, though she hated not being able to see what Morishtomaric was doing. She crouched down, the sword box in her lap, and she curled her fingers around the lid, resting them on the latches. Therrik had said to take it out, but wouldn’t the dragon be more likely to sense Kasandral then? Back in the castle, the others had spoken of keeping the blade in the case until she was ready to strike. She would need surprise on her side to have a chance of cutting down a dragon in a sword fight. Surprise and a lot of luck.

“Look out,” someone shouted in the courtyard.

“It’s going in the mines?” came a questioning shout from the wall.

Cas wanted to get up and look. The box buzzed in her hand, and even though Kasandral did not speak, she could imagine his words if he could:
Take me out. I’m ready. Must fight!

Kaika made a patting “stay down” motion with her hand. She appeared calm, almost bored. She must have known that wherever the dragon was going, it wasn’t aiming for them. The detonator rested on the ground an inch from her knee.

Cas caught a flash of gold between the tower’s support post and the dangling tram car, then the dragon disappeared. Only as Kaika stood up and gazed toward the tram shaft did Cas realize he must have gone down there. She was surprised the massive creature had fit through the open double doors. They were large, with room for tram cars and ore carts, but that dragon was so big. Then she thought of Phelistoth and the way he could shift to human form and presumably other shapes. Maybe Morishtomaric had made himself thin enough to fit.

“He go all the way to the bottom?” came Therrik’s voice from outside the tower. Thuds and splashes sounded, as he ran closer.

Cas eased out from behind the tram car, so she could see the open shaft. Pimples and Duck crowded behind her, as if they had been waiting for her to move so they could too. Therrik charged up to the shaft’s edge and peered down, both his rifle and his sword now in hand.

“Yes,” Phelistoth said. He had changed back to human form and walked up behind Therrik. He glanced into the shaft, sniffed derisively, and strode toward Cas.

He was looking past her, so she skittered out of the way, stepping on Duck’s foot in her haste. Starting to get the gist of what was going on, she did not want to delay anything.

“Ouch, Raptor,” Duck said. “Your heels are as sharp as your sights.”

“You shouldn’t stand so close to her,” Pimples said. “She only cozies up with Deathmaker.”

With her eyes locked onto Captain Kaika’s face, Cas did not respond to them.

“Is it time?” Kaika asked Phelistoth.

“Soon.” Phelistoth closed his eyes. “He is navigating the passages on the lower level.” His mouth twisted. “Passages that
I
cleared.”

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate your good work.”

“Doubtful. He is arrogant.”

Cas kept herself from snorting, though she wondered if dragons thought all other dragons were arrogant, except for themselves.

That is an essential truth
, Jaxi spoke into her mind.

Cas twitched. She didn’t know if she would ever get used to having another entity randomly speaking into her mind.

Sardelle and Ridge are sleeping, so I have few people to talk to. Besides, I thought I should warn you that if this doesn’t work, you’ll need to be ready to use that sword soon. Might want to unbox him.

I don’t understand why they’re sleeping.
Cas frowned down at the box. Therrik had said the same thing. Maybe everybody else was right.

So Morishtomaric couldn’t read their thoughts and see this plan. I expect everyone will run when the explosives go off, even though Kaika was supposed to plant them so that the outpost itself wouldn’t be in danger. If I were you, I would stay right there, next to the tram shaft. Try to get first blood if he comes out that way.

Cas pushed open the tram car door and laid the box inside.
Sardelle, Tylie, and Tolemek aren’t around, right?
She knew Tolemek had gone up to the airship, but if Tylie and Sardelle were in the courtyard or nearby when she drew Kasandral…

They’re in the headquarters building. Just remember those commands so you can make Kasandral work for you instead of the other way around. And remember which phrase you don’t want to say.

Cas shuddered as she unlatched the box. She had recognized the phrase as soon as Sardelle had translated it, the one the queen had used, the one that translated to “take over.”

As Cas took the hilt into her hands, the sword thrummed contentedly. Up in the flier, there hadn’t been time to remember what that blade had done in her grip back in the castle, but as soon as she lifted it, her forearms flexing with the unaccustomed weight, she started sweating. Sardelle and Tylie weren’t nearly as far away as she had hoped they would be when she drew Kasandral from the box. She wished they were up on the airship, far out of reach.

“Now,” Phelistoth said, the single word stirring Cas from her dark thoughts.

“Now it is.” Kaika depressed the plunger on the detonator.

Cas stepped around the corner of the tram car, so that she was only a few feet from the shaft entrance. The hail had grown heavier, the icy balls bouncing to the ground larger. A white film coated the muddy courtyard.

“Get back, girl,” Therrik growled and reached for her shoulder.

The signal Kaika had sent arrived at its destination before he could touch her. The distant boom was muffled, but the ground shook enough to make Cas sink into a crouch for stability. A second boom followed before the first had died out, and then a third. She soon lost track of how many explosions sounded from the depths of the mountain. Dust and the scent of something burning arose from the shaft, and she fought the urge to step back.

Wood snapped down below—supports that had survived the previous day’s cave-in finally snapping. A roar drifted up through the shaft, along with more dust. Rain was already dripping into Cas’s eyes, and now the dust assailed them too. She kept them open to a squint, certain that if the dragon came out this way, she wouldn’t have more than a split second to attack before he shot into the sky.

We’re hoping he’s crushed to death down there
, Jaxi informed her.

The last of the booms faded, rocks settling far below. Cas risked creeping closer to the shaft and stared into the depths. The weak daylight did not filter down far, and she could only see the ore tracks, the iron gleaming with dampness, for the first ten or twenty feet. Beyond that, it was too dark to tell what exactly had collapsed.

The half-frozen ground crunched beside her, making her realize how quiet it had grown. Therrik stepped up beside her, eyed the sword, then also stared into the shaft. Did he want to take Kasandral from her, to use it himself? A part of her wouldn’t have minded giving him the responsibility, but handing it to someone so dangerous and so full of hate and fear was too cowardly to contemplate.

Phelistoth also came close to the shaft on Cas’s other side, and Kasandral thrummed angrily in her hand. She whispered the relax command to it several times, but her skin crawled with the urge to swing the blade at him. She stepped around to the other side of the shaft, putting some space between them.

Oblivious—or indifferent—Phelistoth squinted thoughtfully into the dark passage.

“Well?” Therrik asked. “Is it alive?”

It wasn’t clear whether he was speaking to Phelistoth or simply asking the world in general. He didn’t look at the silver-haired man. From the way he clenched his sword, his knuckles tight on the grip, he wasn’t nearly as calm as he sounded.

“He lives,” Phelistoth said. “He may be trapped.”

“Trapped is good,” Cas said.

Kasandral’s constant thrumming somehow conveyed displeasure at her statement. Maybe Jaxi and Sardelle were wrong, and the blade
was
intelligent.

Phelistoth and Therrik glowered down at her.

“
Dead
is good,” Therrik said.

“I concur,” Phelistoth said.

A buzz made Cas’s palm tingle. Was that a warning?

Phelistoth’s shoulders slumped. “He’s coming.”

Therrik said something, but the ground shuddered, and rocks cracked far below, the noise loud enough to reach up through the layers of earth to them. Phelistoth backed up, moving out of Cas’s peripheral vision. Therrik scooted back too.

Cas remained, the sword in her hands, her knees bent to jump if she needed to. Rain dripped down the sides of her face, or maybe that was sweat. She wished the blade felt more comfortable in her hands, but she was aware of her inexperience, of the fact that the handful of katas the sword had guided her through the first time she’d carried it did not make up for the fact that she had never learned swordsmanship.

“Pimples,” came a distant call. Was that Tolemek? She glanced toward the airship and caught him leaning over the railing with a megaphone. He hefted a small wood crate with a rope tied around it. Pimples and Duck sprinted away from the tower, crossing the courtyard toward him. Kaika, a pack slung over her shoulder, trotted after them.

Cas tried not to feel all alone as her comrades departed. They were getting ready to fly, and she would join them if this didn’t work, but Jaxi was right. This might be her only chance to ambush the dragon.

The rain and hail picked up, beating onto the top of her cap, pounding her bare hands and bouncing off the blade. The earth shuddered one more time, a heave that made her feel like she was riding atop a wave.

Three seconds
, Jaxi warned.

Cas tore her gaze from her comrades and focused on the shaft again.

Two.

She licked her lips and prepared to jump.

One.

The dragon streaked out so quickly all she saw was a blur of gold. Cas leaped, thrusting forward and up with the blade. She glimpsed something glowing purple clutched in the creature’s talons. As ready as she’d been, she almost missed hitting the dragon at all—that was how fast he was. But Kasandral, guided by its power as much as her swing, bit into a golden-scaled leg, just above the talons.