Dragonseed (12 page)

“I’ll take your word for it,” said Vulpine. “You’ve educated the sons of many prominent sun-dragons; I’m certain in the university they show promise. But I deal with sun-dragons in the real world; they call on me when they’ve failed to keep their slaves under control. Most strike me as self-centered and slothful.”

“Many are self-centered,” agreed Chapelion. “But slothful? One sun-dragon alone disproved that notion. Did you know that, when I was but a young lecturer, one of my students was Blasphet himself?”

“The Murder God?” said Vulpine.

“The same. Though, back then, he hadn’t yet turned to his murderous path. I remember him well. Blasphet possessed a genius that surpassed any dragon I’ve since met, of any species. He could read the thickest of tomes in the span of a few hours and recall the most minute details. What’s more, he was quick to make connections between the things he learned; as a student he possessed an understanding of anatomy and chemistry that was unrivaled. The world lost a great mind when he was killed.”

Vulpine swayed backwards on his hind-talons. Praise for the hated Murder God was like a slap across his snout. “Blasphet died invading the Nest! He was attempting genocide against our race! How can you proclaim him a great mind?”

“By choosing my words carefully,” said Chapelion. “I didn’t claim that Blasphet had a kind heart. I’m aware, in retrospect, that his intellectual pursuits were driven by his darker urges. He became an expert botanist to identify the various poisons produced by plants; he excelled in chemistry because it gave him the tools to extract and refine these poisons. He understood the detailed workings of the anatomy of dragons and humans primarily because it gave him insight into the most effective tortures. Most impressively, he was a keen student of the mind—his insights into psychology allowed him to manipulate humans to such a degree that they worshipped him as the Murder God. Yes, in his passing, the world was rid of a monster. Still, I mourn the loss of the knowledge he possessed. If he’d ever wearied himself of murder and turned his attention to writing down all that he knew, he could have advanced many disciplines by decades.”

“Hmph,” said Vulpine. “I’ll leave you to ponder timelines that involve ‘if’ and ‘could.’ I’m more focused on here and now.” He glanced down at the map. He unslung the metal tube he’d captured from Jandra, and thrust the end of it to a piece of parchment on which a small city by a river was circled in thick red lines. “Dragon Forge is the most urgent threat we face, Chapelion. I’ll leave you to deal with politics. You can send diplomats to the abodes of the various sun-dragons and flatter, bribe, or deceive them into obeying you. But if the human rebellion spreads beyond Dragon Forge in any meaningful way, the entire fabric of the kingdom will be rent.”

“Agreed,” said Chapelion. “This adds urgency to my desire to select a new king. A strong army can…”

“Respectfully, sir,” interrupted Vulpine, “you make a grave mistake if you wait for a new king to deal with this problem.”

Chapelion shook his head. “You overestimate the threat these rebels pose. They only command one city; it is far from the abode of any sun-dragons. They can’t spread their power far.”

“It’s not power I fear they will spread, but chaos,” said Vulpine. “As I journeyed here, I saw many human towns abandoned. I see that the Free City is occupied, I assume by human refugees. If this unrest lasts into the spring, it will threaten the food supplies of the dragons. If no planting is done by humans, famine will spread through the land.”

“What would you have me do? The rebels at Dragon Forge are said to possess a new type of bow that repelled an army of sun-dragons and earth-dragons.”

“Give me command of half the aerial guard and a contingent of valkyries. Allow me to access the king’s treasuries and buy back the loyalties of the earth-dragon soldiers that currently roam the kingdom as bandits. We need to establish a complete blockade of Dragon Forge.”

Chapelion nodded thoughtfully. “You’ve always possessed a better strategic mind than I have, Vulpine. I’ve been so occupied with politics I’ve paid little attention to the human uprising.”

“Right now humans around the kingdom are learning of the humans' little victory. Instead of allowing this news to spread hope of rebellion among the humans, it’s important that humans shiver with horror when they hear the words Dragon Forge. Humans are creatures of habit; they fear change. As long as they are kept relatively content, we control them because they have a difficult time imagining life any other way. Let Dragon Forge remain in human hands for long, however, and soon every last man in this kingdom will be embracing the romantic notion that he’s a heroic rebel. It’s a vision that infected Shay, after all, and you were certain he’d never betray you.”

Chapelion sighed as he stared down at the map. He nudged his glasses further up his long face. His brow wrinkled as his eyes focused on the iron rod in Vulpine’s fore-talon.

“What is this device you carry?”

“That’s an excellent question,” said Vulpine, lifting the instrument. “I took this from Shay. Jandra killed Balikan with an identical weapon. The device produced a loud, focused explosion that propelled lead pellets at an unimaginable speed. Balikan’s head simply vanished. You are more the historian than I am, but I suspect this may be something that hasn’t existed in this world for centuries: a gun.”

“By the bones,” Chapelion said reverently, reaching out to take the weapon. “The secret of manufacturing gunpowder vanished ages ago.”

Vulpine held up the belt he’d taken. “This contains cotton pouches filled with black powder. I can identify some of the components by smell; I imagine Bazanel at the College of Spires can make short work of the recipe.”

Chapelion turned the gun over and over in his claws, studying the firing mechanism, sniffing at the barrel. “The scale pattern in the steel is curious. Could it be evidence that it was manufactured by a dragon?”

Vulpine shook his head. “Since the steel is of recent origin, and since Shay’s trail took him to Dragon Forge, I can only deduce the rebels at the foundry produced these.”

“This is horrible,” said Chapelion. “It was reported that they possessed a new type of bow. I didn’t expect that they’d manufactured something like this.”

“And they didn’t expect us to capture one so quickly,” said Vulpine. “If Bazanel can reproduce the chemistry of the powder, I’m certain that valkyrie engineers can duplicate the mechanics, or even improve them. We can negate their advantage in short order. If there’s anyone left to kill at Dragon Forge when we’ve armed ourselves, I suspect we’ll have the advantage.”

Chapelion looked up from the gun. “What do you mean, ‘if there’s anyone left to kill?’”

“As Slavecatcher General, I receive reports on the conditions of slaves throughout the kingdom. There’s always some new outbreak of disease: malaria, leprosy, yellow-mouth, or cholera. I have the authority to impose quarantines on slave trading with infected abodes until these outbreaks run their course. I propose that we harness one of these diseases as a weapon. We need something with a high mortality rate, something easily spread, and something that doesn’t immediately produce symptoms. Our carrier will need to be healthy enough to get inside Dragon Forge, after all. There is currently an outbreak of yellow-mouth in the abode of Rorg. It doesn’t have quite the mortality rate I’d like… more than half its victims survive. But it’s active now, and spreads easily. A single infected human within the walls of Dragon Forge will cripple the place.”

“You’ve given this some thought,” said Chapelion.

“It’s the nature of my job,” said Vulpine. “I’ve spent years imagining responses to mass uprisings such as the one we face.”

“Such imagination! Turning plague into a weapon of war,” Chapelion said, shaking his head. “Not even Blasphet ever latched upon such a plan.”

“Do you object to it?”

“No. I’ll dispatch a messenger to the valkyries at once. Sagen, here can serve as head of a squadron you select from among the aerial guard. The full treasury is at your disposal as well. Your plan is sound. Make it happen.”

Vulpine lowered his head respectfully. “I’m honored by your trust.”

“I recognize a great mind when I see one,” said Chapelion.

CHAPTER EIGHT:

CONSORT OF DEMONS

JANDRA HELD THE
silver bracelet in her fist as she knelt on the cobblestone road. She gave the metal ring a powerful
whack
against a stone. Anza raised an eyebrow as a shower of sparks erupted from the metal. She swiveled her head, as if trying to pinpoint some distant sound.

Shay couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. They were well beyond the bustling activity of Richmond now, no more than a mile from the palace. They’d left the fresh horses from Burke’s Tavern in a stable in town to make a stealthier approach.

It was still a few hours before dawn; Shay’s breath was coming out in great clouds. The world was perfectly still, quiet enough that the rustle of Shay’s coat as moved sounded loud.

The sparks from Jandra’s magic bracelet swirled around them. The air began to smell as if a storm had recently passed through the area.

“We’re invisible now,” said Jandra.

“No we’re not,” said Shay, staring down at his hands.

“The mirrors have a radius of about fifteen feet. Anyone inside can see clearly. If you’re outside the circle, the mirrors edit the scene and show only a background image.”

Shay looked around. “I don’t see any mirrors.”

“These aren’t the sort of mirrors you shave with. Magnetically Integrated Rapidly Rotating Optical Reversers are no bigger than a fleck of dust, all kept dancing on magnetic waves generated by the bracelet.” She slid the bracelet back on to her arm.

Shay nodded, understanding at least part of her sentence. “You’ve made us invisible with magic dust?”

Jandra rolled her eyes. “Shay, you’re going to have to trust me. I don’t have time to explain everything I …” Her face paled as she gazed off into the distance. Anza drew her sword and turned to follow Jandra’s gaze.

“What?” whispered Shay, clicking the safety off his shotgun.

“Put down your weapons,” Jandra said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Why did you fall silent? Did you see something?” Shay asked, looking toward Anza. He wasn’t going to put the safety back on until she relaxed. Anza stared into the dark, crouched as if ready to strike. Finally, she stood, the tension flowing from her body, and she silently slipped the sword back into its sheath.

Jandra ran her fingers through her hair. “It… it’s hard to explain.”

“Try us,” said Shay.

Jandra didn’t look directly at his face as she spoke. “Fine. I stopped talking because I suddenly had the urge to rewire your brain.”

“I don’t understand.”

“When I said I didn’t have time to explain everything, I found myself with the urge to reach out and physically rewire your brain. I wanted to give you some of my knowledge, until you were someone I could carry on a less frustrating conversation with.”

Shay frowned. “I wasn’t aware I was such a difficult person to talk to.”

“You’re not,” said Jandra. She brought her fingers to her lips and started to bite her fingernails. Lizard watched her hands carefully. She caught herself and lowered her hands to her sides. “The urge to alter your brain came from the goddess. She manipulated my memories so that I’d be a better companion for her. Now I’m thinking the same way she did. Maybe Hex was right. Maybe Jazz has tainted me so badly I can’t be trusted with power anymore.”

As Jandra spoke, Anza wandered further up the road, about twenty feet away. She turned around and broke into a grin. She gave a thumbs-up sign.

“That one I understand,” said Shay. “Apparently, we really are invisible. What I don’t understand is why you won’t admit to being a wizard. You use magic dust. You once possessed a genie. Why be coy about what’s so plainly the truth?”

Jandra gave him a stern, serious look. “Jazz had the same powers I once had. It corrupted her. She allowed people to worship her, to think she was something more than human. I don’t want anyone’s worship. I think honesty is my best hope of avoiding corruption when I get my powers back.”

“If you’re afraid of getting your powers back, why have we come all this way?” asked Shay.

“I don’t see any other option. So much in this world is broken, and I need my powers back if I want to fix it. I could heal Burke’s leg, and restore Vance’s sight.” They’d left Vance in Thorny’s care; his sight had never returned after his fall from the roof. “I might even figure out why Anza can’t talk.”

Anza tapped her foot on the cobblestones and looked toward the night sky.

“Let’s move on,” said Jandra. “But not too fast. The magnetic field of the bracelet isn’t all that powerful. If we took off running, or encountered a strong wind, it would disrupt the pattern and we’d be visible again. It’s a good thing it’s a calm night.”

Anza watched as the others walked toward her. Shay could tell the moment when they became visible to Anza by the way her eyes shifted their focus. He found himself increasingly comfortable with staring at Anza’s face. There was a lot she could communicate with only subtle motions of her eyes and mouth. Anza didn’t seem to mind being stared at. She projected a calm confidence when people were watching her. When Shay thought someone was watching him, he became self-conscious and awkward.

While he was comfortable staring at Anza, he still felt uncomfortable if Jandra caught him looking at her. Anza was beautiful, feminine in her grace and balance, yet somehow the multitude of weapons she boasted removed all temptation to think of her in a romantic fashion. Jandra was different. At first, he’d been put off by the idea that she was a dragon’s pet. He’d assumed she’d be snooty and shallow, like other pets he’d encountered. Despite Jandra’s impatience with his questions, he found her to be anything but snooty. She seemed, instead, to be driven by a need to help and protect others. Perhaps it was arrogant of her to assume that she could fix the world’s problems, but Shay didn’t judge her harshly for this. He found himself attracted to her nobility. Of course, he also found himself attracted to her in other ways. Even dressed in her ill-fitting, borrowed clothes, Jandra had a simple beauty about her that he found enticing.