Never Deal with Dragons (16 page)

“This is Cai, the daughter of one of the kitchen staff. She fell asleep in my room, and I thought I should bring her with me until I can find her mom.”

Richard opened the door fully and stepped aside so I could enter.

“There’s a tray of cheese and crackers in my room if you want to go grab it.” He nodded and walked past me through the door.

Carol was still on the couch, but her color had improved substantially.

“Richard’s gone to grab some food. Crackers, cheese, none of it involving raw meat.” I motioned to the girl in my arms. “Thought we could maybe make a slumber party out of it.”

Carol smiled. I could tell she’d been worried about spending the night alone. “That sounds great—thanks.”

I laid Cai on the open portion of the sofa, and tucked the blanket securely around her body. She moaned once, softly, before snuggling deeper into the cushioning.

Richard came back in the room with the tray of food, and set it on the table. “Dan and Henry are in their rooms. Said to phone them if you ladies needed anything.” He looked to me. “You’re staying here for the night?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll let them know. Their rooms are just down the hall, so don’t hesitate to get them if you need something.” He grabbed a few pieces of food from the tray. “Sorry to run off like this, but I want to visit with Dreru before it gets much later.”

“Sorry I was late.”

“Not a problem. I’ll see you both in the morning.”

I gave Richard a wave, and I hoped Trian would find my note. But for now, I shook off my concern and focused on spoiling my friend until she forgot about raw meat and sharp dragon teeth.

Chapter Eleven

I didn’t sleep. Didn’t even try. Even after Carol had bid me good night and crawled into the king—sized bed, I waited until well after midnight before admitting Trian wasn’t going to show. To compound my stupidity, I returned to my room briefly to search for him, convinced he’d either missed my note or been hurt by one of Hian-puo’s numerous dragons.

“It’s not like he’s helpless or anything,” I muttered to myself under my breath.

“It’s not like who’s helpless?” I squealed like a little girl when Carol spoke right next to my ear.

“Oh, sorry. Talking to myself.”

“Have you been up all night?”

“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep. Today’s a pretty big day.” I collapsed into a heap on the sofa. “I hoped Trian would be here. He was supposed to meet me in my room last night, but he didn’t show.”

I rolled my eyes at Carol’s expression.

“And no, it wasn’t for anything similar to what you and Richard have been up to the last week.”

Carol grinned, and I had to admit, I was a tiny bit jealous about that fact.

“He was supposed to fill me in on his meeting with Rime.”

“Oh. That’s not good.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

There was a knock on the door. “Let me in. I found something.” Richard’s voice was excited.

I opened the door. It was obvious from the state of his clothes that Richard hadn’t got much sleep either. But he was much more alert and happy about it than me.

I tried to sound interested. “Oh yeah? Me too. But you first.” I was itching to tell him about Trian’s disappearance, but Richard was too keyed up about his own news, so it could wait.

“You know Shui-Tech, the company our imprisoned team was visiting about the hard drive?”

“Yeah?”

“Hian-puo’s staff has been sending a lot of communications in their direction about a product Hian-puo was interested in.”

I frowned. “So Hian-puo arrested Lord Relobu’s men because he didn’t want competition? Even if Hian-puo was after the hard drives too, it seems like a lot of trouble to go through just for first dibs on the tech. It’s a Chinese company. Hian-puo could have done what he has a million times before and just take the stuff. Or at the very least just order Shui-Tech not to sell to Relobu?”

“Yes. Unless it’s not the hard drives he was after.”

I jerked my gaze up to Richard. “You think there’s a bigger project he’s trying to hide? One big enough that he arrested Relobu’s team to keep them from talking about it?”

“I do.”

I mulled over Richard’s words. We needed to get Relobu’s team free. If what Richard was saying was true, they’d likely know what Hian-puo was hiding and could help me figure out how to handle the rest of the negotiations.

I’d just opened my mouth to tell him about Trian when the door swung open with a crash. Our heads swiveled in unison to stare at the slim, grim-faced dragon, one of Rime’s negotiation team, who stood in the opening. Two larger dragons, both dressed neck to flank in heavy leather armor stood behind him, their eyes gleaming with barely concealed malice.

“Lord Hian-puo requests your presence. Immediately.” His tone suggested “request” meant “orders.”

I eyed the three dragons while I weighed my options. Based on their current dispositions, I didn’t have many. So I did what I could to stall.

“Excuse me?” I could play dumb with the best of them.

Rime’s flunky flashed me his long forked tongue. “You heard me, human.”

I gestured to my legs, currently encased in a pair of flannel unicorn-spotted pajama pants. “I’m assuming you mean after I’ve dressed for the day?”

The dragon conferred briefly with his buddies in low, heavily accented tones I couldn’t quite understand. “You have ten minutes. No more.”

Carol jumped up from the couch and ran to her closet. I hoped that meant she planned to join me. Richard, shouldered past the three dragons on the way to his room, presumably for some fresh clothes.

“Richard! Get Dan and Henry!”

“On it!”

Good. Now if I could manage to locate Trian or Dreru, I’d have a chance of surviving this meeting.

I walked out the door and across to my room, the shuffling sound of dragon claws right on my heels, cursing Trian for all I was worth. If I lived through this, he was dead. Because of him I was severely sleep deprived, and now I’d be required to translate, negotiate with a human-hating dragon lord, and potentially save the world.

I looked over my shoulder at the two dragons, who’d followed me across the hall. “I don’t suppose someone could find me a damn cup of coffee?”

I took their silence as a no.

I ignored the angry faces of my reptilian escorts, and hurried to my closet. Without Richard and Carol it was up to me to dress appropriately, so I grabbed one of the few articles of clothing I actually recognized and started shimmying.

“What are you doing?” Cai stood in the open doorway of my closet, rubbing her sleepy eyes. All of the drama must have woken the girl.

“Honey, I’ve got to go see Lord Hian-puo this morning. Would you know where your mother is right now?” I almost dislocated a shoulder trying to coax the zipper up the remaining two inches of my back. Maybe the unicorn pajamas were a better choice. At least in them I had free range of motion. I dropped to my knees and crawled into the closet in search of a matching pair of shoes.

I crawled back out when the door banged against the wall. In each hand I held a three-inch heel raised in preparation of battle. Intimidating opponent I was not.

Rime’s dragons stood just inside the entrance.

“Guys, we really need to work on your manners. I’m not ready yet. Get out!”

Poor Cai, eyes wide with fear, had her back pressed against the wall in a desperate attempt to disappear.

The snake-like dragon ignored my order. His forked tongue tasted the air almost absently as he wandered around my room, examining the decor, stopping only to test the weight of the larger vases and candlesticks. “Your time is gone.”

“You said ten minutes.”

“I lied.”

Great, just great.

He moved toward Cai, his eyes gleaming in satisfaction as she whimpered and tried to curl into a corner. I wondered whether this was the same dragon who’d given her the wounds on her legs.

“Touch her and you die.” I’d managed to locate the knife Trian had given me, and I moved to stand between Cai and the dragon. Cai slipped from behind me and ran near the window, as far from her tormentor as possible. I kept my eyes steady on the dragon, silently daring him to move in her direction.

An odd hissing noise erupted from his throat as he laughed. “Never fear. I’ll not harm the little one. Today.” He grinned as his threat hit its mark.

Cai flinched.

“You’ll not harm her—ever.” But he and I both knew my words were empty. I couldn’t even guarantee my own safety.

Growing bored of the game, or perhaps fearing Hian-puo’s own form of torture, he waved me toward the door. “Come. Lord Hian-puo is waiting.”

“Please don’t leave me here.”

I glanced to Cai, whose whispered words went straight to my heart. I couldn’t leave her here alone. “She comes with me, until I find her mother.”

The dragon studied me silently.

“As you wish.” He bowed, and motioned again to the door.

I scooped Cai up and tucked her legs around my waist. “It’s okay. We’ll find your momma.”

The dragons must have assumed I would follow without complaint, because they allowed us to trail several feet behind the trio of sinuous bodies.

“The black dragon was bloody, but he was winning,” Cai whispered.

“I’m sorry?”

“The black dragon. He was outside, and the other dragons were trying to bite him, but he was winning. He knocked them all down except for one.”

“That’s good, Cai—that’s really good.” I wasn’t sure what to think about Cai seeing the black dragon in full sunlight, much less it taking on an entire group of other dragons. Lately I’d started to think the black dragon was a figment of my imagination. Cai’s sighting didn’t relieve all my doubts—both of us seemed to notice the dragon only during times of intense stress—but the odds of a shared psychosis were very rare.

I was about to ask her more about what she’d seen, but she changed the subject.

“How come you got really pretty rooms and your dragons have to stay in the basement?”

“What?” According to Richard, Dreru had been provided a very cozy stable attached to the main palace. As far as I knew, we didn’t have anyone staying in the main house. I told Cai as much.

“Then who are the guys my mom’s been taking care of? They’re all hurt pretty bad. Zi Xek doesn’t treat them as nice as he does you.” Cai gestured to one of the rude dragons leading us down the hall.

So this was the dragon that had hurt her. I stifled the urge to throw my knife at his head. For starters, I had terrible aim. And for another, I wasn’t completely convinced I wouldn’t need the knife for my meeting.

Depressing that she thought his current attitude toward me was “nice.” I itched to give the poor girl a hug and show her that not all dragons acted like the group she’d grown up around, but I was a little preoccupied with the puzzle she’d unknowingly presented.

“Can you tell me a little more about these dragons in the basement? What do they look like?”

Cai frowned slightly. “Well, I’ve never seen them. The basement’s real scary. I know Zi Xek hits them with stuff when they try to talk. Mom told me that. And I’ve heard them yelling stuff every once in a while when I walk by the stairs. But I can’t understand them ’cause they have funny accents, and I’m not too good with dragonspeak yet. Mom says they talk funny because they’re from another territory, kinda like you.”

Richard had rounded up the guys, and they stood in a group with Carol. When they saw me, the group fell into place as our procession passed. Carol glanced at Cai and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

I watched for her mother as we walked, or at the very least another servant. But the humans here made a point to stay out of the way of dragons; the halls were completely empty.

I needed to find Trian and tell him Cai was likely talking about the dragon portion of Relobu’s Shui-Tech team. I also needed an update on how his meeting had turned out with Rime and any new information he’d gathered that might be helpful in negotiations. But I didn’t have a clue where to start looking for him.

I’d tried calling the number he’d left in my phone, but no one answered. Something felt wrong. And I didn’t think it was the brusque manner of the summons. Our dragon escorts stopped before a pair of massive metal doors rimmed in gold and sporting the largest bronze dragon heads I’d ever seen. Each head was threaded with a thick bronze ring that hung an inch or so below the dragon’s chin.

The three of us stared at them in awe. They really were huge, and rather ugly.

“Haven’t seen knockers that big in a while.”

Our heads swung toward Richard in unison. He stood, hands in pockets, and eyed the doors with a mixture of disgust and humor. Carol met my eyes and we dissolved into giggles. She slapped him playfully on the shoulder.

“Behave.”

He caught her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm. “Don’t worry—yours are better looking.”

Ugh. I wished I were anywhere but here. Disgusting.

To me he said, “You’re nervous. Don’t be. We’re finally getting what we’ve asked for all week. A chance to speak with Hian-puo directly.”

“You’re right. You’re right. I’m just freaking out because Trian’s not here, and Hian-puo’s invitation took me off guard.” I appreciated Richard’s attempt to calm us down, but it didn’t help soothe the unease I felt as I stared at the closed doors.

Taking a deep breath, I gave Cai’s hand a little squeeze. “Could you do me a favor?” I bent down to Cai’s level and pointed at Carol. “My friend is really hungry. Could you take her to the kitchen and wait until I come and find you?” Cai must have been feeling the same sense of danger, because her little face lit with relief and she nodded.

I mouthed a thank you to Carol just before the doors opened and Richard and I walked inside.

Chapter Twelve

The scene was pretty much as I expected; the room was enormous, gaudy and filled with hostile dragons. What I didn’t expect was the dark-haired, distinguished gentleman presiding over the festivities. He sat perched upon the requisite throne—a required fixture in any throne room—dressed in blue silk pants and laughing with the reptilian giants gathered at his feet. His head was sprinkled with gray, and he wore his mustache in the Fu Manchu style popular almost three centuries ago.

Most of the dragons had congregated near his position, and though they appeared to be enjoying the conversation, their fidgeting suggested this man was a force to be reckoned with. I wondered who he could be; judging by his behavior, he was held in high esteem. Maybe Hian-puo’s chief steward? The Chinese version of Richard? I wasn’t sure.

I had to admit, I was slightly shocked that Hian-puo would allow a human to hold this much power over his dragons. Based on my reports and what Cai told me last night, the Chinese dragon lord struck me as someone who didn’t think very highly of our race.

Then again, he’d asked Lord Relobu for a human mediator. Maybe I had it all wrong. It wasn’t humans in general Hian-puo felt were beneath him; it was anyone holding a submissive position. That would certainly explain Jia and Cai’s treatment.

Cai’s mother was standing near the group, holding a tray of assorted refreshments. She looked up when I came in, and her face went white with fear. She set the tray on a nearby table and hurried to meet us.

“You need to get out of here. It’s not safe.” She sneaked another fearful glance at the smiling man on the throne.

I followed her gaze. The man didn’t look dangerous. In fact, he was relaxed and responding to something said to him by a green dragon on his left. But Jia was obviously terrified.

With another panicked glance at the throne, Jia started to return to her post, but before she’d crossed the full distance, the room went suddenly silent. Jia looked back at me, and then gasped and jerked upright. Her attention fixed on something just beyond my shoulder. I stiffened. A chill skittered up my spine, a sure sign that I was in the crosshairs of a predator. Oh, why was I stupid enough to waltz in here without Dreru or Trian?

It’s like I was asking to be eaten. I cautiously turned my head, expecting to see a seven-foot—tall dragon with pointy teeth and a grumbling stomach evaluating my potential flavor. I reached into my pocket for the cell phone I’d been given and rubbed my thumb over the small button Trian said would call the dragons.

But no. Instead of a woman-eating dragon, my gaze—adjusted slightly down from seven feet—landed on the strange human from the throne. He stood, barely five feet away, with a small smile playing across his mustached mouth.

“And who do we have here?” His expression stayed perfectly bland, a polite stranger waiting for an introduction. He toyed absently with a tassel on his ruby red jacket as he waited for my response. My eyes were telling me the man was harmless, but my pulse was speeding, and every instinct warned me never to turn my back on this person again. Something about the way he watched me made my skin crawl.

I forced myself to meet his eyes. One thing I had learned from DRACIM—never give someone a reason to believe you’re prey. I had my own version of this little tidbit: act like an equal, and pray to God they treat you as such. I hoped this motto worked equally as well with human employees of dragons.

I stepped forward and held out my hand. His fingers touched mine, and I had to force myself not to squirm. His handshake was firm, but his hands were dry, flaky, and made me think of the time my science teacher had us hold a garden snake. No matter how many times he told us the snake was harmless, my body was screaming
get it off
,
get it off!
Both this man and the snake were creepy, disgusting, and completely unnerving.

“Myrna Banks, representative of DRACIM Tulsa, here as a mediator between Lord Hian-puo of China and Lord Nir Relobu of North America on the subject of Lord Hian-puo’s detainment of a science team sent by Lord Relobu into Chinese territory.” I let go of his hand as quickly as politely possible, and squelched the urge to wipe my hand against the cloth of my dress.

The stranger bent his head in acknowledgment of my introduction. However, his gaze never wavered from my face. In fact, I was pretty sure he hadn’t so much as blinked the entire time we’d been talking. It was creepy, no question.

“Science team, you say?” His mouth did something strange with the s’s, and the words came out with a slight hiss. A shudder threatened to climb up my spine, and it occurred to me once again that there were far too many of Hian-puo’s dragons and far too few of my guards present. My left hand slipped back into my pocket to grip the cell phone.

Richard squeezed my other hand in reassurance and stepped forward. “Yes. I sent them into Lord Hian-puo’s territory for research on an emerging computer technology. Nothing more.” Richard made a show of scanning the room. “Perhaps we could take this conversation somewhere else? I expected this discussion to take place in Lord Hian-puo’s presence.”

A chuckle erupted throughout the room from Hian-puo’s dragons. I glanced at Richard, unsure of the cause of their reaction.

He shrugged.

Good. At least I wasn’t the only one not in on the joke.

The strange man merely smiled. “I believe this venue is appropriate.”

Okay then.

“In that case, Mister...” I waited, expecting the man to provide his name, but he stayed silent. “Um, in that case, Mr. Green requests his majesty’s permission to escort Lord Relobu’s dragons safely home.”

“No.” The man smiled, and his irises contracted into a shape no human’s ever had. I gasped and took another look. I wasn’t quite sure the man in front of me was fully human. Although my brain told me I was being melodramatic, my heart pounded in response to what I’d seen. This man, he couldn’t be...

I didn’t think—I just pushed the emergency “call the dragons” button on the cell phone.

For a moment, nothing happened, and I thought it hadn’t worked, that the circuit board in the device had gone kaput.

That is, until every dragon in the room raised their arms in an attempt to cover their ears. Dumbly, I stared at the phone. I didn’t hear a thing.

When I looked back to Richard and Dan to see if I’d gone deaf, they gave me near identical looks of confusion. They couldn’t hear it either. None of the humans could. Except the man Hian-puo had sent to meet with me.

I jumped as the double doors swung open and Trian strode through the entrance, dressed in a pair of torn jeans and filthy shirt. In addition to the damage to his clothing, an ugly cut graced the divide between his forehead and scalp. It was still sticky with half-clotted blood. I wondered what had happened, but I didn’t dare ask in front of our audience.

After he’d reached my side, Trian gently removed the phone from my grip and switched the call button to the off position. Then, Trian knelt in front of the stranger, eyes downcast. “Lord Hian-puo. Greetings are offered from Lord Nir Relobu. I apologize for not being present to introduce Ms. Banks.”

Lord Hian-puo?
The Chinese dragon lord was human?

I looked to Richard. “You didn’t know?” I mouthed.

He shook his head. “Not a clue.” But he was watching the unfolding drama avidly, a spark of speculation glinting in his eye.

Trian stood up and was still talking to Hian-puo, but I barely noticed. I was still trying to absorb the fact that the Chinese dragon lord wasn’t a dragon. Or if he was, his particular species was more human than any I’d seen before. How did a human maintain such iron control with his dragon subjects? What kept them from tearing him to shreds?

Hian-puo flicked a wrist in my direction. “This is who Relobu sends to conduct the hearing?”

I shot a look to Trian, requesting his silence before I addressed the dragon lord. It was important that I appear in control of the situation, even if, at the moment, the idea of my control of anything was laughable. If Hian-puo actually planned on allowing a discussion, I needed him to respect my authority when presiding over the talks. And until the dragon lord actually balked, I had to assume the mediation would still take place.

“Yes, I am. As I mentioned previously, my name is Myrna Banks. With your permission, I’ll be serving as a neutral mediator in the disagreement between you and Lord Relobu’s representative, Richard Green.”

I waited, outwardly patient, for his response. The tension in the room was so thick I could practically taste it. Dozens of dragons stared unblinking in our direction.

What had happened to Trian? And why did I not have a small army of Relobu dragons led by Dreru bursting through the door?

A woman shrieked and I turned. A large dragon—certainly one of Hian-puo’s private guard—had a sharp claw wrapped around Jia’s arm. He dragged her toward our group.

I stepped forward, for what I’m not sure, but Trian’s hand fell heavily on my shoulder. “Don’t interfere. It will only make things worse for her.

I jerked my gaze back to Hian-puo. He watched the exchange with passive interest, as if Jia’s terror were a stage performance specifically for his benefit. Jia made another sound, a low, moaning whine as the guard forced her to stand near the dragon lord. She fought, trying desperately to free her arm from the dragon’s grip.

“Stop.” Hian-puo’s voice was soft but more than effective, and Jia froze, along with the rest of the room.

The guard holding Jia turned to face his master, but did not release his grip. Jia’s chest heaved with exertion and fear.

Hian-puo looked to me. “Do you know this woman?”

I felt the room’s attention shift back in my direction. I wasn’t sure how to answer; I had no doubt Hian-puo had seen me enter the room with Jia’s daughter in tow. So I couldn’t lie and pretend we’d never spoken.

But I suspected Jia would not be rewarded for her friendliness to the unwelcome guests. Beneath the token smiles and conversation, Hian-puo’s dragons had made it clear we were the enemy.

I quickly ran through my options and decided brief was better. “Yes.”

“Hmm.” Hian-puo rubbed his chin in a show of thoughtfulness. “Would you say, Ms. Banks, that you know her more or less than the missing Rime?” His speech was slurring again, and I stared in horror at the slitted tongue dancing between his lips.

“I’m...” I coughed, buying myself time to get a grip on the panic flooding my system.
How much did he know about Rime?
My earlier attack of conscience concerning the drug-addled head of Hian-puo’s diplomatic team would not bode well for me in his dragon lord’s presence.

Gross interference with a dragon lord’s business was a killing offense, even to the laid-back Lord Relobu. I could only assume Lord Hian-puo’s punishment was just as strict. I had no desire to be tortured. There were some things worse than death.

I felt Trian tense beside me. I wasn’t the only one wondering how much hot water my deal with Rime had put us in.

A popping sound drew my attention back to the dragon lord. Hian-puo’s spine bent at an unnatural angle, and something protruded from beneath his ribs.

Oh my God.

“Trian?”

“He’s morphing.”

“I don’t...I don’t understand.” I stared, paralyzed by what I was seeing. The something beneath his ribs was starting to look a lot like a dragon’s wing. And the bones in his face were in the process of changing, elongating to form a lean red snout.

“Hian-puo is a dragon. He’s changing form.”

It didn’t make any sense. I simply couldn’t comprehend Trian’s words. But the proof was right in front of me. The human standing before me was rapidly gaining mass. And it was hard to ignore the wing-shaped protuberance now jutting from the area of his shoulder blade. A second wing peeked from beneath his other side, and I watched, sickened, as it slowly unfolded toward his back.

“No. It’s not possible.”

“It is possible.”

There was another loud pop, and Hian-puo’s lower jaw disconnected from his skull. The...thing gave a deafening roar, giving me a good look at the rows of sharp teeth lining his mouth.

“Richard,” I was almost positive, based on Hian-puo’s current lack of visible ears, that the dragon lord couldn’t hear me speak, but I leaned in close to whisper in Richard’s ear. “I hope you have a plan on how best to appeal to Hian-puo’s calmer side. Because I’ve gotta admit, we’re officially out of my comfort zone.”

“You and me both.”

“You know that news I had? It’s about your team. Jia’s daughter told me there are some dragons being held in the basement.”

Richard’s eyes widened. “They’re here? In the castle?”

I didn’t answer. A muffled pop jerked my attention back to the shifting dragon. Hian-puo’s second wing had fully shifted to his back, and his neck was at least a foot longer that it had been only moments before. In addition to the tongue I could see peeping between his teeth, Hian-puo’s skin had morphed into a mottled array of brick-red scales and human flesh. He was getting taller too. The diminutive human frame was giving way to a bulky mass of muscle and bone.

“Come now, Ms. Banks.” His misshapen mouth garbled the words as he spoke. “We’re all friendsss here. At least that’s what I thought. But you tell me. One of my favorite generals has disappeared. Perhaps you can help me locate him, hmmm? Considering you were the last to speak with my Rime, you could tell me why he fled my domain. And why a substantial portion of my art is currently displayed in an American museum.”

Hian-puo made the final transition to his snake-like body. His eyes were slitted and very, very angry. I forced myself to loosen my grip on Trian’s arm.

The doors behind me groaned, and I turned to see who else was joining the party, praying it was Dreru and the rest of my security detail. Instead, I caught a glimpse of Richard’s head as he slipped from the room.

Crap.

This was the second negotiation session from which Richard had managed to disappear. I’d never dreamed my difficulties would come from Relobu’s side of the table, but lately I was getting a bit irritated at Richard’s constant vanishing acts.