Chapter 5

After all that, the trek through the tunnel was anticlimactic. It was narrow, and short enough that I had to stoop to avoid bashing my skull in, but mercifully free of blockages. The exit deposited us in the hills outside of town, overlooking the battlefield.

There were no signs of life anywhere. Not even bodies.

“Didn’t you have an army?”

“Had. I had an army,” Kaze said, expression grim. “This is…something is badly wrong.”

“Talk to me, Kaze. What am I missing?”

“The hero and his party couldn’t have done this. Holding the center of town against us, yes. I built my army to be as flexible as possible at the expense of raw power. That’s what you need against adventurers.”

“They couldn’t finish you off, either,” I said. “Numbers win out in time.”

“Stalemate for a day, and then victory as they retreated. That was the calculation.”

“That was my guess. I told him not to take the bait. Plajin told me to bugger off and fought anyway. So, where’s the army?”

“Deela,” she snarled. “That treacherous snake!”

“Your second in command?”

“Watchhound, more like,” she said. “Lady Flir never fully trusted me. Deela was to be her eyes and ears.”

“Hoo boy. So this Deela chap-“

“Deela is a woman.”

“So this Deela lass heard you were beaten and, rather than continuing the mission in your stead, buggered off to gods know where,” I concluded. “And probably reported to Lady Flir that this whole mess was your fault.”

“She always was a coward. Ambitious and ruthless, but a coward.”

“What are the odds that Lady Flir would have your head on a stick if you showed back up at court?”

“Were I elf or human? She would never buy such an obvious lie. But because I am neither, and because Deela is an elf, she would never take my word over Deela’s.”

“Figures. Okay. Next question: where are the bodies? There should be at least a couple hundred of them, and we weren’t underground for long enough to bury them.”

Let it never be said that dragons don’t have impeccable timing.

An ear shattering roar crashed down on us from overhead, so low I could feel it rumbling in my chest. Kaze cried and fell to the ground, her sensitive ears battered by the aural assault. Credit where credit is due: she picked herself up just as quickly as she fell, sparks of mana sinking beneath the linen bonnet she wore over her head.

Satisfied that she wasn’t about to keel over, I turned my gaze skyward.

Dragons come in a few different flavors. This one was a standard red dragon: fire elemental, about the same mass as an elephant, with claws and teeth that could rend through stone and steel.

Red dragons are vicious beasts with prodigious appetites, but they are beasts. Animal cunning and instinct guides them, not intelligence or will.

“She must’ve smelled the blood,” I said.

“She?”

The dragon circled overhead. She surely saw us. She just as surely smelled the mana wafting off from us. No dragon tangles with a mage unless they’re starving. She must have been weighing her options.

“Belly’s distended,” I said. “They only eat that much when they’ve got a brood to feed. Her drakes were hungry, so she charged the battlefield once the hero scampered off. Your Deela must’ve taken that as her excuse to beat it, leaving the dead to mama dragon.”

The dragon roared again, this time more confused than anything. The first roar was an attack, meant to incapacitate us. Would’ve worked too, but I’m half-deaf and Kaze healed herself. That begged the question of why she didn’t bother attacking while we were fighting. Timing? Maybe. A question to ponder another day.

“You are nearly out of bullets, and I am nearly out of knives. If she attacks, we’re finished.”

“If. We’re not running, and she’s probably full. She won’t risk it.”

“So we stand our ground and hope.”

“Yup.”

The dragon circled for a good fifteen minutes as she made up her mind. In the end, caution won out over appetite. She flew off toward the mountains, sparing us a contemptuous glare over her shoulder as she soared away.

“Now there’s a cure for constipation,” I said, dropping to a knee. I hadn’t realized how tense I was until the tension left me.

Kaze sat next to me, staring off into the distance, her expression pained.

“You’ve fought dragons before, yes?” she asked.

“A few times. When I’ve got a full load of armor piercing bullets and a horn full of blasting powder, a dragon is no more dangerous than a boar.”

“I fought a dragon once. My knives are not nearly so well suited for the task.”

“You’d need a hell of a blade to even get through the skin, much less the scales. It’s a wonder you’re still breathing.”

“Perhaps I’ll tell you the story one day, Garan.”

“No offense, but I’m kinda hoping we don’t run into each other again.”

Kaze shot me a pained look.

“It’s just, you seem like a decent person,” I said. “If we meet again, you’ll be back with Lady Flir, and we’ll have to do this all over again. I’m not sure I could win a second time. You know how I fight now.”

Her smile was the saddest I’ve ever seen.

“Deela will see to it that I’m not welcome back at my Lady’s side.”

“Deela has what’s left of an army slowing her down. Lady Flir isn’t an idiot. If you show up first and give her your side of the story, it won’t be your head on a pike.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she said. “My lady only rewards competent treachery.”

“But?”

The noise that fought its way past her lips was somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

“Garan, I’ve served my lady loyally my whole life. She is the only life I’ve ever known. I’ve done everything she’s asked, and then some. I’ve waged wars in her name. I have nothing to prove to her. Why should I have to fear her wrath?”

“I realize that was a rhetorical question, but I’m not out for her head on account of her sunny disposition. I did have a thought, though.”

“There’s a first time for everything, I suppose.”

“Har har,” I grumbled. “I get we haven’t known each other long, but I think Lady Flir might be scared of you.”

“Why in the 14 hells would she be scared of me?”

“Because, after everything she’s put you through, you’re still a decent person,” I said. “She, on the other hand, is a monster. She’s done everything in her power to make you one, and none of it stuck. For someone famed for corrupting even the most virtuous, that has to be terrifying.”

She sat in silence for some time, letting my words sink in. When she finally spoke, her voice was steadier, more certain.

“I hadn’t considered that,” she said. “Perhaps that’s why she humiliates me so. That which she can’t understand must be controlled. She has no capacity for kindness or empathy, so she resorts to baser means.”

She lifted the hem of her dress in a mock curtsey.

“And lives in terror of the day you see past blind loyalty and figure that out,” I said. “Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long. You’re too smart to be that dumb.”

“Service to Lady Flir is the only life I’ve ever known. What would it take to make you question your life?”

“Point.”

“I think,” she said, “that I no longer care if Deela spreads her lies. She and Lady Flir deserve each other.”

“Atta girl,” I said, nodding in approval.

Why did she flinch?

“Sorry. That wasn’t supposed to come off as patronizing.”

“That’s not…” Kaze sighed and ripped the veil from her face. The bonnet followed a moment later.

For the first time, I got a good look at her.

Among all the beastfolk races, catfolk are reputed to be the most beautiful. Kaze certainly lived up to that reputation. Black hair, long and straight, spilled out over her shoulders and across her chest, framing a narrow, feline face. She cut her bangs so straight, I could use them to calibrate a bore. Her golden-amber eyes seemed much wider and more expressive without the veil, the pupils distinctly catlike.

“Well, that explains why she made you wear the veil,” I said numbly.

“She claimed it was because I was hideous to behold.”

“She lied. You’re gorgeous,” I said.

A tinge of blush colored her cheeks.

“Had I not seen your marksmanship, I would question your eyesight,” she said. “Instead, I must question your taste.”

“Ten coppers says someone tries to propose when we get to the next town.”

Her blush only deepened.

“If you wish to be rid of your coin, you need only- wait. We?”

“Lady Flir’s not gonna kill herself,” I said. “You coming or not?”