Bonk-a-doos, indeed. “Is it possible the Cofah could have figured out a way to
create
dragon blood through some scientific or mechanical means? Like if they did find some fossilized remains?”
“
We
can’t make blood, and we’re at least as far along, scientifically and technologically speaking, as the Cofah.”
Duck scratched his head. By now, Apex probably knew why he was being invited along, but Duck looked a little mystified.
“Wondering what your role is going to be on this mission, Duck?” Ridge asked.
“No, sir. Well, yes, sir.” Duck lowered his hand. “But I got stuck on the idea of dragons and people making like jacks and mares in heat.”
Apex tilted his head. “An inaccurate simile, since the offspring between a horse and a donkey is sterile. The human children born to those matings were perfectly viable, as evinced by the fact that people with dragon blood were born for centuries after.”
Duck’s face screwed up. “But how… I mean dragons are—” he stretched out his arms to their fullest spread, “—and people are…” He pulled his hands into encompass something much smaller.
Ridge smirked, but he eyed Apex as well. He was just as curious about the answer. He supposed Sardelle would know, but he had never thought to ask. Talk of magic and the origins of magic made him twitchy. He ought to put this whole conversation to bed and send these men off to pack.
“According to the histories, dragons could take human form,” Apex said. “Like many other species, there were always far more male dragons born than female dragons, and only the strongest and most desirable males were taken as mates. Those who wanted offspring, or were simply feeling randy, shape-changed and mated with other species. Not only humans. This all happened so long ago that it’s difficult to prove any of it, mind you, but some of the rarer and quirkier species out there with inexplicable traits that border on the magical—such as unicorns, winged tigers, and flash apes—are believed to have come about due to dragon blood. Most of these creatures are nothing more than stuffed reproductions in museums now, having either been hunted to extinction or having had their blood diluted through the generations until the peculiar traits disappeared, but you still hear stories of them now and again, especially in the wilder and less explored areas of the world.”
“My father brought a unicorn horn back from his travels,” Ridge said.
“Now I’m imagining dragons and horses…” Duck shook his head. “Never mind.”
“Apex, your knowledge could be important on this mission,” Ridge said. “You up for an adventure into Cofahre?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And, Duck? Can you forage and survive in some random Cofahre wilderness as well as you can here?”
“Ahh.” Duck nodded, understanding his role finally. The kid had practically grown up with wolves, at least according to the stories he told, before his family had joined a farming community so their children could be properly educated. During an exercise the year before, he and three other soldiers had crashed in the swamps off the Temeron Keys, and Duck had kept everyone sheltered and fed until the team had been located. “Yes, sir. Reckon I can forage and survive just about everywhere. There’s ways to test what’s edible and what’s not, even if you’re in a new area.”
“I hope we won’t need your skills…” Ridge had no intention of having his team shot down deep into enemy territory, but he’d make a poor commander if he didn’t plan for every contingency. “But I’d like to be able to call upon them just in case.”
“Yes, sir. I’m happy to go along.”
“Good. We’re leaving in the morning. I’ll have the ground crew prep the two-seaters. We’ll all be flying an extra passenger.” Ridge nodded toward the two captains.
“You’ve selected four pilots, sir,” Apex observed. “Who else is coming?”
“There’s an elite troops colonel that will be leading his men. And the fourth person… I’m going to go check to see if he’s available.” Ridge waved and hurried away before Apex could ask who that fourth person might be. Best to see if Tolemek wanted to come before worrying too much about personality—and history—conflicts.
Still, Ridge could feel Apex’s eyes following him across the hangar as he walked away.
* * *
The receptionist in the research building pursed his lips in clear disapproval of the mud Ridge left on the white marble floor when he entered, or maybe at Ridge in general. His flight suit and leather jacket weren’t uncommon wear in the city, but everyone walking in and out of doors up and down the hall wore white lab coats and tidy civilian suits. Mud-free footwear.
Lieutenant Ahn was leaning against the end of the receptionist’s desk. Her boots looked as muddy as Ridge’s, but there wasn’t a line of prints leading from the door to her spot. The receptionist sighed and pushed something under his desk, eliciting a thunk. A door opened down the hallway, and something that looked vaguely like an upturned mop bucket with gears rolled out. Damp sponges between its wheels deployed, wiping the floor clean. Ridge stepped aside for it as soon as he realized it was on some kind of circuit that wouldn’t be stopped for innocent bystanders.
“Tolemek’s lab is this way, sir,” Ahn said, pointing down the hall.
Ridge watched the cleaning contraption for a moment before joining her. “Should I be jealous that a notorious pirate and enemy of the nation works in a much fancier building than we do?”
“From what I’ve seen, the fancy toys are just distractions. The other day, I walked in on Tolemek using his mechanical spinner and some liquid gas to turn milk into ice cream.”
“No wonder the king was excited to turn him into an ally.” Ridge gave the sponge machine another wistful look before they turned into a stairwell and started climbing.
“You could get Wrench or Dantalos from Tiger Squadron to build you a self-propelling mop bucket if you were really motivated, sir.”
“I’m not sure the minds that thought up an ambulatory beer dispenser for the break room could be trusted to create something as useful as a cleaning device.”
“Maybe not.” Ahn led him onto the second floor to a door with a frowning guard standing next to it. His shoulders were slouched, almost in a cringe. Odd. Was he that alarmed by Tolemek’s reputation?
The guard straightened as soon as Ridge and Ahn approached. “Colonel Zirkander, sir.” He glanced at the closed door. “Is… Deathmaker in trouble, sir?”
“I don’t know. Is he not sharing his ice cream?”
A puzzled furrow creased the guard’s brow. “I don’t know, sir. I just mean… another officer. It
sounds
like he’s in trouble.” He frowned at the door again. “He’s been decent to me. I know about his past, but I didn’t think he’d done anything to—”
Ahn pushed past the guard, a worried frown forming on her own face. She opened the door, and a wisp of smoke wafted out. Ridge hesitated, imagining some experiment gone awry and spilling poison into the air, but the guard had been worried
for
Tolemek, not because of him. Ahn rushed in without pausing, and Ridge’s heart jumped when a slam almost as loud as a gunshot came from the other side of the room.
Ridge strode in, slipping his pistol out of his holster. Towering equipment and cabinets loomed on either side of him, but he focused on the far side of the room, trying to figure out what had caused that noise. But smoke thickened the air, dulling the sunlight filtering in from the single window and dimming the influence of the gas lamps mounted on the walls.
“Tolemek?” Ahn asked.
“Get back, woman,” a man said. It wasn’t Tolemek, but Ridge recognized the voice. “Quit hiding, you pirate coward. Face me like a man, not a child full of tricks.”
“Colonel… Therrik?” Ridge asked. He lowered his pistol. Ahn had her own firearm out and hadn’t bothered lowering it yet.
Ridge stepped forward and pressed down on her forearm. “That’s our commander for our mission. Shooting him would be frowned upon by our superiors.”
“Tolemek, are you all right?” Ahn asked, her arm tense. She lowered the pistol but didn’t put it away.
“That depends on whether this… person is done assaulting me,” came the pirate’s voice from a corner of the room. It sounded like he was hunkered behind a lab station.
“Colonel Therrik,” Ridge said, hardening his voice—he knew Therrik wouldn’t be intimidated by him, but he wanted a serious response, not to be ignored. The colonel was visible in the smoke, his broad shoulders heaving, as if he’d run a sprint. Or been in a fight. His face was covered in soot, lined with sweat streaks. Or maybe those were tear streaks. “What are you doing here?”
“Getting information from this homicidal ass,” Therrik snarled.
“He barged in here, wanting to interrogate me,” Tolemek said.
“We don’t
need
information from him,” Ridge said slowly, not sure he understood Therrik’s intent. “We’re taking him with us so he can be a mobile resource for us. If he agrees to come, that is. Your method of enticing him to join our quest is lacking.”
Ahn pulled away from Ridge and walked toward the sound of Tolemek’s voice. She kept an eye on the colonel—she’d yet to holster that pistol.
Ridge wanted to warn her not to do anything to jeopardize her career, but Therrik was talking again.
“I’m not taking this hairy gorilla anywhere. He’ll tell us what he knows about dragon blood, if I have to carve it out of him.”
“Come close to me again, and the next grenade I throw will do a lot more than tear up your eyes,” Tolemek said.
Therrik shifted, and Ridge spotted a big knife in his hand.
Seven gods, what was the man
doing
? “If you’re looking for an expert on dragon blood,” Ridge said, “I suggest you talk to Apex, one of my pilots. He studied archaeology and dragons specifically before joining the military. Tolemek is supposed to come along to analyze the Cofah lab and figure out what they’re making. I sincerely doubt he can do that until he actually sees the lab.” Of course, if Therrik and his team objected to Tolemek’s presence, that might be the perfect time for Tolemek to slip away and find his sister.
Ridge
wouldn’t want to go into an enemy scientist’s lab without a scientist of his own to point out the booby traps, but Therrik didn’t seem to share that feeling.
“We’re
not
taking him with us,” Therrik repeated. “Not on my team, and not on my mission. There’s no way I’d trust that animal at my back, and you’re a fool if you would, Zirkander. Get him back in his homeland, and he’ll turn on us quicker than a cobra escaped from its cage.”
“Anyone want to tell me about this mission I may or may not be going on?” Tolemek rose from behind the lab station, a ceramic oval device in his hand. He gestured for Ahn to join him, as if Therrik might attack her, and he intended to protect her as well as himself.
Ridge didn’t think the colonel’s propeller was that off kilter, but he took a few steps toward the man, anyway, lifting a placating hand.
“That’s what I came to do,” Ridge told Tolemek. “Why don’t you let me handle the, ah, interrogation, Colonel? Your captains are already at the hangar. There was some debate over the packing list. They could probably use your advice.”
Therrik glowered at Ridge, that long knife still clenched in his hand. “Sure, I’ll let you and him conspire, then come along on my mission to Cofahre together. That’s not insanity, not at all.”
Ridge didn’t know whether to fight Therrik’s sarcasm with sarcasm of his own or to try to get to the bottom of it. What was the curmudgeon so worried about? It wasn’t as if Tolemek had been working for the Cofahre a month before. He had been estranged from his homeland for years. Besides, he would be surrounded by military officers out there.
Therrik pointed at Ridge’s face. “You may have the king where you want him, but some of us know the truth and aren’t going to let you roam free much longer, not with some witch controlling you.”
Uh, how had they jumped to Sardelle again? What exactly had Therrik been telling the king before and after Ridge had listened in on that conversation? And what did it have to do with Tolemek and the mission anyway?
“You can’t be trusted any longer, Zirkander. It’s not your fault that you were so weak-willed as to fall for some witch’s wiles, but it won’t be a problem much longer.”
“What does that mean?” Ridge whispered, eyes locked with Therrik’s. “You didn’t have something to do with the break-in this morning, did you?” He doubted it, but there were a lot of people gunning for Sardelle all of the sudden. Was it possible they were all part of the same organization? “Or the explosion?”
Therrik managed to look confused and angry at the same time. “You’ll find out.”
Ridge clenched his fists. A threat toward him, he could handle—it wouldn’t be the first. But threatening Sardelle? Oh, he knew she could handle trouble, too, but if some group of people—Therrik’s intelligence buddies?—knew what she was, they might be prepared and come up with ways to hurt her. After all, as powerful as her people had been three hundred years ago, they had been destroyed by soldiers with bombs.
Therrik’s gaze lowered to Ridge’s fists, and a tight smile formed on his mouth. That challenge had returned to his eyes. Ridge knew it would be stupid to get into a fight with the man, but he was sorely tempted when Therrik stalked in his direction. He unclenched his fists and kept his hands at his sides. Therrik might be an ass, but Ridge doubted he would pummel a fellow officer without provocation. Just retired pirates.
As suspected, Therrik didn’t lift a hand as he said, “See you in the morning, Zirkander.” He jostled Ridge’s shoulder as he angled toward the door. Even the simple brush was enough for Ridge to feel the mass of muscle beneath the colonel’s sleeve, and he had to take a step to the side to brace himself. “I trust I won’t see that
thing—
” Therrik jerked a thumb over his shoulder, “—standing next to your flier when I get there.”
The guard in the hallway—who had doubtlessly been witness to this encounter—scurried out of Therrik’s way as the colonel strode out. The door slammed shut.
“Actually he’ll be standing next to Lieutenant Ahn’s flier,” Ridge said. He supposed it was cowardly to wait until after the door was shut to respond, but he didn’t want to show his cards before he was ready to play them.