Soulblade (37 page)

A moment later, Tolemek heard Kaika gasp and knew the dragon was rifling through her thoughts too. He turned his head as much as he could with the rifle pinning him down. He wanted to catch her gaze, to apologize, if only with his eyes.

Kaika wasn’t looking at him. Her chin was to her chest, as if in defeat, but Tolemek noticed something that surprised him. Either her hands hadn’t been tied behind her back, after all, or she had somehow slipped one free, perhaps disguising the movement as a reaction of pain when the dragon had jumped into her head. Now, she slid that hand past her belt and into her trousers, using her shoulders to hide the action from the guards standing behind her. When she withdrew her hand again, something compact was hidden by her palm. She met his eyes, giving him a bleak but determined smile.

Without a doubt, Tolemek knew she had pulled out an explosive. Her words from the jail flashed into his mind, “I can’t believe they didn’t bother stripping us.” The guards must not have even searched her yet, or nobody had been brazen enough to check her crotch. Maybe they foolishly thought Tolemek was the more dangerous of the two people they’d found here.

He might have laughed in triumph, but he realized there was only one thing she could do with that bomb from that position. Detonate it and kill everyone around her, including the emperor. Including him.

Tylie
, he thought, having no idea if she could hear him.
I love you. Tell Cas I love her too.

Kaika nodded at Tolemek and shifted her thumb. She’d armed the explosive.

Weapon!
the female dragon cried into his mind—into all of their minds. Everyone spun about, startled and confused.

Kaika threw the grenade at the hull next to the emperor’s head. The guard standing over Tolemek with the rifle jumped to protect his supreme commander. With the weapon no longer pointed at his face, Tolemek flipped to his hands and knees and tried to get out of the way. Other guards were leaping in, hurling the emperor to the deck, covering him with their bodies. The passage was a cluster of chaos. Tolemek crashed into the back of someone’s legs as he jumped to his feet. Expecting the guard to stop him, Tolemek lowered his shoulder to ram the man. But this guard was trying to run away too. Tolemek hit nothing but air, and he almost stumbled to the floor again. He only made it a few more steps before the grenade went off.

For the second time that day, an explosion behind him hurled him into the air. It felt like a battering ram smashing between his shoulder blades. His feet left the ground, and he crashed into the guard who had also been running. Light flooded the area, and water washed into the passageway. Tolemek landed in several inches of it instead of on the hard decking. More water surged in, a wave crashing over his head. Cold, salty water enveloped him, and he sputtered as it rolled into his mouth.

Someone grabbed his shoulder. He didn’t know if it was a guard trying to gather up prisoners or someone who couldn’t swim hoping for a handhold. After a glance over his shoulder to make sure it wasn’t Kaika, he rammed his elbow backward, catching the person in the ribs. His sleeve tangled with something. He started to jerk his arm back, but recognized the butt of a pistol in a holster. He groped, found it with his hand, and yanked it out. The bullets would probably be too waterlogged to fire, but he could clobber people with it if he needed to.

His feet found something hard—the wall? The ceiling?—and he pushed off through the gaping hole in the hull. His entire body hurt, and he might have a concussion, but he recognized his chance to escape and had to use it. He swam toward the light.

A guard sputtered nearby. “Getting away!”

“Where’s the emperor?”

Tolemek swam, squinting into the morning light, searching for the closest shoreline. He spotted land, but two ships blocked the way.

Someone gasped a few meters away. It sounded like a woman. He paused. Kaika? Had she survived that? He had been sure she wouldn’t with the guards fencing her in, keeping her from fleeing up the passageway.

Tolemek turned, only to come face to face with a shaven-headed man. The figure was grabbing something, not looking at Tolemek, but he would surely attack as soon as he realized Tolemek was there.

“—off me, you—” That was Kaika’s voice again. She gasped and was shoved under water before she could finish. Two guards wrestled with her.

Tolemek lifted the pistol and clubbed the one in front of him. He had to get to Kaika to help.

His target cried out in anger and disgruntlement. Tolemek barely avoided being elbowed. The water made everyone slower. As the man turned, he surged in, wrapping an arm around his neck and clubbing him again. He wished he had a knockout grenade, a more elegant and less devastating solution, but the emperor’s men had removed all of his tools.

After he struck the man a third time, the fellow gave up. He thrashed and tried to escape. Boots planted into Tolemek’s abdomen, as the guard pushed off. Tolemek grunted, all of his air driven out of his lungs. Since the guard didn’t look like he wanted any more of the fight, Tolemek let him get away.

He paddled toward where he’d seen Kaika struggling, but his arm smacked against someone else coming up for air. Another bald head. He almost clubbed that head right away, but he paused before striking. The face that turned toward him, blood streaming from the nostrils and the eyes glassy, belonged to the emperor.

Tolemek grabbed him, not sure yet what he intended to do, but options spun through his mind. He could trade the man for Kaika or use him for a shield. Though he expected a fight, the emperor was barely conscious. He batted feebly at the water.

A gunshot fired, the sound muffled by water. Maybe all of the bullets weren’t waterlogged, after all.

Tolemek hooked one arm under the emperor’s armpit and across his chest to keep him afloat. He started to paddle in Kaika’s direction, but her head came up first. She gasped, flinging hair out of her face with one hand. Her pistol came up and she spun around, looking for her enemies. But she seemed to have dealt with them all, for the moment. Aside from the guard who had given up and was swimming away, nobody remained to oppose them.

Before Tolemek could grow too elated about that, he noticed boats heading their way.
Many
boats. Packed rowboats carved through the choppy waters of the bay, dozens of soldiers aiming rifles at Tolemek and Kaika.

“Get close to me,” Tolemek whispered, wanting to make sure none of them risked shooting out of fear of hitting the emperor.

Not that it mattered. The soldiers rowed with fervor, closing the distance fast, coming at them from all sides. There was no escape.

A shadow fell across the water. Tolemek hoped it might belong to a flier, swooping in to rescue them, but the only propellers he heard were in the distance.

Massive wings spread above him, blocking out the sky. Talons stretched toward him. Thinking it was the gold dragon, he almost ducked, but silver scales covered the belly above them.

As Phelistoth’s talons wrapped around Tolemek, bullets fired from a dozen directions. Nothing hit him. As he was pulled into the air, Tolemek tightened his grip around the emperor, realizing that this was their chance, assuming Phelistoth had switched back to their side. He couldn’t be positive of that, but he wrapped both arms around his prisoner. The talons gripping him were like vises, tightening to keep him from falling, nearly crushing his ribs in the process.

The dragon’s other foot extended and wrapped around Kaika, pulling her up into the air as well. More rifles fired, but Phelistoth flapped his wings, the bullets bouncing away when they struck his invisible barrier. He took them into the sky, then surprised and terrified Tolemek by flinging him up toward his back. With his arms wrapped around the emperor, he couldn’t reach out to grab anything, not that the smooth scales offered any handholds.

But some magic directed him, levitating him in the air until he could right himself. He landed astride Phelistoth’s back with the emperor flopping onto his stomach in front of him. Blood dripped from the dragon’s sides where long, deep scratches had gouged into him, tearing away scales and exposing bluish pink flesh. There were many wounds, and Phelistoth must have felt as battered as Tolemek, but he flew without a hitch, his powerful wingbeats taking them away from the water. Kaika landed in front of Tolemek, flailing and cursing until she touched down. She dropped to her stomach and spread her arms, fingers doing their best to grip the dragon’s smooth scales.

Maybe Tolemek should have been scared too—they had already risen a hundred feet or more, with the sounds of gunshots growing faint. But he felt the magic holding them in place, and he’d seen Tylie ride Phelistoth enough times to know she was never in danger up here. So long as the dragon
wanted
them here, they should be fine. He just hoped that was the case and that Phelistoth wasn’t taking them up to one of the imperial airships to sell them to the empire. He craned his neck, trying to see if Cas and the others were harassing the Cofah craft and spotted three fliers breaking away, flying toward the city. Phelistoth had already flown out over the sea, and Tolemek couldn’t tell who was piloting them.

No, I am not taking you to their ships. The empire does not
want
my help.
B
itterness flavored Phelistoth’s telepathic words.
They have aligned with Yisharnesh and prefer to work with
gold
dragons.

Tolemek almost scoffed at the dragon’s problem, but was uneasily reminded of himself.
They don’t want me either. Just my knowledge.
It rankled that the gold dragon apparently now knew everything he knew about chemistry and science. He hoped she had a poor memory and forgot it all.

I offered the emperor his daughter as an act of good faith, so he would see my value, since I recovered her for him, and he accused me of kidnapping her just so I could bargain with her.

He’s not known for being a reasonable man.
Tolemek looked down at their prisoner, but he had fallen unconscious—or he was pretending to be unconscious—and was either ignoring this conversation or wasn’t aware of it.

Kaika had glanced at Tolemek a few times, and he thought Phelistoth might also be sharing his words with her.

As I was attempting to change his mind and inform him that Tylie should be permitted to study in Cofahre and live with her family, as is healthy for young humans, Yisharnesh came and drove me off. She forbade me, a lowly silver dragon, to speak with an emperor who rules over millions. As if any human is better than a dragon!

Tolemek kept his mind still, lest he make a sarcastic comment. The last thing he wanted was to drive Phelistoth and his fickle loyalties back toward land.

The emperor heard all of this, and he said nothing to gainsay it. He stood there with that haughty expression on his face, agreeing and believing that aligning with a gold dragon, one offering to breed and make an army of dragons, meant there would be no room for Tylie and me to have a home in the empire.

That alliance may prove foolish for him, given that Yisharnesh came out of that cavern of criminals. She may have been lying to him about much.
Tolemek wondered if an alliance would continue if they succeeded at making the emperor disappear. The idea of an army of gold dragons was alarming.

I told him that! He chose not to believe me. Yisharnesh purred in his ear like a fat, content cat.

I believe King Angulus would not be so arrogant as to object to multiple dragons living in his country.
Tolemek almost laughed, realizing he was negotiating on behalf of the country he hadn’t even decided would be his long-term home. Or maybe he had. He smiled when he thought of his lab and of Cas. He wished he had a way to communicate with her now, to tell her that he was on his way home and hoped she was too.

Oh, I know that. Angulus is transparent in what he wishes. But sharing such a small continent with Bhrava Saruth.
The dragon made a grumbling noise in Tolemek’s head.

Tolemek snorted.
Trust me, I felt the same way about sharing it with Zirkander.

Yes
, Phelistoth said slowly.
It is odd, but we are similar, I suppose. Outcasts. Never again to fly over the homeland where we grew up.
He shared images of that flying, of crossing mountains and plains, lakes and forests. They weren’t quite the same as the Cofahre Tolemek remembered—for one thing, the empire was much more populated now, and there were far fewer wildernesses left—but the terrain was familiar, and a twinge of homesickness stirred in his breast. He pushed it away and thought of Cas again.

The difference between a homeland and a home is that one is a place and one is people. It’s the people that matter.

My people are gone.

You have new people, if you’re willing to accept them.
Tolemek thought of Tylie and also of the comrades he had made since entering Iskandia, people who had freed Phelistoth from his prison and from the Cofah scientists. This wasn’t the first time the empire had treated him poorly.

Phelistoth sighed.
Do you think Angulus would give me a region to myself, where Bhrava Saruth isn’t allowed to go?

Perhaps you could negotiate that with him. I’m sure he would be more open to dealing than Salatak.

Perhaps.

When the dragon fell silent, Tolemek’s thoughts returned to Cas and how he had come to think of Iskandia as home. He wished he could check on her, to see if she was all right. He had seen three fliers but not all four.

Tylie?
he asked in his mind, not expecting a response, since he believed they’d already gone many miles.
Are you out there?

Yes,
came her cheerful response.
I heard you talking to Phel.

She must have been linked to him in a way that enhanced her telepathic range.