Bam!
Ruegger felt the side of the creature’s tail
crash into his side and send him whirling to the ground. Gasping, he stared up
at the sky.
The dragon rolled over on its side and stood up,
carefully. Then, with a few cautious flaps of its wings, it launched itself
into the air. The dragon’s great dark shape disappearing into the night was the
last thing Ruegger saw before he blacked out.
*
*
*
He
woke up to the taste of some strange exotic blood in his mouth. When he opened
his eyes, he saw Roche Sarnova kneeling over him with a piece of dragon
intestine in his hand, which he was twisting like a wet rag so that the blood
and juices of the great beast dripped on Ruegger’s face.
“Tasty?”
Once Ruegger had managed to sit up, the Dark Lord
dropped the piece of flesh to the ground and patted him on the back. Ruegger
waved Sarnova away and wiped the blood off his face with the gloves Danielle
had made him bring. With a groan, he stood.
“What happened?”
“You don’t remember?” Sarnova said.
“Oh, I remember. I just want to know
what happened
.” Scowling, he searched
for his pack of cigarettes, but they were wet. He swore and faced the Dark
Lord. “I know what you did,” he said softly.
“Maybe,” Sarnova said. “Now’s not the time to
discuss it. The sun’s on its way up and we’ve got a long way to walk back.”
All about him, the knights were shedding the
remains of their armor, tossing the charred hunks of metal to the ground. Roche
Sarnova did the same. That done, the small war party ran at a swift pace back up
the slope. They found the ledge, followed it around the mountain and crossed
the drawbridge.
Once inside the Old Courtyard, Sarnova told them
all to get some rest and to meet him for a de-briefing in eight hours. Ruegger
felt certain that the king was giving them this much time on purpose so that
they could spread the word of De Soto’s
death.
But why?
When the knights were gone, the king
turned to Ruegger and was about to say something when several Castle Guards
stepped forward.
“Lord Sarnova, there’s been a murder. Plus,
seven shades, part of the Funhouse of the
Forsaken’s
entourage, are missing and presumed dead.”
“What happened?”
“In one of the rooms that the Funhouse of the
Forsaken occupy—a man was discovered, dead and hung from the ceiling, or rather
the corners of the room, in a strange fashion.”
“Show me the pictures.”
As if he had been expecting this, the captain of
the guard retrieved several Polaroids from a pocket and handed them to his
king. Sarnova studied them,
then
tossed them to
Ruegger.
“Fucking Balaklava,”
Sarnova said.
“First the Sabo, now this.”
“The Sabo, my Lord?” the guard captain said.
“Never mind.
Have you found the ones
that did this, Junger and Jagoda?”
“We’re still searching. A couple of my men think
they’re hiding in the catacombs. Some are afraid to go down there after them,
especially after all the slaves they bought, if you see what I mean?
Them being chalgids now, too.”
“Your men are right. Limit your search to areas
above the catacombs. Otherwise, you have my permission to do a full and
exhaustive sweep of the castle.”
The captain just stared at his lord for a
moment, and Ruegger could imagine what the man must be thinking. Was the Dark
Lord himself afraid of the Balaklava? Without
another word, the captain and his men retreated, leaving Sarnova and Ruegger
virtually alone in the Old Courtyard.
“I guess we have things to discuss, don’t we?”
said Sarnova.
“Yes.”
“Very well.”
The Dark Lord led
Ruegger upstairs into his study. “You can take off your clothes if you want. I
promise I won’t look.”
Ruegger allowed himself a small smile, but
declined the offer. Instead, he moved over to the large fireplace and let the
heat dry his clothes; unfortunately, as they dried they became stiff and
uncomfortable.
Sarnova prepared some coffee and handed Ruegger
a big mug for the third time that night.
“Thanks.”
The king added some liquor to his own mug. “Want
some?”
“Please.”
“So you think I had a hand in what happened back
there?” the king asked, once they were both drinking the enhanced coffee.
“A
hand
?
That’s one way of saying it. I think you masterminded the whole thing.”
Sarnova sighed and sank into his big armchair.
“I suppose you deserve to know what that was all about, but I hesitate to tell
you. I don’t want it to become common knowledge. If I tell you, you’ll tell
Danielle. I can accept that, but I want your assurance that it goes no farther
than that.”
“You have it, Roche. But make it quick. The sun
is already up and she’ll be worried about me.”
“Here it is. A large percentage of my subjects
have grown weary of the war. This you know. Further, you’ve probably heard
rumors that a coup was in the works. Well, our dear Colonel De Soto was the
leader of that movement. Luckily, I have a close friend in the Ambassador
Mauchlery. Ever met him?”
“Never had the
pleasure.”
“That’s strange. You’ve been here enough times
as to make your lack of acquaintance with him rather unusual.”
“Anyway, I haven’t met him.”
“He’s my oldest friend, and for good reason. He
was able to get De Soto
and company to elect him as their leader. In effect, he was the man they wanted
to dethrone me. Still is, for that matter. But De Soto was pushing the Ambassador for a
fixed date. He wanted to depose me and end the war as quickly as possible.”
Sarnova closed his eyes for a moment. “Obviously something had to be done about
the Colonel if I was to maintain my position. However, the problem was that De Soto had enough sway
amongst his men as to make murdering him or imprisoning him tricky. You follow
me?”
“You needed him dead.”
“Let’s just say out of the way. But I couldn’t
let anyone know that I was responsible—otherwise, his men would either revolt
or
defect,
and I couldn’t have that. In fact, there
could be no question about my involvement, because I require the complete loyalty
of my troops. What I needed was to have him killed in plain sight of his own
men. Thus I staged the little drama that you were so recently a part of. That
dragon, as you may have surmised, wasn’t acting on its own. It was one of
several that I managed to capture many centuries ago when I realized that they
were in danger of being utterly wiped off the face of the earth.”
“Where do you keep them?”
“Deep inside the
mountain, where I keep the rest of my collection.”
“Your
collection
?”
Sarnova shrugged. “I didn’t mean it quite that
way. They’re not mine, as such, but they wouldn’t be here today without the
refuge I had created for them. At any rate, the Ambassador and I organized the
dragon attack.”
“Why a dragon?
Don’t you think that
was a little ... over the top? How are you going to explain the dragon to your
troops?”
“I’ll have my elite guards—those I’ve had to
protect me for many years now—lay hints about the Refuge. They know of the
dragons, and of the Refuge. Some refer to it as the Zoo, but it’s a word I
dislike. I took you out there to be rid of Malie and dispatch De Soto.”
“You used me.”
The king wet his lips once more. “No,” he said.
“The Sabo is real and you did the right thing in warding off the Libertarian
attack. Believe
me,
I appreciate your help in that.”
“But the part about you making Maleasoel an ally
...”
“It wasn’t a lie, if that’s what you mean.”
“No. I know what you mean. And I believe I know
the reason you didn’t want Malie to enter the Sabo. Not because you wanted to
keep her alive, but because you were afraid of her bringing nuclear weapons
into your castle.”
Roche paused,
then
smiled a smile that was both guilty and unapologetic. “I won’t deny it. Truly,
though, I’d
like
to make her an ally.
I’ve heard that before Ludwig’s murder she was a good leader, one many admired,
and I honestly would’ve liked to have someone of her fiber on my side, fighting
against Subaire. The problem is how do I get in touch with her without getting
any more of my men killed?”
“You didn’t have a problem with the dragon
killing your men.”
“That was an accident. I hadn’t intended for the
dragon to breathe fire. Mauchlery should’ve kept a tighter grip on its mind.”
“Your Ambassador was its controller.”
“Right.
Where were we?”
“You and Mauchlery killed De Soto.”
“Actually, we wanted to capture him alive if
possible. See, not all of the potential revolutionaries completely trust the
Ambassador. He isn’t privy to all the inside information. Another revolution
could have been brewing and he wouldn’t have known about it.”
“Whereas the Colonel
would.”
The Dark Lord scratched his
jawline
.
“You noticed that the dragon swallowed him whole? It was to regurgitate him
shortly thereafter and the interrogation would begin.”
“I see.”
“Then you come along with your goddamned supersonic
mindthrust and kill the damned dragon, probably killing the colonel too despite
our best efforts.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sarnova waved it away. “I hold no grudges.
Except, of course, for the fact that Gethraul—the dragon—is a friend of mine.
Don’t ask. It’s a long story.”
“What I want to know is how Mauchlery got the
dragon back on its feet.”
“He’s old and powerful and wise. Besides, such
dragons as Geth can’t be killed by a single missile.”
“He looked like he was well on his way.”
“You placed a good shot. I don’t know how
Francois revived him so quickly; my own bloods would’ve taken far longer to do
the job. To be honest, I don’t know how Francois did it and I don’t care. I
don’t want Gethraul to die. And maybe, through some miracle, De Soto didn’t die in the explosion and I can
proceed to get some answers out of him. I haven’t heard back from the
Ambassador yet. Until I do, I won’t know if De Soto lived or died.”
“I can only apologize once.”
“I’m not asking for an apology. If anything, I
should be apologizing to you.”
“I’d prefer a pack of cigarettes.”
After taking a deep breath, Sarnova said, “I
think I’ve covered just about everything. Go back to your room and tell
Danielle you’ve just slain a dragon. Maybe she’ll see something positive in it.
I don’t. Anyway, we both need our sleep. Remember, tomorrow night Kiernevar
goes up against the last of my potential successors; if he wins, you’re my
final line of defense against insanity. Do whatever you need to do to get
yourself focused.”
Ruegger stepped away from the fireplace,
immediately missing its warmth, and moved towards the door.
“Ruegger?”
Sarnova called, and the
Darkling turned. The king smiled, reached into a pocket and threw Ruegger a
pack of cigarettes.
Lighting up, Ruegger left him by the fire.
*
*
*
Once
the dragon and the knights had disappeared, Jean-Pierre jumped down from the
small ridge and made his way around the lake, careful to keep his eyes and ears
alert for the slightest sound. There was only the wind and the lapping of waves
against the shore. For the first time in a long while, he stopped to enjoy the
beauty of the scene.
This is the sort of
thing Sophia would like
.
Taking in the sharp air, he soon found himself
outside the entrance to the Sabo. He wasn’t quite the
spoonbender
that Ruegger was, but he had little trouble moving the big boulder that blocked
his way. As he started into the darkness of the tunnel, he found an odd sign:
It’s
a trap
.
What did that mean? Surely it was a reference to
the Sabo itself, an entity the Libertarians had not been made aware of, by why
had Castle soldiers been the ones to place it here? Surely Sarnova wanted the
Libertarians to come this way because it
was
a trap! It made no sense.
And what of the dragon?
Jean-Pierre’s powerful psychic sense
had informed him that the dragon had been under the (very strained) thrall of
an immortal, yet who could be powerful enough to control a dragon?
Jean-Pierre wanted to shrug the questions off,
to keep on going down the tunnel and into the maze he knew so well, but it was
not that sort of urge that had kept him alive all these years. Above all else,
he knew the right moments to be prudent, and he sensed that now was one of
those times. He could not enter the Castle through the Sabo. This was a
nuisance, but he could handle it.