Page 49 of Dragon Fight (The Dragon Queen #2)

49

I was woken by the stroke of a hand through my hair, and I screwed my eyes tight shut as I groaned. Something had shifted in the night, and the four of them had been insatiable as they’d rolled my body into theirs and swallowed down my moans over and over. Morning had come, but I wasn’t ready to meet it. I told that to the person stroking me.

“None of that, lass.” My eyelids fluttered open to see Ged dressed and looking down at me. “Quietly now. We’ll slip away for the day and—”

“Ged, we can’t just wander off.” I rose up on my elbows. He tried very hard not to stare at my breasts but ultimately failed. “We have to find the boys.”

“That’s what we’re about, lass, but I can’t take three burly riders with me where I need to go.” He tossed me some clothes. They reminded me a lot of what I’d worn as a pig herder, though they were clean. I started pulling them on, raising a brow. “Fancy accents and military bearing will do us no good down by the docks.”

Well, that was enough to pique my curiosity. I got dressed swiftly and then pulled on my boots, and Glimmer slipped from my bedroom to join us.

Your mate has ideas, knows people… She said in a musing tone. Knows where we might get information.

That was endorsement enough for me.

“We’ll take Cloudy down to a clearing off from the docks. Just an old common, no good for farming because it’s too close to the sea,” he told me as we walked out of the keep proper and into the dragon dens. “He’ll look after your Glimmer. We can’t have her lying around here, waiting for the queen to pick her off, and if she tags along, we won’t be able to mask her as some dog. We’re going undercover, you understand?”

“Pretending to be something other than riders of the corps?” I asked and he nodded.

“Right you are. I might have been born in Cantlyn, but my father didn’t let us moulder away there for long. His tanning shop? It’s down by the docks, the stink well away from the big knobs and their fancy homes. But where the upper classes avert their eyes, mischief breeds.”

He handed me a bread roll stuffed with egg and bacon, then produced a nice looking raw steak, dangling it in front of Glimmer. When she lunged at it, he chuckled, and the tone of her mental voice changed to show her frustration.

This man understands that he must provide , she told me. But if he doesn’t hand over that meat, I’ll be forced–

“Eat that on Cloudy’s back, ladies, because the day is getting away from us.”

It was hard to see how that was possible. The sun was just rising in the sky, and the light it cast was thin and almost bluish. However, we did as we were told, clambering on the red dragon’s back before taking off, out of the peak, descending at a slow glide until the sealine and the docks that ringed it became clearer and crisper.

Glimmer had scoffed her steak fast. As we floated down, she thrust her wings out. The muscles there were getting stronger, and her wings were more stable. That was apparent as she coasted through the air just above Cloudy’s neck. The big dragon rumbled with approval, and Ged whooped in excitement as my heart felt like it filled.

You’re flying , I told her.

Of course, I am . Her reply was snippish, but I could hear the note of pride beneath it. I am a dragon.

That you are , I replied. That you are.

The orderly, neat streets of the capital fell away. The closer we got to the docks, the less and less grand the buildings became, and streets were nowhere near as defined. But, as we landed, it was the smell that hit me as we landed. I choked on the odour of shit, urine and rotting flesh, meshed with the stink of fish and salt.

“Sorry about this, lass,” Ged told me, whipping out a flat cap and pulling it low over my eyes, then producing a kerchief and tying it over my nose and mouth. “I grew up with this fucking stench and it still takes my breath away, but you might…”

“…be regretting eating that sandwich right now,” I groaned, my voice muffled. My hands went to my stomach, which gurgled in response to the smell.

“Try and keep the food down, although you won’t be the first to lose your lunch outside a tannery. This way, love, and stay close.”

You stay by Cloudy’s side , I told Glimmer. Don’t leave him for a second.

As if I would , she replied with a sniff. He is my mate. Why would I go anywhere without him?

That went some way to reassuring me, but I wasn’t entirely reassured.

“Fear not,” Ged said, seeing my brow furrowing. “Cloudy would burn the whole of Wyrmpeak down to keep that young queen safe.” And as if to punctuate his rider’s point, a small trickle of fire escaped Cloudy’s muzzle. I nodded and we set off towards the outskirts of the city. Ged strode forward with confidence, although I struggled to keep pace with him as the road degenerated to mud, or muck, I wasn’t sure which. As we saw people ahead of us, I questioned whether the cleanliness of our disguises might make us stand out.

The kerchief around my face and the cap made sense as soon as we passed them. The group of men talking on the side of the muddy street peered at the two of us, with what felt like undue attention. Then I wondered if that might stand in our favour. While we might have been trying to hide who we were, when the queen and her guards moved the boys, she would have had the same intent.

And neither of us might have succeeded.

I quickened my steps, following on Ged’s heels as the stink thickened, becoming almost palpable. It clogged my lungs, burned my nose, and I had to stop for a second while I tried to gasp for breath. But that just made the situation worse.

“Your lad looks like he’s struggling,” a man joked to Ged.

“New one,” he replied with a sharp nod. “Still green around the edges and now green around the gills.” He turned to me. “No retching now. I’ve given you good food to eat this morning and you won’t get any more if you waste it vomiting on the roadside.”

I nodded sharply, my hands on my knees as I fought to stop from doing just that, with a cold sweat breaking over my whole body. While I struggled to draw breath, the men chatted with Ged, all of them seemingly impervious to the stench.

“And what brings you down here today, stranger?” the man asked Ged.

“My father is Yorick, the tanner.”

“Yor’s boy? Not the fancy pants rider?”

“Nope, that’s Ged. I’m Will. Better looking, bigger dick. Don’t need to compensate with a fuck-off big dragon. If I tried to get a beast between my legs, they’d have to fight it out to see who came out on top.”

The man guffawed in response to that, holding out a hand for Ged to shake.

“Jerome,” he introduced himself. “And your dad is down the lane, stinking up a storm right now. All those big knobs up on the hill don’t know their fine leathers come from a combination of rotting cow skins, piss and shit, do they?”

“And he charges them like a wounded bull for the privilege too,” Ged replied, with a toothy grin. “Which is why I’m here. Need a bit of coin…”

“Say no more,” Jerome said, clapping Ged on the shoulder. “My sons do the same damn thing after festival days. I better get on; I need to be earning a quid to lend their useless arses.”

“Like all good fathers do. Good day to you, Jerome.”

Ged winked at me and then drew closer, muttering to me in a low voice.

“Now you know why I gave you the kerchief. Hold it close to your face. It might stop the smell. Maybe…” He shrugged then walked on, leaving me to struggle along after him.

We continued along the street then turned down a laneway towards one of the tanneries.

A man with Ged’s strong boned face looked up as we approached, though his short, cropped hair was grizzled grey, and his big body was a little softer around the middle.

“Son!” He rushed over, grabbing Ged in a rough embrace before leaning in to whisper in his ear. “And which son do I have before me?”

“Will.”

“That our Ged?” a youngish man approached, happily setting down the scraper in his hands before wiping his hands on an already filthy apron and offering Ged one.

“Will,” Ged corrected with a frown. “Ged wouldn’t be shaking your filthy hand. Too high and mighty that one.” As if to cement his point, he gripped the other man’s hand. “How the fuck are ya, Billy?”

“Arms deep in shit, literally,” Billy said with a roll of his eyes. “Same as always.”

“So what brings you down to our end of the world?” Ged’s father asked. “Anything wrong with your mother?”

The look was a meaningful one, obviously having some kind of subtext.

“She’s the same,” Ged replied, “but there’s been an issue with some of the crops. Can we talk somewhere?”

“Nowhere away from the stink here.” Ged’s father looked past his son, to me. “Your boy alright?”

“Nope, used to the clean scents of the fields, this one, but he’ll survive. We’ll go to your office.”

“Now, Ged, what’s afoot?” Any pretence was dropped the moment we were inside the small room. While the stench was somewhat muted by the four walls, the atmosphere of the room was close, stale. “I’m assuming there actually haven’t been any birds from your mother?”

“None as far as I know,” Ged replied, as both he and his father sank down onto old wooden chairs. I perched my bottom on a nearby stool, his father keeping an eye on my every move out of the corner of his eye. “I’m on keep business.”

“Always are when you come down here as ‘Will’,” Ged’s father replied, then nodded to me. “And who’s this slip of a thing?”

“Lady Pippin Emberly—”

“Lady?” the man barked, looking from one to the other of us.

“May I present my father, Roland?”

I tugged down the kerchief, instantly regretting it when I did, the burn in my nose almost painful.

“Pleasure to meet you, Master Roland,” I replied. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse me.” I tugged the kerchief back up, plastering my hand across my face to try and block out the stench.

Roland waved his hand, indicating no offence was taken, but his eyes were narrowed on his son.

“What the hell have you got yourself into, bringing a lady down to these parts? Tell me she’s not some rich man’s wife you’ve spirited away?”

Ged let out a bark of laughter because, in some ways, that description was true, even as it wasn’t. Then he shook his head, and his father relaxed back in his chair.

“You would’ve caught word of a woman dragonrider?”

“The one so misshapen that the prince rejected her?” I winced at that descriptor, Roland echoing my expression when he realised what he’d said. “My apologies, milady.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “So, that’s what they’re saying?”

“Many a tall tale is being passed around the docks,” Roland said. “The taller the better by most people’s standards. I’d heard tale of a woman with the claws of a dragon or the wings of one, of a girl too plain to turn the prince’s head.” His focus settled on me. “Though I can see that isn’t true, even under that boy’s garb.”

“Pretty or not, that’s not why we’re here, is it, Ged?” I stared at the side of the rider’s face and he nodded slowly. “You wanted to ask about the lads.”

“What lads? What’ve you got yourself mixed up in now, son?”

Ged filled his father in, skimming over many of the details, focussing on the more tangible shifts in power within the city. Roland listened with obvious intent, smoothing his hand over his beard as it all came out.

“So you need to get these boys back in order to settle things down and cool some heads,” Roland said. “ And you want to discredit the queen? That’s a tall order, son, and it marks you as treasonous for even thinking about it.”

“If there was another way—”

“No, I don’t s’pose there is.” Roland took a long look at me. “And why do I think that this has less to do with saving the country, and more to do with impressing a fine lady?”

“Not needed,” I replied crisply. “I’m already thoroughly impressed with your son.” Heat flared in Ged’s eyes when I turned my gazed toward him, and I saw something else there as well, something sweeter. “He’s a fine man, a fine husband.”

“Husband…?” Roland’s eyes widened. “Gods above, son, you’ve gone and done it now. A rider eschews all others but the corps. I heard the oath clear as a bell when you bonded with young Cloudy, the moment those pricks took my son away from me.”

“Well, as Pippin is a member of the corps, I am not foresworn, am I? Now, these lads. The queen has to have stashed them somewhere out of the way, somewhere where people are unlikely to look.”

“Like the fucking docklands,” Roland replied, stroking his beard. “Who comes down here but those that have to?” He nodded slowly. “You need to talk to Marcus.” Ged groaned at that. “You know you do.”

“No one willingly talks to Marcus Lighthands,” Ged replied.

“And yet so many do. All that is known trickles down to him, you know that. He’s your best bet,” Roland assured us.

“And what’s the chance of getting him to meet us here?” Ged asked.

“Less than none. Hope you brought some of that good rider gold with you, because you’ll be needing it. He holds court in the Pickled Parrot now, I believe. Go in and have a pint and he’ll find you, but only if he’s a mind to.”