Брайан Макклеллан - Blood of Empire

“Piss and shit.” Styke stood up, raising his head to the sky. “We need to find that road well before nightfall,” he shouted. “Form a line and get ready to move out. I want to –”

He was cut off by the distant caw of a raven, followed by another, then a long-drawn-out croak. He paused and looked around for Jackal. “Did you hear that?”

Jackal nodded in confusion. “That was Markus’s signal.”

“That the enemy on our left flank has been taken care of,” Styke replied, not bothering to hide his bafflement.

“Yes.”

“By himself?”

“I’m not sure,” Jackal said. “Should I go find him?”

Styke felt his gut twist. Something was wrong here and he couldn’t quite place it. “We need to keep moving. If we’re fine on our left flank, it won’t hurt to get to the road. Markus can catch up with us. Get on your horses,” he told Ka-poel and Celine. Once Celine’s back was turned, he knelt down next to the soldier he’d been interrogating and quickly dispatched him.

“Ben,” Jackal said.

“What is it?” Styke’s eyes fell on Jackal, only to see that the Palo had frozen in place, alert as a dog with its hackles up. Gripping his knife, Styke turned to follow his gaze.

A pair of figures had appeared on a knoll to their right. One of them was Zac, Markus’s brother. The other was familiar, and it made the hair on the back of Styke’s neck stand on end.

It was the dragonman who had walked out at the Battle of Starlight. Ji-Orz. He wore the same naval infantry uniform as the soldiers Styke had just ambushed, and he regarded the entire group of Lancers with an air of appraisal. He and Zac descended the knoll, and though Zac was stiff, he didn’t appear to be under any duress. He swallowed hard when they reached the stream and cleared his throat. “Boss,” he said, “this man says he’s a buddy of yours.”

Styke met Ji-Orz’s gaze and slowly wicked the blood off his knife with two fingers. “Dragonman.”

“Hello, Ben Styke,” Orz said in Adran. “I have come to make a deal.”

“Hold on,” Styke cut him off. “First, how the pit did you get here?” He looked sharply around at the gathered Lancers. He had no doubt that they could deal with the dragonman – but it would be at great cost.

Orz raised one eyebrow, his gaze sweeping casually – too casually – across the Lancers, lingering for half a moment on Ka-poel. “How do you think?”

“You stowed away on the Seaward ?” Zac blurted.

The dragonman glanced at Zac, his face expressionless. “Yes.”

“Where?” Zac again. Styke thought to silence him, but he was curious, too. The Seaward was not a big ship.

“Just under the prow. There was enough space to hang in the rigging out of sight. If the captain had ordered any work done on the keel on a slow day, I would have been discovered.”

“You just hung there for two weeks?” Styke asked flatly. Styke had spent the better part of the journey carving and watched the gulls up on the forecastle. Orz had probably been less than a handful of paces away the entire time. The idea was disconcerting.

“I snuck on board for food and water on two nights. But otherwise, yes.” Orz answered as if it was no great deed.

“Through the storm?”

“It was… unpleasant,” Orz answered. “Most of my clothes were torn away. I had to abandon my dragon leathers. That’s why I’m wearing these.” He plucked at the ill-fitting Dynize uniform. “Does that satisfy your curiosity? Or would you prefer to believe that I swam here?”

Styke considered the question for a few moments. It had been over a month since Ji-Orz left the battle at Starlight. In theory, that was plenty of time for him to slip down the coast, hop a Dynize vessel, and then put to land with the soldiers currently on their tail. But it would have to be a damn big coincidence that Orz wound up on the same ship that would eventually give chase to the Seaward . He shook his head. Either way gave him a strange story. Either way he didn’t trust the dragonman. “All right. Assuming you hitched a ride with us… why?”

A serious smile flickered across Orz’s face. “Because I needed to get home.”

“And you couldn’t just find a Dynize vessel?”

“I left in the middle of a battle, disobeying direct orders from Ka-Sedial himself. I am not… how do you say, a person ‘welcome’ among the Dynize.”

“Yet you’re going back.”

A nod. “By now, my betrayal will be well known among the Dynize in Fatrasta. Dragonmen will have been sent to look for me. Coming back here is the last thing Ka-Sedial will expect.”

Styke studied Orz closely, trying to foresee where all of this was going. “But they’ll find out eventually.”

“Yes, they will.” Somehow, Orz’s serious face grew even more tense. “Sedial knows he cannot punish me, so he will punish those close to me. He will have dispatched agents to seek my family. I’ve returned to do what I can to protect them from the coming reckoning.”

Styke glanced to his side. Ka-poel stared hard at the dragonman, flicking her gaze once toward Styke but betraying nothing of her thoughts. “Is he telling the truth?” Styke asked.

Ka-poel drew a pen knife from one pocket, then presented an open palm toward Orz. Orz’s eyes immediately narrowed. “No,” he said firmly. “I assume that you’re the one who broke Sedial’s hold on me. If that is true, I thank you. However, I will not allow a bone-eye to take my blood again, not willingly.”

Ka-poel snorted. She gave a few short gestures and stepped back next to her horse. I think he’s telling the truth , Celine translated.

“All right,” Styke said, breaking a sudden stillness. He realized his shoulders were tense, his fist clutching the hilt of his knife so hard that it hurt. He forced himself to relax and put his knife away. “We know why you’re in Dynize. Now tell me why you’re here . What’s this proposition? And make it quick, because fifty or more of your countrymen are swarming that swamp behind us, and I need to either get ahead of them or set up a trap.”

“Sixty-four,” Orz said softly.

“Sixty-four what?” Styke found himself losing patience, and had to consciously restrain himself from reaching for his knife.

“Sixty-four of my countrymen. They won’t be a bother.”

A shiver went up Styke’s spine. He jerked his head at Zac, who immediately took off into the swamp to check on Orz’s claim. Orz continued, “My proposition is this: If you help me get home and get my relatives to safety, I will help you make the rendezvous with the rest of your cavalry.”

“Why do you think we need your help?”

“Because you won’t make it twenty miles without me.” Orz paused for a just a moment, as if to let the information sink in, then continued, “I’ve been listening to your Lancers gossip for weeks. I listened at Starlight and I listened on the ship. I know that you’re here to destroy the godstone, and I know that you plan on meeting up with your Lancers and finding the stone in the middle of the swamp. As for the godstone: good. Dynize is better without Sedial getting his hands on such a weapon. As for your plan… it is inherently flawed.”

The surrounding Lancers began to murmur among themselves, exchanging glances and reaching for weapons. Styke could sense the swell of uncertainty within them, and it was not a feeling that would make this journey any easier. He half considered lashing out with his knife, silencing the dragonman before he could sow any more doubt. But that, he decided, would not end well. “How is our plan flawed?” Styke asked between clenched teeth. He looked once more at Ka-poel. Her head was cocked to one side, as if she was listening very carefully to what the dragonman had to say.