The Broken Knife

“Thanks, Li,” Raff said, then pulled away from Kaz, leaving the smaller male supporting the full weight of their erstwhile attacker. “And I’m sorry I said you were just a big lizard.”

Li demanded. She was perching on the edge of a nearby roof, and now she lifted her wings. Small, sharp spines lifted away from her long neck, and she glared at the tall male.

Raff chuckled as if he could hear the dragon’s threats, then flipped two fingers away from his forehead in a salute and strode off into the street. He was whistling jauntily, and no one watching would ever have guessed that he had nearly died less than an hour before. He also started cultivating as soon as he was a few strides away, likely answering the question of whether or not he knew doing so could drain Kaz.

The tall, powerfully built human with the carefree grin attracted the attention of everyone nearby, so no one noticed when his former companions vanished. Kaz and Li moved as quickly as they could, crossing the busy street and ducking into another small passage between buildings.

By now, they were beginning to realize that these narrow spaces were actually somewhat dangerous, but in this case, several wooden crates had been abandoned there. Kaz hauled his awkward burden up to the top, then unceremoniously chucked him onto the roof. The body reappeared as soon as it left the space immediately around Kaz and Li, but that was all right; by then he was arcing through the air, with Kaz right behind.

Unfortunately, rather than finding the male lying in a limp pile on the hot tiles, they instead found him attempting to crawl away, though he kept tilting to the left as he did so. Obviously, his sudden change in circumstances had jarred him into something akin to consciousness, and now he cast Kaz and Li a terrified look as he opened his mouth to scream.

Kaz hastily clamped his hand over the other male’s mouth. Teeth immediately clamped down on the flesh of his palm, but without power to give them strength, Kaz suspected they would break before his skin did. It pinched a bit, but that was all.

In spite of the ineffectiveness of the attack, Li didn’t appreciate the attempt. Her head whipped forward, jaws ready for a bite of her own, and Kaz barely managed to jerk the human out of the way in time. Giving the dragon a chastising look, Kaz turned to their prisoner, only to find that the human was staring at Li in horrified fascination.

Oh. Li had been focused on hiding them completely, so of course she hadn’t bothered to conceal her front legs separately as well. They, plus her rows of very sharp teeth, were now on full display, leaving no doubt that she was not a wyvern.

The male looked from Li to Kaz, then back again, attempting to scramble away from the dragon. “Oh, no,” he muttered, then said several more things that Kaz didn’t understand before returning to the common language. “You’re one of them. But why didn’t you just say so?”

Now that he wasn’t fighting, Kaz had loosened his grip slightly, and now the male reached out and poked Kaz’s cheek. “You look human, though. But you have a dragon.” He lapsed into the other language for a moment, then shook his head sharply.

“Did you steal that dragon? How do you get it to listen to you? Is that why they’re after you? But they’re tracking a bunch of people. Did they all steal dragons, and you’re just the only one stupid enough to show it off in public?” The male leaned forward, staring at Li, who hissed, showing her teeth again. They were much larger than they used to be, and the male grew noticeably paler as he pulled away again.

Li muttered, glaring at the human.

Kaz sent her negation and a warning. This male had obviously formed an incorrect conclusion, and he was already talking more than Kaz had believed he would. Could they turn this to their advantage?

Li said, once again raising the question of just how much of his thoughts she could hear. She clicked softly, as if clearing her throat, and looked around at the rooftop, which was empty of everyone but the three of them and two plump birds who looked like they might be too heavy to actually fly away.

She was right, though. Not only was it blazingly hot, with the sun’s rays bouncing off of the gleaming roof tiles, but they were only ten feet from a good-sized road. There weren’t a lot of people using it at this time of day, but if their prisoner actually did start shouting, there was no way it would go unnoticed.

On the other hand, Kaz didn’t know where else they could go. The Bard and Bee was only four roofs left and another three or four straight ahead, but if they went there, everyone else would get involved in questioning him. That might result in more information, but it probably wouldn’t focus on the one thing Kaz and Li really cared about: dragons.

Kaz’s eyes caught on a broken tower of red brick in the center of a nearby roof. He had to admit that the humans had done a remarkably good job of cleaning up the damage from the incursion and the following rain, especially in the area immediately around the stadium, but there were still lingering traces, and this seemed to be one of them.

Grasping the human’s shirt, Kaz pulled him toward the remains of what looked like a smaller house set atop the larger one. What its purpose was, Kaz couldn’t guess, but it provided shelter from the sun, and the only access point was a hatch in the roof, leading down into the main den. This hatch was firmly shut and quite solid, so Kaz stood on it as he looked at the other male.

“I’m Kaz,” he said abruptly, deciding to try to play along with the human’s misunderstanding. “What’s your name? Why were you following me?”

The other looked noticeably happier now that they weren’t in the sun. The heat wasn’t enough to bother Kaz or Li, but this male entirely lacked any trace of the power he had wielded so briefly, and sweat was already running down his cheeks.

As if realizing for the first time that they were alone, the human said, “I’m Doran. Where’s Joneh?”

Kaz winced internally. Well, that was an opportunity lost. There was no way Doran would talk to them when he realized that-

“Is he dead?” Doran asked, wiping sweat from his brow, then gingerly tracing the edges of the bandages wrapping his neck. He blinked as he looked at Kaz, then said, “And did you know you have three noses?”

Kaz and Li both relaxed. The human was still recovering from his injuries, and it seemed he’d hit his head harder than Kaz realized.

“No,” Kaz said, attempting a friendly smile. Lips closed, brows up, chin lifted, just the way the humans did it.

Doran flinched, pressing his head over his eyes. “It’s okay,” he muttered. “I never liked the scale-licker anyway. Never wanted to have any fun, you know?”

Kaz’s eyes narrowed. “Scale-licker?”

“Sure,” the human said, leaning back into a patch of deeper shadow with a sigh. “Didn’t they call them that in your group? The ones who act like the scalies are some kind of second coming of the Diushi?”

And that’s where the conversation would have gone horribly astray if Lianhua was listening. Any mention of the Diushi in front of her was like waving a bowl of cooked tanuo in front of a puppy. “No,” Kaz said cautiously. “We…had other names for them. What were you doing for the scalies?” He had to hurry on before Doran’s muddled brain wandered too far.

“Following you,” Doran said, staring at Kaz as if he was an idiot. “And that,” he added, pointing at Li.

Li bridled at being called a ‘that’, but Kaz said, “What were you supposed to do with us?”

The human shrugged, then groaned. “They wanted to know where you went and who you talked to. Did you have family or friends other than your team. Anyone who would miss you when the time came. What did you do to me?” He began to tug fitfully at the cloth wrapped around his throat.

Kaz took a risk. “We removed the rune-stone in your neck. It was hurting you.”

Doran’s eyes opened in suddenly remembered fear. “Yeah. It…burned. They said it was just there to track me, so if I took off before the end of my contract, they could find me. Said it’d-” He broke off, starting to claw desperately at his neck. “They said it’d kill me if I tried to take it out. Am I dead? Oh, gods,” he whimpered.

Kaz laid a restraining hand over the trembling fingers, afraid the human would tear open the wound again. “You’re alive. What contract?” For a moment, he thought he’d gone too far, but Doran was too distracted by his own fear to realize that Kaz had all but admitted that he didn’t know anything.

“I was just supposed to be a wagoneer,” Doran muttered. “Drive a cart here. Make it look good if we’re questioned. Just merchants. You know. Joneh was a guard. Trusted. Come here, sell our goods, bring supplies to the scalies, go home. My cousin did a run last year. Said it was the best pay he ever got.”

“Where are the scalies?” Kaz asked. Then, driven by impatience, he said, “Do they have more dragons?”

Doran’s eyes were starting to droop. He’d used up most of his energy and awareness. Cautiously, Kaz gave him a little blue ki. He didn’t want the male to return to unconsciousness, but he also didn’t want to heal him out of his compliant state.

“Don’t know,” Doran said, sitting up a little straighter. “Only the scale-lickers went there. They had storage items, so they didn’t need us and our carts. Joneh was always really quiet when he got back. He’d wake up screaming about the dragons, though. Was the only time he’d really talk. Like he had to, or he’d go crazy. Said there were dozens of them, hidden away somewhere, waiting…”

Li asked, hissing furiously, as if she could drag knowledge the male didn’t have from his bruised brain.

“Waiting for what?” Kaz said, giving the human a little shake.

Doran’s head lolled, and he giggled. “To kill everyone.”