Tiamat's Kittens: Having Brass

[aithne]

4/30/978

Palil:

We arrived back in Petrozav as the rest of our three teams filtered in; we'd been given a week of bereavement leave, and a lot of people had elected to go visit their families. Nobody asked where we'd gone; whether few had noticed the odd way in which Sondirra, Gannon, Jordan, and I had left, or nobody cared, or nobody felt brave enough to invade our privacy, I couldn't tell. I didn't ask.

It was noticed that Sondirra and Jordan were now pretty much openly together, though still keeping a low profile in public; while Mi does work a bit differently from the regular military, Sondirra is still Jordan's direct superior, and their relationship is, technically, against the rules. Like I said, MI doesn't really care, but they chose not to push it.

Pretty much as soon as we came back, we were called in to Coulter. It was me and Sondirra, Gannon and Jordan, and Aldaric and Paloma in conference with Coulter in the same inn we'd met with him before.

"A few new things have developed," he said. "Isla's armies have withdrawn completely from Gada's border; she's diverting most of those troops to her border with Yafa. That border is heating up; there have been a number of clashes there in the last week, leaving five dead on our side, seven on hers. Yaroslav's starting to panic, there are starting to be food riots."

He took a long breath. "We questioned the heads you brought back, and there are a lot of things we found. Ready?" I nodded, opening my mind, preparing to let information all into the web that represented the situation in the world, the web that had expanded so much in recent weeks.

"All right. Here we go. The youngest daughter of Reuben is being held in Krasnodan, on that forsaken rock they call an island in the north of Reuben's territory. Penn's bondmate, or one of his teammates, are on Reuben's payroll. One rear admiral in Gada's territory is loyal to Reuben.

"Eight members, Colonels and higher, of Yafa's MI are under Reuben's influence. Most of them have things held over them--drug habits, family kidnappings, money, that sort of thing. Reuben has made overtures to Kamal, but he's refused because he's working for someone with money. Isla, Gada, we don't know, it's just not us."

(We knew, of course, but I kept my mouth shut. No need to betray Chaim any more than we already have.)

"There is a planned pirate uprising to attack Omsk in one month. Most of said 'pirates' will be Reuben's people in disguise. A second Slayden temple has risen from the swamp near Novgorod. Reuben's health is failing, and he is desperately searching for giant caches with immortality or longevity potions in them.

"The defenses in the border town Anapa have been breached. Reuben's people have dug a hole under the city walls; the general population is unaware."

(Sondirra: That makes no fucking sense. Anapa is on the border between Isla and Yafa. What's Reuben up to? Starting a war, probably.)

"Reuben has about a thousand people in Yafa's territory undercover, most of them pirates. He has over two hundred in Isla's, less than fifty in Gada's. Reuben himself is a devoted follower of Tiamat, which isn't well known in his territory. Most in the south are Draylith worshipers, most in the north follow Bahumet. This could be a problem if it gets out."

(Sondirra: I'll say. I mean, if any of the gods could be said to be bad, Tiamat's it. The god of war and death, the merciless huntress of the damned.

"Reuben is building a large crystal structure near #1, something to do with amplifying the power of the crystals. Mages in Kazon are creating a plague that will effect both humanoids and dragons, but they've had no real successes with it, thankfully. A bonded pair of Gemini dragons is likely to take over for Bonita, though we have no names. The plant mage that created the fireball plant in Petrozav is living on an island in Lake Bakul. The Sagittarius dragons have forged an alliance with the Aquarius dragons. The Aquariuses are leaving the pirate alliance ships in droves, which is a bit of good news. And last but not least, the warehouse where the potions that have been stolen from Yafa's stores resides on that Gemini dragon island we keep hearing about. And that, finally, is that."

My mind was spinning. Everything was fitting into place, and there were some questions coalescing out of the fog. We asked some practical questions, wheres and whys and whos, got some clarifications, and then Coulter said, "I'll leave you to discuss this amongst yourselves. Let me know who you're sending where before you leave. Dismissed."

We got up and got out. I was silent as we walked towards the barracks, trying to fit everything into the web in my mind. There was a shadow behind the web, I realized. A very large shadow. But who--or what?

I messaged Gada to pass along a few things to her. In reply, she thanked me and said, "I've left three places open on my border, where the military has been told to look the other way about small groups coming and going. One is near the Seratov giant cache, one is in the mountains close to Soshi, and the last is at the very tip of the northern Cheraskis. If you need to get into Isla's territory, my border with her is unguarded."

I thanked her, and signed off. Bambi, Beamer, Tchar, and Galen joined us to discuss strategy. It was our usual command configuration, all of the Captains discussing things and me to make tiebreaker decisions. We chewed everything over for a while, putting the big picture together. Civil war was threatening here in Yafa's territory. Reuben wanted this territory, and once he had it, he could put pressure on Isla from two fronts. He was also trying to get Isla to do much of his work for him.

Jordan pointed out that we've been active defensively, and I allowed as we had. Now, we thought, was the time to take the initiative.

The pirates were our most pressing threat, and there was an alliance among the zodiac dragons opposing those under Rueben's sway. We needed to make that side stronger. Aldaric and Paloma's team would go see if they could get the Cancer, Libra, and Taurus clans allied with the Sagittarius clan. The Virgo clan was a possibility as well, but they were difficult to motivate without a direct threat against them. Diplomacy was turning out to be the strong suit of their team, and I thought, if any of them decided to stay in the military after our two years, I'd see if I could get them into the ambassadorial corps.

Gannon and Jordan's team we sent on what we call a bounce mission (though far more far-flung than most bounce missions)--first to Chelyabinsk to explain to Bill's father that his brother, the one who was moving his two-thirds of the gold dragons to Reuben's territory, wasn't his brother at all, taking the polymorph potion we'd found on Bonita with them as proof. Then they'd drop down to the bottom of the continent quickly, to see if they could catch up with that fleet that had left Novgorod a couple of weeks ago, and get a heading and a vessel count. Then they would go to Soshi and look for that disappeared informant.

Us? Of course we took the most dangerous assignment. We needed to investigate that Gemini dragon island, and either retrieve or destroy the potions that were kept in the warehouse there.

Disrupt their operations there. Ally some of the unaligned clans against the pirate alliance. Then, kill Andromeda. That, we hoped, would more or less break the back of the pirate alliance. With a few more seeds of dissension sowed, we might break that alliance apart entirely.

It would cripple Reuben's ability to take real advantage of the chaos that was brewing in this territory, and buy us time while he came up with something else. And time was what we needed.

That settled, we decided that we'd all leave that afternoon. After the meeting of the leadership of our detached wing broke up, I caught Paloma's arm. "Could you tell Olin to come find me before you leave?"

She nodded, and gave me a searching look. I wondered if Olin had said something to her.

Olin found me in the squad quarters, as Sondirra and I packed up the potions we'd picked up. There was little other packing to do, since we'd only arrived back in Petrozav last night.

As Olin came in, Sondirra excused herself and left me alone with him. I stood and faced him, talking a long breath.

"You wanted to see me, Major?" Olin asked.

I stared at him, trying to marshal my words. "Olin, I'm sorry about what happened. I wasn't thinking, and I could have hurt you badly."

He shook his head. He seemed--distant. Closed off. Not even the hint of a smile on his fey face. "Palil, it's fine. I understand. You were grieving."

"No, it's not fine. But there's no way I can make it right. I can't trust myself to keep control. I've enjoyed our time together, and I'm grateful for what you've done for me, but right now..."

"We can't. I assumed as much." Olin had dropped his gaze to the floor, staring at a crack in the stone.

Quietly, I said, "I'd hoped we could part as friends."

He raised his gaze to mine, and I could see the pain in his eyes. "I know." We stood there, silent, looking at each other for seconds that stretched painfully. Finally, Olin spoke. "I'm sorry, Palil. I knew this was coming, but it still hurts. Give me some time. I'll be all right."

I nodded, and let out a soft breath. "We won't see each other for weeks, maybe months."

Unexpectedly, Olin held his arms out to me. I stepped forward and into his embrace gladly, and he hugged me, hard. I returned the hug, but gently. I could feel the tension in him, and I could feel him relax into me, letting it go. "I'm going to miss you," he said, quietly.

"I, too. And I'll miss sleeping with you, too," I admitted. "I wish it hadn't worked out this way."

"Me, too." Olin stepped back, and there was a small smile on his face now. He didn't seem nearly so closed off as he had minutes before. "I should go. Sutton says we're leaving in a few minutes. I'll see you when I see you."

I nodded, and Olin took his leave. I sat down heavily on the bare wooden chair and put my head in my hands. That had hurt quite a bit more than I'd expected it would, but it was done now, at least.

A few minutes later, there was a light knock on the door. I straightened and called, "Come in!"

It was Gannon, who stepped into the room then stopped, looking at me strangely. "Are you all right, Palil?"

Did it show that badly? "I don't know," I admitted. "I just told Olin that I couldn't sleep with him any more. I guess it went all right, but it still hurt."

He pulled the other chair over to me, sitting down. "Don't like him any more?"

"It's not that!" I checked my tone; Gannon wasn't responsible for any part of this mess. "It's just that...well, at the risk of telling you more than you wanted to know, he and I slept together right after I found out about Garnet. I lost myself. I forgot for a moment how fragile humanoids are." I sighed. "I left deep bruises on him without even trying. Another few seconds, and I probably would have snapped both his collarbones. I thought I could keep control, but I can't."

"So you broke up with him."

"We weren't exactly together, not in that sense, at least. I think he knew what I was going to say."

Gannon looked at me for a long moment, then said, "I think, knowing the situation, that it was probably the right thing for you to do. You've got enough on your mind without having to worry about accidentally hurting a lover. It's probably small consolation, though."

I nodded. "I need to focus on work for a while, anyway. It wasn't a serious relationship by any means, and I think it did us both a world of good. I'm just sad it's over. I think we'll end up as friends, though. And maybe some day I'll find a dragon for him, one that has a lot more solid control over herself." Gannon was giving me an odd look, and I flushed. "Oh. I forget that not everyone knows that about Olin."

"He's a dragon fancier?"

"Pretty much exclusively. I got lucky when I picked him to try to seduce. In more ways than one." I smiled crookedly. "Look, that's not common knowledge, and it shouldn't be until Olin gets out of the military."

"I won't tell anyone," he said, seriously. He leaned forward and put an arm around my shoulders. "You going to be all right?"

"I don't exactly have the option not to be." I leaned into Gannon a bit. "So why did you come by, anyway?"

He chuckled. "Oh, that. I just wanted to say goodbye. We're leaving as soon as everyone's completely packed, which should be in a quarter hour or so. I found myself at loose ends, Jordan's talking with Sondirra, so I thought I'd come by and see you."

"Oh! Well, I'm glad you did. Even if you probably found out more about my personal life than you probably wanted to know."

"I don't mind," he told me. "You need any help packing?"

"Sure, I can use an extra pair of hands. Not much left to do, but it'll go faster with two." I jumped up, and started grabbing the small sundries that we had scattered around.

I knew I'd have to do more thinking about Olin later, but for the moment Gannon's presence was soothing me, and we talked quietly as we waited for everyone to be ready to go.



Sondirra:

"Will she be all right? I mean, all this on top of everything else--"

I nodded. "I'm pretty sure she will be. She'll be sad for a little while, but I think she'll recover." I gave Jordan a half-smile. We'd found an empty courtyard near the barracks, and were sitting on a bench, talking. "Gannon being with her's helping, a lot. Let him know that, later. She probably won't tell him herself."

"He figured it out already, actually." Jordan shook his head. "The two of them, I swear."

"Yeah, well, look who's talking!" I took Jordan's hand in mine, suddenly sobered by a thought. "We'll message each other when we can, nights," I said. "I'll miss you." How long had we been together? Less than a month, and it felt like we'd been together forever. We fit together, strange as it might sound.

He lifted my hand, kissed it. "And I'll miss you, terribly. Stay alive."

"You, too," I told him, sternly. "Look, Jordan..." I paused, feeling awkward. "You've seen us work. You know the things I sometimes have to do for a job. I don't think I can hamstring myself for undercover work, no matter how I feel about you."

He thought about it for a moment. "That's work. That's completely different. I just--don't want to know, all right?"

"I can do that," I said, reaching out and pulling him close. "I'll do what I have to do, and you'll do what you need to."

"As long as you don't bring back anything catching," he said, and there was a laugh in his voice.

"Gods forbid!" I kissed him, glad that awkward discussion was over with. I'd wanted that particular point clear before we went out into the field again. "Well, wish us luck. This mission ought to be interesting. Island full of Gemini dragon pairs. If we fuck up, we might get turned into zombies." I grinned at him. "You'd let me eat your brain if I was a zombie, right? Braaaaaaaaaains," I moaned into his ear. "Braaaaaaaaains!"

He started laughing. "Nah, I'd become a zombie too, and we could rove the countryside eating brains together."

"How romantic! Moonlight, an open field, rotting flesh..."

We were laughing then, and Palil said in my mind, Are you two coming along any time soon?

Keep your pants on, love, we'll be there shortly. From the look on his face, Jordan had just received a similar message from Gannon. "Looks like we're wanted."

"Unfortunately. Come on, I suppose we should get gone."

We walked to the landing field, where Palil was waiting with the packs. She'd gotten into harness, and I hoisted up the packs and secured them to the harness--one pillion, one on the breastplate, one on either side. "I'm going to need a stepladder to do this soon," I told her. "When did you get so big, Palil?"

She snorted, ignoring the question. "Go say goodbye to Jordan so we can get out of here," she told me, not unkindly.

I ran to kiss Jordan, who was working on Gannon's harness, and then our squad mounted up and took off. We're giving them a bit more leash, Palil noted after we were in the air. I hope they're up to it.

The only way they'll learn is like we did, by practicing. They'll be fine. Gannon's got a good head on his shoulders, and a couple of the bonds are a bit more subtle than Jordan. He knows well enough to listen to them. They'll be fine.

I hope so.

Palil sounded genuinely worried, and I frowned. Was this just Palil being her usual worrywart self, or was there real reason behind the fear? Okay, Palil, what's eating you?

She hesitated, and for a moment all there was to hear was the sound of her wide wings crackling through the air like sails, the wind rushing past my ears. I don't know, she finally admitted. I know they can take care of themselves. But it only takes one mistake to kill them all.

Lightly, I said, Well, you don't like Jordan, so no big loss there, right?

She snapped her jaws irritably, and I straightened in surprise. Don't, Sondirra. Don't even joke about it. I may not like him, but he's important to you, and he and Gannon hold his squad together. How well do you think you could function if Jordan died? Gannon would be devastated, if he survived and Jordan didn't. I couldn't be happy at Jordan's death. I dislike having to admit it, but I couldn't rejoice in his misfortune.

You know me, I joke about everything. Point taken, though. I paused for a moment, thinking. My imagination, or are your feelings about him changing quicker than you can admit to it? It was a delicately put question, and a dangerous one; if I'd misjudged her, the rest of this flight was going to be silent and uncomfortable.

Palil was silent for a moment, then said, Maybe. This has been exhausting and upsetting, but it's not been all bad. He makes you happy, that's a point in his favor. And if you hadn't started in with Jordan, I probably never would have gotten to be friends with Gannon. She snorted again and started to pull strongly upwards, getting some altitude on the other two dragons. He's still irresponsible, impulsive, tends to think with his sword first and his brain later, and I don't think he takes this situation nearly seriously enough.

I almost laughed. Palil? Do you realize that you just described me?

I--what? Astonishment from Palil.

Serious. Irresponsible and impulsive, yep. Thinking with my sword first, okay not so much these days, but while we were in school, definitely. I shook my head. And I don't take this as seriously as you do. Yeah, it's life and death and stuff, but you have to be able to laugh at it, you have to be able to love during it. Life's just not worth living otherwise.

I could feel her thinking that over, trying to wrap her head around the fact that the things that irritated her about Jordan were some of the same things she loved about me. I watched the countryside go by and let her think in peace.

We headed to Tura, where we stopped by the portal outside of town. We used the cedar and iron disc to look around at the portal that we knew was on the Gemini dragon island. It was very, very busy, with what appeared to be a line out the door of people waiting to go through, and other people arriving. There were boxes and bags of all kinds being ferried through the portal.

Palil talked to the portal. It was a long and rambling conversation, but summed up, the gate system talked a lot to an elf at the gate near #1 but did not tell him everything, when people went into the portal and didn't arrive anywhere, they went into stasis, and there were 740 people held in stasis...more or less.

Five hundred of those were five hundred white dragons and their bondmates. They had been in stasis since the middle of the frost giant war, when they'd been sent into stasis and the cleric who'd known where they were died before he could give the order to release them.

Now, the math here is kind of fun. White dragons actually aren't all that common in the world these days. After Yafa's little stunt with killing most of the white dragons in her territory, there are maybe a hundred and fifty left in the world. Many of those are older, now, and not really into the whole breeding thing any more. If I had to make a guess, that dragon army would be on the younger side, with maybe a few older ones as leaders.

We could, with one stroke, almost triple the population of white dragons in the world.

Of course, this world is a very different one than they one they just left. Nearly three thousand years have gone by. We've invented stuff, we've lost a lot of the great magics. We had the Eight take over and compulsory military service become the norm. We'd need to do a lot of fast talking, if we wanted them on our side.

There were also seven frost giants in stasis. One, the leader, was called the Peacekeeper. It was she who was charged with coming to the white dragon leadership and hammering out a treaty that would let both sides live together in peace. She and her entourage went into one of the portals, assured by the clerics of Karop that they would be perfectly safe...and never arrived.

The war went on. Most of the frost giants were killed. The dragons took over.

"She knows," I muttered. "She knows where all of the caches are."

And with those caches...we might be able to make headway on solving this thing once and for all.

Of course, there are also things that should never see the light of day, but right now that was beside the point.

Other things we found out was that a cleric of Karop's orders to the portals would override anyone else's orders. The portals could follow the orders of anyone, if they felt like it. However, they were made to follow the orders of the clerics of Karop. If Palil ordered one of them to sacrifice itself, it would. If she ordered the whole network to self-destruct, it would.

Something to think about. Palil is reluctant to order the destruction, of course, because as far as we know, they are irreplaceable, and they are a race of sentient beings. Created ones, but destroying them is still not something she'd do lightly.

Thinking about that, we spent the night in Tura. We took rooms at a ramshackle inn at the edge of town, just for convenience's sake. We'd only been there about an hour when I started to feel a telltale buzzing in my head, the storm sign of an approaching headache.

"Could you get me a mug of hot water?" I asked Palil, rubbing my temples.

She blinked. "Yes, but why?"

I lifted the packet of herbs Jordan had given to me. "Headache. Something I want to try."

She got that mug, brought it back to me, and I steeped the bark chips in it. Once it was done and strained, I drank the bitter brew, and laid down to see if it would work.

Within a half hour, the headache that had been starting in on me was completely gone. And it stayed gone.

Palil tucked me in, setting one cool hand on my forehead. "That stuff works," she said, a bit wonderingly. "Where did you get it?"

I turned over, away from her. "Jordan had Haven make it for me."

I missed her look of dismay, but I didn't miss the flash of it that crossed the bond. I sent her love, gently, wordlessly. She sighed and curled up in her own bed.

The next morning, we changed into our disguises and flew out to sea.

Palil and Bambi were going to be a pair of Gemini dragon twins. Because Gemini dragons, when they bond, always bond to a pair of identical twin humanoids, we had to do a bit of mucking about with Beamer and Galen's looks to get them looking pretty much the same. I was going to be posing as Tchar's bond, who himself was going to be a Capricorn dragon.

Got all that? Yeah, it was confusing for us, too.

Palil and Bambi took polymorph potions to make them appear young enough to not be able to change into a small form yet, avoiding the problem of the fact that Palil's small form is drow, not human. This was going to be a straight-in ballsy attempt to just walk in and make ourselves at home, and the only reason it might work is that the zodiac clans tend to be very welcoming of their own, no matter what. Our cover story was that we were from Reuben's territory, and had heard things about what was going on out here and decided to come out to see what fun could be had.

We went over what we knew about Gemini dragons. They're always hatched as pairs of twins, one white and one black. The white part of the pair is basically a white dragon, but not as strong as the whites usually are. The black half of the pair looks a lot like a black dragon, only instead of acid their breath weapon is a cloud of gas that can change living creatures into undead.

They don't have any particular special advantages--not as strong as the reds and golds, without the sharp nose of the blacks, and without even a few of the high-flight adaptations of the whites. What they do have, in abundance, is magic--and a bond with their twin that is remarkably like the bonds dragons and humanoids have with each other. They are fearsome enemies for that alone.

We angled south and east until we judged we were about at the same latitude as Khatanga, then headed straight east. An hour or so after noon, we started seeing pairs of black and white dragons in the distance. About an hour later, we saw an island shrouded in smoke.

We did a flyby of the island, checking it out. It was a volcanic island, very active, the top venting a lot of sulfurous smoke rather than lava or anything. There were settlements on the beaches to the east, south, and west; it looked like the north was uninhabitable. The south looked like where we wanted to be anyway, so we located what landing field there was, and set down. There were docks stretching out into the water, and so many ships that the masts were like dense leafless forests.

It was weird to not have Palil change into her small form as soon as we landed. It was also weird to be standing next to Tchar instead of my bondmate. I reminded myself to act like I was bonded to him. It was easy to forget.

We were greeted at the edge of the landing field by a pair of Gemini dragons named Achim and Kernaghan. Achim was the white half and Kernaghan was the black half, from their eyes. Their eyes, speaking of, were kind of weird. I could have sworn that both of them had occasional swirls of the others' color in them. Might have been the light.

They welcomed us to the islands, swallowing our story about us coming from Reuben's island more or less whole. Food and lodging were both free, which was strange at first but made sense as we realized that this was, more or less, a clan home. They told us that the two large buildings on the island housed a warehouse and a portal. We could go to the warehouse if we needed money or potions or whatever, and the portal could be used to bounce to about anywhere. "Lines are really long in the morning. There's a lull about noon, then it's steady until about midnight," Achim told us helpfully.

We asked about possible ships to sign on with, and were given the name of Galena, a Capricorn dragon who had a small fleet of ten ships, the most prosperous of the pirates around here. "The huge soot-stained boat to the west there--" Achim pointed-- "That's called the Grim, and it's where everyone who doesn't sleep on a ship stays. You can find an empty set of rooms on it and drop your stuff to claim it. Nobody will bother your stuff. Thievery amongst us is punishable by death. So, welcome, and I hope you find what you're looking for."

Okay, then. We went and staked out part of a cargo hold on the Grim, then sat down to plan our next moves.


Palil:

After some consultation, we decided to sort of split up--Tchar and Sondirra would wander off in one direction, the rest of us in another, and try to talk to people. We found out all sorts of things about he Gemini dragons, just though casual conversation. There were about 250 pairs of Gemini dragons here in Yafa's territory, thirty pairs in Reuben's, and twelve in Isla's. Those twelve pairs had refused the join the pirate alliance and had been banned, only leaving for Isla's territory after they were excommunicated.

The main Gemini hatchery is somewhere on an island to the east. Only the council of five, who lead the Geminis, know where it is. Asking more about them revealed that they always travel on a ship called the Eagle, which always has three escort ships on it. Very few people knew their names or how to contact them. Surprisingly, Galena was one of them.

Scuttlebutt about Galena was that she never took any prisoners when she hit a ship, she scuttled most of the ships she attacked and had the few that met her specifications almost completely rebuilt before they were put back in service, and she was generous with the booty. She also, it was said, hated Virgo dragons, as her younger brother had been killed by one.

The Virgoes are the ones we don't think we can get off their asses, right? Sondirra said in my mind.

They are. I think Beamer maybe has an idea. I saw the look on his face. More later.

If we wanted to talk to the council of five, we were to talk to Hadria and Tabia, who could usually be found near the portal. Interesting, indeed.

We regrouped and talked about it. Something that was pointed out in the conversation that this island was still in the process of growing. The land that the portal was sitting on now had been yards underwater when the portals had been formed. The portal had been moved, somehow.

We couldn't talk to this one--it was far too busy. Sondirra and Tchar decided to fly back to Tura and ask the gate there. The rest of us, while they were gone, started putting together a plan to do what we needed to do here.

A little more reconnaissance was in order; we slipped into the potion warehouse and started snooping around. It was--amazing was the best word. Overwhelming. We'd thought Eaton had a lot of potions; we'd never seen cases upon cases upon cases of them before.

They were organized and clearly labeled; whoever ran the warehouse had a tidy mind and an occasional need to find things quickly. We found fireballs, healing potions, dispels, invisibilities, all of the common potions.

I took a closer look at the dispels. Then I looked up at the roof, mentally marking the location. If we planted a fireball or three here, the dispel potions would all break. It would power down and likely destroy most of the potions; the flasks would be intact but the magic would be gone.

From there, a plan arose. We had polymorph potions that would change us temporarily into other kinds of dragons; if we changed into Virgo dragons, we could frame the Virgoes for what we were about to do. The Geminis, if they swallowed it, would retaliate, and the Virgoes would have a reason to join the alliance that the Sagittarius dragons were putting together.

It was solid, and it would work. Now all we needed to know was if we could move the portal, or if I'd have to tell it to destroy itself before the destruction of the warehouse possibly destroyed it.

Sondirra came up with that response after talking to the Tura portal. The portal said that moving was simply a matter of a Karop cleric telling the portal to move to a piece of ground consecrated to Karop. The ones who had moved it had made quite the ritual out of it, doing rites that lasted several months, in order to make Reuben think it wasn't as easy to move one as it really was.

The portal on the Gemini island had originally been in Reuben's territory, and it was moved three and a half years ago.

The last thing she made gentle inquiries about was the location of the Gemini dragon clan home. The portal stated that it was about five hundred miles due south of #4. It was a flight that only the strongest could make in one go, so they either had a portal or islands they stopped at on the way.

We knew what we were about to do. The only thing that remained was to do it.

While Tchar and Sondirra were flying back to the smoke-choked island, I messaged Chaim and asked him to find a peak near his home, preferably one with a sheer drop-off to one side, and consecrate it to Karop. He agreed, a wondering and disbelieving tone in his voice. I then had a couple of the others provide cover for me while I went into the portal room and spoke with the portal. It spoke in my mind, and I asked it to speak to nobody else in the room. We discussed quite a few specifics--what the trigger was going to be, where it would move to--and then we went back to the Grim and settled in to wait.

Tchar and Sondirra showed up about two hours later, an hour after midnight. We took off, me alone, the others with their bonds on their backs; in the dark, we were hoping that nobody would notice we'd switched riders. Sondirra stayed behind.

Concealed in the smoke to the north of the island, we took polymorph potions to turn us into Virgo dragons, complete with the Virgo breath weapon. In our claws were the few delayed-blast fireballs we'd managed to get from Eaton, back in Petrozav. Galen and Beamer slipped invisibility tablets under their tongues; for the purpose of this maneuver, we were riderless.

Then, the drop. We came out of the smoke, coughing to clear our lungs, and winged towards the warehouses. Sondirra--

I'm in position. Tell me when.

Three, two, one-- Now!

Invisibly, she stepped through the portal and was gone.

The portal, following the instructions I had given it, transported her to the Tura portal and then moved itself.

We dove.

I first, Bambi right after me, Tchar right after her--the Virgo breath weapon is a wave of concussive force that with two successive blasts ripped the roof of the potion warehouse right off. Tchar dropped his fireballs into the hole, and Bambi and I whipped around and dropped ours. We burst away from the warehouse like startled pigeons, rising steeply into the sky, taking out the last potions we would use that night. The last of the potions that Kiana had given us.

Our speed increased a hundredfold, and we were in Tura in seconds.

Dropping to the ground, pausing long enough to pick up Sondirra, we transited to a gate that was in the north of Gada's territory, near where we thought that band of white dragons was going to pass by soon. Let Reuben think we had a hand in this; if he'd checked, we'd have used a portal mere seconds after the attack. And why would we have used a portal, if we'd used a teleport potion to get to Tura?

It was a clear, bone-cold night in the frozen wasteland that comprised most of Gada's territory. I found it refreshing, and stepped out into the snow.

There was no pursuit.

We had done it. We were still alive.

Maybe that promotion wasn't all that unearned, I thought with a certain sense of satisfaction.


Sondirra:

We camped that night in the lee of a circle of stones near the portal. I was glad, so very glad that Palil was a white dragon. The others, despite spells to let them endure the elements, were still kind of cold. Palil settled down in her large form, acting as a windbreak for the others.

I volunteered to keep watch; I was wired from the day and wasn't going to sleep anyway. When Palil fell asleep, I dug in her pack a bit, coming up with the sword that Jordan had given Palil. Ever since he had told me it was a dragon sword, I'd been curious, but I hadn't had a chance until now to talk to it. Without knowing it, Palil was guarding it against everyone...even me.

Funny, that.

I went and sat on a stone nearby. Palil muttered in her sleep, shifted, and seemed to fall even deeper asleep. I took a long breath. "I'm sorry, sword, I don't know how to address you. I'm Sondirra. I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you before, I didn't know until recently that you were a dragon artifact."

"You were not meant to know. I do not hold it against you. I am Eldil. Gannon's many-greats grandmother." The voice was a rich soprano, and a laugh lurked at the back of every word.

"I was just wondering, what exactly do you do?"

"As a sword, I enhance strength, resilience and health. Including fighting skills, speed in combat and wound sealing."

Oh, very interesting. "Does the effect get stronger the longer someone carries you?"

Eldil's tone was light, almost a tease. "It does."

"Is it permanent?" I asked, thinking about Jordan and the few times I'd seen him actually fight recently.

"Yes, it is permanent."

All right, I could swear she was avoiding telling me something. What? "Oh, very nice. I suppose that to take effect, someone actually has to carry and use you, not just have you in their things?"

Slyness, a little bit. "The current wielder is still alive. No matter who has me, the effect extends only to Jordan until his death."

I chuckled. "I figured, but I had to ask. Since Palil is unlikely to ever attempt to wield you, it's pretty much a moot point."

"Yes, it is."

I ran a finger along the blade's scabbard, seeking out the tooled decorations in the leather that covered the wood. "Did he even explain to you what he was going to do before he gave you to Palil, or was that as spontaneous as it looked?"

"I had no idea what he was doing until he did it." Eldil paused, as if considering something. "He also didn't know he would still carry the effect. He thought he was going to lose his strength immediately."

I sat up, a chill of electricity running down my spine. "Much more of a sacrifice than I originally thought it was, then."

"He was surprised to learn that his strength remained."

My fingers tightened. "You still have some sort of a mental connection with him, then?"

"Yes, I know what he knows but not the other way around." There was a picture forming in my mind of the dragon she had been, based on nothing but the sound of her voice. Her small form would have been tall, the corners of her eyes lined from smiling. Long red hair, like Jordan's mother. Her smile open and friendly, like so many of her descendants.

"Ah. Possibly a blessing, in this situation." I winced at the thought of Jordan being a witness to some of the fights I'd had with Palil lately, even secondhand. The one right after he'd given Palil the sword had been especially vicious.

"Possibly," Eldil said, and there was a wryness in her voice. "He is currently embarrassed to admit that to you. Because then it doesn't look like such a large sacrifice as he intended and figures that Palil will use that information to drawn the conclusion that he did know, and that therefore it was a useless gesture."

I groaned softly. Jordan always did think the worst of Palil. The problem was that she might have well come up with that conclusion, probably with ferocious alacrity. He feared the worst of her, but sometimes that was not so far off from reality. "It's still a sacrifice, though. The gesture was symbolic more than anything, and we didn't know you were a dragon until recently. You don't hand your family's sword to someone lightly, even a non-dragon sword. And Palil...I'll talk to her. Truly, I'm glad the effect remained. It means he might live through this."

"Yes, he will. His augmented skills are coming into full effect now. What will you speak to Palil about?"

"I can head her off at the pass on coming to the conclusion that he did know and that the gesture was futile. She's a white dragon. She understands family honor."

"That's good. He was fearful of that coming out. Worry more about Jordan killing Palil than the other way around."

I shuddered. "I really, really hope it never comes to blows between them."

"Nor I. He loves you deeply, and that would be a rift forever between you."

It was a horrible thought. To make love to him knowing that the hands he touched me with were the same hands that had killed Palil...I swallowed. I had a sudden, sickening understanding of how Palil had been feeling. "If he killed Palil, no matter how much I love him...I don't think I could continue with him, knowing. One of the very, very few things I'm not sure I could forgive him for, even if I knew she started it."

"And if she killed him?"

Another terrible thought. "I'm not sure I'd ever forgive her, either. Maybe it would be a little easier, since I'll have a longer time with her to get over it. I think I'm just going to continue hoping that her temper never gets the best of her where he's concerned. She's trying very hard, at least."

"She is, and Jordan is very good about minding his manners and taking every opportunity to prove his worth to you."

I nodded. I knew that it wasn't entirely for my sake that he had been so very sweet and helpful, though I liked to think the fact that he loved me had a lot to do with it. He was trying to win both me and Palil over at the same time, in different ways. "I think they'll get it worked out. Eventually. It helps that she's friends with Gannon. It gives her something else to anchor to, another reason to try to lay down her anger."

"I am sure." Eldil's voice turned thoughtful. "It seemed strange to me that a red and a white could become close until my daughter, Danae, married one."

I blinked. "She did? How did that work out?"

I could hear the fond smile in her voice. "They spent many centuries together until he died."

All right, how to ask this... "Did they have one of those arrangements for children that mated dragons of different colors have, or did they just decide to skip having kids?"

"They accidentally conceived, but the eggs never hatched. My daughter had just one clutch of eggs to continue the line. She flew to Khatanga for a night and never told a soul who the father was. Her husband knew, of course."

Somewhere in those words was a whole universe of both sorrow and joy. "But nobody else. I'll have to share the story with Palil. She really enjoys Gannon's company, but she also wants children." I grinned. "At least Gannon comes by it honestly, if that's what he's starting to feel for Palil."

"I am sure a part of Danae lives on in him. There are very similar. Passionate, but you could never tell behind the icy exterior."

"Very different from most of the clan on the estate." I smiled, thinking about my beloved bondmate. "He and Palil are much alike."

"The rest inherited my personality. But there is one born every so often."

"Good to know where it came from. I was kind of wondering. I know where Palil gets hers, but I wondered about Gannon."

"My daughter," Eldil said, pride in her voice even now.

"His many-greats grandmother, who married a white dragon." I glanced up at the black, wind-scrubbed sky, the brilliant stars. "Kind of funny, that."

"They spent almost all their time together as humans. Very rarely in dragon form. It is also the way of Gannon."

I raised an eyebrow. "I can understand why. Accidental breath weapons have to be kind of a bitch, there." What would it be like to live with and love someone who you knew could hurt you badly if they forgot themselves for a moment?

"My daughter very delicately put it that humanoid sex was a greater pleasure than dragon mating. That was their reasoning."

I snorted. "I can imagine. Dragons are kind of spiky around the edges."

"Very," she said, laughing. "But her urge will come as well."

"I'm sure. Eventually. She's only thirteen, she shouldn't start having that urge on a regular basis for a few centuries yet."

"No, but sometimes bonds can speed things along. But that is more common in human bonds. Short lifespan." I nodded; elves and drow didn't generally have children until they were about three hundred, the same time most dragons became fertile. Another parallel between us and dragons. Eldil had paused, and then said, "In truth, Jordan never meant to hurt you sometimes when he did. Not only did he have to adjust to his own body growing but a strength he has trouble controlling and a speed he couldn't stop. Not an excuse for him. Just something to think about as well. He did do some awful things."

I shrugged. "I know he did. And I know why he did them. There's no excuse for it, but I certainly wasn't an innocent victim either. He could have killed me--but he didn't." Thoughtful, I added, "But having trouble controlling his newfound strength might account for some of it."

"Some of the worst wounds were caused by a sudden surge in his strength. Ask Gannon about the wall in their room."

"I'll have to, next time I talk to him. I'll bet that's what happened when he carved up my thigh. It seemed like he was expecting me to not be where his sword was, like he was moving faster than he thought he was."

"He was, and that's also how he ran the miles through the woods in just a few minutes."

I stared up at the stars, remembering. I'd beaten Jordan fair and square at sparring not once but twice that day, finding openings in his guard and laying them bare. I'd known he was going to come after me, he always did after I got the better of him in the ring. So I'd skipped my afternoon classes and disappeared into the woods, heading for one of my favorite climbing practice rocks.

It was there at the base of the rock that Jordan had caught up with me.

I remembered so clearly the sneer on his face and the swagger in his step as he stalked towards me. I didn't remember what he'd said. He had no blade in his hand, not yet, but I was as wary of his fists as I was of a blade wielded by him. My back was to the wall, and I straightened, answering back, using my most cutting voice to mock him for following me out.

In retrospect, there had been an odd tension to the scene. Jordan's face and voice were telling me one thing, and the set of his shoulders agreed...but his hands were held oddly, palms towards me, as if in supplication. As if he were, somewhere, wanting to make peace, to ask my help. I had ignored his hands. I had beleived his shoulders, instead.

I could have left--strong as he was, Jordan was no match for me rock climbing. I could have been up and away faster than he could move. But I could not show fear. I was going to get beaten here, I figured, and I might as well make it worth it.

He got too close, and my sword had snaked out of its sheath, my voice telling him to back the hell off. His own blade, the blade I held now on my lap, had answered the threat. We had gone at each other, me still taunting him, calling him all sorts of names.

It happened sickeningly quickly. One moment, I was turning, trying to dodge a blow, and the next his sword wasn't where it had been at all, but instead-where? A searing pain in the back of my leg had answered that question, and surprised past recall, I stumbled. My left leg failed and I went down hard on the ground.

My hand felt the back of my leg and came away drenched with blood.

I tried to rise. Couldn't. Said, moaned, "I can't move my leg--"

Jordan's face, white with shock. His blade red from crossbar to tip with my blood. He whirled and ran, and, scared out of my mind, I cried like a child for my bondmate, tears running down my face. I tried to tell her where I was, but I was in shock and, as she told me later, making no sense whatsoever.

I had been so scared. I'd known what a wound like this could mean. I could be crippled permanently. And if no healers miraculously showed up in the next few minutes...my vision had gone sparkly with pain and blood loss.

Palil would not find me in time to take me back to the school healers.

It had been a near thing, so I'd been told later. Jordan had burst out of the woods and run like the wind to the healers' offices, telling them I had been badly hurt. They had let him lead them to me, and then Yuri had taken him away. I shook my head, returning to the present moment. "That, I don't remember real clearly, but I'm told it happened. I went into shock after I fell, the last thing I remember was him running away, and then just flashes until they got the wound closed."

"It's when Yuri found out about me," Eldil said.

I cocked my head. "He didn't know? That had to be one uncomfortable discussion."

"At the time, he knew about me, he had had others of our clan pass through the school. Jordan's father was quick to pass me on. Too quick. Normally the transfer to the next generation is graduation, not entrance."

"Why did Jordan's father give you to Jordan when he went in?" I asked.

"Gabriel hated the power, the responsibility, the weight of the generations on his shoulders."

Ah. I thought about the genial man I'd met, and thought of him wanting desperately to be rid of the sword. Was that part of the reason that they'd been so happy to see me? Was I another person who could help Jordan carry that weight? "So he gave you to Jordan as soon as he possibly could."

"Yes, unknowing of the consequences to a young body growing."

How much had those consequences had to do with how very angry Jordan had been in school? Some, I thought. "In the end, it might turn out to be a good thing," I said thoughtfully. "Jordan will need that strength. We'll all need it."

"It is why he dares to fight so recklessly. And why he holds back with you. Fear of hurting you."

I nodded, remembering. "He probably could hurt me, if he forgot himself. Like a dragon can hurt a humanoid by accident. But I honestly don't think he'll ever forget to keep control with me. I mean, I am tough, but my bones break just like anyone's."

"Imagine, my dear. The strength of a great wyrm dragon, now wrapped into his body. He has no choice but to hold back with everyone. He can only really let loose when fighting. He holds himself back even with Gannon." Her voice was serious, now. "Which is why Jordan likes the fight. For him, it's freedom."

I stared down at the sword in my lap. Oh, dear Gorld. The sword didn't just make Jordan stronger. It transferred Eldil's strength and speed to him. To him, the world would be an exceptionally fragile place. I tried to imagine living with that. Having to hold myself in control at all times, even with my bondmate. Knowing that if I forgot myself even for an instant, someone I loved might die.

It was as much a curse as a blessing. Great wyrms had had centuries to get used to their strength, and their minds and bodies were designed for it. Jordan was twenty-two--twenty-three this summer, he'd been born about a month after Midsummer--and he was human.

No wonder his father had passed the sword on too early. He'd probably wanted to hold his wife in his arms without having to fear that he'd crush her.

Battle was the only place where he could use his full strength. I shuddered, remembering how I'd told him to stop holding back with me when we sparred, and I marveled at his control, even when I'd provoked him. I shook my head. "I'll have to remember to give him opportunities. As well as possibly think of a couple of ways around that."

Eldil's voice was warm. "Don't worry, Sondirra. He would and will lay it all down and walk away if you go with him."

I smiled crookedly. "I know. And right now, except for Palil and the fact that we're doing something pretty important...I probably would. As weird as it is to admit it."

"The boy is a romantic, always will be." Eldil chuckled. "Gannon used to tease him by drawing wedding day pictures of him and you. He would wad them up and throw them at Gannon, but later he would rescue them from the garbage and unfold them carefully and press them out in his books. It was pathetic," she declared.

"That's adorable!" I stopped, flushed. "Um. Was that out loud?"

"Yes, yes it was." Eldil was laughing, but her laughter was kind, almost fond. "Oh, the stories I have for you, when you need embarrassing material."

"I imagine I will, some day. If we both survive, I may end up needing embarrassing stories to tell about him to our children." I stopped, considered the statement. Do I really mean that?

With surprise, I realized that I did. Somewhere, underneath conscious thought, my heart had made up its mind.

"You will indeed. And I need another generation to pass myself onto. So do make sure you both survive."

"I'm doing my best, trust me. Going to be tough, but hey, this is what we do."

The sword chuckled, and we both fell silent. I spent a long time staring at the landscape around us, snow lit dimly by stars. I wanted to talk to Jordan, so badly I could taste it, but it was the wee hours of the morning, and I knew he was most likely asleep.

I missed him. It had only been three days or so since I'd seen him last. If it was this bad now, how was I going to be feeling in a month's time? How are we going to manage to get through the next year and change? Separated, probably for months at a time, in danger that whole time, trying to change the world.

We would manage. With luck both of us and our bondmates would survive. Palil and Gannon might even, given that time, figure out what it was they wanted from each other--friendship, or more. I wondered if Gannon knew the story of Danae, if it would make any difference if he did.

I pulled my coat tighter around me, lost in my thoughts.



Quotes:

"Galen is asking the portal about what the meaning of life is. Um?"
--Sondirra

"We're doing this all in memory of Alvar."
"He always wanted us to switch partners, and now we're doing it."
--Beamer, Sondirra