Dragon-Ridden (25 page)

Tate considered. “Maybe you can get
reacquainted with your cubs and work on keeping them calm.”

I can do that. Yes. That’s what
I’ll do.
He sounded stronger than before, and Tate could practically feel
his spirits rise. His voice rumbled as he began crooning to the cubs.

One problem down. Now on to the big
one. She tested the bars and jerked back as the blue current nipped at her
fingers. Tate used her shirt to cover her hands, exposing her midriff, before
reaching for the bars again. This time the blue snapped at her, and she
whimpered as the smell of burned cloth and flesh rose.

That was a no go. At least she’d
learned that the current got stronger the more one messed with it. This way
people couldn’t grow build up a tolerance against the pain. She stepped away
from the bars in defeat. They weren’t getting out this way.

Dewdrop hovered at her shoulder as
she walked the room’s perimeter. She determinedly ignored him as she tested the
wall in places. Unlike the bars, the wall’s current didn’t grow stronger every
time someone touched it. Probably to prevent it from accidently killing the
prisoners, she mused.

This place was very well built.
Designed to be escape proof. Maybe Dewdrop’s plan was really the only
possibility. She shook her head and discarded it. There were just too many
variables, making the chances for success shaky at best.

She kicked one wall in frustration
and grunted when the blue nipped at her foot, leaving it slightly numb.

“I’m a banshee,” Dewdrop said
abruptly.

Tate’s forehead furrowed as she
tried to figure out what that had to do with anything.

“That’s how I escaped,” he said in
explanation looking uncomfortable.

Tate still didn’t understand. He
sighed and turned to face away from her. Sucking in a deep breath, he let loose
a painfully piercing sound that only in the vaguest way possible resembled a
scream. It went on and on, reverberating off the walls and building in
intensity until it felt like Tate’s brain was being squeezed in a vice. She
felt a trickle of blood slide down from her nose as she covered her ears and
stumbled into the wall, her balance suddenly gone.

Suddenly the scream shut off. Tate
blinked dumbly from where she leaned against the wall. The resulting silence
was painfully loud. Slowly her ears acclimated and she could faintly hear the
screams of the cubs and Night’s confused yowls.

“Banshee,” she whispered in awed.

The wall sparked against her and
she jerked away from it, rubbing her tingling arm. Dewdrop’s body was tense as
he prepared for contempt and fear.

Her eyes widened in realization.
“Do that again,” she urged.

He jerked in surprise. “What?”

“Just do it. Night brace yourself.
He’s going to scream again.”

Puzzled, but willing to humor her,
he sucked in a breath and released it in an astounding wail. Even with her
hands over her ears, the scream was intense enough to have her cowering away
from it. Before the last note had died down, she rushed to the cage’s door and
laid her hands on the metal.

“No sparks,” she whispered. She
counted the seconds in her head, 21,22,23, zap. She jerked back. “About 23
seconds before it starts up again.”

She turned to a perplexed Dewdrop.
“Do you know what this means?”

He shook his head not understanding
why she was so excited about an ability that had isolated him and caused fear
in others.

“We can escape,” she cried
gleefully.

His eyes flickered from her and
back to the bars. Understanding dawned. She nodded excitedly and reached out to
pull his bony body into an exuberant hug. The hug was over before he could do
more than stiffen in her arms. She ruffled his hair and turned back to the
metal bars, muttering to herself about time limits and time management.

Hesitantly, he touched the hair she
had ruffled and a shy smile stretched across his mouth, gone before it had
fully formed. He joined her next to the lock and pointed out a few things she
had missed.

“Night, good news. We have a plan,”
she yelled to the next cell.

I thought you already had a plan
.

Um. She pursed her lips with guilt.
She had told him that. “This one’s better.”

She explained how Dewdrop’s
screaming somehow managed to stop the current, buying them time to try picking
the lock. “What I need from you is to keep an ear out for any approaching
guards. This is going to be loud, and we don’t want them catching us trying to
get loose.”

After a bit of adjusting, Dewdrop
took his place in the middle of the cell with Tate behind him. She’d wanted to
be right next to the door to have the maximum time with the lock until he’d
explained that his scream at the right pitch could cause internal bleeding. She
was happy to stay behind him after that.

His chest swelled, and then his cry
rent the air. Tate cupped her ears and counted to five, the length of time
they’d agreed upon. She was up and racing for the lock on shaky legs, before
the last note had died. With shaking hands she inserted two pieces of thin
metal. The guards had been so sure nobody could escape they hadn’t even bothered
to check Dewdrop for lock picks. She twisted one of the pieces trying to find
the tumblers. Almost there. Almost. Dewdrop tapped her shoulder signaling time
was up. She pulled away just before the current snapped back.

Disappointed exclamations greeted
her as she retreated. She held her hands up placating. “That was just the first
try. It’s going to take a little time.”

She met Dewdrops eyes and tried to
look reassuring. He nodded, and they took their places again. He opened his
mouth to scream.

Someone’s coming
.

Instead of an organ-melting cry,
Dewdrop whimpered and backed away from the cell doors. Tate pushed him to the
back of the cell before running to the entrance. She craned her neck trying to
see around the corner to see who had joined them.

Ulric stepped into view, swinging a
set of keys, as he stopped in front of the cubs’ cell. “You two have an
appointment with the Red Lady,” he crooned. Over his shoulder, he said, “I hope
you’ve said your good byes.”

A rage filled roar shook the room,
and the metal bars shook as Night threw himself against them over and over
again, the stench of singed fur invading the air. He roared until his throat
was raw, and he hadn’t the strength to throw himself against the bars. Through
it all, Ulfric, watched with a nasty grin twisting his lips.

Tate bowed her head, her eyes
smarting. They weren’t ready. They just needed a little more time. Their plan
was a good one and stood half a chance of succeeding with just a bit more time.

She swallowed and grabbed the bars
and shook them hard, heedless as the flesh on her hands blistered. If they
needed time, she’d get them that time. “Look at that pathetic excuse for a man,
corralling a few tiny kittens,” she snarled. “I’ve seen more backbone in a worm
than in your disgusting body.”

Dewdrop grabbed her arm and jerked
her back. “What are you doing? He’ll give you to the Red Lady.”

She smiled, a wry twist of the
lips, and cupped his face in her hands. “That’s the plan, little man.” She held
his gaze with hers and said with deadly seriousness, “Our plan will work. You
get them out and save yourselves. Yeah?”

He shook his head mutely and kept
shaking it.

“What did you say to me?” Ulric
roared, kicking the cage door.

Tate nodded at Dewdrop, telling him
without words she had faith in him. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to give
the performance of her life.

She kicked the door of the cage,
feeling a sense of satisfaction when Ulric jumped back to avoid the rain of
sparks. In a low, nasty voice, she said, “You heard me, shit-for-brains. Or do
you have so little up there that you can’t understand, you cocksucking piece of
offal, can’t get it up, piece of worthless excrement. Your mother should have
killed you at birth to spare the world your diseased, plague-ridden presence.”

Ulric smiled, his teeth yellow from
lack of care. “Big words from a feeble bitch who can’t even protect herself. I
see what you’re doing, trying to distract me from them.” He nodded to the cubs
and their wide, fearful eyes.

Tate’s stomach sank. She’d really
hoped he’d be enraged enough not to remember his original purpose. “Let me out,
and I’ll show you exactly what I can do.”

He laughed at that, throwing his
head back. “You’d like that wouldn’t you. No, I think I’ll go with the original
plan.” He leaned closer to the bars until his rancid breath brushed along
Tate’s skin. “I think that’ll hurt more than anything we can do to you. I want
you to think of all the things we’re going to do to them because of your
failure.”

With those final words, he walked
away. Tate’s shoulders bowed. She’d failed and others would pay for her
shortcomings. She clenched her hands, the bite of her nails drawing blood.

Ulric’s face popped into view
again.

“On the other hand, why think about
that when you can experience it for yourself.”

Tate’s heart beat painfully as he
gestured for her to put her hands through the bars. The manacles he placed
around her wrists were heavy and cold and seemed to sap her strength.

Her gamble had worked but the cost
might be more than she was willing to pay.

“My lady, I’ve brought the
prisoner.” Ulric shoved Tate to her knees in front of a well-dressed lady
seated on a raised dais. Gilded cages sat on either side of her, their
occupants watching the proceedings with dull eyes.

The lady, her hands resting lightly
on her throne’s armrests and dressed in a heavy gown in beautiful shades of
gold and cream, looked distastefully down at Tate. The lady’s blonde hair was
woven into a mass of small, complicated knots at the back of her head with
strands curling around her face becomingly. Jewels dripped from her neck and
winked from her fingers. She was in her mid thirties. Nice looking with a hint
of cruelty running underneath.

It was obvious Ulric had
interrupted her business, as two figures stood at the foot of the dais. Tate’s
breath caught as she recognized the distinctive figure of Kadien. Her eyes went
to the slight figure partially hidden by his. Umi. It had to be. What were they
doing here? When they glanced at Tate kneeling on the floor, neither betrayed a
former knowledge of her by so much as a widened eye or caught breath. It was as
if they had never laid eyes on her in their life.

“This,” one long decorated finger
pointed at Tate in obvious distaste, “is not what I requested. I wanted to play
with the cubs.”

Ulfric bowed at the waist and Tate
couldn’t help but be impressed at the unexpectedly graceful movement. She
wouldn’t have thought he knew enough social graces to be able to pull one off.

“I thought—“

“You thought,” the lady suddenly
shouted. “You thought. I do not require thought from my tools. You do what I
tell you. Is that clear?”

Mountain man bowed his head
deferentially.

“Now,” she said mollified. “What
thought led you to defy my orders?”

“My lady, I would never willfully
disobey an order unless I had vital information,” Ulfric said seeking to pacify
her.

“Yes, yes, get on with it. I have
other business,” she said, negligently waving his platitudes away.

“Lucius has men searching
everywhere for her,” he said. “Our spies say that she has something of his, and
he wants it back.”

“Oh?” For the first time, the Red
Lady had something in her voice other than boredom or anger. It was interest.
She turned her gaze on Tate, examining her.

Ulfric nodded. “She’s also the one
who helped the beast escape. We found her and it lurking around. We think they
were trying to rescue its spawn.”

“So you’re the reason that upstart
is still alive,” the Red Lady drawled, her finger nails tapping against her
armrest. “I dislike when others interfere with my plans.”

Tate shrank from the lust and greed
in the woman’s voice.

“My lady?” Umi’s voice rang sweetly
through the air, all the more so after the avarice of the Red Lady. “If we
could conclude our business first?”

The lady sat back, reclining in her
throne as she regarded Umi and Kadien with impatience. “There is nothing left
to discuss. You did not deliver what you promised so I have no obligation to
help you.”

“But-“

“No,” the lady’s voice rose in
anger, thundering through the room. The pets in the cages flinched, as did
several others in the room. Even Ulfric jerked before clasping his hands behind
his back, though Tate wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been kneeling right
next to him. “You promised me a key that help unlock the fulcrum. Instead, you
gave me a dud.” She hit the armrest with a closed fist. “If you didn’t want to
give up your key then you should have stolen the cargo yourself instead of
getting others to do your dirty work.”

In a sharp motion, the Red Lady
threw an object at Umi. It clattered to the ground at Umi’s feet. It looked
like the hairpin Tate had returned to her that first day. Tate edged closer. It
was. Though she couldn’t make out fine details from this distance, it looked
identical to the one she’d stolen and then given back. This was what had
everybody in such a lather? It was pretty, sure, but not exactly unique. Any
semi-gifted jeweler would be able to recreate it within the week.

Umi’s voice was coaxing as she
said, “But, my lady, you already hold in your possession the one who either has
it or knows who does.”

“I have no such person,” the lady
snapped.

Tate couldn’t see Umi’s face so she
couldn’t guess at what she was thinking, but she was beginning to get a nasty
feeling about where this was heading.