Knights of Desire [Flights of Fancy 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (10 page)

She pulled the lump from under the cloth and found that the impact on her body had punched the telemetry transmitter from her chest. A neat one-centimeter hole from a talon went clean through the case.

* * * *

Clemmons looked down from the ledge where he and Landis rested from the latest steep climb. It was a long way down to the valley floor, and the slips both the men had suffered convinced him Shane and the lizards had the right idea to fly over the mountains instead of trying to scale them. But neither he nor Landis could fly, so they had to rely on their skills and training to climb the rocks. Both carried a few cuts and scrapes from the inevitable slips but nothing too bad. If either had been alone, it would likely have been much worse.

Landis seemed to have lost some of his black mood, but the climb left little breath for talking not related to surviving the climb itself. As they rested, their conversation, of course, turned to Shane.

Clemmons put the water skin in his pack. "I think we can rest for maybe half an hour."

"If we need to, yes, but I would like to get moving again sooner." Landis watched a bird soar on the updraft for a moment. "Do you think she's still alive?"

"Yes, I do." Clemmons gathered his thoughts. He wanted to word this right, because a misstatement could plunge Landis back into his despair. "The lizard that took her wasn't just grabbing a target of opportunity. They planned the attack, even if on short notice, and executed it with great expertise. The lizards knew what they were doing, and they did it for a reason. They want Shane for some reason, and they came to get her."

"And now they have her."

"Yes, they do, but that's not your fault or mine. It just happened."

Landis nodded. "And now we need to get her back." He paused for a long time, watching the bird again. "I couldn't stand losing you."

He laughed. "The lizard who can best me in combat hasn't been born yet."

"That's not what I mean." His eyes tracked the bird as it swooped and climbed on the winds, banking and spiraling across the sky. "I wish I could undo what Shane and I did back there."

Clemmons looked for the shock and anger again, but he still couldn't find them. When he looked for the hurt he'd felt, he found only a dull memory of its intensity a short time ago. "You won't lose me, no matter what happens. I love you too much to walk away."

Landis smiled and turned to face him. "I guess I understand that." The smile slipped away. "So where does that leave Shane?"

He stood and clapped his life-partner on the shoulder. "In the clutches of the lizards, waiting for rescue. Let's get moving."

* * * *

Cedric moved through the cave to meet his prisoner. Alicia had told him she was awake and in pain, but she didn't know if the woman would live or not.

He hated this business of skulking about. He was a warrior, not a common criminal and certainly not a kidnapper, but Handley had forced him into this. He had to learn what the plans of this woman and her kind were.

Alicia had been with him for many years now, ever since he'd taken her from a village of men during a raid. She'd resisted at first, when just a child, but she'd learned the ways of the dragons and become a valuable member of Cedric's household. At some level, Cedric saw her almost like his own child. He definitely saw her as a funny-looking dragon. Cedric often wondered if she saw him as a funny-looking man.

He entered the chamber where Alicia cared for the captive and the woman was in a chair, dressed in some of Alicia's clothes. The bandages on her chest and shoulders looked bulky, and the woman winced when she breathed.

Alicia looked up at him. "Cedric, this is Shane. She is in pain, but she says she can talk to you." She pointed at a metal box on the table. "That device speaks for her. It knows the speech of men, and it works with dragon speech, though a little slow."

He nodded. "Thank you. You may leave us now."

Alicia bowed her head and moved for the door, brushing her fingers across his shoulder as she passed. When she was gone, Cedric turned to the woman. "I am Cedric, commander of King Handley's troops here in the valley."

"Why am I here?"

"Simply put, I need to know your intentions. Handley believes you are here to destroy him, and I tend to agree."

"That couldn't be farther from the truth. We are here to contact new people, new societies, and nothing more."

"And yet you have become close with the men and their king."

"Of course we have." She coughed, doubling over with the pain, and a glob of dark blood spattered on the floor.

"You won't believe me when I say I'm sorry you were injured."

"I can't say yet if I believe you or not. I need to get medical help from my people as soon as possible."

"How soon that happens will be up to Handley. He will be here soon to talk to you."

"You mean
if
that happens."

He shrugged, his wings flexing. "As you wish. I would advise you to not trifle so with Handley. He lacks my patience."

The High and The Mighty

In their first contact since sending the king back to the planet, Talbert and Sayid looked out at her from the display. Elsa was glad they had set up visual links to the palace so she could actually see the king. She could read him better that way than by voice alone.

"So we know what happened to them." Elsa thought for a moment. "Rawls was attacked by one of the dragons and carried off, and your knights went after her."

Sayid nodded. "Exactly. Landis and Clemmons went alone, refusing to take more men, because they felt they stood a better chance alone than with an army."

"But the note they sent you doesn't say exactly where Rawls was taken or where they were going."

"No, it doesn't. Only that they were going to the mountains."

She paused again. "Science, what does that do to our chances of finding the three?"

The Science Officer tapped at the screen controls on the conference table, and a topographical map of the encampment and surrounding area appeared on the screen. "There are high mountains all around the camp—" She used the pointer in the screen to trace the higher elevations. "Here and here are the areas where we've seen the dragons clustering. There are also heavy metal deposits in the mountains, and that could be blocking our scans if they are in a deep enough cave."

Sayid shook his head. "It's been only a little more than two hours since Landis and Clemmons went after her. It will take them at least four to reach any of those locations."

"The ore may also be interfering with the scans."

"All right, people." Elsa sighed. "We need to stop looking for reasons we can't find them and just find them. Let's assume Rawls is underground, and the scans are blocked. That lets us focus on finding where the dragons and the knights are. I want low-level satellites that can enhance the scans put in orbit."

The Science Officer frowned. "That will take some time, Captain."

"I know it will. You have thirty minutes, so I suggest you get on it."

The officer blinked at her a few times. "Thirty minutes?"

"If you need it. Twenty will make me happier."

* * * *

Lizards swarmed around the cave entrance. Landis couldn't recall seeing so many in one place before other than in battles. The gathering of dragons was a sure sign something—or some
one
—important was inside.

Clemmons lowered the spyglass from his eye. "I count twelve lizards milling about outside, and I've seen eight more come and go from the cave itself."

"That's a lot of dragons for one cave."

"That's a lot of new lizard-skin boots." Clemmons's hand caressed the pommel of his sword. "What's your plan?"

He paused, pondering the situation. "We can't be certain Shane is in there, but I'd bet she is. Why else would there be so many lizards here? We'll have to go in to be certain. I'll create a distraction, and you get inside. I'll come in when I can."

Clemmons shook his head. "You mean
if
you can. No, you go inside and find her, and I'll keep the dragons busy." He smiled, but it looked a bit wistful. "You're the one she wants to see."

Landis had thought about this since they started climbing the mountains, and he'd made up his mind. "Maybe so, maybe not, but you have to be the one to go in after her. I'm afraid my emotions will cause me to make mistakes, and that could kill both Shane and myself. We need a cooler head to prevail."

He nodded. "Maybe you're right. Besides, there are plenty of lizards for us both to kill."

"No, I don't want to kill them. Shane is right, and the killing is wrong. I just want her safe."

"I know what you mean." Clemmons smiled softly, the same smile that, for the last six years, Landis had found so attractive. "If we can get her out without killing a single dragon, that's a good thing. On the other hand, I would kill them all to make sure she's safe."

Landis reached into his bag and pulled out Shane's weapon. "Any idea how to work this weapon?"

"Not a one." Clemmons pointed to a pair of slides on side of the device. "I've seen her move these, though."

"So have I." He looked at one of the levers and found it had only two positions. When he studied the other slide, it had three positions. Small markings on the framework matched the catches, but they couldn't read Shane's language. "I wonder what it all means."

"Does it matter much?" Clemmons laughed softly. "We'll probably be dead in short time anyway."

"That's true." Landis hesitated as he stared at Shane's weapon. "I'll move off around to the right. When the distraction starts, you get inside."

"How will I know when to move?"

Landis turned the weapon over in his hand a few times. "I think you'll know."

* * * *

Cedric had frightened her, but Shane thought it was mostly his appearance. He looked a lot like the classic dragons in fairytales and fantasy stories, with his green scales flecked with hints of gold and blue and large diaphanous wings better suited to some kind of bat from a nightmare. When she added in the sharp talons and teeth like small white mountains with jagged peaks, the image was complete. Except for the yellow eyes with horizontal slits like a cat's-eye turned on its side.

Cedric had an air of honor about him. Not unlike her, he was a warrior, a soldier with a job to do, and he did it as best he could. He followed orders, and he followed some code of conduct she didn't understand, but Shane somehow knew Cedric wasn't evil.

While Cedric had frightened her, Handley terrified her.

The dragon king didn't look much different from Cedric. He was a little smaller, maybe, and not as well muscled, but size didn't mean much in this case. Where Cedric exuded determined honor, Handley radiated pure evil.

She had no doubt Cedric would kill her in a heartbeat if he had to, but he wouldn't like it. He might not feel actual remorse, but he would rather not kill her. Handley would kill her for the pleasure of watching her die.

He told her as much.

The yellow eyes glinted like sparks from a hidden fire. "Your cooperation will save you much pain, human."

She'd told Handley all about humans and how they came here to contact new civilizations, not to overthrow him, and Shane had reached the end of her patience. "I doubt it matters too much on your plans to kill me."

"I never said you would live. You just won't suffer." The pointy ears on Handley's head twitched. "Tell us the truth."

"I have."

Handley struck out with his taloned hand, catching Shane fully in the side of her head. She fell from the chair and a wrenching pain ripped through her right side.

"You lie!" Despite his being smaller than Cedric, Handley still towered over her. "Do you want to suffer before you die?"

* * * *

Landis reached a spot nearly half a circle away from where he left Clemmons watching the cave entrance. Before him was a small plain of boulder-strewn rock leading back to where the dragons hovered around the cave, and behind him was a shear rock wall rising high toward the sky. He crouched behind some rocks and studied the weapon again.

All he knew was that Shane had fired a projectile—she called it a slug—that shattered a large rock. She also said that was one of the least damaging things the device could do.

The two slides were both at the same end of their travel, nearest to his body when he held the weapon in his fist as he'd seen Shane do. While it was probably a mistake to assume, all he could do was assume she had made the weapon as safe as possible when it was in the holster and not in use.

Landis thought about the settings. One of them, the slide with two notches, was probably something like
on
and
off
. The other slide, then, would be three different functions. If the projectile mode were the least dangerous, that would be where it was set now. The weapon had a third control placed so his finger rested on it when he clenched the weapon, and that meant it was something like
fire
.