Agadart had been missing for a week, and Mani had put Sergeant Moularre in charge of the ongoing search because Ro could not spare any officers to do it, and Mani could not completely remove himself from his duties as Matrica of Endestern for the sake of an apprentice dragon maid. The Kaaltendt dragons were finally starting to look to him for support in regards to shoring up their abilities and dealing with their Wattish counterparts, but it was a fragile connection built through their trust in Captain Wildt, his most outspoken supporter.
Mistress Seraphinite had begrudgingly offered two of her apprentices to be detailed to the search, which Mani thought was pointless but accepted anyway as a gesture of alliance with the stern, unfriendly woman. At first, she had seemed completely disinterested, but as the days went by, she at least acknowledged that the matter was of high importance. That was enough for Mani, in the meantime.
Of more pressing and disturbing news was that the Iskaryyvan forces were…not fighting very hard. It was odd, everyone agreed: they were still mounting a formidable offense, but the front line had not moved ashore yet, and seemed unlikely to do so. None of the Wattish scouts got through to look behind their lines (or, if they did, they themselves did not return), so it was impossible to know if they were massing for a frontal assault, or if they were settling in for a war of attrition. Neither spelled good news for the Isle of Watt, but it was simply disconcerting to everyone that Emperor Rhezv was not pushing the advantage he had in numbers and strength.
Mani and Ro fell into bed every night too tired to do anything more than give each other a brief update of their day and then possibly make out for a bit, but Ro was getting testy about not being able to shift into his dragon form and being held back from the front. Mani was sympathetic, but he was an older brother while Ro was the baby of the family, so he understood where Ro’s siblings were coming from. He would hold back his younger brother and sister from a war front too. Of course, he did not say as much to Ro, for fear of being ejected from their bed for an indefinite period of time.
Such as it was, they would all be fighting for their lives soon enough, so it did not matter too much in the long run. It was not something they talked about. They simply found what comfort they could, and readied for what was ahead.
For Mani, that meant working at the military encampment most of the day. He was sitting in his office, which he was pretty sure used to be a storage closet, going over paperwork that never seemed to end (he cravenly hoped there was a paper shortage soon, just so he would not have to deal with the bureaucracy of Watt), when his secretary stepped into the room.
“Jarré?” Mani asked, looking up in surprise.
“Sorry, Matrica.” The young man bowed politely. “You have a visitor.” He paused. “A civilian.”
“Oh?” Mani put down the report he was reviewing. “Does he have a name?”
“Hrecht ver Kleelan, but he offers no documentation to support that.”
Bells went off in Mani’s mind, and his reaction must have shown on his face, as Jarré straightened up. “Shall I show him in?”
“Yes, immediately.”
Jarré spun around and zipped out of the office. He reappeared a few moments later with a man who did not look anything like Agadart, yet obviously was related. Mani thought it was something about the set of their eyes. He was tall and rail thin, with a shock of bright white hair piled up on his head in a wild collection of braids. It was not a style native to Kaaltendt, Mani knew that much if little else.
“Lord ver Kleelan? A pleasure to meet you.” He bowed then offered him a chair to sit in. The “lord” part was a long shot, but the man did not argue about it, so Mani figured he guessed correctly.
“Thank you, Matrica,” ver Kleelan said, his western Kaaltendt accent far thicker than Agadart’s own. He settled in the chair with a military air.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Forgive my presumption, but are you…ah, are you Agadart ver Kleelan’s father?” Mani took the other guest chair, not wanting to put the desk between them. He hoped to keep their interactions casual and friendly, if possible.
He tilted his head curiously. “What an interesting question. Why would you ask about her?”
Mani opened his mouth, then closed it.
He kept looking at Mani, his eyes a piercing, silvery blue. All at once, with a shiver through his body, he realized that the man he was dealing with was, in fact, a dragon. And a powerful one.
“No, you’re her uncle, aren’t you?”
He smiled, his teeth pointed and sharp like no human would possess and most dragons would not show. “You’re a smart one.”
“Thank you, Lord ver Kleelan.” He was at a loss at what the dragon’s actual title might be, if he had one at all, but it never hurt with strangers to stay on the formal side.
“I asked around. The word is that you are the one leading the search for my niece.”
Mani was glad they were not pretending that Maid Aegirine was not Agadart ver Kleelan, but that did not leave him with much else to feel glad about. “Yes sir. Although as I’m sure you are aware, we’ve had no luck in finding her.” He paused, thinking. “Although I’m surprised you are here at all. She has only been missing for a week, and the last reported sightings of you were in the Westlands, beyond the Barrens.”
He felt like he was talking to a bird of prey with the way Lord ver Kleelan was looking at him. Dragons rarely gave their full attention to humans in such an intense way unless they were getting ready to fight or fuck.
“I was headed eastward long before now.”
Mani frowned at him, bordering on a glare. “You could not have known of her kidnapping so long ago, unless you were involved in it.” He thought about how fast Jarré could get in there if he yelled for help. Not fast enough, he reckoned. He kept his posture loose and unconcerned.
“I am not here because of her kidnapping.” Lord ver Kleelan leaned back in the chair, but Mani was not fooled, he could tell the dragon was tense and coiled, ready to strike. “Although I am here because of her, and I’m not surprised she was kidnapped. I assume agents of Emperor Rhezv?”
Mani took a moment to process that. “Why would you assume that?”
“Who else would want her?”
“Why would the emperor want her?”
“Hm.” He sniffed the air, more like a dog than either a human or a dragon. The man was weird and Mani felt completely wrong-footed around him. “Where is your mate?”
“He’s at military headquarters. I’m sure you’re aware that I am the consort and guardian to Admiral Leonteinparre the Younger.”
“Hm,” Lord ver Kleelan repeated. “I think we should discuss this with him present. If it’s not inconvenient.”
“The admiral is incredibly busy, as you can imagine,” Mani parried.
Lord ver Kleelan shrugged. “I can try to get her back myself, but I’m told that would likely cause an increase in hostilities. I am aware, Matrica Roki, that right now the Isle of Watt is sitting on the razor’s edge of disaster. You might not believe me but I wish to avoid making things worse.”
“We appreciate that, Lord ver Kleelan. But to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what your actions might result in, politically. Technically, your niece is just a dragon maid of Kaaltendt, nearly anonymous and not worth any kind of ransom. Furthermore, you still have not explained why the emperor would bother to kidnap her. She was serving as an assistant to the esteemed Doctor Worthan; she had no secret military knowledge outside of some admirality numbers of wounded soldiers.”
He nodded slowly. “I am sure that is why the emperor does not expect anyone to come after her.” He looked around the tiny office before focusing on Mani again with his unnerving gaze. “Send a message to your mate and bring him here, so I can explain how, if we do not go get Agadart back, the Isle of Watt will fall to the emperor’s forces faster than a snowball in a fire pit.”
Mani moved slowly, standing up and going to the door. He stepped out but left it open, motioning Jarré to stay in place in order to keep an eye on their guest. He went down the hallway to two offices over and requested that a runner be sent for Admiral Leonteinparre the Younger, on an urgent matter, on the Matrica of Endestern’s orders.
Then he paused and took a deep breath before turning around and going back into the dragon’s den.