Riding My Dragons (The Dragons Of Tellus #1)

CHAPTER 9

Cade

I opened the door to the Taisce pub, a few blocks away from Fafnir Park, to the sounds of singing and music and general partying.Yes, it was Reconciliation Week at my family’s place of business, and it would be this way for the next few days.This was one week in the year when we did some of our best business.Or I should say, our best public business.

Coming through the front door and going down the stairs into the main bar, I moved my eyes across the kind of scene that was to be expected at the pub at the beginning of this week when humans and Scalers celebrated the times, way before anyone was born, when one-bodied people and two-bodied people decided to stop trying to kill each other off and take the world for themselves, and be friends instead.We’d all lived a good life since then.To mark the occasion, the pub and so many other places all over the world were now full of music and laughter and good will.

Moving into the bar with all the merry-makers, all I could think about was how my reason for being here probably had nothing to do with any of it.

At every table, and left and right at the bar, were patrons with glasses and pitchers, some just humans, some Scalers in human shape, some of us in dragon form, sitting around, eating, drinking, joking, telling stories, singing.Sporting events and shows played on monitors on the walls.At the dart boards, Scalers competed with their human friends, and predictably some of the dragon folks in their reptile bodies had to show off by pitching darts with their tails.Some of them had a damn good aim.Waiting staff weaved here and there among the tables and past me.They recognized and greeted me; I greeted them back.Other people who knew me at tables or at the bar called to me, inviting me to have a drink.Waving at them, I shouted over the party noise that I had to meet someone and couldn’t stop.I was headed to a certain place at the back, and looking for a certain person.

I looked to the door in the rear brick wall of the bar, where there was a little corridor with a restroom between the bar and the back game room, and there he was, standing like a guard.My cousin Ross Taisce was a big man, goateed, slightly husky, not yet forty but getting there, with his arms folded and a commanding look.He’d been in charge of the pub since I was in my teens.He had a way of watching over it like a king surveying his domain.Ross smiled a close-mouthed smile at me and nodded, calling me over to him.I smiled at some women, some of them in dragon shape, giving me an inviting look, one of them curling her tail at me and gesturing at the pitcher on their table.They reminded me of what I’d left back at Byron’s place, and once again I cursed the luck that Ross would call me here now of all times.I gave the ladies a little wave—little did they know where I wished I still was and what I wished I was still doing—and went to join Ross.

Without a word, my cousin opened the cellar door and motioned for me to step through it.He followed me, shutting and locking the door behind him and muting the party sounds behind us.“Evening, Cade,” Ross finally said as we started down the stairs in the dimness to the cellar, which was lighted.“I won’t keep you long; I know it must be some little human female you and your buddies are playing with.You can get right back to that right after we’ve gone over some things.”

Ross knew all about how Elliot, Byron, and I liked to pick up human females; he’d seen us leave the pub with them enough times.He sounded only as sympathetic about what he’d interrupted as he absolutely had to be.To myself, I hoped he really would make this quick.

In the cellar were racks of wine and liquors, and barrels of more liquors, and a long wooden table with chairs.Ross had me sit down opposite him at the table, and I asked, respectfully, “Okay, cousin, what have you got for me?”

”An important job,” said Ross.

“How important?”

”Important enough that it’ll be like a promotion in the family business.You’ll be moving up, Cade.The grands and the uncles have all been saying it’s time for you to start taking on more responsibility.”

I didn’t like the sound of that.I hardly ever saw the elders of the family.They lived in the family compound in the mountains, handing down orders to the rest of us like some old gods.It made me miss my father.I was still in my teens when he got his death sentence:scale cancer.It’s a hellish disease that strikes Scalers, as bad as the worst human diseases if not worse.It eats up the skin of a Scaler’s dragon body, covers it with sores and tumors so that it hurts too much to use that form.You end up unable to use one of your bodies, feeling like you’re only half a person, and living in constant pain.But the disease doesn’t let go from there.It creeps into the human body next.There’s no stopping the damn thing.Our doctors, with our so-called advanced post-Ambience medicine, have never found a cure for it.We had to watch my father wither away in agony and die.It’s left me with an ache inside that never leaves me.

Since losing Dad, I’d been mostly on my own, getting work from the rest of the family and from gambling.It wasn’t a perfect way to live.But now I was afraid it was about to get a lot more complicated.

Feeling very wary now, I asked, “What kind of responsibility?”

“A bigger job than you’ve been doing ‘til now,” said Ross.“The family has a new client.There’s something they need us to acquire for them.We want you to get it and bring it, so we can deliver it to the client.It has to happen tomorrow night.”

”It’s a thing?” I said.“It’s not money?What is it, a new gambling machine?A new gaming system?What?”

Up until then, I’d been mostly responsible for picking up money from our gambling operations and delivering it to the family, and dealing with players when they didn’t or couldn’t pay up after losing a bet.So far, the worst I’d had to do had been to “talk very persuasively” to people who couldn’t pay up, and inflict some damage, not on people, but on places and things to show people how serious their situation was.The family used other dragons to be more forceful about getting money out of player’s who’d fallen behind.I always had this dread of getting “promoted” to what the family liked to call “a more actively persuasive role” in the business, knowing what that meant.They’d never asked me to hurt anyone—yet.But I’d always had a fear of being given that kind of responsibility.I didn’t mind stepping a little over the line of the law—as long as I didn’t have to hurt people.Now I found myself dreading something I couldn’t even name yet.

Ross said, “It’s something you don’t have to know about, just a small item that we need you to get from a certain place and bring back to us for the client.The client will pay for it, and you’ll get your cut–and move up in the family organization.It’s a good break for you.”

”What ‘certain place?’Where is this thing?”

”The thing,” said Ross, “is in a place where there won’t be a lot of people now because of Reconciliation.It’ll be quiet and you should be able to get in and out and not be seen.”

Scales broke out on my back under my shirt.I was liking less and less where this seemed to be going.I felt more edgy every second.“Get in and out of where?” I asked.

Ross said, “The main warehouse of Pendrake Tech University.”

That rocked me back in my seat as if my cousin had hit me in the jaw.I couldn’t believe it.I’d just left Jenna, who was a student at the place where my family wanted to do something that sounded worse than shady.Now I had scales breaking out on my forearms.It was the Scaler version of sweating.

Gulping, I said, “Ross, tell me you’re not asking me to break into the warehouse of Pendrake Tech and…take something.”

I deliberately didn’t use the word steal, but that was obviously what my cousin meant. There was another side to the Taisce family business besides the bookmaking and gaming that we did “under the table” and didn’t declare, a side that was even riskier, more illegal, more dangerous.I’d always been afraid of getting drafted into that side of the business—the thieving side, the heisting and selling of stolen goods.And now, that was right where I was headed, like a guy going over a waterfall.My heartbeat sped up; my skin felt hot.I felt myself coming to the edge and not able to stop myself going over.

A shaky feeling in my chest almost made my voice shake with it.“Ross, no!You can’t ask me…You can’t expect me to get in on that!Come on, Ross, no, not that!”

He shook his head soberly and said, “It’s time for you to step up, Cade.The elders have been concerned about you, about how you live.Doing small-time jobs with the gambling and the gaming, betting for yourself.Screwing human females with your buddies.They’ve been saying it’s time for you to be more of a part of things.You need to move up, buddy.You need to step up for the family.And you’ll get your share of the take for it.This is an opportunity you can’t turn down.”

Forcing myself not to start stammering, I actually begged him.“Ross, I’m not the type for this.Please.”

Now he shook his head and frowned.“My hands are tied, Cade.Look, kid, I feel for you.You’ve been having a good time all these years.The family’s taken care of you; you’ve enjoyed yourself.You’ve never had to take on much in the way of responsibility.But the elders have been watching and you’ve looked to them like you’re not that interested in responsibility.It’s not a good look, Cade.They expect more from you now.After everything the family’s given you, it’s time to start helping take care of the family.And what you’ll earn for it will be a sweet cache.”

”But like that?Ross, I haven’t got the stomach for that kind of thing.You’re talking about ‘helping take care of the family’.If something happens, who’ll take care of me?If I get into something over my head, is the family gonna help me get out of it?”

He raised a finger sternly, looking more like a parent than a cousin, and said, “If you do things right, you’ll earn more than you’ve ever gotten for any job, and no one will have to ‘get you out’ of anything.Listen, you’ve always known who we are.You’ve always known we’re not the kind to fly the straight path all the time.It’s done right by us, and it’s done right by you.The family’s always taken on risks.The elders say now it’s time for you to start sharing the risks.”

I was in pain now.“But this is theft.It’s stealing.”

“It’s the contract we’ve picked up for this new client.It’s what we’ve got to do.And you’re the one who’s been picked to do it for us.”

There’s got to be a loophole, I thought, grabbing at another idea.“But it sounds too important for somebody who’s never done something like this before.Ross, I’ll get on my knees if I have to.Talk to them.Intercede for me.Get me something else.”

He just shook his head again.“Gotta start somewhere, kid.”

Desperately, I said, “I’m not a thief, Ross.”In spite of trying not to, I stammered.“I-I’m not a thief.”

”You’re a Taisce,” said Ross.“That means something.”

I hung my head, feeling helpless and scared.

”Look, I feel for you,” he said.“I really do.I know you’re a good kid.But this is just something you’ve got to do.You’ve got to know what’s at stake here.If you refuse to do this, if you back out of this…they’re talking about cutting you off.”

My stomach sank as I faced him again to see the seriousness of what he was saying.“Cutting me off?”

He made a slicing motion with his finger.“No more jobs at all.No more family money.No more anything.If you don’t want to do this and they decide to cut you off, you’re on your own.You’ll have to make your own way in everything.Now you won’t be wiped out; you won’t be on the street.You can always get help.Nobody in this day and age ends up like a stray animal.But you won’t be welcome in the family any more; and you’ll get no more family jobs, no more family earnings.You’ll be out of the nest.Is that something you want?”

”No.That’s not what I want,” I said, with hopelessness closing in on me.But then, I thought, neither is this.

He rapped his knuckles on the table like a judge banging his gavel.“All right then,” Ross said.“We’ve got some equipment and info to give you.It’ll help you get in where you need to be, find what you need to get, and get out with no one ever knowing you’re there.When you’re done, no one will even miss the item.The family will get paid.You’ll get your cut and it’ll be generous.And you’ll have moved up in the business.”

Half-heartedly, I replied, “Yeah.”

My cousin reached over and clapped me on the shoulder.“Good boy,” he said.“You’ll see; it won’t be so bad.”

No, I thought, it won’t be so bad at all.I’ll just have to become someone I never meant to be.

Later, I let myself out the back way of the pub, ignoring the laughter, the gaming, and the naked dancers in dragon shape entertaining in the back section.Needless to say, I wasn’t in a party mood.

In the alley behind the pub, I sat on the outer steps in front of the rear door and looked up.Between the buildings was a night sky that right now I wouldn’t have minded getting lost in; just flying up and disappearing.I thought about my father, who would have understood the way that I felt about what they were expecting me to do, and how I didn’t want to become a criminal.My father would have helped me, found some other way for me to serve the family.I missed Dad now more than I ever had before.

If I got caught doing this thing, it could mean prison.I’d end up sacrificing my freedom for family duty.And if I didn’t do this thing, it meant sacrificing my family.This was the last night of my life as I’d known it.

I turned my thoughts back to my friends, and to Jenna.I knew how I wanted to spend my last night.