Balanced on the Blade's Edge (Dragon Blood, Book 1)

  * * *

  He had almost kissed her. The memory from the night before still burned in his thoughts. What in all of the hells had he been thinking? She had made that joke, and after his initial reaction—overreaction—he had recognized the humor for what it was, but then he had been standing so close to her, staring into her eyes… and it had been as if he were some sexually starved inmate who couldn’t control himself.

  “I have not been out here nearly long enough to be that desperate to get with a woman.” Ridge blew on his mug of steaming coffee, fresh from the little stove in the break room downstairs. “Though apparently I’ve been here long enough to start talking to myself.”

  At least his door was closed this time. None of his men should hear his solitary conversations.

  Ridge took a sip and picked up his pen again. He had the operations manual and the personnel rosters out and was working on a list of things he hoped would improve efficiency and free up more men for defenses. At nine, he was heading to the mine entrances again, this time with an engineer. While he would like to think those people down there wouldn’t take advantage of an enemy attack, not when they seemed to respect him for his exploits in the skies, he couldn’t assume that. He wanted some heavy iron doors built over the tram shafts, doors that could be locked from the outside while his soldiers had to defend the fort. He had been up early and had sketched what he wanted for the engineer.

  Actually, he had been up early—and late—thinking those sexually starved inmate thoughts. Though he forced himself to get his work done, his gaze drifted often toward the rolled up map leaning against the end of his desk. He had fished it out as soon as he’d gotten to his office, several hours before dawn, just in case. If she truly wanted to see it, she would come. He would have to make sure she wasn’t lying, telling him some made-up fibs about Bretta’s death, so she could gain access to the information. She wasn’t a good liar, at least she didn’t seem to be. He had to accept that she could be there, trying to gain access to his information by playing inept… or by playing him.

  Agreeing to show her the map… even as he had done it, he had known he was bordering on treason. The map didn’t mention anything about the crystals or where they had been found—he had another map that did that, which he would not show her—but it might give her… something. Something she needed. What, he didn’t know. That was why he had agreed to it. So he could watch her, see how she reacted, and try to make some guesses.

  “Seven gods, Ridge, if she were a man, you would just interrogate her.” He rubbed his temple, annoyed because he knew he was right, and more annoyed because he couldn’t imagine doing it. He had only known her a day. How had she insinuated herself into his thoughts so? Maybe she was some master seductress. Except she had seemed surprised last night when he had gotten close, startled. If she had sensed when his anger vanished and… other feelings arose, she hadn’t shown it. That touch on his hand—the one that had sent an incendiary jolt of electricity through him—had been the purest innocence, an expression of concern. Surely a skilled seductress would have slid a hand around the back of his neck, pulled him down for a kiss, and—

  He grunted. “I need an ice bath, not coffee.”

  A knock came at his door, and he cursed himself. He had been so busy thinking about other things that he hadn’t heard anyone walking up. “Yeah?” he called, wondering if his visitor had heard him talking to himself. Wondering, too, if his visitor was… she.

  Captain Heriton poked his head in. “Sir, I’m never quite sure if that’s an invitation to enter.”

  “I’m rarely doing anything in here that’s so scintillating that I can’t be interrupted.”

  “Yes, sir.” Heriton pushed the door open wider, but paused again. “I’m not sure that was an invitation, either.”

  Ridge winked. “Maybe you’ll have it figured out by the time I leave.”

  “I’m hoping I get to leave sooner, sir. Six months left on my orders… ” Heriton gazed wistfully out the window.

  Understandable. “Come in, Captain. What do you have for me?”

  Heriton glanced over his shoulder, shrugged, and came in with a stack of papers. “It’s actually what you have for me, sir. Did I understand your memo correctly? You want these… reading lists to go out to the guards to be posted for… the miners?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Oh. I thought you might mean it for the soldiers.”

  “I trust you all have a good education already.” Ridge waved toward the papers. “I’m trying to improve morale, offer some incentives for them to better themselves.”

  “Better themselves, sir? To what ends?”

  “To work more efficiently for us.”

  “And, uh, reading the classics will cause that?”

  “Call it the crazy colonel’s experiment.” Ridge was certain the gaming tables would be more popular, but if some of the prisoners did start reading… “Those who show an interest might prove themselves worthy of more responsibility. What I’m hoping these changes will ultimately do is give us some trustworthy individuals who might help us—or at least keep others from stabbing us in the back—should we need to funnel all of our resources into defending the fort.” And if that didn’t work, Ridge had his backup plan. The doors.

  “Ah, I see, sir.” Heriton did sound a tad less perplexed now. Or at least he had decided to go along with his eccentric C.O. He pointed to the bottom of a page. “And you want to give them a day off if they finish a book?”

  “If they can summarize it sufficiently and answer questions that prove they read it. Those are hefty tomes, and those men don’t have a lot of free time. There has to be some sort of incentive.”

  “I think I understand, sir. But, uhm, who’s going to quiz the miners?”

  “What’s the matter, Captain? Haven’t you read those? They’re classics.”

  “I, uh… a couple.”

  Ridge grinned.

  “I’ll familiarize myself with them,” Heriton said, though not without a daunted look in his eyes.

  “Good. Dismissed.”

  “Thank you, sir. Oh, I almost forgot. You have another visitor.” Heriton pushed open the door, revealing Sardelle standing in the hallway, her lush hair loose about her shoulders, her mouth curving into a tentative smile.

  Last night, Ridge had been certain it would be better for his sanity if she didn’t come today, but seeing her there made his soul soar. It also made his cheeks flush as his thoughts from the night before reared to the forefront of his mind again. Thank the gods that matronly prison dress didn’t do anything to distract him further. Aware of the captain’s eyes, Ridge managed to keep his face neutral.

  “She assures me she’s expected.” Heriton raised his eyebrows.

  “Yes, she’s my insider on the magic investigation.” Ridge chose the word magic instead of murder, understanding that nobody here seemed concerned about the deaths of miners. Magic, on the other hand, was surely something they could all understand investigating.

  Heriton’s brows rose higher. “Oh, really? Does that mean you don’t need her report anymore?”

  “No, I’m still waiting for you to produce it.” Ridge smiled and waved the man out of his office.

  Sardelle walked in, her own eyebrows raised. “Have you read all the books on that list?”

  Ridge lifted his chin. “I’ve read many of them.”

  “Many? More than three?”

  “No less than five, I assure you.”

  She snorted, then a speculative expression bloomed on her face. “A day off for anyone who can summarize a book? For each book?”

  “That’s the deal I put out, yes.”

  “When’s the test?”

  “After a day of laundry duty, you’re ready to take off?”

  “Oh, more than ready.” Sardelle rubbed her hands together. “Do you have a copy of the list? I’m ready now. I’ll even constrain myself to the ones you’ve read.”

  “How do you kno
w you’ve read the ones I’ve read? There are more than a hundred books on that list.” All the classics they had in the meager prison library had gone onto the list. Some of them were as dusty and old as the mountain itself. “I don’t believe you’ve read them all.”

  “I’ve read enough for a day off. Or five.”

  “Fine.” Ridge pulled his master copy of the sheet out of a file in the bottom desk drawer. “How about Denhoft’s Theories on Aerodynamic and Aerostatic Flight?”

  Sardelle clasped her hands behind her back. “Written approximately four hundred years ago, the text dealt largely with theory rather than proven scientific experiment. Denhoft theorized that there were two types of flying machines that could allow for lift to overcome gravity… ”

  Ridge had to consciously keep his mouth from falling open in surprise as she continued on, offering a precise and accurate summary of the book. He asked a few questions in the end, and she answered them satisfactorily, though with a few hesitations.

  “History is more my specialty,” she said before he could compliment her. “I read a lot of the ones in that left row in school.”

  Ridge had only read two of them. He started with the ones he knew. She was more animated and confident in her summaries of those books, adding opinions and gesturing with her hands as she described the rise and fall of the imperial dynasties that had claimed this continent before the original tribes had rebelled, declaring themselves an independent sovereign nation and fighting off any aggressors who sought to impose upon them again.

  After summarizing the books he knew—and five others he didn’t—she leaned forward again. “Oh, Dusmovan. Have you read his book? It’s a fictional tale, but it’s incredibly detailed, showing the archaeologist’s journey to discover what came of the dragons. He hunted all over the world for fossils that would help explain their sudden passing from our world.”

  Ridge lifted a hand. It did sound interesting, and he would put it on his own reading list—on the off chance this job gave him any free time—but… “You’ve already earned eight days off, and I believe you came here this morning on another matter?”

  “Oh.” Sardelle flushed, the red of her cheeks bringing out her blue eyes.

  Ridge wouldn’t have minded letting her continue on, but he had that meeting to get to. It had been a surprisingly enlightening interlude though. His earlier theory, that she might be some rogue professor here to hunt for crystals, or even other artifacts, returned to the front of his mind. Would a military spy be that versed in the classics? The classics of his continent? Not only that, but she was clearly passionate about history.

  “By the way,” Ridge said, “this school where you read these books… was it before or after you left your family’s shepherd ways to become a pirate?”

  Her cheeks dimpled when she smiled, a shy caught-me smile. “Before.”

  “I never knew a rural education to be so thorough. Your teacher should be commended.”

  The smile drooped, and something flashed in her eyes. Pain?

  “Yes,” Sardelle said more somberly. “She was inspiring.”

  Ridge debated whether to apologize for chancing across some painful past memory, but she spoke again first.

  “The murder… it doesn’t seem to have had anything to do with magic.” Sardelle glanced at his eyes. “Or I should say, the woman, Bretta, had nothing to do with magic. I investigated the so-called magical tools that were, I believe, planted under the blanket in her bunk. According to Braytok’s Compendium of Sorcerers and Sorcerous Artifacts, a book that isn’t on your list but should be, since it could clear up confusion due to ignorance, tools for holding energy, souls, or for performing tasks or enhancing powers must be made from a sturdy enough material to contain energy, generally a metal alloy or diamond or other such gem. Hard rocks occasionally, but not wood. The book says it would combust at the first pouring of energy into it.”

  Ridge listened attentively, though it made him uncomfortable to hear her speak so openly of magic. That book she had mentioned… nobody outside of an academic setting would ever dare be caught with such a thing. Even then, it made people twitchy. It made him twitchy. He had never cared much until the Cofah had started importing those witches or wizards or whatever they called them, and putting them into the sky where he and his squadron started encountering them. Since then, he had lost… too much.

  “Forgive my rambling,” Sardelle said. Ridge wondered if she had noticed a reaction in him. He hadn’t meant to let anything show. “My point is that dolls made from twigs are hokum. Someone planted those in her bunk to arouse suspicion—or validate what he was going to do—and then sneaked into the barracks when few were around and killed her.”

  “Any ideas on who?”

  Ridge didn’t expect her to have learned who in the scant hours since they had last spoken, but when she swallowed and gazed out the window, he realized she did know. So, why the hesitation? He tried to read her face. It was a study of concentration. She seemed to be wrestling with herself.

  “Are you afraid he’ll come after you for revenge if you tell me?” Ridge asked.

  “I’m afraid… he might have genuinely thought she was a witch, and in your—our culture, well, that would have made killing Bretta justifiable, wouldn’t it?”

  Ridge leaned back, feeling the hardness of his chair against his shoulder blades. He had noticed her slip-up, and it put doubt into his assumptions all over again. More than that, he sensed she was lying.

  “Who is it?” Ridge asked. “We’ll hear from him and decide the rest.” We? It was he, wasn’t it? He would have to be judge and juror here. A fact that hadn’t been mentioned on his orders.

  “I don’t know for sure,” Sardelle said slowly. “Gossip and hearsay and who saw what, when, you understand.”

  “Yes… ”

  “But if you can find out if a man named Tace was missing from his shift yesterday afternoon when this happened, you might have your answer. He might have had help from a second man. I didn’t hear the other name.”

  “Thank you.” Ridge wrote the name down. For once a number would have been easier, but Captain Heriton ought to be intimately acquainted with the archives by now. Maybe he would recognize the man. “I’ll find him and have him questioned.”

  Sardelle nodded curtly. Her gaze was still out the window. Ridge waited for her to inquire about the map—she must have seen it rolled up next to his desk, but something was bothering her. All the animation she had shown when reciting the book summaries had drained from her. He felt an urge to comfort her, the same urge that had taken him to the laundry room the night before. This time, he made himself remain where he was.

  “Is there something else I should know?” he asked.

  Sardelle shook her head and pulled her focus back to him. “No, it’s just… a lamentable situation.”

  “Yes.”

  Ridge pointed his pen toward the map. “We made a deal. There’s the map. There aren’t many up-to-date copies around, so I trust you’ll understand if I don’t let it leave my office.” Not to mention how many vomit stains and dust bunnies he’d had to clean up to find it wedged against the baseboard behind the couch.

  “I understand.” Sardelle still seemed subdued as she came forward and unrolled the map.

  Ridge picked up his papers so she could lay it out on his desk.

  She did so, using a couple of paperweights to pin down the corners and gazed at it for no more than thirty seconds before issuing an eloquent, “Huh.”

  Ridge wasn’t sure what he had expected from her, but that wasn’t it.

  “Is that where the ore is?” Sardelle waved toward the section of the mountain where the levels and levels of tunnels snaked around.

  Ridge didn’t answer. He would let her look, but he wouldn’t provide intelligence. He was already worried his generosity—or perhaps it was foolishness—would turn into a regret. He had allowed the map deal in the hope that he, in observing her, would learn more about her
than she did about the facility.

  “All the miners mumble about crystals,” she added, looking up at him.

  She seemed curious and faintly puzzled. An act? Wasn’t she here for the crystals? Whether she was a spy or some kind of archaeological bandit, Ridge had assumed she had come for them. What else was of value in this mountain? Silver was worth something, but it wasn’t that rare an ore. Even if she hadn’t come for the crystals, he found it odd that she could discover a murderer’s name overnight, but didn’t know about something all of the miners knew about. Granted, the women remained up top and handled the domestic duties, but Ridge would be surprised if most of them didn’t know what was in the mountain under them.

  “The placement of the tunnels surprises you?” Maybe he could extract some information from her, though what he was fishing for he didn’t truly know.

  “According to the books, the people who lived here before… before they were destroyed, they had their home in this part of the mountain.” Sardelle waved to a spot that was mostly off the map. “There were a few tunnels over here, I think, but they were more interested in, well, I suppose I don’t know, but the old road leading to the pass exited from the other side of the mountain. That was the road more traveled. There wasn’t much back here, except a few market stalls in the summers, and a private area for practicing… stuff.”

  It was all Ridge could do not to blurt out, asking what she was talking about. People who had lived here? Maybe he was the one who needed to go around talking to the miners. But no, he had perused a lot of the operating manual, and it didn’t mention anything about former inhabitants. It specifically said the crystals were an unexplained phenomenon that had only ever been discovered in this mountain.

  “In what book did you find this information? Because I’m certain it’s not one of the ones on my list.”

  “No… something I read at one point. I can’t seem to recall the title.”

  After the morning’s memory display, Ridge had a hard time believing she forgot much of anything. Did some university out there know more than the military did about its own secret? Or maybe someone in the military knew… and had forgotten to mention it to Ridge before foisting the command on him. If so, that seemed rude.

  “And who were these people who, according to your forgotten source, lived here?” Ridge asked.

  Sardelle opened her mouth as if to spout the quick answer, but paused and searched his face for a moment before shrugging and saying, “The Referatu.”

  A chill ran through him. “The sorcerers.” The sorcerers who had tried to take over the continent, to enslave everyone who didn’t have their powers. He knew about the purging, about the war that had been fought against them three hundred years ago, but he had never heard that they had come out of a mountain base. Or that this had been it. True, he wasn’t a huge academic, having never been interested in more than the military and flying as a kid, but he wasn’t completely ignorant either. This was not common knowledge. So how did his little spy/thief know?

  Sardelle spread her hands. “I assumed you knew. Or at least whoever started mining here knew.”

  Was she being honest, or was this another lie? His head was starting to hurt. It wasn’t even nine in the morning yet; it was too early for headaches.

  “These crystals,” she said, “are they—”

  Footsteps sounded in the hallway, fast, urgent footsteps.

  “Sir!” The captain knocked on the door, but Ridge was already on his way to opening it and caught the man, fist raised in the air. “The airship is back,” he blurted. “And it’s coming closer this time.”

  Ridge cursed, grabbed his parka, and ran into the hallway, tugging it on as he went. “It’s still snowing, isn’t it? I thought that would keep them away.”

  “It is, sir. And it’s not.”

  “Wonderful.”