Please see introduction for disclaimer regarding this work.
Chapter Thirty Three
Personal Business
Ursula called her trio of sandfliers to a halt as they neared the strange scene. Another sandflier was already parked there, the scarcity of sand collected on its surface indicating it was a recent arrival, and there were a handful of figures around it. Several of the figures stood where two strange beasts sat guard over a still body lying in the sand. Other bodies lay roasting in the sun, the dried blood of over twenty corpses staining the surrounding sand brown. Whatever had committed the carnage hadn't used sword or another such weapon; the marks on the fallen weren't clean enough for that. In fact, the mangled bodies looked very much as though they'd been savaged by some sort of animal, and Ursula felt her eyes drift to the two beasts as she jumped out of the sandflier. The majority of her troops pursued her, falling into formation with their guns drawn. Only a handful of soldiers remained behind to guard their transportation from those who would look to acquire it.
A blue haired youth stood nearest the two animals, a small windian at his side. His blue shock of hair was pulled back in a ponytail and his white shirt, which he had apparently ripped the sleeves from, was tucked into the high waistline of his baggy pants. They were purple, like his low-cut shoes. Both the neckline and waistline of his outfit was lined with vivid red that was nearly as eye-catching as his hair. In spite of his tattered appearance, not a hint of stubble lined his chiseled jaw, suggesting he either shaved often or was too young to grow a beard. His finger-less gloves, nearly the same tan as his skin, covered hands that currently wielded several feet of wicked steel. From his carriage it was clear he knew how to use the blade.
The little blonde appeared less of a danger, seeming at first glance no more than a delicate beauty, but the long wand she brandished suggested magical training. She wore a long-sleeved blue dress, the hemline falling to mid thigh. Blue knee-high boots and a blue headband matched the dress. In fact, brown tights and a white shawl were all she wore that wasn't blue.
Two others joined them as Ursula watched, a katana-wielding windrunner in a green robe and some sort of machine. The four stood facing her approaching troops as the two entities stood like silent sentinels over the still body in the sand.
Their description matched the one the king of Windia had given her, and when she saw the windian male near the sandflier struggle to his feet, Ursula knew she had finally found what she had spent the last month and a half searching for.
They halted, a substantial distance between them. As Ursula brought her troops to a stop, she suddenly recognized one of the animals. She had only seen the imposing white and gold creature once in her life, when she was a youth assigned patrol duty in the capitol. Still, she recognized the Lion when she saw him. More than anything that confirmed the identity of the body that lay behind the living barricade. Why else would one of the emperor's pets be here?
The kitsune stepped away from her troops, sheathing her gun in what she hoped looked like a peaceful motion. Glancing at the entities once more, she addressed the foremost human. "You're Ryu, aren't you? I had been warned I might run into you and your friends." The Windian king had been very helpful…something about repaying a standing debt…
He studied her a moment before responding, his handsome face unreadable. "Yes, that's me. It seems you have me at a disadvantage…" His raised eyebrow prompted a reply, and she found herself giving one before she quite realized what she was doing.
"I am Captain Ursula, of the Fou Imperial Army," she told him, pride in voice and bearing. Her rank in the army had been hard earned, and she was truly honored to serve the Empire in that capacity. She continued imperiously, "My orders are from the Emperor himself: to find and return with the an individual of some value to His Majesty. I believe you know of whom I'm speaking."
The young man nodded and smiled slightly, his spiky bangs falling down in front of his face and obscuring his eyes. It further interfered with Ursula's ability to read him and added to her irritation. "Oh, yes. You came to the right place, at least." Ursula frowned imperceptibly at his dry comment, although she was somewhat appeased when the boy returned his sword to its sheathe. The steel rasped noisily as it slid back into its sheath; the sand made it almost impossible to keep weapons clean and well oiled. She did notice he left an inch of the metal showing so that the blade would draw easily should he need it immediately. His friends followed his lead without hesitation, putting aside their various weapons. Clearly, they were not looking for a fight, particularly with a task force of a hundred handpicked imperials.
The female windian (Princess Nina, if Ursula recalled correctly) stepped forward, limping slightly. She bore signs of no other wounds, save a scratch or two and an occasional broken feather. "Please, do you have a healer with you?" The request was clearly not for the Princess' sprain, as such injuries were minor and repaired themselves with a bit of rest.
Ursula felt her eyes drift toward the still body as she nodded. "Of course. Every independent task force has a field medic in case of emergencies." Part of what made the independent task forces of the Empire so efficient was their ability to be completely self-sufficient when needed. Ursula prided herself on the fact that her troops could last months in the field under the worst of circumstances, and insured that she had the medical personal she needed to keep her men healthy.
Ryu glanced at his companions and nodded to them, passing an unspoken message with the simple motion. As the small group stepped aside, allowing her to see their carefully guarded prize, Ursula felt her heart drop down into her boots.
A slender woman lay sprawled on the sand, matching perfectly the description the emperor had given Ursula. Her pale green skin and gleaming chain mail bore a powdery layer of dust and the grime of months without a bath had adhered itself to her body. She was remarkably thin except for the rounded stomach signaling her advancing pregnancy. It was as though she had not eaten well in some time, which was doubtless the case. Deep emerald wings were spread bonelessly against the sand, one wing a tattered ruin. A verdant tail was tangled awkwardly around one slender leg. The female looked remarkably frail, but her delicate hands bore wicked claws and her feet were grasping talons. Her long white hair was tangled, acting almost as a shroud in some places.
Her neck was broken.
"I hate to tell you this, but our medic may be good, but he can't do miracles," Ursula told them angrily, her frustration at the situation welling up in her voice. The doctor was, in fact, one of the best the Empire had to offer. Allowed to commandeer just about anything for the sake of her mission, Ursula had hand picked both soldiers and personnel.
"She isn't dead!" the windian exclaimed with a flash of ire of her own. "I can't heal her because I don't know how to set bones properly, and I haven't any idea how to take care of a broken neck or heal damaged nerves! You came all the way out here! Are you saying you're just going to give up on her now?!" The blue haired boy put his hand on her shoulder and she calmed back down, looking genuinely embarrassed at her outbreak. "Oh, I'm sorry. That was rude of me."
Skeptical that anything could survive such an injury, Ursula called the medic over from the sandflier and nodded meaningfully to the body. He was a small, nondescript man; dark haired and brown eyed like much of the empire. Outside of uniform and without his kit of treatments he would have been mistaken for a common laborer. He knelt at the woman's side and confirmed after a moment that she was indeed alive, albeit barely.
"Can you fix her?" the kitsune asked, expecting the usual bluntness from the man. He had never been one to avoid bad news or attempt to soften an unfortunate report, unlike many sedentary doctors. That was one of the things that had encouraged her to bring him along, for in a military situation the decisions she made would depend on knowing exactly the situation their force was in.
The medic replied without hesitation, continuing his cursory examination as he spoke, "I'd hesitate to give a diagnose without looking further at her. I can realign the bones and patch up her wing, but if the spinal cord is too badly damaged, she'll never regain feeling or movement from the neck down." Several of the listeners winced, and Ursula wondered briefly whether bring the emperor back a wife who was crippled for life was really any better than bringing home a dead one. "In the meantime, Captain, I want to get her out of the sun and on to one of the sandfliers."
"Go on." The medical officer was expected to keep her soldiers in health and was thus one of the only people under her command allowed to disagree with her or make demands if it was in the interest of the health (and thus the success) of the troops. In fact, it was his duty to bring worries to her attention, although as commanding officer she could overrule him at any point.
"Thank you, Captain. Ming, Yasho. Bring me the stretcher off the sandflier, please." The soldiers in question obeyed immediately, extracting and unfolding the frame. Ursula noticed Ryu and his friends exchange rueful looks as it was carried forward.
The doctor oversaw the transfer of the wounded female, careful to keep her head still until her could see the extent of the damage. Then two of the soldiers lifted her into the sandflier and carried her below deck. The doctor followed his patient after commandeering Nina's aid, preferring the aid of a novice healer to the clueless hands of the soldiers.
Ursula watched them vanish below the deck of the sandflier, then turned her attention back to the group of Ryu's friends. The male windian that had rested against the non-imperial sandflier had made his way over to join them. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, there was a definite resemblance between him and the princess. He was desperately thin, the armor that hung loose on his frame and his hollow cheekbones further evidence of his near starvation.
The emperor's pet beasts flanked Ryu in what was clearly a threat, although to who, she couldn't be certain.
"What now?" Ryu asked her, still an amiable, unreadable presence. There was something strange about him, and Ursula felt her hackles rising.
"My orders are to return to the Empire with the lady. I intend to fulfill them," she replied curtly, motioning for several dozen of her men to return to the sandflier to guard the lady.
"We're coming with you," the blue haired one said confidently, seeming completely unaware of the stir his words created in the imperial ranks.
Ursula frowned. She hadn't been given the authority to bring citizens of the Alliance into the Empire, and there was something about Ryu that she didn't trust. Whatever secret lay beneath his skin, whatever plot he had, she wasn't going to let someone as strange and potentially dangerous into the Empire. Ursula had never really trusted the abnormal. "While the Empire thanks you for your aid, I can't just let citizens of the Alliance loose in the Empire!"
"I have personal business with your emperor," the youth said, as if he expected the explanation to change her mind.
"I don't know what you were expecting, but His Majesty is a busy man! You won't get past the palace gates!" Ursula told him incredulously. He actually expected an audience with the emperor?!
"He'll see me," the boy said confidently, unperturbed by the stares around him.
"And what makes you think that?" she asked, beginning to think she was dealing with a madman. An Alliance peasant, simply walking into the Empire and going to see the emperor with no further ado…it just wasn't done! He'd find himself dead or imprisoned in seconds if he ever attempted such a thing!
A slight smile crossed his face. That and his following words convinced Ursula of her previous mental assessment. "I'm a dragon." His words were plainspoken, and Ursula couldn't help but be impressed by his ability to make even so ridiculous a claim sound honest.
"Do you think I'm an idiot?! Why would I believe that?!" she demanded harshly, angry that he thought her enough of a fool to accept such a claim. Some of her troops snickered and she swung around to glare at them, though she knew they were laughing at the madman, not at her. Still, the laughter died immediately, as if it had never been. No one wanted to risk their captain's anger.
Ryu shrugged and nodded to the Lion and his brother. "You could ask them." The twin animals watched her silently, so absolutely still that it was unnerving. Do they even breathe?
"You're insane," she snapped, unconsciously tightening her grip on her gun. Her store of patience, not particularly great in the first place, was rapidly running out.
He shrugged again, a slightly impudent half-smile at his lips. "Alright, here goes."
Ursula had to choke down her sudden shock as the boy proved his words beyond a doubt. She heard guns being reloaded behind her as Ryu's face contorted in a silent scream, his clothing disintegrating around him. As they fell away in shreds, the cause became rapidly visible, along with the changes overcoming him. The skin of his body split messily along his back and at the tips of his fingers and toes. At his shoulders, the multiple ruptures allowed the emergence of two wings as red as the blood currently covering them. At the base of his spine a long tail ripped its way forth. Deadly claws cut their way out his fingers, the same occurring at his feet, where the bones had already broken and re-merged themselves into vaguely raptor-like appendages. Ryu's hair bleached white, though a spray of blood marred its perfection as twin horns grew from his temples. A grimace of pain clearly showed his suddenly sharp teeth, framed by twin stripes of red across his face. Blood red scales shoved their way through the skin of forearms, waist, and legs. Like tiny knives, they split the skin wherever they emerged, smoothing down to cover the ruined exterior.
At last the hybrid dragon stood in his full glory, his own blood clinging to his tanned skin and scarlet scales. It had dripped down his body, spraying the sand, and Ursula shuddered as he opened his orange eyes and looked at her. Though he stared directly at her, her image was not reflected in the fiery orbs.
Seemingly unperturbed by the violence of his own transformation or the nearly eighty guns trained nervously on him, Ryu said, "Well, Captain?" His voice was deeper, richer than it had been and more sibilant. His pronunciation seemed to have shifted slightly as well, probably due to a mouthful of longer teeth.
Trying to quell her superstitious reaction, Ursula demanded, "Change back!" The tremor in her voice was inaudible to human ears, but Ursula had the unnerving feeling the dragon had heard it.
Nina, reemerging on the deck of the sandflier, jumped down and ran over. Looking alarmed at the sight of her friend facing off with several scores of nervous imperials, she cried out to him, "Ryu!"
The dragon turned his head to regard the windian; his fire-like eyes seemed to soften momentarily and his alien face seemed fleetingly to regain its humanity. He reversed the change as Nina reached his side.
It was little better to see the process in reverse. The dragon's tail sucked back into his spine, his claws shriveled and were replaced by dull nails. His scales shook themselves loose from his skin and were shed unceremoniously. When it was over, he stood exactly as he had before demonstrating his abilities…except this time, Ryu was utterly naked.
