Dressing the Dragon Read online

  “Do you have one of these guns?”

  Her brief moment of feeling powerful vanished. “No.”

  “Can you get one?”

  Karla thought about it for a moment, then sighed. She’d never even shot a gun, much less knew anything about them. “Not without a licence, and it would take ages to get one, even if I could pass all the tests.”

  “Do you have any kind of weapon at all?” Taurian persisted.

  Karla ran through all the possibilities in her head and came up blank. She shook her head. “I've never needed one.”

  “Then we need to find a way to lose the dragon.”

  Karla looked in the rear view mirror again. The dragon had dropped back a little, but he was still obvious.

  “That's not going to be easy,” she warned. At least her hands had stopped shaking. “A bike is far more manoeuvrable than I'll ever be.”

  Taurian frowned. “I've lost dragons following me by flying into a forest at the last minute, or into a cave that I knew had an alternate exit. Can we do something like that?”

  The chances of the idea working were slim, but Karla had to try something. She mentally ran through the main streets of Mungaloo in her head. Just up ahead of them was the only undercover car park in town.

  “We can try,” she told Taurian.

  She waited until the last minute, not even using her indicator, just pulling into the car park with no warning. Somewhere behind her, someone honked their horn, but Karla ignored it.

  Not surprisingly, the blue bike followed her without difficulty.

  Taurian stayed mercifully silent as she drove down the centre lane in the undercover parking area. He kept glancing in the side mirror, and Karla didn’t need him to tell her the bike was still following her as she turned through several rows.

  Mungaloo was such a sprawling town that the car park was set out like a grid, with none of the tricky corners she might find in an inner city parking lot. There was no way she was going to lose the bike in here.

  Then up ahead, she saw a vacant space with another vacant one behind it. Hoping this would work, she pulled out wide, and turned in as though going to park. She paused there for a few minutes, until the bike had driven past her.

  Karla lost him in the rows ahead. Hoping he was searching for his own park, she carefully pulled through the vacant park ahead and looked both ways. Still no sign of the motorbike.

  Pulling out, Karla slowly headed for the exit.

  The lights changed to red just as she pulled up to the exit, and Karla bit her lip. Instinctively, she hit the brakes.

  “Why are we stopping?” Taurian demanded.

  “There’s a red light…” Karla trailed off. Really, she was arguing about something like a red light when she was being chased by a dragon? Still, she struggled to make herself do it. She’d never run a red light before, never even had a speeding ticket.

  “Is it safe to pull out?” Taurian asked.

  The first rush of traffic when the light turned green was gone. There were only two other cars on the road ahead of her. She wouldn’t think twice about pulling out if she wasn’t faced with a red light. “Yes, it’s fine.”

  “Then we need to go.”

  He was right. Karla took a deep breath, and edged forwards. Once her wheels were over the white line, it was easier. She swung the ute around onto the road, and accelerated. Karla bounced a little in her seat in jubilation. She’d done it. They were free!

  “There he is,” Taurian said quietly.

  Damn him. He couldn’t be. Karla glanced back, and sure enough, the blue motorbike was behind them again, two cars back. Bloody hell, did that dragon have a radar or something?

  Karla’s shoulders sagged. “That bike is faster and more manoeuvrable than we are. We can't out drive him. He can follow us anywhere I go.”

  “How about if we get out of the ute?”

  Karla frowned. “Maybe,” she conceded. “If we went into a shopping centre or something, we might be able to lose him there.”

  “Not straight away,” Taurian suggested. “How about we stop and have some lunch, and ignore him for a while. Let him think we’ve given up trying to lose him, and then wait until he’s distracted to slip away.”

  Karla’s stomach turned. How could Taurian even think of food? “I’m not sure I can eat anything right now.”

  “Then pretend. Half the battle is convincing the enemy you’re not afraid.”

  Karla glanced sideways at him. “Is that what you’re doing?” If so, he was doing a good job at it.

  Taurian nodded solemnly. “It’s even better if you can convince yourself you’re not afraid, but that's not always possible.”

  Karla suspected that was the closest she was going to get to an admission that he was as scared as she was. It helped a little. “Probably good to stop for a while,” she said. If we keep driving around like this, we’ll run out of petrol eventually.”

  “As long as we stay somewhere where there are other people around, he’ll keep his distance,” Taurian said.

  Karla headed for the local café. Maybe the dragon would be so interested in eating, or at least in proving he wasn’t afraid, that he wouldn’t notice them leaving.

  One could hope anyway. Even if she didn’t really believe it.

  Chapter 6

  Obviously taking his suggestion to stay around plenty of people seriously, Karla picked a café in the middle of the main street, and a table on the sidewalk. She ordered something called ‘chips’, which were hot, yellow, crunchy sticks. Though she only picked at them, Taurian ate with gusto. They weren’t bad, and he suspected he was going to need all his energy later.

  While the dragon parked his machine a few spaces down from their ute, Karla quickly phoned her father, confirming that he was safe, and warning him they wouldn’t be home for a while. Taurian listened to one side of the heated conversation, glad Karla was firmly telling her father that they could manage and didn’t need his help right now.

  Taurian focused on the other dragon, concerned by the fact that he didn’t recognise him. Not surprising given the time that had elapsed since he had known the Trima clan dragons.

  Far more surprising was the fact that Ultrima was still alive. Ultrima had been four years older than his sister, in his mid-thirties, when Taurian had last seen him. Even if he lived as long as the oldest dragon known, one hundred and sixty years, he should be looking that age. But he barely looked any older than he had last time Taurian had seen him. How had the dragon done it?

  How were they going to lose the dragon when he didn’t even seem to be bothered by the fact that they knew they were being followed? It meant he was more than happy to stay so close, they had no chance of losing him.

  “I’ve got an idea,” Karla said.

  He loved the way her eyes lit up when she thought of something. “What?” he asked.

  “Well, the dragon is looking for you, in your current clothes. What if you changed? Even tried on the hat we bought. It might buy us a few seconds to get a head start on him.”

  Taurian considered the suggestion. Normally, the idea of disguising oneself to avoid a dragon would be preposterous. The scent unique to each dragon would give you away immediately. But there were many scents here that confused the issue. Inhaling deeply, Taurian could only catch a feint whiff of the dragon sitting a few tables away.

  He nodded. “Worth a try.”

  “I’ll go get the clothes out of the car,” Karla said readily. She’d barely touched the chips. She didn’t think like a dragon. A dragon would have been busy convincing the other dragon that he didn’t care about being watched. Karla didn’t even try.

  But perhaps that would be to his advantage. She was far more likely to come up with something that the other dragon wouldn’t expect. Taurian nodded and reached for another chip.

  He watched Karla as she walked back to the car, trying to ignore the fact that the other dragon’s head turned in her direction too. What if he saw the clothes she br
ought back? What if he guessed what they were going to do?

  What if he followed her outside and confronted her?

  Suddenly, Karla’s plan didn’t seem like such a brilliant idea after all.

  But the other dragon didn’t get up. He just turned back to Taurian, ignoring Karla.

  Karla returned a few moments later with the bags and sat down opposite Taurian. She reached for a chip and crunched it loudly.

  Taurian grinned. Perhaps she could learn something about dragons after all.

  He felt something touch his foot. “Don’t look down,” Karla said quietly. “The clothes are in here. If you go to the bathrooms, at the back of the store, you can change there. I’ll go up to the counter to pay for our meal in a few minutes, and we’ll try to go around the back of the tables. Maybe he won’t notice us.”

  Taurian nodded. Trying to look casual, he picked up the shopping bag and headed for the back of the café. As the dragon’s eyes followed him closely, he suspected this plan had no chance of success.

  It was only as the bathroom door swung closed, cutting off his line of sight to Karla, that he realised that this plan had a fatal flaw. Being bonded to him in the Mesmer ritual meant that Karla was a liability. If they took her and killed her, then he would die too.

  It took all his willpower not to turn around and check that Karla was okay. She would be fine. She was very resourceful, and they were in the middle of a busy café. Nothing was going to happen in the few minutes it took him to change.

  Still, he wished she was here to show him how to use all the strange fastenings on the clothes. He hadn’t exactly been paying much attention to how she did things back in the changing room.

  He opened the bag to find that Karla hadn’t included any of the clothes he’d specifically picked out. Instead, all that was in the bag was the shorts she had picked, and a round object with a brim on the front.

  He managed to pull on the shorts without too many hassles, and remembering how Karla’s fingers had brushed his chest, he managed to do up the button. Karla had made him try on the hat in the store, so he knew the brim went to the front, to shade his face.

  Taurian stared into the large mirrors on the wall behind the basins. He didn’t look that different. Not enough to fool the dragon. His shoulders slumped. How was he going to get them out of this? How was he going to keep Karla safe?

  Now wasn’t the time for doubts. Any plan he tried could only be pulled off with confidence. And it was worth a try at least.

  He left the shopping bag on the bench and headed out the exit.

  “You’re fly’s undone.”

  Taurian’s head swivelled around. Karla stood in the hallway outside the bathrooms. She reached forwards in a very familiar way, and Taurian heard a whizzing sound as she closed some kind of fastening on the front of his pants.

  “Here,” Karla continued. “Pull the brim down, and tuck your hair up under the cap.” She fussed with the clothes, covering him far more than they had.

  Taurian began to feel a little more hopeful about this plan. His face was almost hidden by the cap. If he was careful not to look in the dragon’s direction, he might not notice.

  Karla though, had no disguise. Taurian looked at her, frowning.

  “I know,” she said, reading his mind. “That’s why I think we need to go out separately. You head out to the ute, and I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”

  Separating again. Taurian wasn’t happy with that. But her reasons were sound. The other dragon had paid little attention to her last time she left the café, and would likely do so again.

  He turned to walk back out of the corridor, but Karla grabbed his arm. He raised an eyebrow.

  “If you go out with that cocky dragon walk, he’s bound to recognise you,” she said quietly. “Put your hands in your pockets and slouch a bit.”

  Pocket? Slouch? What was she talking about?

  Karla sighed. “Like this.” She grabbed his wrist, and pushed his hand into a kind of opening in the side of the shorts. “And the other one too.”

  Taurian tried it. It felt very strange, but familiar too. He’d seen people at the shopping centre walking around like this. How weird, to have holes in clothes for resting your hands in.

  “Now, drop your shoulders and kind of drag your feet along the floor when you walk.”

  Really? She wanted him to walk like that? After all the times he’d been told to straighten his shoulders and lift up his feet as a child. Taurian couldn’t help a grin. At least, for once, he knew what she meant. He did his best ‘disappointed at not being allowed to go hunting with his older brothers’ walk.

  “Perfect. I’ll see you at the ute.”

  Karla turned and disappeared into the bathroom next to him.

  As soon as she was gone, doubts began to rear their heads. A disguise wasn’t going to help against a dragon. The café wasn’t crowded enough for him to hide successfully. The dragon would be checking out everyone that was moving. His confidence evaporated.

  But there was no point in being afraid. He needed to do what needed to be done. He squared his shoulders, then remembered, and dropped them with a sigh. Shuffling his feet along the ground, he headed out of the hallway and around the tables to the exit.

  Not looking at the dragon was hard, he was so obvious, sitting there, watching the hallway. Taurian gave him a sideways glance, using the brim of the hat to cover most of his face. The dragon wasn’t even looking in his direction. This just might work.

  Taurian tried not to let his excitement at their possible success change his walk. He rubbed his feet along the ground, focusing on the swishing sound they made. He kept his eyes on the door, not looking back to see if he’d been noticed.

  He kept up the walk all the way out the door and across the sidewalk to the car.

  This was the risky bit. If the dragon even glanced in his direction and saw him getting into the ute, he’d know immediately that it was him.

  Risking a glance back at the café, he was relieved to see that the dragon still had his eyes on the back corridor, and his back to the ute. He’d done it. Taurian reached for the door of the ute to climb in, but it wouldn’t open.

  He tried again with a little more force, but it wouldn’t budge. Taurian stared at it. Was there a trick to getting it to open? No, it had opened just fine for him back at the shopping centre. So what was wrong this time?

  Taurian stared at it. This whole damn world was just so strange and confusing. How was he ever supposed to live in it, let alone defeat Ultrima and restore his family’s honour? This time, the slump in his shoulders was real.

  Taurian caught Karla’s reflection in the mirror right before she hissed, “Quick, get in.”

  He was going to snap that he couldn’t when he heard a click from the car door. He couldn’t see anything that had changed, but this time when he lifted the handle, the door opened. He jumped into the car, then stared out the front window at the café. There was no sign of the dragon.

  “Where did he go?” He looked over at Karla.

  She put the car in reverse, and pulled out of the parking space before answering. “He went to the bathroom, to look for you I guess. I doubt it will take him long to realise you’re not there.”

  Remembering how tiny the room was, Taurian agreed with her sentiment. And with the speed at which she drove off, pulling around the first corner they came to, keeping up the speed.

  “I think we might have lost him.” Karla’s voice was jubilant.

  “It was all because of you,” Taurian said. He couldn’t have done any of this on his own. He’d never felt so helpless and useless in his life. And having to rely on a human to save him just made it sting more. “I didn’t do anything.”

  Of course, if she’d just sleep with him, then he wouldn’t have to rely on her. She was the reason he was helpless. If she’d just…

  Taurian shook his head. No, he needed to stop those thoughts. She wasn’t holding him off out of spite, she had a commitme
nt to another, whether there was love involved or not. He couldn’t fault her for that.

  That just made it worse. He couldn’t even be angry at her. Her lifemate though, he could dislike freely. Why on earth had the man left her alone so long? Did he not care about her at all? Taurian was sure the man couldn’t deserve her. He would be much better for her.

  “Sure you did,” Karla said firmly. “You managed to sneak past the dragon without him even noticing. I didn’t think you could do that. I was sure that confident swagger of yours would give you away, but you did brilliantly.”

  “Oh great, I managed to walk somewhere,” Taurian said sarcastically. “You’re the one who managed to lose him.”

  Karla glanced in the mirror, and her fingers tightened on the wheel. “Don’t talk too soon,” she said grimly. “Look who’s behind us.”

  Taurian turned quickly, and his heart sank at the sight of the familiar blue bike. “Great. What do we do now?”

  Chapter 7

  Why was he asking her what they were going to do? As if she had some idea. He was the one who knew how to deal with dragons, not her. Not one of her plans had gotten them anywhere. The dragon followed them relentlessly.

  Luckily, Taurian squared his shoulders and said, “Is there somewhere else with plenty of people that we could go for a while?”

  There were plenty of places, but most of them required spending money, and her savings account was already feeling the strain. Where could they go that was free?

  “How about the library?” she asked, inspired.

  “There will be people there?”

  Karla laughed. “Probably not as many as at the shops, but enough.”

  “What are we waiting for then?”

  The drive was short, and the street where they parked crowded enough that the dragon didn't attempt to approach them as they entered the building. Inside was cool and quiet. For a moment, Karla worried that there weren't enough people in the building. But inside was air conditioned, a welcome escape from the heat outside, and at least half a dozen people browsed the shelves. The silence of the room could even work to their advantage. Her eyes fell on the librarian at the back of the room stacking books and the woman looked up and met her eyes. Karla recognised her instantly. She and Gretchen had been friends in high school and had even run into each other at the grocery store a few days ago. Karla had said they should catch up, then had forgotten all about it.