Dragon Summons Read online

  “Most, if not all, are adopted by families who knew theirs and take on the responsibilities of raising a daughter. Making the introduction gowns and such.”

  “What is an introduction gown?”

  “A stiff and ornate gown that is covered with beads, mirrors, elaborate embroidery and any symbols of the family. Your cold weather gear was dense enough to get the same effect. It hid all of your curves and left no illusion to your unavailability for some frivolous dalliance.”

  She let that one slide. It was true. The parka had not been flattering. “What is the final step?”

  “The approval of the male’s home. He spends years preparing a location and creating a habitat suitable for raising a family. If she approves his efforts, their match is set.”

  “So when I…”

  “Approved of my house, you were agreeing to be mine. Don’t worry. I will ask you the same question the next time that you see the house…in its new setting.”

  “Is it made of ice?”

  “No, crystal. A traditional material for building for my people.”

  A thought occurred to her. “You made the model as well?”

  “Of course. I needed a pattern to work from. It wouldn’t do to wing it.” He smiled.

  Her smile came upon her unawares, creeping through her mind until giggles broke through. Wing it. A human term that had a new meaning coming from a man with burnished bronze wings.

  He was smiling and she was laughing when the other Drai came through the entryway and approached Esur directly.

  They all bowed deeply. Retingar flaring his wings around Minara and Ashla. They stayed bowing until Esur spoke. “Rise. You have a lovely family, Retingar.”

  “Thank you, my lord. This is my wife, Ashla. My daughter, Minara. How do you know my name?” They straightened as one, a rank of women and the winged man that completed their family.

  “This is my world. I make it my business to know all who set foot upon it.” That bombshell left Roxy blinking at him in stupefaction. He reached out swiftly to hold her hand before she could jump and run.

  He owns the freaking planet?

  “Ah. I didn’t know. Of course, you would be aware of all within your territory. Pardon me.” Retingar looked at Roxy with an accusing glint in his eyes. “Congratulations on finding your lady.”

  “Thank you. She was well worth the wait and our minds are already synching. It is quite the strong connection.”

  “Our government had given us to believe that the Terran would be unsuitable or we would never have intruded during your introduction period.”

  “And yet, knowing that our introduction is ongoing, you felt it necessary to interrupt our lunch? I will not be reconsidering my choice of mate and she seems content to have me once a few conditions have been met.”

  “She? Has conditions for you?” The outrage in his voice was palpable and his wife gripped his arm to calm him.

  “The location of my house is currently unsuitable for a warm-blooded biped. I will move it and she will view it again.” Esur’s voice was growing rougher. He was not enjoying this meeting with his countryman.

  “I still don’t see why you would not take a woman of your own blood rather than this frivolous, round-heeled Terran.”

  “That is enough. I want you off this planet within the hour. If you don’t have a shuttle, you can fly under your own power. But, Retingar, you are leaving, or in one hour, I will come for you to fight for the insult you have laid upon my chosen and you will die.”

  Ashla showed her strength and Minara her good sense as they each grabbed an arm and hauled Retingar out of the room.

  Roxy kept her voice flat. “That was more dramatic than it had to be.”

  Esur was trying to get his anger under control. He was still flashing fangs as his irritation reached to his lips. There was one way to distract him, but she didn’t know if she wanted to until she saw the bent remains of his fork.

  Roxy stood, tilted Esur’s head back and laid a kiss on him that was guaranteed to distract him from his irritation with Retingar.

  When she finished, her lips were throbbing, her tongue was tingling and her body was humming a happy but unsatisfied tune. Applause broke out in the room, bringing her to herself.

  She released him and returned to her seat, trying to eat the portions of her meal that were not stone cold and inedible. “So, what do you want to do this afternoon?”

  He was staring at her, his normally sharply shaped lips swollen and ever so slightly shiny. Esur opened his mouth and that was the moment that two Dhemons walked through the door.

  “Inventory Master, I am glad we caught you. This is General Brodin, late of Dhema, the new base commander. Ah. Esur. Glad to see you out and about.” Commander Narvi was tremendously cheerful…for him.

  General Brodin, on the other hand, seemed perpetually cheerful for a Dhemon. His smile was genuine as he stepped forward take her hand and bow. “Delighted to meet my first two Guardsmen. From this point onward, your duties will be restricted to the Sector Guard. In fact, I have an assignment that came up during my journey here if you would come with me do discuss it?”

  The polite question didn’t sound like an order, but that is what it was. Tired of trying to finish food that was no longer even remotely appealing, Roxy stood.

  Esur stood as well. “As you have interrupted our meal, I am sure that you will arrange for something while we discuss this matter.”

  “Of course. Ms. Nelson, if you will accompany me?” Brodin extended his arm and when a bemused Roxy reached out to take it, her hand collided with a strong golden arm instead of the burgundy one.

  “I will escort my mate.” His words were said through clenched teeth, but Esur looked ready to bite.

  Brodin held his hands up, amusement and alarm warring in his eyes. “This way then. My office is completed and I will order something as soon as we arrive.”

  “It would be better if you simply made your request to the staff here. They will deliver it in a few minutes.” Roxy mentioned it before the men could glare each other into dust.

  Brodin nodded and crossed the room to place the order. Roxy used her grip on Esur to drag him toward the door. They waited for their commander in the hallway and she hissed at the dragon, “What are you doing?”

  “Protecting my mate.”

  “From what, a rogue sandwich?”

  “No. We have not formalized our union and therefore, I am going to be stepping in whenever there is a male in your general vicinity.”

  “Pleasant. Is that why you slept in my front yard?”

  “One of the reasons.” He looked like he was going to explain further, but Brodin rejoined them and led the way through the halls.

  With her lips twisted in irritation, she held onto Esur’s arm for fear of what he would do if she let go. The images in her head were not good.

  The speed at which the base was coming alive was amazing. Each day it seemed a new hall, a new wing and more personnel were arriving. A convoluted lab was being set up which gave Roxy the idea that Narvi was right. That the base would be the source of the investigative branch of the Sector Guard. She had to admit the thought was somewhat exciting, but she still wasn’t sure what part she was going to play.

  When they got to the Guard wing, she had to admit that it was impressive. Sweeping arches into each room allowed for larger personnel, the gym and exercise rooms were fully outfitted with heavy-duty equipment and the Medical Bay was using the most advanced and, in some cases, experimental equipment available. Roxy knew every piece—she had checked all of the equipment in herself.

  A meeting room was almost complete, a huge round table holding court in the otherwise empty chamber, but it was to the commander’s office that they went.

  “General Brodin, has Commander Narvi exited these quarters?”

  “No. He never occupied them. He preferred to operate from the administration building.” He sighed happily as he walked around the desk and took a seat in the
fitted chair. It obviously was conforming to him faithfully. The blissful look on his face was unmistakable.

  “Go on, have a seat. There may be a few more winged personnel, so I had the Drai chairs brought in.”

  Roxy chose the standard chair, but Esur settled into the larger chair with the narrow strut of supportive alloy in place of the backrest. He was able to lean back comfortably without danger of crushing his wings.

  “Now then. Esur, you are the owner of this planet and have been since you became a sleeper, but are you willing to travel?”

  “Of course. I will go wherever you send Roxanne.”

  “Excellent, I was hoping you would say that. Roxanne, as the first Sector Guard out of Teklan base, you are assigned the name Finder and you will be given the first assignment out of this base.”

  “You are joking.”

  “I am not. Esur, what would you like as a call sign?”

  Roxy frowned. “Hey, if you pick my name, then I get to pick his.”

  Esur looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

  “Frost.” It seemed right. Suited his blue tinge as well as his talent.

  “Excellent.” General Brodin rubbed his deep red hands together, his silver horns gleaming in the streams of light coming through the skylight. “Frost and Finder, I do so love alliteration.”

  Roxy sighed. Her head was pounding and mind was spinning, she had never anticipated any of this. For a planner, it was the most unsettling of outcomes. “What is the assignment that you are talking about and how do we get there?”

  The Dhemon grinned and leaned back in his chair, putting his feet up on the desk. “I am so glad that you asked.”

  Chapter Five

  “The archaeological society on Lakis 3 has been having a slight problem. The artefacts that they are sending to the Alliance museum are disappearing. They are checked in, verified and put on display and then, they simply disappear.” General Brodin slid a data pad with the particulars, images and schematics over to Roxy.

  Esur looked over her shoulder as she spun the data across the screen so fast that it blurred to the standard viewer. Roxy blinked furiously as she absorbed the data. This was her speciality. The pattern that was emerging needed clarification.

  “They all disappear seven days into their display?” Her voice was distance, even to her own ears.

  “Yes. Are you getting an idea of the possible culprit?”

  “More or less. I will have to see the facility to determine the precise details, but an idea is forming.”

  “Excellent.” He clapped his hands together. “Let’s go.”

  “What? You are going, too?” Esur didn’t seem happy about that.

  “Indeed. Neither of you are cleared to fly my shuttle—something we need to remedy by the way—and we need to arrive as quickly as possible. Another group of artefacts is going up today and it takes two days to get there.” General Brodin stood.

  “Who is going to run the base in your absence?” Esur was trying to find anything to leave the Dhemon behind.

  “Narvi has volunteered to remain here as my second in command until we can get all of the pesky details sorted.”

  They followed the perky general out of his office and down the hall toward the shuttle hangar. A support tech threw several packages at the group as they passed and Esur caught Roxy’s and handed them to her.

  Uniforms. Deep blue and silver uniforms. Hers were a midnight blue with a radiating silver starburst that began on her left shoulder. Esur’s was silver with a radiating blue starburst on the right shoulder.

  General Brodin was opening the shuttle hatch and in no time at all, they were strapped in, rolling down the runway and lifting off the planet’s surface. Roxy still couldn’t believe it was happening.

  She was a member of the Sector Guard with her own alias and everything. Finder. She could only hope to live up to the name.

  With the autopilot engaged, General Brodin turned the pilot’s chair around and grinned at them. “Did you want to get into your uniforms?”

  “Sure. I suppose.” She unbuckled her harness and stood up, preparing to strip off and put on the suit.

  “In the lav with you.”

  “Esur, there is barely room in there to change your mind.”

  “I insist. Off with you.” He thrust one of her uniforms at her and pushed her bodily into the lav.

  When the door shut, she dropped her utility belt and started to peel off the loose work suit she normally wore. When she got to the boots, she cursed luridly as she banged her elbows, head, hip and one of her knees while struggling to remove them.

  Completely nude, she stepped into the warm gloving of the uniform. It fit her like a second skin, but the texture was not that of a thin material. If she didn’t miss her guess, this was also body armour.

  Her hands broke free of the sleeves and enjoyed the point that extended beyond the wrist. The snugness of the suit at her wrist supported her for data entry as well as writing extensively, two of her favourite pastimes.

  With all of the hidden seals closed and tight, she knocked on the door and peeked out. “Are you decent?”

  “For five minutes. What took you so long?”

  She snorted and took a seat on one of the benches across from Esur, who was pulling on a set of boots. They were new boots, not the ones he had come on with.

  “You try changing clothing in a closet. Do I get boots?” She looked at Brodin hopefully and he opened a storage cupboard with a flourish exposing some boots that matched her suit to perfection.

  She fought the happy squeal that welled up inside her. Instead, she bit her lip and tugged the boots on over the legs of her suit. They reached to her knee and fit snugly around her calves. She wiggled her toes and had just enough room to be comfortable. Bless the Alliance for having her sizes on record.

  Esur was watching her giggling, girlish behaviour when she looked up. He grinned and asked the general, “So, we are headed to the Alliance museum?”

  “Indeed. It will be a bit of a journey, so let’s get to know each other, shall we?” Brodin sat at the dining table and Esur sat across from Roxy.

  “Oh, good. Question and answer time.” She rubbed her hands together. “Esur, do you really own Teklan? And if so, why have you let the Sector Guard build a base there?”

  He looked to Brodin and then back to her. “I purchased the planet when I went to sleep. I didn’t want to be disturbed by colonists or traffic until my mate was near. You know that I woke a few decades ago and five years ago, a Seer from the Citadel came to the planet and spoke to me of the upcoming plans for the Sector Guard. I agreed to let the planet become a Guard base as long as they would engage in every effort to bring my mate to me. With my home completed and my mate still unseen, I returned to nap until you arrived on the surface, only occasionally rising to assist in the logistics of the base.”

  “And then you started singing to me in my dreams.” It was bizarre that this man would wait centuries for her to arrive when he didn’t even know if she was coming.

  “Correct. You are everything I could have wished for and more. Now I just have to prove it to you.”

  Tears pricked her eyes at the earnestness of his expression. She quickly inhaled and turned to Brodin who was watching them with a rather paternal eye.

  “What about you, General?”

  “Please, call me Brodin or Might, if you will. That will be my call sign while we are at the museum, so you had best get used to saying it.” He grinned at the look that Esur was giving him.

  “Why Might?”

  “If it happens, you’ll know. Now. As for me, I am the cousin of one of Dhema’s most famous and well-respected generals. General Kassil. He is wed to one of the Terran Champions and they live in disgustingly cheerful bliss with their children on his palatial estate. Since he was retired, I was called to active duty and rose in the ranks. My talent made me unsuitable for a proper marriage on Dhema, so I requested an assignment elsewhere. Since I have e
xperience with Terrans and their ways, it was felt that I would be a good choice as base commander.”

  Roxy sat for a moment running what she knew of Dhemons through her mind. “You have a talent. Is it latent or acquired?”

  “Latent. Very good. Dhemons do not take lightly to mixing bloodlines with those of psychic or physical talent.”

  “Which is yours?”

  “Physical. You will see…eventually.” He smiled and showed his pointed teeth. The braids of his rank-marked hair swung with the metallic bands that bound it. His suit was unrelieved black. It turned him into a being of shadow and blood.

  Esur spoke to her, “Now you, Roxanne. Why did you leave your home world for the Alliance?”

  “Well, Frost, the Alliance came to Earth and asked us if we wanted to volunteer to become part of their little gathering out here. Thousands applied and I was one of them.”

  Brodin looked curiously at her, his ice blue eyes seeing into her soul. “There is more to it than that. Samantha has told me of the rigorous testing, the two thousand of your species chosen as exceptional examples.”

  She was blushing, she could feel it. “Well, yes. I went with friends on a dare to apply and they asked me to stay for further testing. By the time they were finished, I knew the entire contents of the testing facility and knew when an object was removed from its proper place. My talent flared to life that day. Before then, it had just been part of my personality. My one focussed ability. After that day, it became an obsession. I would inventory people on the bus. Grocery stores would ask me to leave because I tallied each of their products and could tell at a glance if the measurements were off.”

  Roxanne shrugged again, “The day I was called to the Alliance as a Terran Volunteer, it was a relief. My brain could be useful and not a torment.”

  “So, that is why you are obsessed with work?” Esur looked as if dawn was lighting behind his eyes.

  “More or less. It is like my brain has a certain amount of energy each day to burn off. If I don’t use it, it builds up until I am sorting my socks by fibres per inch.”