Chapter 60 #2
The pickpocket made to run, and Dirk lunged, tackling him—no, her—to the ground.
He smooshed a paw over her mouth and lay utterly still, shored up against the tavern wall, as a hooded face poked out above their own heads.
So long as the man didn’t have incredible night vision, they’d be safe in the gloom if they didn’t move.
Dirk caught sight of a square jaw covered in golden stubble and the faint scent of mint before the man retreated inside.
“Rats, probably,” another man said. “They say this is squirrel-and-pigeon stew, but I think it’s more rats and crows, if you ask me.”
“Then why do you always eat it when we come here?”
The glass rattled as the window was wrenched shut.
“Good going,” the girl hissed at him, squirming out from under him. Instead of running away into the night, she crouched in the grass and stuffed the black hair back up under her long stocking hat where it had tumbled free.
“I think you mean, ‘Thank you,’” the dragon groused. “Your sleeve was going to get caught on that rusted window latch and bungle the whole thing.”
“The whole thing got bungled because you startled me. At least I would’ve had the bracelet!”
“Sure, for ten seconds before they chased you down on their horses and cut off the hand that stole it.”
Her gaze narrowed on him, hazel eyes glittering in a shadowy round face. “Why do you care, Shorty?”
“Because I can’t offer you a job if you only have one hand—at least I don’t think so—and I want to offer you a job.”
“What?”
“Oh, have you never had a job before?” He clicked his claws together as he tried to cobble a definition together. “Um, well, it’s a service you do in exchange for payment.”
“I know what a job is,” she snapped. She rolled her eyes and craned her head to steal a glance inside the tavern. “And I already have one.”
“Stealing the bracelet is your job?”
“It is today.”
“Oh, well, if you satisfy your contract with the bracelet tonight, will you then be available for me? I’m Dirk, by the way. Dirk the Dangerous. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
She produced a thin blade and began wiggling it between the window and its frame to release the latch. “Nope. Not from around here, so don’t take offense. I’m Pocket.”
“You’re a pickpocket named Pocket?”
“You got a problem with that, Noodle Neck?”
Dirk ran a paw down his lengthy throat, considering. “No,” he said sulkily.
She flicked a glance at him. “What’s a dragon need a pickpocket for?”
“Not for me,” he answered brightly, pleased she was interested in his job offer. He knew from his first princess-napping that consenting hostages made a world of difference. “For my princess. You’re going to train her to be a pickpocket.”
Pocket snorted. “Your princess that strapped for cash?”
Dirk had no idea the state of Millie’s finances and answered truthfully. “I don’t think so. But she needs the experience. And you seem very experienced. How long have you been picking pockets?”
“About five years.” The window creaked free, and the pickpocket guided it open with a fingertip. “Shush now.”
Dirk stole a glance inside. “You’ll never get that bracelet off his wrist with a cloak in the way. How do you even know which bracelet it is? He’s got three on that wrist.”
“With this.” She held up a reddish hag stone, grinned, then slipped the hag stone out of sight. “It reveals to me hidden things. The bracelet I want is that one in the middle, the gold one with the red coral cabochons. One of those is actually a locket, and what I really want is hidden inside.”
“That’s aweso—”
“Shush!”
“But he’s gonna notice a cut in his cloak,” Dirk persisted. “If not now, then when he gets his coin purse to pay for his drinks.”
“I’ll be long gone by then.”
Dirk gave her an assessing look. No fewer than four raffia bags were slung about her person, as if she carried everything she owned with her all the time. A full-length patchwork skirt hung past her ankles with a travel-stained hem. Nothing about her was ideal for running away.
“What?” she snapped.
“Nothing. It’s just that I’m already at risk at blowing curfew and I really need you to come with me, like, now.”
“I’m not going anywhere without that bracelet.”
“Fine. Move over.”
“What—”
Dirk hip-checked her out of the way and angled himself below the open window. He lengthened out of his scrunch just enough that only one yellow eye, a small ridge of muzzle, and the flared tip of a nostril could be seen above sill.
“Left wrist, middle bracelet.”
He didn’t need the reminder. He could smell the magic of the whatever it was in the coral locket. Sort of. Barely.
He lifted a paw to direct his magic when one of the men growled low, “Why are you so relaxed? The bitch is in league with the dragon. You know, the dragon who stole the rubies you were going to pay me with and destroyed the Kalharis mine?”
“I’m aware,” the mark said.
Dirk stilled, his blood turning to sludge even as his heart burned. How dare they slander his princess! And he didn’t destroy any mine. The audacity—
“You’re aware? Surely you’re also aware, Leighton, that I’m not sending you another crossbolt, let alone that second Skybreaker, until—”
“Yes you will, Merle, unless you’ve decided you no longer want my help in usurping your cousin from the throne.”
“Shhh! Not so loud.” Merle glanced around the tavern, but no one had heard them except for the eavesdropping dragon.
He continued mulishly, “Can’t keep a throne if my own coffers are dried up, now can I?
Damascus steel is expensive and I refuse to part with another ounce until you pay what you owe me. ”
“That was what the Kalharis mine was for. It’s not my fault your men proved insufficient in defending it against a dragon.”
“I’d barely taken ownership of it. My men hadn’t even arrived there yet!”
“And how is that my problem?”
“Just seems convenient, is all. There was no evidence of dragonfire, just a collapsed tunnel. A sorcerer could’ve magicked the rocks to fall, and you do have a court sorcerer.”
“Are you calling me a liar, Merle?” Leighton snarled.
“Then let me become that villain for you. If you don’t deliver that next shipment on time, I’m going to crow from the top of my lungs that I caught your men smuggling those crossbolts and that Skybreaker into the Strip with intent to revolt against your king. ”
Merle dropped his spoon into his stew with a sputter. “You wouldn’t d—”
“I would dare. In fact, I made sure to leave everything you’ve already delivered untouched. And you seemed to have forgotten to mark your crates with their country of origin, so I had Raleigh here rectify that oversight for you.”
Raleigh lifted his tankard with a nod. “’Twas my pleasure to assist in the endeavor, sire.”
“I can make my plan work with one Skybreaker, Merle. And the best part? I won’t even take the blame if it all goes south. Your insignia is all over those weapons, thanks to Raleigh, and it was you who wished that Amberlian princess kidnapped by a dragon. You have motive.”
Merle turned a spotty purple under his pointy black beard. “You bastard!”
“Oh shut up. I much prefer we remain friends. Here.” Leighton tossed him a red velvet sack.
Merle muttered as he shoved his stew aside and wiggled his fingers the ties of the sack apart. A pink-hued diamond the size of his thumb dropped into his palm.
“A Kalharis diamond,” Leighton said, “So you know the quality of what you’re getting from this arrangement.”
Merle shot him a sulky look. “A pity my own surveyor couldn’t get into that mine to verify your claims for himself.”