Dragon Treasure by SJ Sanders

 

Chapter 1

Tania leaned forward, pushing the old droid out of her way as she attempted to listen in to what the other patrons visiting the tavern were saying at the table nearby. The droid beeped and flashed as it whirled away with her empty cup. She spared a disgruntled parting glance at it. Although fueled with magic, droids were a reminder of humanity’s distant past before The Uprising. Before the various spirits of their planet awoken and struck back to reclaim the world.

Humanity had been on the verge of space colonization when all went to fuck, struck down for their pride by the gods, and good riddance as far as Tania was concerned. While she appreciated the medicine and basic steam-operated cog mechanics that made life easier, she had no use for the mechanical wonders that clever mages and witches brought back to life with their empowered sigils.

She shivered and folded her arms inward to avoid the new cup that was clunked in front of her, barely avoiding being sloshed with beer. She glared up at its placid mechanical expression. It blinked and turned promptly away to see to the next customer.

Fucking droids.Terrible customer service.

Not to mention that no one could trust the damn things. Operated solely by magic, there was no way to know if there were any sort of concealed orders implanted within it. Yet they were everywhere. Cheap, expedient, workers that never complained or ask for time off, the witches and mages who bespelled them were always in high demand. Not only in the service industry but also in the private sector. Anyone with the coin to spare wanted whatever model they could afford to assist them.

Her lip curled. In her opinion that was highly stupid. The only thing she trusted was her blade, cold hard coin, and her enchanted cog mare. Jasnee, her cog-machine mare, was one of the few exceptions, because, unlike droids, she ran on simpler commands. A really determined mage could make a mechanical murder horse, sure. But she would rather deal with that slim possibility than the sort of problems that came with nefarious commands in droids.

Speaking of droids… she refocused on the conversation as it abruptly turned in that direction. Taking a sip from her refreshed cup, she listened in.

A man with a graying beard rubbed at his nose as he slanted a hard glance toward the other men sitting around the table with him.

“It’s no easy place to reach, but even a portion of the wealth inside will set up a man and at least ten generations of descendants, if not more, for life.” He nodded emphatically at the whistle that greeted his observation and patted his pocket. “It just so happens that I have a map to the place, not that I would advise anyone go in alone—least of all, me.” He chuckled humorlessly. “Last I heard, Ed Bellings sent two of his best recovery droids in with one of his men, and the body was discovered among the mangled mechanical mess left on the lower slopes of the mountain as if they was just dropped there.”

“Do you think it was a dragon?” A swarthy man at his right whispered, a fine sheen of sweat popping out on his brow.

He shrugged. “Maybe. I couldn’t say for sure. All I do know is that the way those droids were torn up and crushed isn’t something that just anyone can do.”

A low murmur of agreement came from the other men, and Tania just barely kept herself from snorting into her drink.

Dragons? Sure, there were a lot of fae beings, but an actual dragon seemed to stretch the limits of probability. Since the worlds collided, no one had actually ever seen a dragon as far as she was aware. Besides mythical giant, magical lizards was a bit much. It was more likely some fuckwit mage who had decided that it would be funny to hide his accumulated fortune in a cave high in the mountains and enchant guardian sentinels within it to do horrible things to intruders.

It was something she had seen before at a temple ruins that had been inhabited by a particularly powerful mage in his time. She had been hired on with a particular party for her skills with working through arcane locks and so had a front-row seat to the results of such spells. Needless to say, it was both highly effective and gruesome. That they lost a third of their party bypassing the temple guardians was enough to discourage her from trying her luck with another mage-cursed treasure room… but the promise of that much gold had her nearly salivating, her fingers clenching around her cup.

She could get upgrades to her mare—some of those cogs were showing their age, since the mare wasn’t exactly a new model to begin with when Tania had liberated her from one muscle-bound warrior, get a decent place of her own, and maybe even set up a guild. She could retire and amuse herself by teaching skills to young hopefuls eager to make their way in the world… for the appropriate dues, of course.

She wiggled in her seat, an excited grin curling the corners of her mouth. Her smile fell when a shadow fell over her. With the foul wave of BO assailing her, her nose wrinkled in disgust. Muscles tensing, Tania lowered her mug and glanced up irritably. Her lips thinned into a pained grimace.

Why did she always attract the scum of the earth? It couldn’t be a wealthy townie or visiting noble. No, she got a personal hygiene reject who apparently had a mortal fear of soap and water. Trying not to gag, she set her cup down and glared up at the man intruding on her personal space.

He leered down at her and pulled out the chair opposite her without invitation, plunking down into it as if he had every right to be there. No doubt he thought his toothy grin was charming—and it was possible that it worked on some of the local ladies—because the way his eyes roved over her, his expression clearly said she should be thankful for his attention.

Part of her admired the “go all or bust” attitude. The rest of her was just sickened as she tried desperately not to inhale through her nose.

Gag.

Folding her hands together on the table, Tania’s brows arched as annoyance bubbled in the pit of her stomach. There was no chance to catch anything else the men at the other table were saying, and now a lost opportunity to follow them as they made their way out of the bar. She gritted her teeth and bared them in a barely-there facsimile of a smile.

“What exactly do you think I can help you with, since you seem to have invited yourself over?” she ground out.

His grin widened, and he slid a copper coin toward her.

“I was just wanting to show my appreciation and buy the most beautiful lady in the tavern a drink.”

She blinked down at the coin. “Uh-huh.”

Another copper joined the first.

“And, of course, to extend a more intimate business proposal,” he murmured, his eyes heating suggestively.

Tania’s nostrils flared angrily, and immediately she regretted as she was assailed by another wave of his foul odor. Slowly she leaned back in her seat, adopting her most murderous glare as she fingered the copper piece in front of her.

She might have been tempted to play the part of a prostitute a time or two to rob a client blind—she had even enjoyed herself in the process—but she doubted that this man had anything worth stealing that made it worth dirtying herself by letting him so much as grope her.

“Let me see if I have this right… You think that because I’m sitting here, enjoying my beers quietly, that I am a prostitute offering for clients?”

A flicker of confused doubt etched across his face, but then his eyes dropped to her snug fitted bodice and the leer returned. But of course. While she enjoyed using her attractiveness to distract—and her wardrobe choice was good for that, as well as being comfortable and easy to move in—she distinctly disliked this part of it.

She pushed his extra coin back to him, tossing the other to the droid that had once again neared.

“The gentleman here is paying my tab,” she said sweetly. “And that is the only service he’ll be paying for tonight,” she added for the creep’s benefit.

“Of course,” the droid purred, before turning away, leaving her alone with a man going from red to almost purple in the face.

She feigned a look of concern. “You aren’t looking too hot. Maybe you should call it a night. A bath wouldn’t hurt either. In fact, it might do wonders,” she said.

“You bitch,” he snarled, shoving back his chair as he collected his coin and clenched it tightly in his hand. “I just paid for your drink, that should get me at least something. You had no right to take coin for your drink if you weren’t going to take my other offer too.”

She blinked up at him. “I don’t believe that is a written rule anywhere. You offered to pay for my drink, and I accepted. The rest of you—you can keep.” Pushing up to her feet, she adjusted the large dagger at her waist so he could see it clearly. Her hand rested against its worn pommel. “Now if you would like to dispute this matter…”

He shook his head, his face going pale as he swallowed nervously, his eyes glued to her blade.

“No, no. No reason for things to get violent.”

“That’s what I thought,” she murmured, stepping around him. “If you’ll excuse me, then. I will be on my way now.”

He waited until she was at the door before he decided to grow a pair of balls and shout ineffectually at her back.

“Just… don’t go showing yourself around here again! If you do, you’ll be one sorry little bitch!”

Translation: I’m too much of a wimp to take you on, but next time I’ll have my buddies with me. Super scary.

It was the rallying cry of whiny little men everywhere. She smirked at the door before pulling it open and stepping out in the evening air.

Drawing in one deep lungful of clean air after another, she allowed it wash away the stench of the tavern as her eyes flowed over the streets that met at a junction in front of her. Her lips pursed but then curved as she spotted a familiar grizzled man, his head ducked down beneath his hood, making his way at an angle toward an alchemist’s shop.

Jackpot!

Smile widening with glee, she slipped down the street, keeping her footsteps light as she tracked from a safe distance behind him. From the corner of her eye, she saw Jasee lift her head and turn her muzzle toward her, mechanical eyes watching her progress.

When Tania came close enough to the shop, she leaned against the wall and watched, her blond ponytail fluttering against her back, as her target glanced around cautiously and ducked inside.

The moment he disappeared inside, she made her move, ducking into the narrow alley between the buildings of the alchemist and notary. She didn’t really care what he was getting from the alchemist. It could be something as simple as perfume for his sweetheart, birth control or hair regrowth tonics, or as complicated as a healing potion. Not her business. She merely waited, eyes fixed on the entrance.

When he ducked back out, he didn’t make it more than two steps before Tania emerged from the shadows, wrapped her arms around him and tugged him into the alley.

Men were never prepared for the fact that she was stronger than she looked. So, when he craned his head back and his eyes nearly bugged out seeing the woman pinning him in a submission hold within her arms, she found it rather comical. She was still chuckling when his eyes rolled back, and his body went limp from lack of oxygen.

She placed her fingertips over his pulse. Satisfied that he was still alive, she let his body drop to the ground unceremoniously and patted her hands over his jacket and vest, dipping her fingers into every pocket she found.

Fingers curling around a rolled document in a deep inner pocket in his jacket, Tania let out a soft whoop of triumph and pulled it free. She was still standing over his prone, sleeping form as she unrolled the map, committing to memory the path that she would need to take.

The mountain was to the north, just a few days’ ride, the marked-out peak looking just as inhospitable as she would have thought a supposed dragon’s lair would have looked. This wasn’t a mountain that originated from the human world. She had seen enough old maps to know that the entire mountain chain there and much of the landmass now occupied by various settlements had not existed on Earth then.

She pressed her tongue against her bottom lip thoughtfully. She would be traveling in between a couple of distinctly marked fae territories, which didn’t thrill her, but her route had more than one human town. In fact, the one nearest to the mountain in question seemed quite large and prosperous, its prominent mark on the map indicating that it was a city of some size.

Interesting.

She rolled the map back up, tucked it back into place within her rival’s jacket. Sure, she could just take it, but her memory was so near perfect when it came to reconstructing images that she really didn’t need to carry it along—and besides, it just didn’t seem sporting. Having a bit of competition on the trail would be an exciting change of pace.

She gave the grizzled cheek a fond pat in thanks and stood. No doubt he would wake with a hell of a headache. Hopefully she would be well out of town before he got it into his mind to track her down and exact a bit of retribution. Her lips twisted, halfway tempted to wait and enjoy the fun after all. He was graying a bit but not half-bad-looking… Maybe she could just…

No. She shook off the temptation.

Priorities. Treasure and gold first…Then she could scratch that particular itch. Humming to herself, she headed back to the tavern. She gave her mare a pat and reinforced the security wards—one of the few bits of magic that she did know—before making her way to the back of the tavern to the boarder’s private entrance. She was in no mood to run into anyone else. Her mind was focused on one thing: to bed down so she could start out at first light for what supplies she would need.

Her boots sounded heavy on the wooden stairs. Once she was in her room with her door firmly locked behind her, it took little incentive for her to kick off her boots and wiggle out of her clothes. Her bath—the water magicked to keep it steamy and hot—waited for her. She sank gratefully into the lightly perfumed water and added a bit more bath oil to it as she settled in, half-dozing as she allowed herself to soak before turning her attention to vigorously scrubbing herself clean with a bucket that waited beside the bath for rinsing herself.

It was only when she was thoroughly clean—a treat she indulged in as often as she had coin to do so—that Tania crawled in the thick bedding and fell asleep. That she dreamed of dragons didn’t surprise her, but that she woke hours later with her thighs slick and her pulse hammering did.