The Ruby Dragon's Lady
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Adult ++
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987
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Category:
Fantasy & Science Fiction › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
1
Views:
987
Reviews:
0
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
The Ruby Dragon's Lady
The Ruby Dragon\'s Lady
By Nix Winter
Copyright Nix Winter, 2003
All rights reserved
Feedback is greatly appreciated
Chapter One
\"Hey old man,\" Yoji Hanh greeted a dignified man who was replacing a book on a higher shelf. The art teacher gave him the man a deceptively sweet smile and a casual wave.
The man shoved the book hard into the shelf and glared. \"Are you still in town,\" Draiko Zaitsev said, voice chiseled black ice elegance, the very slightest of odd Russian accent to his voice, \"Didn\'t you get my email?\"
\"Yeah, yeah, yeah,\" Yoji said, leaning against the counter, tongue bar held between his teeth for a moment befoe ree released it. He didn\'t look any more a teacher than Draiko did an old man. The teacher wore worn black leather pants, a dark blue kaftan shirt with an emerald colored enameled leaf hanging from the ties at his collar, casual, rebellious. Teacher of modern art, the lawspeaker in the pacific northwest, Yoji Hanh was easy to underestimate, hard to intimidate, with green eyes that were always amused at something. The braids that held Yoji\'s long blond hair back from his face were wrapped with a clear shiny ribbon that flashed in the sunlight dim bookshop, making the Russian man move several times to avoid the flashes of concentrated sunlight. \"I got the command to get out of town. I just had to know how you make your emails look like they\'re written in blood on parchment?\"
Irritation arched with one dark eyebrow. Draiko didn\'t look old enough to attend the private college that Yoji taught at, let alone an old alchemist who\'d been saved by the lawspeaker of Seattle. Raven black hair and brown eyes so dark they could seem reddish in some lights hinted at the high Russian nobility in his blood. Finely tailored clothes, polished shoes that did not quite touch the ground as Draiko climbed down from the ladder, all of it gave him an impression of authority. He was living antiquity, gritting his teeth as he avoided the causal flashes of light the lawspeaker threw off.. \"It\'s Microsoft Outlook, with Word. It allows for stationary. They do have computers at that university which you lurch about it? Or is it all herbals and making pigments the old fashioned way?\"
Scowling, Yoji watched Draiko cross to the cash register side of the shop. \"I have a couple questions for you.\"
\"I will not tell you more than I told you in the email. You need to leave, to go as far as Chicago. Do you need me to purchase the ticket for you?\"
Yoji rubbed the center of his forehead. \"I\'m not leaving Seattle, Draiko. Stand still, will you? It drives me nuts not hearing youet het hit the floor. There\'s been a murder, and I wanted to ask you some questions.\"
\"I have not killed anyone in at least fifty years. You know this, Lawspeaker,\" Draiko said watching Yoji with a gaze that was like his footsteps, not quite fully touching the world. \"What kind of an idiot are you, in any case? A five hundred year old oracle tells you that it is your best interest to leave town, and you decide to stay to investigate someone who is already dead. Mr. H it it is in your best interest to leave Seattle immediately.\"
\"What have you seen?\"
Draiko sat down in the leather chair behind the counter and picked up colorful book with Japanese characters across the front. Without a word, he opened the book backwards and began the traditional round of ignoring.
\"Reading comic books, o great oracle?\" Yoji asked, leaning on the counter because he knew it would irritate the alchemist.
\"We are not friends, lawspeaker,\" Draiko purred, eyeing the elbows on his counter, \"If I look at your photos of this dead woman, will you leave Seattle?\"
\"I\'ll leave your little literary cathedral in peace, for a while,\" Yoji nodded, pulling his pda from his pocket.
Draiko held out hand, without looking up from his book. \"She\'s not human, you knew that, right,\" he asked, as he pulled the stylus up from behind the little pda and flicked to the .jpg labeled for him.
\"Why do I even have to bring you an image, if you already know everything?\" Yoji watched, not flinching at all from the dark eyes.
\"You must bring me an image, because that is how it works. An image, a lock of hair, or some other body part,\" Draiko smirked. \"Conventions change over time. Personally, I would prefer blood to a .jpg, but that\'s just me, I\'m sure.\"
\"I\'m sure,\" Yoji agreed, a shiver humming over his shoulders. \"And she damn sure looked human to me.\"
Deftly, Draiko zoomed in over the corpse\'s ear and held the pda back out. \"That\'s not cosmetic. She\'s an elf. She was killed by humans.\"
\"Zac said she was drained of blood,\" Yoji hesitated, looking at the obviously pointy ear. \"And she\'s Chinese.\"
\"And all vampires are raving blood sucking Romanians,\" Draiko said dryly. \"Giving you more information will not get you to leave town, nor will it prevent any of the other traumas headed towards this city. I continue to keep my oath to you, Yoji. Why do you suspect my advice to you?\"
\"Because your goals are not the same as mine. I mean to protect the people of this area. You mean to protect your lover, who you haven\'t met yet, but think I\'m supposed to save. This chick better be worth all you\'re doing to get to her. Don\'t you ever doubt your own visions, at all?\"
\"Do you doubt your callings? If you wake up at three in the morning and your spirit tells you to go down stairs in the rain, don\'t you do it?\"
\"Touché,\" Yoji smiled. \"Where do I find the people who did this to her?\"
\"I am an oracle, perhaps a vampire, defiantly an alchemist, but I am not a police detective, and neither are you. Why can you not leave such things to them, art teacher that you are?\"
\"Because I had one of those callings, you know? Zac asked for my help,\" Yoji followed up, feeling slightly lame about it. \"One of those callings saved your ass, if I remember correctly. Now what\'s so bad that I have to get out of Seattle? It\'s not going to blow up, is it?\"
Draiko templed his fingers and pressed them to his forehead. \"If I tell you, your odds of surviving diminish and that does not suit me. Leave just this one calling, Yoji, just this once listen to wisdom. Get out of Seattle.\"
\"I can\'t,\" Yoji said, slipping his pda back into his pocket. \"But it\'s real nice to see you so concerned.\"
\"Get out of my shop.\"
Draiko watched the bell ring for several moments after Yoji left. Knowing the future, knowing one would survive it, did not always make one unafraid of it.
<><><><><>zzZZzz<><><><><>
Dancing Sunlight laid her palms against the glass of the window. Dark green satin covered her body completely throat down to where it pooled at her ankles. The long sleeves pooled at her wrists, lay in folds and layers over her arms. There was enough silk to hang herself with, if she wanted to. She didn\'t. Not yet.
She did not see her reflection in the glass, the perfect face, china doll beautiful, the long black hair, or the tears that wet the collar of her gown. She saw that out there, somewhere, in this great foreign city, her lover would come for her. That was all that she had which her sister Pink Petals had not had. Xiang Lian would come for her. The Ruby Dragon of the Misty Valley would raze this city, whatever city it was.
By Nix Winter
Copyright Nix Winter, 2003
All rights reserved
Feedback is greatly appreciated
Chapter One
\"Hey old man,\" Yoji Hanh greeted a dignified man who was replacing a book on a higher shelf. The art teacher gave him the man a deceptively sweet smile and a casual wave.
The man shoved the book hard into the shelf and glared. \"Are you still in town,\" Draiko Zaitsev said, voice chiseled black ice elegance, the very slightest of odd Russian accent to his voice, \"Didn\'t you get my email?\"
\"Yeah, yeah, yeah,\" Yoji said, leaning against the counter, tongue bar held between his teeth for a moment befoe ree released it. He didn\'t look any more a teacher than Draiko did an old man. The teacher wore worn black leather pants, a dark blue kaftan shirt with an emerald colored enameled leaf hanging from the ties at his collar, casual, rebellious. Teacher of modern art, the lawspeaker in the pacific northwest, Yoji Hanh was easy to underestimate, hard to intimidate, with green eyes that were always amused at something. The braids that held Yoji\'s long blond hair back from his face were wrapped with a clear shiny ribbon that flashed in the sunlight dim bookshop, making the Russian man move several times to avoid the flashes of concentrated sunlight. \"I got the command to get out of town. I just had to know how you make your emails look like they\'re written in blood on parchment?\"
Irritation arched with one dark eyebrow. Draiko didn\'t look old enough to attend the private college that Yoji taught at, let alone an old alchemist who\'d been saved by the lawspeaker of Seattle. Raven black hair and brown eyes so dark they could seem reddish in some lights hinted at the high Russian nobility in his blood. Finely tailored clothes, polished shoes that did not quite touch the ground as Draiko climbed down from the ladder, all of it gave him an impression of authority. He was living antiquity, gritting his teeth as he avoided the causal flashes of light the lawspeaker threw off.. \"It\'s Microsoft Outlook, with Word. It allows for stationary. They do have computers at that university which you lurch about it? Or is it all herbals and making pigments the old fashioned way?\"
Scowling, Yoji watched Draiko cross to the cash register side of the shop. \"I have a couple questions for you.\"
\"I will not tell you more than I told you in the email. You need to leave, to go as far as Chicago. Do you need me to purchase the ticket for you?\"
Yoji rubbed the center of his forehead. \"I\'m not leaving Seattle, Draiko. Stand still, will you? It drives me nuts not hearing youet het hit the floor. There\'s been a murder, and I wanted to ask you some questions.\"
\"I have not killed anyone in at least fifty years. You know this, Lawspeaker,\" Draiko said watching Yoji with a gaze that was like his footsteps, not quite fully touching the world. \"What kind of an idiot are you, in any case? A five hundred year old oracle tells you that it is your best interest to leave town, and you decide to stay to investigate someone who is already dead. Mr. H it it is in your best interest to leave Seattle immediately.\"
\"What have you seen?\"
Draiko sat down in the leather chair behind the counter and picked up colorful book with Japanese characters across the front. Without a word, he opened the book backwards and began the traditional round of ignoring.
\"Reading comic books, o great oracle?\" Yoji asked, leaning on the counter because he knew it would irritate the alchemist.
\"We are not friends, lawspeaker,\" Draiko purred, eyeing the elbows on his counter, \"If I look at your photos of this dead woman, will you leave Seattle?\"
\"I\'ll leave your little literary cathedral in peace, for a while,\" Yoji nodded, pulling his pda from his pocket.
Draiko held out hand, without looking up from his book. \"She\'s not human, you knew that, right,\" he asked, as he pulled the stylus up from behind the little pda and flicked to the .jpg labeled for him.
\"Why do I even have to bring you an image, if you already know everything?\" Yoji watched, not flinching at all from the dark eyes.
\"You must bring me an image, because that is how it works. An image, a lock of hair, or some other body part,\" Draiko smirked. \"Conventions change over time. Personally, I would prefer blood to a .jpg, but that\'s just me, I\'m sure.\"
\"I\'m sure,\" Yoji agreed, a shiver humming over his shoulders. \"And she damn sure looked human to me.\"
Deftly, Draiko zoomed in over the corpse\'s ear and held the pda back out. \"That\'s not cosmetic. She\'s an elf. She was killed by humans.\"
\"Zac said she was drained of blood,\" Yoji hesitated, looking at the obviously pointy ear. \"And she\'s Chinese.\"
\"And all vampires are raving blood sucking Romanians,\" Draiko said dryly. \"Giving you more information will not get you to leave town, nor will it prevent any of the other traumas headed towards this city. I continue to keep my oath to you, Yoji. Why do you suspect my advice to you?\"
\"Because your goals are not the same as mine. I mean to protect the people of this area. You mean to protect your lover, who you haven\'t met yet, but think I\'m supposed to save. This chick better be worth all you\'re doing to get to her. Don\'t you ever doubt your own visions, at all?\"
\"Do you doubt your callings? If you wake up at three in the morning and your spirit tells you to go down stairs in the rain, don\'t you do it?\"
\"Touché,\" Yoji smiled. \"Where do I find the people who did this to her?\"
\"I am an oracle, perhaps a vampire, defiantly an alchemist, but I am not a police detective, and neither are you. Why can you not leave such things to them, art teacher that you are?\"
\"Because I had one of those callings, you know? Zac asked for my help,\" Yoji followed up, feeling slightly lame about it. \"One of those callings saved your ass, if I remember correctly. Now what\'s so bad that I have to get out of Seattle? It\'s not going to blow up, is it?\"
Draiko templed his fingers and pressed them to his forehead. \"If I tell you, your odds of surviving diminish and that does not suit me. Leave just this one calling, Yoji, just this once listen to wisdom. Get out of Seattle.\"
\"I can\'t,\" Yoji said, slipping his pda back into his pocket. \"But it\'s real nice to see you so concerned.\"
\"Get out of my shop.\"
Draiko watched the bell ring for several moments after Yoji left. Knowing the future, knowing one would survive it, did not always make one unafraid of it.
<><><><><>zzZZzz<><><><><>
Dancing Sunlight laid her palms against the glass of the window. Dark green satin covered her body completely throat down to where it pooled at her ankles. The long sleeves pooled at her wrists, lay in folds and layers over her arms. There was enough silk to hang herself with, if she wanted to. She didn\'t. Not yet.
She did not see her reflection in the glass, the perfect face, china doll beautiful, the long black hair, or the tears that wet the collar of her gown. She saw that out there, somewhere, in this great foreign city, her lover would come for her. That was all that she had which her sister Pink Petals had not had. Xiang Lian would come for her. The Ruby Dragon of the Misty Valley would raze this city, whatever city it was.