Free 05 Dragon Blood: The Blade's Memory by Lindsay Buroker Page B

Sweat moistened his palms, but he dared not take them from the rock to wipe them off. If he dropped it, the rock might land on the grenade and break it so that its contents flowed out. Even worse than the strangling vision was one of Therrik walking out and finding Tolemek and Ridge unconscious on his back lawn. Who knew what he would do then?
    “Stop it,” Ridge growled to himself. This was a fellow officer in the king’s army, not a pirate or a Cofah soldier. Whatever happened, Therrik shouldn’t kill him. Probably.
    A few meters from the house, it occurred to him that Therrik might not be home. What if he was working late at the hangar? What if he had a lover he visited off-base? The idea of Therrik with a lover made Ridge curl his lips in disgust, so he changed his thought to, what if Therrik had a prostitute he visited off-base?
    With the curtains closed, there was no way to be certain. He paused, staring down at the rock. Seven gods, it was just a window. If he wasn’t home, the worst that could happen would be they’d break it. So long as no military police soldiers on patrol heard the noise and came running.
    Tolemek held up his arm, presumably holding a match and asking if Ridge was ready. Ridge thrust his load toward him. Tolemek felt for the canister, then lit it. Ridge threw the rock, his feet scurrying backward before it struck. In addition to not wanting to be close if Therrik leaped out the window like an attack dog, Ridge did not want to risk breathing in any of those vapors. As the crash sounded, glass shattering and the rock flying through it, he and Tolemek raced back to the tree.
    Ridge grasped the bark, watching and listening from behind the trunk. Mostly, he worried about lamps being turned on in other houses, but if one was turned on in Therrik’s, that wouldn’t be good, either. What if their target escaped his room before he breathed enough of the fumes to be knocked out?
    “I feel like a delinquent child throwing rocks at old grannies’ windows,” Tolemek said.
    “Does that mean you’re having fun?” Ridge kept his gaze locked on the now-broken bedroom window as he spoke.
    “No. My father beat the rebelliousness out of the neighborhood delinquents. Nothing fun about that.”
    “Bent you over his knee, did he?”
    “Numerous times. Did Moe do that to you?”
    “ Moe wasn’t around much. My mom withheld pie if I was too bad. That was a heinous punishment.”
    Tolemek snorted. “Admit it, Zirkander. You were coddled.”
    “I was an only child. It happens.”
    Tolemek did not respond to that, other than to glance skyward. Wondering if his sister was out there somewhere? Ridge was not sure whether to hope Tylie would visit Iskandia or not. A dragon could help with a lot of things—the idea of it glaring at Therrik and him wetting himself was quite appealing—but Ridge hadn’t gotten the impression that the dragon wanted to be an Iskandian ally. More likely, it would join with Cofah airships in plundering the Iskandian countryside.
    “At what point are we going to conclude that we threw a knockout grenade—and a rock—into an empty house?” Tolemek asked.
    Ridge sighed, afraid he was right.
    “If he was in there, he would have had a few seconds to react before succumbing,” Tolemek added. “We would have seen or heard something. Cursing of your name, perhaps.”
    “I didn’t put my name on the rock.”
    “No? I thought delinquents liked to leave their mark.”
    Ridge pointed at the house. “How long before it dissipates and it’s safe for us to go inside?”
    “It probably already has.”
    “Probably? I only ask because a light went on in that house on the corner—” Ridge pointed, “—and someone might come out to investigate.”
    “What’s the point in going in to question him if he’s not home?”
    “Snooping. Maybe there’s a nice note about the king’s kidnapping in there.” Ridge doubted it—as much of an ass as Therrik had been to him at that meeting