Page 65 of Backpacking through Bedlam

“But they could give us access to him,” said the spokeswoman, sounding frustrated. “He might be able to answer our questions, might be able to . . . If a male of their breed has survived, who’s to say others haven’t done the same? Who’s to say one of our men doesn’t lie dreaming in the deep caverns of the earth, waiting for his wives to come and wake him?”

“Oh my fucking—this is because you want to get laid? By a dude?” Sally was feeling better. She bucked against her bonds, trying to break free of the zip ties. It was a futile effort. I admired it all the same. “Heterosexuality is not a legal requirement! You can be a perfectly happy lesbian if you just give it a try!”

“Many of our number take comfort in the arms of their kin,” said the spokeswoman. “Unless you suggest we lie with humans . . . the thought is repulsive. Mammals stink of their primate origins. We are above them in all ways.”

“European dragons don’t get into relationships with humans,” I said, pulling a knife from my belt. “I guess Korean dragons don’t either.”

“The thought is repulsive,” the spokeswoman repeated. “To sully ourselves by . . . No. Better to live celibate, and raise our daughters to do the same.”

Sally looked deeply confused. “I think we have a different definition of the word ‘celibate’ here,” she said.

“Again, knowing more about European dragon biology than Korean, I’m guessing a bit, but the European kind reproduce parthenogenetically in the absence of males,” I said, holding up the knife for the clustered yong to see before gesturing toward Sally with my free hand. “You mind if I take my kid back? Because we’re pretty attached to her, and I don’t want this to get uglier than it already has.”

It made sense that the other types of dragon, upon hearing William existed, would start asking questions about where they could get their own handy-dandy species-saver of a boyfriend, and most of them wouldn’t be in Osana’s position. She lived with the dragons. She shared their Nest. She knew they weren’t hiding any secret knowledge about a hidden laidly worm drake.

I would have felt bad for the yong, if they hadn’t announced themselves by abducting Sally and generally behaving like bad neighbors.

When none of them moved to stop me, I eased my way toward the couch and sat down next to Sally, bending to cut the zip tie on her ankles first. Freeing her hands wouldn’t do much good if she’d been disarmed, and while the yong might have made some big mistakes in grabbing her, I didn’t think they’d be quite stupid enough to let her keep anything that looked like a weapon.

Also, I had no idea what weapons Sally did or didn’t carry when she didn’t have her beloved spear. I’d have to talk to her about that. A lady should never be out in public without at least four knives, and preferably a few more innovative items.

“Partheno-what?” asked Sally.

“The females get pregnant whether or not they’ve had sex with a male,” I said, and cut her hands free.

Sally stared at me as she rubbed her wrists, clearly equal parts fascinated and appalled. “So what, like a whole species that operates on virgin birth?”

“Several species, when you take them all together, and yeah, pretty much,” I said. “The Covenant killed the males for the crime of being big-ass lizards who stood out and had the potential to raze entire settlements in a fit of pique. The females got away because they looked enough like us to be ignored.”

I looked back to the yong spokeswoman. She wasn’t glaring anymore. If anything, she was looking lost, standing where she was, the others arrayed behind her like they thought she could somehow provide them with cover.

“I’ll speak to the current Nestmother and see if she can arrange a meeting for you,” I said. “But I’m not making any promises. She may say no; William may not know anything. Either way, kidnapping is not the way to get what you want. Do you understand me? I realize you’re desperate, and I know you’re scared, and if you touch any one of us again, none of that’s going to matter, because I’m going to make sure you don’t do it a third time.”

“Your Covenant”—the yong spokeswoman all but spat the name—“is in our city. They stalk our streets, they take whoever they find. Does your prohibition against abductions apply to them as well?”

“I don’t get to tell the Covenant what to do, or this would be a very different world,” I said. “Wish I did, absolutely do not. But I’m here to make them go away if it can possibly be done. Stop getting in the way.”

Something inside her seemed to snap when I said that. She sagged, sinking inward on herself, and the other yong hurried to hold her up, all of them watching us unhappily.

“Where’s Sally’s pizza?”

“We disposed of it,” said one of the other yong. “We intended to feed our cousin’s representative properly, once she was done protesting our relationship and claiming not to know what we were.”

“Sorry you got the wrong girl,” said Sally, standing and moving so that she was as close to me as possible without actually making contact. She was still rubbing her wrists. They must have tied them tighter than was good for human circulation. I shot them a short, sharp look, and they had the good manners to look chagrined, although that might have had something to do with the knife I was still holding.

“Is this a good place to find you?” I asked.

The spokeswoman nodded. “This is our home.” She looked to the door, lip curling slightly as she added, “But it will need some repairs, unless you’re a carpenter as well as a homewrecker.”

“Nope,” I said. “I break things, I don’t repair them, as a general rule. Call it payment for the pizza and kidnapping. I’ll be back if I’m able to arrange a meeting for you. Sally, you ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she said, and glared at the yong as she followed me to the door, where Mary was waiting.

Together, the three of us made our way out of the building, where Mary looked at Sally, sighed, and said, “Think you can manage not to get kidnapped again? I need to get back, the baby’s having a meltdown about not wanting to take a nap.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Sally solemnly.

“And I can manage navigating the subway,” I said.