Dragon-Ridden by T.A. White

said. “I’m me and as far as I know, human.”
    “No,” he shook his head
emphatically. “No human could have out run me as long as you did.”
    Tate had maybe ten feet before she
would feel the wall at her back. She licked her lips nervously. Something told
her meeting their boss wouldn’t be a good idea. Anybody who’d send thugs to
arrange a meeting was not someone she cared to know.
    “It’s time to come along now,”
Blade said moving slowly towards her. “There’s no sense in you getting hurt, so
just give up.”
    Tate flashed him a brilliant smile
filled with wry humor and a little bit of wickedness. “That’s the thing. I’m
not so good at giving up.”
    She spun and barreled towards the
trashcans as a muffled curse echoed behind her. With a leap she landed on the
cans and then planted a foot on the wall and launched herself up even further.
She gripped the edge and pulled herself up with a grunt throwing one leg over.
    It worked.
    She was a little surprised at her
success. It was a good thing she’d learned to climb a mast with no handholds.
    With a smooth grace Blade followed
her same path.
    Tate squeaked and planted her hands
on the roof of the next building, leveraging herself up.
    Blade missed the wall’s edge by a
breath and fell back to the street.
    Tate allowed relief to course
through her as he colored the air with curses. Shouts signaled the arrival of
his companions.
    She stepped back, turning and
running carefully across the uneven tiles as she took the sky path away from
her pursuers.
    Looks like she wouldn’t be making
that meeting after all. Too bad.

Chapter Five
     
    Tate covered quite a bit of city
before she was ready to stop running. During her journey, she’d only had to
touch street level twice and instead made good use of narrow ledges and long
roofs to find her way across the city.
    The tantalizing smell of food and
her own lightheadedness from hunger finally drove her back to the streets.
Otherwise she might never have come down, content to pass her time with the
wide-open sky and amazing views of the city and harbor.
    The alley she dropped into was
thankfully free of people. It was cramped, narrow and if she held her arms
straight out she could almost to touch either side. She hesitated at its mouth,
watching the fury of movement outside. She needed food. Now.
    Her nose led her to a cart with
meat turnovers for sell. She inhaled the first two, not even tasting them and
burning her tongue in the process. The third she savored, letting the spices
burst on her tongue while the dough melted in her mouth. Yum. Finally full, she
licked her fingers clean of any remaining juices and took a look around.
    Focused on the food, she’d let the
flow of the people take her where it would. The press of bodies had congregated
on either side of the street leaving a wide clear space between.
    “What’s going on?” Tate asked the
woman next to her.
    “Some of the nobility are touring the
Lower City,” was the excited response.
    Not wanting to be pushed any
further in the crowd, Tate found a lamppost to climb. The raised base made a
good footrest and holding onto the pole anchored her in place. From her vantage
point she could see the sharply dressed soldiers in silver and dark blue
uniforms marching down the road.
    The soldiers were followed by row
after row of men on horses. Dark leather reigns controlled the horse’s heads.
All of the horses wore identical silver colored armor protecting their snouts,
cheeks and chest. Each horse’s mane was braided in a unique pattern with dark
blue metal threaded through the hair. It was the only thing about the horses
that differed. Height, coloring and form were all identical. Even the riders
looked like copies of each other.
    Open carriages clattered after
them, the tops left off to take advantage of the pleasant weather. The paint on
the carriage sides was a blue so dark that it looked nearly black. A crest with
a serilean serpent coiled into an