Dragon-Ridden by T.A. White Page B

horizon, Tate leaned back and watched the sky.
    What should she do now? It felt odd
not to have a purpose in the day. On ship, there were so many tasks that needed
to be done that you never ran out of things to do. There was always someone
telling you what needed to be done and how to do it.
    She hadn’t been this rudderless
since living alone on her beach.
    Sleep tugged at her. She’d gotten
little of it in the past few nights. Although she could go for long periods
with little to no sleep, even Tate had her limits. Now that the tension of her
decision had drained away with the sailing of the Marauder, her eyes slid
closed with a will of their own. She barely had the strength to find a flat
service away from the roof’s edge before she was spiraling down into her
dreams.
     
    The sun hot on her face woke her.
The shade she’d found had long since disappeared. Her skin felt hot and her
throat dry; sweat collected under her clothes. She estimated she’d been
sleeping for no more than two hours.
    Tate stretched and groaned.
Sleeping on a hard roof did not make for a comfortable rest. A pair of pigeons
cooed next to her. At least they hadn’t pooped on her or attacked her in her
sleep.
    Her stomach rumbled reminding her
she hadn’t eaten breakfast. She put one hand against it and grimaced. When was
the last time she’d eaten? Last night? Before the drinking. Maybe. Throwing up
later probably hadn’t helped. With reluctance to give up her safe spot amid the
birds, Tate climbed down to the street level.
    It was time to face the city.
    She looked around. None of this was
familiar. Great. She was lost. She hadn’t really been paying attention to where
she was going while running across the rooftops and had no idea where she was.
Her stomach growled again. Though she’d hoped to find her way back to
yesterday’s marketplace, she’d settle for any food seller.
    If she walked long enough she’d
find something to eat eventually, she told herself. Might as well get moving
and see what she could find. She started by heading back to the harbor. It was
the easiest place in the city to find because you just had to walk down hill
until you reached the docks. She hoped if she started from a place she
recognized, she’d be able to retrace some of her steps.
    Distracted by hunger, she didn’t
notice that she’d picked up a shadow until it was almost too late. Her first
thought was Jost had found her. She wrinkled her nose. That couldn’t be. She’d
watched him and his crew leave on the Marauder.
    Ryu was still here, though. Perhaps
he’d managed to follow her from the inn. That didn’t seem right either. He
could have attacked when she was vulnerable and sleeping.
    Nobody else in the city knew her
well enough to care who she was. Jost was the only person she could think of
who could mean her harm.
    A quick touch to the knives at her
side reassured her she was still armed. She rounded a corner and found herself
on the docks. Pretending to admire the view, she used peripheral vision to
monitor her shadows.
    She’d picked up a few more.
    Coming to the waterfront had been a
mistake. With it at her back there were only so many routes she could take to
escape, and all of them could be easily blocked. If she’d noticed them sooner
she never would have brought them here.
    The decision to move to a better
location was taken out of her hands when a pair of footsteps pounded down the
dock towards her.
    Tate waited until they were almost
upon her before sliding out of the way, helping their owners into the ocean
with a tiny little push. Dewdrop hit the water face first after Tate tangled
her feet with his. Bones fell in backwards when Tate planted her fist in his
chest.
    She surveyed them with her hands on
her hips as they sputtered after surfacing. Of all the people she’d been
expecting, these two babies weren’t them. She felt like laughing over how
anxious she’d been when she’d noticed she was being followed.
    Relief swept