The Bird and The Dragon
Viper's Ring: Part 1

06-333 Haven

Jonathan noticed the bloodstain on his jacket’s cuff when raising his glass. He tried to ignore the blood; the day had been straining and Jonathan wanted to relax. He was planning to drink beer and listen to Bladewater’s stories. Jonathan had learned to know the navigator after the Veringe incident and called her by her first name.

“Sometimes I feel Watergate is not a planet, but a club,” the navigator said: “I map the reefs for the Eastern Trading Union, Viper has his fangs in transporting the reefs’ final products to your home in the north. We three should have nothing to do with each other, but here we go around hand in hand like the kids dancing in a circle.” The tattooed woman raised her glass and Jonathan laughed.

“A navigator from the dark side of the planet and a smuggler from the north, both of us far from our homes. Viper is the only one who belongs here, this city is his lair.”

“The snake upkeeps the peace in the city and the Bird is his tool,” the navigator agreed.

Jonathan grinned at Navigator’s words. The Bird had accidentally become a source of horror stories among the city’s law-avoiding citizens. Jonathan had used the Bird as a mask between himself and his heritage. His life had become an act of balancing Viper’s orders and Anhava’s agenda and Jonathan was consumed by a continual fear of the northern agents hunting him down. He hid that fear with the disgust he felt towards his roots under the adrenaline-fueled creature that was the Bird.

“The official trade routes are too strongly controlled by the politics. The common people would suffer if there were no smugglers. When Saadra was small she would have died without the illegal medicine from Shibasa.” Bladewater said.

“How many kids do you have?”

“Three lived. With them I have gotten eight living grandchildren and at least two grand grandchildren. Saadra has been dead for over a decade. She drowned,” the navigator stared at her beer like it contained the years of her life.

“I also have three kids,” Jonathan confessed. He had not told Bladewater about his life in the north.

“Really?”

“At least I believe they are mine. Enidtha is a very independent woman.”

“Your wife?”

“Not in the way they think about marriages here. Ainadu’s marriage is not a structural piece of society. But yes, I am her companion, and they are my only reason to return to the north.”

Jonathan intended to visit more often than he did, but there was always so much to do. He did write letters and had seen some of them to have found their way to Enidtha. He had also organized Enidtha to contact some southern merchants who sold fabrics and threads. The imported goods had made Enidtha’s clothing business flourish.

“The oldest kid just turned eight. The youngest one is three years old. They are an adorable bunch of young rascals,” Jonathan said drowning his conscience into his glass.

The navigator nodded; she had no habit of criticizing others. “I guess you enjoy your time with them.”

“I do. Don’t tell anyone, but I like to play with them.”

“My lips are sealed. You seem…oh Jonathan, are you missing them?”

“No. Or actually yes but this is not about that.” Jonathan looked out of the window. “I just had an odd meeting with the street urchins today. You know the gangs.”

“Not really. But it must have been something special as the Bird still remembers it.”

“I don’t know... It was just a thing, but it stuck to my head.”

“Tell me about it,” Bladewater said, and Jonathan told.

It had been midmorning and the dark sky was lighted by the pale curtains of the auroras. Two days had passed of the four-day dark time and the air in Haven was cold and smelled of smoke. The Bird had sat at the wall surrounding the harbor eating his breakfast sandwich. He had just returned from a five-day trip to supervise Viper’s smuggling operations.

Viper’s manager had gotten the report and there were some hours before Jonathan was to meet with Bladewater. In this neighborhood, his nicely cut jacket would have gathered the wrong kind of attention, but the people of the streets recognized the Bird by look and avoided him.

The Bird carried no weapons, but his tendency towards improvised violence was well known and his adventures were the stuff of rumors. The Bird was said to be a ghost raised from the ashes of the end of the world, he was a demon bound by Viper, an ainadu owning his life to the crime lord, an old returned for revenge. Jonathan loved his new fame and let the rumors grow and spread.

He was cleaning his fingers when he noticed an approaching gang of kids. There were our boys and at least one more was hiding behind the corner. Each was around ten years of age, some of them taller and some of them shorter, everyone in mended or mismatched clothes. Two of the kids seemed to have had their hair cut by someone with properly sharpened scissors and the skill to use them.

The clothing of these two had been mended and modified with neat stitches and the smaller one even had shoes of the right size, which was rare. The Bird thought he had seen these boys earlier, but he generally avoided dealing with kids. It reminded him of his offspring.

A boy with dark hair, one of the two in neater clothes stopped below the Bird. The kids seemed to know who the Bird was, and they did not try to close into the pickpocketing range.

“Did you get your eyes full? Or had you something to tell me,” the Bird said.

Some of the boys stepped back, but the dark-haired one put his fingers into fists and returned the man’s stare. “Are you mister Bird?” The approach sounded funny, but the boy managed to use it naturally. Maybe his family had once been in social circles where common courtesy was considered normal.

“I am. How may I help the young sirs on this beautiful morning?”

“We..err, I mean…”

“Say it, Stev.”

There was some unrest among the boys, but the dark-haired one continued. “Mister Bird, we have a ring.” The man raised his blond eyebrow in question. The situation was awkward but no one had tried to backstab him, and he felt jovial.

“We found it from a dead body. The carcass also had the sign of the security forces,” Stev said.

“And a hole in his lungs,” a shorter boy added.

“I don’t deal in stolen items. Why do you even ask?” the Bird said more curious than irritated.

“It is the ring stolen from Viper. Steel, a green stone and it has those witchy glyphs.” The words took the Bird by surprise. Viper had owned a ring decorated with the ainadu matrixes and he had lost it a few months back together with one and a half of his fingers.

“We want a replaceer’s fee,” a boy said.

“Show me the ring,” the man said dryly.

“We don’t walk around with it.”

“Describe it in more detail then.”

“It is of grey, not-shiny steel. There is a rectangular, dark green stone.” The boy showed the size of the stone with his fingers. “And inside the stone and all over the metal are those ainadu marks.”

There were rumors about the ring circling the streets and the description was not a surprise, although the details fitted nicely. Viper’s ring was not of steel, but it was unlikely the boys knew the metals so well.

“Go and fetch it,” the man smiled.

The dark-haired boy shook his head. “Everyone knows the ring is cursed and it belongs to Viper. We will not walk anywhere with it. You must come and take it.”

“And where have you hidden it?”

“In the summer harbor.”

The Bird tilted his head thinking. He had expected a more remote location, but the old summer harbor was on the borders of Viper’s empire and Haven’s scale it was considered an almost respectable, if smelly area. It was useless for most of the year because of the sea level, but its sheds and halls were used for storing various products. It was also located near the beach where an incident had taken place between the security forces and a gang. The story the boys were telling had at least a grain of truth.

“Sounds fair. I’ll meet you at the wood market midday,” the man said.

“No. You will come now and alone.”

“You set me hard demands,” the Bird said setting his face into a nonchalant expression.

“It is our place. We want to keep it and it will not happen if a crowd of Viper’s men goes there.”

“It is a deal then,” the man said. He didn’t estimate the boys to be a threat. “I’ll come with you. But see that fruit seller over there? The juice merchant? The reader-beggar?” he pointed each one at turn. “They all work for Viper. They know who I am and who I talk with. Don’t do anything stupid and I won’t do anything…unexpected.” Jonathan Byrd, the Bird, slipped down the wall. “Well then, off you go. Show the way.”

The boys led the Bird onwards. The dark-haired boy was Stev and his little brother was Alder. They walked towards the summer harbor avoiding the main roads. The city was wide awake, and its life was moving on the lamp light by pedaled carriages and being pushed and pulled by sweating men. The waterways had their normal share of traffic. The machines that in the past roamed the land were but a distant memory. The horses were rare in the south, and none of the animals had been seen in the outer city.

Stev took a turn to an alley towards the storage near the waterline. The smell betrayed the fish industry in the area, and the yellow dust covering the streets and buildings marked the route from the harbor toward the fertilizer plant. The fifth boy the Bird had spotted had disappeared and the man guessed him to run forth to alarm their arrival. He was not expecting to see any ring on this trip.

Stev slipped to the side of an old brick building. There was a shed, maybe a ramshackle carriage storage. The Bird followed alert, enjoying this little adventure. Stev moved a loose plank and pushed himself inside. Soon the door opened, and the boy’s face peeked from the darkness.

“No, I won’t come inside,” the Bird said. “Bring it out.” Stev looked around cautiously, there was no movement on the street. To the man’s surprise, the boy disappeared and soon crawled out with a small package in his dirty hands.

“It is here.” Stev unpacked the item and the Bird approached warily. The other kids moved restlessly. Stev took out a ring that looked exactly like he had described. It was a matt metal ring with a green stone. At first glance, the Bird could say it was not the ring Viper had lost but a roughly similar bauble. Stev put the too-large ring on his slender finger and made a fist like it would prevent the adult from taking the ring forcefully.

“Watch and obey, the Bird! By the ring you have been bound,” Stev declared.

The man bent closer and saw motion in the corner of his eye. The youngest boy, Alder had a knife in his hand. The Bird dodged the thrust easily stepping behind Stev. Stev was waving the air with his hands and the Bird pushed the boy on Alder’s way. The route to the back alley was open and the Bird retreated a few steps. One of the boys had been cut, there was a little blood on the ground.

“You have the wrong ring, it doesn’t work like that,” the Bird said and prepared to leave before he started to laugh hysterically. Or maybe crying would have been the more relevant reaction. The boys had believed the wild stories about him far too literally.

Stev stood up. There was blood on his fist, the stone had scratched Alder. The kids had found a ring that looked like Viper’s ring. It even had a matrix in it. The rumor, one of Jonathan’s favorites, said that the Bird was bound to serve Viper by the blood and the ring. The real ring Viper had lost had been just a jewel.

“It was supposed to work!” Stev was shouting. “You are now under my command!” The Bird shook his head and was about to leave when Alder screamed. A thin, dark tentacle was reaching from the ring towards a cut in Alder’s cheek. It was like ink, but the Bird knew it was the resonance carried in ainadu blood. Alder tried to cut it with his knife, but the blade slid through without effect.

Stev retreated but failed as the ring pulled itself closer to screaming Alder. The ring slipped out from Stev’s bloody finger and sucked itself tightly to the scratch in Alder’s cheek. Stev tried to first pull then hit the ring away from his brother’s face, but it would not move, and Alder fell silent, his eyes looking into some distant place.

The Bird swallowed. He hadn’t imagined the boys to have a ring equipped with a functional matrix. Neither had he thought any of the boys to carry the ainadu bloodline. Alder’s lips moved softly; he spoke the ainadu language. “His punishment will follow him.”

The Bird swallowed again. The matrix was not only in operation but of all the possible things in the world it had been a memory keeper, also known as the soulcatcher. The man cursed aloud when the empty ring dropped and Alder turned his head, his expression and body language belonging to an adult. There were tears on the boy’s cheek, but he laughed.

“What is it? What did it to Aldermei?” Stev panicked.

“Wait,” the Bird said. Usually, the effect would pass quickly or so he had read. Jonathan had never seen anything like this. Alder drew a partial matrix to the wall with his bloody hand. The man understood too late what Alder was creating; that the matrix needed no activation as it was drawn with blood.

Part of the wall exploded. Alder screamed as a shrapnel hit him and he ran. Stev shouted and ran after his brother. They disappeared behind the corner where the two other boys had already escaped.

Jonathan took a piece of cloth to pick up the ring. The stone was now matt and lifeless. The matrix within was empty, all the power inside had moved to Alder. The man stared at the ring for a while, covered it in cloth, and put it in his pocket. He left to look for a drink and Bladewater.