Page 52 of Scales ’N’ Spells: Volume Two

Ravi was in Alric’s office with his king, Gunter, and Baldewin when Dieter showed in two uncomfortable and stiff-looking people. One was Kristopher Maier, the chief of the Sonthofen police. Ravi had seen him when they’d first started to investigate the bombing by the Jaeggi.

But the woman represented a new complication that Alric had said he was not looking forward to. Ada Lowe was from the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany, also known as the BKA. She was likely to be the first of an alphabet of agencies that were going to try to stick their noses into dragon affairs. Ravi knew that if Alric had his way, all the various government agencies would be kept outside their walls.

The problem was that the bombing had occurred in clear view of a horde of reporters. There was no hiding it. Which meant they had to play along with the German police for now.

He hated to admit it, but Ravi’s skin crawled a little at the appearance of the BKA agent. Being hidden for five hundred years meant they had been forgotten by humans and their laws. Being out in the open might make it easier for mages to find them, but it also meant that it was easier for everyone else to find them.

Ravi did not envy Alric for having to navigate this mess, but he was proud to see that, while congenial, Alric was leaning heavily on his royal status. When the pair of humans entered, Alric stood up from where he’d been sitting in a leather high-back chair next to the sofa and moved to his desk. His king was rather intimidating when he sat behind the massive dark mahogany beast, as if all the Burkhard kings from generations past were with him.

“Thank you for checking in with us again, Chief Maier. The Burkhard Clan appreciates your diligence in this matter,” Alric said.

Ravi took up position a step behind Alric on his left. Dieter was crossing the room to move to Alric’s right.

Ravi caught Gunter watching the humans with narrow-eyed interest, like the dragon was wondering if they were plotting ways to get their hands on his books. Baldewin had moved out of his immediate line of sight, but he had a feeling that the head of security was taking up a defensive position.

The woman noticed. She turned and stared at the mountain-sized dragon as he stood near the door, one eyebrow raised at him.

“I appreciate you taking the time to see us…” Ada started after Dieter had completed the introductions.

“König Alric,” Kristopher quickly supplied when she seemed to hesitate.

“Yes, König Alric,” she continued.

The dragon king smiled at her, and Ravi nearly cackled. Usually, Alric would invite a person to use his given name, but not this time.

“You’re welcome. Like I said, I appreciate the diligence with which the police have investigated this matter, but I’m not sure that you will be much help. As I have explained to Chief Maier, this is a dragon matter, and we handle our own problems. It has been in the best interest of humans, mages, and dragons for us to take care of things in such a way.” Alric paused and his smile took on an edge. “I’m sure you would prefer it if dragons remained out of human affairs.”

Kristopher Maier actually shuddered. Ada managed to conceal her emotions a little better, but there was no missing the way she paled at the thought of ancient dragons suddenly meddling in human affairs.

Ravi nearly rolled his eyes at the thought. Like dragons wanted that kind of nightmare. They had enough on their plates and certainly didn’t need the chaotic mess that came with humans and their politics.

“Yes,” Ada started and then cleared her throat. “This is new territory for all of us, and I can understand your desire to have complete control over this situation, but you must also understand that the German government is now concerned. This incident could have easily injured humans, considering how many human reporters are now camped outside your walls.”

Not like any of them really wanted all those reporters hanging around.

“In addition, the people of Germany are very proud to discover the Burkhard Dragon Clan calls our country home. We all wish to make sure that you remain safe and happy here.”

“Hmmm…nicely done,” Gunter murmured softly, and Alric snorted.

“Yes, very nicely,” the king agreed. “Let’s see how much we can help each other without stepping on each other’s toes.”

“I’m sorry to say that it won’t be as much as you’d likely hoped,” Ada admitted. She sighed and shoved one hand through her dark hair, pushing it back from her face. “We’ve managed to track the deceased woman that you identified as the suicide bomber back to the German-Czech border. She left a pretty clear trail, coming in. We are still working our way through all the red tape required to allow us to pursue the information into the Czech Republic. Once we can, we are confident we will be able to track down exactly where she came from and her group’s current hiding place.”

“How long?”

Ada didn’t even flinch at Alric’s harsh tone. She shrugged. “A few more days at least.”

Ravi clenched his teeth. Another few days before they could locate where the Jaeggi might be hiding? Or even where they had been hiding? There was a damn good chance that group of Jaeggi had moved on already.

“Is there anything else that could be of help?” Alric demanded.

“Not at this time, Eure Majestät. We are working as quickly as we can to coordinate with Czechia and INTERPOL. Considering this was a bombing and the subject has clearly crossed international borders, we are viewing this as a potential terrorist plot.”

Alric’s frown deepened, and Ravi could easily imagine that his king was ready to have the two humans ejected from the castle so the dragons could handle this matter themselves. Ravi couldn’t agree more. They certainly had a lot less red tape and fewer silly hoops to jump through.

“I understand,” Alric said softly. “Is there anything else?”

“It’s actually about the bomb, Eure Majestät,” Kristopher began, his voice containing a nervous tremor. “We’ve analyzed the residue along with other data that we’ve collected. It’s not like any bomb we’ve run across before.”