Early the next morning, Huan crept up to just within a few short wirs of the gate out of Ti Mei, keeping himself hidden in the brush, and watched the guards. The Souran guards were relaxed, stretching and drinking cups of hot kota. Their Tuqu counterparts stood at attention without a word, not moving a muscle. Since that night when he’d penetrated the Han Luo fortress, Huan hadn’t seen a relaxed Tuqu guard ever. The masks must have a lot of power. Getting back into Ti Mei was going to be a problem, but it still wasn’t like hunting dragons.

Ever since that night, Huan had woken up to find Mei’s hand already on her knife. She did it unconsciously, raising her threat level so that Tiger wouldn’t dare to tear her throat out. After Huan wrestled Tiger back down to the back of his mind, she always relaxed, fading back into the background; yet still each morning Huan was reminded that his sister was prepared to kill him to protect herself. It never failed to put him in a foul mood.

Last night, they’d slipped out of the inn where the mages were staying and snuck out of Ti Mei through the northern gate. Before Tiger, he would have complained about waking up sore and tired after a night of sleeping on the cold hard ground, but Tiger made sleeping indoors a pain. The one time they’d tried an inn, Huan had spent the whole night trying to keep himself from jumping out of the window. Tiger didn’t much like the cold either, but it hated being indoors.

Creeping back to Mei, he interrupted her as she started a fire for their breakfast, four rabbits she’d hunted while he’d been scoping out the gate.

“There’s no way we can kill a dragon, is there?” he asked.

Mei gave him a look and then pulled out a piece of flint and a steel bar. She started to send sparks at the pile of wood shavings she’d created in the fire circle.

“You said I could distract it. There’s no way I’m fast enough.”

His sister inspected the little smoking pile and began to gently fan it. Huan’s heart sank.

“The only way to do that is to use this…thing.”

Mei nodded.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” she asked.

With a little fire going, Mei started to feed it small sticks.

“We need to get rid of this thing,” said Huan.

“They’ll be here soon,” said Mei, continuing to build the fire.

Huan stood up and returned to the gate. Before leaving the inn, they’d left a note saying that they’d meet the party outside the northern gate. Huan could only imagine how suspicious the note had made the red-haired witch; without a doubt, she was arguing that they find different hunters. On the other hand, it wouldn’t bother the lord mage, who wasn’t concerned about being betrayed, judging from how enthusiastically he’d ordered his Wesen to pay him. As for the Wesen…Huan had seen his like before. The ambassador of the Ri, a kingdom far to the south, made semiannual processions to the Tuqu Imperial Palace. They were lavish affairs with proud Wesen guards marching up the center lane. The ambassador herself, an old waif whose clothes outweighed her person, sat in a lavish litter carried by slaves from each of the four corners of the world: the dark-skinned Wesen, the light-skinned Soura, the bronze-skinned Vanurians, and of course the golden-skinned Tuqu. The last was probably a studied insult.

Huan had seen the difference between the free Wesen and the enslaved and despite his bland, friendly exterior, the Wesen mage couldn’t hide his past.

All of the Souran guards came to attention at once. A Souran knight with a worn but well-cared-for breastplate walked through the gate, followed by a preening boy in leather armor. The knight talked to the guards, patting them on the back and tasting the kota. He made a face and the men laughed. The boy laughed the loudest and longest, subsiding into silence when he realized what he was doing.

As Breastplate exchanged greetings with one of the Tuqu guards, Huan’s marks walked through the northern gate. The red-haired witch already appeared to be complaining, likely that Huan and Mei hadn’t met them outside the gates. Huan stepped out into the road and waved, hoping that it would color those ears of hers. The Wesen noticed him first and waved back heartily. He left the group and strode up to meet Huan.

“Li, how was your morning?” he asked.

Huan dropped into the cocky hunter persona.

“Waking up to the sounds of birds and water is always the best way to go,” he said. “If you want to hunt a dragon, best get used to it.”

“I hadn’t considered the auditory benefits of sleeping outside,” said the Wesen. Huan’s mind finally fished up the name. Dwayne. “Mostly it reduces our expenses.”

“It’s cheaper to sleep outside?”

“It’s cheaper to not rebuild the inn.”

Leaving that alarming piece of information in Huan’s mind, Dwayne waved for the others to join him, which, to Huan’s dismay, included Breastplate and his boy. Breastplate gave Huan a quick appraising look and then gave a formal bow. The boy followed suit, his lip curling with disdain for Huan.

Maybe Souran children are taught that look in schools, thought Huan.

“Sir Marcus of Pollum,” said the knight, rising.

“Li,” said Huan with a slight sneer. The boy didn’t react well.

“This is a knight!” he said, stepping forward, his hand on his sword. Tiger’s low growl brought the boy up short. Sir Marcus placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder and pulled him back.

“This is my squire, Nathan,” he said. “He’s still working on his manners.”

“A squire? Is that some sort of servant?” asked Huan. The jibe raised Nathan’s hackles.

Good. Maybe he’ll forget the growl.

“It means knight in training,” said Dwayne, stepping between them. “Like an apprentice.”

Dwayne’s motion only reminded Nathan that he was there. He sneered at the mage but didn’t make another move. The red-haired witch scoffed.

“Are you done?” she said to Nathan, who blushed. “Li, where’s your sister?”

The witch’s name came to mind.

Magdala. No wonder she was so uptight.

“She’s cooking breakfast,” said Huan.

“Something you caught?” Magdala asked.

“As if you’ll eat anything we’d catch out here,” said Huan.

Nathan started to say something, but Lord Kalan cut him off.

“How long do you think it’ll take to find a dragon?” he asked.

Huan didn’t have a clue.

“We’ll need to pick up its trail,” he said. “A couple of days tops.”

“If you find a dragon in that amount of time without just walking up to their nests, color me surprised,” said Marcus.

“We’re that good,” said Huan, turning and walking toward their camp.

“Well if you’re that good,” said Marcus, “you can probably help out your countrymen. They seemed to have lost something, but they won’t tell us what it is or who took it. Rumor has it the thief actually went into Han Luo fortress by himself.”

“I’ve read about that fort,” said Magdala. “There should be two walls, hundreds of guards and some of the best trained fighters Tuqu has to offer in that fort. How’d he get past all of them?”

Luck and fireworks.

“Shows what they can do,” said Nathan. “I bet if Sourans manned those walls they’d do better, right, milady?”

“Tuqu defenses have to deal with barbarians, pirates, and rogue Xa mages. Sourans just have to worry about the occasional bandit. Even on the Southern Frontier, our defense has to deal with mindless opponents. So no, I don’t think they’d do better.”

Mollified, Nathan stayed silent for the rest of the way to Mei’s camp. She already had the rabbits skinned and roasting on the fire when they arrived. Stepping past Huan, Dwayne inspected them.

“We have some spices that’ll add some flavor,” he said to Mei. “May I add them?” Mei blinked and then nodded. Huan wondered what Dwayne’s angle was. As Dwayne worked, Lord Kalan sat down, pulled out a book, and started to read.

“Magdala, please go and gather some herbs,” he said. Dwayne looked up from his work.

“I’ll go with you,” he said.

“No, I’ll go,” said Nathan. “You keep to your cooking.”

Dwayne shrugged and sat back down, succeeding in infuriating the squire further. Shaking it off, Nathan smiled at Magdala, who simply walked past him into the forest. As the squire hurried after her, Marcus sat down next to Lord Kalan.

“I believe he’s got a crush on your niece,” he said.

“Oh?”

“You think Lady Gallus will ever let a Rutters near her daughter?”

“My sister plays that game. I do not.”

“Ha ha. Right, you were never interested in politics. You do know that doesn’t exclude you from them? What happened back then w—”

“Marcus.”

Lord Kalan’s eyes darted to the Wesen, who was still showing Mei all the different spices.

“Fine, fine,” said Marcus. “At some point, though, you know you have to find an heir.”

“I’ve chosen one.”

“Oh, who?”

“You’ll know when I die.”

Denied any real secrets, Huan joined his sister by the fire.

“Lebelweed is pretty much the basis of all Souran spices,” Dwayne was saying. “It’s plentiful and easy to dry.”

“Probably why all Souran food tastes the same,” said Huan. His hostility fell on a blank expression.

“Well, when your…master will unconsciously starve himself if you don’t add it, I guess you get used to the taste,” said Dwayne. Huan wondered at the strange pause.

“Lord Kalan is your master?” he asked. He was pleased to get a slight flinch out of Dwayne.

“I’m his apprentice,” said Dwayne.

“I’m supposed to expect an apprentice to keep me safe while I distract a dragon?”

The barest hint of a wince crossed Dwayne’s face as he rubbed the strange book strapped to his back.

“I’ll figure something out,” he said. “Magdala will have a good plan.”

“That witch?”

“Wow, are you censoring yourself?” said Magdala, pushing aside ferns and reentering the camp. “There’s another word you could use that rhymes with that one.”

Nathan exited the forest too, his face red with shame. Huan wondered what had happened

Magdala obviously wasn’t going to elaborate. “You just find the dragon,” she said to him. “We’ll take it down.”

***

Four days later, Dwayne was finding the hunt beyond boring. Before heading out here, Sir Marcus had somehow convinced Lord Kalan to leave behind all but two of his books back at the inn and to instead burden themselves with medical supplies and food in bags. Since their injuries had mostly consisted of scratches and rashes, and Mei was fairly successful at hunting game, they weren’t actually draining the supplies, and Dwayne was getting tired of dragging the cloth bags that contained them all around in the woods. To make things worse, he had no idea how he was going to protect Li from the dragon’s flame.

Both Sir Marcus and Mei described the dragon’s breath as fire pure and simple, and the deeply charred remains of their prey, a formerly mottled pink deer, attested to this. Still Dwayne was unconvinced. Sure most of the prey they’d found was charred, but they all were also missing their heads, and there were strange crater marks here and there near the bodies. Based on a hunch, Dwayne asked Mei to bring him the heads from her hunts. She came through with three rabbit heads, which she laid in front of Dwayne and then knelt down to watch.

“You should stand behind me if you’re going to watch,” said Dwayne. As she stepped behind him, Dwayne closed his eyes. He remembered the first time he’d done magic on command and watching a flame spark to life. He smiled and cast the spell.

“Ri’a’tha.”

The first rabbit head lit on fire. Dwayne repeated the spell, covering the little brown head in as much flame as he could manage.

“Ri’t.”

The flames dispersed, leaving behind a charred rabbit head. He switched things up for the second rabbit head, going through the same process.

“Ri’u’po.”

The rabbit’s head started to steam and then smoke.

“Ri’a’tha.”

The touch of flame set the whole head on fire immediately, filling the air with smoke. After a couple of minutes, he dismissed the flame and was again left with a charred rabbit head. The fact that magical flame didn’t leave smoke was interesting but not what he was going for. Mei had already wandered off, her boredom reflecting his frustration with the results. Nathan walked by, holding his nose at the smoking heads.

“I thought cooking was the only thing you were good for,” he said.

“I don’t think dragon’s fire is as simple as a campfire,” said Dwayne.

“Sir Marcus thinks so.”

“Hmm…”

Dwayne focused on the last rabbit head, pointing his finger toward its ear.

“Ri’u’po.”

The joint connecting the ear to the head started to smoke. Dwayne held the spell steady, fighting to hold his breakfast down for as long as he could. With a pop, the whole ear was aflame. Annoyed, Dwayne set the other ear on fire too and then canceled the spells. Heat clearly wasn’t enough to replicate what the dragon’s breath accomplished.

“Waste of a good rabbit head,” said Nathan, walking away.

Dwayne barely noticed him leaving. Moving closer, he inspected the rabbit heads. Both spells had done damage to the cartilage, but had no effect on the skull itself, nothing like the dragon breath which had cut through bone like a knife through butter. This paled in comparison to that. Pulling Na’cch, the book Lord Kalan had given him, out of its bindings, he placed it on his lap and put his hand on the cover. For a long moment, filled with the whisper of leaves and the muffled conversation of his companions, Dwayne focused on the book. Nothing happened. He glared at it, contemplating throwing it away, but even if it had been his, he’d never do that.

Na’cch was bound in some sort of lizard skin and its pages, which Dwayne had never seen, were paper, a rare material in Soura. Na’cch was what Lord Kalan called it; there was no title on the cover and Dwayne had only seen inside once. He tugged at the cover and the book resisted, keeping the secrets on its pages to itself. Even more annoying, the book was nearly indestructible. The water-drenching spell that Magdala’s mother had sent their way had set them back months, but Na’cch had been unharmed. Fire was similarly ineffective. Once Dwayne had dropped it into a fireplace while making stew and the book had just sat there, completely failing to burn. The only thing that seemed to get a reaction out of the book was Dwayne’s attempts to do impossible magic. The last time it had opened, he’d been trying to heat a pan of eggs with Ri’a’tha and failing because it was hard to keep up that many small flames at once.

Dwayne hated Na’cch, but it was the only reason Lord Kalan let him study magic, and if he let go of magic, he’d be alone. If Na’cch had been silent that day, he would have been sold and forced to work on an ambersoul plantation or in an azade mine.

Putting the book away, he focused his thoughts on the real problem: protecting Li from the dragon’s fire. Assuming it was normal fire, he should be able to practice with normal flame. Magdala stepped into the clearing.

“We have to go,” she said. “We’re breaking camp.” She saw the still smoking rabbit heads.

“What were you doing?”

“Trying to find a way to disintegrate the heads using only fire,” said Dwayne. “Apparently I need a stronger flame.”

“Maybe dragons actually spit acid,” said Magdala.

“We’d see acid splash all over the place.”

“They just bite it off and swallow it whole?”

“Burn marks along the cuts in the vertebrae indicate otherwise.”

Magdala thought some more.

“What if it was like lightning?” she asked. “Lady Pol’s been researching some techniques along those lines.”

“It can’t be lightning because we’d hear the thunder in the morning, but maybe there’s something about lightning …”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Dwayne felt his frustration clear.

“That could be it,” he said.

“Lady Gallus!”

Sir Marcus’s voice echoed in the valley.

“God save us from overzealous knights,” said Magdala.

***

They caught up to the others gathered around yet another cervine victim of the dragon’s fire.

“Looks charred,” said Nathan. “Just like it was set on fire.”

“Was that in question?” asked Li.

Dwayne looked into the neatly cut neck and found the same bisected vertebrae with char marks on the edges. Shaking his head, he looked to Lord Kalan, who was rereading the books he brought with him.

“Sir, do you think lightning could have removed the head like this?” he asked.

Lord Kalan looked up.

“Have you tried it?” he asked.

Dwayne just managed to keep from punching his teacher in the face. Physical violence rarely led to clarification.

“I tried to replicate the effect with flame and I wasn’t able to.”

“Well that speaks to a lack of effort on your part, no doubt,” said Lord Kalan. He went back to reading.

Sighing, Dwayne walked over to Mei, who was inspecting the bushes around the kill. She stopped him with an upraised fist.

“What?”

Mei pointed. There was a small four-toed footprint, not much larger than Dwayne’s hand, pressed into the mud. Dwayne blinked.

“Think that’s from dragon young?” he asked. Mei nodded. Dwayne ran to the corpse and inspected its non-burn wounds. A single cut to the belly after charring and dozens of small hand-sized bites on the inside.

“Magdala?” he called.

“Maggie,” said Magdala. “Might as well have you say it too.”

“Come look at this.”

Magdala knelt down and inspected the insides.

“Those are bite marks,” she said. “Why didn’t we notice this before?”

“Those are probably from scavengers,” said Sir Marcus. “They come out to feed on the body after the kill.”

“But there aren’t any big bite marks,” said Magdala. “Just all these little ones, which all look the same.”

Mei nodded.

“This is for the young,” she said.

“The fire cooks it for them,” said Magdala. “I can’t believe no one knew about this before.”

“Maybe they did, but kept it to themselves,” said Li. Magdala glared at him.

“We’re starting too late in the day,” said Dwayne. “We’ll need to head out before sunrise to catch a dragon.”

“We should keep heading north,” said Sir Marcus. “That’s where they come from.”

“Would you keep heading toward an enemy base simply because that’s where they come from?” asked Magdala.

“Well…no…”

“Mei, do you know where the next dragon attack is going to be?”

Mei nodded.

“Good,” said Magdala. “Then it’s all coming together. I know what we should do.”

“Why are we listening to a girl?” Nathan asked Sir Marcus.

“Keep that up and I’m sure you’ll get what you want,” said Li, making a rude gesture behind Magdala’s back. The squire nearly charged the hunter, but Dwayne blocked him, holding back Nathan with just one hand. Nathan stood back.

“Don’t touch me,” he said.

“Stop acting like an idiot,” said Magdala. Nathan scowled.

“Nathan, let it go.”

“Sir, I—”

“Nathan.”

Nathan subsided and stomped off into the underbrush. Sir Marcus walked up to Dwayne.

“I suggest you let things take their course,” he said. Dwayne felt Lord Kalan’s hand on his shoulder, supporting him.

“Marcus, you tend to your squire. I’ll tend to my apprentice.”

“Good,” said Marcus. He followed Nathan into the brush. Dwayne turned to Lord Kalan, an apology already on his lips. Lord Kalan cut him off.

“Do what you want,” said Lord Kalan. “Just own it.” His master patted him on the back and then wandered away, leaving Dwayne bemused. He turned to Mei.

“Think you can track that thing down?” he asked. Mei nodded and led Dwayne into the bush. Li caught up to them.

“Where are you two going?” he asked.

“If we can find dragon young, I can see if they use normal fire or not,” answered Dwayne.

“I’m coming with you,” said Li.

“Me too.”

Li turned to Magdala.

“No, you should stay here. Don’t want to have to protect anybody.”

“I could just knock you out,” said Magdala, “then you wouldn’t need protection.”

“Shh!”

Mei held a hand up to her lips and then disappeared into the brush. With a low growl, Li followed suit, leaving the two mages alone in the brush. Dwayne inched forward, his breath slowing. He became aware of how dense the brush was, how it moved with the wind rushing through the trees. Li and Mei were gone, somehow melding into the greenery, leaving not a trace that they were there. In comparison, Dwayne and Magdala were fumbling babes traipsing through the woods. Each snap, each rustle gave away their position. This was not the world of the mage.

“Dwayne.”

Magdala kept her voice low. When Dwayne motioned for her to be quiet, Magdala grabbed his hand and pointed at a tree trunk, which blinked two yellow eyes at them. They watched as the creature yawned, its bright teeth promising a quick death. With effort, Dwayne was able to see the thing’s dark talons, which gripped the trunk hard. On its back was a strange rippling pattern, like someone had drawn bat wings badly. A low growl caught its attention as Li appeared, wearing a tiger mask, an odd affectation for a hunt, but Dwayne kept his focus on the little dragon

Unfortunately, it spooked at Li’s appearance and spat flame.

“Ack!” Li leapt out of the way, letting the flame hit the tree behind him.

Mei appeared and let loose two knives, but the creature’s tail slapped both out of the air. It looped around the tree for a moment and took stock of all four of them.

“Well that looks like normal fire,” said Magdala. Her voice jolted Dwayne into action. He watched the little dragon track Li and start to growl again.

“Ri’a’tha.”

Dwayne’s little flame failed to intercept the spit of fire that flew toward Li’s head. Li was forced to dive back into the brush as the flame charred another tree.

“You can’t block fire with fire,” said Magdala.

“I thought it would consume the fuel,” said Dwayne.

“What? That’s not how fire works!”

“That’s how they stop fires in the forest.”

Magdala pulled Dwayne down as the dragon sprayed more fire at Li.

“Let me think,” said Magdala. “You know about how heat works, right?”

“Hot stuff rises.”

“It’s more complicated than that. How do you think your heat spell works?”

“It heats things up.”

“Where do you think the heat comes from? It doesn’t go away when you cancel the spell.”

“I create it.”

“When you create the flame, it goes away when you tell it to. When you create the heat, it stays, right?”

Dwayne recalled the rabbit heads. He stood up.

“What are you doing?”

“Testing your theory.”

Li was trying to get closer to knock out the dragon, but its flames were keeping him at bay. Mei attempted to grab her knives, but the lizard snatched them away with its tail. On another day, Dwayne would have been amazed. Today, though, he picked up a stone from the ground and waited. Just as the lizard started to growl, he threw the rock. The lizard whirled on him and spat flame.

“Ri’u’po!”

Robbed of heat, the flame died and Dwayne’s leather jerkin was sprayed with a noxious chemical. As he crinkled his nose in disgust and tried to wipe it away, the lizard blinked and reposition. It had started to growl again when Li pinned it to the tree with his sword. The creature screeched, its tail knocking Li toward Mei, who dodged her flailing brother, collected her knives, and drove both of them into the creature’s head. When it stopped twitching, the four looked at what they had wrought as Nathan and Sir Marcus came running after them.

“What happened?” asked Marcus.

Nathan glanced at Dwayne and Magdala and sneered.

“Were you helping milady walk?” he asked.

Dwayne and Magdala realized that they were clinging to each other and separated.

“Looks like we got a dragon,” said Marcus. “Let’s go home.”

“Did you? Excellent!”

Lord Kalan came bounding through the forest. He inspected the carcass and then his shoulders drooped.

“No, not acceptable,” he said. “I’m guessing my apprentice was able to neutralize its flame quite easily. Judging from the damage to the trees, this youngling had hardly more magical power than a child. There’s no magic in its scales or its claws. This is useless.”

Everyone groaned. Canceling his spells, Dwayne sat down and processed what had happened. Lord Kalan walked over to them.

“Magdala, what were you doing out here?” he asked. Magdala grimaced.

“I just wanted to do something,” she said. “If I had to catalogue one more herb…”

“Well I can understand that, but the pursuit of magic is mostly satisfying, not thrilling.”

“That’s a hard sell.”

“So did you try the heat spell?” Lord Kalan asked Dwayne. “I thought that should work.”

Dwayne glared at his master.

“You knew,” he said.

“Of course I knew,” said Lord Kalan. “I’ve seen the spell done before.”

Dwayne groaned.

***

That afternoon Mei investigated the fire lizard’s body after dragging it back to camp and placing it next to her sleeping pack. The creature’s skin was scaly as expected, but it was also surprisingly bumpy, unlike snakeskin, which was smooth. There was also a thick ridge that ran along the lizard’s back from head to tail, which looked like it was starting to harden particularly along the tail. Unlike a lizard, it didn’t show any signs of being able to lose its tail, but it did have bite marks all along it. The skin was dented, but not broken or scarred, giving Mei the image of play rather than combat. The creature’s teeth were sharp and curved, perfect for gripping and ripping flesh. Inside those jaws was a surprisingly deep mouth cavity. The tongue sat almost three inches below the teeth and showed no signs of ever being burnt.

Mei found what she was looking for at the back of the creature’s mouth: a hole that had the same liquid dripping out of it that Dwayne was currently washing out of his clothes. She slid her knife into the hole, got some of the liquid on it and then dipped the blade into the breakfast fire. It burned merrily. She turned to Maggie, who had been watching her work the whole time.

“Can you get more?” asked Maggie, taking the knife from Mei. Taking the knife, she sang “nQeuom” softly under her breath. She blinked.

“This is firewater! I’d wondered where they’d gotten the formula,” she said. “They had to adjust it because some of these materials are probably impossible to find outside of a dragon’s stomach, but it’s pretty spot on. Did you find the igniter?”

Mei peered inside the jaw and shook her head.

“Nothing like flint or anything like that?”

Mei shook her head again. Magdala closed her eyes in thought.

“It growled every time it spat flame, right?” she asked. “What did it sound like?”

“Like it was using its nose to say Rrrria.”

Maggie stared at Mei, who blinked back. Then Maggie grinned.

“Dwayne!” she called. Dwayne stepped out of the forest, pulling on his shirt, which was still damp from the river.

“What is it?”

“Come here!”

Dwayne strode over, pulling Huan into his wake. When Dwayne sat between Magdala and Mei, Mei’s brother assessed the group, trying to figure out where he fit in. Finally, he sat down next to Mei, facing the two mages across the fire. Maggie turned back to Mei.

“Do it again,” she said.

“Rrrria.”

“What’s that?” asked Dwayne, leaning in.

“It’s what the lizard was growling,” said Maggie. “Doesn’t it sound like a spell?”

“It sounds like at least half of one,” said Dwayne. He picked up a stick from the ground and held it in front of him. “Ri’a.”

The stick sparked for a moment, leaving it smoking.

“Without an ending like tha or it, it fizzles,” he said.

“It’s more than enough to start a fire,” said Maggie. “This must be how dragons flame.”

Dwayne frowned and tested the end of the stick with his fingers.

“That wasn’t hot enough to take off a sheep’s head,” he said, wiping the charcoal off on his pants.

“It would blind its attacker and buy time,” said Mei. Huan’s mouth slid open, but the two mages both lit up.

“That’s why it was always going for the face,” said Maggie. “Maybe it could even use the flame as a mark to help with tracking. I know some students who would kill to study this thing.”

“Would your rich friends really risk their lives and come all the way out here?” asked Nathan, coming from the forest caring firewood. Maggie gave the boy a raised eyebrow.

“Would yours?” she asked. Nathan blinked.

“Well, of course,” he said. “They’re all in training to be knights. I mean it’s not like it’s hard to be a mage. All you have to do is read books and say the magic words.”

“If only,” said Dwayne, standing up.

“What was that? You should speak up when talking to people.”

Dwayne turned and started to walk away.

“Going to cry to your master?” asked Nathan.

From her experience hunting, Mei knew that animals trapped in a corner were at their most dangerous. Even docile creatures will scratch, bite, and claw to gain just the hope of freedom. Dwayne stood still, his fists clenched, his breath slow. Before the kota-skinned boy could turn around, Huan stepped between him and Nathan, a poor imitation of Tiger’s growl rumbling in his throat.

“I suggest we get ready for tomorrow,” he said. Nathan turned to Mei’s brother, whom he had a few dowirs of height over.

“Yes, let’s do that,” he said. “It’ll be another useless day looking for dragons.”

“No it won’t,” Mei said. “We’ll find one tomorrow.”

They all looked to her.

“What? How?” asked Maggie.

“They hunt in the morning in the mountain’s shadow so that their prey won’t see them coming from the sky. They fly over, burn off the head for the kill and then roast the body for the young. I can take one down as it dives in.”

“With what, your knife?” asked Nathan.

“We need to up the odds,” Maggie said. She turned to Mei. “You make your own projectiles, right?”

“Bullets. Yes.”

“Show me how. Dwayne, practice that spell. Nathan, tell Sir Marcus we’ll be fighting a dragon tomorrow.”

***

The next morning was quiet and cool, and the birds hadn’t woken yet to fill the sky with song. A slight wind blew in from the north, rustling the tree leaves and shaking the dull green of the forest. Perched high in a doak tree, Mei listened, watched and waited. To the south she could see the walls of Ti Mei, the stone slab on the Souran side and the intricate craving on the Tuqu side. To the north she saw a gray hazy hill almost a dozen wir away. From her perch in the tree, Mei could see where the dragon would likely strike first. The forest cover was dotted with large clearings and lakes, places that a flying dragon could find prey. And if it was working with its young, then there was just one thing that had to happen.

The pained screech of a deer shattered the morning quiet, likely as the young dragon flung fire into its face. Mei readied her rifle, sighting along its length at the hazy hill to the north. Her foresight was rewarded with a mottled green and brown creature swooping out of the mist and making a beeline for a clearing. It swung low and surveyed the edges of the forest. As it searched for prey, Mei aimed, taking note of how the trees bent in the wind, the dragon’s speed and direction, and even how cold it was. She took a breath, held it, and fired.

The dragon kept flying, kept searching.

Quickly she loaded the rifle again, this time with Maggie’s pointed steel bullets she’d forged last night. The dragon had circled around, flying upwind as it tracked the deer below. Changing her calculations, Mei adjusted. She took a breath, held it, and fired.

This time the dragon flinched, screeching as it pulled up from its swoop. Her third to last bullet hit the same spot on the dragon’s shoulder, right where the wing met the body. The dragon reeled in the air, dropping a half dozen wir before righting itself and gaining altitude, its yellow eyes scanning the forest. That was bad. Most animals just ran from pain, but this dragon had already guessed where the attacks were coming from.

Mei pulled her second to last steel bullet out of her pocket, one laced with a powerful tranquilizer that Maggie had distilled with Dwayne’s help over the course of hours. The dragon was heading in her direction, and then it looked up and saw Mei in the tree. Right as the dragon’s maw opened, Mei fired. The dragon paused and then tumbled into the forest below, its fall accompanied by the crack of breaking branches. Mei sent up a flare, clambered down the tree, and hit the ground running, only pausing to load her last bullet into her rifle. Deer and rabbits were already fleeing the area, abandoning stealth to get away from the great wounded beast at their backs. Occasionally Mei caught flashes of flame as the young dragons pursued.

As a grin formed on her face, Mei dashed forward, reveling in the moment of the hunt. She found the clearing the dragon’s body had made and saw Maggie taking cover behind a tree. Nathan and Huan had already engaged the dragon with the knight’s help, attacking it with swords while the knight kept the dragon distracted. Dwayne had taken cover on the other side of the clearing, waiting for his chance. But there was one person missing. Maggie caught the look on Mei’s face.

“My uncle apparently sleeps like a rock,” she said. “You sent the flare up before we could wake him.”

Mei took aim. The dragon coughed and the green and brown scales shifted to steel gray. Mei fired. The bullet rebounded off the dragon’s skin.

“Oh dear,” said Maggie. The dragon’s right wing was limp, but the rest of the dragon was ready to fight. It growled as it tracked Marcus.

“Ri’u’po!”

The dragon’s spit splashed right next to Marcus as he dove out of the way. Undeterred, the dragon charged at the knight, jaws wide open, but Tiger jumped in and stabbed it in the gums with Huan’s sword. As the dragon wailed in pain, Tiger dodged its flailing claws and darted back into cover. Recovering, the dragon’s eyes found Nathan trying to sneak around it. It growled.

“Ri’u’po!”

Again Dwayne’s spell took away the flame, but the dragon’s spit still hit Nathan, nearly drowning him in the stuff. Mei loaded one of her usual bullets and took aim at the dragon’s all too intelligent right eye. Her shot caused the dragon to reel again.

“Okay, so it can strengthen its skin,” said Maggie. “That’ll make it harder to— Dwayne, run!”

The dragon pounced, trying to get to Dwayne, but the knight tackled the fire mage out of the way. The dragon, unable to stop itself, went careening into the edge of the clearing, smashing a few trees on the way. It picked itself back up and looked around and saw Mei and Maggie.

“Run.”

Mei grabbed Maggie’s hand and pulled her deeper into the forest as the dragon growled and then spat, engulfing their cover in flames. Apparently satisfied, the dragon roared, its voice shaking the air. Mei and Maggie looked at each other.

“Reinforcements?” Maggie asked.

Mei nodded. They ran back to the clearing, circling around the fire.

“We have to get out of here!” shouted Maggie. “It’s calling for more support!”

Mei loaded her rifle.

“It can’t be that smart!” said Nathan. “We can take it down.”

Tiger was already rushing in, dodging flame and claw as he closed in on the dragon. When he was just within reach of the dragon’s jaws, the dragon scooped up a mountain of earth and threw it at him, burying Tiger in a deluge of soil. Before the dragon could finish him off, Mei shot its eye again. While the dragon wailed, Marcus managed to pull Huan out of the ground and carry his unconscious body to Mei. took note of the fact that he was still breathing and kept her eye on the dragon.

“We should retreat,” Marcus said.

“I don’t think it’ll let us,” said Maggie. The dragon recovered and started to run at them. It growled.

“Shit!”

“Ri’u’po!”

Dwayne’s spell missed as the dragon’s fire arced and landed behind them, setting the forest ablaze. The dragon followed up by kindling the rest of the clearing, trapping all in a cage of fire.

“Dwayne, can you put out the flame?” shouted Maggie.

“I-I can try!”

“Nathan, help Sir Marcus with Li. Mei, can you distract it again?”

Mei raised her rifle and took aim. As if in response, the dragon grabbed a chunk of earth and threw it at them.

“Look out!”

Maggie pushed Mei and Dwayne out of the way, causing Mei’s shot to miss and Dwayne’s spell to fizzle as they landed. Mei got to her feet, but she saw that the dragon was watching both her and Dwayne, and it intended to keep them here until reinforcements arrived. There was no way out.

***

Magdala’s ears rang. Wherever she was, it was dark and smelled like burning wood and it was slowing the effort to get her bearings. They were fighting a dragon, a creature that could apparently breathe fire and form plans. It could also do something that bothered Dwayne, something that it was holding back. And they were trapped. And she was buried under a pile of dirt. This had been a bad idea.

A rough gauntleted hand grabbed her shoulder and hauled her out of the dirt. Sir Marcus stood her up and looked her over.

“Are you hurt, milady?” he asked. Magdala shook dirt and ash out of her hair.

“I don’t think so,” she said. Before she could say more, Marcus pulled her out of the way of another pile of dirt.

“It’s not breathing fire anymore,” said Sir Marcus. “It knows something is up with Mei and Bart’s apprentice.”

“No one told us that dragons were smart. It’s like it knows that Dwayne can stop its fire,” said Magdala, looking around. They needed to extinguish the flames behind them so they could run. “Dwayne, try to— duck!”

Hearing her warning, Dwayne hit the ground just as the dragon tossed another huge clump of dirt at him. He stood up, nodded to Magdala, and turned to the fire behind them.

“Marcus, Nathan, guard him!” commanded Magdala.

Nathan scoffed.

“Why are you giving—”

“Just do it, lad!” shouted Sir Marcus.

The knight and his squire stood behind Dwayne, put their shields up, and braced themselves. When the mass of earth hit, they both got pushed back a wir. Through all that and with dirt and cinders flying around him, Dwayne raised his voice in song.

“RI’U’PO!”

His spell sucked all the flames up into the sky at once, leaving a smoking pile of blackened trees and brush.

“Run!” shouted Magdala.

“RIIMMMWWWEEEEUUUU!”

Someone tackled Magdala as the world became light, heat, and thunder. When her sight cleared, Mei and Magdala stood up and saw that a tunnel had been bored into the forest, one that led all the way to the eastern mountains.

“Is everyone all right?” asked Magdala.

“Sir! Sir! Your arm!”

Marcus was lying on the edge of the path of doom, and his arm had been neatly cut by the flame. Tears cutting trails down the dirt on his face, Nathan pulled him deeper into the forest and away from the dragon. Maggie ran to them.

“By the cup, are you okay?” asked Magdala. Marcus gave a smirk.

“Yes, milady, I’m just fine. Dragon had the decency to cauterize the wound.”

“We have to get out of here!”

“It’s about to do it again!”

“There are more dragons on the horizon.”

Magdala saw Dwayne walk back out into the clearing. The dragon, looking winded, regarded him cautiously.

“Dwayne, we need to—”

“That spell didn’t have an ending suffix,” Dwayne said. “That’s how mages keep from expending all our magic in one go. It’s probably why it didn’t do that spell right at the start, but it’s desperate now.”

The dragon growled and spat, blocking them with flame. The dragon then started to take a deep breath.

“Dwayne!”

“RII—”

The dragon wailed as Li, still wearing that ridiculous mask, drove his sword deep into its eye. As Li fled back into the forest, Magdala grabbed Dwayne and tried to pull away from the dragon.

“That spell won’t work,” she said.

“It has to work,” said Dwayne.

“You’ll just concentrate all that energy in one place. It’ll explode in our faces.”

“If only I could just redirect the—”

Dwayne’s book sang. Both mages stared at it.

“What was that?” asked Magdala. Dwayne placed his hand on the book’s cover and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he grinned.

“Okay, this’ll work.”

He held his hand out.

“Maggie, run,” he said.

“What are you going to do?”

Dwayne’s grin grew wider.

“I’m going to do some magic. Run!”

Magdala ran back to where Mei and the others were trying to find a way past the flames.

“Time to go,” she said. “I think we can—”

“What’s he going to do?” asked Nathan.

“Give us time to run. Li, help Nathan douse those flames so we can get out of here. Mei, if we run into the forest, will those dragons find us?”

“No.”

“Good, let’s get Sir Marcus to safety.”

As the others worked, Magdala stayed behind to watch Dwayne. The dragon, now recovered, saw them trying to escape and took another deep breath, but Dwayne started first.

“RI’MUN’UI’PO!”

“RIIMMMWWWEEEEUUUU!”

A column of white light hit the air right in front of Dwayne and bounced back at the dragon, which dove out of the way of its own attack.

Magdala cheered.

Dwayne collapsed.

Crying out, Magdala ran to her lord uncle’s apprentice, finding him still breathing but unconscious. Judging from the slight shake and the pain crossing his face, Magdala guessed he was in thaumaturgical shock. She looked up and saw the dragon pick itself up.

“Crap crap crap crap crap!”

Magdala tried to drag Dwayne’s body, but he was so heavy. She only got a few feet before the dragon reached them and raised its claw to smash them.

“Qeueke.”

Both Maggie and the dragon fell as the earth shook beneath their feet. Her uncle, unperturbed by his own spell, walked up next to them. He shook his head.

“You weren’t even close to getting what we needed,” he said. He pointed to the ground beneath the dragon. “Qeuiut.” The ground rose up and flipped the dragon onto its back.

“Why didn’t you wake up?” she asked. “Because of you, Sir Marcus is…”

“Qeueke.”

The dragon, stunned, fell down again. The steel color of its flesh faded back to mottled green as her uncle approached it with a knife. Deftly he cut off a few scales and then shaved off some of the dragon’s claw.

“Qeuiut.”

Beneath Magdala and Dwayne’s feet, the earth shook and rose into the sky, dribbling dirt and plant matter onto the dragon below. Both of them staggered as the earth pushed them higher and higher. Magdala was shocked. More than five wir across and ten wir tall, the amount of earth that her lord uncle was moving was massive, far more than she’d ever seen a Qe mage move.

They were lifted level with the others. Nathan and Mei were working to bandage Sir Marcus’s wounds while Li looked on. When Kalan rose up among them on a much smaller mass of earth, Nathan glared at him.

“You should have been here,” he said.

“You should have waited,” said Lord Kalan. “Come. We’re done here.”