Seeing that smile, Kaz felt a chill run down his spine, lifting his fur slightly. In that moment, he was absolutely, undeniably certain that his aunt knew exactly who he was, and she was delighted to see him, but not for any reason he would like.
Driven by impulse, Kaz turned to Lianhua. She was still chatting with Idla, but the Goldblade chief was distracted, looking around as if searching for someone or something. Her daughter was probably taking longer than she was comfortable with, but she couldn’t go to find out what was going on.
Kaz’s fist clenched at his side, and he could almost see and feel the shape of the rune he longed to draw. Ki seeped from him, driven by his agitation, and he felt a shaky but very real shroud fall over him, muffling Lianhua’s voice, since he was standing so close to her.
Surprised, she glanced over toward Kaz, then her brows drew in when she saw his half-folded ears and Li’s alert stance. “What happened?” she asked softly, leaning toward him so Idla might find it slightly less odd that she suddenly couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Kaz gritted his teeth, forcing himself not to look back toward Vega. “Do you trust me?” he asked in a rush, repeating the words he had used when they spoke in the mosui city. He was about to break a promise, and he needed her to understand.
Lianhua’s frown deepened. “What-?”
“Do. You. Trust. Me?” he asked again, staring into the confused amethyst eyes.
She swallowed hard, but her chin jerked, once, and Kaz felt his shoulders relax. “Then trust me,” he said, a demand, not a question, and she nodded again as he stepped back, relaxing his hand as he took hold of his ki, pulling it in.
“I’m going to go get something to eat,” Kaz said, stepping back before Idla could say anything about his rudeness, if she was inclined to do so. As Lianhua nodded for the last time, her face now a mask of affable agreement, Idla glanced to the side. He saw her gaze meet Berin’s, and Berin in turn motioned to a small group of her tribe members. They sank back into the crowd, and Kaz sighed as he did the same. This would have been easier if the Goldcoats hadn’t decided to join in, but he would make it work.
Kaz intentionally avoided looking at the Magmablades as he made his way over to where a group of males stood, either already eating or waiting for their own food. Kaz got in line behind the last one, who gave him a startled glance, but didn’t say anything. When it was Kaz’s turn, he accepted two skewers of cooked meat and mushrooms, and felt no shame in asking for another for Li. He had never seen so much food at one meal that wasn’t for a celebration of some kind. No one would go hungry because a hungry little dragon got to eat.
The female who was handing out food gave him another of those long, thoughtful looks he was quickly becoming accustomed to, and then gave him not one, but two more skewers. “You’re a growing pup, so eat well. When you come back, my daughter can get you another serving,” she said, glancing toward a young, yellow-furred female who was passing food out to a group of very young puppies.
Kaz felt his ears grow warm, but nodded and walked off, juggling the four steaming skewers. Fortunately, the skewers themselves weren’t made of metal, which would be difficult to hold onto when they were hot, so he tucked one between his belt and his loincloth, ignoring the grease, since he knew it wouldn’t soil the fuulong silk. He started to pull the first chunk of meat off another for Li, then just passed the whole skewer up to her. She was large enough now that she could handle it, if only barely, and she would enjoy tearing hunks away with her sharp teeth.
By the time he reached the edge of the crowd, deliberately heading away from Lianhua and the other humans, he had finished one skewer and was working on another. He hadn’t felt particularly hungry until the first droplets of savory grease coated his tongue, and then he found that he was ravenous, at least for these particular textures and flavors. Lianhua was right that the mosui, and as a result the husede, ate mostly bugs, mushrooms, and yumi, with little in the way of seasoning. Tasting the flavors of his childhood made him feel like he was starving for something more than simple sustenance.
He was distracted enough by his meal that he barely had to pretend not to notice the two groups of kobolds trailing him through the crowd. Honestly, the Goldcoats did a good job of mingling, thanks to the uniformity of the tribe’s fur colors, but no matter how the Magmablades skulked, they couldn’t really vanish completely.
When Kaz had nearly reached the wall, he paused, then glanced around, and as if driven by a whim, veered sharply to the right. This took him closer to the Goldcoats, who he was almost certain he could get rid of without the need for violence. Hopefully if he was firm enough, he could get past whatever they were planning, at least for now, but if he met the Magmablades first, the Goldcoats might ‘save’ him before he was ready.
There was a tunnel entrance ahead, and he ducked into it, pulling his pack off as he did so. After glancing around to be sure no one else could see him, he quickly shifted around his belongings, even going so far as to take his knife from his belt and tuck it away. Once he was satisfied, he slung his pack back on, and Li settled herself back atop of it.
That done, he removed the last skewer from where it was tucked into his belt and lifted it to his mouth. As he pulled away the top chunk of meat, which had the gamy, slightly sour flavor of janjio, he realized that the thing it had been spitted on wasn’t a carved and fire-treated sliver of bone, as he’d expected, but rather a thin, pointed yumi reed. That explained the hint of sweetness in the center of each bite, the flavor of the yumi leaching into the food, but he wasn’t sure how they kept the reed itself from burning.
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He was still examining the skewer when he ran into a female kobold, who yipped softly, falling back a step. Kaz looked up, blinking as if in surprise, even though he had sensed her coming several steps earlier. When he met her eyes, however, the pretense became reality.
Her eyes were blue. Not just blue, but nearly the same shade as his own. Even more shocking was the fact that her fur color was reminiscent of sugilite. Pink and purple mingled in an attractive medley, and long plumes of slightly lighter shades hung from her ears and luxurious tail. Kaz wasn’t certain if he had ever seen such a beautiful kobold before, and for a moment, he found himself utterly unable to speak.
Li nipped his ear sharply at the same moment that this vision said, “Oh! Excuse me!” Her eyes sparkled, and she didn’t look upset at all that a strange male had just bumped into her in a tunnel that was supposedly empty of anyone but the two of them. Again, the dragon bit Kaz, harder this time, and he quickly adjusted his thinking. There were supposedly only three of them in this tunnel, and Li very definitely did not like this purple-pink kobold and her shining eyes.
With a soft laugh, the new female pointed to Kaz’s half-eaten skewer, as well as the two empty reeds tucked under his belt. “I see you were hungry. I was just on my way to get some food myself. Would you care to join me?”
Her voice was a pleasantly husky growl, and for half a second, Kaz completely forgot that not only had he already eaten more than he probably should, but it was utterly inappropriate for a young female to invite a young male to eat with her. That was something that only happened when a female was…
His eyes widened, and he all but jumped backwards, almost missing Li’s sniff of vindication when Kaz finally put it together. He had honestly expected some kind of physical assault, attempting to carry him away as Oda had Ghazt so long ago. Clearly, the Goldcoats, or more likely the Goldblades, were more subtle. Though as Li pulled up the memory of Berin saying, So the illusion of freedom is all it takes to make it choose captivity? Kaz wasn’t so sure Idla was behind this ‘attack’.
Kaz cleared his throat, trying - and undoubtedly failing - to look dismissive. He bowed, male puppy to female of another tribe, and attempted to edge around the female. “As you see, I already ate,” he said, avoiding her eyes. Then he froze as she sidled closer and he got a nose full of a scent he had only smelled from a distance before.
Adult female kobolds went into heat once each year, and they knew when their time was drawing near. For one week, plus a few days before and after, they would retreat to a private hut, either alone or with their mate. There was no way a female so close to her time should be wandering around the den at all, much less be entirely unattended. The scent of her was something Kaz had honestly never expected to confront, and it was only when Li took command of his cycle and ruthlessly shut down every bit of ki going to his nose that he realized he had drifted far too close to her.
Thankfully, the moment the smell vanished, Kaz returned to what was left of his senses, and stepped to the side again. Ignoring the look of shock on the female kobold’s pretty face, Kaz pressed his back against the cold, rough stone of the wall and slid past her. Without another word, Kaz ran away.
Li filled his mind with images of an angry dragon wrapping her body around him protectively, hissing and snapping at anyone who drew near, including Lianhua and the rest of their group. Kaz tried to reassure her that he had no interest in taking a mate, not now, and possibly not ever, but somehow this didn’t seem to help at all, and invisible coils tightened as a very real tail threatened to choke him.
As a result, Kaz almost missed the three primarily red cores approaching him from right, left, and in front as he came to an intersection of tunnels. Fortunately, he saw them just as he was about to turn left, and instead continued on straight. He recognized the core coming from his left, which was moving noticeably more slowly than the other two, and he didn’t want to confront that one first.
Instead, he found himself face to face with his aunt Vega and three tall, red-furred warriors beside and in front of her. Another female, one he didn’t recognize, came from the right, and his young cousin Kyla appeared from the left-hand tunnel, reluctance visible in every step she took, though her face was carefully neutral.
As Kaz was surrounded by ten male and three female Magmablades, he did what he thought any puppy would do in his situation: he spun around, acting as if he intended to run back the way he had come. Pain burst through him as a low-powered ki bolt struck him in the back, and though he had been ready for it, he yelped at the shock. Staggering, he fell to one knee, his hand going to the wall as if he needed its support.
Li, who understood the plan, though she had made it very clear that she didn’t like it, scampered down his extended arm, dropping to the floor. She pressed herself against the wall, using her camouflage ability to hide in the shadows. There she froze, mostly covered by the arch of Kaz’s body as he allowed himself to topple over, wrapping his arms around his head and whimpering loudly.
“Ija!” A sharp voice barked, and through his arms, Kaz could see the unknown female hesitate as she started to approach. This female’s core held a strong, bright combination of red and yellow ki, rivaling even Vega’s, though Vega’s core was almost entirely red, with only faint glimmers of white, and, shockingly, blue ki.
“I just did as you commanded, Mother,” Ija replied, and though her voice was calm, Kaz could see the agitated churning of her cycle.
Vega gave another sharp little bark, and hands grasped Kaz’s wrists, pulling his arms down. They were surprisingly gentle, and though Kaz resisted enough to be convincing, he hoped, he soon found himself kneeling in front of the Magmablade chief.
Leaning forward, Vega stared into his eyes, her own cold and shrewd. For a moment, Kaz thought she might be able to tell that he was only pretending to be frightened, but then her hand came out, and she stroked his cheek as she spoke in a soft tone that sounded completely unnatural.
“There, little nephew. I never expected to see you again, but here you are. Just in time.”