As soon as the rune-stone began to move, the xiyi closed its eyes, body tensed as it waited for something. Something that apparently didn’t come, because as the stone melted into bloody paste on the floor where Kaz dropped it, the yellow eyes opened again.
“What happened?” it asked, voice trembling.
Cautiously, Kaz released the reptilian being, stepping back to stand by his cousin. Kyla still held her shield, but she looked almost confused at the sudden turn of events. Mei poked her nose in by Chi Yincang’s feet, then scampered to her kobold. This left only Li still perched atop the supine xiyi.
Bulging eyes shifted from the dragon, locking onto the bright-furred fuergar, and widened. “You!” it gasped. “How are you here?” The abrupt question startled everyone except for the rodent, who licked her paws and began to clean her whiskers, apparently unconcerned now that the fighting was over.
Li stretched out her neck, staring down at her prisoner. The picture of the slender dragon pinning a muscular reptilian at least four times her size would have amused Kaz if he hadn’t been worried that the xiyi might still attempt to escape and injure Li in the process.
Kaz repeated the question, even as his ears twisted, registering the approach of more feet outside the building. He didn’t hear claws scraping on stone, so hopefully that was the human females. Chi Yincang remained stoic, so he at least didn’t think there was any threat to Lianhua or his sister, which meant Kaz didn’t need to worry either.
One clawed finger pointed toward the fuergar, who sat beside Kyla’s paws, protected by the kobold’s shield. “It is the rodent’s fault I’m here,” the xiyi said, sounding indignant. “When it escaped, I was reduced from hunter to guard. Guard what? A cavern full of frightened humans?”
It seemed willing enough to speak, and with wounds still oozing blood and a dislocated shoulder, Kaz didn’t think it could get past him, much less Chi Yincang, who still filled the doorway. Reaching out, Kaz plucked his dragon from the xiyi’s chest, ignoring the angry muttering and snapping of sharp teeth in his general direction. No doubt she would chastise him for that later, anyway.
Once Li was wrapped around his shoulders and back, Kaz crouched next to the xiyi. “I’m Kaz,” he told it. “My dragon is Li, and these are Kyla and Mei.” For now, he didn’t introduce the human staring at them impassively. Chi Yincang was almost more frightening without a name.
Reptilian eyes flickered to each person as Kaz pointed to them, and the xiyi said, “Snengriak. Snen. How did you remove the duqiu without killing me?”
Kaz shrugged. “I just took it out.”
Snen snorted. “And it should have killed me. The moment a duqiu begins to leave the body, it releases its poison, killing the bearer. There is no way to avoid this fate.” It rolled to one side, eyes fixed on Kaz. “Tell me, and I will help you with whatever foolhardy mission you are attempting.”
Kaz tapped a claw on the stone beneath them. “Swear that you won’t attempt to escape or let others know we’re here, and I will. After we’re done.”
The xiyi shook its head. “If there is a way, I must let my people know. My death would mean a lost opportunity. Tell me now, so that I may speak to another xiyi I trust, and I will ensure your success, or die trying.”
Kaz stilled. “Why?”
Snen opened its mouth as if to reply, then shook its head. Its face wasn’t as flexible as a human’s, and it didn’t have mobile ears, but Kaz knew Li well enough to recognize uncertainty, however rarely the dragon allowed herself to show such an emotion. “I’ll explain later, if you still desire to know. Please. Another xiyi will be here soon, so I can go eat.”
That wasn’t the answer Kaz wanted. Somehow, he had a feeling that if he understood why the xiyi behaved as they did, many other things would begin to make sense. Still, Snen was right. They’d allowed themselves to be distracted for far too long. They were here… Well, they were here to get away from masked warriors who might also be xiyi, or might be some of their human hirelings. But now they also needed to rescue Raff, and possibly other humans as well. Which reminded him of another question he needed to ask.
“I’ll tell you,” he promised, extending a hand to help the xiyi up. “But do you know of any other humans here? Besides the ones who were loading the carts and making medicine?”
Snen gave a raspy, hissing laugh as it clasped Kaz’s forearm. “The human royals? Yes, though they won’t be easy to free, if that’s what you’re here for. There are a great number of guards surrounding them.” Yellow eyes flickered to Li, though the xiyi didn’t say anything about her. Kaz would have to ask about that as well, but not now.
“Hold still,” Kaz said, then pushed and twisted the xiyi’s other arm, popping the shoulder back into place. He briefly flooded the arm with ki, watching as the flow of ki passing through the channels in the arm returned to normal. If the xiyi was an ally, provisional or otherwise, it would be better if it wasn’t in constant pain. The ki would help close the gouges left by Kaz and Li’s claws and teeth, as well.
A single long hiss escaped Snen, but it just watched Kaz as he pulled it to its feet. Together, they moved past Kyla, who had finally lowered her shield, though she didn’t look particularly happy about it. Her ki was starting to show the drain, however, so it was good that she rested for a while. Chi Yincang stepped back out of the way, revealing a ring of faces, all of them staring straight up.
Kaz followed their gazes, seeing that every single one of the dragons was now staring down into the cavern, their eyes fixed and hungry. They watched the figures below like Kyla watched the minnows she so loved to hunt.
Stolen novel; please report.
Snen stopped at the sight, and turned to Chi Yincang. The xiyi’s voice was low and urgent as it held out its hand, saying, “Give me my whistle.”
Chi Yincang actually hesitated for a moment before throwing the object Kaz had taken from around Snen’s neck. Rather than tossing it directly to the xiyi, however, he sent it to Kaz. The message was clear. Whatever happened next, it was Kaz’s responsibility.
Li rubbed her head against his jaw, her first action since Kaz pulled her off of Snen. Kaz could feel the conflict inside her. Not that long ago, she had advocated killing all of the xiyi, blaming them for the way the other dragons had deteriorated, but after their conversation about the consequences of their actions and meeting this surprisingly reasonable creature, she was torn.
Snen lifted it to his mouth. His lips weren’t very flexible, so rather than blowing directly into it as Kaz had expected, he blew across the top, releasing an eerie hollow note that seemed to echo in the vast cavern. The dragons all jerked at the sound, some hissing audibly, while others gave grumbling roars. Another burst of sound had them all slinking back into their dens. All but one.
The xiyi stared up at a dragon with scales the color of bronze, quite similar to his own mottled brown scales. This dragon was smaller than many of the others, but there was something about the way it held its head, eyes bright and attentive, that made it seem more intelligent than most of its kin. Not on a level with Li, not by any means, but not a simple dumb beast, either.
“Stay, xiongdi,” Snen murmured. “I will come for you.” Dragon and xiyi stared at one another for a long moment, and then the dragon turned and laid down again.
After tying a new knot in the leather cord attached to the whistle, Snen slid it around his head again, settling it against his chest with a pat. Turning, he looked them all over, taking in the humans until his gaze caught on Reina’s pink hair. Slowly, the xiyi began to laugh, the throaty hissing sound oddly pleasant to Kaz’s ears.
“We sought the last of the human royals for weeks, and now she delivers herself and I can do nothing,” he finally managed, seeing Kaz’s confusion and the rising irritation on the others’ faces. Lianhua at least would have been able to hear what happened inside the building, and it seemed everyone knew Snen was now something like an accomplice, because no one tried to attack him for his words. Judging by the looks on Jinn and Reina’s faces, however, they would have liked to.
“So it was you people who’ve been after us,” Jinn said with a credible hiss of her own. “You nearly killed Reina!”
Snen shrugged, then winced as the motion pulled on his wounds. “That wasn’t the intention. We needed to create fuzhi of all those descended from the False Emperor. Great Jianying commanded it.”
“Fuzhi?” Lianhua asked. There was a crease between her brows, and her fingers were twitching, as if they would like to be writing down everything that was happening.
“Copies,” Snen said. “The fangqiu allows a shaman to copy the image of the human it’s placed in. The effectiveness varies, depending on how much of the False Emperor’s blood they bear.”
“What?”
The exclamation came from Lianhua, Reina, and Jinn all at once, though their expressions were entirely different. Lianhua seemed almost too excited to speak, while Reina was as pale as a patch of baimo, and Jinn actually looked even angrier.
“Who is this false emperor?” Reina asked faintly, and Kaz exchanged a look with Lianhua, anticipating the answer.
Snen’s mouth twisted as he said, “Qiangde. The dragon who spread his spawn over half the world, then used them to create…us.” He looked at Kaz and Kyla as he said this last, but only briefly.
“So the royal family of Holiander is also descended from the Diushi Emperor?” Lianhua demanded. “Was Qiangde also king of Holiander at some point? Was that before or after he created the Diushi Empire? Did they know they were part-dragon?”
“Xing-an,” Yingtao said gently, and Lianhua stopped, biting her lip.
“We need to go,” she said with clear reluctance.
“Yes.”
“But not all of us,” Kaz said, looking at the tunnel through which Raff had disappeared what seemed like days earlier, though he doubted it was more than two hours. “Snen, if the females hide in the large building, will whoever comes to replace you find them?”
Snen shook his head, glancing at Mei. “Chekdrusk was my hunting partner. He is very angry at losing his position, so he does little. He will sit here and wait until I return.”
Kaz turned and looked back at the building behind them. “You mean, in the building that’s covered in blood and smells of battle.”
The xiyi clicked his tongue. “Yes. We will have to subdue Chekdrusk. We cannot trust him. He was very close to earning a mate, and if he reported us, he could well earn back his position. He is-” Snen looked up, eyes lingering on the brown dragon. “Chekdrusk has a very narrow view of the world.”
“Should we kill him?” Chi Yincang asked.
Snen let out a hiss, shoulders slumping. “I do not hate him,” he said. “But I do not like him, either. Still, we fought side by side, and I would not see him killed. If you can subdue him, keep him unconscious or immobile for many hours, that would be best. If you truly wish to free the human nobles, you will have to kill many xiyi, and many dragons.”
Once again he looked at the brown dragon, who stared back at him, its chin resting on its crossed front paws, peering down over the edge of its den. “I will not aid you in those deaths, but I know they will be in part my responsibility. If you could spare me this one, I would be grateful.”
Turning to Chi Yincang, the xiyi bowed deeply, turning his head to expose his throat as he did so. Having such a long neck made this more effective than when a kobold did it, and Chi Yincang seemed thoughtful as he looked down on the submissive posture.
The cavern was quiet for a moment, only the sound of scales and talons rubbing against stone drifting down from overhead. Then Lianhua said, “No killing unless it’s necessary. Yingtao, can you knock out this Chekdrusk?” She did a better job of reproducing the rasp and hiss of the name than Kaz thought he could have.
Yingtao shook her head. “I have poisons and philtres that will work on every known race, but I have no idea what would happen if I used them on these xiyi. Are they cold-blooded? Egg laying? Mammals or reptiles? Do they have a fast or slow metabolism?”
If the female looked at Kaz like she was looking at Snen, Kaz would have been very uncomfortable. Yingtao seemed like she might cut open the xiyi in order to find out how his body worked.
This time it was Lianhua who cleared her throat and said, “Yingying.” And Yingtao looked away, not embarrassed, but yielding to Lianhua’s unspoken command.
Kyla had been drifting away from them, her eyes on the tunnel, clearly ready to move on. Mei had vanished again, and it took Kaz a moment to find her ki pattern, several feet into the darkness. Then the fuergar turned and came scampering back, and Kyla looked at them.
“Someone’s coming.”