The humans were not happy. When he arrived, Reina’s brother actually drew a mana-stick from a cylindrical sheath at his belt and cast some kind of spell at Mei. Kaz wiped it away with a flick of his fingers as Kyla dashed in, scooping up her fuergar and the remnants of the crown. A moment later, the crown struck the ground, causing a beautiful chime to echo out over the stadium. Whatever the metal was, it would make an excellent dinner bell.
Prince Lucas attempted another spell, and this time Kaz only dispersed most of its power before turning the rest of it back on him. He jumped, yelping loudly as his stick burst into flames, causing him to fling it away from him.
“What in the Gods’ names is going on here?” he shouted furiously. “That beast has destroyed the crown of Holiander, gifted to us by the founder of our great nation, and now the Wand of Gilthan has been destroyed? Guards! Seize them!”
The warriors in the matching armor went still, then drew their weapons, advancing toward Kaz, Kyla, Li, and Mei. They ignored Lianhua and the other humans, which was a definite mistake, judging by the way Lianhua’s mouth flattened and Yingtao’s hands plunged into her capacious sleeves. Even Chi Yincang’s ki brightened as the hidden male readied himself for battle.
It was Reina who stopped the advance, however, by the simple expedient of stepping directly in front of Kaz and saying, “No.” It was the first time Kaz had heard her speak with so much authority, and he blinked as he mentally reassessed the young female.
“Kaz and these others were as much a part of rescuing you and our parents as Lianhua. She was named a Friend of Holiander. Plus, Kaz killed the people who attacked the tournament when the combined might of the top guilds couldn’t. How are you going to explain imprisoning someone who should have been treated as a hero?” she asked.
Lucas seemed as surprised as Kaz, staring at his sister as if he’d never seen her before. “But that thing ate my crown!” he protested, pointing at Mei, who was busy cleaning her whiskers and appeared entirely unrepentant. Kaz knew the fuergar was smarter than others of her kind, and he suspected she even understood a good deal of what they said, so he doubted she was unaware of Lucas’ anger, or the reason for it.
Reina’s back stiffened. “It’s not your crown,” she said softly. “It’s only used for ceremonial purposes anyway. And you seem to forget that Father can still change his choice of heir.”
It was Lucas’ turn to freeze, giving his sister an incredulous glance. He took a step closer to Reina, lowering his voice as he said, “I’d be careful, Rei. What you just said could almost be mistaken as a threat.”
Silence stretched between the siblings as neither backed down. Reina’s shoulders were thrown back, and while Kaz couldn’t see her face, he suspected her expression was as stubborn as the ones his own sister used to give him when he suggested they avoid some unnecessarily dangerous activity.
“Well, look at that,” Raff said, causing both Reina and Lucas to jerk their heads around to stare at him. “The little rat got herself in trouble again, eh? Good thing she’s the only reason the whole royal family was rescued.”
He stepped over the broken wall blocking entry into the rectangular space, leaning over to pick up the remains of the crown. He flicked it with his fingernail twice, causing melodic chimes to shiver across Kaz’s skin, then looked at Prince Lucas.
“Nice to see you again, your Highness,” he said. “You probably don’t remember me. Name’s Grafton. I’m the youngest son of Duke Jost and Neris Khoros. When you were a boy who liked pulling the wings off dragonflies, I tossed you into the pond because you insisted you could swim as well as your little sister. Turns out that wasn’t true, though.”
Apparently Prince Lucas did remember Raff, because he paled slightly and took a half step back, giving his sister and those she was trying to protect some space. Raff tilted the crescent of crown toward Mei, who was now perched on Kyla’s shoulder.
“This, uh, fuergar was the one who discovered the xiyi base and led Lianhua and the others to it, or so I hear,” he said. Kaz and the others all nodded. “See, I was a prisoner myself at the time, but Mei made it possible for me to escape as well.” That was exaggerating a bit, but without Mei it would have been a lot more difficult, if not impossible, to communicate with Raff without alerting the xiyi.
“That means I owe my life to her,” Raff went on. “And so do you, all of our parents, and everyone else who was trapped down there, having our magic drained from us like milk from cows.” He tossed the half-crown to Lucas, who fumbled, barely managing to catch it. “So I don’t think a crown nobody ever even uses anymore is too much to pay for all that. Apparently the xiyi liked it better than the king does, anyway.”
By the time he finished, Raff’s father was standing behind him, rubbing his temples as if his head hurt. He didn’t say anything to counter his son’s speech, however, just exchanged a long-suffering look with Eugene.
“I- You-” Lucas spluttered. His fingers clenched around the crown, and he swept a glare over everyone assembled. Turning on his heel, he strode away, his departure somewhat marred by his clumsy clamber over the wall Raff had just stepped over.
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Raff shook his head, watching the prince go. “I never liked that one,” he muttered. “When he’s crowned, I suppose I’ll have to see if my sea sickness has gotten any better. Or maybe there’s a branch of the Adamant Reach in Cape Locke I can check out.”
Reina didn’t slump, but she looked like she’d like to as she stepped to the side. Her cheeks were as pink as her hair, and she couldn’t quite meet Raff’s eyes. “I may not be the strongest member of the royal family, but I won’t let my brother take revenge for your protecting me, Lord Grafton.” More softly, she went on, “And I remember the incident with the pond as well. I hadn’t realized that was you.”
Kaz didn’t think Raff had been protecting her so much as Mei, but if the princess wanted to see it that way, he wasn’t going to argue. He was just glad that the human prince had gone away. He reminded Kaz of Gaoda, but Kaz was now strong enough to do something about him. He didn’t think the humans would forgive the injury or death of a prince as easily as the destruction of a crown.
Raff was awkwardly trying to extricate himself from Reina, who had placed a hand on his forearm in a grip that the big male seemed utterly unable to do anything about. The two older men seemed amused by that for some reason, and the various guards were either looking away or trying to hide small smiles.
This left Kaz able to focus on his friends, and he turned to see that Lianhua was now gently stroking Mei, with that expression that said she was doing whatever she did to sense the rodent’s power. Her eyes brightened, and she gave Kaz a questioning look as he stepped closer. He responded with a small nod, then held up his hand, sketching the sound obscuration rune on his palm. He didn’t really need the rune any more, but as silence settled around them, it let everyone else in their group know that no one else could hear them.
“She has all five forms of ki now,” Kaz confirmed quietly.
Kyla’s tail began to wag, and she snuggled her fuergar close. “You’re so strong, Mei,” she said.
Kaz smiled, but he was a little sad. Would a Divine Beast really want to continue living with his little cousin? The fuergar seemed happy enough to remain with Kyla for now, but when Kyla returned to their mountain, would the rodent want to go? Kyla certainly couldn’t remain here, even if she wanted to. Her core hadn’t started to fade yet, but there were too many howls to be entirely wrong, plus Kaz had seen the dog-like kobolds who lived with the xiyi, so he knew living outside the mountain wasn’t safe, even for cored kobolds.
That was a worry for another time, however, so for now he simply said, “It’s probably best if no one else knows,” and everyone else nodded.
Li had been looking after Lucas and the remains of the crown, and now she said,
“I think it was orichalcum,” Kyla said. “It doesn’t form in the mountain, but sometimes traders would bring some, so each of the great tribes have a little. Only the greatest smith of each generation can work it, though. Did Li just speak?”
“I thought I heard her, too!” Lianhua yipped. A delighted smile split her face. “Say something else, Li!”
Li tilted her head, trying to look unaffected, though inside she was probably even more excited than the other two females.
Lianhua squealed, throwing her arms around Li’s neck again. “You can talk! Oh, I have so many questions about being a dragon! Kaz says you sometimes have an instinctive understanding of ki and other-”
Yingtao pulled her friend back just before Li’s teeth snapped closed right next to Lianhua’s ear. Kaz was almost certain those teeth wouldn’t actually have pierced the human’s skin, but not entirely. Judging by Yingtao’s narrowed eyes, she wasn’t either, and since Chi Yincang’s sister was significantly more dangerous than Lianhua, Kaz tried to distract them all.
Pulling the small book and pen Lianhua had given him before he descended into the xiyi cavern, Kaz drew the rune or runes that still blocked Intong’s upper dantian. As he’d hoped, Lianhua’s attention was instantly diverted, and she focused on the page.
“Is this the rune you want me to interpret?” she asked, tracing it with her fingertip. Every trace of the eager female had vanished, leaving the serious scholar with whom he was more familiar.
Kaz nodded. “Someone placed these runes inside the dantians of all of the dragons, or at least all the ones here.” He tapped his forehead to show her where the runes rested. “I don’t know if it happens when the dragons are in their eggs, or if they’re like this from the moment they’re laid, but since Li had them as well, I suspect it’s the latter.”
Lianhua bit her lip thoughtfully, taking Kaz’s pen without asking. With quick, sure strokes, she drew several more runes, then crossed them all out and drew more, all the while muttering beneath her breath. This went on as she filled one page after another, until she finally just sat down with a soft thump, laying the book in her lap as she continued to work.
Yingtao shook her head, smiling gently. “She’ll be like that until she either figures it out or I force her to eat and sleep. You might as well see what everyone else is doing.”
Kaz hesitated, then nodded, allowing the dome of ki surrounding them to fall. In spite of the fact that it was large enough to cover him, Li, Lianhua, Yingtao, Kyla, Mei, and the patch of ki that was Chi Yincang, he had been able to hold it in place using only the ki emerging from his core. His central dantian was already full beyond what it had been capable of holding before, and he thought that he probably didn’t actually need it any longer. Still, he continued filling it, out of habit as much as an excess of caution.
Kyla was watching over Lianhua’s shoulder, taking in the runes the human female was scrawling across the page. Mei crouched between Kyla’s paws, wary eyes taking in the humans moving around them. Raff was speaking to his father and Eugene, while Reina hovered nearby, watching him with huge blue eyes.
Forcing both feelings down, he gently stroked his dragon’s head and said, “Let’s go see.” Turning, he vaulted over the wall, heading back out of the seating area. Li followed, though once she reached the top of the low wall, she lifted into the air, gliding gracefully over the blood-stained earth, now that she wasn’t held down by Kaz’s weight.