Dragons flew overhead, each with a xiyi mounted on its back. The xiyi pulled on ropes attached to their mounts’ heads, and the dragons dove, using claws, teeth, and occasional bursts of fiery breath to drive back the humans who were assaulting the few remaining xiyi on the ground.

The black-scaled leader was back on his feet, and he was no longer making any attempt to appear conciliatory or reasonable. His teeth were bared, claws stabbing at the air as he sent bolt after bolt of power into the crowd of warriors.

Some of them fell beneath the onslaught, but many lifted mana-filled shields to block the attacks. Their forward progress was broken, but they’d reached the edges of the stadium crowd, who were fleeing as quickly as possible while the human warriors provided protection.

“We have to help,” Bella said, leaning over the now-cracked and broken wall that had protected her and the other human females from discovery. Bella was simply carrying Harper by now, and the two females looked very odd with the taller one resting on the shorter one’s broad shoulder.

“We can’t,” Eve said with unusual solemnity, “at least not while that-”

They all staggered as the roar reached them. It was stronger sometimes than others, which Kaz assumed was related to Jianying’s distance from them. This was one of the weaker ones, and while most of the human spectators dropped beneath it, none of the grimly determined warriors did.

“Yes, that,” Eve growled as she straightened her knees. “Without Harper’s music, we’re not strong enough to handle that. I see several merc groups, including the Adamant Reach and the Order of Brass, down there. Once they have all the civilians out, they’ll be able to let loose and tear those monsters apart.”

The roar reached them again, closer this time, and Eve allowed herself to fall to one knee while Bella’s face turned crimson beneath the effort of remaining upright. She managed, though she was trembling as the sound receded, and sweat stuck tendrils of her hair to her face and neck.

“That’s a dragon’s roar,” Kyla offered. She was still able to hold off the worst of the roar’s effects by flaring her shield, but Kaz could tell that her dantians were almost drained. It would be better for her to save her energy and yield like Eve, but his cousin had as much stubborn pride as Bella. Oddly, Mei seemed almost completely unaffected, even though she was ranging far beyond the protection of Kyla’s shield.

Bella gave Kyla a disdainful glare, but Eve stood up between them, brushing off her knees as she said, “Yep, that’s what we figured. The big black one, right? I thought Kaz killed it, though.”

Kaz shook his head. “That was just an illusion.” He frowned down at the leader of the xiyi, who still threw ki bolts as if he would never run out of power. “I thought Jianying himself was controlling it, but after seeing that xiyi fall when it was destroyed, I’m not so sure.”

Was Jianying the leader of the xiyi or was he just another victim? He’d certainly seemed intelligent enough when he fought Qiangde. Had the xiyi tricked him into helping them, and only then done whatever they did to limit him as well as the other dragons? But Snen had said ‘great Jianying commanded’ them to use the fangqiu. A mere beast didn’t give commands, did he?

Kaz’s gaze focused on the reptilian forms down below. Either way, it seemed like stopping that black-scaled xiyi would be necessary. Feeling his determination, Li shifted beside him.

she told him.

Kaz shook his head, looking back toward the human defenders. In spite of the attacks of the dragons, they had managed to get most of the weakest humans out of the way. He could still see some noncombatants clinging fearfully to the far walls, but if they wouldn’t come closer, there was nothing to be done about it.

He was right and Li knew it, which only made her unhappier.

she insisted, and he could hear from the stubborn tone of her voice that he wouldn’t be able to convince her.

With a small sigh, Kaz looked over at the females just as another roar hit. This was the closest yet, and both Eve and Bella’s knees impacted the ground with painful-sounding cracks. Kyla’s shield finally gave way, and his cousin went down, too, though she bared her teeth and barked at the air furiously as she did so.

So far as he could see, only Kaz, Li, and some of the human warriors remained standing. Most of the warriors who went down did so like Eve, yielding so they wouldn’t be forced down, straining themselves in resisting the irresistible. A few lurched and then broke, creating gaps in the line of defense.

The dragons overhead - or rather their riders - immediately took advantage of these holes. Several dragons landed for the first time, swinging barbed tails into exposed sides, while claws hauled fallen warriors into reach of gaping jaws.

“That’s it,” Bella muttered, passing Harper to Eve as she stood again. She was obviously in pain, but equally obviously wasn’t going to let that stop her.

Eve accepted the bard, but caught Bella's arm. Her usually cheerful demeanor was almost angry as she glared at her friend. “You’re a weakness, Bell, and you know it.” Eve pointed down to where the humans were struggling to recover. “You’d be one of those on the ground right now. Wait, and help when you’ll manage to do something other than get yourself killed.”

“And when will that be?” Bella spat. “When our city is under the control of dragons and lizards?”

Kaz had had enough of the pointless argument, so he ignored them, turning to his cousin. “Wait here,” he told her, though there was a questioning note to his voice that he hadn’t meant to be there. She was young, and his cousin, but with her teeth bared and her shortened fur, she looked very much like Katri when his sister was angry.

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Also like Katri, she started to ignore him, but then her ears lowered and she glanced sidelong at Eve and Bella, who were still bickering. Did she see herself in them? Which one would she identify with more?

“All right,” she said softly. “But only until the big one is dead. They hurt and trapped Raff, and almost killed you.”

Kaz chuffed a laugh. To be fair, he’d almost killed himself. Again. He didn’t think that would happen any more, though. Leaning forward, he touched his nose to hers for a brief moment. “Be safe,” he told her.

“You, too,” she said, and Kaz turned, vaulting over the wall.

Li came with him, concealing them both as they dropped to the top of one of the many fallen chunks of wall. The fall was still almost twenty feet, but Kaz barely even noticed as he slid down the back side of the pile of rubble, starting a small rockslide that didn’t even come close to tripping him up.

Kaz warned her.

Li muttered. She sent an image of herself, dropping out of empty air to bite off the xiyi leader’s head in one massive chomp. She wasn’t quite large enough to actually do that yet, but Kaz didn’t say so.

he told her instead, wishing he was as confident as he sounded. He felt like his ki had some new depth to it, a connection to something greater than himself that hadn’t been there before, but he had no idea how to use it. Which was nothing new, really. It seemed like he’d spent his entire life stumbling around in the dark until he met Lianhua and the others, and they gave him a spark to light the firemoss he’d been holding all along.

Crouching, Kaz crept around the side of the rubble pile, briefly noting that at least a few humans had either been killed by the falling bricks, or had died before the wall blew up. He felt genuine sorrow for them, just as he would have if the broken shapes had belonged to kobolds, and hoped that someone would be able to howl them to their ancestors. No matter what body they wore, they were people, and they deserved to be mourned.

The human warriors had managed to rally, and from the distant sound of hooves, it sounded like they might even get reinforcements soon. Still, many of them were injured, and they were defending, no longer even trying to move forward. That allowed the xiyi to rally in turn, and with their dragons, they were clearly readying a new assault.

And then Jianying - the real Jianying - swooped by overhead, still chasing the far-smaller brown dragon. Because Snen’s coloring so perfectly matched his dragon, Kaz couldn’t see if the xiyi still sat atop the brown dragon, but it was obvious the creature was tiring. Frankly, it was amazing it had lasted so long, given how hard it had to be to stay ahead of a dragon at least four times as large as itself. It must have led the new dragon emperor a merry chase.

That chase was over now, however, as the brown dragon dove abruptly, heading straight for the other beasts already on the ground. As it did, Kaz could finally make out a smaller figure mounted on its back, and Snen seemed to be desperately trying to pull his dragon up again. The xiyi was leaning back, hauling on two ropes that led to the brown dragon’s head, much like the reins humans put on horses.

His dragon seemed to have no interest in obeying, however. Its instincts were in charge, and it sought safety with the other dragons. It landed, stumbling forward awkwardly before crumpling into a heap, panting so loudly Kaz could hear it even from where he stood, caught up by the sight.

He wasn’t alone, either. Almost everyone, both human and xiyi, had stopped to watch the end of the pursuit. Overhead, Jianying swept his wings back, and a cloud of dust rose from the field, surrounding them all.

Yells came, and through the brown haze, Kaz saw a few lights wink out. Two were filled with mana, humans who had dropped their guard to watch what was happening above them, but the last was a xiyi. Another, particularly dense, cloud of mana moved through the battlefield, using the cover of the dust to approach the xiyi leader.

Unfortunately, that leader wasn’t among those who had lowered his guard. A ki-bolt burned Kaz’s eyes, and the mana jerked backwards, then began to fade. Kaz clenched his teeth at the futility of it, but that unknown human had had the right idea. The air was already beginning to clear and weapons were being lifted again, but this was the time to act.

The question was, what action should he take? Only a short while before, the answer was obvious, but Snen’s arrival had changed that. Kaz could see the other male’s familiar ki on the ground beside his dragon, unmoving. Had he been injured in that last tumble, or had he chosen to stay with his dragon? Snen clearly considered the brown dragon almost as precious as Kaz considered Li, and Kaz didn’t think the xiyi would abandon the beast while he believed there was any hope to save it.

Kaz’s eyes flickered between the two clumps of ki, the leader and Snen, and came to a decision. The air was clearing, so Kaz ran, keeping down so he was hidden within the lingering cloud. He had to close his eyes against the dirt, but at the moment he could see as clearly with them shut as he could when they were open.

When he reached Snen’s side, Kaz crouched, running his hands over the xiyi’s body. One leg was pinned beneath the dragon, but that didn’t stop the male from biting at Kaz. “Get back,” the xiyi gasped. “I’ll kill you!”

Kaz’s hand darted out, and he grabbed the dragon-kobold’s short muzzle as it snapped toward him, holding it closed for a moment. He didn’t want to change to his kobold form right now, not when he was about to be revealed to the desperate humans who were fighting to hold back the invaders. Looking like one of the ‘monsters’ would not be wise, and Kaz was trying to learn some wisdom at last.

“It’s Kaz,” he said softly, releasing his grip. “The kobold from-”

“I know the name,” Snen said just as softly. “But you are no kobold.”

Kaz could have laughed, but he didn’t, choosing instead to say, “I am kobold as much as I’m anything. But I am that Kaz, no matter how I look.” Reaching down, he pushed blue ki into the form of the exhausted dragon, which gave an almost confused-sounding groan and shifted. Kaz was just glad it didn’t try to bite at him like Snen had, because catching its snout would have been much more difficult.

As the dragon moved, Kaz pulled on Snen, and the xiyi tugged his leg free with a pained hiss. Kaz could see the damaged flow of ki in the limb, but it wasn’t blocked or broken, so he thought the injury wasn’t too bad. Still, he reached down and let more blue ki flow into the leg, finding that it was much easier to do so than it ever had been before. Was that because he’d accepted his power on a deeper level than he used to, or because he had shifted the balance of his own ki?

“We have to go,” Kaz said. “Both sides will probably consider you an enemy now.”

Snen managed to get to his feet, but rather than following Kaz, he leaned over his dragon, stroking the beast’s neck comfortingly. “They may,” he agreed, that strange calmness in his voice again, “but I will die with my xiongdi, as a hunter should.”

Kaz felt a surge of frustration, but there was no time left to argue. The dust had settled around them, and everyone, from human warrior, to xiyi mage, to dragon-beast, was staring at them.