The last building was slightly larger than the others. There were no guards left outside, and the only fighting Kaz could hear came from distant parts of the cavern. Had Chi Yincang, Yingtao, and Lianhua already killed all of the xiyi who were already here, and now they were fighting the ones who came to help? More importantly, what had the xiyi inside this building done in response to the attack?
When Kaz tried the door, it was still locked, or at least locked again. Had the guards abandoned their prisoners to help or run away, or were they waiting for someone like Kaz to enter?
“Step aside, kobold. This’s just like taking a pirate ship, and I’m an old hand at that,” Jinn’s mother said. She wore a grim smile, and motioned to the other humans she’d brought with her. Each of them held a weapon taken from one of the fallen guards, and they looked like they knew how to use them.
Kaz did as she said, and a foot flashed by him, the heel impacting the door right next to the handle. The female had no mana at the moment, but Kaz wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she was almost as strong as her son, in spite of her age. Door and frame both cracked, splinters flying in all directions as the door flew backwards. Someone inside gave a pained cry, and then the female was through, with her companions close on her heels.
He heard the snap of a bow string, and someone swore. Two particularly loud thumps reached his ear, and Li turned her head to look at him.
she told him. Her voice sounded tired. She had pushed herself hard, both in body and ki, and now she was injured as well. His friend needed to rest, and soon.
“Then let me see your wing,” he murmured, but she only tucked it tighter against her side. From the feeling that came through their bond, he didn’t think it was broken, but she had strained or pulled something.
He chuffed a laugh, but it wasn’t a bad idea. Both of their central dantians were all but empty, and they were running on what their cores were actually producing. If Li ate a crystal, both of them would benefit from the burst of ki.
Reaching into his pouch, Kaz pulled out the largest blue crystal he had. It had been too big for Li just a few molts ago, but now he thought she could handle it. She had managed to eat the crystal that had bound Fengji, after all, and that was larger than this. Plus, the blue ki had to be good for her injury. Li ate it greedily, and they both sighed in relief as warmth and a fresh surge of energy rose from her belly and began to enter their shared cycle.
Jinn’s mother stuck her head out of the door. She looked pleased, but grim at the same time. A spray of blood dyed part of her gray braids red. “I didn’t mean you had to stay out. We’re going to need some help carrying people over.” She looked down at him dubiously. “If you can, anyway.”
Kaz remembered Raff carrying two or even four kobolds at a time in the hidden Magmablade den. Kaz certainly couldn’t do that, but he was strong enough to help, so long as no one minded if their feet dragged. But why were they carrying anyone at all?
Kaz stepped through the door, and immediately stopped again, shocked by the sight. He’d expected the dead xiyi, though the former prisoners certainly hadn’t been gentle in the manner of death. But these humans were in much worse shape than any of the ones before.
So far as Kaz could tell, all of the prisoners were males, and, thankfully, adults. They all wore clothes that hung off of their bony frames, fat and muscle alike having melted away. Had they been here much longer than the others, or were they being treated poorly?
Looking around, he saw that there were beds, just as in the first building, but with thick blankets that looked soft and comfortable. Their clothes were over-sized but not dirty, torn, or stained. There were even plants that looked edible in a bowl nearby, ready to be eaten anytime the humans felt hungry. So far as Kaz could tell, these people had been treated like valued guests, and yet they all seemed to be in the final stages of some terrible illness.
At that thought, Kaz stepped back. “Are they sick?” Kobolds rarely became ill, but when they did, the tribe quarantined itself until it recovered or its members all died. If that happened, the next tribe to find them would use firemoss to burn out the diseased den and no one would settle in that territory for up to a generation.
The female grimaced, shrugging. “Don’t know what’s wrong with them,” she said bluntly. “But King Maleim is here, along with most of his immediate family, so we’re sure as Pellis’ pelagic porpoises not leaving them here.”
If they were sick, could Kaz catch their illness? Did it even matter? His task was to get these people out, wasn’t it? He looked down at Li. “Can you hang on?”
She barely hesitated before nodding, much of her usual confidence restored by the influx of blue ki. When he shifted her around to his back, he thought her wing hurt less, too. Either that or she was better able to conceal it from him now, but he would ask her about that later. He didn’t want her to hide her pain from him, but he couldn’t talk to her because they had to go.
They had to go because Kaz had finally heard the roar. It was a terrible thing, almost impossibly loud, and it pushed on him, forcing down his ki, shoving it back toward his core. It was almost like ki compression, but also not at all, because instead of strength, it filled him with a weak, trembling kind of terror.
What had Snen said? When they heard the roar, they had to run. Leave anyone you haven’t saved behind. No one can defeat Jianying. This was Jianying, a dragon who was at least eight hundred and probably closer to a thousand years old. He was angry, and he was coming.
Kaz looked up at Jinn and Raff’s mother. “We have to go,” he told her, and she nodded, eyes wide. She wasn’t smiling now, and she ran straight to one of the stalk-thin males and scooped him into her arms, ignoring his weak protest.
“Anyone who can walk will have to, at least until we reach the others,” she snapped. “Boys, Verena, grab anyone who doesn’t look like they’ll make it.”
Her helpers did as instructed, but their faces had lost much of their color. One red-haired male looked like he might simply fall unconscious as the roar faded, then began again, filling Kaz’s ears and bones until he could hear nothing else, feel nothing else.
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Nothing except Li. Because Li was furious. Kaz didn’t think he’d ever truly felt his little friend full of fury, even when Fengji’s angry aura had touched their own ki, drowning them in his anger. Now, the dragon clinging to his back was glaring around, her neck stretched so her head reached just over his, her jaw brushing his ears. Her claws dug through his fur and pricked at his skin, and her eyes, which Kaz thought had settled into a gem-speckled gold, swirled furiously with every color.
She tilted up her head, almost standing on his shoulders, and her good wing stretched out behind her as she roared back. The sound pushed against Jianying’s hunting howl, and though it was small in comparison to that of the ancient dragon, for an instant, she won.
Everyone nearby turned their heads, staring at the dragon clinging to Kaz’s back. Relief and confusion flooded their faces, and then Jinn’s mother snapped out a word Kaz couldn’t understand, and everyone moved.
Beyond the reach of Li’s voice, the other roar, the bigger, deeper one, continued, but it had changed. Kaz knew the sounds of dragons, or at least his dragon. Before, Jianying had been angry, yes, but also excited, like he was looking forward to hunting down whoever had dared to defy his will. Now, there was a questioning note to it. Instead of simply demanding submission, it asked a question. Who? Who had raised their voice against him?
And Kaz very much feared what would happen if Jianying got the answer to that question. The old monster could not find Li. Kaz would die, would sacrifice every human in this cavern, in order to prevent the murderous reptile from finding his friend.
His fear very nearly got the better of him. He knew the way out, and really, what difference would it make if one kobold and an injured dragon left before the task was done? But that would truly be a betrayal, and Kaz had been betrayed often enough not to easily do the same to others. He could wait until he had no other choice.
Li bit his ear.
She was right. Instead of drowning in fear, he could help, and so he did. Kaz looked around, finding the frailest of all the humans remaining. He picked the male up, ignoring the faint, pained groan of protest, and ran back toward the first of the three buildings.
There, he found Kyla, Jinn, and all of the others, including Lianhua and Yingtao. The only person missing was Chi Yincang, but when Kaz looked up, he saw the dark male perched atop the highest point of the roof. For once, he wasn’t hiding in shadows, and Kaz could see thick ribbons of mana streaming toward him. He wondered if the male’s eyes would be all black if he could see them, and then he wondered if the situation would be aided by adding a second monster.
Yingtao saw him, assessed his burden with a flicker of green eyes lit with blue ki, and pointed him toward Lianhua. The white-haired female was speaking to Snen, who stood as close to her as he could get without actually touching her. The humans around them glared at him as they moved, and the ones bearing weapons looked like they would be happy to kill one more xiyi.
As Kaz came up to them, Lianhua smiled in relief. “Kaz, I hate to ask, but Snen says these people are being drained by the fangqiu. I don’t…really understand how,” and he could see how much that admission pained her, “but the stones need to come out. Can you do it?”
Kaz looked around. There were at least sixty humans here. Could he remove all of the stones before Jianying reached them, if indeed such an enormous beast could even make his way through this warren of tunnels? Was that roar just the dragon’s way of delaying them while he sent his servants after his fleeing prisoners? So long as they avoided capture, could they also avoid Jianying?
Another shattering roar filled the cavern, and most of the humans who weren’t actively helping hunkered down, covering their ears with their hands. Kaz could have told them that was pointless, because it wasn’t just a sound, but he suspected they were already aware.
Again, Li answered with her own roar. She would not yield. She claimed these. They were hers, and she would not let anyone else have them. It was a small roar, relatively speaking, but once again, it allowed everyone to rise up and begin moving again.
Strong people placed shoulders beneath the arms of people who staggered. Females helped broken males to walk, and Jinn’s mother guided them all to the door. “Where do we go?” she asked, and it was Snen who answered.
“There is a large passage in the wall directly across from the one through which we entered. It leads to the area where the warriors live, guards and hunters alike. There are many of them, and you’ll have to fight, but I think a number have already fallen.” The xiyi’s chin dipped in what looked like regret to Kaz’s Li-trained eyes.
“Go through the sleeping quarters, then right and through the food hall. There is another exit to the surface there, used to bring down provisions and other supplies.”
“And where will you be, lizard?” Jinn’s mother demanded, but Snen only bowed more deeply, looking at Kaz, then Li. His yellow eyes rested on the small dragon as he spoke, even though he usually made every effort to avoid looking at her.
“I must attempt to save my xiongdi, my dragon-brother. When my betrayal is discovered, as it will be, they will try to give him to another, but I know Intong. He won’t obey anyone but me, and so he will be put down, or sent to the breeding pens.” Snen shook his head. “He deserves better. I owe him that.”
Kaz had a thousand questions for the xiyi, and he could see Lianhua did as well, but there wasn’t time, so Kaz said, “Go,” and Snen turned and ran. He was fast, faster than Kaz had expected, and no one had tried to force him to stay.
Looking at Lianhua, Kaz said, “I’ll remove the fangqiu or duqiu as we go. It’ll be messy. They’ll need bandages and medicine.” He remembered something Raff once used and said, “Do you have any potions?”
Yingtao had joined them, and now she produced a bottle from her bottomless sleeve. “I only have fifteen,” she said. “I used some when I was…sick, and haven’t been able to brew more.”
Kaz glanced around, counting the number of emaciated humans. It wouldn’t be enough for all of them, but it could help those who were in the worst condition. “Then we run.”
“No!” someone almost screamed, and they turned to see Jinn. She must have heard the end of their discussion, because she said, “I’m not leaving without Raff!”
Her mother was beside her, and the taller female’s brown eyes widened. “Grafton is here?” She looked around as if she might have somehow missed her towering offspring.
Jinn’s finger trembled as she pointed it at Kaz. “He left Raff in another of these prisons.”
“With a knife and mana,” Lianhua said. She met Raff’s mother’s eyes. “I swear to you, he has all he needs to escape on his own, except for opportunity.”
“He’ll make that himself, then,” the female said, and she almost sounded as certain as she wanted to appear. She looked at her daughter. “You will come with us, Jinn. Now.”
Jinn’s mouth was already open to argue, but at the sound of her preferred name on her mother’s lips, she stopped. Tears trickled down her cheeks, and then she sniffed hard and jerked her chin up and down.
The roar began again, indefinably closer, undeniably heavier. Li’s answering roar sounded raw, as if her throat was tearing beneath the strain. Kaz took out his knife and filled it with ki, already moving toward one of the skeletal males as Lianhua said, “Go!”