Before she could take another step, Shadow grabbed Yuelan’s arm and pulled her back. “Mistress, where are you going? The carriages are the other way.”

Yuelan looked back at Shadow, frowned, and then turned toward where the roar had come from. “No...I need to go this way,” she told her guard. She tried to take another step only for Shadow’s grip on her arm to tighten slightly and refuse to let her go.

“Let go of me,” Yuelan ordered.

“Mistress, that was the roar of a large beast. This forest is known to contain spiritual beasts and it is my job to keep you safe,” Shadow objected, refusing to let go. “If you insist on not heading for the carriages then I must insist that you at least stay right here and wait for His Highness the third prince to arrive before you try to go anywhere else. I need to ensure your safety.”

“I didn’t say you couldn’t follow. In fact, you probably should follow,” Yuelan pointed out as the creature roared for a second time. This time, the sound made Yuelan feel a sense of urgency. “Now let go so I can walk. I don’t have time to wait around.”

Shadow’s expression turned stubborn. He continued to grip her arm and firmly planted his feet, refusing to budge.

Since Shadow wasn’t going to cooperate, she was going to have to do something a little more drastic. Yuelan’s eyes narrowed and she touched the pendant on the necklace she was wearing. The stone set in the pendant was round, smooth, light purple, and half the size of her thumb. It was the same kind of stone as one of the two in the necklace she’d had on when she was abducted. As her fingers stroked the pendant she concentrated on Shadow’s eyes, staring at him until his grip on her arm loosened, his eyes closed, and he started to fall. She did her best to catch him and managed to keep him from hitting his head on anything, then left him to sleep where he was as the beast roared for the third time and she headed toward the sound.

***

Not long after Yuelan had disappeared into the woods, Guangfeng arrived at the site of the crashed carriage only to find Shadow sound asleep on the ground. The prince’s face darkened and he dismounted then picked the guard up by the collar and shook him until he woke up.

Shadow saw Guangfeng and felt confused for a moment before he frantically tried to look around and cried out, “Where did Mistress go?!”

“You tell me,” Guangfeng growled, his voice low and filled with fury. “While you’re at it, what were you doing sleeping?”

“I…” The guard’s expression was full of confusion and panic. “Mistress wanted to go toward the beast that was roaring and I was trying to keep her from doing so. She wasn’t happy and I was trying to keep her here until Your Highness arrived, but everything went black for a moment and then the next moment Your Highness was shaking me,” he explained, his face pale.

“When I got here you were sleeping.” Guangfeng looked like he was considering strangling Shadow with his bare hands. “Are you sure you didn’t dream the whole thing?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“I believe there should be a different explanation, Your Highness,” another voice called. The owner of the voice joined them, still mounted on his own horse and looking as though it wasn’t at all odd that he was there.

Guangfeng frowned and turned to look at Yun Cai with narrowed eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Your Highness promised me a meeting with Miss Long. After I wrapped up some unfinished business in the capital, I naturally followed after you,” the information broker answered as a raven flew down from above and settled onto his shoulder.

“And what would your explanation be?” the prince demanded.

Yun Cai didn’t answer the question, but instead asked one of Shadow. “Was your mistress wearing any jewelry?”

“Of course,” the guard answered immediately.

The information broker pulled something out of his pocket and held it up, showing a stone the same type as the one in Yuelan’s necklace. “Did any of it look like this stone?”

“The pendant on her necklace. She was stroking it just before His Highness started shaking me.”

“There you have it.” Yun Cai put the stone back in his pocket. “She’s wearing Lepidolite. I used the same thing to make sure she was asleep when I slipped her out of her home. Someone with enough magic ability can use Lepidolite to put others to sleep. If you have enough ability to form a contract with a spirit beast, especially one with as much power as a dragon, then you have enough to put someone to sleep. It seems she was quite determined to go in that direction.” He pointed toward the direction Yuelan had gone. “Though I’m not sure what’s there. It wasn’t the guard’s fault. Most can’t defend themselves from something like this if they’re not expecting it and even if they were, they’d have to be able to use magic and start up a defense.”

Guangfeng clenched his jaw and dropped Shadow, then turned and headed in the direction Yun Cai had indicated without saying a word.

***

Yuelan pushed through the underbrush until she reached a small clearing. The branches from the large trees surrounding the clearing met in the middle, completely shading it from the sky above. In the center of the clearing was a white tiger twice the size of a normal tiger. Even though the massive predator was looking right at Yuelan with an intense, golden-eyed gaze, she wasn’t afraid.

“Hello,” she said as she stepped into the clearing and approached the tiger. “Were you calling me? It felt like you were.”

The tiger said nothing and continued to focus on Yuelan until she was standing right in front of it. It felt as though the creature was sizing her up and she lifted her hand, holding it out in front of the tiger’s nose.

The white tiger touched Yuelan’s hand, then rubbed its head against her. It circled around her and then nudged her to the middle of the clearing before sitting down in front of her. The tip of its striped tail tapped as it stared at her with an expectant gaze.

At first, Yuelan was confused, but as she looked around for some clue she saw familiar stones placed in a familiar pattern and at her feet was a piece of purple jade. She blinked. “You want me...to form a contract with you?” she asked hesitantly.

The tiger nodded once and a deep, resonant voice sounded in her head: Form the contract, Priestess, and call my name. There isn’t as much time as that dragon thinks.

Yuelan was startled and she stared at the white tiger with wide eyes for several seconds before she took a deep breath and started the same process that Long He had walked her through before. At the very end she opened her mouth and called, “Byakko…”