The Prince of Golden Dragon didn’t know what was happening or where he was going as he fell down the cold stairs of an underground passageway. What he did know was that it was dark and smelled like a strange combination of smoke and mildew and he was in pain.

So.

Much.

Pain.

“Kenji!” he heard a voice echo around him, as he continued to flounder around the pitch-black passageway.

Soon enough, however, the darkness gave way to a soft glow and the odious smoke-and-mildew smell turned sweeter, more pleasant. The walls surrounding him, once so close that he had been able to scrape at the old oil on them, widened so that when he reached his hands out, he grasped at air even as he continued to tumble—tumble, tumble, tumble all the way down the stairs until there were no more stairs to tumble down.

Kenji landed on his chest with a hard thump that sucked all the air from his lungs.

“Ah!” he groaned in pain, curling up on his side, beginning to wish that he had listened to Haia.

Everything. Hurt. So. Badly.

“Kenji!” a voice called again, followed by the sounds of pitter-pattering footfalls that became louder and louder by the second.

“Haia?” Kenji groaned. “I’m here.”

A searing light flashed before his eyes. “Ow, what is that?”

“A torch. Are you alright? You took quite the fall,” Haia asked, setting the flaming torch down before crouching next to her brother, flipping his body back and forth as she pressed his skin to check for bruises.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! You’re hurting me!” Kenji wailed, shoving Haia’s hands away.

Definitely bruised.

“We need to get you some ice,” Haia insisted, swatting his hands away as she continued to check for more serious injuries.

“And are we going to find that in there?” Kenji asked, scowling as Haia finally released him. He pointed to the Underground Market’s entrance— an opening shaped to look like the jaws of a dragon.

Haia sighed, shaking her head. He really couldn’t contain his curiosity, could he?

“We can. But I’d rather not,” she replied.

“Why not?” Kenji asked, slowly rising to his feet. He could hear hints of chatter now. What was behind that gaping dragon’s mouth? If only he could get a little closer—

Haia snatched his arm, wrenching him backward, her eyes glinting like flint in the eerie semi-darkness of the passageway.

“I’d rather not go there,” she whispered fiercely, “because I care about your safety, and right now, you’re far from safe. Come on, let’s get you home.”

Kenji shook his arm away, now glaring at Haia. Why was she treating him like he was a child? He could take care of himself! He didn’t need to be watched like a baby.

“I’m a soldier, Haia,” he protested. “I can handle myself!”

Silly boy, Haia thought to herself, crossing her arms across her chest as she gave her brother a long, hard look. He would not be able to handle himself, and she knew that with utmost certainty.

“Trust me, whatever you’re thinking,” she told him, “I promise you—Kenji!”

Her brother had disappeared.

Haia groaned loudly, chasing after him. If Kenji didn’t die because she had decided to steal the Blood Pearls, he was definitely going to die for his stupidity.

As the thief shuffled into the market’s entrance, her wandering eyes quickly found Kenji drinking in the sight of all that was around him.

“Wow,” he breathed as Haia joined his side. There would be no returning to the palace now. Kenji was too sucked in by the glamor of the Underground Market, and she couldn’t blame him.

It was beautiful.

And deadly.

Haia sighed, grabbing her brother’s arm again.

“Come on,” she insisted, trying to drag him away. “We can’t stay here—”

Kenji thwacked her with his hand, forcefully pushing her aside enough to send her stumbling into a few customers roaming the market.

“Sorry,” she grumbled, steadying her feet and begrudgingly giving the customers a respectful bow as she glared at Kenji. Too many people were already beginning to glance their way and mutter amongst one another, eyeing the boy curiously. Even if he was dressed in commoner garb, the seedy people of the Underground had already detected a strange air about him, a kind of presence that couldn’t possibly belong to a beaten down citizen of Golden Dragon. They began to creep closer and closer toward the two siblings, blocking the path out of the Underground, which left Haia with no other choice than to nudge her brother away deeper into the market.

“Whoa, you’re letting me explore? I thought you didn’t want me here!” Kenji asked, surprised as Haia shoved him forward past stalls and stalls of beautiful baskets, paintings, scarves, and garments.

“Just shut up and keep walking,” Haia snapped, glancing behind her shoulder for any pursuers as they wove deeper and deeper into the dense crowd.

Dragons, she hoped she wasn’t making the wrong decision by leading Kenji further into the tiger’s lair.

“Where are you taking me?” Kenji piped up, interrupting Haia’s thoughts as they finally reached a fork in the Underground’s tunnels. Too caught in the beauty of the market around him, he had not yet noticed the worry on his friend’s face.

“We’re going to see the Underground. Just like you wanted. Isn’t that exciting?” Haia replied sarcastically, anxiously keeping an eye behind her to ensure no one had noticed them here as she nodded toward the two pathways before them.

“Pick a side,” she told her brother, knowing that going forward into the market would be far easier than turning back toward the blocked western Underground exit. It was with great resignation that Haia decided that if she couldn’t get her brother to return home now, then she would protect him until they both found a way out.

Kenji cocked his head, unable to believe that his friend was no longer resisting his curious wishes. “Really? I thought you didn’t want me to be here.”

Haia sighed, rolling her eyes, trying to cover the worry in her heart. “Well we’re already here, aren’t we? Might as well let you tag along now that we’re this far in.”

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The boy nodded enthusiastically. How lucky he was that Haia had changed her mind! He didn’t think twice about why she had as he giddily pointed to the left pathway. “That way.”

“As you wish,” Haia agreed, nodding for her brother to start in front of her as they entered the shadowy tunnel. As they traipsed through the damp passageway, Haia didn’t take her hand off of the knives at her belt once. Who knew what lurked in the hidden corners?

Finally, however, the shadows gave way to a glow of greenish-gold light and when the two siblings reached the end of the tunnel, Kenji couldn’t help but gasp aloud at the splendor in front of him.

If he had thought all that he had seen before had been marvelous enough, everything he saw now was enough to send his mind spiraling into a wondrous frenzy.

Mmm, he thought, the market’s aroma infiltrating his nose as his ravenous eyes devoured the sight of freshly sauteed fish, steaming rice, kiwis, kumquats, fifty different varieties of dragon berries, bean curd, red bean paste pancakes, rice pudding, hundreds of bottles of wine and spirits— all the divine scents mingling together to create a feast for his mind.

“Any food you can think of, I guarantee it’s here,” Haia told her brother, laughing as she noticed his drooling expression, her worries easing as she saw the joy on his face, “but no matter how much you’re tempted, do not touch anything. The only thing you’re allowed to do is follow me. Carefully. Do you understand?”

“Mhmm,” Kenji replied, though he wasn’t really listening, his eyes now preoccupied by the grandeur of surrounding stalls that housed gold earrings, jade necklaces, porcelain hair pins, ruby chokers, katanas, spears, tridents, daggers, and shurikens. The metal gleamed and glowed, enrapturing the boy so deeply, Haia had to drag him away so that he didn’t lose sight of her.

“Come on,” she said as they hurried past aromatic spice stalls toward a shadier part of the market. Here, vendors sold illegal potions and drugs instead of fried fish or ruby necklaces. Kenji watched in dull shock as men and women exchanged hard-earned money for bottles of some powder, their hands shaking with addiction and anticipation as they opened the corks and inhaled, a pained smile finally painting their harrowed faces.

“Haia, what is that?” Kenji whispered, tugging at his friend’s sleeve. He was starting to see why she had told him that this place wasn’t safe.

“Faerie powder,” Haia responded grimly. “It’s a highly addictive drug made from the crushed wings of Faeries who live in the Bloodlands.” She paused, quirking a sarcastic smile. “Want to try it?”

Kenji shook his head fervently, his eyes widening as he shuffled away as quickly as he could. He definitely didn’t want to be wrapped up in whatever that was.

“No way!” he exclaimed, his mouth open in mild horror.

“That’s what I thought,” Haia chuckled, her eyes twinkling mischievously as they passed by a man trying to convince a female customer to buy his love potion.

Kenji watched as the naive woman paid for the potion and happily pocketed it. He shook his head. Even he knew that it was probably a fake, despite the man’s claims that it was “authentically made by Potioneers from the Blazing Sands Tribes.”

“Why are we in this…creepy part of the Underground again?” he asked his friend, warily eyeing the ghoulish tomes of dark Magic that leered down at them from nearby stalls.

“Because I need a special ordered item,” Haia said vaguely. Kenji didn’t need to know the real reason she was here—to retrieve an object she had suggested they use while she and General Kiso had been coming up with a plan to save Kenji’s life and the Blood Pearls.

“Is it something illegal?”

“No!” Haia said a little too quickly, scowling as her eyes searched for the vendor she had come to visit. Where was this man?

“Why would you think it’s illegal?” she asked her brother.

“Because everything else here is,” Kenji said, pointing out the wands, Magic lamps, cursed lockets, and Spell scrolls.

“Fair enough, but what I want isn’t illegal…exactly,” Haia said as they finally reached the stall she had been searching for. She turned to Kenji. “Wait here. Don’t go anywhere or touch anything. Got it?”

Kenji nodded, turning to look at the strange, putrid-smelling books in the stall next to him as Haia walked away. The thief hoped with all her heart that her brother wouldn’t let his impulses get the best of him while she was gone.

Haia drew out the Silver Serpent’s mask she had hidden in her pocket now, donning it quickly before she made her way to her chosen stall. To do what she had come to the Underground for, she would need to be the Silver Serpent— not Haia Kaneko.

“Hello, there,” the Silver Serpent said, ducking between two smoking women as she slid over to the stall’s wooden counter.

A tall, burly man stood within the stall, taking stock of the bags behind him. He turned around, a smoking pipe between his lips as he squinted in Haia’s direction. The thief had seen the man around before, had heard about him from other Underground vendors. It was why she had known that he would have the goods that she and Kiso needed, even if she had never personally bought something from him before. Unfortunately, because she had no previous rapport, convincing him to part with such precious goods would be a difficult task.

But no task was beyond Haia’s smooth-talking capabilities, a truth she reminded herself of as she pasted her wiliest smile beneath her mask, eyes twinkling with sharp acuity as the man leaned forward.

“And who might you be?” he growled with the jilted accent of a Devalokan.

“Just a customer,” she responded.

The man grunted, unamused. “And what does our customer want?”

“Something that only you have.”

“Oh, is that so?” he replied, clearly more intrigued, though he feigned nonchalance. “There are many things only I have. You need to be more specific.”

He leaned forward, blowing a cloud of smoke into Haia’s face, expecting her to flinch, though she only smirked wider.

“I can be more specific, but you’ll need to come closer. It’s a secret.”

The man raised an incredulous eyebrow but obliged as Haia whispered into his ears. His face settled in surprise as she made her request. This girl had something interesting in mind, that was for certain.

“I see,” he said. “One moment.”

The man turned around, digging through his inventory until he finally found what he was looking— a gray sack tied with twine. He set it down on the counter for Haia to see.

“And do you know what my price for that is?” he asked as the thief peered inside, tracing her fingers over the goods.

“I’m sure I have the coin worth the sack,” Haia replied, satisfied that she had gotten what she wanted as her eyes roved over the precious goods. Perfect. They were just perfect…would be just the right thing for what she needed to do…

The man chuckled lightly, his mustache quirking in a curiously sinister manner.

“I don’t want your money,” he said. He nodded to something beyond him. “I want him.”

Haia followed his gaze, her heart thudding to the floor as it landed on Kenji.

He had to be joking. Haia forced the torrent of fear down as she continued to smile, hoping that he hadn’t seen how unsettled she had become.

“You act like he’s my slave,” she chuckled, feigning nonchalance, “I don’t even know who he is.”

“Don’t pretend. I saw you walk over with him.”

“You must have imagined it,” Haia insisted, her fingers digging into the wooden counter, tension pulling at her insides. Believe me, believe me, believe me, you bastard!

The man chuckled darkly and leaned forward further so that his nose almost touched Haia’s. He blew another puff of smoke into the thief’s face as she inhaled the foul scent, squashing her coughs down.

“The boy. Or nothing,” the man growled, his breath as rotten as his desires.

Haia gritted her teeth, but continued to keep her smile plastered onto her face.

“Why do you even want him?” she challenged.

The man gave her a leering grin. “Because I know who he is.”

“A random stranger?”

“The Empress’s son.”

Haia kept her smirk plastered to her face even as her heart galloped a million miles.

“I highly doubt that the Empress’s son would be waltzing about the Underground,” she laughed airily, still trying to play it all off as a ridiculous delusion on the vendor’s part. She knew she couldn’t have been convincing as the man continued to give her that vile, crooked grin.

Damn it, damn it, damn it, her mind screamed as she remained locked in a silent war of stubbornness with the vendor.

Give in, give up, just take my money, she urged him silently.

Finally, when the man realized that the thief would not waver, would not give in, he began to pull the sack back, but Haia tugged right back, her eyes cutting daggers into his face.

“What are you doing?” she hissed, trying to desperately wrench the sack away from the vendor. She needed this…she would not let go…she would not. She would not!

“Well, seeing as you don’t have what I want,” the vendor replied, also tugging at the sack, “I can’t give you what you want.”

Haia rolled her eyes. “I told you, I don’t even know who that boy is, and I hardly think he could be the Empress’s son, and you can’t prove it even if he was—”

The man raised a lone eyebrow, stopping his tugging for a moment. “Oh, can’t I?”

Haia smirked beneath her mask despite the anxiety spiraling in her throat. Don’t let him know. Don’t feel. Don’t show. Don’t show, don’t show, don’t show.

“No. You can’t,” she replied sharply, hoping her words sounded surer than the nervous tapping of her feet.

“Oh, I’ll prove it,” the man said, releasing the sack, dusting his hands off as he inhaled sharply and cupped his hands to his mouth. “All hail—”

Haia socked him in the face. She was not in the mood to deal with any more threats to Kenji today.