Four dragons and Nine Peaks, one hundred rats and one thousand Ancestors, all awakened with a single thought. Was it a Miracle, or was it, as some would say, Magic? How much could be ascribed to Ancestral tek, how much to Bushido, and how much to yuanfen and the merciless weaving of fate? Kharma is certain and Dharma is relentless but one thing that all peoples can agree upon is the enduring force of will that is Hope.
Hope is a tenet of Bushido, the Shogun-General would say, of the same stature as Duty, Honour and even Destiny. And as sure as the Bones stepped out of the REDmarks and onto the rock, the drums below began to beat to the rhythm of a New Year. Was it celebration or was it war, or was Dharma orchestrating them both? She is a cruel mistress and demands her due, and her players have carried good fortune for far too long. Her players have wrestled with heart and mind and purpose and destiny, with hope and fear and death and life. Fate and kharma, destiny and yuanfen, all pieces in a game that started long before they ever did.
The Year of the Weeping Dragon will forever be known as the Year of War, of Winter Water and the Rise of the Black Tngri. But all that is recorded in another book, one almost as large as the Collected Works of Empress Faisala the Wise and the Rise of the Upper Kingdom.
Kerris has seen it, so it must be true.
Just like dragons.
The End
To be continued in
To Fall from the Roof of the World
(Book 5 from The Rise of the Upper Kingdom)
Books by H. Leighton Dickson
TO JOURNEY IN THE YEAR OF THE TIGER
TO WALK IN THE WAY OF LIONS
SONGS IN THE YEAR OF THE CAT
SNOW IN THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON
SWALLOWTAIL & SWORD
COLD STONE & IVY: The Ghost Club
COLD STONE & IVY 2: The Crown Prince
DRAGON OF ASH & STARS
Coming Soon
TO FALL FROM THE ROOF OF THE WORLD
DRAGON OF SAND & STORM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
H. Leighton Dickson is a zoologist who has been writing stories of some sort since she was a kitten. She currently lives with three dogs, three cats, three kids, one horse, and one husband in the rugged beauty of the Canadian Shield.
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www.hleightondickson.com
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