by Cindy Lin
“We have lost everything,” Usagi gasped, repeating his words. She glanced at her friends and all those who were fast approaching, coming to join their fight. She fixed the Dragonlord with a hard stare. “And we have lost nothing.”
Rana let loose with a stream of venom, striking the Blue Dragon squarely in the eyes. As it met his skin, his flesh curdled with a hiss. The Dragonlord opened his mouth and roared long and loud, his screams of agony and fury reverberating throughout the clearing. The charging Strikers and rebel groups all faltered, nearly coming to a stop, but Tupa shouted at the roaches to keep going.
Goru’s power chain loosened as the Blue Dragon clawed at his face, and Usagi and the others broke free. Rana bent over Goru, still passed out on the ground like a giant mountain. She brought out a tiny vial from the Apothecary and waved it under his nose. The Ox Heir’s eyes opened, and he sat up with a start. He saw the Blue Dragon howling and clutching his eyes, and a grim smile stole over his face. “Nice work, Snake Girl,” he said, and grabbed his power chain.
They surrounded the Dragonlord, while the Miners, Ghosts, Dunelings, Yunja’s younglings and other assorted rebel elements from around the island clashed with the Dragonstrikers. The air was filled with the cacophony of battle—shrieking attack birds, rattling armor, weapon strikes, firecannon blasts, and fists coming to blows.
Meanwhile, the Dragonlord was blindly reaching for anything of metal. Usagi felt her rabbit pendant rise from her neck, and she frantically tugged it back. Goru grabbed the metal ball on the end of his power chain and clutched it close. Saru gasped as the Winds of Infinity and her moonblade sailed out of her grasp. Leaping, Usagi snatched the fan out of the air, but as the Dragonlord increased his pull, she found herself getting dragged along with it. Her still-fragile legs screamed with pain.
Out of pure desperation, she pulled out the Coppice Comb and threw it on the ground. Trees rumbled out of the earth, surrounding them, and obscured the Blue Dragon from view. She braced herself against the tree trunks. As she struggled to keep hold of her pendant and the fan, she heard the Blue Dragon stagger into a tree. “What’s this?” he growled. “A sudden stand of trees—it must be the Coppice Comb.” Immediately the tug on her necklace and the Winds of Infinity ceased as the Dragonlord dropped to his knees and began searching for the comb.
Usagi limped out of the coppice and found the others. She handed Saru the fan. “What do we do now?”
“Make sure he doesn’t get a hold of that comb, for one,” said the Monkey Heir. “As soon as you pull it from the earth, he’ll be exposed. We’ll have to watch for his metal gifts and hit him with everything we’ve got.”
“His powers were even calling to this stone,” said Tora. She felt for the ironstone pendant at her neck and stiffened. A strange look crossed her face, and she hurriedly pulled it off. “Rana, give me the Sea Jewels.”
With a look of confusion, Rana took off the silk cord that held the two giant pearls around her neck. As Tora strung the tiger-iron bead between them, Usagi could hear the Blue Dragon rustling in the copse of trees. “Hurry—I’ve got to retrieve the comb.”
“Go,” said Saru, hefting the fan. “We’ll cover you.”
Hobbling, Usagi went right to where she’d thrown the comb, its wooden teeth biting into the soft earth. The Dragonlord was nearly upon it, his eyes half open and oozing with tears and pus. Her heart hammering in her chest, Usagi pulled it out and the trees disappeared back into the ground, leaving her face-to-face with the Blue Dragon. His skin had bubbled into pale grayish blisters wherever Rana’s venom had touched it. He saw Usagi and his blue visage contorted into a snarl. He lunged for the comb in her hand. Gritting her teeth, Usagi vaulted out of the way with her rabbit leap.
The Monkey Heir whipped the fan in the Dragonlord’s direction, knocking him flat with a gust of wind so big that it rippled over the battlefield, throwing the fighting Strikers and rebel Midagians off balance. Goru swung the power chain in a circle, whipping it faster and faster, then slammed the immense ball straight into the Dragonlord’s stomach. The impact cratered the earth around him. But the Blue Dragon had caught the iron ball just in time. He got up with a roar and sent it aloft. As the ball began to drift high over their heads, Goru struggled to hang on to its chain. The Ox Heir’s feet scrabbled at the soil, then raised on tiptoe.
“Let him go!” Nezu growled, and unleashed a volley of water balls in the Dragonlord’s face. Each orb of water exploded on contact, filling his nose and open mouth. Goru fell back to the ground, and the iron ball tumbled out of the air, striking the dirt so hard that it half buried itself. Tora and Inu took advantage of the Blue Dragon’s distraction to fire arrows at him. They struck his plated armor, but he remained standing. With a howl, the arrows burst from him, flying back at the Heirs. Goru heaved himself in front of them.
“Goru!” Usagi cried out as the arrows hit his body. Goru turned around, unhurt, and gave his chain-mail jacket a jiggle, shaking the arrows onto the ground. The Ox Heir gave her a brief smile. “I’m okay, Rabbit Girl.”
But within seconds, the Dragonlord was at it again, gathering up metal objects with his powers. Nezu’s sword flew to him, as did all of their arrows, while the ball on Goru’s power chain broke out of the earth and began sailing through the air. Their packs bristled with the points of hidden blades trying to get out. Saru hung onto the fan with both hands, digging her heels in the dirt, while Goru himself began to slide toward the Blue Dragon, carried along by his chain mail.
“We can’t use anything that has metal in it!” Rana clapped a hand over Tora’s ironstone bead, clacking between the Sea Jewels as it rose and tugged at the silk cord around her neck. She dug in her pocket and unleashed the white sand from the Dancing Dunes. They swirled around the Blue Dragon’s blistered face and stung him till he let go of their metal items. Blood ran down his cheeks, shockingly scarlet against his blue skin and the white mark of the Tigress’s hand.
Tora rubbed the Ring of Obscurity, and a jet-black plume of choking smoke emerged. With the Winds of Infinity, Saru directed the smoke so that it hung all about the Blue Dragon like a storm cloud, swirling around and around. “It’ll only be a matter of time before he tries to take the fan again,” she shouted.
“The Conjurer!” Usagi remembered it was in her pack. Pulling out the wooden mallet, she hammered out wooden shields and weapons of wood with sharp stone blades.
Lost within the black smoke, the Dragonlord bellowed for his captain. Tupa was still fighting Tora’s brother, who was holding his own along with several Miners. The Striker captain called for a couple of roaches to go after Imugi and the Miners, then raced for the Heirs and the smoke that contained the Blue Dragon, charging at spirit speed.
With a roar, Goru lumbered toward Tupa, who lowered his head and smashed into Goru so hard that the Ox Heir was thrown fifty paces back. Usagi and the others grabbed their wooden shields and stone spears, but Tupa looked at them and guffawed. He raised his firehorn to his lips and blew a stream of fire, incinerating their shields and weapons to ashes. The stone blades fell to the ground and shattered.
As he smirked at them, a wave of wrath surged through Usagi. She grabbed Nezu and swept a corner of the Fire Cloak over him. “Let’s give Brother Ram a proper welcome home, shall we?”
“Wait!” said Tora. “I’m coming too.”
“And me!” said Rana. She and Tora slipped under the Fire Cloak with them.
The former Ram Heir was calling to the Dragonlord through the cloud of black smoke. “My lord, I’m here!” He aimed his firehorn at Saru, who was controlling the smoke with a steady fanning of the Winds of Infinity. As he began to blow, Usagi cried, “Now!”
The four of them ran at the Striker captain. He turned his firehorn and a searing stream of fire enveloped them. Usagi kept the Fire Cloak tightly closed. The shimmering, translucent fabric protected them from the licking flames, and they advanced closer. From under the cloak, Nezu directed water from his canteen to meet the fire
in a blast, driving the stream of flame back until the water flooded the firehorn and into Tupa’s mouth. As he coughed and spluttered, Rana stuck her head out and spit her blinding venom in Tupa’s eyes. Tora rubbed the Ring of Obscurity and a cloud of gritty yellow dust poured from the amber stone, filling Tupa’s nose and stinging his face. The Striker captain began to scream.
“Enough!” howled the Dragonlord. With a great yank, Usagi felt her rabbit pendant snap from her neck. The silver necklace strained at the inside of the Fire Cloak, while the ironstone bead at Rana’s neck rose once more and pulled toward the Blue Dragon. Through the translucent cloak, Usagi saw the Winds of Infinity slip through Saru’s fingers and the Blue Dragon’s long-nailed hand reach through the black smoke and catch it. With a single wave, he blew away the cloud of smoke.
“Oh no,” whispered Usagi.
The jaunty notes of a flute struck them then, and suddenly it didn’t matter that Usagi’s legs were still wobbly, for she and everyone else within earshot began dancing. On the battlefield, the Strikers were clacking and rattling in their armor, the Miners were stomping, the Ghosts were kicking, the Dunelings were spinning within cyclones of sand, and Yunja and his younglings skipped about. Cries of confusion filled Usagi’s ears.
As she danced, she saw that Goru was up on his feet, lumbering around half-conscious, and the Striker captain was whirling uncontrollably. Half-blinded by Rana’s venom, Tupa strained mightily for his firehorn. But though he nabbed it, he only managed to blast a few errant fireballs as he spun past the Blue Dragon. The Dragonlord shimmied and swayed, though his ravaged face was a mask of pure rage.
The only person not dancing was Inu, playing the Flute of Dancing Dreams. He tootled merrily, forcing the Blue Dragon to deposit the fan on the ground, and twirling him away. Inu danced Saru to the fan and bent her down in a bow, allowing her to snatch the fan back up while the Dragonlord and his Striker captain danced helplessly in the clearing by the Sea of Trees. Tupa’s arm wound back and punched the Dragonlord’s nose.
“Forgive me, my lord!” bleated Tupa. The Blue Dragon’s fist collided with Tupa’s chin, and the Striker captain’s arms began wheeling. The two of them threw repeated punches at each other, even as a horrified Tupa apologized after each blow.
Usagi heard a low growl, and then Kumo raced back out of the ancient forest. Unaffected by the Flute of Dancing Dreams, he pounced on the Blue Dragon’s back, tearing and slashing with his teeth and claws. All the while, the Dragonlord danced and bellowed, unable to escape the grip of the cloud leopard. He fell to the ground, kicking his legs to the flutesong, while Kumo sank his fangs into him.
“Inu, get us to the Sea of Trees,” called Saru.
Nodding, the Dog Heir changed his tune slightly and Usagi found herself and the other Heirs doing a lively step toward the edge of the forest. Then he stopped playing and everyone jerked to a halt. “Now!” Inu shouted.
They dove into the trees, Kumo running after them at a full gallop. Out in the clearing, Tupa rushed to help the Blue Dragon up. “My lord!”
“My Treasures!” he screamed, bleeding and scratched, his face unrecognizable beneath its wounds. He stabbed a long-nailed blue finger in the direction of the ancient forest.
Tupa flinched and bowed. His face grim, he hurried toward the Sea of Trees. Usagi heard him muttering to himself.
“This is madness,” Tupa seethed. “There’s no way I can get all Twelve Treasures back by myself.”
Tora rubbed the Ring of Obscurity, and a huge billowing mist filled the trees. “That ought to help hide us.” She glanced at Rana, and her snaggleteeth gleamed. She pointed at Rana’s throat. “Look!”
The tiger-iron bead, nestled between the giant pearls that were the Sea Jewels, had begun to glow. Saru gasped. “It looks just like the Land Jewel, only it’s—”
“Ironstone from the Tree of Elements,” finished Tora. “It may not be jade, but it’s still a gift from the sacred mount.” They stared at it in wonder. Here among the ancient trees of Mount Jade, the necklace seemed to be restored. “Give it a try, Earth Snake.”
Rana’s dark eyes sparkled, and she closed her hand around the curved stone, glowing red, gold, and black. Taking a deep breath, she shut her eyes. After a moment, the earth began to rumble, then jolted.
“Earthquake!” exclaimed Nezu.
Usagi looked at the giant trees around them. As the ground shook harder and harder, they swayed and creaked dangerously, groaning as waves of movement rippled out from the forest. She put an arm around Tora and a hand on the nearest tree to steady herself. The great dragon spruce pulsed beneath her palm, grounding her. As she found her footing, her legs received a surge of strength.
The earth bucked, flinging the Dragonstriker captain out of the forest, where he landed with a hard thud at the feet of the Blue Dragon. The shaking stopped and Tupa got to his hands and knees with a groan.
“I’m sorry, my lord,” he panted. “I can’t even get close.”
“Torch it!” the Dragonlord howled. “Use your fire gift and burn it all!”
“But I . . .”
“Just do it!”
Staggering to his feet, Tupa brought his firehorn to his lips and blew. A stream of fire erupted toward the edge of the forest but didn’t quite reach. With a growl, the Dragonlord grabbed Tupa by the back of his neck and marched him forward, then cupped a long-nailed hand around the firehorn. The fire burned hotter and brighter, and extended in a long arc till it licked at the first line of trees. A high-pitched sound hit Usagi’s ears. “Merciful spirits—the trees are screaming.”
“How do we make it stop?” With an anguished glance at the flames, Rana reached for the ironstone bead again. Hurriedly, she murmured a prayer to the mountain goddess, squeezing her eyes tight in concentration.
An even bigger jolt rippled through the ground, and a wave of earth rose up, like a giant worm was tunneling right below its surface. It barreled toward Tupa and the Blue Dragon, throwing them off balance and halting the stream of flame from the firehorn. Their eyes widened as a torrent of dirt and rocks swallowed them up, faster than they could run. Everyone watched as the Blue Dragon and his captain disappeared from the clearing, their screams quickly muffled as they were folded into the earth. And then all was still.
The pearls for the Treasure were gathered by the seamaids, the most skilled divers in Midaga, who with their water gifts searched the depths of the ocean for hours. The white pearl could bring in the tides, while the black pearl could send them out. The jade bead was shaped from stone found on Mount Jade. Bestowed by the mountain goddess, it would enhance the necklace-wearer’s own talents, and give them the ability to move the land. When the jewels were strung together and blessed upon the mountain, their full power was realized—much like the Twelve Treasures themselves.
—From Treasures of the Twelve: A History, a volume in Legends of the Twelve
Chapter 27
A New Jewel
THEY STARED OUT AT THE clearing. Dust from the disturbed ground settled, falling back to earth with a sigh. No other movement could be detected. The Blue Dragon and his second-in-command had been absorbed into the bowels of the earth. Usagi listened for signs of life, for heartbeats or cries beneath the ground, but heard nothing. “They’re gone.”
A great cheer went up across the battlefield as the rebel Midagians realized what had happened. In a panic, the remaining Strikers turned and ran as fast as they could. Some had already seen an opportunity to flee and were far into the distance.
Overhead, the branches of the outermost trees in the guardian forest smoldered. The thick mist from the Ring of Obscurity had provided enough moisture to keep them from entirely going up in flames, but some were badly singed. Nezu put out the remaining embers with the water from his canteen, while Usagi went around from tree to tree, using her wood gift to help them heal. Meanwhile, Rana hurried onto the battlefield with the Apothecary. With the restored and newly powerful Jewels of Land and Sea still around her n
eck, she tended to the wounded Midagians—both ordinary and those with zodiac powers—who’d come to help defend Mount Jade.
A tearful Tora rushed out from the Sea of Trees and ran into the arms of her brother. All was forgiven between them.
Now, on the scarred patch of earth where the Blue Dragon and Tupa had been swallowed up, former prisoners from the Eastern Mines, the Ghosts of Butterfly Kingdom, Yunja’s band of talented younglings, and Midagians without zodiac powers from the town of Woodwing all danced in celebration. They didn’t need the Flute of Dancing Dreams to move their feet. Their kingdom was finally free!
In the early dawn light of Rabbit hour, Usagi approached the Steps of Patience and heard the melodies of the Singing Bamboo welcoming her and the other Heirs back to the shrine. A lump came into her throat. After all they’d been through, she’d feared never hearing the bamboo’s song again. She took a deep breath and began climbing, thinking of the previous day’s battle. After a night of celebrations and rest with those who’d come to fight with them, the Heirs had taken their leave, anxious to return to the Shrine of the Twelve. They were invited by Imugi for a proper feast in the Painted Hollow, sometime in the months to come, and promised to meet again very soon.
But their mission would not be fully complete until they got the Treasures back to their rightful place at the shrine, and so Usagi tried to take each step as fast as she could, while being careful not to skip a single one. In her haste, her legs, healed but still tender, began to ache, and sweat dripped down her face onto the Fire Cloak. As she slowed, Inu caught up to her. “How are you holding up, Rabbit Girl?”
“I can’t wait to get back,” Usagi said. “I only wish . . .” She stopped, leaning on the Tigress’s staff. “I’m glad we got all the Treasures, but I wish we’d found Teacher.”
