The Dragon's Eye

by Sarwat Chadda

  Abeke frowned. “This conversation is not over, Ambassador.”

  “But it can wait,” he replied. “You have to stop her.”

  With a heavy clang, the gates locked into position, fully raised.

  Briggan howled, and Uraza padded forward. The big leopard looked back at Abeke expectantly.

  Abeke tightened her hold on her bow. Was it truly a bond token? How would she know? “I’m coming,” she said.

  RAIN LASHED DOWN ONTO THEM AS THEY CREPT OUT OF the palace. Abeke shivered under the cold, stinging pellets. Uraza shook herself all the way down to a flick of her tail, throwing off the raindrops. She padded up ahead, growling softly.

  The skies heaved with black clouds. Back home this would be cause for celebration; who knew better than her, the Rain Dancer?

  Yet these clouds were angry, and they made it known through thunderous clashes and vicious shards of the lightning. Great sheets of light lit the mountainous clouds.

  “Song will be down by the beach,” said Meilin. “We need to—”

  “Children, shouldn’t you be indoors? And locked up?”

  Sid the Generous stood in the middle of the path leading to the cliffs. He wore Stormspeaker and a new suit of brass armor. There were golden rings on his fingers, and his belt was made of silver and golden plates.

  “We’ll make this easy for you, Sid,” said Conor. “We’ll count to ten. Just run.”

  Sid drew his sword. It was bright, and very sharp. “You expect me to run? Did you not notice this?” He tapped the crown.

  “We don’t have time for this,” said Meilin. Her gaze was on the heaving waves beyond. The sea boiled. The choppy water was blacker than the clouds.

  “We can’t have him calling for reinforcements,” said Rollan. “We need to deal with him.”

  Abeke agreed. “No time like the present.”

  Conor pointed to the east. “There’s another path down to the beach.”

  “I’ll deal with Sid,” said Rollan. “Go.”

  “After me,” said Abeke. She nocked an arrow. “A simple leg wound should do the trick.”

  At this range, less than a dozen yards, she couldn’t miss. Sid didn’t move. Maybe he thought he could dodge aside at the last second? But no one was that quick.

  Abeke loosed the arrow.

  A flash of lightning dazzled her for a moment. When Abeke glanced back, she found Sid was unharmed. “Want to try again?” he said.

  Meilin put her hand on Abeke’s shoulder. “We’ll meet you down by the beach.” She nodded to Conor, and off they ran, leaving Rollan and Abeke to deal with Sid the Generous.

  Abeke nocked another arrow, creeping closer. Sid waved his sword between them, beckoning her to try again. His crown shimmered. Minute sparks jumped across its spikes.

  The air around her crackled. Her hair stood on end.…

  “Abeke!”

  Rollan knocked her over as the air exploded and a lightning bolt struck the ground. The flash blinded her and her head rang from the noise of the strike. Rollan cried out and rolled aside as Sid swiped down with his sword. Sparks jumped from the blade’s edge, leaping across a rock.

  Sid laughed as the two of them scrambled back to their feet. “That’s why it’s called Stormspeaker. You never did get much of a chance to use it, did you?”

  The air around Sid buzzed. Blue electric bolts jumped along his sword blade, and his skin crackled with energy.

  Abeke shot two arrows, barely aiming, but each flew true.

  Two whips of lightning erupted from the crown, incinerating the first and slicing the other in half. “That the best you can do?”

  Then he attacked.

  One moment he was twenty yards away and then he was there, right before her. Uraza roared a warning. Abeke ducked as Sid cut. He stabbed at Rollan, who only barely managed to pull back. Sid laughed as he slashed again, tearing a hole in Rollan’s shirt.

  Rollan glared. Tarik’s cloak billowed behind him, almost like a pair of great wings.

  Uraza leaped in to attack. She slammed Sid squarely in the stomach, and the two of them fell. But Sid sprang to his feet with astonishing—lightning—speed. Even Uraza was hard pressed to dodge his blows. The leopard suffered a deep cut along her ribs before retreating.

  Puffing for breath, Sid drew back his sleeve and a moment later his wolverine flashed into existence. The beast’s fur stood on end as it snarled at them. Sid smiled. “Slasher’s been bored sitting on my arm. He wants some blood. He wonders what the blood of the Four Fallen tastes like?”

  The bleeding leopard and the wolverine circled one another, snapping their teeth. The wolverine lacked Uraza’s speed, but more than made up for it with bulk and wickedly sharp claws. Abeke wanted to shoot him, but didn’t dare shift her attention from Sid. They locked eyes, and she knew he was waiting for her to drop her guard, even for a fraction of a second.

  Slasher leaped forward, but Uraza sprang aside, her tail twitching away at the last instant. The wolverine snapped his jaws, but Uraza twisted with feline grace, raking her claws along the wolverine’s flanks.

  The big beast whimpered.

  Uraza growled, and Slasher backed away, spitting with rage, and a little fear.

  He snapped his big jaws, but Uraza fell silent, and her haunches twitched. Abeke knew the move all too well.

  Slasher looked at Sid.

  “Go on, finish her!” he yelled at him.

  Uraza sprang forward, faster than a blink. She spun in midair, an impossible move for anything but a cat, and clamped her teeth on the back of the wolverine’s neck. She bit down and tore off a thick clump of fur.

  Slasher screamed and rolled over, kicking and clawing as Uraza snapped at him. She cuffed him across the jaw, and that was enough.

  The big wolverine fled.

  “Come back here! Come back!” Sid cried out after his spirit animal.

  Abeke raised an eyebrow. “You should have spent more time working on your bond, Sid.”

  Uraza growled, her violet eyes on the Oathbound.

  Essix shrieked as she circled above them. Sid bellowed, then thrust his sword skyward. A bolt of lightning tore free from the clouds. Essix wheeled away as sparks smoked her wingtips.

  “Leave her alone!” screamed Rollan. He jumped at Sid and—

  Abeke gasped. Rollan blurred between them and struck Sid with both fists. Sid tumbled head over heels, but Rollan …

  Rollan flew. His cloak billowed behind him in the storm winds, carring him upward ten feet, twenty, fifty. Even from here, Abeke saw the boy’s eyes shine with fury. He curled up, bringing his knees to his chest, then dove.

  Sid scrabbled to his feet, stunned and bewildered. Only at the last second did he see Rollan. He cried out, releasing a blistering wall of lightning bolts.

  Rollan spun between them, too fast to be hit.

  Slam!

  Rollan turned at the last moment and rammed both feet into Sid’s chest. He skimmed over the ground, barely slowing, before winging back into the air.

  “How … how …?” Sid gasped, clutching his chest. Judging by his wheezing, there were a few cracked ribs under his armor. Sid used his sword to push himself up. Then he turned to Abeke and glared. “You’ll pay, girl! You will pay!”

  Abeke sent out two more arrows, but Sid turned both to ash with a flick of his wrist. The power in the crown was building. Stormspeaker hummed, shooting sparks in all directions. Sid’s skin turned a radiant blue. The rain fizzled as it struck him, and his armor … glowed.

  Where was Rollan? Had the storm taken him? Abeke couldn’t search the skies for him, not with Sid about to attack.

  The Oathbound shook as the power of the crown filled his body. Even his eyes shimmered with blue light. He cried out and charged.

  A wall of supercharged air burst forward. Abeke only just jumped away. But it was a jump that carried her twenty feet through the air, and she landed lightly on her toes. Even when drawing on Uraza’s grace, Abeke had never made a jump tha
t far.

  “That’s not possible,” whispered Sid.

  “My turn,” said Abeke. She’d seen Uraza do this so often, and it always amazed her how the leopard could cover vast distances with seemingly little effort.

  Abeke pounced. Just a slight squeeze and a push from her thighs, and she sailed in a high arc, coming down toward Sid, who just stared with his mouth gaping.

  She rammed the tip of her bow into his chest and the discharge of electricity jolted them both in opposite directions.

  But as the storm grew, Sid’s power multiplied. Already the sparks thickened, forming a flashing shield around him.

  He yelled as he slammed his sword down onto her bow. Again and again he struck, yet the seemingly fragile wood held, even as the bolts exploded around them.

  “Why … won’t … it … break?” he screamed at each blow. He was mad with fury; any skill he had was abandoned in his single-minded rage to smash Abeke to pieces.

  But with each thunderbolt, his power decreased. Sid didn’t realize what he was doing; he was too filled with blind anger, but Abeke felt it. Each blow was weaker than the last.

  She waited until he raised his sword again, then jumped away with a roar. Abeke turned in midair and rammed both heels into his back.

  Sid tumbled again, and the Stormspeaker crown rolled off his head.

  They both stared at it as it rolled down the path, toward the cliff’s edge.

  “No!” screamed Sid. All thoughts of the fight were abandoned as he chased after the speeding circlet. “No!”

  It rolled faster and faster.

  The crown struck a stone and bounced up in the air, spinning and spinning.

  “No!” screamed Sid as it went over the edge. “Noooo!”

  Whoosh!

  Rollan rose up along the cliff face, grinning. “Lost something?”

  He held the crown in the crook of his finger.

  Sid turned around. That arrogance was gone, vanished with the swiftness of a lightning bolt. He still held his sword, but the blade looked dull and blunt now. He stared at it, then at Abeke.

  Uraza padded up to him and growled. She let Sid get a good close look at those deadly fangs of hers.

  Sid threw away the sword and dropped to his knees. “Please, I surrender.”

  Abeke loaded her last arrow onto her bow. “Rollan? Tie him up.”

  Rollan landed lightly. His cloak ruffled around his shoulders, then turned limp as plain cloth. He undid Sid’s belt and tied his hands behind his back. Then he nudged Sid to lie facedown in the dirt.

  “One down,” said Rollan.

  But Abeke didn’t reply. Instead she walked to the cliff’s edge and looked down toward the stony beach. The sea was … rising.

  The battle was far from over.

  A FIERCE FEVER COURSED THROUGH CONOR. HE PANTED on the cliff’s edge, his skin too hot to feel the biting rain. He was barefoot, his thin shirt shredded and hanging in tatters, but he barely felt the wind howling in from the sea.

  Thunderous waves crashed against the black granite rocks, and storm clouds boomed together above him. Lightning flared and crackled.

  Every muscle burned. He could barely contain the feral power that threatened to explode his heart.

  Conor threw back his head and howled.

  Briggan joined him, baying at the sky. Conor had never felt such kinship. The bond they had surpassed anything they’d previously known.

  He paused, and sniffed the air. “A scent,” he growled.

  Meilin looked around. “There’s no one here.”

  He crouched down, almost on all fours. He wrinkled up his nose. “There is.”

  A cluster of rocks lay ahead of them. The rocks were old and covered in moss, their gray blending to green to match the grass tufts that covered the cliff top.

  There was nothing there to see.…

  “Kana,” he growled. “Come out.”

  The shadows between two of the larger boulders moved. One moment the path ahead was clear, then the next there stood the captain of the Oathbound. Her chameleon was settled on her shoulder.

  Kana nodded at Conor. “So much for my ambush.”

  Meilin’s gaze darkened.

  Conor didn’t need his second sight to know what would have happened. They would have walked straight past Kana, and one of them would have gotten a sword in their backs before they’d even realized the danger.

  “It doesn’t have to be like this,” said Meilin, stepping forward. Jhi stood up beside her, and for a moment Conor wondering if the Great Panda would attack. Instead, Jhi watched the woman with a curious gaze.

  “Out of my way, Meilin,” Conor said. “I’ll deal with her. She can’t hide from me while I hold the staff.”

  But Meilin only stepped closer to Kana. “Please, you know what Song’s become. You know what carnage will follow if you let her carry on.”

  Kana put her hand on the amulet around her neck, the Heart of the Land. “Song’s rewarded me well for my loyalty. It is my duty to protect her.”

  “Song’s greatest enemy is herself,” Meilin persisted. “She’s on the path of destruction and ruin, Kana. And you know it.”

  All Conor could do was watch. But he saw the doubts fill Kana’s eyes.

  “I cannot betray my friend.”

  “I’m not asking you to betray Song.” Meilin was only a few feet from Kana. The length of a sword blade. Yet Meilin held out her hand. “I’m asking you to help us save her.”

  Conor held his breath. Kana still gripped her sword, and he was too far to help.

  But Jhi was with Meilin. She padded up to Kana and looked up at her with her silvery eyes.

  Meilin gently touched her hairpin, and Conor could almost feel the waves of … serenity … of peace radiating from Meilin.

  Sometimes it was easy to forget there were other ways to resolve misery and strife. The quiet ways, too often drowned out by the din of battle and the clash of weapons. Looking at Meilin and Jhi together, Conor couldn’t help but marvel at the tranquil strength they held.

  Hairpin in place, Meilin was the quiet center in the storm. If only more could hear this silence: the tranquility of Jhi the Peacefinder.

  Conor saw Kana drop her sword. She had heard that silence.

  Kana looked at Meilin. “Please. Help me save my friend.”

  Smiling, Meilin held out her hand. “I’ll do—”

  An arc of flame exploded through the air, striking Kana and sending Meilin and Jhi crashing to the ground.

  Conor wiped the rain from his eyes and growled from deep in the back of his throat.

  Cordelia stood a distance away, both hands firmly gripping the hilt of the Wildcat’s Claw. Flames licked the bare steel, and the raindrops hissed into steam as they fell upon the metal. She sneered at them. “Kana, you traitor.”

  Kana lay on the flame-scorched earth, moaning. The flames had hit her hard. Conor could barely look at the damage they’d done. But Jhi was kneeling beside her, and Conor could feel, even from where he stood, the gentle waves of healing energy radiating from the giant bear.

  Meilin leaped beside him, clutching Kana’s discarded sword, but Conor shook his head.

  He glanced back at the mortally injured Kana. “Go! Help her! Jhi will need you.”

  Then, teeth gritted, he turned to face Cordelia. “She’s mine.”

  “Think you can beat me, dog?” sneered Cordelia. Despite the pouring rain, she stood steady. “Come here and I’ll turn your pet into my rug.”

  Briggan snarled and circled the Oathbound killer.

  Conor’s heart pumped hot, raging blood through him. He smelled the sweat upon Cordelia’s brow, the oil upon her armor, and even the animal fat she’d used on her boots as polish. He could hear Cordelia’s beating heart, her ragged breaths, and even in the firelight of her blade, he saw her hesitation.

  Cordelia the Kind was used to lashing helpless sailors, beating down on the weak. Now she was looking at someone who wasn’t afraid to fight her, some
one who actually relished facing her.

  In spite of himself, Conor grinned, baring his teeth the way he’d seen Briggan bare his own a thousand times. His hand clenched the crook at his side.

  His bond with Briggan had opened up the world in so many ways, but that bond didn’t compare to what was happening now—nor the pure joy he felt.

  The joy of the hunt.

  Conor howled as he charged, startling even Cordelia.

  He crashed into her and they tumbled over the rocky ground. Cordelia rammed the hilt of her sword into his back as Conor swiped at her with his shepherd’s crook. She kicked him in the chest, and the pair rolled apart. Conor sprang to his feet while Cordelia stumbled, stunned by his ferocity, and weighed down by her armor. “An animal, that’s all you are …”

  Conor saw the attacks before they came. It was just so clear what Cordelia would do. He spun and easily dodged her blows.

  Cordelia screamed at him, wild incoherent cries of rage and frustration as killing blows missed by inches. Conor responded with heavy blows of his own, kicks and punches, battering her down until she swayed, fanning flames out from the sword to hold him off.

  Briggan joined in, snapping and clawing at any slight opening in Cordelia’s defenses. The wolf leaped and pounced from all directions. He buried his fangs into Cordelia’s leg armor, almost throwing her down. Cordelia swung with her sword, stabbing him, and the wound scored Briggan’s shoulder. The wolf’s attacks only became more ferocious.

  “Filthy animal!” Cordelia screamed. She took a two-handed grip on the sword and bore down on Conor with a series of savage slashes.

  Conor tightened his grip upon his crook as each blow fell.

  “Nothing but a stick, that’s all you have. I’ll turn it into kindling!” snarled Cordelia.

  Conor gave her a toothy grin. Then, without thought, he threw up his crook.