The Last Dragon of the East

Chapter 36

36

I run to the villagers and free the strongest of their men. I free Chyou and her child along with the rest of the women and children next, while the soldiers are preoccupied with Jyn above.

“Run!” I tell them. “As far and as fast as you can.”

Bodies fall, the camp is overturned, and the scent of blood weighs on the air. I try to channel my magic, but I can’t manage it. Instead of rage, I’m swimming in fear and helplessness; I cannot tap into the strength I once possessed. I have no choice but to fight blade to blade.

I lose track of how many soldiers I maim, the sensation of metal slipping through flesh happening again and again. Though the wet sound of skin and muscle and bone splitting open makes me sick, I attack anything and anyone that makes the mistake of charging at me.

The emperor is nowhere in sight. He’s retreated for now—that coward.

Jyn roars as she dives down, scooping up soldiers in her sharp fangs and her claws. She drags them into the skies with her before tossing them to the unforgiving earth. They scream for their lives as the fall finishes the job for her.

The Imperial soldiers take their aim, letting their arrows loose. Thankfully, few hit their mark. Those that do ricochet off of Jyn’s scales, the speed of her flight splintering arrows on contact. I come for them while they’re distracted, stabbing and slicing through those who wish to harm her.

With a shriek, Feng tackles me to the ground. She sits on my chest, pinning me down, then draws her spare dagger from her sheath and winds back. The blade drives straight through my left shoulder, an excruciating fire radiating from the spot, leaving me without breath. Feng pulls the blade back, readying for another go. She’s going to stab me to pieces.

“Nothin’ personal, Leaf Water.”

“Please,” I beg. “Don’t do this. The emperor is using you.”

Much to my horrified amazement, the huntress pauses, her dagger flashing mere inches from cutting my eye in two. Her moment of hesitation is my advantage—and likely my only chance.

“You truly believe he’ll make good on his promise?” I press on. “What reassurance do you have that he won’t kill you the moment he has what he wants?”

“I—”

“ Please , Feng. Don’t allow your thirst for revenge cloud your judgment. He’s bound to go back on whatever deal he’s struck. He’s taken a whole village hostage just to get what he wants. Imagine if these people were your own back home!”

“But ye lied to me,” she hisses. “Over an’ over again. About where the dragon was, about yer woman, about who ye are.”

“Because she’s my Fated One!” I exclaim. “I was trying to protect her. I still am. I beg of you, let me go before he hurts her. We both know the lengths we’ll go to for the people we love.”

The huntress sets her jaw, her gaze hard and scrutinizing. I can’t tell whether I’ve gotten through to her. All I can do is pray.

If only I knew how to transform fully. I should be up there with Jyn, defending her, and instead, she’s fighting for the two of us. I shut my eyes tight and brace for the impact. Could this be it?

Just when I think I’m about to meet yet another tragic end, Feng throws her dagger overhead, the hilt tumbling through the air before puncturing a soldier through the side of the neck. He sputters, choking on the metal lodged in his throat. He fumbles helplessly, falls to his knees, and collapses flat on his face. The black loop around his finger tells me he’s dead before he even hits the ground.

“Get up!” Feng yells at me, standing quickly while offering me her hand. She helps me to my feet.

“Thank you,” I say, breathless. “You won’t regret—”

“Less talk, more killin’, moron!”

We remain outnumbered, but the fight feels less hopeless with an ally on our side. While Jyn soars above, swooping in with her claws extended to ram into large swathes of soldiers, Feng and I pick off Róng’s soldiers one at a time. But it’s quickly evident that I’m no fighter. Whatever blows I land are pure luck, and whatever strikes I take are unsurprising. It’s frankly a miracle I’m still standing.

A soldier slices the side of my arm, and sticky blood trickles down my skin and drips off my fingers. Someone rushes me from behind with a war cry. I turn in time to see his raised sword, arcing down to sever my head from my shoulders, but Feng is able to come between us, ramming her dagger into his brain from just below the jaw. Jyn, too, shows no mercy, sinking her teeth into a soldier’s flesh, the crunch of bones audible even over the clamor of battle.

When my dragon lands, it’s with a harsh thud that shakes the ground. Arrows riddle her body, her exhaustion evident in the heavy hang of her head. I stagger toward her, half-dead but still putting myself between her and the approaching soldiers.

“You have to escape,” I wheeze. “Leave this place.”

Jyn snarls, as if in disagreement.

“I’ll be back,” I promise. “If he kills me, so be it. But you know I’ll always come back for you. Please, you have to leave.”

This time, she hisses.

“I’m not asking.” Desperation shreds through my words. “You’re the one he wants, Jyn. I can’t let you fall into his hands. I’ll hold him off for as long as I can.”

“Get ready,” Feng snaps at us. “The fight ain’t over yet.”

We are surrounded, Imperial soldiers cautiously closing in on us. My hands are shaking so hard that I can barely grasp my blade. I hold it up anyway, more than happy to strike down the next fool who dares make a move.

They rush at us.

We fight ferociously, moving together as one. Feng moves like smoke, impossible to catch until it’s too late. Jyn picks off approaching soldiers one by one with her teeth, while I hack my way through anyone who gets too close. It’s violent. I take on more damage than I deal, but I no longer care. One, three, five, the whole horde—Jyn and I will cut down each and every one of them.

Can we possibly make it out alive? I should know by now that luck is never on my side.

Something heavy and scalding hot hits us both. A net woven of metal, heated to a glowing orange. The Imperial soldiers have fired it from a cannon, the momentum knocking Jyn and me to the ground. Her concentration broken, Jyn shifts into her smaller human form. Her roar shifts into a woman’s chilling scream.

The hot metal sears our skin, melts through our clothes. Trapped beneath its weight, we can only writhe in agony. The net crushes my strength to keep fighting, too heavy to lift, and my bones too brittle and broken.

The emperor steps out, finally showing his face now that our defeat seems certain. He crouches down and examines Jyn and me with a cold indifference.

“Yuèmǔ,” he says flatly. “It is lovely to see my mother-in-law after so long.”

Jyn roars, “Do not call me that, you snake !”

The emperor clicks his tongue. “Is this not nice? It has been several thousand years since we’ve had a family get-together. We should hold a feast in your honor.”

“You have already devoured our son’s soul!” I bellow. “What more could you possibly want from us?”

His eyes narrow. “What makes you think I would ever divulge my plans to you? I ought to execute you here and now.”

Jyn shrieks. “If you harm him, I won’t transform!”

The emperor pauses. “No?”

“That’s what you want, is it not? To harvest us the way you did A-Qian?”

He goes stiff at the mention of our son’s name, something shifting behind his eyes. The emperor seems to lose hold of his emotions for the first time, brow furrowing deeply as he clenches his teeth, sharpening the prominent line of his jaw. He tightens his hand into a fist, his severed gray thread still hanging freely from his little finger. He rises and gestures to a nearby soldier.

“Bind them,” he orders. “And break their legs. We don’t want our honored guests running off.”

“What of the huntress?” one of his officers asks.

Emperor Róng regards Feng with general disinterest, like how one might notice a fly buzzing overhead, and motions for a sword. “I have no use for her,” he says before driving the tip of the blade through Feng’s back.

“Stop!” I bellow, but it’s too late.

I see the light fade from her eyes, her pupils blowing wide without focus. It’s a quick death, but horrifying all the same as I watch her thread fall away into nothing. Her Fated One, wherever they are, will not know her in this lifetime. Guilt racks my mind. We may not have seen eye to eye, but Feng didn’t deserve this death, especially not at the whim of a monster. I silently thank her for sparing my life. Her death will not be in vain.

After they drag the metal net off us, they pin us down, kneeling between our shoulder blades and on the backs of our calves to keep us still. I reach for Jyn, only to have my arm twisted back painfully, my hands suddenly trapped by metal cuffs. The more I move, the more they tighten, sensitive springs within the contraption twisting the cuffs that much more.

“Where are you taking us?” I ask.

The emperor smiles again, though there is no warmth to be found. He has the eyes of a snake, black and cold and unfeeling. “My Winter Palace. I rather think you will enjoy the view.” He turns to his soldiers and gestures to the surrounding area of the village. “Fan out,” he instructs them, “and kill any survivors you come across.”

My heart sinks. The women, the children… Chyou, Ming, little Jia.

I choke. “No—”

A soldier strikes me across the back of the head with the scabbard of his sword.

My vision blurs, and then all goes black.