Share
76 - Weakness
It happened before Anzi had even the slightest chance to react. Not only Kai’s sudden, brutal assault on Tet, but what happened next, too—the explosion of the translucent, swirled dragon glass that made up the top half of the far wall looking out over the city. And as countless shards showered over the entirety of the great domed hall with a piercing, shattered cacophony, the dim sky darkened, far more quickly than any sunset could cause.
Shadows! The shadows of wings as two large shapes crashed in, then unfurled, revealing winged dragon-like figures, half reptile and half-man. They deflected a hail of arrows before flaring their wings again. And although they were on the distant end of the great hall, Anzi felt it the instant they raised their heads and stared at her. No, not her, at them—everyone on the balcony. Their wings beat twice, gaining air as they prepared to fly straight toward them.
“This is it, then!” Tet shouted over the
Related chapters
Called by the Dragon 77 - Performances
Anzi hit the ground so hard it made her teeth rattle, but she managed to land on her feet and tuck into a roll to protect her knees from the impact. In truth, it was easier than it should have been—just a half-year ago, she would never have considered leaping down from such a towering height, but she was desperate and determined as she shoved through the crowd to find that flash of pink she had seen a moment ago. If she had wasted even a single second longer for fear of her own safety, she would surely lose Letti. But desperate or no, the aching pain that throbbed in her calf and foot was a bitch. She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, cursing Bisset for crippling her, but there was no time to be bitter about it for long. There—! She wrenched Letti back by the shoulder and found bright blue eyes staring back at her, wide and panicked. They were filled with no small amount of fear and hostility, but as soon as she recognized Anz
Called by the Dragon 78 - The Walls
“Don’t do this,” said Anzi. She shifted, making certain she was concealing every part of Oza from Doufan’s view. “You’re not going to like how this ends.” His glaive twisted in his grasp, a small rolling of the handle that made the keen edge of the curved blade on the end gleam under the torch light. “I’m obligated to make you an offer since that’s our way,” he said just as blithely. “Give me the boy, and I’ll make it painless for you.” “It? And what’s ‘it’ supposed to be? You’re getting ahead of yourself.” She grasped the hilts of her swords and unsheathed them an inch. The other soldier’s glaive tip edged upward as well. “This is a bad time for you to play Bisset’s lapdog. The whole city’s falling apart. Get out of here, and I won’t bring this up to His Excellency when we see him next. Consider it a favor repaid if you don’t say a word about the guards.” But he said nothing, and something about his cold composure
Called by the Dragon 79 - Panic
The falling stones should have crushed her. She had never visited the dungeons often enough to know exactly how far underground this lower level was, but the weight of the upper cells alone should have flattened her. And Oza, too, no matter how much she wanted to believe otherwise. Sheer determination and panic wouldn’t have been enough for her to save him. Or shouldn’t have been. But as she groaned under the weight of the solid slabs threatening to drive her into the ground and take Oza as well, she realized dimly that she wasn’t dead. That wasn’t possible, and yet here she was, breathing, however laborious and painful each rattling, shallow inhale. Her arms and legs trembled madly, struggling to support the weight of every piece of debris fallen on top of her so she didn’t suffocate Oza underneath, and she felt no give as she shifted left and right—but she was alive. She was conscious. And although they were buried in darkness under the rubble and she
Called by the Dragon 80 - Understanding
It really was Bisset’s dragon. Massive and sprawling, she lay in a heap at the bottom of the hill, her enormous head half buried in the stream that ran across what used to be the embassy house’s garden. Anzi’s heart dropped, and despite the battered state of her body, a surge of panicked strength helped her stumble down on shaky legs. She rushed past Oza and Letti and nearly fell to the ground on top of the creature’s snout, only managing to catch herself by bracing one hand right above the scaly upper lip. But the groaning, rumbling sound of pain that echoed from deep within the dragon’s belly made Anzi recoil in instant regret and yank her hand away. “What has he done to you?” she whispered. Her throat was raw and her lips cracked; her voice was too quiet for anyone but herself to hear. But she asked anyway—never expecting an answer. It came in brief flashes instead of words, glimpses into something that touched her with darkness, heaviness—with the e
Called by the Dragon 81 - Shambles
The dragon’s talons threatened to crush her ribs with their perilous strength, but she clutched at them with a determined fire and grit her teeth against the pain. She had just been given a second lease on life, and Oza and Letti, too. If Doufan had run her through, he would have gone after them next without a doubt, and they wouldn’t have stood a chance. It chilled her to think how close they had all been to meeting their end just moments before, but as they rose higher and higher over the Imperial City, exhilaration and relief filled her instead, swallowing up all the fear that had weighed her down like the night clouds blanketing the moon. They were leaving. They were leaving, and she had managed to keep everyone alive. Her heart pounded harder when she thought of Kai and how she had had to leave him, but surely he would have done the smart thing and left the Imperial City as she had told him to do before parting ways. And he would be safe, she told
Called by the Dragon 82 - Blood and Bone
Oza was still perched atop the dragon’s back, motionless, and Anzi refrained from telling him a second time to come down from there. The hostile expressions on the faces of everyone present told her he was in the safest place he could be, high above, and she briefly wished Letti hadn’t come down yet either. But it was too late. They were surrounded, and despite Kai’s sharp command, no one was lowering their guard. Only a few of them were carrying weapons, but she knew well enough they had no need of manmade blades. Not if they really were dragon shifters. Out of the corner of her eye, something gray and black flitted down the great dragon’s side, and she let herself glance there for a precious half-second to see the Prince crawling upside down off the elder dragon’s neck. His wings were outstretched as he climbed down with his thumb-like claw hooks, and now she saw something else peculiar. He had four wings now, two smaller ones that the main o
Called by the Dragon 83 - Flight II
It was easy to find Sa-Khente. He was with Kai on the other side of the small camp, just over the large dune. She hadn’t asked where either of them were and had simply followed the niggling feeling inside her that told her to go that way, that way, and she had. At its end, she had found the chieftain with a new ceremonial golden collar around his shoulders, and an exceedingly tall man standing beside him. She gave up trying to explain to herself how she had known Kai would be here, and there was a knowing, satisfied gleam in his golden eyes as he watched her approach over his shoulder. It was as if he was reeling her in despite standing still, and it was only when she came within arm’s reach that he turned and pulled her close with his arms around her waist, ignoring the man standing next to him. “Kai—” “Sa. Look at my mate, standing here with me. You had so little faith.” The large man g
Called by the Dragon 84 - Waters
Amunet’s body was too massive to bury in good time, but more importantly, tradition held that a dragon’s body not be buried underneath the earth, anyway. Anzi accepted this when Kai told her, and she watched carefully as he plucked several scales below her eye before turning back to face her. “They’re typically passed down in families. You’re the closest she has, so it should go to you.” That wasn’t true. There was one other. She turned to look at the mottled gray-black hatchling who sat quietly by Amunet’s snout, utterly motionless. He looked even bigger today than he had yesterday, but perhaps that was simply his body now uncompressing after all those decades trapped inside his egg. It horrified Anzi to know that he hadn’t been dormant as all other hatchlings were before they came out into the world; he had been active and aware for a long, long time. He had moved around and tried to free himself so many times, and she had seen it with her own eyes wh
Latest chapter
