“Saved your life?” The Bull blinked. “What madness is this? This boy is clearly blind!”
“My maidservant betrayed me. Assassins struck the palace in your absence. Almost a dozen, armed with weapons I had never seen. Shuriken spitters and growling swords. They slaughtered my guards. Blind or no, Jun-san’s blade struck true and swift. If he were not—”
“Growling swords?” Tatsuya breathed. “Like the chainblades used to clearfell forests?”
“The same,” Ami nodded. “They would have killed me, if not for the Stormdancer’s intervention.”
“Honorless Guild dogs,” he whispered, fingers curling to fists. “They will pay for this treachery in blood, I vow it.”
The Bull turned away, rage flooding his face, teeth gritted and bared. It took a few moments for the Tiger Lord to compose himself, breathing deep, eyes closed. After a long, suffocating silence, he turned to Jun, covered his fist and bowed low.
“Humble apologies, Stormdancer Jun,” he said. “I beg forgiveness for hasty words. It is not often I see another man place his hands upon my wife. Yet, for saving her life, I and all this country owes you a debt. For burying the Guild’s assassins, thwarting their treachery, I grant you tribute. Ask anything and it will be yours.”
“Noble Lord.” Jun spoke with hesitant voice, eyes drifting to the Lady Ami. “It was my pleasure and duty to assist the Lady in her trials. And I ask only what you have already vowed. The Lotus Guild is responsible for a spreading sickness. Afflicting not only the people of Shima, but the beasts of the land and sky, also.” Here he gestured to me. “My friend, the great and fearsome Koh has lost her own kin to this illness. That you declare the Guild your enemy, that you agree to purge them from Shima once this war with your brother is done, is all I ask.”
“I have so vowed. For them to betray me on the field is bad enough. For them to strike at my hearth and home is insult that cannot be forgiven.”
A smile brightened Jun’s face, spilling over into me. I could see the thoughts in his head—his grandmother’s prophecy now one step closer to fulfillment. Providence had brought him the Tiger Lord and his armies. But the Skymeet spoke, even as we stood there. Every second bringing us closer to the moment the Khan would render his judgment.
“Then you must excuse me, Lord Tatsuya,” Jun said. “But my friend Koh and I have business in the skies above our heads.”
“Will you not stay and do battle alongside us, Stormdancer?” Tatsuya said. “The Guild has ships that sear the skies with fire, blast my men to pieces. You and your thunder tiger could do much to even the scales when the Bear moves against me.”
Jun was already astride my back, my wings spread and crackling.
“I can do better than a single arashitora, great Lord. Give me an hour, and I will give you an army.”
Jun bowed deep to the Lady Ami, palm covering fist. And before the Bull could give his reply, we took to the air, my muscles humming, tearing through the frostbitten skies and circling up the mountainside. The earth fell away beneath our feet, exhilaration filling the boy’s belly, filling my own, his teeth gritted in my skull, my fingers digging into his feathers. That oneness again, adrenaline and hope dragging us together—we two who were so different, and yet so much the same. His grin infectious, making me wish for a brief and gleaming moment I had lips with which to smile.
Do you believe now, friend Koh? Do you see how close we are?
MILES AWAY BY MY RECKONING, MONKEY-CHILD. MY KHAN NOT BE SO EASILY SWAYED AS YOURS.
The gods themselves ride with us this day, friend Koh. Nothing can stop us now.
Up the face of the first sister, black crags and jagged teeth, snow thrashing and curling and twisting beneath my wings. Chill bearing down, pressing him tight to my back, my warmth, his arms about my neck. This little boy, who only a few days ago walked unbidden into my life, and now, had changed it forever. And did I believe, you ask? Believe as he did? In gods and destinies and things undone already sewn in the tapestry of fate?
I confess I did not.
But also, that I wanted to.
A fierce cry spilling from the scouts in the skies above. The eyes of the Skymeet upturned as we pierced mist and cloud, lightning cracking above our heads. I roared, Rahh answered, the Khan bellowing louder still as I skidded in to land, snow swirling about me, young Jun leaping from my back and bowing low, feeling about the Skymeet for any threat. Steam rising from my flanks, shaking head to tail to rid myself of the snow and ice crusted upon fur and feather, dipping my head in respect before my Khan.
“Grandfather,” I said.
“What this?” The Khan growled in response. “Where been, young Koh? Why returned now, with boy who should have flown to his death days past?”
“Have flown far, great Khan. Seeking truth of sickness. Seeking monkey-children who would fight it. Found them. Just below us. Enemies of our enemies. This Guild and their poison machines. They fight alongside—”
A roar, cutting off my words, chilling me to silence, the Khan’s eyes alight with rage.
“Defy our ways, granddaughter. Defy your Khan.”
“I sought only truth—”
“Not female’s place to seek truth. Nor fly free. Such is our way.”
“Then is BROKEN way,” I snarled. “Blind way. Old and foolish way. And old and foolish Khan who bids us cleave to it.”
Outrage amongst the elders. Snarls amongst the bucks. But in the eyes of the other females lurking about the Skymeet’s edges, I saw a gleaming. A pride.
“You DARE,” my grandfather snarled. “Too much I gave, when your kin die. Too much love. Too much softness. There, I foolish. THERE, I blind.”
“This place our home. Monkey-children fight for it. Why not—”
“ENOUGH.”
The great Khan stepped forward, hackles raised, his growl rumbling louder than the thunder above our heads. Lightning flickering in his eyes, along the curling tips of his mighty wings. A snarl spilling from the depths of him, making me quail despite myself.
“Khan spoken. Skymeet ended. We leave Shima this day. It over. Khan’s word is law.”
I felt the words as a blow to my chest, souring my belly, sinking down into my paws. It had been spoken. The Khan’s words could not be rescinded. The Skymeet would not disobey him. And old though he was, afraid of this new world and the terrors therein, still he was respected. Twenty years, our leader. Two decades beneath his wisdom. He was beloved. He was feared. There would be none brave enough to stand against him.
I looked to Jun, standing there in the snow, fear in his eyes. He knew it was not his place to speak. That his words here would only provoke further rage. And yet the need boiled inside him. The belief. Faith in the words of some old monkey-crone, probably moon-touched or speaking to him out of pity. Still, I did not believe. And yet, all she had foreseen was within our reach. With the arashitora onside, the Tiger Lord below could win his war. Purge the Guild. End the sickness. If only one were brave enough to cast the Khan down from his throne.
“Then I challenge it,” I growled. “I challenge Khan’s law. And I challenge Khan.”
My grandfather snorted, amusement bubbling among the Skymeet.
“Foolish child. Only males challenge. Female not be Khan.”
“Kill me then, Grandfather. Throw my scraps down with the remains of my kin. Your daughter. Your grandson. Leave behind when you flee, tail tucked between your legs.”