Cypress slunk off the bench, allowing Tang to glimpse a deep, white-fleshed gash that ran the entire length of
the monitor's belly. The beast trundled across the plaza on four stubby legs, then stopped next to the prince's knee and rolled its lifeless gaze over his maitung.
Given that we have not seen you in so long, I find this altogether pretentious,
The lizard's tongue darted out to snap at Tang's maitung, which was tailored with overlapping brown patches resembling the spade-shaped scales of an armored skink.
How long has it been since you attended Lair?
"You know I resign."
Cypress slipped behind his captive and lashed out with the monitor's huge tail, catching Tang behind the knees and hurling him face first to the plaza. The prince's nose and mouth erupted in stinging pain, and he felt the unac- customed sensation of warm blood spilling from his nos- trils. He tried to rise and found himself pinned to the ground, his entire body now as heavy as only his feet had been a moment earlier. He screamed, more in rage than anguish, and wished that he had a sword in his hand-and the strength to raise it.
The hammering at the gates ceased, then a sharp boom reverberated across the plaza as several armored bodies slammed into the portals. The thick planks creaked, but the lock did not give way. Cypress circled around in front of the prince, barely glancing toward the gates.
have told you, no one resigns from the Cult of the
Dragon!
The monitor took Tang's hand in its mouth. The prince cringed, fearing he would soon have a bloody stump at the end of his wrist, but the powerful jaws did not close.
Instead, the beast's agile tongue rolled over Tang's fin- gers, removing his golden rings. After doing the same with the other hand, the dead lizard dropped to its belly and stared the prince in the eye.
/ thank you for the offering. Now, where is my ylang oil?
"Where is Lady Feng?" Tang groaned. "You have oil
when I have mother."
A red ember sparked deep within the lizard's eye, then the beast dragged one huge claw across the prince's face.
"You dare scratch me?" Tang squawked, astonished that even a spiteful creature like Cypress would mark a person of Imperial Shou blood. He spat on the beast's snout, then added, "For that, you die thousand deaths!"
The monitor's gaping jaws opened as though to chomp
Tang's head off; then the beast tipped its head sideways and did not bite. I think I shall!
A deep, rumbling laugh-more like a cough-rolled up from someplace deep in the monitor's hollow stomach, and Cypress laid one of the lizard's heavy claws on the prince's shoulder.
I shall die a thousand deaths-a thousand deaths at
least!
Cypress removed the foot from Tang's shoulder and backed away, still chuckling. The prince found that his body no longer seemed quite so heavy. He gathered him- self up and stood, one hand pinching his bloody nose.
Another boom echoed across the plaza. The monitor's head turned so that it could watch the arch with one drab eye and Tang with the other.
Lady Feng informs me that only you know how to press the ylang blossoms, so I will spare your life-but I am los- ing patience. If I do not have the oil by tomorrow, I shall start returning your mother in parts.
"What you ask is impossible! Pressing blossoms take
one week-"
Don't lie to me! I know how long you need to prepare the oil! The monitor whirled away and started across the
plaza. Tomorrow.
A double click sounded beneath the Arch of Many-
Hued Scales. The gates burst open, and Yuan led the guards into the garden. Several of the men were only half dressed and bleeding from their whip cuts. Their eyes went first to the prince's bloody face, then to the
lumbering monitor. To a man, they lowered their hal- berds and charged.
"No! Stand-"
Tang's command came too late. Cypress ran the moni- tor's dark gaze from one end of the company to the other.
As the black eyes fell on each sentry, the man wailed and slapped his palms to his ears, letting his weapon fly from his hands. In a breath's span, all ten guards lay writhing on the ground, screaming madly and bleeding from their ears. The lizard sauntered calmly into the squad's midst, paused to suck the silver honor ring off each man's thumb, and walked out the gate. By the time Cypress had lumbered down the Path of Delight onto the Five
Color Bridge, the last sentry had curled into a tight ball and lay staring at the ground in front of him through gray, sunken eyeballs.
Tang sank to his knees and looked numbly around his garden, absentmindedly counting all the boulders and trees he would have to replace. At least now he knew how the vandal had penetrated the heart of his palace; with- out a wu-jen, even the most elaborate traps and precau- tions were doomed to fail against a master of the Invisible
Art.
From beneath the Arch of Many-Hued Scales came a soft-voiced cough. Tang turned and saw the lithe form of his diminutive wife, Wei Dao, standing in the gateway.
She had apparently come from her gymnasium, for her brow was wet with sweat, and she wore a black samfu, a long-sleeved uniform in which she always dressed to practice empty-hand defense. Today, her attire also included a red throat scarf. Despite her ruffled hair and flushed complexion, the princess looked as striking as ever, with generous painted lips, high cheeks, and a watchful, sloe-eyed gaze.
Wei Dao bowed. "Mighty Prince, please forgive intru- sion, but I hear terrible commotion."
Her eyes darted from her husband's blood-smeared face to the fallen guards, but she made no comment on
their condition and did not move to help them. As Tang's wife, such things were as far beneath her dignity as that of the prince himself; at their first convenience, one of them would inform the commander of the guard that some of his men were in need of attention.
"I see Chult lizard crossing Five Color Bridge," said
Wei Dao. "It looks in no condition to walk."
Tang rose and crossed the plaza to his wife. "We have unwelcome visitor." He left the garden and pulled the red-lacquered gates shut behind him. "We need wu-jen."
Wei Dao considered this a moment, then asked, "To stop dragon?" Then, as though there could be some ques- tion of which dragon she meant, she added, "To stop
Cypress?"
Tang nodded. "I do not understand why, but he comes himself." Cypress seldom ventured from the gluttonous comfort of his lair and would normally have sent his high priestess, Indrith Shalla, to deliver the threat. "And he leaves in body of monitor. Why does dragon want carcass
of giant lizard?"
Wei Dao's eyes flashed. "What do we care?" She took the scarf from around her neck, revealing the fading rem- nants of an ugly skin rash, and dabbed at Tang's blood- smeared face. "Give him ylang oil before he kill Lady