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2020-11-17 09:54:33Netra was furious for a week. She ate well enough, but every time Anzi reached over to pick debris between her scales or examine her claws for chips, she snapped at her, teeth clacking furiously and head twitching this way and that like an angry bird. There was no soothing the young dragon and even when Anzi and Bisset arrived on the back of the colonel’s dragon outside the city of Lumenera, Netra was still refusing anything but the most necessary of handling. There was no way for Anzi to explain why she had had to leave without warning for the desert expedition. It was one of the few times she wished the hatchling would communicate again despite the risk of alerting the colonel.
She and Bisset stood at the front gates of the city before a small retinue of men who had come to receive them, mostly soldiers wearing the colors of Lumeneran scarlet. The elderly man at their head wore military garb as well, making her narrow her eyes in skeptical question. T
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Called by the Dragon 50
Anzi had the distinct feeling she wasn’t supposed to be here, but she hadn’t been about to reject an explicit invitation from the man who’d just told her that her traveling companion had been personally responsible for the death of his entire family. Colonel Bisset could discipline her later all he liked, but she was not going to look Governor Hosef in the eye and pretend her suffering would be greater than his had been. She couldn’t begin to imagine. She had never been close to her family, partly because she’d left them at a young age and partly because she had fostered that distance herself in her determination to follow what she’d thought was her destined path. But this…She didn’t need to have experienced fellowship in pain to sympathize. And blame. This was the kind of carnage the Empire wrought, the kind that no one spoke about back in the Capital because everyone was taught that the annexed lands all held hands and danced around in a ring together
Last Updated : 2020-11-22Called by the Dragon 51
“Stop squirming, Netra.” Netra, of course, didn’t listen. With a furious clicking of her talons and a raising of her spines, she fought her way out of Anzi’s grip and leaped to the ground, leaving the soldier rubbing her scraped chin. The dragon immediately trotted off to inspect the market stalls, tail swishing behind her like a cat’s. “Those things need a trim,” Anzi muttered. “And you need to stop eating. Gods, you’re fatter than a palace pet.” She was. It had been adorable at first, and Anzi had been powerless to resist over-feeding her whenever the dragon screeched and wailed for more (what if she really was starving?). But the gluttonous habits were clearly too much. Instead of walking, the reptile wobbled and waddled on her clawed feet, belly hanging down between her legs with an almost comedic curve. But she was longer, too, and stood taller at the shoulders. Anzi had been toting her around in her a
Last Updated : 2020-11-23Called by the Dragon 52
Netra had yet to stir. Whatever they had done to her, she wouldn’t awaken anytime soon, which was just as well because her furious screeching would have only made things more perilous. And in this cramped run-down stable she had followed the men into, there was no room for sudden movements and ill-advised sounds. Her eyes darted between them both, watching their hands and feet as she kept her hands close to her sword hilts. “You’re not going to cut us down before I crush this one’s neck,” the man holding Netra assured her. “Wyrms and dragons are the same when it comes to this. She’s small enough it makes no difference. One good wring, and…” She knew it. He didn’t have to remind her. Her eyes rested on the limp dragon’s form that trailed from the man’s grasp, and she had to swallow back a hissing command for him to hold her up properly so as to not strangle her. With his hand gripping around the base of her skull like that, she feared
Last Updated : 2020-11-24Called by the Dragon 53
Five minutes in and they had made no progress beyond introductions. This was going nowhere. “The Emperor’s weakness.” “I don’t know. Pass.” “The secret to taming a dragon.” “Obviously, I don’t know. Pass.” “The names and abilities of every dragon rider?” “I already told you I’ve only been at this for a month,” Anzi snapped. “I haven’t met but one actual rider, and as for the Emperor, other than finding out he’s not one to trifle with, I don’t know anything substantial about him.” “This is useless.” The bearded man paced back forth across the stable. “I’ve asked you a hundred questions you have no answers to!” “Ask the right questions, then!” she fired back. “You’re looking for a magic potion to fix all your problems. It’s not going to happen. I can’t fight back yet, probably not against Bisset and certainly not against the
Last Updated : 2020-11-25Called by the Dragon 54
The coastal cities had always been more diverse than landlocked ones, but Anzi’s knowledge of the various cultures within the continent was stunted by the degree of their relevance: if it didn’t help Imperial soldiers fight and defeat their enemies any better, they never learned it. All she was certain of was that in seaside Lumenera, humans still reigned at the top of the hierarchy while inhumans took up their positions at the foot. At least in the Imperial City, outright discrimination and abuse of the mixed-blooded was outlawed. Here, they had no such protection. So why was this girl so fiercely loyal to the men who cared so little about her? Anzi stared down at the urchin from earlier, unimpressed by the ferocious scowl on her pointed face. She was skinny and small, swimming in the gray and brown rags she wore, and her badly cut dark hair was cropped so close to her head it couldn’t even curl. Dirt smudges and bruises all over, to
Last Updated : 2020-11-26Called by the Dragon 55
Anzi wasn’t used to giving orders, but that didn’t mean she lacked the ability. She was firm, cold, and gave away no uncertainty. And while she had lost all respect for the colonel upon learning the truth, she mimicked his countenance and sophistication now because if there was anyone who could exercise authority with immaculate precision, it was the colonel. She would leave no room for Isvan and his men to doubt her, not when she was the one shouldering the heavier end of the yoke. She didn’t like Isvan. She didn’t like any of them. They were the exact opposite of what she needed, made passionate by their bitterness and acting on the suppressed, violent wrath of a generation trod on by outsider overlords. What she needed was determination and cold composure, patience and frigid logic. How could she work with men like these? She had no choice. This was all she had. And the farther out from the Imperial City and the cradle of the Empir
Last Updated : 2020-11-27Called by the Dragon 56 -
The central plaza. It was a pretty sight, or must have been before it became the chipped and shattered ruin it was now. White stone blocks made up the bottom, rimmed with opalescent stones that went around it in a wide circle. In the middle of it all was a broken fountain, flowing with water but half of its upper stone tier sheared off. And that was it. Nothing else. Besides the gentle burbling from there, Anzi heard nothing else, not a whisper nor a breath. Of the hundreds gathered around the plaza and hundreds more trudging forward to join the crowd from behind, not a single person made their voice heard. It was so eerie a shiver trickled down her back. Never had she encountered such a silent crowd. There was only the distant sound of stray dogs barking, a rustling of the wind against cloth awnings set over market stalls, the rush of the waves against the sands along the far pier… “Your governor is being retired today,” Bisset annou
Last Updated : 2020-11-28Called by the Dragon 57
She didn’t see Rania again nor Isvan. There was no opportunity to sneak even a single final instruction their way before Bisset dragged her slumped body by her hair, although she did her best to try to spot them among the screaming people of the fast-scattering crowd. All chaos, all fury, all terror—it was so overwhelming even Netra’s first-ever display of dragon magic went largely missed: she let out a terrible, ear-piercing screech that rent the air and ejected a stream of white fog straight at Bisset’s back. White crystals solidified and formed over his shoulders and the back of his arm, coating the upper right half of his body and locking his neck so the couldn’t move his head. But the only thing he had done was grunt, tense, and wrench free of the ice, sending broken, sparkling shards down to the ground where they evaporated into misty plumes. And that was that. Netra tried again several more times, but he hardly seemed to notice. When she gave up
Last Updated : 2020-11-29
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Called by the Dragon 102
She was exhausted but unable to sleep as Ash transported her and Kai back to camp. Qing had implored him not to go, but there was no dissuading him now that his men were stable and those who could be saved had been saved. After all, those were his men back at camp, too, the ones who had had to remain behind. No one said a thing as the Oasis slithered through the sands. Kai, despite how exhausted he must be and fearing for his defenseless men on top of that, took Anzi to the spring and bathed her gently. Her wounds refused to close, and even when he slid his hands over them to try to impart healing power through their mate bond, they remained angry and red and gushed blood anew anytime she shifted too much. “It’ll be all right,” he murmured as he kissed her wounds while she sat numbly in the water. “We’ll be there soon.” Soon wasn’t enough. Night was already falling, and it had been that long since she heard Netra’s
Called by the Dragon 101
Was there nothing else she could do? Nothing at all? Anzi took a deep and angled slash to her midriff that tore the tattered remains of her uniform almost completely in two while at the same time, beheading Benhad at last in exchange, and yet it wasn’t triumph she felt but stunned disbelief. She had thrown her faith into Ash’s words because she had no choice but to fight on anyway, but here that faith proved futile as ever. Five newcomer dragons in the fight, some of them rivaling Kai’s generals in size, and the five First Guards riding atop them as well. Outnumbered, outpowered, fighting like this would mean everyone died. No path to victory, no opening, no vulnerability to exploit. And for every one she might find if she looked hard enough, the shifter tribe had a dozen more. Please, she begged the gods, the spirits, even herself. The fate and destiny Ash insisted would meet her here, where were they? Please, let there be something I can do, she screa
Called by the Dragon 100
Anzi had no time for a poetic entry into battle. She had no time for battle either while she was at it and hoped desperately she could be more assassin instead, striking at vulnerable heart and tearing apart the enemy before they could fight back and resist. But that was impossible. She was faster than any ordinary man, stronger and more agile even in this battered state she’d earned from the night of the great battle, but these men were riders too. First Guards, men of the Premier just like her. Of course she never made it to a killing stroke on the first try and in the first moments of what could only end in the bloodiest ways. “Get her down!” Benhad shouted from her right, so she went to the left with deadly slices of her sword, aiming for whatever part of the closest man she could reach. When she found only air, she didn’t stop: she pressed on, dashing after her target who backed up into his motionless dragon as he drew his own weapon. She had to br
Called by the Dragon 99
Please, take him back, she begged as she struggled to keep her face stone-solemn and unaffected. It’s not too late. Ash, you know what the plan was. Take him back! All of them! This was the plan all along, and it’s time you learn to put your faith in fate. This is your destiny. Not just yours, but everyone’s, and you have to rise to meet it. This is what you were born into the world to do, to be. If you believe nothing else, then believe in that. What do you mean, this was the plan? Ash! Last night when you begged me to lie to Kaizat, did you think I’d done it? I didn’t. What I told him was to trust me just as I’m telling you to trust me now, and he did. Do you know it? I’ve guided the half-dragons since before he was born, for the last two hundred years since they dispersed and wandered and gathered together at last, one by one. I was there when their grandfathers’ grandfathe
Called by the Dragon 98 - Deception
“It’s impossible.” “Obviously, it’s not,” Anzi snarled, and she shoved Ash’s shoulder in a vain attempt to send her away. But the old woman only stumbled to the side and continued staring into the distance at the unmistakable shape of dragons in flight. “Go! Do you realize what they’ll do if they catch you with me? They’ll drag you along no matter what I say!” “This makes no sense. There’s not a Druid among them. They can’t sense you. Can’t sense us.” “If you had listened to me—” No. This wasn’t the time to argue. It would solve nothing. Ash was here and they would take her prisoner if she didn’t get away in time, assuming they hadn’t seen her yet from the sky, but worse, they were too close. Too close! It hadn’t been but a few hours since they had left Kai’s camp, and a dragon in flight could cross the distance they’d traveled in a tenth of that time. She knew better than to hope Bisset wasn’t among them, too, and
Called by the Dragon 97 - Proof
“You’re running away. I never thought you could be so timid.” “It’s not about being timid. I knew he would try to stop me. Doesn’t matter what you told him, he would have changed his mind in the end and gotten in my way.” “Oho, what a chill I feel in the middle of all this heat. Tell me, how do you think he will feel when he wakes up to see you gone?” “Don’t try to guilt me.” Anzi straightened her uniform. It was in tatters, missing a forearm bracer, a shoulder guard, waist split, half of one pant leg missing. That night in the Imperial City had torn a hole or burst seams in just about everything, especially after the fight with Doufan and the collapse of the dungeon. Even the flight in Shu-Amunet’s massive claws had done their share of damage. But all the better. It would make her story of forced kidnapping more plausible. “No guilt, then,” Ash snickered. “But some regret? You must be wishing you
Called by the Dragon 96 - Shadows
Anzi didn’t want to know how Ash had managed to convince him. All she knew was that Kai was in a towering mood, terrible and brooding, and she could feel it from across the camp. It was fainter here in Qinglong’s tent that had somehow become extremely crowded within the last day—Oza and Letti as well as all three of her dragons along with Rania, too—but she could sense Kai’s anger nonetheless. Something had changed between them without her even noticing, something beyond simple attraction and other mundane feelings. Maybe it had been back when he first kissed her on the bridge, or maybe it had been that day when she had sat by him, watching the healers labor to save his life before the basilisk poison could kill him. Or maybe it had been during the flight here, when she had first tasted real freedom away from the shadow of the Empire. But things were different now, and the part of her that used to be afraid of defining those very changes—wasn’t so afrai
Called by the Dragon 95 - Deaden
Her leg ached, badly, even though Anzi had done nothing at all to strain it. Her only labor since morning after leaving Ash’s dominion was to perform the crudest half-surgeries known to man on a handful of Kai’s warriors, and she had been kneeling for most of that. Her body couldn’t be so weak, could it? Or was she imagining it all because of the fatigue and the haunting sensations of feeling warm flesh pull apart under her fingers as she searched for poison no one else could touch? What was this strange new world she had plummeted into with no preparation, no wisdom, nothing at all? No—she had Kai, who pulled her close and kissed her on the brow before letting her go so she could walk to meet Ash. She had Letti and Oza here in the camp on the other end of it, safe and sound. Netra and Serqet were here too, thank to Kai’s tribesmen who had brought them here instead of abandoning them. Had Anzi remembered to thank anyone for that? Maybe she didn’t have t
Called by the Dragon 94 - Sight
Five. There were five others who had been infected out of the roughly dozen and a half who made up Kai’s warrior troupe, and of them, only one had begun to show signs of the living poison that had burrowed into their veins. It was a grueling three hours of inspection and labor, far more difficult than it had been with Masal because these slivers were so much smaller and that much harder to see. Anzi had checked and rechecked every man, woman, and beast in the camp and Oza, too, fueled by growing paranoia and fear whenever she found the damnable silver threads hiding in their bodies. But what made it truly difficult was the exhaustion that set in. Not only when she extracted the poison through fresh, deep incisions she had been forced to make because there was no other way to draw it out, but even the expansion of her very senses to search for it in the first place. This unknown, unfamiliar power she had discovered had come with a price. It came from wit
