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90 - Reflections
“So who goes first,” Anzi said flatly as she wiped the water off her face with an angry hand. More coughs tickled at the back of her throat as she spoke, but she was too incensed to stop and get them out. “I already know you have a lecture prepared for me, probably a riddling one, but this time I have one for you, too.”
“Aha, then maybe I should keep it to myself just to be contrary…”
“That would mean it’s not important enough to impress me. I’ll go first, then. Did you know that damned Tet could enter my mind like that or not, before you used your magic on me? And did you know he could not only talk to me, but also track me down? Did you have any idea of that or not?”
“Calm, little one. You’re agitated.”
“I have every reason.”
“No.” Ash shook her head with a knowing smile. “Put aside your emotions for a moment. Think. How could he possibly be in your mind? Truly?”
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Called by the Dragon 92 - Visions
“Anzi—” “I’ll explain after,” she said between gritted teeth. “Just give me room.” Easier demanded than given. She doubted anything Kai said to his men would make them back off as she roved her hands over their fallen comrade’s form. He was young, perhaps only a little older than she was, and now naked as she had thrown off the animal skin covering so she could inspect the wounds on his flesh. But it wasn’t his modesty the tribesmen worried for. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see one of them with his hand hovering by his thigh where he must be carrying a unfriendly blade. Kai’s vouching for her didn’t mean much, it seemed, and even if he used that strange voice from before that he’d subdued his men with, she knew it would do nothing to change their minds. But she wasn’t here to beg for their approval. They could mistrust her all they wanted. She was still the only one who could do anything about this dying
Called by the Dragon 93 - On Faith
She could sense the mistrustful glares fixed upon her as she hurried back to the bedroll where the young man had begun gasping for breath, a good sign no matter his pain because any breathing was better than none. That was fine with her. They could question her all they liked from a distance. She expected nothing from them anyway, just the space to do what she needed to do. The Prince lumbered to her side and sat on his haunches like some kind of frilled, giant mastiff, ready to do whatever it was he’d done before to kill that poison tendril. But this was no good. The sun glared off the sand, rays baking the man’s wounds, and his nakedness was going to kill him in this direct heat. She kneeled by his side and looked frantically around, rolling up her billowing sleeves once more. “Kai! He needs shade. The hotter he is, the harder it is for me to find the poison in him.” She had thought he would bark out an order for someone to help him
Called by the Dragon 94 - Sight
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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
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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 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 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
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