Master of Tomes

by Raconteur, Honor

  Huan snorted. “You try being raised by him and see how it affects you.”

  Mei Li’s head came up sharply. “Were you?”

  “The first ten years, at least. He found me underneath my mother’s corpse. A very bad storm had killed her and injured me. I lived in his house for ten years before he finally managed to find my mother’s family, who lived much farther south. They were so grateful to have me back; I lived with them until we all moved to Dragon’s Peak.” Huan grinned at her. “You have a lot of foster children, Mother.”

  Mei Li groaned, rocking back in her chair in a theatrical faint. “Don’t you start that! I’m younger than all of you. Technically.”

  “Don’t deny it so easily. You might need to call in more of us.” Bai gestured toward the inn in general. “I know we fill this place up, but we’re tackling Kovel Below after Odom, right? Won’t we require a lot more help?”

  “So much help.” Mei Li sighed. “Words cannot express how much help. That said, you won’t be able to use your full strength there. The city streets are beyond narrow, so going dragon will be impossible.”

  “We can still breathe fire in this form,” Bai reminded her. “And we’re naturally stronger than humans. I know we’ll be restricted, but don’t discount our help so readily.”

  That made her pause. It was true, she’d seen Shunlei fight in human form many a time. A dragon’s strength was a dragon’s strength, no matter the form. Even his fire was the same strength, though a human throat would understandably not reach the same range as a dragon’s. She’d hesitated to bring them in because, to her, forcing that sort of handicap on them in a dangerous situation felt like she was setting the dragons up to fail. But they were, in many respects, better equipped than the human soldiers who were already there.

  “I take your point,” she said slowly, still thinking it all through. “Alright, we’ll call for more volunteers. We may as well do that now, while we’re sitting around with our faces on. I can’t do much else today.”

  A crack of thunder rocked the building, the rain sounding like hail against the wooden roof over their heads. She looked up and grimaced.

  “I cannot imagine flying through this crap.” Tengfei plopped into the chair next to hers, glaring at the roof as if it had personally affronted him. He looked even more green in this lighting, his red skin fading slowly into the darker hue. “Thanks for being sensible, Lady Mei Li.”

  “I don’t want to fly through that, either,” she promised him. “And that seriously sounds like hail. I know you dragons are tough, but flying through hail seems a poor life decision all around.”

  Tengfei shuddered.

  “Gods above and below, it would have been terrible. We’d have been so bruised afterward. I saw hail break a wing once, when I was younger. It was awful. We all were traumatized by that for years. It’s why bad weather like this always makes us hunker down.

  “Say, I heard parts of what you were saying. Are you going to call for a lot more dragons to help with Kovel Below? How many? I know of people who wanted to come, but Master Shunlei cut them off, said we didn’t need half of Dragon’s Peak coming.”

  As usual, trying to keep up with Tengfei’s rapid speech felt like Mei Li was holding her own breath in anticipation of him taking one. “I don’t know how many we need. That’s part of the problem. How many wanted to come?”

  “I would say another hundred, wouldn’t you, Ling Ling?”

  Ling Ling joined them, brushing a hand through her light blue hair in an idle manner. She put a hip to the hearth, leaning against it as she answered. “A hundred sounds about right. Why?”

  “We’re talking about Kovel Below,” Bai told her. “And how much trouble it’s going to be. Lady Mei Li thinks that we should call in more help.”

  Ling Ling blinked golden eyes at Mei Li. “I thought the Prince of Horvath was already there?”

  “He’s there with his own personal guard,” Mei Li confirmed. “And of course, the Kovel City Guard is doing all they can. But remember, Kovel is one of the oldest standing cities in the world. It’s large, it’s confusing, the streets are narrow, and they’re having to evacuate part of it because Kovel Below isn’t staying below. It’s started infiltrating the area above ground. They don’t have sufficient manpower. I just don’t know who all I can call that will be able to do some good there.”

  Huan snorted.

  “You’ve got a good hundred dragons at home itching for a fight. They’ve grown up hearing stories about all the magical fights that Master Shunlei got into, and they want their own story to tell. And you might need some extra dragons just to ferry the right people in. If what you say is true, then a lot of the streets are likely blocked. Navigating certain areas might be impossible, except by air.”

  Now, that was a very good point. Mei Li really should have thought of that before.

  “Huan, you’ve sold me. Let’s pull Dolan and Shunlei into this. We need to send some messages if we have any prayer of getting the dragons to Kovel before we get there. That’s quite the flight.”

  “It takes at least seven days in good weather,” Bai agreed. “They’ll have to cross most of the continent, after all.”

  Almost literally. Mei Li felt like seven days might not be enough. The flight usually took longer.

  “I’ll fetch them!” Tengfei was off like a shot before anyone could say a word.

  Mei Li watched him go and couldn’t help but ask, “Is there any way that I could bottle that energy and sell it? I’d make a fortune.”

  “This is the calm version of him, no less.” Huan shook her head fondly. “He was even bouncier as a kid.”

  Mei Li regarded her with a sort of fascinated horror. “And you all survived raising him?”

  “Let me tell you, it was a real trick. His dad used to pay him for every lap that he flew around Dragon’s Peak. Which, for a Yellow, that’s a lot of distance. He’d do fifty laps without breaking a sweat. His parents paid him a lot of money until he hit Red. But it was the only way to wear him out enough that he didn’t drive the rest of us crazy.” Ling Ling considered before adding, “I think half the reason why Master Shunlei chose him was to give everyone else a break.”

  Mei Li could totally picture that.

  Dolan came to them first, and he’d obviously heard about the situation from Tengfei. He greeted her with, “You need to send messages to Dragon’s Peak?”

  “We want to get more dragons to Kovel,” she explained. “It’s such a long trip, if we don’t send the messages today, I’m not sure they’ll have enough time to get there.”

  “Ahh. We probably should have done it last night,” Dolan mused.

  “I honestly didn’t think of it until just now. This group talked me into it.”

  “Oh?”

  She would have said more, but Shunlei came down the inn stairs and joined them. She only wanted to explain things once. Tengfei bounded in his wake like an energetic puppy, Gen following at a more solid plod.

  “Shun,” she called, holding out a hand to him, indicating that he should join her. “I’ve rethought my opinion on bringing more dragons into Kovel. This group seems to think they’ll be able to help even with the restrictions. And we may need air support if the roads are closed off.”

  Shunlei took her hand, then regarded them all. “You realize this won’t be easy. You literally can’t shift forms on those streets. I tried once and wedged myself in so thoroughly, I felt claustrophobic for the rest of the day.”

  “We still think that we can help,” Huan said stubbornly.

  Bai added, “And we don’t have enough people in Kovel as it is, according to Lady Mei Li. You’ve got a lot of people in Dragon’s Peak who want to help. Even if we’re just ferrying people back and forth like we’re doing now, it’ll make a difference.”

  A world of difference. Mei Li did not underestimate the logistics of moving supplies and troops around. They often made or broke a war. Right now, she felt like a strategist in her own figh
ting campaign. The only difference was, she wasn’t trying to conquer anything. Just take territory back and eradicate danger.

  Shunlei lifted an eyebrow at her. “If you want me to call them, I will.”

  “I think we’ll need all the help we can get, and we shouldn’t turn anyone down,” she answered finally. “I know we’re getting reports, but they’re not painting the full picture of what’s happening over there. I won’t be able to make many of the necessary judgements until we’re there and I can see it all with my own eyes.”

  “Fair enough. Then let’s prep a few messages, Dolan. When the storm abates, we can send them out.”

  They spent a good chunk of the afternoon doing that. Mei Li had to write up a new report about Zaffi, of course, and send copies of it in different directions so everyone could stay informed. The weather finally broke enough that they were able to send messages off.

  After dinner, the mages met up again. She sat and outlined a firmer plan for how to reseal and destroy Odom. She figured they may as well take the time to make the talismans since the storm wasn’t letting up overhead.

  It turned into a much-needed planning and prepping day. Mei Li was glad to have a chance to do all of this now, rather than having to stop and set up a station near Odom. The storm was something of a blessing in that sense.

  She double-checked with each person as they wrote out talismans, making absolutely certain they all understood the risks involved. Making sure no one was succumbing to peer pressure. Did they want to subdue or destroy Odom?

  All but one said destroy.

  The one was Finn. Tucked into a corner seat, she spoke with him in a low tone, as she could see the hesitation on his face.

  “Finn, if you’re not comfortable with destroying Odom, I’d like to know.”

  “I’m not sure which way to go,” he admitted before staring down at his ink-stained hands. “I’ve seen how you work now, so I have a better idea of what you can do, of where you’re coming from. I’d normally say you were nuts for even thinking of doing this, but you just defeated Odom a few days ago.”

  “More or less. In a different timeline.”

  “So, you really know more than we do about the stakes. And you think this is doable.” He blew out a heavy breath. “I’m just nervous, I think. I prefer the sure, tried-and-true plan over the uncertain one. Can I ask, why did your group in the past choose to seal Odom in the first place?”

  That was a fair question. Oddly, no one had asked her that before. “We didn’t have enough mages to even consider anything else. There were only eight of us.”

  Finn blinked. Then blinked again, jaw dropping. “You managed to seal him with only eight people?!”

  “We did. We had injuries, and one person died doing it, mind you. But you can see why I’m confident that our group can manage what the original group couldn’t? We have more firepower.”

  He nodded dumbly, eyes still too wide in his face.

  “Great gods. Yes, that makes a huge difference. Alright, that puts things into perspective for me. I see why you’re warning people of the danger, but I think you’re right. We have a good chance. And ridding this world of an evil that large can only bring good luck to us all.”

  Relieved, she beamed at him. “I hope for nothing else.”

  Plan Destroy Odom: Go.

  Zaffi and Jingfei had been twisted by being sealed and stuck in place for five thousand years. They’d come through that experience a lot uglier and malformed. Odom, strangely, didn’t look all that different. From a certain angle, if one didn’t know any better, he looked like a very interestingly shaped rock and nothing else. Just a boulder, minding its own business on the shore of the beach.

  If you ignored the hot lava pouring out of his feet.

  And the melted stone all around him, pouring into the ocean.

  Not to mention the red eyes staring intently at anything that moved.

  They’d landed a fair distance away, a precaution the dragons always took when coming into an enemy’s territory. Good thing, too. The fumes over here were toxic in the extreme, and the heat rose from the ground in ominous waves. That might not be molten lava over there around the dome-shaped seal, but it was dangerously close.

  Mei Li looked the situation over grimly. That…did not look good.

  Shunlei stood at her side and offered, “I think this is worse than you expected.”

  “It’s certainly not better,” she agreed, the grimness settling in deeper. “Shun, mark a line right in front of me. No one goes closer than this without protective gear on.”

  “We have protective gear?”

  “No. Hence why I need that line. We’ll have to stop and make it.”

  He nodded, then scored the ground deeply with one of his claws.

  Turning, she clapped her hands over her head, drawing attention to herself. Since people were still getting out of carriers, and dragons were scattered all over the area, it was hard to see everyone, much less be heard over them all. She sucked in a huge breath and tried yelling anyway.

  “EVERYONE! DO NOT CROSS THIS LINE!”

  Tengfei ducked his head down to her height and said kindly, “Why don’t you let me yell for you?”

  “Bless you, go for it. Tell them the area past here is dangerous. The fumes are toxic to breathe in, and the ground is too hot to walk on with leather shoes. I need them to stay on this side of the line until we can create protections.”

  Tengfei lifted his head and belted this out with commendable volume. Mei Li had to put her hands over her ears or go deaf. She knew dragons had more lung power than she did, but Tengfei’s volume could put most other dragons to shame.

  In the very back, Ling Ling lifted her voice in return and called, “We all heard you!”

  “Thank heavens,” Mei Li said with relief, dropping her hands. “Tengfei, I know we just landed, but I need someone to go into the nearest town and buy a lot of materials.”

  “I can do that.” He didn’t look the least bit tired, despite having flown all day.

  “You’re the fastest here, after all. I’m hoping you have time to buy everything before the shops close for the day. I need as much cotton as you can obtain, white or a pale color if you can manage it. And ink. Here, take my purse—curses, it might be too much for you to carry alone. BAI!”

  Bai jogged over, already saying, “I heard you. You want me to shop with him?”

  “The cotton will be heavy,” she explained. “Shun, let them have your purse too; I have no idea if I have enough on me.”

  Her husband promptly handed his purse over. “Go, go. I’ll keep this area well lit so you know where to land when you return.”

  “Thanks, Master Shunlei.” Tengfei darted off toward the coast, seeking a clear spot where he would be able to take off.

  It was Sylvia who came in closer and demanded, “The thing you warned Alina about with Zaffi, that’s here? The acidic gases?”

  “From what I’m seeing.” Mei Li had to grant it wasn’t obvious at first glance, especially to someone that didn’t know the area. “When we first sealed Odom here, this part of the coastline was lush. It got trampled in the sealing process, granted, but there were a lot of grasses, bushes, and trees all along here. Look at it now.”

  “It’s barren rock.” Sylvia tugged at her blonde braid with both hands and panned her head as she took it in.

  “That tells me something interfered with the area, and one of the most dangerous things it could be is mazuku—an evil pocket of air that likes to collect on the ground. It interferes with plant and animal life alike, chokes off their ability to breathe. It’s especially bad in depressions, even little ones like that dip over there. If you fall into that, it will halt your breathing entirely.”

  Sylvia went pale. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.” Mei Li shook her head, worried beyond belief now.

  This entire area was dangerous to work in. Resealing or defeating, it didn’t matter. They’d still have to walk
through this area and stay in it long enough to complete their objective.

  Sylvia’s confusion doubled. “But you asked them to buy cotton?”

  It probably didn’t make sense at first, granted.

  “It’s a porous material, but cotton is amazingly versatile. It’s easy to treat because it will soak in any substance applied to it. I can make cotton fire retardant, with the right spells and materials. If we wrap our shoes and legs in it, we’ll be able to safely stand over there. And we can make masks to wrap around our noses and mouths, and—”

  Realizing her mistake, she spun.

  “Shun! I forgot glass!”

  Shunlei turned, his eyes lighting up in understanding. “It’s alright, I don’t think they’ve gotten far yet. I’ll chase after them and relay the message.”

  As he left, Sylvia said with asperity, “I think you two deliberately like being cryptic.”

  “Ha, no.” This amused Mei Li to no end. “It just comes with ten years of being married. That, and he’s dealt with something like this before, so he knows basically what I need. The volcanic smog is an irritant. It’ll make your eyes water fiercely if you don’t have protective gear. We can make goggles from cloth and glass to wear as protection.”

  Sylvia looked a little out of place here, with her formal blue coat and thigh-high leather boots, as if she were missing a hunting party she’d promised to attend. Sylvia had been brought in by the Wismer brothers, as Mei Li understood. She dressed much the same as her countrymen, and her gloves were buttery thin and inadequate for this cold. Not that the cold seemed to bother her as she ticked things off on her fingers.

  “Goggles, shoe wraps, masks—that’s a lot for us to make before we can even start working on the problem.”

  Blowing out a breath, Mei Li growled. “I know. Good thing we made all the talismans yesterday.”

  “I’ll say.”

  Finn came up to stand at her other side. “Lady Tomes, you know how I was on the fence about whether to destroy Odom or seal him? I take it back. If he can do this to the land even while sealed, then we should definitely destroy him.”