Mei Li grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her back. “Shunlei has him. Don’t come out.”
“He’s alright!” the grandmother assured her. “We’re under the other wing!”
Oh good, so they were under cover. The wings were technically the most vulnerable part of a dragon aside from the throat and eyes, but the multiple levels of feathers were fire retardant and dense enough to ward off most attacks.
That fallen deity was going to be a problem. Where was their help? Did Mei Li need to tug again?
Yes, she was being impatient—traveling in here wasn’t a quick process—but they were sort of in a situation too.
Shunlei’s side expanded as he sucked in another breath, and this time he shot two quick bursts of fire.
This wasn’t ideal. Shunlei could protect them, but it meant they were stranded here overnight if help didn’t come soon. They couldn’t risk anyone traveling to their aid. Whoever came would be swarmed and eaten in quick order. Shunlei, as formidable as he was, wouldn’t be able to guard them the entire night. Mei Li would have to try to set up a temporary barrier to help them last that long. And how effective would that be against a fallen deity? Wraiths, she knew the barrier would hold against. Ghosts too. But deities?
Had she doomed them all by insisting to try for one last group? Mei Li had been so determined to get them all out today, had she pushed when she should have waited?
Shunlei let out another blast of fire, growling in frustration. “She’s quick to dodge, curse her. She keeps circling me, trying to get in from a blind angle.”
That didn’t sound good at all. “Is there no sign of another dragon coming?”
“Not that I—” he cut off in a huff. “They would send the one hardest to spot in here.” Raising his voice, Shunlei switched to Long-go and used the age-old military term with ease. “EYES ON YOU!”
The repeat of it was more awkward sounding, as if the speaker had never used the term before. And he likely never had. “EYES ON YOU! WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?”
“FALLEN DEITY!”
Mei Li gave the two with her a sympathetic wince. “Sorry, Long-go’s loud. It’s the only way for us to communicate effectively in here, and even then it doesn’t carry far. That’s Bai, another dragon in our team.”
The couple looked relieved at this news, as they should be. The husband asked, “Will he be able to get us out?”
“I think two dragons can manage it. Bai’s strong. It’s part of the reason why Shunlei requested his help.”
A billowing flame danced from somewhere nearby—she could feel and hear it—and then Shunlei’s fire barked out. It took more than the one sweep of flames, but no one could outrun two dragons aiming for her. An eerie scream wailed for a moment, cut short in a gurgle, and then terrible silence.
“Got her,” Bai announced with a satisfied thump of his tail against the ground. “Let’s move—and quickly. The sun is setting.”
“I think we knew that,” Mei Li stated as she crawled out from underneath the wing. “Too many things popping up. Bai, can you sweep the—oh. Wraiths disappeared.”
“They weren’t willing to be charcoal,” Bai informed her smugly. “Is this all of your group?”
“Yup, that’s all of them.” Mei Li gave the couple a hand each and hauled them up. They were weak enough that they stumbled a bit, leaning against her shoulders to catch their balance.
Leaning into her, the young wife asked in a whisper, “His name is Bai? He’s stunning.”
Mei Li wished she’d said that louder. Bai could use the confidence boost. “He is, isn’t he? And the dearest man. Bai, can you carry these two? Let’s make tracks.”
Bai nodded his head in agreement, settling onto his belly. “Here, hop on.”
As Shunlei folded his wings back in, he offered to her, “Let me carry you as well. It will go faster.”
Mei Li was so tired that she knew she was dragging. It probably would be faster. “Are you sure? Three people’s a bit much.”
“Two adults and a child is fine,” he corrected her. “And you’re not much bigger than the child.”
For that, she smacked him on the leg. “Excuse you very much, you’re not that much taller than me. I am not short!”
He snickered, seeming pleased he’d gotten a rise out of her.
It was the first time he’d teased her, which actually pleased her enormously. Mei Li loved people she could tease. With that gambit, he’d opened the door for it. Mei Li promised herself she’d get back at him—but later, when she had brain cells to work with. Right now she was too tired and done in. She planted a foot above his elbow, hauling herself up and on. Slinging a leg over his spine, she helped steady the other two. Shunlei got them settled before striding off. The gait of a dragon was somewhat similar to a lizard’s, more of a side-to-side motion than up-and-down. It was incredibly easy to keep her seat, as it was smooth that way.
Bai stayed a half step behind as they headed for the gate, going at a good clip—maybe as fast as a trotting horse. Mei Li knew it had to be difficult for them to keep that pace against the pressure of this fog but silently cheered them on. It would be best to get out of here sooner rather than later. They would definitely rest all day tomorrow before moving on to the next problem. She’d make sure of it.
After all, they still had to seal the thrice-cursed Bridge.
They burst through the torii with an audible sigh of relief from not only them, but the rest of their team waiting on them. Rone and Gen helped people down, ferrying the rescued family off to the last wagon for fortifying soup and blankets before their last leg into town.
Ling Ling came over with a mug of tea and offered it, which Mei Li took with a heartfelt groan of gratitude. “Bless you.”
“Was it bad?” Ling Ling asked anxiously. “We felt all your tugs.”
“Fallen deity.” Mei Li gulped the hot tea. That was the one nice thing about being around dragons. Nothing ever got the chance to cool down.
Ling Ling winced, a moue of distaste crinkling up her pretty face. “I hate those things.”
“She was hard to pin, too.” Shunlei came up and deftly stole Mei Li’s cup, drinking deeply from it. Mei Li would begrudge him the tea, but well, he did cart her out of there. “It took Bai’s help to destroy her.”
“Bai’s a good spitfire,” the Blue agreed with a nod.
All this catch-up was fine, but it didn’t answer Mei Li’s burning question. “Is everyone out? Anyone still lost in there?”
“You’re the last group,” Huan informed her, coming up with another cup of tea she offered Mei Li. “Drink that. We’ve discovered everyone coming out is severely dehydrated, and you made four trips.”
Mei Li felt like a desert lived in the back of her throat, so that was fair. She drank deeply before demanding, “But is everyone out?”
“We think so. According to the sheriff’s list, we have a full head count. We did have two fatalities—elders who couldn’t take the strain. But really, considering how long they were in there, and what was in there with them? It’s a miracle we only lost two.”
Mei Li agreed, although it troubled her they’d had casualties. “Alright. Then let’s pack up and retreat to an inn for the night. We’re all exhausted, we can seal this thing tomorrow.”
Everyone was in agreement and quick to load up. They took the flags up as well, not wanting to tempt fate, and redid the rope seal across the torii as a temporary measure to keep unwary travelers from using it. The seal in place, she half-skittered down the three stairs, her burning calves and thighs cramping at even this mild exertion. Shunlei offered her a hand and she took it, clinging to him for balance. Still, she took a moment to look back at the torii, a frown drawing her brows together.
“What is it?” he murmured.
“This worries me, frankly.” She didn’t look away from the torii as she answered him, her mind focusing on logistics and instructions and the problems that loomed ah
ead of them. “Lost Souls Bridge isn’t considered to be one of the harder tasks. We barely managed this and still had two casualties. If this strained us, what are we going to do with the other problems, the ones more dangerous and difficult to handle? What about the ones I have no instructions for? I naively thought we could handle it and things would be fine, but this taxed us, and that’s not an optimistic sign.”
“We can do this, Mei Li. Humanity has survived these evils before.”
She tried to take heart at his encouragement, but it didn’t make much of a dent in her pessimism. Yes, humanity had survived all of this before. They could do it again.
But at what cost?
The townspeople opened up every house, every inn, giving all those trapped and their rescuers full hospitality. Mei Li made sure to thank every person she crossed paths with and made a mental note to have them reimbursed for costs. They were technically in Laborde’s borders, so she’d need to send a bill to Laborde’s regent.
One of the inns was large enough to house their entire party and some of the people rescued. It made for cramped conditions, but no one complained. The taproom that night was a bit chaotic, two fully transformed dragons sprawled out in the large area of the room, tables and chairs shoved up against the walls to make more space.
An impromptu preening session was in progress. The children—those who felt well enough—observed the proceedings with keen interest. Some of their parents, too, enjoying both the warmth of the fire and the general company. After eleven days of nothing but grey fog and their fellow travelers, they were likely starved for other human interaction.
Somehow, Mei Li convinced Bai to let her preen his wings. Something she’d said had worked (she still wasn’t quite sure what). He was currently stretched out on the floor, one wing extended, more or less plastered to the ground like a drunk on a high buzz. Mei Li expected him to start drooling at any second. Next to him, Chen was definitely drooling as Huan worked on his wings.
One of the children, a girl around six or so, approached Bai and patted him lightly on the cheek. “Master Bai, Master Bai. Can I have your feather?”
He blinked at her, slow to respond as he pulled his mind back into action. “My feather?”
“Miss Mei Li, she’s pulled some feathers out,” the little girl explained seriously. “Can I have one?”
Bai, honestly confused, asked, “Why would you want one?”
“They’re pretty,” she answered forthrightly, as only a child can. “Like fairy feathers. Can I?”
Was that a blush riding high on Bai’s cheeks? “Sure. I guess. Take as many as you like.”
Hearing this, some of the other children crowded closer, picking up discarded feathers and asking her to pull others.
“Don’t pluck him like a chicken,” Mei Li chided, but she had a smile on her face too. Bai looked both confused at this enthusiasm and unaccountably pleased at the same time.
Mei Li was focused on her preening, but not to the extent that she was blind to everything else going on around her. Shunlei sat in a nearby corner, nursing a tankard of something, seemingly at his ease. Even though he wasn’t actively looking at her, she felt his eyes dart to her every few minutes. It felt less like he was tracking her movements and more as if he studied her. Sometimes his body language said he anticipated something from her.
Something was not quite right in regards to him. Mei Li kept nursing the thought, poking at it like a sore tooth, but she couldn’t gather anything logically together. Not something so solid that she could point a finger at. It was just…impressions.
Questions.
Shunlei’s reactions to things sometimes baffled her. She’d mentioned several times her worry about the missing records but never once did he assuage her fears by saying ‘we’ll figure it out.’ Always it was: ‘Don’t close your mind to other possibilities.’ What was that supposed to even mean?
And his behavior towards her still didn’t quite sit right. Shunlei treated her exactly as an equal—no, as a friend. She was not without clout in this world, granted, but he didn’t react to her as if she were some dignitary. He treated her like Rone—a lifelong friend he knew. Never mind the fact they were technically family at this point, he’d still only known her for a short amount of time. But that’s not how he reacted to her. And he knew, often before she said anything, how she would react. Or what her preferences were.
Something was fishy here. Her instincts insisted on it. But try as she might, Mei Li couldn’t find a logical reason behind any of it. It frustrated her endlessly as she felt like she was on the verge of asking the right question, or perhaps being handed the right piece to the puzzle.
Rone joined Shunlei, speaking to him in a low tone, and they conversed for a while in whispers. Shunlei had that enigmatic smile he wore when he was pulling someone’s leg and enjoying it.
In a spurt of agitation, Rone’s voice grew louder for a moment. “You’ve met her before.”
Mei Li blinked, carefully keeping her eyes on the feathers under her hands even as she strained her ears. Where they talking about her? She risked a quick glance and found Shunlei’s eyes rested on her even as he answered.
“Yes. I’ve met her before. She doesn’t remember it now, but I think she will soon.”
“The woman who has perfect recall doesn’t remember meeting you. Shunlei. What are you not telling me?”
“A lot,” he informed her cheerfully.
“You are so impossible,” she spat out in frustration. “I don’t know why anyone likes you. Can’t you just tell me honestly what is going on?”
Mei Li lost Shunlei’s response as he dropped his tone to a whisper again. She felt like stamping her foot in frustration. How could she possibly NOT REMEMBER meeting Shunlei? That wasn’t realistic. Her mind retained everything, whether she wanted it to or not. Forgetting she had met an elder dragon was inconceivable.
“—ot knowing is killing me.”
“Only cats die of curiosity, you’ll be fine,” Shunlei threw out, then ducked when Rone took a swing at his head. “Temper, temper.”
“I really don’t know why I’m friends with you.”
Mei Li would certainly get to the bottom of this—she wanted answers. She’d finish preening Bai, first, though. This was the only opportunity to get him sorted out before they dashed about the continent.
She could wring answers from Shunlei after that.
Dolan joined the duo, sitting at Shunlei’s other side. Unlike the others, tension showed in his body language, a frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. He was also not interested in conversing in a whisper, as Mei Li could hear him clearly. “Master Shunlei. Did Mei Li say anything to you after we all pulled out?”
“Yes. She said she was dismayed at how things had gone today.”
“But we rescued everyone still living,” Rone protested. “And no one was injured!”
“We barely rescued everyone and we barely came out without injuries,” Dolan corrected her. “We relied heavily on our dragon allies in order to make it in and out. We won’t be able to do that with the next two problems, as it will take a great deal of magical ability—which none of you have. Worse, this isn’t considered a serious problem. It’s more of a headache, a mid-level problem. It doesn’t register on the same scale as what we’ll face in Horvath.”
Mei Li sighed. That was exactly the problem. The mages understood it better than the dragons since they had a better concept of just what would be required to deal with the next set of problems.
Rone opened her mouth on a protest that died unspoken. “Then…if this wasn’t on the same level as the rest of the problems we’ll face, why did we tackle this first?”
“It was mostly logistics,” Dolan answered, grimacing. “It was on our way, and we felt like if we left people in there much longer, we’d only be pulling corpses out. Mei Li and I both knew it would take a day to get people out, and a day was what we could afford. Well, it’ll be
more like two days—we still have to properly seal both sides of the bridge—but you take my meaning.”
Shunlei tacked on, “That, and you wanted to practice with this group working together before you faced anything serious.”
“Yes, and that.” Dolan wiped a hand over his face. “I admit, we worked well together. The cooperation was good. I wouldn’t mind another run at a problem before we tackled the demon couple—I can honestly say we’ll need it—but on the other hand, I’m not sure how much practicing will help us.”
Rone shifted in her chair to face him more directly. “Can you request help from other mages?”
“I sent out messages again tonight, asking some acquaintances and friends for help, but that’s a catch-22 situation. Yes, more magical expertise will help, but we’ll once again be integrating people into a team we’re not accustomed to working with. It makes for an unpredictable setup, which isn’t ideal when dealing with something like Jingfei’s seal.”
“Is it the demoness we’ll deal with first?”
“She’s the closest one to us. And the only one Mei Li had instructions for re-sealing. Jingfei’s husband, Zaffi, his record was lost to the sea. We’ll be more or less doing educated guesswork with him. Which, I have to say, I’m not excited about.”
Rone looked disheartened by this news, shoulders slumping. “I thought we did alright today.”
“We did,” Dolan assured her grimly. “We barely did alright today. That’s the problem.”
Huan had overhead part of the conversation as well and she drifted in closer, standing with her back to the crackling fireplace. It turned the edges of her green braid into flicks of gold so she seemed gilded along the edges. “But we can fight a demon, subdue it long enough for you to re-seal it, can’t we?”
Shaking his head, Shunlei corrected her, “Both Jingfei and Zaffi are demons born of the great volcano. They are born of fire and volcanic rock. Dragon fire would actually fuel them, strengthen them.”
Huan grimaced, dismay etched into her face. “That sounds less than ideal. Master Shunlei, have you faced these two?”
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