The warrior who looked part dwarf, with that powerful build, approached slowly. He stopped at her shoulder, looking up at Shunlei with a strange expression on his face. “Lady Mei, you know this dragon?”
She belatedly realized she shouldn’t have been talking to Shunlei in Long-go. It didn’t tell anyone else much about him. “I do. Mostly by reputation. This is Shunlei the Red. He’s trying to bring the dragons under control, civilize them.”
The warrior’s bushy eyebrows shot into his hairline, getting lost in his bangs. “Is he, now. Then well met, Shunlei the Red. If you can pull that off, you’ve got all our thanks. I’m Melchior of Horvath. Thanks for the aid. We were struggling with this one.”
“I am glad to help,” Shunlei answered with transparent sincerity.
“Come with us into town,” Hawes invited. “You should celebrate this win with us.”
More than a few looked at Hawes askance, clearly not on board with this plan. For whatever reason, no one voiced a rebuttal. Hawes was either well-respected, or they were playing this by ear, willing to play along and see how friendly the dragon supposedly was.
Shunlei’s tail didn’t thump again, but his entire body vibrated as if he wanted to roll around and jump for joy. Was this the first time a human had invited him to go anywhere but away? “I’d be glad to! Here, let me change forms. Less trouble that way.”
Mei Li expected him to do that but everyone else bit off a surprised oath when he smoothly transitioned from dragon to human form. His skin wasn’t the brilliant red of his dragon self—more a brassy shade, perhaps with a touch of amber. It was a sign he was only recently in Red stage. Mei Li mentally revised her estimate of his age down. He was likely closer to twenty, then. So incredibly young.
He straightened the basic white robes he wore, tucking his hands into his long sleeves, giving them a bright smile and polite bow. “It is an honor to fight with you.”
“D-d-dragons can….” The female mage spluttered to a stop and just gapped at him.
Mei Li gave her an odd look. “You didn’t know dragons can take human form?”
“I’m surprised you knew.” Shunlei regarded her thoughtfully. “It’s not something my people do often. Most consider a human form as beneath them, inferior. For that matter, I’m surprised you know Long-go.”
And how did she cover that? “I was, ah, shipwrecked not long ago. A dragon aided me and took me in for a bit before taking me home. He was very chatty and kind.”
“Ah. That would explain it. I’m glad I’m not the only dragon helping humans. You’ve brightened my week considerably, Lady Mei.”
“I bet. Well, Hawes, where’s a good place to sit and celebrate?”
“Not far from here is a decent sized town. Let’s retreat there.” Hawes regarded her and Shunlei thoughtfully and the wheels were quite obviously turning. “I think there’s a great deal to talk about, too.”
Mei Li couldn’t argue there. She’d only read histories regarding the original group that helped the first Tomes seal some of the major dangers—and this was them. Melchior of Horvath. Mage Hawes. Mage Kiyo. Mage Nord. This wasn’t the full group, not yet, but it was the initial core. It was heady and bewildering to meet them like this. Mei Li never once imagined she would and she was a tiny bit star-struck. These people were her predecessors, her professional ancestors, in a sense. She absolutely had to find a way to stick with them.
People gathered up dropped luggage and started walking. The town was at the bottom of the hill, within sight, obviously not far.
As they walked, the woman introduced herself. “I’m Kiyo of Floating Isles, by the way. It’s nice to meet you, Lady Mei. The silent one following us is Nord. What brings you here?”
Mei Li turned and gave Nord a nod hello. He looked too thin, as if he regularly missed meals, a goatee obscuring his mouth. He inclined his head politely in return. Answering as honestly as possible, Mei responded, “I’m a traveling scholar. My goal is to help defeat anything that’s tearing up the countryside.”
“Oh! Then your goal is similar to ours. Does the prince of Horvath know of you? He’s offered to fund us as we work.”
“Ah, no, I wasn’t introduced to him.” Right, the record had mentioned that the princes of Horvath were always the ones to bankroll these expeditions. Bless them for it, too.
Hawes turned his head to say over his shoulder, “I’ll send him a message tomorrow, telling him of you. If you’re interested in joining with us, that is. We’d dearly love to have another mage.”
At this point, they might be willing to take any helping hand. Only three mages and a warrior were not sufficient for the tasks they were tackling. Then again, she rather had made a good showing back there. Maybe that was sufficient to gain their tentative trust and interest. “I’d much rather fight with you. Groups work better for this kind of thing.”
“Trust me, we know,” Hawes said on a rolling laugh. “Learned that the hard way! Master Shunlei, you said you’re trying to make friends with humanity. We saw how helpful having a dragon ally was today. Will you consider joining us too?”
The smile on Shunlei’s face put the sun to shame. “I’d love to. Thank you for the invitation.”
Nord looked a little alarmed at Hawes’ casual invite, shooting his friend a warning look, but Mei Li knew for a fact they’d be lost without Shunlei. She quickly spoke up in support of this. “Most of the sealing spells I know require a full box, like the one we just used on Red Lantern. Having Shunlei to fly them overhead is essential to that.”
“I’d dearly like the chance to build some goodwill with humanity,” Shunlei added earnestly. “Not all of us are interested in rampaging. And I’m subduing the ones who are as I come across them.”
Kiyo leaned forward to see around Mei Li to look at him. “Really? How?”
“I challenge them to combat,” Shunlei answered forthrightly. “When they lose, they form a blood oath with me that they’ll no longer harm humans or human property. It’s a slow process, but I’m making progress.”
Hawes shot him an intrigued look. “How many duels have you won?”
“Thirty-six at this point.”
“And how many losses?” Melchior inquired dryly.
“As I said, thirty-six wins.”
Melchior slapped a hand against his thigh and guffawed. “A dragon after my own heart! I support your endeavors, young red. I’ll tell the prince of Horvath about you, too. Only fair you get paid with the rest of us.”
“I appreciate it.” Shunlei looked over them, considering. “What other dangers do we need to tackle? Does anyone know?”
“We basically go by rumors—” “Oh, there’s a list.” Kiyo and Mei Li answered at the same time. Then they paused and looked at each other.
“You know of such matters?” Kiyo asked her in sharp interest.
Mei Li cursed her careless mouth. The first Tomes didn’t have exact dates for everything that had happened before he joined the group. And if she only had four people teamed up, then it was early days yet. She kept her answer vague enough to not stir suspicions later. “I know of a few, although we’ll have to chase them down. I only know the approximate area for them.”
Nord spoke for the first time. “That’s still much better than what little information we have. Give us a list as we eat.”
“Certainly.” Mei Li made it her immediate goal to figure out exactly what day it was now without raising eyebrows.
She let the chatter flow over her for a moment, trying to buy a minute to think and piece everything she knew together. The initial sealing team was only five people strong. Red Lantern was just sealed for the first time, which happened approximately spring of 1236. The first Tomes didn’t join them until 1238. Which meant Jingfei and Zaffi weren’t even properly awake yet, and Odom was not due to fall as a deity until next year. Even Ghost General’s Sword might not happen until later this year.
It was all well and good to go into
the past to copy the missing records, but if the records didn’t even exist yet, that was rather a problem. Mei Li looked around her, flabbergasted with fate. Five thousand years into the past. She was five thousand years into the past and stuck there for the foreseeable future—not to be punny.
Just how long would she stay here? Was she possibly not looking at days or even weeks in the past, but years? Mei Li felt faint with the thought. This was not at all what she’d envisioned when she’d first considered time travel.
“Lady Mei, is something wrong?” Shunlei asked her, a touch of worry coloring his tone.
She looked around to him and wondered, how in the world did she answer that? “I’m feeling a little overwhelmed, I think. The full scope of the task just sank in.”
He gave her a small, supportive smile. “It’s alright. You’ll have help.”
Remembering what his much older version said to her before she left, Mei Li couldn’t help but take heart from him. “You’ll help me.”
“Of course.”
Red or Black, he really hadn’t changed much at his core. It gave her courage, having this man so solidly on her side. “I’m banking on that, Shunlei the Red. You have no idea how much.”
Dragon Ages
Cream – newborn
Yellow – 5-10 years
Orange – 10-20 years
Red – 20-100 years
Green – 100-300 years
Blue – 300-1000 years
Purple – 1000-3000 years
Black – over 3000 years
Name Pronunciations
Abe – AH-bay
Acala – ah-CAW-la
Bader – BAY-der
Bai – bye
Bohai – boh-hi
Budworth – BUD-worth
Cavanaugh – kaa-vuh-nuh
Chen – chen
Dolan – doh-lin
Edan – AY-din
Elora – EE-lore-ah
Gen – g-en
Hawes – haw-z
Horvath – hor-vath
Huan – h’wan
Hui – h’wee
Ji Lin – JEE lin
Jingfei – JING-fay
Kiyo – KEE-yo
Kovel – co-vell
Laborde – la-BOARD
Leah – lee-ah
Liasa – lee-ah-sa
Ling Ling – LING ling
Lothar – low-thar
Mei Li – may LEE
Melchior – mel-kee-or
Nord - nord
Odom – OH-duhm
Pari – pa-ree
Preston – PRESS-tuhn
Rabarbra – rah-bar-bra
Rone - rone
Scott - scott
Shunlei – Shoon-lay
Simeon – si-mee-on
Sotejo – so-TAY-jo
Tanguay – TAN-gway
Tengfei – TENG-fay
Teoh – TEE-oh
Voas – VO-as
Wightkin – WHITE-kin
Yu Yan – you yahn
Zaffi – zah-fee
Other books by Honor Raconteur
Published by Raconteur House
♫ Available in Audiobook! ♫
THE ADVENT MAGE CYCLE
Jaunten ♫
Magus ♫
Advent ♫
Balancer ♫
ADVENT MAGE NOVELS
Advent Mage Compendium
The Dragon’s Mage ♫
The Lost Mage
WARLORDS (ADVENT MAGE)
Warlords Rising
Warlords Ascending
Warlords Reigning
THE ARTIFACTOR SERIES
The Child Prince ♫
The Dreamer’s Curse ♫
The Scofflaw Magician
The Canard Case
The Fae Artifactor
THE CASE FILES OF HENRI DAVENFORTH
Magic and the Shinigami Detective
Charms and Death and Explosions (oh my)
Magic Outside the Box
DEEPWOODS SAGA
Deepwoods ♫
Blackstone
Fallen Ward
Origins
FAMILIAR AND THE MAGE
The Human Familiar
The Void Mage
Remnants
Echoes
GÆLDORCRÆFT FORCES
Call to Quarters
IMAGINEERS
Imagineer
KINGMAKERS
Arrows of Change ♫
Arrows of Promise
Arrows of Revolution
KINGSLAYER
Kingslayer ♫
Sovran at War ♫
SINGLE TITLES
Special Forces 01
Midnight Quest
THE TOMES OF KALERIA
Tomes Apprentice
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~Honor
Honor Raconteur is a sucker for a good fantasy. Despite reading it for decades now, she’s never grown tired of the magical world. She likely never will. In between writing books, she trains and plays with her dogs, eats far too much chocolate, and attempts insane things like aerial dance.
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