Thaksin nodded. “If she were gold like the sun, then she would have been one of my kindred. Stay in touch, princess. The werenagas wish you good luck in your Third Trial.”
“Yes, about that—” I hesitated, glancing around the crowded marketplace. “Do you know where the Third Guardian is?”
A sudden commotion erupted from the dress shop. A black-furred monkey darted out of the window and vanished as quickly as a shadow down the alley. Seconds later, the Yong sisters barreled through the doorway, Sun Bin hollering that her purse was missing.
“Ah.” Thaksin stepped up beside me, smiling. “I believe you just found him. Meet Set, the most capricious and cunning of the Four Guardians.”
Of course it had been too much to ask that the Third Guardian would be a kindly grandparent type who gave out wise advice for free. Heart sinking, I thanked Thaksin and hurried after my imugi siblings.
We chased the monkey down several increasingly serpentine alleys, splashing through mud puddles and ducking clotheslines. It became clear that the furry thief was making a beeline for the jungle. He somersaulted over a rickshaw, snagged a durian fruit from a surprised shopkeeper, and then scampered on all fours into the forest fringe.
As one, we pulled up and watched the monkey with narrowed eyes. It looked like one of the macaque monkeys that were common in the region: giant oval-shaped eyes, a triangle of a nose, and a wiry frame. However, its fur was pitch-black instead of cinnamon-colored, and its mouth held some unsettlingly sharp teeth. The thief perched on a branch and proceeded to empty the contents of Sun’s purse. I could hear Sun Bin’s deepening hiss of anger as receipts, lip gloss, and pages of her checkbook rained from the canopy. The monkey’s eyes lit up when it found her phone, and it discarded the purse. Screeching, it swung off into the jungle with Sun’s white Smartphone dangling in hand.
“Oh, bugger,” Sun Bin swore. I sighed, knowing I should have worn my hiking boots. Of course, my first day in Cambodia I hadn’t planned on chasing a deranged monkey through a mosquito-infested jungle. Or getting my face slapped by numerous vines. Or my shins bruised from stumbling over the infinite number of roots.
As we bumbled our way deeper into the heart of the rainforest, the branches above interwove like the reeds of a wicker basket until the sun couldn’t pierce through, and the trees grew to staggering proportions. Pieces of broken stone began to appear, littering the jungle floor like a path.
Breath catching, I glanced up. The Monkey stood before an ancient, crumbling temple hidden in the depths of the rainforest. However, the darkness in the temple’s doorway shifted at the wind’s touch as if it were alive. Twin stone leopards guarded it with open jaws that held two long-abandoned candle altars.
The Monkey held up the phone, and we could see the damage done: gibberish texts sent to nearly everyone in Sun’s phonebook. It began to poke random buttons again, and Sun Bin responded by unleashing a volley of ice spears. The Monkey’s tail flinched as one hit its foot. It bared its fangs at Sun Bin and threw the durian. We ducked, and the foul-smelling fruit splattered on the tree behind us. When we looked up, the Monkey had disappeared into the shadow doorway.
“Damn, these Spirit Guardians are a pain in the ass,” Sun Bin muttered. “If it starts sending pictures, then I swear it’s becoming my next coat.”
I started at the shadow doorway, fidgeting. “Where do you think that leads?”
Heesu threw a flower into the entrance. It was promptly absorbed, as if the shadows had grown mouths and swallowed it.
“It looks like an entrance into the spirit world, but it feels different.” The youngest Yong examined the leopard statues and then breathed on the candles. I saw lightning spark on her breath, and then the wicks flamed up with reassuring light.
“Shall we?”
Sun Bin entered first, and we followed. The shadows sucked at our skin. I felt my chest twist up in tight coils as if I were being fitted into an increasingly smaller box. Then we were spat out the other end.
My fingers slid over the cool dips of an intricate fern pattern painstakingly engraved into the stone floor. Pushing myself up, I gazed around the maze of temples surrounding us. Their crumbling walls were stained with lichen. Giant banyan trees draped the shrines like octopi, their pale arms creeping across the sagging roofs and then dropping twenty feet to the ground in a web of tentacles. From between their roots, the larger-than-life stone heads of ancient deities winked at me.
A ghost suddenly materialized. I cried out and stumbled backwards. The ghost, a man wearing a Dodgers cap and a fanny pack, snapped a picture of me and then vanished amidst the camera flash. Gazing around the courtyard, I realized I could see other people—a family with a crying baby, a solemn monk, a tour group—all momentarily appeared in phantom form before vanishing.
“We’ve been transported into Angkor Wat, the City of Temples.” Heesu stared about in similar amazement. “But it’s a strange shadow version. As if we’re trapped between the mortal world and Eve. Not quite here, and not quite there.”
Something stirred in my pocket. Removing it, I was astonished to see the sapphire nagi figurine come to life. It slithered around my hand and then reared its head to hiss at me in what I hoped was an affectionate manner.
Sun Bin was not in the mood to appreciate our ancient surroundings. “Now, where did that wretched Monkey go?” she demanded, putting her hands on her hips.
Her phone dropped from above. Startled, we glanced up to see the Monkey trapped—within the coils of a magnificent black snake.
The nagi lowered herself and her prisoner from the banyan tree, and I could see that she had tiny ears that twitched at the slightest rustle in the underbrush. Her eyes, twin emerald pools, gazed unblinkingly at Sun Bin, and I sucked in my breath. Nyssa.
The Monkey chattered bad-temperedly, but Sun Bin put up a finger. “You bite her, and Angkor Wat earns a new statue.”
The Third Guardian blew a spit bubble but relented. Nyssa released him and then reappeared a few moments later in her human form, wearing a pink and gold-stitched robe from her bag. The Monkey crawled up on top of a large Buddha head.
“Three little imugi left,” he spoke in a voice both rough and taunting. His black eyes were pitiless, reflecting no light. “Welcome to the Third Trial. I am Set.”
He leaped on top of the roof and crawled over the strangling fig branches, eyeing my sapphire nagi figurine too much for my liking. “Your second lesson. What was it?”
“‘Suffering is attached to desire,’” Heesu said, ever the prompt student— even for a demon monkey.
Set scratched his butt and found a couple of bugs to eat. “And what did you desire, little girl?”
Heesu hesitated, twiddling her pixie cut as she glanced sideways at Sun Bin. “I wished I could be hard and strong like my sister. So no one would ever hurt me or my family.”
Set gave an impressive yawn that showed the blue of his gums and the yellow of his fangs. “How boring! Such a goody-goody you are! Let’s see if your siblings can’t wake me up. You. The one with too much violin music on her phone. What was your desire?”
Sun Bin ground out each word as if spitting out teeth: “For my father to want me to be his heir—as I am.”
The Monkey hooted with laughter and rubbed his belly. “Ah, yes! Old Mun Mu! The symbol of embracing progress in any form except for when it comes to his family. Good luck with that one.”
Ignoring Sun Bin’s scowl, Set turned his callous eyes on me. “And you, little mouse?”
Flushing under all of the attention, I muttered, “I wanted to be fearless like my sister. So I could avenge all of the wrongs done to me and my family.”
Set put up a finger. “Different sister, I take it. Your other family—the Alvarezes. You wanted to be like Citlalli, a dog? Interesting. And stinky.”
My head shot up. “How do you know about her?”
The Monkey sighed. A prayer wheel appeared momentarily to flit between his fingers. “She calls upon us often. Y
es, your sister is brave. She also rarely thinks.”
The prayer wheel vanished, and Set jumped up to pace back and forth again. “Very interesting answers. One of you is quite the altruistic little lizard who thinks of others first. The other two think of themselves.” He plopped down next to a mango tree and proceeded to help himself to an impromptu lunch. “I’m not judging,” he continued, waving the peel at Sun Bin and me. “If you can’t help yourself, then what good are you to others?
“However, we are here to find the Celestial Dragon who will claim the yeouiju and set the fortunes for the age.” The Monkey leaned off the roof and held up a knobby old finger. “The Celestial Dragon will put the world first.”
Nyssa eyed Set with marginally more respect. “What is the Third Trial, Spirit Guardian?”
The Monkey spread out his hands. “See the Lost Temple that I stand upon, which has been infected by a vampyre nest. By nightfall, the undead will arise and stalk all who visited this sacred place back to their villages. They will make sure none of them ever see their homes again.” Set paused. “Cleanse the temple so it may be a place of peace and learning once more. Tell me how you chose to save it and why.”
While Nyssa waited outside, we three remaining imugi cautiously entered the Lost Temple. Heesu put out a hand to touch the massive root of the banyan, which had intruded into the halls and blocked off some of the passages in an impenetrable web. I felt my pupils stretch and widen, adjusting in the dark to see the fine, rose-hued sandstone decorating the inner womb of the temple. Impressive statues of unknown gods and demons stretched out to encircle the antechamber, where rows of dusty tombs lay. At least forty.
We reared back in displeasure, the stench of reeking fungi and vampyre flesh searing our nostrils. Sun Bin gestured, and we retreated back to the courtyard.
Set waited, fanning himself with a palm leaf. “Dreadful, isn’t it? You would think the sheer smell should be enough to ward visitors away. Tell me, little imugi: how will you cleanse the temple before moonrise tonight?”
Sun Bin quickly stepped forward. “You all relax here. I will destroy the tombs and be back in five minutes.”
The Celestial Dragon will put the world first. The Monkey’s harsh words rasped in my head, along with Bo Ra’s demand: Prove to me you want to be the imugi who will catch the yeouiju… Would you challenge Sun Bin?
“You can’t.”
Everyone blinked in surprise as I matched Sun Bin’s stance. I pointed to the ground. “There is a bog that runs beneath this entire courtyard. I can feel the water. It constantly gnaws at the stone of the crypts, which hold up the temple’s foundations. You fight the vampyres within this compound…and the violence will cause the temple to collapse.”
“Ah.” Set glanced casually toward Sun Bin. “Oh dear. This ancient pile of rocks will fall apart into more rocks. Is it worth it?”
“Yes,” Sun Bin replied without hesitation. She spared me a contemptuous glance and then tossed her long raven-black hair over her shoulder. “If we do not contain the vampyres now, then they will spread to the other temples. More people will be hunted and killed.”
“People visit here, but they are not the ones that live here,” I argued. “Can’t you hear the lizards and bugs who scurry amongst the temple’s crevices? The birds who have made their homes in the banyan tree? That is who lives here now.”
“Plants will grow back and temples can be rebuilt,” Sun Bin reported. “People can’t. Would you weigh the life of a child over a cricket’s?”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “Humans wouldn’t care. Animals wouldn’t, either. But we are dragons. And we do. How can we bring seasonal balance to the world if we can’t understand everything’s place within it?”
Frost snorted from Sun Bin’s nostrils, and I saw her pupils morph into diamond-shaped slits. “Do not presume to lecture me about the role of the Celestial Dragons, Alvarez. We have been studying it far longer than you. ‘There is suffering’, remember? Pain and death are as much a part of the seasonal cycles as life.”
“Ooooohoo hoo!” Set rolled on his back and laughed. “As are obstacles, little wurms. Your words are brave, water imugi, but what will you do if they fail? Would you fight the Winter Dragon to take her place as leader?”
I hesitated. “Not here. The foundation is too weak.”
“‘Not here!’” Sun mimicked. She glanced toward the Monkey, and he gave her an encouraging nod. “Then how will you stop me from destroying the tombs?”
Heesu and Nyssa protested. However, Set’s cackles rose in an increasing crescendo until all I could see was the frost brimming around Sun Bin’s eyes and feel the coolness of her breath. Alarmed, I realized that her ice had begun to crackle along the veins of the courtyard, which dislodged the precariously balanced stones.
My sapphire nagi figurine crawled back to me. Trapped in its tail was a familiar white cellphone, which it had swiped from Sun’s pocket. I held up the phone and watched the Winter Dragon’s face tighten in glacial fury.
“I always wondered if dragons hoarding treasure was a myth. Modern day valuables just aren’t as shiny,” I said, aware that I was trespassing on increasingly dangerous ground. “Now, which picture was it you didn’t want sent again?”
“You’re dead, Alvarez!” Powdery snow erupted in the courtyard as Sun shifted. I just had time to see the large, sleek beast with creaky honeycomb wings made out of black ice launch toward me before I turned and dove into the nearby moat. I emerged from its depths as an azure-scaled dragon, weeds tangling around my horns and sludge dripping from my mane.
Creeping into the wilds of the jungle, I turned to crouch behind an overturned log. I had baited her, but had Sun Bin fallen for it? What was to stop her from destroying the temple now that I had retreated?
The temperature in the glade plummeted, and I realized she was right behind me. Her jaws, blackened with tar-hardened ice, ripped into my thigh, and then her silvery whorled horns bucked me into the swamp. I whirled around, scrambling to get a grip on the slippery weeds. Sun Bin roared. My challenge was met. She wanted to destroy the vampyre tombs, but she would make sure I was defeated first.
I braced myself as the Winter Dragon lowered her head and charged.
Chapter 34: The Air Dragon
~Raina~
I was quickly regretting going after the cell phone. If I had chosen another personal treasure to destroy, then Sun Bin might not have been quite so vicious. Mud stung my eyes and flooded my nostrils as I plowed through two mosquito-infested puddles, making a dragon-sized hole in the jungles of Angkor Wat. Graceless, I smacked into a banyan tree. I couldn’t see Sun Bin anymore from where she hovered, high above the canopy. But I felt the temperature drop again, this time to a sub-zero chill. Terrified, I realized she meant to freeze the entire swamp and me in it.
My breath came out in wisps of frost. I slipped and slid in the muck, trying frantically to escape the maze of banyan roots before the Winter Dragon froze me in a crystalline cage. Ice crept down the trunk like blue fingers. I held my breath before diving deep into the murky swamp.
Great. This was the second time I had faced Sun Bin in a fight, and it always seemed to involve overwhelming humiliation and hypothermia.
At first, I couldn’t feel anything amidst the thick hide of the banyan’s roots plunging deep into the earth, to where even the monsoon rains couldn’t shake them loose. Then I felt something thick and scaly loop around my neck: a python.
I froze under the mud. I was highly aware of my burning lungs and the way my air evaporated up toward the surface as bubbles, only to ping uselessly against the blue ice swiftly encasing the swamp.
The python wasn’t the only one.
From out of the depths, all manner of snakes fled the oncoming winter. Wart snakes, elephant trunk snakes, and rainbow water snakes all rippled like torpedoes toward the surface, only to smack against the thickening ice. I even felt the ridged back of a monitor lizard graze my belly.
The python’
s hold loosened. I heard something shift amidst the churning muck, and then I realized that the snakes had banded together, tugging at the roots imprisoning me. They twisted their tails around the weakest branches and pulled repeatedly. Finally, the roots gave way.
Lack of oxygen was burning holes in my brain; I couldn’t waste another second of their labors. Drawing as much water as I could around me, I hurtled up toward the ice and burst through, showering the nearby foliage with half-frozen mud. The groan of Sun Bin’s heavy wings descending through the leaves was all the warning I had; then she was on me.
We crashed through the underbrush. Her black ice wings battered my weakened scales. I managed to back-kick her into a tree; she responded by shooting a volley of three-foot-long icicles from her back. I parried with a gust of warm wind. By the time the deadly ice spears hit my face, they were mere splashes of water. The blurry shape of Sun Bin lunged right behind them, and before I knew it, her icicle claws had encaged my throat.
“Pathetic,” the Winter Dragon snarled in my face, her gaunt black eyes promising two early graves: one for my body, and one for my pride. “Your wolf sister should have been the dragon instead of you.”
Shame nearly made my leathery wings droop in defeat when she threw my Second Trial fear in my face. How often had I burned with the same inner dread, that I was nothing but a cowardly oversized lizard amongst graceful dragon royalty? Citlalli would have fought tooth and nail from Day One to earn their respect—if not out of love, then at least out of fear. Sun Bin would have known the Alvarez name was a force to be reckoned with. The Dark Spirits would have never grown so bold.
How they much have laughed when the last Celestial Dragon, the legendary Changeling Soul, turned out to be me. How Donovan must have dismissed the news of my transformation with a flick of his hand. I had the body of a great water dragon, but the mind of a frightened little girl.
Yet all I could think, with Sun Bin breathing ice daggers down my neck, was that the monsoon storm had finally broken over the northerly Mountain of Lychees and now rolled down its face like a silent avalanche. Sun Bin was an air dragon. She would sense it coming as well.
Year of the Dragon (Changeling Sisters Book 3) Page 22