I suck in a sharp breath. A terrible chill scrapes its way down the back of my neck, leaving goose bumps sprawling in its wake. The emperor takes another step forward, unperturbed by the senseless gossip.
“Do you know what this is, boy?” he asks me, holding the vial up to the dim torchlight. His words are clipped, succinct.
I’m unsure how to answer. If I tell him the truth, will he think me a lunatic? A fool? I can’t think of anything more humiliating than having His Imperial Highness laugh in my face.
The emperor furrows his brows. “If you do not wish to answer, perhaps your friend will provide something more enlightening. Bring him in.”
A prisoner is brought out from around the corner, propped up on either side by an armed guard. The man’s small body is slumped over, his feet dragging upon the stone floor. His face has been beaten to a near pulp. Both his eyes are swollen and purple. They have broken his nose, and a trail of dried blood stains his lips and chin. I’m surprised the man still has enough strength to look up at me. When he does, I recognize him in an instant.
Doctor Qi.
The air pulls itself from my lungs.
“Wh-what do you want with him?” I ask, my teeth chattering uncontrollably.
The emperor regards the doctor with general disinterest. There’s a darkness in his gaze, an air of superiority. We are all but cockroaches beneath his embroidered shoes.
“Where did you get this?” he asks Doctor Qi, holding the vial up before his battered face. “Answer honestly, and I may let you live.”
The doctor’s head hangs low, a mix of drool and blood dripping through the gaps of his broken teeth. I think his lip has split. “The South,” he rasps. “F-from… the South.”
“You had it smuggled past the border, correct?”
Worry weighs heavily on Doctor Qi’s features. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“And you know what this is?”
The doctor gulps heavily. “A d-dragon’s scale.”
“Do you know where to getmore?”
Doctor Qi casts his eyes to the cold, hard ground. “I c-cannot say exactly, but I know who might. My contact in the S-South. A huntress. She believes a dragon may yet live. She claims to have been tracking it f-for some time.”
My ears burn. I can’t begin to comprehend what’s happening. All I have the strength to do is kneel there, clinging to the bars, my mouth slack in disbelief.
A living, breathing dragon? No, that can’t be. Could the woman have mistaken a snake or some other beast for it?
The corners of the emperor’s lips curl upward. “Where is she now?”
“Last I heard, the huntress w-was spotted in the jungles just past the mountain border.”
“Does she go by a name?”
“I believe she goes by Feng, my lord.”
“You will find her for me.”
“With all due respect, Your Imperial Highness, my legs… They—they aren’t as strong as they once were.”
Emperor Róng hums in contemplation. “You’re quite right. I thank you very much, Doctor, for your cooperation in this matter.”
Doctor Qi lifts his head, a glint of hope in his eyes. “Does this mean I am free to g—”
He doesn’t finish his sentence. The emperor raises his hand and brings it down like an axe; his command silent, yet plainly understood.
Captain Tian moves swiftly, drawing his blade with alarming speed. He raises his sword above his head, and the sharp edge slices through the air with an abrupt whistle. In one fell swoop, he cleaves the doctor’s head clean from his shoulders. It goes tumbling, rolling toward me, Doctor Qi’s face forever frozen in shock.
I’m racked with uncontrollable tremors. My skin is feverish, and yet I have never been so alarmingly cold. The world spins around me, dizziness plaguing my mind.
