“Only a sliver. Even then, it was a tremendous risk. No dragon would give more, not without Grandfather’s blessing. It would have to be stolen.” He paused deliberately, as if to remind me of my surroundings. “And you are the first mortal in centuries to venture here.”
He made a low growl I was glad I couldn’t see. “You’d better leave. If my grandfather senses someone stealing starstroke, he will be furious. I’ll try to distract him, but it might be too late. You must go. Now.”
I scrambled to my feet.Wait, Seryu. When will I see you again?
“When the tides are highest, my dragon magic is at its peak. Stop by the nearest river after the next full moon and call for me. I’ll come to you then. Now hurry and leave this place.” A hint of fear edged his voice. “My grandfather’s wrath is no trivial thing.”
Once he vanished, a deafeningcracklashed the sky.
Then the mountain roared.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Fires leapt up, steam hissing from the ground. The earth shuddered, and like insects, the black rocks began to scatter and swarm down and down, taking me with them.
Brothers!I shouted in my mind. Kiki shot up from my shoulder, flying off to find them.
I slid down the mountain, scrabbling for a bone or a pillar or anything to grab hold of. But the mountain was sliding with me. Spires of rock crumbled as it quaked, and smoke billowed up into the sky.
A pit of lava seethed below, bright as the liquid sun. I wished I hadn’t looked down. Powerful as Seryu’s pearl was, Ididn’t think it could resurrect me. Not while I wore this bowl on my head.Especiallynot if I melted.
My brothers were squawking for me, but they were searching from above the clouds of smoke. I had fallen too far for them to see me.
I rolled onto my stomach, wrapping my arms around a crumbling stone. My hands hurt too much for me to hold on long.Kiki,I cried.Kiki.
If ever I was grateful for my bond with the magic bird, it was now. I could almost sense her diving toward me, screeching at my brothers to follow.
They broke through the clouds, fighting pasts blasts of scorching wind. Their white wings were bright against the blowing ash and fire.
Hasho and Reiji grabbed my collar and flung me into the basket. But as we swerved away from Mount Rayuna, leaving it far behind, in my delirium, I thought I heard the thunderous growl of a dragon.
We fled across the Taijin Sea, racing the storm. Lightning lashed the sky, thunder crackling not far behind. Then came the rain.
It spilled from gravid clouds, each plop as heavy as a grain of rice. As the raindrops poured into my basket, my brothers careened, their wings folding as they struggled to carry me through the storm.
We dipped below the clouds, the ropes that held my basket twisting as my brothers grappled against the wind.
I clutched the edges of my basket, ignoring the burning pain in my fingers.
Don’t let us die, I’m too young a bird to die.Kiki was praying to every god she knew, but all I could do was stare at the sea. Something was hurtling through the water, a creature long and serpentine.
Thunder boomed, earth-shatteringly loud. It made the waves rise, and the winds double in strength. In alarm, Wandei and Yotan let go of the ropes holding my basket. For the longest second of my life, I flailed against the violent wind as the basket’s sticks and branches came apart under my hands. The sea thrashed hungrily, and by the time the twins picked up the ropes again, I was shivering with fear—and revelation.
That wasn’t thunder,I realized, still watching the waters below.
It was the roar of a dragon.
His whiskers were like lightning bolts, white and crooked, and the icy boulders of his eyes flared with menace.
Nazayun, the Dragon King.
From the depths of the Taijin Sea, he rose in all his terrible splendor—a tower of violet and sapphire scales. Benkai let out a high-pitched screech as the dragon swung his claws toward us.
My brothers dipped, narrowly missing the Dragon King’s attack.
He wants the nettles back,Kiki shouted.If you don’t return them, he will kill you!
King Nazayun wasn’t exactly giving me a chance to return the nettles. He struck relentlessly, my brothers just barely dodging each attack. We couldn’t outfly the dragon for long—not while my six brothers had to carry me by a rope in their beaks.
