CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

A tremor shook Marwin. The city was as a living thing for the first time in centuries. Dust and rubble were shaken free from the ruins and tumbled to the streets. A sound accompanied the tremor, one the city hadn't heard since the fall of Shan Alee. It was the roar of a dragon.

The northern wall of the slave pens exploded outward. Sandstone blocks the size of boulders were thrown into the air. Among the debris, sunlight reflected off of silver scales.

Deebee crashed through the wall. She now stood three stories tall at the shoulder. Her sinuous neck gave her another two. Powerful muscle was layered across her body and encased in scales harder than steel. Four curved horns swept from her brow over her neck, and her jaws were lined with teeth as long and sharp as swords.

The momentum of Deebee's emergence carried her two strides further. Her massive claws crushed the amphitheater into pebbles. She planted one forearm into the ground to bring herself to a halt. The other was clutched protectively against her chest.

Enfri peeked out from her snug perch in Deebee's palm. Her gaze traced up the arm that held her and then higher until it reached the dragon's face.

"You're... big," she said.

"Of course I am," Deebee's voice boomed. "I'm more than five hundred years old, girl."

"Yes," Enfri said breathlessly. She felt her eyes must have become as wide as dinner plates. "Naturally."

Deebee sighed in the way she did when Enfri failed to understand something basic. "Physical things, what you can see and touch, are made of energy at the basest level. When I change forms, I take that energy and put the excess... elsewhere. Using polymorphy as often as I do caused a deficiency— think of it as being malnourished. To reclaim my truest form, I needed to replenish it. The reagent sped the process up considerably."

Truest form. This was who Deebee really was.

"Nice to meet you, finally," Enfri stammered.

"Cheeky," Deebee muttered. "Huddle down, girl. Things are about to get hot."

Out of the crumbling mess that Deebee had made of the slave pen's northern wall, Jin and Maya rushed over broken stone and rubble. Enfri supposed it had been too much to hope that they were crushed. Their swords were drawn, and their free hands were ready to throw out spells.

From her place next to Deebee's chest, Enfri heard a deep rumble coming from inside the dragon. Deebee crouched low to the ground and thrust her head forward. Flames that seemed hotter and brighter than the desert sun erupted from her mouth.

Dragon fire engulfed the structure and the assassins with it. Flames rushed through the interior and set everything they touched alight. The fire coated the pens like burning oil. Stones cracked and burst from the heat.

When the fire subsided, Enfri looked up. Jin and Maya were unscathed. Maya shielded her face with an arm, and the palm of Jin's left hand was stretched forth. She had used magic to protect them from the inferno.

Deebee turned and barreled down the road before the assassins could recover. Her shoulder clipped the edge of a tall manor as she ran. The building shattered and collapsed from the glancing impact.

Enfri closed her eyes as the dust showered over her. She shook her head and coughed. "Where are we going?" she shouted.

"Away," Deebee replied.

Informative, Enfri thought wryly. It seemed dragons grew more terse as they grew larger. Then again, there were other things to be worried about at the moment.

An ear-splitting howl echoed through the city, and it was accompanied by more of the fierce cries. Enfri squeaked in fear. She recognized that sound. While growing up, she'd hear such calls occasionally in the far distance. They always gave her nightmares ever since Mother told her what they were.

They were the hunting cries of scale lions.

"Deebee!" Enfri shouted in warning.

"I hear them. Don't fear, girl. They're here to help."

"Help?"

Deebee looked down at Enfri. Her eyes sparkled with something akin to satisfaction. "I told you I was laying contingencies. It's why I was late in finding you. After ditching Gain, I sought out every pride I could find and put wards on them to lead them here."

"Why in the king's name would you do that?" Enfri shouted in a panic.

"My wards will also make them see any Aleesh as one of their cubs. Nasty, aggressive creatures, but they're fiercely protective of their offspring. I imagine that Dashar person has his hands full."

Enfri looked out at the city. Down an alley between two tenements, she spotted two brown shapes darting through the streets. The men of Sandharbor often spoke of how nothing alive could outpace a scale lion chasing its prey. Enfri swallowed, and her mouth had gone dry.

"Besides," Deebee continued, "how many other things have you seen injure an assassin? It's a very short list, and I couldn't find any geese."

A blinding flash of light struck the ground ahead, and a crash of thunder assaulted Enfri's ears. Deebee skidded to a stop, then set Enfri onto the road.

"Run," Deebee ordered. She lowered her enormous head closer and spoke softly so as not to be overheard. "Go to the spire and hide in the caves. I'll hold them off while you go to ground."

Enfri found her footing, but hesitated to go. "You can't! If you take even a scratch, they'll..."

Her voice failed her and broke. It grew difficult to breathe, and even looking at her guardian was beyond her. She put her hands on Deebee's jaw. Enfri couldn't think of anything to say that would keep her from throwing herself towards certain death.

"You are my sunrise, love," Deebee said. "My Opal Knight. Keeping you safe is my responsibility. No matter the cost."

"Why?" Enfri asked. "Don't you get it? Shan Alee was... It wasn't what we thought. It's not worth dying for!"

"No. You are." Deebee stood on her hind legs and turned to face their pursuers. She seemed tall enough to touch the sky. "I promised Yora. For him and for you, I will face anything."

Her claws worked through the gestures of casting a spell. The air around her shimmered for a brief instant, then lightning streaked towards her from the direction of the slave pens. Enfri cried out and covered her face with her arms to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness.

It was as if an invisible shield surrounded Deebee. The lightning hit the barrier and dissipated. Another bolt came, and it deflected into the sky. She answered the lightning spells with another blast of dragon fire. Deebee then dropped back to all fours and charged towards the lightning's source.

As if Enfri weren't frightened enough. Assassins, corpses, misplaced reverence, scale lions, and now she was supposed to continue on her own while Deebee fought sorcerers who could shatter bones. Too much was being asked of her.

"Courage," she told herself. "The opposite of fear is courage."

Enfri turned towards the spire and fled. Her steps were uneven and unbalanced, the pain in her spine becoming unbearable. She knew she wasn't as fast as she needed to be, but she didn't dare take anything from the bond. Deebee would need all that she had to face Jin and Maya.

An explosion of spellfire erupted behind her. Ruins cracked and shattered from the force, and Deebee's roars carried over it all. Flashes of lightning came so frequently that the sky seemed to turn white.

I need to get away from the main roads, Enfri thought. She was exposed and in the open. If the assassins got even a glimpse of her, they could realize where she was going. Deebee's sacrifice would be for nothing. I'm a winds-cursed coward.

She changed direction to head down a narrow alley between two structures. A part of her realized that the one on her right was the herbalist's home she had explored earlier. There was no time to spare it another thought.

A large shape appeared at the mouth of the alley ahead. Enfri came to a stumbling halt and nearly screamed. The creature turned its head towards her and regarded her with its beady, yellow eyes.

The scale lion was a reptile but wholly different from megathons or serpents. The predator's body was taller than a man and as long as a horse. It walked upright on its hind legs. The front arms curled beneath it. Mottled brown scales covered its body, as did a forest of cruel-looking quills along the spine. It held its thick tail erect for balance, and the head was long with fearsome jaws. What concerned Enfri most were the rows of needle-like teeth and three-inch-long claws on both its hands and feet.

The monster stared at Enfri while a clicking sound came from its throat. It took a step towards her as if preparing for a pounce.

Enfri backed away slowly. She didn't blink as she stared at it. Her blood had gone cold.

The scale lion followed her. It bobbed its head with each step. The movements made it seem more like a bird than a reptile.

"Go away," Enfri whispered in desperation. "Please. Just go away."

More clicking noises came out of the scale lion. The note of its call changed. It sounded similar to the purring of a incredibly large and dangerous cat.

"A cub!" Enfri blurted. What Deebee said earlier came back to her. The shock of finding one of the beasts blocking her path had frightened that piece of information away. "Winds. You think I'm a scale lion cub."

She took a hesitant step towards it. Obligingly, the scale lion backed away to let her through the mouth of the alley.

"I've had the most blessed run of luck with animals lately," Enfri muttered. "Just... don't decide to eat me. I imagine I'm as stringy as anything."

Once she was out of the alley, the scale lion stepped towards her and butted the crown of its head against her backside. Enfri froze, wary of what the thing was on about. The scale lion prodded her along again, this time with a little more strength behind it. Whatever it wanted, the scale lion was insistent.

"You want me... to get moving?"

Thump.

"All right, pushy. You're worse than Goodman Wainwright when he had a toothache. Keep it up and I'll jab a spider fang in your mouth, too."

Thump. Thump!

"Winds and storms, I'm going!"

Enfri started running again. This was a narrow street that went east alongside the Opalescent Road. The scale lion seemed to want her to go towards the spire also. That was fortunate. She doubted her tail bone would be able to endure any more nudges.

Her overbearing escort loped alongside her on her right at a relatively sedate pace. The scale lion swiveled its head from side to side as they ran, wary and watchful. The creature let out a short bark every few seconds. The reason why was a mystery, but its purpose became clear soon after.

Another scale lion bounded onto the street and took position on her left. It was answering the first's call. However, it didn't fall in step until it thumped its fool head against Enfri's hip. Scale lion affection would be the death of her if they came across many more.

Lightning strikes and plumes of fire continued to flash in the direction of the slave pens. Enfri looked over her shoulder and felt a pit in her stomach. Deebee was still fighting.

Enfri prayed for her to be careful. Deebee didn't have to get close, only hold Jin's attention. By Deebee's own admission, she wasn't a warrior but a scholar. This wasn't a contest Enfri thought Deebee could win. As it stood, Deebee didn't need to win, only force a draw.

Enfri's troop of escorts had grown. She now had five scale lions trotting with her. The first one she came across, whom she had begun to call Pusher, kept closer to Enfri's side than the others. He was slightly larger, and his quills were more prominent. Those were the only clues Enfri had towards scale lion gender— tenuous, at best— but Pusher's appearance and general attitude carried a sense of masculinity.

Judging by the frequent calls she heard around her, Enfri believed that she was with only a fraction of the scale lions Deebee had lured to Marwin. The rest were close if she didn't miss her guess, and something had them in a frenzy. Their angry cries were loud enough to make Enfri cover her ears. Winds, but it sounded as if they were screaming their heads off on just the next street over.

Why would scale lions be...

Her thought was interrupted by another scale lion male crashing through the wall of an ancient bakery twenty paces ahead. The brute rolled across the ground and lay still. He was dead, his throat slashed and his body crushed as if by a massive hammer.

A moment later, Dashar leapt through the hole in the wall the scale lion had made. He tucked into a roll and skidded across the dirt. Dashar reset on his heels and raised his bow to aim back the way he had come. The arrow sped from the bow and took a second scale lion through the eye as it leapt towards him.

Dashar turned his wolf-cowled head and looked straight at Enfri. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving from exertion. The cloak on his back was in tatters. His many dagger sheaths were nearly all empty. Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth, and too many gashes to count covered his muscled arms.

Winds, he had been fighting the scale lions all this time. A single pride had driven four assassins out of the desert and given Gain a serious wound. Deebee even said she would hesitate to fight a scale lion. Even like this, injured and exhausted, Dashar had killed two of the predators in a matter of moments.

The essence of all spirits take me, Enfri thought in astonishment. What is he?

Dashar looked at the five scale lions with Enfri and sighed tiredly. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his wrist, tossed his bow aside, and drew a pair of curved swords. His first step was slow, the second faster. He picked up speed and charged towards Enfri with an unnatural swiftness.

Pusher and the other scale lions screeched angrily and sprang forward to meet him. Their powerful legs carried them into the air, clawed hands and feet outstretched.

The cowled assassin ducked to the side an instant before scale lions fell upon him. He dodged left and right and rolled evasively as Pusher and the others tried to get their claws on him. With so many scale lions harrying his every step, Dashar couldn't break away to get at Enfri.

A sword flashed and cut a shallow gash in the flank of one of the females. The scale lion recoiled from the injury before freezing in her tracks. Then came the sickening sound of bones cracking. Splintered bone tore through flesh as the scale lion howled. She then crumpled to the road in a ragged heap.

Enfri had no doubt that Dashar would not only survive, but win. He was the assassin that other assassins feared. His strength and speed were inhuman. Enfri couldn't stand there like a log while he butchered the scale lions one by one. There was only one thing she could do. She ran.

The ruckus in the street was drawing more scale lions. Enfri ran up to one and kept it between her and the fray while she ran past. Dashar tried to spring towards her but Pusher interposed himself to ward the assassin off.

Enfri got around the frenzied battle and climbed through the hole Dashar had made in the bakery wall by throwing a scale lion through it. Two scale lions positioned themselves in front of the breached wall once she was through to keep Dashar from following.

Death cries followed her as Enfri burst through the bakery door onto the next street. It didn't seem to matter how many scale lions he fought. Dashar would slay them all in time. Enfri had to get far away before then.

The spire was her landmark. It was only a few dozen yards away now.

"Sky Woman!"

Enfri ran faster when she heard Jin's shout. The roar of spellfire accompanied by the pained howl of a scale lion echoed behind her.

Jin was here? What of Deebee? Enfri couldn't hear lightning strikes anymore. Did that mean that the dragon had been defeated?

I would know if she were dead, Enfri thought in desperation. She refused to believe Deebee was dead. It wasn't possible. The bond would tell her somehow if that were true. She would know!

The street beneath her rumbled. Enfri had only a moment's warning before the ground erupted beneath her. She was thrown tumbling through the air and lost all sense of direction.

She hit the ground flat on her back. Lances of intense pain ran up and down her spine. Enfri thought it was only because of her brace that her back hadn't been broken by the fall. She writhed in agony, the air had been forced out of her lungs and she couldn't pull it back in.

Enfri opened her eyes and saw Maya standing ahead with her palm outstretched. The earth spell had come from her. Maya's ponytail had come undone, and her waist-length hair was caught in the wind. Her face was scuffed and dirty, her armor was scorched, and her beast-like eyes were opened wide with a mad fury.

"You shouldn't be this hard to kill!" Maya screamed.

Enfri tried to get back on her feet, but a sharp pain in her calf dropped her back to the ground. She looked down at her right leg and saw a long shard of sandstone impaling her calf muscle. Enfri's blood was splattered over the cobblestones of the street.

Maya saw it, too. She sprinted forward and took a leaping dive for the blood on the stone.

A silver claw swatted Maya out of the air and threw her two-dozen paces to smash into the side of a building. Deebee opened her jaws and roared as she stood over Enfri.

"I knew it," Enfri murmured in a daze. The pain was making her dizzy and incoherent. "I knew you were still alive."

"On your feet, girl," Deebee ordered. "Those two are stronger than they look. They managed a unison link, if you believe it, and I only now freed myself. The way they bicker like cats in heat made me think they didn't have it in them."

Maya was getting up. There was a cut on her brow, and her left knee was twisted in an awkward direction. Even so, she looked angry enough to breathe some dragon fire of her own. Winds, but what did it take to put an assassin down? A hit that hard would have turned a megathon to jelly.

Deebee didn't give Maya a chance to recover. She used both claws to cast a spell. The stone at Maya's feet transformed into metal spikes that shot from the ground to impale her. The assassin countered with a spell of her own. A wave of force shattered the spikes into fragments.

"What are you waiting for?" Deebee shouted at Enfri. "You need to run!"

"I can't," Enfri wheezed. "My leg..."

"Flames," Deebee said, her eyes gone wide in horror as she saw the blood.

"Cauterize it," Enfri said through clenched teeth. "No time for anything else. Burn the wound shut."

Deebee didn't hesitate. A quick gesture with her claw, and her palm began to glow red. She curled a finger around Enfri's calf. The stench of searing meat filled the air, and Enfri bit her lip to keep herself from screaming.

"Go," Deebee said again. "I'll take care of the rest."

Enfri clawed her way forward and fought to get her feet underneath her. Her right leg felt as if it were made of stone. It could hardly move, and the pain overshadowed all other sensation in it. Enfri limped towards the spire as quickly as she could manage.

Dragon fire blanketed the streets. Deebee breathed down on the stone to boil away all traces of Enfri's blood. She then turned her head towards Maya.

Jin jumped down from a rooftop in front of her sister. She put up a ward against fire to protect them both from the blaze. While she said something to Maya, Jin's eyes were fixed on Enfri.

Where do I go? Enfri asked herself. There was no point in trying to hide in the spire's caves. Jin would see her going into them.

Maya held her arms wide from her body. They began to lengthen, and the flesh twisted and warped as the bones became too large to cover completely. Muscle tissue became exposed as her skin ripped. Maya's arms had become like scythes. She charged Deebee while bone plates began to form over them.

While Maya leapt towards Deebee, Jin chased after Enfri.

Fire raced to overtake Jin, but her wards kept her safe. She leapt over the shattered ground from Maya's earth spell and continued the pursuit.

Enfri hobbled as best she could. She reached the garden oasis at the foot of the spire. The megathon was long gone, the poor thing likely driven away by all the scale lion calls. Enfri followed the stream up a steep embankment of rock. The cave that the stream came out of was just ahead.

There was no chance to hide in there, but if Deebee could break away from Maya and join her, then perhaps they could barricade themselves inside after Deebee shrank down a little. The small opening would make it hard for the assassins to get through while it was filled with dragon fire, or perhaps Deebee could seal the entrance with an earth spell.

It was the only plan Enfri had. What they would do next could be decided once they were sure they'd be alive for the next few minutes.

Maya cried out in pain once more. Enfri glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of the assassin sailing through the air again. She hoped that this time the fall would crack her skull on the rocks.

Jin was almost upon her. Sweat matted her black hair to her forehead. She looked exhausted but hadn't been slowed down in the slightest. Jin wasn't preparing to cast another spell. Instead, she had her sword ready to drive through Enfri's back and through her heart.

Enfri looked for Deebee. The dragon had taken wing and was desperately spinning through the air. Enfri wondered why she would be doing something like that, but then she saw the dark figure clinging to her back. Dashar was holding on to Deebee's scales with one hand while the other transformed into a bone lance.

There were only a few paces separating Jin from Enfri. She was almost upon her. Jin pulled her sword hand back for the killing blow.

A hunting cry split the air, and Pusher pounced onto Jin's back. The assassin cried out in surprise as the scale lion ripped at her armor with his claws. Pusher roared as he mauled her. His claws raked her body, and Jin's blood sprayed over the rocks as she got onto her back to try to fend him off.

Enfri reached the entrance of the wellspring cave. She all but collapsed against the stone wall and vomited. Seeing Jin being mauled like that was horrific.

More horrific than what she'd do to me? Don't stop until she's dead, Pusher.

She turned around and shouted Deebee's name. Enfri waved an arm over her head to try to get her attention.

Deebee was barely managing to keep Dashar from plunging his osteomancy arm into her back. She whipped her head to look at the cave when she heard Enfri's call. It might have been Enfri's imagination, but she thought she saw the dragon's face split into a grin.

Two hundred feet in the air, Deebee transformed into her tiny form. With nothing to hold onto, Dashar plummeted to the streets below. The dragon shouted something at him, but her voice had become too tiny to be heard at this distance. Deebee dove towards the cave at full speed.

Dashar hit the ground. A thunderous crack rang through the air. Out of a small crater of shattered stone, Dashar rose to his feet. Enfri nearly fainted. His legs and arms were completely encased in bone plates to absorb the impact of his fall.

Maya was nowhere to be seen, but the way Enfri's hair was starting to stand on end made her think that she was still somewhere out there. The sky began to crackle with unspent energy. Maya was definitely alive... and ticked off.

An inhuman shriek made Enfri clamp her hands over her ears. She looked towards the source. Jin was on her back with Pusher on top of her, but the scale lion wasn't moving. Jin's sword was driven through his belly and out of his back. A moment later, there was a deafening snap, and Pusher's leg bent the wrong way at the thigh. His femur had been broken in half.

Jin blasted Pusher away with a spell then scrambled to her feet. Her lips were twisted in an agonized snarl, and her left arm was clutched to her stomach to stem the flow of blood. The girl had almost been disemboweled, but she was still coming.

Enfri backed away deeper into the cave. Deebee was flying as fast as she could, but Jin was closer. The assassin was going to reach the cave first.

The inside of the cave was large, but it was a dead end. There weren't any passages going deeper into the spire. The wellspring had water fountaining up from the stone and out of the cave's mouth, but there was nothing else around. Enfri searched for something to use as a weapon. She only saw rocks.

It was better than nothing. Enfri picked up a stone with a sharp edge and brandished it. When Jin appeared at the cave's entrance, Enfri threw it at her head with all her might.

Jin caught the stone in her palm and let it fall. She hadn't even blinked. Her steps were unsteady, and she was leaving a trail of blood in her wake. Her blue eyes were unfocused as she limped towards Enfri.

Blood loss, Enfri thought as she categorized the wounds Jin had received from Pusher. Abdominal lacerations and she's favoring her left leg. Her hamstring has been severed.

By the amount of blood flowing from her stomach wound, Jin wouldn't survive much longer. She was already half-dead. It was, however, more than enough time for her to kill Enfri and complete her contract.

"Be proud, Enfri," Jin said. Her voice was growing weak. "You did well. Better than any of the arcanists I've hunted, but there was never any other way this could end."

"Is that supposed to be praise?" Enfri replied. She hated how small she sounded. "You're trying to kill me, and I'm supposed to be thankful I made it hard for you?"

Jin shuffled towards her. "No. You're supposed to die. You were supposed to be dead."

"What are you babbling about?"

"Where is he?" Jin demanded. "Your father's bond makes that clear. I'm not to kill you until I find out what you know."

"My father's dead," Enfri snarled.

"The king must learn." Jin said as she shook her head. She stumbled forward and would have fallen into Enfri, but she braced against the back wall of the cave. She leaned over Enfri, and her eyes came into focus now that she was so close to her prey. "Where is he?"

The blood loss must have been addling her mind. Jin wasn't making sense. Yora was dead!

"I don't know," Enfri said. She tried to make herself as small as she could. Were it possible, she would have sunk into the stone. Oddly, something about this situation seemed familiar— Jin being this close, the stone cave, and the sound of the bubbling wellspring.

"But," Enfri continued, "there is something you should know."

"Tell me."

"I've been stalling you."

Deebee howled as she barreled into Jin's back. Her swift dive had given the tiny dragon enough momentum to shove the assassin away. Deebee fell to the cave floor and scrambled for the entrance while shouting for Enfri to run.

"I'll take the lead," Deebee yelled. "The others are on their way, but I'll give them something to think about. I'll go big again and fly you out of here. The other sister is too close to ethershock to keep us grounded with her lightning."

Deebee leapt through the cave's mouth and grew to her titanic stature again. She breathed out dragon fire to ward off anyone approaching, then got low to the ground for Enfri to climb on.

Enfri ignored the burning pain in her leg and hobbled for all she was worth. She was about to leave the cave when she felt a sensation in her head like the plucking of a harp string.

"No," Deebee gasped. "Enfri, no!"

The cave's mouth was a step away. Enfri stepped forward to leave, but her face smacked against something solid. Stumbling back, she blinked to try to see what she had run into. Nothing. There was nothing in front of her but the cave entrance.

Deebee roared and swiped her claws at the entrance. They glanced off of something that Enfri's eyes couldn't see.

A sensation like pressure pushed inside of Enfri's head. She knew this feeling, had felt it once before.

Apotheosis.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Jin lying on the ground. Her hand was outstretched towards the cave's mouth. The apotheosis came from her. She had cast a spell strong enough that anyone attuned to the Ethereum could sense it.

"What did you do?" Enfri demanded of her.

Deebee kept banging her claws against the invisible wall that separated them.

"Interdiction," Jin whispered. She clenched her hand into a fist, and a pulse of energized sensation swept through the cave. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she nearly fainted.

"She locked it," Enfri whispered. "Whatever she did, she locked it!"

"Wake up, monster!" Deebee roared. "Enfri, interdictions are the highest form of wards, a new law placed into the world. A barrier like this requires a rule, a way to pass through. We need to find out what that is to break the spell!"

"Silence, creature," Jin murmured. "I'll tell you how."

She lifted her head. Though her voice was little more than a whisper, she stared defiantly at Enfri. Her eyes had always been cold, but now they shone with a fevered light.

"The barrier won't fall... until an Aleesh dies within it."