Chapter One hundred ninety-four (Patreon)

Kaz hurried down a narrow street, the buildings that seemed to lean in toward him blocking much of the rain. Lianhua was right behind him, but of course Chi Yincang was nowhere to be seen. Not by his eyes, anyway, though there was a suspiciously blurry patch on a roof nearby, where the raindrops suddenly parted ways with each other.

Lianhua was holding a bizarre object over her head; a piece of oiled paper attached to sticks that she called an umbrella. It prevented water from reaching her, though Kaz really wasn’t certain why she didn’t want to get wet now, when she was usually so excited to submerge herself. He himself was enjoying the warm droplets, especially since he didn’t have to worry about how long it would take his fur to dry.

“Are you certain this is the right way?” Lianhua murmured. Her voice was almost lost in the sound of the raindrops striking the steaming stones of the street, and Kaz longed to cock an ear in her direction, but had to settle for turning his head.

“Yes,” he answered, glancing both ways as they came to an intersection. He had learned very quickly that carts and wagons could come from anywhere, at any time, and their drivers were either unable or unwilling to stop when people needed to pass in front of them. Now, however, all but a few covered wagons had vanished, and the streets were finally empty enough that he almost felt comfortable.

He could still feel the mountain, or rather the Tree, as strongly as he ever had. Even if he was still blind, he could have made it back, so long as nothing killed him on the way. The shared den called the Old Crow was in the direction of the mountain, though they had come a good way ‘down’ as Lianhua dragged him into every shop along the way.

And that had been a terrifying and astonishing experience. Every human watched him, either overtly or from the corners of their eyes, and several even crossed the street to get further away from him, in spite of the ever-present danger of the carts drawn by the huge and alarming creatures called horses. The beasts looked nothing like the drawing in Lianhua’s book, other than having four legs and hooves, like a niu, and if he wasn’t so anxious he would have asked if there were examples of any of the other eleven creatures from her story in this town.

He was anxious, however, and though he was extremely unhappy that they were once again fleeing ahead of a danger of unknown proportions, he was also glad to be leaving this town. There were far, far too many strangers here, and he hadn’t realized just how little he understood about humans until Lianhua and one of the shopkeepers began ‘haggling’ in exchange for ‘coins’. Apparently, there were many kinds of coins, not just gold, each with their own well-established value that seemed to have little to do with the actual metal involved in crafting them.

“This way,” he said, pointing toward the inn, which hung in the rain and fog like an immense lopo lurking in the back of a vast cavern. Li and Raff were approaching quickly, and he wanted to reach the inn before they did.

Chi Yincang flickered into being beside Lianhua. Water sluiced away to each side of him as his black ki shunted it aside. For a moment, Kaz stared, fascinated by the process. He didn’t mind being wet, but wouldn’t it be nice if being soaked was optional? But Lianhua had black ki as well, and she was using her umbrella. Was it simply that she was trying to conserve her ki, or could she not do as Chi Yincang had done?

“They’re waiting for us,” Chi Yincang said. “We can handle them, but there’s a good chance some of them will be killed.”

Chi Yincang had just volunteered information and an opinion, or at least further information that he knew would influence Lianhua’s decision. He truly had relaxed since leaving the mountain.

“Can you get in and warn Kyla?” Lianhua asked, clearly worried.

“They have a mage,” Chi Yincang told her. “He’s wearing robes.”

His voice was faintly disapproving as he said this last, which told Kaz that something about these robes deeply annoyed the dark male. “I can warn her,” Kaz said, and lifted his face to the rain.

His voice was still wrong. Still too high, too breathy, too human, but he still managed a more credible howl than Raff. It was a standard howl, and he had heard it used by several tribes during his rise and descent through the mountain. Enemies are coming. Run.

Lianhua gaped at him, and Chi Yincang’s brows lifted ever so slightly, but nothing indicated that whoever lurked, waiting for them, considered the howl a thing they needed to investigate. No voices were lifted, no boots stomped on wet stone, and no one emerged from the surrounding buildings or from beneath their overhanging roofs.

A yip answered him. Just one. A sound of acknowledgement, not information. Kaz nodded and looked at the others. “She’s coming.”

Lianhua looked around. “How will she know where to come?”

He smiled and swept his hand over the wet fur on top of his head. “She’ll smell us.” There was no way the pup would miss them, especially once Raff joined them. The large male’s aroma of rust and sweat would be even stronger after getting wet. In fact…

He lifted his nose and sniffed, then spluttered as rain sluiced into his nostrils. They were too large and round, and if he ever tried to become a human again, he was going to make them smaller, even if it meant he couldn’t smell as well. He already struggled to distinguish between scents that were more than fifteen feet away, which was ridiculously limiting, and he didn’t think smaller nostrils could possibly make the situation worse.

Still, he knew without looking that Raff was coming. The man had even taken off his heavy metal-covered boots, and was jumping from rooftop to rooftop in bare feet. That only made it easier to smell his approach, even without Li’s muttered commentary.

<If you weren’t so big, we’d already be there,> the dragon said. <What did you eat to make you so large? Did you eat humans? Because even though Kaz says I shouldn’t eat humans, some of you still look very tasty. If you didn’t eat humans, what was it?>

Her voice shifted, becoming both fascinated and vaguely disgusted. <Did you eat kobolds? Because if you eat Kaz, I’ll bit you so hard->

Kaz looked up and yipped. Scraping sounds came from overhead, followed by a wet thump and two feet protruding over the edge of the roof. A groan reached his ears, then a garbled yip.

“That you, Blue?” Raff called softly as the feet vanished and a dripping face appeared instead. A moment later, Raff grasped the edge of the roof and flipped over it, landing in a small puddle that splashed everyone around him.

Kaz chuffed a laugh, and Li dropped down through the falling rain to land on his shoulder with an audible sigh of relief. “Unless there are any other kobolds here, then yes.”

“What about me?” came Kyla’s noticeably grumpy voice. Kaz looked over in time to see her shimmer into sight. Her golden eyes were huge in her small face, and her usually disheveled fur was plastered to her body, along with the robes she’d borrowed from Lianhua. The pup had tucked the hem up into her belt, as Lianhua sometimes did, but it was so sodden that it hung from her like a sack. The fabric was so heavy with rain that it actually made her shoulders slump beneath the weight. The young kobold looked thoroughly miserable. Her fuergar sat on her shoulder, looking no happier.

“What is this?” Kyla whimpered, picking up the bottom of her robe and wringing it out. It promptly filled with water again, and she sniffled pathetically.

“Rain,” Lianhua told her. She reached into her pouch and pulled out another of the umbrellas. Holding it over Kyla’s head, she said, “Take off the robe. We need to leave town, and it’ll slow you down.”

Kyla moved to obey, looking grateful to be rid of the pretty cloth she’d been so pleased with only that morning. Meanwhile, Lianhua turned a glare on Raff.

“What happened?” she demanded. “Kaz said something about your sister kidnapping a princess?”

Raff shook his head, looking almost as miserable as Kyla. “No time. I’ll explain later. Right now, we need to go.”

“We need horses,” Lianhua reminded him.

A pale grin split Raff’s face. “Oh, the little dragon and I got that figured out. C’mon.” He gestured, and they all followed, leaving the inn and the ambush behind them.

Two turns, then three, each a bit further away, until they saw a soaked human in armor much like Raff’s had been when they first met. The male stood beneath an overhang, water pouring down in a sheet just inches from his face, the sight and sound drowning out any warning he might have had before Raff’s fist crunched down on top of his head. His helmet buckled, and he collapsed into the puddle at his feet.

Raff hurried toward the restless group of horses the man had been guarding, and the others trailed behind. Kaz stopped by the downed warrior, rolling him over so the water wouldn’t fall into his face, possibly drowning him. Kaz wasn’t entirely clear if these humans were their enemies or not, and leaving someone to die in such an unnecessary way made his nonexistent fur itch.

“That guy’s a King’s Guard, but probably just made knight.” Raff grimaced as he looked toward the unconscious male. “Probably some third son whose father got him what they thought would be an easy job.” He sighed, plucking the wet leather strips tying one of the horses to a wooden post.

Lianhua hesitated, even though her hand was already caressing the nose of another horse, this one smaller than the one Raff had selected. “Won’t we be in even more trouble if we take their horses?” she asked uncertainly. “Right now, we can still claim we just left earlier than planned, but if we do this…”

Chi Yincang hadn’t moved to pick a horse yet. “These beasts are trained not to allow anyone but their riders atop them.”

Raff chuckled, grasping the leather pad strapped to his horse’s back. He set his bare toe into the loop hanging from that pad, and swung his leg over the beast, settling firmly into his seat. “Not these. Officers have assigned mounts, but the rest of the stable is available for the use of whoever needs them. No point paying to house and feed hundreds of horses when a few dozen will do. The King’s Guard mostly patrol the palace and grounds nearby. Most of ‘em only ride when they have to perform in a parade.”

Kaz was more than a bit confused, and he could tell Kyla was as well. Plus, this was the first time the pup had seen a horse up close, since there hadn’t been any in the few short streets she’d traversed to reach the inn. She had backed up until she was pressed against his side, her bedraggled tail tucked low and tight. Such large animals were never safe to be around in the mountains, with the exception of the niu, but the niu didn’t look nearly as fierce as these lean, muscular beasts.

Lianhua hesitated only a moment longer, then swung up onto the leather pad on her horse even more easily than Raff had. That left Kaz, Kyla, Mei, and Li. And Chi Yincang.

“Chi Yincang.” Lianhua said the male’s name with an uncharacteristic authority. He looked up at her, and it was hard to tell, but Kaz thought he might be slightly paler than usual.

“I can run,” he said.

“You’ll use all of your ki,” Lianhua said. “The horses won’t hurt you.”

Chi Yincang eyed the beasts with almost as much wariness as the kobolds. His jaw flexed as he gritted his teeth. “As you wish.” He reached out toward a large black animal, and square yellowish teeth snapped at his fingers. He only just managed to snatch them back before the creature broke its teeth on his skin.

“Stop playin’ with it and get on,” Raff snapped, also sounding far less cheerful and far more serious than usual. “We’ve got to get outta here before this rain lets up.”

Kaz stared up into the thick gray clouds overhead. Light flashed inside them, and low rumbles were beginning to reach his ears, as if a huge kobold was growling in the distance. He didn’t think the rain would be stopping anytime soon. Still, Raff’s point was valid.

Turning to the smallest of the horses, Kaz reached out and untied the straps keeping it in place. It eyed him curiously, baring its teeth for a brief moment. Kaz summoned a spark of blue ki, then tentatively stroked its nose in the same way Lianhua had stroked her beast. He passed the ki into the horse, which made a strange sound and looked very confused.

Taking advantage of the creature’s uncertainty, Kaz tossed Kyla and Mei up onto its back, then followed quickly after. This beast didn’t have the same small pad with foot-loops as the others, but rather had what looked like several packs strapped to it.

“That’s the pack mule, Blue,” Raff said, some of his normal humor returning to his voice.

Kaz shrugged, reaching down to pat the beast’s warm neck, giving it a little more ki in the process. It shuddered, but not as if it found the sensation unpleasant, and danced in place, its hooves clicking against the stones.

“Can it carry us?” he asked.

“It can,” Lianhua said. “It may be a bit slower than ours, but it should also be calmer. These horses are infamous for being high strung.”

Chi Yincang glared at the black horse, then reached out again. When it tried to bite him, he slapped its nose, making it jerk back. It tried again, with the same result, then tried to shift so its rear was toward the human. Chi Yincang slapped its leg, and this time a pop of white ki traveling between them. The horse let out an angry sound, but Chi Yincang was already on its back, the leather strips in his hand.

“You gonna be all right there, Chi?” Raff asked.

Chi Yincang just turned his horse so its nose was pointed down the street. Kaz tried to do the same, but his mount just rolled an eye back at him and then ambled along behind the others, apparently ignoring his tugs at the ridge of fur down its long neck.

Raff looked back down the wet, empty street behind them, though they could barely see past the end of the horse’s noses. Giving a soft click, he touched his heels to the beast’s sides, and it set out at a good pace. Lianhua and Chi Yincang guided their horses after Raff’s, and to Kaz’s great relief, his ‘pack mule’ followed.