A Dance of Dragons: Series Starter Bundle (40 page)

"Find water."

Clashing, conflicting opinions shouting over
one another.

Her vision returned, but still, she saw
nothing but the angry orange wall before her.

Rhen was lost.

Jinji sat down, unable to move a muscle to
help, not caring if the wave of fire curled out and dragged her
in.

All was lost anyway. The shadow must have
won.

Rhen was dead.

Staring into those flames, she knew it for a
fact. Her heart froze over, a frost she knew would never thaw.

If he were alive, he would have stopped the
fire. He would have smoldered it, pulled it inside of him the way
she had seen on the ship.

He would have…

Jinji looked around, unsure how anyone else
could be moving when the world seemed to be crashing down. Lords
were retreating, some guards were following, others ran to the
flames with buckets of water, trying to control something that was
not meant to be contained.

Coughs spewed from her lips, forced her
stomach to bend, her arms to catch her as she fell forward. Lit
from the flames, shadows danced into her vision, expanding along
the floor, taunting her.

Jinji closed her eyes, but still the fire
flickered behind her lids, undulating, making black shadows appear
and disappear from her mind.

Someone knocked into her, dousing her with a
splash of cool water as he stumbled by, enough to make Jinji jump
up in shock despite the protests of her muscles.

Eyes opening, she stopped.

Stopped moving.

Stopped breathing.

Stopped blinking.

Everything about her just paused.

The fire was shrinking.

Jinji stood. Her cramping muscles screamed,
ripping as she stepped closer.

The flames kept lowering, sucked in by an
invisible force, moving backward in a way that looked unnatural,
forced. The smaller they appeared, the more her heart lifted.

No one else could do this—nothing else
could.

Jinji stared, eyes widening as if it would
help her see more.

A faint outlined popped into view, white
behind the flames—a man.

Jinji grinned and strode forward as the fire
disappeared entirely, replaced by Rhen—shirtless, covered in blood
and sweat—alive. The entire room inhaled together, waiting for him
to open his eyes. When he did, the green burned, sparking, as
though the flames had fused with his irises.

Rhen stood, but a movement over his shoulder
caught Jinji's attention. Huddled behind Rhen, were other people,
shaking with disbelief. Breaking away, a woman stood—his mother.
Her dress was singed with holes, her hair frazzled. Saved by her
son.

Jinji smiled, waiting for the woman to turn
and hug Rhen, to give him the thanks he had deserved for so long.
It was enough for Jinji to know he was alive, to know he was safely
within her eyesight, out of the shadow's reach—so she stopped
walking forward, crossed her arms, and waited for him to share a
much needed moment with his family. Maybe now they would honor him
with the love and respect he deserved. Maybe now…

A glint blinded Jinji's eyes. A bright
light, like metal catching the sun.

Jinji looked up. Windows lined the upper rim
of the room, swords were scattered all around the floor. It was to
be expected.

But then it happened again, hurting her
irises, making her blink.

This metal was moving, was—

"No!"

Jinji shouted and ran forward, too slow once
more. The queen looked up—her stare blank, her eyes white and
emotionless.

The shadow.

Rhen turned. His back hunched. His hands
flew to his stomach. Even with his back to her, Jinji saw the knife
dig into his gut; she felt it sink into his stomach as though it
were her own skin.

Blood dripped to the floor.

The queen pulled back. Rhen collapsed. She
raised the knife to her own throat. And Jinji sprang forward,
biting her lip to keep from crying out as the realization of Rhen's
imminent death sunk into her bones.

The queen looked up. Looked into Jinji's
eyes.

Panic.

The shadow was afraid. The queen stepped
back, farther away from Jinji. The knife pulled quickly, closing in
on her throat.

But before the job could be finished, Jinji
was there. She slid around Rhen, careful not to harm his still body
but also not stopping, not wasting time.

In one heartbeat, everything that had
happened in the past few months fluttered into view, memories
flashing faster than her mind could process. Her father was there.
Her mother. Leoa. Maniuk. Janu. And now Rhen.

Eyes narrowing, lips pursing, anger brimming
to the surface, Jinji dove for the queen's arm and wrapped her
fingers firmly around her thin wrist.

As soon as they touched, Jinji's eyes rolled
into the back of her head.

Her vision went black, disappeared.

All self-awareness vanished.

She didn't see the queen stumble back,
blinking rapidly, eyes clouded over with confusion but color
returned to normal. She didn't hear the windows above their heads
shatter, fall into the dining hall, and crash into a thousand
pieces. Jinji didn't feel the lightning bolts pierce her skin, bend
her back almost in half, and lift her off the ground.

She was beyond that. Beyond the world.
Beyond feeling.

Trapped within the confines of her own mind,
back in the shadow dream, Jinji was drowning. Claws gripped her
skin, her teeth tasted blood, large wings pushed against the water
and stretched for the surface. Jaws gripped her neck, tightening
her airway, making her lose all breath. Her talons stretched out,
fighting, tearing thick skin with their razor-sharp edges.

This was the moment in the nightmare where
she always awoke, the endless struggle, this battle.

But this time, her eyes didn’t open.

No awareness came.

She was no longer Jinji. No longer an
Arpapajo. No longer even a human. Jinji had left her body behind,
to lay deathly still on the palace floor. Now she was pure
spirit.

This time, it was not just a dream. There
was no waking up. And if she did not escape, she would die here—in
this otherworldly realm her mind had been catapulted into. An ether
between the spirit and shadow realms.

All she needed to do was break the surface
of this dream water—to return to the spirit realm, and leave this
endless, death-enshrouded abyss. One gulp of fresh air and she
would live.

But she was not strong enough. The darkness
overtook her, removed her strength. Jinji was being pulled under,
below the water, deeper and deeper, until the world changed,
warped, and twisted.

She had entered the shadow realm, a
different plane of reality.

No light pierced her eyes. No life.

Limbs weakening, she forced tired muscles to
keep fighting, refusing to let herself drift away in this eternal
midnight where even stars refused to shine. Still, they sank
farther. The shadow pulled her slowly, steadily down.

Her last reserve of energy gave out.

What more could she do?

Nothing.

But she would not die without seeing her
home one more time. She could not die in this lifeless place, this
place that her soul rejected, this place where the elemental
spirits seemed untouchable.

So Jinji released her hold, let her claws
ease apart, her long jaw release. She closed her eyes and
envisioned her home—the spirit realm that she had brought to
life.

Wind caressing her gliding wings. Great,
white mountains disappearing into the startling blue sea. Green
land sprouting, stretching as far as her eyes could see. Glittering
gold sunlight hitting red-walled cliffs, making the earth spark and
flame.

As she imagined, she wove the elemental
spirits. Life suddenly sprang into being in a place where it didn’t
belong, a place of death and destruction that had never before seen
the beauties of her world.

The shadow released her, fell away, blinded
by the images of a realm it couldn't imagine. It jerked, covering
its scaled face with ebony wings, pushing away from the light.

Moving on their own, Jinji's wings flapped
against the water, pushing her higher and higher, climbing closer
to the surface. Unable to wait any longer, Jinji's eyes drifted
open. The water was no longer black, but blue, shimmering with
sunlight.

It lightened. And lightened. Her eyes were
drenched in ivory.

And then she was free, breaking through the
surface to breathe in fresh air, floating through the sky, wings
light without the heavy weight of water.

It felt good to stretch her muscles. To dip
and glide and soar. To weave through trees, rise over snow-capped
peaks, plummet into crashing rapids.

The longer she flew across the spirit realm,
her otherworldly home, the more she forgot.

Forgot the body left cold on the floor in
the human world.

Forgot her human self.

Forgot Jinji.

But remembered other memories, of lives gone
by, of pasts being reawakened.

The spirit dragon had returned.

Reborn for the first time in millennia.

20

Rhen

~ Rayfort ~

Rhen fell to the ground, hand pressed tightly
against his stomach, trying to hold in the blood forcing its way
out.

He looked up at his mother, desperate,
pleading for mercy.

She stepped back, lifted the knife to her
own throat. And suddenly, something clicked into place.

This was the shadow.

Jin had tried to tell him, to warn him, but
Rhen had never really believed the boy until that instant—looking
into his mother's empty, soulless eyes. Something had taken control
of her body. Something had ripped away her will.

That same thing wanted Rhen dead.

And it might have succeeded
, he
thought, pushing harder against his weak muscles.

His mother looked up sharply, eyes widening
at something over Rhen's shoulder. The knife dug into her throat,
pushing deeper, trying to break through delicate but sturdy
skin.

"No," he tried to say. It came out softer
than a whisper.

In a flash, someone had jumped over his
body, crying out. Rhen recognized the bronze armor of the royal
guard, the red leather overcoat. Pride surged in his chest at the
sight of the rearing stallion of Whylkin, still charging into
battle, still strong.

The man reached out, stretched for the
queen's hand, for the knife.

The instant they touched, time stopped.

The guard's skin rippled, trembled. It grew
in size, inflating, swelling larger and larger. The colors on his
jacket seemed to melt, to mix together. They dripped down into his
flesh, spinning and turning, separating into individual
strands.

Rhen watched with widening eyes. The man was
a monster. An aura sprung to life around his person, dragging his
image wider and wider, until the man's body was encased in a
glowing shell, white with veins of color intermixing, weaving
together, and pulling against each other. It brightened, whiter and
whiter, growing, expanding, becoming more vaporous, until it
burst.

The man fell.

The queen stumbled back, blinking. Her eyes,
green and so like his, had returned to normal—mulled over with
confusion but vibrant and full of life.

Rhen looked at the guard. But he was no
longer a guard.

He was a boy, wearing dark leather boots and
a fine white shirt that was splattered with dirt. Looking closer,
Rhen spotted fingers, copper toned as though kissed by the sun,
glowing despite being indoors. It was the only bit of exposed flesh
Rhen could see, but it was enough. Even presented with his back,
Rhen recognized his friend.

"Jin," he said, hoarse, pained.

Of course Jin had come to fight the shadow,
to save Rhen yet again. It was no surprise, and yet his heart felt
just a little bit lighter, a little more able to hold on.

Reaching out, Rhen extended one hand,
keeping the other firmly planted against his wound.

"Jin," he repeated, softer. But the sound
was deafened by the crack of splintering glass.

Rhen arched his head up, peering at the
windows so far overhead just in time to see them burst apart,
shatter, rain down with sparkling fury. He tried to look away, to
shield his eyes, but they were glued to the spot. Blinding flashes
followed, crackling through the empty windows, half a dozen bolts
of light, maybe more.

Faster than his mind could process, they
dropped to the floor, meeting at the same exact spot—Jin's lifeless
body. Immediately, the boy was lifted off the ground, catapulted
feet into the air as his body bent almost in half from the electric
shock coursing through his veins.