we must be willing to pay for glory. I also wanted you to see the power we have within us. This is what we will be able to do when we invade other kingdoms. We’ll make Kichona one of the most feared and revered kingdoms in the world. We will be unstoppable.”
Yes! Sora thought, as the fire of ambition in her belly flared, hot and ready to fight. Her mother had entreated her to do more, to be more. And now she was fulfilling her promise, serving the greatest leader Kichona had ever seen and using Luna’s gifts to their greatest potential. And with her sister, no less.
Mama will be proud, Sora thought.
By now most of the ryuu had disembarked, leaving a small crew behind to guard the ship. Prince Gin divided his warriors into small groups, each in charge of attacking a sector of the city, securing it, and rounding up any taigas they found. Everyone had been assigned a unit—even the new recruits—except Sora.
“Where do I go?” she asked, but everyone was already gone, assembled with their groups farther down the dock.
“You haven’t been trained yet,” Hana said, as she appeared seemingly from nowhere. “You’re stuck with me until you’re ready. Unfortunately.”
Shrug it off, Sora thought. She reminded herself of how Hana had looked at her earlier, when Sora had managed to find her when she was invisible. She also held on to the fact that Hana could have let Prince Gin execute her, but had saved her instead. That didn’t mean nothing.
“I won’t let you down,” Sora pledged, touching her necklace. Not this time.
Sora stood inside the shrine to Emmer, god of the harvest. While Tiger’s Belly had a port, it was only a small one; this part of Kichona was mostly rice paddies and silos, growing and supplying the kingdom with grain. Fittingly, this was a modest shrine, with plain wooden beams supporting a clean but basic pagoda roof.
It did, however, have an excellent vantage point from which to observe the network of farms inland. Hana would be able to watch the ryuu’s progress while she trained Sora in their magic.
“Lie down,” Hana ordered.
“Here?”
“Where else?” She tapped her foot impatiently. It was a role reversal. It used to be Sora who complained that Hana was too slow, that she was always holding up Sora’s plans.
Sora lay down on the thin reed mat covering the shrine’s floor. Marigold wreaths on rickety bamboo stands, offerings to Emmer from the locals, surrounded the perimeter.
“You could see me when I was invisible,” Hana said. “Which means that, in theory, you might be able to disappear too.”
Sora sat up. “You’re going to show me how?” Eagerness for more ryuu magic bubbled inside her.
Hana put her foot on Sora’s chest and shoved her back on the floor. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. We’ll start with the basics.”
Sora sighed but nodded.
“Find the ryuu particles. Once your Sight homes in on them, they will respond to your thoughts. No stupid chants and mudras to tie up your hands. Ryuu can actually cast spells and fight at the same time.”
Oh! Sora hadn’t thought of that before. Taigas always had to choose between holding weapons or using their fingers to begin a spell. But now she’d be free to use both superior magic and throwing stars simultaneously. The ryuu were the future of Kichona. Sora smiled.
But if she wanted to be part of Prince Gin’s revolution, she’d better practice. Sora refocused, shifting her vision to look for the magic. After a few seconds, the ryuu particles winked into view.
“I see them,” she said.
“Now tell them to lift you up.”
Sora made her body as stiff as a corpse.
Buoy me, she thought to the emerald dust floating around her.
They eddied for a moment, then came together like droplets of water forming a wave. They swept under Sora’s left side and scooped her up, suspending her an inch above the shrine floor.
She let out an unintentional gasp. Whereas taiga magic was like warm, liquid chocolate coursing through her body, ryuu magic was a sauna—hot and intense, but in a good way. It both energized and relaxed her. There were even notes of cedar in the air. Sora smiled as she relaxed into the ryuu power.
Now take me higher, she thought at the particles.
Her body rose in the air, steadily. Then she accidentally sped up, and she smashed into the bells and banners hanging from the ceiling. She tumbled back to the ground and smacked into the reed mat. The