Impact.
Yukiko felt it in her head, in her chest, compressing her spine and knocking her back onto the rocks. Roiling skies spat rain as hard and sharp as roofing nails, bottomless black in the moments between lightning strikes, sun-bright as the arcs bit the sky. An inverted landscape, shifting constantly as the Storm God and his children sang their hymn in the heavens.
She stood on an outcropping of stone, warm rock beneath her feet, stench of sulfur filling her lungs. Clawing cold. Shrieking wind. Hair slicked across her skin like black silk, eyes upturned to the tempest, heart in her throat, watching two titans clash.
Buruu stood out like a star against the dark, the iridescent metal of his wings glittering as lightning crackled across the clouds. She could feel the rage in him, the will, iron and blood singing here in the place of his birth. She could feel his pack watching fearful, hopeful, the pulse of blacks and whites intermingling with the enormous heat of the reptiles slumbering beneath the waves, so ancient and frightening her heart stilled whenever she …
No.
Don’t look there.
Instead she focused on Buruu’s opponent. Bigger. Stronger. Eyes burning like green flame. So black he seemed to swallow the light; just a shadow against the backdrop of deeper night. She could feel the pride in him, the grim amusement that this princeling had returned at last to challenge. This shadow of a thunder tiger with feeble metal wings, stooping so low as to allow a monkey-child to ride his back.
A slave who would be Khan.
The pair circled, each seeking altitude, lashing out when the other strayed too close. Buruu’s wing assembly creaked and groaned, a canvas feather breaking loose and drifting down, down to the blood-flecked ocean, torn instantly to rags by the sea dragons swarming beneath. They were a multitude, already frenzied, awaiting the blood of royalty with serrated grins.
Torr clapped his wings together, giving birth to a peal of Raijin Song; a sonic boom splitting the skies and knocking Buruu aside as if he were a paper kite. The burst was so loud Yukiko covered her ears, Buruu dropping like a stone to escape Torr’s swooping attack. The black spiraled into a dive and followed, snapping at Buruu’s tail, the air trembling beneath their wings. The Khan’s size made him heavier, less maneuverable, but Buruu’s metal pinions were beginning to give under the strain, the months of constant abuse. Torr drew closer, talons outstretched. Fear blossomed in Yukiko’s gut.
She reached out, touched the Khan’s mind, a slight tweak telling him left was right and up was down. Buruu swept over and away as the mighty black reeled himself in, shaking his head and blinking hard. Glittering green eyes found their focus, then their prey, and Torr snarled and circled skyward again.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Helping you, what the hells does it look like?
THIS IS MY FIGHT. LEAVE HIM BE.
There is no you and me. There’s only us.
YOU MUST ALLOW ME TO DO THIS.
Godsdammit, I won’t stand here and watch him kill you!
Buruu banked and dropped into a dive, hitting Torr like a falling star. The pair roared and spat, the challenger tearing a bone-deep gash across the Khan’s chest, a riposte from Torr’s hind legs sending him spiraling away in a shower of blood and feathers. They backed off again, wings thrashing the air, both seeking the precious advantage that lay in altitude. Wind screaming. Blinding lightning. Raijin pounding on his drums and shaking the black stone beneath her feet.
IF I CANNOT WIN THIS ALONE, I DO NOT DESERVE TO WIN AT ALL.
I won’t let stupid pride get you killed!
I AM NOT RULED BY PRIDE. YOU MUST TRUST ME.
Buruu, I—
TRUST ME.
Buruu pressed wings to flanks, swooping across the skies and colliding with the Khan again. The pair fell into a snarling, bellowing flurry, foreclaws locked as they kicked, talons like sabers seeking the guts of their foe. Wounds earned on both sides, scarlet rain falling as they descended, down and down and down, ever closer to the blood-drenched waves. Buruu had his wings wrapped against belly and flanks, using the metal pinions as a shield, relying on Torr’s wings to slow their descent. Sparks flew as the Khan tore at the metal, talons ringing bright on Kin’s creation; a razorsong struck on dented, struggling clockwork. Buruu focused again on Torr’s chest, purchasing more blood, more bone-deep gouges.
And still they fell.
Yukiko screamed warning as the pair finally broke their deadly embrace, each swooping up and away from the ocean’s surface, broken feathers of black and white and bloodstained canvas in their wake. Sea dragons hissed their frustration as the pair spiraled out of reach, thrashing the water to blinding sprays.
Torr roared, rage and mockery spilling across the storm.