Shuǐ said, “I have an idea.” Two of the Fists with him suddenly flew up in the air a few feet and went sailing at the ward. One smacked into it and slid to the ground, stunned. The other went right through—screaming. He collided with two of the Kanas, knocking them over.
Before the dazed Fist could get his feet under him, Rule was there. He slung the man over his shoulder, carried him quickly to the ward, and tossed him back out. “No, thanks,” he said. “We have enough hostages already.”
Tú’àn frowned at Shuǐ. “Why do you toss Fists around? You are likely to damage them.”
Shuǐ sneered back. “Is it not obvious? One of them had magic. The other did not. We now know that the ward will stop those with magic—and will not stop those without it.”
“You suggest we throw humans at them instead of rocks?”
“I suggest we have the unGifted Fists walk through on their own.”
“And I suggest,” Kongqi said, moving closer, “that Dìqiú was partly correct. Only partly, because the old woman is only partly human. The ward makes it difficult to see her clearly, but what I can see reminds me of dragon kin.”
Silence fell as the spawn all stared at Grandmother . . . who broke it. “It is extremely rude to speak of me as if I were not here.”
“Very well,” Kongqi said. “Who and what are you?”
Mischief or some more obscure motive prompted Lily to go formal. “Allow me to present to you my grandmother, Madame Li Lei Yu. In your manner of naming, she would be called Madame Yu Li Lei. Grandmother, the one who spoke to you is called the Zhu Kongqi.”
She sniffed. “I shall not call him that, however. I have a poor opinion of masters. I am not dragon kin—”
“I did not think she could be,” Tú’àn commented.
“I am dragon,” Grandmother finished.
“That,” Kongqi said after a moment, “is clearly incorrect.”
“You have confused form with essence. It is a common mistake among the young. I have been dragon in the past. It is impossible to cease to be dragon. Therefore, I am still dragon. I am also human, but that is of little relevance to this conversation. I bring you greetings from your kin on Earth.”
She had their sudden and entire attention.
Not Rule’s, however. He nudged Lily. When she glanced at him, he nodded toward the Justice Court. Fists were pouring out of its open doors to assemble in ranks in front of the building.
Tú’àn broke the silence. “There are others like you on Earth?”
“No. There are, however, dragons. In particular, I bring you greetings from the black dragon, who is called by many names. I know him as Tsao Sun.”
“Your granddaughter also claims to know the eldest.” Shēngwù managed to layer courtesy, skepticism, and innuendo into those few words. “How odd that he would send greetings after ignoring our existence for so many years.”
“He did not know you existed.”
“And yet he sent us greetings. Amazing. Did he also open a gate through which to send you to deliver them?”
Grandmother gave him a look that should have made him squirm. “I find it difficult to believe you are as dense as you pretend. Until very recently, he knew only that your existence was hypothetically possible and considered the possibility fairly remote. Not that it would have mattered. As you are surely aware, I did not arrive here through a gate. The location of this realm has been lost for millennia.”
“So we have been told,” Shuǐ said in an icy voice. “And yet at least one dragon knew of our existence in very concrete terms. She did not—”
“WE DO NOT SPEAK OF HER PUBLICLY!” That megaphone bellow came from Dick Boy.
The Fists had finished assembling and were trotting toward the tower and their masters.
“Of course not,” Shuǐ said, offering his furious brother a tiny bow. “As I was saying, the one of whom we shall not speak knew of our existence. If we are to believe Madame Yu, we must also believe that she never spoke of us to the eldest. Or to any of the other dragons.”
Grandmother raised her brows. “You find that difficult to accept? You think a dragon would speak of parentage?”
“Not of their male parent, of course, but . . .” Shuǐ drifted off into frowning silence.
Grandmother spoke almost gently. “Not only the male parent. Dragons do not speak of parentage at all. It is possible you have been misled by your situation. This is not surprising. In your current forms, you are unable to undergo third birth.”
Dead silence now, as though Grandmother had said something huge and portentous. Which meant Lily had missed something huge and portentous, because she had no idea what was so significant. Third birth? What did that have do with anything? Third birth was the term for the transition a dragon made from male to female so he . . . so she could have babies.
That thought ricochetted in Lily’s head like a manic pinball, setting off lights and bells and ringing up a winning score. The spawn didn’t want the ability to change into dragons just so they could turn big and scaly on demand. They wanted to be able to enter third birth. To turn female and have babies, dragon babies, not those begat upon human women.
They wanted to be mothers.
THIRTY-TWO
GRANDMOTHER spoke into that silence. “Are you aware that you have allied yourselves with the Great Enemy of all dragons? With one whose goal is to rob all beings everywhere of sovereignty?”
“We are not her allies,” Shuǐ said coldly.
Shēngwù’s voice was hotter. Angrier. “We made a deal with her. We do not ally with her. We do not subordinate ourselves to her in any way.” The word “subordinate” fairly oozed contempt.
“Dragons . . .” Grandmother gave the word a subtle emphasis that made it seem as if she’d said real dragons. “. . . do not make deals with her. Dragons oppose her.”
The Fists were almost here.
Rule spoke in a low voice. “Gan—get with the noncombatants.”
Gan’s voice came from behind them. “The what?”
“The Kanas. Stay in the middle of them.”
Tú’àn stoked his beard thoughtfully. “I cannot decide which I want more: to kill her or to question her.”
“I know which I want,” Shēngwù said, his dark eyes hot.
The Fists arrived. About thirty of them.
“Good,” Tú’àn said to them. “Those of you without magic form up to my left. On my command, those without magic will enter the warded area. Your primary target is the old woman. Take her alive if you can.”
“The Fists are not yours to command,” Kongqi said coldly.
“This is hardly the time to argue over jurisdiction,” Shuǐ snapped.
Tú’àn nodded. “Do not allow emotion to dictate to you. Clearly the old woman must be incapacitated so the ward comes down. Later we can—”
A few feet above the Frisbee-topped tower, the darkening sky exploded in thunder. And a mind appeared out of nowhere—a mind vast and powerful and compelling. Lily’s mindsense flew to it willy-nilly.
The dragon alarm went off. Crimson light flooded the air, carrying the deep reverberation of a gong that did not exist.
“About time,” Grandmother muttered.