Page 64 of Circle of Shadows
“Halt!”
Someone whispered, “Virtuoso!” and the warning floated through the air like a winter ghost. Every ryuu on deck froze, afraid to move. If there was anything soft left inside of Hana, she didn’t show it to the other warriors.
Hana strode to the center of the scrimmage ring and smacked the man upside the head. “Menagerie, you will not have your bats eat all our oranges. Think before you act. We need those.”
He set his jaw, angry that she’d stopped him before his grand finale. But then he said, “You’re right, Virtuoso,” and whistled to call off his bats.
“I declare this scrimmage a draw,” Hana said. The ryuu who was supposed to be judge didn’t try to protest.
The gorilla crumbled, oranges cascading gently downward and bringing with them the woman on her platform. She landed quietly on deck as the last of the oranges rolled away, back down the ladders and, presumably, into their drums.
Hana paced the ring, examining every ryuu who stood around it.
“Personally,” she said, “I think these duels encourage idleness and speculation.” She glared at a place in the crowd where money was changing hands. The truing up of bets ceased immediately. “But His Highness sanctions them, believing them to be good practice for you. So then, let us make this a worthwhile exercise.”
She pulled a knife from her sleeve, whirled, and pointed it in Sora’s direction. The ryuu parted as if they were actually in the blade’s path.
Sora found herself staring at the deathly tip.
“Step forward. It’s time for your training to begin.”
“But I don’t even know how to use the magic,” Sora said. She knew the ryuu particles were everywhere, like emerald dust glittering in the air, but she couldn’t see them right away as she had after Prince Gin granted her Sight. There had been a rush of power during the initiation ceremony, but since then, it had leveled off, and she had to concentrate to find the ryuu particles. Even when she did, she didn’t know what to do with the magic.
“Nothing better than a little public humiliation to get you started,” Hana said. There wasn’t a trace of humor in her words. “Now step forward.”
Sora swallowed hard. But she didn’t have a choice. Everyone was watching her. She was on a ship in the middle of the sea, traveling at sailfish speed. There was no way of getting out of this.
She walked through the path created when the ryuu had parted and met Hana in the scrimmage circle.
Hana vanished. Literally disappeared.
Sora gasped and whipped around.
Some of the ryuu in the crowd snickered.
So that was her little sister’s specialty. No wonder Prince Gin wanted Sora trained. Siblings had the same power, and invisibility would be an incredible advantage over any enemy. If the Dragon Prince could have two ryuu like that...
A swipe knocked Sora’s feet out from under her, and she slammed into the floor.
“Use your senses, Spirit!” Beetle shouted.
Sora lashed out to grab an ankle or a leg. Her fingertipstouched only air. Hana laughed cruelly, already half the length of the ship away.
Sora jumped back onto her feet. She felt a slight shift in the air a split second before Hana’s head barreled straight into her stomach. Sora flew backward into a mast. It knocked the wind clear out of her lungs, and she crumpled onto the deck.
From the sails above, Hana said, “Get up. You’re an insult to the blood we share.”
So angry. But instead of hurting, the taunt stoked Sora’s competitiveness.I was using magic while you were still in diapers,she thought.Someone needs to put you back in your place.
That was part of the job of being an older sister, after all.
Sora gritted her teeth and pushed aside the ache of the already-forming bruises on her back, and she rose again.
“Find me!” Hana, still invisible, yelled. “Stop flailing like a Kira Lake fish and use the Sight that Prince Gin granted you!”
Sora squinted and remembered what the green particles looked like. A moment later, she saw them whirling in the air, as if a breeze were stirring the magic. Sora followed the disturbance. The specks parted as an unseen force ran through them, then halted at the highest point of the ship—the crow’s nest.
There. That’s where Hana perched.
