City of Fire by Laurence Yep

Author:Laurence Yep
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2009-08-15T16:00:00+00:00

Scirye

“Into the alley.” The white shark jerked his huge head toward a narrow lane between a T-shirt store and a bar. “Why should we make killing convenient for you?” Scirye demanded. Before she even had a chance to think, her body responded as Nishke had trained her to do—spreading her legs slightly and shifting her weight so she was balanced on the balls of her feet.

“Fine. We don’t care if these other folks get hurt, too.” The white shark nodded to the tourists crowding the pavement.

And that would not be Tumarg. Reluctantly, Scirye faced the alley.

Bayang was by her side. “When I give the word,” the woman whispered softly to the children, “break into a run and then form a semicircle behind me. If I have to transform, it’s better if no one else but them sees me.”

Scirye took heart. Bayang was a dragon, after all. If she was with them, then things were bound to turn out all right.

So, though she hated to turn her back on the sharks, she did as she was told and walked with the others. Behind them, the sharks’ tails rasped against the pavement as they waddled in the rear.

Scirye saw that the alley ended in a brick wall; they would be trapped. On the other hand, the narrow alley would allow only a few of the gang to attack at any one time, so their advantage in numbers would be neutralized.

She tried to remember all the combat tips that Nishke had shown her as she walked along the stained concrete floor, past a row of smelly garbage cans and over a metal grate, into which dirty brown water trickled from a puddle.

“Now,” Bayang said and they ran, stopping and turning at the brick wall. Scirye flung open the bundle so that the axes clattered onto the ground. At the same time, Kles sprang into the air, ready with the claws of four paws and a deadly beak. Leech dropped the rope coils and then raised an axe.

The gang didn’t seem the least bit frightened by the threat. Instead, the sharks smiled greedily when they saw the gleam of gold. “A bonus to boot,” the white shark said, exposing what seemed to Scirye like rows and rows of fangs.

Scirye placed herself on Bayang’s right side just a step behind her, while Leech and Koko took the left.

“Who sent you?” Bayang called to the gang. “Was it Roland?”

“You been making a lotta trouble for him,” the white shark said. At a jerk of his hand, two of the gang started forward.

Scirye took her stance and gripped her axe tightly. Overhead, she heard the flapping of wings as Kles gained some height in order to dive faster. Bayang’s back tensed as if she were getting ready to change. These thugs were about to get a nasty surprise.

Suddenly the crazy old peddler appeared at the mouth of the alley. “You buy, you buy?” she asked in a high, cracked voice.

Scirye waved at her anxiously. “For your own sake, go.

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